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I know that Nightmare Inn was the first book in this series, but I’m not sure about the rest of them. My paperback copy of The Attic claims that Room 13 is the second book in the series, but the large number of creepy teenagers in the Inn makes me suspect that maybe The Pool came first.
I guess it doesn’t matter. Wikipedia says they all came out in the same year, so maybe they were plotted simultaneously and that’s how the characters are able to overlap.
I really wish I could find an interview or something with the author and learn more about what inspired these books. Because the overall theme seems to be “bad stuff went down in the 60s,” and Nightmare Inn reminded me, weirdly, of the Manson family–the idea of a group of hippies actually being murderous, I guess.
And Room 13 has another backstory involving that period of the Arcadia Inn’s history when it was overrun with hippie squatters, some of whom failed bigly at the whole peace, love, and patchouli oil thing.
The main character, Erin Naughton, is being forced to spend a weekend at the New Arcadia Inn with her parents and her younger brother JUST because her father has blocked arteries and might, like, die at any time. She’s angry at her father for this because a guy she likes asked her to the dance and now she’ll have to miss it. Erin’s…kind of horrible, even by selfish-teenager standards. Continue reading “T. S. Rue: Nightmare Inn: Room 13”→
Don’t be impressed: I didn’t remember that title, just the story, but searching for “ghost story whistle” brought it up. It still terrifies me on rereading it, too.
(It also contains one of my favourite sentences ever, when a youngish professor is about to leave on vacation and someone jokes about coming with him: “The Professor quivered, but managed to laugh in a courteous manner.” My introvert heart understands completely.)
Anyway, Devil Wind puts me in mind of that, only it’s American, and has more witchcraft and demonology in it.
In keeping with what must have been the theme of the Dark Forces series, messing around with ANYTHING (in this case an antique whistle) is just basically asking to have something show up and possess you. I imagine if you sat down and read them back to back you’d be afraid to ever leave the house again.
I read this a year ago (and a clever online friend asked if the nightmare was those pants, ha; now I can’t look at this cover without remembering that), but I didn’t post about it then, so I just reread it. And I’m STILL not sure if this boils down to ghosts or reincarnation or what. I’m leaning towards ghosts, but…the whole thing is odd.
It’s also hilarious. Not the deaths, obviously, but the SEETHING SEXUAL TENSION which is entirely in Sarah’s head because the guy isn’t interested.
We open with Sarah getting packed for a week-long camping trip, distracted the entire time because she’s thinking about a mysterious “something” that happened the night before between her and Adam. Her sort-of friend Jodie is in her room (Sarah thinks to herself that they aren’t really friends, but they’ve hung out a lot in the year since Sarah moved to town because they’re dating guys who are best friends).
It’s an awkward situation, because Jodie is Adam’s girlfriend. Oops. Also, last summer Sarah started dating Matt, but before that Matt and Jodie dated for years. So the four of them are going to spend a week seething with jealousy and resentment in a cabin deep in the woods, and honestly that would be my idea of a nightmare even WITHOUT supernatural elements. Continue reading “T. S. Rue: Nightmare Inn”→
I’m creeped out by dolls anyway (even perfectly ordinary dolls are a little bit spooky to me), so the “this is what Chelsea Clinton would look like if she were inanimate and also possessed” thing going on in the cover art really freaks me out.
The book lives up to the cover.
Cassie, our heroine, is a doll collector. She persuades her father to go to the State Fair a day early, because she’s eager to share every possible moment with her long-distance farmboy boyfriend, Jack.
Cassie’s attending the fair to enter her doll collection in a competition, and Jack’s there, because his kid brother, Nate, has entered his cutting horse, Pebbles.
Jack and Cassie met at the previous year’s fair, and Cassie’s father is an agricultural agent, so we’re in wholesome rural territory here.
A fortune-teller warns Jack that he’ll have to be strong, and sees “very black clouds” in Cassie’s immediate future. The presence of a fortune-teller on the “good” side of things temporarily ruined my theory that this entire series sprang out of someone’s desire to write a whole bunch of Chick-Tract style religious fears into a horror series, but she’s…awfully Christian for a fortune-teller:
She hesitated. “Do you believe in God?”
The question surprised Jack. “Yes, I do,” he replied a bit warily.
“So do I.” She stared at him. “Why do you look astonished?”
“But I thought—I thought you believed in—”
“The occult?” she prompted.
“Right,” Jack responded, nodding.
“But why is that so strange? The occult is concerned with supernatural forces. And what is more supernatural than God?” (p. 26)
I mean, I’m pretty sure Jack Chick would still say she was putting her soul at risk by reading Tarot cards, but that’s pretty Christian-ish for a random fortune teller. When you add in the part where the Protestant minister who does the end-of-book exorcism is her adoptive father, it kind of reinforces my theory that these skewed heavily towards Christian superstition/indoctrination territory.
Anyway. Cassie sees a doll being offered as a prize for a dart game, and immediately becomes obsessed with it. Jack promises to win it for her. When the game finally opens another guy almost wins it for his girlfriend, but Cassie distracts him by throwing her darts into his leg. Yeah. I’m not sure if that’s meant to be “the evil doll is influencing Cassie,” or if it’s “the doll wants to be with Cassie because Cassie is already a little bit evil.”
Pebbles wins her competition, but then something awful happens. There really should be warnings for animal deaths in books. This one is particularly horrible. I only teared up a little when the cutting horse (it’s a skill set, not a breed) went crazy at the sight of Cassie and her evil doll, ending up breaking her leg and having to be killed, but I flat-out BAWLED at this part:
Hearing something, Jack looked up. He recognized the man who had been sitting in front of him in the grandstand. He was holding a gangly colt in his arms.
He put the colt down, and the little mare stood on shaky legs.
Puzzled, Nate looked at the colt, then at the man, who seemed somewhat embarrassed.
“Son, this here colt is a direct descendant of Powder Puff. Her daddy’s that stallion Warrior. I want you to train her.” The man paused. “We’ll go halves if you’ll do it.”
Nate stood up, and reached out to the colt. The little mare nuzzled him. Nate could not help smiling.
“Will you do it, boy?” the man asked.
“Is she weaned?” Nate asked.
“We lost her mom, she’s being bottle fed.”
“What’s her name?” Nate asked.
“Ain’t named her yet,” the man answered. “You do that.” (p. 58)
“Yes, the working cowboys. They want a stone, and they have decided on what it should say—that is, with your approval, of course.”
Nate started to say something, but the fair official continued, “They want the marker to say, ‘Pebbles—the best damned cutting horse we ever saw.'” (p. 60)
Other bad things happen—Cassie’s other dolls get destroyed, and her and her fathers trailer is trashed (except for the doll. DUN DUN DUN)—but since I was still literally crying over the dead horse and the kindness of various strangers, the increasing creepiness had less of an effect on me than you’d expect.
Also, Cassie is being bitchy and horrible. I know this is meant to be because she’s starting to be possessed, but honestly if someone got a horse killed right in front of me and then snapped at me every time I criticized her increasingly-large (yes, it’s growing) doll with it’s creepy human hair, I’d just abandon her to her evil hobby. Jeez. So I guess I’d be less than useful in a case of possession.
Aside from growing, the doll is also changing its hair and eye colour until it looks like Cassie.
Eventually Jack confides in Maria, who drives them out to visit an elderly minister. He turns out to be her father, and also an experienced exorcist. Cue typical exorcism scene.
The demon tempts him by pretending the minister’s dear friend and co-exorcist, a now-deceased Catholic priest, sold his soul and is “here with me.” The minister recognizes bullshit, proceeds with the exorcism, and dies in the end—but he dies untainted, and is reunited with his dead friend, so…happy ending? I guess?
Also Cassie’s saved from the demon inhabiting the doll, although I found it slightly hard to care.
This is the first Nightmare Club book I’ve ever read. I’d never even heard of them until I started seeing them on Instagram. Naturally I was unable to resist yet another Point Horror/Fear Street clone.
The premise tying this series together is that a non-alcohol-serving teen club called “The Night Owl Club has opened in Cooper Hollow. Well, outside Cooper Hollow, in what used to be an orphanage. There are also three schools provided for future hijinks: Cooper High School, Hudson Military Academy, and Cooper Riding Academy for Girls.
Joy Ride pretty much lays everything out on the back cover:
Mike doesn’t see anything wrong with drinking and driving. He thinks he’s totally in control. But his girlfriend Karen knows he has a problem.
Then Mike meets a pretty new girl in a slinky red dress at The Night Owl Club. Unlike Karen, Joy doesn’t mind if Mike drinks. In fact, she encourages him to drink—and then to get behind the wheel.
Mike doesn’t know it yet, but Joy isn’t a real, live teen. She’s a dead one. Killed by a drunk driver decades ago, Joy has come back for one reason—to get her revenge. And unless someone can stop her, Joy is going to help Mike drive himself right over the edge…
The only thing you can’t predict from that description is how large a role Karen plays in this: she’s actually the one who figures out that Joy died in the 1920s (because she’s wearing a flapper dress), has her computer-geek tall friend Joan (Joan is a proto-Barb) locate Joy’s grave and her family home, and destroys the talisman (a gin flask) that ultimately gets rid of Joy.
Mike, meanwhile, is an idiot. Actually I guess that’s a slightly unfair criticism, since he’s drunk most of the time we see him. So it could be the booze making him ignore the way Joy appears and disappears, the part where no one else sees or interacts with her, the ever-full gin flask, and the outdated slang (“bathtub gin” and “roadhouse” and “tommy guns,” for instance).
Mr. Lamb, the guidance counselor, presumably isn’t drunk, so there’s no damned excuse for him. When Karen has a full-blown ghost encounter in school (ending with her bolting from a music room and then knocking herself unconscious on the floor), he makes one feeble attempt to confirm her story by calling Mike’s chronically-depressed mother, who naturally assures him Mike is fine. (She sleeps all day, every day, and hasn’t noticed Mike’s newfound alcoholism). After that one phone call Mr. Lamb checks out:
Karen said, “I’m not imagining things! Joy is real! Other kids have seen Mike talking to what looked like an empty chair. Just ask them!”
Mr. Lamb sighed. “We already gave you one chance to prove your story. Considering the circumstances, one was enough….” (p. 71)
I understand not believing her about the ghost, but considering she’s just told him that Mike (also a student at Cooper High) is drunk and absent from school, couldn’t he look into that part a little more? Or just, I don’t know, call one of the other students in and ask them what’s up?
Anyway, in spite of the adults in this town, Karen defeats the ghost and Mike sobers up just in time to survive a drag race and then rescue Karen from the massive fire she caused by trying to burn a silver flask in the attic of an old house.
…okay, everyone in this thing is an idiot. Except Joan.
I’m not sure where to even BEGIN describing this book, or the series it belongs to. I’d honestly forgotten these books existed, and then someone in a Facebook group posted a link to an article called What Children’s Book Do You Remember That No One Else Does? and suddenly I had to go digging around to find my copies.
To prepare yourself for this particular book? Maybe go watch The Exorcist and then envision a version of it aimed at eleven year olds. Because that’s what this is: it’s The Exorcist minus the copious vomit, and with the hardcore self-abuse replaced by “making a pass at my twin sister’s boyfriend.”
Also [SPOILER ALERT] the priest lives in this one, which was vastly reassuring to me when I was young. For some reason I’d read my parents’ paperback copy of The Exorcist BEFORE I read this (I sneaked it off their bookshelf, it wasn’t a reading choice they’d approved or anything). I vividly remember being terrified the first time I read The Game, because I thought the priest might die. Like, I guess I just thought that was how all exorcisms ended: with the patient saved, but the priest dead.
The book starts with teenager Julie Mitchell driving in a rainstorm at night, while her father worries that he should be driving and her twin sister Terri daydreams in the back seat. Julie sees a shadowy figure in the road, crashes the car, and ends up in a wheelchair.
She’s angry and self-pitying, and her parents are having fights (her father feels so guilty that he wants to coddle her, while her mother wants to push her toward recovery or at least independence). That felt fairly realistic, actually. She’s also jealous of her sister, which again is believable, and has a bit of a crush on Terri’s boyfriend Scott-the-lifeguard.
Julie rallies briefly when an old family friend, Mrs. Barnes, visits. But then Mrs. Barnes unexpectedly dies of a heart attack. It’s never stated that this is BECAUSE of the evil spirit, but it feels that way, as though having caused the car accident it’s now trying to further isolate Julie by eliminating the one person whose company she enjoys.
At the estate sale of her stuff Julie buys an ominous dark trunk. Terri is suspicious, because she doesn’t remember ever having seen it at Mrs. Barnes house. At home they break it open and it’s full of fabric scraps and…DUN DUN DUN…a Ouija board.
So now Julie has two new hobbies: talking to a spirit using the Ouija board, and using a pair of binoculars to spy on Terri and Scott on the beach. I’m not sure which is creepier.
She sees Terri talking to some new boy and immediately assumed Terri is flirting and doesn’t appreciate Scott, when Terri is actually hoping the new boy will turn out to be a match for Julie. Julie, meanwhile, has made her own match, thankyouverymuch:
Only the spirit knew how much she suffered. Only the spirit knew how alone she was. In a life on earth, the spirit had been a handsome young man. It remembered what earth was like, it told her. It heard her cry of pain across the cold black silence and came to her, drawn by her pain and by her beauty. Julie watched hypnotically as the words were spelled out. (p. 44)
Terri, meanwhile, notices Julie’s bedroom is always cold now and smells like rotting meat. Their parents notice…nothing. On the twins’ birthday they give their daughters identical gold crosses, and when Julie puts hers on she starts to choke; later, Terri sees the burn mark on her sister’s neck.
Before she could knock, a voice boomed in her ears.
Terri jumped back.
It wasn’t Julie’s voice. It wasn’t even a human voice. It was a voice straight out of hell. (p. 61)
Terri confides in Scott, and Scott takes her to see Father Shea. I’m not sure why Terri just didn’t go see Fr. Shea on her own, since she notes that his office hasn’t changed since she was a child, so obviously her family are Catholic too. But, whatever. Scott’s our hero.
Well, no, actually Fr. Shea is our hero. He listens seriously to Terri, and agrees to come see Julie.
No, he thought, it couldn’t be. Not possibly.
But the seed of fear was already there. It had been since he first heard of the Mitchell girl’s accident. Now it was coming into flower. (p. 66)
Father Shea visits the Mitchells, and when the girls’ father is showing him around the garden they discover all the tomatoes have withered. At dinner Julie can’t eat, and then gets sick (in the bathroom), and before he leaves Fr. Shea hears the evil voice telling him to go away. And THEN we get to see the priest’s thoughts, which are about the family who originally owned the house the Mitchells live in:
If Joe Campbell had lived, he’d be forty-one now. Old enough to have married. Old enough to have children. Old enough to have done a lot of things–if he hadn’t died on his sixteenth birthday. (p. 73)
Joe was (clearly) possessed, and died in a car crash on the same road where Julie had her accident.
The ambulance crew had to scrape Joe Campbell’s body out of the wreckage. (p. 79)
You just don’t see sentences like that in YA fiction anymore.
Anyway. Terri throws a party, and Julie thinks Jim Peterson (the new guy Terri has picked out as potential boyfriend for her creepy possessed sister) is boring. She throws herself out of his arms near the bonfire to make it look like he dropped her. Wow, I know she’s possessed and I still want to slap her.
Scott (her sister’s boyfriend) very nicely carries her up to her bedroom, where she kisses him. He’s sort of into it for a minute.
He couldn’t believe it, but he did. It was almost like kissing Terri. And, after all, if Julie wanted him so badly–
No. This was all wrong. The realization of what he was doing washed over him like ice water, killing his desire. Terri was the one he loved. And he was hurting Terri by being with her sister. (p. 99)
After Scott leaves the spirit comforts Julie by telling her they can be together forever if she invites him into her heart. Only then Terri shows up, horrified because Julie had promised her she’d thrown out the Ouija board. Julie grabs it and takes it outside, where she and Scott use up “a whole can of fluid” in order to get the board to burn.
Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell get called away by the sudden unexpected death of her brother-in-law.
So now the girls are alone, and the house goes full-tilt possessed, with a levitating bed and mysterious showers of rocks and mounds of foul-smelling garbage everywhere. They can’t phone out, and Julie’s wheelchair dies and their house is too far from everything for Terri to push her to safety.
But Scott can’t call Terri, either, and he realizes something is wrong. He goes to their house and is properly horrified, and promises to get help. He gets into a car crash on his way to get Father Shea, but the local cops get Father Shea for him, and then there’s an exorcism.
If I’m making that sound anti-climactic, it’s because it was. No description of a winged scaly figure or whatever is EVER going to be as creepy as the more subtle hints of evil (the voice, and the coldness, and the horrible smelling room) that preceded it. But Father Shea gets the job done and banishes the evil, and as I said earlier, he even lives through it.
Also, good news: the doctor calls to let them know that Julie’s nerves are regenerating and with lots of physiotherapy she’ll be able to walk again. Because in the 80s, disabled characters had to be “fixed” by the end in order to have a happy ending.
Finally! Graduation is here! That means we get an entire book of Jennifer Fear obsessing about not having a prom date and then coping with actually having one.
Only in Shadyside is “being asked to the prom” a terrifying ordeal.
I have to confess: I loved this book. It was ridiculousness turned up to eleven, and it won me over completely. I kept picturing Stine laughing maniacally as he wrote it.
So, Trisha Conrad’s parents leave her behind and go to Europe, as one does the year one’s only child is graduating high school while various of her classmates are killed in gruesome ways. I guess Shadyside people have unique coping mechanisms.
Before they leave, Trisha’s mother gives her a little glass wishing well. It’s a good luck charm that’s been handed down in the family, and since Trisha knows she’s descended from the Fears she worries about which side of the family it came from. Ha.
With all the sensitivity we’ve come to expect from Fear Street novels, there’s an acknowledgement of past events:
It’s good that Dana has the prom to worry about, Trisha thought. Dana’s twin sister, Dierdre, died a few weeks earlier. The prom would help take her mind off it. (p. 13)
THE PROM WOULD HELP TAKE HER MIND OFF IT. Okay, sure, whatever.
Meanwhile Trisha’s still having visions and Jennifer is being crabby with everyone because she doesn’t have a prom date. Trisha gives her the good luck charm, joking that maybe it will help her get a date. Ouch.
Also this happens:
After Ty was killed, his family moved out of Shadyside. Now the house had a For Sale sign in the middle of the front yard.
Jennifer felt a chill and quickly glanced away. Don’t think about Ty, she told herself. Don’t think about all the dead seniors. (p. 31)
I love it. Also, I’d like to propose Don’t Think About All the Dead Seniors as the official Shadyside town motto.
Someone calling himself Duke Carpenter who claims to live in Waynesbridge calls Jennifer and asks her to the prom. She has absolutely no idea who this guy is and is too embarrassed to admit she doesn’t remember meeting him.
Is this a thing that happens when you’re in high school? I mean, I’m old and have two children and am literally capable of forgetting the names of people I see regularly, but I don’t think that ever used to happen to me when I was in my teens.
Maybe all the years of studiously forgetting dead people affects the memory of Shadyside residents.
Jennifer at least has enough sense to suggest they meet at the Corner (it’s a restaurant, not an actual street corner) the next day before she agrees to go to the prom with him.
She has a dream that a huge glass ball falls from the ceiling at prom and kills her date.
He doesn’t show up the next day. But he calls and apologizes, claiming car trouble, and she gets his phone number. He says he can’t drive into Shadyside and see her that night, and she’s suspicious it’s just an excuse.
When she tries the number it’s been disconnected, and she can’t find him in the phone book.
But then he shows up at her doorstep! And he’s gorgeous in a way that EXACTLY MATCHES the dreamy description she gave Trisha back when she didn’t have a prom date. Uh oh.
I’m still worried about Jennifer’s memory but now I’m also concerned about her life in general:
“It’s just that I never forgot about that night when we … you know … I kept running it through my head like a movie.”
His arm brushed Jennifer’s, and her heart started to pound. What did “you know” mean? she wondered anxiously.
Duke’s eyes lit up as he gazed at her. “That was a wild night, wasn’t it?”
Whoa–a wild night! Jennifer felt herself blushing again. Something definitely happened between us, but what? Maybe we went to a party and partied a little too hard. (p. 69)
I’ve been assuming all along that the Shadyside kids don’t drink, because Fear Street never specifically mentions drugs or alcohol, but now I’m thinking they’re all hardcore alcoholics. Has Jennifer been having blackout-drunk sex? WTF, Stine.
Anyway. She ends up going to prom with him, and they’re sharing his (as in, he paid for it) limo with Matty and Josie and Will and Clarissa. Will jokingly asks Duke if he bought his tux at a garage sale, and I briefly got my hopes up that Duke was a ghost from some previous generation of Fear Street. But nope, that was too much continuity to hope for. Wouldn’t that have been cool, though? If someone who died in an original Fear Street novel showed up in one of the later series as a ghost?
Prom is magical and wonderful and a glass ball falls from the ceiling, luckily not hitting Duke like it did in Jennifer’s dream. Can we all just take a minute here to appreciate how damned stupid it would be to hang large glass balls from the ceiling of a gym? Honestly, even without the evil Fear family and the werewolves and whatever, the mortality rate would still be pretty high just from dumb-ass stuff like this.
After prom everybody’s headed to Fear Lake to tempt fate some more. Before they leave the school, though, Duke beats the shit out of Will. Looks like someone’s sensitive about his retro tux decision.
Duke grabs Jennifer and drags her into the limo, where Matty and Josie have been obliviously listening to music. Situational awareness is important, guys. They realize something’s up when Duke shoves her into the limo, but the (as yet unseen) driver is speeding away before she can explain that her date has turned psycho, so now they’re all trapped in a car with him.
They end up at the lake, and Duke drags Jennifer away from the others to explain that she wished him into existence. Also, because she was angry about people thinking she was a Fear, and jealous of everyone who had a date, all those emotions went into making him, too. ALSO also, he has a knife.
“Don’t be scared, Jennifer,” he murmured. “This is the way it’s supposed to be.”
“No!” Jennifer shuddered and took another step back. Duke stayed with her, matching her step for step, until finally he backed her up against a tree.
“You can’t get away from me,” he told her. “You made me what I am. And now you and I will be together–forever.” (p. 123)
She knocks him unconscious with a tree branch, and then Matty and Josie show up in time to help drag his unconscious body into the lake. Just another fun-filled night at Fear Lake.
But he rises up, still alive. He tries to choke Jennifer, but she flings the glass charm at him and he bursts into flame, vanishing forever. So this was even worse than the average prom date, really. Although she comes out of this without being pregnant or acquiring a shiny new STD, so arguably I’ve heard of worse prom nights.

domain: literature


text:
Colombian FM to meet with her Venezuelan counterpart on Friday
Via telephone call, Colombian Foreign Minister María Ángela Holguín confirmed her meeting with newly appointed Foreign Minister Elías Jaua, who appreciated the "friendly and fraternal expressions" he has received from some of his regional counterparts
"Colombian Foreign Minister María Ángela Holguín expressed her willingness to take concrete steps in order to strengthen all areas of cooperation with Venezuela," the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a communiqué.
Holguín confirmed her visit to Caracas through a telephone call held with the Venezuelan FM, who expressed his gratitude for the "friendly and fraternal expressions" he has received from some of his regional counterparts, Venezuelan state-run news agency AVN cited.
On Wednesday, the newly appointed foreign minister met with Argentinean Planning Minister Julio de Vido in an attempt to "reinforce Venezuela-Argentina trade."
A simple reason: there is oil galore, would suffice to explain Guyana's actions. Another explanation lies in the little or none efforts made by the Venezuelan government to thwart the move by the Guyanese. This is certainly not a new problem, but a problem only recently highlighted because oil is involved. But what other resources does the disputed area hold? For most of us it is a section on the map with black and white stripes on it, a depiction of something distant, alien, a nothingness not worth paying much attention to in geography classes back in elementary school.

domain: geography


text:
Post last updated: October 10th, 2018
I recently emailed my sister, Ms. Priss, to see if she wanted a few garlic chive seeds from my garden. I got the usual “I just don’t have time.” She must not have seen Momma plant seeds. Granted, she didn’t live around Momma for close to Forever so she might have missed this simple planting method. It’s the kind of thing that old women like Momma and Ruth Stout thought of as a time saver to “just get it done” although I’ll admit I have not read Ruth Stout’s books.
When Momma wanted to plant a few seeds, she stuck the heel of her foot in the flower bed and drug it back towards herself.
A small hole appeared and she dropped the seeds into the hole.
Then used her foot to nudge the soil back into the hole and tap it with the ball of her foot.
So the next time you are pressed for time, try Momma’s heel planting method whether you’re an old woman or a young whipper-snapper.

domain: agronomy


text:
Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it’s learned may be crucial to western democracy.
The Fate of Isuldur by Anato Finnstark #art
Swirls by Kristina Makeeva #art
Spring by Atdan #art
Beer Time by Ismail Inceoglu #art
The Book of the New Sun was a very emotive and atmospheric read for me, with a lot of lyricism and mystery if a somewhat dragged plot, but definitely unique, and although in the future, it had the aura of ages long past unlike anything else I've #read.
His Long Sun cycle was in a more direct tone, a chaotic world, but the amount of chatacters, their concealed intentions and interactions was something of a precursor to #GameOfThrones with more intellect to it I thought.
Better Tomorrow by Yuumei #art
Old City of Baku, Azerbaijan by Christian van Heijst #art
Virtual Plein Air by Eric Elwell. #art
Tech Ring by Mike Winkelmann. #art
#Free #PC #game of the day: Grid 2. https://www.humblebundle.com/store/grid2-spa-bathurst
Hyper Light Drifter is a game I regret not playing sooner. It has a very dystopian feel and the eerie music really adds to the feelings of hopelessness. It reminds me of the anime Casshern Sins in a way.
The art style is nostalgic and reminds me of older pixel graphics games, while still having a unique style of its own. I took this screenshot earlier and it really shows off the interesting art style. It's a very nice game.
Can you guess why this man was arrested recently? https://youtu.be/H6Go-Zi_F18
Art, cybersecurity, gaming, anime, electronic music, SciFi & fantasy, meditation, Linux, 日本, etc. 🇺🇸♂
This Mastodon instance is for people interested in technology. Discussions aren't limited to technology, because tech folks shouldn't be limited to technology either! We adhere to an adapted version of the TootCat Code of Conduct and follow the Toot Café list of blocked instances. Ash is the admin and is supported by Fuzzface, Brian!, and Daniel Glus as moderators. Hosting costs are largely covered by our generous supporters on Patreon – thanks for all the help!

domain: artistic


text:
3D printing PCBS: a 30-year-old idea is coming in vogue, with stunning implications for design engineering.
Ten Have is CEO and cofounder of Ponoko, the company behind Personal Factory, a web-based platform for the creation of custom goods. Ponoko users can make their own products using a variety of digital manufacturing methods, including laser-cutting, CNC routing, and 3D printing. More than 100,000 consumer-designed products have been made, and demand for 3D printing is on the rise.
3D printing is an additive manufacturing technique that translates digital models into physical objects by building up layers of material. A number of competing 3D printing technologies variously use chemical-, heat- or light-based methods to fuse material together layer-by-layer. Resolution depends on the printer type, but some of the more advanced machines can achieve a resolution in the micron range. For instance, the Objet Connex desktop printer has a minimum layer thickness or 16 [micro]m.
While many of these technologies have been in use since the 1980s, 3D printing has become much more accessible in recent vears as a result of increased functionality and decreased cost. Companies like Ponoko, Sculpteo and Shapeways have emerged to provide online 3D printing services. Open source hardware projects like the MakerBot, RepRap, and Fab@Home have brought 3D printing technology within reach of the home hobbyist, with kit sets available for under $1,000. These machines in particular have been enthusiastically embraced by the DIY electronics communities.
There are two distinct advantages of using 3D printing over traditional manufacturing that could lead to some dramatic changes in many areas of industry: The first is it undermines economies of scale; it is now possible to make one-off objects that would otherwise have required mass-production. The implications both for prototyping and customization are profound. The second advantage is it makes it possible to produce objects that could not be made in any other way, as a result of complexity or internal features. Complex assemblies of moving parts can be designed to come out of the machine preassembled.
3D printing circuit boards. PCB production is an application for 3D printing being pursued both by industry and hobbyists. Developments are primarily focused on material research at present. 3D printing has been demonstrated with many different kinds of metals, plastics, ceramics, polymers and organic materials. With the right combination of materials, modern multi-material printers would have no trouble printing PCBs. Being able to produce high-quality, multilayered one-off boards would be a huge advantage for design engineers and home hobbyists alike, greatly simplifying the prototyping cycle and removing the time and material expense of masking and etching.
Hobbyist-led advancements. In the hobbyist realm, early signs of development in this area came in 2009 when Bath University mechanical engineering student Rhys Jones revived the old idea of making PCBs by depositing metal into preformed channels. He modified his RepRap 3D printer to extrude molten solder into a pre-printed ABS plastic substrate. While the melting point of solder is higher than that of ABS, the specific heat of the metal is so low that the plastic doesn't melt. After manual assembly, the completed circuit was then installed on the actual machine that printed it. This was an early milestone for the RepRap project, whose stated aim is to create self-replicating machines.
While this process is still in its infancy, it could soon prove to be popular with home 3D printing enthusiasts that want basic custom circuit boards, without dealing with the hit-or-miss home PCB etching process. Another bonus to 3D printed circuit boards is the integration of mechanical features. For example, it would be elementary to include mounting clips in the design.
Another open source project, Fab@Home, has demonstrated the use of conductive and non-conductive silicone to print flexible objects with internally embedded circuitry laid out in three dimensions.
The rise of DIY electronics. Hobbyist 3D printing and DIY electronics are two major forces democratizing technology, and their development is entwined. In 2005, the launch of yet another open source project, the Arduino, marked a turning point in the world of hobby electronics. Arduino rapidly gained a reputation as the first truly user-friendly micro-controller development platform.
This platform opened up the world of embedded computing to a much larger audience, and it remains popular among artists, educators, and hobbyists, with an ever-increasing number of extension modules (e.g., sensors, driver boards, communication interfaces, etc.) available. These modules, known as "shields," take the form of traditional PCBs that can be plugged into the Arduino board with stacking headers.
3D printing creates the possibility for these modules to take any shape, a feature that could further functionality and user-friendliness of these shields. For instance, one can imagine a modular robotics system with an Arduino processor embedded into a printed "torso," a camera or rangefinder embedded into a printed "head," and interchangeable "limbs" containing other sensors and actuators, with all associated electronics integrated seamlessly into each piece.
With the increasing popularity of DIY electronics and 3D printing, it is fair to assume that progress will continue to empower the home hobbyist with ever more capable and user-friendly fabrication techniques. One immediate area of development to look out for is a standardized file-format--a common protocol for defining designs. This will be the precursor to any serious activity in the open source community.
Industry-led advancements. Looking to the industrial realm, Dutch research institute TNO (tno.nl) has pioneered a number of different circuit printing technologies. It recently printed a simple circuit in copper, along with flexible integrated housing, all in one step. This hints at another exciting and disruptive possibility of 3D printing; it allows the designer to do away with the circuit board altogether, integrating the electronics with other functional parts of the product.
As these technologies become established, 3D printed circuits could lead to tearing down several design constraints. For starters, there's no reason a 3D-printed board would have to be a typical rectilinear planar surface (FIGURE 1). Disrupting the 2D PCB design paradigm could have some radical implications for design engineering. Traditional flat PCBs force design constraints on the layout of components and inefficiencies on space and material usage, constraints that will disappear when the PCB can take any conceivable shape.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
Yet another benefit of using a 3D printer to build circuit boards is that many types of printers share most of their mechanical characteristics with a pick-and-place component assembly machine, meaning an all-in-one PCB printing and assembly unit could be just around the corner.
Beyond simply changing the way we make circuit boards, developments in printing technologies are set to potentially revolutionize the production of all kinds of electronic components. 3D printer manufacturing firm Objet recently mused on its company blog about the likelihood of printing both circuit boards and integrated semiconductor components at a point "not too far in the future."
Academia-led advancements. Some of the bleeding-edge technologies at the R&D stage today indicate some very exciting developments for printed electronics in the longer term.
Printed solar panels are flexible and significantly lighter and cheaper than their traditional clunky glass-mounted counterparts. Developments in this field over the last few years have substantially reduced the cost, with the Holy Grail being small, disposable power for applications such as smart packaging. Researchers at MIT(1) recently demonstrated a highly flexible and robust solar panel printed on paper "almost as cheaply and easily as printing a photo on your inkjet."
This comes in the wake of Stanford University's research in the field of nano-material technology, proving it is possible to store energy in super-capacitors made by printing carbon nanotubes onto treated paper(2).
The flexibility of printed electronics has the potential to be hugely influential in other applications, especially mobile devices where a printed flexible OLED display could be unfolded to a size larger than a handset. Flexible interactive screens are in the prototype stage, and printed e-ink displays already have been demonstrated playing color video on a paper-thin plastic substrate.
Other recent advancements include printed sensors, transistors, and low-density data storage, meaning entire consumer devices could one day be conceivably printed in one continuous process on a single machine. Aggressive research efforts in industry, academia, and the growing community of sophisticated hobbyists make the field of 3D printed electronics a fascinating and important one to keep an eye on.
(1.) Miles C. Barr, et al, "Direct Monolithic Integration of Organic Photovoltaic Circuits on Unmodified Paper," Advanced Materials, vol. 23, no. 31, Aug. 16, 2011.
(2.) Katherine Bourzac, "Print on Demand Power, MITTechnology Review, April 27, 2009.
RICHARD D. BARTLETT is an engineer, artist, writer and practicing futurist based in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
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|Title Annotation:||BOARD FABRICATION|
|Publication:||Printed Circuit Design & Fab|
|Date:||Apr 1, 2012|
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domain: design


text:
Rankin was joking! I got suckered in and passed it on, but let's blame Associated Press, which picked up and spread the story. Here's part of the CBC story someone posted the link to on DorothyL, based on an interview with Rankin in The Guardian.
Rankin quells Rowling crime-writing rumour
Tuesday August 21, 2007
Bestselling Scottish crime novelist Ian Rankin has quashed a report that speculated about Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's next foray into fiction.
The Sunday Times had quoted Rankin as saying his wife had glimpsed Rowling — who lives in the same Edinburgh neighbourhood — hard at work on a detective novel in a local café.
"This is a joke that got out of hand," Rankin said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper.
According to Rankin, he had made the remark — which he said was a joke — on stage during an event at the Edinburgh book festival.


text:
Travis Lybbert is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis. His research interests include economic development, poverty dynamics, risk and uncertainty, technology transfer and adoption, intellectual property, and the environment and biodiversity. He has published research in applied microeconomics on topics ranging from poverty dynamics, climate change, and childhood nutrition to technology adoption, intellectual property, and innovation policy. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Economics from Cornell University, where he also taught engineering economics in the Operations Research Department. Prior to joining UC Davis, Travis was an assistant professor of economics at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University. As a collaborator with students and other researchers, he has lived and worked on projects in India and many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and Europe.
Promoting the use of a novel water-saving agricultural technology among Indian farmers
28 Apr 2015
The Met Department has forecasted a below-normal monsoon in India this year. This column analyses the demand for a water-saving agricultural technology — laser land levelling — among farmers in Uttar Pradesh. It also discusses how such information can feed into the design of a novel approach to combining public subsidies with private service provision to encourage the technology’s uptake among small-scale, resource-poor farmers.
read on »

domain: news


text:
[music A. Tselobenok, lyrics by A. Afonchenko ]
When age fell
Upon the world,
And wonder went out of the minds of
When grey cities
Reared to smoky skies,
Tall towers grim and ugly, in these shadow none might
Dream of the sun or of
Spring's flowering meads;
When learning stripped the Earth of her mantle
Of beauty and poets
Sang no more of twisted
With bleared and
Inward looking eyes;
When these things had come to pass,
And childish hopes had
There were a people who traveled out
Of life on a quest into spaces
Whither world's dreams had fled.
those who has remained, were doomed to death.
After any years the world have sunk
In blood of the silly essences which have
imagined by Gods.
And only those who, beyond, waking world and the tall cities,
A merging with the close air
And making him a
part of their fabulous wonder.


- Year-long protection on a single charge
- Vivid night vision
- Motion alerts are more accurate
- A vigilant guard over your property
- Customizable voice messages
- Fast and easy wire-free setup
Vivid night vision.
Thanks to two built-in spotlights, the BC1 can render vivid color imaging even in pitch-black darkness. This allows you to see crucial details that would otherwise be lost.
Motion alerts are more accurate than ever.
Integrating a PIR sensor and the person-shape detection algorithm, the BC1 camera is intelligent enough to distinguish persons from other moving objects, keeping you safe while also reducing unwanted notifications.
A vigilant guard over your property.
Users can set specific time frames for detection. Once the camera detects a person-shape, the BC1 will automatically set off a siren and flash two spotlights* to let them know they have been detected.
Customizable voice messages.
A thoughtful product by design, the BC1 allows you to create unique voice messages* for greeting or deterrence.
Talk as if you were there.
See and hear what’s going on and chat with your visitors—all with a tap on the EZVIZ App!
Fast and easy wire-free setup.
Featuring a large battery, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a magnetic base, the BC1 camera requires exactly zero professional help in installation. Simply attach the camera to any metallic surface and it is good to go!
Built to last.
The BC1 camera features an IP66 enclosure, offering high levels of protection against dust and water and delivering long-lasting protection in even the toughest weather conditions.
We protect your data and privacy.
Protecting your data and privacy is our highest priority. Data transmission between the camera and the EZVIZ Cloud is encrypted from end to end. Only you have the keys to decrypt your data.
Security at your fingertips.
With the EZVIZ App, you can capture, save, protect, and share what’s valuable to you.


KingUnderground was established in 2005 as an independent online-record outlet operating from Milton Keynes. Today KU has evolved into a record label, specialising in the finest underground hip-hop and related beat music.
The aim of the label is to release quality underground music on vinyl as well as in digital formats. Whilst always being educated by the past and capturing the classic hip-hop sound, KingUnderground also endeavours to break new ground and introduce innovative forward thinking music.
At KingUnderground we are dedicated to recognising and releasing quality music above all else. We embrace new artists as well as established ones who possess the talent, vision and passion to create something original.
Lewis Parker, Planet Asia, Mr. Brown, Simiah and Pings are some of KingUnderground’s growing roster of artists.
With love for the vinyl format, we aim to release a desirable, delectable and collectable music package. Creative artwork and impeccably-mastered sound will remain at the core of each project.
KU was co-founded by friends Dan Englander and Peter McCaffrey whose passion for good music, record collecting and hip-hop inspired them to start a retail outlet. Now it is owned solely by Dan but it operates on the basis of a collective with a love for music, skateboarding, visual art, film and record collecting. This has helped transform KingUnderground into an independent record label. In late 2010 KingUnderground Records was formed.
Whilst moving away from retail, KingUnderground will continue to stock music from like-minded record labels such as Redefinition Records, Slice-of-Spice & Ill Adrenaline. We share a love of music and values with these independent labels and want to continue to support them by stocking and distributing their releases.
KingUnderground also has a desire to work collaboratively on projects with other labels, as shown with the World of Dusty Vinyl / KingUnderground Records releases.
KingUnderground / WODV Collaboration
Lewis Parker & John Robinson were booked by KU for a show in the UK when they were touring for the International Summers album. After striking up a good rapport it seemed the combination would be a successful one for future projects.
In early 2010 they released Lewis Parker, ‘The Puzzle: The BIG Game. Episode 1’ because the vinyl treatment for the album was well overdue. Several releases later and the projects are going strong. Expect plenty more to come from the KU/WODV collaboration.
For more Infos, LP's, Artists,... http://www.kingunderground.com/


text:
Graduate student Paul Birkmeyer designed the original DASH to search collapsed buildings and tight spaces and relay information back to its handlers via sensors. But even with six legs, the autonomous robot struggled over uneven ground and was prone to tipping over when dropped from heights. That’s when graduate student Kevin Peterson and Ron Fearing, EECS professor and head of the Biomimetic Millisystems Lab, decided to attach wings. The result, a running and gliding robot, sparked the interest of Robert Dudley, professor of integrative biology, who thought that DASH’s evolution was a physical example of computer models that suggest a similar pattern in animal flight evolution. Little is known about early flight because of holes in the fossil record. Now, a small roach-like robot with plastic wings borrowed from a toy is providing important insights into the natural history of flight.
A: The original six-legged, roach-inspired DASH was designed as a low-cost search and rescue robot, but its mobility over rough terrain was limited due to balance and speed. So the researchers decided to attach wings.
B: Legs and tail wing only; testing to see how the rudder-like tail affected overall speed and stability.
C: The addition of inertial spars, which are the frames for the lateral wings; testing to see how outrigger-like appendages affect balance. In other tests, passive lateral wings are attached but do not flap; testing to see if the wings themselves increase performance.
D: The addition of flapping wings made DASH perform much better than in any of the control groups in all areas of locomotion, from horizontal speed to attainable incline and glide slope.
DASH+Wings, as in Dynamic Autonomous Sprawled Hexapod
Without wings—.68 meters per second; with wings—1.29 meters per second
Hill climb without wings 5.6 degrees; with wings 16.9 degrees
50 mAh lithium polymer battery
Biomimetic Millisystems Lab, Berkeley
A lack of evolutionary data and conflicting models allow for several competing theories about the origins of flight. One theory suggests that land animals developed wing-like appendages that increased their speeds enough to achieve lift-off for flight. Another theory suggests that flight was an adaptation developed by early tree-dwellers with feathers on four appendages and long, feathered, rudder-like tails that helped them glide to the ground. While the comparison between early avian animals and a six-legged robot with plastic toy wings is not perfect, it does offer insight into which theory might be more plausible. Adding flapping wings to DASH increased its performance both while running and gliding, but not so much so that it can take off on its own. The finding supports the hypothesis that flight developed from tree gliders.
OctoRoAch and BOLT
DASH+Wings is not alone in the lab. Researchers at the Biomimetic Millisystems Lab recently introduced two other DASH-like robots:
BOLT (left), the Bipedal Ornithopter for Locomotion Transitioning, has two legs and wings and can take off in less than a meter.
OctoRoAch (right), a hand-sized, eight-legged crawler that uses a gyro to steer.


Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) have jointly announced that the upcoming Galaxy S24 Ultra devices will come equipped with Corning’s latest Corning® Gorilla® Armor cover material. This advanced material offers an exceptional blend of durability and visual clarity, resulting in a more vibrant display even in sunlight and enhanced protection against daily wear and tear.
Kwangjin Bae, EVP and Head of the Mechanical R&D Team at Samsung Electronics, highlighted the collaborative success between Corning’s Gorilla Glass and the Galaxy S series in driving innovation and achieving more excellent durability. He emphasized the confidence and peace of mind this partnership brings users.
Corning® Gorilla® Armor stands out as a unique smartphone cover material, reducing reflection by up to 75% compared to typical glass surfaces. This reduction enhances display readability and minimizes screen reflections in various environments.
In lab tests, Gorilla Armor exhibited superior durability compared to competitive aluminosilicate cover glasses. A new lab test, the “Scratch Bot,” was introduced to replicate micro scratches from everyday use, where Gorilla Armor showed no visible scratches and demonstrated over four times more scratch resistance than its competitors.
Notably, Gorilla Armor incorporates an average of 25% pre-consumer recycled content, aligning with sustainability goals.
David Velasquez, Vice President and General Manager of Corning® Gorilla® Glass, expressed how Gorilla Armor combines Corning’s research and engineering with Samsung’s user-centric design. This innovation addresses the increasing need for durability and improved optics in mobile phones.
The collaboration between Samsung and Corning has spanned 50 years, beginning in 1973 when they partnered to make televisions more accessible to consumers in Korea. This enduring relationship has brought Corning® Gorilla® Glass to various Samsung devices, from early Galaxy smartphones to recent models like the Galaxy S23 Series, Galaxy Z Fold5, and Galaxy Z Flip5.
The launch of Galaxy S24 Ultra devices with Gorilla Armor marks another milestone in this longstanding partnership, continuing their commitment to creating cutting-edge innovations for mobile consumers.


text:
About Lawyers & Judges
Hiring a Lawyer
If you think you need the help of a lawyer, you may have a lot of questions about how the process works. An important step is hiring a lawyer who is the best fit for you and your case. You can learn helpful tips about hiring a lawyer here.
Working with a Lawyer
After you hire a lawyer, you will want to make sure you are working with your lawyer in a way that will help get you the best results for your legal matter. You can learn helpful tips about successfully working with your lawyer here.
If you have a disagreement with your lawyer about the legal fees you already paid or that you owe, the New York State Fee Dispute Resolution Program may help you resolve the dispute more quickly and less expensively than a legal action. The program is available to you if the fees in dispute are over $1,000 and under $50,000, and are not for a criminal or personal injury matter. To begin the process, you can file a client request for arbitration with the program in your area. You can learn more about the Fee Dispute Resolution Program here.
Complaints about Lawyers & Judges in NYC
If you believe a lawyer has violated the New York Code of Professional Responsibility, you can file a complaint about the lawyer with the Disciplinary Committee or Grievance Committee in the area where the lawyer is located. The complaint can be about the delay or neglect of your case, misrepresentation, conflict of interest, or mishandling of money. You can learn more about complaints regarding attorneys here.
If you believe a judge or other court personnel has violated the Rules of Judicial Conduct, you can file a complaint about the judge or court personnel with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. The complaint can be about improper behavior in the courtroom, bias, conflict of interest, or ex parte communications with only one side of the case. You can learn more about complaints regarding judges and court personnel here.

domain: law


IP67 waterproof connectors are usually housed in the enclosure or housing so as to prevent water and dust entering. They are often used in harsh environments where water and dust must be removed.
Each word of "IP67 Waterproof Connector" has its important meaning. “IP” refers to ingress protection. And the first number immediately following the "IP" corresponds to the connector's ability to resist solid particles. For example, the ability to prevent dust from intruding into the outer casing. The second number refers to the ability to protect the shell against liquid interference. So far as IP67, “6” indicate that connector can protect the shell from dust, and “7” meaning that connector can be submerged one meter underwater for 30 minutes without flooding. These ratings do not mean that the connectors can operate in a specific underwater environment, but that they can work properly when removed from the water without leakage.
Kenhon was established in 2007 which has developed and produced varies of ip67 waterproof connectors that are widely used in industrial machines, test and measurement equipment, navigation systems, communications systems and outdoor LED. For example, m8 waterproof connector, m12 waterproof connector, m16 waterproof connector and so on.


text:
With less than one month to go in the General Assembly session, Maryland lawmakers still need to work out a thorny policy issue: How far should they extend a requirement for background checks on rifles and shotguns?
The House of Delegates and state Senate have approved different versions of a bill that would require private transfers of long guns to be subject to a background check. The differences are similar to differences in bills that were passed last year, when negotiations fizzled on the final day of the session.
The lawmakers pushing the bills hope they have enough time this year to resolve those differences.
“I’m hopeful that it’s not going to die,” said Del. Vanessa Atterbeary, a Howard County Democrat. “I’m not hopeful that we are going to get the absolute strongest bill.”
Current Maryland law requires background checks for all sales of handguns and when rifles and shotguns are sold by federally licensed dealers. But there is no requirement for a background check when long guns are sold by private individuals.
Advocates for gun control consider that “loophole” needs to be closed to establish universal background checks for all gun sales.
The advocacy group Moms Demand Action issued a statement this week calling the legislation “a new milestone in the fight to keep our families safe from gun violence.”
The legislation passed each chamber on largely party-line votes, with many Democrats in favor and Republicans and a few Democrats opposed. Both chambers passed the bills by wide enough margins that they could override any potential veto from Gov. Larry Hogan.
Hogan, a Republican, has not publicly offered a position on the background checks.
Broadly, both the House and Senate versions of the bill aim to close that loophole by requiring both parties to go to a licensed dealer and pay them to conduct a federal background check. The Senate version would require the checks for sales of long guns, while the House requires checks for both sales and loans.
Either version is untenable to gun ownership advocates such as Mark Pennak, president of Maryland Shall Issue.
He argues that there’s no evidence to show that long guns acquired in private sales or loans are used to commit crimes at a high rate. And he believes that gun owners unwittingly would run afoul of the law because they wouldn’t know about it — though he also said the law would be difficult to enforce.
“What they’re doing is basically criminalizing sales that have been going on in this country for hundreds of years,” Pennak said.
Maryland Policy & Politics Newsletter
Keep up to date with Maryland politics, elections and important decisions made by federal, state and local government officials.
Pennak also questioned how many licensed gun dealers would agree to facilitate the background checks. If few stores end up offering the service, then it would be difficult for private owners to sell or trade long guns legally.
Lawmakers have about four weeks until the General Assembly session adjourns April 6, known as “Sine Die” on the legislative calendar.
Pennak said he’s “very concerned” that lawmakers will resolve their differences before then.
“Last year, they waited until Sine Die to try to reconcile it and time ran out,” he said. “This year, it’s a whole month before Sine Die, so they have plenty of time to try to carve out something to agree on.”
Democratic Sen. Susan Lee, who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate, is “hopeful and optimistic” a compromise can be struck. She said it’s important to make sure that anyone who buys a gun is subject to a background check to make sure they aren’t prohibited from buying a gun for reasons such as having a felony.

domain: politics


text:
House training is one of the most frustrating challenges for pet
owners. Some settle for a less-than-perfect record, dealing with
frequent ‘accidents’ and others avoid purchasing a puppy to skip this
step! House training your dog does not have to be difficult. Have you considered these 5 different ways to house training success?
1. Kennel Training
Kennel training is the old standby when it comes to house training.
Why has it persisted through the years? Quite simply, it works. Kennel
training works on a dog’s instinct not to pee or poop in their bed. If
you can stick with this approach, it will most likely bring you success
- To kennel train, take your puppy outside to do his ‘business’.
a command word or action for both pee and poop and remember to keep
this action consistent (share with all the puppy’s caregivers).
he successfully goes, you should praise him and you can also choose to
give him a treat. Choose a treat he enjoys, and reserve it to be used
for training only. You may then bring him inside the house and he can
have some time outside of the kennel.
- If he does not go, put him back in the kennel and repeat in 15 minutes or half an hour.
the first while, take your puppy out every hour and gradually increase
the time in between until about 2 or 3 hours. Remember, a very young
puppy will not be physically able to ‘hold it’ for as long as an adult
dog and should not be required to.
- If you are able to keep this up, your dog should be mostly trained within a couple of weeks.
dog owners are not consistent with this approach and find it too
restrictive for their tastes. Also, many people are not around the house
all day to let the dog out. There are other options!
2. Bell Training
Bell training is not a true training method in itself, but can
be used in conjunction with kennel training and other approaches as an
aid. A bell works with outside training if your dog does not have free
access to the outdoors by way of a dog door.
- To train your dog on a bell, simply place your dog’s paw on
the bell before taking him outside to do his business. This is most
effective when the bell is not simply hung on the door, but stands
alone. Try a great product like Tell Bell.
dog will associate the ringing of the bell with you opening the door
and him going outside. This method works on the principle that your dog
knows that he is supposed to do his business outside, but cannot
communicate it effectively to you. This solution works incredibly well
with older dogs who are still struggling with house training, but can be
a great way to start out a new puppy, too.
3. Training Pads/Newspaper
Think of this approach as a ‘soft’ kennel training. It includes the
use of aids such as puppy training pads. If kennel training seems too harsh
for you, or you are simply not around enough to monitor your dog going
in and out, try this method.
- When you are not at home, use either a pen or a closed off
room to keep your dog so that he has limited space, but still some
- Place a training pad or newspaper (this works best if
you place some of the dog’s poop or the smell of his pee on it) on the
opposite side of the room as your dog’s kennel and food/water. Many
training pads are specially scented to attract dogs to pee/poop.
you are home or available, follow the “Kennel Training” steps of taking
your dog outside frequently. Gradually, as your dog learns to go
outside, and uses the pad less often, you can take it away.
you can move the pad or newspaper closer to the door until it is
eventually outside where you want your dog to defecate. Gradually remove
4. Litter Training
works well with smaller dogs (who are unable to be outside in extreme
weather conditions) and apartments, with limited access to the outdoors.
Dog litter boxes differ from cat litter boxes as they are larger, open
to the air, and have a recessed side for easy entry. Make sure you
purchase a dog appropriate litter that is newspaper-based, not clay or
crystal, as these can be harmful if ingested.
- Set up your dog’s litter box in an easily accessible area
to start. You can move it slowly as she successfully uses it. Make sure
the box is at least 3 feet away from your dog’s food/water and
bed/kennel to start.
- Some special dog litters like Puppy Go
Potty are specially scented to attract dogs to use them. If not, or to
bolster success rates, place a newspaper or training pad in the box to
- Some dogs are averse to using the litter
itself. You can start by using training pads in the box and gradually
add litter to eventually replace.
5. Artificial Grass
This relatively new solution is related to the litter box. It uses an
artificial grass top which allows wet waste to accumulate in a
reservoir below and solid waste to easily be picked up on top.
Environmentally friendly, hygienic, and convenient, the Pet Loo
receptacles are both washable and replaceable.
- Be sure to place the receptacle in a place where your dog
can easily see it. You can use training pads or sprays to encourage
defecation early on.
- A filled tub of urine can be dumped down the toilet, and the “grass” rinsed off with a hose daily or as needed.
Whatever the method you choose, the most important element is consistency. Positive reinforcement, in the way of praise or treats, goes a long way toward success. Happy training! Please feel free to comment below...

domain: pet


text:
A report by recruitment specialists Caterer.com has revealed that one in four people visiting a restaurant in the UK has special dietary requirements, such as allergies and intolerance, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, meat in moderation, religion or cultural-specific diet and low fat or low sugar. Digging a little deeper, the report revealed that selective eaters are more likely to be under the age of 35, identify as female or non-binary, live in an urban area or on an income of £50,000 or more. They are also more likely to live in the east of the UK. (London, the South East, the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East, to be precise.)
In a survey of diners the report also revealed that selective eaters:
- 47%have eaten this way for 10 years or more
- 37%have eaten this way for 2 to 10 years
- 16%have eaten this way for less than 2 years
- 80% eat out at least once a month and 60% would go out at least once more if restaurants went the extra mile for them.
Consumers with a dietary requirement can feel neglected in the restaurant industry, with 57% of diners feeling restaurants do not provide as many options for their diet and 47% worrying about a mistake being made with their meal.
The report also found that selective eaters are more likely to ask for menu substitutions compared to people without a dietary requirement, with 21% of selective eaters having to return their meal as it did not meet their dietary requirements. Likewise, 80% of consumers with dietary requirements have had to change their diet at least once when eating at a restaurant, with 26% of those who have compromised their diet saying it was because they wanted to try a particular dish. But alarmingly, 21% of those who have slipped up when eating out said it was because they were wrongly told a dish met their requirements when in fact it didn’t.
UK burger chain Honest Burgers marketing director Meg Ellis said: “At Honest we put a lot of effort into training our staff around dietary needs and preferences and ensuring our processes are robust and externally audited so people can feel reassured before their first bite. We support this with a broad approach to recruitment.”
The report also revealed that selective eaters spend more on an average meal out than people without dietary requirements.
If restaurants can fulfil the demands of people with dietary requirements, the benefits could be huge the report adds, the current revenue of UK restaurants stands at £40bn, and by fulfilling demands this could increase by £9bn.
Survey respondents said selective eaters want UK restaurants to do more when thinking about customers dietary requirements, with 40% wanting to see menu items for dietary requirements updated as frequently as regular menu items.
As well as more familiar specialist dietary requirements, some people avoid certain foods based on appearance, smell, taste, texture, brand, presentation or a negative experience from food in the past.
See the original research report here.


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Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours, 5 minutes
– 2 cups frozen blueberries
– 1 cup full-fat coconut cream
– 4 teaspoons Blue Agave
– 4 drops Lavender essential oil
– Up to ⅓ cup coconut water
1. Line a small casserole dish or large container with wax paper or parchment paper.
2. Add frozen blueberries, coconut cream, Lavender, and agave to a high-powered blender or food processor.
3. Pulse ingredients together, adding coconut water 1 tablespoon at a time to help the ingredients blend together smoothly. Be careful not to add too much liquid or your ice cream will become too soft.
4. Pour blended ingredients into the prepared dish, cover, and freeze for four hours.
5. Scoop into bowls and garnish with your favourite ingredient.
Enjoy when you’re looking for a refreshing, guilt-free treat!

domain: health


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Dispute puts bin collection at risk
HUNDREDS of thousands of householders face the prospect of not having their bins collected this week because of a dispute over a council's outsourcing of the collection service to a private operator.
SIPTU has threatened to withdraw services in Dublin from Thursday after Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council decided it would no longer provide a direct service to the public.
If the strike goes ahead, it will result in household waste not being collected during the Festival of World Cultures which begins on Friday. Up to 200,000 people are expected to attend.
SIPTU said it may take industrial action after the council announced in May it was outsourcing its collection to private operator Panda -- a move the union said was a breach of agreements reached at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).
Panda is expected to take over the waste collection service in Dun Laoghaire next Monday.
A spokeswoman for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown said it would attend the LRC today for talks with the union "without preconditions".
The council is owed €27m in unpaid bin charges.
Last night, union spokesman Ramon O'Reilly said the industrial action could spread to other Dublin local authorities.
Workers in Fingal and South Dublin councils have already balloted for industrial action in support of their Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown colleagues. Dublin City workers are considering taking a similar ballot.
Some 360,000 households in the greater Dublin area avail of a bin collection service from local authorities.


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GINNY GRANT ADDS FRESHNESS TO SUMMER FISH & SEAFOOD DISHES WITH HERBS & ASIAN FLAVOURS.
Easy cooking is what summer-holiday meals are all about for me. Seafood in particular makes for fast, flavour-forward dishes. Mostly I’m happy with a piece of grilled fish and a simple salad, especially if the fish has been freshly caught, but there’s also a time when I hanker for a kick of heat in the food and sharp, clean and fresh flavours from plenty of Asian herbs. There is usually a stash of frozen lemongrass and makrut (kaffir) lime leaves in the freezer and there is always a variety of dried chillies to hand.

domain: food


Magistral transfered capacity of the plant for the production of beer from Leningrad to Moscow region.
The project was announced in 2009 in conjunction with the State Corporation RUSNANO. It was invested 16.5 billion rubles. New products will be used in navigation, and industrial electronics, computer systems, electronic metering, automated process control systems, monitoring systems, foreign passports, smart cards and other areas.
As part of the project "Creation of production of VLSI-based Nanoelectronics technology with design rules of 90 nm», Magistral carries out a complex assembly, wiring and insulation work on the system, the external distribution of chilled, cooling and hot water Energokorpuse, Sections 3 and Box B.


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Aches, pains, and stress fall away at My Art My Passion Massage. Consider Evelyn Ogami the culprit. A licensed massage therapist, Evelyn comes with a toolbox of techniques ready to allay numerous symptoms associated with pain and tension. Here, you'll find treatments such as deep-tissue massage, which addresses chronic pain, barefoot shiatsu massage, and sports massage, a focused therapeutic treatment that can bring relief to those injured while on the playing field or fielding questions from aggressive reporters.
Cassandra Peterson used to be a skeptic about the benefits of chiropractic. But a severe car accident left her in pain, and she turned to chiropractic treatment for help. As the treatments relieved her pain and she got to know her doctor, she decided to pursue a career in the field, and headed to Sherman College of Chiropractic. She graduated, and practiced chiropractic around the world—including in the United States, Vietnam, and Singapore—before arriving in Hawaii to open Cassandra Peterson Chiropractic.
There are many reasons a person might need physical therapy. From postinjury rehab and stroke recovery to arthritis management and sports-performance enhancement, the facilities at PT Hawaii are well equipped to handle a wide range of neuromusculoskeletal maladies. Within the comfort of a private treatment room, massage therapists knead aching muscles and improve range of motion in stiff joints. The reduced gravitational force and bumped-up buoyancy of the 100,000-gallon saltwater AquaCare pool help people improve their Marco Polo technique while protecting injured parts from further damage.
When it comes to pain relief, a one-size-fits-all approach is rarely the answer. That?s why Portner Orthopedic Rehabilitation?s team isn?t populated by professionals versed in a single field or specialty. Instead, the roster consists of medical doctors, non-surgical orthopedic doctors, physical therapists, an acupuncturist, and rehabilitative massage therapists who help treat such conditions as whiplash, carpal-tunnel syndrome, and sports injuries. Their diagnostic services mix old-fashioned physical examinations with electromyography and ultrasound testing. After determining the underlying cause of discomfort, doctors might ease inflammation in the joints, alleviate muscle spasms, and reduce swelling with injection therapy.
When conditions call for extra relief, the doctors call in colleagues including physical therapists, licensed massage therapists, and an acupuncturist. They set to work dissipating deep-seated problems with their specialized treatments, whether they?re applying pressure to problem areas and kneading out knotted tissue or unblocking energy pathways and promoting inner healing through the strategic insertion of tiny needles.
Lomilomi, which means “massage” in Hawaiian, represents native islanders’ greater tradition of natural body healing. The therapists at Lomi-Foot N Body specialize in lomilomi as well as other forms of Hawaiian massage—including lomi pohaku, which incorporates hot stones; ha’uki lomi for highly active and athletic clients; and lomi noho, or chair massage. They partner their ancient Hawaiian specialty with other regional massage techniques, such as gentle Swedish massage and Japanese shiatsu, which stimulates bodily energy flow so that clients can recharge batteries by putting them in their ears.
At Bliss Healthcare & Bodyworks, licensed massage therapist Robert Timm reveals the healing power of massage. A registered nurse, Robert has witnessed that power firsthand while working extensively with rehabilitating patients. He applies that exposure to his own practice, where he uses various modalities, including Swedish, lomilomi, orthopedic, and deep tissue. To elevate the relaxation levels of each experience, Robert and the Bliss team offer extras, such as aromatherapy and hot stones, and even travel to the homes of clients via their mobile service.


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It is possible to change a limited liability company (LLC) to a corporation, and it’s a simple process in many states. But if you only want to become a corporation for its tax advantages, you can also remain an LLC and elect to be to be taxed as an S-Corporation.
LLCs vs. corporations
LLCs and corporations are types of business entities. “S-Corporation” and “C-Corporation” refer to the way a corporation is classified for income tax purposes.
Both LLCs and corporations limit their owners’ personal liability for business obligations, but they differ in their ownership and management structure in the following ways:
- Corporations have a standard management structure that includes a board of directors and officers. LLCs can be managed in any way the owners choose.
- Corporations generally have more recordkeeping and reporting requirements than LLCs, and they’re required to hold annual shareholders’ meetings.
- Corporate shares are easy to transfer from one owner to another, making corporations popular with outside investors. An LLC’s membership interests are more difficult to transfer.
Why change from LLC to S-Corporation taxation?
LLCs are unique in that they don’t have their own federal income tax classification. Instead, the Internal Revenue Service automatically taxes LLCs as “disregarded entities,” meaning that single member LLCs are taxed like sole proprietorships and multi-member LLCs are taxed like partnerships.
An LLC can, however, choose to be classified as an association taxed as a C-Corporation or an S-Corporation.
A disregarded entity
If an LLC is a disregarded entity, its income and expenses pass through to the owners’ personal tax returns, and the owners pay personal income tax on any profits.
Owners of disregarded entity LLCs are considered self-employed individuals. This means that they must pay Social Security tax up to the annual maximum, and Medicare tax on the full amount of the LLC’s profits.
An S-Corporation also provides pass-through taxation. In contrast, a C-Corporation pays corporate income tax and the shareholders then pay personal income tax on their distributions.
S-Corporation shareholders who also work in the business are considered employees of the corporation. They must pay themselves a reasonable salary and they must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on that salary.
By electing S-Corporation status, an LLC owner can save on self-employment taxes if the owner’s share of the business profits is greater than the amount the owner would reasonably earn as a salary. Corporations may also be able to take additional tax deductions, such as a deduction for owner-employee’s health insurance plans
How to convert LLC to S-Corporation
If you believe your business structure should be changed from LLC to corporation, the LLC to S-Corporation process requires two steps: converting your LLC to a corporation and then electing S-Corporation status with the IRS.
The first step in an LLC to S-Corp conversion is to determine whether your LLC qualifies for S-Corp status. Not all corporations can be taxed as S-Corporations. The requirements include:
- Must be a domestic corporation
- Must have no more than 100 shareholders
- None of the shareholders can be a partnership, a corporation, or a nonresident alien
- There can only be one class of stock
If your LLC meets the S-Corporation requirements, then in many states you can use a process known as a “statutory conversion” to make the LLC/S-Corp change.
In a statutory conversion, the LLC’s assets and liabilities automatically transfer into a corporation. There’s no need to form a new corporation and dissolve the LLC.
The statutory conversion process is relatively simple: you file a certificate of conversion and other required documents with the state and pay a filing fee. Information, forms, and filing fees are typically available on the website of your state’s business filing agency.
If your LLC was formed in a state that doesn’t allow statutory conversions, you will probably have to undertake a more complicated change procedure known as a statutory merger. In a statutory merger, you form a corporation with your LLC’s members as shareholders.
The shareholders then approve a plan of merger and swap their membership interests in the LLC for shares in the corporation.
To complete the statutory merger, you must file a certificate of merger and any other required documents with your state. You may also be required to file documents formally dissolving the LLC. A statutory merger can be complicated, so it’s a good idea to seek advice from a small business attorney.
Once you have completed the process of converting the LLC to a corporation, you must file Form 2553, Election by a Small Business Corporation, with the IRS to elect S-Corporation tax status.
How can an LLC be an S-Corporation for tax purposes only?
To be taxed as an S-Corporation while still being organized as an LLC, an LLC must meet the same requirements as a corporation regarding number and type of owners.
The LLC must then file IRS Form 8832, Entity Classification Election. Once that is done, the LLC can elect LLC as S-Corp taxation by filing Form 2553, Election by a Small Business Corporation.
Taking advantage of S-Corporation taxation for your LLC is as simple as filing forms with the IRS. To change your entity from an LLC to a corporation, you’ll also need to file forms with the state, and in some states you may have to undertake a more complicated statutory merger.
Find out more about Forming Your Corporation


Skip to Main Content
The design of the Galileo spacecraft is described. To accommodate the instruments that require continuous scanning as well as those that need accurate pointing, the orbiter will have two sections, one spinning and the other stationary. A brief summary is given of the mission's scientific goals. The tasks that will be performed by the spacecraft's command and data subsystem and attitude and articulation control subsystem are described. Attention is given to the steps that were taken to ensure that the probe will be able to communicate with the orbiter through the atmosphere of Jupiter. Some of the planned measurements are briefly described, along with the instruments that will be used.


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“The community of workers, have they the right to take back all the products of their labour? Yes, a thousand times yes. This re-appropriation is the revolution, without which everything still is to be done. A group of workers, have they the right to a partial re-appropriation of the collective produce? Without a doubt. When the revolution can’t be made in its entirety, it must be made at least to the best of its ability.
“The isolated individual, has he a right to a personal re-appropriation of his part of the collective property? How can it be doubted. The collective property being appropriated by a few, why shouldn’t it be taken back in detail, when it can’t be taken back as a whole? He has the absolute right to take it – to steal…” — Elisee Reclus
Anarchism has always been associated with crime and criminal activity. In many countries of the 19th century, belonging to an Anarchist organization, publishing or writing – or even possessing – Anarchist literature was a crime. In most of the countries where Anarchists ideas attracted a substantial following (Italy, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S.), Anarchist were often “blackballed” by the local businessmen, hounded out of their jobs and homes. The unemployed – and unemployable – Anarchists were often forced into a life of crime out of desperation.
This was the intention of the powerful, to keep the workers and peasants in their place and harass, imprison or kill those who dared speak out against their oppression. However, even in the greatest police states ever created, only a fraction of the criminals are ever apprehended. These “professional” criminals inspired many Anarchists not only to engage in criminal activity for their livelihood, but to embrace this role. Seeing themselves as frontline warriors in the battle against Capital, they politicized their activities by robbing symbols of the wealthy (banks, trains, wealthy people’s houses) and then sharing the loot with Anarchist publications, printers, prisoners and comrades in dire need.
Though some great folk-heroes arose from the ranks of the Anarcho-bandits, most lived low-key lives, not ever hinting at their clandestine activities. Indeed, most of the robbers, thieves, assassins and bombers that we know of are well-known because they were caught. Many others were never apprehended, though. After years of activity, they would retire to an asture life and pass their skills, equipment and contacts to the next generation of rebels. These people who embraced crime as part of their political struggle were known as Illegalists. And, though local bandits were national heroes in Italy, the Ukraine and Spain, they actually became part of the overall Anarchist revolutionary movement in France.
In the bitter years following the suppression of the Paris Commune, anarchist and union activity were outlawed. However, in 1880, a general pardon of Communards was issued and thousands of exiled Parisians returned home. Soon, there were hundreds of Anarchist organizations, many with their own publication. They gave themselves names like “the Sword“, “Viper“, “the Terror of La Ciotat“. One paper in particular stands out as a mouthpiece of Illegalism: Pere Peinard.
According to one contemporary, this most scurrilous paper, with the largest working class readership of any Parisian anarchist newspaper at the time,
“With no display of philosophy (which is not to say it had none) it played openly upon the appetites, predjudices, and rancours of the proletariate. Without reserve or disguise, it incited to theft, counterfeiting, the repudiation of taxes and rents, killing and arson. It councelled the immediate assassination of deputies, senators, judges, priests and army officers. It advised unemployed working men to take food for themselves and their families wherever it was to be found, to help themselves to shoes at the shoe shop when the spring rains wet their feet, and to overcoats at the clothier’s when the winter winds nipped them. It urged employed working men to put their tyrannical employers out of the way, and to appropriate their factories; farm labourers and vineyard workers to take possession of the farms and vineyards, and turn the landlords and vineyard owners into fertilizing phosphates; miners to seize the mines and to offer picks to shareholders in case they showed a willingness to work like their brother men, otherwise to dump them into the disused shafts; conscripts to emigrate rather than perform their military service, and soldiers to desert or shoot their officers. It glorified poachers and other deliberate breakers of the law. It recounted the exploits of olden-time brigands and outlaws, and exhorted contemporaries to follow their example.” (the above quotes are from the Bonnot Gang by Richard Parry)
“Resignation is death. Revolt is life.” from the first issue of l’anarchie
l’anarchie was another Illegalist newspaper, which appeared every Thursday from 4/13/05 until the outbreak of World War One, in 1914. It declared itself against resignation and conformity to the existing state of affairs. It condemned vices (marriage, military service, work, drinking, voting, smoking tobacco and eating meat.) It exalted l’endehors, the outsider, and the hors-la-loi, outlaws. Here are some of it’s general beliefs:
There were not two opposed classes, bourgeois and proletarian, but only individuals – though these individuals could be either for or against the status quo. The Master and the Slave were mutually dependant, but the Rebel could come from either category, so long as they were ready to rise in revolt against existing society.
The syndicats were seen as capitalist organizations which defended the workers as workers; thus keeping them in a social role anarchists should aim to destroy. Their role as workers had little to do with their own realization as individuals. The Unions were seen as unwitting tools of capitalism. Their ideal was to live their lives as neither exploited nor exploiter. But how to do that under the existing society? Through the reprise individuelle, the individual taking what he desired from his exploiters.
Clement Duval, a partially disabled veteran of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, spent a year in Prison for stealing from his employer in order to feed his family and buy much-needed medication. Unable to support his family upon his release, he undertook a life of crime. After burgling the mansion of a wealthy Paris socialite, he set it ablaze. Accosted by a policeman outside, he struck the officer down and fled. He was sentenced to death upon his capture, but the sentence was commuted to life at hard labor on Devil’s Island. His words were published in the pages of Revolte: “Theft exists only through the exploitation of man by man…when Society refuses you the right to exist, you must take it…the policeman arrested me in the name of the Law, I struck him in the name of Liberty…”
Vittorio Pini, an anarchist shoemaker on the lam from Italy, along with four comrades, netted over 500,000 francs in a series of burglaries. They stole almost exclusively to support hard-up comrades or prisoners and to subsidize the anarchist press in France and Italy.
Alexandre Marius Jacob serves as the model of anarcho-banditry: from a 13-year-old serving on a pirate ship in the Indian Ocean, he went on to become a well-known manufacturer of explosives at the age of 16. By the time he was twenty, he was successfully robbing the homes and churches of the ruling class. After escaping from prison, he decided that his previous crimes had not been enough, and he formed a criminal gang with some of his anarchist comrades. Calling themselves “les Travaillers de la Nuit” (the Night Workers), they went on to form a vast network of safe-houses, tool co-operatives, fences, so that as many as one-hundred people joined the gang and its satellites. Of course, they helped anarchist causes as much as they helped themselves.
The Bonnot Gang
Prior to the outbreak of World War One, a group of Anarchists decided to form an illegalist group. Dubbed “the Bonnot gang” by French authorities, they were described as the most dangerous criminals of their time. They were the first modern criminal gang of the 20th century and were the originators of several modern urban crimes, including:
- Use of an automobile as an escape vehicle
- Use of stolen cars in the committing of a crime
They were moderately successful, but a massive effort by the police across France eventually brought about their capture. Though a few of the members were tried and sent to the guillotine or life at hard labor, others chose to go down fighting rather than surrender. See Richard Parry’s book, The Bonnot Gang for a full account of their exploits.

domain: sociology


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Extra: Rod Pritchard, Secretary of the College
(319) 399-8605 or email@example.com
2017-04-14 10:20:43 - General
The Coe College Handbell Ensemble will perform their inaugural "solo" concert on Sunday, April 23, beginning at 4 p.m. in Daehler-Kitchin Auditorium of Marquis Hall. It is free and open to the public.
Featuring 18 students playing five-Octaves plus of handbells, hand chimes and other instruments, the spring concert will include original handbell repertoire as well as transcriptions of music by J.S. Bach and Handel. An exciting arrangement of Beethoven’s famous "Hymn to Joy" for handbells and piano will be performed, along with some handbell ragtime.
The Coe Handbell Ensemble is under the direction of Coe Music Professor Brett Wolgast. For more information, call 319-399-8521.


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I first heard about Luba from the folksingers Curtis and Loretta in 2003 when they played a concert for Friday at the Ford at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library. Loretta said that she had written the song "Angel of Bergen-Belsen" after reading an article in a news magazine about Luba saving over fifty children from death in a Nazi concentration camp. After she and Curtis performed the song, she expressed a wish to find Luba, who was reported to still be living. I volunteered to help.
In my part of the search, I learned that Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen, a children’s picture book with text Michelle R. McCann and illustrations by Ann Marshall, was scheduled to be published. McCann had interviewed Luba, according to the press release. I told Loretta but I never saw the book until Friday, when my coworker Nancy Long loaned it to me.
Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen is a beautiful book. Marshall's illustrations practically glow. For each picture page there is a page of text by McCann based on the story Luba told her. What I like most about the story is that Luba did not really accomplish the miracle of saving the children by herself; she inspired many in the concentration camp to help her. I also like that the book has some extras, including a list of all the children, a story about the survivors gathering in 1995, a bibliography, and a nice photo of Luba Tryszynska-Frederick on the back cover. I recommend the book to young and old.
Loretta has been granted her wish and has met and sung for Luba. More of that story is told on the Curtis and Loretta website. (Click "news" on the menu on the left of the main page. Go to the bottom of the resulting "What's Happening" page and click link to old news for October 2003.)
McCann, Michelle R. Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen. Berkeley, Calif.: Tricycle Press, c2003. ISBN 1582460981
Go to rickindex to find more book, movie, and music reviews.


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HOLMER DLC Steering Modes
You asked us about the steering modes of the vehicles in the upcoming HOLMER DLC so we made this little video! What do you think?
On March 10th we will bring sugar beet harvesting in Farming Simulator 15 to a whole new level on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The HOLMER DLC will give you access to two new impressive vehicles from the famous brand HOLMER with a wide range of compatible equipment from ZUNHAMMER and BERGMANN to expand your farming activities.
The mighty Terra Dos T4-40 with its large working width speeds up your harvest while the flexible Terra Variant 600 eco Tractor can get equipped with different modules to suit any situation.
For PC and Mac users, you can pre-order the DLC now for only € 9,99. The PS4 and Xbox One versions will be available for download on the PSN and the Xbox Games Store for the same price on March 10th.
PC gamers additionally have the option to get the HOLMER DLC as part of the OFFICIAL EXPANSION 2 which will also be available at retail stores on March 10th. The DVD box is ideal for collectors and includes all previously released DLCs for Farming Simulator 15 as well:
New Holland DLC (+ Loaders DLC)
Farming Classics DLC
The Official e-book 'Farming Simulator Modding For Dummies' (PDF)
For only € 19,99 the OFFICIAL EXPANSION 2 adds 50 new vehicles and items of farming equipment to your existing installation of Farming Simulator 15 or Farming Simulator 15 Gold Edition.

domain: entertainment


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Ructions over gay marriage are no excuse for retreat. Update social conservatism, don’t abandon it
If you ask an average Tory member to define their politics, they’ll most likely focus on the free market economy or the nation state. If you ask what defines them personally, they’ll mention their family. David Cameron doesn’t make such a mistaken distinction. From the moment he first stood for the Tory leadership he made it clear that his conservatism wasn’t just about pounds, shillings and pence or the Union Jack. It was also about parental duties, neighbourliness and commitments across generations.
Many Tories are nervous of politicians saying much or doing anything about family life. In last week’s gay


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|Genres||Drama, Romance, Romantic Comedy|
|US Release Date||01/01/2000|
Hayao Miyazaki's swan song is incredibly inspiring.
'Game of Thrones' star Kit Harington and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje from 'Lost' team up in 'Pompeii': a boring Ancient Rome film that eventually becomes a fun volcano adventure.
Colin Farrell's new fantasy epic 'Winter's Tale' has a lot of interesting ideas, but doesn't deliver on most of them.
Do you know what gravitas sounds like?
Lenny Kravitz's actress daughter Zoe looks set to follow dad into the music business after recording tracks for a new album with her band Lolawolf in between shoots on her new movie The Road Within.
Funnyman David Spade feels a little cheated after spending $125,000 (£78,000) on special access to a Sir Paul McCartney concert at a charity auction - because he has yet to see the former Beatle perform live.
Actress Jessie Mueller has been hailed as Broadway's next big star after winning rave reviews for her portrayal of singer/songwriter Carole King in a new stage musical.
The stars of today in the shows of yesteryear.
How many witches, demons, apocalypses, and sentient robots have we seen this year?
...and 'Gravity' isn't too far behind!
|Jane Barclay||Executive Producer||n/a||174||3000003|
|Sharon Harel-Cohen||Executive Producer||n/a||174||3000004|
|Hannah Leader||Executive Producer||n/a||174||3000005|
|Ronna Wallace||Co-Executive Producer||n/a||185||3000008|
|Mary Waterhouse||Unit Production Manager||n/a||182||5000001|
|Thomas Ackerman||Director of Photography||n/a||120780||6000001|
|David Brisbin||Production Designer||n/a||164||9000001|
|Lesley Beale||Set Decorator||n/a||165||9000002|
|Jenni Gullett||Costume Designer||n/a||169||13000001|
From classic movie palaces to the state-of-the-art IMAX screens.