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Updated July 9, 2015
We use a lot of gear for any given shoot. It's imperative for us to have the tools we need to execute the shots required for our stories. Without them, we'd be making subpar productions in terms of quality and limiting ourselves to a lesser story. The tools we use help us shape our story. These can be effects in post production, audio design or lighting techniques to give a certain feel during our shoot. Usually, it's a combination of all things.
We love these tools. However, they are just that, tools. They help us, not make us. We treat each piece of equipment as a tool, and do our best to utilize that tool for it's best use in a given shooting environment.
For example, if we're shooting a documentary that is run-and-gun style, we're not going to be bringing out a couple built up RED Dragon cameras. They're heavy, bulky and take time to operate. We prefer to use a smaller camera setup that is lighter and quick to work with. We must be able to get the camera setup for a specific shot immediately with documentary work. Sure, we could ask the subject to repeat what they just said or do this or that over again, but it is never natural the second time around. This affects our story negatively. We strive to shoot stories in the truest, most natural form.
The camera is the center point of any shoot. Usually the lighting design, audio and scene blocking are all in perspective of the camera. Naturally, it's one of the most popular tools in any shoot. Here are the camera's we tend to use more often than not.
RED Epic / RED Dragon – For our high end shoots we typically will bust out a RED Dragon. It's the highest resolution cinema camera on the market with a fantastic image quality. It can be used with Canon lenses or cinema glass with a PL mount. The quality of the image is second to none and allows for a lot of leverage in post. For example, our Penny Skateboards Painted Fades shoot would not have been possible without shooting on a Dragon camera.
Panasonic GH4 – A small, mirrorless camera that really packs a punch. This little guy can shoot true 4K cinema quality images in a portable package. This means we can take it nearly anywhere or place it nearly anywhere. For run-and-gun shoots, which is how a lot of our documentary work is – we need to be able to move quickly and act fast, and the GH4 allows us to do that.
GoPro Hero 4 Black – It seems no shoot is complete without a GoPro these days. The image quality continues to improve with each generation and now that the Hero 4 shoots 4K it means we can deliver projects in 4K all the way through. 4K resolution isn't the end all be all, but it's certainly important for a number of reasons. The GoPro cameras allow us to put a camera in places never before possible. This let's us tell a better story, and just for that reason, we're sold! They also work great on drones and bring incredible imagery from new, bird's eye view angles.
Arri Alexa – The Arri Alexa is a beast! It's the gold standard digital camera on the market today. The image quality is very cinematic and provides rich, film-like images from it's 3k sensor. This is the camera setup many Hollywood feature film prefer to shoot with. (main image above)
Underwater – We got our start in the action sports industry shooting professional surfers. This means we were in the water a lot, so we've mastered what it takes to shoot in water and underwater. The GoPro is great, but sometimes we require a higher image quality for our story, this is where our underwater setups for the Canon 5D Mark 3 and Red Epic come into play.
TV ENG package – Occasionally we'll get the chance to shoot a live event with an ENG style setup. TAR Productions being at the forefront of technology and cameras only settles for the best. Our ENG package consists of a $35,000 Canon Cinema Zoom lens and RED Scarlet. It's a beast of a setup but the image quality is nothing short of amazing.
Lighting can vary from shoot to shoot depending on setting, time of day and story. These are the tools we bring with us on most shoots.
KinoFlo – Nice, soft lights, great for interviews as they are quiet and cool so they can be handled without gloves. They don't require a lot of power and come with daylight or tungsten balance bulbs.
Fillex LED lights – These little lights are nothing short of amazing. They are bring, have a high CRI (color rendering index), are temperature controllable and dimmable. They come in a case that's perfect for traveling. They are full bright immediately and do not require time to reach 100% color as KinoFlo's do. There's a reason why these are always on our go-to lighting list.
Arri HMI 1.2k Par – Arri makes some of the highest quality equipment available in filmmaking. The HMI 1.2k par is a great light. It's incredibly bright and because it's an HMI it's extremely efficient. It's big, so only the larger productions we have can handle this. Works best when you have dedicated gaffer and grip to handle the lights and flags.
We have a separate post on exterior lighting equipment which I encourage you to check out, there's so much you can do with silks, bounce and negative fill as seen below.
They say audio is 50% of video, I'd say it's more. Good audio can make or break a project. And great audio can take a good project to the next level with sound design and mixing. Read on for more on this (in the Post Audio section below)
Countryman B6 – This lav mic not only sounds great but is incredibly small. It makes it so much easier to hid on a subject, which means you have more freedom with angles and lighting. We'll use one for each subject and usually carry a backup with us. They come in white, black and beige which helps with hiding the mic. It's one of the pricier microphones but definitely worth it.
Lectrosonic 400 Series – Lectrosonics are the gold standard in wireless microphone systems. Paired with the Countryman B6 these are the top notch. They're also really expensive to buy, so we recommend renting first to see how you like them. If these are out of budget try the Sennheisser G3.
Sennheiser G3 – A great quality mic for the price. If you're on a budget this is the wireless system to get. The quality is great and will act as a perfect starter kit.
Rode NTG-3 – This is our go to boom mic. We use it on pretty much each and every shoot. Why? Because it sounds amazing. The tone is rich and warm. Boom mic break down into a pretty small, portable setup, so we use it on our studio shoots and in the most remote places in Haiti. It's an effective piece of equipment no matter what the situation is. It can be used on a boom pole or set up on the camera. This is one piece of gear I could not live without.
Zoom H6n – This is a portable recorder that offers higher quality preamps than your camera will (cameras are predominately made for capturing images, not sound). The result is higher quality audio, but the downsides are that 1) it's an extra piece of equipment to handle on set or on location – so make sure you have enough crew to support. And 2) you'll have to sync it up in post. This isn't an issue but it is an extra step.
For studio shoots we often use a 9′ paper roll for a seamless background. What's great about this setup is that it's portable and we can set it up almost anywhere – be it a garage, our office or a client's office.
Teleprompter – Not just for the news desks. When creating sales videos or a direct connection to the audience is required, teleprompter can help your talent deliver the message smoothly and naturally. This increases production value and engagement young audiences. It's a powerful simple tool. There are some iPad apps that act as teleprompters although we can't vouch for them as we've never used them.
Audio – We almost always use a dual audio system for interviews. Our go to setup is a lav mic hidden on the subject and a boom mic overhead. Be sure to get these mics as close as possible to your subject to reduce interference and audio hiss.
Drones & Gimbals
Our go-to drone is the DJI Phantom. It's a workhorse and gets some incredible shots. We've pushed the limit of this system several times. Paired with a GoPro Hero 4 Black and you're getting awesome 4K images in the air. We've upgraded the system throughout, so it can fly longer, higher and further than a stock setup. We have hundreds of hours operating a drone, so these equipment setup is reserved for professional pilots only.
Related to the drone as the technology is essentially the same but a completely different tool is a gimbal. Popular gimbals include the Freefly Movi, DJI Ronin and G-Stabi. This is my personal favorite tool as the shots it produces incredible imagery – just look at our Housecall video for proof. You can even use these in helicopters!
Post Production
All our shoots are in 4K these days. Because of this we have to have a system with enough horsepower that can handle the demanding media pipeline required. The future is looking like the USB Type C port will win out, but Thunderbolt is still a powerful option. We require it to get all the data from point A to point B efficiently.
They say a film is made in the editing room. In the past couple of years there have been a few major advancements in editing technologies that have allowed small production companies to simplify their set up. We are one of them. I thought I'd share what our basic post production setup looks like.
iMac – this is a Late 2013 model with 512GB SSD, 32GB RAM, 3.5Ghz i7 andNVidia 790m with 4GB video RAM. We've only had this for a few months but have yet to really push it. If you use the Newton plugin in After Effects you know how demanding it is, and this machine handled it pretty nicely.
30″ ACD – this is an older monitor but still provides a great amount of screen real estate on a matte display. It works great next to the 27″ iMac and beautifully on FCP X dual monitor set up.
Promise Pegasus2 R8 RAID – This is a beast, a quiet beast. We upgrade to a new RAID with the iMac earlier this year and it has been pleasantly impressive. It's quiet and very fast. It's also smart in that it goes to sleep with the computer. This is a Thunderbolt 2 interface, which transfers data 2x as fast as Thunderbolt 1. Although the iMac is Thunderbolt 1 we were forward thinking knowing that we'll keep the RAID longer than the computer as our main editing machine. It's also an 8-bay setup, meaning there are 8 3TB drives installed. Love this RAID.
MacBook Air – I've been on a dual computer system for several years now and don' think I'll ever go back to a single computer set up. A laptop makes so much sense for separate tasks. When you're a small editing studio you often have to multi task and I find a laptop perfect for email, marketing, social, and research. I keep my desktop to mainly editing tasks.
iPad – So, by now you know I'm a big user of Apple gear, always have been. The iPad doesn't get used a lot but it's main task is pushing email and consuming content with apps like Feedly and Facebook.
THX speaker system – although you can't see the speakers in this image you can see the subwoofer on the floor. THX quality and all output through the iMac's speaker output. A good speaker system is key for mixing dialog, music and effects.
APC Battery backup – This will run our setup for about 45 minutes in case of a power outage. Thankfully have never had to use it for this reason, although it has come in handy when the power has surged, or tripped, a few times during storms. Worth every penny and the box says it saves me 40% on my power usage every month (haven't A/B tested it).
Tangent Wave – This is a color board built specifically for color grading. Any colorist will tell you that color is something you feel, and working on a color board allows for finer movement and color grading precision. Our colorist also prefers a 3 monitor setup maximizing screen real estate – it's a prety awesome setup for coloring projects.
Final Cut Pro X – We've been longtime users of Final Cut Pro. And when Apple release version 10, we jumped on board.
Adobe After Effects – Another longtime user of AE. Some of our projects only use After Effects (and Illustrator and Photoshop).
Motion – We don't use Motion as much as After Effects, but the integration with FCP X is great.
Skype – Great for conference calls and keeping up with any remote freelancers. Other good tools are FaceTime Audio and Google Hangouts.
Da Vinci Resolve – Simply the best color grading application out there. For simple, quick shoots the tools inside FCP X are great, but the level of detail available with Da Vinci Resolve is amazing.
Dropbox – We deliver a lot of files via Dropbox to both clients and editors, writers, etc.
Lumberjack – We love using Lumerjack with Final Cut Pro X. This amazing, cloud based software let's you tag & log your media in realtime. Essentially, when you ingest all your media you can, in less than 5 minutes, organize everything you shot and begin editing with power immediately. This used to take days with an assistant editor.
Final Cut Pro X Post Production Organization
This could easily be it's own post, but here's a quick screenshot of how we organize our media in Final Cut Pro X. We can quickly access the different types of media and bring it into our timeline. This means that we're editing our story faster and more effectively. I know there has been a lot of bad things said about Final Cut Pro X but it's really an amazing program that let's us to our jobs faster and, more importantly, better.
Post Production Audio
Post Production Audio is a huge part of our process and storytelling. It's the most overlooked part of a production, which is unfortunate because the implications for bringing your audience into your story is huge.
Izotope RX4 – This is an incredibly powerful software for post production audio. It's used by many in the audio recording world. It's best described as a "make it better" button for audio because it just does wonders. From mixing, to interview dialog, it's so easy to use and results speak (literally) for themselves. It's a professional application with a professional price tag, so it's reserved for the higher end projects that we do or the ones we send out to a professional sound designer for final mix.
Logic Pro X – Logic Pro X works very well with Final Cut Pro X. It has all the features and capabilities necessary for a final mix but is one of the lesser used programs out there.
ProTools – ProTools has been the gold standard for decades for mixing a film project. I personally don't use it but I know our sound designers love it.
All the above are tools. These are all industry standards and readily available to almost anyone. Remember, it's how you use them. Creativity and storytelling are where you're going to stand out from the crowd.


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It would be a shame to limit Halloween Nights to just films. Television has been a hot spot for storytellers for years now. For most of you out there, that's the norm; however I come from a generation where the best stories usually weren't told on the small screen– it's nice to see that times have changed, because we are getting a lot of great stories that we wouldn't have ever seen.
There are plenty of examples to point to, and even though there were plenty of shows that were excellent before; we can probably point to Robert Kirkman's AMC show, The Walking Dead. It's hard to believe we're about to begin the sixth year of this show, but I've been trying to think about something else that kicked off a generation of great storytelling. Aside from random shows that stand alone, it seems like this was the point were we started getting great stories on the small screen year after year, network after network.
Just like in the world of film, success means networks want to finds ways to make even more money off of their properties. The best way to accomplish this? Expand your universe. In the movie world, we've seen this have varying degrees of success; though I'd imagine the percentage is higher in that world than in television. It was only a matter of time before The Walking Dead expanded / spun off.
Potential Spoilers Ahead.
Which brings us to Fear The Walking Dead. I wasn't too keen on the name of the show at first, but after watching the first season I think it makes sense. The first episode wasn't nearly as good as the first episode of it's predecessor; but it was enjoyable and showed a promising story. The entire season felt like this (up until the season finale, which I finally watched tonight; and that's a good thing); while also giving me the fear that they were perhaps moving too quickly. At the pace they were going, it seemed like we were going to be caught up with The Walking Dead.
Fast forward to the season finale. Where Fear's pilot wasn't as good as TWD's pilot, it's season finale was amazing. The military has officially given up on fixing and containing this threat and has left town. Travis and company decided to go back to their original plan and head east, but first they have to rescue their family. The way this is done is fantastic. We see one of the largest walker hordes, in either show, to date. I've been relating Daniel to Rick a lot in this season, but I think we've seen that Madison can fill those shoes too.
And then Travis had his crazy Rick moment. That solider, the one that was tortured by Daniel and Travis let go, comes back… pissed. Spoilers ahead. Knowing that shooting Daniel wouldn't be a revenge that matched the pain he received, she shoots Ofeila. Travis looses it and won't stop pummeling the solider. It was very Rick like.
It seems like the writers decided to make this story feel singular, in case Fear wasn't picked up for a second season. Season 1 feels like a self contained story and can either continue on in Season 2 (which is happening) or just end in a totally satisfying way. It wasn't a forced cliff hanger like we got with TWD Season 1, but is totally left open for more story.
I am very happy with how this turned out and look forward to seeing these characters again. There aren't any that I care about like I care about on The Walking Dead, but there was also a comic book to give me a head start. I feel like after another season, we may end up with a group that we care about as much as Team Atlanta.
Fear The Walking Dead Season 1 scored: ★★★★☆
- Everything is Awesome Episode 167: A Countdown Begins - July 13, 2020
- Everything is Awesome Episode 166: Batman Book Club w/ Ryan Lower - June 9, 2020
- Everything is Awesome Episode 165: Podcast Blackout - June 3, 2020

subset: commoncrawl


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If you're backpacking around Australia then you might end up working in the outback, whether it's for your regional work or just to replenish travel funds whilst experiencing life in the bush. For me working in the outback has been the highlight of my travels so far, however it can be quite he culture shock so here are some pointers for anyone considering working in the outback.
Hard work
You will work hard, especially if it's a live-in job. You are at their disposal and though you will probably have scheduled days off be prepared to be "on call" for work. The best way I found to deal with it was to see half of the work as paid and the other half as earning your keep, you may be asked to do weird things like wipe down doors, but at the end of the day, a job's a job. At the hotel I was supposed to get two days off a week but usually ended up either helping out at a function or working on one of them. Outback towns are quiet with very little to do, especially out of tourist season, working there is a good place to top up travel funds and experience the outback. That being said if you do find the job exploitative or think the job is dodgy get yourself out of there, it's important to keep your wits about you.
What's a day off?
This applies more to station work than casual jobs in hospitality. If you get a job at a cattle or sheep station it is unlikely that you will get days off, regularly at least. When you go and work at a station whatever job you are given needs to be done everyday and there's no one to take your place. Occasionally on Sunday's my boss will take over kitchen duties so that I can clean my room and do my laundry, I refer to it as "reduced hours" but I still have to feed the animals and do the watering. Every so often at my station we have had "away days", we went to the Dirt n Dust festival, we've gone into town for the day and most recently took a trip to Karumba, these short trips have been amazing breaks from station work, but a lot of work has to be done in preparation for them. Depending on what time of year it is when you go to a station, for instance if you start in March or September you will hit mustering season, this is the busiest time of year for Australian farmers and so don't be surprised if you are working for three or four weeks without a "day off".
Station work is intensive, if you get a station job be prepared to work hard and get very little time off, it's a lifestyle not a job.
Australia has a lot of bugs, and I'm not even talking about the dangerous ones here. Depending on what kind of job you're applying for your job may involve cleaning up bugs. Both my job at the hotel and at the station has required me to hoover up bugs as part of the cleaning routine. It's a stupid job but someone's got to do it!
If you need a favour, ask!
Australians are super friendly and are more than happy to lend a hand if you need help. If you find yourself in an outback town and get into the fold of the community, people are only too happy to help out. A prime example for me was when I was in Winton and I was trying to get my driver's license, the council told me that I'd have to borrow someone's car for the test. I thought this was the most ridiculous thing ever. Over drinks at the Pub later I told my mates, saying "Borrow someone's car they said, I'm a backpacker, I know you guys are friendly but how am I supposed to go 'Hey mate can I borrow your car?' It's crazy!" My friend Brian then said that I could borrow his missus' car, the level of kindness is unreal in the outback.
On another occasion a friend of mine took me to the Dinosaur museum, which I mentioned in another post. As a Brit I personally hate asking favours, as you feel like you're being rude, however my friend was more than happy to take me out and from now on when I need something I just ask.
Drinking Etiquette
Ozzies love to drink, this is not a surprise to anyone, and in the outback its usual for people to meet up at the pub at lunch or after work and 'drink piss'. The Ozzies are very friendly as I said before, and when I was in Winton the friends I made would often shout me drinks, once I was at the pub and I'd already bought a pot of beer, and someone shouted me a lemonade, and then another guy I'd been talking to earlier came over and gave me a tequila sunrise. I had three drinks on the go, and the last one I hadn't even asked for.
I kind of knew that it wasn't the done thing to not drink a drink someone bought you, but it wasn't as though I was still chatting to that person, so I just let it sit in front of me and continued talking to my friends. It sat there until the ice melted, at which point one of the guys I was hanging out with tutted, and went to the bar to have new ice put in, it was at that point the woman sitting next to me explained that there's an etiquette to drinking in the outback. First you have to drink a drink someone bought you, because alcohol costs money, second if you want to stop drinking you either say aloud that you're stopping or you move onto water. I ended up drinking the tequila sunrise and that was that.
As a female solo traveller I guess it feels dangerous to drink a drink someone bought you, or to allow people to buy drinks for you if you don't know them well. Most of the time in Winton I was with people who I'd befriended and I didn't have a problem with them shouting me drinks as I'd shout them one back, though this system did end up with me being told to fuck off once . It's a harmless past time, and my advice would be if you really don't want the drink or don't want someone to buy you a drink firmly and polite refuse it.
Male attention
Following on from my last point, if you're a woman travelling alone around the outback you will get a lot of attention from men. I'm going to aim to keep this point short, as I plan to write more extensively on my experience as a female solo backpacker in Australia, however as a barmaid though I guess it's customary the flirting was relentless and took various forms from the subtle to the horrifically blatant. At the time I found it really annoying but wouldn't say anything for fear of rocking the boat.. Looking back on it now I should have told these guys to fuck off, and that's something I'll do from now on.
Expect to be treated like the new pair of tits in town, but don't let someone make you feel uncomfortable. Sometimes it's fun, and sometimes it's plain creepy.
Outback ozzies aren't backwards but…
Don't expect them to share your liberal outlook, if you hold one like I do. I'm into gender equality, LBGT rights and being English I'm a stickler for things being politically correct. I've sat with people who have told they're openly racist, others who aren't, and I've heard a lot of homophobic language too. In terms of tolerance I'd have to say it was good on two fronts, when I was in Winton one pub had a lesbian barmaid and one hotel had a Chinese barmaid, in the grand scheme of things this might not count for much, but in a small town like Winton I'd have to say that's pretty good.
Personally I don't enjoy racist jokes, and at home I have LGBT friends and so I do not use the word "gay" as a derogatory adjective, I haven't for years and it's only since coming here that I've been around people who do. I'm not the confrontational type and so when people I've been around have uttered racial or homophobic slurs, I haven't said anything, I'll just stop joining in the conversation. The only time I've snapped was when a young guy from Brisbane used the word "faggot" and I told him not to use that word in front of me. I guess because he was younger and not from the outback I expected him to be somewhat sensitive, but apparently not, and what with Australia holding back on the gay marriage front it shouldn't be a surprise. It's hard to write about this aspect of Australian society without being contentious, most of the people I've met have been lovely, and though they may hold views that I don't agree with, it hasn't interfered with the friendships I've made. I felt the need to touch on this as it's useful for any backpackers heading out there to have some idea of what to expect.
No time for pride or bullshit
If you don't know how to do something, be honest and tell someone so they can show you. Don't try and do something if you've got no idea how, a false sense of confidence doesn't get you anywhere. You'll be treated with more respect if you swallow your pride and ask for help, even if you feel like an idiot.
You might feel like an idiot
If you're an English backpacker like me, then you might think the Ozzies have a similar way of doing things to the Brits. Wrong. The difference in approach to work can be very disorientating and make you question just how capable you are. At home I worked at Waitrose which had a café, I thought I knew how to work in a café, when I started at the café in Winton I was like a fish out of water, the coffee machine was manual, all the food was made from scratch and I didn't even know where the light switch was! Be prepared to be knocked or feel out of place as a result of it being different to home, it seems like a no brainer but it's such an unsettling experience.
Thankfully I'm not the only person to feel like this, at the station I overheard my boss's sister confess that she felt the same way I did, "I see myself as a very capable person at home, but coming here I feel incompetent,"
It's a wild ride!
Prepare to have the time of your life, in the outback anything goes in terms of fun. You could go swim in a gravel pit, ride a jet ski, go pigging, shoot Roos, drink to your heart's content or check out an outback musical festival. Don't knock it till you've tried it, there's so much to discover in the outback!
Worked in the outback? Let me know your experience below!


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Olympus WS 520M Handheld Recorder
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The Olympus WS 520M Handheld Recorder is loaded with an impressive array of useful features. You can record and play back in MP3, WMA and PCM formats...Click To Read More About This Product
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A hand-held recorder with 8GB internal memory, USB direct, stereo mic, and editing software.
The Olympus WS 520M Handheld Recorder is loaded with an impressive array of useful features. You can record and play back in MP3, WMA and PCM formats with sound quality that's as good as it is easy to use - no additional software required. The unique "USB Direct" design means you can connect it right to the USB port on your computer and download or transfer audio, music, photos and more. Just plug the recorder right into your computer for fast file transfer and to charge the battery - no cables needed.
Capture all the sounds you want with the built-in stereo microphone. Extend recording time and save memory by setting the device to only record when the microphones sense sound. Edit your files with Olympus Sonority sound editing software (included), which is compatible with PCs and MACs. Organize up to 200 files in each of 5 available folders for quick retrieval and storage convenience.
The bright LCD supports and displays 3 languages (EN/FR/ES). There's up to 21 hours of recording capability with the WS-520's long-life battery. Voice Activation makes automatic starting and stopping of the recorder an extra benefit that saves time and energy.
- Record and play back in MP3, WMA and PCM formats
- 8GB of internal memory (2,170 hrs record time)
- Unique "USB Direct" design
- Built-in stereo microphone
- Includes Olympus Sonority sound editing software (compatible with PCs and MACs)
- Organize up to 200 files in each of five available folders
- Bright LCD supports and displays three languages (EN/FR/ES)
- Up to 21 hours of recording capability with WS-520's long-life battery
- Voice Activation saves time and energy
- LCD: 1.23" Speaker: Built-in 16mm round dynamic speaker
- Microphone Jack: Yes
- Earphone Jack: Yes
- Power Supply: One AAA battery (Ni-MH is chargeable via USB)
- Size: 3.7" L x 1.5" W x 0.4" D (94.8 x 38.0 x 11.0 mm), excluding protrusions
- Weight: 1.7 oz. (47g), including battery
- OS Supported:
- Windows 2000 Professional
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7
- Mac OS X 10.4.11 - 10.6


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J. E. Thomas Dulcimer $367.50 standard*
A faithful reproduction of the old Cumberland dulcimers --
slender hourglass instruments made by James Edward Thomas (1850-1933) of Bath, Kentucky.
All-poplar (or all-walnut) construction with 3 hand-carved walnut tuning pegs. Staple-type wire frets go under melody string only. Walnut nut and bridge. The soundholes may be 4 round holes or 4 hearts (facing either up or down).
Flat black antiqued finish on poplar model, shellac finish on walnut model.
The fiddle-edges and the fretboard are decorated with incised grooves just as on the originals. Trenails, which are tiny wooden pins, help attach the face and back to the ends. Three wooden feet elevate the back off the playing surface.
*NOTE: Mechanical Perfection violin pegs (made by Knilling) may be substituted for hand-carved pegs for an additional $100. These modern pegs make retuning fast and easy. They look like ebony.
A matching possum board for the Thomas dulcimer is available for $50 plus shipping (no extra shipping charge if included with a Thomas dulcimer order).
Price is just $350 through December 2020.
Tennessee Music Box $310 standard*
An accurate historic reproduction of the heavy primitive box dulcimers made in the 1890s by the Goodman and Eckard families of mid-central Tennessee. These were sometimes called "harmonicas", and they're built for playing noter/drone style.
Screw eyes are used to tune the 4 strings stretched over the metal nut and bridge plates. The boxes are built solidly, of thick pieces glued and nailed together. Frets are metal fence staples, and extend only under the first string. They can be played with a pick, a turkey quill or a violin bow.
These old music boxes were traditionally built of tulip poplar. My reproductions are built of poplar* as well,
or they can be made of ash or cherry (when available).
The finish may be either clear shellac or stained to order.
Price is just $295 through December 2020.


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With over 20 years of experience working with individuals & families, Transitions...the process of change, has pulled together some of the most experienced people to partner up and provide services to families & children in need. We have received clients mostly by word of mouth in past from highly reputable forensic psychologists and attorneys. Our Services include: Court Advocacy, Supervised Visitation (standard & therapeutic), Custody & Home Study Evaluations, Parent Coordination Services, Parent/Child Reunification Services, Supportive Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse Treatment Services, In-Home & Community Counseling Services, Mentoring, Domestic Violence Advocacy, life Skills Education & Life Coaching Services.
We also provide contract services including developing and implementing counseling groups for youth and adults to include education and counseling in dealing with Anger management, Peer Mediation Programs, Substance Abuse Education and Treatment, Social Skills programs, Self-esteem support groups, Behavior Modification programs, Street Law, and Life Skills/independent Living programs.


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Bounded Regret for Finite-Armed Structured Bandits
Part of: Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 27 (NIPS 2014)[PDF] [BibTeX] [Supplemental] [Reviews]
Conference Event Type: Poster
We study a new type of K-armed bandit problem where the expected return of one arm may depend on the returns of other arms. We present a new algorithm for this general class of problems and show that under certain circumstances it is possible to achieve finite expected cumulative regret. We also give problem-dependent lower bounds on the cumulative regret showing that at least in special cases the new algorithm is nearly optimal.


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French Onion Bruschetta
- Yield
- 10-12 Servings
If you like French Onion soup you'll love our French Onion Bruschetta recipe!
- Recipe Text size
- 1 Baguette
- 2 Cups julienned onion
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- ¼ Cup Sherry, Marsala, Madiera wine
- ½ Tablespoon Better Than Bouillon™ Beef Base
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- ⅛ Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 1 Cup shredded Swiss cheese
- 1. Add the butter and oil to a large saute pan over medium high heat.
- 2. Add the onions to the pan and saute until lightly browned, about 20-25 minutes, stir occasionally.
- 3. Add the wine to the pan and reduce for 2-3 minutes.
- 4. Add the beef base, parsley and black pepper to the pan and stir.
- 5. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool.
- 6. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
- 7. Slice the baguette into ¼ inch thick tennis pieces and place onto a sheet pan.
- 8. Spread each slice of bread with the onion mixture and top with 1 Tablespoon of the Swiss cheese.
- 9. Place the sheet pan directly into the oven and bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- 10. Carefully remove the sheet pan from the oven and place the bruschetta onto a serving platter. Serve immediately.
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Fiesta Bean Salsa


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How to Reduce Sprinkler Spray Distance
A sprinkler provides a simple-to-use method of watering a lawn during periods of dry weather. On a version such as an impact sprinkler, water spray direction and distance are typically two aspects that are adjustable, allowing the user to customize the spray pattern. Adjusting an impact sprinkler fine tunes its spray pattern so it waters grass thoroughly. Reducing the distance the impact sprinkler projects water requires minimal adjustment.
Turn on the water flow to the impact sprinkler. Observe the sprinkler's rotation and water pattern. Turn off the water flow to the sprinkler.
Locate the sprinkler's dial for water stream adjustment. That dial is on top of some impact sprinkler models. Turn the dial toward the minimum distance setting to reduce the distance the water travels. The dial adjustment lowers the distance control flap, reducing the water spray's distance.
Find the diffuser screw on the front of the sprinkler. Turn the screw to the right, or counterclockwise, using a screwdriver if necessary. The adjustment decreases the distance the sprinkler projects water.
Things Needed
- Screwdriver
- It also is possible to reduce the distance water travels from the sprinkler by reducing the water pressure to the sprinkler. Turn the faucet control valve clockwise to reduce the amount of water traveling through the hose to the sprinkler.
- Running all parts of a large sprinkler system at the same time reduces water pressure, shortening each sprinkler's water stream. If you typically run the entire system at once, then turn on all the sprinklers in order to determine accurately where adjustments must be made. If you turn on only one sprinkler to test it, then you may accidentally adjust its water stream to be too short to reach its full target area when all of the system's sprinklers operate.
Photo Credits
- Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images


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After reading a couple articles at Massively, like this one: You don't need PvP to be sucessful, honest, my ears perked up. The author makes the case that PvP isn't needed in our games, that trying to squeeze every feature (like PvP) in your MMO isn't as effective as trying to just pick a few features and executing them better than the other guy.
While I agree that catering to a niche market is much more effective than trying to be everything to everyone, I completely disagree with the author's assertion that PvP isn't needed in a MMO.
The simple fact of the matter is that players want PvP – even Care Bears.
PvP isn't an anti-social activity like many would have you believe. PvP is actually just one of many ways we socialize in these virtual spaces. Humans seem to be hard wired to socialize and compete: perhaps an adapted behavior from our hunter-gatherer origins.
"But I prefer PvE games, I don't want to deal with gank squads and griefing."
I hear you, but consider this: even in your strictly PvE game, you participate in PvP activities every day you log in. It's true! What do you think your harmless auction house is? It's a PvP arena in disguise.
Showing off epic loot is no different than peacocks competing for a female's attention. Being the first guild to defeat a raid, racing to level cap, spawn camping, literally competing for resource nodes: these are all devices of competition that players participate in – and while it's a more insidious kind of PvP – it's player versus player nonetheless.
"But I like to work with people, to be a part of a team and tackle content together."
So do I, but nothing brings people together like PvP. PvP not only generates content by virtue of its combat interactions, PvP actually spawns a wealth of content outside the game itself: forums, guilds, alliances, and many other tiers of socialization that are critical in a PvP setting: strength in numbers, organization, tactics, enemy of my enemy is a friend, PvP breathes life into our MMO games and social interplay.
"I hate the idea of being set back by some Pker, I don't want to lose any progression because I get ganked on my way to the bank."
This is where the true discord exists for players on the PvP issue: impact and consent.
Some players prefer high impact PvP with full corpse looting, experience loss, and the risk of PvP anytime, anywhere. Others prefer consensual PvP zones with low impact death penalties like debuffs and no item loss.
Care Bears aren't scared of PvP they just prefer it on their own terms in a controlled environment, and I can't blame them, but don't let anyone tell you they aren't into PvP.
You know what scares me more than a roaming squad of Pkers? A warband full of Care Bears that catch me alone – they stupidly engulf my helpless avatar like a school of great white sharks: black doll eyes roll into their heads as they spam click my dead corpse hoping to loot something of value. I'm not even human to them – I'm just a walking loot box! The humanity!
EVE online, for example, features both high and low impact PvP, and blurs this distinction in a wonderful way: you get to choose your level of risk and impact the closer you go towards 0.0 space, where PvP goes from being unlikely to probable.
Wizard 101 implemented PvP (yes, you read that right) featuring duels, team matches, and arena rankings. It's one of Wizard 101's most popular features. These kids aren't carrying around UO or SWG baggage, they simply like what they like and PvP is an attractive feature for them.
Next time you hear someone say that PvP isn't needed for a MMO to be successful, that they don't have the stomach or interest to compete online, just agree with them. It won't be long before that same person is telling you about an auction of theirs where some idiot grossly overpaid for a stack of ore.
PvE indeed.


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The Kenai Peninsula Food Bank provides an average of 271 meals to senior citizens and 66 veterans each month
"We feed people because no one deserves to be hungry!"
The Kenai Peninsula Food Bank is a non-profit organization started in 1988 and provides food to over 70 non-profit agencies for their feeding programs throughout the entire Kenai Peninsula Borough.
The KPFB distributes USDA Commodities, administers an emergency direct service food program, collects and redistributes food through the warehouse distribution program for member agencies, and serves a hot meal every weekday.
We believe adequate food and shelter are the vital keys to empowering hungry individuals to become productive citizens. The Kenai Peninsula Food Bank facility is a supportive and nurturing environment; and, all people are consistently encouraged to reach their highest potential through initiative and creativity. The Food Bank staff facilitates this growth with friendliness and optimism for each individual, helping them to regain their dignity and hope.


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Skaboy's 2014 Games i look to try!
- Skaboy Green(Skaboy)United States
Well here it is January is almost over so i may as well get this started.Recommend
I didnt do to badly last year
Skaboy's 2013 want to play or complete list oo games and ideas
and as always i am still looking to get all those past lists done ( have about 40 games over the past 4 years still looking to try )
Last year i also set some goals.
I am also inspired by 2014 Challenge: Play 10 Games 10 Times Each and at some point i will sit down and add my entry
SO as always I look for your feedback thumbs comments and even reason why i shouldnt try something.
- Posted Thu Jan 16, 2014 5:19 pm
- [+] Dice rolls


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Lombardo Homes helps make their customers' dream home a reality by working closely with homebuyers to understand their needs to design a home that compliments their lifestyle. Lombardo Homes believe that a new home should be more than just a place to live.
21 Meadows Circle Drive, Suite 317
Lake St. Louis, MO 63367


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Save the Bees!
is a street artist who is on a mission to raise awareness of the plight of the humble honey bee through his Save the Bees mural project .
Michel had just returned from a trip to South Africa where he was painting endangered animals, when he began to learn about about bees and the grave implications of
In May of 2014, he began to paint a series of murals incorporating bees on walls around London. Many of the bee works were done in collaboration with artist Jim Vision.
Check him out here: Louis Masai Michel
And check out these Deborah Richard Sterling Silver and 18kt gold Bee Earring jackets:
As the bee said:


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I didn't expect that two weeks after leaving San Francisco I'd find myself making Chinese dumplings from scratch on the side of a Texan freeway.
Reading through my street food Google Alert, I was thrilled to discover that the theme of The Spice Cafe's Monthly Blog Patrolling (MBP) was street food, hosted this month by Sia of Monsoon Spice. The task: make a street food recipe from a fellow blogger, write a post, and link to the original blogger. Having only just begun Streats and having a long list of bookmarked recipes to try, I was game—except that I was in the middle of a cross-country roadtrip.
The day after reading the MBP, David and I drove east from Tucson to New Mexico, and then South into Texas along I-10. We spent the night in Van Horn, a dumpy highway town where over half the single-story brick building had long-since been abandoned. Our motel, the Economy Inn, was economy—$41 for a room that reeked of cheap perfume and backed onto the train tracks. It was too unhygienic to even consider making the jiaozi and guotieh recipe I'd been aching to try from the Asian Grandmothers Cookbook blog.
In 2002, I lived in a small town in China and taught English to 5- and 6-year-old xiao pengyou (lit. little friends). I lived on jiaozi, guotieh and other street foods, hence my interest in the genre. Since my return, I'd yet to replicate the crisp, brown bottoms and doughy skins of this Chinese staple, but the Asian Grandmothers Cookbook blog looked set to change that with its insistence on home-made dough.
Not certain how I'd participate in the MBP, I doubted the quality of the only market in town, two blocks north of the motel on the desolate road running through Van Horn. With afternoon thunderstorms approaching, we trekked to Pueblo Market where I was happily surprised at the variety (if not quality) of its produce and the myriad of local New Mexican chilies. Yet I still refused to cook in the Economy Inn.
Leaving Van Horn on I-90 East, the scenery changes dramatically as the highway cuts through yellowed fields which abut old volcanic hills. Twenty miles on, I saw a shaded picnic spot—that was where I'd cook dumplings.
In Van Horn, I'd bought the ingredients needed for the dumplings but not the dipping sauce as, during my time in China, I became very partial to my own dipping sauce—Zhenjiang Vinegar, a famous, sweet, back vinegar from a neighboring town with chopped chili, ginger and cilantro. As Pueblo's was lacking in the Zhenjiang Vinegar department, I made my dipping sauce using soy as a substitute. It lacked the sweet tang of the vinegar, but the local chilies gave the sauce its requisite kick.
Cooking in a picnic stop on a propane stove wasn't easy, but the filling of the dumplings was straight-forward, and my makeshift cooking surface (a cookie sheet I'd bought and washed) worked. The dough kept drying out in the 90+ degree Texan heat as there's no humidity that far west, resulting in clumsily shaped dumplings.
But, as David and I sat down in our picturesque spot with trucks and Border Patrol rushing past, and dug into freshly made dumplings, I knew I'd found the recipe I'd been craving since I left China.
Recipe From Asian Grandmothers Cookbook Blog (My photos from Texas)
Time: 1 to 2 hours (depending how nimble your fingers are at making the pot stickers)
Makes: about 40
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 to 1 cup lukewarm water
1 pound ground pork (2 cups)
2 cups finely chopped napa cabbage (half a medium cabbage)
1 stalk green onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger (about 1/2-inch)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons plus pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups flour with 3/4 cup water. Mix well with a wooden spoon until it starts to come together, adding more water if necessary. With your hands, form dough into a rough ball. You want the dough to be pliable but not stick to your fingers. Sprinkle a little more flour if dough is too wet. The dough won't feel smooth at this point. Set the dough ball in a bowl, cover with a damp towel and let it rest while you make the filling.
Place cabbage in a medium bowl and sprinkle 2 teaspoons salt. Mix well. Taking a handful of vegetables at a time, squeeze water out. Or wrap cabbage in batches in a cheesecloth or non-terry towel and wring dry.
In a large bowl, combine pork, cabbage, green onions, ginger, soy sauce, salt, white pepper and sesame oil. Mix well with chopsticks or a set of clean hands. Set aside.
Make the wrappers. Knead dough for several minutes until it is smooth all over. Divide it into 4 balls. Knead each ball individually for about 30 seconds. Roll each portion into a log about 5-inches long and 1/2-inch in diameter. Pinch off 9 or 10 even walnut-sized pieces. Dust with flour as needed.
Roll each piece into a ball and flatten into a disc between your palms. Place flattened disc on a well-floured surface. Starting at the bottom edge of the disc, use a Chinese rolling pin* [I used a Yosemite mug] and roll from the outside of the circle in. Use your right hand to roll the pin as your left hand turns the disc anti-clockwise. So the sequence goes: roll, turn, roll, turn. Roll each disc into a circle about 3-inches in diameter. Don't worry about making a perfect circle. Ideally, the wrapper will be thicker in the middle than on the edges.
Spoon about 2 teaspoons of filling into the center of wrapper. Fold wrapper in half over filling to form a half-moon pocket and pinch shut.
Repeat until all the dough or filling is used up. Set pot sticker down firmly on a parchment-lined tray seam-side up so that dumpling sits flat.
Heat an (8- to 10-inch) non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl 3 tablespoons vegetable oil into the bottom of pan to coat evenly. Place about a dozen dumplings in a single layer seam-side up in the skillet and brown for 1 minute.
Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup water to the pan, depending on its size. Cover immediately and steam 9 to 10 minutes, until all the water evaporates. The bottom of the pot stickers should be golden brown and crisp but not burned. Remove pot stickers with a spatula and serve on a plate with bottom side up.


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EU Funding Research to Create Lie Detector for Twitter
The latest research project from the University of Sheffield, Warwick, King's College London, Saarland in Germany and MODUL University Vienna in Austria is being funded by the European Union. The goal: to root out social media lies from truths.
With social networks like Twitter being on the forefront of information dissemination, the EU and government agencies are interested in siphoning the information it seeks. Dr. Lalina Bontcheve from the University's Department of Computer Science explains that "after the 2011 riots that social networks should have been shut down, to prevent the rioters using them to organise. But social networks also provide useful information – the problem is that it all happens so fast and we can't quickly sort truth from lies. This makes it difficult to respond to rumours, for example, for the emergency services to quash a lie in order to keep a situation calm. Our system aims to help with that, by tracking and verifying information in real time."
The research will classify information based on the four classifications:
Speculation – such as whether interest rates might rise
Controversy – as over the MMR vaccine
Misinformation, where something untrue is spread unwittingly
Disinformation, where it's done with malicious intent
Of course, with classification systems, it's possible to censor, eliminate, or punish those dispelling lies or misinformation. In the UK Twitter trolls were jailed for 8-12 weeks after making rape threats against a feminist reporter. The two were cited for "improper use of a public electronic communications network."


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- BOTTLEROCK AND ROLL Three-day tickets for BottleRock are sold-out, so expect more crowds like this next weekend.
BottleRock uncorks next weekend in Napa. Robert Plant headlines a three-day event that has shaken off numerous vendor-related snafus that characterized the 2013 debut at the Napa Valley Expo.
Last year, the festival returned for a pretty smooth ride; this year, it's poised to hit its stride as a major North Bay success story. The success comes courtesy of the Napa-based Latitude 38 Entertainment, which took the helm last year to manage and coordinate the monstrosity of logistics at hand.
I asked Latitude 38 COO Justin Dragoo about some of the challenges he's faced, and about the rationale for some of the festival rules of the road. I also spoke with Capt. Jennifer Gonzalez, Napa's police officer on the BottleRock beat.
Getting Around
Last year's festival hit its biggest snag when the music was over, Dragoo acknowledges.
"One of the biggest areas of feedback last year was people leaving the festival," he says. "It was not efficient for people, and we have completely retooled it for this year."
The difficulty, he says, is in managing a festival that's going down in the midst of a busy small city, "so the more we can get a handle on cars, people and traffic, the better."
To keep the cars to a minimum, this year organizers contracted with private shuttle-bus company Busbank to bring people to the festival from around the state. The shuttles will run from Palo Alto, Oakland, Sonoma, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Fairfield, Mill Valley, Sacramento and San Jose. Attendees can catch a ride for a single day or all three; prices range from a $30 round-trip from Sonoma, to $146 for three days back and forth to Oakland.
Dragoo says "thousands will be arriving at BottleRock" this way. Each bus will carry about 50 people. "At two people per car, that's 25 cars off the road for every bus that comes in," he says.
Locally, BottleRock has an arrangement with the city bus, the VINE, which will give free rides to ticket holders. "We're footing the bill, if you will," says Dragoo, to the extent that the bus fare is enfolded into the BottleRock ticket price. And Uber will also be a player this year, offering flat-rate rides to and from the festival.
The transportation improvements aren't just to keep the festival safe and the traffic moving freely, but to keep the DUIs at an absolute minimum. Numerous wineries will be selling their wares at the festival.
Designated drivers are OK, "but even better is a designated ride," says Dragoo. And once you've arrived, Dragoo says that this year "everything is walkable to the festival," including parking lots for those who choose to drive.
Gonzalez is new to Napa, having joined the city police force only last year. "From that perspective, it seems everyone is on the same page," she says. "Everybody came to the table friendly and ready to work, and ready to make this work. It's a big deal."
Dragoo and Gonzalez emphasize safety first, which starts with safely and efficiently managing the flow of some 30,000 people. Dragoo says he's been working with police and elected officials for months. There's a shared "acknowledgement that this is a very large event," he says, "and to make it easier and more logistically able to navigate."
Gonzalez says the California Highway Patrol will manage the traffic-and-people flow outside the event, the Napa police will help with the flow at the gate, and a private security firm will do the heavy lift when it comes to checking bags. "It's a collaborative effort," she says. "It has to be." Gonzalez stresses that people should utilize public transportation if they can, but if you drive to BottleRock, "pay attention to the traffic people on the road—don't hit the cops who are directing traffic."
Where to Stay
Dragoo knows Napa is a challenging place to host a three-day music festival, given the countywide ban on short-term vacation rentals you'll find on sites like Airbnb—and the rates at local hotels. "It's a very real, very appropriate question, because the reality is that the hotels in Napa and Napa Valley proper are very expensive," he says.
But Dragoo also notes that a lot of out-of-towners might not know that less tony places such as American Canyon, Vallejo and Fairfield are pretty close by, "and hotels are there, and available."
He adds that there's an underutilized camping option at Skyline Park, with a shuttle service. "We could have done a better job advertising for them," says Dragoo, who adds that there are still "lots of sites available."
Those options, he adds, "could take some heat and weight from all the demand." Also, he notes, "the people in Napa are reevaluating the ordinance around Airbnb." Lifting the ban on the popular short-term rental portal could mean "a wealth of new places available" for future festivals.
Food & Water
Last year, the Bohemian heard from a few Napa readers who questioned the wisdom of hosting a three-day music festival in the hot sun during a historic drought.
Dragoo says the concern should be set aside, given that the only water being used at the site will be consumed by attendees. Festival rules allow attendees to bring in a single, empty liter bottle to fill with free water provided on-site. Attendees can also purchase inexpensive bottled water. Dragoo assures they won't charge $5 for water, and that the point of buying the bottled water is so you can refill it with the free stuff.
Dragoo pushes back against any suggestion that the existence of BottleRock is itself bad for the drought. Attendees will slake their thirst in a sun that is sure to be hot, but that's it, he says. And he notes that the banks of portable toilets won't be using potable water, unlike the home loos of many a festival attendee.
As for food, you're not allowed to bring any into the festival, not even a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"This is only our second year doing this," says Dragoo, "and we have been trying to make sure that local restaurants are incentivized to sell their goods."
He notes that banning outside food and bevies is "standard operating procedure for all other festivals—and we adopted it." But he stresses that the main driver behind the ban is that "we want to emphasize our support for Napa businesses."
Medical Cannabis
The beer and wine will flow at BottleRock, but leave the cannabis at home: it's banned from the concert grounds, even if an individual has a prescription for it. Other prescribed medications are permitted, so why not marijuana?
Dragoo says the cannabis ban is again a reflection of festival best practices.
"The policy on that really comes from what is the standard at other festivals here and across the country," he says. "We don't have a strong point of view other than what's a known 'best practice.'"
Dragoo also notes that BottleRock is unlike many festivals in that ticket holders have in-and-out privileges, so you can go home or to your car and self-medicate between sets. Festival organizers will set up "amnesty bins" for banned booty as attendees flow through the entrance gates, says Capt. Gonzalez. So stash your vaporizer for a between-set puff well outside the gates.


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Opioid Litigation
Pharmaceutical companies promoted opioids as safe, effective, and appropriate treatments for long-term, routine pain management. Our clients allege these companies misrepresented the risk of addiction as modest, manageable, and outweighed by the benefits of opioid use. As a result, opioid use skyrocketed.
According to the CDC, opioid prescriptions in the United States tripled from 1999 to 2015. On average, more than 650,000 opioid prescriptions were dispensed in the U.S. per day in 2015. Minnesota has not escaped the trend. Opioid-related overdoses are the leading cause of drug-related deaths in Minnesota, with prescription opioids contributing to more deaths than heroin.
Our clients have asserted numerous claims against pharmaceutical company defendants, including statutory claims relating to false claims and false advertising, and common law claims for fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, negligent failure to warn, negligence, gross negligence, public nuisance, and unjust enrichment. Our clients also seek punitive damages and injunctive relief in order to prevent this crisis from continuing.
Since December 2017, around 900 similar such cases have been transferred into a centralized multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of Ohio. This litigation has been described as the most daunting legal challenge in the country. Three bell weather cases are set for trial in October 2019, while five other cases have been set for motion to dismiss hearings in the upcoming months. All other cases are currently stayed pending the outcomes of the first cases.
Briol & Benson's co-counsel in the representation of these nine Minnesota counties is one of the top class-action firms in the country, Motley Rice in Washington, D.C.


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We are finishing our basement in our log home. We have all the logs exposed in the upper floor, so have not had to paint any sheet rock until now. I had picked out "leather brown" paint for one side of the room. There is a stone fireplace on a wall that is being covered in wood planks.
My question is this, what color should I stain the exposed log poles (2), the wood wall, as well as the baseboards, etc.? Should I go with natural on the logs and wood wall? Then is it OK to paint the baseboards and other trim a white?
By TinTopeka from Topeka, KS
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
I'm from Emporia KS now living in WI. We built a home 6 yrs ago and all my trim is painted white. It's gorgeous.
However, I would leave your logs and wallboards natural color because as taste and trends change, it's much harder to change paint on a log than other aspects. Pick a color palate you love and use the colors in rugs, pillows, throws, furniture covers, wall hangings, lamp shades, etc. Let the logs be your picture or art wall.
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!


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This is an archived version of a Field of Schemes article. Comments on this page are closed. To find the current version of the article with updated comments, click here.
November 09, 2010
WSJ: "End of an era" for stadium building
The Wall Street Journal ran a piece over the weekend looking at the state of stadium financing, and concluding that:
- "From New York to Florida to Arizona, some taxpayers are opposing agreements to fund baseball projects after a decadeslong boom in publicly financed ballparks."
- This can be seen in Mesa, Arizona, where, although a new spring training for the Chicago Cubs was voted in last week, "nearly 40% of voters objected to building the park by selling city-owned farmland and raising hotel taxes."
- "Even as some baseball projects go forward, often after delays and on smaller scales, the push back marks the end of an era."
Not to take anything away from stadium opponents in Mesa, but: This is supposed to be a sign of a trend? Stadium votes winning by slim margins have a long and storied history (as do stadium votes losing, but the stadium getting built anyhow) — it's the stadium referendum that wins by a landslide that's the oddity. And stadiums facing "delays" are nothing new either, as witness the decade-long sagas around new stadiums for the Minnesota Twins and Florida Marlins that began in the mid-1990s.
Certainly, the horrible economy (and in particular its effects on state budgets) is hurting attempts to get sports facilities built, but stadium campaigns have hardly ground to a halt. As someone who speculated in 2003 about the tide beginning to turn against stadium deals — something I credited, in part, to local governments then mired in red ink — I know better than anyone that you can't stop the push for publicly subsidized stadiums, you can only hope to contain it.
I have little doubt that the small deals will continue to get through like the one for the Scranton-Yankees, and the Husky Stadium renovation, but the ones for $500m and up will go down in flames. The problem with this is, that their are teams that badly need new or upgraded facilities (Such as the A's), and they will be at a major disadvantage now and in the future.Posted by David Brown on November 9, 2010 08:01 PM
That could be, David.
Or it could be that the cities/states that have funded this type of largesse to private sports businesses will be so crushed by the debt they have taken on to do so that taxes will have to be raised significantly, eliminating the disposable income that the average/wealthy fan would have committed to purchasing tickets in these new palaces.
In the end, the 'game day revenue gap' in most markets only exists because there are fans with enough disposable cash to support the higher prices that new facilities command. When fans are no longer willing or able to do that, a new stadium will not necessarily be an advantage.Posted by John Bladen on November 11, 2010 04:31 PM


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Bruce Emmett
The Great Dictator (Original)
Tax included.
Official limited edition fine art print for Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" (1940) by Bruce Emmett.
Words from the artist
"The film is a gem and certainly is still relevant. In my opinion, the globe sequence is the core of the film."
-Bruce Emmett
|Printing Method
Hand numbered
300gsm smooth cotton paper
|Edition Size
45 pieces
|16 x 24 inches
|White Duck Editions
Officially licensed.
Charlie Chaplin ™ ©
Bubbles Incorporated SA 2018
| Copyright © Roy Export S.A.S.
|Shipping time
|48 business hours
We are happy to offer a hassle-free returns policy that lasts 30 days from the date of when you receive the product. To be eligible for a return, your item must be unused and in the same condition that you received it.
Only regular priced items may be refunded. Unfortunately, sale items cannot be refunded.
For our full refund policy, please go here.
We take pride in the quality of our products and we strive to make sure you love your art print as much as we do.
All our prints are produced on museum quality paper using archival pigments.
Each screenprint will slightly vary from one another as these prints are created manually.
All digital (Giclée) prints are printed on high quality paper that gives exceptional color saturation, pH neutrality and are of archival quality.


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JOHANNESBURG: THE Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) has called on the government to close down fake nursing colleges flourishing across the country.
DENOSA President, Simon Hlungwani, made the call at this at the just ended National Congress at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg.
Although DENOSA admitted that there was serious shortage of nurses in the country, it called on South African Nursing Council (SANC), as a regulatory body for nursing and an accreditation institution, to close down the "bogus" nursing colleges.
Hlungwani said the "bogus" colleges were negatively affecting the nursing profession, arguing that such mushrooming nursing colleges always produced "graduates" that were not "registerable" with the SANC.
Hlungwani, however, called on shortage of nurse educators and staff in the hospitals to be addressed with immediate effect saying the move was adversely affecting the nursing education and health services in the country.
"We are not prepared to tolerate the dysfunctional health services due to chronic shortage of staff and unfavourable working environment, " Hlungwani said.
Meanwhile, DENOSA said they were in support of Congress of South African Trade Unions' campaign in total ban of E-Tolls.
"The e-tolls would make Gauteng residents poorer, " said Hlungwani.
DENOSA also called for NUMSA to be reinstated back to COSATU saying the move would help leaders plan effectively to reach the 4 million membership target before the end of 2015.


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G'mar Chasima Tova
- Sep
- 12
Click on this link for the Yom Kippur edition of the Oneg Shabbos.
The Kollel is finishing its Yomim Noraim campaign. If you have not participated and wish to add the zechus of the Kollel's Torah Study and Dissemination to your account for Yom Kippur please donate here.
Thank you and Tizku L'Mitzvos


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- By LabelValue Team
- Oct 13, 2017
4 Best Shrink Sleeve Can Designs this month
We've recently expanded our product offering to include shrink sleeves and specifically shrink sleeves for cans.
Shrink sleeves for cans offer the ultimate flexibility when it comes to cost and design options. With low minimum quantities for our shrink sleeves, breweries and other types of companies can create unique, short-run varieties of their products affordably. Shrink Sleeves for cans also allow companies to design 360-degree packaging, maximizing the product advertising space. With no limit to the number of colors and with a variety of finishes available, like cold-foils, designers can create truly stunning packages that jump off store shelves.
Here's a roundup of our 4 favorite shrink sleeve designs we produced this month. With these projects, you can get inspiration for your next shrink sleeve label and learn more about how the shrink sleeve labeling process will work for your cans and products.
1. Rising Hope IPA by Cigar City Brewing & Brew Bus Brewing
A collaboration brew with all proceeds benefiting the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
This project was amazing to work on. Not only were the collaborative brew's proceeds dedicated to an incredible cause, pediatric cancer research, but we were also able to put together some unique solutions to get the design to look the way the teams at Brew Bus, Cigar City and PP+K advertising wanted it to look.
The 12 ounce can's shrink sleeve design featured the Rising Hope logo, which was the name of the campaign surrounding this special release IPA, to raise money and awareness for the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Surrounding the logo was a stylized word-art set of sun rays, created from the words "Persevere. Battle. Courageous." and "Fearless. Gutsy. Determined". Splaying outward from the center was more word-art featuring facts about pediatric cancer, designed to raise awareness to the overwhelming challenges that those with childhood cancer face and the staggering statistics on funding for pediatric cancer.
The design team wanted the can's logo to really stand out and draw people in so that they would then see the rest of the information on the can. The ultimate goal for the product's packaging was to raise awareness about the current state of pediatric cancer and research in the US.
To accomplish this cost-effectively, we were able to apply an opacity to the Rising Hope logo, allowing the metallic features of the aluminum can to show through. The end result was a bright, shimmery gold appearing logo that really stands out when the light bounces off of it.
We were truly honored to be able to work on this can and help this project be a success.
2. Pig Jig Lager by Florida Avenue Brewing Company
Next up is Pig Jig Lager by Florida Avenue Brewing Company. This 12 ounce shrink sleeve can was produced for Florida Avenue Brewing Company's specialty Pig Jig lager, created for release at the Tampa Pig Jig annual fundraiser. The Tampa Pig Jig is described on the Pig Jig website as follows:
The Tampa Pig Jig is an annual fundraiser event hosted on downtown Tampa's beautiful waterfront featuring live music, great food, a BBQ competition, drinks and games. The event benefits the NephCure Kidney International, the only non-profit organization committed to supporting research, improving treatment and finding a cure for the debilitating kidney disease, FSGS (Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis) and Nephrotic Syndrome. Over the past 6 years, the Tampa Pig Jig has raised over $2,000,000 with all proceeds benefiting NephCure.
The can's design is really fun, with hidden pigs throughout the design and the challenge, "How many pigs can you find?"
Again, we were honored to be able to produce some spectacular artwork for a fundraiser event. The flat white color of the can came out really beautifully as well, making this one of our favorite shrink sleeve can designs.
3. Gourds Gone Wild by Tampa Bay Brewing Company
Gourds Gone Wild Pumpkin Ale, by Tampa Bay Brewing Company, was another fantastic beer can shrink sleeve design we got to work on in September. With fall descending upon us (though don't tell us fall is here, it's still 90 degrees + in Tampa Bay!), a bevy of fall-themed brews are hitting the store shelves everywhere. One of our favorites is this delicious pumpkin ale from TBBC.
This shrink sleeve was for a 16oz can and presented some unusual challenges. From a previous order of a beer that TBBC has since discontinued, the brewing company had thousands of unused, pre-printed cans. In order to cover the massive hit in unused inventory, LabelValue came up with a solution to covering these pre-printed cans without any of the old artwork showing through.
Through the use of a cold-foil backing, we were able to print the artwork and solidly blot out the design that exists underneath.
Between that use of creativity and the wild Jack-o-Lantern style used in the art, this was definitely one of our favorites to work on.
4. Raspberry Berliner Weisse by Florida Avenue Brewing Company
This next offering from Florida Avenue Brewing Company was visually extremely different from what you typically see in the beer section of your local supermarket. And trust us, being different is a good thing here.
This berliner weisse, featuring raspberry flavor, needed a can design that reflected the fruit-based refreshing nature of this beer. Consider the design mission-accomplished.
The inviting teal, pink and burgundy color scheme, coupled with the stylized raspberries floating in the sky represent this beer well. We loved how well the colors came across on these 12 ounce can shrink sleeves printed on our Indigo 6800 digital series press. The shrink sleeve labels were truly stunning!
Need Shrink Sleeves for Cans for your Business?
Like what you see? LabelValue can print shrink sleeve labels for your 12 ounce or 16 ounce cans or any other product you have that.


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Trend Alert: The Farm-To-Table Restaurant Movement Is On The Rise!
What if you could walk into a restaurant and witness the produce you would soon be enjoying growing right outside? The farm-to-table approach to dining once seemed like a farfetched idea, but is now being utilized in restaurants across the nation. Tower Garden by Juice Plus+ has been at the forefront of this innovative concept, providing restaurants with a compact, easy to use growing system that allows you to grow produce in even the most limiting environments. Restaurants are now able to boast that their produce is not only fresh, but was harvested just steps from their customer's tables. This growing trend in urban gardening is revolutionizing the way we think of "fresh produce."
Restaurant owners aren't the only people that understand the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables and how they can significantly improve a dish's health benefits and taste. Families are beginning to take advantage of the growing farm to table trend, as well. According to a recent New York Times article, New York residents are taking their small urban spaces and maximizing their growing potential. Ruth Harrigan, a mother of four and resident of Queens, explains that "even a small little patch, is more than enough for a family of six," when referring to the limited green space her family uses to harvest large quantities of homegrown produce.
It is proof that families are becoming increasingly willing to get creative with their growing techniques, in fact, over "5,000 New Yorkers attended educational workshops led by the New York City Compost Project last year" alone. Families like this confirm the overall positive sentiment for the growing move towards locally grown food, despite limiting outdoor environments.
Last week, Tower Garden was able to highlight a real-life success story at one of its installations at the Gallow Green Rooftop Bar perched above the McKittrick Hotel in Manhattan. The Tower Garden team transformed a traditional New York rooftop into an exclusive, behind-the-scenes secret garden, allowing native New Yorkers to experience urban gardening first hand. Guests mingled as Gallow Green Chef R.L. King prepared several delicious dishes directly from fresh produce harvested in-person by the restaurant's farmers. Additionally, a mixologist created concoctions from handpicked herbs and tomatoes off the Towers. It was a creative way to showcase the harvesting power behind Tower Gardens as well as further emphasize how to maximize growing space in an urban setting.
Attendees were amazed by the Tower Garden's growing power, noting that they were unaware of how many different types of fruits and vegetables it could grow. The feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive and allowed Tower Garden to showcase the benefits of urban gardening to an eager audience, hopefully inspiring some future growers – or at least, future farm-to-table fans.
Are you on-board with the farm-to-table trend? Do you incorporate unique growing techniques at home? If so, share your gardening techniques in the comment section below!
Leave a comment
Want to leave a comment? We'd love to hear it. Please note that all comments are moderated. Anything resembling spam will be deleted. Try to make this a meaningful conversation for all involved.


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text: Here's a special set of Rotomatic® full-size tuning machines with a touch of jazz-age style. For 3-left/3-right pegheads. They feature removable art deco metal knobs with adjustable tension, cast gear housings and lifetime sealed lubrication. 14:1 gear ratio. Set of 6, for 3-left/3-right pegheads only. Mounting screws and threaded hex peghead bushings with washers are included.10mm (13/32") diameter pegholes required. Installation Tips Mounting screws: Pilot holes required. Installing delicate screws into hard wood requires great care and accuracy. We highly recommend the #1711 Depth-stop Drill Bit (No.50 bit) for the pilot hole before installing these screws. Lubricate the screw threads with cutting lubricant (also wax or a bar of soap) to reduce friction and help them thread properly. CALIFORNIA PROPOSITION 65 WARNING WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.


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Safe Public WiFi
Excite-ed supports the Friendly WiFi accreditation scheme. Look out for the symbol in public places, it shows their internet is safe to use.
How family friendly is public WiFi?
23 June, 2016
Public WiFi is great; it makes it easy to stay connected, but how do we know it is safe for young people when they go online? One way you can check is to look out for the Friendly WiFi symbol in public places like cafes, restaurants and leisure venues.
Friendly WiFi requires public WiFi providers to automatically filter inappropriate content such as indecent images of children and pornography. Excite-ed wholeheartedly supports this important internet safety accreditation scheme, and is calling for more venues to get accredited.
Friendly WiFi accreditation scheme launched in 2014, and was created by The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), and initiated by Government and WiFi providers. Find out more about Friendly WiFi and how to get accredited on their website.


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Torres Hall:
Tech's newest student residence features fully-furnished double bedrooms with multiple community bathrooms on each floor. Most areas are same gender by wing. One gender-neutral floor is also available with limited single bedrooms. The average bedroom size is 16' by 11' 8". Each bedroom has two Ethernet Ports. A large community room and small computer room is available on the 1st Floor for residents and special events. DirectTV-broadcast television is available on the 1st, 2nd & 3rd Floor lounges. Study lounges are also available on every floor. A laundry room is available on the 1st Floor. This hall hosts Living Learning Community students on the 1st Floor. Maximum capacity for this building is 145 residents.
|Room Type
|2019-2020 Rate Per Semester
|Two Person
|Designated Single
|One Person


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In certain situations using a phone can be considered impolite, whether you're in a business meeting or out to dinner with friends. The makers of NailO want to change that by creating a tiny sensor that sticks to your nail.
The team includes Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao and Artem Dementyev both graduates of MIT and authors of the paper that describes the sensor, and their advisors Chris Schmandt and Joe Paradiso, MIT associate professor of media arts and sciences.
Brought to you out of MIT Media Labs, NailO Fingernail Sensor is a nail-mounted gestural input sensor that let's you send emails, texts, or phone calls with a tap or swipe of your fingernail. The sensor was inspired by decorative nail stickers, and includes tiny hardware that uses Bluetooth to transmit information to a smartphone or PC.
NailO Fingernail Sensor is made up of a battery, a microcontroller, Bluetooth radio chip, and a capacitative sensor, and the device itself can be decorated with nail art, so it won't be too intrusive. The team imagines a future version of NailO with a detachable surface membrane so wearers can switch them to match their outfits, right at the intersection of technology and fashion.
Kao explains, "It's very unobtrusive. When I put this on, it becomes part of my body." The team hopes to present their concept at CHI 2015, a conference on human-computer interaction in Seoul, South Korea. The paper has already earned a "Best of CHI" honorable mention.
So far the NailO Fingernail Sensor concept comes with five gestures which can be detected in real time with 92% accuracy. They want to implement a two-second activation press before other gestures can be made, to avoid accidental gestures. Users will also be able to create their own gestures, for example swiping right to call dad.
They've already met with Chinese battery manufacturers and hope to have a battery that fits on a fingernail but only a half millimeter thick. Says Dementyev, "The hardest part was probably the antenna design. You have to put the antenna far enough away from the chips so that it doesn't interfere with them." So far the time frame for the NailO Fingernail Sensor is about three years to a commercial release.


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Letter: More benches needed for bus stops
Last Saturday, I counted 2,000 places to sit down on in Stratford's parks around the lake area! I counted the iron and wood benches as providing seating for three people. Picnic tables counted for six. I didn't count the seating of the sports stand. What can one say to the parks board for those picnic tables and all those generous people who donated the iron benches? I say "Well done!"
The above sure contrasts with the lack of seating provided for most of Stratford citizens waiting at bus stops. How often have activists and politicians stated that we need to reduce our car usage and get people to use the bus?
How can anyone expect people to choose standing in the sweltering summer weather or shivering in the arctic winter winds over riding in a comfortable car? It is simple. If you want more bus users, then more shelters and benches must be provided. These shelter and benches need to be big enough to include bus riders' children and packages.
Thank you,
Beverly Nye


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This Friday, Reggae fans near and far are invited to celebrate Gavinchi Brown's album release party at Casanova in Makawao. The Jamaican singer has shared the stage with music legends like The Beatles, Barrington Levy, Willie Nelson, Toots Hibbert and Katchafire. Adding to the evening's festivities will be DJ Irie Dole, Teomon and special guests. $15. 9:45pm. Casanova (1188 Makawao Ave.), Casanovamaui.com
-Marina Satoafaiga (@sandtothecity)
Photo courtesy Gavinchi Brown


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The Rays start the day four behind the Minnesota Twins — who they'll face next week — for the last playoff spot with 27 games left to play, and five behind the scuffling New York Yankees for the top Wildcard spot. The Angels and Orioles are ahead of Tampa Bay as well.
The rosters expanded today, and the Rays announced welcomed the addition of three players: Curt Casali — who gives Tampa Bay a third catcher, LHP Adam Kolarek, and RHP Ryne Stanek, giving Tampa Bay nine available relievers. More reinforcements are expected throughout the month.
The New What Next
Blake Snell (2-6, 4.29 ERA, 4.44 FIP) will get the start tonight for the Rays, pitching opposite of Reynaldo Lopez (0-1, 6.97 ERA, 6.61 FIP).
Snell is coming off one of his best outings of the season, as he allowed just two runs on four hits over seven innings. He struck out seven. The southpaw has thrown six or more innings in four consecutive starts, and though his season numbers are still unsightly, Snell appears to have figured some things out in the second half, performing to a 3.66 ERA/3.69 FIP.
Lopez had been on the disabled list with a back strain since mid-August. Prior to the injury, Lopez made two starts but allowed eight runs on nine hits over 10-1/3 innings. The 23 year-old right-hander — who this season has relied upon a 95mph four-seam fastball with natural sinking action, and a whiffy 85mph changeup, while also mixing in an 81mph 12-6 curveball with little depth — has never faced the Rays.
You can read more about the series in our preview.
Rays 8/1/17 Starting Lineup
Kiermaier CF
Duda DH
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Souza Jr. RF
Dickerson LF
Ramos C
Miller 2B
Hechavarria SS
Snell LHP
— Jonny Venters was promoted today from Double-A Montgomery to Triple-A Durham.
— MLB announced the discipline on former C Derek Norris, who has been suspended for the rest of the season for violating the leagues domestic violence policy. Norris hasn't played since his DFA in early July. Norris forfeited the final $100-Thousand of his termination pay, which the Rays will donate to charities involved with domestic violence and abuse.


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The 7 is the phone design and developed by OnePlus. The phone comes with many features which are listed below, In this brief review we will guide your through OnePlus 7 128GB Specifications, Price and Review so you can choose your next phone wisely.
The phone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon SDM 855 chipset paired with 6GB
8GB of RAM and the phone comes different storage variants you can choose according to your storage needs. The 7 has a build in 3700mAh Battery that is Non-removable Battery that will give you up to talk time depending upon the usage for sure.
The phone comes with a dimension of 157.7×74.8×8.2mm (6.21×2.94×0.32″) packed in a body of weight 180gr (6.35oz)
182gr (6.42oz) in a Candy Bar design which gives a tuff and rigid body without compromising the sleek and beauty of the phone .
The 7 comes with a Android OS, v9.0 packed in a Qualcomm Snapdragon SDM 855 chip for better performance, the phone also supports the 2.84GHz Qualcomm Kryo 485 & 3 Cores @ 2.42GHz Qualcomm Kryo 485 & 4 Cores @ 1.8GHz Qualcomm Kryo 485 that will enhance your phone's productivity.
The first thing you'll notice about the new 7 has a 6.41″ inches screen with a display resolution of 1080x2340px is, quite simply, the best thing Apple has ever crammed into an iPhone screen.
The display of 7 has a pixel density of 16M Optic AMOLED and 69x148mm (2.72×5.83″) ~402PPI which is very fluid and responsive to normal interaction usage, the sharpness, quality, the fact that it fills the whole front of the phone, and the colour reproduction is impressive.
OnePlus did something fantastic work, especially in normally light scenes. The 48 + 5 Megapixel Camera resolution is impressive for perfect daily snaps, the phone images taken by 7 at night using night mode are impressive and better ever with night mode with Flash Light. The phone have a 16 Megapixel front camera combined with build in AI gives perfect beautiful and more clear selfies.
The 7 received positive reviews. Its display and build quality were universally praised, and the camera also scored positively on tests.


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When planning a vacation trip to Illinois, many people immediately build their itinerary around Chicago. However, as any Illinoisan will tell visitors, there are interesting things to see and do throughout the Prairie State. For example, vacationers looking for an alternative to Chicago should check out the many attractions available in DuPage County, Rockford and Springfield.
DuPage County
Located 20 miles west of Chicago, DuPage County offers many attractions for vacationers. Elmhurst, on the county's eastern side, is home to the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art where visitors can learn about the art of stone cutting and view one of the world's largest collections of carved Oriental jade. The museum also contains Florentine mosaics from Italy, detailed stone dioramas and replicas of the world's most famous diamonds. Farther west, Wheaton's attractions include Cantigny Park, the 500-acre former estate of Chicago Tribune publishers Joseph Medill and Robert R. McCormick. It is known for its 27-hole golf course, its beautiful gardens and the interactive First Division Museum which enables visitors to walk through realistic scenes of World Wars I and II. DuPage County is also known for the Morton Arboretum,1,700-acre outdoor garden established in 1922 by Joy Morton, owner of the Morton Salt Company. The arboretum is a popular place to hike, bike or cross country ski in the winter. The interactive Children's Garden gives kids an opportunity to catch tadpoles, play in bubbling fountains, float cork boats on bubbling streams, slide down giant tree roots and climb rope ladders to tree-top playhouses. The City of Naperville also offers a variety of attractions. The DuPage Children's Museum, which was recognized by Fodor's in its book "Around Chicago With Kids," keeps children busy with three floors of interactive math and science exhibits. Naper Settlement gives visitors an opportunity to travel back in time and see everyday life in a 19th century Midwestern village.
Rockford, in northwestern Illinois, is the state's third largest city. It provides a diverse mix of activities. Child Magazine recognized its Discovery Center Museum as the fourth best children's museum in the nation in 2002. The Burpee Museum of Natural History has an award winning exhibit on dinosaurs. Midway Museum has notable exhibits on the Rockford Peaches Girls Baseball Team, which was the inspiration for Tom Hanks' Movie "A League of Their Own." The museum also has an exhibit about Rockford's influence in aviation history and displays explaining why Rockford is known as the "Home of the Sock Monkey." Another section of the museum campus includes a life-sized Victorian village. Rockford, which has won awards in the America in Bloom competition, is becoming known for its many beautiful gardens including the Anderson Japanese Gardens, the riverfront Sinnissippi Gardens and the Klehm Arboretum.
Springfield is best known for its association with one of the United States' most influential presidents, Abraham Lincoln. Visitors can see Lincoln's first law office, walk the halls he walked in the Old State Capitol and experience his family life in the home where he lived for 17 years until becoming president. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, which opened in 2005, includes life-size dioramas depicting various times in Lincoln's life. The Gallery includes irreplaceable memorabilia such as the journal he used to teach himself math and his stovepipe hat. Children will enjoy Mrs. Lincoln's Attic, an interactive play area where they can try on Lincoln's suit or play with a doll house designed like Lincoln's Home.
Leaf Group is a USA TODAY content partner providing general travel information. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
Photo Credits
- illinois outline image by Kim Jones from Fotolia.com
- Attribution: IvoShandor; License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license
- Attribution: Unknown; License: public domain
- Attribution: IvoShandor; License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license
- Attribution: Bryan Lee; License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
- Attribution: Alexbaumgarner; License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license