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ZTE Open Smartphone Running Firefox OS Sold Out On eBay
Subject: General Tech | August 20, 2013 - 04:37 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: zte open, zte, smartphone, msm7225a, mozilla, Firefox OS
Mozilla has been working on its mobile Firefox OS for about a year, and smartphones running the OS are starting to become available stateside. The first bit of hardware running Firefox OS is the ZTE Open, which launched last week for $79.99 exclusively on eBay. Unfortunately, the limited stock ZTE made available is already gone, and there is no word on when more smartphones will be available. (However, in typical eBay fashion, users are turning around and selling the $80 phone for $170 if you really want to get your hands on it...)
According to the eBay listing, ZTE managed to sell 985 of the orange ZTE Open smartphones.
The ZTE Open comes in blue or orange and features low end specifications. Fortunately, Firefox OS and its HTML5 applications do not demand much hardware. On the outside, the ZTE Open has a 3.5" TFT touchscreen with a resolution of 480 x 320, a single home button sitting below the display, and a 3.15 MP rear camera. Internal specifications include a MSM7225A SoC with an ARM Cortex-A5 CPU clocked at 1Ghz and Adreno 200 GPU along with 2GB of internal storage expandable by micro SD card. Other specifications include 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, 3G cellular radio, a 1200 mAH battery, and various sensors (accelerometer, ambient light, and GPS). The Firefox OS smartphone measures 114 x 62 x 12.5mm.
Seeing the ZTE Open sell out of its limited stock in such a short amount of time suggests that there is some positive amount of demand for Firefox OS from enthusiasts, but the smartphone and OS platform still has a long road ahead of it before it becomes a true threat to Android and iOS. Much like the fabled Ubuntu Phone, more than enthusiast demand will be needed, along with support from US carriers and app developers. With that said, it is a good first step into the US market and I hope ZTE makes more phones available soon.
Read more about Mozilla's Firefox OS.
Firefox 23 Shipped. Nice Icon. Nice Icon. Nice Icon. Nice Icon.
Subject: General Tech | August 7, 2013 - 03:47 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: firefox, mozilla
The hottest version of Firefox, for the next 6 weeks, was just released to the world and much discussion came with it. This version, most controversially, removed the <blink> element. What a terrible destruction of HTML history. How can web developers ever make fun of old VCRs? Resort to... CSS?
Pardon me, I think I am going to be sick. Oh wait, that's just not-epilepsy.
Or just, you know, install NoScript or something.
While we are talking about... about:... about:memory (hmm, this sentence reminds me of <blink>) has been given a slight graphical overhaul. The controls are now on the top of the report which allows users to know they exist without scrolling all the way down. These buttons have some legitimate use for many users: they can now manually force Firefox to clean up its memory footprint.
Web Developers also have a few new tools to play with including, but not limited to, tracing network traffic too and from their site. This was already possible with various console configurations but not nearly as aesthetically pleasing or even usable. If your element has very big horizontal bars, it takes a long time to load and is a good candidate to optimize first.
In all, Mozilla seems to be very productive with the number of improvements in just six weeks of development time. The next release is expected to leave Beta Channel on, or near, September 17.
Mozilla Labs: Give Advertisers Only... Exactly What They Want
Subject: Editorial, General Tech | July 31, 2013 - 08:03 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: Privacy, mozilla, DNT
Mozilla Labs is researching a new approach to the problem of privacy and targeted advertising: allow the user to provide the data that honest advertisers intend to acquire via tracking behavior. The hope is that users who manage their own privacy will not have companies try to do it for them.
Internet users are growing concerned about how they are tracked and monitored online. Crowds rally behind initiatives, such as Do Not Track (DNT) and neutering the NSA, because of an assumed promise of privacy even if it is just superficial.
DNT, for instance, is a web developer tool permitting honest sites to be less shy when considering features which make privacy advocates poop themselves and go to competing pages. Users, who were not the intended audience of this feature, threw a fit because it failed to satisfy their privacy concerns. Internet Explorer, which is otherwise becoming a great browser, decided to break the standard by not providing the default, "user has not specified", value.
Of course, all this does is hands honest web developers a broken tool; immoral and arrogantly amoral sites will track anyway.
Mozilla Labs is currently investigating another solution. We could, potentially, at some point, see an addition to Firefox which distills all of the information honest websites would like to know into a summary which users could selectively share. This, much like DNT, will not prevent companies or other organizations from tracking you but rather give most legitimate situations a fittingly legitimate alternative.
All of this data, such as history and geolocation, is already stored by browsers as a result of how they operate. This concept allows users to release some of this information to the sites they visit and, ideally, satisfy both parties. Maybe then, those who actually are malicious, cannot shrug off their actions as a common industry requirement.
Cloth simulations in Javascript, optimized for asm.js
Subject: General Tech, Mobile | May 4, 2013 - 06:47 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: mozilla, javascript, firefox, asm.js
Web browsers are getting really good at being general-purpose application platforms.
You can write most applications in web standards if you are willing to give up some level of performance for the gained ubiquity. HTML5, Javascript, and CSS are very full featured; WebGL and WebCL extend functionality by backing apps with surprising GPU horsepower; WebAPIs such as gamepad, telephony, and accelerometer support also keep advanced hardware-specific features open to web developers.
I can see the web developers drooling already.
But even though performance lags behind reasonable native environments, the divide is rapidly shrinking. Many applications have reached or exceeded the saturation of useful performance at the same time as browser developers narrow the gap between native performance and themselves.
Javascript is often, simply, good enough.
Because... pants.
According to David Herman of Mozilla, one of the lead authors of the ASM.js draft, the specification also allows for multithreading through web workers. Applications can take advantage of multiple hardware threads in this way, and potentially other methods as they continue development. I would expect this is especially relevant for mobile devices which tend to have relatively many cores considering their single threaded performance.
Check it out, imagine what you could be doing in your web browser in the near future.
Happy 0th Birthday Firefox OS
Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Systems, Mobile, Shows and Expos | February 26, 2013 - 04:19 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: Firefox OS, mozilla, firefox, MWC, MWC 13
Mobile World Congress is going on at Barcelona and this year sees the official entry of a new contender: Firefox OS.
Mozilla held their keynote speech the day before the official start to the trade show. If there is anything to be learned from CES, it would be that there is an arms race to announce your product before everyone else steals media attention while still being considered a part of the trade show. By the time the trade show starts, most of the big players have already said all that they need to say.
If you have an hour to spare, you should check it out for yourself. The whole session was broadcast and recorded on Air Mozilla.
The whole concept of Firefox OS as I understand it is to open up web standards such that it is possible to create a completely functional mobile operating system from it. Specific platforms do not matter, the content will all conform to a platform of standards which anyone would be able to adopt.
I grin for a different reason: should some content exist in the future that is intrinsically valuable to society, its reliance on an open-based platform will allow future platforms to carry it.
Not a lot of people realize that iOS and Windows RT disallow alternative web browsers. Sure, Google Chrome the app exists for iOS, but it is really a re-skinned Safari. Any web browser in the Windows Store will use Trident as its rendering engine by mandate of their certification rules. This allows the platform developer to be choosey with whichever standards they wish to support. Microsoft has been very vocally against any web standard backed by Khronos. You cannot install another browser if you run across a web application requiring one of those packages.
When you have alternatives, such as Firefox OS, developers are promoted to try new things. The alternative platforms promote standards which generate these new applications and push the leaders to implement those standards too.
And so we creep ever-closer to total content separation from platform.
Mozilla Rolls Out Firefox 19 Web Browser With Built-In PDF Viewer
Subject: General Tech | February 22, 2013 - 05:11 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: web browser, pdf viewer, mozilla, firefox
Additionally, Mozilla has fixed several bugs and improved performance. The browser will now start-up more quickly than previous versions, and a WebGL drawing operation error has been corrected, for example. Further, Firefox 19 now recognizes more CSS features including @page and support for fixed-width text transformations. A new debugger has also been added to Firefox 19, which should help add-on developers test their code. Also in interesting news, mobile users running Firefox for Android will also be pleased to know that Mozilla has relaxed the CPU clockspeed requirement to a mere 600 MHz–allowing the mobile browser to run on even more Android devices.
The new version is available for download from the Mozilla website.
CES 2013: Firefox OS Coming to Low-End Smartphones Later This Year
Subject: Mobile | January 10, 2013 - 04:23 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: zte, smartphone, mozilla, html5, Firefox OS, ces 2013, CES
Mozilla has been interested in smartphones for awhile now. The Boot2Gecko project has since transitioned to Firefox OS, and now the company is nearly ready to officially release the code and begin getting it onto smartphones and competing with the current giants of Android, iOS, and WP8. According to The Verge, who talked with the company at CES, Mozilla's mobile operating system will be released within the next two weeks.
The Verge checks out a prototype phone running Firefox OS.
The mobile OS is coded in HTML5 and uses HTML5 applications. While Mozilla plans to introduce an app store to curate things, currently users are able to find run web apps on the Internet. Do not expect Firefox OS to take the smartphone world by storm this year, however. Mozilla will reportedly restrict the mobile OS to low end hardware, with up to 800MHz single core ARM processors. Further, no OEM phones are scheduled for a US release this year (so far). ZTE has confirmed that it is pursuing handsets with Firefox OS pre-installed. Currently, the company is planning at least one low end smartphone release in Europe late this year. US residents will likely not see Firefox OS shipping with phones until next year at the earliest, depending on how well the phones do in the developing markets and when Mozilla opens up the hardware restrictions to higher-end devices.
Until then, you can check out Firefox OS for yourself in a simulator using the Firefox web browser and a browser add-on called the Firefox OS Simulator. To test it out, open up a Firefox browser window and install the add-on from this webpage. Then click the Firefox button and navigate to Web Developer > Firefox OS Simulator. Then, on the left hand side of the window that opens, click the stopped button to start the simulator. A new window will open running the mobile operating system.
The Dialer, Messages, and Web Browser apps in Firefox OS.
PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.
Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!
Mozilla Reverses Decision to Axe 64-Bit FireFox Builds, But Support Will Be Left to the Community
Subject: General Tech | December 26, 2012 - 04:34 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: mozilla, firefox, browser, Internet, 64-bit
A month ago Mozilla announced that it would no longer release 64-bit versions of its popular Firefox web browser due to a lack of resources. While the stable versions for Windows were 32-bit, nightly builds were available to enthusiasts that were 64-bit and could take advantage of more than 4GB of memory.
Mozilla developer Benjamin Smedberg stated that there was significant negative feedback from the community over the decision to axe 64-bit nightlies. While Mozilla has reaffirmed that they do not have the resources to support 64-bit builds, the developers are proposing a compromise that they hope will assuage users. In short, the Release Engineering team will continue to build 64-bit versions of the Firefox browser, but Mozilla will consider it a teir 3 build and the support is left up to the community.
Currently, the plan regarding 64-bit versions of Firefox involves a forced migration of existing 64-bit users to 32-bit versions via the automatic browser updates. Then, after the migration date, users that want the 64-bit version will need to go and download it again. Once installed, users will be informed that it is not officially supported software and they are to use it at their own risk. Click-to-play plugins will be enabled in the 64-bit builds while the crash reporter will be disabled. Win64 tests and on-checkin builds of the browser will be discontinued.
Interestingly, all browser testing by Mozilla will be done on the 64-bit edition of Windows 8. Yet they are only testing and supporting 32-bit versions of Firefox. The current situation is less than ideal as the x64 Firefox browsers will not be supported by Mozilla, but at least the software will still be available for those that need it. For now, Waterfox is an option for those that need to install a 64-bit browser based on Firefox.
Does Mozilla's decision to stop supporting the 64-bit Firefox browser affect you? What do you think of the offered compromise?
Mozilla ... you do know 64-bit OSes aren't going to disappear soon, right?
Subject: General Tech | November 22, 2012 - 01:03 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: mozilla, firefox, dumb, 64-bit
Once upon a time was a little company called Mozilla who had a browser that knew some tricks no other browser did. After a while the Mozilla foundation decided to split up several projects and the Firefox browser was born, again capable of things that no other browser was doing at the time. The other browsers were quick to pick up on these tricks and to emulate them, but Firefox held onto a respectable share of overall usage which slowly eroded as other browsers came onto the scene to steal away some of that share. Apparently this depressed Firefox as it decided to start on a steady diet of add-ons and stuffing extras in below the belt which eventually caused such bloating as to make those who cared about Firefox suggest it might want to think about slimming down a bit or at least wear something a little larger, maybe a size 64.
Instead, according to various sources such as DailyTech, Firefox has decided to dump all development of a 64-bit version of its browser. IE10 supports 64-bit, Opera supports 64-bit and Chrome does on Linux and is working on a Windows version for the near future, leaving Firefox in the company of Lynx. While the news stories are specific to the Firefox browser, it leaves one suspicious about the Firefox OS which is being developed for mobile devices; just what features are going to be abandoned as too hard to continue developing for.
"Fans of the non-profit Mozilla Foundation have waited... and waited... and waited more still, for Mozilla's popular Firefox browser to add 64-bit support. With pickup of 64-bit SKUs of Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Windows operating system rapidly accelerating, it certainly seemed a 64-bit browser would be just around the corner.
Instead Mozilla has made the curious decision to pull the plug on the long-delayed project, while offering only small clues as to why the decision was made."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- The 3D Printing Wars Begin @ MAKE:Blog
- Samsung brews half-asleep OCTO CORE phone brain MONSTER @ The Register
- Win OCZ RevoDrive 3 PCIe SSD and Kitguru fans! @ Kitguru
Mozilla Will Support H.264 Codec For HTML5 Video, Grudgingly
Subject: General Tech | March 15, 2012 - 08:14 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: webM, web browser, mozilla, html5, h.264, firefox
Mozilla executives working for the foundation behind the Firefox web browser today announced that they would be giving in to the H.264 codec as the open WebM VP8 codec has lost the war. The H.264 and VP8 (part of WebM) codecs are used to encode and decode video files, and are especially important on mobile devices as Flash support is less ubiquitous (or totally absent if you're using Apple products). In the absense of flash, the web turned to the HTML5 standard which provides <video> tags that allow direct embedding of videos into websites. Also important is that H.264 has wide support for being hardware accelerated on many mobile devices, enabling smart phones to smoothly playback high quality files that the low power CPU portion of ARM SoCs would otherwise struggle with. This situation is also available to desktop users, but is less of an issue as processing power is not as scarce and can, ah, accommodate Adobe's Flash plugin (heh).
The downside, and where all the controversy arises from, is that the H.264 codec is not free and requires manufacturers or sites that stream H.264 videos for a fee to license it as well as users, though the actual cost for licensing is generally rolled into the cost of the OS, device, or other piece of purchased software. Further, because the HTML5 standard does not specifically define a set video codec, there is room for fragmentation. Adobe, Mozilla, and Google eventually would jump behind what is now known as the WebM standard, which is an open (and free) video codec (VP8) that would not require expensive licensing restrictions. On the other hand, Apple backed the H.264 standard. Mozilla would roll WebM into their browser but not H.264, meaning that users could view HTML5 videos using Firefox but not HTML5 videos encoded with the H.264 codec. Google, Apple, and Microsoft would support the H.264 codec for HTML5 videos, despite Google developing WebM (and the included VP8 video codec) and giving word of mouth support for WebM. This meant that Chrome users could view both WebM and H.264 based HTML5 video.
According to the article, Google promised to drop support for H.264 and move solely to the WebM VP8 codec to entice websites to move to the open codec. Unfortunately, the company never came through with that promise, and has continued to offer dual support while Mozilla was left holding the open source support banner and causing their users to suffer as a result. The article references a study by MeFeedia that suggests that as of December 2011, H.264 based HTML5 video accounts for 80% of the market, implying that WebM has already lost the war. Brendan Eich, Mozilla's Chief Technology Officer noted that WebM needed support from a larger entity than Mozilla, and it needed that support in the beginning. Especially with Apple heralding H.264, for mobile site publishers, WebM really needed heavy backing to compete with Apple's market share and influential support of H.264 to have a chance. He further stated that:
"it might not have worked then, even with Google on-side. Now, with just Mozilla going it alone, all we do is kill our mobile initiatives in order to appear pure...That does not serve our mission or users."
Mozilla is now looking to support H.264, if a bit grudgingly. At this point, not supporting H.264 is only hurting their users and market share and not furthering their push for WebM. After all, if users are forced to look at other browsers just to play videos, it will not be WebM that is the only open source software forgotten (rather, the entire Mozilla web browser will wain).
Granted, Google is not the only company to blame for VP8 not catching on, Adobe also failed to properly push the codec. Also, Google is allegedly continuing to develop VP8 and WebM. Right now; however, losing Mozilla's support seems to be the final nail in the WebM coffin and the recognition that H.264 is the dominant format. More information is available here.
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Travel books, guides and maps that may be helpful in planning your trip to the Raton area are listed below. Consider purchasing one or two to help insure a great trip.
Search Raton Publications
4 book Results
More Info Fun with the Family New Mexico, 4th Edition
- General Guides
- 176 pages
- 12.95
More Info New Mexico Off the Beaten Path, 9th Edition
- General Guides
- 207 pages
- 14.95
More Info New Mexico Travel Map
- Maps
- Double-sided
- 3.95
More Info Scenic Driving New Mexico, 3rd Edition
- Scenic Drives
- 200 pages
- 14.95

subset: commoncrawl


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Five Triple-A, Double-A Small Sample Kings
By Sam Dykstra / MiLB.com
We're a week into the Minor League season — boy, that went fast — and it's time to play America's favorite game this time of the year: extrapolating early-season results to see what would happen if they happened over a full season! In other words, saying "He's on pace for. . ." over and over again.
With that in mind, these are what I'm calling the Small Sample Kings of the Triple-A and Double-A leagues through the early parts of the 2014 season. You'll find their current stats, their season stats if they keep up their current pace over a 140-game season and what I'm calling the Shelton Sustainability Index — so named for Chris Shelton, the former Tigers first baseman who famously hit nine home runs in his first 13 games in 2006 but collected only seven in the remaining 102. The index is on a scale of one to five Sheltons — the higher the number, the more like Shelton the player is, the less likely they are to sustain their current run. (Notes: I'm keeping this to hitters. All stats are as of Thursday morning.)
International League — Ernesto Mejia, first baseman, Gwinnett Braves
2014 stats: 6 G, 5 HR, 9 RBI
Pace: 140 G, 117 HR, 210 RBI
Shelton Sustainability Index: Mejia finished second in the IL with 28 home runs last season and has accrued 52 long balls over his last two years with Gwinnett, so his early power surge isn't entirely surprising. As such, it's unlikely his power will fall off the table like Shelton's did. But I'm not even going to touch the probability of a triple-digit home-run total. (Never mind the fact that he'd be called up or traded quickly if he maintained this pace for even a little more than a month.) This is simply a case of a power hitter showing off his best tool early. Two Sheltons
PCL — Zach Lutz, third baseman, Las Vegas 51s
2014 stats: 7 G, 9-for-21 (.429), 1 HR, 9 RBI, 9 BB, 4 K, .625 OBP
Pace: 140 G, 180-for-420 (.429), 20 HR, 180 RBI, 180 BB, 80 K, .625 OBP
SSI: What Mejia is to power, Lutz is to getting on base. The right-handed corner infielder posted a .377 OBP in 111 games last year for Vegas and a .410 mark in 72 games the year earlier. That being said, his early current walk rate (28.1 percent) is more than double that from 2013 (11.6), so this is still a little unusual. The course will correct itself soon, but still expect impressive OBP numbers from Lutz this season. Two Sheltons
Eastern League — Sharlon Schoop, shortstop, Bowie Baysox
2014 stats: 5 G, 9-for-15 (.600), 4 BB, 2 K, .684 OBP
Pace: 140 G, 252-for-420 (.600), 112 BB, 56 K, .684 OBP
SSI: The brother of Orioles infielder Jonathan, Schoop did not play at all last year but is back with a bang. Don't expect it to last. The 26-year-old spent 2009-12 in Double-A and didn't bat higher than .273 in any of those seasons. He hit .267 with a .341 OBP over 50 games with Northwest Arkansas in 2012 before missing last season. The right-handed infielder had a good four-game start — he went 0-for-3 in his fifth game — but it shouldn't be seen as anything more than that. Five Sheltons
Southern League — Jaime Pedroza, second baseman, Birmingham Barons
2014 stats: 6 G, .333/.455/.889, 3 HR, 6 RBI
Pace: 140 G, .333/.455/.889, 70 HR, 140 RBI
SSI: Pedroza entered the 2014 season with 71 career Minor League home runs. His Minor League high came in 2009 when he hit 15 for Class A Great Lakes. For additional perspective, he hit four in 117 games with Double-A Mississippi a season ago. The 27-year-old hit two solo homers on Opening Day this season and added another Wednesday. It's a nice early-season story, but that's about it. Five Sheltons
Texas League — Drew Heid, outfielder, Arkansas Travelers
2014 stats: 4 G, 9-for-14 (.643), 3 BB, 1 K, .706 OBP
Pace: 140 G, 315-for-490 (.643), 105 BB, 35 K, .706 OBP
SSI: Heid actually enjoyed a bit of a breakout season with the bat in 2013 when he slashed .305/.393/.452 in 108 games between Double-A Arkansas and Triple-A Salt Lake. He's carried that impressive performance into the early parts of 2014, especially on Monday when he went a combined 5-for-7 in a doubleheader against Frisco. Will he bat .600 for long? No, don't be silly. But should anyone be taken aback that he's put up nice numbers early on? Probably not. Three Sheltons


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What Do You Do When Your Realtor Doesn't Return E Mails Or Texts?
Q: What do you do when your Realtor does not return e-mails or texts?
–Lolly, Minneapolis, MN
A: Dear Minneapolis, MN
Try calling him/her directly at the office in case there is a communications problem like a lost cell phone. If you are not receiving a response, then call the office and ask for the managing broker. I am sure there is a reason that can be addressed.
Good luck!
Joyce Mitchell is a Realtor® with Mitchell & Associates Real Estate in Bigfork, MT.
A: If you have not signed an agreement (listing or buyer agency) with the Realtor, simply find another Realtor who will be there when you need them. If you have signed an agreement with the Realtor, you could speak with his/her managing broker. If he/she does not have a managing broker (i.e. the broker is an independent broker), you can send them a notice to terminate the agreement due to breach of contract.
Phil Lunnon is a Realtor® with Lunnon Realty in Lakewood, CO.
A: Dear MN Seller,
If you have a contract with this agent, I would call their office and ask to speak with the Broker in Charge of the office. Let that person know your concerns. Normally, this will solve the issue. If not, ask to be released from your contract due to no service, and find another Realtor who takes their profession seriously.
Dorene Slavitz is a Realtor® with The Real Estate Group in Culver City, CA and Torrance, CA.
A: Try calling. But call the broker, and advise him/her that you can't locate your realtor, they will be able to do so.
Pat Baker is a Realtor® with Leslie Wells Realty in Parrish, FL.
Are you interested in having a qualified REALTOR answer your questions?
Click through to Ask a REALTOR® now.
Are you a REALTOR who would like to answer consumer questions?
Click through to become an Ask a REALTOR® participant.


text:
>> paying your rent >> Benefits Calculator
Before you start
About you (please select) blank* defaults to this / I am an individual / I work for an organisation
'I work for an organisation' is selected additional question is added:
'Your industry' Your industry options are
'I am an individual' is selected proceed to start of the calculation
Nottingham City Homes Ltd, 14 Hounds Gate, Nottingham, NG1 7BA.
Telephone: 0845 330 3131. Minicom: 0115 915 7447.
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com.
Company Registration Number: 5292636.
Registered Office: 14 Hounds Gate, Nottingham, NG1 7BA.
© 2015 Nottingham City Homes Ltd.


text:
Ambitious about Autism is based at:
The Pears National Centre for Autism Education
Woodside Avenue
Tel: 020 8815 5444
Email: email@example.com
If you have an out-of-hours media enquiry, please contact our press team.
Compliments and complaints
If you have a compliment or complaint about us, please contact us on email@example.com. You can find further details about this in our Compliments and Complaints Policy (PDF 63KB).


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NORTHAMPTON — Police are investigating after a dead body was found on the campus of Smith College in Northampton Saturday afternoon.
According to Mary Carey, communications director for Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan, the body of a white man estimated to be in his 30s was discovered on college property Saturday morning by a passerby. She said that the man doesn't appear to have a connection to the college other than being found deceased on its campus.
The man's name was released Sunday after notification of the family. He was Kyle William Amidon, 35, of Florence.
Northampton police and the Massachusetts Stats Police are investigating and awaiting results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death, but Carey says that at this point, foul play isn't suspected.
Smith College is a private, liberal arts school exclusively for women with an approximate enrollment of 2,700 students.


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Pete Genovese of the Star-Ledger paid a call at Viet Ai in Florham Park; Kate & Tom O'Neill of the Princeton Packet reviewed Mie Thai in North Brunswick; and in the "Starters" department, Bill Pitcher of The Record took a first look at Earth in Totowa.
And for those who may be searching for an interesting evening out, Andre's Restaurant & Wine Boutique in Newton will be going Italian this Sunday, April 1st. The restaurant will feature four courses priced at $40.00 per person, with reservations being accepted from 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. The menu includes: Antipasto, Shrimp Scampi over Hand-Cut Pasta, Veal Milanese, and Tiramisu. (973) 300-4192.
My wife and I are having guests for dinner on Saturday evening, so we'll probably be sticking close to home. Doing most of the prep work this afternoon, so we might try a casual chow-down locally tonight.
Have finished up my review of Terra Nova in Sewell and am currently writing my experiences at Vine in Basking Ridge. Both these reviews will be posted in the very near future.
Bon Appetit!


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Word that New York Gov. David Paterson would not seek election to a full term in the Statehouse came as no great surprise.
Quite frankly, had the governor really wanted to make a difference, he would have announced his resignation — something we urge him to seriously consider.
Mr. Paterson, the lieutenant governor under Eliot Spitzer, ascended to the top job in 2008 when his boss politically self-destructed in a blaze of arrogance, hubris and illegal sexual self-indulgence.
But Mr. Paterson was, in the view of many, never meant to be governor, which he is now only half-heartedly admitting by shutting down his re-election campaign.
Once in the job, Mr. Paterson — who had a closet full of sexual peccadilloes of his own — seemed unable to grow, let alone thrive. His affable nature bought him no credits with the clubby, backroom Legislature, where political hardball is the only game.
In the end, Mr. Paterson was abandoned by his fellow Democrats, who openly urged him to bow out of the coming race. Even President Obama suggested as much.
It became a bit of conventional wisdom, at least among his detractors, that Mr. Paterson would never be elected governor of New York.
Unable to raise funds, and his popularity in a free-fall to unprecedented lows for a New York governor, and his closest aide suddenly engulfed by a domestic-violence scandal, Mr. Paterson finally accepted the reality of the situation.
The way is now open for an unobstructed run by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and a far more complicated run by Republican challenger Rick Lazio, who can no longer attempt to split the Democratic vote.
But what about the next 10 months?
The state faces dire economic and leadership problems, with public morale at an all-time low. Can we afford to have the lamest of lame ducks at the helm in Albany? Or would we be better off if Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch, whose resume scores highest in the area of crisis management, were temporarily in control?
In a public appearance last fall, Mr. Paterson acknowledged that events can take on a life of their own.
"We in public service and in life have all these great plans," he said. "There's an old Jewish expression, I can't quote it, that man plans and plans and plans and God laughs. Because things change in a moment . . . 24 hours in politics is a lifetime."
Perhaps Gov. Paterson ought to spend a brief time deciding if it wouldn't simply be better for all of us if the other shoe drops.


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At the SAG Awards last night, the actress was mum on the rumor that she has (presumable gorgeous) twins in her oven. And the dress Brad Pitt's better half wore to the ceremony didn't sway opinion one way or the other.
Unless, that is, you stare at Angelina's other pair of twins. Don't they seem larger than usual?
The big boobs have it! We say Angelina Jolie is pregnant!


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USAC .25 Midget Series Visits Delaware
NEW CASTLE, Del. – The Blackbird dirt track at Delaware's Airport Speedway drew close to 200 cars for the national USAC .25 midget event over the weekend.
With 14 total stops across the country, Blackbird served as Round 12 of the "Generation Next National Series and Round Four of the Dirt Triple Crown Championship.
"It was the first time we've been to Blackbird," said Series Director,Kyle McCain. "It's a nice track they've built here and the families were ready to go racing."
Hannah Flood of Limerick, Pa. (Honda Hvy 160 / Briggs Un-restricted Animal) and Connor Gross of Middleton, Mass. (Honda Lt 160 & Briggs Lt WF) picked up top honors in 2 classes for the weekend. Other winners receiving commemorative Gold medallions were Joe Toth of Newtown, Pa. (Hvy Honda), Tori O'Neal of Everett, Pa. (Sr Honda), Zac Vickers of Vineland, N.J. (Briggs Hvy WF) and Christian Bruno of Deptford, N.J. (Briggs Sr Animal). The Andrecs Family of Edgewater, Md. took home 2 wins by brothers Alek (Jr Honda) and Braden (Briggs Jr Animal). Jonathon Morehouse of Harrington, Del. (Red Rookie) and Mikey Tansy of Dryxel Hill, Pa. (Blue Rookie) took home participation medals.
Dirt Triple Crown Championships will come down to the final stop on the 2014 Tour at the South Jersey Track in Atco, Oct. 3- 5. Columbus Motor Speedway will host a Wild Card event to complete the pavement Championship Series Sept.12-14.


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FLINT, Michigan — Justin Seymour and Kaden Rytlewski epitomize the message of sportsmanship that the Flint Junior Golf Association conveys to its participants.
Seymour, 12, of Swartz Creek, and Rytlewski, 11, of Flint, played together in the Tiger Woods 5-hole division Monday at the Swartz Creek Golf Course.Seymour shot 24, and qualified for Tuesday's match-play round for the first time in his four-year FJGA career. Rytlewski shot 41, and did not.
"Most of the time, I play for fun and to make friends," Rytlewski said in the clubhouse. "It's not for the trophy or winning. I have a lot of fun out there."
Rytlewski shot a personal best 29 in his first week of FJGA play, and is accustomed to being in the low 30s.
Over the last two weeks, Seymour and Rytlewski have become good friends. Their close relationship was evident, as they both congratulated one another for a good round.
"We instantly became friends," Rytlewski said. "It feels really good (to see Seymour qualify), because I got to play with him. He's a nice kid."
Last summer, Seymour's story was exactly like Rytlewski's is this year. Seymour played in the same group with a friend who qualified, but he failed to do so.
That encouraged Rytlewski, and he said hopefully the trend rubs off, and next year he will move on to match-play.
Darren Seymour, who is Justin's father, said his son is rapidly improving from last season, and home training aids are part of the reason. The Seymour's backyard has a green and chipping-net, and a putting path in the basement.
"We practice a lot in the backyard," Darren said. "And we go golfing together a lot."
And if Justin ever makes it to the PGA Tour, his father would be more than happy to caddy for him.
"He's putting a lot better, I've noticed that," Darren said. "He's leaving it close. Last year, he he kind of ran it past the hole. He's hitting it longer. That one year really made difference."
"I'm really crazy about golf myself — I'm a big golf nut. It really hasn't been any work for him, it's been a ton of fun. He likes playing it just as much as I do. I didn't pick up the game until I was 30, and he's way above where I was when I started."


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He's known for driving fast, but champion race car driver Mario Andretti got behind the wheel Tuesday for a different reason in hopes that others will follow his lead.
Andretti volunteered for Meals on Wheels during "champions week," raising awareness of senior hunger and encouraging community action.
"It's a part of my day when I know I am going to, you know, to look forward to, and we chat a little bit,"said Brenda Tigar, who was part of Andretti's route.
The Tatamy, Northampton Co., resident has muscular dystrophy and said without meal delivery, she doesn't know what she would do.
But volunteer Nick Lopano said there's much more to the community service.
"We go food shopping if you need it. We kind of check on people, make sure they are OK," said Lopano.
Lopano said he had a good time driving with Andretti and did let him get behind the wheel, but he said there's room in the driver's seat for anyone with a big heart.
"The neat part is that you don't have to be famous to make somebody's day," said Lopano.
To find out how you can help or to volunteer, call your local Meals on Wheels.


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Lawyers for the Orleans Parish School Board have managed to wring another $17 million worth of insurance proceeds from the damage done by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, district officials said Thursday. The money is slated to go toward the more than $2 billion worth of city-wide school construction and renovation already underway.
The new lump sum comes from a legal settlement with Westchester Surplus Lines Insurance, one of four insurance companies on a $200 million policy that covered damage to the school system's infrastructure. The Orleans Parish School Board signed off on the settlement Thursday.
The district had already managed to get about $72.5 million from the policy, and now has only one more insurance company to settle with, Interim Superintendent Stan Smith said.
The proceeds will fund various projects under the citywide master plan for school construction, a blueprint for rehabilitating New Orleans public schools developed jointly by the school board and the state-run Recovery School District.


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Site: Hanover Ind. (Shadowood GC)
Event: Hanover Spring Invite
DU Standing: First place of 8 teams (293-295-588)
Top DU Individual: Jorge Benitez– Third (146)
Next DU event: Monday, April 7 – NAIA Classic at the Brickyard – Indianapolis, Ind.
HANOVER, Ind.- Mitchell Wandell posted a 1-under par 71 to lead the Panthers to first place at the Hanover Spring Invitational on Sunday as the Panthers posted a 2-day total of 588 to best the field by eight shots in the tourney. Jorge Benitez led DU with a 146 total for 36 holes as the Panthers will now head to Indianapolis to compete in the NAIA Classic at the Brickyard.
Davenport is building momentum for the 2014 WHAC Championships in which they will serve as the host in eight days and they did it by winning their first event of the spring at the Hanover Spring Invitational. Jorge Benitez was one of five DU golfers to finish inside the Top-10 overall as the sophomore posted two rounds of 73.
Following Benitez in the overall scoring was Alex Watier (4th – 148), Zack Feher (7th – 149) while Warren Grover and Mitchell Wandell tied for ninth at 150.
Davenport will have split teams for this week as five will head to Indianapolis to compete in the NAIA Classic at the Brickyard on Monday and Tuesday while the others will compete in the Furniture City Classic on Tuesday in town at Quail Ridge HC.
All five Davenport golfers finish in Top-10 as Panthers take Hanover crown
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on April 06, 2014 at 8:58 PM, updated April 06, 2014 at 9:00 PM
Site: Hanover Ind. (Shadowood GC)


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Black Jacket Symphony, Thursday night at the WorkPlay theater in Birmingham, Alabama. Review rating: Three out of five stars.
Who: Black Jacket Symphony, a newly formed tribute act that aims to recreate classic rock albums at its concerts. Singer-guitarists J. Willoughby (formerly of the Newboys) and Damon Johnson (Whiskey Falls, Brother Cane) are the principals.
When: 8:15 p.m. Thursday at the WorkPlay theater.
What: An ambitious performance that marked the ensemble's debut. Black Jacket Symphony covered both sides of the Beatles' 1969 "Abbey Road" LP during an intensely focused first set. After intermission, the band returned for a loose and lively round of Beatles' hits.
On stage: Willoughby and Johnson were joined by keyboard player Marc Phillips (Hotel, Split the Dark), drummer Vannie Warren and vocalist Dannie Warren (both of Revolver) bassist Jay Johnson (Gravy, the Plaid Camels), guitarist Brad Wolfe (the Repeaters) and keyboard player Joel Bouchillon (Baghdad). These veteran performers are well known -- and in some cases, beloved -- on Birmingham's music scene.
Audience: A sold-out house of Beatles fans, nostalgia buffs and folks who fondly remember hearing the musicians in previous bands. Interest in the show ran so high, WorkPlay removed several chairs and tables on the floor to allow more people to attend.
Atmosphere: The eight-member group displayed abundant enthusiasm and passion throughout the evening. They seemed jazzed to delve into the Beatles' legendary catalog, and that spirit was infectious.
First set: Included "Come Together," "Here Comes the Sun," "Something," "Oh! Darling," "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Octopus's Garden."
Second set: Included "Drive My Car," "Back in the U.S.S.R," "Get Back," "Don't Let Me Down," 'The Ballad of John and Yoko" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."
Pros: Well, you can't beat the source material. "Abbey Road" is considered a Beatles masterpiece, with its complex fusion of rock, pop and psychedelia, as well as irony and whimsy. The rest of the Fab Four's songbook? A treasure trove for enthusiasts.
Cons: Again, you can't beat the source material. Any band that tackles "Abbey Road" is bound to be compared to the Beatles, and suffer by that comparison. For many listeners, the originals rule supreme, and are deeply ingrained in memory.
Verdict: An interesting concept, highly capable performers, lots of goodwill flowing from the audience to the stage, and back again.


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Pietrasanta has always been an important cultural centre in Versilia. The important artisan tradition has been kept alive by the local workshops and atelier, by the firms specialized in the artistic-mosaic sector and by many artistic-foundries. The rich artistic context has functioned as catalyst for many italian and foreigner artist that have chosen Pietrasanta as the land where to work and have participated to the urban fittings with the works and deeds of gifts. Among these artists is Fernando Botero, the Spanish artist whose paunchy warrior guards the entrance to the village. The best observation-point to watch Pietrasanta's town-planning plant is Sala fortress.
The Monuments
From this point you can see Cathedral Square and the main citizen monuments: the Cathedral with its red bell-tower, Maroni palace, St. Augustine precious front, Hours tower. Between the coast and the Apuan Alps, Camaiore, like Pietrasanta, is a "founded village". It was wanted in the first half of the XIIIth century by the inhabitants of Lucca (rivals of the inhabitants of Pisa) in addition to many other enterprises to reorganize the zone in order to have control over Versilia.
The birth house of Giosue Carducci
The house where the poet Giosue Carducci was born in 1835 (declared national monument) is located a few kilometres away from Pietrasanta, in the district of Valdicastello. Giosue Carducci, the famous Italian poet who received the Literature Nobel Prize in 1906, was born in Valdicastello ( a district of the town of Pietrasanta) on July 27th 1835. Carducci, who moved to Pietrasanta with his family when he was only 3 years old, remained however attached to his land of birth, which he mentioned several times in his verses.
The birth of the explosion engine
In 1854, Eugenio Barsanti, born in 1821 in Pietrasanta, and Felice Matteucci (physicist) patented and built the first internal combustion engine which ever worked. On top their friendship, the two studious men started a professional collaboration in the technico-scientific field from 1851 onwards. Today, it is fair to remember that Father Eugenio Barsanti, on top of his genial intuitions and his determination to carry them through, had other merits too. He was the first to understand that the explosion engine would have also changed our souls.
The Sketches Museum
In the furrow of a tradition that dates back to Michelangelo and has seen this part of Tuscany cultivate the art of sculpture, the Sketches Museum is a real proof of the consolidated role played by Pietrasanta and Versilia as key international reference for those who operate in this artistic field. The sketches (in reduced scale) and the models (in real dimensions) represent the original idea before its translation into completed work of art. They are made in the most varied materials such as chalk, wood, terracotta, paper, etc. The works which sketches the Museum exposes are found in museums, private collections, parks and squares all over the world. Therefore, visitors find gathered here examples of the main artistic trends of the 1900s and, this way, can have an ample and complete vision of contemporary sculpture.


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- Family of Hades
- Hades, the Ruler of the Underworld
- Interesting Facts about Hades
- Appearance of Hades
- Symbols of Hades
Hades was the God and Ruler of the Underworld
Family of Hades
Parents: Hades was a child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea.
Siblings: Hades had five siblings. Two younger brothers (Zeus, Poseidon), and three sisters (Hestia, Hera and Demeter).
Wife: Persephone, whom he abducted from his sister Demeter and took with him down to the Underworld.
Hades, the Ruler of the Underworld
Hades was the Greek god of the Dead and, according to Plato, [1] he should be considered as one of the Olympian gods. Hades was the supreme ruler of the Underworld. Almost never did he leave his gloomy kingdom but was residing there instead, surrounded by darkness and silence...
Hades' helper was Charos, the angel of dead. Charos had the duty to transfer the souls of the dead with a boat over the River Acheron from the world of the living to the world of the dead. Furthermore, Hades had a dog with three heads which was named Cerberus.
Appearance of Hades
Hades had gloomy features. He had a beard and dark hair falling over his brow [2].
Symbols of Hades
The sacred symbol of Hades was his helmet, which helped him stay invisible. His sacred animal was Cerberus, his own three-headed dog.
The Roman name of Hades is "Pluto"
Hades means "invisible" in ancient Greek.


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210pages onAdd New Page
this wiki
this wiki
An Mdisk is an optical disk in Beyond Good and Evil. They directly resemble CDs or DVDs, while carrying much of the same function. When played using an Mdisk Decoder, they have the ability to play messages from other characters or organizations in the game, storing digital issues of IRIS and in one case, CCTV footage. Jade begins with a Game Save Disc that allows players to save their game once they reach an Mdisk Decoder, similar to the checkpoint system found in many other Videogames.
List of MdisksEdit
- Game Save Disc - Used to save your game
- Mr. De Castellac - Mission disc (received before going to Black Isle)
- The Pearl and the Currents - Information disc (given to you by IRIS)
- For Jade - Received from Pey'j at the Nutripils Factory
- Surveillance Camera - Contains security footage of the Nutripils Factory, found in a Mdisk holder near the closet that holds Pey'j Jet-Boots.
- Hillyan Army Databank - Documents the equipment used by both the Hillyan Army and the Alpha Sections, found in the Nutripils Factory in a room opposite the closet that holds Pey'j's Jet-Boots
- Beluga Check-Up - Found on the desk near the Beluga
- Animal Species - A photo album of all the species on Hillys (received when you complete the Science Center's photo inventory)
- IRIS 511 - Early IRIS report (collected in Ming-Tzu's backroom)
- IRIS 512 - Early IRIS report (collected in Ming-Tzu's backroom)
- IRIS 513 - Finished IRIS report on the Nutripils factory (collected in Ming-Tzu's backroom)
- IRIS 514 - Finished IRIS report on the Slaughterhouse (collected in Ming-Tzu's backroom)
- Mdisk 13 (Disc Game) - A mini-game accessed in the Akuda Bar, by using a code gained from entering your Internet Code into The Darkroom and completing a challenge.
- Pearl Game - A mini-game (rewarded by Mammago for collecting all the Pearls in the game)


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Thursday, July 9, 2009
Murder and Mutiny on the High Seas: Billy Budd and
Billy Budd
Based on a Herman Melville tome, Billy Budd is not so much a sea story as a mediation of law, justice and innocence - a maritime A Man for All Seasons or The Crucible, if you will. As such, it often comes across as a very stuffy filmed play. That it works is primarily due its fine set of actors and a well-written script.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the British man-o'-war HMS Avenger impresses young merchant seaman Billy Budd (Terence Stamp) into service. The naive and friendly Billy wins over most of the crew, but earns the suspicion of his officers - and the hatred of sadisitic master-at-arms John Claggart (Robert Ryan). Claggart is despised by the crew, and after the accidental death of a fellow seaman, Claggart turns full-force on Billy, attempting to convince Captain Vere (Peter Ustinov) that Billy is conspiring to mutiny. Billy accidentally kills Claggart, and Vere and his officers must determine whether he's guilty of murder.
To be blunt, Billy Budd is not the most cinematic of films. Despite use of a real ship and a handful of nice seascape shots, the movie is mostly set below decks, with a very claustrophobic feel enhanced by the black-and-white photography. The film has many lengthy dialogue sequences, and no action scenes - this wouldn't be a complaint if this weren't a navy film set during wartime. Ustinov handles his co-stars well, to be sure, but his camera blocking and technical direction is rather rote and undistinguished. As it is, Budd comes across as a filmed play throughout, with all the inherent limitations; an exciting, conventionally entertaining film it is not.
However, in other areas - namely the story, characters and themes explored - Ustinov scores a home run. Billy himself is a cipher, more of a symbol of innocence destroyed than a character, but the rest of the cast is vividly portrayed. Claggart is an utterly loathable villain, yet manages to avoid being a streotype; a criminal press-ganged into service, he transferred his sadism into a skill which has served him well. More than anything else, he is a product of the cruel system. More disgusting is Captain Vere himself. He seems well-meaning if ineffectual at first, but his utter lack of flexibility is more insidiously evil than Claggart's cartoon cruelty. Despite his callousness towards human life, Vere has the gall to claim Billy's fate is not his doing. There's a grain of truth here, but he gets no credit for divesting himself of the power provided by his uniform.
Budd's mediation on law and justice is its best aspect. The film's high point is Captain Vere coldly and brutally rationalizing why Billy must be guilty of murder, in spite of the seeming ease with which he and his officers can pardon Billy. It's one of the most cold-blooded speeches I've ever heard, cruelly rationalizing the avoidable destruction of a man. Law is meant to be indifferent and impartial, without passion or prejudice; but in circumstances such as these, it is cold and cruel. The questions the film raises are certainly pertinent to this day; is it just to break an unjust law? Is following orders an acceptable excuse for atrocities and murder?
What primarily makes the film are the performances. An impossibly young Terence Stamp gives a fine star turn as Billy, who in other hands might have been unconvincing. However, the film is stolen by its distinguished supporting cast. Robert Ryan, who made a career of playing nasty, sneering bad guys, plays Claggart as evil personified - mean, manipulative, unfair, cruel and vindictive, yet tormented if not sympathetic. Nobody can raise an eyebrow or sneer quite like Ryan. Peter Ustinov gives an excellent performance as well, putting his usual bumptiousness on hold; his character convincingly develops from ineffectual captain to cold-hearted Pontius Pilate. The supporting cast is populated by a plethora of fine actors, including Melvyn Douglas, John Neville, Paul Rogers, David McCallum, Cyril Luckham, and Niall McInnes.
Billy Budd is not a truly great film, but it's certainly intelligent and thoughtful, and worth a look from a thoughtful viewer.
Rating: 8/10 - Highly Recommended
HMS Defiant
Our second feature succeeds on an entirely different level. While Billy Budd looked at the machinations of law and justice, HMS Defiant is a straight-forward sabers-out action-adventure film. As such, it works beautifully, sacrificing the character and thematic depth of the previous film for bravura entertainment value.
Again, the setting is the Napoleonic Wars, this time on the titular British Naval vessel. Kindly Captain Crawford (Alec Guinness) is the ship's master, unaware of the trouble brewing beneath his very nose. His new First Lieutenant Scott-Padget (Dirk Bogarde) is a sadistic, well-connected schemer with a habit of undermining his captains. Even worse, several of his crewmen, led by Vizar (Anthony Quayle), are plotting a fleet-wide mutiny to redress low pay and poor food. Crawford repeatedly clashes with his lieutenant as they sail to meet a convoy in the Meditteranean, even though odds are that the fleet isn't there, with Scott-Padget manipulating the crew and his fellow officers into submission - using Crawford's own son (David Robinson), a newly minted midshipmen, as a pawn. Ultimately the crew (who respects Crawford but hates Scott-Padget) mutinities, but with a French fleet bearing down on them, they must make a decision whether to run or fight.
HMS Defiant is primarily an action flick, with story and characters secondary. The film moves along at a brisk pace, characters broadly defined but very well-portrayed by a seasoned cast. The three-way conflict between the good captain, the evil lieutenant and the grumbling crew is well-established, and Scott-Padget's heinous scheming makes him an easily hateable villain. The conclusion of the film, however, seems a bit rushed; the movie possibly could have been better if it had explored the consequences of the mutiny more thoroughly, but it's so entertaining that this lack of depth can be forgiven.
Director Gilbert expertly handles the spectacle; it's a beautiful picture, with Christopher Challis providing beautiful color cinematography of the bounding main and the sparkling Mediterranean; there are a few obvious matte-paintings/sets at times, but these are forgivable lapses. The movie's big naval battles are filmed with aplomb, flourish and excitement, with Dirk Bogarde having a thrilling cutlass-duel with a French officer that Errol Flynn would envy; the final battle in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the fights with the river junks in The Sand Pebbles and maybe the maelstrom in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End are the only cinematic naval battles I'd put in the same class.
Alec Guinness plays Crawford as his usual stern but kindly authority figure a la Prince Feisal or Yevgraf Zhivago (or Obi-Wan Kenobi); he's fine but a bit stiff, and this is far from his best performance. Dirk Bogarde easily steals the film from Guinness; his Iago-esque treacherous mate is a truly disgusting rotter, with more complexity and subtlety than Ryan's similar character in Billy Budd. The standout supporting turn is by the great Anthony Quayle, who gives one of his best performances as the conflicted Vizar, torn by desire for justice and love of country.
HMS Defiant is a great rollicking old school adventure film, and comes highly recommended.
Rating: 8/10 - Highly Recommended
2 comments:
- Sieglinde said...
Both really good. My only problem with Billy Budd was Ustinov as Vere - he makes a deep and greatly played character, but it's not the elegant, aristocratic Vere I'm used to.
Robert Ryan is a bloody wonder. What that man can do with a look or a smile would make even Alan Rickman jealous. :D I love how he shows that Claggart, despite being the anthropomorphic personification of Evil, is still a tormented human who uses cruelty as a mask. That night chat with Billy showed the man behind the monster. And the way he dies with a smile of victory... chilling.
I've seen great Claggarts, but none of them was so complicated.
He steals the show.
And the end is cut short. If that French ship was meant to destroy the (Indomitable) (Bellipotent) Avenger, they couldn't shown it...
And Defiant is also a good movie. Good ol' obi-Wan as lovable, wise Captain is a perfect choice, and Bogarde makes a fine (and hot) villain, even though he's not Ryan's level.
- April 30, 2010 at 10:20 PM
- Noriko-chan said...
I'm still Jill :)
Just listing the Claggarts I've seen on dvd or live.
- Richard Van Allan: an elegant, buttoned-up type, very dignified, looks like Dracula. Definitely has a style. Very black bass but not one of the force-of-nature voices like Russians, Finns or Wagner basses.
- Eric Halfvarson: looks like a total psycho, the guy is also the scariest Grand Inquisitor EVER, and Claggart fits him perfectly. Also looks the part, unnaturally pale with black hair (wig... he shaves his hair IRL) and menacing eyes. A brutal, cold, black voice straight out of hell.
- Willard White: despite his name, he's a lovely black giant with a powerful but not deep enough voice. Perfect Wotan. Not evil enough for Claggart.
- Michael Langdon: a big, heavy Wagnerian voice, a big man, sinister but vulnerable. Almost pitiable in his depravity.
- Peter Rose (seen live): a rising star, with a healthy, beautiful, wide-ranged bass, reaching depths easily and enjoying his lowest notes a bit too long (he can go way lower). He rules the stage easily without chewing the scenery, and manages to show the tormented side of this villain.
- James Morris - owned the role in the Met since the American premiere. Acting-wise, he's perfect - he uses little half-smirks and a lot of eye play like Ryan, doesn't overact. He also looks hot (and he knows it, plus he's the Met's favourite). Vocally, he's trying to darken his rich, chocolate-gold Wotan voice to a black basso profondo, it sounds a bit forced.
Gotta say... Ryan, without even singing, still pwn's.
Want to see: Tomlinson, Bayley, Saks.
- March 13, 2011 at 3:38 PM


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iPhone Games
Blue Skies, Air Force Academy is an air fighting game which puts you in the driving seat with a mission to destroy the evil leader Hans Kraven and his mercenaries. You as the helicopter pilot has to defend your land from being destroyed by these enemies.
Vegas Pool Sharks is a pool game as the name suggests. If you wanted to improve your pool skills then this is the time as the lite version offers Free download. The game seems to be good except few issue that got me "concerned". I'll quickly talk about the game first then get into my concerns.
Finally a true racing game has come to App Store. Asphalt 4 Eite Racing is a true gaming experience for your iPhoneand iPod Touch. Out of all the application we've reviewed so far, this is one of the best. The graphics, the sound, the gameplay; you name it. And the price!
Did you always have that music instinct? I guess now is the time to express it with this cool application for iPhone and iPod Touch. This is an amazing application which truely proves the touchscreen capability of iPhone, first of all. But that's not the application is about as you may know. iDrum is the app that lets you create your own beats.
Pangea Software, Inc. is running a seven day back-to-school sale for its 3D puzzle game, Enigmo for iPhone and iPod Touch. The sale started on the 27th of August 2008 and ends on the 3rd of September 2008. The promotion price is $5.99 (USD), a 40% off of its original price, $9.99 (USD).
Well Quake doesn't need any introduction or explanation. This famous game is now available in iPhone through Cydia. Obviously that means that you've to have your iPhone unlocked or Jailbroken (unlocking iPhone) if you want to play this game on your iPhone.
Chain3 is a puzzle game designed exclusively for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Chain3 escapes the standard "Match 3" prison creating a new, refreshing experience only possible thanks to the iPhone's unique hardware.


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Dear Friends,
Thank you for all of the support over the years. I have been honored to serve you in the Minnesota Senate. It has also been a honor to have been elected by the Senate body to serve as the first female President of the Senate. I am excited to campaign in the new Senate District 13.
Redistricting has changed the Congressional, State Senate and State House district lines this year. To find your new district, you can visit Minnesota Geographic Information Services at http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/candidates/. You will be able to enter your home address and find your district and the candidates.
Thank you again for all of your support!
Michelle Fischbach
Paid for by Friends of Michelle Fischbach 14722 Old Lake Road in Paynesville MN 56362


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Skip to comments.Paramount ends production deal with Cruise (Hollwood Has MOment of Clarity Alert)
Posted on 08/22/2006 7:18:12 PM PDT by Xth Legion
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Paramount Pictures has severed its 14-year-old ties to Tom Cruise's production company because of his off-screen behaviour, the chairman of the studio's parent company said on Wednesday in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
The report signalled the end of one of the most lucrative production deals commanded by any A-list Hollywood star and followed other signs that Cruise's public stature had been damaged by his conduct during the past year.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.co.uk ...
So does this mean Tom can come out of the closet now?
Wonder if this was covered in the pre-nup?
Rita Cosby damn near had a stroke at the beginning of Scarborough's show, talking about this.
He is done.
And I fully expect him to act even weirder now, if that's at all possible.
He was OK in "Rainman" but then again, in that movie, he didn't have to act. He just had to be himself. A flaming a*hole.
You mean out of the spaceship that surrounds the outer rim of a black hole known as Hollywood ;-)
He was right on the money on his opinions of psychology and the witch doctors who practice it.
I'd rather be Mel Gibson than Tom Cruise right now.
lol! And he thought he was on a mojo roll! Poor thing, maybe he can start touring with the dixie chicks. I hear they're getting pretty desperate to sell those concert tickets.
It wasn't his off screen behavior, it was his slipping status as a moneymaker. Hollywood will support you no matter how freaky you act, as long as you're bringing home the bacon.
GREAT! About time this jackass got treated like a jackass!
If that were the case then he would be fine. MI3 did quite well this summer.
No, he's not done. All but two of the starring roles he's had in the past 14 years made over $100 mil.
And the two that didn't (Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia) are better then all the others.
I'll admit I thought he was pretty good in that movie he played a JAG---"A Few Good Men"---I think was the title.
People seem to think somehow Cruise has been kicked out of the movie business. He's going to to do just fine. I'm not crazy about him but think he's a decent actor. Collateral was my favorite of his movies.
Not when compared to his earnings in previous years. He had a longer shelf life than most, but eventually you get put out to pasture.
I still wish Nicholson had kicked his a@@ in that movie.
Look at the profit margin those movies made. He's done.
Did they really have baby? Haven't seen any proof of one. What was the SINGLE Ms. Holmes thinking? Has anyone seen her after the "birth"?
Do you know how many films flat out flop and still get actors big roles time in and out? Colin Farrell can't bring in an audience to save his life yet still get leading roles. Cruise is one of the most bankable names around.
Cruise is toast! His ass belongs to Xenu now. LRon wouldn't have him anymore.
No, he's not done. The profit margin on those movies is just fine when ancillary and foreign are added in. They don't toss $100 mil budgets at someone just because he has a development deal with them. George Clooney's made nothing but huge losers and he's far from "done"--Cruise movies consistently make over $100 mil; Hollywood looks for someone who can open a movie, and Cruise does that. The profit margin is more about the studio and the producers.
Crusie hasn't been kicked out of the industry; he's just lost a development deal. He no doubt has development deal offers from every other studio sitting on his desk right now. This kind of thing happens all the time.
Glad I didn't spend ticket bucks to see it at the theatre. Now HBO has apparently decided to run it every 18 hours or so, just to rub it in..
That's not really the point. He was saying that Brook was crazy, then he goes an pulls the Oprah stunt and comes off wackyer than a baboon.
Except for the ensemble "Ocean's" movies and "The Perfect Storm" and the Batman movie he did, Clooney's never had a +$100 mil hit. Cruise, on the other hand, rarely has had an under-$100 mil performer.
Unless he signs onto a helluva blockbuster script, I still say the public is sick of him and his strange antics. Don't think he'll bring in the masses anymore. Say what you want, but he's a freak and makes people uncomfortable and not willing to shell out good money to watch him on the big screen.
I think you've got me mixed up with someone else. I've been talking about Cruise, not Clooney.
The only problem with this is the studio's statement. If this were just a run-of-the-mill business deal, they should have issued a boilerplate statement about how Paramount and Cruise "mutually agreed to pursue other ventures" or some other such feel-good mush. Instead, Sumner Redstone called out Cruise's behavior.
There's something else going on here - my feeling is that Paramount has just fired a shot across the bows of all the A-list script readers in Hollywood. Namely, I think they're saying, "In case you haven't noticed, our industry isn't doing so good these days. It's time you guys shared some of the pain." It'll be interesting to see how the rest of Hollywood reacts to this, as well as the Scientologists.
The facts don't bear you out. WOTW was released at the height of the publicity over his idiocy and still made a ton.
What Cruise can do now, in the year 2006, is to sue Paramount for civil rights damages... religious discrimination or whatever.
Looks like Cruise fatigue has set in and the studios are sick of paying his ridiculously high salary.
Cruise has always, always given me the willies. IMHO this jerk is an unconvincing actor and incapable of functioning rationally without a script to follow.
I can grasp the paranoia all celebrities must feel regarding safety issues...but Cruise is off the chart here.
I have this creepy belief that Cruise and Travolta and other celebrities hooked into that totally vile scientology cult bull$hit are drowning from its heavy rule laden weight.
Worse, they are susceptible to blackmail out the ying-yang since scientology is ALL ABOUT the PSYCHOLOGY it professes to despise.
Audit sessions, at thousands per hour, over years, capture each members deepest shame, deepest secrets and could easily be used by the folks running the show at the top as the perfect blackmail machine.
Audit sessions are series of questions and answers designed to rid the cult victim of all of his or her 'nasty', 'effectual', 'nonproductive thoughts or prior actions' in the effort to rid them of all negatives in their character. ( Negatives as defined by its originator, that is.) (Hubbard believes all these negatives derive from an outer space invader.)
Therefore, there is a drive in this cult to bring in celebrities (rich celebrities, that is) who may be susceptible the to bull#hit scientology has to offer (at a price, A GREAT BIG PRICE, of course.) This drive to capture rich folks, while certainly trying to capture and rob the non-rich, too, is a large part of the cult's work. Scientology puts a huge premium on getting itself inserted into member's wills.)
I truly believe that the biggest part of tom's plight is that he has to promote this cult to protect his big secret (or secrets). And I suspect this big secret has a great deal to do with tom's obvious struggle to appear masculine, heroically masculine.
No one is more disappointed if tom's income drops than the hucksters at the top of scientology cult's dynasty.
About 200 million short of expectations according to the story (worlwide sales) so it may not have tanked, but it didn't do "quite well".
My bad--20 million, not 200.
actually..love him or hate him..he has made stars..brad pitt..antonio banderas..renee zellwegger..cuba gooding jr..just to name a few..he is a member of the loony tunes..I find it ironic that he got his first role in Brooke Shield's "Endless Love"..and his antics about Ms Shields would be his downfall..Irony can be so Ironic..
L. Ron was a psychotic charlatan.
You can always count on Petronski's Nelson posts.
Puppet Show, Dixie Chicks, and Tom Cruise...
I'm comparing Cruise with Clooney, as they are both stars. Cruise has made hits; Clooney hasn't, yet his career is going just fine. Thus my larger point: Cruise isn't finished by a long shot as long as he bringing in the bucks, which he does.
I'm basing my position on facts, not feelings. If you think $130+ for a movie after a year of bad publicity means the public is sick of him, we'll just have to disagree.
I'm basing my position on facts, not feelings. If you think $130million+ for a movie after a year of bad publicity means the public is sick of him, we'll just have to disagree.
Spoken just like someone who has never met a schizophrenic, nor suffered post-partum depression.
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The Smithsonian Magazine has an interesting article on a couple of states that nobody recognizes as such – except the few people living there.
«The MRE's declaration of independence (penned by founding father Jeff Holt in his bathtub) hangs in the Boatyard Bar and Grill. Displayed on another wall is the official coat of arms, depicting a boat flanked by Labrador retrievers. Eastport's self-imposed isolation echoes in its motto, "We like it this way"; the line between the words "it" and "this" represents Spa Creek.»
More often than not, economic reasons (e.g. marketing in order to boost tourism) seem to lie at the center of secession – however, the article fails to mention two intriguing examples of political significance: The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands as well as the weirdest of all microstates: Transnistria.


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LARC: A great place for art and artists
If I've learned one new thing about Sequim since I moved back here this summer, it is that we have an exciting and enthusiastic community with all sorts of artists at the center of a unique local art and culture scene.
It can be all too easy to go about one's daily business and miss just how creative this community really is, but a sense of curiosity and an eye for detail open a world of discovery that requires only a bit of time to experience what the artists of the Olympic Peninsula have to offer. This weekend the LARC Gallery's grand opening added a fresh venue to this scene, contributing new depth to an already eclectic visual arts community.
The range and quality of works displayed there is impressive. Paintings, oil pastels, photography and mixed media works are accompanied by pottery, custom jewelry and woodworks all made by local artists, most of whom are from Sequim and Port Angeles.
The art ranged in style from modern and abstract to folksy, but almost universally had some sort of a Pacific Northwest feel to it. I enjoyed the work of all of the artists represented but particularly connected with a few.
"Egret on Goldtones" by Sunny Benhan presents a balance between playful creativity and veneration of natural forms most commonly associated with Art Nouveau. The hints of purple and turquoise let the subject pop out of the gold background and frame in this striking mixed media work. Karen Rozbicki Stringer's photography beautifully captures the charm of the intersection of mountains and sea so unique to our area. Two pastels by Irene Loghry also stood out to me. "White Lilacs" is truly impressive with a control of depth and tone almost unseen in pastels.
LARC, which stands for Local Artist Resource Center, was conceived of as more than just a nonjuried gallery for art from around the peninsula. Owner Shirley Mercer sought to create a space which could enhance the local art scene by serving the unique needs of our artists as well as patrons. This resulted in a new concept for something different from a traditional gallery; a place where local artists could affordably display their works for an extended period as well as take and teach classes ranging from watercolor techniques to how to set up a Facebook page. They even offer custom framing.
All too often the art world focuses so heavily on the consumer that the artist is demoted to a second-class citizen. The negative effects of this are many and complex, but let us look at the alternative. In a community that values art as well as artists there is a respect and appreciation for those who work hard to produce beautiful things.
Sequim is most certainly such a place, but there always is room to grow. LARC provides our community with a wonderful opportunity to support art and the artists who create it.
Make sure to take some time to visit the gallery at 166 E. Bell St. and enjoy the art. If you see something you like, take note of the artist.
Most of the works are extremely reasonably priced, so consider filling that empty space on your wall with a work lovingly produced by a local artist.
If you do, you not only add beauty to your environment, but also contribute to making Sequim a more vibrant artistic community.
Reach Taylor Ackley at firstname.lastname@example.com.
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The Portland area's foreclosure rate is dropping sharply, along with the number of metro homeowners behind on their mortgage payments.
The figures, released Tuesday by the data firm CoreLogic, suggests economic improvement is leaving more homeowners in a position to make their payments. Improvement in the housing market, meanwhile, has unlocked alternatives to foreclosure for some homeowners.
In Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, the foreclosure rate in February fell to 1.86 percent of mortgaged homes from 2.51 percent a year earlier. The 90-day delinquency rate was 3.82 percent, down from 5.07 percent last year.
The rest of the state, where the economic and housing recoveries have been slower, are also seeing lower foreclosure and delinquency rates. The Oregon foreclosure rate was 2.23 percent, down from 2.88 percent last year. The mortgage delinquency rate was 4.28 percent, down from 5.19 percent.
The figures include homes that are owned by lenders but haven't been put up for sale. The so-called "shadow inventory" of homes held by banks has been slowly sold off, and much of the inventory that remain are in especially hard-hit states.
-- Elliot Njus


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CLEVELAND -- The Nets knew this was coming and tried to hold it off as long as possible. But when the hometown team came calling, there was no longer any way to stop it.
Nets general manager Ed Stefanski, Rod Thorn's right-hand man and the Nets' draft specialist for nine years, left the team yesterday to become president and general manager of the 76ers, replacing the ousted Billy King.
A Philadelphia native who coached his alma mater Monsignor Bonner high school and played three years at the University of Pennsylvania, Stefanski always dreamed of taking over the team he grew up rooting for.
"They were my team, the Sixers," he said yesterday at his introductory press conference. "I'm a Philly guy through and through. I die with every Philly team."
Now the Nets have a big hole to fill in their front office, particularly in regard to scouting. The personable Stefanski was Thorn's trusted eyes in the college ranks and overseas. He was directly involved in all of the Nets' draft picks since he joined the team in 1999 -- from Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson, to Nenad Krstic and Sean Williams.
He was also instrumental in helping Thorn acquire Vince Carter in the 2004 trade for Alonzo Mourning, Eric Williams and Aaron Williams.
Thorn said he hadn't yet decided whether to replace Stefanski with another general manager under him, or perhaps bring someone in as director of scouting, which was Stefanski's true love and his first job with the Nets when former GM John Nash hired him out of the business community.
Thorn said he might take over some of Stefanski's duties himself, particularly amateur scouting.
"We might not replace him per se," Thorn said. "We might find someone who did some of the things he did and take a long look at it."
There are several qualified GMs out of work, including Rick Sund, John Gabriel and Kiki Vandeweghe, but it's unclear if they would be willing to accept what could essentially be a scouting director's position. None of the current members of the front office staff is expected to follow Stefanski to Philadelphia.
For Thorn, Stefanski's departure was virtually inevitable, so highly regarded was he around the league.
The Nets had promoted him to general manager in 2004 after Portland interviewed him to be their GM in 2003, and extended his contract in 2005, the same year he was interviewed by Cleveland. But the Sixers would have an allure the Nets could not match.
"It's like a dream-type job," Thorn said. "The circumstances do not always align themselves as they did in this case. This obviously is a terrifically good thing for him."
Until this September when he finally rented an apartment in New Jersey, Stefanski was still commuting up and down the Turnpike to and from suburban Philadelphia, a ride he will have to make only twice a year now.
Thorn said he wasn't overly concerned that Stefanski would be taking over a division rival, but obviously the Sixers need the help. They've finished above .500 only once in the last four years of King's five-year administration, and are currently 5-12. So Stefanski's primary responsibility will be to make what is looking to be a top lottery pick in the June draft.
The Sixers called the Nets a few days ago to ask permission. Because it was a promotion to team president, and because it was Philadelphia, the Nets let him go. Stefanski made sure to thank Nets owner Bruce Ratner for allowing him to make the move, and Thorn for teaching him so much and being such a good friend.
"On a personal level, we'll miss him a lot," Thorn said. "He was instrumental in the success we've had here over the last six-plus seasons. Ed's personality, with his acumen, a very competent individual, who did a great job for us. We wish him well."


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SYDNEY — A Sydney man scheduled to stand trial on a drug charge has instead pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.
© Cape Breton Post graphic
Court news post
Bradley William Cromwell, 23, of East Broadway, was charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. The offence occurred in Sydney on March 7, 2013. He was scheduled to stand trial on the charge in October.
However, Cromwell has pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of marijuana.
He was a given a conditional discharge provided he completes a two-year probation period with no violations. At the end of the probation, the discharge will be made absolute meaning Cromwell will not have a criminal record.


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The Flag Act of June 14, 1777 states "…that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field…" Nowhere does it say how the stars were to be arranged. That is why there are so many different 'national' standards of this period simply because the star pattern wasn't regulated until about 1912 or so. The thirteen star flag remained official until 1795.
The operative word above is 'official.' The flag design changed with the addition of Vermont and Kentucky in 1795, thus changing the star pattern to 15. However, the U.S. Navy continued using the 13 star pattern flag as a small boat ensign until about 1916.
So, the 13 star flag cannot be positively identified by its star pattern alone since there were many different star patterns manufactured. The design itself cannot be considered particularly scarce because it was used routinely by the U.S. Navy for about 120 years after it was no longer an official national flag or used for national commemorations such as the centennial in 1876, and so there are many 13 star flags available.
OK then, how do you know if your 13 flag doesn't belong to the time of George Washington?
First, it should be made of 'worsted' wool, linen, or silk. All of the stitching must have been in a specific hand sewn style. The star pattern in the blue canton would also be an important factor. The thread used was not cotton, but linen or silk of a certain width and manufacture. No metal grommets were ever used.
Because of these special requirements and the fact that the U.S. Navy continued to use the 13 star pattern in its small boat ensigns, there is no shortage of 13 star flags in existence.
So, do authentic 13 star, 18th century U.S. national flags exist anywhere? Unfortunately, not many authentic 13 star flags made it out of the 18th century because they were made mostly for identification by the U.S. Navy. The Army didn't even start using the national flag until the 19th century. Regular citizens wouldn't have displayed the national flag in a way we do today.
That's not to say someone doesn't have an authentic 18th century 13 star flag somewhere. It just hasn't come to light yet. What's in your attic?
Go check out the New London County Historical Society Nathaniel Shaw flag, authentic period flag. Keep your eyes on Philadelphia in months to come on a new flag being presented.
Showing the public how to identify and authentic 18th century, 13 Stars & Stripes flag, Gary Gianotti works to display the Nathaniel Ames flag at Fort Griswold, Groton Connecticut for the 2011, Memorial Day, Fort reopening.
Connecticut Revolutionary War Patriot's historical 13 Stars and Stripes Flag resurfaces after 200 plus years. Further research will show that Rev. Nathaniel Ames who is recognized as one of the few last living Revolutionary War veterans who lived his remaining years of his life in Wisconsin has direct birth ties to Killingly, CT.
Ames was born in 1761, where it is believed that his birth or church records exist identifying Ames as being born in Killingly. Ames in his last recorded words stated that he was born in Situate, just over the boarder in Rhode Island? Where maternal and paternal families both resided and owned land.
Ames had brothers and sisters documented as being born in Killingly and also Norwich that has confused family historians since the time Ames had died in 1863, after living to a ripe old age of 102. Ames maternal grandfathers John Waldo, Edward Waldo and Cornelious Waldo established themselves in Scotland, CT. since the early 1700's.
Ames family records state Ames at the age of six was given to his mothers father Deacon Cornelious Waldo and moved to North Stonnington until the Revolutionary War broke out. Ames was a teenager who joined the New London County Militia under Ledyard, who served as a guard in Groton, Stonnignton, where Ames help build Fort Griswold. Ames then joined the Connecticut Continental Army serving with Washington's Army until 1781 having endured the harsh winter at Morristown. Ames then returns to Groton where he joined one of the last Connecticut Privateers ships that returned to Connecticut at the wars end, the "Marquise De Lafayette" serving under Capt. Elisha Hinman. Venturing on a two year long cruise that took him to Rhode Island, Virginia, West Indies and Holland. The ship had been delivering correspondence to none other than our Nations Second President John Adams, one our nations founding fathers of the Navy. Adams mission was to secure Dutch support to the newly formed United States, working to secure a large money loan that the Lafayette may have transported back to the United States. Ames and Adams, through the Waldo family share the same direct great grandfather to Samuel Adams.
The Lafayette returned in August of 1783 several months before the War was officially over. Nathaniel joins a merchant ship that historians have no documentation of the ships name or history except that in the fall of 1783 it went to the West Indies. On its return voyage to New London the ship was captured and Ames was a prisoner for three months. Ames then may have been impressed into British merchant service for three more years at sea, sailing all over Europe and the Mediterranean, including the West Indies.
Historical evidence, textile and forensics studies point to the fact that Ames, while a prisoner in Bermuda on March, 12th 1784 had signed and dated his personal 13 Stars and Stripes flag nearly a few months before the official end of the American Revolution. Today the surviving flag is now recognized as the only proven authentic period Revolutionary War 13 Stars & Stripes flag known to exist in United States History. No period 13 Stars & Stripes in US history has ever been proven authentic with solid evidence and documentation authenticating such a relic. The Ames flag because it is signed and dated, makes the flag a document itself, placing the relic in American history as the single most historically important textile ever discovered in American History.
The flag was tracked down by Milford, Connecticut's maritime history researcher Gary Gianotti, who was searching to find the lost symbolic identity to New England in association to the Star and Stripes origins, associated to the descendants of the pilgrims of Connecticut and Massachusetts. The flag is key to solving many forgotten and lost national mysteries that can rewrite history as we know it in preserving New Englands National Identity to the Church, Military and Government origins.
The flags existence was brought to Gianotti's attention a few years ago by his close history researcher associate Mr. Claude Harkins of Missouri. Harkin's a modern day patriot who collects historical Americana and shares history with the public, found a New Jersey antique appraisal shows bulletin paper showing the flag as a relic belonging to Pennsylvania resident Mr. Donal Maloney. The show appraiser had no clue what Mr. Maloney had placed before him that day, when Mr. Maloney began his work to identify the historic flag, passed down to him from his great grandfather Michael Patton, historical flag collector and building flag decorator for historic events in the early 1900's.
Gianotti, contacted Mr. Maloney in the efforts to work on the research and identification of the flag that has been an on going project for more than three years. The flag still has a good deal of research work to finish the documentation and Mr. Maloney has agreed to loan the flag to Connecticut's Revolutionary War Park Museum at Fort Giswold. Ames from a couple of family branches are bloodline to the Winthrops who's English manor is named "Groton" origins to the City name Groton, CT and MA. In the efforts to help support the park that needs public support to keep the Park running during these hard times. The loan is pending if the CT State Parks DEP division allows the flag to go on display at Fort Griswold, when the park reopen's next memorial Day. The exposure of the flag on public display can also be used to encourage the public with any documented information of the Ames history to bring it forth publicly. You may be one of those few persons nationally who may help in the efforts of saving thousands of Ames descendants lost documented history and flag history.
The Ames family and flag has many priceless secrets that may shock the history academic world, especially when it comes to the identification of Nathaniel Ames, direct grandfather David Ames also Spelt Eames. Gianotti has been working closely with the Ames Society President and Nathaniel's most direct descendant grandson, Mr. Robert Nathaniel Ames of Lexington, KY. Who has given his DNA in the efforts to unravel the 300 plus year Ames family mystery.
A very real mystery that may prove that Rev. Nathaniel Ames is a direct descendant to the famous Theologian Dr. William Ames. Dr. Ames is recognized as one of the single most important English ministers who United the Dutch and English churches. Ames at the time of the Puritan movement was one of the most important influential educators in the the Dutch and English Churches. Dr. Ames teachings influenced the church origins of the New World and the evolution of the churches in America that made a major impact of the creation that is the United States today.
If the history is proven that Nathaniel and his direct family is descended from Dr. Ames, son John who is said to have gone back to England where he is buried not far from his brother William. We can save thousands of families lost identities associated to the Ames families in every US State.
Right now there is enough documented evidence, forensics and textile evidence that proves the Nathaniel Ames flag is a National Treasure Relic that is one of the only relics that can be as historically important as the Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, Bill of Rights, Articles of Confederation and the Great Seals of the United States.
Gianotti quotes that the flag as a teaching tool is historically more important than our nations great documents because the history and families histories associated teach orgins of the Church, Military and Government to the first days of the founding of America and English history to family members who were Lords of southern England. Grandparents to Nathaniel who were Lords that were a direct part of the founding of the New World, Royalty, Church, British and Dutch East India Companies who are associated in the origins of where our Red and White Stripes flag originated for our Nation Flag. Including the five pointed star history associated to first usage in the American Colonies and New England associated to the Stars & Stripes.
Any one in the public that has documented evidence of this history of Nathaniel and His family is encourage to present their documentation. You never know that you may have a priceless piece of history worth more than all the tea in China, that will associate your name to this history for the next 250 years.
Best Regards,
Gary Gianotti
The key to identification is by finding a signed and dated period flag, such as the Nathaniel Ames 13 Stars & Stripes , period flag.
A signed flag allows historians to add facts in proving that textile historians, 18th Century textile information was incorrect on home spun methods and material used or not used in the 18th Century.
Imagine how many historical flags were bebunked if all the leading flag historians textile data is incorrect? Starting from the late 1870's-today? Misleading textile information is the number one problem many authentic 18th century existing flags are faced with today.
Mr. Gianotti, I am in possession of what appears to be an Original 13 Star American flag, although in doing my research have found determining it's authenticity. I inherited from my late father and have since had it matted and framed under OP3 Acrylic. Could you possibly point me in the right direction of someone who would be interested in determining it's authenticity.
Thank you in advance for your assistance,
Ms. Lisa Gewecke


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COPPELL Texas CiCi's Pizza, a 650-unit pizza buffet chain, has hired John W. Baldwin for the new position of vice president of real estate. Baldwin, 45, most recently was with Starbucks Corp. and has worked with La Quinta Hotels and Valvoline Instant Oil Change.Craig Moore, president and chief executive of CiCi's, said growth plans required "a real estate executive who has the experience and skills to compete for the number of prime locations CiCi's needs."
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