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With Marvel's Thor getting released in America next weekend, earlier today I got to sit down with Kevin Feige (the President of Production at Marvel Studios) at the Los Angeles press junket for Thor. While I could have asked about how Thor came together and what it was like to make the movie, I previously posted a huge on set interview where he discussed all of those subjects. So I decided to use my time to talk about the future of Marvel and what are some of the cool Easter Eggs in Thor.
Of course that's not all that we talked about, as we also discussed Iron Man 3, The Avengers, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, why did they cut out a mention of Hank Pym in Thor, what exactly is in Odin's Vault (and what's missing), what is Marvel doing at Comic-Con, was the filming last week in Times Square for Captain America or The Avengers, why did Thor get released internationally a few weeks early, and he reveals "there will be a Marvel animated movie at some point."
Trust me, if you're a fan of Marvel movies, you really want to hit the jump.
While I strongly recommend reading/listening to the entire interview, here's a few highlights from the conversation.
There is a scene in Odin's Vault in Thor. As some of you know, Odin's Vault is filled with the wonders of the Nine Realms. While on set, Feige told us the Vault would play a role in future Marvel movies. Recently, people have speculated that an object inside ties into a Doctor Strange movie. I asked Feige is that was true and also what exactly is in the Vault.
"I'm not sure about Doctor Strange in particular. Oh, I know what they are talking about. That is not Doctor Strange. It is right out of Thor. It is right out of the first Tales of Asgard stories. I think it's called "The Warlock's Eye" I think it is verbatim what [Jack] Kirby drew. I think those are the scenes. There is other coverage and stuff where we lingered on those things longer but again "Why are you lingering on that stuff? It has nothing to do with the movie." "Oh, but it's cool. People will recognize it." You can't do it. But everything in that vault and everything you might see if you pause and look behind people's shoulders or as the Einherjar soldiers are walking past – everyone of those has a story and it is from the books. There is Thanos' glove, or certainly a glove that looks like it could be Thanos' gauntlet, is in there for sure. The Warlock's Eye thing is in there. There are some swords. There is a sword there that may or may not be eternal. There are a number of things. There is even one, and in fact I'm not sure if you can see this in the movie or not, but there is one that is empty. There was one sort of subchamber of the vault that didn't have anything in it. So the question is "What used to be in it?""
So the big question is…what exactly is missing from the Vault because that is probably the key to the next Marvel movie.
We also discussed when are they going to announce what's coming in 2013 and 2014. He revealed that he is meeting with Edgar Wright tomorrow about Ant-Man. Says "he has the best draft yet and I think we could be in shape to do it."
With a lot of people wondering what's up with The Avengers, I asked did they really start filming last Monday. He confirms that was the first day. He then told me the first unit will be film 80 to 100 days and second unit is filming 50 days. They will be filming until September. He then revealed "the first day of The Avengers included Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson."
After talking about how impressive the trailer is for Transformers 3, Feige talked about the Helicarrier in The Avengers!
"You look at something like that and you go, "That is gigantic. That is huge. That is awesome. Wow. Boy, we have to equal that." Literally an hour later I go into the dailies of The Avengers from the first few days of dailies. I saw Sam Jackson as Nick Fury in a slightly redesigned outfit with the eye patch turning around on the bridge of the Helicarrier and I went, "Oh. That is cooler than anything else. That one shot. That one thing." I'm not worried anymore."
Regarding the status of Marvel on TV, Feige said:
"I think Marvel on television went from a "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we got to that someday?" to "it's going to be happening in the not too distant future.""
Will there ever be a Pixar/Marvel movie? While that seems unlikely, he did say:
"I think there will be a Marvel animated movie at some point."
The way he spoke, it sounds like the animated movie will be made at Walt Disney and not Pixar.
As I said a few times, if you're a fan of Marvel movies and curious what's going on behind the scenes, I think you're going to enjoy this interview. As usual, I'm offering it two ways: you can either click here for the audio, or here's the full transcript. Look for more Thor interviews all week.
Collider: The thing that strikes me about Thor is that it came out internationally a week or two before America. What is it going to take, especially in this age of piracy, to be day and date around the planet for future Marvel movies?
Kevin Feige: Well, it could be…the studios are the ones that control this and set the dates. So Thor could've easily have been a day and date release. But the experts at Paramount, I don't want say this viciously because they are experts at this, said that we would do better if we opened two weeks before to take advantage of the 6 day holiday that happens in Australia and to take advantage of certain holidays that were happening in the U.K. So far, I don't if you have seen the numbers today but we are number one internationally now, they seem to be right. It's all part of the strategy, but filmmakers like myself go, "Oh, but what about piracy?! What do you mean two weeks before the United States?!" and they go, "It's a big planet. It's not just the United States. It's the whole word", which is true. The U.S. counts for half and maybe sometimes less than half of the total worldwide box office. So you sort of have to follow their lead on these things. Now, we as Americans are for the first time feeling what the people around the world feel and it doesn't feel good. "What do you mean it's not out until two weeks for us?! I want to see it now!" So it's a unique experience for us a film fan, and it's scary as hell as a filmmaker. But I trust that these people that have an unprecedented track record for over the past 5 years, who certainly served us well with the start of the first Iron Man film, know what they are doing.
Collider: One of the things that I know by looking at the trailers and some of the footage that you released awhile ago is that there are definitely deleted scenes for Thor. How much stuff did you guys cut to get your two hour running time and is Marvel ever looking into doing extended editions on home video?
Feige: What are you remembering?
I think a few shots of the Destroyer and I was talking to [co-producer] Craig Kyle and he was mentioning to me that there might have been a reference to Hank Pym in the movie that might've been taken out.
Feige: That scene is in the movie. Literally the only thing we took out were the words "Hank Pym". It was when Selvig, Darcy, and Jane are on the roof and S.H.I.E.L.D. has just taken all of their stuff. Darcy is complaining about her laptop and Jane is going, "Who the hell are these guys anyway?" Selvig then tells a story, which is clearly alluding to Bruce Banner, that he knew a gamma scientist and this thing happened and S.H.I.E.L.D. came up, which he had never heard of again. Selvig may or may not have all of his facts straight on that, but those are the rumors that go around the science world there. He goes, "I have a friend who has had experiences with these people. Let me email him." That friend is Hank Pym. But we took out "Hank Pym" because it felt like, "Banner! Hank!" We were just like, "Enough."
I think that this film is very strong with mentioning other things in the Marvel universe without hitting people over the head with it.
Feige: Well, that reference we felt was one too many times over the head, which is why we pulled it out. In terms of extended editions for DVDs? Yes. Home video always has long lead plans to do things like that. There will be deleted scenes on the Blu-ray for sure. I don't know if there will be more or less than any other movie. When you said, "Were scenes deleted to get down to the running time?" No scenes were. We didn't say, "This movie has to be two hours. Let's take out as much until it gets to two hours." If the movie played at three hours, it would be three hours. If it played a two ten, it would be two ten. If it played at 92 minutes like the first X-Men did, it would be 92 minutes. This running time, which I think is just under two hours or a little over two hours with the credits and tag at the end, was what the best version of the movie was. You've seen more deleted scenes on DVDs than I have I'm sure, and sometimes they are great and you go, "Why isn't this in the movie?!" and sometimes you go, "I know why that wasn't in the movie." Even the scenes where you go, "This was great. Why wasn't this in the movie?" If you actually then watch it in the course of the movie, and not being a film fan like us who just love anything, sometimes it sets the…Kenneth [Branagh}is very tone, pace, and is very regimented about that, and he is right. Sometimes you can have a great scene but if just doesn't need to be in the movie. If it's not progressing the plot, not progressing the story, not adding to the momentum, or if it's not purposefully serving a breath – it has got to go.
This has to be gratifying for you. This film and Green Lantern this summer are the two films that are really pushing the doors for comic book movies. How gratifying is for you are the really solid and great reviews and also the box office in terms of what it might do for the future of Marvel?
Feige: It hasn't opened yet, but certainly all of the signs seem very positive right now. This more than any film, and Kenneth Branagh and I were just talking about this, is "Are people going to go for it?" We think it's cool and we like the ride, but are people going to go for it? Are people going to go for the cape, the horses, the Rainbow Bridge, the observatory, Heimdall, the helmets, and the hammers? Clearly, we made the movie in a way that we felt would be inviting to people whether they knew if any of that stuff was or not so that they could follow the story and get into the story. It is extremely gratifying that that seems to be the case. It really is. I remember sitting in this room for the junket of Iron Man 2 and people were going, "How the hell are you going to do Thor? How are you going to fit Thor into the Iron Man world? It doesn't make any sense!" I said, "Well, I think it could be done." I'm very happy that people seem to be responding to that. What does it mean to the future of Marvel? Well, any success means that we can continue to make films and we can continue to get out of the comfort zone. The comfort zone of "I'm a normal person. Ow. I got bit by a spider or hit by gamma rays." There is more than that in the Marvel universe. Those are great by the way and they are the foundations of the Marvel universe, but then you can start moving into "What if there was a sorcerer supreme? What if there is a country in Africa that is incredibly advanced? What if there was a city under the sea?" You can just keep expanding as it was done in the comics and audiences will go along with us. I haven't seen Green Lantern yet, but you are right to point that Thor is one of those…as I have been saying for years "We are now trying to go to the cosmic side of the Marvel universe." Are people going to come with us? Are the people who are used to seeing the Spider-Man or Iron Man? For as non-traditional as Iron Man is, he is kind of traditional. He's got a suit and he has super powers. They just come from the suit instead of him. I'm very pleased that people are responding to it.
Comic Con is bigger than ever. We are not that far way from this year's edition. How much do you guys think in the executive level about what you are going to do at Comic Con this year and how you are going to raise the bar from last year after having the whole cast of The Avengers come out?
Feige: It's an ongoing discussion that often starts just after the last con. There are a lot of discussions going on now. It depends on the schedule, the strategy, and what is going on. The answer right now is that I don't know for this year's Comic Con.
I definitely want to ask you about Odin's vault.
Feige: Yes.
When we were on set you mentioned a whole bunch of things. Was any of Odin's vault removed from the final movie or was that actually what you just filmed? I believe when we were walking through there you were like, "Well, this was Odin's vault. There was this here and this here and this might even lead to maybe Doctor Strange." It was stuff like that. People online are saying that there might be an Easter egg or two that might be a little Doctor Strange thing in the movie.
Feige: I'm not sure about Doctor Strange in particular. Oh, I know what they are talking about. That is not Doctor Strange. It is right out of Thor. It is right out of the first Tales of Asgard stories. I think it's called "The Warlock's Eye" I think it is verbatim what [Jack] Kirby drew. I think those are the scenes. There is other coverage and stuff where we lingered on those things longer but again "Why are you lingering on that stuff? It has nothing to do with the movie." "Oh, but it's cool. People will recognize it." You can't do it. But everything in that vault and everything you might see if you pause and look behind people's shoulders or as the Einherjar soldiers are walking past – everyone of those has a story and it is from the books. There is Thanos' glove, or certainly a glove that looks like it could be Thanos' gauntlet, is in there for sure. The Warlock's Eye thing is in there. There are some swords. There is a sword there that may or may not be eternal. There are a number of things. There is even one, and in fact I'm not sure if you can see this in the movie or not, but there is one that is empty. There was one sort of subchamber of the vault that didn't have anything in it. So the question is "What used to be in it?"
I mentioned Doctor Strange and we know that Edgar Wright is writing Ant-Man and has turned in a draft. You guys are obviously doing The Avengers next year, but this is obviously a beast that needs to be fed especially with your partnership with Disney. When do you think you guys will announce what is coming up in 2013 or 2014?
Feige: It probably won't be too long from now as we are figuring that out now. Clearly, if you look at the Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the X-Men films, two or three years between sequels is usually what we like to do. You don't know if you are making sequels till the movies come out or not. So I will say that there is flux in what the release schedule could be for 2013, 2014, and maybe 2015. Then we hope to…I'm meeting with Edgar Wright tomorrow morning. It is the longest…I said to Edgar, "You didn't realize it was like 5 years ago or maybe more than that that we met at Comic Con?" But he has the best draft yet and I think we could be in shape to do it. It's a luxury that it has been allowed to live and breathe like that. It's not where it was just racing to a release date. Iron Man 3 is for sure. We are actively putting it together right now. What happens beyond that? We will see. But for the first time…frankly, when we did Iron Man and Hulk we had two movies in development – Iron Man and Hulk. Now, there is more of a selection. So we can go, "What scripts are we feeling good about? What properties do we now feel that we want to bring into the forefront?"
I definitely have to say that I am ridiculously excited about Shane Black being on Iron Man 3.
Feige: Oh, good!
Everyone online is just beyond excited that he is doing it. Did you realize when you brought him in that there was going to be such fan enthusiasm for this man to take over?
Feige: Like when we announced Robert [Downey Jr.], I always thought that there would be some people who got it and some people would be like, "Well, that is weird. Let's see what happens." I was surprised when certainly the fanboy community got it right away with Robert. I should've known they would've gotten it right away with Shane.
There was a lot of talk that The Avengers started filming the other day, but then the actors are here. Some people are saying that it starts in a few weeks. When exactly has The Avengers started filming?
Feige: It started filming last Monday. Definitively last Monday in Albuquerque.
So it's just that certain actors are not being used yet?
Feige: Yes. On any movie it's a rarity to have all of the actors in every shot and every scene. Clearly, we are making both movies. So we scheduled things knowing that [Chris] Hemsworth and [Tom] Hiddleston would be here now while [Chris] Evans is here promoting Captain America. He won't be shooting The Avengers so we balanced a very difficult…it's a house of cards with this shooting schedule. But it did start last Monday.
How long is the shoot for The Avengers?
Feige: Most of our movies go for about 80 to 100 days. I think The Avengers falls right in the middle of that somewhere. That is for first unit and then it could be anywhere upwards to 50 days for second unit. But we will be going through September.
You guys filmed in Times Square the other day.
Feige: We did.
That was everywhere.
Feige: [sarcastically] How did you know about that?!
Exactly. There was a lot of conjecture if that was for Captain America or The Avengers? Or was that for both? What can you tell people about that?
Feige: I like that conjecture. I'm glad that is the conjecture. Here is what I will tell you, the first day of The Avengers included Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson. They were the two actors there on the first day of The Avengers shoot. That doesn't mean that is the beginning of the movie and that doesn't mean that is the Times Square scene, but they were first up. I will tell you…let me tell you a little story. Filmmakers are anxious about what other people are working on. Have you seen the Transformers trailer yet?
Yeah. It blew my mind.
Feige: It is unbelievable. You look at something like that and you go, "That is gigantic. That is huge. That is awesome. Wow. Boy, we have to equal that." Literally an hour later I go into the dailies of The Avengers from the first few days of dailies. I saw Sam Jackson as Nick Fury in a slightly redesigned outfit with the eye patch turning around on the bridge of the Helicarrier and I went, "Oh. That is cooler than anything else. That one shot. That one thing." I'm not worried anymore.
What is it going to take to get Michael Bay into the Marvel universe now that he is done with Transformers?
Feige: I don't know. We will see. Is he really done with Transformers?
Yeah. This is his last one. His schedule opens. It's something to think about. I'm just throwing that out there.
Feige: Wow. Interesting.
We talked last year about Marvel doing TV. So what is it going to take to get Marvel on TV?
Feige: I don't know if you have ever spoken to Jeff Loeb, but he is actively working on it. People always ask about Disney. "How is the change? What does that mean? What is happening with Disney?" From my side, I have a few more partners that I can turn to and get things we might need for the movies, but not much has changed on the movie side. TV is where it is going to make all of the difference. I think Marvel on television went from a "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we got to that someday?" to "it's going to be happening in the not too distant future."
Does that mean that we might get some announcements at Comic Con? Or is it something that you guys are still trying to figure out what will be the right property?
Feige: I think like movies, they have things in development. I don't frankly know the world of TV. I know pilot season and when that is and things coming together. All I know is that whenever pilot season is again, which I don't know, there will be Marvel properties that will be candidates to go into those pilots. But Loeb is the guy to talk to and if there are any announcements made at Comic Con he will be the one making them.
John Lasseter recently said that there will not be a Marvel/Pixar movie. Is that for sure? Because that is a marriage that I think would be the greatest thing ever.
Feige: Let me put it this way, I think there will be a Marvel animated movie at some point. I think that would be cool. I think becoming part of the Walt Disney company and have 8,000 plus characters and have that not become a reality? Whether that is Pixar or not…Marvel is about existing Marvel IP. Pixar, at least as far as I know, is about original IP. None of those are based on anything are they?
They are original ideas.
Feige: I think we have been pretty successful bringing the Marvel characters to life and clearly they have been pretty successful in coming up with new stuff for every new movie or making sequels to their successful stuff. So I don't know why they would change that.
I have to ask you. Since you are planning an animated movie, are you looking at CGI or are you looking at hand drawn?
Feige: I'm not saying we are planning an animated movie. Of course, there have been those kind of "What if…?" discussions. Aren't they all CG now?
Disney is still doing some hand drawn stuff.
Feige: I don't know. We will see.
For more on Thor, click here for all our previous coverage.


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Oh, my God – Reality TV is killing catchphrases!
That's the not-so dy-no-mite! realization we arrived at this week amid news of two separate legal battles involving reality show "stars" trying to protect – and profit from – their often inane utterances.
The Situation reignited his mutually publicity friendly feud with Abercrombie & Fitch – which offered to pay him to stop wearing its clothing on "Jersey Shore" – by suing the retailer. Reuters reports the fist-pumper is irked by, among other things, shirts emblazoned with "The Fitchuation" and "GTL" (a "Shore"-inspired acronym for "gym, tan and laundry").
Meanwhile, the New York Post notes that "Storage Wars" character Dave Hester (no known relation to this writer) is in a war of words with rapper Trey Songz over "Yuuup!" Hester's T-shirt-ready exclamation is apparently similar to the rapper's signature sound (question: Will all be resolved if Hester drops or adds a "U?").
Our first impulse is to say, "You're fired!" to the whole bunch, but Donald Trump might get on our case. We'll leave the legal implications to others – we see the suits as more signs of how pervasive and ingrained Reality TV shows have become in the popular culture.
Catchphrases are entertainment mysteries, worming their way into our collective consciousness, usually defying any explanation – not that there's anything wrong with that. They can, for better or worse, define careers ("What you talkin' about, Willis?") or become part of the language ("Yada, yada, yada").
In years past, catchphrases generally arose from scripted programs, giving us memorable connections to favorite shows, a shorthand reference to latch onto ("That's what she said!").
The legal wranglings reflect a larger shift away from well-written entertainment toward (ostensibly) non-scripted shows of varying quality. The junk that fills the entertainment gap has become fodder for verbal memes that are harder to permanently get rid of than Kenny from "South Park."
To paraphrase "The Bachelor," that's a thorny rose we're not quite ready to accept.
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Jewish Studies Steering Committee invites applications for funding in support of teaching and research in any area related to Jewish history or culture – broadly defined to include all academic disciplines. We especially encourage studies and projects which do any of the following: cross disciplinary boundaries, illuminate Jewish cultural diversity; investigate historical and contemporary encounters and relationships between Jews and other cultural groups.
Curriculum development might include the creation of a new course focused on a topic related to Jewish Studies, or it might involve the introduction or enhancement of Jewish-related content in appropriate courses or in the curriculum as a whole.
Support is available for ongoing research projects or for the initiation of new ones.
These grants should be seen as supplements to the financial
support already available through faculty travel allowances and
grants for research and curriculum development (see the Faculty
Resource Guide for details).
Suggested categories for which you might ask support:
- Travel, fees and other expenses connected with participation or attendance at scholarly or professional meetings, courses or workshops which will enhance your teaching related to Jewish Studies
- Travel and other expenses for your own research related to Jewish Studies
- Purchase of books, course materials and supplies for curriculum development and research related to Jewish Studies
- Membership fees for related scholarly and professional organizations
Applications are welcomed from any interested faculty and staff member. For further information or to request an application form contact Rebecca Lesses, Coordinator of Jewish Studies, Muller 413 (phone 274-3556). Completed applications should be sent to the following address: firstname.lastname@example.com. You may also download the application form from the Jewish Studies website.
Applications for the fall semester should be submitted
by December 1, and for the spring semester should be submitted by
March 15. Applications should be submitted with at least
three weeks notice and will be reviewed by the Jewish Studies
Steering Committee on a rolling basis, and candidates will be
informed of the results as soon as decisions are made.
We invite all interested faculty and staff to join us in contributing to a curriculum and a scholarly community at IC that accepts, reflects and celebrates cultural diversity.


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Street Sweeping Helps Protect Our Environment
Minneapolis completes a thorough cleaning of all 1,100 miles of city streets and parkways twice a year (more than 400 miles of alleys are also swept during the spring sweep). Our goal is to keep our City clean and our neighborhoods livable.
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The spring sweep removes sand from the streets (put down for snow and ice control over the winter) as well all the accumulated trash, and other debris. The fall sweep is primarily to remove debris as well as accumulated leaves from clogging or entering storm drains which can result in localized flooding, and may create a hazard for vehicles and pedestrians.
Leaves are natural - yet decomposing leaves on streets and sidewalks can wash into storm drains and eventually end up in Minneapolis' lakes, streams and the Mississippi River. Leaves and nutrients over-fertilize lake water and encourage harmful aquatic plants and algae to thrive. The result is murky lake water that isn't good for swimming and fishing and which harms wildlife.
Minneapolis also routinely sweeps its streets during the rest of the season, but generally without requiring that vehicles be moved. However, the spring and fall comprehensive, citywide sweeps are conducted with parking enforcement in order to provide for the two required curb-to-curb sweeps.
Last updated Sep 27, 2011


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Hello everyone.
We are happy to announce the launch of a brand new website dedicated to our new control bar system, the UNI.
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The official Blade website will be launched in the upcoming weeks, so be sure to check back in to see what else we got planned.


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Announcing a new release of Biatchux (v0.1.0.6b), and introducing BiatchuxLite (which includes ONLY the bootable linux image, NO static binaries, etc...) Many tools added(including a new forensic tool previously unreleased to the public), lots of upgrades, kernel changes for greater support, and on and on... use it.
Biatchux is a bootable cdrom based distribution capable of providing an immediate environment for performing forensics analysis, data recovery, Virus Scanning and Pen-Testing. Also provides necessary tools for live forensics/analysis, just mount the cdrom, win32, sparc solaris, x86 linux, and you have access to static trusted binaries.
DMZS-Biatchux - http://ftp.biatchux.dmzs.com/biatchu....1.0.6b.iso.gz
DMZS-BiatchuxLite - http://ftp.biatchux.dmzs.com/biatchu....1.0.6b.iso.gz


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Jan. 28, 2013 Associated Press
SEATTLE — Seattle police worked with Army officials Monday to track down the history of a nonfunctional missile launcher that showed up at a weapons buyback program and determine whether it was legal or possibly stolen from the military.
A man standing outside the event Saturday bought the military weapon for $100 from another person there, according to Detective Mark Jamieson.
The single-use device is a launch tube assembly for a Stinger portable surface-to-air missile and already had been used. As a controlled military item, it is not available to civilians through any surplus or disposal program offered by the government, according to Jamieson.
Seattle police have contacted Army officials at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma to deputy chief Nick Metz said Monday.
"Once it's brought on base and investigators have a chance to look at it, they'll see what they can determine," Army spokesman Joe Kubistek said Monday. "It's too early to give any information on it until we have hands-on access to see it and take a look at it."
Police witnessed the private exchange of the military launch tube near the gun buyback event, where gun buyers tempted those standing in long lines to turn in their weapons with cash.
"It was absolutely crazy what we saw out there," Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said at a news conference Monday where officials announced they had collected a total of 716 weapons, including four confirmed as stolen.
Officers saw guns changing private hands without knowing whether the person buying the gun had the legal right to buy it, and those transactions are occurring all the time, McGinn said.
He added that the private sales of the missile launch tube and other weapons illustrate the need for comprehensive background checks as proposed by President Barack Obama, as well as other regulations at the state level.


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It's been a highly enjoyable week of trash-talking between the New York Jets and New England Patriots, who square off in a divisional playoff matchup later this weekend. The Jets, for their part, have said horrible things about New England, with cornerback Antonio Cromartie openly declaring Tom Brady an "-—hole." And the Patriots have responded with the old "We won't even dignify that with a response" response, which is kind of its own form of trash talk.
There's video evidence that Brady did in fact taunt the Jets game when the two teams last played on Monday Night. But off the field, Brady has been far more reluctant to engage in verbal fisticuffs.
Anyway, given what you've heard and what you know now, the question is: Who do you root for? Do you root for the trash-talking young upstarts, or do you root for the stoic champions who have been here before?
Well, listen. There is a certain portion of the American population, who almost certainly don't approve of the Jets' methods. They'll tell you that trash talking has no place in sports and that New England goes about its business the right way.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
Now let me tell you why those people are annoying. This is football. It's a sport that appeals to us specifically because of its hostility and naked aggression. So, from a personal standpoint, I quite enjoy it when one team gets all talky and hateful in the buildup to an important game. It lets me know the hate is REAL, and that people out there really do want to hurt one another. Much better than in the NBA, when opponents kiss and cuddle before games. That's horrible. We want to know there's real dislike to our games, the way we fans dislike one another for real, and the Jets have been kind enough to provide it.
So think twice before you cheer on the boring old "dignified" team this weekend. In your heart of hearts, it's not really what appeals to you.


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Someday, if all goes according to plan, I hope to finish another graduate degree and then spend some time studying, interpreting, and explaining how Americans made war during the Revolution. The thing is, I've neither experienced combat nor served in the military.
It's an issue that a very fine and reputable military historian, Professor Mark Grimsley, has taken up a few times on his blog. Recently, for instance, he commented on accepting a visiting appointment at the Army War College:
Would the students — better than 75 percent of them combat veterans — really accept the idea of learning about war from a civilian professor of suburban physique, whose only military experience consisted of eight years in the Ohio National Guard? Most students, I was pleased to discover, had no problem with this.
You can read some of Professor Grimsley's earlier thoughts on the subject here. Since I've lived my entire life in peaceful enjoyment of the liberty and prosperity that others have secured, I'm humbled by his dismissive remark about serving "only" eight years in the Guard. I admire those who've served in any capacity. They have both my respect and my gratitude, and those who withold respect and gratitude from them make me genuinely angry. For that reason, I fervently hope that nobody will misunderstand what I'm about to say.
I've been thinking a lot about whether a lack of military service is a handicap when it comes to doing military history, and whether having served is a significant advantage. I've concluded that it probably makes relatively little difference one way or the other.
I don't deny that there are certain universal characteristics of warfare that have held true in any time or place. Some emotions and experiences may very well have been the same for a Greek hoplite as for a present-day American Marine or any other warrior. Military service might give you some unique insight into these universals that would be difficult to get elsewhere.
But you can't assume what these universals are, or what their limitations might be. Maybe the sensation of being charged by a line of bayonets was the same as the sensation of being under machine gun fire. Maybe the camaraderie around a backcountry campfire was the same as the camaraderie in a WWII foxhole. But maybe not. I don't know, and without looking into it, neither does anybody else. The soldier who endures service and combat "knows war" in the sense that he's experienced an aspect of it for himself; he knows what it's like to serve in whatever capacity in which he's served, and he knows the conditions of whatever type of combat he's encountered. But a personal, experiential knowledge of one type of war is quite distinct from a knowledge of another type of service or combat.
Furthermore, understanding the environemt, the actvity, of "war" is only part of what should go into understanding past military conflicts. You're not just dealing with the distinctive atmosphere of battle or camp, but with an entirely different society that existed around the field and the armies. The Continental soldier, the Rebel, and the Rough Rider came from different worlds, with their own assumptions and cultures. The soldier of the past didn't just do something different by engaging in battle. He was something different, simply because he was born into his particular time and place.
If you're looking for some profound insight into the past, I believe that solid historical research is still your best bet. If you want to know what a given historical figure experienced and what he thought about it, then go to the archives and ask him. You may indeed find that his experiences and reactions were comparable to those of his descendants. But that's a question to answer during your research, not a fact to assume at the outset of it. It's only by approaching past wars and soldiers on their own terms and without preconceived notions that we can get an accurate picture of this complex human activity that shows no signs of going away.
(Bunker Hill illustration from Wikimedia Commons)


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Links & Resources
Companies That DO NOT Test On Animals - Download a PDF
Companies That DO Test On Animals - Download a PDF
Pet Disaster Preparedness: A Complete List
nØkill Network
The nØkill Network is dedicated to promoting no-kill animal shelters, organizations, and rescue groups by helping people learn about and locate these organizations.
Articles, Books, Magazines
Abolitionist-Online - A Voice for Animal Rights
"Abolition of Animal Exploitation: The Journey Will Not Begin While We Are Walking Backwards" written by Gary L. Francione. LCA's Chris DeRose says, "This article is a must read for every animal lover!"
The Animals Voice Magazine
The Animals Voice Magazine was an internationally acclaimed, mainstream-awarded, hard-hitting animal rights newsmagazine that debuted in 1986. After more than a decade of publishing, it temporarily merged with the Animals Agenda Magazine in 1997, and has been an unprecedented online resource ever since. It is now back in print!
Click on the below titles to be redirected to Amazon.com where LCA will receive 2.5% to 15% of the sale.
Naked Empress - or - The Great Medical Fraud
1000 Doctors (And Many More) Against Vivisection
Hans Ruesch, the "Father of Anti-Vivisection," has written many books that uncover the real truth behind vivisection. Some of these books are over 20 years old, yet the truths still hold fast.
Lou, Buc And All The Others
LCA's Chris DeRose says, "Stefano Cagno introduces the world of vivisection, the useless and barbaric experiments done on lab animals as seen through their eyes. Having stood in front of these animals before in these (pseudo) science labs, I have personally projected many times what they must be feeling or thinking. Take this most important journey through the eyes of these sentient beings. You will learn and you will feel."
Website, Radio Programs
Go Vegan Radio with Bob Linden
The planet's first and only commercial vegan radio show! Topics include animal liberation and rights, human health, vegetarianism and d, environment, compassion, justice, peace, and so much more!
The Nonhuman Rights Project
The Nonhuman Rights Project seeks to expand such fundamental legal rights as bodily integrity and bodily liberty to nonhuman animals, beginning with chimpanzees and bonobos, through litigation and education. The Nonhuman Rights Project is committed to the legal argument for the dignity and rights of nonhuman animals.


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May is Mental Health Month and Mental Health America has chosen the theme "Pathways to Wellness" for 2013. Wellness refers to maintaining a balance of healthy physical, mental, and social well-being. Wellness is more than just NOT being sick; having a wellness plan can actually …Continue Reading 4 Simple Stress-Reduction Tips for Mental Health Month
We want to hear from you. Connect with us.


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I am trying to install BIBM on an Intel NUC7i3BNH. I used the BIBM makedisk utility to prepare an install disk on a USB stick. The NUC will not boot from the stick.
I have successfully booted the NUC using other bootable disks on USB sticks. One disk that works OK is a multi-partition disk I prepared with BIBM in a FAT partition and Image for Linux in another partition. Another disk that works is one burned from a Windows install iso file.
When I try to install BIBM, I press the F10 key to get the BIOS boot menu. I select the USB stick, press ENTER, the screen goes dark, the USB stick LED blinks a few times and that's it.
I tried making a BIBM install disk using two different USB sticks just in case there was a hardware compatibility problem. One stick was the same that successfully booted the Windows install iso. So I think that rules out any hardware problem.
This particular NUC has a socket for an M2 SSD drive but I have not yet installed anything in that socket. The only drive is a conventional SATA HDD.
I have tried BIBM installs using versions 1.35 and 1.36a.
Does anyone have any suggestion as to what is wrong or what to try next?


text: One word that is entirely over-used in marketing today is unique--particularly when describing martial arts DVD's. To paraphrase Bruce Lee, how unique can one art truly be over another when we ultimately have 2 arms, 2 legs and only so many ways to use them? Well, that type of logic normally operate..read more >>


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I am looking for de facto instructions for packaging and minfying an Ext JS 4 app.Everything seems to point to the Sencha SDK, but everything around this is targeted at Sencha Touch, and anyway, when I follow the instructions (sencha app build testing) I receive:"The current working directory (C:...) is not a recognized Sencha SDK or application folder"Which throws me, since the structure I am using was generated by Sencha Achitect.I'd expect loads of posts/guides/blogs/articles on this: what you'd think would be a common requirement givent the shed load of .js files one creates whilst developing.
Is the idea to use the SDK for standard web apps as the docs suggest for Touch?
How exact does the project structure need to be? Just the folders (which i have thanks to architect), do the filenames need to be exact too (which are different thanks to architect)? do i need an app.json & packager.json and if so what's its content?


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Polar M450:
About David Nerdie
My name is David and I'm a total tech nerd. I always have been and always will be. I've really gotten into smartwatches since they've come out. They show great potential to change our lives almost as much, if not just as much, as smartphones have. I'm also an internet entrepreneur that makes my living via tech. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you have!


text: Soft Gallery Carrie cardigan golden glow owl Product number: 24-18/18-199 096-276-446 Carrie Cardigan Golden Glow Back to » Brands » Soft Gallery More from: Soft Gallery NEW 0 Before 50,0025,00 EURPriceStk ved køb af 1 Stk Inside measures and width Good to know Check out how to measure feetClick here Choose size (m= months y=years cm=height of child) Choose In stock Description Questions Delivery Ask a question about the product. We do our best to answer within 24 hours. Delivery cost and time Please check delivery cost and estimated delivery time here: Delivery cost and timeReturn MilkyWalk offer a 30 days no questions asked return policy. Return costs are for you to cover. tojtype=11/farve=5/materialer=0/vask=0


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Pure 100% CMYK black is different from rich black (HTML #000000 color code)
Did you know that 100% CMYK black is NOT the same as HTML #000000 color?
In most traditional CMYK print oriented programs, the default black color is the so called pure black (or solid black), composed of 0% of CMY inks, and a 100% K.
Nevertheless, if we choose the HTML #000000 black color code, we are choosing a rich black color (also called jet black, or even superblack). This rich black color is an ink combination of the following ink percents:
- Cyan: 86%
- Magenta: 85%
- Yellow: 79%
- Black: 100%
At least, these are the values of the rich black color in Adobe Illustrator. Nevertheless, these CMYK ink percents may vary for the rich black color in other programs.
Do rich black and #000000 black look like real black?
The problem with pure black (100 K) is that, when it is depicted in some RGB color space, it will look like a dark grey color.
On the other hand, the darker than black (on a computer screen) rich black color would look like a dark brown color in CMYK, as it depends a lot on the actual inks used by each printer.
In fact, this makes sense: in a CMY substractive color mixture the darker color possible would look like a dark brownish color.
On the other hand, a single black ink cannot absorb any color radiation in real world (and thus being actually pure black), so it looks like some kind of dark gray.
Finally, the misleading of the printing plates may add some color halos to a 100 K print on a colored background. This wouldn't happen using rich black instead of pure black.
What to use, 100% black in CMYK or rich black in HTML (#000000)?
Working with CMYK blacks and RGB blacks is very easy if you take into account these 2 main points:
- Don't use CMYK rich black on a traditional CMYK print. Even with a more dense ink pattern, the result won't look as a pure clean black color in CMYK printing. You would be printing a dark brown or dirty dark grey instead of black. So printing black CMYK requires you to use only 100% Black.
- Use the HTML #000000 color when exporting RGB images. A 100% K value would look like a dark grey in a computer screen, so you need to use rich black to see true RGB black in your monitor.
So stay clear of rich black in most traditional CMYK printing processes that use a white background. You would only need to use rich black if you try to print black text over an image or picture, to prevent trapping problems (color halos that surround the black) that would make the text hard to read.
Adobe Illustrator rich black tricks
In Adobe Illustrator there is a little trick to make your life easier. It allows you to work always with pure black (100% Black, the default black color in Illustrator color swatches), even when exporting your image to RGB: make sure that Edit > Settings > Appearance of Black is configured this way:
- Displaying all black colors on screen as rich black. So you won't be confused with dark grey previews of your 100% K black.
- Exporting and printing CMYK blacks as rich black. This does not change the black color (that remains as 100 K with no brownish color mixtures), but will create the #000000 HTML superblack color if exported to RGB color spaces.
We hope that this will shed some light telling the differences between pure 100% CMYK black and the rich black HTML #000000 color code!


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Rome Piazza di Siena – Master D'Inzeo CSIO
Rome [ENA] The 86th edition of the Rome Piazza di Siena – Master D'Inzeo CSIO came to the end yesterday. It was not only a great sporting event, but a truly important international occasion for Rome. All the best ingredients were there added to the unique beauty of the location hosting the event. There has been an enormous joint organizing effort put in place by the Italian National Olympic Committee and the Italian Equestrian
Federation. Winning in Rome is obviously very special for every rider and the emotions get so much deeper. Lorenzo de Luca, captain 'in pectore' thanks to his position high in the ranking for international riders for over a year, brought CSIO Rome - Masters d'Inzeo 2018 to the perfect conclusion at Piazza di Siena yesterday when clinching victory for the host nation in the Rolex Grand Prix. It's been 24 years since the last Italian rider, Arnaldo Bologni, held the coveted trophy aloft, and the crowd went wild with excitement when de Luca steered Halifax van het Kluizebos through the timers to clinch it in the 13-horse jump-off.
The result also marked the twelfth time for Italy to win both the Nations Cup and Grand Prix in the 86-year history of CSIO Rome. The last time this happened was in 1976 when the team consisted of the legendary Piero and Raimondo d'Inzeo, Graziano Mancinelli and Vittorio Orlandi, and it was Piero who claimed the Grand Prix title with Easter Light. Fourth-last to go against the clock today, 31-year-old de Luca, who is from Puglia in the south of Italy, had a tense wait after setting the target-time at 45.37 seconds.
However when Portugal's Luciana Diniz took her foot off the gas after lowering two fences with Fit for Fun and Australia's Edwina Tops-Alexander opted for a careful clear round with Inca Boy van t'Vianahof then he only had to worry about the final competitor, Bertram Allen. Yesterday's hero was Lorenzo de Luca who goes into the CSIO Roll of Honour as the 23rd Italian winner of this most prestigious title which dates all the way back to 1926. The Carousel 4th mounted Carabinieri Regiment , an unique show, closed the event. Ride is considered the most exiting one, with its final charge in which the two galloping squadrons raise their swords, a recollection of the Carabinieri's historical charge at Pastrengo (April 30th, 1848).


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I have a couple of related questions that have been bothering me for a while. They might sound unscientific, but here is goes:
What are the building blocks of energy? What does energy consist of? Is there 1 fundamental, theoretical particle or something similar that causes energy, just like higgs boson?
If there exists a 'building block' of energy, how can objects smaller than that building block exist? It couldn't have energy itself, could it? The only example I can think of are strings in string theory; they are considered to be fundamental, so do they exist in an energy-less microscopic world? Is energy an inherent property of strings? Or does there not exist an answer to this question?
If was just thinking about it, and I'll add a question which is intertwined with question 2:
How does the Higgs boson get mass when it is the particle that causes mass (from what I've understood)?


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Analog Computation
Many powerful biological and man-made systems contain inherently analog processing elements. Until recently there has been very little theoretical work on models of this type and many basic questions remain unresolved. We are interested in describing input-output systems governed by ordinary differential equations whose behavior robustly executes arithmetic or logical operations. We have had success in designing continuous-time dynamical systems which perform discrete operations, such as sorting numbers and data clustering, and are interested in exploring the use of flows for performing a wide range of computation. [more]
Choreography of Dynamical Systems
We have developed an experimental test bed consisting of a double circular pendulum with a radio link to transmit position data from the two of the three shaft encoders. This eliminates wires and the friction effects that go along with them. We refer to this work as "choreography" but acrobatics would have been just as appropriate. The idea is to be able to give a linguistic input to the machine and have it execute the kind of swing up, rotate, balance, etc. sequences that one might expect from an Olympian on the parallel bars. Along the way we have learned something about problems involved in enlarging the domain of stability of nonlinear systems. [more]
Control of Quantum Systems
The control of quantum systems has many applications, ranging from coherent spectroscopy to quantum information processing. In most applications, the system of interest is not isolated but interacts with its environment. This leads to the phenomenon of relaxation, which in practice results in signal loss and ultimately limits the range of applications. The goal of our research is the manipulation of quantum systems in a manner that minimizes relaxation losses. Specifically, for each system we want to calculate the theoretical upper limit for the coherence transfer efficiency in the presence of relaxation and to develop optimal controls (pulse sequences) that achieve this limit experimentally.[more]
Pattern Generation
Many important engineering systems accomplish their purpose using cyclic processes whose characteristics are under feedback control. Examples involving thermodynamic cycles and electromechanical energy conversion processes are particularly noteworthy. Likewise, cyclic processes are widely found in nature and the idea of a pattern generation is widely used to rationalize mechanisms used for orchestrating movements such as those involved in locomotion and respiration. Here we develop a linkage between the use of cyclic processes and the control of nonholonomic systems, emphasizing the stable regulation of such processes. One goal is to bring out the characteristic phenomena that distinguish the regulation of such strongly nonlinear systems from more commonly studied types of feedback regulators. [more]
Robotic Manipulation
We have a six degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator known as the HRL Manipulator or the "fingers" for short. It is equipped with two deformable "fingertips" consisting of latex membranes filled with silicone. We reconstruct the shape of these membranes using computer vision and a set of assumptions in order to gain information about the shape of the fingertip. This apparatus is used as a testbed for work in robotic manipulation, particularly aspects involving tactile sensing, motion description and hybrid control. [more]
System Identification
Consider a simple linear stochastic system of the form dx = Ax dt + B dw with the state and observation noise terms dw and du being independent Wiener processes. We consider the (A,B,C) triple as unknown, and the goal of this research program is to identify (A,B,C) given the observations dy(t). This may be framed as a nonlinear filtering problem, and generally such filtering problems require an infinite number of sufficient statistics. However, the assumption that the unknown variables come from a finite set leads to a finite set of sufficient statistics. [more]
Systems with Limited Communication
Information theoretical issues are traditionally decoupled from consideration of decision and control problems. The decoupling is achieved by ignoring the capacity constraints on communication channels connecting different components of a system. Decoupling information theoretical issues from the decision and control problems in a system greatly simplifies the analysis and generally works well for classical applications. Advances in communication, computation and networks greatly expanded the range and complexity of a control system. Many newly emerged control systems are distributed, asynchronous and networked. These systems pose challenges to the traditional assumption which ignores the communication constraints on channels among different components of a system. Integrating communication constraints into estimation and control of a system becomes an inevitable task on our way to achieve deeper understanding of distributed, asynchronous and networked control systems. [more]


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Aubergine & tomato grill
Nutrition and extra info
- Easily halved
- Vegetarian
- Healthy
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal260
- fat12g
- saturates3g
- carbs28g
- sugars14g
- fibre8g
- protein12g
- salt1.49g
- 2 medium aubergines
Although it's technically a fruit (a berry, to be exact), the aubergine is used as a…
- 4 tsp olive oil
Olive oilol-iv oyl
Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
- 1 small onion, chopped
Onions are endlessly versatile and an essential ingredient in countless recipes. Native to Asia…
- 400g tin chopped tomato
- 85g low-fat soft cheese with garlic and herbs
- 3 tbsp fresh or dried breadcrumb
Trim the stalks from the aubergines, then cut each into 6 slices lengthwise. Lay them in one layer on a grill pan and lightly brush with oil and a little seasoning. Grill until lightly browned, turn them over, brush with oil again, then grill until browned and tender.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a non-stick pan, add the onion and gently fry until softened. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 5 mins. When the aubergines are cool, spread half the slices with a little soft cheese and cover with the remaining slices to make sandwiches.
Spread half the sauce over a shallow ovenproof dish. Arrange the aubergine sandwiches, overlapping, over the top and pour over the remaining sauce. Sprinkle over the crumbs, then grill until browned.
Recipe Tip
Make aheadIf you want to prepare this dish in advance, assemble it and leave to cool, then reheat in the oven at 200C/fan 180/gas 6 for 15-20 mins until the crumbs are browned.


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When Action Girl and I decided to have children, one of the things that I couldn't wait for was to find out what their "thing" would be. Everybody's got a "thing." At least, every kid seems to. I think a lot of adults forget their passions when they get lost in adolescence and are forced to focus on areas of academia where minimal interest resides. That and peer pressure, of course. There is no cleanser more astringent than the scorn of your contemporaries. So many childhood passions are lost through these effects and I wanted to be a powerful force in the corner of my children's imagination versus the rest of the world. The older I become, the more sure I am that a person's true strength lies directly within the sphere of their passions.
Thomas Jefferson once said that a man who loves his work never works another day, and I think that's about right. He also said that he was all about freedom and yet owned slaves, so I'll grant you, you do have to keep an eye on TJ. Still though…
My son, Short Stack showed his cards early on. There was a brief flirtation with trucks, which is far from unusual for small children, but that had ended pretty abruptly the moment he saw his first rocket.
I believe he was two and a half.
He's six now and has been focused like a laser on his own personal prize since the day he realized that that he could have something to do with them. Like any parent, I ask my kids every so often what they want to do for a job when they grow up, just to test the waters and see where the wind has shifted in the previous weeks. Last week, Short Stack's answer was, "I want to build propulsion systems for new kinds of rockets."
Oooooh kay.
My four year old daughter, Lulu Belle though, is a very, VERY different little critter. She want's to be a cowgirl.
Or maybe a fairy.
Nope… a cowgirl.
Or princess.
Maybe a cowgirl princess?
But Pirates are good too!
Hey, dad. Did pirates ever play with cowboys?
Tell you what, dad. You be Dale Evans and I'll be Roy Rogers.
(I love the fact that I somehow wind up being Dale. Better than being assigned Pat Brady, I suppose.)
And that's about how it goes. She loves playing dress-up from her considerable pile of costumes she's amassed and they all get a work out, but the cowboy hat, vest, sheriff's badge and pink handled six shooter get by far the heaviest work out.
The fact that we can not possibly live farther away from the Western Plains and still be within the boundaries of the contiguous United States only adds to the perplexity on how this all got started. To the best of my knowledge, I never pushed the cowboy lifestyle to my children, but Lulu Belle seems to have embraced it with a fervor previously reserved only for children born between 1940 and 1955. When it comes to requested video entertainment from my young daughter, it's usually black and white episodes of the Lone Ranger or the much loved, Roy Rogers. She knows all the names of the characters, their horses, origin stories and will back them up with her own cap gun when things get tough.
Clayton Moore would be proud.
So now, I know. Lulu Belle wants to be a cowgirl. I'm not sure how this translates into a life for her, let alone an income stream, but we can deal with those details later. What I do know is that right now, it makes her the happiest. When her brother discovered his love of aerospace, I pandered like hell to it. His room is an homage to NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Shuttle program. When he was four, I took him to the Kennedy Space Center to watch the shuttle Discovery take off. I've tried as hard as I could to feed him what he craves the most in the hopes that it will allow him to be as happy as he can be.
Now it's time for sister.
The trick is, since the 1960's have long since ridden off into the sunset, finding good cowboy material has gotten substantially trickier. We watch the old shows on YouTube. We dress up in cowboy gear, though some of it has to be manufactured right here in our little house due to scarcity in the market. We talk in cowboy-ese and naturally, she has her very own Wonder Horse! You remember those, right? The giant plastic horse mounted on a frame by means of exceptionally squeaky springs.
If there is anything she loves more than pretending to be a cowgirl, it's making up stories, (Can you guess what they tend to be about?) and this has now spilled over into bedtime. For the last little while now, once the bedtime books are all read and the light is out, she's hit me with a request which I find hard to pass up. She wants a story, as she puts it, "You tell me. Not from a book."
I've told her stories about me growing up. I've told her stories about things her Mom's done. I've told her fables as best as I can recall my Aesop. The thing is, if you don't have a theme, it's hard to pull up a good story on the fly. That's when she pointed out the elephant in the bedroom.
"Dad. Tell me a story about a cowgirl!"
It took a minute or two for me cook up the basics, and an additional night for us to ascribe names to the players, but we've gotten it worked out pretty well now.
In a valley in Wyoming, sits a small ranch. The road that runs in front of it will take you to town. The paths that lead away from the ranch will take you to the high pasture and then on to the aspen forest. Another path goes to the pond while a third leads to Big Rock, which has a breathtaking view of the valley below. To the West, the Rocky Mountains tower, capped in snow. The inhabitants of the ranch are a girl of unspecified age named Annie and her Horse, Thunder. Thunder, naturally, lives in the big red barn next to the corral. There's also a shed where Annie keeps her tools.
Now all she needs is a friend. Enter some occupation diversity.
In our very first story, I also introduced Piper and Scout. Piper has short, red hair and lives in Colorado. Scout is her trusty, silver airplane with the big blue stripe that goes all the way down each side. They met when Piper got lost and had to land at the ranch for directions as the evening closed in. Naturally, Annie invited her to stay for dinner and the night and the two have been best friends ever since.
Sometimes the stories are just about Annie and Thunder. Sometimes they're just about Piper and Scout, but her favorite stories include them all.
It's still trick to come up with a believable and engaging story arc off the top of my head, but I must confess, I think I'm enjoying them just as much as she is. With each evening of me kneeling on the floor next to her bed in the darkened room, the world of Annie and Piper gets more and more vibrant. We now know about the fixed hole in the barn roof, how long it takes to ride to town and the tree Annie chopped down up in the aspen forest. Last night, I couldn't help my self and after my little cowgirl was asleep, I sat down and wrote out that night's story.
I'll share it with you, if you'd like… But you have to wait for bedtime.
Filed under: Cowgirl, family, funny, happy, home, Humor, Kids, rifle, Sister, space shuttle, Television, Travel, Writing | Tagged: bed time story, bedtime story, childhood, childhood passions, clayton moore, colorado, cowboy, cowboy life, cowboys, cowgirl, cowgirls, dale evans, daughter, female pilot, girl cowboy, girl pilot, Humor, imagination, little sister, lone ranger, lulu belle, make believe, old west, passions, pat brady, pilot, plane, raising kids, ranch, roy rogers, short stack, stories, story time, strong women., telling stories, western tv, westerns, what makes you happy, wyoming | 2 Comments »


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U20 WJC Game Night: 1/5/11
Canada 3 @ Russia 5
Carter Ashton, Canada, 1-0-1, +1, 0 PIM, 2 SOG
Tournament totals: 7 GP, 1-2-3, +1, 6 PIM
Brett Connolly, Canada, 0-0-0, E, 0 PIM, 0 SOG
Tournament totals: 7 GP, 0-3-3, +2, 0 PIM
Russia scored five unanswered third period goals to shock Canada and take U20 WJC gold 5-3. Lightning prospect Carter Ashton scored a goal with 14 seconds left in the first period for the Canadians in the loss. Blues prospect Vladimir Tarasenko had 1 goal and 1 assist in the win for the Russians.
Team USA won the bronze, defeating Sweden 4-2 in tonight's bronze medal match. Slovakia finished 8th in the 10 team tournament, with Lightning prospect Richard Panik being named one of Slovakia's best players by the tournament's coaches.
What did Lightning fans learn about their prospects? Carter Ashton played pretty well in a complimentary role on Canada's second line. It's questionable whether he'll ever be the featured sniper on any given line with the Lightning in the pros, but with so many good snipers in this organization he's got a great chance to fit in by being strong in the corners and in the high traffic areas. Fellow Team Canada member Brett Connolly entered the tournament coming off a concussion and therefore didn't have a regular line, so it's hard to draw any conclusions. The only common critique from BoltProspects' staff was that Connolly could be better along the wall than he is. Advantage Ashton, perhaps, if the Lightning are pushed to choose between which of these two players is more NHL ready for next season.
For Team Slovakia, Richard Panik lived up to the hype. With two years of experience already to his credit, Panik led his team by a wide margin in scoring, confirming his reputation that Panik plays his best on a big stage. The young Slovakian winger is so much stronger than many of the players he faced in this tournament, anything less would have been a disappointment, and he remains a darkhorse to make the NHL next season because he already has an NHL body. The more eye opening performance was put forward by teammate Adam Janosik, who gets lost in the shuffle in the QMJHL but rose to the occassion on Slovakia's top pair. Known mostly as a power play specialist, Janosik showed himself to be a competent two-way defender en route to also finishing second on the team in scoring.
Ashton already holds an NHL contract and nearly made the Lightning out of camp each of the past two years, and should have a very good shot at making the team next year. His game is very well suited for the NHL and his talents will compliment the Lightning's top players well. Brett Connolly has had a fantastic junior season and should receive an NHL contract before too long, but it'll be up to his camp performance next Fall to determine if he plays one more season of junior or jumps to the NHL. Panik has likely done what he needed to do to earn an NHL contract, and his camp performance in the Fall will determine whether he is Norfolk or Tampa bound. Janosik will likely play one more season of junior before the Lightning decide whether to offer him an entry-level contract, but things are looking good at this point in time.
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Expanding MQii Across the Continuum of Care
Registered dietitian nutritionists at TIRR Memorial Hermann and New Hanover Regional Medical Center are now identifying and addressing malnutrition beyond the acute care setting. View Video
Since 2001, registered dietitian nutritionists have been providing nutrition education through the communal setting of Lunch Bunch at the Loyola University Chicago School-Based Health Center at Proviso East High School.
Registered dietitian nutritionists at TIRR Memorial Hermann and New Hanover Regional Medical Center are now identifying and addressing malnutrition beyond the acute care setting. View Video
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' National Spokespeople promote healthful food and nutrition messages to the public. From June 2018 to June 2019, the Academy's messages reached 25 million people per month. View Video
Stella H. Cash received the Majorie Hulsizer Copher Award during the Opening Session of the Academy's Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo™ in Philadelphia, Pa. View Video
MQii is advancing evidence-based, high-quality and patient-driven care for those who are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. View Video
Watch as these five registered dietitian nutritionists describe their passion to educate people to make the best food choices to live a healthful life. View Video
Creating confidence in her students, Samantha M. Coogan, MS, RDN, CSSD, LD, FAND, helps her students become the next leaders in the field of nutrition and dietetics as the director of the Didactic Program in Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. View Video
Keiy Murofushi, MS, RD, explains his role in spreading knowledge on the importance of nutrition to create change in one individual at a time. View Video
Assistant professor and program director of Family and Consumer Sciences and Nutrition-Dietetics at Shepherd University, Arnetta Fletcher, PhD, RDN, LDN, helps to direct the university's strategic plan to ensure food and nutrition are a part of the expanding programs. View Video
April N. Hackert, MS, RDN, CEDRD, shares her perspective of the impact food has on mental health. View Video
Jacqueline R. Berning, PhD, RD, CSSD, shares her experience as a dietitian starting out in sports dietetics to building a new center for sports medicine as professor and chair of the Health Science Department at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. View Video


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In Praise of Our Volunteers
Even at that, the only way the game industry survives is by the hard labor of unpaid volunteers who (for honor, glory, and rarely some free games) provide no end of valuable services to game publishers.
Mike West answers rules questions on Federation Commander. Mike Curtis does the same thing for Federation & Empire, Jonathan Thompson and Jean Sexton for Prime Directive PD20 and PD20M, Gary Plana for GURPS Prime Directive, Richard Sherman for Star Fleet Battle Force, and Andy Vancil for Star Fleet Battles.
Frank Brooks runs the Play-by-Email system as a volunteer. Paul Franz charges barely enough for the On-Line game system (for SFB and FC) to pay the server costs. Bob Pomroy does made-to-order decals for our Starline miniatures at a cost that barely covers his costs.
Federation & Empire would not exist without Chuck Strong (a real-world colonel from Space Command) in charge of the overall game system. He keeps his staff (Mike Curtis, Ryan Opel, Scott Tenhoff, Thomas Mathews, and Stew Frazier) busy moving projects forward.
Very little would get done on any of our games except for the Playtest Battle Labs run by Scott Moellmer in Colorado and by Mike Curtis and Tony Thomas in Tennessee. And all of the other playtesters are invaluable to us.
We have other staffers who do specific things (and sometimes a wide variety of things) for us including Jean Sexton (Vice President of Proofreading and Product Professionalization); John Berg and Mike Incavo (Galactic Conquest Campaign); Daniel Kast (Klingon Armada); and John Sickels, Matthew Francois, Jonathan Thompson, and Loren Knight (Prime Directive). Some vital part of the product line would grind to a halt without each one of them.
Added to this list are hundreds of others who, during any given month, by Email or BBS or Forum, contribute in some way to the company and its product line. They may report a glitch in an existing product, playtest a product in development, suggest a new product, point out something another company is doing what we may want to take a look at emulating, look up a rules reference for another player, report on somebody who using our property improperly, comment on a posted draft of a new rule, or simply ask a question nobody else ever dared to ask.
Many years ago, we began awarding medals, ribbons, and other "decorations" to staffers and others who contributed to each product, and some other projects. These awards not only recognize those who contributed to the various projects, but encouraged others to begin making their contributions to future projects. We have created the Wall of Honor at http://starfleetgames.com/ArtGallery/Wall%20of%20Honor.shtml. This is a tribute to over 30 years of volunteer work. We hope you visit it to say thanks to all the volunteers and their efforts.


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Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach in Thuringia. In Eisenach today there are more than 250 original exhibits on display inside the 600m² museum dedicated to him: Bach House.
Hourly concerts played on baroque keyboard instruments, music in floating 'bubble chairs' and a multimedia 'walk-in composition' based on four Bach performances – they never fail to impress visitors to the Bach House. Exquisite contemporary artefacts in the museum include a Bach manuscript, the mysterious Bach goblet and a forensic reconstruction of the composer's face. The baroque garden and the Café Kantate make inviting places to relax.
Opening times:
daily 10am-6pm
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Will Ferrell must really love some Old Milwaukee.
Inexplicably, the A-list comedian and movie star recently, seemingly out of the blue, approached the Pabst Brewing Company about producing TV spots for the discount beer brand to air locally in Davenport, Iowa.
He also proposed to do them free of charge.
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Pabst, naturally, let the "Step Brothers" star and "Funny or Die" mastermind have at it. The results are hilarious, if more than a little odd (Why Iowa? Why this beer? Why local TV ads? Why Will Ferrell?), but this could ultimately be a stroke of marketing genius.
Perhaps the former "Saturday Night Live" star hopes to give Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Man in the World" a run for his money? ("The Most Head-Scratching Man in the World"?) Or maybe this is some elaborate viral marketing for an upcoming movie?
You can see the (poor quality) ads below, although we'd urge Pabst to fire up an Old Milwaukee official YouTube page immediately.