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Jeu (French for “game”) is an award-winning short (4 minute) animated film by Swiss filmmaker Georges Schwizgebel, by way of the National Film Board of Canada (top two frames above).

In the tradition of Disney’s Fantasia, it’s visual interpretation of a piece of music, in this case fairly free-form and constantly changing and morphing.

It gets most interesting about 2 minutes in, when Schwizgebel starts to play games with the structure of architectural interiors and related elements.

Schwizgebel plays some similar games with perspective and “camera angle” in L’homme sans ombre (”The man without a shadow”, bottom two frames above), a longer (10 minute) animated short about a man who makes a Faustian deal to trade his shadow for wealth.

Both films are wordless. The animation throughout has a rough, hand-painted look of gouache or pastel, though it may be oil, in a technique known as “paint-on-glass animation“.

I did not find a dedicated site for Schwizgebel, but you can find more of his films with a Google video search.

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Ochos Rios, Jamaica, is a popular destination for travelers to the Caribbean. The city offers beaches with plenty of chances for sunbathing and snorkeling. In addition, the mountains of St. Ann surrounding the city have forests ideal for hiking, mountaineering, biking, and zip-lining. Several tour companies also offer ATV riding excursions in the region.

Ochos Rios Tours

Offering free pick-up from your hotel or cruise ship, Ochos Rios Tours offers a popular ATV riding tour with an added zip-line excursion. The company has three ATV tracks for beginner, intermediate and advanced riders. All tracks promise great photo opportunities in the Jamaican countryside. The tour includes a safety briefing, equipment and guide. Guests 12 and younger are required to ride with the guide.

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Los Angeles is facing litigation after its crackdown on the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries, the WSJ reports.

For years, the city sat by as the number of shops soared to about 600; it’s now trying to pare that back to only 186. Yet many dispensaries are launching legal challenges to the ordinance that requires 439 of them to close by June 7. The head of a coalition representing 130 dispensaries that were ordered to close tells the WSJ that the city “is going to be bogged down by years of litigation.”

As the number of shops ballooned, residents in some areas complained that they created a public nuisance, the paper says. While there is evidence for the usefulness of medical marijuana against some conditions, residents noticed that some of the dispensaries’ customers seemed to be shopping for recreational, not medicinal, reasons.

Lawyers argue that the new ordinance discriminates against dispensaries that opened after a moratorium on new shops was issued by the city in 2007. That rule wasn’t enforced.

Bonus medical marijuana news: A dispensary in Billings, Mont. was firebombed on Monday, the Associated Press reports. That follows a similar incident on Sunday.

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Niger has really suffered from food shortages and droughts repeatedly for many years. A similar famine caused the last overthrow of government in 1974. Since then, the government would only respond angrily to the cries of it’s people and humanitarians. This year it is different, as the government is distributing food and asking for international help.

From the New York Times, writer Adam Nossiter gives us this background on the Niger famine.

Once again Niger is facing a food crisis, a grimly familiar predicament in a vast desert country with an explosive birthrate and rudimentary agriculture. Rains and crops failed last year — rainfall was about 70 percent below normal in the region — and now half the population of 15 million faces food shortages, officials say. Thus it was in 2005, 1985 and 1974.

But there is a big difference this year: the new military government here is acknowledging serious hunger, trying to do something about it — and asking for help.

Before the country’s autocratic president, Mamadou Tandja, was overthrown in February, the state warehouses remained stocked, despite the people’s need for help. Now they are largely empty of grain, a sign of how much has been distributed in recent weeks.

The new prime minister travels the suffering countryside, asking about the food shortage. Before, Mr. Tandja would fly into a rage at the very mention of the word famine, according to officials and newspapers here.

And when John Holmes, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator, flew in last week, his extensive caravan received a military and police escort. Though Mr. Holmes was inquiring about what had been one of Niger’s most politically delicate topics, chronic hunger, government ministers with retinues of functionaries barreled into the dusty villages with him, and everywhere he went he was treated like a visiting head of state.

In the 2005 famine, by contrast, United Nations agencies were accused by Mr. Tandja of collaborating with the opposition to discredit him.

“Before, we didn’t speak about famine; it was forbidden,” said Idrissa Kouboukoye, head of the Niger Foodstuffs Agency office at the edge of town here. He chuckled softly, noting that this year, sacks of grain started to be dispensed from the massive concrete warehouses behind him on March 1, less than two weeks after Mr. Tandja was deposed.

“When people who don’t have enough to eat have to say that everything is fine, this is a problem,” Mr. Kouboukoye said of the previous government.

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“We are delighted that the Volkswagen Group has made it to the global automobile industry’s top three for the first time. This shows that we are on the right track with our ever-stronger international presence and, above all, our product program. We will systematically push ahead with our growth course even in the present difficult market environment,” Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, commented.

With 3.31 million vehicles delivered in the first half of 2008, the Volkswagen Group increased deliveries in the first six months of this year by 7.2 percent, moving up to third place in the global vehicle sales ranking and overtaking its rival Ford, which announced vehicle sales of 3.22 million for this period.

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Are you fed up with how things keep turning out in your life? Have you ever thought that you might be sabotaging your own efforts to make things better? Here are 5 turn-around tips to help make positive life changes.

Scientific and medical research has demonstrated repeatedly that a positive mental outlook is key to successful outcomes. The trouble is we all tend to think negatively; in-fact we are practically hard wired to explore the downside of things as a natural protective measure.

It is easy for this natural instinct to become overpowering and it is important to maintain a healthy positive outlook to counter-balance it. Otherwise, fear and anxiety can start to escalate and have a disproportionate influence on our emotions and may cause the subconscious to sabotage any attempts you make to move forward with your life. People who experience this often describe themselves as feeling ’stuck’.

Here are five techniques to help squash that negative thinking and nourish positive thoughts and self-image.

Become More Self-Aware – Try to be actively aware of what you are thinking, saying and doing. Challenge underlying beliefs and attitudes if you find that you are not being positive or self-nurturing. Maintaining self-awareness can be quite hard to do initially, but the more you practice it, the easier and more effective it becomes.

Turn it Around – If you find yourself being negative, check yourself. Replace the thought, words or deed with something positive. Find the positive in everything you can. You will notice a difference. Your new positive outlook will generate positive reactions from those around you.

Rejoice in the Good Things – Do not focus on what you do not have, focus instead on the wonderful things you have around you right now. By focussing on the good things, you will benefit from a key universal truth, “What you focus on grows.” Try this each evening before going to bed: write out 5 good things about yourself or about what happened that day. It does not have to be big… maybe it was the kindness of someone making you a cup of coffee or maybe the fact that you are a talented musician… it can be anything.

Take Some Time – Take a little time out each week, 30 minutes will do. Put up the “DO NOT DISTURB” sign and just spend that time thinking about your week, about your feelings and reactions. Use this time to get back in touch with your inner-self. Knowing what you really want is one of the most important steps to achieving it. Using this time well will help sort out your feelings, desires and priorities.

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A dedicated server includes an operating system (mostly some variants of Linux or Windows) a web server, related software (such as a SQL server, Control Panel and much more) and connection to the Internet, all housed in the web hosting company’s data centers. Dedicated server hosting is typically required for a web site or a group of related company sites that develop a substantial amount of traffic. The server can usually be configured and operated remotely from the host company while still allowing for client customization. A dedicated server can be assigned to function only as a resource server and cannot be used as a client. It is important to note that the server is owned by the web host and you do not have physical access to it.

A dedicated web hosting is beneficial while developing a complex business or a high-end e-commerce site as you will need more space and security – a web server dedicated to your business. It is purchased by a company when they want more control of their server. They purchase or rent the hardware from the hosting company who then normally support and manage it. Internet connectivity is provided to the server, in many cases over 10 or 100 Mb/s Ethernet. Dedicated servers are most often housed in datacenters, similar to co-location facilities, providing redundant power sources and HVAC systems. The financial benefit with cheap dedicated server hosting is huge: large initial investments are not needed.

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Commonly, unmanaged hosting plans include hardware, operating system, web server and Internet connection. Managed plans however include the basics and pretty much everything else, the only thing you need to worry about is your web site and content.

A dedicated server could also be a computer that manages printer resources. However, it is important to note that not all servers are dedicated. In some networks, it is possible for a computer to act as a server and perform other functions as well.

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Do your research because getting that financially friendly, cheap dedicated web hosting plan will be easy. The list above will be able to guide you, otherwise you can conduct an advanced search to specify your hosting requirements.

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