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The Secret Beyond Matter
The Secrets of the Hypocrite
Hypocrites' Self-Satisfaction
They allot to Allah what they themselves dislike and their tongues frame the lie that they will receive the best. There is no doubt at all that they will receive the Fire and that they are people who go to excess.
(Surat an-Nahl: 62)
People who fear Allah always hope for His help and support in all matters. As reported in the words of the Prophet Musa (as), for example: " ...My Lord, I am truly in need of any good You have in store for me" (Surat al-Qasas: 24), they are aware that they need their Creator at every moment. This is where the self-satisfaction of hypocrites, whose characteristics are the exact opposite of those of believers, emerges.
The Qur'an uses the word "istaghna" (self-satisfaction, self-sufficiency) to describe people who imagine they have no need of anything. Yet the term actually applies solely to Allah, for only He has no need of anything. Humans and all other living things are helpless, needy entities, created by Allah and in need of Him in order to survive. Allah addresses human beings so that they may realize their helplessness:
O humanity! An example has been made, so listen to it carefully. Those whom you call upon besides Allah are not even able to create a single fly, even if they were to join together to do it. And if a fly steals something from them, they cannot get it back. How feeble are both the seeker and the sought! (Surat al-Hajj: 73)
Hypocrites, on the other hand, are unaware of their neediness in the face of Allah. They harbor within themselves an arrogance similar to that of satan. Even though they are belittled in the sight of Allah and in that of believers, they imagine that they can deceive people and imagine themselves to be very intelligent and superior. They imagine themselves to be always on the true path, never admitting the possibility that they might have deficiencies or be in error. All these things are actually symptoms of a kind of sickness whose name is "self-satisfaction," as described above.
Indeed, Allah reveals that hypocrites have a sickness in their hearts, which is only increased by their two-facedness:
Among the people there are some who say, "We believe in Allah and the Last Day," when they are not believers. They think they deceive Allah and those who believe. They deceive no one but themselves but they are not aware of it. There is a sickness in their hearts and Allah has increased their sickness. They will have a painful punishment on account of their denial. (Surat al-Baqara: 8-10)
The disease of self-satisfaction has been seen in all deniers throughout history. Allah has indicated the disease, which leads people directly to Hell, in several verses of the Qur'an.
This disease began with satan. The first sign of self-satisfaction in him, who regarded himself as the most superior of all created beings, came with satan's refusal to prostrate himself before the Prophet Adam (as), despite Allah's commanding him to do so. Satan's own explanation for this behavior was that the Prophet Adam (as) had been created out of earth and he himself, out of fire.
Therefore, every denier since the world began has harbored this same characteristic, due to their sharing the same nature as satan. The self-satisfaction of the hypocrites is the same as that which first manifested itself in satan.
The first symptom of self-satisfaction is a person's refusal to believe the sickness in his heart, as the Qur'an puts it. Indeed, hypocrites totally reject the idea, which then leads to their sickness increasing still further. That is because someone who is conceited and regards himself as perfect, will feel no need to avoid sin and wickedness. Indeed, Allah reveals in the Qur'an that people who regard themselves as unblemished will develop even greater excesses. It is stated in verses that:
No indeed! Truly man is unbridled, seeing himself as self-sufficient. (Surat al-'Alaq: 6-7)
The self-sufficiency that hypocrites harbor within themselves has various symptoms and consequences, which are described in detail in verses of the Qur'an—and become even clearer when set out one after the other.
1. They Feel No Responsibility Toward the Verses
One of the groups of deniers who regard themselves as exempt from the verses of the Qur'an—in other words, who are unaware that the verses apply to them—are the hypocrites. Despite reading the Qur'an, they regard the stipulations of many verses as having little to do with them. For example, the description of Hell only increases a believer's fear, because there is always the possibility of losing Allah's approval and going to Hell. But since hypocrites regard themselves as predestined to enter Paradise, these verses have no effect on them. They are therefore unable to see and understand the many verses that are addressed directly to them.
When the believer is reminded of verses, or given advice by hearing them cited, his fear increases, and he abides by them, displaying exceptional sincerity. But when the hypocrite is reminded of them, he behaves pretty much as if he never heard the verses at all. He never reflects on or takes advice from Allah's wisdom:
What is the matter with them that they run from the Reminder? (Surat al-Muddaththir: 49)
Another distinguishing feature of hypocrites is that their observance of religion is limited to words. Their falsehood can also be seen in terms of abiding by the verses. Allah has revealed in a number of verses just how insensitive they are to His verses and how they seek to distance themselves from their provisions as far as possible:
Don't you see those who claim that they believe in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down before you, still desiring to turn to a satanic source for judgment in spite of being ordered to reject it? Satan wants to misguide them far away. When they are told, "Come to what Allah has sent down and to the messenger," you see the hypocrites turning away from you completely. (Surat an-Nisa': 60-61)
Don't you see those who have been given a portion of the Book being invited to let Allah's Book be the judge between them? But then a group of them turn away. (Surah Al 'Imran: 23)
2. They Imagine Themselves to be Very Intelligent
Hypocrites place a great deal of trust in their own intelligence, despite their not actually possessing any true wisdom at all. They are unable to appreciate the dire nature of their situation. They live imagining that their every deed and every decision is the best ones possible. In particular, they regard themselves as their own sole authority on matters of religion. Because of this twisted logic, they also imagine that believers are on the wrong path. Their illogical ideas are revealed in the following verse:
And when the hypocrites and those with sickness in their hearts said, "These people have been deluded by their religion." But those who put their trust in Allah will find Allah to be Almighty, All-Wise. (Surat al-Anfal: 49)
As can be seen from the verse, since they imagine that only they are on the true path, they do not appreciate believers' wisdom. Yet the truth is, believers constitute the only community on Earth on which Allah has bestowed pure wisdom. Nonetheless, hypocrites regard themselves as superior to everybody else, and whenever believers are cited as role models in living by the religious morality, the hypocrites make it clear that they remain unimpressed by their intelligence. These inaccurate ideas on the subject of believers lead hypocrites into a grievous position, as is revealed in another verse:
When they are told, "Believe in the way that the people believe," they say, "What! Are we to believe in the way that fools believe?" No indeed! They are the fools, but they do not know it. (Surat al-Baqara: 13)
As revealed in the verse, hypocrites are "fools" because they tell the most unpleasant lies and imagine that even though they prepare snares with no foundation to them, believers will not catch on and that the messenger will not bring these strategies into the light of day. However, when the time comes, Allah shows them and other people the humiliating position they are in.
3. They Imagine Themselves to be Profiting
Another aspect that separates the hypocrites from the community of the faithful is that in living by the religious moral values, they constantly hold themselves back. It is revealed in the Qur'an that in the struggle waged by the community of the faithful, hypocrites seek to keep themselves as far as possible to the rear, and behaving always in a reluctant manner:
Among you there are people who hang back and if you encounter a setback then they say, "Allah has blessed me in that I was not there with them." (Surat an-Nisa': 72)
By not submitting to Allah and His messenger, not engaging in the struggle, spending generously or performing a great number of other observances, hypocrites imagine that they are profiting, and consider performing these observances disadvantageous. Therefore, since they do not seek Allah's approval and regard themselves as unflawed, performing these observances seems a task of enormous difficulty for them.
We can set out a few points on which hypocrites imagine themselves to be ahead of the game by holding themselves back:
a) They Avoid the Struggle
Since they are devoted to the life of this world, hypocrites have a great fear of death, and the very thought of death makes them very uneasy. They never reflect that death is a commandment of Allah, or consider maintaining their religious observances until the moment of their death arrives. Indeed, Allah describes the situation of the hypocrites in the time of the Prophet (saas). They imagined that not going to war would keep them out of danger of death, and so regarded making excuses for not going to war as a sign of healthy intelligence. In the Qur'an, Allah tells of the joy they felt at hanging back during the war:
Those who were left behind were glad to stay behind the Messenger of Allah ... (Surat at-Tawba: 81)
The fact is, however, that death can strike anyone anywhere. Since hypocrites think on only a superficial level, they never bring this point to mind. There is no guarantee that death will not come to someone who hangs back from danger in his own home. Yet as stated at the outset, hypocrites lack the understanding to comprehend their own superficiality. They therefore see any temporary salvation or brief postponement as putting them ahead of the game.
b) They Do Not Co-exist with Believers
Allah has revealed that He will test the community of the faithful with both good and evil. Believers are subjected to tests in this world in order to attain the Hereafter. Therefore, they experience various events, some of which may appear auspicious and others not, but Allah eventually turns them all to the advantage of believers. Since they are aware of the secret of the testing to which they are subjected, they always display the same enthusiasm and effort in competing to earn Allah's approval. They never fall prey to fear or despair.
However, in the community of the faithful, there is another group who fail to grasp the secret of the test and look only at the surface of events. As discussed a little earlier, hypocrites seek to keep themselves as far from troublesome events as they can. If their means permit, they even stay far away from the community of the faithful, since they are unwilling to face the same difficulties that believers do. Indeed, Allah has informed believers—by means of examples from the past, but with particular reference to times of war—that hypocrites prefer to watch believers from as great a distance as possible:
They think that the Confederates have not departed and if the Confederates did appear then they would wish they were out in the desert with the Arabs, asking for news of you. If they were with you they would only fight a very little. (Surat al-Ahzab: 20)
Another verse reveals how hypocrites, who seek to remain at a distance from believers and not to be affected by the events that befall them, see themselves as profiting from this:
If good happens to you it galls them. If a mishap occurs to you, they say, "We made our preparations in advance," and they turn away rejoicing. (Surat at-Tawba: 50)
c) They Do Not Obey the Messenger of Allah
Obedience to the messenger of Allah means holding Allah and His Book above all things, because obedience to Allah and the Qur'an means obedience to His messenger. Believers who are sincerely devoted and obedient to Allah display the same devotion and obedience towards His messenger. The messenger of Allah is of greater value to them than their own lives or desires. The Qur'an refers to believers who protected the Prophet (saas) at the cost of their own lives, who went off to war with him, and who held him above their own selves.
The hypocrites of the time did not go off to war, however. They regarded themselves as exceedingly advantaged and intelligent because they were not obliged to protect the Prophet (saas). Those hypocrites who did join the troops, but who then became frightened and turned back, failed to heed the call of the Prophet Muhammad (saas) to them, and fled without looking back:
Remember when you were scrambling up the slope, refusing to turn back for anyone, and the Messenger was calling to you from the rear ... (Surah Al 'Imran: 153)
They imagined that this flight was their salvation. The fact is, however, that by departing from the command of the Prophet's (saas), they made a grave error. They earned Allah's displeasure and were thus condemned to eternal suffering.
They Claim to be Well-Intentioned
Hypocrites literally compete with one another on the subject of strife and discord. Since they fear believers, however, whenever their wickedness comes to light they swear that they are "well-intentioned" and reconciliatory, and seek to convince believers of this. In all their wickedness, they go to the messenger and make great efforts to convince him of their good intentions. A clear example of this can be seen in the Qur'an:
How will it be when a disaster strikes them because of what they have done, and then they come to you swearing by Allah: "We desired nothing but good and reconciliation?" Allah knows what is in such people's hearts ... (Surat an-Nisa': 62-63)
Of course, as stated in the verse, Allah knows very well that they are lying and what they are concealing in their hearts. This He will reveal at a time of His choosing. He also makes His messenger aware of their situation.
They Try to Free Themselves from Blame with Self-Praise
Don't you see those who praise themselves for purity? No, Allah purifies whoever He wills. (Surat an-Nisa': 49)
How important the approval of other people is for hypocrites! Indeed, as revealed in the above verse, they constantly praise themselves for the purposes of gaining approval. They seek to cover up all their mistakes and justify their desires, in the event that any of their mistakes do see the light of day. They also take pains to depict themselves as true believers, even though they are actually not.
Naturally, however, their efforts achieve success only among people like themselves. Believers identify their two-faced behavior before much time has passed, and respond with the appropriate behavior themselves.
They Cannot Bear to Receive Advice
As we have emphasized throughout this book, one of the main features of hypocrites is their satanic pride. They have grown so arrogant that they cannot admit that they have any deficiencies or are at fault in any regard. If admonished about these deficiencies or errors, then they inevitably display great anger towards whomever does so.
However, the principle features of believers, and messengers in particular, is enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil. In other words, the faithful constantly give one another advice and seek to eradicate one another's errors and deficiencies. Since hypocrites are also found within the community of the faithful, they also frequently become engaged in this religious observance that believers perform in order to earn Allah's approval.
In those verses dealing with the hypocrites who lived at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saas), we can see how hypocrites, who regarded themselves as flawless, became angry in the face of the advice given them. So excessive was their reaction to the reminders issued to them from the Qur'an that, in the words of one verse, they would " ... strike you down with their evil looks ... " (Surat al-Qalam: 51). They saw no need to hide the hatred and anger they felt towards the Prophet (saas), and made this quite apparent.
No doubt their reactions stemmed from the fact that the Prophet (saas) gave them advice. Had he not reminded them of such matters as the imminence of death, the scale of the torment of Hell in the Hereafter, and that status in this world and the next of those who oppose the Qur'an, and had he instead praised the hypocrites to others, then they would have felt no hatred towards him. However, as an immutable law of Allah, His messengers continue to do their duty and enjoin everyone, no matter who they might be, to do what is good and avoid what is evil.
They Imagine They Will Not be Punished
...[they] say to themselves "Why does Allah not punish us for what we say?" Hell will be enough for them! They will roast in it. What an evil destination! (Surat al-Mujadala: 8)
The reason why they continue doing what they do and refuse to abandon their activities is that they don't imagine any troubles will ever be visited on them. Their mindset is one of "If trouble were going to be inflicted on us, it would already have happened." But this is entirely of their own imagining, because the laws of Allah are very different. He will inflict troubles immediately if He wishes, or else postpone them for a while.
In addition, contrary to what they imagine, hypocrites constantly suffer troubles, of which they themselves are unaware. For example, in addition to their defective speech and mannerisms and inability to reason, they live in a constant state of stress, cannot take pleasure from beautiful things, and lack knowledge of the value of blessings.
Allah postpones the deaths of some of them, giving them time to further increase their denial in this world. Additionally, the suffering they will experience in Hell is also increased proportionally:
Do not let their wealth and their children impress you. Allah merely wants to punish them by them in this world, and for them to expire while they are disbelievers. (Surat at-Tawba: 85)
They Imagine Their Worldly Values willProtect Them
We have already touched on the effect of such people's worldly values, how they imagine themselves to be superior, and their enormous self-confidence. Their families and assets head the list of those elements in which they place the greatest confidence and trust, believing that their families and material assets will protect them in the Hereafter, and thus put themselves at ease. They are unaware that not even the most prestigious and powerful people in this world can protect them against any difficulty that may be inflicted by Allah. Thus, they display a most groundless conceit.
The fact is, however, that they will witness all things disappearing one by one. On the Day of Judgment, they will be accompanied neither by their families nor by any of their assets from this world. On the contrary, they will be all alone and utterly defenseless. In addition, they will realize—by means of various calamities inflicted on them by Allah—that these assets availed them nothing in this world either.
As already discussed, they imagine that through rejecting religious moral values and turning away from the community of the faithful, they will actually profit. They believe that in that way, they will be able to live in comfort, according to their worldly desires. They imagine that death, sickness or trouble will never come to them, and that they will be able to live in peace and security for many years. But the fact is that, quite the contrary, trouble and sorrow will follow wherever they go. Indeed, Allah has given believers the warning that both in this world and in the Hereafter He will inflict troubles on those who turn their backs on religion:
But if anyone turns away from My reminder, his life will be a dark and narrow one and on the Day of Resurrection We will gather him blind. (Surah Ta Ha: 124)
They Imagine They are Destined for Paradise
One of the characteristics of hypocrites is that their belief in the Hereafter is very weak and distorted. Most of them do not believe that after death, they will have to account for crimes they committed in this world. And even if they do admit such a possibility, they regard themselves as destined to enter Paradise on account of having done everything necessary to do so. Examples of this flawed thinking are given in the Qur'an:
"I do not think the Hour will ever come. But if I should be sent back to my Lord, I will definitely get something better in return." (Surat al-Kahf: 36)
According to their own flawed logic, simply because they live among believers, they must have performed various services, for better or worse. That being so, they will be rewarded for these in the Hereafter and will inevitably be admitted to Paradise. At the very worst, they think they will suffer punishment in Hell and then be admitted to Paradise. Allah reveals these misconceptions in the Qur'an:
That is because they say, "The Fire will only touch us for a number of days." Their inventions have deluded them in their religion. (Surah Al 'Imran: 24)
As the verse informs us, this is an invention, on account of which hypocrites have been deluded in their religion. This verse, which follows on from the one cited above, reveals the kind of end awaiting them as a result:
But how will it be when We gather them all together for a Day about which there is no doubt? Every self will be paid in full for what it earned. They will not be wronged. (Surah Al 'Imran: 25)


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Celebrating Earth Day 2013: Coastal Clean-up at the Freedom Island
April 25, 2013
More than 200 people, mostly environmentalists, celebrated the Earth Day with a whole day coastal clean-up at the Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA) last April 20, 2013.
The coastal clean-up, led by Save Freedom Island Movement (SFIM), Earth Island Institute (EII) and partner organizations, served as a kick-off for a series of activities including photo and art contests, culinary competitions, bird lecture series, nature walk, essay writing, and other activities for the youth running up to the Ocean Month and International Fishermen's Day in June.
According to SFIM & EII, the campaign seeks to promote awareness and appreciation of the environment as well as a demonstration of protection and restoration activities. The campaign is aimed to inspire people to clean up their surroundings and to sound the alarm regarding worsening environmental depletion, the group said.
The Importance of Freedom Island
The Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA), also known as Freedom Island, is a bird sanctuary in an urban setting that was recently added to the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. It is said to be the last mangrove area in the National Capital Region (NCR) and has recently become controversial due to a widely-opposed P14 billion reclamation plan.
Groups say this will endanger its biodiversity and will spell peril for the livelihood of local fisherfolks depending on its rich marine resources.
The mangrove ecosystem serves as a feeding, nesting and nursery grounds for commercially important fish, prawns, mollusks, crabs and shellfish. High levels of organic matter found in the mangrove ecosystem means high productivity; this means more diverse range of living species can be supported.
It also functions as a habitat area for a wide array of organisms from planktons to birds. About more than 80 species of endemic and migratory birds were documented by the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP) and DENR-NCR in the area. The list includes the already vulnerable Philippine Duck, Chinese Egret and the Pied Avocet.
Mangroves are said to be the Earth's "natural filtering system," that absorbs pollutants like heavy metals, sewage drains, and toxic substances; stabilizes coastlines by catching sediments washed downstream; and help protect coral reefs and sea grasses from being smothered by such pollutants. It also forms a natural barrier, which protects the shore from sea surges especially during typhoons, and absorbs carbon dioxide that lessens the impact of global warming.
However, mangrove forests in Metro Manila were diminished years ago by massive reclamation projects. Threats of reclamation, relentless dumping of wastes and pollution continue to remain.
A continuing battle for Freedom Island and children
The inclusion of Freedom Island to the RAMSAR list is a small victory for environmental groups and concerned citizens calling for the protection of the critical animal habitat.
"But the battle isn't over yet. Proponents of the reclamation projects in Manila Bay are still pushing for their plan. While the government is more concerned of the profit that foreign investors would generate, thousands of families would be affected by loss of livelihood and shelter, floods, storm surges, and other environmental disasters that reclamations may cause," says Glacy Macabale of Save Freedom Island Movement.
To demonstrate the saying "we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, but borrow it from our children," a group of children from the Bulungan Market community of Paranaque wore "environmental head gears" and performed an Earth dance to jumpstart the program.
"We live in very critical times. Our actions to save the environment now will have an impact on how our children will live tomorrow. We all need to act now," Trixie Concepcion of Earth Island Institute said.
"This action is important as choosing the next leaders in the future. Now that we are in the election period, we must choose the right leaders with good track records on protecting the environment and the people. We are doing our part, the government should also do theirs," Concepcion added.
Among the personalities and organizations who joined and supported the coastal clean-up event are Ms. Earth Philippines 2013 candidates, actor Raymond Bagatsing, Villar Foundation, Office of Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino, Akap-Bata Partylist, Kabataan Partylist, local fisherfolks from the Unified Marketing Services Cooperative, Stewards of Creation, HBC employees, Young Nacionalistas, Smart Mountaineers, UP Minggan, and volunteers from different environmental groups.
Media Release by the Earth Island Institute Philippines

subset: commoncrawl


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Unable to compile libBulletSim.so under an ARM environment.
I figured I'll leave this post out here in the hopes of seeing if the net has any ideas as to why libBulletSim.so does not work for OpenSim. I have tried compiling the newest BulletPhysics3 engine as well as OpenSims preferred 2.82 build as well. It has been tried with compiling with and without -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="-fPIC" -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-fPIC. both have failed. Here is the screenshot of what the physics engine does when you enable OpenSim.exe with bullet unmanaged.


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Don't miss this opportunity to compare notes with CEOs from companies of a variety of sizes on the post-election economy and discuss:
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Chairman & CEO,
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Chairman & CEO,
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Florida Governor
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Senior Associate Dean, Yale School of Management and Founder & President, Chief Executive Leadership Institute


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A wedding is the culmination that many wait a lifetime for. Weddings signal a commitment to love, fidelity, and happiness. Anyone who has participated in planning a wedding knows how much work goes into planning this event of a lifetime. There are a million and one details to consider to make the day perfect
Your or someone else's wedding which you have to organize is around the corner and you are left wondering how to get started with it. Though the ideal time to start making wedding arrangements is around two to six months in advance but you can still make up for the lost time if you plan things wisely and act on them.
People in the past usually think of getting one of their favorite cousins or uncles to play the role of a wedding video Sydney professional. In today's world people are expecting more out of their wedding videos than they did in the past. With the introduction of new technology and brand new creative ways of making a wedding video, people have turned to professional
The first rule of collecting a blackmail file is to record everything that happens. This means having your phone at the ready in any situation that could be potentially embarrassing, including bars, restaurants, amusement parks, meetings, work, or snowy (and preferably icy) days. From there, you simply need to be vigilant in capturing what happens. With video
Choosing a wedding car can turn out to be quite a memorable task with both the bride and her family members indulging in some brain storming discussions about the look, make, type, and the colour of the car to be selected. Come to think of it. While the bride in all her glory (with her dress and jewellery) will be the centre of attention, the right kind of beginning is
Garden matrimonial celebrations are more favored than before. One reason they are starting to be prominent is that they give particular perks over a more conventional location. Nonetheless, it is at the same time vital to fully understand that there could be downsides to picking a Chicago botanic garden wedding. The very best action to take initially is to
You should start the planning and preparations 6 months ahead before the wedding date, so that all the details and aspects will be settled just in time. Planning a wedding only by yourself may consume a lot of your allotted time for rest and bonding with your future partner in life, although it is a little bit tiring, not hiring a wedding planner can help you to conserve


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There are a few different ways to upload a picture or attach one to a thread post/comment.
1. Users have access to a 'picture gallery' or 'album' through their profile.
a. click on "My Profile"
b. left hand side of the window will show an "Albums" section. Click on the name of the Album
c. on the toolbar you will see 'Upload Pictures', click on that.
d. click on 'Add Files'
e. click on 'Select Files'
f. navigate
Well my way anyway.
Here are just a few methods I use and by no means the only ones to make swords.
I start with a bar of say 1/4" thick 5160H steel and from it I cut the length, with a little spare, with a bandsaw using Bi-metal band saw blades cut and welded from a roll. If I'm going to add a fuller, I mark the beginning and end and mill the fuller about 75 thousands deep. After fuller is milled both sides, I draw the profile on the bar including tang shape.
Originally Posted by Christopher Halpin
I have recently returned from attending an event organised by Hotspur School of Defence in Alnwick in the UK aptly titled "Here they fight with Messer - God help them!" Set in beautiful surroundings and under the expert tutelage of guest instructor Jörg Bellinghausen and the watchful eye of host Bob Brooks a group of eager students from as far afield as the US and from all four corners of the UK were treated to a series of fantastic messer lessons over the course of the weekend.


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Have you been strapped for cash lately? Try cutting out bad habits and incorporating new activities into your daily routine to help increase your budget. Here are five simple ways to pump cash back into your budget.
Rewarding yourself with an iced latte or a gourmet blueberry muffin every once in a while is fine. However, if you are hitting up a barista for your daily caffeine fix, then you are putting a serious hurtin' on your wallet (not to mention your waistline). A $4 drink purchased once a day will cost you about $120 a month or around $1,460 a year! Resist the caffeine craving and put that money in your pocket.
Go ahead and get the thrift store stigma out of your head right now. Just because an item is sold at a second-hand shop doesn't mean that it is of lesser quality than an item sold at the mall. Consignment stores usually have brand name clothing, and some still have the original price tag attached. So, why pay $120 for a pair of Lucky jeans when you can find the same pair of jeans at a second-hand shop, such as Plato's Closet, for only $15? That's $105 in savings! (Bonus: If you don't have money to spend, you can take name brand items from your own closet into Plato's Closet for trade or even cash back.)
You should recycle anyway to reduce your carbon footprint and help the environment, but a little cash incentive doesn't hurt, right? You won't make a ton of cash by recycling, but it could give you a little extra spending money. Take aluminum cans and scrap metal from old tools, machines, and electronics to local recycling centers. Got gold jewelry that you never wear anymore? Do some research and find a place that offers the most money for your gold. Typically, local jewelry stores or pawn shops offer better deals than online companies. Get cash for unwanted electronics (cell phones, cameras, mp3 players, camcorders, etc.) at gazelle.com or GameStop. Going green while earning green? Now that's smart!
The cost of going to a theater to watch a movie is crazy expensive. If you attend an evening movie, you will spend about $10.25 on a ticket. Add about $10 if you want a small soda and popcorn. That's about $20 for one movie night out. If you like to see a movie every weekend, you'll end up spending about $80 per month. Solution? Stay home and save money. You can get a Netflix plan for as low as $8.99 per month or find a Redbox and rent a DVD for less than 2 bucks. Get your popcorn and soda at a dollar store and settle in for an inexpensive evening on the couch.
Without even considering a monthly car payment, think about how much you spend on gas and maintenance per month? $75? $100? More? If you spend $100 on gas per month, pay about $30 every 3 months for an oil change, spend $40 on rotating your tires twice a year, and shell out $150 for a yearly tune-up, you are looking at about a $1,510 bill per year. That doesn't even include big expenses like new tires or brake repairs. Add another $2,400 to that bill if your monthly car payment is around $200. Car insurance isn't cheap either. Your insurance payment will vary due to several factors, but the national average for one vehicle is around $950 per year. Expensive, huh? You could easily save over $4,000 per year if you sell your car and find alternate modes of transportation: riding a bike, carpooling, taking the bus, walking, etc.
When you find yourself short on money, try tweaking your daily activities to put cash back in your pocket. It doesn't have to be hard; it just takes a little willpower.
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ARK: Survival Evolved Companion
Pro tip for Ragnarok, do NOT waste your time in the trench. There are many MANY wyverns there and it is much harder to lose them. Instead go to the south center of the map next to the desert and go into the wyvern cave. Coming from the south, it's to the left of a waterfall just behind a rock (you'll have to fly low to the water to get in. Once inside, stay out of the aggro range of the wyverns by the entrance and aim for the large pillar in the center. You'll find all of the nests in this center area and if you got past the wyverns at the entrance, you have time to check the eggs and find your desired level & type. Once you have it, fly back to the entrance of the cave, and make your escape.
The escape is quite simple, once out of the cave, go straight up the waterfall and into the small cave where the stream is flowing. Follow that stream to the exit of the small cave and make your escape. You may also use this cave to enter the trench largely undetected (this is what I do).
Once you have the egg, you can either trap a female, narc it, and get milk. Or you can do it the easy way and cryo the baby when it asks for milk, which will reset what it asks for.
*NOTE: I go completely naked on a throwaway Pteranadon with AT LEAST 450 stamina. Usually I don't even get hit because I use the C Spin to get back out of the wyvern cave, but you'll want that stamina to ensure the longest flight time possible and a safe getaway*
Hope someone finds this helpful! I know I would have.
More Wyvern Taming & KO Tips
I stole a poison wyvern egg and incubated it and got triplets😄
People will never get their lifelong ambition to name a Wyvern Tsunami, because there are no Water Wyverns, 🆙 so Water Wyvern is added and we can use Tsunami
To have your own wyvern you need to steal its egg, so there is a few things you need to have to go for a wyvern egg:
1. You need a flying dino that is fast and has decent stamina.
2. Locate the wyverns' cave in any map you play (Ragnarok, Valguero, Scorched Earth, etc.).
3. Go near the cave and stop to regenerate stamina.
4. Try to see hoy many adult wyverns are flying around the cave. If there are too many you don't have many chances to successfully steal an egg
5. When you are ready, fly into the cave and take the egg (I recommend to take the first one you see, because if you stay too long inside the cave, wyverns might kill you).
7. If you can get out alive, you have made the hardest part, but you have still work to do.
8. When you arrive your base, put down and light around 10 or 15 torches in a circle, and place the egg in the middle.
9. Wait for it to hatch.
10. When the egg hatches, you will have to take care of the wyvern until it grows. You have to do the things that the wyvern asks you to do. The hardest one is to give it wyvern milk. To acquire this you need to knock out an adult wyvern or kill an Alfa. BUT THERE IS A MUCH EASIER WAY. If you have cryopods, try taking your wyvern in the cryopod and then let it out. Sometimes it changes the thing that the baby is asking for.
11. Keep doing the things that your wyvern wants until it grows.
12. Congrats! You have a WYVERN!! :)
I tamed a 150 perfect argy, beefed him up to 20k health and 800% damage, straight up yoinked a level 165 wyvern egg(which i didn't know existed, thought it went it 150), annihilated all the angry losers, hatched it, forgot I needed milk and it died, don't be me
You CAN net projectile a wild wyvren up this RIGHT NOW
I got a level 150 lightning egg and I was so excited to hatch the egg...that when I went to put the egg down I accidentally ate it instead. :( ps4 users: R2 ISN'T GONNA DROP THE EGG YOU'RE GONNA EAT IT LIKE ANY OTHER EGG. REMEMBER THIS. LOGIC BEFORE EXCITMENT.
I suggest you build a trap with pillars to where your argy could get out but wyvern can't then have a key pad to close gate then shoot with tranquilizer arrows or darts
Use a maewing to nurse the wyvern, and when the wyvern needs care just cyropod it until it needs a walk or to cuddle
The highest wyvern egg you can get is 190.get higher level eggs to hatch rather than low levels as high levels have more food and need to eat less often.
When trying to raise a wyvern without milk, you can use a snow owls healing ability instead of the daeodon due to how much those guys eat. I found it easier!


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WILLIAMS v. OKLAHOMA CITY(1969)
The denial to petitioner, an indigent who was convicted of drunken driving, of a copy at public expense of the trial transcript which he needed to perfect an appeal, to which he was entitled "as a matter of right" under Oklahoma law, is a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
439 P.2d 965, reversed and remanded.
Jon F. Gray argued the cause and filed a brief for petitioner.
Giles K. Ratcliffe argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief was Roy H. Semtner.
Petitioner, an indigent, had no funds to pay for a transcript of the trial proceedings in the Municipal Criminal Court of Oklahoma City required to prepare the "case-made" needed to perfect his appeal to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals from his conviction for drunken driving and the imposition of a 90-day jail sentence and a $50 fine. * The trial proceedings had been [395 U.S. 458, 459] stenographically transcribed pursuant to Oklahoma law, Okla. Stat. Ann., Tit. 11, 798 (1959), Okla. Stat. Ann., Tit. 20, 110-111 (1962), but the trial court had refused in the absence of statutory authority to order that a copy be provided petitioner at public expense, although finding that petitioner was an indigent whose grounds of appeal were not without merit, and that neither petitioner nor his appointed counsel could make up a transcript of the trial proceedings from memory. The Court of Criminal Appeals, in an original proceeding brought by petitioner, also refused to order that petitioner be provided a copy at public expense. The court agreed with the trial court that no Oklahoma statute or Oklahoma City ordinance authorized such an order, and held further that the Fourteenth Amendment did not mandate "that an indigent person, convicted for a violation of a city ordinance, quasi criminal in nature and often referred to as a petty offense, is entitled to a case-made or transcript at city expense in order to perfect an appeal from said conviction." 439 P.2d 965 (1968). We granted certiorari. 393 U.S. 998 (1968). We reverse.
[ Footnote * ] The pertinent Oklahoma statutes provide as follows:
Okla. Stat. Ann., Tit. 22, 1059 (1958):


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Niki Lauda has slammed Sebastian Vettel for "screaming like a child" during the British Grand Prix.
The Mercedes team chairman said he enjoyed every moment of the on-track battle for mere points placings between champions Vettel and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
But throughout, the pair complained loudly and repeatedly to their pit crews about 'track limits' -- arguing that their respective tactics were contrary to the rules of battle.
Lauda, a triple world champion and F1 legend, could not hide his disdain.
"I do not understand Vettel and his screaming like a small, startled child," he is quoted by the German newspaper Bild.
"This was two top drivers and top racing, which is what the audience wants to see.
"I am pushing Bernie Ecclestone so that the drivers can once again drive with more freedom and not be punished for every little thing. I'm fighting for better racing," Lauda insisted.


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Like Puppet, Chef, and Ansible, Salt is an open source server management and automation solution with commercial, officially supported options. Based on command-line-driven server and client services and utilities, Salt is primarily focused on Linux and Unix server management, though it offers significant Windows management capabilities as well. While Salt may look simple on its face, it's surprisingly powerful and extensible, and it has been designed to handle extremely large numbers of clients.
Salt uses a push method of communication with clients by default, though there's also a means to use SSH rather than locally installed clients. Using the default push method, the clients don't actively check in with a master server; rather, the master server reaches out to control or modify each client based on commands issued manually or through scheduling. But again, Salt can also operate in the other direction, with clients querying the master for updates. Salt functions asynchronously, and as such, it's very fast. It also incorporates an asynchronous file server for file deployments.
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This story, "Salt keeps server automation simple" was originally published by InfoWorld.


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The Mozilla Foundation today is filing a petition asking the Federal Communications Commission to declare that ISPs are common carriers, but there's a twist.
The FCC doesn't have to reclassify the Internet access ISPs offer consumers as a telecommunications service subject to common carrier regulations under Title II of the Communications Act, Mozilla says. Instead, the FCC should target the service ISPs offer to edge providers like Netflix and Dropbox, who need to send their bits over ISP networks to reach their customers. Classifying the ISP/edge provider relationship as a common carrier service will be a little cleaner since the FCC wouldn't have to undo several decade-old orders that classified broadband as an "information" service rather than telecommunications, Mozilla argues.
In a summary of the petition, Mozilla wrote:
The FCC currently views last-mile Internet routing as only one commercial relationship: the relationship between an ISP, such as Comcast, and the end user. Mozilla is urging the FCC to recognize that technological evolution has led to two distinct relationships, adding a relationship between the ISP and edge providers.
The petition calls on the FCC to designate last-mile delivery of edge provider communications as "remote delivery" services, and as telecommunications services under Title II of the Communications Act. These services include all of our Internet activity, from watching a video on YouTube to shopping on Amazon to playing online games on Xbox Live.
Categorizing remote delivery services as telecommunications services would meet the standard set by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and give the FCC legal authority to adopt and enforce meaningful net neutrality. With clear legal authority and effective rules, ISPs would be prevented from blocking or discriminating against any edge provider, such as speeding up or slowing down competing video streaming services.
Mozilla, maker of the Firefox browser and other software, explains its view in more detail in a blog post and the 13-page petition.
The petition was written by Mozilla Senior Policy Engineer Chris Riley and Public Policy Lead Alex Fowler. Riley, who formerly worked as an attorney-advisor at the FCC in 2007 and 2008, told Ars that he's concerned FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's latest net neutrality proposal won't withstand court scrutiny.
The FCC had to start from scratch after a federal appeals court ruled that anti-blocking and anti-discrimination rules imposed common carrier obligations on ISPs, despite the fact that the FCC had declared that they were not common carriers.
Nonetheless, Wheeler has floated a new proposal that doesn't declare ISPs as common carriers yet imposes no-blocking requirements on them. The proposal also allows edge providers to pay ISPs for a faster path to consumers, as long as the arrangements are "commercially reasonable."Wheeler hasn't yet provided full details of his proposal, but it's expected to be discussed at the May 15 FCC meeting.
"My understanding is he's talking about somehow getting to a baseline quality of service but allowing for commercially reasonable negotiations for priority on top of that," Riley said. "I sort of understand that but I think any baseline quality of service, if it's protected by the FCC, is going to be viewed by the DC Circuit [court of appeals] as a no-blocking rule and is going to be exactly the sort of thing they said not to do."
The FCC will likely justify the no-blocking rule based on its powers under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which requires the FCC to accelerate broadband deployment. Matt Wood, policy director of consumer advocacy group Free Press, told Ars that "the slim hope that Section 706 authority could be used to prevent blocking is a tenuous one. It stems from a few paragraphs of speculation in the majority opinion, based on a theory the FCC failed to raise until the oral argument—an argument that drew nothing but scorn from Judge [Laurence] Silberman in his dissent."
The court's majority opinion noted that "if the relevant service that broadband providers furnish is access to their subscribers generally, as opposed to access to their subscribers at the specific minimum speed necessary to satisfy the anti-blocking rules, then these rules, while perhaps establishing a lower limit on the forms that broadband providers' arrangements with edge providers could take, might nonetheless leave sufficient 'room for individualized bargaining and discrimination in terms' so as not to run afoul of the statutory prohibitions on common carrier treatment."
However, the court said, "We are unable to sustain the commission's action on a ground upon which the agency itself never relied."
"The court basically said that a no blocking rule would probably be OK if the FCC argued it a little bit better," Public Knowledge Senior Staff Attorney John Bergmayer told Ars.
Watch out for "subtle" discrimination
However, Bergmayer agrees that common carriage is the route the FCC should take. "A no-blocking rule is an important thing to have, of course, but the real danger from carriers at the moment isn't outright blocking but more subtle forms of discrimination such as 'fast lanes' and so on. These sorts of protections are what Title II provides better authority for," he said.
Bergmayer said Mozilla's petition presents "a very good argument, and one the FCC should take seriously. It's complementary to our main argument, that consumer broadband access is a telecommunications service. Mozilla's idea could be part of a basket of solutions to the problems that we see in broadband access and competition, as well as interconnection/peering."
Mozilla's petition does not address paid peering agreements like the ones in which Netflix pays Verizon and Comcast for direct connections to the edges of their networks. Like the original net neutrality rules themselves, the petition just covers the "last mile" over which content travels from ISPs to customers.
"These things are certainly related," but "we've structured our petition in such a way to make it grantable by the FCC without resolving questions of interconnection or peering," Riley said.
Mozilla is hoping that the FCC will start a new proceeding based on its petition and ask the public for comment on it. The commission is probably more likely to treat it as part of the overall Open Internet proceeding that's on the May 15 agenda.


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U.S. Army Tested Chemicals on Cities, Low-Income Residents:
Newly disclosed documents have revealed details on how the U.S. military carried out testing of chemicals on major U.S. cities during the 1950s and 1960s. Sociologist Lisa Martino-Taylor of St. Louis Community College says zinc cadmium sulfide was sprayed in several cities without residents' knowledge. The most densely sprayed area appears to have been a housing complex for low-income people in St. Louis.
Lisa Martino-Taylor: "It was pretty shocking, the level of duplicity and secrecy. Clearly they went to great lengths to deceive people. There is a lot of evidence that shows people in St. Louis and the city, in particular minority communities, were subjected to military testing that was connected to a larger radiological weapons testing project."
Ex-Guatemalan Commander Ordered to Stand Trial in U.S.:
A former Guatemalan army commander accused in a 1982 massacre has been ordered to stand trial on charges he lied about his past to obtain U.S. citizenship. Jorge Sosa was allegedly a commanding officer during the notorious Dos Erres killings, when a U.S.-backed death squad killed more than 200 villagers, including women and children who were strangled, beaten with sledgehammers, and thrown down a well. Sosa was extradited to the United States from Canada last week. If convicted, he could be extradited back to Guatemala to face charges in connection with the massacre after he completes his sentence.


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I don't normally post about firmware updates, but this is a) quite a major one, and b) there are a lot of E-M1 users amongst the reader pool. Amongst other fixes to audio recording, the shutter mechanism is affected. Some cameras – mine included – are affected by a resonant shutter vibration specifically at 1/180s that causes a slight double image; higher and lower speeds are fine. The new firmware adds an option that switches "the first shutter curtain from mechanical to electronic to reduce blur caused by shutter impact". In our initial testing, it appears to make a significant difference on two of the three cameras we have here (all of the workshop videos are filmed with them, we have a spare, and I shoot one myself).
I first raised this issue to Olympus back in December; it's highly commendable that they've listened, been in regular contact, and given us not only a solution, but a highly innovative one that doesn't require sending the camera in. Kudos.
The firmware update can be downloaded here. You will need the original (proprietary) USB cable that came with the camera to upload it, though. MT


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The last issue in 2012 of the Hearing Loss Magazine (HLM), published by the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), just arrived in member mailboxes last week. I design the bimonthly magazine and provide photography services to HLAA. Here is a recap of the issues published in 2012.
Tina and Tom Hamblin were the cover feature for the January/February 2012 issue. Tina contacted me in fall 2010 after seeing the wedding photos I shot for Todd and Abbie Hlavacek in September 2010. Todd and Abbie are also members of HLAA and Abbie wrote her cover story for the May/June 2008 issue (recapped here). Cover photo © Cindy Dyer
I first met Tina and Tom when they arrived for their engagement photo session at my favorite location to shoot, Green Spring Gardens, in Alexandria, VA in spring 2011. After we did our portraits around the garden, Tom started doing cartwheels (he's a gymnastics coach) and I captured him in full motion—making it the first time I've ever photographed someone doing anything gymnastic. I captured him in his wedding finery doing some handstands and cartwheels on his wedding day as well! My colleague Ed and I photographed Tina and Tom's wedding on October 8, 2011 in Kurtz Beach, Maryland.
I asked Tina and Tom if they would write a sort of "his and her" story for the magazine about their respective hearing loss, how they met, and how they support each other. The title of their article, "Taking the plunge," refers to both the turning point in their friendship and their recent marriage. You can find Tina blog's here and Tom's all-things-gymnastic blog here. Their cover story is available in pdf format here: Tom&TinaHamblin Feature
Also in this issue: Audiologist Brad Ingrao focused on the best practices for hearing assessment and hearing aid fitting in Getting it Right the First Time: Best Practices in Hearing Aid Fitting; Gael Hannon showed us a practical look at information that would be helpful to those who have hearing loss in What the Professionals Should Tell Us; Michael Ann Bower discussed what people with hearing loss can do to avoid the misdiagnosis of dementia when hearing loss is the issue in Hearing Loss and Dementia; and Barbara Kelley interviewed young jazz singer Mandy Harvey in Musically Inclined.
The March/April issue featured the host city for the upcoming Convention 2012—Providence, Rhode Island. HLAA's Director of Marketing and Events, Nancy Macklin, presented a comprehensive guide to the upcoming convention in this issue.
Also in this issue: Audiologist Brad Ingrao discussed cochlear implants in Plugged in for Sound: Cochlear Implants Today; Scott Bally outlined the Five Most Effective Speechreading Strategies; Renowned audiologist Mark Ross talked about hi HealthInnovations Hearing Aid Dispensing Program; Meredith Low, a pro at planning and making sure that the communication environment is arranged so she can enjoy the party as much as her guests, offered great tips in Welcome! Easy Entertaining for People with Hearing Loss; Pamela Selker Rak shared her experiences with hearing loss in Lost in Translation: How a "Lost and Found" Friendship Opened My Eyes to Hearing Loss; Lise Hamlin focused on HLAA's efforts in Advocacy: A Few Hot Issues, and HLAA member Netegene Fitzpatrick crafted a special Word Search puzzle for her fellow members to solve.
Richard Einhorn, award-winning composer, was the cover feature for the May/June 2012 issue. In his article, Einhorn wrote about his sudden hearing loss and how, with his clever uses of existing technology, he continues to work and live well with hearing loss. You can read excerpts on my blog post here. For the full article, click on this link: Richard Einhorn
I had the honor and pleasure of photographing Richard in March 2012. Barbara Kelley (HLM's editor-in-chief) and I met up with him at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. After a great photo session, we dropped Richard off at his hotel and picked him up later to take him to the Meyerhoff, where his work, Voices of Light, was being performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, with Marin Alsop conducting. Einhorn composed the piece in 1994, inspired by the 1928 silent film, The Passion of Joan of Arc, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Live performances accompany a screening of the film.
Voices of Light has been performed more than 200 times by major orchestras all over the world. It has been called "a great masterpiece of contemporary music" and "a work of meticulous genius." The libretto is based on excerpts from a variety of ancient writings, most of it from Medieval female mystics, and scored for a small orchestra, chorus and soloists. For me, the performance was a haunting, incredibly moving and very profound visual and aural experience. You can learn more about Richard Einhorn on his website here. Cover photo © Cindy Dyer
Also in this issue: Barbara Kelley interviewed Richard Einhorn to learn more about his work and future projects; Therese Walden, president of the American Academy on Audiology, discussed the UnitedHealthcare® hi HealthInnovations hearing device benefit program in Self-Diagnosis, Self-Treatment: The Wave of the Future?; Brad Ingrao wrote about water-resistant hearing aids and cochlear implants in Jump Right In! Water-Resistant Hearing Technology; Lise Hamlin revisited the Americans with Disabilities Act 22 years later in Accessible Design for People with Hearing Loss; and Yoona Ha revealed the special bond with her grandmother in My Six-Million-Dollar Grandmother.
Laurie Pullins was the cover feature for the July/August 2012 issue. Back in February, right before my photography exhibit (Garden Muse: A Botanical Portfolio) opened at Green Spring Gardens, Laurie sent me a message that she would love to come see it in person (she's been a big supporter and fan of my work for a few years now) and she was trying to coordinate a time when she could accompany her husband to the Washington, D.C. area on a business trip. It so happens that I had been catching up with her blog, Dance with Sound, and had just suggested to Barbara that we entice Laurie to write for the magazine. I pitched the idea to Laurie and said that if she could come up to see my show anytime in March or April, I could shoot the portraits of her for the feature then. We wanted to keep it a secret from even her closest friends so that she could surprise them; only her husband and children knew about it. Cover photo © Cindy Dyer
Laurie is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside and I am thrilled that she has a spotlight in the magazine with beautiful photos and her honest and inspiring writing. See Laurie's feature on my blog post here or download the pdf here: Laurie Pullins Feature
Also in this issue: Brad Ingrao helps you understand your hearing loss and what you need to hear better in Beyond the Beeps: Needs Assessments and Outcome Measures; Lisa and Des Brownlie shared their experiences of their babies born with hearing loss in Two Children, Two Hearing Losses; Sam Trychin discussed research that has uncovered information about another built-in, inherited type of pain that also has survival value—social pain—in Hearing Loss and Social Pain; Lisa Tseng of hi HealthInnovations shows the company's model for how to reach those who need hearing help in Accessible and Affordable Hearing Health Care; HLAA's Director of Public Policy, Lise Hamlin, reveaks her personal experiences resulting from the fruits of HLAA's labor in Newborn Hearing Screening: A Success Story; and Viola LaBounty expresses her improved hearing loss through her poem, Digital Technology: My World Alive.
Melissa Puleo Adams, a former San Diego Chargers cheerleader, was our cover feature for the September/October 2012 issue. I had the opportunity to meet and photograph Melissa when she was visiting her family here in Virginia in May. The title of her feature, Sixth Time's a Charm, is in reference to her trying out six times to be a Charger Girl cheerleader. She persevered despite the rejections and made it on the sixth try. Her fellow Charger Girls were very supportive of her and her hearing loss. Melissa owns her own web and graphic design firm in California. You can see her web design work here. Cover photo © Cindy Dyer (Read Melissa's full feature in my blog post here.)
Also in this issue: Audiologist Brad Ingrao provided an in-depth look at three alternative hearing systems in Middle Ear Implants and Bone Conduction Hearing Devices; HLAA's Director of Marketing and Events, Nancy Macklin, revealed highlights in her Convention 2012 Wrap-up; Susan Clutterbuck wrote about the results of the EARtrak survey and if they reveal whether or not consumers' opinions are being heard by their hearing health care providers in Improving Health Care—Make Your Voice Heard!; Ronnie Adler shared great stores about how Walk4Hearing Funds are put to good use in local communities in Rewarding Great Ideas—The Benefits of the Walk4Hearing; and Scott J. Bally showed how NVRC is changing lives in the community in NVRC: A Model Community Center Improving Communication.
Marisa Sarto was the cover feature for the November/December 2012 issue. I met Marisa in Providence, R.I. this past June during HLAA Convention 2012. I was going to profile her for our Seen & Heard column but after learning about her photo book project, we decided to make her autobiographical story a main feature for the magazine. I photographed her one afternoon in a park near the hotel. Cover photo © Cindy Dyer
Marisa's inspiration for her book-in-progress, Hear Nor There: Images of an Invisible Disability, came from her experiences as a woman growing up with a hearing loss that made her feel self-conscious and set apart from others. The project will be a documentary monograph, showcasing photographs and stories of individuals of varying ages, ethnicities and genders and their challenges of living with a hearing loss. Learn more about the project on her website here and sample images and narratives here. Download and read her feature article here: Marisa Sarto Feature
Also in this issue: Audiologist Brad Ingrao's article, Better Hearing, Better Health, explored the relationship between hearing loss and health-related quality of life; HLAA's Director of Marketing and Events, Nancy Macklin, showed us why It's Time to Head West! with her Convention 2013 Sneak Preview; Hayleigh Scott, owner of Hayleigh's Cherished Charms, and Netegene Fitzpatrick proved there isn't a generation gap among people with hearing loss in their feature, A Unlikely Friendship; HLAA's Director of Public Policy, Lise Hamlin, reported good news in Shopping for Phones; long-time HLAA member Vern Thayer explained why he is Lucky that he discovered HLAA in 1983; and HLAA members George Kosovich and Marisa Sarto were both profiled in Seen & Heard.


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Correspondence: Miscellaneous , 1847 - 1937
Correspondence: Miscellaneous , 1847 - 1937
MS-1356: Marjory Lord Packard papers
Folder: 15, Box: 1
From the Collection:
The papers of Marjory Lord Packard contain family correspondence, class notes, ephemera, receipts, photographs, genealogical information of the Lord family and research for her essay, "Early Houses: Outside the Village." The material documents her education and early family life. Of note are her detailed letters home, while on a trip to Europe from 1927 to 1928. Correspondents include her parents Annette B. Lord and George Dana Lord, as well as George Dockstader. The collection also contains some correspondence between her parents and some of George Dana Lord.
- 1847 - 1937
Conditions Governing Access
Language of Materials
From the Box: English
- From the Collection: Packard, Marjory, 1899-1961 (Person)
Part of the Rauner Special Collections Library Repository
6065 Webster Hall
Hanover NH 03755 USA
6065 Webster Hall
Hanover NH 03755 USA


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Consumers are taking another huge hit in 2013. First, the two percent Social Security tax hike began the year. Now, gas prices are soaring ever closer to $4 a gallon and have jumped 51 cents a gallon since Dec. 20.
According to the Oil Price Information Service, the national average for a gallon of unleaded was $3.21.9 on Dec. 20, 2012. Today, that price is $3.73.0. While there has been a steady increase, prices shot almost 9 cents just over the weekend.
This President's Day also marked a full month of rising gas prices every single business day, following a very small early year drop. Gas prices began rising Jan. 18, from $3.29.3-a-gallon, and have soared since. If this increase continues, gas prices could threaten or even top the all-time high price of $4.11, set in 2008.
February 2013 saw record high gas prices for the time of year according to news reports. CNBC noted the national average was the highest ever for the time of year on Feb. 1. As of Feb. 11, The Los Angeles Times reported that the national average that day ($3.587) was also a record, "7.8 cents higher than the record for Feb. 11, set last year." Today's price is now 17.6 cents higher than 2012.
It took the media some time to catch on to rising gas prices, as "Good Morning America's" Josh Elliot said two weeks after the climb began that "we have just learned that gas prices have skyrocketed."
Those higher pump prices hurt consumers, who were already paying more for gas than in decades. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported recently that the average household spent more on gas last year, as a percentage of income, than it had in 30 years.
The Hill's Ben Geman wrote on Feb. 4, "the average household spent $2.912 for gasoline in 2012, which makes up almost 4 percent of pre-tax income, tying 2008 for the highest percentage in roughly 30 years." The media actually forecast falling prices in 2012, during the heated presidential election. Many of those predictions failed.
Gas prices have been at sustained highs throughout much of President Obama's time in office. Although there are many factors to gas prices, Heritage Foundation noted in August 2012, that "after three years of adding regulatory hurdles and blocking exploratory access and development, President Obama's policies are helping keep prices higher than necessary."


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By Dan Merica
Another case of stolen valor?
After over 50 years of reported service, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday that Cap'n Crunch, one of the Navy's most recognizable captains, has no record of service with the military branch.
A number of blogs noticed this week that the jolly, cereal selling caricature who has graced the front of Cap'n Crunch boxes since 1963 was actually wearing a commander's uniform, the rank below a captain. The U.S. Navy uses bars on a uniform's cuff to signify the rank of the person wearing the uniform. Cap'n Crunch's uniform has only three bars – the sign of a commander – not four bars – the sign of a captain.
Blogs like Gawker and Consumerist recognized the missing bar and labeled Cap'n Crunch a liar.
"In other words, the Cap'n is nothing but a lousy Commander," Neetzan Zimmerman of Gawker wrote. "Our entire cereal-eating lives could be based on a lie because of one little yellow stripe," wrote Mary Beth Quirk of Consumerist.
The U.S. Navy played along, tweeting that Cap'n Crunch "appears to wear #USNavy commander rank."
"We take it quite seriously," said Lt. Commander Chris Servello, spokesman for the U.S. Navy, with a laugh. "We looked into this, we looked into our rolls to see if one Captain Crunch or Cap'n Crunch ever served in the Navy. And we had no record of that, so we passed that along to NCIS to see what action needed to taken next."
With his record and valor being challenged, the captain (can we even call him that anymore?) did what any other captain would do – took to Twitter.
"Regarding today's rumors... of course I'm a Cap'n! It's the Crunch – not the clothes – that make a man. #PaidMyDues," @RealCapnCrunch tweeted on June 14.
"All rumors, friends – I run an entire vessel with my crew! Case closed. #OfficialCapn," he tweeted earlier this week.
And last night, Cap'n Crunch called for his supporters to stand with him.
"All hands on deck @USNavy, @ColbertReport Nation & Crunch Nation: I shall not rest until the truthiness comes out… stand by. #CrunchJustice," he tweeted.
His defense, however, appeared to be broadsided by the overwhelming outrage people expressed about being duped.
Cap'n Crunch's full name is Horatio Magellan Crunch, according to his official bio with the Quaker Oats Company. Jay Ward, the creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right and George of the Jungle, created him in 1963.
Hailing from Crunch Island, Cap'n Crunch lives and commands the boat S.S. Guppy, according to his bio. Although Cap'n Crunch started as cereal box character, he and his nemesis Jean LaFoote starred in his own animated series, "The Mystery of Crunch Island." According to his bio, the captain has been lost at sea since 1985.
After saying they take this case very seriously, the Navy said this may be another case of "stolen valor," where someone wears medals or a uniform that they have not earned. The punishment for impersonating a military officer: six months in jail.
No word, yet, on why Cap'n Crunch's eyebrows are on his captains hat.
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(CNN) - How much will be spent on the 2012 federal elections?
A report released Wednesday says the total spending amount could top a record-breaking $6 billion, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
- Check out the CNN Electoral Map and Calculator and game out your own strategy for November.
As CNN reported earlier this year, that's enough money to give 6/7ths of the world's population $1 each.
The figure includes spending by presidential, Senate and House campaigns, as well as parties, super PACs and convention committees.
Outside groups accounted for the biggest boost in spending, with independent organizations dropping more than $970 million this cycle. The increase is largely related to the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling in 2010 that paved the way for the creation of super PACs, which are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as they don't coordinate with the campaigns.
Such groups, the report says, have been spending "furiously" in the final weeks before Election Day, "rising from $19 million per week in early September to $33 million per week in early October to $70 million during the week beginning October 21."
Based on filings with the Federal Election Commission, the report estimates $2.6 billion will be spent on the presidential race alone, down from $2.8 billion in 2008. More than $528 million of that is likely to come from outside spending.
The center finds that congressional races have experienced the largest increase in spending. House and Senate candidates combined will spend about $1.8 billion, with the increase mainly coming from Republican candidates.
The report also shows that Republicans have raised more than Democrats in House and the Senate campaigns.
- CNN's Robert Yoon and Halimah Abdullah contributed to this report.
The best candidate in the world: Advertising budget 0. Nuff said.
The money wasted on elections is obscene. The citizens united ruling has undermined our democracy. There is no accountability on where or the amount of money that is effecting elections. Nothing prevents foreign companies or governments from influencing our elections. This waste and threat needs to be addressed and reformed.
And people whine that the space program is a pointless waste of money that could be put to better purposes? Cripes.
wow this is wrong on so many levels
it is very apreciable expense if we have got half for our country like ethiopia most people living with a drought may be it can save a million life from death who are suffering tn lack of food
What a total waste of money
Since Romney is so gung how to repeal, Citizens United is absolutely in need of it! Except he likes the questionable law w/the questionable name! The name sound patriotic & innocuous, but it really means a free-for-all by big corperations to sink as much $$$ as they want in any election! This is an unfair advantage over Actual citizens, who don't have billions of dollars to spend to get their concerns heard, as it caters to the 1%! Repealing this unfair "Corperations are People" law will do nothing to stop these bigwigs from voting or donating as private citizens, as it should be, but it will bring back a more level playingfield for the rest of us! Also, it might stop the bigwig bosses from theatning to fire people if they don't vote a certain way! I hope Obama will tackle this issue in his next term! Obama Nov6!!
America is the greatest country in the world and I served this country for 32 years in the Army & Army National Guard. I also served about 25 years in the Federal Civil Service. When the founding father's created our Constitution they provided that EVERYONE should have an EQUAL chance to run for an elected office. The way our electoral system has evolved that is almost impossible unless you are wealthy. The system needs to be changed so that everyone regardless of their income can seek an elected office if they choose to do so. The change needs to come from us, the individual voters by using our collective voting power. We need to send a loud and clear message to Congress that the way of conducting politics in this country needs to change. No matter how much money they spend cannot offset the fact that We the People have the collective vote. If a person is in an elected position and their interest is to perpetuate themselves as a career politition then we need to vote them out. No matter what, it is important for all registered voters to go to the polls this election day and make the politions here our voices.
Why that much money for a job that does not pay very much at all? Are these people that run absolutely nutz?
and we cant give the veterans a 1 billion jobs bill. Shame on the House of Representatives.
But PBS, Pell Grants, and Planned Parenthood are bleeding us dry. ...Uh-huh. I'm so totally convinced.
Tax the campaign funds as income !!!!
This is disgusting. Citizens United is an abomination and needs to be sent to the shredder ASAP. What a colossal waste of money.
This country and its politicians – ALL of them – should be ashamed. We've got real problems and no money to fix them but $6B to blow on a 4 year term in which nothing will get done, no matter who wins, anyway. This country is just in one constant election cycle.
Extremers on both sides need to slide a little in the opposite direction and work together for REAL change. Do you not understand that it is the only way we will ever accomplish anything and save this country??? The middle roaders like myself are not undecided voters!!! We know we don't want either and that middle ground is where the solutions lay.
I challenge my fellow citizens to demand better from our leaders and candidates in both parties. Stop being stubborn and closed minded. You are the true problem and driving force behind the polarization and degradation of our society. Stop being sheep so easily led to believe what you are told. Demand balance. Learn to love and work together. When natural disasters happen, much like this week, we all seem to pull together, put differences aside, and accomplish great things out of love, compassion and respect. Why is it then that when our country faces political, financial, and infrastructure disasters we can't do the same thing?? The reason we accomplish so much in the event of natural disasters is because we work together. There's a theme here. Get it??! Now LIVE it.
Democracy in America is dead.
You've got to be kidding. Why didn't they just burn it? At least then it would have served an actual purpose by creating some heat!
Thank you very much Supreme Court.
6 billion , and how much is minimum wage these days ?
And who says government doesn't create jobs !
I suppose Warren Buffet and Bill Gates can give a few billions to buy a president
Tell the campaigns to give the money to the Americans that need it now and stop the stu p i d ads
Wowzers! That means the poor people will have a dollar? If it does, don't give the Chinese. All of the spending now goes where?
It's a shame that 6 billion can be spent on campaigning when America is 16 billion in debt. The poor are watching this with not a care in the world who wins the election, either way, it won't benefit them, why vote and for what??
The big buessiness behind the superpacs could have spent that money on hiring you, but they are investing it in Mitt Romney so they won't have to.
Too bad that money can't be put to better use like helping the storm victims or even getting the National Debt paid down.
We need to go back to the good ole days, NO OUTSIDE MONEY. We don't need groups who wont tell you where their money is coming from, and trying to buy the presidency. Let us hope that somewhere along the line Citizens United can be repealed. I do believe that this is more important, than trying to repeal Roe v Wade.
A few misleading "facts" in this piece. From the report linked at the top of the article: "The increase in the House is mainly among Republican candidates and is accounted for by the big increase in Republican House members due to the 2010 wave election. Incumbents outraise their challengers, in general, and freshmen often raise more than other incumbents because their first reelection campaign is seen as their most difficult. This year is proving no different." and then later, "Republican House candidates have also raised more on average - $712,000 to $594,000, –though Democrats did better than Republicans in the Senate, on average, raising $3.8 million to Republicans' $2.6 million on average." The last statement of this article is completely misleading.


text:
Posts Tagged 'Shane Monaco'
UT Department of Theatre & Film grads enjoy a little "Fun Size" work this summer as movie extras and crewFriday, August 5th, 2011
Fellow 2011 University of Toledo Theatre & Film graduates, Shane Monaco and Nate Elias, spent part of the summer working on the upcoming Paramount Pictures film, "Fun Size." The film centers on a girl who loses her little brother on Halloween night and endures a series of comedic misadventures trying to find him. "Fun Size" will appear in theaters in 2012.
Here's Shane's experience in his own words.
My Fun Size Experience
I recently got the chance to work as an extra for Paramount Pictures' Fun Size. It started when fellow UT grad Nate Elias, who was already doing work as a stand-in, let me know they were looking for more extras. I immediately emailed them with a picture of me and all my information. A few days later I got a call asking if I could start work the following night, I agreed, and they advised me to get some rest. It was good advice.
The scene I would be working on for the next four days took place at night, so my call time was 6:30 PM and my shift was scheduled to end at 6 AM. Needless to say, any interaction with people not involved with the production was minimal during my time on the movie.
I was instructed to drive my car to Cleveland and park in a church parking lot that the production had acquired for its use. A shuttle arrived around 6:30 to drive all the extras to the set. Through the window I saw something that I mistook for a new fast food restaurant called Captain Chicken. After a second I realized that what I was looking at was actually the set. The crew had turned an abandoned Popeye's Chicken into this bizarre pirate-themed restaurant that looked far too new for this part of town.
The shuttle dropped us off at the auditorium of another church. This area was dubbed "Extras Holding." Inside we got signed in and got the Halloween costumes we were asked to bring approved by wardrobe. If they weren't satisfied with what people brought, wardrobe suited them up with one of their costumes. Next, if any makeup was required, people lined up to have it applied. After that we were taken down to the prop room to be assigned various props that would accent our costumes. The costume I brought consisted of a hat with dreadlocks and an island shirt, so I was given blue-tinted hippie glasses and a peace sign necklace.
After this we were taken by shuttle to another building where we were served "breakfast." It was 9 PM, but they were actually serving us breakfast foods. This is when I really understood how long of a shift I was in for.
When we were done, we were taken back to holding. For a good three hours I chatted with the other extras waiting to be called to set. I watched nearly everyone get called out and return with the latest news of what was happening in the scene. Word was that they were going to drop a giant chicken statue on a Volvo. Everyone had hopes of it happening when they were out there, but so far it hadn't.
Finally, I was called and followed the other extras out to the Captain Chicken patio. It was amazing to see the crew busting around to make things happen. The director, Josh Schwartz, was sitting in "video village" with the producers. This is a collection of chairs set up in front of the video monitors that show what the different cameras were seeing.
I saw Nate and his fellow stand-ins doing their job inside the Volvo. Light meters were being shoved in their faces and the lights and cameras were being positioned for the shot. The actors were off to the side, waiting to do their job.
Jason Roberts, the second assistant director, was in charge of the background actors (aka the extras). He explained loudly to the group what was going to be happening in the scene and how we should react.
The actors took their places in the car and the assistant director, Mark Anthony Little, yelled the necessary commands (rolling, action, etc.) The actors delivered their lines in the car and then when given the signal from the AD, we reacted as if the giant chicken statue on the roof fell onto the car.
This went on for multiple takes. The extras were sometimes told to make noise, sometimes we were told to pantomime. They repositioned the cameras a couple of times and the process was repeated.
After a brief stint back in holding and being served lunch, we were brought back onto the set. The chicken had been rigged to actually fall onto the car this time. We were told to react like we had been, only it was really happening. The cameras rolled and after a small explosion (like a firecracker) from under the chicken, it tipped off the roof and smashed down onto the car. Right in front of our eyes! Even more amazing was the fact that a second take was ordered. A crane pulled the giant chicken back up to the roof, and a team of men ran in hammer the smashed car back to its original condition!
That was my first day. The second was primarily spent in holding due to a rain delay and we were eventually sent home early. However, during my time in holding, I had time to talk with Nate and the other stand-ins, as well as the gaffer, Jack English. Jack had graduated with George Lucas, John Carpenter, and a slew of others. He claimed he was the least successful person in his class, yet he has worked on dozens of well-known films like Sherlock Holmes, Big Fish, and Interview with the Vampire.
The next couple of days I spent doing more of the same kind of thing I had been doing on the first day, until they asked me to drive my car up and down the street in the background of the scene. A production assistant named Katie was in charge of this. She equipped all of us car people with walkie talkies. With these she was able to communicate to us when to start and stop and where to drive. Between takes I talked to her a little and found out that she and that other PAs aspired to ultimately become assistant directors. The others did things like manage the extras in holding and stand at the borders of the set to keep it locked down from civilians.
When the final night finally came to an end, the director and second AD brought us back to holding and thanked everyone. I was sad to see it come to an end. In only four days I had already become addicted to the lifestyle. What really fascinated me about the whole thing was how the production operated like a tiny confined city; multiple buildings, multiple jobs, transportation and communication between all, and at the hub was the set, around which it all revolved. It was an amazing experience, seeing what we did as students done on a grand scale, efficiently, and taken very seriously by everyone involved. This little taste of the business was enough to confirm the fact that I made the right career choice and I can't wait to get myself back onto a set, hopefully for a lot longer than four days.


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ZCRC is a congregation of diversity-one in the body of Christ.
The church welcomes and celebrates its diversity as a reflection of
God's beautifully diverse creation. Our church family includes native
and non-native Zuni residents as well as people from surrounding places.
Visitors from Zuni and Christians from other places who support our
ministry are frequently part of the congregation. Church members come
from a variety of church backgrounds and from a variety of ethnic
backgrounds. The diversity of the congregation is reflected in the
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homes alike to pray, to listen and to express Christ's compassion.
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churches. Bi-weekly youth activities welcome young people from 6th-12th
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message to Zuni people is the use of the Zuni language. The church
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and Acts in the Zuni language have been well received throughout the
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church supports the work of Tara Meekhof in Jos, Nigeria, under the
auspices of Christian Reformed World Missions and the work of Donnie and
Renee Begay at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico,
under the auspices of Campus Crusade for Christ.
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different, like the Church around the world, the Christians in Zuni
desire to honor Christ in their worship and in witness.