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Like Street Fighter? Let Capcom Fly you to the SFIV Launch Party

Via "LA is the place to be this February 12, for the launch event of Street Fighter IV (PS3, 360). What? You don't live in LA? Sucks to be you then. What you can do though, is get yourself a chance to win a free plane ticket courtesy of Capcom."

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TGV @ E3: Sonic Generations City Escape Demo Impressions

TGV writes: Sonic the Hedgehog has had a long, hard road in the last several years. Breaking the dreaded Sonic Cycle (pic) was last year’s Sonic Colors on both the DS and Wii, bringing a superb mix of classic and modern gameplay with elements that both diehard fans and newcomers could appreciate.

Sonic Generations is looking incredibly promising, continuing the trend of fusing the two worlds into a richly stylized environment that marries classic and modern gameplay as you play as both Classic and Modern Sonic to celebrate the Fastest Thing Alive’s 20th Anniversary.

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Herminator2772d ago

I don't know, I'm always instinctively dubious of ANY new Sonic title.

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Provider Education Program Dates

provider_education_Header“We are currently recruiting teachers for our Provider Education Course“.  We are interested in interviewing candidates who are licensed mental health professionals (LCSW, LMFT, PH.D. Psychologists, or RN’s)  AND who have a family member with a mental illness or mental health professionals who have a psychiatric diagnosis themselves.

An Orange County Training will be scheduled in the Spring of 2015.   This 2 day training will occur on a Saturday and Sunday (all day for both days).   Date is to be determined.

Trained, certified teachers will receive a stipend of $60 for each class, or $300 for all 5 classes taught.

The following is a description of the course:

The Provider Education Program is a fifteen hour education program designed to be taught by a five-person teaching team comprised of two family members of individuals living with mental illness, who are also Family- to-Family or NAMI Basics teachers; two individuals living with mental illness, and one mental health professional who is also either a family member, or an individual living with a mental illness.

The program is structured around five 3-hour sessions that are presented to mental health providers by a trained team who presents the material from their lived experience. The Provider Education Program makes information available to providers that they do not receive in their professional training: what it is like to live with mental illness every day of your life. The program gives providers the opportunity to develop an insight into what individuals living with mental illness struggle with on a daily basis across all aspects of their lives and the resulting impact on their entire family. NAMI believes that once providers develop this essential insight they will view individuals with mental illness and their families as partners in the treatment process, and the result will be improved outcomes for everyone.

15 CE Credits offered upon completion of this education program.
Next Class Begins on Saturday, January 31, 2015 and ends on Saturday, February 28, 2015
Classes are held weekly on Saturdays from 1:00 p.m.  –   4:00  p.m.
 The class meets:  1/31/15,  2/7/15,  2/14/15,  2/21/15  and 2/28/15
University of Southern California
Orange County Academic Center, School of Social Work
2300 Michelson Drive
Irvine, CA  92612

Classroom # C
On 2/21/15 only,  we will meet in Classroom # B.
Priority registration will be given to USC School of Social Work Alumni and current students and members of the National Association of Social Workers.
Please contact the Provider Education Course Program Coordinator
Kristen Pankratz, for further information:

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Yarn, Yorkshire and All Manner of Wonderful Things!

Posts tagged ‘York’

A Big Adventure!

Or York as you have never seen her.

My birthday was seven months ago, but my birthday gifts have been enjoyed throughout this time. Mr T was responsible for the Ancestry DNA kit which set me off on my family tree research again, then came Mr B’s gift of theatre tickets in Stratford and Mr J gave me a wonderful garden pot, which was finally put in situ at the start of May. It is very big, I can’t lift it at all.

And then came Mr E’s birthday gift.  But what ? Well here’s how I spent Saturday.

Having a big adventure by helicopter.

Bye Mr E, and thank you for this birthday present.

and up

to York,  that’s the university below

York railway and railway museum

The Minster is really quite small from above,

On zoom

Clifford’s Tower

The race course

the River Ouse

Coming down

Hello again .

Well what a birthday present. What a birthday! Thank you family and thank you for humouring me and reading my post. I almost like getting older.

Ok so back to the washing, ironning, cooking and cleaning. Blow it I have paint and yarn to play with! Where’s my knitting?

One a week Photo Challenge- Arch

Spa Bridge Scarborough, taken January 2017

Ruins of St Mary’s Abbey, York, taken this month

Bootham Bar, York. The entrances to the old part of the city of York are called, Bars. In other UK cities they are also known as Gates. Confusing, but we Brits like to confuse!!

Please leave a link in the comments below for any Arch posts. Wild Daffodil will do a monthly round up at the end of April.

Next week’s prompt is Nature.

Happy Snapping!

This week.

This week I should write a 16 for 2016 update, but there isn’t one really! I think I have achieved all that I am going to achieve from this years list. I will do a round-up in December. I am thinking hard about  a 17 for 2017 list.

The weather changed this week, big time. It’s colder and wetter now. The wood burning stove has been lit daily. One afternoon I lit it about 2pm. I cutched down on the sofa with a mug of tea and some crochet and life felt very good indeed.

Now that I am volunteering at the library my walking tally has improved. The car park is limited to a mere 90 minutes. Ok if you are shopping, but no good for a library two-hour shift , so I have been walking down. This week I helped put up a display for the BBC’s Love to Read campaign. I had to select books I had enjoyed. A most pleasant task.

Tuesday the weather was chilly but the sky was blue so I set off on a country walk.

This is Cawthorne Roman camps. These were three temporary Roman camp sites used by the Romans for training purposes. If you look to the left below the tree line you will see the rampart. I was drawn into the middle by a splash of red which turned out to be brambles.

Who knew a bramble leaf could be so pretty. The reason the camps were here is that you can see for miles around.

Right across the North York Moors.

And in the other direction down towards the lake.

I have started to think about Christmas, gifts, decorations etc, as I guess we all have. (Well not Mr E, he starts to think about it at 4pm on Christmas Eve. )I had a trip out to York. It wasn’t very satisfactory. I had in mind some things for the grandchildren and I needed some new shoes. Well maybe not NEED need but need. You know. Anyway the shops were out of the sizes for everything I had looked at. So back home and onto the computer for some on line shopping. I really really really want to buy stuff in proper shops, I hate the idea of a town centre with nothing more than estate agents and nail bars, but if they can’t get stocking levels right before Christmas just what can you do? Buy the wrong size? No wonder M&S are closing stores, they were one of the worst offenders. And yes I did manage to order everything on line. However, York was lovely as ever.

The Minster! I mentioned crochet didn’t I? The three blankets are all joined now, just the borders to complete. It has been a real pleasure working with Rachel’s blocks. It reminded me that what I had wanted to do after crocheting my way through the 200 crochet blocks book, was actually make a blanket using just some of the blocks. So I have chosen  four colours.

Yarn is Stylecraft DK. I am going to make the Art Deco blanket , if you have got the book. Just one more thing on the crochet front, have a look at Jenny’s blog on Simply Hooked. She makes some lovely things!

As I finish here , the sky is grey,it’s raining, it’s cold and it’s not yet 3pm. Time to make a brew and light that fire.

Have a good week!

Inspired Sunday!

Took the opportunity of a dentist’s appointment to go into York. First there was a stroll through the museum gardens past this abbey

3.6.15 004

or should I say the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey which was dissolved during Henry the 8ths reign.

Thence to the lovely church very close by of St Olave, St Olaf, patron saint of Norway. originally built in 1055, 11 years before William the conqueror came from Normandy.

3.6.15 010

Entrance is from the North side, just outside the gardens.

The font dates from1860

3.6.15 011

Around the walls are plaques depicting the stations of the cross,presented in 1964

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The Altar dates from the 17th century.

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Looking down the church

3.6.15 014

Linking with Inspired Sunday

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INTERVIEW: RoninClan | NARC. | Reliably Informed | Music and Creative Arts News for Newcastle and the North East

Narc. Magazine Online

Reliably informed

Picture the scene: you’ve gone to see your favourite local metal band and the support act has just stepped on stage, but there are no guitars in sight, no drums, no instruments at all – just two skinny guys with their tops off holding mics and one other dude hidden behind a laptop. No, they’re not lost, they’re just RoninClan.

Vocalists Jak Francis and Leyum Pattinson, and producer Thomas Elsender have made a reputation for themselves over the last 12 months as the craziest live act around; their genre-bending hip-hop-meets-metal sound acting as a soundtrack for the madness. “It’s hard to find the words to describe the genre we’re in really,” explains Pattinson. “It’s just sort of experimental, radge as fuck sort of music – that’s what we aim for.”

“I’ve heard a lot of people compare us to $uicide Boy$, but I think that’s just down to Jak and Leyum’s image more than anything,” adds Elsender.

Despite not being a metal band, or arguably a band at all, RoninClan have cut their teeth on Newcastle’s metal and hardcore circuit. Their aggressive sound and no-fucks-given live shows are similar to the experience of seeing a rock band, so it’s not too crazy to see how they’ve ended up in that crowd. “I’m not influenced by musicians as such, but by the live experience of metal and heavy shows,” continues Pattinson. “That mentality sort of puts me in a mind frame to write what I write and coming from a metal background I’m more influenced by bands like that; so people like The Acacia Strain and Annihilator – because they’re disgusting and heavy, and just quite controversial.”

We’re paving the way for our own scene

The high-energy trio aren’t always welcomed with open arms by metalheads, as Elsender reflects, “We’ve been at certain rock venues where we’ve had people who work behind the bar shouting ‘who are these dickheads’, ‘get these off stage, they’re fucking shit’ and once we finish and the headliners come on there’s like five people left in the crowd. I do think it’s kind of ran its course playing all the hardcore shows, it got us to where we are now but I don’t think it’s our scene anymore. We want to headline some more shows and if people are actually coming to see us, rather than us supporting, then we want more people on with a similar sound.”

“We’re paving the way for our own scene,” adds Pattinson. “I’m excited to see what we can do with the people we’re working with at the minute within the local scene, acts like Scapegoat Avarice and KV$HNOODLE. We’re working on pulling together a collective and basically turning Newcastle into the next best thing in the world of trap.”

Before taking over the world with their supergroup, RoninClan will be playing their biggest support slot to date this month, taking to the O2 Academy with Hip-Hop Hooray on Friday 21st December. Despite this being a strange crossover on paper, the lads are confident they will “fucking destroy the place” – after all, they’re no strangers to performing in front of audiences that haven’t heard anything like them before. In fact, that’s what they do best.

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Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Wishing For A Hearth

Lonely heart, lonely alone,
Cold people, coldness adorned;
Intense thoughts, laughter long gone,
Home doesn't feel like home.

No one cares, nobody knows,
Like guests, come and go;
Like mismatched puzzle pieces,
A wrong picture, they always show;
What do you expect?
With a closed shutter;
What can you find?
When hearts are not aflutter.

So much can change,
With people alone;
Sinking your heart,
Like a heavy stone;
Smiles all lost,
Replaced by snickery;
All that now remains,
Is neat mockery.

Wishing for a hearth,
To call our own;
Wishing for some rain,
For all that we have sown;
Reclaiming the warmth,
Reclaiming our youth;
Living our life,
Like we really should.

1 comment:

  1. Wow... expresses how the world and the people in it have taken the best things for granted.

Loved that you dropped by. It would lovely to know how you feel about this post too :)


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Books Comic Books Entertainment featured

‘Garfield,’ Sarcasm, and Autism – GeekDad

'Garfield,' Sarcasm, and Autism - GeekDad
Studying Time: 6 minutes

Individuals give Garfield lots of sh*t.

I don’t perceive it, personally. The comedian has been operating for forty years. Forty years! Forty years in the past, the Atari 2600 hadn’t been launched. Forty years in the past, the thought of a brand new Star Wars film was a novelty, not an expectation. Forty years in the past, my mother and father hadn’t met but. There’s acquired to be one thing to a comic book strip that’s gone on for forty years. I imply, we stored Nancy round for 36 years virtually as a benchwarmer for somebody who might fill Ernie Bushmiller’s footwear, and after that wait Olivia Jaimes’ Nancy is arguably the perfect factor within the newspaper at present.

For me, the significance of this forty yr previous cartoon is that it allowed a younger autistic child to know what sarcasm was.

This was my lifeline.

When you didn’t know, I’ve Nonverbal Studying Dysfunction. NLD is a specific sort of autism, however the lengthy and in need of it’s that I didn’t naturally develop the power to select up nonverbal cues in language similar to tone of voice, non-literal makes use of of language, facial expressions, and basic physique language. I just like the identify Nonverbal Studying Dysfunction, it’s correctly evocative. Critically, these are all expertise I can and have labored to study, and some items of them have even began to turn into so recurring that they appear and virtually really feel pure, albeit by way of brute pressure repetition. However to study these expertise, I needed to know what expertise I didn’t have as a result of you’ll be able to’t study a factor for those who don’t know that it exists.

My NLD went undiagnosed till I used to be about sixteen. The incident I’m about to explain, showcasing a talent I didn’t have, brought about two individuals numerous ache. And with out it, I don’t assume I’d be right here.

My mother and father have been/are (how do you describe it when one mum or dad continues to be sarcastic and the opposite is lifeless? That’s a syntax query I’ll take any degree of detailed touch upon) very sarcastic. My dad was remarkably sarcastic, whereas my mother’s humorousness is so dry you’d assume she was a properly-written Spock. Each of them have been/are loving mother and father with nothing however good intentions, however to my ears, there have been occasions the place they have been abruptly imply for no purpose in any respect. “Yup, Mathias definitely doesn’t go for books whenever he can to learn about things in exhaustive detail, I’ve never seen that happen ever.” To them, a teasing remark about how I used to be a voracious reader. To a six-yr-previous, they have been calling me lazy and not very sensible. It made no sense, particularly as a result of they have been all the time speaking about how sensible I used to be. Which one was the lie?

Coaching Wheels for Sarcasm

At some point, after a sarcastic remark that I can’t keep in mind, I advised my dad that I didn’t perceive why he was imply typically. His face paled like a ghost, I keep in mind that. I keep in mind him saying he wasn’t being imply, he was being sarcastic, hoping that may be sufficient. It wasn’t—I didn’t know the phrase, and the talents which are required to be successfully sarcastic and to know sarcasm weren’t there but for me. He tried to elucidate what sarcasm was, however it was such a excessive degree idea that needed to do with intonation, studying different individuals’s moods and understanding non-literal language that he might have began talking Latin and I might have had a greater probability of choosing up what he was saying, if solely as a result of English is a hodgepodge nightmare constructed on the scraps and bones of different languages.

Someday that week, he gave me each little rectangular paperback reprint of Garfield he might discover. He informed me to learn it, that this is able to clarify sarcasm, and that it might make sense. He promised he’d reply any query I had.

Swear to God, that is the way it began to click on.

Two days later, the world made extra sense than it ever had earlier than. It wasn’t a magical remedy-all, nothing of the type. However I understood that issues like sarcasm and irony existed round me in ways in which I didn’t earlier than. It was one thing I might perceive as a child due to Garfield’s format: easy, clear jokes that relied on these ideas. If I didn’t perceive it, I might re-learn it or deliver it to my dad, and he’d speak me by means of it. I learn them over and over once more, not simply throughout that two day interval however for years to return.

And whereas I don’t know for sure, and can’t ask now, I assure you my dad helped by firming down his sarcasm by rather a lot after that. He needed to make it possible for I knew what was occurring when he spoke to me, to make it possible for I used to be a part of the joke relatively than the butt of it, and labored to ensure I by no means thought he was imply once more.

I swear, with all of the seriousness that I’ve, that if I didn’t have Garfield I’d’ve by no means picked up that there was something aside from literal language. I didn’t have phrases for issues like social expertise, pragmatic language expertise, or non-verbal communication. Neither did my mother and father, each of whom are autistic and each of whom went by means of life with no formal analysis. All I knew was that understanding sarcasm made me much less literal as a result of that they had that phrase. I knew that being much less literal was good, even when I didn’t know why. Individuals even began laughing at what I stated, not as a result of I’d achieved one thing fallacious that I didn’t perceive, however as a result of I had stated or completed one thing humorous.

I miss my dad terribly as a result of in a variety of methods he was the one in my household who understood the quantity of labor and effort that I used to be placing into issues. He noticed how exhausting I’ve labored my entire life to develop. I really like my mother, however I by no means fairly made sense to her. I’d nonetheless put myself in entrance of a bullet for her. However I digress. You’ve heard a part of why Garfield is necessary to me, now I’d like to speak about how I’ve chosen to learn Garfield right now.

Garfield Full Works: Quantity 1

I used to be considering quite a bit about my dad at some point, concerning the social expertise I’d labored so arduous to develop, and how that ball had began rolling out of studying Garfield—a minor miracle when nobody knew why, precisely, I had the issues I did for therefore lengthy. From these ideas and a robust sense of grief, I purchased the brand new Garfield assortment, which is bigger and sturdier than my previous rectangular ones. It covers 06/19/78 to 12/31/79, together with shade Sundays.

Studying via it, I noticed the genesis of a lot of my humorousness. The construction of how I made jokes, the methods I’d use my sarcasm in informal dialog, the thought of one thing absurd or darkish being humorous. It held such important foundations in expressing my humorousness that in the event you took it away from who I’m at this time, I don’t assume I might inform you a knock-knock joke.

Should you’re ever curious what I’m like alone, now you understand.

And a few twenty-4 years after my first publicity to the comedian, I can fortunately say it’s not a nostalgia journey once I snicker at it. It’s a superb, humorous comedian, with a pointy humorousness that comes throughout properly within the temporary time it takes to learn a strip. Sure, it’s easier than the complexities of different works that I take pleasure in when it comes to dialogue and artwork. So what? My favourite fantasy story ever has artwork with stick figures, and it’s good for what it’s doing—serving the wants of the medium and story. In Garfield, the artwork is as detailed and expressive because it must be, no extra, no much less. There’s a tightness to the jokes and the artwork that makes the humor land precisely as meant.

It truly reads higher in a set than it does in a day by day newspaper because the setup and punchline typically happen throughout two or three days. I can attribute that to Davis’s relative inexperience with the format (whereas he did have a comic book strip earlier than Garfield, Gnorm the Gnat, he has by no means missed an opportunity to disparage its high quality), he does appear to regulate the pacing of the jokes higher as time goes on, together with numerous inventive enhancements. He turned a greater author and artist, and the biting (no pun meant) humor nonetheless surprises me, even half-remembered.

Who right here thinks anybody can pull this off at this time?

There’s one observe I have to make concerning the completeness of the gathering: particularly, that it IS full. Most Sunday strips for newspaper comics have three rows of similar width, the primary of which is usually a title web page taking over 2/3rds of the primary row and a secondary, throwaway panel with its personal joke. There’s a really difficult rationalization for why newspapers do that associated to the will to rearrange comics in several heights and widths, however that’s not the purpose until you’re Invoice Watterson. What does matter is in case you’re accustomed to the follow, this assortment’s lack of a 3rd row up prime might appear to be it’s incomplete. This isn’t the case—Garfield didn’t have a 3rd row for a number of years after it started publication. With the dailies in black and white, the entire comedian is right here, prime to backside.

As we speak, Garfield is a comic book that folks think about to be a mascot of a personality, devoid of character and there for a fast buck. Even my favourite comics author/artist, Don Rosa, discovered the comedian infuriating in comparison with the period of time and effort that he’d put into his personal newspaper comedian, Captain Kentucky, sufficient to place in a harsh assault in his critique of newspaper comics as an entire. However right here’s the reality: Jim Davis stated that he needed to create a personality and strip that would earn a living, so he created Garfield. Chester Gould stated the identical factor and he created Dick Tracy. Each of them succeeded in what they have been making an attempt to do in wildly alternative ways, and neither of them is any much less of an artist for it.

The comedian isn’t any much less for it.

The comedian doesn’t imply any much less to me for it.

I’ve pre-ordered quantity two, and I’ll be recommending quantity one to oldsters of autistic youngsters and autistic adults each probability that I get. And even with out that? I feel you’ll get precisely what Jim Davis was in search of.

Jim Davis.

You should purchase the Garfield Full Works collections on the affiliate hyperlinks under.

Garfield Full Works: Quantity 1 – 1978 & 1979

Garfield Full Works: Quantity 2 – 1980 & 1981

Get the Official GeekDad Books!


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Cricket All Stars League 2015 T20 Matches

Sachin Warne League

Howdy!! Cricket Fans… So, its there finally.. the one you have been waiting for!! You get to see some of the biggest yesteryear names who have represented their nations in the history of cricket under one roof – in a new spirit and venture. And, guess what?? Who would be hosting them – none other than the Little Master and Warnie.

A much awaited showcase event of cricket under the auspices of the leadership provided by Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne, alongwith a host of big names to have donned cricket caps, including Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Brian Lara, Wasim Akram, Jaques Kallis, Murali, Jonty Rhodes have reportedly signed up for this showpiece. Some big Indian names in the fray include VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid. Surely, the die – hard fans of cricket are in for a great treat as they get to see their heroes once again go live on the cricket field and executing their much vaunted skills with finesse’

Named “Cricket All Stars League”, and scheduled to be held in various parts of the world, including the US, it is slated to be a series of 15 T20 games, spread across little over 3 years. Hefty pay cheques rue the roost as each player has been roped in for a whopping $25000to $30000 per game!! Now, that is something HUGE!

Reportedly born out of a meet between the two legends after a match at Lord’s Cricket Ground (England) to celebrate Maryleborne Cricket Club’s  200th anniversary in July 2014, the idea was finally worked upon and has finally taken this shape. Cricket’s governing body has given its nod for the event after intense negotiations and persuasion.

Starting from November 7 across 3 cities of US, played in major baseball fields,teams Sachin’s Blasters and Warne’s Warriors will slug it out, this is seen as an opportunity to take the game of cricket and its goodwill to untapped regions of the world and spread its appeal, as noted by Tendulkar recently. A portion of all the proceeds from the match has been marked for development of the game of cricket in the US.

Venues for the matches are:

  • Citifield in Flushing, New York (Nov 7)
  • Minute Maid Park in Houston (Nov 11)
  • Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles (Nov 14)

Following is the logo of this mega event, released by Shane Warne over Twitter:

Players part of the League:

Sachin Tendulkar (India)

Shane Warne (Australia)

Sourav Ganguly (India)

VVS Laxman (India)

Ajit Agarkar (India)

Shaun Pollock (South Africa)

Jacques Kallis (South Africa)

Lance Klusener (South Africa)

Jonty Rhodes (South Africa)

Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka)

Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)

Muttaiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)

Matthew Hayden (Australia)

Graeme Swann (England)

Courtney Walsh (West Indies)

Allan Donald (South Africa)

Brian Lara (West Indies)

Curtly Ambrose (West Indies)

Carl Hooper (West Indies)

Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)

Ricky Ponting (Australia)

Brad Haddin (Australia)

Glenn McGrath (Australia)

Michael Vaughan (England)

Wasim Akram (Pakistan)

Moin Khan (Pakistan)

Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan)

Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan)

So, what are you waiting for?? Book the tickets here(tickets go on sale from October 8 for general public) (URL : and lets vroom to watch our favourite stars in action once again!!

The show will be aired on Star sports in India ==>

Complete All-star T20 series Schedule

Sachin’s Blasters vs Warne’s Warriors 1st T20 schedule

Date – 7 November

Time – 1pm ET (11:30pm IST, 7pm BST, 4am AEST)

Venue – Citi Field in New York

Sachin’s Blasters vs Warne’s Warriors 2nd T20 schedule

Date – 11 November

Time – 9pm ET (7:30amIST and 3am BST (12 November), 12pm AEST

Venue – Minute Maid Park in Houston

Sachin’s Blasters vs Warne’s Warriors 3rd T20 schedule

Date – 14 November

Time – 9:30pm ET (8am IST and 3:30 am BST (15 November), 12:30 pm AEST

Venue – Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles

URLs used :

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Ishant Sharma marries Pratima Singh wedding Pictures

Adding himself to a long list of Indian cricketers getting clean bowled, Indian ace quickie Ishant Sharma on Sunday got ditched to Pratima Singh, shortly after Yuvraj Singh decided to take the plunge for wedding bells. Both have been friends for quite some time and were seeking each other. Though he is not in the current Indian squad toiling itself out in Zimbabwe, he has been in reckoning for quite some time now. He performed reasonably well in IPL 2016 for his new IPL franchise Pune Supergiants headed by MS Dhoni. Seems that Ishu made his time off from mainstream cricket to count and got engaged!

Ishant got engaged to Pratima Singh, who is an important member of the national women’s basketball team. In fact, she comes from a family of a long list of basketball players, with her three sisters also being a regular part of national basketball team. Prashanti Singh, Divya Singh, Priyanka Singh, Akanksha Singh and Pratima Singh are popularly known as ‘Singh sisters’ in basketball circuits and have often brought fame in national and international events.

Here are some of the pictures which was shared over social networking platforms Twitter and Facebook:

 Ishant Sharma wedding pictures, with wife Pratima

Originally from Varanasi, Pratima and Ishant have long been friends and their bonding was expected sooner than later. The engagement ceremony was full of glitter and pomp, with full riuals at display. Marriage is expected at this year end.

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Sharing NEPCA Members’ Scholarship & Endeavors

Greetings NEPCA Community,

We recently realized that we could be doing more to promote and cross-pollinate the research that our members are doing every year.  We are regularly impressed with the different articles, books, blogs, and other academic (and creative) content that you regularly put out there and we want to make sure the rest of our community knows as well.

To that end, we have created the following forms so that you can share with us the work that you are doing and we can share that work across our social media platforms.

With A Megaphone By A Wall

Here’s how it works:

If you’ve published something in the last year (we’ll say from January 2017 to the present) and want us to share on our social media platforms, then please fill out the following form for EACH publication you want us to share.

NEPCA Publications Form

Depending upon demand, over the ensuing weeks/months, we will be sure to share it out on our platforms for others to see.

If you have a blog, youtube series, or podcast series, or some other creative online endeavor that explores popular culture, we’d love to share your content on our platforms.  We’d want you to fill out the form below and provide us with the RSS feed so we can automatically post your content when you update with a new post/video/podcast.

NEPCA Social Media Form

In return for either posting your publications or sharing your creative content, we ask that you please do at least one (if not all) of the following:

If you have questions about this or are interested in learning more, contact Lance Eaton (

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DIAB Demonstration at IBEX

20 January 2003

DIAB’s engineering will present at the International Boatbuilders’ Exhibition and Conference an outdoor demonstration titled ‘Ultra-Light Marine Construction Utilizing Pre-Preg and Thermoformed PVC Foam Core’.

The exhibition is at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center between the days of February 5 and 7, 2003. DIAB will construct a small boat hull using epoxy pre-preg and thermoformed Divinycell PVC foam. The pre-preg skins will be bonded to the preformed foam using a vacuum-bagging system in conjunction with a heating element. This demonstration will present a clean and efficient way to produce an extremely light and structurally sound part.

This process technology has been implemented in a number of successful high performance marine projects, including the construction of illbruck Challenge, the winner of the Volvo Ocean Race. For further information please visit the DIAB booth at IBEX.

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Innovative Manufacturing Solutions Halve Set-up Time for Composite Part Production

The combination of MSP’s NC-Checker and NC-PerfectPart software with Renishaw’s leading probing technology, is delivering significant cost and time savings for Quickstep Technologies’ composite manufacturing processes.

Graphene Nanotubes Make a Difference in the PVC Plastisol Industry

Graphene nanotubes are no longer merely a curiosity – they are becoming a mainstream conductive additive. This technology is helping to create new business opportunities in various industries, including the PVC plastisol market.

Applications for Graphene Nanotubes Explored at China Conference

More than 400 delegates from 22 countries gathered in Shanghai, China, for the 2018 Nanoaugmented Materials Summit (NAUM) to explore the applications for graphene nanotubes (also known as single wall carbon nanotubes).


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Continental Structural Plastics Acquires ThyssenKrupp Budd’s Plastics Division

28 July 2006

Continental Structural Plastics has acquired the Budd Plastics Division of ThyssenKrupp Budd, making CSP the largest industrial-composites moulder in North America.

Bruce Landino, CSP’s chief-executive officer, said, “Budd’s expertise as both a formulator and premier molder of SMC composites will increase CSP’s manufacturing capability and broaden its product portfolio in both thermoplastic and thermoset industrial composites. Budd’s strong technology will help CSP expand into more markets and applications.”

“We believe the synergy created from combining the resources and expertise of CSP and Budd Plastics will substantially benefit our customers,” adds Thomas Hilborn, CSP vice-president. “With the ability to offer compression / injection molded LFT / DLFT, GMT, BMC, and SMC composites, CSP is now positioned as a materials-neutral composites supplier – a unique customer-focused market strategy we call Dial-a-Composite – which allows us to offer the best composites solution for each application.”

“Thanks to the addition of Budd Plastic’s skilled employees and technologies to CSP’s own resources,” continues Landino, “our company is now better positioned to serve more customers in more markets with the best balance of price, performance, and service.” CSP acquired Budd Plastics’ plants in Carey, North Baltimore, and Van Wert, Ohio, U.S.A.; and Tijuana, Mexico.

Before the acquisition, CSP was North America’s largest moulder of glass-mat thermoplastic (GMT) composites, as well as a major moulder of long-glass-fibre-reinforced thermoplastic (LFT) and direct-LFT (DLFT) composites. Last year’s acquisition of Venture Industries’ Conneaut, Ohio plant added thermoset bulk-moulding compound (BMC) and sheet-moulding compound (SMC) composites to CSP’s product offerings. The company serves both automotive and non-automotive markets throughout North America from plants in Petoskey, Mich., Sarepta, La., and Conneaut, Ohio, with headquarters in metro-Detroit.

“Aside from the name change and broader service offerings,” continues Hilborn, “we expect that most changes resulting from this acquisition will be transparent to Budd and CSP customers. One thing that will change, however, is the breadth and depth of experience in industrial composites that the combined entity brings to the table.”

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‘Inspired from Life, We Reinforce Life’ Says Kordsa’s New Campaign

Kordsa, operating in tire, construction reinforcement and composites technologies market with its mission ‘We Reinforce Life’, has launched a new campaign with the slogan ‘Inspired from life, we reinforce life’.

Dura Composites Launch New Co-Extruded Fire-Rated & Slip-Resistant Decking Ranges

Dura Composites has expanded its Dura Deck range to include Dura Deck Resist, a co-extruded decking board with an innovative 360 degree outer angle which protects its core from the elements, as well as a new and improved Dura Deck Eco.

USQ Delivers Technology Workshop on Composite Rebars

The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has partnered with Composites Australia to provide Australian civil and composite engineers with access to the latest knowledge on an innovative reinforcing solution to the costly corrosion of concrete infrastructure.


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Egypt Sherrod Net Worth

Egypt Sherrod Net Worth 2018: Wiki, Married, Family, Wedding, Salary, Siblings

Egypt Sherrod net worth is
$2 Million

Egypt Sherrod Wiki/Biography

Egypt Sherrod was born on 16 November 1976, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a television and radio personality, an author, and a real estate expert, best known to be the host of the show “Property Virgins”. She’s also been called “America’s most beloved real estate agent” having been featured in multiple publications and television shows. All her efforts have helped put her net worth to where it is today.

How rich is Egypt Sherrod? As of mid-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $2 million, mostly earned through success as a realtor. She’s has hosted numerous television shows and is a well-known radio personality. She’s also worked and collaborated with many celebrities and as she continues her career her wealth will likely increase.

Egypt Sherrod Net Worth $2 million

Egypt attended Temple University, from which she graduated with a degree in broadcasting and telecommunications. She then attended New York University and studied theatre, however, eventually Sherrod started focusing her efforts on real estate, slowly building up a reputation that eventually branched out to other forms, including the media, becoming a columnist for various publications such as Atlanta Magazine. She also found an opportunity as a radio personality, and started to gain popularity nationally, and eventually her radio shows would broadcast all over the United States. All her efforts contribute to her net worth.

Egypt has interviewed big names such as Martin Scorsese, Oprah Winfrey, Jamie Foxx, and Leonardo DiCaprio. She’s most recently been heard on the radio stations WVEE from Atlanta and WBLS from New York. One of her most popular shows is “On Air with Egypt” which is often broadcast from Atlanta during weekdays.

Due to her popularity as a real estate consultant, she’s been featured on various shows including NBC’s “Today Show”, and other series from HLN, FOX and CNN. She’s also been featured in publications such as “Time Out New York”, “Rolling Stone”, “Black Enterprise” and “Fast Company”. Sherrod recently started her own television show – “Flipping Virgins” and “Property Virgins” – which she tackles various topics on real estate. She also became the co-host of the show “Home Delivery”, and a special correspondent for “The Maury Show”.

Aside from these, Sherrod has authored a book entitled “Keep Calm…It’s Just Real Estate: Your No-Stress Guide To Buying A Home”. She also started her own foundation in 2008 called “The Egypt Cares Family Foundation” – the organization’s priority is to help men and women learn about home ownership and wealth preservation, which has been successful and has been mentioned by several organizations. They also have an event “Egypt Cares Give Back Tour” which is a coat and toy drive; for her work in that, Egypt has been given various citations such as the “New York City Council Citation for Community Service” and the “State Assembly Citation as a Humanitarian and Community Advocate”.
Egypt has also tried her hand at film, becoming part of the 2012 movie “Life, Love, Soul”.

For her personal life, she has been married to Mike Jackson since 2010 and they have a daughter. Mike also has a daughter from a previous relationship.

Full NameEgypt Sherrod
Net Worth$2 Million
Date Of BirthNovember 16, 1976
Place Of BirthPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
ProfessionTelevision Personality
EducationNew York University
SpouseDJ Mike Jackson (m. 2010)
ChildrenKendall Jackson
NominationsNAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Instructional
TV ShowsProperty Virgins, Bartender Wars

Flipping Virgins2015-2017TV Series executive producer - 11 episodes

Life, Love, Soul2012Carrie

Dish Nation2017TV SeriesHerself
Brother vs. Brother2016-2017TV SeriesHerself - Judge
Flipping Virgins2015-2017TV SeriesHerself / Herself - Host
Steve Harvey2017TV SeriesHerself
All-Star Halloween Spectacular2016TV MovieHerself - Host
Good Morning America2016TV SeriesHerself
Hollywood Health Report2016TV SeriesHerself
The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore2015TV SeriesHerself - Panelist
Today2015TV SeriesHerself
Home & Family2015TV SeriesHerself
23rd Annual Trumpet Awards2015TV SpecialHerself
2013 Women That Soar Awards2013TV SpecialHerself - Host
Property Virgins2007-2012TV SeriesHerself - Host
Bartender Wars2009TV SeriesHerself - Host

Known for movies

Most recent Egypt Sherrod news

HGTV host Egypt Sherrod expecting baby daughter with husband Mike Jackson

HGTV host Egypt Sherrod expecting baby daughter with husband Mike Jackson

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Tag Archives: vision therapy

Concussions and Eye Problems

Erin Keim OD

Over the past five years, dialogue surrounding the implications of concussions has been at the center of media headlines, optometric research, and movie scripts. So why is there so much emphasis on these conversations especially surround concussion and eye problems? First, concussions are prevalent. While we mostly think of concussions …

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Consider Private Practice Optometric Vision Therapy

Vision Help Group

There are more reasons now than ever before to consider private practice optometric vision therapy! As a new grad, attending continuing education to advance your understanding of vision therapy and vision rehabilitation can change how you practice. Private practice optometric vision therapy will help challenge yourself to grow professionally and …

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Diagnosing Convergence Insufficiency as a Primary Care OD

diagnosing convergence insufficiency as a primary care od

The diagnostic battery for Convergence Insufficiency (CI) is remarkably simple, making it an easy addition to even the tightest exam sequence. Before diving into diagnosis, it’s important to first review definitions. What is Convergence Insufficiency? Dr. Jeff Cooper, who has contributed heavily to the current literature on evidence-based treatment of …

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How to Add Optometric Vision Therapy to Your Practice

Optometric Vision Therapy

Optometric Vision Therapy (OVT). This essential specialty of optometry sets us apart from our colleagues in ophthalmology and has changed the lives of countless patients. As students, many of us dreamed of helping children and adults improve their quality of life by teaching them how to use their vision more …

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Concussion and Vision Problems

Concussion and vision problems typically go hand in hand. There are many vision issues that can arise from the result of concussion or traumatic brain injury. Concussions are a very tricky subject. It is difficult to fully diagnose a concussion, difficult to combat the old norms of grading mild or severe …

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In the battle of not-screened-for-critics horror franchise cash-ins, The Final Destination won the weekend over Halloween II, proving the current vogue for 3-D and mechanized death has more of a draw than Rob Zombie’s old-school grindhouse gore. At $28 million in receipts, The Final Destination cruised to #1, and raised the question: Will this be yet another Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter situation where the supposed franchise-ender will not be anywhere close to the last entry? Look for Final Destination: A New Beginning in theaters two years from now, perhaps in mind-blowing 4-D.

The Weinstein Company’s counterintuitive strategy to siphon off viewers from its own movies paid off—or didn’t—with Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds holding strong at #2 in its second weekend with $20 million (total gross now at $73 million and counting) and Zombie’s Halloween II putting in a relatively strong showing at #3 to the tune of $17.4 million. It’s hard to say whether the Weinsteins would have benefited by putting more distance between its releases, but their troubled company finally has some good news to report. Rounding out this week’s wide (or in this case, semi-wide) releases, Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock rode middling reviews to dismal box office, limping in at #9 for $3.7 million.

In limited release, The September Issue, a documentary profile of Vogue editor Anna Wintour, was a massive hit at $40,000 per screen, cruising on the interest drummed up by the Wintour-inspired book and movie The Devil Wears Prada. Big Fan also enjoyed a healthy $13,000 per screen average, the second best in the specialty market. Both films are rolling out—Big Fan more slowly than The September Issue—to other cities within the next couple of months.

More detailed numbers at Box Office Mojo.


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Gillette Newsroom

Gillette Declares “Shaving Rebuilt” with Launch of New Fusion ProGlide with FlexBall™ Technology

Gillette Invents New Razor System that Moves to Meet the Face to Get Virtually Every Hair

Tuesday, April 29, 2014 12:00 pm EDT

Public Company Information:

"For more than a century, since King C. Gillette introduced the very first safety razor in 1901, Gillette has revolutionized the way the world shaves, fusing state-of-the-art engineering with precision manufacturing"

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For years, Gillette has innovated constantly to raise the quality of razors to The Best A Man Can GetTM. Now Gillette® [NYSE: PG] is asking: Why the long face? What’s with the scrunching, the stretching, and the pulling? Should it really take a #shaveface to get extremely close?

Not anymore. While Gillette’s blades will remain straight and thin and sharp, the new Fusion ProGlide with FlexBall™ Technology is making its debut as the handle that moves, adjusts and pivots to meet a man’s face. It will change the face of shaving by allowing each cartridge to ride the facial contours for more constant contact before it to help get virtually every hair – a top shaving need cited by 8 out of 10 men.*

Truly a new dimension in maneuverability, FlexBall Technology builds on an innovation that Gillette brought to shaving in 1977 with the first ever razor pivot. Though only two-dimensional, that Atra pivot became the standard for all Gillette razors – and the category. FlexBall Technology now adds a crucial third dimension to match a man’s face which is decidedly 3D and hosts an average of 25,000 hairs to trim. The result is a greater range of motion for closer contact than previous Fusion products to get each of those hairs whether they’re growing over a rounded cheek or hugging the tricky topography of the chin. Gillette’s pre-release testing shows that current ProGlide users preferred the new shaving experience 2-to-1 over the standard Fusion ProGlide.

“For more than a century, since King C. Gillette introduced the very first safety razor in 1901, Gillette has revolutionized the way the world shaves, fusing state-of-the-art engineering with precision manufacturing,” said Patrice Louvet, group president of Global Grooming and Shave Care. “Gillette invented the original pivot, and with FlexBall Technology, we’ve once again changed the shaving experience. The Fusion ProGlide with FlexBall Technology is truly shaving rebuilt to deliver the best a man can get.”

Key specifics of the all-new Fusion ProGlide with FlexBall Technology include:

  • A reimagined handle that gives the cartridge a fuller range of motion, responding to contours and maintaining close contact to get virtually every hair.
  • More ergonomic grip for precise control.
  • The same reliable cartridges fit the new handle and continue to feature: a precision-engineered array of five blades with thin and fine edges and an advanced, low-resistance coating for effortless cutting with less tug and pull than Fusion; comfort and performance details such as a lubrastrip to enable smooth movement over the skin even on repeat strokes and a blade stabilizer to maintain optimal spacing between the blades.

Interested consumers can go to to pre-order the Fusion ProGlide with Flexball Technology today, and razors will begin to ship in the next few weeks. The product will be available in a broad range of traditional and online retail outlets in North America starting June 9th for a suggested retail price of $11.49. A power version rounds out the lineup at an SRP of $12.59.

The new razor was unveiled to media today at New York’s Highline Ballroom in an event celebrating Gillette’s history of innovation. Attendees were treated to an intimate look at the inspiration, design and R&D behind FlexBall Technology, while “Resurrection” star, Omar Epps brought the pivoting action to life through a live shave demonstration. Guests were also treated to a surprise performance from Phantogram, the Brooklyn-based indie-rock duo whose song “When I’m Small” has been featured in Gillette’s latest ad campaign.

To celebrate the launch of the Fusion ProGlide with FlexBall Technology, Gillette will also be sharing some famous shave faces that will serve as a tribute to the need for maneuverability. Over the next six weeks, fans can follow Gillette on Twitter at and on Facebook at to guess some famous figures who will be revealing their shave face. Tennis fans were in for a treat today, as Gillette ambassador Roger Federer opened serve with his shave face. More will follow as Gillette hands each new player the new handle with technology that adjusts to meet his face.

Gillette has pioneered shaving innovation for more than 100 years and FlexBall Technology is just the latest example, joining Gillette Body, the brand’s first razor built for the terrain of a man’s body, announced this spring and Fusion ProGlide Styler, a 3-in-1 facial styling tool launched in 2012. In addition, the brand’s recent roll-out of a blade subscription program at allows guys to subscribe online to receive cartridges for Gillette’s best shave for only about $1 a week.**

In addition to pre-ordering today, those eager to try the new the new Fusion ProGlide with Flexball Technology in the coming weeks should be on the lookout for a six-city “Shaving Rebuilt” tour starting on May 12 and continuing through June 9 when wide in-store availability begins. Gillette will be visiting barbershops in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco, giving select men a chance to try the latest and greatest before it hits shelves. Additional details can be found on Gillette’s Facebook page at

About Gillette

For over 110 years, Gillette has delivered precision technology and unrivaled product performance – improving the lives of over 800 million men around the world. From shaving and body grooming, to skin care and sweat protection, Gillette offers a wide variety of products including razors, shave prep (gels, foams and creams), skin care, after shaves, antiperspirants, deodorants and body wash. For more information and the latest news on Gillette, visit To see our full selection of products, visit

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves approximately 4.8 billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Duracell®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, Wella® and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

* Among Fusion users
** Based on four shaves per week over average cartridge use and AC Nielsen FDMX pricing

Kurt Iverson, 617-463-5286
Kristin Sundberg, 646-935-4379

Multimedia Files:

Preview image
With the launch of the new Fusion ProGlide with FlexBall™ Technology, Gillette introduces the first razor that moves to meet the contours of a man’s face – catching virtually every hair. (Photo: Business Wire)
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Skip to main content

Resident spotlight: Sarah Foote

Reggie Redbird sculpture

Sarah Foote, creator of the Reggie Redbird sculpture.

Meet Sarah Foote, a freshman Presidential Scholar living on the all-women’s Honors floor in Manchester Hall.

Sarah came to Illinois State University to earn her degree in painting and graphic design. Once Sarah completes her education, she hopes to gain a career as a Disney Imagineer or somewhere within the field of advertisement.

Sarah is highly involved on her floor. Sarah says that she loves the different opportunities that are found on the Honors floor including floor dinners, field trips to the zoo, and attending programs such as Word Assassins that stems from the floor’s social theme, Divergent (a novel). So far, Sarah’s favorite floor-hosted program has been the floor dinners. She likes being able to interact with her floormates and being able to connect with them on deeper levels outside of their common academic interests.

Sarah is enjoying her experiences at Illinois State University as well. The main feature that Sarah likes about ISU is that it is a larger university, but it has that small school feel. Another reason why Sarah decided to join the Redbird family was that many of her family members are past Redbirds too. On top of Sarah’s family being a great motivator to attend ISU, Sarah has met many student leaders who have made her time here enjoyable and memorable.

In our last TLLC newsletter, we highlighted Honors floor resident assistant (RA) Jen Jaroch for all the hard work she has done in making the floor enjoyable and supportive. Jen encouraged Sarah to expand on a project (a small scale bird sculpture) she created in high school to showcase during Illinois State’s Homecoming.

Given the support, Sarah jumped at this opportunity and decided to create the Reggie Redbird sculpture that can be seen in the Vrooman Center. Sarah and Jen found time between class to gather all the materials needed to create the sculpture and the night before Homecoming week were able to gather a team of floor residents to help them construct the Reggie sculpture (it took a total of seven hours to create!). From start to end, Sarah had a big part in the project (design, construction and leading) and was able to display her talents and her school spirit.

Check out all the photos of the Reggie creation process below!

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The former cabinet minister tells MPs about his great uncle as his voice breaks with emotion in the House of Commons.

Hilary Benn 2:32
Video: Benn close to tears in Armistice tribute

A senior Labour MP's voice broke with emotion as he spoke in the House of Commons about two British soldiers who never came home from the First World War.

In a debate marking the 100th anniversary of the end of hostilities, former cabinet minister Hilary Benn told MPs about his great uncle Oliver Williams Benn, as well as George Edwin Ellison - the last British soldier to be killed in action.

In an emotional speech, Mr Benn revealed how "Oliver was little spoken of" in his family because he suspected "the pain of his loss was still too raw despite the passing of the years".

The Leeds Central MP described how his son James has since written a book about the soldier, whose body was never found after being reported missing following the third battle of Krithia in Gallipoli in 1915.

In pictures: First World War brought to life in colour

In pictures: First World War brought to life in colour

A selection of historic photographs from the First World War have been converted into vivid colour for the very first time

"The family desperately searched for news in the hope that he had been captured," Mr Benn said.

"His mother wrote to him regularly, but gradually hope faded and at the end of the war all her letters were returned unopened."

Mr Ellison, who lived in Leeds, died an hour-and-a-half before the armistice came into effect between the Allies and Germany.

Mr Benn noted how Mr Ellison's grave now lies just "a few footsteps" from the grave of the first British soldier to die in action on the Western Front.

First World War Centenary Commemoration At The Tower Of London As commemoration of the centenary of the end of the First World War, an installation at the Tower of London, called Beyond the Deepening Shadow: The Tower 1:00
Video: Flames surround Tower of London in act of remembrance

As he fought back tears, the MP told the Commons: "The first and the last, and in between them in time, if not in place, lie the millions who gave their lives in the war that was meant to end all wars, but did not."

Mr Benn was comforted by his fellow Labour MPs Ruth Smeeth and Tanmanjeet Dhesi after he finished his address.

Mr Dhesi later told MPs how a "palpable lack of black and brown faces" in war movies makes it seem "as though they were not there".

"This omission, or lesser emphasis, is a mistake, and I feel that it is one of the reasons why we as a nation are unable to effectively counter the rise of the far right, which seeks to divide us and to sow the seeds of suspicion and hatred," he said.

More than 50,000 people have signed our petition calling for televised leaders' debates before elections - have you?

The Slough MP added: "In the First World War, soldiers, sailors and airmen came from every faith and background.

"The Allied armies were racially, religiously and ethnically diverse-just like modern-day Britain.

"If anything, those armies are a true representation of modern-day Britain, and that is why we will remember them."

Earlier on Tuesday, the House of Commons suspended its sitting so MPs could attend a special remembrance service at St Margaret's Church in Westminster.

It mirrored the actions of their predecessors on the first day of peace in 1918.


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Playing to learn: Panelists at Stanford discussion say using games as an educational tool provides opportunities for deeper learning

Interaction and opportunities to make choices are among the virtues of the new generation of educational games, experts say.

Three school-age boys looking at a laptop computer

Games help us develop non-cognitive skills, which are as fundamental as cognitive skills in explaining how we learn and if we succeed, according to the panelists.

We may think we’re pretty smart, but in fact we have very little notion of how humans learn. Kids know: They play games. Until, that is, they go to school. That’s when the games stop. And often, so does the learning.

That was the sad panorama painted by a panel of distinguished experts on education and “gamification” who nonetheless were optimistic about the promise of using games in pedagogy.

The panel discussion, held at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) on Feb. 26, was part of the yearlong public course, Education’s Digital Future (Educ 403x). Roy Pea, co-convener of the class and a professor in the GSE, introduced the speakers by noting that what he called “gaming to learn” has been around Stanford for close to a decade. (One of the speakers later noted that Wikipedia claims that Stanford students in 1971 invented the first known instance of a coin-operated video game.) But it is only recently that gamification’s possibilities in the realm of education truly have been appreciated.

Bringing games to bear in education is not a matter of dumbing down. Constance Steinkuehler, an associate professor of digital media at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-director of the Games+Learning+Society (GLS) center there, noted that “it turns out games are hard.” If indeed humans think immeasurably better as part of a network than on their own, then games are an obvious terrain in which to set minds free and let them wander around, interacting with whatever or whomever they encounter. The system of points, badges, rewards and leaderboards featured in most massively multiplayer online (MMO) games can be replicated in an educational context, experts say, to account for people’s different motivations and needs for interaction or self-expression.

Freedom and choice

Tuesday’s panelists, among the field’s leading figures in academia, design and policy, zeroed in on freedom and choice as crucial factors in explaining why and how children learn.

“I think we’re all impressed by how stupid humans are,” remarked James Gee, a professor of literacy studies at Arizona State University, who holds degrees in philosophy and linguistics from Stanford. “It reaches almost epic proportions. We’re stupid in dozens and dozens of ways.

“But human minds are plug-and-play devices; they’re not meant to be used alone. They’re meant to be used in networks.” Games allow us to do that – they allow us to use what Gee calls “collective intelligence.” Collectively, we’re not so stupid.

Further, games help us develop non-cognitive skills that the panelists agreed are as fundamental as cognitive skills in explaining how we learn and if we succeed. According to Gee, skills such as patience and discipline, which one should acquire as a child but often does not, correlate with success better than IQ scores do. And those non-cognitive skills – that is, not what you know but how you behave – are far better suited to a game context than to a traditional classroom and textbook context.

Steinkuehler, who just finished a two-year stint as senior policy analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, described her research at the University of Wisconsin. Her GLS group found that choice was critical for ultimate performance. Research shows that boys typically read a couple of grades below level in school, but these same boys, it turns out, read texts way above their grade level if the texts are part of online games. This was a puzzle, and Steinkuehler wanted to figure it out. A series of tests, accompanied by pizza, showed that if the boys could choose what they read, which they could do with online games, they pushed themselves harder. That result held for boys who were struggling to begin with and for those who already were on track.

“Games are architectures for engagement,” Steinkuehler said, and her work with the boys showed why engagement matters. It was another example of Gee’s “collective intelligence.”

Similarly, Malcolm Bauer, formerly a professor at Carnegie-Mellon University and current director of assessment at GlassLab, situated at Redwood City-based Electronic Arts and part of the Institute of Play nonprofit design studio, recounted his youth in New York City playing arcade games. There, he and his brother had a community that collaborated, took risks, built stuff and had fun. But when time ran out, this future computer scientist would trudge back home to do his homework.

“People play everywhere except in school,” he said. At GlassLab, his group tries to find digital analogs for teachers’ assessment practices. He also pointed out that rewards go way beyond simple stars. Variation can also be a reward for good work. Better questions, in other words, and more difficult tasks.

Dan Schwartz, professor of education at the GSE, was the final speaker. He runs the AAA Lab at Stanford – a technology and learning lab where he and his collaborators have confirmed that current learning measures do not match up with games. This is a problem; either you change the games, “making them more schoolish,” or you change the measurement terms.

“Games allow us to measure learning in ways we couldn’t do before,” he said. And, he added, echoing Gee’s discussion of non-cognitive learning, “knowledge is not the outcome we want; we want students to learn how to make choices.” In studying how kids played games, his group found that one of the best negative predictors of performance was the act of walking away after failure. Low scores themselves were far less significant than abandonment, and abandonment is a measurement that does not exist in a traditional classroom.

During the lively conversation that followed the presentations – the overflow crowd included designers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, students, teachers and professors –one student asked how gamification could be made available to poor children. How can they get access to games that might teach them far more than they learn with textbooks?

“Access doesn’t solve the equity problem,” Gee noted. “It is conversation that is crucial to how literacy develops; it’s interaction. The crucial thing with books is that you learn to read like a writer, you think about how it was designed. The same things are absolutely true about digital media. Giving a kid the game won’t work. You have to get the kid to play like a designer. You have to interact. Lots of charity groups say let’s give them games. But we didn’t solve the problem by giving them books.”

The traditional classroom, panelists agreed, in many ways stifles some of the attributes most crucial for human learning: persistence, risk taking, collaboration, problem solving. Attributes all found back in Bauer’s childhood arcade.

R. F. MacKay is a writer for the Office of the Vice Provost for Online Learning.


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12:31 AM

UHD Expands Social Media Program

Gator Correspondents Helping Share University's Story

By Paige Caldwell

In the technological age that we live in, we no longer have a choice in whether we use social media. The question is how well we use it. The University of Houston-Downtown makes a concerted effort to communicate through social media with poise and purpose.

Pew Research Center found in 2018 that 88 percent of adults, aged 18-29, use social media. As another channel of communication, social media is fail-safe way to reach a sizeable portion of an organization's target audience.

Last year, UHD's Office of University Relations launched the Gator Correspondents program in which students were tasked with providing messages for the University's social media platforms and writing articles for UHD News. The initiative proved to be successful in providing more student-centric content on UHD's channels of communication.

This fall, the program expanded its Gator Correspondents initiative to empower students as social media ambassadors. These ambassadors are students who are engaged leaders dedicated to conveying a wealth of accurate knowledge about UHD that spans a variety of academic focuses and extracurricular interests. They also are passionate about social media. As Gator Correspondents, these students will gain leadership experience, exposure to social media storytelling, and networking opportunities . Moreover, they wield the power to share UHD's stories through a student's lens.

These new Gator Correspondents have UHD-branded social media accounts for either Instagram or Twitter and are asked to share their UHD experiences each day.

To kick off the program, each student is introduced and featured individually during one of the first four days of class during Welcome Week.

Meet our Gator Correspondents:

“I’m Isbah Khan, a third-year student studying mathematics and philosophy. Outside the classroom, I'm a member of the  Scholars Academy and the University Honors Program. I also enjoy engaging with various student organizations on campus. Currently, I'm a work-study student with the Office of Community Engagement and Service Learning and a research student at the HOUSTON Academy. It's because of  UHD that I have been able to participate in such great opportunities that have enriched my academic career and set me up for a brighter future after college.”

“My name is Evelyn Garcia. I am an senior English major minoring in psychology. Presently, I am part of the Honors Program and have been a Gator Correspondent since last  year. Outside of school, I enjoy reading and I am training my dog, Cookie, who I adopted earlier this year. I'm looking forward to graduating in May!”

“My name is Alejandra Villarreal and I'm a Houston native. I began at UHD as an accounting major; however, after working with underprivileged students while studying abroad in Costa Rica, I had a change of heart. I began my teaching journey in 2017 and it has been comforting to know that I am attending a University where its goals and teaching missions align with my own. In addition to attending school and working as a substitute teacher, I'm a student ambassador for Urban Education in the College of Public Service. It's hard to picture myself at any other university!”

“My name is Carlos Guajardo, a senior majoring in history with dual minors in philosophy and sociology. I enjoy finding deeper meaning in things and I hope to teach, edit or possibly go into law. I love UHD and chose it because of its downtown location and convenience to businesses and other networks that connect us to our potential future opportunities. I choose to #FinishUHDStrong because this University is filled with students striving to earn a degree even while overcoming obstacles, which motivates me to do the absolute best I can.”

About the University of Houston-Downtown

The University of Houston-Downtown (UHD)—the second largest university in Houston—has served the educational needs of the nation’s fourth-largest city since 1974.

As one of four distinct public universities in the University of Houston System, UHD is a comprehensive four-year university led by Dr. Juan Sánchez Muñoz. Annually, UHD educates more than 14,000 students; boasts over 45,000 alumni and offers 43 bachelor’s and eight master’s degree programs within five colleges (Marilyn Davies College of Business; Humanities & Social Sciences; Public Service, Sciences & Technology; and University College).

UHD has one of the lowest tuition rates of any four-year university in Houston and Texas and is noted nationally as both a Hispanic-Serving Institution and a Minority-Serving Institution. For more on the University of Houston-Downtown, visit www.uhd.edu.


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The Week in Review: FBI Raid Doesn’t Hinder Burke Fundraiser

Ald. Ed Burke, 14th Ward, throws his annual fundraiser, hosting aldermen, businessmen and judges just days after federal agents raid his ward and City Council offices. Mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot speaks out about Burke’s amassed power while her opponents stay mum on the topic. Meanwhile, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle lands endorsements from the Chicago Teachers Union and SEIU as she tries to knock other women and minorities off the mayoral ballot.

Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker and Gov. Bruce Rauner celebrate the state’s bicentennial.

The fate of three Chicago cops accused of trying to cover up details of the Laquan McDonald shooting is now in the hands of a judge who will issue her verdict later this month.

And in sports, the Bears hopes high with the imminent return of Mitch Trubisky after losing in overtime against the Giants.

Mary Ann Ahern, NBC 5 News | @MaryAnnAhernNBC
Dan Mihalopoulos, WBEZ | @DMihalopoulos
Becky Vevea, WBEZ | @BeckyVevea
Jim Litke, AP | @JimLitke

The conversation continues in our web-extra video. This week, Schutz and guests discuss the legacy of former President George H.W. Bush as the nation mourns the 41st president. And we take a closer look at a WBEZ investigation into the repurposing of shuttered schools.

Did you miss us? Check out more episodes of The Week in Review.


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The US 'has started to withdraw forces from Syria'

Tom Perry

The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State has begun the process of withdrawing from Syria, its spokesman said on Friday, affirming the start of a pullout that has been clouded by mixed messages from U.S. officials.

President Donald Trump announced last month the decision to withdraw 2,000 U.S. troops who have deployed to Syria in support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia in the fight against Islamic State.

The coalition "has begun the process of our deliberate withdrawal from Syria. Out of concern for operational security, we will not discuss specific timelines, locations or troop movements," Colonel Sean Ryan said.

Washington's Kurdish allies in northern Syria fear the withdrawal will open the way for Turkey to mount a long-threatened offensive against their area. Turkey views the dominant Syrian Kurdish groups as a national security threat.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton suggested on Tuesday that protecting the Kurds would be a pre-condition of the U.S. withdrawal, drawing a rebuke from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan who called his comments "a serious mistake."

But U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday the withdrawal would not be scuppered despite the Turkish threats.


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Sarah Tew/CNET

Apple AirPods are a lot like Apple EarPods — just without the wires. But you pay for that cord-free freedom: AirPods list for $159, and discounts are rare (and usually small).

But Black Friday is coming, and that means deals on everything, right? As of now, this is the best price I’ve located — and it’s happening well before Black Friday (namely, Nov. 10).

Now playing: Watch this: A few things you might not know about Apple AirPods

Product: Apple AirPods

Best price: $129 (save $30)

Store: Sam’s Club

See it at Sam’s Club

Availability: Nov. 10, 7 a.m.

Source: Sam’s Club Black Friday ad, Page 4

We’ll update this post if and when we spot a better deal on the AirPods. (If you spot one, share it in the comments!)

Get the best deals from The Cheapskate in your inbox

Read more: CNET’s complete guide to Black Friday 2018

Read more: CNET’s Holiday Gift Guide 2018

CNET’s Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on PCs, phones, gadgets and much more. Note that CNET may get a share of revenue from the sale of the products featured on this page. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. Find more great buys on the CNET Deals page and follow the Cheapskate on Facebook and Twitter!

Apple AirPods

Holiday Gift Guide 2018


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Android Q To Be Available with New Improvements by May 2019

The end of 2018 brought long-awaited news for Android users from around the world. Smartphones run by this operating system started to receive the Android Pie update and this operation still isn’t completed.

Meanwhile, Google started working on a new OS and it looks like the new member of the family will be called Android Q. So far, we don’t know a lot of details about Google’s new ”star”, but some features seem to have leaked these days.

According to reliable sources, the new Android system will bring one major change: the whole system will be based on the Dark mode. This is a big improvement because other speculations claimed that only a few apps will be based on the mentioned mode.

Developers have high standards set for the new OS

Since Android Q is said to be launched by May 2019, developers are doing their best to keep their work a secret. However, some experts from the field say that Android Q has to be done compatible with every smartphone based on previous versions of the same operating system. In this case, the software will have to function only in Dark mode every time it’s sent on associated devices.

It looks like Android Q’s internal instruction says that all the elements connected to UI have to be based on the Dark theme. The deadline for completing the work on Android Q is also specified – May 2019.

Another target set for Google’s new operating system is improved battery life. Since Android Q is built on the Dark theme for all apps, we can be sure that devices that will be running this OS will have longer-lasting battery.

If we consider the aforementioned features, the wait for Android Q might be worth it. A beta version will be released during the developers’ annual conference. With this occasion, fans could see how the OS works on their devices, notice and report any bugs that might appear. The official version could be launched in 2019’s fourth quarter.

Laura Modin

Laura Modin has lived in Las Cruces her whole life. Laura has worked as a journalist for nearly a decade having contributed to several large publications including the Yahoo News and The The Santa Fe New Mexican. As a journalist for News Lair, Laura covers national and international developments.

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Quick Update – New World Witchery on YouTube

Above is the first in what will hopefully be a series of videos featuring “Everyday Magic” on our new YouTube channel. We’ll be trying to post new short videos on topics you can read about on our site. We’ve also started converting our back catalog of podcast episodes to video as well (there’s not much to see, but for those who like to listen to podcasts on YouTube this should help).

We definitely plan to do more with video in the future, too, so subscribe and keep an eye on the channel! And if you like what you see, please share these videos around wherever you think people might enjoy seeing them.

Thanks everyone!

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Care Village Highlighted in new Infrastructure Plan

£3 billion of new infrastructure built

 The Queensferry Crossing, a new hospital and major motorway improvements are among £3 billion worth of infrastructure projects completed in Scotland last year.

In addition, major public projects worth £4.1 billion are estimated be in construction during the remainder of 2018, including the second phase of the A9 dualling, the Highland Main Line Phase 2 rail scheme, and key health projects in Clydebank, Greenock and Glasgow. Details of the projects are in the annual progress report on the Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Investment Plan. The report says that in addition to these, there are separately funded projects such as 50,000 affordable homes, expansion of early learning and childcare, continued superfast broadband roll-out and City Region Deals being taken forward this year.

Commenting on the report while visiting the new £37.8 million Stirling Health and Care Village construction site, Economy Secretary Keith Brown said:

“We have made excellent progress on our infrastructure plan, and this is good for jobs, good for the economy and good for Scotland overall. Last year we completed key projects such as the Queensferry Crossing, improvements to the M8, M73 and M74, and the new Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary.

“This year we expect further significant projects will be completed, including the A90 Aberdeen Western Peripheral route, the electrification of the Stirling-Dunblane-Alloa rail line and the V&A Museum of Design in Dundee. I look forward to seeing these completed, and the people of Scotland and Scottish companies continuing to benefit from this Government’s record levels of investment.”

The Infrastructure Investment Plan Progress Report and accompanying Project Pipeline is available at

The Scottish Government Capital expenditure  programme consists of the above ‘pipeline’ of projects  contained in the Infrastructure Investment Plan report as well as capital spending such as affordable housing, expansion of  early learning and childcare, city region deals and local authority capital expenditure.


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50 Years Later – Still Working Towards Dr. King’s Dream

If you didn’t have a chance to see the 50th Anniversary Remembrance of the March on Washington this afternoon, you might want to do yourself a favor and tune into the replay tonight on C-SPAN. I know, I know, C-Span Nick, do I even get that channel, or care about that channel? Well you do and you should tonight. Because 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have A Dream” speech. I’m sure you all heard snippets of it from school and others posting the speech today. His speech talks about how one day we will all live in a society where you are not judged by the color of your skin, but by the content of your character. Take a moment to watch the replay tonight, see what John Lewis had to go though, how President Clinton was inspired, what Dr. King’s children have to say 50 years later.

You might be asking, What does this have to do with me? You might have it pretty good, a decent wage at a good job, a home to walk into every evening. You even feel that your friends are doing alright, when we go to vote, there isn’t a problem, I didn’t even have to wait in line, you might say. Well, this could all change much faster than you think. So many fought, and died, so that there is a decent wage and job for you. You are able to get a home in any town you want. You can cast your vote very simply. This was not the case, just 50 years ago for so many.

You might not have ever been affected by any of these things, you might have been born without having to ever worry about any of this, but guess what, I’m sure you can think of one or two people who had to deal with these issues. And therein lies the problem. Every one of us needs to fight for each other’s rights until we can all live without the fear that something can be taken away from you or your friend, just because the Supreme Court made a decision, or because your state changed a law. That’s the only way we can move forward as a society.

Coretta King said that every generation needs to continue to fight, that we can’t become complacent. Are you going to fight for yourself, for your friends, for your neighbor? I know I am putting in the time, but as Dr. King said, I can’t get there alone. Whether it is segregation, discrimination, marriage equality, women’s rights, or something else, there is something that is affecting you or a friend. So let’s get out there and continue to fight for the dream together.

Fired Up!  Ready To Go!

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What’s Next?

It was great to see so many people step up and reach out to their perspective representatives in Washington D.C. letting them know how they need to really look at the language of the SOPA and PIPA bills that were coming up for a vote. The vote has actually been postponed and many who were for it are now against it. It even seems that the bill is not going to even come up for a vote anymore. That’s great news, everyone rallied around a few brands who had a good idea (Reddit, Wikipedia) to go dark for a day in protest. This caused other larger sites to participate in one way or another, Google blocking out their logo, WordPress having a plug-in for individual bloggers to have their site go dark for the day. Many friends on Facebook blocked out their photo, as well as on Twitter. Word spread quickly, and people rallied around it and Congress heard our collective voice and is taking action accordingly. Collectively, we gathered together and spoke up and now are being heard.

But what’s the next step? What else is on the horizon that we can speak up about? We can’t be one and done, can we? Let’s take our collective voice and tell Congress to get behind our President and support the American Jobs Act. It might not be perfect, but I’m sure with it passed, we can get many Americans back to work. Which major company or brand is going to speak out and get everyone on board? Will Wikipedia and Reddit take another stand? Will Google step up to the plate and educate the American people on how if Congress works together we can get people back to work and our unemployment numbers down? I’m hoping some of these brands I use on a daily basis will take an interest it what I care about the way we took an interest in what they care about.

Here’s hoping that someone will take notice and take a stand. It’s getting lonely over here. Let me know if you have any ideas on how we can get big names to speak up for the people. Let’s get this country back on the road to the promised land. Let’s bring hope back to the people.

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WordCamp Philly 2011

A few weeks ago, I attended WordCamp Philly, a WordPress event geared towards bloggers who use WordPress. It was a great event, they had a few different student tracts; user, power user, developer and designer. Since I’ve had a blog for a little while, I was intrigued on going to learn if I was “doing it right” and what else I could learn. Well, I learned a bunch, all the speakers were great, and I was glad that I went. I jumped back and forth between user and power user, depending on the topic.

The one seminar that I learned a great deal from was, “Stop Worrying, Start Publishing.” I’ve had a blog for a little while now, but I don’t post that much. You see, right out of college, I was a writer and editor for a monthly magazine. Before publishing something, we made sure everything was perfect. Everything. Had. To. Be. Perfect. It was drilled into me. So, it’s not that I’m afraid to put my thoughts, ideas, writings out there, I’m just used to it being 100% polished. I have many different posts that I’ve written, but don’t publish, because it’s not polished. But this class was great in helping me get over that. It doesn’t have to be 100% polished. I don’t have to write, edit and re-edit until I’m blue in the face and feel that it’s perfect. Honestly, who’s reading this stuff anyway. That’s an inside joke I have with myself now, not many people are reading this, so who really cares if it’s crap writing. I promise to try and not put out crap writing, but I’m sure sometimes it will make it’s way out there.
Anyway, I suggest if you are serious about WordPress, or getting into it, check out a WordCamp in your area. You’ll meet a great group of people, learn something, and get some stickers and a tee-shirt, and honestly, who doesn’t like that?

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The Pioneer Spirit

“Pioneers! O Pioneers! Come my tan faced children…..” as Walt Whitman goes into his poem, you are brought into a world of the Pioneer Spirit. He was writing about a time when the country was expanding at leaps and bounds, a time when the promise of gold, land and a new beginning were just beyond the horizon. But, did you have the gumption to go forth?

I received an e-mail from my old college professor, Dr. Jack Sullivan. He invited me to a dinner he hosts.  We haven’t seen each other in quite some time and he wanted to make sure I would attend the American Studies major alumni dinner. I made sure to block out the date on my calendar, because he is someone I admire, respect and always look forward to spending time with. When I got to the dinner, I saw a few familiar faces, but mostly people I never met before. Since we all shared a common background, I knew we would have an enjoyable time. Towards the end of the event, a current AMS student came to meet up with Dr. Sullivan. She was writing her senior thesis and he wanted to give her draft back to her with his notes. I got caught up in their discussion, and remembered why I became an American Studies major.

I always enjoyed history, but American Studies was more diverse thinking. We studied literature, art, music and history. It is not for people who are unwilling to take a few chances. More than anything else, studying American culture past and present gives one the critical thinking skills that are invaluable in an ever-changing world. I was discussing with the current student that with my American Studies major, I was able to apply for a variety of different jobs right out of college, and I ended up in the publishing world. Since broader analytical and writing skills were necessary for American Studies, publishing seemed like a great fit. Jack stopped me and said, “you know Nick, you were one of my first American Studies majors. Usually students were American Studies majors along with another major, like education, or they were American Studies minors, with a major in something else. You were a pioneer.”

This had me thinking the whole ride home. I’m a pioneer, me, Nick DeVito, a pioneer. Of course it makes sense, why wouldn’t I be a pioneer? By the time I got home to talk to Katie, my head barely fit in the door, because of all the pioneer blood in me.  I told her the story, of course making sure to stress the fact that Jack, my advisor, my mentor, someone I respected, someone who is friends with Cornel West, called me, ME, a pioneer. I was ready to conquer anything at that moment.

After thinking about it a few days, and of course reminding Katie (over and over) that she married a pioneer, I came to a few conclusions. Yes, I am a pioneer.  I like to know about the past, so that I can learn from it for the future.  I like to be on the forefront of things, including; news, books, technology, new opinions/outlooks/thoughts.  I like to know what’s in the pipeline, what’s next, what’s new. I also like to look at things that don’t work, and change them, make processes easier, cut through the red tape. I actually never thought of myself as a pioneer, and I’m sure the folks who went westward at first didn’t either; they just wanted to know what was out there, what’s next, what’s new.  Get out there and find out.

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MLK Said It Best

”I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

I saw this posted as a friend’s facebook status and I was able to finally get my head around the past 24 hours regarding Osama bin Laden. While events were unfolding last night, I was unsure of how I felt. While I was happy he was gone, I knew I couldn’t celebrate the fact that a person was dead. He is an evil monster, he killed thousands of people, but to me, to celebrate a person’s death would make me the same.

So while there are many out there who I am sure will disagree with me, I just feel that I can’t dance in the streets over a person’s death. It would put me on the same level as Osama bin Laden, and I know that I am not even remotely like him.

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A True Champion

American Dreams can fade away, but for someone born on the Fourth of July, I think they have no chance but to carve a niche in society. George M. Steinbrenner III died Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at the age of 80.

Being a life-long Yankee fan, I’ve had my own personal relationship with the man as well as every other Yankee fan. There were times I cursed him, (how could you tell Donnie Baseball to cut his hair,) times that I agreed with him, (I’m glad he made Randy Johnson cut his hair). There were good times (the late 90s) and bad times (most of the 1980s). But through all the times, he was the Boss. Even when the Yanks were down, you knew Ol’ George had something up his sleeve to change the team around. Also, you knew at any moment he could step in and ruin a good thing. He kept you on edge, on your toes. You always knew where you stood with him because there was only one outcome expected, to win. Not get in the playoffs, or win the division, but to win the World Series.

George Steinbrenner changed baseball. It’s as simple as that; he changed baseball. To this day, when teams complain about the money the Yankees spend, why don’t those teams open up the purse strings like George did and get some talent. You have to spend money to make money.  It’s easy, start spending, get the talent in the door, the fans will come and if you keep winning, you will not only have a good year or two, but a franchise, and maybe even some day, a dynasty. He also changed the way we watch baseball. He went to a cable network (MSG) when everyone else was floundering to make money off of people watching the game. Then he realized how much money he could make off of it and created his own network, the YES Network. More money means more talent. More talent means winning which leads to World Series rings, which means more money for more talent. He was the first to figure out how you build a franchise and a dynasty in today’s free agent market.

On Seinfeld, they made Steinbrenner a character. Even before George Costanza was working for the New York Yankees, there is a very early episode where Kramer comes into Jerry’s apartment and throws down the paper claiming, “Steinbrenner, he’s ruining my life!” I’m almost positive every single person in the Yankee organization, as well as every single fan has claimed this at one point or another. I know I did. But, it showed you something about the man; he had heart. He cared about the Yankees, knew the winning tradition behind the pinstripes and wanted to keep that tradition going at any cost. Sometimes it cost him money for a free agent; sometimes it cost him fans cursing his name because he didn’t have the patience for a guy to turn his season around. It didn’t matter to Steinbrenner, because there was only one thing he wanted, to win.

George Steinbrenner went out a champion. The Yankees won their 28th World Series in 2009 in their brand new stadium. The first stadium was the house that Ruth built. The new stadium is the house that George built. I find it fitting that both men share the same name: George. We will miss you George, you always gave it your all, and you expected the same from everyone else. That’s why you will always be the Boss.

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You Say You Want A Revolution

The revolutionary movement began as a defense of the status quo. All the colonists were asking for in their first protests were the continuance of their traditional right as English subjects to consent to their own taxes. Had Britain pulled back at nearly any point before 1775, the resistance would have died away.

Was it possible for a revolution that began so conservatively to cause significant changes in society once it reached full flood? The conservative revolution became radical as conflict with the imperial government compelled the colonists to search to the roots of their allegiance. As the government became increasingly oppressive, the colonists had to ask why they obeyed at all. Thomas Jefferson summed up a decade of thought in the Declaration of Independence when he wrote about “equality” and “inalienable rights.” When a government fails in its duty to protect those rights, the people may organize a new government. It was a simple line of thought, but unlike the initial protest against parliamentary taxation, the thinking was radical.

The United States began as a lonely democratic experiment in a world of monarchies. The Founders could take courage, however, from the interest of advanced political thinkers throughout the civilized world. The United States came into existence in an age when hopes were high that tyranny could be overthrown and rational government based on liberty and equality were established in its place. In fact, the monarchies of Europe were not toppling; they seemed to be growing stronger.

So on this Fourth of July weekend, while you are having a fun time at the beach or in the backyard, remember that there were a group of men that had ideals that we live upon till today. They didn’t always do the right thing, but they left loopholes in what they did so that future generations could fix their mistakes. That’s how smart they were; they based this country on the fact that they knew they didn’t know everything. To have that vision, that’s the vision this country is founded on, to look forward and move forward and to try and be the best possible.

Happy Independence Day.

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