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Champions Oncology Names Angela Davies, M.D., Chief Medical Officer
HACKENSACK, N.J., Jan. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ – Champions Oncology (OTC: CSBR), a company engaged in the development of advanced technology solutions and services to personalize the development and use of oncology drugs, today announced the appointment of Angela Davies, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Davies has demonstrated leadership and success in both academic clinical practice and as an executive in the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she was Chief Medical Officer of OSI Pharmaceuticals where she led the clinical development program for Tarceva® (erlotinib), as well as other pipeline products, until the company's acquisition by Astellas Pharma. Earlier in her career she was an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Davis, where she practiced as a medical oncologist and was a principal investigator on NCI sponsored and investigator initiated clinical trials, specializing in thoracic malignancies and development therapeutics.
"Dr. Davies' blend of expertise will enable Champions Oncology to strengthen our relationships with pharmaceutical companies looking to improve drug discovery efforts as well as practicing oncologists seeking new treatment options for patients," said Ronnie Morris, M.D., President of Champions Oncology. "Her unique perspective is a great asset to Champions Oncology and we are pleased to have her join the team."
"As a practicing oncologist, I saw many patients with limited treatment options and highly aggressive cancers that left little time to test therapies," added Dr. Davies. "The ability to evaluate potential treatments with no risk to the patient and in a model highly correlative to the patient's own tumor would have been a great tool for my practice. I look forward to advancing this technology to enable oncologists, patients and drug developers, to benefit from this approach."
Dr. Davies most recently served as Chief Medical Officer of Novocure, where she was responsible for the company's global clinical development and medical safety programs, and worked closely with the Global Commercialization Team in launching a newly approved medical device for the primary brain tumor, recurrent glioblastoma. During her tenure at OSI, Dr. Davies was adjunct clinical faculty at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. With her move to the east coast, Dr. Davies will continue clinical practice as adjunct clinical faculty at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven. Dr. Davies has authored or co-authored more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals and books and more than 45 abstracts for scientific meetings. She has also held various positions of leadership in the oncology community, including a position on ASCO's Scientific Committee on thoracic malignancies as well as a position on the editorial board of Clinical Lung Cancer. Dr. Davies obtained her medical degree at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, and her internal medicine and medical oncology training at the University of Toronto and McMaster University.
About Champions Oncology
Champions Oncology, Inc. is engaged in the development of advanced technology solutions and services to personalize the development and use of oncology drugs. The company's TumorGraft(TM) technology platform is a novel approach to personalizing cancer care based upon the implantation of primary human tumors in immune deficient mice followed by propagation of the resulting engraftments, or TumorGrafts, in a manner that preserves the biological characteristics of the original human tumor in order to determine the efficacy of a treatment regimen. The company uses this technology in conjunction with related services to offer solutions for two customer groups: Personalized Oncology Solutions, in which results help guide the development of personalized treatment plans, and Translational Oncology Solutions, in which pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking personalized approaches to drug development can lower the cost and increase the speed of developing new drugs. TumorGrafts are procured through agreements with a number of institutions in the United States and overseas as well as through the company's Personalized Oncology Solutions business. For more information, please visit www.championsoncology.com.
SOURCE Champions Oncology

subset: commoncrawl


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Chief financial officers in the U.S. say they anticipate their spending on technology and hiring will increase by 7% during the next year, a Baruch College survey found. A fifth of respondents said they expect profits to increase during the next year, while 11% said they expect to see revenues increase and 53% said they expect higher taxes.
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Sunningdale Golf Club
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+44 1344 62 1681
Enjoy a challenging game at this breathtaking golf course. One of UK"s top courses, the Sunningdale Golf Course was built in 1900 and follows a rich heritage of sport. Visitors here can enjoy their game and get lost in the tranquility of the greens that engulf them. The Club includes two course namely the Old Course and the New Course built in different styles yet both providing excellent opportunities to perfect one's game. For more information and green fees contact the course or take a look round their website.
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text: No recent wiki edits to this page. Full name: Nagi KirishimaVoiced by: Erica AshAge: ?Nationality: JapaneseBeast form: Spurious (means "imitation")Height: ??cmWeight: ??kgOccupation: unknownRelationships: Yugo (friend)After encountering Xion, the Unborn, Nagi is stabbed by his blade. Instead of dying, she manages to absorb some of the traits to enable her to beastorize into an unborn (incomplete). Unfortunately, Xion is able to manipulate her to kill Ryoho, the dragon.


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The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic
|This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (August 2008)
|Sophie Kinsella
|United Kingdom
|Comedy, Chick lit
|Followed by
|Shopaholic Abroad
The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (2000) (Confessions of a Shopaholic in the United States and India) is the first in the popular Shopaholic series. It is a chick-lit novel by Sophie Kinsella, a pen-name of Madeleine Wickham. It focuses on the main character Rebecca (Becky) Bloomwood, a financial journalist, who is in a serious amount of debt through her shopping addiction.
Plot summary[edit]
|This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (April 2013)
Rebecca Bloomwood lives in a flat in fashionable Fulham, London, that is owned by her best friend Suze's wealthy, aristocratic parents.[1][dead link] Becky works as a financial journalist for the magazine Successful Savings, that is a job that Becky dislikes. She says that no one who works there is very excited about and that they all say they have just "fell into", while in fact being unable to get better jobs.[1] The job bores her. Becky admits to actually knowing very little about personal finance as she is thousands of pounds in debt as is evidenced by a run through of her Visa card bill. She becomes deeper in debt by uncontrollably spending on designer homeware, clothes and beauty products.[2][dead link] The book emphasises that her cycle of debt is not easily broken, as, even as she is thousands of pounds in debt, Becky still receives letters offering her credit and department store cards.[1] She often rationalises her overspending,[1] for instance by referring to items as an 'investment' or necessary. Unfortunately for Becky, she considers things such as birthday presents for her friends as necessary.
On her way to a press conference held by Brandon Communications, Becky notices a sale sign in the window of the Denny and George shop. She sees that the scarf she has long craved for is on sale at a discount of 50%. Becky sees this as a unique opportunity but realises that she has left her Visa card at the office and asks the shop assistant to reserve the scarf until she can retrieve her credit card. The assistant reluctantly agrees to hold it until the end of the day only.
Upon arriving at the press conference, she is greeted by a staff member of Brandon Communications, who mentions that there's been some surprising news in the banking field and asks Becky her opinion on the news. Becky has no idea what the woman is referring to and has to feign knowledge. After the staffer leaves, Luke Brandon, head of Brandon Communications, realising that she was feigning knowledge of what was happening, tells her that one financial group recently bought another, and it was recently rumoured that Flagstaff Life was going the same way.
Halfway through the conference Becky is given another errand by her employer and realises that she will not have time to return to the office for her credit card, but only needs twenty pounds more to buy her Denny & George scarf. She asks her friend Elly Granger if she can borrow some money, but Elly has none. Luke hears Becky ask for twenty pounds, and stops the whole Press Conference just so he can hand a twenty-pound note to her, once she has made up a story of needing the money to buy a present for her aunt who is in hospital. Right after she has bought the Denny & George scarf she bumps into Luke Brandon and has to make excuses to leave, before he finds out that she's lied.
Later on during the week, Becky's flatmate Suze asks her to go to a restaurant with her and her cousins, including Tarquin. There, Becky sees Luke and his parents having dinner. The mother comments on Becky's scarf, and she blabs about getting it as a bargain. Then she realises her mistake, and abruptly tells a suspicious Luke that her aunt died. Becky is mortified.
Luke runs into Becky after that and asks her to come shopping with him at Harrods. Initially she really enjoys shopping with him for luggage and goes up and down the shop wheeling around the luggage playfully, helping Luke choose the best purchase. After he reveals that the luggage is actually for his girlfriend, Sacha, Becky is very upset, telling Luke that she feels he's used her and not treated her with respect.
Throughout the story, a man named Derek Smeath, who is the manager of Becky's bank, is constantly trying to get hold of her so he can set up a re-payment schedule for her overdraft. Becky always has some excuse as to why she cannot send a cheque or meet with Mr. Smeath and his assistant, Erica. The excuses range from a broken leg, a dead aunt, etc., etc., until it becomes obvious to Mr. Smeath that Becky is quite unable to repay the overdraft. He becomes quite insistent upon setting up a meeting with her.
Suze and Becky happen to be flicking through a magazine and see a list of eligible millionaires. Tarquin is the fifteenth richest there, but also on the list happens to be Luke Brandon. Tarquin asks Becky out, while there Tarquin compliments Becky on her scarf and she continues the pretense that it's from her deceased aunt. She further embroiders that her aunt had set up a charity for children abroad to be given violin teachers. Tarquin writes out a cheque for £5000, which would solve Becky's financial problems, but she feels she can't possibly accept it, and painfully refuses. While Tarquin goes to the bathroom, Becky sneaks a look at his chequebook, wondering if a millionaire gets to buy a lot of lavish items. The content isn't extraordinary. Tarquin returns and Becky is sure he saw her looking at the chequebook.
Becky gives up trying to date Tarquin, as he is just not her type, even if he is very rich.
At this point her bank manager is trying to arrange a meeting. Unable to come up with any more excuses, Becky goes back home to hide at her parents' house, lying to them when he calls and saying he is a stalker, Becky learns that her next door neighbours made a financial decision based on advice that Becky had absentmindedly given them and stand to miss out on thousands of pounds in a windfall resulting from a bank takeover. The bank had sent an offer of a carriage clock to people who would get the windfall, if they change their account to a different plan. The bank knew of the planned takeover and upcoming windfall, while the customers do not, but if they accepted the plan for which they are offered a gift, the customers will not receive the windfall. Becky is horrified by being partly culpable for her kindly neighbours losing out, and sets out to make things right by writing an article that exposes the bank's duplicity. The article is a success, and leads to Becky appearing on a daytime television show, The Morning Coffee. Unfortunately, Becky did not know that the bank was a client of Luke Brandon's PR firm. Luke became very angry with her, and thought she wrote the article just to get back at him for treating her poorly. Becky and Luke square off during her appearance on The Morning Coffee. After arguing with Becky, Luke conceded that she was right, the bank had defrauded their customers. So Luke Brandon announces that Brandon Communications will no longer be representing that bank. Becky gets a regular slot on the show.
Luke Brandon invites Becky out for a seeming business dinner at the Ritz Hotel. When Becky arrives at their meeting, business is not on the agenda and instead they eat their fill of the food, including a selection of all the puddings they liked the sound of, and then end up spending the night at the Ritz together. Becky has to miss yet another meeting arranged with her bank manager, but he writes and tells her this can be postponed, as due to her regular slot on television, her finances are now rosy. But the bank manager, Derek Smeath, will continue to keep an eye on her account.
Critical reception[edit]
The earlier novels in the series received a generally positive reception from critics.
One review considered it to be clever that Kinsella begins each chapter with an ominous letter to Becky from her bank.[1]
Readers seemed to like Becky, care about what was happening to her, as if for a friend.[3][dead link] While she has faults, she is 'irresistibly daft. '[4][dead link] When it comes to reviewing this book, many agree that Sophie Kinsella has managed to combine two essential ingredients that make for a favourite among readers: abundant flashes of reality and a witty sense of humour. Women identified with the character and her situation. Reviews encouraged readers to 'stick to' these earlier books in the series, considering them better than the later books which appeared to have been written excessively quickly, although they would still satisfy those already faithful to the series.[5][dead link]
Film adaptation[edit]
A film adaptation of the novels starring Isla Fisher as Becky Bloomwood, Hugh Dancy as Luke Brandon, and Krysten Ritter as Suze was released on 13 February 2009.[6]
Differences between Novels and Film[edit]
|Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. (May 2015)
- Story in the film is in New York, while in the novels it's entirely in England.
- Becky is a brunette and has hazel eyes whom is from Surrey, England in the novel. Her film counterpart is American with red haired and brown eyes.
- Unlike the film, Becky's parents, Graham and Jane, are very cautious with their spending. They also tell Becky to shape up and save her money or make more money.
- In the novels, Alicia Billington is introduced as a senior executive at Brandon Communications, who gradually reveals her true colors in Shopaholic Abroad. She is despised by Becky and Suze(whom has a bitter history with her) and is nicknamed Alicia Bitch Long-Legs because of her uncaring nature. In the film, Alicia was introduced as a rival of Becky's whom got a job at a fashion magazine that she wanted. She slowly becomes more fearful and jealous of Becky whom she believes her boss, Allete Naylor, is more interested in hiring after she helpfully accessorize a dress she was planning to buy.
- In the novels, Becky's bank manager at Endwich Bank, Derek Smeath, is described as professional and polite, though at times very persistent with wanting a meeting concerning her debts. In the end, they work out a deal. In the film, though starting out like his novel counterpart, Smeath becomes more antagonistic each time Becky tries to avoid a meeting with him concerning her credit card debts.
- In the novels, Suze is described as being a blonde and from an aristocratic family. In the film, she is artistic, rich and brunette.
- Unlike the film, Luke Brandon was introduced as the owner of Brandon Communications.
- In the novels, Suze and Tarquin are cousins who gradually begin dating each other. In the film, they're in a relationship.
- In the 1st novel, Philip is Becky's boss at Successful Savings and was omitted from the film.
- In the 1st novel, Becky works for Successful Savings. In the film however, she is seen working at a gardening magazine.
- In the 1st novel, Becky wrote an article on the British tabloid, The Daily World, exposing Flagstaff Life's duplicity on their customers. Luke was infuriated with her, believing Becky only was getting him back for mistreating her at Harrods. On the Morning Coffee and after arguing his case, Luke finally admitted Becky was right and that Brandon C won't continue being a client to a bank that defrauds their customers. In the film, they only discuss about The Girl with the Green Scarf.
- Several minor plots were left out in the film, including Luke and Becky's trip to Harrods to pick out suitcases for his girlfriend, Suze's natural talent in framework that leads to a business, Becky helping her kindly neighbors with their pension issues and her attempt to make more money to pay off her debts by working at a clothing store, which lead to her being fired because she tried to hide a fashionable zebra print jeans that a customer was interested in buying because Becky wanted the pants for herself.
- The film omits characters from the first novel, such as Martin and Janice Webster (as well as their son, Tom and his girlfriend Lucy), the Bloomwoods' next door neighbors and close friends as well as Luke's then-girlfriend, Sacha de Bonneville and Becky's other friend, Elly Granger.
- Unlike the film, Becky never went to a support group and actually tried to cut back on her spending or make more money.
- Luke and Becky went to New York in Shopaholic Abroad and not Miami like in the film.
- The Denny & George scarf in the novels is described as blue-grey in color. The film version is green.
- In the 2nd novel, it is Alicia that intentionally ruins Becky's TV career by exposing her in a humiliating article about her being a shopaholic. This leads to her ousting on The Morning Coffee and being replaced by Clare Edwards. In the film version, she helps Smeath humiliate Becky publicly. In both versions, Alicia is fired from her job(Luke fires her and four other colleagues in the novels for their action in ruining Brandon C's standing with their clients, while in the film, Alette fires her for Becky's public humiliation).
- Unlike the film, Becky never accepted a job at Brandon C. and was a personal shopper at Barneys New York in Manhattan.
- In the 2nd novel, Suze merely suggests that Becky gets rid of some unnecessary possessions she has. Becky comes up with a better idea after seeing a commercial, sell off her possessions instead. In the film, Becky's support group tells her sell off her items.
- Unlike the film, Becky's bridesmaid dress is made by her designer friend, Danny Kovitz, which she helps start his career.
Shopaholic Series[edit]
The Shopahoclic series as of October, 2014 consists of seven novels, in order:
- The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (2000) also published as Confessions of a Shopaholic (2001)
- Shopaholic Abroad (2001) also published as Shopaholic Takes Manhattan (2002)
- Shopaholic Ties the Knot (2002)
- Shopaholic and Sister (2004)
- Shopaholic and Baby (2007)
- Mini Shopaholic (2010)
- Shopaholic to the Stars (2014)
- ^ a b c d e http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-2101974_ITM
- ^ http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-11724746_ITM
- ^ http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-29781649_ITM
- ^ http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-22829632_ITM
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093908/releaseinfo


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Viewing All 251 Photos
Certified photos by travelers like you.
Map to Robot Restaurant
August 2014
Map to Robot Restaurant
The match was on...
June 2013
Chris Hord
The match was on...
The ceremonial attire of a Yokozuna
May 2011
Sumo Wrestling: A Yokozuna performing the ceremonial Dohyo-iri.
May 2008
Esther S
United Kingdom
Our boat was pursued by seagulls past Tsukiji Market and beyond.
Bout in sumo wrestling
October 2007
Wrestlers squaring up to each other.
Sumo Match
May 2015
One of the Sumo matches.
Female Battler on Metal Horse
May 2015
Photo taken right before the horse-bound heiness summoned up all that is good with her hands and threw them at the evil monkey, who seemed to just want everyone to Pitbull to his EDM.
Mt Juji
May 2015
My Fuji
Nagano Train Station
April 2015
My husband with the best Tour Guides, they made the different in this beautiful tour always will be in my memories Nagano is very pretty city, the group was nice and we all had a great time.
Nagano Day trip, snow monkeys , hot springs and Zenko-ji Temple
April 2015
My husband living Nagano at the train station with the Best Tour Guide Mariko Endo. She and the other lady really made the tour amazing, we had a great time. Nagano is a beautiful Town must visit if you go to Tokyo.
Buddhist Temple
February 2015
Buddhist temple, pagoda, and area
Garden gate from inside the entrance
February 2015
Looking down the entrance toward Tokyo, currently the guard building is being renovated, it will add to the tour when completed.
Famous corner of the Imperial garden
February 2015
A traditional Japanese garden where all elements of nature are designed into the corner, including a small waterfall and pond full of koi
Walls and trees
February 2015
One of the interesting items our guide mentioned were the colors of the blocks making up the walls. The darker ones from Fuji in the south, the lighter ones from queries to the north.
Opening Drum beats
February 2015
The show starts with 2 groups of drummers, man and women, who have platforms that move. Performers were very energetic and fun to watch.


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A House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on chemical regulation reform highlighted concerns about patchwork state laws. Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., stressed the importance of avoiding "excess regulation" while setting appropriate standards. "That way, the states can be confident they don't have to reinvent the wheel and shoulder this regulatory responsibility one by one," Upton said.
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Colors What They Mean and How to Make Them (Hardcover)
|Author: Anne Varichon
|Translator: Toula Ballas
Learn more about Colors:
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Harry N Abrams Inc
Sku: 203300193
Publish Date: 3/1/2007
Pages: 288
Age Range: NA
See more in Color Theory
|Color, as a means of expression, has been part of human history since handprints were first painted on cave walls. But in order to make the shades they had imagined, people had to unearth pigments and dyes often hidden deep within plants, minerals, mollusks, insects, and other natural elements. They developed complicated, dangerous, and sometimes even revolting techniques in order to achieve deep reds, luminous yellows, and the most beautiful blues.
Archaeologist and ethnologist Anne Varichon takes the reader on a fascinating journey that examines not only the variety and use of natural colorantsand how to reproduce them todaybut also their symbolism and mythology. From Confucian China to medieval Europe, from the Papuans to the Inuit, she travels across the centuries and around the world in this absorbing, and often surprising, cultural history of the sources and meanings of color.


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215 comments found
The featured images on the posts don't seem to function properly for me at the minute. For the posts on the homepage the featured image used is the one for the prior post, and the last image displays a loading icon but nothing else. any ideas what's causing it? I can't seem to find a link to log in to the support forums even though I've previously registered.
Otherwise great theme, thanks guys.
Thank you for contacting and your great feedback!As to the issue you describe – please submit us a support ticket via ZenDesk, and our support team will help you with that. You will need your purchase code to submit a ticket, you can find it in the Downloads tab in your Envato account according to the instructions: http://halsey-docs.cmsmasters.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/purchase-code.png
Also please make sure to provide all the needed credentials in your ticket – submit a ticket
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hi!, congratulations for this great theme, i´m using this theme in my site http://www.psipingenieria.com and want to update the wordpress version to 3.7 will it be any problems with the template?
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Yes, you can upgrade to 3.7 no problem, but you need to make sure you switch to a default theme (like Twenty-twelve) before performing an update, and then switch back after you have updated.
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great!! thanks a lot, one last question, the contact form isn´t sending the email, i´ve already checked the online docs document and made sure of doing everything as it says buy it just doesn´t work i mean there is a message that says that the mail has been sent but it does not, ill aprecciate if you can help me with this thanks a lot!
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Please submit us a support ticket and our support team will help you eliminate this issue, just please make sure to provide all the needed credentials! Submit a ticket.
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ok i just did!! thank u
Thanks! Our support team will now review it and reply to you as soon as possible.
Is it by any chance Woocommerce ready?
Thank you for being interested in our theme!
As to your question about Trymee theme and WooCommerce – in fact this theme is not WooCommerce-ready. We have two WooCommerce-ready themes, which are Agriculture and Claster. Besides this, both of these two themes are based on the newest admin version (unlike Trymee), with tons of shortcodes that can be used via a visual drag'n'dron editor. Also these themes come with two slider plugins included in theme archive for free – Layer Slider and Revolution Slider. Both themes are really flexible in customization. PLease take a look at them to see if you could be interested in any of these – Claster, Agriculture.
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I have probemhttp://complexdomstroy.ru/
my site
i use plugin jQuery Vertical Accordion Menu
hold pattern has a conflict with the plugin jQuery Vertical Accordion Menu
at the opening section – it automatically minimized
help fix
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As to the issue you are having with the plugin – in fact there is not much we can advise regarding this, as we cannot guarantee third-party plugin compatibility with the theme. Thank you for understanding.
Hi !
I can't have the colored blocks on Home page. I try two differents way. One with the colored sidebar and colored template, and with the top sidebar and the fullwidth template. Nothing works.
Could you please tell me what's the problem ?
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As to the colored blocks – please note, that colored blocks should be inserted into Colored Sidebar: see screenshot.
Please select the Colored Page template: open screenshot.
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when will an update for WP 3.8 or runs the theme under the new WordPress version?
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Feel free to upgrade your theme, current theme version works fine with the latest WordPress.
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Love this theme. I've used the HMTL5 version. Do you have a Joomla version of this theme?
Thanks, Bob
Thank you for being interested in TryMee. Yet it comes in either Wordpress or HTML versions only.
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I am interested in buying the item, but a friend of mine reported that when trying to insert images in the slide show, the screen goes black but without selection option. this has been fixed? Or is it a problem?
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As to the issue you mention – in fact none of the customers has reported an issue like that, at least within last months. In any case, should you face anything like that, our support will be ready to help you!
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Are you planning to update this theme to work with WordPress 3.9.1?
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Yes, right now we are working on theme updates, and an update for your theme should be available for download from Themeforest within the next several days. Please stay tuned and download the next theme version as soon as it is available. Appreciate your patience.
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i can't upload image file in the slider manager since I've just update Wordpress 3.9.2.
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is the theme WP 4 ready?
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I like tryme very very much. Easy but customizable anyway.
But: If I I change options in try me admin panel I the option update deletes my footer options and I have to change footer options again and save again.
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I did this yesterday.
Will this theme work with WP 4.1?
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We have tested in on our test site, and everything seems to be quite well, also none of the existing customers has reported any issues with that so far. Feel free to use!
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After Upgrade to WP 4.1. the cmsmasters Slider Manager doesn't work. Any ideas? It shows the Slides, I can choose it, but the following sides doesn't open …
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is the theme also compatible with WP 4.2?
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As to the latest wordpress update – we have not encountered any issues with it on our test site, neither we have received any reports from customers so far. You can upgrade all right, yet, should there be any other issues, please feel free to submit us a support ticket about this.
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Corner takes on a new meaning at Kafe Fontana
Drenched in the hues of the national flags of soccer playing nations, pepped up with German delicacies and absolutely dizzy with football fever, Kafé Fontana can be your destination-soccer for the whole month. The special football corner with collectables and memorabilia was opened when the ambassador of the host nation, Germany, cut the ribbon. The event was attended by the ambassadors of 32 nations in the race for the Cup. Kafé Fontana, at the Taj Palace Hotel, has arranged a full month's soccer extravaganza with large screens to telecast the World Cup matches live. To add a tangy twist, the cuisine includes luscious German food and drinks.The German Ambassador noted that football fever has gripped India too. "I am delighted to see the love for football here in India, a cricket-frenzied country. And I would appeal to everybody to buck up the underdogs too, Germany," he said, creating a humorous ripple all around. Apart from enjoying the game in the right ambience, soccer fans are in for a treat with special offers like one-plus-one offer, discount on cocktails and menu. Mega prizes like return tickets to Hong Kong and London, a stay at Goa and Tag Heuer wristwatches can add to your football experience. From the screen you might be gently greeted with "Namaste! Kaise Ho?" by Chef Ingo Moeller from Germany, who will make sure you get the best of the menu, "I am not a football freak, but whenever Germany is playing I never miss that match." The delicacies on offer include Celebration Soup with meatballs, juliennes of pancakes, smoked trout with mustard sauce and desserts like Bavarian vanilla pudding, rote grotze with vanilla sauce.The ambassadors enjoyed the evening and planned to cheer their countries in the coming World Cup. "Brazil are the favourites, so the pressure is on them. Maybe this time they slump under it. We can play our natural game," hopes Joaquin Marques, Ambassador of Portugal. "We will give Brazil tough competition," says the German Ambassador. Saleh Mohd Al-Ghamdi, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia, says "Our team has been in the World Cup for the fourth time now. I will buck up my team from here."


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AJS Mission Catalog
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Lt. Commander
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 120
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Greetings AJS,
I would recommend you visit the starbaseugc.com website and join us fellow authors in advertising and showcasing your work. We have a great community of friends that can help, as well as run reviews on Foundry missions. I write a review column as well. If you would like me to run and review one of your missions, please reply in this post or e-mail me in-game directly. Also, I do reviews for "daily" type missions as well. Would you consider your shorter missions good for the daily dilithium grind? Please let me know if you are interested, and definitely try to join us on starbaseugc sometime. Happy authoring.


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One of New York City's original boutique hotels, Sixty Soho hotel knows how to keep them coming back, with luxurious rooms filled with Dean & Deluca-stocked minibars and toiletries by Ren. But, like with most of downtown, it's the bars and restaurant that really stand out: when weather permits, the seasonal rooftop bar opens for guests and members only as one of the city's premier summer hotspots. The rest of the year, the elegant and moody lobby bar does the trick, and, of course, the hotel's location is perfect for all of your shopping and nightlife needs.
Smith Extra
Here's what you get for booking Sixty Soho with us:
A cookie platter upon arrival
Special offers
Exclusive rates, packages and special offers at Sixty Soho
21-day advance purchase: 10% off Bed & breakfast Stay 3 nights, save 10% Suite special: 4 nights for the price of 3 Stay 5 nights, save 15%


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Michael Ableman
Michael Ableman is an American author, organic farmer, educator, and advocate for sustainable agriculture. He is founder the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens, California, Solefood Farms in Vancouver, and the Centre for Arts, Ecology and Agriculture on Salt Spring Island. Ableman is author of From the Good Earth, On Good Land and Fields of Plenty: A Farmer's Journey in Search of Real Food and the People Who Grow It. He is featured in the award-winning PBS national broadcast Beyond Organic.[1]
Ableman originally intended to become a photographer. However, in 1972 he joined an agrarian commune east of Ojai, California where he was to eventually manage 100 acres (0.40 km2) of pear and apple orchards.[2] After a time managing a nursery on the coast north of Santa Barbara, in 1981 Ableman took a job grafting orange trees at Fairview Gardens. When the previous manager left, Ableman remained, "farm-sitting," until 2001.[3][4] At its peak the farm served as an important community and education center and a national model for small scale and urban agriculture, hosting as many as 5000 people per year for tours, classes, festivals, and apprenticeships. Under Ableman's leadership the farm was saved from development and preserved under one of the earliest and most unique active agricultural conservation easements of its type in the country.[2]
A frequent speaker at conferences throughout North America, Ableman gave a plenary presentation on the future of farming at the Bioneers conference in 2005.[5]
Ableman lives with his family on an organic farm on Saltspring Island, British Columbia. Ableman now lives and farms at the historic 120 acre Foxglove Farm[1] where he also directs the Center For Arts, Ecology, and Agriculture.
Michael is along with Seann Dory of SOLEFood Street Farms in Vancouver, British Columbia. Sole Food transforms vacant urban land into street farms that grow artisan quality fruits and vegetables and provides jobs to residents in the downtown Eastside of Vancouver who face for whatever reason challenges to employment.
Michael Ableman and Seann Dory were brought together around a half-acre parking lot on Hastings and Hawks streets on the downtown east-side of Vancouver. Seann wanted to grow food and employ people from the neighborhood, Michael had the experience to make it happen.
Together they forged a working relationship and ultimately developed a very ambitious plan to create urban production farms throughout Vancouver that would employ individuals working through the challenges of material poverty, addiction, and mental illness while generating large quantities of food.
- Fields of Plenty: A Farmer's Journey in Search of Real Food and the People Who Grow It. Chronicle Books (2005). ISBN 978-0-8118-4223-5
- On Good Land: The Autobiography of an Urban Farmer. Chronicle Books (1998). ISBN 978-0-8118-1921-3
- From the Good Earth: A Celebration of Growing Food Around the World, with Cynthia Wisehart, Sam Bittman. Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, (1993). ISBN 978-0-8109-2517-5
See also[edit]
- ^ "Beyond Organic". Bullfrog Films. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ a b Cooper, Arnie (June 2003). "Earthly Delights: Cultivating A New Agricultural Revolution" (PDF). The Sun Magazine. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ "Michael Ableman". fieldsofplenty.com. Retrieved 2013-03-24.
- ^ "Michael Ableman - Fields of Plenty". Deconstructing Dinner. Global Public Media. 22 February 2007. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ Collective Heritage Institute (2007) Bioneers 2005 Conference Catalogue. Retrieved on 2009-02-25.
External links[edit]
- Ableman's website.
- Michael Ableman Urban Agriculture: Real Food and the People Who Grow It
- Ableman, M. (October 3, 2006). Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food: the Risks of Convenience and Consolidation. Counterpunch.


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In the years following the Vietnam War, a wave of newcomers graced Texas' shores. Vietnamese immigrants arrived in such ports as Houston and Galveston, many settling in San Antonio and Dallas or in Port Arthur and other coastal cities. They brought with them a cuisine that is a sophisticated mix of French and Asian antecedents and that, with its emphasis on fresh seafood, hot chile peppers, and cilantro, was easily adapted to their new home.
Seafood is a staple in Vietnam, whose coastline extends for more than a thousand miles along the eastern end of the Southeast Asian peninsula. The national palate also has been shaped by the gourmet traditions of occupying powers: the Chinese, from whom the Vietnamese adopted cooking with a wok and eating with chopsticks, and the French, who introduced them to ingredients like butter, shallots, and asparagus. The Vietnamese incorporated curry and other Indian spices into their cookery through contact with neighboring Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, all of which at one time had been under the cultural influence of India.
Yet the Vietnamese have always maintained a separate culinary identity, and their food has its own distinct flavors and characteristics. Many dishes rely on nuoc mam (fish sauce), a salty amber-colored liquid produced commercially by fermenting layers of anchovies and salt in wooden barrels. Used in cooking or as a table condiment, nuoc mam is also combined with fresh lime, chiles, garlic, vinegar, and sugar to make nuoc cham, the sauce that accompanies most Vietnamese meals. Another characteristic is the presence of contrasting textures in a single dish, such as cooked beef or noodles with crisp lettuce.
Aesthetics are also important in Vietnamese cooking, says Paula Tran. A Tennessee native who lives in San Antonio with her Vietnamese husband, Tran has written a cookbook, Living and Cooking Vietnamese (Corona Publishing Company, $8.95, available in May). "There's a great concern with making the food as visually appealing as it is tasty," she says. "The Japanese arrange food according to location –– everything has a place. The Viets, though arrange food according to color, putting together pretty combinations. A Vietnamese cook will work for some time setting up a platter –– layers and layers of bean sprouts, pork, pickles, radishes, cilantro, tiny bead threads. Then you roll them up in a lettuce leaf and dip the whole thing in a bowl of fish sauce." Another cookbook, The Foods of Vietnam (Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, $35), by Vietnam-born Nicole Routhier, appeared last fall. Photographs of beautifully composed dishes accompany the recipes, making them all the more compelling to home cooks.
American converts to Vietnamese fare are often attracted to its healthfulness. Simmering is the most frequent cooking method, and even in stir-fries, only small amounts of oil are used. Sauces are seldom thickened with cornstarch (as in Chinese recipes) or with flour or cream (à la French methods). Vegetables are lightly cooked or served fresh in salads or on vegetable platters.
When Kim Nguyen came to Houston eleven years ago, she worried that she wouldn't have the right ingredients for the dishes she had prepared in Vietnam. But she found everything she needed, and now, at Vietnam Kitchen, her restaurant on Milam, she serves food good enough to win the approval of former New York Times food writer Craig Claiborne.
Vietnam Kitchen has found favor with local gourmands too. At lunchtime the dining room fills up with businesspeople from the surrounding Vietnamese enclave. They eat shrimp and bits of squid from huge hot pots, then linger and converse before returning to their shops and offices. Non-Asian downtown workers lunch on bowls of pho –– a rice-noodle soup with beef –– and plates of shrimp with straw mushrooms, manipulating their chopsticks with practiced grace.
Kim found it easy to adjust to the new varieties of seafood in Houston. "Some are different, but some fish look good," she says. "I can cook like in my country hot-and-sour fish soup –– I use catfish. Also for fish sauce in hot pot. The crabs in Vietnam are like king crabs, only smaller. But the crabs here are good." The French accent in Kim's cooking comes through in her use of butter. "I use oil just a little, but French butter more," she says. "I pay five or six dollars a can for French butter. Some people use margarine, pay fifty or sixty cents for four sticks. Customers know the difference."
Most of the specialty items Kim needs are available at Asian groceries. "At first it was hard to find some things, but now there are many Vietnamese here, and they import from other Asian countries," she says. Only Vietnamese rice paper –– round tissue-thin crêpes made of rice flour, salt, and water –– will do for wrapping Vietnamese spring rolls and summer rolls, which are similar to the Thai versions. "Thais copy Vietnamese on rice paper for summer rolls," Kim remarks. She does, however, concede the excellence of Thai rice: "We use jasmine rice from Thailand. Very good rice."
Kim has a repertoire of two hundred dishes, and she will recommend menu items she believes will interest a diner. A request for seafood brought soft-shell crabs, sautéed in butter and served on a bed of crisp leaf lettuce with tomato, onion, and cilantro (also called coriander leaf or Chinese parsley). The greens, dressed in butter, are gathered up in chopsticks to eat. Frogs' legs, another Vietnamese favorite, were sautéed in butter. A simple dipping sauce with the crabs and frogs' legs consisted of lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. Salt-baked shrimp, which were light and not at all salty, were served on a bed of lettuce with caramelized onions. A hot-and-sour shrimp soup –– tart with tamarind and infused with aromatic rau om, a garnishing herb –– held bean sprouts, tomato, celery, pineapple, and okra. ("I was afraid when I come here that there is no okra," Kim says.) Flecks of chile pepper lent a bite, augmented by serrano peppers from a bowl on the table.
Up a block and around the corner from


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Summer of feds' discontent
Wednesday - 6/26/2013, 2:00am EDT
Things have rarely been worse for members of the federal family, according to benefits expert John Grobe, of Federal Career Experts. The white-collar federal pay freeze is in its third year. The White House and GOP-led House of Representatives are seeing eye-to-eye on a number of changes in the federal benefits package that, if they become law, could cost you big bucks in the future. He's particularly concerned about what he calls the "kiss of death trifecta" for feds.
So what are the threats? And how real are they?
Here's the way Grobe sees it:
Today there are more threats to federal employees and their benefits than ever. Federal employees (and to a lesser extent, federal retirees) have reasons to be concerned about what may happen to their benefits over the next several years. This article will be a brief overview of some of the threats that we are facing.
Changing to a High-Five for Retirement Computations. This threat has been around ever since I was a young letter carrier in the 1970s and it hasn't happened yet. While it is true that many other defined-benefit pensions use a high-five, rather than a high-three, this change has been suggested by the House Republican Budget and by the Simpson-Bowles report — but not by the White House and the bulk of the Democratic Party. I believe that to have a chance of being enacted, any change needs to have the support of all three; kind of a "kiss of death trifecta". Even if a high-five came about, Congress would almost certainly grandfather all current employees (and, therefore, themselves).
Continuation of the Pay Freeze. Looking at how quickly the White House threw over the 0.5 percent pay increase they proposed for federal employees for 2013, I would not be surprised to see them renege on the proposed 1 percent pay increase for 2014. A four-year pay freeze is unprecedented and will hurt future retirement calculations more than a change to the high-five would.
Change in the Amount of Retirement Contributions by Current Federal Employees. This one has the "kiss of death trifecta". Simpson-Bowles called for equalizing retirement contributions between the government and the employee. This would result in a significant increase (about seven times) for FERS and CSRS Offset employees, but would not affect straight CSRS employees. The House Republican Budget calls for increasing retirement contributions for all employees, but does not specify by how much. The White House calls for a 1.2 percent increase in employee contributions, regardless of the retirement system. The White House proposal would not affect employees who were hired in 2013 (and in the future), who, due to legislation passed last year, are required to contribute 3.1 percent of their salary for retirement benefits.
Eliminating the FERS Supplement. This has not been supported by the majority of lawmakers. It is unlikely to happen for current employees. It's a little scary that the White House budget calls for eliminating the supplement for new hires.
Switching to the "Chained CPI" for Computing Cost-of-Living Increases. Although this has the support of all three groups, the change is being opposed by many powerful lobbies such as AARP and various veteran's groups. The reason for this opposition is that a switch to the less generous "chained CPI" will affect most inflation-indexed federal benefits and will harm far more than just federal employees. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Make Changes to FEHB. Simpson-Bowles and the House Republican Budget call for changing FEHB to a voucher system. The White House is silent on that matter, but the proposed 2014 budget calls for adding a "self plus one" option. In addition, a bill introduced in the House would force federal employees to use the Obamacare Health Exchanges. None of these proposals seem to have the support needed to happen.
Confusing all of the above is the fact that members of Congress share many benefits with federal employees and, if they were to change the benefits for us, they would have to change the benefits for themselves. Last year's change to the retirement contributions of newly hired FERS employees gives us some insight as to how changes to benefits might be addressed, should they actually occur. Last summer, Congress passed (and the president signed) a law increasing the retirement contributions of newly hired FERS employees from 0.8 percent to 3.1 percent. This law also lowered the contribution rate of congressional employees while concomitantly reducing their future benefits. All who were members of Congress or federal employees at the time of the change, or who would be hired up to the end of 2012, were grandfathered in to the current system. I believe that many of the proposed changes will be treated the same way — there will be extensive grandfathering.
If you've been reading this article closely, you realize that (other than outlining the actual threats to our benefits), it is mainly speculation and opinion by the author. Federal employees are still justifiably paranoid. Actually, they are not paranoid. If you think someone is out to get you, and they really are, then you're not paranoid, you're realistic.
Federal employees are likely to think more about retiring or leaving before retirement if their status (and the status of their benefits) is uncertain. Expect agencies to continue to offer early-outs (VERAs) and buy-outs (VSIPs). You may want to spend some time thinking about how you will respond if your agency offers you either or both."
Compiled by Jack Moore
The word "Cheetos" (the crunchy, cheesy snack food) has appeared at least six times in the Congressional Record.
(Source: Capitol Words)
Coburn calls out USDA, other
agencies for wasteful spending
Even with across-the-board cuts forcing agencies to downsize their budgets, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) says too many agencies are still spending money on wasteful, unnecessary or unimportant programs. Coburn, the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, recently sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack - the latest in a series of letters the senator has sent to various agencies outlining opportunities to cut costs in the wake of the sequester.
Documents show IRS also screened liberal
The Internal Revenue Service's screening of groups seeking tax-exempt status was broader and lasted longer than has been previously disclosed, the new head of the agency acknowledged Monday. Terms including "Israel," ''Progressive" and "Occupy" were used by agency workers to help pick groups for closer examination, according to an internal IRS document obtained by The Associated Press.


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eBook Category: Mystery/Crime
eBook Description: "As far as I'm concerned, Richard S. Prather was the King of the paperback P.I writers of the 60s. Shell Scott should be in the Top Ten of any readers list of favorite private eyes."
--Robert J. Randisi
For four decades, Richard S. Prather published over 40 works of detective fiction, most featuring his clever, cad-about-town hero, Shell Scott. Known for their arched humor, punchy dialogue, and sunny Southern California locale, the Shell Scott books represent one of the greatest private eye collections ever produced.
A Shell Scott Mystery
"I'm Shell Scott, the Private Eye. Well, at least I have a private eye when blondes, brunettes or redhead babes are involved, and I can always spot a hot tamale. You can see why I love my work, and when I heard that Chester Drum was operating my own game on the East Coast, I was in for some ride. There's only room enough for one and Drum was working on my turf."
Honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Private Eye Writers of America!
"(Shell Scott is) as amusingly blithe a figure as the field has seen since the Saint."
--Anthony Boucher
eBook Publisher: E-Reads, Published: 1959
Fictionwise Release Date: December 2001
11 Reader Ratings:
One Me? I'm -- Shell Scott
Me? I'm -- Shell Scott
Most of you know me. You know I work out of Los Angeles and my cases are usually in the L.A.-Hollywood menagerie, that I'm six-two and two-hundred and five pounds, with inch-long white hair sprouting cropped-wheat fashion over my head and upside-down white V's I call eyebrows, that I like bourbon-and-water and rare prime ribs, that I'm happy-go-lookie and my favorite hangouts are women.
You've gone along with me while I got slugged on the head -- and the heart. While I met unbelievably lovely women and believably unlovely men, chased and got chased, shot and got shot, invaded nudist camps, and even flew through trees like Tarzan and dangled from airborne balloons.
There was much of the same this time. Much of the same -- plus something more. This time I met Chet Drum.
Most of you know Chet Drum, too, the private eye who works out of Washington, D.C., with the world his beat. We didn't just meet; we collided. And when Chet Drum and I collided, blood flowed like bourbon, guys died like flies, and we set off the wildest gang war this side of the Syndicate assassinating the Mafia -- with us in the middle.
But it all started when that beautiful blonde rang the chimes at the door of my Hollywood apartment.
The chimes going off bonged me slightly awake. I crawled out of bed and staggered around, grumbling, got my bearings and clumped in darkness over the bedroom's black carpet, over the living room's yellow-gold carpet with the thick shag nap that tickles feet -- and has tickled lots of feet -- and up to the front door. I flicked on the light, leaned against the door and closed my eyes.
Maybe if I didn't say anything, it would go away.
The chimes bonged again.
"Okay, okay," I said, cracked the door and peeked around it, trying to focus the one peeking eye.
"Mr. Scott? Are you Sheldon Scott?"
It was a woman's voice. I could see her sort of blurrily, and she was a tall one, ample, curving, protruding, projecting, sweeping and swooping -- in a word, stacked. All that, I could see from one sleep-doped half-lidded eye.
She watched the eye as if it fascinated her. Then she blurted, "It's dreadfully important, let me in." She even got off a word or two like "kidnaped ... awful ... ghastly." I got the fuzzy impression she was talking about her father. She sounded badly frightened.
But I wasn't about to let her in, not immediately. First I had to at least put some pants on. I sleep in nothing at all -- I'm a sleep faddist -- and I had tottered out there without even grabbing a robe. So I said, "Yeah. Just a minute." I shook my head. "What time is it?"
"Three o'clock in the morning."
"There's no such hour as three o'clock in the morning."
Silence. Then, "You're the detective, aren't you?"
"Yeah, but --"
"Please let me in."
"Just a minute."
I moved my eye away from the door-crack, fully intending to go put some pants on and splash water on my face and heat the coffee pot -- maybe even shave and shower. I really didn't know exactly what the hell I was going to do at that point, but as I moved back half a step the gal clunked into the door and leaped in very rapidly.
She eyeballed me with eyes I noticed in a flash were bright blue and lovely and extremely wide, getting extremely wider and wider, and then she let out a great shout and spun around clapping both hands over her eyes, and leaped out of the apartment even more rapidly than she'd leaped in. Crash, went the door.
Well, my eyes were pretty wide, too, by that time. I raced to the bedroom and grabbed a robe, trotted to the front door again. I opened it a bit and looked out. She was still there. And this time, awakening, and using both eyes, I got the message: long healthy blonde hair hanging full and loose behind her head, a stray loop brushing the clean whiteness of her face; skin the smooth ivory of rich whipped cream; lips that were full, well shaped, and looked warm. And now I noticed the marks of strain and fear in her face, the knitted brows, hands clasping and unclasping. She had bitten her lipstick off, too. It didn't make her lips seem pale, though; they just looked nude.
I threw the door wide. "Hello, hello. Good morning. Good three o'clock in the morning. Come in, miss. Miss?"
She didn't smile. She didn't do anything except walk inside. She blinked at my white hair, my slightly broken nose, on down to my big bare feet -- they're too big, really, especially bare -- and then up to my face again. Not however, as if discovering something gay and modern and exciting, but rather as if studying a crumbling old statue in a museum.
"You really are Sheldon Scott, aren't you? You really are the detective?"
"Yeah, I really am. Is that ... so horrible?" She had lit the fire, but was starting to put it out. I am not crazy to have well-stacked blondes study me like crumbling old statues.
"I ... just didn't know what you looked like. You're, well, not exactly what I expected."
I'm usually not, worse luck. Well, now she knew what I looked like. Thinking about it, I had to stifle a grin. She must have been thinking there with me, because she was also suppressing a smile.
With her nude lips curving up at the corners, she said, "For one thing, you're so tall, so --" she smothered a chuckle -- "so big. I rather expected a little short man."
"Well, I ... have elevator feet. I suppose I should cover them up with socks, or old gunnysacks --"
"No, it's all right. I don't mind ... feet."
It sounded sort of weird. And she was still looking me up and down. There must be something, I said to myself, uneasily. So I looked me up and down. Of course. It was the robe. I had grabbed it in the dark, and it is the robe I wear only on intimate occasions -- when the two of you sit on the floor drinking gin out of Martini glasses, or Martinis out of gin glasses, playing wild Oriental-type music over the big Altec-Lansing speakers, and playing the kind of games two play when you sit on the floor drinking, and so on.
It was red and white and had a purple green-eyed dragon on it, and the dragon was breathing fire on fleeing Oriental tomatoes, whose wispy garments were not of asbestos. "I can't seem to do anything right this morning," I said. "I didn't know I had this robe on."
She started to smile again.
"I mean," I said, "I didn't know I had this robe on. I would never have worn it. Ah ... I usually only wear it in the dark. I mean, ah."
"It's all right. I rather like it."
"You do? Well, now that you've admitted it, I'll tell you the truth. I'm crazy about it. It was a gift, anyhow. You know what they say, give a man enough robe.... Little French-Chinese gal named Fou-Fou gave it to me. Bought it in Hong Kong for me. Never did know her last name. Just called her Fou-Fou Manchu. I don't know why I'm telling you all this. Perhaps I can get out of this mire if you'll tell me what to call you."
"Oh." She seemed to come back from somewhere. "I'm Alexis Frost." She paused. For a little while there she'd been more relaxed, the worry lines in her face had smoothed. But suddenly they came back. She looked frightened again. "I ... almost forgot, for a moment, why I came here, Mr. Scott."
"It's my father. I think something's happened to him. Something awful. He's not at his home. I'm afraid he's been killed, or --"
She was getting all wound up again, her voice rising. I said quietly, "Please sit down. Miss Frost. Is it Miss or Mrs.?"
She smiled, but without much warmth this time. "Miss. I'm not married." She silently worried her lip.
I left her briefly, threw on some clothes. When I went back into the living room Alexis was looking around. She examined the two tanks of colorful tropical fish to the left of the door, and the gaudy yard-square nude of "Amelia" on the opposite wall above my fake fireplace. She reacted normally for a woman. Audibly, with approval of the pretty little fishes; inaudibly, but with eloquently disapproving eyes and mouth for Amelia. She glanced around a moment more, then walked to the monstrous chocolate-brown divan and sat down. I joined her, tried to size her up. She wore a knitted wool dress, and knitted wool on a well-shaped woman does perhaps more than any other cloth to emphasize the charming hills and valleys, the provocations and undulations, of the well-shaped woman. This Alexis had the landscape, but there was something missing. Something -- I didn't know what.
She was a big, healthy tomato with plenty of tomato juice in her, but somehow without all the usual seasoning. It was as if the bold promise in Alexis' curves was given with Alexis' fingers crossed; as if she were a gal who would surely wear gauzy and frilly and enticing wisps -- but that the fact would remain a matter for conjecture. And there was a hint of chill in her blue eyes, just a hint. They weren't the blue of spring skies, but of thin winter ice. The beauty was there, but it was a kind of unthawed beauty. Or maybe I was goofy. Maybe she merely required defrosting, like a refrigerator.
I said, "Now, what's the trouble. Miss Frost?"
"I went to see my father tonight. He lives near here, on Harvard Boulevard. When I arrived, he wasn't there. We had something to discuss, something important. He would have been there if he possibly could." She paused. "But he's gone. And his house has been searched."
"Why would anybody search your father's house? Who is he, anyway?"
She turned the blue eyes on me and said, "It isn't just that his house was searched. There's more to it than that. Do you know anything about the Hartsell Committee?"
"Sure. Quite a bit, in fact."
Technically the committee Alexis had referred to was composed of members from both the Labor and Welfare Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate, but the popular name was "Hartsell Committee" after its chairman. Senator Blair Hartsell. For two years or so the Committee had been turning up corruption in labor-management relations, and another series of hearings was scheduled to begin in Washington, D.C., on Monday, December 21. This was Sunday night -- actually early Monday morning now, the 14th of December -- so those hearings would begin a week from today.
The target this time was the National Brotherhood of Truckers, the biggest and, for my money, most corrupt union in the national picture, headed by a tough, hard-boiled union boss named Mike Sand.
Although I'd never had anything to do with Sand or the Brotherhood's headquarters in Washington, D.C., I had banged against the muggs who ran the local here in L.A. There were so many crooks in Local 280, the Los Angeles Truckers local, that in my job I'd tangled with the officials or their goons on several occasions.
Another of the personal reasons for my interest in the Truckers, and what Hartsell might turn up, was that one of my best friends, a red-haired Irishman named Braun Thorn, was a dues-paying member of the Truckers L.A. local. But he paid the dues -- because he had to pay them or lose his job -- under loud and continuing protest. He was perhaps the most vocal of the rank-and-filers actively opposed to the corrupt local leadership, and had thus become, literally, a Thorn in the union's side here.
Twice in the last two years, following up leads Braun had given me, I'd tangled -- inconclusively -- with the local's leadership, and its president, an ex-con named Ragen. John Ragen. And he and his fellow officials were almost as much fun as a knife in the back.
I mentioned some of that to Alexis, ending it with, "So I know quite a lot about the local boys, and a little about the national operation."
"That makes it easier to explain. You probably know then, that Senator Hartsell announced he would produce a surprise witness when the hearings begin again."
"Uh-huh. Got a little play in the newspapers. Supposed to be bad news for the Truckers, something like that."
"Yes. The surprise witness is -- or was -- to be Dr. Gideon Frost. He's my father."
She'd hooked me. The big labor racketeers look with a bloodshot eye -- often their shot, your blood -- upon people who can accurately testify that they are, in fact, big labor racketeers. I'd heard Frost's name, but knew only that he was an authority on labor-management relations, some kind of economist or professor who had made a massive study of the labor movement.
I looked at Alexis. "You said he was to be a surprise witness. The way I got it, nobody except Hartsell and a few others knew who the surprise was going to be."
Alexis said slowly, "Yes. It wasn't supposed to be known until he appeared before the Committee and actually testified. Partly to -- for his own protection. But, well, these things leak out sometimes." She paused, turned those blue eyes on me again. "I don't even know yet if you'll help me, Mr. Scott."
"Shell, Sure, I'll do all I can." I told Alexis she'd hired a private investigator and we settled my fee. Then I asked her if she'd gone to the police. She hadn't.
"If you have to talk to the police," she said, "try to avoid connecting Dad's disappearance, if that's what it is, with the Hartsell Committee's work. And you must give me your word to keep my name entirely out of your investigation. Don't tell anybody that I came to see you, or hired you. I mustn't be involved at all."
"Want to tell me why?"
"I've good reasons. They have nothing to do with your investigation, Mr. Scott."
I let it ride. "You're pretty sure that if your father's in trouble, it's because he was going to testify against the Truckers, right?"
She nodded. "And there's no question in my mind. He is in terrible danger -- if he isn't already dead."
"I don't know much about Dr. Frost except that he was going to hack at the union boys. Could he have drawn blood?"
"Okay. I'll check out the Truckers. Any specific suggestions?"
"Only the obvious one, Mike Sand." She moistened her lips. "Not only my father's testimony, but the whole Hartsell Committee Hearings, are aiming at him, because he's the president. Him specifically, the union generally. Others, too, but mainly Mike Sand."
Alexis told me what she could about her father: his address, description, habits and so on. Then she stood up to go.
"Where can I get in touch with you. Miss Frost?" Usually by this time it would have been Shell and Alexis. But to her I was still Mr. Scott, and that thin ice in her eyes kept me calling her Miss Frost.
"I'm registered at the Ambassador Hotel, Mr. Scott."
"Shell?" It didn't work this time, either.
She went to the door and I let her out.
I stood there thinking about it all for a minute, then shrugged, stepped into the hall and locked the apartment door behind me.
The Spartan Apartment Hotel is on North Rossmore in Hollywood, a couple of minutes' drive from Hollywood and Vine. My late model Cadillac, a sky-blue convertible coupe, was parked a short distance down Rossmore. As I walked out of the Spartan, Alexis was just leaving in her taxi. A block down Rossmore to my right a car pulled away from the curb, moving in shadow. Something was odd about the car, but it didn't register right away. I was wondering about Alexis. After years of talking to people, interrogating witnesses, sifting the truth from lies, a guy develops a sort of invisible nostril, which sniffs the fishy exclusively. And mine was now twitching. There'd been something fishy about Alexis, or her story. But I didn't have any idea what it was.
I walked toward the Cad, and the car I'd noticed seconds before passed me on the street, continued on in the direction Alexis' cab had taken. And then I figured out what had seemed odd about it. The car was a new gray Buick sedan -- and its lights were out. As Alexis' cab disappeared around a turn in the road, the Buick's lights went on and it jumped forward as the driver stepped on the gas. I'd noticed two men in the car, but that was all, just two forms.
I sprinted to the Cad, jumped in and whipped it around in a U-turn, jammed down the gas pedal. Half a minute later I spotted both cars, the cab at a stop sign, the Buick half a block back. I pulled up close behind the Buick as it slowed for a sign, tried to read the license number. I couldn't. The plate was smeared with mud. Mud. It hadn't rained in L.A. for three weeks.
I followed the two cars as they swung left and then turned into a side street. I started to close in on the Buick again -- and it turned right. The parade was suddenly two cars, just the cab and me. I shook my head and grinned. Me and my invisible nostril. So the Buick's owner hadn't washed his car in months. Of such acorn items are oakish clues made.
I suppose I was still chuckling sheepishly when lights splashed my rear-view mirror. The lights loomed bright and quickly got much closer. I pulled over a little. Alexis' cab was about two blocks ahead, nearly to Olympic.
The lights behind me left the mirror as the car swung out, and I heard the whine of its engine. And then I started getting it. My hands tightened on the wheel -- and there was the high harsh screech of tires skidding on the street. The car loomed on my left, swerving slightly. Movement was a blur in the window nearest me. I ducked, jerking the steering wheel, slapping my foot toward the brake pedal. Two shots cracked in the night, hard flat blasts; flame flared in the other car's window.
I threw myself sideways, hanging onto the wheel with my left hand, right hand slapping my chest. The gun wasn't there. Usually I carry it when I'm away from the apartment, but this time I'd left without it. My foot was jamming the brake pedal and the Cad was slowing, swerving. I straightened up, gripped the wheel with both hands and put my foot on the gas pedal again. If that car was still close, I meant to ram it. But they were gunning ahead, not waiting around. In the glare of my headlights I got a quick look at the car. Its right-front fender was crumpled. But it was a gray Buick sedan. I couldn't see the license plate, but I knew there'd be mud on it.
Not until then did I notice the Cad was pulling, angling toward the left side of the street. There was a grinding thumping noise. They'd shot out a front tire with those two shots. I pulled on the wheel, stopped at the right side of the street next to the curb.
Far ahead, the cab carrying Alexis turned left into Olympic Boulevard, followed seconds later by the Buick. Then they were gone. I swore, got out and looked at the flat.
Looking at it didn't help. I opened the luggage compartment, hauled out the spare. I only swore a little more while changing the tire.
After putting in a call to the police complaint board and reporting what had happened, I drove to Dr. Frost's home on Harvard Boulevard. The house was obviously Dr. Frost's -- letters, his books on the wall, a framed portrait told me that. Alexis had said he was fifty-one years old, over six feet tall, and quite heavy; the face in the portrait was heavy, almost handsome, with straggly eyebrows and bushy gray hair. The place had been thoroughly searched, cushions out of place, drawers open. Alexis had told me her father owned a black Volkswagen. It wasn't around, and the garage was empty, its doors open.
I was beginning to feel more and more uncomfortable without my gun, so shortly after four A.M. I drove back to the Spartan. I had strapped on the gun harness, complete with snub-nosed .38 Colt Special, and was putting on my coat when the apartment phone rang. Alexis, maybe? I thought. I reached it, picked it up and said hello.
"Shell?" It was a man's voice.
"Braun. I ..."
"Braun? That's funny, I was just thinking about --" I cut it off. He'd sounded strange. It hadn't even resembled Braun's brisk, pleasant voice.
"I'm ... hurt, Shell. Finley gas station. Mile or two ... up Spring Can -- Canyon." He groaned.
"What's the matter? Braun, what happened?"
"Shot. I --" Noise clattered in my ear. It sounded as if he'd dropped the receiver. I heard a soft thump, scraping noises, then nothing.
I didn't even hang up the phone. I dropped it and ran to the door, slammed through it. I leaped down the stairs, stumbled and almost fell. When I reached my Cad I was cold all over, and sweat was slick on my forehead. I went straight up Rossmore to Sunset and across it moments after the light turned red.
Spring Canyon Road runs from Hollywood Boulevard up toward the Hollywood hills, winding, a quiet residential district for about half a mile, then only a few houses scattered in open brush-filled land. I slid into Spring Canyon and pushed the gas pedal to the floorboards.
He'd sounded hurt, hurt bad. And he must have been in a bad way or he wouldn't even have called me. He was like that. He was like a lot of things, all of them good in my book. Not tall, but strong and husky, red-haired, with a kind of pleasant homeliness and a warmth that flowed out of him and wrapped itself around you. I'd been out on the town with him, had dinners at his home with Braun and his sweet-faced younger sister, Kelly. Six years now, we'd known each other. And during all those years he'd been a member of the L.A. local of the Truckers.
That thought came into my mind suddenly and stuck there. Stuck there with the thought of Alexis, the case I'd just been hired for. Why tonight? Why would Braun call me tonight of all nights?
Then, off on the road on my right, I saw movement. Something moving in the glare of my headlights. A square building, a small gas station, white in my headlights beam, and silhouetted against it the figure of a man. Bent, twisted; it looked like a sagging misshapen scarecrow. I hit the brakes, slid to a stop at the side of the road, went out of the car at a run.
The ground was lumpy, uneven, and as I neared the man I stumbled, staggered and caught myself. I came to a sudden stop a few yards from him, stayed motionless for seconds, looking at him.
It wasn't Braun. It couldn't be Braun. The face was lumpy, swollen, torn. The face was red and white ugliness, not a face at all. He moved toward me slowly, his body bent forward, twisted. He walked like a man moving through thick mud, awkwardly and stiffly like a man trying out artificial legs, like something in a nightmare. In the beam of my headlights his mouth hung slack, his eyes stared.
Then I snapped out of it, jumped toward him. When I reached for him he fell suddenly, as if a cord holding him up had been cut. He brushed my fingers and I grabbed his arms convulsively, grabbed them tight and hung on. He went down, pulling me to one knee, but I held him, tried to pull him toward me.
His head flopped back loosely as if his neck were flesh emptied of bone and muscle, almost as though it were a hollow tube of skin without strength or life in it. But he was still alive. I put one hand behind his head, lifted it And he stared at me, his eyes aware. It was Braun, all right, Braun Thorn. What was left of him.
His mouth was open. He was straining to speak. Sound sighed from his throat -- one clear word, ending in a whisper. Blood bubbled from his mouth. Still he tried to speak, strained to force out the words. He tried to smile. He actually tried to smile. He died like that.
He just stopped straining. His features smoothed a little. Only a little. And then he was dead. He sagged against my hands. I held his arms tight. I didn't want to let him go. I didn't want to let him down onto the earth. While I held him, it almost seemed in a crazy way that maybe he was still alive; but if I let him crumple on the ground he'd be gone. I held him until my arms started to ache. Then I put him down.
His face was bruised and cut, puffed, his lips mashed and split. There were cuts over both eyes. Two teeth had been broken, blood was on his face and mouth. One of his arms was broken, white bone sticking through the flesh like a snapped white stick. Something had torn through his neck. A bullet, probably. The flesh there lay peeled open in an ugly furrow, dark red in the dim light. A long strip of tape was sticking to one of his wrists.
I turned him over. He'd been shot in the back. There, and also through the neck. Powder burns peppered the neck wound. I stood up. Ten yards away a car raced past on Spring Canyon Road, headlights brushing us. I walked to the small gas station. A window in one of the metal walls was broken. Inside, bits of shattered glass lay on the top of a scarred desk. On the desk was a phone's base, cord leading from it through the window and to the receiver dangling outside. There was blood on the receiver.
At my feet the ground was furrowed, as if fingers had pulled at it. Braun lay, like a lump of earth on the ground, a few yards away. Between his body and where I stood there were other, deeper furrows in the ground, where he had fallen or crawled over it.
I looked at him, thought about him. About him -- and, for a moment, about Kelly Thorn. Braun's sister. Sweet, lovely Kelly. Somebody would have to tell her. I hoped I wouldn't have to be the one. I thought about Alexis Frost, and her missing father, Dr. Gideon Frost. And I thought about that one clear word Braun had forced from his torn mouth.
The word had been, "Frost."
Then I picked up the phone, Braun's blood sticky against my palm, and put in the call to Homicide.
Copyright © 1987 by Richard S. Prather


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Total funding for Medivo reached $22 million after it collected $15 million in a second funding round led by the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund. The mobile health firm uses a business model that aims to enable patients and doctors to easily access laboratory results, as well as offer ways that patients can monitor and manage chronic conditions.
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Gallery Folders
I love your art work!
Great job!^^
Fantastic, diverse gallery.
Your gallery is just amazing~ And your artwork is wonderful!!
I love every piece, your style is just outstanding!
I'm in search of picture for a french forum RPG, would you agree to lend your pictures ? Can I use your pictures of yours characters ?
Of course, if you accept, the images will stay in the forum. A link will be indicated towards your gallery. The copyright will stay. But if you refuse, I shall understand completely.
You may NOT use any images of my personal characters or characters i've created for other people. It would be really odd knowing that someone out there was using MY characters for their own stories. Unfortunately I dont have many non-character related images in my gallery, so most of the work here is off limits for RPs/forums.
Thank you for asking though!


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About Schools in Jamesville, NC
Contact a Coldwell Banker® real estate agent to learn more about the schools and school districts in Jamesville, NC.FIND AN AGENT
Jamesville, North Carolina is located in Martin County. Nearby cities and towns include Plymouth, Williamston, Windsor, Bear Grass, Pinetown, Everetts, Roper, Washington, Hamilton, Robersonville, Pantego, Washington Park, Askewville, River Road, Stokes, Hassell, Parmele, Chocowinity, Edenton, Bath, Grimesland, Belhaven, and Oak City. Jamesville is a rural community with a population of 500. The median household income is $30,999. In Jamesville, 43% of residents are married, and families with children reside in 27% of the households. Half the population of Jamesville commutes 18 minutes or less to work, with 50% of residents holding white collar jobs and 50% residents holding blue collar jobs. The median age of homes in Jamesville, NC is 26 years, with 58% of those homes owned, 27% rented, and 14% not occupied.
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Sunridge Woods Villa Oct 2000 & 2002
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its our 3rd Birthday in 3 months :D
i know! 3 years, wow
where has that 3 years gone and all those disney babes that have come along :)
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