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Typical day at the jewelry store. A 30-something man walks in, wanders over to a glass case and gazes down in the hope he's making a decision that will lead to elation.
Only this man is Charlie Wittmack, who leaves tomorrow on a quest to test the limits of the human body.
Charlie says this is the $25,000 engagement ring he couldn't afford a decade ago. It's a surprise. His wife, Cate, has no idea her husband is here. But really, this isn't about her. It's about a man who knows he might never be home again, trying to buy eternal forgiveness.
A salesman prattles on about the mundane details of each piece and drags Charlie around the store with an uncomfortable air of enthusiasm. Charlie eventually narrows it to a pink or a blue diamond with a solitaire setting. He tells the salesman he will call tomorrow, the last thing to do before boarding a plane to London. His secret plan is in place. If Charlie dies on this quest, his estate will pay for the ring.
"You probably think I have some sort of death wish, don't you?" Charlie asks as he leaves the store. "But I'll tell you right now, I don't."
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Charlie Wittmack never says the word "death," never utters the phrase "if I die," but here he sits in his law office, planning for the end.
He has less than an hour to catch a flight to begin his 11-month, 13-country odyssey. He's faxed the order for his wife's $25,000 ring, photocopied his last will and testament, signed a 73-page legal trust and bought a $2.5 million life insurance policy that is 17 times his annual income, the maximum he could obtain. If a man is to be measured by how he cares for his family, let there be no doubt.
On the street down below, Cate Wittmack nervously waits to drive her husband to the airport. She and Charlie met 10 years ago, on the first day of orientation as paralegals at a D.C. law firm. She saw a funny guy in a Brooks Brothers suit and looked right past the muscular shoulders, sunburned skin and callus-covered hands that revealed a man who had spent his summer climbing in California. He saw the woman he was going to marry.
Cate fully understands the danger of what's about to take place. "Forget Me Not," a memoir written by mountain climber Alex Lowe's widow, helps her accept the fact that this might be the last time she holds her husband's hand.
"Love is not selfish," she says. "You can't meet someone and then tell them to stop doing the things they love. Even if that means you might lose them."
While Cate waits, Charlie frantically searches for someone to stamp "FOR YOUR INFORMATION" on a photocopied picture of his passport.
"Charlie, are you making up the rules as you go?" an administrative assistant asks.
He grins.
"There are no rules," he says.
Only three men are known to have completed the "Peak and Pond," the name Charlie has given to a successful swim across the English Channel and successful summit of Mount Everest. But no one has connected the two with a 9,000-mile bike ride across Europe and Asia or a 750-mile run from India to Everest Base Camp. That's what this 5-foot-7, 145-pound man plans to do in the quest he's dubbed "The World Triathlon."
Charlie and Cate sold their house and car and took out a $100,000 loan to cover expenses for the first leg. They hope sponsors will help cover the rest. Charlie spent more than two years training, riding a stationary bicycle in the basement of his grandmother's townhouse, running up and down stairwells of buildings in Des Moines and traveling to Chicago every weekend to swim 10-hour shifts along the shores of Lake Michigan.
All that's left now are questions. Lots and lots of questions. Like why? Why would an ultra-successful 34-year-old attorney risk everything -- his career, his life savings, his home, his marriage, and fatherhood -- all for some self-contrived quest for personal fulfillment?
What is he chasing? What is he running from? What is this man missing in his life that only adrenaline can replace? Or is he just hopelessly addicted to the rush that comes from the few fleeting moments when he feels alive? Only one man has the answer. And for now, he objects to the question. Or at least he doesn't want to deal with answering it.
"No true explorer has the answer to that," he says. "We all try to come up with some bulls--- 'Because it's there' or 'Just do it' or whatever. But there's no way any human could justify any of this.
"I do it because it gives my life meaning. This means something."
There's a charity component to all of this, with the World Tri raising money and working with Des Moines University to reduce the infant mortality rate in Nepal. But here in the conservative heartland, where family values and fiscal responsibility are woven into everyday life as seamlessly as the daily farm report, the pursuit of a deeper meaning is a concept some don't understand. For everyone who cheers as Charlie pulls his donated World Triathlon Toyota Tacoma away from a send-off celebration at the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame, there are others who write scathing critiques on The Des Moines Register website. They say Charlie's selfish. A terrible father. A miserable husband. And the money he's spending on his journey and raising for mothers in Nepal could be better used helping folks right here in the good ol' USA.
Charlie absorbs the praise. He deflects the criticism.
All around town, Charlie the PR machine has told the story of how he's spent a lifetime preparing for this. Says he dreamed of it as a boy after reading about Sir Edmund Hillary and Capt. Matthew Webb. In high school, Wittmack was more likely to write such a book than become its subject. But after his parents divorced in high school, Charlie became more daring. Different. And eventually, obsessed.
Now, he often feels like a man with no home. During the mundane routine of life at home and at the office, he dreams of escaping to the side of a mountain or banks of a river. He convinces himself that's where he belongs. But when he's on that mountain or in that river and the days of an expedition add up and his body and mind begin to fail, he yearns for those emails, phone calls and overdue paperwork.
"He wants to accomplish something that nobody else will ever be able to do," says Charlie's mom, Dee Wittmack. "The problem is that may very well include him."
The 10,000-mile route is littered with hazards. Charlie's biggest fear is being hit by a car during the bike ride. His sister, Ellen, worries about him being kidnapped. In Kyrgyzstan, there's the risk of traveling across a country that is mired in political turmoil. Brian Triplett, one of the men traveling with Wittmack, at one point asks "Do you think we need guns?" Charlie says no. And waiting at the finish line, of course, is Mount Everest, the ultimate game of life-and-death poker, where a quick turn of the weather and a bit of bad luck can kill even the most experienced adventurer.
The only thing that appears to be certain? No matter what happens, Charlie won't quit.
"He doesn't know how," Dee says. "I told Cate, 'You need to face the fact that he will not come home unless it's in a body bag.'"
DOVER, England -- Charlie is nervous. With his right arm wrapped around Cate's shoulders and both feet in the sand at Dover Harbour, he silently stares at the crashing blue waves of the English Channel. He can't see France. It's Aug. 7, and though it's a cloudless, sun-soaked afternoon, none of the flabby channel swimmers training in front of him dare to venture beyond the concrete seawall. Not on a day like this, when the crashing breakers on the horizon make the violent channel waters look more white than blue.
The expression on Charlie's face foreshadows the battle that will rage in his head in less than 24 hours: fear versus determination. A day earlier, at a tiny cafe in nearby Deal, Charlie was in one of those "nothing will stop me" moods in which he boasted that he doesn't know what it's like to be scared. "It's simply an emotion that I don't feel," he said.
But now, the bravado is gone. Charlie just stands there, staring at the water, barely saying a word.
"I almost died the last time I was here," Charlie says.
In the 134 years since Capt. Webb first crossed the busiest shipping lane in the world, fewer than 900 people have swum the English Channel successfully. By comparison, since 1953, nearly 3,000 have stood on the summit of Everest.
At its narrowest point, the channel is 21 miles wide. But changing tides force swimmers to complete 25 to 30 miles for a successful crossing. It's the physiological equivalent of running some 140 miles. Nonstop. In 63-degree water. No one understands the pain better than Kevin Murphy, the self-anointed king of the channel. Murphy has crossed these waters 34 times, more than any other man. On this day, he coaches a group of aspiring channel swimmers a few steps from where Charlie and Cate look on.
"You get exhausted. You get really, really ill. Just brutally sick," Murphy says of the feeling during a swim. "You spend about half the time out there thinking, 'What the hell am I doing here?' and the other half asking yourself, 'When is this going to stop?' And the only answer is, 'When you get to the other side.'"
For Charlie, even getting to Shakespeare Beach, where his channel attempt will begin early tomorrow morning, has been a chore. Since stepping into the source of the Thames more than a month ago, he's twice been plagued by amoebic dysentery, an intestinal illness that has sent him to the ER with bouts of uncontrollable vomiting, diarrhea and a body temperature of 104. He's collided with an underwater pier, required an escort to help him avoid a sunken battleship, been stung by jellyfish, and needed a coast guard rescue when shifting tides left him and his support kayak stuck on a mud flat.
He's constantly exhausted. His skin is nearly raw from spending 10 hours a day in the water. And two days ago, his dad dropped the support kayak on Charlie's right foot, ripping the nail from his big toe. It's the fourth nail he's sacrificed on the swim.
What's happened between his ears has proved just as difficult. Spending each day with his head buried in dark, murky water leads to mind games. One day he stews about an email fight with Cate. The next he worries what college James will get into. And the day after that he fantasizes about Thanksgiving dinner.
Major national sponsors have not yet materialized. Nor has much national media attention. And for the past week, Charlie has been traveling with Cate and James as well as his divorced parents and his stepmom. It's made each night's family dinner feel like some sort of Lifetime reality show.
But tomorrow, when Charlie tries to cross the channel, he'll want family there. He'll want Cate leaning over the side of the support boat blowing him kisses. He'll want his dad pumping his fist and cheering should he make it to the other side. And he'll want James waiting for him at the house they have rented.
Before that can happen, Charlie has to conquer the ghosts of 2008. That year, 15 miles into his journey across the channel, Charlie became hypothermic and his body began to shut down. His legs stopped working; he could barely lift his arms out of the water; and his body drifted farther and farther from the support boat.
"I remember the pilot asking what was my son's name," Charlie says. "And it was like, 'Oh yeah, I have a son.' And then I yelled 'JAMES!'"
Seconds later, Charlie's father-in-law, a doctor, made the decision to end the swim.
"It was scary," says close friend David Murphy, who was in the boat that day. "He wasn't making any sense. His speech was slurred. It wasn't good."
On the boat, Charlie fell unconscious. The crew wrapped his body in blankets. After Charlie woke, they began forcing warm beverages down his throat. In four hours, he said he was back to normal.
"That was a lesson in what we did right," Charlie says now. "The fact that I could push a swim that far and have a team in place that could make the right decision and stop me at the point when I couldn't go any further, that's a success story."
But tomorrow, a repeat of that story would mean failure. Only this time, Charlie has one major asset in his corner: He's wearing a wetsuit. For a man who constantly seeks the extreme, the decision wasn't easy. But Charlie's 5-foot-7, 145-pound frame won't keep his body warm in the icy channel water. And gaining enough weight to provide natural insulation would make the imminent bike ride a grueling nightmare. So Charlie decided to wear the suit. It's a decision the king of the channel critiques with one word: cheating.
"Why not just get into a boat and sail across?" Kevin Murphy asks. "It's like if I went in a triathlon and said, 'Well, I can't run real well, so is it all right if I wear roller skates?' Or, 'I'm not real good at cycling. Can I use my motorbike?' They would say no way because it makes it easier to finish. He's doing the same thing with that wet suit."
When told later of Murphy's comments, Charlie says very little. But in a couple of days, while having dinner with Cate at an Indian restaurant, he reveals just how much it bothered him.
Charlie opens his eyes. He thinks two things: Get out of the road and get help. Now. Some 40 foreign faces hover above him, showing a mix of surprise and fear. He knows what they're thinking because he's wondering the same thing. How am I not dead?
Minutes earlier, on a narrow, two-lane stretch of the M-32 highway in Kazakhstan, Charlie was riding on the side of the road when a silver car traveling 50 mph tried to make a pass behind him. But the car hit Charlie. His bike crumbled beneath him. His head slammed against the rear passenger door. His body fell to the ground. And he slid some 30 feet along a sizzling patch of asphalt.
For a few seconds, Charlie was unconscious. But now he's awake with nothing but those strange faces staring at him. He crawls off the road insisting, "I'm OK, I'm OK," but no one understands. And if they did, they wouldn't believe him. Charlie surveys his body looking for damage. He wiggles his toes. He drags his hands along his legs, his arms and, eventually, his chest. He turns his head to the left, to the right, then up, then down. He blinks. Nothing seems to be wrong.
He isn't a deeply religious man, but since the beginning of the World Tri, Charlie has begun each day by crossing himself. And back in Prague, while searching for something he could listen to on the bike ride, he downloaded the largest free audio file he could find -- the Bible. Now he wonders if a higher power has his back.
He needs the inspiration. All along, Charlie had dreamed of his family traveling with him for much of the World Tri. He envisioned coming home each night to Cate, James and a hotel room, hut or tent full of praise. But after arriving in Europe, after the channel swim, a lack of money changed everything. The film crew was sent home. Cate and James left. And the support vehicles Toyota donated were ditched at the Prague airport. There was a brief conversation about quitting, but Charlie could barely say the word. Instead, he bought a bike trailer on eBay, loaded it with 75 pounds of gear and headed east. Alone.
"I don't like that he's out there by himself, but I don't think he could handle coming home," Charlie's mom Dee says. "It would be so demoralizing. I'm not sure he could live through that."
And so Charlie pedaled on, through rain, snow, sand and dirt. He ignored the kids in Poland who chucked tomatoes at him. And he trusted the guard at the border between Poland and the Ukraine who refused to permit entry on a bicycle and forced Charlie into the back of an unmarked van to enter the Ukraine.
Charlie biked alone until Russia, where government regulations as well as his safety required him to have an escort. An American security company provided a driver and translator to travel with him, paid for with the help of a $50,000 check from the Toyota dealer in Des Moines.
But on the day his greatest fears come true and he's left lying on the side of a road in Kazakhstan, the escorts are in the next town, waiting for his arrival. By the time Igor and Vadim arrive to help, Charlie's in shock. His body shakes. His right side is numb. He calls Cate to tell her what happened, insisting that he's fine. But he isn't. Though his body has somehow walked away nearly unscathed, he's mentally in pieces. For two days he lies in bed, replaying the accident over and over in his head.
"I was piling on mentally," he would say later. "It got hard."
On the third day, inspired by a friend who had died on a ride across America, Charlie hops back on the bike and heads toward Kyrgyzstan. When schoolchildren line the road to cheer, all he sees is the face of his son, James. He tries to shift into a harder gear, but there isn't one left. His speedometer says 33 mph.
Up ahead he sees his next challenge: the Himalayas and a trio of snow-covered 14,000-foot peaks. As he pedals on over the course of the next days, those same gears begin to fail. He rents a replacement. It breaks. He rents another. It's stolen. He rents a third. But it, too, can't handle the terrain and also breaks. So Charlie goes back to his original wheels he hauled from Iowa.
He climbs the Himalayas with that one gear, but it's too much. He cycles too hard, climbs too fast and, just like a climber on Everest, his body struggles to acclimate to the changes in elevation. He's hallucinating. He has lost the vision in his right eye. He's lost his balance. He knows what it means -- a cerebral edema, his brain is filling with fluid.
At the same time, he can't stop coughing. He struggles to breathe. It's the high-altitude double whammy that every climber tries to avoid. A pulmonary edema, as well.
As he lies in a lodge in a remote village on the Tibetan Plateau, his body and mind are beginning to crumble. In addition to the edemas, his intestine begins to bulge out of his side. He thinks he might have a hernia. And outside his door, wild dogs are howling. He knows what they're waiting for. They want him to die.
A few days before he begins the push toward the summit of Mount Everest, during some of the monotonous downtime at base camp, Charlie sits in a tent with Brian Block, one of his climbing partners, and the two explore life's bigger questions: Why are we here? What's the purpose? And what does it mean to truly live?
Five days after Cate told him to stop whining, suck it up and go to Everest, Charlie packed his gear and began the 200-mile trek from Kathmandu to base camp. With each step of the hike, he wrestled with the decision he made on the border of India and the uncovered miles he had left behind. The latest battle of Charlie the family man vs. Charlie the adventurer had a new winner. Dad. Now Charlie tries to accept the fact that the dream of the perfect line connecting Cricklade to the summit of Everest is over.
"As an explorer, I appreciate the fact that things don't end up like we expect them to," he says. "But as an individual, I don't like those stories to be mine."
Charlie and Brian have climbed together for years, both of them suffering from the same addiction to adrenaline and the extreme. But on this day, sitting in a tent at base camp, Brian sees a different Charlie than the one who left Iowa nearly a year earlier.
"He was almost monkesque in the way that he was talking," Brian would say later. "He was saying things that were not the competitive, do-or-die Charlie that pushes right through anything insurmountable. He was seeing the world with greater perspective. He was talking a lot about Cate and James.
"You got the idea that he wanted this to be over. He wanted to go home."
Charlie's thoughts about home are as complicated as any. James' trip to the ER proved to be nothing more than a scare. But his boy is growing up. He no longer likes talking to his dad on the phone. And he refuses to participate in video chats with Charlie. And then there's Cate. She's the one who didn't want this adventure in the first place, who needed a battle with cancer to help convince her it was a good idea. Yet every time Charlie tries to quit, she's the one piecing him back together and encouraging him to continue.
He knows he wouldn't be here without her. And yet he's put her and his family through hell to get here. He feels guilty. He wonders: What are her dreams? What are her expectations of him as a husband? Does she want a big house? A fancy car? That ring she was only supposed to get if he died? How does a man who left his family for a year say thank you?
So, right there on the side of Mount Everest, Charlie pulls out his satellite phone, calls Cate and starts looking for answers. What does she dream life will look like when he returns home in less than a month? Cate tells Charlie to slow down, relax and focus on the task ahead. He's supposed to be having fun, remember? Enjoy the journey. They'll talk about this later.
The last time Charlie climbed Everest, in 2003, Cate was also on his mind. Initially furious that Charlie would risk his life climbing a mountain, the couple split until Charlie showed up on Cate's doorstep on New Year's Eve in 2002, begging her to reconsider. Eventually she did, realizing that she and Charlie were far better together than apart. Five months later, Charlie left for Everest. There, he wrote poems and love letters to Cate and called her on a satellite phone.
When he pushed for the summit that year, Charlie endured some of the worst recorded weather in the mountain's history, forcing him to go three days without food or water to make back-to-back summit attempts. Back home, Cate waited by the phone to hear that her boyfriend was still alive. On his second attempt, Charlie, then 26, became the first Iowan to summit Everest. Hours later, Cate received a call from Charlie's dad that everything was OK.
This time, Cate will follow Charlie's progress online with the help of a GPS device he's carrying with him. Every time a tiny orange dot appears in a different place on her screen, she knows her husband is moving. He's alive.
Although the rules have changed and Charlie says he's no longer willing to die to reach the highest point on Earth, that doesn't mean there won't be consequences. Charlie's OK with frostbite. He's accepted that he might lose a few fingers or toes. But what else? How much swelling of the brain can he endure? How much fluid can he allow to fill his lungs? And how incapacitated can he become before it's time to turn around?
Cate worries that her husband might feel the need to prove himself after failing in India.
"I know he wants the perfect end to the story," she says.
While Charlie is on Everest, his mom, Dee, is trekking to base camp to meet her son. So, too, are 14 Iowa cancer survivors sponsored by Charlie, the Livestrong Foundation and a Des Moines doctor. Charlie hopes the treks might turn into a larger national program. He's also signed a three-year commitment -- should he make it home -- to work with Save the Children, a global nonprofit, to raise money and help reduce the child mortality rate in Nepal.
At the same time, Charlie has big plans for his final act. Since England, he's hinted at climbing without oxygen. And Cate has no idea, but Charlie is considering an attempt to become the first person to cross the Everest-Lhotse Traverse, the treacherous stretch that connects the two 8,000-meter peaks.
"If you do a bit of research, you'll learn that I purchased a permit for Everest and Lhotse," Charlie writes in an email. "If you asked me, I would deny it. You'd have to be crazy to say you are even attempting it."
So which is it? A new enlightened Charlie who puts family first or the same old man pushing himself to the limit?
Perhaps Everest will provide the answer.
Before visiting Mount Mitchell, the highest point in North Carolina, Charlie, Cate and James stop for lunch. Dad encourages James to finish his sandwich so he has energy to make it to the top. "And so nobody dies," the 3-year-old responds.
The path from the parking lot to the observatory atop the 6,684-foot mountain is paved asphalt. It's a simple walk. Charlie insists nobody will die. But like any curious, chatty toddler, James isn't finished.
"We need oxygen?" he asks.
"No," Charlie answers, "this isn't that big."
"Ropes?" James asks. "I don't want to fall."
"You don't need ropes, James," Charlie tells his son.
Six months ago, in the middle of the World Tri, Charlie said he hoped James would not follow in his footsteps. But now that he's returned home, Charlie wants to take his son to the five highest points in the United States, maybe even before James is 10.
"If he's ready, if he has the desire, I'd love for him to experience that feeling," Charlie says. "I've gotten so much out of seeing the world. I want him to have that."
Cate, who loves to travel, shares Charlie's sentiments. To a point.
"Hiking to Everest base camp is incredible, and I want him to do that," she says. "We will take him someday. But we go to base camp, we look at the mountain, say 'Hey, isn't that cool?' and then we come home. You don't need to climb over that crevasse."
Charlie notes that James already is learning to swim. He bikes around a circular track near his grandparents' home in Charlotte. And he runs everywhere. When Charlie jokes at dinner one night that the boy might be ready for a World Tri, nobody laughs.
"They were all pretty pissed about that," he says.
Two weeks after returning to the U.S., Charlie combs his hair, wipes the dust off his briefcase and heads out the door. But something isn't right. It's the suit. He hasn't formally buttoned up in more than a year and a half. But today he's heading back to the law firm. He needs the money. There are loans to pay, preschool tuition to save for and health insurance to secure.
His lack of comfort in the situation is yet another example of the constant tension between his two professional lives -- Charlie the adventurer vs. Charlie the lawyer. It's the reason he had that breakdown on Everest and made that emotional phone call to Cate -- whom did she marry, the lawyer or the explorer? The answer, essentially, was Charlie. In an email she sent her husband after he reached the summit, Cate's answers were simple. She wants to continue to live in Charlotte and pursue her writing career. She wants to have another baby. And she wants Charlie to find a lifestyle in which he can be happy and present with his family while happy and inspired by his career. The expensive materialistic nonsense doesn't matter.
As Charlie read the email, he thought back to that $25,000 ring he picked out the day before he left.
"That's Charlie the lawyer," he says. "I thought that if I died, that would be the biggest regret in my life is never getting Catie an engagement ring. And then I almost died and realized how f---ed up and backwards that was. It wasn't what mattered at all. What matters is my physical presence. She needs her husband. She needs her family. She doesn't need a goddamn ring."
When Charlie arrives at the office for his first day back, he's told there isn't work for him. The firm has hired new attorneys and frankly didn't expect him back. Especially this soon. Charlie takes it as a sign, and the two sides agree to meet again after the summer. But more than likely this is the last day for Charlie Wittmack, attorney at law. Sure, he owes $100,000 in bank loans and his $60,000 life savings has vanished, but he now says he would have spent "10 times" that to have the same experience.
"When I look down the road 10 or 20 years, that's the regret," he says. "That I didn't continue to chase that feeling. I know if I practice law I'll definitely never find it again. So I think it's better to chase it. I don't know what it is. And I don't know how we're going to do it. I just know I have to try."
For now, there are plans to write and speak about his experiences on the World Tri. But anyone who knows Charlie knows that will placate him for only so long. After all, this is a man who, less than 24 hours after completing his 12-hour swim of the English Channel and complaining he would never do something so miserable again, told Cate the exact opposite.
"I think I could put on a few pounds and come back here and do it without the wetsuit," he said that night.
No matter how hard he tries, he can't help himself. It's in his DNA. On Everest, Charlie told Brian that he planned to stop climbing and, like famed New Zealander Russell Brice, would start a career planning and managing Everest climbs for others. Brian laughed.
"No way he stays at base camp," Brian said later. "He's got that fire, that addiction. You can put a huge bucket of wet water on it, but it never goes away. The fire always comes back."
Cate knows this. He might not be the same man she met in in that D.C. law firm a decade ago, but he's the man she married. Charlie can promise this or that, he can profess a newfound commitment to being there for his family, but she knows the addiction that breathes inside him. She knows there will be a day in the not-too-distant future when Charlie walks in the house and begins a sentence with, "I have an idea."
"I expect it," she says. "This year, I spent a lot of time thinking how this is it. Forget it. I'm never going to let him do anything like this again. It's the stupidest thing he's ever thought of. I can't believe I went along with this. But now that we're through the process, if he feels he has opportunities to do other types of adventure travel or expeditions, I want to support that. But there will be parameters that very clearly protect our family and his safety."
The day Charlie arrived in Charlotte, he and Cate agreed they wouldn't make any major decisions for six months. They will continue to live with her parents in North Carolina, where James is enrolled in school this fall. But a few days later visiting family and friends back in Iowa, Charlie's bug is back.
"I can't do it," he says. "I've only been in Des Moines for 24 hours and I'm freaking out. I need to find the next thing."
And that's when the ideas start flowing. He talks about heading to Everest next year and completing the run from Calcutta that he quit. He tells the story of driving over the Mississippi River in December and fantasizing about swimming or kayaking the entire 2,320-mile waterway. He mentions the Iditasport Extreme, a 350-mile walk/run/ski/snowshoe/bicycle race that follows part of the path of the famed Iditarod dogsled race.
"I just ordered the bike," he says.
Then he starts talking about a mini World Tri, an American "sprint" version.
"What are the biggest events in the U.S.?" he asks. "The biggest swim is the Manhattan Island swim. And the biggest run is the Badwater Ultramarathon, from the bottom of Death Valley to the top of Mount Whitney, 135 miles. If you connected the two of them with a cross-America bike ride &"
Charlie pauses. He lets his brain further absorb the idea that just came out of his mouth. He smiles.
"And I think the dates line up," he says.
A few weeks later, Charlie's story takes one final twist. And of course it's yet another test of his never-ending quest to find balance between the two Charlies -- dangerous and addictive vs. stable and traditional. "Cate's pregnant," Charlie says.
The baby is due in February. Three months later is the beginning of the next Everest season. So there's no way Charlie will be heading back to the Himalayas, right?
"It's 50-50."
Wayne Drehs is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at email@example.com. You can find his story archive here. Follow him on Twitter: @espnWD.
Follow ESPN_Reader on Twitter: @ESPN_Reader.


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Dozens of angry relatives of passengers on lost Malaysian jetliner MH370 clashed with police officials in Beijing on Tuesday, accusing the Southeast Asian country of delays and deception in probing loss of the airliner.
This move came a day after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Rajik confirmed that the plane crashed in remote seas off Australia.
Nearly 100 relatives and their supporters marched to the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing, where they threw plastic water bottles and tried to rush the gate and also chanted 'Liars', as per news reports.
Family members demanded to speak with the Malaysian ambassador, even though police said he would speak with them at a Beijing hotel where Malaysia Airlines has given briefings on the plane's disappearance.
People wore white T-shirts that read "Let's pray for MH370" as they held banners and shouted, "Tell the truth! Return our relatives!"
A statement on the ministry's website said that Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng told Malaysia's ambassador that China wanted to know exactly what led Najib to announce that the plane had been lost.
The relatives with tear-stained faces, had linked arms and chanted, "Malaysian government has cheated us" and "Malaysia, return our relatives" as they marched peacefully.
A man wearing a shirt with "Pray for MH370" stands behind police outside the Malaysian embassy, during a protest by family members of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines MH370, in Beijing.
Family members of passengers onboard Malaysia Airlines MH370 cry as they shout slogans during a protest in front of the Malaysian embassy in Beijing.
Family members of passengers onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 wait in a bus before heading to the Malaysian Embassy, outside the Lido hotel, in Beijing.
Family members of passengers on board Malaysia Airlines MH370 shout slogans during a protest in front of the Malaysian embassy.
Paramilitary soldiers in anti-riot gear march around the Malaysian embassy while family members of passengers onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 stage a rally in front of the embassy in Beijing.
First-aid medical staff push a relative, of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines MH370, who passed out during a protest outside the Malaysian Embassy.
Protesters hurled water bottles at the embassy and tried to storm the building.
Watch the protest video below:
Below are some tweets about the protest incident:
As #MH370 families protest in Beijing, Malaysia Airlines says the recovery process of plane's wreckage "may be even more complex".
— Janis Mackey Frayer (@janisctv) March 25, 2014
China families, pull banners, broke into the Malaysia Airlines news conference, protest to conceal the truth.
— chinese workers (@yumenyukuaile) March 19, 2014
Cant stop thinking about the victim's family :( China demand more info & There are protest outside MALAYSIA embassy in Beijing
— DANCE ART POP ϟ .▽ (@ApplauseTime) March 25, 2014
Near the Malaysia embassy in Beijing. #MH370 relatives heading here on foot to protest lack of info about flight. pic.twitter.com/Pe5erIjl91
— Janis Mackey Frayer (@janisctv) March 25, 2014
More from Chinese families to Malaysia: "We bring strongest condemnation & protest... & will go after their unforgivable guilt."
— Kyung Lah (@KyungLahCNN) March 24, 2014
Also read: Outrage over 'insensitive' Malaysian airlines text sent to families of MH370 passengers

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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text:
Bike knocks into mine. Steering lock broken.
So a guy on a Husky Sumo knocked into my bike when he slipped on the municipal rail track last rainy Friday and knocked my bike into the car next to it.
The steering lock was engaged, and the force of hitting it broke it so it won't do anything when engaged. At first I figured it might not be a big deal but I think multiple parts might need replacing. Additionally he cracked my headlamp guard off one side (it's the BMW plastic one) and slightly bent a peg.
He said he'd pay for the damage without involving insurance if it was reasonable, but now I'm guessing it could be pretty pricey. WHat do you think? The plastic is gouged and the locking bolt is loose.
The upper fork brace (triple clamp) goes for over $450 alone. Steering lock is $136. It will easily be over $1k in damages with just those two things being broken.
Check out this for price references, then figure in the cost of labor at a minimum of $60 a hour and you are up there in cost.
That looks pricey indeed. If you don't repair it think about the insurance...
I know here in Europe, if your bike gets stolen (knock on wood), the first thing they'll look at, if they find it, is if the steering lock was engaged.
Makes me realize that someone could easily break the steering lock with their foot and hands if they're strong enough.
As far as I know I have no agreement with my insurance company to use the steering lock when the bike is parked, so what's the difference?
I'm taking the bike to the dealer Saturday for a quote.
what I'm telling you is mainly for europe, they get pretty quickly anal about things
Anal in Europe? No way...
Took it to the dealer yesterday, looks like it might even be more expensive than anticipated as one of the fork seals is leaking and there are scratches on the pegs. Though I'd feel silly replacing the pegs just for scratches even though on one hand I feel like i should get the bike back to 100% condition it was in, on the other hand, really? Scratched pegs?
They're gonna need to do a full evaluation regardless to make sure it's got no other damage...I mean I rode it for a few days and it seemed fine but you never know and I totally missed the leaking fork.
good he has insurance :o)
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The Best Moments From Tom and Gisele's Exciting 2012!
Tom Brady Takes His Boys to the Park Following Baby Vivian's Birth
Gisele Bundchen Returns to Boston to Bike With Her Boys
Gisele Bundchen Hits NYC as Tom Brady Hangs at Home With the Boys
Pregnant Gisele Bundchen Packs Up With Jack and Ben
Tom Brady Celebrates a Preseason Win With Jack and Ben
Tom and Pregnant Gisele Kiss and Cuddle With Jack and Ben!
Tom and Gisele Take Their Boys For a Christmas Stroll in Boston
Tom Brady Celebrates the Start of Summer With His Son Jack!
Gisele Has an Adorable Day at the Park With Ben and Jack!
Bridget Moynahan and Boyfriend McG Take Her Son, Jack, Out on Easter
Tom Brady Takes Jack to the Happiest Place on Earth For Birthday Fun


text:
When Steve Met Tracy
Last season, Tracy McGrady promised the city of Houston he would lead the Houston Rockets out of the first round of the NBA playoffs. In the playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, T-Mac showed the kind of drive that Rockets fans had been longing for, but his team ultimately fell short in a heartbreaking game seven. It was hard to blame No. 1 for the loss -- it was his supporting cast that came up short. But hey, that was last season. This week the Rockets open the preseason against the Orlando Magic at the 11th annual Clutch City Classic, which benefits local charities. It's your chance to meet a new cast of characters that could help T-Mac (and Yao Ming) get over the playoff hump. First-round draft pick Luther Head is an athletic freak of nature with a 39-inch vertical. Guard Derek Anderson is a natural scorer. Forward Stromile Swift can run the floor and speed up the fast break. With veterans Juwan Howard and Dikembe Mutombo returning, the Rockets might be this season's team to beat in the West. Our favorite subplot for this game is the showdown between Magic guard Steve Francis and McGrady. Management traded Francis for McGrady last year, and no doubt he has something to prove. (Someone better remind Francis that this is a charity game.) 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 12. 1510 Polk. For tickets, call 713-627-3865 or visit www.rockets.com. $10 to $200. -- Mosi Secret
Swingers Club
Forget nightclubs, bars, bookstores and even grocery stores: Apparently the new place to meet hotties is the tennis court. If you've got game of any kind, don your finest whites and show up weekly at ClubMonkey's Sunday Tennis Mixer. Each mixer/tennis tourney begins with 15 minutes of warm-up followed by three rounds of matches, consisting of either male or female singles, doubles or mixed doubles. Hot-handed swingers accumulate points throughout the season to determine the overall champs. And hey, aside from being crowned the best with a racket, you'll hold court with young, athletic singles, and may just wind up with your very own Anna Kournikova or Andy Roddick. Groups meet at 11 a.m. Sundays at the Houston Racquet Club, 10709 Memorial. For information and registration, call 713-522-0881 or visit www.sportsmonkey.com. $50. -- Steven Devadanam
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text:
Article ID: 816498 - View products that this article applies to.
This article has been archived. It is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.
On This Page
After you install certain Microsoft ASP.NET hotfixes, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002 crashes when you try to access the Macro IDE. For a list of these hotfixes, see the "More information" section of this article.
A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next .NET Framework 1.0 Service Pack 3 or .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1 that contains this hotfix.
To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=supportNote In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.
The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.
Date Time Version Size File Name ----------------------------------------------------- 06-Mar-2003 09:32 7.0.9674.0 352,256 Vsmacros.dll
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
Steps to reproduce the problem
Article ID: 816498 - Last Review: October 26, 2013 - Revision: 3.6


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text:
Creole Basketball Player Marcel
Marcel first caught my eye on an outdoor Waikiki basketball court. His shirt was off, exposing his sweaty light-chocolate skin, and I was immediately taken with his killer ab muscles and tight body. We started talking and Marcel explained that he was in Hawaii on Spring Break vacation from his home in New Orleans. At 22 years old, Marcel is Louisiana French Creole by ancestry and attends college at the state university. Studying to be a Physical The******, his love of anything physical is apparent by the beautiful body that is the result of both basketball and the gym. This is one sexy boy, and he knows it, but he still has a completely friendly open attitude. Marcel was intrigued by the idea of posing for our cameras, and later admitted to being a
Website: CLICK HERE
Added: 30 Jun 11
Tags: amateur, straight, cum, naked, outdoors, stud, black, athlete, bare, real, nude, hard, french, african, voyeur, nudist, hardon, island, working, basketball, islandstuds, islandstud, creole.
Views: 24557


text:
Trying to find more information about the wife of
Francesco Gorga
Birth 1856 in Italy
Arrival ~1886 (actually he had several arrival dates)
Death 6 May 1936 (NY?)
I believe her name was Teresa, she is the only great great grandparent I don't have a last name for.
Had several kids: Anthony, Carmela, Rose, Thomas, Domnick, Joseph. Rose was my great grandmother (1904 to 2002).
Actually if anyone can find Francesco's parents that would also help.
Carmine Borelli
Birth Feb 1866 (location unknown)
Marriage 1896 Celestina D'Arconti (born ~1868, Italy) in Manhattan
Father: Michele Borelli, no other knowledge
Mother: Lantie (?), no other knowledge
I have no knowledge of these two past what I posted. I would love parents names if possible.
Ciro D'Arconti
Birth 1847 Feb Italy
Marriage to Giuseppina Frasuna 1860
Arrival 1890
Giuseppina Frasuna
Birth 1844 Jun Italy
Marriage to Ciro D'Arconti 1860


text:
Jabee ft. King Mez & Carlitta Durand - Better
Artist: Jabee
Featuring: King Mez, Carlitta Durand
Producer: Comission Gordon
Album: None (Promo Single)
Avg Rating: 3.7 ( 11 votes )
Did you enjoy Go and Tell 'Em (Remix), Blood and A Blessing, the previous solo features from Jabee? Well, I've got good news: his latest promo single is "Better." OK, that's just the title – but, with the obligatory dumb joke out of the way, it's also an excellent track in its own right. Here, The Paraplegics beatsmith Commissioner Gordon's bluesy, electric-guitar-laced production sets the stage for verses which find the Oklahoma City native, along with North Carolina-based reader favorite King Mez, reflecting on growth, self-improvement, and what truly constitutes maturity. Carlitta Durand, the rising soul songstress recently heard on Chaundon's Y'all Don't Want It rounds out the lineup, reminding us that learning from mistakes is the key to self-improvement on the chorus. Though Jabee's acknowledges that he "still act[s] like [he] did at age 10 sometimes," it's clear that he's headed down the right path. This track isn't set for inclusion on any forthcoming project, but those who like what they're hearing should keep it locked for the latest from this talented up-and-comer.
Written by richard on Jul 11, 2010
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INDIANAPOLIS — "It's not something you expect to hear when you come from small-town Columbia City where it's so quiet."
Anna Prickett, 23, a Columbia City High School graduate was less than two miles away from the explosion in Indianapolis that killed two people and rendered entire blocks uninhabitable.
"The blast was so loud," Prickett said. "And the power sent a rush of air through our apartment windows, strong enough to blow the blinds up and rattle items in the kichen.
"My first thought was thunder, but the blast of air didn't make sense."
SOUTH WHITLEY — Whitko's girls basketball team faced its second Whitley County rival in two days Saturday.
The Lady Wildcats fell to the Columbia City Lady Eagles Friday, but defeated Churubusco's Lady Eagles 28-23 Saturday in a breast cancer fundraising event.
Whitko is back in action Saturday at Southern Wells and Churubusco hosts Lakeland Christian Tuesday.
After Whitley County experienced sun and temperatures in the 60s this weekend, snow flakes are falling. At approximately 9:19 a.m., the National Weather Service confirmed precipitation for the area in the form of snow.
Tomorrow's forecast shows sunny skies and a high of 39 degrees.
Judith Hosler, age 85, of Columbia City, passed away at 2:45 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012, at the Heritage, Huntington.
Born on May 24, 1927, in Noble County, she was the daughter of Reverend Valmont and F. Beryl (Weeks) Fry.
She has lived in Whitley County her entire life and attended Columbia City High School for 10 years and received her GED later in life.
On January 12, 1947, she married Kenneth C. Hosler in Columbia City. She worked at Blue Bell and Columbia Products, Columbia City, before she and her husband opened Hosler's TV Store.
Martha J. Reid, 76, of Columbia City, died at 11:50 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012, at Visiting Nurse & Hospice Home in Fort Wayne where she was admitted on Friday.
She was born Dec. 27, 1935, in Wolf Lake, a daughter of Thomas H. and Helen E. (Cole) Carter. Her lifetime was spent in Whitley County and Pierceton, for 16 years, where she completed her education.
On July 19, 1952, she was united in marriage to Robert J. Reid. In 1959, they moved to their home on Loon Lake. Mr. Reid died July 19, 1994. Since August 1995, Martha has made her home in Columbia City.
See Monday's Edition of The Post & Mail for coverage from Columbia City' Veterans Marathon!
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A massive explosion sparked a huge fire and killed two people in an Indianapolis neighborhood where about three dozen homes were damaged or destroyed, authorities said Sunday. The powerful nighttime blast shattered windows, crumpled walls and could be felt at least three miles away.
The strong southerly winds will increase Whitley County temperatures to around 70 degrees Sunday afternoon.
A cold front passing through late this evening will bring with it steadily dropping temperatures and precipitation -- including possible snow showers Monday afternoon.
COLUMBIA CITY — As the holidays draw near, alcohol-related arrests are on the rise.
But this is no surprise to police, as the Whitley County Sheriff's Department saw a 58 percent increase in drunk driving arrests in 2011, and 33 percent in 2011 during the holiday months.
"I don't know what to attribute that to, but it's pretty staggering," WCSD Chief Deputy Marcus Gatton said. "It could be because of extra time off for the holidays or due to the holidays in general."
Gatton said the county also has an increase in suicide attempts in November and December.
COLUMBIA CITY — After five year of planning, Indian Springs Middle School has submitted a new crisis plan.
"We've always submitted a plan each year, but this is a new plan that we may only have to tweak from time to time in the future," said Indian Springs Middle School Principal Jan Boylen.
According to Boylen, the plan was a collaborative effort on the part of many people at ISMS throughout several years.
"Assistant Principal Michelle Urban, head custodian Bill Helm and school nurse Kandy Gay did a lot of work on this," said Boylen.


text:
Creative Labs Annihilator 2 Review - Blaster Control 4.01
So what sets the Annihilator2 apart from other GeForce2 GTS based cards? Besides the price?
The Drivers. Blaster Control has one of the slickest interfaces I've come across. It all starts at the Windows taskbar where you are graced with the little tee-pee icon from Creative Labs. Right clicking on the icon brings up the following options menu:
Blaster Control
Here you will find all of the typical controls, such as desktop resolution and screen saver preferences. You may notice the Manage Shortcuts at the top of the menu. When you launch an application, Blaster Control will change your desktop settings accordingly. Pull up that giant spreadsheet and the software will set your desktop resolution to 1600x1200 to view the whole thing. Close the program and you go back to your default settings.
You can modify refresh rates, monitor settings, desktop resolutions and activate the virtual desktop. For those of you without experience with a virtual desktop, your actual workspace is larger than your desktop resolution. By panning the desktop, you can increase your effective work area when cutting and pasting together your Annihilator2 review. These drivers are geared towards the average user and not the rabid overclocked my toaster gamer.
Now for the fun stuff. I've included several screenshots of the Blaster Control interface. All of the full-size screenshots can be navigated in a new browser window by clicking on the image below.
Blaster Control Display Center
This is the Blaster Control Display Center. You have access to various settings for tweaking, running diagnostics, checking system information, and even a utility to check for updated drivers. Here's a sample from the Tweak Center:
Blaster Control - Tweak Center
The screenshot shows one of the GeForce2 tweak applets. Here comes my only beef with Blaster Control - no core clock adjustments. However, there is a memory clock slider, which can help boost performance quite a bit. Blaster Control allows you to clock the memory up to 366MHz, which is a fairly hefty gain.
Blaster Control - OpenGL
This screenshot is from an OpenGL control applet. Notice that Blaster Control has full scene anti-aliasing as an option, but you'll have to change registry settings to up the quality from 2X sample to 4X sample. The folks at Creative and NVIDIA say that a new interface featuring full FSAA tweakability is on the way.
Blaster Control - Diagnostics
The Blaster Control also includes a Diagnostics section which can be used to verify driver version numbers and check the system for potential incompatibilities. From the diagnostics screenshot, you may notice the AGP Transfer mode defaulted to AGP 1X.
From what I understand, Creative defaults the setting to AGP 1X to insure stability on first install. Following a successful install, the setting can be cranked up to 2X or 4X depending on supported AGP modes on the motherboard. Certain types of Athlon motherboards still require the AGP 1X setting, and I don't blame Creative for making the first install a compatibilty mode. If anyone out there with an Annihilator2 installed straight to AGP 2X, let me know.
Blaster Control - OpenGL Diagnostics
In these two Diagnostics screenshots, you see the driver version numbers. This info is handy when troubleshooting. In my opinion, Creative supports users more than any other card maker and offers technical support in the Creative Labs Annihilator newsgroups. Bill Ball and his cronies are a wealth of info, and deserve notice.
Next Page: FastTrax


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29 year old woman | Addison, TX, USA | Seeking men 26-32 within 20 miles
Been here in the Dallas area for almost a year now. I'm laid back and enjoy the simple things in life like listening to some music, relaxing at home with my dog, laughing (sense of humor is a must with me), playing xbox, fishing, walks/hikes, watching movies/some tv, and some sports/leisure activities. I'm not a fan of night clubs/parties, karaoke/singing, dancing, or material things. Cutting to the chase, to all the short or unemployed guys... I'm not interested! I'm open to all races and of course I am very Fourtwentyfriendly. Also if you dont have a pic, don't bother!
Camping , Dining out , Fishing/Hunting , Movies/Videos , Museums and art , Exploring new areas , Performing arts , Playing sports , Travel/Sightseeing , Video games , Watching sports
I have one Chocolate Labrador and two Dalmatian Mollies (fish).
I'm yet to find my favorite places here in the area or out if the country for that matter!
Movies: action, comedy, mystery, thriller. Music: hip-hop/rap, r and b. Food: American, Chinese, Italian.
I'll try most things as long as it's fun and/or not deathly boring.
Z{{Cta}} {{#if HasMoreInfo}} ?{{CtaSecondary}} {{/if}}
|What she is looking for
|6'0" (182cms)
|6'0" (182cms) to 7'0" (213cms)
|Body type:
|A few extra pounds
|No preference
|No preference
|No preference
|I'll tell you later
|No Way, Occasionally, Yes, but trying to quit
|Social Drinker
|Social Drinker, Moderately
|Other profession
|Administrative / Secretarial, Executive / Management, Labor / Construction, Legal, Medical / Dental / Veterinary / Fitness, Political / Govt / Civil Service / Military, Retail / Food services, Retired, Technical / Science / Computers / Engineering, Travel / Hospitality / Transportation, Other profession, Law enforcement / Security / Military, Architecture / Interior design
|I'll tell you later
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|Never Married
|Never Married, Divorced
|Have kids:
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BERKELEY, Calif. - Sophomore Ryan Stanger talks about his evolution from a redshirt freshman to a starting senior. He comments on his play and the adjustments he has made in his game over the course of the season in an effort to improve. Stanger also comments on the upcoming USC game.


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Twitter Bootstrap
Now, if this seems like a lot of work just to get started with LESS, you're right. And in general, you probably won't want to start off adjusting the source LESS files, but rather just playing with the resulting CSS classes and other goodies Bootstrap provides. To do that, you simply can take a snapshot of the compiled CSS files created by LESS. One quick-and-dirty way to do this is to grab the CSS file that came with the Bootstrap documentation; although you won't be able to change things in the LESS source, it's good enough for beginning purposes. Just look in docs/assets/css/bootstrap.css, and copy that into your Web project.
A middle ground, which allows you to customize things easily but doesn't require that you install and use the LESS compiler each time, is to use the Bootstrap configure-and-download functionality, from the Bootstrap home page. Enter the colors and basic design paradigms you want to use, and you'll get a custom CSS file delivered to your browser.
Using Bootstrap
In every case except for the in-browser LESS compiler, you always will end up with a CSS file, typically named bootstrap.css. This file should be placed, not surprisingly, alongside your other CSS files, and then incorporated into your HTML file in the standard way:
<link href="/bootstrap.css" media="all"
↪rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>
If you fire up your HTML file with just that, you'll see...well, almost nothing. A little bit has changed, namely the default fonts and margins (which probably have disappeared). But for the most part, you really haven't changed anything, and there aren't any obvious benefits. That's because Bootstrap is an à la carte system, in which you can take any or all of it, depending on your interests and needs.
That said, one thing that you'll almost certainly want to do is add a div tag with the "container" class immediately within your body tag, as follows:
<!DOCTYPE html>

<link href="bootstrap.css" media="all" rel="stylesheet"
↪type="text/css" />

Body 2

Thing One

Thing Two

Thing Three

If your system is like mine, you'll see that the contents have shifted over to the right, with a large left-hand margin. Actually, the size of the margin depends on the width of your browser. By using a div within the body, the width of that div can stay relatively stable, even as the browser width changes around it.
Now, things truly become interesting when you start to divide your file into separate rows. You see, Twitter Bootstrap provides you with a grid—meaning that you divide your text into rows, and that each row consists of content, each of which consumes a certain number of columns. Bootstrap uses a 12-column grid, meaning that within any row, you can mix and match text using any combination of 12 columns. You indicate how many columns wide something should be by assigning a class of "spanN" to your HTML element, where N is a number between 1 and 12, inclusive.
For example, you can have a wide paragraph as follows:

Wide paragraph. Very wide paragraph.
Super-duper wide paragraph. Fill the screen's width paragraph.
Use lots of text to fill the screen's width paragraph.

Reuven M. Lerner, Linux Journal Senior Columnist, a longtime Web developer, consultant and trainer, is completing his PhD in learning sciences at Northwestern University.
Bootstrap is awesome. I've been using it for various projects but my favorite by far is to create mobile websites with Bootstraps fluid design. In fact, Bootstrap has been gaining quite the popularity recently and there's even a website for all sorts of bootstrap resources. What makes me love bootstrap is it's simplicity. You only have to specify a few classes to get the website looking the way you like it, the rest is already done for you.
Everybody got lazy!
Twitter Bootstrap is a wonderful tool and it help developing sites really faster.
The problem of Bootstrap is that it seems to have made everybody lazy: I'm really tired of seing sites with the same look over and over.
To try to solve this issue, I made a themer for it: http://bootswatcher.com.
I hope it helps to get back people's creativity...
Not just for CSS challenged
Bootstrap is great even for those who aren't CSS challenged. Every good web developer uses some predefined CSS to set sane base fonts, even out browser inconsistencies and provide necessary utility classes (like clearfix).
Bootstrap not only provides this but using less, you can set some variables and customize the look and feel quickly and easily so your page doesn't look exactly like every other Bootstrap page ever created.
I wish they'd convert their icons to a web font (see Font Awesome for a great implementation of this). I also wish it was a little friendlier with jQuery UI (I want Bootstrap look & feel buttons with jquery's .button() function to provide better functionality).
minor nits...
should be explicit; npm -g install less
less prefers to go into a global install, but for demo purposes, as this blog, it's best to specify... also, in windows "global" is per user, not per system.
There are also server plugins that will do less compilation (and caching of compiled files for you). And they are available for a number of frameworks as well (if you're using RoR, Express, IIS, Apache, etc..) I've gotten it plugged into a couple of web projects with Visual Studio, as well as in deployment scripts.
It's a really nice starting point for new web projects, and imho a lot cleaner than using say jQuery Mobile or jQuery UI for an application base... There is definitely not a kitchen sink approach with makes it flexible... Here's a site that I've been working on using it recently.
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text: I am wishing for Spring. So I decided to create a little Easter printable and share it with you! I've created six different color combinations for you! If you want to print these on 8 1/2 x 11 sheets on your home printer, I've created a PDF of all of the color combinations you can put in an 8x10 frame -- just print the color(s) you like and trim to fit! Right-click here and choose … [Read more...]


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Navigating with GPS and other means?
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"the Fathometer, showed me to be in the center of the bayou."
That's interesting. Here I thought a GPS showed *position* while a fathometer only showed depth of water under you.
It isn't that one or the other is necessarily wrong, they can both be "right" and still be in total disagreement. The question is, what is the GPS position based on (datum and accuracy) and what is the fathometer based on? (Presumably "showing" your position by depth matchig a surveyed depth on some chart, again with datum and age to be considered.
The GPS accuracy is usually excellent, the problem is the geocoding, matching up that position to where things have been put on a chart. In an area where I haven't actually been there and "done the ground conformation" I have to allow for the GPS position possibly being off 1/2 mile or more, because I've experienced that and I know the limits of the MAPPING as well as the GPS.
I've also been diving in a channel well surveyed and marked at 40' to bottom, and seen 80+ feet and descending on a depth gauge. Depths change too!
So like a good pilot I trust my instruments--but as Bush and Mao and many others have said, "Trust but verify". I look up, I see the sun against a blue-ish sky and a certain size, so my circle of position starts as "probably on earth" and gets refined from there. Although some days....
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Mon-Fri: 7am-1am EST / Sat-Sun: 7am-11pm EST
ApplianceAmana Dryer
Level of DifficultyReally easy
Time to do repair30 - 60 mins
Age of ApplianceMore than 10 years
1 out of 1 people found this instruction helpful
The repair went very well. The parts were a perfect fit and arrived earlier than expected.It took a little longer than it should have to do the repair because of my recent surgery I had my 11 year old grandson operating the nut driver taking the dryer apart install the parts then reassemble under my watch full eye. You could say it went so easy a fifth grader could do it.
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Bahati Nsaba Schyns
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Springfield arms as a company
I have a new XD S..first time at the range it was pinching my trigger finger near the guard....I fired another shooters XD s and did not have the problem...the range officer and 2 others had the same finger problem with my gun,
I called SPRINGFIELD and they e mailed a FEDEX label to return the gun
I received the gun back yesterday (less than 2 weeks total time) and dry firing it seems to be OK...I'll have it at the range on tuesday.
My point is that they replaced the trigger assembly, and paid for shipping BOTH ways.
This is how a GOOD company operates....
Best service I've ever had with a shooting sport related company is from Springfield. That's saying a lot when you consider the legendary service people get from RCBS and Dillon.
Their guns are good, but their service is even better.
thats one reason i have two XD pistols...
great company!!!
Springfield Armory has the best customer service in the industry hands down.
Springfield CS is top notch.
I had feeding issues with two 7 round magazines I bought from Top Gun Supply. I phones SA, explained the problem, told them where I bought the mags and SA emailed me a mailer to return the 7 rounders to them at their expense.
They Fed Ex'd me two new XDs 7 round magazines at their expense.
IMO, outstanding service.
Good to know. I only have one SA right now, an XDS .45, but I plan on buying an XDS in 9mm as soon as they become available.
Very good to hear. I hope it works well at the range.
I will also agree with others and say that Springfield Armory has the best customer service of all the firearm manufacturers I have dealt with. They have sent out parts for me no questions asked a couple times and I received the parts with two days both times. I was impressed.
Hope to read that the problem has gone away when you shoot it.
they do have great service as everyone here states,and generally good to excellent quality products. however, if the guns were right to begin with you would not need CS.
SA is a glorified import house with product built overseas that charges prices comparable to those for American built products. All while putting out deceptive advertising that conceals the fact nothing they make is entirely American made.
If they said look at all our great quality Brazilian and Croatian made product I would be 100 % for them.
when they did things in the past like putting the imbel brazil stamp on the bottom of the dust cover of a 1911 where few will notice while marketing the "oldest name in American Firearms" they put a bad taste in my mouth.
The TGO1 is arguably the best 1911 in it's price range, and Springfield's service is second to none.
PM me if you want to know how Nighthawk handled the same issue.
AS A COMPANY..... is what I was referring...
No matter where the guns are made....they stand behind their products.
Hey Daka... after reading your post I know you're referring to Springfield Armory, Inc.
But there actually was a Springfield Arms Co. back in the 30's that used to make affordable smallbore rifles and shotguns. They were acquired by J. Stevens Company and eventually Savage Arms.
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Oscar winner Cliff Robertson, 88, dies; born in La Jolla
Actor went to school here and once owned the historic La Jolla Philip Barber house.
Robertson had created a string of impressive performances in television and on Broadway, but always saw his role played in films by bigger names. His TV performances in "Days of Wine and Roses" and "The Hustler," for example, were filmed with Jack Lemmon and Paul Newman, respectively. Robertson's role in Tennessee Williams' play "Orpheus Descending" was awarded to Marlon Brando in the movie.
Robertson first appeared in the "Charly" story in a TV version, "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon." Both were based on "Flowers for Algernon," a short story that author Daniel Keyes later revised into a novel. Robertson was determined that this time the big-screen role would not go to another actor.
"I bought the movie rights to the show, and I tried for eight years to persuade a studio to make it," he said in 1968. "Finally I found a new company, ABC Films. I owned 50 percent of the gross, but I gave half of it to Ralph Nelson to direct."
Critic Roger Ebert called Robertson's portrayal "a sensitive, believable one." The motion picture academy agreed, though Robertson was unable to get a break from an overseas movie shoot and was not on hand when his Oscar was announced.
Portraying Kennedy in "PT-109," presented other challenges. The president warned Robertson he didn't want someone trying to imitate his distinctive New England accent.
"That was fine with me," the actor commented in 1963. "I think it would have been a mistake for me to say 'Hahvahd' or try to reproduce gestures. Then the audience would have been constantly aware that an actor was impersonating the president."
He added that the film obviously couldn't be done with heroics, "like Errol Flynn gunning down 30 of the enemy. This young naval officer just does things because they have to be done."
"PT-109" was plagued with problems from the start: script changes, switch of directors, bad weather, snakes and mosquitoes in the Florida Keys where it was filmed.
The troubles were evident on the screen, and critics roundly rapped the film, although Robertson's work won praise.
In 1977, Robertson made the headlines again, this time by blowing the whistle on a Hollywood financial scandal.
He had discovered that David Begelman, president of Columbia Pictures, had forged his signature on a $10,000 salary check, and he called the FBI and the Burbank and Beverly Hills police departments. Hollywood insiders were not happy with the ugly publicity.
"I got phone calls from powerful people who said, 'You've been very fortunate in this business; I'm sure you wouldn't want all this to come to an end,'" Robertson recalled in 1984.
Begelman served time for embezzlement, but he returned to the film business. He committed suicide in 1995.
Robertson said neither the studios nor the networks would hire him for four years.
He supported himself as a spokesman for AT&T until the drought ended in 1981 when he was hired by MGM for "Brainstorm," Natalie Wood's final film.
Robertson studied briefly at Antioch College, majoring in journalism, then returned to California and appeared in two small roles in Hollywood movies. Rejected by the services in World War II because of a weak eye, he served in the Merchant Marine.


text:
This section contains 253 words
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Critical Review by Michael E. Ross
SOURCE: A review of Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie, in The New York Times Book Review, October 23, 1994, p. 18.
In the following review, Ross praises Thompson's style but complains that his Better Than Sex is too disjointed.
In Better Than Sex, Hunter S. Thompson has assembled a collection of mash notes—faxes to George Stephanopoulos, James Carville and others in the Clinton inner circle, missives that suggest Mr. Thompson's involvement in the Clinton Presidential campaign went beyond that of a mere observer. Mr. Thompson offers pointers on strategy and policy, even instructsthe candidate on speaking properly. Mr. Thompson is back in the form we've come to know and love (or at least tolerate), firing at the usual targets, from George Bush and James Baker 3d, the former Secretary of State, to Mr. Thompson's nemesis, Richard M. Nixon, who died just before the book was finished (but not before Mr. Thompson worked up a remembrance that may be charitably described as uncharitable). Such shooting from the hip is Mr. Thompson's forte; what disappoints in this book is its disjointedness. Better Than Sex reads like a hodgepodge, a series of dispatches hurriedly lashed together. But in his own cracked, inimitable style, Mr. Thompson proves to be an upbeat Jeremiah, a civic-minded curmudgeon. "It is a very elegant feeling," he writes, "to wake up in the morning and go down to your neighborhood polling place and come away feeling proud of the way you voted." Spoken like true patriot.
This section contains 253 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page)


text:
Tag Archives: Randall Cobb
2011 NFL Draft Preview – Wide Receiver Prospects
The 2011 NFL draft is set for Thursday April 28 through Saturday April 30. It will be held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City with the first round on Thursday night, the second and third rounds on Friday night, and rounds four through seven taking place on Saturday afternoon.Earlier this year over 300 of the nation's top college prospects partic.....
College Football Week 9 Recap, News, and Notes
The 2010 NCAA football betting campaign wrapped up its ninth week of play on Saturday night. Here at Bang the Book, we've got you covered for all of the most important news and notes from Week 9 college football betting action! Worthy Top Teams: For the first time in four weeks, the top teams in the country did what they had to do and bounced inferior teams,.....


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- Platforms: PS2, PS3
- Developer: Sony
- Publisher: Sony
- Genre: Music
- VN:F [1.9.22_1171]User Score: 0 votes
- Add to MyGames
For a number of years now, voice recognition-style software has been a singer's best friend, putting them in tune during post-production and thus helping to convince the music-buying public that the likes of Victoria Beckham can actually sing. Well, the devious minds at Sony London have had other plans and, rather than helping the world's vocalists, are now using similar technology to judge them. The result is SingStar – a karaoke-style Bemani affair that gives you the opportunity to sing along to a host of popular tunes, whilst at the same time acting as your very own virtual Simon Cowell and assessing your performance
No News has been linked to this game.
Everyone looking for a party game, look no further, because Singstar will keep you busy for days on end.
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Two piece AU make their way through Birmingham from Portland, Oregon. The band is an array of electronic psychedelia mixed with what sounds like an orchestra somehow condensed into a two man indie rock band.
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From the Good Food Awards: French Onion Soup with Coffee
Jen Apodaca, Blue Bottle Coffee's West Coast Production Manager, shares a new way to use coffee in the kitchen: French onion soup.Read More »
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Exceptions: Dress must be shown on a website that is a US based authorized retailer of the dress. Offer is not valid if the dress is shown as "sale", "clearance", "special", or an auction site. Shipping charges will be considered when looking at lower price. This offer cannot be used with any other discount, coupon, or special offer. Site must have item in stock in size and color that you are ordering available for immediate shipping. Special Order Items do not apply. Jovani products are excluded from any price match starting 9/26/2013.
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Birasandra, a sleepy village in Devanahalli taluk, did not have drinking water supply about a decade ago. The women folk of the village had to fetch water from a pond located about one-and-half km away. As the pond water was not potable, a Dalit lady started fetching drinking water from the borewell of a nearby farm along with a few other women.
But the farm owner, who came to know about it, shouted at her and turned her back as he was not ready to part with the water meant for his crops.
This incident changed the lives of womenfolk of this village comprising mostly small and marginal farmers. Because that Dalit woman, who faced such an insult, went on to become the Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat president, a post which has the status of a Minister of State.
"I have got a borewell drilled in my village to provide drinking water . Because, I know the importance of the borewell to womenfolk as I myself had carried water from one and half km for years together," recalls 38-year-old Shantamma Maddurappa, who served the 20-month term as ZP president from 2006 to 2008.
"Of course, I have got more than 2,000 borewells drilled in the entire zilla panchayat area comprising eight taluks besides taking up 100 to 200 mini water supply schemes to relieve women of the ordeal of fetching water from distant areas," she told The Hindu.
The political career of Ms. Shantamma, who has passed her SSLC, began with her election as Devanahalli Taluk Panchayat member in 1995. She also became its president in the first term itself. "My contest was unexpected as suddenly everybody wanted me to file nomination from the seat reserved for Dalits." Soon after the election, she underwent a short-term training at the Administrative Training College in Mysore on the working of panchayat raj institutions which gave her confidence.
She was elected as the zilla panchayat member in 2006 and also became its president. Becoming zilla panchayat president changed the life for her in terms of confidence and administrative skills as she had to work with IAS officers and also interact with Ministers. "In the beginning, I was nervous and I did not even know a bit of English. I began by asking the IAS officers to speak and also issue orders only in Kannada so that I could understand what they are doing," she says.
She says her experience has taught her that good politics is all about taking everybody, including the opponents, together. "This is the main reason for my success," she remarks. She brought out the multi-tasking abilities of a typical Indian woman when she functioned as zilla panchayat president and did household chores without a domestic help.
Keywords: Zeal to excel


text:
Couch Potatoes at Risk for Heart Problems
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Spending more than two hours a day in front of a TV or computer seems to dramatically increase the risk for heart disease and premature death from any cause, perhaps even regardless of how much exercise one gets, according to a new study.
The study was the first to examine the association between screen time and non-fatal as well as fatal cardiovascular events. It suggests metabolic factors and inflammation may partly explain the link between prolonged sitting and the risks to heart health.
"People who spend excessive amounts of time in front of a screen — primarily watching TV — are more likely to die of any cause and suffer heart-related problems," Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD, MSc, from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University College London, United Kingdom, was quoted as saying. "Our analysis suggests that two or more hours of screen time each day may place someone at greater risk for a cardiac event."
Compared with those spending less than two hours a day on screen-based entertainment, there was a 48-percent increased risk of all-cause mortality in those spending four or more hours a day and an approximately 125-percent increase in risk of cardiovascular events in those spending two or more hours a day.
"It is all a matter of habit. Many of us have learned to go back home, turn the TV set on and sit down for several hours. It's convenient and easy to do, but doing so is bad for the heart and our health in general," said Dr. Stamatakis. "And according to what we know so far, these health risks may not be mitigated by exercise, a finding that underscores the urgent need for public health recommendations to include guidelines for limiting recreational sitting and other sedentary behaviors, in addition to improving physical activity."
Dr. Stamatakis says the next step will be to try to uncover what prolonged sitting does to the human body in the short- and long-term, whether and how exercise can mitigate these consequences, and how to alter lifestyles to reduce sitting and increase movement and exercise.
SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, published online January 10, 2010


text:
Brake organises 2Young2Die competition
The road safety charity Brake is running a national road safety competition aimed at young people aged 11-25 years.
The competition, which is part of Brake's 2Young2Die campaign, aims to involve young people with road safety and empower them to make a difference to the attitudes and behaviour of their peers.
The competition challenges young people to form a group to promote the 2Young2Die campaign in their school, college or community group.
In order to participate, the group must do two things. First, organise a road safety event in their area, such as arranging a photo call for the local media or creating a road safety commercial; second, they must run a fundraising event for Brake.
The competition runs until April 2010.
Click here for further information or call Brake on 01484 530085.
Comment on this story
Report a reader comment
Road Safety GB is the voice of, not just road safety, but that of local government practitioners. Brake is continually being discredited by knowledgeable commentators for its extravagant and often insupportable statements, not to mention its disregard for road safety officers working in local authorities. I recall our North West Section being particularly offended in the past by this organisation. Please note, that in the above initiative the second requirement is to have a fund raising activity for Brake. I urge colleagues not to get involved with this scheme.
Roy Buchanan, Principal Road Safety Officer, Sutton
UN Global Road Safety Week 2015
4-10 May 2015: what happened here in the UK?
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Ethiopia is a very diverse country. In Ethiopia more than 80 languages are spoken. There are more than 80 nationalities and thus follow the number in variety of Ethiopian music. In EthioG.com, We invite you to share about anything that has to do with Ethiopian Music on our ETHIOPIAN MUSIC BLOG. Let's make EthioG.com a place where we share what we know about Ethiopia.
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