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HOUSTON - The gunman who was wounded in a shootout with police officers in southwest Houston is the same man police say could be connected to the slayings of a mother and son who were found dead in their home.
Houston police said the shooting happened around 5 pm on Sunday in a strip mall parking lot on the corner of West Airport Boulevard and Hillcroft.
Police said they had successfully tracked down a pickup truck that was taken from a home on Bahia near Willview, where a mother and her adult son were killed on Saturday.
Detectives named Keith Turner, 45, a person of interest in the slayings.
Related: Police: Mother, son found dead inside home
"They (police) saw a male suspect making suspicious movements inside the vehicle," said Victor Senties of the Houston Police Department.
Police said it was clear Turner wasn't going to cooperate.
"He puts his hands in the air as if he's challenging (officers), puts on a sweater, reaches into his waistband, pulls out a gun and starts to fire shots," said Senties.
Investigators said after Turner fired at officers, they fired back, wounding Turner.
Turner was rushed to a hospital. His condition has not been released.
It was a close call for a mother and her two children who were caught right in the middle of the police shootout. A veteran police officer rescued them. None of them was hurt.
Copyright 2013 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Results 1 to 20 of 89
Risks, rewards, & loot in RPGs (and FPS-RPGs)
So here's the thing:
I've been playing Oblivion for the past couple weeks, and I started playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution today. In both, I find myself seriously torn between two extremes: Playing like a real character, and playing like an RPG player.
I'm pretty sure we all know the RPG player. You walk into a room, and the first thing you do is take everything that is worth anything and isn't nailed down. You go out of your way to find things to kill or places to go for XP. You iterate through every dialogue option to make sure you haven't missed a quest or a reward. You lockpick / hack stuff for XP even if you have the key / code. If you see a door, you're going to open it. Etc.
And then there's the real character. You're only going to enter someone's home if you've got a reason to do so. You'd knock first (if only they'd give you the option), and you certainly wouldn't start taking stuff. You're going to look for the easiest way to achieve your goals. You're not going to get involved in some stranger's problem unless it's brought to your attention and there's a reward (tangible or otherwise). You'll look for the simplest / best solution, i.e. the one with the least problems (XP) to overcome.
And you know what? Even if I try to play the latter, I end up slipping into the former. It just seems like how these things are meant to be played. Everyone likes ammo, right? So why shouldn't I open every single locker in a locker room and double my stash? (Never mind that I end up stealthing the level and not firing a single bullet, getting the "Ghost" bonus too.)
It bugs me because I feel like I've been given this living, breathing character, and turned him/her into a sort of OCD kleptomaniac who won't leave an area until every last enemy is dead / unconscious and every container is searched and emptied. Christ, I found myself breaking into every Sarif employee's office and stealing all their credit chits (and protein bars) and I'm supposed to be the head of security!
The root cause of all this seems to be a few different things. For starters: Unlikely loot in unlikely places. Ammo and money in every desk? Grenades in the assembly line storage room? Ancient powerful artifacts in some chest or being worn by some radom bandit? Oy.
Problem is, the loot was the only reason those desks and chests and whatnot were searchable at all. Take away the loot, and you may as well take away the ability to check them at all. Which means if you ever do see a searchable container, you know it's something important, which breaks immersion. (Maybe making them all searchable, but 99% junk, is worth it just to let the important ones blend in?)
Then there's the character getting experience points for doing stuff rather than for getting stuff done. Meaning that the more roundabout, convoluted means with which you accomplish something, the better. Pretty much everything counts here: Kill XP, lockpick XP, "you found an air vent" XP, etc.
Granted, you can't really say the XP is 100% unrealistic. You really would get better at taking down thugs if, instead of taking down the one or two unavoidable ones, you swept the entire place and took them all out. Still I think XP overstates how much better you would get, and the fact that it's "just a game" (without any real risk) means that any sort of reward is worth the (zero) risk of taking such a ludicrous approach.
I guess the real question is, would it really be an RPG if you took this stuff out? Is it worth trying? Could you get all your ammo from HQ + the bad guys, all your credits from your paycheque, and all your skill-up points from completing assignments, and only choose how to allocate them all? Would you just get accused of "streamlining" and "consolising" and whatnot? Would it still be fun?
Maybe a more bottom-line concern: Are RPGs actually meant to be RPed, or is RPG just a misnomer for "XP & loot" games? Can there ever truly be any realism in these sorts of things, when a player character can progress from novice to world-class expert in a particular skill in just a few game days? Can you have an RPG where your character finishes the game with roughly the same capabilities (but a bit more practical experience) as when they started, and still call it an RPG?
I can hear Wizardry on his way...
I agree with your first point about taking everything and just going everywhere. I'd argue that the "talk to everyone" line is also fairly ridiculous as well. I don't know about the rest of RPS, but I don't go up to random strangers standing on the street and go "What do you know about rats in the sewers?" and stuff like that.
Also the "loot in unlikely places" thing extends to pretty much every game, which is one of my biggest problems with the healthbar mechanic which people cling to. Quite often in games it looks like weapons, ammo, health packs and what-not have got up under their own power and gone out of their way to help us. RPGs are no different in that respect, particularly some of the more action RPGs (and I'd say Bethesda are some of the worst at doing this).
Then there's the character getting experience points for doing stuff rather than for getting stuff done. Meaning that the more roundabout, convoluted means with which you accomplish something, the better. Pretty much everything counts here: Kill XP, lockpick XP, "you found an air vent" XP, etc.
Maybe this raises the whole point of what the developers are trying to achieve with XP. At a glance, it's meant to represent your character getting better via, well, experience. In reality, it's more like a progress bar that's supposed to finish roughly around the time the game does. And it seems like Deus Ex uses it to encourage specific behaviour (e.g. non-lethal vs. lethal, close combat vs. ranged), or to reward you for finding things. I thought air vents were supposed to be for saving time / effort (and/or finding items), not as a way to level up.
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A. Fight through some enemies blocking a path, gaining XP through doing so
B. Pick/Hack a locked path, gaining XP through doing so
C. Find a well hidden unlocked path through some exploration, maybe an air vent, maybe something else.
Why shouldn't the player be rewarded some XP for taking that option as well?
I agree just being given XP for randomly coming across air vents all the time doesn't really make sense, but if the levels are well designed the player shouldn't be doing that anyway.Disclaimer: The above statement or statements are most likely completely incorrect, incoherent and a little insulting to boot. Please disregard immediately and contact the closest person or persons with the ability and will to restore your faith in humanity.
It seems like one possible solution would be to cap each area's XP points. A particularly smart or challenging route might be worth more than a simpler or more obvious route, but taking every possible route wouldn't net you several times the "normal" XP, if you cap the XP at the value of the smart route.
I actually think that Oblivion/Morrowind's approach (ie: skills rather than XP) is one that should be explored more fully by other games. It certainly removes some of the dissonance with XP balancing - I get XP more XP for shooting a dude than shooting a mouse? Why? The mouse is smaller and therefore a harder target, surely? And why do I get the same amount of XP for shooting neither but opening a door instead?
Direct skill development removes those questions. Okay, you still have to find a way to balance the skills, but you can at least see a direct correlation there between your actions and your non-tangible rewards. I improved my shooting skills because I hit x targets. I improved my sandwich making skills because I fed the Budapest Symphony Orchestra.
The other issues you mention are also in need of consideration by games designers, I reckon. I think a major factor for the 'looting' thing is huge inventories that mean stealing EVERYTHING becomes second nature (then you get that tedious moment where you have to go through everything you're carrying and work out which has the least efficient weight:value ratio). Simply reducing the inventory size in, say, Oblivion so that you couldn't carry around 6 swords and 200 potions does help.
But then of course you have to leave almost everything you find behind, which can be frustrating, as the game isn't balanced for that.
As for interrogating everyone you meet ... well, on the absurdly long list of Stuff Wot I Will Do When I Can Buy Everything are a number of games, one of which is set on a housing estate in the south of England. Going up to complete strangers in the street and asking them bizarre questions will quickly get you branded as some sort of local nutter.
Last edited by sinister agent; 24-08-2011 at 06:59 AM.
Perhaps a way around this would be to implement a system where you'd have to announce your intentions before you tackled a particular obstacle/area, so that you could be rewarded XP based on how well you adhered to those intentions. E.g: "I'll sneak through here, no need to kill anyone" would mean you'd get no XP for shooting people, whereas "I'll leave no survivors" would give you XP only for killing people.
Unfortunately, with either system, it was still possible to create a pretty nerfed character by levelling up some non-combat-useful skill (like alchemy) and making all the mobs tougher as a consequence. Besides which, they're both still all ass-backwards. Your skills define your abilities? Last I checked, my physical fitness determined my ability to run and jump, and my dexterity would affect my ability to pick locks, not the other way around.
My idea for a skill / attribute system:
- Performing a skill contributes towards both the skill and the related attribute(s).
- Skills will never exceed the value of the related attribute(s).
- The closer a skill is to the attribute-based cap, the slower it improves.
- Skills that are far from the cap can improve much faster.
What would end up happening:
- Your primary skills would be close to their caps. The more you use something, the closer it's going to be.
- Secondary skills would be lower, but would still be pretty decent. As long as you use something at least some of the time, it's not going to be extremely far from the cap.
- If you become (say) a master mage (high int / will) but you've never, ever used a particular magic skill, you'll still start from zero, but you'll pick it up very fast.
It's much more logical overall. Becoming more physical will help all of your physical skills, learning magic will help all your magic skills, etc. So your skill levels still reflects your overall skill usage, but when an attribute goes up, it tends to rubber-band all related skills and keep them within a certain reasonable distance of the attribute cap (so long as you use them at all).
If you feel like avoiding the Oblivion "I'll just put a button on the spell key and be an expert in skill <x> by morning" syndrome, make the attribute gains dependent on using the skill in combat, or have "attribute XP" queue up (to a limit) and only apply the queue after a combat victory. You could still sit in your house and practice a skill to get it closer to the cap, but you're only practicing your technique, not exerting and improving yourself under the pressures of combat.</x>
Oh, I agree - Morrowin/Obliv's levelling/stat thing had major, major flaws. You had to game the system to stand a chance if you didn't happen to pick a skill set that the devs thought of, and even then there were other issues with the game. Although some mods did a lot to address this.
Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul did something broadly similar to what you propose - you don't choose or raise your primary stats (strength, luck, etc.) directly at all, but rather, they raise naturally as your skills develop. Raising a skill would contribute towards increasing two or three primary stats, so that over time, if you'd worked a lot on physically demanding skills, your strength and endurance would creep up too, but you'd also find that your agility might go up slightly too.
Obliv had its problems, but the core idea of "practice=improvement" is solid, and it surprises me that nobody else (as far as I know) has really done it. Although XCOM and friends did, now that I think about it.
Last edited by sinister agent; 24-08-2011 at 08:20 AM.
I'm not sure what the effect on level design would be, though. If the designers have to be able to quantify every shortcut in relation to its equivalent body count and in relation to other possible strategies as well, the net result is that we may not have very many interesting shortcuts or alternate strategies.
The one flaw is that some skills are rarely used, but really useful. How would you know to prep them for improvement beforehand?
I think it would be less practical in an open world RPG. Something like Deus Ex would be more applicable - how will you deal with Organisation X, for example - will you kill anyone you see on their side, or try to reason with them, or limit yourself to espionage?
I'd think of it less about which skills you'd prepare, and more about what outcome you'd seek. So you could use hacking to overload a terminal and start a fire, killing the guards, or you could use it to lock them in or simply avoid them. Or you could choose not to kill, but still use combat skills in injuring or scaring off guards. You'd choose the general aims of your situationo rather than what skills you'd use to get there.
To avoid it becoming episodic, you could make it a major character choice - I understand Baldur's Gate and some of the Ultimas had a system that punished you for deviating from a certain moral/behavioural code. Maybe there's some overlap there.
Last edited by sinister agent; 24-08-2011 at 09:33 AM.
The problem with pre-ordaining how you will handle a situation is that it boxes you in to a certain style of play. For instance, I generally try and play stealthy, but I'm not a serial quicksave/quickloader, preferring instead to improvise and adapt to a situation. For me, half the fun in playing stealthy is having to use my wits or shooting skills to get me out of a tight situation when the shit hits the fan. Going by a system in which you only get rewarded for being 100% consistent, is saying that my playstyle isn't a valid one.
Furthermore, if you decide 'oh I won't kill any of that faction', whats the point of all the e-mails/correspondence etc that give you further understanding of an organisations motivations and ethos as you play? If you decide a particular organisation are the 'not-so-bad guys' and go in at them non-lethal, then through some sleuthing you discover they're actually a right set of bastards, you'd feel like the rug had been pulled from under you by the game developer.
I really prefer to make these decisions on the fly, rather than decide any of these things in advance and have them rigidly set, just doesn't make sense to me.
1 - Maybe if it was a significant XP bump when you performed tasks you'd prepared for, but you still get some reward for performing other skilful actions, so your playstyle directly determines your character's abilities without boxing you completely into one style.
2 - Maybe there could be a separate skill for "Improviser", which enables you to change your mind about which skills'll earn you XP on the fly, or which rewards you for using skills beyond just the ones you'd designated as those you intend to improve.
I'm sure there're other (better) ways of promoting your style with that spin on XP-rewards though.
Last edited by Keep; 24-08-2011 at 11:08 AM.
It's a good point. You'd need to either provide a strong impetus to stick to a plan (which might just mean it's extra-frustrating to have to do so or lose out), or balance it with some kind of consolation prize for not doing so. Tricky.
I think removing XP altogether is a good start, though. That way you could have the 'how I will approach this' system linked with tangible or character/plot/dialogue rewards instead, so it'd feel like less of a straightjacket - I can picture it working with you telling a support character or ally how you'd approach, and how closely you stick to the plan affecting the relationship and/or what they're willing to do for you. A liiiittle bit like Alpha Protocol, only with more emphasis on your desires rather than second guessing what will please the NPC - say your handler would be happy whatever you do, as long as you stick to your word.
You'd also be defined by how well you can do something, rather than just by what meaningless number is next to your name.
Last edited by sinister agent; 24-08-2011 at 11:22 AM.
I wish more games would try to discourage the "do everything at once" approach. It annoys me when I read about people playing TES games as a Warrior-Mage-Thief who joins all the guilds so they can do all the quests. Maybe they enjoy playing like that, fair enough, but I think it ultimately leads to a shallower experience. Where's the conflict between factions, the tough decisions to make, the consequences of your actions? An open world game does not mean you should never restrict your player based on his actions - if I feel there's stuff I've missed out playing a game once I'm far more likely to play it again.
In DXHR I'm trying to avoid farming XP taking all the different routes. I get some satisfaction out of role playing a bit and going for my objective rather than combing the level for loot, but I also want to keep it fresh for other play throughs. Maybe I'll finish it quicker than other players, but I'll keep the mystery of "what's in that room over there?" or "what happens if I just blast through the front door?" for replaying the game.
I don't see what was wrong with the upgrade system in the original Deus Ex. It didn't try and incentivise a particular course of action, it gave you regular upgrades just through playing the game, but exploration of levels would net you additional rewards. But the exploration was not really tied to stealth like it is in HR. If you wanted to shoot your way through a level you wouldn't come out poorer than if you sneaked through knocking people out. The whole point was playing how you wanted to, rather than playing how the designers decided was worth the most experience, which I think is an important point HR has missed.
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I have the same problem myself. I cannot pass on an opportunity to do something in a game. I hate the feeling that I might be missing out on stuff. That forces me to play with a constant focus on completion.
I enjoy that way of playing, otherwise I wouldn't do it. But it often makes games too easy and therefore not as enjoyable as they could be ONCE I'm past the "getting powerful" phase.
For instance, when I started playing Oblivion, I got out of the sewers and started maxing EVERY SINGLE SKILL. I planned it, and I did it. And I enjoyed jumping for hours to get the Athletic skill up. I enjoyed conjuring things to get the conjuration skill up, and then hitting my summons with the right kind of weapon to up the right skill. I would play so that both my stats and my skills would end up being at their full potential. Once they were all at 100 (if that's the level cap, I'm not quite sure), I created a spell that was extremely powerful and would give me infinite mana, provided I did not release the spell key.
Then, and only then, did I start actually "playing the game". It was too easy, I stopped about five hours through (while I'd been optimizing my char for about 30 hours, I believe).
Did I ruin the game by optimizing my character and making an obviously godlike spell ? Sure.
Could I have done otherwise ? Nope.
The game let me do it, so there was no sense in not taking advantage of that. It's as if I were a beginner lumberjack and my boss gave me a choice between a "burning axe of death of cthulhu +6", an average axe, and a razor blade. I would choose the burning axe any day, because it cuts down trees faster and more efficiently. Oh, sure, it'd be more of a challenge to take the razor blade or even the average axe, but why would I ?
That's the reason why I love games that force you to make choices. That "missing out on things" feeling can be countered by choices that actually force you to keep going. You shouldn't be able to take three equivalent but different paths one after the other to reach the same goal. It doesn't make any sense, not in a single playthrough at least.
To illustrate that, let's use Oblivion. You should only be able to join ONE guild, not all three of them. You could, of course, choose to start in a guild and then quit to join another. But seriously... I can be the best mage/thief/warrior at the same time ? Come on. Skills should be the same way. Getting for instance 10 skill levels in a magic discipline should take 10 skill levels off of your warriorish/thieving skills level cap. That'd be a fair system that would allow you to either become "DA B3ST" at one discipline, or a balanced hybrid.
This is a problem I have in general with RPGs. They seem to place attention to stats and min maxing above actually roleplaying. I would like to play an RPG where playing as a farmer is just as fun as playing as a knight. Perhaps it's because of the overwhelming mechanical emphasis on combat and the simple experience system.
I'd say the solution to Oblivion's horrible imbalancing vis a vis levels AND skill gain would be to simply remove levels. Enemies start hard, and stay hard until you learn how to fight them, and you learn how to fight them by getting better at weapon/traps technique. I think Witcher and Witcher 2 were close to the ideal in that regard.
I'd say the solution to the kleptomania you have is to stop putting a merchant right before the Big Boss, selling the Sword of Awesomeness that you can only afford if you broke literally every clay pot in the game up until then. Also, smaller inventories.
I want more emphasis to be put on acting normally, which basically means a lot more cues from NPCs that you're being weird. Dialogue trees shouldn't be endlessly redone: The person you're talking to should get impatient if you keep repeating yourself and, for that matter, should have a reason for wanting to talk to you in the first place.


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Influential doctor remembered
St. Albert physician delivered more than 2,000 babies
Saturday, Jan 11, 2014 06:00 am
When Dr. Michael Poitras began to read the long list of online memorial tributes to honour his wife Dr. Marlene Lidkea, he noticed that almost every one mentioned how she had been there for her patients in times of joy and sorrow.
"She was a family physician in St. Albert for more than 30 years. She delivered more than 2,000 babies," he said, adding that in some cases, both the mothers and the new generation of babies were delivered by Lidkea.
"Many of the letters said, 'Dr. Lidkea delivered me and she delivered my baby.' She was into delivering the second generation," Poitras said. "She loved delivering babies and she loved the idea of following the family and the kids."
Dr. Marlene Lidkea, who died suddenly on Dec. 23 of undisclosed causes, leaves behind a legacy of caring that went beyond her family practice. She was 58.
Sometime early in her practice, Lidkea treated a young patient who had been the victim of a sexual assault. In the 1980s there was no official protocol for how to examine or treat such patients. The protocol that was later adopted by the Alberta Medical Association, as a standard procedure for dealing with children who have been victims of physical and sexual abuse, was largely developed by Lidkea.
"At the time she was the only physician in the Edmonton area who would do medical exams on kids. No other physician would see them, because it was such a taboo. She would see them right away," said Karen Smith, executive director of the Edmonton Sexual Assault Centre.
Smith went on to say that because Lidkea championed the cause, the Edmonton area has a number of very special services for victims of sexual assault, that are unlike those found anywhere else in Canada.
"Edmonton has got the Cadillac of services for sexual assault victims compared to other places. People from all across Canada come here to learn. Not even Calgary has the services we have here. If we hadn't had a medical doctor championing all of this, it never would have gone anywhere," Smith said.
"There was no structure in place at first but Marlene did a ton of research. She studied courses in San Diego and she took training to learn how to collect evidence. She developed a skill and reputation for dealing with victims of assault, with children being the focus," Poitras explained.
Lidkea's determination led to the establishment of Edmonton's Child and Adolescent Protection Unit and the Child and Adolescent Protection Centre at the Stollery Children's Hospital.
Largely because of her work in this field, in 1998 Lidkea was presented with the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award. In 2005, on the occasion of Alberta's centennial, Lidkea was one of 100 physicians to receive the Physicians of the Century Award.
Yet all through those years of working with victims of sexual assault and working with other physicians to establish procedures and protocols, Lidkeas also studied and developed practices to allow for natural childbirth within the safe environs of a hospital.
"She was passionate about minimal intervention. She studied other birthing practices in the world, for example the research in Britain, and she started to say, 'We're doing it all wrong. Giving birth should be as natural as possible," Poitras said.
Poitras said that his wife's voicemail was a telling assessment of how she lived her life on the run.
"Her answering machine message said, 'If I'm not here, I'm swimming or delivering a baby!" Poitras said, as he explained that Lidkea could seldom sit and do nothing.
"She would swim at Fountain Park pool and for the past three years, she trained to swim 2.1 kilometres in the Across the Lake in Kelowna event," he said.
Lidkea loved to garden and maintained the 1,200 square feet of perennial flower beds that encircled the family's pie-shaped lot as well as flower beds at her parents' acreage home near Leduc.
She loved to travel and one of her goals was to visit every Canadian province.
"She had this thing that if we're Canadian, we have to see all the provinces. She saw them all except for the Yukon and Nunavut. She swam with beluga whales at Churchill, Man. and with sea lions in the Galapagos Islands," Poitras said.
Dr. Lidkea's office and those of her partners will be closed as of Jan. 31, but any patient can still phone that number for assistance.
"Their charts will be redirected to a physician of their choice," Poitras said.
Left to celebrate the life of Dr. Marlene Lidkea are her husband, Dr. Michael Poitras, her sons Andre and Evan, her special granddaughter Grace Bacha, her parents Audrey and Russell Lidkea, and her siblings Harvey, Wade (Joan Garbey), Ross (Marlene), Darlene (Len MacMillan) and Wayne (Larissa Aponiuk).
A memorial service will be held at the Enjoy Centre (101 Riel Drive) on Jan. 11, at 7 p.m.


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♦ Laura Poitras tells Salon how she first made contact with Edward Snowden and as says there is more footage coming.
♦ Seymour Hersh's 2006 report on the debate within the intelligence community about the NSA's gathering of telephone metadata is well worth a read in light of the recent NSA leaks. We also recommend Wired magazine's 2012 report on the Utah Data Center – "A project of immense secrecy, it is the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyse, and store vast swaths of the world's communications as they zap down from satellites and zip through the underground and undersea cables of international, foreign, and domestic networks."
♦ Child boxing in Thailand is a tradition with a long history, but it has brought the ire of human rights activists.
♦ Michalis G. Sallas, the banker at the helm of Pireaus, capitalised on Cyprus's banking disaster and bought up the Greek units of the island's three biggest financial institutions – some say he should be hailed for his entrepreneurial expertise, while others say he has pushed the boundaries of banking too far. Read more
© The Financial Times Ltd 2016 FT and 'Financial Times' are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.


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HOUSTON - A convicted sex offender is accused of robbing a clerk after luring him into a bathroom at a convenience store in northwest Houston.
Court records read Armando Sosa is charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and is being held on a $40,000 bond.
"Keeps us all on edge, we're here every day," said Walter Castillo, a frequent customer of the Stop N' In store on Blalock where police said the robbery occurred on Nov. 8.
Castillo said the clerk was always very friendly.
"Very nice guy, easy going, always saying friendly stuff like 'hello,'" said Castillo.
Investigators said Sosa was also a regular customer of the store, lured the clerk out from behind the protective glass that surrounds the cash register and back to the store's bathroom.
Court records read Sosa "used a knife to cut (the clerk's) hands and throat," and then "took $5,000 in cash from the register."
The clerk survived the attack and police said he was able to pick Sosa's face out of a photo line-up.
Court records show Sosa has a prior conviction for indecency with a child.
Copyright 2012 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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How time flies when you're having fun. I spent the best part of Wednesday trailing Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, around Brussels. After about four hours it dawned on me that, no matter how strange and disturbing some of his statements, his style is in certain respects remarkably similar to that of a European politician. That is to say, he repeats his best lines wherever he goes, presumably in the belief that if you say something often enough, in as many different places as possible, at least some people will swallow your message and regurgitate it to others. Read more
© The Financial Times Ltd 2016 FT and 'Financial Times' are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.


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|A stair nose is designed to create a clean transition from a step to a hardwood floor. Also used around steps and stair landing trims.
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Q:Is this compatible with SKU 10005161 7/16" Quick Click Richmond Plank? Will they snap together?
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A:This is the proper "overlapping stair nose for the Quick Click Richmond Plank. It will not click to the flooring but will overlap the needed expansion space to the edge of the step.


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Hunter Hayes, 'Tattoo' [Listen]
According to Hunter Hayes' new single, 'Tattoo,' the multi-talented country singer-songwriter might just be willing to get a little permanent ink -- if he meets the right girl of course! The new single, off of Hayes' 'Storyline' album is classic Hayes, returning to the reason fans love him so ardently - that boy can write a love song like nobody else.
Win a Trip to See Lucy Hale at the Grand Ole Opry Courtesy of FarmVille 2: Country Escape
Cole Swindell Defends Danielle Bradbery After 2014 CMT Music Awards
Last week cameras caught Cole Swindell and Danielle Bradbery looking less than enthused by Luke Bryan's performance of 'Play It Again' at the CMT Music Awards. The 'Hope You Get Lonely Singer' says the two were caught in a situation Kacey Musgraves found herself in after the 2013 CMA Awards.
Album Spotlight: Miranda Lambert, 'Platinum'
Miranda Lambert's fifth studio album 'Platinum' presents a more emotionally centered 30-year-old. Few songs cut deep lyrically, but the singer hardly plays it safe.
Win a Trip to the CMA Awards to Meet Miranda Lambert
Nominations for the 2014 CMA Awards are still months away from being announced, but Miranda Lambert wants to secure your seat in advance. The singer -- who just released her new album 'Platinum' -- is hooking one fan and a guest up with the ultimate CMA Awards flyaway.
Jerrod Niemann, 'Donkey [Listen]
Jerrod Niemann's new song 'Donkey' hits on all the reasons fans love the party-loving, country rocker. The laugh-out-loud track from Niemann's 'High Noon' album comes complete with heavy guitar hooks and lyrics full of sly innuendoes ... not to mention a healthy dose of donkey brays to fill out the chorus.
Album Spotlight: Jamie Lynn Spears, 'The Journey'
Jamie Lynn Spears' debut EP 'The Journey' includes some happy, some playful, a little sad and one big "Oh no she didn't!" It's tough to argue these five songs aren't as personal as anything pressed in country music this year.
Toc Encore: Country Stars Who've Served in the Military
Amongst country music's top stars you'll find a captain, several staff sergeants, a corporal and an Army Ranger. All four branches of the United States military are covered by country hitmakers. In some cases they were on the front lines for historic events. In some cases an artist's career began during down time.
Brantley Gilbert, 'Just As I Am' – Everything You Need to Know in 60 Seconds
Brantley Gilbert's 'Just As I Am' album is now in stores, containing the Georgia-raised singer's No. 1 hit 'Bottoms Up' and his new single 'Small Town Throwdown...
Album Spotlight: Dolly Parton, 'Blue Smoke'
Dolly Parton's 'Blue Smoke' is a lyricist's album. Parton's 42nd studio album rarely relies on silly or corn pone metaphors or jokes, instead offering tracks that stick to the soul.
Lee Brice's 'I Don't Dance' Debuts on ToC Top 10 Video Countdown
The new video from Lee Brice makes its Top 10 Video Countdown debut this week. 'I Don't Dance' checks in at No. 8, besting videos from Luke Bryan and more. The top will look familiar to regular voters of this weekly poll.
Album Spotlight: Rascal Flatts, 'Rewind'
The song 'Rewind' is a good measuring stick for Rascal Flatts' new album of the same name as it truly does -- as Jay DeMarcus said -- tie the old to the new. It's the mean of 13 songs that range from syrupy and organic to razor sharp and vengeful.


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You won't be able to dismiss this by usual means (escape or click button), but you can close it programatically based on user choices or actions.
"I am so happy with my invitations. The quality of the paper is great...weighty and perfectly textured. The design is so elegant. The only thing I would say is that they are smaller than I expected but I was reading that's that is a good thing as it saves on postage! Service was also prompt and a pleasant experience."
"Absolutely beautiful. It was really easy to customize the wedding invite. My designer did a great job of brining my ideas to life. I really wanted to be able to include our parents in the invite and the designer came up with a great solution and moved a few things around. The invite is exactly what we wanted. Thank you so much!"
"Our invitations arrived recently (sooner than expected) and look absolutely beautiful! The design requests we submitted were perfect and really helped to make our invitations unique."
"My color theme for my wedding it a variation of purples and this invitation was just perfect for it. The quality is also great! Delivery was amazingly fast! I am very satisfied with my finished product and would definitely recommend them to anyone."
"We are so happy with how our wedding invitations turned out! I can't believe how much we love them. The colors are vibrant and elegant and are perfect for our Dallas rooftop wedding. I give this product 5 stars for sure and nothing less."


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Miley Cyrus still doing slutty stuff
Here's Miley Cyrus performing at GAY in London and kissing a girl again less than 24 hours after taking to her blog to say she didn't kiss one the first time:
I performed Cant Be Tamed this week on one of my favorite shows here in the UK Britians Got Talent. Which is totally true, there were some amazinnnggg acts (but of course no one could focus on that.) I had such a blast and was so honored to be on that stage. That being said during my performance I supposedly "KISSED A GIRL" and this is the newest thing to cause controversy. I promise you I did not kiss her and it is ridiculous that two entertainers cant even rock out with each other without the media making it some type of story. I really hope my fans are not disappointed in me because the truth is I did nothing wrong. I got up there and did my job which is to perform to the best of my ability. I just want to put an end to this right now and just say one thing to everyone out there making this performance such a big deal.
THINGS IN THE WORLD. Lets start focusing a little less on making up ignorant rumors and focus a little more on world peace! We gotta a lot of work to do if we wan this earth to be here much longer. Lets make a change! It wouldn't hurt the world to show a little more love.
Dear Miley,
There are these things called "cameras" that record moments in time exactly as they happen. I know that sounds like devil magic, but you're going to have to roll with me on this one. However, if you are familiar with them, I should probably point out they also work at places that aren't the swimming hole your dad put up a sign that reads "Nekkids Only." Just in case there's any confusion.
I didn't look at your underwear,
The Superficial


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Rocks & MineralsScience brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.
As I wave my hand over this mystery rock, it levitates to my hand. But alas, all that is in my hand is a rod and some copper.
What is going on here?!
AnswerThe mystery rock was iron, and the rod and copper form an electromagnet.
What Next?
See another brain teaser just like this one...
Or, just get a random brain teaser
If you become a registered user you can vote on this brain teaser, keep track of
which ones you have seen, and even make your own.
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Serali wrote:Yes why?
I thought Chinese was the king in making your brain explode while trying to learn it.
Well, Vietnamese essentially has all the difficulty of learning Chinese, with the added difficulty of the Vietnamese characters.
This is just my feeling, so I have no proof of it, but I have a feeling that average chu nom text has more strokes than even traditional chinese. Also, I think chu nom characters are more difficult to remember because of how most of them are simply more complicated than the average chinese character (ie, not only are there more strokes, but the composition is more complex). That, and chu nom is pretty much unregulated, so you can have your fun with variants etc.
Also, while I'm sure someone here is going to shoot me for saying this, but you pretty much need to know classical chinese to learn chu nom. Okay, okay, you don't really but... you'll have much more difficulty probably. From my understanding, chu nom isn't a writing system designed for writing vietnamese, but more like a warping of the chinese writing system to write vietnamese, and it was primarily used by scholars etc who all would have known classical chinese and in fact preferred it as their method of writing.
Also, imbecilica, do you know if there is a way to set it so that vietnamese text always uses a chu nom font? On my computer now it looks like this:
It is using what looks like Arial MS Unicode for the characters it supports (I have no clue why it is doing that, unless the text is set as "monospace", it shouldn't be), and borrowing from MingLiU-ExtB for the chu nom. But it looks funny when half of it is in a different font. Do you have the same problem?
(Btw, I'm on Linux, not windows, so I suppose some stuff might be different. You can pretty much ignore the fact that there are ?'s in my title bar. I'm using an archaic window manager to draw the titles, and there's no way it'll ever get support for chu nom some of the deeper depths of unicode. Maybe one day I'll change it.)


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Strategic planning initiative defines new brands, business plans, products
With nearly 80 years of history behind it, builder and developer Avatar Holdings Inc. is changing its name. The new company name is AV Homes, Inc. and its shares will begin trading on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol AVHI effective as of the market open on Feb. 16, 2012. AV Homes has main offices in Poinciana, Florida and Scottsdale. The Arizona communities include CantaMia, Serena at Palm Valley, The Preserve at Palm Valley in Goodyear, and Arboleda Ranch in Phoenix.
The new name was chosen to communicate an unmistakable business identity to its customers, while maintaining a linkage to the company's long and successful history. The new name, however, is just one part of a larger strategic planning initiative that was undertaken to position the company to participate in the much anticipated rebound in the homebuilding sector.
AV Homes has deep and diversified roots in American business. Founded in 1933, it endured the Great Depression and has operated in business sectors such as finance, insurance, utilities and manufacturing. More recently, the company established itself as a builder of active adult communities for people 55 and older, and by serving the housing needs of move-up buyers.
Chief Executive Officer Allen J. Anderson, who stepped into the role in June 2011, said the strategic planning initiative, conducted with assistance from real estate advisory firm RCLCO, has served to redefine the company's business plans. "As a company we have a strong understanding of the active adult market and how the last five years have affected the retirement plans of Baby Boomers," he said. "In addition, Boomers have never been more focused on the elements that contribute to a healthy and vital lifestyle. These are both factors that will help us define the homes and lifestyles we provide to this massive demographic segment of our population," he added.
Anderson said AV Homes will soon bring new active adult brands to the market, but did not elaborate about the specific elements of those brands. Late last year the company announced that it is reviewing its thousands of acres of land holdings in Central Florida with the objective of selling some of those holdings and deploying the capital from those sales to diversify the geographic footprint of the company.
Recently, the company rebranded its primary residential development operations under the Joseph Carl Homes™ name. That brand has ongoing operations in the Orlando and Phoenix areas. Joseph Carl Homes was founded by AV Homes Executive Vice President Carl Mulac. Mulac and his business associates sold the company to AV Homes in October of 2010. That sale also included CantaMia, a 55+ active adult community near Phoenix.
Anderson said the overall rebranding activity was an important part of the strategic plan, but added that the company was also implementing a new operational model to address the economic realities of the industry. "Builders today cannot compete successfully using the operating models of the past," he said. "We closed our corporate offices in Coral Gables, Florida and placed our teams and executive officers on the ground closer to our assets. We've right-sized our employee base to align with ongoing operations, and have initiated third-party agreements with experienced service providers who can better manage our lifestyle operations and enhance our customers' satisfaction," he said.
Finally, as part of AV Homes' strategic planning initiative, the company has reduced the size of its Board of Directors from nine members to six. Directors Milton Dresner, Beth Stewart and Ken Rosen resigned from their positions effective Feb. 13, 2012.
Avatar Chairman Joshua Nash said he was extremely appreciative of the considerable contributions these directors made on behalf of the company over so many years of dedicated service. "They served Avatar with dedication and high distinction for many years and together, they have contributed to our success and helped build a strong foundation for our future growth. We thank them for their unwavering commitment and wish each of them continued success in their future endeavors," Mr. Nash said.
Go to AVHomes.com for more information.


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Expect to Be Noticed: Beautiful, Luxurious NORMA ISHAK Scarves
Made from the most luxurious and beautiful materials, NORMA ISHAK scarves are more than just a fabulous way to keep warm this winter.
-April Daniels Hussar
When you choose to wear my creation, you should expect to be noticed. -Norma Ishak
Visit BettyConfidential Shop for a curated selection of some of our favorite NORMA ISHAK scarves — at 30% – 50% off while our sale lasts!
Made from the most luxurious and beautiful materials, NORMA ISHAK scarves are more than just a fabulous way to keep warm this winter. Each design is a true work of wearable art; an accessory that will make your outfit.
"I am fascinated by how a beautiful piece of neckwear could perfectly complete any look," Norma Ishak tells BettyConfidential, adding that her scarves are beautiful — but also functional. "Depending on how you wrap or twist your scarf, it will look different each time you wear it!" she says.
Pictured above: The Norma Classic, Zig Zag: Handmade from soft, luxurious new merino wool, this cozy Zig Zag Scarf introduces a bright pop of red and white into the dark winter wardrobe landscape. Wear this vintage yarn piece wrapped many times or long to best display the long, fuzzy tassels.
Norma says she has always had a keen sense of style and innate ability to match patterns and colors. Norma personally designs each piece in her collection, and she and her daughter Valerie hand-knit many of the pieces. Norma scours the world for materials that she deems perfect, sparing no expense. "Materials are the lifeblood of my designs," she says.
Norma's quest? Nothing less than "perfection in materials and craftsmanship," so she can produce "the finest unique scarves for customers who demand to be ensconced in absolute luxury."
ABOVE: The Super Soft Angora. Hand- knitted with the softest fibers available: superfine merino, French angora and silk. It has crochet silk panels and tassels at the ends, and it's long enough to wear in many different ways. Available in Creamy Beige, Cobalt and Bordeaux.
RIGHT: The Hauti. This handmade kid mohair and lace scarf is an exquisite accessory, made with Super Baby Kid Mohair, Silk and Cashmere yarn with Antique Metallic Lace. GORGEOUS.
We had an e-chat with Norma to find our more about the woman behind these super luxe must-haves….
BettyConfidential: What inspired you to launch your business?
Norma Ishak: I began my dream of designing as a young girl. With the encouragement of my teachers, I began to experiment with pattern making and my first construction of custom pieces at the age of 15. An enterprising youngster, I made a few pieces for friends and family. Soon, the fashionable women in my community began to notice my impeccable craftsmanship and taste, and decided that they, too, needed a piece from my designs.
As for the name Norma Ishak, it's my name and maiden name. The name is in honor of my parents who always had faith in me and instilled a self-belief in my own abilities, and that as a woman I am no lesser person.
Recent fashion editorials featuring NORMA ISHAK scarves
Who do you design for?
The perfect client for NORMA ISHAK scarves would be a woman who is sophisticated, unique, exclusive, beautiful, and exudes creativity. My knitwear can be worn in several ways to enhance the client's wardrobe for any occasion. With diverse collections blending influences from French haute couture, American pizzazz and Middle Eastern styles, you'll always find something special to complete your ensemble in style. When you choose to wear my creation, you should expect to be noticed.
Tell us about your gorgeous materials! Where do you find them? …


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UPDATE: We Speak To Ralph & Russo About Dressing Beyonce Knowles For Mrs Carter World Tour
It's been a busy day full of Beyonce news - not that we're complaining. For starters, the singer's campaign for H&M was unveiled, which sees her sizzling away in the heat and showcasing her delectable derriere in the brand's swimwear line. And tonight, the divalicious one has hit the stage in Belgrade, Serbia to kick the Mrs Carter Show World Tour into action.
So what's Bey wearing for her opening show? None other than European Couture house, Ralph & Russo. We've been reliably informed that the brand's Creative Director, Tamara Ralph, was personally requested by Beyonce to design the creation exclusively for her - and funnily enough, Tamara didn't refuse. The stunning white embellished crystal and pearl bodysuit features a peplum skirt and fringed epaulettes. It's the perfect opening outfit, dontcha think?
UPDATE: So how did the brand feel to see Beyonce bringing their creation to life? We spoke to Tamara Ralph this morning. 'Beyonce is such a powerful and inspirational woman,' she told us. 'We were absolutely thrilled when she approached Ralph & Russo Couture again to design outfits for her infamous 'Mrs Carter World Tour'. Her energetic and powerful performances make designing for her so inspiring!' Here, here.
But this isn't the only piece in Ms Knowles's tour wardrobe - oh no. Peter Dundas, Creative Director at Emilio Pucci, has created four looks for the singing superstar inspired by his Autumn Winter 2013 collection. Dean and Dan Caten from DSquared2 have also created exclusive pieces that are full-on 'Glamazon'.
As for the footwear, Tina Knowles - Beyonce's stylist and mother - worked with Stuart Weitzman to create a variety of shoes to complement the costumes, ranging from stiletto heels with Swarovski crystal detailing to lace military-influenced boots. We can't wait to see those!


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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/11/2013 (1369 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Every once in a while, it's a good idea to get lost someplace. At least that's what I told myself as I wandered around the Xcaret Park in Mexico's Mayan Riviera, trying in vain to find my way back to the lockers where I had foolishly left the park map along with my camera bag. After more than an hour of wandering, I was beginning to realize just how big Xcaret Park really is and just how useful a park map might have been.
Xcaret (pronounced Sh-ka-ret) is an eco-archaeological park located in the Riviera Maya region of Mexico, not far from Cancun. Built on an 81-hectare ancient Mayan archaeological site, the park has attractions designed to showcase the ecological and cultural diversity of Mexico, as well as entertain visitors.
Key daytime activities include swimming in underground rivers, touring a butterfly pavilion, enjoying a coral reef aquarium, exploring archaeological ruins and swimming with dolphins. In the evening, more than 300 performers appear in several spectacular live shows showcasing Mayan traditions and Mexican culture.
I began my exploration of Xcaret with a swim in one of the underground rivers -- that is how I was separated from the park map I acquired at the entrance gate. The park has three underground rivers. Visitors can swim or snorkel along them to experience the extensive underground cave system found in many areas of the Yucatan peninsula.
Near the mouth of the rivers, I picked up a life vest and a bag to stow my personal belongings. But when the staff saw my camera bag, they advised me to take my cheap point-and-click with me and leave the good camera equipment safely in a locker.
Finding the lockers the first time was a bit of a challenge, but it seemed practically impossible the second time around. There were some upsides to my situation, though. As I let my poor directional instincts guide me, I began discovering areas of the park that I would have missed otherwise.
One of the best surprises of the unexpected tour was stumbling across a group of people participating in a Mayan Temazcal purification ceremony in a remote corner of the park. Believed to balance the mind, body and spirit, the ritual involves a gathering around a ceremonial fire, followed by a sweat lodge where steam and heat cleanses the body and soul.
In another corner of the park, I explored a Mayan cemetery and then visited the real Mayan ruins many visitors miss. At the butterfly pavilion, I watched as workers sorted through a variety of native chrysalises, then wandered through the atrium watching the colourful native butterflies.
After a wander past Jaguar Island and the Manatee Lagoon, I was finally able to locate the locker area. It goes to show that if you go down every wrong road, you will eventually find the right one. It may not be the best way to get somewhere, but it is the best way to really discover a place.
Unlimited Xcaret Xperience: The Occidental Grand Xcaret Resort is a family-friendly, all-inclusive resort adjacent to Xcaret Park. For the first time, the resort is offering guests staying for three nights or more unprecedented access to Xcaret Park. Highlights of the Unlimited Xcaret Xperience package include all-day unlimited access to Xcaret Park, a private guided tour, reserved seating during the evening Xcaret Mexico Espectacular show, free access to the kids' Xcaret Explorer for a day activity, discounted meals and beverages, and a credit that can be used at the resort and in the park.If you go:
One-day admission to Xcaret Park costs $89 per person when purchased at the park gates. You can save 10 per cent on gate admission by purchasing tickets at least seven days in advance on the park's website (xcaret.com)
The Unlimited Xcaret Xperience package at the Occidental Grand Xcaret Resort varies in price depending upon the travel dates and is available from the hotel's website (occidentalhotels.com), through tour operators such as WestJet Vacations or Transat Holidays and at the hotel upon arrival.
-- Postmedia Network Inc. 2013


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Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate - Out Now!
Join the ultimate hunt on Nintendo Wii U, 3DS - or both! - with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate offers a truly intuitive monster hunting experience with a massive world to explore. There are over 200 quests across different locations, each offering their own environments to explore and terrifying monsters to defeat.
But why hunt alone? Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate lets you form a hunting party with your friends for four-player fun. Play together online on Wii U, locally on 3DS, and even play together locally on Wii U and 3DS! Plus you can share your monster hunting data across both the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game to continue your hunt wherever you are!
Hunt at home. Hunt on the go. Hunt alone. Hunt with friends. Order Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate today!


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12 in. x 12 in. Luxury Vinyl
Flooring Type
Product Number
Performance Class
Flooring Costs
Residential Warranty: Lifetime Limited
Light Commercial Warranty : 5 years
Limestone Enriched Luxury Tile
Wear Layer
Urethane No-Wax
Gloss Level
Low Gloss
16 in. x 16 in.
12 in. x 12 in. (Shown)
12 in. x 12 in. (Shown)
12 in.
Sq. Foot per Carton
DIY Level
Installation Method
Full spread
Download Installation Guide Professional InstallationDIY Installation
No matter what flooring type you choose, we recommend you consult your retailer to locate an experienced professional installer. Professional installers have the experience needed to help ensure your floor is installed properly.
Visit the DIY Luxury Vinyl Flooring Installation section of the site to explore installation information and options for this and other Armstrong products
How to Install Luxury Vinyl Floors
How to Install Luxury Vinyl Floors
Trim and Moldings
Trim and Moldings OverviewTrim and Moldings for - Multistone - Cream
Matching trim is available for a wide variety of resilient floor styles and will provide a finishing touch to your flooring installation.
Multi-Purpose Trim
Transitions to varying levels. Can be used as T-molding or surface reducer.
Stairnose Trim
Finishes the edges of stairs, step downs, or landings.
Customer Reviews
Rated 3.9 out of 5 by 18 reviewers.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Shryng Took my breath away We recently had multistone slate blue installed in our kitchen, dining, foyer and hall. It replaced a basic hardwood floor that we didn't like and which was looking shabby with wear and tear (dogs and chairs). When I walked into a flooring store and saw a sample of the slate blue multistone I fell in love. It's so much more beautiful in person. I have yet to see a picture that does it justice. Our flooring was professionally installed and grouted in mushroom color. We were out of town when they finished the job. I walked in and it took my breath away. My husband and I are so happy. It looks amazing with our white cabinets and appliances.i keep trying to take pictures to send to friends but the photos don't capture the blue grey color. I love the feel of it on my feet too. Other reviews are right...it's warm and has a nice textured finish that isn't slippery. It cleans up easily too, but the color and pattern kindly hides a little bit of mess too. Install wasn't cheap but I have already forgotten! Love it! January 19, 2016
Rated 1 out of 5 by Jo44 Not durable Very disappointed in durability. We've had this floor for less than 3 years and there are many dents, scratches, and a few spots where the top layer has peeled off. We previously had sheet linoleum and had no problems, but decided on tile to eliminate seams. This is warmer than ceramic and color is great but was hoping it would last a lot longer than 3 years. January 18, 2016
Rated 5 out of 5 by shadeytoo Beautiful floor. Had it installed in herringbone pattern. We have only had the floor for a month. We had it installed in a full bathroon and foyer. The areas have been updated and enhanced beautifully. December 16, 2015
Rated 2 out of 5 by Zuli Looks good. Does not feel cold and is easier to stand on then tile. I really like the way it looks but----keeping it looking clean is another story. Dirt seems to get into any little wave or grove on surface. No matter how many times you wash etc. Finally had to hire someone and we got down on hands and knees and scrubbed with brush and a mr. clean sponge till it looked presentable. Then I put wax on the floor to seal it. It helped a lot. The product is just too porous. And no help from Armstrong!!!!! June 1, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by Gene Ceramic tile look without the hassle Floor looks awesome. easy to install. The glue took longer to set up than expected, but once a section was ready, we flw through the installation. Will be ordering more for the next project. No rating on durability since it has only been 2 weeks. so far so good April 21, 2015
Rated 3 out of 5 by Sylvia55 Not very durable, our old lino was better than this We had this product installed two months ago, in our kitchen, back entrance, laundry room and two good size bathrooms, however, we already have damages in four places. And, we haven't even had the kids or grandchildren in yet, to show off our new flooring. We can't imagine what this floor will look like in a few years. January 7, 2015
Rated 3 out of 5 by Nothappynotsad Did not know is was made this way. The top sheet is glued to the base(don't know what the base is made out of) I cracked a piece in half and I could peel the top off. I wish I was told this was how it was made before I purchased it. In the care section it says do not use a lot of water. Could this be why? I only rated the tile in appearance. Having now known how it is made I would not have purchase it. December 14, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Dave This floor does not feel cold on our feet! We love how this floor looks like grouted ceramic tile but does not feel cold on our feet! It's a great product. September 3, 2014
Rated 3.9 out of 5 by 18 reviewers.
Rated 1 out of 5 by Elpab Difficult to keep clean; dents easily. I wouldn't choose this again. We agree completely with the following post as we have had the exact same experience after installing it in out kitchen and dinette. "All of the little indentations in each tile make this difficult to keep clean. .... other sites have a number of negative comments regarding the difficulty cleaning. As others say, I have to scrub with a bristle brush to get dirt out of the texture of this tile. Very disappointed." To which we add -- very very very disappointed!!!!!. August 11, 2014
Rated 2 out of 5 by Ventura Difficult to keep clean; dents easily. I wouldn't choose this again. All of the little indentations in each tile make this difficult to keep clean. It's interesting that the other reviews posted here are positive. But reviews on other sites have a number of negative comments regarding the difficulty cleaning. As others say, I have to scrub with a bristle brush to get dirt out of the texture of this tile. Very disappointed. July 25, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Valerie Love my new bathroom floors! I really wanted the ceramic tile look, but didn't like the cold feel of ceramic, nor do I like the gritty feel of the grout on my feet. I choose Armstrong's Luxury vinyl for all 3 of my bathrooms, and it is so impressive! My friends think it's real tile, and it looks so clean and fresh - not to mention easy to clean. The grout that is used is also smooth and not at all like sandy ceramic tile grout. I am a do-it-yourselfer but I choose not to install this myself because of the of the multiple bathrooms. After watching the installer prep and place the tiles, I'm glad I had someone do this for me. It was a very lengthy process, but well worth the money! Love my floors! April 1, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Saab Love our new floor! Wanted a new floor for our kitchen/dining room area, but there are so many choices out there, we were unsure exactly what we wanted. Went to our local flooring store where Armstrong is sold. The salesman was very knowledgeable and listened to exactly what I was looking for in a floor...attractiveness, durability and ease of care. My husband and I are in our sixties and the days of me on my knees scrubbing and waxing a floor, are over. In addition, my husband is now blind, so spills and drops are regular. All of these were concerns to us in putting down a new floor. He led us to the Alterna line of luxury vinyl with Armstrong. I also did much research and then came to the same conclusion. The multi-stone carmel gold color of the Alterna luxury vinyl line was installed today and I love it! It is beautiful! The color blends well with our wall coloring and kitchen cabinets and dining room table, which are honey oak. I believe this flooring would match many different decors. We chose mocha colored cold base (believe it's called) which goes very well with the flooring. Brings out the beige and gray in it. We feel we made an excellent choice and will have many years of happiness with our new flooring. The vinyl resists denting, which hardwood does not, resists stains, if not let go, where other types of flooring do not, and does not absorb water spills, where hardwood will warp. The luxury vinyl is just as beautiful as hardwood and stone without the pitfalls and with the ease and durability. It's beautiful and we love it! March 17, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Mar76 love this flooring We had the Armstrong Alterna flooring installed in our kitchen. I love the feel & look of it! It is so easy to maintain. The floor is so much warmer with this flooring down! We are going to remodel our bathrooms and are definitely going to be putting this Armstrong Alterna in. December 26, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Mrs. B. This floor checks all the boxes! I wanted the look of modern day ceramic, but not the cold, hard tiles that hurt my back when I stand on them for some time. This floor looks amazing, cleans up easily with Once'n Done, and was installed with minimal effort. I would not hesitate to use this product again. In fact, I intend to install it on the rest of my floors. October 4, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Ed45152 Looks great The tiles installed easily and look great. No experience with how they wear or clean yet. January 20, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Librarian Sue The easiest floor I have ever had to clean. What a gorgeous floor to have in my home. I love the look the Armstrong Alterna brings to my kitchen. I would definitely recommend this floor to anyone, and I would have this floor installed again. The only thing I would do differently would be to check out more of the colors. The selection is awesome. December 17, 2011
Rated 4 out of 5 by MJ41 When you want the look of grouted tile, but ceramic is not an option, this is the product you want. We have an older home and ceramic was not an option due to an uneven floor. Alterna grouted vinyl tiles were the solution we were looking for. They look like ceramic, but are softer under foot and more forgiving during installation. The end result was a beautiful tile floor that helped to modernize our kitchen and front entrance. We chose a white tile, the clean up of adhesive and grout took a fair bit of elbow grease over several washings. The floor is now easy to vacuum/sweep and washes up nicely. Ask your installer to keep the grout level with tiles, as low spots can leave your corners and edges exposed. Have had our floor for 6 months now and love the look. Seems like it should be durable for years to come ! September 14, 2011
Rated 5 out of 5 by skydoyle We made the perfect decision My wife can't stop talking about how much she loves our new Armstrong Alterna D4121 floor we installed in our kitchen. We had to match it against one room having hard wood floor and another having mexican tile. The colors of this floor match perfectly with the other 2 rooms as well as all the colors we have in the kitchen. We looked long and hard at all flooring including tiles and wood and we feel this choice has the best possible durability and longevity. I also would like to mention that the support personnel at Armstrong were exceptional with answering all our questions with the perfect detail and in a timely manner! This project experience has been one of the most gratifying experiences we've ever had. Thank You September 13, 2011


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International Grains Program Hosts IAOM-KSU Introduction to Flour Milling Course
Date Posted: January 29, 2013
Manhattan, KS—The fifth annual IAOM-KSU Introduction to Flour Milling was held at the International Grains Program Conference Center at Kansas State University from Jan. 14-18, 2013.
Co-sponsored by the International Association of Operative Millers, 20 participants from the U.S. attended the annual course.
Course participants heard presentations from industry professionals, experienced hands-on workshops and had a high level of interaction with each other and the instructors.
Mark Fowler, IGP associate director and milling specialist, Dan Wells, milling engineer and adjunct faculty from Salina, Kan., and Shawn Thiele, milling operations manager, led the course.
This training attracted a broad range of individuals to the program, says Mark Fowler, IGP associate director and milling specialist.
It brought individuals who are new to the industry as well as several human resources managers who wanted to learn the basics of the milling process.
A business unit leader and continuous improvement manager for Modelez International in Canada, Joe Vandenberg, appreciated the opportunity to break down the milling process in order to catch up to the knowledge of his peers.
"Since it is my first year with the company I have a lot to learn about the milling industry and K-State has a great reputation," Vandenberg says.
"It was a great opportunity to learn more and improve my technical understanding for milling."
As a client human resources manager, Michelle Anderson of Horizon Milling says that in order to be an effective business partner she needs to understand the business she is representing.
"I need to understand what happens in the mill so that I can provide my expertise as an HR manager, and understand the business and how that translates to the customers," Anderson says.
Several participants highly recommended this course for individuals who are entering the milling industry who want to dive-in and learn about milling firsthand.
This is just one example of the many partnership trainings offered through IGP.
In addition to flour milling and grain pro¬cessing, IGP offers trainings in the areas of, grain marketing and risk management and feed manufacturing and grain management.
To learn more about opportunities with IGP visit our website at www.grains.ksu.edu/igp.
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MIDDLEBURG, Fla. - Customers flocked to the "Pet Shots Affordable Pet Clinic" on Saturday in Middleburg, despite the proposed Clay County ordinance that would limit mobile businesses in the county.
The proposed ordinance says it would limit businesses like the mobile pet clinic, which is significantly less expensive than a traditional visit to the veterinarian. The ordinance would limit the amount of hours a business could operate to only four hours a day, four days a year.
Traditional veterinarian offices argue mobile business are unfair competition because they do not have to pay property taxes like the brick and mortar clinics.
Customer Randall Houston waited in line to have his dogs treated, because he is afraid the ordinance will be passed.
"I'm not happy with that," said Houston. "That's why we definitely came today this might be our last chance to get this done."
Houston said he believes the mobile clinic is the only way he can afford to keep his dogs Caleesee and Rouge healthy.
"We probably wouldn't have the dogs, the overhead you pay at the vet's, I mean they charge you just for walking in," said Houston. "It's very expensive."
Some first time clients, like Alexa Curyk, said they see the value and convenience of the mobile clinics.
"She needs her shots, and I can get them done by a licensed veterinarian at a discount so it helps with the budget," said Curyk.
Pet Shots owner David Watkins said continuing to operate with the proposed ordinance on the table has been challenging, but it hasn't stopped him from doing the work he feels is necessary.
"It's upsetting to us because I do feel the animals won't be serviced if we are not here," said Watkins. "Many of the customers are on fixed incomes, some are unemployed, so where else would they go?"
The issue is still up for debate until the Clay County Commission votes on the ordinance on Feb. 12.
Copyright 2013 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Strings Performance Class 5 (STRG3018)
Performers require frequent exposure to performance opportunity. Strings Performance Class offers the opportunity for students to perform work in progress and receive qualified feedback from lecturers and guests specially invited to the class. The class aims to create a focused and supportive environment in which students can take performance risks. In response to performances the class is invited to discuss technical and musical observations relevant to string playing. All students enrolling in Strings Performance Class must be concurrently enrolled in Principal Study in a string instrument.
Our courses that offer this unit of study
Further unit of study information
One 2hr class/wk
Recording Portfolio (100%)
Faculty/department permission required?
Unit of study rules
Additional Information
Students enrolled in Principal Study (Extended) units may not concurrently enrol in unit specific performance classes.
Study this unit outside a degree
Non-award/non-degree study
If you wish to undertake one or more units of study (subjects) for your own interest but not towards a degree, you may enrol in single units as a non-award student.
Cross-institutional study
If you are from another Australian tertiary institution you may be permitted to underake cross-institutional study in one or more units of study at the University of Sydney.


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The 2013 National Environmental Justice Conference and Training will be held from April 3 to April 5, 2013 in Washington DC. For the training portion of the conference, participants will meet at the historic Howard University's Law School on April 3. On the following day, the conference will be held at the Washington Marriott at Metro Center from April 4 to 5, 2013.
During the conference, participants will have the opportunity to learn how to collaborate with different organizations in order to effectively address the issue of climate change. Leaders from across the nation plan to come together for this 3 day event to share and discuss ways to better our world.
As you prepare your visit to Washington DC for this crucial conference, please consider our bed and breakfast for your lodging needs. We are conveniently located within public transportation to and from the Howard University Law School or the Washington Marriott at Metro Center. Below you will find two maps with details about getting to each location. Once you arrive, we will be more than happy to help plan your route.
We look forward to serving as your Washington DC lodging needs.
Bernardo, Innkeeper
American Guest House in Washington DC
View Directions to Howard University in a larger map
View Directions to Washington Marriott at Metro Center in a larger map


text: From the 1878 History of Livingston County, IL "A. F. FISHER, capitalist, Pontiac; was born near the City of Berlin, Prussia Oct. 4, 1838; He came to the United States in 1855, and spent three years with an older brother in Chicago, where he learned the trade of a carriage maker, and then was employed by his brother in the lumber business until he came to Pontiac, in 1858 ; he entered the employ of Wm. Ellis, in the lumber business, and continued with him until 1862, when he enlisted in the 129th I. V. I., Co. G, and serving until 1865, when he was mustered out with his regiment; he served in the Army of the Cumberland, and was with Sherman from Chattanooga to Atlanta ; he took part in most of the battles in the Atlanta campaign, and after ward served in the famous march through the Carolinas. On his return from the war, he engaged in the lumber business for himself, and did a successful business for over twelve years, building up a trade second to none in the State, outside of Chicago ; during the last three years of his business, he sold about four million feet of lumber annually ; in Aug., 1877, he sold his business to Mitchell & Keck, and is now engaged in looking after his investments, loaning money, etc. ; he has always been an enterprising business man, and a public-spirited citizen, and in recognition of his merits, he was elected Mayor of the city in 1877 ; he has also served three terms as a member of the Board of Aldermen.


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It's been a while since I've been around, and having a snoop around there's still a lot of familiar names, there's a whole bunch of new ones... What's been happing over the last few years?
Hi Shayne.
Well, there are lots of competitions on these days, and @HAWK installed this "mention" thingy that you can use to alert people when they've been mentioned ... and the forums have a new design ... and there's a new logo today ... and HAWK is also running lots of "Talk with the Experts" live sessions. That's some of what's been happening.
Hi Shayne, welcome back I hope this won't be a one time visit?
Ralph summed it up quite nicely. A part of the forums have been re-arranged as well. And let's not forget Sarah's social media activities.
Yo Shanye! Good to see you round. You can find out what's been going on by reading the word on the street. Great idea, those community blog posts
See it was all for my own selfish purposes
I'm hoping not, always missed the people here.
Did you just double mention HAWK?
Cited twice, "mentioned" once.
They do it to make me feel important.
With so many baby birds creeching in the nest, you've got to use every trick in the book to get noticed. :lol:


text: When your sweet boy is ready to ditch the crib and move into a big-boy-themed room, swapping out the lighting is an easy way to make the transformation. Go dramatic with a large pendant light that becomes the center of attention, or add a pop of sophistication with a table lamp that your growing tot can be in charge of turning on and off. And all these lights offer just the right amount of glow to illuminate the exciting things your growing boy will discover while playing in his new big-boy room. Click through to find the perfect new light for your sweet boy!


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This morning we reported the perplexion in Downing Street around some of Steve Hilton's more extreme ideas. Five of the following suggestions were made by Hilton, the PM's head of strategy; five were not. Can you guess which are which? For the answer here's our original story.
1] Abolish all maternity leave Read more


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BCBG Max Azria Spring 2012
If there ever were a question as to how many ways one can render a wispy chiffon dress, it was answered this morning at BCBG Max Azria: 30. The brand kicked off New York Fashion Week with a parade of floaty, color-blocked frocks that, despite being feminine, carried a strong, urban vibe. They came with one sleeve, two sleeves, no sleeves, slits at the side, a slit at the back, embroidery down the front and along the hem, and accordion pleats on either one hip or both. Altogether it made for a seamless, stripped down presentation of a staple silhouette.
This collection was also saturated in colors—oranges, teals, and yellows—that were cut into clean shapes tacked together into geometric patterns. A variety of strap treatments, cut-outs, and asymmetric hems toughened up the soft fabric and the panels of ethnic embroidery, even if they didn't seem to have deep aboriginal roots, and lent the pieces texture, as did the matching woven stiletto sandals.
But a particular standout was not a dress at all. It was the gray, yellow, and green chiffon windbreaker—a pretty second act for fall's utility trend.


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On our journey from Cincinnati to Columbus to Cleveland for the joint ULI/GOPC/LOCUS event series, "Advancing Ohio's Urban Agenda: Walkable Communities for Globally Competitive Cities," trends amongst the three cities became apparent as participants engaged in the dialogue about addressing the market demand for walkable development in Ohio. We were able to capture some of these trends in both text and film (yes, videos are coming!) form and would like to share some of the key highlights with you.
Highlights from the Events:
- Millennials (aka Generation Y) are shifting market demand and cities in Ohio must meet that demand for walkable, urban development in order to remain globally competitive.
- As more walkable development (approximately 100-500 meters in diameter of mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly development) is added to areas, their property values increase and the local market improves.
- Transportation drives development. If developers build quality products in the right locations with access to urban-friendly transportation systems, they will get a price premium. Seventy percent of ballots across the nation to increase sales tax to fund public transportation have passed.


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Gibson exhaust
Reviewed By Nicholas D (PINEHILL, NJ) Reviewed for a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee —9/25/2016 7:48 AM
Love it . nice growl, great performance. But not obnoxiously loud .perfect for my 4.7 Jeep grand Cherokee.
Reviewed By Carlos A (PARAMOUNT, CA) Reviewed for a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee —6/16/2014 8:44 PM
Man what can i say im really happy with the Metal Mulisha exhaust tip. I put i flowmaster and the tip on my 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.7 and i said omg it sounds bad ass lol i would really recommend the exhaust tip from Metal Mulisha and the flowmaster.


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The Crawdaddys, with The Amandas, Baja Bugs and Switched on Audrey
When: 9:15 p.m. Friday. Sept. 2
Where: The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown.
Tickets: $17.50 advance; $20 at the door.
Phone: (619) 232-4335
Online: casbahmusic.com
San Diego music history wouldn't be the same without The Crawdaddys, a band cited as an influence by both R.E.M. and Southern Culture on the Skids. Formed in 1978, this Point Loma-bred group counts Dan "Country Dick Montana" McLain, A.J. Croce, Mojo Nixon and Hector Penalosa among its many former members.
Inspired by the early Beatles, Rolling Stones and Pretty Things (and even more by the pioneering American R&B artists who influenced those British acts), The Crawdaddys so inspired Mike Stax that he moved here in 1980 from England to join the band. The fact that he had never played bass before moving here was a technicality for someone so enthusiastic about joining the band that they moved to a new (to them) country.
Reunion gigs by The Crawdaddys seem to be once-a-decade-or-so affairs, so Friday's show should be packed. It begins The Casbah's two-night "Che Underground" series, which celebrates San Diego's underground rock scene of the 1980s. The Unknowns, a leading San Diego band in the late 1970s and early 1980s, headline Saturday's Casbah gig.Copyright © 2017, The San Diego Union-Tribune


text: NEW YORK ( The Deal) - Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA Inc. and MetroPCS Communications Inc. said they are set to close the merger of their cell operations pending shareholder approval, setting the stage for the final showdown between MetroPCS ( PCS) and P. Schoenfeld Asset Management LP over the merits of the deal. Shares of MetroPCS gained 0.3% to $10.51 in morning trading to extend its 2013 advance to 5.7%. Deutsche Telekom traded in Germany rose 0.2% to 8.52 euros. MetroPCS said the last regulatory hurdle, approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, was in hand Wednesday, March 20. The Federal Communications Commission cleared the deal earlier this month. PSAM, which holds about 2.5% of MetroPCS, has been conducting a solicitation against the combination of T-Mobile into MetroPCS on the belief that the deal unfairly values MetroPCS and the company would be better off following a standalone path. The MetroPCS shareholder vote on the transaction is April 12. The deal offers MetroPCS shareholders $4.08 in cash and half of a share of the combined company. In proxy materials, MetroPCS has said the value per share should equate to between about $16.50 and $18.80 per share. MetroPCS shares currently trade for $10.57 at a discount of about 55% to that value projection. Both parties have actively courted shareholders this week; PSAM filed its white paper explaining its position against the deal and MetroPCS has filed its shareholder presentation. On Thursday, PSAM followed up with a litany of questions that it believes MetroPCS should further address before shareholders are asked to weigh in on the reorganization. PSAM asks MetroPCS to explain why its share price has declined 23% since the deal announcement in October when the market has been up and why insiders have been sellers of MetroPCS shares. The hedge fund said that while the deal value was ramped down for MetroPCS shareholders during negotiations because MetroPCS's performance was weak, it has not been adjusted upward when MetroPCS performed better. PSAM also raises questions about why a $1.5 billion of future spectrum purchases is deducted from its relative value in the combination. And the fund questions the cost of a $15 billion intra-company loan to Deutsche Telekom, which will hold 74% of the combined U.S. cellphone operations. PSAM's complaints about the deal or the disclosure explaining its rationale include numerous other questions.


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Dog-friendly Westdean, 2 Dogs & 1 Beds
In the delightful Friston Forest village of Westdean, these carefully converted Grade II listed barns with exposed beams date back to 1597 and are double award winning (award for excellent conversion of a 16thC listed ox barn). Now a Christmas tree and apple juice farm it was once owned by Alfred the Great.
- 1


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The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is one of the biggest events the City has to offer. On November 24, 2016, the 90th annual parade will start at Central Park West and West 77th Street, head down Central Park West and travel east along Central Park South to Sixth Avenue. From there the procession will move south on Sixth Avenue from West 59th Street to West 34th Street, ending in front of the Macy's flagship store in Herald Square. (Visit macys.com for official information.)
At the following hotels, you can get an up-close view of this year's action. If you want to be among the crowds braving the cold (with a hot beverage, of course) but don't want to wake up early or navigate holiday-morning transportation, stay at one of these nearby hotels and let the parade come to you. If you'd rather enjoy a bird's-eye view of the whole shebang (not to mention cozy and warm surroundings in which to watch), ask for a room facing the parade—preferably not too high up, unless you pack binoculars. But whether you're in your pajamas or on the streets, these hotels will certainly make this year's parade one to remember—and be thankful for.
These hotels are directly along the parade route, with each offering different room categories and parade-viewing options. Click the links below to explore which Thanksgiving package is best for you:
1 Hotel Central Park
Courtyard by Marriott New York Manhattan/Herald Square
JW Marriott Essex House New York
Mandarin Oriental, New York
New York Hilton Midtown
Residence Inn Times Square
The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park
Trump International Hotel and Tower
Warwick New York Hotel
Beyond the parade route, there are many hotels around the City that offer great amenities. Make the most of your Thanksgiving stay by visiting our Hotels page.


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As we did 100 years ago, Lux Products continues to innovate and adapt to the changing needs of home.
Lux Products can be purchased through a national network of retail partners. Click here for easy links for purchase.
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WiFi Connected Thermostats
Replacing your homes' thermostat is one of the most affordable and simple ways to start cutting back on the high cost of heating and cooling your home.


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PONTIAC, Mich. - A Pontiac man who has dedicated his life to giving back, running a warming shelter and feeding the hungry entirely out of his own pocket, is now reaching out to the public after the trailer he uses to pick up donated food was stolen.
Dave Coleman, a retired GM worker, is always on the move in his Chevy Suburban, picking up donated food and other items for the charity he runs out of his rental hall on Perry Street in Pontiac.
The charity, QTMC, short for Quest To Make a Change, primarily helps the homeless. Over nearly two decades, Coleman has accomplished that goal.
"Our Bible commands us to help the poor, the homeless, the needy and thou shall be blessed," Coleman said.
Coleman noticed the 16-foot trailer wasn't in the parking lot Wednesday night
"It made me angry, but at the same time, my Christian background lets me know I should pray for this person," said Coleman, who supports his charity using his retirement.
He says he can't do the work he was called to do without his trailer, and hopes the person who stole it will return it.
"Everyone knows who we are, so whoever took this trailer -- I feel like it is someone who doesn't know what we do," Coleman said. "Anybody who has a heart that knows what we do wouldn't have done this."
Copyright 2014 by ClickOnDetroit.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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6.7 acres in El Paso County, Texas
This is 13.48 acres of unimproved land. The property is 2 lots being sold together 17164 & 17196 Adeline. The property is located in the Hueco Mountain Estate Subdivision with a view of the State Park. The East side of El Paso is growing with new stores and entertainment only 30 minutes away, this is a steal under $4000 per acre!!
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Heather Chavez
Your Real Estate Experience
2077 N. Zaragosa, Suite 203
El Paso, TX 79938
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NOTE: The information contained herein is provided as general information only and has been obtained from sources deemed reliable. It is provided without any guaranty, warranty or representation, expressed or implied, made by Lands of America, or any related entity, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information. The information is presented subject to errors, omissions, change of price or conditions, prior sale or withdrawal without notice. Prospective purchasers should make their own investigations, projections and conclusions concerning the information.


text: OverviewBack to top Plantlife Natural Body Care - Soft Cotton Ramie Bathing Scrubby Octopus Item# :115591UPC# :BEKO Brand:Plantlife Natural Body Care Plantlife Natural Body Care Soft Cotton Ramie Bathing Scrubby - Octopus Plantlife's Soft Cotton Ramie Bathin Scrubbies are kid tested and parent approved. Plantlife's Soft Cottom Ramie Bathing Scrubbies make bath time fun for everyone! Plantlife's handcrafted cotton and hemp Bathing Scrubby has natural ramie on its tummy for a gentle wash. Plantlife's Soft Cotton Ramie Bathing Scrubbies are soft, naturally dyed creatures. Plantlife's Soft Cotton Ramie Bathing Scrubbies have no removable parts. Plantlife had their Soft Cotton Ramie Bathing Scrubbies hand sewn with a big smile to be super cute for any age! Plantlife's washable Soft Cotton Ramie Bathing Scrubbers hang to insure no bacteria buildup. For a purely natural bathing experience, use Plantlife's Soft Cotton Ramie Bathing Scrubbies with Plantlife's SLS Free Body Wash or Aromatherapy Herbal Bar Soap. Bathing EssentialsEnjoy natural accessories, the perfect compliment for your bathing experience! Plantlife's hand made sustainable and eco-friendly hemp scrubbers are made from all wild crafted materials. Plantlife chose these materials because of their quality and effectiveness. Natural solutions for everyday needs...must haves for any bathroom! Plantlife's kid tested and parent approved soft, cotton and hemp bathing scrubby has natural ramie on its tummy for a gentle wash. These soft, naturally dyed creatures have no removable parts. Plantlife had them hand sewn with a big smile to be super cute, for any age! Why Buy Plantlife Products?A wise proverb says to "Choose life that you may live!" At Plantlife, they adhere to that principle in everything they do. Plantlife's mission is to create the highest quality products that enhance one's life, using only ingredients straight from Nature. All of Plantlife's products are derived from the life giving properties of Plants (thus the name "Plantlife"). Plantlife believes that what Nature has provided can not be equaled or duplicated by man made synthetic counterparts. Plantlife takes special care to select only the purest, freshest, highest quality organic ingredients to make theur aroma therapeutic creations. Plantlife also does their part to make the best choices for the environment. Plantlife Did You Know Plantlife has been manufacturing natural body care products since 1994. Plantlife's products are manufactured in the United States, by them. Plantlife is a pure botanical line and uses only natural ingredients derived from plants, including organic herbs and 100% pure essential oils. No preservatives, carcinogens, synthetics or chemicals are used in any of the product lines. Plantlife is a vegan manufacturer. Plantlife is well respected for quality products that do what they say. Consumers love Plantlife's products and keep on buying them. Plantlife's products are formulated to provide an Aromatherapy and Therapeutic benefit, always with the customer's health and wellness in mind. Plantlife's Aromatherapy Herbal Soap is widely used by people who have skin disorders, a low tolerance to chemicals (such as fragrance oils), who have allergies and/or are suffering from illnesses. Plantlife's soaps are gentle, healing and non-irritating. Plantlife cares about people and planet and partners with various organizations to promote wellness, education and support. Plantlife takes great pride in producing high quality, "good for the body" products while keeping their prices low. About Plantlife Natural Body CarePlantlife Natural Body Care products are the perfect blend of science and nature, using "old world" formulas combined with the timeless sciences of herbology and aromatherapy. Plantlife's mission is to consistently create all-natural body care products that are good for you, using the purest ingredients such as fresh herbs and 100% pure essential oils. Each of Plantlife's therapeutic blends and aromatherapy creations is prepared with the intent of enriching lives as well as the environment.