text:
SEATCupra.net were invited to the international press launch of the new MK3 Leon. Syphon was able to get some time off work at the last minute and was lucky enough to fly out to Malaga and drive the car for the first time. He has written this feature on the experience and his thoughts on the car.
SEATCupra.net were kindly offered an opportunity to test drive the new third generation Leon in Malaga. Luckily I was able to arrange some last minute annual leave from work. It was an opportunity not to be missed considering we are still several months away from models being available in the UK.
Having travelled across to Stansted from Bristol on Sunday I stayed overnight with some of the media and SEAT's press team at the nearest hotel. Over dinner we discussed the new Leon amongst other cars in the range.
Of course, any news about a forthcoming Cupra model was top of my agenda from a personal perspective as well as for readers of the site.
There is no risk of spoiling this review by saying that from what we've read already, the Cupra is expected to be shown at the Geneva motor show in early 2014 and will make its way into showrooms later that same year. It will most likely be in available all three body specifications as well; SC, 5 door and ST.
With FR now classed as a trim, we are seeing sporty styling right from launch which can only be a good thing. Many will remember the MK2 launching with the TFSI model 180HP in basic trim (what would later become FR), much to the frustration of some owners I'm sure.
Whilst it has frustrated some forum members that the new FR identity has "diluted" what FR stands for, you can absolutely see why SEAT have done it. They want and need to sell more cars. In a world where sporty, fast, fuel-guzzling models are on the decline, the aim is that people can benefit from the economy while still enjoying the sporty styling. With the range topping Cupra and Cupra R to come, the overall range now appears more balanced.
I was asked to find out what has happened to the TDI FR 2.0 184hp model and why it has dropped off the configurator having been on there briefly. This it was explained is down to production line capacity and priorities and it will arrive in the UK in May with the 180hp petrol in April. The rest of the range will arrive in March and some possibly slipping in as early as February.
A late dinner followed by an early start. We checked in at 6.30am with the flight leaving at 8am. It's cheaper for SEAT to charter a flight and representatives from the majority of the major publications filled the plane. Chatting to some of them it's interesting to hear that this is largely how they live; trips to Europe almost weekly for some, different cars on their drive all the time. A petrol head's dream.
As a SEAT enthusiast this opportunity is something I am extremely grateful for and needless to say the excitement probably contributed to a poor night's sleep. For the number of the journalists on board it's clear this is just another test drive that will be forgotten come their next trip in a week or two. On board the plane I consider keeping my SEAT branded paper drink's coaster as a souvenir but then realized that's probably going a bit too far.
During the flight Mark from the SEAT team handed us a press pack that included details of the models we would be driving, as well as a detailed document showing the Leon's history and a lot of comparison charts pitting the Leon against its competitors.
One of the questions I aimed to ask was who do SEAT see as their competitors currently?
The company comparisons are made mainly against the Ford Focus and the Vauxhall Astra. Some of the tables compare prices against the whole hatchback market including KIA, Peugeot, BMW and Honda.
It confirmed what I was told during dinner on Sunday evening, that the SC and ST models of the new Leon will be on sale by the end of 2013, so expect a staggered launch with the complete range of body styles fully rolled out by then. This should include a Cupra specification in all three of the body styles to follow at a later stage.
The flight lasted around three hours and having earlier in the year been to the Paris motor show with m0rk to see the new Leon at its launch event I was excited to be getting behind the wheel of the new model on the Spanish roads.
We arrive
After making our way through the airport we were taken to SEAT's welcome desk. Press packs were handed out and some staff greeted us armed with iPads which had all the press cars available for us to choose. I was quite far back so unfortunately all the sporty models had been snapped up. I paired up with a journalist I met on the flight and we chose the 1.4 TSI SE model in a metallic grey.
We walked through to an area of the car park that SEAT had taken over and there were lines of shiny new SEAT Leon's. The FR models standing out the most striking in a bright red colour. Every car there had the front LED headlight option box ticked. It's not surprising as they really are one of the stand out features of the car and the whole purpose of this event was to impress.
We made our way over to our car and the staff fitted the in-car cameras for us to use. I took a quick look round and took some photos and then we were all set to go.
I'm not very used to driving on the other side of the road, nor am I used to driving in a left hand drive car so I was grateful my new driving buddy (a seasoned motoring journalist from Scotland called Stewart) offered to take the wheel first.
As we pulled away it gave me a chance to poke round the cabin.
1.4 TSI SE (Monsoon Grey)
Our car came equipped with full leather in cream and it certainly brightened the cabin. Personally I prefer the darker trim of the sportier models, but it was still a very nice place to be. Of course most options had been ticked and the car had sat-nav included as well as the "SEAT sound system".
Minor details showed the extra care that has been taken with this interior. Small things like the much roomier glove box having a soft opening mechanism, and no skimping on an interior light either.
Soft touch plastic/rubber runs throughout the cabin. There are still some hard bits, but these are not in critical areas.
Forward visibility is greatly improved on the new model with much smaller A pillars. Something the outgoing Mk2 really falls down upon, but speaking as an owner something you learn to live with.
The arrow-head mirrors are striking and feature side indicators. Our car had the auto dimming mirror which above it houses the forward facing camera for all the trickery such as lane guidance (more on this later).
SEAT provided us with a route book, which took us through some challenging roads that would ultimately end up with us arriving at the first stop by mid-afternoon.
After a couple of missed turns (thanks to my poor navigation skills as passenger) and having to double back on ourselves we earned some angry Spanish beeps. If only I'd of had a flag to wave out the window that said "Sorry, we're British".
We headed up a very steep mountain road with a winding climb for many miles. After overtaking a couple of struggling vans, Stewart was able to really open up the car, and give it some real enthusiasm into each corner. If I'm honest I started to feel a bit sick after a while, a combination of being chucked hard from side to side relentlessly and not being in the driving seat.
We stopped near the summit and swapped over. A quick adjustment of the driving position and I tried to rewire my brain to the gear stick being on the other side. That bit I managed, but then pulled off straight onto the wrong side of the road, thankfully my passenger quickly pointed this mistake out to me and thankfully road was quiet. I'll probably include this in the blooper reel.
I took it easy at first to get my confidence level up. As we reached the top of the mountain the view was amazing. Looking down over Malaga and seeing more mountains of a similar height far away in the distance with clouds around them made for a breath-taking vista. We weren't there for the scenery though and I had to really concentrate on staying on the correct side of the road while not banging my left hand on the door looking for an imaginary gear stick.
Luckily I could pretty much stay in third gear as we began to snake our way back down the mountain. As my confidence grew, I started to push the car faster into the corners and it handled it well. The ride was comfortable, obviously helped by the quality of the Spanish roads, which were excellent, give or take the odd landslide we had to dodge from some earlier flooding.
The first "Cube"
Our first leg concluded at the first of two "SEAT Cubes". These "Cubes" are a large cube shaped (hence the name) white structure, which are branded with the SEAT logo on the outside. Inside it was like a mini motor show presentation with trim samples, colour combinations and artwork highlighting parts of the car. In the centre was a mini presentation area complete with studio lighting and large screens that were running looping promotional videos.
We missed the first presentation and sat out in the sun and tucked into lunch. Some more journalists arrived back having taken a few wrong turns themselves and before long we were inside waiting for the presentation to run again for our benefit.
We were introduced to Tony Gallardo from the design team and he took us through the details of the design on the car. He compared the lines on the side to the tension of an arrow before flight, the rear haunches were described as being as wide as possible and showing a muscular stance, while the front of the car showed stability and poise like a sprinter on the starting blocks. It is clear that SEAT has put a lot of thought into the design of the car and it is certainly their most striking model to date.
Luc Donckerwolke (previously of Lamborghini fame) has now left SEAT to become the Director of Design for Volkswagen but has left SEAT with a strong legacy to build upon. Being the SEAT geek I am I have watched the full 15 minutes of the design video on SEAT's media site and it is clear anyone who still accuses SEAT's cars as "coming from the VW parts bin" couldn't be more wrong. This is a 100% SEAT design and in fact from speaking to the press team, the other members of the VAG group apparently take quite a lot of innovation from within SEAT themselves for their own products.
After the design presentation we were introduced to Fermin Soneira who is a senior engineer. He started by explaining that this is the best SEAT model they have ever designed and built. He took us through highlight features, firstly focusing on the front lights. For the geeks amongst you the lights are running at 5500 kelvin, the closest they could get to natural daylight, which is 7000 kelvin. The rear LED brake lights are also able to respond 0.2 seconds quicker than their halogen alternatives.
The "infotainment" system was next and the interface has been designed specifically for SEAT including a layout and design that feels integrated into the styling of the dash. It is also been made very intuitive to use (more on this later).
Fermin continued by describing the improved aerodynamics over the previous model (10%) and the significant weight reduction that the new platform provides as well as introducing a higher level of agility. He made reference to the previous model's chassis being a bit too stiff, particularly for our roads in the UK.
Next year more technology will be introduced in addition to technologies like lane assist and tiredness recognition that are already available. These include a special braking system to minimise impact during a multi-collision pile up, traffic sign scanning to identify speed limits connected to the sat-nav system and self-adjusting cruise control that will slow the vehicle down if you get too close to the car in front.
The Cupra discussion
The presentation drew to a close and we were told about our next leg of the journey to Cube Two, but I took the opportunity to speak with Fermin. I'm glad I did. He is involved in the testing process of the new Cupra and the new Leon with the Mk2 Cupra R wheels, which was captured recently during testing, is the test mule as we had suspected.
He said the drive is significantly better than the Mk2 and indicated the mule is running higher power than we are likely to see in the release version. One of the UK team told me later that they had been there when the car had driven past and he said the sound from the dual exhaust was awesome!
As previously mentioned we are unlikely to see the new Leon Cupra until 2014, but if Fermin has his way we may see something towards the end of next year. Fingers crossed.
It was clear from our discussion the importance the brand still place on the Cupra which is reassuring they aren't going to go completely ECO on us just yet.
1.6 TDI 1SE 105HP DSG (White)
It was time for a car swap before we left. Again all the FR's had gone so we took the 1.6TDI. This model is expected to be the biggest seller in the UK (minus the DSG) and my driving buddy was most interested in this for his review. Our next route would take us on a reasonable journey to the next cube which was located at the heart of Malaga's port.
We began our journey with our usual approach of turning the wrong way taking about 10 minutes to realise we'd need to double back on ourselves again. Yes I was navigating again (if you can call it that) from the passenger seat.
The interior of this car was a more familiar black and dark grey affair and it really is a nice place to be. I know I said that before, but it's worth repeating… The interior really is brilliant, and I don't think the Mk2 interior was as bad as a lot of people made out either.
This second route had us mainly travel on motorways to see how the cars performed on long journeys.
About half way through the journey after passing through a tollbooth we swapped places so I could have a drive. Slipping into the seat I had to again rewire my brain, not only to drive on the right hand side as well as sitting on the left hand side, but also getting used to an automatic and not slamming my clutch foot on the brake. I'm a man, I can't multitask!
Luckily we weren't doing anything particularly challenging route wise at the start so I got used to it pretty quickly without taking us down the side of a mountain.
The engine delivered more torque than the previous car and it was certainly a good cruiser. The gear changes were smooth and I can see it being a very popular model as SEAT expect it to be.
Whilst driving I took the opportunity to explore some of the driving assistance gadgets, I found it was easy to switch on lane assist from the centre console. This function was a new experience for me, having not driven a vehicle with these features before. The front camera looks for the markings in the road to show where you are in relation to the lanes. If you are nicely in the centre the virtual indicator shows green lines. If you start to drift towards one of the lines it changes colour and you can feel the wheel making very slight adjustments to move you back to the centre of the lane. I didn't notice this when I was indicating to change lanes so I would assume the system realises you are intending to take this action so backs off. The technology is clearly there to help drive for you and with Google's innovating steps in this area of technology (see Google's self-driving car) I don't think the future of vehicle automation is that far away.
The controls for the system were easy to use on the move and not distracting. The cruise control stalk sits on its own below the indicator and gives you more control than the previous integrated option on the previous Mk2 models.
As a gadget lover I would find it hard to resist ticking the options boxes for this modern wizardry. Some will say it is taking the fun out of driving, but on a long cruise I would find it kind of reassuring that there's a front facing camera keeping an eye out just in case.
The second "Cube"
As mentioned earlier the second cube was located in the port of Malaga and we arrived late again to hear the tail end of the next presentation. Thankfully another one was due a bit later on.
Neil Reeve from Communications introduced an overview of the second briefing and introduced Richard Harrison from SEAT HQ who is the group sales director for Euro 5 (the biggest target European Countries, of which the UK is one).
Each trim level was explained to us and it was made clear that "boy racer styling" is not where they want to take the brand. This is one of the reasons I like SEAT. I don't think I could live with a full on bling car like the Focus RS. A nice sporty not too in your face Cupra will do the job just nicely, especially as I'm supposed to be older and more responsible nowadays.
The FR trim will see more colour variation. I did notice the colour palette on the configurator seems a little subdued from previous colours we've seen in the past. Hopefully this will improve quite soon. The production run sounds like it's still getting into the swing of things.
Leon is seen as the second pillar for SEAT with Ibiza taking the first spot. SEAT want to sell as many Leons as Ibiza's and this car had to be just right. They are already getting close to that ambition in some countries with the Mk2, but the new three model Leon line up should give them the final boost they need to achieve that aim by giving the customer greater choice.
SC will arrive in the middle of next year and the ST towards the end as previously mentioned.
There have been 1.2 million Leon customers (Mk1 & 2). SEAT admits they have been too dependent on Europe, which has its vulnerabilities hence the move into other markets, such as China and now Russia.
Their goal is to get a 3% market share across Europe. They are on target to achieve this in the UK. The magic 3% is based on research showing that is the point when customers actively notice a significant number of the cars on the road which builds that key brand awareness.
Next to speak was Peter Whinney, Head of SEAT UK. He explained SEAT has been doing well in the UK with a total of 36,089 cars sold in 2011. In September this year they had their best ever-sales month of 8000 cars, which is a 2.2% market share. They are well on course for a record sales volume and market share by the time 2012 is finished.
SEAT currently has a 124 strong dealer network within the UK, which Peter said is the best they've had in the UK to date.
131,000 Leons have been sold in the UK overall to date making up 31% of SEAT's sales. In 2007 the Leon unusually outsold the Ibiza by 500 cars.
In 2012 there have been over 13,000 Leon sales driven by strong run out models such as the FR+ and finance offers.
The FR, Cupra and Cupra R models have totalled 37,000 sales since 2000. That is 28% of all Leon sales.
After the end of the presentation I was in no doubt how important this Leon launch is for SEAT and they really are pulling out all the stops in terms of quality, model coverage and promotion. They are off to a flying start with the praise the car has already received from the motoring press.
Dinner and a chat with the Head of SEAT UK
We left the second cube and were taken back to the hotel in a fleet of Alhambras. Dinner was at 8.30pm and we were transported, again by Alhambra to the restaurant. SEAT staff were seated at each table amongst the journalists and I sat next to Juliet, SEAT UK's Head of Public Relations. Tony from SEAT design was also seated at our table and I asked him how much of the new Leon was Luc Donckerwolke's and if the new Head of SEAT design Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos had made much of a mark on the new car. Tony explained that 98% of the car is Luc's vision. I also asked about the Facelift Ibiza Cupra and he expressed that was also Luc's as well. It is clear we have yet to see Alejandro's influence. Personally I hope he doesn't deviate too much from the course Luc has set. The new SEAT breed are stunning in my (slightly) biased view.
I had asked Juliet if I would be able to grab some time with Peter appreciating he's busy and the media would be vying for his time. She said she would make sure I had some time to speak to him. Luckily I managed to grab him after the meal and I was able to share the trip back to the hotel with him. I have met him before at the EXEO launch in Gloucester a few years ago (see review here: http://www.seatcupra.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1079&Itemid=9)
He appreciates the SEATCupra.net forum and its membership and through his leadership he's allowed his team to support us in a variety of ways over the years with exclusives such as the Mk2 Leon Cupra R unveil before any journalist was shown the car (see here: http://www.seatcupra.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1212&Itemid=9) and invitations to launch events such as this one.
I had a list of questions I wanted to ask him, some of which had already been answered during the day and we talked about his love of performance sporty cars and how he keeps coming back to a Cupra R as his own company car. He's been through quite a few, as the mileage has to be kept down quite low. You may be surprised to hear he's even driven a REVO tuned Leon Cupra round the track as well as a REVO tuned Ibiza Cupra. He's fully aware of what's out there and he shares many of our readerships' love for fast cars and motorsport.
One of the questions I asked was does he think the three year warranty is enough in the face of five and seven year warranties. He said they have no indication this is an issue with many of SEAT's market choosing three year PCP plans and when the car's go on re-sale the warranty is extended for a further period. He feels a different demographic are buying the cars with longer warranties and intend to keep them much longer. So in short, he didn't see it as an issue or threat.
Naturally we talked Mk3 Cupra and I had some further questions to those I'd had answered already.
Firstly on the race to 300HP. His view is the cars should remain balanced and he'd like to see improvements in handling possibly with suspension adjustments and more work in that area to get round the track quicker. Many will know that the Mk2 Cupra R beat rivals including the Focus RS round a track test a couple of years ago. So it's not all about power. Considering that the Mk3 chassis is quite a bit lighter than the Mk2 as well.
Secondly, 4WD Cupra? Peter explained that he doesn't know of anything in the pipeline and said that with 4WD obviously comes a couple of thousand pounds worth of cost. Would people be prepared to pay that? There is also the extra weight issue to contend with. He said don't rule it out, but there's nothing he's heard of at the moment.
Thirdly Cupra DSG? Nothing he's aware of at the moment, but could be an option if the potential demand is there.
Finally, a cheeky one, Ibiza Cupra R? His response was "give us a chance!" having of course only just announced the face lifted Ibiza Cupra.
New Leon and Options
I was introduced to James who is the Leon Product Manager for the UK and we discussed options for the forthcoming Leon, specifically Cupra. James sounds really busy at the moment with lots of meetings in Spain with his counterparts from around the world planning and prepping for the launches and roll outs of the car.
He said that they are planning to try and offer the options as packs bundled together which offers better value to the customer, something they can negotiate with Spain and that potentially can add value to the car on resale and separate it out (think EXEO Tec vs just EXEO, or ST1 ST2 and so on). This sounds like a smart move and a good way for people to tick some more options without the current situation where to get the things you want you are spending thousands more on things that count for next to nothing come resale.
I made a plea that the Cupra comes with the front LEDs as standard, like the Mk2 originally did with its HID xenon headlights. Fingers crossed!
It was getting late and I stopped pestering SEAT staff as people headed off to bed. Final day, FR time - 2.0 TDI FR, 184HP (Red)
I had managed to reserve the FR the night before. I didn't want to leave without getting a good drive in one of the current flagship models.
After breakfast the car was waiting outside the hotel having been cleaned from the night before. It really looked stunning in red and was drawing lots of attention from passers-by.
Stewart was happy to let me drive the car the whole time as he'd had a good run in the car he was really interested in.
The car, like the others was fully kitted out and had leather with the red stitching on the wheel, gear stick etc. The interior is dark and looked great.
We had been given another route that would keep us within range of the airport and we would then be able to make our own way there when we were ready.
After 2 minutes we had gone the wrong way of course and were driving around the busy streets of Malaga at the start of rush hour so we decided to just make our route up.
We must have gone round in circles a few times and finally escaped from the city's hustle and bustle with not so much as an aggressive gesture from the local commuters.
We hit a stretch of motorway and decided to keep the airport tower in view but head for the biggest mountain we could see. It seemed to have roads going up it so that surely would be a good bet.
We travelled for some time until we were at the foot of the mountain. The roads were there but so were busy residential houses (clearly quite expensive ones) that twisted up the hill at regular intervals, but with a 20Kph limit and the roads all ended with dead ends at the top.
We carried on but the situation didn't really change and we didn't want to stray too far from the airport.
Frustrated I headed up stretch that wasn't as busy as the others and I had a chance to feel the immense torque of the car effortlessly pulling us up the hill, but it was short lived.
We stopped to take a few pictures but decided we had better make our way back to the airport.
Disappointedly I didn't get to put the car through its paces and compare the better rear suspension to the models from the day before, but it was our own fault for getting lost.
I know the potential is there and from the short bursts I had in the car it was impressive, but I'll have to imagine the rest. Hopefully we'll get the chance to test the cars on UK roads next year.
We made our way back to the airport car park we started in the day before and handed over the keys.
The car had real presence in the car park in FR trim as we walked away and headed for check in.
Wrap up
The flight back gave me a chance to write a lot of this feature and reflect on the previous two days.
I am very grateful for SEAT's hospitality and allowing SEATCupra.net to see the car well before its UK debut and drive it.
It is clear that the new Leon is extremely important to SEAT. It represents a turning point and one that they have to sell well. They have a great product and I am sure that it will do well.
The early press reviews sing its praises. I don't remember ever seeing a SEAT getting a five star review, and its been muted that the car has the potential to take prestigious motoring awards in the coming year.
The new arrow design is striking in the flesh, even more so than in the pictures you've seen.
The interior has vastly improved over what we've seen before on a SEAT, the quality and attention to detail is clear to see and feel.
The drive, even on the lower spec models is first class, an involving and exhilarating experience.
For all the Cupra fans rest assured, the Cupra when it arrives will blow the previous generations away, I am 110% confident of that.
I am back home and really excited for the future of SEAT and it is clear they are too.
More pictures in the gallery


text:
View mobile site
Follow us on
Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013 | 11:54 a.m.
Hi, (not you?) | Member Center | Sign Out
Sign In | Register
Posted: 2:39 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013
Police say the U.S. Capitol has been put on a security lockdown amid reports of possible shots fired outside the building.
People standing outside the Supreme Court across the street from Congress were hurried into the court building by authorities.
In a notice distributed by email, the U.S. Capitol Police advised everyone to "close, lock and stay away from external doors and windows.
The notice said gunshots have been reported on Capitol Hill. There are unconfirmed reports of an officer injured.
5 Day Forecast
Regional Radar
Early Warning Doppler 9
Local Radar
Local Radar Loop
Local Temperatures
Regional Radar Loop
Already have an account? Sign In
We have sent you a confirmation email. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
We look forward to seeing you frequently. Visit us and sign in to update your profile, receive the latest news and keep up to date with mobile alerts.
Don't worry, it happens. We'll send you a link to create a new password.
We have sent you an email with a link to change your password.
We've sent an email with instructions to create a new password. Your existing password has not been changed.
To sign in you must verify your email address. Fill out the form below and we'll send you an email to verify.
Check your email for a link to verify your email address.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Master Shingle ApplicatorThe Master Shingle Applicator™ program provides education in every aspect of shingle installation techniques, and the approved procedures for installing all CertainTeed shingles. The program covers topics such as workmanship, roof systems, estimating, flashing, ventilation, and product installation instructions. Benefits of the program include:
Additional Questions? Call (800)404-9880. |


text:
Institutional Member: Society Without Violence
Every week we profile a different institutional AWID member. If you would like to be profiled here, please send your biographical information to firstname.lastname@example.com
Society Without Violence (SWV) is a non-governmental organization founded in 2001, operating in Yerevan and four (Shirak, Lori, Gexarquniq and Syuniq) other regions in Armenia. The organization envisions a civil society without violence, a country that will be governed by people adherent to true democratic values, citizens who respect and promote gender equality and a society with no space for violence against women. The organization aims to share human rights skills and knowledge with others, educate and inspire young women and girls to be active in political, social and cultural spheres of life, and empower women and girls to become leaders and women human rights defenders. Within 10 years SWV has created a "Society without Violence Network" which includes active youth from the above mentioned regions. The organization is a member of the "Coalition to Stop Violence against Women" and the "Young Women's Network of South Caucasus". For further information about SWV, please visit their website


text:
A pair of North Creek Traders® Crew-neck Long-sleeved Shirts for the best in soft, relaxed comfort. A Close-Out deal you shouldn't miss. They're 100% cotton, the foundation of comfort. These long-sleeved Tees go on easy and keep the chills at bay all day. Work great as undershirts when the weather is particularly nasty, or on their own for a lazy Saturday afternoon. Straight hem. You get 2 in your choice of 2 different color combos. Machine wash / dry. Imported.
State Color and Size, as available in the Shopping Cart below. A great find that you'll wear everywhere. Get them with savings ONLINE today!
!!! Limited Quantities !!!
2 North Creek Traders® Long-sleeved Crew-neck Shirts
You qualify for a free gift. It will be added to your cart automatically.
Shop Similar Items
to find something that we have now or that can be backordered.
If you would like to be notified when we have this item available for sale, click
and enter your email address to receive an email notification.


text:
Chamber accuses nine ringers of voting in Vernon to steal a city council election
Vernon City SealIn the small city of Vernon, resignations come in threes. Mayor Hilario Gonzales announced he was stepping down two weeks ago. Michael Montgomery, the napping city attorney, also cleaned out his desk.Today, we have the resignation of the biggest fish of them all: Eric Fresch, a la ... More >>
HatMA Rolls Royce pension came out of one gritty SoCal city.Pensions and retirement benefits are in the hot seat these days, even in union-friendly L.A. City Hall, where Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a beneficiary of labor's support, has asked for concessions to help with L.A.'s looming $400 mi ... More >>


text:
anybody getting ready for turkey hunting this season?? the opener is about a month away and i can't wait.
I just ordered a few new calls and plan on showing Spanishfly and Klintd how it's done this year!:thumb:
Absolutely! My son is currently taking his Hunter Ed class so I can drag him kicking and screaming into the woods on April 15th! I can't wait- neither can he!
To be honest, I'm not really sure yet. This will be my first season of hunting turkeys in Washington.
If you want some input, feel free to shoot me a pm. last year was my first year and 3 of us killed 4 birds.
Thanks Josh, I'll take any info you're willing to share. My biggest challenge will be locating areas to hunt that have birds and access. The calling and actual hunting part I have pretty much down to a science.
If anyone is interested there are lots of Merriams around our place in Oroville. Can't hunt on the property, but two miles up the road is access to thousands of acres... There's liable to still be some snow up there come to think of it...
Whatever..... Dude! Your going with me I'll get you into a bird :thumb: I'll try not to spook them as they come struting in.... :rofl:
Ahhh....thank god i live in eastern washington...turkey's abound. Had one in my yard the a couple of months ago and i live in town (spokane). I heard some noise that E WA is one of best places in the COUNTRY to hunt for wild turkeys...and the season is two weeks longer this year... My wife's birthday is the 16th.....so the opener might be a tough one for the rest of my life.....but plenty of time after that....and if anyone needs feathers, let me know If anyone needs some clues to good dry side stuff, i can try to most certaily help out to clue you in Thanks Josh
I just hope that with the winter being what it was (or in some cases still is), they won't start their routine too late or too early for the opener. Two years ago in the area I hunt (near Davenport), they did their thing early and by opening day there were darn few birds to be seen. Last year did a cast and blast in Hell's Canyon so I missed the traditonal opener in Washington. In a few years there'll be good turkey hunting in even more areas than there is now...the population spread of birds is impressive to say the least. Talk about an ability to adapt. Good luck all.
I'll be out for my first time this year. I'm going with a buddy with some experience. Is there any special Turkey hunting etiquette I should know about?
BTW, I was thinking of another try at the Entiat this year for gobbler. By the time I went it seemd like it was pretty hunted out with only females left. I'm thinking it's too close to many little towns and Wetsnatchee.
don't shoot anybody and don't stalk a gobbling turkey...oh and don't lowhole anyone either:thumb: seriously stalking a turkey is bad news, illegal in some states, because people get shot. the hunter who is doing the gobbling if thats the case, sees something move and shoots. i personally know 2 people who got shot in new york turkey hunting(both at the same time when a hunter came upon one of their decoys and shot it, and them at the same time), and one old man who shot somebody. none of the victims were killed or seriously injured for that matter, but turkey hunting can be a dangerous sport. Matt...i would think there's enough land in the entiat that if you hiked away from the road for a mile or so, you'd leave most of the other hunters and find some undisturbed turkeys. just a guess...never hunted turkeys there before.
And I drove that rode up a ways, but not to the falls. Serious 4wheel, even when dry. Saw lots of Varmint too. There is a rumor there are fish above the falls, if your rig makes it, but I don't know. Instead of getting to it at the mouth, I was thinking of climbing the ridge from the west side, starting at the tribes and then down to the mouth. I'm not giving away anyone's favorite hole, am I? I'd hate for that kind of crap to bleed over onto this forum. Hiking away from the rest of the pack sounds like a hell of an idea, with about thirty pounds of overnight crap. Maybe a rod and plenty of ammo. In case I get bored and hunt cans. Americans, Mexicans, Pakistanicans, etc.
Roper, Josh, Matt: Thanks for the tips. I can see where turkey hunting could be a dangerous endeavor. ps: Roper, it's beginning to sound like I should wear my upland bird vest.
Well, I wouldn't do that, but many folks don't think about a bandana looking like a big red turkey snood, blue also...and the snood is the X ring for turkey hunters...


text:
Originally the Airbus A350 concept resembled the Airbus A330 with a modified wing design, engines and a horizontal stabilizer coupled with new composite materials and production methods.
In December 2004 the boards of EADS and BAE Systems, then the shareholders of Airbus, gave Airbus an "authorisation to offer (ATO)", and formally named it the A350.
At the Farnborough Air Show in July 2006, Airbus announced the Airbus A350 XWB (Xtra Wide-Body). First delivery for the Airbus A350-900 is scheduled for mid-2013, with the -800 and -1000 following on, respectively, 12 and 24 months later..
The fuselage was to consist primarily of aluminium-lithium alloys, rather than carbon fiber reinforced plastic. It was intended to enter service in 2010 in two versions; the Airbus A350-800 capable of flying 16,300km with typical passenger capacity of 253 in 3-class configuration and the Airbus A350-900 with a 13,890 km range and typical 300-seat 3-class configuration.
Airbus faced criticism on the Airbus A350 XWB program by potential customers. Airbus responded by stating it was considering improvements for the A350 to satisfy customer demands, and in 2006 Airbus undertook a major review of the A350 concept. The proposed new A350 was to become more of a competitor to the larger Boeing 777 as well as some models of the Boeing 787, with a larger fuselage cross-section able to accommodate 9 passengers per row in economy class.
Read more about the history of Airbus A350 XWB in the Flight Archive
Airbus A350-900
Yemenia Orders 10 A350'sAirbus Doesn't need China to Win the 2007 Order Race
External links:Read flightblogger here
The latest discussions on Flightglobal's Fourms:
More Airbus A350 News from Flight Global
More Airbus A350 News from around the web


text:
Outside the Fed
Short Term Rentals in Washington DC
Journalists often find themselves traveling to important events in big cities. Sometimes, you might even be working in one place for an extended period of time, say covering a big debate in congress. In that case, you might be better off finding a good deal on Washington DC vacation rentals rather than a hotel or apartment.
Outside of The Fed
Treatment Center
Drug problems are becoming a more and more pressing part of everyday society - and writers are a notoriously hard-hit group, even those iron-clad stalworts at The Fed. If you or a classmate or friend has been hit by dependency issues, it's best to turn to a drug treatment center for professional help. The students at Columbia and staff of The Fed are not immune - sometimes it makes sense to seek help.
Letter from the Editors
Editor-in-Chief Sam Kazer, Editor-in-Chief David Salazar
George Zimmerman, CC '17, Has a Difficult Time Making Friends at NSOP
Submissions Editor Nia Ashley
A Cappella Groupies on the Rise
Contributor Kylie Warner
Hartley Offers too Little Hospitality
Contributor Aditya Nair
South Lawn Gets Spooky
Contributor Sarah Weinstein
Bootlegging at Barnard
Co-Editor-in-Chief David Salazar
Pumpkin Spice Lattes #PSL
Graphics Editor Mariana Robertson
Three local Starbucks found serving stolen Blue Java coffee
Contributor Juliet Brooks
Closed EC Door Spells Disaster for Freshman
Contributor Claire Parker
Potential Poli-Sci major Solves Syrian crisis
Contributor Sydney Thieme
Fear and Loathing in East Campus
Ahmed Khalifa
Carmanites Send Print Jobs to North Korea
Contributor Kevin Chen
Columbia Package Center Delivers More Than Packages
Contributor Elena Nicolaou
Every Day of Class
Contributor Gemma Gené
Cover Image: -- [View Larger Version]


text:
PixYPHUS HD (Ad-Free)
**New & Noteworthy in iPad Adventure Games**
**New & Noteworthy in iPad Educational Games**
Beauty and futility.
Pixyphus has been doomed to push a boulder up a mountain for eternity.
PixYPHUS is based on the Greek myth surrounding Sisyphus, who was condemned by Zeus to an eternity of pushing a boulder up a mountain as punishment for tricking the gods.
PixYPHUS is played by touching the left side of the screen to move Pixyphus left and the right side of the screen to move him right. It is only possible to move left if Pixyphus is pushing the boulder. If the player lets go of the screen, even for just a moment, the boulder will fall.
I look at this game as a living thing, and you can expect it to grow and change according to where my creativity resides.
This is the Ad Free iPad version of the full game.
Have an iPhone or iPod Touch? PixYPHUS is now available on the iPhone App Store!
* Get immediate updates about PixYPHUS by following me on Twitter @PixYPHUS
* Get immediate updates on all my games by following me on Twitter @SimonsGames
This game was made by one person.
I'm Simon Alexander. I read every email and every review. I would love to hear your feedback. You can email me at firstname.lastname@example.com or play a game of Words With Friends with me, username: simonalexandergames
Share with Others
- Last changed:
- Feb 29, 2012
- Category:
- Games
- Developer:
- Simon Alexander
- Version:
- 1.0
- Average Rating:
- 3.50 (5)
- Size:


text:
Back to listings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Private waterfront compound set on 22 acres parcel in exclusive Northern Pines, off Lambert's Cove Rd. This superb property includes three structures nestled on the shore - main house, oversized guesthouse, and pond house – that all have stunning, panoramic water views. The main house has classic "Vineyard character", with its Cape Cod style, shingle exterior, bright interior, and blue exterior shutters, yet is quite spacious and comfortable, with seven bedrooms total. The guesthouse is a renovated carriage house that includes four bedrooms, a beachy décor, and a farmer's porch with wood decking and outdoor shower on the waterside. The house on the pond is a quaint structure that could not be built under current regulations. Set right at the water's edge, the pond house is truly a special place for the summertime. The waterfront, just a short stroll from these structures by boardwalk, is a 300-foot stretch of private beach that is an excellent spot for swimming or sunbathing. Farther inland, the property also offers a private hard-tru tennis court. BASEMENT DESCRIPTION PARKING | Single Family
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Listing Agent:Wallace & Co. Sotheby's ©2013LINK, All Rights Reserved Not responsible for misinformation or typographical errors. Prices are subject to change without notice. |


text:
Availability: Out of stock
Regular Price: ₱750.00
Special Price: ₱375.00
This And Apparel draped top is the epitome of effortless dressing. With interesting details such as a v-neck and ¾ sleeves and generous draping at the back and sleeves, this top is sure to upgrade you look. For easy sophistication, wear tucked into wide-leg pants or with printed shorts and sandals.
Email to a Friend


text:
Material: | Table area 100% Polyester Race / base cloth 100% Nylon Racing / table embroidery thread 100% Rayon Race and back embroidery thread 100% Cotton |
Color: | Beige Green Clos |
Size: | M Cm, length 55 cm Width 43 cm Cm, shoulder width 30 cm Sleeve length 7 cm Cuff 22 cm. Hem width 62 cm Sleeve 24 cm * Flat place exact size it is. More information on sizing Click here |
Tassels with a big Ribbon tassels kitten face print. This is a cute chiffon material adult surplice blouse. Also lace neckline, cuffs, and hem with plenty of cute * Shirring below the chest so refreshing style looks so. Enjoyed through the year can enjoy winter bring the inner long sleeve! * Inner is required because there are transparent. Retail sales also, so You may be out of stock. Please note that. |
If you would like to receive products from this shop in us you must use a Forwarding Service.
Do you have an existing Forwarding Service Address?


text:
Losing your weight is very important because you need to keep yourself in a good shape. If you are ready to take care of your weight then you should start practicing yoga. This is because by regularly practicing yoga you can get to keep yourself very fit and fine. There are number of different asanas that can help you to lose your weight. You should make the best effort to know how to perform your yoga in the right way so that you get the best benefit for your body. If you make any mistakes while performing the steps then you would not be able to reap any good benefits for your body.
If you wish to start yoga then you should try to start getting some lessons from an expert yoga practitioner as you would get the best techniques on how to do the yoga in the right way. You also need to be very much attentive when you perform the yoga steps one by one. You would find that you have gained some extra strength by shedding off some pounds from your body. So you have to understand it well and then try to get your yoga done in the morning.
You can perform Ashtanga as it would not only help you to lose your weight from your body but also help in the proper circulation of the blood. There is another type of yoga which is popularly known as Hot Yoga. In this type of yoga you are confined in room that is made hot by blowing hot air all around. So in this case you sweat a lot that helps in removing excess fats from your body.
You should make sure that you make a good and regular practice of performing the yoga daily so that you can keep yourself fit. It is not very difficult to practice different yoga because if you happen to perform yoga on a daily basis then you would not have to worry for your health. You need to make sure that you consult a good physician who can tell you whether you are fit in doing the different yoga or not. Making any sort of mistakes or overstressing your body while performing the yoga can help you remain fit and active throughout your life.


text: This week, the soul of Whitney Houston leads a bus tour and an artist turns a garish movie poster into an eerie abstraction. 5. Thirty-one summer nights Post, the downtown space artist run by HK Zamani, now operates for only one month each summer, when its pop-up Kamikaze exhibitions take place. Ea ... More >>


text:
This website is part of the ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) network
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
Thursday 16 August 2007
Epidemiological updates
Scientific Developments
Meetings and workshops
Seasonal Influenza – European StatusIssue 231, Week 31 (30/07/2007-05/08/2007)
No laboratory confirmed cases of influenza in Europe in the last two weeks Summary: In week 30/2007 and 31/2007 seventeen countries reported virological data to the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme (EISS). No positive specimens were reported in weeks 30/2007 or 31/2007. Twelve countries reported an assessment of the geographical spread in week 31/2007 and all reported no influenza activity.
Since week 21/2007, a total of 12 positive specimens - 10 influenza A viruses and 2 influenza B viruses - have been reported to EISS (see graph and table for further details). Additionally, Finland reported one positive specimen (influenza B) in week 21/2007.
There have been no reports of unusual influenza activity in Europe at a community level (i.e. in a region or local area (such as a city, county or district)) since week 22/2007, when an outbreak of avian influenza A(H7N2) was reported in the United Kingdom.
Background: The Inter-season Electronic Bulletin presents and comments influenza activity based on virological data reported to EISS. The Inter-season Electronic Bulletin will be published between week 21/2007 and week 39/2007.
The spread of influenza virus strains and their epidemiological impact in Europe are being monitored by EISS in collaboration with the WHO Collaborating Centre in London (United Kingdom) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Stockholm (Sweden). Full interactive EISS bulletin including maps and graphs by country and informative links in the text
National/regional bulletins in Europe and other bulletins from around the world
Links to general information from EISS:
General information on EISS, including background, membership and information on citing the EISS bulletin
Definitions of epidemiological indicators used by EISS
» Back to top
There are official reports from Australia that they are experiencing more severe epidemics of seasonal influenza this year than in recent years. The WHO Collaborating Centre has reported (August 13th) that some Australian States were reporting unusually high numbers of influenza cases and that there had been six deaths in children under age 5 with influenza. In much of Australia there has been predominately Type A/H3 influenza viruses detected (which was much the pattern in Europe as reported by EISS for the winter 2006-7). However in the more badly affected Australian States H1 viruses have been more important though the Australian Centre is cautious not to conclude that these H1 viruses are driving the intense local epidemics. The Australian experience is not being repeated in New Zealand where they are reported to be having another mild influenza winter. More information will be sought from the South looking both at Australasia and the Southern Cone of South America.
ECDC Comment (16-08-07) Whether they are based in the Northern or Southern hemisphere those responsible for influenza control watch developments in the other half of the world carefully as they can give a preview as to what will happen in the next winter. However the experience can also differ between and within hemisphere. Hence while these developments in Australia are concerning they will not necessarily be repeated in Europe in the coming winter (2007-8). Rather they are a reminder that while seasonal influenza epidemics have been mild in Europe in recent years that should not be seen as the norm. Europe has to be prepared for the occasional severe seasonal influenza winters (as well as for pandemics) notably by raising immunisation rates in the groups for whom immunisation is recommended.» Back to top
14 August 2007
WHO has reported that The Ministry of Health has announced a new fatality in a person with H5N1 avian influenza. A 29-year-old female from Bali Province became unwell on 3 August and was hospitalized on 7 August and died on 12 August. Reportedly she had been exposed to sick and dead poultry. There may be a second case as the woman's daughter (age 5) was sick and died with a respiratory illness (onset July 26th and died August 3rd) before the confirmed case became unwell. Human H5N1 infection was not suspected in the child's case though the child also had contact with sick and dead poultry before becoming ill. There are no other reports of ill persons associated with either patient. I.e. no other indication of a cluster or possible person to person transmission. Of the 103 cases confirmed to date in Indonesia, 82 have been fatal. There have been 28 cases in 2007, 24 of those have died.
Currently Indonesia is not sharing influenza isolates from cases like these with other countries. However the laboratory in Indonesia invited a WHO team in and had a thorough inspection which suggested that its local results were reliable.
ECDC Travel Advice
August 2007
There are persistent media and government reports of a few sporadic human cases of influenza A(H5N1) virus infection recently in Viet Nam. These follow earlier cases in June which were reported and commented upon by ECDC. There were a considerable number of new poultry outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) reported in Viet Nam during May and June this year.
Viet Nam: ECDC summary situation
WHO latest avian influenza updates
WHO timeline of major events
Cumulative number of confirmed human cases of avian influenza A/(H5N1) reported to WHO (up to 14th August 2007)
AVIAN INFLUENZA –ANIMAL HEALTH – GERMANY and OTHER EU COUNTIES
20th July 07
There continue to be reports by the German authorities of cases of HPAI A/H5N1 in wild birds. Details of these and a recent risk assessment are available (in German) through the web-site of the Fredrich Loffler Institute which is frequently updated. Over 200 outbreaks in wild bird and non-poultry species (many of these are single birds) have been reported since the beginning of July. These are focused in the regions of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, with some isolated cases in Bavaria and Saxony. There was an outbreak involving poultry in a hobby farm in Thuringia in early July. Conventional control methods were applied and the outbreak was controlled. There were no reports of human cases.
OIE Report of wild birds cases from Germany reported between 5th-12th July (210 cases) (submitted to OIE on 20th July), including large scale map of locations.
OIE Report of wild birds cases from Germany reported on 13th July (20 outbreaks) (submitted to OIE on 20th July), including large scale map of locations.
EU's Animal disease notification system (ADNS) recording information on wild bird cases of HPAI A/H5N1 in Germany (revised on 19th July)
See also:
ECDC influenza team. Highly pathogenic avian influenza A/H5N1 in birds within the EU - Implications for Public Health. Euro Surveillance 2007;12(7):E070705.2. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ew/2007/070705.asp#2
Relevant technical advice on the human aspects of highly pathogenic avian influenza A/H5N1 in humans (risk groups, risk assessments, advice to the public etc) is available through http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/Health_topics/Avian_Influenza/Guidance.aspx Ongoing poultry outbreaks of HPAI/H5N1 have recently been reported by OIE in Ghana, Myanmar and Pakistan.
OIE official report – Ghana (August 13th)OIE official report - MyanmarOIE official report – Pakistan (August 6th)
Non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented by US cities during the 1918-19 influenza pandemic Markel, et al and Cetron – JAMAMarkel H, Lipman B B, Alexander Navarro J, et alJAMA 2007 298(6):644-54
Description: During the 1918-19 pandemic of 'Spanish Influenza' a number of cities in the United States implemented so called non-pharmaceutical public health measures - PHMs (school closure, banning public gatherings, isolation, quarantine etc). They did so to varying degrees and for different durations. Some early in local epidemics and others later. The aim of this detailed and careful study, which examined massive amount of historical data and information, was to ascertain the likely impacts of these local measures on delaying the impact of that most severe pandemic, reducing its peak impacts and the reduction on excess mortality. It did so by observational methods comparing the impact overall of cities that intervened early versus those that intervened late and the seeming impact of different duration of applying the measures (in some cities when the relaxed the measures the influenza mortality rebounded). Other recent studies have similarly addressed this issue (and were described and commented on by ECDC), and came up with comparable findings, but this work covered the most cities.1,2 Data available was weekly reported mortality in 43 United States cities. The excess mortality was estimated by subtracting the median baseline mortality during 1910 – 1916. The dates for implementation of measures as school closure, banning public gatherings, isolation, quarantine and ancillary non pharmaceutical interventions were recorded, from a vast number of sources.
Analysis of a few cities that implemented the PHMs before they experienced a rise in mortality, found that excess mortality did not seem to depend on how early the measure was taken. Although there were only three cities that did this. This raises the difficult question about when to optimally start the interventions when cities do not exactly know when the pandemic will reach them. However in summary the study found that intervening early with the PHMs was associated with prolonging the time to the peak of the outbreak, magnitude of first mortality peak and the total excess mortality. All these results were statistically significant.
ECDC comment (07/08/07)
Non-pharmaceutical public health measures (which include the personal measures) are an important part of the countermeasures against pandemic influenza. In poorer countries they will be all that is available, while in developed countries like the EU they will complement medical interventions (antivirals, antibiotics, supportive care, human avian influenza vaccines etc) until a specific vaccine becomes available. Their impact has previously been studies both by modelling and historical analysis of available data.1-4,
For this study a very large number of cities have been gathered, more could have been added but the lack of available data made it not feasible. There might be some selection bias induced by this limitation. The researchers had to cope with the usual problems of historical data such as measures like school closures being defined differently and on different scales. However taken in combination the studies conclude that non-pharmaceutical interventions probably can have a mitigating impact for the next influenza pandemic. What is an insoluble problem is that due to the overlapping nature of the interventions (understandably city authorities did not conveniently try single interventions) not even the most sophisticated statistical method could isolate what was the specific effects of individuals interventions cannot be measured. Exactly the same problem came up when trying to work out what exactly caused respiratory infections (including seasonal influenza) to decline during the use of PHMs in Hong Kong during SARS.5
In some ways these finding should not be surprising. With an infection that spreads from person to person keep people apart by school closures, banning meetings etc and you get less infection. On the basis of these and other observations WHO and some European countries recommend adopting non-pharmaceutical measures when the next pandemic occurs. However at the national level more sophisticated planning has been undertaken by the United States which has a comprehensive interim plan.6 One of its components is to grade the severity of the pandemic on a five point scale easily understandable in the US because it conforms to the national hurricane severity scale. This is necessary because the major problem with the PHMs is their costs and secondary impacts.7 Even something that sounds simple like closing schools has significant social effects and so in a mild pandemic implementing the PHMs would probably 'cost' more than sticking to the personal measures supplemented by medical interventions. Also pandemics vary in other characteristics. Children were especially important amplifiers of the 1957 pandemic but less so in those of 1968 or 1918/9 so closing schools might be efficacious in one pandemic but not another. Finally cities and countries vary socially even within Europe so that a measure that could be feasible in one setting may not be acceptable elsewhere.
1. Bootsma MN, Ferguson NM, The effect of public health measures on the 1918 influenza pandemic in U.S. cities. PNAS 2007; 104(18):7588-93 Proc Natl Acad Sci USA published on line Apr 6 2007
2. Hatchett RJ, Mecher CE, Lipsitch M Public health interventions and epidemic intensity during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. published online Apr 6, 2007
3 Ferguson NM, Cummings D, Cauchemez, S et al. strategies for mitigating an influenza pandemic. Nature 2006;442:448-452
4. Germann TC, Kadau K, Longini IM, Macken CA. Mitigation strategies for pandemic influenza in the United States PNAS 2006; 103: 5935-40 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0601266103
5. Lo JYC, Tsang THF, Leung Y-H, Yeung EYH, Wu T, Lim WWL. Respiratory infections during SARS outbreak, Hong Kong, 2003. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2005 Nov Available from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol11no11/05-0729.htm
6. United States Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. Interim pre-pandemic planning guidance: Community strategy for pandemic influenza Mitigation in the United States. Dec 2006 http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/community/community_mitigation.pdf
7. Inglesby TV, Nuzzo JB, O'Toole T, Henderson DA. Disease mitigation measures in the control of pandemic influenza. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice and Science. 2006; 4 (4): 1-10.
Comment to firstname.lastname@example.com.
The United Kingdom (UK) has a Scientific Advisory Group on Pandemic Influenza which has been meeting regularly to inform its national policy and planning. This week the Department of Health in London has made public five scientific papers developed in 2006 by the Group, dealing with the clinical countermeasures and the risk of a pandemic originating from an H5N1 virus. These consist of papers on the risk of a pandemic (and specifically an H5 based pandemic), antivirals, vaccines (specific pandemic vaccines and a pre-pandemic vaccine), antibiotics (including published clinical guidelines from a working group with input from the Department of Health, British Thoracic Society, British Infection Society and the Health Protection Agency) and the use of masks. These papers do not represent national policy and the web-site emphasises that the policy implications of these papers, all of which have significant costs are still under consideration.
The papers are available from the Department of Health web-site Comment to email@example.com.» Back to top.
4th European Pandemic Preparedness Workshop, Luxembourg Sept 25th-27th 2007.
The fourth Europe-wide workshop is being organised by the European Commission, ECDC and WHO European Region with for this workshop the Commission taking the lead. It will be open to a limited number of senior officials from countries of the WHO Europe region including the EU Member States. These will be those with expertise in influenza pandemic preparedness that are either invited by the organisers or identified by the national authorities.
The report on the Third Joint Meeting in Uppsala in May is available at Third joint EC/ECDC/WHO Workshop on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness
Perspectives in Interpandemic Influenza, Madrid, 12-14 October 2007.
The inaugural Congress on Perspectives in Interpandemic Influenza will take place 12-14 October 2007 in Madrid, Spain. This Congress aim's to provide an update on the latest treatment and management options available for seasonal influenza. The agenda is focused on therapeutic approaches to patient care, and is targeted at health care professionals in the primary care sector.
Conference website: Perspectives in Interpandemic Influenza
3rd ESWI European Influenza Conference, Vilamoura, Portugal, 14-17 September 2008.
The European Scientific Working group on Influenza (EWSI) - an independent group of European scientists promoting the study of influenza – will hold its third European Influenza Conference in the Autumn of 2008.
Preliminary conference information can be found at: http://www.eswi.org/Events.cfm


text:
Petra Ecclestone After Wedding in Italy
Petra Ecclestone Wears White For a Postwedding Celebration
Previous | 7 / 18 | Next |
by Lauren Turner
Featured Partners
- Caleb Bankston Explains His Relationship with Survivor Villain Colton Cumbie
- Red Carpet Trend Report: Kate and Gwyneth Know You Can Master These Trends No Problem
- Celebrate Jim Morrison's 70th Birthday with Passages from His Paris Notebook
- Simon Cowell's Girlfriend Showered in Baby Gifts
- Miley Cyrus Twerks on Santa Claus at 2013 Jingle Ball: Picture
- Ellen DeGeneres and Topless Portia de Rossi Share Bound 2-Inspired Christmas Card: See the Hilarious Card
- Kerry Washington Pregnant: Scandal Episodes Cut Back In Season 3
- Amanda Bynes Takes Stroll, Debuts New Haircut After Leaving Rehab: See the Pictures
- Real Life 'Van Wilder'? Spencer Pratt Graduates From College After 10 Years
- You Won't Believe Who North West Is Posing Next To In This New Pic
- *NSYNC Member Reveals Undergoing Hair Restoration Treatment
- New Beyonce Meme Threatens To Take Over The Web
Sponsored Links
Subscribe to POPSUGAR
Link Love
- Jennifer Lopez is changing her name — Us Weekly
- What is Lindsay Lohan doing in Miami? — Lainey Gossip
- Paris Hilton is unhappy about her Twitter hoax — HuffPost Celebrity
- Madonna's son Rocco is all grown up — People
- Amy Poehler gives the best advice — BuzzFeed
- Was The Sound of Music Live! really that bad? — The Daily Beast
- Brian Griffin may come back to Family Guy — Pink Is the New Blog
- Spencer Pratt graduates USC after 10 years — D-Listed
- Why was Scandal's season cut short? — JustJared
- Jessica Hart works it for Victoria's Secret — Hollywood Tuna
- January Jones gets in the Christmas spirit — The Superficial
- The Kardashians' show is losing viewers — PopBytes
13 Comments
Sign in to leave a comment
22? damn, that's a rough @$$ 22....looks like Kendra Wilkinson got smashed in the face with a frying pan
She is only 22, but by her looks, I would have guessed 35. She looks so fake, a very unnatural "beauty"
Soon she'll be the hottest and the richest girl with the biggest house in town. I wonder how other celebs and media will react to her?
Really, who is this person? Good job popshitter, so glad you're with People now. Your stories just get more and more boring each day


text:
Morrisons is the latest to announce plans for a supermarket in Stroud (From Stroud News and Journal)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting SNJ NEWS to 80360, or email us
Morrisons is the latest to announce plans for a supermarket in Stroud
8:00am Wednesday 23rd October 2013 in News By Kate Wilson, Reporter
MORRISONS is the latest supermarket chain to announce plans for a food store in Stroud.
The proposal for a medium-sized outlet at the Stroud Metal Company site in Dudbridge Road - a stone's throw from Sainsbury's - is the third supermarket development to be announced for the town in four months.
Robin Langford, of Morrisons, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for Morrisons and for Stroud."
Morrisons says the new store would create 300 jobs.
There are also plans for an ASDA in Lightpill and another supermarket at Ryeford.
Morrisons has worked on the proposal in partnership with the metal works company, which would relocate to a new site in Stonehouse.
"Before we submit a planning application to Stroud District Council we want to engage with the community and hear what local residents think of our plans," added Mr Langford, development executive at Morrisons.
"Your comments are important to us and will help us make sure we deliver the best fit for Stroud."
Matthew Large, managing director of Stroud Metal Company, said: "We have outgrown our existing factory in Dudbridge Road which no longer adequately meets our needs.
"This partnership with Morrisons will give us the new facilities we need to expand our product range and grow our business, securing the future of highly skilled manufacturing jobs in Stroud."
Morrisons, which already has a store in George Street, Nailsworth, is the most recent developer to announce plans to build a supermarket in Stroud.
Plans for an unknown supermarket at a brownfield site near the Ryeford junction on the Ebley bypass are going to be discussed at Stroud District Council's development control committee on Tuesday, November 12.
Meanwhile, plans for an ASDA on Daniels Industrial Estate in Bath Road, Lightpill are due to be published in full next week following a public consultation in July.
A spokesman for campaign group Stroud Against Supermarket Saturation said: "Stroud town centre needs all the help it can get and any further out of town supermarkets risk strangling Stroud completely.
"We have been through this before with Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose when the town centre suffered badly and shops shut.
"Both Mary Portas and Bill Grimsey recognise the damage out of town supermarkets do by reducing local retail provision and choice."
"We don't want to see Stroud on the critical list again so we are asking people to join Stroud Against Supermarket Saturation and say 'no thanks' to anymore out of town superstores.
"We are urging those who are against the plans to write to their local councillors and MP Neil Carmichael and sign our petition to say no to future supermarket developments."
To sign SASS's petition go to http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/stop-further-out-of-town-supermarket-developments-in-stroud.
Comments (6)
Please log in to enable comment sorting
10:57am Wed 23 Oct 13
Crow says...
3:57pm Wed 23 Oct 13
Badgershole says...
4:42pm Wed 23 Oct 13
TigerTigerBurningBright says...
Can't see how the planners can turn them all down, so look out local shops and employers, it is going to get tough.
4:43pm Wed 23 Oct 13
TigerTigerBurningBright says...
6:49pm Wed 23 Oct 13
Badgershole says...
9:23pm Thu 24 Oct 13
TigerTigerBurningBright says...
Comments are closed on this article.


text:
Hi everybody! As those of you who are also reading the HLP board may know I am in the process of doing my own little Saga mod at the moment. It is going to be an easy to use modification for Wing Commander Saga that will allow the player to play the Kilrathi side. That means you will have a complete Kilrathi-style interface (which is almost finished already) and all Kilrathi ships and weapons will be usable by the player (already finished) + generic Kilrathi wingmen, including standard voiceovers. Now there are a few small and one or two slightly bigger things missing, but that is not the topic of this thread. Here's my request: You know the main hall of the Hermes in WCS? I need one for the Kilrathi. First step is a concept art. And this is where I need the help of my fellow wingnuts! I know some of you are talented artists, you know Kilrathi architecture, and all of you have access to examples that show how the Kilrathi build things to get inspired. What we need now is a design for a Kilrathi main hall, including places where to set clickable hot spots for all needed functions (pilot screen, tech screen, campaign screen, settings screen, exit) and/or animations (animated doors on mouseover, rotating ship holo, a window where a Dralthi flies by etc.) If you look at the two available Saga main halls (Prologue and DD campaign) you'll find everything that we need, we just need the Kilrathi version of it. Try to be as precise as you can, but I'd be as happy if someone comes up with a good idea on a sloppy drawing with ball point pen on a McDonald's paper napkin. Then we can talk about the drawings here and when we have found a main hall design that seems suitable I will search for a talented modeler to build it as a 3D model and render it (or a very skilled 2D artist that can draw it so it looks equally well). So, anybody interested?
IIRC correctly, the WC3 manual and the midgame kilrathi cutscenes feature a viewscreen, the part where I believe thrakhath says "slaves we have no shortage of!"
That's correct, there are quite a few cutscenes in various WC games that show examles of Kilrathi interior design. I think I'll start with a list of those which we could check out here: In WC1 we see Kilrathi but we don't see them in Kilrathi architecture, all scenes play on planets that are occupied by the Kilrathi but don't show Kilrathi architecture, for example the Sivar Eshrad ceremony on Firekka. IIRC it starts with WC2, we see Khasra and Thrakath on the bridge of the Hhaifra. I don't think there is much to see but it is a start. Then of course there is WC3, we see the Emperor's throne room, we see a part of the bridge of the KDN, and also on the losing end when you eject and Blair is killed by Thrakath. In the winning path end sequence we also see this bridge when Melek surrenders. Basically every scene with Thrakath or Melek in it shows parts of the Kilrathi architecture. In WC4 there are no Kilrathi scenes AFAIK, at least I don't remember any. In Prophecy we have the intro but there isn't much to see either except some old temple. Sooo... that leaves the Arena (EDIT: Academy of course) animated series. I think I have to re-watch it. Do we see Kilrathi architecture there? I don't remember any scenes. Besides what we see in the games we know a bit about Kilrathi architecture. We know they like high ceilings, red, orange or brownish colors with a bit of yellow/gold, and they also seem to like rooms that are not very brightly lit. So basically the architecture looks a bit... klingon. Since they are a warrior culture I guess they will like trophies for decoration, for example the scorched wingtip of a Hellcat, otherwise they might decorate with weapons like jagged knives/swords or rifles, maybe they also have torn flags or other insignia of terrans or other Kilrathi clans on their walls. Maybe a human skull or something as well (ok this might actually be a bit far fetched but I think you get the point I guess). They also seem to like columns and wall paintings with clan symbols and such things. Some of those things mentioned above might not apply to space ships though, for example the high ceilings and the columns. But instead there are computers and such things. So how do they look like and how are they buildt into the walls? We see some things in the Dralthi cockpit, this might be useful to design the content on Kilrathi screens or for wall designs: http://xover.htu.tuwien.ac.at/~cohe...kpits/dralthi-cockpit.cpt/dralthi-cockpit.png http://xover.htu.tuwien.ac.at/~cohe.../dralthi-cockpit.cpt/dralthi-cockpit-back.png http://xover.htu.tuwien.ac.at/~cohe...dralthi-cockpit.cpt/dralthi-cockpit-right.png http://www.mobygames.com/images/sho...r-armada-dos-screenshot-dralthi-cockpit-s.png so this might be a start. If anybody knows further pictures available on the internet please post them so the artists can look at them.
Assuming you mean the Academy series, there are a couple of scenes aboard Agon ra Sivar and I think one or two on the Academy version of Ras Nik'hra, but that's about it and it's no different from what we've already seen (slightly more "starship generic", actually).
Argh, yes of course. Arena, Academy... just too similar, starting with the same letter^^ Thanks for the hint! btw: If anyone has ideas for Kilrathi rank insignia and/or medals, feel free to post them. I'll need those too somewhere in the future.
In WC1, there is one very short scene with Kilrathi architecture - at the end of SM1, when Admiral Gilkarg is executed.
Yeah, I just noticed that one when I looked through the images at Wedge's site, but there isn't much to see unfortunately. It is very dark and we only see a small part of a big throne room that looks round and quite empty. EDIT: Concerning medals and stuff: Are there any in the CCG maybe? I once did some terran medals for Saga based on the CCG but I don't know if there are Kilrathi ones.
Yes, there are the Icon of Sivar (Pewter Planet equivalent) and the Icon of Glory (Gold Str equivalent). Jetlag's album has pictures of them both: http://ccg.jetlag.us/main.php?g2_itemId=2924
Thanks! I'm a bit disappointed by how they look though, somehow I expected... more details? something different? I don't know. Whatever, at least they won't be that hard to implement once I have installed my old Photoshop again (as soon as I find the CD...)
Since you have some visuals in WC3, you might want look into the series bible for Academy, should be some profile inthere for their character trades and backdrops? The trophy decoration would not just link to the Klingon's in Star Trek, but also to the Hirogen, Kazon, but also the predator, or any other "warrior race" (IIRC, the hirogen had a skull of geiger's alien hanging between it's trophy's)
That's correct, "Warrior" and "Hunter" races are quite common throughout the history of science fiction. I think you named almost all of Star Trek that are relatively well known except Jem'Hadar. But actually Cardassians and Romulans also fit to a certain degree, and concerning architecture I even think Vulcans are worth a look! In Star Wars we have Wookies and Tusken Raiders(ok, those both maybe too primitive), Khaleesh, and Mandalorians. Babylon 5 has the Narn which are very Kilrathi-like (and the more civilized Minbari Warrior Caste which doesn't fit that good). And don't even get me started on Flash Gordon, where basically every race he meets fits to a certain degree. If there were Orcs in space they were some sort of Kilrathi (yes there are Orcs in space, in an awful D&D spawn named Spelljammer. Oh no I named it.....) The X-Universe has the Split. Starcraft's Protoss are maybe a bit too far developed technically. Mass Effect surely has some sort of proud warrior race guys, too. I never played it. I always found the Hirogen from ST funny because they seemed to be almost a complete copy of a race described in Marion Zimmer Bradley's book "Hunters of the Red Moon". btw: The Predator in "Predator 2" also has a Giger alien's skull as a trophy in his ship. Ok, I got carried away a bit... I think the sources of inspiration are clear now. What I need next is someone that is actually skilled at drawing so we can have a concept art. Unfortunately my drawing skills end at the level of XKCD style.
Hey, I loved Spelljammer, back in the days before I knew what a good game actually is . Never played the pen & paper version, only the terrible, bug-ridden PC game (which I actually finished). For all its flaws, I loved the general vision of the world (err, universe) and the ship designs. To this day, I regret losing the photocopy of the game manual (yes, I admit it - I only had a pirated version), because the ships were ugly in the game itself, but the manual had awesome WC1-style line art for them.
Lol, too bad there are no examples of ST's Caitian technology and culture, and they seem a bit too friendly overall too....
@Quarto: What? There was a Spelljammer PC game? HOLY SH**!! I didn't know that. Spelljammer is... special. I have some kind of trauma from it, It is really awful. It is like "everything is better... IN SPACE". I think it was designed by people on LSD playing D&D and suddenly somebody says: "wouldn't it be cool if my wizard could make the ship go through, like SPACE??!!" and everybody is high and they all say "YAY, rhino people in space are the evil ones, and there are elves on giant space trees and giant space hamsters!!" unfortunately the "Giant Space Hamster" is NOT a joke, I am NOT exaggerating. It is in the monster manual. Over at the HLP forums I said roughly the same things a few years ago and this is also the reason why Tolwyn gave me "Spelljammer" as a custom title It is just plain ridiculous. Good times...
Yeah, there was - and for all its flaws (really, it's a bad game that should have spent at least a few more months in development), I enjoyed it, and didn't see any of the silliness you mention here. The setting was actually very polished and very interesting, the problems were all in the gameplay, which was too simple in some ways, and too complex in others. The great thing about AD&D games on the PC is that they generally did a lot of filtering, that's why the PC game probably had a better setting than the pen & paper Spelljammer - I mean, giant space hamsters aren't the only bit of nonsense in AD&D. You don't need to even look at any of the expansion pack settings to see such nonsense - dumb things like gelatinous cubes (though I admit: Eye of the Beholder 2 somehow managed to make those pretty cool and scary) were in there all along. I reckon about a third of all the AD&D monsters were written by people on LSD or other drugs .
Do you know this article? http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article73.htm I love playing D&D, but this is so true
That... is at once hilarious, frightening, and sad . To be fair, I think a lot of the really crazy monsters were basically jokes (many only understandable to their creators, I guess), and nobody actually seriously thought about using these in a playing session. Still... the guy is right, there is something really remarkable about how many laundry monsters there are .
Yeah, its weird. ...and to somehow build some kind of a bridge back to my original topic: When Quarto talked about laundry monsters and stuff here I wondered whether the colors that seem to be uncommon on Kilrathi designs have any significance. We hardly see any blue on Kilrathi, except on Thrakath's cloak. Why? Is it some "royal blue" or something? Should this play a role when designing the main hall and/or other Kilrathi stuff?
Yes, there was. Moreover, you can find it for download on the 'net (if you're one of those people who is okay with the notion of abandonware). http://www.spelljammer.org/ has links. I myself missed out on Spelljammer when it came out (wasn't that much into RPGs at the time and D&D was being espoused by my church at the time as being particularly evil); I've been looking for more info on the pnp Spelljammer lately, mainly out of a sense of morbid curiosity. That, and I tried playing the PC game and didn't have a clue what the crap I was supposed to be doing.
Oh god, this is so painful! There are still people who actually want to play this!? They're joking.... right? They must be! This is like a bad dream, please wake me up (before you go go) ... ok, now where did THAT come from all of a sudden? WHY IS THIS IN MY HEAD? ...I think my mind is blown. This must be this Woodstock mommy and daddy talk about all the time.... *breath* Ok back to normal. Please stop mentioning Spelljammer, you are ruining 5 years of therapy. (No, seriously. Stop) Now where were we? Thrakath's cloak. Colors. Kilrathi Architecture. I am still searching for a cool artist who is able to show me some nice sketch. Where is NinjaLA? (he is awesome, I bet he could come up with something nice).


text:
AWARE [SYSTEMS] | Imaging expertise for the Delphi developer | |||||||
TIFF and LibTiff Mailing List Archive | ||||||||
LibTiff Mailing List
TIFF and LibTiff Mailing List Archive Contact
The TIFF Mailing List Homepage |
Thread2011.02.10 17:23 "Re: ImageDepth tag", by Edward GrissomI could not find mention of the ImageDepth tag at http://www.awaresystems.be/imaging/tiff/tifftags/search.html Does anyone have a reference description for this tag ? Thanks. -- ed grissom firstname.lastname@example.com -----Original Message----- From: email@example.com [mailto:email@example.com] On Behalf Of Frank Warmerdam Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2011 10:49 AM To: email@example.com Subject: Re: [Tiff] ImageDepth tag On 11-02-10 11:33 AM, John Evans wrote: > Hello, I was wondering what people's experiences are with the ImageDepth > tag. > There are a few mentions of it on this mailing list if one goes back far > enough, but every TIFF I've seen so far (that has actually had the > ImageDepth > tag set) has had ImageDepth trivially set to 1, such as "cramps-tile.tif". > Every TIFF except for one, that is. That particular TIFF was pretty > simple > otherwise, photometric interpretation of MINISBLACK, SamplesPerPixel = 1, > ImageDepth = 16. > > I can see how the ImageDepth tag could be useful, i.e. just one IFD with > thousands of slices vs. thousands of IFDs each with just one slice. And I > can create TIFFs with with ImageDepth> 1 in other photometric > interpretations, such as RGB and YCbCr... but do people ever actually run > into such beasts? John, I have not encountered TIFF files with non-trivial image depth values. I doubt there is much client software ready for them. I'm not even convinced that libtiff handles them well. In *theory* I can see some utility for ImageDepth, but in practice I would prefer to just avoid promoting it's use. Best regards, -- ---------------------------------------+-------------------------------------- I set the clouds in motion - turn up | Frank Warmerdam, firstname.lastname@example.com light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam and watch the world go round - Rush | Geospatial Programmer for Rent |


text:
Free Account
account settings
Learn Chinese with 1000+ Chinese podcasts....
sign-up for instant free access
: Suicidal Tendencies
Samuel had always appreciated architecture, which was why he had insisted on hiring a top-tier architect to design his new office. So how ironic that it would be here - in the iconic glass lobby that had symbolized his success - that he would end both his career and his life. It had not been an easy choice, but what other could he make? In the last week everything he had lived for had been taken away in an elaborate and cruel con game in which even his closest friends and relatives seemed complicit.
Learning Chinese? In our Chinese lesson for today, Brendan, David, Echo and take to our studios to talk about scams in Chinese. This lesson features a fast and natural-speed dialogue involving a man on the brink, so if your mandarin is already at the intermediate level, join us for both it, as well as a discussion on common scams in China and the language you need to know to talk about them. And let us know what you think in the comments section below.
said on
July 25, 2012
真好笑啊。單身的男士都要多小心一點,這也包括我在内 >
said on
July 25, 2012
said on
August 19, 2012
Three young Chinese people tried the teahouse scam on my girlfriend and I in Shanghai in March. Having asked us where we were from, they began listing all the places they wanted to travel to in the UK, including some really obscure commuter towns - Reading, Swindon - and post-industrial wastelands - Redcar, Cleethorpes - that no one ever wants to go to. It was so obvious they'd learned these places off a map, that when they asked us to go to a tea ceremony I just laughed in their faces. They got the point
said on
August 20, 2012
I lived in Qingdao for nearly 3 years and never heard of the "teahouse scam." Maybe it only happens in bigger cities like Beijing and Shanghai? What exactly is the scam ... is it just to lure people into a teahouse and then charge them ridiculous prices?
said on
August 20, 2012
What exactly is the scam ... is it just to lure people into a teahouse and then charge them ridiculous prices?
--Yes, they have different ways to lure people into the teahouse though. Some are like what paulmccarthy79 said, they try to get to know you first on the street and then invite you to a teahouse with them. Or if you are a single man, some girls may try to date you and take you to a teahouse... All kinds. And of course, whatever methods they use, the ultimate goal is to make you pay a lot of money for their tea.
said on
August 20, 2012
Oh I see... I'm a victim! Had this in 2003 when I first went to Shanghai for uni exchange - a pretty girl picked me on Nanjing Dong Lu and took me to this expensive tea house. It felt like rip-off for a young lad with student budget, but really it was just 几百块人民币。Later I've had business meetings in more expensive tea rooms so looking back this scam doesn't seem so bad... at least there was a pretty girl instead of those chain-smoking middle aged guys! Plus it taught me a good lesson to always negotiate the price first before consuming anything in China.
your name:
leave a comment:
A high-quality MP3 file specially-tagged for your iPhone or iPod. [
A customized transcript of the lesson that's perfect for learning on-the-go. [
An MP3 recording of the dialogue for this lesson tagged for your iPhone or iPod. [
Character writing sheets for this lesson's key vocabulary. Warning: writing hanzi can be addictive! [


text:
when to say goodbye to an old dog
I am taking care of the best dog in the world. Poppo is a 15 year old dalmatian, and is struggling with old age problems. He continues to eat well and drink, but walking is a problem. (I have to carry him in and out and he cannot get water on his own)
A lot of people tell me I should euthanize... er kill him, but I feel like, if he is struggling for life, it is my job to help him. I'm just wondering if other people have any insights or wisdom for me.
He really has such a great spirit, but he cannot do most of the things he used to be able to do.
I can empathize with you! I'm the momma to a 14 yr old Lab/ Chow mix! He's a sweet heart and also needs a lot of aid when it comes to doing things he used to do with ease.
My father wanted me to put him down 2 years ago-said he wouldnt last! An old friend of mine held on to her Weiner Dog until the age of 19! My neighbors 16 year old Collie just passed on two days ago!
We don't give these playfull k-9's enough credit! They are just a ball of life and should die when they are ready! Don't take his life before nature does. You have him for a reason to protect him and love him and nurture him. He's your responsibily, don't give up on him just because things are harder now!
Hopefully i was able to reach out to you!
I can also empathize with you, I just lost my oldest Bassett Hound, Casey, to cancer, last October. She had been fighting bladder cancer for over a year. I had struggled for a long time when would be the right time to let her go. She had been loosing weight, and had no bladder control, but she kept on eating like a trooper. When I consulted with my vet she said when she stops eating, that's when she's lost interest in life. Well, she did just that, she stopped eating and I tried tempting her with all sorts of things, she wouldn't take anything. She became weak and listless and she wouldn't really move at all. That's when I knew it was time to let her go. It was one of the hardest decisions to make, I held her as she went to the bridge.
I wish you all the best, I really believe that you will know when the time is right....
How is your little guy doing now? Its always such a hard call to make as far as how much treatment to give when they are suffering. That he is eating is a good sign. Sounds like he still has some will to live in him. Hopefully you can find the right balance as far as keeping him alive and keeping him comfortable and happy. I think we always end up making the right decsion when we make it in love. We are the ones who are there and know the animal best.
Poppo is a 15 year old, and it's time to go.Don't be sad now.


text:
Shannon, Peter & Emmie - July 2011
I truly, truly cannot thank you all enough for everything. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I could have done it without Maria and Ally's help, something that has been a common refrain as my family and I have talked over this incredible birth. My mom even said that she wasn't quite sure what a doula would do before the birth, but now she couldn't imagine what it would be like without one. Peter and I also agree 1000% that without Maria, there is no question I would have gotten an epidural (which of course would have been fine), but to have been able to have had the birth I wanted from the beginning, in spite of the biggest challenges our new little family has ever faced, was incredible. For me, it has given me a sense of accomplishment and a knowledge of my own strength that had originally been one of the reasons I wanted a natural birth, but now is infinitely more important and valuable as I come up to one of the greatest battles of my life. I truly feel like if I can do what I just did (and honestly, feel as good as I did), then there is no question but that I can take on cancer with no hesitation. I know what I am capable of, and it's a LOT. But I never, never would have gotten there on my own. Maria's imagery, touch, positioning, encouragement, voice, homeopathics, suggestions, EVERYTHING were utterly invaluable. I've also had a few other friends recently give birth with doula assistance, and after hearing their less-than-ideal stories, I realize what an amazing choice we made in choosing the Doula Circle. One of them got a back-up doula who had only attended 2 prior births (and so was essentially very little help); now having been through the experience with Maria's incredibly expert guidance, I can't even imagine that.
And now we have this incredible perfect, amazing little person in our lives who joined us in such an incredible way. We are loving every second of it (even the cluster feeding last night that went on for HOURS). Emmie is phenomenal and we just adore her.
Thank you again for *everything*
Shannon, Peter & Emmie