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Google and Big Tech are censoring free speech

Google is acting directly to shape what people can say and what they're allowed to speak. It's a direct effort to stifle free speech. Continue reading




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Donald Trump will lose in November because he failed to walk his big talk

When widespread looting and disorder arrived, the president did not act as decisively as many had hoped. He said little, he did less. Some voters felt undefended, some turned against him. Continue reading




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Big Tech opposes temporary blocking of H-1B guest worker visas because it wants to give your childrens’ jobs to cheap foreign labor

So Apple isn't fighting for diversity. They're doing exactly what they appear to be doing: they're trying to keep wages down and keep their workers compliant by importing labor from abroad.This isn't about diversity. It's about exploitation. It always is Continue reading



  • Accountants CPA Hartford
  • Articles
  • Amazon
  • Apple
  • Apple's CEO
  • Big Tech
  • Big Tech opposes temporary blocking of H-1B guest worker visas because it wants to give your childrens' jobs to cheap foreign labor
  • blocking guest worker visas
  • cheap foreign labor
  • diversity
  • Donald Trump
  • exploitation
  • Google
  • H-1B guest worker visas
  • http://cpa-connecticut.com/barefootaccountant/big-tech-opposes-temporary-blocking-of-h-1b-guest-worker-visas-because-it-wants-to-give-your-childrens-jobs-to-cheap-foreign-labor/
  • India
  • Silicon Valley
  • STEM
  • Tim Cook
  • Tucker Carlson Tonight July 1 2020

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With Joe Biden we get fascism: the collusion of government and corporatism

This ruling class of administrative state, big tech, corporations: all of these people think that they can get rid of Trump and we'll go back to normal. They're wedded to a broken system that has sold out the American people. And now they're going to try to sell out the American people and the middle class especially. They're not going to fix immigration; they're not going to fix trade deals; they're not going to break up big tech; they're not going to do any of these things. Continue reading




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The CIA NSA FBI are today’s Gestapo. Didn’t they create a phony Russian investigation to overthrow a Presidency?

THE SECURITY STATE HAS EXISTED SINCE THE END OF WORLD WAR II. THEY'VE BEEN OPERATING IN SECRET AND WITH NO DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY FOR EIGHT OR NINE DECADES NOW. DWIGHT EISENHOWER WHEN HE LEFT OFFICE WARNED THE COUNTRY ABOUT THE DANGERS THAT THEY POSE. Continue reading




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Our government is using Big Tech companies to circumvent the First Amendment and censor free speech on its behalf

Google, Facebook and Twitter should be treated as state actors under existing legal doctrines. Using a combination of statutory inducements and regulatory threats, Congress has co-opted Silicon Valley to do through the back door what government cannot directly accomplish under the Constitution. Congress is giving Big Tech immunity and more power in exchange for it censoring whatever Congress wants censored. Continue reading




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FBI CIA NSA are not only spying on American citizens but also are illegally unmasking their identities to journalists who support our fascist government

FBI CIA NSA are not only spying on American citizens but also are illegally unmasking their identities to journalists who support our fascist government Continue reading




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The new fascism is the woke industrial complex consisting of big US corporations and the big governments of China and the United States

And so that is what I call the birth of this woke industrial complex. It is a new leviathan, a new monster, that is far more powerful than what Thomas Hobbes might have envisioned 400 years ago, and it is the biggest threat to individual liberty today. It is not big government alone. Its conservatives are reciting lines that they memorized in 1980, thinking that big government was the threat to individual liberty. Maybe it was in 1980. It's not today. It is this new hybrid of big government and big business and big government not just in the United States but big government in places like China, co-mingled with big business creating the actual threat to our liberty and our prosperity. Continue reading




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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. interviews Matt Taibbi about censorship and the Twitter files




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Beat’s Bizarre Adventure: Multi-track classroom drifting

This week, Beat's Bizarre Adventure covers ICHI THE WITCH, IMA KOI: NOW I'M IN LOVE, and THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM.




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Top Comics to Buy for November 13, 2024: Some of the biggest books in comics

This week's Top Comics to Buy for November 13 features buzzy books like Absolute Batman, G.I. Joe, and more!




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The Mobile Phone Industry and Customer Retention

The mobile phone industry’s growth has slowed.  It is now operating more like a stable, moderate to slow growth market.  This is particularly true in Europe.  To face the challenge of slower growth in the industry, European mobile operators are turning to customer retention, but they are careful of the customers they seek to retain. 

The Europeans have observed that less than 20% of an operator’s customers generate to 80% of the operator’s total revenue.  This pattern repeats itself in many industries.  When we have seen these patterns in other industries, we have also noted that less than 10% of the total customers generate an astounding 50% of total revenues.  These are the really important customers in an industry. 

A company must retain its key customers.  In the mobile phone industry, as in most industries, the largest 20% of the industry’s customers are likely to be what we would call Core customers for the industry’s larger competitors.  A Core customer allows supplier company to earn at least the cost of capital through a business cycle.  The retention of these core customers is of paramount importance to long term company success. It costs a great deal more to find a new customer than to retain and build the relationship with a customer you already have.  In the European mobile phone industry, carriers have found that it costs ten times more to acquire a customer than to retain one. 

The industry has found another important phenomenon associated with customer defection.  Recent research has told it that defection is a social phenomenon.  If defecting customers leave an operator, they usually are not quiet about it.  They tell their friends.  In turn, some of their friends defect as well.  So, the loss of a Core customer to an operator will often bring with it the loss of several other Core customers. 

The mobile phone operators in Europe are working on retention by focusing particularly on those Core customers most likely to defect.  These operators have analyzed the value of their customers and have assigned a rating to each customer.  When a customer calls a call center, the information about the customer, including his rating, is readily displayed on the service representative’s screen.  This customer specific information enables the service representative to respond with different value offers, depending on the importance of the customer.  Most of these offers reflect lower prices for a potential defector.

But the industry is responding to potential defections with more than simple price reductions.  Some companies are developing personal calling rates and plans tailored to individual Core customer habits.  One European company instituted this individual approach and cut its percentage of customers defecting each year in half, from 20% to 10%. 

The industry has found another important phenomenon associated with customer churn.  Recent research has told it that defection is a social phenomenon.  If defecting customers leave an operator, they usually are not quiet about it.  They tell their friends.  In turn, some of their friends defect as well.  So, the loss of a core customer to an operator will often bring with it the loss of several other core customers. 

Customer retention is an important, strategic management imperative, even in fast growing markets




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Failures in Reliability Lead to Share Loss

We have written several times before about the Customer Buying Hierarchy (i.e. customers buy Function, Reliability, Convenience and Price, in that order).  We have also written, on several occasions, about companies winning and failing customers in a marketplace.  In a stable market, failure of a supplier causes more market share to move than does another competitor’s “win” of market share against its peers.  Most failures occur in Reliability. Recently, two of America’s paragon companies have failed their customers on Reliability and are now struggling to catch up.  Other leaders have had a similar problem and have recovered nicely. 

Macy’s is a clear leader in the department store market.  Over the last several years, Macy’s has purchased and integrated other large department store competitors.  For example, in 2005 Macy’s purchased May Department Stores.  As the company worked to integrate these acquisitions and obtain synergistic savings, their attention swerved from customer service.  The company’s failings were greatest in customer interactions with the company’s sales associates.  Nearly half of customer complaints focused on actions of sales associates. These are failures in Reliability.  A customer expects to be well treated by a department store that charges relatively high prices for its goods.  Macy’s failed to do that. The company’s market share began to drift lower as a result of these failures. 

Now Macys is investing a great deal more money and time into the proper training of its sales associates.  This investment is beginning to pay off.  A recent survey of customer satisfaction indicated that the company was making strides in improving its reputation.  Still, it lags the performance of some of its important rivals.  This is still a Macy’s work-in-progress.

Wal-Mart is another industry paragon who drifted from its Reliability promises.  Wal-Mart committed two notable sins.  First, it removed some products that were important to its core customers.  The company did so in an effort to improve the product mix and the margins a better product mix would bring.  Some of its core customer volume began to drift away.  The company also moved away from its aggressive pricing.  Instead of every day low prices, the company began to promote deals on some products while raising prices on others.  Customers didn’t like that either.  Recently, a survey by a retail consulting firm has found that Target Stores offered prices below those of Wal-Mart.  So, Wal-Mart has created Reliability failures in both product availability in its stores and its promise to have “always low prices, always.”  The company’s market share has also drifted lower. 

Wal-Mart now promises to return to its core values and core customers.  It is bringing back the products it once eliminated in favor of higher margin products.  It is getting more aggressive in pricing once more.  This, too, is a work-in-progress. 

Certainly, these leaders can recover from these miscues. We have seen other leading companies struggle with Reliability and yet recover nicely.  For example, several years ago McDonald’s went through a period of time where it was losing market share.  As the company examined the reasons for this market share loss, it noted that customers began to see its prices as high in the quick service restaurant industry.  In addition, its products in stores had developed a reputation as being about the same as or, in some cases, lower in quality than some of its big competition.  Under the leadership of a CEO well versed in operations, the company returned to its roots by emphasizing its core quality values and aggressive pricing.  Today, McDonald’s is the unquestioned leader in the quick service restaurant industry.  Many of its competitors struggle to keep up with McDonald’s. Most fail to do so.  McDonald’s again has gained share in the industry over the last several years.  McDonald’s success in reversing its Reliability failures suggests that the pathway is open for both Macy’s and Wal-Mart.  They both should be able to enjoy similar success.  The odds are they will.




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MI40 Birthday SALE!!! $30.00 OFF!


AS FEATURED IN



CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE TO GET A FREE 43 PAGE REPORT:

CLICK THE IMAGES BELOW TO GET THE PROGRAM:







First off, I want to thank you for your interest in my product. I aim to give you the absolute best quality product that exists, as well as the best possible technical support for all of your questions, concerns, and comments.
I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my new Muscle Building Program.
My name is Ben Pakulski , the author and creator of MI40. I will start off by answering the question most commonly asked. What is the significance of the name?
The name, MI40 - “Mass Intentions” is significant to this program because it is representative of the conscious INTENT, to create TENSION in the muscle, as well as the pun of overall mass creation.
The number 40, is the most important number in this program because it is the number that has the most scientific significance in MI40. 40 is representative of the number of days in the program (40 days), the amount of time in a set (40 seconds), the rest between sets (40 seconds), and the number of exercises used in constructing this muscle building protocol.
Many of you will immediately recognize the scientific significance of all of these numbers and some of you may not. The number 40 was chosen because of it being the MOST optimal number for many of these variables.
As will be explained in the program, 40 days has been proven to be the most optimal amount of time to adapt to any new training program (6weeks). 40 seconds is the ideal amount of “Time under Tension”(TUT) to illicit muscular hypertrophy. 40 seconds rest is the ideal amount of time to allow your CP and ATP Glycolytic energy pathways to recover before the next set (these are the energy pathways that drive muscular contraction of fast twitch muscle fibers which are responsible for growth!).
To tell you all a little about myself, I am a graduate of the University of Western Ontario. My areas of study were primarily Kinesiology, and Biomechanics.
My passion for health and fitness is second only to my passion for helping others improve their lives. I live my life by the acronym “CANI” – Constant And Never-Ending Improvement. 1% Improvement Every Day.
I have never viewed myself as an overly blessed individual, which is why my life is always centered on learning the best information, from the best resources and brightest people that exist. 14 years of seeking the best information and applying just about every possible technique on myself , has brought me to where I am today. A very successful, happy, healthy, motivated -professional bodybuilder, author, public speaker, nutrition coach, celebrity trainer and success coach. Sounds like a lot of hats, but they all tie into one balanced life…. Sometimes! ☺
The 2 main principles (or as Vince would reference them – “hooks” and Unique Selling Propositions) set forth in MI40 are the concepts that I deem to be most greatly contributing to holding people back from achieving their goals! “The WEAKEST LINKS!!” Here are the two problems MI40 Solves:
1) Most people have no idea how to feel how to “feel” their muscles, and therefore have little idea how to exhaust and build these muscles. ‘Intentions’ the ideal tool to assist them in doing so.
2) Then there is the idea of creating sufficient overload to stimulate a muscle to grow. Many people spend way too much time in the gym trying to “train” and exhaust a muscle group.
NOS has been designed to get the MAXIMUM efficacy in the shortest amount of time. It will fatigue the muscle faster and create the most optimal hormonal environment to illicit the growth response. Keeping the workout time shorter, means less cortisol (muscle breakdown) and therefore better body composition and muscle growth!
As many of you may already know, in a manner consistent with my approach to all aspects of life, I have gone out and sought “the best”. I have hired marketing genius and fitness pro, Vince DelMonte as my campaign manager for MI40. After spending quite a bit of time with Vince in prepping him for his competitions in 2011, I knew Vince was the guy to help me launch my muscle-building baby to the world! Vince is becoming renowned for his consistent low-to-mid 6-figure launch records. I believe in the product I have created, and I want to share my knowledge and expertise with as many people as I can.
I truly believe that this product has the science, the practical basis, the structure and format to help anyone that comes in contact with it. I want your help in spreading this knowledge and passion with the world!
Yours in fitness, health and passion, Benjamin Pakulski

A short message from your launch manager… Vince Del Monte

MI40 – What is the hook?

We have more than one – earning it’s rightful tag line, “Twice The Muscle, Half The Time!”
First, MI stands for MASS INTENTIONS and INTENTIONS is Ben’s trademark technique that addresses the problem of not being able to go heavier and heavier with your weights unless you wish to carry more risk than reward.
Going heavier isn’t your best option, especially after a few years of lifting, if you want to stimulate muscle growth and you most look to other solutions. With INTENTIONS you change the angle of pushing or pulling by means of a technique almost imperceptible to an observer. You push inward or pull outward with your hands or feet as you perform an exercise. I was introduced to intentions in December 2010 and ever since, my body has never looked the same. You’ve seen my pictures! Intentions literally RE MOLDED my body. On lat pulldowns as I pulled the bar down, I tried to pull my hands apart. They didn’t actually move on the bar, but that different motion made my lats fire in a different way, and my back was more sore the next day than it had been in months.
In the MI40 DVD, Ben teaches you how to apply INTENTIONS to virtually every exercise, not an easy task if you’re untrained in biomechanics and kinesiology (Ben holds a degree from the University of Western Ontario in Kinesiology). On barbell presses for chest, for example, you try to push your hands together. One thing is certain: Forget about using your normal weights. Typically, I do work sets with 180 to 230 pounds on lat pulldowns to the front; at that recent back workout I didn’t need to go any heavier than 150. As I said, though, the feeling in the lats was completely different.
We often play around with grip widths and experiment with pushing and pulling angles, but with intentions you introduce a variable that can awaken dormant muscle fibers and stimulate them in fresh, new ways. Pakulski has used intentions to get more out of exercises like leg presses, squats, barbell rows, bench presses and overhead presses—really anything that has you pushing or pulling both limbs at once on a bar or roller pad. It’s helped him become ripped at 270, place Top 10 at the Arnold Pro Show, Top 5 at the Flex Pro show and on his way to qualifying for the Mr. Olympia next year! INTENTIONS is 100% unique and will breath new life into your workouts. More important, it stimulates new muscle growth based on science and biomechanics, not bro science.

MI40 – What’s up with the number 40?
Ben already explained this but lets review it once more to ensure you know exactly what you’re endorsing. You and your list are going to LOVE the simplicity of the mechanism that makes MI40 so effective.
40 days!
40 second sets!
40 second rest periods
40 minute workouts!
40 exercises!
40 foods!
40 day meal plans!
This is the exact workout I followed in prep of the WBFF World Championships and here’s a reminder that it works!
As you can see, MI40 did not transform my body, it literally RE MOLDED it and it’ll do the same for you.



MI40 – How is MI40 different
than every other muscle program?

Aside from Ben’s trademark technique Intentions and the science behind the number 40 (we can explain why 40 is scientifically optimally for every variable above), we have…. NOS!
I’ll let Ben explain NOS to you…
Join the NOS revolution:
For years, I had been searching for the best way to overload my muscles each and every time I go in the gym. I know you can relate to those days when you worked “hard” but still feel like you could have done more. Leaving the gym feeling like there was more in the tank or maybe getting home and regretting not pushing harder?! I CRAVED something that would ensure that my muscles are taken to their limit, and CREATE NEW GROWTH!
This is when I discovered NOS!
My training partner and I had been coming up with creative ways to inflict pain on each other during leg workouts for years. I remember daydreaming of ways to make workouts harder. My goal was to leave the gym knowing I had BLASTED every last muscle fiber, and to have my training partner talking about how he had never experienced muscle pumps and growth like this.
“Straight sets” just didn’t seem to do the trick anymore. Ya sure I felt a decent pump, but it just didn’t seem to be the type of intensity that I KNEW I needed to grow!
FACT: A “straight set” will NEVER cause the type of neurological adaptation, hormonal response, and thereby GROWTH that a NOS set will.
NOS WAS BORN ON A LEG PRESS!
Being a research junky I had always read about overloading the muscle and overloading the nervous system to stimulate new muscle and strength gains respectively. Time under tension was proven to be the number one factor correlated with muscle growth and overload!
Something clicked in my brain! Time under MAXIMAL TENSION! This had to be better than just time under tension!! And so, my GROWTH BABY was born!
If I could use the maximum amount of weight I could handle for strict form for the greatest amount of time possible, growth was inevitable! The only catch is, that ITS HARD!
NOS is something that I have been using religiously ever since. Perfecting its components. I use it to get ready for my contests and in my offseason. Straight sets are now a thing of the past.
The science behind NOS: Neurological Overload Set.
The NOS system has been specifically designed to ensure a maximal MUSCLE OVERLOAD! The greatest number of muscle fibers are broken down or exhausted. Taking your muscles to such an exhausted state also causes the highest possible release amount of growth hormones and growth factors within a working muscle! Without these, you can train all day and eat a perfect diet and expect ZERO growth. This is one of the main reasons why so many people train often, train “hard” and see minimal results. They never reach that “overload-anabolic state.”
GREATER OVERALL STIMULUS=GREATER MUSCLE GROWTH!
Now this Math I LIKE!
How to: NOS
NOS is completed by performing an “extended set”.
The goal here is to extend the set for as long as possible while maintaining tension on the working muscle, and perfect form!
Start the set with a weight that you can use for a strict 8 repetitions. After completing your first 8 repetitions, decrease the weight by 20%(if youre using 100lbs, you would decrease by 20lbs, etc.) Immediately continue to perform as many repetitions as you can with the second weight (usually 5-8 reps). Repeat this process 4 times total. (You will complete 3 drops, therefore 4 “sets”-100,80,60,40lbs).
DO NOT allow your form to stray in an attempt to complete more reps. If anything, decrease the size of the Range of Motion (ROM) (“partials”), just make sure to be initiating the movement with the working muscle from a fully stretched position.

MI40 – What does the product look like?

FRONT END OFFER:

Component 1
The 40 Day MASS Intelligence Training Manual
Component 2
The 40 Day MASS Consumption Nutrition Manual
Component 3
The 40 Day MASS Instruction Workout Videos
Component 4
The 40 Day MASS Proportions Exercise Demo Guide
Component 5
The 40 Day MASS Prescription Printable Workout Sheets
Component 6
The 40 Day MASS Pursuit Calendar
Component 7
The 40 Day MASS Supplement Stack Protocol
Component 8
The Sciene & Story Behind NOS & Intentions Audio Interview




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SLC-2L-12: Two-Light Bike for the Bucks

UODATE: The bike sold, quickly, for the full asking price to the first person who showed up. Which was cool. And even better, the guy was like, "Who did the pictures? They jumped out at me."

(Tiny speedlights FTW...)




Have you tried to buy a new bike lately? Or even a used bike?

The coronavirus pandemic has made them very tough to find. Between homebound people snapping them up and all of the various broken supply chains, most of the bike inventory — other than very pricey specialty bikes — has pretty much vanished.

Which means that if you have a functional bike in your garage that you don't need, it will likely never be worth more than it is right now.

My daughter Emily has an unneeded bike in the garage. It's a Trek 7100, which is decent hybrid. She rode it to middle school. But she's just graduated college and won't be bringing it to her new job.

But right now it should fetch a nice price in the Craigslist Bicycle Hunger Games. Especially if it is photographed and presented well.

So that's exactly what we are going to do today: photograph a bike with a basic two speedlight kit.Read more »




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【 cinéma birds 】

移動映画館cinéma birdは東日本大震災以降に劇場の無い地域に劇場体験をお届けすべく鳥の様に自由に北海道から沖縄まで時には海を越えマダガスカルやパラグアイで飛んでいき開催してきました本来ならば今月の子供の日にもとある場所で開催予定だったのですが3月の段階で中止と言うか"無期延期"と判断しましたさてさてcinéma birdはいつも開催時に開場時間から開演時間の間にcinéma birdsなる出演者による即席bandを組みウェルカムソングを奏..






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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Uninterested in Not Attacking

In the latest episode of their easily spotted podcast, Ken and Robin talk Invisible Men, coarse vs granular ability lists, and Ken's last book raid for the duration.




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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Submarine for Sea Ghouls

In the latest episode of their intrepid podcast, Ken and Robin talk Sense Trouble, fatbergs, William Stephenson, and doomsday predictor Albert Porta.




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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Dragons Love Merch

In the latest episode of their awesomely helmeted podcast, Ken and Robin talk automatic successes, imperiled Czech mayors, the secrets of Valhalla Cat, and Nicolas Roerich.




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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Chorus Cubed

In the latest episode of their not-distracted-by-the-woman-in-red podcast, Ken and Robin talk meme-filled meta-kibitzing, Montreal Open City, present tense in fantasy fiction, and the RFK-Scooby Doo time ripple.




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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Toss In Your Werecows

In the latest episode of their ennui-destroying podcast, Ken and Robin talk interesting boredom, Lair of the White Worm, John Carpenter's Aliens, and the occult battle of Kursk.




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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: It Would Totally Match Her Raven

In the latest episode of their inescapable podcast, Ken and Robin talk forecasting player behavior, cats, the creative importance of napping, Loie Fuller, and saving Houdini.




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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: The Mystical Land of Hat

In the latest episode of their tantalizing podcast, Ken and Robin talk GMing war for ex-military players, Toronto tow truck gang wars, world-breaking words, and ‘Oumuamua.




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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: You May Be Competent

In the latest episode of their tightly-wrapped podcast, Ken and Robin talk vampire firewalling, the espionage of Jan van Eyck, weird war mummies, and the Quasi War.




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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Not That My Players Would Do Anything Like That

In the latest episode of their quartz-festooned podcast, Ken and Robin talk TPKs, RCMP misconduct, crystals, and The Mandalorian.




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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Chief Plant Health Officer

In the latest episode of their planchette-moving podcast, Ken and Robin talk historical isms, a man in a barrel, unsolicited seeds, and Ouija board inventor Elijah Bond.




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TIFF Day 2: Tales About Wizards from an African Prison & Zombies in the Taiwanese Parliament

Shiva Baby [US, Emma Seligman, 4] The ambient social pressures of a post-funeral gathering skyrocket for a directionless college student (Rachel Sennott) when attendees include not only the expected ex-girlfriend (Molly Gordon) but also the sex work client she’s caught feelings for. Knife-edge comedy of emotional suffocation uses a plucky suspense score for that extra frisson of social anxiety.

If you've been missing family events during the pandemic, this film is the cure for that. Polly Draper and Fred Melamed appear as the loving but insufferably intrusive parents.

Night of the Kings [Côte d'Ivoire/France , Philippe Lacôte, 4] When the red moon rises over MACA, the Ivory Coast’s toughest prison, its inmate boss appoints the new arrival as storyteller—a post that results in death if the tale ends before sundown. Prison drama with compelling narrative hook widens out to encompass ancient warfare, contemporary politics, and even a wizard duel.

Spring Blossom [France, Suzanne Lindon, 4] Bored with her classmates, an awkward 16 year old (played by the writer-director) pursues her attraction for a ruggedly handsome stage actor (Arnaud Valois.) Character drama sets aside the sexual aspect of this staple French cinema situation to focus on the emotion, periodically breaking from naturalism to have its characters express their feelings through dance.

This year’s Q&As are Zoom interviews between the programmers and filmmakers, which drop on YouTube when the films become available for online viewing. In the Q&A for this one we discover that the director wrote it when she was 15, a year younger than her character. She’s 20 now. Lindon is the daughter of well-known French actors Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlain.

Get the Hell Out [Taiwan, I-Fan Wang, 4] Taiwan’s notoriously pugilistic parliament tips into arterial spray when the effluent of a controversial chemical plant triggers a zombie epidemic. Zombie comedy features an eye-searing palette and an onslaught of optical overlays, and is paced like a quarter kilo of crushed Adderall. 

It’s quite an achievement to find the worst hue of every color on the visible spectrum. Fortunately the underlying message, that government officials would respond to a pandemic by idiotically making it worse, has no bearing on anything that comes to mind.


Capsule review boilerplate: Ratings are out of 5. I’ll be collecting these reviews in order of preference in a master post the Monday after the fest. Films shown on the festival circuit will appear in theaters, disc and/or streaming over the next year plus.




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Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: That’s How You Get Your Grants Approved

In the latest episode of their dark and stormy podcast, Ken and Robin talk Gothic F20, Elon Musk's pig brain implants, and a contactless edition of Ken's Bookshelf.



  • Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

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President Obama Receives National Geographic Map Cabinet












This is "one gift I will definitely keep," President Obama said when he was presented with a National Geographic Society map cabinet at the White House.

Visit the NATGEO NEWS WATCH Blog by News Editor David Braun for the full story: http://tinyurl.com/ncmdqy












Photos courtesy of The White House




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New program will see pregnant mothers and babies protected from life-threatening virus - SBS

  1. New program will see pregnant mothers and babies protected from life-threatening virus  SBS
  2. World-leading approach to protect babies from RSV  Department of Health
  3. Government-funded RSV vaccines to protect infants from severe disease  Australian Pharmacist
  4. 'Very scary': Wagga mum's plea for parents to protect babies through RSV jab  The Daily Advertiser
  5. Guild backs free RSV vaccinations  Australian Journal of Pharmacy





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Beijing and Washington stops provide clues for Indonesia's direction under Prabowo Subianto - ABC News

  1. Beijing and Washington stops provide clues for Indonesia's direction under Prabowo Subianto  ABC News
  2. Prabowo pledges co-operation with Trump  The Australian Financial Review
  3. Indonesian president meets Biden and speaks with Trump  The Canberra Times
  4. At White House, Indonesia's new leader straddles US-China rivalry  VOA Asia
  5. Will Prabowo Subianto cosy up to Donald Trump or to China?  The Economist




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The etymologies of ballot and bigot

That's all I've got, so far, for linguistic commentary on the U.S. election results. According to the OED, the etymology of ballot is < (i) Middle French ballotte (French †ballotte) small ball (beginning of the 15th cent. as †balote), small coloured ball placed in a container to register a secret vote (1498) or its etymon […]




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Lewotobi Laki-laki

A serious volcanic eruption on Flores Island has been going on since October 30: The Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG) reported that eruptive activity intensified at Lewotobi Laki-laki during 30 October-5 November, which included a major eruption resulting in fatalities. The large explosive eruption began at 2357 on 3 November, generating pyroclastic flows […]




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Biblical and Budai Taiwanese: vernacular, literary; oral, written

[This is a guest post by Denis Mair]      Cai Xutie was a Taiwanese woman who ran a family farm with her husband in a village near Jiayi in central Taiwan. She was a rice farmer and had never attended a public school. After her husband died in middle age, she sold some of the land, […]




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Happy birthday to me! (44)

Hello and howdy. I usually describe myself as turning the "ripe old age of so-and-so" on my birthday posts, but I may need a new adjective as I'm solidly in my mid-40s, now (44). Perhaps "fermented." The birthday's come and gone without incident, although there were minor contemporaneous incidents:

Still in the math hole. It might be an infinite hole. Trying to get out. But I have improved my console fonts and ANSI color libraries and GPU programming skills, at least. I was very pleased that a recent release of NVIDIA drivers came with a brand new updated OpenCL, which I previously assumed had been abandoned like so many computer things that I become fond of. Kudos to whoever at NVIDIA pushed on this. I am making myself laugh privately to myself (well, no longer private now) by imagining someone who spells it out like an acronym, N-V-I D-I-A.

Also, like usual, I ran the Pittsburgh Great Race, a mostly-downhill 10k. No encumbrances this time. I've been in good shape this summer, but I got sick last month and it set me back a bit, so this wasn't a star performance. Still 43m22s is not too bad and I didn't push myself all that hard. Fewer minutes than years old.

The new GPU is mostly for math, but I wanted to try it out for its Intended Purpose, (N)Video Games. So I played through Far Cry 6, which was okay. I liked it better than 5, which among other things had a bunch of technical problems (this one was much smoother and more stable), but I probably should have read my review of that game before downloading, as I say something like "I should probably stop playing this series." Still slowly savoring Tears of The Kingdom, which remains great. I also started Return To Monkey Island. I loved the first two in this series, but couldn't get into the later sequels; of course I'm interested in giving this one a shot since it's made by the original designers (and I did like Thimbleweed Park). Too early to render a verdict, but I did like how they deftly handled the canonicity of the end of 2.

Then there's this: I think this is Taylor Swift wearing a homemade t-shirt of her "Pegicorn" (sometimes "Pegacorn"), a Unicorn-Pegasus hybrid. The text is in my font Action Jackson:


Taylor Swift Pegicorn (Action Jackson font)


You can also see this drawing/font at the beginning of the "Making of" video for You Belong With Me". I think she posted this to twitter in May 2009, but somehow I'm unable to find an archive of her tweets from this time (inconceivable??).




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A big find on Mars

A big rover makes a big find on Mars. Little rovers have their place in exploration, too.




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A billion dollars short: A progress report on the Planetary Decadal Survey

NASA is underfunding planetary exploration relative to recommendations made by the National Academies Decadal Survey report, resulting in mission delays and cancelations.




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Why the “habitable zone” doesn’t always mean habitable

The habitable zone is a useful concept in astrobiology, but it can sometimes paint an over-simplified picture of planetary habitability.




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Why Taylor-Serrano deserves top billing over Tyson-Paul carnival

How the inclusion of Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano on the bill legitimises the carnival of Mike Tyson v Jake Paul in Texas




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Hobbit Production Line

Here is Beorn in his full fury. He has been given a Matt varnish that really helped. This proved even more effective once his mouth, eyes and nose was given a coat of gloss varnish. This brought him to life and gave him a sparkle in his eye.

I ended up putting more and more greenstuff on him until he was completely covered. It's good to have him covered in thick, shaggy fur as he looks more wild and rugged.


The Eagles are coming! Eagles and White wolves get their various layers of flock.
A lovely new Reaper miniatures Dwarf joins the latest group of Dwarves. Reaper make great 'hero' figures to adorn any warband. They can be quite large sculpts so it can be a risky business ordering them, this one is perfect though.
Beorn's base has to be 24cm wide for the game I'm playing, so two side bases were made. These bring the base up to the right measurement and allow for more bear carnage.
Beorn with his slobbering maw but cute adorable shiny eyes.
More goblin wreckage. Wargs too have not escaped the Bears fury and lie amongst the fallen. A few goblins still cling to life.
It was fun to sculpt great claw wounds in the orcs clothes and equipment. Everything has been torn and crushed to pieces.
Beorn's base with some Bodyguard of Bolg behind him. I'm not sure I'll have time to finish this big orcs before the weekend.

Bard of Lake town with his new fixed banner. This banner was a bit too tall for the storage box and the spearpoint snapped off, twice!. So using my flattened brush bristle technique, he's got a new much tougher one. The plastic used for brush bristles make them fantastic for super glue!

As Bard needs to be free to roam around, another replacement base was needed. Here is Bard with a fellow command stand. Bard is another Reaper Miniatures figure and is slightly bigger than most. This is fine as he is a hero and it suits his manly character.

More carnage, this poor Warg has been disemboweled. This is pretty grim but I did have fun sculpting it. Facing a giant werebear was never going to end well. Again, a coat of gloss helps bring it to life 
Another shot of the basing production line.
Bard of Esgaroth.

 The blue theme really helped to tie these militia type troops together. I tested the new banner tip and it comes below the storage box height, hopefully it won't get crushed again.



  • lord Of The Rings
  • lord Of The Rings.


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21 million bitcoins

Today on Married To The Sea: 21 million bitcoins


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biff your ass

Today on Married To The Sea: biff your ass


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!







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Convert Old Junk Bikes Into Race-Ready Fixed Gear Bikes in No Time!

EIGHTINCH shows us how to fix up old bikes using a fairly basic conversion kit. You'll need:

  • Amelia wheels with tires & tubes
  • 16t cog
  • lockring
  • Courier cranks
  • A bottom bracket
  • A KMC chain

More videos for both seasoned and amateur bike enthusiasts here!