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The History of The Derwent Angling Association: 1865-1890
Love them or loathe them, there are few of us that haven't relied on the services of an angling club or association at some time or another. And while commercial fisheries and syndicates have removed some of our reliance on the clubs and associations, millions of fishermen still depend on such angling societies to provide them with their sport. Some clubs are comparatively new, yet most can trace their origins back to at least the middle of the last century and while the committee men and women that run them are all-too-often unloved, they're invariably people without whom the organisations themselves simply couldn't exist.
This is the story of possibly the oldest Angling Association in the North East of England, the invaluable work of its many committee members down the generations and the fishing its members have enjoyed. Today it controls some fifteen miles of trout and grayling fishing on the River Derwent but its presence on the river goes right back to the 1860's – the decade of the American Civil War, the discovery of genetics and the invention of a strange new sport called skiing.
As the third decade in the reign of Queen Victoria neared its end, the ancient art of angling stood on the brink of its evolution into the modern pastime we know today. Yet this simply couldn't have happened without the insight of a great many Victorian anglers, but for whose dedication the Georgian idea that angling was merely a recreation for the rich and the privileged might well have endured into the early years of the twentieth century.
In the mid-nineteenth century, the fishing on most of the rivers and streams in the North of England still fell under the jurisdiction of the many landowners claiming riparian rights, the traditional 'landed gentry' that, even by the 1860's, were fast becoming a relic of the pre-industrial age. Those that could afford to – and could also be bothered – would hire river watchers and gamekeepers to regulate the fishing and to make sure the uninvited did not pay visit to their waters with crude and often environmentally damaging techniques for the poaching of their fish stocks.
Yet this was a time of near continuous migration, with new industry driving a relentless, century-long exodus from the countryside into the towns. These new townies may well have dwelled in the back to back terraced rows that sprawled across the landscape, however they did not easily forsake their wily country traditions. With terrible poverty characterising the Victorian working classes, the fish stocks in nearby rivers amounted to an easy and available food source for those willing to take their chance. On rivers running through those country estates without the will, or the wherewithal, to employ river watchers, the toll on the local trout population could be heavy and by the second half of the Victorian era, these practices, combined with the exponential growth in the nation's populace, were inflicting great damage on the ecological wellbeing of rivers and streams.
Of equal threat to the fish stocks, at least on those rivers to which this new population was a neighbour, was the serious issue of pollution. Until such time as acts of parliament introduced proper regulations in the late nineteenth century, the factories and mines where the workers toiled would discharge their lethal effluents directly into the rivers and their tributaries, with dire consequences for fish and the invertebrate species upon which they depended for food. With the arrival of modern sewerage systems in the new towns as they grew, untreated sewage too became a serious threat to aquatic life. Nowhere more so were these combined threats experienced than on the River Derwent, the small river Tyne tributary that since the middle ages had formed the border between Northumberland and County Durham.
As concern mounted, in May 1865 the Consett Guardian, main newspaper for the large iron-working town situated on the Durham side of the Derwent Valley carried the following announcement:
"At a Public Meeting held at the Town Hall, Shotley Bridge, on Tuesday May 9th 1865, to consider the Propriety of forming an Association for the Protection of Fish in the River Derwent, it is resolved:-
The report concluded that "such a Committee be authorised to communicate with the Landed Proprietors along the Banks of the River, asking their cooperation in furthering the objects of the Association, and report the result at a future Meeting, together with the Proposed Rules and Regulations for the working of the Association." A Subscription List was opened with all monies raised to go towards the funds of the new Association.
The first subscription list contained 15 names and raised £32, 12s and in August of that year, Honarary Secretaries, Rev. FB Thompson and John Booth Esq., two of the principal benefactors, wrote a further communication to the Consett Gaurdian.
"Public attention has recently been called to the state of the River Derwent and to the injury which of late years has been done to angling: Firstly by pollution of its waters, and Secondly, by poaching which is carried on to a great extent by netting and liming the river and its tributaries.
At a Public Meeting held at Shotley Bridge on May 9th last, the question was discussed how far was it possible to restore the fame to which the Derwent once enjoyed as a fishing stream, by the formation of an Angling Association."
The letter continued:
"It is hoped that with the cooperation and support of the landed proprietors, the Association might be enabled in a great measure to prevent poaching and the illegal practises in taking fish above alluded to, and further to induce those engaged in mining and other manufacturing operations to take advantage of those means which science and practice show may be conveniently adopted to prevent to its present extent the pollution of the river."
With this sentiment at the forefront of their proposal, Mssrs. Thompson and Booth continued that it was of great significance that two members of the Annandale family had seen fit to join the Provisional Committee of the Association, with three members of this influential family in total having been subscribers on the initial list. The Annandales, proprietors of a large paper mill in nearby Shotley Bridge, had reportedly "pledged themselves to do everything to promote the objects of the Association that is within their power of neutralising the noxious substances which enter the river from their manufactories."
The Honorary Secretaries further reported to having already received promises from several landowners for the transfer of fishing rights to the Association on its formation, and that the Committee were confident that "this privilege will generally be accorded to the Association by owners of the land through which the River and its Tributaries flow."
Over the page, beneath a list of the members of the Provisional Committee, were the proposed rules of the new association.
There were to be two classes of member: proprietary – the owners or lessees of the rights of fishing on the river, and ordinary – holders of annual tickets issued by the Association in return for a 10 shilling subscription. An elected committee was assigned to administer the organisation and, in an age when regional and even local byelaws related to more serious matters, this body empowered upon itself the right to make the rules which would govern all fishing on the Derwent in years to come.
These included, in brief: that the Season for Trout Fishing should start on 16th March and end on October 31st in each year, that fishing between the end of first hour after sunset and the commencement of the last hour before sunrise be prohibited and that the use of night lines be strictly forbidden. The size limit for takeable fish was determined at five inches from nose to tail but no restrictions were proposed regarding the number of trout any one angler could kill.
A further Public Meeting was held on 30th October 1865 to ratify the rules and constitution. Thomas Wilson of Shotley Hall was duly elected President of the Association, to be ably assisted by a committee comprising Messrs. Annandale Town, George Peile, Thomas Richardson, W. Renton, Thomas Ramsay, James Annandale, John Annandale, Thirlwell and Charlton, along with the Rev.s Featherstone and Cundill. The Rev. Thompson and John Booth retained their positions as Honorary Secretaries and it was further stated that enough promises of support had been made to warrant a commencement to the Association's tenure on the river the following year.
The new Association was soon in receipt of favourable correspondence from the local angling fraternity, if not without one somewhat predictable caveat in the regard to the ten shilling price tag for season tickets. In a letter to Thomas Wilson dated 8th February 1866, John Tait of Burnopfield wrote:
"We the undersigned anglers… believe much good will result from such an association, especially if means can be devised to purify the stream."
"We promise to do all in our power to promote the objects of the association, to abstain from all infringements of the "Law" and to do all in our power to prevent others from unlawful acts."
"But as we are all working men, we request the association to fix the price of the season tickets, for all of our class, at five shillings each member – a sum very generally charged in Rivers much more abundant in Trout and where Salmon frequent."
Mr. Tait signed on behalf of sixteen other "preservers of the River in this lower part" and suggested that "many more will join in the event of the charge being fixed at five shillings". From internal association minutes, however, it is quite clear that the Committee were determined to leave the charge unchanged:
"As the subscription was fixed at a Public Meeting it was considered we have no power to alter it and the amount so remains during the coming year."
The same minutes also revealed that "Deputations had been granted to the Association with the following Proprietors: The Duke of Northumberland; W. Hodgson-Hinds; JW Holland; Miss Hall, Ruffside; High Barn; and W. Silverton." Another Public Notice was duly printed on May 5th 1866 in the Consett Guardian:
"Notice Is Hereby Given, that all persons found Fishing in the Waters deputed to the Derwent Valley Angling Association, who are not members, will be prosecuted according to the Law."
A penalty of Five Pounds was set for anyone caught fishing during the night, with a £2 fine for poachers operating in daylight, and a reward of Two Pounds was offered to "any Person who shall give such information as shall lead to the Conviction of Persons Liming or Poisoning the Waters deputed to the Association, or Netting or Taking Fish therein by any other illegal means." Legal anglers could obtain their season tickets, the notice concluded, by application to Rev. FB Thompson, The Parsonage, Benfieldside.
The first season of fishing under the auspices of the Derwent Angling Association was thus in 1866 and although a public meeting was held in late October of that year, the Annual General Meeting to discuss its outcome was delayed until April 1st 1867. The AGM reported that great progress had been made in regard to the amount of water now leased to the Association, with, in addition to those enrolled the year before, a further eleven proprietors having consented to allow members to fish from their land. With other deputations expected to follow, it was hoped that soon the whole of the river would be fishable by members.
On the subject of pollution, members of the Committee reported having visited the lead mines at Blanchland and Healyfield, both of which were a cause of great damage to the river in its upper reaches. Changes in working practises were discussed and assurances given concerning the introduction of settlement ponds in the course of the streams carrying lead washings from the hush to the main river – an effective technique still used to this day to neutralise toxic elements in groundwater.
No official details were offered as to how the river had actually fished in that first season, although the aforementioned Mr. Tait of Burnopfield professed his belief that the number of trout in the lower river had actually increased as a result of its being watched by the association. More comprehensive information to this effect was supplied early the following season, however, in unofficial correspondence to the Consett Guardian. On April 29th, Donkin Stobbs of Lintz Colliery wrote:
"Sir, On returning from the Derwent on Saturday, I found from your journal that Mr Routledge of Consett had caught a trout 13 inches long and weighing 10 oz. So I weighed one of mine and it measured 12½ inches and weighed 11oz. These, sir, are nothing to what we have in the low part of the river. For instance, on the 20th, Mr. William Middleton killed one 17 inches long, weighing 25oz, and another 14 inches long, weighing 17oz. Mr. Jas Weedy caught one 14 inches long and another 14½ inches long, whilst Mr. Thompson Dixon and Mr. Anthony Dixon have killed several from 14 to 16 inches long. The trout are generally large in the low part of the river."
Mr. Stobbs' letter was alluded to in full at the next AGM in March 1868 and while the secretaries reported a very commendable 51 season tickets as having been sold in 1867, news of progress on the pollution front was more sobering, with reports that the Derwent Mining Company had "never got beyond promises and fair words" in regard to their undertakings on water filtration.
Members' letters to the local paper were once again the best source of information for the Association's fishing in 1868, with Mr. George Farrage of Blackhill, Consett, reported as having killed 233 trout with the worm and the fly between Easter Monday and mid-August. Mr Stobbs of Lintz Colliery was once again moved to write of his experiences to the Consett Guardian:
"Sir,- As the angling season has now closed, several of us wish to give an account of our sport. For my own part, I have not fished any in the last three months. In the early part of the season, I had good sport, I did not weigh any of my trout but I did catch two, which measured 15 inches each, and a number very little short of that length. Mr. John Bell, who has only angled three years, has been successful, having killed some nothing short of the above size. I need hardly mention the skill of Mr. William Middleton, as one always finds him with a good basket of trout, even when other anglers have had poor takes. Mr. James Weedy, however, stands champion of us all both for length and weight. He has killed the largest trout I have ever seen taken out of the Derwent. It measured 20 inches and weighed 2½lb. I have, sir, fished in the Tyne, Wear, Tees and Eden, but I find the best trout in the Derwent. Since the commencement of the association, there are many more trout in the Derwent and if it continues to preserve I would not be surprised to see this river second to none in the north for trout."
By the start of the 1870's, however, any serious suggestion that the quality of fishing in the Derwent was improving seemed a good way wide of the mark. While poaching continued to be reported – and, admittedly, the perpetrators were prosecuted in far more instances than before the association had existed – the main threat to the river's trout population was still industrial pollution from mines in both its upper and lower reaches. In October of 1869, in a bid to introduce a second species for which its members could fish, the association commissioned a survey of the river by Messrs. Walpole and Buckland of the Inspectorate of Salmon Fisheries. Unfortunately, their conclusions with regard to the recruitment of salmon to the Derwent were not at all promising, and only served to highlight the problems facing those species already present. Aside of the issue of two "impracticable" weirs in the lower river, the inspectors reported:
"The lead into the Derwent is very bad and The Pont Burn, which falls into the right bank of the river above Lintzford, is terribly polluted with the washings of a coal mine. The water of the Derwent tastes of the poison which is brought down by it to its very junction with the Tide Way (the river Tyne estuary). So far as the Derwent is concerned, therefore, till the water can be cleansed, it would be fatal to pass salmon up it."
Indeed, at the previous year's AGM it had been reported that the lower Derwent's trout stocks had suffered greatly due to a flood in a coalmine at Pontop, which was cleared by pumping the floodwater out into the aforementioned Pont Burn and thence into the Derwent below Lintzford. The 1870 AGM brought news that "This last summer the association have had another misfortune almost as serious in its results."
An overflow of 'gas water' from the Shotley Bridge Gasworks had "destroyed, we may safely say, all the fish between that point and Ebchester, as some hundreds were picked up out of the river."
Nonetheless, the association remained upbeat about these adversities, which for the most part fell way beyond the remit of its control. The river, it was said, had been much improved by steps taken to reduce pollution from their own works by local industrialists and club benefactors, the Annandale family. The 1870 meeting concluded:
"The improvement of the river is still an uphill work. Remonstrance has not in all cases proved effectual in abating the evils of which we have had to complain. It only remains for us to express a hope (which there is some possibility of being realised) that fresh legislation will give powers to abate the obstacles which stand in the way of further improvement."
The 1871 AGM was again dominated by dire accounts about the state of the river, with the Pont Burn having "of late been very filthy". Mr. Weedy, champion angler of the lower river just a few years previously, commented: "When an angler went into the water and began to wade, the effluvium from it was unbearable." Sewage, produced by the growing populace at Benfieldside and Blackhill, was also blamed for the conformation of the river water below Shotley Bridge and at the 1872 AGM, a Mr. Oley complained of "a regular slaughter of fish between Shotley Bridge and Ebchester… all had evidently been poisoned."
By 1873, in response this decimation of the trout stocks in many parts of the river, the issue of restocking the Derwent with trout or trout ova by the Association was first raised by a Mr. J. Pescod. The Chairman responded enthusiastically to the idea, saying, "To stock the river with plenty of fish would be very desirable", yet it would still be some years before the plan was actually put into practice.
The late 1870's saw the first evidence of measures at last being taken to quell the amount of pollution entering the river. The report from the 1878 AGM stated that "Messrs. Annandale were spending over a thousand pounds in the erection of filtering ponds at their Shotley Bridge Mill and hope was expressed that the owners of lead mines further up the river would follow their good example." By this time, it was generally accepted that there were far fewer trout present in the lower river, below Shotley Bridge, but the association was given a much needed shot in the arm that year by a further deputation of bank space from Col. Joicey that allowed members the right to fish the upper reaches from Blanchland down to Edmundbuyers Bridge.
The AGM of 1879, joyfully reported no new incidences of pollution in the Derwent Valley, but poaching – an issue that had simply been overshadowed by pollution, rather than gone away – now reared its ugly head in a different guise. The association, by now called simply the Derwent Angling Association, with its accounts showing healthy annual balances after rent and expenses, had several years earlier reduced the charge for season tickets. Unfortunately, it seemed, certain unscrupulous individuals were taking advantage of such generosity, particularly on that section recently deputed by Col. Joicey, where the keeper reported a number of men that were visiting the river on the pretext of fishing, while their real intention was to destroy game.
Five men, only one of whom was eventually found to be a member, were ultimately convicted of poaching at Hexham Magistrates and it was therefore decided to pay a gratuity of £1 to each of five river keepers to keep that part of the river "well preserved".
In 1880, it was reported that the association "had had occasion to proceed against four men for illegal fishing and a conviction had been obtained, which, it was hoped, would be a warning against other parties that might be disposed to poach". The cost of fishing tickets was further reduced to 2s, 6d. "so that there could be no excuse for any person fishing in the waters of the association without being provided with one". The practice of paying gratuities to river watchers continued, owing to their obvious success in catching poachers and, as the new decade progressed, other novel ideas were introduced, such as the forwarding and seconding of new members by existing ones, to counter allegations that some anglers were acquiring tickets under false pretences.
It was also stated at the 1880 AGM that the number of members had increased considerably to over 90, helping the association declare a healthy balance of £53, 4s, 4d., with the society now careful to admit only those who were honest anglers. The Chairman was also able to report that "the Derwent was pretty well stocked with trout, and that a tolerable day's sport might be had by followers of the gentle craft."
The river Derwent of the early 1880's continued to be a river of two halves – the upper section, above Shotley Bridge, reckoned by many to have much improved in the decade and a half the association had been in residence, while the water quality in the Pont Burn (and hence the Derwent below Lintzford) was as bad as ever. Yet suggestions that the organisation should litigate against the polluters under the new Rivers Pollution Act continued to be dismissed, the Chairman stating quite categorically that the healthy balance held by the association "would soon disappear" if they were to do so.
By 1883, the emphasis had switched anyway to the restocking idea first investigated ten years earlier, with the introduction of Grayling and the North American Brook Trout advocated. In what might today appear bizarre logic, it was initially suggested that the Brook Trout be stocked into the lower section of the river and the Grayling introduced further up, although given the apparent state of the Derwent below Lintzford, any stock released there would almost certainly have perished! In the end, the issue regarding grayling was deferred until the end of the 1883 season, as the association went about sourcing the appropriate stock.
By the time of that meeting in late 1883, however, there were still no hard and fast plans in place and there even seemed to be some confusion over what, exactly, the association intended to stock. The chairman had been in correspondence with a Thomas Ford of Manor Fisheries in Caistor, Lincolnshire, who had clearly sought to impress upon him the superiority of the North American Brook Trout, Salmo fontinalis (a member of the char family), "over all other species of grayling"! The chairman produced two specimens sent to him by the fisheries manger, relating the express opinion of Mr. Ford that fontinalis was "in every way adapted to the climate and temperature of the river Derwent". With hindsight, it is now clear that such claims were wildly incorrect, but nonetheless the association made ready to purchase a quantity of Brook Trout ova, despite the fact that the species in question was neither a grayling nor a real trout!
In a communication dated November 9th 1883, Manor Fisheries acknowledged an order from the association for 2500 Fontinalis eggs at a cost of £6, which would be sent by train from Retford. The shipment was to be sent in February (they could only efficiently be transported in winter) with instructions that they be placed in the tributaries close to the source of the river, where they "should remain out of reach of the bigger fish".
That was not the end of the matter, however, as the committee had also sourced quotes from Howieston Fisheries in Stirling, Scotland (£1, 10s for 1000 ova) and Westgate House Fishery in Guildford, whose price was £3, 4s for 1000 ova. A further letter from Mr. Ford, in response to the association's concerns about his prices as compared to those of Howieston, claimed that the Scottish stock was of inferior quality owing to the lower temperatures at which it was incubated. A war of words ensued as the Westgate quote also came with the following advice:
"Dear Sir,
I understand that 2500 Fontinalis have been ordered from Mr. Ford. The information I have received this morning may possibly cause you to alter the order. I wrote to the Fishing Gazette about the Fontinalis, asking for information about it. The Editor replies as follows:
'We are strongly of the opinion that it is a great mistake to put the Fontinalis into our English trout streams.
It is a good many years since this fish was introduced into England and gentlemen have spent hundreds of pounds in attempting to stock their waters with it, but after a few have been caught for a year or two, they have all disappeared – instead of increasing they vanish entirely.'
Other wise counsel included the suggestion that Mr. Ford's Brook Trout fought in a way "which an English trout half their size would be ashamed of" – information of which the association must have taken note! The following year's report of an AGM held in February 1884 recorded that while 6,000 fry had indeed been placed into the river at a cost of £16, 12s, 4000 were fario (a different strain of Brook Trout, sourced probably from Westgate House) and 2,000 were levensis, a species of British trout native to Loch Leven in Scotland, which is now known simply to be a variant strain of the Brown Trout. As early as the summer of 1884, there were reports of the 'Loch Leven Trout' showing up in catches from association waters ("near the Hedley Burn mouth") but nothing of their North American cousins!
In March 1885, association secretary W. Pallister responded to reports in the Consett Guardian that "nice baskets of grayling" were being taken from the Derwent:
Whoever has supplied you with this report has been drawing on his imagination, as there are no grayling in the river."
Yet, in spite of Mr. Pallister's words, the time for the River Derwent to acquire its first viable alternative to the Brown Trout was soon at hand. The following February, as the 1886 AGM reverberated to reports of the capture of "probably the largest trout ever caught in the Derwent" – a 26¾inch 6½lb specimen taken by a Mr. Bell near Westwood – the meeting resolved unanimously to procure a stock of grayling to be introduced to the river.
It is to committee member Mr. D. Ormerod that several generations of Derwent anglers must be thankful for the continued presence of this graceful lady in our stream. It was Mr. Ormerod who tabled the motion for the decisive vote and he who procured a specimen from a Mr. Walbran of Poole in Yorkshire, to show at the meeting, caught by the latter from the river Ure. The meeting backed the idea and committee was empowered to invest £5 on a stock of fish that were again to be procured from Westgate House.
In a change from the previous year's trout stocking, Mr. Thomas Andrews, proprietor of Westgate House, recommended that the association this time obtain 100 yearlings, measuring between five and six inches, as opposed 5000 fry at the same cost, as "fish of this size will be practically safe from the attacks of the present denizens of the water." After further discussion, to safeguard the future of the Derwent's latest inhabitants, the committee issued the grim warning that "Any member found with a grayling in his possession between March 1886 and the end of September 1888 will forfeit his ticket." Plans were made to introduce the stock fish "when the snow has about disappeared."
The Consett Guardian wasted no time in furnishing local anglers with information about the grayling, some of which was obviously in keeping with the general misconceptions of the time!
"It belongs to the salmon family of fishes, but the spawning season is different from other members of the species. The spawning generally takes place in April or May. The roe is cast on stones or gravel without being buried. They love deep eddies and quiet reaches, but they like sharp and rapid shallows, gravelly bottoms, loamy hollowed banks and when these alternate with sharp bends full of nooks and corners, the stream will suit grayling to admiration. It passes its time entirely in fresh water. Its food consists of insects and larvae. When taken out of the water its back is of a deep purple colour, with small dark irregular spots on the sides. The stomach is brilliantly white, with a fringe or lacing of gold and the tail, pectoral and ventral fins are of a purple tint. The whole body is shot with violet, copper and blue reflections when seen in different lights. It rarely exceeds 3lb in weight but sometimes they have been caught exceeding 4lb."
Archive documents don't reveal the actual details of that first introduction of grayling into the Derwent, but anecdotal evidence suggests that it happened some time in the early spring of 1886. The fish would have been brought north by train to Newcastle and then thence to a station at Blackhill on the branch line that ran up the valley from Derwenthaugh.
The fish were transported in milk churns and near catastrophe was thankfully averted when a young lad employed to ride shotgun with the cargo discovered that the grayling had become distressed during the latter part of their journey. Realising that the problem was a lack of oxygenation, the boy showed wisdom beyond his years in alleviating the problem, using a vessel he found in the carriage to pour water from churn to churn. This introduced just enough oxygen to keep the fish alive for the last mile of their trip from the railway down to the river at Shotley Bridge.
The grayling were successfully introduced and, as anyone who fishes the river today can testify, their progeny still thrive in great numbers in the river to this day. The first chapter in the story of the Derwent Angling Association was complete, as the association had at last fulfilled their aim of providing a game fishing river with two species for which their members to angle.
Written by Pete McParlin
©2009 Pete McParlin and Derwent Angling Association
With thanks to the Committee of Derwent Angling Association for the loan of their archived records. The author would like to thank in particular Alan Farbridge for his invaluable information and for bringing these archived records to his attention in the first place.
There is a more all-encompassing guide to the history of angling in the North East in the book, The Lambton Worm: The Definitive Guide to Angling in North East England by Pete McParlin. Individual chapters cover River Trout Fishing, Stillwater Trout Fishing, Salmon Fishing, Coarse Fishing and Sea Angling.
192 Pages
50 Photographs
28 Diagrams
Published by Amberley and in stock at branches of WH Smiths and Waterstones throughout the North East & North Yorkshire – look in the Angling and Local Interest Sections! Also available from Amazon.co.uk
[…] […]
I was wondering if you know if John Booth is the same person as JE Booth who contributed a chapter, The Dry Fly In Derbyshire to the second edition of GAB Dewar's book The Book of The Dry Fly?
[…] (as a Tweed tributary). A full history of the Derwent Angling Association from 1865 to 2010 here: Part One 1865-1890 Part Two 1890-1945 Part Three […]
[…] […]
[…] […]
[…] interested, there is a three-part history of angling on the upper and middle river Derwent here: Part One Part Two Part Three Regards Wear_n_derwent The Fishing Archives The Lambton Worm: The Definitive […]


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Burlington police searching for armed robbery suspect
Posted April 15, 2013
Burlington, N.C. — Burlington police are searching for a man they think is responsible for two armed robberies that happened within minutes Saturday.
The first robbery was reported at 9:04 a.m. at Ken's Quickie Mart at 1309 Rauhut St., police said. The second happened six minutes later at the nearby Grill Works at 1233 W. Webb Ave.
Police said witness at both places gave a similar description of a 1995 Chrysler Cirrus with chipped and faded paint and tag YTN-6381. The car was stolen about 20 minutes before the first robbery from the parking lot of Biscuitville, 2065 N. Church St.
Police are searching for Donnie Eastwood, who is charged with armed robbery, attempted armed robbery and motor vehicle theft.
He is described as white, late 40s to 50s, about 6 feet tall and weighing 165 to 180 pounds. He has short gray hair that is receding and a thick mustache. He was wearing jeans, a dark-colored wind breaker and a white T-shirt.
Anyone with information is asked to call Burlington police at 336-229-3500 or Crime Stoppers at 336-229-7100. Crime Stoppers pays a cash reward for information leading to an arrest, and callers may remain confidential.

subset: commoncrawl


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As an author, I find inspiration everywhere, but when I walk the streets of Paris, I am flooded with ideas. The City of Lights has inspired many artists, authors and painters over the centuries – and it continues to inspire today. Whether you're a full-time writer or testing your artistic talents for the first time, here are five places in Paris that inspire creativity.
The view from the top of Notre Dame
Unless you arrive early, you'll probably wait an hour in line, then climb countless narrow, spiral stone stairs before you reach the top of the cathedral, but it's worth every moment when you get to the top. To say the view is inspiring is a huge understatement. The first time I went up, I stayed over half an hour, taking in the view of the city. From the stone chimera guarding the top of the cathedral (gargoyles are drain spouts; chimera are statutes), to the Seine River bisecting the city into the right and left banks, the Eiffel Tower in the distance and the hundreds of people below, the view from the top of Notre Dame Cathedral ranks as one of my top favorite views in the world.
Montmartre Market
If you want another view of Paris, the one from Sacre Coeur Basilica is even better than from Notre Dame, but if you're like me, you also find creative inspiration by immersing yourself with other creatives. So head west from the basilica to the Montmartre Market. On any given day, you'll find a wide assortment of artists selling their pieces in the square. Some even create their masterpieces while waiting for customers. If you have time, wander the side streets and find the hundreds-year-old windmills that inspired painters Renoir and van Gogh.
St. Martin's Canal
If you're looking for a non-touristy place to relax in a city of over two million people then the man-made St. Martin's Canal is the the spot for you. With the picturesque setting and the proximity to many restaurants and bars – and shopping if you stick to the area east of Gare du Nord – you'll find the perfect place to become inspired.
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In our Do's and Don'ts of the Harlem Shake applied to hockey, we made it clear that unpredictability was a key to success for that nutty meme.
The Rapid City Rush of the CHL, thus, successfully executed this nearly-played-out dance stunt after their win over the Bloomington Blaze on Saturday night, with an unexpected center ice celebration:
That's Damian Surma leading the shake. He looks like this. Which makes this funnier.


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Nike auctions off 'Back to the Future' shoes with proceeds going to Michael J. Fox Foundation
Nike is going back to the future. Well, technically, back to the past, which was based in the future. But set in the future and the past actually. And all happening during the '80s. Except for that third movie, which happened in the '90s. But you get the general idea. As Stuck in the '80s reported yesterday, the sneaker powerhouse is manufacturing Nike Mag shoes, based on the self-lacing model that Michael J. Fox wore in 1989's Back to the Future II. (Although these won't lace themselves. Lazy, Nike! Lazy!)
Presumably because of anticipated inflation in the year 2015, the year that Back to the Future II was based, the current bids for the shoes on eBay start at about $4,500. Great Scott! Not even Obama's stimulation plan can help me pull that off. Here are the particulars, verbatim, from the Associated Press:
Nike will release 1,500 pairs of the 2011 Nike Mag sneaker for auction on eBay and donate all proceeds to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's disease research. Fox famously played Marty McFly in the "Back to the Future" time-travel trilogy, where he wore the shoes during a visit to the year 2015.
"It hasn't gone unnoted by us that there is something special about that shoe and, of course, the movie," said famed Nike shoe designer Tinker Hatfield, who helped design the original shoe and worked on the latest version. Limited-edition shoes can draw as much, if not more mania, as a new movie or comic book release. Fans obsessively track the latest news and are willing to camp out all night or spending hundreds or more for a single pair online.
Nike's collector sneaker has been long awaited by shoe collectors and movie fans, who have been urging the company to make them ever since the movie was released. There were roughly eight or ten pairs used in the movie, some of which are in Nike's possession and a few that collectors somehow got their hands on. Owning them, or even seeing a pair of them, has become a singular pursuit for some fans. There was even an online campaign a few years ago called "McFly 2015, Make it Happen" that gathered thousands of signatures to convince Nike to bring the McFly shoe back.
"This is the biggest thing that has happened to sneakers since Michael Jordan, hands down," said Matt Halfhill, an avid shoe collector who runs the website nicekicks.com and flew from Austin, Texas, to Los Angeles for the unveiling of the shoe on Thursday hours after Nike contacted him. "Other than the birth of one of my children, I wouldn't have missed this for anything."
Halfhill was among the revelers at Nike's 1980s-themed launch party Thursday in LA. A line stretched around the block for the invitation-only affair at Hollywood's Montalban theater, where tastemakers, sneaker freaks and Nike executives from around the world got a peek at the new collectible shoe. There was a DeLorean time machine parked outside, and inside, a wall of 210 of the light-up Nike Mag shoes (behind glass). A DJ spun '80s tunes before Hatfield took the stage to talk about the new shoe and officially open the eBay auction.
Nike Inc., based in Beaverton, Ore., decided more than four years ago to create the shoe, but was unsure when a pair would be ready. Unlike the shoes in the movie, the real-life versions had to be designed for day-to-day use. For instance, the design used in the movie required Fox to wear a battery pack with wires running down his pants to light the shoe, which was the best technology available at the time.
Hatfield said the Nike Mag has been difficult to develop and the electrical systems, which illuminate the shoe for up to five hours, have been one of the most challenging things the company has ever done in footwear. But the timing seemed perfect to bring the shoe back to support a bigger idea.
That Nike is releasing the shoe in 2011 enables it to take advantage of a matching grant for the foundation. Google founder Sergey Brin and his wife Anne Wojcicki have offered to match all donations to the Michael J. Fox Foundation up to $50 million through the end of 2012.
"The project is exciting to me because it brings together three very passionate audiences: the Parkinson's community, sneakerheads and 'Back to the Future' fans," Fox said in a statement. "With their support we can accelerate our objective of finding a cure for Parkinson's."
Nike also has created a faux "lost scene" from the film to promote the shoe that includes original cast members Christopher Lloyd and Donald Fullilove, who will be joined by basketball star Kevin Durant and Nike's Hatfield. The auction begins Thursday and will end Sept. 18.


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Visit Mulberry Row
Take a Tour
Visit Mulberry Row at Monticello
Learn about the enslaved people who lived and worked on Mulberry Row, the dynamic industrial hub of the Monticello plantation. More »
Mulberry Row is a key part of any visit to Monticello.
A center of light industry and housing at Monticello, Mulberry Row hummed with activity during Jefferson's day. A new exhibition, "Landscape of Slavery: Mulberry Row at Monticello" features outdoor mini-exhibitions at key sites augmented by computer animations and a website—all providing new ways for visitors to explore the past and understand the lives of enslaved people. Mulberry Row is featured in our seasonal, guided Slavery at Monticello Tours, which run hourly April through October and are free to anyone with a ticket to tour the house.
Learn more
- Download our free Slavery at Monticello app and use it before, during and after your visit.
- During your visit, take one of the optional guided Slavery at Monticello Tours.
- Tour Mulberry Row online through the Monticello Explorer or visit Plantation and Slavery section of this website.


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Welcome to 2013 Perception In Print readers! I hope you had an amazingly relaxing New Year. Mine was wonderful, thank you for asking (I'm sure you would've asked). As tradition in all Haitian households on January 1, we made soup Joumou (pronounced Joo-Moo).
Translation: Squash soup. It was silky, buttery, spicy, complex in flavor -- basically -- what I would call a divine experience.
See recipe from Saveur here.
-à-têtes, he told me to claim what I want in 2013 -- as long as it's available to me. It was just an ah hah moment, why didn't this occur to me before?! I just think that's great advice, don't you?
Here's to all the wonderful things that awaits us in 2013 my darlings, I simply can't wait to share a few triumphs with you all.
(Pictures via Fig & Fauna and Honestly WTF)


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July 14th, 2009
ATi's board partners have had some amazing success with the latest 4890 series cards. Following that lead is MSi with their Cyclone SOC card. One can never have too much of a good thing. Since their release we have seen some amazing versions of the 4890 on the market. With very high clocking potential the [...]


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Artist description:
OMG!!! this is the best drawing on java
Java Draw Created Jan 29, 2012 460 x 640px Unless noted Copyright 2012 kosaku.
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brandycandy Jan 29, 2012
its really nice; i wish you would have finished it but it is a very nice drawing =]
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CAPE TOWN – Oscar Pistorius was the perfect South African sports hero because victory over his disability made him a universally admired figure in a still-divided society. The profoundly macho culture he grew up in spans racial groups and provides some explanation for the country's shocking rates of domestic violence.
"Black South African men are expected to prove their manliness by carrying knives and having lots of girlfriends," said Rachel Jewkes of the South African Medical Research Council (MRC). "White Afrikaners like Pistorius do not need to have several girlfriends. But his love of guns speaks to the same hunger to prove his masculinity in the South African context."
The full facts about the death of model Reeva Steenkamp have yet to emerge, but to South Africans her death came on the eve of the Black Friday Campaign for Rape Awareness in honor of Anene Booysen. The 17-year-old died after her ex-boyfriend and others allegedly gang-raped and disemboweled her on Feb. 2.
"The massive problem we need to understand in South Africa is the level of men's violence against women and against each other," said Lisa Vetten, a researcher who specializes in domestic abuse. Police statistics on domestic violence are limited. But 15,609 murders and 64,500 reported rapes in 2011-12 suggest massive levels of violence in South African homes.
Household surveys by the MRC have found that 40 percent of men have hit their partner and 1 in 4 men have raped a woman. Three-quarters of the men who admit to having raped women say they did so first as teenagers. The MRC found that, while a quarter of women had been raped, just 2 percent of those raped by a partner reported the incident to police.
Experts say South African society features all the known causes of rape and violence, including a historical culture of "might is right," a wealth gap that makes men feel weak, an unequal relationship between women and men, lack of adequate child care, which results in the neglect of boys, and high male unemployment.
Jewkes, a British doctor and director of gender and health at the MRC, said: "Having a father at home is really unusual here. South African children are more likely to be raised by a nonbiological parent than by both biological parents. So you see high levels of neglect, humiliation and abuse, which develops into domestic violence. We also have a high rate of teenage pregnancies and those young mothers are not equipped to raise their children.
"South African men think women should be under their control. There is an idea that violence is justifiable as a means to keep women in their place. This has not changed in 20 years and even though the South African murder rate has dropped by 50 percent since 1999, rape figures have not."
Jewkes and Vetten argue that Pistorius' love of guns and fast cars illustrates his relationship with South Africa's macho culture. "Afrikaner men are very patriarchal," said Jewkes, "and within that culture gun ownership is seen as part of masculinity."
Vetten believes the pressure on Pistorius may have been compounded. "Disabled men and women often struggle with their sense of masculinity or femininity because they are to some degree dependent. I have seen examples of them placing particular pride on physical attractiveness. Maybe he struggles with that. The guns and sports cars gave an impression that he was overcompensating so as to be seen as 'normal.' "


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I don't get it...
What the hell is Nuzlocke?
I don't get it...
It beginning to turn in to a +1 Thread. Shutting.
Twitter Mike Sharpe Writer Facebook Miiverse
Working outside without the Laptop
3DS - 3007 - 8991 - 4413 (VM/PM me to add you)
What is your opinion on the symbol of Pokemon fanboyism, the annoying brats who are so stubbornly hellbent on the belief that there are only 151 Pokemon?
I think they're just full of bullcrap. I personally dislike Generation 1 for three reasons:
1. Yours truly, Genwunners.
2. The sprites in Pokemon Red and Blue/Green are ugly as hell.
3. Everything about Lavender Town, ESPECIALLY the music, is the most disturbing thing I have ever heard in video games.
I also dislike how nearly every single Pokemon parody focuses on Gen I Pokemon. I mean, come on, really? Why parody an, in their opinion, "only good" generation of Pokemon when you can easily go ahead and parody the supposedly "inferior" ones?
That's all I can leave it at for now. What's your input on Genwunners?
Disclaimer: If Gen I is your favourite generation and you grew up from the start of Pokemon, kudos to you. This is targeted at fanboys, not the sane, mature fans of Pokemon.
I hate how they wish ever other Gen never happened. Yeah, because if that happened Pokemon would get staler than a 100 year old piece of toast and the franchise would die slowly and painfully.
Well, now, to be fair, the Genwunners main point is pretty valid. They claim that the pokemon designs have gotten lame, uncreative and no longer fit the spirit of pokemon. If we look at the pokemon we have now and the pokemon we had back then, they are sooooooooo right. Back in the days of RBY we had pokemon based on turtles snakes cats and even fish but now we have crappy pokemon bassed on random objects food piles of trash and waste and I don't even know what ... I sure do miss the good old days of pokemon too *sigh*
My FC is: 1118-1633-7306
Friend Safari: Poison - Cascoon, Venomoth, and Muk.
Free pokemon for you (Pokecheck is currently out of order so the link is officially dead for the time being ... and maybe for good)
Gen 5 roamer abuse guide
Originally Posted by Hozu
I prefer Gen 1 pokemon having grown up with them & whatnot. But I like the other generations as well, I mean I spent HOURS on the Gen 4 games...
Friend code White 2: 5158 1212 9002
WANTED: Kanto pokemon.
Well, I'm not a Genwunner, but I do like Gen 1 and 2 the most, and that's not just nostalgia. And anyways, I like the other generations too.
I don't like the hate Genwunners receive. If a Genwunner bashes others, of course you have every right to be mad. But if a Genwunner doesn't bash others and respects others's opinions, I don't see why people should bash such a person.
I think they need to respect opinions of non-Genwunners, and they don't always do that, but the hate Genwunners receive even if they don't push their opinion on others just because they're Genwunners is unfair. Their opinions should also be respected, and as far as I know, that rarely happens.
I just think both sides should accept and respect each other's opinions.
My fanfics:
Aquatic Passion (multi-chaptered fic)
Misty, The Mysterious Mermaid (oneshot)
Working On A Dream (multi-chaptered fic)
Changes (multi-chaptered fic)
The Prettiest Star (multi-chaptered fic)
The Strange Adventure of Bayleef and the Yellow Balloon (oneshot)
The Melody of Love (oneshot)
Love Of My Life (oneshot)
I only know of this terminology after using this forum, and I've never had a conversation with one in real life or on the internet. I don't actually see the point of having a thread specifically to discuss about a group of people who most likely wouldn't visit this forum on a regular basis. It's just going to be full of negative comments and/or flaming.
The best evolutionary designs are brought about by a balance between change and consistency.
Artwork by Piper Thibodeau. You can view more of her work here.
I agree with AquaMilotic, the only ones that should be hated are the mindless bashers.
There's no reason to hate Genwunners, unless they bash.
It's just like shipping wars. Why can't people just respect each other's opinions?
My fanfics:
Aquatic Passion (multi-chaptered fic)
Misty, The Mysterious Mermaid (oneshot)
Working On A Dream (multi-chaptered fic)
Changes (multi-chaptered fic)
The Prettiest Star (multi-chaptered fic)
The Strange Adventure of Bayleef and the Yellow Balloon (oneshot)
The Melody of Love (oneshot)
Love Of My Life (oneshot)
Ironically the people who bash Genwunners who just have a preference are no better than the stereotyped Genwunners.
Honestly and no offense but this is a pointless topic.
You have these types of people in every category of video games. Take Final Fantasy for example, most people would argue that FFVII was the last great final fantasy game. Well, that would depend on how you look at it. If you are talking deep game play, huge story line, and lovable characters than in my opinion you would be wrong. If you want to argue it from a graphics stand point than in my opinion you are wrong. if you want to try and argue it from a purely game play perspective...than again...in MY opinion, you are wrong.
My point is that Genwunners are simply stating their opinion. They can throw all kinds of talk on the table all day long, but what it simply boils down to is that it is their opinion and you do not agree with their opinion.
Listen and debate if it remain friendly, if they start to become unreasonable than walk away, no point in wasting the time
I like to breed to Pokemon (except IV breeding, i have no interest in it)*. If you have any requests please PM or email me and I will see what I can do to help you. I also have TONS of items.**
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com (please include "username" @ serebii forums in the heading)
*I can breed all Pokemon in X&Y now.*
**Items are in BW & B2W2 only**
Pokemon Y friend code: 3797 - 7081 - 3314
Pokemon X friend code: 4296 - 4159 - 0229
Also you can't dislike Generation 1 purely because of the Genwunners that has nothing to do with the game, then again option 2 and 3 are just as silly.
It should be a rule that Genwunners thread should be banned in GPD, since they go nowhere, offer nothing of value and start flame wars.
Last edited by blaze boy; 20th November 2012 at 3:26 PM.
"Now Count up your Sins"- Kamen Rider W
twitter: http://twitter.com/SamuraiDon
I generally prefer the pre sinnoh games more, not because of the nostaligia, but just because its the new games themselves. i didnt like how BW changed the TM mechanics. i didnt like some of the newer pokemon's designs, but i dont like of the old designs too. one of the main reasons i dislike sinnoh is that they tried to jam as many legendaries into it.:
People didnt like BW becuse of the obvious issue with the new pokemon being the only catachable ones.
I can say I'm no "genwunner" as the term has arisen these days. What's with these idiotic terms, though? "Genwunner, newfag, nostalgiafag." Is that what Pokemon teaches us? To be jerks to each other? I don't think so. Yes, we all have our differences. If someone likes Gen I the best, then it's fine. No one from Gens II-V has the right to bash them for it. Similarly, if someone like Gen V the best, it's also fine. No one from Gens I-IV has the right to bash them either. We're all fans of some portion of Pokemon, and that's what counts. To encourage each other no matter how hard things seem.
My opinion? It varies depending on what part of Pokemon we're discussing to be honest.
My favorite Generations are II and III for the anime, games, and manga (scratch BF from III for the anime- really did not like it).
Card game got old for around Johto for me. Not too into it anymore.
Manga is still good, not as good as OS-DP, but good.
Anime has gotten old for me since Battle Frontier when all the main cast English dub voice actors were replaced/kicked off the show forcibly. I have never liked the anime nearly as much since Season 8 ended. BW is alright for me, though. Not my cup of tea, but I can deal with it. Still, I've watched all of OS-BW2 to date. Plowing through BF, DP, and BW as well as BW2 has not been easy at all for me. I still do it regardless of whether I like what's happened to Pokemon. Each generation has its own charm to it, each dub the same thing, each series the same thing. It's all a matter of preference.
Games keep getting better, and the BW2 games just released are no exception. The charm of Pokemon hasn't been lost for me here.
Yeah, I like the 4Kids dub more for the Pokemon anime, and the first eight seasons, which comprise 3 generations of Pokemon. But I respect those who prefer the latter seasons, voice actors, and so on and so forth. There's no point in not doing so. Things change, and sometimes there's nothing you can do about it, as much as you may prefer one take to another.
This kind of describes what the original voice actors for Ash and company meant to me, and it's not because I dislike the current ones. It's also kind of the way I feel about what 4Kids gave me for Pokemon. This was really an excellent show with them, despite most of the other shows the company dubbed. All I hope is that in the future, future generations will check out these episodes someday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmvc2...eature=related.
Last edited by PokemonNation2000; 19th November 2012 at 6:16 PM.
They really aren't much of a problem and are largely restricted to idiot-bulbs like the comments section of YouTube. Those idiots don't play the games and are largely ex-fans just waxing on nostalgia.
The new gen bashing is the cool thing to do usually when next-gen designs and names and sprites and whatnot are released as the new gens get closer, and then everyone jumps at the chance to say "IT SUCKS!!!!" so they can have bragging rights to say they said it sucks first. That's when genwunners are at their worst, but usually they're an ignorable fraction of this forum.
I'm part of the staff at Project Pokemon! Smod in forums, AOP in IRC, Administrator on Shoddy. Come visit us. Our Project is Pokemon!
What REALLY irritates me is when it comes from people who were never even really "into" Pokemon. They may have played Red/Blue/seen a bit of the tv show when they were young, but once generation two came along they "grew out of it" - and then when they see you playing the new games they're like OH MY GOD, AFTER THE FIRST GENERATION IT'S NOT REAL POKEMON WHY ARE YOU PLAYING THAT YOU'RE WRONG
'Scuze me. It's obvious who the real Pokemon fan is here.
I pretty much hate every Genwunner out there, but thankfully I don't classify that many people to be Genwunners nowadays.
As for genwunners...well, they're okay. They can be a little annoying, but they don't really get under my skin. I can kind of understand their obsession with nostalgia.
I like Gen. 1 but I wouldn't consider it the best generation.


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Gal Costa (born Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos on September 26, 1945 in Salvador, Bahia) is a Brazilian singer of popular music.
Gal Costa was born on September 26, 1945 on Barra, one of the most traditional neighbourhoods of Salvador, to Mariah Costa Penna (d. 1993) and Arnaldo Burgos (d. 1960). During her pregnancy, Mariah spent hours concentrated listening to classical music, as in a ritual, with the intention that her child would become interested in music. Gal never met her father, who died when she was 15 years old.
When she was 10, Gal befriended sisters Sandra and Andréia Gadelha, future wives of singer-songwriters Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, respectively. At 14, she first listened to João Gilberto's "Chega de Saudade" on the radio and became interested in Bossa Nova. She then went on to work as a clerk on Salvador's main record store to get closer to music. At 18, she was introduced to Caetano Veloso by Andréa Gadelha, engaging with him in a deep friendship that still lasts.
Costa debuted her professional career on the night of August 22, 1964 on the concert Nós, por exemplo, where she performed alongside Veloso, Gil, Maria Bethânia and Tom Zé, among others. The


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Get an overview of this hotelUpscale hotel on the beach, with 2 outdoor swimming pools
Popular property highlights
Located in Central Pattaya, this beachfront hotel is in the city center and within a 10-minute walk of Hard Rock Cafe, Pattaya Beach, and Pattaya Memorial Hospital. Alcazar Cabaret and Central Festival Pattaya Beach are also within 10 minutes.
Hotel Features
Catch some rays at the beach or spend the day relaxing at Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya's full-service spa. Then enjoy a meal at one of the hotel's 2 restaurants.
Room Amenities
All 323 rooms provide free WiFi and free wired Internet, plasma TVs with satellite channels, and conveniences like refrigerators and coffee makers. Guests will also find 24-hour room service, minibars, and rainfall showerheads.
Guest Highlights
- Good location
- Proximity to shopping
- Beach
- Pool
- Helpful staff
- Clean guestrooms
- Bathrooms could've been nicer
Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya features a full-service spa, 2 outdoor swimming pools, a sauna, and a fitness center. Dining is available at one of the hotel's 2 restaurants and guests can grab coffee at the coffee shop/café. Guests can unwind with a drink at one of the hotel's bars, which include a swim-up bar and a bar/lounge. Public areas are equipped with complimentary wired and wireless Internet access.
Business amenities at this 4-star property consist of a business center, limo/town car service, and meeting rooms. 7 meeting rooms are available. This beach hotel also offers a children's pool, a nightclub, and spa services. For a surcharge, a roundtrip airport shuttle (available 24 hours) is offered to guests. Onsite self parking is complimentary.
Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya has designated areas for smoking.
- Children's pool
- Poolside bar
- Swim-up bar
- Spa services on site
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Babysitting or childcare (surcharge)
- Children's club (surcharge)
- Supervised childcare/activities (surcharge)
- Coffee shop or café
- Nightclub
- Bar/lounge
- Airport transportation (surcharge)
- Limo or Town Car service available
- Business center
- Conference space
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Express check-out
- 24-hour front desk
- Total number of rooms - 323
- Number of floors - 10
- ATM/banking
- Shopping on site
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Laundry facilities
- Barbecue grill(s)
- Coffee/tea in common areas
- Garden
- Elevator/lift
- Number of restaurants - 2
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Fitness facilities
- Full-service spa
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Free WiFi
- Free wired Internet
- Number of outdoor pools - 2
- Children's club
- Designated smoking areas
- Luggage storage
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Meeting rooms 4
- Multilingual staff
- Porter/bellhop
- Number of meeting rooms - 7
- Conference center
- Free self parking
- Sauna
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Steam room
- Television in common areas
- Wedding services
- Pool umbrellas
- Billiards or pool table
Family Friendly Amenities
- Family Hotel
- Outdoor pools
- Children's pool
- Free Wi-Fi
- Laundry facilities
- Babysitting or childcare (surcharge)
- In-room childcare (surcharge)
- Refrigerator
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi , Free wired Internet
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi , Free wired Internet
Free self parking
Room Amenities
- Pay movies
- Room service (24 hours)
- Air conditioning
- Phone
- Free bottled water
- Refrigerator
- Minibar
- Coffee/tea maker
- Daily housekeeping
- Private bathroom
- Bathrobes
- Free toiletries
- Hair dryer
- Rainfall showerhead
- In-room childcare (surcharge)
- Satellite TV service
- In-room safe
- Free WiFi
- Free wired Internet
- Dial-up Internet access (surcharge)
- Plasma TV
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
Where to Eat
Buffet breakfasts are available for a surcharge and are served each morning between 6 AM and 10:30 AM.
Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya has 2 restaurants serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
24-hour room service is available.
Nearby Things to Do
2 outdoor swimming pools are on site along with a children's pool. Other recreational amenities include a sauna and a fitness center.
Spa Services
REliquary Spa and Salon has massage/treatment rooms. Services include massages, facials, and body treatments. A variety of treatment therapies are provided, including aromatherapy and Ayurvedic.
- Aromatherapy treatments
- Ayurvedic treatments
- Massages
- Body treatments
- Facial treatments
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- Roll-in shower
- In-room accessibility
- Accessible bathroom
Hotel Policies
Special check-in instructions:
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Kids stay free! Children 11 years old and younger stay free when using existing bedding.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for THB 1500.00 per night.
- Pets not allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
- The name on the credit card used at check-in to pay for incidentals must be the primary name on the guestroom reservation.
- Deposit: THB 2000.00 per day
Optional extras
- Rollaway bed fee: THB 1500.00 per night
Hotel Name
- Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya
- Hard Rock Pattaya
We should mention
Children 11 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding.


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Location: THE WOODLANDS, TX
Member since 8/17/2011
- 3 total posts
- 1 review
- 2 comments
Reviews & Stories
Paul Lancaster
It is a pleasure to smile and let others see and admire the appearance. Many have shown how much they liked the work by asking who did mine so they could consider the same treatment. READ MORE
Recent comments from PLANCASTER
Absolutely. You already look beautiful on you picture. READ COMMENT
The staff at Dr Young's office encouraged me because of my constant smile to have all my top front teeth look great. With somewhat uneven teeth and over the years "erosion" and "discoloring", my teeth were not the best. They were... READ COMMENT


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International Edition
September 26, 2017
About Us
Contact Us
Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit to highlight regional issues
By Michelle Hsu, Special to the China Post Wednesday, October 10, 2007, 12:00 am TWN
Minister of Foreign Affairs James C.F. Huang and several other ministerial officials will accompany President Chen Shui-bian to attend the Second Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit slated for October 12-14 in Majuro, capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI).
For Taiwan, the South Pacific is an important region where it has six diplomatic allies. Attending the summit meeting will be the national leader of each of these countries, except for Kiribati, which will be represented by its vice president Teima Onorio. The other five participating national leaders are Marshall Islands President Kessai Hesa Note, Nauru President Ludwig Scotty, Palau President Tommy Remengesau, Tuvalu Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
he summit is a critical event for Taiwan to foster its cooperation with these oceanic countries possessed of abundant natural marine resources,?said Huang. It the second year for these national leaders to convene the annual summit meeting, following the success of the one held in Palau last year, during which the Palau Declaration was signed by the participating countries as a sound foundation for regional cooperation.
During this year meeting, Huang said, e will review how the Palau Declaration has been implemented over the past year and discuss how to strengthen cross-border collaboration for regional development in the future.?
The summit will begin with statements by the participating national leaders during an opening ceremony on the afternoon of Oct. 12, followed by a report by Foreign Minister Huang on the progress of regional development, which has been bolstered by closer cooperation among the summit member countries. In a later session, Minister of the Department of Health (DOH) Hou Sheng-mou and Minister of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Winston Dang, two other ministerial delegation members, will give reports on the issues of health and environmental protection, respectively.
On Oct. 13, several bilateral meetings will be arranged for the Taiwan delegation to talk with representatives of individual countries separately for further discussions on bilateral cooperation and interactions.
asically, the second summit will follow the directions set by the first one last year, and ally countries will continue to implement the goals declared in the Palau Declaration for cooperation in eight areas and promotion of closer interactions among ally countries,?Deputy President Secretary-General Chen Chi-mai said in a pre-departure press conference on Oct. 8. Taiwan delegation left for the Marshall Islands on Oct. 9 and will fly back after three days there.
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), the host country for this year, is a Micronesian island nation in the western Pacific, north of fellow Summit member Kiribati, south of the U.S. territory of Wake Island, and about halfway between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea. The island nation has a total area of 181 square kilometers, and a population of 61,782 people (annual growth rate: 2.2%). Its national language is Marshallese, but English is widely spoken as a second language.


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Nearly every staging report I've written has advised the sellers to take down the wallpaper prior to their home sale. Usually the sellers moan and say they don't want to spend the time stripping and repainting, nor do they want to pay someone to do it for them. Well, that's exactly what the buyers are thinking, too!
But wallpaper can work in a home for sale under the right conditions. Does yours pass these tests?
1) How old is the wallpaper? If it was installed much more than 10 years ago, it's probably a) dated and/or b) difficult to take down. Styles and tastes have changed since then, and so has the technology behind newer editions of wallpaper, making it much easier to remove. So if it's newer, it might be a keeper.
2) Is it relatively taste-neutral? A pattern like the grasscloth shown above, in a neutral color, is more likely to be accepted by most buyers than a strong, highly unusual color or pattern. Neutral – it can stay.
3) Will it work with more than just your decorating scheme? If the wallpaper is going to look odd with anything but your current furnishings, it's time to take it down, unless you are planning to sell your furniture and accessories to the buyer as well (that does happen occasionally, but there needs to be a separate Bill of Sale outside of the real estate contract).
4) Where and how is it installed? Wallpaper borders were all the rage in the 80s and 90s, but not so much today. Take them down! And if you have it everywhere – walls and ceiling both – take it down. Too much of a good thing just…isn't good.
Wallpaper can indeed be beautiful and is used in many styles of interior design.The powder room and foyer are great spaces to employ wallpaper to add design interest. It is also becoming increasingly popular to back the inside of a cabinet with wallpaper to make the design more interesting and the objects in the cabinet visually pop.
Photo from Ask the Design Diva
Photo from Tidbits and Twine


text: The Beaufort Hotel rating Quick Specs Rates $180-$360Year Built 1860Year Renovated 2014 View Large Interactive Map Address 33 Beaufort GardensLondon, England SW3 1PP Web http://www.thebeaufort.co.uk Phone + 44 20-7584-5252 Fax + 44 20-7589-2834 Toll-free 866-866-7599 Email email@example.com OverviewMeeting SpecsPhotos & videosRatings & Reviews Description Delightful Town-House Hotel comprising 2 restored Victorian buildings with English country house charm.Year Built: 1860Year Renovated: 2014Check in Time: 2:00 PMCheck out Time: 11:00 AMNumber of Floors: 5Total Number of Rooms: 29Rates: $180 GDS Hotel Reservation CodesAmadeus GDS: WV LONBEAGalileo/Apollo GDS: WV 16376Sabre GDS: WV 031342WorldSpan GDS: WV 42508Reps: Intl Tours Representatives, JDB Fine Hotels & Resorts, Resycom Worldwide Hotel Res GMBH The Beaufort Location & NeighborhoodIn London. Near Harrod's in Knightsbridge, 30 min from airport. The Beaufort Rates & PoliciesThe Beaufort rates are Daily in USDStandard: $180 Suite: $360 (USD) Credit Cards Are AcceptedReservations must be guaranteed with a credit cardMeals: No Meals IncludedDeposit Policy: Credit card guaranteeCancellation Policy: 48 hours prior to 2pm local checkin time, one night charge Nearby AirportsLondon City Airport (9.25 miles east)Heathrow (12.50 miles west)Gatwick (23 miles south)More Airports » The Beaufort Room AmenitiesThe Beaufort amenities are in All rooms unless noted otherwiseAir ConditioningBalcony/Terrace (some)Daily Maid ServiceFree NewspaperRooms for Non-smokersTelephoneCable/Satellite TelevisionTelevisionInternet Access (Wireless) Guest ServicesBabysitting/Child CareCar RentalComplimentary CoffeeConcierge ServicesLaundry RoomLaundry/Dry Cleaning ServiceMulti-lingual StaffRoom ServiceWheelchair Access to Common/Public AreasCommon Area Internet Access (Wireless) Security ServicesSmoke Alarm in RoomsSurveillance Cameras On Site Nearby SightseeingHarrods Shopping Centre (100 meters east)Natural History/Science Museum (200 meters west)Victoria and Albert Museum (150 meters west)Apsley HouseWellington ArchMore sightseeing »DiningThe Grill at the DorchesterAfternoon Tea at The DorchesterDinner by Heston BlumenthalCorrigan's MayfairTamarindMore dining options » Nearby RecreationBicyclingCasinoHealth ClubHealth Spa/MassageHorseback RidingJogging TrailsPool (Indoor Pool, Outdoor Pool)Shopping Mall/AreaTennis (Indoor Tennis, Outdoor Tennis) The Beaufort Meeting Rooms & Events1 Meeting Rooms holding 10 people.20 sq m of Meeting Space The Beaufort Business ServicesBusiness CenterCopierFaxAdministrative ServicesMeeting Room Internet Access (Wireless) The Beaufort Images, Videos, & Virtual Tours Photos & Videos The Beaufort ExteriorThe Beaufort LobbyThe Beaufort LobbyThe Beaufort RoomThe Beaufort RoomThe Beaufort RoomThe Beaufort RoomThe Beaufort RoomThe Beaufort Other Images Powered by VFM Leonardo travel42 Review for The Beaufort Want to read the full The Beaufort travel42 Review? For access to this review as well as 10,000 others, visit www.travel-42.com or call 1.866.566.8136 to subscribe. Located on the same maple-shaded cul-de-sac as the creatively eclectic Knightsbridge Hotel, a little more than a block from Harrod's, this demure boutique operation suffers from the limitations of its size: tiny lobby, diminutive elevator, narrow hallways, small guest rooms. The human touches are what set it apart, from the free drinks and cream tea to the complimentary Wi-Fi and smiling sociable staff.A half-step down in the ranks from the Knightsbridge Hotel, on a par with Egerton House, Th... Subscribe to travel42 to read the full review » Copyright (c) 2017 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. travel42. Nearby London Hotels More Nearby Hotels Holiday Inn BloomsburyAshburn HotelBelgraves, a Thompson HotelBest Western Bromley CourtCharing Cross HotelComfort Inn Buckingham Palace RoadCommodore HotelHilton London Hyde Park HotelHotel Indigo Kensington Earl's CourtKingsway Hall HotelMillennium Bailey'smyhotel BloomsburyRadisson Blu Edwardian Berkshire HotelThe Academy, The Bloomsbury Town HouseThe Chesterfield MayfairThe Colonnade LondonThe Grand PaddingtonThe Marylebone HotelThe Sumner HotelDorset Square Hotel Hoteliers! Is your listing up to date? With over 130,000 hotels in our database, no other source compares to our depth of information. Click here to review and be sure the travel professional knows your hotel's latest details.


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Ask Health Experts and Get Answers to Your Health Question ASAP
I have a small lump in my thigh, its not visible, but you can feel it under the skin. It has been there for a few months now. It hasn't caused me any problems. I am just concerned because it hasn't disappeared.
Hello, Will you please answer some questions to serve you better- 1.What is the approximate size of it? 2.Is the skin over it has some special features like change of colour? 3.Is it movable or adhere to the skin? 4.Is there any associated swelling/s in your groin region? 5.Is there any dimple or pit on the swelling? Please do reply.
It is about 2 cm all around
No change in colour of the skin over it.
Its not moveable
No swelling, that I have noticed
With your description, it looks to be a cyst. Most probably a sebaceous cyst ,which is formed due to blockage of sebum producing glands in our body. If it is so, then it may not be a serious one .These are generally confused with lipoma(fat tissue tumors) which are very much doughy to feel & do not show a punctum( which may be there in sebaceous cyst). I any case, I suggest you to consult a general surgeon, who will diagnose it easily by clinical examination. It may be better to remove it, because it may get infected & cause severe pain. Thank you


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Triton Shield Anti-Piracy System
Recently, International Maritime Security Network, LLC conducted their first phase testing of the originally designed, non-lethal Triton Shield Anti-Piracy System (APS). Horizon Lines, LLC, a US flagged container ship operator serving US domestic routes and Asia, offered their resources and assets to the project. Aboard the container vessel HORIZON CRUSADER, IMSN conducted APS system tests and safety drills with Horizon crew members. Both IMSN and Horizon Lines remain proactive in helping to search for a security solution for not only their own personnel but for everyone throughout the entire maritime industry.
The Triton Shield APS uses the most abundant resource available to a ship - water. The use of water is nothing new, but maximizing the protective potential without risking the lives and safety of the ship's crew is. When dealing with terrorism on the high seas and the critical need to protect vessels underway in international waters, government or naval intervention to date still remains limited. Crews have to provide much of their own defenses. It is similar to calling 911 in a remote area, help may come but not for a considerable amount of time.
The Triton Shield Anti-Piracy System (APS) was developed as a multi-layered defense package with the goal to Detect, Deter and Defend against piracy. The defense package incorporates training and education, hard security, and the originally-designed, custom made, Triton Shield non-lethal anti-piracy device.
Application of the system starts in the classroom with IMSN's Piracy Defense Course to teach crew members how to efficiently Detect and evaluate threats. In addition, IMSN also provides high-tech methods to detect any ships that enter a one mile perimeter around an IMSN client ship. With the Triton Shield Anti-Piracy System (APS), a ship will be able to determine the difference between a fishing boat and a pirate craft, day or night.
IMSN recognizes that no one situation is ever the same as another. As a result the Triton Shield Anti-Piracy System (APS) was developed with maximum Deterence in mind. IMSN provides several options to harden vulnerable areas by updating passive security measures on board a ship. The innovative Triton Shield device is designed to create an active deterrent around the perimeter of a ship. While the IMSN team will monitor the initial installation aboard every ship, the device is simple, easy-to-use, and easy-to-maintain.
Finally, the Triton Shield Anti-Piracy System (APS) includes an armed hard security team as the last line of Defense should deterrence fail. All IMSN hard security team members are fully vetted and come from military and or law enforcement backgrounds. IMSN hard security teams will operate under the guidelines of force continuum which provide them with the tools and training needed to evaluate a potential threat and determine the proper amount of force needed for any given situation.


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Aisha Tyler Appears at Denver's Comedy Works, 11/9 & 10
Comedy Works has announced that Aisha Tyler will perform at Comedy Works Downtown in Larimer Square tonight, November 9 and the 10th, 2012.
Aisha Tyler's talent and versatility sparked her rapid ascent in Hollywood and has earned her critical raves and industry respect. Her hot-streak stint as the first female and African-American host of E!'s Emmy-winning Talk Soup moved Aisha quickly into television and film. She is currently voicing the character of sexy superspy Lana Kane on FX's hit animated series Archer. You can also watch Aisha on CBS's The Talk with Sharon Osbourne and Sheryl Underwood.
Aisha has filled numerous television roles including Ross's girlfriend on NBC's Friends, co-staring in the CBS hit Ghost Whisperer with Jennifer Love Hewitt, as well as appearances on FX's Nip/Tuck, HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, Comedy Central's Reno 911, and many more. Besides TV and talk shows, Aisha is in films including her most recent appearance in Babymakers staring Paul Schneider, Olivia Munn and Kevin Heffernan.
With her Comedy Central one hour special Aisha Tyler is Lit: Live at the Fillmore, and her multiple appearances on The Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman, The Today Show, Politically Incorrect, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Late Show and more, Aisha Tyler is not to be missed.
Friday, November 9 | 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM | $22.00 (Late Show Ages18+)
Saturday, November 10 | 8:00 PM and 10:15 PM | $22.00
Advance tickets are available. Call (303) 595-3637 or visit Comedy Works online www.comedyworks.com.


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LSU Equine Eye Surgery Sparks
- Dec 4, 2006
- Topics:
The extraordinary efforts of globe-trotting surgeons, dedicated Louisiana State University (LSU) veterinarians and technicians, and a determined team of horse owners recently combined to preserve the sight of one 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare through a procedure known as a vitrectomy. The surgery is rarely performed and was unprecedented at Louisiana State University's School of Veterinary Medicine. The momentum of the team wouldn't end with a single horse, however.
Lexius (Lexi), is a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare whose sight was restored by the LSU Equine Health Studies program.
Through the generosity of owners Julie Calzone and Bob Gardes, both of Lafayette, La., the field of equine ophthalmology will see a difference at LSU for years to come. Following on the heels of an international team effort to help one horse, a new fund has been established within the LSU Foundation to bring focus to the wonders and intricacies of the care of the equine eye. The Lexi Fund, named for Julie and Bob's mare "Lexius," has been implemented to dedicate financial resources toward clinical service, scientific investigation and educational endeavors in the field of equine ophthalmology.
"The idea for the fund came to fruition over the past several months as Bob and I continually worked with LSU to find answers for Lexi's vision," said Calzone. "We have those answers now, and we felt like there were so many other horses out there that could benefit from the success of Lexi's story." Lexi came to LSU's Equine Hospital on September 22 to undergo surgery to correct her failing sight. Hartmut Gerhards, Dr.Med.Vet, with the Clinic for Horses of Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, worked collaboratively with Eric Storey, DVM, MVSc, Dipl. ACVO, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, to perform the vitrectomy (whereby gel behind the lens and in front of the retina is removed and replaced with intravenous fluid) on Lexi's right eye. Assisting Gerhards was Bettina Wollanke, PD, Dr.Med.Vet, of Munich. Read about the surgery here.
"Both Bob and I feel very strongly that Lexi called all the shots including picking Dr. Storey and LSU," said Calzone. "We knew we were chosen to stand by her while she led the way for a new life and new eye sight, not only for herself but for other horses in North America. She is a very special horse, and we all are fortunate that she chose us. Needless to say, if it weren't for Dr. Storey and LSU none of this would have been possible." Through a perfectly choreographed surgery and now a permanent fund, Lexi is leading the way for all horses affected with ophthalmologic conditions.
To learn more or to contribute to The Lexi Fund, contact Ky Mortensen email@example.com at LSU's Equine Health Studies Program at 225/578-9590.
Related Content
Therapeutics and Medicine (AAEP Convention 2012)
Eye Evaluation in Equine Prepurchase Exams
Understanding Equine Cataract Surgery
Diagnosing and Treating Equine Glaucoma
Understanding Equine Vision
Understanding Equine Eyelid Disorders
Third Eyelid Removal in Horses: Options Compared (AAEP 2011)
EHV-1 Outbreak: State Veterinarians Monitoring Closely
New Technology for Diagnosing Keratitis in the Equine Eye
Catastrophic Ocular Surface Failure in the Horse (AAEP 2010)


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Does anyone really keep the contact details of all their business partners in a pile of business cards? Can there be anyone left in our great metropolises who has not seen an iPhone? Yes there can and it is our own low-tech blogger, John Richardson, who proudly lays claim to his Grumpy Old Man status […]
Tag Archives | business cards
Resisting the lure of the future
By Barbara Ortner on 9 February, 2010 in corporate life
Print your business card on meat
By Barbara Ortner on 20 May, 2009 in corporate life, trivia
Why mess around with old-fashioned paper business cards when you can be chewing on Meat Cards? Have your contact information seared onto beef jerky by laser beam. It's environmentally friendly and protein rich. (Photo Meat Cards) For more about business cards: Angry about business cards Chemical names forever […]
Angry about business cards
By Barbara Ortner on 22 April, 2009 in corporate life, trivia
Thanks to Dan Blank for this link to someone you are never going to meet at a chemicals conference. "This guy has strong feelings about business cards," says Dan in the understatement of the week.
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Falls man admits to unemployment benefit fraud
LOCKPORT – A man who collected $2,080 worth of unemployment benefits while he was actually working at two jobs entered a guilty plea Tuesday in Niagara County Court.
Christian M. Ham, 25, of Fairfield Avenue, Niagara Falls, was allowed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of petit larceny. He collected the benefits between July 2009 and May 2010 while working at Foot Locker and First Source Advantage, Assistant District Attorney Laura T. Bittner said.
As part of the deal, Ham must pay full restitution to the state Labor Department and enter a misdemeanor plea to a bail-jumping charge in Niagara Falls City Court, Bittner said. County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III scheduled sentencing on the larceny charge for Oct. 22.


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Statistics flourish in the United States and India, two countries that also thrive on numbers. We both have plenty of the biggest, largest, oldest kind of records, starting with bragging rights about democracy and elections. The Indian Statistical Institute – which now unfortunately shares the acronym ISI with an organisation better known for terrorism than numbers – was set up some 80 years ago in what is now Kolkata. Such was the sterling reputation of the original ISI that it is said to be the model for first US institute of statistics set up at North Carolina's Research Triangle. At least two distinguished ISI alumni, Calyampudi Rao and Srinivasa Varadhan, eventually moved to the US and won great laurels in this country, including White House recognition by way of presidential medals (from Bush and Obama respectively).
The Indian ISI now functions under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, which disgorges small amounts of data about national benchmarks, targets, achievements etc. If you dig though the ministry's basic, no-frills website, you can unearth such gems as the state-wise area and production of flowers, foreign tourist arrivals in India from top 15 countries, and the number and value of coins minted in the country. But the data is spotty, often old or outdated, and some numbers are difficult to unearth. Under the head of crime, for instance, there was no easy way to spot statistics relating to rape and its prosecution.
However, the suicides chart was pretty detailed, with a state-and city-wise break of cause. Thanks to the diligence of the modern day numberdars, we know that more than 1, 25, 000 people commit suicide in India every year. Granular details reveal that twice as many men commit suicide as women;nearly a third of suicides are in the 15-29 age group;Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal vie for dubious top honours (14, 000 plus suicides each), but among cities Bangalore leads by a long way with nearly twice as many suicides as second placed Chennai;illness and "family problems" are the top two causes of suicide;and more people kill themselves because of broken hearts than on account of poverty.
Such data points can be useful in drawing portraits of a society or nation, although numbers can be distorted and trivialised, as suggested by America's literary giant Mark Twain, who is credited with saying there are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics. The US though has fine-tuned its statistical snapshot to a very high degree. For decades, the Statistical Abstract Of The United States, published by the Census Bureau, an agency of the US Department of Commerce, has been the last word – or number – in describing the social and economic conditions in America. Starting this year, the making of the abstract has been parcelled out to the private sector (due to budget cuts) but as a tireless numbers junkie, here are some gems I gleaned from the 2012 abstract.
Languages spoken in American homes: English, 228 million;Spanish 35 million;Chinese 2. 6 million;French, Tagalog, Vietnamese, German, Korean 2 million each. Indian languages? Hindi topped with 5, 60, 000;Urdu: 3, 55, 000, and Gujarati came third at 3, 41, 000. No numbers on other Indian languages. New motor vehicle sales in America peaked in 2000 when it sold 17. 8 million vehicles. It has been falling steadily since, with only 11. 77 million sold in 2010. Average cost of a vehicle is $24, 296 (about Rs 14 lakhs), only a 15 per cent increase from 2000 when it was $21, 041, and less than 5 per cent increase from 2005 when it was $23, 017.
The US has 9, 72, 000 physicians, of whom 2, 52, 000 are international medical graduates. There is no breakup of nationalities but physicians of Indian origin are said to be in the region of 60, 000, according to a professional body of Indian doctors. Internal medicine and family practice doctors are the top two groups. There are 40, 600 psychiatrists and 7, 400 child psychiatrists. The US national health expenditure has gone from $27. 3 billion in 1960 to $2. 486 trillion in 2009, a nearly hundred-fold increase, including $250 billion in prescription medicine, more than India's entire health budget.
Britons topped the list of 12. 5 million European visitors for pleasure to US in 2008, followed by French and German. Japanese (3. 2 million) topped the 5. 6 million Asians who visited, followed by Koreans (6, 00, 000), Indians (4, 21, 000), and Chinese (3, 19, 000), whose numbers dropped sharply from 2000 when 6, 56, 000 visited compared to 2, 53, 000 Indians who came that year. The number of Pakistani visitors dropped to 35, 000 in 2008 compared to 47, 000 in 2000. More Indian visitors and less Chinese and Pakistanis – make what you want of it.
Americans are eating more peanuts and drinking less coffee. Alcohol consumption has gone up sharply. Liquor stores outnumber bookstores by three to one. Liquor sales added up to $169 billion in 2009, compared to $111. 9 billion in 2000. Some 41 per cent of births were to unwed mothers, compared with 33 per cent a decade earlier. But women have been making great strides. They accounted for 40 per cent of all science and engineering doctorates in 2010, a leap from just 27. 9 per cent in 1990. Interestingly, 53 per cent of men spend their leisure time watching TV, while for women, the number was only 48 per cent. Make what you want of it.
My favourite piece of statistic: Cats beat dogs 81. 7 million to 72. 1 million in household pet ownership;birds beat horses 11. 2 million to 7. 3 million. Meow, woof, and a Happy New Year!


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Still undecided =(
The Republic
The Empire
Still undecided =(
That doesn't mean that every member of the Sith Empire is evil. As your roleplaying goes you can be a Sith being mister goody nicey guy helping everybody and making the universe a better place to live. Or you play an a**h*** of a Jedi slicing everything that moves and do other unspeakable things.
I'm playing empire btw
€ Damn my browser is slow -.-
Last edited by Odysseus83; 2011-11-08 at 11:11 AM.
But if I would, then I would definitely start with Republic as well, mostly due to a similar mindset.
I have been playing some evil characters, when it has fit a story, but if I was free to explore a character, I usually turned out to be a good guy/gal.
(Even in Black/White - I tried my best to stay a neutral Goddess, but, alas, the rainbows kept appearing everywhere...)
You know what? Even if the Jedi are somehow too strict and narrow-minded in their mindsets, they are not evil. And I am not speaking about the subjective propaganda from any side. In an absolute point of view, evil would be to force your will onto others, while deliberately damaging the others in the process in some way.
Evil has 2 aspects - first, the harm to others to gain your objectives - and second, a consciouos descision to do so, especially if you could have reached the same result by other, less harmful means.
On the other hand, there are people who claim to do anything for the "greater good" and that "the end justifies the means" - at this point, I think, anything becomes evil, since they stop concidering whether they are doing harm to anyone or not. Thus, any side could become evil.
Last edited by scubistacy; 2011-11-08 at 11:22 AM.
Empire or bust. I feel like I would do better in the long run with them, and they have a killer insurance plan. I'm going to give both a try though.


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Human Genome Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline said Monday their experimental lupus treatment passed another key goal on its path to potentially becoming the first new drug for the disease in decades.
Shares of Human Genome Sciences soared 33 percent on the report.
Wall Street and researchers anticipated study data from Bliss-76, hoping it would confirm positive results from a prior late-stage study. Benlysta is aimed at suppressing the immune system's response to lupus, which is an inflammatory disease prompting the body to attack its own tissue and organs.
The anticipated study data, from a clinical program called Bliss-76, showed a 10-milligram dose of Benlysta, plus therapy with steroids, prompted an improvement in 43 percent of patients, compared with an improvement in only 33 percent of patients on the placebo end of the study.
"The Bliss-76 results confirm our view that Benlysta has the potential to become the first new approved drug in decades for people living with systemic lupus," said Human Genome President and CEO H. Thomas Watkins, in a statement. "We take great pride in the innovation and scientific rigor that has made it possible to bring Benlysta to this point.
Human Genome of Rockville, Md., and GlaxoSmithKline, based in the U.K., plan to seek Food and Drug Administration regulatory approval in the first half of 2010.
Bliss-76 involved 865 patients and took place over 52 weeks. It is the second late-stage study on the potential lupus treatment to meet key goals. Last month, the company reported similar positive results from Bliss-52, which involved more than 860 patients in Asia, South America and Eastern Europe.
Lupus is an inflammatory disease in which the body attacks its own tissue and organs.
Leerink Swann Research analyst Joseph P. Schwartz reaffirmed a "Outperform" rating for Human Genome, saying he expects Benlysta to gain regulatory approval and then reach the market by the second half of 2010. He boosted his fair value outlook for the stock to $40 from $30. He expects the company to present full results from Bliss-76 in the spring of 2010 at a medical conference.
Shares of Human Genome Sciences rose $6.09, or 33 percent, to $24.78 in afternoon trading. Earlier the stock traded at $26.21, its highest level since February 2002.
U.S.-listed shares of Glaxo fell 67 cents to $40.49.


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Beginning in 1996, cocktails of anti-HIV drugs proved that they rescue people at death's door and stave off AIDS for decades. Despite initial hopes that the drugs might eradicate the virus from the body, it soon became clear that no one was cured because of stubborn reservoirs of cells infected with latent virus.
Today, an improved understanding of how HIV remains latent and new ideas about how to purge the reservoirs have led to the biggest push yet to cure people, including millions of new dollars being poured into the effort. And the field now knows that a cure is indeed possible because of an unusual stem cell transplant in one HIV-infected person with leukemia who no longer has any detectable virus in his body.
Join us for a live chat at 3 p.m. EDT on Thursday, 12 May, on this page. You can leave your questions in the comment box below before the chat starts.
Additional reading:
Anthony Fauci
Immunologist Anthony Fauci heads the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the world's leading funder of HIV/AIDS research. Fauci's own lab conducts cure-related studies, and NIAID recently has committed $13 million in new grant money available to academics to pursue this line of research.
Steven Deeks
Steven Deeks is a leading HIV/AIDS clinician and researcher based at the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco General Hospital. He co-chairs a scientific working group on HIV cure research that is sponsored by the International AIDS Society.
David Margolis
Immunologist and molecular virologist David Margolis is at the forefront of HIV cure research. He led a pioneering clinical trial of valproic acid to purge HIV reservoirs and now is heading a team that is testing a similar drug, SAHA.