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To Kill A Mockingbird – 3 Stars (Good)

Gregory Peck won a Best Actor Oscar in this adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about white lawyer Atticus Finch defending an innocent African American man accused of raping a white woman.

This is a story that illuminates everything that is wrong about hate, prejudice, bigotry, ignorance, stupidity, lack of backbone and lack of a heart. It is a story about an all-white male jury who makes important life decisions without right thinking and right motives.

Finch (Gregory Peck) suffers retribution because of his defense of Tom Robinson (Brock Peters) who is accused of raping Mayella Violet Ewell (Collin Wilcox). The real villain is her father Bob Ewell (James Anderson) who beats her and tries to kill Finch’s daughter Scout (Mary Badham) and son Jem (Phillip Alford).

Scout narrates this story about her childhood memories. She and Jem team up with friend Dill Harris (John Megna) in a subplot involving “Boo” Radley (Robert Duvall) who ultimately saves Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell by killing Ewell with his own knife.

Sheriff Heck Tate (Frank Overton) would later claim that Ewell fell on his own knife. Tate knew that Ewell was two legs and bad news coming in the form of one bigoted human being; there would be no charges filed against Boo.

In the end, the innocent Tom Robinson is found guilty and shot to death when he tries to flee his injustice.

It is no irony that this 1932 story takes place in Macon County, Georgia, a cesspool of racially motivated hate even in 1962 when this film was released.

To Kill a Mockingbird shows that some people will never have any discernable personal growth in their entire life thank God that others do.

Boo, a scary recluse who only came out at night, was Duvall’s first movie role. Duvall apparently stayed out of the sun for six weeks and dyed his hair blond in preparation for the role.

Dill was modeled after author Harper Lee’s childhood friend Truman Capote. Finch was the middle name of Harper Lee’s father.

Horton Foote, who wrote the screenplay for To Kill a Mockingbird, won an Oscar and the film also won for Best Art Direction for a black and white film. The film earned 5 other Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, won by Lawrence of Arabia with Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif.

Gregory Peck picked up the Golden Globe for Best Actor, and the film also won another for Promoting International Understanding. Peck has said that this film was his favorite work.

His character Atticus Finch was voted the top screen hero of the last 100 years by the American Film Institute. This is truly a no-spin honor. To Kill a Mockingbird is also ranked No. 2 on AFI’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time (It’s a Wonderful Life with James Stewart is No. 1).

The evidence of just how emotional To Kill a Mockingbird is comes from Brock Peters (the accused) who started to naturally cry while shooting the testifying scene. Gregory Peck said he had to look past him to keep from choking up himself.

Racial bigotry is an extremely emotional and hateful occurrence that continues to linger with us today. Were it not for a loving God who is color blind, the hurt would be even deeper and more destructive.

To Kill a Mockingbird is as appropriate today as it was when it was released. Each generation must work to progress past the sins of past generations. Tom Robinson may rest in peace knowing his descendants will then have a better system of justice.

Copyright © 2006 Ed Bagley

Ed Bagley is the author of Ed Bagley’s Blog, which he publishes daily with fresh, original writing intended to delight, inform, educate and motivate readers with articles about Internet Marketing, Careers, Movies and Life. Visit Ed at . . .
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Starting hands in Omaha poker can be confusing for newer players. Omaha features 4 starting – or ‘hole’ cards, exactly 2 from your own hand and 3 from the board being used to assess the best hand at showdown.

Holding 4 hole cards means that there are many ways in which each player can connect with the flop. The best way to look at this is to imagine 6 combinations of Holdem hands for each player. This increased number of ways of hitting the flop in Omaha has a big effect on the strength of starting hands.

The key to strong starting hand selection in Pot Limit Omaha is to play cards which work well together. That is, all 4 hole cards compliment each other in a meaningful way. For example we can compare K-K-8-2 of 4 suits with 9-10-J-Q double suited. While the Kings look strong there are not many ways of connecting with the flop – even if a king comes there is a danger that other high cards could make someone a straight. Conversely with 9-10-J-Q double suited has potential to make both straights and flushes as well as 2 pair hands. This is a stronger opening hand in Omaha because it has multiple ways to hit the flop.

There is some debate in Omaha poker concerning which is the best possible starting hand. Some people say A-A-K-K (double suited) and others A-A-J-10 (double suited). One way of looking at this is that both of these hands are very strong pre-flop. The additional benefit of the A-A-J-10 hand is to make the nut straight is actually fairly well balanced by the A-A-K-K hand’s possibility to make 2 different top sets. Be happy with either hand – if there is a difference in strength here it is very small.

Suited cards which are not ‘the nuts’ look better in Omaha poker before the flop than after it. For example J-J-9-8 is a strong pre-flop hand, however if the board contains a flush draw (giving you a potential Jack-high flush) then there is always a concern that an opponent is drawing to a higher flush. That is you may make your flush and still loose the hand. The advantage of playing lower suited cards pre-flop in Omaha is that your cards act as ‘blockers’ to opponents drawing to the same flush. For example if you hold 2 hearts and an opponent is drawing to a heart flush then they only have 7 ‘outs’ instead of the 9 cards that they think.

With no hand being a huge pre-flop favorite in Omaha it can pay to call small bets even if you know that your opponent is strong. For example if an opponent only ever raises with A-A-x-x then hands with straight and flush possibilities become playable – if you hit the flop hard it is then possible to build a large pot against your opponent. The very best ‘Ace-Cracking’ hands include holdings such as 5-6-7-8 (double suited) which can easily make hidden straights and low flushes.

Finally hands which contain low to medium pairs are dangerous in Omaha and should usually be folded if there is action ahead pre-flop. Hands such as 8-8-K-3 are more likely to make an expensive second best hand than the nuts. Middle pairs should only be played if the other cards compliment the pair. For example 8-8-9-10 double suited is certainly a very playable holding.

omahahustler.com/poker-site-reviews The best sites to play Omaha Poker

Ever dreamed of travelling to isolated wilderness areas to photograph the landscape but been defeated by the practicalities of getting there? Wished you had a helicopter? Wondered how you could hike with a heavy pack and camp out for days at a time?

Well, this Australian amateur wilderness landscape photographer did it. Here’s the story of the daunting task that lay ahead and how I overcame the obstacles.

Background

My son works at Olympic Dam Mine situated about 90km north of Woomera in outback South Australia, and lives with his wife and little family at Roxby Downs, the town constructed to service the mine. He’s an electrician, and besides taking a few pictures of electrical installations, the massive machinery he often works on, and my granddaughter, has little interest in photography.

I drove for 21 hours from the Far South Coast of New South Wales, to visit my son and to see this arid desert region, which has become his home for the foreseeable future.

Opportunity for Wilderness Landscape Photography

Well, the desert is fairly flat and quite bland at first glance but that’s not the full story.

With dry salt lakes, myall trees, stone strewn clay pans, and red sand dunes, wilderness landscape photography images clamour for my attention from Roxby Downs to Andamooka and beyond to Lake Torrens.

Getting Around the Desert

But how can I get around? Distance is so vast and the country so inhospitable. It will kill you just for being there if you don’t look out. The family station wagon won’t go far off the bitumen. The tracks are so rough, and when it rains in this six-inch rainfall country, even a 4×4 will bog down or slip in the clay soil. There’s no way I could afford a 4×4 good enough for the trip from the coast to the centre and reliable enough to go out alone into that country. Furthermore, you wouldn’t take a good-looking vehicle on those rocky, desert tracks.

So I decided on an ATV. That’s an “All Terrain Vehicle,” “Quad Bike,” “four wheel motorbike.” I can transport it in a trailer behind the car and go to the end of the road, then jump on the bike.

Setting Up The ATV

The bike, set up with boxes on the back and front racks, pulls a small trailer. With this configuration I not only get myself way out beyond where a 4×4 will go without too much walking, but also my camera gear, tools, emergency supplies, water, fuel and my camp as well. In a nutshell, that’s about it.

Navigating the Wilderness Landscape

Navigation is with a topographic map, compass and GPS. Using the coordinates from the GPS, I know where I am on the map which is so much simpler than trying to identify distant features on a flat landscape.

For months, in my spare time, I studied the maps, getting the feel of the geography and topography and comparing this to the satellite images on Google Earth. This way I identified areas of likely interest. It’s amazing how the salt build up in Lake Torrens shows up on the satellite images confirming what I suspected from the elevation contours on the topographic map.

Wilderness Landscape Photography Trip

It’s 82 km from the bitumen to Bosworth Homestead, travelling right across Arcoona Station on the way. Parking the car beside a shearers hut, and after some good geographic and topographic advice from the pastoralist, I jumped on the bike and headed out along the track that follows the western side of Station Creek to Andamooka Island and made camp as the sun was setting.

Now, I’ve always wanted to camp on an island since I read “The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe”, as a boy. Andamooka Island, about 40 km long and up to 10 km wide is in Lake Torrens and separated from the mainland by a channel varying in width from a couple of hundred meters to a couple of kilometres.

The shallower parts of the channel were dry, so crossing was no trouble. Extensive salt water holes in the channel, super saturated and with the salt crystallizing out, provided micro and full view landscape images over coming days. With the sky subtly reflected in the base of salt crystals covered with shallow water, the stark vista was a wilderness landscape photography opportunity to be seized. Sights to blow your mind!

Camping Out

Camping, as you would imagine, was pretty basic. You can’t carry much on an ATV. No esky means no fresh meat, but tinned tuna on top of tinned beans and spaghetti goes down well when you’re hungry.

Priorities in Wilderness Landscape Photography

Photography took precedence over eating. Each day: out of bed, on the bike and off photographing before sunrise. Back to camp for brunch about noon. Off photographing again till late and then try to get back to camp before the diminishing glow of the setting sun left me in the dark. Although I have good lights on the bike, the country is just too rough to cover in the dark.

Hidden Dangers in the Desert

Although rare, this country is known to host the world’s most venomous snake, the inland taipan, as well as the king brown and several other dangerous species. There are also said to be scorpions about. I’m told that the dingoes have been eradicated from this area, south of the dog fence, but the nights were still pretty scary. Every time the breeze rustled the tent I’d wake, laying tense and listening for the sound of pads on the rocks. Needles to say, I gave my sleeping bag a good shake out before getting in each night.

Coming Wilderness Landscape Photography Trip

Well, I came home with a heap of digital images, some colour film to send for processing and some B&W to process myself. I’m going again, you know. Want to come with me? Then go to my website, send an e-mail and we’ll talk about it.

Laurie McArthur is a wilderness landscape photographer based on the New South Wales Far South Coast, Australia.

Laurie’s images may be viewed at

My mother used to say “what the eye doesn’t see the heart doesn’t worry about”. To this day I don’t know what she was on about and why she used to say it to me when I was just a young boy. Moreover, there are plenty of things I worry about without witnessing them first hand. Indeed, I contribute, where I can, to various charities that help poor and disadvantaged people, although I have never met any of these people nor seen the conditions they survive in.

My mother’s statements did, though, serve to try and apply this principle to photography in a weird sort of way and I will see if I can describe my feelings in a sensible way. I don’t hold out much hope …

Photography is all about visual impact. Creating an image that “says” something to the viewer. These utterances can be subtle or “in your face” but a photograph must say something to be deemed acceptable.

Perhaps a smile, a sneer, a chuckle or a tear. A dilapidated building or a new skyscraper. Water, trees, grass, animals. Every picture should tell a story. Every image should at least attempt to make an impact. Somehow.

This means you have to look closely at your compositions. “What the eye doesn’t see the heart doesn’t worry about” – what your image doesn’t show cannot be consumed by the viewer. And perhaps the best part of your image is hidden and the eyes cannot see them.

Look for something special in each potential image. Actively strive to make your images different – even in small ways. Play with the light and shadows, find a different perspective, add a prop, change facial expressions. Develop a method and style that encourages you to think before you click.

Then you may uncover those things that the eyes, on first glance, misses and perhaps this will bring greater satisfaction into your heart.

My mother, at least, would be proud.

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site theshutter.co.uk theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at thephotographysite.blogspot.com thephotographysite.blogspot.com.

Handmade hippie patchwork clothing is a beautiful expression of diversity, magic and self-expression. Unlike mass produced sweatshop clothing typically found in your local big box store, hand made hippie patchwork clothing is imbued with the special kind of magic that’s difficult to find in today’s increasingly mechanized, homogenous, impersonal and alienating world. Feeling helpless, trapped or bored? Maybe it’s because your body is incased in clothing sewn by slaves with no creative control over what they are being paid pennies to mass-produce.

Think about it: you might just feel better if you were clothed in a one-of-a-kind piece of art lovingly pieced by an independent craftsperson who is stoked to be sewing for you!!! Beautiful, hand made clothing can brighten any occasion.

Here are the top 10 places to wear hand made hippie patchwork clothing:

10. Weddings – Bride, groom, bridesmaids, best man, friend or family of the newly weds – custom patchwork clothing is an obvious choice for weddings. Most patchy-making craftspeople do custom dresses and skirts in any color, style and size which is perfect for your one-of-a-kind wedding day. A full length patchwork dress covered in white, bone and cream patches with a sexy open corset back? Dream wedding here we come!

9. Vacations – So, you can’t wear handmade clothing to the office? Vacations are the perfect place for artful clothing made from natural, breathable fibers. Adjustable drawstrings mean you can eat as much as you want without worry.

8. Camping – This is a no-brainer. Wear organic, recycled clothing when you’re in nature and you’ll feel at home.

7. Art Openings – I’ve had several artistically inclined customers order dresses and skirts for their gala art openings! What a perfect way to look classy and funky at the same time.

6. Pregnancy – You can custom order hippie patchwork shorts, pants, tops and dresses that will fit you before, during AND after pregnancy. Love those magical drawstrings!

5. Crafts Fairs – You will be swarmed by people wanting to know how you made or where you bought your beautiful piece of clothing!

4. Dance Parties – These clothes were made for dancin’! Wiggle room AND support with gorgeous flowing lines. What more can you ask for?

3. Protests – Show your true colors with a patriotic red-white-and-blue piece OR custom order an appliqué of any slogan of your choice. Don’t carry your sign, wear it!

2. Festivals – Festie clothing means hand made hippie patchwork clothing. Don it and you can’t go wrong.

1. Concerts – This is the traditional birthplace of hand made hippie patchwork clothing and is still the best place to shake it down in artful, unique threads. Feel the positive vibes inside, outside and on your clothes! Awesome!

For all of these occasions, check out some of the patchworkunderground.com Hand Made Hippie Patchwork Clothing at The Patchwork Underground!

Erin Gilday is a third generation independent craftswoman who is proud to carry on her foremothers’ traditions in textile arts. You can see her hippie patchwork clothing at ” patchworkunderground.com www.patchworkunderground.com

The walkman used to be the most popular handheld music device there was to offer. A device one could take with them everywhere, listening to there favorite CDs. That was, up until the development of the iPod. Apple developed the iPod as a step up from the walkman, where one would be able to download their favorite music.

It was a smaller device and more convenient to carry. The NPD Group published that at least eight out of ten portable sound players sold by the mid 2005 were the iPods. The first iPod made its debut in October of 2001, selling for a whopping $399. This first iPod only had a 5GB hard drive and could only be used with a Mac. The following year there was an update version released, this one containing a 20GB hard drive and could be used with Windows.

Now two versions have been made but the iPod still wasn’t all it was made out to be. The third iPod had a 40GB hard drive, was compatible with both Windows and Mac, and USB connections. This made the iPod more appealing and though they were still very high priced, they did sell much better than the previous versions. Always trying to keep up with the changing world, a fifth iPod is in the making and we all look forward to see what further improvements have been made, and hopefully and lower price.

Since the music world is keeping up with the changing times, TV is also trying to do the same. ReplayTV and TiVo are two programs in which a person can watch real time TV, but also pause, rewind, and record it. Though it sounds like a good idea, it just never really took off. It is nice not to have to try and program a VCR to record a movie or TV show. The other nice things these programs had to offer is you can skip right over the commercials. Again, neither of these became as popular as it was first thought, but those that have purchased the programs do enjoy them.

Lastly the computer world also needed to keep up. There are laptop computers that are smaller and smaller, yet still too big for some. The Palm Pilot is a small version of a computer that you can carry easily in your pocket or purse. With these you could download programs and documents from your home or office PC, keep track of dates on the calendar, and much more. Since the first Palm Pilot came out until now, there have been many updates and changes. They are more like a many computer you can carry anywhere. They made a big splash at first, but again like the ReplayTV and TiVo, they are not as popular as once thought.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as wegotgadgets.com Latest Electronic Gadgets at wegotgadgets.com wegotgadgets.com

Have you ever been accused of being cynical? Well sometimes cynicism is much closer to reality than merely; “looking at the world thru rose colored sunglasses” and denying the truth, which is right before your eyes. So often cynicism may help us from being ripped off by that super special deal which is; “just too good to be true!”

George Bernard Shaw once said; “The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.”

Indeed, he was onto something here and certainly you have watched the blind leading the blind and simply laughed to yourself. So often this happens to those who watch too much television and actually buy into all that silly BS and hokum.

It is amazing that so many people get so caught up in the sound and fury of such things, denying their own real observation and personal experience and buying into some line of crap on TV. Even more fun in the study of human nature is that even after that they have been fooled, they refuse to alter their tact, somehow wishing to carry on living the lie, rather than admitting they were wrong all along.

You have to wonder about humans some times as they seem to be able to be led to believe just about anything sometimes. Why do you suppose human beings fall for so much of this purported dribble anyway? Think on this.

“Lance Winslow” - Online WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/ Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World WorldThinkTank.net www.WorldThinkTank.net/

The World Series of Poker is the most anticipated and crowning event in the world of poker. It’s been around for so long and its history has been clouded by its popularity that people tend to forget just how great the WSOP was when it first started. Over the past couple of years, thousands of people have been trying to cash a quick buck off its popularity, and hundreds of web sites have suddenly popped up, but despite all of this the WSOP has been around when poker was considered serious card playing. It wasn’t a fad that was made to be televised into some sort of fashion. It was quality poker.

Back in the day, men smoked cigars and sipped whisky while eyeing up their opponents. It was a game made for men like Nicolas Dandolos, commonly referred to as Nick the Greek, and Benny Binion. These two were champion gamblers and poker players back during the 1940s. It was no wonder then when Nick the Greek approached Binion to set up a world class match. Nick challenged the supposed champion of all poker players, Johnny Moss.

Binion agreed to the plan and he set up the match between Dandolos and Moss. There was one exception though, Binion made sure to attract as much attention to the event as possible by holding it in public. It was to be on public display and seen as a marathon. After five long months of discussion and compromises, all parties agreed to continue with the match. Thus, the World Series of Poker was born in 1949. It was a grueling event where the players only took breaks to catch up on sleep. Moss came out on top and reportedly took home around $2 million in cash, nearly an entire casino’s worth in 1949.

Nearly 21 years later, Binion decided to try his hand with the WSOP again. It was 1970, and this time he officially deemed it the WSOP. And once again, Johnny Moss did what he does best and walked away with the pot.

By now Binion knew he had something particularly special in the poker world. He continued the World Series of Poker yearly from then on. By 1982, there were 104 top poker players signed up for the WSOP. Now in 2006, at the height of the poker craze, everyone believes he or she is the next gift to poker. Last year, there were 5,619 people entered into the main event. This year, the numbers are predicted to be over 8,000 entrants. The size of the WSOP has changed, but the quality has not. It is the biggest, most anticipated poker tournament for any poker player.

Steve Wrzeszczynski has been playing online poker since 2000. He runs his own blog at BeTheShark.com/Blog/ BeTheShark.com/Blog/ which offers his online guide to poker.

Sports Betting on the NFL and college football is a national pastime. Every week millions of dollars are bet on the home town favorites with local bookies. People bet even more money with online sports book agencies. Even the major news services publish all the betting stats. If you’re going to bet money on games, you might as well be as informed as possible!

There are even many sports betting sites that provide up-to-the-minute information on your favorite teams and this weeks games. If you′re even slightly interested in Football Betting you probably already know the NFL is always full of surprises.

That’s because it’s hard to predict which players are going to unexpectedly make an impact, and which players are going to unexpectedly lose some of their effectiveness.

1. The New England Patriots Are Back

The New England Patriots are still one of the best teams in the NFL, if not THE best team in the NFL. If it wasn’t for a fluke loss against the Broncos in last year’s playoffs, they would have probably won the Super Bowl. You will go broke betting against this team. Tom Brady is the nest QB in the NFL, and their defense is quietly solid.

2. The Steelers Defense is Still Tough

Don’t let the early season results fool you. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense is still one of the toughest in the league. The problem early in the season has been turnovers, and a sluggish Pittsburgh offense. Look for the Steelers to go on a defensive terror in the next several weeks now that they’re playing in desperation mode. Troy Polamalu may be the best defensive back since Ronnie Lott.

3. Some Teams REALLY Stink!

There are a handful of teams that I wouldn’t want to be caught dead betting on. They are Buffalo, Miami, Oakland, and Detroit. I left out Arizona because they might get better as the year goes on. I doubt it, but they might. The other team that really stinks is Detroit. I didn’t include them in the teams I wouldn’t bet on because they play Miami in a few weeks.

4. New Orleans is NOT for Real…

Look for the Saints to crumble as the year goes on. If they finish better than 9-7 it will be a surprise. The Saints have won some lucky games this year against some bad teams, and against some good teams that had a bad week. Don’t be fooled by their early season record. They aren’t going to be taken lightly the rest of the season, which means that they will have trouble winning the rest of the season.

5. Atlanta Has NO Defense

The Falcons defense had the benefit of their offense controlling the clock early in the year. As the season progresses, teams are going to notice that the Falcon’s defensive secondary is pathetic. Look for high scoring games the rest of the season. So there you have it, the top 5 things anybody serious about davidjamessports.com/index.php” target=”_blank Football Betting needs to know about the NFL season.

David James is one of the world’s foremost football betting experts. Not only does James have an uncanny knack for knowing who to bet on, but he also is one of the best at providing in depth explanations and statistics showing exactly why each pick meets his criteria. Click on this link if you would like to learn how to be successful at