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Chris Pine: Star Trek Kirk too busy for love
- Bang Showbiz
- 3 May 2013
Chris Pine says his character, Captain Kirk, in 'Star Trek Into Darkness' is too busy for love because he's saving the world
Chris Pine's 'Star Trek' character is too busy for a love interest.
The 'Star Trek Into Darkness' actor - who plays the USS Enterprise's fearless leader Captain James T. Kirk - would love for his character to have a romantic sub-plot in the space saga, but stresses that he's too preoccupied with saving the world.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz at the world premiere of the film at London's Empire Cinema in Leicester Square on Thursday (02.05.13), he said: "He'll meet someone when worlds don't need saving, I guess. This film is so action-packed and so filled with dire straits, and near-death experiences, and almost the end of the world - he just needs to get out of space for a second and sit down at a bar to meet someone."
However, the hunky actor says Kirk won't have to look too far to find a beauty able to tame his womanising on-screen alter-ego, hinting at a romance between the Starfleet captain and 'Star Trek' newcomer Doctor Carol Marcus, played by Alice Eve.
He said: "Alice is beautiful, she's super smart, and she brings all that to the role. That's why I think you get hints of the attraction between my character and hers. I think it's because her character doesn't take any s**t from Jim and doesn't buy into his whole thing."
Other stars who appeared on the special white carpet at the premiere included Benedict Cumberbatch, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Alice Eve and Simon Pegg, as well as tbhe film's director J.J. Abrams, producers Bryan Burk and Damon Lindelof and writers Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci.


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Please use the following link to access an index of system requirements for IBM Connections.
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Explore technical topics, find trial software and join the community.
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subset: commoncrawl


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The Alhambra (Arabic: الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrā' , literally "the red one"), the complete form of which was Calat Alhambra (الْقَلْعَةُ ٱلْحَمْرَاءُ, Al-Qal'at al-Ḥamrā' , "the red fortress"), is a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, occupying a hilly terrace on the southeastern border of the city of Granada, now in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.These are some photos we have taken of our trips in second life.....
Once the residence of the Muslim rulers of Granada and their court, the site became a Christian palace. Within the Alhambra, the Palace of Charles V was erected by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1527. After being allowed to fall into disrepair, the Alhambra was "rediscovered" in the 19th century. It is now one of Spain's major tourist attractions and exhibits the country's most famous Islamic architecture, together with Christian 16th-century and later interventions in buildings and gardens.
Encuentra más fotos como esta en thekatamy
To visit the Alhambra in Secondlife just click here. If you want to visit the alhambra in SL.. you can try this exercise designed by la profesora... Amy Fullerton.
Alhambra Activity:
Go to the Alhambra using the link provided in your note card. While you are looking at the architecture and the paintings discuss your favorite areas. Don't for get to look up! Explore the space and complete the following activities. (This may be divided into multiple sessions)
1. Find the "tienda" (shop) that sells belly-dancing outfits and use the dance balls located there. Take a video or picture.
2. Find the "patio de los leones" and take a picture of your group there (one picture per group).
3. Go to the market place in the city and take a picture of your favorite items there (one for each member of your group).
5. Find the mosque. Get the information (on the "I" sign) and follow the directions to enter the mosque. Spend sometime there discussing the Moorish architecture.
6. Find the Arabian bathhouse or the Arabian teahouse. Have a coffee or a dip and talk with your friends. You may refer to your history notecard on the Alhambra and discuss the things you learned and saw.
7. ***Optional: If you would like, purchase a flamenco outfit (this costs money) for our party later on at the end of the project.
This is what Daniela share with us...To follow her adventures in SL, visit her blog...Danik100...
There are still more adventures to come... hope you can all join us... remember we are getting together from Monday to Thursday. 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Keep on shining Love and Peace
Image: Ladron de Agua


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Location: Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation ResearchTitle: Distribution of structural carbohydrates in corn plants as influenced by corn residue management Author
|Mourtzinis, Spyridon - Auburn University
|Cantrell, Keri
|Arriaga, Francisco - University Of Wisconsin
|Novak, Jeffrey - Jeff
|Frederick, James - Clemson University
|Karlen, Douglas
Submitted to: Sungrant Initiative
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/4/2012
Publication Date: 10/2/2012
Citation: Mourtzinis, S., Cantrell, K.B., Arriaga, F., Novak, J.M., Frederick, J.R., Karlen, D.L. 2012. Distribution of structural carbohydrates in corn plants as influenced by corn residue management [abstract]. In: Proceedings from Sun Grant National Conference: Science for Biomass Feedstock Production and Utilization, October 2-5, 2012, New Orleans, Louisiana. pp. 3. Available:http://sungrant.tennessee.edu/NatConference/Agenda.
Interpretive Summary:
Technical Abstract: As part of the Sun Grant Regional Partnership corn stover project, continuous corn (Zea mays L.) field studies incorporating stover removal management practices (0 and 100% removal) were established in both Alabama and South Carolina. Plots in both states were representative of major soil types in their respective region: Alabama plots were Compass and Decatur soils; South Carolina plots were composed of a Coxville/Rains-Goldsboro-Lynchburg soil association. In addition to grain and biomass yield and soil quality responses being reported elsewhere in this conference, these two sites investigated variations in the distribution of carbon and structural carbohydrates among five plant fractions: whole plant; above the first ear excluding cobs (top); below the first ear (bottom); cob; and above the first ear including cobs (above ear). Using a combination of wet chemistry methods and near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), the distribution of carbon and structural carbohydrates varied between the sites. Stover removal was a significant factor on carbohydrate concentrations on all plant fractions and soil types except for the Decatur. When compared to the above ear fractions, bottom plant partitions revealed greater carbon, lignin and cellulose concentrations. However, holocellulose concentration was consistently greater in cobs, tops and above ear fractions at every location. Data from this study suggest that Coxville/Rains-Goldsboro-Lynchburg soils have greater potential in producing corn biomass with desirable portions of structural carbohydrates for bioenergy, when compared to Decatur and Compass. Furthermore, the plant portions cob, top and above the first ear have the most desirable characteristics for biofuel production at all location.


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Vice President Pence Visits South Korea, Reaffirms United States' Ironclad Commitment
By DipNote Bloggers on April 18, 2017
During his first official trip to the Asia-Pacific region, Vice President Mike Pence visited South Korea, also known as the Republic of Korea (ROK), on April 16-18. During his visit, the Vice President participated in a bilateral meeting with Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn and met with National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun. While on his trip, Vice President Pence focused on issues impacting the U.S.-South Korean relationship, including economic affairs and security on the Korean Peninsula.
Following his meeting with Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, the Vice President emphasized the unwavering support of the United States for our longstanding alliance with the ROK. The Vice President also addressed the region's most urgent threat to peace and security -- the regime in North Korea, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The Vice President stated, "For more than two decades, the United States and our allies have worked to peacefully dismantle North Korea's nuclear program and alleviate the suffering of their people. But at every step of the way, North Korea answered our overtures with willful deception, broken promises, and nuclear and missile tests. Over the past 18 months, North Korea has conducted two unlawful nuclear tests and an unprecedented number of ballistic missile tests, even conducting a failed missile launch as I traveled here for this visit. The era of strategic patience is over."
#VPinAsia Day Two: Briefing at the DMZ, productive meeting with Acting President Hwang, & visiting with @USEmbassySeoul staff & our troops. pic.twitter.com/ez7XlanDcX— Vice President Pence (@VP) April 17, 2017
Vice President Pence called on other regional powers and the entire international community to join the United States to demand that DPRK abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, turn away from renewed hostility towards its neighbors, and end the repression of its own people. He mentioned the United States' recent United States engagements with China, in particular, during which Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping reaffirmed their commitment to a denuclearized Korean Peninsula and to increase cooperation to convince the DPRK to abandon its illicit weapons programs.
"It is heartening to see China commit to these actions. But the United States is troubled by China's economic retaliation against South Korea for taking appropriate steps to defend itself. The better path would be for China to address the North Korean threat that is actually making such defensive measures necessary. Now while issues like that remain, the President and I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea, but as President Trump made clear just a few short days ago, if China is unable to deal with North Korea, the United States, and our allies, will," the Vice President said while he was in Seoul.
Vice President Pence reaffirmed, "The alliance between South Korea and the United States is the linchpin of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and indeed throughout the Asia Pacific. The United States' commitment to South Korea is ironclad and immutable. And under President Trump's leadership, I know our alliance will even be stronger, our nations will be safer, and the Asia Pacific will be more secure."
Upon the conclusion to his visit in Seoul, the Vice President will visit Japan, Indonesia, Australia, and Hawaii to emphasize President Trump's continued commitment to U.S. alliances and partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region, highlight the Administration's economic agenda, and underscore America's unwavering support for our troops at home and abroad.
Editor's Note: This entry is also published on Medium.com/StateDept.
For more information:
Remarks by the Vice President and South Korean Acting President Hwang at a Joint Press Statement
Remarks to the Troops by the Vice President with Q&A, Demilitarized Zone, South Korea
Remarks by the Vice President and Mrs. Pence to the Troops, Seoul, South Korea
Vice President Mike Pence to Travel to the Republic of Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, and Hawaii


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CINEMA SOUND OFF with Lynn Rush and KM Wilsher
Welcome to Cinema Sound Off. We love movies!
My good friend and extraordinary writer, Lynn Rush
--and me, KM Wilsher-- visit the movies and we'll be sharing our reviews with you every second Tuesday of the month.
IMDB Synopsis: The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and to learn its secrets.
The title gets an A from me :) Love Dark of the Moon
Story: C. Transformers 3 storyline was good, but not unique. It is the same old characters with the same good guys and bad guys as 1 and 2. Bumblebee 'almost dies' two or three times in this movie, as he does in all of them. The Decepticons are still the villians. . . I would have liked to see Prime and his gang save the world from something besides what they save them from every time we pay to see them. From ourselves? Stop World War 3? A natural disaster?
Actors: A. I enjoyed the acting (Save Francis McDormand. . .but it was her character I didn't like, I am sure) Shia LaBeouf is always a joy. The new Megan Fox was fresh, I think I liked her better. . . One thing though: How is it that Sam can scream like a girl in the first 30 minutes of the movie, and in the last hour mastermind plans to take the enemy down, outrun Marines, tell off CIA big wigs, and catch his girl midair by the wrist as a 40 story building tumbles? Just sayin.
Special effects: A. What you'd expect from the Transformer empire. If you like blasts, stunts, and action, these are the only reasons to see this in the theater.
KM's rating for Transformers Dark of the Moon:
I am torn, I wanna say two tickets (see it on DVD/Blue Ray) but there is no way I'll tell you to watch this movie at home, because the only reason to watch it at all is for the special effects. And special effects are only worth it in the theater. There for I give Trans 3
3 tickets See it and think about taking a friend:
What do you say? Have you seen it?
Now, come with me and Catch the Rush. . .at http://www.lynnrush.com/ to see what Author Lynn Rush has to say.


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… it's sort of a photography sketchbook …
I have no idea what they were saying. They don't seem to remember, either.
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a place for me to post creative experiments, reflections about the creative process, and notes about things I'm learning.
The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera. - Dorothea Lange
The original self is a seed of wondrous possibility and reeks with pleasure. - Thomas Moore, from the preface of his book Original Self
The Practice of Contemplative Photography by Michael Wood and Andy Karr
Seeing Fresh - website by the authors of the above book
Steal Like an Artist
by Austin Kleon
Austin Kleon's Website


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As many of you will be aware I created a Top 100 films/TV list, drawn from the reviews I have posted on the blog. An anonymous commentator asked if I would a top 100 books – unfortunately the answer is no as there are far too many vampire books out there to make anything like a fair stab at a top 100. What I did promise to do was list a few recommended reads that haven't had a book review or a classic literature piece on the blog yet. This is no definitive list – just the books/book series that sprang to mind when I thought about it.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice seems like a good place to start. The beginning of her vampire chronicles this introduced the world to Louis and Lestat. The actual film of the book is quite accurate and so most will know the story. What I found astounding, when I read the first volumes long before the film, was how much you hated Lestat when reading from Louis' point of view but how that feeling was flipped as, in the second volume – the Vampire Lestat, Lestat became the (anti)hero of the piece.
There is a problem with the books… certainly the first three – up to and including Queen of the Damned are excellent books. For me, however, the quality began to vary through the series. This was down to two things – firstly Anne Rice was clearly in love with Lestat and he became altogether too powerful for the books to maintain an overwhelming interest – to the point that he ceased to be the focus of several of the books eventually – and that, as a writer, she did have a bad habit with descriptive passages that could be summed up as 'why use 1 paragraph to describe something when 20 pages will do?' That said there is still much to be enjoyed in the entire series.
Another classic book is 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. This spawned two mini TV series, one in 1979 and the other in 2004. Both summoned the basic story but neither fully captured the book. The joy of 'Salem's Lot is the minutiae of small town America that King explores before dashing it all apart in an extraordinary supernatural event. The illustrated edition has a few photographs scattered lightly through the pages but, more interestingly, it has two short stories – one after the fall of the town and one (very Lovecraftian) before the events.
When I picked up S P Somtow's Vampire Junction in a second hand book store I simply bought something about a vampire and, to be honest, suspected I would hate it. It was about a young boy rock star – Timmy Valentine – who also was a 2000 year old vampire. Then I started to read… After a few chapters I forced myself to put the book down and rushed back to the store to buy Valentine, the sequel, as I knew it was there and then ordered the third book Vanitas online. Extremely well written but, most interesting is the fact that Timmy himself seems to be a Jungian archetype – existing within our world. Somtow does very interesting things with the religious icon motif that dovetails with the Jungian aspects.
Richard Laymon wrote a few, unconnected with each other, vampire books. I have previously mentioned Out are the Lights as an Honourable Mention. There was Bite and the Stake but I have chosen to list the Travelling Vampire Show. Dwight and his friends Rusty and Slim want to go to a travelling show to see Valeria – a captive vampire – of course the fact that the show is for over 18s, it costs $10 each to get in (which they don't have) and the show is at midnight – past curfew – is all a problem. The reason I have mentioned this book is that the vampire and the horror are secondary, what Laymon wrote was a powerful coming of age novel – well worth seeking out.
It is worth listing a vampire book that has no vampires in it, indeed it doesn't even mention vampires. Tim Lucas, author of the book of Renfield, brought us Throat Sprockets and I understand he had vampires in mind when he wrote the book – but the book is about throat fetishism. However we have an almost plague like spread of the fetish through a medium of film and a perfect capturing of the hunger the vampire feels redefined into a sexual fetish. So without having a vampire at all we have a nigh on perfect vampire book – kudos to Tim.
Most will know of George RR Martin through his high fantasy series but he wrote a vampire novel entitled Fevre Dream. Those who do know his work will know what an excellent and evocative writer Martin is and this book is no exception. Set on the Mississippi and the paddle steamer the Fevre Dream, financed by a man with – shall we say – odd habits but he is not the one to fear.
The World on Blood by Jonathon Nasaw is a very different take on the vampire genre. Centred around a 12 step group for blood drinkers – a concept not too unusual in the genre – what makes this different is that our vampires are just ordinary people. However for these people blood is an actual drug, offering a very real and very potent high with aphrodisiacal effects and it is just as addictive for them as any other narcotic might be for the rest of the world. And someone really doesn't want them to fall off the wagon…
Leaving the more real world books behind, Freda Warrington wrote a series of books beginning with A Taste of Blood Wine and followed by A Dance in Blood Velvet and the Dark Blood of Poppies. These have an unusual lore basis – the turning process for instance is very different – but what they are at the core are three of the most richly gothic vampire novels with a rich, passionate undertone. I have to say that the copy of A Dance in Blood Velvet, signed to me by Freda Warrington, is a pride of my collection. Warrington also wrote a Dracula sequel entitled Dracula – the Undead.
Last to be listed in this article, but not least, is Necroscope by Brian Lumley. This was the first of a five book series, which spawned several spin off series as well. The Necroscope is Harry Keogh and a Necroscope can speak with the dead. This volume follows Harry's life from childhood to being a young adult, of him being drawn into e-branch (Britain's paranormal spy agency) and issues with a KGB necromancer who gets infected with vampirism. However the vampire threat is much more dangerous and insidious than this volume might betray and as the series moves on we meet the Wamphyri – some of the deadliest vampires committed to paper. This is bloody, gory pulp and, as such, the books are a joy to read.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Book Recommendations
As many of you will be aware I created a Top 100 films/TV list, drawn from the reviews I have posted on the blog. An anonymous commentator asked if I would a top 100 books – unfortunately the answer is no as there are far too many vampire books out there to make anything like a fair stab at a top 100. What I did promise to do was list a few recommended reads that haven't had a book review or a classic literature piece on the blog yet. This is no definitive list – just the books/book series that sprang to mind when I thought about it.
Posted by Taliesin_ttlg at 12:49 AM
19 comments:
- Al Bruno III said...
A good list... just out of curiosity have you read John Ajvide Lindqvist's LET THE RIGHT ONE IN? I picked up the book on the stregnth of the movie and I really enjoyed it.
- Taliesin_ttlg said...
Al Bruno III - I certanly have - you can read my review here.
- The Dirge Of Gabriel said...
Looks like an interesting list!
I love coming across more vampire novels to read, unfortunately besides Lumley, Rice and Laymon my bookstores only carry mostly chick-lit vampire novels now such as Anita Blake etc. :(
Taste of Blood wine was an awesome book and yes their astral method of making vampires was weird yet unique, I liked the concept of the 'twins' too, how the one that was 'vague' was actually the body that grew back the head whilst the disembodied head grew back the body, and even though beheading is the only way to kill those vampires, a bathtub of blood would resurrect them! I hadn't managed to read the sequels and its been about 15 yrs since I read A Taste of Blood Wine so I wonder how I can hunt them down!
Interview and Necroscope are no brainers, and though I enjoy Anne Rice's vampire aesthetic I actually prefer the alien brutality of the Wamphyri!
A film adaptation script of the first Necroscope book has been floating around and I hope it never gets made because film makers could never bring Lumley's vision to justice (though some say his novel Ancient Khai of Khem was ripped off to create Stargate).
I've seen Fevre Dream floating around but haven't given it a chance because I was 'put off' by its steam-boat premise, but we have similar tastes in the vampire genre so next time I see it I'll pick it up.
So I'd like to add a few vampire novels to your list for recommendation if I may?
*Going through my bookcase and finding vampire novels I haven't read yet! such as THE GOLDEN by Lucius Shephard. Have you read that? I tend to pick up vampire books and put them in my bookcase for later devouring, and soometimes forget they are there!*
1. Nancy Baker's: THE NIGHT INSIDE and BLOOD and CHRYSANTHEMUMS was an enjoyable series, getting made a vampire by another in a prison so you could both escape was an interesting presence, and for Ardeth to really not know what she was getting herself into, and Japanese-gothic aesthetic was great.
2. Les Daniel's: YELLOW FOG and NO BLOOD SPILLED are short but sweet vampire novels seemlingly inspired by Count Varney's penny dreadfuls and I actually enjoyed the Vampire Sebastian as he is aware of his power and has no qualms about his lack of humanity, as it should be!
3. The RAVENLOFT Strahd Von Zarovich books are a treat, I love the concept of the land enshrouded in a inpenetrable fog due to Strahd's curse and how he tied the land to himself with his blood and his endless torment to re-acquire his love, though it was his murdered brother's betrothed! Guest stars such as Azalin and Lord Soth are entertaining.
4. The VLAD TAPES (Vlad Tepes haha)by Fred Saberhagen is a great series, good ol' Uncle Dracula helping out his family friends and what not. I get the most joy when other vampires tried to get the better of him not realising who he was! His team up with Sherlock Holmes was inventive!
That's all for now, about to curl up under a blanket and see if I like THE GOLDEN and perhaps re-read THE VLAD TAPES!
- Taliesin_ttlg said...
Hi Gabriel
I haven't read the Golden to be honest.
I've read the Baker material but I haven't read the two Les Daniels you mention - I have read the black castle, the Silver Sull and citizen Vampire by him. I have several of the Ravenloft books but (hangs his head) I have still to read the Vlad Tapes.
I'm currently readin Twelve by Jasper Kent - a review will be forthcoming when I've finished reading it.
For those of you who like to listen to your books Audible.co.uk now have Salem's Lot unabridged in their collection. This version is very well narrated by Ron McLarty.
- Taliesin_ttlg said...
Cheers for that Slaine... the audible version of Dracula (which they gave away for free at one point when you signed up) was well worth listening to...
I'd also recommend, if folks can find it, the BBC audio dramatisation of Salem's Lot with Doug Bradley
- Zahir al Daoud said...
The Golden is a pretty remarkable novel. And I'll admit to a continued fandom for Anno Dracula by Kim Newman.
- Taliesin_ttlg said...
Hi Zahir. I like anno dracula also (as well as the following bloody red baron and judgement of tears/dracula cha cha cha)
Something for your book section: If you're interested in finding more out about Elizabeth Bathory, a great book to read is "Bathory: Memoir of a Countess".
- Taliesin_ttlg said...
Cheers Jamie, I'll keep an eye out
Hi I'd like to suggest another vampire novel that seems to have sunk in media oblivion The Vampire Tapestry by Suzi McKee Charnas. This novel isn't a romance by any stretch of the imagination and does have a particularly good vampire.
- Taliesin_ttlg said...
Vamplit - believe it or not that is on my amazon wishlist!
It'll be bought eventually!
Cheers for the suggestion.
- House of Karnstein said...
Martin's Fevre Dream is so wonderful, what a great vampire novel! Easily, in my all-time top 5
vamp books and I wholeheartedly second Taliesin's recommendation. I'd love to see this brought to the
movie screen one day or I'd even settle for a TV production.
Damon Julian....one of the baddest vamps in all of vamp horror fiction..unforgettable!
- Taliesin_ttlg said...
It is a cracker, helped by the fact that Martin is such a good writer.
- Gabriel said...
@ House of Karnstein
May I add that FEVRE DREAM is currently adapted as a comic book series (by Avatar Press) if you are so inclined, so rush to your local comic store to get it. I think it's up to issue 5, or you can wait for the Trade Paperback version later on.
- Taliesin_ttlg said...
Gabe, I didn't know that myself - rubs hands and waits for the trade paperback!
- Gabriel said...
To be honest, I haven't read the story, and I discovered the comic a little to late in its run, but from what I've seen the art looks quite good....from first impression it's got that Ricean feel?
- Taliesin_ttlg said...
It will always get that sort of comparison, given that it is set on the Mississipi (and one character is a tad Louis-ish) but Martin is a far superior prose writer than Rice
- House of Karnstein said...
I appreciate the heads-up on this, I had no idea but you can bet I will be checking into it. Thanks.


text:
This is a lovely light (and nondairy, if you want it to be) chocolate mousse with intense chocolate flavor. It is the lightest mousse of all if you make it with water or coffee. Milk or cream adds a little body. Either way, you can top it with whipped cream.
Spinning sugar is so easy that there is no reason to save it for the occasional showpiece dessert. Spun sugar turns a simple dish of ice cream or chocolate mousse into a celebration.–Alice Medrich
Chocolate Mousse with Spun Sugar
- Quick Glance
- Serves 6 to 8
Special Equipment: Instant-read thermometer; Six to eight 4- to 6-ounce ramekins or dessert cups
- For the mousse
- 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup water, coffee, or milk, or 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 tablespoons brandy, rum, or liquor of choice (optional)
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- Whipped cream (optional)
- For the caramel spun sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Make the mousse
- 1. Place the chocolate and the 1/4 cup water (or liquid of your choice) in a medium heatproof bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until chocolate is nearly melted. Remove the bowl and stir until completely melted smooth. Stir in the liquor, if using, and set aside.
- 2. In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the eggs with the 3 tablespoons water and sugar until well blended. Set the bowl in a skillet of not-even-simmering water and, stirring constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling, cook until they register 160°F (70°C) on an instant-read thermometer. (You will have to remove the bowl from skillet to check the temperature unless you are agile enough to both stir and hold and read the thermometer at the same time!)
- 3. Remove the bowl and beat with electric mixer at high speed for 3 to 4 minutes, until the eggs have a texture like softly whipped cream. Fold about one-quarter of the eggs into the chocolate. Scrape the chocolate mixture onto the remaining beaten eggs and fold just until evenly incorporated. Divide the mousse among the ramekins.
- 4. Chill for at least 1 hour, or until set, before serving. If you are not serving the mousses within a few hours, cover them with plastic wrap.
- Make the caramel spun sugar
- 5. You can make a reusable sugar-spinning tool from a wire whisk by snipping off the curved section of each wire (using a wire cutter) until the whisk resembles a bouquet of wire stems, or you can use a handful of skewers. Have ready the altered whisk or a few wooden or metal skewers, and a sheet of foil or parchment.
- 6. Have a white saucer and a skewer at the side of the stove to test the color of the syrup.
- 7. Pour the water into a 1-quart saucepan and set it over medium heat. Mix the sugar and cream of tartar and pour the mixture carefully in a thin stream into the center of the pan to form a low mound. Without stirring, use your fingers to pat the sugar mound down until it is entirely moistened; any sugar at the edges of the pan will be safely below the water line.
- 8. Cover the pan and cook for a few minutes (still without stirring), until when you lift the lid, the sugar has completely dissolved and the syrup looks clear. Uncover the pan and continue to cook, without stirring, until the syrup begins to color slightly. If the syrup seems to be coloring unevenly, swirl the pan gently, rather than stirring.
- 9. To test the caramel, use the skewer to drop a bead of syrup onto the white saucer. When a drop of syrup looks pale amber on the saucer, turn the heat to low and pay close attention. Continue to cook and test drops of syrup until it has darkened to a slightly reddish amber color.
- 10. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and let the caramel cool and thicken for a minute or two. Dip the tips of the whisk or fanned skewers into the caramel and lift them 12 inches above the pan, watching how the caramel flows from the tips back into the pan. At first the caramel will form very fine threads as it flows off the whisk. As it cools, it will flow more slowly and form thicker golden threads: perfect spun sugar. Continue to dip and lift the whisk until this happens.
- 11. The drips and little globs of caramel that fall from the wires are extremely hot, but the threads are cool enough to touch. Grasp and pull the threads aside with your hand, coiling them into a pretty tangle directly on top of a dessert or onto the foil sheet. Continue to dip the whisk to make more spun sugar. After each dip, raise the whisk and wait until the heaviest flow of caramel subsides into threads before touching them. Pull the threads aside, out from under the whisk, so that any drops of caramel that fall cannot burn you. With your hands, shape the tangle of threads to form a nest, halo, or cloud. When the caramel becomes too thick, re-melt it over the lowest heat, trying not to let it boil and scorch. Depending on the weather, spun sugar is short-lived. Serve desserts with spun sugar as soon as possible.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.


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"Can you give mommy a cue? Are you hungry?" 21-year-old Alexis Neiers cooed to her crying newborn in the middle of a faux-upscale Calabasas restaurant last week. "When she puts her hands in her mouth, she's hungry. Right now, she's just tired. Maybe a little constipated."
None of the other diners paid much attention to Neiers — former reality TV star, recovering addict and convicted felon — as she pulled her daughter, Harper, to her breast and began to feed the 3-week-old.
It was a moment of utter normalcy for Neiers, who shot to notoriety in 2009 when she was arrested and charged with being a part of a group of celebrity-obsessed young burglary suspects that came to be known as the "Bling Ring." She and six acquaintances were accused of stealing millions of dollars worth of clothing, art and jewelry from the homes of stars including Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Orlando Bloom. For years, paparazzi trailed Neiers nearly everywhere she went, giving her more than 15 minutes of not entirely unwelcome fame.
"I definitely got carried away," she said, rocking Harper. "It was like, 'I'm crazy and I'm OK with it. I'm going to walk out of this club, be trashed, TMZ's gonna be there and I'm not gonna give a ...'"
Four years on, the cycle of media intrigue spawned by the crime spree may finally be leaving Neiers behind, even as it grows and morphs in new directions. "The Bling Ring," a movie about the burglars written and directed by Sofia Coppola, premiered to much ado at the Cannes Film Festival last week and arrives in U.S. theaters June 14.
Rarely has there been such a heady, almost Mobius strip-like intersection between real life and celebrity culture, TV and film as there has been over the Bling Ring. The real-life protagonists and an ever-growing circle of Hollywood types who have sought to capture or capitalize on their escapades have intermingled in strange, sometimes disturbing, ways.
Obsessed with celebrity and fashion, the seven young burglary suspects — Neiers along with Nicholas Prugo, now 22; Rachel Lee, 23; Courtney Ames, 22; Roy Lopez Jr., 31; Diana Tamayo, 21; and Jonathan Ajar — became famous themselves after the robberies. A book was written about them. E! made a reality show, "Pretty Wild," about Neiers and her BFF, Tess Taylor.
And then Coppola, a member of a famous family herself, decided to turn her lens on their story. She hired an L.A. cop who was involved in the case to consult on the film, and gave him a cameo in it. Cameras rolled even before the prosecutions were finished.
Eventually four of the defendants were sent to prison, while three others received probation. All are now free.
While the stars of "The Bling Ring" were decked out in designer wares on the Croisette last week, many of the members of the actual group are trying to piece their lives back together.
Hollywood's pull
Growing up in Ventura County's Oak Park neighborhood, Neiers recalls feeling proximate to yet removed from the world of Hollywood. "I wasn't this rich girl that grew up in suburbia. I wasn't poor by any means, but we shopped at Marshalls and TJ Maxx," she said.
Her father, Mikael, worked as a director of photography on "Friends" while her mother, Andrea, is a former actress and model who posed for Playboy in the 1980s. After they divorced, Andrea wed a production designer. Home-schooled by her mother — who has a strong interest in Chinese herbs, flower essences and religious science — Neiers said that as a teen she wasn't desperate to get close to Hollywood types, though she routinely encountered them when she went out with friends including Taylor.
"Tess and I would run into celebrities at clubs, and the club promoter would shove us at their table because we were hot and cute, and that's what club promoters do in order to make the celebrities buy more bottles," she said, shrugging her shoulders.
In 2009, Neiers and Taylor were on the set of a low-budget indie film called "Frat Party" when they met Dan Levy, a comedian and writer.
"Tess told me her dream was to be on 'The Girls Next Door,'" Levy recalled, referring to the late E! reality show documenting Hugh Hefner's romantic life. "They were such characters that I thought their life would be great for a reality show. They were super into the idea of being famous, but I had no idea how serious it was."
Levy hatched an idea for "Pretty Wild," a comic reality show centering on Neiers, her oddball mother and Taylor. While the pilot was being filmed though, police investigating the celebrity burglaries descended upon Neiers' home, and the show's focus quickly shifted. Neiers' legal drama unfolded as the show aired, and she admits getting swept up in the attention.
At one point, she said, she "was living at a Best Western on Franklin and Vine smoking crack and shooting heroin every day. I was ridiculous. I was absolutely crazy. I stole money from people. I stole money from my own mother. I beat people up. I kicked in cars. I did a lot of really terrible things ... and I'm on the path now of making amends now for what I've done wrong."
Neiers eventually pleaded no contest to a charge of burglarizing Bloom's house and served 30 days of a 180-day sentence. She maintains that she was intoxicated during the burglary, never actually entered Bloom's home, and that her lawyer coerced her into taking the plea deal.
In hindsight, she said, her desire for attention stemmed from many sources — physical and sexual abuse, her parents' divorce — but also from growing up in a society that values the rich and famous. Although she says she wasn't nearly as transfixed by Perez Hilton headlines as her character — portrayed by Emma Watson — is in "The Bling Ring," Neiers admits she did look admiringly upon the world of celebrity.
"It's an escape. 'If only I had that handbag. If only he was my boyfriend.' Everybody deals with that — including myself," said Neiers, who last year married a 38-year-old Canadian businessman she met at Alcoholics Anonymous. "I just think that Nick and Rachel took it to another level [by starting the break-ins] — and then we all got an inside look into these celebrities' lives as well, based on what these kids were doing. I think that's why the Bling Ring is still so prevalent today."
'Artistic' goals
"The Bling Ring" continues Coppola's fascination with youth, the idle rich, the ennui that money and fame can bring — themes she has explored in atmospheric films such as "Somewhere" and "Lost in Translation."
In 2011, Coppola reached out to Neiers and her mother about her desire to make a Bling Ring film, telling them in an email, "I'm dedicated to trying to make something artistic and poetic that shows our culture today."
At Cannes, though, some critics found the filmmaker didn't have much to say about Millennials. "I sense no mystery, no depth there," wrote the Village Voice's Stephanie Zacharek. Others, like the Daily Telegraph's Robbie Collin, embraced the movie's ambiguity: "Coppola's teasing flirtation with, yet ultimate lack of commitment to, some kind of concrete morality."
In the south of France, Coppola expressed wonderment at the brazenness of the Bling Ring, telling journalists: "They wanted to steal Paris Hilton's dog. I couldn't even make that up." She worried, she said, about making "the kids more famous than they already were," which is why she opted to change the names of the characters.
That will likely come as a relief to former Bling Ringers such as Lopez. After pleading no contest to one count of receiving stolen property from Hilton's home, he moved to Texas to restart his life. He said he is working a job in the oil fields.
"When I was in California," he said in a phone interview, "the Bling Ring thing kind of followed me. I went to apply for a job, and some girl was like, 'You're the guy from TMZ.' But out here, nobody knows about it. Even my parole officer was like, 'Really? You were a part of that? Do I have to worry about 'A Current Affair' coming to my office?'"
Others are also seeking to maintain low profiles — and their distance from their former co-defendants. Prugo, reached via Facebook, said he had recently been contacted by multiple media outlets but wasn't doing interviews.
Lee, depicted in the film as the ringleader of the gang, hasn't given an interview since her arrest. She pleaded no contest to burglarizing the Hollywood Hills home of Audrina Patridge, a reality star on MTV's "The Hills," and was sentenced to four years. At the California Institute for Women, Lee worked in a special program known as Fire Camp, where she and other inmates helped suppress brush and wild fires. She was paroled after serving roughly a year and four months.
Lee did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Wendy Feldman, a self-described "prison coach" who said she helped Lee surrender and was instrumental in getting her into Fire Camp, noted that Lee remains on probation.
"If somebody is really trying to change their life and not looking for their 15 minutes of fame, what good does it do to talk right now?" Feldman said. "She may have had the option to go do a media blast but is instead taking her time and learning a lesson from this. It's not funny, and nothing to be proud of. Maybe that's her point of view."
Film reaction
Neiers has been the most public of the Bling Ring members. She has a blog and tweets, and when a trailer for Coppola's movie hit the Web she called it "trashy and inaccurate" on Twitter.
At Cannes, Coppola said she wouldn't be surprised if the real-life Bling Ringers disliked the film. "It's not a documentary," she said. "We made a movie, and I'm not too concerned with their reaction."
In researching the film, Coppola and her producer, Youree Henley, met with Neiers, her mother and Taylor. According to payroll records subpoenaed by attorneys, the family's production company was paid $100,000 for their life rights, while Taylor received $10,000.
Over lunch, Henley recalled, Andrea Neiers pressed the filmmakers to examine phone records and police reports she claimed would prove her daughter's innocence. "I had the misfortune of sitting between Alexis and her mom, and there was constant cross-talking," Henley said on set of the movie in Venice Beach last year. "I think they're flattered. And seemingly crazy."
"They were helpful," Coppola added. "But the most helpful has really been Brett Goodkin."
Goodkin served as the lead detective in the case and was a paid consultant on the movie. For $12,500, Coppola said he advised on the realities of arresting a suspect and in a surprise turn agreed to play himself in one scene — slapping the cuffs on Watson's character.
Goodkin, however, soon became the subject of an internal affairs probe into whether he failed to get permission from the LAPD to work on the movie, and whether he neglected to inform the district attorney about his role. At the time of production last year, Ames, Tamayo and Lopez were awaiting trial — and eventually were offered probation in plea deals.
"You should all write a thank-you letter to Goodkin, because his judgment is as poor as it gets," Judge Larry P. Fidler said while addressing their attorneys last July. "You can have a field day with his credibility during trial.... It's a shame what he did. It's harmful to the people's case."
Goodkin, who refused requests for comment, is awaiting a ruling from a disciplinary panel.
Another player in the real-life crimes — burglary victim Paris Hilton — also got involved with the film. She allowed Coppola to shoot in her mansion, which moviegoers will see is adorned with a stripper pole, a shoe rack organized by designer and numerous framed photos of herself.
Hilton attended the Cannes premiere and told a reporter that she felt violated watching the scenes in which the criminals ransack her house. "During some parts of it, I literally had tears in my eyes and I wanted to cry," she told New York Magazine's Vulture blog. "It just made me really angry and upset, and when I see these kids, I want to, like, slap them."
Watson, whose pole dancing and other bad behavior in "Bling Ring" seems a concerted effort to move beyond her goody-two-shoes "Harry Potter" role, agrees the characters can be hard to watch.
My character "is everything that I felt really strongly against — she's superficial, materialistic, vain, amoral," Watson, 23, told British GQ in May. " I realized that I really hated her. How do you play someone that you hate?"
But even Watson found herself being sucked into the allure of celebrity while filming with Hilton and being around her excess.
"She said goodbye to me and said 'nice to meet you, gorgeous,'" Watson recalled. "And I was like, 'whoa, my life just got really weird."
Steve Zeitchik in Cannes, France, contributed to this report.


text:
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text:
168 film trailer.
February 29, 2012
52 comments:
Awesome! Wow, that movie looks totally intense! Great job Chris! :)ReplyDelete
Looks awesome! :-) AND sweet Luke Coffee! :-) Cannot wait to see it! :-)ReplyDelete
That's incredible! He's so talented!!! Can't wait to see the whole thing!ReplyDelete
Oh my goodness! What an awesome project!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 29, 2012 at 5:54 PM
I am so excited for you and Chris - this was a pleasure to watch - this trailer, leaving me with anticipation of the upcoming film. I literally cannot wait to see the whole thing!ReplyDelete
I wish you the best, Chris, you are an unbelievable talent - your style immediately reminded me of another Director - Spielberg. You are on your way to the big time ~ Good luck with everything!
that's awesome!ReplyDelete
so exciting!!ReplyDelete
This is something I can't wait to see! What an incredible job!!!ReplyDelete
This looks so awesome!!!!! :) I'm so excited to see the finished project! Good job, Chris!!!!!ReplyDelete
blown away, can't wait to see the whole thing eeeek! that boy is chock full o' talent!! Both of you are actually!ReplyDelete
What a cool concept!ReplyDelete
so neat!! can't wait to see the whole thing!ReplyDelete
Ahhhh super exciting. A lot of my family is into the film industry so I love this kind of stuff. Can't wait to see the full thing =)ReplyDelete
- Sarah
Ahh, it will only play the first 31 seconds- but it looks really good. I wanna see it NOW!! Congrats & great job Chris! :)ReplyDelete
Wow this awesome! He has some great skills and talent. I am very impressed with his work. I look forward to seeing the official project!ReplyDelete
this looks great!!!ReplyDelete
Wow! That is seriously impressive!!!! Thanks for sharing!ReplyDelete
That is so awesome! I can tell that he has done an awesome film here and the plot sounds really intriguing!ReplyDelete
Great job.
looks awesome!! can't wait to see the full thing!ReplyDelete
Looks awesome! Can't wait to see the full thing!ReplyDelete
Looks SO good@ReplyDelete
wow! that is seriously awesome! i checked out some of his other videos and they are amazing. i just found your blog a couple of days ago through the shine project. i moved away from dallas this past november and miss it like crazy. i really wish i would have gotten a chance to meet you before i left. but i'm praying God takes us back real soon.ReplyDelete
such a great job! I love seeing talent! So inspiring. I know you must be proud! I'm from Wilmington, NC which is pretty film/hollywood intense (east coast-wise anyway) and I have been to a lot of the film premiers/festivals (like the cucalorus film festival) and I have to say this is definitely one of the best I have seen! (not that I am a pro by any means lol) I love your creative dynamic!!ReplyDelete
ahh! this looks awesome!!! does she have the scriptures tattooed on her?? i literally watched this trailer 4 times and noticed it the last time. WHEN CAN WE SEE MORE??!ReplyDelete
thanks for sharing :)
That looks awesome! I can't wait to see it! :) Great job!ReplyDelete
VERY AWESOME!!!! I can't wait to see the whole thing!!!ReplyDelete
Your husband is exceptionally talented!ReplyDelete
As a mom of a future film maker I can appreciate all 168 minutes of working to put a film together. Casey, you know my son did a black and white silent film over a year ago, premiering his film to an 80-people, paying audience last May! This was before anyone even heard of The Artist! Anyway, my son's 15 minute movie took over 150 hours to make from start to finish - whew! People just don't realize what it takes. Tell Chris good luck and we'll be rooting for him!ReplyDelete
wow this looks AWESOME, he is soooo talented!!! can't wait to see the whole thing!!ReplyDelete
this gave me chills. can't wait to see more! your husband is so talented!ReplyDelete
Wow, this sounds amazing!!!ReplyDelete
your hubby is so talented. I like this project, everything about it is amazing. And the bible verse being the center of their creativity just makes my heart smile. I love acting so it is great to see and hear about Christian directors and writers out there. People using their gifts to glorify GOD. You guys are adorable. I pray GOD blesses your family in every way girl. Truly.ReplyDelete
Wow Casey!!!!! I bet you just get over the mood excited when you see the talent your hubby has :) I can't wait to see it!!ReplyDelete
This looks so good! I want to know what happens!ReplyDelete
You are one talented couple!
wow! can't wait to see the film.ReplyDelete
WOW!!! That looks awesome! I want to watch the whole thing.ReplyDelete
Great trailer! the girl looks familiar? has she been in anything?ReplyDelete
SO COOL!! you two are so talented!ReplyDelete
I'm so excited! This looks fantastic. You husband did and amazing job. I know he is so grateful to have a loving and supportive wife like you. I hope I can be just as loving and supportive as you are to him with my fiance. Thanks for the inspiration Casey!ReplyDelete
that looks so great!!! i cant wait to be able to watch it!!!ReplyDelete
amazing. he is talented. :) can't wait to see the final product!ReplyDelete
Looks awesome!!!:)ReplyDelete
wow! i can't wait to see the whole thing! amazing job chris..how artistic and seems suspenseful, will get & keep the audience's attention! :)ReplyDelete
love the trailer. it led me to chris' other videos. he's amazing, i love the ones of you and the kiddos. he's pretty darn talented!ReplyDelete
Everything looks great! I got to check out your FAQ page. I read the post about blog advice and found it so helpful. I actually quoted you on my blog today. I hope you don't mind. Thanks for everything =)ReplyDelete
- Sarah
Wow! This looks awesome. Can't wait to see it in full- I can see why you're so proud of your hubby! We have to remember this may happen to us, and that our brothers and sisters around the world live like this every day in Iran, N. Korea, India, Africa, China, just to name a few. We need to be praying for them, isn't it amazing they are "counted worthy"!? Love to you in Christ, Casey!ReplyDelete
This is awesome! I've very impressed!ReplyDelete
Wow! That looks amazing! Having the vision to do that and the talent to complete it is impressive. I can't wait to see it.ReplyDelete
Love it!! So exciting :) xoxoReplyDelete
seriously, this gives me chills! so awesome! go, chris!!!ReplyDelete
This looks awesome!ReplyDelete
AWESOME JOB, Chris!!ReplyDelete


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Asia Pacific Village
The Asia-Pacific Village aims to bring the diversity of our region and our congress together in a space where our differences are celebrated. The Asia-Pacific Village will provide a place where we can both interact and engage on a personal level, sharing all our combined experiences, knowledge and skills, build coalitions, and promote interactive learning among communities living with and affected by HIV and AIDS including policy makers, researchers and other groups in the community.
The Asia-Pacific Village will translate the 9th ICAAP theme Empowering People, Strengthening Network in a more friendly, fun, and colourful way. The Asia-Pacific Village will host a range of activities, including small groups discussions, informal education activities, art performances and cultural shows, regional stalls selling handicrafts and snacks made by people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
The Asia-Pacific village will be beautifully located at the Westin Hotel grounds, providing a place to retreat from the sometimes hectic conference sessions, and will be open to delegates as well as the general public from 09.00 to 17.30 during the Congress.
Cultural Performances
Important Notice: Submission for cultural performance proposals has closed. Result of the proposals review has been announced and finalized in June 2009.
Delegates wishing to stage cultural performances in the Asia-Pacific Village may submit proposals to the Secretariat. Proposals should be submitted through the website using the Abstract Submission Form between 1 December 2008- 15 March 2009. The deadline has been extended from 15 March 2009 to 27 March 2009. Those who cannot access the website may contact the Secretariat to obtain the Abstract Submission Form, which should be returned by mail or via courier to the Secretariat.
Proposals will be subject to a peer-review process carried out by the Asia Pacific Village Sub-Committee. Acceptance of proposals will be announced in April 2009.
Delegates interested in participating in the Asia-Pacific Village: (a) should be sponsored by their organisations, or (b) should seek sponsorship from other organisation for their travel-related expenses, or (c) may apply for scholarship (please see Scholarship section).
Free exhibition space at the Asia-Pacific Village
A number of free exhibit booths will also be made available for AIDS service organisations, NGOs, and CBOs at the Asia-Pacific Village. Delegates wishing to exhibit in the Asia-Pacific Village may submit applications to the Secretariat. Application forms can be downloaded from the website. The application deadline is 30 June 2009.
Important Notice: Application for exhibition space has closed. Result of the proposals review has been announced and finalized.
Bali Convention Centre
Bali, Indonesia
News Archives
- Vacancy: ASAP Executive Director
- Goodbye Bali, hello Busan!
- Plenary rejects double standards
- Universal Access still tough challenge
- Indonesia sees progress: President
- 9th ICAAP gets underway in Bali
- A Call for Stronger Commitment to Universal Access
- 9th ICAAP Security & Safety Statement
- Community Roles as a Key in AIDS Response
- 9th ICAAP Expresses Condolence


text:
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text:
Summer is around the corner and with it comes Genealogy @ Night. Don't let the name mislead you. We'll make use of the long daylight hours and increase your genealogical research knowledge. In June, July, and August, lectures will be offered on the third Tuesdays of each month from 6:30 PM -7:30 PM. Our first offering is Cynthia Theusch on "French Canadian Research at ACPL" on June 15. On July 20, John Beatty will present "Researching Indiana Court Records," followed by Dawne Slater‑Putt with "Cataloging 3‑D Items & Heirlooms" on August 17. Look for more information at our Website and remember to register via email to email@example.com or by phone at 260‑421‑1225. Plan to visit us in the evenings this summer!
Genealogy @ Night


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text:
By Kim Palmer
CLEVELAND (Reuters) – A custom neon green wheelchair stolen from a 9-year-old Cleveland boy was returned anonymously to a police station on Thursday but with serious damage.
The wheelchair with wheels that lit up is owned by Stephen Gibson, who suffers from cerebral palsy and scoliosis.
On Sunday, Stephen and his family realized thieves had broken into their garage and taken it along with $ 200 worth of holiday groceries from a freezer.
When Stephen and his mother, Barbara Gibson, told their story to local media a citywide hunt for the wheelchair ensued.
Although the chair was returned, one of the wheels is bent, the emergency brakes have been removed and the wheels no longer light up, Gibson said.
Even though the chair was damaged, Gibson says her son is "ecstatic" to have it back.
Stephen is now using a temporary wheelchair from his school and local medical equipment supplier Invacare has offered to replace Gibson's wheelchair with two new ones.
One of the wheelchairs will have light-up wheels and the other is a sports chair so he can play basketball. The chairs will be ready for delivery in about two weeks, according to an Invacare spokeswoman.
Cleveland Police spokeswoman Jennifer Ciaccia said police will review tapes from cameras positioned outside of the station to see who returned the chair, noting the person or persons may not be same one who stole the chair.
(Editing by Brendan O'Brien and Lisa Shumaker)
- Stephen Gibson
- Barbara Gibson


text:
|2009-06-04, 00:43
|Link #1
Join Date: Mar 2006
The Future of US Healthcare
This thread is for the discussion of the future of health care in the United States and the world in general. As many are aware there is a great debate raging about the health care system, from costs to the pros and cons of nationalization. So, some questions to get this going:
What do you think of the US health care system? What can be done to improve it?
As always, please try to be civil and thoughtful in your responses.
|2009-06-04, 01:13
|Link #2
Observer/Bookman wannabe
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 33
The fact remains that in many countries (especially Singapore), it's better to die than to be sick, with or without nationalised medicine. Illnesses cost plenty of bombs to treat. The only way to go, IMO, is preventive care and awareness to bring down the number of cases.
|2009-06-04, 01:42
|Link #3
Bittersweet Distractor
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 27
Well, look, sometimes you suffer health problems not because of lifestyle choices. Say one day you find out that you have "XYZ" condition, disease, or problem while you are a freshmen in college. All of a sudden, in order to save your own life, you must go into a lot of debt (If you do not have health insurance, which many people in the U.S. don't because it's just not affordable) to get health care. And you can just imagine how these stories end...
Basically, all I am saying is that if people need care, they shouldn't have to fear the extensive costs. We often talk in society that we cannot put a price tag on lives, but that is what we are doing in the health care sector... It's such a hypocrisy.
Now I'm no expert on the medical industry, though I do have a mother who works in a doctor's office and sees first hand how patients and doctors abuse medicaid and medicare. There are issues with both sides of the public vs the private structure argument and I'm not the one educated enough to make a decision on what exact plan is the proper course of action. It is obvious though that the current system is broke and has succumbed to corporate greed.
|2009-06-04, 01:43
|Link #4
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 61
(reblurb from other thread)
The most practical system being proposed is the "single payer health plan" as a non-profit process. It takes the insurance profit leeching out of the picture and its the one that almost all the medical professionals in the United States are on board supporting. Many of my friends and acquaintences are doctors, pharmacists, and other medical types... not a single one doesn't support a single-payer non-profit system at the least.
You can blame Senator Baucus of Montana for trying to keep that option off the table (owned by the insurance lobby one might guess) despite the fact his constituents in "conservative Montana" are literally going apeshit on his aides. He doesn't seem to want to actually meet with his voters at his town hall meetings it seems. (one of many example news reports: http://missoulian.com/articles/2009/...cal/news02.txt) So if this is important to you, you might want to write him whether he is your Senator or not, because he's affecting every citizen in the US on this matter.
Importantly, a single-payer non-profit plan means that small business and all the other business can get out of the crushing burden of having to provide benefits to their employees. They can even pay them more (as much as 40% more based on total employee package cost of salary+benefits). Business shouldn't have to be involved in healthcare processes of their employees. Healthcare professionals no longer have to deal with 200 different insurance companies each with their own processes, automatic denials, formulary-of-the-week resulting in more savings.
On preventative healthcare, the HMO I use is one of the FEW in the country that actually believes in preventative care and it shows in their statistics (both in patient health and the health of the HMO). Its a matter of being non-profit rather than a MAXIMUM-forget-the-patient-who-cares-the-quarter-is-coming-up profit. Apparently the stakeholders are fine with that because, guess what, it is a non-profit organization - if that were the rule instead of the exception, we might not be having this discussion.
The current system for most people is broken. We have nearly 50 million people whose only option for healthcare is the Emergency Room (now *there's* a brilliant costsaver-not). We have almost twice that many that THINK they're covered -- til their world collapses financially after the 'fine print' and 'restrictions' are revealed in many policies. (Note: check what your lifetime maximum benefit is... also check to see what treatments they won't cover)
The question is how do we address healthcare as a people in a way that shares the load amongst everyone. Some of that may include expecting as a society for people to move more and eat less .....
Last edited by Vexx; 2009-06-04 at 02:25.
|2009-06-04, 02:19
|Link #6
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 61
With a user pool that isn't cherry-picked by a for-profit insurance group, the costs are spread across a huge pool. If you can get a huge pool of participants, disaster-care coverage costs are spread nicely thin.
Anyone who has had to negotiate health plans for small (~100 person) business versus larger (~1000+) sized businesses know that the insurance companies give a slightly better rate to larger companies because they know statistically that a lot of money will come in and only a few will need it.
One company I worked for (small one) got dumped by the carrier because we had "too many women" (all those darn wimmen problems). When we proposed the idea of co-oping up with other small companies in the area to create a larger pool, every single insurance carrier said they'd blackball us. Bluntly and without sugar-coating...
They love the divide and conquer -- they can charge more.
|2009-06-04, 02:22
|Link #8
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Land of the rising sun
This whole thread reminds me of a famous tale of Aesop, Ant and the grasshopper.
Preventative healthcare means eating right and daily exercise again something lacking in the general US lifestyle.(Paying monthly fee to go to a sportsclub only to ride a car to anywhere and everywhere you go)
One of the reasons of the US auto industry bailout escapade is lack of national healthcare which the labor union demanded. This will again happen again if not changed.
The Japanese national healthcare system with all it's problems still provides minimum coverage which all stake holders pays their share. Companies pays a tax deductible amount of 1/3, the employee pays 1/3 and the government pays the remaining 1/3.
The underlying fundemental resistance to national healthcare system is because the idea is based on socialism and conservative people is led to believe that private industries can come up with a better and cheaper solution, an illusion fed by financial institutes. National healthcare does not generate profit like private health insurance since premium must be set to the lowest common denominator regulated by the State.
I think the US people in general needs to re-evaluate the entire captalism band wagon since it has a major flaw and that there are leeches that feeds on the ignorant.
|2009-06-04, 03:44
|Link #9
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 30
Much as many wants to put a sacrosanct label on life, pragmatism gets in the way by debating on an individual's worth in society using contribution (often material) as a gauge. In a MAD scenario, if there is enough shelters, we could have housed the entire human race, but due to limitations we only choose the "brightest" and the "most important".
Similarly, I think an utopic view would be that everyone has access to all forms of healthcare in an event of a threat on their life, but practically it is impossible due to limitations of funds and healthcare professionals.
The privatisation of healthcare is actually an attempt to boost the economy via foreign expenditure (spending money in the country profits the government), but eventually it leans too far to bring doom upon those who really needed it but had no money. Eventually, it all boils down to bad management and insufficient attention paid to crisis aversion.
The US has the brains to solve it and even advert it, but they are just too lazy and spent valuable time and money on places that do not benefit them. It needs to have an immediate and serious reassessment of financial priorities (yeah, just scrap the F22 program already and do something about the Stryker's).
|2009-06-04, 04:04
|Link #10
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Suburban DC
|2009-06-04, 04:48
|Link #11
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 61
In many cases, the reason for that is fear of competing with the private sector... Amtrak (or a collection of train operators like Japan or Europe has) could be fantastic but for one thing - the for-profit freight trains have right-of-way (on railroads built with massive government subsidies and breaks). An unreliable train system is doomed no matter what money you throw at it.
In some cases, its because the private sector would have never done it on its own because of the startup costs (NASA which gets tremendous value per dollar by any accounting).
Social Security would be quite in-the-black if the politicians wouldn't steal from it. Once a month it delivers an astounding number of checks properly.
Medicare has been quite successful - medical professionals love its smoothness BUT they grimace because it is underfunded --- why? Because there's a cap the number of dollars of a person's income that are taxed. A couple making $250K a year only pays Medicare taxes on the first $90Kish. Someone making a million a year only pays Medicare taxes on the first $90Kish. Hmmmmmm, that's not even a flat tax - its just stupid. (and yes, our family makes well over the cap).
I'd like to slap anyone that claims "private sector always does it better". They literally don't know what they're talking about. I've worked in private, non-profit, and government. Any corporation can be not only just as inefficient as any government but often more inefficient because of the politics within the corporation and the authoritarian hierarchy -- Dilbert is a corporate manual, not a satire.... I can give specific examples of both brilliance and godforsaken-waste in each sector.
Any organization, corporate or government, can be a piece of crap or relatively trouble-free.
|2009-06-04, 05:08
|Link #12
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Detroit, MI
About that single payer health plan, both countries I mentioned in the other post, UK and Canada both use single payer health plan and they both have similar problems with it. Too many people vs too little resources which results in increasingly ridiculous wait times for people to get the treatments they need. I'd agree that something needs to be done to address health care costs, but handing everything over to the government to royally screw it up is probably the absolute worst possible thing to do. I honestly don't get where peoples faith in the government comes from.
|2009-06-04, 05:21
|Link #13
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 61
"single payer health plan" seems to mean very different things to many people. The proposal here is that everyone signs onto a single non-profit insurance entity (the actual execution of the processing will probably be outsourced) that has the entire citizenry as its user pool rather than many tiny splinters and chunks of the population.
Rather like my non-profit HMO, you call the appointment person, make an appointment, go see the doctor.... if you're using a popular doctor it might be tougher to get in when you want. That doctor only has to deal with *one* insurance/billing entity now -- not hundreds of entities spread across his patient load.
In the case of single payer though, the doctor doesn't work for the government - but he does have to follow "best practices" (as he should anyway) as determined by groups of doctors and the payment would be made based on the cost of "best practice". No one pretends this won't have bumps and goofs - the point is to stop the enormous siphoning of $$$ out of the system at all levels and to stabilize expectations for what kind of healthcare every citizen can expect.
I do invite anyone to research many of the for-profit HMOs around the country and check out their resources and wait times --- they've become ridiculously inaccessible as well. The HMOs maximize profit by constricting access to the service and reducing the assets that provide the service. They also deny or eliminate services that are less profitable. They are barely accountable to the patient, marginally accountable to the employer, and mostly accountable to their executives who feign accountability to the stockholders...
The same problem *could* happen no matter what constructs one devises --- but it is already the case now. And the existing system still doesn't address the 40 million plus who don't have insurance.
Oh and many people can *afford* insurance... but no one will insure them because they have pre-existing conditions. Friend of mine was force-retired/laid off a couple of years ago at age 45... he has diabetes. So far he's been unable to find anyone to insure him. He also has been unable to get hired because of his medical condition --- since businesses are forced into the healthcare providing, they don't want their rates to go up. He lives in a state with no state government "safety net" insurance plan.
Last edited by Vexx; 2009-06-04 at 05:36.
|2009-06-04, 05:29
|Link #14
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Land of the rising sun
If I were to add as Vexx also posted, projects with massive startup costs like social infrastructure will not be possible by the private sector.
There are also business like trash collection, waste water treatment that needs to be heavily regulated because private sectors may cut corners to obtain maximum profit with little safegaurd to health and/or enviorment.
Capitalism's main objective is to pursue profit which may go against the required need of public service. In these cases capitalism fails because it is interlocked into a self-contradicting position.
|2009-06-04, 05:44
|Link #15
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 61
Employers who opt out of insurance for their employees -- end up with uninsured employees who get sicker because they can't get insurance on their own (ever price individual policies??? They're priced to say "f you, we really don't want your business because you're just one person and we only want to deal in large volume"
Their goal is to extract the maximum amount of money out of the system for their own pockets while spending as little as possible to achieve patient or medical care goals. It is the innate nature and definition of a for-profit corporation and directly at odds with the health of the citizens of society.
|2009-06-04, 05:46
|Link #16
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 30
Take for example Hyflux and Blackwater/Xe (examples are not chosen for a pun, just coincidence). Both of them sell ideas for huge amounts of money with little loss. Water Treatment can be done by just contracting any company, but Hyflux did it by providing a quality service and investing in water infrastructure assets, which are aplenty since earth is made of 80% water.
Blackwater, on the other hand, provides a proxy fighting unit to conduct deniable operations at a manageable cost (e.g go in, blow up the building, but let the soldiers get back on their own with little help on extraction). The field staff provided may be paid higher, but when they are dead, there is no need to pay them long term so the company saves money on that.
So basically, things like trash collection and water treatment CAN be profitable if run alongside other things. It would be a "form of investment in public relations" so to speak.
|2009-06-04, 08:24
|Link #18
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Land of the rising sun
You just can't dump that in a dump site or it's completely a zero sum gain to society where only the private corporation gains profit.
I am not saying Hyflux is doing it that way since I do not know the company but you really need to scrutinize thoroughly to actually know these kind of unique business model.
The second example, Blackwood can only work when there is enough staff willing to take the risk which again will become a problem to society as a whole in the long run.
|2009-06-04, 08:54
|Link #19
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
You oversimplify the problem by believing that being socializing health care the only difference it makes to the current system is that instead of paying to get diagnosed for say, heart disease, a patient will have to pay nothing. That is not true. That patient, if not restricted by the cost, will also go to see other doctors trying to scan for unforeseen diseases. At this moment, we don't have enough doctors and people are proposing adding 100 times more workload to them? Ridiculous.
=>No, I can't. It's required that you see a GP first.
_But the line is too long there.
=>What a shame!
|2009-06-04, 10:20
|Link #20
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
I don't know what will be of this....but I hope good healthcare will be available in the US. I am only 21 and I have a large debt in the hospital and my family pays big money every month so my treatment will continue.
It only worsens when I have never worked due to Major Depression and GAD and I am unable to attent school anymore.
|health, healthcare
|Thread Tools


text:
Rich is cool
Herman Cain: Stop resenting wealthy people, and figure out how they became that way
If the polls are any indication, it hasn't worked, but the Obama campaign spent big money over the last month attacking Mitt Romney for what it apparently believes is the worst sin imaginable: He is rich.
And as we know now (not that it was a big surprise), President Obama's disdain for those who have earned substantial wealth runs deep. He doesn't like you having all that money (unless you contribute it to his campaign), and he really doesn't like you taking credit for having earned it. That's why he said the following:
"Look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something – there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.
"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business – you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet."
As far as Obama is concerned, anyone who is successful got that way because of the system, by which he means the government. Democrats sometimes refer to the rich as "the winners in life's lottery," which is to say they merely got lucky in a game of chance – and that's why they need to fork over so much of their wealth in taxes, so Democrats can "spread the wealth around" to all those other smart, hardworking people, who just didn't happen to win life's lottery.
What a load of cr-p. To listen to these people, you'd think being rich was the worst thing anyone could do.
Well I've got news for them: Being rich is cool. Not only that, but when someone has become rich, others should endeavor to learn as much as they can about how he or she did it, instead of resenting it and dismissing it as merely lucking out because of all the help the government provided.
The best example I can give you is my dad. He started his adult life in 1940 with nothing but the clothes on his back. At one point, he worked three jobs at the same time. I suppose wealth is relative to everyone's situation, but my dad had a goal of getting rich as he defined it – and he achieved his goal.
Did the government deserve any credit for his success? When he walked off that small dirt farm in Tennessee, the road wasn't even paved. I'm not saying there were no government functions that worked well and benefited him. Of course there were. But they were the same ones that benefited everybody else. My dad achieved his particular goals because of his particular dedication, his good plan and his hard work. And yes, he was perfectly within his rights to be proud of himself for being so smart and working so hard.
And let's be honest: It was true then, and it's even truer today, that when you get rich you largely do it in spite of the government – its rules, its regulations, its confiscatory tax policies … and now, the tendency of certain leaders to assail you for your success.
The coolest thing about rich people is that, to get rich, they have to make their skill and their capital work for other people. Instead of ripping Bain Capital for its success, the Obama administration and the media should study what Bain did and how it did it. Bain created thousands of jobs – many more on a net basis than it eliminated via strategic layoffs – because it made smart business decisions and built successful enterprises.
I'll take that any day over what Obama does, which is to flush money down the toilet in the form of stimulus that doesn't stimulate, "green energy" investments that lead straight to bankruptcy and tax and regulatory policies that stifle capital formation and entrepreneurial innovation.
Mitt Romney got rich because he is smart and he works hard. That makes him pretty darn cool, in my book. Those of you who resent the rich: Get over it and study how they did it. Along the way, you'll discover that the rich not only pay most of the taxes, but in all likelihood they pay your paycheck, too.
And you'd better study them while you can, because there's no telling how many of them will be left once Obama gets finished with them.


text:
Excessive Rear Camber
Excessive Rear Camber
Not yet, interesting...I'll keep an eye when behind my neighbors' and ask them to do the same! :)
This is common to improve cornering grip/handling. My 335i has significant camber offset on the rears. Great for skid pad, bad for tire wear. My BMW will wear the insides of the tire out while the tread depth on the outside still looks great!
I've spent a good bit of time on this. There are very good reasons for the camber and a way to remove some if the owner feels it is necessary.
Went through a set of Michelins in 8300 miles in about 90 days. Inner tread wore all the way through leading to a flat (other side just as bad but no flat). Outside tread appears almost new. I'm glad I realized the flat in a parking lot! Wheels thankfully did not get damaged. Front treads were fine. I'm replacing the rears and having much of the camber taken off. Mostly highway miles, so my slightly aggressive driving in the excitement of a new car has a lot to do with it. The camber didn't help the wear, but I'm sure improved the fast cornering traction. Lesson learned. I had read about this prior to delivery, but promptly ignored. Even though... best car I've ever owned/driven! Would and will buy another someday.
5500 miles today and had the rears off. 0.220" depth on the outside and 0.180" on the inside. P+ with camber set to -1.4 in the rear.
Per TMC threads, lolachampcar had new links made for his car to reduce rear camber - talked with service and they indicate that will void the warranty, stating that the purpose of the camber is for handling safety as lola indicates - my tires now at 12,000 show more wear on the inside, after rotating at 6500 - I may try remounting the tires from side to side and then rotating front to rear, which will put the better tread inside and keep the tire rotation direction the same - have to evaluate costs of doing so, may not be worth the $$ vs extra wear -
lolachampcar - is that with the new links installed or without? - since I don't drive that hard, I would consider new links IF it wouldn't void the warranty - any recommendations from your perspective -


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About this blog
FLEFF Intern Voices
The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival from the interns' point of view
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Blog post written by Colleen Ryan, Television-Radio '12, Anthropology Minor, Lansing, NY
Toivo (pronounced Toy-vo) is back for their third performance at FLEFF!
Toivo is a six piece band, originating from just up the lake in Trumansburg. They play Finnish, Tex-Mex, and original music suited to the traditional dances of the Finger...


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Smog Tied To Increased Hypertension & Diabetes Risks In Black Women
(BlackDoctor.org) — Air pollution may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure in black American women, a new study suggests.
Previous research has shown that air pollution boosts the chances of acute cardiovascular events such as stroke and heart attack, but it hasn't been known whether it also increases the likelihood of chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
In this study, researchers examined the link between these chronic illnesses and exposure to nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, also known as particle pollution. Nitrogen oxides are indicators of traffic-related air pollution.
The study included about 4,000 black women living in Los Angeles who were followed from 1995 to 2005. During that time, 531 new cases of hypertension and 183 new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in the women, said study leader Patricia Coogan, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health and the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University, and colleagues.
For each increase of 12 parts per billion (ppb) in exposure to nitrogen oxides, there was a 24 percent rise in the risk of diabetes and an 11 percent rise in the risk of hypertension. Exposure to particle pollution also appeared to increase the risk for having both diseases, but the evidence for this was weaker than for nitrogen oxides.
The study was released online Jan. 4 in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Circulation.
Two previous studies suggested that traffic-related air pollution increased the risk of diabetes, but those studies did not include black Americans.
"A link between air pollution and the risks of diabetes and hypertension is of particular importance to African American women, because the incidence of both conditions is almost twice as high in African American women as in white women," Coogan said in a Boston Medical Center news release. She added that black Americans also may tend to live in more highly polluted areas than white Americans.
"In addition, even a modest effect of air pollutants on the risks of hypertension and diabetes will have significant public health impact due to the high incidence of these conditions and the ubiquity of exposure to air pollution," Coogan stated in the news release.


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Debut EP from Texas hardcore band Thin Ice. This hardcore quintet are so promising they grabbed the attention of Blood & Ink Records before ever playing their first show! Without a doubt, Thin Ice will be a name to know in hardcore in the coming year.
For fans of: Hatebreed, Figure Four, Reign Supreme


text:
Browsing by Author "Ting, Shuyun"
Now showing items 1-1 of 1
The role of market orientation in developing and sustaining market relationships - an empirical study in Taiwan. Ting, Shuyun (The Robert Gordon University Aberdeen Business School, 2008)Significant work has taken place in the development of our understanding of business dyadic relationships but much work remains to be done in determining the antecedents, particularly our understanding of cultural contexts. ...