23/12/2004  ksa - riyadh - Canon EOS-10D

Cuban Screwed By Americans

40.  Cuban Screwed By Americans

The SEC report alleges that in 2004 Cuban sold over 600,000 shares of internet search company Mamma.com after receiving confidential information.

Specifically,  the report alleges that the CEO of Mamma.com contacted Cuban on June 28 to inform him of an investment by an investment bank. The CEO stressed to Cuban that all information in the conversation was confidential, to which Cuban allegedly replied, “Well, now I’m screwed. I can’t sell.”

http://www.nbcchicago.com/sports/basketball/Mark-Cuban-Charged-With-Insider-Training.html

Aoki Mon es un geek obsesionado del manga que crea el suyo propio…El amor lo flecha cuando conoce a Akashi Koino, una artista de manga amateur y fanatica del cosplay que decide que Mon es el compañero perfecto para su alocada fantasía de juegos cosplay. Pero después de estar vestido con el disfraz de su personaje favorito de videojuegos, Mon decide que las tendencias geeks de una obsesionada como Koino son demasiado hasta para un otaku como él.

Aún así, esto no es suficiente para detener a Koino de perseguir su caballero de brillante armadura.

19-03-2004

 

Harlequins and theatrical characters are part of the imagery I frecuently use, because they represent a metaphor of the different faces we show in our social interaction.

Lizzie and Jonny on their first day of school together in Ridgewood, 1994....

...and here they are 10 years later, in June 2004, on their last day of school together.

Tim and Nancy continued their decades-long competition in 2004: who can make the most money while doing the least work. But Nancy may have retired the trophy this year when she negotiated a nice buyout package from Reuters – the company formerly known as “we” – to not work at all. On one of her first days home, Nancy was stunned when she walked down the hill to the shops for a mid-morning cup of tea. “What are all these people doing out on the street?” she marveled. “I had no idea all this went on…”

As a teenager, Nancy dreamed of throwing her stuff in a backpack and going on the road with a band. Fast forward 30 years: no longer working, her dream could come true. Sort of. It was the Ridgewood High School band, and she was chaperoning Lizzie, Jonny and 160 other kids on a jam-packed six-day tour of Southern California. How jam-packed? Nancy and her roommate, another mom old enough to have played “Beatles girlfriends,” back in the day, were so busy and so tired that they never got around to cracking the seal on the half-pint of scotch hidden in their bags – at the risk of being sent home if busted. Nancy never told the kids about her stash; she was afraid they might blackmail her.

After eight months networking from home and little to complain about except Tim (she can always count on him for some things), Nancy began commuting again in September when she took a job as a development officer with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. It took only a few days of the bus, train and driving back and forth to Manhattan for her to remember all the old curse words.

Lizzie had a riotous senior year at Ridgewood High School. Maybe the most important thing she learned was not to put all those digital photos from senior parties onto the family computer – like the one of her in a makeshift toga, chugging straight from a bottle of wine swiped from our basement. At least she has good taste; that was a decent merlot dribbling down the chin of our National Merit scholar. We’re so proud.

Nancy’s return to work came shortly after Lizzie’s departure for Oberlin College, famous for its progressive politics, its music, its tuition (11th most expensive college in America) and its handbook that suggests graduating seniors wear shoes to the ceremony.

Lizzie loves Oberlin. She lives in a co-op that resembles Animal House: 42 students do all their own food purchasing (mostly organic), cooking (debates over vegan vs. vegetarian), and cleaning (kind of) and they cheerfully share gender-neutral bathrooms. First semester she studied volcanoes, meaningful words and French, played on Oberlin’s Ultimate Frisbee team and found the best second-hand stores in nearby Cleveland.

One of Nancy’s last acts as a lady of leisure was to organize a Mopers’ Ball for all the weepy-eyed parents, including us, of recently departed college freshmen. They came to our house one evening in September and stood around talking earnestly: “How’s your kid doing at college? Oh, that’s good. And how are you holding up?”

Those of us left behind on Ridge Road miss Lizzie terribly, of course, but especially Jonny, who is getting far more parental attention than he would like, and has twice has many household chores to ignore. We are encountering an extraordinary level of civility at times, however – he actually smiled at us in October. No, it must have been in November, when he turned 16 and became eligible to get his learner’s permit.

One day we were having a family argument over something – some trivial aspect of history, maybe – and Jonny spoke up. He knew the answer, and we were impressed. How did he know that? He looked embarrassed. “From one of my textbooks,” he admitted. “Please don’t tell any of my friends.” Jonny grew about six inches during the year, to almost six feet, and Nancy, after putting up with years of teasing about how she was going to be the shortest one in the family, is now taking perverse pleasure in seeing Tim slink around and try not to stand right next to Jonny.

Jonny has started working at the local bookstore, printing and binding books for Tim’s new self-publishing business, the latest of his sidelines to freelance writing. But Jonny still has a lot to learn about the world of work. He might be the only guy in America who makes eight bucks an hour and has subscriptions to two different yachting magazines. Luckily, you don’t have to actually set sail to live large. During one long weekend when Lizzie was away with friends at the Shore and Nancy was at a conference in Arizona, Jonny and Tim decided to go wild. They left the toilet seats up for three days. High-five!

Nancy and Tim have given up on exercise equipment, and are instead concentrating on finding more mirrors like the one in their bedroom that makes them look taller and thinner. In January we got a new bathroom scale. It immediately malfunctioned, weighing us a little less each day. Really. In April we called the manufacturer and they said we should send it back for a replacement. Maybe we’ll get around to it next year.

It was great to have Nancy home, but now that she’s back at work Tim appreciates the return of the colorful commuting commentary and the extra paycheck, not necessarily in that order. And he’s pleased to be able to resume his secret afternoon naps. His broken shoulder is mostly recovered from his nasty bike crash in 2003; he was able to finish his annual triathlon standing up this year, but he’s never again going to be able to hit a 90mph tennis serve. (That single sentence is like one of those old cartoons: spot the 11 things that are wrong…) We’ve decided there must be something poignant or meaningful about a middle-aged, nearsighted, balding – all right, bald – man carefully steering a nicked-up old Volvo station wagon through the New Jersey suburbs with “Born to Run” cranked up to 11. But we’re not sure what it is.

And that’s it from us in 2004. We hope you have as much fun as we will in 2005. Cheers!

Tim, Nancy, Lizzie & Jonny

Deze kwamen we toevallig tegen bij een Amerikaanse specialist in schadeauto’s. Voor 355.000 dollar wordt u de eigenaar van deze Enzo, maar voordat-ie op kenteken staat, gaan er wel een paar maandjes voorbij…

Ray, 152′, 2004 – EUA, direção de Taylor Hackford

A biografia do músico Ray Charles feita pelo diretor de O Advogado do Diabo talvez tenha ficado tão boa graças a interpretação de Jamie Foxx. Assim como Philip Seymour Hoffman em Capote, o ator encarna o artista de forma única e esforçada e não deixa dúvidas na atuação. Cego e negro, o talentoso Ray Charles pega a estrada para encarar a dura e difícil vida que o aguarda. Ray começa tocando piano em lugares pequenos, logo forma sua banda e se torna um dos músicos mais importantes dos EUA, com sua mistura de R&B com gospel. Em meio a isso, flashes mostram partes de sua infância, principalmente o traumático acidente onde ele vê seu irmão morrer numa brincadeira. A criança que interpreta o músico só de olhar dá vontade de chorar e é assim em outras cenas. A história de Ray foi bem contada, mas acredito que com apelo emocional desnecessário. Ray dizia que não queria que sentissem pena dele e notamos sua sinceridade nas palavras de Foxx. Acreditamos nisso. Então o diretor aproveita e nos enche de sentimentalismo, nos derrubando. Sacanagem.  

Técnica: 7,5 - Valor: 6,5 - Inteligência: 6,5 -  Moral-Mente: 7,5 - Câmera: 7,0                                                       Objetivo: 8,5 - Arte: 7,0 - Originalidade: 7,0 - Emoção: 7,0 - Criatividade: 6,5                             Nota Final: 7,10

Modelo funcional.

    My Am Is Mother

My am is the link, the mother unfolding.

Into my womb forms from infinity cling

Until ready to re-enter fresh,

Their shield flesh.

Force that brings nature to man.

Yet nature I – creation my husband.

My am is mother. I am the womb man;

I hold in enfoldment all parts of the whole.

I start, impart, I render fresh

Heart-new, re-entering flesh;

New choices, martyrdoms,

Chances to reach from sensual crumbs

To final fulfillment.

I am the merger, love, the converger;

The ohm, the shoal: energy’s soul.

My am is the face of the force.

As mate of creation, death too.

My am is mother.

I am the womb man betrothed to enigma.

Ensconced within, en route to some class,

First slapped on the ass but graced with grace.

They’re born re-faced.

My am is love waiting on the above.

Counted, numbered,

Named and de-slumbered:

And fixed to know or not know,

Because it is so –

I am the fixer, the mixer,

The mother, the womb man.

Death too.

©My Am Is Mother 9.1960/1995/2004

Circling Round Woman; Circling Round Nature;

Birth, Death & In Between; To The Child Mystic; Mother Book;

Arlene Corwin

Trip organised by brother-in-law. Three vehicles (Kia Sorento with Afrispoor trailer, Colt 3l, Nissan Patrol). Winter temperatures colder than expected and lots of dust !

Day by day itinerary:
- Kuruman
- McCarthy’s Rest
- Tshane (Kakwe pan)
- Ghanzi area
- Maun
- Moremi (2 days at Xakanaxa)
- Savuti
- Linyanti
- Ihaha
- Nata
- Nxai at Baines Boababs
- Khama via Green’s & Chapman’s Boababs

Overnight near McCarthy's	Spotted in Moremi (could'nt miss her)
Along Kwai river	Linyanti sunset
Route map	Ntwetwe pan

Summary:
A trip in three parts:
1) Travel alone from Middelburg (Mpumalanga) to McCarty’s Rest via a sleepover in the Kuruman caravan park.
2) Meet up with other two vehicles (ex Western Cape) and travel together up to Kasane via Moremi, Savuti and Chobe.
3) Split up (the rest go to Vic Falls via Zambia) and head south to Nxai and then through the pans via Green’s boabab and out through Martinsdrift border post.

Last updated on 10 Oct 2005

Smoking ban: Rule exceptions creating confusion   May 18, 2004

By J. Goldenberg and S. Marandola, The Suburban

Quebec’s proposed smoking ban may be welcomed in some quarters, but it’s creating confusion in public seniors’ residences.

At Maimonides Geriatric Centre, where its patients live, smoking is currently restricted to one area of the institution. But Maimonides spokeswoman Barbara Gold said she does not yet know how the new law would apply there.

“I know that the rules are different for places where people live,” she said. “It’s not exactly the same. I suspect there will still be a place where people will be allowed to smoke, because it’s their home. No one else smokes. It’s about five people in a special area which is ventilated, and is under supervision of a guard.”

“Patients are not allowed to smoke in their rooms.”

“The fire hazard would be a bigger problem than the second-hand smoke.”

In the meantime, smoking will be banned at Côte St. Luc’s public swimming pool on Parkhaven Avenue as of this summer season, CôteSt.HampWest borough chairman Robert Libman announced Monday.

“There was a bit of a problem at the Parkhaven pool because there was a smoking area under the canopy, and many residents found it to be a nuisance,” Libman said. “Our council is very adamant on this issue, of stamping out smoking to the extent that we can, including outdoor pools and around our pools.”

Mario Bujold is the executive director of the Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health. He says more than 80 percent of people want to have smoking banned in all public places. But the bylaw, expected to be adopted in June by Quebec’s legislative assembly, does have some exceptions.

“First, in private establishments including restaurants and bars, smoking will be permitted provided there is a designated smoking room with proper ventilation.”

“We are against this. We don’t think smoking rooms are efficient,” Bujold said. “Existing ventilation systems are not efficient in eliminating toxic substances found in second-hand smoke.”

Another exception to the bylaw concerns multiple-unit housing. While the current law prohibits smoking in common living areas of buildings having 12 units or more, the new bylaw would ban smoking in building of six units or more.

“In a house or your private unit, it is not at all prohibited to smoke. But in common living areas [of a building], you can’t smoke,” Bujold said.

Residence managers will also have the onus of ensuring that smokers will occupy not more than 40 percent of the private rooms in their building.

“Rooms could be shared, so there could be two or three people in a room. This law is to avoid having too many rooms where smoking is taking place. This gives non-smokers a chance to have access to a room that is non-smoking,” Bujold said, explaining that if some shelters have their residences living with roommates, managers must try to pair up smoking residents with other smokers to ensure that the 40 percent limit is respected.

There are also guidelines for cigar lounges. Those opened before May 10, 2005 will be allowed to operate if they make at least $20,000 per year.

“Selling cigars has to be the main activity of the business for it to stay open. It clearly has to be a cigar lounge, not a business that was transformed into that,” Bujold said.

But enforcement is difficult, even in Côte St. Luc, where smoking in public places was banned as early as 1985. The bylaw was amended in 1997 to ban smoking in municipal buildings and city-owned vehicles. A new bylaw was enacted in 1999, prompted by activist Natalie Kalinowicz, banning smoking in shopping centres, restaurants and the workplace.

But former Côte St. Luc councillor Glenn Nashen says a lack of Quebec smoking inspectors made it difficult to enforce Côte St. Luc’s laws.

“The new law is a welcome change in that municipalities will once again be given powers to enforce the law through the police and also have the power to ban smoking at outdoor public events.”

Former councillor Mitchell Brownstein says he and his allies running for council this November - Nashen, former councillor Ruth Kovac and CôteSt.HampWest councillor Anthony Housefather - will formally request that local public security departments be able to enforce the no-smoking bylaws.

Genre: Danish Political Thriller

Director & Year: Nikolaj Arcel, 2004

Featuring: Anders W. Berthelsen, Soren Pilmark, Nastja Arcel, Nicolas Bro, Lars Mikkelsen

Premise: In the run-up to a general election, the Centre Party’s leader is involved in an accident, which leaves the future of the Party hanging in the balance. Ulrik Torp (Berthelsen), a newspaper journalist is promoted overnight to work at Parliament and cover the news as it happens. Peter Schou (Mikkelsen) the Centre Party’s Press Officer is quick to make Torp’s acquaintance and give him some inside information on Lone Kjeldsen (Arcel), the predicted successor to the Centre Party’s leadership. Torp soon discovers that Schou is working with another Party member, Erik Dreier Jensen (Pilmark) to wage a smear campaign against Kjeldsen through the media, using Torp as a pawn. With the help of Henrik Moll (Bro), a disillusioned hack, the pair set to clearing Lone Kjeldsen’s name as well as ensuring Dreier’s motives are made public.        

Review: A well-crafted plot, made all the more resonant by Berthelsen’s portrayal of Torp, the new kid on the block hungry to break the next big news story. Torp’s realisation that he is part of a much larger spin machine plays well against the character of Moll as his reticent chain-smoking sidekick. Outstanding performances all round, notably from Soren Pilmark who won 2 awards for best supporting actor as Eric Dreier Jenson, the Machiavellian Party member intent on becoming Prime Minister. 

Directed By: Greg Pritkin
Written By: Greg Pritkin & Joanne Storkan
Cinematography By: Fred Goodich
Edited By: Michael Palmerio

Cast: Michael Panes,Peter Dinklage, Conchetta Farell, Cheri Oteri, Sam Robarbs, Jane Lynch, John Landis

I thought this movie would be alot better. considering greg pritkin’s previous film dummy was offbeat but sweet. this is just bad the lead actor seems to be trying to combine austin powers and john lennon into a single character with a retarted disposition. the reality show was itself stupid as a idea and the love interest was obvious as she was just as simple and naive as him i understand the movie if the message was look at what the evil animals of the media and entertainemnt can do to the supposed innocents, who go on these shows just to try and win things but that is a simple take on it.

This film has ideas that seem misguided or uninspired compared to how this film could have lampooned reality televiion and the few minutes of fame afterwards.

The film is just lame from the the fake looking fat suit and make-up scenes early in the film.to the ridiculous ending.

Cheri oteri who i usually like in films doesn’t help her character was so hateful and just generally unlikeable it wasn’t even funny. There is nothing here really to like maybe the filmmakers should have just gone back to the drawing board.

Making a film about how a reality show can change you and now that you are used to all the attention how you try to maintain that attention after it begins to dry up, and what you are left to do after all is said and done. Plus what happens to all those friendships you supposedly share with your co-stars on the show.

How do you mix when you are back in the so called real world and not forced to get to know each other there was a chance to show that or at least satire it and run with it but they just dropped the ball majorly here.    

Grade: F