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Noobsheet - Friday 04/03/2011, 05:20
My deck has
Smokey CR
what card can be changed to improve this deck. Sliman occasionally gives me a 2HKO. i wanted to change to dalhia, but the damage was only 5.
How many pills do you normally put with characters like smokey, hawkins, Scubb, dalhia?
because you might outpill just to win, but if the opponent bluffs, you are just gonna still end up with lesser pill than him. or you could pill just right, and the opponents outpills you, you have an slight advantage of 1 to 2 pills but you already lost 4 to 6 life and possible of 2HKO.
what suggestions can you guys give?
Gaiaix555 - Wednesday 09/03/2011, 09:09
Well as a fan of Piranas, I will try to help you out. I personally LOVE Scubb. With him, it is okay to overpill slightly, as you will gain 4 pills back (mono only). I normally pill him to guarantee my win, unless it is 12 pillz or so.....then I bluff with him. I love Sliman aswell, but I have some trouble getting 2hko's with him personally.......Next, remove Andsom and maybe Taljion....I would personally use Tyd in place of Andsom, and.......well I cant think of anything to replace Taljion......maybe Spycee? It's all your call, as this is your deck, not mine.
Happy Sailing!
ctm54321 - Sunday 22/07/2012, 08:24
Sliman => Ahkab/Selma/Dahlia
Andsom => Tyd
Taljion => Baba
Strategy using Pillz reducers: I generally play them in response to my opponent's obvious bluffs or bluff with them myself. That's part of why I love Ahkab: He's deadly with 3 or 4 Pillz. 8 damage or Pillz advantage - either way, it ends very well for you.


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One thing that really irks me is how much dead time there is in the game. I don't recall how much this happened in the first game, but there are several times where you'll complete a segment of an episode and then there will be silence, sometimes lasting for 10 seconds or longer! I'd prefer as little fluff as possible if I plan to play these stages repeatedly.
I've only gotten to the final boss once, though I don't recall my score. I'm going to try to get there tonight!
Code: Select all
1: schadenfreude 332,550 6


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Welcome to TALBRONSTEIN.NET with photographs taken over the years at the Paralympic Games in Athens, Beijing, London, the ASEAN ParaGames in Kuala Lumpur and Manila, the Amputee Football World Championships in Antalya and at many other sports events for amputee and wheelchair athletes.
Please use the top and button navigation to select a year and then click on the various posts to select a photo set.
Where are the older TALBRONSTEIN.NET photographs?
Older photographs will be gradually uploaded to our new site. Thanks for your patience!


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Baby Quilts for Boys
Dino Might
Kids will love to see the appliquéd dinosaur come back to life on a simple, graphic background.
Nuts and Bolts
Prints in primary colors pop off a black print background for an impactful kid quilt.
Fly by the Line
Fun airplane print and a diagonal stripe in an unexpected color palette results in a vibrant baby quilt. Straight line quilting and repeating the stripe in the binding provide fun finishing touches.
Take Flight
An appliquéd airplane and rickrack loops propel the aviation theme of this crib quilt. It's perfect for your little pilot-in-training.
Fast and Fun Kids Quilt
Rectangles make up this easy-to-assemble quilt. If you're making it as a gift, personalize the prints to the recipient.
Pinwheel Playtime
Make a charming quilt for the little person who is always on the move. Combine one or two Pinwheel units into blocks and add solid red sashing strips for this throw.
Underwater Adventure
Ocean-theme prints paired with beachy blues and sandy tans are perfect for a kid's quilt. A stripe border print ties all the colors together for a playful finish.
Ships Ahoy!
Think you'll make waves with a nautical-theme crib quilt? Our instructions for easy-to-piece sailboats and appliqué accents ensure smooth sailing.
Traffic Jam Wall Hanging
Frame a cute novelty print in border fabrics that pop with fun patterns in eye-catching colors. Simple shapes and bright colors are perfect for a child's quilt.
Simple Stars Baby Quilt
For a quick-to-make baby quilt, set off eight star blocks with vertical-print sashing strips. Strips fussy-cut from a border print make up the top and bottom middle border.
In the Sky Wall Hanging
Frame one block with several borders for a small wall hanging or table topper. This wall hanging begins with a central fussy-cut airplane.
Dinosaur Baby Quilt
In just a day you can stitch up this whimsical quilt for a budding paleontologist.
Large Flying Geese Wall Quilt
Stitch a wall quilt that will make a perfect gift for a fan of things with wheels!


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Dwight Howard has been busy this year. In addition to playing basketball, he spent much of the season wrestling with the dilemma over to whom the fatally dysfunctional Orlando Magic should trade him. Howard then reversed course and decided to stay, put on his GM suit and asked the front office to trade for some talented teammates. They declined. So, he turned his attention down the bench, allegedly asking that same front office to fire coach Stan Van Gundy, giving us the gift of the most awkward press conference ever.
The weight of such responsibility was too much to bear. Howard, who has missed five out of the Magic's last seven games with a sore back, has been diagnosed with a herniated disc. He sat out last night's 109-81 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, and there is no timetable for his return. Dwight can now orchestrate the implosion of his franchise in a suit, from the end of the bench—Just like Van Gundy.
Magic's Dwight Howard diagnosed with herniated disk [USA Today]


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3 Dead After Attack at Wyoming Community College
Attack at Casper College may have involved a type of bow and arrow.
Nov. 30, 2012 -- Three people are dead after an attack at Casper College, a Wyoming community college, that may have involved a type of bow and arrow.
The college was shut down Friday morning after the attack.
"Emergency Alert: All classes and activities are cancelled today," read a message posted on the school's website.
Initial calls came in just after 9 a.m. reporting a "traumatic injury" on campus, according to a statement provided by local law enforcement to ABC News. Officers found "multiple victims" and the school was immediately placed on lockdown.
Three people were found dead. One was a Casper College faculty member and another was a suspect who died of "apparent suicide," according to the statement.
The suspect, authorities said, "was not a current student at Casper College and the incident does not appear to be school motivated."
"There were no firearms involved in the crime," they said, "and the victim's injuries were caused by a sharp-edged weapon."
Police told Wyoming station KCWY that one of the victims was stabbed with a "bow-and-arrow-type" weapon.
The school of around 5,000 students is located in Casper, the state's second-largest city. It was founded in 1945, according to the school's website.
Calls to Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh and school spokesman Rich Fujita were not returned Friday afternoon.
The lockdown was later lifted. The school's website said campus travel was "now permitted" and that counselors were available at the school's Gateway Building.


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Asus is well versed in giving gamers what they want when it comes to its great line of motherboards and graphics cards, such as the Asus Sabertooth X79 and the Asus EAH 6770 DC, but how does it do with its headsets? Unfortunately, in some areas the Asus HS-W1 wireless USB headset falls slightly short of our expectations.
The good news is that, on the whole, the sound quality is a very good representation across from highs to pleasantly deep lows. Bass is present and at about the right volume for music, although some more bombastic scenes when playing games lack the punch of headsets such as the Cyber Snipa Sonar 5.1 Championship.
Recording is pretty good with the small built-in microphone, with crisp and clear voices being recorded when the mic arm is rotated down. It's not entirely successful with noise cancelling, however, with some background noise picked up behind the voice. It's not enough to be too distracting, though.
When it comes to headsets that are going to be used for long gaming sessions or video chats, comfort is a big issue. With a pair of cans clamped on our lug holes for hours at a time, things can quickly become sweaty, sticky and uncomfortable. In this respect the Asus HS-W1 headphones aren't great, with a small and rather flimsy feel to them.
The ear cushions are rather flat, so while the Asus HS-W1 looks good, it's just not that comfortable to wear for long periods.
The Asus HS-W1 wireless USB headset has very good sound quality, but it feels like Asus has forgotten to concentrate on other, arguably just as important, aspects that make a great headset.


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Looks like May is shaping up to be a pretty nice month for mobile fans. Huawei and LG are both expected to take the wraps off of their new flagship smartphones at the beginning and end of the month, respectively, and now Motorola has scheduled an event of its own for mid-May.
Motorola today sent out invitations for an event that'll take place in London on May 13. The invitation says that Motorola's next smartphone will connect people to each other and help them to do great things. The document also describes the device as being "made to last" and "priced for all."
Rumors have been swirling lately about a new device known as the Moto X+1 that'll be the follow-up to the original Moto X and offer leather backs in Moto Maker. However, Motorola has previously said that the follow-up to the Moto X is due in "late summer," so it's possible that the company's got something else up its sleeve for this May 13 event.
What do you think Motorola has planned for next month's gathering?
Via Android Central


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FINDLAY, OHIO (Sept. 14, 1:25 p.m. ET) — Premier Material Concepts recently added a single-station thermoformer with programmable logic controls to boost product development capabilities and quality control.
PMC partnered with Maac Machinery Corp. of Carol Stream, Ill., to build a machine with 10 pre-programmed forming techniques and a human-machine interface. The machine is equipped with an adjustable clamp frame and a large oven that can accommodate sheets up to 4 feet by 5 feet. The oven contains 40 individually controlled zones.
The new thermoformer also contains a laser sag eye recording feature that tracks the amount of sheet shag in relation to time on each run.
"The new thermoformer represents PMC's commitment to provide our customers with consistent, quality products lot-to-lot and day-by-day," said Vice President of Engineering and Plants Facilities Eric Hausserman in a statement.
The new machine will allow PMC to perform quality performance testing on sheet products as part of new product outline requirements. It also can be used for in-process rapid prototyping for thermoformers.
Findlay-based PMC, a Rowmark LLC company, provides custom plastic extruded sheet and roll products. It is also a leading supplier of TPO materials to the thermoforming industry.


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HHS Refusal Clause Threatens Patient Conscience
The proposed regulation released by the Department of Health and Human Services seems not to be at all about protecting religious freedom. Rather, it uses the guise of religious freedom to create unreasonable barriers for women and men to access sexual and reproductive health care. Women and men should be able to access safe and legal sexual and reproductive health services. We need to campaign for a standard of care that gives everybody, without exception, access to the services and information they need.
Under the proposed rule, individuals cannot be required to "perform or assist in the performance of any part of a health services program or research activity funded by [HHS]." This goes well beyond the concerns some have about the provision of abortion, sterilization and contraception. The rule even allows practitioners who object to medical procedures to refuse to refer patients elsewhere. The proposed rule is so broadly written that it will not only excuse health workers who refuse to dispense birth control pills, emergency contraception and other forms of contraception, but may also be interpreted so as to affect referrals and counseling on issues seemingly unrelated to abortion—such as the provision of health-care services to gays and lesbians or counseling to an HIV-positive patient.
The question remains: Are these new regulations needed at all? Conscience clauses have gone through many permutations since they first appeared after the Roe v Wade decision; and there are currently three federal conscience clauses on the books. While these clauses claim to protect health-care workers who refuse to participate in certain health-care practices, they result in women's access to vital health-care services being threatened. The ability to deny providing even counseling or referrals becomes an infringement on the conscience of the patient by denying her the means to obtain an abortion in a safe, convenient and timely manner. The expansion of these clauses goes beyond protecting the religious and moral beliefs of health-care providers; they act as a means to refuse treatments and medications to all.
The concept of conscience has been repeatedly manipulated, especially in the context of reproductive health and rights. While some have pointed to Catholic teaching and the support of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Health Association (the trade association of the Catholic health industry), to support the imposition of ever-more restrictive refusal clauses, such as those in the new HHS proposal, they do not, in fact, reflect the Catholic position. Catholic teachings on conscience are much more nuanced than is usually presented in legal and policy debates.
Catholic teaching requires due deference to the conscience of others in making decisions. Health-care providers must not dismiss the conscience of the person seeking care. If conscience truly is one's "most secret core and his sanctuary [where] he is alone with God, whose voice echoes in his depths," as the Catholic Catechism states, how can anyone, or any institution for that matter, justify coercing someone into acting contrary to her or his conscience?
The goal of any reasonable conscience clause must be to strike the right balance between the right of health-care professionals to provide care that is in line with their moral and religious beliefs and the right of patients to have access to the medical care they need. Within the field of medical ethics, the accepted resolution to a conflict of values is to allow the individual to act on his or her own conscience and for the institution (the hospital, clinic or pharmacy) to serve as the facilitator of all consciences. Additionally, the individual, in this case a doctor, pharmacist or nurse, must not dismiss the conscience of the person seeking the health service. One does not need to deny a patient emergency contraception or abortion in order to remain a good Catholic.
The result of the recent expansion in refusal clauses is that women and men seeking sexual and reproductive health-care services are routinely denied access to or have great difficulty in receiving care. When the government, through regulation and support of those who are willfully denying necessary medical treatment to individuals, is party to such an expansion, it is negating the right to conscience of the woman, or man, seeking care.
We strongly support the reasonable accommodation of employees' religious beliefs in the workplace, but a woman, regardless of her religion, age, income, race or geographic location must have access to the health-care services she needs, including the full range of contraceptive options and information.
Behind this proposed regulation is a claim that it will protect individuals who feel they are being denied rights. However, in doing so, it goes too far and tramples the rights of those who will be consequently denied medically appropriate treatment. Current federal conscience clauses already provide more than enough protection for those medical professionals who refuse to provide services to which they object. There is no need to introduce any more such clauses. In fact, we would do well to revisit the ones that are already on the books to ensure that they do enough to recognize the rights of patients needing medical care.
This article originally appeared on RH Reality Check on October 10, 2008.


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OS X Mountain Lion's Notification Center looks incredible. So good, in fact, that we've been wondering what's going to happen to Growl notifications in the future. Some crafty developers have presented one answer to that question with Hiss, a program that integrates the latter utility into the former.
The preview of OS X Mountain Lion has only been available for a few days, but the developers at Collect3 have already released a beta version of Hiss, an app pushes your Growl alerts into Notification Center. In the short term, Hiss could be very useful because Growl is nearly universally used right now. Even though most programs will probably eventually adopt Apple's new system, there's going to be a lag.
Hiss version 0.1 is available for free download from the Collect3 website. If you've already got a developer version of Mountain Lion installed, you can go try out the new software now. [Collect3 via The Verge]


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Some franchises want to identify the best football players in the draft. The Cleveland Browns want to identify the best MacGyvers.
The Browns asked at least two players at the Combine,
"How many different things can you think of that you can do with a paper clip?"
Then there's Arkansas center Travis Swanson. He says a Browns scout approached him at the Senior Bowl and asked him
"to name all the things I could do with a single brick in one minute."
Throw it at a blitzing LB? Fling it in disgust after getting drafted by the Browns?
There is method to the Browns' madness. It is, presumably, a test of the prospects' lateral thinking. Are they able to envision unorthodox solutions for problems with seemingly limited options? How do they react under pressure when faced with an unexpected dilemma?
There's no evidence that this sort of exercise sheds light on any greater ability, let alone translates to football acumen. (That's good news for Swanson, who says he said a brick could be used to build things, as a doorstop, and that's all he could think of.) But it can't hurt to get prospects talking, I guess. And Combine interviews are boring. Why not come out of them with some ideas for the Browns' Etsy page?


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Although we have always offered home delivery of vehicle purchase, we have substantially increased our trained staff to accommodate your request of a home delivery with a "Courtesy CJDR White Glove Delivery" experience. We can bring the vehicle and the paperwork to you if you do not wish to come into our clean facility. We are happy to provide virtual vehicle walk-around via Facetime, Skype or Snapcell at your convenience. Certified. RECENT OIL CHANGE, PASSED DEALER INSPECTION, PROFESSIONALLY DETAILED, 1 OWNER, CLEAN CARFAX, CERTIFIED, 40GB Hard Drive w/28GB Available, 5-Year SiriusXM Travel Link Service, 6.5" Touchscreen Display, Accent Stitching, Air Conditioning, Air Conditioning w/Auto Temperature Control, Air Filtering, Audio Jack Input for Mobile Devices, Black Fuel Filler Door, Body Color 3-Piece Hard Top, Class II Receiver Hitch, Connectivity Group, Dana 44/226MM Rear Axle, Dana M44/216MM Front Axle, Freedom Panel Storage Bag, GPS Navigation, HD Rock Rails w/Step Pad, Heated Front Seats, Hill Descent Control, Hood w/Power Dome, Humidity Sensor, Jeep Trail Rated Kit, Logloss Granite Crystal Jeep Badge, Low Gloss Black Wrangler Decal, Max Tow Package, Midnight Star Interior Accents, MOPAR Black Tail Lamp Guards, MOPAR Coat Hooks & Grab Handles, MOPAR Slush Mats w/Red Accents, Navigation System, Premium Black Sunrider Soft Top, Premium EVIC Message Center, Quick Order Package 24Z Rubicon Recon, R1234YF A/C Refrigerant, Radio: 430 Nav, Rear Window Defroster, Rear Window Wiper/Washer, Recon Badge, Recon Decals, Recon Grille, Recon Leather Seats, Recon Package, Red Front & Rear Tow Hooks, Red Seat Belts, Red Switches, Red Trail Rated Badge, Remote Start System, Remote USB Port, SiriusXM Travel Link, Steel Front Bumper, Steel Rear Bumper, Steering wheel mounted audio controls, Tire Pressure Monitoring Display, Trailer Tow w/4-Pin Connector Wiring, Uconnect Voice Command w/Bluetooth, Vehicle Information Center, Wheels: 17" x 7.5" Granite Crystal Aluminum. 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 4WD 5-Speed Automatic 3.6L V6 24V VVT
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Vacant Building Registration (VBR) Program
The Vacant Building Registration program is our primary tool for tracking, monitoring, and managing vacant properties. The program is governed by Chapter 249 of the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances.
The Vacant Building Registration Program was created to ensure that vacant property remains secure and properly maintained. The Program was also established to help recapture some of the City's costs related to properties that are not being maintained or that have a history of improper maintenance.
Owners of vacant properties must register and pay an annual fee. The current VBR fee is contained in the Director's Fee Schedule. The VBR fee is due at the time of registration and each year on the anniversary date of being found vacant. That date can be found on the City's Property Information website. This fee may be adjusted annually.
All buildings (including commercial properties) may qualify for the Vacant Building Registration Program. Residential or commercial properties that have one or more of the following conditions may be required to register as vacant:
- Condemned requiring a code compliance inspection. See condemned properties.
- Unoccupied and unsecured for five days or more
- Unoccupied and secured by means other than those normally used in the design of the building for 30 days or more
- Unoccupied with multiple housing maintenance, fire or building code violations existing for 30 days or more
- Unoccupied more than 365 days with an order having been issued to correct a nuisance condition pursuant to section 227.90.
- A vacant commercial or residential building or structure which is unable to receive a certificate of occupancy due to work stoppage or expired permits
Commercial Vacant Building Registration
The City recently amended the Vacant Building Registration Ordinance to include qualifying vacant commercial properties. VBR eligible commercial properties are identified using the same criteria listed above. In addition, vacant commercial properties may contest the designation by filing a formal appeal with the Problem Properties Unit. The appeal is then referred to the Nuisance Condition Process Review Panel for a decision.
To refer a vacant commercial property, call 612.673.2233.
Restoration Agreements
To encourage the rehabilitation of buildings that qualify for the VBR program, the City is allowing the VBR fee to be held in abeyance for 6 months as long as the property owner is rehabbing the property and meeting other conditions in the Restoration Agreement. Please note, not all properties will qualify for a Restoration Agreement. Restoration Agreements may be an option if the property has been in the VBR program for less than three months, or the anniversary date of the Vacant Building Registration order is less than 3 months past due.
A copy of the Restoration Agreement can be found following this link. Restoration Agreements (PDF) document for more details.
To find more on the policies and procedures that govern a Restoration Agreement, download this document. Restoration Agreement Policy (PDF)
Director's Orders to Demolish (RAZE)
Minneapolis Code of Ordinance Chapter 249, outlines the conditions under which a property can be declared a Nuisance and the City can establish the appropriate abatement action. Staff from the Inspections division, periodically reviews the properties on the Vacant Building Registration List to determine if they are in bad shape and meet the definition of nuisance and should be demolished. The owner and all others with a financial interest in the property are sent a Director's Order to Demolish (PDF). The owner and/or other persons with a financial interest, have 21 days to appeal the order or 30 days to comply with the order. The City issues between 50 to 100 Director's Orders annually.
Winterization of Condemned Properties
To protect citizens and property from damage due to frozen water pipes or improperly maintained gas lines and electrical service, the City now requires that property condemned for boards be properly winterized. This includes disconnecting gas, shutting off electric power and draining plumbing fixtures and water pipes. The City may also direct its Water Department to shut off water service at the stop box and drop the meter. Condemned properties that are not winterized by the owner, may be winterized by an authorized city contractor. The owner of record will be notified prior to the winterization and the cost of this winterization will be applied as a special assessment to the property tax.
Current List of Buildings Registered as Vacant
Vacant and Condemned Property Inventory
Related Links
Vacant Building Registration Application New Fee (PDF)
Restoration Agreement Policy (PDF)
Property Information – Look up an address to see if a property is registered as vacant.
Last updated Mar 31, 2020


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Auto Doctor: Car engines burn oil faster than ever
Dear Doctor: I had the oil changed by the dealership on my 2011 Audi A4 at 22,000 miles. Then at 28,000 miles the oil was a quart low. Is this normal? I'm using synthetic oil and drive about 250 miles a week on highways. Also, when did we do away with dipsticks? -- Debra
Dear Debra: You are using a quart at about 6,000 miles. A quart of oil consumption at even 1,000 miles-plus is considered normal. The oil we use today is very thin. Today's engines run at hotter temperatures. This equals oil usage. On some vehicles the engine and transmission fluid dipsticks left us in the early 2000 model years, as did the conventional oil and filter change every 3,000 miles or 3 month intervals. Some vehicles have an annual oil change interval while some also hold 9-plus quarts of oil and most require full-synthetic oil.
Dear Doctor: I own a 2009 Chevrolet Traverse. About a year ago the taillight bulb (same bulb for brake and turn signal) started to fail. First, one bulb would fail and then about two weeks later the other would fail. This has happened about four times. My mechanic said there are no technical service bulletins on this issue. What do you think is the cause of this problem? -- Chuck
Dear Chuck: I see this problem often in many models. Poor quality lighting materials and fit are to blame, not only in GM vehicles, but also in many high line vehicles. If there is an LED bulb available, then spend the extra money. It will be the last bulb you buy.
Dear Doctor: I parked my 1994 Mitsubishi Gallant for the winter and now I have no headlights or dashboard lights. Everything else seems to be working -- blinkers, flashers, brake lights, interior lights. I even got my horn to work, which it didn't used to. I've checked the fuses under the dash and under the hood. I switched around relays. When I try to turn the lights on and off I can hear something clicking under the hood so I'm thinking it's not the switch. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. -- Pete
Dear Pete: The dash lights get power from the headlight switch. You need to start at the positive battery cable and check if there is a separate fuse at the terminal post. The next step is to check for power at the headlight switch. I have seen wires chewed by rodents over the winter when a vehicle sits. To get a full wiring diagram, go to alldata.com and subscribe to the service. You will get all the information needed, including a wiring diagram.
Dear Doctor: I was talking to my coworker at lunch about a new sports coupe and he suggested I look at the 2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 V-6. I asked him if was joking and he said absolutely not. To my surprise I sat in the Genesis and could not believe it was a Hyundai. I plan on buying a coupe this spring. Do you have any advice on the Genesis? Marc
Dear Marc: I drove a rear-wheel-drive Hyundai Genesis 3.8 Coupe V-6 mated to an 8-speed automatic. Start with the powerful 3.8-liter, 344-horsepower (regular unleaded) and 348-hp with premium gas. That's right, it has the horsepower of many V-8 engines from its V-6. I admit I had to open the hood and count the spark plugs and check the air filter. There is no question that Hyundai is a serious contender in the sports car market. From the Brembo brakes, 5-link rear suspension, limited-slip rear differential to the paddle buttons mounted on the steering wheel. Gas mileage is about 18 city 22 highway.
Dear Doctor: I know you test-drive new cars occasionally and I'd like your opinion on some of the more recent new models. What have you driven lately? -- Marvin
Dear Marvin: I drove the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu ECO. The 4-cylinder gas engine with the help of the electric boost motor propels this Malibu like a performance V-6 car. Gas mileage ranged high 30s on the highway.
The Toyota Highlander has been around for many years and has had some issues. The new offering is unlike the Highlander of the past. The major improvements are gas mileage, power performance, creature comforts, ride and handling. A well-optioned Highlander 4WD will sticker around $36,000. Mileage 17 city 22 highway. It's not real big and handles more like a car than an SUV.
The Volvo XC60 T6 AWD R-Design is an SUV on steroids with more power than you will ever need. The turbocharged 6-cylinder is rated at 325 horsepower. At any speed, in any gear, when you press on the accelerator you are gone. The SUV rides and drives more like a sports car. -- Junior Damato, Motor Matters
Junior Damato is an ASE-certified Master Technician. Email questions to firstname.lastname@example.com. Mail questions to: Auto Doctor, 3 Court Circle, Lakeville, MA 02347


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What if our greatest heroes became our greatest threat? Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition features DC Comics icons such as Batman, Cyborg, The Flash, Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Solomon Grundy, Superman and Wonder Woman, in a dark tale of power and corruption. Heroes and villains engage in epic battles on a massive scale in a world where the line between good and evil has been blurred.
Remastered for next-gen technology, the PS4 system version features touch pad functionality, video sharing and streaming so you can witness the destruction as your friends knock lumps out of each other using the world's mightiest warriors.
Download from PS Store


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Spiderman Car Auto Sun Shades 230916
Tax included. Shipping calculated at checkout.
To avoid any inconvenience, we recommend:
1. Do not use PO Boxes as your address.
2. Please check the product size shown in every product page carefully before purchasing. We can not process return and refund in case we provide correct what you ordered but not fit your car.
All of our Spiderman Car Auto Sun Shades 230916 are custom-made-to-order and handcrafted to the highest quality standards.
- Protect and keep your car cool with a custom designed auto sun shade
- Dimensions 57 x 27.5 Inches (145 x 70 cm)
- Fits most cars, trucks and SUVs
- Provides protection against UV rays and sun damage while reducing interior heat – no more fading & heat damage
- Constructed from a high-quality double-insulated laminate material
- Folds accordion style with a Velcro strap closure for easy storage
Please allow 4-7 days to receive a tracking number while your order is hand-crafted, packaged and shipped from our facility. Estimated shipping time is 2-4 weeks.


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The NHL is going through a very bad patch. It's best player, crosby, is suffering from concussion. Three players are dead, two suicides. There is a groundswell to cut back on fighting in the NHL to avoid further serious injuries.
All are in favour of fewer injuries it would seem, except Don Cherry, the thug in CBC's Coaches Corner. In a rant last week, Cherry singled out three former players calling them " a bunch of pukes" because they publicly suggested those who fight in the NHL are more likely to turn to substance abuse.
Retired forward, Stu grimson, says Cherry went too far this time. "He's edging ever closer to the line …. and I think there will come a point when he steps over the line and the CBC decides it's time to shut the senile old uncle down.."
Frankly, I don't think the CBC brass have the guts to shut cherry down. Besides his program, despite the rants, is a money-maker.
Should the CBC shut down Don C herry?
What do you think?


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The Chinese immigrants–-like other sojourners in the United States-–placed a high value on maintaining a traditional diet and lifestyle, which significantly impacted the social and cultural composition of the Warren area. Contemporary records indicate that during the summer mining season, there may have been between 800 and 1200 Chinese miners in the area. The population was mostly male, though some women were among their numbers. Between 1870 and 1900, the growing immigrant community at Warren included numerous Chinese-owned businesses including shops, a laundry, a saloon, a gambling house, a pharmacy and mining companies. Chinese were also employed as cooks, handymen, farmers, barbers, blacksmiths, fishermen and shoemakers; a majority of the women, as recorded in census statistics, worked as prostitutes.
The Chinese Mining Camp Archaeological Site
Mining District
Located in an isolated region of Idaho, and within the Payette National Forest, the Warren District preserves the remains of traditional field systems known as terraced gardens. Produce from these gardens sustained the mining community. Terracing, and sophisticated irrigation systems, were common landscape adaptations in the mountainous Kwangtung province in China, from which many of the immigrants originated. Since fertile farming land was limited in the mountainous area (and had already been homesteaded by Euro-American farmers), the Chinese farmers were compelled to develop the steep slopes to make them suitable for farming. The terraced gardens illustrate the maintenance of a traditional diet based on fresh produce, as well as the impact of 19th-century Chinese agricultural technology on the American landscape.
The presence of nails and scatters of Chinese artifacts, including ceramics, indicates that there was probably some kind of habitation at the site. Evidence of regular work and maintenance of the gardens can also be seen in the irrigation ditches, a root cellar, rock cairns (probably from clearing activities during terrace construction), and a woven willow and brush fence that enclosed the entire garden area. Many of the terraces have slumped or eroded in the intervening years, and although vegetation has obscured the terraces, it also contributed to the preservation of these features.
Census records from 1870 indicate that there were four farmers and three gardeners counted among the Chinese residents of the
The Ah Toy Garden is located down slope from the other gardens and covers an area of about 3 acres. Historic sources indicate that its main products included vegetables, strawberries, grapes, and rhubarb for commercial sale. At least one of the farmers must have lived, or camped, in the semi-subterranean earthen and rock dwelling discovered here. The range of artifacts from the dugout show the kinds of activities that farmers working in isolation engaged in; apart from typical agricultural implements and cooking utensils, an opium pipe and an opium tin were also discovered.
The building also represents the dramatic local impact of President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, which forced the evacuation of significant numbers of Japanese-Americans from their homes and communities during World War II. In Castroville, the Order resulted in the abandonment of the Japanese Language School building and the dissolution of the local Japanese ethnic community. The school building stands as a reflection of the local effects of a controversial national wartime policy and a significant episode in American social and political history. Following World War II, the school served as temporary housing for Japanese-Americans returning from the internment camps and from military service.


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CantBreathe wrote:Oh boy, so many good ones listed here, but I have a new one!
Twilight, pg. 314
"You were very deeply asleep; I didn't miss anything." His eyes gleamed. "The talking came earlier."
I groaned. "What did you hear?"
His gold eyes grew very soft. "You said you loved me."
"You knew that already," I reminded him, ducking my head.
"It was nice to hear, just the same."
I hid my face against his shoulder.
"I love you," I whispered.
"You are my life now," he answered simply.
Eeek! That is one of my favorites, too!
Here are some of mine, in no particular order.....
In Eclipse, page 95. It's very short, just a note...as Edward leaves to go hunting with his brothers he leaves a note on Bella's pillow for when she wakes up...
"I'll be back so soon you won't have time to miss me. Look after my heart - I've left it with you"....ugh! How freakin' sweet & adorable is that!? I love that last part!
Then, in Twilight, pages 362-363, how Edward is "tampering with Bella's mind" (messing with her heart, more likely! lol)...It's just so cute! and Edward is so casual and so un-Edward like! It's so adorable!
I just love that scene!
and again, Twilight, page 479, when Bella is in the hospital, the nurse gives her medication that makes her sleep.
I could feel his lips at my ear.
"I love you," he whispered.
"Me, too."
"I know." He laughed quietly.
I turned my head slightly..searching. He knew what I was after. His lips touched mine gently.
"Thanks," I sighed.
How adorable is that?
Ugh..I'm screeching in my head like a total girly-girl. I am a girly girl so I guess that makes this whole obsession with Twilight okay, right?


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Mo. National Guard to help as flooding continues
Heavy thunderstorms early Wednesday hit already saturated areas of south-central Missouri, where one child has been reported killed and a woman remains missing in flooding that also has forced the closure of major highways and a handful of evacuations.
The Missouri Department of Transportation closed Interstate 44 south of Rolla along the Gasconade River, and U.S. 63 in Maries County after about 6 inches of rain fell in the area early Wednesday. Traffic was being rerouted several miles around the flooded sections of the highways, said Sgt. Dan Crain, spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol in Rolla.
The National Weather Service said the Gasconade River at Rich Fountain was about 4 feet below flood stage, the point at which water is high enough to cause flooding, early Wednesday. It was expected to reach its 20-foot flood stage later Wednesday and rise to near 32 feet early Thursday, depending on how much more rain hits the area.
"It's a real mess," Crain said. "We're encouraging folks to be really careful. When there's water over the roads, don't take the chance. Don't take the risk. Please turn around."
Gov. Jay Nixon on Wednesday also ordered the deployment of 50 military policemen of the Missouri National Guard to help local authorities dealing with flooding. Nixon declared a state of emergency Tuesday after heavy rains caused flash flooding and at least one confirmed death in the Waynesville area.
A 4-year-old boy was killed and several homes and businesses damaged after heavy rain drenched the south-central town of Waynesville on Monday night and Tuesday morning. The search for a missing woman who is believed to be the child's mother also resumed Wednesday.
About a dozen homes also were evacuated early Wednesday in Newburg, a Phelps County town of about 450 residents near the Little Piney River. Laura Johnson, supervisor with the Phelps County Sheriff's Department, said a 12-foot section of a county road washed away Wednesday morning. No injuries were reported.
"We have a lot of roads shut down now," Johnson said. The rain had stopped Wednesday morning in several areas, including Newburg, and water had begun receding in some flooded sections, she said.
The weather service also issued flood warnings Wednesday for several southwestern Missouri counties, including Laclede and Wright counties, where several low-water crossings were also flooding after about 2 inches of rain fell in that region by early Wednesday.


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In a coffee coup for the history books, Starbucks Coffee Co. announced today that it will add a new hazelnut macchiato to its core lineup of espresso beverages. The sweet drink is the Seattle-based chain's first permanent addition to the menu in 16 years, Starbucks told TIME.
Like the company's ever-popular caramel macchiato, the hazelnut iteration will also be made with vanilla syrup, milk, a layer of foam and espresso on top (one shot for a tall, two for the grande and venti sizes). But — wait for it — the new drink will be topped with a drizzle of hazelnut sauce instead of caramel. See the difference?
(WATCH: What's in the 'World's Most Expensive' Cup of Starbucks?)
Undoubtedly, the hazelnut macchiato will be a hit. Starbucks reports that hazelnut is the one of the chain's most popular syrup flavors, second only to vanilla.
"Starbucks baristas use the world's finest espresso to craft each beverage by hand, with unparalleled passion and expertise," said Cliff Burrows, Starbucks' Americas president, in a press release. "No beverage better demonstrates this level of craftsmanship than our signature four-layered Macchiato, and we know customers will love this new member of our espresso beverage family."
Because the hazelnut creation differs only slightly from its caramel sister, it's a low-risk gamble for Starbucks. Even if it doesn't do well, baristas can easily ditch the hazelnut drizzle and market a new "naked" macchiato. We're betting it would do well on the streets of Seattle.


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Bitumen, Gold, Opium & CrowsOctober 5th, 2011
Exhibition by Justin Mills
14 October – 10 November 2011 at WTF Gallery, Bangkok
Opening Reception: Friday 14 October 2011, 7pm @ WTF Gallery
A Smear Of Gold In The Window And The Jewel Of Her Sin
'To me, paintings are not silent and music is not invisible, so painting is just as much about listening as it is about seeing. I'm just trying to do something that I feel is valid and viable, to make a kind of image that I've never seen or heard before, a painting with a quiet intensity, as compelling and enduring for me as a good Tom Waits track, with an effect that is always instantaneous." - Justin Mills
After exhibiting his 48 Portraits Of God last year, Justin Mills has produced a new series of paintings inspired by the music and lyrics of American singer-songwriter Tom Waits, the man who once said that 'there ain't no devil there's just God when he's drunk'. Mills is still intrigued by the highly-charged symbolic materials of earthy bitumen and ethereal gold but he now makes the rhythms and rhymes of the lexicon, the darkness and the light, an integral part of the 'visual', significantly transforming the spatial nature of visual art into something markedly temporal.
The iambic beat of the exhibition title subtly suggests an interplay between rich layers and juxtapositions of opposites; rubber-modified bitumen and spirit-based gold paint are thrown together with coloured acrylics to render mesmerising effects of appearing/disappearing, invading/dissolving, solace/menace all of which are echoed in the uniquely visceral and lung-crunching voice of Tom Waits whose music gets played more than anything else in Mills' studio.
His subtle intertextuality and mimicry, engaging himself in a complex and time-consuming creative process of drawing, photographing, and computer-editing, and an integral approach to style, sources and subject matter, results in a unique, innovative rendition of beguiling, multi-layered surfaces and enigmatic images, that makes it difficult to dissociate him from the current renewal and vigour of contemporary painting.
English text by Rathsaran Sireekan, art critic.
All the paintings will be available for sale. For list of paintings and prices, please contact the gallery.
Justin Mills' biography
Justin Mills was born in the UK and has been based in Bangkok since 1996. He is a graduate of Bristol's University of the West of England and Santiniketan, Visva-Bharati University in India, where he was awarded an MA in Fine Art in 1994. Mills has exhibited his paintings internationally including 'A Brief View Of Everything' at Chulalongkorn University Art Center in 2010, the 2nd Bangkok Triennial of International Print and Drawing at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center in 2009, 'Brahma to Bapu' at the Visual Arts Gallery in Delhi, India, curated by Rakhi Sarkar in 2002, and a collaborative installation at the Outpost Venice Biennale in Venice in 1995.
Visitor Information:
WTF Cafe & Gallery
7 Sukhumvit Soi 51
Bangkok 10110
BTS: Thong Lor Station
Opening times: Tuesday – Sunday, 4-10pm
02 662 6246
For further information please contact:
Somrak Sila – Managing Director
Tel: (66) 2 662 6246, (66) 89 926 5474
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text: ColonelForbin 312 Posted February 20, 2014 Not hear to talk lollipop about what it is or isn't.. :) Done enough of that! It's not an HD and it's not a DT, big whoop. The conversation I am interested in, is the future of audio sound quality in general, and the place and role companies like Line6 and Apple will have in that future. Now, we all know that .MP3's are the bedrock of the iTunes business model. What is the top resolution on any given professionally mastered .MP3? 320kbps or something? Now, take a sideways gander at Neil Young, and his idea - which seems to be going forward, but not very quickly. Among his various projects, including the LincVolt, is his music player idea. I am not sure what the current name is, I think it's "PONO". To summarize, Neil Young wants to make iPod sized devices that will use music files rendered in Studio Master quality, iE, 24bit /192k. Here are a couple of links discussing this project: Pono - website Pono - Forbes Pono - Cnet Pono - Rolling Stone Ok. So, the future is BRIGHT for music! But the "powers which be" are going to need to change and adapt to stay current. I for one, have a huge library of music in MP3 format, and I rarely if ever listen to any of it. It's convenient, it's easy, it's portable - it's just not satisfying. That there is truly something lacking in music dumbed down to MP3 is fact, evident, and real. It's not just a small percentage of the population with advanced ears who can tell the different between a 24bit .WAV file, and a 320kbps MP3. That being said, Line6 is already on their way to higher definition, higher resolution audio. The HD series amp modelling is their first serious foray into that market. The Amplifi, for all it's next gen conceptualization, is not. Because it is built on the premise that MP3 is acceptable. Now, you don't HAVE to use MP3's, I would imagine if you put a .wav file on your iPad, and stream it Bluetooth, it should still all work, and if the metadata can be saved with the .wav file, then tone matching should work. But what about a 24 bit / 192k .wav file? Because that is what PONO is trying to do. According to the Rolling Stone article, major studios are already on board with this concept, and have already begun the process to render their catalogs in the higher definition audio. To quote Neil: "The simplest way to describe what we've accomplished is that we've liberated the music of the artist from the digital file and restored it to its original artistic quality – as it was in the studio," wrote Young. "So it has primal power." "PONO starts at the source: artist-approved studio masters we've been given special access to," Young continued. "Then we work with our brilliant partners at Meridian to unlock the richness of the artist's music to you. There is nothing like hearing this music - and we are working hard to make that experience available to all music lovers, soon." From my perspective, the Amplifi will quickly find itself at a cross roads if something like this gains traction, and for my $$s, I am 100% onboard. MP3's are horrible, for quality listening. They are the fast food of the music industry. MP3's take everything special about music and distill it to a bland, low quality snapshot, lacking in the true essence of why music moves us all, and motivates us to spend so much time and money on gear to MAKE music. Sooner, rather than later, companies like Line6 and Apple are going to need to quickly change their tune, and gear like the Amplifi will be caught in that cross current. I think the idea of Amplifi is great. I find the execution lacking, but that doesn't really matter. It's how Line6 responds to what is coming, and still yet to be that will define them going forward. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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You should see the exact same font no matter which way you visit your list. Maybe you were previewing your list from the manager admin before it had actually reranked.
If you edit your design "manually" you can type in whichever font you'd like to. You are safest to stick to the basic browser-based fonts though so that you know everyone has those fonts on their computer. If you choose something that only you have installed then it will look totally different to people who don't have that font installed. If you edited manually, you would be safe with changing all occurances of font-family to font-family: verdana; (or arial, or times).
When you add your own lists to your own top list, it won't count any hits in or out from your computer for 24 hours, and then only once every 24 hours. This prevents people from signing up and artificially inflating their hits in and out.


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TORONTO, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Most of the $2 million worth of toys and other goods stolen from the Salvation Army in Toronto have been found in a warehouse west of the city, police said.
News that an inside job had resulted in the theft of donated new toys, cribs, food and baby strollers emerged Wednesday, although police had been investigating for more than a week before, the Toronto Star reported.
Acting on a tip, police found the bulk of the stolen items in a warehouse in Brampton, northwest of Toronto, the Toronto Sun said.
Detective Sgt. Jim Gotell said the items were stacked high on 146 pallets that required three tractor trailers to transport back to a police warehouse, Gotell said.
No arrests were made, but Gotell said the recovery of the goods was only the first part of the investigation.
Detective said early indications are the items were stolen from the Salvation Army over a two-year period and likely were meant to be resold.
Salvation Army Maj. John Murray said there was no expectation of getting the goods back in time for the coming Christmas season.
"The Salvation Army is under no illusions that the recovered toys can be returned to us soon, as it appears likely they will be required as evidence in any criminal court proceedings that arise," Murray said.


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So I don't lose track of the link, here's Dan Gillmor's discussion of how journalism is evolving with the emergence of new technologies (as blogged by Cory Doctorow). The idea that journalism is shifting from lecture to seminar intrigues me.
I'm tempted by new technologies like the sidekick and moblogging, but I write too slowly and I can't justify the service expenses of a cell phone - yet. When I can combine a WiFi-enabled PDA with a websurfing cell phone and sync everything with Bluetooth, then maybe I'll fall for the combo. Especially if it comes in a beautiful iPod-like package.Posted by EGP at January 12, 2003 10:34 AM


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To view the entire collection click on the following link: Aros Shag Collection


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Hundreds of children celebrate Read Across New Orleans
NEA's Read Across America program kicks off summer reading promotion
NEW ORLEANS - June 30, 2010 -
The National Education Association (NEA) President Dennis Van Roekel, joined by Louisiana Association of Educators President Joyce Haynes and Ralph Brennan of the Brennan Restaurant Group, read their favorite Dr. Seuss books today to more than 200 elementary school students at the Louisiana Children's Museum.
"Good reading skills are the tools students can use to explore whatever they're interested in," said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. "The goal of NEA's Read Across America is to make reading fun so students want to be in the company of good books, again and again."
The elementary students, wearing the Cat in the Hat trademark red-and-white stovepipe hats, were treated to the antics of Thing 1 and Thing 2 as well as a surprise visit by the seven-foot-tall Cat himself. New Orleans' own Soul Heirs Band kicked off the festivities. Van Roekel got into the spirit of the event by leading students in a pledge to read every day.
"Studies show that students who read—and are read to—do better in school and in life," points out LAE President Joyce Haynes. "Teaching and learning can and should be fun. It is good to give our students this memorable and fun educational experience."
"We are thrilled that the National Education Association is sharing its Read Across America program with the children of New Orleans," said Julia Bland, executive director of the Louisiana Children's Museum. "The pages of a book open up a world of wonder, exploration and imagination to children everywhere. A lifetime of reading is the ticket to lifelong learning."
In support of NEA's Read Across America summer reading initiative, the 12 New Orleans Public Libraries are also holding events to celebrate summer reading in Seussian style—from readings of favorite Seuss books to visits from the Cat in the Hat. The events are scheduled in conjunction with NEA's Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly, taking place June 26 – July 6 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Nearly 9,000 public school educators from around the country are in town for the Annual Meeting.
Every year, an estimated 45 million young and old participate in NEA's Read Across America— the nation's largest reading celebration, which is now in its 13th year. Celebrities who have joined in NEA-sponsored reading events include First Lady Michelle Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Morgan Freeman, Selena Gomez, football Giant Tiki Barber and tennis superstar Serena Williams.
"Reading is essential to academic achievement, whether a student's favorite subject is math, science, music or English," said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. "NEA's Read Across America cultivates a joy of reading in students at an early age to help create lifelong readers and learners."
More information on NEA's Read Across America and details on local events happening across New Orleans can be found online at www.nea.org/readacross.
# # #
The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.
CONTACT: Celeste Busser (202) 262-0589, email@example.com


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The mainstream media have fallen in love with blogs, launching them on everything from politics to life in Las Vegas to bowling. But does the inherent tension between the blogospheres anything-goes ethos and the standards of traditional journalism mean this relationship is doomed?
Dana Hull
Dana Hull (email@example.com) is a reporter at the San Jose Mercury News.
The San Antonio Express-News has a bowling blog. The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, has a fly-fishing blog. A pet blog is popular at the Commercial Appeal in Memphis. Several newspapers have launched parenting blogs.
The Fourth Estate has fallen fast and furiously in love with blogs, from news-driven ones about professional sports teams, real estate, crime, Hurricane Katrina, immigration and local and national politics to zanier ones that dive deep into niche subcultures.
Most are written by staffers, particularly sportswriters and columnists. Some reporters at metropolitan dailies have transformed blogging into a full-time beat, and rarely file anymore for the print edition. Other papers have involved entire sections in online group diaries: At the Dallas Morning News, the editorial board's blog gives readers a behind-the-curtains look at how board members wrangle over issues, argue with one another and reach critical decisions.
The appetite for blogs is so great that some newsrooms also are turning to local bloggers, freelancers and special guests, or actively soliciting readers for proposals for new blogs. California's Ventura County Star hosts a blog written by a local soldier who recently returned from Iraq. The Houston Chronicle is asking aspiring bloggers to send an e-mail to the paper describing what they want to share with the world.
The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, links to an eclectic list of Inland Northwest blogs. Among the local characters featured on spokesmanreview.com is Spokane Valley resident Bob Salsbury, who enjoys "carving evil little trolls out of bars of soap" and writes The Unbearable Bobness of Being. The Los Angeles Times has hired a freelancer to blog regularly about life in Las Vegas, while the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire hosts a blog written by Katherine Rogers, a city councilor.
Blogs are supposed to be fun and freewheeling, filled with quick snippets written in a breezy, conversational voice. They tackle subjects both serious and esoteric and encourage an ongoing dialogue. The best newspaper blogs generate an avalanche of posts and comments from captivated readers, get linked to by other blogs and, ideally, drive more traffic to newspaper Web sites.
But newspapers' current passion for blogging is fueling a vigorous, industry-wide debate about everything from staffing to sourcing, standards to liability. There's an inevitable clash of values between a newspaper, which has a journalistic reputation and brand name to protect, and a swiftly changing medium that has grown in power and prestige precisely because it has flouted many of journalism's traditional rules.
Some newsrooms are proceeding quickly but cautiously, calling in lawyers, hammering out guidelines and updating ethics codes to cover the uncharted world of blogging. Others are moving full-speed ahead on the assumption that the blog train left the station long ago and, give or take a few mistakes as the experiment unfolds, it's all going to work out just fine.
"Blogging as it has evolved has been very different from conventional reporting," says Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota and a former AJR columnist, who adds that reporters, trained to be objective, often struggle to adopt the right tone. "Blogs are not intended to be objective. They are supposed to be opinionated, snarky and in your face and that's not the way the mainstream media usually goes about reporting. The whole genre of blogging is very different. It's not fair for a news organization to say, 'We want you to blog, but by the way don't express your real opinions.'"
Among the numerous thorny issues: Should blogs rise to the same reporting and sourcing standards as content that appears in the print edition? What kind of tone and voice does a blog need to be effective just how snarky can it be? Where does libel law fit into the picture? Should reader comments or user-generated content like photographs be edited or monitored? Should anonymous or pseudonymous posts be allowed? What's the newsroom's policy about linking to other blogs? How do newsrooms handle staffers who have personal blogs?
In late August, the Poynter Institute sponsored an invitation-only seminar on the topic of online journalism standards, including blogging. About 25 journalists who spearhead their newsroom online and convergence operations flew to St. Petersburg, Florida, for two-and-a-half days of intense discussion. The group cobbled together a working draft of best practices for online journalism that is being shared and revised; Poynter hopes to make them widely available in the next few months.
The spontaneous, rapid-fire pace of blogging has added another layer of complexity to the challenges raised by online journalism. "There's an inherent tension between the value of speed in an online world and journalism's obligation to do thorough, accurate work," says Kelly McBride, the ethics group leader at Poynter, who helped facilitate the seminar. "And there's this strong sense that the capacity of the Internet is limitless, but our resources are limited."
Many newsrooms are struggling to establish blog guidelines or some kind of best practices cheat sheet. The San Francisco Chronicle recently named a blogging and interactive editor to, among other duties, "contribute and edit content appearing on the blogs, making sure the content meets The Chronicle's blogging standards (which this person will help formulate)," as the job posting put it.
But media lawyers stress that blogs should not be viewed uniformly. Some attorneys are wary of written guidelines because that could make it easier for a plaintiff in a libel suit to charge that the newspaper violated its own rules. There's also a strong sense that the handiwork of the typically plodding task-force process of hammering out ethics codes will be horrendously outdated by the time it emerges.
"One has to be careful about trying to establish hard and fast rules," says Sandra Baron, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center in New York. "I don't think the rules can keep up with the changing technology. That said, it's up to each newsroom to determine what their blogs are going to look and read like, what process they follow and what editorial norms are appropriate."
In July 2003, after becoming convinced that blogging is not only fun but also of special appeal to readers and the wave of the future, the Dallas Morning News launched the nation's first editorial board blog at dallasmorningviews.beloblog.com.
One month earlier, Editorial Page Editor Keven Ann Willey had outlined 10 reasons why the editorial page should take such an unusual step. Reason No. 1: "It's consistent with the newspaper's overall goals regarding increasing readership and profile in the community. Blogging provides a window into the Editorial Board's thinking on issues. The ability of readers to peer through this window will deepen the Dallas Morning News' appeal to heavy readers as well as help convert casual readers to heavy readers."
Willey was anxious to get rolling but mindful of the risks. Tom Leatherbury, a key attorney for the newspaper, was asked to share with her staff anything that made him nervous.
One of the biggest questions facing newsrooms is how libel law applies to blogs. Libel suits are relatively rare and blogging is so new that little case law exists. Still, many media attorneys stress that if a blog is written by a newspaper staff writer, it is likely to be held to the same standard of liability or malice as if it appeared in newsprint.
"It's a developing landscape," says Leatherbury, a partner in the Dallas office of Vinson & Elkins who has practiced media law for 25 years. "In dealing with mainstream publications that launch blogs, my assumption is that they'll be treated more like mainstream media for good and for bad if a legal issue arises about a blog posting."
Leatherbury also warns that mainstream media blogs are likely to be more visible targets of libel lawsuits. While an independent blogger may exert just as much influence, a newspaper blogger has the potential to reach a wide audience and works for a large media company that clearly has assets.
"Until the courts adopt different standards, libel laws will translate to mainstream media blogs," says Leatherbury. "That raises interesting issues about editing, prepublication review and the place of comment and opinion. The cautious person should assume the same rules apply."
Michael Rothberg, a media law specialist with the Washington, D.C., firm of Dow Lohnes, says media companies that have bloggers need to do a cost-benefit analysis. "One day we'll have a libel suit based on a newspaper's blog that wasn't edited. It just hasn't happened yet," he says. "To think there's less risk just because it's a blog is not a good strategy."
Morning News editorial staffers met several times to discuss the purpose of their blog. Leatherbury shared his perspective over a brown bag lunch, and the staff then developed and distributed written guidelines. To make sure writers had plenty of time to practice the art of blogging and iron out any kinks, the editorial page blog had a soft internal launch before going public.
Editorial page writers regularly dwell in the realm of opinion and persuasion, and in some ways they like columnists make natural bloggers. Willey has asked her dozen staffers to post to the blog about three times a day. Though there was a lot of initial trepidation, it has caught on at the paper and among readers. When former Texas Gov. Ann Richards died in September, a staffer revealed on the blog that an angry reader wanted to know why the editorial board wasn't blogging about Richards more frequently.
Some staffers have taken to the new medium with gusto, blogging so madly that they began to slack on other responsibilities, Willey says. Others have had to be guided into the habit, grumbling that they don't know how to fit blogging into an already heavy workload. But the experiment is considered a success: The blog's traffic is up, and the number of page views doubled from 2004 to 2005. The editorial board now gets far more e-mail from readers. And all of this was accomplished without any promotion or marketing effort.
Willey, the de facto Editorial Blog Boss, steps in when questions of tone or content arise. But most of the guidelines she's crafted (left) largely rely on common sense: Be brief and informal. Vary your topics. Don't write anything you wouldn't want your mother to read in the paper. Incorporate interesting, provocative reader e-mail. Be quick to correct yourself.
Other guidelines have been spelled out in far greater detail. "Exercise special care in blogging about especially sensitive topics. Examples include religion, the Middle East, abortion, etc.," wrote Willey in an October 2003 memo she asked staffers to keep handy near their computers. "Know that these topics can be exceptionally personal and emotional, and that because of this, opinions about them are prone to distortion and misunderstanding. If you believe that a particular string of commentary has gone on long enough as to exhaust its positive benefit to readers, move the blog onto another subject. If you have questions or concerns about a particular thread of commentary, discuss it directly with the colleague involved or consult the editor in charge."
At one point, an editorial board member linked to a Ku Klux Klan Web site to illuminate a discussion. When another board member strongly objected, the person who created the link voluntarily pulled it down.
One of the most active bloggers on the site is Rod Dreher, who previously worked as a senior editor at National Review. The conservative tone of his blog entries is far glibber than what you'd read in the printed version of the newspaper. He recently referred to the president of Iran as "Mr. Death to America" and went on a tirade when the Dallas County sheriff announced she had selected the agency's first liaison officer to the local gay and lesbian community.
"No 72 virgins, or raisins, or anything else for that fuzzy-faced scumbag," wrote Dreher about the June death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. "I say that with all due respect, naturally. Though I don't believe this happy news will have much discernible impact on the ongoing civil war there, it is good to know that sometimes, there is justice in this world."
Fuzzy-faced scumbag? How do the taste police rule on that one?
"Re Rod's post: I've decided not to take it down," Willey wrote in an e-mail to AJR. "The word 'scumbag' probably isn't something we'd likely put in a family newspaper unless the editors felt it necessary in a direct quote. But Rod's usage of it on the blog while a bit crass is reflective of the sort of spontaneous syntax that makes blogs so lively and fresh."
Willey says that readers love the blog because it demystifies the editorial board's internal workings and has made it more transparent and accessible. "Launching this blog has stimulated more positive response than anything I've done in 25 years of journalism," says Willey, who has advice for other newsrooms. "Determine up front what the purpose of the blog is. What is the blog trying to achieve? Knowing the purpose will help determine the guidelines. Don't be innovative for innovation's sake. And it's a good idea to have a written set of guidelines they don't have to be overly legalistic or deflating."
A few newspaper bloggers have run into trouble. One of the more notorious examples involved Ben Domenech, who resigned in March after just 72 hours as a conservative blogger for washingtonpost.com. As soon as his Red America opinion blog launched, the blogosphere kicked into overdrive, proving that Domenech had plagiarized material in various publications long before his washingtonpost.com contract began.
In late January, Matt Donegan, a newspaper reporter at the weekly Dover Post in Delaware, was fired after his bosses found out about his personal blog on MySpace.com, which included controversial comments about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In May, Gina Vivinetto, an arts columnist for the Tampa Bay Times, a free tabloid published by the St. Petersburg Times, was forced to resign after admitting she mocked a Hillsborough County commissioner in a post on MySpace. "Sadly, Gina's actions irreparably compromised her credibility as a journalist for our company," St. Petersburg Times Executive Editor Neil Brown said at the time.
In April, the Los Angeles Times suspended Michael Hiltzik's Golden State blog because he used pseudonyms to post comments.
"Employing pseudonyms constitutes deception and violates a central tenet of The Times' ethics guidelines: Staff members must not misrepresent themselves and must not conceal their affiliation with The Times. This rule applies equally to the newspaper and the Web world," said an April 29 Editor's Note. "Over the past few days, some analysts have used this episode to portray the Web as a new frontier for newspapers, saying that it raises fresh and compelling ethical questions. Times editors don't see it that way. The Web makes it easier to conceal one's identity, and the tone of exchanges is often harsh. But the Web doesn't change the rules for Times journalists."
At the August Poynter session, participants debated questions of credibility and accuracy, transparency and anonymity. Some issues, including the use of pseudonyms, produced easy consensus. "There was a general sense that anonymity is frowned upon," Poynter's McBride says. "Journalists need to rise above the fray of clear, outright deception."
Other issues were less clear-cut. How should papers handle links to other Web sites and blogs? When should editors intervene in blogs? What gets edited? In an era of dwindling resources, shrinking staffs and buyouts, few newsrooms have the time or the bodies to edit the avalanche of online content. It's a constant struggle just to edit and copy edit Web versions of stories and captions of photo slide shows. Editing blogs, with their constant updating and reader comments, adds another two-ton pile of work. As a result, most newspaper blogs are self-edited a phenomenon that offers writers more freedom but fewer safeguards.
Amy Ginensky, a Philadelphia media lawyer, urges editors to make sure that the person blogging on behalf of the paper has a working understanding of what is permissible and what is not. "They should understand the general contours of defamation," says Ginensky. "And there should be an editor or blog boss to go to when potential issues arise."
Daniel Rubin, a longtime staff writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, is the paper's only full-time blogger. His primary job is steadily feeding observations about Philly and beyond to blogs.philly.com/blinq, which he launched in May 2005.
"Nobody edits what I write before it goes online, and I don't edit the comments," says Rubin, adding that he is deliberately cautious in his reporting and extremely mindful that the institutional weight of the Inquirer looms over everything he does. "It's fabulous. But you have to completely trust the person who is doing this."
Some newspapers try to edit at least some of their blogs. "We have staff-written blogs and freelance blogs, and the level of editing depends on the blog," says Joel Sappell, executive editor of L.A. Times Interactive and an assistant managing editor for the print edition. "If it's a staff writer, sometimes we'll allow them to post directly if we know what the item is going to be. If it's complex or controversial, we'll edit it. The expectations for online content have soared without the accompanying resources, and we're trying to give everything the right attention."
Other thorny issues debated at the Poynter session involve how to handle community-generated content, which raises ethical questions that are unique to an online environment. Besides the content created specifically for the newspaper's Web site, what are the rules when you hyperlink to blogs that are published elsewhere? Do those blogs have to follow the same ethical standards as the newspaper? Is the newspaper effectively endorsing another blog, or giving it tacit approval or legitimacy, simply by linking to it?
Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, stresses that the allure of blogs is their willingness to venture where newspapers have hesitated to journey. While most mainstream media blogs steered clear, many other blogs published or linked to high-profile material like the gruesome video of Nick Berg's beheading in Iraq, the infamous Paris Hilton sex video and exit polling data that's widely leaked on Election Day. It's the stuff that people talk about and there's a good chance that reporters who didn't get the exit data directly are racing to the Drudge Report to see it. Cox notes that the juicy content is readily available on blogs and that content is what drives traffic.
"If you went to any newsroom Web site, you wouldn't see the actual Nick Berg video," says Cox. "And my question is: Why not? If you're going to stand on your island, you run the risk of having your business cut out from under you. You can retain your high ethical standards but not be in the business anymore. There's not a clear-cut option of doing it or not doing it. If you don't do it, you may not have an audience to have ethical standards for." Cox warns that blogs that simply mirror newspapers in content and tone are missing the point.
Steven A. Smith, editor of the Spokesman-Review, also doesn't believe in the tentative approach, warning that newspapers "can be cautious to our complete demise."
His paper has several staff-written blogs that focus on life in eastern Washington and northern Idaho, including blogs that cover the state legislatures in Olympia, Washington, and Boise, Idaho; prep sports; and the joys of flea markets and secondhand stores. The most popular staff-written blog is Huckleberries Online, written by columnist Dave Oliveria which includes breaking news such as "fishing on Lake Coeur d'Alene was banned today by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in an effort to boost salmon population."
But the paper also links to myriad blogs written by local residents, including the owner of a bed-and-breakfast and an English and Spanish teacher who blogs about northern Idaho's Priest Lake in As the Lake Churns. The paper is careful not to link to blogs that promote hate speech and has passed on linking to blogs written by members of the Aryan Nation and similar organizations.
But it does link to a blog by a young woman named Gemini Wench, and a few years ago, when Gemini was a teenager, she regularly blogged about sex and drugs. That raised some red flags, but the newspaper ultimately decided, hey this is what blogging is all about. (Recently, Gemini's been blogging about bleaching her hair at geminiwench.livejournal.com.)
"In the end, we decided that it wasn't up to us to be her parents," says Smith, who has teenagers himself. "Her blog speaks to what's happening in the Secret Life of Teenagers."
The Spokesman-Review is updating its newsroom code of ethics and soon will introduce guidelines for staffers who blog. The trickiest topic is how the newsroom should handle staffers who have personal blogs, which could embarrass the newspaper or express opinions about local officials or news developments that present a conflict of interest for reporters. Another big challenge is time management. Smith says his reporters who blog find the instant feedback addictive so much so that it's tough to find the right balance between blogging and filling the print edition of the paper.
Still, Smith feels that blogging is a medium that newspapers should embrace, not fear. And while ethics discussions are healthy, the industry may be taking it all far too seriously.
"It's easy to overthink all of this stuff," says Smith. "But we can't get off the train and wait for lawyers and ethics to catch up. We'll make mistakes, and we might get sued, but this world is no more perilous than print."


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The Age of the API is upon us, presenting developers with new opportunities to generate income by linking to the data and services of others. But developers need to be careful when navigating the new API landscape.
Although the term (short for "application programming interface") has been around for decades, APIs have taken on a whole new life lately, spawning development of a wide range of multifunctional APIs and now management software companies to help businesses cope with the burgeoning wealth of available options.
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APIs, in fact, are becoming a successor to SOA (service-oriented architecture), providing easier mechanisms for service access than SOA's highly technical approach, says independent consultant Kin Lane: "APIs have jumped out of the petri dish of the enterprise."
Developers leverage basic Web technologies to participate in the API bonanza, such as HTTP, REST and JSON. Node.js, the popular server-side implementation of JavaScript, also can play a role. The OAuth 2.0 protocol, meanwhile, can be used to set secure access. "There are more than 10,000 public APIs, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of private ones, too," Lane says, such as for Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps, and Amazon Web Services.
Developers need to have a basic tool set for using APIs in the language of their choice, Lane advises. Those tool sets typically come with the API libraries, but there are also standard ways to consume APIs in languages such as PHP and Java. In addition, developers need to note that APIs can be withdrawn, as has occurred both at Twitter and Facebook, leaving third-party apps in the lurch.
Dealing with poor APIs
The current craze has spawned thousands of APIs, so developers need to be mindful of the varying quality of what is available, Lane says. "I see a lot of people make APIs. They think they understand APIs, but they've never really used APIs that are already in existence, so they don't emulate a lot of the healthy design patterns. They make a lot of the same mistakes over and over." These mistakes include APIs that break or that don't work well in mobile applications.
Other flaws in many APIs relate to security, simplicity, and scalability, says Dan Raju, CEO of cloud-based financial services vendor Tradier. Also, having only one version of an API is a good idea, says Chris Caselas, a developer at video syndicator RealGravity. Multiple versions of APIs can create issues such as incompatibility with the previous release, Caselas notes. "You should probably do it right the first time."
Poor API design usually keeps developers from using them, says Pamela Fox, a front-end engineer at online educator Khan Academy. But some poorly designed APIs -- such as Facebook's -- can't be avoided, she notes. Another example is the Google Maps API, which requires developers to sign up and use a key, to many coders' annoyance. "That just lowered the barrier for signup," prompting Google to eventually get rid of it, Fox recalls from her stint in Google's developer relations team.
PayPal's APIs had become complex and in some cases redundant, creating integration difficulties for developers. Then PayPal reworked its APIs to focus on JSON, REST and Oauth earlier this year, using a standard API model. "The new REST APIs offer all the same functionality in a simple, consistent way," says Deepak Nadig, PayPal's director of platform engineering.
APIs come from all sorts of industries
Mobile and cloud technologies are major drivers of the increasing number of APIs, as they let developers link customers to services residing on clouds and funneled to devices -- a reflection of the connected, heterogeneous reality of today's computing as compared to the old enterprise model of closed, complete systems. An Apple iPhone application, for example, might access an online merchant, PayPal payment services, and FedEx shipping services, Nadig says. As a result, "every company is feeling the mandate for them to expose APIs."
Participants in the burgeoning API landscape come from a variety of industries. Walgreen's, a $72 billion pharmacy chain, is counting on APIs in a big way in its e-commerce efforts: Its APIs lets both Walgreen's own app and others' applications order prescription refills, for example. As a result, those APIs are used to refill a prescription every second, says Joe Rago, a senior product manager for the Walgreen's API program.
Walgreen's also has an API for its QuickPrints photo-printing service, which gives third-party developers a 15 percent cut of net sales. Additionally, the company offers an appointment-scheduling API and its own software development kit.
Financial services provider Tradier has built its business by giving third-party developers APIs for cloud access to trade data, trade execution, and market access. Developers use them to build applications such as algorithmic and robotic trading systems.
Even the federal government has gotten into the act. Independent consultant Lane has been working on claims-processing APIs for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He's also worked with the Census Bureau and other federal agencies on API strategy.
This story, "The risks and rewards of the age of APIs," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in software development at InfoWorld.com. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.


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By David Siddall
The Monster in Question.
PARTON residents are baffled by what has been described as a "mini Loch Ness Monster" washed up on their beach.
Joan Singleton, from Firth View was strolling on the foreshore near to where Lowca Beck flows out to sea when she came upon the "monster".
She alerted friends, saying she had never seen anything like it.
Jack Southam, skipper of the Whitehaven sea angling charterboat Riptide, said on seeing a photograph of it: "I have never seen anything like this in all my years at sea."
Another Parton resident told The Whitehaven News: "It seems to have a seal's body, the tail of a whale, fins on top and sides, but also claws and really sharp teeth."
Do you have any clues what this peculiar beastie might be? Call our newsdesk on (01946) 595136.
Source: Whitehaven-News-UK
Lake's Legend Lives?... August 2004
Vacationers see seagull fall prey to snake-like creature
By DAN HEATH, Staff Writer
CHAMPLAIN — Seeing is believing.
Five Maryland residents vacationing here say they had a close encounter with Champ, Lake Champlain's lurking legend last week.
"I was born in Champlain. I never believed in Champ or the Loch Ness monster," said Bob Gload of Crofton, Maryland. "I believe now."
Bob and four of his grandchildren were enjoying a quiet Wednesday afternoon of bass fishing. At around 3 p.m., he piloted his 1962 Crestliner to the middle of the lake, partway between Point Au Fer and Isle La Motte, Vt.
Gload, 10-year-old Russell Crim and 7-year-old Kaylee Gload were near the stern, facing Isle La Motte. Matthew Crim, 10, and Taylor Gload, 12, were on the boat's bow, facing Chazy Landing.
"We heard a seagull crying. It was flapping around in the water about 150 yards away," Taylor said. Matthew yelled there were three muskies trying to get a seagull, alerting Bob.
"I turned around and saw that explosion from the water. I saw three humps, two- to three-feet tall, about four- or five-feet apart," Bob said.
Taylor scrambled to get the camera, but by then it was too late. The creature had slipped back beneath the water. "We watched, and it resurfaced farther north, then that was it," Bob said. "It appeared to be undulating, like the way a snake moves."
He quickly looked around to see if any other boats were nearby, but they were alone.
"It was a very calm day. There were no ripples on the water at all," Bob said. All five saw the creature. Bob said Kaylee appeared a little frightened by what she saw.
"I wasn't scared," she said.
She described the creature as a dark, dark black color, while Russell said it had a snake-like shape.
"I though right away it was Champ," Russell said. The visitors have been keeping an eye out in the days following their sighting. "We've been watching with binoculars off and on since then," Matthew said.
"We'll keep watching," Taylor said. "Maybe we'll get a picture of it next time."
There are reports of a similar creature, Chessie, which is believed to inhabit Chesapeake Bay, near where the Gload and Crim families live.
"I've always wanted to believe in Chessie. Now that I've seen this, it definitely could exist," Taylor said. "I imagine it could be a plesiosaur, like the Loch Ness monster is supposed to be."
While the four youngsters say they weren't afraid of Lake Champlain's monster, none of them is eager to go swimming. "I'm kind of creeped out something that big is out there," Taylor said.
He might go back in the water, as long as some others go with him. "At least if there's someone with you, it can eat the other people first," Taylor said.
Bob said he's been fishing in that area for more than 60 years, but this was a first.
"This was different because of the seagull," he said. "Muskies have been known to eat small baby ducks, but I've never heard of one eating a seagull."
The Gloads and Crims were visiting the North Country for a family reunion. With more than 150 family members gathered over the weekend at Cumberland Head State Park, it was going to be a great opportunity for the five witnesses to tell their tale.
"Half of them won't believe it. They'll say it was probably waves or muskies," Bob said. "All I know is I've been fishing a long time, and I've never seen anything like that."
Source: PressRepublican.com
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All things under the sun are described thus. There is nothing exceptional about that. Let's describe something else in the same manner--money.raymerjacque wrote:Are you guys listening to yourselves ?
"FF is great "unless...." , FF is great "as long as you don'...", FF is great "except for...."
Money is great, unless somebody whacks you for it. Money is great, as long as you don't go to jail for embezzlement. Money is great, except for the taxes you have to pay.