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Potatoes and cheese- does it get a lot better than that? In my opinion? No. It's especially great to warm you up on a really cold day.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/ 190 Celsius
You will need a 2 quart baking dish with a lid.
4-5 medium-large potatoes
Cheese Sauce-
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon diced onion OR 1 teaspoon onion powder, optional
1 Tablespoon flour
dash salt
dash pepper
3/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese or a cheddar cheese blend
Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling
Peel and slice the potatoes fairly thin. About 1/8″ or a little thicker is good.
Put the slices in the baking dish.
Make your cheese sauce-
Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat.
Add the diced onion and cook til soft, if using. This will take a few minutes.
Next add the salt, pepper, and flour.
If you didn't use the onion, but are using the powder, add the powder with the salt, pepper, and flour.
Raise heat slightly, continuously stirring until the flour/butter mixture is bubbly.
Add the milk and keep stirring until the sauce is bubbly and thickened.
Turn the heat off and stir in the cheese until melted.
Pour the cheese sauce over the potatoes.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top of the sauce.
Cover with a lid and put in the preheated oven.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
After 45 minutes, check the potatoes, by poking with a fork.
If they are tender, the dish is done. If they seem a little solid, cook for another 15 minutes and test again.
Remove from oven and serve.
Serves 4-6.
The thicker the potatoes are sliced, the longer they take to cook.


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Yankees, Alex Rodriguez far from Splitsville
- No suitors, so A-Rod is likely to stay put
- Not one team has called the club asking about Rodriguez
- A-Rod has $114 million in salary remaining through 2017
The New York Yankees and Alex Rodriguez were last seen together two weeks ago, and when they split for the winter, everyone wondered if the separation would become permanent.
Sure, like any rocky marriage, they have a contract. And, like any bad marriage, they can get a divorce.
Still, it doesn't take the general managers meetings in Palm Springs, Calif., next week, the owners meetings in Chicago in two weeks and baseball's annual winter meetings next month in Nashville to reach one undeniable conclusion:
You cannot be traded when no one wants you.
Not one team, a Yankees official told USA TODAY Sports, has called the club asking about Rodriguez. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the Yankees do not publicly discuss trade possibilities.
Then again, as a person familiar with Rodriguez's thinking said, there is not one team for which Rodriguez is willing to waive his full no-trade clause. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic.
Now, just like a rancorous marriage, they've decided to stick it out together, at least until one of them can't take it anymore.
No one in his right mind believes that Rodriguez will be a Yankee until his contract, and the remaining $114 million in salary, expires in 2017.
They'll be at each other's throats, at or least dare to mention Rodriguez's name on the public address speaker, before that happens.
So they have decided to stick it out, for better or worse, just as they vowed five years ago when Rodriguez signed that staggering 10-year, $275 million contract after he opted out of his original deal.
That contract was orchestrated by owners Hal and Hank Steinbrenner, not general manager Brian Cashman.
And if this marriage dissolves because of their irreconcilable differences, it will be up to the Steinbrenners to draw up divorce papers and find a way out of this mess.
The Yankees and Rodriguez know this cannot possibly work for the long haul, but for the time being they have no choice but to act civilly.
Manager Joe Girardi, who actually called the Yankee Stadium public address announcer to inform him not to mention Rodriguez's name when he pinch-hit for him during the playoffs, according to CBSSports.com., talked with Rodriguez for an hour this past week.
It was the first time they had spoken on the phone since Rodriguez was benched for the third and final time of the playoffs, with Rodriguez speaking for 20 minutes with the news media before departing the night the club was swept out of the American League Championship Series by the Detroit Tigers.
The call was conciliatory and, probably, necessary. You don't bench or pinch-hit for the highest-paid player in baseball history six times in nine postseason games — despite his .120 batting average and 12 strikeouts in 25 at-bats — and not have repercussions.
Rodriguez's ego was badly bruised. So would anyone's. Girardi didn't apologize, according to ESPN.com, and confirmed by USA TODAY Sports, and explained to Rodriguez why he was benched.
Rodriguez appreciated the call, according to his confidant, and respects Girardi. Rodriguez has a closer relationship with Girardi than he did with former manager Joe Torre.
Then again, Girardi had no choice. When Girardi inquired, and was informed that Rodriguez likely would be coming back as a Yankee, there's no way he could let this fester. He told Rodriguez how much he is needed. He told him that he believes in him. If the Yankees are going to be World Series champions again, Rodriguez must lead the way.
What else was Girardi going to say? Maybe, "My goodness, will you ever get another hit off a right-hander?"
If Rodriguez wasn't embarrassed enough to privately ask out, or give the Yankees a few teams he'd be willing to accept a trade to, there's no reason to assume anything other than Rodriguez will be in Tampa in February for spring training.
For richer, or for poorer, the Yankees and Rodriguez have decided to give this one more try.
But if there's a suitor lurking around the corner, expressing the slightest of interest, the temptation might be too powerful to remain faithful toward each other.
Those salacious rumors and innuendo aren't about to fade away now.

subset: commoncrawl


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So as I get more immersed in the literature of anti-racism, feminism, class structure and sociology, it becomes harder and harder for me to enjoy jokes. For example, I used to find this video hilarious:
And it is funny – it's a comedically exaggerated version of an interaction that happens between men and women all the time. Here's the thing though: knowing what I know about sexual harassment and the pressures put on women to be "nice" to men who are overstepping their boundaries, it's hard to laugh. Knowing that women are often "nice" because there's a risk of violence if they aren't, it's hard to laugh. Knowing that some clueless dolts interpret anything that isn't a clear and brutal "no" as an invitation to try harder, and that those same dolts will react to a brutal "no" as though it's the woman's fault for being a "stuck up bitch", it's hard to laugh.
Knowing that Darrel's social awkwardness is exacerbated by his race, and that the same approach (modified for dialect) from a white guy would likely seem less obtrusive, it's hard to laugh. Knowing that even if Darrel were successful in getting Yvonne's number, the two of them have clearly different social backgrounds and would struggle to find acceptance in their respective communities, it's hard to laugh. Knowing that Darrel could possibly face violence for walking down the street with Yvonne in the wrong neighbourhood or town, it's hard to laugh.
Basically what I am saying is that thinking about things ruins jokes. So… I'm sorry I guess?
Like this article? Follow me on Twitter!


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Deirdre Reilly: How to survive these tough economic times
As you might have heard, we, as Americans, are heading into unsettled times economically. It is time to tighten the belt, pinch pennies and pay the piper, so to speak. It is time, my friends, to economize. Below are some tips to help you navigate these troubled times. I would recommend printing these out to carry around with you, but the Greenies will come after you – you'd be killing a tree! So just memorize them with your already over-taxed brain; you won't regret it.
Gas has become a real issue. I suggest biking everywhere. No, I'm just kidding – I will not recommend biking until the International Bike Seat Makers of America (IBSMA) make bigger seats. You have to have the rear end of a preying mantis to be comfortable on a bike seat! And what do you do when you're pedaling to the meeting and your chain comes off – push your bike to the nearest neighborhood to find a dad to fix it? And it's hard to close that big deal while you're wrestling with your kickstand. So forget biking – just drive more slowly in that big SUV that you are wishing you hadn't bought. It seemed like a good idea at the time, in the "Old Economy," but now the DVD player is broken, there are French fries wedged everywhere, and you can only afford the gas needed to back it out of the driveway. You now feel wistful for the days when you were broke and drove a Volkswagen beetle.
Food is more expensive now, too, so you need to celebrate what you've got. Milk is the new champagne, people! Put that milk right into a wine glass when you drink it, and I suggest saving milk for a special occasion – a new job, a new baby, a wedding. It's healthier than wine, and you won't wake up with a lampshade on your head after drinking it. Also, start to choose food products that are a good "bang for the buck" – oatmeal (known in "Oliver Twist" as "gruel"), rice (known in several cultures as "the staff of life") and green beans (known in my house as "stuff I might be allergic to, Mom"). When you grocery shop, learn to be personally discerning and make choices – would you rather have toilet paper this week, for example, or would this be a good week for eating? Do you really need to bring a dish to the cookout, or can the pure force of your personality somehow be enough? Do you really need to eat mixed nuts while you watch the playoffs – wouldn't tap water be the cheaper choice? Has hydration ever been a bad thing? Learn to change how you think.
Also, you might have had a dream of selling your house in order to limp like the Clampetts, Grandma strapped to the top of that SUV, to a less expensive part of the country; maybe Puerto Rico. (Hey, they matter in the Democratic primaries – don't discount Puerto Rico.) This is the time, in a stagnant market, for some "creative marketing." Consider saying that someone famous once owned your house, or at least spent the night there – some ideas of currently "hot" guests might be Paris Hilton, Brad Pitt, all the Wonder Pets (if your prospective buyers have toddlers) or Scott McClellan. Also, a leak can be re-named a "water feature," a dirt lawn can be renamed a "Southwestern-influenced landscape" and an exposed pipe can be termed "an artistic yet functional expression of steam transport in a transparent existential paradigm." Just remember, confusion is a big part of any successful real estate transaction.
Finally, there is no money left for movies or dinners out, so fix a big bowl of gruel for the family and break out the Scrabble game. Sure, the kids are drooling with confusion because Scrabble doesn't have any controllers or graphics, and most of the tiles are missing, and the box is ripped all to heck, but the important thing is that you are together, as a family. Believe me, you can't afford anything more – so relax and enjoy! (And try to use those hard-to-place letters like "X" and "Z" – you need to feel good about something!)
You can connect with Deirdre at www.exhaustedrapunzel.com.


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Now a New York Times Instant Best Seller.
"No journalist knows the ins and outs of the Allman Brothers Band better than Alan Paul." – Warren Haynes
"Moving… exhaustive. Its alternating-voices format lays the band's mottled history out with a convincing sense of how its triumphs and hard times were wholly interwoven. The book's virtue is the way its democratic ethos mirrors that of the Allmans' racially integrated, communal aspect: The roadies play nearly as large a part in the story as the band members themselves."
-The New York Times Book Review, recommended summer reading list
Thank you everyone who helped One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band become a New York Times Instant Best Seller. I am humbled and honored to announce that the book debuted in its first week tied for ninth on the Hardcover Non-Fiction List.
I thought all along that I was tapping into something bigger than most others realized, but I was not certain that I was not delusional.
My goal was nothing less than the ultimate word on the greatest band in rock history and I am deeply appreciative of the feedback that indicates I may just have pulled it off, via reader emails and the reviews – in newspapers, magazines, blogs and by regular readers like you on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com
Rolling Stone says, "This pot-stirring oral history reads like a backstory of how musical lightning comes to be."
Guitar World writes, "The stories are salty, unfiltered and straight from the horse's mouth. It's a good thing, too, because the Allmans' story is often so bizarre and harrowing it's hard to believe it's true. The word 'definitive' gets tossed around so often it has lost some of its meaning, but this 400-page journey into the heart of rock and roll darkness deserves the accolade."
The Atlanta Journal Constitution: "Considering the band's operatic dimension — unspeakable tragedy, personal division, drug addiction, perseverance — it is a wise decision by the author to let its many members and sidekick crew have the floor to themselves."
And The NY Daily News says, "The trust the author has built up with the Southern rockers and their confederates is obvious in this oral history, as everyone still alive tells their side of the story."
Check out the Don" Imus in the Morning" interview with Alan Paul here: Don Imus Interview – One Way Out
A taste of my Book Launch at Words, Maplewood's Bookstore:
The book includes interviews with almost 60 people, including all surviving members, from founders Dickey Betts, Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe to Warren Haynes, Chuck Leavell and Derek Trucks as well as many other friends, associates and managers, including four of the five people who have overseen the band's career: the late Phil Walden, John Scher, Danny Goldberg and Bert Holman, who has managed the ABB since 1991. One Way Out also features interviews with the now-deceased Tom Dowd, Allen Woody, Red Dog and Mike Callahan.
Other interviewees include: Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Johnny Sandlin, Stephen Paley, W. David Powell, Rick Hall, Bunky Odom, Don Law, Michael Caplan, Col. Bruce Hampton, Mama Louise Hudson, John, Scoots and AJ Lyndon, Linda Oakley, Kirk West, John McEuen, Jon Landau and many others.
Drummers and ABB founding members Butch Trucks and Jaimoe wrote the Foreword and Afterword respectively. One Way Out also features almost 150 photographs including many never-before-seen images by Danny Clinch, Jim Marshall, Neal Preston and Stephen Paley. Uniquely, it also features almost 100 images taken by ABB road managers Twiggs Lyndon and Kirk West. I'm very proud of the art, having worked to make it as strong as the words.
Thank you everyone for all the great support.
"If you want to know the real deal, read Alan Paul." –Oteil Burbridge, the Allman Brothers Band
♦ Check out where Alan will be appearing to launch the book.


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Chasewater Railway Museum
Latest Addition
Railway Heritage Designated Signal Box Sign
The Railway Heritage Committee has the function of designating records and artefacts (or classes of record and artefact) which are historically significant and should be permanently preserved.
This enamelled sign came from Stafford No.5 signal box, and was given to the Museum by Network Rail – our thanks to the Company.
The sign can be seen set into the signal box. On one end is a white patch with a red arrow, and on the other, a clear white patch to balance up the sign.
It may be of interest to Chasewater Railway members that the Station Hotel, Stafford, where the inaugural meeting of the Railway Preservation Society, fore-runner of Chasewater Railway, was held in 1959, was approximately 150 yards from the signal box!


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Today's News: Our Take - Exclusive: Jane Seymour, Ed Asner Headed to TBS' Men at Work
The cast of Men at Work might want to start looking at bigger office space.
The TBS comedy is adding Jane Seymour, Ed Asner and star Danny Masterson's sister, Alanna, to its impressive list of guest stars for Season 3, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.
In a role not too far a stretch from her Wedding Crashers cougar, Emmy winner Seymour will play Jane Ellis, a high-powered, elegant woman who runs a publishing house and has an affair with Milo.
Asner, also an Emmy winner, will portray Bob, a sweet, eccentric old man who finds Neal's bag containing his wallet, phone and laptop on a park bench and returns it to him. In return, Neal (Adam Busch) offers the lonely man an internship, since he likes to learn new things to keep his brain active. This sounds like it will end real smoothly, right?
Men at Work exclusive: Ryan Phillippe to play himself, David Krumholtz to recur as the new boss
While Neal is making a new friend, Tyler (Michael Cassidy) will make a new enemy in Alanna Masterson's character. When Tyler meets her "Mopey Hipster Girl" at a party, he isn't afraid to tell her that her dreary, sad-sack exterior is all just an act.
The trio join recently announced guest stars Ryan Phillippe, Numb3rs vet David Krumholtz, Entourage alum Emmanuelle Chriqui and Lance Bass.
Men at Work's new season premieres on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 10/9c on TBS. Which guest star are you most excited for?
View original Exclusive: Jane Seymour, Ed Asner Headed to TBS' Men at Work at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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I've heard of Christmas in July, but Christmas in April?
Oh well!
So I have fallen behind with my posts, but as you know I started a book club last year:
Every month we read a book and I do a little post on the book we read and discussed. What can I say, I just love books.
There is no theme, other than with each month, a different member gets to pick a book, whichever one they want. So at the time it was my turn it was Christmas.
And you know how much I love Christmas
So what better book to read then, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens? My favorite book to read at Christmastime!
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
This won't be a long post as I talked about it two years ago during my 30-day book challenge (which I never finished. Oops!)
I love this book so much. I'm not sure what else I could add. I love the history of it and how it changed the world by opening peoples' hearts and creating reforms to help the poor; along with the Bank Holiday act in 1871, making Christmas an official day of rest. 19 years later, every state in America had adopted the same practice.
"I have endeavoured[sic], in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour[sic] with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it."
Their faithful friend and Servant,
CD. [Charles Dickens]
I love how Dicken's describes the sins of greed, pride, and selfishness:
"I wear the chain I forged in Life,' replied the Ghost [Marley]. 'I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on, of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it…'Or would you know,' pursued the Ghost, 'the weight and length of the strong coil you wear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured[sic] on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!"
A good warning to a of us.
And how they describe Scrooge's old boss Fezziwig. Unlike Scrooge, Fezziwig always liked to treat his clerks right; he may have only gave a little, but he understood the true meaning of Christmas. To give.
"He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome: a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count 'em up-what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great, as if it cost a fortune."
And of course Christmas present:
How he spreads cheer everywhere.
And of course, Christmas-Yet-to-Come:
The redemption of Scrooge and the all-around happiness of the book. Just a fantastic and inspiring story:
"And as Tiny Tim observed,
God Bless Us Every One!"
For more book club picks, go to Book Club Picks: A Common Life, The Wedding Story
For more on A Christmas Carol, go to You Will Be Haunted By Three Spirits: A Christmas Carol
For more Charles Dickens, go to You Know Me So Well
For more Jane Austen Quotes, go to Jane Austen's Guide to Dating


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An N scale "2-6-2",
The lead set of wheels he blew…
Pictured once
An engine thus,
Converted to an "0-6-2."
Most steam engines of this type,
In foreign fields are ripe…
In the U.S.
Mostly tank engines are left,
Them with tenders as hard to find as snipe!
Some may have come from Birmingham,
Alabama, a modified plan…
No evidence there—
Or up in the air—
The Internet doesn't do well with "rare".
He thinks Indiana coal fields,
Was where a real engine congealed…
Now he cannot find
The photo in mind,
Not finding a prototype, his mind reels!
Worse yet, he's lost his model,
Was it sold or just took a toddle…
Somewhere below
All the other stuff so,
His research continues in high throttle!
–Jonathan Caswell
Google Image of a live steam model of a European designed 0-6-2 + tender,
produced by ROUNDHOUSE, makers of small scale live steam models.


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UPDATE: The deadline to comment and win a kindle copy of Revisit Mansfield Park, How Fanny Married Henry has been extended until next Sunday November 30, 11:59 pm due to the holiday – winner will be announced December 1st. Sarah has offered a second copy of her book as an incentive to comment! Happy Thanksgiving all!
Gentle Readers: I invite today to 'Jane Austen in Vermont' Sarah Ozcandarli, who has written a story reimagining the ending of Mansfield Park, an ending about which all of us, including Jane Austen, have pondered the "what if…?" Her book is titled Revisit Mansfield Park, How Fanny Married Henry – I confess to not having finished the book as yet – it is now on my kindle awaiting a moment to give it the time it deserves (I will say that the first three chapters very nicely summarize the plot and characterizations of Mansfield Park).
Sarah contacted me a few weeks ago to say that a number of my links on the blog led to the dreaded "oops! – where did you find such a link?" – because as all we bloggers know, who has time to go back and check all the links we ever have put out there, links that go nowhere – such a disappointment to the reader – I wonder always, where does this information go to? Some cyberspace default-filled world with thoughts and ideas and information no longer accessible – it is all quite daunting really, isn't it?? – but I did go in and remove or edit some of these links Sarah told me about, and in our conversation she told me she had written a tale of Mansfield Park with the plot line that Fanny and Henry do end up together (no spoilers here, this outcome, as you see, is in the title!), as do Edmund and Mary – not an uncommon thought among those people largely disappointed with the lacklustre ending of Mary going off to London, Henry off with Maria and then on to his surely dissipated life (a life Fanny could have salvaged if she had only given him the chance he asked her for), and Fanny and Edmund riding off into the sunset of boredom. So I give you a post from Sarah about how her love of Jane Austen began, and what it was about Mansfield Park that made her want to change the ending. Please leave your comment or question for Sarah to win a kindle version of her book – see details below!
First falling in love . . .
"You will not know the day or the hour", says St. Matthew, but if the agent is Masterpiece Theatre in the year 1981, the day will Tuesday and the hour 8:00 pm. I was toiling through my last semester at university on that fateful night, when there were two contenders for my attention: Electricity & Magnetism II and the BBC's Pride & Prejudice. I wanted to study E&M, but my housemates Meg and Laurie were determined that I should be acquainted with Jane Austen. They were two against one, but we were all winners, for I fell in love with Lizzy and Darcy and their creator about fifteen minutes into the program.
Once graduated, and free to read according to my own inclinations, Jane Austen quickly became my first favorite among writers and has never descended from that pedestal. I read all I could find about her life and family, I devoured her letters, but oddly enough, I never noticed the vast collection of Austen-related news, fact, and opinion on the internet. One day in 2012 I googled "white soup" and read through one blog, and then another, and realized that our respect for the greatest novelist in the English language need not prevent us from using her characters to people our own stories!
Then writing a book . . .
That being so, I could fulfill my wish (and Cassandra Austen's as well) that in Mansfield Park Fanny Price should be allowed to marry Henry Crawford, instead of Edmund Bertram. After all Jane herself had written that if Henry had "persevered, and uprightly, Fanny must have been his reward," and with Jane's and Cassandra's opinions of Henry duly noted I was emboldened to write a different ending for Mansfield Park – a sort of Volume III(b) – with plans for a sequel to tackle Edmund and Mary's problems.
The first difficulty of the story I wanted to tell was that Fanny justifiably disliked and distrusted Henry, and had no
conception that his interest in her was genuine until Sir Thomas informed her that Henry had made "decided proposals" for her. When Henry left Mansfield a few days later he had achieved very little in his quest to change Fanny's opinion of him. When next they meet, Henry was in Portsmouth to visit Fanny, and as he took his leave of her, he nearly begged her to advise him to return to his work at Everingham. In Mansfield Park Fanny rather unkindly dismissed Henry's plea; in my story Fanny observed that:
"Henry had said he would show Fanny by his constancy that he deserved her, and now, when all her friends at Mansfield, excepting perhaps her aunt, had forgotten her even more thoroughly than she had anticipated that they would, here was Henry Crawford, as constant as he had declared he would be, and asking her advice."
Fanny's judgment, though in all respects sound, was only once sought in all of Mansfield Park. Edmund asked Fanny to approve his participation in Lovers' Vows – though Edmund was well aware that Fanny would not approve – and having gotten her opinion, he ignored it. Henry's request was a much greater compliment, not least because he intended to abide by her advice; he truly wanted to be encouraged to do right by his responsibilities at Everingham. This, I think, is the pivotal moment for Henry and Fanny, when they will move forward together if Fanny tells Henry her opinion, or stall out if she does not.
A chance to win . . .
Dear Readers, please comment or leave a question for me to be entered into the giveaway of the Kindle version of Revisit Mansfield Park, How Fanny Married Henry. [see details below]
Revisit Mansfield Park for Kindle – It is available only in English, but can be purchased from Amazon in the USA, England, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia, and may be read for free with the Prime or Kindle Unlimited Programs.
About the author: Sarah Ozcandarli graduated in 1981 from Carnegie-Mellon University with a BS in Physics and English, and went back three years later for an MS in Industrial Administration. Her varied career took her to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City, Los Angeles and Boston, where she sought and found her Mr. Darcy. They were married in 1996 and live near Boston with a large menagerie of wild and domesticated critters, some of which are now hibernating.
For more information, see Sarah's facebook page or her goodreads page
kindle store: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MKB0XRC
Book Giveaway! Please leave a comment or question for Sarah by Sunday Nov 23, 2014, 11:59 pm to be entered into a random drawing to win the kindle version of Sarah's book, available to all, but you must of course be a kindle user!
You might consider the question Sarah asks: In your reading of Mansfield Park, have you ever thought that Fanny should have ended up with Henry Crawford and Edmund with Mary? And if so, why?


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RIO DE JANEIRO – Understandably, Chad Mendes was irritated by the suggestion that he isn't ready to fight UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo.
But the owner of that suggestion, Gray Maynard, said he isn't out to get the featherweight challenger.
"It's not like I'm flying over here because I want Chad to lose and there's a grudge and I want him to lose," he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "Not at all."
Mendes (11-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) takes on Aldo (20-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in the main event of Saturday's UFC 142 event, which takes place at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. It's main card airs live on pay-per-view while preliminary-card fights air on FX and stream on Facebook.
The appearance of a grudge seemed clear when Maynard weighed in on the featherweight title fight, but he said too much has been made of it.
The two-time lightweight challenger left his Las Vegas gym, Xtreme Couture, in the middle of camp for UFC 136 and had been looking for a new home in the wake of his loss to Frankie Edgar. Behind the scenes at the fall pay-per-view event, he was struck by the humility of Aldo, who went on to defend his title against Kenny Florian.
So when Maynard heard Aldo was to fight Mendes in Rio de Janeiro, he called up Aldo's manager, Ed Soares, and volunteered to help.
"For the longest time, I never traveled anywhere," Maynard said. "I stayed at Xtreme Couture, which played a huge part in my career, and I appreciate them. But it's time for me to take a step and experience more MMA."
Maynard trained with Aldo for the past three weeks and grew extremely fond of the champ and his camp, Nova Uniao. During that time, he gave an interview to Brazilian website Tatame in which he said he didn't think Mendes was ready.
Mendes fired back in the press and said Maynard had little basis to make such a call.
Maynard, though, said no disrespect was intended.
"I like Chad; I met him a couple of times," he said. "But I like Jose, how he trains, where he's from – his whole story. So I thought it was an opportunity I could help."
Experience is exactly what Maynard has gotten south of the equator, and when he returns to the U.S. on Monday, he'll move full-time to Santa Cruz, Calif., just an hour's drive from American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif. A month at the camp after his loss gave him another fresh look at life outside of Las Vegas.
He'll barely unpack his bags before he then flies off to Holland to work with former kickboxing champ Andy Souwer. So he doesn't have much time for grudges.
"I'm just trying to learn a lot and evolve and create a new me," Maynard said.
For the latest on UFC 142, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.


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antique cameo, Brooklyn, Easter Eggs, Flower Kiosk, Inspiration, Instagram, ironstone pitcher, vintage arrows, vintage Bingo game, Webber Pottery
Happy Friday!
We have been having such a busy spring, (thus the lack of activity here). We escaped the city for spring break last week and spent time in beautiful Vermont and New Hampshire for Easter. We were excited to return to spring in Brooklyn! Our flowers are pushing up and blooming in the back yard, the bees are super busy gathering pollen and the tulips we planted out front are opening. I found lots of great antiques in Vermont and have been listing them on our Etsy site. Dare is desperately trying to crawl after spending a week with big kids. Here are some pieces of the last few weeks:
*Cameo Ring. I found this Victorian ring in a little shop in VT and fell in love with it. Then I saw that the box was from an old jewelry shop at 1 Market Street in Portsmouth, NH. Before I moved to NY I worked at the beautiful Flower Kiosk just a block away on Market Street. Such a small world.
*Pansy Detail, Webber Vase
*Cloudy Drive Out of the City
*Vintage Bingo Cards and Ada's New Numbers
*Vintage 1950s Arrows in an Antique Pitcher from Greenpoint Brooklyn. Who knew that Greenpoint was a huge pottery manufacturer in the 1800s?!
*The Most Beautiful Building in the World
*Pretty Cameo Pin
*Jesse's Snowman, April Snowstorm in Vermont
Follow us on Instagram: etsyjeannerondeau
*Have a lovely weekend!


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Professor - Department of Architecture
email@example.com - Hayes Hall 212 - 716-829-5886
Professor - Department of Architecture
email@example.com - Hayes Hall 212 - 716-829-5886
Brian Carter, a graduate of the Nottingham School of Architecture and the University of Toronto, is a registered architect in the United Kingdom.
He worked in practice with Arup in London where he was responsible for the design of a number of award winning projects.
Professor Carter is the author of several books on modern architecture including Johnson Wax Administration Building and Research Tower (Phaidon Press, 1998) and co-author of All-American: Innovation in American Architecture(Thames & Hudson, 2002) The initiator of buffaloBOOKS he is a contributor to several international journals including Detail, The Architectural Review and Architectural Design. An external examiner in the United Kingdom and Canada and a peer reviewer for the GSA Design Excellence program in the United States Professor Carter is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.


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There seem to be two separate 'circuits' in London at the moment: the amorphous alternative comedy circuit and the burlesque circuit. The latter seems to meander from stripper-type-tease to glimpses of old-style variety to fetish-style stuff with more than a nod to Berlin cabaret between-the-Wars.
Most of the straight comedy shows nowadays are a just a string of stand-ups with maybe, occasionally, an odd act thrown in. Vivienne and Martin Soan's monthly Pull The Other One club in Nunhead (that's Peckham to me and you) is clearly not burlesque; but it is not one of the amorphous straight comedy nights either.
It is old-style variety mingled with comic performance art plus usually one big-name straight stand up. It is never short of the unexpected and bizarre, so it's no surprise that Pull The Other One regulars Bob Slayer and Holly Burn both appear in the April issue of Bizarre magazine as New Alternative Comedy Heroes.
The average Pull The Other One show does not exist and it is a sign of how unusual it is that it has always attracted comedians to its audience. Last month Boothby Graffoe was there in the audience just to enjoy it; this month it was Stephen Frost.
The Big Name stand up on the bill last night was multi-talented Omid Djalili, a man who can move with nary a blink from appearing in Gladiator, The Mummy, Pirates of the Caribbean and James Bond movies to club gigs on the London comedy circuit to playing Fagin in Oliver! at the London Palladium and having his own TV series on BBC1. His career is almost as variety-filled as a Pull The Other One show.
I missed most of last night's show because main speciality act Paul Morocco had got cut down earlier in the day with a very serious stomach bug and couldn't appear – well, it's a tribute to his professionalism that he would have appeared if Vivienne Soan had not been able to find a fill-in sharpish. But Paul's amazing act includes juggling, a lot of bopping around and blowing/juggling multiple ping pong balls from his mouth. This is not ideal if you have a serious stomach bug and just want to lie in bed and die with the pain.
So I missed most of last night's show because I was picking up and driving my chum Melbourne-based Irish fiddle-playing comic vagabond Aindrias de Staic from the West End to Nunhead after he appeared in two performances of Woody Sez at the Arts Theatre in London's West End. Aindrias is not so much jet-lagged as show-lagged. He is over in London to appear in Woody Sez until 2nd April – another two shows today – and tomorrow he performs his one-man show Around The World on 80 Quid at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington.
So last night, at 9.35, we were legging it to my car to get to Pull The Other One in time – parking mid-evening on a Friday in the West End had not been fun.
Aindrias decided in the car on the way to the venue what he was going to do: mostly stand-up stories with an inkling of fiddling… but, when he actually got there and realised the measure of the audience, changed it all.
He gave them a bit of a foot-stomping fiddle, then a bizarre story and a couple more musical items.
Well, that doesn't quite do it justice.
He had had a 20-second chat with Martin Soan before he went on and they ad-libbed what then happened.
Aindrias was interrupted during his second diddly-aye foot-stomping Irish fiddly piece by Martin Soan – totally naked, of course – Riverdancing in from the wings behind him and, trust me, Irish dancing in the nude is a particularly visual entertainment.
There's a lot of flopping up and down going on.
When this went down very well with the audience, Aindrias called Martin back on stage to do a reprise "bollock dance" to the Jew's Harp accompanied by a rather dubious song which Aindrias improvised.
Aindrias called what was happening "gyp-hop" – a musical combination of gypsy and hip-hop.
Watching this, Stephen Frost said to me: "If only Malcolm (Hardee) were here to see this."


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Yeah, I just went there.
Sure, Black Friday a horrific example of overindulgence and consumerism, but it goes perfectly with a holiday where we gorge ourselves on far too much food.
Growing up, Turkey Day was often spent with dozens of other American expats who all brought their favorite dishes for a food-coma-inducing potluck. When I came back to America, I'd never heard of Black Friday. After a brief explanation from a friend: "Yeah, you just wake up really early and go shopping because shit's like on sale…" I decided it seemed like such a quaint American experience.
The first Black Friday shopping in 2008 yielded the purchase of an iPod (I probably only saved $20 because Apple sales are pretty terrible). It was a Christmas present from my parents, but I was able to get the discount so I went ahead and bought it for them for me. I still use that same 120 GB iPod today.
In subsequent years, Black Friday has been about bonding with friends and family. There is never pressure to get in line early or be the first person through the door.
Instead, we go more for the fun of watching the craze and picking up a few items. There are always lists and budgets involved. Our purchases are often Christmas presents for each other — which means we try to employe ninja like tactics to keep each other from seeing what we're buying. And when someone starts to get cranky and the simple fix of a donut to kick up blood sugar doesn't help, we head home.
Oddly enough, my Mom and I don't like shopping. We only go when we need to and don't tend to buy much throughout the year, which makes our participation in Black Friday even stranger. It's almost as if we save up all our energy the rest of the year just for one giant burst of shopping spree power!
This year, I have my eye on a 6-quart Crock-Pot at Walmart for my Mom. It's on her Christmas list and being sold at $9.44 which is about $30* cheaper than I'd get it on Amazon like I planned. Will I rush the doors of Walmart, throwing elbows and hurling trash talk in order to save myself $30? No. Will I have fun waking up at 4 am to go out shopping with my family and happen to pick up the Crock-Pot? Yes!
If you already planned to buy new clothing, or kitchen appliances or Christmas presents then Black Friday can actually be an opportunity to save money. If you're just shopping for the sake of shopping — then you already know the answer.
I understand the hatred towards Black Friday spilling over into Thursday and interfering with Thanksgiving. I also agree that stores should have to wait until midnight to open their doors and allow their employees to enjoy the day with friends and family. But, I will still be waking up at the crack of dawn, heading out with my loved ones to score some deals and probably finish my Christmas shopping, because Black Friday doesn't have to be about the madness and the consumerism. It can just be a fun experience
It also helps when you prepare like this….
*When I previously wrote this I believed it would only say $10 — but turns it out was a 6 quart Crock-Pot and saved me $30!
- Reuters – Generational Smackdown! Who is best at retirement savings? (featured)
- DailyFinance – Millennials: It's Not Too Late to Plan for an Early Retirement (posted)
LINK LOVE: THE ANTI-BLACK FRIDAY POSTS EDITION (Basically all other Personal Finance bloggers)
- Why I'm Done With Black Friday – Red Debted Stepchild on L Bee and the Money Tree
- Stop the Black Friday madness! – Cash Rebel
- Is Black Friday Really Dead? – Frugal Rules
- Shopping Deals for the Rest of the Year – Budget and the Beach
- How I Feel About Black Friday [in Gifs] – Budgets are $exy (not totally hating, but highly amusing)


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Identity protection service LifeLock said Tuesday it is prepared to go to court after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a fresh lawsuit alleging the company has failed to protect its users' data and deceptively advertises its services.
LifeLock settled for US$12 million with the FTC and 35 attorneys general in 2010 for allegedly making false claims about what its service could protect consumers against.
The FTC filed a new lawsuit on Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona that contends LifeLock hasn't complied with the 2010 settlement, which also required it to protect users' data better.
In a statement on its website, LifeLock said it disagreed with the FTC and is prepared to go to court.
"After more than 18 months of cooperation and dialogue with the FTC, it became clear to us that we could not come to a satisfactory resolution of their issues outside a court of law," the company said.
LifeLock said it took steps after the first FTC action to secure its systems and that no members have suffered ID theft.
The company charges monthly subscription fees for a service that it claims to monitor the Web and other sources for possible fraudulent use of personal details and notify credit agencies.
The FTC's 2010 lawsuit alleged that LifeLock couldn't stop the most common type of ID theft, which is the misuse of existing accounts. ID thieves were also able to sometimes circumvent warnings that LifeLock provided to creditors.
LifeLock CEO Todd Davis famously used his own Social Security number in advertisements promoting his company, which resulted in hundreds of attempts to use his credentials for fraud. Scammers successfully used his details 13 times, which Davis claimed were countered by using LifeLock's services.


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Here below are two case scenarios taken from the http://FARJHO.com site. It illustrates the value propositions of FARJHO fairly well I think.
1. Example Case for Aspiring Home Owners (AHO)
Jennifer is looking to purchase a house in Houston, Texas. She has identified a property in a nice neighborhood of her choice. The listing price of the property is $360,000.
Jennifer has $72,000 in cash as the 20% down payment for a conventional home mortgage. However, for whatever reasons, no lender is interested in lending to her at the moment. She does not want to lose the opportunity to purchase the house as a dream home and she no longer wants to continue to rent an apartment or even a single family house without benefiting from the potential rise of house prices since everyone on TV news seems to be talking about a housing market recovery these days.
She understands the new business method of FARJHO using the old property equity sharing concept could be something suitable for her situation. After doing her own research she realizes that by being a partial owner to own a home through equity sharing she would no longer be able to get the entire leveraged returns as she could have by using a conventional mortgage to own a home. She would only be able to get the percentage of the potential price appreciation of the percentage of ownership that she has in the home property.
On the other hand, she would also lose only the portion of the potential property value depreciation of her percentage ownership when prices do not turn out to go up as most people would expect. She thought that these basic shared equity financial arrangements was fair and she knows she could always buy more units of investment in home equity either in her own home property or in other people's home equity in the future when she has accumulated more savings or gets an big bonus from her job. Whether she will actually do that will become a pure investment decision at that time.
Meanwhile, as a tenant and partial owner of the home property that she will occupy, she would enjoy much more security and stability under the FARJHO LLC that she would negotiate with the potential joint property investors on a pure free market basis. She does not need any charitable preferential treatments, guarantees or any handout assistance from the government.
Jennifer signs up at FARJHO.com and launches a FARJHO funding campaign project for one month. Since she already has the $72,000, She would only need to raise $288,000. She decides to raise the fund through a handful of crowd investors. Upon securing the investment commitments from the potential investors, she gets assistance from the company to form a FARJHO LLC to acquire the property that she had identified. After the purchase is complete, she starts to move in and pays rent to the FARJHO LLC that she partially owns with the other joint property investors.
2. Example Case for Existing Home Owners (EHO)
Robert, Amy and their children have lived in a beautiful house in a nice neighborhood in Souther California for the last 20 years. Their house is currently worth about $500,000 as determined in a BPO analysis conducted by a real estate agent's office that they know well.
Robert and Amy have a mortgage on the house with an outstanding balance of $300,000. That means they have about $200,000 in home equity in their house which equates to 40% of the house value.
Robert and Amy's oldest son David was going to attend college after the summer. They would need to prepare about $100,000 for him to attend college for the next four years. They decided to tap into the home equity of their house.
They looked into the possibility of obtaining a home equity line of credit. However, they do not have sufficient income to support a credit line of $100,000. Even if they do, Robert and Amy do not feel comfortable to add another monthly debt service commitment to their current monthly expense budget and bear the risk of a potential foreclosure in case Robert loses his job.
They do not want to sell the house in order to tap into the home equity that they have in the home property and they definitely would not want to move away from the family house which has a lot of sentimental value to them.
Robert and Amy went on-line and discovered the homeowners social networking portal WeHomeowners.com and its sister crowdfunding portal FARJHO.com which became operational in 2013. They opened a free member account and uploaded some nice photos of their home property to initiate a crowdfunding project to raise $400,000.
Of the total amount raised, $300,000 was meant to pay off the outstanding balance of their existing home mortgage. They did it through forming a FARJHO LLC structure where they would keep $100,000 as the 20% home equity in the house together with other joint property investors which contributed the remaining 80% of $400,000.
After the FARJHO LLC has acquired the title of the home property from Robert and Amy, they started to pay a pre-agreed market rent to the FARJHO LLC of which they are a 20% co-owner with the other investors who had contributed the $400,000.
After all the dust had settled, Robert and Amy were left with the cash of $100,000 that they needed to put aside for their son to start his comfortable and secure four-year college life.
Robert and Amy know that if they end up with more cash in their hands in the future from either daily savings, Robert's year end bonus from his job or even Amy's diligent weekly lottery tickets buying activities, they could always become investors themselves any time to flexibly and reversibly buy some more home equity units either in their own house again and in other people's homes through FARJHO.com but that would really become purely another investment decision at that time.
After a few years, Robert and Amy indeed have accumulated more cash. However, they did not feel a need to buy into more home equity of their own house any more since they have already had the full 100% use of the home property. Why bother?
Nobody could kick them out as long as they continue to pay the monthly rent to the FARJHO LLC that they themselves partially own. They are not obligated to have this new cash get stuck back in the house again, although that could always remain an option to them.
Furthermore in the eyes of their family and friends, they still enjoy the prestige of being a homeowner. They can't think of a reason why to put this new money back into their own house again. In fact, there could be many other alternatives for them to consider to put these money into a much better use.
They have finally started to understand what it really means that FARJHO could separate the shelter value away from the management of the investment value of owning a home.
After their son David graduated from college, Robert and Amy decided to use that cash to help David purchase a condo in New York City where David had obtained a job.
Filed under: Crowdfunding, Economic Viewpoints, Equity Sharing, FARJHO, Housing, InvestorsAlly, Mortgage, PeoplesAlly, Equity Sharing, FARJHO, Housing finance, shared appreciation mortgage, shared equity mortgage, Shared ownership mortgage, WeHomeowners


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Mastech MS6404 Distance Meter (40m)
This is employed laser technology to measure distance, area, and volume accurately, quickly and conveniently. It has a wide measuring range 40m and particularly high accuracy ±2.0mm. In addition, the meter has kinds of pre-designed measuring mode to get the unilateral distance of triangle by ways of the Pythagorean proposition. It also has Add and Subtracts Measurement function.
● Pythagorean proposition measurement function
● Continuous measurement
● Area & volume calculation
● Add and subtract measurement function
● Auxiliary foot level measurement
● MIN and MAX measurement
● Display backlight
● Assisted laser measurement
● Laser type Class II, 635nm, <1mW
● Automatically cut off laser 20s
● Automatic shutdown 150s
● Data Logging 30 groups
● Power Supply : 2×1.5V AAA Batteries
● Product Weight : 120g/0.26lb
● Product Size : 112mm×52mm×27mm
● Certification : CE / ETL / FDA / RoHS
● Portable bag
● Battery and User's manual


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Digital Comics Rant!
I've been a comics fan and reader since the early 1970s. I left comics in the 1990s and have only this past year returned, but my interest is confined to nostalgia — today's books don't really interest me, which I think is a problem both for me and for publishers, as I am affluent reader with two kids who might pick up the hobby but the current approach at Marvel and DC holds limited appeal for us. I worked briefly as a writer on some non-Marvel/DC books decades ago, and I still have friends in the business, but I don't think either one of those things gives me any special insight into what's happening in comics today. However, since 2008 I have been partners in an iOS publisher and developer, and that DOES give me special insight into the digital world, at least in the apps publishing space.
I have two problems with the digital programs now on offer from the "Big Two." One is editorial, and the other is with the marketplace.
The marketplace issue is the easiest to address. First off, there may not be a marketplace issue. As of March 2012, ComiXology is on record saying they've shipped 50M comics through their app, and they make frequent appearances on the iPad Top Grossing lists in the United States. Maybe Marvel and DC have managed to dig a flaming, gasoline-filled trench around their digital IP and will be able to keep their prices artificially high.
Speaking as a publisher who has to work to give away free games that pack hundreds of hours of content … if they can do that, then I say more power to them!
Speaking as a digital entrepreneur, my view is that publishers could be leaving money on the table due to inflexible pricing, a creaky storefront, too many partners (DC and Marvel must share revenue with Apple and ComiXology with their current apps) and cross-platform incompatibility that erects an artificial wall between new books and the catalog offerings of Marvel's Digital Unlimited service.
Were I running the digital initiative for Marvel or DC I would ween myself from ComiXology as soon as possible in favor of my own publishing platform, built around microtransactions with in-app currency (to allow more flexibility in pricing and bundling), with laser-sharp metrics closely watching reader behaviors to guide future business decisions. I'd also leverage comics as a social platform by opening up the sharing possibilities of digital books and empowering readers to evangelize their passion by migrating the "collecting" experience from the physical act of owning books to virtual achievements built around viewing and sharing digital comics, with an eye toward restoring comic books as the brand leader for superheroes, instead of the trailing appendage they've become in this era of better than a billion dollar box office superhero movies (while equivalent books sell in the hundred thousand copies range).
This might already be in the works. A recent report put ComiXology's "gross merchandise value" for 2011 at nineteen million dollars, with that number projected to jump to $70M in 2012. With that kind of money on the table, Marvel and DC can certainly afford to build and control their own platforms (and in fact they can't afford not to).
A simpler solution would be for Marvel and/or DC to buy ComiXology outright, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see this happen.
The bigger problem is on the editorial side of the business, which is stuck with largely the same playbook they've been running for the last three decades. The freemium digital marketplace I'm advocating only make sense if you can reach a mass audience — a truly digital approach to content and monetization will work only when your audience numbers in the tens or hundreds of millions.
Evidence suggests the current system works to some degree for a market where the top print book struggles to sell 200K copies. The question is whether that market can ever be brought back to the levels of prior decades. If they think there is a mass digital audience out there, then it is an inevitability that DC and Marvel will have to stop price protecting their print retail partners and adopt lower prices for their digital offerings. I'm in my fourth year in the iOS business and I have seen the "Race To Zero" first-hand (with my own money on the line). It's gotten so even .99 is considered a "premium" price, and you have to work to give away free apps.
In truth, even "free" costs too much these days.
The danger for comic publishers is that it may be too late for them. The market may be so damaged and diminished that it is no longer possible to tap into a mass audience by dropping prices to .99 or free. If the worldwide market for superhero comics really has collapsed to a half-million or so hardcores buying DC and Marvel print titles each month then the free market just won't work — you'd need ten times that many people interested in digital books to make a profitable business off the 5% of your customers that you will monetize through free distribution. There would be some organic lift from getting free books into more people's hands — and thus spreading your brand to a collateral audience — but I think the editorial problem at Marvel and DC is pathological enough that just getting the books into peoples' hands won't be enough. The content has become too dense, self-referential, and fringe to work as mass entertainment. Witness DC's "New 52" reboot — presented as a means of making DC's line more friendly to new readers — which after an initial surge of interest appears to have posted only modest readership gains in the long run (though there are encouraging indications the market is coming back).
So if there is no reaching new readers, then it is actually best for Marvel and DC to do what they're doing — circle the wagons, hold the price line as long as they can, and fight a delaying action until the publishers as we know them are closed down and their properties are licensed out to smaller shops. Paramount and Hasbro both have comic books without being in the comic book business — might Marvel and DC ultimately elect to go the same route? Marvel and to a lesser extent DC have already realized they are in the "superhero" business rather than the "comics" business and are reorganizing their operations accordingly. I have friends who will lose jobs when this happens and it gives me little joy to say it, but markets are never wrong — the music, publishing, and software businesses have already been disrupted, and there's no reason to expect comics will be any different. The collapse of Borders and Blockbuster are just two of the earliest and most visible casualties in the digital disruption of entertainment. There will be a pile of bodies on the field before this shakes out.
The indie side of digital offers some opportunities but will be hamstrung by the absence of meaningful brands. There will be successes here and there — particularly for small shops who can keep their costs in line and put a LOT of effort into fan outreach via social media — but for that mass North American moviegoing audience we should be trying to tap, "comic books" = "superheroes," and "superheroes" = Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman (and now also a host of lesser Marvel characters as well, thanks to a stellar effort from Marvel's movie studio). Mark Waid has made news by shifting his creator-owned work to digital and I think he is smart to set up his own channel to distribute and monetize his work. He is definitely biting the hand that feeds him but the tide is inevitable and irresistible (and I have enjoyed his digital effort, "Insufferable").
The problem Mr. Waid will face is that there's only a fraction of this already-small audience interested in reading his original books than there are people who want to read his Daredevil books. The power of the superhero brands is substantial (which is why the movie business is roaring, for the most part), and with seventy-five years of brand equity built up around their superhero rosters there's no way any small indie operation is going to challenge Marvel and DC with superheroes for the mass audience. It's a risk for Mark (because he is making a living off this business) but he's wise to know the end is near and to make the jump too soon instead of too late. The disruption is real and no one will escape. The guys still standing at the end will be the ones who disrupted themselves and changed into new and profitable forms.
So there you have my view — the major publishers afraid to take the leap, knowing there likely isn't a far side of the ravine out there in the dark, while indie guys have the tools but don't have the networks or the superhero properties the market cares about. In the next three years I expect you will see a few digital indie studios take root, clutch and grab to break even, and then be positioned to pick up the licenses to the big superhero brands when the monthly paper publishing arms of DC and Marvel inevitably collapse. The brick and mortar comics market will continue to struggle and is probably doomed. Fans will vote with their wallets and pirate digital books rather than pay inflated prices to placate direct market retailers. Publishers and retailers will remain chained to each other at the ankles, until the last second when the publishers will sever the chain and give retailers a shove over the side. Then the publishers better hope they still have an audience. Digital consumer habits for the next hundred years are being established RIGHT NOW and Marvel and DC are flirting with extinction because they aren't at the center of it.
Time is critical and there may not be a second chance to get this right.
Note: This column original appeared at the We Talk Podcasts site, to support my appearance on the We Talk Comics podcast. This revised version of my Digital Comics Rant has been updated to reflect new information, and is reprinted here to support next week's review of the Legends of the Dark Knight digital comic, as well as the pending release of the next Longbox Graveyard Podcast, which will cover digital comics. Thanks to We Talk Podcasts for providing a forum for the original version of this article.
NEXT WEDNESDAY: #61 Legends of the (Digital) Dark Knight
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- The mystery of DC, comiXology, and the Kindle Fire may never be publicly solved (comicsbeat.com)
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Posted on August 8, 2012, in Other Media and tagged ComiXology, DC Comics, Digit, digital comics, IOS, Marvel Comics. Bookmark the permalink. 23 Comments.
It's still pretty early in the digital age for Comics but based on what is happening in other fields this is definitely where things are going to go.
A long time ago I was at a Video Convention in Las Vegas (quick, anyone remember Mom and Pop Video Stores?) and one of the speakers was talking about the upcoming 5″ video discs and how much of a game changer they were going to be. To hammer home the point he compared a DVD (or CD Video, I forget) to a disassembled VHS cassette. You only had to take one look at the gallon sized plastic bag of VHS parts to realize a change was going to happen in the distribution of movies. And eventually it did. But over a very long time as those things go.
It took Netflix and Redbox to create the delivery models that eventually forced Blockbuster into Bankruptcy and irrelevancy and that wasn't until 2010, nearly 20 years after DVDs started showing up. And that was for an industry of around $10 billion. Comics are nowhere near that. Far more people saw Avengers, the movie, than bought the comic over the last 20 years and probably longer.
I am not a reader of digital comics — a few web-comics, but those don't count. I am not convinced that anyone has "cracked the code" on matching the content to the medium — which is a concept we've touched on more than once throughout these posts. There would certainly be advantages (storage mostly) to having my comics digital, but I'm not ready to jump. Not by a long shot. And, frankly, price is still a barrier to me; your comments about 99-cent apps are instructive.
I am mostly a DC guy mostly, but I trust Marvel/Disney to make the transition to digital more succcessfully than DC/Warners. Warners is the epitome of old-media, and their inability to leverage properties coherently across their corporate family is legendary. Comics, movies, publishing, TV, licensing … these are all separate divisions and their compensation policies do not encourage collaboration, so an integratred digital strategy is unlikely for DC. Yanking DC Nation of Cartoon Networkrecently is an example. But Marvel has a shot at pulling it off.
The first thing that needs to change is distribution — the direct market, comic books shops, Diamond catalog, etc … that is a model that worked for only a brief period of comics history, and has not worked since the mid-nineties, at least. I wonder if Amazon has ever been approached by DC or Marvel as an alternative distribution method of physical comics.
I am a business/finance professor, and give you an A+ for your comment that "the market is right." Customers are speaking to comic book companies, but they don't seem to be listening. The number of brick-and-mortar bookstores is dropping,the number of brick-and-mortar video stores is dropping, the number of brick-and-mortar music stores is approaching zero. As much as I have fond memories of comic book stores, it's a model that is not long for the world., and propping them up at the expense of customers is wrong-headed and short-sighted.
It is not the job of DC & Marvel (and Image and Boom and Oni, etc …) to keep Diamond in business, or keep my local comic shop in business. Their job is to satisfy their readers, and based on the steady decline in comic sales for 15+ years, they aren't doing that very well.
Assuming that people who pirate things are lost sales because they pirate it. (More likely case is that people just stop reading all together) Marvel comics go on sale on comiXology around 9 am CST. DC go on sale around 1 pm CST.
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The Secret Beyond Matter
The entire list
Adnan Oktar's Comments on Various Subjects
Leaders and Thinkers Discuss Peace, Religion and Politics
Short videos - Don't miss
Çay TV, March 11th, 2009
Adnan Oktar: Our poor people, our souls, beloved ones; we sometimes see, for instance, they eat a very small piece of bread, they are in need. They are all skin and bone. This would be our shame as a nation. We are all responsible for such people. This is not something difficult for us. As you may notice, people suffer from problems related with being overweight. We have millions of people who experience problems because they overeat. If these people who have such problems, give away the excess food they have, then those people will be more healthy and they will have a normal body. There will be no need for them to go on a diet. This is one aspect of it; but the fact is, beyond any other thing, this is done to earn Allah's good pleasure. That is why I said that a market chain can be established, and many thanks to Allah this was done in many cities. For instance we have rice in our home. We purchased 10 kgs of rice. Let's take 1 kg. of it to that charity market and leave it on the related shelf. Alternatively, let's say we have 10 loaves of bread, we can take one loaf of bread and leave it there. While our poor people, brothers come to these markets, they can receive a note from the state, from the village headman stating that these people are in need. This writing should be confidential, signed and sealed. AND FURTHERMORE A CARD SIMILAR TO A CREDIT CARD IS GIVEN TO THESE PEOPLE. When they enter the market, they can draw it from the machine, take whatever they need, as much as they need, and then go. Then we become happy and they become happy. In this respect, we can both earn rewards from Allah and they give thanks to Allah, thank Him, feel thankful and thus they also earn rewards. And this way our nation earns a nice attribute; a kind of gratification. Our people can give away their clothes they do not need. It may be anything they don't need; goods, furniture. For instance, a person may have four armchairs and it may be more than he needs. He takes two of them and leaves them at the market. And people who are in need, our brothers may take them from the market and take them home. And thus a very beautiful environment comes into existence.
Hilal TV, December 27th, 2008
Adnan Oktar:These are my recommendations; first of all, hospitals which would be free of charge should be founded. High-quality and agreeable hospitals should be founded. The places where people get free food should be founded. I MEAN, OPEN MARKETS, namely the places where people can get as much as they need, should be founded. Food should be stocked in advance and agriculture should be given great importance. Government intervention in agriculture is necessary and also farmers should be supported intensively as well.
Çay TV, March 4th, 2009
Adnan Oktar: And also, it is necessary to found markets for poverty-stricken people, I mean such people could go and get documents from concerned places like mukhtar (the chief), it is not something to be ashamed of. It is something honorable for them. It would prosper them in Heaven, in the Hereafter, InshaAllah. They would put their list in their pocket and say, "I need that much cheese, that many olives, that much bread, this is my daily need" and then they would sign for them and say "I got those things". Actually that is a great relief. For example, that is a great remedy and a solution to the economic crisis.
Bugün, December 28th, 2012,
The Bursa Chamber of Manufacturers of Bakery Products will provide bakery products to the Charity Market founded for people in need by the Yıldırım Municipality.
Accordingly, every Thursday the Chamber will provide bakery products like Turkish bagels and pastry and flour. Erdal Pınar, the Chairman of The Bursa Chamber of Manufacturers of Bakery Products said that they initiated this process to provide aid to the Charity Market and it is pleasing to provide aid to the citizens who are in need.


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'Named one of the Top Three Coffee Blogs in London at the Coffee Stop London Awards 2014'
Jonathan Brown is a freelance journalist, editor and screen-writer based in north London. This blog will review London's many independent cafes and their coffee.
The weekly reviews will look at coffee, atmosphere, food, service and extras. As coffee and atmosphere are most important to me, they are rated out of five. Food is out of four and service and extras out of three. This gives a grand total out of 20.
At the end of the year, there will be awards for the best in each category along with an overall winner.
Click here to follow me on Twitter @cafe_review
Any recommendations or suggestions for reviews will be kindly received.


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Marion E. Hults
Marion Elizabeth Hults, age 84, of Sturgis, Mich., passed away Wednesday Dec. 26, 2012, at her home.
The family will receive friends from 2-4 p.m. and
6-8 p.m. Friday at the Hackman Family Funeral Homes – Hackman Chapel, 114 S. Nottawa St., Sturgis, MI 49091, 269-651-2331. The Funeral Mass celebrating the life of Marion E. Hults will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Holy Angels Catholic Church in Sturgis. The Rev. Father German Perez-Diaz will officiate. In accordance with her wishes cremation will follow the Mass.
The family suggests those wishing to make a memorial donation in Mrs. Hults memory consider Hospice of Sturgis, P.O. Box 126, Sturgis, MI 49091.
The obituary is also at www.hackmanfamilyfuneralhome.com where personal messages of support may be left for the family.


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Nyaya and Vaisesika address epistemological questions, the first from the point of view of the subject or knower and the other from the point of view of the object of knowledge. Samkhya and Yoga are cosmological schools, the first addressing the question of the macrocosm and plurality, and the second, unity, the microcosm, and humankind as witness. Mimamsa and Vedanta are primarily metaphysical systems, the former focusing on praxis or means and the latter on the nature of the end.
The focal point of Jainism's critique is the recognition that the Truth is always relative to a point of view, even if it seems absolute from a particular perspective. The hegemony of a single tradition as custodian of the Truth is thus broken. Buddhism characterizes reality as suffering, and thus finds it essential to demonstrate the impermanence or momentariness (ksanabhangavada) of this reality, as the condition for the possibility of liberation (nirvana) from it.
The Carvakas are materialists representing the lay point of view. Knowledge of their perspective is mainly derived from representations made by philosophers who opposed them.
Here is a comprehensive selection of books covering all schools of Indian Philosophy.<
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There have been tons of stories in the press in the last year or so about the epidemic of suicides among veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Folks who come home to changed lives, different family structures, who have trouble finding jobs or happiness or peace have been killing themselves at a level never seen before. It is a national tragedy and it has become a mental health priority for all branches of the military, for the federal government and for mental health professionals.
Part of our society, I've felt for a long time, has become less personal, as we rely more and more on our computers to stay in touch and less and less on actual contact and touch. Facebook, blogs, emails are great, but they lack the human contact that we as a species need.
But I realized when I read this article that maybe I was misjudging. Because this is the story of how a soldier, alone, desperate and planning his suicide was saved by his fellow veterans when his desperate condition was noted on Facebook.
Dan, the founder of a Military Humor page on Facebook called "Awesome Shit My Drill Sergeant Said," noticed a posting on his page as he was just about to turn it off.
"I don't know where else to turn," read a new message from Michael, a National Guardsman, Business Insider reported. "I'm 100% certain that my friend is planning on killing himself tonight and I cannot get a hold of him or anyone that can get to him. Can you help me?"
The troubled vet had financial problems, relationship problems, job problems. All hallmarks of a desperate situation he could no longer face.
Dan rallied the troops, literally. He updated the blog to say:
"We just received a request for help from a troop that turned to us in desperation because it is the middle of the night and no one in the chain of command is picking up the phone and he sincerely believes his battle [buddy] is planning to take his own life tonight."
The folks reading in the middle of the night rallied, figured out the general location of the troubled soldier, and went to help a man that they didn't know.
When Dan received a text from the soldier, they were able to track him via GPS. They found him, alone and ready to die.
The article reports that the soldiers who went to him said:
"Let's talk about what's going on and figure out what we can do to get you on the right track," fellow soldiers said from underneath the door.
At 5 a.m., 14000 comments and hundreds of calls and texts later, there was resolution:
"We picked him up. The soldier is safe."
There are some truly brave and wonderful people in the world.
I wish Dan, the vets who rallied to help a stranger, and the troubled soldier a very happy Veteran's Day.
* * *
In our house, Veterans Day, 11/11 is a special day for another reason. This year it is the 21st anniversary of when we adopted Jacob. So it is a special day indeed.
Last year I wrote about Adoption Day, and well, here's the post for anyone who didn't know me then: https://fiftyfourandahalf.com/2011/11/10/adoption-day/


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So, the Institute for Creation Research put up a link on their Facebook page to one of their latest Acts & Facts articles on the whole Ernst Haeckel/vertebrate embryos thing and since the sort of stuff creationists write about this subject is a pet peeve of mine (as readers of this blog will no doubt have gathered) I decided to post a quick comment on the following quote from the article:
Guliuzza: Shouldn't students be skeptical when they're told that evolutionists can simply look at folds in embryos and see gill slits? The truth is that these are only folds of tissue in the pharynx region of vertebrates during the pharyngula stage of development. For mammals, birds, and reptiles, they never develop into a structure that is in any way like fish gills.
I wrote that this statement was not true as would be known to anyone who had cracked an embryology textbook and asked if Dr. Guliuzza (the author of the article) was therefore incompetent in this area or if he was being deliberately misleading. Further I provided a link to my blog post on the subject of "gill slits" so that anyone interested could look at the evidence for themselves.
I also corrected one of their other commenters on what Thomas Huxley and Charles Lyell's professions and religious perspectives were. I also noted to the commenter that all science, not just evolutionary biology, leaves God and other supernatural agents out of its explanations.
I used no harsh language, I did not call anyone any names and I engaged in no mockery (unless you count my pointed question about Guliuzza competency/honesty) and yet the end result was that my link and all my comments have been deleted and I am apparently now blocked from commenting on ICR's FB page.
I'll leave the reader to decide what this says about ICR and the robustness of their scholarship.


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Two weeks ago, photographer Mark J. Rebilas set up to shoot drag races in Bristol, Tenn. What he got was a front-row seat to a fiery crash that nearly took out both cars. Here is his stunning gallery.
Chase Elliott Explains the Challenge of Adapting to NASCAR's Next Gen Car
The crash came during a Pro Modified run of the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals between driver Roger Burgess in his 1967 Firebird and Kenny Ross. Burgess crossed the finish line traveling 221 mph when he lost control and veered across the track, barely clipping Ross' parachute before smashing into the retaining wall in a ball of flame.
Burgess' only injury was a bruised heel. Check out the rest of Rebilas' impressive photos from the race, and a video of the crash in jarringly quick real time.


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Iowa Code section 68A.404 requires an individual or organization that expends in excess of $1000 in the aggregate to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate or ballot issue without prior approval or coordination with the benefiting committee. The person or persons making the expenditure cannot be a candidate, candidate's committee or other committee.
This form must be filed on or before 48 hours of the expenditure.


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We're delighted to share with you a few special moments captured at one of our favourite weddings of last year. Celebrating the marriage of a member of our extended Func On The Rocks family circle on her beautiful day at the Carriage Hall, Nottinghamshire. Congratulations again to the lovely Laura and Brad!
The first dance was of course especially moving, and we all know what a huge disney fan our beloved lead singer is. So we could certainly feel the love that night with the band's rendition of the Elton John/Tim Rice classic from the Lion King.
"Thank you so much for playing at our wedding 🙂 You helped to make our day so special.
We were initially worried that people wouldn't dance but you guys got everyone up dancing all night until they kicked us out! Everyone said how good the live sets were and also the choice of dj music too.
Thank you so much for learning our first dance song even though it involved blending two versions of the song together, it was so perfect and we loved it 🙂
Special thanks to Steve for managing the task of being a guest and performing at our wedding.
The venue and many of our guests were so impressed they have requested your details for future weddings!
Lots of love Brad and Laura Thompson-Stevens" – Bride & Groom
To top the night off, the guests (and us!) enjoyed our time to shine in the photobooth. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of such an awesome night guys x


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Sometimes the closest restaurants to you are the ones you never check out. They sit on your "to visit" list and get ignored. Be it because you forget about them or get distracted by other places. This year's taste MTL allowed me to finally eliminate one such place from my list – La Fabrique Bistrot. Situated in front of St-Louis Square and a short walk from my neighbourhood, this open kitchen concept restaurant makes quite the impression when you walk in. The kitchen right in the middle of the room, beautifully wood panelling all around and tons of lighting accents. It creates a very inviting and rustic feel all without losing the fine dining element.
For taste MTL, they were offering a 39$ menu that combined regular menu items with some other options. They also offered a wine pairing option for an additional 27$ for each of the meal. My dining companions and I went with this option and were satisfied with the selections – particularly the Muscato I received during the dessert course.
Prior to the actual menu, we received a small bowl of squash, corn and nut soup as an amuse-bouche. Nice and rich, we were pleasantly surprised by the addition of the corn and the nuts. The corn provided some sweetness and the nuts a little salt on top of the texture additions both provided. A nice starter to the meal.
The 2 appetizers offered for Taste MTL were a beetroot, carrot and orange salad with horseradish cream and ratatouille in a terrine with Vitello tomato and foccaccia. The salad was wonderfully light and fresh with a strong kick from the horseradish to spice things up. The ratatouille terrine was a very unique concept that worked beautifully and the sauce provided a nice creamy component to mix with the terrine.
The first main course was a slowly cooked pork with apple, squash, turnip and sweet potato sautéed with Papineau's maple syrup and ginger. Perfectly executed, the pork just felt apart. The fattiness of the pork was augmented nicely with the sweetness of the maple syrup and the freshness of the vegetables in the dish. The addition of the cheddar on top added some nice sharpness as well. A very creative and delicious dish all around.
The second main was salmon preserved in sunflower oil with miniature pepper, parsnip, onion and a carrot purée. The preparation here was a bit more straight forward compared to the pork dish but very well done. The salmon was perfectly cooked and the carrot puree was wonderfully sweet. The other vegetables were good but didn't hit home as much as the puree.
We also ordered an extra side of home fries as they are fried in duck fat and served with house ketchup. Duck fat always adds a little something extra to dishes and that was no exception here. The fries had just that little extra taste and bite which was nice. The house-made ketchup had a nice tanginess to it as well.
For dessert, the options were French toast with clove caramel and fleur de sel or an apple and maple syrup in a homemade yogurt cream. The French toast was ridiculous – a thick cut slice of bread with a rich and cream caramel with just the right hint of salt to balance out the sweetness. The apple, maple and yogurt mixture was quite good as well but got quickly overshadowed by the French toast. And then, once the bills came, so did our final surprise dessert – house cotton candy! Nice, sweet and fluffy without that pesky stickiness which hampers handling. A very playful way to end a great meal.
From beginning to end, la Fabrique was a great experience. Having the kitchen in the middle of the dining room is a cool hook to get you in but the great food and atmosphere are what will make you come back for more. It is nice to know I have another awesome restaurant a short walk over in my neighbourhood. Just another reminder to not ignore what you have close to you. You may be pleasantly surprised.
La Fabrique
3609 St Denis
514 544 5038


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Brain Gang Trivia
Friday Aug 7, 2020
Additional Dates:
The Library Bar & Grill
312 Central Ave SW
Albuquerque, NM
Albuquerque, NM
Phone: (505) 242-2992
Website: Click to Visit
Contact:Brain Gang Trivia
Website: Click to Visit
More events at The Library Bar & Grill
ABQ's only LOCAL trivia game! And it's FREE!
1st, 2nd & 3rd place teams WIN prizes every week!
Totally fresh format and waaaay more fun than you'll have with those Geeks.
We NEVER cap team size. Who are we to tell you how many friends you can have?!
So . . .
Bring your brain. Bring the gang. And show us your wits!