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This post will be talking about HBO's Game of Thrones, but will also be talking partly about the source material A Song of Ice and Fire. If you're only up on one, and are planning on reading or watching the other one day, it's up to you if you want to have any of that experience spoiled.
Specifically, I'll be talking about Aegon Targaryen, the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia of Dorne. Show watchers might recall the story that Aegon was killed along with his sister Rhaenys and their mother Elia. (Oberyn, Elia's brother, brought this fact up a lot.)
Rumor has it that Gregor "the Mountain" Clegane crushed the infant Aegon's skull.
Okay, you book readers know a slightly different story. Show watchers, now's your chance to stop reading…
In the books, there's a chance that Aegon wasn't actually killed, but an infant was substituted for him to protect Rhaegar's heir, and that baby met with an unfortunate end. Something like this might have happened:
Varys: Princess Elia, I think it might be a wise move if I take wee Aegon to a secure location while this mess gets sorted out.
Elia: And why have you brought along another child of similar age and size?
Varys: Things might get very messy. And take a long time to get sorted out. A long time.
Elia: I don't suppose you have a young lady with you, of similar age to Rhaenys?
Varys: I'm afraid not. But let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Elia: Rhaenys, be a dear and hide under the bed.
That must have been a pretty messed up time, in the royal apartments of Maegor's Holdfast with the Lannister men outside going crazy. Poor Elia of Dorne. And very sad for the children with her. (Some of that must have made an impact on Cersei, living with a man who would do something similar to her children if a certain truth came out.)
The details of Varys facilitating Aegon's escape comes to us through Tyrion's point-of-view chapters in the fifth book of A Song of Ice and Fire, A Dance with Dragons. As seen also on the show, Tyrion is smuggled to Pentos where he's sent off to meet up with Daenerys Targaryen in Meereen.
In the show, Varys is taking him there. It's a more complicated scenario in the books.
In A Dance with Dragons, Magister Illyrio (Varys' boss/co-conspirator/patron/cyvasse buddy) takes Tyrion to Jon Connington, former Hand to King Aerys and close friend of Rhaegar. Connington is operating under the alias of Griff (a reference to the Griffin sigil of House Connington), Aegon Targaryen is masquerading as Griff's son Young Griff.
Aegon is no longer a child, and has been trained to take charge of the Iron Throne and rule as a wise monarch. (A far departure from Viserys.)
Tyrion is soon separated from the expedition by Ser Jorah Mormont, in a move that is mostly faithfully adapted by the show. Eventually Aegon and his party cease heading to Meereen, and instead change direction and take a large mercenary force with them, sailing west for the southeastern coast of Westeros.
One question that has to be considered: is the young man that Jon Connington is trying to put on the Iron Throne actually Aegon Targaryen, or an imposter? (Presumably an unknowing pretender.)
It seems like everyone involved, particularly Jon Connington, is operating earnestly as if the young man is Rhaegar's son. Tyrion saw through the masquerade of Connington and Aegon's aliases, Sherlock Holmes-like via observation, and Tyrion is usually right on the money.
Young Griff has hard-to-fake Targaryen features: the purple-tinted eyes. I've read suggestions that if Young Griff is an imposter, he might be descended from the Targaryens via the exiled Blackfyre branch of the family, something that might be true of Magister Illyrio as well.
There has been a ton of analysis and debate about this, but anyone who has read my blog knows I tend to talk more about the show than the books. I'll make some book speculations here, and then I will shift into a show-focus.
Book Thoughts: Aegon?
Regardless if Aegon is truly Rhaegar's son or some far-removed cousin/pretender, I don't think he's in this for the long run. GRRM added him ridiculously late into the story, and my gut instinct has always been that Aegon was dropped in to deflect away from Jon Snow possibly being Rhaegar's son. Jon is less important if an elder true-born son of Rhaegar is running about. But because Jon must be important to the story, I suspect that Aegon's days in Westeros are numbered.
Is he actually a pretender? Unless llyrio shows up at the funeral at gives a long speech about the master plan of putting an imposter on the throne, I don't know if we'll find out.
But George might surprise me.
Since the show has completely avoided any hints of Aegon, has omitted Jon Connington in favor of Ser Jorah carrying some of his emotional beats, and executed Prince Doran before he could give a Serpent and the Grass speech, I am skeptical that the show will pull an Aegon on us. Which implies that GRRM won't have anything important for Book Aegon really. (Unless tricksy George is going to make Aegon super important, to heavily differentiate the future books from the show.)
But, lets imagine that the show is going to give us an Aegon. (Strap in. This will mostly be batshit crazy.)
Show Thoughts: Aegon!
I'll repeat that I really don't think we'll be seeing an Aegon, but indulge the hypothetical that the show-runners might think that they can introduce Aegon at this late date in the story. Maybe they can. But I don't think it'll fly very well if it's someone we've never met before.
The show is already going to have to work hard to amp up Euron Greyjoy, who they introduced out of the blue last season.
So one possibility is to repurpose an existing character on the show to be Aegon (probably a legit Aegon, and not a fake-Aegon aka Faegon, fAegon, etc.) The television show has already demonstrated that it's not afraid to conflate characters, like giving Bronn the roles played by various book-characters, or even dramatically re-engineering Sansa Stark's storyline to incorporate the elements of tragic Jeyne Poole.
So, let's consider some possible Aegon candidates.
Scenario 1: A Northern Lad
Let's assume Varys managed to smuggle little Aegon out of the capital, and delivered him to Jon Connington. Since the show isn't following the Jon Connington character, we have some freedom in how he might raise this son of Rhaegar. Probably the last place anyone would look for a Targaryen would be way up north. (Well, there is Aemon Targaryen at the Wall. And it certainly appears that a Targaryen child was being raised at Winterfell… don't pay too close attention…)
So, maybe Connington took the infant Aegon up near the Wall (oh! Maybe hoping to one day introduce the boy to his great great uncle Aemon.) He took a wife who was good at boiling potatoes, which didn't do much nutritionally for the child, since in twenty years, he looked like a boy of only ten. That's right, I am talking about Olly.
Relax people, put down those pitchforks. Olly is clearly too young to be Aegon. But it entertains me to think that Olly and Jon Snow could both be kinslayers, for fratricide. (AegonOlly gets a pass since Jon didn't stay dead, but Jon would now be accursed.)
And this way Jon Connington makes an appearance in the show as Olly's "dad" who gets an arrow through the throat.
But no one would buy Olly as actually Rhaegar's son, so let's move on. I clearly did this to irritate my friends who hate Olly. Poor Olly.
Scenario 2: Go West, Young Man
A candidate Aegon should be around Jon Snow's age (well, a bit older) and have some plausible explanation for getting out of the Lannister-controlled situation during the sack of King's Landing. Maybe Varys had some leverage on one of the lesser Lannister family members who were taking over the city, and who then took the boy into the Westerlands and raised him as a lion and not as a dragon.
In the second season, show watchers were introduced to Alton Lannister, a young man invented by the show who more or less was analogous to Jaime's cousin Cleos Frey from A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords.
Alton didn't really look much like a Targaryen, but he also didn't look much like a Lannister. And both names follow an A–on pattern.
Could Alton have really been Aegon, saved from the Lannisters during Robert's Rebellion, raised by a sympathetic minor Lannister (Ser Jaime was fuzzy on who Alton even was or how they were related), and then killed by a Lannister during the War of the Five Kings?
Probably not. I mean, I appreciate the irony of it all. But Alton is dead. It's not that significant that he be Aegon for the story. (Don't let that stop you theorists from embracing it.)
I kind of think that if Aegon is going to make it into the show, he should be alive.
Scenario 3: The City Slicker
Alton and Olly were both show-invented characters, and the idea that Aegon could be masquerading as a show creation would have the advantage of fooling book readers until the reveal. There's another show-created character who could be a candidate Aegon.
Olyvar, Littlefinger's agent and Ser Loras' downfall actually looks like he could be the son of Rhaegar Targaryen. We also don't know anything about him, so there's very little to contradict that notion that he was spirited away as a child before getting his head crushed.
I'm not exactly sure how he ended up not being raised by Jon Connington, or why he ended up working for Littlefinger who isn't likely to be an ally of Varys in playing the kingmaker game (unless the king being made is named Baelish.) I mean, I can certainly invent some crazy backstory if I really wanted to.
But just like Olly and Alton, I'm pretty sure that Olyvar is dead. We didn't actually see him die in the Great Sept but since Loras was on trial, I expect that the High Sparrow had Olyvar nearby, to trot out and testify against Loras if needed. So RIP Olyvar. If you were Aegon, you were one of the dragons who died by fire.
(Unless he was fireproof like Daenerys. Uh oh. Let a thousands goofy theories fly free!)
I think I've run out of show-invented male characters. But maybe one of the book characters can be re-purposed to be Aegon. And is alive.
Scenario 4: Like his dad, he loves books.
This might require some setup. There's a theory that Meera Reed is actually Jon Snow's twin sister. That Lyanna Stark gave birth to twins, Ned took Jon with him, but since wars are easier than daughters, made Howland Reed take Meera.
In general, I'm not a fan of that theory, and I often insist to be contrary that it's just as likely that Lyanna gave birth to triplets. That she died giving birth to Jon, Meera, and enormous Sam. (We all know that Sam Tarly must have been a huge baby.)
Howland: That's one huge baby. I don't know if the North has enough food.
Ned: I know that Randyll Tarly isn't home yet, and there's plenty of food in the Reach. I'll see if I can get Lady Tarly to take this giant infant off our hands.
I don't believe that Sam is Jon's brother, anymore than I believe that Meera is Jon's sister. But since I've opened the door that maybe Sam isn't a natural born Tarly…
Maybe infant Aegon was smuggled from the city, taken to Horn Hill, and Lady Melessa Tarly was willing to pretend Aegon was her own, and not tell Randyll Tarly the truth. (It's not like we didn't have a similar situation happening with Ned, right?)
Randyll: Wow, that was quite a long war. Glad to be home.
Melessa: Welcome back! Look, while you were gone, I had a son! I would have sent you a raven, but I knew you wanted to focus on war and stuff.
Randyll: That kid is huge!
Melessa: It's because I feed him so much! Not because he's older than he should be. I'm going to feed him all the time to justify his size.
Randyll: I hope the next child is more normal.
Okay, that is a crazy theory, but Rhaegar was quite a sensitive soul, and loved reading books more than fighting (although he was crazy awesome at fighting.) Maybe Sam inherited some of his love of reading from Rhaegar.
The best thing about this (totally wrong) theory: Sam and Jon would be half-brothers. So yay!
Actually, this would be the best thing about Sam being Aegon Targaryen and unexpected inheritor of the Iron Throne:
Randyll: *grumble* Your Grace.
King Sam: Hello, Lord Tarly.
Randyll: Thank you for not calling me "father."
King Sam: Oh, you'll always be the man who raised me, I won't forget that any time soon.
Sam Tarly as King Aegon Targaryen? That's the craziest theory. I wonder if I can up the crazy even more.
Scenario 5: Rhaegar had one son.
There are people who were hoping against R + L = J (do I need to spell that out?) because they assumed that if the book reading community had figured out Jon's parentage, then it couldn't really be true. That GRRM had something else in mind. Or that he had originally planned for Jon to be Lyanna and Rhaegar's son, but since practically everyone figured that out years ago, that he might course correct and pull a fast one.
Maybe the show already did.
In the final episode of the sixth season, Bran has a vision where Ned is presented with a baby at the Tower of Joy, but maybe it's not Lyanna's. Maybe it's Elia's infant son Aegon. I can imagine one of the Kingsguard smuggling Aegon out of King's Landing under King Aerys' nose (Elia would have to be in on this, of course) and having the heir safe with them at the Dornish Marches while they watch over the pregnant Lyanna.
Maybe Lyanna is dying of birthing complications (either no viable baby, or maybe Meera – we'll allow that option) but loved Rhaegar so much that she wanted his son Aegon to be protected. So she lied to Ned about him being her son.
So Jon isn't just the son of Rhaegar, he's the only son. He's the legitimate King of the Seven Kingdoms! No bastard legitimization or polygamous justification required.
Rhaegar, your ladies were quite devoted to you.
Do I believe this? Of course not.
Is there a point to all this speculation?
Nope. Just having fun. (I hope this was fun.) I mean, it's interesting to see how easy it is to crank out Game of Thrones crackpot theories. But that really wasn't the reason I wrote this post.
On Facebook, one of the Game of Thrones groups that I'm in asked me to write something about Aegon Targaryen, and I felt honor-bound to oblige them. I mean, they voted and everything.
Challenge accepted! Hopefully they'll find this satisfactory.
But while we're all here, anyone have opinions on Aegon? (From the books, I mean, because I feel pretty confident that in the show's history, he died with his mother and sister during the fall of King's Landing.) Feel free to share them with me. And if anyone thinks he'll be in the show, and I haven't covered who he is in my crackpot attempts above, drop that knowledge on me as well.
I doubt I'll be convinced of anything other than Aegon = Nay Gonna Happen, but you never know.
I usually only post a Game of Thrones article every other week in the months after the season finale (I ramp up to weekly in January before the new season) but this has been a bonus post for July, so expect a new post next week.
Next week's post might also be a bit crazy.
(Comments are always welcome. Super welcome! But if you want to talk spoilery Game of Thrones talk with me (also welcome) I'd invite you to visit my Safe Spoilers page on my backup blog. That way my non-book-reading friends won't be shocked with foreknowledge.)
Most images from HBO's Game of Thrones (obviously.)
I make no claims to the artwork, but some claims to the text.
If you liked this article, thank you! I have all of my Game of Thrones related articles on my handy-dandy Game of Thrones page should you want to read more but don't want to navigate around my site.
© Patrick Sponaugle 2016 Some Rights Reserved


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Quincy's O'Brien not guilty of bribery while probation chief
A jury acquitted former state probation commissioner John O'Brien of bribery on Tuesday, the latest failed attempt by Attorney General Martha Coakley to secure convictions against state officials from Quincy on public corruption charges.
After a 13-day trial, a Suffolk County jury took only a few hours to return a not-guilty verdict in favor of O'Brien, who prosecutors said organized a 2005 fundraiser for former state treasurer Timothy Cahill in exchange for O'Brien's wife getting a job at the state Lottery.
O'Brien was charged with conspiring to bribe a public official via the June 2005 fundraiser, which was held at Pat Flanagan's Pub in Quincy and raised $11,100 for Cahill's campaign committee.
O'Brien's wife, Laurie O'Brien, began working as a customer service representative at the Lottery three months after the fundraiser.
"There was no agreement, there was no conspiracy," O'Brien's lawyer, Paul Flavin, said in his closing arguments Tuesday. "Mrs. O'Brien should be insulted that her husband is here, charged with doing something illegal to get her a job that she was qualified for, that she interviewed for, that she was a perfect fit for."
The case was tried by the Public Integrity Division of the Attorney General's office, which Coakley formed in Feb. 2011 following reform to the state ethics law.
"We are disappointed in this verdict and believe the evidence showed that Commissioner O'Brien traded campaign contributions for a taxpayer-funded job for his wife," Coakley said in a statement following Tuesday's verdict. "While some may believe that this type of behavior is 'business as usual,' we did not and do not believe that should be the case."
Last year, Coakley secured indictments against Cahill and two of his top aides, Scott Campbell and Alfred Grazioso, all of Quincy, in connection with a $1.5 million Lottery ad campaign prosecutors said benefited Cahill's failed 2010 bid for governor more than it did the Lottery.
Cahill's trial resulted in a mistrial, and last month he agreed to pay a $100,000 civil penalty to prevent a retrial. The former Quincy city councilor said the outcome was vindication, but acknowledged in the settlement that he should have known the ads were improper. Grazioso paid $10,000 in court costs and the attorney general's office dropped its case on obstruction of justice charges connected to the investigation of the Lottery ads.
Campbell was acquitted as a co-conspirator in the advertising case, but still faces charges in relation to the O'Brien investigation.
Prosecutors allege Campbell told O'Brien that Cahill would appreciate a probation-sponsored fundraiser after O'Brien inquired about a job for his wife, a former Quincy Public Schools employee.
O'Brien was appointed state probation commissioner in 1998. He resigned in 2010 after an independent counsel concluded he oversaw a rigged hiring system in which the politically connected were hired over more qualified candidates, and winning candidates were often selected before interviews were conducted.
O'Brien and two of his probation deputies, Elizabeth Tavares and William Burke, still face racketeering charges in federal court related to U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz's investigation of probation department hiring practices.
O'Brien's lawyer, Paul Flavin argued that the testimony of a key prosecution witness, former deputy commissioner Francis Wall of Quincy, couldn't be trusted.
He told the jury Wall had given conflicting statements about how hiring worked in the probation department, and tried to get others in the department to align with his account of events, something Flavin said Tavares refused to do.
"She knew, as we all know, that patronage is not a crime," Flavin told the jury. "You may not like patronage, I may not like patronage. I'm not here to defend it, you're not here to judge it."
Flavin said Wall, who reached an immunity agreement in exchange for his testimony, was facing jail time for perjury and the loss of his pension. He called Wall's testimony that the 2005 Cahill fundraiser was expressly held in appreciation for O'Brien's wife being hired was "one tightly-wrapped, perfectly-crafted lie."
"In one sentence, Mr. Wall conveniently covered all the elements needed to indict Mr. O'Brien," Flavin said. "It was the story the government needed to indict Mr. O'Brien, and it was the lie that Mr. Wall needed to tell to get himself out of a lot of trouble."
Flavin also questioned the veracity of testimony from Edward Ryan of Quincy, another lieutenant of O'Brien's, who was put in charge of organizing the Cahill fundraiser in question, which Flavin said was a routine event and not related to Laurie O'Brien's hiring.
Prosecutor Peter Mullin defended the witnesses in his closing arguments, telling the jury that it was no coincidence that some 50 probation department employees attended the Cahill fundraiser.
"The evidence in this case was overwhelming," he told the jury. "What was going on here, ladies and gentlemen, was not right."
READ MORE about this issue.
Reach Jack Encarnacao at firstname.lastname@example.com or follow on Twitter @JackE_Ledger.

subset: commoncrawl


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Guide to Cauliflower
SEASON: Cauliflower is sold fresh from early summer into fall.
CHOOSING: Look for heads that are tight and firm. Avoid those with discoloration that comes with aging.
STORING: Place cauliflower in a produce bag in the coldest part of your refrigerator, where it should last for four to seven days.
GROWING: Unless your summer or winter is extremely mild, spring and fall are the best times to grow cauliflower. Set out transplants in a sunny, well-drained, prepared bed. The seedlings need about two months to mature, so begin planting about four weeks before the last spring frost, or in late summer, two months before the first fall freeze.
Space plants about 18 to 24 inches apart so the large, gray-green leaves have room to gather the sun's energy. Feed at planting with a dilute liquid fertilizer, and then fertilize again in three to four weeks. Apply mulch to help keep the soil moist and prevent problems with weeds.
You've probably seen the leaves wrapping around the head in the market. Cauliflower has been bred to do this. It prevents sunburn on the edible portion. If your plants are not shading the developing head, use twine or a clothespin to hold them in place. Cut the head of cauliflower while it is still firm and tight. Waiting will result in a loose, mealy head.


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The topic for this edition of Carnival of Genealogy is:
INDEPENDENT! Do you have a relative who was feisty, spoke their own mind, was a bit of a free spirit? Anyone who most people might consider a "nut" on the family tree but you know they really just followed a "different tune?"
I've spent quite a bit of time going through my family files looking for someone who I think fits this description. There are two people who come to mind immediately – my great-grandmother and my mom – however, I've already written posts about them and felt the need to expand my search. My only challenge is writing about someone who still has living children. I don't want to offend anyone nor write something that will give too much information. With that being said, I hope to not only portray this person in a way that will honor their memory but possibly encourage surviving family to reflect more fondly about this person.
Eva was born to an unwed mother on an interurban car in Fortville, Indiana, on October 2, 1910. They were taken to St. John's Hospital where the young mother pleaded with a woman to take her infant daughter and raise her as her own. The mother wasn't able to care for her baby and knew that letting her go was in the best interest of the child. Katie and John Johnson took her in and raised her practically from birth on just as their own child. They were never able to adopt her but gave her their last name. She was 12 years younger than their youngest son, Glen, and the daughter that Katie had prayed for.
Eva was a very strong-willed child – following the beat of her own drummer. She liked to imitate her favorite screen star – Clara Bow – in dress. Apparently Eva was unaware that she wasn't the birth daughter of Katie and John until years later yet perhaps there was something inside of her that made her go "searching" for whatever it was that would give her peace. Since she was so much younger than Glen it was as if she was an only child without benefit of really strong family bonds a closer-in-age sibling might have yielded her.
When Eva was a teenager, she married and her son was born in 1929. After her foster mother, Katie, died, Eva began searching for her birth mother. As a fairly new mother herself, it is possible that she was searching for that parent-child connection in order to understand her own standing as a mom. A woman saw a notice printed in a magazine and recognized Katie's name as the woman she had given her daughter to. The woman, Clara Badgly Grennells of Chicago, got in touch with an Indiana newspaper and requested that her appeal to meet Eva be printed.
There are conflicting stories that Eva did meet her birth mother and learn the name of her biological father. Another story is that Eva's birth mother died prior to their meeting but that she did meet her father.
Eva's relationship with her husband was not all glamour, champagne and happily-ever-after. It is reported that she was always searching for something – many times in the arms of someone else. She and her husband split up and divorced and when Eva was in her early 40s, discovered that she was pregnant. The specter of what lay ahead of her would surely be weighing on her mind: an older mother, a single mother, a mother of a grown son, a woman who had limited income. Any number of reasons would have aided her in her decision to give up her daughter – just as she had been given up. It was only many years later before Eva died, that she would be reunited with her grown daughter.
I wish I could have met this woman – my grandfather's younger sister – as she lived for many years after his death. Whenever the family discussed his relatives, we all knew he had a younger sister but I truly think that they had fallen out of touch many years earlier. It isn't known who stopped communicating. Possibly it was a bit of both. Knowing my grandfather he would have talked and talked until he was blue in the face about "straightening up" and flying right to her. As independent as she seems, Eva probably decided to do what she'd always done – dance to her own music and "if all you're going to do is lecture me, I'm not listening anymore." Theories that are probably closer to the mark than not.
It seems rather sad to me that no one contacted her – or knew where to reach her – when my grandfather passed away. We never sought to visit her when we were in Indiana. I hope that in her later years, she finally found what she was searching for. Life is really rather short in the grand scheme of things and family ties – no matter how strained or tenuous – should never be broken. She left this world almost the same as she entered – alone and unwanted – except by those who truly did wish to be a part of her life – her foster parents and her only daughter. Rest in peace, Eva.
(For information on Clara Bow go to The Clara Bow Page)


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"The Revisionaries" PBS Documentary on Texas Textbooks
Posted by mattusmaximus on January 30, 2013
If you've been following the ongoing saga over the years that is the Texas Board of Education and their textbook adoption process, then you no doubt understand that there has been a far-right conservative faction of people who have attempted to push their ideology (including creationism) into Texas public schools. Now the recent history of this saga has been chronicled in a PBS documentary titled "The Revisionaries". I encourage you to take the time to share and watch this important documentary, which you can do online here until February 27th:


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Below please find details of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra's December 2013 season at the National Concert Hall and Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, featuring:
– jazz royalty Jacqui Dankworth, daughter of Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, joining the RTÉ Concert Orchestra & Big Band for the New Year's Eve Gala with (31 December, National Concert Hall)
– the man who reconstructed the lost score for The Wizard of Oz, John Wilson, conducting the RTÉ CO as it plays live to a screening of the MGM classic (14 December, matinee & evening, National Concert Hall)
– the return of the listeners' choice Mooney Tunes with guests including Jack L, Claudia Boyle, Chloë Agnew, Julian Pusca and Colm O'Regan (Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, 16 December)
– a Christmas cinematic choral treat with the Galway Baroque Singers featuring music from Home Alone, A Christmas Carol, Jesus of Nazareth, Ben Hur, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and more (6 December, National Concert Hall)
– an evening of words and music as top Irish talent joins the RTÉ CO for the popular Sunday Miscellany Live at Christmas
RTÉ Concert Orchestra December 2013
National Concert Hall and Bord Gáis Energy Theatre
Cinema Choral Classics at Christmas
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Galway Baroque Singers & guests
David Brophy conductor
Friday 6 December, 8pm
National Concert Hall
A spine-tingling Christmas cinematic celebration! Galway Baroque Singers and the full RTÉ Concert Orchestra join forces for famous choral numbers from seasonal evergreens and modern classics.
Music from Ben Hur, The Greatest Story Ever Told and Jesus of Nazareth, right up to Somewhere in My Memory and Carol of the Bells from Home Alone and God Bless Us Every One from A Christmas Carol. You'll come out feeling It's a Wonderful Life!
Arlen (arr. Hamlisch) Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz
Williams Three Holiday Songs: Somewhere in my Memory, Star of Bethlehem, Merry Christmas from Home Alone
Jarre Prelude, Annunciation, The Three Kings, Nativity from Jesus of Nazareth
Broughton Main Title Miracle on 34th Street
Tiomkin Prologue, Theme, Christmas Eve Finale from It's A Wonderful Life
Leontovich Carol of the Bells
Ballard God Bless Us Every One from A Christmas Carol
Williams Harry's Wondrous World from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Rózsa Choral Suite from Ben Hur
Handel Hallelujah Chorus from The Greatest Story Ever Told
Tickets: €11–€38 (conc. €10–€34)
10% discount for groups of 10 or more
Booking: 01 417 0000, nch.ie or rte.ie/co
Presented by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Sunday Miscellany Live at Christmas in association with RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
David Brophy conductor
Tuesday 10 December, 8pm
National Concert Hall
Following on from the hugely successful collaboration between RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Miscellany and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra last year, Sunday Miscellany Live at Christmas makes a welcome return for what is sure to be another magical night.
An extraordinary array of Irish talent joins the RTÉ Concert Orchestra to celebrate this much-loved programme with a feast of words and music.
Tickets: €11–€38 (conc. €10–€34)
10% discount for groups of 10 or more
Booking: 01 417 0000, nch.ie or rte.ie/co
Presented by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Movie Screening: The Wizard of Oz
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
John Wilson conductor
Saturday 14 December, 3.30pm & 7.30pm
National Concert Hall
Back by popular demand – a screening of The Wizard of Oz complete with original dialogue and singing accompanied by a live performance of the orchestral score by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. This MGM family favourite is packed with images, characters, lines and songs that resonate with us all – the Yellow Brick Road, Dorothy and Toto, Over the Rainbow, 'There's no place like home…'
Conducting the RTÉ CO will be the man that 'rescued' The Wizard of Oz. The physical score was just one of the classics destroyed by MGM in a clearout in 1969 – it actually ended up being used as landfill for a golf course! So the written music for The Wizard of Oz, which is regularly voted the greatest soundtrack of all time, was lost, until John Wilson and a colleague spent six months painstakingly transcribing and orchestrating the soundtrack note by note. Wilson has likened the task as doing a million-piece jigsaw, but it has been so successful that MGM went on to engage him to reconstruct their other lost treasures.
Join John Wilson and the RTÉ CO this Christmas for the ultimate way to experience one of the all-time classic films.
Please note start times: 3.30pm & 7.30pm
Tickets: €25–€35 (conc. €23–€33)
Family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) just €120 (available on €35 seats only)
10% group discount available
Booking: 01 417 0000, nch.ie or rte.ie/co
Presented by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Mooney Tunes
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Monday 16 December, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, 8pm
David Brophy conductor
Derek Mooney presenter
Guests including Jack L, Claudia Boyle, Chloë Agnew, Julian Pusca and Colm O'Regan
The phenomenally popular Mooney Tunes is back!
Join Derek Mooney as he celebrates the best of Irish talent in this light-hearted, rollercoaster night of entertainment with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and stellar guests. Prepare for an abundance of laughs, cheers and, above all, surprises. With a line-up already featuring Jack L, soprano Claudia Boyle, Chloë Agnew (Celtic Woman), Julian Pusca and comedian Colm O'Regan, this is set to be one of the best to date.
This year's programme, chosen from a huge selection of suggestions from RTÉ Radio 1's Mooney listeners, is better than ever. As always, Mooney Tunes is programmed by you, for you, and as always the RTÉ Concert Orchestra will provide the soundtrack for the evening. As Derek says, 'The best thing about Mooney Tunes is you never know what's coming next!'
Brought to you by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in association with RTÉ Radio 1's Mooney.
Tickets: €14.50–€39.50
Booking: Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Box Office, 0818 719 377 or ticketmaster.ie
Telephone & Internet bookings subject to €1.50 s/c per ticket up to €12.00; 12.5% ever €12 (max €5.95) / Agents €2.00
New Year's Eve Gala
Jacqui Dankworth & the RTÉ Concert Orchestra & Big Band
Mike Dixon conductor
Charlie Wood keyboards & MD/arranger
Mike Smith drums
Tuesday 31 December, 10pm
National Concert Hall
'…in all her incarnations, she exhibits a subtle control of dynamics and a voluptuous tonal richness that seems to make almost any material sound special' – John Fordham (The London Guardian)
Jacqui Dankworth is considered to be 'one of the classiest acts in British jazz singing' (The Guardian) – hardly surprising with John Dankworth and Cleo Laine as parents. She joins the RTÉ Concert Orchestra & Big Band for a special New Year's Eve celebration.
Jacqui Dankworth's concert appearances and her stylistically diverse recordings showcase her virtuosic and effortless mastery of a wide spectrum of genres. Tonight she brings her own inimitable style to a selection of popular songs from musicals and film soundtracks, all accompanied by her own band and the full RTÉ Concert Orchestra & Big Band, so expect a packed stage.
Featuring film classics like On My Own (Les Misérables), Almost Like Being in Love (Brigadoon), What I Did for Love (A Chorus Line), Windmills of Your Mind (The Thomas Crown Affair), Speak Softly Love (The Godfather) and Nature Boy (Moulin Rouge). With these, many others which started life on the silver screen and have now become jazz standards: At Last, The Folks Who Live on the Hill, In the Still of the Night – and many more.
Entertainment all the way to midnight and beyond in the premier event in the National Concert Hall calendar.
Ticket price includes complimentary glass of bubbly. Tickets limited to 4 per person.
Tickets: €34.50–€69.50 (conc. €31.50–€62.50)
10% discount for groups of 10 or more
Booking: 01 417 0000, nch.ie or rte.ie/co
Presented by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra


text:
Betting ban would increase match-fixing: bookies
Betting agencies say any move to ban sports gambling in Australia would give organised criminals more chances to fix matches.
The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) has found organised criminals have forged relationships with players that may have resulted in match-fixing.
Yesterday, the Senate established an inquiry into sports betting and its impact on the integrity on the major sporting codes following the release of the ACC findings.
Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett this morning repeated his calls for an immediate ban on the promotion of sports betting, and Greens senator Richard di Natale says there needs to be an inquiry into the issue.
But Tattsbet's Gerard Daffy says it would make the situation much worse.
"There are over 70 bookmakers outside Australia online that take bets on Australian rules football," he said.
"There are 50 legal bookies and who knows how many hundreds of illegal bookmakers that bet on A-League and cricket.
"It would actually create potentially a much wider problem than we already have."
Mr Daffy says he has never seen any evidence of widespread fixing, and bookmakers alert the police if they receive suspect bets.
"The only two or three times there's been any evidence at all, it's been brought to a halt or brought to the authorities pretty much straight away," he said.
"The most recent of those was the Ryan Tandy incident [Bulldogs player banned over 2010 betting scandal].
"That's why the system actually does work, all the transactions are traceable.
"A lot of people ended up in court as a result of that."
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou says a ban on legalised betting would be counter-productive.
"We're ahead of the game here. We've invested in our integrity unit for many years to try and get ahead of the game," he told ABC local radio.
"If there are any bets to be introduced in the game we have the right to veto some of those bets.
"We've taken very pro-active action as far as all the issues around gambling in sport."
A-League plunge
Revelations of a $5 million plunge on a single A-League match recently have led former Socceroos captain Paul Wade to admit the potential for match-fixing has increased.
"I can't argue with that," he told ABC News Breakfast.
"We have had A-League players put a cheeky $5 on their team to win.
"In fact, one of their players put $5 on them to lose, his own team to lose.
"That was addressed, smack over the back of the the head, don't do it again, you know it's wrong."
Senator Di Natale says the match-fixing revelations demonstrate the need for an inquiry.
"I think the inquiry really needs to look at the impact it's having on young kids and the impact on sport," he said.
"I think there's a good argument for restricting the promotion of odds through broadcast, TV and radio."
Editor's note: (March 13) the original article incorrectly stated bets of $40 million dollars were placed on a single A-League match recently. This figure has been revised down to around $5 million.


text:
LURC members favor rejection of wind farm
Credit: By Kevin Miller, BDN Staff, Bangor Daily News, bangordailynews.com 20 October 2011 ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Critics of Maine's fast-growing commercial wind power sector were claiming victory on Thursday, one day after state regulators took a first step toward denying an application for a 27-turbine wind farm northwest of Grand Lake Stream.
The latest project from Massachusetts-based First Wind, the Bowers Mountain wind farm is proposed for a rural, sparsely populated area east of Springfield on the border of Penobscot and Washington counties.
But the project has run afoul with some registered Maine Guides, sporting camp owners and residents concerned about how the large turbines would affect views from the lakes, ponds and streams that draw fishermen, hunters and tourists to the region.
On Wednesday, members of the Land Use Regulation Commission directed its staff to write an order denying First Wind's application because of the project's potential for "unreasonable adverse impacts on scenic resources" in the area. The commission is expected to review and vote on the order in December.
Catherine Carroll, LURC's staff director, said the project met the commission's other criteria for approval of wind energy projects. But Carroll pointed out that it only takes one failed criterion to reject a project.
Project opponents cheered the commission's vote, even if it was only preliminary.
"By denying this permit, LURC will send a strong message to wind developers that while former Governor Baldacci's flawed wind [energy] law provides them with an expedited permitting process, it does not guarantee approval," Kevin Gurall, president of the 200-plus member Partnership for the Preservation of the Downeast Lakes Watershed, said in a statement.
"There are sites within the expedited wind permitting area that are simply not appropriate for industrial wind development and the Downeast Lakes region is one of them," Gurall said.
First Wind officials and project supporters, meanwhile, said rejection of the Bowers Mountain wind farm would rob the region of a $136 million project that would create much-needed construction jobs and return money to local communities. And a representative also indicated that the company was not giving up on the project.
"We think this is a good project and the benefits are clear," said First Wind's Matt Kearns. "I think there will be a lot of disappointment if this project did not go forward, so we are focused on re-evaluating our options with this project."
Plans for the Bowers Mountain project call for 19 turbines to be constructed in Carroll Plantation and eight in Kossuth Township. The turbines – standing up to 428 feet tall from base to blade tip – could generate up to 69 megawatts of energy if operating at maximum capacity.
The facility would be built on commercial timberland and would use existing access roads, although additional road construction would be required.
Anita Duerr, who has served as Carroll Plantation's assessor for more than 30 years, said her community stood to receive $92,000 a year for the next 20 years under the "tangible benefits" package negotiated with First Wind. Additionally, the company projected that the plantation's mill rate would drop from roughly 14 mills to 2 mills initially and then go to 6 mills the next year.
Duerr said in all of LURC's discussion about scenic impacts on Wednesday, no one considered how a denial would affect the rural communities hoping to benefit from the project.
"Our mill rate would drop considerably, the tangible benefits package was very generous and we, as a small plantation, have struggled just to maintain what we have here," Duerr said.
The Bowers Mountain project has received far less attention than some of Maine's other proposed wind farms, including several others sought by First Wind. But the project's location within eight miles of at least eight lakes and ponds – some considered "outstanding" natural resources by the state – complicated matters for regulators.
Commissioners had less latitude to consider the proposed wind farm's impacts on the landscape from a scenic standpoint because the project site is located within an "expedited permitting area," a zone predetermined by the Legislature to be appropriate for wind power development.
But the expedited permitting law still allows the commission to consider scenic impacts on resources "of state or national significance" as well as how the wind farm could affect public use of a lake, pond or area.
In a statement, the organization Friends of Maine's Mountains, which is sharply critical of commercial wind power development, said Wednesday's vote suggested that efforts by its group and others appear to be paying off.
But earlier this month, First Wind received unanimous approval from LURC for a 19-turbine wind energy facility proposed for Township 16 MD near Eastbrook in rural Hancock County.
And despite Wednesday's unanimous vote, the Bowers Mountain project did have some support on the commission. At least two of seven commissioners – Toby Hammond and Sally Farrand – indicated they favored the overall project but ultimately voted with the will of the majority.
Further complicating matters, the term of one commissioner who voted to deny the Bowers Mountain application – Rebecca Kurtz – will expire before the December meeting. Neither of the two new members were on the commission during the detailed public hearings and work sessions and one already has recused himself from the deliberations.
State statutes would require at least four affirmative votes to approve the permit.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar "fair dealing" provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
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text:
Hi there! Today I'm getting the word out on a new MFM menage BDSM shifter romance from Erzabet Bishop. HEDGING HER BETS puts a timid, yet determined, hedgehog shifter between two steaming hot predator mates.
About the book:
There is strength in submission…and knowing who you are.
Natalie Erinaceus has a problem. Her manipulating mother won't stay out of her dating life. One more dinner with a blind date and someone is getting a fork to the eye. Her inner hedgehog wants a mate and nothing is going to stop her. Not her nervous hedgie's habit of balling-up and certainly not that online questionnaire. Who writes those things anyway?
When Sylvia and Paige from Shifting Hearts Dating Agency step in maybe, just maybe this curvy girl will find more than she ever dreamed in the arms of the men who are fated to be her mates.
Nothing ventured nothing gained…
Lucas Morgan runs a Scarlet Ink, a tattoo shop across from Ventures, a sexy as hell BDSM club. When his sister Scarlet sets the stage for romance, he meets Jonathan, a werebear in need of more than just some ink. Can Lucas learn to bend to the Dominant of his dreams? What happens when this cat shifter switch meets the perfect sub and his dreams of having a woman in his life become reality?
Three makes a family…
Jonathan Blevins is a bear shifter looking for love. His family murdered by poachers, he came to Cypress Canyon to rebuild. When he finds Lucas, it's one step in the right direction. He has one mate but can he convince a stubborn hedgie she's ready to be claimed by not just one mate, but two?
How about a little taste?
"Paige, where in the hell did you put the password log book?" Sylvia groaned as she flicked on the computer and the logo for the Shifting Hearts Dating Agency flashed across the screen. The agency had been open for six months, growing a little more every day. Their wall of successful matings and marriages increasing making Sylvia eager to check out her newest applicants and see any potential matches. But she always forgot the password. Either that, or Paige was always changing it.
She bet the latter.
Tricky damned cat shifter.
A descendent of Aphrodite, helping others find love was in Sylvia's blood. Nothing made her happier. One day she'd find her own swoon-worthy prince charming, but at this point…well, she was content helping others. A tinge of sadness slid in and she firmly booted it away. The right person would come along at the right time, not before. This was her job, her chosen career and damned if she wasn't going to use her power for helping people. With a push if it required it.
But if she saw that damned incubus, Carter, again, she was going to shove his ass clear out the window. Cheating fucker. He'd get his one day. She had people to help and it didn't do her much good to think about murder before she'd at least had a cup of coffee. A really big cup too.
Everything here in Cypress Valley, Texas ran toward big and she hoped by setting up business here with the growing shifter population, her profits would start to be too. It was all great being descended from Goddess material, but if you didn't have the dollars to go with the lifestyle, then it wasn't so much fun anymore. Time to shake her money maker and get some romance in the air.
She got up from the desk, her new heels making her wince. She hobbled over to the kitchenette area in the back of the office and flicked on the overpriced individual cup coffee maker Paige insisted they buy. Her co-partner stood next to the counter, stuffing the better part of a jumbo blueberry muffin into her mouth.
"Now that is one big muffin."
She held up a finger and kept on chewing.
"Nice salute there, hun. Cat get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?"
Paige growled around the muffin, her cat shining in her eyes.
"Ewwww. Somebody is grumpy today." Sylvia rolled her eyes and shook her head. Coffee. Lots of coffee. Then she'd deliberate about food. And passwords. She eyed the flavored pods with distrust, knowing Paige was watching, and selected one that read Hazelnut. She popped it into place like Paige had shown her and hit the start button. A dribble of brown liquid began to flow from the machine and too late she remembered she hadn't placed a cup below the spigot.
"Shit!" Sylvia scrambled and reached for the nearest mug, shoving it in place. The scalding hot liquid poured over her hand and she let out a yowl.
A choked laugh from across the kitchenette met her ears.
Still munching on her muffin with an innocent smile on her face, Paige grinned and gave a pinky wave.
Bitch. At least that was an improvement over the last finger, she supposed.
Sylvia gazed at her friend with narrowed eyes and ran her hand under the faucet. "That wasn't nice."
"Sorry. But you made me almost inhale that one." Paige snorted into her hand and popped the last of the muffin into her mouth. Not afraid of sporting her brunette curves, Paige was a kitty to be reckoned with, whether it was man or muffin…or modern appliance.
"Ugh." Sylvia snatched up her cup and marched back to her desk, irritation prickling under her skin. New machines wigged her out. So did computers and newfangled cars. If she got too excited, her goddess tendencies could have adverse side effects to the point where Paige teased her that she must be related to Harry Dresden. At her blank look, she'd sighed and flicked something up on her phone, twisting it so Sylvia could see. "You know. The Dresden Files?" A picture of a book cover covered the screen.
She'd had no earthly idea what her friend was talking about. If it didn't have vampires or a hot scantily clad shifter, she didn't bother.
"You need to read more than just smut, girl."
But what was the point to that?
"Sorry, Syl. The password book's in the drawer where I always leave it." Paige maneuvered her way to the desk on heels so high Sylvia didn't know how she didn't fall on her impeccably made up face. "And unless you plan on sticking your mouth underneath the pour nozzle, I'd have a cup ready next time."
"Ha ha."
Her friend's blazer and top worked well with the jeans and boots she'd selected for the day. It was raining and knowing her cat shifter partner, she'd rather be curled up in her bed with a pile of blankets than be out and about.
Paige clutched an oversize cup of coffee like it was her lifeline, pausing mid-stride to take a sip. The rest of her may have been spot on but her bleary eyes told a story. Sylvia wasn't sure she really wanted to ask.
"You okay?"
"Yep." Paige set the cup down, the milky brown liquid sloshing dangerously close to the rim. "Tried out a new venue last night and I think I found us a whole new segment of the shifter population."
"Really?" Sylvia grinned, "And where did you go, pray tell?"
Paige glanced around, nibbling her lip. "Is Rafe here?"
"Nope. I haven't seen your brother yet. Why?"
"Good." A flash of cat in Paige's eyes revealed her excitement. "I went to Ventures."
Sylvia wrinkled her nose. "Where?"
"The new bondage club on Fifth Street. It caters to humans, shifters, and other paranormals." A smile lit up her eyes and she reached for the coffee again, sitting down with a wince. "They had a kind of open house event and I wanted to check it out to see if there was any potential for us to join forces."
Paige focused on her cup, a secret smile on her lips.
"Did you hurt yourself?"
"Not exactly."
Sylvia blinked. Oh….So that was how it was.
"So you think we'll get some clients?"
Paige fidgeted in her chair and fired up her own computer. "You just wait, girlfriend. I have a feeling before the day is out we'll be seeing something new coming across our desk. Now, where did you put the file on the Jefferson twins? I think I met someone that could give them a run for their money."
Interested? You can find HEDGING HER BETS on Goodreads and Amazon.
About the Author:
Erzabet Bishop is an award-winning and bestselling author who loves to write naughty stories. She is the author of Lipstick, Crave, Snow (Three Times More Lucky Box Set), Malediction (A Wicked Halloween Box Set), Map of Bones (A Wicked Affair Box Set), Sanguine Shadows (Vampire Bites Box Set), The Science of Lust, Wicked for You, Heart's Protector, Burning for You, Taming the Beast, Bayou Shadows (Nola Naughty Nine) Hedging Her Bets (Alpha Fever Box Set), Cat's Got Her Tongue (Alpha Heat Box Set), Arcane Imaginarium: Spirit Board, Holidays in Hell, Mallory's Mark (upcoming),The Devil's Due (upcoming), Charity Benshaw's Enchanted Paddle Emporium (upcoming), Club Beam, Pomegranate, A Red Dress for Christmas, The Black Magic Café, Sweet Seductions, The Erotic Pagans Series: Beltane Fires, Samhain Shadows and Yuletide Temptation along with being a contributor to many anthologies. She lives in Texas with her husband, furry children and can often be found lurking in local bookstores. She loves to bake, make naughty crochet projects and watch monster movies.
You can catch up with Erzabet on her website, blog, Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Bookbub, Google +, Amazon, and Goodreads.
Thanks for popping in, and keep reading my friends!


text:
Hopkinton running short on space to bury residents
Cemetery Commission says only facilities still have unused lots
Death won't go away if you ignore it, and neither will the town's shrinking number of empty gravesites, the Cemetery Commission said last week.
The commission says without careful planning, residents will soon face a problem no one wants to think about just after a loved one has died, the MetroWest Daily News reported.
But running out of burial room is a real problem, the commissioners say. Under state law, a community must provide cemetery space to bury its residents.
Only two of Hopkinton's cemeteries still have unused lots, Evergreen and Mount Auburn. Only Mount Auburn has unpurchased gravesites, in a back section the commission estimates will last about 12 years.
"For all intents and purposes, we're pretty much full, except for part of Mount Auburn," said Cemetery Commissioner Claire Wright.
She and Commission Chairwoman Lynn Fournier are looking for new land as the town's population continues to expand.
"Logic would have it that if you've got a growing population, there's going to be some increase in demand," said Wright, who is also a member of the newly formed Fruit Street Subcommittee.
The Planning Board formed the subcommittee to recommend the best use for parts of a town-owned parcel of land near the Evergreen Cemetery. Wright at a meeting this month advocated for a new cemetery.
"Nobody wants to talk about cemeteries. They either make a joke or push it to the back burner," she said.
Planning Board Chairman Ken Weismantel, who is also chairman of the Fruit Street Subcommittee, doesn't share the Cemetery Commission's urgency.
"To me, they have space just north of Mount Auburn," he said.
Weismantel referred to a parcel the town owns behind the Mount Auburn Cemetery garage, used for dumping debris.
Wright said that land, like other areas of the cemetery, has drainage problems, but is a possibility.
She said the Fruit Street land is sandier and therefore better suited for graves. The 257-acre parcel also contains a wastewater treatment plant, conservation land, artificial turf fields and a well.
"As long as it's not upstream of the wells there might be a spot at Fruit Street," Weismantel said.
A solar farm or housing – affordable or market rate – have also been floated as options for the land.
Hopkinton gravesites are 3.5 feet by 10 feet. They are now sold no more than two at a time.
Estimates are uncertain about exactly how many gravesites will fit in the empty space in Mount Auburn Cemetery. Town cemetery workers estimated 900 graves, but they also said they expect the space to fill up in 10 to 12 years.
They said the town sees about 35 to 40 funerals a year and of those, 14 to 16 people are buried in new plots.
The cemeteries also face other problems such as crumbling headstones and unmarked graves.


text:
We had a bad storm here overnight and lost power for about 3 hours.
There were no black helicopters, free masons, or Illuminati involved in this outage.
October 23 Power Outage
Announcements and instructions regarding the board
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text:
Internet traffic growth will continue to rise over the next five years, hitting a whopping 767 exabytes by 2014, according to the latest Visual Networking Index (VNI) forecast from Cisco. While that total is staggering, that's still slower than previous growth predictions.
The company is now forecasting that Internet traffic growth will grow fourfold between 2009 and 2014. However, Cisco's (NASDAQ: CSCO) estimate in 2009 had previously predicted 500-percent global Internet traffic growth between 2008 and 2013.
"Percentage-wise, yes, the growth rate is tapering off a bit, though the volume increases continue to be impressive," Doug Webster, senior director of service provider marketing at Cisco, told InternetNews.com. "The delta between 2013 and 2014, for instance, will be larger than total IP traffic in 2008. That said, it is entirely possible that the growth rate will hold steady rather than tapering, since our methodology is conservative in nature. Some of the wildcards that could bolster the growth rate in coming years are: Streaming gaming (e.g. OnLive, Playcast, etc.), Live TV via Internet, HD video communications, and 3DTV."
One of the key drivers over the last several years for Internet traffic growth has been peer-to-peer (P2P) networking and file sharing. Moving forward, P2P — the Internet's largest single contributor to traffic at present — will represent an increasingly smaller share as other forms of traffic, most notably video, come to dominate.
According to Cisco's figures, file sharing represented 46 percent of consumer Internet traffic in 2009, with P2P specifically accounting for 39 percent of the total. But Cisco's report notes that P2P will continue to decline as a percentage, even as it increases in real terms at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16 percent. Meanwhile, video is likely to account for the largest share of traffic, starting in the very near future.
"File sharing will still be the largest application category at the end of 2010, with P2P at 33 percent and other file sharing [at] 7 percent," Webster said. "Internet video will be 39 percent at the end of 2010 … Internet video traffic will surpass peer-to-peer traffic by the end of the year, marking the first time that P2P is not the largest Internet traffic type."
By 2014, video will represent 91 percent of global consumer IP traffic, Cisco concluded.
The growth in Internet traffic over the next five years will also include an increasing percentage of consumer IP traffic. Cisco reported that in 2009, business IP traffic represented 21 percent of total monthly global IP traffic while consumer IP traffic came in at 79 percent. In 2014, Cisco is forecasting that business IP traffic will fall to only 13 percent and consumer global IP traffic will account for 87 percent.
Internet traffic growth is partially being fuelled by growth in access speeds, which have accelerated over the last decade. Cisco reported that in 2010, 4.4 megabits per second (Mbps) is the average global residential Internet connection download speed. In contrast, back in 2000, consumers were averaging only 127 kilobits per second (Kbps). Moving forward, carrier backbones are set to move to 100 gigabit Ethernet (100 GbE) technology over the course of the next several years, providing still more bandwidth.
The fact that more bandwidth will be available in the coming years play a role in Cisco's forecast.
"The forecast model incorporates increases in end-user broadband speed as a driver of increased bitrates," Webster said. "Globally, we expect average broadband speed to triple between 2009 and 2014, and Internet video bitrates will increase along with it."
Despite all the changes in Internet traffic that Cisco sees in its most recent VNI forecast, at least one factor has stayed the same over the years.
"The top line of the forecast has remained largely consistent from year to year, and the growth reported by operators has closely matched our projections for the most part," Webster said. "The surprises are always in the details. For example, the rapid growth of Web-based file sharing was notable this year. We also had to increase our estimates for online gaming and Internet video communications."
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.


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Major Lazer | Bacardi B-Live Tour | House of Blues, Boston | July 18, 2009 | Photos: Eric Baumann
The debut of Diplo and Switch's 23rd-century dancehall project MAJOR LAZER was the big draw at the House of Blues on Thursday, but don't ask us to pick a favorite: we can't remember the last time someone put together top-notch DJs like A-TRAK with headline-level indie-rockers like MATT AND KIM, but we sure wish more liquor companies would spend their money on shit like this. KEEP CLICKING for lots more photos of Matt & Kim, Steve Porter, A-Trak (including his own surprise collabo with Diplo), Major Lazer, and the world's biggest boom box, plus bonus video clips at the end.
SEE ALSO: Chris Faraone breaks down the Bacardi B-Live Tour [On the Download]
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text: As head of access & delivery services, Mary Carmen Chimato provides leadership for key public services that enable users to access the many resources of the Libraries. She manages circulation, course reserves, technology device lending, current periodicals, interlibrary loan and document delivery, stack maintenance, and media services. She also lead efforts to explore new service models and exploit emerging technologies to enhance services for students, faculty, and other researchers. Chimato has a strong background of leadership and management from her previous position as head of access services for the Health Sciences Center Library, State University of New York at Stony Brook. There she developed and implemented an electronic reserves system and contributed to the redesign of the library Web site, incorporating popular Internet tools such as podcasts, blogs, and wikis. Her public services background also includes experience as a reference librarian in Drexel University's Florence A. Moore Library of Medicine and teaching experience in formal library instruction programs, including informatics instruction and support for evidence-based practice in nursing. Her writing on management has been published in College & Research Library News and can be found at her blog, Circ and Serve (circandserve.wordpress.com). She has also written for Journal of Hospital Librarianship and Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet.


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This is a guest post by Adrienne Williams, the founder of Bi Social Network and a participant in GLAAD National Media Institute for People of Color. To read Adrienne's full article, click here.
One of the interesting parts of being a founder of anything is that most of the time, you are in the background or behind the scenes, trying to reach out to others, network, and connect with real live people who can hopefully make your life better in some tangible way. Although this was difficult at for me when I began my advocacy work, I've learned that what they say is true: "You don't understand loss and success until you reach the bottom and have no way of seeing clearly how to get out."
The Start of a Vision
This was me close to three years ago. I'd been a part of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community since college ended, but moving forward my friends and I started to feel invisible instead of truly connected. In the past, gay and lesbian friends shared their lives with me, and I with them, but nowhere was there a true place for bi media, pop culture, networking and entertainment for the bi community in 2009. Nothing, and I needed to help change all that.
It was during one of my nights of insomnia in 2009 that my idea about creating Bi Social Network came to me. I started to plan a vision of where I wanted to go on the web, what I wanted to see, and what news I wanted to read. I thought about the people I wanted to meet and connect with, even if it only through writing a blog. After a few months of working out the kinks (dating a marketing researcher at the time really came in handy) entered Maria, my first writer, who's still with me today; then others, some who came for a short time, some staying and some moving on. A connection was being formed. How did I even think I would do it alone?
Fast forward to 400 e-mails a week, interviews, media inquiries, and a request from and subsequent visit to the White House. It's all sorts of unbelievable, really. One personal success was reaching Jamie, who lives in Glasgow and was so proud to come out as bi at school, holding the bracelet that he ordered from our "I Am Visible" campaign. The pain he felt as the result of bullying by both straight and gay youth was his burden, and yet, we as bisexual people were all beginning to connect all around the world.
A community reached out and connected not only with me, but with each other, through e-mails, chat rooms, and Facebook® pages that were created overnight. Strangers wanted to join not only our page, but to create other bi micro sites. Some were afraid to share their stories, but managed to e-mail me to say, "Hey, I love what you're doing, don't stop." There were new services to support teens, housewives, lost husbands, and fearful family members who thought they could be bi. There was reach out from writers and supporters. Bi people made a difference by contributing videos, songs, stories, and love. These were all small things but with one connection. I'm bi, and oh yes, I'm visible. There's that word again.
A New Direction
Bi Social Network is moving forward with new ideas, such as BSN TV and more shows on Bi Talk Radio, including personalities that discuss bi men's issues, opposite-sex bi relationships, and talking about how marriage can be bi too. We're looking at perhaps creating a foundation, and we're especially excited for our first ever fundraiser to help us develop something I've always wanted—Bi Social Magazine.
But no movement, no one persona, no one thing can do it all—only a collective of ideas. We as bisexual people are about to leave a bigger footprint on American culture and show the world we have always been here. Bisexuality is still not understood, and the bullying has to stop. We have to all think about the global message we want to send, to inform those people who don't know what bisexuality is—which include both the straight and gay communities. We must continue to listen, support, rant, talk to each other, donate to our diverse causes, and reflect on our evolving bisexual community and its issues. Let's reach into the hearts and minds of the bi community with a voice that will increase our visibility once and for all. I feel this is the most important idea and dream for us, and I hope you join me on the journey of bi visibility. Can you feel it? Yes, after all we have Bi Pride all year long!


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Gilmer, Thomas Walker
Gilmer, Thomas Walker, 1802–44, U.S. Secretary of the Navy (Feb., 1844), b. Albemarle co., Va. He practiced law, served in the Virginia legislature, and became (1840) governor of Virginia. Elected to Congress, he served (1841–44) as a spokesman for the Tyler administration. Appointed Secretary of the Navy, he, along with other government officials, was a victim of the gun explosion on the Princeton in 1844. This accident brought to the fore the question of succession to the presidency in the event of wholesale death of public officials.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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Betta channoides
Snakehead Betta
channoides: based on the generic name of the snakehead fishes, Channa, some species of which have the same head shape as B. channoides.
Order: Perciformes Family: Osphronemidae
Native to the Mahakam river basin in the province of Kalimantan Timur (eastern Kalimantan) on the island of Borneo, Indonesia, with type locality 'unnamed blackwater stream entering Mahakam River on the northern side near Mujub, 0°01'S, 115°43'E, Kalimantan Timur, Indonesia'.
The fish have been collected around Mujup, Sungai Merimun and Muarapahu with the most sought-after form originating from close to the village of Pampang.
Populations from the different localities are often labelled as such by collectors in order to maintain accuracy and preserve pure bloodlines.
Inhabits shallow forest streams with brownish, acidic water, and is usually collected among leaf litter and marginal plant roots.
Maximum Standard Length
35 – 40 mm.
Aquarium SizeTop ↑
An aquarium with base measurements of 45 ∗ 30 cm could house a pair or small group.
Can be maintained in a fully-decorated aquarium although many breeders prefer not to use a substrate for ease of maintenance.
Driftwood roots and branches can be used and placed such a way that a few shady spots are formed while clay plant pots or lengths of piping can also be included to provide further shelter.
The addition of dried leaf litter further emphasises the natural feel and as well as offering additional cover for the fish brings with it the growth of microbe colonies as decomposition occurs.
These can provide a valuable secondary food source for fry and the tannins and other chemicals released by the decaying leaves are also considered beneficial for fishes from blackwater environments.
There is no need to use natural peat, however, the collection of which is both unsustainable and environmentally-destructive.
Like others in the genus this species seems to do best under fairly dim lighting.
You could add aquatic plant species that can survive under such conditions such as Microsorum, Taxiphyllum or Cryptocoryne spp., and a few patches of floating vegetation would be useful as well.
This species requires acidic conditions with negligible carbonate hardness and very low general hardness so a reverse osmosis unit or other method of obtaining soft water may need to be employed, and this can be further acidified using phosphoric acid or similar if necessary.
As it naturally inhabits sluggish waters filtration should not be too strong, with an air-powered sponge filter set to turn over gently adequate.
Keep the tank well-covered and do not fill it to the top as like all Betta spp. it requires occasional access to the layer of humid air that will form above the water surface, and is an excellent jumper.
Water Conditions
Temperature: 23 – 30 °C
pH: 4.0 – 6.5
Hardness: 18 – 90 ppm
Likely to prey on insects, other small invertebrates and zooplankton in nature.
Captive fish will normally accept dried products once they're recognised as edible, but should be offered plenty of small live or frozen foods such as Daphnia, Artemia or bloodworm regularly to ensure development of optimal colour and condition.
Take care not to overfeed as Betta spp. seem particularly prone to obesity.
Behaviour and CompatibilityTop ↑
Not recommended for the standard community set-up for reasons already touched upon.
It's requirements and disposition mean it's best kept alone or with very small, peaceful species since much bigger or more vigorous fishes are likely to intimidate and outcompete it.
Some small cyprinids and loaches that inhabit similar environments in nature are compatible but proper research is essential.
It can be maintained in a pair or group and will display some interesting behavioural interactions under the latter circumstances.
Sexual Dimorphism
Adult males are more colourful and have a broader head shape than females.
Paternal mouthbrooder. Organise a separate tank for breeding purposes unless the fish are already being maintained alone, setting this up as suggested above.
The tank should have the tightest-fitting cover you can find (some breeders use clingfilm instead to ensure no gaps) as the fry need access to a layer of warm, humid air without which development of the labyrinth organ can be impaired.
Following a protracted courtship, eggs and milt are released during an 'embrace' typical of anabantoids in which the male wraps his body around that of the female.
Several 'dummy' embraces may be required before spawning commences.
Fertilised eggs are caught on the anal fin of the male then picked up in the mouth of the female before being spat out into the water for the male to catch.
Once the male has all the eggs in his mouth the cycle is repeated untill the female is spent of eggs, a process which can take some time.
Brood size is quite small, with even 10 eggs being considered a good number.
A brooding male may swallow or release the eggs prematurely if stressed or inexperienced, so it's preferable to leave the female and any other fishes in situ.
The incubation period is 10 – 21 days at the end of which the male will begin to release fully-formed, free-swimming fry.
At this point they can be removed or left to be reared alongside the adults, which will not normally harm them.
The fry are large enough to accept motile foods such as microworm and Artemia nauplii immediately, though it should be noted that there exist reports of young Betta developing health issues if fed excessive amounts of the latter.
Offer small amounts of different foods 2 -3 times per day for optimal growth rate, and don't change too much water at once, with regular, small changes preferable to intermittent larger ones.
NotesTop ↑
B. channoides and B. albimarginata together comprise the Betta albimarginata group of closely-related species within the genus, these differing from all other members of the genus in colour pattern and by possession of 9-12 anal-fin spines vs. 0-4.
They look very similar to one another but differ in the following characters: anal fin spines 9-11 in B. albimarginata vs. 12 in B. channoides; anal fin rays 21-23 vs. 23-25; lateral scale rows 26-27 vs. 27.5-28; transverse scale rows 7.5 vs. 8.5; predorsal scales 6 + 7-8 vs. 7-8 + 8-9; predorsal length 65.2-61.7 vs. 59.8-63.5; dorsal fin insertion above 10-11th lateral scale row and 4-5th anal-fin spine vs. 12-13th and 5-7th.
Additonally, fin patterning in B. albimarginata, except the pectoral fins, consists of a broad white distal band, broad dark submarginal band with sharp outer margin and less sharp inner margin, and a plain red inner portion, while in B. channoides the dorsal fin is almost entirely red with only a thin white distal band and the dark submarginal band in the caudal fin does not extend into the uppermost portion of the fin.
Base body colouration tends towards a brick-red shade in displaying male B. albimarginata, scarlet in B. channoides.
The genus Betta is the most speciose within the family Osphronemidae with almost 70 recognised members and looks set to grow further with new ones continuing to be described on a regular basis since the turn of the century.
Member species have successfully adapted to inhabit a variety of ecological niches from stagnant ditches to flowing hill streams including some extreme environments such as highly acidic peat swamp forests.
The referral of members to a number of groups containing closely-related species is now generally accepted but largely based on morphological and behavioural characters.
Molecular phylogenetic work may therefore prove useful in more precisely determining relationships between these fishes.
A full list of the species groups as currently recognised can be found here.
Like others in the suborder Anabantoidei this species possesses an accessory breathing organ known as the labyrinth.
So-called due to its maze-like structure this organ allows the fish to breathe atmospheric air to a certain extent.
Comprising paired suprabranchial organs formed via expansion of the epibranchial (upper) section of the first gill arch and housed in a chamber above the gills, it contains many highly-vascularised, folded flaps of skin which function as a large respiratory surface.
Its structure varies in complexity between species, tending to be better-developed in those inhabiting harsher environments.
- Kottelat, M. and P. K. L. Ng, 1994 - Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 5(1): 65-78
Diagnoses of five new species of fighting fishes from Banka and Borneo (Teleostei: Belontiidae).
- Tan, H. H. and P. K. L. Ng, 2005 - Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 13: 115-138
The labyrinth fishes (Teleostei: Anabantoidei, Channoidei) of Sumatra, Indonesia.
- Tan, H. H. and P. K. L. Ng, 2005 - Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 13: 43-99
The fighting fishes (Teleostei: Osphronemidae: Genus Betta) of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.
- Tan, H. H. and P. K. L. Ng, 2006 - Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 17(2): 97-114
Six new species of fighting fish (Teleostei: Osphronemidae: Betta) from Borneo.


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In response to a question at the University of Florida recently, Noam Chomsky claimed that there were only "a miniscule number of architects and engineers" who felt that the official account of WTC Building 7 should be treated with skepticism. Chomsky followed-up by saying, "a tiny number—a couple of them—are perfectly serious."
If signing your name and credentials to a public petition on the subject means being serious, then Noam Chomsky's tiny number begins at 2,100, not counting scientists and other professionals. Why would Chomsky make such an obvious exaggeration when he has been presented with contradictory facts many times?
I've personally had over thirty email exchanges with Chomsky. In those exchanges, he has agreed that it is "conceivable" that explosives might have been used at the WTC. But, he wrote, if that were the case it would have had to be Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden who had made it so.
Of course, it doesn't matter how many professionals or intellectuals are willing to admit it. The facts remain that the U.S. government's account for the destruction of the WTC on 9/11 is purely false. There is no science behind the government's explanation for WTC7 or for the Twin Towers and everyone, including the government, admits that WTC Building 7 experienced free fall on 9/11. There is no explanation for that other than the use of explosives.
The obviously bogus "tiny number" statement from Chomsky is only one of several such absurdities the man uttered in his lecture response. Here are a few of the others.
"[Scientists seeking the truth about 9/11] are not doing what scientists and engineers do when they think they've discovered something. What you do, when you think you have discovered something, is you write articles in scientific journals [he admits to "one or two minor articles"], give talks at the professional societies, and go to the Civil Engineering Department at MIT, or Florida or wherever you are, and present your results."
I've copied Chomsky on more than two peer-reviewed scientific articles in mainstream journals that describe evidence for demolition at the WTC. Therefore he knows that this statement is not true. And I've given dozens of talks around the U.S. and Canada that focused on the WTC demolition theory, many of which were at universities.
I've also pointed out that MIT's civil engineering professor Eduardo Kausel made elementary mistakes in his public comments about the WTC disaster. Kausel claimed in Scientific American that the WTC towers were "never designed for the the intense jet fuel fires—a key design omission." Kausel also claimed that jet fuel from the aircraft "softened or melted the structural elements—floor trusses and columns—so that they became like chewing gum." At the risk of making a Chomsky-like exaggeration, I'll venture that nearly everyone today knows that these statements are false.
Chomsky went on in an attempt to belittle, and downplay the sacrifices of, people seeking the truth.
"There happen to be a lot of people around who spent an hour on the internet who think they know a lot of physics but it doesn't work like that."
"Anyone who has any record of, any familiarity, with political activism knows that this is one of the safest things you can do. It's almost riskless. People take risks far beyond this constantly, including scientists and engineers. I could, have run through, and can run through many examples. Maybe people will laugh at you but that's about it. It's almost a riskless position."
Chomsky knows that I was fired from my job as Site Manager at Underwriters Laboratories for publicly challenging the government's investigation into the WTC tragedy. He knows that many others have suffered similar responses as well, including Brigham Young University physicist Steven Jones and University of Copenhagen chemist Niels Harrit, who were forced into retirement for speaking out. And although everyone knows that researchers and universities today depend on billions of grant dollars from the government, Chomsky implies that such funding could never be impacted in any way by questioning of the government's most sensitive political positions.
The "hour on the internet" nonsense is ludicrous, of course, and Chomsky knows it well. Jones and Harrit have better scientific credentials than some MIT professors and we have all spent many years studying the events of 9/11. I've spent over a decade, and have contributed to many books and scientific articles, on the subject.
Pandering to the hecklers in the crowd, Chomsky summarized his simplistic (public) position on the events of 9/11.
"However, there's a much more deeper issue which has been brought up repeatedly and I have yet to hear a response to it. There is just overwhelming evidence that the Bush administration wasn't involved—very elementary evidence. You don't have to be a physicist to understand it, you just have to think for a minute. There's a couple of facts which are uncontroversial:
#1—The Bush Administration desperately wanted to invade Iraq. (He goes on to say that there were good reasons, including that Iraq was "right in the middle if the world's energy producing region.)
#2—They didn't blame 9/11 on Iraqis, they blamed it on Saudis—that's their major ally.
#3—Unless they're total lunatics, they would have blamed it on Iraqis if they were involved in any way." He continues to say that "there was no reason to invade Afghanistan" which "has been mostly a waste of time."
Basically, these three "overwhelming" reasons boil down to one reason—Chomsky assumes that if the Bush Administration was involved it would have immediately blamed Iraq for 9/11. Of course, Bush Administration leaders did immediately blame Iraq for 9/11 and they did so repeatedly. That was one of the two original justifications given by the Bush Administration for invading Iraq.
Moreover, Chomsky most definitely received a response to his "deeper issue" when he received a copy of my new book Another Nineteen several months before his comments. The book gives ample reasons—meaning actual overwhelming evidence—to suspect that Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and nineteen of their colleagues were behind the 9/11 attacks. After writing that he was "glad to learn about the new book," he sent his mailing address for a free copy. Chomsky acknowledged receiving the book in August and wrote to me that he was "pleased to have a copy of the book, and hope to be able to get to it before too long."
Therefore, Chomsky has either ignored the response to his one major concern for several months or he knows that his concern is no longer valid. What would make him feign ignorance in such a way? Perhaps it is the fact that he would lose a great deal of face if he were to finally admit that there is much more to the story of 9/11.
Regardless, when a tiny number begins at 2,100 and "just overwhelming evidence" to exonerate the Bush Administration boils down to one bad assumption, we are again reminded of the power that 9/11 holds. When presented with substantial evidence for complicity on the part of corporate and government leaders, the obvious becomes either undeniable or an emotional cue to dissemble.


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Movie review: 'Robin Hood' misses the mark
In "Robin Hood," Taron Egerton's title character is not your average archer stealing from the rich to give to the poor. He's no merry man in tights wearing a silly bycocket hat. Instead, he's Rob "The Hood," and he's got a score to settle with the sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn).
First-time director Otto Bathurst ("Peaky Blinders"), working from a script by Ben Chandler and David James Kelly, also writing their first feature, craft a Robin Hood origin story that completely misses the target. In short, the movie is a mess, a wannabe epic of good versus evil. It tries (too) hard to capture a "Game of Thrones" vibe. The battle scenes are convoluted with arrows flying all over the place. Many killings and beatings happen, but curiously enough there's never any bloodshed, even when Jamie Foxx's Moorish soldier, John, loses a hand. If you're eyes roll straight out of your head, you won't be alone.
The lackluster script is full of pedestrian dialogue. Particularly cringe-inducing are the contemporary touches Bathurst and crew add to make their story seem hip, such as the "thank you for your service" line Robin of Loxley, as he's first known, hears upon returning from fighting in the Crusades in Arabia. It's a worthwhile sentiment, for sure, but way out of place in 13th century England.
This Loxley is foxy, however. Initially, he's characterized as just another lord of the manor who wants nothing more than to live happily ever after with the beautiful Marian (Eve Hewson). Naturally, that cold hand of fate intervenes. Upon his return from battle, a presumed-dead Robin finds his estate in shambles and his girl shacked up with another guy (Jamie Dornan). The script pits him and John in an uprising against the corrupt English crown monetarily enriched by the blood of innocents. It's time for payback. Enter the clichéd villains played by F. Murray Abraham, Ian Peck and Mendelsohn, seemingly playing a version of his "Star Wars" bad guy.
Flashes of Egerton's (the "Kingsman" movies) rogue charm peek through, even though the character is just another run-of-the-mill action hero. Ditto for Foxx as Robin's wizened partner in crime who's seeking his own personal vengeance. The pair is plopped into a just another derivative origin story that never engages or feels urgent because we've seen it all before. All the actors have to do is spew platitudes about power and fear. A training montage shows Robin preparing to go stealth is amusingly straight out of "Rocky." All that's missing is the iconic music.
With its muted palette of grays and unremarkable CGI-heavy battle scenes, "Robin Hood" will likely be a letdown for fans of the previous Robins: Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe, etc. Was anyone honestly hungry for another Robin Hood movie, anyway? I don't think so. A sequel is fully set up, by the way, so unless this is a total bomb, this isn't the last we've heard of Rob the Hood.
The film opens with Friar Tuck (Tim Minchin) in voiceover promising something different to come. Tuck, who by the way is the best character in the movie, urges us to forget all the previous Robin Hood lore because something darker is coming: "This is no bedtime story," he says. Yet, by the end I was practically asleep.
— Dana Barbuto may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or follow her on Twitter @dbarbuto_Ledger.
"Robin Hood"
Cast: Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson, Tim Minchin and Jamie Dornan.
(PG-13 for extended sequences of violence and action, and some suggestive references.)
Grade: C