text:
Once again, those who would have us believe that the northwestern counties of Virginia opted to support the union in the late War Between the States have sounded an interesting – if untrue – account of the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
On the anniversary of that battle, recent pro-union accounts extolled the virtues of the union soldiers from West Virginia who participated. No mention was made, by United States Senator Joe Manchin, Charleston Councilman Andy Richardson and others, of the Confederate participants from the Mountain State counties.
It is true that anyone visiting Gettysburg's battlefield will see four memorials erected in honor of so-called West Virginia soldiers. There are no monuments to the huge majority of West Virginians who participated on the Confederate side. These West Virginians were part of the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee. Since the Confederacy did not recognize the illegal, breakaway "government" of the Restored State of Virginia, West Virginians in Confederate units remained Virginians, and rightly so.
On the subject of those "West Virginia" units at Gettysburg, Artillery Co. C was based in Ohio; the First West Virginia Infantry had about 61 percent Ohio and Pennsylvania men; the Seventh West Virginia Infantry was about 40 percent non-West Virginia. The only unit made up of a large majority of West Virginians was the Third West Virginia Calvary.
In fact, Jenkins' Confederate Brigade, 1,300 strong, likely included more Virginians from present-day West Virginia counties than all the Federal forces combined.
On the Confederate side, the 16th Virginia Calvary included soldiers from Cabell, Putnam, Wayne and Kanawha counties. Mercer, Harrison, Lewis, Summers, Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Roane Kanawha and Nicholas countians dominated the 17th Virginia Calvary. Wayne, Logan, Cabell, McDowell, Mercer, Summers, Wyoming and Raleigh counties comprised the 34th Virginia Battalion; with Greenbrier, Monroe, Braxton, Clay, Roane, Nicholas, Cabell, Putnam, Ohio, Wood, Greenbrier, Kanawha, Boone and Jackson counties making up the 36th Virginia Battalion. Thomas E. Jackson's Battery came from Kanawha, Mason and Wayne with Captain Robert A. Richardson's 24th Virginia Infantry based in Mercer County.
Brigadier General William Smith's 31st Virginia Infantry was made up of men from Marion, Taylor, Monongalia, Harrison, Gilmer, Braxton, Randolph, Pocahontas, Barbour and Lewis counties. The 18th Virginia Cavalry, under Brigadier General John Imboden, included Randolph, Pendleton, Tucker, Hampshire and Hardy counties. The 62nd Virginia (Mounted) Infantry came from Hardy, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph, Barbour, Tucker, Braxton, Webster, Upshur and Pendleton counties.
McNeill's Rangers were from Hardy County. The 25th Virginia Infantry was made up of soldiers from Taylor, Ritchie, Upshur, Braxton, Webster, Pendleton, Hardy and Pocahontas. The Stonewall Brigade, under Brigadier General James A. Walker, came from Jefferson and Berkeley counties. The 27th Virginia Infantry was from Monroe, Greenbrier and Ohio counties with the 33rd Virginia Infantry coming from Hampshire and Hardy.
Manchin and others took time out to praise the union soldiers at Gettysburg but made no comment about the vast majority of West Virginians who fought and died for the Confederacy. Again, it is a revised form of history being perpetuated by these folks who want to glorify an illegal act that occurred 150 years ago. As I mentioned earlier, no new state can be created from an existing state without the permission of the current state. The Lincoln government installed a dictator (Francis Pierpont) and designated him "governor of the restored State of Virginia." It was like a justice of the peace being a conspirator with law enforcement and that's how West Virginia was made a state. Nobody elected Pierpont except Lincoln, creating a dictatorship that The Charleston Gazette, Manchin, Richardson and those of like mind applaud 150 years later.
* * * * * *
One might have expected opponents of new Delegate Josh Barker to attempt to create some sort of question involving his appointment. The unlikely source of the latest challenge to Barker is State Young Republican official Rob Cornelius. Cornelius even added in an email concerning the issue that he favored the appointment of a "union guy" over Barker. That seems odd for a GOP leader but it is exactly what Cornelius said.
For the record, there is nothing in state code that requires a lengthy residence by anyone to be appointed to the legislature. Unlike one who stands as a candidate on the ballot, appointees must meet two requirements: he or she must live in the district at the time of the appointment and be a member of the same political party as the official being replaced. Barker scores 100 percent on both counts. He definitely now resides in the 22nd Delegate District and he is a Democrat, like Josh Stowers, the man he is replacing.
* * * * * *
I originally suggested it was smart politics for Governor Earl Ray Tomblin to appoint Barker, thus avoiding the political in-fighting in Lincoln County, where Stowers resides. Some readers were disturbed that I was "endorsing" Barker over Lincoln Countians. I simply pointed out the political realities. With Lincoln's Democrat party nearly equally divided between two factions, I could not see how Tomblin gained any ground by appointing one of the Lincoln Countians.
* * * * * *
Union organizer Gary McCallister, with whom I serve on the Lincoln Public Service District board, is an honorable man who I suspect tries to do the right thing as he sees it. I cast no negative reflections on McCallister and, if he had been appointed, he would have served the district well.
* * * * * *
The switch of State Senator Evan Jenkins from Democrat to Republican in order to run against Democrat Congressman Nick Joe Rahall was greeted with much fanfare by state GOP officials. Although Party Chair Conrad Lucas has said the party organization will take no position in a primary election, party officials could barely contain their enthusiasm for Jenkins' switch.
My conclusion, when asked, is that Jenkins is "Spike Maynard without Don Blankenship's money." I think Jenkins is a weak candidate who will be short on donations and have a real problem making much of a run against the entrenched Rahall.
In addition, Jenkins cannot "sneak up" on Rahall. The congressman knows he has to mind his p's and q's to win re-election. Rahall is excellent at one-on-one campaigning and has the knack for making anyone feel he is more interested in his or her well-being than anything else. Jenkins has made a terrific political miscalculation and I predict he will be a man without a party or a political future when this race is done.
* * * * * *
Jenkins faces the very real possibility that Rick Snuffer, the GOP's most recent candidate against Rahall, will seek the GOP nomination again. Snuffer is, arguably, a "real Republican" as opposed to what appears to be the opportunism of Jenkins. I doubt that state Republicans will embrace Jenkins as party leaders did. Snuffer says internal national polling shows him defeating Jenkins, two-to-one. It is entirely possible that Jenkins will not make it out of the GOP primary.
* * * * * *
Some readers have inquired as to what I think Southern West Virginia's thoughts on gay rights would be, if the question was put to the voters. The issue came up when nominees for the 22nd Delegate District seat pledged support of the national Democrat platform, which embraces gay and abortion rights.
My basic response has been that the overwhelming fundamental, Bible-thumpers are anti-gay. One of the nominees, McCallister, told me he could not support gay rights "because of my church."
Those who berate and degrade homosexuals apparently do not believe their God created men and women as He saw fit. Somehow, they claim to believe in an all-powerful God who makes no mistakes while holding that He created men and women who are not in step with His doctrines.
My own position is that there should be no discrimination against those who are gay.
Here I go again as a Republican, but I see no reason to ban gay marriages. What others do will not effect my relationship with Heaven.
* * * * * *
Condolences are due to my closest friend, Alicia McCoy, on the passing of her fantastic cat, Charles Ray. He was loved by her and others for the 13 years he spent with Alicia and she is so devastated at his passing.
Charles Ray was a special cat, with obvious intelligence and human-like qualities. I have shed a tear, as well, at his passing. As I told Alicia, I can only hope that she finds some comfort in knowing she provided Charles a loving home for 13 years. I know that cat knew how much "mommy" cared about him.
Regular readers will recall it is Alicia who created the "Gregory's Web" logo that appears with this column.
* * * * * *
Keep me up-to-date on your thoughts, rumors and story ideas. Email me at email@example.com or call my cell at 304-533-5185.


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Shaken, stirred, and sealed.
If tubeless is the new black, Stan's NoTubes Tire Sealant is a classic secret-agent tuxedo. Just pour some of this milky goo into your tubeless-compatible tires, pop them onto the bead, and spin 'em around to get an even coating that will protect you from leaks and punctures all the way up to 1/4in. It makes it safer and easier to run tubeless tires at low pressure, and can work with wheels designed to be run tubeless or wheels that have been converted to accommodate a tubeless setup. Sharp rocks, thorns, and broken glass won't ruin your ride anymore, and the ability to ride at lower pressures will increase grip when you're in slick terrain.
- One quart
- Seals up to 16 tires
Reviews & Community
What do you think of the
Stan's NoTubes Tire Sealant
? Share a...
Da Bomb
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
I like Stans a lot. It treats my tires with the respect they deserve.
Joe Bolton
This is all I use
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
I've used this stuff since I started mountain biking. I would never think about using anything else. It works so well.
Keep coming back.
I've tried others, but I keep coming back to Stan's. Don't bother wasting your time with anything else.
Mike Hulme
Awesome sealant
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
Great sealant, even in low temps. When it dries out in 4 months, put another 2 oz in and you're good to go again.
Brian Sweat
Tubes? Nah
- Gender: Male
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
Always run my trail bike with stans. Perfect for most of my riding.
Marc DiVall
No Tubes!
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
Throw your tubes away and get slimey. There's no better way to ride your mountain bike than with Stan's NoTubes sealant.
el scotto
Inject it!
Way easier/cleaner than the cup method.
el scotto
Adios Tubes!
Fill your tires with a couple ounces of this stuff, and you'll be running tubeless in no time at all- just make sure you've got your rims taped!
Less weight, less flats, why would you not want to convert?!
The first couple times of using Stan's, be prepared to get a bit nasty; after that, it's all smooth sailing. Word of advice, spring for the syringe & core remover, as it makes filling/refilling waaaaaaaay easier and cleaner than the pour cup method.
Love this stuff
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
I went tubeless on my mountain bike about 3 years ago, and I have never looked back. I have done about every type of tubeless set ups from using stans rim strips, tubeless rims and even a few "ghetto" tubeless set ups. And Stan's sealant stuff has always been there help fill every little hole and sealing up the bead on those "ghetto" set ups. This stuff is simply the best.
Chase Skidmore
No More Flats
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
This stuff works great. Buy the big bottle and add sealant as needed. I find I usually need to add about 2 ounces to my MTB 2 times every riding season. Varies by how hot and dry the Utah summers get and how much time I spend on the bike. As long as you seal the bottle up tight, the sealant will be good for whenever you need it.
The one and only
Really no point in trying other sealants, Stan's works the best. With good tubeless tires, you will have to literally rip the casing to get a flat. Lasts for a good long time, depending on climate. Easy to use and not overly gross.
There's a reason its the gold standard
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
Its great, I've used it for several years and really have only found one other sealant that works as well and that's the Orange brand.
Matt A
Superb Sealant
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
This is stuff absolutely rocks! Gone are the days of pinch flats, popped tubes and repair time on the trail. I haven't gotten a flat in two years using this sealant and would highly recommend it. During the summer in dry heat you'll want to reseal since it does dry out. A few bucks every few months to reseal is a no brainer- Buy Stans!
Mike Marrow
Love it!
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
Hate tubes! Love Stan's!
Nate Margolis
This Stuff is The Best
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
Stan's Sealant is the best way to run tubeless. I always ride with some in my backpack. I have used it for the last two years and have had zero problems. The set up is simple, you just need an air compressor to set the bead of the tire in place. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that the sealant will dry up over time and you will need to put the bead off of the rim and pour in a little more sealant and then pump it up! If you have any questions about it feel free to give me a call.
Here is my contact information: My direct line 801.736.6396 ex. 4389. Feel free call to me anytime, I?m always happy to talk about bikes or gear or the weather. Whatever works! I?m here Mon, Tues and Friday 1:30-10pm MST and Saturday 9-5:30 as well as Sunday 10-7. I look forward to speaking with you.
Perry Hall
The standard for a reason
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
Reliable, does its job, and doesn't clog valve cores. All in all a great product, especially if you are using Stans rims, strips, and valve cores. The total package makes tires a breeze to install and set up. Be sure to shake it, and check your tires every 4-6 months and add more if they have dried up!
Chris Huntley
In Use
make sure to add more every month or two
Ben B.
Great stuff
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
Though this is the only sealant Ive used it also the only one Ive ever had to. Ive not had a flat in over 2 years since using this product. That should be all you need to know.
Richard Eyre
Only Option!
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
Stan's is the bomb and the only option tubeless setups. As others have indicated the product need maintenance put a bit in your wheels every couple months and you should be golden.
Best value
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
This stuff works just as good as everyone tells you it will. Backcountry just happens to have about the best price going on it. I usually see this bottle for about $5 more in bike shops, and that's if they even have the 32oz bottle. With the 16 and especially 2oz bottles, the price per ounce can go way up. If you swap tires seasonally, live somewhere really dry or have more than one bike, you will go through the stuff kind of fast anyway. Might as well get it for a good price.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
(Australia 29 Oct 1933 – )
38.5 x 42.6 cm image; 52.2 x 52.2 cm sheet
Syd Ball was born in Adelaide, and has exhibited his work in Australia and internationally for almost 50 years and in Sydney since his first solo exhibition at Watters Gallery in 1966. He was Senior Lecturer in Art at the City Art Institute (now COFA) from 1974-88, and currently lives at works at Glenorie on Sydney's outskirts.
Ball studied printmaking in Adelaide and America, and it has been a recurring feature of his work, influencing and being influenced in turn by his painting.
Janine Burke., Sydney Ball survey 1965-1975, 'The paintings of Sydney Ball', Newcastle, 1975. General reference.
Anne Loxley, Sydney Ball: the colour paintings 1963-2007, 'Sydney interview, pg. 13-15, Penrith, 2008. General reference.
Victoria Lynn, Sydney Ball - Prints: Cantos + Stains, Sydney, 2008. General reference.
Victoria Lynn, Sydney Ball: a jubilant light, 'Introduction', pg. 4-6, Wollongong, 1989. General reference.


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The Hidden Candidate
When Gore Vidal died a few weeks ago, eulogies quoted his famous observation that "the more money an American accumulates the less interesting he himself becomes." Vidal originally wrote these words in a 1972 essay on Howard Hughes, but who could read them today and not think of Willard Mitt Romney?
Blessed with parodically presidential good looks, yet cursed with the unconvincing mannerisms of an early-generation android without its update patch, Romney is that most discombobulating of political phenomena—a boring enigma. Trying to figure out his true nature is akin to facing a block of polystyrene. You can't see inside, and you can't get a toehold. You're left with analogies. Romney has been dubbed the next Herbert Hoover, awarded the honorary George H.W. Bush "Wimp" prize from Newsweek, and compared to a porn-movie queen because he changes his positions so often (this last from Arlen Specter, who only changes parties). Those of a more artistic bent have dubbed Romney a latter-day Zelig or, more arcanely, the Man without Qualities, although this is an insult to Robert Musil's fictional hero, who may have shared Romney's unwillingness to take a firm position on anything but at least had the courtesy not to seek political power.
The paradox of Romney is that even as he wants to run the world, he's busy running away from its gaze. Although neither a dope like Dan Quayle nor an ignoramus like Sarah Palin—he has read Guns, Germs, and Steel even if he didn't quite understand it—he has waged a campaign most memorable for its absence of specific ideas. While implying that President Barack Obama is somehow not a real American—for a phantasm to win he must turn his opponent into one, too—Romney basically asks voters to trust in his economic acumen and his leadership. But how can you lead when nobody can find you? He hides from his religion, his political achievements, his big scores at Bain Capital, his tax records, his old public utterances, his new public utterances—hides from everything that might not appeal to whatever voters he happens to be wooing at that particular moment. "Forget about yesterday," he seems to be saying, "What matters is who I say I am right now."
A great many empty suits have run for president, but seldom has one been so willing to flaunt his own lack of vision. Indeed, he's the only nominee I can remember who, in choosing his running mate, was hoping to gain substance. There is, of course, nothing strange about a candidate pretending to be somebody else, but when Richard Nixon unveiled the "New Nixon" in 1968, you knew who he was pretending not to be. With Mitt, you suspect even Romney himself doesn't know. He's something new in American politics, if not American culture: a potential president so weightless that he makes Charles Foster Kane look as grounded as Dwight Eisenhower. At least you could tell what that mogul yearned for deep down inside, even if it was only that stupid sled.
While it would be invidious to suggest that Romney has no inner life (a quality that, to be fair, worked wonders for Ronald Reagan), even veteran Mittologists aren't quite sure what goes on behind the synthetic smile. But they start with the Oedipal. As the worshipful son of a successful businessman whose "brainwashing" gaffe put the kibosh on his presidential hopes, Romney couldn't fail to learn lessons from his father's political failures, although he picked up the wrong ones. Tossing overboard what was admirable in George Romney's legacy—his principled stands within the GOP on issues like civil rights—Mitt became so cautious that even his sister says that he uses vagueness as camouflage. But as the great Sigmund would remind us, an obsession with bottling up what you think will always produce its own elaborate symptomology. Romney rarely speaks off the cuff without landing in trouble. Even more than Joe Biden, who's Metternich by comparison, he's a walking gaffe-o-matic, which may be the most likably authentic thing about him.
The most unlikably inauthentic is his way of shifting positions to win favor, then acting shocked, even offended, when it's suggested he's done so. It's tempting to write this off as sheer opportunism, and to be sure, shamelessness is no small part of his M.O.—just think about that trip to Israel with Sheldon Adelson. Yet watching Romney in action, I'm struck that he can't understand why everyone seems to fixate on his constantly shifting positions. Such puzzlement may finally point us to one of the keys to his character. Unlike most of us who care about politics, Romney thinks of policies and ideologies as being external, contingent. In his mind, what he says and does are distinct from who he is.
In this, he's a true child of the automobile industry. Romney grew up knowing that what ultimately mattered in Detroit wasn't any model's ever-changing features—swooping fins, good gas mileage, nifty little side portholes—but whether the public wanted them enough to buy the car that year. Far from representing some enduring value to be fought for, these features were conditional and evanescent—they changed in accordance with shifting tastes. If the public wanted big grilles, you gave them big grilles; if they wanted power windows, you installed push buttons. The only unchanging consideration was the popularity of the brand. The models themselves didn't matter as long as a Cadillac was always a Cadillac—and made money.
Romney has pursued his political career in the same bottom-line spirit. He approaches every election like someone rolling out that fall's cars. When running for office in Massachusetts, he brought out a sporty model that was gay-friendly and rather liberal; pushing for the Republican nomination after the dire Bush years, he played the luxury sedan; trying to get votes from Tea Party types, he has dressed himself up as a Hummer and chosen as his veep a zealot who used to give staffers copies of Atlas Shrugged for Christmas. For Romney, Paul Ryan's only an accessory, like optional four-wheel drive, designed to close the sale with the party faithful. What matters is triumph of the brand itself, The Romney.
If Romney's view of life has any principled underpinning, it comes from his faith, but on the campaign trail, Mormonism has turned into the religion that dare not speak its name. His campaign staff always treats it as un-American bigotry when somebody points out that a presidential hopeful's ultimate concern (as the mid-century theologian Paul Tillich called religion) is not wholly irrelevant to his candidacy, especially when, like Romney, he's deeply embedded in his church's institutions and power structure. Yet, in fact, it's the candidate's own fear of bringing up the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that intensifies the old perception that it is a cultish outlaw religion.
A bolder candidate would embrace the achievements of the Mormon Church and its culture. An authentically homegrown American religion, it's steeped in this nation's founding values, from the celebration of honesty, hard work, and financial prosperity to a rich sense of family and community—all held together by a domineering patriarchy. Deeply and, for some, oppressively conservative, it offers a vision of life that millions of Americans might well find appealing. Romney has made the calculated choice not to do this. In keeping his faith largely under wraps, he reflects the identity crisis of Mormonism. Like his church, Romney is at once desperate for mainstream acceptance (he yearns, after all, to be president) yet equally desperate to make sure that we don't know too much, that we're kept outside.
Small wonder that, out on the stump, Romney often seems uncomfortable in his own carefully tended skin. There's just so much he's reluctant to talk about, even the worthwhile things he's done along the way. Before the Salt Lake City Olympics, for instance, he persuaded local organizers to set aside their hostility to homosexuality and approve an anti-discrimination employment clause for gays and lesbians. Yet what's disquieting is that, all these years later, you can't be sure what led him to do it. Was he trying to avoid an international scandal that might hurt the Salt Lake games? Could he have been trying to protect Mormonism from seeming bigoted and provincial? Did he think it would help him when he ran for governor in Massachusetts later that year? Or was it possible he just thought it the right thing to do? As with so many things about Romney, we just don't know, and he's not talking about it now.
The one unwavering constant of Mitt Romney's life has been the pursuit of success. He wanted to make oodles of money (if he has a Rosebud, we know it's green) and ascend to the most powerful office in the land, which he's one unnerving election away from doing. There is, of course, nothing wrong—or inherently Republican—about such grandiose ambitions. Bill Clinton chased those very same goals, albeit in reverse order (which may actually be less admirable). Yet what makes Romney so depressing is that he embodies everything hollow and joyless about the great American dream of success. He's gotten astonishingly rich without ever showing the pleasure in his good fortune that made this country swoon for FDR and JFK and Ronald Reagan—heck, he even pretended not to care about his wife's dressage horse in the Olympics. Even worse, he unstintingly seeks power but conveys no abiding awareness that he could use his success for the greater good. Say what you will about Reagan and Clinton, George W. and Barack, these men know what it means to dream of greatness—they wanted to make history. Romney? He just wants to get ahead.
Despite all his weaknesses—his lack of ideas, his low "likability" ratings, his maladroit campaigning—Romney just may get elected. Which will bring us back to the same spooky question: Who is Mitt Romney?
At best, he will morph back into what his early champions claimed he is—a smart, temperamentally conservative CEO who casts himself in the role of a nonideological problem-solver. This is not impossible. After all, Romney possesses the sense of entitlement, not to mention the vanity, of a successful businessman who, accustomed to being boss, isn't about to let those Tea Party twerps push him around one second longer. It's delightful to imagine self-serious Vice President Ryan being sent on fact-finding missions to Moldova and Guinea-Bissau. In this happy scenario, President Romney will try to reclaim some of the political center in search of the next marker of personal success—re-election.
This is a diverting scenario, to be sure. Yet judging from Romney's two years of pandering to the Tea Party, he's far more likely to prove an Oval Office weakling with Ryan as his Dick Cheney. Indeed, it's easy to picture the Romney administration being driven by congressional radicals whose fervent passion and ideological certainty would turn him into the world's most distinguished-looking rhinoceros bird, riding atop a rampaging beast he couldn't control even if he wanted to. The Bush years were a demonstration of the ghastly things that can happen when a conservative president starts working for the hard-liners supposedly working for him. Would that happen under President Romney? Such is the man's elusiveness that nobody can say for sure—not even Romney himself. In the 21st century, there could be no more foolish or dangerous political wager than betting a Republican president will prove more moderate in the White House than he sounded during the campaign.
Fri, 2012-08-31 14:00
"Romney rarely speaks off the cuff without landing in trouble. Even more than Joe Biden, " Why do Democrats ALWAYS say everything that is 100% incorrect. Is this a symptom of the disease of Liberalism. Anyway, I'm looking forward to November when all this is over and Mitt and his cabinet can start getting the USA back to working.
Fri, 2012-08-31 18:52
Romney has a track record of successful executive experience which speaks for itself. He really doesn't have to be seen, we know what he is capable of. Obama on the other hand has somewhere between a zero and dismal track record. We really shouldn't have been so stupid as to elect someone so inexperienced in the first place. Obama has to be seen and seen and seen in the hope we will elect the cool wannabe rock star again, because that's all he has going for him. Let's pray america doesn't make the same mistake twice.
Fri, 2012-08-31 21:58
Romney's business practice borders on the criminal
and makes him unfit to be president, no wonder he doesn't want people to know much about him.
Sat, 2012-09-01 00:51
Funny, neither he nor his company have been prosecuted, or investigated by the IRS; and Bain Capital is studied at all the elite business schools as the model of successful and ethical business practice.
Obama on the other hand paid big bucks to cover up up his poor grades, the thesis he wrote on how to bankrupt America, that he enrolled as a foreigner, Has an HI birth certificate and a RI ss#, and is a practicing Muslim.
Just wanted to be fair and get all the ridiculous irrelevant stuff out there. Amazing how some people on both sides think all this stuff is true of one or the other candidates.
Sun, 2012-09-02 09:50
He has a Ct. Social Security #.
Sun, 2012-09-02 09:48
We don't know Romney?
Last I looked, only One Guy had a Vault full of Secrets, locked awat on a Volcanic Island in the Middle of the Pacific Ocean, which he has spent Million$ on, to keep them locked away, far from the prying eyes of We The People.
The same guy who TWICE got a Bought and Paid for Chicago Judge to UNSEAL his Opponents SEALED DOCUMENTS, when he was Running for Seats in Illinois.
Since everybody knows so much about Barry Soetoro, maybe you can tell us HOW a guy "Born" in Hawaii, has a CONNECTICUT Social Security Number?
I'll wait.
Sun, 2012-09-02 09:44
Do we really need Freud, Holmes, House, and John Powers to figure out what a Romney presidency would fundamentally consist of? As a baseline, he'd have to start out at the Republican default. He might go seriously further right, but he sure isn't going to be going center-ward.
- Foreign Policy. Who's there but the neo-cons to grab the wheel? Romney himself has neither knowledge, nor experience, nor connections in the area. So he'll the default to the current Republican standard.
- Domestic social policy. Bishop Romney has of course chained himself to the ultraright, and we can expect a health-care fiasco unrolling from day one. But, even without that, that Republican presidents since Reagan always swing the same way. GHW Bush --- remember him, the "sober patrician"--- dredged up Clarence Thomas to replace Thurgood Marshall. Romney the President would make 2 or 3 Supreme Court appointments that will end the fading promise of the 20th century for good.
- Economic policy. There's nothing in Romney's successful business --- or perhaps better "meta-business" -- career that has prepared him in any way to deal with national and international macro-economics. Probably the contrary. What do you expect, a massive national infrastructure project? In reality, it can only be: make the super-wealthy into the hyper-wealthy, slash protections, chum the Wall Street frenzy. There's nothing particularly Romney-esque in this.
Is there a delicious --- or maybe just painful --- irony in the fact that the man without a personality inspires psychological fantasizing, at a time when the default patterns are so dominant that personality is all but irrelevant?
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(If there's one thing we know about comment trolls, it's that they're lazy)


text:
+ - Laser pointers produce too much energy, pose risks for the careless->
Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Commercial grade green and red laser pointers emit energy far beyond what is safe, posing skin, eye and fire hazards. That was the conclusion of a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) study on the properties of handheld laser devices that tested 122 of the devices and found that nearly 90% of green pointers and about 44% of red pointers tested were out of federal safety regulation compliance."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source


text:
Blue Bloods: Season 1 DVD
$23.99Add to Wish list
You Save: $5.99 20% off
- Additional Details
- Format: DVD
- Rating: Not Rated
- Number of Discs: 6
- Run Time: 946 Minutes
- Region: 1
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
- Studio: Paramount
- DVD Release Date: September 13, 2011
- Subtitles: Spanish, French, Portuguese
- Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC]
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Stereo [CC]
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Stereo
- Cast: Tom Selleck, Len Cariou, Bridget Moynahan, Donnie Wahlberg, Will Estes
- Genre: TV Series
- Color: Color
- Includes:
Six Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes:
-Keeping It In The Family
-Code Blue
-Creating The Characters
-Keeping It Real
-Analyzing The Scene
-Empire State Of Mind
Deleted Scenes
Gag Reel
Network On-Air Launch Promos
- Release Date: 2010
New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) has a lot to be proud of... but his greatest pride is his family. His oldest son Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) is a streetwise detective who always gets the job done... even if that means bending the rules. As an Assistant D.A., his daughter Erin (Bridget Moynahan) passionately defends the letter of the law while she struggles to raise her daughter as a newly single mother. His youngest, Jamie (Will Estes), just enlisted as a beat cop even though he earned a degree from Harvard Law.
The Reagans have a proud tradition of service to the city, but they also have a habit of making waves, as exemplified by Frank's father Henry (Len Cariou) - an outspoken former Commissioner whose career ended because of his bold opinions. Police work is more than just a job in this unforgettable first season of Blue Bloods, containing all 22 episodes on 6 discs.


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Which iPad screen protector actually works with the cars? I have a Casecrown matte protector and it won't recognize the cars.....
- Asked by Lauren S from Guilford
Disney Cars 2 AppMATes by Spinmaster
Product No Longer Available
1 Answer from the Community
I have used the NuShield DayVue glare eliminator film which works great outdoors. I have it on my nav screen in the car and it works great. Also on my iPad. Lets me see the screen clearly even in sunshine.
- Answered by Andrew S from Edison


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Not sure. I have only unlocked my phone once I have the new one in my hand but as you would need to pay the remainder of the contract should you want to cancel early I suspect that you would be able to unlock fairly early on.
Yep true, but doesn't the phone only become legally your own after a certain length of the contract?


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Governor Chris Christie dresses down a reporter for knocking his knees about him being a "combative" politician.
The Democrats wanted to mock Chris Christie for his big stomach, but he has to be a big guy. It takes A LOT of heart to get elected governor of Dirty Democratland and his body desperately needed to make room for it.
In New Jersey he only thing dirtier than the prostitutes are the hookers. The corruption in that state is more notoriously bad than Eric Holder giving a book report on the constitution.
I'm a strong believer in the sanctity of life, which is precisely why I'm in favor of making an exception to human cloning, because Governor Christie needs to replace all GOP politicians until they all graduate from the same school of backbone he attended.
The life of the the party and the country is at stake and we desperately need people who can be half as honest and direct with the voters as Governor Christie has been with this reporter.
Utah got the message, and now they've sent their long time Senator Robert Bennett packing and crying like a
baby Democrat.
The media has been beside themselves on the matter...."Why, he didn't do anything, he was one of the most conservative members of the senate, he was a reliable conservative vote!"
Precisely. We need need more than just votes now, we need boat rockers. Captain Obama and his Democrat Titanic have a rendezvous with destiny, and we need massive icebergs like Chris Christie, not bed-wetters like Robert Bennett.
GOP voters are done with conservative politicians who fold like Biden holding a royal flush.


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There are now 22 books on the market that cover some aspect of the NXT.
What innovative uses have you found for your NXT books?
How have you gone beyond a book's actual instructions and plans to create something new and different, something that goes beyond what a particular book intends to teach?
Let us know how NXT books have served as a "springboard" for new ideas and projects for your NXT.
May 25, 2008
How Do You Use Your NXT Books?
Posted by: Rick Rhodes at 2:35 AM
4 comments:
I've used the legs of the "Omni-Biped" in Creating Cool Mindstorms NXT Robots to combine with the upper half of Alpha Rex to make a MUCH better version of Alpha that actually walks and turns very well. I just got this book so its all I've used it for so far, but it looks like it'll be very helpful in learning NXC.
- May 25, 2008, 10:33:00 AM
- Mberenis said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- May 25, 2008, 12:45:00 PM
- Mberenis said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- May 25, 2008, 12:45:00 PM
I own a few NXT books. What I do is I build the robot in the book and then I try to build my own robot that can do the same task. I also like to use them to learn more about programming my robots. By the way I own the book written by the contributers to this blog and I really like it. Keep up the good work!
- May 28, 2008, 6:49:00 AM
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Web Profile
Martindale Hubbell
Practice Areas
Bar Admissions
Utah (2005)
California (1995)
Brian A. Lebrecht
Shareholder and Director
Mr. Lebrecht assists clients primarily in the areas of public company disclosure, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions, including private placements, public and private offerings, Securities and Exchange Commission and Blue Sky compliance and reporting requirements, asset and stock purchases, and general corporate practice. He also practices before the SEC and FINRA on matters involving issuers, broker-dealers, and other service professionals, as well as the representation of Boards of Directors of both public and private companies. He has been named one of the Best Lawyers in America each year since 2006, presented at the SEC's Roundtable on Microcap Securities in 2011, named one of Orange County's top lawyers, and maintains an active blog on corporate finance issues at www.clydesnow.com/news/blog.
- Juris Doctor, University of San Diego (1995)
- Masters Business Administration, University of San Diego (1995)
- Bachelor of Science: Business Administration, University of San Diego (1991)
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court: District of Utah
- U.S. District Court: Southern District of California
Awards and Honors
- Best Lawyers in America, Mergers & Acquisitions (2006 - 2015)
- Approved by Utah Supreme Court as a Mentor for New Lawyer Training Program (2009)
Professional Affiliations
- Board Member, Juan Diego Catholic High School (2009 - 2011)
- Chairperson, Securities Law Section of the Utah State Bar (2009)
- Elected Officer, Securities Law Section of the Utah State Bar (2007 - 2008)


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BRADLEY COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVC-TV) - Here's a story just so you know one way you should NOT haul large propane tanks.
Recently Bradley County Fire Rescue units were dispatched to assist the sheriff's department following a traffic stop. A deputy said when he fell in behind this car he could smell propane.
Fire units discovered a small hole in the tank which had been plugged with a golf tee. The owner was very cooperative with officers and said the leak occurred while he was loading the tank. He'd had to remove a rear passenger seat so the tank could fit, at least this far, into the vehicle.
Officers said since the man was perfectly cooperative and state officers, who typically enforce load violations, weren't available, he was not charged. After shutting down the leak they did require him however, to go get a trailer to haul the tank in a safe manner.


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WQS events pose one major distinction between a World Tour event: the vast field of competitors vying for advancement into later rounds, scrapping it out in the early heats. By the end of Day 3 of the Vans Pier Classic, the initial field of 128 had been shaved down to a Huntington-Beach-Pier-savvy 32. The Pier provides some tricky conditions, and if you're not familiar with the place, and you've got a guy or two in your heat who are, well that just slims your chances.
Two guys who know the Pier almost better than anybody are H.B. local boys Shaun Ward and Micah Byrne, and it showed on Friday. Ward took his heat and Byrne took a second in his, both advancing on to Saturday's day of competition. If there were two favorites for the event, it would have to be these two, as they're the last two champs of the Vans Pier Classic (Ward in '08 and Byrne in '07). Shaun had this to say about Friday's conditions at the Pier, "You have to create your own speed, because the wave has no speed," he said. "Sometimes you have to work at it just to keep going on the wave, otherwise you're just doing round houses."
Friday also saw the start of the Ezekiel Pro Junior in the afternoon. So as we head into the weekend, we'll be getting a look at the top juniors rising to the call as well. Not to mention the battle of the remaining field of 32 (with 30 of them hoping to end the back-to-back run of Ward and Byrne). And don't forget, it is spring break, and it is Huntington Beach. So if you're anywhere in the area, be sure to get down to the beach and check out the rigs, err, competition. -Ryan Brower
HUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Friday, March 27, 2009) – The top seeds hit the water today in the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) 2-Star Vans Pier Classic presented by Jack's Surfboards in peaky two-to-three foot (1 metre) conditions at South Huntington Beach Pier. The day's action saw former Vans Pier Classic champions and local favorites Shaun Ward (Huntington Beach, CA), 26, and Micah Byrne (Huntington Beach, CA), 27, battle through their opening heats in an attempt to keep the title in Surf City.
All surfers competing in the Vans Pier Classic are looking to better their seed on the ASP WQS in an attempt to qualify for the prestigious ASP Dream Tour. The top 15 seeds at year's end advance on to the coveted tour where they earn the chance to battle for the title of ASP World Champion.
Ward got off to a slow start in his heat and was pushed down to third place, which would have eliminated him from competition, crushing his chances of a repeat Vans Pier Classic crown. The defending event champion battled back though, earning two impressive scores in the latter half of the heat to advance through to Round 5.
"I was caught in between the peaks and I couldn't find a wave," Ward said. "I couldn't find the right peak. I started to waste all of my energy and go on ones that were only alright."
The Huntington Beach local talked about using his familiarity of the often-infamous beach break conditions in order to advance through his heat.
"Surfing Huntington, you have to create your own speed, because the wave has no speed," Ward said. "Sometimes you have to work at it just to keep going on the wave, otherwise you're just doing round houses."
Byrne, who won the Vans Pier Classic in 2007, also made a last-minute advancement into Round 5. The former event champ clinched the score needed in the dying minutes of his heat to keep his hopes of a second Vans Pier Classic title alive.
"I didn't know what score I needed," Byrne said. "I got a medium sized wave and my turns were kind of just cut backs. I wasn't sure if I got the score or not and would not have been surprised either way. I knew it was close. It was a scramble-fest and I'm glad it's over. My legs were burning and you get so nervous because you know you need the score."
Although Byrne is a local surfer, the numerous events held at Huntington Pier allow outsiders to become familiar with the tricky conditions. The regular-footer expressed the importance of acclimating to the unique waves on offer at South Huntington Beach Pier in order to achieve success at the beach break.
"You get used to this place quick because everyone surfs here a million times," Byrne said. "It's definitely good for guys that live north or south of us to come here a day early to adjust to the conditions."
Nick Rupp (Ocean Isle Beach, NC), 16, who has been a dark horse in the event thus far, donated an impressive performance today when he posted a heat win over Hawaiian talent Jason Shibata (Oahu, HI), who advanced in second, and Floridian standout Asher Nolan (Jacksonville, FL), 30, in his Round 4 heat. Although Shibata jumped out to an early lead with a 9-point-ride, Rupp smashed an impressive heat total of 16.15 to take out the win.
"With two minutes to go Jason (Shibata) only needed a 3-point-score, so I tried to go sit on him," Rupp said. "I saw a wave and started paddling as hard as I could and I thought Asher (Nolan) was going to go on the right and he ended up going left, so I took the right and it ended up being a good one."
In addition to today's Vans Pier Classic action, the opening round of the Ezekiel Pro Junior pres. by Jack's Surfboards hit the water this afternoon with the Round of 72. Today's action saw the Ezekiel Pro Junior complete Round 1 and the first four heats of Round 2.
Tyler Newton (Kauai, HI), 18, kicked off his Ezekiel Pro Junior campaign in impressive fashion when he matched the event's highest single wave score of 9.60 out of 10 by linking several huge frontside turns on a Huntington right-hander. The Hawaiian finished the wave off with a clean air-reverse to claim the score. His impressive 17.60 out of 20 heat total saw him advance easily into the Round of 64.
"That wave felt good," Newton said. "Sometimes the waves just come to you out there and it's a lot of luck. I'm happy to get off to a good start in the juniors because I'm focusing on the junior this year and hope to go to worlds, because that's the spot."
The Ezekiel Pro Junior pres. by Jack's Surfboards will kick off tomorrow's action with Heat 5 of Round 4 at 8am.
For all of the LIVE Vans Pier Classic and Ezekiel Pro Junior action log on to vans.com.
For additional ASP information log on to aspworldtour.com or aspnorthamerica.org.
Vans Pier Classic Round of 96 Results:
Heat 1: Ryan Briggs (USA) 11.45, Dane Johnson (USA) 11.15, Macy Mullen (HAW) 10.55, Brent Reilly (USA) 7.85
Heat 2: Dillon Perillo (USA) 13.50, Michael Dunphy (USA) 12.30, Jason Miller (USA) 8.25, Dylan Melamed (HAW) 4.60
Heat 3: Noi Kaulukukui (USA) 11.20, Tommy O'Brien (USA) 11.05, Heath Walker (AUS) 9.50, Victor Done (USA) 4.75
Heat 4: Matt Johnson (USA) 12.65, Eric Geiselman (USA) 11.05, Ted Navarro (USA) 10.55, Richie Collins (USA) 5.50
Heat 5: Matt King (USA) 11.25, Liam McNamara (HAW) 9.70, Brandon Guilmette (USA) 8.75, Phillip Goold (USA) 6.55
Heat 6: Nick Rupp (USA) 16.15, Jason Shibata (HAW) 14.50, Asher Nolan (USA) 13.15, Sean Taylor (USA) 5.10
Heat 7: Luke Davis (USA) 12.00, Bruno Rodrigues (USA) 8.75, Brandon Ragenovich (USA) 6.60, Michael Hoisington (USA) 3.25
Heat 8: Andrew Doheny (USA) 12.50, Matt Keenan (USA) 11.90, Gabe Garcia (USA) 10.50, Shaun Burrell (USA) 5.25
Heat 9: Dege O'Connell (HAW) 11.50, Tom Rezvan (USA) 9.30, Pedro Husadel (BRA) 6.15, Jesse Merle-Jones (HAW) 5.70
Heat 10: John John Florence (HAW) 12.35, Dane Ward (USA) 11.85, Adam Virs (USA) 11.50, Tony Adams (USA) 7.10
Heat 11: Nathan Carroll (HAW) 13.50, Micah Byrne (USA) 13.40, Brightton Brandenburger (USA) 13.00, Blake Howard (USA) 7.65
Heat 12: Cody Thompson (USA) 13.40, Sean Marceron (USA) 13.00, Andrew Gessler (USA) 7.90, Alex Smith (HAW) 7.25
Heat 13: Shaun Ward (USA) 14.50, Keli Everett (HAW) 12.75, Jeff Lukasik (USA) 10.70, Jason Collins (USA) 10.25
Heat 14: Hank Gaskell (HAW) 12.05, Justin McBride (USA) 10.75, Danny Estes (USA) 10.60, Jason Harris (USA) 9.15
Heat 15: Travis Beckmann (USA) 11.75, Peter Mel (USA) 9.85, Ricky Whitlock (USA) 9.40, Icaro Ronchi (BRA) 3.85
Heat 16: Mike Losness (USA) 11.80, Bud Freitas (USA) 11.75, Tyler Newton (HAW) 10.40, Doug Van Mierlo (USA) 6.30
Ezekiel Pro Junior pres. by Jack's Surfboards Round of 64 Results:
Heat 1: Alex Smith (USA) 17.00, Ford Archbold (USA) 13.35, Ashton Madeley (USA) 8.10, T.J. Mortellaro (USA) 5.10
Heat 2: Doug Van Mierlo (USA) 13.00, Taylor Thorne (USA) 11.35, Brendan Buckley (USA) 11.24, Ian Bloch (USA) 5.40
Heat 3: Tyler Newton (HAW) 14.75, Christian Saenz (USA) 10.00, J.D. Lewis (USA) 9.05, Keetin Devine (USA) 8.50
Heat 4: Eli Visolay (USA) 9.35, Shaw Kobayashi, P.J. Raia (USA) 8.25, Maximillian Karnig (USA) 7.20
Ezekiel Pro Junior pres. by Jack's Surfboards Round of 72 Results:
Heat 1: Alex Smith (HAW) 13.25, Doug Van Mierlo (USA) 10.00, Dustin Richardson (USA) 8.75, Pedrol Husade (BRA) 6.30
Heat 2: Tyler Newton (HAW) 17.60, Shaw Kobayashi (USA) 10.06, Tanner Kehl (USA) 8.60, Brandon Barnes (USA) 5.75
Heat 3: Icaro Ronchi (BRA) 13.10, Conrad Carr (USA) 11.60, Dylan Kowalski (USA) 11.25, Koa Smith (HAW) 7.65
Heat 4: Matt Meola (HAW) 11.65, Colin Dwyer (USA) 9.75, Jared Cassidy (USA) 7.30, Cody Sammons (USA) 1.60
TAGS: Anon Optics, Dillon Perillo, Ezekiel, Ezekiel Pro Junior, Freestyle, Huntington Beach Pier, mike losness, Rockstar, Vans, Vans Pier Classic, WQS, Xcel Wetuits


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Samsung N510, N130 N140 netbooks debut at IFA
Samsung has announced three new N series laptops at IFA in Berlin, Germany as it continues to push to dominate the netbook market.
The new models, all due to ship in the next couple of weeks will be the Ion powered N510, as well as the N130 and N140.
The N510 will feature the ION graphics chip from Nvidia and promises graphics capabilities up to 10x faster than non ION based netbooks. It will sport an 11.6-inch 16:9 ratio screen, Intel Atom 1.66GHz processor with Nvidia's 9400M GPU. It will also come with 1GB RAM, a 160GB HDD and XP Home. Other features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Webcam, 3-in-1 card reader and a 6-cell Lithium Ion battery.
The N130 and N140 will both sport a 10.1-inch screen, and promise long battery life (11 hours for the N140. 7.5 hours for the N130) and a lightweight solution (1.26Kg for the N130).
All three are available in a range of colours including black, white, sea blue, and peach pink.


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Mazda 6 driven
A compelling Passat and Mondeo alternative. But not without fault...
Posted: 30 Jan 2013
Why should I bother with this, when there's a good Ford and VW that are roughly the same size, roughly the same shape and roughly the same cost?
Good question. And one Mazda has clearly put a lot of thought into. At 1,405kg, the all-new 6 is light (around 100kg less than an equivalent Ford Mondeo), it'll manage a ridiculous 67.3 miles to the gallon with the six-speed manual (1.6 more than the Ford), emit 108g/km CO2 (1 g/km less than the VW Passat), and, because of its low weight, the 148bhp engine gets it to 62mph in a respectable 9.0 seconds, 3.2 seconds faster than the VW.
That's really impressive. How has Mazda managed that?
The impressive stuff is largely thanks to a raft of innovations Mazda has developed under its SkyActiv umbrella. The 2.2-litre two-stage turbo engine has an extremely low 14:1 compression ratio, and an optional capacitor-based brake regeneration system called i-ELOOP, which powers the electricals, meaning the engine doesn't have to.
Eh? Compression ratio? Sounds like meaningless geek-talk to me.
Watch yourself, youngster. It's actually important stuff. In short, a low compression ratio means less strain on the engine, so lighter internals can be used, which helps fuel economy.
Egg on my face.
So there is.
So, what else?
There's a stiffer and lighter body shell, so it actually has a game stab at handling properly. The ride's relatively firm, but you won't have to get your sports bra out - there's hardly any body roll considering it's a big saloon, but it's forgiving when the road surface isn't. The steering feels the right amount of heavy, and the gear ratios are tight, but not too race-car for motorway use.
Sold to the man with egg on his face!
Hold on a sec - it's not all sweetness and light. The interior is deeply, deeply boring.
Oh, really?
Yeah, really. It's not that it feels cheap or nasty - the stuff you touch is all pretty soft and lovely. And the infotainment equipment's decent (especially the optional 11-speaker Bose stereo), but it looks so dreary. Especially considering how striking it is on the outside.
Better cancel the order, then.
By all means, but it's still a very good car. It handles a LOT better than a Passat, burns less fuel than a Mondeo (the cleanest is 65.7mpg), and it's considerably more engaging to drive. I'd go as far to say that it's fun enough to trouble low-spec BMWs and Mercs, and you'll get a lot more for your money.
I'm confused - are you recommending this or not?
Yes. And no. It's still a big Mazda, so you'll have to ask yourself how much the badge on the front is worth. And if you can live with the dull interior. They're the only two sticking points.
2191cc, 4cyl diesel, 148bhp, 206lb ft, 67.3mpg, 108g/km CO2, 0-62mph in 9.0 secs, 131mph, 1405kg, £21,795


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Alaska (Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent. As of 2007, the population was 683,478 with approximately 50% residing along the Anchorage metropolitan areas.
The area that became Alaska was purchased from the Russian Empire after Congress concluded its resources could be vitally important to the nation's future growth. The United States completed the purchase on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at 2 cents per acre, about 5 cents per hectare. When adjusted for inflation, the total sum paid equates to approximately $360 million in 2008 dollars.The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized territory on May 11, 1912 and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. The name "Alaska" was already introduced in the Russian colonial time, when it was only used for the peninsula and is derived from the Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland", or more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed. It is also known as Alyeska, the "great land", an Aleut word derived from the same root.
The state is bordered by the Yukon Territory and British Columbia, Canada, to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south, the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Chukchi Sea to the west and the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the north.
Alaska is the largest state in the United States in land area at , more than twice as large as Texas, the next largest state. It is larger than all but 18 sovereign countries.
Alaska is larger than the combined area of the next three largest states: Texas, California, and Montana.
It is also larger than the combined area of the 23 smallest U.S. States and Districts: Washington, D.C., Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, West Virginia, South Carolina, Maine, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, North Carolina
Also, compared with territory outside the United States, Alaska is larger than Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom combined.
One scheme for describing the state's geography is by labeling the regions:
The northeast corner of Alaska is covered by the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which covers . Much of the northwest is covered by the larger National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska, which covers around . The Arctic is Alaska's most remote wilderness. A location in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska is miles from any town or village, the geographic point most remote from permanent habitation in the USA.
With its myriad islands, Alaska has nearly of tidal shoreline. The Aleutian Islands chain extends west from the southern tip of the Alaska Peninsula. Many active volcanoes are found in the Aleutians. Unimak Island, for example, is home to Mount Shishaldin which is a moderately active volcano that rises to above sea level. The chain of volcanoes extends to Mount Spurr, west of Anchorage on the mainland.
One of North America's largest tides occurs in Turnagain Arm, just south of Anchorage — tidal differences can be more than . (Many sources say Turnagain has the second-greatest tides in North America, but several areas in Canada have larger tides.)
Alaska has more than 3 million lakes. Marshlands and wetland permafrost cover (mostly in northern, western and southwest flatlands). Frozen water, in the form of glacier ice, covers some of land and of tidal zone. The Bering Glacier complex near the southeastern border with Yukon, Canada, covers alone.
The International Date Line jogs west of 180° to keep the whole state, and thus the entire continental United States, within the same legal day.
According to an October 1998 report by the United States Bureau of Land Management, approximately 65% of Alaska is owned and managed by the U.S. federal government as public lands, including a multitude of national forests, national parks, and national wildlife refuges. Of these, the Bureau of Land Management manages 87 million acres (350,000 km²), or 23.8% of the state. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Of the remaining land area, the State of Alaska owns 24.5%; another 10% is managed by 13 regional and dozens of local Native corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Various private interests own the remaining land, totaling less than 1%.
Alaska is administratively divided into "boroughs", as opposed to "counties" or "parishes." The function is the same, but whereas some states use a three-tiered system of decentralization—state/county/township—most of Alaska uses only two tiers—state/borough. Owing to the low population density, most of the land is located in the Unorganized Borough which, as the name implies, has no intermediate borough government of its own, but is administered directly by the state government. Currently (2000 census) 57.71% of Alaska's area has this status, with 13.05% of the population. For statistical purposes the United States Census Bureau divides this territory into census areas. Anchorage merged the city government with the Greater Anchorage Area Borough in 1971 to form the Municipality of Anchorage, containing the city proper and the bedroom communities of Eagle River, Chugiak, Peters Creek, Girdwood, Bird, and Indian. Fairbanks has a separate borough (the Fairbanks North Star Borough) and municipality (the City of Fairbanks).
The climate of Anchorage and south central Alaska is mild by Alaskan standards due to the region's proximity to the seacoast. While the area does not get nearly as much rain as southeast Alaska, it does get more snow, although days tend to be clearer. On average, Anchorage receives of precipitation a year, with around of snow, although there are areas in the south central which receive far more snow. It is a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc) due to its short, cool summers.
The climate of Western Alaska is determined in large part by the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. It is a subarctic oceanic climate in the southwest and a continental subarctic climate farther north. The temperature is somewhat moderate considering how far north the area is. This area has a tremendous amount of variety in precipitation. The northern side of the Seward Peninsula is technically a desert with less than of precipitation annually, while some locations between Dillingham and Bethel average around of precipitation.
The climate of the interior of Alaska is best described as extreme and is a good example of a true subarctic climate. Some of the hottest and coldest temperatures in Alaska occur around the area near Fairbanks. The summers can have temperatures reaching into the 90s°F (the low to mid 30s °C), while in the winter, the temperature can fall below −60 °F (-52 °C). Precipitation is sparse in the Interior, often less than a year, but what precipitation falls in the winter tends to stay the entire winter.
The highest and lowest recorded temperatures in Alaska are both in the Interior. The highest is 100 °F (38 °C) in Fort Yukon on June 27, 1915, tied with Pahala, Hawaii as the lowest high temperature in the United States. The lowest Alaska temperature is −80 °F (-62 °C) in Prospect Creek on January 23, 1971, one degree above the lowest temperature recorded in North America (in Snag, Yukon, Canada).
The climate in the extreme north of Alaska is as expected for an area north of the Arctic Circle. It is an Arctic climate (Köppen ET) with long, very cold winters and short, cool summers. Even in July, the average low temperature is barely above freezing in Barrow, at 34 °F (2 °C). Precipitation is light in this part of Alaska, with many places averaging less than per year, mostly in the form of snow which stays on the ground almost the entire year.
The first European contact with Alaska occurred in the year 1741, when Vitus Bering led an expedition for the Russian Navy aboard the St. Peter. After his crew returned to Russia bearing sea otter pelts judged to be the finest fur in the world, small associations of fur traders began to sail from the shores of Siberia towards the Aleutian islands. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784, and the Russian-American Company carried out an expanded colonization program during the early to mid-1800s. Despite these efforts, the Russians never fully colonized Alaska, and the colony was never very profitable. William H. Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State, negotiated the Alaskan purchase in 1867 for $7.2 million.
In the 1890s, gold rushes in Alaska and the nearby Yukon Territory brought thousands of miners and settlers to Alaska. Alaska was granted territorial status in 1912.
During World War II, the Aleutian Islands Campaign focused on the three outer Aleutian Islands — Attu, Agattu and Kiska - that were invaded by Japanese troops and occupied between June 1942 and August 1943. Unalaska/Dutch Harbor became a significant base for the U.S. Army Air Corps and Navy submariners.
The U.S. Lend-Lease program involved flying American warplanes through Canada to Fairbanks and thence Nome; Russian pilots took possession of these aircraft, ferrying them to fight the German invasion of Russia. The construction of military bases contributed to the population growth of some Alaskan cities.
Alaska was granted statehood on January 3, 1959.
In 1964, the massive "Good Friday Earthquake" killed 131 people and destroyed several villages, many by the resultant tsunami.
The 1968 discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the 1977 completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline led to an oil boom. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez hit a reef in the Prince William Sound, spilling between 11 and 35 million US gallons (42,000-130,000 m³) of crude oil over 1,100 miles (1,600 km) of coastline. Today, the battle between philosophies of development and conservation is seen in the contentious debate over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The vast sparsely populated regions of northern and western Alaska are primarily inhabited by Alaska Natives, who are also numerous in the southeast. Anchorage, Fairbanks, and other parts of south-central and southeast Alaska have many whites of northern and western European ancestry. The Wrangell-Petersburg area has many residents of Scandinavian ancestry and the Aleutians contain a large Filipino population. Most of the state's black population lives in Anchorage, though Fairbanks also has a sizable black population.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 85.7% of Alaska residents aged 5 and older speak English at home. The next most common languages are Spanish (2.88%), Yupik (2.87%), Tagalog (1.54%), and Iñupiaq (1.06%). A total of 5.2% of Alaskans speak one of the state's 22 indigenous languages, known locally as Native American languages, of which most are moribund.
The 2005 gross state product was $39.9 billion. Its per-capita GSP for 2006 was $43,748, 7th in the nation. The oil and gas industry dominates the Alaskan economy, with more than 80% of the state's revenues derived from petroleum extraction. Alaska's main export product (excluding oil and natural gas) is seafood, primarily salmon, cod, Pollock and crab. Agriculture represents only a fraction of the Alaskan economy. Agricultural production is primarily for consumption within the state and includes nursery stock, dairy products, vegetables, and livestock. Manufacturing is limited, with most foodstuffs and general goods imported from elsewhere. Employment is primarily in government and industries such as natural resource extraction, shipping, and transportation. Military bases are a significant component of the economy in both Fairbanks and Anchorage. Federal subsidies are also an important part of the economy, allowing the state to keep taxes low. Its industrial outputs are crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, gold, precious metals, zinc and other mining, seafood processing, timber and wood products. There is also a growing service and tourism sector. Tourists have contributed to the economy by supporting local lodging.
Alaska has vast energy resources. Major oil and gas reserves are found in the Alaska North Slope (ANS) and Cook Inlet basins. According to the Energy Information Administration, Alaska ranks second in the nation in crude oil production. Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's North Slope is the highest yielding oil field in the United States typically producing about . The Trans-Alaska Pipeline can pump up to of crude oil per day, more than any other crude oil pipeline in the United States. Additionally, substantial coal deposits are found in Alaska's bituminous, sub-bituminous, and lignite coal basins. Alaska also offers some of the highest hydroelectric power potential in the country from its numerous rivers. Large swaths of the Alaskan coastline offer wind and geothermal energy potential as well.
Alaska's economy depends heavily on increasingly expensive diesel fuel for heating, transportation, electric power and light. Though wind and hydroelectric power are abundant and underutilized, proposals for state-wide energy systems (e.g. with special low-cost electric interties) were judged uneconomical (at the time of the report, 2001) due to low (<$0.50/Gal) fuel prices, long distances and low population. The cost of a gallon of gas in urban Alaska today is usually $0.30-$0.60 higher than the national average; prices in rural areas are generally significantly higher but vary widely depending on transportation costs, seasonal usage peaks, nearby petroleum development infrastructure and many other factors.
Alaska produces 14.3% of domestically produced oil in the United States, an amount equal to 4.3% of the total oil consumption of the U.S.
The introduction of big-box stores in Anchorage, Fairbanks (Wal-Mart in March 2004), and Juneau also did much to lower prices. However, rural Alaska suffers from extremely high prices for food and consumer goods, compared to the rest of the country due to the relatively limited transportation infrastructure. Many rural residents come into these cities and purchase food and goods in bulk from warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam's Club. Some have embraced the free shipping offers of some online retailers to purchase items much more cheaply than they could in their own communities, if they are available at all.
Alaska has an abundance of seafood, with the primary fisheries in the Bering Sea and the North Pacific, and seafood is one of the few food items that is often cheaper within the state than outside it. Many Alaskans fish the rivers during Salmon season to gather significant quantities of their household diet while fishing for subsistence, sport, or both.
Hunting for subsistence, primarily caribou, moose, and sheep is still common in the state, particularly in remote Bush communities. An example of a traditional native food is Akutaq, the Eskimo ice cream, which can consist of reindeer fat, seal oil, dried fish meat and local berries.
Most food in Alaska is transported into the state from "outside", and shipping costs make food in the cities relatively expensive. In rural areas, subsistence hunting and gathering is an essential activity because imported food is prohibitively expense. The cost of importing food to villages begins at $0.07/lb and rises rapidly to $0.50/lb or more. The cost of delivering a 7-pound gallon of milk is about $3.50 in many villages where per capita income can be $20,000 or less. Fuel for snow machines and boats that consume a couple gallons per hour can exceed $8.00.
Alaska has few road connections compared to the rest of the U.S. The state's road system covers a relatively small area of the state, linking the central population centers and the Alaska Highway, the principal route out of the state through Canada. The state capital, Juneau, is not accessible by road, only a car ferry, which has spurred several debates over the decades about moving the capital to a city on the road system, or building a road connection from Haines. The western part of Alaska has no road system connecting the communities with the rest of Alaska.
One unique feature of the Alaska Highway system is the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, an active Alaska Railroad tunnel recently upgraded to provide a paved roadway link with the isolated community of Whittier on Prince William Sound to the Seward Highway about 50 miles southeast of Anchorage. At nearly the tunnel was the longest road tunnel in North America until 2007. The tunnel is the longest combination road and rail tunnel in North America.
The railroad, though famed for its summertime tour passenger service, played a vital role in Alaska's development, moving freight into Alaska while transporting natural resources southward (i.e., coal from the Usibelli coal mine near Healy to Seward and gravel from the Matanuska Valley to Anchorage.)
The Alaska Railroad was one of the last railroads in North America to use cabooses in regular service and still uses them on some gravel trains. It continues to offer one of the last flag stop routes in the country. A stretch of about of track along an area north of Talkeetna remains inaccessible by road; the railroad provides the only transportation to rural homes and cabins in the area; until construction of the Parks Highway in the 1970s, the railroad provided the only land access to most of the region along its entire route.
In northern Southeast Alaska, the White Pass and Yukon Railroad also partly runs through the State from Skagway northwards into Canada (British Colombia and Yukon Territory), crossing the border at White Pass Summit. This line is now mainly used by tourists, often arriving by cruise liner at Skagway. It featured in the 1983 BBC television series Great Little Railways.
Alaska's well-developed state-owned ferry system (known as the Alaska Marine Highway) serves the cities of Southeast, the Gulf Coast and the Alaska Peninsula. The system also operates a ferry service from Bellingham, Washington and Prince Rupert, British Columbia in Canada via the Inside Passage to Skagway. The Inter-Island Ferry Authority also serves as an important marine link for many communities in the Prince of Wales Island region of Southeast and works in concert with the Alaska Marine Highway.
In recent years, large cruise ships began creating a summertime tourism market, mainly connecting the Pacific Northwest to Southeast Alaska and, to a lesser degree, towns along the north gulf coast. Several times each summer, the population of Ketchikan sharply rises for a few hours when two ships dock to debark more than a thousand passengers each while four other ships lie at anchor nearby, waiting their turn at the dock.
Cities not served by road or sea can be reached only by air or by hiking/dogsled, accounting for Alaska's extremely well-developed bush air services—an Alaskan novelty. Anchorage itself, and to a lesser extent Fairbanks, are serviced by many major airlines. Air travel is the cheapest and most efficient form of transportation in and out of the state. Anchorage recently completed extensive remodeling and construction at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport to help accommodate the upsurge in tourism (in 2000–2001, the latest year for which data is available, 2.4 million total arrivals to Alaska were counted, 1.7 million via air travel; 1.4 million were visitors).
Regular flights to most villages and towns within the state are commercially viable are challenging to provide, so they are heavily subsidized by the federal government through the Essential Air Service program. Alaska Airlines is the only major airline offering in-state travel with jet service (sometimes in combination cargo and passenger Boeing 737-400s) from Anchorage and Fairbanks to regional hubs like Bethel, Nome, Kotzebue, Dillingham, Kodiak, and other larger communities as well as to major Southeast and Alaska Peninsula communities. The bulk of remaining commercial flight offerings come from small regional commuter airlines such as Era Aviation, PenAir, and Frontier Flying Service. The smallest towns and villages must rely on scheduled or chartered bush flying services using general aviation aircraft such as the Cessna Caravan, the most popular aircraft in use in the state. Much of this service can be attributed to the Alaska bypass mail program which subsidizes bulk mail delivery to Alaskan rural communities. The program requires 70% of that subsidy to go to carriers who offer passenger service to the communities. Perhaps the most quintessentially Alaskan plane is the bush seaplane. The world's busiest seaplane base is Lake Hood, located next to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, where flights bound for remote villages without an airstrip carry passengers, cargo, and lots of items from stores and warehouse clubs. Alaska has the highest number of pilots per capita of any U.S. state: out of the estimated 663,661 residents, 8,550 are pilots, or about one in 78. Meaning more than 1% of Alaskans are qualified pilots.
In areas not served by road or rail, primary transportation in summer is by all-terrain vehicle and in winter by snowmobile or "snow machine," as it is commonly referred to in Alaska.
The State of Alaska employs approximately 15,000 employees statewide.
The Alaska Legislature consists of a 40-member House of Representatives and a 20-member Senate. Senators serve four year terms and House members two. The Governor of Alaska serves four-year terms. The lieutenant governor runs separately from the governor in the primaries, but during the general election, the nominee for governor and nominee for lieutenant governor run together on the same ticket.
Alaska's court system has four levels: the Alaska Supreme Court, the court of appeals, the superior courts and the district courts. The superior and district courts are trial courts. Superior courts are courts of general jurisdiction, while district courts only hear certain types of cases, including misdemeanor criminal cases and civil cases valued up to $100,000. The Supreme Court and the Court Of Appeals are appellate courts. The Court Of Appeals is required to hear appeals from certain lower-court decisions, including those regarding criminal prosecutions, juvenile delinquency, and habeas corpus. The Supreme Court hears civil appeals and may in its discretion hear criminal appeals.
Alaska is one of the states with a more relaxed marijuana policy, where possession of up to one ounce is legal.
The state has possessed an independence movement favoring secession from the United States, with the Alaska Independence Party labeled as one of the "the most significant state-level third parties operating in the 20th century".
Most Alaskan governors have been conservatives, generally Republicans, but some have not always been elected under the official Republican banner. For example, Republican Governor Wally Hickel was elected to the office for a second term in 1990 after leaving the Republican ship and briefly joining the Alaskan Independence Party ticket just long enough to be reelected. He subsequently officially rejoined the Republican fold in 1994.
While Alaska has no state sales tax, 89 municipalities collect a local sales tax, from 1% to 7.5%, typically 3% to 5%. Other local taxes levied include raw fish taxes, hotel, motel, and B&B 'bed' taxes, severance taxes, liquor and tobacco] taxes, gaming (pull tabs) taxes, tire taxes and fuel transfer taxes. A percentage of revenue collected from certain state taxes and license fees (such as petroleum, aviation motor fuel, telephone cooperative) is shared with municipalities in Alaska.
Fairbanks has one of the highest property taxes in the state as no sales or income taxes are assessed in the Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB). A sales tax for the FNSB has been voted on many times, but has yet to be approved, leading law makers to increase taxes dramatically on other goods such as liquor and tobacco.
In 2008 the Tax Foundation ranked Alaska as having the 4th most "business friendly" tax policy. Superior states were Wyoming, Nevada, and South Dakota.
|61.07% 190,889
|35.52% 111,025
|58.62% 167,398
|27.67% 79,004
|50.80% 122,746
|33.27% 80,380
|39.46% 102,000
|30.29% 78,294
|59.59% 119,251
|36.27% 72,584
|66.65% 138,377
|29.87% 62,007
|54.35% 86,112
|26.41% 41,842
|57.90% 71,555
|35.65% 44,058
|58.13% 55,349
|34.62% 32,967
|45.28% 37,600
|42.65% 35,411
|34.09% 22,930
|65.91% 44,329
|50.94% 30,953
|49.06% ''29,809
In presidential elections, the state's electoral college votes have been almost always won by a Republican nominee. No state has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate fewer times. Alaska supported Democratic nominee Lyndon B. Johnson in the landslide year of 1964, although the 1960 and 1968 elections were close. President George W. Bush won the state's electoral votes in 2004 by a margin of 25 percentage points with 61.1% of the vote. The Alaska Bush, the city of Juneau and midtown and downtown Anchorage have been strongholds of the Democratic party. Matanuska-Susitna Borough and South Anchorage typically have the strongest Republican showing. As of 2004, well over half of all registered voters have chosen "Non-Partisan" or "Undeclared" as their affiliation, despite recent attempts to close primaries.
Because of its population relative to other U.S. states, Alaska has only one member in the U.S. House of Representatives. This seat is currently being held by Republican Don Young, who was re-elected to his 18th consecutive term in 2006.
Alaska's members of the U.S. Congress are all Republican. U.S. Senator Ted Stevens was appointed to the position following the death of U.S. Senator Bob Bartlett in December 1968, and has not lost a re-election campaign since. As the longest-serving Republican in the Senate (sometimes nicknamed "Senator-For-Life" and often referred to as "Uncle Ted"), Stevens has been a crucial force in gaining federal money for his state. His seniority in Senate makes him one of the most influential Republican Senate members, however, Stevens received a federal indictment on corruption charges on July 29, 2008. He had previously gained attention for referring to the internet as "a series of tubes" on the Congress floor.
Republican Frank Murkowski held the state's other senatorial position. After being elected governor in 2002, he resigned. He then appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski as his successor. In response to a subsequent ballot initiative, the state legislature attempted to amend the law to limit the length of gubernatorial appointments. She won a full six-year term in 2004. In 2006 Frank Murkowski was defeated in the Republican primary by Sarah Palin, who in 2008 became the Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States. Palin was the first woman to govern Alaska and the first Alaskan to receive the Vice Presidential nomination of a major party.
Alaska is not divided into counties, as most of the other U.S. states, but it is divided into boroughs. Many of the more densely populated parts of the state are part of Alaska's sixteen boroughs, which function somewhat similarly to counties in other states. However, unlike county-equivalents in the other 49 states, the boroughs do not cover the entire land area of the state. The area not part of any borough is referred to as the Unorganized Borough. The Unorganized Borough has no government of its own, but the U.S. Census Bureau in cooperation with the state divided the Unorganized Borough into 11 census areas solely for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation.
The state's most populous city is Anchorage, home to 278,700 people in 2006, 225,744 of whom live in the urbanized area. The richest location in Alaska by per capita income is Halibut Cove ($89,895). Sitka, Juneau, and Anchorage are the three largest cities in the U.S. by area.
Also notable is the rapid growth of towns in the Mat-Su Valley. Wasilla and Palmer are projected to experience a huge population growth between 2000 and 2010.
|Cities of 100,000 or more people
|Towns of 10,000-100,000 people
|Towns of 1,000-10,000 people
|Smaller towns Alaska has many smaller towns, especially in the Alaska Bush, the portion of the state that is inaccessible by road.
There are more than a dozen colleges and universities in Alaska. Accredited universities in Alaska include the University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Alaska Southeast, and Alaska Pacific University. 43% of the population attends or attended college.
Alaska has had a problem with a "brain drain". Many of its young people, including most of the highest academic achievers, leave the state after high school graduation and do not return. The University of Alaska has attempted to combat this by offering partial four-year scholarships to the top 10% of Alaska high school graduates, via the Alaska Scholars Program.
Domestic abuse and other violent crimes are also at high levels in the state; this is in part linked to alcohol abuse.
The Alaska Native Heritage Center celebrates the rich heritage of Alaska's 11 cultural groups. Their purpose is to enhance self-esteem among Native people and to encourage cross-cultural exchanges among all people. The Alaska Native Arts Foundation promotes and markets Native art from all regions and cultures in the State, both on the internet; at its gallery in Anchorage, 500 West Sixth Avenue, and at the Alaska House New York, 109 Mercer Street in SoHo.
Alaska Natives -- Inuit, Inupiaq or Yupik drummers and dancers -- give informal performances in the lobby of the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage on weekday evenings.
There are many established music festivals in Alaska, including the Alaska Folk Festival, the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival the Anchorage Folk Festival, the Athabascan Old-Time Fiddling Festival, the Sitka Jazz Festival, and the Sitka Summer Music Festival. The most prominent symphony in Alaska is the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, though the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and Juneau Symphony are also notable. The Anchorage Opera is currently the state's only professional opera company, though there are several volunteer and semi-professional organizations in the state as well.
The official state song of Alaska is "Alaska's Flag", which was adopted in 1955; it celebrates the flag of Alaska.
The psychological thriller, Insomnia, starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams was extensively shot in Canada, but was set in Alaska. The 2007 horror feature 30 Days of Night, is set in Barrow, Alaska but was filmed in New Zealand. Most films and television shows set in Alaska are not filmed there; for example, Northern Exposure, set in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska, was actually filmed in Roslyn, Washington.
The 1983 Disney movie Never Cry Wolf was at least partially shot in Alaska. The 1991 film "White Fang" starring Ethan Hawke was filmed in and around Haines, Alaska. The 1999 John Sayles film Limbo starring David Strathairn, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Kris Kristofferson was filmed in Juneau. Sean Penn filmed large portions of the film [[Into the Wild on location in Alaska. In 2008 the movie 30 Days of Night was filmed partially in Alaska.


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1992, Quentin Tarantino burst onto the scene and redefined modern cinema with the groundbreaking debut of Reservoir Dogs. Twenty years later, NCM Fathom Events, Miramax and IGN are celebrating a milestone anniversary of this career-launching crime-thriller by bringing Reservoir Dogs 20th Anniversary Event to the big screen.
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Running time: 1hr 55min
Opens: Dec 04, 2012 Limited


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This is the same soft and durable prewashed 100% combed cotton ribbknit as our dress, in coordinating bike shorts that give her lots of freedom to play and cartwheel-without-a-care. They're finished with smooth flatlock seams for absolute comfort against the leg plus a completely covered stretch waist. Certified by Oeko-Tex Standard 100. Imported.
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Blog your thoughts and opinions here.
So, another week has surpassed in the world of wrestling and we already have two big main events setup for the next PPV Extreme Rules, the first one being John Cena vs Brock Lesnar.
Last Monday these two had one of the best pull apart brawls i have ever seen, this reminded me of the Joe/Angle brawl of Bound For Glory 2006. Lesnar bloodied Cena up with a stiff shot to the lip, i'm sure
Ok, so we all know its only a matter of weeks before another ppv spectacular offering from the WWE. Extreme Rules, possibly headlined by Brock Lesnar vs John Cena.
In this blog i'm going to be talking about some of the more extreme WWE matches that have taken place in the company, so lets begin shall we?
Now then, when you think of extreme only three letters come to mind. E..C..W,
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