text:
As stated in the topic we are looking for a 5th for our core tourney team. We are located on the NA server. Looking for an experienced Guard/Thief/Ranger/Engi. We are tentatively planning to run M-Th from 5-8 PST, with variable times on Fri/Sat/Sun as time/schedules permit.
We're planning to be as competitive as we possible as quickly as possible with the intent to compete in as many 3rd party organized tournaments as time/schedules allow. All 4 core members have spent time in the top 100 on the leaderboards, but our current focus will be on improving and preparing for these 3rd party tournaments, so expect experimentation on the ladder with little regard for personal ranking.
Personality-wise, all core members are young working adults, so we're looking for similarly like-minded individuals who are positive and open-minded about improving, accepts constructive criticism well, and can stick to a schedule.
OP also has access to a custom server, as well as another team that runs under another tag which we may set up scrims with. We currently use Team Speak as our VOIP.
You can reply here, PM me on the forums, or send in-game mail to Skyro.3108 or Nothing.8564 with the following info. Thank you and have a nice day.
1) Play schedule/availability
2) Rank
3) Classes/specs played, with the # of tournament matches played/won with each
4) Any prior teams you've played on
5) Any prior experience/success in other competitive games
6) Anything you'd like to add, i.e. ambitions into GW2, etc.
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WASHINGTON (ISNS) -- When Norman Augustine presented the Review of Human Spaceflight Plans Committee's 154-page report on Thursday, the committee chairman left no doubt that the NASA program is in trouble.
"The U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It is perpetuating the perilous practice of pursing goals that do not match allocated resources," the report?s opening sentences bluntly stated.
Augustine, the former CEO of Lockheed Martin who led a landmark study in 1990 about the future of the U.S. space program, was just as frank during Congressional testimony after the committee released a summary of the report in September. "The current program that is being pursued is not executable," he told members of the House Committee on Science and Technology. "There is a mismatch between the task to be performed and the funds to support it."
The report's basic conclusion is that the current human spaceflight program -- which is aimed at returning to the moon in the mid-2020s and then moving on to Mars -- will not succeed without an additional $3 billion in annual funding. Augustine noted in testimony over the summer that if NASA continues on the current path that was initially set by the previous administration in 2004, it will eventually "fall off a cliff" due to lack of funding.
The report questions if the current Constellation program is properly focused, but also notes that no matter which option the government selects for moving beyond low-Earth orbit, NASA would need around $30 billion in additional funding over the next decade to for successful human spaceflight.
NASA's human spaceflight program is at a crossroads. Almost four decades since the last astronauts lifted off from the surface of the moon, the U.S. program has been stuck in low Earth orbit. Much has been learned about building things in space, but little significant science or true exploration has been done by the astronauts.
The grim assessment of the current program was not well received by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Nevada, who heard Augustine testify in September. "I am angry," Giffords told him at the time.? Giffords -- the only member of Congress married to an astronaut -- said the review not only failed to set a path "to ensure a robust and meaningful human spaceflight program," but has also lost ground because of its negative portrayal of the current program.
The full report released Thursday did little appease Giffords.
"When Congress wrote and enacted last year's NASA Authorization Act, it anticipated essentially all of the issues mulled by the Augustine panel this summer," Giffords said. "Congress has already made its decisions on the issues considered by the panel. Everyone knows what needs to be done, let's get on with it and cease contemplating our collective navels."
But the 10 member Augustine panel notes that moving forward isn't that simple. The Constellation program calls for humans to return to the moon and establish a base there before moving on to Mars. Under that plan, the space shuttle would be retired in 2010, and the international space station would be deorbited in 2016, dropping into the Pacific Ocean. The Ares I rocket is being developed to carry the new Orion spacecraft into low-Earth orbit to provide service to the ISS after the shuttle program is retired, but inadequate funding and development delays likely mean that Ares I won?t be ready for launch until well after the space station is decommissioned.
While the final report doesn't make specific recommendations, Augustine noted that the Ares I isn't needed and the efforts should shift to a heavy-lift rocket that more adequately fits NASA's longer-range mission plans. That larger Ares V rocket will do what the old Saturn rockets did during the Apollo era -- carry humans to the moon. If the funding problem is solved and humans do establish a presence on the lunar surface, then NASA would look toward moving on to Mars -- which the report says is feasible.
During Thursday's press conference, Augustine continued to push the panel's flexible path option which calls for considering a host of missions using the larger Ares V. Humans could rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid, orbit Mars, land on one of the two Martian moons or even visit the Lagrangian Points, stable regions in nearby space where the pull of gravity between the Earth, moon and sun is balanced.
Augustine agreed with most human spaceflight advocates that believe the ultimate goal is to put humans on Mars, but he made clear the panel doesn't believe we are technologically prepared to go directly there.
What the report has made clear is that for humans to move out into the solar system, billions of dollars more are going to be needed. Underlying the panel's report and the discussions of destinations and cost, is the basic question: Why fly humans into space?
Augustine conceded that human spaceflight can't be justified by the science, technology or other direct developments that result from sending humans into the void. "You have to go to a higher calling," to justify the program he said.
A recent study of human spaceflight by policy experts at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology deals with that exact issue.
"Science is never the primary reason for sending humans into space, so if you?re going to do it, you?re doing it for other reasons,? said David Mindell, the director of the Space, Policy and Society Research Group at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. Mindell chaired a MIT study that helped to define objectives that could only be accomplished through human spaceflight, including exploration, national pride and international prestige and leadership. Science, economic development, new technologies and education were all ranked as secondary objectives by the MIT study. ?It?s a value judgment,? Mindell said.
Augustine has repeatedly said that whatever funding Congress decides upon for NASA?s human spaceflight program, it is important that a firewall be constructed between that program and the science programs. Scientists have complained repeatedly over the years that the space agency has shifted money away from unmanned scientific missions to help cover the shortfalls in the human spaceflight program.
As for the possibility that the Obama administration and Congress will stop sending humans into space, Mindell is skeptical. "I don?t think that is going to happen. No president is willing to end it. We have to assume there will be a human spaceflight program, so the question is, 'What is the right program?'" he said.
Augustine said the White House has received the report, and that the committee would be available for discussion. "We won't be lobbying for any of this," he said.
The administration said that they would review the committee's analysis, but ultimately, it falls to President Obama to decide which of the panel's options -- all of them expensive -- to follow.
- Video - Ares I-X Rocket Rolls to Launch Pad, Test Flight Plan
- What to Watch For During NASA's Ares I-X Rocket Test?
- Video Show - NASA's Vision for Humans in Space
SPACE.com will provide full coverage of NASA's Ares I-X test flight with Staff Writer Clara Moskowitz in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and Managing Editor Tariq Malik in New York. Click here for live launch coverage and mission coverage. Live updates begin Tuesday at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT).

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Tim Blair
–, Saturday, December, 08, 2012, (3:43pm)
Simon Benson explores the Julia Gillard paradox, whereby our Prime Minister is an enormously talented personal politician, easily able to smite opponents inside and outside of her party, and a completely useless practical politician, whose every policy results in ridiculous chaos. She's a salad of sinister and circus act:
Have Your Say
This whateveritis looks like a cross between Sam Spade (look it up, you youngsters) and Ronald McDonald.
One, of course was a detective, (private) and the other is a clown. The colour is appropriate, though! Uncle Joe Stalin would be pleased!
Sat 08 Dec 12 (04:31pm)
Sun 09 Dec 12 (03:06pm)
I don't get it...it's not much of a disguise. Although if you were related to Ronald McDonald you might want to conceal yourself.
Perhaps it's like her failed policies..her attempts to hide herself and fly under the radar have proved a failure.
She is the Wiley E Coyete of Australian Politics...forever trying to catch the marathon running, speedo wearing, Roadrunner. She gets her policies from Acme...guaranteed to fail everytime.
Good God that is an awful picture ... but appropriate.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (04:34pm)
"personal politician/practical politician"
Wasn't Jules awake during Pure and Applied Bastardry?
Sat 08 Dec 12 (04:38pm)
Sat 08 Dec 12 (09:19pm)
What is the difference between McDonald's and the current Labor Party?
McDonald's is run by one clown.
I for one can't wait until the Red Queen's Labor circus rolls out of town and into oblivion, where they belong.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (04:59pm)
Sun 09 Dec 12 (05:27am)
What's scary is that sooner or later, they'll be back to do it all over again…
Sun 09 Dec 12 (09:44am)
I'll be standing roadside waving goodbye too Franny.
A perfect illustration of our Crime Minister!
A perfect blend.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (05:23pm)
Sat 08 Dec 12 (11:35pm)
Ha Ha ! Good one!
Benson's doing his best to soft soap this monster.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (05:39pm)
Determination and ambition are a far cry from actually being able to do the job. When it comes to the crunch being a talented personal politician means diddly.
This is a case where a bunch of union heavies and industrial lawyers have absolutely no idea how to run the country now they're in power. Every decision seems to be on the fly, or a backflip, or made to distract the electorate's attention from something else. If the press gallery was fair dinkum it would have a field day with this mob.
This is now a nation where nothing works properly. Our borders are down, our defense forces are running down, The NBN is running overtime and over budget and will probably be obsolete by the time it's finished, a new tax on mining, the driver of our economy, has scared miners from new projects, which have been shelved or abandoned.
And worst of all, we have a year to go before Australia has a chance to throw them out.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (05:43pm)
At the same time she will need to assure people that a government which spared the country from technical recession once before, is still capable of managing an economy and a budget which is once again under pressure.
C'mon Simon. You could have mentioned the unmentionable. You know. The 200+ billion national debt that is already racking up interest and will take an awful lot of surpluses to pay down.
They haven't "spared us" from anything really, and once again it will be up to the conservatives in coming years to take the hard decisions (and be called bastards by much of the media) required to haul us back to a responsible budgetary position.
Then, after they've done that, the media clowns will start up with the "conservatives are boring and it's time for a change' routine.
We've seen it all before.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (05:51pm)
Sun 09 Dec 12 (08:44am)
They haven't "spared us" from anything really,
Quite right, blogstrop. When the global financial crisis hit Australia was in a good position and we should have just sat tight but no, Kevin had to go and fritter away a $20 billion surplus with his 'plasma TVs' giveaway.
Julia's mob have plunged us deeper into debt than any government in Australian history so that when the next financial crisis hits we will be in dire straits. I wonder which goodies will be first on the chopping block when that happens?
Sun 09 Dec 12 (10:52am)
You are so right about the debt situation, while some try to downplay it , especially the so called treasurer, its the interest that is the killer here, wasted money that could have been used to help people on the bottom rung of society ,imagine how much interest the us will end up repaying on there borrowings! or Greece or Spain, add to this thousands of freeloaders being shipped in from Indonesia and the check book is well in the red! any future gov, i expect an Abbott gov will have one hell of a job getting this economy back to the levels we should be at,and as you say the media will have a field day complaining about it, I hope the libs grab the chance and clear out the leftys fron our institutions and the courts while they have the chance.
Oh dear.
Who do I have to pay for copyright to get that printed on a t-shirt?
Sat 08 Dec 12 (05:55pm)
Sun 09 Dec 12 (07:38am)
Yes! CATA could do with printing a few of these. C'mon Jac where are you!
Sun 09 Dec 12 (10:05am)
Order me a couple as well please. Once they get seen by the intelligent people (Coalition voters) there will be a run on them and they could be the new great fad (bigger than the iphone even).
Clown? I wish. The most destructive and divisive Prime Minister in our history. Hurry on the election!
Not long now!
Sat 08 Dec 12 (06:11pm)
Sun 09 Dec 12 (11:04am)
However long it is, it's too long. Our nation needs to be rid of this insanity NOW. We have a massive mountain to climb to get back to anywhere near where we were 5 years ago. Instead, these fools are digging. They need to be gone. We can't afford them.
"...our Prime Minister is an enormously talented personal politician, easily able to smite opponents inside and outside of her party, and a completely useless practical politician, whose every policy results in ridiculous chaos."
Anyone who has read the Game of Thrones series of books will instantly recognise these as the traits of Cersei Lannister.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (06:40pm)
I expect that picture of clown Julia to ask "why so serious?" and say "I want Batman dead"
Sat 08 Dec 12 (07:56pm)
Move over Joker here comes Clown. Just as evil.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (07:57pm)
Sun 09 Dec 12 (12:49pm)
Just as evil, but with infinitely less style.
A talented 'personal' polly?
Gillard's talent, when you examing it a little deeper, involves the constantly deflecting issues by throwing her ex friends at them. Nothing with her is ever entirely resolved, merely deflected.
This constant stream of 'it was the other person's fault' seasoned nicely with her blantant sexism (because sorry kids, if you need to play the sexism card, you are already a sexist) is not in any way sustainable. The woman has no friends, instead only people she has yet to burn for her own protection and the problem with that tactic is that you rapidly reach the stage of Peak Scapegoat.
Eventually this massive tower of deflected issues, held upright by the blood of those with which she has used and disgarded, is going to come crashing down on her, and when it does the Left will eat her.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (08:04pm)
Sat 08 Dec 12 (10:28pm)
So basically Obama with a different set of organs and skin tone?
Sat 08 Dec 12 (10:57pm)
Great summary. How have we come to this? A prime minister who takes no blame - it was all someone else's fault .
The Simon Bensons of Australia's media covering her back every step of the way. Mild criticism is seen as stepping out of the mainstream media lock step . Why hasn't Simon the balls to call a spade a spade before this?
The opportunidy to sack the Labor Pardy cannot come quick enough.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (08:39pm)
The real Julia exposed at last.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (08:57pm)
Clowns are scary. Clowns are evil.
I don't like clowns.... and for some reason, female clowns are scarier and eviller.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (08:59pm)
Sun 09 Dec 12 (11:07am)
Read one man's experience of clowns.
You would do best to focus on 'Frament 3' and 'Fragment 4', and forgive the idiosyncratic spelling.
Rember the fate of somebody who stood in front of a caricature of her on a placard and was deemed sexist and a misogynist, so imagine if you put this image on a t-shirt - omg!!!
Sat 08 Dec 12 (09:25pm)
Her talent is purely from her daily dose at the dinner table of class hatred, imported with her family from the UK. No wonder she is in the thrall of McTernan, they are soulmates with similar backgrounds.
What will be her final undoing is that she has no friends anywhere. It is and has been all about "moi". Unlike other politicians of all persuasions, who go off during breaks to work in underpriviledged areas of need, her holidays are spent dwelling upon herself and the perceived slights she has received. The last thing Australia needs is a person like that. And those who were stupid enough to vote for her are now reaping the rewards. I have no sympathy for the squeals I now hear in the tearoom each day, as these people wanted her in power. Now they don't like it, and whine constantly about the costs of things under Labor. Told you so, but you knew better, didn't you. Guess who is having the last laugh.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (09:47pm)
Is that a witch? Lets ditch the witch! Whoever held that sign up 2 years ago was a very smart man.
Sat 08 Dec 12 (09:50pm)
Sun 09 Dec 12 (11:05pm)
The sign behind Tony was held by a woman.
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Jakarta Becomes Land of the 'Free'
JAKARTA – "Free" is the buzzword in Jakarta nowadays as candidates running for this week's election for Jakarta governor are promising free education, free health care and a city that is traffic and flood-free.
Citizens of the capital are skeptical. But that hasn't stopped the six candidates from flinging new freebies at them every day as the race to win the post to run the megacity of more than 10 million people heats up. The Jakarta government has declared the voting day on Wednesday as a public holiday. Results are expected July 19.
The first nine years of schooling are already free in Indonesia, and even though there's no universal health coverage, people can get free health care if they can obtain documents from authorities certifying they are poor. The Jakarta governor candidates, though, promise they can do better.
The candidates have promised to extend free education to 12 years. One of the candidates, Hidayat Nurwahid from the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party, went so far as suggesting that even private schools should be free.
For free healthcare, Jakartans shouldn't have to prove that they are poor, says candidate Alex Noerdin, who is running for the Golkar Party. A regular identification card should be enough, he says.
"Poor people's lives have been made more difficult by the requirement to produce documents declaring they are poor, which sometimes cost money," Mr. Noerdin said recently, according to the state-run Antara news agency.
Mr. Noerdin has also promised free drivers' licenses, free marriage certificates and free life insurance, as well as to unravel Jakarta's traffic mess and stop flooding within three years in office. Rival and incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo, of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, says he only needs an additional two and a half years to solve the problems. A recent survey of the citizens of the capital showed that traffic and flooding were their top concerns.
Another candidate, Joko Widodo, the popular mayor of the city of Solo, said he would deploy an additional 1,000 buses serving the sprawling city's busway lanes if elected, in response to complaints that the coaches are too crowded and people have to wait too long for a ride.
Independent candidate Hendardji Soepandji said he would provide free rice for the poor if elected.
"The pledges sound populist but I think many are realistic if you look at the city's annual budget," said Yunarto Wijaya, a political analyst at Charta Politika. "It's just a question of prioritizing."
Of course, choosing new priorities for funding could mean less spending on other priorities. Jakarta's annual budget is about $4 billion.
A recent survey of middle class voters conducted by the Institute for Economic and Social Research, Education and Information showed that Mr. Bowo and Mr. Widodo are leading the polls and on track for a run-off. More than 24% of respondents said they would vote to give Mr. Bowo five more years, while 23% opted for Mr. Widodo. Each of the other candidates won less than five percent.
With little discussion or debate in the campaign of big political issues such as minority rights, economic policy and Islamic values, voters may be tempted by all the goodies on offer. However, with candidates often matching the giveaways of their competitors, voters may just have to look closely at the track records of each generous contender.


text:
By Kelly JonesJune 25, 2012
Find your perfect match when you play the "Great Getaways" game at www.AFRCresorts.com. Authorized Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) patrons have an opportunity to win one of four all-inclusive "Great Getaways" vacation packages to an Armed Forces Recreation Center (AFRC). To enter the "Great Getaways Vacation Sweepstakes", eligible patrons must visit www.AFRCresorts.com, register for a chance to win and play the online memory-match game.
"We're excited about the revitalization of the 2012 Great Getaways Sweepstakes," said Kelly Jones, Senior Marketing Coordinator at Installation Management Command. Participants can play a 'match' game, pairing images of each AFRC resort, location, and fun activities available at the resort. "This year, we've incorporated an online memory-match game where players can learn fun facts and share their finds and scores via social media. While playing the game, players learn about all the great AFRC vacation destinations through 'Did You Know' fun-facts. It's a great way to virtually explore before you book your next AFRC Getaway," Jones said.
Whether strolling barefoot on the sands of Waikiki Beach, sightseeing historic European castles, shopping Seoul's exciting shopping district or visiting the enchanting Walt Disney Resort - Armed Forces Recreation Centers offer vacation getaways that will leave you with a lifetime of memories and new perspectives on great vacation getaways.
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The "Great Getaways Sweepstakes", sponsored by GM Military Discount, will begin July 2 and run through August 31, 2012. Eligible patrons will be able to enter once per day at www.AFRCresorts.com. Installation Management Command (IMCOM), Family and MWR Programs will be awarding four grand prize vacation packages which include airfare, lodging accommodations and spending money.
AFRC's set the standard with resort hotel accommodations, restaurants and entertaining attractions -- all designed to create world-class vacations for service members and their Families in unique resort locations. To learn more, visit www.AFRCresorts.com.
For further information contact:
Kelly Jones
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
About Armed Forces Recreation Centers
Armed Forces Recreation Center (AFRC) resorts are affordable Joint Service facilities centrally-managed by the Installation Management Command (IMCOM) Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Programs, and are located at ideal vacation destinations.
The AFRCs are Family and MWR facilities operated with a mission to provide rest, relaxation, recreation, and sustainment for Army personnel, their families, and other members of the total Defense Force.
Providing high-quality, affordable resort-style facilities at the AFRCs is commensurate with the Chief of Staff, Army's philosophy that Soldiers are entitled to the same quality of life as the citizens they are pledged to defend. The Army continues to promote strong family values by providing the AFRCs; a reflection of our strong commitment to improved quality of life. AFRC room rates are affordable and based on rank, pay grade, duty status, room size, and/or room location.
Authorized users include active-duty military, retirees, currently employed and retired Department of Defense civilians, reservists, delayed entry recruits, and family members.
About the U.S. Army Installation Management Community:
IMCOM handles the day-to-day operations of U.S. Army installations around the globe -- We are the Army's Home. Army installations are communities that provide many of the same types of services expected from any small city. Fire, police, public works, housing, and child-care are just some of the things IMCOM does in Army communities every day. We endeavor to provide a quality of life for Soldiers, Civilians and Families commensurate with their service. Our professional workforce strives to deliver on the commitments of the Army Family Covenant, honor the sacrifices of military Families, and enable the Army Force Generation cycle.
Our Mission: Our mission is to provide Soldiers, Civilians and their Families with a quality of life commensurate with the quality of their service.
Our Vision: Army installations are the Department of Defense standard for infrastructure quality and are the provider of consistent, quality services that are a force multiplier in supported organizations' mission accomplishment, and materially enhance Soldier, Civilian and Family well-being and readiness.
To learn more about IMCOM:
Homepage: http://www.imcom.army.mil/hq
Homepage: http://www.army.mil/imcom


text:
©1993 Stephen King; (P)2009 Simon and Schuster
"Great short stories!!"
Well, for whatever reason, there is no list of stories on any of the three Nightmares and Dreamscapes downloads. Anyway, I downloaded this one, Vol I, and to help future shoppers, here is the story list, in order, for this volume.
SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN, read by Whoopie Goldberg.
CROUCH END, read by Tim Curry.
RAINY SEASON, read by Yeardley Smith. (If you are a Simpson's fan, you will recognize the voice of this reader. For me, a horror story read to me by Lisa Simpson isn't a horror story. I laughed more than anything! Don't get me wrong, I adore Yeardley Smith, however, this was not a story for her talents.)
DOLAN'S CADILLAC, read by Rob Lowe. (This one is my favorite story of the lot.)
THE HOUSE ON MAPLE STREET, read by Tabitha King.
UMNEY'S LAST CASE, read by ???
HEAD DOWN, read by Stephen King.
BROOKLYN AUGUST, read by ???
As with any collection of short stories, everyone's tastes will be different. Dolan's Cadillac is the reason I downloaded this volume. I remember reading this one YEARS ago and thought is was one of Mr. Kings best non-horror stories he had written to date. The other stories are very good as well, but for me, a couple of them are quite forgettable. Bottom line; if you are a Stephen King fan, you will enjoy this download.
"2nd Favorite"
I'm not a "BIG" book reader. Short stories are my cup of tea. This collection is awesome. Although I'm not a long story reader, I find myself reading 4,5 and sometime 6 stories at a pop. The second most popular book in the house!
"King at his best!"
I originally bought these books on tape years ago and used to listen to them on my commutes, but I've since lost them and none of my cars accept tapes anymore anyway! I was thrilled to see them on audible.com and plan to download all three volumes -- some of the best short stories ever written.
Have to disagree with the reviewer who said that "Head Down" was boring and didn't belong in this anthology. It was exciting, uplifting, and extremely well-written. The first time I heard it I was skeptical to see if King's exceptional horror writing abilities would translate well in a non-fiction story about baseball, but I was not disappointed. King could have written for Sports Illustrated....I don't know why I ever doubted him.
Some of my other favorites include: Night Flier (great story with a great narrator who really brings out the cynicism of the protagonist), Umney's Last Case (outstanding narrator you really believe is a private eye during The Great Depression), Popsy (evil story that actually makes you root for the vampire, Joe M does a great job with it too), Dedication (Weird and almost lewd story, but well told. I love that woman's voice; she's so versatile), and It Grows On You (King's voice took some getting used to, but the descriptions in his adjectives and his allusions really make you feel like you're in Castle Rock.)
I thoroughly enjoyed all these stories and if you stumbled upon them in your search here, I'm sure you will too. Nightmares and Dreamscapes is a MUST HAVE for any Stephen King fan!
"The best King audio books available"
I owned these three volumes on tape, and I am thrilled to see them on audible. The narration is engaging, and the story telling is excellent.
I listen to books when I'm at work or doing chores. I prefer history and fantasy. My favorite audio book is Going Postal by Terry Pratchett.
"Go for 'Just After Sunset' instead"
The stories might be all right but it hardly matters because the comically horrible musical track that plays at random intervals drowning out the speaker. The separate volumes of this book are overpriced considering how short they are. Adding insult to injury, the last few hours of the first volume are taken up by a boring baseball essay. That last bit brought me right back to my childhood, standing in the outfield ripping the grass out of the ground, waiting for hours for the torture to end.
"Classic Stephen King"
If you haven't read this yet, it's time. My favorite story is Dolan's Cadillac. Listen
"Not his best work."
I usually really like Stephens short stories. They even tend to be my favorites, but these were not that great. We all strike out occasionally I guess.
"Absolutely love Stephen King. Miraculous!"
Audiobooks don't get any better. Great Narrative. Short stories are the way to go. Awesome!
"Great collection! Can't wait to start volume 2!"
Great Stories! Different then most of his other short story books, but if you know Stephen King, you then know that he's not just the Master of Horror. He's also the Master of having no need for a comfort zone or M.O. To rely on. He writes incredibly, exploring different genres and states of mind. The short stories in this collection are no different.
The readers are all fantastic! Whoopi Goldberg was a delightful surprise in that I never expected her to be such an amazing story teller. Everyone else was amazing as well.
Now... On to Volume 2!
"good for quick short reads"
I am determined to read King's entire collection in as close to the order of publishing as possible. In starting Nightmares and Dreamscapes I found I really enjoyed the short stories but didn't enjoy the baseball essay and poem at the end. It was nice to hear a real experience King had with his son, but let's be honest I really just want him to scare me.
Report Inappropriate Content
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text:
LIFE WITH KAROL: My Forty-Year Friendship With the Man Who Became Pope
STUPID, UNJUST, AND CRIMINAL WAR: Iraq 2001-2007
DARE TO SAY: An Adventure in Journaling
OF FAITH: Why Religion Matters—and How to Talk About It
LIFE WITH KAROL: My Forty-Year Friendship With the Man Who Became Pope, by
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, in Conversation With Gian Franco Svideroschi, translated
from the Italian by Adrian J. Walker. Doubleday. 260 pp. $22.95.
Reviewed by PAT McCLOSKEY, O.F.M., editor of this publication. From 1986 to 1992,
he worked at the international headquarters of the Order of Friars Minor and was
present for a couple of the public events described in this book.
FROM OCTOBER 8, 1966, until April 2, 2005, Father Stanislaw Dziwisz was the private
secretary of Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of Kraków and later Pope John Paul II. No
one else knew the adult Wojtyla as well as Dziwisz did.
In this volume, Gian Franco Svideroschi, a veteran staff member of L'Osservatore
Romano, the Vatican's daily newspaper, serves as the narrator/interviewer.
His contributions are printed in italics.
Dziwisz met Wojtyla at the Kraków seminary in 1957, was ordained by him in 1963,
served as an assistant pastor for two years and was assigned to higher studies in
1966. Later, Dziwisz became Archbishop Wojtyla's private secretary.
In 35 chapters (10 before the 1978 papal election and 25 chapters after it), Dziwisz
provides the "back story" to what can be found in the excellent biographies written
by George Weigel and Tad Szulc. Readers of the present volume probably need the overall
framework that a biography provides.
Wojtyla was one of the few Polish bishops permitted by their government to attend
Vatican II. After the student protests of 1968, "Wojtyla didn't oppose the regime
head-on, but rather deflated it from the inside, by showing how it differed from
the reality of man, from the truth about man himself,"
writes the author.
Dziwisz details the pope's first incognito skiing trip (to Ovindoli on January 2,
1981); the pope made about 100 private trips outside the Vatican. Less than two months
after being elected, he visited San Francesco Saverio Parish in Rome's Garbatella
region; he had assisted there during his studies in Rome after World War II.
On the return flight from the pope's 1984 pastoral visit to Thailand, a journalist
said to the pope, "You raised the political issue of the refugees." The pope replied,
Dziwisz remembers, with something like ire in his voice: "It's a human issue—human!
It's not about politics. Reducing this to politics is all wrong. The basic human
issue is morality."
Cardinal Dziwisz details that during the pope's 1983 visit to Mehmet Ali Agca in
Rome's Rebibbia prison, the would-be assassin asked John Paul II, "So why aren't
you dead?" but never sought forgiveness.
Dziwisz describes the World Day of Prayer for Peace, celebrated in Assisi on October
27, 1986, as "a kind of watershed in the history of interreligious relations." He
acknowledges that some of the Holy See's staff members were not enthusiastic about
this day, but he offers no names.
After noting that John Paul II considered resigning, consulted several other people
and then chose not to, Dziwisz writes, "At the same time, John Paul II did work out
a procedure for resigning should he no longer be able to carry out his papal mission." Many
readers may be interested in more detail about this point than the cardinal provides
or has been made public elsewhere.
Dziwisz is probably at his best in describing Pope John Paul II's actions regarding
Poland and other countries behind the Iron Curtain.
The situation in Latin America is probably less understood. Many Church leaders
and theologians there could echo the politics/human-rights viewpoint quoted above—without
coming to the same conclusions that John Paul II did.
This volume has a single photo (the pope ordaining Dziwisz a bishop) but no index.
Dziwisz received a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Faculty of Theology
of Kraków in 1981, became a titular bishop in 1998 and a titular archbishop in 2003,
was appointed archbishop of Kraków in 2005 and became a cardinal a year later. This
volume provides none of that information.
A Life With Karol offers a unique viewpoint and is an engaging read.
You can order A LIFE WITH KAROL: My Forty-Year Friendship With the Man Who
Became Pope from St. Francis Bookshop.
STUPID, UNJUST, AND CRIMINAL WAR: Iraq 2001-2007, by Andrew Greeley.
Orbis Books. 215 p. $19.
Reviewed by the REV. LAWRENCE M. VENTLINE, D.Min., a Catholic priest for three
decades and founding director of Cura Animarum (Care of the Soul), a special counseling
assignment for the Archdiocese of Detroit. A nationally certified personal trainer,
spiritual director, and wellness and nutrition consultant, Father Ventline has
authored seven books.
THIS SIX-YEAR HISTORY and commentary of the war in Iraq from 2001 to 2007 comes
from the prolific pen of priest-author-sociologist Andrew Greeley. He is a research
associate with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago
and a professor of sociology at the University of Arizona. He is also a popular novelist.
In a dismal culture enveloped in terror and fear, Greeley reminds readers of the
battle for the world's resources, while raising concerns about morality and the just-war
theory criteria he contends are unmet in the case of the Iraq war.
By way of an ethical and political examination of conscience, Greeley stretches
the reader's understanding of this war and pushes for an end to all war.
Standing with the late Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict XVI, Greeley has
opposed the war from its inception. Here he details his objections to it with the
same stubbornness of the popes. Like them, Greeley argues in his Introduction that
the war in Iraq falls far short of the Catholic criteria for a just war: 1) The cause
must be just; 2) All peaceful solutions must have been exhausted; 3) The means used
must be proportionate; 4) The bad effects of the war must not exceed the good; and
5) There should be a reasonable hope of victory.
By his own admission, the author says he is "not an ideological pacifist,"
confessing that he "supported the Afghan war" and laments "only that the Administration
became too involved in Iraq to finish it.
"The American people would have resisted the Iraq war if it were not for the climate
of anger and fear generated by the attack on the World Trade Center," Greeley contends.
American officials were in favor of an attack on Iraq long before the terrorist attack
that ignited their support to invade Iraq without sufficient proof of weapons of
mass destruction.
In this timely tome, Greeley wonders about his right as a Catholic priest to criticize
the president. He further questions his place particularly after the pedophile mess,
yet reminds clergy of their right and responsibility—let alone obligation—to condemn
a war if they think it unjust and immoral.
Pained by the escalating loss of young soldiers and innocent bystanders, Greeley
"Why?" and "What for?" My own unhealed wound of the war in Vietnam and the demise
of my oldest brother there 40 years ago last February, along with so many other Vietnamese
and Americans killed back then, prompts me still to ask of that war, "Why?"
Urging his brother priests to speak out against the war in Iraq, Greeley concludes
that if "we remain silent, the very stones will cry out."
May other voices join the side of the Prince of Peace.
You can order A STUPID, UNJUST, AND CRIMINAL WAR: Iraq 2001-2007 from St.
Francis Bookshop.
DARE TO SAY: An Adventure in Journaling, text by Kenneth Trainor,
welcome by William Burke. ACTA Publications. 224 pp. $14.95.
Reviewed by BARBARA BECKWITH, book review editor of this publication.
INTIMIDATED BY A BLANK PAGE when you go to start journaling? Many spiritual directors
advise keeping a journal of your thoughts so that you can see your dilemmas, patterns
and God's contributions to the conversation. Kenneth Trainor provides inspirational
prompts and striking lines from Scripture to prime the pump. The bulk of the book
is composed of empty lines for you to fill from your life and heart.
Trainor is a journalist who lives in Oak Park, Illinois. In the dedication, this
layman cites a Trappist monk from New Melleray Abbey, Iowa, where he goes on retreat.
He says Father Jim O'Connor "taught me most of what I know about the contemplative
In the "Welcome," Father William Burke, in residence at St. Julie's Catholic Church
in Tinley Park, Illinois, refers to Trainor's book as "an adventure called meditation
with a pen." Trainor is his parishioner.
Trainor provides chapter headings like "Original Sin-tax," "Wonder," "Proverbs,"
"Re-visions," "Comparisons,"
"Love Letters,"
"Death Sentences" and
"Life Sentences." Meditation starters include gems like, "Wisdom is the ultimate
one-liner, the punch line without the laughter,"
"Speak your fears. Call their bluff," "It's time to let the Earth go fallow" and "I
have studied the stars too long to fear the night."
This is not a book to work through logically, but to skip around in, depending on
your mood and what's going on in your life on that day. I'm not fond of self-destructive
books that can only be used by one person, so I started writing responses to some
of these prompts in my own notebook. (That way I can recycle this book to someone
But the book proved valuable in unblocking something that the God within was trying
to tell me. And it helps deal with the big questions in life, like happiness, calling
and destiny, life and death.
My only complaint is the cover, which features a Waterman fountain pen. That illustration
could make it look as if a person needs expensive equipment to get going. Someone
with a Bic pen can produce just as profound thoughts as anyone writing with a Waterman.
The publisher recommends this as a gift book for "graduates of any stripe."
It can spark a spiritual quest to know yourself and to get closer to God through
You can order WE DARE TO SAY: An Adventure in Journaling from St.
Francis Bookshop.
OF FAITH: Why Religion Matters—and How to Talk About It, by Krista
Tippett. Viking Press. 240 pp. $23.95.
Reviewed by MARK M. WILKINS, a teacher at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati,
SEVERAL MONTHS AGO, a national poll indicated that belief in God was a key factor
voters would use in assessing candidates for president in the election of 2008.
The important question for thoughtful readers would be whether it is candidates'
faith experience, their doctrinal stands or their religious practices that are being
Krista Tippett, host of public radio's Speaking of Faith series, starts her
book of the same name with a reflection on faith, spirituality and religion. Her
text is geared toward a more constructive path of conversation about religion, politics
and culture than many hear on talk radio.
While acknowledging that religious zeal has brought about division and distrust,
the author believes that the spiritual energy of our time can counter any religious
excesses of any denomination or tradition.
While most of the thinking of the 1960s and 1970s was promoting secularization and
the diminishing role of religious practices, we have discovered that other disciplines
don't raise the ultimate questions of morality and that a privatized religion is
a failing religion.
Listeners often ask her how she frames the questions she asks her guests and how
she has been affected by her listening. Her response is to build upon the idea that
all of us who are believers are "walking-around theologians," to borrow a phrase.
We build upon the stuff of our lives, as well as the foundations of the traditions
that we choose to follow, in our quest for greater understanding of who we are and
who God has created us to be.
By exploring the intellectual and spiritual content of our time, Tippett says in
Chapter 3, we get the opportunity to reframe the truths spoken by our religious traditions.
The answers we get are as much shaped by the way we frame the question as they are
by the resources and texts we use to articulate a response.
Narrative theology is the heart of the fourth chapter as the author starts with
the first-person approach to religious speech. This essentially humanizes doctrine
and bars abstractions about how God touches our lives. She makes the point that the
nature of God is revealed not only in doctrine, dogma, ritual and tradition but also
in our lives which we use to construct our own sense of meaning and purpose. People
know that someone can disagree with another's opinions or doctrines, but not with
their lived experience.
The final two chapters offer thoughts on virtue and mystery, and delve into the
spiritual ideas and practices that address our deepest cultural and personal confusions.
Her reflections are offered in contrast to the sometimes harsh words that are ofttimes
used to state correct positions that promote certainty rather than reverence and
The author was born the night that John Kennedy was elected president. Politics
seemed to be his primary arena, rather than religion. Tippett too was charged by
the possibilities of political solutions to world conflict. She spent her 20s as
a journalist and as a diplomat in Berlin.
When her questions started being more about life's meaning, she returned to America
and enrolled in divinity school. In the 1990s, she recognized that in-depth religious
discourse was generally absent from journalism. She wanted to offer more than sound
bites which fit neatly on placards and bumper stickers.
Speaking of Faith was begun on American Public Media to add depth and interfaith
perspective to the discussion of religious ideas. She came up with the idea while
consulting for the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at St. John's Abbey
and University in Collegeville, Minnesota. The radio program began as an occasional
feature in 2000, then became a national weekly program in 2003.
Reading this book has gotten me to be a more regular listener to her program on
Sunday evenings. The book has also exposed me to a wider array of teachers, authors,
writers and activists to help me understand for myself and to explain to my friends
and students what it is I believe and why I believe it.
My one nit-picking complaint is that a list of the works written by the people to
whom she refers would have helped me. The book left me wanting more. I guess I'll
keep tuning in.
You can order SPEAKING OF FAITH: Why Religion Matters—and How to Talk About
It from St. Francis Bookshop.
Vocation means a calling from God. Nowadays, that can refer to more than
just the priesthood and religious life.
DIVERSITY OF VOCATIONS, by Marie Dennis (Orbis Books, 142 pp., $10), is the
first in the Orbis/Benziger series on Catholic spirituality for adults. Dennis is
a mother and a founding member of Washington, D.C.'s Assisi Community, a small lay
community of families inspired by the ideals of Sts. Francis and Clare. She writes
about how a person's vocation can change over the years and how everyone is called
to discipleship and happiness.
FARMER TO FATHER: Finding God in People, Places and Events, by Father Louis
Studer, O.M.I. (Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, 183 pp., $12). This is the
memoir of an Iowa boy who never liked farm chores and somehow discerned that he had
a vocation to a religious order and the priesthood. Father Studer recently completed
10 years as director of the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, St. Anthony
Messenger's longtime back-cover advertiser.
AS WE KNEW HIM: Reflections on M. Basil Pennington, compiled and edited
by Michael Moran and Ann Overton (Paraclete Press, 207 pp., $29.95). Twice I met
Trappist Father Pennington, one of the key promoters of the Centering Prayer movement.
Here, 29 people who knew him well try to give some sense of this deep man of faith
who died three years ago.
Books can be obtained through St. Francis
Bookshop on the Web or at 8621 Winton Road, Cincinnati, OH 45231, phone 1-800-241-6392.
All orders must be prepaid. Add $4 for postage and handling, $2 more for each additional
book. Ohio residents should also add 6.5 percent for sales tax. The Bookshop offers a
free catalog.


text:
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text:
A setting of O Oriens, one of the "O Antiphons," as an advent anthem for a cappella choir.
My composer website now has a performance calendar page. Check there to find performances of my compositions. If you are a performer planning to program one of my pieces, please let me know and I'll add your concert to the calendar.
Performance Calendar
9 – Ascendit Deus, Choir of Grace Church, Joseph Arndt, director; Newark, New Jersey, 6:30 p.m.
9 – Premiere, newly commissioned work, Manhattan Choral Ensemble, New York, location TBA.
2 - My Kiss is a Journey, C4 Ensemble Choir, Engelmann Hall, Barush College, New York.
28 – Premiere, My Kiss is a Journey, C4 Ensemble Choir, St. Luke in the Fields, New York.
29 – Premiere, Fuller Brush Variations, Peter Jarvis,
7:30 PM, New Music Series, William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey. (details here).
28 – Quintet, Helix! New Music Ensemble, Paul Hoffman, conductor,
2 PM, Nicholas Music Center, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. (details here).
26 - Innesscapes (UK premiere), Chiasmus Ensemble,
International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester, United Kingdom. Details TBA.
The scuttlebutt around Columbia University's new senior composer hire seems to be true. As Alex Ross reported on The Rest is Noise yesterday, Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas will be joining Columbia's faculty sometime during the 2012-'13 academic year, replacing Tristan Murail, One revels in the possibilities, not only for graduate students in composition, but for the rest of us too; we'll likely get to hear some terrific programs during his time stateside!
The Wellesz Theatre is streaming Haas's 2011 opera Bluthaus in its entirety via YouTube (embed below).
Our friend Thomas Bjørnseth has some terrific musical selections by Haas on his Atonality.Net website.
I'm very pleased to report that mezzo soprano Rachel Calloway and cellist Jason Calloway will be, to my knowledge, the first musicians to perform my music in Florida. Tomorrow (Saturday 9/29) at 8 PM, they present a free concert at the Harold Golen Gallery in Miami.
Part of the Acoustica 21 series run by FETA (Foundation for Emerging Technologies and Arts), the program will include pieces by Peter Sculthorpe, Andrew Waggoner, and Carl Schimmel, and my own triptych of Jane Kenyon settings.
Today I learned some very exciting news. My duo For Milton will be performed by the League of Composers Chamber Players on Sunday February 24, 2013. Concert details below.
The piece has also been released on CD by Perspectives of New Music/Open Space Magazine (PNM/OS CD 3, available here).
League of Composers Chamber Players
Sunday, February 24, 2013 – 3:00 pm
Tenri Cultural Institute
Tickets: $20 gen. adm / $10 student/senior, available in advance, or at the door.
Penumbrae (2008) Luke Dahn
Piano Trio (2009) Jordan Kuspa
For Milton (2011) Christian Carey
Sextet (1937) Aaron Copland
Rhapsody for Cello and Piano (1994) David Chaitkin.
Kyle Gann's blog has more about Bill Duckworth, including news that Andy Lee's recording of Time Curve Preludes on Irritable Hedgehog will be available for free download until Sunday night (Embed below). Label owner David McIntire is a real mensch. Gann also mentions a recently composed piano concerto; dare we hope that Lee gets a chance to program it with a good orchestra?
Speaking of the pianist, he shares his own essay about Duckworth over at I Care if You Listen.
Earlier today, Kyle Gann reported on his blog that composer, educator, and writer William Duckworth has succumbed to pancreatic cancer. He was 69. Tom Huizenga has more over at NPR Classical.
I've long been an admirer of Bill's music and writings. After a colleague mentioned his illness to me, I corresponded with him a few months ago, letting him know how helpful his book Talking Music was to my students and mentioning a former student we both had in common (Ashi Day). Bill was very gracious. I'm pleased to have told him before his passing about the great value of his work to young musicians, composers in particular.
One of the ways I'll commemorate Duckworth's life is by spending time with two of his best works; the first, the aforementioned book, Talking Music, a collection of interviews with composers that sets the bar high for such volumes. The other, Andy Lee's recording of Time Curve Preludes (available via Irritable Hedgehog).
From tonight until Saturday, the Austrian Cultural Forum sponsored Moving Sounds Festival takes place. Thursday saw the Mivos Quartet perform new works by Carl Bettendorf and Reiko Füting while Christian Meyer and Franz Hackl gave a lecture recital entitled "Schoenberg and the notion of Avant-garde."
On Friday, composer Annie Gosfield appears in a portrait concert at the Czech Center as part of Moving sounds. It includes the premiere of "Phantom Shakedown". The piece for piano accompanied by a broken shortwave radio, a cement mixer, and tube noise. It's one of the pieces on Gosfield's latest CD, the just released Almost Truths and Open Deceptions (Tzadik). Dynamic and captivating, both the concert and CD embrace amplified industrial music and distressed chamber works, in a concoction that balances sonic seduction with formidable avant gauntlets.
For more Moving Sounds events on Friday and Saturday, check out the festival's website here.
Allan Kozinn reported yesterday in the New York Times that Elliott Carter will be made a Commander in the French Legion of Honor. The composer, who turns 104 in December, will be presented this, the highest distinction given by France, in a ceremony later this year to be held at the Cultural Services Office of the French Embassy in New York.
Carter first mentioned being contacted about this in an interview for Bloomberg back in June; it's nice to have the details confirmed. For those keeping score, Kozinn reports that Carter will outrank Paul McCartney, who is an Officer, not a Commander, in the Legion of Honor. Of course, McCartney's only seventy; presumably he's got time for an eventual promotion!
On Thursday, September 6th, New York Chamber Music Festival celebrates Joan Tower's seventy-fourth birthday with an All-Tower concert. Performers include flutist Carol Wincenc, violinist Emma Steele, pianist Blair McMillen, the Da Capo Players, and the Escher String Quartet: all commissioners of or longtime collaborators with Tower.
Click here to purchase tickets for the Happy Birthday, Joan Tower concert at Symphony Space
Thursday, September 6 at 6 PM
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space
2537 Broadway at 95th Street, New York, NY 10025-6990
Phone: 212-864-5400
Fax: 212-932-3228
Joan Tower page at Schirmer's website.


text:
Hi. This is my eighth Star Wars review and it features: the 30005 Imperial Speeder Bike!
Theme: Star Wars (ROTJ)
No of pieces: 29 (excluding fig)
Release Date: 2009
Minifigs: 1
RRP when released: Free (promotional set)
This set is based on a custom vehicle from the minds of TLG. It has never been seen in any of the films or EU, to my knowledge. It appears to be a small, one-man speeder bike that is apparently Endor-themed, looking at the background of the picture on the bag and instructions.
This is the front cover of the miniscule instruction booklet. It shows the vehicle whizzing along through the dense forests of Endor's moon.
The instuctions are printed on both sides of the paper, as well as a small advert for LEGO.com and two of this years Original Trilogy sets: 7749 Echo Base and 8038 The Battle of Endor.
These are the 29 pieces that make up the vehicle, as well as the stormtrooper on the left. They are mostly ordinary pieces, but there are some that I didn't have already such as the two axes.
At stage three in the build, the model will look like this. The base of the speeder has been assembled, but it doesn't look like much yet.
By stage six of ten, handlebars have been added as well as a small engine on the back.
The finished product looks like this. The axes are clipped onto the sides and the front has been nicely built up.
From the front, you can see that the pilot has a clear view ahead. If the binocular pieces are supposed to be guns, they aim at the ground, so would be quite ineffective unless the target was lying down. I expect they're just for detail.
Looking at the back, we can see the small exhaust mounted on the back. The axes, so the instructions say, should be pointed towards the ground. Maybe this vehicle is supposed to be some kind of Imperial Lawnmower?
The side view shows off the vehicles perfect shape. The front tilts down, much like a Swoop bike, and the axes are held on the sides. The stormie riding the bike cannot hold the handlebars, unfortunately. They're just there to rest his arms on.
And off he goes into the jungle. Maybe a tree has fallen on the road and is blocking traffic. This Woodcutter trooper is off to clear the way with his two little axes.
Being such a tiny set, it only includes on basic minifigure: a good old stormtrooper. I don't have many of these, being a PT fan, so another one was nice to add to my small collection. As he's a speeder pilot, he's not equipped with any kind of weapon, apart from his axes of course. Perhaps he's descended from the Dwarves theme?
Ratings and thoughts
Build: 5/10 - Simple and quick, as you'd expect from a small set like this. It wasn't boring or repetitive so it gets a good score.
Minifigures: 4/10 - As nice as this stormie is, a scout trooper might have been more appropriate and more appreciated by some people.
Playability: 4/10 - There isn't much to do with this set but swoosh it.
Design: 7/10 - It does a little odd, but it fits in with the design of the other 74-Z speeder bikes the Endor sets have included, and the handlebars are quite nice too.
Price: 10/10 - All this little beauty cost was 65p for the newspaper!
Overall: 30/50 - A wonderful little promo that I'm sure will be very popular among Star Wars LEGO fans.
And to finish: a shot of him terrorizing a poor Ewok!
Thanks for looking, everybody. Comments welcome, as always.
Edited by BoneyT, 06 September 2009 - 10:43 AM.


text:
Rhee, J; Im, J; Carbone, GJ (2010). Monitoring agricultural drought for arid and humid regions using multi-sensor remote sensing data. REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT, 114(12), 2875-2887.
AbstractWhile existing remote sensing-based drought indices have characterized drought conditions in arid regions successfully, their use in humid regions is limited. We propose a new remote sensing-based drought index, the Scaled Drought Condition Index (SDCI), for agricultural drought monitoring in both arid and humid regions using multi-sensor data. This index combines the land surface temperature (LST) data and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor, and precipitation data from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Each variable was scaled from 0 to 1 to discriminate the effect of drought from normal conditions, and then combined with the selected weights. When tested against in-situ Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), Palmer's Z-Index (Z-Index), 3-month Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and 6-month SPI data during a ten-year (2000-2009) period, SDCI performed better than existing indices such as NDVI and Vegetation Health Index (VHI) in the arid region of Arizona and New Mexico as well as in the humid region of North Carolina and South Carolina. The year-to-year changes and spatial distributions of SDCI over both arid and humid regions generally agreed to the changes documented by the United States Drought Monitor (USDM) maps. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Susie Sampson sets out to get the pulse of the nation, by asking a sample group to give their opinions on Donald Trump, Deez Nuts and Planned Parenthood. Full Article & Video
Tag: comedy news
Ebola Invades NYC! Now It's a Very Big Deal
Susie says "Ebola has hit NYC! Full Article & Video
Comedian Deon Cole Solves the Iraq Crisis Conan Obrien
Comedian and writer for Conan, Deon Cole takes a look at today's headlines and tells some harsh truths in his role as very mobile newsman. Full Article & Video
Dave Letterman: Hillary Clinton's Brain, Man Has Sex with ATM
David Letterman used his monologue on 5/20 to illustrate the duality of lying Republitroll Karl Rove's, most recent claims about Hillary Clinton.First Dave established who Karl Rove is, asking the audience; "Do you know anything about Karl Rove? Full Article & Video
Bill Clinton: Obamacare, Economic Prediction! Rob Ford VP? Jimmy Kimmel
President Clinton talks about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford,(whom Jimmy hopes is a possible VP pick ) and Clinton's new disillusionment with Canadian stereotypes. Full Article & Video
Discover Card Parody: 'We Treat You Like A Friend'
In this parody by Second City Comedy called 'Discover Card' a 'real live' operator treats you like a friend. Full Article & Video
Hobby Lobby Gets Crafty With Our Reproductive Rights!
Ladyparts Justice produced this witty and excellent video giving us a scary glimpse into the future, if the unthinkable should happen and 'Hobby Lobby V Sebilius' suffers a Supreme Court loss. Full Article & Video
Austin SXSW Music Festival: Lie Witness News Jimmy Kimmel
Austin's 'South by Southwest' music festival draws music lovers from far and wide. Full Article & Video
Palin Predicts Putin Manly: Reporter Snow Plowed! Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon's monologue can't possibly devote enough time to Sarah Palin's modest "I told ya so." Of course, we're talking about her outburst in 2008, when she predicted Putin would rear his head and invade the Ukraine. Full Article & Video
Pros and Cons: Watching The Oscars Jimmy Fallon The Tonight Show
Jimmy Fallon weighs the Pros and Cons, the glitz, the glamor and yes - the uglier side as well, of watching the Academy Awards on television. Full Article & Video
Jack Dundee's All-Gay, Straight Adults Only, Arizona Fun Shoppe! Conan O'Brien
Welcome to Jack Dundee's All-Gay Straights-Only, Adult Emporium and fun house..."For God-fearing straight dudes." Gov. Full Article & Video
Kids Need to Learn Valentine's Day Disappointment, Fox & Friends
Valentine's Day cards in kindergarten are now controversial - on Fox & Friends. Full Article & Video
Facebook Addiction Disorder Turns 10! Jimmy Kimmel
Do you suffer from Facebook Addiction Disorder? Full Article & Video
GOP Facebook 'Look Back' 2013 Video is Weird, Lame & Scary!
Facebook is celebrating ten years online, and we can join them in "Looking Back." This means you can make a video looking back at all the time wasted on Facebook! Full Article & Video
Puppies Predict Super Bowl 2014 Winner Jimmy Fallon
Super Bowl fever is soaring, and Jimmy Fallon has a secret weapon he uses to predict the outcome of such hotly competitive events - puppies! Full Article & Video


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I've just upgraded to WP 3.5 and PostRatings 1.64. Under the previous versions I had a display of the top rated images and the stars showing their ratings.
Now, the images have disappeared, but the star symbols (with the correct ratings) are there. What has changed that may cause this to happen, or how can I modify my code to get them back?
Website is designcloud.net, and the issue is in each "Loved" section, which should look like the "Fresh" ones immediately below (although bigger, as there will only be 3 across the page rather than 6).
I call the ratings with:
<?php if (function_exists('get_highest_rated_category')): ?>
<?php get_highest_rated_category($childcat->cat_ID, 'post', 0, 3); ?>
<?php endif; ?>
which has not changed since I updated WP and PostRatings


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1 America StreetSouth Bank, LondonSE1 0NETel: 020 7928 3388
Borough 0.3 miles…
Southwark 0.5 miles
Blog review URL
Have we missed a great private art gallery in London?
Let us know.
Add Essor to a list of your favourite nice things in London, places you want to go, or a new list on any subject…


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Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:53 am
Post subject: Hmmm - some symptoms
Well, me and hubby aren't 'actively' trying, but we're also not being careful (since it took such a stupidly long time to get pregnant last time!). Been fairly active in the bedroom the last couple of weeks though and I'm now convinced I'm pregnant!! Sounds stupid, but - stop reading now if you don't like tmi - my poos have changed to what I think of as pregnancy poo, all dark and small.
Am I going mad? not due Af until 27th June, so am probably being ridiculous....
stupid thing is i can't help being all hopeful and excited, and I really really want to never have the horrible emotional rollercoaster of TTC every month ever again!!
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:58 am
Post subject:
nah - I'd had so very many cycles of thinking it was pg symptoms, then AF turned up every time. I did a bunch of tests, all negative, (was a dreadful testaholic) - so on the month when I actually WAS pregnant I decided it was just the same as always lol. Took me ages to believe the fertility nurse. My main symptom last time was sore boobs, but that wasn't til after AF was late, so not sure about this early on!
Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:30 am
Post subject:
the trouble is, is that its brought back all the pre-testing hopefulness same as ttc last time. I know already that I'm going to be massively disappointed if its a bfn, not sure I can go through all that again tbh. Maybe it would be best just to give up and go back on the pill, so there's no hoping/possibility?


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Brain Lesions (Lesions on the Brain) (cont.)
Brain Lesions Signs and Symptoms
Patient Comments Read 3 Comments
Most of the signs and symptoms encountered with brain lesions, except for obvious head trauma, are not specific and can be seen in many other diseases. Even with head trauma, there are symptoms that may be subtle. In this section, signs and symptoms will be divided into three sections. The first section will present some signs and symptoms that often help medical caregivers begin to narrow the diagnostic possibilities. The second section will discuss the many non-specific, but important signs and symptoms that may occur at some time in many individuals with diverse causes of brain lesions. The third section will present some signs of brain lesions that are more specific to infants and children, although children can exhibit most of the signs and symptoms listed in sections one and two.
Signs and symptoms of some prominent types of brain lesions are as follows:
Though the signs and symptoms listed below in this second section may also develop with the previously listed conditions, the acuity of those conditions is what often persuades these individuals to seek emergent medical evaluation. The signs and symptoms below are nonetheless important, but less specific and may occur with almost all types of brain lesions. They may develop over days to years and are more typical of benign, genetic, and immune brain lesions; and are often characterized by brain cell death, plaque formation and other causes related to brain lesion formation:
Symptoms that may occur late in the progressive decline of individuals are seizures and coma, which often precede the person's death.
Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 9/4/2015
Medical Author:
Medical Editor:
(Page 6 of 14)
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The eMedicineHealth doctors ask about Brain Lesions (Lesions on the Brain):
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To Fire Coach or Not to Fire Coach
Three football coaches with one combined win in 12 games this season sat on the hot seat Monday, and one lost his job. The St. Louis Rams fired Scott Linehan, Oakland Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin suffered through another awkward news conference with his job on the line, and the University of Washington's Tyrone Willingham may still get the full year he was pledged.
Rams owner Chip Rosenbloom struggled with his decision not to give Linehan a full year. "Remember how 2008 was supposed to be a peaceful honeymoon season for Rosenbloom and his sister, Lucia Rodriguez?" Bernie Miklasz writes in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "They wanted to use the season to honor their mother, the late Rams owner, Georgia Frontiere. They hoped to take their time and study the strengths and weaknesses of the Rams organization, easing their way into the NFL life. Well, it didn't quite work out that way."
Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell applauds Rosenbloom for pushing aside executives and taking the reins of the team, then handing them over to new coach Jim Haslett. "Haslett is walking into this job without handcuffs or handicaps," Burwell writes. "Before he agreed to take over for Scott Linehan, Haslett was a tough negotiator who made sure that all the language was right and all the dysfunctional elements that had made this place such a nutty football environment were eliminated. And so in his first few delicate hours on the job, he had already passed his first test as a legitimate authority figure. He got assurances from the organization that he must be allowed to do his job the right way. These were the words we've all been waiting to hear for the past 14 seasons, through Rich Brooks and Dick Vermeil, through Mike Martz and Joe Vitt and Linehan, too."
Raiders coaches haven't been as successful in securing autonomy. "Monday night, reports persisted that the Raiders' maximum leader, Al Davis, had finally made up his mind to dump Kiffin — and in fact was interviewing members of Kiffin's staff as potential replacements well into the evening," Mark Purdy writes in the San Jose Mercury News. "Except that Kiffin knew nothing about it. That's situation normal. Earlier in the day, Kiffin endured the same old back-and-forth with local media members regarding his alleged imminent dismissal. But he called a timeout when asked to characterize his current relationship with Davis."
Willingham, meanwhile, was promised a year by UW president Mark Emmert, making him the very definition of a lame duck in the eyes of Seattle Times columnist Jerry Brewer after the Huskies' 35-28 loss to Stanford dropped them to 0-4. "It's no longer worth wondering if Willingham can save his job," Brewer writes. "He's finished at Washington. Basic arithmetic suggests he could still win enough this season to be retained, but if there were mathematicians at Husky Stadium on Saturday, even they would agree it's over."
Perhaps Emmert is on to something. The Wall Street Journal's Darren Everson points out that teams with new college-football coaches this year are struggling mightily.
* * *
The Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens clash on Monday Night — won by the Steelers, 23-20 in overtime — reminded viewers why martial language is so hard to shed from football coverage. "Steelers-Ravens prime time was four seconds old when somebody left on a cart," Gene Collier writes in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "That was reliable special teams agent Andre Frazier, who injured his spine covering the opening kickoff that Lawrence Timmons punctuated with the kind of bone-rattling tackle that would typify the totality of these 66 NFL minutes. Before LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison made just enough dominating defensive plays to overcome a still-skittish Steelers offense, Rashard Mendenhall and Kendall Simmons sustained season-ending injuries. Carey Davis, the backup to the backup running back, wound up on crutches, and starting running back Willis McGahee went doubled over to the sideline among several staggered Ravens."
* * *
Despite lacking pitching depth and clubhouse goodwill, the Chicago White Sox can clinch a playoff berth by winning a one-game tiebreaker Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins. "The Twins know today they're entering the Southside Asylum," Jim Souhan writes in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "If the Sox argued any more with each other, they'd be called 'The View.' "
Sox starting pitcher Javier Vázquez, who has struggled in recent games, has been the subject of some of the clubhouse rancor. His struggles have been exacerbated on three days' rest. But for the most part, teams that have moved up their pitchers' starts — and they've done it with much greater frequency than last year, including the Sox with Gavin Floyd tonight — haven't suffered much.
"Entering Floyd's start in Monday's makeup game, the 19 previous starts made on three days' rest this month — by a total of 15 pitchers — resulted in a 9-5 record and a 3.47 ERA for the starting pitchers themselves, and a 10-9 record for their teams, according to data at baseball-reference.com," Dave Sheinin writes in the Washington Post. "Take away Chicago's Vázquez, who got pummeled twice, and the pitchers went 9-3 with a 2.65 ERA. A large part of that success is due to one large man, the Brewers' [CC] Sabathia. The burly, 6-foot-7 left-hander, and a free-agent-in-waiting, became the first pitcher in five years to make three straight starts on short rest, and he went a combined 2-1 with a 0.83 ERA, punctuated by his heroic, 122-pitch complete-game four-hitter in the Brewers' clinching victory Sunday."
Either the Sox or the Twins will enter the playoffs with an overtaxed pitching staff, which may not be a kiss of death. "Last year, remember, the Rockies used 10 pitchers in 13 innings of an extra game against the Padres just to get into the playoffs, then strolled into the World Series without a postseason defeat," Sports Illustrated's John Donovan writes. "Once they were in the Series, though — after eight days off to rest and get their pitching back on track — they were immediately steamrolled by the Red Sox in four straight games. So it doesn't always work out that the healthiest, best-rested team is sitting prettiest when the playoffs start. Given the choice, though, teams will take that over a mad scramble to the finish every time."
Of course, given the choice the New York baseball teams would take a playoff berth over their early vacations. (If only they were given their choice of division, as their records would be good for first place in the the AL Central over the White Sox and Twins.) "A couple of 89-73 teams, with records and fates they wholly deserved, were packing up and heading for their proverbial early vacations, leaving a baseball-loving city with a harsh case of withdrawal," Filip Bondy writes in the New York Daily News. "Wall Street is collapsing. The economy is in shreds. We don't know where to put our money, and now we don't know where to stow our diamond affections." (This Mets fan will be rooting for the Rays.)
That's all the Florida Marlins could have asked for when they knocked the Mets out of the playoffs on Monday. In the Newark Star-Ledger, Bridget Wentworth explains why the Marlins relished the victory so much.
Similar feelings, in addition to a desire to avoid sole possession of last place, should have motivated the Detroit Tigers to knock out the White Sox on Monday and prevent today's tiebreaker. "A last-place team's proud effort lasted five innings," Lynn Henning writes in the Detroit News. "But after taking a 2-1 lead that threatened to turn Chicago's South Side into a bereavement zone, the Tigers reverted to the form that has left them with one of the most failed seasons in recent baseball history and an unfathomable 74-88 record."
– Tip of the Fix cap to readers Don Hartline and Garey G. Ris.
Found a good column from the world of sports? Don't keep it to yourself — write to me at firstname.lastname@example.com and I'll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix.


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Star Tracks: Monday, May 16, 2016 42 years, 2,191 covers and 55,436 stories from PEOPLE magazine's history for you to enjoy
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- August 24, 1992
- Vol. 38
- No. 8
A True-Blue Conservative Chooses to Break Ranks
GOP Loyalist Ann Stone May Start a Dogfight at the Republican Convention to Convince Her Party to Loosen Its Antiabortion Ties
Though she still intends to vote for George Bush in the fall, Stone is helping to lead the rebellion against the 12-year-old plank in the COP platform that calls for a constitutional amendment to protect "unborn children." She has hit the talk-show circuit and, more recently, taken her Republicans for Choice truck to rallies in major cities on the way to the GOP convention in Houston. There, Stone has argued—without success—that the majority of Americans favor a woman's right to choose. If she fails, as is likely, she says, "We have the numbers, and we have the issue. We are not going away. We will win in 1996."
Stone, 40, is not simply blowing with this year's winds of change. "My instinct and gut was always pro-choice," she says. As a Republican, she naturally opposes government interference in private lives. For years, though, she had focused her political energy on supporting Reaganomics and fighting communism, breaking her silence on abortion only in 1989, when she thought the Supreme Court might overturn Roe v. Wade. She then founded Republicans for Choice, and the idea caught on. After two years, Republicans for Choice has 100,000 members and has raised close to $2.5 million, some of which has gone to pro-choice candidates and some to fund the platform fight.
Stone came by her conservative credentials at an early age. She grew up in Stratford. Conn., "near the poverty level." Stone was the youngest of four children—her sister and two brothers were 17 to 19 years older. "They all thought they were my parents," she jokes. When she was 4 her father, insurance executive Jack Wesche, died of a heart attack. Five years later her mother, Edith. who died in 1980, married Melvin Wakeley, who died last year. It was around that time that she got her first political lesson. "[My older sister and I] were watching a story about a teenage boy shot going over the Berlin Wall who bled to death," she recalls. "My sister explained to me about communism. I thought it was terrible."
In 1970 Stone went to George Washington University in D.C. on a scholarship from local Republicans. While her classmates marched against the Vietnam War (she backed it even though she thought it was badly handled), she joined the College Republicans and began dating fellow member Roger Stone, whom she married in 1974.
After learning the direct mail business from conservative fund-raiser Richard Viguerie, Stone, at 29, started her own business, Ann E.W. Stone & Associates, a direct-response marketing firm that has raised money for conservative and other causes. She is a self-made millionaire who now owns a second home, in Key Biscayne, Fla., and a beach house in Delaware. During the '70s and '80s, Stone took an active role in the elections of such Republican candidates as Reagan. Bush, Jack Kemp and Jesse Helms, while her husband became a prominent Republican political consultant whose firm now works for the Bush campaign. Two years ago she and her husband divorced (they have no children), having grown apart to the point, she says, "we'd go to the video store and rent different videos and go to different parts of the house to watch them." She now lives alone in the Alexandria home she bought with her husband in 1980.
Even before the convention, she had a tough fight with fellow Republicans. Robert Dornan, GOP Congressman from California and an old friend, accuses Stone and others who have come out of the pro-choice closet of being a "handful of upper-class Republican women" who are "hurling" the party. And many pro-choice activists originally looked upon Stone with suspicion because of her past efforts on behalf of antichoice candidates such as Jesse Helms. "I've had to survive attacks from the right and the left," Stone acknowledges, while maintaining a natural optimism. "I'm the kind of person who gets in a rowboat to go alter Moby Dick and takes along the tartar sauce."
LINDA KRAMER in Alexandria
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- Linda Kramer.
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Robert Chandler
Robert Chandler was a copywriter for many years in the LA office. He has weird dreams. Here's his latest:
I saw Jay Chiat in a dream
early this still dark morning
I was at a party, an outdoor party, at the large house catty-corner to our old house on Tower Grove Drive
But it was the old house the way it had been before it was torn down and replaced 15 or 20 years ago
There were a lot of second and third tier Hollywood wannabe types at the party.
I was walking around the back garden when I ran into Jay.
He looked great, in his prime, silver haired, big but sardonic smile, wearing unusually colorful flowing clothes, though kind of mid-60s Hollywood
I asked him how he'd been, meaning what had it been like being being dead these past 12 years.
He said, "It's been a heuristic experience."
Which wasn't exactly his kind of word - it sounds a little pretentious - but not impossible that he would use it.
He said he'd see me later during the party. Like he wanted to check out the girl situation.
I woke up immediately after that encounter and had to look up "heuristic".


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Acronym for Bergen County Meet of Champions, the wildest cross country race in Bergen County, NJ. This historic race has bred runners such as Pat Rono, Nick Ward, John Prizzi, and Bobby Corcoran
Scott: "Damn did you see Nick kill it at bmoc?"
Riles: "Yeah, he really destroyed the competition."
Scot: "Too bad Bobby will break his PR next year."
Riles: "Yeah, he really destroyed the competition."
Scot: "Too bad Bobby will break his PR next year."
作者 Nutmeg'sfather123 2011年10月28日
Black Man on Campus, referring to a school/area where there is a severe lacking of black people.
oh, there goes desean(dequan, lebourne, etc.), he's the BMOC.
作者 leeeerrrooooooooy jenkins 2011年1月05日
Big Man On Campus / The most dank weed you can smoke. Bmoc will make you wig out or be the most baked you have ever been.
"Damn im trippin off this BMOC"
作者 Derek Foreal 30 2009年7月24日
BMOC, or "Big Man on Campus" usually refers to Nate Landry, a student at OIT who dominates at all forms of life.
Lets go roll out with BMOC so people think we are cool
作者 David Vranizan 2005年1月07日


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PUNE: MCDONALD'S India will invest Rs 100 crore annually, adding 30 restaurants per year in the western and southern region in the next three-four years. The fast food chain has been growing at 35% per annum for the past several years.
"We will consolidate our presence in the existing locations by adding more number of restaurants. Thus, in Pune, where we have been present for the past 10 years, we will add another 20 restaurants in the next three years with an investment of Rs 65-75 crore before going to cities like Aurangabad ," said Amit Jatia, managing director, McDonald's India (west and south).


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Morning all TS-Excellent mile reps A+ for them,Your trainging seems to be going so well long may it continue.
Good article there,some good points.Not being a expert but there are a lot of athletes doing high mileage but i guess just not as talented.
Mick6 --Cracking training you are doing,looks good for your races to come.
Ceal- My shoulder seems to be easing a bit thanks,hope your injury clears up prontoish (is that another word ive made up)
Columba-Decent pyramid training there i think they are real good workouts.
JJ-With you at the moment as i am in the shamble club as well,
TS, interesting article. I remember you saying you used to run a bit with Charlie Spedding? Someone at my club was commenting on how few young runners you see at local senior races compared to the over 30s and the likes of us real old geezers, although the events for under-16s etc seem to be well-supported. Great mile intervals by the way - it's all coming along nicely.
busbar, pleased the injury's improving.
I did the Elswick Good Friday Relays this morning, for the fourth year in a row. I did 14:00 for the 2.2 miles so an average of 6:21 m/m. That's about the same as a couple of years ago so no complaints. It was hot and sunny that day, which must have helped compared to the cold conditions today. Still balmy compared to cross-country last Saturday though!
It's the North Tyneside 10K on Sunday so I'll see what sort of 10K form I'm in.
Tracey, thanks. Can't run nearly as far as you though. It'd kill me
Sorry to hear about your club member, Tracey. Very steady 10 miles from you. Hope rest & icing etc. allows Bernard to race ok after all.
Have a great time in London, Columba. Shame about the Manet, but I wouldn't want to wait ages in the cold either.
Keeping up the daily running with the shorter fill-in runs of a couple of miles. Now up to 116 for the month, and will go out with the club this evening. I don't think I'll be at all quick, as it has been a busy day of preparation for tomorrow's party. Cake is now iced and just about complete (allotment complete with icing cauliflowers, cabbages, leeks and a pumpkin!)
Stiff legs so taking a rest day.BusbarIt's nice to have good company.TSNice mile intervals. Too quick for me at 67.TraceyGood solid run there.GrahamIs Sunday's course worth a PB attempt? The speed is clearly there.DianaDon't want to be greedy so can Ijust have the icing please.JJ
TS,Very nice miles, well done.
Graham,that sub 20 5k must be on the cards for this season
A very easy 7k recovery for me today as I have a LSR scheduled for tomorrow to complete my week and the month.
JJ, my best time on Sunday's course is 42m 38s, which is 30s off my PB. I set that a few weeks after that 42m 38m run. This was two years ago. It's a possibility but I'd need to run out of my skin. There are a couple of short steep hills which soon pull your average pace down a bit. I'm pencilling in the same race as my PB for a more serious attempt in May.
Mick, I'd need to maintain that pace, or very near to it, for another 0.9 miles. Not impossible under ideal conditions perhaps.
Diana, that cake sounds wonderful, - reminds me of some cakes that a friend of my M-i-L used to make for our two eldest children in their early years. We had a rabbit, complete with marzipan carrots and lettuce leaves, an entirely recognisable Porsche car (she borrowed a toy car to copy) and a gymkhana. When we moved too far away for her to deliver cakes, the children had to put up with my much more amateurish efforts.
Graham-Well done, super pace you ran and igree with mick a sub 20 is on the cards.All the best for your 10k race.
TSThanks for that 80s link. I wasn't a runner in those days but I was interested in all aspects of sport and the article is as I remember it. A few years ago I had a dinner conversation with a guy who ran in the 80s. He regularly raced 10 miles in 52 minutes and wasn't fast enough to get into his club's team. Nowadays he would win races with that sort of pace.JJ
good morning
NRD today -as a rest I am going to decorate a very large staircase
Tracey amazingly consistent running - you are looking good for your marathon
Grahamexcellent racing - really good pace.is the relay stillheld around the Denton Burn/ Silver Lonnen area or has it moved?The third mile at that pace may be a bit challenging!!Good luck for hte 10K - your legs will be ready for it after that
Yes I used to see Charlie spedding, Kevin Forster and a few others out for their "easy" long run on a Sunday after their hard long session on a Saturday. I would be running at 6:30 -7m/m pace and could just keep up with them for some miles. They would happily chat about their training and I would listen as it saved my breath a bit but they would also be interested in what I was doing, targets etc All nice guys.
Dianaenjoy the party - and ending your streak!! of course you could always continue it through April ...................................
Busbarshamble is better than bench polishingIf I had done another mile rep it might have deserved an A- but I chickened out!!I think one point of the article was how the concentration of talent and competition in clubs helped improve preformances. As JJ said 52 mins for 10 miles was not good enough to get in the team at most clubs!!!!
Hi there
Tracey sorry to here about your friend
Diana - agree with JJ icing, please best part of cake unless it has buttercream in it and then it will be a close call
Graham you have fast legs. Good luck tomorrow
Been a busy week internet failed yesterday work is a bit mmmmmmm can't talk about it here think people are a bit worried with new manager he starts next week I hope he can see what a great asset we night workers are
other news i'm going to quit the gym -
Its not as bad as that I'm going to join another that's opening a mile further down the road than my current one which is one of them urrmmm chain ones this new one seems like what I call a proper gym they have one in Romford and another opening soon in Brentwood and Lakeside later (it'll be a mile from work as well) the blurb on the Romford site mentions Athletics track now need to check if it matches my perception of an athletics track we will see Going to try arrange a visit to Romford to have a look
Icing makes my teeth ache. You can have my icing, I'll have your cake. Especially if there's a layer of marzipan under the icing.
Ran just under 9 miles this morning. Off to London tomorrow, hope to get at least one run in while there.
Oops - hope Aws didn't have his eye on that TOTP
TS,When I ran in the 80s I found that it was much more informal than today. Our training was what ever we felt like that day, tempos were high on the list. Races were rarely the correct distance and it would take forever to get the results out and only winners would get a medal.The quality did seem higher as the majority of people in races were there to race rather than participate.
Pammie,Good luck with the new gym.
18.1k today with a strong 4k at 8min miles at 12k. This gives me 67k for the week, just over 40 miles and 160 miles for the month of March.
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NEW DELHI: NDA candidate and former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptulla on Monday filed nomination papers for the August 10 Vice Presidential poll.
She submitted her documents in the presence of BJP top brass Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani, Rajnath Singh and NDA convenor George Fernandes. S S Dhindsa of Akali Dal and B J Panda of BJD were among other NDA leaders present.


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Top Definition
Another way of saying "cut and paste." cut and paste is a practice by manuscripts where they would actually cut and paste words on to a sheet of paper. This is integrated into most word processing softwares, and was first able to be done on the Apple II
I just cuntpasted that article and it shut her ass right up!
by Chris.Pwn.J00 July 22, 2005
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Transfering data, by memory, from one winodws program to another.
by em-jay-bizzle September 30, 2005