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Yambong in Singalia presents the amazing Trekking experiences in Sikkim with the most spectacular sights of Mt. Everest ranges and Kanchendzonga. The region and tracks are full of beautiful flora and fauna which covers the South West of the Varsey Rhododendron Sanctuary of Sikkim.
The trek begins from the helmets of Culmiates and Ambu at Yuksom. The most well known ranges that cover the holy countryside scenes of Mt. Khangchendzonga which are know as Singalila. The famous ranges of Yambong Singalila trail is the fortune ranges of the mountain, which we can explore, and is considered as the most amazing hidden heaven on earth. A person who loves trekking adventures, different cultures and nature can take advantage of the most pleasurable trekking experience. It also offers the most panoramic sightseeing experience of Khangchendzonga, Mt. Pandim, Singalia Trek, Dzongri and its surrounded ranges.
The trek trails crosses through the ranges of Singallia which is the border of the Sikkim and east of Nepal. The region surrounding the park offers the most amazing wilderness mountain peaks and are the highest mountains which are towering at the top of virtually untouched covering forest. You can also view glaciers in the areas of the park.
Yambong is also known for its cultural fusion which is visible clearly. This valley offers everything fulfilling for every tourists desire as it is the land of festivals and fairs, holy peaks and rivers, living local cultures and caves, pilgrim spots and snow covered mountains and also present the most beautiful flora and fauna of the valley.
Versay Trek is located in the extreme west. It is famous for Rhododendron forests. A must visit of a forest has umpteen Rhododendrons. The whole forest is ablaze with riot of Rhododendron Flowers. The back drop of the mountains is truly a mesmerizing experience.
The trekking in sikkim is considered to be one of the most attractive, by nature lovers. It takes adventurers through the Rhododendron forests & steep hills. The journey starts at Bagdogra, through Gangtok, Hilley to reach Versey. The journey is a combination of drive and trek, thus not making it very tiresome. The Uttaranchal trek gives you an opportunity to visit the famous Tibetian monasteries, Institute of Tibetology and many other related things which are allied with ancient Tibetan culture.
The night stay in camps is another experience which many visitors cherish for long in their memories. The trekkers huts are located in the most picturesque locations. The towering mountains will give you a feeling of a dwarf. The abundant variety of orchids and species of birds, for which the region is famous, offer you remarkable views on the way. Sikkim has many more places to visit and these Sikkim tourist places are some of the most famous ones in India.
Kanchenjunga or the Khangchendzonga Base Camp trek is considered as one of the most awe-inspiring and overwhelming treks in India. Offering some of the challenging yet delightful trails, this trek is undertaken by trekkers from different parts of the world. While for the non-adventurers this trek might sound difficult and strenuous, for the thrill mongers it is a dream come true!
Originating from Yuksom, this trek continues towards Bakhim, Dzongri and some of the other destinations and finally turns towards Yuksom. Within the eight days of trekking, the trekkers will have the astounding views of the Mt Khangchendzonga and other enchanting and soaring peaks of the region.
Quick Facts:
Temperature: 10 to 15 degrees in the morning and 2 to 5 degrees at night
Trekking Distance: 90km
Maximum Altitude: 17,000ft
Difficulty Level: Moderate to Difficult
Starting and Ending Point: The trek starts and ends at Yuksom
Railway Station: New Jalpaiguri is the nearest railway station to Yuksom
Airport: Bagdogra airport (160 Kms from Yuksom)
Base Camp: Yuksom
The people of Sikkim often assert that North Sikkim is as stunning as Switzerland. We may hear it when we will get there, or see it repeatedly mentioned in various brochures and guide books. Several decades earlier, a European guest of our late king had passed a remark to that order, and now the legend lives. True to this erstwhile visitors remark, many others after him have also reiterated the fact that North Sikkim is undeniably truly attractive. The views are ever-changing; along the way include rustic wayside hamlets bounded by terraced fields, monasteries, torrential mountain streams with lush green forests everywhere.
The journey to the North follows the North Sikkim Highway. This drive is an exploratory drive, which passes through high hills and deep river valleys that ends up in the foothills of the Himalayan Treks where gentle meadows overlook snow-clad Rocky Mountains.
Green Lake Trek in North Sikkim is very luxurious as it also includes Liaison Officer from the Home Department, Government of Sikkim and Liaison Officers from the Indian Army accompanying the group on the sikkim trek, all the expenses has to be borne by the agency, which is not required for other regions.
This Sikkim Trekking offers trekking holiday to Lahbha Tarum Tsachu. This is the only trek which has mountain or high altitude trek, Jungle trek, Rhododendron Trek, Lake Trek, as well as hot spring (Tarum hot spring) treks on the whole. What awaits the tourists is the uninhabited treasure of wildlife, sheer thrill and a lot of adrenaline rush.
Lahbha (Labha) Trek is one of the mystic and undiscovered places in India for adventure, pleasure, peace, spiritualism, cuisine, Wildlife, sports, and romance. The trekkers who have desire to view Kanchendzonga at a crow-fly distance of only 16 km, passing through jungles, mountains to view maximum number of mountain peaks, this is the trek to go for. This is the most ideal trek to enjoy the mountains at the nearest view point. It is said to be the paradise of lush forested mountain slopes where we can get glimpses of colorful birds and butterflies and discover a variety of wild and rare flora. While trekking we get a chance to appreciate the fresh mountain air and silence of wilderness and breath-taking view as Sikkim Himalayas unfolds itself before us. Here one can take pleasure in the views from Donkhala peak and Khangchengyo, which is one of the two guardian deities of people living in Achung and Lichen.
About the Destination:
A wonderland in the North Eastern part of the country, North Sikkim is one of the least explored destinations in the country. Jotted with scenic lakes, lofty mountains, colourful meadows, rich flora and dense forests, it truly proves to be a paradise for the visitors.
Green Lake near Lachen is one such hidden gem that allows amazing view of the Kanchenjunga and other glorious Himalayan peaks. Adventurers embark on the famous green lake trek Sikkim, to revel in the beauty of the mountains! The winding road that leads to this stunning lake is interspersed with a large variety of rhododendrons that are a sight for the eyes. Though the going is tough through rocky terrain and dense forests, the end result is worth the effort.
About the Departure with Details:
A walk with nature is meditative, therapeutic and exciting! Begin your 13-day green lake trekking tour from Bagdogra airport or New Jalpaiguri Railway Station and drive to Sikkim's capital Gangtok. Along the drive, the gurgling Teesta River and the mountain ranges will surely mesmerise you with their immaculate beauty.
The Sikkim Green Lake trek begins from Lachen, slowly scale heights and traverse through forests to reach the destination - Green Lake in North Sikkim. Rugged and uneven terrains, bright and colourful flowers, rare orchids and panoramic views are the main attraction on the way.
Meal Types: Vegetarian
Activities: Trekking, Ropeway Ride, Camping
Duration: 12N/13D
Total Trekking Distance: 32km
Maximum Altitude: 5,050m
Temperature Range: Summer: 100 to 280C; Winter: -50 to 150C
Difficulty Level: Moderate to Difficult
About the Destination:
Nestled high in the Himalayas between China to the north, Bhutan to east and Nepal to eastern frontier, Sikkim is often described as a land of unparalleled scenic beauty. A hidden gem in the north-eastern region of the country, trekkers on this trek get introduced to the fascinating beauty of picturesque landscapes, exotic wildlife and rolling wildlife.
The Yuksom to Dzongri trek in Sikkim is one of those trekking trips in India that will bring you to virgin, undiscovered lands coupled with the towering mountain peaks for company, that will ensure that you are among great company. The trek is often dubbed as 'walking in Paradise' and can be safely said that it is a traveller's delight.
About the Departure:
The Yuksom Dzongri trek will take you to the heart of the beautiful Sikkim landscape. One will be tasked to make their way through the rugged, challenging and fascinating trails. Offering you a glimpse of some of the magnificent peaks like Kabru (7,353m), Ratong (6,678m), Kanchenjunga (8,534m), Koktang (6,147m), Pandim (6,691m) and Narsingh (5,825m).
Along your way to the Dzongri peak, you can also visit several other attractions as well. This includes some of the popular and stunning waterfalls within the region, sunset point like Tiger Hill in Darjeeling which will cap off a wonderful trek.
About the Destinations:
If you want to live a Himalayan trekking experience to the fullest, attempt the Goecha la Trekking in Sikkim. For, it takes you on a fulfilling and rich journey that has you capture the Himalayan framework like no other trek. Originating from the historic Yuksom settlement (1,780m), the trail ascends to pass through really old rhododendron forests to land at clearings formed by high altitude alpine meadows.
With the incredible view of the Kangchanjunga, the highlight of this experience is the Goechala Pass (4,940m) from where the second tallest Himalayan peak seems just an arm's distance away.
Just right for a seasoned trekker, the Goechala trek in Sikkim puts forth challenges of subtropical bamboo forests, luxuriant ferns, and dense forests of oak to eventually open vistas that provide uninterrupted views of the Kanchenjunga.
About the Destination:
A pictorial destination for the nature and adventure lovers, Goechala pass in Sikkim is amongst the most beautiful passes in the world. Embraced with the charm of high soaring peaks, stunning rivers, picturesque meadows and a wide range of flora and fauna, this pass in the North Eastern corner of India is also one of the most sought after trekking destinations in the country.
Be it the narrow yet fascinating passes, whirly and rugged terrains, or the challenges offered by the high altitude of the Dzongri Goechala trek which make it difficult, everything about this trek is very captivating! Originating from Yuksom, this 11days trek takes you through several other captivating destinations, mountain peaks, plains and valley. While on this trip, be always prepared to witness all the marvels of the nature at your every step!
Landlocked in the Indian Himalayas, Sikkim is one of the most picturesque states in the country. Though small, this state has get all the reasons to be called as a nature's paradise! Jotted with fascinating hills and mountains, gurgling rivers, lush and evergreen forests, colourful gardens and other natural marvels, Sikkim truly proves to be an ideal holiday destination.
Home to some of the most captivating peaks, Sikkim is also the most befitting destination to conquer the Kanchenjunga Peak. The third highest peak in the world, this astounding mountain reaches a height of 8,586m, and is known to be one of the most sought after peak for the trekkers and other adventure junkies.
Join this 11 days' trek in Sikkim and fulfil your desire to step into a journey, where every single moment will keep you enthralled! Quench all your yearnings of stepping into the Indian Himalayas and conquer the mighty Kanchenjunga Peak!
Duration of the tour: 10N/11D
Activities: Trekking
Highest Altitude: Goechala (4,490m)
About the activity:
Meal Types: Vegetarian meals
Accommodation Types: Hotels
Activities: Cycling, Rock Climbing, Hiking, Sight Seeing
Difficulty Level: Moderate


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Category: science fiction author names
By Nephele
What is steampunk?
Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that presents an alternative future or universe in which modern-day type inventions and conveniences are propelled by steam or inventive clockwork mechanisms. Dirigible airships are also iconic to steampunk.
Although the steampunk movement emerged in the 1980s, there have also been novels, movies, and television series which are today identified as steampunk (or containing steampunk elements) that predate the actual coining of the term.
The steampunk movement has inspired an entire subculture consisting of enthusiasts who meet at steampunk conventions and who tend to dress in fabulous fashions that meld a futuristic look with nineteenth century Victoriana. Much of steampunk fashion incorporates goggles (the apparent badge of the Victorian scientist/adventurer). Steampunk jewelry features clockwork motifs.

subset: commoncrawl


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McDade impressing Indians in spring
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Spring results do not always portend future success, but they can make a great first impression. One player who has caught Cleveland's eye in this preseason's early going is Minor League first baseman Mike McDade.
Indians manager Terry Francona is impressed by what he has seen so far.
"The season is more important, obviously," Francona said. "But we love when guys show up and do great. The impression guys make is important, but how they do in their season certainly is more important. I think it's more the impression, how guys go about their business."
The Indians claimed the 23-year-old McDade off waivers from the Blue Jays on Nov. 30 and will likely send him to Triple-A Columbus to open this season. In the meantime, Cleveland is using the spring slate to get a close look at McDade's potential.
Entering Sunday's game against the Dodgers, the switch-hitting McDade had hit at a .500 (7-for-14) clip with one home run, a pair of doubles and nine RBIs through eight Cactus League games for the Tribe.
Francona said he was not entirely surprised by McDade's prolific start to the spring.
"He had a pretty good year when he went to Triple-A last year," Francona said. "I think that's the idea, that his bat probably needs to carry him. He's not going to be a base stealer. He's probably going to go as far as his bat carries him."
Last season, McDade hit .285 overall with a .360 on-base percentage and a .445 slugging percentage between Double-A and Triple-A in Toronto's farm system. In 118 games, McDade piled up 17 home runs, 19 doubles, 53 runs and 67 RBIs. He hit .338 with a .885 on-base plus slugging percentage in 18 games with Triple-A Las Vegas.
Francona has also been impressed with how the 6-foot-1, 250-pound McDade has handled himself at first base.
"You look at his body, he actually does a pretty good job at first base," Francona said. "He's very big, but he's pretty -- I don't know if nimble is the right word -- but he's going to catch what he gets to and his hands are pretty soft."


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Ryane Clowe had a busy night on Sunday for the San Jose Sharks. The gritty forward spent plenty of time in the penalty box in the Sharks' 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
And that time began right when the puck dropped. Clowe picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after he and Alexandre Burrows got into at center ice.
Burrows and Sharks forward Logan Couture made contact in the faceoff circle, before Clowe got involved.
From there, Clowe picked up a five minute fighting major after trading punches with Vancouver's Zack Kassian. Clowe also added a holding the stick penalty in the first period.
In the second period, Clowe was called for tripping. And his penalty extravagance kicked into overdrive at 19:33 in the second period. Clowe was called for high sticking and then picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty shortly thereafter. After slamming his stick against the wall of the penalty box, Clowe received a 10-minute misconduct penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct penalty that ended his night.
After the game, Sharks coach Todd McLellan told reports he was not at all happy with the penalties.
"We're not happy about the penalties and that's all I am going to say," McLellan said. "I owe Ryan Clowe my conversation. I have a lot of respect for him. I am happy we won with a good, gritty effort."
All in all, Clowe racked up 35 penalty minutes on eight penalties. The team's combined for 84 penalty minutes, with San Jose totaling 51. However, Vancouver couldn't make San Jose pay on the scoreboard, going 0-for-7 on the power play in the loss.


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San Francisco, CA | New York, NY | London, GB | Tokyo, JP | Honolulu, HI | Singapore, SG
"Made in China" to "Designed in China"?
Join Eight Inc. at the 2012 Beijing Design Week
751 D-Park, Beijing, China
28 Sept – 6 Oct, 2012
Eight Inc. is proud to be participating in the 2012 Beijing Design Week. In its annual design festival, Beijing will present the works of local and international artists and designers. Beijing is fast becoming a major design metropolis, recognized by its recent nomination as UNESCO City of Design joining the likes of Berlin, Montréal and Buenos Aires.
At Beijing Design Week, Eight Inc. will showcase several of their diverse and award-winning projects: amongst them its influential work for Citibank which resulted in the invention of a new human-centric banking experience. The Malama Learning Center - a unique and sustainable place on the island of Oahu for learning, arts and culture. And furthermore its long-standing work for Apple, including the creation of the Apple retail store program.
Tim Kobe, Founder and CEO of Eight Inc. will also address students and faculty at the renowned Tsinghua University on the topic of Technology and Design. Tim will speak about the technology innovation work that Eight Inc. has done for some of the most successful and best loved brands in the world such as Apple, Nokia and Citibank.
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Exclusive Military Discounts, Benefits & Rewards for
Active Duty Military, Veterans and Their Families Exclusive Military Discounts, Benefits & Rewards for Active Duty Military, Veterans and Their Families
As our boat touched sand and the ramp went down, I became a visitor to hell.
-- Pvt. Charles Neighbor, 29th Infantry Division, Omaha Beach
BEDFORD Virginia -- President Bush came to this small Blue Ridge town June 6 to dedicate the National D-Day Memorial to the soldiers who assaulted the beaches of Normandy, France, during World War II.
"You have raised a fitting memorial to D-Day and you've put it in just the right place," Bush told a crowd of more than 20,000. "Not on a battlefield of war, but in a small Virginia town, a place like so many others that were home to the men and women who helped liberate a continent.
"What was gained that first day was a beach, and then a village and then a country. And in time, all of Western Europe would be freed from fascism and its armies," the President said. "Free societies in Europe can be traced to the first footprints on the first beach on June 6, 1944.
"What was lost on D-Day we can never measure and never forget," he said. "When the day was over, America and our Allies had lost at least 2,500 men. Many thousands more would die on the days that followed. They scaled towering cliffs, looking straight up into enemy fire. They dropped onto grassy fields sown with land mines. They overran machine gun nests hidden everywhere, punched through walls of barbed wire and overtook bunkers of concrete and steel."
The President quoted World War II journalist Ernie Pyle: "It seemed to me a pure miracle that we ever took the beach at all. The advantages were all theirs, the disadvantages all ours. And yet, we got on."
The two-hour ceremony was highlighted by D-Day veterans reading other veterans' written accounts of the horror, sorrow, fear, and heroism during the invasion. Hundreds of veterans traveled from across the country to attend the event.
French Ambassador to the United States Francois Bujon de l'Estang thanked all D-Day veterans for liberating France. Representatives from the United Kingdom and other Allied countries participated in the ceremony.
The Home They Left Behind
The price style Bedford paid to be the memorial site was in blood.
"Upon this beautiful town fell the heaviest share of American losses on D-Day -- 19 men from a community of 3,200, four more afterwards," President Bush told the crowd. "When people come here, it is important to see the town as the monument itself. Here were the images these soldiers carried with them and they thought of when they were afraid. This is the place the soldiers left behind, and here was the life they dreamed of returning to."
War historians say the tiny town's 23 deaths were the highest per-capita loss of any single community in the United States. The 19 Bedford fathers, sons, uncles, and brothers who perished on D-Day died in the first 15 minutes of the invasion of OmahaBeach. Mortar and machine gun fire killed many before they could step from their landing craft. Two more Bedford men died before the month was out, and two more were killed before the war in
Totally Decimated
Omaha Beach was the scene of the bloodiest fighting on D- Day. The Bedford men were in the Virginia National Guard's Company A, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. The 170-man company virtually ceased to exist as a fighting unit that first day -- 90 percent were dead or wounded on Omaha.
Operation Overlord involved the United States and 11 Allied countries. The Allies amassed 5,333 ships, nearly 11,000 airplanes, 50,000 military vehicles, and more than 154,000 soldiers to launch the largest amphibious invasion in history.
The Allied strategy was to create five beachheads, each three to four miles wide. Units on the beaches were to solidify their gains by linking up as fast as possible with airborne forces that landed behind enemy lines the night before to capture key locations.
Allied forces sustained heavy casualties in breaching Adolf Hitler's Atlantic Wall along the northern coast of France - 9,758 dead and wounded on D-Day, including 6,603 U.S. casualties.
'Overlord Arc'
Bedford was officially named the memorial site on November 11, 1994. Groundbreaking followed three years later. Today, a 44-foot-6-inch granite-and-marble "Overlord Arc" sits on a platform atop Bedford's highest hill. Its dimensions are symbolic -- 44 feet for 1944 and 6 inches for June 6.
Surrounded by life-sized bronze soldiers, the arc dominates the memorial visually, but is only one element. Statuary symbolically re-creates a D-Day beach landing in a fan-shaped pool extending from the base of the arc platform. Plans also call for an education center, scheduled to open in the spring of 2003.
The $13.6 million monument complex occupies 88 acres of former pastureland in Bedford, about 25 miles east of Roanoke.
Source: American Forces Press Service via Veterans News and Information Service


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Madson's brief outing encouraging to Angels
CHICAGO -- Ryan Madson threw a very encouraging simulated game in Arizona on Saturday morning, prompting the Angels to stick with their best-case scenario for the 32-year-old right-hander: Pitch in a rehab game for Class A Inland Empire on Monday, then again on Wednesday, and perhaps join the Angels' bullpen after that.
That can change by the day, of course, but manager Mike Scioscia and pitching coach Mike Butcher watched video of Madson's one-inning outing and felt he threw very well, mixing in good changeups and going up to 94 mph with his fastball.
"One thing is, you don't want a guy down there wasting bullets if he's ready," Scioscia said. "He does need a little work, but he doesn't need to be stretched out to 30 pitches. If he's showing he can bounce back, we can monitor his usage here [in the big leagues]. I'd rather have him twice a week than not at all."
Alden Gonzalez is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Gonzo and "The Show", and follow him on Twitter @Alden_Gonzalez. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Water is essential for all life and both water availability and quality should be a vital consideration on all dairies. Mainly we think of the importance of water for our lactating cows, as milk itself is about 87% water.
However, making milk isn't the only thing that water is essential for. Water is required for digestion and metabolism of energy and nutrients, transport of those nutrients, excretion of waste, maintenance of fluid balances, as well as generation of new tissues. It is important to think of not only the lactating cattle in our barns, but the growing heifers as well. Water plays a key role in driving feed intake to promote growth and development in young calves and older heifers. It is just as important, if not more important, to ensure that these animals have adequate access to water as it is for lactating cows. Water intake is even more crucial during periods of cold weather.
In periods of extremely low temperatures, it can be particularly difficult to provide water to calves in hutches with rapidly freezing buckets, but it is critical that water be offered to calves throughout the day. At a recent dairy management conference, Dr. Simon Peek from the University of Wisconsin stressed the importance of water and providing it immediately after feeding, even in the winter months. When asked why water should be offered after feeding when drinking the milk or milk replacer should quench their thirst. Dr. Peek responded with his own question: "How many people are thirsty and end up going to get a drink after eating ice cream?" This was an interesting analogy, and made a lot of sense. Unfortunately there is not much research available to reference looking at offering calves water, and more specifically looking at the time of delivery or preference for when calves will drink.
Regardless of delivery method and time preference, access to water is necessary for calves. In a neonatal calf, water makes up 85.8% of its body weight. Many believe that the water in milk replacer is adequate for calves, but supplemental water is required to maximize the growth of these animals.
A 1984 study showed that with no supplemental water provided to calves, dry-matter intake decreased by 31% and weight gain decreased by 38% when compared with calves offered supplemental water in addition to milk replacer. This is a substantial decrease showing that for each extra liter of water consumed there was a corresponding increase in weight gain of 56 grams per day. In accordance with a summary of data from Cornell University, gains prior to weaning ultimately lead to greater milk production later in life. To provide our calves with the best opportunity to grow into healthy and productive animals, supplemental water must be provided.
Although it might be difficult, ensure that calves have access to water all throughout the day even in the winter months. Providing your calves with water will ultimately provide you with better growth, healthier, and more productive animals.


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What a difference a year makes.
A victory in the 2010 Brickyard 400 was quite an accomplishment in itself for Jamie McMurray. Except that he also won the Daytona 500, not to mention the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte.
Yet, in spite of victories in NASCAR's two most prestigious races, McMurray, 35, failed to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Though the Joplin, Mo., native has won six Sprint Cup races in his career, he has never finished a season in the top 10 of the point standings.
By MONTE DUTTON
King Features
Second place was almost a first, and who could blame David Reutimann for feeling that way after the inaugural Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on July 9?
Before roaring past five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson at the finish, Reutimann, who has two career Cup wins, had finished no better than ninth in 2011.
Joey Logano, who won the Sprint Cup Series' Rookie of the Year award in 2009, turned some heads at Infineon Raceway by winning the pole.
Let us consider the strange case of Richard Childress and Kyle Busch.
Childress is the last vestige — full-time, anyway — of old school in NASCAR team ownership. He and Dale Earnhardt made a perfect match. Childress interacted as easily with Bud Moore and Junior Johnson as he now does with Rick Hendrick and Roger Penske. Childress's success is grounded in the way that he manages to bridge the generations.
Race Schedule
May 7— Darlington
May 15 — Dover
May 21 — Showdown
May 29 — Charlotte
June 5 — Kansas
June 12 — Pocono
June 9 — Michigan
June 26 — Sonoma
July 2 — Daytona
This stage of Kasey Kahne's career is tumultuous almost by definition. What should be the prime of the 31-year-old's career is a bit muddled, if only for now. Kahne left Richard Petty Motorsports near the end of last season. In 2012, he will join Hendrick Motorsports, replacing Mark Martin.
This year, though, Kahne is taking a one-year ride with Team Red Bull as a teammate of Brian Vickers.
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
When I first began writing about NASCAR, the track in North Wilkesboro had 60,000 seats. Then Bruton Smith and Bob Bahre carved it up as if they were diplomats playing Monopoly with conquered land, and the capacity was revealed to be 37,000. Same when International Speedway Corporation got its hands on Martinsville and alleged attendance dropped by a third even though the grandstands remained the same.
Todd Bodine is the reigning champion of the Camping World Truck Series. In the past six seasons, he has won two championships and never finished lower than fourth in the season standings.
Though he is coming off a third-place finish at Darlington Raceway on March 12, Bodine faces challenges in defending his 2010 championship. It remains a struggle to secure enough sponsorship for his Germain Racing Toyota.
Copyright © 2017
The Chiefland Citizen is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Levy County and Chiefland Florida, and the surrounding area.


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Review: 'Timon of Athens' has his rare day
If you're looking for a play about a man of high standing who falls from grace and spends his latter days crazed and in the forest, the natural choice is one of William Shakespeare's greatest works, "King Lear."
But wait -- there's another play from the same era and with the same basic plot line, one of William Shakespeare's lesser works: "Timon of Athens."
Whereas "Lear" is a standout, "Timon" is convoluted and disjointed -- did they use the word "mess" in Elizabethan English? – and for a long time, scholars suspected that Shakespeare had never finished writing it.
The current theory is, what you see in the script is what you get – the total package. But you can't necessarily see it on stage; "Timon" is not generally produced. So the "Timon of Athens' being presented in Center City by the Philadelphia Artists' Collective is an opportunity. While it's far from the dressy production that "Timon" may need to help mask its pedestrian script, this "Timon" is at least a clearly told tale.
That's because it is a triumph of editing by Dan Hodge, a co-founding artistic director of the troupe, the director of "Timon," and a highly visible actor on stages around town. Hodge has put much thought into the play. All of Shakespeare's plays are edited to some degree – modern audiences wouldn't sit through the whole of the Bard's musings – and some need only a light and judicious touch. Hodge had to make major decisions, though, with "Timon." He has made the play lucid.
If only we were getting a more complete theatrical experience from the production, he'd have the entire package. The Collective produces plays at Broad Street Ministry, the church across from the Kimmel Center, and an increasingly popular spot for edgy theater. "Timon" uses the design in the performance space the church offers – several entrance and exit walkways and doors – but that's about it.
If you can remember a bare-bones production so basic that, say, a simple strip of fabric or a stylized tree was all it took to conjure the magic, then you know how less on a stage can actually be more. But "Timon" is not the sort of play that yields that sort of magic with only sparse stagecraft – and in the second half, in the woods, the pieces of wall hanging that serve as forest are really only wall hangings serving as wall hangings. Characters come and go in the large empty space framed on three sides by the audience, and it seems at times as though this "Timon" is more a staged reading than a full production.
With 14 cast members in Hodge's version, "Timon" is a commitment right there, and I realize that a richer staging would mean a bigger budget. Still, even though the two banquets called for in the script are done on
long tables and with a nice-looking spread, they too could use some set design that hints at the sort of digs Timon occupies as his false friends bail on him.
They do so because Timon, generous to a fault with everyone he knows, suddenly (too suddenly) has debts all over Athens. He has no more to give to his pals who, in turn, will not help him in his time of need. So into the woods he goes, eschewing all that is human and civil. Christopher Coucill's Timon is a cheery fellow whose turn-about to become a hate-spewing hermit seems natural in his performance. Those playing his many friends are called on to treat him with admiration publicly and with private mocking, and the best of these is Mark Knight, whose expressive eyes seem so sincere when he's looking directly at Timon and so false when he's not.
Timon's steward, Flavius, is his only true friend, and he's played with honest empathy by Nathan Foley. The multi-talented Charlotte Northeast, as a philosopher who is also Shakespeare's truth-teller in this version, becomes a huge figure here; even Coucill's straight-on Timon shrinks when she takes the stage – such as the stage is.
TIMON OF ATHENS runs through April 20 at Broad Street Ministry, Broad Street between Spruce and Pine Streets. Tickets: $20. www.philartistscollective.org.
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Topic: New member
I had liver cancer surgery 2.19.13. Removed 60% of liver and gallbladder. I have intrahepatic cholangiocarcenoma. Chemo not option now as this type cancer not very receptive.
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|La fundación de colangiocarcinoma (CCF) ahora ofrece servicios de traducción en Español.
Por favor publique sus preguntas en Español y un intérprete le va responder.
Join our new Mentoring Program
A new discussion board experience is coming this September!
After 10 years, we're upgrading our discussion board to a new modern system. The new forum will be easier to use, mobile-friendly and loaded with new features! We'll be taking all of the existing posts and users over to the new board, you won't have to do anything. If you have any questions, we've started a thread here to discuss.
I had liver cancer surgery 2.19.13. Removed 60% of liver and gallbladder. I have intrahepatic cholangiocarcenoma. Chemo not option now as this type cancer not very receptive.
ghamilton...a warm welcome to our site. Congratulations on the recent resection. Hoping for you to be well along in your recovery and that each day things become a bit easier for you. So glad that you have found us. We are a unique group of people with a common purpose of interacting, sharing thoughts and ideas and supporting each other all the way.
http://www.cholangiocarcinoma.org/punbb … 604#p70604
God bless
Looking forward to the support. Like many I was a healty guy on Thanksgiving and 3 months later had cancer surgery and found out my type is rare 5-10%. My wife and I are still working to put our minds and hearts around the news.
Welcome to the site ghamilton, sorry you had a reason to join us, but you have definitely come to the right place for information and support.
I am very happy that you were a candidate for surgery. About the chemo options, you may want to seek a second opinion. Not everyone does chemo after surgery, however, many do and you should be aware of all of your options to make the best, most informed decision possible.
So many people on this site have expressed the same sentiment...having been healthy and feeling good up until the day of their diagnosis or first symptom of this disease. It is very scary that way and really takes people off guard.
You are not alone! We are all here for you.
ghamilton.... There is is a big shift from just a few years ago when the majority of physicians did not recommend adjuvant therapy. At present though we see for 7 of 10 physicians prescribing some sort of therapy. I agree with Randi, a second or even third professional opinion is in order. This disease requires patients to become "very" informed, as too much still is unknown and too little Cholangiocarcinoma research is conducted.
Dear ghamilton, welcome to our remarkale family, you have come to the best place to be. First you get a big YIPPEE for having the surgery. Next I would like to echo that it is very important to get 2nd and 3rd opinions because we know many have had chemo after surgery. I know you and your wife have gone through a ton of emotions and anxiety but I truly feel another opinion would set your mind more at ease and would give you validation that doing nothing may be the right thing. The worst that can happen is someone comes up with a game plan which is what I think you both need right now. Otherwise you feel you have been thrown out the door. Please keep us postd as we truly care.
Lainy and all....... We live in Syracuse,NY and have appt with local Oncologist for second opinion. This Hem/Oncology group has great reputation and treats whole patient: medical, alternatives, nutrition. I feel fortunate. As you mention I am looking for confirmation of what I received at Cleveland Clinic.
Great! That makes me feel so good and it sounds as though you have a great team around you. Best of luck and thanks for letting us know. We are nosey and like to know everything!
I live in Rochester, NY, just down the thruway. I had my treatment at Wilmot Cancer Center at Strong Hospital in Rochester. I also got second opinions from Roswell Park in Buffalo, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and I took a trip to Minnesota to to to the Mayo Clinic.
Best of luck with your second opinions and treatment.
Gregg...my husband was born and raised in Syracuse. Have been there a few times myself. In fact, my last trip was in March of last year.
Go Orange!
Randi... Going to be tough for thr Orange. Hopefully they are as tough as us Cancer survivors!!!!
How did you keep going with all the set backs you have had. You truly are a SURVIVOR.
Keep strong
Thank you. But eh, you know, we don't pick the hand we are dealt and have to make it through. I have a great support system and just put one foot in front of the other. No more then everyone on this site does.
Can't say I haven't had my bad days for sure like everyone else. I try and stay in the moment, not look back too often with regret, and set reasonable goals for myself.
You are a survivor too!! Every day is a day.
Hi ghamilton,
I would like to welcome you to this site and congratulate you on your resection. I would definitely go for the 2nd opinion because I would be too scared not to do some kind of chemo after surgery. You gotta get those pesky little microscopic cells. My daughter, Lauren is having a resection next week and she is already saying she wants chemo afterwards. I am hoping for all the best for you in the future.
Hi Gregg,
Welcome to the site. Sorry that you had to find us all but I'm glad that you've joined us here as you are in the right place for support and help, and I know you will get loads of both!
Thats great that you were able to have a resection and I hope that you are recovering well from that. And good to hear you say as well that you are seeking a second opinion on further treatment. I do hope that you get some good news from your app and please let us know how you get on.
Keep coming back here Gregg and know that we are all here for you. Looking forward to hearing more from you.
Best wishes,
Hello gregg, I too had a very similar situation, intrahepatic tumor,resection and gall bladder...no lymph node involvement, 60 percent of my liver removed, and my doctor, mind you it was 7 years ago, recommended as yours did, to forgo chemotherapy, he said if it would make me feel better mentally that I am doing something,he would prescribe it, which I decided against, and in my case it made no difference, he said after a major surgery like that your body's immune system is on full alert with all the healing going on the best thing I could do for myself is eat healthy and let the building blocks be available for your liver to regrow in just 4 to 6 weeks time.there are 57 genetic varieties of cholangiocarcinoma worldwide known to medicine and not all behave and respond to chemo, some do.make your own decision and like many cancer after treatments it is insurance as some doctors put it. Good luck with your decision on this just take care of yourself..Pat
Pat....would love to hear more of the 57 genetic varieties of this disease. Would you mind and share with us a bit more?
Thanks and hugs,
there is a website called rarecanceralliance.org. I did a lot of reading in their 'trials, studies, section and there are all kinds of medical studies from around the world that one was about a genetic study of different samples from around the globe. another fascinating report was about the same type of genetic study which found the cells in cholangiocarcinoma tumors in bile ducts are actually liver cells that morphed into bile duct cancer cells, the only time in medical history so far a human cell morphed into another. I used to get lost in those medical study reports... Pat
What is the name of the article indicated" there are 57 genetic varieties of cholangiocarcinoma"? I would like to know too.
In the beginning of liver cells development the line of distinction between hepatocytes and cholangiocytes is not very distinctively clear. as the following article said both of them are "arise from the same bi-potential progenitor cells".
God bless.
Pat...It is of most importance to distinguish that some studies suggest something to be true wheras other studies prove for something to be true. You would want to look for peer reviewed studies and for clinical trials to validate initial findings.
How to Know If It's Accurate http://www.cancer.net/all-about-cancer/ … s-accurate
At present no genetic link has been established for our disease.
A bit about cancer:
Cancer starts when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. Cancer cell growth is different from normal cell growth. Instead of dying, cancer cells continue to grow and form new, abnormal cells. Cancer cells can also invade (grow into) other tissues, something that normal cells cannot do. Growing out of control and invading other tissues are what makes a cell a cancer cell.
Cells become cancer cells because of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) damage. DNA is in every cell and it directs all the cell's actions. In a normal cell, when DNA gets damaged the cell either repairs the damage or the cell dies. In cancer cells, the damaged DNA is not repaired, and the cell doesn't die like it should. Instead, the cell goes on making new cells that the body doesn't need. These new cells all have the same abnormal DNA as the first cell does.
People can inherit abnormal DNA, but most DNA damage is caused by mistakes that happen while the normal cell is reproducing or by something in the environment.
A great link about cancer, cells, genes etc. Well worth a read.
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer- … -cancer-is
Best wishes,
I will try to find it if I can
Pat...... I have Oncologist appt this coming Monday for second opinion in Syracuse,NY. This group treats the "whole" patient and looking forward to discuss potential options. I am open to discuss anything that might help me live a long healthy life.
Gregg there are a few key things I did that helped. You are what you eat is true. eat a salad every day..avoid processed sugar, greasy food, fast food, do something that increases your pulse rate every day ( by that I mean get off the couch ) teach yourself to put your mind off your condition, one support group moderator I know said " a cancer patients subconcious mind is always trying to solve your problem." She said over 50% of cancer suvivors experience some sort of insomnia. I did and you need your rest. Do things you enjoy that relax you, go fishing or to the zoo, animals brighten everyones day, The first year I drank an herbal tea called essiac, this might just be snake oil or placebo, my daughter who was my key support person and a blessing came up with the stuff, and even if it is a mental thing, it helped I used cannibis to help my appetite, it helped me sleep, and it helped me take my mind off my health issues.It is slowly becoming legal for people like you and I. It is still not legal in my state but I found a way. those are the key ways I have tried to keep this cancer from starting over.I was never afraid to die either, what happens is going to happen, and after a while I began to ask myself "why was I left behind here? what is it I am here to do? I search every day why and I feel I am close. Take care of yourself and dont let lifes rat race wear you out, Pat
The information expressed is not medical advice. The discussion boards are not intended to replace the services of a trained health professional or to be a substitute for the medical advice of physicians or other healthcare providers. Read the full disclaimer.


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Lately I've been writing lately about my conversion from a trader with a short time frame to an investor with a longer horizon. When I was getting educated as a trader, the term "buy and hold" was used in a derisive, mocking manner, and applied (inaccurately) to anybody who held through mild pullbacks, rather than exiting in a panic.
I've come to believe that the core of a portfolio should consist of low-cost ETFs, pegged to more or less plain vanilla indices. In other words, there should be no inverse or leveraged instruments, and no indices concocted by an ETF company's marketing department.
But plenty of investors like to add alpha through a portfolio of individual stocks. In my view, it's generally best to stick with large-caps in this case, possibly mixed with a few very liquid mid-caps.
One way to screen for stocks with potential is to run a scan of those getting support near their 200-day averages. I also look at earnings estimates. We all know that estimates can be wrong, either to the high side or the low side. However, they give you an indication of analysts' confidence in a stock at any given point in time.
Express Scripts (ESRX) is one large-cap name that popped up on my screen over the weekend. Shares of the pharmacy-benefit-management company have been consolidating since October, when they pulled back from its $66.06 high.
The stock closed Friday at $55.63, 2.1% below its 200-day moving average, and 1.7% above its 50-day. If you'll notice, that means Express Scripts' 50-day line is currently below the longer-term price line. That's not an ideal situation -- you would normally prefer to see the reverse.
That situation usually corrects itself as a stock rallies out of its consolidation – and that usually happens if the fundamentals remain solid. With Express Scripts, this appears to be the case. Analysts are eyeing earnings per share of $4.26 this year, up 14% from 2012. In 2014, that number is seen rising another 15%, to $4.92 per share.
Given the outlook, this stock is one to watch. There may be some questions about how the new healthcare law will affect the company as provisions kick in next year. But be careful -- there is always analyst and "pundit" noise surrounding a stock, and then there is the real performance. Be careful not to make decisions based on forecasts and opinions.
Another stock that made my screen is tech name IBM (IBM), which is consolidating below its Oct. 5 high of $211.79. This is another name with solid expectations for earnings in the next two years: Wall Street expects income of $16.77 per share this year, a year-over-year gain of 10%. The same level of gain is anticipated next year. Analysts see the company earning $18.46 per share.
Above, I noted that that Express Scripts' 200-day line was above the 50-day as the stock consolidated. Until recently, the same was true of IBM -- but the shorter-term line crossed above the longer line Feb. 20.
So take a further look at these picks. While it may not seem exciting to buy Dow components, they are often solid additions to large-cap portfolios.


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Posted 5 years ago
(179 items)
I bought two very cool items at the auction this weekend that I "assume" are Ivory. They sold them as "bone" with a wink of an eye. I think these items are amazing, will post the elephant seperately. I cannot believe the detail in these carvings, especially on the letter opener, seeing the trunks and tails intertwined....how do you carve something that small? Have no idea of their age and no idea of their value but I think they are cool! Any info is appreciated


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After she's shot down and manages to land safely on an inhospitable planet, Sara encounters Kiernan Fyn - a seriously hot alien with a few secrets of his own - he's a member of a resistance group called the Ojemba, lead by the mysterious and ruthless Kalian. Together they must avoid capture, but can they avoid their growing attraction to each other?
A mysterious, hidden city on the planet brings Sara closer to the answers she seeks - about her baffling abilities and her mother's past. She has no idea she's being pulled into the same danger her mother fled - the key to a secret left behind by a lost civilization, the Garradians. The Dusan and the Gadi want the key. So do the Ojemba. They think Sara has it. They are willing to do anything to get it. Sara will have to do anything to stop them.
©2007 Pauline Baird Jones; (P)2009 Books In Motion
"Interesting, if a bit too romantic"
When you cross a romance novel with science fiction, this is probably what you get. At first, I was put off by the romance and then accepted it. The story and characters are engaging although some suspension of credulity is required to accept how trans-galactic hyper drive developed in what appears current times and how it is that humans speak English in another galaxy. So it's not the tightest science fiction I have read. The romance part can be a little distracting for guys. I don't know what the girl readers would say. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story and liked the characters. It's worth listening too if you are not picky about the science or the romance.
"Great Read or Listen"
Characters are memorable, likable and the story is unique. I enjoyed wondering what would happen next, and enjoyed the light romantic quality of the story. Avid sci-fi fantasy reader, I really enjoyed the book. It was able to bring the normal "earth" world into science fiction the way the much loved "Star Trek" always could. Definately worth the credit.
"Immature Protagonist, Tech/Universe unbelievable"
Sara (protagonist) was the most disappointing. She spoke and thought like an immature teenager. I found it extremely unbelievable that she was of age to join the Air Force, let alone be a pilot (and one with FTL capabilities to traveling other galaxies). The universe the author created was beyond what I was able to believe and the male chauvinism (supported by the protagonist many times) was also very frustrating. Many times I was also taken out of the futuristic setting with current day references.The writing style is more appropriately categorized as a YA novel and an average one. Narration was done well, though a couple of times I could hear page turning. But I would blame that on production and not the narrator herself. Overall, this novel is not for folks looking for a logical military and/or sci-fi universe or that care for well developed adult and sophisticated relationships.
"You'll love scrappy Sara!"
This book turned me into a science fiction romance fan! Well written, with interesting, multi-faceted characters, and story arc. Loved the narrators' voices and inflections.
"Terrible book"
Teenage girl geeks.
Couldn't stand the perky valley girl tone of the narration.
Absolutely none.
The military jargon, cliches, twentieth century T.V. and movie references for a story set in the far future were too much for me to take. The book couldn't end fast enough. Save your money and skip this one.
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Jacob's Pillow Festival Season Will Run June 15-August 25
Following the 80th Anniversary Season's record-breaking attendance encompassing more than 90,000 free and ticketed visitor experiences, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival makes two early announcements today regarding the 2013 season.
Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), the groundbreaking and newly revitalized classical and contemporary ballet company, will open the 2013 season in the Ted Shawn Theatre June 19-23. Led by founding member and former principal dancer Virginia Johnson, the company will present a range of classic and new work including George Balanchine's Agon, The Lark Ascending by Alvin Ailey, and Far But Close by renowned contemporary choreographer John Alleyne. This engagement is particularly significant as DTH made its company debut at the Pillow in 1970.
August 14-18, the Pillow will present the much-anticipated world premiere of Wendy Whelan's Restless Creature. This new evening of dance is created and performed by Whelan, a legendary New York City Ballet principal dancer, and four forward-thinking male dancer/choreographers: Kyle Abraham, Joshua Beamish, Brian Brooks, and Alejandro Cerrudo. Whelan will dance with each of the choreographers in four distinct and diverse duets.
"I'm particularly delighted that these two engagements are the first we announce of the 2013 Festival. Both began with separate conversations I had a few years ago with Virginia Johnson and Wendy Whelan about how artists and institutions regenerate and experiment. These two women, and the remarkable institutions with which they've long been associated, have already given audiences years of unforgettable performances. They are unstoppable pioneers who have always been willing to take risks," comments Ella Baff, Jacob's Pillow Executive and Artistic Director.
"Dance Theatre of Harlem made its first appearance as a company at Jacob's Pillow in 1970.Opening the season with DTH is a major "welcome back" for us and for audiences, who will see where the "new" DTH is headed.
We are also thrilled to present and co-commission the world premiere of Wendy Whelan's Restless Creature. Wendy is among the most distinguished ballerinas in the world and continues to deliver remarkable performances with New York City Ballet. She now takes charge with an entire program of her own, collaborating with four very different and much talked about dancer/choreographers in their own right."
Baff continues, "Great artists, new ideas, and the dancing will be spectacular. Much more to follow."
Festival 2013 marks the Pillow's 81st annual season, which kicks off June 15 with the Pillow's Season Opening Gala. Wendy Whelan serves as Honorary Co-Chair for the 2013 Gala and will perform as part of the exclusive program. Dancers from Dance Theatre of Harlem will also perform on the Gala program, and dancers of the Ballet Program of The School at Jacob's Pillow will present a world premiere created by Helen Pickett, a former company member of William Forsythe's Frankfurt Ballet, recently appointed resident choreographer for the Atlanta Ballet. This signature fundraising event includes an exclusive performance, dinner, live music, and dancing. Additional performers will be announced in the coming months.


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Holland's Nadine Broersen won the first medal of the World Indoor Championships on Friday, claiming victory in the pentathlon in Sopot.
The 23-year-old took a lead of 101 points into the final event, the 800 metres, and sixth place was enough to secure the gold medal by 62 points from Canada's Brianne Theisen-Eaton.
Theisen-Eaton finished second in the 800m to move up from third and claim silver ahead of Ukraine's Alina Fyodorova, who could only finish seventh.
Fyodorova claimed the bronze by just six points from American Sharon Day-Monroe, who won the 800m in a personal best of two minutes 9.80 seconds.
The only other event decided on the opening day was the men's shot put, with American Ryan Whiting successfully defending his title with a best of 22.05 metres in the fourth round.
Germany's David Storl took silver with 21.79m and New Zealand's Tomas Walsh the bronze with 21.26m, relegating home favourite Tomasz Majewski to fourth.


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retrofuturist wrote:Greetings Christopher,
Care to elaborate on the mystery of the ::: ?
I've always been curious about that!
retrofuturist wrote:Greetings Chris,
Thanks for sharing.... though you do realise that riv::: is longer than river don't you!
Couple with that a big pre-Buddhist interest in reading lots and lots of science fiction... generally old school science fiction of the ilk of Arthur C Clarke, AE Van Vogt, Olaf Stapledon etc. Again, retro texts, with futuristic leanings.
Retrofuturist became Retro. when someone called me that out of laziness, and out of laziness I stopped writing Retrofuturist. In a strange way, it's also come to embody my approach to Buddhism... using the most retro of texts, but learning and discussing them through a futuristic medium.
christopher::: wrote:Now i'm going more for the reality television approach, thus my real name, but with a little :::
Annabel wrote:Welcome, Chris, aka Riv::::: !
Anders Honore wrote:christopher::: wrote:Now i'm going more for the reality television approach, thus my real name, but with a little :::
nice one.
ShinMeiDokuJoh wrote:Hi Chris,
nice to have you here too...
With regards
Fede wrote:Hello and welcome.
What a stunningly beautiful Avatar you have!
Nice to see you!
With much metta,
*who needs a 'namaste' emoticon*.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests


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Custom DIY QEE exhibit featuring over 70 artists...
For a great selection of action figures and collectibles, check out BigBadToyStore.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, SmallJoes.com, PastGenerationToys.com, SuperHeroToys.com, MonkeyDepot.com, HobbyLinkJapan.com, and Sekaido.com.
For a great selection of pop culture t-shirts and apparel, check out TShirtGurus.com and 80sTees.com.
Toy2R USA announces the next leg of the Toy2R 15th Anniversary World Tour Qeeology 2.5.
A custom DIY QEE exhibit featuring the 2.5" Qee Platform, Qeeology 2.5 will feature more than 100 pieces from over 70 artists from around the globe. From painted customs to outrageously sculpted pieces Toy2R anticipates an amazing array of original artwork.
The event will be held at Lincoln's premiere nightspot MARZ martini bar at 1140 O Street, Lincoln, Nebraska from 7:00-10:00pm as part of the First Friday Art Walk on May 7th. This will be the first art walk exhibit for MARZ and one of the very first 2.5" Custom Qee Events ever. Toy2R wil be announcing the lineup of artists very soon as well as additional surprises planned for the event.
Source: Edited Toy2R PR


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In a day and age where absent fathers are increasingly more common, 32-year-old Shaun Martinez has been fortunate to be on the opposite end of that spectrum, having spent his whole life looking up to his father, Tom. Tom has been an influence and a mentor to his son every step of the way, even within his goal of building a Lowrider bike. When Shaun first decided he wanted to build a custom bicycle, it was his father, who began to draw out designs. In March 2009, Shaun and Tom purchased the '08 stretch Beach Cruiser. They stripped down the stock paint and coated it with flat black, added some airbrushing and entered into the Lowrider show competition in Denver. After taking home a second place trophy and seeing the competition, the father-son team decided to elevate the cruiser to a different level.
"I wanted to come up with a personality for the bike," Shaun shares with us. He started drawing up more ideas along with his father. They added a CO2 system that lifts the seat and front end of the 26-inch cruiser. 144-spoke fan wheels were added and Shaun's father decided it would be appealing to add blades in between each set of the spokes. Leroy's Customz did the welding job. It was "back to the drawing board" literally, as the two Martinez' drew up the design of the front forks and handlebars. They went to Focused-Light Laser Cutting with their drawings, and everything was cut and then welded to the bicycle. The Denver Bumper shop handled the chrome plating.
Tom molded all the 3D pieces and sanded them individually. The next step was coating the Beach Cruiser with paint. They enlisted Randy Gustafason from Denver, Colorado to add all the murals as well as to soak the 26-inch bike in a House of Kolor Kandy Brandywine with a silver basecoat accented with intense patterns and tribal graphics. Striper Stan laid down the silver leafing and pinstripe around the fender braces under the cruiser and front tank. They took the custom seat pan, which was previously lifted off of a 1940 Schwinn, to Quick Quality Interiors in Lakewood, Colorado, where the crew there built the seat they had designed out of suede and Cobra snake skin materials. The seat was designed with a foldout IPod holder, and skeleton heads were built which housed speakers on the front forks.
When Tom was growing up, he didn't have a father in the household, and still remembers the emptiness he felt quite vividly as the rest of his friends were spending afternoons out playing catch or driving around with their fathers. He vowed that when he had a boy, no matter what he needed or what he was involved in, he would play an integral role in his son's life. Shaun has had the support and guidance from his father throughout the whole build, as well as his life, and the two have become one of the most respected father-son teams in the state. "I want to thank my Dad and Mom, my brother, Leroy's Customz, Focus-Light Laser Cutting, my car club, and my friend Matt," Shaun explains. "Everyone's help is what made this dream come true." A proud member of Rollerz Only C.C., his dedication and flair for creativeness has certainly paid its dividends already, earning him his first ever Best Bike trophy at the latest Denver Lowrider show.


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Transform Your Network into a Medianet
Consumers today want personal, social, and interactive experiences, with content delivered anytime, anywhere, on any device. Cable operators are responding with:
- More on-demand choices
- Migration to an all-HD channel lineup
- Ultra broadband
- Internet-based video applications
The resulting bandwidth explosion is straining the network infrastructure, however. Intelligent networks, or medianets, provide the massive scaling, capital and operational cost optimization, and transformed consumer experience that cable operators need.
Cisco solutions help cable operators:
- Evolve their network to a medianet
- Make their infrastructure network-, endpoint-, and media-aware
- Deliver a new generation of IP-based services
Cisco Cable Business
Capture emerging business markets and transparently deliver business services over a network designed to support advanced services.
Cisco Cable Digital Voice
Capture new business opportunities and offer rich new consumer experiences with converged high-speed data, voice, and video.
Cisco Cable DTV Transition
As cable operators move toward a successful digital TV (DTV) transition, Cisco can help you take advantage of the new opportunities.
Cisco Cable High-Speed Data (HSD)
These solutions let you introduce service bundles that reduce customer turnover and help ensure positive, consistent user experiences.
Cisco Cable Separable Security
Cisco separable security solutions help you define and increase service tiers while delivering protected advanced digital services.
Cisco Cable Transport
The Cisco Cable IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) provides a complete, end-to-end transport solution to meet your multiservice needs.
Cisco Cable tru2way
Working with CableLabs and others, Cisco is encouraging open communications and technology collaboration through tru2way solutions.
Cisco Cable Video
Cisco Cable Video solutions bring together multiple technologies that let you transform the video experience over a Cisco IP NGN.
Cisco Cable ServiceMesh
This end-to-end system securely and dynamically provisions subscriber access and value-added services across wireless mesh networks.
Cisco Cable Multi-Service Access
This solution provides converged access to help you deliver video, data, voice, and multimedia services.
Cisco HFC Bandwidth Optimization and Enhancement
This solution integrates products, services, and video expertise to help you increase consumer loyalty and monthly revenues.


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ROFLMAO!!!! My God man...have you no orals..I mean morals??
But yes, I'm a Pirate, through and through. I have to tinker with other peoples code so I can learn how they did it.The difference from me and regular Pirates though is..I don't claim to be the original writter of the code..altered by me or not.


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ill Walsh, who guided the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl championships and six NFC West division titles in his 10 years as head coach, has died at the age of 75. Walsh died early Monday following a long battle with leukemia, according to Stanford University, where he served as coach and athletic director.
Walsh didn't become an NFL head coach until 47, and he spent just 10 seasons on the San Francisco sideline. But he left an indelible mark on the United States' most popular sport, building the once-woebegone 49ers into the most successful team of the 1980s with his innovative offensive strategies and teaching techniques.
The soft-spoken native Californian also produced a legion of coaching disciples that's still growing today. Many of his former assistants went on to lead their own teams, handing down Walsh's methods and schemes to dozens more coaches in a tree with innumerable branches.
Walsh went 102-63-1 with the 49ers, winning 10 of his 14 postseason games along with six division titles. He was named the NFL's coach of the year in 1981 and 1984.
And few men did more to shape the look of football into the 21st century. His cerebral nature and often-brilliant stratagems earned him the nickname "The Genius" well before his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993.
Walsh twice served as the 49ers' general manager, and George Seifert led San Francisco to two more Super Bowl titles after Walsh left the sideline. Walsh also coached Stanford during two terms over five seasons.
Even a short list of Walsh's adherents is stunning. Seifert, Mike Holmgren, Dennis Green, Sam Wyche, Ray Rhodes and Bruce Coslet all became NFL head coaches after serving on Walsh's San Francisco staffs, and Tony Dungy played for him. Most of his former assistants passed on Walsh's structures and strategies to a new generation of coaches, including Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Brian Billick, Andy Reid, Pete Carroll, Gary Kubiak, Steve Mariucci and Jeff Fisher.
Walsh created the Minority Coaching Fellowship program in 1987, helping minority coaches to get a foothold in a previously lily-white profession. Marvin Lewis and Tyrone Willingham are among the coaches who went through the program, later adopted as a league-wide initiative.
He also helped to establish the World League of American Football -- now NFL Europe -- in 1994, taking the sport around the globe as a development ground for the NFL.
Walsh was diagnosed with leukemia in 2004, and underwent months of treatment and blood transfusions. He publicly disclosed his illness in November 2006, but appeared at a tribute for retired receiver Jerry Rice two weeks later.
[Read More @ ESPN]
I grew up in california when i was a kid, moved to Indiana in 1992. I was always a niners fan. RIP Coach


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SANTA CRUZ -- In an effort to settle a lawsuit over its pending ban on single-use plastic bags, the Santa Cruz City Council will consider making several changes to the ordinance Tuesday, including automatically increasing the fee retailers must charge customers for paper bags.
The council passed the plastic bag ban in July but a lawyer for the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition filed a lawsuit against the plan in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. The coalition, which represents bag manufacturers, also has sued other municipalities.
In the past few months, the Santa Cruz City Attorney's Office has been in settlement talks with the coalition, said Bob Nelson, superintendent of resource recovery. Nelson said he believes changes Santa Cruz has agreed to -- pending approval of the council -- don't substantially change the ordinance, which now more closely resembles language contained in similar bans put in place by Capitola, Watsonville and the county.
"The most significant thing was automatic escalation of the fee," Nelson said. "Hopefully people will be moving to reusable bags."
Steven Joseph, a San Francisco lawyer representing the bag coalition, couldn't be reached immediately for comment Friday.
In July, the council agreed retailers should charge 10 cents per paper bag after the ordinance takes effect April 10, with the possibility of increasing the fee to 25 cents after council reviews impacts of the fee after a year. The fee is designed to help offset the increased cost to retailers of switching from plastic to paper, as well as encouraging consumers to switch to reusable bags now commonly sold in grocery stores.
The city's ordinance also will be changed to broaden the definition of restaurants, which are exempt under the rule because their products may be too wet for a paper bag to carry. Food trucks, cafes, bakeries, grocery story delis and convenience store food counters are now exempt.
Nelson said if approved by the council, the amendments to the ordinance won't affect its start date of April. The council gave retailers nine months from the original vote on the ban to use their remaining stock of plastic bags and adjust to the new rules.
The bag coalition rejects arguments from environmental groups that plastic bags are littering beaches and parks while also clogging waterways. The group says paper bag production -- whether harvesting trees or recycling other paper -- is actually more harmful to the environment than making petroleum-based plastic bags.
The city also voted in July to ban the sale of polystyrene packaging and toys, a rule that has not been challenged. A ban on using the material to package food was already in effect.
Also Tuesday, the council will consider extending a desalination consultant's contract for another year but reducing it by $54,000 and limiting the company's work largely to the pending environmental analysis of the $125 million water supply project. The council voted in December to eliminate Kennedy/Jenks Consultants' work on delivery and financing options for the facility, but asked a project task force to make further recommendations.
The task force suggested a contract of $336,000 and to limit the company's public outreach efforts. The task force also appointed members to monitor the material produced by the company to ensure it was absent any advocacy, a key criticism of opponents.
Follow Sentinel reporter J.M. Brown on Twitter at Twitter.com/jmbrownreports
WHEN: 3 p.m. Tuesday
WHERE: 809 Center St., Santa Cruz
DETAILS: www.cityofsantacruz.com


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i know it's not an extra 100', but i didn't have a calc sitting here to calculate arc lengths, etc.
what i'm getting at is to handle the fade on a useful golf line, the disc has to be turned over.
the wraith and orc get a big chunk of their penetration during the fade, but the fade must happen in the forward direction, meaning the disc must be turning ~30 degrees from left to right to obtain a forward flex.


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BERKELEY -- New Cal coach Sonny Dykes believes he began the process of rebuilding the offensive and defensive lines with his
25-man recruiting class, but potential holes remain as the Bears look forward to spring workouts in three weeks.
"Next year's class will probably have a little more star power," Dykes said. "To me, we addressed exactly what we needed in this class, which is depth on the offensive and defensive lines."
The Bears lost out on four-star offensive guard Cameron Hunt, who signed with Oregon, as expected. But they landed five offensive linemen and eight defensive linemen to play in their new 4-3 alignment.
Dykes said he is "very excited" about the class his staff landed, and the recruiting services gave the Bears solid marks. Cal's class was rated No. 29 nationally by Scout.com, No. 30 by Rivals.com.
By comparison, former coach Jeff Tedford's first recruiting class at Cal in 2002 consisted of 12 players and was ranked No. 62 nationally by Scout. Former Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh signed 19 players his first year of 2007 for a No. 43 ranking, according to Scout.
There are concerns, however. The Bears missed on two safety prospects they sought and Dykes admitted, "One need we feel we came up a little bit short on is the defensive backs."
Cal signed two cornerbacks, including four-star Darius Allensworth, who is recovering from an early-season ACL knee surgery.
Meanwhile, the Bears signed just one running back -- 5-foot-8 speedster Khalfani Muhammad of Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks -- and face the prospect of being without a player at that position when spring practice begins Feb. 25.
Brendan Bigelow and Daniel Lasco, the Bears' two returnees at the position, both underwent recent minor surgeries. "All will be fine as we enter two-a-days in the fall," Dykes said. "It's going to look a little crazy this spring. I'm going to be playing running back this spring."
Bigelow, who rushed for 431 yards and averaged 9.8 yards per attempt as the Bears' No. 3 back last fall, had knee surgery for a meniscus tear. Bigelow had two ACL surgeries on his right knee in high school.
Lasco had what Dykes described as minor shoulder surgery.
Dykes anticipates Muhammad will be in the mix as a freshman. "He's a game-breaker," Dykes said of Muhammad, the 100- and 200-meter state sprint champ last spring. "He's somebody who can make things happen when he gets the ball in his hands."
Dykes said the "Cal brand" was a more powerful recruiting tool than he anticipated, but acknowledged that the program's poor academic record was used against the Bears by other Pac-12 schools.
Signing strong students who can play football was a priority, he said, noting that only one of the 25 players signed still has yet to qualify academically for admission to school.
"We all know there's some academic issues," Dykes said. "We feel this class will help fix that."
The Bears cut ties with as many as four players who had accepted offers from the previous regime but didn't measure up in the classroom. Dykes said there will no additions to this class, meaning that defensive back Trey Cheek of Lawrenceville, Ga., no longer is part of their future.
Already, the coaching staff is courting high school players in the 2014 class -- including Freedom-Oakley running back Joe Mixon, who has offers from about two dozen high-level schools.
"We're going to be incredibly aggressive moving forward," Dykes said. "I'm really excited about next year's class already. We're make some big splashes pretty quickly."


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Watch out for
The governor of Florida is making it abundantly clear he will stop at nothing to sabotage the new federal health-care law. And in so doing, he's putting at risk some of the very residents he was elected to serve.
By Stephanie Carroll Carson
Florida News Connection
Thanks for the support
Harmony Pregnancy and Resource Center would like to thank the following businesses and individuals for making the 2013 Doris Nash Memorial Golf Tournament such a success:
It's no secret that if you don't work for Levy County, Levy County schools, the dollar store, the grocery or the seven eateries in Bronson, you may as well leave town to find employment.
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The Chiefland Citizen is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Levy County and Chiefland Florida, and the surrounding area.


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When raytracing, you sample each lights, giving a dot free result right? But when sampling for ambient occlusion, the shadows have dots like in a path tracer and takes a long time to converge. How do you fix that so it appears smooth?
The "dots" are called noise or variance and appear when you want to numerically integrate a function by random sampling it. One way to reduce it is to render it into a buffer and blur it. But I have no idea what the state-of-art approach for AO currently is.
Sounds like a good idea! thanks Roel
hmmm, easier said than done! Any ideas or links to papers on how to blur a map?
That's very basic, it's all over the internet. You can find that yourself. And it is in the directx sdk (or at least, it used to be last time I checked).
By the way, this is state of the art SSAO according to my rss reader:
Great, thanks Roel
Blurring ambient occlusion is wrong! Well you can do with some bilateral stuff (or gaussian filters - which are a lot better, but too slow for real time), but you'll lose micro-details in ambient occlusion, it just won't look okay.
So what's best to do - simply performing true ambient occlusion with enough samples (I think jittered 32 samples is enough for nice low-frequency ambient occlusion), let's assume we can go with half screen size ambient occlusion buffer. So let's do the math - we have to do (at 720p) 230 400 * 32 samples per frame - totalling 7 372 800 local rays/s. And we need at least some decent 30 fps - thats totally 221 184 000 rays/s (221 MRays/s) ... this is not far from impossible.
At ompf.org mpeterson states, that "on dual sandy (3.06ghz) around 290mrays/s with ray length of 0.25 \ scene-diag" (Fairy forest scene) which actually seems enough (note that 0.25 \ scene-diag is quite large radius for AO and you'll most likely use much smaller one). Not mentioning that you can actually run ray tracing on GPU. Also the less radius, the more Mrays/s you will get - so you can get quite nice correct local AO at decent framerate
I've noticed that. I made a MakeGaussianKernel function and used that to blur the AO map but it looked like crap. I get nice results on random rays but it take so long! I'll try what you suggested, thanks!
Things like screen space ambient occlusion are always wrong anyway. But since Vilem Otte mentions ompf, are you talking about AO in rasterisation or in ray-tracing, Alienizer? In ray-tracing you get AO-effects for free, they simply emerge. In rasterisation, AO is---unless pre-computed---an "effect" based on true AO.
Pre calculating AO and storing in your meshes gives the best results IMHO.
The screen space stuff is good, but not available on some platforms (you need render to texture which doesn't exist on a lot of mobile platforms)
Make sense, Thanks!
But of course the drawback of pre-calculation is that it is valid only for the geometry for which it is calculated - so you have static geometry with nice AO.
yeah, I ran into that problem :wacko:
It's a pain. A hell of a lot of things I used to do as "standard" are no longer available to me because some \ was limp wristed when writing the standards.
Now render to texture is "optional" and only supported by opengl extensions, which of course means "not available" to anyone who has to write for multiple platforms.
Our engine creates a single binary that can run on all supported platforms, but we still have to have run time flags and platform dependant code to handle stuff that should have been a requirement rather than an optional feature.
@Vilem Otte
At ompf.org mpeterson states, that ...
What happened to ompf.org anyway? They were up for so long, I can't beleive they shut down!
In fact nobody knows what actually happened to ompf.org - anyway Jacco Bikker revived it at http://igad2.nhtv.nl/ompf2/ some time ago. The shame is, that the database was lost (well something is still available from google cache, and I read that some archived version from 2009 is also on TheWaybackMachine).
Infamous 2 used a nice AO fields and decals for realtime AO effects with small SSAO. Video
There also were paper about indirect illumination with cone tracing of voxels, it also had AO only version running interactive framerates. Basic idea is to voxelize environment, prefilter it (mipmaps) and use it for cone tracing. (further from point you go, smaller mipmap you use thus reducing need for lots of rays.)Video
who cares if its noisy, ao looks awesome anyway even with the noise.


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Tawaxitu means "friend" in the language of the Dakota Indians. The first person to write those words down was a white missionary named Gideon Pond.
In Bloomington this Sunday, there will be a celebration of Pond's 200th birthday at the house he built there in 1852.
Pond and his brother Samuel came to Minnesota to convert Indians to Christianity.
"They thought, 'We'll go out to this fresh field and spread God's word,'" St. John's University historian Annette Atkins said.
But the Ponds did more than preach. They catalogued their observations about Sioux and Dakota culture. These manuscripts remain some of the most complete observations of the tribes before the loss of their vast hunting lands.
They also learned the Indians' language and then devised a way to write it down using the standard Roman alphabet.
The Ponds painstakingly translated the Bible, compiled the first Dakota-English dictionary and even published a monthly Dakota language newspaper. Dakota Tawaxitu Kin was the first non-English newspaper to be published in Minnesota.


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Spain has more acres under vine than any other country and ranks third in production behind Italy and France. Much of this output continues to be hot-country jug wine made to satisfy the everyday thirsts of the domestic and greater European markets. But many inexpensive Spanish wines that once were rustic, tired, or dried out have been replaced by bottlings that are lush, round, ripe, and cleanly made. Regions that previously made blended Spanish wines that were virtually too strong to be bottled on their own, such as Tarragona, Valencia, Yecla, Jumilla, and Toro are now firmly in the table wine business, even if these wines of Spain can be alarmingly high in alcohol.
At the high end are exciting new bottlings from the historically important Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions in north-central Spain and from the wild, hilly Priorat in Cataluña, in the northeast corner of the country. A new generation of Spanish wine makers has begun crafting wines in a distinctly modern international style: deeply colored, very ripe, and high in alcohol, generally aged in a high percentage of new French oak, and often quite pricey. The majority of these wines are based on Tempranillo, Spain's most distinguished red variety. While the ultimate quality and longevity of these Spanish wines are yet to be proven, these new bottlings have unquestionably captured the attention of wine drinkers both inside and outside Spain.
Although much of Spain bakes in the sun for at least half the year, the country actually covers a vast range of climates-from the cooler and much wetter Atlantic-influenced northwest, to the arid, blazing Mediterranean south and southeast-so vintage generalizations are tricky with Spanish wines. Moreover, the majority of Spain's better vineyards lie at relatively high altitude, where summer nights are cool even when afternoons are stifling. " e wines and is perfect with any chocolate dessert.
2009 was an excellent year, with 22 regions scored 95 or above.
The highest scores went to St. Julien / Paulliac / St. Estephe (Right Bank Bordeaux) at 99, Cote Rotie (Northern Rhône) at 98, Pomerol (Right Bank Bordeaux) at 98, and Graves (Bordeaux) at 98.
Other regions that scored 95 points or higher were Pomerol, Beaujolais, Côte de Nuits, Margaux, Medoc, Sauternes, Sonoma, Tuscany, Napa, Port, Right Bank, Alsace, Barolo (Piedmont), Brunello di Montalcino (Tuscany), Chablis, Côte de Beaune, Mâconnais, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, and Paso Robles.
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With a volatile stock market, tightening credit and a cautious consumer, a casual observer could think that the good times are over for developing lifestyle centers. But that isn't true at all.
Developers are continuing to build the open-air format, with locations in still-strong economic markets, mixing uses, the use of nontraditional and local tenants, and dedicated lenders continuing to propel growth.
"Over the past few years, we've built eight lifestyle centers and are in development on another seven," said Dan Lowe, a managing and founding partner of RED Development, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Kansas City, Mo.
Location, location, location is still the key. Despite the overall economic slowdown, some markets remain strong, and continue to need, and foster, lifestyle center expansion.
"If you find a good area with good incomes and educational levels, where there is no lifestyle center option," a project still works, said Brian Sciera, VP of lifestyle centers for Chestnut Hill, Mass.-based W/S Development, which is building a number of projects throughout New England.
That doesn't mean they'll work everywhere, particularly in the current, more difficult environment. Density and wealth, always important, will be more so, particularly as tenants, lenders and even municipalities are cautious about investing their efforts and money.
"Lifestyle centers will tend to make sense in major metro areas," which can avoid the boom-or-bust syndrome, said Michael N. Jaffe, president of Northbrook, Ill.-based Jaffe Cos. Jaffe's The Arboretum at South Barrington lifestyle center is under construction in South Barrington, Ill., an affluent Chicago suburb.
The point of lifestyle centers, after all, was to provide a downtown-like convenience in affluent suburban markets, not too close to a regional mall.
"A true lifestyle center is fueled by convenience and high-income areas," said Greg Maloney, president of Jones Lang LaSalle Retail (JLL), Atlanta. "That's what's fueled it in the past, and what's fueling it in the future."
JLL is leasing the retail for the 1.5 million-sq.-ft. Golden Triangle mixed-use lifestyle complex, being developed by The Garrett Group and Domenigoni Barton Properties at the intersection of Interstates 15 and 215 in Murrieta, Calif. The project includes 630,000 sq. ft. of retail, joined by office and hotel space.
In fact, adding other uses also is keeping the lifestyle center format growing. Projects that called themselves "town centers" now are becoming exactly that, as office and/or residential space is built above or alongside stores.
"In today's world, office space is practically a must," RED's Lowe said. The company's 625,000-sq.-ft. Eagle River Station in Eagle, Colo., will include residential and hospitality space as well as retail. The project, a joint venture with Trinity Development Group, will open in fall 2009.
"Office and residential are really useful for lifestyle centers," agreed Matthew Holmes, a principal of San Francisco-based retail and real estate consulting firm Retail West, which is leasing Sunnyvale (Calif.) Town Center, among other lifestyle/mixed-use projects. "If the idea is to create an urban environment, you must bring all three together. If you can't bring three, certainly you should have two uses."
Varying types of uses are possible, depending on the market. Jaffe's The Arboretum will include the Creme de la Creme pre-school, bringing affluent parents to the project daily, as well as a health club.
In a sense, another use can even be a different retail format. Developers continue to attach open-air lifestyle centers to existing regional malls, a case in point being the conversion of a vacated anchor at Rosedale Center in Roseville, Minn., to a lifestyle wing, JLL's Maloney said.
Differing, and expanding, uses have served to stretch the definition of the term "lifestyle center." In fact, said RED's Lowe, "We use the term 'lifestyle' loosely. Our centers are more of a hybrid."
RED's Shadow Lake Towne Center, near Omaha, Neb., combines a J.C. Penney-anchored lifestyle component with a power center and grocery-anchored project. Typical lifestyle center tenants such as Talbots and J. Jill are joined by a Hy-Vee gourmet grocer.
"It's about creating an experience," Lowe said. "That's what people today are looking for."
That's why communities' desire for open space also is propelling the format. W/S Development projects such as the upcoming 680,000-sq.-ft. Meadow Walk at Lynnfield in Lynnfield, Mass., include a large town green, Sciera said. "Space feels good to people," he said. "People spend so much of their time indoors that the ability to visit a really nice sidewalk and an appealing town green is important."
Truth be told, however, the main experience of a lifestyle center is still shopping. And tenant expansion, while slower perhaps than in recent years, is still the catalyst for selective development.
"Today's leasing environment is extremely challenging for developers announcing new centers," Jaffe said. "We are fortunate in the case of The Arboretum that we had tremendous momentum going into the slowdown and secured our core of soft goods retailers when there was a more rosy outlook."
Those long lead times are helping projects in the short term.
"Deals for the first part of 2008 are already done," Maloney said.
And the situation can change quickly if the economy turns around. Many observers, including Maloney, expect that the second half of 2008 will be stronger than the first half of this year. After all, RED's Lowe observed, there aren't too many alternatives for lifestyle tenants. "There is definitely still activity, since malls for the most part are not being built today," he said.
Still, it's important to get a critical mass that will attract even more retail to a project, and the trick is getting a core of tenants to commit early.
"Retailers follow the herd mentality," Retail West's Holmes explained. Projects that are "well-thought-out, well-planned and well-leased," he said, will draw even more tenants.
Longer term, developers may get more creative, expanding their tenant mix beyond the national apparel chains to include nontraditional tenants, grocers and locals.
Luckily, nontraditional tenants are looking to grow, propelling expansion. The 500,000-sq.-ft. first phase of Jaffe's Arboretum will include a "handmade" tenant mix that will add unusual uses to the expected fashion base. The move is particularly appropriate for the Arboretum's location right off the intersection of Route 59 and Higgins Road in an exceptionally wealthy community, Jaffe said. The project includes the second-ever Village Roadshow Gold Class Cinemas, an upscale movie theater featuring valet parking, concierge and full-service bar.
Another such tenant is Pinstripes, a 33,000-sq.-ft., upscale bowling alley/bocce-ball court/Italian bistro/event center. The unit will be Pinstripes' second in the market.
"This is targeted to the affluent office workers," said Jaffe, and its accoutrements include leather seating in the bowling alley and an elegant casual cafe. Concepts such as Pinstripes will help The Arboretum become more than just a shopping place.
Even less traditional will be the entire 100,000-sq.-ft. Pedro Point Shopping Center in Pacifica, Calif., being co-developed by Retail West and Sand Hill Property Co., San Mateo, Calif. The project is focused almost entirely around surfing- and youth-oriented shops. The unique project is in the permitting phase, with a planned delivery late this year.
"We're not going to the typical lifestyle tenants," Holmes said. "We're going to active lifestyle retailers."
Even more traditional lifestyle centers can follow along the same lines, incorporating health- and wellness-related uses such as spas and fitness centers. For example, all of W/S Development's lifestyle centers now include a Whole Foods Market, which will bring upscale shoppers to a project two to three times weekly, rather than the two-or-three-times-a-month draw of a fashion anchor, Sciera said.
"Restaurants also bring a great customer to the site," Sciera noted. "The better customer likes good food." Customers also like the unique, and that means looking for tenants that are first in a market, or unique to the market. Developers note that there are still a number of local tenants interested in, and financially capable of, growing. The resulting mix can allow a developer to expand and differentiate a project.
The Arboretum, for example, has included a number of local Chicago tenants looking to expand, as well as several stores opening their first units in the market. But adding locals requires a much greater commitment from the developer, both in terms of its own staff, and that staff's time. Jaffe noted that his company began looking for Chicago tenants more than 18 months ago, for a project opening this fall.
It also means a bit more handholding, said Retail West's Holmes, which is placing and helping to train a number of local tenants at Pedro Point.
"You have to reach out to innovative concepts and help them out," Holmes said.
None of this is possible, however, without financing, and money also is encouraging growth. Strong lenders continue to invest in the format, albeit with stringent requirements. The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), one of the largest retirement systems in the nation, is a partner in The Arboretum.
"When we closed our loan in mid-August, it was because of the strength of that equity partner," Jaffe said.
And unlike 1992, which was catastrophic for some struggling developers, there is money available—just with more strings attached. Lowe noted that RED now puts more equity into its developments than earlier. Still, institutions that have pulled funds from a shaky stock market still must invest those funds somewhere.
"When a pond fills up, [the excess water] has to go somewhere," JLL's Maloney said. "There is a lot of money with no place to go. Real estate is a good long-term investment." Best known for its enclosed-mall management, development and consulting services, JLL last year created an open-air division, largely at the behest of its institutional owner clients.
"They said, 'Why not do for open-air [projects] what you do for malls?'" Maloney said. The different skills needed for lifestyle centers required establishing a separate division, he explained. By year-end, the division was working on 75 properties, and the division has even boosted its mall division.
"We quickly realized we were doing the right thing," Maloney said. "Now, we have assignments that have both open-air centers and malls."
All of the above forces—needy markets, mixed-use, expanding tenants and financial wherewithal—pale somewhat, however, when compared to the greatest force that fuels the expansion of the format, that puts the life in lifestyle centers, W/S Development's Sciera said.
"The biggest force is the end user, the customer," Sciera said. "There is a really great customer that prefers this lifestyle-center venue."