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December 29, 2007
Porn research which refutes quite nicely the awful pro-porny propaganda bandied about so cheerfully on message boards. Feel free to cut and paste to your heart's content, as reputable peer-reviewed research is the only thing which makes misogynists cry.
This section is occasionally updated and refined. Not to mention it's permanently archived on a free site, so it won't ever change it's address or disappear. Bookmark for your convenience! More links containing additional peer-reviewed studies are listed at the bottom.
1. SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION. This experiment confirmed McKenzie-Mohr and Zanna's hypothesis that exposure to NON-violent pornography causes masculine sex-typed males, in contrast to androgynous males, to view and treat a woman as a sex object.
As the myth that women enjoy rape is widely held, the argument that consumers of pornography realize that such portrayals are false, is totally unconvincing (Brownmiller, 1975; Burt, 1980; Russell, 1975). Indeed, several studies have shown that portrayals of women enjoying rape and other kinds of sexual violence can lead to increased acceptance of rape myths in both males and females. In an experiment conducted by Neil Malamuth and James Check, for example, one group of college students saw a pornographic depiction in which a woman was portrayed as sexually aroused by sexual violence, and a second group was exposed to control materials. Subsequently, all subjects were shown a second rape portrayal. The students who had been exposed to the pornographic depiction of rape were significantly more likely than the students in the control group (1) to perceive the second rape victim as suffering less trauma; (2) to believe that she actually enjoyed it; and (3) to believe that women in general enjoy rape and forced sexual acts (Check and Malamuth, 1985, p. 419).
2. RAPE SUPPORTIVE BELIEFS . In Maxwell and Check's 1992 study of 247 high school students described above, they found very high rates of what they called "rape supportive beliefs", that is, acceptance of rape myths and violence against women. The boys who were the most frequent consumers of pornography and/or who reported learning a lot from it, were more accepting of rape supportive beliefs than their peers who were less frequent consumers and/or who said they had not learned as much from it.
Malamuth and Check (1981) conducted an experiment of particular interest because the movies shown were part of the regular campus film program. Students were randomly assigned to view either a feature-length film that portrayed violence against women as being justifiable and having positive consequences ("Swept Away", "The Getaway") or a film without sexual violence. The experiment showed that exposure to the sexually violent movies increased the male subjects' acceptance of interpersonal violence against women. (This outcome did not occur with the female subjects.) These effects were measured several days after the films had been seen.
Malamuth suggests several processes by which sexual violence in the media "might lead to attitudes that are more accepting of violence against women" (1986, p. 4). Some of these processes also probably facilitate the undermining of pornography consumers' internal inhibitions against acting out rape desires.
- Labelling sexual violence more as as sexual rather than a violent act.
- Adding to perceptions that sexual aggression is normative and culturally acceptable.
- Changing attributions of responsibility to place more blame on the victim.
- Elevating the positive value of sexual aggression by associating it with sexual pleasure and a sense of conquest.
- Reducing negative emotional reactions to sexually aggressive acts (1986, p. 5).
(4) Trivializing rape. According to Donnerstein, in most studies on the effects of pornography, "subjects have been exposed to only a few minutes of pornographic material" (1985, p. 341). In contrast, Zillman and Bryant examined the impact on male subjects of what they refer to as "massive exposure" to non-violent pornography (4 hours and 48 minutes per week over a period of six weeks; for further details about the experimental design, see page 27). After three weeks the subjects were told that they were participating in an American Bar Association study that required them to evaluate a trial in which a man was prosecuted for the rape of a female hitchhiker. At the end of this mock trial various measures were taken of the subjects' opinions about the trial and about rape in general. For example, they were asked to recommend the prison term they thought most fair.
Zillmann and Bryant found that the male subjects who were exposed to the massive amounts of pornography considered rape a less serious crime than they did before they were exposed to it; they thought that prison sentences for rape should be shorter; and they perceived sexual aggression and abuse as causing less suffering for the victims, even in the case of an adult male having sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old girl (1984, p. 132). They concluded that "heavy exposure to common non-violent pornography trivialized rape as a criminal offense" (1984, p. 117).
(5) Callous attitudes toward female sexuality. In the same experiment on massive exposure, Zillmann and Bryant also reported that, "males' sexual callousness toward women was significantly enhanced" (1984, p. 117). Male subjects, for example, became increasingly accepting of statements such as "A woman doesn't mean 'no' until she slaps you"; "A man should find them, fool them, fuck them, and forget them"; and "If they are old enough to bleed, they are old enough to butcher." However, judging by these items, it is difficult to distinguish sexual callousness from a general hostility to women.
(6) Acceptance of male dominance in intimate relationships. A marked increase in males' acceptance of male dominance in intimate relationships was yet another result of this massive exposure to pornography (Zillmann and Bryant, 1984, p. 121). The notion that women are, or ought to be, equal in intimate relationships was more likely to be abandoned by these male subjects (1984, p. 122). Finally, their support of the women's liberation movement also declined sharply (1984, p. 134).
These findings demonstrate that pornography increases the acceptability of sexism. As Van White points out, "by using pornography, by looking at other human beings as a lower form of life, they [the pornographers] are perpetuating the same kind of hatred that brings racism to society" (1984).
The greater trivializing of rape by males, the increase in their callous attitudes toward female sexuality, and their greater acceptance of male domination, are all likely to contribute to undermining some males' inhibitions against acting out their desires to rape.
(7) Desensitizing males to rape. In an experiment specifically designed to study desensitization, Linz, Donnerstein, and Penrod showed ten hours of R-rated or X-rated movies over a period of five days to male subjects (Donnerstein and Linz, 1985, p. 34A). Some students saw X-rated movies depicting sexual assault; others saw X-rated movies depicting only consenting sex; and a third group saw R-rated sexually violent movies–for example, "I Spit on Your Grave," "Toolbox Murders," and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Donnerstein (1983) describes "Toolbox Murders" as follows: There is an erotic bathtub scene in which a woman massages herself. A beautiful song is played. Then a psychotic killer enters with a nail gun. The music stops. He chases the woman around the room, then shoots her through the stomach with the nail gun. She falls across a chair. The song comes back on as he puts the nail gun to her forehead and blows her brains out. According to Donnerstein, many young males become sexually aroused by this movie (1983, p. 10).
Donnerstein and Linz point out that, "It has always been suggested by critics of media violence research that only those who are already predisposed toward violence are influenced by exposure to media violence" (1985, p. 34F). These experimenters, however, actually preselected their subjects to ensure that they were not psychotic, hostile, or anxious.
Donnerstein and Linz described the impact of the R-rated movies on their subjects as follows:
Initially, after the first day of viewing, the men rated themselves as significantly above the norm for depression, anxiety, and annoyance on a mood adjective checklist. After each subsequent day of viewing, these scores dropped until, on the fourth day of viewing, the males' levels of anxiety, depression, and annoyance were indistinguishable from baseline norms (1985, p. 34F).
By the fifth day, the subjects rated the movies as less graphic and less gory and estimated fewer violent or offensive scenes than after the first day of viewing. They also rated the films as significantly less debasing and degrading to women, more humorous, and more enjoyable, and reported a greater willingness to see this type of film again (1985, p. 34F). However, their sexual arousal by this material did not decrease over this five-day period (Donnerstein, 1983, p. 10).
On the last day, the subjects went to a law school where they saw a documentary re-enactment of a real rape trial. A control group of subjects who had never seen the films also participated in this part of the experiment. Subjects who had seen the R-rated movies: (1) rated the victim as significantly more worthless, (2) rated her injury as significantly less severe, and (3) assigned greater blame to her for being raped than did the subjects who had not seen the film. In contrast, these effects were not observed for the X-rated non-violent films [7]. However, the results were much the same for the violent X-rated films, despite the fact that the R-rated material was "much more graphically violent" (Donnerstein, 1985, pp. 12-13).
A simple application of the laws of social learning suggests that viewers of pornography can develop arousal responses to depictions of rape, murder, child sexual abuse, or other assaultive behavior. Researcher S. Rachman of the Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital, London, has demonstrated that male subjects can learn to become sexually aroused by seeing a picture of a woman's boot after repeatedly seeing women's boots in association with sexually arousing slides of nude females (Rachman and Hodgson, 1968). The laws of learning that operated in the acquisition of the boot fetish can also teach males who were not previously aroused by depictions of rape to become so. All it may take is the repeated association of rape with arousing portrayals of female nudity (or clothed females in provocative poses).
Even for males who are not sexually excited during movie portrayals of rape, masturbation subsequent to the movie reinforces the association. This constitutes what R.J. McGuire, J.M. Carlisle and B.G. Young refer to as "masturbatory conditioning" (Cline, 1974, p. 210). The pleasurable experience of orgasm–an expected and planned–for activity in many pornography parlors–is an exceptionally potent reinforcer. The fact that pornography is widely used by males as ejaculation material is a major factor that differentiates it from other mass media, intensifying the lessons that male consumers learn from it.
Self-reported sexual arousal during the fantasy period indicated that those students who had been exposed to the rape version of the first slide-audio presentation, created more violent sexual fantasies than those exposed to the mutually consenting version irrespective of whether they had been classified as force-oriented or non-force-oriented (1981a, p. 33).
Finally, boys who were frequent consumers of pornography and/or reported learning a lot from pornography were also more likely to say that is was "OK" to hold a girl down and force her to have intercourse (abstract).
Canadian psychologists James Check and Ted Guloien (1989) conducted an experiment in which they distinguished between degrading non-violent pornography and erotica, and compared their effects. Their experiment is rare not only for making this distinction, but also for including non-students as subjects; 436 Toronto residents and college students were exposed to one of three types of sexual material over three viewing sessions, or to no material. The sexual materials were constructed from existing commercially available videos and validated by measuring subject's perceptions of them. The contents of the sexual materials shown to the three groups of subjects were as follows:
The sexual violence material portrayed scenes of sexual intercourse involving a woman strapped to a table and being penetrated by a large plastic penis.
The sexually explicit dehumanizing but non-violent material portrayed scenes of sexual activity that included a man sitting on top of a woman and masturbating into her face.
The sexually explicit non-degrading material portrayed sexual activities leading up to heterosexual intercourse (Check and Guloien, 1989).
Check and Guloien's experiment revealed that the viewing of both the non-violent dehumanizing materials as well as the violent materials resulted in male subjects reporting a significantly greater likelihood of engaging in rape or other coercive sex acts than the control group.
Recent research on boys' attitudes to sexual violence shows a disturbingly high support for the acceptability of forcing a girl into sex in certain situations. In a Brisbane study of Year Nine boys, nearly one in three believed that it is "okay for a boy to hold a girl down and force her to have sexual intercourse" if she has "led him on", while one in five boys were unsure. One quarter of the boys thought that it was acceptable to force a girl to have sex if she gets him sexually excited, and another fifth were unsure [Domestic Violence Resource Centre, 1992]. In a 1997 survey by Family Planning Australia, nearly a third of the 15×25 year old males interviewed agreed that it was "okay for a male to force a female to have sex" in one or more of a range of situations [Family Planning Australia, 1997].
"Riding the Bull at Gilley's": Convicted Rapists Describe the Rewards of Rape
Diana Scully, Joseph Marolla
Social Problems, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Feb., 1985)
Our data come from interviews with 114 convicted, incarcerated rapists. Looking at rape from the perspective of rapists, we attempt to discover the function of sexual violence in their lives; what their behavior gained for them in a society seeming prone to rape. Our analysis reveals that a number of rapists used sexual violence as a method of revenge and/or punishment while others used it as a means of gaining access to unwilling or unavailable women. In some cases, rape was just a bonus added to burglary or robbery. Rape was also a recreational activity and described as an "adventure" and an "exciting" form of impersonal sex which gained the offender power over his victim(s).
Descriptive studies show that compared to their less aggressive peers, sexually aggressive men typically view relationships with women as hostile and adversarial, have a more promiscuous and impersonal orientation toward sex (Malamuth, Linz, Heavy, & Acker, 1995), and show greater arousal to depictions of forced intercourse (Bernat, 1997; Lohr, Adams, & Davis, 1997). Social information processing and judgments of sexual interactions are further influenced by aggressive men's rape supportive cognitions (e.g., Bernat, Wilson, & Calhoun, 1997).
Indirect corroborating evidence for a suspicious schema explanation during sexual decision-making was revealed through the findings of Bernat, Wilson and Calhoun (in press). Employing an innovative decision-latency paradigm (Marx & Gross, 1995), they asked sexually aggressive and nonaggressive college men to listen to an audio tape simulation of a date rape, during which initial sexual contact was consensual and cues of the man's force and the woman's nonconsent increased over time. Participants were instructed to press a button if and when they believed that the man in the vignette should refrain from making further sexual advances. To minimize curiosity about the outcome, participants also were instructed that the tape would continue until the interaction was completed. Sexually aggressive men who reported a cognitive style that distrusted women and justified interpersonal violence (i.e., calloused sexual beliefs) took significantly longer to stop the date rape than either sexually aggressive men without this rape supportive cognitive set or nonaggressive men, who did not differ significantly on decision-making. Laboratory judgments also corresponded with naturalistic decisions as the sexually aggressive group was nearly 3 1/2 times more likely than the nonaggressive group to delay stopping the tape until it reached intervals containing verbal threats and forced intercourse within the scenario.
A) Decision Theory/Outcome Expectancies. Perceived rewards, costs, and low probability of punishment are seen as contributory factors of rape (Bandura, 1973; Ellis,1989; Jenkins-Hall, 1989; O'Donohue, McKay, & Schewe, in press; Scully & Marolla,1985).
Scully and Marolla (1985) used information from the interviewswith 114 incarcerated rapists to suggest that most rapists viewed rape as a rewarding,low risk act. O'Donohue, McKay, and Schewe (in press) in a study of male undergraduates found that both subjects with higher self-reported future likelihood of rape and subjects who reported a greater past history of coercive sexual behavior had lower negative outcome expectancies regarding rape.
Decision theories suggest thatinformation which changes men's perceptions of rape such that they begin to view it as1) less immediately rewarding than they might expect it to be; 2) less rewarding thanconsensual sex, both short-term and long-term, 3) potentially more costly than consensual sex (i.e., imprisonment, shame, loss of job, etc.), and 4) more likely to lead to negative consequences (i.e. high probability of getting caught, unwanted pregnancies,AIDS) might be beneficial in preventing attempted rapes. ***********[ME: this only makes them not want to get caught, it doesn't change their desire. Originally I was wondering if rape porn would satisfy this group, but then I re-read all the other studies listed here, and realized that no, porn will always be a slippery slope.]
B) Christopher D. Maxwell, Joel H. Garner, and Jeffrey A. Fagan July 2001 US dept of Justice
The Effects of Arrest on Intimate Partner Violence: New Evidence From the Spouse Assault Replication Program
This Research in Brief examines 4,032 incidents of male assault on female partners and compares the number of repeat offenses when batterers are and are not arrested. The researchers synthesized experiments conducted across five jurisdictions from 1981 to 1991, and the analysis gains statistical power from the pooling of data from the five sites. One key determination was that arresting batterers was consistently related to reduced subsequent aggression against the victim; this finding was consistent across jurisdictions.
A ) In a national study of sexual aggression and victimization among college students, Koss, Gidycz, and Wisniewski (1987) found that 74% of perpetrators and 55% of victims of rape had been drinking alcohol prior to the incident.
B) Attributional research has demonstrated that college men and women attribute less responsibility for sexual aggression to male offenders and more responsibility to female victims when vignette characters are portrayed as drunk (e.g., Richardson & Campbell, 1982)
Porn users assume that porn is very similar to real life, and that they can learn useful information about real sex with average women from porn. A survey by the Kinsey Institute found 86 percent of porn users believe porn can be educational. The respondents were 80 percent male.
[It probably is not necessary to include the following, but this is where I got all the info in many of these sections unless specified otherwise: Rape Prevention with College Males: The Roles of Victim Empathy, Rape Myth Acceptance, and Outcome ExpectanciesWilliam O'Donohue, Ph.D.Matthew FanettiPhase I Final ReportA Small Business Technology Transfer Grant from the National Institute of Mental HealthProject #1 R41 MH54874-01
http://126.96.36.199/search?q=cache:X1KxN2nZllkJ:www.northwestmedia.com/research/rape-i.pdf+%22rape+studies%22+%2B+%22college%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3 ]
However, for the proposed research, a working model of rape prevention will be drawn from both Finkelhor's (1986)four preconditions model of the etiology of rape and cognitive-behavioral accounts of aggression and sexual offending (Bandura, 1977; Burt, 1980; Hildebran & Pithers, 1992;Murphy, 1990; Scully & Marolla, 1984; Segal & Stermac, 1990). In Finkelhor's model, sexual offending is the outcome of four individually necessaryand conjointly sufficient set of factors: (1) factors that enhance motivation to sexually abuse (e.g., deviant sexual arousal); (2) factors that reduce internal inhibitions (e.g., rape myth acceptance); (3) factors that reduce external inhibitions (e.g., date location); and (4)factors that reduce victim resistance (e.g., poor self-defense strategies).
Another point of convergence for many models of rape is that cognitive variables play an important role. Bandura's (1978) social-learning account of aggression emphasizes aggressive behavior as the product of cognitions that: (1) make reprehensible conduct socially and ethically acceptable (e.g., rape myths); (2) misconstrue the consequences ofthe behavior (i.e., "We will both enjoy this and I will experience no negative consequences"–problematic victim empathy and outcome expectancies; and (3)devalues or attributes blame to the victim (e.g., poor victim empathy).
McFall (1990, p.318) has stated in his information processing model of rape:"This evidence paints the following portrait of sexually aggressive men. They enter heterosexual relationships holding distorted cognitive schemata that predispose them to sexual misunderstandings and misguided actions. It is as though these men were 'primed' by their schemata to read positive sexual connotations into women's neutral or negative messages; to believe that women secretly wish to be victims of sexual coercion; to misinterpret women's refusals of sexual advances merely as coquettish acceptances; to dismiss women's physical resistance as a primeval sexual ritual; to misperceive women's cries of pain as squeals of pleasure; and to redefine any attempted rebuffs as proof that women are 'teases' who deserve whatever they get."
Studies have shown that incarcerated rapists hold more rape supportive attitudes than non-rapists (Burt, 1980). Furthermore, subjects who hold more rape supportive attitudes report a more extensive history of sexual aggression, indicate more likelihood of future sexual aggression if assured of not getting caught, and display a more deviant pattern of sexual arousal than those subjects who hold less rape supportive attitudes (Koss & Dinero, 1989; Malamuth, Haber, & Feshbach, 1980;Malamuth, 1986; Schewe & O'Donohue, in press).
In a cognitive model nonconsenting offenses are not discrete events that "just happen" but rather are the culmination of a series or chain of cognitive and behavioral events. Unfortunately some of these factors are poor targets for rape prevention programming since they are not easily changed (e.g., psychopathy, paraphilic arousal) and therefore will not be further discussed here. However, there is evidence that an educative orientation aimed at modifying cognitions can produce change in relatively short periods of time (Hollon & Beck, 1986). Thus, problematic cognitions such as myths about rape, woman and sexuality, myths about the experience of the victim of rape, and irrational outcome expectancies may be good candidates to be targeted in rape prevention.
Schewe & O'Donohue (1993)found that a 45 minute videotaped presentation which was modeled after Lee's empathy workshop had a larger effect on rape-related variables than a 45 minute rape facts videotape (modeled after Jones & Muehlenhard, 1990; and Gilbert, Heesacker, &Gannon, 1991) for subjects who were initially judged to be at "high risk" (as measured bytheir self-reported likelihood to commit a sexual offense) for committing sexual abuse
Gail Dines full presentation at Wheelock anti-pornography conference Google video, simply amazing.
http://geekette.mysite.orange.co.uk/More porn research
MotherJones domestic violence sheet
"Honor" killings have nothing to do with honor
50% of Norwegian men believe flirtatious women cause rape. Gah, if women have the power to cause rape, then how come we don't have the power to get men to stop raping? Oh, sorry I forgot, "rape doesn't exist and all women are liars". Strangely enough, it appears that most men are lying scum but god forbid we should point out the bloody obvious.
Feel proud that you have the courage to speak up, you are worth it!! If you think men are going to stop this shit on their own, without your getting involved, think again. Most men do not fight to give us respect and dignity, but most men will fight with a cheerful smile to keep these things from us. If you want respect, dignity and bodily autonomy, then ya gotta fight for it!
People who attempt to keep your inherent rights away from you do not deserve your sympathy, respect or goodwill. These MEN SUCK, so to hell with them.
9 Responses to "Porn Statistics and Research"
December 29, 2007 at 4:59 pm
[…] alone should refute the claim of pro-pornies quite nicely. But in addition to that, there is a massive amount of research demonstrating that people who are exposed to porn will give convicted rapists less […]
February 7, 2008 at 10:58 am
[…] is the theory, rape is the practice". "Porn influences men's attitudes towards sex". It's been proven over and over. But you know what? Don't take my word for it. Just go and ask the women who have been raped by a […]
May 4, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Thank you very much, m Andrea! I'll bookmark this for further reference.
November 15, 2010 at 1:32 am
As a behavioralist, I question the legitimacy of the author's argument based on a few limitations.
1) Most of the research is outdated. Observe that most of the research used for argumentation was conducted prior to the 21st Century. While research is research, one must factor in changing cultural attitudes if one wishes to make claims about attitudes of individuals or groups.
2) The author is biased. There seems to be a strong desire in the tone of the writing that the author wishes her argument to be defensible. Simply wishing something were true is not intellectual scholarship. More recent evidence suggests that the "pro-porny" school of thought is more supported with evidence, acknowledging that the "85%" decline may be due to mitigating factors.
3) Logical leaps. The author tends to draw conclusions and create categorizations that are unwarranted. While I have not done the research, I suspect that men (and women) who enjoy adult entertainment recognize that this is simply another form of entertainment and do not generalize what they are seeing as "normal" behavior, any more than watching a violent movie makes people more violent. While one must concede that a small minority of people can be influenced but these cases are rare.
Wishing doesn't make it true. Men have 10x the amount of testosterone than women. For many men, it is very difficult to control their sexual urges and their desire to be seen as a powerful, vital male. While this fact does not justify violent sexual behavior, it does offer explanatory value.
All in all, my observation and speculation is that adult entertainment fills the need for visual sexual excitement that many males require for sexual satisfaction through masturbation or consensual sex with a partner. The statistics seem to support this conclusion, as does my own qualitative research. But do your own before forming judgments.
Michael D. Kull, Ph.D.
November 21, 2010 at 9:13 pm
I actually managed to get one of my friends to tell me that he would never watch porn again. I explained to him several times why porn is destructive and misogynistic and he listened to me and after a while he admitted that porn is indeed destructive to everybody involved. It gave me hope, maybe getting people to understand why porn is bad isn't so hard after all…hopefully. I'm 19 now but I hope to steer people in the right path in my many years to come.
Salaam 🙂
August 31, 2011 at 7:09 pm
it's not porn that's the problem though!
both men and women should be able to enjoy porn is the issue … but there's so much disrespectful porn out there towards women. It's all because many many men still believe that they are better than women. They need to be taught that they are not, why they are not and they need to learn how to contol themseves not to rape, no matter how strong their sexual urge is.
September 26, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Hi! Twisty made the point that any porn which is respectful isn't really porn. In the exact same way that consensual sex between adults isn't really rape. Think about that for a moment…
Sex between consenting adults is not a problem, because hey it's not porn. Porn is like rape, in the sense that neither represent consensual sex between adults. The distinction, you guessed it, is coercion. Women are encouraged to put their bodies on display in a degrading/dehumanizing way which pleases men and it is only AFTER internalizing the male perspective will women assume that degrading/dehumanizing portrayals of themselves is empowerfullizing.
Your statement only makes sense if you've invisiblized the role which male supremacy plays in this dynamic. Why is it considered sexy and who considers it sexy when a female wears corsets, stockings, etc? Why is it not considered sexy and who considers it unsexy when a male wears all kinds of accessories? We know sexism exists when it is only women who have been wearing all the accessories. Women do it because they're making MORE of an effort to please their partner, while men apparently don't have to prepare as much when trying to excite their partner.
And look at the joke: women are turned on when men do the dishes — and the reason women are supposedly turned by men-performing-house-cleaning is that then, women aren't so exhausted from doing all the house cleaning themselves and so subsequently have the same amount of free time as men so they can be as relaxed as men. When a woman prepares for sex — well wait a minute — it's not even that she's preparing for sex but that she's expected to exist in a constant state of being ready for sex! She will take a shower, shave every inch of her body, scrub, loofah, moisturizer, spray scent, does her hair. and then when it's actually time to do the deed, puts on accessories which she spent time carefully shopping for. And then she's expected to appear and performs with all the agility and skill of a professional porn actress.
A woman is considered LUCKY if the dumbass bothers to take a shower. This is not equal, sweetie. You've been brainwashed into accepting as normal and egalitarian something which is so obviously lop-sided and unbalanced I don't know how anybody walks upright without falling over.


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Looks like they didn't change a thing.
(They couldn't even figure out how to hide the horrible black plastic on the grille. Which I guess is for the laser cruise control)
It doesn't look bad. And it's certainly no more boring than an Audi A8.
But for a "new" brand, it just doesn't stand out. At all.
(I saw one in the flesh a couple of months ago in Joshua Tree. And I can tell you that the car is totally invisible...)
It looks like (because it is) an old Korean executive's company car.
The previous Equus (sold as a Hyundai) started at $62 500. And I bet this, now being its own brand and all, will be more.
While it will still be a lot less than the German competition, it won't matter at all. Since German car buyers don't even look at anything else.
It will also cost a bit less than the Lexus LS.
But the new Genesis brand has zero image. While Lexus still has a highly regarded quality image.
And there is an all new LS coming out really soon.
It looks like they are trying to do what Lexus did decades ago. Offer a super luxury full size car, and a less expensive mid size one (G80)
I am sure the G90 is solid, super quiet and comfortable, fast and just plain nice an many ways.
But this is 2016. Not 1986. And the market for these things is shrinking every day. (sad but true)
So basically, all I can say to Genesis is: Good luck with that.
The true test for the Genesis brand will be their upcoming crossovers and SUVs...

subset: commoncrawl


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There's no doubt that we Yanks have been spoiled with a steady import of fantastic British dramas in recent years, none more ubiquitous than Downton Abbey, which ends its six-season run on PBS Sunday. But what can our friendly neighbors across the pond offer in the comedy department? Whether you prefer a standard sitcom set-up, sketch show, or more surrealist narrative, it's a celebrated fact that the Brits know how to create damn good comedy programs across all possible formats. We've already highlighted some of the best dark British comedies for you to enjoy, but if you're not in the mood for a general feeling of malaise, we put together a list of lighter recommendations, available to stream right now.
The IT Crowd
What's it about? The IT Crowd follows the many misadventures of the sole IT department employees at the fictional Reynholm Industries in London. Socially awkward, tech-savvy geeks Moss (Richard Ayoade) and Roy (Chris O'Dowd) have been newly paired to work with a chipper and ambitious "relationship manager" named Jen (Katherine Parkinson), despite her not knowing anything about technology — which, as you would expect, leads to consistently amusing disarray.
How light is it? Plotlines include: "electric sex pants" and an addiction to a social-networking website called Friendface. So, very silly. (And not strictly about technology, either.)
Where can I watch it? Hulu, Netflix
Fawlty Towers
What's it about? Basil Fawlty (John Cleese, in top form) and his wife, Sybil, own and attempt to run a hotel, Fawlty Towers, in a quaint seaside town, with the help of their competent maid and waitress, Polly, and their constantly disoriented waiter, Manuel. If the taxing guests and the curmudgeonly misanthropic Basil are any indication, things do not go smoothly. Ever.
How light is it? Similar to Cleese's Monty Python's Flying Circus years before, the heart of the humor stems from farce, innuendo, and intellect. Basil's naturally aggressive personality doesn't exactly scream "light-hearted" — we get those playful elements from Sybil and Manuel.
Where can I watch it? Hulu
That Mitchell and Webb Look
What's it about? The goofy double act of David Mitchell and Robert Webb created That Mitchell and Webb Look to further explore their signature comedic style in a traditional sketch-show format. Expect recurring sketches such as "The Surprising Adventures of Sir Digby Chicken Caesar" and the above "Numberwang," as well as other unconventional one-offs.
How light is it? Very. And Mitchell and Webb are so damn likable.
Where can I watch it? Hulu
What's it about? Tim (Simon Pegg) and Daisy (Jessica Hynes), professionally down on their luck, have a chance meeting in a café where they discover they're both in dire need of a new apartment. They decide to lie about being a professional and married couple in order to obtain an inexpensive flat and embark on life's many adventures together as friends, which often involve their suspicious and frequently inebriated landlady, their borderline-sociopathic artist neighbor, Daisy's superficial best friend, and Tim's Army-loving best friend (Nick Frost).
How light is it? Spaced is grungy, and each episode is peppered with complex pop-culture references. If you're a fan of Pegg and Frost's "Cornetto Trilogy" (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End), then put this at the top of your streaming queue, but if you're not a fan of the slacker-comedy genre, this may not be for you.
Where can I watch it? Hulu, Veoh
Gavin & Stacey
What's it about? A very sweet romantic comedy, Gavin & Stacey tells the story of Gavin, a practical guy living in England, who has a long-distance, whirlwind relationship with Stacey, a cheerful woman living in Wales. As their relationship progressively gets more serious, the dynamic between their respective family and friends (not to mention their cultures) while merging as "one unit" is funny and often poignant. James Corden also starred in and co-wrote the series, way before his Late Late Show days.
How light is it? As light as your standard rom-com, complete with the usual bumps in the road that plague long-distance love affairs. The banter is particularly cheeky, too.
Where can I watch it? Hulu
Absolutely Fabulous
What's it about? Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) are two drug-abusing, alcoholic, middle-aged women who still maintain their respective jobs in public relations and fashion despite their outrageous and self-absorbed "I-need-to-stay-young-and-hip" antics. Don't be fooled by the show's lone voice of reason, Edina's daughter, Saffron, though — it's all in good fun. Right?
How light is it? Oh, sweetie darling! Grab a cocktail and a Xanax. Ab Fab is about as as vivacious and crazy they come.
Where can I watch it? Hulu
I'm Alan Partridge
What's it about? As a television presenter, Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) was so lacking in decorum, he was fired for punching a BBC editor with a stuffed partridge (the show, Knowing Me, Knowing You With Alan Partridge briefly aired on the BBC in the mid-'90s, and before that was a radio show). Now decamping to Norwich to present a local evening radio-program, his various exploits are a spot-on parody of modern entertainment personalities and the odd trials they face.
How light is it? Partridge's narcissism, coupled with his general ineptitude and lack of basic social skills, may make him seem like an unlikable character, but his delusions of grandeur are actually quite endearing. If you like Ron Burgundy, you'll like Alan Partridge.
Where can I watch it? Hulu, Veoh
Peep Show
What's it about? Once again from the strange comedic minds of David Mitchell and Robert Webb, Peep Show follows two friends, the melancholy Mark (Mitchell) and the freeloader Jeremy (Webb), who share an apartment in London despite being polar opposites — and in an interesting narrative twist, both character's inner thoughts and ramblings can be heard by the viewer.
How light is it? It's not happy-go-lucky and can even be quite grim, but the style here is what lightens the mood: The constant stream-of-consciousness chaos in the duo's lives make the show funny on a relatable level.
Where can I watch it? Netflix, Hulu
The Inbetweeners
What's it about? The painfully realistic coming-of-age sitcom finds four suburban teenagers — Will, Simon, Jay, and Neil — trying to survive comprehensive school while simultaneously trying to climb the social ladder, avoid bullies, get girls to have sex with them, and stay sane. What could possibly go wrong?
How light is it? The Inbetweeners is certainly the silliest and most juvenile show from this list, and because of that it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. But if you want to hear terms like "bus wankers" and "bumders" tossed around frequently and with great fervor, this will certainly be a treat.
Where can I watch it? Netflix, Hulu
Little Britain
What's it about? David Walliams and Matt Lucas created Little Britain, a character-comedy sketch show (originally a radio program), to depict a seemingly parallel universe of England that pokes fun at all different types of British people. Between the dignified narration style and the absolutely bonkers characters, it's a spot-on parody of modern British life.
How light is it? This is the ultimate self-deprecation show. If you're easily offended, turn back now.
Where can I watch it? Hulu
What's it about? Each season of Blackadder follows the titular Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) as he navigates a different period in British history while trying to increase his status in society. Despite the four seasons ranging in date from Medieval England to the First World War, each of the Blackadder incarnations comes from the same family dynasty and embodies common personality quirks — although Blackadder's status becomes increasingly worse with each season.
How light is it? Blackadder is quite the cynical, clever fellow, with a penchant for colorful insults and irreverent banter. But alongside the slapstick humor, his dim-witted sidekick Baldrick, and doltish aristocrats, the show rounds out to be a solid 50-50 of light and dark.
Where can I watch it? Hulu
Father Ted
What's it about? Three priests are banished to the fictional Craggy Island in Ireland for past indiscretions, where they live together in a clergy house with the assistance of an overzealous housekeeper. A lethal combination of the morally ambiguous Father Ted, the childlike Father Dougal, and the raging alcoholic Father Jack attempt to bring harmony and stability to their parish and the island, but most of the time it doesn't work out.
How light is it? This is your standard, easy-to-follow sitcom, which follows the set-up of "normal person surrounded by and forced to interact with the crazies and weirdos that live in close proximity."
Where can I watch it? Hulu, Veoh
Jeeves and Wooster
What's it about? An adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse's classic stories, the series follows a dim aristocrat Bertie Wooster (Hugh Laurie) and his highly intelligent valet, Jeeves (Stephen Fry), whose chief purpose is keeping his master out of trouble. Still, things often go wrong, of course.
How light is it? Fry and Laurie are one of the best double-acts England has to offer. The natural dynamic between the two is often sardonic and cheeky, which is highlighted here by Wooster's often-bumbling adventures with his merry band of blue-blooded friends, and Jeeves always intervening to keep things at bay. It's also a good reminder that Laurie was — and still is — an excellent, Cambridge-trained comedian before his House years.
Where can I watch it? Hulu


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We have two vehicles here that are known for their versatility and fun: The 2017 Kia Soul and the 2017 Hyundai Veloster. The 2017 Soul has been on the lot for a few months and has a solid head start on the 2017 Veloster, which as of early 2017 had not yet arrived on dealer lots, but it will be in stock on lots by spring.
Chalk it up to nerves on Hyundai's part, perhaps, because the 2017 Soul is improved from its previous model year, with a revamped front fascia and an all-new turbocharged engine in its top-line Exclaim (!) trim level that allows the Soul to top out at 201 horsepower, making it the equal of the 2017 Veloster. But while the Veloster has a hatchback with access to 34.7 cubic feet of cargo, the 2017 Soul's hatch is an entrance into an SUV-like cargo area, with 61.3 cubic feet that are yours to fill.
|2017 Kia Soul
|2017 Hyundai Veloster
|Passenger Room (cubic feet)
|Cargo Room (cubic feet)
|U.S. News & World Report "Best Compact Car for the Money"?
|Car and Driver 10Best Trucks and SUVs for 2017?
|NHTSA 5-Star Overall Safety Rating?
The 2017 Kia Soul has cleaned up with some major awards for 2017, such as U.S. News & World Report's "Best Compact Car for the Money," and Car and Driver's 10Best Trucks and SUVs list for the Subcompact SUV class. The 2017 Veloster doesn't share these distinctions, although it did do well with safety testing and was given a 5-Star Overall Safety Rating by the NHTSA, as did the 2017 Soul.
Before we go, not only does the 2017 Kia Soul have superiority in cargo room and awards, it also has significantly more room for passengers, with 101 cubic feet, to the 2017 Veloster's paltry 89.8. Take a seat in the Soul and stretch out, and then stick around for its available speaker mood lights and available voice-command navigation. We carry the Kia Soul with pride at Boucher Kia of Racine, located at 9601 Washington Avenue in Racine WI, and we also serve the area which includes Milwaukee, West Allis and Kenosha. For more information about the Kia models on our lot, call (262) 725-4041 or come visit us at the dealership so we can set you up with a test drive for the 2017 Kia Soul.


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Deep Cleaning – Do It Yourself or Hire a Professional?
Choosing to do the deep cleaning yourself or hire a professional is a privilege that many people have but don't use. They are scared it's going to cost too much. Consequently, due to how busy most people are these days, some of the deep cleaning that needs to happen never gets done.
This causes lots of stress on the occupants of the home, because home is supposed to be a comfortable and safe place. If it's not tidy and clean, it doesn't always feel that way.
To choose whether to do it yourself or hire someone, ask these questions.
Ask Yourself:
* Do I Have Time? – Try to imagine yourself doing the job. How long do you think it'll take you? That's a good indication of whether you'll have the time to do it. Be realistic, especially if you've never done it before.
* How Much Is My Time Worth? – Once you have a good idea of how long it will take you, think about how much your time is worth. Do you think this is a good use of your time, or can you think of better things to do with it?
* Can I Physically Accomplish the Chore? – Think about the conditions of the job. For example, if the job is cleaning all your carpets, do you have the physical stamina to do it in the time limit you gave yourself?
* Do I Have the Supplies and Tools? – Will you need to rent any special tools, such as a professional carpet cleaner? This cost can add up. Plus, do you even know how to use it properly to do a good job?
* What's My Budget? – What am I willing to pay someone else to do it if I really don't want to do it, can't do it, or don't have time to do it?
Ask a Cleaning Service:
* What Is Your Experience? – It's a good idea to find out how long a company or person has been in business. The longer they've been doing this business, the better choice they may be, since people tend to enter and leave this space quickly.
* Do You Have Insurance? – For a business that is going to come into your home and clean anything, it's important to have insurance to cover damage, as well as workman's comp insurance for their employees in case of injury on the job. Otherwise, your home insurance may have to pay for the damage to property and life.
* What Is Your Employee Screening Process? – Ensure that employees have had background checks. It's better if they're bonded. You want to ensure that no one comes into your home that has a criminal background.
* How Do You Train Your Employees? – If someone is experienced, then their employees need to be trained properly on how to clean everything that you want to have cleaned.
* Do You Have a Written Checklist of What Tasks Your Team Will Perform? – This is important so that you can use that checklist to ensure that everything is completed to your satisfaction before the team leaves your home.
* What Type of Control Do I Have Over How They Clean? – Some cleaning companies are very particular about how their teams do the work. For example, one popular cleaning service only allows their workers to fill their bucket with water once, which means spreading around lots of germs in some cases.
* What Is Your Quality Assurance Guarantee? – Some cleaning companies offer a no-questions-asked refund if you're not satisfied; others will need you to call them immediately so they can send a manager over to check. Don't be afraid to speak up if you're not happy.
* Who Provides Supplies and Equipment? – Pick a company that brings their own supplies because that signifies knowledge and experience about which solutions work best for different cleaning problems. It will also be less money for you to lay out.
* How Long Do You Think My Cleaning Project Will Take? – Having an idea of how long it will take will give you a good indication of whether the price is right for you or not. Not only that – if you've already assessed how long it may take and you think they're going to do it too slow or fast, you can discuss the issue.
If you're willing to give up some measure of control over exactly how things are done, and you can afford it in your budget, then hiring a cleaning service for your deep cleaning projects can free you up to do something else.


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Mark your calendars! Beachkeepers will be hosting the 3rd annual Eco Happy Hour on Thursday, March 9th. The event will be held in the fellowship hall at the Beach Church from 4 to 6 pm.
Come sip and socialize and enjoy eco friendly information along with tips on how to protect our beach and preserve it's wildlife. The line-up of presenters include:
-Florida Sea Grant
-Keep Pensacola Beautiful
-Ocean Hour
-National Park Service
-Florida Audobon
-Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center
Show up : Receive rafffle tickets just for your eco-awareness
Recycle : Bring in your Mardi Gras beads and receive additional raffle tickets
Test your knowledge : Take our Eco Quiz and be entered to win a 1 night stay on beautiful Pensacola Beach
Beach clean up : Gather some beach litter and be entered to win a 2 night stay from Resort Quest
© 2014 Pensacola Beach Advocates


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Leche MontrealPosted By Jennifer Ho Jun 04 2013 · 0 comments · Snacks & Street Food, St Henri
People are going apeshit for donuts. You know what I'm talking about, Montrealers. The wave of trendy donut shops has not yet tided over – you've got Chez Boris, Leche and Saint Donut leading the charge in bringing gourmet donuts back to reality. Forget about Tim Hortons, Dunkin Donuts and what you thought you knew about how donuts taste. These guys are reintroducing the dessert in a way that will turn donut eating into your new bad, albeit delicious habit.
Leche Montreal feeds the donut craze by baking up a storm of different pastries. There are slight variations each time we go, but there are some mainstays that remain available almost all the time, unless they sell out before you get there. The space is comfortable and roomy, located inside a red brick building that may be hard to miss unless you're keeping an eye out for the surprisingly fit Leche baker. I mean, damn girl. For the amount of donuts you bake? You look good.
Leche Montreal serves both breakfast and lunch items but I think for the most part, the donuts are the main attraction. Stepping into the fragrant boutique bakery, you are able to observe the young team of bakers hustling in the back, mixing, sprinkling, rolling, decorating and baking all at the same time. The open kitchen keeps things interesting, allowing customers to see the hard work and the quality ingredients that go into each product.
Introducing… the ever elusive (sold out two out of the three times I went), super alluring (just look at the rich green color), mysterious pistachio donut. The pistachios liberally blanket the top of the golden head of the donut and as soon as you take your first bite, almond/pistachio cream oozes out into your mouth, and overwhelms your taste buds in the most enjoyable way you can think of. It's rich, buttery, a little nutty and completely freaking amazing. You have to try this one. Just look at it. If the pictures alone aren't enough to convince you to want to eat the screen, I don't know what will.
This guy is more of a straight shooter – there's no filling hidden inside the coconut lime donut. Instead, it's a simple dusting of sugar, lime zest and bits of coconut on top of a plain donut, the base of all donuts served at Leche. The dough is soft and supple, and with each bite, whatever is left of it springs back and retakes its original shape. Simple but equally delicious. Maybe one for those looking for something a little less carb heavy? Bah, who am I kidding. If you're counting, this isn't the place for you. This blog probably isn't either.
Ooooh, here's the orange blueberry yogurt donut. This one has a generous coating of yogurt based frosting all over the top and sides – you can tell as the frosting solidified, the hardened result acted as a shell protecting the top, giving shape and a nice canvas to work with. The donut is very sweet with high notes of orange that pierce through the milky yogurt flavour – I like how the combination of fresh slices of oranges and blueberries give a pop of freshness to each bite.
For me, the double chocolate brownie donut was a little disappointing. For a double chocolate donut, I expected "double" chocolate. Mine was more of a standard chocolate layer of icing on the top plus a bite sized piece of brownie. The brownie was good but once it was gone, the chocolate donut on its own wasn't very memorable.
The upside down pineapple donut is sticky, sweet and definitely messy. It's basically a slice of candied pineapple carefully laid down on top of the donut with cream pushed into the center. If you like that kind of stuff, this is the donut for you.
The cheesecake donut had a lovely jam garnish on top. Thick and fluffy, the donut was relative tall in height and packed a thick, creamy layer on the inside. Would order again.
The Bailey's Cream donut has cream piped into the center – it's surprisingly light, just a whisper of flavour that you taste twice to make sure you're not missing anything.
Check this out: on April 20th this year, we headed to Leche for a treat. Funny enough, they had a 420 donut, which we obviously had to get. Made with sprigs of mint leaves and white chocolate to mimic… well, I don't need to tell you. The donut itself was a cute nod of recognition to the unofficial holiday. That's how we celebrate 420… you?
And finally, the much hyped PB&J donut. The classic combination traditionally found on slices of white bread has migrated into the donut – maybe even the first of its kind Montreal has ever seen. Thick, rich peanut butter surrounded by sweet jam inside a puffed up piece of dough never tasted so good.
Big News: It looks like Leche has opened up a second shop in the Old Port, on de la Commune. They've also changed their opening hours: due to popular demand Leche is now open on Sundays. This means easier access and more donuts to go around. Hell yes.
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Max Health & Wellness provides a refreshing new approach to the delivery of rehabilitation services. We pride ourselves in ensuring every patient feels valued, confident and involved in the road to recovery. We are looking for a Speech Therapist (ST) who exudes great energy, makes welcoming people a top priority and is looking to grow with the company's long-term vision. The Speech Therapist performs clinical evaluations and establishes treatment programs so that each patient will achieve their maximum functional potential. The Speech Therapist provides direct speech therapy services primarily on a visiting and intermittent basis in the patient's home in accordance with the policies and procedures of Max Health & Wellness Home Health Services. The main responsibilities of the speech therapist are as follows:
· Consults with medical, ancillary professionals and other team members/supervisors to provide optimum quality patient care and effective operations.
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This is an opportunity to join a growing practice and a team that makes patient care a top priority.


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Sunday, May 31, 2009
Fractal Imaging
The other day, a friend of mine made me very happy. He returned my only copy of my favorite book, Fractal Imaging, by Ning Lu. This book has long been my favorite technical book, bar none, but I am beginning to think it might just be my favorite book of any kind.
"Virtue, like a river, flows soundlessly in the deepest place." You don't expect to encounter this sort of statement in an übergeek tome of this magnitude, and yet Lu scatters such proverbs (as well as quotations from Nietzsche, Joseph Conrad, Ansel Adams, Shakespeare, Jim Morrison, and others) throughout the text. This alone, of course, makes it quite an unusual computer-science book.
But the best part may be Lu's ability to blend the oft-times-sophisticated concepts of measure theory (and the math behind iterated function systems) with beautiful graphs, line drawings, transformed images (some in color; many downright spectacular), and the occasional page or two of C code. The overall effect is mesmerizing. Potentially intimidating math is made tractable (fortunately) through Lu's clear, often inspiring elucidations of difficult concepts. Ultimately, the patient reader is rewarded with numerous "Aha!" moments, culminating, at last, in an understanding for (and appreciation of) the surpassing beauty of fractal image transformation theory.
What is fractal imaging? Well, it's more than just the algorithmic generation of ferns (like the generated image above) from non-linear equation systems. It's a way of looking at ordinary (bitmap) images of all kinds. The hypothesis is that any given image (of any kind) is the end-result of iterating on some particular (unknown) system of non-linear equations, and that if one only knew what those equations are, one could regenerate the image algorithmically (from a set of equations) on demand. The implications are far-reaching. This means:
1. Instead of storing a bitmap of the image, you can just store the equations from which it can be generated. (This is often a 100-to-1 storage reduction.)
2. The image is now scale-free. That is, you can generate it at any scale -- enlarge it as much as you wish -- without losing fidelity. (Imagine being able to blow up an image onscreen without it becoming all blocky and pixelated.)
Georgia Tech professor Michael Barnsley originated the theory of fractal decomposition of images in the 1980s. He eventually formed a company, Iterated Systems (of which Ning Lu was Principal Scientist), to monetize the technology, and for a while it looked very much as if the small Georgia company would become the quadruple-platinum tech startup of the Eighties. Despite much excitement over the technology, however, it failed to draw much commercial interest -- in part because of its computationally intensive nature. Decompression was fast, but compressing an image was extremely slow (especially with computers of the era), for reasons that are quite apparent when you read Ning Lu's book.
Iterated Systems eventually became a company called MediaBin, Inc., which was ultimately acquired by Interwoven (which, in turn, was recently acquired by Autonomy). The fractal imaging technology is still used in Autonomy's MediaBin Digital Asset Management product, as (for example) part of the "similarity search" feature, where you specify (through the DAM client's GUI) a source image and tell the system to find all assets in the system that look like the source image. Images in the system have already been decomposed into their fractal primitives. When the source image's primitives (which, remember, are scale-free) are known, they can be compared against sets of fractal shards in the system. When the similarity between shard-sets is good enough, an "alike" image is presumed to have been found.
It's a fascinating technology and one of the great computer-imaging developments of the 20th century, IMHO. If you're into digital imaging you might want to track down Ning Lu's book. A 40-page sample of it is online here. I say drop what you're doing and check it out.
13 comments:
Interesting article. I'll put this book in my pile of shame with the other promising Computer Science-books I've not gotten around to read yet.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous1:29 PM
I remember the tech, I even played with fractals when I was still a hard-core developer. I miss those days. I wonder if anyone is working on the potential these days.ReplyDelete
Nice post, great book!ReplyDelete
As a math geek and avid PBS viewer, I found this book through an unbelievable NOVA special @ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fractals/
There's a lot more to be done with fractals in information (not just multimedia) management, including search/classification algorithms, social network analysis, as well as other exciting areas.
I am not sure if this got thru but if you are interested in Fractal technology and want to see how it works with a video that can be compressed or then to screen size resolution size independentReplyDelete
Look at a company TMMI
They bought the video code rights from iterated and sold it to TMMI even as Alan Sloan advised against it.
Sloan is now on the board of directors.
They have a working coded and you will see it very soon so if you are a techie type person all i can say is seeing is believing
There eniter history can be read at trudef blog
Enjoy the read and if you truly understand that with there working codec and today's computer processing speeds have made this a perfect storm for what is about to happen in 2013.
I look forward to hear your thoughts Kas
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***** Location: Kenya
***** Season: long rains /short rains
***** Category: Humanity
We would not often call them "rubber boots" in Kenya, as we use the word "rubbers" for an entirely different type of shoe! But perhaps, if we follow the British terminology, we might call them "wellington boots" or even "wellies" -- but gumboots is by far the more common name.
Isabelle Prondzynski
not spelled : gum boots
. . . CLICK here for Photos of "Wellington Boots" !
The gumboot dance is an African dance that is performed by dancers wearing Wellington boots.
In South Africa, these are more commonly called gumboots.
The boots may be embellished with bells, so that they ring as the dancers stamp on the ground.
The Wellington boot, also known as rubber-boots, wellies, topboots, gumboots, barnboots, muckboots or rainboots are a type of boot based upon leather Hessian boots.
It was worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. This novel "Wellington" boot then became a fashionable style emulated by the British aristocracy in the early 19th century.
The first Duke of Wellington instructed his shoemaker, Hoby of St. James's Street, London, to modify the 18th-century Hessian boot. The resulting new boot was fabricated in soft calfskin leather, had the trim removed and was cut to fit more closely around the leg. The heels were low cut, stacked around an inch (2.5 centimetres), and the boot stopped at mid-calf. It was suitably hard-wearing for battle, yet comfortable for the evening. The boot was dubbed the Wellington and the name has stuck in British English ever since. The Duke can be seen wearing his namesake boots, which are tasseled, in an 1815 portrait by James Lonsdale.
By the end of the war in 1945, the Wellington had become popular among men, women and children for wet weather wear. The boot had developed to become far roomier with a thick sole and rounded toe. Also, with the rationing of that time, labourers began to use them for daily work.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !
Worldwide use
Things found on the way
from the Kenya Saijiki Forum
children in gumboots
jumping in the mud
ouch! the legs stuck
~ Keago (Falcon)
unfurled umbrellas --
heavy raindrops
fall on muddy gumboots
~ Cyprian Awino
gumboots sold
at a very high price --
mud everywhere
~ Brian Mwangi
my sister is back
with muddy shoes and socks --
my gumboots
~ Agnes Adhiambo
muddy gumboots,
umbrellas up the sky --
full tanks
~ Debborah Mocheche
with hoes and spades,
men in gumboots dig the grave --
wet muddy earth
~ Patrick Wafula
kids in red
run and play around --
muddy gumboots
teresia njeri
long rains --
a school boy wraps his gumboots
in a long trouser
Barrack Elung'ata
pupils wash their muddy
gumboots in running water--
drizzly morning
Patrick Wafula
Your gumboots
and my rubber boots, wading
into a rain pool...
Zhanna P. Rader
moonless night
a pair of gumboots
inside the door
- Shared by Stella Pierides -
Joys of Japan, 2012
Related words
Posted by Gabi Greve at 3/11/2010
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Welcome to the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2015!
On January 24-25 we'll be bringing together the most innovative and inspiring digital activist and citizen media communities from the many corners of the globe to explore the connections between the open Internet, freedom of expression and online civic movements around the world.
See the draft Summit program below, and stay tuned as we refine the schedule and locations.
Follow us on Twitter at @globalvoices. Event hashtag: #GV2015
Governments from Hungary to Mexico to the Philippines have passed laws enshrining the right of access to information. How are journalists, bloggers, and human rights advocates using FOI and RTI laws to shine light on information about government activities? What impediments do they face in trying to do this?
This session will feature community experts speaking on their first-hand experience using these policies to bring greater transparency and accountability to the law-making environments in their home countries.


text: Posted on 13 March 2018 by Luca Tiratelli, Research Assistant The Personal is Statistical: Why do you drink? Why do you drink? It's a personal question, and yet data from the 2015 British Social Attitudes survey suggests that the answer might not be that personal at all. In fact, it seems that quite a large part of the answers can be explained by simply by looking at the broad categories that you fall into as a person. Read the rest of this entry Tags: drinking, health, British Social Attitudes, Health Survey for England, alcohol, binge-drinking


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What Do You Need To Be A Teams Number 1 Fan? It Starts With Devotion And An Limitless Wish To Purchase Vols Football Game Tickects To Each Home Game, And To Stop At Nothing To Attempt To See Every Away Game To Cheer On The College. Each Year Around August Interest Begins To Ramp Up For The New College Game Season, And We Desire To Help All The Big Fans Purchase Their Vols Football Game Tickects For The 2016 Season. Wouldn't It Be A Shame If Someone Desperately Wished To Go To A Game And They Could Not Buy Tickets So They Were Left Sitting Outside The Stadium And Could Only Dream About The Game. Their Other Option In Place Of Purchasing Vols Football Game Tickects Would Be To Find A Location Such As A Bar Or A Restaurant That Will Show The Game On A Giant Screen To Simulate Like You're At The Game. Nevertheless, This Is A Not Fun Replacement For Being At The Game Live.
The Newest Thing By More And More Of The Schools Is To No Longer Put On TV All The Games On Basic TV And Force People To Watch The Game Via Pay-Per-View. This Might Cost Up To 50 dollars And You Are Not Even At The Game. We On Occasion Have Tickets Beginning At 10 Dollars For A Couple Of Games. So You Can Sit With 4 Other Friends And Pay The Equal Total And You Get To Sit In The Stadium Verse Seeing It On TV. Would You Rather Purchase Vols Football Game Tickects From Us Than Being Forced To Spend Money To See It On A Screen? There Isn't Anything Like Watching The Game In Person With All The Tons Of Other Fans Yelling To Rally The Team. You Can Not Place A Value On An Experience|Event] Like That And It Is Defiantly Building A Superior Memory Having Vols Football Game Tickects Verse Not Buying Them.
BuyTennesseeFootballTickets.com Carries Seating For Each Tennessee Home Game As Well As Vols Football Game Tickects To Any Away Game. So It Does Not Matter Where You To See Them Play. We Will At All Times Have Seating To The Game. Yet We Typically Carry More Seating To Neyland Stadium Due To That Being The Home Stadium. You Might Think That With Being Such A Large Stadium That We Would Not Ever Run Out Of Vols Football Game Tickects. However, If The Game Is Very Important Or It Has Bowl Game Implications There Is Instances When It Gets Very Close To Kick Off Time We Are Empty. This Does Not Mean That We For You Up To The Last Minute Though. We Offer E-Tickets As Well As Will Call And Local Pickup So Everybody Could Wait If You Decide To Take That Opportunity.


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Other Arts
Rose Desmaisons
< Back
PresentationA rare technique
Rose Desmaisons enamels volcanoes lava. The opposition between the gross aspect of the lava and the precious aspect of enamels, mixed with a high-temperature fusion, the magic operates?Lava nugget gallery is create.
Artist? Art Gallery?
Create your own page on Artisho!


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Few bands as long-lived as moe. seem to have this much fun. Even decades into the rock life, moe. keeps finding new angles, which keeps their grins wide (and thus inspires the same upward turn in their fans). This tribute to Steve Jobs finds them tackling one of their signature numbers entirely on iPads. The video was directed by DI bud Jay Blakesberg and Jeremy Sewell. Talk about a living legacy, eh?
In Your Eye
you gotta see this


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What about the black community? Obama's "post-racial America" is very far from reality
Obama Facts
Two Americas – Conditions in the African community
Uhuru organizer speaks out on why the struggle with Obama
When Diop Olugbala, along with others from the Uhuru Movement, protested Barack Obama at a town hall meeting in St. Petersburg, FL on August 1, the movement's bold challenge was heard around the world.
"What about the black community?" is rapidly becoming the new mantra, targeting not just Obama but all the candidates large and small who are vying to lead the United States of America.
While Obama counts much of the African community in this country among his most enthusiastic supporters he has had no problem avoiding the pressing issues and ever-worsening conditions facing African people in America today.
African men are being shot down by police and rounded up for life long sentences in the prison system in epidemic proportions. The high school where Obama was speaking in St. Petersburg was attended by 17 year old Javon Dawson who was murdered by the St. Petersburg police in early June. Officer and Iraq war veteran Terrence Nemeth shot the unarmed Dawson twice in the back during a graduation party.
Instead of standing with African people Obama has taken every opportunity to use his campaign to attack them. These attacks include his disowning of Rev. Jeremiah Wright as his pastor and Obama's Father's Day presentation slamming black men with children.
Behind his slogans for "hope and change" Obama represents the forefront of imperialism's strategy for neocolonialism, defined by the Uhuru Movement as "white power in black face." In the U.S. and around the world African and oppressed representatives are hand picked by imperialist powers to carry out their bidding.
Obama's campaign is portrayed as "populist," representing the interests of "Main Street" America. But as an August 6 New York Times article revealed, a third of Obama's $340 million raised for his campaign so far has come from donations of $1,000 or over. Obama has more than 500 "bundlers," professional fundraisers, most of whom are lobbyists for big corporations.
After 8 years representing the 13th District of Chicago, the most impoverished area of the city, living conditions there are reportedly far worse for black people than before. Obama's district was home to the infamous Jon Burge, the Chicago police captain exposed for torturing African men, women and children for more than 20 years. Obama has yet to denounce Burge.
This country is built on the enslavement of African people, along with the genocide of the Indigenous people and theft of their land. The oppression of African people, as well as the theft of the labor, land and resources of oppressed peoples around the world make up the economic and political pedestal on which the white population of America and Europe sit.
The history of slavery, genocide and colonialism does not just go away or morph into a post racial America. This history is the basis for every contradiction festering in this country today, from the reality of two Americas – systemic poverty of African communities in the face of U.S. prosperity, to the fact that more young black men are sent to prison than go to college.
Some of us in the white population are beginning to feel pangs of the current U.S. economic crisis. But no one is talking about the long standing economic devastation of African communities where U.S. government imposed illegal drugs, foreclosed homes, gentrification, martial law and policies of police containment feed the multi billion dollar prison industry that has fed the failing U.S. economy for the past 35 years.
The Uhuru Movement understands that Africans are one people inside this country and around the world. The movement is working for the liberation of Africa and all its resources as the birthright of every African person anywhere in the world. This is only just.
The crisis of imperialism is deepening daily because of the resistance of African and oppressed peoples worldwide who are fighting to regain control of their resources, land and self-determination. They are determined to feed their children and build a future for themselves.
It has never been more obvious that the white world is in a crisis because it cannot function without oil, minerals and resources commandeered from others. Today the capitalist legacy of slavery, genocide and colonial extraction that fueled our world for hundreds of years is collapsing.
In the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, we are white people who believe that the future of the planet and the well-being of all peoples will be found in the movement to answer the question, "What about the black community?"
To really bring about hope and change we have to organize under the leadership of African workers struggling for liberation and justice. They are the ones transforming and changing the world from the ground up. Join us – be part of creating a future that all people can believe in. Uhuru!


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I used a vintage crochet pattern I am currently in love with, and adorned it with three different types of beads.
Recently I enriched my bead stash with lots of new colors and shapes, and now I can't wait to use them in the projects I've already sketched some designs for.
to you soon!


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In his public ministry, Jesus demonstrated mercy in numerous ways. Not only did he heal people, and relieve their suffering. He showed mercy in subtle and simple ways: listening to people, experiencing the emotions of inner movement, as well as cultivating friendships.
No feast exemplifies mercy more than Good Friday:
The events of Good Friday and, even before that, in prayer in Gethsemane, introduce a fundamental change into the whole course of the revelation of love and mercy in the messianic mission of Christ. The one who "went about doing good and healing"(Acts 10:38) and "curing every sickness and disease"(Mt. 9:35) now Himself seems to merit the greatest mercy and to appeal for mercy, when He is arrested, abused, condemned, scourged, crowned with thorns, when He is nailed to the cross and dies amidst agonizing torments.(Cf. Mk. 15:37; Jn. 19:30) It is then that He particularly deserves mercy from the people to whom He has done good, and He does not receive it. Even those who are closest to Him cannot protect Him and snatch Him from the hands of His oppressors. At this final stage of His messianic activity the words which the prophets, especially Isaiah, uttered concerning the Servant of Yahweh are fulfilled in Christ: "Through his stripes we are healed."(Is. 53:5).
Jesus shows human beings mercy, even when the same people did not return mercy at the hour of his torment, arrest, and execution. What does that mean for us? My sense is that we are dealing with something deeper than a historical event. It is easy enough for us to say in hindsight, "I would have stood with Jesus. I would have gone in his place." But the reality of the spiritual life is that we are given opportunities often enough. But we don't always stand with him. We don't always demonstrate the mercy we long for and which is offered to us.
Dives in Misericordia, the second encyclical of Pope John Paul II, is available online here, and is copyright © 1980 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana


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As a car, stops and tires lately as many million travels go, finally coming to an area where they are at risk of danger. To avoid dangerous circuits, you should always be on the guard for signs of washing or tire failure.
1. Tires that are not launched or uncomfortable
Driving properly works well in a specific way, and giving a little or less is not a good idea. Under-inflation causes rotation of the calcareous,
which causes acne and functional disorders. It also extends in rapid dialing and increased ease on the inner belts that add to the component.
In other words, hand-in-the-step-by-step increases in contacts, retention and stability. Unbalanced tires have a tendency to stand because they can not cause adverse effects from the pollution of the method as well. It's almost impossible to say if tires are fully packed by your buyer, so it is recommended that you check in every other pot. Describe the direction of your design driver's door for the right price.
2. Without line-up
3. Low click depth
The effect of Tire, companies outside of the car, helps hold and rinse water and decrease in increasing contact. While the tire lasts for thousands of miles, then it will wear away.
If you have any questions about depth click on your tire, it's easy to check. First of all, find a penny (there's been bound to be somewhere in your vehicle), and put it in the center of the middle with Abraham Lincoln head pointing to the wheel. If you can look up your head, replace your tires.
4. Bulges and bubbles
Impacts against babies and other offset methods can also split tires against rim and cause harm or bubble. This happens when relaxing in the lungs, let the air fall into the outer cast. The tire button is a weakness that may suddenly, so it's not safe to load on the tire.
5. The harmful
It has bound you to get the appliance in your tire at a certain location. Whether it is a nail, a guard, or anything that is a wood or a metal, if it is something that makes your tire permit not good news. You may be able to use the plug or patent to close the hole, but note that it is larger than ¼ inch in diameter or on the side side can not be repaired.


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Democrats, far-left praise Marco Rubio's immigration moves (NCLR; Sharry; IPC; Obama and Gutierrez spox)
In a January 18, 2013 press release, Marco Rubio lists some of the supposed conservatives who support his immigration amnesty plan ( peekURL.com/zycdzeU ).
To be balanced, here are some positive mentions of his plan (or at least support for his actions on comprehensive immigration reform) from those Rubio should be opposing on immigration: the Democrats and the far-left.
Speaking only in general terms, when the National Council of La Raza praises someone on immigration that's not a good sign: they strongly support illegal immigration in order to gain racial power, and they aren't about to praise anything or anyone that gets in the way of that.
Rubio should be opposing the NCLR, working to discredit them and reduce their power. Instead, Rubio gets a shout-out from them.
These probably won't make it to a Rubio press release:
* White House press secretary Jay Carney ( peekURL.com/zVUcQq8 ):
"We are encouraged - referring now to recent reports' that Senator Rubio's thinking - as reported - so closely reflects the president's blueprint for reform," Carney said. "The president has long called for partners from both sides of the aisle. And he has lamented the absence of partners from the other side of the aisle. It used to be a bipartisan pursuit, comprehensive immigration reform. For a while, it ceased to be. But he certainly hopes that it will be in the future."
Carney said Rubio's "ideas bode well for a productive, bipartisan debate," and said the administration hoped other Republicans followed suit.
"We hope that it signals a change in the Republican approach to this issue, because if we are going to get this done, it's going to take more than just a handful of Republicans working across the aisle," Carney said. "It's a kind of thing, comprehensive immigration reform, that requires significant bipartisan support. And he hopes that this augers well for the future."
Make sure and see Obama immigration for all the many things Obama has said and done to enable massive and illegal immigration, even though he co-sponsored this bill.
* Clarissa Martinez De Castro of the National Council of La Raza (see both those links; quote source at peekURL.com/zER43ER ):
"[Rubio] has the potential to be a force for building the space in which Republicans are meaningfully considering resolutions to this problem," said Martinez-De-Castro. "The expectations are high for his leadership on this."
See the first two links in this section. If Rubio was proposing a plan that would deprive the NCLR of power, try and imagine what she'd say (hint: it would be very different).
* Douglas Rivlin, spokesman for Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Illinois) (source: peekURL.com/zrXnxXh ):
"[Rubio's proposal is] generally encouraging".
That might not seem like much, except Rivlin is a very strong supporter of illegal immigration and he's not wont to praise Republicans, see his name's link. His boss is an even stronger supporter. Gutierrez went as far as calling ICE agents "Gestapo agents", calling Tom Tancredo a "gringo", and trying to give illegal aliens a better home loan rate than veterans (see his name's link for much more). Now, his spokesman is encouraged by Rubio's plan.
* Frank Sharry (see his name's link; source ibid):
"He's doing an awesome job of bringing along conservatives and bringing along conservatives in the media," said Frank Sharry, the founder of America's Voice, which advocates for comprehensive reform. "He's making enormous progress in making reform palatable to people on the right in a way that no one has before."
"I think it's encouraging. He's talking about the basic elements of reform shared by pro-reform Republicans and the vast majority of Democrats," Sharry said.
* "The Rubio Immigration Plan Conservatives Love Looks a Lot Like Obama's" in Mother Jones is authored by Adam Serwer (see his name's link) and has another Sharry quote ( peekURL.com/zBnvbRk ):
Rubio's immigration principles "are in line with [Democratic] principles," says Frank Sharry, director of the pro-immigration reform group America's Voice. "It's huge…We need conservatives to buy into the framework of a broad bill that simultaneously puts undocumented immigrants on the road to citizenship, modernizes our legal immigration system, and focuses enforcement on unauthorized hiring and exploitation in the workplace. Rubio is there."
Still, "there are many, many important details"-such as how long or difficult the road from legal status to citizenship would actually be-for reform advocates and opponents "to fight over," Sharry notes. One key difference is that Rubio seems willing to break up his proposal into multiple bills, which would make it easy for Republicans to kill off the parts they don't like.
Due to the dynamic discussed previously, that "key difference" is moot.
Not only does that have Sharry praising Rubio's actions yet again, but it also has Serwer - someone not entirely ignorant about immigration matters unlike some other writers - not really opposing Rubio's plan. If Rubio's plan would reduce illegal immigration and deprive the far-left of power, Serwer's take would be far different.
* The Immigration Policy Center (see the link) is a major supporter of amnesty (source: ibid):
Nevertheless, says the Immigration Policy Center's Mary Giovagnoli, immigration reform advocates believe that some form of legalization of the undocumented is the most important element of any proposal, and if there is agreement on that, the rest can be negotiated. "I'm more optimistic than I have been for the last few years," Giovagnoli says.
It's much better for the U.S when people like her are pessimistic. Rubio's making her optimistic instead.
* On Rachel Maddow's site, Steve Benen links to Serwer and says ( peekURL.com/z7Phgeg ):
At a certain level, I care more about the policy than who gets credit for the ideas. If Rubio wants to take the president's plan, put a new name at the top, and convince the right it's a Republican-friendly version, so be it. Indeed, Rubio's contempt for Obama suggests the senator may want to maintain the fiction, at least publicly, that his plan is somehow distinct from the White House's.
But putting the Republican's posturing aside, the obvious overlap between the two similar approaches makes the odds of legislative success that much better.
* Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-California) didn't praise Rubio or his plan directly, but as with the NCLR his response would be far different if Rubio's plans would deprive him of power ( peekURL.com/z3eCk7U ):
"I think the more we talk about getting it (immigration reform) down, the better. We always welcome voices in Congress that talk about getting something done and fixing the broken immigration system. I welcome any comment that takes us forward", [Becerra said]... When asked his thoughts on Rubio's proposal for a tax on illegal immigrants who "come out of the shadows," Becerra said that, "no one's been proposing amnesty, and everyone has been proposing that folks come out of the shadows, that's been around for years."
Needless to say, Rubio and his defenders would also deny he's proposing amnesty; see reform not amnesty for the word games such people use ("amnesty" is used in this post as shorthand for legalizing millions of illegal aliens).
As more praise for Rubio's plan or his actions comes in, they'll be added to this post.
And, to find out why you just can't trust him, see Marco Rubio.
* Sen. Pat Leahy has been near the center of pushes for amnesty for years. From another Serwer post (this one about conservative media caving on amnesty; source peekURL.com/z3NcRNY ):
"I expect that the Judiciary Committee will devote most of our time this Spring working to pass comprehensive immigration reform," Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) said during an appearance at the Georgetown University Law Center Wednesday. "I have a lot of respect for Marco Rubio," Leahy added. "We disagree on some things, but we agree on others, but I found him to be very open in his views and I'll seek that."
As with some of the other quotes, what matters is what Leahy didn't say: imagine how he'd react to an attrition plan for instance.
* The New York Times (see that, Andrew Rosenthal, Lawrence Downes, and NYT editorial) offers the editorial "The Immigration Saga Continues" ( peekURL.com/zJ5CuES ):
Senators are huddling and floating proposals; some Republicans, like Marco Rubio of Florida, are positioning themselves as reformers with vague but positive-sounding statements.
Senator Rubio has been out shopping his ideas: more visas for high-technology, professional and temporary agricultural workers, a national work-eligibility verification program and provisional legalization for the 11 million undocumented, who would not be granted permanent status until all other legal immigrants got their green cards.
Some of the 11 million could presumably become citizens one day, though Mr. Rubio has not said how that would work. If you force millions of people to wait at the end of a visa line that for some countries is already decades long, is that really a path to citizenship? Still, he rejects the mass-deportation, Arizona-style lunacy recently embraced by Republican leaders like Mitt Romney. For a party so prone to vilifying and criminalizing immigrants, that's progress.
You did see the links above, right? The New York Times - which has been financially supported in part by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim - has repeatedly lied, smeared, and misled in order to enable massive/illegal immigration and amnesty. As with the other quotes above, they would have responded very differently if Rubio's plan didn't serve their agenda.
* From a Dallas Morning News editorial ( peekURL.com/zacK2UD ):
Rubio is combining toughness with fairness and practicality. In doing so, the conservative Republican is showing how America can step out of its immigration quandary.
* Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell ( peekURL.com/zeQAswJ ):
"I applaud Senator Rubio for broaching that subject, for taking it head on and I also believe he made hints about allowing a path to citizenship particularly for DREAMers and I think that's absolutely essential."
Note: "DREAMers" is the term for those illegal aliens who'd be covered by the anti-American DREAM Act.


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September 06, 2018
Dynaudio Unheard Smukfest '18: Northern Assembly
The Danish folk group Northern Assembly packed the recording studio with drums, bass, guitars, mandolin and double bass. It was evident that the group knew exactly how they wanted to work, and they quickly developed great rapport with US producer Ashley Shepherd.
Links on page:


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Ishpingo Tours: Be free to be yourself
Ecuador is yours to discover. We at Ishpingo Tours look forward to sharing with you the country's unique culture and diversity in sophisticated style. Let us take care of everything and come join us in the true spirit of adventure! Our greatest wish is that you gain the most from your travels in this extraordinary country.
LGTB departures to discover Quito and Galapagos


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The White "Ho"
Oh my, this is way too funny. So much for MSM editing. So what does MSNBC really think of Norah O'Donnell?
Via the Political Teen
Posted June 8, 2005 by Red
Fun, Main | 2 comments
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2 Responses to "The White "Ho""
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September 6th, 2007 10:49 pm
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[...] as this blast from the past in 2005 when MSNBC referred Nora O'Donnell as the White Ho. Share [...]
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We will host an open meeting to plan the rest of the year this Thursday, May 30th at 6:30 pm. Location: Avalon Perks, 12001 Avalon Lake Drive, Orlando, FL 32828
The meeting is open to all members and those interested in the club. The group is dedicated to promoting outdoor exercise and staying healthy. We do not compete with any other clubs, but try to cross-promote instead.
If you are interested in cycling, running, triathlons or just want to stay healthy, please stop by and consider getting involved.
The preliminary agenda is:
Club structure, membership, etc.
Events planning
Charity involvement and selection
New Business