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Opinion: Maternity leave in lockdown was no picnic, so please don't forget new parents
New mother Patrice Hosford is asking the government to improve the leave entitlements currently available to new parents.
Column: 'We're worried our son will become an orphan due to our lack of rights'
LGBT couple, Gabriela and Kelly Socol, are fighting for parental rights and equality for their family.
'What we have in Ireland is not equal': Same-sex parents call for more legal rights to their children
The protest was held this afternoon outside the Department of Health building in Dublin.
Column: Top tips for parents to avoid a holiday from hell this summer
They may be the apple of your eye but a break from the little darlings might just be the best part of your holiday, writes Shane Dunphy.
Opinion: Claims culture is out of control - as play centres close due to being sued for kids falling
Kids fall, that is what they do, it can happen anywhere. If they fall at Granny's – do we sue the pants off Granny?
Opinion: How to deal with your child's fear of the monsters under the bed
Philippa Perry writes about how not to shut children down, which might only encourage them not to talk to you about big and small things.
Opinion: You might need to simplify your child's lunch so they actually eat it
A white bread sandwich in the belly is better than a vegan curry in the bin, writes Mary McCarthy.
'Helicopter parents: If you let your child fall down they might just learn to get back up again'
21st-century parenting is the reason that many young people today have remarkably poor coping skills, writes Shane Dunphy.
Opinion: If you are planning on passing off your unwanted junk food as presents - stop!
With the majority of Irish adults overweight and children's tooth decay on the rise, its time to think about the real cost giving sugary gifts, writes Mary McCarthy.
Cry for help as new group says services for children of alcoholics are 'non-existent'
Children experiencing a parent's misuse of alcohol can often be dismissed as acting out.
Same-sex couples will be able to use 'parent' on birth certificates under new law
The changes will resolve a number of difficulties in the registration of donor assisted births.
Opinion: Top five parenting tips to surviving Christmas
Striving for a picture perfect Christmas will bring certain disappointment, as a parent aiming for survival is much more realistic, writes Shane Dunphy.
Too loud, too bright, too fast, too tight: Christmas can be a nightmare of anxiety for children with autism
The wish for all families is that they have their perfect Christmas but that may mean adjusting expectations to find what works in a family with autism, writes Tara Matthews.
Expert tips for parents who discover that their teenager drinks alcohol
Teenagers will always push the boundaries, here is what you should do if you find out your teen is drinking over the holiday period, writes Dr Gerry McCarney.
Opinion: The Supermum myth needs to be exposed
I can't and won't hide the fact that I find being Mum really tough, writes Geraldine Walsh
Robot babysitters and poop-predicting nappies: Here's the future of being a good parent
Sadly you'll still have to do the actual nappy-changing yourself.
'When a sick baby with partial facial paralysis smiles, it's golden. Especially if it's my baby'
Actor Rob Delaney has written a powerful essay about the death of his two-year-old son.
'I won't ever be able to understand exactly how the HPV vaccine works. So as a parent I have to trust the experts'
The desire to protect and care for your child is indescribable, writes Eric Nolan. And that means doing your best to keep them safe.
People are describing parenting in 5 words or less, and it's as accurate as it gets
'I just sat in pee.'
Aptamil says there are 'no safety issues' with milk formula after claims it made babies sick
French food group Danone, who manufacture the product, launched an investigation this month following hundreds of complaints from parents.
When the baby blues don't go away: How I recognised the signs of post-natal depression
Sheena McGinley on the overwhelming experience of new parenthood – and the moment she realised that she needed help.
'It's physically and mentally exhausting. I can't be off guard': The life of a single parent carer
Next week is National Carers Week, highlighting the experiences of thousands of family carers across Ireland that look their loved ones.
Column: 'Don't judge a commuting parent. Smile at that noisy toddler'
I sound begrudging but the harsh looks and disapproving glances made me angry, writes Geraldine Walsh.
'I dread registering my child because I can't put his other parent on the birth certificate'
It breaks my heart that a member of our little family is being left out of the first document our son has to declare his status as an Irish citizen, writes Sarah Stone McDevitt.
'People don't realise how dangerous it is for kids': Students develop alarm to stop hot car deaths
It alerts a child's parents if they are left in a car.
Danish mother says she's still stung by 1997 arrest for leaving baby outside New York restaurant
The incident sparked an international debate about parenting styles.
8 modern parenting worries my own mum never had to deal with
My parents didn't care about superfoods or screen time, writes Chrissie Russell.
Don't make children hug relatives, US Girl Scouts warns parents ahead of Thanksgiving
"We know that some adults prey on children, and teaching your daughter about consent early on can help her understand her rights."
I'm having a second child. What's the best way to tell my first?
Chrissie Russell has a baby on the way and a curious three-year-old. So she asked for some expert advice.
The average age for a mother to give birth in Ireland is 32.5 years old
The number of teenage mothers has fallen by 50% between 2005 and 2015.
Opinion: 'An active child does not necessarily mean a fit child'
Unhealthy children are one of the biggest risks to a nation's health, writes Professor Craig Williams.
10 devastatingly effective white lies I've used on my kids
Well, MOSTLY devastatingly effective.
Chrissy Teigen asked mams to share the meanest thing their kid has ever said
The results were fantastic.
Poll: Would you be a stay-at-home parent if money was no object?
If money were no issue, would you prefer to spend all your time with your child?
This is why I'm against... homework
We are all busier these days. Quality time is at a premium. Let's get rid of the homework and build in more family activity time, writes Eric Nolan.
5 never-ending arguments every couple with kids has had
There's no winner in the endless 'who is more tired' row, laments Ciara McDonnell.
Good news for families: Over 5,000 extra childcare places to be created
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he hopes to expand the subsidy scheme to more families in the future.
The minefield of free childcare: The Grandparents Creche is great, but how do you pay the bill?
Family childcare comes at a price that can be difficult to define, writes Chrissie Russell.
Five times more children sign up to childcare schemes aimed at less well-off families
The highest sign-up rate for childcare services was in Roscommon, Donegal, Sligo, Kerry, Galway, Carlow and Leitrim.
Here's why I refuse to lie about parenting (even on Instagram)
I *could* pretend that my family life is perfect and put it on social media, writes Ciara McDonnell. But I'd be lying.


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How To Transform Your Partner
Nick grabbed for some ice cubes from the freezer and brought them to his forehead, hoping to alleviate his crippling hangover. He could feel the pulse of his throbbing headache moving through the ice he held tight against his skin. It melted quickly. The cool water ran down and around his eyebrows, falling off his face and quietly dripping onto the tile floor below.
He sighed to himself, "Why does this always happen to me?"
Opening the refrigerator door, he quietly replied to himself in a knowing voice, "Because Nick. You're lonely."
He reached in and grabbed for a quart of orange juice, hoping the sweet and tangy drink could alleviate both the dry acrid taste in his mouth and the swelling of unpleasant thoughts in his mind.
It felt light, empty.
"Fuck." Without thought, Nick tossed the paper carton across the kitchen, watching it collide against the mahogany cabinet opposite him. Several rivulets of orange liquid ran down the wooden surface, emerging from small cracks where the paper container had been compromised.
He groaned in defeat, "It's not even all the way empty."
Reluctantly, he grabbed a nearby roll of paper towels and walked over to the mess. As he squatted down a knock on the door echoed out from the entry way.
In a puzzled tone, Nick whispered, "What? Who knocks on peoples doors anymore."
Stopping what he was doing, he got up and jogged into his living room, his wake tossing a small stack of lingerie advertisements and bikini pamphlets onto the ground.
He passed a decorative couch on his way to the front door, rubbing his fingertips along the length of its smooth leather surface.
His heart rate quickened as he peered through the heavy oak door's peephole; on the other side stood an incredibly attractive woman in somewhat revealing business attire. She must of heard him approach, because immediately her light brown eyes focused in on the peephole and she smiled.
Nick hastily un-did the dead-bolt and pulled the door open, facing the beauty in front of him.
She continued smiling, the mid-morning sun glimmering through the small gaps in her shoulder length dirty-blonde hair.
Nick continued staring, solely focusing in on her elegant face, his expansive front yard reduced to a hazy blur at the sides of his vision.
He watched her glossy red lips open, delicately guiding her sultry smooth voice as it exited her mouth, "Nick?"
The words blew past him as his focused gaze found its way down to the woman's generous bosom. The brown leather strap of her over-sized handbag elegantly weaved through her exposed bubbly cleavage; the tops of her buoyant D-Cup sized breasts erupting from the low cut neck of her skimpy white blouse.
"Nicholas Moore?"
Being referred to as 'Nicholas' caught him off guard.
"Please, it's just Nick. Nick Moore."
He straightened his gaze upwards, meeting her amber eyes, suddenly conscious of how lewd his ogling must appear. Her face was striking; it was classically attractive. Her blemishless even-tanned skin was pulled taut over her pronounced cheekbones, neatly framing a slender nose. Her glossy pink lips were perfectly puffy and her brown eyebrows dark and distinct.
"Hi Nick, I'm Sierra." She extended her hand towards him. He reciprocated the gesture, shaking her hand, momentarily savoring the delicate softness of her fingers and palm.
He answered nervously, "Hi Sierra, I'm.....Nick! But.....you know that already." Their handshake ended and he pulled his hand back, awkwardly clapping it against the opposite, "So...uh...how can I help you Sierra?"
Sierra beamed a smile, almost shaking with excitement, "I'm here for you!"
In the bottom of his periphery Nick noticed the tops of her beasts jiggling, so with stoic determination he pulled his eyes down to the ground. He immediately took note of her nicely toned calves which ended in a simple pair of shiny black office pumps. His eyes slowly drifted upwards, observing how her athletic thighs disappeared up and into a pleated high-cut skirt that elegantly matched her footwear.
Grinning with equal parts curiosity and excitement, he chuckled, "Okay...Here for me...how?"
Sierra ceased her enthusiastic quivering. Her smile closed, flipping into a confused frown, "You ordered me! I'm Sierra, my current appearance is exactly tuned to your physical preferences. My personality is specifically adapted to please you!"
Nick's jaw dropped so far it hurt, "I ordered you?" His voice began to rise with anger, thinking this was just some hooker trying to play coy and come after his fortune. "When did I order you?! What did I even order!? What are you, some kind of call-girl or something!!" His voice echoed through his yard, carrying over the fence nearly a quarter mile away.
Sierra cocked her head at Nick, her pretty face quickly taking on a puzzled expression, "I'll try to answer you in the order you asked, Nick...Yes, you ordered me. You ordered me this morning at 2:22 AM. I'm not a call-girl or something; I'm a FORMARE Companion Bot, Serial Number SJ-090245-12." She flashed him the trademarked FORMARE flirty grin and ran her hands down her svelte body, showing off her supple curves, "Do you remember now?"
Nick looked at Sierra in complete bewilderment, his mouth agape. He was too astonished and suspicious to make a judgement call right now. Hell, he was too flabbergasted to even attempt a response.
He coughed out, "You're...you're...you're a robot? But you seem so real."
"Yep! In the flesh!" Sierra put emphasis on the word 'flesh' and sensing Nick's difficulty at grasping the reality of his current situation, decided to step in to move the process along, "Do you have an iComm or anything on you?"
Nick nodded.
Sweetly, Sierra replied, "Well can I see it? I can show you what I'm talking about. It might jog your memory."
Nick slowly grabbed his iComm out of his pocket and hesitatingly, handed it towards Sierra who eagerly accepted it.
Her fingers moved quickly and precisely, tapping at the holographic projections produced by the sleek little communications device. After several seconds, that for Nick seemed to stretch on for an eternity, Sierra deftly twisted and flicked an expanding holographic readout for him to read. He was easily able to see the characters on the vibrant display and began parsing through the information presented before him. His eyes moved left to right and then down before repeating the motion over and over again. For how far technology had come, the act of reading itself had remained completely unchanged.
He gasped when he finally reached the monetary total of what he had come to realize was a purchase order between himself and FORMARE ROBOTICS.
User-Chosen Starting Model Appearance:........Late 2010's Sierra Skye
User-Chosen Starting Model Wardrobe:..........Business Unprofessional
User-Chosen Starting Personality Traits:......Affable/Compassionate/Confident
FORMARE Companion Bot, Serial Number SJ-090245-12...........$239,000.00
Adaptive Electro-Charged Macro-Composite Artificial Dermis.....INCLUDED
Extended Duration Graphene Batteries.........................$12,500.00
Six Month Supply - Emulation Fluid............................$1,199.00
Maintenance Kit...............................................$1,199.00
Charging Kit...................................................INCLUDED
Macro-Composite Revitalizer....................................INCLUDED
Full Repair Warranty - 1 Year from Purchase..................$15,000.00
Discount - Local Resident Instantaneous Delivery............-$20,000.00
Extended Total..............................................$248,898.00
Payment Verification System: iComm Gold
iComm Gold Account: Nicholas Moore
Payment Accepted/Processed through iComm Secure Account xxx-xxx-xxx-T67
Nick wrestled with how to handle his emotional response with Sierra; he now understood what she was, vague remembrances of his drunken late night purchase floating at the periphery of his mind, but deep down he couldn't help but to feel a staggering sense of empathy for what his caveman brain declared was a flesh and blood woman.
His eyes wandered away from the holographic display, and with a degree of shame, he turned them towards Sierra, "I'm sorry. You're right. I did order you." He looked down at his feet, kicking at small leaves embedded within his welcome mat, "I still don't remember much about the order though...I drank a lot last night, like too much. But, it looks like the transaction occurred through my iComm account so it had to be me, since it's tied up in my bio-metric data. Sorry for my reaction just now. I'm very embarrassed." He looked to Sierra, the hoods of his eyes shielding his unease with how he had handled the entire situation.
Several processors housed within Sierra's magnesium-alloy rib cage hummed with activity as they parsed through every factor of Nick's reaction. They unsuccessfully attempted to match his behavior with that of several thousand pre-programmed emotional state templates. Eventually the processors killed the routine and opted to improvise instead.
Smiling and taking a step forwards, Rachel extended her arm, handing the iComm back to Nick. As he reached out to grab it, she blurted out with a sly wink, "It's okay Nick. I'm actually incapable of having my feelings hurt, so don't worry about it. I'm just happy to be here with you."
Nick raised his head, "Yeah?"
Jauntily, Sierra replied, "Yeah! Although, I am legally obligated to tell you that you are within your right to return me for a full refund within 48 hours of my arrival if I suffer a critical malfunction or do not completely satisfy your wants and needs." She finished off the statement with a sassy placement of hands on hips accompanied with another trademarked FORMARE smile, "But, I do intend on satisfying your every want and need."
Nick chuckled, "Well okay then. I guess let's get you inside so I can show you around." He gestured towards the door and she walked in, "Get you acclimated of sorts." He entered behind her, watching her round ass cheeks wriggle behind the fabric of her sexy skirt, before pulling the door closed.
Once inside, Sierra turned her neck gently back and forth, her eyes darting this way and that, as the high definition cameras embedded behind the plastic apertures of her eyes scanned in every detail of the lavish foyer. "Wow, there's so much space here; it's so nice."
"Thanks. Yeah turns out having an uncle pass away can have some perks."
Sierra looked at Nick quizzically. Her eyes were momentarily vacant before blinking back to life, "I thought the death of relatives is often affiliated with sadness?"
Nick suppressed a snicker, "Well...yes. You're not wrong. But you see, Uncle Brian's the one that figured out how to recycle all that plastic trash in the Pacific into fuel cells. Turns out that was a pretty solid business model, and since both my parents are gone when he passed I got everything." Nick threw his arms up, slowly spinning around gesturing at their surroundings, "I mean, I got this place. I got majority control of his company. I got his fortune. I got it all apparently, at least that's what everyone else says..."
Nick sighed, putting his hands down, "Come on, let's show you the rest of the place."
Sierra's processing core picked up on the sad inflection with which Nick's previous sentence had ended. She attempted to comfort him, placing her hand on his shoulder as they exited the room. Her nails gently pushed through his thin cotton shirt, lightly stroking down the length of his back.
Nick took Sierra through the entire house, showing her every room, hallway, and staircase. Her advanced optics worked harmoniously with her spatial awareness software package to map out every square inch of the estate. She stored the digital information within her vast solid state memory banks, preparing herself to independently navigate the spacious halls when needed.
--- ---
"And this is the kitchen...and I think that's everything. You've now seen it all." Nick's words were instantly picked up by Sierra's auditory receptors, discreet microphone arrays neatly tucked into her plastic ear canals. They digitized the analog sound waves and sent the information to her main CPU which parsed the data for meaning. This all happened at an incredible pace, her complex circuitry working flawlessly to render her social performance strikingly life-like.
Her electric eyes scanned the floor in front of her as she stepped from the living room and into the kitchen. On the thin wooden divider separating the two rooms, her advanced optics identified an advertisement pamphlet with a lingerie model on the front. Sierra's Main Processing Core rapidly constructed a plan to simultaneously showcase the full breadth of her incredibly advanced functionality while also cheering Nick up.
She leaned forward to pick the paper up, her Visual Readout Display updating at 120 frames per second to show regularly iterating metrics of the distance between her center of mass and the pamphlet. As she squatted down, an attentive observer could just make out the muffled mechanical whine of her leg's powerful servomotors adjusting to the shifting balance requirements.
Pulling the picture of the scantily clad lady up in front of her face, Sierra's ocular subsystem worked quickly to create a detailed 3-Dimensional model of the woman in the photo. Her Visual Readout Display precisely mapping splines against the contours of the model's face and body, breaking down her feminine beauty into a not so simple, but ever calculable formula. Machine learning enhanced auxiliary graphics processors were then fed this complex algorithmic equation to accurately render every part of the woman that was invisible in the 2-Dimensional picture.
Sierra blinked several times as the process finished and the newly created 3-D model was saved into her vast data-banks. Spotting Nick staring at her, she smiled.
She brought a finger up to her mouth, teasing at it with her tongue and a flirty glint in her artificial eyes. "Do you want to see some of the capabilities you paid for?"
"Sure?" Nick replied. "What is it?"
"Here. Hold this." Sierra handed Nick the pamphlet. "Look at her. Then look at me."
Nick studied the picture of the lingerie model for several seconds before moving his gaze upwards to Sierra.
"Do you like the way she looks?" Sierra asked.
"Uh yeah. I don't know who she is, but she's crazy sexy. I really like that bustier."
Sierra winked.
Suddenly there was a hissing noise and the crackle of static electricity. Thousands of specialized capacitors throughout Sierra's chassis discharged simultaneously, sending ultra precise electric current transmissions to each micro-cluster of her Adaptive Macro-Composite Artificial Dermis.
Nick watched in bewilderment as she transformed before his eyes. The transition was smooth and jarring all at once. Her "skin" stuttered and shifted, a digitized flurry of pixelation, as her body shape changed. It steadily morphed into a living embodiment of the lingerie model on the pamphlet clutched in Nick's hands.
Sierra's flowing brownish-blonde hair retracted up and into her scalp. The strands moved in unison, their synchronized dance equally tranquil and hypnotic. As the artificial hairs began settling into a short bob cut with bangs hanging just over her eyebrows, the strands quickly changed color. With strobe-light paced flashes, they cycled through hundreds of different shades before landing on a dazzling sunset red.
Her slender waistline lengthened slightly, but it was a small change compared to the dramatic reduction of her bosom. Her breasts shrank down two cup sizes settling into a ridiculously perky B-Cup. They still strained against the still transitioning 'fabric' of her blouse, which Nick was beginning to determine wasn't fabric after all.
The features of Sierra's face shuffled ever so slightly as well. Her eyes narrowed and the colors of her irises snapped into a beautiful sky blue. Her eyelashes grew more luscious, and the eyebrows above had changed to match the fiery red of her new mane. Her nose shrank in length and ticked up marginally in width.
Nick peered around and noticed her buttocks and hips had swelled considerably, pushing at the frenetic digital static of her still adjusting skirt.
Signifying the process was complete, Sierra's new blue eyes locked onto Nick's.
With sultry poise, she gestured at herself, "Ta Da!" The timbre of her voice had also adapted, falling into a huskier, breathier tone than before. He wondered how her systems had determined that information from just the pamphlet photo.
Nick looked at her inquisitively, saying nothing.
With faux impatience, Sierra stepped forward, "Well! What do you think?"
Nick chuckled, "Well, are you done?" He gestured towards her bustier. While it had successfully rendered into the correct shape and fit, the colors still flickered erratically like a broken computer monitor.
Sierra looked down, her eyes crossing in confusion at the sight. Two large error messages appeared on her Visual Readout Display simultaneously as her Main Processing Core came to terms with the minor glitch.
Drives within Sierra's plastic chest roared to life as they worked to hot-fix the issue. Within only a few seconds a patch had been generated along with a humorous rebuttal aimed at easing any hesitations Nick may have due to her slight technical hiccup.
Sierra threw her slender arms up in the air in a care-free manner, "I swear this never happens!" She then clicked the stiletto heel of her right shoe against the tile twice in quick succession. Instantly, the glitching bustier morphed into an identical copy of what the lingerie model had been wearing in the advertisement.
The black lace bustier was mostly transparent, only colored solid in small patches across her nipples. It stretched from her crotch to up around her breasts. Nick could see the puffy camel toe of Sierra's swollen sex through the sheer "fabric".
Thermal sensors embedded within her camera eyes detected a quickening heartbeat from the man standing directly in front of her. They also picked up on a slowly growing mass of heat emanating from his groin. Her Main Processing Core immediately interpreted this reaction in her counterpart as sexual arousal and queued up thousands of similar subroutines within her Sexual Performance Processing Bus.
This elicited a small moan from Sierra who batted her eyes at Nick seductively, "Mmmmhmmh! Come put your hands on me! I want you to feel me right now!"
Nick did just this, running up to Sierra and taking her into his strong arms.
He pressed his mouth against hers, pushing his lips against the spongy softness of her own. He teased them with with his teeth, immediately impressed at how realistically pliable they felt. His thought process was soon interrupted though as Sierra's tongue jettisoned into his mouth, applying a consistent pressure against his own. He pushed back, parrying her movements with small thrusts of his own.
Her mouth felt all too realistic: warm, soft, and wet. Although he did pick up on the slightest hint of sweetness in her synthetic saliva.
He reached his arm around her and grappled hard onto her ass cheek. There, from a position of leverage, he pulled her tight against himself, feeling the flush contours of her artificial sex press into his crotch.
Sierra squirmed out of his grasp, whimpering quietly, "Aaah aah!"
Nick grabbed her by the bustier, feeling the distinct mesh-like fabric in his hands, before getting his fingers underneath the garment and stroking the smooth warm skin of her taut midriff, "How did you...How do you do this? It's amazing!"
Sierra leaned in for another wet kiss before pulling away to answer Nick's question, "My skin and clothing operate as two independent systems running on FORMARE's patented Adaptive Macro-Composite Artificial Dermis technology. Basically, Aside from my eyes, my body is entirely covered with billions of micro-clusters of FORMARE's patented Adaptive Macro-Composite material. These micro-clusters are incredibly sensitive to changes in electrical current, with nearly imperceptible differences in the current's charge precipitating massive changes in the volume, texture, and color of every molecule within. Thousands of precision crafted capacitors are placed strategically all throughout my chassis to send these electrical signals to each and every micro-cluster. These systems work together with my Main Processing Core effectively allowing me to morph into just about anybody wearing just about anything!"
Nick's eyes were glazed, "Wow. That was a...thorough explanation. That's a lot to take in. "
Sierra rolled her eyes, "Here, it's easier to show than to explain."
She grabbed his hand, brought it under the lace of her bustier, and placed it on her right breast. He grasped at her soft mammary, and kneading it in his hands, elicited a small gasp from Sierra, "Mmhmmhh hhmmm."
He felt her artificial nipple hardening in his hand.
"Let me make these a bit bigger for you. I liked the way they were earlier."
Nick heard the same hissing noise from before, now familiar with it he realized it must denote the activation of the many systems governing her transformation. He felt a slight tingle of static electricity pulse through his hand as the micro-clusters that made up her breast reacted to a slight change in current. He gripped her boob with determination, feeling it steadily expand two cup sizes.
He glanced over and noticed the other breast had adjusted itself in unison with the one he still clutched. Leering at Sierra's magnificent body, Nick quipped, "Yeah well...I mean...color me impressed!"
Sierra smiled and pushed back fully into Nick's embrace. She pulled his empty hand up and onto her free breast, savoring the feeling of his touch against her perfectly engineered body. Their mouths met again, joining together for yet another excitement filled kiss.
Nick pulled his head away, grinning, "So, can you transform into ANYTHING?"
Sierra replied quite matter-of-factly, "Well, not anything. My magnesium alloy frame limits my transformation capabilities such that I cannot grow more than 6 inches or shrink more than 6 inches from my default model. Also, due to my limited number of micro-clusters, I am unable to exceed what would appear to be 220 pound woman at my maximum height setting.
"Huh." Nick nodded his head, "What's your default model?"
"It's the setting I was given before being sent to your front door." Sierra quickly shifted back to her previous form, a near exact duplication of model Sierra Skye. Her entire body was momentarily a swirl of digitized static and swirling colors as the countless micro-clusters covering her body adjusted themselves.
She finished off her transformation with a sexy curtsy and a wink, "Remember me?"
Nick clapped, "Pretty slick!"
A thought went off in his head and his eyes quickly narrowed, looking at Sierra quizzically.
"Yes?" Sierra asked, her Visual Readout Display matching the look on Nick's face with 92% similarity to that of Emotional_Template_CURIOUS-22.
"I mean..." Nick looked away, avoiding eye contact, "...can you like...turn into ANYTHING?"
"Unfortunately no. There is currently an ongoing lawsuit against FORMARE based around this exact subject. I'm afraid for this reason I can only transform into human-like forms." Her gaze turned down to her feet in disappointment, "I'm sorry."
Shrugging his shoulders in an attempt at humor, "So, you can't like turn into a toaster?"
Sierra rolled her sienna colored eyes, "No Nick, I can't transform into a toaster."
She then flashed her brilliant smile and playfully tossed her hips to the side, "Although if I could...you better believe I'd transform into the sexiest toaster you've ever seen!"
--- ---
Standing in the kitchen gripping the handle of a sauce pan, Nick's mind wandered away with thoughts of Sierra. She had stolen away to his bedroom to run up a quick charge on her batteries and to freshen up her systems with the Macro-Composite Revitalizer. He didn't quite exactly know what the second thing was, but he had nodded his head in faux understanding when she brought it up; he guessed it was some device that worked to keep her transformation capabilities in tip-top shape.
He had decided to saute some vegetables out of a feeling of intense hunger that had suddenly plagued him; the super-heated cooking oil applied over the vegetables crackled with life. The night was early and the sound of the Holo-TV echoed from the other room. He wasn't sure what was playing. Between stirs he caught a few glances of the program. Some cute blonde girl was waxing poetic regarding the difficulties of the modern dating scene. Frankly, Nick wasn't very interested; his thoughts were elsewhere completely.
He was thinking about how ridiculous it was that FORMARE didn't send their top of the line Companion Bots out with a full charge when the mousy-faced woman with long blonde hair from the TV strode into the kitchen. Nick jumped in the air with surprise, barely managing to keep the cooking veggies and boiling oil within the confines of the sauce pan.
"Relax, it's just me!" Sierra spoke as she walked up and kissed him on the cheek.
She was several inches shorter than before and was wearing a tight strapless fuchsia bra and matching thong.
Her stomach was flat, athletically toned, providing stark contrast against her bubbly C-Cups. Two dangling wisps of light blonde hair framed her innocent face. They provided the perfect canvas upon which her brilliant emerald green eyes glimmered.
She teased Nick, "I can literally turn into anyone and the first time I walk into a room as someone different you freak out huh?"
Nick breathed out, collecting himself, "I'll get used to it. You just look familiar. It caught me off guard is all." He looked her up and down one more time, drinking in her marvelous curves. Quickly glancing at the Holo-TV, he chuckled at the realization of just who Sierra had decided to physically emulate. "You look absolutely beautiful by the way."
"Thanks!" squealed Sierra, as she planted another kiss on his cheek, "I saw the woman on the Holo and decided to base my appearance off of her. I thought you would like it quite a bit!"
Gently dropping the mixing spoon into the sauce pan Nick joked, "I do like it quite a bit. In fact, I like it all the bits!"
Sierra tilted her head sideways and looked quizzically at Nick. Her Main Processing Core trying again and again unsuccessfully to parse meaning from his bad joke. Her incredibly advanced Logic and Reasoning Sub-Processing Matrix failed to even identify the poor attempt at humor as a joke, and as such it was never able to apply the appropriate comedic emotional response templates onto the phrase. So, she stood there idling motionless for ten seconds before the process finally timed out. She flashed Nick another patented FORMARE smile and discretely pushed her pliant breasts together; it was one of a dozen pre-programmed responses that she pulled from when a process was abruptly cancelled mid conversation.
Nick noticed the peculiarity and artificiality of her response and felt a slight stir in his pants, "That was pretty spontaneous of you to transform into that girl. I'm impressed."
Sierra winked at him and dropped to her knees, deftly working her fingers to undo his belt and unzip his jeans, "FORMARE's are programmed to be spontaneous..." With incredible speed, she undid his pants and had them pulled down to his ankles, where she fished for his growing hard-on through the slot in his boxers, "...and built to be so impresssssivvvvve."
She sexily stretched out the final word of the sentence for what felt like an eternity as her soft manicured hands found their way around Nick's growing member, which was in the midst of undergoing a transformation of its very own.
"Uhh Sierra, what are you doing?"
"Shhh." She looked up at him, her mousy face elegantly reflecting the soft kitchen light, "Just focus on your stupid veggies and let me do my thing."
"A little sass. I like tha--uhhh!" Nick's voice trailed off as Sierra's hand ran down his length fully for the first time.
She brought her pouty lips to the tip of his shaft, teasing him as she glided them smoothly around the curve of his swollen head. Her tongue slipped out from behind her lips; it was wet and smooth. She gingerly dragged it all the way around his delicate circumference.
Nick groaned, quickly losing interest in the contents of his sizzling sauce pan, instead turning his full attention to the blonde beauty blowing him beneath the counter.
He reached down, and grabbing her by the scalp, pushed her onto his aching erection. Without hesitation, she took him in, pistoning her mouth down the length of his member. Her tongue was slick and warm. Nick could feel it methodically moving up and down his throbbing hard-on. She looked up at him, her eyes ablaze with sexual allure and the need to please him.
They settled into a rhythm with each other. Feeling the hard plastic of Sierra's cranial encasement through her synthetic skin, Nick would push her head further down his length again and again where she would bottom out. He would then relent, and she would pull back up, gliding over his erection with perfect smoothness the whole time.
With pneumatic precision, she continued bobbing her shiny red lips up and down his manhood for upwards of 15 minutes. All throughout, precision crafted tactile sensors installed in the elastic walls of her mouth detected minute fluctuations in the size of Nick's erection. This data was combined with near constant updates of his heartbeat and blood pressure. All three metrics were over-layed onto Sierra's Visual Readout Display before being fed to her Main Processing Core. Here, incremental adjustments to the tenacity of her blow job were calculated, allowing her to back off ever-so-slightly as Nick edged towards orgasm. She built him all the way up before backing him down over and over again, truly maximizing his pleasure.
Even with Sierra's systems operating flawlessly, constantly changing the way she attacked his cock, Nick began to see a pattern in her movements. He picked up on a repetition in the way her mouth slipped on and off of his swollen member. He noticed her re-using a cute flutter of her eyelashes. He felt her repeat a subtle squeeze at the base of his shaft. This sudden reminder of her artificial nature turned him on even further. He heard her slurp uncharacteristically as he grew larger than he ever had before.
Nick felt like he was on fire, every neuron and synapse within his brain seemingly singing with electricity as his pleasure centers were overloaded from Sierra's frenetic fellatio. He lost himself thinking about the intricate mechanisms and delicate electronics lying just beneath the surface of her artificial skin. He imagined the hundreds of millions of lines of code that were interfacing with each other within her processing cores at that very moment. He was aroused at the idea of how beautifully her incredibly detailed software subroutines interfaced with the complex hardware of her body. He felt himself screaming towards the cliff that was orgasm; nothing could stop his momentum now. He sensed himself growing even harder, feeling the smooth liners of Sierra's artificial mouth squeezing around his entire length. With one final pneumatic movement down his shaft, Nick forced Sierra's head into his groin where he came like a fire hydrant.
He violently pumped back and forth, emptying himself into her mouth with a vigor and ferocity he wasn't aware he possessed within himself. His nails dug into the plastic casing of her synthetic skull. He swore he could feel the vibrations of her complex electronic architecture buzzing with life just underneath. Nick grunted and moaned, steadying himself against the stove as he felt the last of his semen push into Sierra's mouth.
Sensing his completion, Sierra popped off of Nick's waning erection, a small string of his come dripping down from the corner of her glimmering ruby lips. Locking her green eyes onto his, she sensually extended her nimble tongue from between her lips and licked the sticky liquid up. With her eyes still steadily looking into his own, she swallowed, "Mmmhhmmm" she muttered. "You taste so good!"
In a fit of exhaustion Nick slid down the stove hitting the floor with a forceful 'PLOP'.
The stove shook. He immediately heard something teetering above him, but didn't connect the noise to the boiling saucepan until it ratcheted up in intensity. Looking upwards, he saw the pan slowly slipping off the edge of the oven and he dove forward frantically. He collided with Sierra, who was still on her knees, just as the pan hit the ground.
A few small droplets of the burning liquid splashed onto his exposed buttocks and he cursed in pain. It was just enough to sting, but Nick knew he had dodged any actual injury from the mishap.
"ERROR." Sierra's muffled voice called out, tinged with digital interference at its periphery, "SUPERFICIAL DAMAGE DETECTED TO ADAPTIVE MACRO-COMPOSITE ARTIFICIAL DERMIS FROM..." With his adrenaline quickly fading, Nick realized Sierra was trapped underneath him. Her mouth opening and closing against his stomach. "...INNER LEFT ANKLE TO...INNER LEFT KNEE." He peeled his stomach away, putting more pressure on his grain which was coincidentally nestled between Sierra's soft breasts. With her mouth now unobstructed, her voice continued in earnest, "IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED. PLEASE PLUG UNIT SJ-090245-12 INTO MACRO-COMPOSITE REVITALIZER INCLUDED WITH PURCHASE."
Nick noticed the acrid smell of burning plastic just as she had finished her sentence. He rolled off of Sierra and pinpointed the source of the pungent odor. Thin wisps of light gray smoke rose from a bubbling gash that stretched the length of her toned calf. The saucepan, lay only a few inches from her leg, the obvious culprit responsible for the damage.
Rising to his feet, Nick looked down at the injured robotic beauty lying beneath him, "Can you walk or do I need to carry you?"
Sierra's eyes crossed for several moments as she queried her Main Processing Core for an answer to his question. Her eyes un-crossed, meeting his own as she huffily pouted, "I need to be carried Nick. The integrity of my lower left leg is compromised. Walking could result in displacement of components or permanent damage to my limb. I'm sorry."
Realizing his pants were still around his ankles, he hastily pulled them up before bending down and scooping Sierra off of the ground, "Don't be sorry! I should have been more careful with that pan." He kissed her gingerly on the cheek, watching her blush, "We'll get you plugged in and fixed up in no time."
Sierra beamed up at Nick, her processors swelling with positive affirmations associated with Nick's treatment of her.
--- ---
In his bedroom, Nick carefully laid Sierra onto his spacious queen. On the far nightstand he spotted what he presumed to be her Macro-Composite Revitalizer. The blocky contraption was covered in matte white plastic and, along with a thick black power cord, had a pair of inch diameter flex-hoses jutting out from it's rear. The roughly toaster sized box looked like any run-of-the-mill medical device.
Nick tugged at the two hoses, holding them each in his hands. One was labeled 'Body-In' and the other 'Body-Out'. "Pretty Simple," he thought to himself.
"Okay uhhh...so how do I plug these in?"
Sierra casually pushed her fuchsia thong down her thighs, stopping as it pulled taught just above her knees.
Nick shyly looked away, surprised at the brazen removal of her drawers.
"What!?" teased Sierra. She gestured at her exposed genitalia, "You're going to get to use this later so you may as well take a look now."
Nick laughed and turned back to face her, trying his hardest not to stare at her tight symmetrical labia, "Fine! But what do I do with these?" He clinked the two hoses together emphasizing his point.
"Give them here." Sierra reached her hands up towards Nick, eagerly grabbing at the hoses.
Nick heard a slight whirring noise and noticed a circular seam begin to appear on the outside of her left hip. It became more and more pronounced as her artificial skin slowly pulled away. Then it depressed about half an inch and slid out view, exposing a receptacle that matched the color and shape of the tubes in Sierra's hands. With precise movements she slid one tube into its receptacle, twisting it into place with a satisfying click. She then repeated the process with the remaining tube on her right hip, before pushing one of a dozen buttons on the matte white revitalizer.
Instantly, a group of pumps loudly fired up from within the box. Sierra exhaled in simulated embarrassment, "You don't have to watch this part. It can look pretty strange."
"Nonsense." Nick replied, "I'm just curious."
He focused his attention on her inner calf, intently watching the burnt portion of her "skin" shimmer and undulate like a moving mirage. The material twisted and spiraled in on itself, seemingly turning to liquid. He watched a channel of the flowing material form, stretching up her thigh from the wound to the tube embedded in her left hip.
The pumps within the revitalizer revved up in intensity.
"Sierra, what's going on right now?"
She didn't face Nick to answer his question; her systems were too preoccupied with carrying out the repair process, "The revitalizer is taking the damaged clusters of my Adaptive Macro-Composite Artificial Dermis and running them down to a neutral charge before pumping them back into my body here..." She tapped at the hose sticking out from her right hip, "Once back inside me they're given a location and take on the electric potential of the surrounding clusters once they arrive. I have to do this bi-weekly regardless of any damage I sustain to keep the clusters from behaving erratically."
Nick watched in awe as the skin surrounding the burned area slowly filled in the gap, completely erasing the wound.
"A small fraction of these clusters can't be recovered and are captured in a discharge tray in the revitalizer. On average a FORMARE Companion Bot like myself will only need to get a fresh injection of replacement clusters every year or so."
The pumps within the revitalizer stopped, followed by a small hiss as pressure was released from the system. "All done! Now wasn't that easy?!" Sierra unhooked the tubes from her hips, placing them on the bedside table as the small fleshy discs returned to cover her exposed receptacles.
Nick nodded his head in agreement, impressed at the smoothness of the entire process.
Sierra cocked her head to the side and bit her lip enticingly, "Almost as easy as me."
She reached towards the revitalizer and pulled a magazine out from underneath it. Pulling back at several pages, she displayed it towards Nick, "I found this when I came up earlier..." She delicately rubbed a finger over the thin fabric of her bra, circling a stiffening nipple, "...I think you liked the girl on this page in particular."
Nick grabbed at the magazine, his eyes widening in embarrassment as he noticed a few splotches of dried evidence he had left on the paper. On the page was a dainty raven haired nurse straddling a hospital bed, her warm brown eyes staring directly at him.
Nick didn't notice Sierra's transformation until it had almost completed. The tell-tale digital hiss had seemingly slipped past his ears. He tossed the magazine aside just in time to watch her shiny white nurses dress materialize in a frenzy of shifting colors, hugging the lithe contours of her new body.
She sat up in the bed and grabbed Nick's collar, pulling him onto her. He felt her new body against his own. Her frame was shorter and skinnier than before, but still distinctly feminine. He locked his mouth against her pursed pink lips, twisting her long black hair in his hand as he pushed his tongue deeper and deeper against her own.
He reached under her skirt and teased her pussy, gently rubbing his fingers against the flushed lips of her synthetic sex. She shuddered at his touch, pulling hard at his neck. He found himself drawn to the two small valleys separating her pubic mound from her hip bones; his hands massaging at the areas passionately, a primal portion of his brain completely forgetting her robotic artifice.
Sierra than proceeded to untangle his opposite hand from her hair, guiding it onto her breast where he tugged the electrically generated nurse's dress down, fully exposing her mammary. He squeezed her pert little A-Cup greedily, feeling her plastic nipple harden between his fingertips. Her plastic boob was spongy and springy; he playfully batted at it watching it ripple before returning to its default position. Her bosom had felt shockingly realistic at every size, the weight and texture accurately changing in accordance with volume and shape.
She shuddered again, writhing under Nick's firm touch against her artificial body. Her ocular sensors worked with the litany of tactile sensors embedded throughout her cushioned artificial dermis to map his arousal levels. Thousands of metrics flashed across her Visual Readout Display, showing the flurry of complex calculations being carried out within her magnesium alloy chassis at that given moment.
Reaching her nimble fingers beneath Nick's shirt, Sierra gripped at his chest with simulated urgency. She began to buck underneath him, expertly timing each pump of her groin to grind up against his member. She savored the feeling of his fingers gliding on the flexible rosy lips of her vagina; each graze sending packets of sexual pleasure data coursing through her system.
She moved his hand, guiding it around her slender hips and onto the the right cheek of her rubbery-soft buttocks. Nick marveled at its roundness, vigorously clutching at her smooth derriere.
Her systems were on the verge of activating the compact lubricant pumps tucked just behind her pliant vaginal canal, when her Main Processing Core hatched an idea. Promptly, she stopped her bucking and pulled her mouth away from Nick's lips, shaping it into a sensuous grin, "How about a little role play?"
--- ---
Nick smiled emphatically, as he watched Sierra walk into the living room with a feather duster in hand. The sexy French maid she had transformed into was just as he had described. Just as he had imagined.
Wound tight around her tiny waist was a silky black corset, artfully embellished with lacy white shoulder pads and breast cups. The tops of her boobs jiggled realistically as she stepped across the room.
The bottom of the corset wrapped underneath her snatch, leaving her long and slender legs completely on display. Her smooth and even tanned legs ended at a pair of knee high black socks that were adorned at the top with frilly white laces. A pair of high heeled cream white stilettos completed the bottom of her outfit.
Sierra passed him and Nick watched from behind intently as her fully exposed ass cheeks stretched and compressed with every methodical step she took. After reaching the fireplace at the far end of the room she bent limberly over at the waist, reaching forward with the duster to get at the far corners of the mortar that held the stone pavers in place against the river rock above. As the linen corset stretched across her crotch, Nick made out the well-defined outlines of her provocative vulva pushing against the dark fabric.
Knowing where his gaze was fixed, Sierra looked up at him from over her shoulder and smiled alluringly. She slowly shifted her hips left and then pushed them right, repeating the motion over and over again in a hypnotic rhythm. Yet, the whole time she remained steadfast in her cleaning, thoroughly sweeping away the dust and soot that had been accruing for months. Nick felt a familiar tightness moving underneath his pants, but he quelled his urges, eager to continue watching the scene evolve before him.
Sierra eventually stood back up and pivoted so that she was facing Nick. A little black and white hat sat atop her chestnut brown hair which was pulled into messy bun. A few strands of which fell lazily across her gray-blue eyes.
She took a step towards him.
For the first time he noticed her choker; the thin white collar was decorated with two thin black lines that wrapped around the entire circumference of the sleek garment.
She took another step towards him.
Nick watched her chest rise and fall, deeply curious to the underlying mechanics allowing it to happen. He wondered if there was some kind of high-tech bellows or expandable air pump embedded behind her voluptuous chest allowing her to realistically simulate breathing.
She took a third step towards him. She was only a few feet away now.
Stopping momentarily, her advanced optics system scanned his body and cataloged his arousal level at 78%. Her Visual Readout Display showed his heartbeat and internal temperature slowly increasing. Her Main Processing Core prompted her to not yet directly engage Nick, instead opting to continue building his arousal slowly.
She stepped past him quickly, and with an improvised calculation, she playfully brushed her feather duster across his groin. Her systems lit up with excitement as she heard him exhale heavily; the move had elicited the desired response.
Nick watched Sierra walk away, again drawn to the plasticky smoothness of her long wispy legs. She was taller than before, standing at about 5'11" with the aid of her stilettos.
Sierra made her way up to an end table and gracefully spun around it, deciding at the behest of her Main Processing Core to face Nick during this second round of dusting.
She leaned forward, extending her chest over the table, ensuring Nick had a direct line of sight down her corset's exposed top. Her round and sensuous breasts hung unsupported in the air, maintaining their firm shape, gently swaying back and forth. She exaggeratedly reached towards the far end of the table with her duster, pressing her bosom against the table's flat surface. Her supple mammary contoured against the stained oak wood, squishing together delightfully in her restrictively tight corset.
Nick chewed at his lips, "Sierra increase the size of your breasts."
Sprawled out across the table, Sierra lifted her head up to face Nick. A keen observer would have heard the motorized whine of her neck's servomotors. She blinked several times, her cartoonishly bold eyelashes dancing in the air with each movement.
With a digitized hiss, Sierra's bosom disappeared behind a cloud of visual static energy resembling a scrapbook being flipped through at high velocity. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the graphical storm vanished. Still pressed against the surface of the table, the increase to Sierra's bust had pneumatically jacked her entire chest upwards by about half an inch.
Sierra's processors relished the strict command given her way; tiny beads of lubricant began coating the plastic folds of her warming artificial sex as two small pumps buried beneath began priming themselves. She stood up, running her hands down her sides to fully display her revamped breasts.
Another speedy ocular analysis of Nick's arousal levels estimated him at 85% of his maximum. His hand was even down his pants, stroking at himself. What she couldn't tell though was that Nick was discreetly wiping at his member with a de-sensitizing gel pad; guaranteed to make him last longer and fuck harder than ever before.
Her Visual Readout Display immediately filled with thousands of lines of streaming text as her Carnal Drivers booted up, activating thousands of sexually oriented subroutines.
Next, complex graphical projections flashed across her Visual Readout Display as her Spatial and Awareness Subsystem calculated a set of ideal locations and position vectors to begin engaging Nick in coitus.
Just as her systems had fully readied herself for seduction, Nick spoke again, "Do it again. Increase the size of your breasts."
Sierra grinned. Nick was finally taking an authoritative role with her transformation capabilities.
There was another flurry of pixelated energy as her bosom again expanded. A minor warning flashed across her Visual Readout Display.
Sierra casually ignored the error warning, instead focused on her new gravity defying breasts which would've broken the straps on any ordinary corset. Luckily this corset had adjusted along with her. Sierra grabbed her newly modified D-Cup breasts, savoring their pliable weight in her hands.
Her Carnal Drivers had now fully booted into operation and had taken over a large portion of her processing capacity. She stepped towards Nick, eager to please him and hungry for his touch. A third and final visual assessment pegged his arousal level at 91%.
"Sierra, I don't care where it is now, but I want you to tighten your pussy as far as it can go."
Her Carnal Drivers squealed with positive feedback subroutines; she continued walking towards him as her vagina squeezed itself tighter and tighter. With her lubricant pumps fully primed and her vaginal heaters at optimum temperature, Sierra took the final few steps towards Nick as an honest to god Sex Machine.
The same warning again flashed across her HUD.
Sierra again ignored the warning, this time flagging it with a filter so it wouldn't interfere while her Carnal Drivers were activated.
She jumped into Nick's lap with zeal, letting her weight sink backwards away from the couch so that his hands were forced to dig into her artificial derriere to keep her from falling. She relished the sensation, the thousands of tactile sensors embedded within her malleable ass cheeks registering every pin-point of his lustful grabbing.
Nick reciprocated her energy by diving at her mouth with his own. His tongue quickly shot past Sierra's soft lips and artificial teeth where it found its partner. The two parried each other for several minutes, Nick taking momentary side excursions to explore the warm expanses of her inner mouth cavity.
Sierra squirmed in his hands; he could feel the heat and moisture emanating from behind the crotch of her silky corset. Continuing on with their kiss, he brushed his fingers over the puffy contours of her plastic sex. She shuddered, a dull low moan escaping from between their interlocked lips.
He reached in to touch Sierra again, but was this time thwarted as she smacked his hand away. Nick pulled back, breaking off their kiss. He looked at her in confusion and was only answered with a sly grin and a shaking head.
She put a finger up to his lips, "One more time."
Instantly, her entire outfit erupted into a whirlwind of cybernated graphical turbulence. Nick watched, with newfound familiarity, at the swirling colors and shifting shapes that constituted the digital mosaic. The static energy given off by the instantaneous outfit alteration was palpable in their close proximity; he could especially feel the tingles of electricity against his crotch where Sierra straddled him.
The transformation stopped abruptly, more so than usual he thought. But, like clockwork there sat Sierra in an entirely new outfit. She kept the appearance of her body unchanged, but now wore a black crotchless thong and a skimpy low-cut police officer uniform which hugged her lithe waist and massive chest so thoroughly that it was only a matter of time before her breasts popped out.
Nick brought his finger up to her lips, "Oh. You are one cheeky bot."
Sierra playfully bit at his nail, "Oh?! Only for you Nick."
As the last word escaped her pouty lips, she reached out and pulled Nick's shirt up and over his head, tossing it aside haphazardly. Her eyes lit up and she put her hands firmly on his chest, moving them up and down in strange patterns, massaging through his skin. She tip-toed her fingers towards his waist band and stopped just shy of the belt line. She side eyed him, an astute glimmer present from behind the glass optics, "These have to go."
In one fell swoop, she friskily undid his belt, tugged down his zipper, yanked off his pants, and threw them in a heap by the far wall.
Nick's stiff member stood ramrod straight, sticking up through the slot in his boxers and pointing directly at the ceiling. Sierra worked her deft fingers to wrangle his underwear off without so much as disturbing his eager erection.
Now, with every obstacle out of the way, Sierra hopped back onto the couch, again straddling Nick. Her positioning was different this time, with her hands stretched to the top of the couch for support. This trajectory put her synthetic pussy just over the tip of Nick's dick which she teased with delicate movements of her hips that brought her warm lubricated lips dangerously close.
After several teases, not even Sierra's Carnal Drivers could handle delaying coitus any further. She squatted down slowly, carefully lining up the folds of her sex with Nick's member. Confident in their alignment she finally pushed down, steadily letting Nick's hard-on pierce her tightness. Her camera eyes rolled backwards in simulated pleasure as her slick vaginal walls pulsed and gripped at his entire length.
As she bottomed out her squat, Nick triggered Sierra's deepest sensors sending a flurry of data that her Carnal Drivers scrambled to un-pack and analyze. Nick heard the robust servomotors embedded within her athletic thighs lightly whine as she pistoned back up, her glistening folds sliding off his raging erection.
Nick was in bliss. Sierra's artificial sex was impossibly tight, ultra warm, and perfectly lubricated. She slid down his length again, confidently grinding herself against him. They quickly developed a rhythm, bucking each other wildly with reckless abandon.
He was soon panting frantically; Sierra squealed each time her plastic pussy was maxed out by Nick's stiff dick. Lightly scented lubricant ran from her glittering lips as Nick continuously fucked her senseless.
He felt Sierra grind her engorged clit into his manhood with each piston up his shaft, "Mmmhhmmmmm Nick you feel so good!"
Nick replied, in between breaths, "No you feel so good! I can't believe how tight you are."
Sierra flashed a blissful smile, "MMhhmmmmmm Yeah? How do you like my tight pussy?"
"I fucking love it babe!" With his hands dug into the soft plump cheeks of her derriere, he forced her down thrusting himself harder than ever before into her hot wet slot.
"Ahhhhh Ahh Ah!" Sierra's eyes crossed as her systems hitched, scrambling to keep up with the deluge of sexual data pouring in. Sure, she had been mechanically tested at the factory, but her systems had never been fucked like this. They recovered after a set of side-chained auxiliary processors booted up to help take on the monstrous computational loads being thrown at her systems.
Nick noticed the small technical hiccup and found himself enthralled at the idea of fucking Sierra up to the point of malfunction.
He removed a hand from her buttocks and squeezed her right breast vigorously. He felt her stiff nipple through he "fabric" of her uniform. The new stimuli pushed her systems over the edge triggering her orgasm subroutine; theoretically she could continually kill the process and continue fucking Nick on the verge of orgasm until her battery ran out, but where was the fun in that when she could continuously orgasm over and over again without growing fatigued?
Sierra's lubricant pumps revved up, shuttling more of her precisely formulated sex juice into her already sodden vagina. Her moans became louder, breathier. Her movements up and down his hard shaft became more urgent, her pace more erratic.
Nick sensed what was building within the sexbot currently riding his cock and decided to see how far he could take it. As her laborious breaths and desperate movements seemed to be reaching a sensuous crescendo, and with his shaft still firmly planted deep within her, he picked her up by the ass and spun around 180 degrees before driving her forcefully into the couch.
Nick pierced Sierra deeper than she had been designed for and her sensors detonated with an explosion of unintelligible statistics. Again, her eyes crossed as the deluge of sensory data overwhelmed her taxed processors. The intricate array of tiny motors and actuators behind her faceplate froze up as the signals carrying their digital instructions were cut-off mid-stream.
She climaxed, her throaty moans erupting through the gap between her motionless lips. Her hips bucked wildly against his own, her synthetic pussy quivering around his full member. Lubricant gushed out around Nick's shaft as he penetrated Sierra again and again. Pushing into her, he squeezed both of her supple breasts through the tight blue fabric of her police uniform, savoring their plush feeling in his hands. Sierra's nails dug into his back, voicing the emotion of the moment that her frozen face was incapable of displaying.
Sierra's pussy slowly loosened it's grip on Nick's erection as her orgasm waned. He noticed life flow back into her face as her processors recovered, successfully re-routing electrical signals back to the mechanisms embedded behind her faceplate.
Emboldened by Sierra's climax, Nick wraps his arms around her, eagerly grabbing at her smooth round buttocks, "Sierra, increase the size of your ass by three sizes."
"Yes, Nick." Sierra complied. Nick felt the now familiar electrical tinge on his palms as her cheeks inflated beneath his touch.
"Ugghhh. All of you feels so good Sierra. I just want to run my hands all over you!" Nick exclaimed.
"Then why don't you?" Sierra echoed back.
Nick grabbed at the concave sides of her hourglass waist, "Change your hair to a pink bob. Make your lips two times puffier than they are currently."
"Sure, Nick." The words came out of her mouth mechanically, with a metered pace that only turned Nick on further.
He slid his member back into Sierra's folds, still hot and slick with artificial lubricant, and watched the lips of her mouth swell up cartoonishly. This was accompanied with a swift change of her hair style and color.
Feeling Nick's erection slip back into her artificial pussy, Sierra's Carnal Drivers prompted her to grind her mound into him in a choreographed rebuttal. She was determined to make Nick come.
Nick pumped in and out, moving his hands all over Sierra's athletic body. He would initiate deep sensuous kisses before pulling back to kiss her nose or breathe in her ear.
Nick tugged at the slutty police uniform, "Ughhmmhhmm I want this gone. I want to feel YOU."
Sierra obliged, quickly transforming the garment away in a mosaic haze, shifting to just her nude chest, fully exposing both breasts to Nick.
A similar warning message from earlier flashed across her Visual Readout Display; this one making it past her previously defined filters.
Focused on maximizing Nick's pleasure, Sierra again ignored the warning.
Nick greedily pawed at one of her newly exposed breasts, squeezing harder than he would ever dare with an actual woman. Sierra cooed, savoring the small electrical signals feeding the digital pleasure centers of her computerized brain.
He could feel himself approaching climax. No amount of sensitivity limiting gel could keep him from being brought to orgasm by this ultra sophisticated sexbot. He watched his erection slip in and out of her tight slit through the gap in her crotchless panties and he panted out, "Sierra, lose the underwear. I want to see all of you. Oh and also...increase the size of your nipples."
Nick put his mouth on a nipple, feeling it swell under his tongue, and watched her panties shimmer away in a digital haze.
He was close. He felt himself growing larger, harder. He thrust himself deeper and more forcefully into Sierra again and again, her ultra-tight folds providing the perfect amount of resistance against his intrusion. Her pussy lips glided over his length elegantly, contouring to the shape of his member as he pushed in and pulled out over and over again.
Nick grabbed Sierra by the buttocks and spun her around 180 degrees so they returned to their earlier cowgirl position. She straddled him as he sat on the couch. Her systems quickly adjusted to the new position, the servomotors in her legs again taking on increased loads to seductively lower her snatch down the full length of Nick's aching hard-on.
Sierra detected Nick's oncoming orgasm and loaded up her own climax subroutine to sync up with him. The vaginal walls of her synthetic pussy began pulsing all around him.
Nick was on the cusp of emptying himself inside Sierra. He pulled her head down engaging her in a soft kiss. Her breasts jiggled against his chest. He moved his mouth around to her ear and whispered in, "Increase the size of your breasts one more time."
She leaned back, giving Nick a full view of her expanding mammary. Simultaneously, she detected Nick's engorged member pumping it's load into her tight pussy. Her systems reciprocated, moans escaping her lips and lubricant coursing from the perimeter of her snatch as she climaxed along with him.
She leaned in to re-engage in a kiss but was interrupted when a loud 'POP' sounded off from within her plastic chest. Her face twitched between a handful of unrecognizable emotions and her body froze. She fell forward, the full weight of her immobilized body pushing into Nick who anxiously spoke up, finishing up with final few powerful thrusts into her plastic vagina "Sierra what happened? Sierra are you okay!?"
There was no response.
In shock, Nick just held Sierra's body quietly. All he could hear was the roar of drives and whir of fans spinning up inside of her. The seconds stretched on as she continued to lay there, motionless, and unresponsive.
Eventually, a digitally garbled and tinny rendition of her voice emerged from behind her unmoving lips. "ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. BREACH OF ELECTRICAL CONTAINMENT IN ADAPTIVE MACRO-COMPOSITE ARTIFICIAL DERMIS CAPACITOR SUB-GROUP UPPER_CHEST_22B."
Her voice briefly paused before continuing, "ATTEMPTING TO RECTIFY ERROR. ATTEMPTING TO RECTIFY ERROR. ATTEMPTING TO RECTIFY ERROR. ATTEMPTING TO RECTIFY ERROR. ATTEMPT FAILED."
Several more moments passed by quietly before her static twinged voice returned, "ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. CRITICAL DAMAGE SUSTAINED TO ELECTRICAL SUBSYSTEMS 12C, 12B, 13A, 9L, 22B, 11A, 11D, 11F AND 14F."
Nick muttered to himself, his face buried in his hands, "Why does this always happen to me?"
Several servomotors crankily roared back to life and Sierra, quite loudly, turned her head to face Nick. Her eyes blinked several times and her normal voice returned, albeit chopped up and stuttering, "It's okay Nick. Yyyyyooouuu-yoyoyo-you-you you got-got-got-got-t-t-ot-got the full warranty on me!"
Nick laughed earnestly, his face lighting up. Even in the throes of her crippling malfunction she could surprise him.
He looked back down at her, eager to engage her back in conversation, but her eyes were vacant, the sounds of her internal electronics subsiding.
He held her in his arms for several moments, savoring her touch, savoring the time he'd spent with her.
"Don't you worry a thing Sierra. You and I...we're gonna be taking a trip to FORMARE first thing in the morning."
He leaned forward, kissing her on the forehead and closing her glassy eyes for what would NOT be the last time.
"With you Sierra...maybe I'm not so lonely anymore."

subset: commoncrawl


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Just when you thought Wade Phillips and the Cowboys were pretty much done, they go out and hand the Saints their first loss of the season. And as much as we've bragged about Drew Brees this season, Tony Romo was the best quarterback on the field in the Cowboys' 24-17 win. Romo was 22-of-34 for 312 yards and a touchdown. And he used his legs to extend important drives. He has been heavily criticized for his record in December, but this was the signature win that a lot of folks have been waiting on. Here are a few quick-hitting observations on the Cowboys' win in the Big Easy:
Having DeMarcus Ware on the field gave the Cowboys a huge lift. Phillips wisely limited him to passing downs and he had a ton of energy. That made a big difference on the final drive. It was Ware who caused the Brees fumble that clinched the win for the Cowboys. And right up until that moment, I thought Brees might have a legitimate shot of leading the Saints back. Here's what Ware told the NFL Network moments after the game: "When I told the team I was playing tonight, everybody's eyes lit up. And as you can see, the scoreboard lit up too." Most people didn't believe Phillips on Monday when he said that Ware could possibly play against the Saints. But the All-Pro outside linebacker made steady progress with the team's medical staff and was finally cleared after going through a series of tests a couple hours before the game.
Miles Austin is obviously the Cowboys' No. 1 wide receiver at this point. He had the big touchdown early in the game, but it was his catch and run on a third-and-long with 6:28 left in the game that held the Saints' comeback at bay. You can tell Romo has so much faith in Austin. Conversely, why would anyone have faith in Roy Williams at this point? His drop on a quick slant in the fourth quarter allowed the Saints to continue their comeback. I'd bench the guy. He really has no business being on the field -- especially with players such as Kevin Ogletree and Patrick Crayton making clutch catches.
Surely the Cowboys will go ahead and cut kicker Nick Folk now. The NFL Network showed footage of him shanking field goals before the game and sure enough he hit the right upright on a short attempt with 2:14 left in the game. I can't imagine him being on the roster when the Cowboys make the trip to Washington next Sunday night. Winning has a way of covering up warts, but Folk can't hide after that miss.
Mike Jenkins is about to become a perennial Pro Bowl player if he keeps this up. The Cowboys' second-year cornerback went toe-to-toe with perhaps the deepest group of receivers in the league. His interception in the second quarter ended a Saints scoring threat and he made plays throughout the game. He's playing with a swagger right now that's pretty impressive. And he's getting good jams at the line of scrimmage. Jenkins told me Wednesday he's a huge fan of Charles Woodson's game. And on Saturday night, he sort of reminded me of Woodson. He's by far the best cornerback the Cowboys have right now and he'll be in the Pro Bowl mix next season.
It's a joke that Jay Ratliff isn't in the top five in the Pro Bowl fan voting. Ratliff can take over a game from his defensive tackle spot. He controlled Saints center Jonathan Goodwin and caused a lot of trouble in the middle. Ratliff didn't really show up on the stat sheet other than his fumble recovery, but he caused a lot of trouble for the Saints.
This had to be outside linebacker Anthony Spencer's best game as a Cowboy. With Ware resting quite a bit on first and second down, Spencer turned up the pressure. For some reason, the Saints kept forgetting to block him and Spencer took advantage. Spencer and Ware combined for four sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. This is what the Cowboys had in mind when they drafted Spencer in the first round.
Let's revisit the Austin note: Austin completely embarrassed Saints first-rounder Malcolm Jenkins on a double move on the touchdown. Jenkins just bit all the way, allowing Austin to get over him for the easy touchdown. Perfect throw by Romo. And then the heralded Darren Sharper had trouble keeping track of Austin. Austin ran through Sharper's arm tackle on one long play in the first half. On that huge play with 6:28 left in the game, tight end Jason Witten did a nice job of clearing things out for Austin.
Tony Romo said on TV after the game that the Cowboys used a Tony Dungy video clip as a source of motivation. Romo revealed special teams coach Joe DeCamillis showed a video of Dungy saying on NBC last Sunday night the Cowboys had "no chance" against the Saints.
The Cowboys' reward: One whole week with no one talking about how awful they've been in December. Impressive win. If they follow it up with a win in Washington, we're looking at a huge showdown between the Cowboys and Eagles to end the regular season.


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Enabling Research for Competitive Agriculture (ERCA)
The Enabling Research for Competitive Agriculture (ERCA) program aims to strengthen innovative agricultural policy research in Canada. The program engages external policy research groups to enhance the competitiveness of Canadian agriculture and agri-food products in global and domestic markets.
The ERCA program is organized around five multi-disciplinary research networks. Each network brings together clusters of policy researchers from academia and other research organizations to engage in collaborative, innovative, and policy-relevant research. Networks produce high quality agricultural policy research, disseminate their results, and provide training opportunities for graduate students in their areas of focus.
ERCA also aims at improving the collaboration between the networks it funds and other Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada initiatives such as Agri-foresight and Value Chain Round Tables.
ERCA replaces the Agricultural Policy Research Networks initiative under Agricultural Policy Framework. While these initiatives are similar, ERCA puts more emphasis on dissemination of knowledge to maximize benefits for producers and industry.
Main Partener
Other ERCA networks
Canadian Agricultural Trade Policy and Research Network (CATPRN)
Consumer and Market Demand (CMD)
Linking Environment and Agriculture Research Network (LEARN)
Canadian Agricultural Innovation and Regulation Research Network (CAIRN)


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Do you want your kids to grow up reading the Bible?
Yes, I know you're Catholic. That's why I'm asking.
The Bible is central to the Church's theology and devotional life, but we don't teach our kids to read it.
Here's a plan I developed over several years by trial and error to get my kids into the habit of reading the Bible daily. And they actually like it...most of the time.
It's not complicated and I'm sure you'll be able to use it, too.
First step: Read to them.
I first got my kids reading the Bible for a family catechesis program I was running at my parish. A large part of it was Bible reading. The kids were to record the minutes read each month, and turn them in for various prizes. There was also an award at the end of the year for the number of minutes read. So, I came up with this plan out of desperation. I couldn't run the program and not have my kids do well.
At first it was kind of easy. They were too young to read. The program, however, counted minutes I read to them. So I did.
At night, before they went to bed, I read them Bible stories. I started with children's storybook Bibles. These Bibles tell the stories of major players like Noah, Moses, Abraham, and David in the Old Testament...and of course Jesus in the New. The Beginner's Bible was one of the first. Short and simple. Every story is just a couple of pages. Perfect for very young kids. When we finished one, I'd get another. I used Catholic and Protestant Bibles. At that level, there's really nothing to worry about. There's no real difference.
As they got older, I moved up to reading longer storybook Bibles. These added more stories and more detail. Again, there are some good Catholic versions but the Protestant selection is fantastic. My favorite ever is the The Jesus Storybook Bible. The subtitle is "Every Story Whispers His Name." That just about says it all. This is how it's meant to be done. It presents the Bible as a unified whole, and every story fits together to form the larger, overarching story. Every Old Testament story makes the connection to how Jesus is prefigured, and the New Testament stories connect back how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament.
At this level, you have to be careful with Protestant materials, though. More theology is mixed into the stories and sometimes they're wrong. For instance, in The Jesus Storybook Bible, at the Last Supper Jesus says, "This is like my body." You'll have to correct that when you read or point out the differences in Catholic belief.
Another good Bible at this level is the My First Message Bible. The Message is kind of controversial because it uses very colloquial language. Whatever your opinion on that, it works well for children. This one is nice because presents the story in a lectio divina format and asks appropriate questions in each section to spark discussion. My kids really got into this. We had some great conversations while reading this Bible.
Next step: They read to themselves.
Don't give those storybook Bibles away after you've read them because you can use them again. When your kids start reading, they are the perfect level. They can begin with the simplest ones and work their way up. We established a routine of reading the Bible before bedtime. Their goal was five minutes a day. Of course, they could read more if they so desired. Often they did. Five minutes doesn't like much, but it adds up. And it's not that taxing.
Finally, graduate to real Bibles.
When they outgrew the story Bibles, perhaps around 5th grade, I got them real Bibles. I started with paraphrase translations like The Good News Bible. Some disagree and think kids should have a "real" real Bible, like the New American translation. I think the best Bible is the one you'll actually read. If the language is too literal and stuffy, kids will be turned off and reading will become a chore. You don't want that. Catholics are notorious for having beautiful, leather bound Bibles that look great and never get read. Don't get your kids a keepsake. Get them a Bible they'll enjoy reading.
So, there's my plan. It's worked out great with my kids. Along with this, we did The Great Adventure Kids study to help them understand the biblical big picture. That's an essential step for helping kids understand what they're reading. Over the years, mine have built up quite a bit of Bible knowledge. I'm often surprised by how much they know.
The Takeaway:
It's essential to develop a habit of Bible reading in your children to help them stay active in their faith. Studies have shown that regular devotional activities like reading the Bible are significant factors in the lives of religiously active teens. Teens need that concrete, active expression to stay in touch with God.
Bible reading is so vital for every Catholic's spiritual life. We're supposed to love Jesus and have a relationship with him. But how can you love someone you don't even know? The Bible makes relationship with Jesus real because you can truly encounter him there.
What's your experience with children and Bible reading? Do you have any other strategies or plans for helping your kids develop this habit? Let me know in the comments.
Copyright 2013 Marc Cardonella
About the Author
Marc Cardaronella
Marc Cardaronella is the author of Keep Your Kids Catholic: Sharing Your Faith and Making It Stick from Ave Maria Press. Marc directs catechist and discipleship leader formation for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO. He is married, has two teen boys, and writes about Catholic spirituality and how to share the Faith on his personal blog.


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Humax DRT800 TiVo DVR/DVD Recorder At A Glance & Ratings
Video: S-video (2), composite video (2)
Audio: stereo analog (2)
Video: component video (1), S-video (1), composite video (1)
Audio: optical digital (1), stereo analog (1)
IEEE 1394 (1), USB (2), RJ-11 (1), IR output (1), serial output (1), RF input (1), RF output (1)
Compatible Recording Formats: DVD-R/-RW
Compatible Playback Formats: DVD, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/-RW, MPEG-2, MP3, WMA, JPEG, A/V CD
Possible Recording Resolutions: 480i
Possible Playback Resolutions: 480p/480i
Hard Drive Size: 80 gigabytes
Onscreen Guide: TiVo
No. of Internal Tuners: 1
Built-in Decoding: None
Video D/A Converter: 10-bit/54-megahertz
Audio D/A Converter: 24-bit/96-kilohertz
Dimensions (H x W x D, inches): 3.3 x 16.5 x 13.25
Weight (pounds): 9
Price: $499
Ratings: Humax DRT800 TiVo DVR/DVD Recorder
Build Quality: 89
The lightweight unit has an attractive aesthetic
The front-panel display is informative, but you can turn it off if you choose to
Value: 95
Potential rebate from TiVo may lower the price even further
Lacks TiVo Basic, so you'll have to pay $12.95 per month
Features: 93
It's a DVD player/recorder, DVR, and a media server in one
No editing capabilities
Performance: 88
Subpar video processing affects TV viewing in progressive-scan mode
Good DVD resolution
Ergonomics: 95
User interfaces don't get better than TiVo's
The remote lacks backlighting
Overall Rating: 91
The DRT800's price, features, and ease of use make it the perfect choice for average consumers who are ready to bid adieu to their VCRs and enter the digital recording age.
General Information
DRT800 TiVo DVR/DVD Recorder, $499 (check TiVo.com for potential rebates)
Dealer Locator Code HUM


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Zone 20 Parking Structure
(Recommended Option) Parking for the campus tour is recommended in the Lower Campus Structure, Zone 20. Visitors may purchase an all-day (daily) pass for $5.00. Daily permits are cash only. Daily pass must be clearly displayed on dashboard to avoid ticketing.
NOTE: If sign states "LOT FULL", campus tour visitors can still proceed by presenting a PRINTED copy of their confirmation to attendants. Payment is still required.Directions from H-1 Freeway:
- Take exit 24B
- Turn right onto University Ave
- Stay in right lane to turn right onto Dole Street
- Turn right onto Lower Campus Road
- Kiosks will be straight ahead
For GPS:
1430 Lower Campus Road
Honolulu, HI 96822
Zone 20 is a 10-minute walk to the Admissions Office, located in the Queen Lili'uokalani Center for Student Services (QLCSS). Please view section below for a map and video instructions.
Pay-to-Park Stalls
Upper campus parking is available in any of the GREEN pay-to-park visitor stalls on campus (Visitor Parking Map).
Pre-paid parking may be purchased at $3.00 per half-hour increments; however, in an effort to create more available spaces, parking is limited to a 3-hour maximum before 4:00pm on weekdays. Payment is made at the automated Pay Stations located near the stalls in each lot. These Pay Stations accept credit cards (MasterCard and Visa) and cash (quarters, dollar coins, $1, $5, and $10 bills).
While parked, please display on the dashboard of your vehicle the permit ticket issued from the Pay Station. Make sure the expiration time is visible through the windshield to avoid ticketing.
Disability placard holders are required to pay for parking when parked anywhere on campus.
Walking Directions from Structure to Admissions Office
It is about a 10-minute walk from the parking structure to the Admissions Office. Please follow map or watch directional video below for detailed instructions:
Additional Transportation Options
Our public bus transportation, TheBus can identify the best bus number and route to take based on your location. A real-time bus arrival schedule is also available. Download "DaBus" on your mobile device for real-time arrival information and tracking information. The DaBus app also provides options to explore different bus routes and take a virtual ride to better understand its route.
Large, bulky, or dangerous items will not be admitted on board the bus. Check out a list of permissible items.
Taxi/CabTwo popular companies in Honolulu are:
- The CAB :808-422-2222
- Charley's Taxi :808-531-1333 or 1-877-531-2333


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|Project by andyboy
|posted 05-02-2014 12:23 AM
|2838 views
|4 times favorited
|3 comments
I have had a Heath Robinson set up for my wok/bbq for too long and thought it was high time to design a trolley for it. I love cooking outside and when given a chance to fry the steak or fish I would rather have the smell kept out.
This is a project also for my students in door making and hanging. They get to make 4 frames and one becomes a door. So plenty of repetition.
I will post the link to how I made it once I have edited the movie.
Hope all is well out there in LJ's world.
-- Andy Halewoodworker. You can't finish if you don't finish. So finish it, because finish is everything.
3 comments so far
#1 posted 05-02-2014 01:02 AM
Looks like you made it safely from your motorcycling! looking forward to the video! lots of rain here in the states.
-- Cau Haus Designs, Thomas J. Tieffenbacher
#2 posted 05-02-2014 03:49 PM
Very nice idea, Andy. that give me an idea for one that I need in Az. when I get a deck done and buy a grill. It is a very neat enclosure- so clean. Thanks for sharing. It will be a favorite!...........Cheers, Jim
-- Jim Jakosh.....Practical Wood Products...........Learn something new every day!! Variety is the Spice of Life!!
#3 posted 05-02-2014 06:31 PM
Hello Andy
Another great idea
This idea will be copied for another utilisation
Thanks for sharing
-- Diggerjack-France ---The only limit is the limit of the mind and the mind has no limit
Have your say...
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With Propane Service, Every Day is Earth Day
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."
Native American Proverb
Every year on April 22, more than a billion people plant trees, clean up their communities and take energy saving steps at home in honor of Earth Day. At ThompsonGas, we believe Earth Day should be celebrated every day. That's why we believe every household and business should use energy-efficient, safe, and reliable propane service.
Propane is good for the environment. As an approved, clean fuel listed in the 1990 Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy Act of 1992, propane is one of the cleanest burning of all fossil fuels. Propane is nontoxic, so it's not harmful to soil or water. Burning coal to generate electricity releases carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the environment. Per pound of fuel burned, coal emits more than twice the amount of carbon dioxide as propane. By opting for propane gas service instead of electricity, customers can cut emissions and help preserve the environment.
Propane home appliances offer easy, practical solutions for homeowners who want to leave a greener mark on the planet. Here's how:
- Propane tankless water heaters heat water on demand instead of storing it in a tank. This can reduce wasted standby energy by up to 20 percent.
- Propane furnaces are more efficient than oil furnaces. Propane furnaces can reach efficiency levels of more than 95 percent, while peak efficiency for an oil furnace is 80-85 percent.
- Electric water heaters are responsible for 2.5 times more greenhouse gases than propane furnaces.
This Earth Day, we encourage consumers to consider converting from oil or electric to propane gas service instead. Better for the environment and better for the consumer, propane service is an environmentally friendly, alternative energy choice. To learn more about propane gas service and the environment, call ThompsonGas today at 800.768.6612!


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Annual Report of the Director 2012
The Director's Annual Report provides an overview of the Centre's accomplishments for the previous year and a summary of the Centre's financial and administrative operations. The Annual Report is available in PDF form.
World TB Day 2014 - Progress towards TB elimination in the EU
World TB Day 2014 - Progress towards TB elimination in the EU
ECDC public health microbiology strategy 2018–2022
This report outlines the microbiology strategy as well as actions, outcome indicators and performance targets for the delivery and evaluation of its execution over the period 2018–2022.
ECDC Country Support Strategy
Europe's defences against communicable diseases is not stronger than its weakest links. ECDC has an important complementary role to support the efforts of the Commission and the Member States to ensure that capacities are adequate to meet the needs.
Strategies for disease-specific programmes 2010–2013
This document sets out the strategic priorities for all six ECDC disease-specific programmes from 2010 to 2013 based on a short description of the epidemiological background, context in which ECDC works on that specific disease or disease group, and defined gaps that require action at the European Union (EU) level.
Health communication strategy 2010–2013
ECDC's strategic communication objectives are to raise awareness of issues related to communicable diseases among specific target EU audiences; and to establish ECDC's reputation as the leading European expert authority in the field.
Surveillance of communicable diseases in the European Union - A long-term strategy: 2008-2013
This long-term vision and strategy on the future surveillance of communicable diseases in the EU has been developed to help direct the decisions for the long-term development of the European surveillance system.
ECDC Public health training strategy 2015
The Public Health Training Strategy proposes three strategic objectives in the context of ECDC's corporate mission and the legal context within which the Centre works.
Annual Budget 2018
Statement of revenue and expenditure of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for the financial year 2018 (2018/C 108/07)
External Link
ECDC Founding Regulation: Regulation (EC) No 851/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 april 2004 establishing a European Centre for disease prevention and control
This Regulation establishes the European agency for disease prevention and control, its mission, tasks and organisation.


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Teddy-Thon 2019
Thank you for your generous pledge and for helping us to make a meaningful difference in our community.
Teddython 2019
At Hot 91.9FM, community is at the heart of everything we do and it's through Hot Cares that we're able to meaningfully touch the lives of hundreds individuals in need. It has become our birthday tradition, to host a 12-hour telethon fundraiser, which we like to call our Teddy-thon, that garners the much-needed funding for all of our Hot Cares initiatives. In 2017 just over R1 million was pledged and in 2018 the bar was raised with the target of R1.5 million and we were delighted when we exceeded our target and received over R2.1 million in pledges.
In 2019, we are proud to continue this tradition because we know and we've experienced first-hand that giving back is the greatest gift of all. We will be celebrating our 5th birthday with our Teddy-thon target set at R2 million. Come Friday 15th November, it's all hands-on deck from 6 AM to 6:30 PM with non-stop fundraising planned at the Centre Court in Sandton City. Manned by some of Joburg's best known celebrities, corporates and Hot 91.9 FM presenters, the phone lines will be a conduit for our loyal listeners, friends and partners to help us to continue making a difference in the lives of those around us.
And, being Joburg's Best Old Skool and R&B station, we've made sure that the entertainment is as awesome as the Teddy-thon initiative, with top local talent performing during the day.
Woven into the fabric of everything we do, every year Hot Cares touches as many lives as possible. We also reach out to numerous organisations who share our vision and passion for making a difference.
- Bursaries at all levels of education
- Assistance for severe medical conditions
- Aid to victims of crime and/or natural disasters.
- Renovations to schools, community and ECD centres
- A weekly soup kitchen restoring dignity to the homeless
- Food and financial assistance for animals in distress
- Support and comfort to the elderly
A core focus of Hot Cares is sustainability and we believe strongly in the spirit of Ubuntu
"I am what I am because of who we all are." Together we can reach our goal of making a difference in as many lives as possible.
We're inviting you to contact us to 'Plan your Pledge'. If you, your company, or someone you know of is in a position to help in any way, please get hold of us so that we can open the channels of giving and changing lives for the better, together.
To make a pledge or for further information please email Hot Cares email@example.com


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You are here
Vitamin D tablets may help reduce asthma attacks, review finds
[LONDON] The world's 300 million asthma sufferers could help reduce their risk of severe asthma attacks by taking vitamin D supplements as well as their standard asthma medicines, according to the findings of a review of international trial evidence.
The analysis - which covered trials in the United States, Canada, India, Japan, Poland and Britain - found that taking vitamin D tablets cut the risk of severe asthma attacks needing hospital treatment to around 3 per cent from 6 per cent.
Adrian Martineau, a professor of respiratory infection and immunity at Queen Mary University of London who led the work, said the results were exciting, though also advised caution.
"The findings relating to severe asthma attacks come from just three trials in which the patients were mostly adults with mild or moderate asthma," he said. More trials are needed in children and in adults with severe asthma, he said, to find out if vitamin D could also benefit these patients.
Dr Martineau further said it was not yet clear whether the effect of vitamin D tablets was across all patients, or only in those who had low vitamin D levels to start with.
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Tell us what you think. Email us at firstname.lastname@example.com
"Further analyses to investigate this are ongoing and results should be available in the next few months." Erika Kennington, head of research for the charity Asthma UK, said the findings showed promise, but more evidence was needed for them to be conclusive.
"With so many different types of asthma, it could be that Vitamin D may benefit some people with the condition but not others," she said.
Asthma is a chronic disease that affects around 300 million people around the world, often giving symptoms of wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath.
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes


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12 September 2019
In this webinar, Stuart McCallum and James Tetley, two RSM partners whose sector experience has been built over many years by serving the needs of their food and drink clients, talk through the innovation trends currently taking place in the industry and give some examples of how some of these activities can qualify for R&D tax relief.
23 July 2018
New statistics reveal that HMRC paid out £868m in creative sector tax relief during 2017/18 (£3.7bn since the reliefs were introduced).
27 February 2018
New data published by HMRC has highlighted significant disparities in R&D tax relief claims across different UK regions and sectors.
James is a tax partner based in our Southampton office. He is experienced in advising owner managed, private equity backed and larger listed businesses.