text:
Gender inequality is manifestly unfair. It is also bad economics: under-investing in women and girls puts a brake on poverty reduction and limits economic and social development. There has been major progress in health and education over the past three decades: two-thirds of all countries have now reached gender parity in primary education, fertility rates have declined, and life expectancy for women has increased substantially.
Yet, serious gender disparities persist. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, for example, still see maternal mortality rates comparable to that of Northern Europe in the 19th century. Wage gaps and gender segregation in economic activity are pervasive—for example, women agricultural workers, especially in Africa, operate smaller plots of land, have less access to essential inputs such as fertilizer, are limited in their access to credit, and farm less remunerative crops, leading to less overall productivity. Globally, only one in five national parliament members is a woman and an estimated one in ten ever-partnered women will be abused by a partner in her lifetime. In some cases, there is a reverse problem, in over one-third of countries, girls significantly outnumber boys in secondary education.
The World Bank Group has focused on gender since 1977, when it appointed its first Women in Development Adviser. In 1995, then-President Jim Wolfensohn chose to give his first major speech at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, proposing universal primary education for girls and boys by 2010. The Bank adopted a mainstreaming strategy in 2001, and in 2008, then-President Robert Zoellick called for an increase in IDA investments toward gender as one of his six commitments on gender equality.
The Gender Action Plan (2007-2011) boosted the Bank Group's support to women and girls in the traditionally difficult-to-mainstream economic sectors, using pilots to increase visibility and yield results in the short term. The plan's clear message, "Gender Equality as Smart Economics" built on the World Bank's comparative advantage and helped gain broad-based support.
Gender was identified as a special theme for the 16th IDA replenishment which mobilized funding for the IDA16 implementation period FY 2012 – 2014. IDA committed to strengthen gender mainstreaming in its operations and analytical work through specific gender-related deliverables in these countries over the three-year period.
Among the deliverables was the completion and launch in September 2011, of the World Bank's World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development (WDR 2012), which provided much-needed evidence documenting areas of progress and remaining gender gaps globally.
Disparities in gender equality come with economic costs, shortchange the next generation, and lead to suboptimal institutions and policies. Studies show that progress in this area benefits everyone, not just women and girls. Economies thrive; women, men, girls, and boys have access to equal opportunities; and communities prosper when women and men are equally empowered.
Under IDA16, the Bank made specific commitments to accelerate progress on gender mainstreaming and gender-related MDGs, and introduce a robust results framework to track this progress. The actions are as follows:
- Complete the World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development;
- Ensure that 100 percent of IDA CASs draw on and discuss the findings of a gender assessment, which would be supported through the issuance of a guidance note on the World Bank gender policy, training for staff on how to mainstream gender issues in CASs, and more robust corporate review of gender analysis of CASs by the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) network;
- Increase gender-informed IDA investments and monitor progress
- Continue to track three indicators to measure IDA's support to gender-based country outcomes in the percentage of: (i) safety nets projects designed to mitigate risk and vulnerability for women and girls; (ii) agriculture and rural development operations that target women; and (iii) health projects that address high fertility and maternal mortality;
- Complete the preparation of Regional Gender Action Plans;
- Implement the Reproductive Health Action Plan with a focus on 52 priority countries with high maternal mortality and total fertility rates, including 25 countries in the Africa region;
- Complete the Education Sector Strategy and subsequently implement a program of action targeting gender issues in high priority countries; and
- Strengthen efforts to integrate a gender perspective in IDA's support to fragile and conflict-affected countries.
This framework was complemented by a Bank Group-wide set of strategic directions, laid out following the release of the WDR 2012 to increase attention to gender equality and to provide a framework for the World Bank's work going forward. These five strategic directions are:
1. informing country policy dialogue;
2. enhancing country-level gender diagnostics;
3. scaling up lending for domestic priorities;
4. increasing the availability of gender-relevant data and statistics; and
5. leveraging partnerships.
The World Bank Group is already seeing marked improvement in the quality and volume of gender-informed work in response to the IDA16 commitments and the strategic directions based on the recommendations of the WDR 2012. The work is far from over, however, and continued attention to issues of gender equality in IDA and across the Bank Group is crucial to ensuring that gains are not temporary and that gender equality remains everyone's business.
A number of projects have achieved positive gender results, and promising new projects are getting off the ground that specifically target women and girls as beneficiaries. A few examples are below.
In Punjab, Pakistan, home to 60 percent of the country's population, the Bank is helping expand access to quality education and promote better governance and accountability in the education system. Under the government's Bank-supported program, more than 400,000 eligible girls receive targeted monthly stipends tied to school attendance; and the government supports approximately 2,000 low-cost private schools serving nearly a million low-income students. This is in a broader context where the primary net enrollment rate increased from 50 percent to 54 percent since 2007 and the ratio of female-male primary net enrollment rose in rural areas from 61 percent to 76 percent.
Tajikistan faces high stunting rates, the result of under-nutrition, a condition exacerbated by the 2008 food price shock. To mitigate the risk of malnutrition, the Bank-supported community and basic health project provides food packages and micronutrient supplements to approximately 50,000 women, infants and children under age 5. By mid-2011, the project had trained 1,000 primary healthcare workers and 300 community volunteers to deliver education on breastfeeding, good nutrition and care of sick children to 1,000 pregnant woman, and micronutrient supplements and vitamins had been delivered to approximately 44,000 women and children.
The IDA-funded US$150 million Water and Sanitation Service Improvement Project, approved in 2007, is supporting Kenya's efforts to expand access to safe water and sanitation services. The project initiated a capacity building program targeting 24 utilities. One example of the project's aim to improve access is the Githunguri Water Company which, following the utility training, changed its connection policy. It no longer requires women to provide title deeds to secure a connection or to register under their father's or husband's names. Meters can now be rented and connection payments made by installments. As a result, between January and May 2011 the company received 18 applications from women. Following the change of policy and awareness creation, within six weeks 50 women had signed up for new connections and 29 had been connected. Similar efforts were recorded with the Kiambu Water Company which reduced connection fees from US$93 to US$67 and made it payable by installments, targeting increased applications from women.
The Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MoWI) in Kenya won second place in the United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA) in 2012, in recognition of its work to promote gender-responsive public service delivery.
In Liberia, the Adolescent Girls Initiative "Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women" targets 2,500 young women age 16 to 27 in Greater Monrovia and Kakata City at the critical school-to-work transition stage. The program consists of six-months of classroom training followed by six-months of placement and support (including micro-enterprise advisory services and internship and job placement assistance). The aim is to smooth the transition from the classroom to wage or self-employment. About 65% of the girls were trained in business development skills and roughly 35% were trained in job skills. All girls also received life skills training. Post-training all graduates enter a 6-month support period where they are assisted with job searching and placement or otherwise supported to start their own businesses.
Preliminary results show that the program led to a 50 percent increase in employment and a 115% increase in average weekly income among project beneficiaries, compared to those in the control group. The majority of the employment increase was driven by the business skills track. The program also significantly increases average weekly income and girls' savings.
More than eleven years after the fall of the Taliban, improving the lives of women in Afghanistan remains a critical challenge. One of the more ambitious efforts has been led by the National Solidarity Program (NSP), a community-driven development project which covers 30,000 villages across Afghanistan. NSP includes special provisions to promote gender equality, such as establishing a gender-balanced village development council and requiring female participation in council elections and in the selection of village projects.
The program was found to improve attitudes on female participation in community affairs. Men in villages with NSP were 20 percent more likely to accept women's involvement in the selection of the village headman, while women were 8 percent more likely. There was also a reduction in the proportion of men and women who felt that female villagers should have no role in community decision-making (by 42 and 16 percent respectively). Women and men in villages with NSP were more likely to report that there is at least one woman in the village well-respected by men and women alike (21 and 27 percent respectively), and women in NSP villages were also 13 percent more likely to have been involved in income-generating activities.
In Bolivia, the Urban Infrastructure Project (2006- 2010) aims to achieve sustainable improvements in the urban infrastructure and living standards in the poorest neighborhoods of La Paz, to enhance mobility in the city of El Alto, and to expand sewerage coverage in poor areas of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Some early benefits of this project include a reduction in violence against women resulting from the installation of indoor sanitation facilities and street lighting; an expected enhancement of women's economic opportunities due to the construction of childcare facilities and community centers; and pedestrian friendly infrastructure which took into account the needs of women, the elderly, and children.
The Burundi Health Sector Development Support Project (US$25 million), is a national results-based financing program which has helped to increase utilization of reproductive health services. It saw an increase in facility based births by 25 percent; an increase in prenatal consultations by 20 percent; a 35 percent increase in curative care consultations for pregnant women; and a 27 percent increase in family planning services obtained through health facilities during its first year of implementation (FY11). Knowledge efforts include Demographic Dividend in African Countries which focused on addressing the policy implications of population growth and economic development, identified country-specific factors for capturing the demographic dividend, and estimated the expected size and duration of the additional population and economic growth.
The Safe Motherhood Vouchers Program has provided services to poor households in Sana'a, Yemen, through vouchers aimed at pregnant women. The project enrolled 9,500 poor eligible women and delivered births to about 7,000 cases. The political climate and security concerns have slowed work in 2012 and have created additional barriers to improving health outcomes, as witnessed by the closure of health centers in Yemen (for example), which will need to be reviewed and addressed moving forward.
Current operations specifically addressing at-risk youth and employment in fragile and conflict-affected states include the Afghanistan Skills Development Project (US$20 million from IDA and funding from other donors), the Liberia Youth, Employment, Skills Project (US$6 million from IDA and additional funding from the Catalytic Growth Fund), the Sierra Leone Youth Employment Support Skills Project (US$20 million from IDA) and the Côte d'Ivoire Emergency Youth Employment and Skills Development Project (US$50 million from IDA). These projects target low-skilled male youth and include provisions to assure participation of low-skilled female youth.
And, finally, a $50 million IDA operation in Ethiopia, the Women's Entrepreneurship Development Project promotes small and medium enterprises owned or part owned by women, through access to microfinance, developing entrepreneurial skills, technology and cluster development, training in project management, advocacy and outreach, monitoring and evaluation, and impact evaluations to provide lessons about what works.
Bank Group Contribution
In Fiscal Year 2012, approximately US$12.9 billion, or 90 percent, of IDA commitments were gender-informed.
Moving Forward
World Bank Group is ramping up its gender work and policy dialogue in all regions and sectors through Regional Gender Action Plans, Country Assistance Strategies, and a greater emphasis on measuring results, improving data coverage and working in frontier areas. The IDA16 commitments will continue to be tracked, and gender will continue to feature as a prominent area of focus beyond the IDA16 implementation period.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has made strong commitments on gender, highlighting a need for better data that measures equality for women and girls. In this vein, the World Bank is committed to improving data collection in 10 countries this year, in key areas such as women's earnings, property ownership, and political voice. Next year, the World Bank will target 10 additional countries, and add more each year.
A gender companion to the 2013 World Development Report on Jobs will be completed in mid-2013, and a new report on Women's Voice, Agency, and Participation will be released in Spring 2014. Additionally the third edition of the World Bank Group's Women, Business and the Law report will be released in Fall 2013, updating and expanding on the existing data, including new economies, and adding information on violence against women legislation. This underlines the World Bank's long-held assertion that these issues matter intrinsically and that addressing them is the smart thing to do, because inequality is costly, and increasingly so in a globalizing world.


text:
Member List
The biggest purchase you'll ever make deserves a certified professional. IAC2 helps you find certified indoor air/water consultants in your area (or the area of your new property). And by only listing inspection professionals certified by the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI), you'll be sure your property is inspected by a professional who must take a Standards of Practice Quiz, a Code of Ethics Course, fulfill annual continuing education requirements, pass an inspection exam every year and take additional indoor air quality training.
To begin, choose your state or an consultant name from the boxes to your right.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Many of you may have read Tom Silverstein's article this morning over at jsonline. I think Silverstein wrote it to highlight one major point: that it's interesting that TT would be so confident in a team that just finished 6-10. I think it's interesting too. I badly want to believe TT is right about this, that it was a combination of just a few factors that led us to 7 losses by 4 points or less, that he's right about draft first/free agency second and that he knows what he's doing. But I'm not so sure. In the article, TT goes on to express confidence in his starting group (whoever they may be now). I disagree here. Right now, I am not necessarily scared by our starting group. Off the top of my head, I can think of 9 starting positions (give or take) that are at least questionable : RT, LT b/c Clifton sucks, at least one guard spot, 2 of 3 D-Line positions, 3-4 of the LB positions due to Hawk's poor play, Barnett's injury and unknowns at the other OLB spots, and one of the safety spots.
I know he wouldn't publicly point out positional weaknesses in an article like this and he wants his team to believe he believes in them. And I hope we can fill some holes through the draft. But a part of me does worry that he actually believes we are set with most of our starters and it's more a matter of just playing better. I will continue to be suspect of TT's over-reliance on the draft until we have 2-3 winning seasons in a row.


text:
Last Friday's situation at the Mexican Foxconn factory (the company that supplies components and products to Apple) where enraged employees burnt the place down over being forced to work unpaid overtime will be receiving extra pay, according to Foxconn.
Nothing like a bit of exposure on the tech blogs to force the Juarez arm of the Taiwanese company into doing the right thing by its workerbees. Apparently, the "ringleader" was someone who actually left Foxconn last year, and will be the one punished by the heavy arm of the law—not the hundreds of other workers who joined in on the arson.
Thankfully, Foxconn has also confirmed that nothing was severely damaged by the fire, so they can get back to work polishing those nice shiny gadgets we've been expecting. [Digitimes]


text:
The last half an hour prior to the appointment I could almost hear the mourning bells of St. Sepulchres church. Clutching my imaginary gallows speech I took myself along from the east to the west along Holborn, St Giles, and the Tyburn Road, perhaps having one final pint prior to stepping up on to the gallows, and having my hair washed by 16 stone tart called Sharron in the windows of Tony's the unisex hairdresser round the corner from my office.
We'd already gone through the preliminary 'what do you want' bit when they pointlessly sit you in a chair and, standing behind you so you can see them in the mirror, froth your hair up a bit looking like they really give a fucking shit. Sharron performed this part very badly, I thought. When I told her what I wanted she responded, terrifyingly, with a 'why would you do that, then.' I should've thrust a pair of scissors into her head and legged it, but I didn't. I stayed.
Wordlessly Sharron began to work on my barnet, her pendulous breasts smacking against my shoulder and her WKD and chip sodden gunt rubbing against my arm. Every time she moved her giant gold earrings, at least 3 in each fleshy lughole, would clatter together like marbles being dropped on terracotta. I watched vast swatches of my hair flying off as she got down and dirty with my cows lick, I could feel the cold steel of the scissors way too high up the back of my neck. I thought I may be sick.
After a tortuous 45 mins an apparition of my former self made itself known to me. 'You've finished?' I said staring at Moe Midgely. '22 quid' said Sharron.
So, there you have it. I made the decision to do this thing to myself, what possessed me yesterday to undertake this act of personality defiance, I'm a person who likes to listen to the metal of the lords, the punk of kings, yet here I am telling the word that I love Chico and buggery. In the past, on these very pages, I've spoken of Sigmund Freud standing up in a railway carriage and not recognising himself in an adjacent mirror for a split second, he calls this 'lost' moment the uncanny, it's the model for surrealism. Its not pleasant walking about ones home getting the fucking fear of Lucifer everytime one happens to glance into a mirror. Waking up this morning and seeing myself for the first time, expecting to see my usual self was like a scream of such enormous volume it was the personification of total silence. I nearly passed out from the stress of being subject to such a violent episode of displacement.
In short, I look like an utter, utter cunt.
I need this, you need this so you don't take the same path as I.


text:
From Russia with Love
My tea from Russia was almost gone.
I decided to crank up, well, plug in, the Samovar, and make the last of the Russian tea in as traditional a manner as I know how.
A Samovar is a utensil consisting of a boiler with a faucet near the bottom, steam-holes and a teapot which sits on top, and some type of heating device. This is not just an ordinary piece of equipment, but a revered symbol of Russian hospitality.
The evolution of the Samovar is a study in technology and adaptability. Traditionally, a Samovar used charcoal to heat the water in the boiler. Today, nickel-plated electric Samovars reign. Only the Trans-Siberian Railroad has clung to the traditional smoky, charcoal heated Samovar.
I poured water into the base and plugged it in.
I made the concentrated tea for the little teapot on top. This step is very important and cannot be made with tea bags. Only good loose tea is suitable. The tea should be strong; the color of a chestnut. I delighted in the ritual of making tea and thinking of my tea from Russia.
A Mongolian ruler gave Tsar Michael I a gift of about 140 pounds of tea about 1638. Catherine the Great established regular imports of tea around 1736. The tea caravans brought more than 3 million pounds of loose tea and tea bricks by camel along the silk road. This amount of imported tea allowed the price to be lowered and thus in Russia, the lower and middle class could enjoy tea. Today, tea is grown in Georgia, and neighboring Azerbaijan, both countries a part of the former Soviet Union.
"Good tea takes patience and commitment." ( Daniel Nagy)
First, I added the concentrated tea to my cup…..
The concentrate is very strong, and as one writer said, "Never drink it undiluted, because it has a strong narcotic effect, causing increased heart rate, hallucinations and restlessness."
Next, hot water from the spout…...….dilutes the concentrate to suit my taste.
And my tea is ready !!! Of course, some like lemon, or milk (but not together), sugar, honey, rum or vodka ! I like my tea straight up ! No additions. I will use my Samovar again, and again.
Happy Infusions,
One Response to "From Russia with Love"
I love your samovar and your website!
I have a friend with a samovar but there are no instructions on how to use it. I've read online you do 5 teaspoons loose tea per 1 cup boiling water.
But I wanted to know exactly how much zavarka (tea concentrate) would you put in each cup? Is your beautiful tea cup 6 oz or 8 oz, so how much concentrate did you use?
Thank you very much!!
– Katherine


text:
Apple seems to have dashed the hopes of those hoping to be able to use high-performace ZFS storage pools and RAIDs with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. Apple has purged all references to the advanced filesystem from its website, conflicting with the rumor that full read and write support for ZFS was coming to Apple's server OS. It also appears that basic read-only support, currently in both the client and server versions of Leopard, may have been cut as well.
Up until Monday's WWDC keynote, the preview page for Snow Leopard Server specifically referred to ZFS support as one of its key features. "For business-critical server deployments, Snow Leopard Server adds read and write support for the high-performance, 128-bit ZFS file system, which includes advanced features such as storage pooling, data redundancy, automatic error correction, dynamic volume expansion, and snapshots," bragged the copy on Apple's website.
However, none of the current information about Snow Leopard includes any reference to ZFS. In fact, even a reference to read-only ZFS support that's currently in Leopard (both client and server) has been removed. Apple did not respond to our request for clarification on the matter.
The removal has lead to rampant speculation about the future of ZFS support for Mac OS X. Some hypothesize that it may be related to the recent purchase of Sun by database heavyweight Oracle, which is more invested in supporting BTRFS, while others suggest Apple may be planning to implement its own ZFS-like replacement. Given that Apple has been involved in porting ZFS to Mac OS X for at least three years, and that ZFS is still an active—if languishing—project on MacOSForge, neither of those explanations seems entirely likely.
However, one commenter in our Macintoshian Achaia, who appears to be familiar with developer builds of Mac OS X, suggests that support for ZFS was removed as far back as March of this year. The implementation from earlier this year was said to still have a number of bugs, and it didn't support recently added features such as booting capability. It seems more likely that Apple deemed this support not ready for release and pulled it from launch. That doesn't preclude ZFS support from being added into a point release sometime in the future, or even being pushed back to 10.7.
Since many capabilities of ZFS are so unlike those of the device-centric filesystems that came before it, many of the assumptions about filesystems that were used in the design of the Finder likely require some serious under-the-hood changes to integrate seamlessly. That is unfortunate for those hoping to harness the power and data reliability of ZFS in Snow Leopard. But if support is going to be included, I think we would all prefer that support to be as rock solid as possible.


text:
MOUNTAIN VIEW (AP) — Google's fourth-quarter earnings rose 7 percent as online advertisers spent more money in pursuit of holiday shoppers.
The financial results announced Tuesday were a mixed bag. While the company's earnings topped analyst estimates, an accounting quirk caused net revenue to fall below the projections that guide investor expectations.
Wall Street still liked what it saw. Google's stock climbed $30.78, or 4.4 percent, to $733.65 in extended trading.
The most recent quarter didn't provide an apples-to-apples comparison to the previous year because the latest results included Motorola Mobility. Google didn't own Motorola Mobility in 2011, having completed its $12.4 billion acquisition of the handset maker eight months ago.
Things were further complicated by Google's recent agreement to sell a part of the Motorola Mobility division that makes cable TV boxes. That division is now accounted for as a discontinued operation.
Google earned nearly $2.9 billion, or $8.62 cents per share during the final three months of last year. That compared to net income of $2.7 billion, or $8.22 per share, at the same time last year.
If not for the costs of employee stock compensation and certain other accounting items, Google said it would have earned. $10.65 per share. On that basis, Google exceeded the average earnings estimate of $10.54 among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue surged 36 percent from the previous year to $14.4 billion.
After subtracting advertising expenses, Google's revenue totaled $11.3 billion. That figure was well below the average analyst estimate of $12.1 billion, according to FactSet.
But many of the analyst forecasts included revenue from Motorola Mobility's set-top division, which Google didn't include in its fourth quarter revenue. Had the set-top division been included, Google's net revenue would have matched analyst estimates.


text:
Admission Procedure for non-EU/non-EEA citizens
On this page citizens from non-EU countries as well as non-EEA countries will learn how to apply for a programme at UCN
Applications for September
You can apply for admission from 1 February.
1) Apply via optagelse.dk/admission
It is mandatory for all applicants to apply through the system known as the KOT system at optagelse.dk/admission. Here applicants will find a complete guide to the application portal.
Click here for how to apply at optagelse.dk. Optagelse.dk is the national application system in Denmark.
2) Upload your signature page before March 15
Applicants must print the signatue page, sign it by hand and upload it on www.ucn.dk/signaturepage. It is very important that you do so as UCN cannot retrieve your application before we have received your signed signature page or pages. If we cannot retrieve your application(s), we will not be able to evaluate it and therefore, your application will be rejected.
If you apply for more than one programme at UCN, please note that you must send a signature page for each programme that you apply for.
If you are a non-EU/EEA student and need a study residence permit (study visa) in order to study at UCN, an application fee of EUR 100 applies. If you do not pay the fee, your application will not be processed.
Please visit the UCN webshop in order to make the payment.
The webshop will be active from 1 February, and the deadline for payment of the application fee is 15 March.
It is the applicant's responsibility to make sure that the amount has been received at UCN before the deadline.
Please send the payment receipt to email@example.com.
If you are accepted for studies at UCN, we will deduct the application fee from the tuition fee for the 1st semester.
If you are not accepted, the application fee will not be reimbursed.
If UCN receives the application fee payment after the payment deadline, the application will not be processed and the fee will not be reimbursed.
Students applying through a UCN partner institution
If you are a non-EU/EEA student and are applying for a studies at UCN through a UCN partner institution, you do not have to pay an application fee. In this case you should send an email to email@example.com informing us which partner institution you are applying through.
Mandatory documents
- A copy of your passport or ID card
- Final Diploma and transcript of records, i.e. your grades from the last 3 years of upper secondary education. If you do not have the Final Diploma yet, please attach the grades from the last 3 years. All translated into English by an authorized translator
- Verification form (PDF) - Applicants must verify subjects and hours of instruction for the final 3 years of upper secondary education
- English test
- Motivation letter – stating why you want to go to Denmark, why you chose Aalborg/UCN and why you chose the specific programme you are applying for
- Power of attorney – This document has to be filled in if you apply through one of the international agents with whom UCN collaborate with. This is due to the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
Optional documents
- Contracts or/and recommendations of work experience, competitions, sport activities etc. All translated into English
- Recommendations from your teachers (translated into English)
Please upload the documents to www.optagelse.dk with your application.
Original documents
Please note that you must possess originals of all uploaded documents and that you must be able to present these originals to the International office at UCN on the first day of your studies.
Mandatory documents
- IB Diploma and IB Diploma Programme (DP) Results, IB Diploma Programme (DP) Course Results or IB Certificate. If you earn your IB Diploma this year; please attach your predicted grade/ transcript of grades.
Important if you earn your IB-Diploma this year
You must inform your IB-coordinator to register you at IBNETs "result service" if you earn your IB diploma in the year of application. This is to ensure that UCN has access to your IB-diploma online.
If you are completing a retake in the year of application, you will also need to inform your IB-coordinator to register you at IBNETs "result service". Furthermore, you must upload your original diploma programme course results to your application on www.optagelse.dk and inform us in your application that you will be completing a retake.
- Motivation letter – stating why you want to go to Denmark, why you chose Aalborg/UCN and why you chose the specific programme you are applying for.
- A copy of your passport or ID card
Please upload the documents to www.optagelse.dk/admission with your application.
Deadline for applicants with an international educational background: 15 March at 12 (noon) CET.
Please note that you have to upload all the required documents on 15 March at 12 (noon) CET.
After you get admitted to a programme and pay the tuition fees for the first semester, UCN will begin the student visa procedures.
Please note that the processing time at the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration is 2 months.
Read more about student permits.
All non-EU applicants who need a student residence permit in order to study in Denmark will receive admission response by June 1st.
The tuition for the 2-year full-time AP Degree programme in Automation Engineering.
When paying your tuition you need to know the bank details for UCN. Learn how to pay tuition.
If the student does not obtain a student visa/study residence permit, the tuition fee will be refunded in full.
If the student informs UCN in writing that he/she wants to cancel his/her admission before 1 September, the tuition fee will be refunded, however, an administrative fee of 300 EUR applies, meaning that 300 EUR will be deducted from the tuition fee.
If the student wishes to withdraw from his/her studies up to one month after study start, only 80% of the tuition fee will be refunded.
If the student wishes to terminate his/her studies later than one month after study start, the student will not be eligible for a refund.
Please send an email to email@example.com if you have any refund policy questions.


text:
GPD: Fake DSS worker stole pills in second city
Christine Parker Deyoung charged in Greer, Greenville
An Upstate woman facing charges in Greenville for impersonating a Department of Social Services worker in order to steal pain pills is now also facing charges in Greer.
Christine Deyoung was arrested in Greenville Sunday after being accused of going door-to-door at Towers East, asking to check residents' medications. Police were called when one woman said she saw Deyoung put one of her pills in her mouth.
An Upstate woman impersonated a Department of Social Services worker in order to get prescription medicine for herself, according to Greenville police.
Greenville police arrested Christine Deyoung on Sunday.
On Monday, after the story of Deyoung ran on the news, Greer police received a tip that Deyoung had committed the same type of crime in that city.
Based on victim identification of Deyoung as a woman who had impersonated a hospital worker in order to steal pain medication from elderly residents, she was arrested in Greer and charged with three counts of second-degree burglary and one count of petit larceny.
Greer police said that Deyoung told them she is a financial advisor with a four-year finance degree. She told them she had sinus surgery last fall and shoulder surgery sometime later, and doctors had prescribed her strong pain medication that they would not continue to give her.
Police said Deyoung said she "made a stupid choice." She said she is a victim of "pain pill addiction," and wants to get help.
Deyoung told police she "didn't hurt anybody and didn't intend to hurt anybody."
Police believe Deyoung may have committed other similar crimes and are asking anyone who had an encounter with her to call Crime Stoppers at 23-CRIME.


text:
Viterra Acquires Full Ownership of Grain Facility at Northgate, North Dakota - Canada
Title Bar - News Releases
News Release Contact Information
News Release
null Viterra Acquires Full Ownership of Grain Facility at Northgate, North Dakota
For Immediate Release
February 28, 2019
Regina, Saskatchewan
Viterra Acquires Full Ownership of Grain Facility at Northgate, North Dakota
Viterra USA LLC ("Viterra") is pleased to announce that it has signed a purchase agreement to acquire General Mills' 50 per cent ownership stake in a grain facility located at Northgate, North Dakota. Previously, Viterra held a 50 per cent stake through a joint venture agreement with General Mills. The transaction has received all necessary approvals and closed today.
"We're pleased to take on full ownership of this facility, and to continue building our presence in the US," said Kyle Jeworski, Viterra's President and CEO for North America. "We're looking forward to continuing to work closely with local customers to provide them with superior service, including access to global markets, the expertise of our staff, flexible contracting options, and a wide variety of online tools that are available exclusively to Viterra customers across our asset network."
In addition to this facility Viterra's presence in North Dakota includes special crops facilities in Ray and Minot, and a grain elevator at Grand Forks.
About Viterra
Viterra is Canada's grain industry leader, supported by the expertise of its people, a superior network of assets, and unrivalled connections to world markets. Headquartered in Regina, Saskatchewan, our commitment to agriculture goes back over 100 years, partnering with farmers to market and move their crops to areas of need around the world. Our continued focus on operational excellence throughout North America allows us to efficiently handle, process, distribute and transport grains and oilseeds. We provide further value to our partners through a wide variety of contracting and risk management tools to help them realize the full potential of their crops. For more information on Viterra in North America, please visit www.viterra.com. Viterra is part of Glencore Agriculture, a global market leader in originating, handling, processing and marketing agricultural commodities.
- 30 -
Peter Flengeris
Viterra Inc.
(306) 569-4810
Asset Publisher
Pacific Terminal Deconstruction Notification
Deconstruction Notification
Viterra will commence deconstruction operations, under Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA) permit, of Viterra's PAC3 Elevator located at 1803 Stewart Street, Vancouver British Columbia.
Click here to learn more.


text:
Biblical Commentary Books
Browse New & Used Biblical Commentary Books
From the Old Testament to the New Testament, you can find a wealth of information and insight within the pages of the Bible. Buy cheap Biblical commentary textbooks from us today and get an entirely different angle to appreciate as well. Look out for Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible; Ephesians; Expositor's Study Bible; and The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha. These barely scratch the surface of the incredible collection of books we have, so buy used Biblical commentary textbooks from us now and secure some of the best deals you have ever had on college text books. If you are studying religion it helps to have some different insight and input, and that is exactly where these titles come in. Don't be left out - look for discounted deals here at Valore Books now and join the thousands of other students who have saved a fortune with our service.
- General (1,363)
- New Testament (7,626)
- Old Testament (6,298)


text:
Landon Donovan is returning to the LA Galaxy in late March, that much is assured, but when the MLS regular season starts on March 3, just what lineup will Bruce Arena trot out against the Chicago Fire.
Based on five preseason games and with two still remaining—against Club Tijuana on Feb. 19 and Colorado Rapids on Feb. 22— these are the lineups that I see as the most likely for opening day.
Option 1:
One of the major questions of the preseason remains just who partners with Omar Gonzalez in central defense. Both Tommy Meyer and A.J. DeLaGarza have started alongside Gonzalez this preseason and have enjoyed success alongside the reigning MLS Cup MVP.
This formation allows midfielder Michael Stephens to move out to the right side of midfield while Colin Clark is stationed on the left side. Clark has been very influential going into the attack in four starts on the left side and seemingly has a lock on the position. Meanwhile, Stephens remains his energetic self and has formed a solid partnership with Sean Franklin that provides an attacking presence but also bite on defense.
Up top, Mike Magee is expected to start alongside Robbie Keane. The Galaxy's forward line has been depleted as of late after an injury to Gyasi Zardes has put the rookie forward on the shelf until April while Jose Villarreal remains on international duty with the U.S. U-20 and may not return in time for the season opener.
Option 2:
This starting lineup allows Arena to place both Meyer and DeLaGarza on the field at the same time while pushing Franklin up into right midfield. Both DeLaGarza and Franklin have held manned these positions in the past, but both admit that they are more comfortable in the defense.
And when Donovan returns to action, which is likely to happen sometime in April?
Following LA's scoreless draw with K-League side Gangwon FC, Arena told reporters that Magee is likely to play more time in the midfield once the team reaches full health, which leads to this possible squad:
What is your ideal lineup? Who do you want to see start for the Galaxy on opening day? Or once Donovan returns?
Share your thoughts below…


text:
The driver goes up to Ellie's door every Friday at the same time. Ellie always greets her with a smile saying "Are you here for me? Let me just collect my things." The driver explains that she's there to take her to her hair appointment.
Together they take the short ride to the hair salon where Ellie exclaims, "Why this is where I used to get my hair done!" The driver gently explains that that's why they're there! Then the driver escorts Ellie into the salon, making sure the receptionist knows that she's there and that someone will be coming to collect her in approximately 45 minutes. In 45 minutes the return ride driver shows up to take Ellie home.
Every week Ellie wants to know how much she should tip the driver, who says "No thank you. You owe me nothing." Initially Ellie tries to argue because she just tipped the "girl" who did her hair, but the driver reassures her that no tip is required. The rest of the ride home they talk about the weather, "how things used to be", or whatever doesn't require Ellie to come up with an answer to a question.
Ellie's family handles all the paperwork and scheduling, knowing that Ellie is in good hands. This is only one way that ITNCoastalCT is making a difference in the community


text:
Weekend Escape: A night on the water at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach
Live like a king, or a captain, with an overnight stay aboard a private yacht. Dockside Boat & Bed rents luxe vessels for a night — or two or three — at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach. Roomier than most hotel rooms, the boats include galleys, living rooms and sequined reflections from the harbor itself. The tab? Our one-night, two-day stay totaled $275, including $50 for meals. The boats never leave the dock, but the experience is as relaxing as only a night on the water can be.
The bed
Dockside (Dock 5, Rainbow Harbor; [800] 436-2574, https://www.boatandbed.com) offers four to six yachts, most in the 40- to 50-foot range. Ours, the 40-foot Sea Peepers, was furnished with books, lamps — the usual homey B&B décor — and had a separate master bedroom. There are additional berths in the bow. The Sea Peepers cost $200 for two (Sundays-Thursdays, $200; Fridays and Saturdays, $220). Additional guests are $25. The boat has a small galley with a microwave and fridge; the stove is not functional, though there is a gas grill on the dock. The Sea Peepers also has free Wi-Fi and three flat-screen TVs. There was no reception, but a library of DVDs awaits. On the mild November night we were here, the boat barely budged, rocking gently with the passing of occasional vessels.
The meal
Take your pick from about every type of mid-priced chain you could name: Gladstone's, Outback, P.F. Chang's, most with patios overlooking Rainbow Harbor, at the doorstep to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Just south, Shoreline Village is less than a 10-minute stroll, where more eateries await. We had reasonably priced appetizers at happy hour (sliders or wings, $3.99) at Tequila Jack's (407 Shoreline Village Drive; [562] 628-0454, https://www.tequilajacks.com) on the patio overlooking the harbor at sunset. Best suggestion though: Bring steaks or a slab of salmon and toss it on the private dockside grill. In the morning, a continental breakfast of bagels, fruit and yogurt was delivered to the Sea Peepers.
The find
For our 10-year-old, it doesn't get much better than the old-style arcade in Shoreline Village ([562] 435-2668, https://www.shorelinevillage.com). Movie theaters are nearby, but who wants to be indoors when the harbor shimmers with Christmas and the Queen Mary (1126 Queens Highway; [877] 342-0742, https://www.queenmary.com) glows in the distance, its smokestacks wrapped with white lights? Glass smooth, the harbor in late evening mirrors everything, sending reflections across the yacht's walls and ceilings.
The lesson learned
Most so-called staycations feel like compromises. This felt like a real adventure. And what a great option for a special weekend, birthday or anniversary. As Christmas nears, consider a gift certificate for anyone who would appreciate a silent night on the water.
Get your kicks in Williams, Ariz.
Pinnacles National Park conjures volcanic magic
Get inspired to get away.
Explore California, the West and beyond with the weekly Escapes newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.


text:
Interview with Vocalist Chris Barnes
Interview by Lord of The Wasteland (with help from Arto Lehtinen)
(**Thanks to Adam & Jodi for the transcription)
**Photos courtesy of Metal Blade Records and Six Feet Under
Besides being the lyricist and frontman for one of the most influential death metal bands of all time (Cannibal Corpse), Six Feet Under?s Chris Barnes remains one of the most outspoken, interesting and most prolific artists in music. While his detractors are many, Barnes has developed a cult following over his fifteen years on stage and with 2005 being the tenth anniversary of Six Feet Under?s existence, his presence is only escalating with a new studio CD, a note-for-note tribute to AC/DC?s BACK IN BLACK album, as well as a Six Feet Under box set on the way.
I spoke with Barnes three weeks before the March 22nd release of Six Feet Under?s sixth studio album, 13, and his chemically-enhanced demeanor never once kept him from being a forthright and lucid interview subject on topics as diverse as movies, politics, religion, crazy fans, his admiration for rapper Ice-T and Canada, his REIGN IN BLOOD remark, and of course, metal. Funny, laid-back and cool: just what I expected from a chat with Chris Barnes.
I think this is the first time you've ever talked with Metal-Rules?!
Metal-Rules! Yeah, I know I've heard of you guys (laughs).
You've probably met a couple of our writers from our Finnish team over at the festivals in Europe.
Oh okay, yeah. Well, it's all good man, it's all good. Thanks for doing the interview with us.
No problem, man. My pleasure. Good to finally talk to you from up in Canada?I?m in Vancouver, B.C..
You are, are you? I believe I'm smoking some of your finest right about now (laughs).
I would imagine you probably have sampled some of our ?stuff,? yeah (laughs).
Oh, I'm sure of it, man. I'm sure I have some of it right now (laughs). It all makes its way across our fine country, and I gotta thank you guys for that. Hopefully I'll be up there to visit the source of it all.
I certainly hope so. I don't think you guys have ever played here before?
You know, every time we get something booked up there it's either we can't get across the border or it gets cancelled right before we get there. We have bad luck when it comes to Canadian shows for some reason.
Well, there seems to be a bit of an upswing with bands finally coming around these parts, so that's good.
Yeah, well you guys are the "Bahamas of Canada" supposedly.
Yeah, it's a great city.
You know, put it this way. If I was gonna move out of the country anywhere, I'd be heading up your way, man.
(Laughs) You'd love it here.
I would! There's a little island just north of Victoria…called Denman Island. Oh God, I'd love to visit.
Well, you know what to do (laughs).
I know it. Pack up the Volkswagen bus and head north (laughs).
There you go (laughs). Alright, man, well if you're ready to go…
I'm ready man, whenever you are.
Alright. 2005 is a big year for Six Feet Under. Ten years as a band and ten years with Metal Blade Records. How are things going with them?
Things are going really well, man. They've always connected really well with what I've been trying to accomplish, you know. They've always listened, which is something rare for a record company, I think. But after ten, fifteen years with doing business with each other, we have a mutual respect, so that's a positive environment.
So the new record's out March 22nd and it's called 13. Maybe you can explain a few things about it…
The title?
Yeah, let's start with the title.
(Laughs) I can't explain it, you know. I've probably been asked…well, for twenty-four hours straight I've been asked "Why 13? Why 13?" It's cryptic to me, too. It just jumped out at me. Before I had any of the material written…that's the number that was written on this piece of paper that I found. And ever since I named the album that, man, it's like that number has been showing up everywhere I look. So hopefully that's a good luck thing.
Lucky number?
I hope so, man.
I understand from the promo sheet that there is a theme surrounding the Grim Reaper on this one, as well.
Yeah, it's a loosely based theme or concept. Everything I've written is kind of wrapped up in the darker psyche of the human mind, in life and death and the soul or energy force of life. That's pretty deep, but this is kind of revolving a little bit thicker within those subject realms. And this album kind of just tightens up on those thoughts and the idea of what I guess most people call "the man with the sickle."
(Laughs) So what inspired you to take on "the man with the sickle?"
(Laughs) I find it pretty fascinating, the idea of that moment of death and the end of life, or whatever comes next. It's just a fascination of mine, and I kind of think of it whenever I see that image. I think most people do because it's such a supernatural type of thought. The image of the Grim Reaper, maybe that's just a little too concrete to say that's what it is, but that visual image just speaks to everyone, I think.
It's a universal image, for sure.
You know, that number does too.
People fear the reaper, and people fear the number thirteen. Hopefully that's a link there.
So would you call 13 a concept album in the same way you'd call Pink Floyd?s THE WALL or something like that…?
It's not like OPERATION: MINDCRIME or something like that, you know. No, I don't think it's like a concept album like that at all. It's more like, just an intertwining, subtle story of different feelings about death and the history of the thoughts behind it. You know, the capturing of the human soul in one way or another.
A lot of people called BRINGER OF BLOOD a departure because it had a lot of political and socially-driven…
It was really only one song though, man, and I think that that's what really sort of led the press astray. With Metal Blade releasing "Amerika the Brutal" as the first single off that record, I don't think it was representative to the rest of the tone of the album lyrically. I don't think those lyrics on that album ever strayed very far off of what I'd done before.
True. I mean "Murder in the Basement" and "Skin Turns Blue," that's pretty obvious stuff.
Standard horror stuff. I think if you want to look at an album that is more varied and more political, WARPATH is the album that people should have been quoting as being a political album. If you look at BRINGER OF BLOOD, there's really only "Amerika the Brutal" and maybe that song "Ugly," that might have more of a social type of…
Or even "My Hatred."
Yeah, but I've always kind of said stuff about religion, though. Even going back to "Vomit The Soul" on [Cannibal Corpse?s] BUTCHERED AT BIRTH. I don't count talking about blasphemous things (laughs). You know, separation of church and state (laughs).
Let's talk about the cover art for 13. It's a little bit different because you didn't go with Paul Booth this time like you did on other releases.
I haven?t worked with Paul for a few albums now.
TRUE CARNAGE was the last one, I believe?
Yeah…TRUE CARANGE was the last thing I think he worked on…maybe DOUBLE DEAD, the DVD thing. We kind of had a little bit of a falling out so we haven't worked together for a while. I'm exploring different areas and not getting too boxed in by one guy's idea. I really discovered our new artist, he came to me – he's been a fan of my music, which was something different. I didn't really think too much about it at first until he sent me the designs he had for some t-shirts and it blew me away. It was a really good feeling when I got in touch with Meriden. He did some really good work. He's gonna do the box set for us this year and he's actually re-designing our website for us, too.
Is he the better guy to ask what the cover represents, with the three skulls?
He told me that the three skulls equal the three religions on the planet – Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist. Basically, the absence of true religion equals death. That was his representation of the cover.
How does that tie in with the concept of the record?
I think that there's an overall theme of the soul and the human spirit in this, and I think that there's a shallowness of people to just follow a book or a religion instead of following their heart and their gut.
You mean blind faith?
I just think that religion has caused a lot of problems over the centuries. It still is and we're in the middle of it right now. We can't get away from that, and what it is is not ?true? faith. There's a difference between inner faith and belief and manipulative business guised as religion helping people. That's the thing that's causing death.
Religion's big business, that's for sure.
One of the biggest.
I read somewhere that the Vatican is one of the wealthiest organizations in the world.
It's a country. It's a country within a country.
Is there going to be anything special you guys are doing with the release of 13? I have BRINGER OF BLOOD in the digipak, so are you going to do anything like that again?
(Groans) Oh, I don?t know what they?re?they've got some promo bobble head of me or something (laughs).
(Laughs) How many of those are there?
(Laughs) Hopefully not too many (laughs). I don't know what the deal is with that. I think what they're doing with this in the States is putting it out at a really reduced price. It's not gonna be a digi. I think it's just a regular CD case, but it has a pretty substantial booklet and the packaging looks really cool. I'm real proud of it. It's a thing this time where it's gonna be thirty-six minutes of music, you get it, you put it in, and the fans will be like "I want more," and they just will keep listening to it. That's the vibe I got, I've really been listening to this CD a lot and it's got a good tone to it.
I've only heard three of the tracks on the promo thing that they sent me. The first song, "Shadow of the Reaper," sounds like one of the heavier songs that you guys have done in a while.
Yeah, that's a pretty good representation of the rest of the CD. I know they put "The Poison Hand" and "The Art of Headhunting." It pretty much covers the spectrum. "The Poison Hand" – there's only really two slow songs on there, and that's one of them. The rest of it's pretty up-tempo, everybody's been like "Man, this album's pretty fast." It's kind of cool, everyone's got a vibe like it's more of an aggressive CD for us, and I tend to think it is.
How many tracks did you guys actually write for the album?
There were two different versions of a couple of the songs written, and there were two other songs, so I think we wrote fifteen songs total.
And there's eleven on the final CD, right?
You've got the mp3 posted up on the SFU website and Metal Blade's got it, as well. How important is the Internet to a veteran band like yourselves? Does the name Six Feet Under sell the product on its own, or do you still find the Internet to be a useful tool for getting the music out there?
It's definitely a useful tool, for sure. Our website's got over a million hits, and I think Metal Blade has well over that. It's definitely a good tool to utilize in promoting and stuff. When you want to reach or get a reaction immediately, that's the best way to do it?throw a message up there, and people will start ripping you apart right away. It's like a free billboard, you know what I'm saying? You drive by a billboard on the street and it catches your attention if it's something interesting. It's like people are just motoring along through the Internet and they see something and they just gotta stop and look and kind of reflect. It's cool. It works for advancing, getting music out on a mass level like this. It's like, one promo…you couldn't do it in the old days. You had a collection of people, fanbase-wise, in the underground for tape trading back in the early days. You'd try to utilize that but there's no way to really get a mass promo out like that. This is something that?s never been done before and it seems to be working pretty well. It can work to your advantage or your disadvantage. The album can get on there and get out beforehand and we all know the issues about that.
You mentioned the negative aspects and people kind of jumped all over you when you said that 13 was going to be your REIGN IN BLOOD.
I said that it was our REIGN IN BLOOD possibly, but I didn't mean that it sounded like it or anything like that. People misinterpret things because there are a lot of people who only look at the one-dimensional side of statements. The same people that really, really truly loved the movie INDEPENDENCE DAY (laughs).
We try to clarify things and make people understand that it's not such an outrageous statement. It's just the feeling behind the album is really good. I think we put all the elements that work well for us together, and I think that's what Slayer did back in the day with that record. That's just a good feeling, man.
You self-produced the new CD again. Why did [Metal Blade President] Brian Slagel finally decide to cut you loose in the studio after TRUE CARNAGE and sort of hand the reins over to you?
(Laughs) That's a good question. I'm gonna have to ask him that. I think he probably got sick of me fuckin' fighting with him in the studio about bass (laughs). "Low-end, Bri. Why you doing it to me, man? You need to let me get some more bass in there, dude (laughs)." He's really trusted me a lot, and I think I've learned a lot of my stuff from him. It's stupid, man, people don't understand it. When I was a kid growing up and listening to metal, and I really started getting into the underground in '82-'83, that's all I would buy. If it said Metal Blade on it, and I'd never heard of the band, I'd take a chance and buy it. It said Brian Slagel on it, and I'd be like, "That guy knows metal." That's all I used to say. I'd be like, "Man, this guy knows his shit." Ever since then, how weird is that? I'm a kid listening to Metal Blade stuff…
And then you're in the studio with him!
Yeah, and the label that signs me in '89 is my favorite label. The guy recognized that I put together something good and sent it to him. Someone I was looking up to recognized me, and took a chance, and he's been taking a chance for the last fifteen years or more. It's a good feeling. I've utilized all that time over the past fifteen years that I've known him and he's come into the studio and worked with me. I've just watched and kept my eyes and ears open, and asked questions and argued (laughs), and learned. I think he finally said "That kid just won't give up (laughs). He's fuckin' too old to be listening to me now, so he might as well do it." But you'd have to ask him exactly why. I think he's just sick of it (laughs).
(Laughs) Do you miss having an objective voice there to kind of bounce the ideas off of, and say "This sucks" or "This kicks ass?"
That is kind of daunting. He'll make an appearance and straighten me out if I'm being weird or something. Or [engineer/mixer] Chris Carroll will be like, "You're fuckin' out of your mind." My worst problem is that I have "demo-itis," is what they call it (laughs). In the studio, it's kind of a dangerous thing, but the rough mixes to me always sound the best. It's hard for me to get past that, and I've come close to just saying, "Fuck these mixes, I want roughs." Sometimes I need to be reined in (laughs). That's my biggest problem, is that I like another outside opinion that I respect and having Chris Carroll next to me, he calms me down a lot and gives me some perspective on things when I get a little bit weird. Brian is always there, coming to the table and listening to things on the final mix. He still is definitely involved.
You guys did a video for "Shadow of the Reaper" already, so what's going on in the video? Is it just a performance video, or is there a concept behind it as well?
There's both. It's an intertwining thing. We're looking pretty frightening, though. They've got us in some wild makeup and crazy-ass camera effects. It just looks very Italian-esque, very old.
Dario Argento?
Very Argento, man, very Argento. It looks like a nightmare. The whole storyline impressed me to the point where I was like, Jesus, man, this kid should be really working in the film industry as fast as possible, because it looks like a movie. It really does, I couldn't believe it.
Is that going to be packaged with the CD at all, or is that just going to be on the video channels?
That will just be on the video channels, but I think it will be included on the box set.
Speaking of your videos, "Amerika the Brutal" probably got the most play because it had sort of the animation and it was ?safe,? I guess you could say, to play on the music channels, where as something like "The Day The Dead Walked" wasn't (laughs). When you shoot videos, or when you get the idea for a video, do you sort of plan that they're not going to get shown and you just sort of do them for fun, or do you hope that they might slip past the censors and make it on the air?
When we did TRUE CARNAGE, The Headbanger's Ball hadn't returned yet, and I don't think Uranium was really in full swing at that point, either. So there really was no video outlet. We had been doing some videos here and there and they really weren't getting played and luckily we weren't spending a ton of money on them. We were just using them for our own benefit and whatnot. With "The Day The Dead Walked," I came to the record company and I was like, ?Look man, we can do this video real cheap. Let's use that and just put it on the CD as a CD-ROM? because we knew there was nowhere that was even playing more mainstream type of videos. So I was like, let's try to just do something a little bit over the top just for a freebie type of thing. They were cool about that, but I never had any intention of trying to get that on. Now it's a little bit different, we?ve got to work around the censors and stuff. I think we got around it on this because the quality's so good. It still has that old school, sort of subliminal type of macabre to it.
Do you know when it's going to be out?
I think he's finishing editing right now. I think he's about a month behind schedule, but it will probably come out maybe around the week of the release or soon after that.
Getting onto touring, you guys have two weeks in Europe on the No Mercy festivals. Do you have a setlist picked out already?
Yeah, we have a setlist. It's about an hour long.
And how many of the new tracks are on there?
For this one coming up, we've only got a couple songs on there because the CD's not going to be out. It won't be out until that last week of the tour. I'm sure when we get into the full swing of touring this summer we'll be adding a few more new ones.
So do you have any plans that are laid down yet for after the No Mercy festivals are over?
They're trying to put together a U.S. tour in June and July. Things are probably going to come into play in August, September, and go back to Europe in October or November.
When you guys hit the road, you usually have pretty killer support bands. Do you handpick them yourself, or is that something that the label sets up?
I sometimes have some ideas on bands, but mostly they come to me and say, "What do you think about this band?? I'll give them a heads up, or whatever. But yeah, I have kind of the final say in who I tour with. I definitely won't tour with anyone I dislike.
When you're playing in Europe, and you're doing the big festivals like Wacken, Full Force, and No Mercy, how do you look at those compared with, say, touring in the U.S.?
It's really different. We just accumulate fans over there, where it seems like their attention span over in the States is a lot shorter. They stick with us over there. It's kind of surreal playing in front of 50,000 people, knowing where you're coming from. It makes it definitely worthwhile, it definitely does. It's a lot of fun. I enjoy just being in front of people. If they're enjoying what we're doing, it really helps.
Any chance of seeing you guys on Ozzfest this year?
No, I doubt it. They don't want any death metal bands on that thing.
It's gotten a little bit better, last year wasn't too bad. It was heading in the right direction, anyway.
Yeah, just they're not coming to us for any participation in that.
Like I said, 2005 is a big year?the tenth anniversary of the band. Are you guys planning on doing anything special to sort of commemorate the anniversary?
We have a box set that we're putting together that's going to be coming out towards the end of the year. A couple compilation CDs, some special unreleased stuff, and a two DVD set, so it's going to be filled with a bunch of goodies. That will be coming out toward the end of the year.
You did another album that's still kind of fresh out there, and that was GRAVEYARD CLASSICS 2–a re-recording of AC/DC's BACK IN BLACK album. Were you happy with how the tracks came out?
Yeah, one hundred percent. I think that's really one of our best productions and still, it's got a real great sound to it. I love what we did with that, and I definitely think it's something that's a little bit ahead of its time.
The music was pretty much note for note, just down-tuned, but the one obvious thing was the vocals that were different. Did you ever think about trying to imitate Brian Johnson at all with the vocals and try something a little bit different, or did you want to stick with the voice that you know?
That's who I am when I sing. I could never sing like anyone else, I was never an imitator. I was just always someone that did the things within my own voice and stuff. I think that's what really kind of made it sound different. Like you said, it's note for note and beat for beat, really, because you can sync it up to the original and on top, there's no difference in tempo or anything. That was something we were real conscious of, to keep the music pretty much straight and just use the vocal sound as the defining point of the difference between the two.
Is there a chance there is going to be a GRAVEYARD CLASSICS 3?
Oh yeah, there'll be a part three.
Do you have any ideas?
Yeah, it's all set up, really. It's just a matter of putting it together.
Can you give me a hint of what the…
No can do, man (laughs)!
Damn! (laughs)
It's a little early?got to spread it out and give us something to talk about later (laughs).
Alright, fair enough (laughs). Besides the two GRAVEYARD CLASSICS CDs, you've covered KISS and Judas Priest on the Six Feet Under CDs as well. Are there any other bands that you'd like to give the Six Feet Under treatment to?
Oh, I guess you'll see that happen (laughs). You know you're not going to get it out of me that way…kinda tricky, you Canadians. I grew up close to Canada, close to Toronto there, on the other coast (laughs).
Yeah, there's some, but I am not going to divulge those yet.
Alright, fair enough (laughs). I had to try.
You might get it out of me when I'm up there after a couple of joints and a few beers.
Alright (laughs). Judas Priest is getting back together and like I said, you guys have covered them in the past. What are your thoughts on them getting back together again, are you pretty excited?
Not really. I'm not excited as I was about when KISS got back together. Basically, I'm just happy I got to see all those bands back in the day. It's for other people that didn't really get to witness that when it was really happening. They're musicians, and they love what they're doing, so hats off to them for bringing it back together. But I'm glad I got to see the SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE tour.
Vintage, vintage stuff. I saw them on Ozzfest last year but PAINKILLER, that was my last time.
Oh yeah, cool, that's a great album.
Oh yeah. Have you heard the new record?
I heard one song.
Yeah, I haven't heard the whole thing, and I've just heard the one song, too.
I didn't like it.
No, I wasn't crazy about it either.
(Laughs) I'm glad I'm not the only one, man.
All I'm reading about it is, "The Return of Judas Priest," and everybody just seems to be pumping this thing up like it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. In a way, I think that's kind of bad, because everybody's going to expect so much out of it that anything less than perfect is just going To be a failure. I think they're kind of taking the wrong approach to it. They're making everybody think it's going To be so great.
Yeah, and that song didn't do it for them. I mean, the ending of it sounded like Axl Rose or something. I was like, "What the hell is that?" The cover kind of looked like the logo from that movie, A.I.. Did you see that movie?
(Laughs) I saw that one, yeah, with the robot kid and the blue fairy?
Yeah! That's pretty much where he was born, and the thing, his vision, is that winged woman or whatever. Either that or it's the new hood emblem for the next generation Bentley or something (laughs). I don't know, it just disappointed me. I don't know, man, I was always the biggest Priest fan.
Oh well. I'm sure they'll make a gazillion dollars and retire living better than you or I ever will (laughs). More power to them, I guess.
(Laughs) I guess so, man. But that's cool. I don't like to bring anyone down because there's a whole album. Maybe there are a couple of really rippin' tracks.
As far as the Six Feet Under lineup goes, you guys have been pretty stable. I mean, besides Alan West leaving, you guys have had the same lineup for ten years. How have you kept the chemistry going and avoided the pitfalls?the inner conflicts, in fighting, people leaving, and people coming, people going…?
We're just all real mellow and stuff (laughs). It's hard to really get us mad at each other. We've had our times, but we're all friends and stuff. It's just a good feeling. We've got our things straight and we're all older and stuff. I think a lot of the fighting within bands comes early on when you're still young and full of testosterone. We've all been put out to pasture (laughs).
We're just doing it, man. We know all the drama and stuff can fuck off. We're just doing this and having a good time, man, you know? We're all real respectful of each other, and we've never stepped on each other's toes, so it's always been easy. None of us are really annoying to the point of you can't live with that person. I think I'm the worst, and I lock myself in the back room of the bus so no one has to deal with me.
(Laughs) Yeah, it's been pretty effortless in the way we've shared our time together.
How do you remain so prolific in your writing? You guys just crank out the albums, like, a couple a year. Even this past year, we've had the live album, and we've had the GRAVEYARD CLASSICS 2 release, and the new record, and now you're saying the box set and everything else. How do you keep that pace up?
People have been asking me that. Dude, that's weird…
(Laughs) Well, with most bands, there are two or three years between albums. That's unheard of with you guys.
Yeah, I know, and it's like people have definitely been picking up on that, that we've been working hard and that's good. I hope the record company recognizes that when it's time to give me my bonus (laughs).
It's just really exciting to be able to make something out of nothing. I got to tell you, I'm a little bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to that. I need to have that thing…I need to have something to do. If I sit around too long, I start pacing the walls, and it drives me out of my mind. I break down and I get emotional, you know? I like to keep busy, man. And I think that's what I'm here to do, is to make and create music. Hopefully it's appreciated for some time by all these cool people who have linked into my brain waves (laughs).
Do you guys actually write together, or does somebody submit a riff and then you're working on the lyrics around that?
Yeah, I don't start really writing until after the music or that song is completed. I'll get a CD of music and just write to it. How this album came together was just really, we wrote everything in the studio during the sessions within a ten-day time period. We tracked everything and wrote everything in ten days, so it was a wild thing and different. And you know, Steve was 95% of the writing force musically on this. He'd be there with the other guys and they'd arrange things and kind of add linking parts and stuff like that. Every night I'd get one or two songs and write the lyrics to those two songs that night, and the next two the next day. I think one day I wrote four songs in twelve hours or something (laughs).
Have you ever presented any lyrics or any ideas to the rest of the guys and they said, "This is just too gruesome, too much?"
(Laughs) They don't have any fear of that happening, where it's too much, I don't think.
Or even the label, for that matter. Has the label ever said, "Tone it down a little bit?"
They tried to pull a joke on me years ago when I was in the studio for [Cannibal Corpse?s] TOMB OF THE MUTILATED, and…(laughs) I did get sucked into it, but I've never gotten sucked into those little things again (laughs). No, man, they have always given me 100% free range to just say whatever the fuck is on my mind. We've discussed things now where people aren't really that surprised at what I have to say anymore (laughs). It takes a little energy for me to get people to turn their heads. I've pretty much talked about most of the violent things that would make people cringe already.
(Laughs) Where do you get your inspiration for the lyrics from? Is it from books, or from movies, or just your own twisted mind (laughs)?
(Laughs) Yeah, I think so. I think it's just my own twisted mind, actually (laughs). I really have a good daydreaming sense when it's time to fall into a song. I don't know really how it happens, but I think it's really a type of medication and stuff that I've developed, because I have no mechanical schooling behind structuring lyrics to music. I'm not a musician in any way. I can play a little guitar, but I would never stand on stage with one around me. It's different, man. I think I have a different way of looking at music and what I do.
Do you keep your ear to the ground to find out what the newer metal bands are doing at all, or do you kind of do your own thing?
It's hard to avoid sometimes. I think I see it and I don't follow it too much, but I know what the bands out there are doing, and it's cool. It's interesting. Some of it's just nonsense, but that's how it's always been. There's killer bands and filler bands.
Is there anybody that you've sort of taken a liking to?
We're really good friends with the Hatebreed guys, and Jamey's a good friend of mine. I think that those guys are doing some killer work and doing a great job and everything like that. There are premiere bands and there are all sorts of bands out there that are just doing good stuff. I like it all, man.
On TRUE CARNAGE, you had Ice-T and Karyn Crisis singing with you on tracks. Pretty divergent people, I guess you could say.
Yeah, both ends of the spectrum (laughs).
Yeah, for sure. Is there anybody else that you'd really like to collaborate with on a Six Feet Under album?
Yeah, probably Rick Rubin. I mean, he's my favorite producer of all time. As a producer to collaborate with, that's the guy I would really want to do our next album. I don't think it will ever happen, but I think you're talking about collaboration with another musician, and…anybody, dude. If someone wanted to come on the record and jam a song with us, that'd be cool as hell. I've always been into that, since the first Cannibal record with the guys from Deicide.
How did you hook up with Karyn Crisis and Ice-T anyway?
Karyn…we'd been running into each other here and there and I was really a fan of the early Crisis stuff – you know, the first album, and the second album. I like her approach to things, especially her female vocal style. It was just at that point in time, the record company asked me if I wanted to. I'd spoke about collaborating before that, and they brought it back up to me, and I was like yeah, why not? They were like, "Who do you want to work with?" And I was like, "Ice-T" (laughs). Yeah, like they're ever going to get him. They were like, OK, we'll check into it, and they called his manager. His manager, George, wrote an e-mail back to Metal Blade and all it said was "Ice is in." I got that and I was like, oh shit! He was the coolest dude, one of the coolest dudes I've ever met.
Cool. Talented guy, too.
Yeah. One of my idols, for sure.
So are you into his Body Count stuff, or the rap stuff, or kind of everything?
All of it, man, all of it. I've always listened to what T had to say. He's really had a lot of knowledge about things. I mean, you're talking about a guy that predicted history in his music. Professed something historical happening in a city that was unjust. He opened a lot of people's eyes. All he had to say was "Cop Killer," and fuckin' the world changed for a year when he said that.
That's a brilliant album, too.
Sure is.
The first Body Count album, it's amazing.
And the album which came out right before that, O.G., changed rap, man. He's the true innovator, he invented gangsta rap.
Yeah, for sure.
He did invent it and a lot of people don't credit him with that. He went in to?I think it was San Quentin?and did a live concert on FOX in 1989 or 1990, I believe. He's an innovator, man. The things that he says are the things that he lived, you know? No imagination needed, because he lived it. It's all true life experience. That's a wise man, you know?
Yeah, you know it's the real deal. It's not an image or anything.
No. And I was a follower of his for many years. When working with him, I learned more from him in those two or three hours than I had learned in ten years prior to that experience because he sat down and explained some things. Not to me, but to people that were asking him questions while we were all being interviewed during the session. I listened to him personally and knowing his lyrics and the truth behind his words and hearing him say some things about his philosophy behind things, it taught me a great deal. I'm definitely a different person because of that, for sure musically, since meeting him and knowing some of his teachings, man.
Well getting back to Chris Barnes and Six Feet Under (laughs), your voice is probably one of the most unique and recognizable in metal and a lot of people have strong feelings about whether it?s positive or negative. Do you consider yourself a ?singer,? or do you consider yourself a ?vocalist??
Um…(sighs)…that?s something I don?t think I can really answer (laughs) because I?m not sure what I consider myself as. It?s kind of difficult to say you know I guess I?m more of a ?vocalist? than a ?singer? because I?m not really a taught…school sort of person. Its all self-taught and I just, I don?t know, I think I?m interpreting the word ?vocalist? as someone that?s more of a self-taught type of person that?s helped his way or her way through, you know, what their voice can do.
Do you consider yourself a pioneer? When people tell you stuff like that, do you think ?Well yeah, maybe??
(Laughs) Um…a little bit, I guess. I definitley appreciate when people say that because it makes me feel like I?ve done something, you know, because it stirred up some of the people, to where, like you said, they?re either totally fucking pissed off when they hear me or they love it, you know? But I suppose I?ve done my share (laughs).
(Laughs) Do you think you?ve improved as a vocalist overtime?
Oh yeah, for sure. Definitely.
Are you still sort of learning about your voice?
Yeah, I think so. I think that at this point, I?m less on a quest to push myself to the farthest reaches and more on finding that balance, and you know, utilizing the best tones and just making sure it sounds real you know?
How do you keep your voice in shape? Because as an outsider looking in, that can?t be easy (laughs).
(Laughs) Lots of the B.C. herb, man! I always say man, your vocal chords are muscles and tendons, and the more you use muscles and tendons anywhere in your body the stronger they get and the more durable that makes you. Fifteen years of working my voice like this has made my vocal chords pretty much bulletproof you know? And that?s just the way it is man, I don?t really think about it to much. I hope that I don?t swallow a piece of broken glass or something man (laughs).
(Laughs) Have you achieved everything that you?ve set out to do when you started off as a musician or is there anything that you would still like to accomplish before you decide to call it a day?
I don?t know what I?ve achieved really. It?s kind of hard to take that all in. I know that there?s a lot of product that I?ve put out and I know I?ve written close to a hundred songs lyrically but achieving the perfect song, it hasn?t happened yet man. I haven?t found that perfect combination of words and music that really… Even still, there?s still something there so I?m still looking.
How?s your knee doing?
(Laughs) It?s doing alright, its feeling a lot better in the last week.
Why did you decide to post the surgery footage online? Does that go back to the twisted mind and grossing people out (laughs)?
(Laughs) Yeah I think so. It was like, you know, that jackass has been talking about gore all these years. As if he?s going to be affected by some surgery or gore in his life. I might as well put that up there you know, and put my knee where my mouth is. It was pretty cool, because some guy I did an interview with two weeks ago asked me the same thing he was like ?Why?d you put that up there.? I was like ?I don?t know, I thought It would be kind of neat.? And he said ?You know what? That?s really awesome, because I have to go in for knee surgery in 2 weeks… I really want to ask you some things because I?m kind of nervous? and I said ?Dude, ask away because I would have loved to have someone to talk to the week before my surgery, because it kind of creeped me out.? So it we kind of talked about it and it was cool.
Do you ever get approached by you know, maniacs or crackpots telling you about their own twisted ideas, trying to give you song lyrics or anything like that?
Oh yeah, man (laughs)! Ever since the first Cannibal tour. This one guy, the most extreme case right before I went on stage this kid came up to me and he was like ?Man, I know you like to write songs about serial killers and stuff, my best friend has a collection of women?s pinky fingers nailed to a big piece of plywood.?
(Laughs) Oh man!! What do you say to that?
(Laughs) Walk away very cautiously, look over your shoulder and make sure they?re not following, go on stage and do your set (laughs). That?s exactly what you say to that. Yeah, there are definitely many people who try and tell you some weird things out there.
There?s a TV show, I?m sure you know called Six Feet Under. Did you guys ever get any shit from them about having the name?
No, we had the name before them and we were trying to actually… I think Metal Blade was a little upset about that when they saw they were coming out with that show using our name and stuff. Nothing can be done about that just because it?s different, something that?s not really a copyright-able phrase it?s just a colorful term or something. Yeah, its cool, its extra advertising for us man.
Yeah, you?re probably benefiting it more than they are (laughs)!
I think so, I think so. I?m sure they?ve gotten emails about ?Hey, when?s you?re next CD coming out?? We got one about ?When?s this next season start?? (laughs)
I read an interview with Phil Fasciana from Malevolent Creation and he was pretty stoked about covering a track back from your days in Leviathan on their new CD.
Yeah, but he didn?t get to do it.
No, what happened with that?
What happened was he didn?t let me sing the damn thing so I didn?t give him the tape (laughs), so I was like ?I?ll let you do it but I want to be the guest vocalist on it.? And uh, nothing happened. He called me today, actually, and left me a message so I got to give him a call tonight or tomorrow. He was like ?Get me out of here.? We?re going to end up doing a tour together in June. But I ended up remixing the early demos of the Leviathan stuff about two weeks ago.
Oh yeah, so are they going to come out?
Yeah, I?m going to put those on the Six Feet Under box set.
Oh cool, is there going to be any Cannibal stuff on there, as well?
No, just the Leviathan stuff.
When Cannibal put out the box set about two years ago did you get consulted at all on that? Did you have any input on what was going on there?
Yeah, definitely. They had to get my permission and everything on all that stuff. I mean, I contributed the first live video of us that was included on it.
Is the relationship still strained with those guys? Is there a chance that we?re going to see you on stage together again?
No man. Every time we see each other, we?re all smiles and everything. Nobody is at each other?s throats anymore. It?s all water under the bridge but, as for getting together, I don?t think anyone should hold their breath.
Not even a one-off hometown thing or anything like that?
No, I don?t think so. It?s not something that they want to do. If I was proposed to do something, I?d have a great time doing it and I?d have no problems but I don?t think they want to get involved with that.
We had a pretty unfortunate thing that happened late last year when Dimebag was shot. When that happened, did it make you re-think the live setting or still contributing with music at all?
It weirded me out because I can picture it. I stood on that stage, 4 or 5 times and played at that club, so, you know, it was just kind of eerie getting that picture in my mind. I know the people that work at that club and I?m good friends with Matt and Tom and stuff so I know the people who were there and everything, so it was kind of disturbing. I got a first hand account of everything because one of my really, really good friends was one of the security guards in the club that chased that guy inside the club so he pretty much told me what happened and you know it made me kind of cringe because I had been on that stage and it just you know, I always thought that someone could do that because people come up on the stage so much during a show, to jump off or stage dive or give you a hug. I know that?s exactly what that looked like was he wanted to grab him and give him a hug or something and it wasn?t about that. It?s horrible, man, horrible. It doesn?t even seem like that was real, like that was at another dimension and it just freaks me out thinking about it. I think it?s because I?ve been on that stage, but you can?t really change your life because of it. I mean it?s a horrible thing but there?s really nothing you can do when something like that happened so quick. It?s not like the movies where someone pulls out a kung fu move, you know? It?s real life and things happen, now its over.
Yeah, I remember reading about it the night that it happened online. I saw the headline and I was like ?What? No way!? Then all the information started pouring in and I was like ?Oh my god.? It was surreal. Definitely surreal.
Yeah it is. Sad, too.
I just want to ask you a couple more questions that are sort of politically inclined.
Okay, man.
The U.S still seems to be coming under fire for the presence in Iraq. Have you come around and become a Bush supporter?
(Laughs) Didn?t I just say I wanted to move to Canada (laughs)? Yeah, I can?t believe that the guy is still President. It?s fuckin? embarrassing.
The thing that I found really strange was that all we heard about was how bad Bush is and how good Kerry is and when it came down to Election Day, where were all those people?
I don?t know man. It seemed like it was going towards a positive direction, and I think it was a pretty damn close election. But you know, the guy?s definitely…
He?s got a horseshoe up his ass or something (laughs)?!
(Laughs) He does have a horseshoe up his ass! I mean it?s literally embarrassing to have that guy running the country. I don?t understand.
Well, it seemed like the day after the election everyone the world over was saying ?What the hell happened? How did he get in?? Nobody seemed to be happy?not even Americans.
No dude, they?re still poking fun at it. There?s more to this than meets the eye, man. I think that the first election four years before was totally stolen and it was just a crooked fuckin? election. Maybe they covered their ass more this time and it didn?t easily show up, but I don?t think these are legitimate elections.
Yeah, it did seem a little strange, if that many people were against him how the hell did he end up winning?
You know?what can you say?
When I saw the movie FAHRENHEIT 9/11, and when Britney Spears is on there and she?s saying ?I think we should all believe what the president says because he?s the president? and I was just like ?What??
(Laughs) That?s the clueless American right there, dude. It?s funny but I?m serious man, but literally for the past 7-8 years something in the back of my mind is moving up towards you guys up in B.C. and I?m serious when I say it. That?s exactly what I?m going to do when things get to fuckin? out of hand here.
It?s scary, their talking about forcing kids to be in the armed forces. It?s like what the hell?
Yeah, National ID Card is already been passed through Congress. So yeah, it?s a weird place. Really man, you?ll see me heading up there one of these days (laughs)!
(Laughs) You can flop on my couch while you look for a place!
(Laughs) I might take you up on that!
Thanks for taking the time to talk to me tonight, Chris. It?s been my pleasure.
Thank you for a good interview and good talk. I might see you up there sooner than later, man (laughs)!
**Thanks to Kelli and Michelle at Metal Blade Records for setting up the interview.
**Read all of the Six Feet Under CD & DVD reviews at Metal Rules here
Visit Six Feet Under's Official Website


text:
I didn't do a post for 'Something for the Weekend' last week so there is no (2). I decided to call this (3) since this is the third week of maturestudenthanginginthere's virtual creative writing class.
The afternoon shined like a new penny on black asphalt,
She dropped her paisley scarf over the day to protect her eyes,
The light struggled to burn through,
But she wasn't ready to dismiss
The quiet discontent flowing through her veins.
She disguised the malaise from others with dark shades and a tilted smile,
The unsettling turmoil inside wasn't to be shared,
Simply sensing the tainted warmth
Outweighed the pain produced,
The thorned crown belonged to her and it wasn't to be shared.
Related articles
- Something for the Weekend (1) (randomreasoning.net)


text:
Patriots honor Red Sox at Gillette
FOXBOROUGH – The introduction was a little more intense than Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester might have been used to.
Fresh off their rolling rally through Boston on Saturday, Gillette Stadium was the latest stop on the Red Sox' World Series victory tour, and before the Patriots and Steelers kicked things off, the Sox got the full NFL experience.
The walked out through the tunnel. Their names blared through the speakers.
Sox owner John Henry, pitchers Clay Buchholz and Felix Doubront and shortstop Stephen Drew all graciously soaked up the praise from the packed crowd.
Then Jonny Gomes, in fire-engine red boots, rushed through the tunnel as if it was game day for him, too.
All he needed was pads.
"That's about par of the course for him, right?" Lester said. "I don't think really you expect anything less from him. You know he's going to enjoy every minute of it and probably do something that nobody else is going to do. I don't think it caught any of us by surprise."
Between John McDonald, Will Middlebrooks, David Ross, Matt Thornton, Shane Victorino, and Lester, there were enough Sox to run a play or two if they wanted.
Some of them did.
"Trying to relive my heydays running out of a tunnel," Victorino said. "I thought of those days when I was a good athlete. It's special to come out of that same tunnel Patriots players come out of, the likes of [Rob] Gronkowski, [Tom] Brady.
"I got to see coach for a little bit. That's what makes this opportunity, for me, special. Getting the opportunity to see winners when you take the field, to go out and walk that same tunnel."
Lester was the last man out. He held the World Series trophy high over his head.
"You don't realize how far 50 yards is until you have to walk it with a trophy," Lester said. "But it was pretty cool."
Cheering from the sideline, the Patriots showed their mutual respect. Brady shook hands with Lester and Buchholz. Gomes and Gronkowski chatted each other up.
Lester then went to midfield to serve as an honorary captain during the coin toss.
"I know it's cool for us when these guys show up to Fenway when they win and the Celtics and the Bruins," Lester said. "I think we spend so much time up here and a lot of the football guys live here, so I think it's like home for them. So you end up rooting for your hometown teams. So it's awesome to be a part of this and we thank these guys for inviting us over here and giving us a chance to experience this."
With the Sox exercising their $13 million option on Lester's contract for the 2014 season, Lester also has the luxury of being able to celebrate stress-free.
"The deadline was four days after the World Series, so you knew it wasn't going to get dragged on whether or not they were going to pick it up," Lester said. "But I'm glad that it's over with and it's something that I don't have to worry about right now and then just enjoy the celebration. So a lot of positives on a lot of different ends. So it was good."
For Lester, even though he was a part of the 2007 World Series team, these moments are especially memorable the second time around.
"I think a lot more this time than I learned that time," he said. "Like I've kind of said from day 1 of this whole deal: In '07, I didn't really get a chance to enjoy it as much as this year. Just different circumstances, a different age, maturity level, all that.
"So for me to be able to do stuff like this today, it's a different part of my career where as in '07 I probably wouldn't have been asked to do something like this. It's a big, big difference, taking a couple extra days to stay in Boston and enjoy it and be around these guys and be around the fans."
Be civil. Be kind.Read our full community guidelines.


text:
Powerful, oversized 40mm speaker drivers are packed in a compact on-ear design, so you get incredible sounding audio and rich bass without the bulky look and high price of large over-the-ear headphones.
Moto Pulse is made to travel. A thin, pressure-free headband and soft ear cushions provide hours of comfort, and the rechargeable battery gives you up to 18 hours of playtime.* So you're set, no matter how long your road trip is. Once you're done, the rotating ear cups fold flat for easier storage.
Download the free Motorola Connect app. Easily pair with your phone, get battery notifications, and even find your lost headphones by locating the last place they were connected on a map.
Wireless freedom. Priced for all.
Black, Chalk
204 x 175 x 57.5 mm
111 +/- 5g
Bluetooth 4.1
Hands Free (HFP) 1.6
Generic Audio Visual Distribution Profile (GAVDP) 1.2
60 ft (2 times the standard range of competitors)
Pair two devices simultaneously, such as your phone, tablet, or computer
40mm speaker drivers
Built-in mic
Micro USB
Up to 18 hours
Up to 18 hours
Motorola Mobility LLC and eBuyNow eCommerce Ltd. have teamed together to provide global sales and support for the products found on this site. eBuyNow manages the site, the server, and its transactions for the Motorola Official Licensees who manufactures these products.
Links to this site's privacy policy and terms of use can be found below. Questions for eBuyNow regarding the relationship between these parties can be sent to firstname.lastname@example.com. For website or product support, please visit the help section.