text: [[quoteright:280:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princess_maker_2.jpg]]A series of games made by Creator/StudioGainax. [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Yes,]] ''[[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann that]]'' [[Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt one.]]Each game is basically a RaisingSim with some DatingSim elements and RPGElements thrown in for good measure. Each game begins with the player gaining an adoptive daughter who's special in some way. The player is tasked with raising his/her daughter from adolescence to adulthood.The player sets up her schedule regarding what jobs she takes, and what her education is. Based on how you raise her, her stats will change and she chooses a career and life partner based on that. The result can be [[SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel freaking adorable]]... or NightmareFuel. Hey, it's still Gainax.A retranslated and updated version of the second game (the most well-known one) was released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} in late 2016, followed by an updated version of its predecessor in 2017 and English release of successor few months later, with the possibility of further installments following it in the future.Also see ''Anime/PetitePrincessYucie'' (the anime based on the ''Princess Maker'' series), and ''VisualNovel/LongLiveTheQueen'', which is a much darker take on the concept.----!!These games provide examples of:* {{Abandonware}}: [=SoftEgg=] averts this: even though their English language version of ''Princess Maker 2'' was never released, the game is still the property of Gainax and thus not truly abandoned, hence their request not to pirate the English prototype of game. (An English translation of the updated re-release did receive an official release in September of 2016.)* AbusiveParents: You can be this. In 2, the Patron Gods will call you out [[spoiler:if you make it so your daughter lack lots of skills, died of sickness, or picked an evil profession. Namely, they call you a heartless parent]]. Ouch!* ActionGirl: It really depends on what you're aiming for, but your daughter can be one if you make her work on her fighting skills.* AdorablyPrecociousChild: [[spoiler:The young dragon guarding the temple desert.]] He'll fall in love with your daughter when defeated and will try to ask her hand in marriage, trying to be mature and coming off quite awkwardly. Your daughter will be reluctant about marrying such a young'un. She'll either give in - if only because he's adorable (and after pretending to reject his advances), or will run off with the Prince or Cube, leaving a very sad boy.* AffablyEvil: Lucifon in the second game is less a menacing figure and more a guy you can sit down and have a drink with. See PunchClockVillain. That doesn't mean he's harmless though, he almost destroys the kingdom and the most generous thing you can say about him is he takes a pride in his line of work. He's [[GracefulLoser especially proud]] if your daughter kills him and [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt becomes princess of darkness herself]]. Beyond that, there is the demon that shows up to grant your daughter more charisma, if she moves up in reputation.* AmazonChaser: The king in the second game, in particular, will enjoy your daughter's company more if she has a high combat reputation stat. * AnachronismStew: The first to fourth game seems to take place in... a vague idea of what Japan thinks the 1200s looked like. The fifth game takes place in modern day Japan.* AnimeChineseGirl: Tao Lianfan, a fighter and an occasional dancer, seems to be this.* ArrogantKungFuGuy: If your daughter is a good martial artist/magician, she'll be constantly challenged by many of these. Also, Anita the fighting rival is a female version of the trope.* ArtificialStupidity: Through cheats, you can activate a "Demo Mode" in Princess Maker 2, in which the game attempts to play itself... not only does it have a tendency to constantly cancel whatever it selects, but it seems to just select directions to move at random if it gets itself into an adventure area, creating situations where it keeps moving back and forth along a path, or moves into a sign over and over.* BadassAdorable: Your daughter can become quite the fighter, pretty much destroying anyone that gets in her way - and she does it in quite a cute fashion!* BigDamnHeroes: In games where combat is possible, Cube will swoop down from the sky if your daughter is KO-ed. What a guy.* BlindIdiotTranslation: The English version of Princess Maker 3 has very awkward grammar.* BonusBoss: The War God in ''Princess Maker 2'', who guards the (literal) stairway to Heaven. He's far tougher than any other character in the game, but can be beaten relatively easily if you use the right stat exploits. ** Also in ''Princess Maker 2'': working at the cemetery with a high fighting reputation may result in a skeletal knight confronting your daughter. Defeating it will net you a nice sum of gold.* BraggingRightsReward: The ultimate gift of Fay, Paimon and Dovomoi. Infinite MP is not worthy the amount of money wasted on Magic classes needed to get the Power Ring, and by the time you earned the Perfume and/or the Flour, you'll be skilled enough to get their benefit without them. Valkria's Sword is the only gift that averts this, being easily earned earlier in the game and being a nice alternative to the [[InfiniteSwordPlusOne War god's sword]].* BreastExpansion: Buxomize Pills in the second game, the Bra of Fairies in the fifth one.* CardCarryingVillain: In the second game, Lucifon and his horde are appointed by God to be evil and tempt mortals. They only attacked the kingdom because God commanded it, and are pretty sociable when not carrying out their duties.* CareerVersusMan: Not an issue in the first four games, as the daughter can get both a career and a marriage ending - though there are also cases where her marriage ''is'' her career. Played straight in the fifth game, however. The daughter can only get one ending, either marriage or career. Likely [[ValuesDissonance because the setting is modern Japan]].* CheatCode: In the English beta of ''Princess Maker 2'', pressing [=F12=], R, N, and Q together while in town will unlock two secret stores: Mad Eddie's, where you can give yourself money, skip forward in time, toggle event flags, or [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential kill your daughter]]; and the Beta Shop, which lets you set your game's ending, look through in-game graphics, or end the game automatically.* TheCorrupter: Lucifon attempts to corrupt the daughter, though he's [[PunchClockVillain just doing his job]] by doing so.* CostumePorn: Most of the endings just love dressing the princesses up.* CreepyDoll: Cornet in Princess Maker 5.* CrossoverCosmology: Apparently, [[{{God}} the Lord]] rules over the Greek gods of the planets (some of whom are {{Gender Flip}}ped), and [[{{Satan}} Lucifon]] is another of his servants. There's also the OriginalGeneration Valkyria and the War God (and the latter has no relation to Mars, who is one of the star gods and the ruler of the constellation Aries).* DarkerAndEdgier: Princess Maker 5 features a much darker main story than the previous installments, featuring a high death count and a truly depraved villain. * DeliberateValuesDissonance: ** Most of the games take place in a MedievalEuropeanFantasy setting without a serious gender bar, and as such, the daughter can marry AND have a career. In Princess Maker 5, which happens in modern Japan, [[CareerVersusMan the daughter can marry OR have a career]]. Not both.** In the games where the daughter can have both career and family, it's often remarked on how she must have a husband and kids as well. i.e., in ''2'' the Gods are quite displeased if the girl either doesn't marry or doesn't have strong maternal instincts.** In the second game, the General's line about how girls should not just be refined but also think of what they can do to please men may not be ill-intentioned from him, but it's pretty sexist in practice.** In the third game you can send your daughter to work in coal mines at the age of ten.* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: It's possible in Princess Maker 2 for your daughter to defeat the God of War. Possibly at a ridiculously young age.** One Let's Play shows this to be [[GameBreaker stupidly easy with a twinked defense]].* DigitalBikini: The [=SoftEgg=] version of ''2'' has a couple of the beach scenes redrawn to cover the daughter up. This doesn't apply to either the opening or the endings.* DirtyOldMan: The King, the local land lord and the old dragon in Princess Maker 2.* DoWellButNotPerfect: In Princess Maker 2, if you're shooting for a Queen by Marriage ending (the best possible social ending), you should try for a solid but not exceptional charisma, otherwise you'll end up as his concubine.* EarnYourBadEnding: Some bad endings take a fair amount of work - or a {{guide|DangIt}} - to get. * EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Implied by the title, and there are other PrincessTropes in these games.* ExpositionFairy: Your demon butler, Cube, who helps you set up your daughter's schedule at the beginning of each month. In Princess Maker 3, that role is taken on by a literal fairy, Uzu. Cube came back for every subsequent game.* FairytaleWeddingDress: The marriage endings will often have these.* {{Fanservice}}: The game is ''not'' shy about showing nudity.* FetalPositionRebirth: Your daughter in PM2 is sent to you from heaven this way, {{naked|OnArrival}}. But it is done artistically, in good taste, and [[HandOrObjectUnderwear no naughty bits are seen]].* FightLikeACardPlayer: In the SNES spin-off - Princess Maker: Legend of Another World.* FlatEarthAtheist: The [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Princess%20Maker%202/Update%2021/img-5.png alchemist]]. He's one of the worse teachers, besides the General - he's cheap, but will lower faith a lot as soon as your daughter is promoted to Adept, which closes off some encounters.[[note]]He lives in a kingdom that was invaded by {{Satan}} himself only a year before the game begins, by the way.[[/note]]** Oh, and your daughter can be one, too, even after meeting her God/Goddess.* FoodPorn: The food you can buy at the local restaurant, the birthday cakes and definitely the food from the cooking contest. Luscious! * FurBikini: One of the outfits from the third game's ending. Also provides the page picture.* GameplayAndStorySegregation: In ''Princess Maker 2'', your character was able to defeat the king of hell in single combat, and yet apparently can't get a better salary than 500 gold a year (your daughter can easily get several times that working part-time), you have to send your daughter away to train under somebody else in fighting and swordplay (and pay for it), and your character can't even go with her to protect her on adventures. The game {{hand|Wave}}waves it by saying that the 500g a year is what's left over from your job, which as a full-time position doesn't leave you much time for your daughter. (If you want to stay home with her when she's sick, that costs you money.)* GenkiGirl: Wendy the Magician Girl, who is positively happy about the prospect of getting her ass kicked by your daughter.* GlassCannon: A daughter with low Stamina but high Strenght/Attack. Some opponents in the occasional public challange also have low [=HP=] and/or defense.* GoldenEnding: Certain endings in the games are considered the best or flat-out [[WordOfGod stated]] to be the canon ending, and they are all extra difficult to obtain. Special mention goes to the fourth game, where Patricia learns of her heritage, convinces the kingdom to remove the Sage Stones and brings peace between the humans and demons, all while also managing to reunite with her long-lost mother.* GuideDangIt: It's not always intuitive which stats will lead to which career choices, and some future romantic interests can only be met on very, very obscure sidequests.* HalfHumanHybrid: Patricia in the fourth game is the daughter of human woman Isabella and [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep The Maou]].* HandicappedBadass: One of the fighting teachers, Carl Fox, is blind. Lector, the Fencing teacher has only one eye.** And the one-eyed one also seems to be missing his right arm.* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Sensitivity will allow your daughter to see fairies , see an elf that will give your daughter magic powers in return for some physical power, talk to some enemies (thus stopping them from trying to kill your daughter) and is required in some endings.** Faith is another one. There are some enemies that can be talked to that requires this instead of Sensitivity. It also stops your daughter from drinking with Lucifon and getting lots of sins in the process if you aren't going for the [[spoiler:Princess of Darkness]] ending. It also help in gaining popularity with the Archbishop.** If you want to do well at the best jobs, you want a high Morality. Your daughter won't be a wise queen or a brave hero without it.* HeroesPreferSwords: Your daughter in 2 can only equip swords.* HelloNurse: Your daughter grows up to be very pretty, and several male NPC's ''aside'' from the ones she can marry express interest in her. If her Charisma is very high, a tycoon will come frequently to ask for her hand in marriage; if in addition to it her Morals are low, a DirtyOldMan or other sleazy person will ask her to be his concubine (and if she accepts, her Morals will go even lower).* TheHighQueen: The best and hardest ending in the second game is when your daughter becomes Queen Regnant. She ''can'' be this by marriage... but the path towards queenship by marriage is rather squicky, as it involves the girl ''[[MayDecemberRomance marrying the old King]].'' (Unless [[spoiler: she marries the Prince]].)* HollywoodToneDeaf: Emily Imagawa during the karaoke event in Princess Maker 5. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments It's hilarious.]]* HotConsort: Some of the endings. The highest one you can get is Queen by Marriage.* HotWitch: Most of the Magical endings show the daughter as very attractive and wearing significantly less clothing than she would in other endings.* KatanasAreJustBetter: Best shop-available weapon in the game, but others are much, MUCH better... obviously not available in shops.* ImprobableAge: In Princess Maker 2, it's entirely possible for you to be known as a famous war hero that essentially defeated {{Satan}}, as well as having taken up adopting a 10-year-old girl.... all while being 11-years-old! take a few moments to imagine what that would be like...* InevitableTournament: Every October in ''Princess Maker 2'', there is a Harvest Festival, where your daughter can compete in a fighting tournament, as well as contests for cooking, dancing, and art.* InfinityPlusOneSword: The War God's sword in ''Princess Maker 2'', earned from defeating its wielder, is the strongest blade in the game.* IntergenerationalFriendship: Your daughter and the old dragon from the second game.* InterspeciesRomance: Some of the suitors your girl can marry are not 100% human. I.e, in PM 2, 4 and 5 there's [[SubordinateExcuse your demon butler Cube]], a young dragon who is the girl's DoggedNiceGuy [[LoveAtFirstPunch after she beats him in battle]], and [[{{Satan}} Lucifon the King of Hell]].** From [=PM4=] we have Baroa, the demon prince. And Lee, the dragon prince.* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: In Princess Maker 2, the Dragon Youth is sad but willing to break off the engagement with your daughter when he thinks that she doesn't love him, if you've betrothed her (against her will) to him.. However, your daughter throws it back to his face and gives him [[QuitYourWhining "Stop being such a wimp" talk]] and agrees to marry him, because he's so [[{{Adorkable}} pathetic and cute]] that she doesn't have the heart to refuse him.** If your daughter marries someone else, however, you get a rather sad TheStinger with him crying that he'll never love again. [[TheWoobie Poor kid.]]* LaserGuidedAmnesia: In ''3'', this happens to everyone who knew the daughter if any of the Fairy endings are achieved. The rivals in particular will remember that they were competing against someone, but not who or why.* [[GayOption Lesbian Option]]: Princess Maker 4 (the PC version) had four endings where your daughter could become romantically involved with her friends she made during the game.* LetsPlay: [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Princess%20Maker%202/ Princess Maker 2]] as played by [=SynthOrange=] with [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong suggestions from the SA Forums]].* LittleBitBeastly: The rabbit and cat princes in Princess Maker 3, your daughter will turn into one if she marries one of them.* LittleMissBadass: It is possible for your daughter to kick ass early in the game.* LighterAndSofter: Patricia in the fourth one doesn't have a prostitute route with obligatory sultry outfit. This is due to [[LightNovel/SisterPrincess Naoto Tenhiro]]'s distaste for sexualizing the women he draws. Takami Akai, on the other hand, had no such compunctions.* LostInTranslation: In the [=SoftEgg=] translation of ''2'', Wendy's got a thing about "Magician Girls!" which makes no sense. In the original and Refine, she's drawing a distinction between a MagicalGirl and a magician (which is pedantic, but not pure nonsense).* MagicKnight: If you get your daughter to work on her magic and fighting skills, she becomes one of these.* MightyLumberjack: In ''Princess Maker 2'', being a lumberjack increases your strength, which increases your attack power, which means if you do it enough, you'll be be killing enemies in one hit. It has the side effect of sucking away your daughter's refinement points, though.* MisplacedVegetation: There is a rafflesia on a small isle at the (non-tropical and mostly grassland) Lakes in the second game.* MissingMom: The fate of Patricia's mother in [=PM4=] ties very heavily into the plot.* TheMistress: Some of the endings, the best of which is Royal Concubine.* MultipleEndings: Lots.* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In ''2'', if you let your daughter die or end up with a criminal or low-class career, her patron god or goddess will dress you down for it.* NobleDemon: Cube is a 'nobleman of the underworld.' He is a loyal butler to the hero, ''who fought said Demon King Lucifon''. And he is always polite and helpful, helping the hero and his daughter in any way possible, including being ''a moral guidance'' (some female Cube fans speculate that he was driven out of hell for being too nice.) He is a demon nobleman alright, but no noble demon.** According to the manual the Demon King sent him to serve the hero out of respect for the heroes strength in battle, and to help him out due to crippling injury he received as part of the fight. Similarly to the demon king whose job is punish and tempt mortals, Cube's job is to be the perfect butler and give good advice where possible.* NoSocialSkills: Low conversation, Decorum and Charisma in the 2nd game result in your daughter having this. As s consequence, she won't be able to talk to high-ranked people in the castle... * NotWantingKidsIsWeird: In ''2'', having children and being a good mother has a significant impact on your score, and if your daughter doesn't get married and have kids, her god will say that this is a bad thing.* ObviousBeta: The English language version of Princess Maker 2 is quite clearly in an unfinished state, with many endings lacking proper text. It actually contains a "beta store" that lets you diddle with the stats, trigger any ending you want and change your daughter's outfit as you see fit. * OtakuSurrogate: Sayori Ashina in Princess Maker 5. Your daughter can become one too, there's even an otaku stat.* PersonalityBloodTypes: Determines some of your daughter's characteristics and starting stats.** Type A: +3 Morality points every three months, but also +2 Stress points at the start of each month.** Type B: -2 Stress points each month.** Type [=AB=]: +2 Sensitivity points per month.** Type O: No boost at all.* PhysicalHeaven: In the second game, to match its physical hell, but its guarded by the war god. Considering he can be beaten by a thirteen year old potentially, forcing the Gods to raise the drawbridge (or rather, make it disappear) he's probably not very good at his job. In his defence, said child is a divine being herself, albeit one who needs guidance and encouragement to reach her true potential (or not).* PhysicalHell: In the second game at least, complete with its own LegionsOfHell. It's under Heavens jurisdiction however.* PimpedOutDress: At least half the ending outfits are fancy dresses, running the gamut of how dresses can be pimped out.* PluckyGirl: Your daughter can be rather headstrong.* PrettyInMink: A few of the ending outfits have fur in some way, usually white fur trim on the dresses and capes.* ProperLady: If you raise the right attributes (like cooking/temperament/etc. skills), your daughter can become one. ** Specially obvious in the "[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/housewife_9300.jpg homemaker]]" ending, but also invoked in the "[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tutor_8353.jpg tutor]]", "[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nursemaid_5061.jpg babysitter]]", "[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/millionaire_wife_8094.jpg millionaire's wife"]], "[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/merchant_wife_9283.jpg merchant's wife]]", "[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maid_1341.jpg maid]]" and "[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queen_4421.jpg Queen Consort]]" ones.** The Queen of the Land is another one. In fact, you can visit her only if you have ''very'' high protocol, and the King refers to her as the mother of the country.* PsychoLesbian: Being the only female bandit won't stop [[DarkActionGirl Bloodrose Vanesta]] from [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer praising the daughter's beauty]] and then trying to rape her, if she loses their duel.* PunchClockVillain: When the father defeats Lucifon in the intro to the second game, the king of hell argues that he was simply following God's orders. The father has no counter to this point.** God's orders to punish the decadence of the kingdom's inhabitants, including the king and his royal family, no less. In the words of Lucifon himself: "I killed only fools."* ReadyForLovemaking: The Courtesan, Mistress, and High Class Prostitute endings.* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Zigzagged in the second game, where going for a Social ending leads to significantly worse scores than other endings that require similar reputations and stats. The game considers being a housewife, in particular, to be a bad thing. On the other hand, the ''best'' endings tend to be balanced ones, where the daughter has strong social and housework reputations to back up her proficiency in combat and magic.* RescueRomance: Your daughter's relationship with Cube improves greatly if he rescues her from the bandits [[AttemptedRape trying to rape her]] after they defeat her in battle. It also slightly improves if your daughter was defeated in combat on an adventure.* RelationshipValues: A key part in determining endings.* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: If she becomes an actual queen or princess in an ending, she of course gets a crown, and occasional ermine cape.* RichBitch: Patricia, the dancing rival in the second game, and the fighter/occasional dancer Francoise More.* TheRival: The player's daughter will pick up a rival based on how she's trained.* SaveScumming: Given your daughter's unpredictable nature, this is virtually a requirement to achieve some endings.* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Your daughter can sin all she likes in the second game, so long as she pays for it at the church collection box. The Let's Play mentioned above abuses this to [[MinMaxing buff her stats to insanely high levels]].* ShrinkingViolet: Marthia, the home maker rival in the second game. Bonus for having purple-gray hair.* SilkHidingSteel: Even if you raise her to be a demure housewife, she can still have good fighting skills. Actually, many of the higher up endings in the second game guarantee this: the Archbishop, Prime Minister, Ruling Queen, and Scholar endings all require fairly high reputations in all four spheres: Fighting, Magic, Social, and Housework.* SpiritualSuccessor: There are several games originally written in English which are quite similar to ''Princess Maker 2''. The Flash game ''Project Princess'' is the most similar, since the player acts as the girl's parent. The independent games ''VideoGame/CuteKnight'', ''VideoGame/CuteKnightKingdom'', and ''Spirited Heart'' all feature a female main character who essentially raises herself. ''VisualNovel/LongLiveTheQueen'' also has an essentially self-raising princess but otherwise plays out more like a VisualNovel than an RPG, with the character stats mainly being used as triggers for various {{Event Flag}}s. Also, the Japanese game ''Dear My Sun!!'' and the Chinese fan-game ''Prince Maker - Braveness'' put the player in the role of a woman who raises one or two young men. There's a series of apps called ''Love Story'' that involves raising a daughter (or son [[AllegedlyFreeGame if you pay for it]]) with very similar gameplay to Princess Maker. There's also ''Slave Maker'', which is basically this game with anime heroines from all genres and very few "non-sexy" endings. The latest version has Cube as a potential assistant. The irony is noted.* StoutStrength: The more stamina and strength the daughter has, her weight and musculature increases. Some ballgowns are designed for a thinner figure so if she wishes to fit in them, she's forced to diet, which decreases her stamina and makes her more frail, increasing her chances of falling ill and decreasing her [=HP=] during fights. * TomboyAndGirlyGirl: In Princess Maker 4, [[ActionGirl Rise]] and [[{{Ojou}} Christine]].* UpdatedRerelease: Of the first two games, called the "refine" editions.* UselessUsefulNonCombatAbilities: {{Averted|Trope}} in the fifth game. Certain skills that no sane person will use in combat can be used to win combat. Apparently your daughter can dance crazy, the troll boss flee in terror!* VideoGameCaringPotential: Pretty much the whole point.* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: You can give her an early childhood full of achievement and promise, only to dash all her dreams by forcing her to work in a sleazy bar and starve her to death with a weight loss diet... [[WhatTheHellPlayer ...And get yelled at by everyone.]]* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: In addition to a GameOver if your daughter dies, having an evil daughter leads to a bad ending. Beat some morals into your daughter and keep them there, or she'll probably become a whore or criminal.* VillainousHarlequin: Subverted with the second game's court jester. People ''think'' he is one, and in fact visiting him lowers her reputation, but he's actually a TricksterMentor to your daughter.* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: The fifth game. If you feel that doing both is overwhelming (it really builds up Stress), feel free to ditch either one. It's strongly implied that someone will save the magical world if your daughter doesn't.* WesternZodiac: Determines your daughter's starting stats.* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Subverted in the second game; your daughter kills monsters like [[MoneySpider it's her day job]] while adventuring and its one of the best ways to make money (though oddly it does nothing for your daughter's experience values) but even her just killing random monsters or even ''criminals'' like the kidnappers around the lake raises her sin, implying that [[KnightTemplar the rampant killing of living creatures, albeit hostile ones, is not an innocent act]] and one which can [[FallenHero ultimately lead to a bad ending]].* WhatTheHellPlayer: Screw up enough and the game won't hold back trying to make you feel ashamed for what ends up happening to your daughter. The worst is if you manage to let her die, in which she bemoans her short life and gets you chewed out by your God.* WholeCostumeReference: Some outfits are based on historical ones. The "Countess" ending in ''2'' gives her a dress like what Anne of Cleaves wore.The ruling queen ending dresses [[http://www.kkpmc.net/pm2/ruling_queen.jpg her]] up like [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Ingres%2C_Napoleon_on_his_Imperial_throne.jpg Napoleon]].* WifeHusbandry: One of the possible endings. Unlike other cases, most do generally frowned upon it in-game but all will accept it due to there being no blood-relations. The thing that makes it less {{Squick}}y is, you can set your own age, so it's possible to marry your teenage daughter [[AbsurdlyYouthfulMother while still being a teenager yourself]].* WonderChild* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: This is how the Hell ending mentioned above ends up happening. Technically happens if your daughter defeats the War God, but it doesn't affect endings - instead, he gives her the best sword in the game.* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: The princess in the third game has purple hair. Marthia, one of the possible rivals, restaurant assistant, and occasional dancer in the second game has blue hair.----


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Unprecedented late October storm track from Hurricane Sandy this week
Only the 2nd Hurricane to ever hit New Jersey
"Blocking pattern" steered Sandy in unusual NW direction into Jersey Shore
Warmer arctic linked to more frequent jet stream blocking patterns
Record Arctic Sea Ice loss in 2012 may have enhanced blocking pattern this fall
Warmer waters caused Sandy's "intensity flare" just before landfall
Image: ABC6 News
What just happened? Connecting the dots
We've just witnessed a massive hurricane that did something no other tropical system has done in the past – Make a sharp left turn in the Atlantic and plow headfirst into New Jersey & New York in late October.
Here's why Sandy's track was unprecedented for a hurricane this late in the tropical season.
-Late October jet streams are usually well established far enough south that any northward moving Atlantic hurricanes are pushed eastward into the Atlantic by fast moving jet stream winds before they reach the East Coast.
-According to Jeff Masters of WxUndeground, Sandy is just the 2nd hurricane to ever hit the relatively protected (recessed) Jersey Coast. The only other hurricane to hit New Jersey was the "Vagabond Hurricane" in 1903, and that one hit in September when the jet stream is usually further north.
For nearly 2 weeks now I've talked and written about the unusual jet stream pattern that "sucked" sandy back to the NW and into the Jersey Shore.
Source: Climate Central
In weather geek speak we call these highly amplified jet stream patterns "blocking patterns" because they force the jet stream to meander into big north-south kinks and loops…instead of flowing more rapidly from west to east.
Blocking patterns have always formed in certain seasons, but tend to become less common in fall…only about 2% of the time vs. 6% in winter & spring.
There is a growing body of evidence that blocking patterns may be increasing as the Arctic warms. The blocking pattern this week over Greenland, combined with a "negatively tilted" (backwards leaning) low pressure trough over the eastern USA sucked Sandy back to the NW at the last minute into New Jersey, instead of shoving her out to sea.
-That produced less "pole to equator" temperature contrast between the Arctic and lower latitudes.
-North to south temperature contrasts are what drive the jet stream
-The lower temperature contrast produced a weaker, more meandering jet stream for late October…and an unusually strong blocking pattern developed.
-The block created a kink in the jet stream that allowed Sandy to be sucked back to the NW into the Jersey Coast.
-Warmer than average ocean temps along the Gulf Stream caused Sandy to burst with an unusual "intensity flare" just off the Coast…delivering a stronger, more destructive storm at landfall.
Sandy's unprecedented storm track suggests climate change may be be affecting basic weather patterns in a way that's rewriting many of the things we used to call "Meteorology 101."
More research will undoubtedly be done to close the potential link between a warmer Arctic and Sandy's unprecedented path of destruction.
In the mean time, residents of the East Coast are less concerned with why Sandy hit, as they struggle to survive her devastating aftermath.


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|YDS: 5.10a/b French: 6a+ Ewbanks: 19 UIAA: VI+ ZA: 19 British: E2 5b [details]
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|Kristan Markey on Oct 5, 2012
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By Jon Clark
From: Philadelphia, PA
Oct 18, 2012
|The crux is at the top from the last bolt to the anchor.
By Larry S
From: Easton, Pennsylvania
Mar 15, 2014
|I thought this route was quite good. There are good hands and moves around the bulge, with good feet if you can see them/feel for them (or just get a really high foot), then very thoughtful / technical moves up the slab up top. I found the the crux to be everything from the second to last bolt to the anchor.


text:
Variety has unveiled its annual Youth Impact report.
The special coverage acknowledges young stars responsible for making waves on the business front.
SEE ALSO: Variety's Youth Impact Report
Variety will also honor Jake T. Austin, Abigail Breslin, Nina Dobrev, Tyler Posey and Quvenzhané Wallis as honorees of its seventh annual Power of Youth gathering, set for July 27 at Universal Studios.


text:
Trevor Immelman beat Tiger Woods by three strokes to beome the first South African to wear the green jacket since Gary Player in 1978.
Gary Player is a huge admirer of Trevor Immelman's and has compared the South African's swing to that of the legendary Ben Hogan. He apparently called Immelman on Saturday night to wish him good luck before the final round at Augusta last Sunday.
Trevor Immelman first met his boyhood idol and mentor, Gary Player when he was just five years old.
"I've always dreamed about winning majors and, deep down, I always thought I was good enough," Trevor Immelman told reporters in his post US Masters victory on Sunday.
Trevor Immelman's victory in the US Masters golf tournament, has pushed him up the world rankings 14 places to 15th place.
Mark Lamport-Stokes writes more on this story on the Reuters UK website.


text: Media 5 May 2011 Whose words are these? The strange evolution of a Martin Luther King quotation can tell us a lot about authorship. Sign up to the Staggers Morning Call email * Print HTML Authorship is a funny thing. Take this blog post, for example. There, above the headline, is a large, pink egg-shaped object that bears an uncanny resemblance to the putty-faced ovoid I occasionally wash when I can't see through the grime. It's my face, trapped in that awkward sneery half-smile, and these words are mine. Well, are they? You could say that I've lifted "these words are mine" from the beautiful lyrics of Natasha Bedingfield's spectacularly written song about songwriting, "These Words Are Mine". And there they are, the same Roman characters in the same order, the same English words implying a very similar sentiment to that pop masterwork. I would argue, though, that since I haven't surrounded them with the lustrous beauty that Bedingfield did, I haven't so much borrowed them from her fair quill, but simply reproduced a familiar phrase. I think that's fair enough, but it's hard to know. When writing something, you're aware that you might stumble across something someone else once did before, whether you're doing so accidentally or knavishly. It's the latter knavishness that is frowned upon, of course, for tweet jackdaws who end up cracking gags that others have made before, using their own avatar and getting all the plaudits. But then, what if you come up with the same thing independently, simultaneously? There is only a finite number of puns, for example: someone's bound to have thought about the same one as you, and done it before – and probably done it better. Does that mean you're a thief if you think you've come up with one yourself, only to discover that it came out of the Ark? I ask all this because, this week, words from Martin Luther King Jr echoed around Twitter and Facebook. "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, even an enemy," he said. Or rather, he didn't. The quotation came instead from a Pennsylvanian English teacher in Japan, Jessica Dovey, who had followed her own sentiment with the true King quote: Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Dovey's quote got added in to MLK's words, and then, for reasons of space in Twitter's 140-character limit, her quote became King's. Except he never said it. Does it matter, now that we know a figure we admire didn't say these words – that they came from a pleb, someone who is just like us? Does it diminish their power? Does it erode credibility from those who repeated and retweeted the sentiment in those hours after the slaying of Osama Bin Laden, using the authoritative voice of a peace campaigner to reflect their views that the killing was less than morally perfect? I think the answer is no. If anything, I feel it's a wonderful thing to discover a new, extraordinary quotation from someone completely ordinary. Would we have known about Dovey's words if they had not been wrongly attributed to someone more famous? Probably not. But I'm glad we did hear them. It is too easy to attribute wise-sounding words to the wise people we've learned to admire. There are plenty of mistakes, bad quotes and less-than-pleasant things that got said by many famous figures whose other words are copied and pasted all over the place; but we tend to ignore those other sayings in favour of the aphorisms that suit our sentiments the most. It's a deal more complicated than that, but when you're trying to sum up your feelings in 140 characters or fewer, a lot of the richness to these passages does die away. So, yes, I did write this; but I had help, from Natasha Bedingfield, from Martin Luther King, from Jessica Dovey. Would you believe me if I said I wrote this all on my own? Probably not. Does it matter if I did most of it by myself? I hope so. These words are mine. Trying to find the magic, trying to write a classic . . . sometimes we all borrow a little from somewhere else. › Web Only: the best of the blogs Patrolling the murkier waters of the mainstream media Subscribe from just £1 per issue More Related articles Nigel Farage spectacularly mocked for delivering a letter of complaint to BBC What Happened reveals Hillary Clinton as a smart thinker – unlike the man who beat her Leader: Boris Johnson, a liar and a charlatan Subscription offer 12 issues for £12 + FREE book LEARN MORE Close This week's magazine


text:
unchecked (C# Reference)
The unchecked keyword is used to suppress overflow-checking for integral-type arithmetic operations and conversions.
In an unchecked context, if an expression produces a value that is outside the range of the destination type, the result is truncated. For example:
unchecked { int val = 2147483647 * 2; }
Because the calculation above is performed in an unchecked block, the fact that the result is too large for an integer is ignored, and
val is assigned the value
-2. By default, overflow detection is enabled, which has the same effect as using checked.
In the example above, had unchecked been omitted, a compilation error would occur because the expression uses constants and the result is known at compile time. The unchecked keyword also suppresses overflow detection for non-constant expressions, which otherwise result in OverflowException at runtime.
The unchecked keyword can also be used as an operator, like this:
public int UncheckedAdd(int a, int b) { return unchecked(a + b); }
This sample shows how to use the unchecked statement, using unchecked with constant expressions.
// statements_unchecked.cs using System; class TestClass { const int x = 2147483647; // Max int const int y = 2; static void Main() { int z; unchecked { z = x * y; } Console.WriteLine("Unchecked output value: {0}", z); } }
Unchecked output value: -2
For more information, see the following sections in the C# Language Specification:
126.96.36.199 Block statements, checked, and unchecked statements
7.5.12 The checked and unchecked operators
8.11 The checked and unchecked statements
ReferenceC# Keywords
Checked and Unchecked (C# Reference)
checked (C# Reference)


text:
Michael E. Knight Re-Signs with AMC
Read with Caution
Contains Scoopage for Tad
Finally quelling those rampant rumors that he's about to defect to another soap, All My Children's Michael E. Knight (Tad) has reported that he has decided to stay in Pine Valley.
The longtime AMC player, who joined the cast as "Tad the Cad" in 1982 and has played the role on and off for more than two decades, has re-signed with the show in a longterm deal.
"We are utterly thrilled that Michael and Tad are staying in Pine Valley," says AMC head writer Megan McTavish. Speculation had grown that the actor would follow the path of several former ABC soap stars including his long-time love interest Cady McClain (as Dixie on AMC, now Rosanna on ATWT) and cross over to As the World Turns, possibly in the role of Scott Eldridge, Lisa's son. But Knight's onscreen love life, which will reportively heat up this fall, enticed him to stay with AMC. "He will be entangled in a fun, quirky and, we hope, surprising quadrangle where he's romantically juggling three women simultaneously, and hot on the trail of several secrets as well," McTavish previews. "And that's only the beginning."
Brian Frons, ABC Daytime president, announced officially today that the triple Emmy-Award winner has re-signed to remain on the show.
"We are privileged to have such a fine actor as Michael remain an intregral part of 'All My Children.' I am thrilled he has chosen this long-term commitment to the show," said Mr. Frons in making the announcement.
"'All My Children' has always been a very important part of my life," said Knight. "I love the people I work with and am VERY proud of the work we do. I was extremely gratified recently when both Brian Frons and Felicia Behr (senior vice president, programming, ABC Daytime) went out of their way to personally assure me that they respected my work, and wanted ole Thaddeus around for years to come. I am most grateful for their support and the incredibly loving support of AMC's fans."
"I am delighted to have re-signed my contract with the show. I must say I am also thrilled that Megan McTavish is back at the helm as head writer. Megan not only understands Pine Valley's characters, but also the necessity of telling stories as an ensemble," Knight continued. "Our audience has literally decades of personal investment in our show … in Pine Valley as a PLACE, filled with all sorts of crazy and wonderful people. We, as a cast, have worked hard to make it so, and it only makes sense for us to honor that love and support by making the most of ALL our resources," affirmed Knight.
Five-time Emmy nominated Knight created the role of Tad Martin in 1982 and was honored with two Emmy awards for Outstanding Younger Leading Actor in a Drama Series in 1986 and 1987. He left AMC twice – in 1986 returning in 1988, then leaving again in December 1990. He later rejoined the cast in December 1992 and played a dual role (Ted Orsini) from 1993-1994. In 2001 Knight was honored with his third Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor. He also was nominated for seven Soap Opera Awards winning for Best Supporting Actor, 1998 and Outstanding Male Scene-Stealer, 1995.
Knight starred in the play "Run for Your Wife" on the Los Angeles stage. He also completed a lead role in the Columbia Pictures "Hexed," and has guest-starred in a variety of primetimes series including "Murder She Wrote," "Dear John," and "Grapevine." He co-starred in the off-Broadway play, "Wrong Turn at Lungfish," and appeared in the ABC movie for television "She Stood Alone: The Tailhook Scandal," as wells as in the off-Broadway play "Cakewalk," with Linda Lavin, and most recently in the films "Ash Tuesday," 'Undermined," and "Noise," currently in production.
Knight appeared in stage productions of "Absurd Person Singular" and "Enemies" as well as the feature films "Baby its You," and "Date with an Angel." Additionally, he produced and starred in the off-off Broadway production of "Call Back – A Dual in One Act" in the spring of 1984. He also starred in the American Stage Company of "Home Games," with Paul Sorvino as artistic director at Fairleigh Dickenson University. He later reprised the role in an off-Broadway production of "Home Games" at the Hudson Guild.
Knight is likewise a talented writer and artist. His great (or great, great?) grandfather was an impressionist painter of some reknown, Daniel Ridgway Knight. Knight is married to One Life to Live star, Catherine Hickland (Lindsay). Total pet lovers, they reside in NYC with a menagerie of cats and dogs.
All My Children received Outstanding Drama Series Emmy Awards in 1998, 1992 and 1994. In addition, the program has received three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team. All My Children is the recipient of two Writer's Guild Awards and two Gladd Media Awards (2001 and 2002)/ In 2003 the show received 17 Emmy Awards, more than any other Daytime drama.
AMC consistently ranks in the top five daytime programs among women 18-49. The current week of September 1, 2003 marks the show's highest delivery among women 18-49 since May 2003. With the show's Search for the Sexiest Man in America contest, AMC continues to grow gains among the key demos of Women 18-49 and Women 18-34.
Julie Hanan Carruthers becomes executive producer on September 29, 2003. Megan McTavish is head writer with Conal O'Brien and Angela Tessinari directing. All My Children is produced in New York and airs Monday-Friday (1-2 PM) on the ABC Television Network.
For More on Michael E. Knight
Search Soapdom using keywords
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text:
April 28th 1897
At North Kingston, NS, April 20, by Rev JS Coffin, assisted by Rev AS Tuttle, Albert J Robinson of Roslindale, Mass., and Eunice M., youngest daughter of Ed E Tupper of North Kingston.
(Boston papers please copy)
At Yokohama, Japan, march 5th, by Rev EC Irvine, Dr H Mather Hare, son of William Hare, of Halifax to Estelle, only daughter of Rev VC Hart, of Canadian Methodist Mission, China.
At the home of the brides parents, Mr and Mrs John Semone, April 10th by Rev. L.M. McCready, Geo. A. Fancy, of Upper Northfield, Lunenburg Co., and Miss Clara L. Semone, of New Canada.
At Waterville on Friday, April 23rd of consumption, Ella, eldest daughter of C.O. and Ardellis Nichols, aged 19 years.
At South Berwick on Wednesday, April 14th, Lydia Florence, daughter of John and Annie Coulter, aged 5 years.
At Church St., April 15th of paralysis, Mrs Robie Morine, aged 75 years.
Canady Creek:
The people in this vicinity were shocked on Saturday to hear of the terrible accident which had befallen Mrs Judson West at Coldbrook Friday evening. She had gone to Coldbrook to spend a few days and was riding with her nephew to call on a friend and as he went into the post office for a moment the horse in some manner turned suddenly throwing Mrs West out, the carriage wheel striking her about the temple. She was picked up unconscious and taken to the residence of Mr Asaph West and died the following morning. We tender our heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved friends in the sad affliction.
Mrs J H Rawding has been spending a few days in Canning.
Marchant Clark spent last Wednesday at the light house.
Hanford Rawding has returned after several months' absence in Boston. Hanford enjoys the air of his native clime.
We are enjoying beautiful spring weather.
The fishermen have caught herring and some codfish in nets.
We enjoyed a pleasant little hooking party at Mrs Tuft's on Thursday.
An entertainment was given in the Free Baptist church on Wednesday evening by the members of the church. The concert consisted of music and recitations. The proceeds went to help the church financially.
Miss Killam is showing a very nice line of spring millinery, hats and bonnets in profusion, all at prices that defy competition.
Mr. Harry Martin has started the foundation for his new shop. Judging from the size of the foundation it will be a fine building.
Mrs Jonathan Borden has moved to Kentville and Mr J R Forbes is to move into her house soon. Mrs Borden has many friends in Canning who will miss her very much.
Constable Sanford was in town last week collecting fines imposed on Mike McFadden for selling liquor.
Mr C E Sanford, former manager of the Cornwallis Creamery, has assumed the management of the Noel Cheese Factory, Hants Co.
Sheffield Mills:
Miss Lillie Best from Canard visited at Mrs Geo Bentley's on Saturday and Sunday.
Messrs W Sanford & Sons have begun work at their mill.
E M Bancroft, representative for a Bicycle Co., has been taking orders in this vicinity. We learn that quite a number have purchased wheels from him.
Mr W L Harris was in Truro last week for a few days.
Miss Lulu Webster intends to begin a class in music here soon.
Mr and Mrs Stewart Alcorn of Berwick spent Sunday at the Mills.
We are pleased to see Mr Loris Borden home from Halifax.
Baxter Harbor Mt.:
Mr Ambrose Lyons, who has been quite seriously ill, is improving. We are glad to see him out again.
Mr Richmond Wood and family have moved to Arlington into the house lately occupied by Mr M Carson and formerly owned by Mr Wood.
Mr and Mrs Milledge Bennett have had their home brightened by the coming of a tiny son.
Miss Maggie Tully arrived home from Boston on Thursday 15th inst.
There has been quite an exodus of our young men this spring; some eight or ten have left here during the past three weeks for their respective places of work in the valley for the summer.
Those on our sick list are improving.
As the election is over the snow is gone and the mud is dried up, perhaps you would like to hear from this little corner once more.
So far this spring there has not been one to join the throng that yearly sets forth for the land of promises.
Mrs Neale of New Brunswick who has spent the last two months with her brother A Minniss (sp? PV) returned home on Saturday.
Watson Graves built a new barn this spring and William Ritchie has raised the frame of a dwelling house a short distance above the village. Who says Morden is quite dead yet?
Mr and Mrs George Kirkpatrick went to Port George on Sunday to visit their daughter who has been ill, we are pleased to learn that she is better.
Mr Roscoe visited our section last week, he seemed well pleased with the progress the school has made this term, under the management of Miss Spinney.
We are pleased to see Mr Chas Ritchie is able to be out again, he having been very sick through February.
Quite a lot of timber is being hauled here to be taken to Margaretville for use in building the wharf at that place.
Mr Fred Kirk bought a horse last week to take the place of the one lost by fire some time ago. He is expecting his wife and daughter home from mass where they have spent the winter.
The fishermen are busy building weirs, no less than four are being put in this spring.
Mr and Mrs Gay Best entertained the young people of Grafton and vicinity a Friday evening last, the occasion being a genuine "surprise party" to Mr best. The evening was very pleasantly spent in music and games.
The funeral of the late Mr Hiram Marshall took place here Friday afternoon April 23rd. The service was conducted by the Rev Thos McFall assisted by Revs JM Allen and FS Coffin.
Mrs JW Elliott of Windsor is visiting at her old home for a short time.
Mrs Eva Sawler returned home on Thursday last from an extended visit to friends in canning and Kentville.
Rev EO Read administered the ordinance of baptism to three young men on Sunday last after which he preached a very earnest and impressive sermon from Rev 2:10. The meetings will be continued this week.
Mr PF Lawson of the Middleton Outlook came home on Saturday to attend the funeral of Miss Nichols at Waterville. He returned to Middleton on Sunday afternoon.
Mr Fred Bligh of Halifax spent Sabbath last week with his cousin Mrs John A. Newcomb.


text:
Remember the Montreal Expos? The MLB could see a second team move to the great white north if the funding is right.
With the Bruins in Montreal and the Red Sox in Toronto, The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo discussed the possibility of Montreal getting a new team with NESN's Tom Caron. Major League Baseball has seen franchises return to cities that lost teams in the past with Seattle, Milwaukee and Washington.
Cafardo mentioned the Rays as a possible team that could move to Montreal if a new stadium isn't built in Tampa. Montreal would need to get a stadium approved with a retractable roof before any discussions become serious.
Watch the video above to hear Cafardo and Caron discuss the possibility of baseball returning to Montreal.
Photo via Facebook/Montreal Expos
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text:
2011 Airstream Interstate Coach - Kentucky
- Year: 2011
- Make: Airstream
- Model: Interstate Coach
- Condition: Excellent
- Country: United States
- State or Province: Kentucky
- City: Bowling Green
- Type of Sale: Private Seller (Individual)
- Listed: July 8, 2013 11:09 am
- Expires: This ad has expired
Information about the ad poster
- Listed by: bettina
- Member Since: July 8, 2013
Other items listed by bettina
- No other ads by this poster found.
2011 Class B Motorhome in silver, convertible lounge with light camel leather and asian sand interior. Excellent condition, less than 14,000 miles. First owner. Still under warranty. Only Mercedes-Benz serviced. Still smells NEW. Fully loaded, finest Mercedes Bluetec technology.
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If you are using our classifieds to buyer please take a moment to read this article for Tips, FAQs and other resources to assist your shopping experience.Tips f...
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Serebii.Net Forums
Serebii.net Forums
SPPf Help & Newbie Lounge
> Hi am new
View Full Version :
Hi am new
16th August 2009, 10:04 PM
Hi am new to serebii.net.
I hope I will have a good time and fun
16th August 2009, 10:20 PM
Welcome to SerebiiForums! Hope you have a good time and all that, I'm fairly new myself and if you ever need some advice, feel free to PM me.
16th August 2009, 10:31 PM
Hey, what's up? Read the rules and have fun :], if you need a friend or advice don't be to shy to give me a VM ^^
16th August 2009, 10:46 PM
Welcome to sppf, i really hope u enjoy ur time here and have a good time.
Stay active. If u need any help or someone to talk too. give me a pm anytime.
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Hi I'm xxxLatiasxxx if you want to be friends just send me an invite well anyway welcome to SPPF.
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text:
ringsonfingers's review of Unlisted Brand Cuccio Naturale- Forte' Horsetail Nail Strengthener
4 reviews
25% would repurchase
Package Quality: 3.3
Price: $$
Package Quality: 3.3
Price: $$
INGREDIENTShorsetaill grass,oleaeuropaea,calendula,camphor,acrylate copolymer,ethyl acetate,butyl acetate,nitrocelloulose,isopropyl alcohol,polyester rasin,dibutyl phthalate,stearalkonium hectorite,acetyl triethyl citrate
Age: Unknown
Skin: Other, Other, Not Sure
Hair: Other, Other, Other
Eyes: Other
Cannot recommend!
This is yet another nail product that purports numerous benefits to nails yet contains really well-known toxic chemicals: dibutyl phthalate, acrylate copolymer, acetyl triethyl citrate, and ethyl acetate. Considering the number of mid to high level toxic ingredients, it's nothing short of outrageous that "Naturale" is in the product name! IMO, these toxic ingredients just have no place in cosmetics.
Why do companies feel the need to put these types of chemicals in their formulations and then tout supposedly therapeutic, healing, nourishing, restorative, regenerative etc. benefits?
The horsetail is the main active ingredient, and it's a good one and well-known for hair and nails, but the nasty ingredients outweigh any benefits. You're really better off just taking a horsetail supplement, or one with silica since that's the key component of horsetail.
And I'm not sure I believe the claims of the other poster after looking at the photo, simply because it takes, on average, 3 to 6 months to grow out nails, not a couple of weeks. You don't get a full set of long, strong nails after two weeks of using *any* product, when nails only grow about 3 mm (0.12 in) a month.
Read all 4 reviews of Cuccio Naturale- Forte' Horsetail Nail Strengthener
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text:
Boston Terrier
Boston Terriers are known as the "American Gentleman," because of their dapper appearance and their all-American ancestry. They were developed as companion dogs in Boston after the Civil War, and they represented America as the official Bicentennial Dog in 1976. Although they are called terriers, they have more in common with their bulldog ancestors. They are not particularly anxious or high-strung, but their streamlined body is more terrier-like in appearance.
The Boston Terrier is an easy-going, friendly family dog who tends to make friends wherever he goes. They are well-suited for apartment life because their exercise requirements are not strenuous. They make excellent companions for busy people because their grooming needs are not extensive and the appreciate accompanying their owners on any kind of activity, whether it is a quick errand or a short walk.
Boston Terriers are lively, enthusiastic little dogs who can adapt well to just about any living situation. They are well-suited to apartment life because they can fulfill most of their exercise needs with boisterous indoor activity and rambunctious play. Boston Terriers are generally friendly and engaged around people. Part of their reputation as a well-mannered little gentleman comes from their affability and good manners. They won't create too much trouble indoors, but they can become recreational barkers if they are left alone too often. Boston Terriers are alert and intelligent, so they learn fast. They are very sensitive and responsive to their owner's tone of voice and emotions, so training works best when it is positive and reward-based.
Their adorable, pushed-in faces and shortened snouts make them brachycephalic. As a result, they are sensitive to heat and tend to cough and wheeze, especially after straining themselves. Make sure they don't overheat or struggle to breath by keeping them comfortable indoors during hot weather.
The Boston Terrier's fashion-forward "tuxedo" patterned coat is seen in shades of brindle, seal and black with white marks along the face, chest and occasionally the lower legs. Be wary of dogs in solid colors, as they are poorly bred and can be prone to retardation and health problems. The Boston Terrier should be a bi-colored dog. The coat is short and smooth wit fine hair of an even length all around the dog's body. The coat should be bright and have a shine to it. Boston Terriers, like their relatives the Boxer and the French Bulldog, have alert prick ears and wrinkly, pushed-in faces.
No aspect of home dog grooming requires as much time and regular devotion as brushing. Routine brushing keeps your pet's hair clean and tangle-free, while keeping his skin healthy by stimulating blood flow, removing dead hair and distributing natural oils.
Dogs with smooth coats are relatively low maintenance when it comes to brushing. However, they still require a nice, weekly brush using a bristle brush. Brush all the way down to the skin. You might want to follow up with a rubber curry brush to remove loose fur. Brush from front to back with smooth coats. A light mist of detangling spray after brushing leaves a great shine.
This little gentleman is a wash and wear kind of dog. Rub down the coat with a firm bristle brush to remove dead hairs and keep it shiny.
What you need
- Slicker, bristle or steel pin brush
- 2-in-1 comb
- Shedding blade (for heavy shedders)
- Liquid detangler
With preparation, perseverance and a positive attitude, bathing can become a fun and fulfilling part of the regular grooming cycle, while helping your dog avoid many diseases and infections.
Smooth coated breeds adhere to the general rule of dog bathing: about once every three months. The coat should end up fresh smelling, shiny, with no loose or shedding hair. First give the dog a good brushing to remove dead hair and mats. Place a rubber mat in the tub to provide secure footing and fill the tub with three to four inches of lukewarm water. Use a spray hose, pitcher or unbreakable cup to wet the dog, taking caution to avoid getting water in the eyes, ears and nose. Massage in pet shampoo, saving the head for last. Immediately rinse thoroughly, starting with the head to prevent soap from dripping into the eyes. Towel dry. Wipe wrinkled breeds with a soft cloth and make sure they are totally dry after bathing.
Take extra care to wash the Boston Terrier with a damp cloth, especially around his face, because the facial wrinkles are prone to infection if they collect dirt or saliva.
What you need
- Slicker, bristle or steel pin brush
- Dog shampoo
- Rubber tub mat
- Towels
- Bathing tether (if needed)
Clipping or trimming your dog's coat is far easier than you would ever imagine. With the right clipper, trimmer and scissors, giving your dog a haircut is easy on your wallet and your schedule.
Dogs with smooth coats generally only require trims and tidying up in areas of excessive hair growth using a trimmer or blunt scissors. It's always wise to take a dog for a short walk or exercise to calm them down before trimming. Remember to brush the coat first to remove any tangles and mats. Don't forget to trim around the paws, pads, tail, chest and sanitary areas, as needed. The coat should lay flat and smooth against the body when finished.
What you need
- Slicker, bristle or steel pin brush
- 2-in-1 comb
- Shedding blade (some coats)
- Pet clipper
- Pet trimmer
Many dog owners are apprehensive about trimming their dog's nails because they are nervous about cutting into the quick. But with the right conditioning and careful cutting, nail clipping can be a simple, stress-free activity for you and your dog.
Provide your dog with plenty of positive reinforcement and even treats to help associate nail clipping with a positive experience. As you start to clip, gently press on your dog's paws to help him become accustomed to the feeling of having his nails clipped. Then, work gradually, shaving down just a thin portion of the nail at first to make sure you don't reach the quick. Clip one nail, reward your dog with a treat, and stop to give him some positive reinforcement before moving on. Gradually increase the number of nails you clip in one sitting to help your dog get used to the process. Never trim extremely long nails down to a short nail in one sitting, because this is an excellent way to accidently quick the dog's nail. Instead, work gradually, shaving small portions of your dog's nails off each time.
You can tell if you're getting close to the quick by the texture of your dog's nail. The nail is hard closer to the surface and becomes softer as you get closer to the quick. If your dog's nail starts to feel softer, that's a good indication that you're getting close to the quick.
Because Boston Terriers do not always engage in a lot of outdoor activity, they will benefit from having their nails trimmed at least monthly to make up for natural wear and tear and keep them comfortable.
What you need
- Sharpened nail clipper
- Styptic powder
Not all breeds and coat styles require routine trimming in and around the eyes and ears but all should undergo regular inspection and cleaning around these sensitive areas. Doing so will help prevent the development of infections that could seriously damage these amazing organs.
It is always important to routinely clean your dog's eyes and ears, and examine for potential infections. Some smooth-coated dogs, like Basenjis and Boxers, and dogs with large ears, like Weimaraners and Great Danes, have sensitive ears that should be checked weekly for infection and cleaned with a cotton ball. Gently wipe a cotton ball moistened with mineral oil, olive oil or witch hazel in your dog's ear, being careful to avoid the ear canal. Never use a Q-Tip, which could cause damage to the inner ear if your dog suddenly shakes or jerks his head. Bushy hair growth within the ear can be thinned with tweezers or blunt scissors. Use a small trimmer to trim excess hair around the eyes, ears and face. If you have a small dog, like an Italian Greyhound, take special care to clean around their eyes with a cotton ball or soft cloth and use a small trimmer to trim excess hair around their eyes to make sure they are comfortable. Dogs with facial wrinkles, like French Bulldogs and Boston Terriers, should have their faces wiped down at least weekly to prevent infection.
What you need
- Pet trimmer
- Blunt scissors
- Cotton balls or soft cloth
- Warm water
- Mineral oil (or olive oil or witch hazel)
Many owners do not realize how important it is to brush your pet's teeth on a regular basis. Some dogs are prone to dental problems and sensitive teeth, especially small dogs with tiny teeth and dogs with special diets. These problems can be easily combatted with frequent brushing.
Cavities are rare with dogs but gum disease caused by tartar buildup is not, which is why they require regular brushing with toothpaste and a toothbrush formulated specifically for dogs. While daily brushing is ideal, doing so on a weekly basis will be a big help in avoiding the need to bring your dog to a veterinarian for a cleaning, which usually has to be done under sedation.
What you need
- Dog toothbrush
- Dog toothpaste (homemade recipe of baking soda, salt and water is acceptable)


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It only takes a minute to get started. Fill out our simple sign up form and login to the site.
This step is optional but will greatly multiply your chances of your profile getting noticed by other daters. Type a little about yourself, your interests and upload some good photos of yourself.
Use our website's sophisticated search to spot members who satisfy your criteria. Or just scan through listings and spot people that you find interesting.
Identified someone who could be a good match? Send a note to them or just a wink and see what comes of it. With a little luck you'll be on your way to discovering your ideal match.
It doesn't take long


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Last night while in Philly, the city of brotherly love, French Montana's tour bus took on fire from a drive by shooting. The incident took place after French's concert in Philly, in which he Meek Mill and others hit the stage at Theatre of Arts, the shooting happened while folks were getting off of the tour bus at Holiday Inn Express.
Word on the webs was that two people were shot, one of which has died, no word from French's camp, or Meek's regarding the incident. Though there is a news report from last night's telecast in Philly, check it out and speak your mind below.
Signed, Jesse James


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|5:35 p.m.
|7:10 p.m.
|7:50 p.m.
|9:30 p.m.
Frontier Airlines today announced it will expand its low-fare service at Trenton-Mercer Airport (TTN), in Ewing, N.J., with the addition of nonstop service to Cincinnati, Ohio and Charlotte, N.C., both beginning Feb. 12, 2014. To celebrate this announcement, Frontier is offering fares as low as $39* each way through Oct. 20, 2013. Frontier is the only airline providing scheduled service out of Trenton-Mercer Airport, the gateway to New Jersey's state capital, all of central New Jersey, and Southeast Pennsylvania, including metro Philadelphia. The addition of these two cities brings Frontier's total nonstop destinations served from Trenton-Mercer Airport to 11: Atlanta; Charlotte; Chicago-Midway; Cincinnati; Columbus; Detroit; Fort Lauderdale; Fort Myers; Orlando; Raleigh-Durham; and Tampa. "This is a great day for consumers as we bring two new low-fare options to the Trenton/Princeton area, providing a time and money saving option to even more customers throughout the region," said Daniel Shurz, Frontier's senior vice president, commercial. "Customers who fly from Trenton-Mercer Airport can enjoy a newly upgraded airport with fewer hassles and convenient parking compared with other airports in the region." "By adding these new routes to Charlotte, N.C. and Cincinnati, Ohio, Frontier continues to strengthen its network for travelers in the Mercer County region, going from 9 destinations to 11," said Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes. "As we gear up for the grand re-opening of an improved Trenton-Mercer Airport on Nov. 8, we eagerly welcome back Frontier, its loyal customers and all those who are excited to fly Frontier at Trenton-Mercer." Following is the schedule for Frontier's Charlotte service**: Trenton/Princeton- Charlotte (beginning Feb. 12, 2014)
Following is the schedule for Frontier's Cincinnati service:


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New Blog?
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1 Comments:
- Kim said...
For some reason, this photo just cracked me up. My son plays football, basketball and lacrosse -- (and golfs in his spare time -- as if that ever happens...). My daughter plays soccer, volleyball and basketball. The dogs chase tennis balls which we buy in quantity to deter them from chewing on the lacrosse balls which are now housed in my car to protect them from said dogs. Over the years the official ball size changes for the age bracket they're in for football, basketball and soccer, and for some reason we never throw these things away -- so in my garage I have at least 20 balls of varying shapes and sizes. At least. We have three big plastic containers meant to house balls -- and it isn't enough. Heavy Sigh. At least none of our collection has sponge bob smiling up at me. We do have one or two that glow in the dark.


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Make no mistake about it: They're out to get your money.
Who are "they," you ask? Just about everybody.
Think about the myriad retailers, insurers, service providers, financial institutions and other entities that make a beeline for your wallet in the course of any given week. Granted, it's necessary to conduct transactions with these businesses, but you shouldn't give them any more of your hard-earned money than you absolutely must.
- The salesperson in the electronics store tries to pressure you into paying extra for a so-called "extended warranty." Should you do it? No.
- Thousands of homeowners keep paying extra money each month for private mortgage insurance, or PMI – sometimes for years longer than required. Should you follow their example? No.
- Many Americans could save 25 percent to 80 percent on prescription drugs if they would stop paying extra for brand names and instead purchase safe, generic versions of the medications they need. Should you explore that option? Yes.
Most people don't consciously set out to spend more money than they should. And yet it happens every day.
Wouldn't it be great if there were a resource that harnessed the best available consumer advice for virtually every big-ticket purchase, home improvement, life transition, budgeting decision, compensation negotiation and family financial discussion you had to face?
This is that resource.
"Ten Tips for Keeping Your Money in Your Wallet," a new column being launched this week on MSNBC.com, is designed with busy people in mind. Each column focuses on a different topic and provides substantive advice very quickly. Applying the advice shared in "Ten Tips" could save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars each year.
What's more, the "Ten Tips" feature will make it possible for all of us to benefit from dozens of additional smart tips. Every time a column runs on MSNBC.com, you and others will be invited to share your ideas and tricks for beating the system. The best reader tips will be highlighted each week. You'll also be given an opportunity to vent about your own horror stories, share your tales of triumph and converse with one another about the topic at hand.
Together, we're bound to learn a lot and find ourselves in better financial shape than we might be if left to our own devices.
About the columnist
Laura T. Coffey is a veteran journalist with nearly 20 years of newspaper experience. She has worked as the social issues editor for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, deputy business editor for The San Diego Union-Tribune, managing editor of The Prague Post in the Czech Republic, a business writer for the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai, Alaska, and a writer and personal finance columnist for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida.
Laura's crusade to help consumers make smart financial decisions and avoid regrettable – and potentially embarrassing – blunders began in 1996, when she fell victim to a scam and lost $1,700 in the process. .


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- //Home
- //Reviews
- //Disappearing Acts
It would be hard to come up with a couple who seem like a better fit than Zora Banks (Sanaa Lathan) and Franklin Swift (Wesley Snipes). Both are beautiful and gifted, ambitious and passionate. She's an aspiring and talented singer-songwriter, he's an accomplished, if yet unlicensed, woodworker. They meet cute as she's moving into a Brooklyn brownstone apartment where he's just laid down the gorgeous hardwood floor. He helps her move her furniture and boxes of CDs and books inside, they share conversation and flirtatious glances. You can almost feel the erotic tension.
So begins Disappearing Acts, a movie that—you can't help but know if you're reasonably conscious—is based on a novel by Terry McMillan. This means, of course, that the relationship is both fated to be and fated to undergo many trials and tribulations: McMillan's work explores the ways that painfully imperfect and dizzingly wonderful relationships arise between people who appear to fit. Like many McMillan heroines, Zora (named after Zora Neale Hurston, she graciously informs us almost as soon as we meet her) is a fiercely determined and resolutely independent survivor, hoping to find a man who will meet her high standards but not especially convinced that she will. Franklin, like many McMillan heroes, is a good-hearted man who's been beaten down by any number of systems set against him. When they meet, Zora is teaching music at an elementary school while she puts together enough material to make her own record. Franklin has found his calling—renovating brownstones—but at the moment is still scraping by. He has yet to get his GED so that he can take the test to become a licensed contractor, and so he has settled for working on non-union crews from which he can be dropped without notice (the film's primary embodiment of this problem is a guy named—rather unimaginatively—Vinney, played by the talented but typecast Michael Imperioli). Zora and Franklin share a love for Chinese food, Scrabble, and music. In other words, it's ordained in Terry McMillan's universe that they get together, which they do, almost immediately. They spend the next two hours trying to stay together.
Disappearing Acts
Wesley Snipes, Sanaa Lathan, Clark Johnson, CCH Pounder, John Amos, Kamaal Fareed (Q-Tip)
While both Zora and Franklin agree that art and integrity are more important than money (he informs her, "If you're looking for a brother with a fat bank account, I ain't the one"), they also must contend with basic pressures—paying rent, for instance. The film's episodic structure lays out a series of these pressures alongside the characters' unspoken but quite evident fears, in terms both metaphorical and literal. For one instance, Franklin's parents (CCH Pounder and John Amos, whose appearances are far too fleeting here), provide a momentary point of tension, when Franklin and Zora go to visit and they judge their son harshly. Zora's attempts to smooth over the rough spot only aggravate a longstanding familial ugliness that the movie does not explore further.
But the most obvious example of the film's stiltedness comes one night when Franklin is awakened by Zora having an epileptic fit: though she has neglected to tell him about her condition, he's quite able to deal with it. While the scene showing the seizure is wrenching, the aftermath is puzzlingly abrupt. When Zora wakes in the morning, looking unusually bedraggled, Franklin asks her why she didn't tell him and she admits that she's afraid he would have left her if she had. He rightly points out that he's still there with her, and she seems comforted by that fact. From there, the film never refers to her epilepsy again—even though she goes on to become pregnant, give birth, and cope with being a working mother—making it the most flagrant of the film's telegraphic devices, but not the only one. This isn't to say that the movie must deal with the condition "disease of the week"-style, by making it a tragic focus. Rather, its metaphorical function—to demonstrate that the seemingly unstoppable Zora has a "weakness"—is made awkward by its lack of integration into the rest of the plot.
This plot comes to revolve around the couple's troubles with money—it becomes an emblem and manifestation of Zora and Franklin's mutual and separate fears. She finds a producer, Reg Baptiste (Kamaal Fareed, a.k.a. Q-Tip), who is willing to cut a demo with her, for a minimal fee if she promises she will always be available when he can fit her in to his schedule, her day job (and eventual pregnancy) notwithstanding—as soon as she makes it, you know it's an unkeep-able promise. Franklin's pitfalls are more immediate: it turns out that he has two sons who live with their mother, to whom he sends informal child support—in other words, he's no deadbeat, but he is always short of cash. Also wanting to meet the relatively higher living standards he sees embodied by Zora, poor Franklin is depressed and burdened by long-term expectations, which makes it hard for him to make healthy decisions. When he's upset, he heads to the bar where he commiserates with his buddy Jimmy (the underused Clark Johnson, who played Meldrick on Homicide: Life on the Streets); in times of emotional need, she turns to her girls Portia (Regina Hall) and Claudette (Lisa Arrindell Anderson), both of whom live upscale lives that only underline the diurnal difficulties of Zora and Franklin's scraping by. And oh yes, Franklin's drinking becomes an issue, as his anger and frustration become more physical when he's had too much.
This plot, however unsurprising, provides a means for Lathan and Snipes to show what they can do. The characters have more than enough ordeals to endure, together and apart, which makes the film something of a melodramatic roller-coaster. Still, it is elegantly directed by Gina Prince Blythewood, with whom Lathan worked on Love & Basketball, and effectively scored by Meshell NdegeOcello, and comes with a made-to-sell compiled soundtrack, with songs by Angie Stone, Talib Kweli, Melky Sedeck, and Chaka Khan. And the stars are working such subtle nerves, so well, it's as if they're in a more carefully structured film—if the paths of Franklin and Zora are preordained, the pleasures Snipes and Lathan afford viewers are plentiful.
Rising Appalachia 'Alive' (album stream) (premiere) // Music
Lost Bayou Ramblers "Allons a Lafayette" (video) (premiere) // Music
Jean Caffeine "Winter of Hate" (video) (premiere) // Music
It's No Joke: Why We Need 'Take My Wife'
// Channel Surfing
"As Seeso shuts down, this excellent series is in need of a new home.READ the article


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Northern Michigan crisis service center in financial crisis
Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:49:07 GMT —
A downtown Traverse City business did it's part to help out a local organization that offer free crisis services to the community.
Saturday marked the last day of The Week of Giving for the Third Level Crisis Center in Traverse City. All week long businesses and community members were encouraged to donate money to the center that offers free and confidential services.
Cherry Republic showed it's support for the center by donating 5% of all sales to the center. They also set up a telethon and called supporters from their Facebook page to request donations for the organization.
"There's a lot of new people that have moved into town over the last few years and we're just trying to get more public awareness about Third Level and the activities that we do," said Executive Director, Ken Homa. "Second point, that we're trying to do it that we've lost some government funding for some of our programs due to the tightness of the budgets and we are trying to make up that short fall so that we can continue to provide the services that we've been providing."
Things like substance abuse prevention, shelter for runaway or homeless children, outreach services to local school and health centers and free local clinics.


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WASHINGTON — After 25 years of service, including combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lt. Col. Stephen Preston retired from the Army and began collecting a pension of nearly $55,000 a year. The money made it possible for Preston to go back to college, get his MBA and embark on a second career in corporate strategy.
So it happened that Preston was sitting in his new office shortly before Christmas when he heard on the radio that he had become the latest target in Washington's war on spending.
"I'm not an angry man, but I was very, very angry," Preston, 51, said in a telephone interview from his home in Tampa. "This is a pact between the greater population of the United States and the fraction of people who served and sacrificed. If you didn't want to pay us what you promised us, then you probably shouldn't have promised it."
The plan to trim pension increases for working-age military retirees such as Preston is by far the most controversial provision in a bipartisan budget deal approved by Congress and signed last week by President Barack Obama.
The cut is small — a one-percentage-point reduction in the annual cost-of-living increase — but it has provoked outrage among veterans who argue that the country is reneging on a solemn pact.
The authors of the budget deal, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., have already agreed to amend the provision to exempt disabled retirees and survivors of those killed in action, eliminating roughly 10 percent of the $6 billion in savings projected over the next decade.
But Ryan has resisted efforts to abandon the pension cut entirely, calling it a "modest" adjustment to a particularly generous program.
Opponents say the policy retroactively penalizes a deserving group while doing nothing to contain the much larger cost of health and retirement benefits for the general public.
Overall, military compensation — including health benefits and salaries paid to active-duty personnel — eats up roughly half the defense budget.
Military pensions would appear to be particularly ripe for reduction. Anyone who puts in 20 years can receive payments immediately and look forward to annual cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, for life. That means service members who signed up at 18 could find themselves with a full pension — roughly half their active-duty paycheck — at 38.
Opponents of the policy do not deny the need to overhaul military pensions, or military compensation in general. But they argue that changes should be made for future enlistees, not for people who have already served and planned their lives around promised benefits.
Just as troubling, opponents say, is the cavalier manner in which budget negotiators cherry-picked savings from the military to cover the cost of a small budget deal that solves none of the nation's biggest problems.
"It's horrible policy. If we're going to reform entitlements, let's do it in a fashion that's comprehensive," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an advocate of broad entitlement reform who voted against the budget deal and is campaigning to overturn the military-pension provision.
This agreement "is not an effort to deal with the entitlement problem," Graham said. "This is an effort to single out one group of people and put a penalty on their benefits that you're not putting on anybody else. And this would be the last group we'd want to penalize, I think, not the first."
Preston, the retired soldier, agrees.
"Those of us who make it to 25, 30 years, we deserve to get what we were promised," he said. "It isn't even really about the money. If we need to balance our budget, fine.
"But let's not balance it by breaking the deal you have with me, who served, in order to provide for somebody who just showed up," he said. "You just don't do that."


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No good reason not to join in Thanksgiving
My four-year campaign to get my readers, all three of you, to embrace the American holiday of Thanksgiving has been a miserable failure.
Along with corn flour tortillas and aggressively eccentric freedom of expression, Thanksgiving was one of the handful of things I wanted to bring back from America when I returned to New Zealand.
It is a holiday with no downside: none of the culture wars over whether Christmas and Easter have become too secular, no pressure to buy, no cards to be sent. Its appeal is simplicity: can you get behind feasting, friends and gratitude?
On the fourth Thursday of November, Americans pause for a day and gather with friends and family to eat roasted turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie while somewhere in the house a TV is tuned to football. The only gift anyone will bring will be yet another dessert pie or a bottle of wine. And in exchange for the bounty, the only obligation of the day is to spend some time reflecting on what you have to be grateful for, usually starting with the bounty itself.
Gratitude is a powerful attitude. If you look at your life with an eye to all you have to be grateful for, the glass is always more than half full. It is cheap and effective therapy and sharing it publicly is a type of amplifier, increasing the quantity circulating in our community.
Or so goes the theory that drives me to write a Thanksgiving-related column around this time every year. Last year, after my annual listing of some Motropolis objects of gratitude, I asked for submissions of what you are grateful for, thinking it would make for a inspiring follow-up column. I got exactly one response.
I get it, we have our own traditions and so why would we want to import one from the United States, that dubious empire in decline that has foisted so much junk upon us already? Believe me, I'm just as opposed to those unwelcome advance agents of bloated consumer culture as you are, from extended presidential-style political campaigns to triple cheeseburgers, from Transformers 3 to LMFAO.
I hate the invading creep of Halloween, St Patrick's Day, Administrative Professionals Day and all those other spurious celebrations that were either invented and/or co-opted by the PR and advertising industries and I don't expect Thanksgiving Day to be formally adopted.
I can also happily live without the physical centrepiece of Thanksgiving, the turkey.
Dry and tasteless, the roasted bird is really just the excuse for the side platters. Whether reinterpreted by uber-carnivores as the Turducken or by vegetarians as the Tofurkey, it is more a symbol than a dish.
On Thursday night we eschewed the turkey (easy to do when they cost $80) and went with what I consider the king of meats, a pork roast, while our friends brought around a roasted chicken, because every king deserves a queen.
Between courses, pausing to make sure we have enough room left for the pumpkin pie, we'll have acknowledged some of what we have to be grateful for.
I'll start.
Let's give thanks for the approach of summer, for the smell of fresh-cut grass, for local vine-ripened tomatoes in a sandwich, for the happy buzz in multiple languages of tourists clogging High St and filling the tills, for concerts on the lawn at Neudorf.
Let's give thanks for friends who share their early jersey bennes, who laugh at our jokes even when they have heard them before, who keep an eye on our kids at the river, who kick our arses on the tennis court.
Let's give thanks for living under the sunniest skies in the country, for having three national parks on our doorsteps, for having clean rivers and bays to swim in, for the good health that lets us enjoy it all.
Let's give thanks to the bike mechanics and physiotherapists who patch the battered machines and the counsellors and pastors who patch battered hearts.
Let's give thanks to the heroes who inspire us and make our hearts swell with pride, from Jonelle Richards to Jade Brown, from Nathan Fa'avae to Emily Jensen.
Let's give thanks for cops standing in the middle of the road in the middle of a winter's night to stop drunk drivers, for paramedics, nurses and doctors who intervene before it is too late, for firefighters and rescue workers for tumbling out of bed when disaster strikes, for the workers who scrape snow off the Takaka Hill road every winter.
This is just a partial list; feel free to create your own. If you want to share, send it to email@example.com.
If not, give thanks that I subject you to my list only once a year.


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Agriculture Hazard Communication Act (AHCA), Texas Agriculture Code (TAgC) 125.001 to 125.017
Texas Hazard Communication Act (THCA), Texas Health and Safety Code (H&SC) 502.001 et seq., and regulations at 25 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) 295.1 to 295.13
Private sector—agriculture:
Definitions: H&SC 125.003 and 4 TAC 8.3
Training for farmworkers: 4 TAC 8.11
Chemical list: 4 TAC 8.7
Crop sheets: 4 TAC 8.8
Protective clothing: 4 TAC 8.9
Retaliation: 4 TAC 8.10
Public sector—workplace safety:
Labeling: H&SC 502.007 and 25 TAC 295.6
Training records: 25 TAC 295.7
Reporting: 25 TAC 295.9
Workplace chemical lists: H&SC 502.005 and 25 TAC 295.4
Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Toxic Substances Control Division
DSHS Division of Regulatory Services
Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) Texas Agricultural Extension Service (TAES)
U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Region 6
See ADDRESSES & CONTACTS for addresses and telephone numbers.
See national section for basic information and federal regulations.
• Rules. Texas has enacted the AHCA, also known as the Texas Farmworker Right-to-Know Act, to protect the state's large farmworker population. Employers governed by both THCA and AHCA must comply only with THCA.
The federal OSH Act governs the state's private sector workplaces, including worker "right to know." Texas has its own THCA, but it is not federally approved; as a result, the state governs only for the public sector workplace (state, county, and local government employers, including schools, universities, and volunteer emergency service organizations). The public ...


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20 May, 2013
DC DONE RIGHT: What to love about the New 52
Posted by Raphael in Blog
Midtown Bloggerinos! Raph here, I raved about the House of Ideas last time, and I think it's only fair to share the love with DC Comics. We're just about a year and a half into the complete relaunch of the DC Universe, and there's been a lot of changes and upheaval; these are some of the brighter spots!
1. B-List? That's Baloney!
There's a universally understood concept that says that certain characters are "top-tier" (your Batmans, Spider-Mans and what have you), and then there's the next level down: the B-List. For Marvel, that used to be Tony Stark, now look at him: he's got a multimillion dollar movie franchise and he's the backbone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe… well DC's done the same for some of their so-called B-List.
What started with Green Lantern and Geoff Johns eight years ago has now continued to the likes of The Flash (in the excellent hands of Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato), Swamp Thing (Scott Snyder/Yanick Paquette, now written by Charles Soule and drawn by Kano) and Animal Man (Jeff Lemire/Steve Pugh). These characters have had incredible stories told in the past year or so, and while creative teams rotate, and new storylines start again, you can only hope for more of the same good stuff. That also includes new books like Demon Knights (one of my favorites: a medieval Justice League?!? Count me in!), and reworked ideas like Stormwatch and Team 7.
2. Rising Talent
Speaking of Scott Snyder, and Jeff Lemire, these guys have really had their profiles raised in comics in recent years. Jeff was known more for his independent work like the Essex County Trilogy before doing Sweet Tooth for Vertigo. Animal Man wasn't that much of a stretch for him, considering the content of Sweet Tooth, but now Lemire is tackling the likes of Green Arrow, Constantine and Justice League Dark, and he's quickly becoming one of the main creative drivers for DC.
Speaking of creative driving, Scott Snyder has definitely done a great job taking over for Grant Morrison. Morrison's run on Batman has been going on since 2006, and now he's wrapping up his run with Batman Inc., but the quality of Batman stories has not dipped at all. Enter Snyder, whose only previous comic work was American Vampire and a handful of Marvel works. Snyder has created some of the most exciting, compelling Batman stories in recent memory; from Black Mirror to Court of the Owls to Death of the Family, Scott has delivered nuggets from the past, as well as dramatically changed the status quo.
On top of Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire joining the likes of Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi (who is severely underrated in my opinion: check out his Batman and Robin run!), DC has also sought out new independent talent, which leads me to…
3. The Next Generation
New talent is something any company needs to thrive and continue. DC's talent pool has received a flush of artists: Mahmud Asrar, Yildiray Cinar, Ardian Syaf and R.B. Silva to name a few. There's also former Image darlings Greg Capullo and Tyler Kirkham, but the writing roster is also strong as well.
You've got Lemire and Snyder already, but also add on Joshua Hale Fialkov (I, Vampire), Charles Soule (Swamp Thing), Nathan Edmondson (Grifter) and Robert Venditti (Demon Knights), you have a group of writers who have proven themselves with their own independent work, and it makes sense that the so-called second tier books are doing well. That's not to say that the established people: the Geoff Johns and Gail Simones, AREN'T doing good work, but it's good to develop talent, because you never know who's going to do that definitive run on a character, like Lemire's Animal Man, or Morrison's JLA. Giving new guys a chance to leave their creative stamp can only help the company in the future.
A lot's changed over at DC, but sometimes change is good, sometimes change is necessary. Will the New 52 last, who knows? What we do know, is that there's some strong storytelling coming out, even if it's not quite where we'd expect it to be.
UPDATE: 05/20/2013: Scott Snyder is doing a new Vertigo series called Wake, and we'll be doing a signing for it! Also, Joshua Hale Fialkov may have left he company, along with some DC talent, all of this is unconfirmed, but I just wanted to keep the public informed.
Until Next Time,
"There's My Boys"


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Product Highlights
The Boblbee B.A.D. 45 Bikers Athletic Duffel (Black) is a multi-purpose bag designed to be used for athletic gear, beach toys, clothes or many other uses. It has easy access with 2 vertical zippers positioned on the back, which prevents things from accidentally falling out. The duffel is made from partial super-tarp canvas body with a fiber core of 840 denier PE (polyester). The body shell is made of 600 denier polyester with a water-repellant, triple coated PU (polyurethane) coating. It has exterior side pockets and an accessory pocket to protect a watch and jewelry. There are internal mesh pockets. The duffel is carried by a rugged rubber handle and a 50mm nylon straps that can be used as a backpack or shoulder sling.
Exterior: Partial super-tarp canvas body
Exterior: Body shell made of 600 denier polyester
|Type of Closure
|Exterior Dimensions
|11 x 11 x 27.5" (28 x 28 x 70cm) (LxWxH)
|Interior Dimensions
|Not Specified by Manufacturer
|Interior space: 2745in³: (45 L)
|Carrying/Transport Options
Backpack or sling straps
|1.5 lbs (700g)
|Packaging Info
|Box Dimensions (LxWxH)
|11.8 x 19.8 x 2.1"