A dwarf seahorse, found only in waters off the Gulf Coast. the species is at risk because of habitat loss, say conservationists. Photograph: Robert F. Sisson/NG/Getty Images

One of the world’s smallest seahorses faces extinction because of the BP oil spill, conservationists have warned.

The minute creatures, barely 2cm tall, were elusive even before the spill, found only among the seagrass in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Now conservationists from the Zoological Society of London’s Project Seahorse team are warning populations could fall precipitously because so much of their habitat could have been lost to the spill.

“We have very high levels of concern for this particular species because they have a narrower range,” said Heather Masonjones, a seahorse biologist at the University of Tampa.

Although most seahorses are believed to live in shallow water, some also cling to the seagrass mats that float in the open water. During the three months that oil was gushing from BP’s well, these mats become collection points for crude. some of these were set alight in burn fields as BP tried to stop the oil washing on shore. Furthermore, thick clouds of oil in water typically starve seagrass of the light they need to survive, while toxic components of the oil as well as the millions of gallons of chemical dispersants used to break down the spill could also be shrinking suitable habitat for seahorses.

The dwarf seahorses, or Hippocampus zosterae, are particularly ill-suited to escape. They are poor swimmers, making the species extremely vulnerable to a sudden environmental impact such as the BP spill, said Heather Koldewey, the associate director of Project Seahorse. They also mate for life, and produce relatively few offspring, making it more difficult for them to recover from a cataclysmic event.

Masonjones said the experience of earlier oil spills suggested it could take five years for seagrass to make a complete recovery, which represents about three generations of seahorses. It is also unclear how dispersants, which can be hormone disrupters, will affect reproduction cycles, especially on seahorses where males carry the eggs.

Koldewey said it was crucial that BP take steps to help protect the seagrass in the oil spill clean-up in the months ahead to avoid further damage to seahorse populations: “We are urging BP to continue to use booms in the clean-up to isolate the oil slicks. These can be skimmed, left to evaporate, or treated with biological agents like fertilisers, which promote the growth of micro-organisms that biodegrade oil.”

World’s smallest seahorse faces extinction after BP oil spill

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Press Release Source: TinierMe on Tuesday September 7, 2010, 10:00 am EDT

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwire – 09/07/10) – TinierMe, the virtual world focused on Japanese animation, today announced that it has reached more than 500,000 U.S.-based users since launching in October 2009. the popular virtual world focused on Japanese anime and culture has already reached more than one million users worldwide and is growing in popularity with teens and young adults across the U.S., Asia and Europe.

“We listen to our users and are constantly working to improve TinierMe — this work, driven by community feedback — has gotten teens around the globe excited and active in our online world,” said Masaru “Nogi” Ohnogi, CEO of TinierMe. “Users are coming to our virtual world over others because of TinierMe’s cute and creative avatar fashion items and weekly quests and events featuring classical Japan to modern-day punk rock themes. We will continue to focus on providing new ideas and activities to keep fans engaged and coming back for more.”

Since launching the U.S. site in October, TinierMe has:

• Established partnerships with the popular virtual pop star Hatsune Miku, and the Gloomy Bear character.
• Built new games including Doki Doki IQ High School, a challenging brain training game, and Sevens, a fun card game you can play with friends.
• Launched a Facebook app that has already gained more than 180,000 users.
• Added new features such as Complete Sheets and Poker Gacha that award bonus items.
• Partnered with DJ HeavyGrinder, top Japanese pop-artist Stephanie Yanez, and popular cosplayer Mari Watanabe as official TinierMe sponsors.

“It was a risk to launch TinierMe in the U.S. because of the many other established virtual worlds in the market, but our site stands out because of the value we place on image and usability,” said Kiyoshi Nagawasa, TinierMe founder and executive director at GCREST Japan, Inc. “With the world’s fascination with Japanese culture, we aim to make TinierMe an online world that represents the Japanese-anime community worldwide.”

TinierMe is a free-to-use virtual world where you can create a customized, tinier version of yourself — letting you play and communicate with others online. anyone can create their own “Selfy” avatar which can be used anywhere in TinierMe to interact with others though online events, chat, games and community forums. the TinierMe world consists of Selfy Town, TinierMe Games, Selfy Shop and Forum/Groups. to learn more about TinierMe or to create your own Selfy, visit: www.tinierme.com.

About TinierMe:TinierMe is a fun virtual world based on Japanese anime and culture. with users around the world, the site lets you build a tinier version of yourself so you can chat, play and create online. TinierMe includes: Selfy Town, a virtual world; Selfy Shop, where you can get everything you need to create and build your character; and tinier Games, a place to play card games, interactive challenges and brain teasers with other users. TinierMe lets you experience Japanese culture easily and escape from the doldrums of the real world through your imagination and creativity. GCREST America, Inc. is the company behind TinierMe, and is a fully owned subsidiary of GCREST, Inc. in Japan. to create your Selfy and join the fun, come to www.tinierme.com.

TinierMe Reaches Half a Million US-Based Users

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Joe Mullin has had a front-row seat to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico for the past four months, from his office in Virginia.

Mullin is the program manager of the oil spill response research program for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, formerly the Minerals Management Agency.

Mullin, who has been in this job for 20 years, lives near Mount Pleasant. before going to work for BOEM, as his agency is called, he worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a technical expert in physical oceanography.

Mullin’s job includes oversight of an oil spill response research test program. Results from that program are being applied to the oil spill response, Mullin wrote in an e-mail. Many of the containment booms and skimmers used in the response were tested at the agency’s test center Ohmsett, in Leonardo, N.J.

Another part of the test program involves an aerial sensor. This remotely maps the extent and thickness of an oil spill. This mapping and detection technology has also been used three times in California and in the Gulf.

The system acquires, processes and disseminates oil slick thickness maps compatible to the digital Geographic Information system. These maps are then transmitted directly to the command post to use in determining what resources should be used and where.

The test program showed that changing the surface pattern of the drum in the skimmers would improve efficiency of the oil cleanup process by more than 200 percent. Results from this research project were patented and there are at least six types of grooved skimmers being commercially sold around the world.

The agency has been conducting experiments to determine if burning could be a countermeasure for the Deepwater Horizon spill.

The test center has also conducted 15 research projects on the use of chemical dispersants. Ohmsett is the premier training site for oil spill response workers from state and federal agencies, private industry and foreign countries. Students use full-size equipment with real oil in varying oceanographic conditions.

BOEM’s national offshore office, where Mullin works, is in Herndon, Va. for security reasons, the entire interview was conducted by e-mail through the office of public affairs.

Mullin also is responsible for the analysis of the outer continental shelf oil and gas operations to ensure the best and safest technologies are used. He also advises on appropriate oil spill response equipment, techniques and methods.

Mullin, 58, moved to Frederick County in 1979. He is a graduate of the Florida Institute of Technology with a degree in oceanographic technology. He and his wife, Deborah, raised two daughters. Both graduated from Linganore High School.

His oldest daughter, Suzanne, is an aeronautical cartographer with the Federal Aviation Administration, and she is married to a pilot. his youngest daughter, Elizabeth, is pursuing her nursing degree while working part time in a physical therapy office. Elizabeth was the 2004 Maryland state girls outdoor pole vault champion. Both daughters live in Frederick.

Frederick resident involved in oil spill response – The Frederick News-Post Online

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I want congo to qualify for the world cup (soccer/football). but i don't know if they are finished they are currently 3rd in they're world cup qualifying group and i want to know if the african world cup qualifying so i hope they haven't.

Answer away…

Im sorry to tell you this but congo is eliminated already
but the world cup qualifying in Africa is still going on

Have The African World Cup Qualifying Groups Finished In Football?

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University of Southern Mississippi scientists are studying the effects of the BP oil spill on the Coast’s marshes, wetlands and marine life and are sharing some of their research as an educational project.

We introduce you to different USM scientists and researchers on Tuesdays and share information about their research on the oil spill and its effects.

Scott Milroy

Milroy is originally from Phoenix, Ariz., and currently resides in Diamondhead. he earned his Ph.D. in marine science with an emphasis in biological oceanography from the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 2007. Milroy has been a researcher, faculty member and coordinator of the marine science baccalaureate program at Southern miss for three years.

Research

Milroy’s research primarily focuses on computer modeling of complex marine ecosystem dynamics, which means Milroy strives to assess the complex relationships between the biological, chemical, geological and physical elements that drive ecosystem function. Ultimately, those relationships are defined mathematically and then woven together in a numerical model. This model is executed on a high-performance computer used to “simulate” marine ecosystems.

Modeling is more than translating ecological principles into mathematical equations and computer code.

For a model to simulate the real conditions and dynamics within an ecosystem, it must first start with what is called initialization data, which is gathered from the field where the research takes place. Typically, this requires a team effort to acquire the diverse oceanographic data that will ultimately be used for the model calculations. the process is similar to the way data from hurricane-hunter aircraft is used in hurricane models to predict the track and intensity of extreme storm events. however, Milroy’s models predict how marine ecosystems function under normal circumstances and how they will respond to disturbances.

Research with oil spill

According to the National Incident Command for the BP Deepwater Horizon spill, an excess of 200 million gallons of South Louisiana crude oil have been released into the northern Gulf of Mexico. the crude has a complex mixture of hydrocarbons called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are among the most toxic of crude oil contents. This can cause the destruction of genetic material within cells exposed to PAHs. these toxic hydrocarbons are also the most persistent in the ecosystem, which are capable of releasing contaminants years after the initial spill event. Organisms, which do not die from PAH exposure, may instead live with these toxic hydrocarbons inside them. these organisms can then transfer the PAHs to higher-level consumers, including humans, when eaten.

In response to those concerns, Milroy’s oil-related research will investigate: 1) how coastal hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and ocean acidification events may be worsened by the effects of crude oil; 2) how the toxic effects of PAHs might affect the survival of larva and thereby influence future stocks of commercially important species such as shrimp, oysters and pogy fish; and 3) the extent to which toxic PAHs are being accumulated in the tissues of organisms at all trophic levels within the coastal food web.

Milroy will then use the data to develop an oil-spill food web interaction model to better understand how oil-related toxicants enter the coastal marine food web at various trophic levels and to predict the ultimate fate of toxic PAHs in the ecosystem.

USM scientist studies oil spill effects on ecosystem

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One of the most frequently asked questions related to television is, `Where`s the remote?` When the first simple television (televisores) was built in 1928, it did not come with a remote. The entire wonder consisted of a disk, a light (which tended to make the images orange in appearance) and a moderate need for electricity.

World War II slowed recreational television progress while turning that technology to the necessary military communications. many communication devices were made accessible using television cable. Unlike the Viet Nam War, civilians were not able to watch the battles that had been fought and radio was still highly sought for news and entertainment.

Technically, the ability to produce programs in color occurred in the late 1940`s, however it was in the mid 1960`s that major broadcasters began to produce their programming in color. Early colored televisions did not provide exact color replication. one often noticed unnatural tint which was correctable by manipulating the `tint` dial on the television.

For those of us old enough to remember the assignation of John F. Kennedy, we will also remember his lying in state and his funeral and burial all shown on major broadcast stations. This was the first major event in American history that could be viewed by people all across the United States on television (televisores). despite miles of separation, people in the USA felt more connected to one another because of this new technology.

The 1970`s brought about the greatest surge of television purchases. Major appliance stores (Sears and others) had banks of televisions on display. Daytime television and `Soap Operas` became favorites of many stay at home mothers. Game shows became more plentiful as did movies which introduced us to favorites such as John Waynne, Robert Young, `Beaver Cleaver` and many, many more. these were idyllic families, devoid of abuse, less than charitable language, arguments, and other behaviors evidenced in today`s homes and societies. Television commercials changed the `tools` of childhood which previously had been invented and make believe to Barbie and Ken dolls, talking bears, more sophisticated bicycles and wagons and the like.

Satellites influenced further changes in television (televisores) in the mid 1980`s. Pay for view programming became possible through the encryption of programming and transmitting via cable and only to viewers who had the additional equipment to view such programs.

Today, digital and satellite television (televisores) deliver the clearest images to the viewer and provide several hundred channels from which to choose. Televisions have grown from 6×8 picture tubes in huge cabinets to slim instruments sitting atop pedestals. Large screen television gives the appearance of football players kicking off in one`s living room and monster trucks driving directly at the viewer. Television today may be accessed from one`s computer as well as by cell phone.

I can`t imagine what I would see in a crystal ball if I were to search for changes in television technology, but I know that improvements and innovative concepts are explored daily.

This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. however the author’s name and all the URLs (links) mentioned in the article and biography must be kept.

A Brief History of Television

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NEW ORLEANS – an oil and gas platform operated by Mariner Energy burst into flames in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, but the crew of 13 escaped and there were no signs of an oil spill, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The accident brought unwelcome attention to the offshore drilling industry as it is trying to roll back a six-month deepwater drilling moratorium imposed in the wake of the BP Plc Macondo well disaster, which killed 11 workers and poured 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf.

As of late Thursday, there were no signs of a spill from the Mariner platform.

“The boats and the aircraft on scene cannot see a sheen,” U.S. Coast Guard Captain Peter Troedsson told a news conference Thursday afternoon in new Orleans.

Shortly after the fire, Mariner reported there was a mile-long oily sheen on the water around the platform, according to the government.

On Friday morning, Coast Guard helicopters will fly over and inspect the platform and surrounding ocean, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said.

The fire burnt for several hours before it was extinguished. a company spokesman said it started on an upper deck of the platform where living quarters were located, and had not been caused by a “blowout,” or sudden release of oil and gas from a well.

The crew, plucked from the Gulf by an oil supply vessel, were transported to a hospital onshore and no injuries have been reported, the Houston-based company said.

Automated shutoff equipment turned off the flow of oil and gas from the platform’s seven producing wells as the crew evacuated, Mariner said. The cause of the fire is still unknown and under investigation, the company said.

“It’s unlikely to have long-term implications for production in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Raoul LeBlanc, a senior director at PFC Energy in Houston.

Environmental groups said the Mariner explosion reinforced the need to keep the moratorium in place. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said he did not know whether the fire would affect the moratorium, scheduled to expire November 30.

Several analysts said the accident could hurt the industry in its court battle to lift the drilling halt early.

“The incident has happened at the wrong time,” said Eugen Weinberg, head of commodity research at Commerzbank. “The political establishment will probably move quickly as everybody still remembers the slow dealing with the Macondo accident and the dramatic pictures from this summer.”

The platform is located more than 90 miles deep.

The platform’s output is a small fraction of the 1.6 million barrels of oil and 6.4 billion cubic feet of gas the region produces on a daily basis.

The facility averaged 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and 1,400 barrels of oil and condensate per day during the last week of August, Mariner said.

News of the fire helped push crude oil prices up $1.11 to $75.02 a barrel on the new York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices were also boosted by Hurricane Earl, which is threatening refineries along the U.S. East Coast.

Shares of Mariner Energy fell 2.6 percent to close at $22.75 and shares of Apache Corp, which is expected to buy Mariner Energy in a $2.7 billion deal, fell 1.3 percent to close at $91.30.

Apache plans to proceed with the Mariner purchase, Apache spokesman bill Mintz, said.

Mariner has participated in at least 35 deepwater projects in the Gulf and operated over half of them.

The fire was the fifth reported at offshore sites operated by Mariner since October 2006, according to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

None of the earlier fires caused any fatalities, although workers were injured in two of the accidents. The company also suffered a blowout while drilling a well about 90 miles off the Louisiana coast in May 2008, but the well was brought under control within a few hours.

The Vermillion platform was last inspected in January and found to have three minor compliance violations, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management records.

No sign of oil after Gulf platform fire – Coast Guard

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Under this contract, which he designed, D’Arcy was to own whatever oil he found in Iran and pay the government just 16% of any profits he made—never allowing any Iranian to review his accounting. After his first strike in 1908, he became sole owner of the entire ocean of oil that lies beneath Iran’s soil. no one else was allowed to drill for, refine, extract, or sell “Iranian” oil.

“Fortune brought us a prize from fairyland beyond our wildest dreams,” Winston Churchill, who became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911, wrote later. “Mastery itself was the prize of the venture.”

Soon afterward, the British government bought the D’Arcy concession, which it named the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. It then built the world’s biggest refinery at the port of Abadan on the Persian Gulf. from the 1920s into the 1940s, Britain’s standard of living was supported by oil from Iran. British cars, trucks, and buses ran on cheap Iranian oil. Factories throughout Britain were fueled by oil from Iran. The Royal Navy, which projected British power all over the world, powered its ships with Iranian oil.

After World War II, the winds of nationalism and anti-colonialism blew through the developing world. in Iran, nationalism meant one thing: we’ve got to take back our oil. Driven by this passion, Parliament voted on April 28, 1951, to choose its most passionate champion of oil nationalization, Mohammad Mossadegh, as prime minister. Days later, it unanimously approved his bill nationalizing the oil company. Mossadegh promised that, henceforth, oil profits would be used to develop Iran, not enrich Britain.

This oil company was the most lucrative British enterprise anywhere on the planet. to the British, nationalization seemed, at first, like some kind of immense joke, a step so absurdly contrary to the unwritten rules of the world that it could hardly be real. Early in this confrontation, the directors of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and their partners in Britain’s government settled on their strategy: no mediation, no compromise, no acceptance of nationalization in any form.

The British took a series of steps meant to push Mossadegh off his nationalist path.

They withdrew their technicians from Abadan, blockaded the port, cut off exports of vital goods to Iran, froze the country’s hard-currency accounts in British banks, and tried to win anti-Iran resolutions from the U.N. and the World Court. this campaign only intensified Iranian determination. Finally, the British turned to Washington and asked for a favor: please overthrow this madman for us so we can have our oil company back.

American President Dwight D. Eisenhower, encouraged by his Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, a lifelong defender of transnational corporate power, agreed to send the Central Intelligence Agency in to depose Mossadegh. The operation took less than a month in the summer of 1953. It was the first time the CIA had ever overthrown a government.

At first, this seemed like a remarkably successful covert operation. The West had deposed a leader it didn’t like, and replaced him with someone who would perform as bidden—Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

From the perspective of history, though, it is clear that Operation Ajax, as the operation was code-named, had devastating effects. It not only brought down Mossadegh’s government, but ended democracy in Iran. It returned the Shah to his Peacock Throne. his increasing repression set off the explosion of the late 1970s, which brought to power Ayatollah Khomeini and the bitterly anti-Western regime that has been in control ever since.

The oil company re-branded itself as British Petroleum, BP Amoco, and then, in 2000, BP. during its decades in Iran, it had operated as it pleased, with little regard for the interests of local people. this corporate tradition has evidently remained strong.

Many Americans are outraged by the relentless images of oil gushing into Gulf waters from the Deepwater Horizon well, and by the corporate recklessness that allowed this spill to happen. those who know Iranian history have been less surprised.

Stephen Kinzer is a veteran foreign correspondent and the author of Bitter Fruit and Overthrow, among other works. his newest book is Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America’s Future.

Source: Mother Jones

How BP, British Petroleum, helped destroy democracy in Iran. « Orwell's Dreams

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Ashley Bell channels her inner Linda Blair in “The last Exorcism.” Photo by Patti Perrett.  

The latest movie to receive the “Blair Witch” treatment, “The last Exorcism,” follows “Cloverfield” and “Paranormal Activity” to tell of a group of people armed with a camera and microphone that bears witness to an oh-my-God moment involving the supernatural.

This one makes unusual effort to develop character and plot, although it all turns out to be an elaborate ruse meant to conceal a shocking conclusion. Unfortunately it turns out to be more silly than scary. Evidently you can have character development or pure voyeurism, but both tend to cancel each other out. (They can still give you a monster headache, however, if filmed with a shaky enough camera.)

The movie within a movie is about the Rev. Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), a former child pastor and renowned exorcist in Louisiana who’s decided to give up evangelism after he performs one last exorcism for a film crew so he can show them what kind of phony baloney it is. “Maybe I’ll go into real estate,” he muses on the way to visit a rural farm where a widower (Louis Herthum) hopes to wrest his daughter (Ashley Bell) from the clutches of Satan’s minions.

“Exorcism” generates many intentional jokes while Marcus demonstrates the tricks of his trade, including hidden fishing line to rattle wall photos and tiny electrodes to send shockwaves through his young patient. the movie jumps between footage of the minister running through his inventory and scenes of him using it, with much laughter as a result. by the end of the movie, you’ll likely be compelled to wonder who edited it in such a humorous way.

It’s impossible not to note the score, as well. who put that in there? this whole faux fly-on-the-wall guerrilla horror filmmaking thing was a good gimmick while it lasted, and it sustains “The last Exorcism” for a spell. but maybe it’s time to take the good minister’s advice and retire the tricks. the goal, after all, no matter how you make a scary movie, is to be scary, the one thing “Exorcism” has the most trouble with. (PG-13) 90 min.

Strenuous Exorcise

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Hello everyone! Finally, a new informative post! lol

As mentioned in the previous post, I am starting a new format for Marketing Finds! Each month, I will focus on one specific avenue of marketing your product/business instead of mixing it up completely every week. so for this month, I’m focusing on photography! Fun!

A little background: 

I love taking pictures. Just love it. I’ve been taking pictures since I was 13 when my friend gave me my first 35mm camera and a photo album. I love to capture moments and expressions that people can look back at and say “aww, I remember that!” or “oh, why did I look like that!” It’s just fun for me

After college, I took up a job at The Picture People and I learned so much – lighting, angles, head shots, group shots and more. I used a SLR camera and had lots of fun with it. Post-Picture People, I use a regular point-and-shoot Sony Cybershot to take these shots (which is being sold over at niecynotes):

  
Pretty nice, huh?

So how does photography relate to marketing? To sell anything online, you need good pics. Maybe even great pics. the better the picture, the more credible you look. the more credible, the more positive feedback from customers/consumers/readers. You don’t need a fancy-schmancy camera to take nice pictures. But you do need the following:

* Great lighting – Natural sunlight is best, but if there’s no sufficient light, try using halogen lights (like those little lights from Ikea). Nicole from Making It Lovely, gives us this nice tutorial about product photography and lighting.

* Great angles – Have fun with moving your camera (and body even) by taking photos on an angle, from below looking up, from the side or from the top looking down. You can also utilize the zoom-in/zoom-out buttons to feature a detail in a product.

* Great photo software – of course, Photoshop is the top option. But if you can’t afford it or have run out of free trials for it, try out Paint.Net or Gimp. they are free alternatives to Photoshop and have similar features. or if you have a Google account, try Picasa on your desktop. all of these software programs enhances your picture – whether to lighten up dark spots, adjust the hue and saturation and much more (I’ll explain what those are in the future posts). the main thing about using these programs is to enhance and not replace. You don’t want to spend more time adjusting your picture; rather, you should spend time photographing the picture as best as possible.

* Lots of patience: if you feel the pictures aren’t coming out the way you want them to, it’s ok. You are learning and it does take lots of practice to get them right. Don’t beat yourself (or camera, or computer) up!

That’s it for now. Stay tuned next week for Marketing Finds! – Photo 102…

Random Acts of Flair: Marketing Finds! – Photo 101: Intro

Random Acts of Flair: Marketing Finds! – Photo 101: Intro is a post from: News Goes Fast!

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