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BYU Cougars
BYU vs. UCLA: Las Vegas Bowl Preview
Dec 21st
Before the night is over, one of these teams will want to invoke the Las Vegas slogan, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas…"
BYU cannot afford to lose to the UCLA Bruins a second time this season. A loss would almost certainly knock the Cougars out of the final rankings — a huge key as to whether they will be ranked in the 2008 preseason polls.
UCLA can ill afford to drop another game, as a loss will put the Bruins below .500 for the year, and their recruiting efforts will take a serious blow to the gut, regardless of who takes over the head coaching job.
# # #
I decided to pull out my pre-game prediction from the BYU-UCLA game played in Pasadena back in early September, curious to see if there were any similarities that could be mined to help me accurately predict this matchup again.
In my previous attempt, I predicted the Cougars would lose by an 11-point margin if they had a turnover margin of minus-2. Sure enough, BYU went minus-3 in turnovers and lost the game to the Bruins, 27-17.
Despite being held to 44 yards rushing, and despite accumulating 84 yards in penalties, BYU still managed to gain nearly 200 more yards than UCLA (435-236). And that was with a sophomore quarterback playing in only the second game of his college career. On top of that, freshman phenom Harvey Unga only had eight touches the entire game, and he still ended up netting 71 total yards.
Conventional wisdom would tell you that Max Hall will be far more comfortable in the pocket this time around, which should be a huge concern to the Bruins when you consider Hall passed for 391 yards in September. That same wisdom would tell you that Unga is going to get double, perhaps even triple the touches this time around. Still, it will take more than that for BYU to win this game because that's exactly what UCLA is readying itself for.
Since that first meeting, both teams have headed in drastically different directions. The Cougars rambled through the Mountain West Conference undefeated for the second year in a row and now sport the second-longest winning streak in the nation.
The Bruins, on the other hand, stumble into this rematch with a .500 record and defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker serving as interim head coach after Karl Dorrell's dismissal three weeks ago.
What this means is that the outcome of the game will be determined by both emotion and execution. Whichever team can best sustain both throughout the contest will emerge victorious.
For the most part, emotion and execution go hand in hand. If you fail to execute, your emotional stamina can get drained pretty quickly. The reverse is true, in that you can recharge your emotional batteries with solid execution. What we call "momentum" in football is really the convergence of execution and emotion. BYU was able to sustain both throughout last year's Las Vegas Bowl and the outcome was a 38-8 romp over Oregon.
So, let's see if we can predict the outcome of tonight's game by taking a look at what both teams brings to this contest in terms of emotion and the potential to execute their game plan.
The Bruins are a senior-laden team that fell far short of expectations this season. Obviously, that's why Dorrell was shown the door. The seniors are going to be motivated to end their season and college careers with a bowl victory. That is a huge emotional motivator.
The team, in general, will be motivated to prevent finishing the season under .500, and the Bruins want to win, in order to give DeWayne Walker a glimmer of chance at being hired as their new head coach.
There will be Pac-10 pride underlying the UCLA effort, and to some extent, returning players will be auditioning for next year's starting roles.
There is sufficient emotional power in this Bruin team to defeat Brigham Young for the second time this season.
On the other hand, UCLA's inability to execute its game plan effectively has plagued the team throughout the season. Because of chronic injuries to both Pat Cowan and Ben Olson, the Bruins' offense has suffered under a carousel of four quarterbacks in 2007. Had either Olson or Cowan been able to play healthy throughout the season, the Bruins would easily be 8-4 and playing in a different bowl game.
As difficult as it might be for BYU to plan defensive strategies against multiple quarterback scenarios, UCLA will find it even more difficult to execute if it cannot stick to one signal-caller in this game.
The Bruins need to attack this game with confidence in their ability to execute. Weighing against their confidence is the baggage of losing four of the last five games, losing a head coach, and the national publicity surrounding the search for his replacement.
The Cougars' emotional fortitude is bolstered by a nine-game winning streak and the confidence ongoing success has generated throughout the ranks on their roster. They also have a huge chip on their shoulder; they want revenge against UCLA, and they want more respect for what they've been able to accomplish the past two seasons.
BYU is well aware that playing on national television is a huge opportunity to make another statement about its program. It's not the Cougars' fault the conference has a downright lousy broadcast schedule, anchored by a network that is available to fewer than 5 percent of the American population.
The Cougar coaching staff is a sturdy, reliable compass for the program. Bronco Mendenhall has been very successful in focusing his staff and the players on each game at hand. That type of discipline is advantageous as you try to help your players zero in on their next obstacle on the schedule, especially with major distractions like final exams and the increased media chatter (three weeks of it) swirling around them about the game.
If you don't think the rumor UCLA generated last week about Mendenhall being on its list of candidates was a ploy to distract the Cougars from their game preparations, then I've got a used car that runs like it's in mint condition I'd like to sell you.
The reason BYU is coming into tonight with a nine-game winning streak is because Mendenhall and his staff have been able to work through the early season miscues and fine-tune execution on both sides of the ball. One exception where they still need improvement is penalty yardage. The Cougars were flagged for more than 210 yards in their final three games of the season.
Here's how I rank the matchups for tonight's game against my pre-game prediction for the Sept. 8 contest.
Sept. 8 game: UCLA defense advantage over BYU offense
Las Vegas Bowl: BYU offense slight advantage over UCLA defense
Sept. 8 game: UCLA offense advantage over BYU defense
Las Vegas Bowl: BYU defense advantage over UCLA offense
Sept. 8 game: Special teams – Even
Las Vegas Bowl: Specials teams – Even
Sept. 8 game: UCLA 35, BYU 24
Las Vegas Bowl: Read on …
Additional considerations
BYU will have a home-crowd advantage in Las Vegas, and that should be worth at least a six-point swing from the Sept. 8 game.
This is the third year in a row BYU has played in the Las Vegas Bowl and the past two contests against Cal and Oregon should provide a bit of an advantage to the Cougars' psychological perspective tonight.
BYU's confidence level is solid and the fear factor of playing Pac-10 teams is virtually nonexistent. Just like last year's Las Vegas Bowl against Oregon, Cougar confidence will soar sky high as the matchup progresses and they are able to execute their game plan. They should be more resilient in bouncing back from turnovers. A minus-2 in turnovers shouldn't cost them the game tonight, but a minus-3 would.
The on-field impact of BYU's desire for revenge is evenly balanced against UCLA's feeling of being cornered and the underdog in this game.
Make no bones about it, UCLA is a talent-laden team and can match up player to player against most of the Top 25 programs in the nation. The Bruins' primary downfalls have been injuries to their top two quarterbacks and an inability to rally as a team in the face of that adversity. Will this be the same team that went to Corvallis and throttled the Oregon State Beavers 40-14, or the one that lost 20-6 at home to pitiful Notre Dame the very next week?
As mentioned previously, the team that can best sustain its emotion and execution will win this game.
I like the fact that Mendenhall and his staff have improved on their bowl preparation from the past two years. The Cougar program is reaching a level of stability that hasn't been enjoyed since before Lavell Edwards announced his retirement in 1998.
A cornered Bruin team can be dangerous, but if the fight proves too much, UCLA is apt to look for the first chance to withdraw from the battle. That's what happened to Oregon last year.
I suspect UCLA has a little more pride at stake than Oregon did last year. The Bruins will rally around Walker and keep the fight going as deep into the fourth quarter as possible.
Cougars Nip Bruins on Blocked Field Goal
Dec 22nd
BYU had already yielded 22-, 50- and 52-yard field goals to UCLA's second-team All-America kicker, Kai Forbath, during Saturday's Las Vegas Bowl, so with three seconds left and a 28-yard chip-shot attempt lined up for the win, the situation looked pretty hopeless for the Cougars.
Miraculously, BYU's defensive line got a strong push into the UCLA backfield and one of the defenders — freshman nose tackle Eathyn Manamaleuna — got a hand on the ball to prevent the loss.
The game would probably not have come down to a field goal finish had it not been for a highly questionable play-call by BYU to run the ball inside its own 5-yard line with 37 seconds remaining in the first half rather than taking a knee to run the clock out.
Leading 17-6, Cougars QB Max Hall's deep handoff to Harvey Unga was stuffed and Unga coughed up the ball. Two plays later, UCLA scored on a McLeod Bethel-Thompson pass to Brandon Breazell, making it a four-point game at the half.
Both teams shot blanks at each other throughout the second half with the exception of Forbath's 50-yard field goal at the 6:30 mark of the fourth quarter, which cut BYU's lead to 17-16.
The final play of the game was set up by a determined 88-yard UCLA drive that began on the Bruins' own 1-yard line with 2:02 on the clock. Eleven plays later, the ball rested on the Cougar 11-yard line with three ticks on the clock remaining. Forbath lined up for what would not only be a game-winning kick but an MVP-winning one, as well.
But sometimes miracles happen.
UCLA's defensive coordinator-turned-interim head coach, DeWayne Walker, prepared a game plan that snuffed much of the life out of BYU's offensive attack. It was a brilliant game plan reminiscent of the one he put together last year in UCLA's 13-9 upset victory over archrival USC.
Max Hall was held to 242 yards passing and two TDs, a huge reduction from the 391 yards passing he put up earlier this year against the Bruins. BYU's running game was largely ineffective with only 38 net yards. The Cougars totaled only 44 yards on the ground in September.
Game MVP Austin Collie was one of BYU's key offensive players whom Walker knew UCLA would have to contain. Collie finished the game with 197 all-purpose yards, including six receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown, and 90 yards on three kick off returns.
One of Collie's receptions was a spectacular, over-the-shoulder grab that was good for 37 yards and helped the Cougars run an extra 1:45 off the clock in the game's final four minutes.
BYU finishes the season with its second consecutive Las Vegas Bowl win over a Pac-10 opponent, its second consecutive undefeated MWC championship, and its second consecutive 11-2 record. It was the Cougars' first victory over UCLA since 1983, when Steve Young was calling signals for BYU.
UCLA ends its once-promising season with a 6-7 record, in search of a new head coach and a new direction for its football program. The Bruins were ranked as high as No. 11 this season after their Sept. 8 win over BYU.
The two teams are scheduled to meet again at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, next September. UCLA leads the all-time series 7-2.
Cougar Football 2007 Look-back
Aug 26th
Last summer, BYU Cougar Fan sent an early list of Christmas wishes to Santa regarding the 2007 football season. Of his 10 wishes, nearly every one was granted. Before we post Cougar Fan's 2008 wish list later this week, let's take a look back at last year's letter and find out how his stocking got stuffed with some pretty amazing results …
Summer 2007
Dear Santa,
I realize my wishes are being sent rather early this year, but because college football's regular season will be over before Christmas, it's pretty important to get them in your mailbox this summer.
As much as I'd like to make it easy on you with a simple wish for another conference title and bowl game victory for the Cougars this year, I know the team has to achieve those goals on its own.
So here's my list — 10 wishes that I hope you'll consider on behalf of every fan of the blue and white.
BYU Cougar Fan
Note: Cougar Fan didn't include a conference championship and bowl game victory in his list of 10 wishes below, but he did mention them and the results are noteworthy: A second straight undefeated conference season, second straight MWC championship and a second straight Las Vegas Bowl victory over a Pac-10 foe. After a season like that, what else really matters?
Cougar Fan's 10 wishes for 2007:
1. That Max Hall follows in John Beck's footsteps as ably as he did at Mountain View High School in Mesa, Ariz. And if not Mad Max, then how about Brenden Gaskins to the rescue?
Wish granted: Hall passed for 3,848 yards and 26 TDs en route to first-team All-MWC honors.
2. That Mark Weber follows up on Jeff Grimes' great offensive line coaching and leads the O-line to an even higher level of execution and excellence.
Wish granted: The O-line yielded only 20 sacks on 503 pass attempts in 13 games (1.54 sacks per contest), good enough for 34th best in the nation. The running game averaged 144.4 yards per matchup. Is there room for improvement, though? You bet. NCAA D-1 leader Tennessee surrendered a meager four sacks on 519 pass attempts in 2007.
3. That Fui Vakapuna's ankle is fully healed. Ditto for J.J. DiLuigi's foot, Manase Tonga's shoulder, Ben Criddle's toe, Brandon Bradley's knee, Tom Sorensen's knee, and David Nixon's ab.
Wish granted: Vakapuna, Tonga, Criddle and Nixon all healed enough to make huge contributions in '07. DiLuigi redshirted, while Bradley and Sorensen both played in seven games.
4. That Austin Collie regains his freshman year form and Michael Reed continues to develop into a big-play receiver, giving the Cougars a super-duper dual wideout threat.
Wish granted: Collie was first team All-MWC with 56 receptions, 946 yards and seven TDs. Reed had a solid line of 41 grabs, 449 yards and four TDs to help keep opposing defenses on their toes.
5. That this season's batch of Cougar tight ends (So'oto, George, Pitta, and Mahina) delivers a performance equal to that of Harline and Coats last year.
Wish granted: Pitta was first team All-MWC with 59 catches, 813 yards and five TDs. George had 17 grabs for 200 yards, and So'oto amassed 12 receptions for 124 yards. Mahina began serving a LDS mission in '07.
6. That the entire defensive unit is as hardnosed and stingy on points allowed as last year.
Wish granted: The defense slipped just a bit, giving up 18.5 points per game — up from the 2006 mark of 14.7. Opponents' rushing yards per game was reduced to 97.5 from 114.1 in 2006. Overall, BYU's defense was ranked 13th in the nation.
7. That a newcomer to the program, whether a freshman or transfer, surprises the heck out of everyone with a performance like McKay Jacobson or Ian Dulan turned in last year (or Collie in '04).
Wish granted: Redshirt freshman running back Harvey Unga earned freshman All-American and All-MWC first-team honors with 1,227 yards rushing and 13 TDs. True freshman defensive lineman Eathyn Manumaleuna played a huge role and blocked a would-be winning field goal by UCLA in the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl to preserve a Cougar victory.
8. That, like this year's theme, the team truly "raises the bar" and take the program to the next level. To begin with, that would mean a payback over Arizona, an upset over UCLA, and certainly another spanking on the Utes.
Wish granted: The bar was raised with another 11-2 season, a second straight undefeated conference run and second consecutive MWC title; moreover, BYU earned a final AP ranking of 14th and the No. 15 spot in the coaches' poll. The Cougars defeated Arizona, split with UCLA, and beat Utah for the second straight season.
9. That the Class of 2008 recruits live up to their word and sign their LOIs in February.
Wish granted: Well, signing is one thing, but qualifying is another. Running back recruit Seta Pohahau and wide receiver Atem Bol were both non-qualifiers and headed off to the junior college ranks. There's never a guarantee BYU will see those athletes return to the program, depending on academic progress, risk of injury, or transferring to another school. However, several solid walk-ons, including JUCO All-America safety Andrew Rich, of Snow College, helped bolster the overall 2008 recruiting class.
10. And last but not least, that CSTV/Comcast execs get their act together and sign a contract with DISH and/or DirecTV to carry The Mtn in time for the start of the 2007 football season!
Wish NOT granted: 2007 was another painful year for Cougar Fans living outside of The Mtn channel's tiny footprint, thanks to ineptitude galore on behalf of MWC leadership, Comcast and CSTV. Fortunately, these monkeys finally got their act together and hooked up with DirecTV during the winter.
Keys to Game vs. Northern Iowa Panthers
Aug 29th
Lavell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah, will be a pressure cooker on Saturday afternoon as one of the most eagerly anticipated college football seasons at BYU gets under way with the Cougars entertaining the Division 1-AA powerhouse Northern Iowa Panthers.
Make no bones about it — all of the pressure is on the 15th-/16th-ranked Cougars. The Panthers are pressure-free as the visiting team, lower-division underdog, while BYU is considered the best bet this year among non-BCS programs to qualify for a BCS bowl game in January 2009.
On the heels of back-to-back 11-2 seasons, two straight MWC championships, consecutive Las Vegas Bowl victories over Pac-10 foes, and the highest preseason ranking since 1984, BYU players and fans have been looking forward to the kickoff of the 2008 season since last December.
During the offseason, BYU fan boards were filled with complaints about having to play a Division 1-AA team, after Nevada of the Western Athletic Conference canceled its scheduled visit to Provo.
However, as a longtime elite program in the 1-AA division, Northern Iowa hardly represents a patsy game for the Cougars. Last year, the Panthers were ranked No. 1 for the final six weeks of the regular season, but lost a heartbreaker to Delaware at home in the divisional quarterfinals to finish 12-1.
NIU returns 13 starters, including its two top playmakers, preseason first-team All-America running back Corey Lewis (1,513 yards rushing, 16 TDs and 642 more yards on 54 receptions) and senior wide receiver Johnny Gray (70 receptions, 910 yards, five TDs, plus 129 yards an four scores on 14 carries, and another score off a punt return).
Three keys to winning the catfight
Control both sides of the line of scrimmage. Northern Iowa returns only one starter on its offensive line, while BYU brings back just four starters on defense. But the Cougars' defensive strength is their front line. Jan Jorgensen, Russell Tialavea and Ian Dulan have a deep and capable supporting cast that includes Brett Denny, Bernard Afutiti and Mosese Foketi. Regardless of who is on the field at any given time, the Cougar D-line must constantly pressure Panther QB Pat Grace and plug the vertical gaps RB Corey Lewis will be trying to penetrate.
The Panther offense relies on getting Lewis and Gray as many open-field touches as possible. If the D-line can limit those touches and bottle up Grace and Lewis in the backfield, it will give the Cougars' youthful back eight enough time to fill the running lanes and lock down Johnny Gray on his routes.
Veteran offensive line coach Mark Weber says this year's interior line has the potential to be the best unit he has ever guided. If these guys can live up to such lofty expectations, Max Hall will have plenty of time to find Austin Collie, Michael Reed and Dennis Pitta and pick apart the Panther defense through the air. That will, in turn, create a field day for Harvey Unga and the running corps.
Northern Iowa's only hope to limit the Cougar attack is by getting immense pressure on Hall for all four quarters. It's really difficult to imagine that happening in this game.
Rapid assault with a shock-and-awe campaign. The Cougars need to put the game away as quickly as possibly. Easier said than done, because the Panthers are a well-coached, patient squad. But if you look at what happened to what was at the time fifth-ranked Michigan last year against Appalachian State (you knew this comparison was bound to pop up), the Wolverines raced off to a quick 14-7 lead in the first quarter and then got complacent in their Big House.
Before Michigan knew it, the team was down 28-17 at the half and had to play catchup the rest of the contest. The longer you allow an underdog to hang with you, the more confidence they gain, and the more problems they begin to create in foiling your game plan. Ultimately, Appalachian State prevailed 34-32 in the biggest shocker of the decade, and the Wolverines never recovered from the shame of that upset.
Ideally, BYU needs to rack up an insurmountable lead at least midway through the third quarter, so starters can be rested and the reserve troops can gain much-needed game-time experience.
Respect your opponent. One of the Cougars' biggest obstacles they will face this week and for much of the season is overconfidence. Every team on their schedule, including Northern Iowa, is capable of defeating BYU should the Cougars regard them too lightly.
If Bronco Mendenhall and his staff can succeed in keeping the troops focused on executing their individual assignments, and keep each game at hand in perspective, this could be a very magical season for the program and Cougar fans everywhere.
Report Card vs. Northern Iowa
Aug 30th
In a word, the BYU Cougars' 41-17 victory over Northern Iowa on Saturday was sloppy. Thanks to five fumbles, BYU squandered a 27-3 halftime advantage and led only 27-17 at the close of the third quarter. The visiting Panthers had wrestled control of the game's momentum, putting the stadium's blue-clad fans on the edge of their seats.
Fortunately for the Cougars, the Max Hall-to-Dennis Pitta connection revived in the fourth quarter and yielded several big plays to set up the game's final two scores.
What does Saturday's uneven performance against UNI tell us about next week's road game against the Washington Huskies?
Look-back – Offense
1. Hall is stronger and has more zip on his ball this year. It took him and Austin Collie nearly three quarters to start clicking, but that's understandable when you consider Collie sat out most of the fall camp healing a hairline leg fracture. Look for Collie to make more of an impact next week in Seattle.
2. Pitta is the Brooks Robinson of college football tight ends; in other words, he's a vacuum cleaner who catches everything thrown his way. Look for foes to key on him more this year — increasing opportunities for his fellow receivers.
3. The Cougars will not be able to afford turning the ball over four times against Washington, UCLA or any top-tier MWC teams this year. Backup running backs Wayne Latu and JJ DiLuigi coughed up the ball three times on five rushing attempts. Harvey Unga was absolutely punishing every time he touched the ball, and the Cougs will need him and Fui Vakapuna both healthy next week against the Huskies if they want to return to Provo, Utah, with a win.
4. The offensive line gave up only one sack, but it cost seven points and a temporary momentum shift when Hall, after being taken down, fumbled the ball away in the end zone near the close of the third quarter. The O-line's potential was evident, but the unit was inconsistent against the Panthers. The group will need to turn it up a notch against Washington next week. As the O-line goes, so goes the Hall-led passing game.
Grade: A-minus
Look-back – Defense
1. Kudos to the defense for holding Corey Lewis to 42 yards rushing on 18 attempts. However, the unit also gave up 81 yards on 11 carries to QB Pat Grace. Although both players were largely contained, Grace's ability to slice upfield on the read option should concern the coaching staff about containing Husky QB Jake Locker next week.
2. Matt Ah You and Coleby Clawson had strong showings and David Nixon was, well, David Nixon. These guys and fellow linebackers So'oto, Bauman and Doman need to crank up their play next week if the Cougars hope to stop Locker.
3. The D-line racked up four sacks and the bulk of the credit for stopping Lewis goes to these front-liners. They delivered the goods as advertised and made the young Cougar secondary look much better than it really is right now.
4. That said, the secondary did manage to shut down the Panthers' leading receiver, Johnny Gray — who didn't catch any passes. The defense only yielded 10 of UNI's 17 points, so all things considered, look for the 'D' to build on this experience and turn it up on the road next week.
Grade: B
Look-back – Special teams
1. The punting game looks solid. CJ Santiago had a 42-yard average on three punts; two of his attempts landed inside the enemy 20.
2. True freshman O'Neil Chambers didn't disappoint, almost breaking off two kickoff returns. He totaled 99 return yards on three attempts, including a 50-yarder.
3. Mitch Payne was 5-of-6 on extra points. True freshman Justin Sorensen handled the kickoff duties and only allowed one return on seven boots.
Grade: B-plus
Keys to Game vs. Washington Huskies
Sep 4th
Brigham Young's BCS-busting dream season could easily become a nightmare in Seattle if it doesn't take Washington seriously this weekend. This game is the first real test that will indicate if Bronco Mendenhall truly has mended the deficiencies in his game preparations for early season road contests. In the past two years, all of BYU's four losses occurred within the first few games of the season on the road at Arizona, Boston College, UCLA and Tulsa.
Five keys to defeating Washington
1. Contain Jake Locker. Duh. This one's pretty fundamental. Oregon held Locker to 57 yards rushing on 16 carries and 12-of-28 passing for 103 yards last week. The Ducks also sacked him three times. The Ducks won at home 44-10, although the game was close (21-10) at the end of the third quarter. Ty Willingham pulled Locker once the game was out of reach with just over 7 minutes remaining.
Locker is a 6-foot-3, 222-pound speedy, powerful runner who poses the option threat every time he touches the ball. He's not a terribly accurate passer and more dangerous on the ground, but the kid is competitive and will find a way to beat you if you don't bottle him up on every play.
At the same time, the Cougars cannot afford to let running backs Chris Polk or Brandon Johnson pick up the slack for the Huskies on the ground. Oregon held Polk to 19 yards on 14 carries and Johnson to 13 yards on seven rush attempts. Quite simply, they took away the ground game and forced Washington to try and beat them through the air. BYU would be smart to follow a similar game plan, especially with the depth and strength the Cougars possess on the defensive front line.
2. Protect the ball—protect the quarterback. BYU got away with fumbling the ball four times last week to Northern Iowa. If the Cougars do that in Seattle, they'll leave with a loss.
The Cougars need Max Hall to turn in another zero-pick game as well. It's pretty demoralizing to a defense when Hall is able to sit in the pocket and pick it apart with an array of targets at various distances across the field.
If the O-line keeps the pressure off Hall, the ground game will open up and then Harvey Unga and Fui Vakapuna can land some pretty nasty one-two punches in the gut of the Husky front eight. Washington is sporting a 3-3-5 defensive scheme under new coordinator Ed Donatell and it has good team speed. Oregon managed 496 total yards on offense against the Huskies—256 yards passing and 240 yards rushing. A balanced output of that caliber would bode well for the Cougars in Seattle.
3. Control both sides of the line of scrimmage. This is really a sum of the first two keys to the game. Washington returns solid experience on both sides of the line—just like the Cougars—and it's not rocket science to figure out the veracity of this equation. If BYU can contain Locker and the Husky rushing attack while protecting Hall and giving him enough time to read through his progressions and find his open receivers, besides winning the turnover margin, then the Cougars will go home with a much-deserved victory. Both sides of the line need to step up their game in a big way against the Huskies.
4. Spread the ball around. Washington will try to neutralize BYU's weapons and force the Cougars into a one-dimensional attack. They'll gladly allow Dennis Pitta a couple hundred receiving yards in exchange for bottling up Unga and the ground game and marginalizing the rest of the wideout corps. Hall needs to get the ball to Austin Collie and Michael Reed on a consistent basis early in the game to stretch the field on the Husky defenders and as Bronco Mendenhall has said, "force them to pick their poison." The rotational receivers like Hafoka, Ashworth, White and Chambers need to make some big plays when called upon like White did last week in the fourth quarter.
When the Cougar offense is humming in high gear and several players are getting touches and gaining yardage, a state of confusion and panic sets in on the defensive side of the ball. When this happens, Hall & Co. chew up the clock, wear the opponent's defense down and the scoreboard starts to rock 'n roll at a dizzying pace for the Cougars.
5. Start fast and take the crowd out of the game. There are several reasons why BYU has never won in four tries in Seattle, but the overarching factor in all four of those losses has been a slow start on the Cougars' part.
The Washington home-field advantage is real. Even in down years, the Huskies have pulled off major upsets on their home turf and the fans are itching to make one happen this Saturday. It is imperative for the Cougars to score early and often to quiet the 70,000-plus faithful in Husky Stadium. It's the first home game of the new season and both players and fans will be pumped up to cage the Cougars.
If the Huskies have the lead or are hanging close in the fourth quarter, it will be a monumental achievement for BYU to pull off a win on Saturday.
Prediction: I would be surprised to see BYU start fast and sustain any sort of comfortable lead against a very hungry, agitated Husky team. I envision a see-saw struggle with the Cougars hanging on for a 24-20 win. The scoring could go a bit higher, perhaps 34-30, with special teams play being a deciding factor.


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Cozmicray wrote:??Where is the firmware??
Cozmicray wrote:Looking for
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So in Marlin there is a selection for "WALLY"
I am crazy running windoze XP 64
would like to use Repetier-Host
Linux on my Raspberry Pi but I am linux handicapped
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subset: commoncrawl


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"Maris Pacifici"
Published by Abraham Ortelius, 1589
This is a cornerstone map and the first printed map to depict the Pacific Ocean. The first circumnavigation of the world (1519-1521) is commemorated on this map, that of Magellan's flagship, the Victoria.
His ship made it, but he was killed in a skirmish in the Philippines. One of the many interesting features presented by this map is a correct representation of Baja as a peninsula. An oversized Japan, an enormous New Guinea floating off the coast of Terra Australis and Ptolemy's greatly exaggerated southern continent are shown.
This map may also record the first intimation of the existence of Hawaii: note Los Bolcanes (the volcanoes) and La Farfana, placed above the Tropic of Cancer, a possible mischarting of the Hawaiian islands.
Copyright © 2019 Lahaina Printsellers, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.


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New member
- Apr 23, 2008
- 2
Well, the screeching of the pump has finally led to the pumps demise. Running very hot and tripping the thermal overload. I had hoped that I could just replace the bearings but the thing is so corroded that I have given up. What do the folks in the know recommend for a new pump? Out going motor is a 1 hp 1.25SF A.O. Smith motor under the guise of Sta-Rite, hooked to a Dura-Glas II pump. Pool is 35,000 gallon, 20x40, 3ft shallow, 9 ft deep end. I just starting running 240sq ft of solar this season. The house was abandoned when we moved in so we have no history of the equipment. Pump definitley looks like it has more then a few miles on it. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


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Gillian Young's father has recently passed away under mysterious circumstances, leaving her a townhouse and a country manor. She has a home and can provide for her needs by designing and sewing gowns for a Lady and costumes for the theater. Thomas Lockwood, a viscount, is her country neighbor. Is he interested in her or her land? Francis Collingsworth, a constable, and son of her father's partner is also interested, but in what? Sandra Byrd has created a delightful mixture of gothic romance and Victorian morals with a touch of the Gospel added to the story. I loved the mystery of never knowing who was truly on Gillian's side. the plot was engrossing and I had trouble putting the book down to sleep at night. A truly enjoyable read.
From Amazon:
In this intriguing novel of romance, mystery, and clever disguise set in Victorian England, a young woman investigates the murder of her own father.
After the mysterious death of her father, Miss Gillian Young takes a new job as the principal costume designer at the renowned Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. But while she remembers her father as a kind, well-respected man of the Police Force, clues she uncovers indicate he'd been living a double life: a haunting photograph of a young woman; train stubs for secret trips just before his death; and a receipt for a large sum of money. Are these items evidence of her father's guilty secrets? His longtime police partner thinks so.
Then Gillian meets the dashing Viscount Thomas Lockwood. Their attraction is instant and inescapable. As their romantic involvement grows, Gillian begins to suspect even Lockwood's motives. Does Lord Lockwood truly love her? Or is his interest a front for the desire to own her newly inherited property? And what should she make of her friend's suggestion that Lockwood or men like him were involved in the murder of her father?
Soon Gillian is convinced that her father has left evidence somewhere that can prove his innocence and reveal the guilty party. But someone wants to stop her from discovering it. The closer she comes to uncovering it, the more menacing her opposition grows. With her life on the line, Gillian takes on an ingenious disguise and takes on the role of a lifetime to reveal the true killer—before it's too late both for her and for those that she loves.
From the author:
From the Author
An interview with Sandra by Jenny Quinlan of Let Them Read Books.
What inspired you to take on the Gothic genre? I loved reading old-school Gothic romances, ones filled with atmosphere and suspense, such as those written by Victoria Holt, but I found it difficult to find many new ones still written with the "traditional ingredients."
As an author, I also wanted to update the concept a little for modern readers, and put my own spin on it, as authors will. I like more of the hero on the page than was present in many of the Gothic romance novels of years past, and I like my heroines to be a little bit less waifish and a little stronger minded than was popular then. I wanted to include just a wee bit more hard history, and I like weaving in an element of faith. But I tried my best to stick to the elements many readers expect from a Gothic romance, which might include:
A large country house in need of attention and affection, already in disrepair. In some ways, the house represents the heroine.
A Byronic hero, who might be questionable and always conflicted. The heroine falls in love, but she has to know before she commits - will he prove true?
Characters--especially servants, but others, too--that may be untrustworthy; our heroine does not know and must puzzle it out.
Psychological underpinnings, perhaps including madness or a suspicion of it.
A supernatural element, whether naturally explained or not.
Parents who are not present or who are dead, so the heroine must rely on her own wit and resources.
Women in the Victorian Era were defined and constrained by strict social mores and expectations. Can you talk a bit about creating a heroine from that era that today's readers can still identify with? They had major constraints, and the heroines in my books cannot just solve their problems like you or I might - but I love them the more for that; they are forced to cleverly use the tools at hand. Truthfully, all of us, then and now, are constrained in some way from the full self-determination we would prefer, and perhaps that is one way we identify with them. And yet ... the human spirit, a strong woman's spirit, faces those challenges head on, tries to think through what she wants, and then plots a way toward it. When roadblocks occur, she finds a way over, around, or through. That was true a thousand years ago and is still true, now.
The very freedom of our age has wrought a new set of challenges. But we still find a way to triumph. Seeing women do that, then, encourages me as a woman to do that, now. If they can be contenders, so can I!
Also - we must all be risk-takers to gain what we want: love, respect, a meaningful life, and personal fulfillment. Today's readers certainly have that in common with yesterday's women, my historical heroines.
How does your faith shape the inspirational aspects of your fiction? My faith is central to my worldview and interests, so it informs the subjects I pursue in my books. Honestly, I felt it would be anachronistic to write about 19th Century England and not have any mention of or interaction with faith; it was completely integrated into daily and weekly life. It interests me how a strong Christian woman approaches challenges in her era and setting. I don't set out, in fiction, to teach, only to show and reveal and understand through the heroine's eyes. Hopefully, that makes a good story whether the reader is a Christian or not!
I was given this book by NetGalley.com for review purposes. All thoughts are my own.


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There are currently an estimated 112,000 to 165,000 described species of butterflies and moths (Scoble, 1999) in nearly 24,000 available and objective replacement genus-group names within 126 families. As of January 2013 this online catalogue comprises more than 32,000 entries and includes all published genus-group names (including available names, objective or subjective replacement names, junior homonyms, junior synonyms, unnecessary replacement names, misspellings, incorrect citations and suppressed, unknown, unavailable, invalid and rejected names) from Linnaeus, 1758, up to Zoological Record, March, 2000 plus additional names from Gerado Lamas (2008) and Gilligan et al. (2010).
Families, subfamilies, tribes and subtribes where relevant, authors, publication dates, references, type-species, type-species designations, type specimen data, synonymy and comments. The references have been standardised as far as possible throughout.
Over 400 full colour images, representing most of the families and subfamilies have also been included. Most images are taken from The Natural History Museum's extensive collections, but some images of live Spanish butterflies have recently been added.
Last updated 28-Jul-2004 Dr B R Pitkin


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Wagon Train To The Stars
Thoughts on "The Space Pirates" and Robert Holmes, by Jonathan Morris
There's very little left of "The Space Pirates". A fuzzy soundtrack, a cursory novelisation, and half-a-dozen unhelpful photos of the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe standing outside the TARDIS in a nondescript corridor. And there's Episode 2, of course; the only extant episode, which unfortunately doesn't feature the eponymous pirates and instead concerns itself with the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe being locked up, in a boring room, in space. Meanwhile, Milo Clancey makes himself breakfast and the Space Corps stand around trying on a variety of different accents for size.
It would be lovely to be able to say that this episode is not representative of the story as a whole. That, through sheer misfortunate, we are able to view the only section of the story which is tortoise-paced, uninvolving and hamfistedly, judderingly plotted, and that the rest of it is exciting, vivid and heart-in-mouth action. It would be lovely to be able to say that. That would be a startling revelation. But it wouldn't be true.
The real interest of "The Space Pirates" lies in the fact that it's Robert Holmes' first scripts written for the programme [as opposed to an adaption of an earlier radio play], and as such it provides us with an insight into his work and methods. It shows us the raw, unrefined talent, inexperienced and still making mistakes, but also in the process of originating the themes, devices and tropes that would become characteristic of his later stories. It shows us a Robert Holmes with ambition, yes, and ability, but without the experience [or the luxury of time] to avoid the pitfalls and clumsinessess of the novice.
There are two reasons for concentrating on the writing of the story, instead of the production as a whole; firstly, it is the only aspect which is still in a form in which it can be fairly critiqued, and secondly it is the root from which the rest of the production's difficulties stem. It is the writing that shapes everything seen [or not seen, in the case of five episodes] on screen. It is down to the flaws in the writing that the story is frequently short of pace, memorable characters, pertinent dialogue or dramatic incidence. What is wrong with "The Space Pirates" is, largely, Robert Holmes' fault.
A Beta Dart leaves station Alpha Four, from episode one
Of course, there could be all sorts of other problems we don't know about, due to the episodes non-existence. We are blissfully unaware of how shaky the tunnels of Ta and Dom Issigri's office looked, for instance, and can only judge the performances of the pirates from their words, not their mannerisms. There is little anecdotal reference made to this story; we can tell from the audio that the pit that the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe fall down at the end of part three is far deeper than the pit they land in at the beginning of part four, but we don't know how spectacularly, or disappointingly, it was rendered on screen.
But again, that's a problem not of the production, but of the script including a cheap [and literal] cliffhanger without coming up with an inventive or plausible solution. The final show could not and almost certainly did not escape from its flaws. Perhaps some excellent direction, costumes, sets and inspired casting could have saved it to some extent, but unfortunately, it seems unlikely it had any of these. From the extant episode, we see uninspired direction, bland, cheap costumes [Zoe's skirt being particularly economical], and lacklustre sets. Almost every actor in the cast seems to have been dreadfully mis-cast. General Hermack, for instance, on paper is a stern, stiff-lipped military type with a neat line in unreasoning suspicion. On screen Jack May portrays him as a tired, miserable, dour old clergyman going through his tax returns. Milo Clancey is transformed from the script's wily, comical rogue into a thigh-slapping caricature hillbilly who uses expressions like 'tarnations' and 'jumping grasshoppers'. Lisa Daniely's Madeline Issigri is, on first appearance, typical of the unemoting, mini-skirted fembot-babe of 60's TV science fiction, though her appeal is limited by her Bob Downe hairstyle, and Lisa's performance never rises above stilted, mannered, irkish and hysterical.
But this is not, largely, the fault of the actors. The problem lies in the characters Holmes has created, and the dialogue he has given them to deliver. The characters are, first and foremost, cardboard ciphers. They are simply plot functions with names. They do not live and breathe as his later creations most certainly do. When given cardboard characters to portray, the actors play them as woodenly as possible. Only Dudley Foster, as Caven, creates any depth or texture in his role; on the page, a straightforward villain with inconsistent motivations, but in performance a bitter, driven psychopath with, occasionally, an even less pleasant side.
So the characters are clichés. Holmes attempts to rectify this, by creating various, quite detailed back-stories, but these never truly flesh out the characters, because they still come across as the cod-histories of ciphers rather than bringing any depth to the actual characterisations. For all of Milo's anecdotes about the old days on Lobos, he still remains Yosemite Sam in space, shallow and uninspired. But nevertheless the character details that Holmes creates are intriguing, even if they are unsuccessful in delineating the characters; Major Warne's first name being the decidedly unfuturistic 'Ian', for instance, or strange futuristic colloquialisms like 'looking for a single speck of dust at the bottom of an argonite mine'. These small futuristic details, like Tillium teapots and solar-powered toasters, are one of the real joys of "The Space Pirates", and one I'll return to later.
The V ship approaches the planet Ta, from episode two
The problem, though, with the characters is that characters on TV are defined by two things. Their actions, and their words. In "The Space Pirates" stilted and largely pedestrian plot, there is little room for the characters be drawn through the action they initiate; they are either standing in a room or locked in a room, being passive or re-acting to events around them. For all of the Space Corps radioing back and forth and shuttling between the Beacons, Ta and Lobos, they never actually show any initiative; indeed, much of their action is decidedly counter-intuitive. Milo quickly becomes an appendage to the Doctor's entourage; in turn, the Doctor and his entourage do nothing but run down corridors, get captured and escape in some amusingly Heath Robinson manner. The people are functions of the plot, rather than driving it, and that means the characters never become individuals.
The dialogue also doesn't help. In the bible for script know-all's, Robert McKee's Story, he points out that characters should never say what they mean, but it should be obvious what they mean from what they say. The actor's job is to illustrate that by finding the subtext of the character and using that to inform the dialogue. The classic example is of someone saying, 'I like you'. No-one ever says that without there being another meaning implicit in that.
But unfortunately in "The Space Pirates", Holmes has characters saying exactly what they mean, with no subtext whatsoever. They are cartoons, Thunderbirds, and the actors, rather than striving for a subtext, simply trying to say the words as archly as possible to try to confer some meaning to them. It is this that makes virtually all of the dialogue so cringe-inducing. When Madeline says, 'I don't trust you, Caven', she means just that, nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't make any sense for the character to say that in the situation she is in; it is simply the writer thinking, 'I need to get across to the viewer that at this point in the story Madeline mistrusts Caven' and rather than building a scene where that mistrust rises naturally out of the subtext, he just has the characters stating it at each other. It's emotional exposition, and it shows Holmes' immaturity as a writer [or, at least, the first-draft nature of much of the script]. The skill of the writer is in showing character by the way that people don't say what they mean, but nevertheless give away what they mean and feel by what they say. Here Holmes, largely, does not even attempt this skill, with which he would later be so fluent.
A Minnow is launched from the V ship, from episode three
It's not just emotional exposition that's the problem. The plot exposition is handled badly, unusually for a Holmes script and unusually for a script edited by Terrance Dicks. The open scenes are of head-slapping stupidity as General Hermack addresses his crew, apropos of nothing, giving a two-minute monologue on the back-story of space piracy. Later scenes on the V-Ship are little better; it's all about Space Corps soldiers tiresomely telling each other stuff that they should already know.
The other dialogue problem, and the real reason why much of the story seems so slow, is that Holmes has not tightened any of it up, either due to time constraints, inexperience or the necessity for padding [see later]. So instead of the precise, dynamic scenes that we see in his Spearhead From Space one story later, where every line either advances the plot or illustrates character, we instead have to sit through flabby meanderings. There's a lot of repetition and needless to-ing and fro-ing, and the dramatic impact points of many scenes are lost in the sheer blah blah blah-edness of it all.
For instance, in the scene where Warne is reporting back to General Hermack about how Milo Clancey has escaped, using copper needles. The scene begins with Warne telling Hermack that Clancey has eluded them, inexplicably and that his ship's radar and sonar instruments are out of action [as an aside, one wonders how effective sonar would be in a vacuum anyway!]. Then General Hermack tells Madeline Issigri that Clancey has escaped, inexplicably. And then General Hermack radios Penn back on the V-ship to tell him that Clancey has escaped, inexplicably, and that he wants him recaptured. The scene could have been got across in about three lines, or cut altogether, without losing any of the meaning.
But the story, you see, is not about the characters, emotions or themes at all. It's raison d'etre was, as we all know, to be a realistic portrayal of space travel, and by and large the story is about the spaceships themselves and the adventures they have. It's about the LIZ 7-9 and the beta darts and the minnows and the V-Ships– all of which are far more memorable than the people who drive them. They are sleek and sexy and glide like slinky exotic fish through the starless blackness of space. They steal the show. The only problem is their every appearance is accompanied by some dreadful cod-operatic wailing courtesy of Mary Thomas, the same sort of human-Theremin effect that was used to signify 'it's a bit nippy out' in The Ice Warriors and which would later return in Star Trek with worrying familiarity. [The rest of Dudley Simpson's score is barely distinguishable from the repetitive bish-bosh of The Seeds Of Death]. However, a programme where the spaceships are more interesting than the plot, the characters or the dialogue is a programme which, at the end of the day, has a seriously lacking script.
A Minnow is prepared for launch, from episode four
To be fair to Holmes, undoubtedly due to the circumstances under which the scripts were written, the story never made past its rushed, first draft. Holmes had little over a month to write the story from scratch after, as was typical for Season 6, the story originally intended for its slot fell apart at the last minute. Terrance Dicks' approach to script commissioning, at this time, was of one who spends a day painting a living room only to suddenly realise that it's a horrible shade of green and to then spend ten minutes getting someone else to hastily sticking wallpaper over the top. The result, like all of Season Six, is a bit slapdash.
So Holmes was quickly called upon to paper over The Dream Spinner with "The Space Pirates". His brief was vague, profoundly lacking in dramatic potential and uninspired, and after putting together a plot he was quickly called upon to inflate it by another two episodes. To return to the interior decorating metaphor, he turned up at Terrance's living room without enough rolls of paper or enough paste and so the end result would inevitably have a few gaps and would completely fall apart if anyone sneezed.
The resulting six-parter is, therefore, an overinflated soufflé on the point of collapse and over-stretched; too many episodes and not enough plot or story to meat it out. Examining the structure in detail, it would appear that the first two episodes stretched the original 'first episode' plot, and were then extended with the inclusion of many long, tedious scenes on board the V-Ship and some jokey flummery with Milo Clancey and magnets. The next two episodes stretched the original 'second episode', ending with the central twist of the story [Madeleine is working with the pirates] which would work fine, structurally, at a story's half-way point but which, after four episodes, comes far too late in the day – indeed, deferring this revelation creates all sorts of dreadful plotting and suspense problems, because by the time we reach episode four the audience have long-since guessed at Madeleine's guilt and Milo's innocence, due to there being a whole four episodes' worth of build-up rather than two. Episode five is a quite traditional Holmes episode three – lock up the regulars with a new character who can explain the plot to them whilst the villains betray each other and change their plans. And episode six is episode four, of course.
The problem is, where the story is stretched, it squeaks. Episode two is particularly lacking in incident; indeed, if we were to have the other five episodes and not episode two, its omission would be scarcely noticeable. There is padding and there is padding. Some of it entertaining, some of it tortuously drab. Generally speaking, the entertaining padding is the stuff with the regulars and Milo Clancey; the interminable stuff is the Space Corps.
The V ship in flight, from episode five
Let's get the negative over with first. The main plot problem, when it comes to the Space Corps, is that it very quickly becomes obvious that Madeline is the villain and that the pirates are based on her planet, Ta. But Holmes has four episodes to fill. So instead he contrives [and 'contrives' is most certainly is the word] to keep the Space Corps away from that realisation by any means necessary. Unfortunately, he has also to provide clues and foreshadowing of Madeline's guilt.
The result is that Hermack and the rest of the Space Corps have to jump through all sorts of illogical hoops in order to remain suspicious of Milo Clancey and convinced of Madeline's innocence, despite the huge glaring piles of evidence to the contrary. Let's look at the last Hermack-Madeline scene from part three as an example of their madness:
In this scene, Hermack informs Madeline that he's going to leave to investigate Lobos, on the rather specious grounds that Milo Clancey has a base there. He knows the Argonite pirates are using Beta Darts. He knows that Madeline's mines on Ta have suddenly become the most productive source of Argonite in the galaxy, despite having been exhausted of Argonite many years previously, which has made Madeline immensely rich and almost driven Milo out of business. But then, in this scene, he learns that Madeline's company has just bought some Beta Darts. To which Hermack, in a moment of viewer-boggling credulity, says;
HERMACK: Ah, I must bear that in mind. The pirates have a Beta Dart. I should hate to knock out one of your ships by mistake.
They then discuss how Milo Clancey could have bought some Beta Darts with the money made from selling stolen Argonite and that he is merely 'pretending' to be in poverty as a cover story. As Hermack says, 'It's logical'. Yes, very logical. If you're going out of your way to be stupid, that is.
It has to be said, though, that the sheer ineptness of the Space Corps is actually rather entertaining. Unfortunately, it isn't played for the laughs it so richly deserves, as if the audience really are meant to believe that Hermack's deductive line of reasoning is straight, rather than hilariously bendy. Next time you listen to or watch "The Space Pirates", watch out for the two or three scenes in each episode where Hermack is confronted by further obvious, categorical evidence of Madeline's culpability only to then leap to conclusion that it's all part of Milo's increasingly implausible and devious scheme. It does possess a certain hysterical quality. At it's worth noting that Hermack never actually deduces Caven's guilt; he only learns the truth after Milo and Dom have spelt it out to him in words of one Spot The Dog syllable in episode six.
A minnow is launched from the V ship, from episode six
But the main problem with the Space Corps scenes is that there are simply too many of them, and they go on too long. They occupy over half of each episode, and yet the viewer's interest always lies elsewhere – with the Doctor. It's been said, in other reviews, that "The Space Pirates" is a story about space policemen with a story about the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe stuck on the sidelines. That's presupposing, though, that the amount of time devoted to a subject means it is the focus of the story. Because "The Space Pirates" is actually a story about the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe with another story about space policeman stuck on the sidelines which takes up far too much screen time. When Holmes knew "The Space Pirates" needed padding, he put most of his energies into lengthening the Space Corps aspects; his mistake was to make the boring bits more prominent and to bury the exciting bits.
On the other hand, Holmes handles the scenes with the regulars and Milo Clancey particularly well, and in many ways they are the highlights of the story. It takes a while for the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe to turn up [oh boy, does it take a while] and then it's a further two episodes before they actually start to have any involvement with their branch of the story per se. Even then, their appearances are brief and intermittent – particularly in the final episode, where all their scenes were pre-filmed and the episode concentrates once more on the Space Corps, pirates and the Dom And Milo Show.
But their scenes work, because they're intentionally very amusing. "The Space Pirates" sees a return of the more whimsical, playful Troughton of his very early stories; most conspicuously in the fact that he's playing a flute again, but also in his affection for marbles, magnets, messy bunches of wires and implausible escapes. He is charming. The relationship between Zoe and Jamie is also treated affectionately; Jamie ribbing Zoe that she needs to 'eat more porridge' and, of course, the celebrated scene where Jamie has to explain to her what a candle is. Except that that is a fan myth propagated by an old Doctor Who Winter Special. It's the Doctor who explains it to her. Jamie is too busy laughing.
The regulars are Holmes' strength, and it is a shame that they are not given anything particularly interesting to do. This is because of the central plot problem with "The Space Pirates" alluded to earlier; there is the plot thread with the Space Corps, and the thread with the Doctor and his companions, and unfortunately they never really intersect, nor go anywhere unexpected. The plot threads are merely repeatedly-deferred resolutions, nothing more.
And, oddly, the Doctor and his companions never meet or speak to Hermack or Warne. The two plot threads only begin to affect each other in the final episode when the approach of the Space Corps causes Caven to prematurely fire the Liz's rockets, and that the Doctor's remote-controlled repair of the air-conditioning on the Liz ultimately leads to the Space Corps launching their attack on the fleeing pirates. Other than that, though, the two plot strands would work completely independently; either could be omitted.
And that is its great problem. Plots should be built up through chains of cause and effect, so that everything seen is relevant and everyone's actions have consequences for others. This is important for the viewer, so they know, 'Why am I being shown this bit?' But unfortunately, frequently, "The Space Pirates" doesn't provide a good answer to that question. Why are following all the events on board the V-Ship, if it doesn't have any obvious bearing on what happens to the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe? And, similarly, as the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe don't seem to do much apart from get captured, escape, run and then get captured again, what impact does their actions have on the Space Corps during the first five episodes?
This is why it feels so odd during the final episode when you have a scene between Madeline and Hermack, where she mentions the Doctor. Hermack, at this point, should be saying, 'Doctor who?' because, even at this late stage, no-one has mentioned the Doctor to him. Similarly it feels incongruous in the last episode to have the Doctor familiar with the Space Corps, when in fact he's barely acquainted with them [though the viewer is rather over-acquainted with them by this point!].
However, Robert Holmes obviously recognised the dramatic potential in what he had accidentally hit on, which is why this approach was re-worked for The Caves Of Androzani. Consensus has it that The Caves Of Androzani is a re-write of The Power Of Kroll; well, yes, they both feature gun-runners, but that's about it. The Caves Of Androzani is actually a re-writing of "The Space Pirates" [in much the same way that The Mysterious Planet is The Krotons with knobs on]. Think about it. They both feature cold, manipulative, unscrupulous business people in art-deco offices who have become associated with psychopathic, mercenary criminals. They both feature extensive cave networks, pit shafts and cliffhangers about crashing spaceships. They both feature stupid generals whose names end in 'ack', for goodness' sake!
But, most of all, they share the same approach to plotting. However, whilst in "The Space Pirates" the two story threads do not intersect until the end, in The Caves Of Androzani it is the Doctor's arrival that sets the other thread [Morgus' downfall] in motion, and even as the story progresses the Doctor's actions impact on those around him [he frees Salateen, which leads to the army's attack, in much the same way that freeing Dom Issigri leads to the Space Corps' attack]. However, what is surprising is how, for much of the story, the Doctor and Peri are sidelined in terms of the plot – they follow the same procession of being captured and escaping that the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe enjoy in "The Space Pirates". They meet interesting people along the way, true, but they have little interaction with the other plot thread – just as the Space Corps don't affect the Doctor in "The Space Pirates", Morgus's actions don't really affect the Doctor in The Caves Of Androzani.
In effect, they are both stories in which the Doctor and his companions play a very small role –small cogs caught up in a great steamrollering machine. To change metaphors, they are swept along by the tide, and are powerless to influence events outside their immediate sphere. They can only keep on trying to escape from their various prisons as the gunfire rings out around them. They are unaware of the Bigger Picture.
The difference is, in "The Space Pirates" this comes about largely through sloppy, haphazard, short-termist plotting, whereas in The Caves Of Androzani it is used to great dramatic and ironic effect. But in both the Doctor is effectively sidelined from the main thrust of the story. In "The Space Pirates" this is obvious, because the Doctor's role looks diminished by it; he is obvious unimportant to much of the story. In The Caves Of Androzani it is a great, unexpected twist to have the Doctor being caught up in events beyond his control. Importantly, in The Caves Of Androzani the focus remains on the Doctor. That is the lesson Holmes learned from "The Space Pirates" the hard way – make the stories about the Doctor, first and foremost, even if in terms of plot he has a very small role to play.
Another interesting aspect of "The Space Pirates" is Milo Clancey. Milo is, in essence, the first, rough outline of the character who would crop up, in different guises, in almost every subsequent Robert Holmes Doctor Who script. That of the humorous, cowardly, self-serving, overblown, quite theatrical, pompous scoundrel. Admittedly Milo, as a sketch, is a caricature, but he is beginning of the family tree that leads through Sam Seeley, Vorg, Irongron, Jago, Garron, Rohm Dutt, Stotz, Oscar Botcherby and Glitz. All of these characters are variations on the Milo Clancey 'rogue'; some of them are more psychopathic than others, it must be said, but they share a common characteristic – they are motivated by greed. They are out for what they can get. They are neither good nor bad.
This 'rogue' element is extremely useful in constructing a story. Firstly, the rogue provides some comic relief. The audience will quickly become attached to the character; everyone loves a hapless scoundrel, even if they disapprove of their actions, there is still an element of wish-fulfilment in characters who are a little bit whee and a little bit whey – Artful Dodgers, Sid Jameses, Del Boys and Arthur Daleys. Secondly, such rogue characters are distinctive and memorable. Their motivation is easily defined, consistent, believable and will lead them to be pro-active within the story, whilst also being independently-minded and capable of shifting their loyalties.
But, most importantly, they are useful because they act as a middle-man between the Doctor and the Villain. Because the rogue is never the villain; he is there to complicate matters, to stir things up a bit. To create intrigue. Often the rogue will begin by working for the villain, only to switch sides and join forces with the Doctor, though their decisions are guided only by self-interest and may be short-lived. And their help may prove invaluable, or may prove a hindrance. Often the story begins with the rogue acting as a 'front' for the villain, a go-between, someone who can embody the to-and-fro of the plot developments between the Doctor and the villain. For example, Irongron is the middle-man between Linx and the Doctor; Jago is caught between the Doctor and Li Hi-Sen Chang.
Rogues are, therefore, invaluable to writers. Without the rogue to sow seeds of confusion, doubt and mayhem, the story would be a straight Doctor vs Villain match; the problem being that the story will then become little more than a series of devices to defer the moment of ultimate confrontation.
The V ship approaches the planet Ta, from episode six
Some examples. The story takes place in Fourth Sector of the Galaxy, in the Pliny Solar System. Nearby are the planets of Lobos and Ta. Milo and Dom raced to register a stake on Lobos, and then a couple of years later drilled Ta clean. On home planet [which is possibly, but not necessarily, Earth] there is Central Flight Information feed-back [or 'CFI'] and Nevan prison chambers. There's an illicit market in Argonite on Rita Magnum.
Elsewhere in the galaxy, the Rush Fire wars are taking place. Dervish worked for the Earth government for ten years. Hermack did a tour on Rita Magnum [a planet, presumably!]. At this point in the future, combination locks have been abandoned after burglars started using miniature computers, to be replaced by audio locks.
Speaking of which, there's so much gadgetry alluded to, it's wonderful. A real Boy's Own universe of scissor charges, tactile scanners, floaters, Beta Darts, minnows, V-Ships, mind probes, solar-powered magnets, 90M computers, Martian missiles, electrical furnaces, UHF detonators, thermic capacitors and neurister banks.
It's all part of Holmes' intention to portray a realistic vision of the future. The most intriguing thing about it, the most novel thing about it, is that whilst it celebrates the potential of technology to provide sleek, dynamic, high-tech spaceships, it also depicts a vision of the future where some technology is also decidedly low-tech, primitive and unreliable. This is extremely unusual.
I'm not referring to the giant 60's television sets which pass for monitors on board the V-Ship; these are low-tech of necessity due to the production's constraints. Doctor Who in the 60's often portrayed astonishingly dated visions of the future; futuristic cities of old-fashioned Geiger counters and control panels of knobs and dials. But in "The Space Pirates", it uses this limitation as a strength, and deliberately portrays a vision of the future where, side-by-side with futuristic computers, you still have people using tillium teapots, drinking coffee, boiling eggs and eating Gruyere cheese. A vision of the future where half the time the monitors don't work, where space ships are bit rubbish and slow sometimes, and where you navigate with 'an astral pointer and a piece of string'.
There's that great visual joke in Episode 2; the control panel of the LIZ 79 is smoking. In traditional sci-fi, this would mean the spaceship was out-of-control. But here it just means that Milo's solar-powered toaster is on the blink again.
And that is the really interesting, and innovative thing, about "The Space Pirates". It's about a future not with gleaming control panels, but of bare wires and malfunctions. Which seems much more realistic, much more human, much more plausible than anything seen in Star Trek. The LIZ 79 is a deliberate attempt at depicting a 'steampunk' spaceship; a spaceship from the far future than looks like it was made in 1968.
Which brings me to my final point. The theme of "The Space Pirates" is all about old, primitive, out-of-date technology defeating the most modern, sophisticated devices. It's about the victory of the old-fashioned over the new-fangled. It celebrates the appeal of retro-technology, of wires and valves and bulbs. Throughout the story, time and time again, the old overcomes the new. Milo Clancey evades the sleek minnows by launching copper needles. The Doctor opens a lock with a tuning fork and a flute; later on he uses a candle to escape from another cell. The sympathetic characters are not those who place their faith in modern technology, but who continue the old ways; the Doctor, Milo and Dom. Because sometimes old, decrepit and unreliable as it may be, is better than the new. There's the contrast between the youthful, naive Madeline in her modern art-deco office and the senile Milo in his dusty wood-panelled office with a clockwork grandfather clock. There's the contrast between the crew of the V-ship getting coffee from a machine and Milo's wonderfully Heath-Robinson improvisation to provide him with boiled eggs.
And, most of all, it's in the contrast between the space ships. For all of the speed of the minnows and Beta Darts, and the fancy air-conditioning of the V-ship, it's the clunky, slow, uncomfortable LIZ 79 that will take the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe home. Holmes has given us a vision of the future; and in that future, exciting and glossy as it may be, we find that it is the old things, the things that date from our time, which are most important to people. Depictions of the future are frequently cold, clinical and inhuman; here Holmes says that no-matter how exciting and glossy things will be, people will still appreciate the old, low-tech things. Vintage, reliability and experience count. Because those are human qualities.


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User experience and site design is a tricky thing. Not because the process is inherently complicated, but because you have to put yourself in another person's assumed non-techie shoes from a user's perspective.
Seamlessly integrating the two together can seem difficult. It's a combination of solid visuals and successful website pages that not only work, but make sense to your target market. Luckily for you, SEO Brand's got some tips for creating a better user experience and site design for your e-commerce site.


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Is Pat Shurmur biting off more than he can chew by going without an offensive coordinator during his first season as an NFL head coach?
The new man in charge of the Browns doesn't think so. In an interview with Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon-Journal, Shurmur said that he always planned to call the offensive plays this season but did intend to hire someone to help him run the offense. Flirtations with candidates came to nothing, though, and the Browns offense will be entirely in Shurmur's hands. He says he's "very comfortable" with the arrangement.
"I don't think it's gonna be a problem," said Shurmur. "I think I have a staff of coaches that are extremely talented, and as you prepare for a game, it's the staff that does the preparation. You decide what plays you're gonna call, and then you spend the time to decide how you're gonna call them. But the preparation of what plays we're gonna run is done on a staff basis."
Shurmur called plays for the Rams during the last two seasons, so it isn't like he's going too far outside of his comfort zone. He did spend games in the booth during the 2010 season, but Shurmur told Ulrich that the first-year head coach thinks he sees the game just as well from the sideline as he does from up above the field.
There's nothing too unusual about Shurmur's decision to go it alone. He's one of 10 current head coaches who will call their own offensive plays during the 2011 season, including the last two Super Bowl winners. Shurmur has something important in common with Sean Payton and Mike McCarthy. In Gregg Williams and Dom Capers, both of them had defensive coordinators capable of running things on that side of the ball without much need for the head coach to worry about their ability to keep everything under control. Dick Jauron shares a past as a head coach with Williams and Capers, which should make it easier for Shurmur to avoid being overwhelmed during his first season.
That's not to say that there aren't big differences, however. Payton and McCarthy have Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers executing their calls. Shurmur isn't quite so blessed.
Then again, neither Payton nor McCarthy have a team president who won a Super Bowl as a head coach.


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El Nino Returns
Depending on who you ask El Nino is likely to return or has already begun in the equatorial waters of the Pacific Ocean. Meteorological agencies in the U.S. and Australia believe the onset of El Nino is likely to begin in August or September while their counterpart in Japan says it's already here.
What is El Nino? For a simple but intense explanation by the late, great Chris Farley CLICK HERE. (*please note the link does not bring you to an explanation that is accurate nor informative). El Nino is a periodic warming of surface waters near the Equator in the eastern Pacific ocean (off the coasts Central and South America) while surface water temps run below normal in the western Pacific near the coast of Australia. La Nina is the complete opposite with cooling in the east and warming in the west. The slight uptick in water temps near North America can greatly influence weather patterns including those for our area. The last El Nino winter was in 2009-2010. The following two winters were taken over by La Nina.
Typically El Nino leads to milder winters with less snow for our region while the west coast and Gulf states experience a cooler, wetter pattern. It's important to note THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE but simply the most likely scenario. Last winter, with La Nina in effect we would have expected a colder, snowier winter and got just the opposite. The reason? A positive North Atlantic Oscillation or NAO around the Arctic. This is another periodic pattern influencing our seasonal weather. It is also much tougher to forecast ahead of time. Last winter it became a stronger player over La Nina resulting in a Great Lakes winter that more resembled an El Nino year in terms of temperatures. In fact It's possible the winter of 2011-2012 could have been even warmer if not for La Nina!
As we head into autumn we'll know for sure if El Nino is back and have a good idea as to how strong it will be. But whether El Nino is the main contributor giving us mild winter remains to be seen. There are a lot of players on the field when it comes to a seasonal forecast and every now and then one of the typically smaller players can come off the bench and have a big impact putting the all-stars like El Nino in the shadows.
CLICK HERE to check out long term forecasts from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.


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Lane Middle School Mrs. Evans - Assis. Principal/A.D.
|Shawna M. Davenport joined the team at Lane Middle School in 2011. She serves "Viking Nation" in the roles of Assistant Principal, Athletic Director as well managing the annual FWCS middle school city track and field championship. She has strong curriculum and reading knowledge that she has contributed among her school districts, past and present, throughout her career. She earned her bachelor's degree from Cameron University (Oklahoma) with endorsements in each of the four core subjects and subsequently moved to the Midwest to be begin her teaching career. She spent one year in the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese schools followed by twelve years teaching language arts at Edgewood Middle School in Warsaw Community Schools. She coached championship teams for girls' basketball and girls' track during her service to Warsaw Community Schools. She earned master's degrees in Reading Education and Elementary Education from IUSB and School Administration from IPFW. She has also served in the role of adjunct professor, teaching graduate courses in the Education department for the University of Phoenix since 2005. She served as an assistant principal at Bremen Public Schools to grades K-5 for three years prior to her arrival at Lane Middle School. Mrs. Davenport enjoys working in matters related to curriculum and reading, but she also likes being a middle school administrator and athletic director because of the rewards and challenges that are unique to the middle school environment. She enjoys working with the faculty and the students at Lane Middle School. Mrs. Davenport is a voracious reader and a lifelong learner who enjoys making jewelry, watching scholastic sports, gardening and landscaping, cooking, and dining. Mrs. Davenport enjoys spending time with her husband, Chip and children.


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Gigolo club,A story of love, greed - and moisturizer.
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After her husband's death, Hana lives on alone in the family villa. Her two sons visit her with their families, but these visits frequently end in quarrels. When Hana meets Brona, a hardy fellow, inured to winter swimming, a new world opens before her. Brona's team-mates absorb her into their team and Hana gradually learns to overcome her fear of icy water. Her relation with Brona grows into love.
The Plan Man is about a man who lives everything according to plan until he meets a woman who wasn't a part of it.
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A long-lost engagement ring still divides childhood sweethearts who are now in their golden years. Now, her daughter (Heaton) and his nephew meet and find that their attraction is hindered by the old feud.
Andula, an innocent Czech girl from a factory town, is desperately in search of love. She believes she's found it when she beds Milda, a charming young musician visiting from Prague. Milda, however, is only looking for a casual encounter, and leaves town assuming he'll never see Andula again. But when Andula doesn't hear from him, she packs up and heads to Prague, to the surprise of Milda and his parents.


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Words of Wisdom
—Nature and wisdom never are at strife.
—It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld
—The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook.
William James
—The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.
Solomon Ibn Gabriol
—Years teach us more than books.
Berthold Auerbach
—The wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs, which are brief and pithy.
William Penn
—A wise man learns by the mistakes of others, a fool by his own.
Latin Proverb
—Silence does not always mark wisdom.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
—No man was ever wise by chance.
—The seat of knowledge is in the head, of wisdom, in the heart.
William Hazlitt
—Of all parts of wisdom the practice is the best.
John Tillotson
—The more a man knows, the more he forgives.
Catherine the Great
—A loving heart is the truest wisdom.
Charles Dickens
—One who understands much displays a greater simplicity of character than one who understands little.
Alexander Chase
—How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!
—On every thorn, delightful wisdom grows,
In every rill a sweet instruction flows.
Edward Young
—The man of wisdom is never of two minds;
the man of benevolence never worries;
the man of courage is never afraid.


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I know, I know....I've been neglecting my blog :( But life has been very hectic lately. Actually, September 7th marked my first day back at school. Not only did I go back to work, but I began a new teaching assignment this year in a grade five classroom. So, I have 24 students in my care each day and so far, the journey has been amazing. But enough about my personal life.......
Each year my hubby takes photos of our girls on their first day of school, and each year intend to scrap them. Well, what actually happens is that they go in the "Photos to Scrap" box....a box that is a constant reminder of how far behind my scrap booking projects are!! Well, I finally got the chance to create pages for my eldest daughters first day of JK and SK. She is in grade one now, so I guess I am not doing to badly (but then again I still have Easter 2008 to scrap) Here are the finished products......Thanks for looking :)
|Junior Kindergarten
|Senior Kindergarten


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Category Archives: Blog
Enjoy the Awesome Tunes with our Palm Beach Band!
Our Fearless Leader Performed Solo for a NOVA Event!
Latest Kudos from a Happy Wedding Client
You guys rocked! Thank you so much. You all were easy to work with. Weddings are challenging. I look forward to working with you in the future.
Sent from Windows Mail


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Saturday, September 17, 2011
Featured Website: bahrimages.com/
Bahrimages.com/ is David Bahr's fine art and nature photography website. I met David Bahr through the Front Range ski community. He is a truly multifaceted individual with a mind-blowing number of talents and interests. In addition to his awesome photography, that I am really excited about, he has done some very interesting work in the snow and ice world. Some of that really cool work includes his book: Colorado Front Range Tree Skiing, his timelapse and physical explanation for moguls moving uphill, and lots of interesting research on scaling and dendritic(branching) patterns on glaciers and ice sheets. So check out his website (the photo of the spider catching the bee is really neat)!
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Last week I attended BookExpo America in Chicago – and had a wonderful time. It was like being in a candy shop with free product and no calories. All the pretty books! And, as my sore back can attest, I carted home many of the most savory.
My greatest acquisition was A Gentleman In Moscow. If you have not read The Rules of Civility – leave off this post immediately and go grab it. It's a beautifully written debut novel by Amor Towles and I've anxiously awaited his next… And on 9/9/16 it launches out into the world.
I also signed ARCs of my next novel, which will release 11/1/16, A Portrait of Emily Price.
While signing copies and answering questions, one question came up repeatedly, "What are your books about?" As is my way, I rambled on. But a few asks, I found a succinct side note… "My books are love letters to books." And that leads me here…
We visit this blog to read about Austen Authors and all that Austen means to us. I also think we come here because we love books – we savor books and want to return to our favorite characters and stories because they are alive
and real to us. That is the true power of fiction – writers invite us into an alternate reality and we make it our own. We enter into the vulnerability; pain and fears of others and, in doing so often understand experiences in our own lives. And we experience hope and love – and hang on to the enduring belief that they are real and exist because if not, great writers would have stopped penning about them long ago.
Austen did that beautifully. She never diminished the pain, prejudices and limitations of her characters and their circumstances — but she reached beyond that and handed them, and us, love and hope. And two-hundred years later, we still thank her.
I also thank you — for stopping by here and joining in a love for books. I'd love to hear some favorites you are reading presently, new ones you have found or, if you are a writer, what are some ideas and stories that are capturing you… Join in the discussion!


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|medical dictionary
Wanting, to make up completeness; wanting, as regards a requirement; not sufficient; inadequate; defective; imperfect; incomplete; lacking; as, deficient parts; deficient estate; deficient strength; deficient in judgment. "The style was indeed deficient in ease and variety." (Macaulay) Deficient number.
<mathematics> See Abundant. Defi"cient-ly.
Origin: L. Deficiens, -entis, p. Pr. Of deficere to be wanting. See Defect.
(01 Mar 1998)
deficiency, selenium, deficiency symptom, deficiency, zinc < Prev | Next > deficit, defilement, define
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Treat your lips right with this natural essential oil lip balm. The lip balm includes only all-natural ingredients and will leave your lips feeling soft and refreshed!
Simply Natural Lip Balm
Ingredients & Supplies:
- 4 tsp. (6 g) Beeswax Pellets
- 1 Tbsp. (10 g) Cocoa Butter
- 3 Tbsp. (45 ml) Jojoba Oil
- 10–20 drops essential oil (Some oils that work well with this recipe include lavender, peppermint [which can have a cooling effect], or a lemon-thyme blend [15 drops lemon and 3–5 drops thyme])
- Lip Balm Dispensers (12), Lip Gloss Containers (8–10), or 1/4 oz. Glass Salve Jars (8–10)
- Place beeswax pellets and cocoa butter in a heat-proof glass measuring cup.
- Melt the oils in the microwave or on the stovetop in a pan filled with an inch of simmering water (creating a double boiler). Heat until completely melted.
- Add jojoba oil to the melted oils, and continue to heat until all the oil is incorporated.
- Allow to cool for a minute, and then stir in essential oils.
- Pour the mixture into your lip balm containers of choice. You may find it easier to use a small dropper or small funnel to transfer the mixture into the small containers without spilling on the side.
- Allow mixture to cool and solidify before using.
Extra Idea:
Create fun labels for your lip balm creations using our 2″ x 4″ Blank White Labels. Set up your labels so that two labels fit side-by-side on each 2″ x 4″ label; then cut the label in half after printing so that you have two labels that each measure 2″ x 2″. This size fits perfectly on our White Lip Balm Dispensers. Our .5″ x 1.75″ Blank White Labels also fit perfectly on our 1/4 oz. Lip Gloss Containers.


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Fox is in the early stages of development, with negotiations currently under way, to develop a live-action show based on the X-men. Though 20th Century Fox holds the film rights to the franchise, in order to use the heroes on Fox, they will need to get Marvel to sign off on the deal for TV.
While this has the potential to be huge, recent similar shows are simply horrendous, so I cannot get too excited about this.


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- Northwich Gyratory modifications (PDF, 192KB)
In the next few weeks modifications are being made to the Northwich Gyratory scheme which has now been in place for nearly six months.
This scheme has been undertaken as part of an 18 month experimental order so that it can be assessed on whether it has improved the traffic movements around Northwich town centre.
It has been closely monitored since its implementation and slight amendments are being made, based on survey work and user comments.
Councillor Lynn Riley, Executive Member for Community and Environment said: "We really welcome the comments and feedback we have received from residents, motorists and the travelling public and these have been monitored from day one.
"All feedback helps us focus on how the new gyratory is working so that we can make changes to improve the flow of traffic around Northwich.
"As a result of this approach there are further changes planned in the forthcoming weeks as part of the trial to address some of the issues which drivers have raised and we have identified through our survey work.
We believe these measures will help improve the safety and traffic flows around the town centre."
The key changes will be:
- To improve capacity, the Chester Way traffic leading across London Road will become three lanes, with centre and outside right lanes having through access up to the bridge. Traffic will still be able to turn right into Dane Street.
- To reduce lane swopping, Weaver Way junction at the Bull Ring (from Town Bridge direction only) will be closed. Weaver Way will still be accessible via Dane Street and from the top of the town via Leicester Street.
- Alterations to lane markings along Watling Street to reduce lane swopping.
- New 'Keep Clear' road markings at junction of Navigation Road and Chester Way outside the Co-op to help motorists join the system.
- The Apple Market Street car park entrance will become two-way, with the rear exit to the Bull Ring being closed. This will improve traffic flows at the Bull Ring junction.
Continued Councillor Riley: "We would ask everyone to please bear with us and continue to give this system time to evolve and thorough close monitoring will be carried out by Council engineers.
"We believe these further amendments will ultimately help to improve the flow of traffic around Northwich and will really help when we start to bring forward the key developments that are part of the wider re-generation of Northwich will bring".
The trial continues to be monitored closely and if you wish to make further comments please contact the Highways Department on 0300 123 7036 or alternatively, email the contact centre firstname.lastname@example.com
It should be noted that the closing date for formal objections to the experimental order is July 30th 2012. Please send comments to Planning and Transport, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Phoenix House, Clough Road, Winsford, CW7 4BD.
- Northwich Gyratory modifications July 2012 (PDF, 192KB)


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The techies nationwide were in seventh heaven after knowing that ChezzMall is officially launching Xiaomi in Pakistan. But at the same time they were bit dim as the launch date was not unveiled by the online selling Giant of China.
Now they need to get charge themselves to explore the Mi fun which is just on their way, CheezMall on their Facebook page announced about the official launching date of Xiaomi in Pakistan.
According to the update on FB page of CheezMall, Xiaomi products will be officially available in Pakistan from April 6, 2016.
Posted by Cheezmall on Friday, March 25, 2016
ChezzMall arrived in Pakistan, back in November 2015, after their arrival they have been bringing Chinese brands and also introduced some other known companies to the Pakistani market.
Now they are all set to bring Xiaomi products to the Pakistani market.
Xiaomi is famously known for bringing more to the customers in less price and its official presence will make it more clearer in the market.
Especially with the official arrival, the prices will not be kept according to the sellers demand and it will also be having the international warranty.
Prior to this, Xiaomi products are being sold by some of the online sellers or local sellers but the official arrival will mark a constant price of these products nationwide.


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Welcome to Alton Implant Center, Irvine, CA
Dr. Gagan Uppal, DMD, practices a full scope of general and cosmetic dentistry with expertise ranging from porcelain veneers to dental implants , crowns and bridges . Dr. Uppal can now correct a wide variety of so-called permanent cosmetic dental problems, and can literally redesign your smile. Our offices are located at
Irvine– 5405 Alton Parkway, Suite F, Irvine, CA. Call us at (949) 262-0300.
West Covina-360 S Glendora Ave, Unit 1, West Covina, CA 91790. Call us there at (626)-671-5800.
Garden Grove-13872 Harbor Blvd, Unit 1A3, Garden Grove, CA 92843. Call us there at (714)-285-1000
General and Cosmetic Dentistry
General & Implant and Cosmetic Dentistry can give you a smile you're happy to show off. Modern cosmetic dentistry techniques make it easier than ever for you to have a bright, even smile. Dr. Uppal can give you the smile you want using:
Dental Implants Irvine
Dental implants are designed to provide a foundation for replacement teeth that look, feel, and function like natural teeth. The person who has lost teeth regains the ability to eat virtually anything and can smile with confidence, knowing that teeth appear natural and that facial contours will be preserved. Dental implants are changing the way people live. With them, people are rediscovering the comfort and confidence to eat, speak, laugh and enjoy life. For more information about dental implants or to schedule a consultation appointment, call our office in Irvine, CA at (949) 262-0300, West Covina at (626) 671-5800 and Garden Grove at (714) 265-1000.