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R.A. Dickey will try to forget his latest start as quickly as possible.
Will Middlebrooks hit three home runs, two off the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, and the Boston Red Sox routed the Toronto Blue Jays 13-0 Sunday.
The Red Sox scored five runs before Dickey (0-2) got an out. Last year while with the New York Mets, he gave up a total of five runs in the first inning of 33 starts.
Boston kept swinging away and tagged the knuckleballer for eight runs - seven earned - and 10 hits in 4 2-3 innings.
It was his shortest start and the most runs he'd allowed since giving up eight runs in 4 1-3 innings of a 14-6 loss at Atlanta last April 18.
"Throughout the course of the season you're going to have a clunker or two," Dickey said. "You just have to try and forget it as soon as you can. Obviously, today was one of those days for me.
"A lot of this game is about how to handle adversity and manage where you're at," he said. "That'll begin for me tonight."
Boston jumped on Dickey in the first. Ellsbury led off with a double, Shane Victorino singled and Dustin Pedroia drove in a run with a groundball single through the right side.
Mike Napoli hit a two-run double and Middlebrooks followed with a first pitch homer.
"I thought we had a very good approach against Dickey," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "We laid off some tough knuckleballs down in the bottom of the zone."
Even the outs Dickey got were loud. Daniel Nava and Jarrod Saltalamacchia each flied out to the warning track before Jackie Bradley Jr. struck out to end the inning.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was quick to brush aside any worries about his ace.
"I'm not concerned," Gibbons said. "It's two games in. He's going to have a great year for us. They just hit him hard. I don't know any other way to describe it. They stayed on the ball and did a great job."
Napoli added a two-run shot, and Jacoby Ellsbury and Nava also went deep as the Red Sox connected for six homers and set season highs for runs and hits (15), one day after getting just two hits in a 5-0 loss.
Middlebrooks went 4 for 5 with four RBIs. He hit two home runs off Dickey, a two-run shot to right in the first inning and a solo drive into the second deck in left in the fifth.
Middlebrooks connected again off Dave Bush with a leadoff longball to left in the seventh, the first three-homer game of his career. He also doubled.
"He had about 2,000 feet of homers," winning pitcher Jon Lester said.
Middlebrooks flied out to the left-field warning track in his final at-bat in the eighth.
"I was blowing on it running down the line but it didn't have enough steam," he said.
Middlebrooks said both his homers off Dickey came on fastballs.
"I faced R.A. in spring training so I kind of had an idea of what his movement was and his velocity, because he throws a lot harder than a lot of (knuckleball pitchers)," Middlebrooks said. "I know certain counts he likes to go to fastballs. When he's not locating his knuckleball well, he tries to get ahead with the fastball and that helped, knowing that."
Nava went back-to-back with Middlebrooks in the seventh, a homer that bounced off the top of the wall in center field and went out. It's the first time this season the Red Sox have hit consecutive home runs.
Ellsbury had three hits, including a leadoff homer into the second deck in right in the eighth, his first. Three batters later, Napoli capped the rout with his second homer of the year. He finished with four RBIs.
Lester (2-0) allowed five hits, all singles, in seven innings. He walked none and struck out six, improving to 6-2 with a 2.13 ERA in his past nine starts at Rogers Centre.
"His performance was kind of overshadowed because we hit six home runs," Middlebrooks said. "He shut out a good-hitting team. All his pitches were on and when that cutter is on, he's really dangerous."
Clayton Mortensen pitched the final two innings for Boston.
Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista was held out of the starting lineup, the third straight game he's missed with a sore right ankle. The two-time major league home run leader twisted his ankle stepping on first base while beating out a double play in the eighth inning last Thursday.
NOTES: Lester had to jump out of the way of Edwin Encarnacion's shattered bat in the fourth. Encarnacion grounded to short on the play. ... Toronto claimed RHP Edgar Gonzalez off waivers from Houston and transferred RHP Dustin MCGowan from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL. ... The Red Sox open their home schedule at Fenway Park on Monday afternoon. RHP Clay Buchholz faces Baltimore LHP Wei-Yin Chen.


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The Snake Farm is located just southwest of the Verdant Meadows airstrip in Bone County, San Andreas. The business itself is inaccessible to the player. It is featured in the mission Don Peyote. In this mission, Kent Paul and Maccer decide to go to the snake farm to find their missing bandmates, since Maccer recalled that the last time he saw his missing bandmates, there were snakes. However, the band wasn't there; instead, some locals attack them, apparently because the band members sexually assaulted them earlier.
- BF Injection
- Sadler (in Don Peyote) (locked and explosion-proof)
- Knife - In the middle of two shacks.

subset: commoncrawl


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Last week the National Aquarium, Baltimore supported the Ravens' first playoff game with a fun video from our feathered friends at the Aquarium. This week we are joining the rest of Baltimore in donning purple to celebrate the Ravens' journey through the playoffs!
Last night, during a covert effort to paint the town purple, the Ravens' front office staff left the Aquarium a special logo stamp on the sidewalk near the ticket center. To continue the city-wide show of support, the Aquarium will light all of Pier 3 in purple on Thursday.
In support of Purple Friday, the National Aquarium is offering a special $5 discount on Friday, January 15. Starting today, fans can visit aqua.org and enter the promotion code RAVENS to receive $5 off the total experience package on Friday, January 15 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. The promotion is available through online ticket purchases only.
Visitors are encouraged to join Aquarium staff in wearing their purple Ravens gear on Purple Friday, January 15, and for the rest of the weekend. Go Ravens!


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Little Snow, But Lots of GLBT Fun at Reno and Tahoe
Lake Tahoe's slopes are in need of fresh powder, but that isn't stopping diehard skiers or LGBT partiers from heading up to the Sierra and to nearby Reno for a winter getaway.
Reno and Lake Tahoe offer plenty of fun on and off the slopes with great dining, nightlife, and casinos or simply relaxing by the fireplace with a special someone or friends. There is something for everyone at the lakeside and northern city escape just hours from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Powder Fun
The large ski resorts that are open during this extremely dry winter have had to resort to man-made snow lately and not all lifts are operating. But there is skiing to be had, officials said.
Lake Tahoe's premiere gay ski weekend is WinterFest, which is held March 2-9 at Heavenly and Northstar ski resorts.
This is the 19th year of the weeklong LGBT snow party, according to Kevin Ray, founder and promoter of Winterfest.
Ray, a gay man, took over the popular LGBT ski weekend from the Nevada Commission on Tourism in 1996. Today, the tourism commission and the Nevada Gay and Lesbian Visitor and Convention Bureau sponsor the event that mixes skiing and snowboarding, comedy, parties and the option to hit the poker tables and slot machines on the Nevada side of South Lake Tahoe.
Ray, a project coordinator who lives in northern Nevada, also produces Reno Gay Pride, usually held in August.
Ray believes that February will bring fresh powder to Tahoe, which has been experiencing a particularly dry season. Since the early snow storms in October and November provided a solid base to build upon, the ski resorts have been running the snow machines on the trails at higher elevations.
To attract skiers and snow bunnies, many of the resorts have added fun features to their ski runs and lodges. Heavenly, for example, has a roving dance club on the slopes with guest DJs.
Ray is confident the area will soon see snowfall.
"We will get fresh powder," he said. "People have never been disappointed in the skiing."
However, he is prepared to do a snow dance if there isn't a late season storm that dumps fresh powder onto the slopes, he quipped.
Even if it doesn't snow soon, South Lake Tahoe offers a lot of entertainment and easy transportation from Aston Lakeland Village Beach and Mountain Resort, the host resort complex that offers shuttle service between the casinos, nightclubs, and slopes. That's not to mention the entertainment Ray has lined up for WinterFest, including a dance party aboard the MS Dixie II departing out of Zephyr Cove.
"He attracts really great people," said Xav Dubois, a regular at WinterFest. "As much as it's a gay and lesbian event, he just leaves it so open for everybody."
WinterFest is an extra treat for Dubois and his partner of 10 years, Sean Aken. Not only is the gay-friendly ski escape right in their backyard, but they get to share it with LGBT people from all over the U.S. and the world who come to the event, he said.
"I'm just home and I feel ease walking down the street holding hands with my partner in South [Lake] Tahoe," said Dubois, about the 40-something gay men simply feeling comfortable in the mountain resort town. "It just feels great."
Ray has plenty of fun planned on and off the slopes for this year's WinterFest, including a comedy night with Emmy Award-winning gay comedian Bruce Vilanch.
"We are so excited to have someone of his caliber through the weekend," said Ray.
"Anything with a 'ho' in it attracts my attention, and Tahoe is no exception," joked Vilanch in an email about performing at and attending the gay ski weekend. "But when you add in gay ski week ... it's time for an avilanch."
WinterFest isn't the only gay ski weekend hitting the Sierra this winter. Saga North, the gay ski group, has been hitting the slopes for the past couple of months with weekend ski and snowboarding excursions. Organizers added two excursions to South Lake Tahoe this year.
Rough and Wild
Adventurers can have their outdoor action by day and urban excitement by night in Reno.
Most of Reno's top resorts offer ski packages, including transportation to the slopes.
The Peppermill is offering mid-week and weekend deals starting at $209 and $289, respectively, with a $75 resort credit for a three-night minimum stay in the Tuscany Towers. Guests can buy discounted lift tickets between $68 and $95 depending on the ski resort.
Atlantis offers guests one- and two-night packages starting at $79 up to $155, respectively, to stay and ski with lift tickets to a variety of slopes and $20 food and slot credits.
Silver Legacy's ski special starts at $79 with bonus discounts for dining and playing.
Grand Sierra Resort and Casino has stay and ski packages starting at $78 per person for two nights, including the option of choosing lift tickets or "First Timers" ski lessons at Mr. Rose.
The slopes are just a 30-minute car or shuttle ride to Mt. Rose, the nearest ski resort. There are up to 18 resorts within 90 minutes of Reno's popular resorts and casinos that offer shuttle service up to the slopes and back.
Reno also offers other outdoor adventures for LGBT travelers. Golfers can play a round at various golf courses while bikers and hikers can cycle or hike on numerous trails in the area.
At night travelers can dine at a variety of restaurants or catch a show. The Eldorado is showing Ring of Fire , a non-biographical musical based on Johnny Cash's famous song and music, February 7-May 4.
Out of Hibernation
Reno will host the second annual Reno Fun Train organized by bear communities in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Sacramento March 7-9. The train for hirsute men and their admirers hosts a dance party with DJs and live music and chocolate and wine tastings while passing through the spectacular mountain scenery.
The bears will hit Reno and party at Carl's Pub for a beer bust March 8.
"It's a lot of party and a lot of fun. The trip up and on the way back is what it is about with the beautiful scenery, the snow and camaraderie of being together, which is the great part," said Eric Murken, 46, a gay travel agent at Travel Advisors of Los Gatos.
Last year the Bear Fun Train attracted nearly 70 guests. This year Murken is anticipating that more than 100 bears will hop onto the train for a weekend of fun, he said.
In April the popular Trannyshack show will head to Reno for its 17th annual show at Tronix Video Bar. The Easter weekend event, hosted by Heklina and her friends, is one of the town's biggest LGBT events, attracting more than 500 partiers.
DJ Mimi ImFurst gets the crowd going on the dance floor at Tronix Video Bar and Nightclub in Reno. (Photo: Courtesy Tronix)
Get Local
Local LGBTs also have events planned to entertain visitors.
A Salon 7 is celebrating its 10-year anniversary by turning its annual white party into a black party with a 1920s theme. The Gatsby-inspired event April 5 benefits Build Our Center, Reno's new LGBT community center that is scheduled to open sometime this year.
Queer women party it up at Tronix twice a month with the new Sinful ladies nights. Hosted by Sinful Entertainment promoter Monique Manzo, a 25-year-old lesbian, the dance party on the first and third Saturday has brought Las Vegas Sapphic glam and glitz to Reno.
Manzo, a Reno native, was disappointed to find the lesbian nightlife scene fizzled a bit during the time she lived in Vegas. When she returned home last year, she remedied the situation by launching Sinful Entertainment, an event production company. She fills her events with the latest dance anthems and mashups, "anything that is hot right now," along with butch and femme go-go dancers and performances.
It's been a hit. Her last party attracted up to 300 queer women in the area, she said.
Where to Stay
Guests can't go wrong with the award-winning lakeside Hyatt Regency. The gay friendly resort is TAG-approved and continues to provide top service.
On the other side of the lake, there are two LGBT-owned options to stay: the gay-owned Black Bear Inn, run by partners Kevin Chandler and Jerry Birdwell, and lesbian-owned Holly's Place, owned by Holly Eimer.
LGBT travelers seeking gay-friendly accommodations that offer plenty of entertainment and affordability in South Lake Tahoe can find it at Harrah's and Harvey's.
In Reno, my girlfriend and I love staying at the Peppermill. The resort is popular among LGBT locals and travelers, not only because of its rainbow welcome sign as guests pull into the Tuscany Towers side of the resort, but also for its AAA four-diamond status. The Peppermill offers sophisticated style and luxury in eco-friendly accommodations that is friendly on the pocketbook and welcoming to the community.
Carl's Pub, one of Reno's gay bars, is also very close to the Peppermill.
While the Peppermill is usually our first choice when we hit town, this time we opted to stay in the heart of historic Reno at the Silver Legacy. The resort is close to the Riverwalk and has easy access to multiple casinos, restaurants, and other entertainment.
If you aren't doing well on the tables or the slots at the Silver Legacy it's easy to use the underground pathway to head over to the Eldorado or Circus Circus to try your luck there.
The noted downtown area has captured much of the attention in recent years after its multi-million dollar renovation, but midtown, on South Virginia Street, is beginning to emerge. New restaurants, craft breweries, cocktail lounges, and other attractions are starting to pull visitors away from the heart of Reno down the strip toward the Peppermill and Atlantis, Reno's other AAA four-diamond casino and resort.
Dining Around Town
During our recent quick trip to Reno-Tahoe we revisited some of our favorite restaurants. They didn't disappoint. We enjoyed fabulous meals that left us satisfied.
In Reno we enjoyed a luxurious dinner at 4th Street Bistro. Reno has a lot of really good restaurants that we enjoy, but this woman-owned restaurant is the best Reno offers. Locals ooh and ahhh when it's mentioned.
Over the hill in Lake Tahoe we stopped by the five-star rated Lone Eagle Grille at the Hyatt Regency at Incline Village on the north side of the lake. The restaurant recently underwent a $700,000 renovation updating the bar and lounge area. The award-winning wines and great cocktails are still there, but now they are complemented by a new Sierra Nevada tapas and appetizers menu.
A local lesbian-owned favorite is Jack Rabbit Moon at Incline Village.
On the south side of the lake, our mouth waters for Ciera Steak and Chophouse. Like 4th Street Bistro, my girlfriend and I save this AAA four-diamond restaurant for special occasions. For an enjoyable evening out we head to Friday s Station Steak and Seafood Grill or Edgewood Golf Course Restaurant. The food is very good and it keeps our purse feeling a little bit fuller.
While my girlfriend's favorite meal of the day is dinner, mine is breakfast or brunch. For brunch, guests can't go wrong at Ernie's Coffee Shop, not to be confused with Bert's Cafe across the street. This local favorite offers up a fantastic menu - including many vegetarian options - with ample portions at a great price.
For a quick guide to Reno and Tahoe, visit www.ebar.com
Full disclosure: Heather Cassell recently started working as an independent travel counselor at Travel Advisors of Los Gatos


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In previous years it was always possible to identify a clear leader, but this time the four main shows of the London Design Festival managed to focus on their own individual strengths, which turned the event into a real neck-and-neck race. We were there on your behalf and among other aspects took a look at the astonishingly numerous 'designer-makers' among the exhibitors.
Here's what you'll find in our October Newsletter:
Making/Do: designer-makers exhibit in London
Supersize Me: Materials Council's 'In the Scale of Carbon' exhibition
Architonic Photo Tour London Design Festival 2013
Inspiring Search Results N° 22: Coffee tables with free form top
Inspiring Spaces N° 14: Stairwells
Architecture and Design Projects on Architonic
Architonic's newsletter for October 2013 can be read (and subscribed to) here.


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Mayan Ruins – The Path Less Traveled
While staying at Posada Yum Kin Hotel Tulum, guests can take advantage of Tulum's location which is literally in a treasure trove of Mayan historic spots. Here are a few of the less traveled Mayan sites, many of which are nearby.
For longtime travelers to the Yucatan, the 2012 mythology that has taken hold brings a delicious irony: Worldwide attention is finally turning from the Yucatan's white-powder beaches and sequestered all-inclusives to the remnants of the "lost civilization" buried under the jungle that drew the first travelers to Mexico's mysterious southern peninsula after New York writer John Lloyd Stephens and illustrator Frederick Catherwood recounted their explorations in the mid-19th century.
It's a good bet that most tourists will still confine themselves to Cancún and the Riviera Maya, with a foray to Chichen Itza. On the Riviera Maya, scrubbed and manicured Tulum, Mexico's third most-visited ruin, is worth seeing more for its stunning seaside setting than its architecture or historical significance; it was a coastal lookout on a busy trade route. Coba, well worth the journey 40 miles west from Tulum, is older than Chichen Itza and the least reconstructed of Maya cities, with 95 percent of the site still swaddled in jungle growth. Its quiet, shady depths and a largely intact network of the raised limestone causeways called sacbeob (singular: sacbé) that linked Maya cities all over the peninsula make it the Riviera Maya's most effective time machine to the ancient Maya world. Coba's own El Castillo tops Chichen Itza's famous pyramid by 60 feet and is still open to climbers.
While the northern Caribbean coast, like the rest of the Yucatan, is mounting a host of special events paying tribute to the Maya that are worth seeing (we'll cover some of those in a future column), it isn't the ideal place to gain insight into one of the world's most accomplished and intriguing ancient cultures through the cities they left behind.
Chichen Itza
This fabled city's coronation as a "New World Wonder" actually has diluted much of that wonder. Encountering Plastic El Castillo key chains, night lights and other tchotchkes in every souvenir shop and standing in line to get an unobstructed photo seriously compromises the awe factor, and long gone are the days when you could scale Mexico's most famous pyramid. (You can, however, climb down instead, into the pyramid beneath the pyramid for a first-hand glimpse of the common practice of building new structures over the old—and a sacrificial altar inlaid with jade.)
This is one of the world's grandest ancient cities, to be sure. Walking among the stone temples, monuments and ball courts while visualizing them coated in brightly painted stucco, surrounded by common people's homes in jungle clearings, is the only way to comprehend its city's sheer scale. If you haven't seen Chichen Itza, go—your best bet is stay nearby and visit the ruins early, before the tour buses roll inn. If the hotels at the gate are beyond your budget, try the Hotel Dolores Alba about 1½ miles east of the ruins, or stay in the historic town of Izamal or the underrated colonial city of Valladolid.
Be aware, too, that what makes Chichen Itza an archaeological marvel is its departure from Maya tradition; the city's significance lies just as much in its strong Toltec influence. The good news is that the Yucatan offers many better places that are lightly visited and infused with a quiet, ancient spirit.
Increasingly popular but still far from crowded, Uxmal is the nearest large ceremonial complex to Chichen Itza. More beautiful and more purely Maya than the anointed New World Wonder, it is a masterwork strikingly distinct from other Maya sites. Instead of the colorful interior murals in other cities, Uxmal's art is all in its expansive and intricately carved stone facades. This is the finest and most extensively excavated example of Puuc architecture, characterized by low, elongated palaces with intricate cornices, corbelled arches (also called Maya or false arches), rows of columns and upper walls covered with geometric stone mosaics and friezes.
Unlike other cities on the nearly flat peninsula, Uxmal commanded the one area endowed with some hills, and its elegant architecture incorporates the landscape's varied elevations. Most cities depended on the peninsula's abundance of cenotes, but Uxmal stands 100 feet above sea level and has no surface openings to the subterranean water. Its engineers devised a system of choltunes, or cisterns, to collect rainwater for an estimated 25,000 people. Water scarcity made Chaac, the rain god, supreme in Uxmal, and his image dominates the stone facades. The city's tallest structure, the Pirámide del Adivino (Temple of the Magician), is built on an oval base and has rounded sites. Its imposing profile, visible throughout the site, is a marked contrast to the typical angular, stepped pyramids seen elsewhere. The pyramid is now closed to climbers, but you can easily see the gaping mouth of a gargantuan mask of Chaac at the top of the front stairway.
Puuc route
Just 17 miles southeast of Uxmal are several smaller and largely unexcavated ruins within a few kilometers of one another, each with unique features.
— Kabah's Codz-Poop (Palace of the Masks) is covered in nearly 300 three-dimensional, stone Chaac masks, though many of Chaac's curling elephant-trunk noses are broken off. The two male figures on the east side of the palace are among the few three-dimensional human figures appearing among Maya sites.
— Sayil's Gran Palacio, appearing to stretch endlessly across the landscape, once housed as many as 350 people. Its facade, with three terraced levels and rows of columns, recall ancient Minoan palaces. In the jungle beyond the palace, Stele 9 claims its own small measure of fame with the image of a fertility god brandishing a phallus of hugely exaggerated proportions.
— Labna, with just four restored buildings, is best known for its 20-foot corbelled arch. Flanked by two chambers, it was probably part of a more elaborate structure now lost to history.
Ek Balam
Under excavation only since 1997, with one of the northern Yucatan's longest records of human occupation, Ek Balam is believed to have been larger than Chichen Itza, waning as Chichen Itza rose to power. It is best known for the elaborately carved and miraculously preserved stucco friezes — 85 percent is original, unretouched plaster — on the Templo de los Frisos, which is crowned by a toothy mask of the underworld god Balam. You can scale the 100-foot El Torre (or Acropolis) pyramid, one of the largest Maya buildings yet discovered, for views of two large, untouched ruins disguised as jungle-covered hills to the north and the tallest structures of Coba, 30 miles to the south. Ek Balam is unique for its two concentric walls enclosing the ceremonial heart of the city and an unrestored network of sacbeob still visible as raised lines radiating out through the jungle in all directions. Discoveries here have caused scholars to revise Maya history, and it may prove to be one of the most important sites ever found. It's an easy day trip, 20 miles from Valladolid.
Small and out-of-the-way Mayapan (31 miles south of Merida), last of the great Maya city-states, was the capital of a Maya confederation that included Chichen Itza (which it equaled in size) for nearly two centuries, though it was abandoned in 1450 following a revolt by some of its subjects. What you find today is a compact ceremonial center surrounded by the requisite jungle-covered mounds. Restored structures include a pyramid that looks like a smaller version of Chichen Itza's El Castillo (also called El Castillo) and an observatory that mimics Chichen Itza's. It is also notable for its vivid red and orange murals dominated by scenes of war, and stucco figures including columns shaped like human figures, soldiers, macaws, entwined snakes and a stucco jaguar.
Archaeologists consider Edzna, 40 miles southeast of Campeche, one of the most significant Maya ruins, yet it gets fewer visitors in a year than Chichen Itza does in a day. The elegant architecture reveals the city's significance as a crossroads, employing roof combs and corbelled arches similar those of Palenque and giant stone masks characteristic of the Petén style made famous by Tikal in Guatemala. Populated as early as 600 B.C., it grew into a powerful regional capital between A.D. 600 and 900. Its architects displayed uncanny urban-planning skills. Given a region with no lakes, rivers or water of any kind, they built 100 choltunes throughout the city and devised an elaborate canal system that must have taken decades to complete. No fewer than five pyramids crown its Great Acropolis. The largest, the oft-photographed Pyramid of Five Stories, is unique in combining the vaulted chambers of typical palace construction with the solid pyramidal platforms containing a couple of interior temples or burial passages. Surveying the whole site from the pyramid, ponder whether those leafy mounds radiating out from Edzna, seemingly into infinity, are just jungle growth or overgrown temples and tombs. Campeche state has more than 2,000 known ruins, with new ones discovered every year. Only about 20 are open to visitors, and most will never be disturbed.
Calakmul & Rio Bec
Stretching across the neck of the Yucatan Peninsula, the Rio Bec region contains numerous ruins displaying heavily stylized, lavishly decorated architecture. Here you really do feel you are discovering lost cities, still cloaked in trees and vines, vibrating with the clamor of monkeys, birds and the occasional distant jaguar.
The big dog here is Calakmul, which is both a huge archaeological zone and a vast biosphere reserve that comprises about 13 percent of Campeche state's entire territory. Continuing research indicates Calakmul could be the largest site in the Maya world, more than equal to Guatemala's Tikal in size and significance. Built by a warring state with little time to devote to art or culture, it doesn't have the most fascinating architecture, though Structure III, probably a noble family's home, is unique and quite lovely. It retains its original design, with no sign of the remodeling efforts typical of most Maya buildings.
The deep-jungle setting and abundant wildlife offer more than ample compensation for lack of architectural fireworks. Some structures display the Peten style characteristic of Guatemala (high crested structures, steep staircases, false facades), while others are typical Rio Bec Style (steep-sided pyramids or false towers topped by false doorwas and false temples, facades carved with monster masks and fantastic animals). The approximately 120 stelae (more than at any other Maya site) that have yielded so much information about the city date from A.D. 364 to 810. By the time of the Spanish conquest in 1519, Calakmul's population had dwindled to fewer than 1,000. If you're up to the climb, Structure II — the Yucatan's tallest Maya structure, at 175 feet — offers views across 31 miles of jungle to the ruins of El Mirador, Calakmul's sister city in Guatemala.
Among the other sites on the Rio Bec route, Dzibanche and nearby Kinichna, Kohunlich with its famous Pyramid of the Masks, Becan, Chicanna and Balamku with one of the largest stucco friezes in the Maya world, all present their own pleasures.
This article from SFGate, a product of San Francisco Chronicle. Former Chronicle travel editor Christine Delsol is the author of "Pauline Frommer's Cancún & the Yucatán" and a regular contributor to "Frommer's Mexico" and "Frommer's Cancún & the Yucatán."


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I interviewed Mr Al Menawy for a general story about the state media in post-Mubarak Egypt, which can be read here. Unfortunately there wasn't room in the article to include all of Mr Al Menawy's comments, which were made over a back-and-forth email exchange on the 17th-18th February 2011, so I have published the full unedited exchange here, copied and pasted from the emails.
Abdel Latif Al-Menawy: The state media tried as much as possible not to be part of any demonstrations but to be neutral. We were very keen to only put the accurate news and at the same time show our audience the two different points of views. But to do so we had to investigate every piece of news we received from both parties' which affected our fast pace of putting the news on air. We gave as much time to the youth of the revolution to explain and criticize and at many times answer back to the government officials who also presented their own points of view. We can only be held responsible for the
material we broadcast as news.
JS: Why did we see the tone of coverage changing in the final week before Hosni Mubarak's departure, becoming more critical of the regime and supportive of demonstrators?
AM: A changing point in our coverage happened Wednesday night the 2nd of February. During that day we received news that we thoroughly checked with our sources then of fireballs being thrown at demonstrators in Tahrir Square. The army even asked us to warn people of the fireballs as they must evacuate the square. At this point when we saw what happened we had to review our position and the accuracy of the news we are getting from our sources. This is where everyone thought we changed our tone.
JS: Does the state media still have credibility in the eyes of the Egyptian people following recent events?
AM: The famous media school of BBC says credibility comes before the scoop. So we had to check every news item before we use it on air. Egypt's Television played this role very well. We were the main source of news to all the national and international news channels and we were quoted on Alarabyia,CNN,BBC. So we needed to be accurate and as fast as possible. We did not want to reach the point where we start denying our own news, which happened in other channels. These channels were trying to direct the Public opinion regardless of credibility. Credibility was our main aim here.
JS: What is the short-term future now for those holding senior positions in the state media complex, who are facing calls for their resignation by some members of staff?
AM: The great revolution in Tahrir Square which caused the stepping down of the president turned into small revolutions in every Egyptian institution. Any head, starting from the prime minister to the head of any small district is asked to step down too. It is not just the media. Officials who are supposed to resign are the ones who did not work according to the ethics of professionalism and did not play their role in keeping this country united. I believe that we at Egypt's TV had worked very professionally, and were keen to keep the unity of this country at a time when all the institutions were collapsing.
JS: What is the long term future of the state media if liberalisation of the media market continues and more private competitors begin to emerge? What reforms need to take place to keep state media at the cutting edge?
AM: I always use the term public media when I speak about Egypt's TV not the state or the government TV, because we are working for the public and not state or the government. The required changes now means that this television needs to keep playing its role in maintaining the unity of the country. And I believe public media will always be there as long as it serves the public. I believe the form and content will change but it will always be the eye of the public and its connection to the state.
JS: Mr Al Menawy - I am a British journalist based in Cairo, and hence part of a group identified by Egyptian state television news as being a 'foreign agent', with alleged links to Hamas, Israel, Iran and the USA. I was also accused of having received free meals from KFC (Kentucky) and of being part of a deliberate plot to stabilise Egypt. Both myself and my colleagues suffered exceptional violence in the streets which I believe was the direct result of these very statements that were put out on your channels. Will you please offer me a personal apology for the part you played in disseminating those lies, and an expression of regret for the violence that arose from them?
AM: Dear Sir - There is nothing personal when it comes to journalism. If you are speaking about the coverage of Egypt's TV during the days of the revolution it is all recorded. After reviewing the tapes I did not find your name, photo, video of you or association of your profession in our coverage. So obviously you were misinformed. You were not the only one who was subjected to violence during the demonstrations. One of our Arabic reporters was stabbed during a phone call on air and another was attacked. Also two of our English reporters were attacked in the demonstrations. We received calls asking for help from foreign reporters on Thursday the 3rd of February. They were being attacked by mob and rounded in Tahrir square and we informed the army right way we even sent some of our security people to help keep them safe they escaped and took cover at Ramses Hilton Hotel and our security and army kept them safe.
Concerning the foreign agents who took free meals from KFC that was not part of our news that came as an opinion in a phone call by viewer and as we believe in free speech we could not cut the caller on air. On the other hand, we gave other callers from Tahrir square the chance to disagree right after and on air also. I hate to tell you that most journalists who have worked in dangerous zones were subjected to violence and if that came as a surprise for you I think you should contact your administration.
Best of luck
JS: Dear Mr Al Menawy - I was not suggesting that I was ever identified personally - to my knowledge neither my name nor organisation was ever specifically referenced on state television, although on the night of the 25th January I was detained and beaten by state security officers and I believe there was some coverage of this in the Egyptian media (this is by no means the fault of state TV though - I mention it merely in passing).
What I am talking about is the general narrative adopted by the state media, including state television news, which in the first week of the revolution (before the baltagiyya attacks in early February) presented the view that foreigners were behind the pro-democracy protests, and that foreign journalists in particular were among the 'foreign agents' inciting unrest. Respectfully sir, I am not misinformed on this point. As you are well aware, the editorial stance of most of the state media, including the television news channels, was initially that foreigners were responsible for the street demonstrations, and were trying to disrupt Egypt - a view that was put forward by the Mubarak government and echoed uncritically in the state media.
The KFC claim may have come from a caller, but it was never investigated or discredited by your journalists and the general tone of state TV news coverage maintained the line that there was outside influence fomenting the anti-government uprising - there were even reports of Israelis being arrested by vigilante groups on the streets of Egypt, a claim that I do not believe has ever been verified as accurate. Nor did you initially give Tahrir square demonstrators the right to air their views in the early days following January 25th, nor did you offer the anti-Mubarak protests anything like the coverage afforded to the pro-Mubarak protests the following week - if you have recordings that indicate the contrary, I would be interested in seeing them.
Within the atmosphere of general uncertainty, uncritically following the government's 'foreign agents' line on the protests without investigating and verifying these claims was, as you must have been aware, certain to create a very dangerous climate for all foreigners in Egypt, journalists or not. I have lived in Egypt for three years and consider this my home - I did not 'fly in' here to cover a war zone. As a matter of fact I have reported from many violent locations, including Gaza during the last Israeli assault there, so I am hardly surprised at or unaccustomed to violence in my work. But this is irrelevant: once the police left the streets on January 28th, Cairo was not a warzone - that is until the government, supported by the state media, began to accuse the protesters of being backed by foreign powers. The result was that foreigners (and many more Egyptians) were attacked, some very seriously.
It is not unreasonable to expect the government of the country you live in not to fabricate misinformation about people from certain countries and people who do certain jobs, nor is it unreasonable to question why any responsible media professional would repeat those fabrications in the knowledge that violent retribution could be a consequence. If you don't wish to acknowledge or apologise for the role played in this by the news output on your channels then so be it, I merely wished to offer you the opportunity. I commend you for the help you offered foreign reporters on the 3rd February, although by that stage the damage had been done, and I stand in solidarity with all those journalists and Egyptians who were killed and wounded in the uprising - please don't ever question me on that.
Kind regards, Jack
At this point, Mr Al Menawy stopped responding.


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|Without signage or paint, boldly they crossed
I saw the birds up ahead on the multi-use path, crowding, queuing, you go no you go. When a break in the six lanes of traffic appeared, the leader boldly stepped onto the pavement. But I could hear the cars coming. About a quarter mile back, without looking, bicycle sense tingling, I could hear them coming, accelerating away from the light. Then I looked. A wall of cars, still accelerating, geese still crossing. So I set the bike on the grass, walked into the road, and waved. There were two or three seconds when I could tell the drivers saw me, but were not happy about the unexpected intrusion, and thought maybe it would just go away, and their acceleration continued. But they calmed down, I heard them slowing, a few brief honks, and everyone stopped. The geese themselves were both silent, no panic honking, and moved waaaaay toooooo slowwwwww.
They were still in the middle of the road when the cars arrived. The people in the cars figured out why I had waved at them and seemed OK with it, generally. One person did honk at the geese but the birds appear to have been deaf. They crossed over the median at their slow, stately waddle-pace, and I couldn't watch because another line of cars was coming from the other direction. You might argue that there are too many geese out there anyway, pooping all over the place including the MUP itself yuck, but I also thought that it would be nasty from the automobile perspective to plow through geese at 45 mph so all around it seemed like a good idea to warn the drivers. I believe it all worked out OK this time, but as I rode away I couldn't help but wondering if it wouldn't be better for everyone (birds too) if those geese would just flap their lazy butts up in the air and fly across the road instead of waddling. Get up. Go ride.


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The standalone system consists of a Counter display and a keypad (Number calling device). The queue number is called via the keypad and is reflected on the Counter display unit.
The queue number blinks and a buzzer is activated to call for the customer's attention so that he/she proceeds to the serving counter. Queue number is called either in sequence or in random.
The queue numbers of those customers who do not respond can be stored in the keypad and to be re-called later. Upon arrival, a customer is assigned with a queue number printed on a ticket via the ticket dispenser. (Alternatively, the receipt number can be used as the queue number.)
Operational Procedures:
1.Calling for a specific queue number using the 'ENTER' key.
Key in the queue number (via the number keys [0] – [9] on the keypad) and press the 'ENTER' key (the queue number entered will be flashed on the counter display).
Note: this random queue number which is called does not affect the sequential next queue number in the keypad.
2. Calling the next sequential queue number using 'NEXTQ' key.
Press the 'NEXTQ' key to display the next sequential number on the counter display.
3. Assigning the next queue number.
Key in the starting 'NEXTQ' number via the number keys [0] - [9] and then press the NEXTQ key. The starting 'NEXTQ' number will be flashed out in Counter Display and will reassign the sequential next queue number to the new entered number.
4. Store the queue number on the keypad by the "STORE" key.
Press the "STORE" key to store the current number shown on the keypad (You may store up to 4 queue numbers.)
5. Recall stored number by F4 key.
Pressing F4 key generates all the stored queue numbers.
In the event the user calls for a particular stored queue number, press the ENTER key. The queue number called is reflected on the counter display and it is automatically removed from the stored list.
6. Clear the entry key of the keypad by the CLEAR key.
Pressing the CLEAR key will clear the display on the keypad.


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Is it more wind in the sails for the developed world's recovery, or a sign we're all once again in trouble?
Bloomberg reports the link between risk and reward in stocks is breaking down as emerging markets post the worst first quarter since 2008 and lag behind shares of developed economies by the most in 15 years.
Data analyzed by the news service finds the MSCI Emerging Markets Index's 3.8% drop this year through last week trimmed its rebound from an October 2011 low to 22%. That compares with a 33% advance for the MSCI World Index and marks the first time since 1998 that developing-country shares have underperformed during a global rally. When adjusted for price swings, emerging market returns are 37% smaller than in advanced nations, Bloomberg notes.
Developing markets are trailing developed markets after most of their companies missed analyst profit estimates for the last five quarters and economic expansions from China to Brazil slowed to the weakest rates since 2009. A majority of MSCI World companies beat earnings projections, it notes, while the pace of U.S. growth has rebounded to levels reached before the financial crisis.
The news service adds the only other bull market emerging stocks lagged behind was from September 1990 through July 1998, a period when U.S. shares surged during the dot-com bubble and Asian equities were dragged down by the region's financial crisis.
But not all emerging markets are faring poorly. Bloomberg points to Thailand and the Philippines as examples.
"Thailand's SET Index has surged 73% since the current global rally began on Oct. 4, 2011, while the Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 70%." The Thai economy may expand by as much as 5.5% this year and the Philippines will probably grow at least 6%, according to government estimates. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict a 1.9% expansion in the U.S."
Ariel Investments' Rupal Bhansali, subject of Investment Advisor's June 2012 cover story, told Bloomberg that one reason for the lag was that their "institutional frameworks are still a work in progress."
Read What Are Advisors Doing Wrong? Ask 3 Simple Questions on AdvisorOne.


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Here are some more fun and delicious-looking recipes and articles that have caught my eye this past week; both from my site and from some pretty sweet-looking foodie blogs.
I have decided to finally put my fabulous new cast iron dutch oven to work. And what will be my inaugural dish? A take on this Beef Carbonnade stew from Epicurious with a few steps from The Joy of Cooking (a.k.a.: my favorite cookbook) thrown in. I'm using Fuller's London Porter for the stewing liquid and adding a red bell pepper and potatoes to the rest of the veg in the stew. Stay tuned for pics and the recipe!
BabyCakes bakery in Downtown Disney: Vegan and gluten-free indulgence – My review of the new branch of NYC's popular vegan bakery.
An unlikely pair: Cheese paired with coffee is a buzz for your taste buds – Our cheese guru, Kira, pairs different cheeses from various coffee blends from a local roaster. Be sure to check out her fab blog, Whey Cool Curds.
The Urban Daddy blog touts these Boozy Donuts, "warm donuts injected with some of your favorite cocktails." Unfortunately, they can only be found at Flex Mussels in NYC and the recipe isn't listed online. I smell a copycat recipe challenge.
Add to the 'Want to Make' list:
The Brazilian cocktail (Yum Sugar) – This South American-inspired drink is "one part healthy smoothie, one part fizzy spa cocktail." And, no, it's not named after the popular waxing technique.
Baked Buffalo Chicken Nachos (How Sweet Is Is) – If buffalo chicken dip and nachos had a baby, this would be that dish. And it would be delicious. Easy game day fare! …even if you'll just be watching the Puppy Bowl next Sunday.
Read the rest of this entry


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'Banning 'Vishwaroopam' will risk ban on creators'
Chennai The ban on Kamal Haasan's "Vishwaroopam" could very likely pull away other creators from going forward freely, says veteran Tamil filmmaker P. Bharathiraja. "The problem Kamal is facing today is not just his own, but may very likely become a problem for all other creators of this country. This only proves that there is no unity between us," Bharathiraja said in a statement Saturday. The Tamil and Telugu versions of "Vishwaroopam", which deals with the adversities of war, was scheduled to release Friday, but the Tamil Nadu government Wednesday imposed curbs on it following protests from Muslim groups. "At this juncture, Kamal needs our support and wants us to help him fight for justice. We should lend a helping hand," added Bharathiraja, who was one among the few to have watched the film even before its release in a private screening. "It is sad to see such kind of reaction from a small section of the people. I've watched the film and I know for a fact that Kamal has made a Tamil film on par with Hollywood standards. We should celebrate such a rare feat than opposing it", added the 71-year-old. "Vishwaroopam" was banned by the state government for two weeks when around 25 Muslim organisations objected to the film on the ground that it portrays the community in bad light. A day later, the Madras High Court restricted the film's release till Jan 28. A judge will see the movie Saturday and decided on its fate. Following the ban, actors such as Rajinikanth and Ajith Kumar opposed the ban against the film and urged Muslim outfits to allow peaceful release of the film. On Friday, superstar Rajinikanth had said: "Kamal and I have been friends for over 40 years and I know personally for a fact that he wouldn't hurt the sentiments of anybody let alone Muslims". Rajinikanth made the above statement after Haasan screened the film few days back for some members from the Muslim organisations. Ajith, in favour of the movie's release, said, "Don't we respect the words secularism and democracy anymore or these words have merely become adjectives for our nation?" "Vishwaroopam", in Tamil and Telugu was scheduled to release Friday, but was only released in places like Kerala and few parts of Hyderabad. The film, which also features Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremiah, Rahul Bose, Shekhar Kapur and Jaideep Ahlawat, was also banned in Andhra Pradesh Friday by the state government. Its Hindi version "Vishwaroop" is slated to release Feb 1.


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573 0094
Spinal Nerves Poster
Printed directly onto styrene, this durable plastic chart is approximately 1/16" thick and has metal eyelets in top corners for convenient wall hanging; markable (wipe on/wipe off). Styrene charts are UV coated, latex free and feature bold and bright colors. The chart will remain upright on an easel for presentations and will stand up to heavy use in the office or classroom. Charts can be displayed with chart stands, anatomical charts measure 20" W x 26" H.
Illustrates spinal nerves, cranial nerves and diagrams the portion of the thoracic spinal cord with spinal nerves. Also shows spinal cord segments, cutaneous distribution of spinal nerves and dermal segmentation.
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Monday, August 09, 2010
En Pleine Nature
What was once an old farmer's cottage in Vaugines, Provence, is now the peaceful country retreat of Michele and Bruno Viard. Gently renovated with an eye to retaining the house's beautiful atmosphere (only natural materials were used), the original façade was kept, the only major structural change being a modest extension on the north side for a kitchen and bathroom. To keep the inside space as uncluttered as possible, the staircase to the second floor is outside. Inside, the decor is minimalist, keeping the focus on the stunning scenery surrounding them — most of the furniture was discovered in the local markets and then painted with natural pigments. Here they live in quiet tranquility, without the distractions of the telephone, television or the Internet — instead, their home has retained its role as both a refuge and a place to entertain their family and friends. More here (in French). Via Côté Maison.
(Photography by Pierre-Jean Verger)
Posted by Lori at 12:03 am 5 comments :
Labels: cote maison , french style , holiday homes , minimalist style , summer , white
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Lagunitas Kite Race Series
St. Francis Yacht Club
May 16th, 2013
Report by Felix Louis N'jai
One minute until class flag and gun, forty five seconds until P flag and gun, thirty seconds until P flag down and a long horn, fifteen seconds until class flag down and gun: five, four, three, two, one, BANG! The starting sequence, as Master of the watch Robbie Dean beckons the pageant of kites to the start line. A sight to truly behold as 28 sailors, 28 kites answer in unison.
Welcome to The Cathedral, the home of kiteboard course sailing, San Francisco bay, Thursday May 16th, 2013. With the sun and fog setting on the 700 foot spires that guard its gate, four to eight foot swells usher in the 2.49 knot flood, winds averaging 25 from the west with a little south for good measure, the bay promised another mystical evening of racing. The course this evening, F1, is a dry run for the North American Championship coming to the bay in two weeks. With this new layout, racers will clip the starting line just north of Last Chance Beach, then round the windward mark to port by Blackhauler Buoy for a long reach to a leeward gate, almost back to the the starting ribbon. Then back to windward for a second port rounding, downwind for a second reach to the mid course buoy just north of St Francis Yacht Club, and finally leave that to starboard for a finish between the race deck and the A buoy.
Taking two out of the three heats of the night, 2012 PKRA champion Bryan Lake, callsign Bernie was the winner. But the man in second stole the show. A regular fixture on the thursday night series, Joey Pasquali has made a deliberate move up the rankings, but was still looking for that elusive thursday night bullet.
BANG! Race one started all clear: Joey took the early lead, pinching slightly ahead of the fleet all on starboard tack. Except Bernie, who tries to steal port, a fatal error, as he had to cascade through the better part of the fleet. Joey's sizable advantage shrinks fast as Bernie barrels up on him at the windward mark. Joey keeps his speed, but Bernie's speed in the Crissy monster chop is just unmatched. This contributes to his undoing just after rounding windword. When a four foot roller catches the nose of his board and daylights, Bernie goes down. There is nothing he can do. Steady as she goes, Joey picks up the slack and never looks back. Back on his board, Bernie gives chase. Joey's lead is wide but not daunting, and Bernie slowly makes ground. Joey is not going to be denied, not this day. He protects his lead as a hunted man should, taking every chop and wake in deliberate stride as he blazes toward the race deck and the bullet.
The evening belonged to Joey Pasquali and all the greater fools in the fleet that show up every fortnight to better their last, with little chance of taking a bullet. This win was for all the men and women in the fleet, forty plus sailors deep this season. In its ranks were 25 year old Cameron Biehl who lives on his sailboat in Moss Landing, answers to the callsign "Biehl Street." Also included is 40 year old robotics entrepreneur and soon to be dad, Tobin Fisher, callsign "Fisher," and 17 year old Stanford bound Marion Lepert, callsign Lepert, who makes the trek regularly from Palo Alto to race. Not to be outdone, 40 year old Adam Vance, callsign "The Canadian," regularly jets in to race from his home in Seattle. And finally, "The Bosnian Mastermind," Amil Cobel, whose progress from season to season has been dwarfed only by Joey Pasquali.
Another race night is in the books as the Cressy takes a victory lap across the bay. Big ups to Barbara Solivan, The Doc, and all of RC crew for their tireless volunteering. Until the next horn, I'll see you in church.
5/16/2013 Lagunitas St. Francis Kite Race Report
All things Course Racing - Events, Schedules, Gear & More
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Former Miami-Dade County commissioner creates cologne
Joe Martinez, Concepts II Cosmetics develop 'The Commissioner'
DORAL, Fla. – You'll soon be able to wear a cologne developed by a former Miami-Dade County commissioner.
Former commission chairman Joe Martinez got the idea during a fact finding tour at Concept II Cosmetics, a Doral-based bath and beauty product manufacturer that exports to more than 40 countries.
"It was the typical, 'We're from the government and we're here to help,'" he said.
Martinez helped by suggesting a new cologne for the company based on one he remembered.
"I said I want you to make something like it but I need to put a different twist on it," he said. "I want to musk it down a little bit more, richer you might say."
"He knew what he wanted so we had a very clear direction from the beginning," said Maxim Weitzman with Concept II.
It took about five test formulas before "The Commissioner" was born.
"I love it," said Martinez. "I really like it. I think it's something that people will know."
"[It's] a refreshing, spicy, amber, musky fragrance. Those are the four words that would describe it," added Weitzman.
The cologne is expected to sell for $32 when production starts.
"It's an affordable fragrance, but at the same time, it's very classy, it's very subtle, and we wanted to communicate that with the package," said Weitzman.
"[It's] very affordable, so get them now before the price goes up," added Martinez.
His cologne will soon enter the market and compete against Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.
"I'd like to look at them as my colleagues," Martinez said.
The former commissioner plans on running for Florida's 26th Congressional District, which represents south Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. Voters in the district elected U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia in Nov. 2012.
"It's such a foul smelling world sometimes, especially in politics, so maybe if you bring a nice fragrance and aroma to it, it'll lighten up somebody's life," added Martinez.
"The Commissioner" is expected to be on sale for Father's Day in June. Those interested can contact Concepts II Cosmetics or email email@example.com.
Copyright 2013 by Local10.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Mount Cook and Surrounds
Trip Part 2
We left the flat land of the Canterbury Plains and gradually climbed up to the rolling land of the Mackenzie Country and further in to the mountainous land around Mount Cook.
Lake Tekapo is fed with glacial water and the milky color of the water reflects the light back differently.
On the shores of the lake is a little church - the Church of the Good Shepherd - which was built to commemorate the pioneers of the Mackenzie Country.
Instead of stained glass, the altar window is clear glass a gives a beautiful view down the lake. It seemed to be a favorite stop for tourists and tour buses.
A little further on we came to Lake Pukaki ( another glacial lake) with perfect views down the lake to Mount Cook. Mount Cook is New Zealand's highest mountain - 3,754 metres or 12,316 feet.
We drove along beside Lake Pukaki to the northern end to get closer to Mount Cook ...
... and finally got as close as we could get without hiking.
We were so fortunate to have clear weather! The last time we visited here (all those years ago!) the mountains were covered with cloud and we couldn't see Mount Cook at all. I remember looking up at the looming black hill above me (on the right of the photo above) and wishing I could even catch a glimpse of the mountain through the clouds.
Next time - Recovery efforts for the Kaki (Black Stilt)
10 comments:
Oh, this brings back memories of our visit several years ago. I remember that little church with the clouds rolling through the valley beyond.ReplyDelete
my goodness, that's pretty territory!ReplyDelete
Beautiful pictures. The lake is an extraordinary colour and the views down the lake to the mountains are beautiful, no wonder the church choose a clear window rather than stained glass; what a view!ReplyDelete
What a gorgeous place, my hubby would love the tall mountains, Your photos are beautiful, thanks for sharing your visit. Have a great day!ReplyDelete
Hi there - looks like you are having a great time 'over the ditch' - NZ moves up another notch on the "places to go back to" table!ReplyDelete
Cheers - Stewart M
wow, that is a nice country. Beautiful scenery and I bet it was clear air to breathe.ReplyDelete
The little church by the water's edge looks so peaceful from within and from without. The setting could not be more serene!ReplyDelete
Wonderful clear shots with great weather...so beautiful. I like that they put in a clear window to view the scenery.ReplyDelete
Very picturesque captures Mick - New Zealand certainly has some breathtaking scenery and is a photographer's paradise. Thanks for sharing your journey and for also taking time to visit and comment on my blog. Happy snapping!ReplyDelete
What breath-taking scenery! Oh my! These shots are just gorgeous!ReplyDelete


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kellijanesmith brauchte ein neues Logo Design und hat einen Wettbewerb auf 99designs gestartet.
Aus 107 Designs von 28 Designern wurde eine Gewinner gewählt.
Momentrix - Investment Trading Strategy
Momentrix is an exclusive, high-priced, "stock pick" investment membership program. The information is the KEY item of value, the main piece being stock buy and sell recommendations. The info will be delivered via website, email, text, and smart phone/iPhone/iPad app.
File #1: 99designs_original_mockup.jpg - We have been using this mock-up as a placeholder. We cannot use the "M" in this logo concept as the license for this stock image does not allow us to trademark the logo. We like the "M" because it's bold, simple, and could easily be converted into an app icon. You do not have to follow this concept, and should feel free to be creative, but this is an example of something we do like... and would like better if it had more of a Web 2.0 quality.
File #2: I show this as an example of how our logo will be presented online. It will be in a header... so a more horizontal version is needed... and will be in smaller areas where something more vertical may work better.
Also: We need our logo to display well on both light and dark backgrounds. When you present your concept, please display on both white and black. We will also want a very simple version of the logo... simple one-color black, simple one color white. We will also need to be able to translate all or part of the logo into an app icon. These are just things to consider in your presentation.
Our customer "avatar" is as follows:
Gender: Predominantly male. 75% male – 25% female
Age: 40+
Income: U.S. upper-middle class to very wealthy
Education: They have a college degree at minimum, and most have a graduate degree.
Career: Mostly professionals – doctors, lawyers, accountants…
Interest: All will have a higher than average interest in the financial markets.
Thank you, please feel free to ask any questions.
Kelli Smith
Project Manager
UPDATE: 3/8: I neglected to mention that we do need an area of the logo that will have a tagline. Currently, our tagline is "Investment Trading Strategy"... but it may change so I need the ability to edit this if needed if that tagline changes in the future. The longest tagline it *could* be is "Fundamental Momentum Investment Strategy"
Finden Sie heraus, wie ein Designwettbewerb funktioniert, oder lernen Sie mehr über unsere Logo-Design-Angebote.


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To the Editor:
The Shirley Volunteer Fire department would like to thank all the businesses who donated toward our Annual Christmas Dinner. Without these donations it would not be possible for us to have one every year. We don't want to list them all incase we would miss someone. Again thanks from Shirley VFD.
Shirley VFD Members
Submitted by
Stacey Wade


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Events Calendar
2017 GVSU & SeoulTech Art & Design Student Exchange Exhibition
Nau Kim, Balloon Pop, digital image, 2016
Date and TimeWednesday, April 25, 2018
7:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
- West Wall Gallery, L. V. Eberhard Center
Since 2008, Seoul National University of Science and Technology (SeoulTech) and Grand Valley State University have developed a relationship through an exchange of creative practice and study abroad programs. A pair of simultaneous exhibitions furthers this partnership in 2017, with photography representing student artwork at both educational institutions. The exhibition at GVSU features 40 photographs of SeoulTech student artwork from their five divisions: Ceramic Art & Design, Fine Arts, Industrial Design, Metal Art & Design, and Visual Communication. The partner exhibition at SeoulTech also features 40 photographs of GVSU Visual & Media Arts student artwork.
Art Gallery, 616-331-2563
This event also occurred on 3/9/2018, 3/12/2018, 3/13/2018, 3/14/2018, 3/15/2018, 3/16/2018, 3/19/2018, 3/20/2018, 3/21/2018, 3/22/2018 and 62 others


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Canadian singer/songwriter and breakout pop sensation Carly Rae Jepsen will perform her newest single, "This Kiss," on the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE season finale Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 8/7c on FOX.
Jepsen is an international music sensation due, in part, to the many unofficial lip-synched viral videos of her hit single, "Call Me Maybe," which spent nine weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart this past summer. Among the high-profile fans who created their own lip-synched videos were Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Ashley Tisdale, Katy Perry and James Franco, not to mention the Harvard University Baseball team and the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Women's Rowing team.
Don't miss the season finale, when the Top Four finalists take the stage for the last time and America's favorite male and female dancer are revealed on Tuesday, Sept. 18 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX. In addition to naming America's Favorite Dancers, the Season Nine finale of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE will feature performances by this season's Top 20 dancers. The celebration will also showcase some of the judges' favorite routines from the season.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE was created by Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and comes from 19 Entertainment and dick clark productions. The series is executive-produced by Simon Fuller, Nigel Lythgoe and Barry Adelman. Become a fan of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE on Facebook at www.facebook.com/soyouthinkyoucandance. Follow the series on Twitter at @DANCEonFOX and join the discussion at #sytycd.
About Carly Rae Jepsen
Canadian singer/songwriter and breakout pop sensation Carly Rae Jepsen has taken America by storm, after bursting onto the U.S. scene with her hit single, "Call Me Maybe." The unforgettably catchy song, which she co-wrote, quickly rose to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it remained for nine consecutive weeks, claiming the longest Hot 100 No. 1 run of 2012. Certified quintuple-platinum in Jepsen's native Canada, the track is also an international sensation, climbing to No. 1 on the iTunes Singles charts in more than 37 countries. Jespsen's U.S. debut album, "Kiss," will be released on Sept. 18 and her new single, "This Kiss," is out now. She'll hit the road this fall as a very special guest on Justin Bieber's 2012 headlining tour of North America.


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How Long, O Lord Most Holy and True
31243, Hymns, How Long, O Lord Most Holy and True, 126
How long, O Lord most holy and true,
Shall shadowed hope our joy delay?
Our hearts confess, our souls believe
Thy truth, thy truth, thy light, thy will, thy way!
Thy truth has made our prison bright;
Thy light has dimmed the dying past.
We bend beneath thy loving will
And seek thy onward, onward path at last.
Eternal Father, gentle Judge!
Speed on the day, redemption's hour.
Set up thy kingdom; from thy house
Unlock for us, for us the prison tow'r.
From grim confusion's awful depth
The wail of hosts, faith's urgent plea:
Release our anguished, weary souls;
Swing wide, swing wide the gates, and set us free!
Text: John A. Widtsoe, 1872–1952
Music: B. Cecil Gates, 1887–1941


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Ericsson is one of the leading providers of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to service providers. We enable the full value of connectivity by creating game-changing technology and services that are easy to use, adopt, and scale, making our customers successful in a fully connected world. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson is proud of its global presence across 100+ countries and market areas. With a strong focus on innovation, we possess 49 thousand registered patents and a global strength of over 95 thousand competent professionals. We also take pride in supporting networks that cater to a capacity of 40 percent of the world's mobile traffic, thereby connecting more than 2.5 billion subscribers and counting. We are a world leader in the rapidly changing environment of communications technology – by providing hardware, software, and services to enable the full value of connectivity.
Job Summary:
We are now looking for a Support Engineer that will provide technical service and support to our customers. In this role, you will troubleshoot and resolve problems to stabilize and optimize customer networks. You will configure and integrate different nodes and solutions in new and live customer networks.
The Support Engineer typically interacts with customer technical staff, operation managers, service engineers and other groups within the Service Delivery organization. You may also interact with groups in sales, R&D, 3rd party suppliers and local authorities.
As there are no distinct borders between the areas, you will need to be flexible and master more than one area. You are expected to travel internationally and work in different cultural environments. The technical development is rapid and you are responsible for continuously keeping your competence and skills up to date.
Working as a support engineer will require a broad knowledge within telecom and Datacom, covering both hardware, software and network knowledge. You will work, collaborate, and communicate in an international environment, both with colleagues internally as well as customers and suppliers to Ericsson. The role more than often requires you to take on big responsibility and it is important that you can work independently.
Job Responsibilities:
- Customer Issue handling
- Handling of dedicated support
- Software Update Management (SUM) handling
- Remote Service Gateway (RSG) mentoring
Key Qualifications:
- Education: (Recruiter to supply educational requirements)
- Min years of experience: (Recruiter to supply)
- Domain experience: (Recruiter to supply area of expertise – e.g.: Cloud, BSS, OSS etc.)
- Negotiation & argumentation skills
- Planning & organizing skills
- Delivering results & meeting customer expectations
- Presentation & communication skill
- Working with people
- Applying expertise & technology
Additional Requirements: (Recruiter to provide as needed)
Ericsson provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, parental status, national origin, ethnic background, age, disability, political opinion, social status, veteran status, union membership or genetics. Ericsson complies with applicable country, state and all local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location across the world in which the company has facilities. In addition, Ericsson supports the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights and the United Nations Global Compact. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, training and development. Ericsson expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, parental status, national origin, ethnic background, age, disability, political opinion, social status, veteran status, union membership or genetic information.


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Hilary Duff may be sporting what's reportedly a seven-figure wedding ring, but her honeymoon clocked in shockingly short. The former "Lizzie McGuire" Disney channel star was photographed by paparazzi getting a new 'do at a Beverly Hills hair salon on Thursday after heading to Cabo San Lucas for her honeymoon a mere four days ago.
It's doubtful that lack of funds were to blame for the hurried honeymoon – her new husband, NHL hockey player Mike "The Brick" Cormie, 29, is reportedly set to inherit his family's nearly $500 million dollar appliance chain fortune, according to the NY Post.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Love Connection: Celebs & Athletes
U.S. & World
Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world.
It turns out that the reason for the short trip is that Hilary is set to begin work on "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde" next week. The film will follow the many escapades of the infamous bank robbers, and also stars Taryn Manning and Kevin Zegers of "Transamerica" and "Gossip Girl" fame.
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, the 22-year-old singer / actress wed Comrie on Saturday in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Hilary wore a mermaid gown by Vera Wang, and was reportedly escorted down the aisle by her mother, Susan Duff, dressed in Badgley Mischka, according to OK! Magazine.
A rep for Hilary was not immediately available for comment on the reason for the short honeymoon when contacted by Access Hollywood.
Copyright 2010 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hollywood's Smokin' Hot Couples
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: On The Scene: Chelsea Clinton's Wedding Day!
PLAY IT NOW: Over-The-Top Celebrity Pre-Nups Reveled!
PLAY IT NOW: Justin Bieber Boogies Boards In Barbados!
More from Access: [ Hilary Duff Young Hollywood Weddings ]


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AfriGeneas Genealogy and History Forum Archive
Re: Witherspoon /Cureton/Frazier
In Response To: Re: Witherspoon /Cureton/Frazier ()
Hi Shelia,
The Curetons and Tillmans families did intermarried. Our Family Roundup Reunion, last year noted that many of the families living in Salisbury are descendants of these families. I just don't know how until I go to Lancaster and pull the marriage license. Ella Tillman has been under my microscope for a while.
I will contact you by email. I don't want to tie up the forum with our messages.
Messages In This Thread


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Despite the hype, Playgirl model Levi Johnston says he never intended to bare all.
"I was never going to do that," Levi told RadarOnline at Wednesday night's GQ Men of the Year party at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. "I'm not into that x-rated stuff… come on now, I'm only 19!"
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Levi Johnston: America's Favorite Playgirl Model
As for the racy – but tasteful – pictures that people will see, Levi says they're "alright."
"I wasn't in as good of shape as I wanted to be," he explained. "But with the little time I had I couldn't have done better. We worked hard."
VIEW THE PHOTOS: See The Men Of 'Twilight' - Shirtless!
And could his non-full frontal spread be just the start of a nude modeling career? Not likely, according to the father of Sarah Palin's grandson.
"I think this was a one time gig for me," he said, adding that he's had mixed reactions from his family about posing for the magazine. "My sister just laughed… I haven't heard any feedback from my old man yet, and I hope I don't!"
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Taylor Lautner Shirtless In Sexy GQ Spread
PLAY IT NOW: Sarah Palin on 'Oprah' Part I: Sarah Takes A Shot At Levi Johnston
PLAY IT NOW: Teen Choice Awards 2009: Is That Kathy Griffin With Levi Johnston?
MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Levi Johnston - Sarah Palin - Politics - TV


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I just wanted to share a wonderful thing that happened to me yesterday. Mollie, Ben, Madeline (Mollie's friend) and myself decided to go ice skating and headed off to the RDS. As we arrived at the pay kiosks a man approached me and asked if I had pre booked my tickets, when I replied that I hadn't he smiled and gave me a ticket. I offered to pay for it but he refused and wished me a merry Christmas. So thanks to that stranger I saved myself €18. I really do believe that what goes around comes around as back in July Ben, mum and myself went to Legoland. I had purchased the tickets earlier and had also bought one for my dad. Unfortunately dad was ill and unable to come so I offered my ticket to a man in the queue who was thrilled to be saving £35.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Thanking a Stranger
Posted by Beccy at 6:24 p.m.
17 comments:
- cookiecrumb said...
Very, very nice.
Merry Christmas, Beccy.
- 1:26 a.m.
- Bethany said...
How nice!
- 2:25 a.m.
What a wonderful surprise!
Merry Christmas, Beccy.
- 7:01 a.m.
- Pamela said...
blessings on him wherever he is, whoever he is.
Blessings on you this Christmas, too!!
- 7:03 a.m.
- Steffi said...
Wow...that´s a very nice surprise!
I wish you all a very "Merry Christmas"!Thank you so much for your christmas letter,Beccy!
- 8:09 a.m.
- Barbara said...
A lovely story Beccy.Merry Christmas to you all. Have fun at Chris'.
- 11:07 a.m.
- Beckie said...
Random acts of kindness are absolutely delightful!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
- 9:15 p.m.
- ChrisB said...
I nearly had a heart attack when I saw you had posted. That was a very kind gesture. See you in the morning-can't wait xx
- 10:46 p.m.
Karma !
Wishing you and yours a healthy, happy, and safe hollyday season and 2009.
- 9:43 a.m.
- Carla said...
A lovely story. Hope you had a nice Christmas and wishing you all the best in the coming year.
- 5:35 p.m.
- Unknown said...
Good for you!!
I've just recovered, like your mum!
- 6:03 p.m.
- Alison said...
Paying it forward..I love it. you definitely have good karma.
- 4:31 a.m.
It is wonderful when someone does something nice. Debbie paid for our lunches at the blogger breakfast/lunch last week and it was a nice surprise. I think the kind deeds by friends and strangers makes the world go round.
Happy New Year.
- 6:49 p.m.
- sallywrites said...
Waht a lovley story.
HAppy New Year Beccy!
- 6:58 p.m.
Hi Becky,
It's great to see you blogging again, I gave it a rest for a good while, but back again, although it's not going to take over from the housework this time!
Best wishes to you all for 2009 x
- 9:52 a.m.
hi I am joining the land of blogging again, miss it too much!
hope you are well and hope you post soonx
- 8:40 a.m.
- jill said...
that is very nice. I wondered if you were back to posting again. I wonder what it would be like myself if I took a break, but my family reads it for baby news now, so I guess I have to keep it up. I do hope that you survived the hypothermia? I'll have to read that one a little closer and see what that is all about.
- 7:07 p.m.


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Our favorite literary angels, Mike Young and Luke Bloomfield are in town for their Western Snowmelt Tour!
In a related story: TONIGHT Vouched, The Rumpus, and Omni Commons are throwing them a party! Featuring readings from people we love, a Vouched table full of new goodies, and a Very Serious Contest, wherein you stand to win a book-prize from the Rumpus! As usual, there will be donuts.
This is a FREE event with readings by:
Mike Young
Jayinee Basu
Na'amen Tilahun
Leora Fridman
Luke Bloomfield
We can't wait to see your faces at 7pm! Confetti!
The Rumpus is a place where people come to be themselves through their writing, to tell their stories or speak their minds in the most artful and authentic way they know how, and to invite each of you, as readers, commenters or future contributors, to do the same. What we have in common is a passion for fantastic writing that's brave, passionate and true (and sometimes very, very funny).
The Omni Commons is comprised of several Bay Area collectives with a shared political vision—one that privileges a more equitable commoning of resources and meeting of human needs over private interests or corporate profit. We invite you to join us in establishing a safe, productive place to pool resources for the collective use and stewardship of the greater community. A space that fosters an ethic of radical collaboration across disciplines and between individual collectives, creating a living model for future radical spaces.
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1558927211044106/


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Video: How To Make Root Beer
Combine sugar, yeast, root beer extract, and cold water in a large jug, shake the jug, let it sit for a few days at room temperature, and cool it in the refrigerator—ta da, homemade root beer! Basically. For more detailed instructions, check out this video from Howcast, after the jump.


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Team:University College London
From 2012.igem.org
- Home
- Team
- Research
- Human Practice
- Achievements
- Diary
- Sponsors
UCL iGEM 2012
Welcome to the UCL 2012 iGEM project.
This is a wiki-in-progress, keep checking back for updated content and project news.
Plastic Republic - Constructing An Island From Microplastic Waste
Turning a Global Problem into a Valuable Resource: We Aim to Engineer Bacteria to Aggregate Tonnes of Microplastic Pollution into 'Plastic Islands', in order to Reclaim Plastic for Re-Use.
Take a look at our fundraising video and become a supporter of our project!
After months of planning, we are now rallying to construct a 'plastic island' using the principles of synthetic biology. In so doing we hope to provide a solution to one of the world's major environmental problems – the North Pacific Garbage Patch.
The North Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest of many garbage patches identified around the world. The waste from these patches enters the digestive systems of resident organisms, which are affected either by the physical size of the plastic, or its toxicity from adsorbing organic pollutants.
We saw the merits of using synthetic biology to overcome this problem, especially as conventional methods cannot target the majority of the waste - microplastics. By 'synthesising' a new strain of bacteria, capable of detecting, aggregating, and buoying these elusive microplastics, we aim to construct 'Plastic Islands' for
- Removal and Re-use
- Construction of a 'Plastic Republic'
Please visit our Research page for more background and details on the above, and our Human Practice page for how we aim to encourage outside involvement in this project.


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It never went anywhere, and maybe that's a good thing, but this is a demonstration Studio Gigante put together for a Star Wars fighting game on the original Xbox. Josh Tsui, currently of Robomodo, co-founded the studio and for some reason tweeted out this video on Valentine's Day.
It's somewhat better than the trainwreck that was Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi, a PSOne (not) classic that actually did release in 1997. I'm not a big fan of the shifting camera, but I'm assuming this is some kind of CPU-vs.-CPU demonstration, to give it a limited benefit of the doubt.
The biggest issue, again, is how do you build a fighting game based on lightsabers, whose nonfatal strikes usually sever an appendage. If the game is about the Force moves or martial arts performed during saberlock, then it renders the most exciting part of the combat irrelevant until the finisher.
Polygon, which spotted this video on Thursday, reminds that Tsui's old studio was pitching a Star Wars fighting game—and one based on the Kill Bill series—when it closed in July 2005.


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Rally to Save DC Vouchers Tomorrow. Why?
Tomorrow afternoon at 1pm, supporters of Washington DC Opportunity Scholarships will be rallying in Freedom Plaza to save the school voucher program. Why? That's easy: Because a federal Department of Education study shows that parents are overwhelmingly more satisfied with it than they are with DC's public schools. Because the same study shows that the program is raising student achievement above the level in the public schools. Because the children participating in it feel it is giving them a chance to realize their full potential in life — a chance that will disappear if the program is allowed to die, as they have attested in numerous YouTube videos.
The harder question is why Congress — particularly congressional Democrats led by Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) — want to kill the vouchers. Their stated reason is that it robs money from needy public schools and gives it to private schools that are already flush from lavish tuition fees.
But the voucher program not only does not take money away from DC public schools, the language of the law actually includes an extra $13 million annually for DC public schools, above their normal funding stream. As for lavish vs. needy schools, it's true that there's a huge gap between what is spent per pupil on public education in DC and the average tuition charged at the voucher‐accepting private schools: a yawning $20,000 gap. The current year budget for the District of Columbia allocates $26,555 per pupil for k‐12 education — up from $24,600 last year. Meanwhile, the Department of Education study linked to above puts the average tuition at voucher schools at $6,620. So vouchers are getting better results at one quarter the cost.
Clearly, Democrats have other reasons for opposing the voucher program, and this letter from the NEA might have a little something to do with it.


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The solution integrates easily with iTesso's cloud-native Enterprise Lodging System and is competitively priced, making it a win-win for iTesso's customers.
Breda, Netherlands (PRWEB) December 03, 2013
iTesso, the global innovator in Cloud-native hospitality technology, announces a new interface between the iTesso Enterprise Lodging System and Merchant Link, a leading provider of payment gateway and data security solutions. By teaming with Merchant Link, the iTesso solution is now equipped to be used in an environment that complies with the requirements of Payment Card Industry standards.
With the new interface, Merchant Link's secure Payment Gateway™, TransactionVault® and TransactionShield® products deliver robust point-to-point encryption and strong tokenization. By deploying encrypting devices on premise, credit card information is first sent to Merchant link for tokenization. The token is then sent to iTesso, where it is saved on the reservation. This way, hotels using the iTesso Enterprise Lodging System never see sensitive credit card data in their user interface or database.
"Merchant Link is an ideal payment data security partner for the iTesso solution because the company's experience with cloud-based transactions was an excellent match for our needs," says Erik Weller, paradigm executive for iTesso. "We aim to provide our customers with the best yet simplest solutions, and the Merchant Link offerings fit that strategy."
"Merchant Link's TransactionVault works at the point of sale, so the POS and PMS never see or store sensitive credit card information," said Laura Meck, executive vice president for sales and marketing for Merchant Link. "The solution integrates easily with iTesso's cloud-native Enterprise Lodging System and is competitively priced, making it a win-win for iTesso's customers."
The iTesso Enterprise Lodging System (ELS) is uniquely suitable for hotel groups and branded chains looking for technology to power their brand. Built from the ground up to take full advantage of what the cloud has to offer, iTesso ELS provides High Availability High Performance (HA HP) and virtually unlimited scalability to the hospitality industry.
Although it offers PMS and CRS functionality, iTesso ELS goes beyond the conventional hotel management software with:
o guest and staff facing mobile applications
o native channel management
o a proactive helpdesk
o fast browser-based software supporting BYOD
o all-inclusive pricing in a SaaS model
o eLearning modules accessible to all users from anywhere
o intuitive and user-friendly software
o a revolutionary open design
For more information on the iTesso Enterprise Lodging System, visit http://www.itesso.com.
# # #
About iTesso
iTesso (formerly known as Hotel Concepts-Brilliant) is a leading global provider of advanced software solutions to the global hospitality industry. The company's premier product is the iTesso Enterprise Lodging System, the world's first true Cloud-native Property Management (PMS) and Central Reservation System (CRS), operating on the Microsoft Windows Azure platform. This revolutionary new concept in hospitality software helps hotels to improve operational efficiency and significantly reduce the total cost of IT system ownership. Founded in 1994 and based in The Netherlands, iTesso maintains four main offices on three continents in order to provide local support to their hotel clients around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.itesso.com.
About Merchant Link
Merchant Link is a leading provider of cloud-based payment gateway and data security solutions. Removing the risk and hassle of payments for more than 300,000 hotel, restaurant and retail locations, Merchant Link delivers secure payment solutions that are flexible and meet merchants' changing needs. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, Merchant Link enables more than 4 billion transactions annually for some of the world's best-known merchants, providing connectivity to the major U.S. payment card processors. For more information, please visit http://www.merchantlink.com.


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Ahmedabad T20: India needs to up its game to stop slide and level series
Skipper MS Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher need to inspire Team India to lift their game and win the second game to level the series against arch-rivals Pakistan.
India will have to quickly plug their batting shortcomings and pick the right team composition when they go into the second and last Twenty20 cricket international against arch rivals Pakistan at Motera on Friday, hoping to level the two match series 1-1.
India suffered a five-wicket drubbing in the series opener in Bangalore after a middle-order collapse, which saw the hosts struggle to 130 for nine after being 90 for two at one stage.
The hosts desperately need to win the second game to level the series and the pressure will be on captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men to deliver the goods when it matters the most.
Apart from Gautam Gambhir (43) and Ajinkya Rahane (42), all the other batsmen failed to apply themselves when confronted against a strong bowling attack spearheaded by the experienced Umar Gul. In fact, all-rounder Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina were the only ones other than the openers to have reached the double figures.
India would need the likes of Virat Kohli, Dhoni, Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma to regroup and fire in unison against the traditional rivals who are also equally determined to clinch the T20 series.
The bowling also remains a persistent headache for the Indians. Except for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who finished with impressive figures of three for nine in his debut game, none of the other bowlers could trouble the Pakistani batsmen. Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja all struggled to get wickets or even check the flow of runs.
The decision to leave out Ravichandran Ashwin in the last match was seen as a move that worked in Pakistan's favour and Dhoni might be tempted to play him in the must-win tie. The Indians had opted to go in with three specialist seamers in the last match and it will be interesting to see whether they go in with the same strategy or include a spinner.
Dhoni's decision to go in with Jadeja ahead of Ashwin also drew criticism.
"Ashwin was not there in this team. So our plan was that if we play out the new ball, then their spinners are not world-class; I know Yuvraj is in great form, but when you don't have a world-class spinner then we can dominate," Pakistan skipper Mohammed Hafeez had said.
Besides, innumerable chances given to Sharma has also been the talking point and the Indian think-tank may have a lot of work to do before they settle for the playing XI for tomorrow's match.
It will be interesting to see if a chance is given to Ambati Rayudu, considering his past performances in this format of the game.
It remains to be seen whether the batsmen put up a better display now and not go for wreckless shots in a bid to accelerate the pace of scoring.
Dhoni himself will be under intense pressure with his captaincy coming under the scanner in the aftermath of the recent Test debacle against England. He has always been regarded as a better captain in the shorter formats of the game, but the recent defeats in T20 matches has certainly dented his reputation.
The defeats have come at home, where the team is playing in familiar conditions, and Dhoni has a tough task in lifting the morale of the team.
Pakistan, on the other hand, lived up to their reputation of a strong bowling unit with three specialist pacers -- Gul, Sohail Tanvir and lanky debutant Mohammad Irfan -- wrecking havoc on a pace-friendly Chinnaswamy track.
They would look to carry on the momentum tomorrow also though the Sardar Patel track may not give them much assistance.
The visitors' batting, however, has been a cause of concern for them with openers Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad struggling to provide a platform during their run chase at Bangalore. Even the reliable Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal and Shahid Afridi failed to get big scores. Hafeez and Shoaib Malik were the saving grace and Pakistan would hope that they continue with their exploits along with the others striking form.
Teams (from):
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Ashoke Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Parvinder Awana.
Pakistan: Mohammed Hafeez (Capt), Nasir Jamshaid, Kamran Akmal, Umer Akmal, Umer Amin, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammed Irfan, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanveer, Umer Gul, Asad Ali, Zulfiqar Baber, Ahmad Shahzad.
On-field umpires: Sudhir Asnani and Vineet Kulkarni
3rd umpire: C Shamshuddin
Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama
Match starts at 5 pm (IST).
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The rear license plate on the 1959 Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce reflects the passion of its owner. "Mille 91" belongs to California Mille impresario Martin Swig, and the plate number reflects the year the touring event in Northern California began. Swig, a former car dealer from San Francisco, developed a passion for Alfas early in life and sold them for a living later on. He bought this sporting example of the Giulietta breed in 1978. The car has never been idle since, running in every California Mille to date and seeing regular track use.
"It's not a concours car. It's meant to be driven. A trailer queen is like having a girl you can't sleep with. Who needs it?"
Swig's sentiment fits neatly with the philosophy behind the model. Debuting in 1954, the Giulietta Sprint was a major hit for Alfa Romeo, selling in volume as a sporty coupe that echoed the maker's racing heritage. Alfa soon realized that there was demand for a higher-performance version, a car sportsmen could take racing.
Production began in 1956, with two significant modifications. The Sprint's alloy-block 80-hp, 1.3-liter, twin-cam inline-four gained 10 hp, switching from a single Solex two-barrel carburetor to larger dual, side-draft Weber 40 DCO3s and hotter cams. Alfa also lightened the Bertone-designed steel body, giving early Sprint Veloces an aluminum-alloy hood, trunk lid and doors and plexiglass side and rear windows, saving 220 pounds. Similar modifications were made to the Giulietta Spider Veloce.
Subtle styling changes across the Giulietta line came in 1958-59, with a new egg-crate grille and larger-diameter headlights. Reliability was also bolstered with minor changes to engine components and the use of more steel, resulting in a slightly heavier weight for all Giuliettas.
Swig's 1959 Sprint Veloce has larger 1400-cc cylinder liners punching output close to 100 horsepower. The standard four-speed has also been upgraded with the addition of a fifth gear for better highway cruising. Driving the car during a week at the California Mille was a treat, reminding us just how nimble, predictable and fun this car can be.
Hairpin after hairpin, the Sprint Veloce's aluminum drum brakes never faded. Its double-wishbone front and live-axle rear suspension worked marvelously. Teamed with worm-and-roller steering, the setup tracks terrifically through corners, telling the driver exactly what the rubber on its 15-inch wheels is up to.
Acceleration is strong, and the inline-four winds up to 8000 rpm without complaint. Inside, the Sprint Veloce's vinyl buckets prove remarkably comfortable, though lateral support is lacking. The simple but handsome body-colored dash has Veglia gauges, which, as Swig quips, "indicate trends" rather than displaying precise readings. Nevertheless, you get used to them and to the wonderful snarl of the engine.
Production of the Giulietta Sprint Veloce continued through 1962, with a total of 3058 examples leaving the factory. Long an underappreciated sports car, the Sprint Veloce is finally getting its due, with models now selling for 10 times the original price. Meanwhile, "Mille 91" is hard at work.