text:
May 09, 2013
A View from the Federal Reserve Board: The Mortgage Market and Housing Conditions
Governor Elizabeth A. Duke
At the Housing Policy Executive Council, Washington, D.C.
Since joining the Board in 2008 amid a crisis centered on mortgage lending, I have focused much of my attention on housing and mortgage markets, issues surrounding foreclosures, and neighborhood stabilization. In March of this year, I laid out my thoughts on current conditions in the housing and mortgage markets in a speech to the Mortgage Bankers Association.1 Today I will summarize and update that information with a focus on mortgage credit conditions. Before I proceed, I should note that the views I express are my own and not necessarily those of my colleagues on the Board of Governors or the Federal Open Market Committee.
A sustained recovery in the housing market appears to be under way. House prices, as measured by a variety of national indexes, have risen 6 to 11 percent since the beginning of 2012 (figure 1).2 The recovery of house prices has been broad based geographically, with 90 percent of local markets having experienced price gains over the year ending in February. Also since the beginning of 2012, housing starts and permits have risen by nearly 30 percent (figure 2), while new and existing home sales have also seen double-digit growth rates. Homebuilder sentiment has improved notably, and real estate agents report stronger traffic of people shopping for homes (figure 3).3 In national surveys, households report that low interest rates and house prices make it a good time to buy a home; they also appear more certain that house price gains will continue (figure 4).4
Despite the recent gains, the level of housing market activity remains low. Existing home sales are currently at levels in line with those seen in the late 1990s, while single-family starts and permits are at levels commensurate with the early 1990s. And applications for home-purchase mortgages, as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association index, were at a level in line with that of the mid-1990s (figure 5). The subdued level of mortgage purchase originations is particularly striking given the record low mortgage rates that have prevailed in recent years.
The drop in originations has been most pronounced among borrowers with lower credit scores. For example, between 2007 and 2012, originations of prime purchase mortgages fell about 30 percent for borrowers with credit scores greater than 780, compared with a drop of about 90 percent for borrowers with credit scores between 620 and 680 (figure 6).5 Originations are virtually nonexistent for borrowers with credit scores below 620. The distribution of credit scores in these purchase origination data tells the same story in a different way: The median credit score on these originations rose from 730 in 2007 to 770 in 2013, whereas scores for mortgages at the 10th percentile rose from 640 to 690 (figure 7).
Many borrowers who have faced difficulty in obtaining prime mortgages have turned to mortgages insured or guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), or the Rural Housing Service (RHS). Data collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act indicate that the share of purchase mortgages guaranteed or insured by the FHA, the VA, or the RHS rose from 5 percent in 2006 to more than 40 percent in 2011 (figure 8).6 But here, too, loan originations appear to have contracted for borrowers with low credit scores. The median credit score on FHA purchase originations increased from 625 in 2007 to 690 in 2013, while the 10th percentile has increased from 550 to 650 (figure 9).7
Part of the contraction in loan originations to households with lower credit scores may reflect weak demand among these potential homebuyers. Although we have little data on this point, it may be the case that such households suffered disproportionately from the sharp rise in unemployment during the recession and thus have not been in a financial position to purchase a home.
There is evidence that tight mortgage lending conditions may also be a factor in the contraction in originations. Data from lender rate quotes suggest that almost all lenders have been offering quotes (through the daily "rate sheets" provided to mortgage brokers) on mortgages eligible for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to borrowers with credit scores of 750 over the past two years.8 Most lenders have been willing to offer quotes to borrowers with credit scores of 680 as well. Fewer than two-thirds of lenders, though, are willing to extend mortgage offers to consumers with credit scores of 620 (figure 10).9 And this statistic may overstate the availability of credit to borrowers with lower credit scores: The rates on many of these offers might be unattractive, and borrowers whose credit scores indicate eligibility may not meet other aspects of the underwriting criteria.
Tight credit conditions also appear to be part of the story for FHA-insured loans. In the Federal Reserve's October 2012 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS), one-half to two-thirds of respondents indicated that they were less likely than in 2006 to originate an FHA loan to a borrower with a credit score of 580 or 620 (figure 11). Standards have tightened a bit further since: In the April 2013 SLOOS, about 30 percent of lenders reported that they were less likely than a year ago to originate FHA mortgages to borrowers with a credit score of 580 or 620 (figure 12).10
The April SLOOS offers some clues about why mortgage credit is so tight for borrowers with lower credit scores. Banks participating in the survey identified a familiar assortment of factors as damping their willingness to extend any type of loan to these borrowers: the risk that lenders will be required to repurchase defaulted loans from the GSEs ("putback" risk), the outlook for house prices and economic activity, capacity constraints, the risk-adjusted opportunity cost of such loans, servicing costs, balance sheet or warehousing capacity, guarantee fees charged by the GSEs, borrowers' ability to obtain private mortgage insurance or second liens, and investor appetite for private-label mortgage securitizations. Respondents appeared to put particular weight on GSE putbacks, the economic outlook, and the risk-adjusted opportunity cost. In addition, several large banks cited capacity constraints and borrowers' difficulties in obtaining private mortgage insurance or second liens as at least somewhat important factors in restraining their willingness to approve such loans.
Over time, some of these factors should exert less of a drag on mortgage credit availability. For example, as the economic and housing market recovery continues, lenders should gain confidence that mortgage loans will perform well, and they should expand their lending accordingly.
Capacity constraints will likely also ease. Refinancing applications have expanded much more over the past year and a half than lenders' ability to process these loans. For example, one measure of capacity constraints--the number of real estate credit employees--has only edged up over this period (figure 13). When capacity constraints are binding, lenders may prioritize the processing of easier-to-complete or more profitable loan applications. Indeed, preliminary research by the Board's staff suggests that the increase in the refinance workload during the past 18 months appears to have been associated with a 25 to 35 percent decrease in purchase originations among borrowers with credit scores between 620 and 680 and a 10 to 15 percent decrease among borrowers with credit scores between 680 and 710.11 Any such crowding-out effect should start to unwind as the current refinancing boom decelerates.
Other factors holding back mortgage credit, however, may be slower to unwind. As the SLOOS results indicate, lenders remain concerned about putback risk. The ability to hold lenders accountable for poorly underwritten loans is a significant protection for taxpayers. However, if lenders are unsure about the conditions under which they will be required to repurchase loans sold to the GSEs, they may shy away from originating loans to borrowers whose risk profiles indicate a higher likelihood of default. The Federal Housing Finance Agency launched an important initiative last year to clarify the liabilities associated with representations and warranties, but, so far, putback risk appears to still weigh on the mortgage market.
Mortgage servicing standards, particularly for delinquent loans, are more stringent than in the past due to settlement actions and consent orders. Servicing rules recently released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will extend many of these standards to all lenders.12 These standards remedy past abuses and provide important protections to borrowers, but also increase the cost of servicing nonperforming loans. This issue is compounded by current servicing compensation arrangements under which servicers receive the same fee for the routine processing of current loans as they do for the more expensive processing of delinquent loans. This model--especially in conjunction with higher default-servicing costs--gives lenders an incentive to avoid originating loans to borrowers who are more likely to default. A change to servicer compensation models for delinquent loans could alleviate some of these concerns.
Government regulations will also affect the cost of mortgage credit. In January, the CFPB released rules, in addition to those for servicing standards, on ability-to-repay requirements, the definition of a qualified mortgage (QM), and loan originator compensation.13 The Federal Reserve and other agencies are in the process of moving forward on proposed rulemakings that would implement revised regulatory capital requirements and the requirements for risk retention mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which include an exemption for mortgages that meet the definition of qualified residential mortgages (QRM).
As the regulatory capital and risk retention requirements are still under deliberation, I won't comment on these regulations today. However, I will share a few thoughts on the possible effects of the QM rulemaking on access to credit.
As background, the QM rule is part of a larger ability-to-repay rulemaking that requires lenders to make a reasonable and good faith determination that the borrower can repay the loan. The rulemaking addresses the lax underwriting practices that flourished during the housing boom by setting minimum underwriting standards and by providing borrowers with protections against lending abuses. In particular, borrowers can sue the lender for violations of the ability-to-repay rules and claim monetary damages. If the original lender sells or securitizes the loan, the borrower can claim these damages at any time in a foreclosure action taken by the lender or any assignee. If the mortgage meets the QM standard, however, the lender receives greater protection from such potential lawsuits because it is presumed that the borrower had the ability to repay the loan.
Loans that fall outside the QM standard may be more costly to originate than loans that meet the standard for at least four reasons, all else being equal. The first reason is the possible increase in foreclosure losses and litigation costs. Although these costs, in the aggregate, are expected to be small, their full extent will not be known until the courts settle any ability-to-repay suits that may be brought forward.14 The second reason is that mortgages that do not meet the QM definition will also not qualify as QRMs, so lenders will be required to hold some of the risk if these loans are securitized.15 The third reason is that loan originators will have better information than investors on the quality of the underwriting decision. Investors may demand a premium to compensate them for the concern that originators might sell them the loans most vulnerable to ability-to-repay lawsuits. The fourth reason is that the non-QM market, at least initially, may be small and illiquid, which would increase the cost of these loans.
The higher costs associated with non-QM loans should have very little effect on access to credit in the near term because almost all current mortgage originations meet the QM standard. The vast majority of current originations are eligible to be purchased, insured, or guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA, the VA, or the RHS. These loans are classified as QMs under the rule.16 The small proportion of mortgages originated at present outside of these programs, for the most part, are being underwritten to tight standards consistent with the QM definition.
As lender risk appetite increases and private capital returns to the mortgage market, a larger non-QM market should start to develop. Two aspects of the QM rule, though, may make this market slow to develop for borrowers with lower credit scores. First, the QM requirement that borrower payments on all debts and some recurring obligations must be 43 percent or less of borrower income may disproportionately affect less-advantaged borrowers.17 Board staff tabulations based on the Survey of Consumer Finances indicate that such households tend to have lower incomes, fewer financial assets, and higher mortgage loan-to-value ratios than households with lower payment ratios (figure 14).18
Second, the QM definition affects lenders' ability to charge for the risks of originating loans to borrowers who are more likely to default. For example, lenders may in general compensate for this risk by charging a higher interest rate on the loan. However, if lenders originate a first-lien QM with an annual percentage rate that is 150 basis points or more above the rate available to the highest-quality borrowers, lenders receive less protection against lawsuits claiming violation of the ability-to-repay and QM rules.19 Lenders who prefer to price for risk through points and fees face the constraint that points and fees on a QM loan may not exceed 3 percent of the loan amount, with higher caps available for loans smaller than $100,000. The extent to which these rules regarding rates, points, and fees will damp lender willingness to originate mortgages to borrowers with lower credit scores is still unclear.
To summarize, the housing market is improving, but mortgage credit conditions remain quite tight for borrowers with lower credit scores. And the path to easier credit conditions is somewhat murky. Some of the forces damping mortgage credit availability, such as capacity constraints and concerns about economic conditions or house prices, are likely to unwind through normal cyclical forces. However, resolution of lender concerns about putback risk or servicing cost seems less clear. These concerns could be reduced by policy changes. For example, the structure of liability for representations and warrantees could be modified. Or servicing compensation could be changed to provide higher compensation for the servicing of delinquent loans. Or lenders might find ways to reduce their exposure to putback risk or servicing cost by strengthening origination and servicing platforms. New mortgage regulations will provide important protections to borrowers but may also lead to a permanent increase in the cost of originating loans to borrowers with lower credit scores. It will be difficult to determine the ultimate effect of the regulatory changes until they have all been finally defined and lenders gain familiarity with them.
The implications for the housing market are also murky. Borrowers with lower credit scores have typically represented a significant segment of first-time homebuyers. For example, in 1999, more than 25 percent of first-time homebuyers had credit scores below 620 compared with fewer than 10 percent in 2012 (figure 15).20 Although I expect housing demand to expand along with the economic recovery, if credit is hard to get, much of that demand may be channeled into rental, rather than owner-occupied, housing.
At the Federal Reserve, we continue to foster more-accommodative financial conditions and, in particular, lower mortgage rates through our monetary policy actions. We also continue to monitor mortgage credit conditions and consider the implications of our rulemakings for credit availability. For your part, I urge you to continue to develop new and more sustainable business models for lending to lower-credit-score borrowers that lead to better outcomes for borrowers, communities, and the financial system than we have experienced over the past few years.
1. See Elizabeth A. Duke (2013), "Comments on Housing and Mortgage Markets," speech delivered at "Mid-Winter Housing Finance Conference," sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association, held in Avon, Colo., March 6-9. Return to text
2. House price information is from staff calculations based on data from CoreLogic, Zillow, Standard & Poor's, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Return to text
3. More details on homebuilder sentiment are available on the National Association of Home Builders website . Additional details on real estate agent assessments of market conditions are available at the National Association of Realtors® website . Return to text
4. Household reports are from staff calculations based on results of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers . Return to text
5. These calculations are based on data provided by McDash Analytics, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lender Processing Services, Inc. The underlying data are provided by mortgage servicers. These servicers classify loans as "prime," "subprime," or "FHA." Prime loans include those eligible for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) as well as those with favorable credit characteristics but loan sizes that exceed the GSE guidelines ("jumbo" loans). Return to text
6. Staff calculations suggest that the FHA and VA market share dipped a bit in 2012 but remained quite elevated. These calculations are based on data provided by McDash Analytics, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lender Processing Services, Inc. Return to text
7. The shift in the distributions may partly reflect changes in the FHA's underwriting guidelines. In 2010, the FHA required a minimum credit score of 580 in order to qualify for a loan with a 3.5 percent down payment. In 2013, the FHA required manual underwriting for loans with a credit score less than 620 and a debt-to-income ratio greater than 43 percent. See U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2010), "FHA Announces Policy Changes to Address Risk and Strengthen Finances," press release, January 20; and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2013), "FHA Takes Additional Steps to Bolster Capital Reserves," press release, January 30. Return to text
8. These quotes assume that the borrower supplies a 10 percent down payment. Return to text
9. These data series begin in 2009 and 2010, so we cannot compare the current level of rate quotes to those that prevailed before the financial crisis. However, in response to a special question on the Federal Reserve's April 2012 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices, nearly 85 percent of lenders reported that they were somewhat or much less likely than in 2006 to originate a mortgage to a borrower with a credit score of 620 and a down payment of 10 percent. This response suggests that credit supply has contracted for such borrowers. Return to text
10. The October 2012 and April 2013 surveys are available on the Federal Reserve Board's website. Return to text
11. These estimates are smaller than the estimates in the March 2013 Mortgage Bankers Association speech because capacity constraints appear to have become less severe in recent months (see Duke, "Comments on Housing and Mortgage Markets," in note 1). These estimates are for the period from February 2011 to February 2013. The March estimates were for the period from October 2010 to October 2012. Return to text
12. See CFPB (2013), "2013 Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Regulation X) and Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z) Mortgage Servicing Final Rules," Regulations: Final Rules Issued by the CFPB 2013, webpage, January 17. Return to text
13. For more on ability-to-repay requirements and the definition of a QM, see CFPB (2013), "Ability to Repay and Qualified Mortgage Standards under the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z)," Regulations: Final Rules Issued by the CFPB 2013, webpage, January 10. For information on loan originator compensation, see CFPB (2013), "Loan Originator Compensation Requirements under the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z)," Regulations: Final Rules Issued by the CFPB 2013, webpage, January 20. Return to text
14. The CFPB estimates of these costs are available at section VII.E.3. Return to text
15. If a mortgage-backed security is collateralized by "qualified residential mortgages," as defined by federal regulators consistent with section 941 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the securitizer is not required to retain any risk in the securitization transaction. Otherwise, the securitizer must retain an economic interest in the transaction consistent with section 941 and any regulations established thereunder, which may increase the securitizer's costs. The Dodd-Frank Act requires that Federal regulators set the definition of a QRM to be no broader than the definition of a QM. Return to text
16. This provision is slated to end no later than January 2021. The Dodd-Frank Act gives the FHA, the VA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the RHS the option to write separate QM regulations for their mortgages. Return to text
17. Borrowers with debt-to-income (DTI) ratios greater than 43 percent may still be able to obtain QMs if the mortgage is guaranteed by the FHA or eligible for purchase by the GSEs. Return to text
18. The tabulation is based on households that purchased a home with mortgage credit in the two years preceding the Board's Survey of Consumer Finances for 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2010. About 15 percent of borrowers in the 2001, 2004, and 2010 surveys and 25 percent in the 2007 survey had DTIs greater than 43 percent. The 2007 statistic was reported incorrectly in the March 2013 Mortgage Bankers Association speech (see Duke, "Comments on Housing and Mortgage Markets," in note 1). DTI is measured at the time of the survey, not at the time of the loan origination, and may understate the number of affected households if household finances improve after the purchase of a home. Return to text
19. The CFPB has proposed a higher spread threshold for first-lien QMs originated by small creditors and for certain types of balloon mortgages. Return to text
20. Staff calculations are based on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Consumer Credit Panel. First-time homebuyers are measured as consumers who have no record of ever having a mortgage at the end of the second quarter of a given year and opened a mortgage in the third quarter. This estimate includes all types of mortgages but excludes first-time homebuyers who purchased their homes with cash. The credit score was generated from the Equifax 3.0 risk model and measured the credit score as of the end of the second quarter. Consumers without a credit score are excluded from the analysis. Return to text


text:
The JS24S-VH series is a split core current transformer for the electronic measurement of AC waveform currents, with galvanic isolation between the primary circuit (power) and the secondary circuit (measurement). The 0-10V DC output is proportional to the RMS value of the primary current.
• Input: 0-250mAac
• Output: 0-10 Vdc
• Sizes: 24mm (click here to view the 36mm size)
• Connection: Screw terminals
• Form Factor: Split-core
• Automation and supervision
• Safety and condition monitoring
• HVAC & pumps
• Refrigeration
• Small industrial motors
• Fans / lighting
• High isolation between primary and secondary circuits
• Compact case
• Cost-effective solution
• Easy installation
• Self-powered
• Operating range: -20°C to +60°C
• Isolation test voltage : 3kV RMS / 50Hz / 1min
• Sensing aperture : 21mm(for non-contact measurement)
• UL94-V0 recognized materials
• 0-10V DC Output
• Split core current transformer and RMS circuit in a single case
• Choice of primary current ranges: 5 to 500A RMS
• Accuracy: <2% of nominal primary current
• Bandwidth: 50/60 Hz
• In the 17 and 24 mm sizes, this product can be ordered with either a ferrite or silicon steel core. Ferrite is less expensive, and picks up low current better. Silicon steel is longer lasting, and its accuracy is less sensitive to temperature. Unless you would like to special order the product, we have chosen the combinations for you that we recommend for typical usage. F = Ferrite and S = Silicon steel.
• 4 weeks

subset: commoncrawl


text:
40% off $75 qualifying purchase of Print Services Shop Now | $44.99 Multi-Use Print & Copy Paper, 10-rm Case Shop Now
Free next-business-day shipping on qualifying $45 order
Free store & curbside pickup in 20 minutes
Your session will time out in 120 seconds.
You will be automatically logged out if you do not click on the button below.
We could not find anything for "1170326".
Please try another search term.


text:
K-9 Unit
The Citrus Heights Police Department K-9 Unit is led by Sergeant Kyle Shoberg and Lieutenant Nicole Garing. The unit currently has three K-9 handlers who are partnered with their purebred German Shepherd or Belgium Malinois canines.
- Officer Nathan Culver and K-9 Jack
- Officer Joe Davis and K-9 Blitz
- Officer Jordan Rinek and K-9 Kash
Officer Davis and K-9 Blitz
All dogs used by the Citrus Heights Police Department go through a battery of tests and hundreds of hours of training before being certified for use in the Operations Division.
The canines and handlers also participate in intensive on-going training to maintain and enhance their skills. Each canine is cross trained in criminal apprehension and narcotics detection.
K9 Benefits
It often takes a trained K9 team only minutes to check a building or large open area for suspects, where it might take hours and many officers to safely contain, locate and apprehend the wanted suspects. The trainers tells us, for example, that if we smell a good stew cooking on the stove, a police dog can differentiate the scent of the meat, the potatoes, the vegetables, and even chemical compounds within the food. Even when the K9 teams are not being used to search for suspects and narcotics, they are great to have as backup on a car stop, or on any other call involving a person who may not want to cooperate with the police.
It is always amazing that when the K9 team arrives, the suspects tend to become very cooperative, and they seldom try to run or hide from the officers. The dogs and their handlers occasionally visit local schools and perform demonstrations for the public.
To help support your local K9 unit visit the Foothills K9 Association.
K-9 Kash
Deploying Canine Partners
Handlers typically deploy their canine partners in situations where a violent suspect is fighting or fleeing from police officers. They are also utilized to locate suspects who may be hiding in heavy vegetation, thick debris, or inside buildings. The dogs' speed, agility, and heightened sense of smell make them a powerful tool in locating and apprehending dangerous criminals. It is also important to note that surrounding communities often request the use of our K9 teams to assist in searches for dangerous suspects.


text:
Chickens in Your Backyard has it's own "Stuff Found In Books" entry on the bookstores FB page, and Raising Poultry has some old news clippings tucked in.
Awesome Local Author News: Jeff Billingame has won the NAACP Image Award for his biography of Jesse Owens, I Love to Run (Enslow, $23.95) The book is published by an academic/library press, and I can't find a way to offer it for sale. You'd be best to buy direct from the publisher and not the Evil Empire who wants $28-30 some dollars for it. That's how they roll. It's unfortunate that I cannot carry a local author's book in my store. These situations are like text book sales. Perhaps I might could find you a copy at a greater price than you can get it from the source, but I'd rather you click and help keep that publisher going.
What's on your nightstand this week?


text:
Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
[WARNING: The following story contains spoilers from the season finale of NBC's Hannibal. Read at your own risk.]"Hello, Dr. Lecter."Those words, so familiar to fans of Thomas Harris' novels and the films they've inspired, closed the first season of NBC's Hannibal, which ended with an inspired bit of role reversal...
[WARNING: The following story contains spoilers from the season finale of NBC's Hannibal. Read at your own risk.]
"Hello, Dr. Lecter."
Those words, so familiar to fans of Thomas Harris' novels and the films they've inspired, closed the first season of NBC's Hannibal, which ended with an inspired bit of role reversal. Instead of seeing special FBI investigator Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) greeting Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) in his famous cell at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, viewers saw Hannibal visiting Will, who had been locked up for a series of murders he didn't commit.
What are the most-anticipated new TV dramas?
Wait, what?!Let's recap: After Abigail Hobbs (Kacey Rohl) discovered in the penultimate episode that Hannibal was actually the copycat killer who'd been mimicking her father's murders, Hannibal had no choice but to kill her. However, when Will wakes up from one of his nightmares and vomits up a human ear (!), Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) & Co. become a bit suspicious. They process Will and use DNA evidence to match the ear to Abigail Hobbs. (They also find her blood under Will's finger nails.)Worse, Hannibal has also turned human remains from his other copycat victims into some of the fishing lures in Will's house. Shortly, thereafter, Will is arrested and although he can't say for sure he didn't kill Abigail, he's determined to prove he isn't a serial killer. So, he breaks out of custody and has Hannibal take him back to Abigail's house. Once there, Will finally realizes that Hannibal could be the real copycat killer, but when he tries to shoot him, Jack shoots Will and has him committed.So, what's next for Will? Can he prove Hannibal is the real killer or have all his FBI allies turned against him? We turned to executive producer Bryan Fuller to answer our burning questions.NBC renews Hannibal for Season 2
There's only one place to start: Will vomits up an ear! Where did that idea come from?
Bryan Fuller: [Laughs] It was something that I knew was going to happen, even before I started writing the pilot. The last run of episodes was going to [have] Will Graham throwing up an ear, fearing that he had eaten somebody. Initially it was a finger, [but] I just thought, 'There's not as much chew time for a finger as there is an ear.' [Laughs] It was a really great destination to drive to and one of those kind of sparks of inspiration: Will Graham has to feel like he's become Garret Jacob Hobbs in a complete way. And how horrific to think that somehow someone else got inside you in a way that could only mean that you ate them?
It was easy to assume Hannibal had framed Will, but did you think viewers might actually wonder if Will had committed the murders?
Fuller: I wanted both of those things. We very carefully only showed pertinent information to the audience. I wanted it to be unclear whether Will could have done these things and also be unclear to Will Graham. Even though he may have the convictions of his investigation, he still has huge blank spots in his memory. But we essentially tell the audience that when Will left Abigail Hobbs, she had an ear. And the last person we saw her with both ears with was Hannibal.
Speaking of what we don't see, how did Hannibal get the ear in Will's stomach?
Fuller: Hannibal is a wily guy. [Laughs] As a storyteller, I have to have an answer in reality. On one hand, I could see a version of Hannibal sneaking into Will's house with an ear on a stick and pushing it down his throat. On the other hand, as a lover of horror and sci-fi and quasi-supernatural storytelling, I love the explanation that Hannibal is a devil. But that was not Thomas Harris' intention. So, he has to have been physically able to accomplish that in some manner. If we did something where it was sort of magical, then I think we would lose our grip on reality. That's something I think is very important to maintain, out of respect for the audience and also the character and his origins. But in my mind, I love the greater mythology of Hannibal being a very punitive devil.
NBC's Hannibal: Not just another serial killer show
So, is he punishing Will?
Fuller: I think that everything that Hannibal has done to Will has been a radical, unorthodox form of therapy. I would argue that all of the deeds still come from a place of genuine care. He is trying to help Will see himself better and get to a truer version of who Hannibal thinks Will is. Even setting him up to take the fall for these murders has been an act of therapy, in Hannibal's mind.
Are we to believe this was always Hannibal's master plan? Or does he just adapt very well?
Fuller: I think he has a very loose plan, but he's also quite adaptive. He couldn't have predicted when he met Will that he was going to be suffering from encephalitis. But once he smelled that on him, he knew that, "Oh, this is going to be an interesting playing field for Will and his perception of reality, so I'm going to take advantage of it."
Is it troubling how quickly Jack accepts that Will could be guilty of these crimes?
Fuller: Hannibal is playing off of Jack's intrinsic guilt over what's happening to Will. From the get-go, [Jack] knew that he was taking a man out of a classroom and putting him into a dangerous psychological situation. He had no idea how dangerous it was, but the water was getting hot. Jack was aware of the increase in temperature — he just didn't know that it was going to be Will's brain that was boiling over. So, to deal with his own guilt on that matter, it would be very easy for him to go to the place of, "Will did it." All of the evidence is pointing that direction, and clearly he has no reason to suspect Hannibal at this stage. We'll see more in Season 2 of Hannibal's further manipulations of Jack Crawford on that front.
Check out the scariest TV and movie serial killers of all time
Jack conveniently comes in after Will accuses Hannibal of all the murders. Would Jack have been swayed if he had heard Will's thoughts?
Fuller: In Season 2, Jack will be investigating those accusations. I think after Will woke up from getting shot by Jack and before he was put into the institution, he shared his theories about Hannibal. Now it's up to those characters and Hannibal Lecter to either support or deny those accusations in a properly investigated way.
Do you intend to keep Will locked up for a while?
Fuller: He will be incarcerated, and we will be dealing with all of the threads of that. We need to see all of the things happen that would happen in that scenario. Will Graham needs to go on trial for the murders that he may or may not have committed. Jack has to be brought before a review board for his participation in what happened to Will, and Hannibal, as Will's psychiatrist, is going to continue to try to help Will see the truth that Hannibal wants him to see. The ball is up in the air in so many ways for Jack and Hannibal and Will. The fun of Season 2 will be spiking those balls.
Will Dr. Chilton get his organs put back inside himself and be trying to analyze Will's mind?
Fuller: Yes. I would love to have a lot more of Raul Esparza and Dr. Frederick Chilton in Season 2. He will be a nemesis of sorts for Will in the institution.
Check out the hottest summer TV eye candy
I loved the role reversal at the end.
Fuller: When I was breaking the pilot and thinking about where this goes, it occurred to that Hannibal needs to win this round. Hannibal needs to have everyone in the world think that Will Graham is a killer. And therefore, it will be less work to get Will to believe that he is a killer. I had always pitched in every conversation that ... the last shot of the season is that iconic shot from Silence of the Lambs where you're coming down the corridor toward the last cell on the left and instead of finding Hannibal Lecter there, you find Will Graham. It felt very poetic and it felt powerful and it felt full of promise. It promised so much story, and now we get to deliver on it.
From the beginning, you made it clear you were telling your own story, but do you fear that this choice will alienate some of the diehard Red Dragon fans?
Fuller: If you look at the scant two pages that talk about Will Graham's back story, they tell us that Will was so psychologically compromised from investigating the Minnesota Shrike that he had to become institutionalized. So, I feel like I've got a car jack and I've wedged it in between those lines. I've just opened them up for room to tell more between the lines than what you may have anticipated. But we're also sticking to the canon. We will deliver what we've come to expect in Red Dragon of Will Graham, but he'll just have a longer, harder journey to get there. I gave myself room to wiggle, so we're going to see some wiggling in the next two seasons.
Does Will have any allies at this point? Perhaps Alana (Caroline Dhavernas)?
Fuller: I think we'll see shifts in relationships. Will has always felt alone and we've seen him victimized by his isolation in the first season. Now, Will has to step up and defend himself and also be much more proactive as a character because it is his life on the line. The tragedy for Will is that he allowed himself to open up and get close to Hannibal, and now he fears that that is the exact wrong person that he should have been so intimate with. Hannibal has so clearly convinced all of those around Will that Will could be capable of all of this. And Will has convinced everyone around him that he could capable of this by his own behavior.
Can Will distance himself from Hannibal, or will he have access to him as his attending psychiatrist?
Fuller: Hannibal will always want to be close to Will. He sees a great potential in Will as this pure human being, and he's seduced by Will's purity. He's attracted to it, and he's also very eager to conquer it in some way.
Is Hannibal's obsession with Will also an attempt to more fully understand himself?
Fuller: Hannibal's absolutely on a journey of self-exploration, and he's fascinated by his fascination with Will. He is curious about this change that's come over him. It's sort of like somebody who is falling in love for the first time and had never felt that was actually a possibility for them. That's a fresh, unexplored territory for Hannibal that is exciting to him and interesting to him. Maybe his ultimate downfall is his attraction and affection for Will Graham.
But for now, Hannibal is on top.
Fuller: Hannibal Lecter has won this round, certainly. But one of the exciting things moving forward with Season 2 is that Will has hit rock bottom. One of the great gifts that the universe can give somebody in a tumultuous state of mind is for them to hit rock bottom and be free. Now, Will has nothing to lose, and he will be a very dangerous dance partner for Hannibal Lecter.
What did you think of the Hannibal finale?


text:
BERLIN- Lightning struck twice for the Stephen Decatur varsity football team last weekend after the Seahawks beat Queen Anne's, 34-31, in overtime to end the Lions' 37-game regular season winning streak.
Queen Anne's last lost a regular season game back in 2007 and had run off 37 straight since then. In 2007, Decatur was the last team to beat the Lions in the regular season, a 30-27 win also in overtime. The Seahawks added a bookend to the streak last Friday, beating Queen Anne's, 34-31, in overtime on a one-yard touchdown run by D.J. Kee.
Queen Anne's scored first to take an early 7-0 lead, but Decatur answered quickly on a touchdown run by Kee, who finished the game with 175 yards and three touchdowns. A 12-yard touchdown run by James Mapp, followed by a 15-yard touchdown pass from Teron Tyre to Brian Ford put the Seahawks up 20-7 in the second quarter, but the game was far from over.
Queen Anne's scored on a 59-yard touchdown run just before the half to cut the Decatur lead to 20-14 at the intermission. The Lions then took their first lead of the game on their first possession of the third quarter with a 48-yard touchdown run to go ahead, 21-20. Decatur answered with a one-yard TD run by Kee and a two-point conversion just before the end of the third quarter to retake the lead at 28-21.
Queen Anne's offense moved the ball during the fourth quarter, but twice turned it over, killing drives. Finally, with just 49 seconds remaining in the game, the Lions scored a touchdown and converted the extra point to tie the game at 28-28 and send it into overtime.
The Lions got the ball first in overtime and was moving down the field when a quarterback sack by Decatur's Colin May stalled the drive and forced a Queen Anne's field goal to take a 31-28 lead. Decatur then went on a methodical drive capped off by a one-yard touchdown plunge by Kee for the dramatic 34-31 win, which ended the Lions' 37-game regular season winning streak.
With the win over Queen Anne's on the Lions' homecoming, the Seahawks improved to 3-2 on the season. Decatur will host its own homecoming tonight against Easton and must avoid a letdown against the Warriors, who appear to be greatly improved this year.


text:
With food prices hitting record highs, people are rioting and political regimes are crumbling. We can only imagine what it will be like when the global population rises to nine billion in 2050 from just under seven billion now. More riots, more deforestation, more hunger, more revolutions? How are these people going to be fed? The unequivocal answer we so often hear: biotechnology.
Let's ignore for the moment the cause of rising food prices, which has been attributed to everything from bad weather and poor harvests to higher oil prices that push up the cost of fertilizers, the rise of biofuels, even commodity index funds (which are bidding up futures, though I'm skeptical they are leading the parade). The thing I get hung up on is the "nine billion." It makes a great sound bite but what's behind the figure?
So far the vast resources of commercial biotechnology have gone to commodity crops such as corn and soybeans (and soon alfalfa). The majority ends up as animal feed, and thus meat, which is the least efficient way to produce calories. Meat also happens to be available to the richest people, not the poorest. So, we haven't really used GMOs to "feed the world." Instead we've used them bring down the cost of industrial meat production and incentivize a transition to a meat-centric diet. The loss of calories that result from feeding grains to animals instead of humans represents the annual calorie needs of more than 3.5 billion people, according to the UN Environmental Program. In short, GMOs arguably are making matters worse by fueling the production of more animal feed and food-competing biofuels.
Be that as it may, we're still stuck with the nine billion problem. Population is like compounding interest, with small changes producing big results down the road. So the growth rate is hugely important and it doesn't always do what's expected.National Geographic had an interesting take on this, showing that the argument popular in the 1960s about a "population bomb" largely turned out to be a fiction. By the early 1970s, fertility rates around the world had begun dropping faster than anyone had anticipated. Since then, the population growth rate has fallen by more than 40 percent.
In industrialized countries it took generations for fertility to fall to the replacement level or below. As that same transition takes place in the rest of the world, what has astonished demographers is how much faster it is happening there. …
"The problem has become a bit passé," Hervé Le Bras (a French demographer) says. Demographers are generally confident that by the second half of this century we will be ending one unique era in history—the population explosion—and entering another, in which population will level out or even fall.
This is why numbers are important. On that score, Andrew Revkin had an interesting exchange on the dot earth blog at the Times that showed a range of opinion on what it would take to "feed the world." Revkin's post noted that Douglas Southgate, an agricultural economist at Ohio State University, "argues that a low growth scenario for population, leading to just under 8 billion people by 2050, could see a 26-percent drop in food prices even with substantial rise in consumption." This is considered the low-range for 2050, but considering how off the mark Malthusians were in the past, it shouldn't be entirely discounted.
But, let's say, we do get to nine billion. The impact on resources, it turns out, depends a lot on what we eat. Vaclav Smil, a University of Manitoba analyst,pointed out to Revkin "a menu of possible food lifestyles," which for a world of nine billion meant either bountiful supplies or scarcity. Here's the spectrum:
1) eating enough to survive with reduced lifespans (Ethiopia),
2) eating enough to have some sensible though limited choices and to live near-full lifespans when considering other (hygienic, health care) circumstances (as in the better parts of India today),
3) having more than enough of overall food energy but still a limited choice of plant foods and only a healthy minimum of animal foods and live close to or just past 70 (China of the late 1980s and 1990s),
4) not wanting more carbohydrates and shifting more crop production and imports to [livestock] feed, not food, to eat more animals products, having overall some 3,000 kcal/capita a day and living full spans (China now),
5) having gross surpluses of everything, total supply at 3,500-3,700 kcal/day, eating too much animal protein, wasting 35-40% of all food, living record life spans, getting sick (U.S. and E.U. today).
Obviously, we want to avoid option one and two, as much as possible. Option three and four would mean one billion people who lack enough food today would be better off. But Smil says, "The world eating between levels 3-4 would not know what to do with today's food." In other words, we have enough already. But, he also adds, "the world at 5 is impossible." Nor is it desirable, considering the obesity crisis and health risks.
So really, the question isn't how will we feed nine billion by 2050? The question is how many people will we really have and what will they be eating?
Poverty of course plays a big role in both these issues because, as Juergen Voegele, director, agriculture and rural development, the World Bank, pointed out to Revkin: "We already have close to one billion people who go hungry today, not because there is not enough food in the world but because they cannot afford to buy it."
Raising incomes, or course, is a difficult nut — one that doesn't succumb to a solution hatched in a lab. But more income means better-educated families, and even declining population growth. The flip side, though, is that rising incomes are also associated with higher meat consumption, which can get us closer to option five on Smil's lifestyle if we are not careful. So the best case: to raise incomes and to incentivize less resource-intensive food consumption.
But we don't need to become vegans to save the world (which would doom us even if we did because so few would go along). In many developing countries, such an approach would amount to culinary imperialism, given the importance of meat for both income generation, the result of having a cow or goat or two, and as a source of much-needed calories for children from milk and scant meat. Never mind the use of manure to grow crops. We're not talking about factory farms here, but animals that play a central role in cultures and livelihoods.
As the Nat Geo article concluded:
… it will be a hard thing for the planet if … people are eating meat and driving gasoline-powered cars at the same rate as Americans now do. It's too late to keep the new middle class of 2030 from being born; it's not too late to change how they and the rest of us will produce and consume food and energy.
By: Samual Fromartz, March 8, 2011


text:
Few companies apart from Line 6 have accomplished so much so quickly when it comes to carving out a name and a quality reputation in the world of guitar
Few companies apart from Line 6 have accomplished so much so quickly when it comes to carving out a name and a quality reputation in the world of guitar tone. With products like AxSys amps, PODs and Variax guitars, the company blazed trails in the world of modeling that the big manufacturers are just now picking up on. Eleven years in, the company''s range of products is as impressive as its continually growing army of devotees. One of Line 6''s newest recruiting tools is the TonePort GX Recording Interface, a solid and affordable port of entry for players who are just now dipping their toes into the world of effects modeling.
I've been playing through a Line 6 amp for years now, so I had high expectations for this surprisingly small interface. The big question for me was whether this gizmo could impress someone who drank the punch long ago.
Simply put, it delivers the professional quality sound it promises.
It took me all of 15 minutes to set it up and install the included GearBox software on my Mac. I felt like a kid on Christmas. With 18 fully-equipped guitar amp models, 5 bass amps, 6 preamps, 29 cabinets, and 30 stompbox and studio effects, the tone potential is just unreal, especially with this level of control. What's even better is how easy it is to use: as the note on the box says, "brain dead simple." I bet even a drummer could figure it out.
With a huge list of presets and the online Tone Library, Line 6 has figured out how to offer ease-of-use without limiting the functional capability. You can start from scratch or pick an already doctored tone and tweak to your heart's content. You'll find just about every tone you can imagine and many you haven't yet. In fact, one of the best qualities of the GearBox software and the Tone Library is how much you can learn about guitar tone, even if you already know a lot. You can dissect the effects and settings of preset tones as well as the amp/cab used, the amp mic and recording room involved (if applicable) and even the mic placement. It's not just a studio; it's a depository and a laboratory at your fingertips.
Not only do the vintage rigs and amp models sound great, they are set up to respond just like the real amps do. For instance, the 1958 Tweed B-Man, modeled on a '58 Fender Bassman combo, (my go-to setting on my Flextone II amp) has the same unmistakable sound: tube-driven, fat-bottomed, timeless rock 'n roll tone and the same peculiar tone controls that make it nice and grungy in the sweet spot, but without too much murkiness.
I really got a kick out of the 1967 Class A-30 Top Boost, which is modeled on a Vox AC30. It gives you that classic bright, crispy British invasion tone on a clean setting, but when you crank up the gain and drop the Cut knob you get that same thick, saturated bucket of crunch you hear from Brian May on the early Queen recordings, only here you can couple the amp with any one of two dozen cabinets all at the click of mouse. Then it's just a few more clicks to add reverb, chorus or whatever rocks your sock off.
It's also a blast to record with: 24-bit, 44.1 to 96 KHz sample rates, an "intelligent" hum reducer, and lots of other cool features round out the package. Line 6 has also solved the latency problem that has kept many players from recording with an interface -- ToneDirect monitoring allows you to record exactly what you're hearing without having to dry out your signal.
With the TonePort GX, Line 6 has streamlined the technology it created and continues to improve on. For the $70 shelf price (MSRP $89.99), you get much, much more than you pay for. It''s as well-suited for modeling vets as it is for beginners.
It''s not flawless, though.The casing is plastic, and doesn't seem exceptionally sturdy, so you can't treat it like your stage rig. The only other potential downside is the stress the TonePort GX could put on a relationship: if she's already irked about how much time you spend in front of the computer, this is going to drive her right over the edge.
Rating... | ||
Tone... | ||
Craftsmanship... | ||
Features... | ||
Value... | ||
Overall... |
Line 6 TonePort GX Recording Interface
TonePort GX at Line6.com
Our expert has stated his case, now we want to hear yours. Log on to premierguitar. com, click on "Forum" and share your comments and ratings.


text:
Time to Make Hay
Posted on July 28, 2013
As this July forever fades into this August and the sweaty, hardworking part of high summer slides into the sleepier, dog days of late summer, our hired hands in Washington, D.C. have less than 20 legislative days to put up a year's worth of hay before Congressional winter begins September 30.
They won't make it. The hay will not be cut, it won't get baled and it won't be in the barn when it will be needed.
And it will be needed; there's never been a year when it wasn't.
But many members of this Congress—mostly the ultra-hot tea drinkers of the House GOP—simply don't care about what needs to be done. They measure success by failure. A government shutdown is movement; dozens of dead-end votes to kill healthcare reform is progress; gutting financial reform is regulating.
More perplexing than this upside down approach to government is why American farmers and ranchers and the groups which claim to represent 'em tolerate these burn-the-barn-down politicians and their tactics.
What must these non-legislating legislators do—after killing the 2012 Farm Bill without a vote, voting down a comprehensive 2013 Farm Bill and barely passing an ugly, partisan ag-only bill—to prove to you that their closed minds and discredited ideas are more important than America's food security and the farms and ranches that deliver it?
Like it or hate it, government plays a deep, daily role in U.S. agriculture. From crop insurance to meat inspections to school lunches to export financing, our food is safe, abundant and fairly cheap because we empower our government to make it so. Reforming some, maybe many, farm and food programs is open to debate; defaming, de-funding and destroying many key programs, however, is just dumb, and you—we—are not dumb.
We are in one way, though: we are financing our demise. Since 2011, Big Ag has ladled $60.6 million of its $91.9 million in political lard into GOP coffers, according to OpenSecrets.org.
The dough has bought nothing but a bag of doughnut holes on key farm and ranch issues—no Farm Bill, no comprehensive tax reform, no immigration reform, no new spending on aging river and port infrastructure, no rural development.
Farmers and ranchers aren't the only folks being jerked around by the raucous GOP caucus. Seventy-three percent of all Americans, including 66 percent of all Republicans, according to a recent poll by Hart Research Associates, want immigration reform and want it to include a pathway to citizenship.
After the U.S. Senate passed its bipartisan bill that includes that path a month ago, House Republican leaders didn't even read it before declaring it dead on arrival.
Similarly, 87 percent of all Americans—and 78 percent of all Republicans—support action by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a Georgetown Climate Center poll.
On Tuesday, July 23, however, a House Appropriations subcommittee, according to the New York Times, "formally drafted legislation that would cut (EPA's) budget by 34 percent and eliminate [the White House's] newly announced greenhouse gas regulations."
There's more evidence of pure wooden-headedness in Congress: According to a late July Washington Post-ABC News poll, 62 percent of all "self-identified" Republicans say compromise, "cooperation," in Congress should "trump strict adherence to principles."
Well, the hay is blooming, the sun is shining and, in the coming month, Congress is bringing its dysfunction to a VFW hall or church basement near you. It's their annual August recess and they'll be showing up shortly to brag on their achievements (ask them to name three) while blaming the other (nameless) guy for their failures.
Go to the town hall meetings and county fair gatherings; ask 'em why they can't write, pass and enact legislation—a Farm Bill, immigration reform, tax reform, an annual budget, an infrastructure program—the nation needs and wants.
Then tell 'em what happened to the last hired man you had that didn't take hay and haymaking seriously.
© 2013 ag comm


text:
As Hearthstone expands and more patrons make their way to the tavern, it becomes increasingly important for us to revisit past designs to make sure we are building on the right foundation. Over the past 5 years of evolution and growth, we've learned a lot about what makes each of the classes in Hearthstone different and what unique experiences players should have when playing each of these classes. Headed into our next update, we'd like to take this opportunity to outline our current class identity philosophy and to share our thoughts on where we see each class in the future.
Establishing Class Identity
When defining a class's identity, we're primarily concerned with staying true to the following three guidelines: adhere to a class's "fantasy", define the things the class should excel at, and establish where the class should struggle.
When looking at the fantasy of each class we want to capture the emotion of the class through gameplay. That could mean charging headfirst into battle as a Warrior, wielding devastating magical spells as a Mage, or plotting the perfect combination of moves as a Rogue. Once we know what makes a class tick, we can make better decisions about what cards fit and empower that fantasy.
Establishing stronger class identities serves several purposes. Giving classes better defined characteristics allows us to have more freedom when creating new mechanics. We can push further into the extremes knowing that each class has downsides to balance out new power. It also enables more counter-play when there is a clearer understanding of a class's strengths and weaknesses. For example, the knowledge that a Druid is weak against big minions lets you start planning your strategy from the start of the match, with little to no knowledge of your opponent's specific deck.
Class Breakdown
Here's a brief look into how we currently picture each of the classes:
- Strengths: These are the things that a class focuses on and excels at.
- Limitations: These are aspects that might show up a few times in a class, but they are very limited in power level and the number of cards.
- Weaknesses: These are aspects that a class either doesn't have or struggles to achieve effectively.
Druid: Attuned with nature, Druids rely on the magic of the wild, massive beasts, and swarms of woodland creatures. Their toolbox allows them the versatility to pivot from defense to aggression. However, they have limited ways to directly clear out enemy minions.
- Strengths: Mana generation, giant minions, minion swarms, card draw, Beasts
- Weaknesses: Destroying big minions, board clear
Hunter: Hunters use their wit, ferocity, and an army of beasts fighting alongside them to destroy their competition. Although they lack in defense, their aggression allows them to push through before they need it. A well-timed Secret or Deathrattle can help them gain clutch advantages against their opponent.
- Strengths: Beasts, face damage, Secrets, Deathrattle
- Limitations: Card draw and generation, board clear, Taunt
- Weaknesses: Healing
Mage: Mages have mastered the arcane arts and use their wide range of spells to take on even the most aggressive of opponents. Their defensive cadre is limited—while a good Mage usually has a useful tool to deal with any situation, a great Mage conjures the right tool when they need it.
- Strengths: Spells (big and small), damage spells, Secrets, board clear
- Limitations: Minion swarms
- Weaknesses: Healing, Taunt, minion buffs
Paladin: Paladins are great champions who support their minions with buffs, healing, and divine shields; however, they are not afraid to get their hands dirty when the time comes. They are methodical, controlling the battlefield through debuffs and focused attacks instead of destructive spells. Strength and persistence are the keys to a Paladin's victory.
- Strengths: Minion swarms, minion buffs and debuffs, healing, Divine Shield, Secrets
- Limitations: Cost reduction
- Weaknesses: Direct damage spells, destroying big minions
Priest: Priests balance holy light and shadow magic to defeat their opponents. They control a battle's outcome using powerful spells with situational applications. While not the most aggressive, they are able to generate, copy, and use combinations of cards to create a powerful army.
- Strengths: Healing, narrow but powerful spells, copying, single-minion buffs, Deathrattle
- Limitations: Card draw
- Weaknesses: Face damage spells, multi-minion buffs
Rogue: Rogues hide in the shadows, planning for the perfect time to strike. They may be sneaky and nimble, but they lack strong defenses and regeneration, forcing them to act quickly to incapacitate an opponent. Their innate ability to generate, draw, and burgle cards allows them to build up and execute on many synergies.
- Strengths: Combo cards, destroying individual minions, card draw, weapons, Deathrattle
- Weaknesses: Taunt, healing, board clear, multi-minion buffs
Shaman: Shamans wield the power of the elements along with their trusty totems. While they may not be able to generate resources as quickly as a Mage, they are able to overload their Mana Crystals with lightning, allowing them to ramp up for a burst of power faster than other classes. Shamans are thus rewarded for planning a few turns ahead by tuning their mana curve. Shamans also have strong tools to adapt to many situations. Although they are not as versatile as a Druid's Choose One cards, they are able to extend their capabilities in ways other classes might not be able to.
- Strengths: Minion swarms, damage spells, Totems, Elementals, Murlocs
- Weaknesses: Card draw, card generation
Warlock: Sometimes sacrifices need to be made for power, and when you get demons involved this is often the case. The Warlock is comfortable with this bond and can manage all their resources (including their Health) in order to defeat their opponent. Their inherent ability to draw cards—with a sacrifice—allows them to keep the power flowing.
- Strengths: Powerful sacrifice effects, card draw, minion swarms, disruption, Demons
- Weaknesses: Face damage spells, big healing
Warrior: Warriors thirst for the battlefield. Primarily a martial class, they incorporate Armor, weapons, and minions to destroy their opponents. The minions who fight alongside each Warrior tend to be bigger and stronger, and they employ Rush and Taunt to control the flow of battle.
- Strengths: Armor, weapons, Taunt, destroying minions
- Limitations: Card draw and generation
- Weaknesses: Face damage spells, multi-minion buffs, minion swarms
Neutral: Neutral cards allow classes to extend their strengths to reach a specific goal with their deck or to make up for some of their weaknesses. For example, a Paladin can add Neutral Murlocs to help them round out their deck, or a Hunter may use a Neutral card that gives them a small amount of healing so they can stay in the fight longer. These cards are generally lower in power level so a class can never completely overcome their weaknesses.
Addressing Identity Issues
As we've worked to define what each class should bring to the table, we've found several cards that don't match our established class identities. We'll continue to adjust the Basic and Classic sets as needed, but for this update we've decided to address the following two cards: [[Mind Blast]] and [[Vanish]].
While we like Rogues' knack for getting out of sticky situations with targeted removal, [[Vanish]] allows them to effectively clear an entire board. This negates one of their intended weaknesses, reduces our ability to design towards their strengths, and makes it much harder for players to strategize against a Rogue.
[[Mind Blast]] gives Priests the ability to inflict a large amount of direct Face damage. We want to limit the amount of damage that Priests are able to deal from their hand, which will allow us to make cards that better emphasize their strengths in controlling the game.
We'll be adding [[Vanish]] and [[Mind Blast]] to the Hall of Fame and replacing them with effects that better speak to their classes' core fantasies:
For Priests, we've added Radiance since we wanted to have a low-cost spell that could be used for tricky spell synergies that also provided a powerful baseline heal for the class. Plaguebringer provides Rogues with another way to destroy minions and further establishes this class as the masters of Poison.
All players who have the old Basic cards (Vanish and Mind Blast) will automatically receive the new Basic cards (Plaguebringer and Radiance) once this update is live.
If you have Wild unlocked, you'll keep Vanish and Mind Blast as Hall of Fame Commons. If not, you'll receive an equivalent amount of dust for all Golden and Non-Golden copies in your collection.
Standard decks will have Vanish and Mind Blast replaced with Plaguebringer and Radiance.
Adding New Classic Cards
Over the past several years, we've taken steps toward further defining class identities and maintaining a healthy meta-game by moving some over-represented or design-limiting Classic cards into the Hall of Fame, and by adding new cards to this set whenever appropriate. For instance, in 2017 we moved both [[Ragnaros the Firelord]] and [[Sylvanas Windrunner]] to the Hall of Fame, and we've more recently done the same for [[Divine Favor]], [[Ice Block]], and several other cards. Leading up to the release of Rastakhan's Rumble in 2018, we also introduced some new cards to the Classic set, such as [[Pilfer]], [[Icicle]], and [[Tome of Intellect]].
We're always assessing the prominence and impact of cards from every set, including Basic and Classic, and will continue to make changes when we believe it makes for a healthier meta-game and a better experience for players. This may come in the form of additions to the Hall of Fame or with the introduction of new cards that we feel bring some fresh new options to players, while still being healthy for the game.
When moving Classic cards to the Hall of Fame, we always look to introduce new cards to this set in order to keep a healthy amount of easily-obtainable cards available to players in Standard format games. We've been working for quite a while on some new additions to the Classic set, and we feel that now is the perfect time to bring them into the game.
Here's a look at the new cards that will be available in Classic card packs (and craftable with Arcane Dust) starting with the next major update:
Since these are Basic and Classic cards (and so not subject to set rotation), we want to be careful with their power level so that Hearthstone can continue to feel fresh with each new year. At the same time, we'd like to provide effects that are natural for their class and can be useful in the right circumstances.
Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated, so we are very excited to share these changes with you before they're in the game.
Let us know what you think in the comments section or on the Hearthstone forums. Thanks for playing!


text:
This site chronicles the progression of The Birth Project Paintings, a series of paintings about the birthing experience. To volunteer your photos or participate please email me at email@example.com
Sunday, November 07, 2010
More Press for 'Living in the Body'
Peaceful Parenting post- 'Toronto Art Exhibit...'
Related are a couple of other blogs mentioning the show;
The Joy of This is a lovely blog, and she also displays some of the older 'Birth Project' paintings
Another great blog my work:
Wild as Weeds
Jennifer Posti was also reviewed by Toronto art critic Peter Goddard in the Toronto Star, as
'this week's entertainment picks'. Way to go Jen! Jen's show 'Stay at Home' is running at Gallery 1313 while 'Living in the Body' is running.
I've had lots of inquiries on whether I accept commissions. I do welcome commissions; birth, pregnancy or otherwise. Please contact me to discuss your request at firstname.lastname@example.com
For reference, I work life-size, and the rate is approx $125/square foot.
I'm unsure yet whether I will make prints. I would rather focus my energy on painting and selling original work. In some ways I feel making prints diminishes the value of the painting. However, I realize purchasing a large painting is not in everyone's budget, so I may consider doing a limited number of prints of certain peices in the future.
7 comments:
- Unknown said...
It would be wonderful if you did make prints! I am wildly in love with your work, but as a mother and midwifery student it simply isn't in our budget.
Thank you for capturing such beautiful moments~ - 12:47 am
- Rachel said...
I don't know how to write you other than this:) I have a web page that is devoted to birth art...You can see it here..http://journeyofbirth.blogspot.com/
I was wondering if I could use some of your art. I add a link to your page as well as anything else you want to add about you or other info. I love your stuff! You can email me at firstname.lastname@example.com Rachel - 11:15 am
I wish you'd do prints, too! I absolutely love your art, but have the same problem as C.
- 1:33 pm
- Nicolle Littrell said...
Just discovered your work, Amanda and it is...gorgeous. Worth a thousand words. I also make images of birth--films. Check out my blog/website: www.mainehomebirth.wordpress.com
would love to find a way to work together!
keep up the beautiful work!
nicolle littrell - 3:25 pm
- Nicolle Littrell said...
p.s. i added a link to your site to my blog. would you be willing to do the same? check out my site: www.mainehomebirth.wordpress.com and let me know.
thanks! - 3:38 pm
so, so meaningful- thank you for sharing this beauty! i agree with c. and cynthia; i am also a student midwife and mother, and would love to have just a tiny piece of your art to share...
- 10:52 pm
- Howard L said...
Good reading this poost
- 10:04 pm


text:
It's worth a comment on oil prices which have been collapsing with remarkable speed lately. Firstly, let's briefly recap the price history of the last five years, which I have divided into eight eras in the chart above.
- The final stage of the 2005-2008 price shock. This was driven by the onset of the plateau in global crude oil production, together with a rapidly growing global economy. There was likely some speculative excess amplifying the late stages of the movement.
- The massive collapse in oil prices driven by the 2008 financial crisis.
- A fairly quick recovery driven by modest cuts in OPEC output, particularly Saudi Arabia.
- A period of fairly stable prices in H2 2009 and H1 2010 at a level that was (then) acceptable to OPEC.
- A sharp run-up in late 2010/early 2011 driven by the Arab Spring and in particular the loss of Libyan oil production.
- A gradual decline in prices as the Eurozone crisis heats up, raising fears over demand, and the situation in the Middle East seems to stabilize (except for Syria which is not a big oil producer).
- A short sharp rises in price as the LTRO operations appear to have stabilized Europe, and fears of an Israeli attack on Iran are aired extensively in the press.
- The recent sharp collapse in prices as it becomes clear that the LTROs were only a temporary palliative to the situation in the Eurozone, which continues to worsen. Meanwhile negotiations with Iran take an attack off the table for the time being. Furthermore, growth in major emerging markets (China, India, Brazil) has slowed.
These kinds of considerations suggest that the downward break in oil prices could continue quite a lot further.
On the other hand, with Brent falling below $100, we are now testing the current level of OPEC's tolerance for lower prices. In 2009/2010 they were willing to settle for $70ish without reducing production. However, since that time they - particularly Saudi Arabia - have signed up for extensive domestic stimulus programs to appease the population following the Arab Spring. Thus they almost certainly need somewhat higher prices now. Mr Al-Naimi has been quoted on numerous occasions in the last year saying that $100 was a fair price for oil. Will they cut oil production now, on that rule? Or wait till it crosses $90 or $80? I'd be surprised if it took $80 to get them to act.
Thus I would expect that if the downward movement were to continue, it would not be too much longer before it would trigger a Saudi production cut. There is some possibility (as in 2008) that prices could transiently go lower particularly if events in Europe turn truly dramatic and markets start to panic. Then it takes a while for the effects of production cuts to work through the system. But then again, I would expect market participants to have learnt something from what happened in 2008 and be more prone to price in the effect of OPEC production cuts in advance.
Further, once we are below $100 in Brent prices, there is considerable risk of upward surprises. A breakdown in the Iran talks, European authorities doing something relatively functional, Greek elections producing a pro-agreement coalition, hiccups of any kind in the global oil production system. In the long term, I think oil prices are certainly going to average over $100.
In short, while prices could certainly go lower in the near term, they are at levels were, if I were an oil trader, I'd feel more comfortable being long than short unless my time-horizon was very short. If one were sitting in cash, there could be an argument for waiting a little longer before jumping in on the long side - at least while the situation in Spain seems quite so unresolved.


text:
Canadian Math Students Win Olympiad Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals
Strong performance advances Canada's international ranking
OTTAWA, Ontario — In competition with students from 103 other countries, a team of six Canadian high school students performed exceptionally well, winning one gold, three silver and two bronze medals, at the 50th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) held in Bremen, Germany, from July 10 to July 22, 2009. The strong performance gave Canada an overall 18th place finish, up from 22nd last year, and the highest overall student performance in over fifteen years.
The six Canadian students - Robin Cheng, Pinetree Secondary School, Coquitlam (British Columbia); Jonathan Schneider, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto (Ontario); XiaoLin (Danny) Shi, Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary (Alberta); Hunter Spink, Western Canada High School, Calgary (Alberta); Chen Sun, A.B. Lucas Secondary School, London (Ontario); and Chengyue (Jarno) Sun, Western Canada High School, Calgary (Alberta) - were selected from among more than 200,000 students in grades 7 to 12 and in CEGEPs who participated in local, provincial and national mathematics contests.
The team was accompanied by the Team Leader Dorette Pronk (Dalhousie University), Deputy Team Leader David Arthur (Stanford), and Deputy Team Leader Observer Jacob Tsimerman (Princeton). Both David Arthur and Jacob Tsimerman are Canadian gold medal winners from previous IMO competitions.
At the Closing Ceremony on July 21st, a Gold Medal was awarded to XiaoLin (Danny) Shi, Silver Medals to Robin Cheng, Hunter Spink, and Chen Sun, and Bronze Medals to Jonathan Schneider and Chengyue (Jarno) Sun.
"This team of Canadian students performed exceptionally well with each student bringing home a medal. Everyone involved in supporting the team is extremely proud of their achievements on the world stage" said Dorette Pronk.
"The IMO is the world championship high school mathematics competition. The problems are difficult and challenging and Canadian students always turn in a strong performance. This year the talent and creativity displayed by the students was outstanding. Everyone is pleased to see the training, hard work and commitment so well rewarded." said Dr. Graham Wright, of the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS), the organization responsible for the selection and training of Canada's IMO team.
Although students compete individually, country rankings are obtained by adding the team scores. The maximum score for each student is 42 and for a team of six students the maximum is 252. The Canadian team placed 18th out of 104 competing countries with an overall score of 158, the highest total team score in over 15 years.
The 2009 medals brings Canada's mathematics student medal count total to 17 gold, 40 silver, and 68 bronze, since 1981. Prior to leaving for the 50th IMO, the Canadian team trained from June 26th to July 12th at a special IMO Training Seminar held at the University of Calgary and at the Banff International Research Station.
The 2009 IMO contest was set by an international jury of mathematicians, one from each country, and was written on Wednesday July 15th and Thursday July 16th. On each day of the contest, three questions had to be solved within a time limit of four and a half hours. Student participants must be less than 20 years old when they write the IMO.
For the 2009 competition, the top 10 teams and their scores are: People's Republic of China (221); Japan (212); Russian Federation (203), Republic of Korea (188); Democratic People's Republic of Korea (183); United States of America (182); Thailand (181); Turkey (177); Germany (171); and Belarus (167).
The team will be returning to Canada today (July 22nd), in Toronto, London, Calgary, and Vancouver. For further details contact the Canadian Mathematical Society.
In addition to the Canadian Mathematical Society, sponsors of the 2009 Canadian IMO team include: the Imperial Oil Foundation; Sun Life Financial; NSERC PromoScience; the Banff International Research Station; the Samuel Beatty Fund; Maplesoft; Nelson Thomson Learning; John Wiley and Sons Canada Ltd; A.K. Peters Ltd; the Ontario Ministry of Education; Alberta Learning; Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth; Nova Scotia Department of Education; the Newfoundland and Labrador Ministry of Education; the Northwest Territories Ministry of Education; the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education; Centre de recherches mathématiques; the Fields Institute; the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences; the Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Calgary; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Dalhousie University; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa; the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Regina; the Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto; the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, University of Waterloo; the Department of Statistics, University of Waterloo; and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, York University.
The 51st International Mathematical Olympiad will take place in Astana, Kazakhstan, in July 2010.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Graham P. Wright
Canadian Mathematical Society
Cel: (613) 290-3046
About the Canadian Mathematical Society
The Canadian Mathematical Society is the main national organization whose goal is to promote and advance the discovery, learning, and application of mathematics. The Society's activities cover the whole spectrum of mathematics including: scientific meetings, research publication, and the promotion of excellence in mathematics education at all levels. The CMS, in partnerships with others, annually sponsors math camps and competitions across Canada.


text:
As promised, here are some photos from our shop MAISON ST. GERMAIN. We have been decorating for Christmas. Yes, already;) This way we can enjoy the shop and when it is time to decorate our own homes we won't be stressed. We are even playing Christmas music. At home I don't decorate until the day after Thanksgiving. But in retail it is different. I don't really mind though. Christmas is such a beautiful holiday. The meaning of Christmas and all of the decorating that goes along with it makes me smile all season:) I can never have enough of the Christmas spirit.
Our shop may be small but it is big on personality! It is jam packed with vintage items and vintage Christmas. We have hundreds of ornaments, some vintage some hand made. All gorgeous. Something for every ones budget too:) The ornaments above are hand beaded from the seventies. Each one is amazing and unique. No two are alike. We loved putting up this vintage silver tree on a cornflower painted vintage chair and covering it with this fabulous collection.
These one of a kind fabulous glittery red skaters came from Patrice of Sentimentally Me. Patrice turns everything she touches into pure gorgeousness!
Lots of little 'FOREVER TREES' from MAISON ST. GERMAIN. Some sit in vintage cups, others in vintage creamers. Always unique and festive.
OK, who doesn't love a pink tree? Nicole decorated this tree with about 100 vintage ornaments. It came out so pretty you really need to see it in person.
Of course our dress forms are dressed for the season as angels. This one has paper pattern flowers attached to her tutu.
When you come into the shop, expect to spend a bit of time in here. You have to look up and down and under because we have to be creative about displaying things and work with the space we have. But that is half the fun. I know that when I go into a shop I enjoy just relaxing and looking for that favorite treasure to bring home. The thrill of the hunt:)
The 'girls' all dressed for Christmas will welcome you as you enter the shop.
Pretty pink hand beaded ornament.
Trees, decorations and candy mold Santas.
Sheet music ornaments
Gorgeous sugar wreaths.
Trims and pretty boxes
Doesn't this look fun!
We have unique wreaths too.
Look at all of the work that went into this one ornament.
Will you be having a Vintage Christmas this year too?
"Till next time.........................


text:
So, time passes by and the site and domain are pretty far behind the actual release schedules. Yet this is supposedly coming to an end. The album database is slowly being built to reach the current release pace as well as the missing lyrics from the latest releases should also be updated. The ones missing currently are 223-225. Oh and as a sidenote, 4000 lyrics in the database has been crossed finally *blows the horn* Omedetoo~ EP!
The old system for uploading new lyrics is gone, Humbedooh has gone through a lot of work to get a more functional system that will let lyrics and album database entries (latter not just yet) to be submitted incase stuff is still missing. For the new system one has to create a username/password which will hopefully cut off the masses of spam, that the old system was very vulnerable to.
Either way, the old mailbox for all of the submitted lyrics and such has been gone through more or less. As said, it was 80% full of spam and penis enlargement commercials, so I'm all glad if it's over with and doesn't need to be used anymore. A big thank you to people who have been submitting lyrics and helping with the site as always.
More to come... ?
Database catch ups, slowly
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


text:
Story highlights
The man doesn't recognize himself
He doesn't speak English
A social worker tries to help him figure out his past
Doctors say he is in a 'fugue state'
When police found the unconscious man in a Southern California Motel 6, the IDs on him said he was Michael Thomas Boatwright from Florida.
But when the man awoke at Desert Regional Medical Center a few days later, he said he'd never heard of Boatwright.
He didn't recall serving in the U.S. Navy. Or of being born in Florida.
When doctors told him he had five tennis rackets in his hotel room, he couldn't say why.
When they showed him photos of himself with others, he didn't recognize them, or himself.
And he didn't speak a word of English.
The man said his name was Johan Ek.
And he said it in Swedish.
That was back in February.
Today, the 61-year-old man says he has come to terms with the name "Michael Boatwright," but only because doctors told him he should.
He still feels like Johan Ek from Sweden.
And he can't explain why.
The case was first reported by the Desert Sun.
Car crash leaves Australian woman with French accent
Digging in the past
Before she became a social worker at Desert Regional Medical Center, Lisa Hunt-Vasquez was an archeologist.
Those digging skills came in handy the day she met Johan Ek/Michael Boatwright.
Her mission: Help Boatwright figure out who he is.
She first contacted the military.
Among the IDs police discovered on him was one from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He'd served from 1971 to 1973 in the Navy as an aviation mechanic.
Hunt-Vasquez dug deeper.
The Asia connection
She found a website for the TRP English school in China.
Turns out Boatwright taught English there for four years, until May.
In an essay he wrote for the site, he mentioned he worked as an English instructor in Japan for 10 years, and that he was married to a Japanese woman. They have a 12-year-old son together, he wrote.
The leads looked promising.
But there was one hitch.
Photos found with Boatwright in the motel room showed a young man living in what looked like a European city, not Asia.
Hunt-Vasquez kept searching.
She came across several websites dedicated to graphic designs. Boatwright often used the screen name 'korstemplar' and listed himself as a Swede living and teaching in China.
The pieces were falling into place.
A roadblock
He had lived in Japan, married, became a father. He then moved to China.
The school in China told her he was divorced.
He lived there until May, when his visa expired and he flew to California.
But when she contacted the Japanese and Chinese consulates, neither had next-of-kin information for him, according to the Desert Sun.
Staffers called all the numbers on the phone Boatwright had with him. They either went to voice mail or no one picked up, the newspaper said.
She had hit a dead end.
His life so far
Everything Boatwright knows about his life before February 28 he knows because his social worker told him or because he read it on websites.
He told CNN he learned that in 1987 he operated a consulting company called Kultur Konsult Nykoping.
That is somewhat of a Swedish connection.
He doesn't have any independent knowledge of his life before he woke up in the hospital. He doesn't even know exactly what his consulting company did.
Boatwright told CNN he'd been a good tennis player, and the Tennis Channel had interviewed him years ago.
Perhaps, he said, he'd come to southern California for the tennis tournament season. That would certainly explain the five rackets in his hotel room.
A 'fugue state'
According to the Desert Sun, Boatwright is in a "fugue state."
People in this condition lose their sense of personal identity, according to the Cleveland Clinic. They become confused about past events and often wander far from home.
Fugue states, such as dissociative fugue, are often triggered by trauma, such as the death of a loved one or a serious accident, according to Dr. Aaron Anderson, a neurologist at Emory University School of Medicine.
Patients sometimes assume different personalities, Anderson added.
The relatively rare disorder often goes away on its own, but it can take several months.
What the future holds
Now that Boatwright's story has spread to the Swedish media, several Swedes have come forth to say they knew him in the 1980s.
Late Monday night, the Desert Sun reported it found Boatwright's sister in Louisiana.
"I haven't talked to him in years. He just disappeared," Michelle Brewer told the paper.
Learning about his life hasn't helped him much psychologically.
He still feels isolated in the hospital, so Hunt-Vasquez encouraged him to reach out to members of the local Swedish-American community.
"They said he was getting depressed because he wasn't able to communicate," said Linda Kosvic, chairman of the Vasa Order of America chapter in San Jacinto, California. "We've been trying to provide him support and make him feel more comfortable."
Members visit him in the hospital, bringing him Swedish foods.
The hospital would like to discharge Boatwright, but they have no place to send him, said Richard Ramhoff, a spokesman for Desert Regional Medical Center.
They can't send him home until they know where home is.
CNN's Per Nyberg, John Bonifield and William Hudson contributed to this report.


text:
Show All Answers
When our crews are cleaning the sewer mains they are using high-pressure hoses that spray water in the sewer main. This can cause high air pressure or negative air pressure in the sewer main and sewer service lines that connect to the house plumbing. If a house does not have adequate sewer vents, which are usually vented through the roof, the excess air pressure can cause water to be blown out of the toilets or p-traps in the home. If your toilet is blown, please contact the equipment operator or call 509-477-1984.


text:
Ace Comfort Air Conditioning & Heating
The local choice for Commercial & Residential, A professional HVAC Contractors in Houston, TX you can trust!
For over 14 years, we have been family owned and operated and treat every customer like family. We do all installs and service calls with the highest integrity and Ace Comfort offers the, fastest, friendliest, most affordable/cost-effective Heating and Air Conditioning Service in the Houston area. As one of the most trusted Houston HVAC Contractors, we can work on any heating and cooling system on your home and specialize in all makes & models.
Houston ( (listen); HEW-stən) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in 2020. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the seat and largest city of Harris County and the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, which is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth. Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle.Comprising a land area of 640.4 square miles (1,659 km2), Houston is the ninth-most expansive city in the United States (including consolidated city-counties). It is the largest city in the United States by total area whose government is not consolidated with a county, parish, or borough. Though primarily in Harris County, small portions of the city extend into Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, bordering other principal communities of Greater Houston such as Sugar Land and The Woodlands.
Boulevard Oaks, Braeburn, Braeswood Place, Briarforest, Brooke Smith, Carverdale, Central Northwest, Central Southwest, Cloverland, East Little York / Homestead, El Dorado/ Oates Prarie, First Ward, Fondren Gardens, Fort Bend Houston, Fourth Ward


text:
SimpleGreat – Premium Responsive Magento theme with Blog, Powerful admin panel, and Unlimited colors!
SimpleGreat is a universal multipurpose 100% responsive Magento theme with built-in Blog for any kind of shop with modern design, built-in Revolution slider (70$ value!) and powerful backend and it's created with using the latest HTML5 and CSS3 features. Admin panel with easy navigation and dozens of configuration options allows you to change every thing in theme. You can manage colors of theme elements, select 500+ amazing fonts, apply 200+ pattern backgrounds and setup different theme settings and effects!
Theme compatible with Magento Community Edition:
1.8.x, 1.9.x
- Theme Demonstration
- Blog Page Demonstation
Theme features list
- 100% Magento Community Edition 1.8.x, 1.9.x compatible
- 100% Responsive theme
- Built in Revolution Slider (70$ value for FREE!)
- Built in 8 predefined Color Skins!
- Built in Blog Manager Extension (Manage real blog on your Magento website with Comments, Users, Blog Categories and advanced frontend blog posts slider!) – can be used as News module too.
- Different product boxes layout sizes (Default or Big) – 3 or 4 product per row display
- Built in Blog Module Slider on homepage with recent posts
- Unique theme admin panel with configurable options and features
- Fullwidth or Boxed 980px Revolution slider layouts (choose from admin panel)
- Ajax "Show more" feature for homepage product grids - Special/Sale and New products. Can be turned off to show product grids.
- Unique Blog Manager admin panel with configurable options and features
- 1 or 2 column layout support for category pages
- Different product page layouts (Choose from admin panel)
- 2 top menu types with Mega Menu feature (Standart magento menu and Special SimpleGreat menu type)
- Sliders for Related and Up-sell products on Product Page
- Sliders for New and Sale products on HomePage (can be changed to grid display from admin panel)
- Advanced promo banners for home page. Setup from Admin panel.
- About shop block on HomePage with additional mini slider
- AJAX Add to Cart (with product attributes, group and bundle products support)
- Product attributes, group products, bundle products support
- Catalog mode feature (disable Add to cart buttons and Cart), turn on/off from theme admin panel
- Turn off Compare, WishList, Add To Cart and More buttons from theme admin panel
- Unlimited color combination and themes - make your own color themes from admin panel
- Custom background textures and images, you can upload your own backgrounds and textures in theme admin panel
- 206 texture backgrounds (most transparent!) included (more coming soon!)
- 500 Google Fonts for your shop included (you change font in theme admin panel)
- Advanced responsive Slideshow and Carousel effects with Swipe gesture support for mobile devices
- Product "Sale" badge for discounted products
- Product "New" badge for new products
- Custom top menu blocks feature – make your own menu blocks with any HTML inside
- Custom tab on product page display any content on product page in tab
- Custom payment icons – choose payment icons from admin panel or upload your own
- Custom social icons – choose social icons and urls from admin panel
- Custom footer feature – make your own footer with additional information from theme admin panel
- Facebook Like Box with user faces integrated (setup from theme admin panel)
- Floating Custom Block at the left with any HTML content (setup from theme admin panel)
- Twitter tweets Slider integrated (setup from theme admin)
- Product social share features integrated
- Scroll to top button
- Advanced CSS3 and HTML 5 animations and transitions for theme elements
- Cloud Zoom like image effect
- Custom theme blocks on category and product pages
- Responsive lightbox image effect
- JQuery enhanced theme – advanced effects and plugins included!
- Grid / List product view
- SEO optimized markup and layout
- No copyright design in footer or orders
- Multi language
- Multi currency
- Fully localized
- Cross browser compatible
- No core files changed or modified!
- PSD theme files included for FREE!
- Slider images PSD files provided!
- Banners images PSD files provided!
- Fast&Easy theme setup within 10 minutes
- Well documented, full installation and configuration guide included!
- Excellent dedicated support
- And more…!
Product photos that you see in Demo shop just a sample and are not provided with theme.
Release History
To upgrade your theme to newer version just add new and replaces changed files.
Read list of files changes before upgrading:
SimpleGreat theme files changelog
- Version 1.4 (19.03.2015)
Added – Magento 1.9.1 support
Fixed – Bundle products issue - Version 1.3 (27.05.2014)
Added – Magento 184.108.40.206 support
Fixed – Magento 1.8 compatibility problems - Version 1.2.2 (11.03.2014)
Fixed – Bundle product price live update calculations - Version 1.2.1 (27.01.2014)
Fixed – Categories Toolbar overflow if you have a lot of product pages
Fixed – Pages navigation for categories in responsive view - Version 1.2 (21.09.2013)
Added – New ready to set predefined color skins – Green, Lightblue, Orange, Red, Cyan, Pastel
Added – Revolution slider updated to latest version
Fixed – Category menu for 3 level and deeper will show disclosure indicator now (unlimited sub-categories level support)
Fixed – Search field overflow cart dropdown
Fixed – Twitter username field is empty in admin panel by default now
Fixed – Floating blocks will be hided on tablets
Fixed – Product Code on product page now display SKU - Version 1.1 (02.09.2013)
Added – Dark Theme (Predefined ready to set from admin panel color Skin)
Added – Product box size change from admin panel (4 or 3 product per row)
Fixed – SimpleGreat Menu unaccessable Search field
Fixed – Google Chrome checkboxes problem
Fixed – Special/New homepage product grids behaviour for more than 4 products
Fixed – New/Sale badges z-index
Fixed – Colors changes
Fixed – "$mainclass in header.php not defined" frontend error - Version 1.0
– Initial release
This theme supports Magento Community Edition 1.8.x and 1.9.x, as there are NO modifications in core files.
Please, rate this theme!
If you like our theme please do not forget to rate it with stars in your Downloads section and write a review in Comments! Thank you!