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Tagged: Felipe Lopez
The Color Purple
Dear Elizabeth:
The admission committee has concluded its evaluation of Early Decision
applicants to Northwestern University. I am sorry we are unable to
offer you a place in the freshman class.
They say that everything happens for a reason. People say that college admissions are a crapshoot: if you get in, you got lucky; if you don't get in, you were unlucky. You will end up where you are meant to be.
Once I read my rejection letter, none of that made any difference. None of that made me feel better. I was rejected from one of the best journalism schools in the country. It was quite discouraging, which is why I have not written anything in a while. My whole application centered upon my blog and my love for writing about baseball, and why I love to do it. Northwestern rejecting me was like them telling me that my blog was not good enough; that my passion was not good enough. And really, there is not much worse than getting told that your passion is not good enough.
Getting rejected from college is like having a really good career and not getting into the Hall of Fame. I'm Luis Tiant, and Northwestern is the Hall of Fame. He's a perfectly qualified candidate, who is overlooked.
Granted, the rejection letter did not explain why I was not accepted. In retrospect, if I had to guess, I would say that it was my test scores were not good enough. And if that is the case, then I do not want to go to Northwestern.
If I have learned anything in the past two plus years since I have started this blog, it is that journalism is based on passion. In journalism, passion is paramount to grades, to test scores, and even to writing skills. If you are truly passionate about something, then it will be expressed in your writing. You can be the best writer in the world, but if you're not passionate about what you're writing about, then it's not worth writing about.
I am not asking Northwestern to understand my passion; not many people do. Perhaps they simply do not understand it because my blog is completely independent of my school work. If Northwestern truly was one of the best journalism schools in the country, their mantra would be passion. But if they judge passion solely on grades and test scores, then I was wrong for applying there in the first place.
In my conversations with players, I have realized that baseball goes so far beyond its statistics, and I hope that I have been able to convey this to those of you that are kind enough to stop by and read my blog. Baseball is an art. If we solely look at the numbers, then we do not even crack the surface of what this game truly can mean to us. Similarly, I go beyond my statistics (and so does everyone who applies to college).
Perhaps everything does happen for a reason. The last thing I want to do is go to a school that will neither understand nor foster passion. If Northwestern wants to have a homogeneous class of kids with straight A's and perfect scores, then more power to them. But that is not what journalism is about.
If you presented me with two scenarios right now–the first being that I have perfect grades and scores and I have a ticket to the institution of my choice. The second being my current situation: good grades, not-so-great-scores, but something that I am truly passionate about–I would choose the latter every time. I have something worth writing about.
A lot of you are probably familiar with the "Beyond Baseball" commercial about Dustin Pedroia:
"Too Short.
Too Weak.
Too Slow.
Growing up, Dustin Pedroia was often overlooked, but he used that as motivation to never give up, never give in, and never listen to what they say you can't do.
This is beyond perseverance; this is beyond baseball."
In a way, Northwestern has said something similar to me. But like Dustin Pedroia, I'm going to use this as motivation to never give up, never give in, and never listen to what they say I can't do. Even after college, I know that things like this will happen. The writers I shadowed over the summer said this themselves. There is no one path to where I want to go. There are plenty of other universities with equally renowned journalism programs and reputations. I know that going to a school with a good reputation and connections will only help me. But in the end, it will be my passion that gets me to where I want to go.
In the past few weeks, Theo Epstein has acquired some great players that will play a huge role in the 2011 season and beyond.
The last thing I blogged about was the blockbuster Adrian Gonzalez trade that sent perhaps the best three minor league prospects in the organization (pitcher Casey Kelly, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, and outfielder Reymond Fuentes) as well as Eric Patterson (who was the player to be named later) to San Diego. While this locks up the 2011 season, the Adrian Gonzalez's future in the Red Sox organization is in jeopardy until a contract extension is finalized.
Epstein had never given a player more than a five-year deal in his regime as Red Sox general manager until Carl Crawford's 7-year, $142 million deal. I have always thought that Epstein has been really smart in doing this because there is really no way to tell how good a player will be in five years.
However, in the past few years, teams have been signing players to lucrative, long-term contracts typically between 6-8 years. The way I see it, Epstein has been forced to adjust to the market in order to lock up the top-tier players. You would think that a player would settle for less years and more money, but long-term security has been a deal breaker lately.
Locking up Gonzalez long term (I would say five to six years, but with the recent Crawford deal, anything could happen) is absolutely essential. After the 2011 season, teams will be swooping in like vultures for Gonzalez's services. It will be a huge blow to the organization if the Red Sox lose Gonzalez plus the talented crop of minor league players.
It is quite possible that a deal has been agreed upon in principle with Gonzalez, and the Red Sox are merely waiting until after Opening Day to announce it–exactly what they did with Josh Beckett's 4-year contract extension last year. This would allow the organization to evade an even heavier luxury tax.
Giving up the prospects was certainly hard to do. I thought that Casey Kelly in particular was untouchable. The minor league system, however, has the potential to be restocked in this year's draft. In addition to the top-fifty pick that the Red Sox already have, they will have four picks in the compensatory round due to the loss of Victor Martinez (4-years, $50 million with Tigers) and the impending loss of Adrian Beltre. Because they are both Type A free agents, the Red Sox will receive two, compensatory picks. It is also likely that they will non-tender Felipe Lopez–a Type B free agent–so that gives them another compensatory pick. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's six of the first fifty picks. Consider the farm system re-stocked.
Casey Kelly was certainly a big deal: he received a lot of hype during Spring Training. Keep your eyes out for Anthony Ranaudo this year. He was drafted in the first round (39th overall) over the 2010 draft out of LSU.
Carl Crawford's 7-year, $142 million deal is certainly a lot of money, but there is no doubt that he is the type of player that you make exceptions for. He is a five-tool player, and considered by many to be the best athlete in baseball. He will play left field (with Ellsbury moving to center, and Drew staying in right), and I expect him to hit either first or second in the lineup. Cameron will be the fourth outfielder, and this gives Ryan Kalish some time to develop in the minors. I would like to see him get some time in right field and improve his arm to potentially be the starting right fielder in 2012 after Drew's contract expires.
Speaking of expiring contracts, this has to have b
een a factor in splurging for Crawford. The Red Sox are coming off of a lot of contracts after the 2011 season including David Ortiz, JD Drew, Marco Scutaro, and Mike Cameron. Matsuzaka's contract is up after the 2012 season.
The Red Sox also signed three relievers expected to strengthen the bullpen. RHP Bobby Jenks was signed to a two year deal worth $12 million. The Red Sox non-tendered the inconsistent Hideki Okajima, so I expect Jenks to serve as a setup man for Papelbon. He had arguably his worst season last year posting a 4.44 ERA, but he has been very reliable in the past. The only thing I do not like is his beard.
The Red Sox also signed RHP Dan Wheeler to a one year deal worth $3 million with a club option for 2012. He has had a consistently good ERA over the past three seasons averaging about 3.25.
The signing that I was not all too crazy about was the one year deal with RHP Matt Albers. He has never had an ERA under 4.00. I am pretty sure that it is a major league contract, but I suspect that he will battle for a bullpen spot during Spring Training.
The only left that the Red Sox have in the bullpen is Felix Doubront, and I am sure that Francona will use him as the lefty specialist (which, as I have mentioned, I do not buy). He is currently the only lefty in the bullpen, so I suspect Epstein will sign a few guys to minor league contracts that will compete for roster spots in 2011.


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"Required reading for anyone who wants a sense of how calamitious Iceland's meltdown was—and what just might be in store for American police procedurals next."—Kirkus Reviews
"Cold Comfort introduces some very interesting characters and develops the setting and stories of Gunna's environment in positive ways, leading me to look forward to the next Gunnhildur book with anticipation." —International Noir Fiction
Praise for Frozen Assets:
"Excellent debut…. Bates does a fine job with both Gunna and her town, her acerbic boss and an online blogger who keeps us abreast of events in Icelandic media and politics."—Toronto Globe and Mail
"[A] crackling fiction debut … palpable authenticity."—Publishers Weekly
"In Gunna Gísladóttir, Quentin Bates has created a character who appeals both on professional and personal levels."—Examiner.com
"The author has used the financial disarray of Iceland quite successfully in the plotting of this book. Money is power and power is so often the root of crime, and so it is in Cold Comfort…. Gunna is a tough as nails, take no hostages type cop. She throws herself into each investigation pushing the subject in the interview room until she gets what she wants." —Bestsellersworld.com, Mysteries Galore

subset: commoncrawl


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Looks like the Thirteenth Street Market at the corner of 13th and Otis is going upscale: I recently visited to pick up some stuff and noticed it's had some big upgrades: there's a new coffee bar with all the fixins, nice new wood shelves, an entire wall of wine, and a whole lot more craft beer.
The store's owner (who is a really nice lady) said there was a lot more demand for this kind of thing lately, and she looked to add some more to the store as well.
It's interesting to see the change in focus of some of our local markets to reflect the changes in population, and this seems like a good fit for the area, as there isn't much else around with the wine or coffee.


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Check out this brilliant advertisement, directed by Bruno Aveillan for Cartier! Watch as a big bejeweled cat comes to life and leaps across the country, battling a Golden Chinese Dragon, who's riding the back of a giant Elephant City... If only all commercials were this lovely to look at.
In case you want to know more about this big kitty's journey The Telegraph has a wonderful breakdown right here:
The panther travels to St Petersburg in the snow, to China where he comes face-to-face with a golden dragon, to an Indian palace built upon an elephant's back and filled with glittering animal jewellery (many pieces of which reside in the Cartier archive), before leaping aboard the wings of and identical replica of the airplane built by Alberto Santos-Dumont, to showcase the classic Cartier Santos watch (first commissioned by the Brazilian aviation legend in 1904). The panther finally lands in Paris, the birthplace of Cartier, on Place Vendôme where he meets supermodel Shalom Harlow at the Grand Palais.
Thank you for the tip, Alan Dean Foster!


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AMP-Trillium To Build Seven CNG Fueling Stations in Texas
CHICAGO, October 8, 2013 – Continuing to pave the way in transitioning trucking fleets from diesel to compressed natural gas (CNG), AMP Americas announced today that it has signed a deal with Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) and Select Milk Producers, both national dairy cooperatives, to convert a portion of their diesel needs to CNG by working with haulers to convert their fleets to CNG-powered trucks.
Under the agreement, AMP-Trillium, the joint venture between AMP Americas and Trillium CNG, will build seven public fueling stations between October 2013 and early 2014 and lease new CNG trucks that will travel more than 13.2 million miles per year, servicing routes throughout Texas. The stations, which will be built in Waco, Amarillo, Harrold, Sweetwater, Weatherford, Kerrville and Midland, will initially fuel forty new Class-8 Kenworth and Peterbilt CNG sleeper trucks, a number that will double over the course of the agreement.
"It is estimated that the culmination of this deal will displace carbon emissions equal to removing 2,400 cars per year from the road and will save the supply chain $1.50 to $2.00 in fuel savings on every gallon sold," said Nathan Laurell, CEO of AMP Americas. "It lets us build a network of public, fast-fill CNG stations across all of the major Texas corridors that can be used by any fleet running trucks across the state."
"This new network of CNG stations will allow AMP-Trillium to meet the rapidly increasing demand for CNG cars and trucks," said Mary Boettcher, President of Trillium CNG.™ "The low cost, low-carbon emissions, and reliability of CNG has made it the ideal alternative to gasoline and diesel fuels."
The deal structured by AMP Americas features beneficial contract terms for fleets operated by Western Dairy Transport and Reynolds Transport, establishing the two as "first-movers" by operating two of the largest 12-l Liter commercial CNG fleets in the US
CNG is domestic, abundant and about 40% less expensive than diesel. It reduces dependence on foreign oil and has significant environmental benefits. Because it is the cleanest burning fossil fuel, CNG cars and trucks require less vehicle maintenance and enjoy a longer engine life. Given these benefits, the long-term savings far outweigh the incremental costs associated with converting to CNG.
AMP Americas, LLC, a Chicago-based energy company focused on displacing liquid fuels with CNG, builds and owns CNG fueling stations for long-haul truck fleets and finances leases for CNG trucks. AMP operates the largest US renewable natural-gas plant that produces fuel from cow manure. AMP Americas is a member of the Department of Energy's National Clean Fleets Partnership tasked to reduce the nation's dependency on imported oil. For more information, call (312) 300-6700 or visit www.ampamericas.com.
Trillium CNG, a business unit of Integrys Energy Group (NYSE:TEG), is a leading provider of CNG to fleets, and also offers complete facility design, construction, operation and maintenance services. Our focus is on fueling heavy-duty fleets that require high-performance solutions. For more information, visit www.TrilliumCNG.com.
Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. (DFA) is a national dairy marketing cooperative that serves and is owned by more than 13,000 members on more than 8,000 farms in 48 states. DFA also is one of the country's most diversified manufacturers of dairy products, food components and ingredients, and is a leader in formulating and packaging shelf-stable dairy products. For more information, call 1-888-DFA-MILK (332-6455) or visit www.dfamilk.com.
Select Milk Producers, Inc. was formed in 1994 by a group of large dairy producers with high quality milk and efficient dairy farm operations. The Select common goal is to provide the highest quality product in the market place and do so with the highest level of service. At the same time our objective is to operate our cooperative of 87 family owned dairies in a very efficient manner to achieve the optimum pay price for our membership. Select membership is based in three primary geographic areas: Texas, New Mexico, and the Midwest. All together Select produces and markets over 6 billion pounds of milk annually.


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Grandpa Kipp's Sure-Fire Yellow Jacket Trap! – "My grandpa turned me onto this sure-fire yellow jacket eliminator about 50 years ago when I was just a youngster. I've observed its efficiency in removing all the yellow jackets from our campsite in a matter of a single day and before the week was over the entire campground was free of these hostile pests that make camping and other outdoor activities miserable. This method is NON-TOXIC and for the most part pet and wildlife friendly due to the harmless components that are used to build the "system." There are quite a few commercial products on the market to eliminate yellow jackets but this one doesn't cost anything and I can guarantee its an extremely effective way to rid your yard or campsite of the yellow hoards in just a day or two." – Link.
Homemade Yellow Jacket trap


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The Home Office has plugged an embarrassing legal loophole while continuing to deny that the loophole ever existed. As of tomorrow (7 June) it will again be illegal to forge a UK passport, or alternatively, if it never stopped being illegal, tomorrow it will stop being illegal and start being illegal again instantaneously.
Perhaps we should go through that again. The Identity Cards Act passed earlier this year apparently (i.e. that's what it says) repealed the section of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 which covered passport forgery. This was spotted by Criminal Law Week (reported here), but denied by the Home Office. Home Office Minister Tony McNulty however today issued a Statutory Instrument to plug the hole that the Home Office claims didn't exist. And spare a thought for Tony before we pass on - the sole survivor of the previous Home Office ministerial regime used to front ID cards in his capacity as Immigration Minister. Busted from that by new boss John Reid, McNulty now does policing - but ID card legislation seems to be following him round the Home Office anyway.
Gleeful No2ID National Coordinator Phil Booth points us to a Home Office circular to Chief Police Officers which determinedly claims that the offences it's repealing now "have not already been repealed."
Somewhat tediously - but we're feeling completist, so we'll indulge him - Booth points out that Section 44 of the Identity Cards Act 2006 clearly states that it repeals Section 5, subsection (5)(f) and (fa) and subsections (9) to (11) of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981. "All other sections, bar this one and sections 36 and 38 - which came into force two months after the passing of the Act - are subject to order, i.e. a Statutory Instrument will need to be issued. UKIPS [the Identity and Passport Service] clearly can't read its own legislation" (more information at No2ID).
The Home Office alibi for doing it now while denying there had been a loophole to plug, incidentally, is contained in the circular. Briefly, the new batch of offences covers a wider range of forged and fraudulent documents, and these are therefore much better than the old offences they're repealing now, but haven't repealed already. Honest.
We note that the Telegraph report (link above) refers to the adjournment of a forged passport case because of the notaloophole. Should judges obstinately refuse to accept that a three month absence of illegality never existed, we will no doubt be hearing about it soon.
Your loopholes tonight: Yesterday, DWP Under-Secretary James Plaskitt announced that from July a "right to work" condition will be added for National Insurance number allocation. So anyone applying for a number in association with employment will be refused one if they do not have the right to work here. This plugs what the Government thinks is a loophole, but we don't. It does not however address the problem of what you do about people who're in work, while IND figures out whether or not they have the right to work in the first place. Announce that, James... ®
Sponsored: Webcast: Simplify data protection on AWS


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There are no developing Tropical Disturbances (LPAs) across the Western Pacific Ocean, the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea at this time.
The REST OF THE PHILIPPINES will have clear to partly cloudy skies with the possibility of isolated rain showers or thunderstorms developing later.
**Residents are advised to be on alert for POSSIBLE FLASHFLOODS, LANDSLIDES OR LIGHTNING STRIKES during the occurrence of Severe Thunderstorms.
Stay safe as always! #WeatherAlert #WeatherWiser
Here is the latest daily graphical satellite analysis showing all tropical systems in and around the Philippines and the Western Pacific Basin. This is valid for the next 24 hours.
Important note: In the infrared (IR) satellite image shown above: BLUE areas indicate Clear Skies with a Few Clouds; GREEN = Partly to Mostly Cloudy Skies; YELLOW = Mostly Cloudy to Hazy Skies with Possible Slight-to-Moderate Rainfall; and RED = Thunderstorms with Moderate to Heavy to sometimes Extreme Rainfall.
24-Hour Observed Rainfall Accumulation (8:00 AM Mar 01 to 8:00 AM Mar 02, 2018)
Created by: David Michael V. Padua for WeatherPhilippines


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All aboard the YouTube movie rental train! Disney's the newest YouTube movie passenger and its bringing a handful of classic and new movies in exchange for a small fee.
For anywhere from $0.99 to 3.99, you can watch movies like Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars 2 and more.
Right now the selection is on the weak side, but YouTube is promising hundreds more Disney, Disney Pixar and DreamWorks Studios flicks will be added to the online video site soon.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
It appears not all the full-length videos will be available in HD. A quick look at Cars 2 shows it's only streaming in 480p (DVD quality). You'll also have 30 days to start watching it, and then 48 hours to view it as many times as you want.
What incentive will you get for renting a Disney movie from YouTube? Extras. YouTube says that the movies will also have "behind-the-scene clips." Not bad for a rental.
YouTube Movies and YouTube Blog, via Business Insider and Peter Kafka's Twitter


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Q&A with Elin Hilderbrand
Author Elin Hilderbrand discusses how her home on Nantucket influenced our July Beach Read, Beautiful Day,
She's the queen of the beach read, with all 12 of her novels set on Nantucket, her year-round home. Her new page-turner, Beautiful Day (Reagan Arthur Books), continues that tradition.
You moved to the island 20 years ago. What hooked you?
EH: I can remember being on the ferry when it pulled into the harbor and first seeing the church steeples and gray shingles and sailboats, and I thought, "Oh my goodness, it's the perfect harbor town." And I remember lying on the white sand with the blue sky and the green eel grass and deciding this is heaven on Earth, and I'm never leaving.
You're there all year. What's that like?
EH: In summer, I'll go out 11 or 12 nights in a row because there are cocktail parties, benefits, theater. In winter, it's a small town. You know every single person in the grocery store, and that's nice.
Where do you write?
EH: I pack a lunch, get on my bike, and write on the beach. I spend all day writing longhand in notebooks. My books are truly beach books—they're written with sand on the pages.
So what's for lunch?
EH: There's a wonderful farm between my house and the beach. I like to get a lobster salad there. I pack my lunch, notebooks, and pen in my backpack and go.
What is your house like?
EH: A lot of salvaged materials, like old oars as stair railings. I live a scant mile from the beach; I can see the ocean from my second floor. I love being on an island where you feel like the ocean is holding you in the palm of its hand.


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For me, the roots of my feminism are intimately bound up with the roots of my atheism.
I was one of those kids who believed in ghosts, but only at night. During the day, they were an absurd idea. Invisible people? Yeah right. At night, though, I would cower under my duvet imagining I could see them. At the age of four, at Christian daycare, I was sitting on a swing next to a classmate who said, "Do you believe in god?"
He asked it in the same tone older children used when they said, "Do you believe in Santa?"
Suddenly, the correct answer occurred to me.
"No," I said. "Do you?"
"Sometimes," he said.
I knew exactly what he meant. During the day, god was an absurd concept, but at night, he cowered under his sheets not daring to move lest god should see him.
When I was eight, my teachers decided that I had committed too many crimes against handwriting and asked my parents to intervene. They bought rubber grips for my pencils that would force my fingers into the correct position. Then they brought out a Bible and some lined paper. Every night, I sat at the kitchen table and copied the words. The house we lived in at the time had dry-stone walls. They weren't even plastered on the inside. There was a single window with a wooden frame and shutters on the wall over the table. A cast iron stove stood out from the far wall, a fire whistling from its belly.
I couldn't help but read the stories as I copied them. They were terrifying. An invisible angel stopped a man in the dark, midway across a river. And the things that happened to women were even worse. A man raped his daughters and got them pregnant. God ordered a father to kill his daughter in the name of sacrifice. Another man offered to throw his daughter to an angry mob so that they would appease themselves by raping her. After a night of handwriting practice, I lay awake and listened for the sound of snoring from my parents' room. When it came, I climbed out of bed and switched on the light. Then I read books about unicorns and fairies, anything to take my mind off the thought of invisible hands reaching for me in the dark.
For my birthday, I was given a sheet of glow-in-the-dark star stickers. I used a star chart to carefully recreate the constellations on my ceiling. For a while, I forgot about the invisible hands and the voice from the sky asking my dad to sacrifice me. I fell off to sleep thinking about what the stars would look like from the surface of the moon or from Mars. For a science project, I drew my own maps, each night walking up the hill with a flask of hot chocolate to draw constellations and note the phase of the moon. My dad found some books on mythology and explained the stories behind the constellations. For some reason, the myths were less terrifying, perhaps because nobody believed them anymore and they could be read for what they really were: stories.
One day I climbed the hill with my construction paper. The frosted branches of trees looked suspicious. There were new shadows thrown up by the moon that made it easy to imagine invisible people standing in the wood, watching me. I turned around and went home. In bed, my cowardice turned to regret. I looked up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling and knew that invisible people couldn't be real. Looking back on this moment from adulthood, I realise that I had to make a choice: Either the world was governed by invisible, unknowable forces or it was possible to systematically study the world. But even though I couldn't have articulated that at the time, that was exactly the contradiction I had to resolve in my head.
Suddenly it occurred to me that I wasn't afraid of god at all, but of the fact that other people believed in the idea. Outside, through the woods, the neighbours would all be in bed. Mankind landed on the moon twenty years ago. Yet these people went to church. They each kept a copy of the black book with its stories of human sacrifice. What would happen when one of these neighbours became convinced that a voice in the sky wanted him to kill his daughter? No child was safe. How did these people sleep at night if they believed invisible angles could wake them at any moment for a wrestling match?
Then the revelation came. I remembered the conversation on the swings as a four year- old. The fact that the boy felt the need to ask if I believed in god said it all. If gods and ghosts and Santa were real, nobody would ask me if I believed. Nobody had ever asked me if I believed in trees or rocks or even stars. Even the man in black in the church didn't believe. I stood in front of him and he asked me if I accepted god and Jesus. My parents waited until I was older to have me Christened because they had the idea that I should remember the event. I was too afraid of the man in black to tell the truth, because even at four, I sensed that I was required to lie.
I imagined the neighbours all snug in their beds, sleeping soundly.
"They don't really believe," I thought. "None of them believe."
The weight of fear was lifted from me and I dropped off to sleep. I didn't have the vocabulary to know that I was a feminist or an atheist until much later. Ironically, I eventually learned about the term "atheist" from church. The reverend was raging against atheists and I thought, "Hey. He's describing me. I must be an atheist." Even though I didn't have the terminology and hadn't read any feminist or atheist academics yet, I look back on that night in my childhood as the point in which I became a feminist atheist.


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It's official: One of these three men will play DC Comics' Green Lantern in next year's big budget movie version. But which one can fulfill our intergalactic ring-slinging policeman fantasies?
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the producers of the movie have narrowed the choice of cinematic Hal Jordan down to Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds and Justin Timberlake, adding that a decision is expected soon as Warner Bros.' holding deal for the actors expired earlier this week, making them available for other projects. The comic fanboy in us hopes that Timberlake's out of the running just because he looks too young, and wouldn't be surprised if Ryan Reynolds makes himself unavailable considering that he already has Deadpool in his superhero movie portfolio - although we could definitely see him as wise-cracking test pilot Hal Jordan, if he's willing to think about it. Does that mean that Bradley Cooper is the best one for the job?
Call us nostalgic Alias fans if you want, but we think yes; Cooper's The Hangover has shown that he can lead a movie - and, more importantly to Warner, that he can lead a successful movie - but he's still looking for that role that can make him a star... and we think that Green Lantern stands a better chance of doing that than playing Faceman in the A Team revival.
Plus, you know, he was never a member of NSync. That counts for a lot.
We'd be willing to start a Give Cooper The Ring campaign right here if it made a difference, but are we wrong? Who would you like to see slip on the green uniform and power ring before bringing justice to the skies?
'Green Lantern' has three in ring [Hollywood Reporter]


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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here's a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 7,900 times in 2010. That's about 19 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 36 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 87 posts. There were 19 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 5mb. That's about 2 pictures per month.
The busiest day of the year was November 9th with 111 views. The most popular post that day was Help The British Legion Become Number 1 in the Charts!.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were military-research.co.uk, twitter.com, revoltoftheplebs.wordpress.com, en.wordpress.com, and mail.live.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for facts about ww1, ww1 facts, great war heroes, facts on ww1, and ww2 propaganda posters.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Help The British Legion Become Number 1 in the Charts! November 2010
10 Little Known Facts of WW1 March 2010
Sunk Australia WWII hospital ship Centaur: first images January 2010
Auschwitz-Birkenau: Walking in the shadow of death November 2009
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Researching Your WW2 Ancestors August 2009


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Changing Career Direction
Sometimes just changing jobs is not enough. What you want is a more complete change - you want to do something completely different. There may be one or more factors pushing you into such a decision, such as:
- A change in personal circumstances means your current job no longer suits you.
- You no longer value the work you are doing and feel you have something more to offer.
- Your current position is about to be made redundant, and the thought of pursuing a similar job for another 5 years or more makes your heart sink.
It is also possible that there is nothing too bad about your current position, but you feel an impulse to do something much more personally rewarding. Sometimes we just grow out of what we are doing and need a change.
The first thing to consider is that you are almost certainly better off planning your career change while still employed - you at least have the financial stability that will give you time to nurture your plan.
Secondly, you need to appreciate your situation - is this need/desire for change based on a 'knowing in your heart' what you want, or a 'yearning in your heart' to find something more satisfying. In the first instance you might be considered fortunate - you know where you are going and your task is to find the route. In the second instance, your task is to explore the route in the hope that it might lead to a satisfying destination.
In either case consider the destination (your new career position) not as something set in stone - but as another stage in your overall career and life journey. There maybe further stages - who knows at this stage! And importantly, when engaging a life changing process like changing career direction, take guidance from those who have spent their life trying to understand and master the process.
Preparing for Change - Self assessment
If you are going to make a change, you will want it to be for the better. Therefore it must be based on your best understanding of yourself and your circumstances. A career change is rarely a solo affair - it impacts on all aspects of your life, so these too must be considered.
1. Work/Life balance
The energy, motivation and courage required to change ones career can easily distract you from bigger picture issues like achieving a healthy balance between various aspects of your life.
- Work
There are a number of different types of employment outside traditional 9 to 5 office hours. Being aware of these now may motivate you to adopt or aim for a different arrangement for the next phase of your career.
- Learning
We live in an environment where a wide range of educational opportunities are available to everyone, and in an economy where more employment opportunities are available to those with higher levels of education. Expect to spend significant periods of time developing either academic and/or business knowledge, and fine tuning your 'career skills' as is appropriate to the new roles you may have to adopt.
- Playing
Playing includes all activities that serve to relax and/or invigorate you - its about doing what you enjoy. Many of the happiest workers see their work as play - they are getting payed for what they might do anyway! A career change should aim to lessen the distinction between work and play, and regardless of how successful you are at this, making sure you make time for play is critical for your psychological well being.
- Giving
We all live in a community of some sort - be it family, friends, religion, club or whatever - and we recieve the support and belongingness that they offer. We need to continuously ensure that we contribute to our community and not get lost in our quest for our personal goals. Finding a career that contributes to one of the communities you are involved in can be doubly satisfying as your sense of purpose and value can be easily seen.
2. Your Knowledge
Its a good idea to reflect on what knowledge you have accumulated during your career so far. This may be what you learned during your school years, what you have studied since then, and what specialist knowledge you may have picked up during your working years.
What aspects of your education have you enjoyed and has helped you along your path so far? What aspects will contribute towards a new direction? What areas might you need to develop now or build on in preparation for a new move?
If you have had a number of positions in your career to date, you may well have an unusual mix of specialist knowledge and practical experience. Such combinations are likely to be highly valued and may position you in a relatively unique position for new employment. Reflect on the combinations of experience you have and brainstorm how those experiences could be applied to areas that interest you now.
With continuous education being the norm, consider topping up your skills by participating in dedicated upskilling programes or conversion courses run by the Universities and Institutes of Technologies.
3. Your Skills
In your career (and life) so far you will have developed a range of highly valued skills that will enable you to use your knowledge and experience effectively in the world. Knowing what skills you have and in what measure can reveal a lot in terms of what you are going to be able to achieve in a new career.
You can learn about these 'transferable skills' and complete a skills audit by downloading our Career Skills Self-Assessment form and completing the exercises. You can get additional information from looking into what employers look for when recruiting new staff.
4. Your Interests
There are two factors to consider here - those interests that are quite specific (e.g. soccer, traditional music, or specific hobbies) and those that represent general interests (e.g. practical work, helping work). If you have specific hobbies that you think you might like to pursue professionally, then you should look objectively at your hobby in the context of your knowledge as discussed above, and your skills as measured using the skills exercise. Spend some time thinking these three things over and discuss with as wide a group of friends as you can. You may discover that there are possible roles that would combine elements of your previous knowledge and skills with some aspect of your hobby.
If nothing comes of this exercise, or you want to explore further possibilities, then create a career interests profile (use the SignUp button at the top of this page to create an account and complete the Careers Portal Interest Profiler CPIP). Your interests profile should clarify some of your general motivations, and can be used to suggest occupations and courses that have something in common with your interests. You will be able to explore hundreds of occupations and courses in detail and this should enable you to shortlist a number of possibilities to focus your attention on.
5. Your Values
Your values are a guide to your career needs and wants. Again there are two considerations here - those values that are general (e.g. achievement, support) and those that are more specific (e.g. working indoors, showing committment). Though an exploration of your values will not alone point you towards a particular career, consideration of your values can help focus your exploration.
You can take a general values self-assessment online here (it's free, but a basic registration is required after you complete the test) to rank your core values, and then proceed to compare your values with a range of occupations. This may alert you to any mismatch and give you time to reconsider your options.
Once you have developed a reasonable sense of who you are and what motivates you, you should have a more solid sense of what you might like to do. The next task is to see what is avalable in the world of work.
Researching the World of Work
The world of work is continuously changing. Different industry sectors grow and shrink according to market conditions. New occupations are invented every day. To change your career you need both the internal confidence to succeed and the clearist picture possible of your future position. To make your new move in confidence talk and discuss your options with as many people as you can. In particular try to get to talk to someone who is already doing that job or one similar to it. If the job is in a particular company, research the company in depth - get as much information about what it is like on the inside.
You will find on this site many in-depth interviews of people from all walks of life who discuss many aspects of their career path to date, including some who have probably faced similar situations to you. These may inspire you to take up positions you had not considered before, and could provide valuable first hand information about an area you are unfamiliar with.
Complete your research by following the guidelines set out in our section on Career Research. Keeping in mind what you have uncovered from completing the self-assessment exercises, work to locate the sectors that interest you most and that you might have most to contribute to. Your goal is to narrow the focus of your inquiry to a managable region in the world of work, and start an indepth exploration of that area - what companies operate there, what are the marketplace conditions, and where exactly might you fit.
Taking Action
At the end of your research you are likely to be left with one or two options. You will have identified a number of positions that you would like to try, and/or you will be of the opinion that you could form your own business to pursue your interests. In the first instance you are now ready to start looking for a job. If starting your own business is something you want to consider, then you must start researching this as an option.


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As often happens during the weekends, another big debate is brewing on Twitter. Loic LeMeur wrote a post yesterday stating that Twitter needs authority based search, where the number of followers influences the search results, sort of like Google's page rank. LeMeur says on his blog,
"We're not equal on Twitter, as we're not equal on blogs and on the web. I am not saying someone who has more followers than yourself matters more, but what he says has a tendency to spread much faster."
And Michael Arrington strongly agrees. Thus, tweets from high profile users like LeMeur (15,000 followers) and Arrington (36,000) will jump to the top and ours will fall to the bottom. The whole issue started because LeMeur did not want to read all of the 7,000 tweets that were generated by his recent LeWeb conference. He only wanted to read those of the "important" people. I'm sure he had no problem taking the money of the unimportant that attended LeWeb.
Several notables have railed against authority based search.
And on the blogs:
- Bob Warfield first responded with "Let Them Eat Cake"
- Sarah Lacy wrote "Thank God Loic doesn't run Twitter"
- And today Robert Scoble (with his 45000 followers) jumped in with "Mike and Loic are wrong with Twitter search"
I find it interesting that everyman Scoble strongly opposes others in the big follower club and references Warfield's blog, one of those smaller voices that Arrington/ LeMeur don't want to read.
Following the discussion, Jon Wheatley and an enterprising team of developers quickly created Twitority, an authority based Twitter search engine. You can try it out to see what you think.
What are your thoughts about authority based search? Do you think there is a place for it? Or is it just another bad idea?


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Version 4.0 combines running and cycling, helps bike advocates with critical data
The new version of Strava adds photos to your ride file as well as advanced mapping features. Images courtesy of Strava.
It's a sure sign your brand has made it when its name slips into use as a verb. As in, "I'm going to Facebook this adorable cat," or "Let me just Instagram this pie." And by now, you've probably heard—or said yourself—something like, "I'm going to Strava this climb."
But actually, Strava—despite being the fitness network of choice for millions of athletes around the world—hasn't made it. The company has yet to turn a profit, though they expect that day to come within the next 18 months. It relies on premium membership sales as its main source of revenue, and it's committed to keeping it that way, closing the door to eager advertisers. Meanwhile, for both its premium and regular users, Strava has been working on new ideas both online, and on your local roads and trails.
Video: Strava's video on mobile version 4.0 illustrates the apps new features.
Earlier this month, the company released a new version combining its running and cycling apps into one and adding the following social features to your activity feed:
- Photos – If you're an Instragrammer, you can stop to take a 'gram of that epic view, a friend getting rad, or the always-popular sweaty selfie and it will be displayed in your feed, adding color to your workout.
- Maps – Most activities feature a map tile showing the GPS-tracked route. Let the athletes you follow show you around by downloading their .gpx files.
- Social sharing – A one-tap icon shares your activities with other social networks including Facebook and Twitter.
- Comments and Kudos – Let your friends and followers know about their job well done with one-tap kudos and comments.
- Grouped activities – If you rode with a friend (or a whole peloton), your activities are grouped, so you can see who worked out together.
New languages address growing global reach
Strava Mobile 4.0 now comes in 11 different languages, recognizing how popular the app is around the world. In fact, 65% of Strava users are located outside of the U.S. and more than 50,000 new users are joining every week. That means KOMs/QOMs could make great souvenirs wherever your travels take you, whether you're riding across town or across the globe.
Strava Premium adds features, helps company advance the cause
Strava Mobile 4.0 is a free app, but for $60 a year, or $6 a month, you can upgrade to a premium membership with a host of extra features. With Strava Premium, you get audio updates delivered straight to your earbuds while you're out on the front lines. If you star a segment, the pre-recorded voice of your choice—accent, gender and language are all up to you—will tell you right away if you bagged a crown, or if you should hit it again. And now, you can select which equipment you're using to help you keep track of wear and tear on your cleats, tires, chain and brake pads.
Convincing more members to upgrade to a premium membership is an important part of Strava's ad-free future, as well as all athletes' continued enjoyment of the service. The amount of data generated by Strava users every week, every day, every hour is massive. The best part is Strava plans to use this information to advocate for cycling.
Strava is sharing heat map information with bike advocacy groups to help improve trails and bike routes. Images courtesy of Strava.
The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) and Strava are already partnered on some trail-advocacy projects and the company is also interested in working with city planners to make cycling better in urban centers better. For example, using its heat maps, Strava could share the most popular routes taken by its users to show where best to build a bike lane. Conversely, if a route has a bike lane, but riders aren't using it, planners could use that info to figure out why, and how to improve it.
Users who upgrade are supporting Strava's efforts to support cyclists. Added bonus? They get some pretty amazing analysis of their scores, power data, heart rate data, their own personal heat maps (so they can see what ground they've covered) and more.
Strava is a tool that's brought to life by its users. Loaded with new social features and admirable advocacy goals, it's an app any athlete can enjoy on and off the screen.
Cost: Basic-Free, Premium-$60/year or $6/month
For more information visit www.strava.com.
Do you use Strava? Help us become a better resource and write a review!


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Since I started at the Register Star, I've heard from a number of people who say that there isn't really a local music scene here.
Others will tell me that simply isn't true. They say that there are talented people here, but sometimes they're hard to find.
Reporter Brian Leaf came to me a couple months ago with an idea that might help address that issue. He had been talking with Chris Wachowiak of Kryptonite Bar about recording some of the Loft concerts at that establishment.
Chris put together a nice video for us that interspersed a Ron Rawhoof concert with some clips of Brian Leaf interviewing Rawhoof. We posted it a while back as a trial, and it seemed to be popular.
Since then, Brian and Chris have been hard at work putting together a plan, and they came up with Songs from Screw City, a sort of mini music library featuring musicians, singers and songwriters from Rockford and the surrounding region.
Each video has a few songs and interview clips, and we'll shoot to get you a new one weekly, probably on Thursdays. In the mean time, Chris records his concerts and is offering those as audio files. We'll get those on the site as often as possible, too.
I can't say enough about the great work the folks at Kryptonite are doing with this project. Maybe you didn't know about some of these talented performers. Maybe you did, but you didn't know of a place where you could learn more about them. Well, we have that now, and we hope you'll check it out.
You can find our small, but growing, library at rrstar.com/screwcitysongs. You can find a list of all the performances we have, including some stories, at rrstar.com/songlist.
If you want more info, or just want to keep up with what's going on, we're hitting up social media as well. Check out #scsongs on Twitter, as well as @KryptoniteBar.
You can check out Kryptonite at kryptonitebar.com, as well as Sound Vizion Productions, which helps produce the concerts for us at soundvzn.com.
Look for future concerts from Emily Hurd and Starlite Radio.
You can also see an updated list of shows at local establishments on our Nightlife Grid at e-rockford.com/go/nightlife.
A big thanks again to Chris, and to Brian Leaf, who has put a lot of energy and time into this project.
We hope you enjoy.


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The annual Army Photographic Competition recognises outstanding photography from Afghanistan and Army life.
Army photographers deploy as soldiers with rifle and camera, taking the same risks as other infantrymen but also giving the public a view of the realities of conflict. Away from operations they capture the day to day and the high points of Army life, from parades to sporting achievements. Amateur photographers, who fit their hobby round the day job of deployments and training, are also recognised for the quality and creativity of their work.


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Inter got back to winning ways after securing an entertaining 4-2 victory over Hellas Verona at San Siro on Saturday.
Andrea Mandorlini's side, the surprise package of the season so far following their return to the top flight, headed into the contest on the back of three consecutive victories, with Inter winless from as many games.
But horrible defending from set-pieces undermined their cause as a Vangelis Moras own goal and Rodrigo Palacio set Inter on the way.
Former Italy striker Luca Toni laid on goals for Raphael Martinho and Romulo but each time it only reduced the deficit to two after Esteban Cambiasso and Rolando gave Walter Mazzarri's men much-needed breathing space.
Juan Pablo Carizzo came in for the suspended Samir Handanovic in goal for Inter, who also welcomed Ricky Alvarez into the fold.
Inter started on the front foot and took the lead in the ninth minute as Verona defender Moras diverted Jonathan's wildly off-target volley into his own net.
Verona's defending from corners was haphazard throughout the first half and it cost them again three minutes later. A loose ball fell to Fredy Guarin and his strike was blocked on the line by Fabrizio Cacciatore, only for the rebound to strike the fortuitously placed Palacio and go in.
Midway through the half Toni passed up a chance to reduce the deficit when he headed over after Cacciatore beat Yuto Nagatomo to whip in a superb cross from the right.
Inter thought they had a third in the 32th minute but Guarin waited too long in releasing his pass after driving at the Verona defence and Palacio was offside when he converted.
It appeared a costly error less than a minute later when Verona charged up the other end to reduce their arrears – Toni holding off a pair of challenges and playing in Martinho to finish emphatically.
But the two-goal advantage was restored before the break when the impressive Nagatomo cut in from the left to strike the post, Palacio helped the loose ball back towards goal and Cambiasso obliged with the net gaping.
Palacio stabbed home a long ball forward, only to be denied by the offside flag once more, and another of the game's familiar sights reared its head in the 56th minute.
A low corner to the near-post by Cambiasso was helped on by Palacio and Rolando was on hand to bundle home.
Mazzarri removed Palacio and Cambiasso as Inter looked to take the sting out of the game but Toni thought little of their plan, again making his physicality count before squaring for Romulo to drill a fine finish into the bottom corner.
But the hosts held on without any other major alarms to leapfrog their opponents and go fourth in the table, before the evening ended in bizarre circumstances when Moras and Inter substitute Ishak Belfodil were sent off after the final whistle following an altercation.


text: BUSINESS DreamWorks delays 'Dragon' 4:00 AM PST 2/27/2008 by Paul Bond , AP FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Empty Mindful of a crowded schedule for 3-D films late next year, DreamWorks Animation has pushed its offering "How to Train Your Dragon" by four months to March 26, 2010.The move leaves the studio with just one release, "Monsters vs. Aliens," scheduled for next year and three for 2010: "Dragon," "Shrek Goes Fourth" on May 21 and "Master Mind," the working title of a film set for Nov. 5 that year.Had "Dragon" opened Nov. 20, 2009, as previously planned, it would have been sandwiched between 3-D films "A Christmas Carol" with Jim Carrey and James Cameron's "Avatar.""Avatar," in particular, presented a problem, as that movie's Dec. 18, 2009, opening would have coincided with "Dragon's" release to international markets, where as much as 65% of DWA's business comes from."The combination of a jam-up domestically and the very limited 3-D capacity internationally just didn't make sense," CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg told The Hollywood Reporter. "There will not be anywhere near the number of screens needed to accommodate two releases internationally."A little more than 1,000 screens worldwide can handle 3-D films, but Katzenberg expects from 3,000-5,000 by the time "Monsters vs. Aliens" is released on March 27, 2009.Katzenberg disclosed the "Dragons" move Tuesday during a conference call with analysts to discuss quarterly earnings that impressed Wall Street and sent shares 6% higher in after-hours trading.The CEO also hinted that "Bee Movie" might not make its way to HD DVD in two weeks, as had been planned, given Toshiba's decision to basically surrender the format war to Blu-ray Disc."We are waiting for Toshiba to tell us what their plans are," he told The Reporter, refusing to speculate whether "Bee Movie" might get the Blu-ray treatment if HD DVD demures. "In deference to them, we're waiting for clarity."DWA reported net income of $94.1 million in the fourth quarter, up from a loss of $21.3 million in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue increased 42% to $290.2 million, with nearly 62% of that coming from "Shrek the Third."As of Dec. 31, the title boasted 15.6 million units shipped worldwide. At the boxoffice, it is the fourth-biggest animated movie of all time, bringing in about $800 million worldwide.For the year, DWA posted net income of $218.4 million on $767.2 million revenue, prompting Katzenberg to declare 2007 the company's "most successful year since going public -- both financially and at the boxoffice.""Bee Movie," though, fell shy of many analysts' expectations, bringing in $126 million at the domestic boxoffice and $159 million internationally.Although the film isn't yet profitable, that's expected to change with the upcoming DVD release. During the conference call, Katzenberg gave a shout-out to his old employer, Disney, telling analysts that "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" proved again how lucrative 3-D movies can be.That film generated $29 million over Super Bowl weekend at 683 theaters. At one theater, the El Capitan in Hollywood, tickets cost as much $24 apiece.Katzenberg said making a movie 3-D adds about $15 million to its production cost. "There is significant enough potential given the premium price that consumers appear to be paying for 3-D to be a very good return on our investment," he said.DWA's next two releases, "Kung Fu Panda," set for June 6, and "Madagascar: The Crate Escape," planned for Nov. 7, are 2-D releases. From then on, DWA plans for its films to be exhibited both in 2-D and stereoscopic 3-D. FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Paul Bond email@example.com @thr AP firstname.lastname@example.com @thr


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The expected releases of three hostages held by Colombian rebels have been postponed, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday.
Red Cross delegate Angela Bertani said that rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia had decided to postpone the planned releases of the soldier and two police officers. A new date for the releases was not immediately announced.
Bertani told Colombia's RCN television that the FARC rebels made the decision apparently because of "the presence of so many media" in the area where the releases were expected to take place, about 310 kilometers (195 miles) southeast of the Colombian capital.
Red Cross representatives and a Colombian politician, former senator Piedad Cordoba, had set out by car earlier Thursday toward the zone where they had planned to pick up at least one of the hostages.
The soldier and two police officers were seized by FARC rebels last month.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos criticized the FARC for not turning over the first of the captives, calling it "unacceptable."
"No one understands why because of the presence of some news media ... these police continue to be deprived of their freedom," Santos said during a public appearance in Tumaco, a port on Colombia's Pacific coast.
"I demand that the FARC free them soon," Santos added during his appearance, which was transmitted live from the Colombian presidency's official website.
The FARC currently is pursuing peace talks with Colombian government representatives in Cuba. The rebel group declared a two-month unilateral cease-fire when the formal peace talks in Havana began, but that cease-fire lapsed on Jan. 20. The FARC had urged the government to join the cease-fire, but Santos has refused.
Colombia's president argues that agreeing to a cease-fire would give the FARC the opportunity to regroup, as it did during failed 1999-2002 talks when it was granted a Switzerland-sized safe haven.


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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's whereabouts and activities during the attack in Benghazi are similarly mysterious. Clinton's State Department repeatedly rejected requests for enhancing security at Benghazi, even as Ansar al-Sharia's power in the area grew over the summer of 2012. Why did State not beef up the Benghazi mission's security? The Benghazi attack was focused on the U.S/ consulate, which belongs to the U.S. State Department. Why Stevens was in Benghazi that night, and what the consulate may have been used for, remains unknown. One of the Wednesday whistleblowers, veteran counterterrorism officer Mark I. Thompson, is expected to testify that Secretary of State Clinton sought to cut the State Department's counterterrorism bureau out of the chain of reporting and decision-making during the attack. Thompson also claims that the State Department suppressed his account after the attack. Another unnamed State official corroborates Thompson's account. But Daniel Benjamin, head of the counterterrorism unit at the time, says Clinton never tried to cut his group out during the attack. All of this brings to mind the question, exactly what was Clinton's role on the night of the attack? Secretary of Defense Panetta testified that he and Clinton never communicated during the attack. All three of the nation's top national security and diplomatic officials — President Obama, Defense Secretary Panetta and Secretary of State Clinton — were in Washington that night. Panetta and Clinton were evidently engaged in responding to the attack, independently. Yet according to Panetta, they never talked to each other during the attack. Why would they not communicate during an ongoing attack on a U.S. facility overseas, if indeed they did not? Both Defense and State would surely be involved in any effective response to an attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission overseas.
When asked Monday who told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sept. 11, 2012–while the terrorist attack was still ongoing in Benghazi and before former Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed there—that the attack was being justified as "a response to inflammatory material posted on Internet," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell would not answer…
At Monday's briefing, CNSNews.com asked: "That statement was put out before former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods died in Benghazi. Who specifically told Hillary Clinton that there were some people blaming this on inflammatory response to–inflammatory material on the internet? Where did she get that idea at 10 p.m. on September 11th?"
Ventrell responded: "Look, these are issues that have been looked at in great detail, that have been answered in great detail to the Congress, to the American people, and you're asking about something that is many months prior. And we've been very clear, and the ARB has looked at all of these issues and done so in great detail."
Was this attack, then, a spontaneous reaction to a video or a planned attack? Either way, it was a major security failure. In fact, it's hard to say which horn of the dilemma would make the administration look worse. A planned attack means a failure of intelligence and security. A spontaneous attack suggests security was so lax, little planning was needed to overrun the compound.
Finally, it's possible the truth is somewhere in the middle. Some people on hand that night were upset about the video. Others may have had different motives and used the video as a pretext. As the initial, unaltered talking points said, "The crowd almost certainly was a mix of individuals from across many sectors of Libyan society. That being said, we do know that Islamic extremists with ties to al Qa'ida participated in the attack."
The military did nothing, except send a drone to watch the action. Defense Secretary Panetta later offered the excuse, "You can't willy-nilly send F-16s there and blow the hell out of place. . . . You have to have good intelligence." As a civilian, Mr. Panetta probably didn't know that 99 percent of air sorties over Afghanistan never drop a single bomb. General Dempsey, however, knew it was standard procedure to roar menacingly over the heads of mobs, while not "blowing the hell out of them." A show of air power does have a deterrent effect and is routinely employed.
A mortar shell killed two Americans during the tenth hour of the fight. A mortar tube can be detected from the air. The decision whether to then bomb should have resided with a pilot on-station — not back in Washington. As for the alleged lack of "good intelligence," three U.S. operations centers were watching real-time video and talking by cell phone with those under attack. Surely that comprises "good intelligence."…
Have our military's best and brightest lost the capacity to improvise? Clearly, that merits an assessment. Will General Dempsey ask for a review of his own procedures? Do as I say, or as I do? The chairman of the joint chiefs is the only general who can answer that.
It's not unreasonable for President Obama, Clinton and others to have decided that the loss of four Americans to an attack by Islamist militants was preferable to expanding the fight and risking a larger, bloodier and more potentially embarrassing battle in Libyan rebel capital. It is not reasonable, though, to mislead the public about such a decision.
Asking that Americans die in the line of duty in service of a larger policy aim is nothing new. Saying that there was no choice when there were at least some options, crosses a line. Changing talking points to support a false account of events would cross yet another. Doing so eight weeks before an election would be really rotten.
Some Republicans remain focused on bringing the botch and alleged cover up to Obama's feet. And like other second-term scandals, this one could further clip the wings of a lame duck in the White House. A charge of passivity in the face of an attack is especially difficult at a moment when the U.S. seems to be a bystander to a rapidly devolving security situation in the Middle East…
But Republicans playing the long game know that the real issue here isn't the current Democrat in the White House but derailing the chances of the woman who wants to be the next one.
"I believe that before it's all over, this president will not fill out his full term," Huckabee said. "I know that puts me on a limb, but this is not minor."
"When a president lies to the American people and is part of a cover-up, he cannot continue to govern," he added. "And as the facts come out, I think we're going to see something startling. And before it's over, I don't think this president will finish his term unless somehow they can delay it in Congress past the next three and a half years."
One woman still looking for answers about the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, is Pat Smith. Her son Sean Smith, a State Department information officer, was one of four Americans killed during the attack.
"I blame her," said Smith, referring to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Via Mediaite.


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by Hugh Gilmore
This happened on one of those endless Saturday afternoons that a newly divorced dad dreads: getting caught with nothing to do but listen to my own heartbeat. I lived alone. At 2 p.m., bored and lonely, I went to the kitchen window and looked out over my parking lot at Green Tree Run, the condo where I lived in Roxborough.
I watched a thirtyish man pull up and park. Minutes later he walked back to his car, a little girl – his daughter, I knew – holding his hand. They drove away. Custody day, visitation rights. Daddy day.
I got away from the window. I'd stayed up late the previous night, reading Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus." I'd timed my page turning so that as the clock struck twelve in my living room, Mephistopheles, the Devil's rep, would come to claim the soul Faustus had sold.
That had been genuinely thrilling. I couldn't wait to teach that play to my students at Haverford High School on Monday. I was the kind of inspired teacher who lives for his students, who leaves the parking lot on Friday afternoon as late as possible, who dreams of Monday mornings as the most golden hours of the week.
That's not hard to do when you live alone through your own fault. And feel guilty and shunned, feel like a failure in general and take your weekend sadness as just punishment. In short, just another divorced daddy on his non-custodial weekend.
Actually, it was even worse. My son, Colin, was now eighteen. At that age young people cling to one another and try very hard to keep parental contact to a minimum. There were no scheduled shared-custody visits anymore.
Colin lived only a few miles away in Wyndmoor, in the house where he'd been born. We had an acre of ground in the back. We were the equivalent of the neighborhood athletic field. I was out there every day with "the boys," chalking the field for baseball or football or soccer or Wiffle ball. I was the coach, the quarterback, the wide receiver, the water boy, and the snack maker. A real backyard dad.
And then I made the mistake of thinking I could stop living there but still be a hero. Now, in order to get into that backyard, I'd need to make an appointment. I'd need to knock on the door of the house I'd painted and mended so often it felt like my oldest, most favorite pair of jeans. I was little better than a stranger – someone not from around here. Not anymore.
And thus I sat on a Saturday, errands finished, apartment cleaned, tired of reading, too depressed to want to go somewhere "fun" like a museum, or nature walk, or movie. And it was only two in the afternoon.
The phone rang.
It was my son, Colin. The guys were playing basketball at a nearby middle school playground. "Do you want to come over?"
"Yes, sure." I changed right away.
As I drive down Ridge Avenue to go over Bells Mill Road I pass a bank thermometer that says 93 degrees. I'm wondering what this is about. They have never invited me to join them since I left home – left them.
Young guys do not invite middle-aged guys, especially parental units, to join them in a game of pick-up, even if they're short a man. I don't know what they were thinking. I only know I'm flattered as can be. I think. I hope they're not playing a joke on me.
I pull up. They're waiting, casually taking warm-up shots. As soon as I walk up, they pick sides and we start. Colin, Damien, and Joe against Stosh and Dave and me. We start running around like crazy. They're younger, which means quicker in their moves, but I grew up in West Philly and thereabouts. I'm relentless. A ballhawk. No one I'm guarding can ever relax.
We're all sweating like crazy. When we crash into one another for a rebound, it's a greasy mosh pit kind of feel. It feels great. I am so happy. They pass to me when they have the ball. They cut for a pass when I have the ball. The old teamwork is coming back. I'm going all out, no slack. No easing back.
The ball goes back and forth. I know they're better than I am, but I want to be respected for my energy, my stamina, my hustle – those are my issues, not theirs, but I feel that when you're a father you can lose, you can be beaten, but you must resist letting yourself be measured for as long as you can.
This is great. I'm with my son again. He invited me here. And the guys. I can't believe it. I could run around like this, shooting and passing and crashing and sweating and laughing, forever. I am so pleased. So honored.
Colin has the ball – he comes driving toward me. I'll steal the ball, or block the shot if I can, but he protects the ball, and keeps coming, gets his shoulder past me and leaps up to deliver the ball – a move, an attitude, really, I'd worked on so much with him: don't be nice about it, force yourself, show your power – and now he does. I am so impressed he's found the will to do this. I'm really pleased.
The ball goes up and drops through cleanly. Score!
We played for about two hours, and then we all shook hands and clapped shoulders and I left. I went back to my apartment and showered and sat and smiled and felt good about what I felt was my homecoming day. Winter came. We'd been lucky to get that one game in.
Colin died the following spring, four months shy of nineteen, no match for a drunk driver with tons of steel behind him.
And that was it. That one game. But that day, when they seemed to have forgiven me, and invited me into their lazy Saturday afternoon, will echo in my heart forever. It was the greatest gift I've ever been given.
I just wanted to say that out loud since Colin's 42nd birthday would have been yesterday. I just wanted to say thank you across the distance.


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Polycyclic organic compounds, matrixscientific.com, Polycyclic aromatic compounds, Aromatic compounds, Aromatic compound
Cyclic compounds (2)
Sigma Aldrich (2)
TCI Chemicals (2)
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Oakwood Chemical (1)
Benz[a]anthracene (56-55-3)
benzanthracene · benzo(b)phenanthrene · 1,2-benzanthracene
Benz[a]anthracene or benzo[a]anthracene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with the chemical formula C18H12. In February 2014, NASA announced a greatly upgraded database for tracking polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), including benz[a]anthracene, in the universe. According to scientists, more than 20% of the carbon in the universe may be associated with PAHs, possible starting materials for the formation of life.
Acenaphthenequinone (82-86-0)
Acenaphthoquinone is a quinone derived from acenaphthene. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol. It is used as an intermediate for the manufacturing of dyes, pharmaceuticals and pesticides.
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Cadalene or cadalin (4-isopropyl-1,6-dimethylnaphthalene) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with a chemical formula C15H18 and a cadinane skeleton. It is derived from generic sesquiterpenes, and ubiquitous in essential oils of many higher plants. Cadalene, together with retene, simonellite and ip-iHMN, is a biomarker of higher plants, which makes it useful for paleobotanic analysis of rock sediments.
2-methylnaphthalene, methyl-13C-labeled · 2-methylnaphthalene, lithium salt, ion(1-) · 2-methylnaphthalene, naphthalene-1-(13)C-labeled
2-Methylnaphthalene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). On February 22, 2014, NASA announced a greatly upgraded database for detecting and monitoring PAHs, including 2-methylnaphthalene, in the universe. According to NASA scientists, over 20% of the carbon in the universe may be associated with PAHs, possible starting materials for the formation of life.
1-Methylnaphthalene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). It has a cetane number of zero, and was previously used as the lower reference for cetane number. However, due to the expense and handling difficulty of 1-methylnaphthalene, it was replaced in this capacity by isocetane, with a CN of 15.
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iRobot Roomba 690 Wi-Fi Connected Robot VacuumITEM# 91406iRobot® Roomba® 690 Wi-Fi® Connected Vacuuming Robot is built on the proven Roomba 650 robot platform; now with iRobot HOME App compatibility and a sleek new design.$374.99
iRobot Roomba 890ITEM# 91407Connect to CLEAN from anywhere with the advanced cleaning performance of the Roomba® 890 Wi-Fi Connected Vacuuming Robot. An advanced Triple-Stage Cleaning System with Edge-Sweeping brush loosens, lifts, and suctions dirt, debris and hair with 5x more power** for increased cleaning performance. The Roomba® 890 vacuuming robot includes high-performance tangle-free brushes that are engineered to pick up hair and debris without getting tangled. Clean and schedule anytime, from anywhere using the iRobot HOME App.$499.99


text: Beneath the specialized language and formal rigors of science is a simple, easily forgotten principle: Science is way of exploring the world, and our world is a fantastic place. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the images that science generates: Spiders that build their own dummies, dinosaurs cloaked in feathers, berries of a color more intense than any other natural hue. Here are Wired Science's favorite images of the year. Above: Spider Attack in Amber A spider attacks a wasp: A minute, everyday event, something that's happened billions upon billions of times in these antagonists' evolutionary history, each incident lost to time. But not this meeting, entombed by tree resin 100 million years ago in what's now Myanmar. The resin turned to amber, a time capsule both beautiful and informative. Image: Oregon State University/FlickrTopographical Moon It's difficult for the unaided eye to appreciate the striking, varied geography of the moon, which has peaks higher than Mount Everest and craters nearly as deep as the Marianas Trench. This topographical map, published by NASA in February, conveys that geography in glorious fashion. Image: NASA [high-resolution version]Sandy From Space Superstorm. Megastorm. Frankenstorm. Some 1,100 miles across, Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane ever. Image: NOAA/NASA GOES Project [high-resolution version]Dinosaur Feathers Everywhere Dinosaurs have always been fun to imagine, and doubly so since scientists realized that some had feathers. This detail comes from an artist's rendering of Yutyrannus huali, a 30-foot-long forerunner of Tyrannosaurus rex that, by virtue of its place on the dinosaur family tree, suggests that most of the great reptiles were feather-clad. Image: Brian Choo/NatureA Drop of Life The microscopic world is a cornucopia of beautiful images; most any finalist in Nikon's Small World contest or the Olympus Bioscapes Digital Imaging Competition deserves inclusion on this year-end image list. But if just one is to be picked, let it be this single-celled algae photographed by Marek Mis, conveying in its light and color the essences of life itself. Image: Marek MisMagnificent Riflebird's Mating Dance Birds of paradise are an avian family renowned for their marvelous, seemingly fanciful plumage, used by the birds to attract mates. It's not just the feathers that are special, though; birds of paradise often perform elaborate courtship rituals, such as the dance of the magnificent riflebird, captured on film during an expedition by Cornell Lab of Ornithology researchers. Image: Tim LamanGeorge Boorujy's Meadowlark For artist George Boorujy, hyper-realistic hand-inked detail is a form of engagement, a way of holding viewers' attention in an image-saturated world. Animals are often the subjects of his work; like this meadowlark, part of Boorujy's Blood Memory exhibition, they possess an almost hypnotic power. Image: Babble*, 2011, ink on paper. (George Boorujy)*The Ghost Dragon A 120-million-year-old flying reptile discovered in northeast China, the aptly named Guidraco venator -- Chinese and Latin for "ghost dragon hunter" -- had a 15-foot wingspan and a snaggle-toothed mouth that could have been imagined by Tim Burton. Image: Xialin Wang et al./NaturwissenschaftenSpider-Building Spiders Not only does this collection of debris caught in a web look like a spider. It was made by a spider, too -- a newly discovered species from the Peruvian Amazon that constructs its own dopplegangers, a behavior never before documented. Images: Phil TorresRutabaga's Decay Fungi can be found in every habitat on Earth, and by some estimates outnumber plants by a factor of five. Yet despite their ubiquity, they go mostly unnoticed, remarked upon mostly when some forgotten piece of food is found covered in fuzz. Estonian artist Heikki Leis captures these moments on camera, revealing the beautiful fungal assemblages present in such mundanities as a decomposing rutabaga (above). Image: Heikki LeisSaturn and Tethys Space is an unceasing source of fantastic imagery, meriting its own Best of 2012 image gallery, and Saturn itself probably deserves its own gallery, too. That said, there's something beautifully serene about this photograph of the ringed planet and Tethys, one of its 62 moons, here visible as a bright fleck in the upper-left corner. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute [high-resolution version]Super-Blue Berry These Pollia condensata berries are so colorful that they might have been picked minutes ago. In fact, they were gathered in 1974. Like beetles and butterflies, their color comes not from pigments but from the refractive geometries of their surface coverings, which don't degrade over time. (Some beetle colors even shine true after nearly 50 million years.) Researchers say that P. condensata's blue is the most intense color in the natural world. Image: Vignolini et al./PNAS


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The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) is a week long institute with 11 tracks on various genealogy topics. The 2011 institute will be held January 10th to the 14th in Salt Lake City, Utah at the downtown Radisson Hotel. This location is only one block from the Family History Library, and there will be time after classes to research in the library. There is still room in 10 of the 11 tracks, and the early bird discount is in effect until October 30th.
I attended the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy in January of 2009 and thoroughly enjoyed the track on Professional Level Research. I will be returning to participate in the 2011 institute in the Advanced Methodology track. I have attended several genealogy institutes, and enjoy the focused education they provide. Some of the best genealogists in the country are going to be instructors in these courses.
Course descriptions describe the following tracks available in 2011:
American Records and Research: Focusing on Localities (Paula Stuart-Warren, CG)
New England Research Series Part 1 (D. Josh Taylor)
Ireland Research (David Ouimette, CG)
French Research (Earl Charvet)
Washington DC in Salt Lake (Pamela Sayre, CG and Rick Sayre, CG)
Professional Paths and Income in Genealogy (Kory Meyerink, AG)
Computers and Technology (Barbara Rennick)
Producing a Quality Family Narrative (John Colletta, Ph.D.)
Advanced Methodology (Tom Jones, Ph.D., CG) SOLD OUT
Accreditation and Certification (Apryl Cox, AG and Connie Lenzen, CG)
Problem Solving (Judith Hansen, AG)


text: Toy of the Week – FunLoom by ImagineToys.com on Monday, January 20, 2014 12:19:00 PM Some Imagination + A Little Design = Awesome Bracelets Give your friends awesome bracelets made with the FunLoom. Your imagination is the only limit to your creativity. This entry was posted in Creative Kids Arts and Crafts, Let's Play - Kids of All Ages, Big Kid Adventures. funloomfriendship braceletsmake friendship braceletskids arts and craftsart kits


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About leather
Leather is a unique material, which is widely used in the fashion industry. When we think of the material, the leather jacket pops up as the most iconic fashion staple. The material is extremely versatile and holds several good properties, and is used season after season.
First, leather is a soft and natural material, coming from animals. The softness of the material varies from the different leather types but they are all very comfortable to wear. Also, leather is a tensile material that shapes after your body when you wear it. This makes leather an obvious choice for fashion pieces, as a great look in combination with comfort is a good mix.
Second, leather has an insulating property, making it a go-to piece in fall- or spring season where temperatures are not at its highest. At the same time leather is a breathable material, which ensures that you are not feeling too warm. A leather jacket is thereby a perfect choice for the seasons between summer and winter.
Cool details on a Bertoni leather jacket
Third, leather fibres will hold large quantities of water vapour, which enables leather to absorb perspiration that is later dissipated. This is also a significant factor in comfort, as your leather piece will not get damages if it is exposed to soft rain. However, we do not recommend you to wear your leather piece in direct rainy weather. See also our guide to Care & Maintenance of leather.
Fourth, the material is very versatile and can be styled in many ways. The leather jacket is an iconic layering piece that will work both with a shirt underneath, a cool sweater in a thick woven quality, or a fine turtleneck.
Altogether, leather is a forever classic that will work season after season, year after year.


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the escalators necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 155 diseños de 26 diseñadores freelance.
the escalators
Hmmm. the escalators are a group of committed professional musicians with a rapidly expanding market in (predominantly) wedding receptions, corporate events, and private functions.
We cover all bases - smooth Jazz, classic Soul, phat Funk, dirty Disco. Therefore our logo needs to appeal to a broad client base, while being sassy and memorable.
Brides and grooms. 20-50yrs.
Image-conscious corporate execs.
Savvy events co-ordinators.
The bulk of our work is as a "party/dance band", though "cocktail/dinner music" is a close 2nd.
We require an eyecatching logo to set us apart from the masses. Smart, classy, and exciting.
The winning logo will be utilised on our brand-spanking-new website (http://www.theescalators.com.au), business cards/brochures, stage backdrop/banner, correspondence/letterhead.
the escalators generally use all lower case letters, though we're open to all ideas.
Our catchphrase is "Get up. Get down." and we would like to incorporate this in the new logo if possible.
As far as graphic components, not absolutely necessary, once again we're interested in your creative ideas.
We usually use a dark background in our marketing material as most of our work is at night, therefore the logo would preferably be in lighter shades or red (as on website - see link).
Logo configurations used to date have all been relatively linear/angular. We are interested in exploring our loose/relaxed/personal side ...
We have uploaded 2 logos we came up with ourselves ... they are VERY amateurish, but hopefully offer some guidance.
Importantly - WE ARE APPROACHING THIS CONTEST WITH ENTIRELEY OPEN MINDS.
Show us YOUR ideas !
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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What a great bonus! He looks great though, in spite of the lack of stickers. That's one figure I got a pretty good deal on as well, $45 with stickers and walks well, though it's not nearly as clean as that one.
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Many Americans believe that their Social Security contributions have been stolen, diverted to some unauthorized purpose. They are wrong – at least for now. Last Wednesday, Senators Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; and Rand Paul, R-Ky., proposed to do just that—steal our money.
Their Social Security Solvency and Sustainability Act slashes benefits drastically but continues to require workers to pay the same level of contributions specified under current law. Workers' paystubs would continue to show that they were contributing to Social Security, but that would be only partly true. Workers would be contributing $6.2 trillion more than what would be needed.
Graham, Lee, and Paul propose to "borrow" those excess contributions, all $6.2 trillion worth, the way a school yard bully borrows–with no intention ever of repaying the money. Like school yard bullies, the three senators even bragged about the fraud. Their press release announcing their proposal describes "what the plan accomplishes," and lists as the very first accomplishment, "Reduces debt held by the public by $6.2 trillion by 2085." How can they reduce the debt held by the public? By "borrowing" $6.2 trillion from Social Security's trust funds with no intention of ever paying as much as a penny back.
Given the outrageousness of the fraud that the senators propose perpetrating on America's workers, it seems almost beside the point to describe how exactly these three senators propose slashing benefits, but for purposes of completeness, here is a detailed fact sheet.
Benefits are slashed so substantially that workers would be better off if Congress took no action whatsoever. According to the most recent trustees report, Social Security can pay all benefits in full until 2037. If Congress took no action by that time, Social Security would still pay between 75 percent and 78 percent of the cost of all scheduled benefits through 2080 and beyond. How does this proposal compare? Here's a chart showing how hard-working Americans are better off with no action rather than with the fraud these three senators propose:
In the presidential election of 1936, Republican standard bearer Alf Landon sought to undermine workers' support for the just-enacted Social Security program by warning that workers' contributions would be stolen by a future Congress. President Roosevelt responded,
"When they imply that the reserves…will be stolen by some future Congress, diverted to some wholly foreign purpose, they attack the integrity and honor of American Government itself. Those who suggest that, are already aliens to the spirit of American democracy."
I guess FDR never imagined senators like Graham, Lee, and Paul.


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In our youth, anabolic reactions cause our body's to grow and develop, culminating in a peak of vitality. Following this peak, our body's reactions start to transform to catabolic. Our body's functions slowly begin to deteriorate due to age, stress, pollution and general everyday life. As the body slowly and quietly breaks down, our bodies go into a constant state of subtle inflammation. This inflammation is the cause of many health concerns such as osteoporosis, arthritus, digestive problems, heart disease, joint and muscle pain, decreased thyroid function etc.Age loss seeks to slow down the aging process, using wholefood anti-inflammatory ingredients to tackle the 7 different pathways of inflammation. Each products contains the same anti-inflammatory base with added extra ingredients to target specific areas and problems within the body. A miracle product that seeks to provide a variety of antioxidants to prevent age loss by oxidative stress.
Postage Costs
Ireland OrdersIf your order value is €30 or more, it qualifies for free delivery to any destination in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (subject to a max weight of 25kg). Orders of values less than €30 will incur a standard delivery charge of €4.99. We use a courier company for all deliveries and a signature will be required on delivery.
UK Orders
Standard delivery charge of €10.00. All orders will be sent by courier or by registered post with An Post (Irish postal service) and a signature will be required on delivery.
Rest of EuropeIf you wish to order from outside of Ireland and the UK, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com and a member of our customer service team will contact you to advise.
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Deliveries within Ireland are generally delivered the next business day after dispatch, though please allow up to two days for delivery after receiving your dispatch notification. Orders made after 9am on a Thursday will not be received until Monday (providing all items are in stock)
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Please be aware that we do not send orders to P.O box or Parcel Motel addresses
If for some reason you wish to return a product, please contact us within 10 working days of receiving your order at email@example.com stating the reason for return.
Cancelling Your OrderYou may cancel your order by notifying us in writing at any time up to 10 days after your products have been delivered. The notification should state your order number and reason for cancellation. If you cancel your order after we have dispatched the products then you must return the products to us in a securely wrapped parcel to Nourish, 16 Wicklow Street, Dublin 2. The products should be returned in good condition and unopened. We recommend the use of a recorded delivery service. You can no longer cancel your order once you have opened the product containers or used the products. However your statutory rights regarding quality will remain unaffected.
Nourish will refund the purchase price to the payment card used at the time of purchase once the goods are returned. Postage costs will be refunded in full in the case of incorrect or damaged orders but not where you have elected to return goods for any other reason. Nothing under these terms and conditions affects your statutory rights.
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Mystery Coconut
Amazing Alex launches on iOS, Android on July 12
Rovio has announced Amazing Alex will be made available for iOS and Android on July 12. The physics-based puzzler was developed by Snappy Touch and Mystery Coconut of Casey's Contraptions fame. The game allows players to create their own levels as well, and share them with the community. Watch the launch trailer below.
Mystery Coconut headlines
Rovio acquires Casey's Contraptions IP, new title releasing this summer
Rovio has acquired the rights to the Casey's Contraptions IP from Snappy Touch and Mystery Coconut, and the firm will release a new game in the series this summer. The original iPad title has been removed from the App Store. The new physics-based puzzler will be the first title from the developer that's not Angry […]


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Paper Lanterns - Create An AMAZING Space For Less
Paper Lanterns are used to fill the air space for weddings, parties, major events, and even in homes! Use our paper lanterns as-is, or you can even add our bright LED Lighting For Paper Lanterns to them in a variety of colors! LED lights stay cool to the touch so are a great option for lighting our Paper Lanterns. This method works best for installations that are either temporary or for lanterns that you cannot use a plug in socket. Hangs using included wire hoops. For Lanterns Sizes 12" to 36", you can even add our Light Socket Kit with Cord in order to illuminate the lanterns! With your order we will provide an instruction sheet for how to safely add electrical light bulbs to these lanterns, as well as which wattage light bulb is safe to use for each size of lantern.


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Date: Approximately 2 weeks ago.
Time: Morning.
Scene: In the kitchen at my parent's home. Dad is making coffee. I'm trying to gather ingredients to make waffles.
One More Reason to Love My Dad:
Me: "We don't have buttermilk or enough eggs to make Alton Brown's waffles."
Dad: "Just make Dorie's waffles. I'll put some bacon on."