text:
We Guarantee
- Best Price Guarantee
- Live Support 24/7
- No hidden cost or fee
- Honor Booking
- Easy & Free Cancellation
- Easy & Safe Payment
My viewed hotels
- Muong Thanh Nha Trang Hotel
6 Duong Hien Quyen Street, New Nha Trang / Pham Van Dong, Nha Trang, Vietnam
Earn rewards with us!
- Get 4% back on your bookings
- Save money on next bookingss
- Redeem points flexibly
- Give points to friends or family
Muong Thanh Nha Trang Hotel
Address: 6 Duong Hien Quyen Street, New Nha Trang / Pham Van Dong, Nha Trang, Vietnam (View Map)
Located in the lovely area of New Nha Trang / Pham Van Dong Boulevard, Muong Thanh Nha Trang Hotel enjoys a commanding position in the religious interests, business, restaurants hub of Nha Trang. Only 45. Km away, this 4-star hotel can be easily accessed from the airport. No less exceptional is the hotel's easy access to the city's myriad attractions and landmarks, such as Nui Cathedral, Nha Trang Bay, Po Nagar Central Tower.
Muong Thanh Nha Trang Hotel offers impeccable service and all the essential amenities to invigorate travelers. A selection of top-class facilities such as shops, airport transfer, safety deposit boxes, 24hr room service, business center can be enjoyed at the hotel.
The hotel features 255 beautifully appointed guest rooms, each including mini bar, refrigerator, separate shower and tub, bathrobes, internet access. Whether you're a fitness enthusiast or are just looking for a way to unwind after a hard day, you will be entertained by top-class recreational facilities such as steamroom, massage, spa, jacuzzi, fitness center. Muong Thanh Nha Trang Hotel is your one-stop destination for quality hotel accommodations in Nha Trang. Booking a room with us to get special discount rates and write hotel reviews after your stay.
Facilities of Muong Thanh Nha Trang Hotel
- 24/7 Room Service
- Bar/Pub
- Buffet Breakfast
- Car Park
- Connecting Rooms
- Elevator
- Executive Floor
- Express Check-In/Out
- Family Rooms
- Multilingual Staff
- Newspapers
- Non-Smoking Rooms
- Poolside Bar
- Restaurant
- Safety Deposit Box
- Soundproofed Rooms
- Sun Terrace
- WiFi Internet
Leisures of Muong Thanh Nha Trang Hotel
- Children's Playground
- Cycling
- Diving
- Gym/Fitness Centre
- Jacuzzi
- Karaoke Room
- Massage
- Outdoor Swimming Pool
- Sauna
- Spa & Health Club
Services of Muong Thanh Nha Trang Hotel
- Babysitting/Child Services
- Bicycle Rental
- Business Facilities
- Car Rental
- Concierge Service
- Currency Exchange
- Doctor on Call
- Fax/Photocopying
- Honeymoon Suite
- Hotel/Airport Transfer
- Ironing Service
- Laundry & Dry-cleaning
- Meeting/Banquet Facilities
- Motobike Rental
- Packed Lunches
- Postal/Courier Service
- Shoe Shine
- Ticket Service
- Tour Desk & Information
- VIP Room Facilities
These are general hotel policies for Muong Thanh Nha Trang Hotel, as they may vary per room type, please also check the room description.
|Check-in date:
|from 14:00 until later. Sooner subject to room availability.
|Check-out date:
|until 12:00 or sooner
|Late check-out until 18:00 will be charged 50% of room rate.
|Free! If cancelled or modified up to 7 days before date of arrival, NO fee will be charged.
|If cancelled or modified after 7 days before date of arrival, 100% of the first night will be charged.
|In case of no-show, 100% of the first night will be charged.
|Child & Baby-cot:
|Free! 1 child(ren) under 12 years old stay free of charge when using existing beds.
|Free! 1 child(ren) under 2 years old stay free of charge in a baby-cot.
|Pets Policy:
|Pets are not allowed
|Room rates:
|All rates are subject to change without notice if booking is still not confirmed. These rates are available only for bookings made with TUN TRAVEL and NOT available from the hotel directly. Supplements will not be calculated automatically in the total costs and have to be paid separately in the hotel.
About TUN Travel
Customer Support 24/7
- • Contact us 24/7
- • FAQs
- • Rewards
- • Site Feedback
- • Site map
Join us
Warning: fopen(/home/viet/application/data/viewed.json): failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/viet/application/models/Hotels.php on line 394
Warning: fwrite() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in /home/viet/application/models/Hotels.php on line 395
Warning: fclose() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in /home/viet/application/models/Hotels.php on line 396


text:
Despite this film being a us government production and done in cartoon as to prolong its shelf life so its not easy to date it is in fact one of the scariest information films i have seen. This would be played across the United States during International crisis or if a Nuclear Attack was imminent the basic information accompanied by the sound effects and the matter of fact way its presented is scary. This is the best our Government could come up with as the cold war was entering a dangerous time in our history. The Reagan years when more chances of Nuclear War happened than under any other president and Reagan provoked Russia with his SDI program and Bombers and by calling the Soviets the evil empire along with his radio gaffe among lots of things. this DCPA film should be watched as it closed the era of Civil Defense since most americans abandoned community shelter plans and Civil Defense groups during this period as FEMA stepped in and took the reins got rid of the familiar "CD" logo and name and concentrated on natural disaster or Human error even going as far as removing the course offered by their EMI program "Nuclear Attack" . We all got to see FEMA and their new upgraded form of Civil Defense during Hurricane Katrina thats is scary had they left Civil Defense in place New Orleans might have been spared the hell they went through. Imagine a Nuclear Attack occurs in this day and age after FEMAs great response to a Hurricane? God Help Us All... Enjoy the last of the Civil Defense era propaganda films and be thankful we haven't been attacked.
The script for Protection in the Nuclear Age is both tragic and comic. Above all, the picture portrayed of nuclear war is catastrophically misleading to the American public, because it offers a best case scenario as the only case. The film is a prime example of overly optimistic estimates of survivability in a nuclear war.-- Gary L. Guertner, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, June 1980
One might assume that the last major movie produced for the U.S. government on the topic of surviving a nuclear war would be more realistic than one made in 1951 – an era before intercontinental ballistic missiles. Surprisingly, this is not the case. CONELRAD recently acquired a copy of Protection in the Nuclear Age, a 16mm motion picture produced in 1978 by Trio Productions, Inc. for the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency (the DCPA was one of the many successor organizations to the FCDA). It is, if anything, even more misleading than the first generation of official survival movies.
Like Survival Under an Atomic Attack before it,Protection in the Nuclear Age began life as a government pamphlet. The 68-page booklet, published by the Government Printing Office in 1977, takes the reader on a heavily illustrated journey to a place called hope. Some of the helpful information imparted includes the following:
A twenty-five megaton nuclear blast is substantially worse than a one megaton explosion…
A cabin cruiser is a perfectly acceptable fallout shelter…
Don't bring guns, booze or drugs to your civil defense relocation area…
Know where your public shelter is…
Don't use the telephone during an attack!
The pamphlet does not concern itself with what life might be like after the nuclear war. Like a fine novel, it leaves the reader with something to ponder. Actually, the booklet ends rather abruptly—not with a closing dose of optimism, but with a page declaring that radiation sickness is not contagious.
The 23-minute movie adaptation of Protection in the Nuclear Age is an understated affair. Its narrator dispenses the "facts" of attack and survival in a subdued monotone that is complimented by a very minimalist music score. By contrast, Survival Under an Atomic Attackbegins with the booming voice of Edward R. Murrow and music from what sounds like a World War II movie.
Certain segments of the animated Protection in the Nuclear Age are acted out by stick figures. In the early 1980s, an employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA is the agency that replaced DCPA in 1979) explained to author Edward Zuckerman that the decision to forgo live action was made, in part, to prolong the shelf-life of the film. Zuckerman quotes the spokesperson in his essential 1984 book, The Day After World War III, as saying simply: "Stick figures don't get obsolete as fashion changes."
Protection in the Nuclear Age begins with a view of the planet earth from space. The narrator intones:
"We live in a world of tension and conflict. And peace, even where it does exist, does so without guarantees for tomorrow. We must therefore face the hard reality that someday a nuclear attack against the United States might occur. And—equally important—we must also realize that horrifying as that prospect may seem, destructive as such an attack might be, we can survive. It would not mean the end of the world, the end of our nation. And you can greatly improve your chances of survival if you'll remember these facts—about Protection in the Nuclear Age."
Oddly enough, this introduction echoes the words scripted for Mr. Murrow more than a quarter century earlier for Survival Under an Atomic Attack:
"Let us face without panic, the reality of our time: The fact that atom bombs may someday be dropped on our cities. And let us prepare for survival by understanding the weapon that threatens us."
Protection addresses many of the same points as its source material does, but for some reason, does not include a scene with stick figures seeking refuge from the A-bomb on a boat. It does, however, show plenty of them rushing into a public shelter marked with the familiar black and yellow sign. Left unsaid is that, while many of these shelters remain marked, they were last stocked in the 1960s.
The biggest howler in the film comes during a recitation of a government assessment of the worst case scenario of a nuclear war:
"Defense Department studies show that even under the heaviest possible attack, less than five percent of our entire land mass would be affected by blast and heat from nuclear weapons. Of course, that five percent contains a large percentage of our population. But, even in these high risk areas, if there's sufficient time to permit evacuation, many millions of lives could be saved. The other ninety-five percent of our land would escape untouched. Except possibly by radioactive fallout."
The movie ends as it began with words of encouragement delivered as the earth is seen from space:
"The greatest danger is hopelessness, the fear that nuclear attack would mean the end of our world. So why not just give up, lie down and die? That idea could bring senseless and useless death to many, for protection is possible. And your own chances of survival will be much greater if you remember these facts about Protection in the Nuclear Age."
In a strange subtextual reminder that the government is looking after the viewer like some sort of guardian angel, the animated globe morphs into the DCPA seal as the narration comes to an end.
The thing that makes Protection in the Nuclear Age somewhat unsettling is that, according to Zuckerman, it was the "last movie" many Americans might have seen if the Cold War had not ended peacefully. During the course of his research for The Day After World War III, the author learned that copies of the film had been distributed to civil defense field offices and that some of these prints had, in turn, been given to local television stations. FEMA had also distributed fifteen informational articles to local civil defense officials to provide to local newspapers in the event of an escalating international crisis. In his book, Zuckerman captures the government's intended strategy:
"The newspaper articles would be supplemented by the twenty-five-minute television film [Protection in the Nuclear Age]…" FEMA has explained. "The cost of such materials is very low, and we estimate that the emergency newspaper articles and television films could add survivors amounting to perhaps eight to twelve percent of the U.S. population."
Thankfully, there never came a time whenProtection in the Nuclear Age needed to be broadcast. It gathered dust on the shelves of television tape libraries. The only evidence that CONELRAD could find of the movie ever being publicly screened is from an item in the October 4, 1979 edition of the Iowa Democrat newspaper. The article mentions that it was to be shown at an open meeting of the Emmelsburg Junior Civil Defense group, The Pacers.
Now, while we wait to see what the A/V specialists at the Department of Homeland Security come up with, we can sit back and watch Protection in the Nuclear Age .
THANK YOU TO CONELRAD ADJECENT FOR THE FILM HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION CHECK OUT THEIR MAIN SITE CONELRAD.COM FOR EVERYTHING ON ATOMIC AND CIVIL DEFENSE HISTORY AND EVERYTHING ELSE PROBABLY THE FIRST WEBSITE DEALING WITH THIS GREAT HISTORY AND THEIR LOVE OF IT HAS HAD THEM UNCOVER LOTS OF MISSING INFORMATION AND ATOMIC PROPAGANDA MAKING THEM ONE OF THIS GENRE's GURUS.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|BVI Appeal Court Hands Down Landmark Insolvency Ruling
Harney Westwood & Riegels(This article is from international law office, and we put it here only for our internal members to study and research. If it violates the author's copyright, please send e-mail to email@example.com, and we will delete it immediately.)
The recent Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal decision in Trade and Commerce Bank v Island Point Properties SA has important implications for insolvency law within the British Virgin Islands (BVI), as well as for other jurisdictions which share a similar statutory framework to the BVI Insolvency Act 2003.
Trade and Commerce Bank served a statutory demand on the registered agent of the first respondent, Island Point Properties SA. Island Point failed to make an application to set aside the statutory demand within the prescribed time. The debt went unpaid resulting in the bank's application to liquidate Island Point based on Section 162(1) (a) of the Insolvency Act.
First instance proceeding
At first instance, Island Point did not appear due to the previous decision of the BVI High Court in Metalloyd Ltd v Burwill Resources, which concluded that a company which failed to set aside a statutory demand within the timeframe permitted by the act could not then dispute the debt at the application to wind up the company. Instead, Jacob Ungar, the sole beneficial owner of Island Point, filed a notice of appearance and was heard de bene esse (conditionally) by the judge.
The judge dismissed the application to wind up Island Point on the basis that the bank's statutory demand disclosed no viable cause of action, whether in debt or at all.
Appeal court proceeding
On appeal the bank's main argument was that, once a statutory demand had not been set aside and the legal conclusion of 'insolvency' under Section 8 of the act arose, the application to wind up was a 'done deal' – that is, the court had no residual discretion to examine the statutory demand even if it was bad, as otherwise the legal conclusion of insolvency mandated by the act would be pointless. The act differs from some regulatory frameworks in that a failure to set aside a statutory demand gives rise to an automatic conclusion of insolvency under Section 8, rather than a mere presumption of insolvency as under, for example, the UK Insolvency Act 1986.
The Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal dismissed the bank's appeal. Its most important finding was that the decision in Metalloyd did not mean that a company's failure to challenge a statutory demand deprived the court of its inherent jurisdiction to review a statutory demand. This would render ineffective the clear discretion of the court under Section 167 of the act. The appeal court also added a 'gloss' to Metalloyd, making it clear that where a company had been unsuccessful in setting a statutory demand having made an application to do so, the company could not seek to resist the application to appoint liquidators on the same grounds on which it relied for setting aside the demand, unless there were "good and substantial reasons" to do so. The addition of the "good and substantial reasons" test acts as a safety valve which prevents the company from being shut out without exception.
Secondly, it was common ground that the bank had brought an equitable restitutionary claim against Island Point. The appeal court held that a restitutionary claim of this kind was not a "debt" which was "due and payable" within the meaning of Section 155 of the act. This was based on Section 10 of the act, which sets out a number of categories which amount to a 'liability', one of which is a debt. The appeal court made it clear that while a debt is a liability, the converse is not true and not all liabilities are debts. In order to be a debt the obligation had to arise "out of a contractual relationship, or under some statutory provision or out of circumstances giving rise to an obligation to repay on the basis of money had and received".
Finally, the appeal court confirmed that the judge was wrong to conclude that Ungar had no standing as a member to be heard on the originating application. This was counter to the well-established right of a member to be heard on an application to wind up a company and there was nothing in the act which circumscribed that right. It expressly noted that the weight to be given to a member's view was a separate matter, which the court did not need to address for these purposes.
The decision is a welcome one and is a sensible and practical interpretation of the act. Had the bank's contentions been upheld, a healthy and profitable company which is actively engaged in business could find itself being killed off on a wholly spurious basis and deprived of the ability to defend itself from attack merely because (sometimes through no fault of its own) it had missed the deadline for setting aside a bad statutory demand. The decision carefully balances the need for a straightforward and speedy statutory demand procedure on the one hand, against the need to prevent abuse of that procedure on the other, especially in an offshore jurisdiction where often the only presence of a company is its registered agent and registered address, and where the short 14-day time limit could result in substantial injustice.
The development of Metalloyd is equally welcome, introducing the 'gloss' that a company can make arguments at the application to appoint liquidators if there are "good and substantial" reasons to allow it to do so. This prevents a company from having a second bite at the cherry and unduly increasing costs for those seeking to wind it up, while preserving the option for the court to hear the company's arguments in the rare circumstances where to shut out.
The opinions expressed do not constitute investment advice and specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
Published on our website on Sept.20, 2010


text:
Follow the instructions below to see a document's complete history dating back to when a document was created. The following actions are tracked about each document:
- Document created
- Document edited
- Document updated (published)
- Document copied
- Document viewed
- Document deleted
Note: Another useful feature in IT Glue is the ability to get email notifications whenever documents are updated, so you can see what documents have been updated, who updated them, and when they were updated. For more information, see Quick guide for workflows.
- You must have Manager or Administrator access to view a document's audit trail.
- Navigate to an organization that has the document that you want to see the history of.
- Under Documents, find the document and open it.
- Click View All below the Revisions section (right-hand side of the screen).
Auditing considerations
The access history tracks actions performed since the beginning of the document.
We don't yet have very granular auditing capabilities. If multiple people make changes to the same document, all document updates will be attributed to the person who publishes the document.
Authors should continually publish any work they want to keep instead of working in unpublished drafts. With the auto-save feature, we're saving your drafts all the time, but we don't save versions of unpublished changes (with the rare exception). When restoring to an earlier version, you can only roll back to an existing published version. Any unpublished changes will be lost when you restore a previous version.
For more information about revision histories, see Revisions to core and flexible assets.


text:
Hi Blog world,
I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July,
Blog soon,
Amanda Gene
By the end of 2019, I want to have 700 followers for my blog, 230 Facebook page, and 100 YouTube Channel.
Hi Blog world,
I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July,
Blog soon,
Amanda Gene
I have vision. Do you?
Experiencing life one day at a time.
How to be successful in internet marketing.
"If we want to explore deeper oceans, we first have to leave sight of the shore."
Faith. Books. Disability Awareness
We are here to inform and inspire.
Insparational support thoughts on random topics and quotes
Helping people thrive
a regular mom living with chaos
You've seen many of us Wheelies. Have you ever wondered what life is like when lived on wheels? You are about to find out.
Blindness resources
Adventures of a Visually Impaired Mum
A Londoner loving life with Aniridia & Nystagmus.
How the Gospel Changes Our Thinking
Taking on the world as a family of five, and blogging about it on the way.
Just another WordPress.com weblog
Blindness Quotes God
Living with Nystagmus
Sharing My Thoughts With The World On Albinism, Sunscreen And Everything In Between.
The TED Blog shares interesting news about TED, TED Talks video, the TED Prize and more.


text:
Who are we?
Established in 2002, Kulture Break is a Canberra based charity youth services provider with a community arts focus. We are committed to the wellbeing, transformation and empowerment of young people. We do this by engaging young people in a safe, active and productive environment using the fine arts as a form of expression that empowers and transforms individuals. With depression, anxiety, suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, social isolation and childhood obesity prevalent in today's society, our emphasis is on using early intervention measures by validating and affirming young people's abilities and capacities. Our goal is that they believe in themselves and live life with purpose.
Kulture Break conducts dance classes, mentoring and social skilling programs, tailored workshops, seminars and conferences, motivational talks and performances for schools, government agencies and community organisations across Australia and internationally. Kulture Break conducts Canberra's largest community youth expo festival showcasing hundreds of local performers, top selling Australian artists and international performers from around the world. Since its inception Kulture Break has engaged with over 400,000 young people in schools, jails and communities all over the world.
Kulture Break strives to deliver best practice programs and the highest quality product to the community. We seek to encourage team members to commit and take ownership of their roles so that we continue to produce inspiring, professional, balanced leaders for the future.
What do we want to achieve?
What do we value and believe in?
VISION | Our vision is to break the negative cultural barriers and stigmas that prevent young people from being their best.
Through a platform of creative arts we offer a positive message of wellbeing, empowerment and transformation for youth.
Creating foundations for patterns of repeatable positive experiences through the arts, will enable young people to experience a sense of achievement and belonging, to build confidence and connectedness that will produce stability and increased freedom to support making better choices throughout their lives.
What do we do to achieve that?
At Kulture Break we:
- believe that you don't need to become somebody, you are somebody!
- believe in and promote positive values and successful pathways for young people.
- believe every person is special, unique and has something to offer.
- value a generation that will live out positive personal and social values.
- believe in providing inspiration and encouragement to young people to experience our programs as more than entertainment, and seen a way to develop.
- believe in promoting lifestyles of healthy living and thinking, including consistent and fun exercise.
- believe in providing inclusion, connection, friendship and transformation to our community.
Our primary objectives:
- Is that people believe in themselves and live life with purpose.
- Provide young people with opportunities to discover and express their creative abilities
- Empower participants to go back into the community to pass on the skills/attitudes
- Build social connectivity by establishing networks for and with graduates, building internal and external social capital, creating a sense of belonging and building a strong community
- Partnering and working with Corporate and local business to support in achieving our objectives
- Raise Awareness and funds
Our secondary objectives:
- Deliver targeted dance and music programs and professionally produced events
- Establish a Creative Arts Institute providing instruction and mentoring, producing accreditation, providing employment opportunities and releasing culture breakers to be the difference in their community.


text:
Two videos have been released showing forthcoming DLC for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale in action.
Announced overnight, the DLC will introduce two new characters in the form of God of War's Zeus and Dead Space's Isaac Clarke.
Two new stages based on MediEvil and The Unfinished Swan will also feature in the download pack, which will be free in ranked online fights or $2 to purchase outright.


text:
Your Custom Text Here
Lobby for office building
Location: Riga, LatviaYear: 2015- in processArea: 245m2Team: Zane Tetere- Sulce, Olga Ponomarjova, Dairis Tiesnesis3D graphics: Olga Ponomarjova
The lobby and public space concept for the "Place 11" project is based on Karl Jung's synchronicity concept, or "being at the right place at the right time." The foundation for this is light as a fundamental element. An installation that has been created by mirrors that have been arranged in the proper trajectories create the effect that when light shines at a specific period of time, there is a flourishing of light and a rainbow appears. The building has the BREEAM certificate, which means that local materials have been used, and energy solutions are increasingly efficient.


text:
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta calls on May at 10 Downing Street
President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta pushed for a post-Brexit deal with the UK in his first meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday.
Uhuru sought a pact to guarantee Kenyan exports on a duty-free quota-free basis after the country exits from the European Union.
"It is Kenya's desire to continue having seamless trade relations during and after Brexit. We wish to continue accessing the UK market duty-free and quota-free after the UK exits the EU," he said.
At a meeting at Number 10 Downing Street, Uhuru spoke strongly about strengthening bilateral relations with Britain.
The two leaders agreed to create a working group to examine a new framework for bilateral and economic relations. The aim is to ensure predictability and continuation of existing market conditions after Brexit.
They also discussed Kenya's counter-terrorism programme in the context of deepening the security architecture for the country and the region. May committed support for the programme.
Uhuru also pressed for the re-establishment of a UK visa processing centre in Nairobi, to serve as a regional office for Eastern and Central Africa. UK visas for the region are currently processed in the South African capital, Pretoria.
The President praised May for lifting the travel advisories that adversely affected Lamu and Manda islands, saying this will significantly increase the number of tourists arriving from the UK.


text:
Ed Haas shows his Calliope #5, a handmade pyrophone, at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011. Controlled by a midi keyboard, this wind instrument is similar to an organ, but has the ability to shoot fire if propane gas is used in addition to air when sounding the pipes.
Subscribe to the Maker Faire Podcast in iTunes, download the m4v
video directly, or watch it on YouTube and Vimeo.
Check out more videos from Maker Faire Bay Area 2011.


text:
Mr Tomlinson leaves the school after 25 years and the boarders leave after 67.....!
( Remember to check the top of the home-page to see if there have been any recent additions to this section.)
In 1960 a new school stage was completed, at the 'field end' of the gymnasium making large scale productions far easier to organise. It was officially opened in May of that year.
Also in 1960, the 'Old Sexonian' magazine brings the sad news of the death of Lawrence Abram, the school's second headmaster. Mr Abram had been headmaster at the school for sixteen years.
The early 60's saw decisions being made regarding a swimming pool for the school and in the July of 1962 a fete was held which raised over £300 towards the school fund.
Bruce Purvis has very kindly sent in a number of pictures relating to 1962/63 and the fete in question. It actually took place on July 21st, 1962.
The army cadets were invited and put on a variety of displays -
(I'm not sure what the figure in the top hat and tails got up to, or how mobile the red rocket was - perhaps someone can remember and let me know. - MJ)
In this picture, the cadets line up for inspection after the ' battle '.
Morris dancers also strutted their stuff -
(This scene is behind the goal of the seniors football pitch.)
One of the many, money making stalls was the inevitable skittle alley. Here we can see James Ross having a go and I think that's Pete Lee in the background. In front of Pete Lee can be seen John Woodword and Tim Wellington (head bowed) - 2nd left in the picture is Bobby Brooks. Michael Cooke thinks that Stephen Hughes is beside Bob Brooks and that the lad on the far right is Adrian Lloyd.
The greasy pole was a popular stall, I'm sure! Here, Bruce Purvis, (left), takes on Paul Lawton - I wonder who won ?
A year later, almost to the day (24/7/63), the school held its annual Sports day on the field. This would have been a Blake v Somerville affair. The photos aren't of the sporting action, however, but of some of characters who were out on the field at the time.
Here we can see Peter 'Jim' Phillips in a far corner of the field, complete with cigarette, although the only actual smoking I can see going on is the old tree stump smouldering in the background! - some of Hubert Fisher's handiwork?
Miss Janice Goode, the geography mistress, also attracted the attention of the camera that day. Her hood up, suggests that it wasn't the warmest of summer days, though.
The following day, on Thursday the 25th of July, the inter- house cricket match took place.
(Does anyone know the result of the match, that year? - MJ)
Bruce was also able to supply me with photos of two of the school's stage productions of the early '60's. These were 'The Pirates of Penzance' and 'The Gondoliers'. 'Pirates' was to be the very first production on the new stage.
Terry Stirzaker sent in this picture of the whole cast -
Back Row L-R: Terry Stirzaker ~ Mr Roberts ~ Ian Wilder ~ Michael Bryne ~ Mr Moore ~ John Woodward ~ Robert Hector ~ Robert Ford ~ Basil Carter ~ Angela Wilshire ~ Robin Mitchell ~ Mr Lee ~ Roger Ashman ~ Graham Badman ~ Michael Hill ~ Roger Hooper ~
Philip Binning ~ Peter Gregory ~ Roy Tripp ~ Mr Churchyard ~ Richard Wiggs ~ Bruce Purvis ~ Ian Hart.
Second Row L-R: Jennifer Chew ~ Jennifer Streeter ~ Susan Dudley ~ Audrey Croker ~ Susan Dean ~ Veronica Gibson ~ Pamela Tyley ~ Christina Lloyd ~ Jennifer Marsh ~ Anita Seal ~ Yvonne Rawlinson
Row L-R: Patricia Ham ~ Bronwen Hughes ~ Elizabeth
Rose ~ Christine Peck ~ Jennifer Belcher ~ Sheila English~ Susan Brookes ~ Deirdre
Studley ~ Kirstie Buchanan ~ Hilary Freckingham. (Thanks to John Grant for the updated cast list).
T The Chapel scene showing Major General Stanley with his many daughters. (Liz McDonnell - nee Rose)
Back Row (Standing) L-R: Jennifer Streeter ~ Jennifer Chew ~ Audrey Croker ~ Susan Dudley ~ Anita Seal ~ Veronica Gibson ~ Susan Dean ~ Sheila English ~ Jennifer Marsh ~ Christina Lloyd ~ Yvonne Rawlinson ~ Hilary Freckingham ~ Deirdre Studley ~ Pamela Tyley.
Front Row (Kneeling & sitting) L-R: Patricia Ham ~ Elizabeth Rose ~ Robin Mitchell ~ Susan Brookes ~ Bronwen Hughes ~ Jennifer Belcher ~ Christine Peck ~ Kirstie Buchanan. (Thanks to John Grant for the names). A newspaper article of the production can be seen in Gallery 8, picture 1.
According to the 1963 'Old Sexonian' magazine - ' On three successive evenings the cast played to a full audience, and was very well received. The orchestra provided excellent accompaniment and was conducted by Mr Tonkin. The general effect of the scenery (a modernistic interpretation) and costumes was complemented by the musical director. In short, the production was very successful and received good reports in the local newspapers.'
( Do you have any particular memories of taking part in this production? - If so , send them in! - MJ)
'The Gondoliers' was performed on three nights in 1964, March 12/14th.
Name Legend
Back Row (14 faces) L-R: Robert Salway ~ Ian Wilder ~ Paul Lawton ~ Mike Cooke ~ Clive Watts ~John Sheldon ~ Mr Glyn Moore ~ Ian Hart ~Terry Stirzacker ~ Colin Thorne ~ Stephen Hughes ~ Richard Overy ~ Michael Farley ~ Roy Tripp. Third Row (13 faces) L-R: Jennifer Chew (not in costume) ~ Peter Baker ~ John Roberts ~ Bob Ford ~ Mr Gordon Churchyard ~ Susan Brookes ~ Sheila English ~ Michael Hill ~ Jennifer Belcher ~ Mr Peter Lee ~ Bronwyn Hughes ~ Graham Badman ~ Sally Cole.Kneeling upright (13 faces) L-R: Lynette Fry ~ Sally Heal ~ Susan Viney ~ Thelma Owen ~ Myrtle Litten ~ Jennifer Carter ~ Hilary Freckingham ~ Jennifer Streeter ~ Judy Grantley-Smith ~ Alana Ward ~ Pamela Tyley ~ Lynn Thomas ~ Helen Boswell. Kneeling/sitting (12 faces) L-R: Josephine Ford ~ Joy Heal ~ Mlle Colette Loustau (French Assistant) ~ Rachel Salway ~ Kerrigan Litten ~ Gillian Hughes ~ Christina Lloyd ~ Jenny Bradley ~ Audrey Croker ~ Pat Ham ~ Elaine Plimsoll ~ Jane Streeter.(Alice Maskrey, Deirdre Studley, Yvonne Rawlinson, Kirstie Buchanan and Stephanie Marshall are also included in the programme, but are apparently not in the photo. (Update by John Grant)
Many, many thanks for all the info/pictures you've sent in, Bruce - MJ
(Once again, if anyone can help get rid of the dreaded ?s, please send the names to me - MJ)
Joy Berckmans joined Sexey's on 3rd June 1964 when her parents returned to the UK from The Netherlands to live at Axbridge. She was sixteen years old and all of her previous schooling had been in Dutch schools; so she spoke and understood very little English. Here is her story.
"My name was Joy Berckmans and, even though I was born in Somerset, I was brought up in The Netherlands. We moved from Holland to Axbridge 6 weeks before my O Levels in Holland were due in April 1964. Not a kind thing to do to your daughter. In Holland I had been top of the class in English, but when I came to live here, I couldn't understand a word anybody was saying. Everyone spoke too quickly and Somerset English is a very different language to what I had learnt at school. I started at Sexey's in June 1964 and then started school properly in September. I was put back to the beginning of the 5thyear (all my classmates were a year younger than me) and preparation for 'O' Levels started in earnest. My English still wasn't very good and I had no motivation to learn it, as all I wanted to do was to go back home to Holland.
Here are my impressions of Sexey's. School uniform doesn't exist in Holland, so I didn't like that a lot. Seeing teachers with their black cloaks was like stepping back in history. The school itself was very old fashioned compared to what I was used to, but the pupils all made me feel very welcome. At the time I suppose I must have been quite a novelty being the only foreigner in the class. The teachers couldn't do enough for me, but the language problem caused me a lot of distress. In quite a few lessons they gave me books to read, but by the time I had struggled translating a page, word for word, I'd more or less forgotten what I'd read. So, geography, history and English were big problems to me; however, all the teachers were very patient with me. In French I used to translate from English to Dutch and then to French and vice versa, which also caused me a lot of extra work. Mr Packer was arranging for me to take a Dutch O level examination, which was very good of him, but as my English was not that special, I probably would have failed it. In December I eloped with my Dutch boyfriend to Gretna Green, but we were picked up after four days by my Dad and his friend, so we never got married. It was also the end of my schooling. I was very unhappy living in Axbridge, but my short time at Sexey's was reasonably happy and the teachers couldn't have done more for me."
(I traced and contacted Joy in March 2017 and she was pleased to talk to me about her brief stay at Sexey's. Joy eventually married and had two children. She still lives at Axbridge and now speaks very good English, with a West Country accent, having lived here for over 50 years. She is still friendly with some of the Old Sexonian girls she travelled to and from school with on the School Brake. I reflected on how challenging most of us found some subjects and how much more difficult they would have been if we had not been able to speak English. Joy seems to have been expected to achieve the impossible. Gretna Green seems a bit drastic, but running away would seem quite a reasonable option.)John K. Grant (Many thanks for sharing your interesting story with us, Joy! MJ)
In 1964 Brian Breese joined the school as head of the Geography and PE departments. Here are Brian's memories in his own words (the email was originally sent to John Grant) -
'Hi Mr Grant! Congratulations on your detective work and, even moreso, on the great and fascinating work you've been doing, along with Martyn 'Bunt' (to me he was Bunter!) James on the Old Sexonians website! Sexey's was my first teaching post having completed my Post-Graduate Diploma in PE and Teaching Cert. at Loughborough in 1964 . These along with my Cambridge Geography degree, allowed me to head the Geography and PE department at Sexey's until 1967 when I sailed from Southampton on a banana boat (it took 10 days) to fulfil similar positions in a 3-year teaching contract at Rusea's High School in a small town called Lucea some 25 miles west of Montego Bay!'
'To check if I really wanted to continue in Jamaica I left Rusea's at the end of my contract and spent two enjoyable but bloody cold years in Yorkshire at Wakefield Tech. - back to Jamaica (different banana boat!) - two more years at Rusea's, 3 at Little London Secondary (when I got married to Gareth's mum) and then 10 at Green Island Secondary (principal for the last 3 years). Then I left the rural areas to head for Kingston in 1987. Went in to Sports Goods as sales manager of two different companies, then Sports Officer for the Caribbean Cement Company (2nd child, new wife and a lovely daughter - Summer Breese - now embarked on a 4 year Pharmacy degree at Reading University), then 8 years as Cricket Operations Officer with the Jamaica Cricket Association. For the last 6 years I've been the Programme Director of the Courtney Walsh Foundation using cricket as a rehabilitation tool in the island's correctional centres (prisons) introducing and developing the game with all 4 Disability Groups (esp. with the Blind and Physically Disabled) and using the game to help improve the lives of youngsters in a number of Kingston's tougher communities!'
'Gareth, as you may know, captained Jamaica at all levels and the West Indies U19's and played one test match - after 10 years professionally with Durham ( check his end-off match at Lord's in the 2014 London Cup Final!!!). He has just embarked on his own coaching business in the same North-East, is married to a Jamaican doctor and they have given me two lovely 'grans' - Savanna (8) and Max (3).'
' Of the boarders I have great memories of , in addition to 'Bunter', are David Alexander, Francis Gilette, Tim and Jerry Wellington and even John Woodward among the boys and Jane Chapman and Heather ? among the girls.'
' Great staff especially in the area of sport - Pete Lee and Brian Elvins; also Miss Padmore (Arran Geography Expedition), Miss Rendell, Margaret Duckett, Glyn Moore (I'm catching you up, I'm 75 next month!) & Fred Roberts.'
' I saw on the website something about sports 'colours' - if I was to give them over the period I served it would have to be to Cricket - Alan 'Wally' Grout. Football - Jerry Wellington and Andrew Butcher; Athletics- Pauline Andrews; All Round - Alan Vaughan and Steve Thorne - sorry 'Bunter'!! ( I'll let it go just this once - wasn't there a special colour for trying hard with the discus?!? - MJ) Geography - Gillian Brown.'
' Co-incidentally the same day I got the 'Forward'( an email from John Grant - MJ) from Gareth I was reading a letter I got from Steve Thorne in 2003 with accompanying folio on the reunion organised by Margaret James. Can I get an email for Steve as I'd love to meet Chris Gayle on his return to Somerset for the T20 'Blast' between June 1 and 17th. When I came to Kingston in 1987 Gareth and I joined Lucas CC. (home of George Headley) Gareth was 11 and Chris who lived just over the club wall was 7!! I used to coach both of them and a couple of years ago when Chris returned to Lucas to open a cricket nursery in his name he broke down and cried when he called out my name!
'Anyway as they say in Jamaica - 'nuff for now'.
As Bob Marley would say 'One Love' to ALL Old Sexonians! Brian Breese.
(Great to make your acquaintance again, Brian. I guess the fact you have such good memories of the place despite having spent just 3 years there means that they were 3 very enjoyable ones - Martyn (Bunt!) A recent picture of Brian can be seen in Gallery 8.
My own (Martyn James) school memories date from the Autumn term of 1964 and continue to be dominated by my memories as a boarder as so much went on!
Actually, my very first memory of the place was of my mother taking me to look at the school and meeting with Mr Tomlinson, sitting on a bench on the front lawn - it must have been in the final weeks before his retirement.
Going through the school's archives, this photo was a totally unexpected find! It's a very small colour shot of my class, which I don't believe was taken professionally - all of the other early, class shots in the archives are the usual, medium sized 'Black and Whites' taken by local professionals -although some time was obviously taken to set it up.
It's a very early picture of my class, it might even be a fine day in the Autumn term of 1964, our very first term. (Can anyone else in my form remember the circumstances behind this photograph or have a larger black and white version? - My best bet is that it was someone like Mr Ravenscroft who took a quick snap with their own camera as the professional was taking theirs, but I've certainly never seen any larger black and white versions. MJ)
Back Row L-R Phillip Ham, Francis Gillett, Ian Greer, Jon Line, Chris Carbin, John Butt, Ian Ruskin.
3rd Row L-R Margaret Chester, Andy Milne, Martyn James, Richard Sampson, David Alexander, Albert Frost, Vince Russett, Geoff Thorne, Alan Keen, David Nuttycombe, Catherine Hamblyn.
2nd Row L-R Geraldine Tracey, Jessie Emery, Christine Weir, Pam Gilling, Mr Moore, Bernice Ball, Deborah Hawkins, Anita Parker.
Front Row L-R Ann Perry, Marilyn Pitman,,Christine Hares, Janice Smith, Celia Cox, Jane Kilgannon, Linda Greenwood, Pauline Ash.
With regards to the school uniform, the boys wore the school blazer and tie at all times and a cap up until the end of the 2nd? year.
The picture shows a close up of the blazer badge (kindly loaned by Tony Cousins).
(It's interesting that Sexey's was a grammar school but no attempt was made to insert the apostrophe in 'Sexey's'!)
The badge itself shows a pair of eagle type creatures. Eagles were commonly used in heraldry but I'm unable to find another example of the two headed version anywhere. (More information about the design can be found in Arthur Swallow's 'History' in the 1950's section.
Fellow boarder, Geoff Thorne still has his cap and scarf and here they are - only the scarf still fits, though! (Thanks for these, Geoff. - MJ).
This is the central section of the 1966, whole school picture and shows all of the school teaching staff and many of the children. At this point I was in my second year.
Sadly, very many of the staff are no longer with us. The only members of staff I can remember from that year who don't appear on the photo are Mr Hallet (Art), and Mr Swallow (Science).
The whole photo shows 209 pupils, so one can assume that the total number at the school in '66 would have been slightly more than this, accounting for absentees.
Like every other child, I had to get used to the huge changes from Primary school- moving between classrooms, different teachers, different classmates and very large 6th formers! I suppose 'us boarders' got used to the new layout more quickly than the day pupils as we were about in the school buildings until bedtime.
Throughout the '60's the classrooms were either in purpose-built rooms in the old building or in wooden 'huts' on the outside, lining one edge of the school field. These wooden buildings were used for Maths, Cookery, Biology, Chemistry and Woodwork.
There was also an outside Art Room - a new one was completed in January '65- my diary entry for 22/1/65 reads - 'Art in the new Art room- we were the 2nd lot to go in!'
My diary also reminds me that, in June '65, the builders were - 'getting on well with the new library', which was a very large project carried out by the builders, Maunders. Hubert Fisher, the caretaker at the time, tells me that one day he got 'roped in' to help with the construction of the building. On one occasion the concrete mixer was kept waiting a bit too long and the mix started to harden. It was a case of 'all hands to the deck' and Hubert was hurriedly enlisted to help with the laying of the floor and foundations before the mix became impossible to work with!
I have few memories of specific lessons but I do remember that Basil Moore, (Latin), was really funny and often injected humour into his lessons. In one lesson I remember him breaking into a silly, high pitched voice when he pretended to be the mother of Plinny - everyone just roared!
Fred Roberts, (Maths), could also be very amusing. I remember he used the phrase ''Percy Harris Broke His Push Bike' to help us learn sines, cosines and tangents! (the initial letter in each word represented the necessary triangle side that was required for the calculation- perpendicular, base or hypotenuse).
Another memory I have of one of his lessons, was when he drew a large chalk circle on the board. Instead of getting on with the lesson he took a step back and after a few seconds he picked up the large blackboard compasses.
After taking a few seconds to find its centre and to adjust the radius he drew another circle on top using the compasses - it was a perfect fit. He had drawn an absolutely perfect circle freehand! He got a well deserved round of applause from the class for that. ( I can't remember if he used his favourite phrase, 'bless my cotton socks!' but I think there was a pretty good chance!)
Somehow, Fred actually got me through my 'O' level Maths - I had failed every yearly Maths exam prior to that so I 'came good' just at the right time!
I actually bumped into Fred many years later in a shop in Highbridge and thanked him for performing that minor miracle.
Bryan Breeze, as well as being the housemaster for the boarders, taught PE and was a really nice bloke - most of the boys admired his muscular footballers legs (his calves were huge!) and most of the girls fancied him!! Unfortunately, he left Sexey's to teach abroad (possibly due to the boarders breaking up).
The one time he did tell me off was when I cheated on a cross country - I had taken, along with some other boys, a short cut through a few hedges and someone decided to 'tell'. I remember him sitting by the cricket pavilion next to the tennis courts and stopping me (and others) as I went past. I can't remember our punishment but he was not impressed!
I'm sure everyone that ever did them, remembers those dreaded, cross countries really well. We went out of the school by the hostel, down the road heading towards Blackford, turned left just before the Primary school and then across some fields and then onto a road that took us past an old, dilapidated house and then back to the school on the road leading from Heath House. I'm not sure how far they were but I couldn't do it now (even if I cheated!)
At the time all pupils were divided into two houses, Blake and Somerville. You had an amber sports top if you were Blake and a white one if you were in Somerville. I was in Blake but I think Somerville tended to have the upper hand in most of the years I was there.
Somehow, despite being a bit slow on the ball, I managed to get myself in the under 13's football team, playing right back.
My diary reminds me we were pretty hopeless (although some of the team went on to become really good players in later years) and we quite regularly lost by a 4,5 or even 6 goal margin!
For this photo, I remember having to stand at the back because I couldn't find my boots!
Back row ,L-R, - Albert Frost, myself, Jon Line, Colin Bateman, Geoff Thorne, Stephen Cauldron.
Front row - Tim Ham, Phil Ham, Chris Carbin, David Alexander, Edmund? Parker , Bernard Jackson.
One 'footballing' memory that does stay with me was when Robert 'Tubby' Davis broke his leg.(Robert was a boarder in the year below me.) My diary tells me it was on 18/12/65, just before we broke up for Christmas- it couldn't have been a very nice Christmas for Robert, though!
Robert was playing in goal at the time and he made a frantic effort to clear a ball off the goal line as the other team were attacking. Unfortunately, as well as clearing the ball, he managed to wrap his leg around the goalpost with the follow-through.
The result was a massive dent in his shin and his leg bent the wrong way below the knee! Needless to say he was carted off to hospital to have the break sorted.
I can't remember if the match had to be abandoned but we lost the match, an away fixture against Strode, 6-0!
My only other sporting achievement was throwing the discus. I was able to practise quite regularly as a boarder which led to me being quite reasonable at it and I ended up throwing for Blake. (In my later years at the school I once represented the school at the 'area' games (but with no success!)
One of my classmates was Ian Ruskin who has recently written to me with some of his memories -
In 1965 many members of the school were lucky enough to go on the visit to Switzerland. Peter Roper was one of them and he has donated some pictures.In this first shot, Mike Newton looks towards Giswil.
Bev Lane, Lyn Thomas and Clive Ham on the slopes.
Gary Berryman, Bev Lane and Lyn Thomas snowballing!
Bill Jones, who was at the school throughout the early '60's, remembers the field trip to Corsica, which took place in the March/April of 1967- he tells me that this is his only photograph of his time at Sexey's. Bill takes up the story.
'It was taken while waiting for a train at some godforsaken hole of a railway station, (a bit like Butch and Sundance arriving in Bolivia). The six girls on the right were upper sixth and the others lower sixth. Such is my memory for names and faces that the only one I can name is the blonde, second from the left of the upper sixth - I'm pretty sure this is Maggie James. I think the lad at the back is Paul Loveridge.' (It's actually Pete Roper, Bill - can you name the rest? - MJ)
'We had travelled down through France to Nice, then got a ferry over to Corsica. When we got there, the female teacher and one of the upper sixth girls, who I can't remember, disappeared off with two lads they'd met earlier. We didn't see them again until we got back on the ferry. That left Mr Breeze in charge of a predominantly female party on his own, which must have given him a headache or two! ' (I bet he loved it, really!- MJ)
'Anyway, we travelled around the island on public transport stopping at various camp sites. Corsica in those days was still a bit backward - we woke one morning to find the local women doing their washing on the rocks, in the river we were camping by!'
'On the way home we stopped in Paris for the night. I remember spending the evening in a local bar and all the students wanting to call it a night by 1am, ( Lightweights!! - MJ) but not the teachers. We were there for another hour and a half !'
( Virtually everyone would have had a camera on this trip, so I'll patiently wait for more pics to come in ...! MJ)
I need wait no longer, Peter Roper has given me a number of photos that he took at the time!
The first picture shows the station again and includes the male contingent.
Being a lover of classic vehicles, I couldn't resist putting this one in - this is the coach that took them round - what a beauty!
No 5 star hotels on this trip!
A mountain stream acted as a handy bath - don't drop the soap, Pete!
Getting on the coach or getting off, I wonder?
In 1965 the school put on a production of 'Trial by Jury'. the school had originally put on the production in 1954 which would have been on the makeshift stage in the Dining room. (As you can see i've got no information whatsoever to go with these pictures so if you can remember anything about this production please email me the details - MJ)
Christine Hoskins (Derrick) joined the school as a pupil, in 1966, following in her grandmother's footsteps some fifty five tears later. Christine's article is the very first article contributed for the second phase of the website - many thanks, Christine!
Here are Christine's memories in her own words -
'My period of time was 1966 to 1973. My worst subject was domestic science (odd for a girl) and I encountered Mrs Valda Ryder and her predecessor, Mrs Coles; neither of whom were ever greatly impressed by my efforts (which isn't greatly surprising). I also struggled with Maths, but Fred Roberts would never write a bad word in my report, despite my getting very low marks.
'However, I got my O level, and many years later I bumped into him near Congresbury; at which point I was able to tell him that I had also gone on to do maths at HNC level; which he was clearly pleased about and said that it was always good to know that the struggles had paid off!'
'Mr Dunn taught biology to the lower years, and I think also physics. Many boys were called "look, sonny" when they were being told off.'
'In the later years, like many people, I detested dissection work and struggling to cope with the formalin stench from preserved dogfish. A treble Zoology period in the afternoons was sometimes worse than a jail sentence, compounded by the strain of trying to keep up with Mr Brooke's handwriting. He, however, was easily outdone by Mr Elvins (History) whose writing was so tiny you were forced to sit at the front of the class to copy it off the blackboard.'
'In Chemistry, many unofficial experiments were performed with aluminium powder, splints, bunsens and assorted biros on the back benches. These were often more interesting than the set project and Gordon Churchyard had his work cut out to ensure that no serious accidents happened.'
'Numerous holes were burned in jumpers, exercise books and even brief cases as the result of stray drops of nitric, sulphuric or other bench acids. Today's Health and Safety 'experts' would have quaked in their boots, well, not really, but it was a lot of fun!'
'French, in the first form, was taught by a Mrs Dykoff (and I'm afraid that's where my spelling fails me because I can't actually remember HOW it was spelt!). Later on, the class was with Mr Packer, and there was always another Monsieur or Madmoiselle on the staff, over from France, for most of the year.'
Mr Moore was my Latin teacher throughout, and I think immensely gifted to teach what could be a dry, dusty topic in such a way as to bring it alive with humour and stories.'
'Miss Rendell covered our English and RI lessons; I can recall only a few spells with Miss Padfield, she was never a "main" teacher for me.'
Here, Christine can be seen with the rest of her classmates - the photo was taken in 1969.
Back Row (L-R) John Banwell, Angie Webber, Susan Line, Rachel Frost, Karen Bloodworth, Dierdre Thomas, Linda 'Lofty' Shaw, Cordelia Welch, Josie Fear, Sally Manfield, Alison Tinknell, Christine Hoskins, Tony Stacey, David Adams. Middle Row (L-R) Mr Gordon Churchyard, Eric Puddy, John Reeves, David Banwell, Andy Ratcliffe, Tim James (Donald), David Olive, Michael Garbett, Trev Poole, Mike Thomas, Tim Shipsey, Erica Vowles, Ann Western, Michael Nicholson, David Plumley, Martin Howell 'Fred the Foot', and Miss ? Front Row (L-R) Tony Limb, Lynne Heal, Sue Barratt, Janice Lukins, Jill Steer, Karen Watts, Sharon Reaney, Pam Champney, Liz Johnson, Margaret Taylor, Jimmy Fisher and Steve Westby.
(Photo contributed by Christine Hoskins - many thanks to Sally Manfield (Adams) for filling in all the ?'s.)
'As far as sport was concerned, this was an area I had no particular interest in. However, Beryl Leach managed to somehow manipulate me into the swimming teams and the occasional athletics event, covering backstroke and either long jump or 800 metres. I think it was revenge for the fact that I was not very good at geography in her classes. I also survived a few of the cross country events, managing a 10th place on one occasion.'
'I believe Sexey's swimming pool had to have the coldest temperature recorded anywhere on Earth (I agree! - MJ), even a penguin would have turned its beak up at the cold, sullen surface. Swimming was done even on cold, wet, misty days; pupils would traipse miserably out from the changing rooms, wrapped in towels and say prayers before entering the water.... you could hear folk saying 'Oh God' as they arrived. However, it provided plenty of house competition each year, and for some reason Somerville seemed to always have the better swimmers (but we 'Blakes' would always get even on the running track).
'Away from lessons and sport, other events included a 'general election', where a small group of people stood as candidates for Labour, Conservatives, and other less well-defined political movements. They would spend a number of break and lunch times delivering speeches, then a voting day would be set and everyone cast votes in cardboard ballot-boxes. I do not recall the outcomes of these events, nor indeed whether there was more than one; but it was quite an unusual few weeks.'
'Elsewhere on the website, the school magazine has been mentioned, and I think this caused a bit of a stir when it was first announced. Everyone was encouraged to contribute something. I still have a copy somewhere at home. Stories, reports, poetry and similar were all offered up; one that sticks in my mind even now is a short piece by Vince Russett, that started off as 'The mushroom! it grows and grows....' with reference to Nagasaki, I believe. Funny how tiny snippets remain in memory and larger events elude us entirely.'
'There is one particular period that I wish had been possible to extend;in my time in the 1st form I can remember a woodwork teacher (Mr Atkins?- MJ) who used to hold simple woodwork classes during a lunchtime, for anyone to attend. This, to me, was more interesting than cooking buns or sewing aprons, and I really enjoyed sawing wood and making small items, including a pendant and a fruit bowl. However, he left at the end of my first or second year, and no more classes were ever done (that I know of).'
'I also had to give up Art after the third year, because of the way the subject-choices fell for the O level studies. This was another period of happy creativity. Mrs Peak was teaching at the time and after she left there was a Miss or Mrs Elliott.' ( Many thanks for your contribution, Christine. - MJ).
In 1966, the school put on a performance of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Including the helpers behind the scenes, this involved about a quarter of the school's pupils. Press reports at the time were very favourable -
(Thanks to John Grant)
The following year in 1967 the school put on a production of 'The Mikado'. The following picture of the programme show some of the main cast members -
The male and female cast members. A colour version of the male cast can be seen in Gallery 4.
(Anyone with any memories/names from this production please send them in.)
In 1967 Andrew Turner joined the school as a pupil, here are some of Andrew's memories - 'I left on July 3rd 1972 (5th form). We were only 4 from St. Andrew´s junior school in Burnham-on-Sea (Martin Holmes, Susan Litton and Jane Small) who received a place at Sexey´s - an "embarrassing" name to have to write down on employment application forms abroad in later years !.'
'We were all in Beryl Leach´s 1st form whom I disliked! She addressed all the boys by surname only, like an army commandant! I did miserably in her geography lessons ( 1st & 3rd form), but very well in Miss Smith´s, who made the lessons interesting by showing slides concerning the countries she was teaching about.'
'I just read Isabel Rendell died last year at 105 - I was surprised she lived so long, she was one of my favorites and retired also in 1972. I visited my old class in 1973 and acquired some French grammar A4 sheets from Mrs Chew, which helped me tremendously to teach myself German (now almost my mother tongue) and Italian, by following her method.'
'After 4 years of working for the Nat. West Bank and Brooke Bond Oxo-Bristol (computer payroll clerk), I travelled and worked in Canada 1n 1976 / 77 hitching to Alaska and through the deserts to L.A. In 1978 I hitched through Europe to Algeria and across the Sahara Desert. I then "ended up" in Munich for 3 years, Milan 3 years, Switzerland 1 year, Hamburg 15 years from 1985, but already comuting to West Berlin from 1988 - 2002 through the GDR (DDR) 300 kms then finally remaining here ever since.'
'On the 1971 photo showing some school boys skittling, it could be me on the right. On the almost complete school photo of 1969 ( my father paid 8 shillings for a copy that I still have framed on my wall), I am the first on the left, 2nd row, Christopher Phillips is next to me (internet cut-version). (Many thanks for those memories, Andrew - MJ ).
One of the local newspapers covered the 1968 Sports day results in some detail whilst making reference to the devastating floods in Blackford and the surrounding area - Somerville beat Blake that year. (Contributed by Jackie Skidmore).
The funeral of Earnest Ducket who was drowned in the Blackford flood was covered on the same page.
It's nice to see so many pupil's names mentioned in the newspaper - memories jogged for a lot of us!!
This OSA letter fits in really nicely with the newspaper cuttings as it gives us the date of Friday, July 5th for the Sports Day - or were the Sports matches held on a different day?!?
The school's Speech days took place on an annual basis, as you would expect. Looking at the dates on several of the programmes, these were held on the second Friday in December.
In order to inform and gauge numbers for seating purposes, invitation cards were sent out to parents. (This one, from '68, was supplied by Tony and Lynda Cousins.) Despite the 'Friday 13th' date, I don't think there were any major mishaps!
The programme itself was a simple, four sided affair using folded, white card and black text - although it was professionally printed (by Shearn Brothers, Burnham on Sea, in 1968). This photo (from a press cutting) has been kindly sent in by ex pupil, Pete Nicholson.
An inspection of the 1968 programme reveals that Christine Brooke was the head girl and seconded the 'Vote of Thanks'. The 'brainboxes' at the time were Andrew Bradley who passed four 'A' levels and four other pupils (Margaret Bowerman, Christine Brooke, Kerrigan Litten and Paul Webber) who passed 'A' level mathematics a year early.
Of particular note amongst the 'O' level candidates were Pamela Callow, Barbara Cox and Jane Perry who each attained twelve passes.
According to the 1969 'Sexonian' magazine - 'The event concluded with some fine singing by the School Choir.
In 1968 the school had a large entry of pupils and the class of '68 was split into two, Class 2L and Class 2M - here is Class 2L two years after their arrival as class 4L (Kindly contributed by Louise Peace nee Calderon).
Back Row (L-R): Ian Morse ~ Howard Pike ~Tom Day ~ Nigel Palmer ~ Alan Simpson ~ Andrew Perry ~ Andrew Williams.
3rd Row (L-R): Stephen Swan ~ Brian Miles ~ Sue Ham ~ Clare Wallis ~ Janet Ravenscroft ~ Jeff Savage ~ Paul Blake.
2nd Row (L-R): Denise Jones ~ Katie Smith ~ Suzanne Wilson ~ Vivienne Vining ~Fiona McGregor ~ Bev Timms ~ Jo Lillington ~ Linda Nuttycombe.
Front Row (L-R): Sabine Goetsch ~ Nicky Day ~ Jackie Cox ~ Dr. Steve Chinn ~ Louise Calderon ~Vivika Alexander ~ Sue Easton.
This picture was kindly sent to me by Sally Adams and is the final, whole school picture of the 1960's, taken in 1969. This is the central section and shows the majority of the teaching staff.
If you have any memories/anecdotes/pictures from this era, whether they're 1st, 2nd or 3rd hand, please send them in to


text:
Keep the old as long as it is good, and take the new as soon as it is better.
Keep your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind.
Keeping your eye too closely on the future may obscure present opportunities.
Kindness consists of loving people more than they deserve.
Kindness is a language the deaf can hear and the blind can read.
Knowledge is power if
you have it about the right person.


text:
i was finally able to sort through some thanksgiving pictures.
i can't mentality prepare myself and start blogging about christmas, without posting these first. actually, i have a love/ hate relationship with christmas decorations and music bombarding me before thanksgiving. i can appreciate the love for all things merry and bright. on the other hand, i can get quite overwhelmed. maybe it's my anxiety, slight OCD, or that fact i know about the marketing tactics to get consumers to overspend. no, i'm not a grinch, in fact i secretly fantasize about festive decorating and entertaining. just check out my pinterest.
um….can you say obsessed? yeah, pretty much.
here is a small glimpse of what our evening looked like.
i love them so much! and this family photograph isn't too shabby either.
there was a happy baby because she was carried from one arm to the next. also because of two dogs who she chased around, hugged and kissed. they might of been the best thing since her beloved pacifier. these two furry friends were so sweet with all the licking and cuddling. thanks jack and toby for being such great companions. i know they got their end of the bargain with all the food izabella was feeding them. there was a full house filled with multicultural food and languages. the dinner consisted of traditional all-american staples, authentic italian wine and food, as well as some polish dishes. it was simply divine and there was lots of it! * i must note that leftovers are a blessing and a curse all at the same time. i feel my jeans are a bit snug since then.
the two things lacking from our celebration was hispanic food, like pernil (a traditional and amazing roasted pork shoulder enjoyed by dominicans during the holidays). unfortunately, that along with my side of the family was missed greatly. this year was spent with my husband's family and friends, some of which we haven't seen in years. it's often said a picture is worth a thousand words. sometimes that is so true. and sometimes, it just isn't. the combination and dynamics of in-laws, blended families, and relationship histories can be quite complicated. behind every smile, (as genuine as they may be) is personal baggage. everyone has their expectations, their struggles and a story to tell. i believe this manifests itself even more so during the holidays. you can read more about my thoughts here.
despite the possibility of things turning into a big mess, it didn't. i'm grateful for that. and these days i really need to count every bit of blessing that comes my way. like right now for example, my baby girl finally surrendered for a nap after a very long struggle. it's a relief, when mama gets a little break to make a quick lunch and work on her blog. sometimes it's the little things that get me by these days. If you haven't already, check out my previous post with a random list of other goodies i'm thankful for.
Until next time,
p.s – let the countdown to christmas (officially) begin!


text:
Marijuana Garden Saver
* Identifes each problem, tells you what it
does to the plant, and how to solve it.
* Information on the most common problems in all types of gardens:
indoor, outdoor, hydroponic, soil.
* Includes a diagnostic guide, and clear photographs to quickly
identify problems, and features organic and least-toxic remedies.
* Preview
Marijuana Garden Saver gives you the tools you need to grow healthy
marijuana plants. Nutrient deficiencies, pests, diseases and environmental
stresses are presented in a easy to use troubleshooting guide.
Addresses all major marijuana garden problems, pests, diseases,
nutrient deficiencies, and environmental stresses.
Marijuana Garden Saver
Price $17.95


text: At times, it is economical to build a VPN tunnel with the available networking resources. For example, if you have a VPN concentrator and you need to connect a small office securely with your network, you can do so by installing a low priced Cisco router in the remote office. This post will demonstrate how you can build VPN using a VPN concentrator and a Cisco router. [Read more…]


text:
The left is mad as hell, but they keep on losing.
In a British special election last week the Conservative Party won the House of Commons seat in Copeland over the Labour candidate for the first time in over 80 years.
In France far-right nationalism champion Marine Le Pen is seen as leading, but in the press they write she is being pressured by Independent presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron.
However, these European reports are in the same publications that said Brexit would not happen and that Hillary Clinton would win the election.
Both socially and economically on a global scale the pendulum is seen swinging back not to a nationalistic bent just yet, but it is moving past the middle point.
In the US, the President Trump victory was seen as an outgrowth of this move to the middle, now where the pendulum will stop is anyone's guess.
Suffice it to say that the left will continue using the "Fascist" labeling for the administration's actions.
Stories like this one over the weekend: "A transgender teenager won a Texas state title for girls wrestling on Saturday — even though the wrestler, 17-year-old Mack Beggs, identifies as a boy." have many Americans, who do not live near a coast, scratching their heads wondering how in the hell did we get here.
Even if you are aware of transgender issues, which I believe most non-coasters have little understanding about it, if the teen identifies as a male, why is he allowed to wrestle females to win a state championship? It's political correctness run amok.
And this is one of the reasons why the pendulum is swinging back.
As an aside, how appropriate — given Trump's election — that the Hollywood crowd at last night's Oscar presentation announced the wrong film for winning the "Best Picture" award.
The left just can seem to get anything right, nowadays.


text:
This morning I had a wonderful chat with a dear friend via Skype.
(I love technology by the way, so much talk about how it constricts and distracts…technology has expanded my world–literally and figuratively–thank you, Technology!).
I received a few emails from people whom I love dearly.
And, I am preparing to spend a weekend of connection with my children and various friends.
So, I took some time to think about friendships.
I look at my life today and I am surrounded by people who inspire me, simply because they choose to live their truth, and share the adventure through photos and words; what they reflect invites me to continue to live my own truth.
I am surrounded by people who listen. They listen to my body language and my silence as deeply as they do my words. They feel into, and beyond, my words.
I am surrounded by people who understand the reason I practice, move, create, love, and share as I do. They might not always agree, but they support and encourage and celebrate with me.
I am surrounded by people who are full of passion and moxie, who are able to 'move mountains' when they wish to, and to rest and refresh after they move them.
I am surrounded by people who enjoy creating–the moment, an experience, or in some artistic way.
I am surrounded by people who love fully, deeply, with awareness and presence.
I am surrounded by people who are so incredibly generous in spirit, and with material possessions; they readily share time, energy, and resources with those in their life and/or global World.
I am surrounded by people who choose to celebrate the moment; to embrace it fully as they cultivate the feel of abundance.
I am surrounded by people who laugh, sing, dance, play, "goof-off".
My heart fills with Love and Gratitude for these connections.
When you read my story, you can see this experience is quite new for me.
We can tell ourselves that something is impossible, and it remains impossible.
We can tell ourselves that we are conditioned and it is difficult to change, and it will be.
We can step out in faith, trusting that presence to flow is enough as our heart whispers continue to unfold and blossom.
Thank you for your presence, in this space, and in my life!
I believe that each connection is perfectly placed; each reflection inspires, enriches, enlivens; each energetic step is in sync, and resonant with, love, joy, and gratitude.
May I ask, how do you feel about the connections in your life? Have you shared your appreciation?
Much peace and abundant love,
Reminder: Linger. Savor. Relish.


text:
Important Safety Tips When Using Commercial Rolling Doors
Commercial rolling doors can roll down at high speeds and can be either motorized or operate on a manual hand chain or by manual push-up. They are available in steel and aluminum and in different configurations including perforated, solid, and with grilles or vision lights. They can be useful for ensuring the security of items stored behind the door. However, there are risks associated with the use of commercial rolling doors and you need to ensure you follow best practices for safety.
One of the most important safety tips is to regularly inspect the rollers for signs of problems or damage. If the roller appears as if it is becoming damaged or worn, contact the manufacturer to have an inspection performed and to get any necessary repairs made.
Consider choosing a door with an auto-stop feature if possible. You can opt for an auto-stop on a motorized commercial rolling door that stops the door from rolling down when the "close" button has been released. You could also choose to install a rolling door that has a safety sensor on it so the door stops automatically.
Training on safe use of the door is also essential and one of the most important safety things you can do because you want your employees using the door to ensure that they don't put themselves and others at risk.
Comments are closed.


text:
Does anyone have any tricks or ways to deal with a typical infertile's reaction to pregnancy announcements, especially those who conceive by accident or never have any problems?
We got a Christmas card from close friends of ours today signed X, Y, Toddler, and Baby. Um, thanks for the surprise! Maybe I'll be able to congratulate you when my irrational rage dies down and I don't feel like I was hit in the head with a baseball bat anymore.


text:
From Wess
WESSWeb > European Book Fairs > LIBER > LIBER 2008
LIBER 2008 Report
Saturday, October 4th
- I have spent most of the day in the basement of the Berkana Book Shop uploading images of book covers and posting them in the LASA Sexualities Section space I created in Facebook earlier in the summer. A friend asked what had caused my "ataque de arrebato" as I did not realize that the more than 80 members were receiving an update every time I added a new image!
- Hoping to take a break, I decided at the last minute to visit the Reina Sofia Museum and was joined by Lawrence Schimel, a New York writer based in Madrid who has met several SALALM members and probably knows more about our organization than he cares to admit. By the time we arrived it was almost closing time so I headed for the Museum's bookstore which was partly "en obras" the previous year.
- I immediately start jotting down titles and a few stand out as not familiar and turn out to be no that well represented in OCLC or show few holding libraries:
- Madrid : historia de la fotografía (OCLC: 60372971)
- Guía de Madrid : La Belle Epoque (OCLC: 29616649)
- Madrid, 1931-1939 : Segunda República y guerra civil (OCLC: 254923307)
- Madrid, 1939-1950 : la posguerra (OCLC: 255581483)
- Others appear to be art exhibition catalogs, which often don't go through the usual commercial distribution channels
- El retrato moderno en Espana (OCLC: 190790339)
- España: arte español 1957-2007 (not yet in OCLC)
- Arte Emergente en España (OCLC: 85534946)
- There are also some Latin American-related titles:
- ¡Cuba! Arte y Historia de 1868 hasta hoy (the Spanish version of the 2008 Montreal art exhibition catalog)
- Teatro de titeres en Hispanoamerica (OCLC: 174803020)
- Juegos de manos : antología de la poesía hispanoamericana de mitad de siglo XX (1000+pp, OCLC: 233136147)
- Arte al límite (art journal from Chile, OCLC: 62864749)
Sunday October 5th
- Today I am determined to go out to the Plaza Mayor and partake of some of the beautiful fall sunny weather Madrid is enjoying. The locale is quite a popular tourist attraction; the City's old section has evolved from a medieval market place to one for festivities, bullfights and even macabre executions at the height of the Inquisition.
- The night before I had seen some of those same buildings in the movie Sangre de Mayo just released to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the French executions so vividly portrayed in Goya's painting "Los fusilamientos del 3 de mayo." Ironically, the famous Spanish artist is barely noted in the movie that is based on one of the Episodios Nacionales by that literary giant of 19th century Spanish literature: Benito Perez Galdos. The two hour film epic was not kindly received by critics, which was in part the fault of more than 15 million Euros excessively spent by Madrid's regional conservative government, prompting the daily El Pais to note: "Inversión gigante, taquilla ínfima."
Monday, October 6th
- I will spend most of the day visiting the National Library, the Cervantes Institute and a few hotels as part of the preparations for a possible Western European Studies Section (WESS) Conference in 2010.
- This being my last night in Madrid, I catch a late showing of Los girasoles ciegos based on the 2004 best seller by Alfonso Mendez (the book has just been released in English as Blind Sunflowers). It revisits the Civil War, still ever so present in the national discourse with the debate on the 2007 Ley de la Memoria Historica, which the BBC reported denounces "...the use of violence to impose political views," and repeatedly describes the Franco regime as a "dictatorship." It will be Spain's official entry for this year's Hollywood Oscar competition, surpassing Sangre de Mayo.
Tuesday, October 7
- I have taken an early flight into Barcelona via Spainair's "puente aereo" and spent 90 minutes going through most of the terminal as the gate changed several times. I wonder how many of the passengers remembered that earlier in the year the airline had a devastating crash on the runway in Madrid's airport. Perhaps I should have tried the new fast train AVE but prices were not as accessible as I thought.
- Today is the opening ceremony for LIBER, Spain's main annual book festival that alternates between the country's two main publishing centers: Madrid and Barcelona. Unlike last year when the Prince of Asturias attended, this year's VIPs include Spain's Minister of Culture and similar dignitaries from Quebec representing the fair's featured region. In her speech Quebec's Minister of Culture highlighted the sociolinguistic similarities between Quebec and Catalonia.
- Attending is also a host of other political figures, all of whom take the opportunity to make some sort of statement. This being Catalonia, most speeches are bilingual in some way or another, except for the remarks given by the President of the Catalan Parliament, which are all in Catalan. The most memorable words of the evening came at the very end: "que leamos mas libros y seamos mas libres."
Wednesday, October 8
- The delegation of more the 50 librarians (11 SALAMISTAS included) from England, Japan and the United States -- hosted by the Spanish Foreign Trade Office in Miami, America Reads Spanish and the Spanish Publishers Association -- have been given an early wake up call to catch the bus taking us to the fairgrounds, which this year will be far away from the hotel. Our bus is trying to avoid Barcelona's morning commute, not much different from that of any European and American metropolis of more than 3 million people.
- The morning introductory session has been delayed by traffic. One of the interesting projects announced by America Reads Spanish for the coming year is a "guía temática sobre el libro infantil" to supplement the Essential Guide to Spanish Reading (2007) to which several SALALmistas contributed. Once the session is over, we all hit the exhibit hall to meet with publishers and get in line at the computer area to check OPACs for those unfamiliar titles.
- We will spend the next 3 days running between the exhibit hall and the meeting rooms hosting panel presentations on eBooks and Spain's Biblioteca Digital Hispánica and its contribution to Europe's digital library Europeana which was to go live the following month and would be overwhelmed (and eventually closed) as it could not handle all the avid "internautas."
Thursday, October 9
- SALALMistas would be present not only at the exhibit hall but also as part of a panel presentation with ARCE (Asociación de Editores de Revistas Culturales de España). The discussion was joined by other librarians and publishers from Spain as well as a representative from JSTOR, all with the hope of convincing ARCE to have a more robust web presence with its very important journals.
Friday, October 10
- Today's panel is on La lectura en España: Informe 2008. The study is not yet available but José Antonio Millán, the project's leader, will comment on the some of the findings.
- La lectura goza de buena salud en España.
- Los españoles leen cada vez más en pantalla.
- El 93% de los usuarios de Internet lee periódicos electrónicos.
- Jóvenes y profesionales leen cada vez más en lenguas extranjeras, sobre todo en inglés.
- Aunque en general hay tantos lectores como lectoras, más del 90% de los poseedores de un e-book son varones.
- Millán is a cultural critic on information issues and his blog Libros y bitios is well known. As of late he has also added a section on El futuro del libro.
- We have never met in person but have been in contact via email and I was surprised that he always mentioned my name in his blog as the source for some of the articles he sent out to several colleagues in Spain and Latin America under the heading "artículo de interés."
- My flight leaves early the next morning. A last minute stop by the Revista de Libros gets me a few issues to endure the long voyage back to California. SALALM's friend Iria Alvarez from the Revista tells me that they have just launched an electronic version with a complete searchable backfile of almost 150 issues. As an ARCE journal we hope it's also a forthcoming JSTOR addition.
WESSWeb > European Book Fairs > LIBER > LIBER 2008


text:
You have the right to be be credited for your work, and to defend its integrity. This is a human right and should be protected like any other.
When a creator gives life to a new work – by writing, painting, playing an instrument or taking a picture – they create an original manifestation of their intellect (or 'soul' if you will). The work is a piece of them.
This connection between the work and the creator was first enshrined in international law in the Berne Convention, which underpins European and UK IP law. It says that all creators must have:
The right of attribution – a creator's right be identified as the author or performer, and:
The right of integrity – a creators' right to prevent their work being used in contexts, or modified in ways, that are 'derogatory' to their reputation.
These rights are called a creator's 'moral rights'. They are human rights that should inextricably join a creator to the work that they have created. In the words of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
"Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author."1
In a digital-use environment where an individual's work may be readily shared, republished or simply plagiarised, the legal protection that the moral right of attribution offers to the creator is vital.
Together, the rights to a credit and to defend the integrity of a work are essential to creators maintaining their income. They also provide an essential guarantee to those who read, see or hear the created work – that is, to the public – that the work is what it is represented as. Instant digital copying and easy digital editing make this guarantee to the user more essential than ever.
2: Defending your work: what is needed
1 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 27 (2)


text:
What's a deluxe PDF eBook?
I've been experimenting with eBooks for ten years now. I love the industry standard ePUB format and am committed to producing all books I publish in both that and Kindle versions. But sometimes the vision for a written work exceeds the technology that is available. Let's face it, I miss big fat leather-bound books with letterpress type and hand illuminated illustrations.
Okay. I never actually lived in an era of that kind of book, but I have some of them and they are cool. I imagine my words on those soft textured pages, being pored over by my inner child discovering a world outside the confines of my little log cabin.
Well, no one I know can afford to produce that kind of a book. They aren't practical. Would cost too much to buy. Shoot! We don't even have coffee tables to put them on anymore! But…
We do have the miracle of computers, and as an artist I'm able to realize my dream in pixels instead of paper. That's where PDF comes in. I've had a love/hate relationship with that file format for years. Right now, I think I can use it to the best possible effect in showing people what my inner vision of my book looks like. My intent is to produce a deluxe PDF version of the book on a CD-ROM that will play on your computer. Yes, I know that isn't the greatest reading environment in the world, but it is a great display environment for artwork. I've started by producing a test book, just 16 pages total. Here's a picture from inside.
Now doesn't that look like something you'd like to read? Turn the pages. Smell the musty odor of old paper?
It's going to take longer to produce an entire book if I take the care I've taken with this sample. So, I've taken the buy button off my website for that particular edition. But I do have the sample available and would love your comments on it. You can click the link at Steven George & The Dragon titled "What the Sergeant Didn't See" in the bottom right corner of the page. This is a story that doesn't appear in the book, so you get a bonus story as well as the cool deluxe layout. You can go straight to the PDF with this link: What the Sergeant Didn't See.
What could be better? Free story. Beautiful book. New concept. Let me know what you think.


text:
OPERS retirees may return to work after they retire and continue to receive their retirement benefits. However, OPERS retirees may be subject to a federal earnings limitation. The federal limitation applies only to OPERS retirees who return to work for an OPERS participating employer and are younger than full retirement age set by the Social Security Administration (SSA).
The 2014 earnings limitation applies as follows:
When a retiree's salary exceeds the allowable amount, benefits will not be paid for the remainder of that calendar year or until employment terminates, should termination occur before the end of the calendar year. The retiree will begin receiving benefits again in January of the following calendar year. Just as before, the benefits will continue until their salary meets the allowed earnings for that year.
For more information about the earnings limit and rules for going back to work, click here.


text:
The other main change was in what I was going to use as a user interface device to control the operation. On the SNA Jr and other projects I used a rotary encoder with a built in push-button. This worked quite well, but the software got to be fairly complicated as more functionality was added to the software. I thought about push-buttons, but they would take up a lot of panel space. And from using several other devices with push-buttons I really didn't think that was what I wanted. I had a couple of the small joy stick controller boards that I picked up for something else, and thought I would give them a try. I wired one up on a breadboard, and tried several different methods until I came up with one I liked. A ReadJoystick function reads the Horizontal and Vertical axis position, and if it is more than 20% from center updates a global variable for that axis to either + or - 1 depending on direction. This joystick also has a push-button, so I detect either a short or long push, and update another variable with that value. To make processing these variables a little easier, I only allow one to be changed at a time. If any of these occurs a global flag is set. This global flag allows the flag to be reset in the program to speed up processing by bypassing further testing in that pass through the loop.
I did a quick board layout and etched a board to test the functionality. Since all the pins used by the display except reset are through the end connector on the Mega board, I have all the other pins available. This makes the board a lot easier, because I can just use a tall stacking connector and not have to do anything on the interface board for the display except bring out a couple of pins for the reset line. I also included several places on the board for push buttons that I might use for more advanced features later on. And also brought out a couple sets of I/O pins for control of the RF boards.
I took some of the code from the SNA Jr. and modified it for use with the new board, display and Joystick.
With the power detector and clock generator on the same board, I can modify more of the code from the SNA Jr. and have a stand alone version of the Sweeperino for testing some of the RF filters in the Spectrum Analyzer. Then after I finish the RF circuitry, I can just connect it to the interface board and change the software to make it a Spectrum Analyzer.


text:
If you've bought the Kinect hardware you already own this game, but for everyone else is it an extra temptation or an unwanted extra?
Since this mini-game compendium comes 'free' with the Kinect hardware it's the only game everyone is guaranteed to play. It's also the only Kinect launch title without a direct parallel on the Wii or PlayStation 3, although obviously a random mix of super shallow mini-games isn't exactly a rarity in the world of motion-controlled software.
There's only five games, but as we alluded to in our Kinect Sports review they all work at least as well as Rare's more high profile release. There's certainly no pussyfooting around lag issues here, as all the games have a simultaneous two-player mode (assuming you have eight feet of floor space between you and your TV) and all of them use your full body to control them.
Rallyball is a sort of 3D Breakout crossed with Squash, where you bat a ball at a collection of blocks. You're encouraged to not only use your arms though but your legs as well. Rallyball was the first ever Kinect game to be shown, at E3 2009, and white water rafting game River Rush will also be very familiar to anyone that's followed Kinect's development. All you do is jump to collect tokens and lean left and right, but with someone else in the raft with you it's undeniably fun.
Reflex Ridge is very much the same idea, except you're competing for scores, not co-operating. Stood on some sort of mine cart – you have to keep ducking and jumping to avoid obstacles and contorting your body to get as many tokens as possible.
20,000 Leaks places you in a glass Bathysphere where human-hating fish try to get back at you for all those oil leaks by smashing the glass. You have to plug the leaks (which magically heal as soon as you touch them) with your hands and feet. Finally, Space Pop has you trying to burst balloons on the moon, where you can jet up into the air by waving your arms like a bird.
As you might gather all the games are simplistic to a fault but they do demonstrate Kinect's abilities at least as well as any retail game. None have any longevity whatsoever though, or at least not after you've unlocked a few 'living statutes' – fun pseudo-avatars that you can animate with your body and even add a voice to.
None of the other unlockables prove as interesting and once the novelty has worn off – which will only take a couple of goes with lesser games like 20,000 Leaks – you'll never want to play any of them again.
Kinect (cert 3)Publisher: Microsoft Game StudiosDeveloper: Good ScienceRelease Date: 10th November 2010
Thoughts? Email firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
VIBURNUM, MO – There are a lot of helping hands, and strong backs, and hearts filled with love this week in Viburnum, Missouri.
"This is called Love thy neighbor,' says Justin Perry, Pastor First Baptist Church. 'We take this from the second greatest commandment that Jesus gives the first to love God and the second to love your neighbor."
Spending a couple hundred dollars to take part in the week-long camp in Iron County Missouri, many were using their vacations to give back to their community.
Since Monday about 80 area residents have been putting their sweat equity back into their small town.
"Probably ten people per crew,' says Brant Hubbs, Crew Chief and Assistant Elementary Principal. 'We tore the roofs off and then re-shingled them."
Not wanting to beat around the bush, this group got right to work, in fact the town of 700 raised more than $50,000 to pay for supplies and materials to repair the roofs and homes of low income residents in Viburnum and the surrounding area.
"We`ve done three projects where we put on brand new roofs and also have done a deck job and we`ve sealed three mobile home roofs," says Perry.
Four local churches collaborated in bringing workers together to put in a new deck at one home. Afterwards the crew gave the recipient a hand signed plaque and a bible.
"It`s really good that all the communities get together and help people that needs help to pay it forward," says Naomi Horton, New Deck Recipient.


text:
"Guess-the-Google is an addictive guessing game based on Google's image search. It turns the mental activity of searching into a fun, visual and engaging game where people can enjoy the challenge of being the fastest and most efficient at making that connection between search terms and their results." The computer keeps score for you...play it whole class, small group or individually. You might be wondering why I added this, besides the thinking skills required to do this, it seems like it also has vocabulary and language benefits, too.
Montage-a-Google is a fun image creation tool that lets you create large colorful montages using Google's image search. Enter a search word and 20 google images will auto-fill to create the montage. It takes 3 seconds to make one and you are given two options at the end of the three seconds--download it or make another...hours of fun, here. For the image above, I entered the word SPRING. This image was sent to Google labs as another example of how Montage-a-Google can be used--only delta, all that printer ink.


text:
Let $G$ be a group with the following property. For all integers $n$, there are only finitely many subgroups of index $n$.
Question. Is $G$ finitely generated?
The converse is true. That is, if $G$ is finitely generated, then $G$ has only finitely many subgroups of index $n$ (for all $n$). Here's an argument for normal subgroups that you can also make work in the general case.
To give a normal subgroup of index $n$ of $G$ is to give a finite group $H$ of cardinality $n$ and a surjection $G\to H$. There are only finitely many groups of cardinality $n$ and for each finite group $H$ there are only finitely many $G\to H$ (because it suffices to designate the image of each generator of $G$ in $H$). QED