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\nAs ridiculously pompous artist Booth Jonathan, Jorma Taccone delivered the pickup line 'heard round the Girls world to Alison Williams' Marnie in season one: "The first time I f*** you, I might scare you a little. Because I'm a man, and I know how to do things."
Turns out: Not so much! Booth and Marnie's much-anticipated sex scene, which just aired on Girls, looked pretty terrible. We caught up with Jorma (of SNL/"Dick in the Box"/The Lonely Island fame) about finally doing it.
Cosmo: Based on this hook up, does Booth really "know how to do things?"
More From Cosmopolitan
Jorma: If this is his version of "being a man" and "knowing how to do things," this is sick and perverse! When I first read the scene, I was like, 'Oh my God. That sounds hilarious and also scary.' It's definitely not the best sex in the world. It's full throttle. I was trying to coin a term for it. I call it "The Starfish Position." Or "The X-Wing Fighter." [from Star Wars.]
Cosmo: Coining sex positions is our area of expertise! What are the challenges of The Starfish?
Jorma: The challenges? Oh God. Trying not to slide off her. I can attest that it's more comfortable than it looks. But then again, I was on top. I'd never done a sex scene, so it was really nerve-wracking, but Allison's a good friend, so we would usually be joking around up until the camera was rolling, and then I'd be like, 'Alright, I'm gonna pump away now!' We we were able to improv a whole bunch.
Cosmo: Was it improv when you command Marnie to look at the doll?
Jorma: That was! It was a weird doll that came with the house that we were shooting at and it seemed appropriate to me, given how aggressive an artist Booth Jonathan is, that he would make it a three-way between Allison and a bizarre-looking old doll. There was another line that didn't make it in, which I really liked. It was "I love you, you're horrible!" Booth says that right after the final throes of ecstasy and apparently that came from a real line that someone said to someone while having sex. That's the reason why Girls feels so real, because some of the stuff is torn from real life from Lena [Dunham] or someone else.
Cosmo: Booth seems like a real-life jackass. Any inspirations for playing him?
Jorma: The most exciting thing was talking to Lena's mother at the premiere and she said, 'I know who this character is based on, and you really nailed it.' To the point where she said she didn't want to talk to me or interact with me. I'm glad to not know who it is based on. I was just going for a guy who has absolutely no filter and is bored with everything in his own life and is trying to weird people out every moment just to give himself some stimulation.
Cosmo: Fans have been so titillated by Booth since his "I know how to do things" line in season one. Do girls just like jerks?
Jorma: Ladies seem very intrigued by a guy who is ultra confident and acts like he doesn't need you. There is some element of charm working with Booth. It could be that he seems deeply interested in [Marnie] and that interest can wane or be removed at any time. But I've been really surprised that ladies of all ages seemed to think that line was really hot. He's such a jerk and he's so into himself. Why can't ladies like nice guys?
Cosmo: Amen! So, post-Starfish, what's going to happen with Booth?
Jorma: Well, I don't want to ruin it. I will say he is in more episodes. But the mystique of the character is certainly gone! (laughs) I had all this adrenaline watching at the premiere, like, 'How are people going to take this?' and I forgot that the moment the lights came up, I was going to be shockingly embarrassed. I turned to my wife and was like, 'Oh my God. Everyone in here just saw me do that.' I can't tell you how many people I've told not to watch, primarily my mother and my mother-in-law. I just feel like, for our relationship going forward, I'd rather not have my mother-in-law see that.
Photo Credit: HBO
For more from Michelle, follow her on Twitter @michelleruiz


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The World Heritage Committee
The World Heritage Committee meets once a year, and consists of representatives from 21 of the States Parties to the Convention elected by their General Assembly. At its first session, the Committee adopted its Rules of Procedure of the World Heritage Committee.
The Committee is responsible for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties. It has the final say on whether a property is inscribed on the World Heritage List. It examines reports on the state of conservation of inscribed properties and asks States Parties to take action when properties are not being properly managed. It also decides on the inscription or deletion of properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
Bureau of the World Heritage Committee
The Bureau consists of seven States Parties elected annually by the Committee: a Chairperson, five Vice-Chairpersons, and a Rapporteur. The Bureau of the Committee coordinates the work of the Committee and fixes the dates, hours and order of business of meetings. The election of the new Bureau will take place at the end of the next session of the World Heritage Committee.
Chairperson: H.E. Ambassador Gürcan Türkoğlu (Turkey)
Rapporteur: Mrs Eugene Jo (Republic of Korea)
Vice-Chairpersons: Lebanon, Peru, Philippines, Poland, United Republic of Tanzania
World Heritage Committee Members
According to the World Heritage Convention , a Committee member's term of office is for six years, but most States Parties choose voluntarily to be Members of the Committee for only four years, in order to give other States Parties an opportunity to be on the Committee. All Members elected during the two last General Assemblies (2009 and 2011) have voluntarily decided to reduce their period of term of office from six to four years.
The 21 States Parties of the current World Heritage Committee are the following:
Angola, Azerbaijan, Burkina Faso, Croatia, Cuba, Finland, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Tunisia, Turkey, United Republic of Tanzania, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe
Ordinary sessions of the World Heritage Committee
40COM Istanbul, Turkey (2016)
39COM Germany, Bonn (2015)
38COM Qatar, Doha (2014)
37COM Phnom Penh, Cambodia (2013)
36COM Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation (2012)
35COM Paris, France (2011)
34COM Brasília, Brazil (2010)
33COM Sevilla, Spain (2009)
32COM Quebec City, Canada (2008)
31COM Christchurch, New-Zealand (2007)
30COM Vilnius, Lithuania (2006)
29COM Durban, South Africa (2005)
28COM Suzhou, China (2004)
27COM Paris, France (2003)
26COM Budapest, Hungary (2002)
25COM Helsinki, Finland (2001)
24COM Cairns, Australia (2000)
23COM Marrakesh, Morocco (1999)
22COM Kyoto, Japan (1998)
21COM Naples, Italy (1997)
20COM Mérida, Mexico (1996)
19COM Berlin, Germany (1995)
18COM Phuket, Thailand (1994)
17COM Cartagena, Colombia (1993)
16COM Santa Fe, USA (1992)
15COM Carthage, Tunisia (1991)
14COM Banff, Canada (1990)
13COM Paris, France (1989)
12COM Brasilia, Brazil (1988)
11COM Paris, France (1987)
10COM Paris, France (1986)
09COM Paris, France (1985)
08COM Buenos Aires, Argentina (1984)
07COM Florence, Italy (1983)
06COM Paris, France (1982)
05COM Sydney, Australia (1981)
04COM Paris, France (1980)
03COM Luxor, Egypt (1979)
02COM Washington, D.C (1978)
01COM Paris, France (1977)
Extraordinary Sessions
11EXTCOM Paris, France (2015)
10EXTCOM Paris, France (2011)
9EXTCOM Paris, France (2010)
08EXTCOM Paris, France (2007)
07EXTCOM Paris, France (2004)
06EXTCOM Paris, France (2003)
05EXTCOM Paris, France (2001)
04EXTCOM Paris, France (1999)
03EXTCOM Paris, France (1999)
02EXTCOM Paris, France (1997)
01EXTCOM Paris, France (1981)
29BUR Durban, South Africa (2005)
27BUR Paris, France (2003)
26BUR Paris, France (2002)
25EXTBUR Helsinki, Finland (2001)
25BUR Paris, France (2001)
24EXTBUR Cairns, Australia (2000)
24BUR Paris, France (2000)
23EXTBUR Marrakesh, Morocco (1999)
23BUR Paris, France (1999)
22EXTBUR Kyoto, Japan (1998)
22BUR Paris, France (1998)
21EXTBUR Naples, Italy (1997)
21BUR Paris, France (1997)
20EXTBUR Mérida, Mexico (1996)
20BUR Paris, France (1996)
19EXTBUR Berlin, Germany (1995)
19BUR Paris, France (1995)
18EXTBUR Paris, France (1994)
18BUR Paris, France (1994)
17EXTBUR Paris, France (1993)
17BUR Paris, France (1993)
16BUR Paris, France (1992)
15BUR Paris, France (1991)
14BUR Paris, France (1990)
13BUR Paris, France (1989)
12BUR Paris, France (1988)
11BUR Paris, France (1987)
10BUR Paris, France (1986)
09BUR Paris, France (1985)
08BUR Paris, France (1984)
07BUR Paris, France (1983)
06BUR Paris, France (1982)
05BUR Paris, France (1981)
04BUR Paris, France (1980)
03BUR Cairo, Egypt (1979)
02BUR Paris, France (1979)
01BUR UNESCO Paris (1978)
Rules of Procedure
Established under the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO at its seventeenth session on 16 November 1972. The Rules of Procedure were last revised by the World Heritage Committee at its thirty-nineth session (Bonn 2015). The Rules of Procedure are periodically revised to reflect the decisions of the World Heritage Committee.Rules of Procedures (July 2015) Règlement Intérieur (juillet 2015)
Events (10)
- Orientation session for the members of the World Heritage Committee Jan 22, 2015-Jan 22, 2015
- Orientation session for the members of the World Heritage Committee Jan 23, 2014-Jan 23, 2014
- Orientation Session for Members of the World Heritage Committee Jan 31, 2013-Jan 31, 2013
- 36th session of the World Heritage Committee Jun 24, 2012-Jul 6, 2012
- 18th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention and presentation of candidates for election of Committee members Nov 7, 2011-Nov 9, 2011
- 35th Session of the World Heritage Committee Jun 19, 2011-Jun 29, 2011
- 34th session of the Committee Jul 25, 2010-Aug 3, 2010
- 9th extraordinary session of the Committee Jun 14, 2010
- 17th General Assembly of States Parties Oct 23, 2009-Oct 28, 2009
- 33rd Session of the World Heritage Committee to meet from 22-30 June in Seville, Spain Jun 22, 2009-Jun 30, 2009

subset: commoncrawl


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The University of Michigan's sailing team has a fleet of 20-year old FJ and 420s, and they are quite literally falling apart. With one of the most active Alumni groups in the US, it should be so damned hard to have decent athletic equipment for the sailors, but rather than bitch, the U of M kids are doing something about it: They're raising money by raffling off this cool radio control racer. More from Wolverine media kid Ryan Seago:
Painted in official U of M colors with a commemorative graphics package on the sails, this one-of-a-kind, 75th Anniversary Michigan Sailing CR-914 is worth $1200 and we're giving it away! Built by CPM's David Ramos, all proceeds from this little beauty's raffle will go directly to support the Michigan Sailing Team.
Raffle tickets are just $25.00 each, and we'll be raffling the boat off at the Strictly Sail Chicago show at the end of January. You do not need to be there to win! So please purchase your tickets now and help us get future University of Michigan sailors a little Christmas present: New boats!
Get all the info on the raffle and buy tickets here, and follow Michigan Sailing on Facebook here. And here's a shot of the smiling kids.


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My brother has always loved gadgets – and luckily he sends a few my way too.
This week brought some happy post in the form of an Acesori Lenskit for smartphones, which features three interchangeable lenses (a fish eye, wide angle and a macro) and was under $10.
I've only had chance to try the macros lens, which magnetically attaches to the phone (in my case an iPhone) as this picture shows. While I've taken zoomed in photos before this style is completely new so I really need to look into how to do it properly. I've had a lot of fun trying it out and I haven't tinkered with any of the photos.
My first impressions are you need a very steady hand, good light and should remember that it's still a phone (especially if your first love is a DSLR).
I've long been a fan of the iPhone camera and I think this will only enhance the pleasure I get from taking photos with mine. I'll do a full review once I've played with the other lenses, if people are interested.


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If you are actually a human and believe this is in error, please contact email@example.com with this ip address: 18.104.22.168. Please include Phelous in the subject, or your email will probably be ignored
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The growing concern about reducing the cost of healthcare delivery is the major focus in revamping the U.S. healthcare system.
There have been numerous attempts to better understand the key drivers contributing to rising healthcare costs, yet the ability to successfully control the rising trend has been met with consistent challenges.
A key motivating factor of the Affordable Care Act was to drive greater accountability of insurance carriers and to limit their ability to continually raise premiums. Beginning in January, insurance companies will begin an aggressive campaign to recruit new members as a means of compensating for the costs they incur by accepting individuals with preexisting conditions and dependents.
Consumers will have to better educate themselves about the various insurance options in order to better manage their health needs. Unfortunately, the information they will need about the "real" price of services is hardly transparent.
Although many companies have emerged that claim to provide data about price variations of various services (as an example, what's the best deal on a colonoscopy in Washington, D.C.) the data has been limited and consumers have made little use of what data has been available.
The challenge in providing information about true price and discounts is that insurance companies are often reluctant to share this information, which is considered proprietary.
Furthermore, there are often negotiated discounts between insurance companies and larger physician groups and hospitals that are customarily not disclosed for competitive reasons – another reason for reluctance to publish these prices.
For physicians who are in solo practice and are trying to compete for more business, it does make sense for them to share price information in order to attract more patients and be competitive.
As the new health insurance exchanges are put in place and consumers are coerced into participating, the need for absolute price transparency will be a prerequisite, and not a luxury that will predict the ultimate success of how free market dynamics will work.
Providing limited information to consumers could potentially cause more harm than good, and so it will be prudent for all stakeholders to recognize the importance of making available all of the information so that consumers can make educated decisions about their health choices.
Although the Affordable Care Act has put in place measures to assess the quality of care being delivered, it is equally prudent that parameters are established for the required exchange and availability of data between employers, insurance companies, doctors, and consumers to ensure that health insurance exchanges are providing a consistent experience to every consumer.
Sreedhar Potarazu is an ophthalmologist and founder and CEO of Vital Spring Technologies.
Image credit: Shutterstock.com


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Northwest/Arctic Federal Buildings
GSA's Northwest/Arctic Region (Region 10) provides work environments for federal workers in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
The Northwest/Arctic Region designs, constructs and manages a portfolio of federal office buildings, courthouses, border stations, warehouses and laboratories. Federal agency clients are provided with quality work environments through GSA's Design Excellence and Construction Excellence Programs.
GSA provides a full range of real estate services, from property management, new construction, renovations, and facility repairs. The region also negotiates leases for federal agencies residing in private lease space and offers a full range of reimbursable real estate services.
GSA customers may contact their Property Management Service Center for any facility related questions, concerns or requests.
GSA's Northwest/Arctic Region is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.


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Annual Reunion Weekend
May 13 - 14, 2023
Celebrating our 100th Anniversary
Thirteen descendants met in 1913 at the Colonial Hotel in Charlottesville to organize the Monticello Graveyard Association and adopt a constitution and bylaws, and thus began the tradition that we continue to this day.
More >>
Things to do while in Charlottesville
Charlottesville has become a food lover's paradise with a range of interesting options for everyone. Check out the latest C-ville has to offer from the vast City Market every Saturday morning to local joints serving up creative fare.
More >>


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Warsaw is the capital of Poland. With a population of almost 2 Mio and a new and modern airport, this city is worth a trip. This amazing city is full of contrasts, question marks and surprises. It will excite and inspire you. Avail car rental services from addCar right from Warsaw airport.
Its varied architecture symbolizes the city's long and stressful history, from German times with Gothic churches and neoclassical palaces to Soviet-era blocks and skyscrapers like most other modern cities.it is often called Chicago of Europe because of its diversity.
The city was virtually destroyed during the Second World War, but the city's Old Town was restored after heavy damage. Its heart is Market Square, with pastel buildings and outdoor trendy cafes. The Monument of the Warsaw Mermaid at its centre is the city's symbol. Other points of interest are the Palace of Culture and Science; an ugly building often referred to as Stalin's gift to the city.
More appealing are the Lazienki Park or Warsaw Uprising Museum or if you are more into castles, then the Royal Castle is definitely worth a trip. The car is being delivered by locals of addCar, car rental company from Warsaw, Poland, well aware of the city. You can also take help from them to hire a car and the market and other places suggestions.
There are many interesting spots to visit in the vicinity of Warsaw and we recommend to rent a car either from Warsaw airport or from our city office. Hire a car and explore the Chopin Statue, Fryderyk Chopin Museum or The Wilanów Palace, which was built for the king John III Sobieski in 1686.
This Castle is a wonderful example of the Polish baroque architecture. It survived all the history turmoil and now serves as a great example of the Polish culture from the olden days. Enjoy the trip to Warsaw, Poland with car rental services of addCar. Get the best car rental deals on advance car booking.
Krakow Balice Airport
Warsaw airport
Lodz Arport
Bydgoszcz Airport
Krakow railway station
Warszawa Central Station
Modlin airport
Katowice airport
Katowice railway
Best Western Krakow Hotel
Gdansk Airport
Gdansk railway
Hilton Gdansk Hotel
Hilton Warsaw Hotel
Holiday Inn Gdansk
Holiday Inn Katowice
Marriot Hotel Katowice
Marriot Hotel Warsaw
Novotel Warsaw
Radisson Blue Gdansk
Radisson Blue Krakow
Radisson Blue Warsaw
Sheraton Hotel Krakow
Kraków Hotel Warszawski
Poznan airport
Wroclaw airport


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CEO Rich Thug releases hit latest mixtape project hosted by OG Bigga Rankin featuring bangers from artist Rich Thug, Mun E, and Fatboi Fresh. This mixtape is for all the #SelfMadeBosses. Rich Thug Ent., Future of Florida s/o Whytegurl Promotions.
Click [Here] To Stream / Download
Checkout The "Stayed Down Til I Came Up" Video


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The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) on Wednesday reported on the IRS's progress in retiring its Legacy e-File system and moving to the Modernized e-File (MeF) system (TIGTA Rep't No. 2012-20-121). The IRS started to phase out the legacy system in 2004 with the introduction of an internet-based e-file system, the MeF system. The IRS continues to maintain the Legacy e-File system as it has rolled out subsequent MeF system releases accommodating more returns.
In 2004, the IRS first deployed MeF to process Form 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, and related forms, electronically. In February 2010, the IRS began processing Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, with 22 other forms and schedules, using MeF.
According to TIGTA, the number of returns the MeF system processed in its first two filing seasons was significantly lower than had been projected, and the IRS had to rely on the legacy system for the balance of the returns. In response to these problems, the IRS has developed a new version of MeF, Release 8.0, but has not fully implemented it and will not be able to use it for e-filing of employment tax returns, which will prevent the IRS from detecting errors on the employment tax returns on a real-time basis.
TIGTA reported that the IRS has improved the performance of MeF during the 2012 filing season. For the 2011 filing season, the IRS received only 8.7 million individual income tax returns through MeF, while in 2012, MeF received 72.4 million individual returns (versus 49.8 million filed on the legacy system). The IRS increased the number of approved software packages for the new system and increased MeF filings by notifying transmitters that had submitted 1 million or more individual returns electronically in the 2011 filing season that they were required to submit their 2012 filing season returns using MeF.
TIGTA made three recommendations to ease the process of retiring the legacy system completely. First, TIGTA recommended that the IRS defer the retirement of the Legacy e-File system until the increased risk associated with retiring the system can be addressed. The IRS agreed with this recommendation and said it was prepared to accept a limited number of individual returns on the legacy system if the MeF system experiences problems during the 2013 filing season.
The second recommendation was that the IRS update the Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) to include procedures that require performance test teams to obtain waivers or deferrals from the testing requirement if performance tests are not executed and to prepare and submit end-of-test status reports to senior management for performance tests that are completed. The IRS agreed to update the IRM to include this procedure.
The third recommendation was for the IRS to develop a retirement plan to completely shut down the legacy system. The IRS responded that discussions regarding the future of the legacy system had taken place but a final decision to retire the system has not been made. TIGTA was not satisfied with this response and added an auditor's comment that the IRS needs to develop a timeline for retiring the legacy system.
Sally P. Schreiber (
) is a JofA senior editor.


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The Buffalo Sabres have pulled within 6-points of an Eastern Conference playoff spot with their 2-1 win over the New York Islanders, Tuesday.
Tyler Myers opened the scoring just over a minute into the game when he crept in from the point and chipped a loose puck over a sprawling Kevin Poulin.
Thomas Vanek netted what proved to be the game-winner early in the second period to put the Sabres up 2-0 on his 22nd goal of the season from Derek Roy and Jason Pominville.
Ryan Miller was stellar in the win stopping 30-of-31 shots, despite allowing a soft goal late in the third period to Frans Nielsen, who sped in off the left wing and beat Miller with a slap shot to the short side. "I'm getting pretty good reads on the play," Miller said, "And when I have one-on-ones with the guy, I can focus on challenging that and it all kind of blends together."
The Sabres are 5-3-2 in their last 10-games and winners of two straight. Their recent inspired play has fans wondering where this type of urgency has been all season long.
Although the recent dedication to team defense and solid goaltending have brought them closer to the playoff picture, they are still 12th in the East and only 2-points ahead of Carolina who are last in the conference.
It is curious to think whether the looming NHL trade deadline has lit a fire under some of the Sabres whose names have been thrown around the rumor mill lately.
Derek Roy is one of the players' that has been mentioned as possible trade bait, he also has 5-points in the last 2-games, including assists on both Sabres goals Tuesday. "It's easy to play with those guys [Vanek and Pominville]," Roy said postgame, "They're smart, they know where to go on the ice to score goals."
Regardless of who he's playing with, this is the type of production Sabres fans expect from a guy that is paid to be the team's first line center.
The other name that has been heating up the trade rumors is center Paul Gaustad, who didn't register a point, but played a solid physical game logging 16:23 minutes of ice time.
Line mates Nathan Gerbe and Patrick Kaleta combined with Gaustad shutting down the Islanders top-line all night along with their high energy and physicality. "That was the key to the game for us," said Head Coach Lindy Ruff, "If you Look at the last 3-games, the job they've done, go back to the Montreal game shutting down the [Erik] Cole line, then the Pittsburgh threesome there, even when they threw [Jordan] Staal up front."
Tyler Ennis has also been a pleasant surprise since returning from an injury riddled first half of the season. Since his return Ennis has been manning the center position where he has been able to thrive, speeding up and down the ice and creating chances offensively.
As perplexing as it can be to watch these Sabres struggle for long periods, then turn around and thump a team like Pittsburgh on Sunday, then back it up with a win over a team that has had their number recently in the Islanders, speaks to the lack of mental and physical toughness of this team.
They just don't seem to have the consistent intensity it takes to be a playoff club. While the playoffs are becoming more of a possibility, the Sabres should still be looking to move some pieces for the future and continue to battle to make the playoffs, or not.
The NHL's trade activity spiked in intensity last Thursday when the Ducks and Oilers exchanged prospects, later that day Lightning GM Steve Yzerman dealt former Sabres deadline pickup Dominic Moore and a 2012-7th round pick to San Jose for a 2012-2nd round pick.
Philadelphia made a move for some defensive help from Dallas in the form of Nicklas Grossman in exchange for a 2012-2nd round pick and 2013-3rd round pick.
Then Friday, Yzerman made his second of a series of moves that set up the Lightning's next two off-seasons. Sending Pavel Kubina to the Flyers who continue to attempt to shore up the hole left in the blue line by Chris Pronger's absence. In return the Lightning received Jon Kalinski, a prospect out of Bonneyville, Alberta and a 2013-2nd round pick and 2013-4th round pick.
The Nashville Predators made the move of the day when they acquired towering defenseman Hal Gill from the Montreal Canadiens in a swap that sent two prospects including forward Blake Geoffrion, grandson of Hall-of-Famer 'Boom Boom' Geoffrion, who also played for the Canadiens and a 2012-2nd round pick.
It only took Yzerman 4 more days to make his biggest move yet. Tampa Bay sent Steve Downie to Colorado for budding defenseman Kyle Quincey, then immediately shipped him to Detroit for a 2012-1st round pick and defensive prospect.
The Lightning, who are a point ahead of the Sabres in the East, are making the right adjustments and looking towards the future by moving pieces that are valuable, but not back-breaking.
Like the Lightning, the Sabres don't need to rebuild, they need a shake up and Sabres GM Darcy Regier should sit up and take notice, that if you are willing to be reasonable, you can get a reasonable return in the trade market.
As the action heats up and the Sabres attempt to claw their way back into contention, it's seem less likely that they will be sellers. Should they decide to hang a 'For Sale' sign on their roster, it seems there are buyers willing to part with high picks for NHL experience.
Both teams the Sabres are chasing in the standings took losses in overtime on Tuesday. Toronto (65-points) lost to New Jersey when goalie Jonas Gustavsson let in a softie from the blue line off the stick of defenseman Mark Fayne 1:18 into the extra frame.
Winnipeg (65-points) fell to Philadelphia as Wayne Simmonds scored with 10-seconds left to tie it, then Jaromir Jagr scored late in overtime to complete the comeback win for the Flyers.
With a continued resurgence and a little luck the Sabres just might have a shot at the last playoff spot in the East, but for now their team focus should be one period at a time and that begins Friday when the Boston Bruins come sniffing around the First Niagara Center.


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Chris Van Allsburg is the author and illustrator of many celebrated children's books such as The Polar Express and Jumanji. In this exclusive video interview with Reading Rockets, Chris Van Allsburg talks about his big breakthrough, his books, and their transformation into movies.
You can watch the interview below, view the interview transcript, read a short biography on Chris Van Allsburg, or see a selected list of his children's books.
Chris Van Allsburg still seems surprised by his own success. As a sculptor who began drawing as a hobby, Van Allsburg never expected to find himself in the national spotlight. But his first book won a Caldecott Honor and his second book won the Caldecott Medal. In 1996 Jumanji became a Hollywood film. Van Allsburg's most recognized book, The Polar Express, is one of the bestselling children's books of all time.
Since 1979, Chris Van Allsburg's books have blurred the line between fantasy and reality. His stories leave unresolved mysteries up to the imagination of the reader. His illustrations are beautiful and eerie, often hinting at an alternate reality that might just be lurking behind the next page.
The accidental illustrator
Chris Van Allsburg was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1949. As a young boy, he loved building things with his hands, especially model cars and trains. Although he also enjoyed drawing the occasional picture, he never really considered himself a talented artist.
Van Allsburg studied sculpture at the University of Michigan and received a master's degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. For a few years, he successfully sold his sculptures to a New York City gallery. On nights when it was too cold to work in his studio, Van Allsburg began drawing pictures just to pass the time. But when his wife showed these sketches to children's publishing houses, the editors liked his work. They offered him stories to illustrate, but Van Allsburg preferred to come up with his own ideas.
Van Allsburg thought of his first book as a fun, one-time venture. But when The Garden of Abdul Gasazi received a Caldecott Honor and rave reviews, he decided to spend more time illustrating books and less time making sculpture. "If I could do something this well with so little experience in the art form," Van Allsburg thought to himself, "I should try it again, because I could probably do something better." Within six years, he had won two prestigious Caldecott Medals for Jumanji and The Polar Express.
Van Allsburg's most recent book, Zathura, is a Jumanji sequel with a space adventure twist. His holiday classic, The Polar Express, was refashioned into a feature film in 2004.
See also
- Chris Van Allsburg: A Sample Author Study (University of Virginia)


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text: Motion design is always challenging matter. The new 6" TV tag of DIEL Sport produced by oh yeah, reveals the complex geometry employed in the assembling of a single logo. Since the landing media is the weather forecast on the BNT1 TV, the sticky appeal "It's time" also doesn't sound bad.


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Microsoft could be shipping a preview release of the next major version of Windows—codenamed "Threshold" and expected to be named "Windows 9"—in either late September or early October, according to sources speaking to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley. The preview will be widely available to anyone who wants to install it.
The final version of the operating system is currently believed to be scheduled for spring 2015.
Microsoft has all but confirmed some of the features that Threshold will ship with, including a new hybrid Start menu that includes bits of the old Windows 7 Start menu alongside new live tiles and the ability to run modern Metro applications in windows.
Other features that have been rumored include the removal of the Charms bar, with Metro apps having to embed their own search, share, and print buttons as appropriate. Windows 8.1 already took a step in this direction; although it has the Charms bar, with Windows 8.1, Metro applications started incorporating search buttons within their UI instead of relying on the search charm.
Virtual Desktop support has also been rumored, giving Windows for the first time ever a native capability to organize windows into multiple workspaces. There have also been claims that there will be some kind of Cortana integration.
Foley's sources told her that anyone using the preview will have to enable automatic updating, perhaps indicating that Microsoft intends to service and update Windows on a near-continuous basis in the future.


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The LaBelle Haven Baptist church at 6825 E. Holmes Road in Hickory Hill has been sold for $1.8 million.
New Life in Christ Fellowship Church of Mississippi bought the church in a June 24 warranty deed from LaBelle Haven Baptist Inc.
Because it is exempt from property taxes, dwelling information isn't available on the Shelby County Assessor of Property website, but the church sits on 14.9 acres on the south side of East Holmes Road between Riverdale and Ross roads.
New Life in Christ Fellowship Church, which has a church in Olive Branch, filed a $1.6 million deed of trust through Sycamore Bank in conjunction with the purchase.
The Rev. Kevin B. Willis Sr. signed the trust deed, as did pastor Linda K. Willis and elders Audrey T. Betts, Gregory K. Kerr and Quincy L. Preston.
Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports
– Daily News staff
Lee Burns, the headmaster of Presbyterian Day School for 14 years, will leave the Memphis institution after the upcoming school year to become headmaster of McCallie School of Chattanooga.
Burns' appointment by the McCallie board of directors is effective next summer.
He is a third generation alumni of the private school for boys, and his grandfather taught at the school as well.
In addition to his role as headmaster at PDS, Burns is chairman of the board of trustees of The Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence.
The PDS board of trustees has formed a search committee led by former board chairman John Colcolough to begin the search for a new headmaster.
– Bill Dries
Experts at The Regional Medical Center at Memphis are encouraging parents to keep children away from fireworks as they celebrate the Fourth of July.
Last year, fireworks were involved in about 8,700 injuries treated in U.S. hospitals, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
"The good news is that these injuries are 100 percent preventable," said Dr. William Hickerson, medical director of the Firefighters Regional Burn Center, a burn center housed at The MED. "By far, the safest way to enjoy fireworks is to attend an outdoor public display put on by specially trained professionals."
Hickerson said parents also should not let children use sparklers, which many people consider a safer alternative to fireworks.
"Parents often do not realize that children can suffer serious injuries from sparklers," Hickerson said. "Sparklers can exceed 1,000 degrees, which is hot enough to melt some metals, and the sparkler wire remains hot long after the flame has extinguished."
– Jennifer Johnson Backer
The Cochon Heritage BBQ series is coming back to Memphis next month.
The event happens Aug. 30 at The Peabody hotel, following its first visit to the city in 2012.
It's a stand-up tasting event that involves five chef teams challenged to use one whole heritage breed pig per team to win votes from an audience of industry professionals, media and noteworthy judges.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and general admission tickets are $125. VIP tickets cost $200, and doors for those ticket-holders open at 6:30 p.m.
– Andy Meek
U.S. home prices jumped 12.2 percent in May from a year ago, the most in seven years. The increase suggests the housing recovery is strengthening.
Real estate data provider CoreLogic said Tuesday that home prices rose from a year ago in 48 states. They fell only in Delaware and Alabama. And all but three of the 100 largest cities reported price gains.
Prices rose 26 percent in Nevada to lead all states. It was followed by California (20.2 percent), Arizona (16.9 percent), Hawaii (16.1 percent) and Oregon (15.5 percent).
CoreLogic also says prices rose 2.6 percent in May from April, the fifteenth straight month-over-month increase.
Steady hiring and low mortgage rates have encouraged more Americans to buy homes. Greater demand, a limited number of homes for sale and fewer foreclosures have pushed prices higher. Prices are still 20 percent below the peak reached in April 2006, according to CoreLogic.
Sales of previously occupied homes topped the 5 million mark in May for the first time in 3 ½ years. And the proportion of those sales that were "distressed" was at the lowest level in more than four years for the second straight month. Distressed home sales include foreclosures and short sales. A short sale is when a home sells for less than what is owed on the mortgage.
Home sales are expected to increase in the coming months. That's because the number of people who signed contracts to buy homes rose in June to the highest level since December 2006. There's generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale.
One worry is that higher mortgage rates could slow the housing recovery. Still, rates remain low by historical standards. And increases in rates could boost home sales. That's' because many Americans may act to lock in the lower rates before they rise further.
A survey by the University of Michigan released last week found more Americans believe it is a good time to buy a home because both rates and prices are just starting to rise.
Rates have been trending higher for two months. And the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage leapt to 4.46 percent last week, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. That's the highest in two years and a point more than a month ago.
Mortgage rates surged after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said last month that the Fed could scale back its bond buying later this year and end it next year if the economy continued to strengthen. The bond purchases have kept long-term rates down.
Economists say that higher mortgage rates are unlikely to stifle the housing recovery. A more critical issue is whether potential buyers can get loans.
– The Associated Press
State Representative Jim Coley of Bartlett has been appointed to the state's human trafficking task force.
The task force is called for in legislation the Tennessee legislature passed this year to explore policies to combat human trafficking in Tennessee.
Coley was appointed by House Speaker Beth Harwell. Coley, who is serving his fourth term in the house, has sponsored numerous bills on the issue.
Copyright 1995 -
by The Daily News Publishing Co. Inc. - All Rights Reserved


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It's not often that a single event appeals to three of my interests, but the recent Jisc-ProQuest symposium on Early European Books Online did just that. I work to develop research collections, and support digital humanities scholarship, while my own research is looking at 17th century texts using corpus linguistics tools: Early European Books brings all three neatly together.
I was slightly suspicious that I might be attending a sales demonstration, but Lorraine Estelle, from Jisc Collections, opened by announcing that Jisc has licensed this resource in perpetuity, making it is freely available to the UK HE community via the Historical Texts platform.
'E-books are the research data of Humanities'
The presentation by Paul Ayris (delivered on the day by Ben Meunier) put EEB firmly in context of research data management, referencing the LERU 2013 roadmap, and 'science 2.0' for Arts and Humanities scholars – noting that e-books are our research data. New forms of text analysis are possible using text and data mining techniques. He described EEB as 'a defining project, delivering on the science 2.0 agenda for Arts and Humanities'.
The Text Creation Partnership, and others
What has really enabled text mining is not just the existence of EEB or EEBO, however, but the extraordinary partnership that has produced EEBO-TCP. The Text Creation Partnership has involved re-keying the text images to create standardized, accurate XML/SGML encoded electronic text editions of early printed books. This work, and the resulting text files, are jointly funded and owned by more than 150 libraries worldwide.
Matthew Brack gave us a very practical assessment of the project management experience in the Wellcome library's digitisation projects. Andrew Pettegree talked about the Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) and the challenges of comprehensive coverage.
At the lively round table discussion we considered the difficulty of citing/measuring the impact of electronic sources and the [un]reliability (46%) of OCR software.
It's clear to me that we need a partnership approach with librarians, providers, and scholars working to counteract misperceptions of 'easy' e-scholarship and/or lazy searching, and issues with citation of e-resources. After all, Digital Humanities research is typically a highly collaborative activity.
University of Manchester users can access the first four collections in Early European Books via the Library's A-Z of databases pages.


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Does my bum look big in this? Actually, I'm writing this in a pair of "relaxed tailored" sweatpants so don't answer that. I mean rather, that Victoria's Secret have been at it again: wielding their retouching software with all the subtlety of a drunk and distracted Cecilia Giménez.
These knickers are called "The Cheeky' – so cheeky in fact, that there wasn't room in the photo for all of them. This mono-cheeked photo appeared (and indeed, still appears) on Victoria's Secret's Facebook page a few weeks ago. It has been bugging me ever since.
This isn't even the first time they have erased the very body part their product is designed to serve from their marketing. I've written about this before: not content with erasing any nuance of shape, age, race or culture from their bland and two dimensional version of sexuality, they appear steadfastly committed to erasing actual body parts too.
I'm not sure what Victoria's Secret's end game is with this war against women's three dimensional existence, but one thing is clear: women deserve better than businesses who treat women's bodies like a Potato Jesus. Spend your money with companies who feel comfortable with buttocked bodies.
Related: Man, I hate Victoria's Secret.
Victoria's Secret's war of propaganda against the female body has
Via Jezebel. Photo from Victoria's Secret's apparently self-parodying Facebook page.


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Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What's better? A list of those. Here's a roundup of the rundowns out there.
•Top 10 Outrageous Haircuts in Gaming [Gaming Bolt] How come I'm not on this list? Hell, how come Crecente isn't on this list?
•Top 10 Most Ungrateful Kids in Video Games [Ranker] I was gonna say Butch from Fallout 3 but then I remembered I let his mom get eaten by radroaches. And stole her vodka. And killed him and took his jacket. Sorry, Butchie.
•Top 10 Signs That You Played Too Much L.A. Noire [Planet Xbox 360] The deep distrust of anyone who wears size 8 shoes is probably a good indicator.
Meta Quest Pro
Mixed reality
The Meta Quest Pro centers on working, creating, and collaborating in a virtual space.
•Five of the Strangest Food Items in Video Games [OC Weekly] A Thanksgiving turkey served in a 55-gallon drum? What's so strange about that? My favorite was the XX-marked jug in Gauntlet. Is Elf starving? Get him liquored up instead.
•Top 10 Worst Video Game Movies [Calm Down Tom] Even though it was not a video game (clarification: It was adapted into one later), I'm gonna put Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever on here, simply because being mistaken for a video game movie is the greatest regret of those who made that turd.


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Physcial Sciences Division
Staff Awards & Honors
April 2007
Patents Earn Jun Liu Distinguished Inventor of Battelle Status
Congratulations to Laboratory Fellow Jun Liu on being named a Battelle Distinguished Inventor. This annual award is given to researchers who have 14 or more U.S. patents to their credit as a direct result of their work at Battelle. During his career at Battelle, Jun has been granted 18 U.S. and 18 foreign patents. He has also authored numerous disclosure reports and has additional patents in the application process.
Jun's research includes cutting edge programs ranging from fundamental studies of molecularly organized nanostructural materials, to self-organization of complex proteins, to the development of unique materials aimed at a particular application. His work has helped establish the field of self-assembled, functionalized nanoporous materials. His team developed "Self-Assembled Monolayers on Mesoporous Silica (SAMMS)," and received the 1999 R&D 100 Award for potential applications in environmental and chemical industry.
In addition, Jun routinely publishes technical papers in leading journals and has co-authored and edited several books. His research has received considerable attention in the scientific community and popular press.
Congratulations again, Jun, on this important award!


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I regularly write to raise concerns about the current government's misuse of psychology in public policies and research. There has been a shift towards the formulation of targeted, prejudiced, class contingent policies which have the central aim of "changing behaviours" and enforcing "compliance" and conformity. This behaviourist approach has some profound implications for democracy. It constrains autonomy and curtails the basic liberties of targeted citizens, it does not include safeguards or a space for citizens' qualitative accounts and feedback, while also excluding them from any political consideration of their human rights.
On the government website, a contract finder notice for the "Provision of Research Laboratory Facilities" for the Department for Work and Pensions says:
"The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) requires research to be undertaken, in a research laboratory environment, with recipients of the Carers Allowance and recipients of the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
In a typical lab situation DWP shall have one DWP researcher in a room with the participant and other DWP researchers (if appropriate) and invited observers behind a two way mirror evaluating what is happening. As well as viewing the interview they can also see the activity on the web screen via monitors in their room.
The proceedings are currently recorded on MP4 for subsequent use when research findings are being reported. The participants cannot see the people in the viewing facility though they know they are there. There needs to be flexibility to be able to undertake the research in the North West and Leeds and be able to recruit for participants to attend a Government Lab set up at Aviation House in London WC2B 6NH."
Northern Voices T/A The Talking Shop is a Manchester based market research and public opinion polling company that has been awarded the contract in June this year. This company will be paid up to £60,000 for experimenting on sick and disabled claimants, using covert observation from behind a two-way mirror, studying eye movements, facial expressions and body language.
Eye movement measurements are frequently used, though controversially, in criminal psychology, too, as a somewhat unreliable method of "lie detection." Questions arise regarding precisely how eye movements, perception and cognition are related, and to date, this question hasn't been answered by academics.
It struck me that the experimental set up is very reminiscent of the social psychology experiments conducted in the 60s and early 70s to study social conformity and obedience to authority. However, the welfare "reforms" were specifically designed to coerce people claiming welfare into conformity – "to do the 'right thing'"- and compliance with a harsh "conditionality" regime and ever-shrinking eligibility criteria. It's hardly a secret that the New Right Conservatives and neoliberals have always loathed the welfare state, and along with the other social gains of our post-war settlement, it is being systematically dismantled.
The wider context is significant, both in terms of its impact on individual citizen's experiences and behaviours, and on the way that theory is formulated to conflate and align citizen's needs with neoliberal outcomes, and this is also reflected in how research is being designed and used.
Some context
In the UK, the Behavioural Insight Team has been testing libertarian paternalist ideas for conducting public policy by running experiments in which many thousands of participants receive various policy "treatments." A lot of the actual research work is contracted out to private providers. Whilst medical researchers generally observe strict ethical codes of practice, in place to protect subjects, the new behavioural economists and profit-driven private companies are less transparent in conducting behavioural research "interventions." There are no ethical and safeguarding guidelines in place to protect participants.
Earlier this year I wrote about a Department for Work and Pensions Trial that was about "testing whether conditionality and the use of financial sanctions are effective for people that need to claim benefits in low paid work." A secretly released document (which said: "This document is for internal use only and should not be shared with external partners or claimants.") was particularly focused on methods of enforcing the "cultural and behavioural change" of people claiming both in-work and out-of-work social security.
Evaluation of the Trial will be the responsibility of the Labour Market Trials Unit (LMTU). Evaluation will "measure the impact of the Trial's 3 group approaches, but understand more about claimant attitudes to progression over time and how the Trial has influenced behaviour changes."
Worryingly, claimant participation in the Trial was mandatory. There was no appropriate procedure to obtain and record clearly informed consent from research participants. Furthermore, the Trial is founded on a coercive psychomanagement and political approach to labour market constraints, and is clearly expressed as a psychological intervention, explicitly aimed at "behavioural change" and this raises some serious concerns about the lack of research ethics and codes of conduct in government research. It's also very worrying that this "intervention" is to be delivered by non-qualified work coaches.
The British Psychological Society (BPS) have issued a code of ethics in psychology that provides guidelines for the conduct of research. Some of the more important and pertinent ethical considerations are as follows:
- Informed Consent.
Participants must be given the following information:
- A statement that participation is voluntary and that refusal to participate will not result in any consequences or any loss of benefits that the person is otherwise entitled to receive.
- Purpose of the research.
- Procedures involved in the research.
- All foreseeable risks and discomforts to the participant (if there are any). These include not only physical injury but also possible psychological.
- Subjects' right to confidentiality and the right to withdraw from the study at any time without any consequences.
Protection of Participants
- Researchers must ensure that those taking part in research will not be caused distress. They must be protected from physical and mental harm. This means you must not embarrass, frighten, offend or harm participants.
- Normally, the risk of harm must be no greater than in ordinary life, i.e. participants should not be exposed to risks greater than or additional to those encountered in their normal lifestyles. Withdrawing lifeline support that is calculated to meet the costs of only minimum requirements for basic survival – food, fuel and shelter – as a punishment for non-compliance WILL INVARIABLY cause distress, harm and loss of dignity for the subjects that are coerced into participating in this Trial. Participants should be able to leave a study at any time if they feel uncomfortable.
Behavioural "rights" and the politics of moralising
Consent to a therapy or research protocol must possess a minimum of three features in order to be valid. These are: it should be voluntarily expressed, it should be the expression of a competent subject, and the subject must be be adequately informed of the details.This raises some serious concerns about experimental social research, especially when it may involve people with mental health disabilities who may be highly vulnerable.
It's highly unlikely that people subjected to the extended use and broadened application of welfare sanctions gave their informed consent to participate in experiments designed to test the nudge theory of "cognitive bias," for example. The extended use of sanctions in the Welfare Reform Act 2012 was originally advised by the Behavioural Insights Team (the Nudge Unit) back in 2010. It was based on the manipulation of an alleged cognitive bias that we have – loss aversion – and designed as a method of coercing conformity to increasingly unreasonable state-imposed conditionality rules, and as punishment for the perceived "non-compliance" of unemployed people.
There is nothing to prevent a government deliberately exploiting a research framework as a way to test out highly unethical and ideologically-driven policies. How appropriate is it to apply a biomedical model of prescribed policy "treatments" to people experiencing politically and structurally generated social problems, such as unemployment, inequality and poverty, for example?
The fact that this government regards work as a "health outcome" should raise alarm bells. (Please see: Let's keep the job centre out of GP surgeries and the DWP out of our confidential medical records). The government have already stigmatised unemployment, and redefined it as a psychological disorder.
Furthermore, the research models being used are framed by a profoundly undemocratic conservative neopositivism, which emphasises directed quantitative data collection and excludes the accounts, experiences, narratives and language of research participants. Much of the research is prejudiced, and starts from an authoritarian premise that people experiencing socioeconomic problems do so because they make the "wrong choices" and that they need to be "incentivised to change their behaviours".
An element of the "laboratory research environment" research went ahead in March last year. It's stated aim was to "to improve the Carer's Allowance Digital Service." The recruitment brief specifies that:
"These self employed people shouldn't have accounts prepared by an accountant however it's mandatory that they bring with them details of their self-employment eg a log book or papers of incoming and outgoings. We also need these people to be looking after someone who has a disability."
It's become normalised that many millionaires avoid paying taxes and contributing to the society that they have gained so much from. I don't see anyone intimidating them, demanding details of their "incoming and outgoings," yet that would profit society far, far more.
Wouldn't you think that if this were genuinely about supporting carers using software or accessing services online, it would be designed to be USER LED – a direct face-to-face approach would be the usual way, with an input from those service users, which is qualitative and much more reliable, authentic and useful than the account of a group of strangers hiding behind mirrored glass, observing people and applying controversial psychology techniques.
Measuring eye movements is usually coupled with other more inclusive qualitative methodologies, such as introspective verbal protocols, since used on its own, it is unreliable in that it fails to indicate specific kinds of cognitive processing or content. This dialogic approach, however, isn't included in the government's research brief. (Please see The importance of citizen's qualitative accounts in democratic inclusion and political participation.)
The central premise of justifications for "behavioural interventions" is that the general public has numerous cognitive biases that lead to "faulty" decision-making. Current research and interventions are largely aimed at the poorest citizens, however, exposing a government bias that wealthy people are somehow cognitively competent. Yet many of this powerful, offshore hoarding minority class want to see worker's rights, welfare support and our public services dismantled.
Not a rational or civilised class, on the whole, then.
As I have previously stated, the behavioural approach removes people from the socioeconomic and political context that they inhabit and isolates them from meaningful and impacting socio-structural events and political decision-making, placing the burden of responsibility and obligation entirely within those who are suffering the inevitable systemic consequences of neoliberal policies. In such an economic system of "market forces" based on competition, there are invariably winners and losers. It's hardly rational or fair to punish those who are simply adversely affected by an intrinsically flawed and unfair system of socioeconomic organisation for which there was never a consensus. It was simply imposed on the UK public, without any legitimate, informed consent.
Can you imagine the government carrying out this kind of research and stigmatising, intimidating methodology on billionaires interacting with their accountants, completing their tax returns or interacting with their offshore banks? No, I thought not.
It's noteworthy that current Nudge Unit policy is to keep those being targeted for nudges "naive" as people tend to temporarily alter their behaviour when they know they are being observed and that skews research results. In sociology and social psychology, this is called the Hawthorne effect.
However, that approach is profoundly incompatible with established ethical research frameworks, and fundamental human rights, which, as I've outlined, always specify a central requirement of participants' informed consent.
Similarly, the starting premise of laboratory usability testing is that "what people say they do with products is not always what they actually do." In other words, we cannot trust the public to tell us what they need.
Userbility testing, an American import, is designed to "target" users' needs and preferences by observing their behaviour. However, a big part of the motivation for this kind of research is "Building credibility for usability activities within an organization." The government often use research like this to formulate justification narratives for controversial, coercive and punitive policies.
Democracy is meant to involve the election of a government that reflects on social problems objectively, recognises and serves public needs, and designs policy in response to what citizens actually need; it's not about governments that coerce people to "change their behaviour" in accordance to a partisan, ideological agenda. We call the kind of government that does that "totalitarian."
I am not the only person who is very concerned about this development.
A spokesperson for Fightback 4 Justice said:
"This is the company that has won the tender experimenting with Carers claimants using body language techniques and 2 way mirrors. If anyone gets called into one of these meetings please get in touch as I'd be happy to attend. I am very very concerned about a potential breach of a person's human rights here particularly where mental health is one of the claimants conditions. Nothing about this "study" seems ethical in my legal opinion. A room with a 2 way mirror and capacity for 12 people studying body language and facial expressions is wrong in so many ways, DWP are giving the wrong impression that claimants are potential criminals with this latest research in my view." Michelle (legal advocate).
The Talking Shop's research studios
The politics of blame and in-work conditionality
Nudging conformity and benefit sanctions
G4S are employing Cognitive Behavioural Therapists to deliver "get to work therapy"
The new Work and Health Programme: government plan social experiments to "nudge" sick and disabled people into work
The importance of citizen's qualitative accounts in democratic inclusion and political participation
Let's keep the job centre out of GP surgeries and the DWP out of our confidential medical records
The Conservative approach to social research – that way madness lies
A critique of Conservative notions of social research


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House proposes $500M roads minimum
LANSING — Michigan's ragged roads could stay smoother for longer under changes to transportation funding proposed by House leaders Thursday.
Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger announced a roads funding plan of at least $450 million in fiscal 2015 and at least $500 million annually by fiscal 2018. The legislation would require warranties on road work to avoid short-term fixes and would change various streams of tax revenue.
Michigan roads actually need $1.2 billion annually, Bolger said, but the proposed changes are better than one-time funding allocations the Legislature has made in recent years. Passing the legislation in time for the summer construction season "won't be easy," he said.
"This will without a doubt receive opposition. There will be plenty who say it's not enough, to which I will say, '20 years of all-or-nothing has gotten pretty much nothing,'" Bolger said.
Road maintenance would be at least partially privatized under a requirement that the state bid out contracts for road work and upkeep. Projects over $5 million would need a five-year warranty, which would require companies to maintain an area of road after building it. All other road work would also need a warranty.
The state's 19 cents-per-gallon tax on unleaded gasoline would be replaced with a 6 percent wholesale tax, which wouldn't increase revenue to start. As inflation pushes up the price of fuel, the state could gradually gain more money to fix roads and bridges.
The 15 cents-per-gallon tax on diesel fuel would also be replaced with a 6 percent wholesale tax, generating an estimated $47 million more next year.
The legislation would allocate some revenue from the existing 6 percent fuel sales tax to roads while preserving money that goes to schools and local governments, Bolger said. That's estimated to generate $130 million next year. The proposal also dedicates 1 percent of the state's use tax revenue to roads, or about $239 million in 2015.
Permit fees for overweight and oversized vehicles would increase, generating roughly $4.5 million next year.
Michigan's main transportation fund is at its lowest level in 30 years when adjusted for inflation, because people are driving less and with more fuel-efficient cars while the 19 cents-per-gallon gas tax is the same as it was 15 years ago. The 15 cents-a-gallon diesel tax was last raised nearly 30 years ago.
Representatives from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council and Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association said they supported Bolger's proposal during a news conference.
Bolger announced the proposal on the same day that counties, cities and towns received $60.9 million from the state to pay for road maintenance costs.
The Legislature allocated $100 million for special road maintenance that Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law last month after a harsh winter. The Michigan Department of Transportation and state counties received $39.1 million each while cities and towns received $21.8 million.
Transportation Director Kirk Steudle said the funds are "badly needed" for the "extremely high costs of plowing, salting and filling potholes this past winter."


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Foxy Knoxy's Predecessors: Other Travelers Who, Like Amanda Knox, Found Themselves Far From Home And Behind Bars
Amanda Knox is back in the news after the Italian High Court ordered a new trial over the 2007 killing of her roommate Meredith Kercher. Knox was acquitted in 2011 after spending four years in jail, notwithstanding the fact that while Knox and then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were being tried, a man from Cote D'Ivoire named Rudy Hermann Guede was arrested in Switzerland, found guilty of Kercher's murder, and is now serving a 16-year sentence.
Knox (below) is not the first, nor will she be the last, foreign adventurer whose adventures abroad went awry.
In 1984, an aspiring American model named Terry Broome was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Italian socialite and playboy Francesco D'Alessio. Broome arrived in Italy in April 1984 from her home in South Carolina, fell into the party circuit and spent a lot of her time rebuffing the extremely crude advances of D'Alessio. Eventually, she had enough, and showed up at his house one evening with a .38 caliber pistol. She was released from jail on Feb. 22, 1992.
In 2002, British backpacker Daisy Angus (above) was arrested in India after police found 10 kilograms of cannabis in the suitcase she was carrying. She was sentenced to 10 years in jail, but was released in 2007 after it was found that she had no knowledge that the drugs were in the suitcase.
In December 2007, Australian Paul "Jock" Palfreeman (above) was arrested in Bulgaria for allegedly stabbing two students, killing one of them. Palfreeman claimed self-defense, but was convicted and is currently in jail in Bulgaria. He is still appealing the court's decision.
In December 2009, an American contractor Alan Gross was thrown in jail in Cuba for allegedly selling satellite communications equipment illegally, and for being a spy. Gross was in Cuba working for the U.S. Agency for International Development, a group aiming to spread democracy. He was found guilty in March 2010 and sentenced to 15 years in jail.
English physicist and professor at UNC-Chapel Hill Paul Frampton, the subject of a recent New York Times profile, is currently serving a 56-month sentence for drug smuggling in Argentina. He claimed he was duped by a woman claiming to be a model named Denise Milani into carrying a case full of cocaine. He is attempting an appeal.
© Copyright IBTimes 2023. All rights reserved.


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Trapped in a house of horror, seven people discover that the only way they'll get out alive is to tell their scariest stories, setting the stage for five tales from directors Ken Russell, Sean S. Cunningham, Joe Dante, Monte Hellman and John Gaeta. This anthology includes spine-tingling tales of sexy succubi, possessed breast implants, nightmarish dream hauntings and more. Jayce Bartok, Lara Harris and Henry Gibson star.
A group of people aboard a seemingly harmless bus tour to visit the hollywood set of the House of Horrors. Upon touring the legendary house, they all find themselves trapped to a single room within the house without exits. The tour guide mentions to get out alive they all have to tell there most horrifying personal stories as part of the deal. This simple setup is the brunt of the segues from one tale to the next to set up the stage of different directorial offerings. (The initial wraparound segment is directed by Joe Dante.) What follows are 4 tales told by its trapped occupants.
Trapped Ashes is a horror anthology that transitions from one story to another. Each story is helmed by a different noted director to give a variety of content to the mix. The talent includes directors: Joe Dante, John Gaeta, Ken Russell, Monte Hellman, and Sean S. Cunningham.
The film itself unfolds much like the Masters of Horror series or Tales from the crypt providing a housing for the 5 separate tales (wraparound included)
You'll find that some of them strike more favorable than the others which is a preference of taste. Our first tale the 'The Girl With The Gold Breasts' directed by Ken Russell is one of the better involving a wannabe actress who signs on for a breast enlargement to better appeal to the Hollywood system.
It flows much like the Tales from the crypt episodes incorporating some odd humor to its story. Essentially she finds that her new breasts are in fact vampiric and need to feed on blood to survive. I must say as odd as that concept sounds, the reveal on it is a bit stomach turning when they are finally shown and might just ruin your boob attraction for a few days after.
Our next tale, the Sean S. Cunningham's directed "Jibaku" is less impactful as it tells of a manga-like story of a woman who is visited by the corpse of a Buddhist monk for some heavy night sexing. it really doesn't amount much more than that, but the practical FX are still pretty decent. In fact I'm really not sure what th point of this short was. Monte JHellman's "Stanley's Girlfriend" is a bit tiring as a filmmaker discovers the secret of his previous girlfriend who's witchcraft has enabled her to stand the test of time. At this point the slow down has set in as your already anticipating the next tale to come a little sooner. This one was a pass for me.
Then lastly we have the daughter and her worm friend tale called "My Twin, the Worm" . I wont spoil things for ya, but I saw the conclusion coming a mile away.
Trapped Ashes isn't a bad mix. It's not very innovative though and falls into the episodic trappings of other anthology-style films. I think if you have a short attention span and like to jump from story to story this bit of cinema will do just fine. My only disappointment was that with all these directors, none of the tales really blew me away. They passed the time but that's about it. It does have its fun moments so for that alone it might be worth the time. I've seen this compared to Masters of Horror, but in reality it doesn't measure up. (The comparison most likely the fact that its got 5 diff noted directors)
Though for the sake of other anthology films I've seen recently it is one of the better ones, so I guess I leave it in your hands to be the judge.
These are also great for watching one then catching the rest when you have more time.


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Local comics enthusiaist Wheeler Hall has asked several Dayton area artists to recreate All Top Comics #14 (one of the comics sited by Dr. Fredric Wertham as seducing the innocent young minds of the kids who read it back in 1948) in its entirety for publication by his own Apogee Comics label later this year. This is one of my two pages that will be in the book. I've seen some of the stuff the other artists are doing and I can tell you it's going to be awesome! Incidentally Wheeler also did the brilliant color work on this page.
Tags: all top, apogee, color, neglect is crime, Wheeler Hall


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Hale, Nathan
Hale, Nathan, 1755–76, American soldier, hero of the American Revolution, b. Coventry, Conn. A young schoolteacher when the Revolution broke out, he was commissioned an officer in the Connecticut militia, served in the siege of Boston, then went to take part in operations in New York. He volunteered for the dangerous mission of getting information about the British forces on Long Island, where he went in the natural disguise of a schoolmaster. Inexperienced, he revealed his mission to a former British officer, was captured, and was hanged without trial. He is remembered especially for the statement he is said to have uttered on the gallows,
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
See biography by H. P. Johnston (1914); M. Pennypacker, General Washington's Spies on Long Island and in New York (1939).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies


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Author: Alexander Dugin
Translator: Jafe Arnold
On April 16th, 1890, Nikolai Sergeevich Trubetzkoy, the great Russian thinker, linguist, and founder of the ideological movement of Eurasianism, was born. Trubetzkoy's main idea was that Russia is not simply a European country, as the Russian Westernizers insisted, but a particular, separate civilization, the Russian World. This is the most important point.
We are no less different from Europe than Iranians or Indians. Sure, we share common roots with Greco-Roman civilization, but this civilization underwent a schism that began in the 6th century when the Western Empire fell away from Byzantium and then disappeared under attack by Germanic tribes. Already back then, two identities formed: a Catholic identity in the West, and an Orthodox identity in the East. The two gradually drifted away from one another further and further until, in 1054, the Orthodox and Catholic worlds parted ways once and for all. We, Russians, adopted Christianity from Byzantium and have kept none other than this Eastern Christian tradition to this day.
After the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, we took over the Byzantine mission. This is not merely the mission of a country, Trubetzkoy asserted, but the pole of self-conscious and independent Orthodox civilization, its center. But the Slavophiles also recognized this. The innovation of Trubetzkoy and the other Eurasianists after him lies in that they added to this Byzantine religious and cultural heritage the Turko-Mongol component and drew attention to the fact that Russia's expansion to the East precisely replicated the contours of Genghis Khan's empire. We once again built this empire, only not from East to West as the Mongols did, but from West to East. This only strengthened Russia's self-identity. Russians differed from the West religiously thanks to Byzantium, and geopolitically thanks to the Mongols and Turks, from whom we took the baton of ruling over the enormous space of Eurasia, this time Russian and Orthodox.
Trubetzkoy proposed this Eurasian idea for Russia, as an Orthodox and continental civilization, to lie at the heart of a new world view that was supposed to replace communism.
Trubetzkoy literally prophesied that communism would collapse insofar as it had no spiritual, religious dimension, no Christ at its head. But in order not to slide into the abyss of the West, which is an alien civilization to us, the Communist Party was to be replaced with the Eurasian Order.
According to Trubetzkoy and other Eurasianists, this Order was supposed to continue the course toward social justice and opposition to the West, but complete this ideology with an Orthodox, Byzantine dimension and put faith in Christ at the head. Trubetzkoy gave this a special term: ideocracy, or rule by idea.
Eurasianism was neither nationalism nor a mere restoration of the monarchy. Trubetzkoy called for appealing to the deepest essence of the Russian people and other fraternal peoples building the Great Empire together with it. The Eurasian elite was to become a new aristocracy serving God and the people. The Eurasianists named the West the main enemy, a complete antipode to our own civilization, or the main enemy of humanity as Trubetzkoy called it in his first programmatic book, Europe and Mankind. The message of his book boiled down to the need for humanity to save Europe, which was already rotting away by the beginning of the 20th century. And only the Russians had the strength to do this.
Only half of the prophecies of this great Eurasianist came true. The USSR collapsed as the wonderful idea of social justice was established without God and even against God. Instead of a Christian socialism, an anti-Christian socialism was built. And it collapsed. A Eurasian Order failed to be established and take over power from the communists. Instead, the worst enemies of Russia came to power – the liberals, a human enemy far worse than communists.
Now much is becoming clear. It is obvious that Trubetzkoy was right. We have proclaimed the construction of a Eurasian Union and we all the more clearly understand the true nature of the West. The second half of Trubetzkoy's prophecy, the construction of a Eurasian Order, is, from the point of view of the Eurasianists, the meaning of the historical moment in which now we find ourselves.
© Jafe Arnold – All Rights Reserved. No reproduction without expressed permission.


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Mediterranean Drumsticks
Active Time: 5 minutes
Total Time:35 minutes
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 8 chicken drumsticks (about 2 pounds), skin removed
• 1 can (28 ounces) tomatoes in juice
• 1 can (6 ounces) small pitted black olives, cut in half
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon balsamic or red-wine vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Garnish: chopped parsley
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add drumsticks and cook over medium heat, turning occasionally, 8 minutes or until lightly browned.
Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 20 to 25 minutes, breaking up tomatoes with a wooden spoon and turning chicken occasionally, until meat is opaque near the bone. Sprinkle with parsley.
—Courtesy of Woman's Day Magazine


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Dave T Hobbit· Super Moderator
8,545 Posts
Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Hello everyone! Welcome to the thread for the
- The category is decided upon and posted in the Painting Deathmatch Calendar. This month's category is:
- Vehicle/Monster - Any vehicle or monster from any company. Any miniatures on 40mm+ bases not classed as monsters are included in this category.
- Only models that are painted wholly within the month are eligible to enter (i.e. unpainted or only primed at the start of the month). Entrants are not required to post a photograph of the model before painting. If you have a question as to whether or not your model qualifies, please feel free to post in this thread.
- You may join the painting deathmatch in progress at any time, but must submit photographs of the completed miniature by midnight GMT, 30 November 2014. WIP images are welcomed and encouraged.
- Miniatures that are completed in time will be eligible to win the deathmatch. The deathmatch winner will be decided in a separate voting thread by the Heresy Online community. Votes should be cast not simply on painting skill, but on merit, including creativity, application of painting techniques, individual artist improvement, etc. The winner of the deathmatch will be awarded with the Mark of Slaanesh award.
- Winners from the previous month are able to participate in the next months painting deathmatch, but they are not eligible to win in consecutive months.
This is not the year long Army Painting Challenge, but a separate Monthly event. Though entries in one can also be entered into the other (assuming it fits into the category chosen for this deathmatch).
Good luck to all participants!
PS - If you have any feedback on the running or structure of the monthly deathmatches throughout the course of the next month, please comment in the Calendar thread as we will take into account any feedback.http://www.heresy-online.net//uk.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/


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Cruise Inn 2007
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The 5pm Quiz: Don Cherry Outfit or Clown Costume?
Yesterday's 5pm Quiz asked you to simply name all 30 NHL teams. Today's is a little different. Don Cherry is a former NHL player and coach and is now a respected broadcaster, with stints on Hockey Night in Canada and ESPN's Stanley Cup coverage. But he's perhaps best known for his unusual style choices. And "unusual" is a pretty big understatement. We've found nine outfits that wouldn't cut it on the red carpet. Some were worn by Cherry in public, others are clown costumes. Can you distinguish the wardrobes?
Take the Quiz: Don Cherry Outfit or Clown Costume?


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Sony BMG has rushed forth to settle a class action lawsuit brought by Girard Gibs and Kamber & Associates in New York over its embarrassing rootkit scandal. A few months ago it came to light that Sony was using a particularly egregious form of copy protection on CDs that implants hooks into the Windows kernel to make sure you don't use the CD in a manner of which Sony doesn't approve. The so-called rootkit caused a furor online and in the media, and after trying to play it down as par for the course, Sony eventually relented and claimed it would no longer use the DRM in question. That didn't stop the lawsuits, however. A class action lawsuit was filed in California within days of the evidence becoming public, and suits in other regions followed quickly.
The settlement will include a promise by Sony to stop all use of the XCP and MediaMax DRM technologies, which is a given. Then, after paying lawyers' fees (what is a class action for, if not that?), the company will recall all remaining XCP and MediaMax DRM-backed CDs, and then compensate customers who have purchased the ill-begotten discs. Sony has said that it was recalling discs previously, but the company says it is having trouble getting all retailers to comply.
Customers who purchased the poisoned discs will have two options. First, they can cash in on a payment of US$7.50 per CD they purchased (aka, much less than they paid for it), and snag one free album download. Or, if one don't want to bother with cashing a check for $7.50, the cash payment can be cast aside in favor of three free album downloads. In both instances, the offending CDs will be replaced with DRM-free discs, but the album downloads will most likely use a less heinous form of DRM. The company will also be required to provide a safe tool for removing the rootkits.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this settlement is the requirement regarding downloadable albums. Sony has the right to limit the albums that are available to a list of 200, but the company cannot force you to use their music store. Instead, Sony must use at least three different venues to distribute content:
Settlement Class Members may download albums from any one of three major download services. SONY BMG will use commercially reasonable efforts to offer Apple Computer, Inc.'s popular iTunes as one of the download services available to Settlement Class Members.
The settlement will not take place until it is approved by the court. Proof of purchase will be required, or proof of a return if a disc was taken back to a retailer after November 14.
Will this be enough to restore Sony's reputation? It depends on who you ask. The general public has probably forgotten about Sony already, but the technology community will remember this for a very, very long time. Let's hope that the public shame of a class action serves as a warning to other companies who are willing to endanger our personal property for no good reason whatsoever.


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Irish Troubles researchers vow to go to US Supreme Court to protect B.C. interviews
By Martin Finucane | GLOBE STAFF
Boston Globe
Two researchers who were involved in interviewing former combatants in the Irish Troubles for a Boston College oral history project say they'll ask the US Supreme Court to rule that interviews should not be turned over to the British government.
Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre announced their intentions after a decision Friday by the First US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston not to rehear — or have the full court hear — the case. A three-judge panel of the appeals court had previously rejected their appeal in July.
"We wish to make it clear that we now intend to apply to the Supreme Court of the United States for a hearing on a case which we believe addresses issues of major constitutional importance," the men said in a statement.
On behalf of unidentified law enforcement officials in the United Kingdom, federal prosecutors have issued subpoenas seeking information related to a 1972 slaying that the Irish Republican Army has admitted its involvement in.
The subpoenas were issued under a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the United States and Britain.
But the Belfast Project, whose goal was to document the Troubles, a decades-long period of violence, promised both Irish republican and British loyalist former combatants that their statements would not be released until their deaths. The project began in 2001 and interviews were recorded between 2001 and 2006.
Moloney, the director of the project, and McIntyre, a former IRA member, could be in danger if the interviews are released to the British government, the researchers' lawyers have said. They have also argued that the release of the interviews would have a chilling effect on academic research in the future.
Jack Dunn, a Boston College spokesman, had no comment on the two men's case, which they hope would block a subpoena for an interview with former IRA member Dolours Price.
Boston College, meanwhile, continues a separate legal battle over a second subpoena seeking other materials. The college will argue its case in the appeals court in Boston next Friday.
Christina DiIorio Sterling, a spokeswoman for the US attorney's office, didn't returm a message seeking comment.


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Prosecutors dropping charges against Maryland RB Brown following review of evidence
WASHINGTON – Prince George's County prosecutors are dropping charges against Maryland running back Wes Brown, weeks after he was accused of assaulting a police officer who was questioning him about a shooting, a spokesman said Monday.
Prosecutors decided to dismiss the case after reviewing the evidence ahead of a preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday, said John Erzen, a spokesman for the state's attorney's office.
Brown was arrested near the campus in College Park this month after police said he assaulted an officer who tried to question him about a non-fatal shooting in Baltimore. Police said at the time that Brown fled from the officer and used someone else's cell phone to secretly record his conversation with the officer.
But Erzen said the conversation was never actually recorded and that the phone wasn't stolen since Brown had given the owner collateral. He said prosecutors now believe Brown was resisting an unlawful arrest, as he is permitted to do, instead of illegally assaulting an officer.
"There's nowhere to go with this at this point. We don't believe after screening ... that any crimes were committed. We're not going with charges," Erzen said.
After the arrest, the university suspended Brown from school and said he was not allowed to participate in any football-related activities. He was the Terrapins' second-leading rusher as a freshman last season, finishing with 382 yards on 90 carries and two rushing touchdowns.
A lawyer for Brown did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday afternoon.
A Baltimore police spokesman said Brown remains a person of interest in a non-fatal shooting in that city last month.


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These non-exhaustive maps, show the location of municipalities and localities in Nabatiyeh District (caza, قضاء) (Nabatiyeh Governorate). They are regularly updated by our team.
Nabatiyeh District Municipalities mapThis is an interactive map, simply hover your mouse over an item of this list, to see its location. Each link leads to dedicated page of a municipality, which content various informations.
Nabatiyeh District municipalities and localities map
This map is being updated. Its contains towns and villages of the district (kaza) with or without municipal councils.
Localities with no municipal councils (No representative municipality, dissolution of an existing municipal assembly, number of inhabitants insufficient to constitute a municipality...), are administered by the Caïmacam.