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Okay, now that I've got my Chip Caray "fisted" joke out of the way, we can get down to business. This was, by no stretch of the imagination, an awful game. I had an idea it wasn't going to be great with the off-center camera angles and Bert Blyleven calling a nationally televised game (sorry folks, but I'm not a Bert fan), but I thought the actual baseball action would be somewhat interesting. Instead, we were subject to one hell of a terrible game.
Samuel Deduno has been riding the luck dragon for most of 2012, but he had no luck today. His typical spotty control struck again, as he allowed a solo home run to Austin Jackson on his very first pitch, he allowed a 3-run homer to Delmon Young, and he walked 3 batters in only 2 1/3 innings on his way to spotting the Tigers an early 7-0 lead. With a doubleheader looming on Sunday, the Twins were fortunate to get 3 2/3 innings out of Anthony Swarzak and an additional 2 from Luis Perdomo, saving the rest of the 'pen for tomorrow.
The Twins offense wasn't any better, as they did muster 7 hits but couldn't push anyone across against Tigers starter Doug Fister. He tallied his first career shutout while striking out 7 Twins.
As a Twins fan, there was really only two things of interest in this game. First, Joe Mauer did pick up some ground in the batting title race on Miguel Cabrera, as Mauer went 2 for 4 while Cabrera was 1 for 4. Mauer is now .009 points behind Cabrera for the AL lead.
Second, there was a quizzical play that occurred at second base made by one of the most quizzical players in Twins history, and that was by Alexi Casilla. He was on second with 1 out in the 5th thanks to a leadoff double when Denard Span came to the plate. Span lifted an infield fly in the vicinity of second base. Casilla retreated to the base and although shortstop Jhonny Peralta was near Casilla the whole time, Casilla chose to duck his head down. Peralta ended up crashing into Casilla and missed the fly ball in the process, but Casilla was called out for interfering with Peralta. Although Casilla did nothing to suggest he intentionally got in the way of Peralta, he did make absolutely no attempt to get out of Peralta's way. As home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez explained to Drew Butera in the middle of the 5th, had Casilla made any attempt to get out of Peralta's way, he would have been fine. Instead, Casilla turned his back to Peralta and was Hrbek'd off the base (thanks to Myjah for the Hrbek analogy).
Joe Mauer (2 for 4, 2B), Anthony Swarzak (3 2/3 IP, 1 R, 2 K), Luis Perdomo (2 IP, 0 R)
Samuel Deduno (2 1/3 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 1 K), Ryan Doumit (0 for 4), Trevor Plouffe (0 for 3), Pedro Florimon (0 for 3)


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Hello and welcome to another tutorial for hacking Classic consoles. We've previously covered how to mod NES and SNES Classic consoles and everyone truly had a blast modding those. We've even made a post about this Bleemsync in the past. However, this BleemSync 1.0 is improved in pretty much every way over the old 0.4.x. A few notes, these releases are still considered beta, but 1.0 is the most stable and usable thus far. Additionally, this will only cover using a Windows PC. But all OS types are supported as well as all mainline browsers except Internet Explorer. Last note, if you're on a previous version of BleemSync, just let it go and start from scratch. This new method is pretty different and changes files structures. Ok, let's do this!
What Does BleemSync Do?:
- Create your custom PlayStation Classic experience by adding your own games, emulators, themes and mods.
- Easy to use, UI application to use to allow easy game adding/syncing, modification and configuring. (Compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux)
- Better FileSystem support (Ext4, exFAT, NTFS, FAT32)
- Multi OS support (Windows, Mac, Linux) (basically anything that has a RDNIS driver. Which is a lot.)
- Reliable and steady emulation performance.
- RetroArch support and Integration.
- Multitude of various controller support with RetroArch.
- Big community available to offer support to fellow users.
- And many more awesome features!
What You Need:
- RDNIS Driver Installed. Linux and Windows will automatically install it. If not, here is the Windows driver. And Mac users can find theirs here.
- A Fat32 formatted USB 2.0 flash drive. 3.0 draws more power, so little to no drives work. The capacity doesn't really matter, just depends on how many legal backups or ROMs you'll be running.
- BleemSync 1.0 downloaded onto your computer. You can find the download here.
Instructions for Modding PlayStation Classic:
- Extract the BleemSync download somewhere on your PC.
- Take your Fat32 formatted USB drive and plug it into your PC.
- After the USB is recognized, right click on the drive icon and choose to rename it. The new name will be SONY in all caps.
- Move the files from the extracted BleemSync folder to the root of you USB drive.
- Eject your USB drive.
- Go to your PlayStation Classic. Unplug every single cord and USB hub on it.
- Insert your USB drive into port 2 and then wait 3 seconds.
- Insert your controller into port 1.
- Insert your HDMI cord.
- Insert your power cord.
- Now wait a moment and the LED will display an orange light. Once that happens, press the power button once.
- For this step, watch the screen. It will walk you through the remaining steps. Once this process is complete, the light will blink red and the screen will say you're all complete. The console will auto reboot.
- Once it has rebooted, you'll see a RetroArch option and a BleemSync option on screen. So you're officially modded and can power off the system now and add games!
New Instructions for Adding Games (you cannot just drag and drop onto USB any longer):
- Take the USB drive that you intend on using and format it to exFAT. This can be the same drive you used in the above directions.
- Once formatted, copy the BleemSync 1.0 files back to the USB drive.
- Now, grab your PlayStation Classic with its micro USB cord and bring it over to your PC.
- Plug your USB drive into port 2 on the PlayStation Classic.
- Plug the micro USB cord into the back of the PlayStation Classic.
- Plug the other end of the micro USB cord into your PC.
- Visit this site on a browser of your choice. It should work on most, just not Internet Explorer.
- If all is done correctly, you'll see a screen with an option to Add New Game in the middleish of the screen.
- You can click that button any time you want to add a game. Click it now. You can also press the Choose Files button in the upper right hand corner.
- It lets you search your PC for properly dumped bin/cue files as well as pbp files! Pbp files are better because they're smaller, they install faster, and they don't run the risk of a bad cue file. Search for your game now and load it.
- You'll see that on the right hand side that cover and all other info is automatically populated! Scroll down to the bottom and in the lower right hand corner you'll have now have a Add Game button. This confirms that you want to send that game to the PlayStation Classic.
- Press that Add Game button. A loading bar will appear and this lets you know how long to not tamper with your set up.
- Once it's done you'll see your game is listed on the screen in the Game Manager section. This is where the games will be listed the more you add. You can also remove them by clicking it and choosing the Remove Game option!
- So now you can either add more games or you can unplug your USB cord and then your USB drive.
- Once you're completely complete and want to play the games, remember to unplug everything. Then plug in your USB drive, your controller, your HDMI, then your power! And once you get to the BleemSync/RetroArch screen, just choose BleemSync and you'll see your added games AND the original 20 games!
FAQs from ModMyClassic:
Q. Does 1.0 improve USB compatibility?
A. No – this will come with OTG support which is planned for 1.1 release
Q. Does this software modify my PS Classic?
A. Yes – This does mean that you have to install a very small payload to your console (2mb and 11 files). However this is completely safe and unless you hooked the PSC to the pc and tried to telnet to it, you wouldn't know the difference. If you have no USB devices attached with the payload installed, it will boot like stock. The purpose of the payload is to enable FTP,TELNET,RDNIS, exFAT and NTFS drive support. You can still run older versions of BleemSync WITH the payload installed.
Q. I can't make it work, whatever I try!?!
A. The likelihood is very much your USB is either outright incompatible or is "Browning Out." This means that your USB during run time is exceeding the current limit of 100ma and is effectively cutting out. This can happen at any point and at any moment. This will cause the app to not work correctly. If you check the logs on the USB you can find log files missing/empty or just corrupted. (For example: http://prntscr.com/mazrmi and http://prntscr.com/mazubl) This has been no different for previous versions or other tools. However, it will be more apparent with BS1.0 as it does a lot more. We will be trying to reduce the risk of this happening but if in doubt. Grab a crappy old USB2.0 stick (regardless of size) and try it with that. 9 times out of 10 it will work just fine. Another solution that has been about for a while is to use a powered USB2.0 hub.
Q. I don't like the new splash, boot menu or stock UI. Can I change?
A. Yes you can change this in the bleemsync Configuration in BleemSync UI. You can also swap out all the splashscreen images, themes etc
Q. I don't like the new RetroArch theme.
A. Are you mad? Anyway, you can change it to monochrome in the RetroArch display settings
Q. Can I run different console games via the Stock UI with RetroArch in 1.0?
A. No – this is planned for future release. You can set an option to launch PS1 games via RA PCSX via the stock UI
Q. Can I use PBP with the stock PCSX emulator and not just the RA PCSX?
A. Yes – As shown here
Q. This seems a bit hit and miss, what gives?
A. BleemSync 1.0 is a huge step from older builds of BleemSync and aims to do a lot more than other tools out there. The decision was made by me (Swingflip) to release 1.0 as a public beta for people to try out and help us work out the kinks instead of delay any further release. 1.0 does not reflect the ultimate goal set by DoctorDalek and his vision for BleemSync but it should give you an insight of what is to come. We appreciate everyone's support and we will be adding hotfixes to 1.0 as we can. The biggest downfall of BleemSync 1.0 is the 100ma power restriction. Throughout testing, we found that 95% of the issues (that weren't bugs) was down to incompatible USB drives or drives hitting the 100ma limit and cutting out. Whilst this can be solved using an older USB2.0 or powered USB hub, mileage might vary depending on what hardware you are using. It's our number one priority to resolve this and it will be done so in future builds. Again, please remember this is classed as a Public Beta so there will be kinks along the way but with the public's input hopefully we can identify them and fix them as quick as we can.
Q. My game transfer cut out part way and said something went wrong?
A. The likelihood is that you hit the limiter and "browned out" Please read the paragraph above about the issue. You need to check your logs to check for anything that stands out or just try a different USB or use a powered USB 2.0 hub.
Q. I have bin/cue files that worked before but won't work with the BleemSync UI when I am trying to add?
A. This is likely that your CUE file is bad for one reason or another. (Even if it worked before.) Use http://nielsbuus.dk/pg/psx_cue_maker/ to generate a new CUE.
Q. Why am I getting a "Not all binary files were selected, or they are misnamed." error?
A. The filename in the cue file must match the spelling and case of the bin file exactly. filename.BIN must be spelled exactly that way in the cue.
Q. I connected my PSC to my computer and it turns on, but I don't even hear the "device connected" sound, and nothing new shows up in Device Manager.
A. You might be using a power-only USB cable. Try a different cable.
Q. I changed the boot routine so it no longer boots to the boot menu. How can I now access the BleemSync UI?
A. Connect the PSC to the PC without the HDMI plugged in and it will boot to the bleemsync UI
Q. Is folder support in 1.0?
A. No – it was too much of an issue and due to time constraints it was axed from 1.0 to be included in newer builds
Q. Can I drag games in like I did before and it work?
A. No – You need to add them through the BleemSync UI for now
Q. Can I not bulk add games to the BleemSync UI?
A. No – This is however number 1 on our list to hot fix list, we will let you know when it's possible.
Q. Can I change the art work?
A. Yes, drag and drop the image of your choice in the cover square.
Q. Power button is not working in RA.
A. It wasn't working properly, so that functionality has been pulled out for now.
Q. Dual Shock is not working.
A. It does in RA, it doesn't in Bleemsync
Q: How do I add multidisc games to BleemSync?
A: For games in bin/cue: Make sure all of the files are in the same folder. Select all of the bin and cue files. The amount of discs you have must match the original game or it will confuse the scraper. Ex: Lunar Silver Star Story Complete has 2 game discs and a 3rd documentary disc. You must still have the 3rd disc for the scraper to recognize it.
For games in pbp format: simply select the game.
Q. How do I add a multiple discs game in PBP?
A. Just make a PBP per each disc. Then, add them all at once from Bleemsync web browser UI
Q. Connecting a USB to the front port leaves me with only one free port. Can I connect a USB HUB so I can play multiplayer games?
A. Yes
If you like the author's work, follow him on Twitter @V1RACY and don't forget to enter the weekly giveaways!
And as always, stay tuned here on Hackinformer.com for so much more and follow us on Twitter @Hackinformer

subset: commoncrawl


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In today's real estate market, it is imperative that your online home pictures really WOW any potential buyers. A certified home stager can help any home seller or Realtor sell their home quickly and for the highest dollar amount.
Here is an example of a bedroom before home staging:
Here is an example of the same room after home staging:
What a difference some fresh paint and carpeting made. We simple rotated the bed and added some fresh linens plus draperies. A small nightstand and lamp and some simple artwork really pull this room together.


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What's the suggested Cordova App Wrapper workflow?
After I made any change to the Quasar source, currently I generate a new iOS build by:
rm -rf cordova quasar build ios quasar wrap cordova cd cordova (edit config.xml) cordova platform add ios (open MyApp.xcworkspace and build in Xcode)
The problem is I lost any changes in
config.xmlif there is any update to the Quasar source.
Is there a better workflow to force a full iOS rebuild (without losing
Hi ohho,
When I'm building for android or ios I only need to run quasar build each time.
If you remove the cordova folder each time and run quasar wrap cordova that will generate new cordova files.
The www folder in cordova is symlinked to the dist folder of your source so, just rebuild with quasar build ios and then change into cordova folder to cordova run or cordova build


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Looking for Sansui Brochures, Bulletins, or Manuals? Or, need NOS parts? Visit OBS, Inc Site or Woodang.net Site
Posted by BeatleFred on March 28, 2004 at 10:22:38:
In Reply to: Service Manual P-L50 TT posted by Terence Tegner on March 28, 2004 at 02:26:03:
It sounds like you are looking for the Owners/Operating Manual, rather than the Service Manual which has the schematics and is meant more for repairing the unit if it has any problems.
There is a link at the top of this page where copies of Manuals can be obtained, but I dont see an O.M. for your particular model. Perhaps you can do an Online search for some turntable websites that might have it.
Even if sansui.us did have the Manual, you would need to purchase a copy of the whole manual (the price is very reasonable). Its not fair to the people who maintain this site, that they should be expected to devote their time to provide free scans to anyone who asks, nor is it fair to the other people who do pay for their manual copies.
Follow Ups:
Post a Followup


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Getting Started
Picking and eating crabs is an earthy, down-home way to enjoy these tasty crustaceans. Crabs don't give up their treasures easily. Picking crab meat takes some time to learn, but it's pretty easy when you know how it's done.
First, prepare a large workspace. Lay down newspaper because you're going to get messy (there's nothing refined about pickin' crabs). Use a bowl for your cooked crabs, a bowl for good shells (you can use these to make stocks and sauces), and a bowl for the pure meat. It's best to have an easy to access and open trashcan nearby. You may also want to have nutcrackers, wooden mallets, and lots of paper towels on hand.
Pick off the Legs
Start by removing all the legs and claws first. Do this by grabbing the very base of each leg and pulling it away. Set the legs aside for later.
Peeling off the Plate
If you turn a crab over, you'll notice a plate on the bottom. A narrow, pointy plate means it's a male crab (a "jimmy" in East Coast terms). Female crabs, called "sooks" in the East, have wide, triangular plates. Slip your finger under the plate and peel it back. Grab the base and pull the whole thing away.
Opening the Body
Now it's time to open the body. Wedge your thumbs on opposite sides of the body, then pull the top of the crab away from the bottom and brace yourself; there will be all sorts of icky-looking stuff in there.
Remove the Lungs
The crab's lungs appear as feathery cones lining the side of the body. Remove them and throw them away. An old wives' tale says crab lungs are toxic, but they're actually just not digestible and taste terrible.
Now scrape out the gooey stuff in the center of the crab's body's two equal solid parts. The greenish stuff is the liver, called the tomalley. You can eat it and many love this part of the crab. If you have a female crab and you see bright orange stuff inside, that is edible. It's the roe or eggs, also called "coral" in shellfish. Coral is delicious when it's warmed and served on toast or used in crab cakes. You can also add it to crab soups; it's the key ingredient in she-crab soup.
Getting to the Body Meat
There's a lot of good meat in the body of most crabs, especially blue and Dungeness crabs. It's located in cartilage-lined channels in each of the two equal sides of the body. Grasp each side and break the body in half to get to it.
Extracting the Body Meat
Now you'll pick out the meat from this maze of cartilaginous channels. It can be daunting at first but don't get discouraged. You'll learn how to navigate this maze and the picking will go much faster after a few efforts.
You might only want to bother with this part if you have Dungeness, blue crabs, or any other crab with a top shell that's wider than 5 1/2 inches. The bodies of smaller crabs are tasty, but you'll do a lot of work for just a little meat. Add the bodies of smaller crabs into stocks and sauces instead to get that sweet crab flavor.
Starting on the Claws
Start with the legs and claws by gently pulling the lower part of each claw off. This often pulls all the inner claw meat with it, but it'll be attached to a hard, cartilaginous fin-shaped thing in the center. Just pinch the meat at the base of the claw and pull it away from the cartilage.
Picking Meat From the Legs
The meat inside the legs can best be extracted by breaking the joints backward. Just like with the claws, the meat will usually remain attached to a thin piece of cartilage. Slip the meat from this cartilage. Again, you might only want to bother with this if you have large crabs.
Finishing up With the Nut Cracker
Finish your crab by cracking the hard-shelled claws and knuckles with a nutcracker. Some people like the knuckle meat best because of its sweet flavor.
Use just enough pressure to crack the claw. Gently increase pressure until the claw is cracked, then pick away the shell and extract the meat. If you crush it too forcefully, you'll mash the meat and bits of the shell will grind into it.
If all this sounds like a lot of work, don't worry. You'll be able to pick a crab in just a few minutes once you get the hang of it.


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9th November 2016
Consumer Alert: Helping Hands International
Consumer Watchdog would like to alert consumers about Helping Hands International, a pyramid scheme actively trying to recruit victims in Botswana.
The proponents of Helping Hands International describe the scheme as a "non governmental organization" attempting to "empower the less privileged people and orphanage homes". They also claim that joining the scheme will offer "passive income", new cars, laptops, a "house of your own", free trips abroad, loans of up to P500,000, scholarships and "residual income for life".
However, their marketing material states very clearly that recruits are not required to buy or sell any products, saying that there is "no buying of stock" and "no selling". All that is required is for new recruits to enlist multiple layers of people beneath them.
Helping Hands International is clearly a pyramid scheme. A pyramid scheme is defined as a mechanism in which any earnings come entirely or primarily from the recruitment of other people and not from the sale of products. This describes Helping Hands International perfectly.
They also claim that the scheme is "supported" by companies such as Hyundai, Apple, HP and Lenovo but there is no evidence of this whatsoever.
Like all pyramid and Ponzi schemes Helping Hands International will eventually collapse, leaving its victims disappointed, embarrassed and poorer.
Consumer Watchdog urges everyone not to waste their time, energy and money in this illegal pyramid scheme.
If consumers are in any doubt they should contact Consumer Watchdog for free advice. We can be reached by phone on 3904582, by email at email@example.com or by joining our Facebook group, Consumer Watchdog Botswana.


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Dr. Syed M Hasan is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics, LUMS. His primary research interest and teaching field is urban and regional economics and public economics. Dr. Hasan obtained his PhD in Economics from Ohio State University in 2014. His doctoral research focused on spatial policy instruments and firm's productivity. Under the broad theme of sustainable development, Dr. Hasan also has interest in research on resilient cities. In this context his research focuses on areas related to water conservation, economic cost of congestion and energy choices by households and related carbon emissions in large urban centers of Pakistan. Dr. Hasan has several publications in international peer-reviewed journals. In 2007 he did he master's in public finance from GRIPS, Tokyo, Japan. Prior to joining the academia, Dr. Hasan has worked in the civil service of Pakistan. His email contact is email@example.com
Hasan, S., Klaiber, A. & Sheldon, I. (2018). The impact of science parks on small-and medium-sized enterprises' productivity distributions: the case of Taiwan and South Korea. Small Business Economics.
Hasan, S., Faggian, A., Klaiber, A. & Sheldon & Sheldon, I. (2018). Agglomeration economies or selection: An analysis of Taiwanese Science Parks. International Regional Science Review, doi:doi.org/10.1177/0160017616642822.
Hasan, S. (2018). Great Engines Turn on Small Pivots: A Productivity Analysis of Small-Scale Manufacturing in Punjab, Pakistan. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship.
Aamir, M., Ahmad, H., Javaid, Q. & Hasan & Hasan, S. (2018). Waste Not, Want Not: A Case Study on Food Waste in Restaurants of Lahore, Pakistan. Journal of Food Products Marketing, doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/10454446.2018.1472695.
Klaiber, A., Goplakrishnan, S. & Hasan, S. (2017). Missing the forest for the trees:balancing shale exploration and conservation goals through policy.. Conservation Letters, 10 (1), 153-159, doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12238.
Hasan, S. & Sheldon, I. (2016). Credit Constraints, Technology Choice and Exports: A Firm Level Study Latin American Countries. Review of Development Economics, 20 (2), 547-560, doi:doi: 10.1111/rode.12248.
Hasan, S., Ali, H., Azmat, F. & Raza & Raza, S. (2019). Economic Assessment of CPEC Projects: A Guideline Based on Power Project, InPress. J. Syed & F.Ying (Eds.), China's Belt and Road Initiative in a Global Context.
Hasan, S. (2019). Female Entrepreneurship: Do Urban Centers Ease out the Challenge? An Analysis for Pakistan, InPress. N. Iftikhar, J. Justice & D. Audretsch (Eds.), Urban Studies and Entrepreneurship.
Hasan, S. & Zhang, W. (2018). The Greenness of Pakistani Cities: Urban Growth and Household Carbon Emissions. Sustainability and Development, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Hasan, S. (2013). Selection and Agglomeration Impact on Firm's Productivity- A Study of Taiwan's Manufacturing Sector. North American Regional Science Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.
Hasan, S. (2013). Credit Constraints, Technology Choice and Exports: A Firm Level Study Latin American Countries. Agricultural and Applied Economics Joint meeting, Washington DC, United States of America.


text:
Callan is gorgeous. That is all…this chick got up and drove from Navarre for this session, arriving at 6 am for a sunrise session and still looked this amazing. She makes me want to dye my hair red and have more babies…I mean wow. She and Dennis are expecting a little boy and she wanted to incorporate the beach for her beach maternity session as well as the flag as her husband serves our country and I could not be more excited to show her these images. She truly does pregnancy a great service <3
I did a little blog post comparing the fisheye with the wide angle for you inquiring photogs if you want to check it out….


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Investment in the development of innovative and value-added products and improved services and processes is a key measure Irish companies can take to overcome the potential challenges of Brexit.
On the new product development side, it means your business should be able to demand premium prices; this will help to cope with fluctuations in currency and the cost of border controls that may come into force in the event of a no deal Brexit.
An increased focus on research and development (R&D) will give Irish companies a competitive edge in the UK and elsewhere. Developing offerings with worldwide appeal will be critical in creating sustainable businesses which don't need to rely as much on our closest neighbour.
Regarding internal processes, finding more efficient ways of working, such as lean practices, will help to make Irish companies more competitive in their chosen markets.
Potential Challenges
Unique selling points
Competing in the post-Brexit era is creating much less of a level playing field. Selling 'me too' products and services based on price is no longer a viable strategy. Irish products and services will have to have clear unique selling points for buyers in the UK and other markets to be interested.
To address this issue you should examine your product or service portfolio and determine what your unique selling points are in all of your target markets. In tandem with this, consider what tweaks to existing products or new iterations will help you to stand out from the crowd.
Competition from bigger players
Irish companies are faced with the reality that they must hold their own in the post-Brexit trading landscape against much larger players with more resources to invest in innovation.
Adopting a niche approach in your given sector in terms of product or service innovation will help you to counteract this challenge. You could also explore the option of collaborating with a third party to develop a product or service.
Prepare for Brexit
Your business can start to prepare for Brexit by using the dedicated Brexit SME Scorecard, a free tool available from Enterprise Ireland. The tool looks at a company's business operations across six areas – Business Strategy, Operations, Sales and Marketing, Finance, Innovation and People Management. You can start the short questionnaire and come back to it at any time. Your results report will show the priority areas that your business should consider addressing and serve as a useful kick-off point to start preparing for Brexit with your business team.
Other Supports
Agile Innovation Fund supports companies in sectors with rapid design cycles to maintain their technology position. The benefits of this grant are that it allows for a very simple application process and delivers a very fast response from application to approval. For more information, go to Agile Innovation Fund.


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Blancpain's 2016 novelties: a concentrate of know-how
This year, Blancpain goes to the heart of its skill in diving watches and focuses on its expertise in different crafts and complicated pieces.
Biology has taught us that every living organism comes from the sea and precisely the marine universe is one of Blancpain's main themes. Founded in the mid 18th century, the brand owes part of its contemporary renown to the fact that it was the first ever to provide professional divers with the means to explore the marine universe safely.
Indeed, by having allowed Jacques-Yves Cousteau in the past and currently Laurent Ballesta to venture into the deep abyss of the oceans, Blancpain has also engraved its contribution to the preservation of marine life in the Big Book of Horology. The 2016 version of the famous Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe introduced at Baselworld is a tribute to past adventurers that aims to encourage future explorers to come to rely on its products, which are always one step ahead of their time.
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe 2016
Inherited adventure
Launched in the mid-1950s, the Bathyscaphe collection was reinterpreted with new aesthetics on the occasion of the Fifty Fathoms' 60th anniversary in 2013. However, the watches still featured the masculine lines of the old models and hence maintained their adventurous look. In line with the collection's vintage spirit, the hands are still as visible as ever in the dark abysses. Just like the original piece, the 2016 Bathyscaphe features the best available materials.
A gray plasma ceramic case protects the self-winding movement (ref. 1315), which is equipped with three barrels that guarantee a 5-day power reserve, and a thin, gold square screw inertial adjusted regulating organ with a silicon balance-spring. The same gray plasma ceramic is found in the bezel with a blue ceramic insert that features Liquidmetal® numerals. This efficient, readable, wonderful and almost timeless piece is available with either a NATO strap or a smooth sail canvas strap. Water resistant to 300 meters, the piece is undeniably designed for action and is ready to take on any kind of situation.
Blancpain Villeret 8 jours "La Grande Vague"
Japanese-inspired art
Inspired by the famous prints of Japanese painter Hokusai (the Great Wave off Kanagawa), the wave on the dial of the 2016 version was crafted by Blancpain's "applied arts" workshops and reminds us how passionate the brand (part of the Swatch Group) is about the marine universe. The unique and powerful timepiece is driven by the hand-wound mechanical caliber 13R3A. The caliber's three barrels mounted in series provide it with an 8-day power reserve, whose indicator is on the side of the bridge.
The platinum double pomme case adds a new dimension to the word "aesthetics". Indeed, its unique, hand-crafted dial takes its inspiration from some of the techniques used by blacksmiths who make the ultra-sharp katana swords only the Samurai use. Indeed, the base of the dial is made of silver obsidian, a volcanic rock known for its soothing qualities. Blancpain's craftsmen shaped it by making an applique of the same shape as the world famous print wave.
Mouvement de la Blancpain Villeret 8 jours "La Grande Vague"
The white gold applique is fixed to a Shakudo base (a gold and copper alloy used to make the decorations of sabre guards) before it is immersed in a bath of copper salts known as rokusho. After a few minutes, the two pieces are taken out of the bath but the craftsmen only keep the gold wave. The Shakudo base is only used to bathe the piece in the rokusho. Finally, the wave is polished to give it the moving effect of the design. The piece comes with a calfskin leather strap that a Swiss craftsman, famous for the quality of his work, made especially for Blancpain and this specific watch.
The meaning and the art of getting to the heart of things
A real first in the Villeret collection, the Annual Calendar has come out this year with a GMT function and is adorned with a steel casing. Said metal is sought after by managers who seek efficiency and for whom function supersedes pageantry. Yet, this model does not need to shy away from anything, as it is equipped with a movement that gives the best of time indications, which is very useful for powerful men who need to be able to access their calendar at any time.
To avoid any potential mistakes, the Manufacture's engineers and watchmakers have equipped the Villeret Annual Calendar GMT watch with the reference 6054F mechanical movement with automatic winding. If the watch is worn continuously for a year, the date will need adjustment only on 1st of March and the sophisticated mechanism used in the caliber will do the rest without further ado.
Blancpain Villeret Quantième Annuel GMT
Should the piece not be worn and hence stop, it will suffice to use the patented correctors under the horns to readjust the very readable calendar information in their respective counters, and it's back to business. Additionally, as the company's leaders understand that this type of timepiece is destined to be worn by influential people, they chose to add a GMT indicator to this exceptional timepiece. A second time is discreetly indicated by a fine hand inside a subtle counter, which is only emphasized by the presence of 24 numerals and indexes. This magnificent, noble and sober piece is a picture of harmony and balance and is attached to an alligator strap that matches any outfit, from the more formal office attire to the most casual outfit to wear on the plane.


text:
Steven Brill
Another Look at Cameras in the Court
VTR Date: December 3, 1997
Guest: Brill, Steven
Host: Richard D. Heffner
Guest: Steven Brill
Title: Another Look at Cameras in the Courts
I'm Richard Heffner, your host on The Open Mind. And I'm going to begin this program just as I had originally planned to, by saying my guest and I just recorded a program on Content, his brand new magazine venture that follows on the heels of his American Lawyer publications, whose truly well-achieved goal was "To shine a spotlight on one of the nation's most important, but least covered industries: the legal profession."
Well, now Steve Brill writes Content will train its sights, quote, "On an even more significant industry, and, remarkably, one that's even less covered by the media. Because the media is the industry itself."
Well, just as last time we talked about Content and the media, today I'd like to revisit still another vastly successful Steve Brill venture: his longtime romance with cameras in the courts, which I once characterized in The New York Law Review as "A bad idea whose time has come," but today would hopefully label "A bad idea whose time has come, and gone." He won't agree, I know. But having put up front my own negative vibes concerning making the courtroom, as well as just about everything else in American life, into a commercial entertainment, let me talk with Mr. Brill about his undoubted success in that enterprise.
Though first what I want to do is sort of continue our previous program about Content. There are a lot of things, Steve, that I want to talk about Content before you and I do battle about cameras in the courts, because I know you think I'm so wrong…
BRILL: If I'm smart, I'll stick with Content.
HEFFNER: [Laughter] Notes.
BRILL: And run the clock out.
HEFFNER: You have the capacity to do that, Steve. But so does the concept that you've incorporated in this new magazine, Content. We were talking last time about the O.J. Simpson trial, and you were talking about the Court TV people standing there on line with everyone else to get credentialed for covering the trial. You said something then (maybe I misunderstood you) about wanting Content, your new magazine, to take the place of any effort ever to credential people by government's picking and choosing those who do right and who do wrong.
BRILL: I was using that image to make the point that today there's all kinds of stuff out there that claims to be journalism, or semi-journalism. Whether it's an Oliver Stone movie or infotainment or a tabloid TV show or a tabloid newspaper or a novelization or a docudrama of something. There's all this stuff out there, and people don't know what's real and what's not real, what's journalism that has standards, and what's quite the opposite. And the point I made about everybody standing in line, you know, The National Enquirer on line with The Washington Post, and, you know, The Jerry Springer Show on line with the CBS Evening News to get credentials for something like the O.J. Simpson case was simply that the government should give all those people credentials. The government can't be in the business of — although sometimes they try, and they shouldn't try — of saying, you know, "That's a good reporter; that's a bad reporter. You deserve a seat in the courtroom; you don't." The government can't do that and shouldn't do that. I'm the last person in the world that wants the government ever to be in the business of doing that.
HEFFNER: But Steve Brill should?
BRILL: Well, Steve Brill and 20 other competitors to Steve Brill that want to. The way to explain and to enhance the standards of journalism and to lift those standards up is through journalism. It's not through the government. It's not through some quasi-governmental body, as some of the countries in the Western world have or try to have. It's through journalism. And if we can say to people, through the series of stories we're going to do every month, and maybe through some kind of scoring or reading system that we may have the audacity to try, that, "On a professionalism scale this entity ranks here, and this entity ranks here," there'll be dozens of people who say, "How dare we do that? Where do we get the right to do that? Where do we get the nerve to do that?" But we'll be trying to do something that, in this country, only private people should be doing. Because we sure don't want the government to do that.
HEFFNER: Well, now, how did you feel about the National News Council? Private people. Some foundation dollars. Private people though.
BRILL: I think that was a long time ago that they tried that.
HEFFNER: Right.
BRILL: I think that was a terrific effort. There are similar efforts… There's one, I think, in Minnesota that goes on now. And I think those are very good ideas. I think there should be local versions of Content magazine, there should be all kinds of efforts to hold the media accountable. But they have to be, in essence, private efforts. We know, if we can agree on one thing, I'm sure we can agree that libel law doesn't work. It doesn't work for the journalists who are doing a good job, because the problem with libel law is that the cost of defending yourself from a lawsuit that's brought by someone who's just angry that you wrote about him, even though what you wrote is right, the cost of defending against that suit is prohibitive and sometimes ruins little publications. So it doesn't work for journalists. And it never works for plaintiffs because they never really win. They win a jury verdict, and then it gets overturned on appeal. So it doesn't work for anybody, except maybe the lawyers. And libel law's a bad way to deal with this.
And the truth is, most of the famous libel cases that we know about are actually the result of bad journalism. And most of the famous libel cases we know about, the journalist won.
HEFFNER: Is this going to be a for-profit effort, Content?
BRILL: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I believe strongly in the idea that the best kind of journalism is journalism that is not out there trying to be nonprofit and taking money from charities and asking for money from charities, but that exists on a business basis, but that exists as a professional publication with professional ideals, which is that we will do, our first goal is to fulfill the mission of this magazine, and we want to figure out how to do that in a way that makes it profitable, as opposed to vice versa, which is our first goal is to make money and we'll just put anything in the magazine we have to to do it. And I think, both at Court TV and at The American Lawyer, I established that, when it comes to those priorities, I do what I say I'm going to do.
HEFFNER: Would you say — larger question, Steve — would you say that the criticism is accurate that has been frequently leveled that in American journalism today, print and electronic, though professionalism is sought, profit at times gets in the way of being as professional as…
BRILL: More than at times. Very often. And one of the dilemmas is that, once you have a publicly held company that has to be responsive to shareholders, and responsive to shareholders on a quarterly basis, or even on a daily basis in terms of producing results, it's very hard to say what I just said, which is, "Yes, I want it to be a good business, but I'm not going to make it a good business at any cost."
If you read any report, any annual report of any publicly held corporation on any stock exchange, the first sentence from the CEO always is, "Our goal is to maximize profits for the shareholder." And you know what? That's how it should be. Because when you or I, or our pension funds, invest in stocks on Wall Street, we don't want to hear about the CEO's goals for society or his goals for his personal fulfillment; we're investing in that stock or investing in a mutual fund that invests in that stock because we want the stock to go up. And if you invest in a mutual fund and you look in the paper one day and see that it's not doing as well as some other mutual fund, you fire the mutual fund. You don't want to hear that, "Well, you don't understand. I invested in this really good publication that's doing all these good things."
So once you separate the ownership from the proprietorship, if you will, there's a danger that what a lot of what I'm talking about gets sacrificed. Except where you have, ironically, the kind of public ownership that people who are the good government gurus of corporate ownership hate, which is the public ownership where you have certain classes of stock. The best newspapers in this country are publicly held corporations that have special classes of stock for the family owners. And that protects them from exactly the pressures I'm talking about.
So there's a dilemma here. Do you want The New York Times and The Washington Post Company to be anti-democratic, by Wall Street standards, but preserve their fabulous values as journalism enterprises? Or do you want them to be fully responsive corporate leaders, responsive to shareholders? Can't be both.
HEFFNER: Which way did it go with Court TV?
BRILL: What do you mean?
HEFFNER: You started Court TV.
BRILL: Uh huh.
HEFFNER: Did you own it?
BRILL: I owned a piece of it.
HEFFNER: Well, I ask that question again. There was involvement with a publicly held company, right?
BRILL: That's right. But my partnership and my contract to my partnership gave me complete and total editorial control. And I had it, and the whole time I was there I kept it. And there was never an instance… If you want to fault any editorial decision of Court TV while I was there, you're faulting me; you're not faulting Time-Warner or NBC or any of the other partners.
HEFFNER: I have no problem in faulting you, Steve Brill. You know that.
BRILL: But that would be my fault, if we…
HEFFNER: And today?
BRILL: Today the partners have been left to their own good devices to run Court TV.
HEFFNER: "Good devices." You have no problems with what's happening to Court TV.
BRILL: I don't watch it very much.
HEFFNER: Steve, come on.
BRILL: I don't. I'm doing other things. I have a tendency, when I get very involved in something, and then when I leave it I have a tendency, because I know if I do a little of it I'll still stay emotionally involved, to sort of try to look away from it for awhile. By the same vein, lately the Teamster's Union has been in the news a lot. As you know, in 1978 I wrote a book about the Teamster's Union. And there was a time in my life, 1978, 1977, 1979, when I knew everything about the Teamster's Union, and I was the world's leading expert on the Teamster's Union. And now I don't know anything about the Teamster's Union except what I read in the newspaper. And reporters and television people call me and ask me to comment about what's going on, and I say, "You know, I really haven't been following it." And they say, "How come?"
HEFFNER: One thing is true, and I don't say that…
BRILL: But I have watched some… I mean, I don't want to be glib. I have watched some Court TV. There are some things there that I wouldn't do, and there are some things there that I would do. But I think that's natural. Everybody would do things differently.
HEFFNER: Are there things that are done differently now because there is public ownership, so to speak? You're talking about a corporation…
BRILL: Well, there always was public ownership. The question was, there was a difference in control.
HEFFNER: Okay.
BRILL: I guess so. But I really don't want to get into the details of that because, first of all, I don't know the details because I don't watch enough of it, and I just, given what I'm now trying to do, I don't think it makes sense for me to, you know, carry on a, you know, a one-way battle with Time-Warner, NBC, or anything else over that particular partnership.
HEFFNER: Some of my best friends are at Time-Warner, so I wouldn't even ask you to do it. But, will Time-Warner be, and I look at the dummy, the mockup of Content, "We're Never Sorry" is the cover story, again saying that the networks news departments, and I'm sure you're talking about the big newspapers too…
BRILL: Less so, but to a certain degree.
HEFFNER: Okay. I've been impressed in the last few days, depressed in the last few weeks, I should say, by the kinds of corrections that I've been looking at in The New York Times. I'm puzzled by the nature of the changes; they're so tiny.
Now, you're not looking for the networks, let's say, to indulge in revealing their tiny errors, are you?
BRILL: I don't know. You'd have to give me a specific of a tiny error…
HEFFNER: Something that's misspelled.
BRILL: No, because you're usually not spelling on a network anyway; you're talking. So you don't have the opportunity…
HEFFNER: Well, you have the running…
BRILL: No.
HEFFNER: Mispronounced.
BRILL: No.
HEFFNER: Okay, what sort of things are you going to be looking for in Content that you're going to talk about here? Here, what you've got in your dummy issue, "Just trying to get the networks to make a correction is so difficult…"
BRILL: I think much more substantive stuff. I mean, there are times when people, either inadvertently or deliberately, are unfair, and they make mistakes. I mean, I can tell you from experience at Court TV, we broadcast a plea for people to tell us when we've made mistakes. And a lot of people took us up on it. And I can remember one instance where we had mischaracterized the testimony of someone as having said that some person was at a crime that this other person was being charged for, was there, and had done nothing about it, or something like that. And the person who, in sort of recapping the testimony we said that, and we got a call, and they said, "Well, there's no proof of that, and, you know, when you recapped it you should have said that person alleged that that other person had been there." Is that a big mistake, or a small mistake? I thought it was a big mistake. I certainly thought it was as big a mistake as it was, it deserved the same time that our recap had deserved, so we made that correction.
HEFFNER: Now…
BRILL: It's not a big deal. I think that the biggest problem the press has, probably anybody has, is admitting mistakes. And when you don't, they just sort of fester there. And it's a truly healthy thing for the press to try as hard as they can to be really candid and say, "God, did we screw this one up. You know, you're not going to believe how we made this mistake."
HEFFNER: Now…
BRILL: That just shows they care, and they're human.
HEFFNER: Big or small, error, misstatement, mistake, whatever you want to call it, when we used to argue about cameras in the courts, until you won hands-down… You made a considerable point. You made it frequently in Albany when you were trying to get the state legislature to pass those enabling acts, if I may call them that, to let you and others bring your cameras into the courtroom. You talk about gavel-to-gavel coverage. one of the questions that was raised… I raised it many times. I was made uneasy. So were a lot of better people than I am. About the thought that there might just be snippets or excerpts…
BRILL: You always made a big deal of the gavel-to-gavel thing.
HEFFNER: Yeah.
BRILL: And I, while I — and I'll come back to my answer to that — while I always joined you in that argument, I never thought it was…
HEFFNER: You used to shut me up by saying you were going to do it.
BRILL: Yeah, but I also would say that, while we were going to do it, it was irrelevant. I mean, unless you were going to say that The New York Times should print a transcript of every trial proceeding in order to have the privilege of doing its version of sound bites, which is, reporter goes there, takes out his notebook, maybe gets the sound bite, eight-word quote right, in his story about the trial, unless you were going to say that along side that The Times should publish the transcript of the trial, otherwise don't let that reporter in, I always thought that was just absurd. But the fact is it was easy to answer your point because what Court TV did was a primary, the primary thrust of its programming was to do gavel-to-gavel trials. And that's what we did.
HEFFNER: Now, do you want to tell me what you mean by gavel-to-gavel trials? Would I see them…
BRILL: I mean the trial starting and the trial ending.
HEFFNER: You're covering that?
BRILL: And if you have, you know, if you lack enough of a life so that you're going to sit there for two weeks from nine to five, you can watch the whole trial.
HEFFNER: Now, you're talking about certain, specific, major trials, right?
BRILL: No, I'm talking about whenever Court TV does a live trial (at least when I was there), that is what we would do. We would cover the trial live.
HEFFNER: Now, you're talking about a live trial.
BRILL: Yeah.
HEFFNER: But there is a lot on Court TV…
BRILL: I would say there are… Well, I can't speak to Court TV today because I haven't been there in a year.
HEFFNER: Right. You don't watch. Et cetera.
BRILL: Well, I haven't been responsible for it.
HEFFNER: Okay.
BRILL: I'm happy to take responsibility for anything I'm responsible for. And when I was there and responsible for it, I would say a third of the trials we did we would do on tape and we would boil them down, which is an absurd thing to say when you hear my next sentence. We would boil them down to where they were only eight hours long. So a trial that might have run, you know, 72 hours, you know, stem to stern, was eight hours on Court TV, or ten hours on Court TV.
HEFFNER: So it wasn't gavel-to-gavel.
BRILL: Those trials were not gavel-to… But I always said that. I always said that.
HEFFNER: Steve, I'm sure our audience isn't interested in my saying, "No, you didn't," your saying, "Yes, I did." We differ on the subject of what was claimed.
BRILL: But let's look at what we're differing about. Again, that has nothing to do with the argument for cameras in the courts. Because I also always said — and I'm sure even you must remember this — that…
HEFFNER: At my age.
BRILL: At your age. [Laughter] That the right to have cameras in the courts has nothing to do with Court TV. That news shows should have them. I mean, I always thought the sound-bite argument, which was your argument, which was, "If you let cameras in, they'll just take the five or six or eight seconds, the sexiest seconds of the trial, and that's all they'll do." My argument to that always was that that is better — that's not my taste, that's not what I would do — but that is better than having some blow-dried anchorman standing on the courthouse steps giving his five- to eight-second, you know, rendition of what that was in the courtroom. And the fact is that I think I've proven to be right. I think that people know much more about the justice system today than they knew in 1991. What makes people in the legal community uncomfortable about that is, in fact, that they do know much more about the justice system today than they did know in 1991.
HEFFNER: You know, it's funny, The New York Times, great supporter of cameras in the courts, would editorialize time and again. We know now, we have proof positive…
BRILL: Right.
HEFFNER: …that the citizenry is educated about the court system. And I used to write Max Frankel when he was the editor of The Times, very politely, and say, "Dear Max: Could you give me the citation? How do we know? What is the research that's been done?" Never got an answer from him. Some years later, I was pleased to have Max sitting where you're sitting now…
BRILL: Yeah, he wrote one of the all-time dumb columns about the subject of cameras in the… It was just…
HEFFNER: You say…
BRILL: It was an embarrassment…
HEFFNER: …"dumb" because now he was no longer editor of The Times, and he wrote what he thought, that it was an abomination.
BRILL: No, he had never been responsible for those editorials. He was the executive editor, as I recall; not then the editor of the editorial page, which was doing the editorials.
But the fact is that his complaint, like your complaint, really is that people saw too much. I mean, you started by talking about cameras as entertainment. And you're a lot smarter than I am, because you know the difference between, you know, entertainment, which I take it is unworthy, and something else which is worthy. It may shock you to know that there are people who are entertained by this television show.
HEFFNER: It would shock me.
BRILL: And maybe that's a bad thing.
HEFFNER: Pleased is something else.
BRILL: [Laughter] You know, maybe that's a bad thing. I don't think that because people are intrigued by something when they watch it that's a bad thing. What you're really bothered by is what I'm bothered by — and this is what we agree on — what you're bothered by is the motives of most of the people who use courtroom camera footage. And they just want to use it to titillate people and exploit a horrible situation, whether it's a murder or a divorce, or who knows what, and they're just making money off of this, what used to be a pristine or relatively private process of justice. That's what really bothers you. That you don't like the people who are doing it.
I don't like the people, most of them, who are doing it either. But, you know, this country is in very bad shape when the government gets to decide that it's going to inhibit speech or reporting of any kind because it doesn't like the motives and the goals of the people who are doing it.
HEFFNER: Well, we have a few other sources of difference here. But I'd be happy to take the snippet (I used to be concerned about snippets), the snippet of Steve Brill saying just what he said about the motives of most of the people involved, and take it up to Albany when it becomes appropriate next time.
BRILL: Oh, I used to say that, I mean, there's nothing I have just said to you that I didn't say there. It may be why they don't have cameras in the courts there anymore, because I was singularly unpersuasive.
HEFFNER: Tell me about that, Steve. What do you think's going to happen with the whole matter of cameras in the courts?
BRILL: I think it's, you know, across the country there's been, from the standpoint of those who think that people should be able to see trials, there've been all kinds of advances. It's typically two steps forward, one step back. The Simpson case obviously set it back a little bit. Then there have been things that have pushed it forward. You know, now that I've been away from Court TV for awhile, I've had a lot of time to think about this, and I no longer have any self-interest in it. I don't get richer or poorer whether there's a camera anywhere in any courtroom in the country.
And I think the real issue is, and I think the real divide is something that Richard Reeves, the journalist, who is a friend of mine, said to me awhile back. And he was very upset that television has ruined the presidential-election process. And he said to me when we were having drinks, he said, "You know, cameras have ruined the executive branch, and television has ruined the legislative branch, and now you're going to ruin the judicial branch." And what was really at the heart of what he was saying is that the camera being there sort of takes a representative democracy and makes it much more of a democracy. And that often can be a bad thing. And the state we're in now with people's knowledge of the justice system because of cameras is: they have a little bit of knowledge. In other words, they think they know the criminal justice system because they've seen the O.J. Simpson case, or they've seen this nanny case or something. And a little bit of knowledge is very often a very destructive thing. Because you speak with more passion, more authority, but you really don't know much, because you only know a little bit.
I think, as the process continues, as people see more trials and get to understand the system better, I think that even you will come to appreciate that the democratic process is actually a good thing, that representative democracy in the form of letting a few select reporters go down and watch a trial is not a good thing.
HEFFNER: Steve…
BRILL: And the reason you'll ultimately see it… Let me just complete the point.
HEFFNER: Sure.
BRILL: The reason you'll ultimately see it is that what we're really doing with cameras in the courts is going back to the very beginning of the country. If you think you've got a problem now with trials as entertainment, with the process looking rowdy and unseemly because of the horrible television shows you see, think back to the middle 1800's when courtrooms were these huge amphitheaters with second-row balconies. And in small-town America, whenever there was an interesting trial, everyone in town trooped down to the courthouse and watched the trial. And they waved to their friends in the jury, and they waved to the defendant, and they waived to the judge, and everybody waved back. And if the prosecutor said something funny, everybody laughed in the balcony. People cheered and hooted.
HEFFNER: Steve…
BRILL: This was a show. And the founding fathers meant it to be that show.
HEFFNER: You've achieved…
BRILL: Now the people are watching in their living rooms.
HEFFNER: You've achieved your objective. You have the last word.
BRILL: I did it.
HEFFNER: I knew that you could filibuster that way.
Thanks, Steve Brill, for joining me again on The Open Mind.
BRILL: Glad to do it.
HEFFNER: And thanks too, to you in the audience. I hope you join us again next time. If you would like a transcript of today's program, please send $4 in check or money order to: The Open Mind, P.O. Box 7977, FDR Station, New York, NY 10150.
Meanwhile, as another old friend used to say, "Good night, and good luck." And Steve Brill is wrong.
N.B. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this transcript. It may not, however, be a verbatim copy of the program.


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Rehrig enjoys victorious maiden voyage in Caesar Rodney Half-Marathon
Being a Delawarean and a distance runner, Will Rehrig almost felt it was his duty to run the Caesar Rodney Half-Marathon.
The First State's oldest footrace and the nation's longest-running 13.1-miler, held for the 55th time Sunday, annually lures those willing to challenge its demanding distance sprinkled across devilish hills.
"This is a special one," Rehrig said of what attracted him to run Caesar Rodney for the first time.
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When he galloped across the finish line first on Wilmington's Market Street, alongside the Caesar Rodney statue, that made it an unforgettable debut for the 25-year-old Middletown resident and St. Andrew's School science teacher.
"It's surreal to win this thing, born and raised in Delaware, to be back and in Delaware working," said Rehrig, a St. Andrew's and University of Delaware graduate with a chemical engineering degree who is an assistant cross country coach at his alma mater.
"It's exciting to win one of these big Delaware races. It has a unique feeling different than the 5Ks and anything like that around here."
The course loops from downtown to the Riverfront, back toward downtown, then to Rockford Park and back. Rehrig finished in one hour, 12 minutes, 18 seconds.
"I run a lot of the races around here and I think this is one of the most historical races. It's kind of one of the big half-marathons and so I thought it was my time to see how I do.
It was a daily double of Delaware victories as Liz Swierzbinski, 30, of Wilmington clocked a 1:23:59 to win the women's title.
Swierzbinski also won in 2015 and 2016. She became the fourth three-time women's champion, joining Betsy Winter (1985, 87-88), Ann Wehner (1989, '91, '93) and Andrea Niggemier (2004-06). Women's competition was first held in 1973.
The half-marathon and an accompanying 5K raised money for the American Lung Association and was also meant to advocate the importance of clean air.
U.S. Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), 71, before completing his 35th Caesar Rodney, spoke to those assembled about the importance of clean air and gave them a Rodney history lesson.
"When this race was first run in the mid-1960s, the air was so bad in some places around this country we couldn't breathe it . . . Over the years that has changed," said Carper, who credited the 1970 Clean Air Act and former President Nixon creating the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 for being at the root of improvements.
In 1776, Rodney rode his horse from Dover to Philadelphia and cast Delaware's tie-breaking vote for the Declaration of Independence.
Rehrig, riding only his speedy legs, won by more than a minute. In second place was Zachary Hoagland of Hatfield, Pennsylvania, in 1:13:29. Lancaster's Nate Alter, who won the last two years, was third in 1:14:15.
Rehrig had run January's Icicle 10K and the Delaware Half-Marathon several years ago, so was familiar with portions of the CR course. Friends who'd run it had been more than willing to advise.
"People complained the most about that hill at the end," he said of the devious climb up Market Street toward the finish. " 'Oh, Rockford Park, you'll get through that. It's the hill at the end that's the worst.' That's a hard last hill. But those hills out there in general can get a little challenging. It does have a reputation. I was told that reputation many times by people. There's definitely a few more hills here than Middletown. So you don't get to practice these very often."
At four miles, before zipping through Brandywine Park and starting the climb to Rockford, he pushed the pace.
"I knew the hills kind of kicked in at 6½, so I tried to take it aggressive early because the hills would slow me down a little bit and if I could get to the top of Rockford Park first, I thought I could win the downhills," he said. "Once I was at the top of Rockford Park at 8½, I said I can take it from here. It was smooth sailing from there."
Swierzbinski, a former Caesar Rodney High and University of Delaware athlete whose maiden name is Paul, was pleased that the cold temperatures and wicked wind that often add to Caesar Rodney's treachery were absent this year.
At the 9:45 a.m. start, it was 39 degrees with a light breeze and a bright, blue sky.
Having been Delaware's top finisher in last year's Boston Marathon in 2:57:49, Swierzbinski again used Caesar Rodney as a stepping stone.
"This is a good tune-up race because Boston has those hills in a tough spot so it's good to kind of simulate that on this half-marathon course," she said, referring to Boston's infamous Newton hills from miles 16 to 21, ending with the renowned Heartbreak Hill.
Finishing 19 seconds behind and second among women was Sarah Heins of Wilmington in 1:24:18. Brenda Hodge of York, Pennsylvania, took third in 1:25:23.
"The weather was definitely better than other years," Swierzbinski said. "Down along the Riverfront you could feel the wind a little bit – it's always a little breezy . . . I was hoping to be a little stronger on the hills, but the downhills felt nice. I always look forward to them. This is definitely a course that you feel in your legs."
Contact Kevin Tresolini at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow on Twitter @kevintresolini.


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Ted Noten
De Mengfabriek
Tramkade 26
5211 VB 's-Hertogenbosch
The Netherlands
Ted Noten
For image requests and press:
Internship at Atelier Ted Noten
Our internships run at a minimum of 3 months. We believe that this way you can become real member of the team and learn something substantial about the workings of a design studio. You will need to be self-motivated and willing to take on a wide range of tasks including concept development, model making, research into materials, participate in meetings and daily activities. We require that you have at least 3 years of study or relevant experience and technical skills. We can offer you, in consideration, 3 days internship at our studio.
To apply please send us the following to email@example.com:
- A covering letter explaining why you want to work for Atelier Ted Noten and what skills you can bring as well as what you would like to achieve through your internship.
- A C.V. including your address and d.o.b.
- A portfolio including at least 5 examples of your best work and 2 examples of your worst.
We look forward to receiving your application.
Ted Noten is represented by:
Galerie Rob Koudijs, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: https://www.galerierobkoudijs.nl
Rademakers Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: www.rademakersgallery.com
Ornamentum Gallery, Hudson, NY, USA: www.ornamentumgallery.com
MPV Gallery, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands: www.mpvgallery.com
Gallery Vivid, Rotterdam, The Netherlands: www.galerievivid.com
Frozen Fountain, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: www.frozenfountain.nl
SO Gallery, London, UK: www.galleryso.com
Klimt02, Barcelona, Spain: www.klimt02.net/gallery
Art Gallery Putti, Riga, Latvia: www.putti.lv/en
Deux Poissons, Tokyo, Japan: www.deuxpoissons.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ted.noten
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Zeppers: www.zeppers.nl
Kunst Reserve Bank: www.kunstreservebank.nl
Website built by: www.studioredefined.nl


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My Debt Diary is a place for me to share my debt free journey. I update you every two weeks on my progress and share tips and advice as I build my own financial knowledge along the way. It is very much about what is happening now and in the short term. But what about the long term? I am very focused on my mission to pay off all of my debt, however I have to think about the future too. Here is my plan for retirement while I pay off my debt.
My savings amount will be progressive and will grow once I am debt free. Of course as I am currently focusing all of my money into my debt payments right now, it can be hard to find the funds to put away into savings at the same time. None the less, the sooner I have my plan for retirement in place the better.
My plan for retirement
The first thing that we tend to think of when it comes to saving for our later years is of course a pension. As I am self-employed my pension is not something that is set up for me automatically. Once I began making some money through my freelancing work I knew it was time to see what my options were.
For some people, looking for a pension will mean studying all of the numbers and percentages on offer in detail, looking through every provider available. For me, it meant asking for some recommendations and choosing the provider that scared me least. Some financial advisers might shake their head if they read this. You should go for the best rates I'm sure, but we all need to take our own approach.
What I really wanted was a platform that allowed me to pay in easily and keep track of my total. Knowing that I would want to increase my contribution amount as my debt total went down, the thought of having to make phone calls and apply for changes with forms and things was just not on. I need to be able to click a few buttons and know exactly what's going on.
I currently pay £25 each month into a private pension with Nest. (I'm not affiliated with them, but so far so good). This is of course a very small amount, but it is adding up quickly. Since I started earlier this year, it has built up to £229. If I continue with this, it will grow to give me £1500 per year when I retire. That wouldn't buy me very much of course, but that's not the point.
The important thing is that I've started and now the compound effect can begin to work. I plan to increase my pension contribution to £150 per month once my debt is paid off. Whilst there are many ways to save and invest money for the future, setting up a pension was a priority for me. I will put other things in place once I am debt free, but I wanted to have a pension in place for my own peace of mind.
Do you have a plan for retirement? What have you got in place?
Victoria of lyliarose.com has written a great post about why you shouldn't rely on a state pension and I definitely recommend you have a read!


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Mr. Rizzotto: Thanks.
Mr. Dawson: "Facts can be interpreted to get the outcome you want." True, but that could apply to sources you believe, too. (Also, "unagenda21.com" appears to have nothing to say about the subject of your letter.)
Mr. Duenow: What city with any kind of nightlife would you point to as an example of "a town where you can comfortably take your family to the core downtown after 10 at night?"
Mr. Clayton: When you learn to recognize Ms. Korgan's commentary for what it is, you might just be eligible for an internship at "a professional paper like New Times." Meanwhile, keep your day job while gaining enough life experience to understand—you do have a good attitude.
Mr. Lee: What exactly is your point? Easier access to smokes (legal and otherwise)? Less access to booze and/or harder drugs? Misplaced priorities for law enforcement? Some combination of the aforementioned?
Mr. Manata: "If wishes were horses ... ." (Sometimes ideals come with huge hidden costs—if they are possible at all.)
Mr. Powers: Well said!
Mr. O'Connor: Can we start with eliminating corporate welfare and work our way down to forms that are less of a burden on taxpayers?
Mr. Shredder: Your critique of online commentaries on one aspect of the relationship between Mr. Gibson and his assistant were fair—at least as fair as your sarcasm permits. However, you ignored two other points presented that were more important and legitimate reasons for calling for Gibson's resignation.
First, a sexual relationship between any employer or supervisor and a subordinate creates a large potential liability situation. (Mr. Gibson is smart enough to know that when he uses his brain to think.) Guess who would end up paying for that if it occurred?
Second, their "solution" for the first problem, once the relationship was exposed, was to create a new job for her in a county department at her old pay—substantially higher than others doing comparable work. That is both an insult to her new co-workers and an unnecessary burden to the taxpayer. Others in county administration should be called to task for going along with this too.
-- Ron Holt - Arroyo Grande


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No One Can Tell Me Different
(For Valerie Rankin)
When the scent of cedar, juniper and sage
Perfume my windows,
As one lone crow gives way
To a murder assembled,
At the hour hummingbirds and butterflies
Circle the red feeder
I know it's time
When my breath draws in as rippling sobs,
As roses in winds move to Tai Chi flow,
While Maples bend like supple yogis,
A tickling at the back of my neck begins
Druids say Samhain is when the veil
Blocking worlds is thinnest
I say any day, at any time (though unbidden),
The veil for me can part
I sense them. They're coming to visit,
My eyes refill like long dried cisterns,
My throat is alive with cries,
Then a sudden explosion of wails and grief
They, the visitors, are like quantum;
Organized as conscious flickers,
They are clustered photons
Appearing in my mental passages
My father is there
And so is my brother
Cats, guinea pigs, dogs, squirrels, rabbits, birds,
All rescued, loved and restored in one life
Play over there in the other
The 82nd Street woods (an escape long vanished)
Is waiting over there intact.
All greet me, including the souls of trees,
Appearing renewed as in a wildflower spring
They all come
They all speak to me — in telepathy
No one can tell me different.
I've seen over there and I've come back
And I remember it clearly
I've seen Them in my dreams but also
During my vast and lonely midnights
It doesn't matter how the paths on my side
Break through to this "other."
They just do
And these membranes will leak again
And again,
And at times yet again,
Until the very last day,
When smiling, They come to shepherd me.
Claudia Dobkins Dikinis
August 27, 2016
Santa Monica, California


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Here are some links to pages we support and endorse. Please go check these sites out.
The link to BPM Designs, who were helped put this site together. Thank you so much, brian for your work.
This is Liam's youtube channel. Go there to see his video gaming ninja skills.
This is Damon's original music site.
This is the site to buy Liam's games.
This is the bandcamp page for Crater Maker, a project featuring Damon Fibraio, Kevin Reeves and Ian Baird.
The home page for our good friend, Kevin Reeves, an amazing musician and a friend of the show.
the home page for our friend, Ian Baird, who was instrumental in facilitating putting together our new home page here. Check out his music.
This is Damon's other music page. Hopefully will be updated soon with newer content.
Follow Liam on Twitter.
follow Damon on twitter.
We'll be adding more links over time, so check back here often.


text: Holy crow you guys. The album is written. Every single note of it. My place may be destroyed, but it's done. It's done and I'm so amazingly proud of it. I'm very excited for you to hear it. Patrons, remember you get access to all the behind the scenes stuff and my home recordings of all these new tunes – that's always available here. It's time for a well-deserved cup of tea.


text:
We're very excited to see some of our products have been nominated for the Windows IT Community Pro Awards as follows:
- Best Auditing & Compliance Product – GFI MailArchiver®
- Best Messaging Product – GFI MailEssentials®
- Best Patch Management Product – GFI LanGuard®
- Best Security Product – GFI LanGuard and GFI WebMonitor®
If you like our products, vote for them today!
How to vote: Visit the nominations page; here you will find the online voting form; vote for each of the products you've used and would recommend to others – it's that simple!
Why your vote means so much to us: The Windows IT Community Pro Awards allow the tech community to determine what products deserve acclaim and recognition. As a company with the vision of being the recognized software leader for small to mid-sized businesses, being chosen for these awards means a lot to us!
Your vote matters!


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So finally I got my shit together over the Halloween bank-holiday weekend and took a trip out to B & Q to buy the necessaries to frame this Breaking Bad canvas printed on Stu's A3 plotter a few months back.
Canvas Print
Wood (25mm * 25mm * 2400mm)
Tenon Saw
Staple Gun
Masking Tape (Or spare hands)
Drill Bits (2mm & 4mm)
4 Screws (M3 * 40mm)
Wood Glue
Phillips Screwdriver
4 Cupáin Tae
Chop up the sticks to suit the canvas size. Make sure the frame is smaller than the actual image size to allow the image wrap around the sides of the frame. If your image size is 1000mm2 then your frame size should be 1000mm – 25mm – 25mm = 950mm2
Here I have used masking tape to clamp the corners and hold the frame together while I drill holes so that I can add the screws.
For the holes you want to use the 2mm drill bit and drill through the corner to a depth greater than 40mm or whatever screw length you are using. Change over to the 4mm bit and expand the hole in the horizontal piece only, all the way through.
I added some wood glue to the joint before driving in the screw. No need to countersink first as the wood is soft so I just drove the head into the wood until flush. Sign and date the frame (only do this if you're famous)
Next up is applying the canvas to the frame, It's pretty easy once you get the first edge aligned up right and tacked down. After the first long edge tackle the opposite edge, pull the canvas tight before stapling so that the spring in the wood can keep the image taught.
Next tackle the corners trying to keep them tidy before finishing off the last 2 sides, again pulling the canvas tight while stapling to prevent the image from sagging. Once all the stapling is done use a scalpel to trim off the excess canvas.
After an hours work you get the finished result below. I sprayed the canvas with clear matt lacquer to protect it, once it dries you can't tell its been applied.
That be that!


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Now we come back to the problem of snobbery. In the case of Puccini, I have felt it at Oxford, but the worst culprits tend to come from the acolytes of the Master whom we have just been looking at. It is, frankly, hard to see why people should feel so superior for worshipping at the same shrine as Adolf Hitler, but some of that Wagner crowd do stick their noses in the air and then hold them when the subject of Puccini comes up. Well, there is one crowd that is hardly well placed to claim the high moral ground over the other on private life. Perhaps the problem is that Puccini is and always has been popular.
Now, populism is right on the nose just now for obvious reasons. But why was Puccini so popular? He had an eye for drama, a natural sense of theatre, the knack of creating good songs, and the skill in manipulating the emotions of his audience. Isn't that essentially the case with Wagner – or any successful composer of opera? Ah, yes, old boy, but think of the difference in the audiences – the Master did not patronise the gutter. It is hard to think of a better case of pure snobbery.
In truth I think too many purists get needled by Puccini because he was like The Magnificent Seven – he just knew when to unleash his big guns, and the crowd – the unwashed crowd – specifically including ME – just bloody well loves it and calls out for more. And, of course, Puccini was Italian, and opera is their invention.
Giacomo Puccini (1858 to 1924) was born into a fine musical family. He began studies with his father who had studied with Donizetti, and then his uncle. He then went to the Milan Conservatory and studied with Ponchielli. His first works flopped, as did Verdi's, but he had a success with Manon Lescaut in 1893 and a big hit with La Bohème in 1896. Bernard Shaw then said that he was heir to Verdi. Tosca and Madam Butterfly were also huge hits and came out at regular intervals. Then came some hiccups around the time of the premiere of La Fanciulla del West in New York in 1910. Puccini was working on Turandot when he died. It premiered in Milan in 1926.
Puccini had become very wealthy and he could indulge himself in fishing and shooting. His marriage was unhappy, as was his extra-marital life. Many affairs became public, and one servant was driven to suicide. Puccini won no friends by calling her 'a silly girl'.
He did not have the sure conviction of his predecessors, but it might be said that he fused bel canto with verismo. The Rough Guide's summary is fair.
It can't be denied that Puccini has his weaknesses: he often lapses into glutinous sentimentality; there's more than a hint of misogyny in his preference for helpless heroines dominated by despotic men; and his plots are sometimes feeble or trivial. But for most audiences, these weaknesses are beside the point, for his operas contain some of the most enjoyable music ever written, carrying into the twentieth century the legacy of Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi.
Now for the operas. There is for some, including me, a structural problem with La Bohème and Tosca – some feel that the climax comes too soon, or, put differently, that each opera reaches a peak that it never gets back to – or that the end is a bit of a fizzer. For some that problem is worse in the first opera than the second because the perceived climax comes at the end of the first act – in Tosca, you wait for the end of the second act – and, boy, there you do have a climax. Some people feel the same about Beethoven's third symphony, the Eroica.
Poor garret residents in the Latin Quarter are doing it hard – and cold. Rodolfo falls for a consumptive seamstress, Mimi. Some past attachments lead to rift which Rodolfo tries to heal too late. The songs of the lovers in Act I are among the most popular in all opera – 'Che gelida manina' and 'O soave fanciulla'. The 1952 recording with Bjorling, Victoria de Los Angeles and Robert Merrill was long seen as pre-eminent. But now we are again spoiled for choice. For the whole opera, you can go straight to Netrebko with Villazon, or listen to versions conducted by Karajan or Carlos Kleiber, who some good judges thought was one of the best, conducting at La Scala. The Karajan version was directed by Zeffirelli, but it is fascinating to compare the two orchestral sounds. At the least, you should listen to the two great songs I referred to. They are best sellers for good reasons. Try the 1964 concert version in Russia of Pavarotti – he really had the bullets to fire when the composer unleashed the guns. That's what the fans have come for. Or try the Peruvian Juan Diego Florez, who is hot in bel canto and here. He reminds me of Di Stefano.
When I was looking at Thomas Allen in the last act of Don Giovanni, and I said that it may have its dramatic equal, I had in mind the second act of Tosca, and one famous version of it in particular. A painter, Cavaradossi, the lover of Tosca, a jealous opera singer, shields a political prisoner. The evil head of police, Scarpia, forms a scheme to seduce Tosca while destroying the painter. Scarpia has him tortured in her presence. She reveals where the escaped prisoner is and agrees to sleep with Scarpia if he lets Cavaradossi go. They do a deal which backfires even after Tosca kills Scarpia at the end of Act II.
It is relatively unusual to find a piece for the stage where a central figure is a study in pure evil. That is very much the case in Billy Budd with John Claggart. It is so here with Scarpia. The tenor has two wonderful arias 'Recondita armonia' and 'E lucevan le stella' and the soprano has 'Vissi d'arte'. But the whole show centres on the life and death struggle between Tosca and Scarpia in Act II. The 1953 recording of Callas with Gobbi was one of the most successful records ever made.
But now you can watch them on screen. Try the 1964 Covent Garden version directed by Zeffirelli. The voice of Callas may not have been what it was, although this was not her biggest test vocally. But just look at the stage presence of each of Callas and Gobbi in a struggle between ineluctable evil and overwhelming innocence by two superstars of the stage in one of the great set pieces of theatre, so well-known that it has its own liturgy. Just look at their eyes and feel the timing. I doubt whether many saw intensity like that since the soprano's ancestors were putting on Orestes and Medea. The sense of elemental force is physically unsettling. At Covent Garden, they take curtain calls at the end of the act. You will see here that the audience does not applaud 'Vissi d'arte', and properly so because of the point in the drama, but they can let go at the curtain. Even from here you can feel the tension – it reminded me in part of the tension on Broadway when Richard Burton loaded up on Hamlet. And just look at the serene way these two pros take their bows.
Now, we have some wonderful singers now who can act, but I doubt whether the two we have just been looking at will ever matched for raw horse-power on the stage. If you get nothing else but this act from these notes, you will not have done your money.
Madame Butterfly is another tear jerker. It is all so inevitable – and for that reason, like Othello (on stage), it is not among my favourites. You just find yourself bracing for the fall. An American naval officer marries a young Japanese girl, impregnates her, and dumps her. When he comes back with a white wife, Madame Butterfly kills herself. I can't help thinking that plot might be better placed in a ballet. It crashed on its first night in the face of concerted attacks on the composer before an audience not as entranced with the orient as the French, but one used to the hard action of verismo. Then Puccini cleaned it up a bit and it became a hit. It has always played well for the AO. I prefer the Tebaldi and Bergonzi version. You may wish to see Alana Gheorghiu sing 'Un bel di' at the Lincoln Centre in New York. (I saw Carmen there. At the first break in the action, a guy about four rows back said, with a perfect Brooklyn accent that carried: 'She's got great legs, but she can't (pronounced 'Kant') sing!')
That brings us to another show set in the east. Turandot is about an evil princess who tempts young blades to their death when they fail to answer her riddles. She finally succumbs to the hero after the unfolding of a story involving his servant Liu. It is a show that can stand a big production, and it got it from the AO when it was choreographed by Graeme Murphy, the ballet choreographer. It now gets featured on Sydney Harbour. It is a big role for the soprano. Some think that 'In questa reggia' was what broke Callas. I have a Wagnerian soprano Birgit Nilsson doing it with Bjorling. You might listen to her doing the opera with Franco Corelli – and then you can listen to two belters. Another big voice for this aria was the great Leontyne Price. You can get the famous Sutherland and Pavarotti version. You should look out for the big aria for the soprano, and a lovely song for the tenor, 'Non piangere, Liu'.
And yes, you are allowed to take 'Nessun Dorma'. It comes near the end of the show. Try Jonas Kaufman who is thought by some to the best tenor now going. You can get him on Last Night at the Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by a woman. Again we see that assurance. It's like being passed by a Bentley – you know he's got a fair bit left in the tank. Just watch him at the end before an enraptured English audience. He knows he's nailed it. And he bursts out in laughter. I mean this – really – when I say that it reminded me of the 2007 NRL Grand Final. Greg Inglis ran more than half the field, and then while balanced just inside the line, he put on a fend to see him over the try line – he was a freak, and as he touched down, he burst out laughing. At that level, you are entitled to enjoy your own great talent. God bless all of them!
I might mention two well-known pieces from other Puccini operas that are popular in the concert hall – 'Ch'ella mi creda' from La Fanciulla del West and 'Donna non vidi mai' from Manon Lescaut. Both are on the disk Allegro al dente that we began with.
For completeness we might mention here also the French composer Georges Bizet (1838 to 1875). You will see that he died too soon. He of course wrote Carmen and The Pearl Fishers that has the great duet we looked at when we started. Bizet said: 'I tell you that if you were to suppress adultery, fanaticism, crime, evil, and the supernatural, there would no longer be the means for writing one note.' He was not alone. For even more completeness, I may say that Tchaikovsky (1840 to 1893) who is famous for his ballets, wrote two operas. Eugene Onegin is well supported when put on by the AO.
Well, there you have Puccini – a wonderful source of entertainment at the opera and of solace before the fire. Don't let any snob tell you anything different. And remember, he was an Italian – and second in opera only to one other Italian and Mozart.


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Catch A Show at Ozark Mountain Hoe-Down Music TheaterLocated in Eureka Springs, Ozark Mountain Hoe-Down Music Theater presents fun family entertainment, live music and side-slapping comedy skits. Enjoy top-notch singers and musicians performing everything from classic and contemporary country and bluegrass to Gospel and foot stomping western swing. Well-known performers who have graced the Ozark Mountain Hoe-Down stage include Joe Don Rooney of the Rascal Flatts and Donna Douglas from the old "Beverly Hillbillies" TV show. You'll also be treated to a cast of recurring characters doing hysterical hillbilly sketches.
Prices -Adults (12+): $25; Seniors (62 ): $20; Groups (12 or more): $18; Children (6-12): $10; Children 5 & under: Free.
Hours -All shows start at 8:00 p.m. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. Ticket Booth is open from noon to 8:00 Monday-Saturday.
- Christmas Shows
- Memorial Day Weekend Shows
- Labor Day Weekend Shows
- Country Music
- Bluegrass Music
- Gospel Music
- Western Swing Music
- Comedy Sketches
- Family Stories


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Recently, I was lucky enough to return to my first home in Australia, Melbourne!
There are so many great things about this city to love all year round. The significant difference between Perth and Melbourne is that Melbourne never stops!
Yes, you may experience all seasons in one day, however, it rarely halts events or your even own plans.
Anyway! I arrived late Thursday night for a friend's 30th birthday weekend. This is the same friend who came to Ireland with me around the same time last year (Read more about that here). Our birthdays are a day apart so since our friendship started, we have always been together!
My birthday was on the Friday and I really wanted to return to the Hot Springs down the Mornington Peninsula!
Being a foodie, the only way to start the day was with breakfast. Ms. DeG took me to a quaint little spot in Balaclava called Hannah. By the time we made it out for breakfast, it was around 11am which meant that Hannah wasn't too busy and we got a table very easily.
I had a quick scan through the menu, my eye drawn to the lower prices than seen on menus in Perth.
As Hannah was a new brekkie spot, I decided on my old favourite the Potato Roesti ($18) accompanied by my usual Long Black, I've missed good coffee!
Ms. DeG ordered the Smashed Peas ($18.50) and she is also a Long Black lover..
Our coffee arrived, oh how I've missed Melbourne coffee! Breakfast was good but not as scrumptious as that visit to Miss Jackson. The Potato Roesti was unusual in texture but the hollandaise kept the dish moist.
Ms. DeG has had the Smashed Peas before and reordered it because she enjoyed it so much. The eggs were perfectly poached!
We spent the afternoon at the Peninsula Hot Springs…It was just as amazing as I remembered! It takes approximately one hour to drive down from St. Kilda and is very worth it.
The Hot Springs is always on my recommendation list for friends visiting Melbourne. Visitors can stay for as long as they please to enjoy the various pools. My favourite pool has to be the highest pool which overlooks green fields and is extremely tranquil and relaxing. As you can imagine, winter is the peak time for the Hot Springs and booking is necessary. Depending on which day you want to go, the cost is $35-$40.
Saturday was Ms. DeG's birthday party so we had a midday brunch at 95 Espresso on Acland Street. I ordered the Pulled Pork Benedict and Ms. DeG went for the same. I ordered my usual Long Black, as did Ms. DeG.
The coffee was great! I've said it before and I will say it again, I miss Melbourne coffee!
Breakfast was good but a bit of a let down when the coffee was so good. The apple puree was a nice accompaniment for the pulled pork but more hollandaise was needed to add moisture and flavour.
Following breakfast, we picked up a few last minute things on Chapel Street. It was a busy as ever!
Time to get ready!
Ms. DeG was lucky enough to have a friend come over to do her make up, I did my own!
Outfit is always important and mine was a multi way dress from My Designer Wardrobe.
I was gifted a set of hair extensions from Irresistible Hair. Yes, I have a lot of hair but I often struggle with volume due to the long length of my hair. The extensions were not my exact hair colour so I had pre coloured them to a lighter shade of red to add volume and colour. They looked great and the volume lasted all night.


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Marketing is a field, which requires innovative professionals. Every business needs marketing strategy. Nowadays marketing searches innovative professionals. Effective marketing results in huge profits. There are so many vacancies in Marketing. MBA is a master degree that helps you specialize in marketing field.
Although Marketing field consist of too much competition, their occurs a high demand for Marketing professionals. MBA in Marketing aims at producing high class of expert people who could understand marketing sophisticated decisions. People goes up to a high extent to make a best product and sell in the market. Success of the Marketing personal lies in the hands of public relations. Hence is set with a lot of importance during these classes. Subjects like communication skills and market research are part of specialized degree.
To carry out this program, it is essential to have some kind of experience in the marketing field at the lower level. This experience will help understand some basic concepts and clear problems of marketing. The basic requirement for this is to have a master degree.
MBA helps him achieving his marketing decisions. Also marketing helps you find numerous job opportunities, which are of high status. Freelance marketing can be started by any one. The one main interest of every company is the sale of there own products. The public who brings customers to their business is much useful for themselves and company will pay to them as their requirements.
MBA in marketing is surely a rewarding job. If any company is facing any lack of decision-making strategy, they should surely search for a good MBA professional. It can help you in better strategic decision-making. So many competitions are faced by marketing professionals nowadays. Only education could not help these professionals for facing these challenges. These days' business leaders focus on new brand conversions. At the purchase point, customers brain could not absorb new branded information provided to them. Nowadays consumer needs reason to choose a branded product.
The focal point of marketing expenditure is the retail outlet. Every company is now facing huge marketing situation. The other benefit is that they use new technology for their own success. Here they can create there own marketing strategies. When you introduce new technologies to your own company, it will be attracted to all other companies. All brands survive because all of them have unique features. You can take patents for your own technological innovations. It can sue if anyone copies your innovative ideas. It can be sold to large corporations if your companies have good technical ideas.
Now in India there are more than 75 percent of MBA professionals. MBA course focuses on polishing the skills of a person in his area of interest. It concentrates in making professionals out of the students. Any organization will have a good marketing team and this increases the number of opportunities for the people who are doing MBA in marketing. Even in these days of recession, MBA in marketing is a great academic option as the chances in marketing field is countless.


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Vegetable growing: a sustainable livelihood option
Mr. Ngouy, a farmer living in Pou Char Village shares with us his experience with DAP and CRDT in his village.
The Project "Water for Health and Sanitation Promotion among Indigenous Communities in Mondulkiri Province" has been funded by Direct Aid Program and implemented by CRDT Cambodian Rural Development Team in 2016 in Pou Char village, Sre Preah Commune, Keo Seima district, Mondulkiri province.
Mr. Ngouy Mao has a vegetable garden beyond his house since 2012, when he started to be a cooperative farmer with the Mondulkiri Provincial Department of Agriculture. He is producing vegetable to supply local villagers who are aware that his production is chemical-free. Thus, he can earn $5 to $10 per day from selling the vegetable. In this way he can support his daughter to go to school and provide his family daily consumption.
Mr. Ngouy is happy to see that DAP and CRDT are supporting the development of his village. Indeed, this project will provide water access for both household consumption and small scale agriculture as vegetable growing and chicken raising in Pou Char village. Before the implementation M. Ngouy was hoping that this project would provide enough water for his vegetable garden. Now that the projects exists and that there is enough water for every one, he can focus on improving his vegetable growing and chicken raising skills so he can produce more and increase his income.
Besides providing water, the project allowed Mr. Ngouy to have new seeds for his garden. Now he can also grow salad, pumpkin and other vegetables. Because this village has enough water for irrigation his family plan to expand the garden and improve the vegetable business. Mr. Ngouy is always trying to learn new vegetable growing and chicken raising techniques from the other people he meet, especially from CRDT trainings. Now that he is applying all the techniques he has learnt his garden is full of vegetable he can sell to the other villagers.
Hach Chhorn
Project Manager