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Music streaming startup Spotify has launched an application for Windows Phone 7, a move that will help it maintain momentum across the web and mobile platforms.
Spotify joins fellow on-demand streaming services Rdio and Rhapsody, which also offer Windows Phone 7 apps. While Spotify has captured the most headlines, it has lagged in the mobile space by not fully fleshing out its iOS and Android apps. It also recently launched an app for a limited number of BlackBerry models. But the Windows Phone 7 app looks like it may be the best mobile app for Spotify yet.
Using Windows Phone 7's stylish design process with large headers, clean lettering, lots of white space and nice looking photos, the Spotify app lets paid subscribers listen to as much music as they want from Spotify's more than 13 million songs. Users can stream songs over 3G and Wi-Fi, can access songs offline with caching, and tracks are synced whether you're using an account from your phone or computer.
To legitimately use the app, you must have a premium subscription to Spotify, which runs $10 a month for mobile access on top of PC and Mac access.
Spotify has seen substantial growth in its revenue and number of paid subscribers since its launch in the U.S. in July. As of October, the service has more than five million active users, with two million paying subscribers. Spotify has raised about $120 million in funding so far and is valued around $1 billion. It raised a round of financing earlier this year from Russia's DST, the investment company that has previously backed Facebook, Groupon and Zynga.
You can see more photos of the slick-looking Spotify WP7 app below:

subset: commoncrawl


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Designed to further advance the Quadruple Aim – delivering high-quality care and better patient and provider experiences at a lower overall cost of care – Ascension Medical Group officially launched in July 2015 and includes some 7,000 employed providers, spanning 16 states, including the District of Columbia.
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We recognize that the most important part of a healthcare network is our practitioners who are providing care for patients. To support your work, Ascension Medical Group provides tools and resources to help you deliver ideal patient outcomes more affordably.
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I can't paint in the summer. I don't know why, but it seems more of a fall-winter-spring activity. But, what I can do in the summer is big projects. Here are the two I did this summer.
First my ziggurat (this is an older photo with just the first basecoat):
It's 15 layers (3 sheets x 5 levels) of 1/2" sheet insulation - the blue stuff. I cut all the sheets then glued and screwed them together. I then cut the steps out and cut the foam into blocks. After I cut some wear and tear into the blocks, I used the smooth part of a dental tool to make it look more like stone.
We used this as part of an Apocalypse event NerdNYC organized. It's pretty big 21" square and about 8" tall.
Next the gaming table:
This was a pretty simple job. I bought two 24" x 80" interior door slabs and a couple of 3.5" hinges. I tried to get the narrowest hinges possible, because the door is hollow. So if you go beyond the frame of the door you'll just be screwing into the thin luan.
After attaching the doors, I used masking tape to create the playing area, which I wanted to keep as 4' x 6'. I really like having the extra 4" on either side of the playing area, because it give you somewhere to put reserves, right before they outflank (hopefully right next to a devilfish, ha!) or a tape measure or casualty(previously mentioned devilfish).
I primed the wood with gesso and used acrylic enamel paint. I would recommend the enamel paint over regular acrylic, because a gaming table takes a beating with all the movement it gets and all the terrain pieces that have rough surfaces like sand/rock/rubble. I painted it dark grey and used a toothbrush to spatter it with a couple lighter shades.
If you want a final pic with terrain and models on it, ask Cawshis. It's his table now. Happy birthday!


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Hi all,
Just finished uploading a batch of ~40 more manuals to datsun510.com. Feel free to download and share. They are not watermarked and all come from manuals bought or donated (not pulled from other sites).
While everyone is more than welcome to download, we are missing a few in some series (especially Z-cars) and I just blew the $400 budget. If anyone would like to donate any missing manuals, please PM me. If anyone would like to chip in a couple bucks for the remaining manuals, my PayPal is derek - at - datsun510 - dot - com.
I'll keep scanning and uploading regardless and they will always be free.
Thanks, Derek
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Get the lowdown on experimental producer Bunki.Read more
Interview: The Naked Eye
We chatted with Frenchie a.k.a The Naked Eye about her influences, her debut EP, losing a year's worth of work and more.Read more
Interview: B A S T ! O N
B A S T ! O N is an emerging South East London-based project lead by singer, songwriter and musician Byron Biroli. Alongside Biroli (Vocals, Guitar) the group consist of Ricky Dabire (Bass), Priscilla Andershon (Vocals), Ben Burrell (Keyboards), John Atterbury (Guitar) and George Bird (Drums). I recently chatted with Biroli via an email exchange where we discussed the band's […]Read more
Interview: Shabaka Hutchings
We are big fans of all things Sons Of Kemet here at Twistedsoul and having listened to their new album (review coming soon), I'm happy to report that the quartet are wasting no time in evolving their sound and staying ahead of the game. The band boasts a line-up that comprises some of the most […]Read more


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Beautiful and intelligent, companion birds offer a lot of benefits to their owners. Some of the benefits are going to surprise you. However, as a bird owner, you can only get to enjoy these benefits after living with the bird for some time while taking good care of them.
Even though taking care of parrots in terms of keeping them happy and healthy can be a lot of work, the birds are capable of rewarding your efforts in various wonderful ways. Below are some of the benefits of keeping a parrot.
Mental health
According to studies, bird keeping encourages social interaction which ids beneficial to your mental health. You get very cheered up once you get home from school or work and your pet greet you with a hearty 'Hello, hello!' or even 'Hi guys!'
Besides this, as a bird owner, you get to meet and interact with other bird owners on the bird forums or the parrot club in your area. Not to mention the amount of interaction that parrot owners have with their parrots. Parrots are one-of-a-kind birds as they have the ability to talk so you won't be feeling lonely once they learn how to construct a sentence.
Lifelong bonds
Only a few things in life compare to when a bird trusts you and picks you as its person. This is what happens with parrots, they form lifelong bonds with their owners once they find them trustworthy. You get to bond with the parrot when teaching it anew words by talking to it. It does not matter whether or not your parrot becomes a great talker, what matters is the kind of bond you will have formed with it. The bond with your parrot is more than the bond you can forge with a cat or dog.
Stress reduction
With the kind of life nowadays, it is difficult to avoid stress. Stress can come from work, school or even form home. One of the ways in which you can reduce stress is by talking to your pet and also playing with it. As you talk and play with your parrot, you also get to lower your blood pressure. With a parrot, you have the added advantage of just sitting there and listening to it as it sings. Parrots are great stress relievers especially if your day was 'one of those days'
Because pets are not for everyone, before buying a parrot, it is advisable that you first research on the best type of parrot for you as there are numerous types of parrots. You can spend time with parrot owners and learn from them.


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Joe Lamb and Associates
Family Owned and Operated for almost 50 years! Joe Lamb Jr. & Associates has been providing vacationers with top tear beach rentals from Duck to South Nags Head ranging from oceanfront to soundfront for many years and will continue to do so for years to come! From one bedroom homes to twelve bedrooms they have a large variety of choices that will accommodate any family style!
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I didn't go back to the Comic Con. Instead, we went to the San Diego Zoo, where we witnessed violent Galapagos tortoise sex (complete with violent Galapagos tortoise sex noises), as well as one particular monkey who behaved in a perfectly urbane manner until her audience consisted of several small children, at which time she decided to display herself brazenly.
So all that was missing was the Pikachu ass.
Also (and this bit was the highlight of my young life so far) I saw a striped hyena. It was sleeping, but still, I saw it:
As my father put it: "You're probably the only person who can see a hyena and go 'awwww.'" I disagree. There have to be a few others. Although being on death row probably makes it hard to go to the zoo.
Meanwhile, the party's over, and tonight it's back to the Deep North, land of ... the place where I work. I'm thinking of riding the giant Pikachu ass out to sea, where we will live in sin in Tijuana. But don't tell anybody.


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United States for many decades, there are several ways to realize extra improvements in effectivity-both by way of wider use of some current technologies or by introduction of superior technologies and engine ideas. Look out Jurassic park! Russian scientists have brought a prehistoric little flower back to life! Automotive technicians must have a great degree of fitness as they spend a variety of time on their ft working in, underneath and around autos. Additionally they must have good hand-eye co-ordination and good hearing. You may not have more than a few dollars obtainable for advertising, perhaps enough for a couple of fliers and a small add within the native newspaper, make these little adds as focused as doable and certain you supply something helpful at no cost, equivalent to a free computerized transmission inspection.
The impact on the American financial system of these industries and their industrial enterprises and accomplishments was immense. The U.S. economic system was booming, especially the automobile trade. In some years, 10 million new automobiles have been sold. For a few years afterwards, American auto manufacturers dominated the world market. However after a interval of complacency, major auto makers encountered the formidable competition of overseas auto makers, principally the Japanese and Germans.
The Crimson utopian promises have failed and left thousands and thousands of once true believers disillusioned of their wake. Nonetheless, among intellectuals who nonetheless subscribe to the opportunity of a man-made utopia, and among have-nots witnessing an ever-widening hole with the haves in bottom-line capitalistic nations, forms of Marxism still retain drawing power.
The fact of the matter is, there are a handful of secrets and techniques, tips, and methods that may make detailing simpler, less time consuming, and longer lasting. You really do not need to spend hundreds of dollars on these 5-hour step-by-step kits you discover in stores. With the correct data and a few primary items, you possibly can have a professional wanting detail job for a fraction of the fee and very little time dedication.
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Where can I watch movies online? This was exactly the question I asked myself as I initially got ongoing looking pro online movies. Eventually, I found the Movies Capital locate with the intention of now provides me with an boundless membership option to download as many movies from the locate with permission as I aspire. This website is a officially authorized online distributor and streaming website with the intention of allows members to access movies online either by streaming or downloading them. Movies in the genre of proceedings, comedy, romance, suspense, horror, comedy and many other types can be found in this locate. 1. Is Joining the Movies Capital Site Worth the Money? Before you consider unification one membership based locate, I am guaranteed with the intention of you would need to consider whether the locate is able to provide more than could you repeat that? It expenditure to join. I signed up with the locate using the lone calculate membership fee payment preparation to advance boundless access to all records in the list. This is the preeminent regard pro money option in my attitude and gives me a time access to all the media records from the site's servers lacking one chronic billing. 2. Learning How to Use the Movies Capital Website Included in the membership area of this website is a cut of tutorial software with the intention of teaches members how to straightforwardly navigate the locate and aid it pro downloading films and movies. I be inflicted with found this software to be very helpful in selection me make famous with all the facial appearance unfilled in the website and the steps I need to take in order to download the movies with the intention of I aspire from it. 3. What Can You Do with the Media Files Inside Movies Capital? The records with the intention of members make access to can be labeled and backed up into CDs and DVDs if you decide to download them on your notebook. Otherwise, you can furthermore point out to watch the movies online and confirmation them as you watch.
› See More: Movies Capital Review - Where Can I Watch Movies Online


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- Chronovision Watch Winders & Accessories - Chronovision One Watch Winder With Bluetooth (WW-157)
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On our visit to the Isle of Harris in early June it was our intention to take a trip to St Kilda but unfortunately the weather wasn't in our favour.
We were not disheartened as there's plenty to do and see on Harris. The weather was a wee bit dull but we felt like a good walk so we set off from beautiful Luskentyre Bay to climb Beinn Dubh and Beinn Luskentyre to gain good views of this most photographed beach on Harris.
It was pathless, through rough heathery, very rocky terrain to gain the ridge which was much more pleasant and the views were indeed stunning. We could see the Island of Taransay to the west, the Uist hills to the south over the bay and to the north The Clisham was hidden in cloud. The peep-peep call of the Golden Plover followed us all the way back down the hill.
A lovely track was soon found leading to the road, passing a long line of bright yellow marsh marigolds making their way to the seashore beside a burn.
On the way back to the car, passing hedges of fuchsia, the roadside, like a planned rockery, was awash with the colours of bog asphodel, yellow and purple vetch, flag iris, buttercup and orchid. Ready for refreshments we called in to the Bays Tearoom where we enjoyed the company of the two kitchen ladies who we heard chatting in gaelic when we entered.
Next day we had a lovely walk out to the lighthouse on the Isle of Scalpay where the sound of the curlew kept us company. We had very clear views over to the Shiant Islands which was the following day's destination. A noisy wren with its 'tell-tale tilt of the tail' startled us on our return from this pretty walk along the coastline.
The weather was just perfect for our early start to the Shiant Islands which took about an hour on a very calm sea. As we approached the impressive columnar basalt cliffs the sky was dark with puffin, gannet, fulmar, kittiwake, guillemot and numerous gulls. Razorbill and shag were spotted in the water nearby. What a breathtaking feast of seabirds!
We climbed out of the boat into a dinghy which took us ashore and we slithered and slipped our way over the rocks to the beach on House Island. The uninhabited Shiants, belonging to the Nicolson family, are a small group of islands between Skye and Lewis. The main islands are Eilean an Tighe (House Island), joined to Garbh Eilean (Rough Island) by a pebbly isthmus, and Eilean Mhuire (Mary's Isle) which is the most fertile.
We spent a wonderful three hours on this remote situation in the Minch and climbed to the highest point on the island for lunch where we were buzzed by several great skua. We were grateful to be wearing sunhats which was a small protection from these massive birds. Sadly, much too soon, our boat returned to take us back to Tarbert.


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Back in August, I received my Oculus Rift and discovered my graphics card was too slow to run any of the demos properly. I purchased a Radeon 270x card to upgrade my system. Normally, I go with Nvidia cards, since I've always found the drivers and installation to be better, but this time the corresponding Nvidia card was significantly more expensive. (Prices have come down since the latest card was released.)
This only happened when running under Debug, and only seemed to happen on some of the demos, and only on the Radeon. The exact same project ran fine on my old NVidia machine. A friend verified that this happened on his new Radeon card as well, but not on some of his older Radeon cards.
I just put up with this for awhile, but in order to do any real development I had to get to the bottom of it. I started with the TestCube demo, which is just a single rotating cube. I commented out chunks of the code until it was doing almost nothing (cursor on the screen) but the effect persisted. I was really ticked off at this whole problem, since this is exactly the flaky behavior I had come to dread when doing any graphics programming. I almost decided to switch to DirectX!
But where, and why only under Debug on Radeon? I continued hacking away at my code, and discovered that if I stopped drawing the cursor, the problem went away. But this is ridiculous! This is my oldest OpenGL code, and it couldn't be simpler. I create a buffer, put two triangles into it, set the cursor texture, do a draw. If this doesn't work, what does?
It turns out that it was a single call, glBufferData, that was causing the problem. True, in the OpenGL documentation it says that this allocates a new buffer. But I thought if the buffer already existed, it would just over-write it. And apparently it does on other drivers for other machines. But for this machine, it allocates a new buffer on every call.
This can't be the entire explanation, since I'm using a trivial amount of memory (96 bytes) and even if those weren't being released, it would take forever to add up to the 20 meg I was seeing. Of course, this same demo has a 24 meg working set on the NVidia machine instead of a 52 meg working set on the Radeon, so who knows? I can only guess that every time it allocates a buffer, it creates a new memory segment or something very large.
The solution was simple enough. When I create the buffer for the first time, I use glBufferData. On subsequent uses, I over-write it explicitly with glBufferSubData. The working set is still huge, but it doesn't grow and doesn't freeze periodically. I'm glad it's fixed, but this is the kind of thing that drives me insane. I could have happily developed my game on my NVidia machine and never known this was a problem.
Oh, and the reason it failed on some demos and not others? The higher the frame rate, the more often it draws the cursor, and the quicker it uses up memory. The TestCube demo without vertical synch runs at hundreds of frames per second. On a slower demo, it took longer to trigger garbage collection and freeze. So I thought only some demos were affected.
Subclassing Vertexes
Before I started working on the game again, I wanted to make a change to my 3D library. I needed to handle vertexes differently.
Each vertex has a number of attributes such as the point coordinates, the normal vector and the texture coordinates. Back when I first started learning OpenGL, the books put each attribute in a different array. I didn't see the sense of that, since it's just more stuff to allocate. Instead, I would create a structure for my vertex, like:
class CubeVertex { public: mgPoint3 m_pt; mgPoint3 m_normal; mgPoint3 m_texcoords; };
OpenGL allows me to set the offset of each attribute in this structure. Then I can allocate a single array of all of these attributes together, fill it with vertexes and draw.
Here's the problem. I have a huge class (called a Slab) that draws all of the bricks in the world. I want to do something very similar with avatars by making them out of small bricks. Normally, I would subclass the world drawing code and use it to draw avatar bricks. But if I want a different kind of vertex, with say pure colors on each cube instead of textures, I can't do it. I would have to subclass not just the cube drawing class, but also every use of the CubeVertex above. That's because I put all the vertex attributes in one array.
So now I have a new Mesh class which I can add attributes to. The superclass of all cube-drawing classes just sets position. A subclass for the world can add texture coordinates to the mesh. And a subclass for the avatar can add colors instead.
Performance Improvements
With that done, I could have launched into writing the game again, but I wanted to try some performance improvements. These were not new code, since I have played with improvements off and on during the last three years since the original version of the Minecraft viewer was written. Also, I was surprised how slow the code was even on this much faster display card.
Meshing Faces
One improvement is to combine adjacent faces of cubes when they are the same texture, and draw a single large quad instead of many smaller ones. I had originally thought that this would make no difference. I had it in my head that the majority of time in the GPU is spent filling in pixels, and the number of vertexes was irrelevant. If I had actually looked at the images I was generating, I would have realized that at a distance, I have thousands of one or two pixel cubes, yet I am processing 24 vertexes per cube (four vertexes times six faces.)
So obviously, vertexes were important. Combining adjacent faces using a "greedy meshing" algorithm reduces the count by almost 70%, which for distant faces, should mean about the same reduction in draw time.
Next, I had realized some time ago that it would be worth it for the cube drawing code to cull faces that weren't visible from the eye. Normally, you would never do this in the CPU, since the GPU is so much faster. But in the cube world, all the faces are aligned. If I am to the left of a slab of cubes, I know that the right sides are invisible. When I am above a slab, I know the bottoms are invisible. If I break the drawing up into six buffers, one each for x-, x+, y-, y+, z- and z+, then I can just skip the buffers I know can never be seen.
Minecraft has non-cube shapes like flowers, torches and railroad tracks. They are rendered very simply in the game. When I did my rendering code, I used much more elaborate models. None of these by themselves has a very high polygon count, but there are thousands of them in the scene. When I counted the total number of vertexes, there were more of these "shape" vertexes than cube vertexes.
The shapes have the same problem as the cubes -- at a distance, despite drawing maybe fifty vertexes, the shape ends up being only a couple of pixels.
I made two changes in this area. First, I rendered all the shapes with instancing, to cut down on the amount of display memory used for the things. Second, I replace the complex shapes with much simpler ones at a distance. This dramatically cuts to total number of vertexes.
Another Mystery
With all these performance improvements complete, I was anxious to compare my new rendering code with the old McrView code. Unfortunately, there's a lot going on in McrView other than rendering. So I combined the framework of my new test case with the old rendering code and got a number. Then I compared that with the new code.
In this test case, I am rendering one whole Minecraft region (shown above) which is 512 by 512 by 128. I was rendering only the solid cubes, not the transparent ones, There are 16,670,646 non-air cubes. After meshing, this produces 2,464,256 vertexes.
old solid only: 146 fps, 6.82 ms/frame new solid only: 203 fps, 4.91 ms/frame
This is clearly an improvement, but only about 30%, despite eliminating 70% of the vertexes with meshing the faces, and half the remaining by culling. Something was wrong.
I complained to a friend and was told not to use any unnecessary OpenGL calls between my draws. So I spent some time rewriting my 3D layer to track the current state of all the OpenGL parameters like shader uniforms and textures, and not set them again when they were unchanged. This kicked my new time up:
new 3D, mesh and cull: 226 fps, 4.41 ms/frame
I was convinced that culling had to be a big win, so I turned it off.
no cull: 239 fps, 4.18 ms/frameAs you can see, the code actually gets faster!! And there's no way that the GPU can test 800,000 triangles faster than the CPU can generate three draw calls instead of one! I then turned off the meshing as well:
Radeon 270x, 32x32x32 slabs mesh and cull: 226 fps, 4.41 ms/frame no cull: 239 fps, 4.18 ms/frame no mesh: 224 fps, 4.46 ms/frame no mesh or cull: 230 fps, 4.34 ms/frameSo basically nothing I was doing was having any effect, and the timing for drawing 8 million or 2.4 million or 1.2 million vertexes was all the same. This says there's some huge overhead that is swamping everything. Disgusted, I went to bed.
The next day, I realized that I was not just drawing three buffers when I do my own culling. I was drawing three buffers per slab. A slab is a 32 by 32 by 32 chunk of scenery, and in this test case, there are 1024 of them. Around 800 of them are non-empty. So I was actually cutting up 2.4 million vertexes into 6 times 800 buffers, which leaves about 500 vertexes per buffer, or 170 triangles. And this Radeon display hardware probably can test 170 triangles in the GPU faster than the CPU can set up three draw calls.
To test this theory, I made the slab larger -- 64 by 64 by 64. The numbers changed dramatically:
Radeon 270x, 64x64x64 slabs mesh and cull: 882 fps, 1.13 ms/frame no cull: 608 fps, 1.64 ms/frame no mesh: 375 fps, 2.66 ms/frame no mesh or cull: 229 fps, 4.37 ms/frameNow, with more like 1300 triangles per buffer, the GPU has something to do. And it does it amazingly fast -- 882 fps for that huge region of cubes is not too shabby. What's more, I can see the expected drop off in performance when I stop meshing and culling. So I tried 128 by 128 by 128 slabs:
Radeon 270x, 128x128x128 slabs mesh, cull: 700 fps, 1.43 ms/frame no cull: 572 fps, 1.75 ms/frame no mesh: 282 fps, 3.54 ms/frame no mesh or cull: 225 fps, 4.44 ms/frameOddly, the performance falls off again with these much larger slabs. There should be an average of 10K triangles in a buffer now, which should draw at least as fast as the smaller buffers. I have no idea why it doesn't.
I then tested this on my older Nvidia GT 640 hardware:
NVidia GT 640, 32x32x32 slabs mesh, cull: 192 fps, 5.20 ms/frame no cull: 131 fps, 7.59 ms/frame no mesh: 83 fps, 11.92 ms/frame no mesh or cull: 53 fps, 18.76 ms/frame NVidia GT 640, 64x64x64 slabs mesh, cull: 191 fps, 5.22 ms/frame no cull: 131 fps, 7.58 ms/frame no mesh: 82 fps, 12.14 ms/frame no mesh or cull: 52 fps, 19.10 ms/frame NVidia GT 640, 128x128x128 slabs mesh, cull: 157 fps, 6.37 ms/frame no cull: 129 fps, 7.72 ms/frame no mesh: 63 fps, 15.80 ms/frame no mesh or cull: 52 fps, 19.22 ms/frameOn this slower display hardware, even the small 150 triangle buffers keep the GPU busy for a bit and you see the expected drop off in performance when I don't mesh or cull. But larger buffers in the size=64 case don't help at all, and performance still drops in the size=128 case.
It is very good luck that I did not try this first. If I had seen the times behaving the way I expected on the Nvidia machine, but not the Radeon, I would have put this down to bad OpenGL drivers and never looked for another reason!
What's Next
Although they are fastest, 64x64x64 slabs have problems. They are a lot of data -- 256K bricks -- and they take a long time to rebuild. After each add or delete of a brick to the world, the rebuild time is around 30 ms. I can probably cut that down a bit, since none of that code is particularly optimized, but it's still going to be a significant factor. They will also take longer to send to the display, and longer to read from the database.
I don't like the fact that changing the display speed requires me to change the slab size. I'd like an architecture that just adapts to whatever display it has. I'm not sure I know enough about the inner workings of GPUs, drivers and OpenGL to build that though.
For now, this cube drawing code is good enough. I still have to integrate selection and highlighting, but I'm almost done. And then I will hopefully avoid OpenGL issues for awhile.
It's time to build the game world.
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Having one picky eater is troublesome enough, but when you have a gathering of fussy little party-goers, getting kids to put down the party favors and pick up a healthy snack is next to impossible. The trick is to serve fun-looking foods that kids will be enticed to eat. With healthy animal-themed snacks, fun-loving youngsters won't even notice they're eating nutritiously, and as an added bonus, moms are spared the dreaded sugar rush that traditional party treats often yield.
Cracker Shapes
Store-bought animal-shaped crackers come ready to serve, and with a few extra touches, make a special treat for kids. Fill a large, blue fish bowl with baked fish-shaped crackers, which are generally low in fat and calories and a good source of iron and calcium. Arrange aquarium accessories like coral and plastic foliage around the bowl to enhance the visual appeal of these healthy, kid-friendly treats. For a circus-, zoo- or jungle-themed party, place animal crackers on a serving platter surrounded by colorful plastic or eraser animals that kids can take home as party favors. These also tend to be low in fat and calories but high in calcium and iron.
Ladybug Treats
Fruit makes for a sweet, healthy and refreshing treat on a warm day or after kids have been hard at party play. Slice fresh apples in half and remove the core and pits with an ice cream scoop. Place the apple halves flat side down on a platter and use a small drop of peanut butter to stick raisin "dots" onto the back of the apple. Dip the ends of two thin pretzel rods into peanut butter and stick a raisin on top of each for antennae, and gently push each rod into the front end of the apple to complete this adorable treat. Pre-carve small holes for the antennae with a paring knife to guide the pretzel rods in with ease. For the final touch, dip a toothpick in peanut butter to draw a smile on the ladybug face. Make sure to ask in advance if any guests have peanut allergies. If so, a different type of nut butter, like one made from sunflower seeds or almonds, would also work.
Gelatin Animal Cutouts
Prepare sugar-free gelatin according to package instructions and then pour it into silicone animal-shaped molds. Refrigerate until firm. When the gelatin is set, pop the sweet treats out of the molds and arrange the edible animals onto a serving platter. Use a variety of flavors and colors to enhance the visual appeal of the platter. Kids will enjoy the sweet, cool taste of these jiggly animal treats and will be none the wiser that they contain zero sugar or fat.
Turtle Bread
Prepare your favorite homemade or box mix bread or pretzel dough, and separate it into four balls. From each ball, create one large ball about the size of a baseball, and six small balls, about the size of a golf ball. Press the large ball down onto a cookie sheet, flattening the bottom slightly but keeping the rounded top intact. Next, shape "feet" from four of the small balls and one into a triangular "tail." Moisten the edges of the shapes that will attach to the body with water, and firmly press them against the turtle shell shape so that they protrude out from the sides and back end. Repeat this step with the last ball, pressing it into the front end of the shell to form the turtle's head. Press small raisins into the head to create the turtle's eyes, and bake according to recipe instructions. For an extra special touch, carve a square pattern into the turtle shell top with a toothpick before baking.


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Cox & Palmer Among Canada's Leading Corporate Lawyers
May 29, 2015
Cox & Palmer's leading corporate lawyers are profiled in this special edition of Lexpert magazine: Canada's Leading Corporate Lawyers
Our corporate & commercial lawyers are involved in some of the largest transactions affecting business in Atlantic Canada, while also providing advice and counsel to small and medium sized enterprises in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. The diverse skills of our corporate & commercial team allow us to provide a complete range of business law services. For more information, visit our Corporate & Commercial page.
Meet Cox & Palmer's Lexpert-ranked corporate lawyers:
|Daniel Gallivan, QC
|Walter Vail, QC
|Peter Forestell, QC
|Pam Williams, QC
|John Laidlaw, QC
|Tracy Wong
|Craig McCrea, QC


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Seven students ingested the drug at Peach Creek Elementary School on Thursday morning, and two additional students were involved in the incident. The seven students were taken to the hospital by their parents, but they did not display any symptoms.
A teacher who heard other students talking about the incident in the hallway alerted authorities.
"This is a teachable moment for both us as a school district and for parents at home to make sure that you are monitoring your medication and make sure that your kids understand the dangers of taking something that they may not know what it is," said superintendent Jeff Burke. "As far as the school district goes, we are going to continue to be hyper-vigilant and make sure that we are keeping our students safe."
It's not clear what kind of drugs were distributed.
No other details have been released.
Full statement from district officials:
Parents, today an incident occurred on one of our elementary campuses where a student brought prescription medication from home and distributed it to several classmates. This incident was isolated and all students affected are being monitored by medical professionals. We commend the elementary staff for responding so quickly to identify the students affected and for contacting their parents. The safety of our students is our top priority and we ask for your help in speaking with your child about the dangers of taking any unknown substance. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in this situation.
Report a typo to the ABC13 staff


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Studio: AzianiCWMH
Director: Buzz Aziani
Approximate Running Time: 02:52:29
Released: 2018
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I knew it was going to be a great day when this hot little Latina walked through the door in her short see thru dress without a bra on. She asked me if she should change before we went out in public, that was a easy question to answer. The server at the restaurant could not keep his eyes off her hard nipples pointing thru her dress, needless to say our service was outstanding. We even got her to remove her panties at the table and spread her legs wide enough to see what she called "bat wing pussy lips." On the way to the gangbang station Mitt had some fun with her in the backseat of the car getting her warmed up for the cocksmen that were waiting for her arrival. Once she was on the bench it did not take long for the cocksmen to start having their way with her. She took on 5 Creampies, 2 facials, got fucked missionary, doggie and reverse cowgirl. One of the most interesting things I found about this scene was her ability to have squirting orgasms one after another.
It's time to start fucking, filling, and feeding to begin. Sadie starts off in those almost nonexistent jean shorts and that cute top. The guys get her naked quick fast and in a hurry and don't hesitate to start filling her mouth, hands, and pussy with cock. She's a squirter so it gets slick quick, but at least this time she doesn't fall off the bench.... The guys go down town on her then all take a turn testing out her pussy. She gets two loads back to back, then rides before taking a load doggy style. We get out the BUZZBUZZ machine and get that pussy even wetter. She gets spit roasted and takes a load while sucking a cock. She takes 6 loads in her sweet pussy. The #Cocksmen finish her off with a nice facial and because she isn't dirty enough apparently gets cum and spit all down her tits and stomach. She definitely got covered and needs to get cleaned up!


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Software giant Symantec Corp. is adding product activation technology to all of its upcoming consumer products, starting with Norton Antivirus 2004. Customers who fail to activate the software by contacting Symantec within 15 days of installing it will be left with a nonfunctioning application.
Symantec executives say the product activation process is so simple most users won't mind it. They also say they're confident the measures will pay off by preventing large-scale piracy operations from thieves who bootleg Symantec programs and sell them to unsuspecting customers.
Despite such good intentions, one analyst notes that product activation remains a tricky business, and that Symantec runs the risk of alienating loyal, legitimate customers by imposing the technology.
How it Works
After you purchase and install a new Symantec application, you have up to 15 days to complete product activation, says Del Smith, Symantec product manager. The company automates the activation process with a wizard, he says.
First, you plug in your software key (printed on the CD sleeve). From there, the wizard checks your hardware configuration, including your hard drive serial number and configuration, plus network and video cards, Smith says.
Based on this information, the wizard creates an alphanumeric code. If the software detects an Internet connection, it transmits this code to Symantec. Otherwise, the wizard prompts you to call an automated phone service to complete activation. The entire process should take just a few minutes, he says.
Later, if you upgrade your PC with new hardware or you move the software to a new PC, you must reactivate the program, he says. However, Symantec builds in the capability for each application to be activated up to five times, which the company contends should be more than enough for most users.
"We believe we have a very customer-friendly version of product activation," Smith says. In fact, Symantec ran several pilot programs to test the technology, implementing it in downloaded versions of Norton Antivirus 2003 as well as in a few boxed versions. Customer acceptance has been strong, he says.
"We've had more than 250,000 users complete product activation so far, and virtually no complaints," Smith says.
The company plans to implement the activation technology in all English-language versions of its announced 2004 consumer products, including Norton SystemWorks, Norton Internet Security, and Norton Personal Firewall.
Rampant Piracy Cited
Symantec, like other companies that have tried product activation schemes, maintains that it is a matter of protecting its intellectual property. The company estimates large-scale software pirating organizations create and distribute more than 3.6 million illegal copies of its software in a single year.
These products also pose a risk to unsuspecting buyers, Smith says. Users who unwittingly buy these fake copies at best find themselves without technical documentation or support. At worst, they're exposed to corrupt discs, faulty software, and viruses, he says.
Of course, there's also the matter of piracy's effect on Symantec's revenues. Smith declines to estimate how much money the company loses to counterfeiting each year, but clearly it is substantial.
All of these factors add up to a perfectly legitimate reason to implement product activation, says Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group. However, that doesn't mean customers will like it. Both Microsoft Corp. (with Windows XP) and Intuit Inc. (Turbo Tax) had legitimate reasons to try product activation, and both suffered harsh criticism from unhappy users, Enderle notes.
Intuit customers complained about buggy installs, while others said the technology limited the product's usefulness. Many long-time users of the software threatened to move to competing products, and one even filed a lawsuit. Eventually the company dropped the technology.
Another Risk
Symantec has one advantage when it comes to product activation, Enderle says. Most of its products already dial into the company after installation, to get product updates.
"For some offerings, you are already effectively in a product activation process," he says. "On the other hand, the words 'product activation' have always been received negatively." Even if Symantec's technology works, the company risks driving away customers annoyed by the very premise of product activation.
And it differentiates the company in a negative way from competitors that don't use product activation, Enderle points out. Symantec's biggest obstacle will be winning over the tech savvy buyers who affect the buying decisions of others. Users who don't like product activation may rally to switch just to avoid it.
Symantec executives maintain their technology won't offend customers.
"We recognize that some users are concerned about this, but we have designed a great deal of flexibility into the product activation," Smith says. "We have designed the solution to be friendly and unobtrusive so that product activation will feel like a natural part of installation."


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Evalyn – The Hills x Nightcall (Prod. by Louis Vivet)
Evalyn may be a newcomer to the pop space, but she is absolutely no lightweight, and she's proving it to the world by coming out of the gate swinging with a jaw-dropping cover of "The Hills" by The Weeknd. Her self-dubbed style of wine-stained soul pop will take you swimming in a pool of vibes, and she couldn't have picked a better cover to make her debut with.
Tabbing the up-and-coming duo, Louis Vivet, for production duties, Evalyn's cover of "The Hills" is like a collision between the smooth sultriness of The Weeknd's original and the gritty, electro-tinged, neo-noir atmosphere of Kavinsky's "Nightcall," which serves as the second backbone to the cover.
Louis Vivet deftly craft a blank canvas for Evalyn's soaring vocals to peer into your soul like an emotional telescope. Heavy-handed synth sequences give the cover a somber, nostalgic feel before peeling back to reveal the subtle percussion arrangements and beautiful string melodies that are at the core of the tune. Check it out below and keep an eye out for Evalyn because she's the real deal.
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The Five Best Dance Songs of the Week
"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world."
– Voltaire
Do yourself a favor and make it to the end of this playlist. The Hood Internet's meld of Baauer and Schoolboy Q is a MUST listen. Keep on dancing my friends.
Mashup Monday | Week 146
Okay, I'm coming off an entire week of being sick. I'm ready for a fresh start this week. Let's get after it, mashups. (I saved the best one for last here, yall.)
1. Be Happy (Janelle Monae x Pharrell Williams) – flipboitamidles
2. Gone (Overdo$e, blink182, Anna Kendrick, Linkin Park) [Dr. Brixx Remash] – Ricky Cervantes
3. Ready to Dougie (Fugees x Cali Swag) – Henry Pope
4. Billie Jean – Another One Bites The Dust (Michael Jackson x Queen) – Twina
5. Satellite Home (Darren Styles x Cash Cash x B.o.B x Bebe Rexha) – bvnny
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Mashup Monday | Week 145
Lots of new mashups this week – hit the jump to hear all of them.
1. "Sail in Change" (Awolnation x Joe Maz x Faul ft. Wad Ad x Pnau x Rihanna) – Mashup-Germany
2. "Rule The War" (Tears For Fears x Blackbird Blackbird) – The Hood Internet
3. "Radioactive Swimming Pools" (Imagine Dragons x Kendrick Lamar) – SWAX
Mashup Monday | Week 144
I got called out last week on Twitter for not posting enough Mashup Mondays. I feared it would come to that. So I'm getting my ass in shape and posting a Mashup Monday. (No promises on next week – good mashups are too hard to come by. That might also be an excuse for it being hard to find time to post on Mondays. The real world is the worst.)
1. "Stay/Animal" Mashup/Cover (Miike Snow x Rihanna) – Jessica Rotter & Emily Columbier
2. "Calling All Monsters" (Ellie Goulding x DJ Cassidy x Robin Thicke x Jessie x Eminem x Rihanna x Kanye West x Journey x Gallo & Alaia x Michael Jackson) – Mashup-Germany
3. "Backstreet Rap Alright" (Backstreet Boys x Tupac x Eminem x Nate Dogg x Ludacris) – Poppa Smurf
4. "Counting Favours" (One Republic x Empire Of The Sun) – Carlos Serrano
[2013 Mashup] Record Republic – The Real 2013 Wrapup
As the Sunset team is working on putting together our typical year-end lists, I was sent this beautiful recap of 2013 in the form of a mashup video. Sri Lankan artists Sheaam Deen and VY sang clips from Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball," Zedd's "Clarity," Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's "Can't Hold Us," Rihanna's "Stay," Justin Timberlake's "Mirrors," Jason Derulo's "The Other Side," Imagine Dragons's "Radioactive" and Avicii's "Wake Me Up." But instead of it being just your typical year-end mashup revolving solely around music, the video commemorated the tragedies and celebrations that will likely highlight 2013 around the world (Boston Marathon, Trayvon Martin, Royal Baby, Mandela's passing, Harlem Shake, Obamacare, and more). And then it challenges us at the end to think about what we will remember 2013 for. And better yet: how will you choose to see 2014? This is a creative take on the year-end mashup; a great way for these artists to separate themselves from the pack.
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Mashup Monday | Week 143
My goodness, you guys. I sincerely apologize for dropping the [Wrecking] Ball on the Mashup Mondays feature. Somebody should Wake Me Up and remind me that I need to treat yall like Royals, because that's what you are. Alas, the Demons of the real world have been haunting me. The Monster that is work has been particularly monstrous lately. But today, I got a chance to Slow Down and enjoy some mashups. That's right, I'm a lion and you're going to hear me ROAR. [Applause from the crowd.]
Bonus points to anybody who can name the artists behind all the songs listed in this description. Or all of the artists used in Mashup Germany's mashup below. Crazytown.
1. Mashup-Germany – Top Of The Pops 2013 (Hey Brother) [Revisited]
2. Ed Sheeran & Passenger – No Diggity vs Thrift Shop (Kygo Remix)
3. Ricky Cervantes – Artichoke Dip (OutKast v. Ke$ha v. Madeon v. Grandtheft)
4. Isosine – Hearts (Bon Iver vs Calvin Harris vs Ellie Goulding vs Childish Gambino vs Jeremy Lim vs Serena Sun)
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The Five Best Dance Songs of the Week
You know the drill. Another week, another seamless playlist for you to get down to this weekend. Press play below and get the party started.
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Mashup Monday | Week 141
First off, happy Monday. I know it's been a while since I've posted a Mashup Monday, but I hope yall can forgive me. Now that that's behind us, here's our first mashup. It's by our dude Ricky Cervantes and it got Drake, Krewlla, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Eminem all on one track and it sounds amazing.
Second, bet you never thought you'd hear Kendrick and Katy Perry on the same track? Particularly not after meeting angry kid Kendrick on "Control." Ah but alas, The White Panda wanted it to happen, so it did.
Third, Arjun sent me this little gem today, in perfect time for Mashup Monday. The Tutankhamun Brothers found a way to blend Kanye West and The Beatles in a way that sometimes (and frankly more times than I would have expected) actually sounds decent. Not quite Danger Mouse/The Grey Album status, but this is good stuff.
Highlight: What's a Black Beatle
The Five Best Dance Songs of the Week
"We think to dance, and dance in thought. But to hibernate in the mind, is to bring upon us an apocalypse of the Soul."
– Ilyas Kassam
The Five Best Dance Songs of the Week
"Real men don't lift weights, they lift women."
– Every male ballet dancer
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TOMS RIVER — Six months ago, authorities said they nabbed a burglar who allegedly stole $100,000 worth of jewelry from rocker Jon Bon Jovi's home in Middletown.
Now the same man is accused of breaking into another home, this time in Toms River, according to a report by the Asbury Park Press.
Nicholas J. Tracy, 21, of Beachwood in Ocean County, was charged in connection with the burglary of a home on Whitty Road in Toms River Wednesday morning, police told the newspaper.
Tracy allegedly fled from the home on a bicycle, was tracked down by police and later identified as the burglary suspect, the newspaper reported.
In April, Tracy was charged with breaking into Bon Jovi's $22 million estate and also charged with burglarizing three other homes in the rocker's neighborhood.


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Mediocre Fred does not aspire to be a lawyer but will become a politician if you promise to vote for him. He writes a Mediocre Blog - Ed.
Earlier this month, I saw a couple pieces of news on the subject of online music file-sharing. First, a judge rules that file-sharing is, for all practical purposes, legal in Canada. Second, the U.S. House passed a bill that would subject file-sharers to jail. Why the different attitudes? Legally speaking, Canadian copyright law has a large personal-use exemption, and that's the basis for the ruling. But I'm more interested in the cultural attitudes. Why is the Canadian government, which by most accounts applauds the judge's ruling, so friendly to file-sharing, and America so unfriendly?
Some will probably point to things like the looser attitude toward drugs and gay marriage in Canada, and conclude that our neighbor to the north is just more progressive and with it than we are. And there's something to that. But I think the more instructive example in this case is to look at prescription drugs.
The Canadian government imposes strict price controls on prescription medications, leading to prices that are significantly lower than in good old free-market America. That's why people like Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich are pushing for the re-importation of drugs from Canada; the savings are very significant. Canada argues that a lot of people need these prescriptions to live, and therefore need to be able to afford them.
Those in favor of America's current policy argue that drug companies need to be able to make money in order to afford research and development of new drugs. If price caps are imposed, drug companies will go bankrupt and then no one will have the pills they need to live. America also has a longer period of patent protection on new drugs, on the theory that companies need to be able to recoup their investment in the drug's development.
The difference in attitude comes down to differing perceptions of the drug companies: Canada believes that drug companies, in an open market, are profiting unfairly from customers who are literally dependent on the drugs for survival. After all, if the price of your favorite soda goes up, you can always switch brands or stop drinking soda. If the price of your patent-protected blood-pressure medication goes up, you don't have these options. America believes that drug companies are doing what they need to do to stay in business. In short, Canada looks out for its citizens first, while America looks out for the companies first.
Both sides have a point. If every market were as tightly price-controlled as Canada's, drug companies probably would have to cut back significantly on R&D, which is bad for everyone long-term, since it means that fewer new drugs come to market. On the other hand, without price caps (and without national health insurance to pick up the tab), there are plenty of people who can't afford the drugs they need, and that's not good, either.
But this isn't a discussion about prescription drugs. We're talking about music. The same attitudes, though, apply. Canada feels that recording companies are overcharging for music, and America feels that companies are doing what they need to stay in business.
The difference in this debate is that you don't need CDs to live. But there are still similarities: Each album is sold by one, and only one, recording company. If you want that album, you have to buy that company's copy, because they have a monopoly and there is no market competition in pricing.
And as with drugs, there's a limited substitution ability: If a particular company is charging too much for Melissa Etheridge's latest album, buying the Chaka Khan album from the discount bin isn't a valid substitute. There's no "store brand" of Melissa Etheridge music that you can buy instead. So if the price of the album is inflated, you either grumble and pay or don't buy it at all.
Or at least those were your options before file-sharing came along. Now you can get all the songs of the album for free! Download them onto your computer, arrange them in the proper order, and it's just as good as having a CD. Any rational person, given this option, is likely to head straight for Napster or Kazaa.
But there's a problem, of course. If too many people stop buying CDs altogether, recording companies go bankrupt, and artists have no incentive to create new music. While the latter proposition might not be a bad thing in the case of, say, Britney Spears, it would be a shame if someone like Etheridge or Eric Clapton had to hang up his or her guitar because there's no money in it any more.
It's a classic economic dilemma: One producer has an established production and sales model and a stable price plan. A competitor comes along, offering the same good only better, more cheaply, or both. The original producer has two options: Modify the old business plan to level the playing field, or crush the competitor.
The recording industry has clearly chosen Plan B, and it strikes me as a mistake. Music consumers are already inclined to see recording companies as evil and greedy. And with that CD price-fixing lawsuit, who can blame them? Leaning on Congress and the courts to let them attack their own consumers only adds fuel to the fire. The recording industry needs to collaborate with customers to find a new way to do business, rather than trying to crush them.
On the other hand, if file sharing really does cause a huge drop in CD sales, then we have a problem. However, some studies dispute the negative effect, as Nick at De Novo and Ryan at Dead Parrots Society have noted. If people are abandoning CDs in large numbers and downloading music for free, artists are going to suffer.
Apple's iTunes service suggests a way out of this; they let you download songs individually for a small fee. This is good in two ways; one, it gets around the CD price-gouging issue, and two, most people only want two or three songs from any particular CD anyway, so this gives them the opportunity to just get what they want.
The recording industry should look at incorporating this model into their business plan. Better still would be if the artists could do it themselves. Music fans may hate the recording industry, but they don't hate the aritsts, and would like to see them compensated for their work. That's the thing most file-sharers don't think about; they see downloading as taking money out of the pocket of some slick-haired recording-industry exec, not from the artist. The Internet allows people to make more direct connections, and if artists were able to reach out directly to the fans, it would only strengthen the connection.
What do you think? Who's right on the file-sharing issue, Canada or America? Recording companies or downloaders? Is there a way to create a new model that takes care of everyone? Post your suggestions in the comments section, and let's discuss it.April 13, 2004 12:00 AM | TrackBack
Now that the artist can distribute their own CDs and music, circumventing the industry, the only thing that the Music Industry is good for is marketing. While crap like NSync and Jessica Simpson need this marketing monster to force them selves into pop culture many bands do not. Several bands have done this already, Dave Mathews and REM both got popular at the college level before the marketing monster gobbled them up. With out the Music industry I feel it really levels the playing feel to a world where only those with good music that people like can survive.
Artist make little money of CDs, mainly because the industry takes a large cut, and if they produced the CDs on their own they would make the same amount of profit of a smaller number of CDs. On top of this Artist make most of their money from touring, not through CD sales currently. If you like their MP3s you are much more likely to go see them in concert but not buy their CD.
I have never been able to see the logic of why everyone does not want to circumvent the bloated unnecessary middle man the Music Industry is. Its not like Wal-Mart is angry that the music industry is selling directly to the public online. Like the music industry, Im just trying to cut out the middle man.
Hi Stephan,
Thanks for the comments. As for why more artists don't bypass the recording-industry middleman, I can think of at least three reasons:
1. Going the independent route is a pretty big risk, and some artists may prefer the "safety" of the recording-industry world. (Notwithstanding the slanted terms of most recording contracts.)
2. Some artists just don't have the talent or inclination to deal with distribution, marketing, and other incidental issues. Those things can be a huge headache, and plenty of artists would probably rather just concentrate on making music and let recording companies handle the business end.
3. I think you underestimate the value of a good marketing campaign. I share your outlook regarding talentless market-created hacks like N'Sync and Ms. Simpson, but just because you're good doesn't mean you'll become famous. Think about all the things that a recording company can do for an artist: take out advertising in all media, distribute new albums and songs to radio stations, sell a new artist to friendly reporters, arrange concert tours, and more.
There's a reason that Dave Matthews and REM didn't turn down recording deals when they were offered. If you're talented and win a following, you can survive as an artist. But the only way to become a national presence, and to become really rich, is to get yourself in the pop-culture whirl. And it's damn hard to make a national name for yourself without someone behind you.
In summary, I think going the direct-distribution route is mostly feasible at this point for bands that already have a national reputation and don't need the marketing machine, or bands that are still obscure and can't attract the attention of recording companies. For those in the middle -- artists and groups which are no longer obscure, but not yet stars -- going it alone is a damn hard and complicated road.
On the bright side, the faster technology improves, the easier it will be for an artist to distribute and market his own work. That, I think, is the most exciting promise of the new techology.Posted by: Mediocre Fred at April 16, 2004 04:29 PM


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We weren't expecting the Jacksonville Jaguars to make a substantial move in free agency.
Of the first four players they've brought in, I love one: Roy Miller. He is a solid, run-stuffing defensive tackle I suggested might have fit nicely in Houston to replace Shaun Cody. The Texans run a 3-4 front, and it doesn't take much to adapt to Wade Phillips' scheme.
With the Jaguars he stays in a 4-3 and figures to help on early downs. I think he's a rising player and a good addition.
Here's a view from Scouts Inc.:
"Miller is a powerful wide body with good short-area quickness and above-average agility but limited lateral range and very limited pass rush skills. He plays with natural leverage and does a good job of using his hands to defeat and shed blockers. He feels pressure and works his way back through the block to squeeze the play down. He does a good job of holding his ground and tying up blockers to keep the linebackers free to make plays. He shows marginal explosive quickness and burst as he escapes blocks and often ends up just missing the tackle on runs."
He helps offset the loss of Terrance Knighton, who left as a free agent to sign with the Denver Broncos. Knighton lost his early down job last season to C.J. Mosley. Knighton was listed at 6-foot-3, 330-pounds but was surely bigger than that. Miller was listed by Tampa Bay at 6-foot-2, 310 pounds.
To their first addition, linebacker Geno Hayes, the Jaguars have added two other guys. Both were with the Texans last year.
Running back Justin Forsett is a good complimentary back who should fare better working with Maurice Jones-Drew than last year's backs, who wound up having to replace MJD when he got hurt.
Alan Ball has one thing Gus Bradley really likes in his cornerbacks: size. He's 6-foot-2, 191-pounds. Unfortunately that size didn't factor into his play last year, which was poor for the Texans when they called on him to help out after Johnathan Joseph was injured.
The Jaguars also resigned Antwaun Molden, a corner who has bounced around a lot and was with Jacksonville for the last five games last season.


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"Almost an Angel" is Paul Hogan's apparent attempt to distance himself from " `Crocodile' Dundee" by taking on the character of a low-key Australian in America who doesn't quite fit in with society.
Now there's casting against type.
The twist this time is that Hogan plays a character who becomes an angel . . . or does he?
This Frank Capra-style comedy manages a gentle, occasionally sweet nature, but "Almost An Angel" just isn't funny enough and at times not even interesting enough to hold the attention of the audience.
In fact, like its star, this movie is so low-key it often seems half-asleep.
Hogan, who also gets screenwriting and executive producing credit, stars as an electronics genius who uses his talent to commit burglaries. He's in prison when the film starts, demonstrating his abilities to a guard by virtue of an amazing little remote control he's constructed that seems able to turn on or off just about anything he aims it at.
As the film opens, Hogan is about to be released and he expresses his weariness at being the first suspect every time a major crime involving a complicated break-in is committed.
So he decides to go for another line of work.
Donning an elaborate disguise as Willie Nelson, Hogan robs a bank of nearly $70,000. Later, he runs to the aid of a young boy, is hit by a truck and finds himself seriously injured.
While in the hospital, he dreams or is it a dream? that he is visited by God (Charlton Heston, in an amusing, unbilled cameo), who tells Hogan that, despite his life of crime, his righteous, self-sacrificing act has made him eligible for a second chance. He is made an angel of mercy on probation, of course and returns to earth to help others.
The charge doesn't take at first. As soon as he returns, Hogan attempts to rob another bank (this time disguised as Rod Stewart).
But it's not long before he sees the error of his ways . . . more or less . . . and decides to seek out the needy.
His travels take him to the poor side of town where he meets a bitter, wheelchair-bound young man (Elias Koteas) who lives with his mother (Doreen Lang) and sister (Linda Kozlowski, Hogan's " `Crocodile' Dundee" co-star).
Hogan helps them find their way, and they in turn help him find his. Needless to say, there is also a bit of romance with Kozlowski.
But predictability is the least of the problems with "Almost an Angel." From the beginning, the film is burdened by an overly preachy manner which really becomes heavy-handed when Hogan meets Koteas and a hamfisted musical score by Maurice Jarre.
Add to that the number of jokes that stumble and fall some of which don't seem like jokes at all and you have a sad misfire.
Hogan is charming and his easygoing manner makes for a pleasant screen persona, but he could have used some help on his script. Likewise, producer-director John Cornell (whose earlier film credits are the two " `Crocodile' Dundee" films, naturally) needed to punch up the attempted laughs.
It's so seldom we get a movie that treats religious themes with some modicum of respect instead of ridicule that it seems a real shame "Almost an Angel" doesn't work.
The film is rated PG for some violence, a few scattered profanities and a couple of vulgarities.


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Mexican ninteteen-year-old Estibalis Chavez holds a hunger strike in front of the UK embassy in Mexico City. (Getty Images)
Some folks are taking this wedding more seriously than others. Take Estibalis Chavez, 19, for example: The Mexican teen hasn't eaten for the past eight days — consuming only water — in hopes that her bizarre, pathetic stunt will force Will and Kate to invite her to their exclusive wedding celebration. (Nothing says "good times" quite like a hunger striker!)
According to a Reuters report, Chavez has been camped in a blue tent outside the British Embassy in Mexico City, handing out fliers to strangers. "Are they going to let me die just because they wouldn't give me an invitation to the royal wedding?" Chavez wrote on one of the fliers. "This is my only dream," read another next to a picture of the smiling royal couple.
Chavez says her unconventional campaign was inspired by her appreciation for Princess Diana. "I think she was one of the most interesting women in history, and one of the best and most beautiful," she told Reuters. "My mother was a big fan of Lady Di too and she died when I was born, so I promised myself I would attend her son's wedding."
It's a cause the teen doesn't seem to be giving up on, going so far as to blame the British Embassy for not intervening. "The embassy could talk to Britain for me but they haven't," she said. "But I'm going to stay here until I can't go on."


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This brownie combines two things I deeply love: brownies (obviously) and chestnuts. How wonderful are chestnuts? They add a solid, meaty bite to holiday stuffing; pair gloriously with brussels sprouts; and make rich, creamy soup. They are one of those foods that don't have a substitute. What else is like a chestnut in both taste and texture?
So, these brownies came to fruition because I had a package of cooked-and-peeled vacuum-packed chestnuts in the fridge. It was a new product at my supermarket--slightly cheaper than the jars that can be hard to find at non-holiday times--and I snapped it up without much thought. Last week, I used some of the chestnuts to make a pasta dish, and immediately started pondering what to do with the remainder. I also happened to have a can of chestnut puree (the pure, non-sweetened kind), which I think has been in the pantry for a year and a half. Somehow that equation equaled brownies.
After searching far and wide for a chesnut-y brownie recipe or something I could re-jigger slightly, I was left empty handed. But I still knew I could adapt something and settled on this recipe for brownies with a cream cheese swirl by the highly-regarded pastry chef, author and blogger, David Lebovitz. I knew it was a solid recipe, and I had a hunch that I could substitute the cream cheese swirl for a chestnut version.
If you love chestnuts like I do, you might seek out the ingredients and try this. To simplify, you could do it without adding the chopped chestnuts to the puree, or you could simply stir some chopped chestnuts into the fantastic brownie base. I have to note how pleased I was with David Lebovitz's recipe. Simple (you only need one kind of chocolate--amen!), unfussy, and it worked. It would be a fine chocolate brownie without the swirl, but I think I need to try the cream cheese version sometime soon.
Adapted from David Lebovitz's recipe for Cheesecake Brownies
If you use an 8-inch pan, brownies will be very thick and fudgy. If you don't like that very moist (but still "done" enough) center, use a 9-inch pan.
Makes one 8-inch or 9-inch square pan
Chestnut batter:
7.5 ounces unsweetened chestnut puree (200g)
5 Tbs granulated sugar (62 g)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
100 g cooked, shelled chestnuts (about 15 medium), chopped
Fudge batter:
6 Tbs unsalted butter, cut into pieces (85 g)
4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (115 g) (I used Ghirardelli 60% cocoa baking bar)
2/3 cup sugar (130 g)
2 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (70 g)
1 Tbs unsweetened natural cocoa powder (6 g)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup dark chocolate chips (105 g)
Line an 8 or 9-inch square baking dish with nonstick foil (or regular foil coated with cooking spray), leaving some over hang on 2 sides to act as a "sling" for lifting brownies. Preheat oven to 350 F.
Make chestnut batter: In a large bowl, beat chestnut puree, sugar, salt and vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed until smooth. Stir in chestnuts and set aside.
Make fudge batter: In glass or other microwave safe bowl, combine butter and chocolate. Microwave on medium power in 20 to 30 second increments, stirring each time, just until chocolate is melted. Be careful not to over do it, or chocolate can burn. Stir in sugar with a whisk and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
Slowly add beaten eggs to chocolate mixture as you whisk. Add vanilla. Add flour, cocoa and salt, and stir just until combined. Stir in a little more than half of the chocolate chips and spread evenly in prepared pan.
Dollop chestnut batter over fudge batter and swirl them together with a spatula; smooth the surface (since chestnut batter is thick, you won't get a pretty swirl pattern). Sprinkle remaining chips over surface and gently press them down a bit so they adhere.
Bake 45 to 60 minutes (my 8-inch took about 55), or until a thin knife comes out with moist crumbs (but not raw batter) and edges pull away slightly from sides of pan (see recipe headnote and make the call depending on pan size and how you like your brownies; as I said, the 8-inch version will be thick). Cool in pan 10 minutes, then lift the foil over hang and cool completely (still in foil) on a rack. For very neat cutting, cool at room temp, then chill for about 1 hour before cutting.


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OK I know school already started and most of you already bought lunch boxes but if your kids are like mine they lose them or break them so I always have to have some back ups. Well I found some very cute and affordable lunch bags from Bumkins.
Bumkins Lunch Bags come in 4 diferent designs which are all adorable. They are perfect size for a decent healthy lunch. They are easy to carry and they are not too heavy or bulky. They are well insulated to keep food fresh through out the day which is great. They have a awesome Id holder as well to write your childs name and contact info on in case they do get lost. They have a velcro flap closure to keep food in even with kids spin them around lol. Best part is they are Lead free, PVC free, BPA free, Phthalates free, and Vinyl free which make me feel safer.
So if you are looking for a great lunch bag for you or your kids check out Bumkins Lunch bags. You are sure to love them and for the great price you can get a couple. So head over and get yours today!
We are giving one lucky readers a adorable alligator lunch bag.
To Enter
fill out form below:
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Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Bumkins Lunch Bags review and giveaway ends 11-15
4 comments:
- Maegan Morin said...
My favorite style is GraffitiHeart!
- November 5, 2013 at 11:25 AM
- Jennifer T. said...
I like the Flutter Floral Lunch Box.
- November 5, 2013 at 4:48 PM
- Linda Kish said...
I would choose the GraffitiHeart bag
- November 5, 2013 at 5:27 PM
- Vera Khule said...
I like the Green Eggs lunchbox.
- November 6, 2013 at 5:39 AM
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Had a great time speaking with the people of X3M Ideas yesterday.
What's the link between PR and Advertising? How can both professions collaborate better to build stronger brands and tell greater stories?
What can we learn from the Black civil rights movement? What can we learn from the plenty stories in the Bible?
How can we ensure companies like Facebook, Google, Twittter and co. do not continue to determine the fate of the brands we care about? How do we ensure that we are the ones throwing the party, instead of gate crashing a gig we are not even invited to?
The future of both professions is intertwined, as you will discover in detailed excerpts from my session available next week.
We must integrate and innovate, if we are to avoid a future where the Clients no longer pick our call…


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We have a very busy week ahead of us. Which isn't such a bad thing. Pen has been battling some unexplained crankiness that seems to be most persistant during the day and in the evening. Whenever we go out she is totally content and sleeps well. I've been battling my own loneliness, so I think this week might be good for us both.
Monday (Today): We went too Frootogo, my new favourite local farm! We had a great afternoon with my MIL and SIL and I'm making delicious Balsamic Cream Sauce and Chicken with Leek and Couscous Salad, and Cornbread for desert.
Tuesday: Tomorrow we go to the Vertical Church Tour. We'll be spending the morning at our former church, Harvest Oakville. I'm looking forward to spending the morning with my husband and hoping that I can enjoy some of the session (aka: Penny, sleep!)
Wednesday/Thursday: These are my mom's days off. We're planning on going to Springridge Farm one of these days and hopefully enjoying some fun outtings. Plus, we have to finish the second season of Downton Abbey...almost there!
Friday: Pen has her four month vaccinations and I've written a list of questions to ask the doctor. Not looking forward to this!
Saturday: We're going with my childhood friend, her hubby and their son to the Milton Fall Fair. So excited!
Sunday: Penelope Rose is having her baby dedication (similar to a christening in the catholic church). Her grandparents and great-grandparents and auntie will all be there to witness this special moment. We're having lunch and cake at my mom's house afterwards to celebrate our little girl!
What do you have planned this week?


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Central Maine FCU supports its community by participating in locally sponsored events, charitable fundraisers, educational events and sponsorships. Many employees volunteer their time to participate and represent their Credit Union in the community through these events, and also serve on non-profit boards and committees.
Central Maine Federal Credit Union is a firm supporter of educational programs and offers the annual Dominic J. Roux Memorial Scholarship available to graduating high school seniors, college students, and adult students. Credit union membership is required to qualify. Applications are available at the Reception desk at the Credit Union or you may print one by clicking on the link in the Document box on the right. Applications must be submitted by the annual April 30th deadline.
Central Maine FCU's unique Books for Kids Program benefits thousands of children throughout Androscoggin County. The Credit Union has been donating books annually to every public school library within the county since 2002. It's never too early to spark their interest in books!
Central Maine FCU has been the recipient of Awards for its outstanding participation in the Androscoggin Community.


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Armed with a MLIS degree, a diploma in Library and Information Technology, 9 years of experience working in public libraries, I am passionate about technology, training, digital literacies, and change management.
Stationed on the North Shore of British Columbia, I am lucky enough to live in one beautiful West Coast city and work in another.
While an avid reader, I do not work on a public information desk (for the most part) instead I am working behind the scenes on staff training, digital content creation initiatives, and public programming. It isn't what most might consider a librarian doing, but it is an amazing job that allows me to support my community in a dynamic (and digital) manner.
As a result, this blog will contain conversations on digital literacy, patron and staff training experiences, software, hardware, apps, and the occasional book review. Any opinions found here are my views and not the views of my employer.
Talk to me on twitter, linkedin, or by email at sarah at sarahfelkar dot com.


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Joint-Sniffing Margaret Hoover says Zach Galifianakis Joint was Real (Video)Author: Jon Martin | Friday, November 5th, 2010 |
Last week on Real Time with Bill Maher, Zach Galifianakis lit up a joint on live-television. After the fact, Bill Maher claimed that it wasn't a real joint and that Zach was smoking cloves. Margaret Hoover, the guest on the roundtable that Galifianakis passed the joint to, sat down with Bill O'Reilly to discuss the incident. Hoover says that it definitely wasn't cloves and that later on Zach told her it was 'THC-3′.
It's unlikely that Galifianakis would get in trouble even if he had smoked a joint but for PR purposes it's smarter to just claim it was 'cloves'. With Proposition 19 failing and the Republicans back in control of the house, this week has been a bit of a bummer. Can't Bill Maher just let a few stoners dream? Regardless of the joint's authenticity, the stunt was a huge success. The youtube video has over 1 million views.
- Bill Maher says Zach Galifianakis Joint Wasn't Real (Video)
- Steve Carell makes Zach Galifianakis Cry (Video)
- Zach Galifianakis Has No Swagger (Video)
- Zach Galifianakis on SNL
- Richard Dawkins and S.E. Cupp on Real Time with Bill Maher (Video)
Current Pageviews: 9,272 views
This entry was posted: on Friday, November 5th, 2010
Tags and Categories: FoxNews, pot, television
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To Fear the Dawn: Chapter 17
Armed with their evidence and the results of their scientific research, the Curious brothers decided to go to the police station at sunrise.
They felt they had to try and convince the authorities that vampires were real, even though they had little hope they would be believed. However, as there had been so many unexplained deaths by severe hypovolemia without any blood at the scene, the police didn't feel they had any other choice but to listen.
After all, they had no other leads.
"All this paperwork is one thing," the Chief of Police said, "but for all I know, you could have made all this up."
"Why in the hell would we do that?" Pascal asked, exasperated. "Besides, you can't 'make things up' on the lab computers. It either exists, or it doesn't. You can't force the system to generate prints on something that isn't there. It doesn't--"
Lazlo interrupted his brother. "Look, Chief. If you really want to be convinced, come with us to the Beaker mansion tonight after dark."
"What? Why? What's there?" the Chief asked.
"You know Nervous Subject?"
"Yes. He's on the Mysterious Disappearances roster." the Chief said slowly.
Lazlo shook his head. "He's a vampire. You can see for yourself, but I would advise you not to stay very long."
The police chief gave Lazlo a suspicious look. "Well, if he's a vampire, as you say, then that means he's responsible for some of these killings! I should have a warrant issued for his arrest!"
"No!" Pascal cried. "It's not his fault! He can't help what he's doing. It's the one who made him that way! That's the one who's at fault, not the innocent victims!"
"The ones who died are the innocent victims, here," said the police chief sternly, folding his arms. "But I can understand your point. I suppose it's no different than a plea of insanity or other unstable medical condition, but we'll still have to lock him up. We can't leave him, or any other vampire, if that is what they are, free to take more innocent lives!"
The brothers looked at each other, and Lazlo nodded at Vidcund. "Go on, Vid. Tell him."
"Tell me what?" asked the Chief.
"Well," Vidcund began. "This research... I know it may not make much sense to you, but we've discovered the cause of the vampirism."
"Cause?" interrupted the Chief. "You just told me the cause was being bitten by that... what-did-you-call-it... Grand Vampire, which you say we can't get to."
"Well, yes, but what the Grand Vampire does to make a new vampire is, essentially, give the new vampire a virus. That's what we just discovered. Here... "
Vidcund leafed through the many papers on the desk and pulled one out, handing it to the Chief. "This is a computer-generated image of the virus itself."
The Chief looked at the print, then handed it back and shook his head. "I can't understand any of that, so I'll take your word for it. What are you saying here?"
"We're saying this vampirism is treated by the body as a disease," Pascal said. "And as such, it is quite possible a cure could be made. We just need time to develop it."
"How long would you need?" The Chief asked, frowning thoughtfully.
"Impossible to tell," Vidcund said. "The first formula we create might do it, or it might take much, much longer. It's trial and error, unfortunately, at this point."
"... and it doesn't help that we have no support from the damn lab!" Lazlo commented. "If we had a whole research team working on this, it would take a lot less time, but do you know how we've been able to come this far?" He waved his hands in frustration. "By sneaking into the lab and working when no one else was around! It's a load of shit!"
The police chief looked at all of them in turn, then cleared his throat. "Boys, if what you're telling me is true, then I will personally make certain you get everything you need to continue your research. Manpower, money, equipment... whatever it takes. I promise you that."
"Nervous!" Pascal called from the front veranda of the Beaker home. "Nerv, it's us. Come on out!"
"Hi, Pascal," Nervous said in a depressed voice, slouching out from the entrance archway. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but I have some bad ne-- Wait, who's that?"
"Nervous, this is the Chief of Police," Vidcund said.
"But I didn't do anything!" Nervous cried, panicked. "Well, I did, but I can't help it!" He looked around wildly as though he was thinking about running away.
"Nerv, calm down." Lazlo said.
"What did you guys do?" Nervous said to them, and as the chief came closer he yelped, "Don't let him arrest me!"
The Chief was staring at Nervous, wide-eyed with shock, but then he seemed to recover and spoke in a friendly manner to the vampire, who was still looking as though he might bolt at any second.
"I'm not going to arrest you, son," the Chief said kindly. "... but I would like to take a look at you. I'd like to see what's been done to you. Is that all right?"
Nervous looked at the chief, then at Pascal, who nodded.
"Well, okay..." Nervous agreed, his eyes still wide and frightened.
The brothers and the police chief walked up to where Nervous was standing, and the police chief gave Nervous an intense once-over with a flashlight.
"My God." the chief said. "It's true! All this time, it's been here, right under our noses." He turned to Vidcund, and wiped his forehead nervously. "Well," he said. "I can tell you this, Curious. You'll have all you need to do whatever you can. I'll send a representative down to the lab as soon as it is daylight to work on getting that started for you."
"Thank you, Chief." Vidcund said matter-of-factly, but his voice trembled with excitement. Whatever they needed! An huge research team and the entire lab at their disposal!
"As for you," the Chief said to Nervous. "You realize I can't let you kill any more, son. I hate to take you in, but I don't see any other way."
"You said you wouldn't arrest me!"
"You're not under arrest," the Chief said soothingly. "You're just being, well... quarantined. We'll get you to the hospital and... and... " he trailed off. What would they do for him? The hospital was completely unprepared for such a patient. Yet Nervous had to go somewhere, and the hospital was the best place. At least, he could be sustained there through the central blood supply, without killing any more innocent people, and hopefully the Curious boys would be able to come up with a cure soon.
"Come on, son." the Chief said, putting an arm around Nervous' shoulders and steering him toward the police vehicle parked near the curb. "You know it's for the best."
Nervous looked around at Pascal and then slowly walked away with the policeman.
"Nervous, we're working on something that can help you," Pascal told him bracingly. "Maybe you won't have to stay this way much longer."
"That would be great." Nervous said without feeling, and turned away again sadly.
Vidcund watched him. He could tell there was something wrong with Nervous besides just being taken to the hospital. Nervous had seemed upset when they had first arrived.
"Wait," Vidcund said to the policeman, and he held on to Nervous' arm. "Nervous, what's wrong? I know it's not just that you're going away... "
"Oh." Nervous said. "No, I'm actually kind of relieved I'm being taken to the hospital. I hated killing, you know." He wrung his hands worriedly.
"Then what is it?"
Nervous looked away from Vidcund and sighed. "I guess there's no other way to say this than just say it. I... " he gulped and blinked. "... I had some news from Reginald after sunset."
"And?" Vidcund's voice rose an octave and his heart fell to his feet. No, please no... anything but what I think it is... please...
"He's getting married to Charity," Nervous whispered. "The wedding will be held at midnight tonight."
To Be Continued.


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Hi, friends. Happy Tuesday!!!
This week at My Time to Craft, our challenge theme is
- Circle Circus.
We want to see circles on your creations.
And here is my card.
Paper: Hedi Grace Designs Specialty Project Pad,
DCWV Be Mine Stack,
Hobby Lobby Doili
Stamp: the Girls' Paperie by Margie Paper Girl
Ink: VersaMark Dazzle,
Martha Stewart Embossing Powder bright white,
Stampbilities Pigment Ink pad
Accessories: Tim Holtz idea-ology,
Melody Ross Designer Collections Epoxy Sticker
For more samples from our DT, please check My Time to Craft challenge blog .
Thank you for stopping by.
Have a nice day!


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Our Mission
Caring for the people who care for the horses.
B.E.S.T. is a non-profit organization which is devoted to meeting the health and social welfare needs of the several thousand barn area ("backstretch") workers of the Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga Race Tracks by providing on-site counseling and primary health care services, access to health insurance and case management assistance.
B.E.S.T. understands that the foundation and success of the racing industry is absolutely dependent upon the health and welfare of its industrious backstretch workers.
In an age of impersonal care, B.E.S.T. will always make the individualized needs of the backstretch workers our top priority. We strive to relate to our workers in their language and with respect, honesty and expertise, and to always perform our work with the highest regard for professional ethics.


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Christopher Pate
Christopher Pate lives in Louisiana and was born in 2001.
• Christopher's favorite school subjects are reading and science.
• He plays soccer and basketball, participates in Student Council and church activities, and is a member of the United States Triathlon Association.
• In his spare time, Christopher likes to read, write, and hang out with his family.
• He wants to be a writer, photographer, or architect when he grows up.
"I'm not afraid to ask questions and I enjoy interviewing people and asking about what means most to them. I believe [being a Kid Reporter] will be an awesome opportunity for me to grow as a student and as a person."


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Muscles, big muscles, muscles with tattoos, muscles that ripple as they flex, muscles that glisten as they 'pump'.
There is nothing unattractive about a muscular man. Some people like lean and muscular, others like big and muscular, and quite a few like hairy and muscular. But he has to be muscular and confident.
Muscles are equivocal to strength and power: two things that I feel incredibly attracted to. Strength and power lead to confidence and dominance.
Power is sexy.
Taste it, lick it, and bite it, as if it were a thing I could devour.
There are times when I am consumed by a hunger for it.
Power is a thing I must submit to.
The power of submission is an all-consuming obsession.
I no longer have to be in charge or make all the decisions.
To simply be, enjoy his power, see him take control.
Wrists are often bound to the bedposts, why? That simple act takes away any notion that I have to do anything for him, other than relax, enjoy and submit.
And his muscles? To see his arms flex, as his fingers and hands work my hole, taking away a lifetime of tension. And when it is time to fill me with his fist, my heightened senses take it all in.
The sight of another man: strong, lean, powerful, aggressive and fucking my ass with aggressive intent will often awaken my own aggression. Men who submit have fire and aggression. Those binds on my wrists are always tight. There is no way I'm going to get free. Why do I want to be free? So that my body could fuck him back and swallow him whole.
But he is in control; I can't get free and am utterly at his mercy.
And for those moments, I am utterly happy.