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Super Serial aims to dissect series of pop art — be it a filmography, discography or run of comics — by looking at its individual components.
Thanks to perennial DC Comics villain and asshole Lex Luthor, Swamp Thing has been exiled from his Earth home. After a startling battle with loneliness and insanity in the excellent "My Blue Heaven," our hero's thrown himself out into the cosmos, trying desperately to find a way back to the woman he loves, but not before he learns to realign his bioelectrical field, thereby connecting with his home planet again.
The journey Swamp Thing takes in the final volume of Alan Moore's run, "Reunion," inverts the formula established in book 3 and 4′s "American Gothic" storyline. There, Swamp Thing travelled across America as a makeshift hero, encountering the Other and learning how it wasn't so different from himself. It was a journey of discovery that taught him the ways of the world, and a masterful story hardly matched in the horror genre. Swamp Thing's space travels, on the other hand, fit squarely in the realm of science fiction. This time, Swamp Thing himself is the Other, the figure acted upon instead of acting (in fact, during one stretch more than an issue and a half goes by without him having any real dialog). Further, he's not learning about the world anymore, he's learning about himself, specifically the limits of his powers, his desires and his sanity. How interesting that John Constantine had to force Swamp Thing to self-knowledge when he traveled his own country, but a trip through light-years of foreign space gave our hero true access to the interior world.
Despite my appreciation of "Reunion's" formal structure, I must confess this book doesn't excite me the way "The Curse" or "A Murder of Crows" did. It seems very clear to me that Alan Moore was coming to the end of his engagement with these characters here, and Swamp Thing's outer-space journey seems a good deal more aimless than his trip through America. No doubt this is meant in part to echo how Swamp Thing himself feels — lost to the stars, not sure if he'll ever get home. But it still feels just a little tacked-on. It's hard, I think, to top the unification of ultimate good and ultimate evil in which Swamp Thing #50 climaxed, though "The Garden of Earthly Delights" comes pretty close. To me, there's just nothing in this book with that kind of power, and it's probably the trade I pick up the least in Moore's whole run.
Part of that may have to do with the fact that Moore was beginning to pass the reigns on to his Swamp Thing successor, artist and sometimes-writer Rick Veitch. Veitch scripts an issue here, one the series could probably have done without that involves, curiously, Jack Kirby's Fourth World characters. Veitch isn't nearly as strong a writer as Moore, often going more over-the-top than he needs to to convey his message. You may know his run was famously entrenched in controversy. I've read the first three trades of it, and I can report that it's also not very good. While Moore aims for subtle, psychological horror, Veitch pushes the book's overt weirdness way too far; the most interesting parts of his run are those that bring in other aspects of the DC Universe (ex: Solomon Grundy as a failed plant elemental… yeah, I buy that).
But we're here to talk about Alan Moore, after all, and the note on which he leaves Swamp Thing, while not his best story, does satisfy. In the end, our hero and Abby earn some much-needed vacation time from the world at large. In a way, that shows Swamp Thing returning to the passivity of earlier volumes, but this time with a deeper understanding of the things around him — one character here observes that Swamp Thing's shoulders are "weary with the world" — as well as his girlfriend. Earlier I'd compared Swamp Thing's journey to Joseph Campbell's monomyth, and now we're clearly in the "return" stage. And even if you're a little bothered that some of Swamp Thing's passivity and resignation from the first book comes back, think about it: what has Alan Moore taught us if not that everything is cyclical? Good inspires evil inspires good ad naseum. Perhaps activity and passivity are on a similar cycle, much like the sleep-and-wake cycle of a human being, or the growth and death cycle of perennial plants… maybe an especially apt metaphor for monthly comics. Now it's Swamp Thing's turn to rest, but he's resting with the knowledge he's gained from America, from the cosmos, and from himself. How long before that rest is broken?
If you think about it, we really torture the characters we love — the very nature of serialized fiction, especially comic books, means that no happy endings are forever. But in September 1987, the Swamp Thing and Abby Cable got their well-deserved peace. For two such passionate lovers, that month might as well have been an eternity.
"Mysteries in Space – Exiles":
-This two-part story features Adam Strange, the star of DC's silver age Mystery in Space series for about 50 issues; that's where the first chapter of this story gets its name. It also stars several Thanagarians, the race to which familiar superheroes Hawkman and Hawkgirl belong, though the two Thanagarians we meet here exist solely in these pages.
-Here Swamp Thing visits the world Rann, currently undergoing a planet-wide food shortage in the wake of "nuclear folly" from "many centuries ago." Clearly Rann's meant to be a cautionary tale, perhaps a long-term payoff to a situation like the one set up in "The Nukeface Papers." Adam Strange even notes that Rann is "like Africa."
-When Swamp Thing first arrives on Rann, he's thought to be a malicious intruder, and Adam Strange attacks him. Swamp Thing sadly replies: "Guns…? How far… must I travel… to escape from them?"
-Swamp Thing's battle tactics have improved immensely. Here he has lots of clever tricks up his sleeve: encouraging random plantlife to grow as distraction, employing poisonous pustules, and even fighting without his head.
-In a moment of resignation, Adam Strange (Rann's protector) sounds like Swamp Thing used to. "Why can't these people ever handle their own problems?" Much like Swamp Thing, Adam longs only to be with his lover, and like Swamp Thing the people he protects mock him. He also has some pretty clever fighting tactics — check out how he uses his rocket pack to dispense of our hero.
-"Exiles" is not only the title of the second chapter to this story, but also a major part of its theme. Notice that almost none of the major characters in this story are native to Rann. Swamp Thing and Adam hail from Earth, the Thanagarians from, well, Thanagar. They're all trying to make do in a land that's not their own, though they each have different responses — to find a way out, to cohabitate in peace, to own it.
-In chapter two Swamp Thing grows extra arms to climb a building while carrying something. He's learning all the time.
-Adam's heard of Swamp Thing before, thanks to last book's exploits in Gotham.
-Interestingly, Adam accepts Swamp Thing quickly after a common language is established.
-Adam asks Swamp Thing to stimulate plant growth on Rann like he did in Gotham, thereby averting disaster. Swamp Thing's meditation on it: "People die familiar deaths… beneath unfamiliar suns."
-Another new fighting tactic from Swamp Thing: a barrage of quills.
-The advanced Thanagarians have a device much like Luthor built, one that can disrupt Swamp Thing's mind.
-Keela Roo calls Swamp Thing a "dryad," or a wood divinity. This is similar to how many called Swamp Thing an elemental or "Earth genii" in book 2.
-Here, almost two years early, Alan Moore seems to lay the groundwork for DC's Invasion crossover — we're left wondering, after all, why the Thanagarians would want to acquire technology to instantly teleport to Earth. Was this editorially mandated, did Moore volunteer to play nice for DC, or was this an incredibly early example of the company taking nuggets of stories Moore suggested and expanding them into blockbuster series?
-At the end of this story, Swamp Thing gives Adam Strange a message to relay to Abby. "It would do… so much… to bridge the light-years… between us."
-Weirdly, artist Steve Bissette scripts this issue. Here, we return to Anton Arcane in Hell. Through a couple of different framed sequences, we learn about his machinations with his brother/Abby's father, whom he turned into a Frankenstein-style creature. This issue is really weird and seemingly a little pointless, unless you consider Abby's father issues necessary knowledge. This kind of out-there story embodies what writers other than Moore tend to do with this character. If you're in a hurry reading this volume, you can go ahead and skim this one.
-We're told Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is Abby's favorite childhood book — I guess she's always had a soft spot for persecuted monsters.
-Abby's moved from working with young troubled people to older troubled ones — she now earns a living at a nursing home. Unlike her position at Elysium Lawns, though, she feels this job is hopeless.
-Maybe the point of this issue is to let us check in on Abby while Swamp Thing's off traveling the galaxy, but still… it doesn't really work for me.
-In addition to taking care of the elderly, Abby also now takes care of Liz, whom we re-met last volume.
-Even though he's in Hell being punished for his crimes, Arcane's still an evil bastard — he's so happy to have hurt Abby by making her confront her father.
-The ending of this issue is really unresolved, and future Moore stories refer to the events here very unspecifically. Perhaps of note, though, this is the last time we'll see Arcane in a present sense.
"Loving the Alien":
-Here, Moore turns in something of an experimental issue — full-page artwork with captions only, no dialog. It's almost more like a storybook than a comic. It's another meditation on otherness and sexuality, themes we explored in "A Murder of Crows," "The Curse" and "Love and Death."
-This book also somewhat troublingly involves rape, although since the perpetrator's a sentient bio-mechanical planet and the victim is Swamp Thing's consciousness in a body grown out of that planet, maybe it's more like spiced-up masturbation. Yeah, it's weird.
-Swamp Thing's planetary suitor refers to him as "issue of no loins save the Cosmos" and "the ghost that swam through clockwork and was raped by an island." I bet you will not find that combination of words anywhere else in history.
-When the alien planet scans the recesses of Swamp Thing's consciousness, it notices three major dark spots: Arcane, our werewolf friend Phoebe and the underwater vampires. This seems to corroborate my argument that Swamp Thing's episode with Phoebe in "The Curse" is one of the most important turning points for the character.
-Moore makes any discussion of Otherness very difficult here, since, as I mentioned above, Swamp Thing is constantly singled out as the Other yet his body is made of the same stuff as the planet that objectifies him.
-Interesting description of love: when our planet falls for Swamp Thing, it's said that all her logical faculties "melt."
-Since Moore's lascivious planet is definitely gendered as a woman, we have an interesting example of a literal Mother Earth. Yet here Mother Earth is a rapist, or at least something of a sexual deviant. Never expect to get straight morality from Moore.
-In a way, with its graphic depictions of unconventional sex, this issue's something of a companion to Book 2′s "Rites of Spring," though the art (by John Totleben solo) is not quite as good (it is just as experimental).
-Does Swamp Thing's space-babies that he has with this planet ever come up again? It would be really interesting if Scott Snyder had plans for them in his upcoming Swamp Thing series.
-Let's leave this issue with a quote from the planet: "It is a universal truth, known to the humblest protozoa: sex is death."
"All Flesh is Grass":
-In maybe my favorite story from this volume — at least the one that sticks with me the most — Swamp Thing comes to a world of a sentient vegetable civilization. Unfortunately, that means that when he constitutes a body it's made up of countless members of that vegetable race. Composite Swamp Thing provides a creepy, powerful image, and Veitch plus Alfredo Alcala do a great job drawing him.
-As if driving home this story's inverse relationship to "American Gothic," the vegetable people refer to Swamp Thing singly as "the horror."
-Moore provides a great description of how it feels to be beset with unspeakable tragedy: "All pretense of a safe universe is planed savagely away… it is a gulf of silence, an event so large it can never be mentioned again."
-Moore also has a lot of fun describing the Composite Swamp Thing's actions: "In each hand a polite, well-mannered family clenched into a fist of bitterness and recrimination." And when Swamp Thing begins to be dismantled: "The horror's breast is torn, spilling people."
-Several times in this issue, the plant aliens threaten to attack Swamp Thing with flamethrowers. Fortunately, they never do… we don't need any more flashbacks to Swamp Thing's birth!
-This issue also spins the theme of Otherness by forcing the vegetable people to share one consciousness. We track a few different characters through this experience, and it's interesting how their shared experience with each other changes each of them: some grow to hate their fellows, some (previously aloof) experience amplified loneliness, and others renew their faith in vegetablekind.
-In this issue's tag, Adam Strange delivers Swamp Thing's message to Abby back on Earth. Of course, when he starts describing his encounter with our hero, Abby thinks he's crazy. This is the second time that's happened, recalling Deadman at Swamp Thing's Gotham "funeral." In a way, you'd think Abby would be used to her lover's weird world by now.
-Here, in Rick Veitch's issue, we spend some time in the world of Jack Kirby's New Gods. It makes an effective capper to Swamp Thing's galactic adventures, I suppose (since it employs DC's major cosmic heroes) but its only real in-story use is to set up Veitch's upcoming run on the title. This issue seems styled after Kirby both artistically and narratively; what really drives this home is a page in which the floating head of Metron speaks lengthy captions to describe what we're seeing below. Moore tributed Kirby much more fittingly in Volume 1′s Monkey King story.
-Swamp Thing seems surprised that Metron calls his Mother Box a "her." "It is strange… that you would addresss… a machine… as her." I guess he forgot about the rapey planet a couple books ago.
-Yet Swamp Thing has an interesting experience with Mother Box. He assesses that it's "alive… and trying… to tell me something… everything."
-At least Veitch puts a pretty good stamp on Swamp Thing's adventures. "Some of the most difficult lessons… in my journeys… have concerned… power and ego. I've learned it is not wise… to let self-image… get in the way of understanding."
-Swamp Thing also gives us a physics lesson: "Mother Box indicates… that all existence… is purely vibrational… at the most basic level…. And that to explore… areas beyond our own… one needs to only oscillate at other frequencies." That's so DC.
-This book briefly returns to a musical description of Swamp Thing's abilities. Swamp Thing notes that Mother Box "makes it so easy… to play subtle variations… upon the harmonic scale… of nature. I have been doing it… crudely… for a long time. Only now… am I beginning to fathom… just how far… it might take me."
-Metron and Swamp Thing have a classic disagreement about the genesis of life. "The Source is the center of everything. Therefore, it must be at the highest part of the spectrum." "Hmmm… I would have thought… just the opposite." Swamp Thing has learned that life is created and fostered from the ground up (the soil), not the top down. It's kind of an atheistic standpoint, though, so it might be hard for a character classified as a God (Metron) to accept.
-The most specific point here to watch for, in case you're thinking of going on to Veitch's run: the implied relationship between Abby and John Constantine. It's not what you think, but that idea will come back pretty quickly.
-Something Veitch does very well here: gives a two-page recap of Abby and Swamp Thing's relationship. Truly this is the emotional core of this book, and Veitch captures it well.
"Loose Ends (Reprise)":
-With one issue to go, Moore decides to have Swamp Thing take brutal revenge on the team of folks who assassinated him in volume 5. The murders here recall his killing of Sunderland back in book 1, though much more creative and violent. Curiously, Swamp Thing doesn't attack Lex Luthor… probably because he doesn't know. Rick Veitch picks that thread up later in his run, and in my opinion it's one of the more compelling reasons to check out his work on the book.
-Are Swamp Thing's murders problematic? They're hardly meditated on in the text at all; we're just given that they happen as cold facts. Surely one gets the sense that Swamp Thing's justified, though these aren't really heroic actions… but then Swamp Thing's not a typical hero anyway. Perhaps these murders are just another aspect of Swamp Thing coming back to parts of himself we haven't seen since the first book.
-Wallace Monroe, our friend from "The Nukeface Papers" and "Garden of Earthly Delights," checks in again. We learn that his wife Treasure (Victoria Jackson) has died, but she was able to find some peace in her final moments thanks to a segment of Swamp Thing's tuber Chester gave to her.
-We also see the comatose Matt Cable again. Abby mentions she feels like she doesn't have enough energy to mourn both Matt and Swamp Thing.
-Speaking of Chester, he tells Abby that Swamp Thing's siege of Gotham was the best moment of his life.
-Some of Swamp Thing's awesome murderings: trapping a guy in a hedge maze, growing out of a tomato in someone's sandwich and then growing a tree from inside that person's body.
-The last page of this issue, where Swamp Thing and Abby finally embrace again, is great… it's so happy.
"Return of the Good Gumbo":
-Here, to close out Moore's run, we have a quiet issue where the only real conflict is internal. Swamp Thing, having ended famine on Rann, wonders if he should do the same for Earth. It's a fair question, and one he debates for many pages.
-Steve Bissette returns to art duties after over a year of absence for some parts of this final issue. It's a welcome return.
-Swamp Thing sums up his space travels nicely: "I've been so far… and learned so much. The blue world… where I learned… just how insidious a trap… is solitude. That mad half-living/half-machine environment… that may have been a nightmare… suffered between worlds. The fascinating flora-culture of J586. The sterile wastes of Rann…."
-Our hero realizes the scope of his powers. "I could save mankind. I could do anything."
-I'd like to take another moment here to single out the excellent work of colorist Tatjana Wood, one of this series' most consistent contributors. Her work really emphasizes Swamp Thing's homecoming, just as it did his alien environments before; this issue has all the warm greens and blues we expect of a humid Louisiana environment. It's good to be back.
-Abby's reflections on fighting for environmentalism: "You hold the line one place, your problem's just dumped on some other person's doorstep. Sometimes I think for us to really help the environment, we'd need a different world… someplace that taught people how everything from the environment to politics was connected."
-Swamp Thing reconnects with his lover passionately in a beautiful segment: "Having seen further suns… I've witnessed nothing… so inflaming… as the shyness of old lovers… becoming fascinating strangers once again."
-As part of Swamp Thing's dilemma, he realizes the rest of his elemental lineage, currently snoozing in the Parliament of Trees, has never done much to help the Earth either. He wonders why.
-Swamp Thing's whole dilemma here is not dissimilar to the one faced by Superman in many of his stories… how much can he do? How much should he? It's an interesting way to drive home a point Moore's been subtly making all along… Swamp Thing is just as powerful, perhaps moreso, as costumed superheroes. He just expresses that power differently, and as a result takes a different place in the world.
-Swamp Thing even puts a point on a Superman-style dilemma: "Is this, then, what it is to be a god? To know, and never do? To watch the world wind by… and in its winding find content…?"
-Swamp Thing comes to a decision by realizing that even if he ended famine, men would not change — they'd just find new ways to exploit an evergreen environment. In a way, it's a restatement of Book 4′s lesson — virtue and vice must always coexist. So Swamp Thing comes to realize why the Parliament has done nothing.
-Swamp Thing puts into words his "terrible decision": "Mankind must stand or fall… by its merits alone… save for this one (Abby). This one I'll keep with me… until she dies… beyond, if I am able…."
-Swamp Thing makes a promise to his lady: "If you desire… there need be no more horror… or adventure."
-Let's get back to that resignation: "I'm tired… of quests and enemies… mankind must learn… to manufacture… glories of its own… and to atone… for all its sins… without my prompting… or my aid. It is… the only way… they'll grow. The way of the wood."
-Here Wallace Monroe joins Chester's environmental group (which Abby's leaving behind). Liz joins up too. Actually, that conversation nicely echoes back to a key moment in book 5. Chester: "Don't worry, Ab. The environment's safe with us." Swamp Thing: "Yes… I do believe… that it might be…." Remember what Swamp Things says to Batman on their final meeting.
-The panel of Liz embracing Swamp Thing is sad and excellent. The art here conveys that she's finally going to be able to pull herself together, it seems. And it's clear that Swamp Thing does care for this human.
-Swamp Thing's parting words to them all (but maybe mostly to Liz): "I am sure… that with your courage… you can both do anything."
-Abby has some great words for Liz too: "When I was alone, and you were alone, it wasn't just me helping you, okay?" Neil Gaiman writes a great Liz/Chester story in a future Swamp Thing Annual. It's collected in the odds-and-ends book Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days.
-The last line of the book: "Laissez les bontemps rouler," or "let the good times roll." That simple phrase kind of says it all, doesn't it? We know both good and bad will come in time, but maybe for now our characters can enjoy the good. Hence the line's tag: "Please. For us. For all of us… laissez les bontemps rouler."
-And speaking of that good: it seems that at least for natives of the Bayou, Swamp Thing's return is a good thing indeed, making the environment they habitate a little richer. This recalls something the superhero Green Arrow said all the way back in book 1: "Who was looking out for La Croix, Louisiana?" Swamp Thing is, and even in his retirement his environmental presence is a boon to his people.
tags: alan moore, alfredo alcala, john totleben, rick veitch, steve bissette, super serial, swamp thing
My Best of 2012 Playlist by Eric Garneau
After being inspired by some friends, for the past few years I've been really into documenting my musical exploration with year-end mixes. I realize this is not a particularly novel thing to do, but hey, who has original ideas any more? Anyway, this has gotten even easier to do thanks to new technology like Spotify. read more
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L'oreal has announced new digital campaign, 'Stay Rooted' from the range L'Oreal Paris Fall Repair 3X.
Every shampoo today speaks about strong hair, but what really matters is the roots that make the hair strong. Only strong roots can give you strong and healthy hair. L'Oreal Paris Fall Repair 3X is one such shampoo that takes care of your roots.
Fall Repair 3X is an Anti-Hair Fall Shampoo that delivers a triple anti-hair fall action. It nourishes the hair root, restructures hair fibre and helps the hair grow stronger from root to tip. Only Fall Repair 3X is enriched with Arginine Essence. Arginine is an essential amino acid that is vital for hair's constitution. It is known for nourishing the scalp to improve micro-circulation.
Stronger the roots, lesser the hair fall.
L'oreal believes that the real strength of people comes from their 'roots'. Hence the campaign for the next month is called "Stay Rooted"
'Stay Rooted' is all about remembering your roots and knowing that whatever you are today is because of your roots. It's about taking time out to thank and appreciate people, things, places etc from your past that have made you "You". Your roots are the main reason for your strength & L'Oreal Paris Fall Repair 3X gives you a chance to connect to your roots.
A video where they have captured people from across different sections of society telling about that one special person who they'd like to go back in time and thank.
Here's the Go Back In Time video link : http://bit.ly/GoBackInTime
Tell me that special person they would like to thank if they had a chance to go back in time. ??? :)

subset: commoncrawl


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By Caleb Mynatt, The Belton Journal
Members of a community will all agree that safety is one of the most important things to them. Bell County does a great job to make its citizens feel safe and to keep them safe. The police forces in Bell County work hard to make citizens feel and keep them safe at all times.
Outside of crimes, Bell County has meteorologists that attempt to keep the citizens as updated as they can with the weather, and warn them of any dangerous weather conditions that may come. Bell County already works hard to keep their citizens safe, but the Bell County Office of Emergency Management has another way to keep its citizens safe, that people may not know about.
"We have a program called Code Red, and it acts as a reverse phone call to 911," said Michael Harmon, the Emergency Management Coordinator for Bell County. "Code Red works to warn citizens of anything that they may need to know about." Though this program has been in place for a little over a year, many people may not know about the great things that it does, or how it works.
"The way Code Red works is there is a map, and there are bits of land that are split up into different squares. Using those squares, we can contact everyone registered in that area and tell them the news that they need to know. This may not even be emergencies, it may be something like temporary low water pressure. It will also warn you about tornados and other threats, or an advisory to boil water to keep it clean," said Harmon. "It's just there to get information to people fast, and when it arises."
As for how to get assistance and notifications from Code Red, you may be signed up and not even realize it.
"For most of the registered land lines and hard phones, they're already signed up," said Harmon. With the trend and movement away from the buying and using of landlines however, there is still some concern that people aren't utilizing the tools that are given to them. Signing up your cell phone for Code Red is easy though.
"On our website, there is a place to sign your cell phone up to get all of the notifications that we may send out. That way, whether you are at home or you are away, you can be updated with what's going on in the community. It's just helpful to be able to get all that information out to everyone quickly and easy," said Harmon.
To sign up for Code Red, visit www.bellcountytx.com/publicnotice_detail_T4_R122.php and click on the sign-up link. You can register your phone number to get live updates on anything you may need to know.


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Jenny Kyle, Mysterious Writings February 4, 2018 on 6 questions with Forrest
To go back to the Book of Blazes index click HERE
To go back to the Book of Blazes index click HERE
'in the mountains' … ? nope seems the answer, but I don't speak USGS.
Tbug, read what I answered below, watch the video and read Winter Thoughts on this blog search. Or Type in Tom Terrific.
This is the spot where I shot this video, breathtaking and majestic, 1500′ drop off, shot this at 10,100′ the river below is about 9,000 a vertical drop of 1,100′ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-GD4vhA3No
Did you read scrapbook https://dalneitzel.com/2019/10/26/scrapbook-two_hundred-nineteeen/ this is the westward extension of "The Chili Line RR"
Tom…I was going to post this exact same blaze! Great minds think alike or something like that.
Sandy, this is almost the exact spot where I shot my latest youtube video from…..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-GD4vhA3No
1600 views since November, not bad, but "winter thoughts" …Tom Terrific may be close to hundred thousand reads.
When one reads about WWWH and uses a little Imagination and knowlege it borders at 32 degrees, BEGIN at freezing and get warmer, next Border has those itty biddy little lines at 37 degrees…are we gettin warmer yet?
This marker was the TITLE Line of a lawsuit settling the 1868 dispute between Colorado and New Mexico, the number printed on this marker is 180 now divide it in half and we get 90, where have we heard that before? Mentioned 3 times or more in Thrill Book.
OH yeah, this Colorado border is exactly 90 miles in a tangent due north 360 or 0 degrees of Santa Fe, NM and the Garfield Memorial Tombstone marker is 90 miles north of the 8.25 miles ff marked, from the north boundary of Santa Fe City limits, at a 348 degree heading : NNW, how many days did ff spend in Vietnam? 348.
Draw a straight line to Lander Wy from Santa Fe on Google Earth and it goes directly over this marker.
I've used Benchmarks as my blaze in the past also! They are fun to find. Like a little treasure hunt in themselves!
Good work! I have been here before. Don't forget declination. Pilots fly by several methods of navigation and skills learned in SERE. Viet Nam fast-mover pilots had less technology than today. No GPS, no satellite bounce-back, no satcameras…The pilots I found were solid flyers and usually flew by the seat of their pants and terrain association…
Mountain Men such as Colter and Bridger and early explorers used the star locations; basic compass headings; former indian hunting trails; game trails, preferring to utilize in hostile territory, choosing and following a natural line of drift (read that: No human trail nearby) which is usually a simple gradient and altitude gain which would not stress animals nor riders or hunters afoot…but give a good eye to being observed/ or to see others first. (something like an 80 year old man could do twice in one afternoon…:) Benchmarks are positive identifiers of boundaries and key terrain, you can shoot a direct bearing off them to the next pin, and it is dead on. George Washington and many of our pioneer military were surveyors before other professions. If you find a pin like these, take a few moments to reorient your map that you should be carrying, and look around you for confirmation, so you do not get lost in the complexity of the woods and terrain. Good Job! The search continues safely…
Wambli Galeshka
Why is 8.25 miles north of Santa Fe Important? Well if we expressed these numbers like riding a bicycle backwards, we get 285, that's only important if you read the Highway that is near this marker, it is as direct a due north line as one can find, 90 miles as the Crow flies to the border from Santa Fe. See the postmark on page 51, Thrill of the Chase, it circles 141, subtract 51 from 141 and we get 90, Olgas Ashes, 90 miles as a crow flies, 45 up, 45 back. How many feet of water was Skippy drowned in ? 90 feet. I rest my case.


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2018 Dove Award Nominee: Song of the Year - "O' Lord"
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Her Centricity Music debut, How Can It Be, is ripe with the kind of compelling lyrics and engaging melodies that invite listeners to draw closer to their creator, and that's just what Daigle had in mind.
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Renren (Chinese for Everybody) is the name of the most popular social network in China – aka the Chinese version of Facebook. However, its 31 Million do not make Renren a serious competitor to the world leading network Facebook (which currently has more than 600 Million active users). The first day in stock (May 4th) was quite successful though – a strong plus of 29% to $18.01).
Some experts see the IPO (Initial Public Offering) of Renren as a foretaste of the Facebook IPO which has been announced for 2012. Investors are excited about arising opportunities of social networks on the stock market.
With LinkedIn, Groupon and Skype there are three more promising US corporations to come this year:
Since several governments (Syria, China, Iran and Vietnam) have blocked the Facebook network due to its "open nature", there is some space left for more competition within these countries. Clearly, the Facebook censorship is a defensive signal. The Chinese government is afraid to lose its power over the people. The conservation of cultural values and beliefs is – according to experts – a lame excuse. For Chinese people it is even worse – they feel kind of isolated from worldwide progress and blame the government.
Now that the first Chinese social network has entered the US stock exchange, we could question ourselves why the relatively small Chinese network has been granted access to the rest of the world – and even being shared by the rest of the world – while the "Rest of the World" in the shape of Facebook is continuously blocked?


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If you have had a gift card lost or stolen, it can potentially be replaced, providing you have proof of purchase of the original gift card.
Required proof of purchase:
- Original Store receipt/tax invoice
- Screenshot of bank statement
Request for customer service to reissue the stolen/lost card
- Submit a Request with Customer Service attaching photos of the proof of purchase for the original gift card. (Bought in-store and lost the receipt? please see: I've lost my store receipt - Can I get a copy?)
- Please include an email address you would like a replacement eGift card sent to.
- When we receive and verify this information, we will send you an eGift Card for the Original Gift Card's balance via email.


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So, you don't know me, began the message, but you've kind of turned up via my incessant sewing-blog-following.
Honestly, the writer had me at So. I love a mysterious message out of the blue; it's even better when you keep reading it and discover it's genuine and not some annoying spam disguised as a vaguely-coherent ramble. This message fell well and truly into the former category, which is just as well, otherwise this would be a completely different blog post in which I rant about spam instead of one where a mystery parcel arrives on my doorstep.
The message went on and the writer revealed herself as a fellow once-upon-a-time blogger who sews, but whose life had rather gotten in the way of her sewing. Instead of donating her stash of fabric (you know, that thing I'm incapable of developing), she wanted to send it out to people who would then make something from it and send her a photo… and she was asking me if I'd like to receive some in the mail.
Well, when a mysterious internet stranger asks for my address, who am I to say no?
I'm not going to lie: for a moment or two, I wondered if it was an oddly-sophisticated attempt at stalking. Then I took a look around at the world and realised if someone was going to go to the effort of stalking, they'd probably choose a far more interesting subject than a grammar-obsessed, hat-wearing blogger. So I said 'Yes, please!' to my unexpected benefactor and promptly went and camped by the letterbox for a week.
At long last, the parcel made its journey from the other side of the country and arrived, presumably quite exhausted, at my doorstep. It was packed full of as much material as possible and the bounteous collection looks a little like this:
So many gorgeous things! There's a knit for when I finally summon up the courage to tackle such fabric and some amazing prints. I have no idea if what the floating creature is on the red fabric (at the moment, it's a toss-up between a pig or a hamster) but I adore it and can't wait to turn it into something that's part of my everyday life. My absolute favourite, however, is this one:
I would never have had the confidence to choose a print like this – I usually stick to silly thing like prints of well-dressed ladies scattered amidst giant glasses – but I love this abstract print to little bits. This is one of the benefits of having someone else choose fabric for you: you end up with something marvellous that you would have walked past in a shop if left to your own devices.
So it seems I have acquired a mini-stash, thanks to my benefactor from Sew Celia! It has arrived just in time to become part of my Delightful Dozen Project, so you can expect to see the material turning up in very different formats as the year progresses.
What sort of things should I make with the fabric? Let me know in the comments!


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I have a whole collection of miniature tea sets that I don't have on display. They are cute and impractical but sometimes it is fun to look at them. I have an idea that I should gift them to my great niece someday. Today I Continue reading →
November 7, 2017


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makes a difference
Click the button to access VolunteerUp, our online volunteer calendar.
Fill in your information.
Check out the volunteer opportunity schedule and sign up for the shift or opportunity you are interested in. If the shift you want is full, or reserved, you will not be able to volunteer for that shift and must choose a different one, or you can wait and check back for an open shift. Shifts sign-ups are first come, first serve.
As more shifts become available, the Volunteer Coordinator will send out an email to notify registered volunteers.
The day of your scheduled shift, please dress appropriately and show up on time.
For more information on volunteering, please contact Bill at 315-422-2230 or firstname.lastname@example.com
Ready to Volunteer?
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
Be Patient.
Our volunteers are our most important asset. But there are lots of you and very few of us. If you email us with a question or to change a volunteer date it may take us a bit to get back with you. So please be persistent, check in regularly, but please be kind. If it's urgent give us a call in addition to emailing.
Be flexible.
Construction is unpredictable, and volunteer based construction can be even more unpredictable. So we ask for your understanding. Our staff is good, but it is nearly impossible to say exactly what you will be doing on site until that morning, and even then it may change. We can't always count on materials arriving on time, we can't control the weather, and can't change the speed of a crew or how long it takes to get permits. The build site is full of unknowns that affect our progress and all we can do is ask for your flexibility.
Be understanding.
Things change every day and every hour, and sometimes every minute. The work we do is contingent on the weather, how many volunteers we have, and whether or not we have the materials and tools we need. So if things aren't moving as you think they should please understand that we are doing our best. Also keep in mind that everyone has their good and bad days: you, us, fellow volunteers. So please remember and respect this.
Volunteer Groups
Is your company, church or school group planning a community service experience or team building event? Consider volunteering on a build! Many local companies have scheduled corporate team build days with Syracuse Habitat for Humanity. Church and college groups have used volunteering with Syracuse Habitat as a great community outreach project or team builder.
Group and Corporate Donations
We ask that our corporate teams and other groups consider a donation of $50 per person per day to help cover the cost of the materials used. This donation also ensures that your group gets priority scheduling. We know that the time you donate on the build is valuable, and we know that you and Syracuse Habitat for Humanity are working toward the same goal — to provide a home for a deserving family. So please keep in mind that the money that your group donates helps us all move that much closer to achieving that shared vision: a home for a family.
For our corporate groups, depending on the size of the donation, there may be additional promotional incentives that Syracuse Habitat for Humanity can provide (e.g., your logo on our website or an article in our Harbinger Newsletter).
To discuss group volunteering in more detail, please call our office or email Bill Dolan at email@example.com
Volunteer Opportunities
Syracuse Habitat for Humanity has so many ways you can volunteer and help support our work and Mission.
PLEASE NOTE: All of these positions are unpaid, unless otherwise stated. Check out our opportunities below and decide what is best for you
Build Site
Habitat for Humanity is best known for enlisting the help of skilled and unskilled volunteers to build our houses. Syracuse Habitat for Humanity build site volunteers report feeling a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. They can point to a house and tell their friends that they helped put that roof on. They also feel pride knowing that their work was vital to the building of one more home for a deserving, hardworking, low-income family.
For more information on home builds, visit the Builds page.
Our work week runs from Wednesday to Saturday, 9am-4pm.
Volunteers must be at least 16 years old to work on site.
All volunteers are expected to follow all rules and guidelines as set by Syracuse Habitat staff while on site.
The ReStore is our retail space where people donate new or used building materials, fixtures, appliances, tools, and other architectural pieces. The ReStore is open to the general public, who can come in and buy what they need to update or repair their home at a discounted price.
We are always in need of volunteers to help us in the ReStore.
Opportunities include:
Organizing inventory
Preparing new materials for display
Customer assistance
We would especially like to get volunteers who are able to come in on a regular basis and during our busiest times.
Office Work
It's more than just swinging hammers here at Syracuse Habitat for Humanity. It takes a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure every house goes up, and a dedicated office staff to make it happen.
So if you're looking for volunteer opportunities beyond the build site, or want to stay involved between builds, consider helping out in the Syracuse Habitat office.
Office Helper:
Answer incoming calls and route them to the appropriate personnel.
Answer questions regarding Syracuse Habitat for Humanity and its mission.
Data entry, filing and various office tasks.
Writing thank you letters and processing donations.
Assisting with special projects in the office.
Mailing Helpers
Every other month we need help with our Harbinger Newsletter mailing.
Volunteers are needed to fold, stuff, address, and prepare our Newsletter for mailing.
Sometimes we can provide packages of materials for you to pick up, assemble and return to our office.
If you're looking for an in-office volunteer activity for your department, or something to occupy your teenager, mailings might be the project for you!
We also have other specialty mailings throughout the year.
If you are interesting in helping out, let us know! Send us an email at email@example.com or look at current shifts on the VolunteerUp page.
Special Events
Syracuse Habitat for Humanity hosts, or takes part in several Special Events
throughout the year, and are always looking for people to help out.
Some of the Special Events we host include our Bowl-A-Thon, Brews for Builds,
Women Build events, and our Annual Summer Picnic!
We also have information tables at many local events including the Home and
Garden Show, Veterans Day Expo, Volunteer Fairs, the Parade of Homes,
and anything else that comes along.
Volunteer needs vary by event so if you are interested in being notified of
upcoming events make sure that you have registered as a volunteer to be
included on our e-blasts. You may also contact Lisa Palleschi at email@example.com to inquire about upcoming opportunities.
Syracuse Habitat has an incredibly small staff and relies on volunteers to serve on committees to make things happen behind the scenes.
Family Selection and Support Committee
Members meet monthly to either review homeowner applicants or act as a support partner for homeowner applicants. Responsibilities include conducting qualification and verification checks of the homeowner applications, interviewing applicants, and recommending potential homeowners.
As a support partner, responsibilities also include assisting approved applicants with they sweat equity hours, helping plan homeowner celebrations (home-blessing ceremonies, etc.), and being a resource and guidance on home-ownership readiness. This committee meets the 3rd Tuesday of every month at 5:15 p.m.
Building/Construction Committee
Members meet monthly to assist the construction manger on current and future building plans, for the purpose of maximizing construction and financial resources. Responsibility include assisting with property acquisition/site selection, building plans, incorporating more skilled volunteer labor,and ensuring production level is high. This committee meets the 4th Tuesday of every month at 5:30 p.m.
Women Build 2019 Committee
This committee is responsible for brainstorming and following through on fundraising ideas and events to benefit our next Women Build home. Beginning January, this committee focuses its efforts on planning and implementing fundraising events, Women Build Week in March, and more. Fundraising makes all our Women Build homes possible, and is crucial to everything we do here at Syracuse Habitat. In 2017, this committee raised over $20,000 for our most recent Mr. Habitat event. This committee meets around 1-2 times a month.
If you are interested in finding out more information about any of these committees or want to get involved, please contact Lisa Palleschi at firstname.lastname@example.com or call 315-422-2230.


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The task now for believers is to form our own families even more deeply in the love of God, and to rebuild a healthy marriage culture, one marriage at a time, from the debris of today's decision.
– Archbishop Chaput
The Supreme Court's decision to strike down the bans on same sex marriage in many ways was no surprise. The Judeo- Christian values that have supported our culture for so long have been eroding since the 1930s. In this podcast we share our reflections on this decision and what this means for our families going forward. We need to renew and strengthen the meaning and value of Catholic marriage so we can be a light in the darkness.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RSS


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Meet Our Heroes
Shaun / Rosie / Deja / Jean / Katherine, Glenn & Daughters / Lydia / Bev & Jim / Diane / Katie / Betty
Meet Shaun (Agape House Board Member)
Shaun had never done this kind of work before and took 4-5 hours to do it out of love. His continuous support, matter-of-fact faith, and come to work attitude make Shaun an excellent Agape House board member and a true friend … a hero of the house.
Meet Deja (Agape House Board Youth Ambassador)
Meet Jean (Dream Team Volunteer)
Meet Katherine, Glenn & Daughters (Dream Team Volunteers)
Meet Lydia (Proprietor of Business / Lydia's Hair Saloon)
Meet Bev & Jim (Dream Team Volunteers & Business Persons / Pacific Northwest Flooring)
Gave The Agape House free flooring, a microwave, twin beds, linens, kitchen items, and personal items. They came to the house, quickly set up the beds, put items away, set up the microwave, and encouraged us all.
Because they recognize that their contribution will make a difference in the women's quality of life.
Bev's "Never say die" attitude is so encouraging and life giving. She and Jim gave out of their resources and their time when no one was looking. They did it because it was the right thing to do. It is an honor to include them as Heroes of the House.
Meet Diane (President of a Women's Business Alliance Group / JLL Women"s Alliance)
Meet Katie (Coordinator for Mercer Island Businessman)
Offered to manage progress towards achieving our organization's fundraising goals. She will develop and carry out fundraising strategies while working with the Agency Fund Raiser. Betty also offered to create and plan different events that can generate donations. She will delegate tasks to committee members such as publicity, donations and volunteer recruitment for fundraising events.
- Manage progress towards achieving our fundraising goals
- Develop and carry out fundraising strategies while working with the Agency Fund Raiser
- Community presence in the Black community to raise awareness
- Create and plan different events that can generate donations
I Love God and my Community is very important to me. I work at the YWCA of Seattle/King/Snohomish as the Event and Data Specialist. I am the Mission President at Greater New Bethel Baptist Church and I am also on the Usher Board.


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Upfront, this recap is not going to be a typical recap from me. There's no way I'm going to sully the amazingness of this episode with snarky one-sided banter. Is it possible for banter to be one-sided?
Why am I so somber? Because this episode began with a bullet hole in Bobby Singer's head.
This episode picks up right where 7×09 "How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters" began, with Sam, Dean and Bobby in their getaway van. Sam in the back trying to assess the extent of Bobby's injuring, Dean is panicking in the driver's seat and Bobby? Bobby is taking a trip around his internal hard drive to a scene we all recognize from the previous episode. He's in the woods hunting last episode's MotW with Sam and Dean, but Bobby is fully cognizant of the fact that this is not his first trek through this terrain. Also, blood is trickling down from under his cap. Bobby figures out that he's not in "the real world" and needs to tell Sam and Dean, the real Sam and Dean, about what he espionage'd out of Dick Roman's folders of grand info and importance. Turns out it's a sequence of numbers. Way better than when Lost did it though.
And then, boom, Bobby flashes on a memory of Karen, his deceased because she was possessed by a demon and Bobby hacked her to bits wife, trying to have a serious conversation with him. In lingerie. Bobby remembers this moment from his past and it doesn't seem like it's a good flashback for him, but he's willing to hear Karen out. Again. Until the thunder claps, something Bobby doesn't recall from the actual time of this memory formation. He looks out he window and he sky is clear. So clear in fact that the stars and full moon fade away as a little boy goes running through the backyard.
Confession time: for a split second I thought that the little boy was Lucas Haas and the show had for some reason nabbed permission to use a clip from "Lady in White". I'll forever wonder if that was on purpose.
Bobby is suitably freaked out, bids Karen a heartfelt goodbye and strolls out the door directly into a flash of lightening. On the other end of that blast of white light is our old pal Rufus. Sorry Bobby, I know you're going through a rough patch, what with a bullet in your brain, but so I'm over the moon at seeing Rufus, that your major head wound thunder was briefly stolen.
I have to pause to tell you that the above lightening/thunder pun was purely accidental. And I apologize to every one of you for it.
Where was I? Oh yes, Rufus.
Bobby's attempting to explain his current predicament, Rufus is busy being decked out a very authentic looking pest control uniform while carting his trusty EMF meter and his quick wit. He's not trying to hear Bobby right now, he has a ghost to bust.
As Rufus enters the church they're standing in front of Bobby sees the little boy run past again. Then flash of lightening and the boy is standing right there, grabbing Bobby's wrist and looking dirty and disheveled warning Bobby that God is going to punish him. And then he's gone and Rufus is back, peeking his head out the church door and rushing Bobby along. Inside the grand church is a choir group, but they don't sing, they fade away one by one.
Then the lights go out.
Then a man approaches, greeting Bobby while flipping a pocket watch. He's a reaper and according to him Bobby Singer's time is up. Bobby disagrees and runs off through another door.
In the current outside world of reality, Bobby Singer is being rushed through ER trauma while Sam and Dean look on, devastation and fear clear in their eyes, as the trauma unit shouts blood pressure numbers, heart rates and other vital stat hospital jargon that translates to "this is bad, this is really freaking bad".
Back into his own home, circa current. Sam and Dean are in the middle of heated debate pitting kickass-ness of Chuck Norris vs. Jet Li. Guess who's rooting for who. I have it on good authority that the answer should have been John Wayne, so both boys are tragically incorrect, however Bobby doesn't have time to school the whipper-snappers and heads toward his kitchen door, but not before Dean can make a request for beer.
That door opens to Bobby's kitchen, but now it seems to be circa… I don't think I should put a date on Bobby; he's a timeless badass. How about we say circa his childhood? His mother is setting the table and telling Bobby that he's filthy and is apparently potentially antagonizing his father with his state of disarray. Bobby is quick to shut that door.
Which sends him back to his ghost hunt with Rufus. They're in the middle of a salt 'n' burn; a bride was left at the altar, committed suicide and is now exactly revenge on heartbreaking men. Bobby is pleading with Rufus to focus on the reaper on his tail, Rufus choose to get existential about it: there's a reaper on everyone's heels. Besides they have a ghost to vanquish. The ghost appears and in a scene reminiscent of the Pilot, jams her hand into Bobby's chest plate, grabs his heart, squeezes and calls him a heartbreaker. Rufus comes to his rescue and but the ghost immediately reemerges and tosses Rufus against the mausoleum, cracking his skull open. Bobby torches her corpse and tries to rouse Rufus to no avail.
Back in reality, the boys get a status update about Bobby and it isn't optimistic. Dean's face just crumples as his eyes fill with tears and Sam pushes his back against the wall like a scared child.
We're thrown back into Bobby's head as he confronts the little boy that keeps popping up. I don't know about you, but once I realized he wasn't a superimposed image of Lucas Haas as a child I figured out he was Bobby Singer of decades past. Bobby is starting to twig to this as well. One could argue that Bobby should've known, but I wonder if in 15-20 years I were to run into a twelve year old me, would I recognize myself? No promises.
Just then Rufus is wheeled out of the hospital doors, smiling and hitting on the nurse.
(side note: One of the things I really enjoyed about these scenes, aside from the continuity of the doors which was fantastically maintained without being an anvil to the skull, is that Bobby is completely aware of the fact that he's in his own head. Bravo, writers)
Back to Rufus:
He's fine, but it seems it was touch and go for a minute there and Rufus played a rousing game of "This is Your Life". He's also annoyed that Bobby is pressing for details, until Bobby tells him this is all going on in Bobby's head and the real Bobby is in a coma and could Rufus kindly walk him through pulling out of that coma. Rufus does. Because Rufus is awesome. The trick is that every memory is a door, the hardest door to walk through, the one you avoid at all costs, is the one that gets you out. They proceed to walk back through the hospital door, they're halfway inside when Rufus turns the interview mic on Bobby and asks why the ghost bride called Bobby Singer, surrogate dad extraordinaire, a heartbreaker…
That seems to narrow things down for Bobby, because once they're through the door we're back at Bobby's house, circa Jacqueline Bisset, and smack dab in a knockdown, drag-out fight between Bobby and Karen Singer. Seems Bobby has sat Karen down and told her in no uncertain terms that he doesn't want his genetic code to continue on, his daddy was a mean drunk and he refuses to risk letting history repeat itself. Karen always dreamed of a sitting on the porch screaming "no" and "stop that" as her children ran wild in the yard. Bobby crushed her dream and broke her heart. Adding to the pain, Bobby confesses to Rufus that this argument happened three days before Karen was possessed by a demon and Bobby had to kill her. Bobby's biggest regret is never making things right with her and he's convinced this is the memory that he had to get through to get back to Sam and Dean, so he walks out the door into a bright white light. Right into another scene from his life. Clearly, whatever Bobby has hidden in his psyche is worse than this.
The next moment we see is a happier memory from Bobby's past, circa "The Big Easy", Bobby and wee Dean Winchester are strolling through the park. Dean asks Bobby about the gun training he's supposed to be doing, but Bobby makes an executive decision to ignore John Winchester and play catch in the park with Dean. Coma!Bobby's eyes soften at the memory and Rufus notes that Bobby would have been a great dad. Either way, this memory is pleasant so this can't be it and Rufus tells him to man up and dig deep. Through another door they go.
And we're back at Bobby's house. At the kitchen table sits Bobby's father reading the paper, at his side stands Bobby's mother shakily spooning peas 'n' carrots onto the elder Singer's plate. Ed Singer is wondering where his tardy son is while Bobby's mother tries to explain Bobby is just washing up. Mr. Singer feels Mrs. Singer coddles the boy. Bobby finally slides into his place at the table and makes to hand his father the biscuits he's demanding when his arm grazes his glass of milk sending it crashing to the floor. Daddy Singer is not pleased, he tells Bobby he breaks everything he touches. Bobby sits there silently, trembling like a rabbit. Momma Singer tries to ease the tension, this results in Bobby's father flinging his dinner plate to the floor sending peas, carrots and meatloaf flying. Bobby and Rufus watch the scene, Rufus thinks this was a pretty intense memory, Bobby informs him this was par for the crappy golf course of young Bobby Singers life and shuts the door. He decides that he needs to buy some time and pause the reaper's pursuit with a spell.
We check in on the Winchester brothers at the hospital and find that the news they're being given by the doctors is not optimistic, to the point that Dean, as next of kin, is questioned about whether or not Bobby is an organ donor. Dean's response was to punch a glass display on the wall next to the organ guy's head. When the only words out of Dean's mouth after are a command for the guy to walk away, the guy does as he's told. Dean heads out of the hospital to walk it off and get some air and who does he see but Dick Roman, sitting in his fancy, black-out tint car. Dean is not in the mood and makes sure Dick knows it. And to credit Dick Roman, he's smart enough to not take Dean out while wearing a highly respected and recognizable public face when all the people in the parking lot with smartphones are poised to immortalize it on YouTube.
Inside the waiting area, Sam Winchester looks defeated, in fact he looks amazingly small. He's losing his optimism fast and tells Dean as much. Dean is not willing to accept that Bobby may not pull through and walks away from Sam, leaving Sam alone and scared as he rubs at the fading scar on his hand.
Rufus and Bobby are still knocking around Bobby's noggin and getting the spell ready. Bobby notices that while he's in his house, with his books and supplies that he knows like the back of his hand, some of the pages he flips through are blank and lights seem to be fading out. Quick as they can they bind the reaper, but the reaper makes it clear that this isn't a solution, it's merely procrastination.
Bobby understands that, but he has to get back to the boys, he has to tell them what he knows, he has to face his worst memory.
Little Bobby Singer sits at the dinner table while his mother scurries to clean the mess the floor has become. His father pours himself a drink and tells Bobby to get up and help. In an attempt to diffuse the situation Bobby's mother tells her husband to relax and have another drink. Ed Singer doesn't take kindly to his wife telling him what to do and makes sure he knows it. With his hand. Clutching her bruising face, Bobby's mother blames her young son. Grown-up Bobby steps in, standing up to his father, telling him what an abusive asshole he is, so much so that even after his father was dead he was too afraid to have his own kids because the memory of his father and the fear of becoming him. Ed tells Bobby that's a good thing, reiterating his feeling that Bobby breaks everything he touches. Bobby corrects him sternly, informing this horrid memory-ghost of his father that he adopted two amazing boys, helped raise them right and those boys grew up to be heroes of the world.
In the hospital those very boys are informed that Bobby is stable enough for surgery. The nurse rushes them in so they can see him before the staff preps him.
Back in Bobby's head his mother is sniveling on the floor as her husband continues to yell at her. Young Bobby appears in the doorway with a rifle as he shouts at his father to stop. Ed doesn't think his son has the balls. Adult Bobby watches as his young self shoots his father in the head and Bobby's mother tells him that God will punish him. Adult Bobby tells his young counterpart that this is where he learns that the saved rarely thank their savior and it's time to get a shovel and bury his father's body, the body of the first demon in his life, behind the woodshed.
Sam and Dean stand by Bobby's bedside, somber and grateful for everything Bobby has been to them. With that, Bobby stirs, he grabs Sam's hand and Dean shouts for a pen. Bobby can finally pass on the message he needs to get to them, a series of numbers. Breathing heavily Bobby scrawls on Sam's hand and looks at the boys with the deep affection that a father who's boys mean everything to him and lovingly calls them "idjits", before shutting his eyes again.
Inside his head the reaper is telling Bobby it's time to go. Everything is fading, this house is all that's left. Bobby says he's glad he saved the best memory for last and grabs the beers Dean sent him for earlier. He hand each Winchester a bottle, sits in his chair and serenely watches them bicker like children over the validity of licorice as a movie snack. As they debate, they fade away from him.
The episode ends with the high-pitched drone of a flatline and the trauma unit scrambling to action.
As always, I try to not "pick sides" in my recaps. That said, I do have a side. Bobby Singer was a hero, Bobby Singer did his part for the world and Bobby Singer deserves to rest. This show could take another route, it's "Supernatural". But it shouldn't, Bobby Singer deserves better than a kitchy miracle.
If you had a dry eye after this episode, I don't know how.


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There has been a lot of focus on plastic pollution lately. This Tuesday, the World Environmental Day was celebrated, focusing on how we can beat plastic pollution. Soon, there might be more plastic than fish in our oceans, making awareness around our pollution challenges more important than ever.
The World Oceans Day aims specifically at marine litter, and how we can combat it. It is a day to honor, protect and conserve the world's oceans by finding solutions to our pollution problem. It is a day to take personal and community action to make the ocean cleaner. To secure healthy and productive oceans, we need everyone to contribute! What will you do to keep our planet blue?
Read more about the event at World Oceans Day's website.


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The Cambridge, MA stage will now offer No Child... (Nov. 24-Dec. 23) and Copenhagen (Jan. 3-Feb. 3, 2008). Both works — which were originally announced to play the season in the reverse order — will perform on A.R.T.'s Loeb Stage.
Hal Brooks directs No Child..., which is written and performed by Nilaja Sun. The work stemmed from the creator's work as a teaching artist at a high school in the Bronx, "where every day the students face huge challenges in simply coming to school." Sun tackles all the roles in the piece transforming from students, teachers and parents to administrators, janitors and security guards.
Scott Zigler stages Michael Frayn's 1941-set Copenhagen, which centers on "German physicist Werner Heisenberg [who] traveled to Copenhagen to meet his Danish counterpart, Niels Bohr. Old friends and colleagues, now they found themselves on opposite sides in a world war, and embroiled in a race to create the atom bomb." The play — to star Will LeBow, Karen MacDonald and John Kuntz — imagines that encounter.
The season at A.R.T. will also offer Donnie Darko (Oct. 27-Nov. 18), William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (Feb. 9-March 22, 2008), Pieter-Dirk Uys' Elections and Erections — A Chronicle of Fear & Fun (April 2-May 4, 2008) and Stephen Greenblatt and Charles Mee's Cardenio (May 10-June 1, 2008).
Tickets to shows at A.R.T. at the Loeb Drama Center in Harvard Square, 64 Brattle Street in Cambridge, MA, are available by calling (617) 547-8300 or online at amrep.org.


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Manufacturer's Description
Three critically acclaimed hit are now together on one disc.
Experience what fans from around the world have been talking about as you defy gravity in the big air thrills of Trials HD, sove the mysterious world of Limbo and become an uncontainable force in Splosion Man.
Trials HD
Put on your helmet, and rev your way through Trials HD, a fully-featured, physics-based motorcycle racing game in stunning HD graphics. Tear up more than 50 tracks and test your metal in two unique game modes: Race and Skill. Create, share and download an unlimited number of free tracks with the level editor, and customize your rider to fit your personality.
Limbo is a black and white puzzle-platforming adventure that puts players in the role of a young boy traveling through a hostile world in an attempt to discover the fate of his sister.
'Splosion Man
Born of plasma and flame in an underground military lab, 'Splosion Man can 'splode at will, propelling himself around a side-scrolling world and destroying everything in his way.
|Item Code
|Packaged Weight
|0.1 Kg
|Release Date
|Thursday, 4th August 2011
|Product Type
|Video Game
|Xbox 360


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hello everybody
i m new to the tomato comunity and thank you very much for putting out this gret firmware
i hope toget some answers from you guys
i got from newegg a Asus RT N 16 Router and according to some of the feedbacks most choose tomato as a new firmware
so i got it flashed did all the steps cleared the Nvram and so on runs good right now and fast but not 1000 mbit only 100 mbit and i have a gigabit capable laptop with brand new hardware made aprill 2010
shows only 100 mbit so i m confused about the gigabit lan plus i can not change the mtu to more than 1500
an suggestions or ideas ???
any help will be highly apprechiated
thank you so much for your help


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Maine Dining | Lodging links include Maine restaurants Directory, Maine lodges and resorts. You will also find Maine Dining and lodging directories, associations and resources with additional listings of Maine Dining | Lodging.
Maine Dining
Appalachian Trail Dining & Lodging
Join us at the Appalachian Trail Cafe & Lodging for great food and good people. Our lodge is available to hikers and recreational inclined individuals and families. Take time to enjoy a home-baked meal while visiting Millinocket. We are located approximately 15 miles from Baxter State Park and Mt. Katahdin. This is Maine dining and lodging at its best!
Food & Dining in Maine
How does it get any better than this? A night out to remember… you'll enjoy the River Driver's Restaurant offering the finest dining in the North Woods near Millinocket, Maine… gateway to Mt. Katahdin and Baxter State Park. Also, Sawmill Bar | Grill is your last stop to great food in Millinocket before heading to the park and Mt. Katahdin.
Maine Restaurants Directory
The Hospitality Maine provides a large listing of Maine's finest dining establishments. You will also find restaurant reviews, suppliers, classifieds, contests and more! You can also search for your perfect Maine lodging experience.
Maine's Restaurant & Menu Directory
This web page lists restaurants in Penobscot County, Maine. Before visiting any of these Penobscot County restaurants, be sure to verify their address, hours of operation, and appointment policies (if applicable). A restaurant may have ceased operations or moved to a different location, and business hours can sometimes be irregular, especially on and around holidays. So a quick phone call can often save you time and aggravation.
More Maine Maine Dining
Dining in the Katahdin Region
The restaurants and dining found in the Katahdin Region provide the perfect accommodations to satisfy your specific needs and service is impeccable. Each dining location provides its own unique accommodations. In addition, the Katahdin Chamber of Commerce offers additional resources for dining and lodging in the Katahdin region.
Bangor Maine DiningYou will find Bangor offers a wide variety choices in dining. If you are looking for a listing of places to dine in the Bangor area… go no further. The Bangor area offers diverse cuisine, the finest seafood restaurants and much more.
Maine Restaurant & Lodging Guide
Did you know that at Maine Restaurant & Lodging Guide, you can find any restaurant in Maine at DowntownME? You will also find over 2,000 Maine restaurants listed here and all accessible with just a few clicks of your mouse!
Maine Lodging
Maine Hotels and Lodgings
Luxury Resorts to Rustic Camping, Maine Offers Lodging Options for Every Taste and Budget. When planning your trip to Maine, you have your choice of curling up in a charming bed and breakfast, a lakeside cottage rental, a hotel perched in the middle of an arts district, or a luxurious oceanfront or historic resort. In addition, Maine hosts a plethora of camping options, sporting lodges and motels.
Lodging in the Katahdin Region
Tourists and those visiting Baxter State Park and seeking recreational activities will find an assortment of available lodging in the Katahdin region. The Katahdin Chamber of Commerce offers resource links to lodges, camp and cabin rentals, and campgrounds. In addition, you will also find hotels, inns, including bed & breakfast accommodations.
Maine Campgrounds, Cabins & RV Parks Directory
Maine offers a variety of campgrounds, cabins, lodges and RV parks for our tourists and visitors. Additionally, you can find lodging within the regions of Maine, such as: Aroostook County, Katahdin & Mooshead, Central and Southern Maine as well.Coastal and Downeast Maine.
More Maine Lodging
Maine Lodging & Campground Directory
Maine Lodging Directory – Find Maine Bed and Breakfasts, Motels, Hotels, Resorts, and Campgrounds. Furthermore, we offer the Best Maine lodging directory serving our tourists and visitors.
Visit Maine
The official website for the Maine Office of Tourism. Information on activities, events, lodging and chambers of commerce. Searchable by region. Whether you want to climb a few of Maine's famous lighthouses or climb a few thousand feet up Maine's majestic mountains, there's more than plenty of things to do in Maine.
Northern Outdoors
Northern Outdoors is at the hub of Maine's best whitewater rivers and trails for hiking, snowmobiling, and ATVing. Our wide variety of Maine lodging options meets every budget and taste. You can also enjoy deluxe cabins, cozy one-room cabins, logdominiums (Maine-style condos,) cabin tents and camping by the river
Coastal Camping
Amid this amazingly diverse geography are more than 100 comfy campgrounds close to a myriad of things to see and do in summertime, like forts and lighthouses, picturesque towns and villages, museums and historic sites, public and private lands with trails of every kind, plus lobster rolls and blueberry pies and so much more.


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Dehydrated Culture Media for Enrichment
Merck offers a wide range of granulated, dehydrated culture media for the non-selective enrichment of microorganisms and for microbial count applications (spread plate, pour plate) in the food and beverages industries. Our dehydrated culture media are produced with a unique granulation technology that guarantees the utmost convenience and safety of our products while meeting the highest industry performance standards as described in ISO 11133.
Culture media for general enrichment are formulated to enable all the viable microorganisms in a sample to grow. The enrichment medium is non-selective, thus it does not inhibit the growth of any microorganisms. Therefore this method cannot be used for selectively culturing of specific microorganisms.
Plate count methods are used to count the number of viable cells in a sample. The two main techniques are the spread plate method and the pour plate method. In the spread plate method the diluted sample is spread over the surface of an agar plate. In the pour plate method the diluted sample is first pipetted into an empty sterile Petri dish. Then the cooled-down but still liquid agar medium is added and then mixed with the sample. This method is used for colonies to grow throughout the agar.
Oct 19
19/10/20 - 22/10/20
AnalyticaMesse Muenchen
Munich, Germany
|Water Purification,Reagents Chemicals and Labware,Life Science Research,Industrial Biomonitoring,IVD/OEM Materials and Reagents,Analytics and Sample Preparation


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If you have submitted your screening test to Discovery Health, Vitality should automatically pick it up and allocate your points (e.g. dentist visit or glaucoma eye test).
If you have paid cash for the test/visit you will need to manually submit via the website.
Log in and click on Vitality, click on "Track and earn points" click on the screening you have just done, then on the right hand side, click on "Claim Vitality points". They will then ask you for the date you went and ask you to upload the file of proof.


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This article is filled with great information that will help you get the most out of your juicing. It is possible to use these tips in order to produce delicious drinks in your very own kitchen.
If juicing is part of your health regimen, the best ingredients to juice include green veggies like spinach, broccoli, kale, chard and other such vegetables. The goal is to have your juices consist of roughly 50-70% green produce, with other elements added for flavor. Green based juices are much healthier than those made with fruits, which are more sugary.
Use color to show you the way. From vibrant greens to bright reds, different colored vegetables and fruits contain different minerals and nutrients. By mixing up the colors that you drink, you supply your body with a richer nutritional diet.
Coffee Filter
If you do not want your juice to contain pulp, you can eliminate it by using a coffee filter. This can prove helpful if the pulp consistency of your juice isn't working for you. However, to remove the pulp quickly and easily, simply use a coffee filter or cheesecloth as a sieve and drain the juice through it.
Keeping your fresh juice in the refrigerator is beneficial, but it can cause the juice to change color. Brown or off-colored juice is less than appetizing. One thing that can help prolong the juice is to put some fresh lemon juice in the mixture. The lemon can help keep everything fresh, but it will not be able to mitigate the flavor.
When you choose your juicer, be sure that you find one that you can quickly and easily dismantle and clean. The longer it takes you to use and clean your appliance, the less likely you'll want to use it. Your juicer is much simpler to clean while the fruit pulp is moist, so clean up right after juicing.
If your bladder is upset, or you're suffering from a urinary infection, you should add cranberries into your juicing. Use them soon after finding you have these issues.
Watch how your own system reacts to the juice drinks that you create. It's possible that certain juices just may not mesh with your body's systems. If you experience nausea or other stomach upset, take the time to identify the ingredient that might have caused it. Often this will be something you rarely consume. Once you pinpoint the problematic ingredient, you can reduce the amount you use in your juice.
If getting older is taking its toll on your energy and stamina, consider the nutritional boost of adding home made juice to your diet. Juices can add many nutrients to your diet that aid in arthritis pain, memory function and even slowing down cell death.
Drink your juice right away! If you want to create the best juice for good health, it is vital that you know that nutrients in the juice are lost as after it is made. The longer you put off drinking it, the less nutrition your body will receive. Therefore, to ensure that you receive the most nutrients, drink it immediately after making it.
Masticating juicers are the best juicers available. These juicers have extra features that other juicers do not have, such as milling, grinding, puree, and even the ability to come up with delectable frozen desserts. Having these functions can make your juices more varied and interesting.
Not only does juicing give you the necessary benefits, but you get to have a tasty beverage. By making your own fresh juice, you will save yourself a lot of money. Put these tips to work in your kitchen today and enjoy!


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What is weaning?
Weaning is the transition from milk to solid food.
At around six months of age, your baby will start to need nutrients not available in adequate amounts in their milk alone. This is why it is important they are introduced to solid food that starts to meet these additional nutritional needs while breast or bottle feeding continues up to two years of age or beyond.
Once your little one reaches this amazing milestone of weaning, you may have tonnes of questions from "is my baby ready" to "what food should I try first?".
Check out this page for hints and tips to help you on your weaning journey.


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It's Friday and time for the latest from the CCO Feedback column. Raul Barraza does not like the idea of possibly renaming the old ballpark at 1060 West Addison….
I never thought I would see the day Wrigley Field was anything other than Wrigley Field, but Sam Zell is looking to selling the naming rights. He's a businessman and has every right to maximize his return on his investment but as a Cubs fan and baseball fan, this makes me feel worse than the words "Steve Bartman." The only way I would be okay with this would be if the Wrigley Company stepped up and paid to keep it as Wrigley Field. If Zell is trying to maximize his bottom line, he should find a way to sell broadcasts rights to Cubs games in Japan or add more advertisements in or around the Friendly Confines. Wrigley is one of the few things that can connect us to the good ole days of baseball.
Its the same field where Babe Ruth called his shot, Kerry Wood burst on the national scene with his 20 strikeout game, where Sammy Sosa slugged his way into the record books and into our hearts. It's the same field where the '69 Cubs blew their division lead and where Glenallen Hill crushed a ball to a rooftop across Waveland. All of this took place at Wrigley Field, not Starbucks Park or Bank One Field, or Allstate Park at Wrigley Field.
While fans may argue that the Tribune Company was not a very good group to own the Cubs, they at least resisted the temptation to sell the naming rights to the Friendly Confines. I view Wrigley as the last stadium to go fully commercial. Fenway Park and its huge ads on the Green Monster and its Red Sox Nation have gone commercial. I'm not against teams going commercial, hell; you basically have to with the ridiculous player salaries. I just hate to see established stadiums all of a sudden change names.
Case in point, Comiskey Park became US Cellular Field. It would be different if the stadium was being built today with naming rights being sold before the stadium would even be complete, which is pretty standard nowadays. I, for one, would hate to see Cingular Park on the North Side.
For those interested, the CCO received an email about a site dedicated to saving the name Wrigley Field…. www.KeepItWrigley.org. Included in the site is an online petition.


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Hello :-)
I just did my first dungeon run for the ardor day event and got only 1 event item when I completed it. So far I have always received 2 event items due to my dungeon delver bonus.
I didn't post this in the bug report forum because I am not yet sure if this is a bug or if this is the new intended functionality. If this is the new functionality I am somewhat dissapointed as one of the biggest advantages of this $250 tier was the double convocation event drops and it seems likely that would go away if we no longer get double drops from these smaller events.
If I could get a nobles response on this I would be very grateful as I would very much like official word on this.
Thanks in advance :-)


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Listen to my podcast with Tarak Modi, Vice President and CTO of CALIBRE Systems, In this podcast, we pick up on my first podcast with Tarak, Government Cloud Is Where the Action Is, and see how the federal government has continued along its journey towards the adoption of cloud computing.
Listen to or download the 12:09 minute podcast below:
PS: So now in our first podcast we talked about how the federal government is an early adopter of cloud computing. Would you say this is still true?
TM: Oh absolutely, everything we talked about last time still holds true. The fed is still very much into embracing the cloud model. And we talked about so many cloud initiatives in our first podcast and there's plenty more to talk about. But as the fed continues to move to the clouds, concerns over security of government information, the privacy of citizen data, and the safeguards over our national security interests still remain high. And then there's the Federal Information Security Management Act or FISMA and its very stringent compliance requirements. So how can federal employees and the American people be confident that their information is safe in the cloud?
I think that a root cause of the challenge was accurately summarized by Peter Mell, a cloud computing guru at NIST. According to him, the lack of a government wide authorization program for contracted IT services has really hindered federal adoption of cloud computing. The question at the heart of the matter is how do we best perform security authorization and continuous monitoring for large scale, outsourced and multiagency systems such as the cloud. The answer to this question leads us to a new program called the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program or FedRAMP.
FedRAMP provides the missing link. It's the unified government wide risk management program that will enable centralized certification and security management of cloud computing platforms and solutions for federal agencies. I like to compare the challenge we have today with cloud computing in the federal government with the classic conundrum of a many-to-many relationship in the database world. As database architects already know, the only effective solution to the many-to-many conundrum is the introduction of an arbitrating entity called the "Join Table". Think of FedRAMP as the Join Table for the many-to-many relationship between cloud providers and federal agencies.
Interesting. Now, you've already touched on both FedRAMP and the security challenges. Could you drill down on that a little bit more because from what I'm hearing is everybody is definitely interested in security when it comes to cloud?
Sure. Well, the basic ideas behind FedRAMP are quite straightforward. First, ensure government wide systems and services have adequate information security. Second, eliminate the duplication of effort and risk management costs. And third, make the procurement of government wide information systems and services more efficient and cost effective. Most times when you hear about or read about FedRAMP, it will actually be a reference to an umbrella over three entities, which include the various security requirements authorities, the joint authorization board, and the FedRAMP office itself. The security requirement authorities are responsible for creating the government wide security baselines for specific domains.
A perfect example of that is the Federal Cloud Initiative. The joint authorization board is the group of authorizing officials who perform the joint authorizations that are then leveraged by the other agencies. This board consists of the sponsoring agency as well as three permanent members, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the General Services Administration or GSA. The FedRAMP office itself is managed by the GSA with liaisons from NIST, and OMB, and performs program management, security reviews, and continues monitoring services for the government wide use.
I'd also like to mention two other noteworthy assets of FedRAMP. First, FedRAMP will not require any new laws to implement, which means that it's going to be quite easy to put into place. And second, FedRAMP is not mandatory so agencies with unique needs are still free to define their own security requirements. It makes sense since ultimately agencies are always responsible for securing their systems. In fact, even after FedRAMP is fully functioning, I expect that there's going to be a list of security controls that can't ever be done government wide and they will always be the responsibility of the respective agency.
It sounds like FedRAMP if it's going to be successful is going to have huge implications on how people access and use the cloud, is that correct?
Absolutely, Peter. Your observation is spot on. Ultimately, FedRAMP is about achieving two main goals. The first goal is to aggregate cloud computing standards. Today, each agency has its set of standards, which complicates procurement and it frustrates federally focused technology vendors. FedRAMP is intended to consolidate the cloud computing requirements into one set of consistent and uniform standards that span the entire federal government.
The second goal is to ease the cloud certification process, particularly, as it relates to FISMA. And as you noted in your question Peter, if FedRAMP is successful in its goals, the implications will be substantial and precedence setting. The General Services Administration, for example, could accredit a cloud computing provider such as Microsoft or Google and other agencies could piggyback on that authorization instead of each agency having to go back and do a complete reauthorization for their own purposes, which is the situation today.
Everybody including the fed understands that the economic benefits of cloud computing simply cannot be realized if every agency has to independently review and certify solutions. The current fragmented model is just too redundant, time consuming, and costly. And we're not talking about small numbers either. For example, what if I told you that over the last six years the Department of State has spent about $133 million creating 95,000 pages of security documentation. That's a lot of money. Now how much of this money could have been saved and how much of the work could have been avoided? My educated guess is a lot.
And now, NIST seems to be taking a leading role in helping agencies build trust in cloud computing. Can you elaborate on that a bit on NIST?
Sure. As you know, NIST's primary role have been to promote the effective and secure use of cloud computing within the government and the industry by providing technical guidance and related standards. To that end, they provided us with one of the most comprehensive definitions of cloud computing and some pretty good guidance on effectively and securely using cloud computing. Actually Peter, your question is very timely as NIST just hosted a cloud summit a week ago with representative from both government agencies and the private sector. The intent of the summit was simple, jumpstart the process of developing data interoperability, portability, and security standards for cloud computing that can be acquired across all agencies.
NIST is primarily focused in three main areas: setting standards, issuing guidance via special publications, and leading a unified consistent risk management framework for cloud services. Now we already talked about FedRAMP quite a bit so let's focus on standards and special publications. I think we all agree that we're not going to have wide scale government adoption of clouds without standards. NIST is now leading that effort with a new initiative called Standards Acceleration to Jumpstart Adoption of Cloud Computing or SAJACC. To the world, SAJACC will be a publically accessible portal that facilitates a collaborative development of cloud computing standards and will host technical use cases, documented interfaces, reference implementations, and test results.
The special publications in turn will provide best practice based guidance on implementing the standards developed in SAJACC and other related issues such as secure server virtualization and applying FISMA and 800-53 controls to cloud computing. As you can see, NIST has a lot going on and it's central to a successful adoption of cloud computing in the federal government.
Indeed and it sounds like the federal government is getting their cloud act together. Now looking ahead, what do you see for cloud computing in the federal government?
Well, I think it's clear by now that the federal government is very interesting in clouds. And it's no surprise either when we hear a number of such as 1,200 data centers, 6 billion kilowatt hours of energy being used at a cost of over $450 million, and estimates of 12 billion kilowatt hours of energy being used by 2011, which will be close to a billion dollars worth of energy. Now these are pretty big numbers to throw around lightly. And given those numbers, it's no surprise that clouds figure prominently in the 2011 budget where President Obama has earmarked $35 million to fund cloud computing programs and other IT initiatives and another $70 million for NIST to develop cloud related standards. We just talked about all the initiatives NIST has going on so just SAJACC and FedRAMP.
Now, if you recall, in our very first podcast, I talked about several cloud initiatives. The Federal CIO Council led by Vivek Kundra has recently documented in detail about 16 case studies of different agencies using cloud computing to gain significant efficiencies. Some examples include the Department of Health and Human Services using clouds to support electronic health records, the Department of Interior using clouds for agency wide e-mail saving about 30%, and my favorite, NASA's Be A Martian website on the Microsoft Azure platform. That has been a huge success with over 250,000 very cool pictures of Mars. Honestly, we're just at the tip of the iceberg so hold on tight and stay tuned for a lot more action in the coming years.


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from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The section of a playing field midway between goals.
- noun Players whose usual positions are in the midfield, behind the forwards.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (sport) the middle part of a playing field (as in football or lacrosse).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun sports The middle of the field of play
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (sports) the middle part of a playing field (as in football or lacrosse)
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Marouane Fellaini, Everton's authority in midfield, will be out for six weeks with a hamstring strain, Phil Jagielka is a serious doubt, the influential Steven Pienaar and the rising Jack Rodwell are injured, and a season that opened with Champions League expectations has suffered yet another false start.
Liverpool spent their own way into trouble, says Everton's Tim Cahill
The midfield is growing old together - Essien's reputation grows the longer he is out.
At halftime, coach Manuel Pellegrini sought to boost his attacking options by replacing Fernando Gago in midfield with Kaka.
If you are playing in midfield you have to do your fair share of tracking back.
"When McClaren had Twente, Ruiz played as a striker (very effective) but now the new coach has him playing in midfield lately, and his scoring form has dipped a bit."
"It started in midfield where we didn't let them have a lot of space to move the ball and they couldn't create a lot of chances, so that was key to the game."
The game settled into a pattern with Brazil dominating in midfield through the efforts of the hard-tackling duo Formiga and Ester.
Hes played both central defense and midfield for the Rapids, and while Arena plans to use him in midfield, as was the case in 2002, he has tested Mastroeni on the back line.
Zidane has been a magician in midfield for France with his ball control and offensive thrusts.
Razov and Ralph account for the bulk of the goals, but with the complementary skills of Beasley and Andy Williams behind them in midfield, the defense has to contain multiple threats.
USATODAY.com - Semifinalists have been lighting up scoreboard


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WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- James B. Chapin, national political analyst for United Press International and a leading voice in American progressive politics, died Monday. He was 60 years old.
Chapin, who lived in New York City with his wife, Diana, died of a heart attack at the Chapin family home in Andover, N.J., where they frequently spent time.
Born into a prominent family -- his brother was the late singer Harry Chapin, his father James is a noted jazz drummer and his forebears were among New York City's elite -- Chapin carved his career from an interest in history, a phenomenal memory and a gift for sharp insights on current events.
From 1994 to 2000, he was senior adviser to Mark Green, New York City public advocate. Earlier, he taught history at Yale and Rutgers universities.
He also served on the boards of the Queens Borough Public Library and a hunger charity founded by his brother.
"I've never seen anyone with such an encyclopedic mind matched with such a big heart," said George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC-TV's "This Week" with whom Chapin carried on a lively e-mail exchange of ideas and opinions. "This is a big loss."
A cheerful and resourceful ideological warrior, Chapin was widely read and admired across the political spectrum.
"Jim Chapin was the smartest person I ever met -- and the most generous with his time and intellect of anybody I've known," said Jim Pinkerton, a former top aide to President George H. W. Bush, columnist for Newsday and contributor to Fox News.
Looking at events from the left for UPI, Chapin analyzed political issues, candidates and trends and debated issues with fellow UPI political analyst Peter Roff, taking the liberal position while Roff debated from the conservative point of view.
"Jim was actually hired to be a political analyst writing from a liberal-left perspective, which he did," said UPI Editor in Chief John O'Sullivan, who hired Chapin in 2000. "But he managed to make his analyses palatable and persuasive to people right across the political perspective.
"That's a very rare gift. It may have had something to do with the fact that he was one of the nicest people in the world."
Possessed of nearly total recall of historical events and people, Chapin was able to relate them to the latest political trends.
Writing in early September, Chapin said the lessons of history were being missed a year after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks:
"The United States -- leaders and people together -- is not taking the war on terror seriously," Chapin wrote.
"Is America at war or at peace? There's a simple way to tell -- in a genuine war, foreign policy considerations override domestic ones -- in a 'phony war,' foreign policy is held hostage by domestic concerns.
"LBJ's Vietnam disaster was caused, in part, by his unwillingness to sacrifice his domestic priorities by admitting how much the war was going to cost. FDR's success in World War II was achieved in large part because he abandoned 'Dr. New Deal' for 'Doctor Win the War,' and recruited many of his leading foes into his administration.
"So far it's not hard to tell which way the Bush administration is going on the choice between being like FDR or being like LBJ. It's all the way with LBJ," he concluded.
Chapin held a doctoral degree in history from Cornell University, and had taught history at Yale University, and diplomatic and military history at Rutgers University.
Chapin served for many years as board chairman of the World Hunger Year, a project founded by his younger brother Harry.
"I only wish Jim could have lived to do the great things he had yet to do," Diana Chapin said. They were married in 1968 in Ithaca, N.Y. She served for many years as first deputy commissioner of New York City's environmental affairs department.
Besides his wife and his father, Chapin is survived by his mother, Elspeth Hart; two sons, James Derby Chapin and David Sheffield Chapin; brothers Tom and Steve; and several half-siblings.
The funeral will be private. A memorial service will be scheduled later in New York City.