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NFL 2011 Season – Week 14 Preview
A key NFC East matchup highlights the NFL schedule for week 14, while several division leaders in the AFC look to take another step closer to the playoffs. Here's a preview of this week's NFL games:
Sunday, December 11
Kansas City Chiefs at New York Jets – 1:00 PM
Kansas City (5-7) will start Tyler Palko at quarterback, while Kyle Orton allows his dislocated finger to heal. Palko didn't have any interceptions against Chicago last week after throwing three in each of his two previous starts. Palko may be challenged by the Jets' experienced and talented secondary. On offense, New York (7-5) is tied for eighth in the league in scoring at 24.2 points per game. The Jets hope to see improvement of the inconsistent play of quarterback Mark Sanchez, who has thrown an interception in all but three games this season. The Kansas City defense has picked off 17 passes, tied for second-best in the NFL, but it has struggled to pressure quarterbacks, recording just 20 sacks.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Jacksonville Jaguars – 1:00 PM
Tampa Bay (4-8), which is on a six-game losing streak, expects quarterback Josh Freeman expects to play Sunday. If Freeman's shoulder woes keep him sidelined, Josh Johnson is ready to step in, as he did last week. The Jaguars' defense is ranked fifth in the league in yards allowed, but it has many injuries in the secondary and could be vulnerable to the pass. The Buccaneers need more production from running back LeGarrette Blount, who had only 19 yards rushing in last week's loss to Carolina. Jacksonville (3-9) averages just 12.7 points per game, next-to-last in the NFL. The Jaguars offense revolves around running back Maurice Jones-Drew, the league's leading rusher with 1,137 yards. The Buccaneers may key on Jones-Drew, allowing rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert to work against a Tampa Bay defense that ranks 30th in both points and yards allowed per game.
New England Patriots at Washington Redskins – 1:00 PM
New England (9-3) averages an AFC-best 30.2 points per game. The Patriots are led by quarterback Tom Brady and his 30 touchdown passes. Brady's favorite red zone target is tight end Rob Gronkowski, who has 13 touchdown catches. The offensive line must keep pressure off Brady, as the Redskins' defense has 33 sacks, tied for fifth-best in the league. Washington (4-8) hopes to take advantage of a Patriots' defense that gives up a league-worst average of 412.1 yards per game. Redskins' quarterback Rex Grossman will not have tight end Fred Davis as a target, as he and offensive tackle Trent Williams were suspended for the team's next four games for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. Washington may need rookie running back Roy Helu to extend his two-game string of 100-yard rushing days.
Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers – 1:00 PM
Atlanta (7-5) ran Michael Turner 27 times for 139 yards in winning the first meeting between these NFC South teams by a 31-17 score in week 6. Carolina's 27th-ranked rushing defense is missing both starting defensive tackles this week, which means Atlanta will likely try to sweep the season series with the ground attack. Carolina (4-8) averages just under 400 yards per game on offense. Quarterback Cam Newton and the Panthers' running game must give their best effort against a Falcons defense that gives up just 90 rushing yards per game, third-best in the NFL. Carolina may look to stretch the field with wideout Steve Smith, who has 1,092 receiving yards, tied for second-best in the league.
Indianapolis Colts at Baltimore Ravens – 1:00 PM
Indianapolis (0-12) starts quarterback Dan Orlovsky again this week after he threw for 353 yards against New England in his first NFL start since 2008. Orlovsky faces a Ravens defense that gives up the third-fewest points (16) and yards (287.3) per game and leads the NFL in sacks with 41. Baltimore (9-3) ran for 290 yards against the Browns last week. The Ravens like to keep the ball in the hands of running back Ray Rice. The Indianapolis defense gives up an average of 29.8 points per game, worst in the league. The Colts are last in the league in interceptions with five, so Ravens' quarterback Joe Flacco may have a big day, as well.
Philadelphia Eagles at Miami Dolphins – 1:00 PM
Philadelphia (4-8) should have quarterback Michael Vick and receiver Jeremy Maclin back this week, but the season is all but lost for the Eagles, who are three games off the division lead with four games to play. Philadelphia running back LeSean McCoy, the NFL's second-leading rusher (1,134 yards) and touchdown leader (15), is the key to the league's third-ranked overall offense. McCoy faces a Dolphins' defense that gives up an average of just 93.2 yards per game, fifth-best in the league. Miami (4-8) has won four of its last five games by scoring efficiently behind quarterback Matt Moore and capitalizing on the running of Reggie Bush. The Eagles defense has given up too many late scores to opponents.
Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions – 1:00 PM
Detroit (7-5) had to rally from a 20-0 deficit to beat the Vikings 24-20 back in week 3. Quarterback Matthew Stafford leads the Detroit offense, which ranks fourth in the league in scoring, against a Vikings defense that yields an NFC-worst average of 27.5 points each contest. Minnesota (2-10) has a depleted secondary, which may have trouble against the Detroit passing attack. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been out for two games with an ankle sprain and is questionable for Sunday. Minnesota may also be without quarterback Christian Ponder, who has a hip pointer. If Ponder can't play, Joe Webb will get the start. Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh will miss his second game while serving a disciplinary suspension.
New Orleans Saints at Tennessee Titans – 1:00 PM
New Orleans (9-3) has had few missteps while reeling off its current four-game win streak. The Saints' Drew Brees became the fastest quarterback to amass 4,000 passing yards in last week's 31-17 win over the Lions. Jimmy Graham already has New Orleans' records for yardage (1,046) and receptions (75) by a tight end. The Titans defense only gives up 19.1 points per game, sixth in the league. They'll need to pressure Brees to be effective. Tennessee (7-5) is a much more formidable team when running back Chris Johnson runs for 100 yards or more, as he has in three of the last four games. If Johnson can help the Titans control the ball, they can keep Brees off the field and exploit a Saints' defense that gives up 378.8 yards per game, 27th in the NFL.
Houston Texans at Cincinnati Bengals – 1:00 PM
Houston (9-3) hopes rookie quarterback T.J. Yates can manage the Texans' offense into the playoffs. The team also signed former NFL QB Jeff Garcia as third-string insurance. Texans running backs Arian Foster and Ben Tate will be needed against a Bengals' defense that gives up the sixth-fewest yards in the league. Cincinnati (7-5) must find a way to score against a Texans' defense that is second in the NFL in points and yards allowed and sacks recorded. Bengals' rookie quarterback Andy Dalton couldn't help his team beat the Steelers or the Ravens in the past four weeks. Dalton must avoid untimely interceptions and involve running back Cedric Benson in the offense.
Chicago Bears at Denver Broncos – 4:05 PM
Denver (7-5) is riding the wave of enthusiasm around quarterback Tim Tebow, whose 149.3 passer rating in the Broncos' last-second win over the Vikings on Sunday was the key to victory. Tebow and resurgent Broncos running back Willis McGahee must continue to play well against the Bears' eighth-ranked run defense. Chicago (7-5) has no real choice but to stay with quarterback Caleb Hanie, who has compiled a dreadful 40.8 passer rating while starting in place of the injured Jay Cutler over the past two weeks. Worse news for the Bears is that running back Matt Forte is expected to miss 2-4 weeks with a sprained ligament in his right knee. Marion Barber will start in Forte's place, but the aggressive Broncos defense will key on him and try to pressure Hanie into mistakes.
San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals – 4:05 PM
San Francisco (10-2) has clinched the NFC West title, but it wants to guarantee itself a first-round bye, too. The 49ers regulars will play against a Cardinals' defense that is ranked 25th in the league in yards allowed per game. San Francisco tight end Vernon Davis can create coverage issues for the Cardinals linebackers. Arizona (5-7) must perform better on offense than it did in the 23-7 loss to the 49ers in week 11. The Cardinals send running back Beanie Wells and quarterback Kevin Kolb against a San Francisco defense that gives up just 71.8 yards rushing and 13.4 points per game. Both are the best totals in the league.
Buffalo Bills at San Diego Chargers – 4:15 PM
Losers of five consecutive games, Buffalo (5-7) is headed toward a losing season after starting 5-2. Bills' quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has averaged nearly 40 pass attempts per game during the skid. Running back C.J. Spiller needs to help chip away at the Chargers' 26th-ranked run defense. San Diego (5-7) just snapped a six-game losing streak on Monday against the Jaguars. The Chargers will look to quarterback Philip Rivers and the league's sixth-ranked offense to exploit the Bills inexperienced secondary. With a league-low 17 sacks, Buffalo needs to get more pressure on the quarterback.
Oakland Raiders at Green Bay Packers – 4:15 PM
Green Bay (12-0) almost looked beatable during its dramatic win over the Giants last week. The Packers figure to not have to sweat the result as much for this game, as Aaron Rodgers and the NFL's highest-scoring offense welcomes Oakland's 26th-ranked defense. The Raiders will try to disrupt Rodgers' timing with a pass rush. Oakland (7-5) sputters on offense when its running game doesn't lead the way. Quarterback Carson Palmer must step up against a Packers' defense which allows an average of 397.8 yards per game, the second-most in the league. Raiders' running back Darren McFadden, who has missed five games with a sprained foot, is doubtful as are Oakland receivers Denarius Moore and Jacoby Ford, who also have foot injuries.
New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys – 8:20 PM
New York (6-6) enters this NFC East showdown on a four-game losing streak, but the Giants played well last week before falling to the undefeated Packers. Quarterback Eli Manning should have opportunities to throw downfield against the Cowboys' suspect secondary. New York must protect Manning against a pass rush led by linebacker DeMarcus Ware, who has 10 career sacks against the Giants. Dallas (7-5) looks to quarterback Tony Romo to exploit a New York defense that ranks 29th in the league against the pass. The Giants defensive front hopes to keep Romo from having enough time to throw against its secondary.
Monday, Dec. 12
St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks – 8:30 PM
St. Louis (2-10) averages a league-low 11.7 points per game. That number may not improve this week, as starting quarterback Sam Bradford is questionable and backup A.J. Feeley, who started last week, is out with a broken right thumb. Unproven third-stringer Tom Brandstater could play against a Seattle defense which held the Rams to 185 yards in a week 11 game won by the Seahawks. Seattle (5-7) will look to running back Marshawn Lynch to have a big game against a Rams defense that gives up an average of 157.8 rushing yards per game, the worst in the NFL.


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THE PAVED terrace behind the Huntington Art Gallery is 80 paces wide. By my stride, that's more than 165 feet. Stand at the center and look south, with the imposing Beaux-Arts mansion and its striped green awnings at your back, and infinity rolls out before you.
Over the Italianate balustrade, between stone urns carved with rams' heads, ribbons and grape garlands, hinting at Dionysian revelry; down across the lawn that separates a stand of tropical palms from a grove of live oaks; skimming the tops of jacaranda, the continuum unfurls. It proceeds unimpeded into an atmospheric haze, a horizon line almost impossible to detect.
San Marino's Huntington Art Gallery reemerges Wednesday after a magnificent two-year, $20-million renovation. The view from the terrace, remarkably as free of buildings in today's jampacked metropolitan Los Angeles as it was 100 years ago, when the great country house was being planned, has been there all along. The Huntington extrapolates that vision of boundless space into something that approaches the California Dream.
Infinity is an ancient idea, but 17th and 18th century Europeans were mad about it, and it's their art the Huntington enshrines. The popularity was fueled by exploration. Lucrative traders circumnavigated the globe, and scientists voyaged into novel universes opened by the microscope and telescope. Artists probed and played with infinity in their art, architects in their buildings.
The first grand room of the Huntington mansion, built in a young city now famous for blurring the separation between indoors and outdoors, offers a typical interior architectural representation of the exterior garden's infinity view. The oak-paneled library was designed to accommodate magnificent 18th century Beauvais tapestries showing aristocrats engaged in rituals of idealized country courtship, designed by Francois Boucher. But mirrored doors at one end match the big mirror placed over the fireplace at the other, so that the crystal chandeliers hung on the axis between them reflect into glittering infinity.
The Huntington's terrace view is framed by sensational -- and brutal -- life-size bronze sculptures, cast in 1680-81 for Jacques Houzeau. The French animalier, an artist specializing in realistic animal portrayals, helped decorate the gardens at Versailles.
In a now-weathered green patina, these sculptures show slavering dogs bringing down a ferocious wild boar and a regal stag. Survival is hard in the turbulent forest, the theatrical sculptures assert, but powerful, civilized creatures can triumph over the feral and the savage.
In short, it's good to be the king. Or, at the westernmost edge of America's Manifest Destiny as the 20th century began, it was good to be Henry E. Huntington, heir to a huge railroad fortune and the most powerful industrialist in L.A.
Likewise, it was good to be Arabella D. Huntington -- the lovingly nicknamed Belle, Henry's former aunt by marriage and now his wife, reputed to be the country's richest woman. Together the couple created a magnificent house, library, garden and art collection. Today, as a whole new Gilded Age has trickled down after a quarter-century of supply-side economics, the reopening of their handsomely refurbished, smartly reinstalled gallery couldn't be more timely.
The renovation
Much OF the Huntington restoration has taken place on the gallery's exterior and in hidden structural systems. But inside, considerable rearrangement of the collections has also taken place, adroitly guided by director John Murdoch.
The first floor is now an eloquent sequence of domestic period rooms, anchored by the library with its leather-bound volumes of Matthew Arnold, Lord Tennyson and Percy Bysshe Shelley, and conqueror's histories of Egypt and India. Eighteenth century English paintings -- the collection's hallmark -- get an ancien regime pedigree with deluxe French furniture and refined Persian carpets.
A large drawing room is installed with children's portraits by George Romney, Joshua Reynolds and the lesser-known Reynolds imitator, John Hoppner, a subject repeated in tapestry-covered chairs showing cherubic kids learning music and literature. The youthful theme recalls that this is the room where Thomas Gainsborough's portrait of teen heartthrob Jonathan Buttall -- the picture-postcard "Blue Boy" -- originally hung when the Huntingtons were alive.
Next is a small drawing room. An intimate space housing seven British portraits of women, it subtly but smartly evokes Belle's central role in creating the art collection.
In an imposing, rather Georgian-style dining room adjacent, the slender crystal obelisks topping an amazing chandelier make a formal nod to Gilbert Stuart's anomalous American portrait of George Washington over the fireplace. Nearby, Gainsborough's idyllic fantasy of an English country cottage depicts "the simple life" for a British aristocrat -- and for a turn-of-the-century American robber baron.
Finally, the Thornton Portrait Gallery is the best-known room in the house, even though it wasn't added until 1934, a decade after Arabella's death and seven years after Henry's. Alternating with portrait busts on pedestals are 14 full-length Grand Manner pictures on forest-green damask walls. They show Britain's hereditary finest posing like august Roman statuary, and gesturing in echoes of Renaissance masterworks.
"The Blue Boy" gazes from one wind-swept summit to another across the room, where Thomas Lawrence's virginal depiction of young Sarah Moulton, a.k.a. "Pinkie," resides. The lofty encounter occurs under the imposing eye of Reynolds' looming masterpiece, a portrait of actress Sarah Siddons enthroned like a cross between Zeus and a biblical prophet from Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling. Painted in the russet-brown tones of Rembrandt and enacting the role of Melpomene, the mythical Greek muse of tragedy, she's familiar to moviegoers as the model for the coveted Broadway award statuette in "All About Eve."
That's versatility.
Upstairs, where bedrooms, bathrooms and assorted offices once were, the house turns into more conventional museum galleries. To get there, a two-story staircase has been enlarged to accommodate a 15-foot-tall, neo-Gothic stained glass window by Morris & Co., co-founded in 1875 by William Morris to promote hand-craftsmanship in the face of the booming Industrial Revolution.
The backlighted window, designed by Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones, is a strange array of Protestant personifications of virtue, cast as secular versions of traditional Catholic saints. Truth holds a candle against the darkness. Faith reaches up to grasp the hand of God. Courage is steeled in armor while Liberty clutches a pair of crimson wings, like an earthly seraph, the highest rank of angel.
Across the Channel
Acouple of surprises are on the second floor. Twenty-two thematic galleries include major works of British art, with powerful landscapes by John Constable and J.M.W. Turner as well as remarkable silver, porcelain and furniture. Despite the Huntington's identification with all things English, however, these galleries also house a notable collection of French art. An excellent, hefty new catalog records 202 French works.
They include a charming Jean-Baptiste Greuze picture of a girl asleep at her knitting, plus a lovely little Antoine Watteau of dancing courtiers. (Look closely and you can see where the rectangular panel was once cut into a circle, then later restored.) Both are from Pasadena's Green collection, acquired in 1978.
Arabella's own French purchases were limited to decorative arts. She likely engineered Henry's 1906 acquisition of the five Beauvais tapestries downstairs in the library -- his first big-ticket purchase. In today's inflation-adjusted currency, he paid $13.3 million, more than the cost of the house.
In the smart new catalog, Huntington curator Shelley M. Bennett explains why French decoration made sense amid the collectors' fervor for British art. British nobility, long attuned to the power of theater, used French decor to give themselves a gloss of old dynastic status. The avaricious Americans followed suit, setting the stage to transform vulgar new money into genteel old.
Henry underscored his late wife's Francophile enthusiasms with a memorial 1927 acquisition of Jean-Antoine Houdon's amazing, life-size bronze cast of Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt. A nude, her sex is shockingly exposed. Yet the display is also in perfect harmony with Houdon's effortless naturalism, shown in a massive striding figure balanced lightly on the ball of a single foot.
Think of it as a symbolic portrait of Belle. It introduces rooms that house a small selection of her Renaissance and Old Master works, notably Rogier van der Weyden's rare, exquisite "Madonna and Child" (circa 1460). Not 20 inches high, Rogier's golden devotional panel majestically fuses divinity and humanity.
The young mother's face registers sweet sorrow. She dandles a haloed infant whose nakedness is revealed, while his baby face merges with that of a wise elder. Mary's soft right hand gently steadies him. But her left hand clutching the Bible, which tells of his coming sacrifice, is contorted in anguish. The boy fumbles with the book's clasp, as any inquisitive child might do, while momentously unlocking the spiritual mystery inside. The greatest Renaissance picture in L.A., it's the Huntington's most important painting,
The compleat "Blue Boy"
But IT'S not the best known. In fact, Gainsborough's "The Blue Boy" is surely the most famous European Old Master painting in the U.S.
In 1944 a young naval neuropsychiatric technician stationed in San Diego hitchhiked to San Marino during leave to visit the Huntington's cactus gardens. Robert Rauschenberg, then 19, wandered into the art gallery and saw "The Blue Boy," which the sailor from Texas knew from cocktail napkins and playing cards, and had a sudden epiphany.
"It dawned on me that this was something other than magazine illustration," the celebrated artist, who died this month, told The Times four decades later. "I don't know how I stayed so stupid for so long, but it never occurred to me [until then] there was such a thing as painting."
Twenty-three years earlier, Henry and Belle were on board the Aquitania sailing to Europe. Their stateroom, the Gainsborough Suite, adjoined that of their traveling companion, art dealer extraordinaire Joseph Duveen. They got to talking about the reproduction of "The Blue Boy" in the dining room, which Duveen shrewdly explained hung at London's Grosvenor House, owned by the duke of Westminster, and could not be had at any price. Henry promptly agreed to pay more than any painting was then known to have fetched.
"Los Angeles Man Buys 'Blue Boy' " announced The Times headline on Nov. 14, 1921. The Huntingtons were out about $800,000 -- more than $8 million today -- but the transfer was lateral. The duke was said to be England's richest peer, Arabella's aristocratic equivalent.
Surely Belle-the-huntress was pleased. Remember the portraits of women displayed in the small drawing room? Among them is Romney's sultry picture of Emma Hart, notorious Lady Hamilton, at the tender age of 17 or 18. A huge straw hat shades her eyes, and she's tossing one of the great come-hither looks of all time.
The presence of "that Hamilton woman!" -- later the mistress of Admiral Nelson -- can't help but reflect on Belle's own clouded past. Born in Alabama circa 1850 and married to a local (though, suspiciously, neither a birth certificate nor a marriage license exists), she hooked up with the ruthless Sacramento railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, 30 years her senior, who had done a brisk business in bribing politicians for favorable corporate legislation. He likely fathered her son, Archer. She and Collis married in 1884, but despite their vast wealth, New York and San Francisco society wouldn't give them the time of day.
Thirteen years after Collis died, she married his nephew, Henry, who had inherited one-third of his uncle's $450-million estate (in today's dollars). That gave Henry the necessary cash to put into his interlocking businesses, essential to inventing suburban L.A. -- a trolley network connecting far-flung land holdings, run on electric power distribution.
And it gave the rest of Collis' fortune back to Belle. She had been advising Henry on plans for the San Marino estate since he first conceived of it. At Duveen's shop alone, the couple spent more than $360 million on art and antiques over the next 10 years.
Belle hated Southern California, preferring Paris instead, so much of her art did not end up in San Marino. But the project made the Huntingtons the region's original power couple. And it made them plutocratic innovators in the emerging mythos of Los Angeles as the ideal place to reinvent your life, which Hollywood soon democratized.

subset: commoncrawl


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A Preview of Vogue Paris's 90th Anniversary Issue for October 2010, With Lara Stone on the Cover
Lara Stone's Cups Runneth Over on Vogue Paris's 90th Anniversary Issue
>> Carine Roitfeld pulled out all the stops for Vogue Paris's 90th anniversary October issue. The cover features Lara Stone — eyes obscured, breasts not so much. "Vogue Paris has always played the card of audacity," said Roitfeld, adding, "We couldn't do a lukewarm issue."
The issue is 622 pages, 276 of which are ads, and 104 are well wishes from designers around the world. Inspired by the historic nature of Vogue Paris's 75th anniversary issue, Roitfeld mixed together new editorials (shot by Mario Sorrenti, David Sims, Terry Richardson, Steven Klein, Hedi Slimane, who used Ines de la Fressange's 11-year-old daughter as his model, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, and Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin) with snippets from the Vogue archives, like a 1962 interview with actress Romy Schneider shot by Helmut Newton. Those who pick up the issue in France will be gifted a portfolio of oversize photographs from the nine decades, and Roitfeld plans to celebrate the magazine's 90 years with a costume ball in Paris on Sept. 30. A preview of the issue, below. And speaking of Vogue Paris, newcomer Daphne Groeneveld is rumored to be on the Nov. 2010 cover.


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It's no secret I'm in love with Jeff Strand. He's funny, and fans of my Jack Daniels books and Jack Kilborn books will love him just as much as I do.
Strand may be the most almost-famous author in the horror community, but he will soon be catapulted to super-stardom with the upcoming release of PRESSURE, his first mass-market paperback, which will be available everywhere in May.
Pressure is one of the most frightening, most intense books I've ever read. No BS.
The irony there is that Jeff is a hilarious guy, and all of his previous books contain a great deal of comedy.
If you like ebooks, you can pick up his hilariously gruesome novel BENJAMIN'S PARASITE over at Horror Mall.
You can also pick up the 53,000 word Kindle version of SUCKERS, which Strand and I co-wrote. It features my character Harry McGlade from the Jack Daniels books, and Strand's series character Andrew Mayhem, and it may be the funniest book ever written, by anyone, ever, for all time.
PARASITE is reasonably priced. SUCKERS is underpriced, for only a dollar and some change.
But because Strand is so prolific, today he's not flogging PRESSURE or BENJAMIN'S PARASITE or SUCKERS. He's got another completely new and different book that you should buy.
As you can see by the picture, it's called THE SEVERED NOSE.
Joe sez: "If I could choose only one summer beach read, I'd pick Jeff Strand's Severed Nose."
I would then also make some crack about the cover, something along the lines of, "Hey, Jeff, your nose is running."
I caught up with Strand at his Swiss chalet, where we talked of wine and various cheeses and the best way to cut the cheese, and eventually the conversation steered toward his new book, mostly because he had grown weary of my puns.
Joe: Tell me about the nose book. But don't use any verbs.
Jeff: Severed nose on plate in dining room. Why? Answer in book.
Joe: Remember that novella we collaborated on? SUCKERS? Shouldn't we do a sequel? It's already made over ten bucks on Amazon Kindle and it's only been up for four days.
Jeff: Ten bucks? Last time I checked, we'd made over seven thousa—oh, right, ten bucks. Your five dollar check is in the mail. I've deducted four dollars and thirty-five cents for administrative costs. Go buy yourself something pretty.
Joe: I'm buying cheese. Swiss cheese. It's God's favorite. Because it's holey. I may also get some Dutch cheese. Because Dutch cheese is gouda.
Jeff: . . .
Joe: I once cut my finger on cheddar cheese.
Jeff: Sharp cheddar?
Joe: Boy, was it ever.
Jeff: And back to the interview, I haven't heard the world demanding a sequel to SUCKERS yet, but maybe it just isn't demanding loud enough! I do have a cameo planned for Harry McGlade in the fourth Andrew Mayhem novel, Lost Homicidal Maniac (Answers to "Shirley"). I'll clear it with you first, but you should sue anyway just to drum up some publicity.
Joe: I've already got a lawyer on a retainer. I told him to get off—how am I supposed to put that in my mouth while he's stepping on it?
Jeff: . . .
Joe: . . .
Jeff: . . .
Joe: See, a retainer is an orthodontic device used to straighten your teeth.
Jeff: Your wife is a very patient woman.
Joe: Indeed. Talk a little about the editing process. Is it true The Severed Nose got cut?
Jeff: I'm going to acknowledge your pun, and then give a real answer. Not much was cut out of the book during the editing process—the editor did ask me to cut a section near the end, but I managed to successfully address his concern by adding MORE stuff. And I reworked a minor character who was overly silly even by the standards of The Severed Nose.
Joe: It's a very funny book.
Jeff: . . .
Joe: I wasn't joking that time.
We're both going to be at the Romantic Times Convention at the end of the month. Doncha think it would be fun to get really wasted on tweak and then pretend we're astronauts and have a fake laser gun fight but with real guns? You got any real guns? Then maybe, later, we could rob a liquor store, or roll some old people.
Jeff: I don't own any guns. I say, if you can't kill somebody with a stiletto heel, then you don't deserve to be killing people.
Joe: I've been fortunate that AFRAID is getting a lot of attention, much of it positive. Personally, I think your novel PRESSURE is even more disturbing than AFRAID. Give my readers the low down.
Jeff: Well, the two books take completely different approaches. PRESSURE is a slow, steady build, and AFRAID is "Booga-booga! RrraaaRRR!" all the way through. PRESSURE is about a good kid named Alex who ends up in boarding school, where he meets a not-so-good kid named Darren. Their paths cross several times over a couple of decades; sometimes as the best of friends, sometimes as the worst of enemies. It'll be in bookstores on May 26th, so it'll give your fans something to read between AFRAID and CHERRY BOMB.
Joe: So you got any guns? Or tweak?
Jeff: I don't even know what tweak is. I'm sure I don't want to google it. [Insert Google pause.] Okay, I thought it would be something worse than that. I have no tweak, but on my desk right now I've got Haribo gummi bears, Starburst sour jelly beans, Sweet Tarts jelly beans, Cadbury dark chocolate mini eggs, Red Vines, and a great big ol' bottle of Triazolam we can chug. Party!!!
Joe: Everyone reading this needs to rush out and buy all of Jeff's books. Folks not reading this should also buy his books. Buy mine, too. If you like my books, other authors you should buy may include but are not limited to: Tom Schreck, Henry Perez, and Blake Crouch, who are all authors you should be reading.
Also, buy green peas. Go on. Give peas a chance.
And visit Jeff at www.JeffStrand.com. His website is funny as hell.
I'm now leaving on tour. See some of you on the road...
Thursday, April 16, 2009
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For hours, directions and events, click a location on the map or in the list below.
We're flocking to the best bird-watching spots in Freeport and beyond for a weekend filled with free events, outings and activities for birders of all ages, interests and skill levels. Presented in partnership with Maine Audubon.
Come visit us in our hometown of Freeport and find out why over 3 million people visit L.L.Bean's Flagship Store each year. Discover fun events, free clinics, special celebrations and much more. Our campus of stores is always open – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Whether you're looking for a kayak, a pair of jeans or a nearby hiking trail, we'll help you find whatever you need. Our friendly, knowledgeable staff can offer tips on setting up a new tent or layering suggestions for an upcoming trip. Because after a century in business, a satisfied customer is still our most important goal.
Come experience the L.L.Bean tradition firsthand at our L.L.Bean Retail Stores. Find classic mens, womens and kids apparel, footwear, outerwear, outdoor gear and home furnishings made to last. L.L.Bean Retail Stores have friendly, knowledgeable in-store experts to answer your questions and help you shop for outdoor gear and more. Whether youre a beginner or have advanced outdoor skills, we offer great in-store clinics and events at all of our retail locations, plus our Outdoor Discovery Schools. At our outlet stores, save up to 50% on apparel, outdoor gear and more. L.L.Bean stores and L.L.Bean Outlets are located in Maine, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. For information about in-store events and free clinics, or customer service questions about apparel or outdoor gear, visit our store pages to find the L.L.Bean store in your area.


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Friday's heavy snow could cost the UK economy almost £500m, according to new research by insurance group RSA.
The bad weather continues to engulf the UK, with up to 30cm - or a foot - of snow expected in south Wales.
RSA based its findings on the economic impact of the severe weather conditions in December 2010.
At the time, the Office for National Statistics estimated the snow caused the UK economy to contract by 0.5% in the fourth quarter.
Jon Sellors, RSA's head of research, told Sky News the ongoing weather conditions had impacted businesses, schools and the transport system.
"We estimate that up to a third of the UK's workforce have been unable to get into work, which would cost the economy up to £473m.
"And if the bad weather continues, the economic cost is only going to get higher."
Ross Walker, UK economist at RBS, said there was an "obvious risk" snow would hit growth in the UK.
"This weather comes at a bad time - when the economy is growing at a 1% annual rate, it doesn't take much in any individual quarter to push it backwards," he told Sky News.
But he stressed it was important not to overstate impact of bad weather: "If you get a negative GDP figure because of weather then that is a one-off - it does not represent an underlying economic problem."
It comes amid fears that Britain's economy shrank in the final quarter of the year - with official figures due next Friday.
The industries most likely to be affected by bad weather are construction and retail, Mr Walker added.
At the end of 2010 - when heavy snow fell in some areas of the UK for weeks - construction was down by 3.3%.
"Construction is obviously vulnerable to bad weather, and retail could also get hit," he said.
"Although, if it snows so heavily that you don't go and buy a pair of shoes you want, you will probably go and get them when the weather improves."
But Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the Centre for Economic and Business Research, said the snow could hit some businesses hard.
"The economy isn't in great shape, and the retail sector isn't in great shape," he told Sky News.
"So even if in aggregate retailers don't lose out over a two or three month period, cash is king.
"If you lose a day's takings it may be the straw that breaks the camel's back."
The bad weather comes at a testing time for Britain's high streets, following a tough Christmas period.
Official retail figures were worse than expected, showing a 0.3% fall in total sales in December compared with the month before.
Since the start of 2013 three big names – Jessops, HMV and Blockbuster – have already been forced to call in the administrators.


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Happy Birthday Ronnie!
For Valentine's Day, may I recommend that you read...
The letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan
This is what a true love story is all about!
On his 102nd birthday Wednesday, 40 states – a record – have proclaimed February 6 "Ronald Reagan Day." Eight Democratic governors have refused to recognize Reagan Day and two others are on the fence.
The Reagan honor is also a tribute to Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform. He also heads the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project which asks the nation's governors to set the day aside for Reagan.
"Ronald Reagan led America forward to defeat the threats to our prosperity of high taxes, inflation, and recession at home and a surging Soviet Empire abroad. He left America stronger, freer, and safer than the day he became President," said Norquist, whose project also encourages the naming of roads, buildings and landmarks after Reagan.
Here is the Reagan Legacy Project's list of those backing–and rejecting–Reagan Day:
Alabama – Robert Bentley (R)
Alaska – Sean Parnell (R)
Arizona – Janice Brewer (R)
California – Jerry Brown (D)
Colorado – John Hickenlooper (D)
Florida – Rick Scott (R)
Georgia – Nathan Deal (R)
Idaho – Butch Otter (R)
Illinois – Pat Quinn (D)
Indiana – Mike Pence (R)
Iowa – Terry Branstad (R)
Kansas – Sam Brownback (R)
Louisiana – Bobby Jindal (R)
Maine – Paul LePage (R)
Maryland – Martin O'Malley (D)
Michigan – Rick Snyder (R)
Mississippi – Phil Bryant (R)
Missouri – Jay Nixon (D)
Montana – Steve Bullock (D)
Nebraska – Dave Heineman (R)
Nevada – Brian Sandoval (R)
New Hampshire – Maggie Hassan (D)
New Jersey – Chris Christie (R)
New Mexico – Susana Martinez (R)
New York – Andrew Cuomo (D)
North Carolina – Pat McCrory (R)
North Dakota – Jack Dalrymple (R)
Ohio – John Kasich (R)
Oklahoma – Mary Fallin (R)
Pennsylvania – Tom Corbett (R)
Rhode Island – Lincoln Chafee (I)
South Carolina – Nikki Haley (R)
South Dakota – Dennis Daugaard (R)
Tennessee – Bill Haslam (R)
Texas – Rick Perry (R)
Utah – Gary Herbert (R)
Virginia – Bob McDonnell (R)
West Virginia – Earl Ray Tomblin (D)
Wisconsin – Scott Walker (R)
Wyoming – Matt Mead (R)
The eight governors who have refused to issue a proclamation declaring Ronald Reagan Day in their states:
Arkansas – Mike Beebe (D)
Delaware – Jack Markell (D)
Hawaii – Neil Abercrombie (D)
Kentucky – Steve Beshear (D)
Massachusetts – Deval Patrick (D)
Minnesota – Mark Dayton (D)
Oregon – John Kitzhaber (D)
Vermont – Peter Shumlin (D)
The two governors who have not yet decided whether or not to issue a proclamation declaring Ronald Reagan Day in their states:
Connecticut – Dannel Malloy (D)
Washington – Jay Inslee (D)
Click HERE For Rest Of Story


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Since 1868, the elected representatives of the office of jury commissioner have made sure the jury selection process in Pennsylvania is fair and plaintiffs and defendants in civil and criminal cases have an impartial jury.
Act 4, passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor earlier this year, will effectively eliminate the office of Jury Commissioner by allowing county commissioners to abolish the office. The Pennsylvania State Association of Jury Commissioners is challenging the new law and the case is before the Commonwealth Court. We expect the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania will make the final decision.
Attorneys for our association have filed legal briefs in Commonwealth Court in support of the position of the jury commissioners. The filings contain reasons to support the position of jury commissioners as the integrity of the judicial system is in jeopardy.
The Legislature has violated the Constitution by taking control over a function of the judiciary. Obviously, the separation of powers doctrine of the Constitution has been violated. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, as should the Commonwealth Court, should protect its duties and responsibilities. To allow Act 4 to stand would pose a challenge to the judiciary's independence.
If the integrity of trials, through a questionable jury panel, is in question, reversals of outcomes can take place. This will cost the taxpayers additional money. Apparently the Legislature believes it can save a few pennies by eliminating the elected office of jury commissioner.
The selection of juries is a vital part of our judicial system. The system has worked for 145 years. Jury commissioners have done their job well over all of the years and have been a barrier to prevent political interference and corruption in the jury selection process.


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|Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange
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Jepson Interchange (more information)
©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
Annual, perennial herb, non-green root-parasites; roots modified into absorptive structures; plant an erect, fleshy, mostly underground stem (peduncle) with terminal inflorescence
Leaf: true leaves 0
Inflorescence: spike, raceme, or panicle; bracts alternate, scale-like
Flower bisexual; calyx cylindric or cup-shaped, lobes 05, persistent; corolla ± 2-lipped, lobes generally 5; stamens 4, epipetalous in 2 pairs (sometimes a 5th vestigial); ovary superior, chamber 1, placentas generally 24, parietal, simple or lobed, stigma generally 24-lobed, generally bowl- to funnel-shaped
Fruit: capsule, loculicidal; valves 24
Seeds many, small, angled; surface netted
Genera in family: 14 genera, 200 species: especially n temp
Reference: [Thieret 1971 J Arnold Arbor 52:404432]
Recent taxonomic note: Recently treated to include hemiparasitic genera of Scrophulariaceae (e.g., Castilleja, Cordylanthus, Orthocarpus, Pedicularis, Triphysaria [Olmstead et al. 2001 Mol Phylogen Evol 16:96112]
Annual, perennial herb, generally glandular-puberulent above; root attachment sometimes tuber-like
Stem simple or branched
Inflorescence generally ± spike-like (lower flowers often short-pedicelled or on short branches), generally dense; flowers generally > 20; bracts generally lanceolate to deltate (wider on peduncle); bractlets 0 or 2
Flower: calyx lobes generally 45; corolla glandular-puberulent (hairs short and tack-shaped or long-stalked), generally lacking ring of hairs at stamen bases, upper lip erect to reflexed, generally 2-lobed, lower lip 3-lobed, spreading, yellow-lined; anthers glabrous to hairy; stigma lobes 2, spreading or peltate
Fruit 2-valved; placentas generally 2 or 4, often lobed
Seed < 0.7 mm
Species in genus: 140 species: worldwide, especially Medit
Etymology: (Greek: vetch strangler, from parasitic habit)
Reference: [Heckard 1973 Madroño 22:4170]
Plant 435 cm, pale to dark purple aboveground, glandular-puberulent
Stems 1 or clustered, slender to stout, branched below or throughout
Inflorescence long or branched and ± flat- to convex-topped; pedicels 04 cm, shorter upward
Flower: calyx 1220 mm, generally pale to pinkish, lobes linear-triangular, >> tube; corolla 2050 mm, purplish or white to rose with darker veins, moderately glandular-puberulent, lips 1014 mm, generally widely flaring; upper lip obtuse to rounded; anthers woolly; placentas 4, stigma lobes 2, triangular, margins recurved
Ecology: Generally dry, ± rocky soils, on herbs, generally Asteraceae
Elevation: < 2500 m.
Bioregional distribution: California Floristic Province (except s Channel Islands), Modoc Plateau, s East of Sierra Nevada
Distribution outside California: to British Columbia, Baja California
Synonyms: O. grayana G. Beck misapplied
Sspp. highly variable, intergrading.


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PASS Hotline
What Is A Plan For Achieving Self-Support
The Plan for Achieving Self-Support applies to people receiving SSI benefits. Basically, a plan for achieving self-support, or PASS for short, is a plan for your future. Many people receiving or applying for SSI benefits because of a disability want to work, and you're probably one of them. But maybe you need to go back to school before you can get a job. Or, maybe you'd like to start your own business, but you don't have the money. Whatever your work goal may be, a PASS can help you reach it.
A PASS lets you set aside money and/or other things you own to help you reach your goal. For example, you could set aside money to start a business or to go to school or to get training for a job.
Your goal must be a job that will produce sufficient earnings to reduce your dependency on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. A PASS is meant to help you acquire those items, services or skills you need so that you can compete for an entry level job in a professional, business or trade environment. You can contact your local Social Security office to find out whether a PASS is appropriate for you.
Click here to view and/or print a PASS application.
Please send us any comments or suggestions you have about our web site.


text: Homepage download11 Tochukwu Ibe Posted on February 28, 2018 download11 Share this LEAVE A RESPONSE Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.Comment Name Email Website Notify me of new posts by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Add a comment Tochukwu Ibe Tochukwu Ibe is the CEO/Founder of Dailygospelvibe, Blogger, Music promoter, Music Freak, Footballer, Fashion lover, and a Digital Marketer Let's promote your Gospel Songs and Albums at a Cheaper rate. Contact Us : +2348149406002 Email US: email@example.com. View all posts Post navigation Previous PostHow To Balance The Act Of Parenting


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We'd never seen this before, a playoff Sunday with three rookie quarterbacks starting, and if you were hoping for one of them to put up spectacular passing numbers, you turned off your TV feeling disappointed. But one of those three rookie quarterbacks, Seattle's Russell Wilson, was anything but a disappointment.
It really is amazing, thinking back over the last year, to consider that Wilson now stands head and shoulders above the rest of this year's fantastic class of rookie quarterbacks. Andrew Luck, the can't-miss prospect drafted first overall by the Colts, had a phenomenal rookie season that came to an end with a tough loss to the Ravens. Robert Griffin III, the Heisman Trophy winner drafted second overall by the Redskins, hobbled around on a bad knee against the Seahawks until it buckled underneath him and he limped off the field, ending his own phenomenal rookie season.
But there's Wilson, the allegedly too-short quarterback drafted 75th overall by the Seahawks, still alive heading into the divisional round, where he'll lead the Seahawks against the Falcons next weekend. And Wilson was better than either of his fellow rookies on Sunday, completing 15 of 26 passes for 187 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions, and adding 67 rushing yards on eight carries.
Wilson was good all season, but he really arrived on Sunday. It's not just that he's got the arm and the feet to threaten any NFL defense, it's the way he commands an offense and leads a football team. It's the way he runs out in front to throw blocks to spring Marshawn Lynch for big gains. It's the way he knows when to tuck the ball under his arm and take off running, and when to stay in the pocket and scan the field for an open receiver. It's also the way he knows — and this is important — when to take a sack and when to throw the ball away when there are no plays to make, as he wisely did a few times on Sunday.
I don't know how Wilson will compare to Luck and Griffin when we've had several years to compare their careers, but I do know this: Russell Wilson has arrived as a legitimate NFL star. Not bad for a rookie who was supposed to be too short.
Wilson was my favorite player on the field Sunday. Here are some other observations:
Line judge Mark Perlman made the call of the playoffs. Seahawks receiver Sidney Rice made a sensational 27-yard catch along the sideline in the second quarter, but the first official on the play ruled that Rice didn't get his feet down inbounds. Perlman was the official who correctly came in and overruled his colleague, calling it a catch. The NFL uses all-star officiating crews during the playoffs, meaning these officials haven't been working together all season, and sometimes postseason officiating is criticized because the officials don't work well together as a unit. But Perlman did his job perfectly on that play.
We narrowly missed one of the all-time great playoff moments. When Colts quarterback Andrew Luck had a pass deflected at the line of scrimmage in the second quarter, it bounced right into the arms of Ray Lewis, playing in Baltimore for the last time. It would have been an easy interception, and given how much daylight he had in front of him, Lewis might have taken it back for a touchdown. That would have been an amazing way for Lewis to go out in style in Baltimore, but unfortunately he dropped the pass. "I'll never live that down," Lewis said after the game. Actually, everyone in Baltimore will gladly overlook it. But it would have been some great moment.
The Colts need to revamp their offensive line. It was amazing how often Luck would take the snap, drop back and have three Ravens in his face before he could set his feet in the pocket. The offensive line has been a major problem for the Colts all season, and it's a testament to Luck's toughness that he managed to stay healthy the entire year. Luck is going to be a great quarterback for a long time, but the Colts can't let him get killed back there.
Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton had my favorite play of the day. With the Colts facing third-and-26 with 12 seconds left in the first half, Luck found Hilton open about 20 yards downfield. Luck's throw was too high, but Hilton leapt up and caught it, then raced past three Ravens defenders (picking up a nice block from tight end Coby Fleener) to get the first down and then get out of bounds with three seconds left, setting up Adam Vinatieri's 52-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.
Who says fullbacks are dead? The fullback position isn't used as often in NFL offenses as it once was, but all four teams that won this weekend got key plays from fullbacks. Seahawks fullback Michael Robinson and Ravens fullback Vontae Leach both scored touchdowns on Sunday. Packers fullback John Kuhn scored two touchdowns on Saturday. And Texans fullback James Casey had a 20-yard catch and also did an outstanding job as a lead blocker for Arian Foster in the weekend's first playoff game.
Reggie Wayne is building his Hall of Fame resume. It should come as a surprise to no one that the NFL record for all-time postseason catches is owned by Jerry Rice. But I bet a lot of people will be surprised to learn that Colts receiver Reggie Wayne is No. 2. Rice had 151 catches in his 29 career playoff games, a record that may never be broken. But on Sunday Wayne played his 18th career postseason game, and his nine catches against the Ravens moved him ahead of Michael Irvin and Hines Ward, into second place on the all-time playoff receiving list, with 92.
The story of the day is the injury suffered by Robert Griffin III. A day that started with a report that the Redskins had disregarded medical advice to rush Griffin onto the field ended with Griffin exiting with a knee injury. Redskins coach Mike Shanahan has to be regretting his decision to let Griffin play on a bad knee. Here's hoping bad knees don't slow Griffin's progress. We should be seeing him square off with Wilson in the NFC playoffs for years to come.


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Friday the 13th: 13 Bad Luck Rockers
When it comes to ranking the unluckiest people in the world, rock stars on the whole fall somewhere between lottery winners and heirs to vast oil fortunes. Not many people have sympathy for famous musicians, who rake in buckets of money, tour the globe, bask in the adoration of fans and tend to have successful romantic lives -- all while never having to punch a clock at a nine-to-five job. But rock stars don't always have it easy, and sometimes things can go very, very wrong. There seem to be significant dangers associated with the career, whether it's from the constant traveling or simply just living the rebellious and deceptively high-pressure rock and roll lifestyle. With that in mind, join us on this Friday the 13th as we take a look at 13 artists and bands who have had their rock dreams sullied by extreme cases of bad luck ...
Lynyrd SkynyrdPlane Crash
Lynyrd Skynyrd was just five shows into the biggest tour of their relatively young career when on Oct. 20, 1977, the band's chartered plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the woods of Gillsburg, Miss., killing Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines and seriously injuring the rest of the band. Skynyrd broke up after the accident, only to reunite in 1987. Survivor Allen Collins' bad luck only continued. He would be in a serious car crash in 1986 that left him paralyzed from the waist down and unable to take part in the reunion. He died on Jan. 23, 1990, from chronic pneumonia.
The Allman Brothers BandTwo Motorcycle-Related Deaths
Almost exactly one year after Allman Brothers Band guitarist Duane Allman was killed on Oct. 29, 1971 in a motorcycle accident at Macon, Ga., bassist Berry Oakley died in another motorcycle crash just a few blocks away. Duane's crash happened right after the classic 1971 double-live album At Fillmore East — considered by many his shining moment as a guitarist — was certified gold.
Ace FrehleyMultiple Near-Death Experiences
In Ace Frehley's book No Regrets, he vividly recalls almost drowning on two separate occasions. The first happened while in Florida on a Kiss tour when he drunkenly fell into the hotel pool, only to be fished out by Gene Simmons. Frehley was also nearly electrocuted after touching an ungrounded metal railing while on tour - again in Florida. Despite the power surge, he returned 30 minutes later and managed to finish the show. That incident inspired the 1977 track "Shock Me."
Brian JonesDeath by Misadventure
Members of the Rolling Stones are famous today for outliving their expiration dates, but Brian Jones did not experience such good fortune. After serving as the Stones' early leader and manager, Jones saw his role steadily diminish as they gained popularity. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards took control in June 1969, when Jones was asked to leave. Less than a month later on July 2, his body was discovered floating at the bottom of his pool. The official coroner's report ruled it "death by misadventure," making Jones one of the first members of the so-called "27 Club."
Syd BarrettPsychotic Breakdown
Syd Barrett served as frontman for Pink Floyd during its psychedelic early years. But, after composing the majority of Floyd's 1967 debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Barrett's increasing use of drugs seemed to trigger psychological problems. He became increasingly withdrawn, eventually suffering a psychotic breakdown from which he would never fully recover. By 1968, Pink Floyd had parted ways with Barrett. He released two more solo albums, then lived the rest of his life as a recluse before dying in 2006 from pancreatic cancer.
Pete BestLeft Behind
A member of the pre-fame Beatles, Best wouldn't make it to their glory years - becoming a trivia answer for the ages. He was fired after producer George Martin suggested they bring in a session drummer for a 1962 session. Untold riches and rock immortality went instead to Ringo Starr, his replacement. A distraught Best is said to have attempted suicide at the peak of Beatlemania. Years later, however, he would finally cash in on his footnote role with a multi-million dollar royalty check after the 1995 release of the Beatles' rarites-packed Anthology.
Cliff BurtonTour Bus Accident
Cliff Burton was on top of the world after replacing original Metallica bassist Ron McGovney in 1983, as the group quickly became one of the biggest underground metal bands in the world. Four short years later, however, Burton died in a 1986 tour accident in Sweden, having been thrown from his bunk and crushed when their bus skidded on ice and flipped over. He'd won the privilege of sleeping in that particular bed by drawing an ace of spades in a card game with his bandmates.
Dave EvansForgotten By History
AC/DC is justly famous for its work with a pair of well-known frontmen in Bon Scott and Brian Johnson over the years. Few seem to remember Evans, the band's short-lived original vocalist. He fronted the Aussie outfit in 1973, releasing the single "Can I Sit Next To You, Girl" before settling into a series of far-less-famous bands after being fired over artistic differences and clashes with management.
Tracii GunsLeft Too Soon
Talk about adding insult to injury: Tracii Guns saw a band partly named after him go on to multi-platinum superstardom — after he departed. He'd helped form Guns N' Roses with Axl Rose in 1985, merging his band L.A. Guns with Axl's Hollywood Rose. The lineup didn't last long, however, with Tracii and his fellow ex-L.A. bandmates soon departing. They were replaced with Slash, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler, as Guns N' Roses went on to become, well … Guns N' Roses. Tracii would reunite L.A. Guns, but continue to toil in relative obscurity.
Def LeppardA Near Miss, An Overdose
Although he lost his arm in a 1984 accident, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen's story ultimately is one of triumph over adversity. After smashing his Corvette into a wall, he acquired a custom-made kit and taught himself to use it with one arm and two legs. He still drums with Def Leppard to this day. Bandmate Steve Clark, however, wasn't so lucky. After years of battling addiction, he died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and booze. His girlfriend found his body at their Chelsea apartment in January 1991, the morning after a night of heavy drinking.
Spinal TapExploding Drummers
Forgive us for lightening the mood just for a second, but the word "luck" isn't part of the vocabulary of Spinal Tap, a beloved fictional metal band featured in the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. Nothing ever seems to go right for them, least of all with the drumming position. Ultimately, they went through a seemingly endless series of bandmates, each of whom died under bizarre circumstances: spontaneous human combustion, a "bizarre gardening accident," and choking to death on the vomit of person(s) unknown. The police ruled that last one "a mystery better left unsolved."
BadfingerTragedy At Every Turn
Without bad luck, Badfinger seemingly would have had no luck at all. Sure, they scored four consecutive hits in the early '70s, but from there the group would only endure bad business deals, diminishing returns and tragic loss. Members of Badfinger fell into a deep despair, and in April 1975 singer-guitarist Pete Ham hanged himself in his garage at just 27. Badfinger attempted to carry on, only to find itself rocked once again by suicide. Bassist Tom Evans killed himself in November 1983, again by hanging. Drummer Mike Gibbins then died in his sleep in 2005, the victim of a brain aneurysm.
Steve Peregrin TookCelebration Gone Wrong
Took's death might be the most bizarre of all. Guitarist for T. Rex in the early '70s, he wouldn't begin receiving long-overdue royalty checks until the turn of the '80s. Flush with excitement over a payment in October 1980, Took loaded up on booze and drugs - only to be found the next morning having reportedly choked to death on a cocktail cherry. The official cause of death, echoing Brian Jones' elsewhere on our list of 13 Bad Luck Rockers, was ruled "death by drug misadventure."


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|Wright Medical Group, Inc. to Host First Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call
ARLINGTON, Tenn., Apr 12, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) --Wright Medical Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: WMGI) today announced that it will host a conference call on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. Central Time to discuss the Company's operating results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2012. Operating results will be released at 3:00 p.m. Central Time that day.
The live dial-in number for the call is 800-659-2032 (U.S.) / 617-614-2712 (International). The participant passcode for the call is "Wright." A simultaneous webcast of the call will be available via Wright Medical's corporate website at www.wmt.com. The call will also be archived on this site for a minimum of 12 months.
A recording of the call will be available beginning at 5:30 p.m. Central Time on May 1, 2012 through May 8, 2012. To hear this recording, dial 888-286-8010 (U.S.) / 617-801-6888 (International) and enter code 47749217.
About Wright Medical
Wright Medical Group, Inc. is a global orthopaedic medical device company and a leading provider of surgical solutions for the foot and ankle market. The Company specializes in the design, manufacture and marketing of devices and biologic products for extremity, hip and knee repair and reconstruction. The Company has been in business for 60 years and markets its products in over 60 countries worldwide. For more information about Wright Medical, visit the Company's website at www.wmt.com.
The conference call and webcast may contain "forward-looking statements" as defined under U.S. federal securities laws. These statements reflect management's current knowledge, assumptions, beliefs, estimates, and expectations and express management's current views of future performance, results, and trends and may be identified by their use of terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "will," and other similar terms. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to materially differ from those described in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include the impact of Wright's settlement of the federal investigation into Wright's consulting arrangements with orthopaedic surgeons relating to its hip and knee products in the United States, including Wright's compliance with a Deferred Prosecution Agreement through September 2012 and a Corporate Integrity Agreement through September 2015, and those risks and uncertainties discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including those described in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, under the heading, "Risk Factors"), including demand for and market acceptance of our new and existing products; future actions of governmental authorities and other third parties; tax measures; business development and growth opportunities; product quality or patient safety issues; products liability claims; enforcement of our intellectual property rights; the geographic and product mix impact on our sales; retention of sales representatives and independent distributors; inventory reductions or fluctuations in buying patterns by wholesalers or distributors; ability to realize the anticipated benefits of restructuring initiatives; and impact of the commercial and credit environment on us and our customers and suppliers. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
SOURCE: Wright Medical Group, Inc.
Wright Medical Group, Inc.


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'brilliant mobile device'
'the Symbian OS and the full keyboard and huge display made for a great platform for my German-English dictionary app.'
'the 9500 is an unwieldy and unattractive lump of a device'
'wide, easy-to-read screen'
'pretty normal looking, capable phone'
'very decent cellphone'
'4,096-color display is pretty small for browsing'
'Sadly, there are no shortcuts to frequently used applications, except for those - available in both configurations - provided by pushing the directional joystick centered under the screen in one of its four directions.'
ReviewGist helps you find the best products to buy by making sense of online reviews. We are currently aggregating 376,500 reviews covering over 29,477 products.


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Facilitating the spread of knowledge and innovation in professional software development
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Dmitry Kandalov explains what coroutines are, how they differ between programming languages and how to use coroutines for fun and profit.
A service mesh is only meant to be used as infrastructure for communication between services, and developers should not be building any business logic inside the service mesh. Other frameworks and libraries can be used to implement cloud native enterprise application integration patterns.
Marios Michailidis shares their approach on automating ML using H2O's Driverless AI. Driverless AI employs the techniques of expert data scientists in an easy-to-use application that helps scale data science efforts; empowers data scientists to work on projects faster using automation and state-of-the-art computing power from GPUs to accomplish tasks in minutes that used to take months.
Companies that encourage open and honest feedback do better than companies that do not. Nonetheless, giving feedback is difficult because social and physical pain share some of the same neural circuitry. Hence, feedback can feel physically painful, as Sarah Hagan discusses in her 2018 QCon San Francisco talk . Hagan uses scientific research to demonstrate how to give feedback properly.
In this article, we discuss one of the most challenging and unexplored areas in service mesh architecture; supporting event-driven messaging. There are two main architectural patterns that we discuss here: the protocol proxy sidecar, and the HTTP bridge sidecar. Regardless of the pattern that is used, the sidecar can facilitate features such as observability, throttling, tracing etc.
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Career Placement
Placement for History M.A. Graduates
Although the vast majority of our M.A. program graduates go on to doctoral study in history, a number also choose law school or advanced work in another discipline. And some program graduates, especially those in our Public History program, use their educations as springboards to full-time employment. In recent years, M.A. graduates have gone on to further study or found permanent employment at the following institutions:
- Cleveland Marshall College of Law
- Emory University
- Kent State University
- University of Kentucky
- University of Michigan
- University of Nebraska
- Notre Dame University
- Ohio State University
- Architect of the U.S. Capitol, Capitol Visitor's Center
Placement for History Ph.D. Graduates
Graduates of our doctoral program have been similarly successful in securing permanent professional positions within a few years of graduation. Most secure jobs at colleges and universities, no doubt helped by the independent teaching experience they acquire as part of our program. Graduates have also found permanent public sector employment. Recent graduates of our doctoral program are employed by:
- Century College
- Concordia College
- Concordia University Chicago
- Cuyahoga Community College—Western Campus
- Kent State University at Ashtabula
- University of Northwestern Ohio
- Thiel College
- Walsh University
- Wheeling Jesuit University
- Historian's Office, U.S. Department of State


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Mandatory Evacuation of Atlantic County Barrier Islands; Casinos Closing
A mandatory evacuation order is now in effect for all Atlantic County barrier islands as of 8AM Sunday morning.
This evacuation order covers residents and visitors. Also, people who live in flood prone areas of Atlantic County are urged to seek shelter before the onset of the storm. The casinos in Atlantic City will be closing.
Access to the barrier islands will be restricted to emergency personnel only beginning at 10PM Sunday.


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Brioni's Coffee Company Introduces Fiber-Enriched Coffee
Brioni's Coffee Company, Glastonbury, Conn., introduces a first to the U.S. marketplace: fiber-enriched coffee. New Brioni's Healthy Morning Coffee is a rich and healthy blend of premium coffee that contains the natural prebiotic fiber inulin. Healthy Morning is the first coffee to provide digestive health benefits while delivering the savory taste of a luxurious cup of coffee.
Digestive health is a leading trend in the food and beverage industry and it is a known fact that most people are not getting an adequate amount of fiber intake in their daily diet. Today's consumers are looking for new ways to obtain their daily requirement of fiber and bridge the so called "fiber-gap."
Brioni's Healthy Morning Coffee delivers 4 grams of fiber per brewed 12-oz. cup. The product is a rich, savory coffee blend available in five flavors: Dark Roast, Medium Roast, Light Roast, Hazelnut and Decaffeinated.
The beans are sold in 12-oz. bags for about $7.99.


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I have been riding my Raleigh XXIX for 5 years and have wanting to make a chainring for it. I have all of the tools, but it has been hard to get around to it while keeping up with the regular jobs. I finally got one done this week. Took it for a spin this morning.
It's a 33T to replace the one Truvativ ring that came on the bike originally.


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