C.D. Wilton asked:




Since the arrest of film director Roman Polanski on a 30-year warrant for child sexual abuse, many supporters have circled the wagons. First, beginning with the news media — which many have long relied on for their daily dose of news, but which many now increasingly associate with biased, unethical reporting (not journalism).

Consider the case of Michael Jackson. When the King of Pop was under investigation for allegedly sexually assaulting children the media persecuted him, and even continued to do so after his death. Let me state clearly from the outset, that if Michael Jackson was indeed guilty, he got what he deserved. However, that’s the very point, isn’t it? Michael Jackson was never proven guilty and stayed to face his accusers and a derisive public.

Yet, a grown man, Roman Polanski, admits to having *** with a 13-year-old girl when he was 43 at the time, pays off the girl, flees the country and remains at large for over three decades just so he could avoid facing the crime he committed. And many in the media and entertainment industry rally around him as if he’s the victim.

But the support for Polanski doesn’t end there. French ministers have denounced the actions taken by Switzerland and the U.S. government. The French government, duly elected by the people — many of them parents with children — comes out in defence of one of the most heinous crimes of the day — child sexual abuse. Do not be mistaken: You cannot defend Polanski’s crime and his subsequent actions without simultaneously belittling child sexual abuse.

The media and other Polanski supporters reason that the acclaimed director should be released for several reasons: They cite that he’s been through so much as a holocaust survivor, and he suffered through the vicious death of his wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson clan.
First, one can only imagine if holocaust survivors and their offspring everywhere are somewhat perturbed by the suggestion that surviving **** terror and violence is an excuse to commit a crime, especially the **** of a child. I’d hazard a guess that many are insulted by the very suggestion.

Similarly, the idea that the tragic death of his wife should explain away Polanski raping a 13-year-old girl leaves many of us wondering if we’re in the Twilight Zone. But, no, it’s just the media, very easily confused with the Rod Sterling series these days. An institution that has profoundly lost its purpose, as the late, great journalist Walter Cronkite acknowledged.

Here’s just a taste of what many in the news media, French government officials, and peers of Polanski are defending by the way, as indicated from released court documents published on Smoking Gun, http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/polanskicover1.html.:

• At the time Polanski was photographing the 13-year-old girl — topless — apparently for the French edition of Vogue.

• He gave her alcohol and Quaaludes, which are sedating, relax muscles, and increase sexual arousal.

• The young girl reported that Polanski performed oral sex, vaginal *********** and ****** on her. Throughout this horrific ordeal for the young teenage girl she continued to protest, but Polanski did not stop. At the time the age of consent was 14; Polanski was 43 years old.

The details of the case can be found at

According to reports, Polanski paid a settlement to the young girl (who has now forgiven him) and also spent 45 days in prison. When he thought he’d have to spend more time in jail he fled the country.

Polanski supporters want us to believe that because it’s been more than 30 years the case should be dropped. But, we all know that they wouldn’t be so quick to make such a suggestion if Polanski was Jo Schmo, a local “nobody” — particularly a local “‘ethnic minority’ nobody.”

However, it’s not just the continuing elitist ideas that pervade the news media that are sickening. It’s the seeming collusion in a crime that’s growing every year, child sexual abuse by grown men — in which child trafficking and the child pornography industry play major roles.

Interestingly, at the same time when the media was jumping to the defence of Polanski they gave sparse attention to the protests against child trafficking that were occurring at various places around the world.

And the hypocrisy goes even further. This is the same news media that on the one hand wants “to catch a predator,” while supporting the notion that a man who admits to raping a child shouldn’t have to answer for his crime — regardless of whether it took 30 years or more for law enforcers to get their hands on him.

Also, where are the organizations against child abuse in all this? Why have they been silent so far? If ever there was an opportunity to shake people awake about these atrocities being committed in every corner of the globe — this is it.

French Government Response a Dilemma for Many

Getting back to the French government, you have to wonder what the law enforcement officers investigating child sexual abuse and child trafficking crimes are supposed to think when their French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand issued this statement:

“To see [Polanski] like that, thrown to the lions because of ancient history, really doesn’t make any sense….In the same way that there is a generous America that we like, there is also a scary America that has just shown its face.”

How do the French parents of children who have been sexually abused feel? What do the children feel? Is that government committed to battling the increasing problem of child trafficking and child pornography, or will they ignore it if it’s socially and economically expedient to do so? If you’re a tourist, should you leave your underage children at home?

More importantly, why am I asking these questions? Why are so few of the news media in North America rallying against Polanski? Is it any wonder that these organizations are becoming increasingly irrelevant in a world where gatekeepers no longer rule access to information?

It’s not surprising that the news media becomes less valued every day in a world where many people still consider values to be important, yet they continue to treat the viewing public as if their values aren’t?

Cronkite had it right. Journalistic quality and responsibility has fallen by the wayside. Instead of treating the Polanski arrest as a crime story while referencing his creative accomplishments, they treat it as a dumbed-down entertainment story while giving the spotlight to those who criticize Polanski’s arrest. Many have yet to mention the details of the crime, preferring instead to harp on about Polanski’s illustrious career.

But, there’s another insight Cronkite makes that helps us to understand the media’s apparent softness on child sexual abuse in this case, but not Michael Jackson’s: Mergers. As these continue to occur, diversity of views diminish, which means you will be increasingly exposed to a homogeneity of story angles on the TV news and their websites.

Media Coverage Could Get Worse

If you’re not disgusted by the coverage yet, hang on to your seat because it could get worse. Some bloggers are already trying to blame the victim. “Shocking,” you say — after all it’s such a novel action to blame the victim in a **** case. But, why is this important?

Because the traditional media are increasingly relying on blogs and Internet news sites to create their own news and agenda. So, don’t be surprised if you hear some moron low on the morality scale saying that the child victim “looked older for her age.” Or, that the mother forced the child on to Polanski.

A 13-year-old child being blamed for her own ****. What next? Polanski should be given a Nobel prize?

Somewhere, Michael Jackson is rolling over in his grave.

Learn More About Child Sexual Abuse

If you want to find out more about preventing child sexual abuse, visit sites such as Dark To Light, Little Warriors, or:

• Stop It Now http://www.stopitnow.com/

• International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, http://www.ispcan.org/about/index.html



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Jesus Francis asked:




The much-expected McDonalds Monopoly game 2009 started a few days ago,which will end on November 2,giving customers an opportunity to augment their financing and play for huge prizes featuring the daily “$1 Million Dollar Dice Roll” and a $100,000 Online Jackpot Sweepstakes. The Monopoly Game at McDonald’s is open to inhabitants of the U.S.,Canada, Guam and Saipan. Only residents of the U.S. and Canada can play The online Game ,at the following address, www.playatmcd.com.

 

Game Pieces are available for the 2009 Monopoly Game at McDonald’s on Large McCafe Hot Cups,Medium and Large Fountain Drinks, 10-piece and 20-piece Chicken McNuggets, Angus Burgers, Large French Fries, Hash Browns. There are some additional $50 – $50,000 cash prizes in restaurant, and other guerdons from this year’s promotional prize partners, including Xbox 360® Entertainment Systems, Shell,etc. The prize money will be payable as $50,000 per year for 20 years without interest.

 

Douglas Freeland, director of marketing at McDonald’s in the USA,said”The Monopoly Game at McDonald’s has become a part of pop culture that our customers love and anticipate each fall,” He also added”This year is more exciting than ever, with customers getting the chance to win $1 million every day.”

 

Favored player each day will log onto “Chance” on the virtual Online Game Board. Whereafter, for 29 consecutive days untill November 2, NBC’s primetime personalities will arouse a Monopoly Game at McDonald’s Dice Machine on their behalf for a chance to win either $1 million (if they roll double sixes) or $10,000 (for all other combinations).The interested players can also have a chance to watch each dice roll at www.playatmcd.com

 

Do you want to play McDonald’s online game?

 Vote yes or no.(Vote to win Apple iPhone + $50 iTunes Gift Card)



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Larry Christopher asked:




I first got into the audio books habit working at a temporary data entry job. One of the few benefits to engaging in such a mundane task all day is the ability to wear headphones. Listening to the same pop songs hour after hour quickly becomes almost as tedious as silence, so I started to borrow books on tape from the library. While listening to a book may seem like a serious distraction, I -along with many others at my place of employment- learned that even a brain of average capacity can swiftly adapt to the dual tasks of keying names and numbers and following the twists and turns of a plot.

Since then, I have come to appreciate the experience of listening to books. Many people take them on long drives. While I haven’t had many occasions to do this, I can appreciate the companionship a book would provide on a long, solitary journey. I have, however, found other good uses for them. They make an excellent accompaniment to certain kinds of exercise. I’m not a jogger, but since I see many people running down the street or through parks with headphones on, it’s a fairly safe assumption some are listening to books rather than music. Ditto with treadmills at health clubs (or at home). You can also listen while cooking, cleaning up or other household tasks, so long as there are no loud noises in the background (like a vacuum cleaner). If a book is especially engaging, you can, of course, simply listen to it while doing nothing else.

Since I started listening to audio books, about ten years ago, there has been a great increase in their popularity. Formats have also changed. While tapes are still available, CDs started to replace them as the favored format several years ago. Now, with the mp3 revolution, downloads seem to be the wave of the future. Regardless of the format, however, the experience is pretty much the same. I actually prefer tapes to CDs (I still don’t have an mp3 player -I tend to be one of the last holdouts when it comes to new technology; I got my first DVD player only a couple of years ago, long after VHS became almost obsolete), because they are simpler to start and stop.

What are the best kinds of audio books to listen to? It depends, of course, on your tastes. Suspense and mystery novels seem to be the easiest to locate, though you can also find nonfiction (everything from self-help to history), classics and instructional programs (such as foreign languages). One rule I have with audio books is that I almost never get anything that is abridged. This is especially true for fiction. I really don’t understand the rationale behind abridged novels. Is it to save time? Yet, most people who purchase or rent audio books are doing so in order to fill time, so why skimp on the length? As I see it, any novel that would not be seriously diminished by abridgement is not worth reading in the first place (either printed or audio). Even genre fiction is ruined by abridgement. Often, mysteries and action plots, for example, are fairly complex. I am lucky if I can keep up with what’s going on in a full length spy novel; cut out some of the exposition and “minor” scenes, and I am completely lost. One exception to this rule might be nonfiction in a genre in which I am not particularly interested in general. For example, I might conceivably listen to an abridgement of somebody’s ten volume history of the Roman Empire. In this case, I’d probably never get around to reading the whole thing, and since it isn’t a specialty of mine, I don’t mind missing some of the finer points. In general however, in case I haven’t made this clear by now, abridgement is close to sacrilege where books are concerned.

There is a certain kind of literary snob who does not consider audio books real books. By his or her criterion, if you’ve listened to a book, you haven’t “really” read it. We could argue the semantics of whether listening to a book can be literally called “reading” or not, but this is not really the point. When I’ve listened to an audio book, I tend to say I’ve listened to it rather than read it, but I’ve heard others say they’ve read a book they’ve listened to. Definitions aside, the question is, does listening provide the same experience as reading the printed version? I would say not entirely, but the comparison does not necessarily favor the printed book. A lot depends on the narrator, of course, but a well told audio book can bring a book to life in a way ink simply cannot. In an interesting way, the new technology that makes listening to a book possible actually harkens back to the very old tradition of storytelling, which predates the written word by millenia.

As I see it, certain kinds of books favor the printed version, others the audio. Some authors, such as Jack Keruoac, seem at their most natural when you can hear them spoken out loud.

On the other hand, books that require a lot of, shall we say left-brained concentration, are more written-word friendly. Sometimes it depends on the listener. For instance, I enjoy reading Russian novels, but I would not attempt to listen to Tolstoy or Dostoyevskly. I find all the unfamiliar names to be too much of a challenge, and the printed page allows me to take my time and, when necessary, go back and verify who is who. On the other hand, someone whose native language is Russian (or a scholar in the field), would have no problem listening. The same is true for non-fiction. If the field is very obscure to me, listening to it would probably mean missing key points. If it’s something I’m comfortable with, however, this would not be the case.

Narrating an audio book is a subtle art. If you listen to enough books, you will start to recognize the very skillful pros who have narrated hundreds, such as George Guidall. The trick, as far as I can tell (in addition to having a good, clear voice, of course), is to put just the right amount of inflection into the reading. It also requires the skill to do different voices, which is no easy matter in a novel full of male and female characters of varying age, background, geographical origin and education. A few audio books have tried the format of using multiple narrators. While this sounds like a good idea in theory, in practice I find it to be a distraction. The most glaring mistake made by narrators that I’ve listened to is overacting. Narrators should not, as a rule, be acting at all. If they put too much of their personalities into a reading, they are violating one of the primary virtues of books -allowing the reader to reconstruct the book in his or her own imagination. If the narrator does this, thereby intruding on the reader’s mental boundaries, he is actually giving credence to the anti-audio book argument, transforming the book into more of a radio play (nothing wrong with these, they just are not books). Most publishers, however, find skillful narrators who do not overstep their bounds, but put just the right amount of inflection and emotion into the action and dialogue.

Audio books are convenient and pleasurable, but I think they are also one aspect of contemporary life that, as I suggested earlier, actually bring back some of the virtues of slower-paced, pre-modern cultures. You may use an audio book to distract you from tedious chores or a mundane day job (a situation, alas, in which I still often find myself) or from hundreds of miles of highway, but if you are listening to a good, well narrated book, you are getting something more than a mere distraction. You are participating in the time-honored (if updated to fit the information age) tradition of storytelling. This can serve as a refreshing addition, sometimes even a necessary antidote, to some of life’s everyday events.



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Neoli Marcos asked:




A dream that is not interpreted is like a letter that has not been opened.

—from The Talmud.

We are living in a dream-deficient society, to borrow a term from Nancy Grace, a teacher of the dream phenomenon since 1989. Ours is a society that talks about dreams only when they are interesting, that is when they are nightmares or movie-ish. Otherwise, we have become content with just waking up for the day, easing back into our routine work life, and not minding interpreting our dreams and what they are trying to tell us, just letting them accumulate– a treasure box of letters forever unopened.

Dream Interpretation Unlocks Metaphors

Not remembering our dreams is also like having a conversation but remembering only the nice grand parts of it, while missing the subtle details and nuances that make dreams more meaningful.

Here are five ways to make the most of your dream and dream interpretation then:

1. Keep a dream journal or diary. Make it a habit to write down your dreams of night before. Do this right away upon waking up; don’t trust yourself that you can remember your dream later in the day. As an exercise, this may sound tedious, but it’ll grow on you. You’ll be amazed to read about your dreams after a month, two months, a year.

2. Discuss your dream with your family, friends, or loved ones. There is an irreplaceable feeling of relief and liberation in being able to share your dreams with people who know you. They might offer their own versions of dream interpretation, helpfully adding to the rich layer of meanings in it.

2. Write a poem, or a song, or even make a film out of your dream.

Musicians like Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, Sting, and Shawn Colvin all write songs inspired by their dreams. Painter Joan Miró would deliberately deprive himself of sleep, sometimes for several days, just to inspire himself to paint wondrous characters and sceneries that have percolated in his head. As a matter of fact, the Surrealist movement utilised the fantasies of their dreams for inspiration. (Think of Dali’s melting watches and clock.)

4. Don’t be afraid or shy to consult a dream interpreter or even a psychic. If you don’t feel comfortable discussing your dream with your loved ones, especially when they are included in the dream, then a total stranger may be the better person to interpret it. Oftentimes, the best dream interpretation come from people who don’t know you, and, thus, are able to take an objective point of view from your dream.



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pptarticle asked:




Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop”, one of the most talented musicians in the 20th century, died on Thursday, June 25, 2009 at his 50 when preparing for a 50-show comeback bid to shoot down nightmare years of sexual scandal and financial woe.

No matter for his family and friends, or for his crazy fans, the sudden passing of Michael Jackson is a grey shock in this sunny summer. As the tragic word spreads, a multitude of millions from every corner of the world cannot help mourning over the death of Jackson, the music genius, best of his generation, famous for his unparallel moonwalk, his feverish dance moves and his high-pitched singing, punctuated with squeals and titters.

Michael has gone forever with his living music. Yet never does our deep memories on the great entertainer. Newspapers give their eventual fair words on the pop talent; TVs arrange golden shows in his career history; Internet twitters billions of mourning messages on the bygone legendary figure. Nevertheless, for individual fans, there is another way that is special to memorialize Michael – Make a unique DVD movie for him.

Everyone has his own memory of Michael Jackson. Express it, and keep it. That is what we can do in memory of great Jackson, and that is easy with two software items – MS PowerPoint & Moyea PPT to DVD Burner, where two steps are enough to make a distinctive DVD movie for Michael Jackson.

*Sample Slideshow on Michael Jackson Click to view >>

Step 1 Create a PowerPoint presentation on Michael Jackson

Before composing your story of Michael Jackson, you’d better make a careful collection of him. Be well aware of your topic: what you want to show in this Jackson movie, for example, “A history of Michael Jackson”, “Brief Introduction on Best Albums of Michael Jackson”, what PowerPoint template to use, and how to organize all Jackson elements in a nice manner. After everything necessary is ready, start your composition of the Jackson movie.

Spices that you can feed for the Jackson PowerPoint movie:

Best songs of Michael Jackson – Take a proper piece as background music Typical photos/pictures of Michael Jackson – A picture is worth a thousand of words Video clips on Michael Jackson – Insert a clip of top Jackson music video to spark the movie Personal voice narration – Record your very voice as narrator of the Jackson movie Animations in PowerPoint – Animate the Jackson movie slides with rich effects

In addition, measure the Jackson presentation a couple of times and adjust it to an appropriate level.

Step 2 Burn the presentation to DVD with Moyea PPT to DVD Burner

Now it’s time to burn the Jackson presentation onto a DVD. Do the following:

Insert a blank DVD into your PC.

Download and install Moyea PPT to DVD Burner. Click Add to input the Jackson presentation.

Select the output to Standard or High Definition DVD as you like. In the “Menu” tab, pick a matching DVD menu for remote control of your Jackson movie. In the “Logo” section, import your favorite image file to brand and protect the DVD movie.

Once all are set OK, click Start to burn the Jackson presentation to DVD.

Voila. You can enjoy this unique memory of Michael Jackson on a DVD player with a home TV. His “Thriller” may be gone, but his thrill lives still.



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