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Unless otherwise discussed, orders marked as a gift will ship AS IS. In other words, if you leave a gift message during checkout, it will not be printed inside the card. Please contact me for customization requests.
New Homeowner Congratulations Card, "Happy New Home", houseplant; blank inside
- 4.25x5.5"
- envelope included
Ships from Denver, CO via USPS First Class Mail®. USPS quotes 1-3 business days in transit for First Class shipping, but it's almost never less than 3 business days, a more accurate timeline is 3-5 business days in transit.
Orders placed on a Saturday or Sunday will begin processing time the following Monday.
Message me for custom order requests :)
Most orders are shipped out within 3-5 business days. All items are shipped via US Postal Service First Class (3-8 business days) or Priority Mail (1-3 business days). Unfortunately, USPS isn't always reliable with their transit time quotes so if you need something by a specific day, please message me about upgrading your shipping to UPS or FedEx. Both are much more reliable shipping methods and typically cost an extra $5-$25 depending on the requested service (Ground, 2-Day, Overnight, etc.).
Cards are shipped in EcoEnclose cardboard packaging to prevent from bending. Each card is paired with a kraft brown envelope and placed in a cellophane bag.
I like to ship my prints in tubes so they arrive in the best condition possible. However, some people don't end up framing them (which helps with the flattening of the rolled print) so I'm happy to ship it with some extra cardboard and padding to ship flat. There is an extra fee for the extra materials used in the packaging of your print.
These are packaged with lots of padding to prevent from chipping/damage in transit.
If your order is a gift for someone, I'd be happy to include a small card with your message to them and leave out the purchase invoice. Just leave a message to seller during checkout.
****The shipping carrier is liable for loss of or damage to the goods, as well as for delay in delivery****
Request a cancellation within: 24 hours of purchase
But please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
All sales are final. If your order arrives incorrect (custom work), I'm happy to give you a full refund or send a revised product! If your order arrives damaged, please contact me immediately and I'll do my best to resolve the issue. No one likes a crumpled up greeting card :(
I am ALWAYS doing custom artwork/cards for friends and family, and you're no different!! Contact me with ANY commission work as I'm always taking on new challenges.
I have a specific listing for custom cards. Please use the search bar to find it on my shop. I do not print messages in completed card designs. Plus a handwritten message is always better! 😊
I'm absolutely available for wholesale. Please contact me for inquiries.
Nov 14, 2018
Great cards- thank you! Love them


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Leganes earn first promotion to top flight as Alaves win Segunda Division
Leganes were promoted to the top flight of Spanish football for the first time in their history after winning on the final day of the Segunda Division season on Saturday.
Pablo Insua scored with a header following a corner in the 48th minute to give Leganes a 1-0 win at Mirandes to clinch promotion to the Primera Division.
Leganes were only promoted to the second tier in 2014 and will now find themselves playing alongside the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid next season.
They nearly were...

subset: commoncrawl


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Perfect Living
Overseas Mission
Malaysia maintains diplomatic relations with countries and international organisations through 105 missions in 83 countries abroad. Find out more about these missions and view their list.
Testimonial Videos
Over the years, participants have come from all around the world to join our Malaysia My Second Home programme. Find out what they say about Malaysia and Malaysia My Second Home programme.


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The Funniest People in Hawai'i
It takes one to know one, so we asked award-winning comedy writer Charles Memminger to choose the most hilarious comedians the Islands have produced.
(page 1 of 4)
Frank De Lima
Trying to identify the "funniest people in Hawai'i" is something like trying to identify the shortest munchkins in Munchkinland. There are so many of them. Hawai'i is a sort of funny people breeding ground, a tropical petri dish that provides a rich, nurturing environment for humor to grow and thrive. Humor is an organic consequence of throwing a ridiculous number of diverse cultures and ethnicities onto a clutch of islands in the middle of an empty, balmy ocean. And balmy is a key factor. Because if you throw a bunch of people together on cold, forsaken islands in the middle of a freezing ocean, you don't get humor, you get Vikings.
Now, let's be clear: There is no way I can single out all the funny people in Hawai'i. Because most of them work in offices, or at the Department of Public Works or in restaurant kitchens. We remember them from school, that funny guy or girl who made us spew milk through our noses with an unexpected antic or observation. They never ended up on stage or TV or radio. But they are still around, still funny.
So I have to concentrate on the standouts, the funny people who made names for themselves in the Islands. Where do you start, historically? I'm sure there were some funny folks around back in King Kamehameha's day. A court jester, if you will, who amused the royal family with bits like, "Hey, I just swam in from Maui and, boy, are my arms tired!" There was probably even some sailor in Lahaina telling whale jokes during Herman Melville's time. ("Three whales walk into a bar …")
I'm no cultural anthropologist, but from talking to a number of local comics and entertainers, it seems that modern Island humor, heavily influenced by cultural and ethnic differences, can be traced back to the original "Portagee jokes," jokes made at the expense of the Islands' Portuguese residents during the early sugar plantation days.
Comedian and proud "Portagee" Frank De Lima explained it to me this way: "The Portuguese were the foremen on the plantations and they were very strict. Some of them were mean, actually. When you have someone who is mean, you are going to make jokes about them."
De Lima has kept that tradition alive in his more than 40 years of comedy by not only telling Portagee jokes but skewering all ethnicities equally and, if not in drag, then in outrageous costumes. De Lima is one of Hawai'i's funniest people, but that hasn't kept him from being lambasted in this New Age of Hypersensitivity for continuing to indulge in ethnic humor. Lee Cataluna, a columnist with The Honolulu Advertiser, a noted playwright and a former standup comic herself, chastised De Lima in a column a few years ago for continuing to make Portagee jokes. De Lima laughed it off, saying that ethnic jokes in the hands of professionals before a paying crowd who know what they are going to hear is fine while ethnic jokes told by some idiot in an office specifically to demean or insult someone … not so good.
I use the example of telling "Portagee jokes" in order to draw an arbitrary historical starting point for identifying some of Hawai'i's funniest people in modern times (i.e., the times when mixed drinks with umbrellas in them first became popular) because humor at the expense of plantation foremen became a mainstay of comedy in Waikiki. And the godfather of ethnic and pidgin humor came from an unlikely place: the Honolulu Police Department. He was a detective named Sterling Mossman. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Mossman held court at the Barefoot Bar at Queens Surf. He was known as the "Hula Cop," because he would sing, dance and tell outrageous stories until the early morning hours and then go to his job as an HPD detective. He was part Portuguese, so Portagee jokes were an inevitable part of his repertoire.
Legendary promoter Tom Moffatt knew Mossman well. "We put him in a show once at the Civic Auditorium; he was funny as hell. He told a joke about the missionaries, how they came to Hawai'i and wanted to teach the Hawaiians Christianity. They asked the Hawaiians to bow their heads and when the Hawaiians raised their heads, their land was gone."
The Barefoot Bar was ground zero for this new brand of local comedy. Mossman was the ringleader, along with the likes of Lucky Luck, a zany radio personality, and Kent Bowman, known as K.K. Kaumanua [say his name out loud]. They told stories, sang songs and, when a celebrity from the Mainland happened to come by (and they did a lot), they became part of the show. Imagine the scene … songwriter Kui Lee singing "I'll Remember You" downstairs at Queens Surf while Bobby Darin joined Mossman on stage up in the Barefoot Bar. Mossman even allowed an unknown Hawaiian-Chinese crooner from a little bar in Kāneohe to sit in for him occasionally. His name was Don Ho, and his relationship with Mossman became pivotal in an unlikely comedy genealogy that extends to this day.


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The Australian privacy commissioner and a consumer group supported mandatory data breach notifications, in comments submitted today to the Attorney General.
Last week, Parliament passed a bill containing several amendments to privacy law. Among other things, the law gives Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim more powers, including the right to seek civil penalties for serious privacy breaches.
However, the privacy legislation did not include a more controversial provision requiring companies to notify customers in the case of a data breach. The proposal involves some tough issues, including what constitutes a breach and how soon after a breach a company should alert customers.
In today's submission, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) said it "supports the introduction of mandatory data breach notification legislation, as current voluntary data breach notification arrangements are insufficient."
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) agreed on behalf of consumers in its own comments.
"A mandatory data breach notification requirement would provide greater information to consumers about the security of their personal information, and provide an incentive for organisations to improve their security practices," ACCAN said.
The OAIC said notification should be triggered if the breach "gives rise to a 'real risk of serious harm' to an individual."
"There should be a catch-all test that is able to apply to a range of circumstances, rather than a prescriptive test, and the specific elements that should be included in the notification trigger include the type of personal information involved in the breach, the context of the affected information and the breach, the cause and extent of the breach and the risk of harm to the affected individuals."
However, ACCAN seeks a broader trigger than "serious harm," it said. "It is not clear, for instance, whether the disclosure of credit card information carries 'a real risk of serious harm.'"
However, ACCAN said it recognises "the concerns of 'notification fatigue' if notifications are made for too wide a range of events, and agree[s] that an excessively broad definition might contribute to this fatigue."
The OAIC said notifications "should be made as soon as is reasonably practicable."
ACCAN agreed: "Organisations should be responsible for notifying as soon as is practicable or reasonable after a breach is known (or reasonably suspected) to have occurred."
"A set time limit would serve only to signal to organisations that notification could be delayed until that limit had been reached," it said. "We note that delayed notification may be needed in particular cases, e.g. where notification would negatively impact on law enforcement activities."
Follow Adam Bender on Twitter: @WatchAdam
Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU, or take part in the Computerworld conversation on LinkedIn: Computerworld Australia


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Checking in on… the Pac-10Posted by Brian Goodman on February 24th, 2011
Andrew Murawa is the RTC correspondent for the Pac-10 and Mountain West Conferences.
A Look Back
This was the week the west was (all but) won. With Arizona's thrilling victory over Washington Saturday and UCLA's overtime loss at Cal on Sunday, the Wildcats now own a two-game lead over the Bruins in the Pac-10 with four games to play. And with UCLA having to travel to the Washington schools to close the conference season after hosting the Arizona schools this week, while it is still possible that the 'Cats could be caught, it would take a Westwood-favorable convergence of events for that to happen.
Team of the Week: Arizona – I'll admit, I've been slow to come around on this version of the Wildcats. Sure, Derrick Williams is on the very short list of Player of the Year candidates, went my thinking, but the rest of that roster is ordinary. Well, looking back at what Arizona has done to this point is impressive. They've won eight in a row and 12 of their 14 conference games. Even if this conference isn't up to the caliber of the 2009 vintage, that's mighty impressive. Outside of their inexplicable loss at Oregon State on the first Sunday of the year, the other three Arizona losses have come against teams ranked in Ken Pomeroy's top 11 right now. Momo Jones has stepped up as a legitimate major conference point guard and a good second scoring option, having scored in double figures in eight of his last nine games. Solomon Hill has established himself as a do-everything scrapper up front, Kyle Fogg has proven to be a capable distributor (he's had six or more assists three times in this winning streak), Kevin Parrom has turned into a deadly three-point shooter (nine-of-16 from deep during the streak) and a terrific defensive presence and Jesse Perry has become an enforcer up front, averaging 8.8 rebounds per game in their last ten. And if all that isn't enough, Jamelle Horne, the lone senior on the club, has shown a penchant for knocking down big threes when his team needs it the most. Aside from Williams, the individual pieces on this club may not blow you away on a regular basis, but Sean Miller has done a masterful job molding them into a legitimate threat to make a deep run in March.
Player of the Week: Derrick Williams, Junior, Arizona – 26 points in each of his games this week. 19 total rebounds. A couple of assists per game. Fifteen of 26 shooting from the field and 20-21 from the line (this from a guy who shot 68% from the line last year). Oh, and throw in ten points over the last six minutes against Washington, a couple of big threes, including one with just over a minute left to give the 'Cats the lead back, then a monstrous rejection on the Huskies' last viable chance, and it was a very good week for Williams. For the season, the guy hasn't been kept out of double figures once, has nine double-doubles, is shooting 63% from the field, 75% from the line and an absolutely absurd 68% from deep, averages over two points per shot, is one of the most efficient high-use players in the land and is an absolute shoo-in as a first-team All-American.
Newcomer of the Week: Chase Creekmur, Freshman, Arizona State – With apologies to C.J. Wilcox, Maurice Jones and Jay-R Strowbridge, who all had excellent weeks bombing from deep, let's recognize this freshman wing from Marshalltown, Iowa who had the game of his very short career this week in helping the Sun Devils to just their second conference win. Creekmur played the most minutes of his career against Washington State and came up with 18 huge points on five-of-eight shooting from behind the arc while also grabbing three rebounds and handing out a couple of assists. As Herb Sendek turns his eye towards the future of the ASU program, Creekmur has thrown his hat into the ring as someone to keep an eye on.
Game of the Week: Arizona 87, Washington 86 – Game of the week, for sure. On the short list with the Arizona/Cal three-overtime epic for game of the year in the conference as well. While the Arizona/Cal game had 15 extra minutes and all the drama and scrappiness that you could ask for in a college basketball game, this one had a national television audience and both teams playing for a potential conference championship. Down the stretch, both teams had its stars step up, as Williams carried the Wildcats on home and Isaiah Thomas did the same for the Huskies, handing out in rapid succession three beautiful lob passes that ended in Washington dunks. In the end, however, it was Williams sending back a Darnell Gant attempt in dramatic fashion with under a second left that sealed the game for the Wildcats.
Game of the Upcoming Week: Arizona (23-4, 12-2) at UCLA (19-8, 10-4), 2/26, 1PM, FSN – While this will no longer be a game for the top spot in the conference, following UCLA's upset loss at Cal on Sunday night, this should still tell us a lot about both teams. UCLA is still a complete cipher. They've beaten BYU and St. John's (arguably the two best wins by any team in the Pac-10 this year – although the crosstown rival has a major bone of contention there), but in their big "up" games in the Pac-10 (at Arizona and at home against Washington), they've lost by 11 points each time. They've got a loss to a mediocre Montana team on their rap sheet and while clearly a talented team, they turn the ball over at a ridiculous pace (turnovers on almost a quarter of all possessions) and have efficiency numbers of both ends of the court that are merely average. For Arizona, while we have discussed all the good things they have done, there is still a gaping hole in their resume: lack of quality road wins. To this point their best win away from the McKale Center is either at Washington State or Cal, neither a team that is in the NCAA picture any longer. While a win at an average UCLA team is not normally a resume highlight, given the Wildcats' relatively weak schedule, this win would be very welcome. Oh, and then there's the fact that an Arizona win here in all likelihood clinches the Pac-10 title.
Power Rankings
1. Arizona (23-4, 12-2): So, the Wildcats are a lead-pipe cinch to get invited to the NCAA Tournament next month, even without a Pac-10 tournament championship. But where do they wind up seeded? They've got road games against the Los Angeles schools and home games against the Oregon schools to finish things up, and while a 2-2 record to finish things up is not impossible, we'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they've earned and say they finish up 3-1, then advance to the Pac-10 title game before losing. And that's the worst-case scenario. If that happens, they wind up at 28-6 on the season with the wins over Washington and UCLA as their sole wins over NCAA Tournament teams (barring some well-placed upsets in Championship Week). What is that good for? Three-seed seems too high for the lack of quality wins, while a six-seed seems too low for a team that won their regular season conference title, finished the season 8-2 (in our scenario) and winds up with a top-20 RPI. I say this team tops out at a four-seed (might have a chance at a three with the Pac-10 tourney title and a couple other dominoes falling ahead of them) with a five-seed the low end.
Looking ahead: While you can't overlook anything in the Pac-10, this week presents the final large challenges to Arizona's Pac-10 title dreams. The Wildcats travel to face a suddenly resurgent USC team on Thursday night, then battle UCLA on Saturday with a chance to wrap up the conference championship.
2. Washington (19-8, 10-5): It was a disappointing week for the Huskies, coming up just short in the desert. And while the tightness of the game and the excitement of the final minutes indicate that Washington was right there to the end with the 'Cats, a close look at the box score reveals some disturbing numbers. To begin with, the Huskies allowed the Wildcats to grab 50% of all offensive rebound opportunities – an unforgivable number – and on the other end, Arizona limited the Huskies to an offensive rebounding percentage of just 24%. While Lorenzo Romar's team has been just average cleaning the defensive glass this season, in part because they challenge a ton of shots, their inability to positively affect the game on the offensive glass had to be disturbing. That, combined with the fact that Washington wasn't getting a lot of clean looks from deep, and the looks they were getting weren't falling, explains the loss. But all things considered, a controversial one-point loss on one of the toughest roadies in the Pac-10 in a game in which you didn't play all that well is not a terrible result.
Looking ahead: The Huskies are done with the road for the season, and thankfully, as six of their eight losses so far came on the road (the other two were neutral site games in Maui). Back in the friendly confines of the Hec Ed, Washington fully expects to take care of business the rest of the way against Washington State (on Sunday), UCLA (next Thursday) and USC (next Saturday).
3. UCLA (19-8, 10-4): The Bruins are in second place in the conference and the only team with much of a remaining shot at catching Arizona for first place. But I wouldn't dare put this team as the second strongest team in the conference. They've won seven of their last eight, 11 of their last 13, and as referenced above, they've got two of the best wins of any team in the Pac-10 this season. This week they got a hard-fought and acceptable road split at the Bay Area schools, but a deeper look at the team reveals serious flaws. But regardless of all that, if the season ended today, the Bruins would be safely in the NCAA Tournament. And yet, the season doesn't end today.
Looking ahead: Ahead for the Bruins lies danger. This week they've got Arizona State and Arizona at home. The Bruins have flirted all season long with giving away conference games against teams that they should beat, but thus far have escaped with perfectly explainable losses. They'll need to keep up that streak by taking care of business against ASU and not allowing the specter of the Arizona battle to lead to a bad loss. Then come the Wildcats, where a win is a great outcome and a loss is, well, expected. To wrap up the season, Ben Howland takes his team to Washington and Washington State, probably the toughest road trip in the Pac-10 this year. A sweep is almost unthinkable, a split is brilliant and an oh-fer-the-road-trip is a potential nightmare. Even if the worst case scenario comes true and the Bruins go 1-3 down the stretch, winning their first round Pac-10 game to get to 21 wins on the season, paired with wins over BYU and St. John's, and the Bruins probably limp in. Lose in the first round, and sweat it out on Selection Sunday.
4. USC (15-12, 7-7): From here on down, we are looking at teams that either need to win the Pac-10 Tournament or consider their options for the NIT. And, perhaps most importantly in the short-term for these next five teams, is the fact that teams one through six in the conference receive a first-round bye in the conference tournament. You don't want to finish seventh here. For the Trojans, they jump from the back of this middle pack last week to the top of it here on the strength of a road sweep of the Bay Area schools. Kevin O'Neill's club was sparked this week by freshman Maurice Jones, who, after being relegated to coming off the bench for the first time in his college career, took exactly one half to wallow in pity before exploding for 22 second-half points to fend off an attempted-comeback back Cal. Jones followed that game up with another ten points in the win at Stanford, and it looks like he'll be an asset providing a scoring punch off the bench the rest of the way. Elsewhere, Nikola Vucevic was typically excellent this week, averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds, but also knocking down a surprising five threes this week, which was more than a quarter of his total coming into the game.
Looking ahead: Like the Bruins, the Trojans have a tough row to hoe the rest of the way: Arizona, Arizona State, at Washington State and at Washington.
5. Oregon (14-12, 7-7): The Ducks tore past Oregon State this week to put the wraps on a season-sweep of the Civil War. With the game still somewhat in doubt early in the second half, Jay-R Strowbridge knocked down three straight three-pointers to push Oregon further out ahead. A three by Tyrone Nared followed, as did one by E.J. Singler, then Strowbridge added another and after six straight threes by Oregon, an eight-point Duck lead had turn into a 20-point lead. All in all, Oregon knocked down 13 threes, forced 19 Beaver turnovers and eased home with a 19-point victory.
Looking ahead: Oregon hosts Cal and Stanford in a pair of games that will be very important for Pac-10 Tournament seeding.
6. Cal (14-13, 7-8): The Golden Bears snapped a four-game losing streak on Sunday night, fighting through an improbable buzzer-beating three by Malcolm Lee that sent the game into overtime, to squeak one out in overtime. Junior guard Jorge Gutierrez was phenomenal throughout, scoring 34 points, handing out six assists, grabbing three boards, swiping three steals and just epitomizing toughness and grit. Freshman guard Allen Crabbe returned in that game after missing two straight games and most of a third with a concussion. While Crabbe did not play as well as he had played before the injury, his importance to the club was emphasized during his absence.
Looking ahead: Cal travels to the Oregon schools this week, a good opportunity for a talented club to get right and jump back up the Pac-10 standings.
7. Washington State (17-10, 7-8): Instead of catching the Wildcats looking forward to the Washington game last week, the Cougars found themselves with a post-Arizona hangover when they played Arizona State on Saturday, and my, what a headache that turned out to be. Despite 58 points on the week from junior Klay Thompson, Washington State limped back home with an 0-2 record on the road trip and with any hopes of an NCAA at-large bid dashed upon the rocks. What seemed to be a promising season around Christmastime has turned into utter disappointment, although it is not merely sarcastic to say that this season is a vast improvement over last season's total collapse.
Looking ahead: The Cougars play two of their final three at home, but it is not an easy stretch by any means. After traveling to play the Huskies in Seattle on Sunday, they'll host USC and UCLA next week. It looks like they'll need to win two of those three to feel comfortable about getting a first round Pac-10 bye.
8. Stanford (13-13, 6-9): Getting swept at home in conference play in a week is never a good thing. And now, riding their second losing streak of at least three games this season, the Cardinal find themselves staring up at seven teams above them in the conference standings. Against UCLA, Jeremy Green continued his hot streak, knocking down nine-of-16 shots and five three-pointers on the way to 27 points, his fifth straight 20-point game. But USC was able to get Green off his game, limiting him to 3-13 shooting and just ten points in the 16-point loss.
Looking ahead: The Cardinal travel to Corvallis and Eugene this week for game that border on must-wins.
9. Oregon State (9-16, 4-10): I've said enough about the Beavers for the year, I think. They've been a fascinating and utterly frustrating team. I'll throw out bipolar and underachieving as two fairly apt adjectives that I don't think I've used to describe them yet this year. But mostly, I just want to point you to George Dohrmann's excellent blog post where he spares no quarter in describing the many faults of this Oregon State team. Maybe next week we'll talk about what the future holds for this Beaver team, but for now they just make me tired.
Looking ahead: Stanford and Cal come calling this week. Who knows what will happen.
10. Arizona State (10-16, 2-12): I love it when we get to wrap up one of these posts on a positive note. There's not much happy news to report at the bottom of the standings, and certainly one win in a sea of conference losses isn't much to get excited about, but the ASU win over Washington State on Saturday will have to do. Playing without injured seniors Rihards Kuksiks and Ty Abbott (addition by subtraction much?), the Sun Devils got a career performance by Chase Creekmur (18 points, five threes), the best performance by the team's leading scorer, Trent Lockett (20 points, eight rebounds), since November and the best performance from freshman guard Corey Hawkins in his brief career (29 minutes, six assists). The Devils knocked down nine threes, outshot the Cougars from the field and played their best defense in about a month and now head into the final weeks of the season with a puncher's chance at not finishing in last in the conference.
Looking ahead: The Sun Devils travel to UCLA and USC before hosting Oregon and Oregon State. They'll need to win two of those games and have Oregon State lose all of their to take ninth place, but at least it is something to play for.


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It's shaping up to be a huge week for Microsoft. On Monday, the company announced its Surface tablet platform at a hush-hush event in Los Angeles, and now Microsoft has unveiled Windows Phone 8 Apollo at its Windows Phone Summit in San Francisco.
Microsoft announced eight specific platform updates for its upcoming mobile OS. We've already covered one of the most consumer-facing updates, the new Start Screen, but other changes include hardware-related features like multi-core processor and memory card support, a revamped Internet Explorer 10, shared native code between Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8, NFC support, a new Wallet hub, Nokia Maps, and Windows Phone 8 for business.
Many of these updates shouldn't come as a surprise, considering all the leaks and reports that came out in February. Nor was today's announcement a full-fledged reveal like Apple's iOS 6 presentation at WWDC. Microsoft says it will unveil more end-user features in the summer. But in the meantime, these platform updates are significant, and Microsoft had a lot to say about them.
Here's a deeper dive into what we can expect from Windows Phone 8.
Hardware Updates —————-
As suspected, Windows Phone 8 will support multi-core chips. It's a move that will make Windows Phone more competitive with the iPhone and Android handsets, which have been able to check off multi-core support on their spec sheets for quite a while. When they launch, Windows Phone 8 devices will run on dual-core processors, specifically those from Qualcomm.
"The experience that people have had on a single-core will get much, much better as we move to dual-core," Joe Belfiore, manager of the Windows Phone Program, said at the event.
Windows Phone 8 will also support three screen resolutions. (Windows Phone 7.5 supports just one.) The new screen resolutions include WVGA at 800x480 pixels and a 15:9 aspect ratio; WXGA at 1280x769 and 15:9; and 720p at 1280x720 at 16:9.
Rounding out the hardware story, Windows Phone 8 will support microSD card expansion. Hardware manufacturers can include a microSD slot for users to easily transfer information from device to device. "What this enables is that an end user can add a MicroSD card months after they've bought a phone and transfer information from PC to phone, and phone to phone," Belfiore said. "We didn't want to deliver this feature until we could do it where it's easy to use."
Revamped Internet Explorer 10 —————————–
Microsoft showed off a new Internet Explorer browser for Windows Phone 8. The new IE 10 features Smart Screen, an anti-phishing filter that uses data from Windows PCs to block malicious websites in real time. Belfiore showed off how IE 10 can protect users who might fall victim to scam links sent via email.
Native Code Support and Shared Core ———————————–
Windows Phone 8 will share native C and C++ code with Windows 8, making it easier for developers to create apps for both platforms. It's not something that consumers will immediately notice when they use the OS, but Microsoft hopes native code support will lead to better, easier app development – and thus more quality apps in Windows Phone Marketplace.
"The biggest effect this will have is we're going to see some freaking killer games this year," Belfiore said.
At its developer summit, Microsoft continually hammered on how easy it will be for developers to port games from Windows 8 to Windows Phone 8, and vice versa. "Suddenly, with Windows Phone 8 with that shared core, taking an app from the PC to phone is very straightforward," Belfiore said.
In essence, native code will enable developers to write high-performance code – which is why games are such a big deal – and drive hardware acceleration. "You're going to see some beefy, powerful phones running some amazing games this year," Belfiore said.
NFC Sharing ———–
As suspected, Windows Phone 8 devices will support NFC sharing. NFC isn't a totally new technology, but it's far from ubiquitous, so it's interesting to see Microsoft pushing it forward. Belfiore demoed how NFC would work in a Lexus advertisement with an embedded tag – he used the April issue of Wired magazine, actually: With a simple tap of his phone on top of the advertisement, he transferred product information directly to his Windows Phone.
Also, sharing isn't limited to just phones. The new Microsoft platform supports NFC between phones, laptops, slates, and PCs. And NFC also has an important role in the next platform update....
Wallet Experience —————–
Windows Phone 8 will feature a new Wallet hub where users can store their credit and debit card information, third-party loyalty and membership cards, and coupons and deals. It's not unlike Apple's iOS 6 Passbook app. But Windows Phone Wallet experience will also support NFC tap-to-pay.
Yes, it's like Google Wallet, but with one fundamental difference. All of your credit and debit card information will be stored in a secure SIM card, not in an on-device system. Google Wallet is built directly into a device, making it impossible to move your Wallet info from one device to the next, but Windows Phone has opted for a more transition-friendly option.
Microsoft's approach is also an experience that carriers prefer. But don't get too excited just yet, as the NFC tap-to-pay capabilities won't be coming to the United States until next year. At launch, the capability will be limited to the France-based Orange carrier. US Windows 8 consumers, however, will still be able to access the Wallet hub as their central location for cards, third-party services, and deals.
Goodbye Bing Maps, Hello Nokia Maps ———————————–
Say goodbye to Bing Maps. Windows Phone 8 maps will run on Nokia's mapping technology, built directly into the onboard Maps app. There's not too much news on this front, but this development isn't surprising considering Microsoft and Nokia's close ties. Some key features include: Global NAVTEQ map data, offline map support, turn-by-turn directions, and map control for developers. 3-D navigation didn't make it.
Windows Phone 8 for Business —————————-
Microsoft has always had a strong hold on the enterprise market with Windows, and now it's taking all of that work and pulling it together with a business-friendly Windows Phone platform. Windows Phone 8 will come with a complete security platform with Secure Boot and encryption (which is a derivative of Windows Bitlocker). It'll make app distribution and deployment flexible for business, offering up a mechanism for private distribution and full-on onsite management.
Businesses will also be able to manage Windows Phone 8 devices through a software management system. And finally, Windows Phone 8 will run the Microsoft Office suite – though we have yet to see how it will look in that mobile form.
New Start Screen —————-
Ah, the new Start Screen. "It's the sexiest thing in Windows Phone 8," Belfiore said. And this should definitely the case for more visually motivated users. As we wrote in our story about the Start Screen and current Windows Phone devices, the new Start Screen is the most visible end-user feature of Windows Phone 8 (at least that's been announced so far).
Microsoft has taken its Live Tiles and made them more customizable, bringing a new small size to the experience.
"These live tiles are the heart and soul of the Windows Phone," Belfiore said. "We know that our users really love their phones, and we think the biggest reason is because Live Tiles make the phones so special and so personal."
Users will be able to choose between a small, medium and large size for their Live Tiles. And now the entire screen is available for Live Tile pinning – the arrow and empty space on the right-hand side have dissapeared. To that end, users can pin more on their Start Screen.
And of course, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 are coming even closer together. As Microsoft said, they're "better together."
"The intent in our changing the Live Tiles support is not just to make Live Tiles more personal, but to give a more consistent experience between Windows 8 Live Tiles and Windows Phone 8 live tiles," Belfiore said.


text: AOSIS OpenJournalshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://www.ojvr.org0030-24652219-0635Prevalence of peste des petits ruminants in the arid zone in the Republic of Niger The study aimed to determine the prevalence of peste des petits ruminants in the arid zone (Niamey, Tillabéry and Tahoua) of the Republic of Niger. A serological survey was conducted and 519 serum samples were collected from 253 unvaccinated sheep and 266 unvaccinated goats. The sample included 340 female animals (168 sheep and 172 goats) and 160 kids and lambs (78 lambs and 82 kids). A competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay yielded an overall seroprevalence of 45.0%. The prevalence in sheep was 42.0% compared with 47.9% in goats. The seroprevalence observed amongst small ruminants in Tahoua (49.8%) and Tillabéry (46.6%) was significantly higher (p = 0.001) than that observed in animals from Niamey (25.1%). It was also higher (p = 0.04) in sheep younger than two years (51.8%) than in adults (37.6%). Conversely, the seroprevalence showed no significant difference between male animals (35.8% in sheep; 50.1% in goats) and female animals (45.1% in sheep; 46.4% in goats). The prevalence of the disease observed amongst the sheep and goat populations confirms the continued danger of this disease in the areas studied. It is therefore necessary to develop strategies such as improving livestock services, providing effective vaccines and implementing a vaccination programme for an effective control of the disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Souaibou Farougou1 1Polytechnic School of Abomey-Calavi, University of Abomey-Calavi, Republic of Benin Mariama Gagara1 1Polytechnic School of Abomey-Calavi, University of Abomey-Calavi, Republic of Benin Guy A. Mensah2 2Agricultural Research Centre of Agonkanmey, National Institute of Agricultural Research of Benin, Republic of Benin Souaibou Farougou firstname.lastname@example.com PO Box 2009, Main Recipe, Cotonou 01, Republic of Benin 05 Dec. 201203 July 201309 Sept. 2013Farougou, S., Gagara, M. & Mensah, G.A., 2013, 'Prevalence of peste des petits ruminants in the arid zone in the Republic of Niger', Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 80(1), Art. #544, 6 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ojvr.v80i1.544 © 2013.The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.Introduction Small ruminants in the Republic of Niger contribute significantly to the gross domestic product of the country. Of the total of 80 403 tons of meat produced in the country, small ruminants contribute 29 709 tons, about 37.0% (Countrystat 2012). Compared with the studies carried out on cattle, current knowledge of small ruminant diseases is fragmentary and incomplete. The persistence of, amongst others, peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is explained by the essentially transhumant mode of livestock management and low immunisation coverage. Only 16.4% of the sheep and 14.2% of the goat population are vaccinated against PPR (Countrystat 2012). PPR is an infectious and highly contagious viral disease of wild and domesticated small ruminants. It is characterised by digestive disorders, erosive stomatitis and necrotising pneumonia (Jones et al. 1993) and can be controlled by vaccination, quarantine and disinfection (Chen et al. 2010; Diallo et al. 2007; Jones et al. 1993). The geographical distribution of PPR includes sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East (Abu-Elzein et al. 1990; Lefevre et al. 1991; Taylor 1984; Taylor, Al Busaidy & Barrett 1990) and the Indian subcontinent (Kwiatek et al. 2007; Shaila et al. 1996; Taylor et al. 2002). PPR is caused by a virus belonging to the genus Morbillivirus (Gibbs et al. 1979). Often manifesting in epizootic form, it is of vital economic importance because of its associated high mortality rate. In spite of the direct and indirect losses caused by PPR in animal husbandry in the Republic of Niger, few studies have been conducted to determine its epidemiological parameters such as animal movements, management issues (Bloch & Diallo 1991) and introduction of animals that are important in PPR transmission and its persistence. The purpose of this study was to assess the seroprevalence of PPR in the arid zone in Niamey, Tahoua and Tillabéry in the Republic of Niger. Materials and methods Study areas Out of the eight regions that make up the Republic of Niger, Niamey, Tillabéry and Tahoua (Figure 1) were selected because of reports of alleged cases of PPR. In Tahoua and Tillabéry, five districts were randomly selected for the purpose of this study, whilst in Niamey, three districts were selected. The three regions combined contain 37.0% of the sheep and 32.0% of the goat populations. Local livestock are kept under semi-intensive conditions and graze pastures during the rainy season (June to September; rainfall = 200 mm – 900 mm). Hay is provided during the dry season (October to May). The diet is supplemented with agro-industrial and food byproducts such as corn bran, rice bran, millet bran, sorghum bran and brewer's spent grain, as well as vitamin and mineral supplements in the form of salt licks. Animals get water ad libitum from the rivers and have access to open shelters all year round, except for those meant for fattening and pregnant or lactating female animals, which are kept in covered shelters. Average weather data for the sample collection period are provided in Table 1.Blood sample collection The samples were collected randomly from 15–20 small ruminants per breeding unit in the districts of Tahoua and Tillabéry and from 8–10 small ruminants in the district of Niamey, where fewer small ruminants occur. Blood samples of sheep and goats were collected over four months (November to February) during the dry season, when a resurgence of various animal diseases, including PPR, is generally reported by veterinary service workers. We collected a total of 519 blood samples from unvaccinated sheep and goats (according to the veterinary office) in selected districts of Niamey (Niamey I, III and V), Tahoua (Birni-N'Konni, Illela, Abalak, Madoua, Bambay) and Tillabéry (N'Dounga, Fakara, Bani Bangou, Kokoro, Tabala) (Table 2). Samples were organised according to age (animals younger than two years vs animals older than two years). Information gathered from farmers as well as the dentition helped to determine the ages of the animals. Blood samples were collected in plain Vacutainer tubes. After centrifugation the resulting serum was transferred to mictotubes and frozen at -20 °C until analysis. Each tube was marked by codes that represented information of the location of the breeder and the age and sex of the animals. During the collection of blood samples, special attention was given to animals showing signs of suspected PPR. In such cases, a nasal swab was taken for further analysis by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to confirm PPR. A total of 26 such blood samples were collected from animals in the four regions surveyed. Laboratory analysis of blood samples Serum samples were analysed for PPR antibodies at the Department of Niger Veterinary Laboratories, using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Competitive ELISA kits of CIRAD (EMVT, France) and the Pirbright Institute (United Kingdom) were used in this study. The analyses were performed in accordance with the procedure described by Libeau et al. (1995), Choi et al. (2005) and Wang et al. (2007). Optical densities were read in a spectrophotometer at 492 nm. The mean inhibition percentage of a serum sample was calculated from two wells. Samples with an inhibition percentage higher than 50.0% were considered positive (Aslam et al. 2009; Zahur et al. 2011). The competitive ELISA kit used for the diagnosis of PPR had a sensitivity and specificity of 92.2% and 98.4%, respectively, compared with the test virus neutralisation standard (Gopilo 2005). The detection of viral RNA by reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) was performed in accordance with the method described by Bao et al. (2008) and Couacy-Hymann et al. (2002). Viral RNA was extracted from nasal swabs using the RNeasy Mini Kit (QIAGEN, Courtaboeuf, France) according to the manufacturer's instructions. For PCR, a pair of primers amplifying a fragment of 351 bp (NP3: 5'-CGG TCT AGA AAA TCG CTC CAC CTG-3' and NP4: 5'-CCT CTC CTC CCT GGT CCA GAA TCT-3') was used (Couacy-Hymann et al. 2002). An aliquot of 25 µL of the amplification mixture contained 1 µL of each primer (5 pmol/L), 5 µL of cDNA, 1 µL of deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate (dNTP), 5 µL of 5 × buffer, 1 µL of Taq polymerase (1.25 U/L) and 12 µL of sterile distilled water. After an initial denaturation at 95 °C for 5 min, amplification proceeded with 29 cycles of denaturation at 94 °C for 30 s, 30 s of annealing at 55 °C and an extension phase at 72 °C for 1 min, followed by a final extension of 5 min at 72 °C. The PCR products were visualised after electrophoresis on 1.5% agarose gel. The samples that had been analysed by PCR were considered positive if a DNA fragment of 351 bp was obtained. Statistical analyses Collected data were entered into a spreadsheet according to sex and age for each locality. The apparent prevalence of PPR was calculated by dividing the number of positive samples by the total number of samples tested. The true prevalence was estimated using the method of Rogan and Gladen (1978). The Z bilateral test included in the STATISTICA software package (Statistica 2003) was used to compare the prevalences. Differences were considered significant at p < 0.05. Results Overall prevalence of peste des petits ruminants Of the 519 blood samples processed by serology, 231 tested positive for PPR, representing a prevalence of 45.0%. The prevalence in goats was 5.9% higher than in sheep, although this was not a significant difference (p = 0.11) (Table 3). Prevalence of peste des petits ruminants according to location The prevalence of PPR in sheep and goats varied between sampling areas (Table 3). Except for the Tahoua region, the true prevalence in goats was higher than in sheep. The prevalence in the Tahoua region was 24.7% higher (p < 0.001) than for the Niamey region. Although the prevalence was 3.2% higher than for the Tillabéry region, the difference was not statistically significant. However, the prevalence of PPR determined in the Tillabéry region was 21.5% higher than that found for the Niamey region (p < 0.001). Prevalence of peste des petits ruminants according to age In all regions, the prevalence of PPR in sheep younger than two years was higher than in both sheep and goats older than two years (Table 4). In the Tillabéry and Niamey regions, positive cases and prevalences in goats younger than two years were higher than in goats older than two years (Table 4). The PPR prevalence amongst young small ruminants (52.4%; n = 359) was significantly higher than in adults (40.9%; n = 160).Prevalence of peste des petits ruminants according to sex Except for the Niamey region, the prevalence of PPR in female sheep was higher (although not significantly) than in male sheep in all regions (Table 5). However, the particularity of the Niamey results can be explained by the small sample size collected in this region. The prevalence in male goats was higher, but not significantly, than in female goats in all regions, except for the Niamey region (Table 5). The overall prevalence found amongst female animals was 45.8% (n = 179), which was not significantly different from that in male animals (43.5%; n = 340).Polymerase chain reaction analysis The PCR analysis of samples from nasal swabs confirmed the presence of the PPR virus (Figure 2). Of the 26 samples analysed, eight were positive. The PCR results in these animals confirmed those of serological analyses. Discussion The prevalence of PPR (45.0% for all sera tested) was investigated in north-western Niger (Tahoua, Niamey and Tillabéry) and is close to that observed in other regions in Africa. In Mali, Tounkara et al. (1996) and Sangare et al. (2007) found prevalences of 32.0% and 37.0%, respectively, whilst Awa et al. (2002) found a prevalence of 30.0% in Cameroon. These results could be accounted for by the fact that in arid and semi-arid areas where PPR develops in an enzootic manner, cases generally appear only when other factors contribute to a weakening in the animals. In the Republic of Niger, cold weather conditions from November to February and low temperatures predispose animals to lung diseases. During this period, pastures are virtually non-existent and the resulting shortage of food lessens the resistance of animals, thus making them susceptible to various diseases. The seroprevalence in other regions is lower than found in our study. In fact, prevalences below 30.0% have been noted in many regions of the world. For example, a seroprevalence of 28.9% was observed in northern Burkina Faso (Sow et al. 2008), 24.0% in Oman (Taylor et al. 1990), 22.4% in Turkey (Özkul et al. 2002), 19.0% in Côte d'Ivoire (Couacy-Hymann et al. 2002) and 10.0% in Ethiopia (Abraham et al. 2005). The present study showed that the PPR seroprevalence was slightly higher in goats (47.9%) than in sheep (42.0%) although the difference was not significant. This trend is consistent with that observed in Cameroon (Awa et al. 2002), where the seroprevalence in goats (44.0%) was higher than that observed in sheep (29.0%). The same trend is observed in Pakistan, where Khan et al. (2007) found a higher seropositivity in goats (51.2%) than in sheep (39.0%). In north-western Mali, Sangare et al. (2007) noted a seroprevalence of 44.0% in goats and 34.0% in sheep. However, these results contradict those noted by Sow et al. (2008) in northern Burkina Faso, where the seroprevalence was 33.1% in sheep and 23.0% in goats. In Turkey, seroprevalences of 29.2% and 20.0% were found in sheep and goats, respectively (Özkul et al. 2002). In Ethiopia, Abraham et al. (2005) found a prevalence of 13.0% in sheep and 9.0% in goats.These varying results show that the sensitivity to PPR is not necessarily linked to the given species of small ruminants, but rather to rearing conditions and other individual factors. Furthermore, it appears from the study that the seroprevalence of PPR varies according to area. The prevalence noted amongst sheep and goats was much higher in Tahoua (49.8%) and Tillabéry (46.6%) than in Niamey (25.1%). The relatively high prevalence in Tahoua and Tillabéry could be due to a higher number of PPR-affected animals from which blood samples were collected. The overall seroprevalence found amongst female animals was 45.8%, which was not significantly different from that found in male animals. The PPR seroprevalence amongst young animals (51.8%) was much higher than amongst adults (42.0%). This can be accounted for by the fact that the susceptibility of animals to infection by the PPR virus is linked to age (Lefevre 1991). Young animals (between 2 and 18 months old) seem more prone to PPR than adults. These results are not consistent with those by Sow et al. (2008), who noted a prevalence of 33.4% in adults compared with 28.0% in young animals. Tounkara et al. (1996) further noted that the PPR seroprevalence is higher in older small ruminants because in an enzootic area they are more prone to contamination by the virus. PCR analyses confirmed the presence of the PPR virus in surveyed farms. Similar results were obtained by Balamurugan et al. (2006). Conclusion This study showed that the seroprevalence of PPR is relatively high (45.0%) amongst sheep and goats in the north-western region of the Republic of Niger. Precarious breeding conditions, malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies due to an uncertain rainy season and harsh climates (intense cold and dust) are, to a large extent, the predisposing factors. In a country where farming contributes greatly to the gross domestic product, it is important to protect livestock against diseases associated with serious economic impact, such as PPR. However, the Republic of Niger is currently confronted with conflicting issues, marked by rapid population growth and an increasing need for animal protein without the resources allocated to the health improvement of livestock being adjusted accordingly. These elements make research and development choices complex and difficult. Priority themes and strategies should be adapted, taking into account the prevailing disease conditions and means of intervention. Given the economic imperatives, sound decisions should be made to allocate funds to activities that would have an optimal positive impact on livestock productivity in a short period. The fight against PPR plays a significant role in this regard. Further work should investigate the role of other pathogens and environmental risk factors in the spread of the disease to improve the understanding of the emergence of the disease and its socio-economic impact. Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank Dr. Issoufou Maikano, his team of the directorate of Veterinary Laboratory and the Karkara NGOs agents for their contribution to the realisation of this study. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationship(s) that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article. Authors' contributions S.F. (University of Abomey-Calavi) was the project leader, M.G. (University of Abomey-Calavi) performed most of the experiments and G.A.M. (National Institute of Agricultural Research, Benin) contributed to the writing of the manuscript. 1. Abraham, G., Sintayehu, A., Libeau, G., Albin, A., Roger, F., Laekemaryam, Y. et al., 2005, 'Antibody seroprevalence against Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) virus in camels, cattle, goats and sheep in Ethiopia', Preventative Veterinary Medicine 70, 51–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2005.02.011, PMid:15967242 2. 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NEW ORLEANS (AP) NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made light of the reception he's gotten in New Orleans, where he is unpopular with Saints fans because of the bounty scandal.
Goodell joked that his picture is in every restaurant, he has a float in the Mardi Gras parade and there's even a voodoo doll.
In a more serious vein, he said that while he gets comments from fans around town, everyone in New Orleans has been receptive and that the city is a great place to have a Super Bowl.
He said he welcomes the passion of fans supporting the team and that they are a big part of the game.


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I got my taxes done in early February so the annual refund windfall my family receives is always a welcome event to start the new year. I've spent a lot of money in the last 30 days between paying down debt, buying new furniture, a big T.V. and a long-awaited Playstation 3. I spent a little bit of money on music but not a lot, I've just been keeping up with some of the newer releases and a few that I missed in 2009. So here's what I picked up in the last month or so…..
Foreigner – Can't Slow Down (2009) – $12: This was one of the albums that I missed in 2009 that I had heard so many good things about but never got around to setting foot in a Wal-Mart because I hate it so much. If I have to go into a Wal-Mart for any reason then it means that either my wife has brought me in or whatever I need is only available there. The last time I was in Wal-Mart was when I bought another exclusive, KISS – SONIC BOOM (2009). I should have just bought this new Foreigner album then but I didn't for some strange reason. Same deal as other Wal-Mart exclusives: a 3 disc set including the new record, a CD of re-recorded hits and a live concert DVD. Great value, bad retail environment.
Overkill – Ironbound (2010) – $10: I hadn't set foot in the record store in a couple of weeks so I went in specifically to get the new Overkill after I went to the Wal-Mart to buy the Foreigner album. I can't remember the last time I missed an Overkill record and I wasn't going to miss this one especially with a great release day sale price! How can you beat saving $6 off the regular price by picking the album up the day of release, or at least the week of release?
Icarus Witch – Draw Down The Moon (2010) – $9: Of course going to the record store means that you're probably going to buy more than one CD and I started going through the Metal section. I completely forgot that the new Icarus Witch album had come out and I was shocked by the low sale price. If you've followed this blog for a while then you know that Icarus Witch is one of my favorite new bands of the last 4 to 5 years so this was an easy purchase.
Heavenly – Carpe Diem (2010) – $15: Can you guess by the album cover what type of Metal this is? If you guessed Power Metal…..you're correct. CARPE DIEM was released on AFM Records everywhere but North America in the Fall of 2009 and I've had the digital promo from the label since then. I just can't embrace downloading as a form of ownership yet (a topic for another time!), I'm an old school collector and I still like the CD, cassette, vinyl, or DVD in my hands. Like I said, AFM Records sent me the digital promo and the album is really good so I put this on my want list to physically own. The problem is that all the online stores I shop at, including Ebay, offered the European import from 2009 for $20+ and then a shipping charge on top of that! I wasn't about to pay $25+ for a CD when I could wait patiently for a U.S. release. Same label, same packaging, same music but at least $10 cheaper by waiting.
Keel – Streets Of Rock 'n' Roll (2010) – $13: Same situation as Heavenly: I received the digital promo from the label, it's a great album, put it on the want list because I want to own the physical product. I always wondered why Keel never got back together during the reunion boom of the last 15 years but it was definitely worth the wait because this new record is solid. Sale price was unadvertised and there was only one copy at the store so I snatched it up and saved a few bucks off the regular price and the online price at my online shops.
Keel – The Right To Rock (25th Anniversary Edition) (2010 reissue) – $13: It's hard to believe that 25 years has gone by since this album came out. I have been a Keel fan since 1984 when they released their debut LAY DOWN THE LAW and I bought THE RIGHT TO ROCK on cassette when it came out back in the day. In the late '90s when I got the Internet, I started to fill holes in my collection and there were a few Keel albums I needed to get on CD. I picked up a used copy of the 2000 reissue CD on the Metal Mayhem label but there has been some debate over the years if that was an official release or a bootleg (I always considered it an official release). Same situation as the new Keel album: I received a digital promo from the label and put it on the want list even though I already owned it…..I got a little excited over the reunion, the new record and the bonus track – 'The Right To Rock (Reunion version)'.
Manowar – Hell On Earth V DVD – $30: I have been waiting for the latest installment of HELL ON EARTH to hit my local record store ever since Manowar's website announced the release for all territories due in late November 2009. Unfortunately, North America was skipped! It's been available through the Manowar website, online stores and Ebay ever since but for $40 – $50 + shipping depending on where you look. I was going to buy it directly from the band but it was $40 + shipping and I thought that was too much for a 2 DVD set. I caught the Newbury Comics weekly email on Monday and saw this was a new release with a $30 sale price so I figured I better get down there first thing Tuesday morning in case there was only a couple of copies. Manowar may have released some subpar albums in the last 10 years but their DVDs are awesome…..they rival both Iron Maiden and KISS for the top spot in Heavy Metal DVD releases. The only problem I had was that I got home and found out I'm missing HELL ON EARTH (Part IV) from 2007! Guess what just made the want list?
I spent a few bucks online at Ebay and a couple of shops also…..here's the online take…..
Lynzee – Lost In America (2009) – FREE: That's right…..a free CD! I entered a contest over at the Hair Metal Mansion and Andrew picked my name to win one of the three Lynzee releases he was giving away. Not a bad deal! This album is released through the excellent reissue label Retrospect Records and it's a compilation of songs from Lynzee's first two demos, some unreleased material and four new tracks re-done from the original masters way back in the day. If it's free then it's for me! It's a cool way to discover a new band.
Dream Evil – In The Night (2010) – $15: I could have bought this one in the record store but it was the regular jewel case version and not the limited edition with the 2 bonus tracks, extended artwork and patch. Which one do you think I wanted? I checked all the online stores and the limited edition was going for $22+ so I started watching Ebay. I found a seller I've done business with in the past and he/she had 5 sealed copies with a BUY IT NOW price of $15…..one click of the mouse and it was mine!
Uncle Slam – Say Uncle (2010 reissue) – $15: The original pressing and the Japanese import always go for big bucks on Ebay and I have had this on my want list for a long time. When I got the press release from Tribunal/Divebomb Records about the reissue, I made a mental note to watch the street date closely. Of course, then I forgot all about it. The label had a special sale that ran for a limited time where you could get this reissue for $12 + $3 shipping, saving at least $5 off the regular price. I received a reminder email that the sale was ending soon and, with an hour to spare, I ordered my CD.
Krokus – Pay It In Metal (1978) – $10: I'm a big Krokus fan and I have always kept the first few Krokus albums on my Ebay watch list. I've had the opportunity before to buy PAY IT IN METAL but I've always passed because there was always something else to buy. This is actually a vinyl LP, in mint condition, and I won it at auction for $5. Add $5 for shipping and you get the total paid. PAY IT IN METAL is the third Krokus record and it is the same exact album as PAINKILLER (1978)…..the only difference is that the artwork and album title were changed for different countries. There are supposed to be five different covers for this record but I have only seen three: the PAINKILLER album, this U.S. version of PAY IT IN METAL and the German version of PAY IT IN METAL that has the peeled banana of coins. See the Krokus website for more details.
Knightmare – Unholy (2008) – $5: Another Ebay purchase at a great price! I'm not sure how I stumbled upon Australia's Knightmare but I did and I did some research. UNHOLY is a 5 track E.P. that was limited to 500 copies worldwide and it is now out of print…..that means I had to have one! I found this one on Ebay for $1 and I waited until the last minute of the auction to make a bid…..add the $4 shipping and I got a great bargain on a rare CD.
Total = $142
Total (year) = $179
Total CDs (year) = 20
Total DVDs (year) = 1
Total LPs (year) = 1


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A support group for all those heathens drowning in a sea of the faithful
Members: 267
Latest Activity: Feb 4
Started by Becoming Other. Last reply by Becoming Other Oct 4, 2012. 1 Reply 0 Likes
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Has anyone else signed this yet? https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/enforce-tax-code-and-stri...
Not sure, but I think I am the only atheist in Texas. If I am not, the others are all too scared to talk!! This is not my first "babble belt" state as I have lived in Georgia and NW Florida (hell on earth). NW Florida is proof alone that if there is a god he screwed up really bad! haha
Last week, my company went through a dramatic series of cuts, firing over 600 people in one day. I'm the only out atheist in my department, and out of 75 people in the department, I was chosen as one of the 30 to carry on having a job. I should also mention that I'm deep in the Bible Belt, in Mobile, Alabama. I post this just so you know, being "out" as an atheist isn't necessarily the kiss of death for your job. Sometimes the powers that be can look beyond politics and religion and just pick the person most qualified for the position.
Hello from South Carolina!
Hello im from Alabama! I feel your pain everyone T.T
i wanted to invite all you "refugees from the bible belt" to check out our new nexus group for the National Atheist Party of Georgia. Cheers!
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The philosophy is simple for Southwest.
The philosophy is simple for Southwest.
Give the football to DaMonta Winbush and he�ll make something happen.
The junior running back showed that Friday when he rushed for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 5 carries in the Stallions� 41-0 victory over White Oak.
He also had 2 receptions for 42 yards, including a 35-yard scoring catch.
And because of his efforts, Winbush is The Daily News football player of the week.
�He made things happen,� Southwest coach Phil Padgett said. �He made the most of his carries, and he had a big night for us Friday.�
Because the Stallions (3-1), who host East Columbus (3-1) tonight, are so deep in the backfield, Winbush is only averaging 10 carries per game.
In the past Southwest has had the luxury of having one go-to back who carried the ball 15-20 times a game, but this year the Stallions have shared the pigskin, meaning everyone will receive limited touches.
That hasn�t seemed to slow down Winbush, who has 447 yards rushing and 6 touchdowns on 41 carries. Last year as a sophomore Winbush rushed for 1,052 yards and 14 touchdowns, averaging 8.6 yards per run.
�He is a pretty good athlete. He showed a glimpse of (what Winbush could do) last year, and this year he has been pretty consistent,� Padgett said. �He makes the most of his carries.�
But how the Winbush do that when everyone in the stadium knows Southwest�s game plan is to establish a strong running game?
�He has good field vision and our line blocked well for him,� Padgett said. �He�s can run over you, but he also has quickness and can run by you. He�s not the fastest guys on the football field, but he is one of the fastest.�
Winbush will likely have to run the ball well if the Stallions are to beat East Columbus, which defeated Southwest last year.
�For sure,� Padgett said.
Now for the panel
Sports page designer Mike Boaz remains the leader of The Daily News high school football forecasting panel after he went 8-0 last week to improve to 30-3.
Kinston Free Press managing editor Bryan Hanks is second at 29-4 after he went 8-0, followed by regional desk chief Richard Clark (6-2) and myself (7-1) at 26-7. WCTI-12 news anchor Brian North went 7-1 to move to 24-9 and sports editor Rick Scoppe went 6-2 to move to 23-10.
This week�s games
Croatan at Swansboro
Boaz boasts: Swans by 3
Clarkcites: Swans by 6
Hanks honks: Swans by 7
Miller mentions: Swans by 7
North notes: Swans by 1
Scoppe says: Swans by 7
Washingtonat Jacksonville
Boaz boasts: JHS by 1
Clark cites: Washby 6
Hanks honks: Wash by 6
Miller mentions: Washby 3
North notes: JHS by 2
Scoppe says: JHS by 3
Havelockat White Oak
Boaz boasts: Have by 21
Clarkcites: Have by 30
Hanks honks: Have by 28
Miller mentions: Have by 25
North notes: Have by 35
Scoppe says: Have by 30
East Columbusat Southwest
Boaz boasts: SWO by 3
Clarkcites: EC by 2
Hanks honks: SWO by 20
Miller mentions: SWO by 8
North notes: SWO by 10
Scoppe says: SWO by 3
East Duplin at South Lenoir
Boaz boasts: ED by 14
Clarkcites: ED by 20
Hanks honks: ED by 35
Miller mentions: ED by 17
North notes: ED by 14
Scoppe says: ED by 14
Richlands at Clinton
Boaz boasts: Clintonby 6
Clarkcites: Rich by 1
Hanks honks: Clintonby 6
Miller mentions: Clintonby 3
North notes: Rich by 3
Scoppe says: Clintonby 7
Northside at Topsail
Boaz boasts: NS by 8
Clarkcites: NS by 10
Hanks honks: NS by 13
Miller mentions: NS by 13
North notes: NS by 8
Scoppe says: NS by 5
Lejeune at Rosewood
Boaz boasts: Rose by 3
Clarkcites: Rose by 3
Hanks honks: Rose by 1
Miller mentions: Rose by 7
North notes: Lejeune by 1
Scoppe says: Lejeune by 3
Dixonat North Duplin
Boaz boasts: ND by 6
Clark cites: Dixonby 2
Hanks honks: Dixonby 3
Miller mentions: ND by 3
North notes: ND by 2
Scoppe says: ND by 7
Prep sports writer Chris Miller can be contacted by email at firstname.lastname@example.com or by calling 910-219-8472.


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NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co lost a bid on Monday to win the dismissal of a lawsuit by a U.S. regulator accusing the bank of misleading Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in buying billions of dollars worth of risky mortgage securities.
U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan pared down parts of the lawsuit filed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency but allowed other claims to stand.
The case was one of 17 lawsuits that the agency, as conservator for Fannie and Freddie, filed in September 2011 against banks including Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc.
Reporting By Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick


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Welcome from the Director
Director – Kerry John Poynter, M.A.
"Come make this space your own."
I have been heartened by the outpouring of support and excitement since arriving in mid July of 2010. However, I do not want to be the sole reason for the exciting future here at the LGBTQA Resource Office and UIS. This excitement is yours. The 750 square foot office suite is yours.
I welcome you if you are out and proud, questioning, an ally, religious, student of color, previously involved or not, it doesn't matter. Your story is welcome here. Join me as we build a community together and take new steps forward at UIS. I look forward to seeing you soon.
– Kerry Poynter


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The month of L.O.V.E is coming soon. In fact right after Chinese New Year, it's Valentine's Day already!
Can you believe it?Wondering where to take your beloved out for a romantic dinner this Valentine? Why not head over to EM by TedBoy.
It is located at this strategic hotel called Transit Hotel in Pudu.
Here's the address:
42, Jalan Pudu, Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur.
At night the Hotel is clearly visible and it's located just opposite the UTC, Pudu Sentral. Who can miss it with a huge brightly lit signage like this.
The menu comes in a FOR HIM (All the Items on the Right) and FOR HER (All the Items on the Left) selectionI had the opportunity to taste the great food prepared by Chef Pierre from France. I just love his detailing and food presentation. The food looks so presentable and tastes great too! For a start, I tried the Pink Lady Cocktail and Canapes.
The Pink Lady comprises of a mixture of cranberry juice, lemon, vodka and triple sec.
The Canapes (below) consist of the following:
* Rice with Pesto Sauce
* Mushroom Soup (in the little glass)
*Black Olive Tapenade on Bruschetta
* Prawn with Mango Salsa
The starters come in small bite sizes. My favourite is the flavourful rice in pesto sauce as I have a thing for Pesto sauce these days. It tastes go good. I wish I had more.
For starters, I tried this beautifully crafted Beetroot and Feta Chantilly Mille-feuilles with Pomegranate Dressing. This is a cold dish and although it's presented like a dessert, it's not sweet. It's a savoury dish.
Next, I tried the Tomato Vodka Granite which is a French sorbet. The French people believes in cleaning the palate between the entree and the main course.
For her, we tried the Pan-fried Duck Breast with Raspberry Sauce, Potato Gratin and Vegetable Tian.
The duck is semi-cooked, just like how the French dines it. This is my first time eating a semi cooked duck. At first sight it looks rather raw, but once I put it into my mouth, the meat is so soft and tender and is so juicy. I am starting to love this!
And I also got to try the other dessert, Em's Signature Pavlova. It is a meringue dessert with a crisp crust, soft and light on the inside, topped with fruit and whipped cream.
After having my hearty meal, I decided to explore the rest of this hidden gem. Stepping right upstairs, I discovered a place so beautiful. It's a sanctuary for instagram photos.
Green Green Grass of Home.
EM is also a place for Fusion Mediterranean Food. They offer Mediterranean dishes with a dash of Asian Flavour. And the person behind all this great food which is heavily influenced by a French touch is none other than Pierre that helms from France itself. Having lived here for more than 20 years, I am pretty sure he has been very localized too and understands the Asian local taste well.I am super delighted to be a part of this eye opener for a French inspired dinner preview with special thanks to Hooi Khaw, a veteran foodist and a journalist I call "sifu". Have a Happy Valentine's Day friends and start planning your Valentine Dinner soon. I hope with this preview, you will be able to share Pierre's awesome food creations with your loved ones too just in time for Valentine's Day! Call EM By TedBoy for reservations at 03- 2022 2056.


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Police reported on Wednesday that phones at a business on the 200 block of South Main Street were "hacked" and used to make calls out of the country. The case is closed.
A man told police on Sunday that his residence was burglarized, according to reports. The case is under investigation.
Officers went to the 200 block of Lincoln Street on Wednesday to locate a woman wanted on two warrants out of the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, one for larceny and one on a probation violation. She was arrested and jailed.


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Jennifer Lawrence slides into a booth at the casually elegant Culina restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel.
LOS ANGELES — Jennifer Lawrence slides into a booth at the casually elegant Culina restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel. She's on a lunch break from the daylong grind of promoting the international release of "Silver Linings Playbook," but she's not eating because she just shared a "brick" of homemade lasagna that a journalist gave her during her last interview. Lawrence does accept the focaccia bread and olive oil a waiter offers and politely declines another offering once she's finished.
"If I'm going to wear this skirt," Lawrence says, laughing, pointing to the white number she's sporting, "I can't fit another thing into my gut." When the waiter touts the lightness of the bread, she interjects: "It's not a weight issue. Trust me. I'm barely fitting into my outfit!"
She then turns to her lunch companion. "So, I've had the lasagna," she says playfully. "What did you bring me?"
There's a refreshing lack of pretense with Lawrence, evident from the moment you meet her and she confesses that her iPhone bullies her, its Siri app calling her "Meredith" whenever she asks it a question. But that's trivial compared to the disdain that the 22-year-old Kentucky native, who just received her second lead actress Oscar nomination with her turn in "Silver Linings," feels toward the sense of entitlement that runs rampant in the movie industry. She's also acutely aware of the influence she has on young women, particularly now that she's playing the strong, self-possessed heroine Katniss Everdeen in the movies adapted from Suzanne Collins' young adult trilogy that began with "The Hunger Games."
"I was a teenager too — hard to believe, right? — and remember reading magazines and tabloids," she says. "I don't think the media realizes how much they glorify anorexia. You have an actress who loses a bunch of weight for a role and she's explaining how she lost it. 'I ate one grape a day and I lost 25 pounds and I was dangerously underweight and now I get awards.'
"With Katniss, I never meant to make a big deal about it. It was just important she was strong and a warrior instead of being wasted away, especially when, without a doubt, she's going to be a role model for a lot of young girls. I thought it would be better for them to say, 'I could look like Katniss,' rather than 'I'll never be able to look like that if I keep eating.' "
Soon after signing to play Tiffany, the bullheaded young widow in "Silver Linings Playbook" who falls for a man fresh out of a mental care facility, Lawrence discovered a kindred soul in the movie's writer and director, David O. Russell, whose blunt honesty delighted her. She'd be in the middle of a scene, hurtling through a monologue, and hear Russell groaning at the monitor, offering a running commentary along the lines of "Oooooh. That's so bad. Oh, God. Uuuuuuuh." Lawrence would finish and ask, "Do you want me to do it again?" And Russell would answer, "Oh, God, yes!"
"It's so hilarious to me, especially after working in Hollywood where everyone tiptoes around actors and their feelings," Lawrence says. "We're all doing the same thing. We're all making a film. Let's just cut the ... Don't tell me what I'm doing right. Tell me what I'm doing wrong, so I can fix it. I came from a sports family, so I respond better to that approach."
It would seem the whole team responded well to the vibe on set. The film received a total of eight Oscar nominations, including nods for picture, Russell for writing and for directing, one each for costars Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver, and one for editing.
Russell, when asked about Lawrence, who auditioned for him via a Skype call from her parents' Louisville home, responds with a sports analogy, likening Lawrence's effortlessness to New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio.
"She's a great natural athlete," Russell says. "She's not neurotic. She's very comfortable in her own skin and has such a presence about her. Harvey (Weinstein, whose company financed the film) was very uncertain of her because of her age. But she seems ageless to me."
Cooper also picks up on the age thing.
"She's like 10 and 40 at the same time," Cooper says. "She would be sort of goofing around, and you think she's not really paying attention. And then she would turn on this instant laser focus and do something magical."
Tiffany is, like Katniss, a powerful young woman, but she's also flawed and damaged. She's made mistakes — and continues to make mistakes. But she's made peace with her imperfections and tries to persuade Cooper's bipolar protagonist to do the same.
"Tiffany's learned that there's always going to be parts of her that are off, that aren't normal, that aren't like everyone else, but you have to accept and forgive yourself," Lawrence says. "That's the most important thing she could have learned and, hopefully, our audience could learn, too."
Lawrence calls her collaboration with Russell "the best experience" of her life, an assessment supported by the way her parents reacted to the movie when they saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Lawrence found them after the movie ended and immediately noticed that her dad, a man she has never seen cry, was "covered in tears." So, according to her father, at least, Lawrence proceeded to yell in front of everyone, "Dad, you're crying!" — a "betrayal" he still gives her grief for.
"Seeing that, especially knowing how much my parents gave up for me, meant so much," Lawrence says. "They gave up their friends, their assets so I could act. So their loving what I do takes away some of the guilt, I guess. As much as it's nice to be acknowledged by your peers, your parents' approval means the most. It'll probably always be that way."


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Youth Ministries
THE WAY exists to reach lost students with the gospel, connect them to a community of believers, help them cultivate their identity in Christ and encourage them to grow as they pursue their relationship with God.
1. Reach – Evangelizing to students that don't know Jesus in our campuses, communities, and cities in which we are a part.
Acts 1:8 – But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
2. Connect – Joining students with one another and creating a gospel-centered, covenant community of believers.
Ephesians 2:19 – Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household.
3. Cultivate – Helping students to Discover their identity in Christ and embrace the work of the ministry through service.
Ephesians 4:12 – to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
4. Grow – Equipping students to mature in their faith and Grow into ferocious godly men and women.
Hebrews 6:1 – Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity…
5. Pursue – Encouraging students to Pursue their relationship with God by celebrating and honoring Him with their lifestyles.
Romans 12:1 – Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your true and proper worship.
Matthew 13:44 – "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy, over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."
In response to the growth and needs of our youth ministry. The Sunday youth Celebrations will now be split between Junior High and High School. Sunday Sunday Morning at 8:00 AM [6th-8th Grade Only] and 10:30 AM [9th-12th Grade Only] @ Koinonia Hale 670 Auahi St Wednesday Wednesday Nights 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM @ Koinonia Hale 670 Auahi St [Jr. High 6th-8th, Parent Split Bible Study and Potluck Fellowship] Thursday Thursday Nights 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM @ Koinonia Hale 670 Auahi St [Sr. High 9th-12th, ]
Upcoming Events – Youth Ministry
670 Auahi Street, Suite A5 Honolulu, HI
670 Auahi Street, Suite A5 Honolulu, HI


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This banner text can have markup.
Ken Smith sez: This film was part of the drive by automatic pin-setting equipment manufacturers in the fifties to change bowling's image from beer and blue-collar to cookies and family togetherness. It tells us that covenience, comfort and style are "the ultimate desires of today, tomorrow, and the years ahead of us," and can be found, specifically, in Brunswick Bowling Centers. Even more specifically, in the Brunswick Bowling Centers depicted in this beautifully styled and photographed production, where everything is spotless, freshly waxed, and has pin-spot lighting.
BOWLING LEISURE RECREATION FAMILIES CHILDREN PARENTS HOMES GAMES HOUSES Danger Lurks
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Distribution of AirPlay source over Multiroom is possible, however it is not enabled by default.
To enable it, open your Bang & Olufsen app and select the product you want to use as a source. Go to the product settings and then select "YOUR CONTENT" - "APPLE" and enable the check box "Enable Multiroom for AirPlay". Then save the settings by clicking the "CHANGE" button.
AirPlay Multiroom distribution introduces a small latency in the sound. This is not perceived if your source, on your mobile device, is an audio app. However, if it is a video app (e.g. YouTube) you will notice a slight lipsync artifact, which means that the video image and the sound are not in perfect sync. Therefore, it is suggested to enable the AirPlay Multiroom distribution only if you use it with sound sources. This is also why it is not enabled by default.
If you have multiple Bang & Olufsen products and you want to enable Multiroom distribution from all of them, you need to enable the feature in each one of them individually.
AirPlay Multiroom distribution, once enabled, works also towards Bang & Olufsen TVs as well as in integrated setup / "speaker sharing" mode between an AirPlay Bang & Olufsen product and a Bang & Olufsen TV.
AirPlay Multiroom distribution has been enabled in the Bang & Olufsen Multiroom products since version v.1.10


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What Christina Aguilera wants is a divorce.
The 29-year-old pop star filed Thursday to end her nearly five-year marriage to hubby Jordan Bratman, making the split official days after confirming her separation, People and TMZ reported.
In documents filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court and posted by TMZ, Aguilera listed September 11 as the date of the pair's separation and cited "irreconcilable differences" as the relationship dealbreaker.
U.S. & World
The "What a Girl Wants" singer requested joint physical and legal custody of the ex-couple's 2-year-old son, Max, and asked to keep "miscellaneous jewelry and other personal effects."
"Earnings and accumulations of Petitioner before marriage, during marriage and from and after the date of separation" should also be confirmed as separate property, Aguilera said in court papers.
The documents also revealed the existence of a prenup to divide "additional separate property assets and obligations."
Bratman, a music marketing exec, began dating Aguilera in 2002, according to E! Online.
The couple wed in November 2005 at a Napa Valley, Calif. estate. Max Liron Bratman was born in January 2008.
"Although Jordan and I are separated, our commitment to our son Max remains as strong as ever," Aguilera told People on Tuesday.


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LifeStream & Second Harvest Food Distribution
- This event has passed.
May 16, 2019 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
|Recurring Event (See all)
An event every month that begins at 1:00 pm on day Third of the month, repeating indefinitely
Event Navigation
LifeStream has partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank to offer a food distribution for seniors at Daleville Town Hall. You must be 60 years or older. For more information please contact Dana Pierce, Nutrition Administrator, by calling 765-759-3359 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Remember the first time you've ever touched a foosball table? It was probably somewhere in your dad's mancave in the basement, or at a nearby arcade you and your high school friends used to hit up after classes got out. Now that you're older and wiser, perhaps you can afford a foosball table to match your new classy lifestyle. Table soccer enthusiasts, we present to you the complete line of Teckell Luxury Foosball Tables.
The Italian company builds some of the most luxurious foosball tables seen anywhere. Different collections feature low iron crystal glass or wood handles, surfaces, and stands, while the limited edition Cristallino Gold LE contains 24 carat gold plated accents with only 50 models available. The tables also include a built-in goal piece to collect the soccer ball scored. But you should be reminded that while the Teckell tables look amazing, it won't actually guarantee you'll play any better than you did back in high school.
"Our project Teckell is to give a new life to the game foosball, introducing it as it as an elegant design piece in our formal living spaces," the Teckell sales brochure reads. "It was challenging and ambitious the idea to transform a game table typically found at the corner bar into luxury lifestyle icon."
If you prefer smaller versions, Teckell also sells coffee table size foosball set to be used as decoration or a mini-game during a TV break. How much will it cost you for a gold-plated, ultra-luxe glass foosball table? Oh, just the modest price of between $7,500 to $18,650 depending on the collection. Nothing screams you've made it than dropping baller status money to show off your foosball skills. You might want to keep the kids away from the tables though.
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text: After a gaming drought, I'm getting back into space sims with Elite:Dangerous. Finally bought a new joystick so hopefully, I won't bounce off the landing pads trying to control a ship with a mouse and keyboard. I keep meaning to get back into Guild Wars 2, especially since the first official expansion, Heart of Thorns, was announced this weekend. The new lands of Maguuma look interesting. Not much else interesting to me, although I may pick up Wasteland 2 and get my Fallout 2-style post-nuclear RPG on.


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