Rivermaya’s Coffee Corner

Jena Six was the name given to a group of six black teenagers charged with the beating of Justin Barker, a white student at Jena High School in Jena, Louisiana, United States, on December 4, 2006. Barker was injured, but was released from the emergency room the same day. He has since brought suit against members of the Jena Six, their parents, the school district, and others allegedly involved.

A number of events took place in and around Jena in the months preceding the Barker assault, which have been linked to an alleged escalation of racial tensions. These events included the hanging of nooses from a tree in the high school courtyard, two violent confrontations between white and black youths, and the destruction by fire of the main building of Jena High School. The incidents were often linked in the extensive news coverage regarding the Jena Six.

Six persons, Robert Bailey (then aged 17), Mychal Bell (then 16), Carwin Jones ( then 18), Bryant Purvis (then 17),  Jesse Ray Beard ( then 14) and Theo Shaw (then 17) were arrested in the assault on Barker. One, Mychal Bell, was initially convicted as an adult of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. His convictions were overturned on the ground that he should have been tried as a juvenile. Prior to a retrial in juvenile court, he pled guilty to a reduced charge of simple battery. The other five defendants still await trial.

The Jena Six case sparked protests by those viewing the arrests and subsequent charges, initially attempted second-degree murder (though later reduced), as excessive and racially discriminatory. The protesters asserted that white Jena youths involved in other incidents were treated leniently. On September 20, 2007, between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena in what was described as the “largest civil rights demonstration in years”. Related protests were held in other US cities on the same day. Subsequent reactions include songs alluding to the Jena Six, a considerable number of editorials and opinion columns, and Congressional hearings.

The case has elicited allegations that the charges against the Jena Six were disproportionate and racially motivated. Supporters of the Jena Six circulated online petitions, raised money for legal defense, and held a demonstration in Jena on September 20, 2007.

Here’s the REAL scoop on the singing von Trapps, the clan immortalized in The Sound of Music. The real Maria was a taskmaster with a volatile temper–her demands made many of the von Trapp children miserable for years.

Georg von Trapp, born in 1880, became a national hero as a captain in the Austrian navy during World War I. He commanded submarines with valor and received the title of “Ritter” (the equivalent of the British baronet or “Sir,” but commonly translated as “Baron”) as a reward for his heroic accomplishments.

Georg married Agathe Whitehead, the granddaughter of Robert Whitehead, the inventor of the torpedo, in 1912. They had seven children together: Rupert, 1911–1992; Agathe, 1913– ; Maria, 1914– ; Werner, 1915– ; Hedwig, 1917–1972; Johanna, 1919–1994; and Martina, 1921–1952. After World War I, Austria lost all of its seaports, and Georg retired from the navy. His wife died in 1922 of scarlet fever. The family was devastated by her death and unable to bear living in a place where they had been so happy, Georg sold his property in Pola (now Pula, Croatia) and bought an estate in Salzburg.

The von Trapps never saw much of the huge profits The Sound of Music made. Maria sold the film rights to German producers and inadvertently signed away her rights in the process. The resulting films, Die Trapp-Familie (1956), and a sequel, Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika (1958), were quite successful. The American rights were bought from the German producers. The family had very little input in either the play or the movie The Sound of Music. As a courtesy, the producers of the play listened to some of Maria’s suggestions, but no substantive contributions were accepted.

How did the von Trapps feel about The Sound of Music ? While Maria was grateful that there wasn’t any extreme revision of the story she wrote in The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, and that she herself was represented fairly accurately (although Mary Martin and Julie Andrews “were too gentle-like girls out of Bryn Mawr,” she told the Washington Post in 1978), she wasn’t pleased with the portrayal of her husband.

The children’s reactions were variations on a theme: irritation about being represented as people who only sang lightweight music, the simplification of the story, and the alterations to Georg von Trapp’s personality.

As Johannes von Trapp said in a 1998 New York Times interview, “it’s not what my family was about. . . . [We were] about good taste, culture, all these wonderful upper-class standards that people make fun of in movies like ‘Titanic.’ We’re about environmental sensitivity, artistic sensitivity. Sound of Music simplifies everything. I think perhaps reality is at the same time less glamorous but more interesting than the myth.”

Incoming search terms

• maria von trapp temper (4)
• Pictures Real Von Trapp Family (4)
• the real von trapp family (2)
• von trapp family (2)
• the von tapp family (1)
• the von trap family (1)
• the von trapp family (1)
• Trapp Family Singers rapidshare -torrent (1)
• Von trapp (1)
• georg von trapp family pics real (1)

Since his death in 1935, the extraordinary career of T E Lawrence has continued to fascinate historians, writers, military strategists and the wider public. Known throughout the world as ‘Lawrence of Arabia‘, he remains one of the most famous and enigmatic figures of the twentieth century.

Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British epic film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Austrian Sam Spiegel (through his British company, Horizon Pictures), from a script by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson (Lean and Spiegel had recently completed the acclaimed film The Bridge on the River Kwai). The film stars Peter O’Toole in the title role. It is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential films in the history of filmmaking.[citation needed] The dramatic score by Maurice Jarre, and Super Panavision 70 cinematography by Freddie Young, are also hugely acclaimed.

The film depicts Lawrence’s experiences in Arabia during World War I, in particular his attacks on Aqaba and Damascus and his involvement in the Arab National Council. Its themes include Lawrence’s emotional struggles with violence in war (especially the conflicts between Arab tribes and the slaughter of the Turkish army), his personal identity, and his divided allegiance between his native Britain and its army, and his newfound comrades within the Arabian desert tribes.

Various members of the film’s crew portrayed minor characters. First assistant director Roy Stevens played the truck driver who transports Lawrence and Farraj to the Cairo HQ at the end of Act I; the Sergeant who stops Lawrence and Farraj (“Where do you think you’re going to, Mustapha?”) is construction assistant, Fred Bennett; and screenwriter Robert Bolt has a wordless cameo as one of the officers watching Allenby and Lawrence confer in the courtyard (he is smoking a pipe).

It has been noted that the film is unusual in that it had no women in credited speaking roles .

Eartha Kitt (81), a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died of colon cancer on Christmas Day, December 25, 2008. Eartha Kitt, a self-proclaimed “sex kitten” famous for her catlike purr, was one of America’s most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and nabbing a third nomination. She also was nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys.

Her career spanned six decades, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies and on television. She persevered through an unhappy childhood as a mixed-race daughter of the South.

Kitt was born Eartha Mae Keith on a cotton plantation in the tiny town of North, South Carolina. She said her mother was of Cherokee and African-American descent and her father of German and Dutch descent. She also claimed she was conceived by rape.

After romances with the cosmetics magnate Charles Revson and banking heir John Barry Ryan III, she was married to John William McDonald, an associate of a real-estate investment company, from June 6, 1960, to 1965.[8] They had one child, a daughter, Kitt (b. 1962, married Charles Lawrence Shapiro).[9] Eartha had two grandchildren, Jason and Rachel Shapiro. Kitt lived in the Merryall section of New Milford, Connecticut for many years as well as Pound Ridge, New York, then in 2002[10] moved to Weston, Connecticut to be near her daughter’s family.

Kitt wrote three autobiographies – Thursday’s Child (1956), Alone with Me (1976), and I’m Still Here: Confessions of a Sex Kitten (1989). Kitt was the spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics Smoke Signals collection in August 2007. She re-recorded “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” for the occasion, was showcased on the MAC website and the song was played at all MAC locations carrying the collection for the month.

Slingbox is a set-top box that connects to your TV (or any other video-output device) and streams the signal to another machine in real-time — there’s no recording involved. This machine might be your computer in your home, in which case Slingbox streams the signal via your home network. It might be your Web-connected laptop or cell phone located anywhere in the world, in which case Slingbox streams the data via the Web. You can control the video that appears on your screen just like you were watching from home. There are several types of Slingboxes, ranging from the Classic Slingbox (the original model) to the Slingbox PRO-HD. Each model has its own bells and whistles, but they all perform the same basic function: delivering live television from your TV to a networked device.

Priced at $379.99 CDN and available since October, the Sling Catcher is a great idea this holiday season. In order to watch your cable box anywhere in the world, you will also require a Sling Solo ($209.99 @ BestBuy) or PRO-HD ($379.99), these devices link up to your cable box and internet connection and send your cable or satellite signal over the web. While you can watch these feeds from any computer with a high-speed internet connection, the Sling Catcher bridges the gap between the computer and the TV, allowing you to watch the signal on any TV, anywhere in the world.

Minimum PC Requirements:

* Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows XP SP2
* 1.3 GHz processor
* 1 GB RAM
* 150 MB available disk space for installation
* 24-bit graphics
* 16-bit sound
* Network connectivity

The good: Works with Macs, Windows PCs and Windows Mobile handhelds and cell phones; simple, straightforward setup; no host PC or monthly charges required; decent video quality; easy-to-use viewing software.

The badThe bad: No built-in wireless networking support; monopolizes the attached device.

The bottom lineThe bottom line: If you can’t live without your favorite shows, the Sling Media Slingbox is the best way to beam them to any broadband-connected PC or Windows Mobile device in the world.

Watch the official site : http://www.slingmedia.com/go/buy

John Costelloe - The Brooklyn actor who played Johnny Cakes — the gay-fireman lover of a mob capo on “The Sopranos” — killed himself in a holiday tragedy that has stunned family and friends.

John Costelloe, 47, shot himself in the head in his basement bedroom on December 16, reports New York Post.

John Costelloe, a former FDNY firefighter, played a cook on “The Sopranos” who had a brief homosexual affair with Vito Spatafore.

The front door to John Costelloe’s Sunset Park home was still sealed with police stickers yesterday, more than a week after the rugged 47-year-old actor committed suicide.

Costelloe, a former FDNY firefighter, shot himself in the head in his basement bedroom on Dec. 16, cops and pals said.

John Costelloe had a crucial four-episode arc on “The Sopranos” in 2006, playing short-order cook Jim “Johnny Cakes” Witowski.

In the hit HBO series, actor Joseph Gannascoli – a longtime friend of Costelloe’s – played mobster and closeted homosexual Vito Spatafore, who fled New Jersey after he was outed.

“I was shocked when I heard, and it still hasn’t really sunk in,” Gannascoli told the Post. “I never detected anything troubling about him. I enjoyed all the time I ever spent with him.”

Our condolences to John Costelloe’s family and friends.

If you and your child need to make your own Snowzilla in backyard, here’s how steps

Start with a basis of snow. This is where you are going to need shovels. The current Snowzilla is over 20 feet in diameter so you need to start packing it in tight. You may want to consider extra neighbors help on this as well. The first tier of the snowman needs to be over 6 feet high.

The middle part of the snowman is about a third small than your snowman base. It must be started after the base of the snowman is complete and steady. Start by filling cube shaped buckets and unloading them on to the base. As it begins to take shape, the second ball (the stomach) will be formed.

Finally, the head or last snowball needs to be placed on top. Depending on your final size Snowzilla, it needs to be about a third less than the middle snowball. Starting the final snowball on the ground, then once the ball becomes bigger is the easiest option. Once it does become big enough, but not too big, it needs to be rolled up to the top of the snowman. Use 2×4’s to move the snow up by rotating the ball.

The Final step is putting on the arms, hat and face. As every Snowzilla is different, you have to use what items you have available. Brooms make excellent hands! Just make sure your Snowzilla is smiling to share it with the world.

Incoming search terms

• computers internet blog (1)

U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant Shane Wolfe (Vin Diesel) is assigned to rescue Howard Plummer, a man working on a top-secret government project, from a group of Serbian rebels. Wolfe and his team manage to get Plummer off an enemy boat; moments later, Wolfe and Plummer are shot while boarding the escape helicopter. Plummer is killed in the attack. Wolfe spends two months in the hospital. Wolfe’s commanding officer, Captain Bill Fawcett (Chris Potter), is assigned to escort Plummer’s widow Julie (Faith Ford) to Zurich, where a safety-deposit box belonging to the Plummers has been discovered. Wolfe is assigned to stay at the Plummer residence to search for the secret project called GHOST, hidden somewhere in the house, and to look after the family’s five children: Zoe (Brittany Snow), Seth (Max Thieriot), Lulu (Morgan York), Peter (Logan and Keegan Hoover), and Baby Tyler (Bo and Luke Vink).

The kids prove to be difficult to handle, even with the help of nanny Helga (Carol Kane): Zoe and Seth rebel against Wolfe’s authority; Lulu is obsessed with the new houseguest; the pet duck, Gary, resents Wolfe; and Helga finally quits when one of Zoe and Seth’s pranks goes wrong.

Fawcett and Julia are forced to remain in Zurich longer when they learn that they must provide a password in order to access the box. Wolfe is left to drive the kids to school. There, he meets their strict, nearly-obnoxious vice principal Murney (Brad Garrett), and the beautiful principal Claire Fletcher (Lauren Graham), a sometime military trainee of whom Wolfe becomes enamored. After school, Wolfe saves Seth from a group of bullies, but later is led into the sewers when Zoe intentionally drops the tracking device he put on her into the toilet.

When they finally reach home, they encounter an unexpected house party hosted by Zoe and her boyfriend, Scott. Wolfe forces all the guests to clean up the house before going home. Zoe yells at him. They are then attacked by a pair of masked ninjas, whom Wolfe eventually defeats. He explains the entire situation to the kids, who agree to co-operate with him.

A few days later, Murney brings the facts that Seth has cut and bleached his hair for no apparent reason, has a Nazi symbol in his locker, and has skipped every wrestling practice for the past month, to Wolfe’s attention. At home, Seth furiously yells that he only joined the wrestling team in obedience to his father’s wish. He sneaks out of the house, tricking the alarm system with a freezer magnet. Wolfe, leaving Zoe in charge, follows him to the town theater, where he learns that Seth has secretly joined the production of The Sound of Music. The director quits when he believes the show will be a failure, whereupon Wolfe volunteers to take his place, and juggles this task with taking care of the house, giving Zoe driving lessons, and teaching Lulu and the Firefly Scouts martial arts.

Later, Seth quits the wrestling team. When Murney threatens the boy, Wolfe challenges him to a wrestling match in front of the entire school. Despite Murney’s show of bluster, Wolfe easily wins.

The training Wolfe gives the Firefly Scouts becomes useful when they once again have a conflict with the Easter Bunny Scouts. The girls beat and tie up the boys, refusing to let them go until the thugs agree to stop bothering them.

Zoe and Wolfe share stories of their fathers, both of whom have died in similar circumstances. They are interrupted by a phone call from Julie, who has guessed the password (“My Angel”), retrieved the item in a box (a special key), and is on her way home. The kids immediately begin to plan a ‘Welcome Home’ party. Less than an hour later, Wolfe discovers a secret vault underneath the garage, which requires a key to open. Fawcett and Julie arrive. When mother and children are reunited, Fawcett and Wolfe go to the garage, where Wolfe says he is rethinking his career. The two ninjas seen earlier arrive armed, and pull off their masks, revealing themselves as the Plummers’ North Korea neighbours, the Chungs. Fawcett suddenly knocks out Wolfe, proving that he is in fact a double agent. They tie up and gag Zoe, Seth, and Lulu, place Peter and Tyler in the play pen, and take Julie to the vault. They manage to open the door, but the dangerous security system prevents them from going any farther.

The children escape Mr. Chung, and awaken Wolfe, who goes to the vault to help Julie, sending the kids to summon the police. Mr. Chung follows them in his car; with Zoe at the wheel, the kids force him to crash. Wolfe figures out how to get past the security system, using a dance (“The Peter Panda Dance”) used to make Peter go to sleep each night to avoid its traps. He, Julie, Fawcett, and Mrs. Chung engage in combat, and end the fight when Julie knocks out Mrs. Chung. Wolfe’s voice activates the final vault, knocking out Fawcett with the door. By then, the children have lured a large crowd of police to the house. Mr. Chung, however, holds all of them at gunpoint. Wolfe notices Principal Claire Fetcher right behind him, having followed the chase when she saw it pass by the school. Wolfe, aided by Garry the duck, distracts Mr. Chung, whereupon Claire knocks him unconscious.

With their missions accomplished, Wolfe and the Plummers say their goodbyes, and Wolfe and Claire share a kiss. The family attends Seth’s performance, where we learn that Wolfe has quit the Navy and joined the school staff as the new wrestling coach. Mr. Murney is shown briefly on stage, where he is singing Climb Ev’ry Mountain off-key while dressed in a nun’s dress, as the film concludes.

The Pacifier is a 2005 action comedy film, directed by Adam Shankman, and written by Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant. It stars Vin Diesel, Faith Ford, Lauren Graham, Brittany Snow, Max Thieriot, Carol Kane, and Brad Garrett. The film was released in March 2005 by Walt Disney Pictures, and earned US$30 million in its opening weekend. It is also the first and only live action movie Vin Diesel starred in that did not earn a PG-13 rating or above. This movie was shot partly in Forest Hill Public School.

A poem can stir all of the senses, and the subject matter of a poem can range from being funny to being sad. We hope that you liked this poem and the sentiments in the words of Twas the Night before Christmas Poem by Clement Moore you will find even more poem lyrics by this famous author by simply clicking on the Poetry Index link below! Choose Poetry online for the greatest poems by the most famous poets.

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

Twas the Night before Christmas Poem
By Clement Moore

“A Visit from St. Nicholas” (also known as “The Night Before Christmas” and “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” from its first line) is a poem first published anonymously in 1823. It is largely responsible for the conception of Santa Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today, including his physical appearance, the night of his visit, his mode of transportation, the number and names of his reindeer, and that he brings toys to children. Prior to the poem, American ideas about St. Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors varied considerably. The poem has influenced ideas about St. Nicholas and Santa Claus beyond the United States to the rest of the Anglosphere and the world.

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company is a Sebastopol, California architecture and construction business owned by Jay Shafer, who designs and builds very small houses between 50 and 750 square feet (5 and 70 m²) in area.

Shafer builds his smaller designs himself and ships them by truck to consumers. Many of these smaller designs are mobile homes with built-in wheels. For his larger designs, Shafer sells floor plans for on-site construction. Shafer named his company after the first tiny house he built for himself in 1997.

“Well there are a lot of reasons I’ve decided to live in a tiny house,” he explained. “Probably first and foremost is because it frees up my time otherwise. So all of the time I would spend earning money to pay off a mortgage or rent can be spent doing things I love to do. I don’t have much housework either.”

The average American family home has about 230 square meters. His is 30 years old. It is tiny, cozy, energy efficient and, according to Shafer, all he needs.

“I just don’t like the idea of spewing tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. I know that the average American house puts out eighteen tons of greenhouse gases per year, and you know, that’s not even including all of the consumption that is involved with the, you know, materials, and also just heating fuel,” Shafer said.

Margie O’Driscoll with the American Institute of Architects says Americans have a tendency to acquire stuff, a trend she thinks may be changing.

“You can hire professionals to come in and organize your garage and your closet, and really that speaks to having a lot of stuff. And if you have to organize it, and you don’t even know what it is, you sort of start to wonder: ‘well do I really need to have as much as I have’. And I think that the time of American excess has really begun to shift and people are starting to identify what is really important to them,” O’Driscoll said.

Bill Kastrinos gave up traditional home building last year to start a company called Tortoiseshell Homes.

“I’ve had several people, young people that just want to downsize. I’m getting rid of stuff. I’m having garage sales. I have three sets of China. What do I need three sets of China for?” Kastrinos noted. “So there is just a thought process that is going on where people are saying ‘well okay, if global warming is really a big problem, how much help am I by changing light bulbs to fluorescence.’ It is going to take a major rethinking of everything we do.”

Tortoiseshell homes are less elaborate than Shafer’s and cheaper.
But both constructions are well insulated, both can be mounted on trailers, and both sleep two comfortably, in an upstairs loft.

“The bathroom becomes the shower. I have another door over here to protect the window from water, and that works out pretty well,” Shafer explained. “The little composting toilet is down here, and I can pull a plastic curtain in front of that so it doesn’t get wet.”

Tiny houses are not for everyone, but Shafer is more than happy to call his tiny house, home.