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New mobile suits have something for everyone...
For a great selection of action figures and collectibles, check out BigBadToyStore.com, ToyDorks.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, SmallJoes.com, PastGenerationToys.com, Urban-Collector.com, MonkeyDepot.com, HobbyLinkJapan.com, and Sekaido.com.
To insure your action figure collection, get in touch with our sponsor Collectibles Insurance.
Continuing our look at Bandais incredible Robot Spirits is a return to one of the most popular anime franchises ever, Gundam. Bandai is no stranger to these giant robots, producing toys and models of them for years in different scales, materials, and price points. They naturally hold many spots in the Robot Spirits lineup as well, where they really shine in the 5 inch scale at about $25 - $35 at fine importers.
Today well be looking at four recent releases that show off the range of different robot styles in the Gundam figures: #076 OO Qan[T], #078 RX-78-2 Gundam, #079 Sinanju, and #085 Destiny Gundam.
All Robot Spirits figures come in similar packaging, which any giant robot collector should be familiar with by now. A wide window box holds the figure and its many accessories, with a broad stripe to the left of the figure that proclaims the series. Above and below the window is the robots name along with a beauty shot of the figure.
The back of the Robot Spirits box is really where the magic happens. You can never tell by the small window just how many accessories and extra parts are in each box, but the back panel shows off everything the figure can do in a series of jaw-dropping photos. This is especially helpful for collectors who may not be familiar with the source material; the back is essentially a primer on what poses work best! Combined with the graphical instructions youll be able to get the most out of your figures even if you cant read all of the Japanese text.
After youve freed your Gundams and all of their various equipment from their plastic trays, the fun begins. Each figure has its own distinct personality, as evidenced by its sculpt and overall look. The RX-78-2 is perhaps the quintessential Gundam, an angular robot whose design dates back to 1979. While one of the more plain figures, theres still plenty of cool stuff going on with the RX including its detailed chest and head parts. A clear descendant, the Destiny Gundam has a strong aerial motif with its wing-like shoulder armor, chest vents, leg thrusters, and more. Of course, once you pop on its wings the image is complete!
From Gundam OO the Movie comes the OO Qan[T] (hereafter referred to as Qan). An almost feminine looking robot, the Qan has more rounded shapes than the usual Gundam. Its probably my favorite from the new batch with its unique joints, asymmetrical armor, and distinctive head. Finally theres the Sinanju, a striking unit with heavy ornate armor plating and an overall bulky presence. All of the Gundams have top notch sculpts, a testament to the Robot Spirits line. Mechanical details flourish on the robots with vents, panels, and a myriad array of armor designs.
While a lot of the more generic Gundams may appear the same with their predominant white color schemes, put a few together and youll see a lot of differences with respect to their palettes and paint applications. Take a look at the RX-78-2, for example. Sure, the first thing youll probably notice is the white. But then theres the cool chest piece in blue, red, and yellow. Matching colors pop up on the feet and belt while grays are used on the joints and backpack. Red, gold, and black define the face and head. Other figures like the Destiny Gundam feature different colors on different parts like limbs and armor segments. With lots of dark blue and red, the Destinys white and yellow really pop. This Gundam in particular has a really cool face design with metallic blue eyes and red war paint.
The Qan is similar with white, blue, and red sections, but kicks it up a notch with pearlescent green caps on its joints. Bright yellow chest vents and large metallic eyes spice up the design even more. Finally theres the always unique Sinanju, resplendent in its blood red armor! This beast features black panels chased in gold designs, while some silver and gray appear at joints and in the background. Who says Gundams all look the same?
Before we get to the amazing accessories, a note about articulation: the Gundams have plenty of it in all the right places. Like all Robot Spirits figures, the Gundams are loaded with functional ball-joints for extreme poseability. On top of that youll find a bunch of additional articulation in moveable armor pieces, thrusters, skirts, and more. Even Sinanjus booster pods are attached via ball-joints so you can position them just right! Posing may take a little work (especially when youre dealing with a bunch of weapons), but you can get these Gundams into just about any battle stance.
Every Robot Spirits figure, and especially each Gundam, comes absolutely loaded with accessories. Each one has multiple extra hands, usually in fists, weapon-holding, and open configurations. Then there are the weapons! Lets take just a quick peek at each Gundam. The RX has a fairly traditional armory of dual shields, dual rifles with underslung grenade launchers, dual bazookas, dual beam sabers with an additional swinging energy effect, and a ball and chain weapon with swappable heads. Many of the units weapons can be combined or attached to its body via universal posts.
Destiny Gundam wields a basic rifle and small shield (that itself transforms), with poseable wings mounting on a back unit. Also stored there are two huge folding weapons: a sword and energy cannon. It also has multiple translucent plastic energy effects for its shield arm, mega sword, shoulder emitters, and the enormous phoenix-like wings. To hold all of that up the Destiny comes with a poseable stand that works really well (its also sold separately and several of the other Gundams include parts to mount them on it too).
The Qan looks at first glance to be light on weapons, with just a shield and sword with swappable blades. Theres plenty more than meets the eye, though, as the shield breaks down into a half dozen parts that can be mounted on the sword/gun in different configurations and also the included display ring.
Sinanju mounts heavy thrusters on its back with their own articulation, a mighty shield on its left arm, and a large rifle. It also has beam sabers, energy axes that can combine into a larger weapon, and more energy effects for the shield.
Gundam collectors, you might as well just sign over your paychecks directly to Bandai; thats how cool these figures are. For the rest of us who might be interested in buying the occasional giant robot, theres enough variety in this line that youre sure to find something that catches your eye whether thats the traditional and stoic RX-78-2, the high-flying Destiny Gundam, the shapely shield-wielding Qan, or the big red beast that is Sinanju.
Review and Photos by Scott Rubin
Review Samples Courtesy of Bluefin


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Comparing the Netflix® capabilities of different components
During his tenure as a Crutchfield staff writer, Marshall Chase wrote about home theater receivers, sound bars, and in-wall and in-ceiling speakers.
More from Marshall Chase
Heads up!Welcome to this article from the Crutchfield archives. Have fun reading it, but be aware that the information may be outdated and links may be broken.
Why streaming video?
It wasn't long ago when "video on demand" described the act of plunking down your money at the theater box office, or just turning your TV on at the appointed hour. Technology, particularly the Internet, now makes it possible to watch a film or TV program whenever, and almost wherever you like. We tested some gear in the Crutchfield Labs — an HDTV, a Blu-ray player, Apple TV®, and a tablet — to find out more about their capabilities and ease of use for Netflix streaming.
Why Netflix?
There are many different services that offer a tremendous amount of content, some free, others à la carte and some by subscription. Netflix offers unlimited streaming for $7.99 a month and is one of the most popular services available. They offer movies, concerts, entire seasons of TV programs, and are also moving towards delivering original content as well (Arrested Development in association with Fox). Having said this, it is entirely worthwhile to explore their many competitors including but not limited to: huluPlus™, iTunes®, Blockbuster®, Vudu™, YouTube™ and Sony Entertainment Network®. In addition to these, many television networks offer streaming of their shows online free of charge, though they sometimes come with limited commercial interruptions.
The gear and what we were looking for
A lot of consumer electronics sold today have the capability to stream video. Our Crutchfield Lab review cut across four product categories. What we were looking for specifically was the quality of the image and audio for Netflix streaming. We were also concerned about the ease of use of the interface, which can vary from one product to another.
It should be noted that Crutchfield Labs used an 802.11n wireless router for Internet connections in these tests. We recommend that you use an "n"-type router with your home broadband network for any wireless video streaming. Anything slower and it's likely that you'll experience delays that will make your viewing experience less pleasant. Of course, you can also use a wired Ethernet connection with most of the gear below.
|Samsung UN46D7000 HDTV
|Apple TV® set-top box
|Sony BDP-S580 Blu-ray player
|Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1 tablet computer
Samsung UN46D7000
This 46" TV is LED backlit and 3D-ready (remember, you'll need special glasses for that). Best of all, the UN46D7000 is one of Samsung's Smart TVs. This model comes loaded with a full Internet browser, in addition to a ton of apps, including Netflix. (Note: We used the Samsung UN46D7000 in our test, but this TV is no longer available. We recommend the UN46ES6100 as a replacement.)
Getting to Netflix is fairly simple. One click of the "Smart" button on the remote control and all of your apps appear on the screen. Navigate with the arrows on the remote to get to Netflix and select. Like all of these Netflix devices, your initial setup will require that you enter your Netflix account information. Then you will need to go to the Netflix website to enter the code provided on the TV screen. Once you've activated the Netflix app, you can begin adding to your instant queue. You'll see movies and programs listed by category, in addition to recently added content. As your queue grows, you'll also see more and more titles recommended for you, based on your preferences.
Searching for new movies on the Samsung TV was fairly simple. Once in the Netflix app, you'll go to the "Search" feature and you'll see an alpha-numeric on-screen pad that lets you navigate using arrows on the remote to move the cursor and select characters. As you start entering you'll see titles that match what you've entered so far. Samsung includes a voucher for a free, handheld, QWERTY keyboard remote. We had to search the old fashioned way, but it's easy to see how the keyboard could make life even simpler, especially if you intend to use the TV's full web browser.
Image quality on the UN46D7000 is also excellent and we experienced smooth streaming throughout our test. This television comes with a built-in Wi-Fi® receiver, so no additional eqipment was required to connect it to our network. For those lucky enough to have an Ethernet port close to their TV, you can plug right into the back of the set.
To-date, no television we've tested delivers Netflix streaming audio in Dolby® Digital 5.1, including this Samsung. You can use your home theater receiver to take advantage of the optical audio output for better sound quality, but it won't provide multi-channel audio. It should also be noted that Netflix does not offer Dolby Digital surround for all of its streaming movies. You need to look for the "multi-channel '5.1' logo" when considering adding the film to your queue. We used Black Hawk Down, which Netflix streams in Dolby Digital.
Apple TV
The Apple TV box is an immediate stand-out as the only device in this test that passed multi-channel Dolby Digital from Netflix to a home theater receiver. This requires that you connect an HDMI cable from your Apple TV to a your receiver.
The Netflix app is one of many on Apple TV. Once on the main menu, you will need to scroll on over to the "Internet" drop-down column to find it listed. Once you've selected Netflix, you will see your queue and search options. As with all equipment reviewed here, you will need to activate Netflix online initially. Your queue and all of the other lists will appear as a flowing line of virtual movie posters with title and artwork showing. You can select any title to play. The search function also shows a grey, alpha-numeric box, just like the preceding TV. Again, you'll begin to see lists of titles that match your initial entry of characters. With a free downloadable app, you can use your iPod touch® or iPhone® as a convenient remote control for Apple TV and much more.
If you have iTunes® on a networked computer you can get to your music and video library easily. You can also use Apple's AirPlay® to stream music wirelessly from your iPod® , iPhone, iPod touch or iPad®. AirPlay gives you full access to your iTunes music library via Apple TV (and a growing number of devices).
Video streaming quality from Apple TV is excellent and fast. We experienced HD picture quality with no streaming or buffer delays, or any apparent degredation of picture quality. As we mentioned earlier, this is one of the few devices on the market at this time that can provide multi-channel Dolby Digital when attached to a compatible home theater receiver.
On the network side of things, Apple TV has built-in Wi-Fi as well as wired Ethernet capability. This offers the user great flexibility for connecting to broadband. The Apple TV box comes with a simple, slim remote control that feels light and easy on the hand. Big buttons allow for easy operation, especially for the most nearsighted and ham-fisted among us. So if your iPod isn't handy, the remote that comes with your Apple TV certainly is.
Sony BDP-S580
This Sony Blu-ray player delivers an awesome picture, whether you're watching a 3D Blu-ray, DVD or streaming video from Netflix. (You can read a full review of this player by Stacey Batten, who is part of our Product Research crew.)
The Netflix app is just one of many that's offered by this Sony. You can use the included remote control to access Netflix, and again, initial use requires registration and account information. A simple click of the "Home" button gets the ball rolling. The BDP-S580 will show you a list of movies in your queue, similar to what we've seen previously. The "Search" function, however, is a bit of a trick to find. You will actually have to click on the "Options" button on the remote. Instead of the grey alpha-numeric pad, the Sony graphic user interface resembles a cell phone keypad. There is good news, however, if you have a smartphone or any iPod with Wi-Fi capability. You can download a free app to your phone that will have you setting the remote aside for the friendlier function and visual appeal.
The BDP-S580 sends a clean, smooth-flowing video signal to your television, including HD (when available via Netflix). We experienced no delays or signal degredation throughout the test. This Sony Blu-ray player also has both built-in Wi-Fi as well as an Ethernet port for flexible connections to your broadband network. Crutchfield Labs has yet to test a Blu-ray player yet that will pass multi-channel Dolby Digital, even with videos that Netflix identifies as available in 5.1 surround. The best sound available for Netflix streaming will be through two-channel PCM.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Unlike the preceding equipment, the Galaxy Tab will not show movies, Netlix or otherwise, on your TV. But then again, nothing else reviewed here will let you watch a movie while waiting on a late plane or a plain latte. The Galaxy Tab has built-in Wi-Fi so you can access any friendly network while you're out and about. Nowadays, there's a lot of that going on, and its portability and outstanding image quality are what make the Galaxy Tab shine.
Netflix is not just one of a couple of hundred apps available on the Galaxy Tab — it's one of a couple of hundred thousand apps available. But it is the one that got our attention for this review. To use these apps, you will need to visit the Android™ app store. You will need to create a free Google account if you don't already have one, even if you want to get free apps. As a first-time Android user, I learned that in order to have your Google account recognize that you have an Android device, you need to actually use that device to download the app while logged in to the Google account. So, don't just use the web browser on the Galaxy Tab to go to Netflix. Use the icon for "Market" on the home screen. If you do otherwise, you may get frustrated.
Once Netflix is loaded onto the Galaxy Tab, you will see your queue and have an opportunity to search using the QWERTY touch-screen keyboard. This is a great interface, and much simpler than having to use a remote to enter search text in a way that could wear your thumbs to nubbins. The Galaxy tab has a high-def screen that can be turned vertically or horizontally. You can use the built-in speakers or your favorite headphones.
Streaming quality was smooth and flawless with the Galaxy Tab on both the audio and video side. Since there is no output for either audio or video, Dolby Digital is a no-go. On the big-plus side, the Galaxy Tab will fit in your purse, backpack or attaché. It will also go for about 10 hours between charges.
The gear we reviewed did a great job displaying a high-definition picture and delivering excellent sound quality. Like all streaming services, what's available on Netflix continues to change. Netflix is just one of many video streaming services available and the gear reviewed for this article is a small portion of what's available. To find out more, check out our chart about streaming video services.

subset: commoncrawl


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Through the generosity of the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation, exceptional young artists at Frost perform in chamber music ensembles of the highest caliber including a string quartet, woodwind quintet, brass quintet and jazz quintet.
Roe and Penny Stamps with Dr. Phillip Frost and Dean Shelton Berg
A unique and generous scholarship gift from the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation is significantly enhancing the undergraduate program at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. The foundation is managed by longtime benefactors E. Roe Stamps IV (a UM trustee) and his wife, Penny Stamps. The Stamps Family Charitable Foundation Music Scholarship Fund allows the Frost School of Music to attract top student musicians who as part of their curricular program will form very special chamber ensembles.
These exceptional young artists will advance together throughout their studies at UM. In the first year, a group of five exceptional freshmen will participate in a jazz quintet. In year two of this program, four more will be admitted to study and participate in a string quartet. Five will participate in a woodwind quintet in the third year, and five will participate in a brass quintet in the fourth year.
Resources from both the Stamps Foundation and the University will fully fund tuition, and room and board for a total of 19 students. As part of their experience, students will receive career guidance and take part in artist-building activities. During their studies, they will be attending special master classes, obtaining high-level mentoring, recording music, and playing and touring for key performance opportunities.


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Shark Attack Forum, all things bitten.
Shark Attack in NorCal .....http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/su...t-white_61887/
And i saw this one about a week ago and wanted to post it, it's that bodyboarder that got eaten up last year. The way his friend tells the story, i guess you can't blame him for not going in the ocean for 9 months.....http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/sh...s-story_61442/


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Last May, a reader chided me after I ran an article on milk's carbon footprint and how it has gone down over the past 67 years.
"…do you really think anyone with a brain cares about the 'carbon footprint' of milk? Give me a break. Dairy farms are vanishing, the industry is being destroyed by USDA regulations and someone is actually concerned about phantom science. Please concentrate on improved profitability issues and preserving remaining dairies," he wrote.
That comment, posted in the reader-comment section of our daily electronic newsletter, made me think: Does anyone really care about carbon footprints? Should they care?
This week, I was reminded once again that they should.
The dairy industry is engaged in a public-relations battle on many fronts. One of those fronts, of course, is the natural environment and how dairy is impacting it.
Several people forwarded me a blog that was run on the TIME magazine web site entitled, "How meat and dairy are hiking your carbon footprint." It was the usual anti-meat, anti-dairy diatribe, and I won't go into specifics. A few years ago, when we looked into a TIME magazine article entitled "The Real Cost of Cheap Food," we realized it was slanted toward a particular point of view. Read more.
But some people believe this stuff and think it is objective journalism.
That is why the dairy industry must take the carbon footprint debate seriously and have a good argument in place for the critics.
I do not profess to be an expert on the subject. But I have heard dairy scientist Jude Capper, of Washington State University, speak on the issue numerous times. What she says makes perfect sense: We have reduced our carbon footprint by a significant amount over the past 60 to 70 years because there are fewer cows and the production systems have become more efficient. In 1944, there were 25.6 million dairy cows — nearly 17 million more than currently is the case. Seventeen million fewer cows means there is less methane produced!
Of course, it is more complicated than total number of cows. There are a number of factors, including crop production and the inputs needed to produce milk. This story details what scientists have found. They have determined that a typical dairy farm produces 1.35 pounds of carbon equivalent for every pound of milk produced. It's become a science and you need to stay on top of it!
The animal-rights activists and liberal media are doing everything they can to bring down modern agriculture. It is your duty to be aware of this and fight back.
Yes, you should care about carbon footprints.


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Argentina and Chile's dramatic scenery unite in Patagonia on this Discoveries adventure.
"The hotels were lovely "
Donald, USA
13 Days 2 Countries 9 Cities
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15 Days 1 Country 9 Cities
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Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Buenos Aires, Argentina
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15 Days 1 Country 9 Cities
Departure date
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Return date
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Early payment discount
Was: PP
Save: PP
Code: XXXXX
Extensions available for this trip
Secure your trip with a deposit todayEasy Quote View Trip Book Now Please call +27 011 280 8440
Please read our Trip Notes before booking
Please note, the itinerary, meals and highlights may have changed as a result of selecting a new date.
Please check these again before booking this date.
The epic scenery and vibrant cultures of Chile and Argentina are revealed on this in-depth exploration that roams from Santiago to Buenos Aires via mountains, glaciers and lakes.
You'll enjoy Insider moments like… exploring the Rio Serrano with an expert local, who'll explain the origins of the Southern Ice Fields as you take your first steps onto the Glacier Pio XI.
Trip type: Discoveries i
Trip code: LPGA
10 full breakfasts.
3 dinners.
2 lunches.
All transport shown.
What's Included
City tour in Santiago and Ushuaia
Cruise through Patagonia's glaciers
Scenic drive from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine National Park and from Torres del Paine National Park to El Calafate
View the Serrano Glacier
Visit Bernardo O'Higgins National Park, Torres del Paine National Park, Los Glaciares National Park and Tierra del Fuego National Park
What's Included
10 full breakfasts.
3 dinners.
2 lunches.
What's Included
Audio Headsets for flexible sightseeing
Daily breakfast and an average of 50% of evening meals
Luxury air-conditioned coach with WiFi in most countries or alternative transportation (such as rail journeys)
A Trafalgar bonus - all Intra-Air Flights: Buenos Aires to Santiago to Punta Arenas, El Calafate to Ushuaia and Ushuaia to Buenos Aires, including porter service at all airports.
Cherry-picked hotels, all tried and trusted
Hand-picked Insider Experiences
Optional Experiences and free time
Porterage and local charges included
Must-see sightseeing and surprise extras
An expert Travel Director and separate Driver
All hotel tips, charges and local taxes
Airport transfers on the first and last day of your guided holiday
VIP entry to many sights
Airport Transfers
Specific transfer information can be found on the airport transfers page
Patagonian Grand Adventure with Buenos Aires
Day 1Arrive Santiago (2 Nights) Day 1 - Arrive Santiago (2 Nights)
Bienvenido a Santiago. On arrival to the airport, you will be met by a local host and taken to your hotel. Get settled into your room or set out and explore the vibrant city of Santiago. This evening, join your Travel Director and fellow travellers for a Welcome Reception.
InterContinental Santiago
InterContinental Santiago
Day 2Santiago Sightseeing Day 2 - Santiago Sightseeing
This morning, meet your Local Specialist for an exciting tour of the city and a visit to the Central Market. Later, savour a lively dinner in the trendy Bellavista district of Santiago.
Optional Experiences
Visit to Santa Rita Winery, Maipo
Enjoy an afternoon excursion to a well-known family winery in the Maipo Valley. Some visionaries, among them Don Domingo Fernandez, a distinguished politician, founded Viña Santa Rita in 1880 and promoted the introduction of the finest French vine stocks. Following the advice of expert French penologists, he began producing wines with techniques and with results far superior to those traditionally achieved. Afterward you may discover the Museo Andino Alto Jahuel. The Andean museum is a private collection of valuable Pre-Columbian objects which belong to a variety of Chilean Andean cultures. (Minimum 4 guests).
Adult Price: US$73.00
Day 3Santiago – Punta Arenas Day 3 - Santiago – Punta Arenas
Enjoy a leisurely morning in the city before bidding farewell to Santiago and flying to Punta Arenas, the southern most region of South America. Relax and get settled in at your hotel.
Dreams del Estrecho
Dreams del Estrecho
Day 4Punta Arenas – Puerto Natales (2 Nights) Day 4 - Punta Arenas – Puerto Natales (2 Nights)
This morning enjoy a tour of the city famous for its European charm. It is the southernmost continental town in South America, founded at the shores of the Magellan Strait in 1848. Visit the Museum Salesiano run by Salesian monks where two floors of photographs are exhibited to show Patagonia in earlier years.
Day 5Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers Excursion Day 5 - Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers Excursion
Begin an adventurous trip via the Rio Serrano, passing the Southern Icefield (Campo de Hielo Sur) toward the Serrano Glacier. Upon arrival, explore the impressive glacier and afterward, hike a short 30 minutes through unspoiled, cool rainforest to Seno Ultima Esperanza ("Fjord of the Last Hope"). See the incomparable landscape of Bernardo O'Higgins National Park, Chile's largest nature reserve with majestic mountain scenery where you will enjoy lunch. Then continue through the fjord by boat with views of Balmaceda Glacier in the background.
Day 6Puerto Natales – Torres Del Paine National Park Day 6 - Puerto Natales – Torres Del Paine National Park
Today see one of the world's most spectacular scenic regions—Torres del Paine National Park. It covers an area of 436 square miles (1,200 square kilometres) and was declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1978. Your Local Specialist shows you cascading waterfalls, roaring creeks, shimmering lakes and jagged spires of mountains, all of which are just a part of what the National Park offers. En route, visit the legendary and impressive Milodon Cave where a gigantic, prehistoric ground sloth fossil was discovered, and see a replica of it inside of the cave. Visit the viewpoints Los Cuernos and Lago Pehoe, the spectacular Salto Grande ("Big Waterfall") and Lago Grey, which provide marvellous vistas of the Grey Glacier. Admire the park's fauna including herds of guanacos, foxes, swans, and several other bird species. A box lunch is provided. Dinner is served at your hotel, offering superb views of Torres del Paine National Park.
Rio Serrano
Rio Serrano
Day 7Torres del Paine National Park – El Calafate (2 Nights) Day 7 - Torres del Paine National Park – El Calafate (2 Nights)
Enjoy another chance to revel in the stunning scenery and wildlife of the Patagonian steppe during the drive across the border into Argentina. After stopping at Cancha Carrera, continue your land journey to El Calafate, a charming lakeside town and the gateway to Los Glaciares National Park. For 65 million years, the land here evolved from chaotic volcanic eruptions and massive glaciers, creating a jagged landscape of interconnected fjords, channels and mountainside glacial lakes. The name El Calafate comes from the calafate bush which locals say when you eat its berries it ensures your return to this mystical region.
Kosten Aike
Kosten Aike
Day 8Los Glaciares National Park Excursion Day 8 - Los Glaciares National Park Excursion
Embark upon a full-day excursion with a Local Specialist to Los Glaciares National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Los Glaciares is the second largest National Park in Argentina and comprises more than 1,600 square miles (4,400 square kilometres) and nearly 50 large glaciers. These glaciers are fed by a giant ice cap (the largest continental ice extension after Antarctica) that originates in the Andes and occupies over a third of the park's total area. Discover the wondrous Perito Moreno Glacier, a pristine marvel towering nearly 200 feet (60 metres) above Lake Argentino. It is named after Francisco Moreno, a 19th century Argentinian explorer who helped resolve his country's border dispute with neighbouring Chile. The constant, cyclical movement of Perito Moreno's ice mass often forces the glacier to "calve"—an iceberg "birthing" process in which smaller chunks of ice fracture and break off from the glacier to thunderous noise. This spectacle can occur at any time, so keep your fingers crossed. However, ice isn't the only thing you'll see today: just east of the ice fields are areas of southern beach forest and windswept steppe. This evening, enjoy some time on your own.
Day 9El Calafate – Ushuaia (2 Nights) Day 9 - El Calafate – Ushuaia (2 Nights)
Fly to Ushuaia and explore the world's southernmost city with a Local Specialist. Visit the legendary Jail of Recidivists that has preserved its impressive architecture as well as its notorious history. You will also see the first settlers' houses, visit the harbour and Paseo del Centenario-a great spot to take in the panoramic view of the surrounding landscape. Afterward, see the Bebán House, once considered the most prestigious in Ushuaia. Later, visit the central portion of the city and the restricted area of the Naval Base. Your evening is free.
Los Yamanas
Los Yamanas
Optional Experiences
Beagle Channel Cruise
Your cruise of the Beagle Channel focuses on the scenic archipelago, wildlife, and the history of the region. Learn about the great ship wrecks of the region as well as the first explorers arriving from Europe. There will be time to go ashore on one of the islands for a short walk. Total duration is approximately 2.5-3 hours. Mandatory port tax of $3 is not included in the price listed.
Adult Price: US$100.00
Day 10Tierra del Fuego National Park Excursion Day 10 - Tierra del Fuego National Park Excursion
Explore Tierra del Fuego National Park with a Local Specialist, stopping first at the End of the World Train Station. At the park, observe the most incredible native animals such as red foxes, woodpeckers, steamer ducks, condors, eagles and beavers cohabitating in a spectacular environment. Explore the park through a combination of touring and nature walks. Different from other parks, Tierra del Fuego National Park has it all, the ocean, forests and mountains. Inside the park, find the biological richness of Tierra del Fuego Island and its beautiful scenery, where its forest is made up of valleys of peat and lichens. Ensenada Bay, Roca Lake and Lapataia Bay give colour to this unique place that still hold reminders of its ancestral inhabitants: the Yámanas. Back at your hotel, the afternoon is free to relax at the hotel spa or perhaps take an optional catamaran cruise on the Beagle Channel. This evening, join your Travel Director and new friends to enjoy a Farewell Dinner celebrating your experiences from this unforgettable trip.
Day 11Arrive Buenos Aires (2 Nights) Day 11 - Arrive Buenos Aires (2 Nights)
After your flight from Ushuaia, you will be met and transferred to your hotel in the heart of Buenos Aires. The evening is free for you to relax or take in the sights of the eclectic city around you.
Emperador Buenos Aires
Emperador Buenos Aires
Day 12Buenos Aires Sightseeing and Free Time Day 12 - Buenos Aires Sightseeing and Free Time
This morning, embark on an in-depth tour of the city. See the Casa Rosada, Metropolitan Cathedral and other government buildings. Pass through the colourful neighborhood of La Boca, see San Telmo, and lovely Palermo. Stare in awe at the famous Teatro Colon, a landmark in Buenos Aires. Lastly, visit the Recoleta Cemetery where Argentina's former first lady, Eva Peron (Evita) is buried. The evening is free for you to continue your exploration or try a local restaurant.
Day 13Depart Buenos Aires Day 13 - Depart Buenos Aires
After an 11 a.m. hotel checkout, your day is free until your transfer to the Buenos Aires airport, or perhaps extend your stay.
Hidden Treasures
Enjoy at least one surprise Hidden Treasure.
Local Specialists
At the Central Market in Santiago, Torres del Paine National Park, Los Glaciares National Park, Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego National Park.
Find out what makes Trafalgar different.
Because you looked at Patagonia Grand Adventure
Our best deals and offers
from our brochure
What's Included
City tour in Santiago and Ushuaia
Cruise through Patagonia's glaciers
Scenic drive from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine National Park and from Torres del Paine National Park to El Calafate
View the Serrano Glacier
Visit Bernardo O'Higgins National Park, Torres del Paine National Park, Los Glaciares National Park and Tierra del Fuego National Park
What's Included
10 full breakfasts.
3 dinners.
2 lunches.
What's Included
Audio Headsets for flexible sightseeing
Daily breakfast and an average of 50% of evening meals
Luxury air-conditioned coach with WiFi in most countries or alternative transportation (such as rail journeys)
A Trafalgar bonus - all Intra-Air Flights: Buenos Aires to Santiago to Punta Arenas, El Calafate to Ushuaia and Ushuaia to Buenos Aires, including porter service at all airports.
Cherry-picked hotels, all tried and trusted
Hand-picked Insider Experiences
Optional Experiences and free time
Porterage and local charges included
Must-see sightseeing and surprise extras
An expert Travel Director and separate Driver
All hotel tips, charges and local taxes
Airport transfers on the first and last day of your guided holiday
VIP entry to many sights
Airport Transfers
Specific transfer information can be found on the airport transfers page
Why Trafalgar?
Simply AuthenticEnjoy
Enjoy the wonder of travel, crisscrossing the globe through the seasons. On effortless adventures in breathtaking new horizons, forge lifelong friendships and memories. Our lovingly crafted itineraries are a fascinating mosaic of cultures, flavours, festivals and local stories. We're with you all the way, guiding you and ensuring you experience the real thing: the sheer love of travel, entirely hassle-free.
Simply AuthenticLove... Travel
"Is simply the best way to position what our guests love to experience and what we love to deliver" - Gavin Tollman CEO
Simply AuthenticMeet
Meet warm-hearted locals and like-minded travellers. Along your journey of discovery, stop to share stories and flavours with local farmers, chefs and winemakers. Pause to admire the handicrafts and rich traditions of amazing artisans. Explore the essence of Europe through captivating accounts shared by expert historians and savvy local guides.
Simply AuthenticTaste
Travelling with your tastebuds, treating them to new flavours, spices and textures along the way. From the very first breakfast to the last nightcap, travelling through Europe indulges your palate, with every meal an opportunity to discover regional fare. Savour each new flavour, try the local tipple and take home fresh culinary inspiration. Let us share our love for food and hospitality with you.
Simply AuthenticUnwind
Once you've packed your suitcase, we take care of the rest, removing all your concerns so that you can be secure in the knowledge that an award-winning global company with an impeccable reputation has taken care of every little detail. We arrange everything you'll need along your journey - meals, accommodation and travel logistics, because we are with you all the way. Travel the world with peace of mind, knowing you're in the hands of Trafalgar.
Guest Service Rating from 13 Reviews
Service rating : A Bit Disorganized.Product : The company had to have known the penguin sanctuary was closed. We should have been informed before we committed to the trip.In the future, try not to use Latan.
ENJOYED THE SERVICES PROVIDED-HOTELS TRIPS AND A PLEASANT TOUR LEADER.tHIS ENABLED US TO ENJOY OUR EXPERIENCES ON A RANGE OF TRAVEL-AIR, BOATS AND LAND. tHE ONLY PROBLEM WAS UNNECCESSARILY RESTRICTING OUR LUGGAGE
We enjoyed our tour guide, Felipe, the other local guides, and our fellow travelers. The hotels were lovely. The itinerary was interesting. We would have appreciated bottled water provided by Trafalgar, more included dinners (even if the tour cost increased), and some music/folk dancing
Service rating : Each of our guides were wonderful. My only suggestion is that they could have prepared us better for the weather.Product : Most of the hotels were wonderful, the rest were merely good, but we enjoyed them all.
Service rating : I would have liked that the tour director could have contacted us before the trip like it happened when I went to Italy. I rated the director Silvi "average" on the form she gave us. It should have been "good". She had to put up with a lot.Product : Scenery was beautiful.
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text:
(UPDATED COVERAGE, Oct. 12) Another front has been opened in the conflict between U.S. and Mexican tomato producers.
In the midst of uncertainty over the fate of the suspension agreement between Mexican growers and the U.S., there is a new over a proposal to more tightly define what constitutes greenhouse grown produce and create differentiation compared with tomatoes grown in shade houses or other protected agriculture environments in Mexico.
Imports of greenhouse tomatoes from Mexico have taken a bigger share of rising tomato imports, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. About one-quarter of U.S. imports of 949,000 metric tons of Mexican tomatoes were labeled greenhouse grown in 2007, but the percentage termed greenhouse tomatoes rose to 39% of 1.32 million metric tons of Mexican tomato imports by 2011, according to USDA trade statistics.
Aiming to eliminate misbranding greenhouse grown tomatoes and increase prices, a coalition that includes California tomato marketers is seeking a change in the state's definition of a greenhouse tomato. The move could lead to a harmonized national definition that could eventually put in place new marketing order demands on Mexican tomatoes previously labeled as greenhouse grown.
Representatives of Certified Greenhouse Farmers, Ventura, Calif., took their case to the California Department of Food and Agriculture Oct. 9. They testified in favor of a proposed amendment to clarify existing codes and align with efforts at the federal level in the U.S. and Canada to establish a definition for hydroponic greenhouse produce.
The group advocated for this definition for the California code, according to the release:
"Tomatoes labeled with the term 'greenhouse grown' shall be considered mislabeled unless tomatoes are grown in a fully enclosed permanent aluminum or fixed-steel structure clad in glass or impermeable plastic using automated irrigation and climate control, including heating and ventilation capabilities, in an artificial medium that substitutes for soil using hydroponic methods."
The previous definition, written in 2004, said "Tomatoes labeled with the term "greenhouse grown" shall be considered mislabeled unless tomatoes are grown in a fixed steel structure using irrigation and climate control, in an artificial medium that substitutes for soil."
One industry leader who testified at the hearing said the definition should help lead to a harmonized U.S. definition.
"Let's get this definition in place, let's get it harmonized with what we have currently in place in Canada and starting moving it forward in the U.S.," said Ed Beckman, president of the
Certified Greenhouse Farmers, Fresno. The trade association represents about 95% of the greenhouse tomatoes grown in California, according to the release.
California greenhouse tomato growers Casey Houweling, president of Houweling's Nurseries and Steven Newell, president of Windset Farms, also testified in support of the amendment.
Speaking against the proposal were Eric Viramontes, director of the Mexican Association of Protected Horticulture and Martin Ley, vice president of Del Campo Supreme Inc., Nogales, Ariz., also representing the Nogales-based Fresh Produce Association of the Americas.
Viramontes could not be reached for comment. Ley said he testified at the CDFA hearing on Oct. 9 that the state's definition of greenhouse grown tomatoes put in place in 2004 was already very restrictive. Ley said both he and Viramontes argued that greenhouse technology is largely driven by climate patterns and latitude of growing areas. Ley said trying to dictate the universal application of technology doesn't make sense.
"This is why the California definition is not a good one for the industry," he said. "We really need a definition that is inclusive, not a definition that is exclusive," he said. An exclusive definition will lead to conflict within the industry and with exporters in other countries, in addition to hindering the development of new technology. While the definition might help some U.S. greenhouse operators gain retail shelf space, he said the gains would not be sustainable.
"The idea of trying to take ownership of the word greenhouse is a bad idea," Ley said. He said a better use of time would be to define "protected agriculture."
The booming growth of the greenhouse category has resulted in some growers and shippers mislabeling field-grown produce as "greenhouse," according to the California greenhouse group. "Greenhouse grown" and "protected agriculture" are often wrongly used interchangeably, according to the release.
The request for a hearing with the California Department of Food and Agriculture was submitted in April, and Beckmann said he believes the agency will consider the testimony they heard and probably issue a decision sometime in 2013.
The newly proposed definition is embraced by U.S. and Canadian greenhouse interests and aims to be a harmonized U.S. definition for greenhouse grown tomatoes, Beckman said.
"The concern is, that unlike for certified organic, there really isn't a definition in place," Beckman said. He said Mexican field tomatoes have been sold into the market place as greenhouse grown.
"There is evidence of hundreds of thousands of pounds of tomatoes being mislabeled under the California code," he said. "It is simply time to bring a definition to the marketplace so that a consumer who wants to buy a greenhouse tomato has some assurance that it is actually a greenhouse tomato that they are purchasing,' Beckman said. USDA statistics on imports of greenhouse tomatoes are unreliable, since it seems some field grown tomatoes are being imported as greenhouse product.
Beckman said the effort to revise the greenhouse definition is separate from the dispute about the suspension agreement, but he said there are issues that tie into growers' concern about Mexican tomatoes.
"There are issues related to how the suspension agreement currently impacts the greenhouse industry in the U.S., and yes, there have been reports that we have had product that has been crossed into the U.S. that has been crossed as greenhouse simply because the (suspension agreement) price matrix is based not upon the product value but the weight of the carton," he said.
In addition, he said the Florida industry has a marketing order that has minimum quality standards for tomatoes that also apply to Mexican tomato imports during the Florida marketing window. However, that marketing order doesn't apply to greenhouse tomatoes, so Beckman said Mexican field tomatoes may also be mislabeled as greenhouse to circumvent the marketing order as well. The definition may assist in the development of tomato safety metrics, Beckman said.


text:
Placebo-Controlled Trial of Safety and Efficacy of Thalidomide in Patients With Infections Due to Mycobacterium and/or HIV
This study has been completed.
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
Information provided by:
NIH AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: November 2, 1999
Last updated: June 23, 2005
Last verified: July 1998
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Detailed Description:
To demonstrate, in patients with tubercular or nontubercular mycobacterium infections with or without HIV infection, the safety of thalidomide use as judged by symptoms, physical exam, and studies of microbiologic, immunologic, hematologic, renal, and hepatic status. To demonstrate efficacy of the drug as judged by status of fever, nutrition, tuberculosis lesions, and immune responses.
|Mycobacterium Avium-Intracellulare Infection HIV Infections Tuberculosis, Mycobacterium Infection
|Drug: Thalidomide
|Phase 1
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|Placebo-Controlled Trial of Safety and Efficacy of Thalidomide in Patients With Infections Due to Mycobacterium and/or HIV
Resource links provided by NLM:
MedlinePlus related topics: HIV/AIDS Mycobacterial Infections
Drug Information available for: ThalidomideU.S. FDA Resources
Further study details as provided by NIH AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service:
Patients are randomized to receive thalidomide or placebo orally at 9 PM the night before beginning anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy and continuing nightly for 7 nights. Patients are followed for 28 days. Patients are stratified according to HIV status and stage of HIV infection.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years to 65 Years (Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria
Patients must have:
- Positive AFB smear and/or culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. avium, or other mycobacterial infection, with or without documented HIV infection. NOTE:
- HIV-positive patients must have CD4 count < 500 cells/mm3 and be on antiretroviral therapy.
- One of the following manifestations:
- Temperature over 38 C on at least two occasions in the week prior to study entry.
- Recent weight loss of more than 5 kilograms.
- Pulmonary involvement of one or more lobes or involvement of other tissues due to tuberculosis or other mycobacterial infections, or symptomatic infections related to HIV status.
- Night sweats on two or more occasions in the week prior to study entry.
- Patients must be hospitalized men aged 18-65 and postmenopausal women to age 65. Anticipated requirement for hospitalization must be at least 10 days.
Exclusion Criteria
Co-existing Condition:
Patients with the following symptoms or conditions are excluded:
- Neuropathy or other disorders with risk of neuropathy.
Required for HIV-positive patients if CD4 count < 500 cells/mm3:
- Antiretroviral therapy.
Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00002104
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00002104
|United States, New York
|Bellevue Hosp Ctr
|New York, New York, United States, 10016
|Aaron Diamond AIDS Rsch Ctr / Rockefeller Univ
|New York, New York, United States, 10021
Sponsors and Collaborators
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
More Information
Keywords provided by NIH AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service:
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00002104 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|November 2, 1999
|Last Updated:
|June 23, 2005
Keywords provided by NIH AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service:
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycobacterium Infections
AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections
Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare Infection
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
AIDS-Related Complex
Mycobacterium Infections, Atypical
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Communicable Diseases
HIV Infections
Mycobacterium Infections
Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare Infection
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases
Actinomycetales Infections
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections
Bacterial Infections
Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous
Immunosuppressive Agents
Immunologic Factors
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Leprostatic Agents
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
Angiogenesis Inhibitors
Angiogenesis Modulating Agents
Growth Substances
Growth Inhibitors
Antineoplastic Agents
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


text:
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Are you on the lookout for a reliable company providing Brochure Printing Service? If yes, then, we are the right choice to opt for. Features : Skilled workforce Offered by skilled professionals Quality resources used Brochure N Catalogues : Usually printed on "ART-BOARDS", they contains information about various products of any company. An organization saves labor, since they can propagate their variety
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text:
Hunter Mill Area Study Meetings
Fairfax County Office of Public
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 551
Fairfax, VA 22035-0065
Oct. 11, 2005
Next Hunter Mill Road Special Study Meetings
Scheduled for Oct. 17 and 19
The next meetings related to the Hunter Mill Road Area Special Study are scheduled for Monday, Oct. 17 and Wednesday, Oct. 19.
The Oct. 17 meeting is scheduled from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Madison High School, 2500 James Madison Drive, Vienna. At this meeting, the community will review and discuss the preliminary results of the public input workshops held on Oct. 1, which were led by CirclePoint/HNTB, a team the county hired to design and facilitate the public engagement process. CirclePoint will present a Community Visioning Report to the Hunter Mill Road Area Special Study Task Force in November.
The task force will gather for its next meeting on Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. at Lake Anne Elementary School, 11510 North Shore Drive, Reston.
To access more information about the study area, including upcoming agendas, recent meeting summaries, maps and other task force documents, and to submit comments to the task force, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpz/huntermill.
The Hunter Mill Road Area Special Study Task Force, established by the Board of Supervisors, began its work in June to consider options for the study area, which involves an area of approximately 300 acres located east and west of Hunter Mill Road adjacent to the Dulles Airport and Access Toll Road. To date, the task force has reviewed background and technical information, including the guidance offered by the current Comprehensive Plan for the study area, as well as 2005 Area Plan Review nominations that were deferred to be considered within this special study.
For more information, call Lindsay Mason in the Department of Planning
and Zoning at 703-324-1379, TTY 711.


text:
Chasing Danny
Dan Marino, perhaps the greatest quarterback in the history of pro football, slumps on a bench in front of a locker ripping wads of tape off his legs. The Dolphins have just lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars in a road game 500 miles north of Miami. Marino himself has been sacked twice and thrown the 223rd interception of his career, and somewhere above him a record crowd of 74,051 is going home to their hangovers, satisfied with his defeat. Sitting by himself in the bowels of Jacksonville's ALLTEL Stadium, Dan Marino cuts a rather fulsome and lingering fart.
This fart resonates in my memory today. It expands instead of diminishing, because it turned out to be the only spontaneous expression I witnessed out of Marino during six weeks of on-again, off-again observation. At the time I failed to jot the fart down in my notebook. I didn't see its significance yet. I merely watched the future Hall of Famer continue tearing tape off his scarred legs, head down and plainly tired. Tomorrow the newspapers and talk-show pundits would say that, despite the loss, Marino looked like his old magical self tonight, throwing for 323 yards in 49 pass attempts. But then and there, the aging superstar seemed simply to be gazing at his shoes.
There is no rational argument for Marino being a small man. At six-foot-four and 228 pounds, he's bigger than many NFL quarterbacks. Yet in real life he looks oddly attenuated. After years of seeing his image on promotional placards at Publix and on TV commercials touting home mortgages, or Isotoner gloves, or west Broward real estate, the shock of real-life three-dimensionality is hard to get over. Not that hard, of course. I bridged the six feet of space between us, stepping into the farty miasma, and asked Marino my first question. It was:
"Mind if I ask you a question?"
Marino's head snapped up. The rifleman's eyes, separated by a slightly snouty nose, fixed me in a blue laser lock. "Uh," he said. "Sure. Just wait till the others get here." He put his head back down and commenced balling up the tape scraps. I noticed defensive end Trace Armstrong stomping naked and grim toward the showers. An equipment manager was feverishly gathering up shoulder pads and tossing them in a big bin.
Upcoming Events
Nova Southeastern University Sharks Volleyball
TicketsSat., Oct. 28, 4:00pm
Florida Panthers vs Detroit Red Wings
TicketsSat., Oct. 28, 7:00pm
Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics
TicketsSat., Oct. 28, 8:00pm
Florida Panthers vs Tampa Bay Lightning
TicketsMon., Oct. 30, 7:30pm
Miami Heat vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
TicketsMon., Oct. 30, 7:30pm
Twelve hundred press credentials had been issued for this Monday-night showdown between the Dolphins and Jaguars. Soon the "others" -- about 40 deadline sports reporters and cameramen who had muscled into the locker room -- fell on Marino like an armed ambush. I was suddenly on the peripheral orbit of a new solar system composed of rolling TV cams, fuzzy microphones, and elbows. The pack was feeding; Marino had launched into NFL jockspeak without missing a beat.
Professional jockspeak, I would learn, is the unctuous cousin of Chamber of Commerce-talk and Rotarian-ese. Think of a boosterish Unitarian minister who has just been elected mayor of something. Every statement is earnest and uplifting. To make matters worse, Marino's oratory issues from his mouth in an uninflected near-whisper, as if he were reciting a grocery list while coming down with laryngitis.
"... offensive line... outstanding job... we've been giving great effort all year and will continue to work hard," he was saying. "... defense... those guys laid it on the line for us... Jacksonville... tough place to play... we lost the game and that's the bottom line... Monday night on the road... tough anywhere you play...."
Just as I was shoving into position with my tape recorder wondering how one conducts an interview under these ridiculous circumstances, Harvey Greene stepped in. Greene is the Dolphins' vice president for media relations.
"OK, guys," Greene said. This was the cue for everyone to shut up, turn off the cameras, and get out of the locker room. I didn't understand the cue.
"General question, Dan --" I said. I had noticed that everyone called him Dan.
"He's done!" Greene shouted at me.
"Go ahead," Marino countered. "A general question, OK."
"-- unrelated to the game," I continued. "How much pain are you in on a day-to-day basis?"
This was a throwaway query designed to establish rapport, or at least eye contact, neither of which was established. You do this in an interview to soften up the subject and move on to something worth talking about. In this case something like: DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT THROWING A BIG COCAINE PARTY AT THAT MANSION OUT IN WESTON AND INVITING ALL THE CHEERLEADERS OVER FOR SOME SERIOUS SKINNY-DIPPING?
"Not too bad," Marino said of the pain. "Some days it's tough, in practice it's tough. Your knees bother you a little bit."
"Can you describe it more than that?" I asked.
"Just the typical arthritis pain you might have from having a lot of operations --"
"OK," Greene hissed. "Thanks! He's done!"
And he was.
The distinguished members of the media, and also I, were invited out of the locker room. Later Greene would tell me: "There are times to ask him things like that."
I never came to understand when those times were.
My boss thought it would be great fun if I did a piece on Marino, the highest-profile public figure in South Florida. I could confront Marino in a provocative way about why he's always throwing his helmet on the ground, getting pissed off at the local press, and generally acting like an overpaid crab apple.
This was like having a Maoist guerrilla come down from the hills and write a treatise on the comparative virtues of Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and McDonald's. It wasn't just a matter of the author being ignorant of his subject. No. The problem was that the author might prefer to firebomb his subject and be done with it.
I grew up for a while two blocks from the Cleveland Browns' training camp. It was neat to play football in the morning and then go watch the Big Boys practice. I also have dim memories of watching Joe Namath on TV with my dad and getting my first taste of Pabst Blue Ribbon between the halves of Super Bowl VI. But, when I got to be about nine years old, it seemed like it was time to grow up and get on with life, right?
Wrong, according to the spectators who showed up at ALLTEL Stadium in Jacksonville willing to spend $4.25 for a hot dog and according to the 113 million viewers who watch the NFL on TV every week.
The first thing I did was call up my old friend Bobby Powell. Bobby had just had one of his Miami New Times stories republished in Best American Sportswriting, 1998. He's a thoroughbred scribbler who actually knows something about sports, so I figured he'd have some advice for me.
"There's nothing I want to know about Dan Marino," he said. "There's nothing I have to talk to Dan Marino about. I don't relate to him. He's a multimillionaire who's been worshiped for years. I'm not. I don't know who he is. People who know who he is say he's an idiot. They say he has the emotional development of a 12-year-old." Trying to be encouraging, Bobby added: "It would be great if you could come up with something that would illuminate the guy. You'd be doing something no one else has done."
Thinking this would be no problem, I decided to head for Davie and watch a few Dolphins practices, ride around with Marino for a couple of days, and keep a tape recorder running. I called up the Dolphins and got put through to Harvey Greene.
He explained that practices were closed to the public and the press because both sorts of civilians are distracting to the players. And there was no way I could sit in on the Jacksonville game because the press box was already jammed. As for hanging with Marino....
"Marino's time -- well, he's very private," Greene explained. "Even here, and you can talk to our beat writers -- he's not the most accessible guy. At best he does everything on a Wednesday, collectively, and talks to the group, doesn't do any real one-on-ones, and isn't really available after a lot of the games."
"Is that because he's gotten burned by the --"
"No! It has nothing to do with that," Greene said. "He just feels that when people want to talk football it's one thing, but then people want to talk about other things. He didn't even talk to the media this week. Some weeks he does, some weeks he doesn't."
Greene added ominously: "There is a sometimes difficult environment between the media and the team, and I have to do what I can to maintain the best kind of, uh, interaction that I can. I have to protect him."
"Protect him from what?" I asked.
"Protect him in the sense of the demands that he has," Greene said patiently. "I don't care what anybody asks him. There's nothing you're going to ask that hasn't been asked before. Hell, it's a free country. I'm not a censor. You can ask him if he beats his wife for all I care."
"You think he'll be talking on Wednesday?"
"I don't know," Greene said. "I couldn't tell you."
"Does he beat his wife?"
"You'd have to ask him that."
Greene always seemed a little nervous to me, but very nice. He was wrong about one thing, though. There was a last spot in the press box in Jacksonville, and one last seat on American Eagle. I went north.
T he West African taxi driver had the radio turned up loud, and he was so excited about the game he could barely keep the cab on the road. After a decade in South Florida, Jacksonville looked to me like a foreign country peopled by happy middle managers in Sansabelts and penny loafers. So I pulled that time-honored trick of foreign correspondents. I interviewed the taxi driver.
To my surprise he had never actually been to a Jaguars football game or any other football game. He believed football was basically cricket somehow combined with rugby. The real shocker was this: I had found the only person in Florida who had never heard of Dan Marino. After I explained about Dan -- his $6 million salary, his ownership of 18 NFL passing records -- the driver pretended he'd known about him all along. "Yes, yes!" he screamed, tailgating a Lincoln. "That man good man! Great man!"
The first thing I noticed after getting out of the cab was Marino himself about ten yards away holding hands with a small blond woman. Now this was one hell of a scoop, because I knew for a fact Marino's wife, Claire, has dark hair. When Marino turned around, I saw he had cleverly disguised himself as a short, mustachioed Hispanic and was negotiating -- unsuccessfully -- with a scalper. In the time it took me to smoke a cigarette, I counted a dozen more Marinos in number-13 jerseys. There were even some female Marinos.
"Who's gonna win?" I asked one of them, yawning.
"Dolphins!" shrieked Olga Bada. "Marino! He's still The Man! He'll always be The Man!"
Olga's shrieking was a dead giveaway that she thought I was a TV reporter. I explained I wasn't, and she calmed down and stopped looking around for the camera.
"I've heard Marino's kind of mean." I said this with a sly arch of the eyebrow.
"Mean? I've never heard such a thing," Olga said. "OK, I'll admit I've heard it." She chewed on this and announced in a stage whisper: "I heard he's a bad tipper."
I have no idea if Marino is a cheapskate or not. I was just setting Olga up as a segue into the following paragraph. Ahem: In the life span of a house cat, pro football has fully flowered as America's corporate opera, what with its jet-setting owners, its skyboxes for the executive elite, and its club seats for the white-collar wage slaves. Last year ABC, CBS, Fox, and ESPN signed broadcast contracts worth $17.6 billion, and anyone who has been to a pro game lately knows that the game itself is almost incidental to the spectacle of money and stratified status. With the average player's salary hovering around $760,000 (as compared to $141,000 15 years ago) even the on-field drama has less and less to do with what writer Charles Pierce once called "the hoot and howl of authentic barbarism." These aren't gladiators any more; they're a millionaires' club that wears jockstraps on Sunday.
Why do the slobs in the slob seats keep showing up? Partly on account of the way football, the ultimate team sport, still satisfies a deep urge to lose oneself in a group. This is a nice way of saying that fans are losers who depend on the team for their identity. That said, the big paradox of pro football is how the NFL and its fans demand individual superstars. And there's a further piece of irony, wrapped around this paradox like bacon around a stadium frankfurter: Fans want to see these stars flame out or screw up. They get righteously indignant when the star obliges, but they get downright petulant when he doesn't. This is why everyone has a story about what a jerk Dan Marino really is.
The problem with these stories is they never quite pan out. For example, a friend told me her nephew had gotten yelled at by Marino when he rescued Marino's son from a tree. But after I called the nephew, it turned out Marino had actually thanked him profusely and later sent a card.
"He's a rather boorish character, you know," said my old buddy Rafael Navarro, referring to the 37-year-old quarterback. But when pressed he couldn't give an example, and he finally admitted it all amounted to hearsay. Navarro and I were sitting in the Armadillo Cafe in Davie one night in the spring of 1992 when Marino came in to pick up some food. He was listing like a Haitian freighter in a summer squall. Then again, my perception of him being blitzed could have been colored by the fact that I was blitzed. And who cares? He didn't drive his car through the wall or punch anyone.
"One word for that," says Jim Jensen, Marino's old Dolphins roommate, talking about the local tendency to badmouth Marino. "Envy. The situation, when people think he's an asshole -- well here's an example. He's at a baseball game or something. He has to get back home to go to his son's baseball game. And he doesn't have time to sign autographs. He can't sign autographs all his life. He's got a life himself. Situations like that are going to arise, it's perfectly reasonable. But that's where this unreasonable perception comes from."
Monday night was congealing outside ALLTEL Stadium, and the milling crowd had set up a low howl. Weary of counting fake Marinos, I entered the building.
The inhabitants of the press box looked like reporters in the same way an orthodontist on a Harley looks like a Hell's Angel; that is, they looked like junior insurance agents relaxing at a convention. And despite the uniformly neat, short haircuts and rather beefy builds, these sports wonks didn't appear too athletic, either.
Except for the Associated Press guy, no one seemed to be doing much work. Not that this made for convivial chatter. They sat there, quiet and well behaved, sipping Cokes and rustling around through pages of statistics brought to them each quarter by uniformed gofers.
The place seemed rather empty, though. Where was everyone?
They were down a flight of stairs pigging out in a small cafeteria. By the time I discovered the place, there was nothing left but some pasta and chocolate cake. The Jaguars spend $35,000 per year just feeding the media.
Why weren't they down in the locker room hanging with Marino before kickoff, seeing if he sacrificed a goat?
"That's not the way it works," said a guy sitting next to some camera equipment. "What planet are you from?"
For a while I watched the game, sitting next to a reporter from Pigskin Parlor, an 8000-circulation magazine based in Troy, New York, that seeks out inspirational tales of players and their "communities." Kim Augstein, Pigskin's representative, looked uninspired, but I couldn't blame her. The in-house play-by-play droned on; more stats arrived. The press box was distant, chilly, and efficient, like pro football itself. I couldn't imagine a worse place to watch the game.
The reporters seemed as much a part of the institution as the uniformed Jaguars assistants, and over the ensuing weeks I heard them ask some less-than-challenging questions. I remember a reporter wondering aloud to defensive end Jason Taylor whether, given the odds, it's a good idea for kids to pursue an NFL career. The surprise answer: "You need to go to class and get your degree. You need something to fall back on." Taylor looked weary.
Another time I actually heard a reporter say to a player: "You looked pretty incredible in that last play. But that's kinda who you are, isn't it?"
Were there any reporters who covered the game from the stands?
"No," said Dan Edwards, the Jaguars version of Harvey Greene.
At the end of the night, after being ejected from the locker room, I wasn't sure what to do. Strangely, there were no media types around waiting in the corridor for Marino to emerge. But there were three teenage girls and a little boy with a football.
In a few minutes, the door opened and Marino walked out. He went quickly down the corridor, right past the kiddies. I couldn't exactly fault him; neither the boy nor the girls made any move to get his attention. It didn't seem that they wanted an actual encounter, just a sighting. I tagged along until Marino slipped onto one of three charter buses and lit out for the airport through the soft Southern darkness.
Walking out of the stadium, I spotted one last Marino. He was passed out facedown on the pavement, ankles crossed and a plastic beer cup still firmly gripped in his right hand. In his dreams he was no doubt fading back for an 80-yard Hail Mary.
Much has been written -- gingerly at first, then with typical maudlinness -- about Marino's second-oldest son, who was diagnosed with mild autism in 1990. The child is nearly normal now, thanks to early intervention and expensive treatment.
Comparatively little has been said about Marino's own special form of autism. No public figure has been more photographed, written about, and talked of over the years in South Florida than Dan Marino. Yet he remains oddly distant. The corporate culture of the NFL, and professional obfuscators like Harvey Greene in particular, have something to do with this autism but can't explain it entirely away.
"Frankly, eliciting specifics from Marino has never been easy," Miami Herald Sports Editor Edwin Pope noted in September 1992. "As frankly, I have never been able to conclude whether this was a deliberate wariness brought on by a tumultuous last year at the University of Pittsburgh, or just Marino's natural face."
Pope in November 1995: "There is nothing in what Marino says to denote what he is. There are no funny stories because he is so everlastingly serious about football. He is hard to know; I have spent parts of 13 years with Marino, and part of one day with his father, and I feel as though I know the father better than the son."
Around every corner there's a backlash attending Marino's reticence. Just last week Marino's presence was announced to a crowd of 19,000 at a professional wrestling meet where he had taken his kids. The crowd booed.
A sputtering Hank Goldberg, one of South Florida's most astute and iconoclastic sports observers, would say on his radio show the next day: "This town is unbelievable! They don't deserve a guy like Marino!"
Marc Serota, whose photographs illustrate this story, spent a year behind the scenes with Marino and says he now considers the Pittsburgh native a friend. "Anybody who believes that approaching him in a restaurant while he's trying to eat and his kid is under the table yanking on his leg and he happens to say no to an autograph, anyone who thinks that is a means to judge what kind of person he is, is only shortchanging himself," Serota says.
"After 16 years in the NFL, Marino expects people to know who he is and respect him, but they don't," adds Serota. "Unfortunately the attitude among fans and the media is, 'What have you done for me lately?' Consequently, he's been very, very private when it comes to the real story of who he is."
Discussing why Serota's book on Marino remains the only one ever published, Harvey Greene notes: "If you look at other quarterbacks that have had books written about them, they're one of two things. Either they recently played in Super Bowls, or they're brazen and outspoken and bombastic and all the things that Danny is not."
Says Marino's marketing agent, Ralph Stringer: "Danny's about as normal as you could get. He's like you or I, other than there's one important difference -- he can sling it, we can't."
Kevin McCarthy, owner of Armadillo Cafe, agrees. "They don't play the star game," McCarthy says, referring to Marino and his wife. "She doesn't call up and say, 'This is Mrs. Marino, and I'd like a table for 40.' She'll call me up and say, 'Can I come in for dinner,' and four people, and this night. Then I'll say, 'What's the name,' and she'll say, 'Marino.' They're not trying to push their way in or anything. They come in and dine early. Sometimes they bring the kids. That's it."
After shadowing Marino for weeks, GQ correspondent Peter Richmond found a Zen-like emptiness at the end of the road. "The key to his brilliance as a quarterback has always been the absence of reflection," Richmond writes. "And this is probably also as good a way of describing him off the field as any."
I didn't believe it. I was sure the Marino conundrum would burn away the more passes I made through the locker room. It was about all I could do, since Marino, through a third party, had nixed my requests to interview his famously chatty dad, his gregarious bodyguard, and various other people close to him.
The locker room: A sign above the door reads "Aggressive." Another sign, somewhat unbelievable, announces Friday-night Bible-study meetings. Five days before the Dolphins meet the Rams at home, we are waiting for Marino in front of his locker at the training camp near Nova Southeastern University.
Inside Marino's locker I see containers of Carmex and Mentadent, pictures of his kids, jeans and shower shoes and car keys and golf visors; a crucifix with blue rosary beads, an oversize shot glass, and a gold money clip stuffed with hundreds.
Marino emerges. There's a rush to his locker. My notebook falls on the floor. Marino launches right into a rehash of the Jacksonville game: "... balanced team... I'm very critical of myself, I feel like I should make every play possible... to be efficient doesn't necessarily mean you have to throw a lot...."
"Did you feel like you were in The Zone, Danny, during that game? Or were you just kind of keeping it going?" someone asks. Talking about The Zone has gotten fashionable in recent years, just as talking about "smash-mouth football" has been all the rage the past few seasons.
"I don't know what you mean by 'The Zone,' bro'." Marino says.
Greene pops up in the pack like a jack-in-the-box and says: "Thanks guys! That's all! It's time to bring him inside for the trainer!" Time, too, for the assembled reporters to retire to the press room, where a dozen hot, fresh pizzas are waiting, care of the Dolphins. Let's face it -- which would you rather do, eat pizza or try to interview a grumpy legend? Greene figured this one out years ago.
On the way out, I pass a female sports reporter, still a rare sight. She has flown in from St. Louis and, through sheer bad luck, has just missed her only stab at Marino.
A companion, probably her cameraman, consoles her. Sort of. He says: "Don't feel bad. I got tape. But I guarantee you there's nothing worthwhile on that tape."
The sportswriter sighs. "The guys who have been in it the longest -- I mean Elway's kind of the same way, although I think he's a little more open -- we tried to get him on a conference call last year, and we couldn't get him. It's the guys who've been in it the longest. After a while, they're stars, they get sick of it. You can almost understand it, but, at the same time, it's frustrating."
"Kind of arrogant, isn't it?" I suggest.
"Yeah, well," she says, chewing on the question. "I guess they have a right to be."
Well, maybe.
The Rams-Dolphins game turns out to be a dull, incremental shoving match. The Dolphins win, as they were expected to. The fans start filing out of Pro Player Stadium early in the fourth quarter.
When the game is finally over, I notice that Marino looks just as glum after winning as he does after losing. He's standing in front of his locker in nothing but a white towel, subtly scratching his privates and holding a toothbrush with toothpaste on it.
A member of the media pack is asking: "Is it easier knowing you don't have to be perfect out there, the way the defense is playing, does it help a little bit?"
Marino: "Well, obviously, I'm the type, I try to be perfect all the time, so uh, that's just my attitude."
"A couple of general questions unrelated to the game --" I start to say.
Marino hits me with the blue laser lock and looks exasperated. "Can I talk about the game, though?" he says.
Another reporter jumps in: "Did he have some trouble running routes earlier in the year?"
"Who?" asks Marino.
"I think, ah, for a rookie and a guy who's just starting to get into it, it takes time to understand what you're trying to get out of the offense and what you're trying to get out of the passing game, and he's still working on it. But he has that God-given gift of speed, and that helps."
The pack runs out of questions and Dan heads for the showers, still holding the toothbrush like the fetish of an African chieftain. "One quick question," I say, sidling up.
"Go ahead," says Dan, stopping.
"Kind of a different type of question. It's about celebrity."
"About being a celebrity," I say. "Some people over the years have perceived you as being distant from your fans and irritable with the press. Do you see yourself that way?"
"No, not at all," Dan says. "No. No! I don't agree with that at all. No. I'm always straightforward with the press. I just try to be private with my family, and that's very important."
"So it doesn't bother you having total strangers come up to you and address you as Dan?"
"Nah. Doesn't bother me. That's just part of the job. OK, chief?"
Dan smiles as much as he ever does. I'm a pretty good mind reader. Dan's thinking: Now lemme brush my teeth please....
Fifteen minutes later I tag along with Marino down a dim tunnel and emerge into a section of parking lot. On one side of a steel barrier, fans are gawking and pointing, but they're too far away to connect. Marino, dressed now in a green-and-brown silk shirt, embraces his business partner from Cleveland, Tom Zidian. Zidian is president of LaRussa Pasta; Marino has been the company's spokesman since 1996. A pair of Hooters girls wander by, casting sidelong glances at the star. Dan Morgan, Marino's bodyguard ("without actually saying so, ya know?") lurks near a limo. He reportedly carries a holstered .25 caliber revolver riding his right ankle.
Brian Ostrom, an American Airlines pilot, is congratulating Marino on the game and saying, "You gotta come out to Lake Tahoe after the season and play some golf with us." By knowing the right people, Ostrom has gotten himself on the right side of the steel barrier. He's high on star proximity. "Dan's the king here in South Florida," he says, gesturing with a plastic beer cup. "No doubt about it."
What's this legend like?
"He's intense! He's trying to be a professional and win football games," Ostrom says. "Since I first met him, he's been nothing but, 'Hi, how are ya, let's play golf.'"
After talking with me for a few minutes, Ostrom looks around and notices Marino has left in a Mercedes-Benz. The party's breaking up; Marino's inner circle is moving toward dinner without Ostrom. He shrugs.
Mark Clayton, once the most spectacularly gifted pass-catcher in the Dolphins' stable, now has a gig signing autographs from atop a barstool at the Miccosukee Indian Gaming hall. Ex-receiver Mark Duper, the erstwhile Horatio to Marino's Hamlet, has by all accounts squandered his millions and fallen off the face of the Earth. Don Shula, Marino's legendary former coach, drifts in his dotage, summering in North Carolina and hawking steak houses. Only Marino remains from the '80s, a time when the Dolphins captured the dreams of a nation before settling back into a long, erratic ride.
Take whatever charm and spirit and generosity and courage and human warmth may or may not exist in Dan Marino and extrude it through a sieve that permits only the bitterest essence of these qualities to emerge. Imagine Porky Pig come to life as a monomaniacal corporate raider, the grim, mercenary distillate of the competitive impulse. That is Jimmy Johnson. Marino represents everything the NFL pretends to be; Jimmy Johnson is everything it really is, especially now.
Since taking over as head coach three years ago, Johnson has vowed to rely on defense, emphasize the running game, and minimize risk. "The bottom line is production," he said a year ago, summing himself up. This season, with a mandate from the lackluster losses of the previous two, he is finally putting his plan into effect. The result is some of the most tedious and puzzling football ever witnessed in South Florida.
It is also a de facto demotion for Marino, because, be it a gift of God or a genetic anomaly, Marino's skill at throwing footballs has been subsumed by the group. The ball has been taken out of his hands and placed in the care of various mediocre running backs. When Marino does pass -- often in desperation, when the defense fails or the running game gets nowhere -- there's not much of a player to catch the ball.
The combination of the new incrementalist running game and the lack of good receivers adds up to another failure to connect, one that reaches beyond Marino's image-managers and his own special autism.
Paradoxically, Jimmy Johnson's strategy is working -- sort of. And Marino, publicly at least, says he's all for it. Going into their third road game, against the Buffalo Bills, the Dolphins were 5-2 and leading the AFC.
On the Wednesday before the game, I returned to the Dolphins' training camp for the last time. Greene was already up in Buffalo, doing whatever public relations men do before a big game. Marino poked his head into the locker room but then vanished. Greene's second-in-command, Neal Gulkis, explained that Marino wasn't going to talk. "No. Not today," Gulkis said. "Dan's not coming out."
I stopped in front of the bulletin board as I was leaving. Someone had posted two copies of an article from the Toronto Sun datelined September 18. "Describing certain Buffalo reporters as 'scumbags,' guard Rubin Brown yesterday broke a month-long vow of silence by Buffalo's defensive line to rip the western New York press for what he perceives as cheap shots directed at both his unit and team," the article said.
Troy Drayton was relaxing in front of his locker, and I asked him about this animosity between high-priced football players and the allegedly free press. "Anytime you get a camera shoved in your face, it gets under your skin," Drayton said. "And you get a lot of stupid questions. Look at the question. Look at the circumstances it's asked under. There's your answer."
I drove over to a friend's house to watch the Dolphins-Bills game. In my mind it was a foregone conclusion. The preposterous Bills, quarterbacked by an underpaid, longhaired gnome named Doug Flutie, would stomp the crap out of the vanilla-flavored Dolphins, led by an inscrutable, aging legend with a bad-luck number on his back.
And that's just what happened.
The Dolphins aren't a great team this season; they don't deserve to win any Super Bowls; and none of this is the fault of Dan Marino, a bona fide sports legend trapped in a labyrinth built by moneymen, fickle fans, and media mopes.
What will become of South Florida when Marino moves off stage into a Percocet haze of knee transplants, cameo spots on Yuletide razor commercials, and charity golf? It will feel like a death of sorts, and Marino will have died for our sins.
But a new legend will be bought or manufactured. Finally no one will even notice Marino's absence, and the slow eclipse of a superstar will be complete.
The new prince could come from anywhere. Going into the Bills game, a press release announced that Dolphins quarterback Craig Erickson's elbow was damaged enough to take him out for the rest of the season. Suddenly Damon Huard, the team's third-string quarterback, was in a position to replace Marino if the legend failed to get back up from his next sack. This omnipresent possibility was enhanced by the recent injury and removal of All-Pro tackle Richmond Webb, who guarded Marino's blind side.
Huard was basking in the sudden attention. He described his recent personal background -- how he played an exile year in the World League in Europe and how he spent another year off from football working as a PR man for Phil Allen, owner of the Seattle Seahawks. That job, which paid $30,000 per year, involved a lot of speaking dates before chambers of commerce and Rotary clubs, drumming up support for a grotesque piece of corporate welfare -- Allen's bid to build a new stadium with public money. "I had to be very persuasive," Huard said. "Basically I was a lobbyist. It was awesome."
Junior lobbyist or no, Huard still possessed disarming candor in comparison to Marino. He said he was thinking of naming his new cat Gypsy, after the Fleetwood Mac song.
"How do you think Marino would adjust to being backup -- number two -- if that should ever happen?" I asked Huard, knowing it to be mainly a hypothetical question.
"I really wouldn't like to comment on that," Huard said, laughing. "I don't know what to say to that question."
"How hard is it to tell the truth, in the position you're in?" I asked.
"It can be hard sometimes, real hard," Huard said, taking the question seriously. "It can be tough, there's no doubt about it."
I never got the chance to ask Saint Marino the real questions, the ones like: DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT THROWING A BIG COCAINE PARTY AT THAT MANSION OUT IN WESTON AND INVITING ALL THE CHEERLEADERS OVER FOR SOME SERIOUS SKINNY-DIPPING?
But you and I know the answer to that one.
Before last weekend's game against the Indianapolis Colts, I put in a final call to Harvey Greene. I asked him if I could arrange to be tackled a few times by linebacker Zach Thomas. This would give me a feel for Marino's work-life.
Greene said this was impossible. Thomas might get hurt, he explained.
"Well," I said, "I appreciate you spending time with me, Harvey. You've been very helpful."
"No, I haven't," Greene said.
I reminded him that if Marino ever wanted to chat, I am listed in the phone book. He said he'd pass the message along.
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mzaur wrote:Dechen Norbu wrote:What isn't "damned starkly simple" is why you then become conscious if you happen to die. Or if you have an NDE, for instance, with your brain functions completely impaired. Namdrol provided an interesting hypothesis from the tantras. .
Have you ever died?
Your picture of Samantabhadra has the legs cut off. I would change it.