The Throne of Zion: A Pilgrimage to São Jorge da Mina, Ghana's oldest and most notorious slave castle
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Help me remember this artsy film about the American south. It came out within the last 5 years I think, I believe there was a number in the title and the theme was something like the modernization of the south. It had 'Koyaanisqatsi' - like composed shots and voice over by a man with a southern accent. I remember a shot of a canoe filled with books inside a flooded building.
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Can you recall stories where a character learns an enormous amount of information in a short amount of time and performs an amazing feat? (The Matrix: Neo learns kung fu, Superman: Superman reads a library of medical texts and performs a life-saving surgery, etc.)I get the impression that I've seen this frequently, but nothing outside of The Matrix and Superman comes to mind. Is this a new theme or a very old one?
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Identify this song please! I'm making a mixtape of songs with distinctive vocal flourishes and there's a snippet going through my head that I just can't place. This song's building to a crescendo and the singer yells "Whoo!" followed by three piano chords that sound almost like percussion (bum! bum! bum!) before continuing on.It's a guitar band, most likely American, I think from the past 10 years. It has a kind of vaguely roots-rock/americana feel that wouldn't sound out of place on The King Is Dead by The Decemberists.
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How do you handle your wardrobe during a period of (fingers crossed!) on-going weight loss?I am 1/3 of the way through a major weight-loss 'journey' (I hate that word but it is an accurate descriptor) - I've lost 20 lb and aim for 60. I have dropped a couple of UK sizes - 22 to 18 on top (I believe this is size 20 to 16 in US sizes), although my bottom half has not shrunk quite so quickly. I really don't want to wait till I've lost all the weight to update my wardrobe as I look and feel terrible in baggy clothes, and I don't know how long it will take, but I feel like I am spending too much money because I am buying new clothes frequently. I've also had to make major purchases like a new winter coat etc because my old ones are too big for me now. So I would like to know how other people handle this: how to look good while losing weight without bankrupting yourself on new clothes. I have zero sewing etc. skills and am terrible with my hands, so till date, taking clothes in myself has never been an option. But if that turns out to be the best option, I would learn. I am a woman but welcome answers from dudes too.
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"There's a recurring idea in David Nichols' excellent Go-Betweens book, the belief that The Smiths were unfairly taken to heart by the world's introverted bookworms when The Go-Betweens were obviously so much better, so much more literary etc, but there's a teenage desperation at the heart of The Smiths' music that The Go-Betweens never touched. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. As someone who loved the Smiths as a teenager — and still in some respects admire them — I'm not a teenager anymore. In my 20s, I liked the Go-Betweens. In my 30s I loved them. As I prepare to enter my 40s, I am in awe of them. By the time I reach my 60s, they might be all I listen to." The Go-Betweens were an Australian band who recorded their excellent 1980s albums - think The Smiths if Morrissey had ever got out in the sunshine once in a while - in London, then two further records in the 2000s until the early death of one of the principal songwriters, Grant McLennan, led to the end of the band. They have a new best-of out, and Robert Forster, the surviving songwriter talks us through the tracks, including clips for those new to their work. Since the band dissolved following McLennan's death, he's also carved out a neat sideline as a critic - and still has excellent hair.
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I recently had a CCTV drain survey carried out on our victorian house and it revealed some defects. The company that did the survey quoted high, the second company quoted less (for less work) but said some work didn't need doing. What should I believe? (video and photo attached)The first company recommended a replacement of the first bend and install 3 metres of 100mm resin liner. The second company after being showed the report (not video) from the first said that the rest bend needs replacing but probably not the resin liner. They said they would inspect it with their own cameras if they did the work. I preferred this company so had the bend replaced by them - after looking with their own camera they said its not necessary as even if there was a small leak, it is 3m away from the house and is on a decent angle so it would have little / no effect. I have attached an image of the type of joint and video. My question is: The patio next to the house is dug up right now - when I come to sell the house, if a drain survey is carried out then is it likely that this will be raised as a problem and I have to knock money off or repair? Should I get this resin lined now just in case? The drain is quite deep which is why the first wanted to resin line. The photo shows a section just after the bend which has now been replaced. Picture of drain section from outside Video of drain from inside
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Recommend some good Spanish language media (TV series, online radio, podcasts etc) for my girlfriend to immerse herself in while she learns Spanish.My girlfriend wants to surround herself with Spanish before future visits to Spain. It doesn't matter if you don't think they will be entirely intelligible to a learner as she really just wants to get used to hearing it. She has total fluency in her acquired second language and finds immersion like this very fruitful. I am also aware this kind of question has been asked before (e.g. 1,2), but although I have taken note of a few suggestions from other threads (such as HBO's Epitafios), many of the podcasts and radio stations that were suggested are now broken links and even the BBC World Service doesn't seem to broadcast in Spanish these days (damn cuts!). Basically, if you listen to or know of any good Spanish language TV series or online radio stations, just throw them in here and we'll see what sticks.
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The Justice Department, after a legal battle to avoid having to admit it, recently released documents showing that the federal government's use of warrantless "pen register" and "tap and trace" surveillance has multiplied over the past decade. (Hat tip to the ACLU). But the Justice Department is small potatoes. Every day, the NSA intercepts and stores 1.7 billion emails, phone calls, texts, and other electronic communications. (previously, previouslier) Do we really need more data, or do we need better data? * Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work [as each other], creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks. * Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - a volume so large that many are routinely ignored. These are not academic issues; lack of focus, not lack of resources, was at the heart of the Fort Hood shooting that left 13 dead, as well as the Christmas Day bomb attempt thwarted not by the thousands of analysts employed to find lone terrorists but by an alert airline passenger who saw smoke coming from his seatmate. ....improvements have been overtaken by volume at the ODNI, as the increased flow of intelligence data overwhelms the system's ability to analyze and use it. Every day, collection systems at the National Security Agency intercept and store 1.7 billion e-mails, phone calls and other types of communications. The NSA sorts a fraction of those into 70 separate databases. The same problem bedevils every other intelligence agency, none of which have enough analysts and translators for all this work. Updates on domestic surveillance: Legal challenges to this widespread domestic surveillance: 1. In August a federal appeals court ruled that the federal government may spy on Americans' communications without warrants and without fear of being sued in the case of Al-Haramain Islamic V. Obama. This case is pretty much dead unless the court reconsiders or the Supreme Court agrees to hear it. 2. The Electronic Frontier Foundation's case Jewel v. NSA challenges the NSA's enormous domestic spying operation. It looked like a lost cause, but it's now up for a hearing on December 14, 2012. The House of Representatives last month re-approved the FISA bill, and the bill is now ready to pass in the Senate as well. See also: Spy drone usage increases domestically and globally. Last year saw the first-ever drone-assisted arrest of a US citizen domestically, as well as the first-ever drone-assisted assassination of a US citizen by the US government overseas. (Though I still withhold judgement on the morality of killing Awlaki that way, the legality is definitely questionable and sets a dangerous precedent). Lastly, coming soon to a city near you: Gorgon Stare. Note: I don't think any of this is cause for getting all paranoid. But it's important to be concerned that the US government, regardless of party, must stay within its bounds and respect the rule of law.
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Does anyone have experience of Core Process psychotherapy?I've been looking for a therapist in my area (Cambridge, UK), and it's confusing, expensive & scary. I've found someone who uses Core Process, and he's significantly cheaper than most of the other therapists, mainly (it seems) because he's in the last year of further studies (though he's qualified to practice). His office is also close to my work, which is a definite plus. Some cursory research on Core Process has thrown up the fact that it's mindfulness/Buddhist-based. Which, mostly, sits fine with me. I know that mindfulness works for a lot of people, and I studied Buddhism briefly (in an academic sense) and am interested in its central ideas. There's a little cynical part of me that thinks this might be closer to hippie alternative medicine bullshit than I'm comfortable with, but this cynicism isn't strong enough to be a dealbreaker. The main problem is that my Googling hasn't thrown up any medical or scientific studies on the efficacy of Core Process. The only resources I've found are either from the main place in the UK that trains people to become Core Process therapists, or from individual practitioners advertising their services. Also, I'm seeking therapy in the hope of getting a better handle on some long-standing issues (history of pretty bad depression & anxiety, whole bunch of family problems, some eating/food stuff). I know that no one seeks therapy lightly, but I want to do some serious work on things which I've been struggling with for a long time, and I want to know before I commit that this is going to be rigorous (and likely to help). I don't know if I should go with this guy because he's cheap, or suck it up, pay more money and get a different/better-know/more well-tested type of therapy. I know that I really don't want CBT or any kind of traditional analysis, but outside of those limits I don't know what I want or what would be best for me. I also have a history of flaking out on therapy because it's hard and I'm scared and the whole situation makes me really anxious, but I'm hoping that this time (with the added incentive of paying for it myself, rather than taking whatever I can get from my former University/socialised medicine) I'll be able to stick with it and make some real progress. Tl;dr - I like the look of this one therapist & he's relatively cheap, but I can't find any science or resources on the type of therapy he offers; does anyone have experience of or anecdata around Core Process?
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Our parked car was involved in a Hit & Run accident. Their car was undrivable and abandoned at the scene. There are witnesses! Yay! The owner of the car claims to the detectives they did not hit our car. She lives a block away from us and works in our industry. Our Insurance company (AAA) is moving slowly. Now what? It's complicated. Snowflakes inside.This is a two part question. Part Human Relations and part Law and Government. The facts: A newer, higher end brand and model car hit our parked car. Our neighbor witnessed the accident. Her car was not drivable afterwards. She spoke to our neighbor, seemed to be calling for help on her cell, he went to get pen and paper to get her insurance info - she disappeared and did not return to her vehicle, which was impounded by the police 4 hours later. The registration for the car is in an adjacent neighborhood, but the car itself has a parking permit sticker for our neighborhood. Interwebs give us two different addresses for the owner - one in the adjacent neighborhood that matches the registration, one a block away from our house that likely matches the parking permit. Yes, the police have the info from the parking sticker. The owner of the car went into the police station and claimed, she did not hit our car. We don't know if she has a lawyer. Google has given us this woman's addresses, her business info, and Facebook. We checked with the businesses on the corner about their surveillance video of the parking lot near the accident site - poor quality video shows someone resembling the owner of the car getting into a vehicle that matches the shape and color of the car that hit ours minutes before the accident, but the license plate is unclear. The parking sticker placement matches the car that hit ours. Another business may have better video, but the police and our insurance company will have to make a formal request for that. Meanwhile... We've casually been inquiring of people walking their dogs in the neighborhood, and identified someone who likely witnessed the exchange between the driver and our neighbor before she ran off. Is it OK to put up signs asking for additional witnesses, which are needed at this time? Additionally, it turns out this person works in our industry and holds a high executive position, where we are small business owners. Plus, whether she lives a block away or just up the hill in a different parking district, we still all go to the same market, gym, coffee shops, etc.. It's likely our paths have crossed, that we know people in common, or that she has been a customer of ours once or twice. If she had just given our neighbor her insurance info, none of this legal stuff would have happened. Now, we have to pursue the criminal hit & run case if we want to get our car fixed under our uninsured motorist policy, or take this person to small claims court, since we only had basic liability on the car that was hit. The damage is $4,000 to repair. Our car is worth between $4,000 and $5,000, depending on BlueBook and claims adjusters. Our car was the top of the line for its make and model year, but has high mileage. We do not know what to do. If this goes under our "uninsured motorist" coverage, our very good insurance company (with which we have full coverage for our second vehicle) will become our adversary. When should we get a lawyer? $4,000, with no physical injuries, seems not worth a lawyer. Yet, we are looking at a situation where our car has lost considerable value, regardless. I'm tempted to paper the neighborhood with requests for witnesses, both so that she will see them, and that it will support our claim. That's the human relations part, and the law and government part. If we have her insurance info, we won't need to press charges on the hit & run. We've never been involved with a hit & run before. What is your experience and best advice? Thank you.
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Please share your non-traditional Christmas/winter holiday traditions.My family (me, sibling, two parents) just lost our last living grandparent - with whom we were all very close - and now we basically have no extended family. Since I was a kid, we've always done Christmas at our "country" house with visiting grandparents, but now that we have no living grandparents I find myself getting depressed by the idea of doing our usual Christmas with "just" the four of us and without my amazing grandmother. At least for this year, I'd like to try something different for the holiday instead of doing the thing where we pretend we haven't suffered a huge loss and that Christmas without relatives isn't super-lonely. Soooo...I'd love to hear any non-traditional Christmas/winter holiday traditions that we might adapt and find meaningful. Possibly important: * My brother, parents, and I live near each other in NYC and we're a very close-knit family * We are not religious; we celebrate Christmas as a time for family togetherness. * We are open to travel. * We do not care about gifts at all.
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This is happening in California. I am helping a friend find his way through a legal morass. He hired an attorney who came highly recommended by two acquaintances. His attorney agreed to sue a mortgage bank for fraud, prevent foreclosure, make a new loan workout, and sue for other damages (incredible emotional distress). Unfortunately, the attorney has completely flaked; committed multiple no-shows (fined four times by the judge and referred by judge to State Bar for sanction); and my friend's case was actually dismissed by the judge for the last no-show, only to be reversed by the judge because my friend accidentally happened to be in court that day to watch his proceeding, and pleaded for a continuance. The judge in this case even suggested my friend get another attorney, as she (the judge) reversed the dismissal.The attorney has also turned out to be incredibly unethical; she never returned calls (only three calls in 16 months), and is extremely elusive. She (the attorney) also revealed some details of my friend's case to one of the acquaintances that recommended the attorney! The attorney has become mostly uncommunicative, and now denies in emails that he was supposed to do anything but forestall the foreclosure. The attorney has agressively insinuated negative things about my friend, in email, and insists that she has done what she was hired to do. The attorney has not agreed to meet, in spite of multiple requests to do so. My friend is from another country, and thought he could trust this attorney because she came recommended by known acquaintances. My friend is not a "helicopter client"; he has trusted his attorney, but has was never informed about details of the case, and has been led down a deceptive, primrose path to potentially losing his home. More: 1) My friend has paid all but $500.00 of a $12,000.00 retainer. He doesn't want to give this attorney another dime, but the original contract says the attorney can place a lien on my friend's house for non-payment. 2) How do we get rid of this attorney and get my friend's legal papers back? Is it possible to get the fee back from this flake attorney? Can my friend sue this attorney for damages if he loses his home - not just for the fee, but for the amount of his loss in the home, if he loses the home? 3) Is it possible, once a case like this has been started, that the plaintiff (a non-lawyer) can take on the case himself? Maybe I can help him (I'm not a lawyer). Is that advisable? My friend is attempting is a loan workout for a house that was never underwater. The incredible details of the fraud perpetrated by the mortgage bank (including a literal admission of illegal activity by one of the bank's loan officers) are all available. I was also a witness to the bank's multiple deceptions. 4) My friend is beside himself, because his home WAS sold to another bank at auction, several months ago, in spite of the promise to place an injunction against foreclosure by his lame attorney. When my friend found out about this, his attorney said, "don't worry, everything will be OK. Now the attorney is telling my friend that he will lose his case and that all she did her job by delaying the foreclosure (btw, the house is not underwater; there is a substantial of equity in the home). My friend's attorney is just plain lying. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
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Mice are naturally fearful of exploring open spaces, where they are vulnerable to predators. When placed in Tye's four-armed maze, they would spend most of their time in the two arms protected by high walls, occasionally poking a nose out to explore. But when Tye switched on the light and activated the circuit in her subject's brain, the mouse ventured out, exploring the open part of the maze with no visible anxiety.
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Copyright Criminals , the 2009 PBS Documentary, discusses the complex artistic and legal history of sampling in music, featuring interviews with both the samplers (Chuck D, De La Soul, Shock G, El-P, DJ Qbert) and the sampled (George Clinton and Clyde Stubblefield). via egotrip
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If you're thinking about being bitten by a coral snake in the United States, you may want to do so before the end of the month. October 31, 2012 is the extended-extended-extended-expiration date for batch 4030026 of the only FDA-approved antivenin for coral snake bites. (Antivenin shortages are not uncommon, surprisingly enough.) FDA-approved coral snake antivenin has not been available new since 2003, as Wyeth Pharmaceuticals ceased its manufacture, citing a lack of profit. Antivenin from non-FDA-approved sources exists, but the $3-5M estimated cost of FDA approval (borne by the manufacturer) and the few doses used per year mean it's a non-starter for the manufacturer of Coralmyn, for example. Coral snakes are shy and would rather flee than bite the roughly 100 people per year in the US they do. But about three quarters of those bites introduce venom, and that's Serious Business; there is little localized pain, but death by respiratory failure can follow anywhere from 2 hours to a couple of days later. Untreated bites have a mortality rate of roughly 10%.
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A blue cloud of smoke wafted over the Famous Five statue that sits just east of the Senate doors. No one seemed to be going insane or looking like they were about to personally invade the United States. There were people of all colours in the crowd, but if any of them were members of The Ring, they hid it well. The peaceful demonstrators were, however, breaking the law, smoking a banned substance that could in theory have landed any one of them in prison. Emily Murphy's legacy lives on in more ways than most care to remember.
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Tigers in Nepal's Chitwan National Park have taken the 'night shift,' apparently to coexist with people.(Youtube)
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Please help me overcome this weird language hump I have with CSS.Design student, currently enrolled in interactive design class. Part of that class is learning some basic CSS. For some reason I'm having issues with it. I'd just teach myself [like I do with most things] but I can't even really explain where the issue is. I don't even know what I don't know. With html, I understood it on such a fundamental level that I could figure things out on my own. I could read an html document and translate it like a language. I just *got* it. With CSS, I can sort of read through it and figure out through deductive reasoning what it's doing. But as soon as I go to write some on my own, my brain goes "hrrrrrrrrr". This is a very weird feeling for me that's never happened before. My partner says I have a degree in Fucking With Shit. I can usually look at something and just figure out how it works and replicate it. But not with css. I just don't get the language. So, the basics. I need them. I need it explained to me like I'm 7. Like, in English: an adjective goes before a noun, and the verb usually goes after the noun. But for CSS.
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In Canada, what kind of (government) disability benefits can a separated, self employed person qualify for and how?The individual in question has been separated from an abusive partner for a couple of years. She is the parent of two young children, both who have health issues. She also has long-term health issues that are sometimes debilitating. In spite of all this, she has soldiered on with her business. However, this year, her earnings have dropped to below $10,000 -- they have plummeted and that's before she even takes out expenses, let alone stuff like childcare. She keeps thinking that her health will turn around, but it seems to be one thing after another. She receives both child support and spousal support from her former partner. From what she can tell, she couldn't get provincial disability benefits, because her child support and spousal support would be too high. The spousal support was calculated based on her earnings a few years ago. She knows she needs to go back to a lawyer and also discuss spousal support with her ex. However, she has asked what her options are for disability from the government. She's not currently opted into EI through her business, but wonders if it would make sense to do so for this year (although her income is incredibly low and there's probably a one-yer waiting period anyway). Also, she wonders if she would have to give up her business to get disability. This is frustrating, as she sometimes is very healthy for days, weeks or months. Sometimes, she can still do a small amount of work. And she's hopeful that she can turn things around. Normally, she earns far more than $10k a year and suspects that there is no sort of government disability that would be worth giving up her business for. A friend suggested she could incorporate and keep the earnings in the business and collect disability that way. To be clear, she is not trying to scam the system. She is just someone dealing with long-term health issues and a lack of benefits (she has had one of her major illnesses since teen years and can't get typical disability through self coverage). She knows she can't get welfare, since she has assets. She just doesn't want to find out that there were options she didn't know about. It would be emotionally devastating to walk away from a business that, in many ways, is very successful, given all the health issues she has worked through. Thanks for your time. I'll be posting in the thread for her.
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Therapist recommendations in Orange County / South LA. Specifically for procrastination and laziness issues.I'm nearly very successful, but I can't seem to work quite hard enough. Let me be clear. I'm not someone who's working 50 hours a week, and needs to up it to 100 hours. I have months where I'll barely work 20 decent hours in the whole month. I'm fantastic at the last minute multi-hour last minute cram, but that's no way to live. I'm talented and good at what I do. Better than a lot of people who work harder than I do. I'm productive enough in those 20 hours to keep an apartment rented, my own business running, my utilities paid, and my life chugging along. I know if I could just get myself working regular, full time 40 hours a week I'd be much, much more successful. But at age 40 I haven't been able to manage that. And it's not that I'm enjoying the time I spend lazing around either. I mostly sit around, surf the internet, read, and feel bad that I'm not working like I feel I should. Maybe it's depression, but I don't think so. I work out regularly. Have no trouble sleeping or getting out of bed. I have an ok social life and so on. I really think it's procrastination and a lack of "work ethic"/laziness. And I'm sick of it. I've read books like the "Now Habit", and while interesting haven't gotten me where I want to be. But when I think about where I could be in my life if I consistently worked a 40 hour week I'm disgusted with myself. I want to change, but can't quite get there. (In the past, with a boss looking over my shoulder I have no problem working 40+ hours at a high level, but can't manage it myself. So I know it's something that I can do.) What I'm looking for is a reasonably priced therapist in the Orange County/South LA area (well, I'll drive farther for someone fantastic) who can help me get to the point where I'm self motivated enough to work a regular 40 hour week without the threat of a boss looming over me, tracking my hours, and saying I may get fired. I won't get fired. I work for myself. My clients love me because I get them great results. Other people in my field recommend me to people they can't help. I'm good at what I do. But I know I'm wasting my prime earning years and I need to make bank now so I can retire someday. And, mostly, I just want to be better. I know I can be, but I can't quite get there. So please, let me know who's helped you. I'm wary of the effectiveness of therapists, I see lots of bad/useless ones in my work, so I may not be the best patient. But I do want to change. I'm approach agnostic. CBT. Fine, if it does the job. Freudian psychoanalysis. The same. I just want something that works, someone who's competent and effective. Thanks in advance.
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My family has an ongoing joke about finding the Chistmas spider. Help me find songs that mention spiders!The joke started to help my sister react more calmly when finding a spider in the newly cut Christmas tree - oh, don't worry, it's just the Christmas Spider! She's still afraid of spiders, but has taken well to a couple cutesy spider presents I've given her over the years. This year I'd like to make her a mixed CD of songs that have spiders in the lyrics. Doesn't have to be much of a reference - got the idea from one mention of spiders in a Neko Case song, Fever. Not looking for scary Halloweeny creepy crawlies or too-cute itsy bitsy spiders. Ideally she'll listen to most of the CD before she notices what connects the songs.
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Where should I live: Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, or Utah? Or beyond?I'm teaching overseas at the moment. I'd like to return to the US and continue teaching. It seems like the most efficient, affordable route I've discovered is though the ABCTE program. (http://www.abcte.org/teach) I'm about ready to take the plunge on doing the program (although other suggestions are welcome), but I'm not sure what state to choose to live in. ABCTE is recognized in 11 states, and out of those, I think I'm interested in Utah, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. I've been to both PA and Utah, but not to New Hampshire, although I've been around New Hampshire and I like that area. So, if you have experiences in these places, where should I live? Lifestyle wise, things that are important to me are: - Great art and theatre. I've been living remote for over five years now, and I miss going to plays and museums more than anything. I really want to be close to a good artistic center. - Walkable. I'd prefer not to have a car. - Affordable, safe place downtown. I guess this goes with being walkable. I'd like to live in an accessible area that's near a lot of things and public transport to get to work. - Climate is not a huge issue. I've lived in super hot states, and I've lived in very cold states, and I can do either pretty easily. I love to ski, but I like going to the beach, and all of the things in between, basically. Work wise, I'm not sure. I've only worked at one US elementary school. It was low-income, and a fairly small student population but with large classes. It was OK, but I didn't love it. Thanks for any advice on this.
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The Pacific War Photographs of Pfc Glenn W. Eve — "In the summer of 1942, the U.S. Army called up a skinny California boy barely out of his teens. But at 5'9'' and 125 pounds, Private Glenn W. Eve was deemed unfit for combat. He might have spent the duration of World War II at a desk, except that he had field skills the Army needed – he was a gifted artist, draftsman and photographer who'd spent the previous four years working for the Walt Disney Co. In July 1944, they promoted him to private first class (Pfc) and assigned him to the Signal Photo Corps, bound for the Pacific to document the war. This is his collection, never before published. All comments in quotes are Pfc Eve's, written on the back of the photo."
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For how long and in what unforeseen ways will the making of a fake ID continue to haunt me?You are not my lawyer: In Illinois in the mid 80's when I was 18 or 19 years old, I was arrested during a bar raid for underaged drinking. I had a fake ID at the time that I had made in my own name which the police took. They asked me right then if it was fake and I said yes. Flash forward to early 90's when I went to apply for a state ID and was told to wait off to the side because I had to answer secretary of state's questions (3 or 4 questions akin to, 'do you plan to distribute/sell/create false IDs to minors..' type of thing). The woman at the DVM who handled this told me it was forgery and that I would have to do this every time I applied for an ID for the rest of my life. She said something else regarding what would happen if I ever applied for a driver's license–but whatever it was that she said, I've completely forgotten it. I had no need to obtain a license at the time and figured I never would. A few years later when I went to re-new my state ID, the same phone call with questions happened. But, when I went to re-new my state ID this, the most recent time (2009) nothing happened. I didn't ask anyone at the DMV 'why' because I was so happy and didn't want to rock the boat. I assumed that either enough time had elapsed or the law had changed (or that first woman from the DMV in the early 90's was exaggerating about having to check in with the sec of state 'for the rest of my life' for cruel effect). My problem now is that I suddenly need to go get a driver's license for work reasons. There's really no way around it. But, as I was studying the Rules of the Road today, I got to the section on Revoking and Denial and had this awful sinking feeling. There was a bullet point regarding the making of fraudulent IDs under both of those headings. It mentioned that it would be a year before one was allowed to 're-apply' for a license after it being revoked. It also suggested that it might be permanently revoked. It was not clear. Now, I'm scared that I will be out and out denied or cancelled or something. I searched google and am horrified to find that making fake IDs is currently considered a felony in certain states (it definitely wasn't considered a felony 25 years ago–or I would have done time in jail–right?!). I should mention that I wasn't ever charged with making a fake ID or for forgery. As well, my charges (everyone's) for the bar raid/underage drinking were dropped due to some glitch or technicality. The fact that the fake ID came back to haunt me when it did was a complete surprise. I feel worried and irrational and want to be prepared for what might happen--if anything. Will I be flat out denied a diver's license? Revoked? Is that even possible? This is 25 years later. I have never been arrested or in trouble with the law since. I have never applied for a driver's license before. Does anyone have any idea what I might expect? I can't afford a lawyer and there are weirdly few people I feel ok talking to about this. Is there anything I can do to make this go better? Am I going way overboard or is this going to wind up with me in serious trouble (like with a felony on my record) or simply unable to attain a driver's license? Help! Thanks, Mefi!
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