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A CHARITY that helps people on the breadline with emergency supplies hopes to set up new bases in two towns.
Durham Christian Partnership will hold open meetings in Spennymoor and Ferryhill later this month to find venues and volunteers so the project can operate there.
Since the charity launched the foodbank initiative around 18 months ago it has grown from one distribution centre in Durham city to 11 outlets across the county.
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It feeds 1,000 a month and has seen demand from struggling residents of Spennymoor and Ferryhill rocket in recent months.
The scheme works by identifying people in crisis, through frontline services such as housing organisations, welfare charities and health and social workers, and issuing them with a foodbank voucher.
These can be redeemed for three days emergency food, which has been donated to the charity, at a distribution centre, where other forms of advice and support are on usually offered.
Christine Jameson-Gates, a development worker with the charity, said: "We know there is demand because we are already feeding people in both areas through referrals and emergency boxes.
"But for those wanting to access a distribution centre they need one closer to home, if they had the money to travel to another town and back they'd be able to afford their shopping."
Suitable venues that can offer secure storage of supplies and open regularly and volunteers, who will be trained by the charity, need to be found in both towns.
Anyone interested in supporting the Spennymoor scheme is invited to a meeting at St Paul's Centre, off Whitworth Terrace, on Thursday, July 25, 7pm to 8.45pm.
Maureen Aspey, who chairs the board of directors at the centre, said: "Working with people who come to our existing groups, such as the long-term unemployed, you realise what poverty exists in our area and it is becoming more and more apparent that we need to help people."
A meeting will also be held at St Luke's Church, Church Lane, Ferryhill, on Monday, July 29, 7pm to 8.30pm.
Campaigner Mark Hutchinson, who has been unemployed for a year and does voluntary work in the area, said: "This is quite a deprived area, a lot of people are struggling and really need help to feed themselves and their families.
"I really hope people and organisations that can help get involved."
For information contact the charity on 0191-3037559.


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Not everyone can buy a Prius, but most admins can make office purchases that have a positive impact on the planet:
Planet Pleaser by SKM Industries: A low-toxicity correction fluid that won't harm the ozone layer: $1.79; www.skmproducts.com/.
"Grow-A-Note" by Green Field Paper: After reading the thank you or happy birthday messages printed on these cards made from 100% post-consumer waste, the recipient can plant the card, which will decompose as embedded wildflower seeds grow: $15 for four; www.greenfieldpaper.com/.
Seating by Izzydesign: The fabric, foam and glue in these beautifully designed chairs emit low levels of toxins: www.izzydesign.com/.
ThrashCan by Bean Products: Flexible and modern looking, this trash bin is made out of reclaimed automobile tire rubber. With this by your desk, you'll never forget to recycle: $29; www.beanproducts.com/.
As for office paper, you can easily find paper at big-box office supply stores made from 30% post-consumer fiber. But here's an even greener, high-quality choice:
Enviro 100 by Cascades: This bright-white paper is made from 100% post-consumer fiber. It is bleached without chlorine, which means that no hazardous byproducts were released during whitening. (What you save by using 40 cartons of recycled paper versus virgin paper: 17 mature trees.) $47 for 5,000 sheets; www.environmentalbychoice.com/.

subset: commoncrawl


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At a time when our nation's biggest challenge is the growing gap between the protected wealthy few and everyone else, we urge financially blessed Oaklanders and Piedmonters to redouble their efforts to invest in our underserved Oakland urban youth.
Yes, Piedmonters have a long and impressive history of generosity to urban Oakland — let's keep it going.
Recently, we approached local nonprofit Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation with our passion for investing in Oakland youth. Working with the Friends, we developed a five-year, $100,000 youth investment program called the Thompson-Bliss Family Gift — $20,000 per year for five years — all going toward Oakland's efficient but underfunded Office of Parks and Recreation.
A large portion of our investment provides learn-to-swim scholarships to Oakland children who otherwise could not afford to learn to swim. Parents can fill out a form requesting a swim lesson scholarship. Upon approval, the lessons are scheduled with eight sessions of instruction over two weeks for beginning swimmers to gain basic safety competence.
Oakland's five pools have a long history of excellent aquatic programming and instruction, and our goal is that every child in Oakland learns to swim.
It is critical for each child's personal safety and self-confidence and, unfortunately, one of our challenges is that many parents do not know how to swim.
The lessons are conducted at all of the city's pools including the beautiful new instructional pool at the East Oakland Sports Center. This summer, 60 Oakland kids took swim lessons through this program.
The other portion of our investment goes to a competitive grant program for our city's recreation centers, which provide vital services to our youth.
This year, one grant provided critical matching funding to an amazing effort led by the Good Tidings Foundation, with help from the Golden State Warriors and Oakland Office of Parks and Recreation. This effort reconstructed two now-beautiful basketball courts at deFremery Park in West Oakland.
At the opening several weeks ago, we got to sit next to Golden State Warrior center Festus Ezeli and Oakland City Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney during the grand opening.
There are many outstanding opportunities to invest locally including Friends, the Boys and Girls Club, or even the PTA at an underserved public school.
For us, it is important that our contribution goes directly and rapidly to youth with strong financial oversight and operational efficiency. Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation and the city's Office of Parks and Recreation have achieved this.
Instead of giving $50 or $100 to a local charity that you are passionate about, consider giving $1,000 or $5,000 or more, or committing to at least 40 hours this year as a volunteer.
The joy our family felt seeing more than 100 young boys and girls playing on the new basketball courts in gritty West Oakland is something we will never forget — certainly well worth our investment, especially knowing that going forward, these courts will provide joy and opportunities for constructive growth and recreation for our young people.
You will get a huge bang for your buck. We are ordinary people just like you. It is time to invest in our Oakland youth.
We need an army of mini-philanthropists. No more complaining. We are on the front lines. This isn't the suburbs. You can make a huge difference here in Oakland.
John Bliss and Kim Thompson, and their two teenagers, live in Oakland.


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The Grand Prairie City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Tuesday night that extends a ban on smoking in some public places.
The City Council voted 9-0 to prohibit smoking in restaurants, sports arenas and other city-operated facilities.
Smoking will still be allowed in bars, clubs, bingo parlors, tobacco stores, hookah lounges and sexually oriented businesses, provided they do not allow anyone under 18 to enter.
Additionally, smoking will be allowed to continue at Lone Star Park (outdoors), in bowling centers under certain conditions and in private residences provided they aren't used as a child care, adult day care, group home or any other health care facility.
Smoking is still prohibited at schools, hospitals, public buildings, public restrooms, service lines, theaters, museums, etc., which was outlined in the city's existing smoking ordinance that had been in place since 1986.
The Dallas Morning News reports it'll be at least a month before the ordinance goes into effect.
Those found to be in violation of the ordinance face a fine of up to $2,000.
To see the ordinance presented to the City Council Tuesday, visit this link and go to page 73.


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The narrator, a mysterious SS man who is later revealed to be an exceptional presence, follows the young Adolf from birth through his adolescence. En route, revealing portraits are offered of Hitler's father and mother, sisters, and brothers.
A tapestry of unforgettable characters, The Castle in the Forest delivers its myriad twists and surprises with astonishing insight into the nature of the struggle between good and evil that exists in us all. At its core is a hypothesis that is employed with stunning originality. Norman Mailer may well be saying more than he ever has before.
©2007 Norman Mailer. All rights reserved; (P)2007 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.
"Mailer arrives at a somber, compelling portrait of a monstrous soul." (Publishers Weekly)
"This remarkable novel about the young Adolf Hitler, his family and their shifting circumstances, is Mailer's most perfect apprehension of the absolutely alien. No wonder it is narrated by a devil. Mailer doesn't inhabit these historical figures so much as possess them." (The New York Times Book Review)
I have always loved Norman Mailer from his first novel, The Naked and the Dead, up to and including his recent effort, The Castle in the Forest.
This forensic psychological portrait of Hitler is both deeply disturbing and highly compelling, and I find myself looking forward to a quiet moment of the day when I can sit back enjoy some time with Mailer's extraodinary prose.
I'm a big fan of the printed word and I never thought I would choose an audio book of Mailer's work to listen to. Some of his phrases are so delicious, I like to re-read and savor them again and again. Perhaps I will buy a copy of the book to keep, too, but the narrator's voice on this is so wonderful I almost forget where I am. It is deep and resonant with diabolical mockery: Just listen to his charcterization of Himmler if you want a few goosebumps with your prose.
All and all a wonderful audiobook on all accounts. Mailer is at the peak of his powers as a novelist and the choice of narrator is perfect. You absolutely must get this!
"Worthy of Mailer"
I was at first unimpressed and felt that the device of devils and angels was a bit clunky, but Mailer won me over. I find it, as I near the end, to be a very powerful work. The prose, at first, seem weak by Mailer's normal standards--the tone has hints of a mid-twentieth century English translation of Thomas Mann. I realized a quarter of the way through that this was certainly a choice. And a good one. The cumulative effects of the prose were stunning. As is the portrait of humanity that emerges. And the portrait of Hitler! To see and begin to comprehend the forces that molded so awful, so powerful an individual is a bit of insight that I truly appreciate. My big fear--since this clearly a first volume to a much larger work--is that Mailer will not be able to finish it, and leave us with another unfinished half masterpiece, which of course should be renamed "Hitler's Ghost."
The reader is top notch, and has a tone akin to Mailer?s, making it very pleasing to listen to.
"Great one"
This is one of the book you would like if you have read Mailer's other books like The Naked And The Dead, The Armies of The Night, The Executioner's Song, Miami and the Siege of Chicago, Advertisements For Myself and etc.
Taking a cue from CS Lewis, a Devil who works for Satan narrates the early days of the Hitler. A lot is told about Alois' Hitler and his background.
This book is a mixture brilliance, excitement and sometimes dullness. I consider this book a great listen.
"Skip This Silliness"
One of the Devil's agents narrates this rambling and irrelevant look at the formative years of Hitler. The most insightful and interesting story element deals with beekeeping. Maybe that says it all. It is just plain goofy.
I kept hoping this iconic author would redeem himself along the way. But, as the story plodded along, it became apparent that this work was the rambling of an artist whose time has past him by. The only reason this manuscript got published was the name Mailer was typed on the first page.
I would say the ending was a disappointment; however, it was a welcome relief.
"Laughably Amateur Narrator, At Best"
I like Mailer, I've read The Executioners Song, Harlots Ghost, and The Naked and the Dead, but I had no chance to see if I liked this story because the narrator was AWFUL. He reminds me of the not so good volunteer readers on the Librivox app. I yelled at this book at least 20x before I gave up. It's already a difficult subject, and the story is frankly perverse and scatological (I have no problem w that) so in a truly gifted narrators hands, this story might have come across as an oddly whimsical and enjoyable dark fairytale. It was certainly interesting, but his flatness, his lack of inflection, and pathetic attempts at character voices were too distracting. Will not finish, though I may pick up the actual book. Not recommended if you care about narration.
"Interesting Premis"
A strange book to be sure, but interesting if not a little disturbing for my taste.
All I kept thinking was off all the times when the course of history could have been altered for the better had Hitler's childhood / Education gone another way or had he not survived at all. I found the most interesting part was his chapter on Czar Nicholas II.
"Mailer's Swan Song"
Let us at least hope this is his swan song(think Sebelius' "Swan of Tuonela" floating down the river to death!). I am sure Mr. Mailer realizes that much of his book is vulgar, venal and scatological. The sexual perversity and explicit speech about all bodily functions not only gets old FAST but clearly over states the Freudian trip through all the stages of humanity's dark sides which is so de regeur in our universities these days especially if it also pays obeisance to queer theory. I lasted down to final 2 hours where a vulgar homosexual/pedophlic scene so churned my stomach that I didn't care anymore where the book was going nor what Mailer in Deiter's pedagogy( the devil who is the narrative voice) was so fatuously attempting to illustrate. Gunter Grass(porno-Grass) move over- literature has a new baD boy/expositor of Vapid vulgarity making Grass' work seem like a child's simple storybook. AH! But I forgot- Mailer has a humpbacked person in his story too! Shame on you Mr. Mailer for plagiarizing another great writer's icon in the name of how depraved Nazi Germany became. Or as another demon with erudite slyness gave away yet another secret if their ilk: our best work is done when we can get a man to sit in a cold room starring at a dead fire!
I was very disappointed in this book. I started the book hoping to gain another perspective about the most evil person in history. Instead, the book was written from the standpoint of a devil. To explain Hitler's behavior that "the devil made him do it" is an insult to the six million Jews he murdered, not to mention homosexuals and mentally challenged people whom he and his cronies tortured and killed. Additionally, I felt the book dragged. The focus was on Hitler's father and little about the young Hitler's makeup.
"Pure DRECK!! Should be ZERO stars!"
Here is a letter I just wrote to Audible:
I want my CREDIT back!!!
I bought this book thinking it was a legitimate historical novel. It turns out it is a FANTASY! The "narrator," who is purported to be an SS officer, turns out to be a minon of SATAN, not just metaphorically but a real honest-to-God (no pun) agent of THE devil! Normal Mailer must have been going SENILE when he wrote this piece of dreck! Introducing an agent of Satan as being the reason for the monster that was Adolf Hitler is a COP-OUT and seems to falsely mitigate the true, very human, HORROR that was the man (not a "Rosemary's baby") and those who did his work. I want this piece of literary dung flushed out of my library, I assure you I'll be deleting it from my computer, and I want my credit BACK!!
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Hi Y'all.
I have recently moved to Dundee for uni from Edinburgh, and have been really disappointed by the cycling club here. So I am looking for a few recommendations for trails, both win thin cyclable distance of Dundee or a train journey away. I am an advanced rider, I race Enduro so am looking for these sorts of trails. I can easily ride 70+ km in a day so distance is not an issue really!
If you would be willing to share your local routes it would be greatly appreciated! (may even provide cake if the route is up to scratch .
Cheers, Jack.
I had the opportunity to do a few rides near Braemar and Ballater during a Santa Cruz bike launch this past summer. There's some incredible terrain just north of you.
Here are a few maps that might help:
These chaps can set you straight on trail names and the like:
You can catch a few action photos in these slideshows:
And a quick vid of one of the more wide open trails:
Have fun out there!


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ESSENDON coach Mark Thompson has challenged Patrick Ryder to become a more consistent player as he shoulders the main ruck duties early this season.
Without injured big man Tom Bellchambers (ankle), Ryder will lead the Bombers centre square division in his 150th game against North Melbourne on Friday night, with some ruck help from second-year tall Joe Daniher this season.
Thompson yesterday said Daniher was physically ready to compete in the ruck this season after being protected from the role in his debut campaign.
Thompson also flagged defenders Martin Gleeson and Jason Ashby and small forward Zach Merrett were in the frame to make their AFL debuts against the Roos.
Ryder, 26, is considered one of the most talented players on the club's list but did not finish in the top-10 of the best and fairest award last year, despite playing 17 games.
He has one top-five finish in his career, in 2009.
Thompson said Ryder did not have to be a match-winner for the Dons, but needed to iron out some of the fluctuations in his game.
"He [Ryder] is an interesting player," Thompson said.
"I think people expect him to be something great … we don't expect him to be a superstar.
"We just expect him to be a consistent performer and I suppose that is Paddy's biggest challenge.
"All the signs this year we have made some improvement and hopefully we see some real consistency in the way he plays."
Ryder, who averaged 23 hit-outs working in tandem with Bellchambers last year, will face North Melbourne big man Todd Goldstein in their season-opener at Etihad Stadium.
The last time Ryder faced the Roos he racked up 33 hit-outs and 20 disposals against them in Round 1 in 2012.
Thompson said he no worries thrusting Daniher into the ruck to support Ryder.
"We said we wouldn't do it last year and [in] his first game he played he went into the ruck and went better in the ruck," Thompson said.
"As long as he looks after his knees — the ball-ups and the boundary throw-ins aren't a problem anymore — (it's) just a centre bounce really where you get that big clash."
Daniher is a $12 third favourite to win the Rising Star award with Sportsbet.com.au. Thompson said the 201cm spearhead will provide some special moments this season, but still had a lot of development to do.
"He (Daniher) probably won't play the whole year," he said.
"He's got high ambitions. He wants to be a great player.
"I think you will see things from him this year that will show a lot of people what he is capable of in the future.
"He won't do it consistently this year but he will show patches where people will sit back and say, 'Wow he is a player of the future'."
Originally published as Bomber challenges interesting Ryder


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Personal reflections
The U-T interviewed six San Diegans who were connected to the news in 2011. These reports, in their subjects' own words, were told to U-T reporters, who edited the conversations for clarity and brevity.
A professor's course comes alive
Study in disaster: post-tsunami Japan
Fisher always believed Aztecs would succeed
Occupy activist says she's still energized
Peg Reiter's husband died in September. You may have heard of him: Hiker Jerry Schad, who cut a prolific path for decades writing best-selling books about San Diego County trails.
He died of kidney cancer at the age of 61.
Reiter is 54 and lives in a downtown San Diego high-rise. She hikes as many as 40 miles a week, often alone now. Like others this year who have lost a loved one, she is trying to find her footing.
The couple had little time together. They met last year and married in March. Before Schad's diagnosis, they had made big plans together, stretching years into the future. Now Reiter struggles sometimes to think beyond a day. She also marvels at the impact her husband had on the community.
"I was tremendously touched by the outpouring from people. I have a huge file that is literally filled with all the cards we received, starting when Jerry was sick. That doesn't include the hundreds of emails we got.
It gave me great joy to know that Jerry's contributions meant so much to so many people.
Before Jerry died, there was man from Oregon who had heard that he was sick and he sent us a book called 'Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature.' This man was a complete stranger. I would lie next to Jerry and read the book to him. It was very comforting.
I still keep it by my bedside. When I'm restless at night, I'll pick it up and read it.
If I try to think of the future in terms of years, I can't go there. It's a very scary thing. It's a very sad place for me to go. I can look about a month ahead. I can't go any further than that. I have to stay in the present. That's my way of coping.
I'm actually seeing a psychotherapist and it's been very helpful. She told me to just stay in the present. I don't need to figure out the rest of my life, because that puts me into a tailspin.
This is not unique to me. It happens to a lot of people. Nobody skates through life. Everybody has something that knocks the wind out of them.
There are times when I think maybe Jerry's coming back. There are those times when I wake up in the morning and I think he's going to be there. I have these very vivid dreams about him. I had this one dream where I went to a party and I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in, like, 15 years and this friend said to me, 'Oh my, what have you been up to? I haven't seen in you in, like, forever.'
And I said, 'Well, you wouldn't believe this, but I married this really great guy, except I lost him. I lost his cellphone number and I can't find him.'
And this friend said: 'I have Jerry's phone number in my cellphone. Here, let me give it to you.'
So I called Jerry. As soon as he heard my voice he said, 'Sweetheart, I've been looking for you. We've found each other.'
And when I woke up from the dream, I thought just for a second that Jerry was going to be lying right next to me. It felt so real. I dream about him every night. They're good dreams.
I'll be honest. When Jerry was sick I thought to myself, when this man dies, I will die with him. I did not know how I could probably be alive and not have Jerry in my life. Well, I'm still here. But it's more than that. I'm alive and I'm thriving. I have to.
For me to live a life that's not joyful, that would be disrespecting him. Every day he would tell me, 'When I'm done, I want you to go out there and have the most beautiful life you can possibly have. I want you to meet someone else. I want you to fall in love. I want you to do whatever it is you want to do and gives you joy.'
Sometimes though I have to say to myself: Peg, you've got to fake it 'til you make it.
Some people say things to me that I think are somewhat wacky. I ran into this woman at a cocktail party and she proceeded to tell me that if I had prayed harder, maybe Jerry would have lived. I know she came from a place of good intentions, but it left me really cold. But instead of being angry with her, I had to say, well, she meant well, she really did. Let it go.
For me, a huge piece of this is learning to surrender. That doesn't mean give up. It means acceptance. Acceptance of where you are and dealing with the reality of it.
Journey's end for hiking writer Jerry Schad
Hiking writer Jerry Schad dies
It's sad to me when I see people who are with their significant other or their children and they are not really understanding how critically important it is to appreciate that moment. Because that's all life is. It's little moments pasted together. The only thing that's important in your life are relationships.
I don't sleep great, but that will come with time. It's not as raw as it was."Copyright © 2017, The San Diego Union-Tribune


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This is probably my favorite crock-pot experiment so far. I decided to try it when someone posted a recipe on Pinterest, but the link was broken so I had to try to figure it out myself.
Crock Pot Cheesecake?
I know, I know, the idea of making cheesecake in a slow cooker is a little odd. I was skeptical too, but was amazed at how well this recipe turned out. I figured if you can make meatloaf in a slow cooker, and chai tea lattes in a slow cooker, why not give cheesecake a try.
This recipe has especially been helpful on Thanksgiving and busy holidays when my oven is already running at capacity with other dishes and I don't have the time or space to make any desserts in the oven! As a bonus, this recipe is easier than cooking in the oven (unless you are making a really big cheesecake). If you are a cheesecake person, give this one a try!
Crock Pot Cheesecake
Yield 6
An easy cheesecake in the crock pot!
- Crust:
- 1 cup of toasted almonds (unsalted) or pecans ground to a meal in a blender or food processor
- 2 TBSP coconut oil (or butter)
- 1 egg
- stevia to taste (optional)
- Filling:
- 2 packages of cream cheese (16 ounces total)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp stevia or powdered stevia leaf (can also use up to 1/2 cup honey or pure cane sugar)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 Tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon coconut flour
- Mix toasted almonds/pecans with coconut oil, egg and stevia (if using) and press into bottom of a pan that will fit in the bottom of your crock pot with a little room on each side. I used a 1 1/2 quart oval corning ware in my 6 quart oval crock pot and it worked great, though even a bowl or round cake pan (or loaf pan) could work depending on your crock pot.
- Mix filling ingredients and blend well with blender or immersion blender. Taste to make sure it is sweetened to taste.
- Pour over crust in your dish.
- Put about 1 cup of water in the bottom of your crock pot.
- Slowly and carefully place the dish with the cheesecake into the crock pot, making sure not to get water in it. Put lid on.
- Turn crock pot on high and cook about 2 hours (check every hour or so to make sure there is still water in it).
- Done when middle is set and top barely starts to crack.
- Turn off heat and leave in crock pot until cooled.
- Chill in fridge for a few hours before serving.
- Enjoy!
Courses Dessert
Serving Suggestions
- Melt dark chocolate and drizzle on top before chilling
- Slice strawberries and serve on top
- Make a pumpkin version for the Fall!
Like cheesecake? Ever made it in the crock pot? What's your flavor? Tell me below!


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Hotels in Salvador, Brazil
Search & Compare Salvador Hotels
Get Secret Prices on select hotels
These prices aren't available to everyone.
Best hotels in Salvador
Salvador overviewYou can learn about the local heritage of Salvador at top landmarks like Forte de Santo Antonio da Barra and Sao Francisco Church and Convent of Salvador. Fonte Nova Stadium and Museum of Modern Art are other popular sights to see. Salvador is an inviting destination that has something for everyone.
Where to stay in SalvadorWhether you're planning to stay for a night or for the week, the area around Salvador has accommodations to fit every need. Search for hotels in Salvador with Hotels.com by checking our online map. Our maps display the areas and neighborhoods around all Salvador hotels so you can see how close you are from landmarks and attractions, and then refine your search within the larger area. The best Salvador hotel deals are here with our lowest price guarantee.
How to get to SalvadorFly in to Salvador (SSA-Deputado Luis Eduardo Magalhaes Intl.), 12.7 mi (20.4 km) from downtown Salvador.
What to see around SalvadorFun excursions can include a visit to:
- • Fonte Nova Stadium
- • All Saints Bay
- • Bahia Marina
- • Museum of Modern Art
- • Afro Brazilian Museum
- • Fundacao Casa de Jorge Amado
- • Museum of Sacred Art
- • Castro Alves Theater
- • Porto da Barra Beach
- • Farol da Barra Beach
- • Dique do Tororo
- • Vitoria Waterfall
- • Ondina Beach
- • Forte de Santo Antonio da Barra
- • Sao Francisco Church and Convent of Salvador
- • Jesus da Barra
- • Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim
When to visit SalvadorIf you're still deciding when to visit, here are the seasonal norms to help you plan:
Seasonal temperature averages
- • January-March: 86°F day, 74°F night
- • April-June: 85°F day, 70°F night
- • July-September: 82°F day, 69°F night
- • October-December: 84°F day, 71°F night
- • January-March: 12.48 inches
- • April-June: 28.54 inches
- • July-September: 15.35 inches
- • October-December: 12.56 inches


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August 11, 2011
The United States, after weeks of hesitation, has finally decided to call explicitly for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down amid broadening pressure to staunch the bloodshed.
The announcement, which US officials said is expected as early as Thursday, would come as President Barack Obama's administration presses for tougher international sanctions on a regime bent on crushing a pro-democracy movement.
"The United States is looking to explicitly call for Assad to step down. The timing of that is still in question," a US official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.


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The Painkiller
Garrick Theatre (Branagh Theatre)
Price from $ 112.10
Experience the first out of five plays - The Painkiller, a dark, but hilarious play.
- Enjoy a dark, but funny play
- Pick your own seats
- Book your tickets online and save time
Experience the Painkiller
Two men. Two lonely hotel rooms. An adjoining door. One of them is a killer. One of them wants to die. What could possibly go wrong?


text:
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Annual Edition Ornament 2017
$ 79.00
Brilliant Cross
$ 129.00
Star of David
Brilliant Heart, small
$ 65.00
Baby Shoes, Blue
$ 49.00
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$ 99.00
Rocking Horse
Brilliant Heart
Rabbit with Roses
$ 159.00
New York Apple, small
$ 69.00
Baby Carriage, Pink
Rabbit with Yellow Easter Egg
Kris Bear - A Pumpkin for You
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Since 1895, founder Daniel Swarovski's mastery of crystal cutting has defined the company. His enduring passion for innovation and design has made it the world's premier jewelry and accessory brand.
Our member-only collective that offers exclusive gifts and rewards, events, and sparkling surprises.
Join the exclusive world of brilliance and live your crystal passion to the fullest.
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AngryWolves - Randomly spawn aggressive wolves, now with Hellhounds and Villager Werewolves!
This plugin offers the option to have some (or even all) wolves that spawn be already angry. In addition, angry wolves can be substituted for a portion of the normal monster spawns, but (optionally) only in appropriate biomes and on appropriate terrain. Both of these options can be enabled at the same time (or individually, as before), and individually configured. Wolves can also be configured to have loot drops.
A portion of angry wolf spawns can, optionally, be made to be Hellhounds! Hellhounds are flaming, fire-proof angry wolves - which mostly makes them look a whole lot cooler :). Unlike regular angry wolves, though, they can spawn in The Nether.
Settings are controlled at three tiers - global, world-specific and polygon-defined areas within specific worlds. In all cases, the settings of the more specific tier, if defined, override those of the higher tiers (area supersedes world, which supersedes global settings).
The settings file includes the following attributes:
- spawn-anger-rate - Percentage of normal wolf spawns that appear as angry wolves. Disabled if zero.
- mob-to-wolf-rate - Ten times the percentage of monster spawns (zombie,creeper,skeleton,spider) are replaced by angry wolves (e.g. 50 = 5%, 1000=100%). Disabled if zero.
- spawnmsg - optional message to broadcast to all players in world where an angry wolf has spawned, due to either method (limited to once per 60 seconds per world). Color codes can be included using &0-&F format (similar to Essentials).
- spawnmsgradius - optional parameter that, if set above zero, limits the sending of the 'spawnmsg' to players within the provided number of blocks of the spawn event
- creeper-to-wolf-rate, skeleton-to-wolf-rate, zombie-to-wolf-rate, spider-to-wolf-rate - when defined, these values override the mob-to-wolf-rate for the corresponding mob type (e.g. creeper-to-wolf-rate, if set, will define the rate (in tenths of a percent) of creeper spawns that are replaced with angry wolves)
- mobtowolf-ignore-terrain - when defined and set to 'true', this option removes the biome and terrain restriction on mob-to-wolf spawn replacements - angry wolves can replace spawns in any biome or terrain when this is set.
- wolf-loot-rate - when defined, this integer is the percentage chance that a dying wolf drops loot (default is 0)
- wolf-loot - when defined, this integer list is the set of one or more item IDs to be picked from randomly when determining a wolf's loot drop. Duplicate IDs are allowed, and makes the given item more likely to drop (default is [ 344 ], leather).
- pigzombie-to-wolf-rate - when defined, this value overrides the mob-to-wolf-rate for the pig-zombie spawns, and sets the rate (in tenths of a percent) that pig-zombies will spawn as angry wolves instead. Angry wolf spawns in The Nether are always Hellhounds.
- hellhound-rate - when defined, this value indicates the percentage of angry wolves that are Hellhounds (flaming, fire-proof angry wolves).
- wolf-xp - when defined, the number of experience orbs dropped for kills of normal wolves
- angry-wolf-xp - when defined, the number of experience orbs dropped for kills of angry wolves
- hellhound-xp - when defined, the number of experience orbs dropped for kills of hellhounds
- hellhound-fireball-rate - when defined and above 0, this is the number of seconds between fireballs hurled by hellhounds (default= 0, no fireballs)
- hellhound-fireball-range - when defined, range of hellhound fireballs
- hellhound-fireball-incendiary - when defined and set to true, hellhound fireballs can cause fires
- mob-to-wild-wolf-rate - when defined, rate at which monster mobs are replaced by normal (wild) wolves, in tenths of a percent (e.g. 100 = 10%).
- pup-on-sheep-kill-rate - when defined, rate at which wolf pups are spawned when a wolf eats a sheep (in percent)
- villager-werewolf-rate - decimal percentage of villagers that become Angry Wolves during the full moon (they return to normal at the end of the night) (new to 1.2)
- angrywolf-hunts-villagers - boolean that, if true, causes Angry Wolves to hunt villagers (like Zombies do) (new to 1.2)
In addition, you can configure a "full moon" night - one night out of every N (where N is the setting for the days-between-fullmoons attribute), 'anger-rate-fullmoon' percent of the untamed wolves will become angry. At the end of that night, all angry wolves (even ones angry before the night started) will revert to normal. The attribute for this include:
- days-between-fullmoons - if non-zero, the number of daytime periods between 'full moon' nights (e.g. 1 = every night, default is 8, setting to zero disables the feature). Note: unlike other attributes, this attribute can only be defined at the world and global level - no area-specific full moon cycles! Setting this to 8 will result in the lunar cycle matching the MC 1.0.0 lunar cycle.
- 'anger-rate-fullmoon' - the percentage of already-spawned wild wolves that turn angry at the start of the 'full moon' night (if zero, feature is disabled). Note: tamed wolves are unaffected.
- 'fullmoonmsg' - optional broadcast message sent at the start of each 'full moon' night. Color codes can be included using &0-&F format (similar to Essentials).
- 'fullmoon-mob-to-wolf-rate' - if set, this is the 'mob-to-wolf-rate' used during 'full moon' nights - choose to spawn more angry wolves during the full moon!
- 'fullmoon-stay-angry-rate' - if set, this is the percentage of angry wolves that stay angry at the end of a full moon night (default is 0%)
The "wolves in sheep's clothing" option is also available. Disabled by default, the option allows for a probability that a sheep, when damaged by a player, turns out to be an angry wolf in disguise. This feature is controlled with the following attributes:
- wolf-in-sheep-rate: chance that a sheep is an angry wolf in disguise (in tenths of a percent). Default is zero (disabled).
- wolf-in-sheep-msg: message sent to player that damaged the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing. Color codes can be included using &0-&F format (similar to Essentials).
The "wolf-friends" feature is also available. This is a Permissions based privilege that, when granted to a user, makes them not be attacked or targeted by angry wolves. This feature is controlled (globally, per-world, or per-area) with the following attribute:
- wolf-friends: if set to true, the 'angrywolves.wolf-friend' permission is enabled, and players with that permission will not be attacked or targetted by angry wolves. Note: if enabled on a per-area level, the location of the PLAYER determines if the friend permission will prevent attack.
Permissions 2.7.x or later has been tested. Without Permissions, Bukkit Permissions ('Superperms') will be used instead.
To install, simply copy the AngryWolves.jar to your plugin directory and start CraftBukkit normally. A sample configuration file, config.yml, will be created in the AngryWolves subdirectory.
- Multi-world support
- Global settings, per-world settings, and per-area settings
- Set percentage of wolves that spawn already angry (spawn-anger-rate > 0)
- Set percentage (x10) of monster spawns to replace with angry wolves (mob-to-wolf-rate > 0)
- When replacing monster spawns, will only do so in forest and tiaga biomes, and only when spawn is over grass terrain. mobtospawn-ignore-terrain can be used to disable this restriction.
- Optional world-level broadcast messages when an angry wolf is spawned
- Optional "full moon" nights - one night out of every N days-between-fullmoons, a settable fraction of all wild wolves go angry for the night, but return to normal in the morning.
- Optional "wolf-in-sheep's-clothing" - settable probability that a sheep damaged by a player turns out to be an angry wolf in disguise!
- Optional "wolf-friends" privilege - if enabled, players with the 'angrywolves.wolf-friend' privilege, via Permissions or GroupManager, will not be attacked or targetted by angry wolves.
- Optional spawn message radius, to limit which players are warned if an angry wolf spawns and a 'spawnmsg' has been defined.
- Option polygon-defined areas within each world that can have their own settings (defined as list of 2-D coordinates - 2 for rectangle, 3+ for polygon).
- Optional mob-type-specific mob-to-wolf rates, allowing the rate of mobs being replaced by angry wolves to be set for each mob type (spiders, skeletons, zombies, creepers - and pig-zombies)
- Optional loot drops from wolves - controlled rate (using wolf-loot-rate), and list of item IDs to be randomly picked from (using wolf-loot). Option for angry wolf specific loot and loot drops (using angry-wolf-loot-rate and angry-wolf-loot, respectively). Option for Hellhound specific loot and loot drops (using hellhound-loot-rate and hellhound-loot, respectively).
- Option for a settable percentage of angry wolves to be flaming Hellhounds (using hellhound-rate)
- Option to set different mob-to-wolf rate during full moons, using fullmoon-mob-to-wolf-rate setting (percentage x10, like mob-to-wolf-rate). Also, optional settable rate that angry wolves stay angry at end of full moon (in percent - default 0).
- angrywolf-health and hellhound-health settings, which control the initial health of these spawns - used to make them less wimpy than normal wild wolves!
- hellhound-damagescale - allows damage received by Hellhounds to be reduced (it is multiplied by this settings, so making it below 1.0 reduces damage).
- angrywolf-pop-limit - allows limit on total population of Angry Wolves and Hellhounds on your server (mob-to-spawn sidesteps the normal spawn population limits).
- Enable hellhounds to attack with fireballs (at settable range and rate) that do (or don't) cause fires
- Configure normal wolves, angry wolves, and hellhounds to drop experience orbs
- Add options to make normal wolves more common - mob-to-wild-wolf-rate (like mob-to-wolf-rate, but it causes normal 'wild' wolves), and pup-on-sheep-kill-rate (percent chance of getting a wolf puppy when a wolf eats a sheep)
- (new to 0.9.4) Color codes can be included using &0-&F format (similar to Essentials) in any custom message.
Source Code on GIT is https://github.com/mikeprimm/AngryWolves
This plugin utilizes Hidendra's plugin metrics system, which means that the following information is collected and sent to mcstats.org:
- A unique identifier
- The server's version of Java
- Whether the server is in offline or online mode
- The plugin's version
- The server's version
- The OS version/name and architecture
- The core count for the CPU
- The number of players online
- The Metrics version
I've been using you plugin for awhile now and I really love it!
I recently came across another plugin, DimensionChanger and I was wondering if you would ever consider adding something like this to your plugin? It would be really cool if during a full moon, you could change the look to either the nether or the end. Maybe you could set the choice in the config?
It was just a thought I had. If not, I guess I can always do it manually.
Thanks for the great plugin!
#58 gumgumpuntnl Posted May 18, 2015
#55 gumgumpuntnl Posted Mar 7, 2015
#53 Jo11yWombat Posted Mar 31, 2014
I really like this plug-in, and I'm honestly rather impressed that it's the only one of it's kind, but I've run into a problem. I'm using the spider-to-wolf ratio in the config file, set to 850, and I'm in a region where only spiders and wolves can spawn. Immediately after a server reset, the first night everything works great, I get hundreds of angry wolves and a few spiders left over. But that's it. Every night after, no wolves spawn, just spiders. I thought maybe the Max Angry Wolves setting was doing a cumulative all time count instead of a max spawn at a time (I don't know why you'd do that but just checking) and set that really really high, it made no difference. I'm not getting any console errors of any kind. I'm using MobManager and World Guard other than this to effect spawns, both of those I've configured to have no effect on wolves.
#52 Pitsbrgparatrpr Posted Dec 29, 2013
Also, will the plugin default work on the main world map, or do I need to set that down below in the bottom of the CFG where it says World:, then place the word "world"?
#51 Pitsbrgparatrpr Posted Dec 25, 2013
Wow!! Great plugin! One question please, when I opened the CFg I didn't see all the options above, for instance, the ability to set the hellhound rate was not there? Thanks for any help!
#49 PsychicDragonST Posted Sep 27, 2013
This might be asking a bit much so I'll understand if you don't want to, but would you be willing to release just a "wolf-friend" only version of this? That's admittedly the only part of this plugin I use, and I like to keep my server as light-weight as possible.
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Motorola has had bad luck over the last couple of years with some of its portable mobile phones. That may explain why the company has just announced it will be offering a new fixed in-vehicle device. That wasn't a typo. We are talking about a mobile phone for the car. It's called the Smart Rider.
Now, in fairness to Motorola, the device isn't simply a mobile phone. It will also offer GPS services. This includes turn-by-turn and voice-guided navigation. Access to real-time traffic reports will also be available. GPS information will be displayed on a 2.8″ high resolution, sharp color display. The Smart Rider also includes voice activation and the ability to transfer calls from the handset to the in-vehicle device as needed. If there are different drivers of the vehicle, then you can have up to three secure and personalized phonebook settings for up to three of them. The Smart Rider is expected to be available beginning in June 2008.
Read more from the Motorola press release.
Brian's Opinion
Motorola is offering a fixed in-vehicle solution? Wow! Now, before I throw it under the bus, in fairness I know there is a market for these devices. These are the kind of devices you will find in limousines and outfitted SUVs and Lincoln Town Cars. The buyers will be people who probably already have drivers, which–if you think about it–pretty much makes the GPS and hands-free capabilities a luxury; but that's exactly what the device is. It'll simply be a luxury for those who can afford it. So, while the small market of folks who would even buy the Smart Rider considers it, Motorola will continue to lose ground when it comes to the larger mobile phone consumer market. Have Motorola engineers and executives simply given up until the mobile device division is spun off?


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But while these schools have fall success in common, they differ widely in their training and organizational approaches. Some coaches meet with their teams all summer long; others, operating within state restrictions, have limited athlete contact until mandatory school practice begins in August. Certain groups start out with only easy mileage; a few work in the hard stuff early on. Some teams emphasize weight training and core work; others just run.
Throughout the summer, Running Times is highlighting six different high school cross country teams and their summer training programs. This week, take a look at summer training for St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky:
St. Xavier High School
Louisville, Kentucky
Coach: Chuck Medley
Cross Country Success: This all-boys sports powerhouse has won 20 state titles, including the 2013 crown. In 2012, they placed 14th at NXN.
Setting It Up: In early June, two weeks after the state track meet, Medley holds a 5K time trial to assess initial fitness and uses the results as a benchmark for ensuing workouts.
Overall Training: St. Xavier has an ambitious program that starts with 45 miles a week and reaches 70 in nine weeks. It includes accelerations, fartlek, tempo runs and hill work. After eight weeks, they do another 5K time trial to see how far they've come and establish new benchmarks. After that, they add long intervals at faster than tempo pace.
Hill Training: Hill loops begin after nine weeks. The loops are three-quarters of a mile with a steep 150m ascent. They work on race pace and pack running. After each loop, they take a 100m recovery jog. They start out with 10 repeats and work up to 12 later in the season.
Hard Strides: Every practice ends with 10 x 100m strides, unless the workout consists of hill loops or accelerations.
Summer Innovation: For juniors and seniors, the boys train 90 out of 92 days in June, July and August. They also throw in some Ultimate Frisbee for good measure.
See also:
June 4: Tatnall School Builds Base By Experience
June 11: Mountain Brook Puts Responsibility With Athletes


text:
It can be tough to follow tradition. Coming from a family rich in football history, like City College of San Francisco linebacker Devin Bishop, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound prospect, the legacy is long. H...
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The San Diego County Sheriff's Department will conduct an internal review into the treatment of Occupy San Diego protesters who were arrested during the early morning hours of Oct. 28 and held in custody by the agency, spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said Thursday.
After 34 men and 17 women were detained, they were loaded onto a bus and two vans to be transported to Vista jail and the Las Colinas Detention Facility. The trip took so long that some were forced to "relieve themselves as they sat on the bus or van," according to a Sheriff's Department statement.
In the statement, sheriff's officials conceded that there were no restroom facilities available for the arrestees and said the matter is being "treated seriously."
One protester, 18-year-old City College student Kevin Rambo, has said that demonstrators were held on a bus for between nine and 12 hours.
"When this was brought to our attention, we acted on it immediately," Caldwell said. "We decided this Critical Incident Review would be the best way to go over what might not have worked out well. We do appreciate feedback. This is how we can do a better job the next time."
Eugene Davidovich, an activist who said he was at Civic Center Plaza the night of the arrests but was not arrested, welcomed news of the review. However, he said he would like it to be expanded to include the actions of authorities as the arrests were taking place.
"I think it's absolutely necessary that a review of the actions of the Sheriff's (Department) is conducted from that night," he said. "It's a good sign, (but) I don't think it's enough."


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Unless said band is Motorhead or AC/DC, virtually every band throughout human history has had major changes to their sound. Nowhere is this more evident than with Primal Fear. They tried to get a little commercial with the release of "New Religion", but their 2009 album, "16.6 (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead)", is a mixed bag of "New Religion", and the band's signature sound. There's a few things to be bashed with extreme prejudice, but there are also things worthy of being classified as "amazing". For this reason, "16.6" is definitely not Primal Fear's greatest album, not by a long shot.
As a matter of fact, "16.6" shows some signs of Primal Fear returning to their roots as they climb out of the hole of radio-friendly sound that they had dug with "New Religion". One of the many songs that confirm this is the basic, yet hard and grinding "Smith & Wesson". Sure the riffs might be a little basic, but since we've had similar riffs coming from Primal Fear even on their best releases, we should be used to that sort of thing at this point. The song's sheer aggression in both the riffing and the lyrics show the power of Primal Fear's signature sound, the complete polar opposite of what the previous album was. Then there's "The Exorcist". Not to be confused with the 1973 horror film of the same name, this song is fast and driving, all the while delivering an aggressive and powerful sensation. Then we have the speedy and elegant "Riding the Eagle", which sort of has a Helloween-like feel to it, especially during the chorus. Even with that being said, Primal Fear's sound still manages to blaze through, giving us one of the best songs since any on "Black Sun" or "Nuclear Fire". Another excellent example is "Night after Night", which despite being a little mid-paced, contains enough grinding force to be a good song, not to mention the pivotal riff that occurs in the beginning.
Unfortunately, this album is not without its flaws, one of the biggest being the use of synthesizers. Now, synthesizers aren't bad when used sparingly, or when they actually contribute much to elevate the sound. It's just that here, the synthesizers try to supplement the sound, but in a way that makes them more geared towards the pop/trance sort of crowd. The very first few seconds of "Soar" give you an idea of what to expect. The synthesized drumbeats immediately ruin the song outright, but they're present in some parts throughout it. The sad thing is that the song doesn't sound bad without the drum machine. In fact, without it, it would be another great song to recommend. It's got that aggression and power that put Primal Fear on the map, as well as a faster tempo. But they just had to add that drum machine, for what reason, I might never know. The worst offender, however, would make "Soar" sound like "Mind Machine", and that song is "No Smoke without Fire". What a horrendous excuse for a power metal song. It has a decent intro, but once it gets into the first verse, it all falls apart. Like "Soar", it's got a drum machine that completely spoils the fun. To make matters worse, the tempo that it plays is rather slow. It's as if they wanted to be the next Disturbed. So sad.
Then there's songs that I would consider to be in between. "Black Rain" doesn't really sound like anything Primal Fear would do, since it's got one of the guitars synthesized to resemble a sitar-like sound to create a Middle-Eastern vibe. Not that that's so much of a bad thing, but the guitar could've just stuck with playing a riff based on harmonic minor scales, which also carry a Middle-Eastern vibe, and the results would be the same. It's also got a bridge that consists of military "walkie talkie" dialogue that breaks into the solo. I really don't get the purpose of that, but it still sounds cool to some extent. The song isn't bad, but it would've been excellent if the tempo was way faster than it is during the verses. That would've given the song the setting that it needed for its subject matter, and still come out a proper Primal Fear song. Yes, ballads do exist on this album, and they certainly can't be any more redundant than "Hands of Time". On the surface, it isn't a terrible song, nor is it a good one, but we get this silly tambourine that appears throughout the chorus. Not even kidding, people, a tambourine. It wouldn't be a proper ballad that would bring tears to peoples' eyes and capture the imaginations of many if it didn't have tambourines. Tambourines!
"16.6" is a hit and a miss. On the one hand, we get signs of Primal Fear coming back to their original, more powerful sound rather than a commercial breakthrough to be the next In Flames. On the other, we get songs that hearken back to the days of "New Religion", an album that is more or less abhorred by diehard fans. I'm conflicted on whether or not to recommend this album to anyone, 'cos it's got some amazing stuff but it's also got some pathetic numbers. If anything, I'd say it's Primal Fear's best attempt to sound commercial and still sound awesome. Knowing the fact that many bands like Celtic Frost tried this and failed, it's clear to see that such an undertaking is no easy task, especially when your fans expect more power.
Germany's own Primal Fear, one of the bigger and well known power metal bands, holds us in anticipation with their newest serving of ferocious European power metal; entitled 16.6 (Before The Devil Knows You're Dead). This new album will be Primal Fear's 8th full-length release, and their second with Frontiers Records. 16.6 also marks the first album with new guitarist Magnus Karlsson (Allen/Lande, ex-Last Tribe), after long-time guitarist with the band, Stefan Leibing decided that it was his time to move on. Leibing had been with Primal Fear since their 2nd album, Jaws Of Death.
The first subtle signs of the band's reinvention occurred with 2004's Devil's Ground, while further progression covered 2005's Seven Seals. Experimentation on a few tracks came into play on that album, while more tentative changes occurred again with 2007's New Religion, including combining female vocals with Ralf Scheepers on one track; and a few more experimental tracks, some of which missed the mark. Although most fans felt that New Religion was the bands first slip in quality and inspiration, the album ultimately received mixed reviews. It seemed that the band wanted to sound more chiseled, well-rounded, mature, emotional and in-depth; seeking to get out from underneath the "Judas Priest clone-band" label which some fragments of the metal media had pinned on them.
So now, the latest Primal Fear release has arrived and many will be asking the question; will they return to their early 2000's glory, or will 16.6 continue the band's current musical trend of recent years? Primal Fear may not have gotten the balance right between their direction of progression and old-school on New Religion, but they damn sure have on the new album, 16.6. This time round, the German Metal Commandos have got it right, with an excellent blend of current progression into what they want to be; and their classic old-school sound. This album sounds and feels like the band were much more confident and sure of themselves with this material, than they were with the last album.
A dark intro starts things off, building up to the opening track Riding The Eagle. The track is a great Primal Fear opener, speedy and melodic, with a catchy chorus. Ralf sounds stronger than ever as he charismatically belts out the tunes. In fact, throughout the whole album, Ralf never breaks out the insanely high pitched shrieks (ala Sign Of Fear style), seemingly more comfortable to sing at his mid-high pitched vocals for the majority of the release. Ralf also sings with a lot more melody and conviction on 16.6, putting to rest any rumours that his voice may be faulting after all these years behind the mic.
Primal Fear rip out some awesome old-school sounding tracks, including Killbound, which could have slotted in perfectly on Primal Fear's debut album. Smith And Wesson is another classic sounding track, but with an obvious Sinner influence; while The Exorcist is a ripping old-school balls-to-the-wall track, full of power and speed and is easily one of the best on the CD. Soar is an interesting and quite peculiar track. Aside from being very good and catchy, it also contains portions of industrial metal guitar riffs, similar in sound to bands like The Tea Party and Korn.
Six Times Dead is another brilliant track on 16.6, containing a super-charged heavy stomping beat and riff which just keeps your head banging for the entire song. The semi power ballad No Smoke Without Fire is another standout, quite emotional, strong and sung very well by Scheepers. Lastly, another experimental track, Black Rain is quite epic and sophisticated, while the album closer, Hands Of Time is another soulful ballad, with the vocals being shared by four members of the band.
From the beginning of 16.6 to the end, it is obvious that Primal Fear have now confidently found their sound and structure that they have been working on for the last few albums. In an excellent return to form, every track is forceful, meaningful and wonderfully constructed; blending the best of classic Primal Fear with the arrangements and insights of their current progression. This release may have been a few albums in the making, but it is all definitely worth the wait. 16.6 is not another Nuclear Fire, Black Sun or Jaws Of Death, and neither should it be as the band has moved on and improved from that era.
All Primal Fears fans should go out and get this without hesitation; while power/traditional metal fans will also thoroughly enjoy what 16.6 has to offer.
Originally reviewed for www.themetalforge.com
Traditions are arguably the most effective way of educating, or otherwise communicating some part of the past to the current generation. In keeping with this, there is not really a whole lot of middle ground when it comes to a core audience of a particular style; they either tend to be in love with tradition and despise any attempt at augmenting it, or oppose it so vigorously that anything resembles 80s metal is anathema to their ears unless it was created during that decade. This is often why an established audience will look less favorably on a partial attempt to return to an established sound than they will an exact continuation of a new course, because anything will be interpreted as a betrayal, while an attempt to partially back pedal while still exploring new territory will be seen as a disingenuous attempt at making up.
Primal Fear's "16.6 (Before The Devil Knows Your Dead" is this sort of album, and as a member of that minority audience that doesn't revere tradition to the point of slavishness yet still acknowledges its importance, I find this to be an album with a good amount going for it. There is obviously a strong element of the ambient and industrial elements of "New Religion" still present, along with a helping of groove based, slower heavy songs, but a concerted effort has been made here to ratchet the speed metal ala "Painkiller" back up to something that flirts with "Black Sun" at times. The guitar approach, in particular, has definitely maintained more a modern tinge, sometimes to the point of resembling metalcore sounds, and the solos have been somewhat toned down towards something less majestic and slightly more mechanical. But all of this, for the most part, works together in concert and yields a good collection of songs.
The place where the album really shines is when moderated elements of the atmospheric style of the previous two albums return with a slightly heavier guitar presence. This is well localized to the two longest songs on here "5.0, Torn" and the best song on the album "Black Rain". Both of them take a few tricks out of the playbook that made "Fighting The Darkness" a new classic in Primal Fear's collection, taking a few bits of Industrial detailing here and there to spice things up, but keeping things pretty well in a slower version of the Judas Priest paradigm. There is also a really healthy collection of straight up Metal anthems in varying tempos that come off as slightly more modernized versions of what was heard on the first half of "Devil's Ground", of which "Riding The Eagle" and "The Exorcist" really bring home the goods and blast out those Halford shrieks and pounding speed metal riffs like no tomorrow.
Naturally with many album that attempt to straddle the divide between tradition and innovation, there is a handful of bad apples in the bunch. The worst offender is "Soar", which sounds like a nightmarish offspring from a drunk affair with nu-metal, albeit it is better than most of what I've heard out of any band in that genre as Scheepers knows how to sing and the guitarists can do something apart from pounding out 3 note drones and overuse the effects pedal. The album's other heavily ambient song "No Smoke Without Fire" proves to be a somewhat uninspired half-ballad that sounds like a tired version of the title track on "Seven Seals". But for the most part, this is a pretty consistent offering that doesn't demand the skip button too often. Not the best thing the band has put out, but good enough for anyone looking for a little bit of innovation but not a complete genre abandonment.
Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on May 29, 2010.
After the mostly awful New Religion, I was prepared for Primal Fear to descend completely into suck, but here we have another album that while not bad, is still no match for the likes of Nuclear Fire or Black Sun. Ever since Seven Seals Primal Fear seem to have been foundering, flailing around in new directions on every song, as if trying to figure out what to do. It seems plain that matt Sinner is dedicated to trying for a more commercial sound, and equally plain that he has no idea how to do that, so he keeps trying little experiments from the modern-metal idiocy of some of the tracks on the last two albums, to the goth-rock of "Everytime It Rains". The good news is this album has some stuff that is better than the last two, but it's still not good.
Now things get going well with "Riding The Eagle", which is almost like a real Primal Fear song, and then they plumb the depths of music's anus with the horrible "Six Times Dead". These first two songs (I'm not counting the pointless intro track) pretty much encapsulate everything there is to know about this album. "Riding The Eagle" has genuine metallic riffs, even if the guitar tone is crap. "Six Times Dead" is just a bunch of stupid groove riffs with the worst chorus PF have ever produced. I really, actively hate that song. The album continues in this vein, with decent tunes like "Black Rain", and "Under The Radar", and then there are the crap tracks like "Soar", "Killbound", and the wretched "No Smoke Without Fire". Oh, and let's not forget the gut-churning ballad that closes the album out, because we know what all PF fans want is a limp-wristed ballad that makes Ralf Scheepers sound like he's had his nuts surgically removed. Oh yeah.
There's some decent stuff on here, but this is frigging Primal Fear – I have a right to expect better than 'decent'. And when an album is less than half decent and more than half passive-aggressive bullshit, then that's not nearly good enough. Matt, I know you want to sell more records, but this shit you're making just sounds like ass, and all it's going to do is drive away all the fans you used to have. I can't really recommend that anyone spend money on this album.
Originally written for www.metalcrypt.com


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Over the weekend we looked at Spur Steak and Grill, a restaurant that's focused on providing a comfortable environment for families to eat out without worrying about other diners. Whilst family-friendly restaurants are by no means common-place, the current economic environment has led to a few more restaurants looking at how they can encourage families to visit their restaurants.
One restaurant that's really taken the needs of families into consideration is Giraffe, a chain of restaurants with a global theme. The trendy chain often runs discounts and deals, including their current deal of £10 off a £50 meal if you signup for their newsletter.
In terms of food, the restaurants offer a balanced and healthy menu for the children. On the occasions I've visited with kids, they've enjoyed meals like freshly prepared salmon fingers, a mini brunch and a pasta with tomato sauce. The fruit smoothies tend to go down well too, particularly as they come with a tiny little plastic giraffes perched on the edge of the glass. Everything on the kids menu is under a fiver too.
The last time we visited the Reading location with a two-year-old, we were greeted warmly, taken to a table with a high chair and our order was taken quickly. The latter really is important if you have tired and hungry children impatient for their dinner!
Overall, I'd highly recommend Giraffe to families looking for a balanced meal for all the family.


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Return to Ironforge
This quest is not available in game.
Speak with Historian Karnik in Ironforge.
- Miniature Platinum Discs (Provided)
You access the pedestal again; the platinum discs suddenly appear once more in your backpack.
With the knowledge of the stone watcher learned and the discs returned to your possession, the time has come to return to Ironforge and inform the Explorers' League of your discovery.
You will also receive:
- 10 reputation with Ironforge


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Former Santiago Bernabeu boss Manuel Pellegrini and Jose Mourinho lock horns as their sides meet each other in Saturday night La Liga action at La Rosaleda
Gamez, Demichelis, Mathijsen, Monreal
Cazorla, Toulalan, Maresca
Joaquin, Van Nistelrooy, Isco
Arbeloa, Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo
Alonso, Khedira
Kaka, Ozil, Ronaldo
Malaga only have one major injury concern and that is Julio Baptista, who is still recovering from a foot problem. The Brazilian did not take part in Thursday's training session, and it is touch and go whether the former Real Madrid man will face his former club.
Manuel Pellegrini's side will also be without goalkeeper Willy Caballero, who is suspended after receiving a straight red card in the last Primera Division match, a 3-0 defeat against Levante.
Madrid will still be without Raul Albiol, who is currently sidelined after fracturing his cheekbone on international duty. There are still concerns over the fitness of Ricardo Carvalho and Nuri Sahin, with both expected to miss the match at La Rosaleda.
Kaka started the last Liga match against Betis and scored a wonderful goal to complement a very good performance, and with Angel di Maria somewhat off-form midweek, the Brazilian may once again be given another opportunity.
Jose Mourinho is spoiled in his attacking options at the moment, with both Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain in excellent form. However, the Argentine may just get the nod after scoring a magnificent hat-trick in his last start.
- Malaga have scored less than half the amount of goals that Real Madrid have notched up in La Liga this season, with 10 goals to 24.
- Manuel Pellegrini's side spent €58 million (£50m) on new recruits during the summer transfer window.
- Malaga's top goalscorer last season in La Liga was Jose Rondon with 14 goals, 26 less than Madrid's highest marksman Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese netted 40, a division record.
- Real Madrid have scored 21 goals in their last five games.
- The last encounter between Real Madrid and Malaga came in March of this year when Jose Mourinho's men destroyed the visitors 7-0. Ronaldo fired a hat-trick.
- If Jose Mourinho's men lose this match, then Malaga will join them on 16 points in La Liga.


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Can Titanfall really be as fun as it sounds?
Subject: General Tech | February 19, 2014 - 04:01 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gaming, titanfall, modding
If you didn't get lucky enough to get in on the Titanfall demo then all you can do is read the previews and wonder if what you are missing out on is really as good as people say it is. The reviews we've seen have been very positive and describe what seems to be a new style of online shooter. The basics remain the same and we have all seen footage of the 3 storey mechs which give the game its name but Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN also describes how parkour is a big part of the game and is easier to get used to than Mirror's Edge. The launch process also sounds like an improvement, when starting you end up in a private area which makes it easy to pick who you play with if you have a group of up to 12 people together. Even with the limit of 6 players per side the map won't feel empty thanks to the designed inclusion of bots on both teams. It is also nice to hear that Respawn is already acknowledging the modding community for the PC version of their game.
"There are a lot of different ways to make videogame fights meaningful. Singleplayer games do it by couching your shotgun blasts and pistol whips in the context of a story. Multiplayer games do it by emphasising competition via scoreboards, and by layering XP bonuses and equipment progression on top as rewards for each kill. Titanfall aims to do it with a mixture of all of the above, and based on its limited beta, finds mixed success."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Microsoft kicks off a week of Xbox 360 game price cuts @ The Inquirer
- > HACK INFO ON DISRUPT ONTO RPS FRONT PAGE @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
- Irrational Games, developers of BioShock series, to close @ HEXUS
- Jacking Into The Matrix: EVE And Oculus' Utopian Dreams @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
- Mein Gott: Wolfenstein Preorders Secure DOOM Beta Access @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
I think I'm going to sit on the sideline with this one for a couple of reasons. EA being the publisher doesn't instill confidence the game will be released without some kind of issue that affects playability. The other being I'm not a big fan of the Call of Duty franchise which is the genesis for this game. I'm not hating on COD they are great games, it's just not my cup of tea.
Perhaps you should have tried the beta rather than speculating reasons why you might not like it...
played it. it's a good game, fast paced and fun. i will buy it as a "break from BF4" game. as for EA releasing it, the beta is better than BF4 was at launch by miles, the hitreg is better than BF4 now, sadly. I don't think EA can mess this up, they have had no say in the game according to devs.
these guys have a winner and will need gigantic wallets to hold the mint they will make.
Beta was okay. But the game is far to easy and brainless. If I have a training scene that tells me to jump now, duck now, ill go nuts.
Boring as hell and cater to people who are not good at FPS
If you cant kill pilots then you have mindless bots that dont do anything to kill
No reason to have bots in MP
All they did was take what shouldn't be in a FPS and call it innovating
If you think COD is noob game this is actually worst than COD takes no skill at all first game i played finished with out getting killed 8 pilot 27 bots 0 deaths
Oh forgot about the stupid pistol that locks onto targets
Yea that's great for online FPS a default aimbot
I found the game very boring also. The bots are dumb and I find myself killing more bots then actual pilots which is a downer when you see your final score and you thought you were doing well, but oh no, it was like 4 pilot kills and 20 bot kills. *facepalm*
The titans lack any real mech style gameplay as you would see in most mech games. In the city maps you are confined to the streets where you get boxed in easily between buildings. It is too easy to get your titan and the game quickly becomes very chaotic when all the sudden everyone gets their titans at the same time.
Aiming is a complete fail. What is it with this auto aiming and games now days?! Even when I used to play consoles (never again will I own a console) I found auto aiming annoying. You can't aim and you can't get a kill too bad for you!
A missing single player or even better co-op campaign missing is a let down also. I don't know about other people, but I like campaigns in the games I play, I don't always like to play online with other people, especially when you start getting the cheating a**holes around. I'm not paying $50.00+ for a multiplayer or single player game only, it needs both to be worth that value.
The graphics are terrible. Get out of here DX9! These game devs need to step up their "game" and get away from this old tech already. The game lacks anything visually appealing to me which having a 4930K, 670 SLI rig with a new 2560 x 1080 monitor, I want eye candy damnit! If the gameplay were better then I can look past some of the graphics quality, but in this game, neither one is there for me.
This game will be a pass for me. I only played the beta a few times and was bored within minutes each time I played. It has nothing to do with EA publishing it or for any other reason then the fact that it is a plain and simple boring game and isn't my taste of a game. Way over hyped!
PS: This is just my opinion. If you like this game, I am happy for you and I hope you have fun! :-D
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text: GHOSTBUSTERS!!!! Looks really cool. It would be perfect for the Wii too. I don't have audio here, so I couldn't listen to all of the videos to see if they said anything about Wii, so thread placement police, don't get mad at me if I have this in the wrong place.


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Lauderdale Lakes (Fla.) Boyd Anderson linebacker Josh Bynes continues to pick up scholarship offers and has a few schools in mind to make unofficial visits to this summer.
"I've got a whole bunch of offers now," Bynes said. "I think I've got about 19 or 20. I can't remember all of the schools that have offered."
The 6-foot-2, 212-pounder is thinking of taking trips to LSU, Iowa, Tennessee, Auburn and Pittsburgh this summer.
Article Continues Below
"I may go up to the Auburn cam and may camp at LSU," he said. "Wherever we decide to go.
"Those trips are just for now. I am seeing what's out there."
For now, Bynes is open with regards to his choice of college.
"I don't really have a top five," he said. "I'm keeping it open for right now."
Bynes hasn't heard from any of the three traditional Florida powers, Florida State, Florida or Miami (Fla.).
"I haven't heard from them," he said. "But if they want to step up and recruit me, then we'll be straight."
Despite not having a list of favorite schools, he does have his eye on potentially playing in a certain conference.
Bynes plans to wait until around Signing Day to announce his decision, though that timetable isn't set in stone.
"I hope to wait," he said. "But if it feels right and I like the school, I may go ahead and make a decision."
Bynes has several aspects of his game he feels he needs to improve heading into next season.
"All of the schools are recruiting me as a middle linebacker," he said. "I want to get a little bit stronger this summer. I am still going to play basketball and run track, but I want to work on my strength."


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David Himes wrote in a comment to a recent post,
Using your basic logic, Jay, the best economic solution would be for all of the believers to meet in house churches, thus, eliminating the need to pay for and maintain buildings or large staffs.
Price wrote in response to the same post,
I guess I don't see how home churches in and of themselves cause a problem. It seems that the unwillingness to come together in a bond of unity to do something bigger than what can be done by the individual is the problem.
Yes, the biggest problem among the house churches is the failure of most house churches to cooperate in a way that allows them to take advantage of the same advantage institutional churches have: a large pool of resources. Houses churches that were well organized would, in theory, have the same pool of talent and an even larger pool of financial resources than institutional churches having the same number of people. It's just that, in the United States, house churches very rare cooperate in this way. And that makes them, as to certain kinds of activities, ineffective.
Some of this can be overcome by cooperating with other house churches, and some of these problems can't be overcome that way. It'll take several paragraphs to explain that one.
Even within the Churches of Christ, as cussedly independent and cantankerous as our institutional congregations often are, they still manage to cooperate well enough to pull off some major projects and undertake some very effective ministries. God could do far, far more through them if they cooperated even more — and they should. But in my experience, institutional churches will — on the whole — cooperate more than house churches.
I think my thinking might make better sense if I were to point out the inherent difficulties faced by house churches in economic terms. In purely monetary terms, David is right — house churches have by far the lowest financial overhead of all church models. If the only factor affecting the use of money in God's service were the net amount available above congregational overhead, the house church would be the best model.
Capital concentration
However (still speaking in the language of economists), house churches falter when it comes to the accumulation and concentration of capital. You see, whether we're talking about money, human talents, or human experience, that is, anything of value in serving God's mission other than God himself, who is infinite — such "capital" becomes much more efficient and effective when accumulated to a size large enough to work to its greatest potential.
What cancer patient would want to be treated in a one-room hospital? Some activities just don't work well at a small scale! Or consider a fabulous teacher of church history in a house church of 4 people. He does a great job; people are built up. But it's just 3 people. Place the same teacher in a class of 50, and the impact of his talents is vastly multiplied. Scale matters.
Therefore, while house churches have very low financial overhead, they suffer huge overhead in terms of the use of some kinds of talents. God gives us many gifts of human talent that just don't work to their maximum potential in very small groups.
Just so, if 100 house churches have $1,000,000 among them, they only have $10,000 apiece. You can send a lot of missionaries, build a lot of orphanages, and establish a lot of job training centers for $1,000,000. But not so much for $10,000.
Now, if the house churches were to cooperate, coordinate, and pool their resources to fulfill a shared vision, and similarly pool their human talents and gifts, then they'd be quite a force to reckon with. But in the US, they just don't. And, of course, pooling those resources would inevitably increase their overhead — some talent and time would have to be redirected to communication and coordination rather than external ministry, pastoral care, and such.
And while it's not too hard to imagine that house churches might pool their financial resources under some sort of joint leadership, it'd be much harder to pool their human talents. And how could they avoid the one-room hospital problem?
Therefore, the house church model limits what we can do to those things that don't require accumulations of human or financial capital. The exception would be house churches that go to considerable trouble to pool human and financial resources, to communicate with efficiency, and to have shared visions and plans. And this is possible, but it's not "organic." It doesn't arise naturally. In fact, it takes a lot of hard work — rather like a marriage, and just like a marriage, it would require a lot of motivation.
And it would require giving up a large measure of autonomy. The house churches would have to submit to a larger community — which would be very Christian and very un-American.
Bubble-up ministries
But even if the house churches were to do this, there'd still be inefficiencies resulting from small scale. I mean, a single member of a house church wouldn't have the opportunity to know that many other people. It could be an intensely loving community, but it would be very hard for good ideas and the Spirit's movement within individuals to "bubble up" to the surface and catch the imagination of the entire community — if the main form of cross-church communication were via some central, coordinating body.
You see, in my congregation, the elders serve as the coordinating body, but good ideas rarely come from us. For example, last year, a member noticed that several families were trying to adopt. Families talked to families and soon discovered that something like 20 families in a church of 650 were all trying to adopt or seriously considering it. And all this communication took place outside of formal channels because our members know each other.
This quickly led to the formation of an adoption support ministry that trains members and non-members on the adoption process and provides prayer and other encouragement to those adopting. Scale has advantages.
In a house church, an adopting couple would certainly be supported, but would there be classes on working through the legal system and red tape? On how to claim the adoption tax credit? Would there be a fund to help support adopting couples? Would there be one or two other adopting couples to share with and support each other?
In our church, the hearts and talents of a handful of people with a passion to support those going through an adoption spread through a very large community of people, even touching those outside the church because they were part of a single community with countless informal paths of communication.
Cross-institutional efficiencies
Among the institutional churches, a church can grow large enough to be gain the economies of scale necessary to take on projects that a house church could not imagine doing — and for even larger projects, they can easily band together to build the necessary pool of talent. This is at the cost of a very expensive building and church staff. And it's also at the cost of having many members involved solely in communication and coordination. And yet it happens.
And so, while institutional churches don't cooperate well, they cooperate well enough to found universities, orphanages, mission hospitals, foreign mission efforts, and all sorts of domestic benevolence efforts.
The institutional church is hardly 100% efficient, but for some reason, despite often being highly cantankerous, obstreperous, and just plain difficult, they are able to pull off some amazing things. One reason is that, while most congregations can't support an orphanage by themselves, a single congregation is large enough to have not only the vision to do so, but the organizational center needed to network needed to accomplish the task.
To take a simple and recent example. A church in my hometown (not my own congregation) had a member with a vision to support families of people going through cancer. She was able to find others in her church with a similar vision, and they founded "The Bigger C" — an organization devoted to supporting cancer victims and their families through Christ — who is bigger than even cancer.
But they didn't have the volunteers the ministry needed in her home congregation. And so my church was asked to participate, and many of our members gladly volunteered to help. A few other institutional churches did the same. Soon, it was a full-fledged program, with lots of volunteers, run by gifted people with a shared vision.
Her home church didn't have the necessary "accumulation of capital" in her home congregation to pull it off, but it wasn't hard to find the "capital" needed in just a handful of institutional congregations.
These congregations include many thousands of members. Maybe only 1 in 30 members shared that vision and chose to volunteer. But that's still a lot of people, resulting in a ministry built on the love of Christ for people in deep need of it. It's been an incredible outreach both to believers and non-believer.
Now, imagine if every church in town were a congregation of 20, with no listing in the Yellow Pages, no central organization, no staff, and no offices. I don't think she could have pulled it off.
surprising conclusion
Now, all the foregoing compares institutional and house churches in only a few respects. Houses churches have some advantages over institutional churches, which we've considered in previous posts. There's more to church than the elements discussed in this post.
But the fact is that division is horribly painful to the church Christ died for — whether that division is the refusal to work together of 100 autonomous house churches or 10 autonomous institutional churches. The biggest problem, regardless of scale, is a refusal to work together.
We have this perverse, ungodly notion the other churches in town don't matter, and so we can be "united" without actually working side by side with other churches in town. And the house church movement has the very real potential to make the problem even worse if we simply form a bunch of house churches, and (a) we don't think through the consequences and (b) let the two models for church become rivals. We have enough rivalries already. You see, unity is not only important among institutional and among house churches, it's important among house and institutional churches.
And since all good science is from God, we shouldn't be surprised that, from an economic perspective, the optimal configuration would be a mixture of house churches and institutional churches working very closely together in a shared vision and mission.
The house churches would be able to take advantage of their natural low overhead to pour huge amounts of money and human talent at projects of all sorts — if they all worked in concert. And as is so often the case, house churches are the beginnings of new, larger churches that, because of their size, are able to reach a community that the larger churches can't.
The institutional churches would be where most new ideas would most often "bubble up" to the surface, because they'd be the places where people with good ideas and the movement of the Spirit in their hearts could most easily find each other and work together to initiate new ministries.
Unlike institutional churches, little talent in house churches would be committed to overhead functions. Members could quickly pour themselves into whatever project the Spirit stirs up, without having to lose time and energy getting volunteers to lead the "closing prayer" this coming Sunday or finding volunteers for the nursery. Low volunteer overhead means more talent and money for ministry.
You see, it's not necessary to pick. Rather, it is necessary to flee the temptation to turn different church models into rivals and to instead honestly appraise the strengths and weaknesses of various church models so their strengths can be combined through the kind of sharing that only comes by the Spirit of Christ.
None of this is easy, and none of this will happen organically. In this country, what happens organically is we take our radical, individual autonomy and turn it into radical congregational autonomy — which is sin regardless of your church model.
This will take a lot of work and leadership. And large and small churches have to flee the temptation to be a "free rider," letting other church do all the hard work. Even a house church is big enough to initiation the formation of a league of churches that work in concert in a common mission. How many people does it take to call a meeting of church leaders and share an idea?


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BLACKSBURG, Va., March 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy has tapped six universities and two companies to help reduce the noise of fighter aircraft engine noise.
The project to reduce noise exposure on aircraft carrier flight decks and engine noise experienced by communities near air bases or in the path of jet flyover is called the Hot Jet Noise Reduction program.
It's part of a broader Navy effort called the Noise Induced Hearing Loss program, which is partially funded by NASA.
"It is a subject that has received very little attention in the military world since it doesn't improve military vehicle performance," said Todd Lowe, an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech University.
The 4-year initiative involves Virginia Tech, Brigham Young University, California Institute of Technology, University of Illinois, University of Mississippi and Pennsylvania State University. Two companies -- Cascade Technologies, Innovative Technology Applications Co. -- are also involved.
All will work independently to come up with a possible solution to the problem.
Virginia Tech said it would receive $600,000 for its research efforts.


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Fit for the ultimate beauty junkie, check out these beauty gadgets for the girl who has everything!
The gadgets…
T3 Source In-Line Shower Filter
You would be SO surprised to find out just how damaging the chemicals in city water can be to your hair and skin! This shower filter fits with any shower head and uses Copper, Zinc, Calcium to work together to convert and remove free-chlorine, improving filtration and pH balance. This filtered water is much kinder to your pricey hair color jobs, and helps make your skin softer! t3micro.com, beauty.com
Verge By One Bubble Wand Curling Iron
Achieve the most perfect "imperfect" curl with this unique curling iron, the Bubble Wand. By combining the ease of use of a traditional curling iron with a wavy curl pattern, beach waves and textured looks are created in a snap. Using Ceramic NG Technology, the Bubble Wand provides constant, even heat for locking in styles and moisture, and protects the hair against heat damage. vergestyling.com
no!no! Hair Removal System
The no!no! uses Thermicon technology, a heat-based technology that instantly removes and crystallizes hair to give you professional grade results in the comfort of your own home. Go weeks without shaving and get long lasting results! trynono.com
Clarisonic Mia2
Take skincare to the next level with a Clarisonic Mia2 Skin Cleansing System! By using sonic technology, the Clarisonic gently removes the impurities traditional cleaning methods leave behind, cleansing six times better than washing with a wash cloth. With two speeds for added cleansing customization, and Pulsing T-Timer for 60-second cleanse—this is the ultimate skincare tool recommended by leading dermatologists. sephora.com


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The Seahawks were good in 2012, but should be even better in 2013. They know it. Everyone seems to know it. But the players and coaches also know hard work and competition remain the keys to continued improvement.
Don't look now, but the offseason program that felt like it would never get here is almost over.
That's right, this offseason of heightened expectations for the Seahawks concludes this week with a three-day minicamp Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – the only mandatory camp allowed under the CBA that ended the 136-day lockout in 2011, when there was no offseason.
After the Seahawks won seven of their last eight regular-season games, posted the franchise's first road playoff victory since 1983 and came within 30 seconds of advancing to the NFC Championship game last season, it seemed like April 15 couldn't come soon enough to start providing snapshots of what 2013 might hold.
And there has been a lot to like about the Seahawks' spring, and two things have underlined that: the tempo and intensity of the just-completed OTA sessions, which had a training-camp feel to them despite the fact that contact was limited; and the improvements made in personnel for the fourth consecutive offseason under general manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll.
From the March trade to acquire receiver/returner/runner Percy Harvin to the selection of tackle Michael Bowie with the Seahawks' final pick in the seventh round of April's NFL Draft, an already good team has only gotten better. In between those moves, the club also signed defensive linemen Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett and Tony McDaniel and cornerback Antoine Winfield in free agency and also selected running backs Christine Michael and Spencer Ware, wide receiver Chris Harper, tight end Luke Willson and defensive tackles Jordan Hill and Jesse Williams in the draft.
As for that tempo on the practice field and the interwoven intensity that has carried over to a finer focus in the meeting rooms and weight room, All-Pro free safety Earl Thomas put it this way, "I'm very motivated, especially this offseason. And nobody else is going to relax, either. That's the great thing about this team – it's the competition, and not wanting to let the guys next to you down."
Are there questions and concerns? Of course. The depth at linebacker would hardly fill a wading pool, as Heath Farwell has played in more NFL regular-season games (97) than the combined total (96) of the other nine linebackers on the 90-man roster. The defense, despite allowing the fewest points in the league and ranking fourth in average yards allowed last season, failed to hold fourth-quarter leads in three of the five losses in the regular season and the divisional playoff game against the Falcons in Atlanta. A large part of that was the inability of the defense to get off the field in third-and-long situations – and that's why Avril, Bennett and Winfield were signed.
As is proven in the NFL every season, the teams that remain the healthiest are usually the ones that have the most success. And, as former coach Mike Holmgren always said, for a good team to become one of the best teams its best players must have their best seasons. That was the case during the 2005 run to the Super Bowl with the Pro Bowl contingent of Shaun Alexander, Matt Hasselbeck, Lofa Tatupu, Mack Strong, Walter Jones, Steve Hutchinson and Robbie Tobeck.
You could make the case that also was the situation last season, when Richard Sherman, Max Unger, and Marshawn Lynch joined Thomas in being voted All-Pro; while Thomas, Lynch and Unger were joined in the Pro Bowl by the Russells – Wilson and Okung. Except these players are so young that you have to think there are even better things ahead for all of them.