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The 4 best bike shop cafes in the Twin Cities
If you're in search of evidence that Minneapolis is a world-class cycling city, look no further than the fact that the community supports not just dozens of bike shops, but also a bunch that double as cafes.
And these bean-meets-bike hybrids don't coast on their dual nature like they're barreling down Cathedral Hill, either—they're worth pedaling to even if your ride's just fine but you're craving a mug of chai, capable of mending squeaky chains and rumbling stomachs alike.
Freewheel Bike's Coaster Brake Cafe
You can't beat Freewheel for convenience—assuming you're coming by bike—since its doors open right up to the Midtown Greenway. That's probably why there's always such a wide cross-section of cyclists here, from spandex-encased speed racers locking up by the Greenway-adjacent patio to kiddos in hot-pink helmets being unzipped from bike trailers. Inside, Peace Coffee is poured into massive mugs, and sandwiches and scones disappear in seconds, either down the gullet of a hungry rider or into a commuter's backpack for a later lunch. Whether you're cruising in for a relaxed breakfast or taking your treat back to the trail, don't hit the road again without getting a "monster cookie." 1812 S. Sixth St., Minneapolis; 612-238-4447, freewheelbike.com
One On One Bicycle Studio and Cafe
When we say "Come to One On One for the repairs, stay for the pastries," we mean it. On-the-spot service at this North Loop staple is typically so speedy that they'll have your flat fixed before you can ask for a flat white, and your croissant might end up keeping you around longer than the mechanic does. Soups, Surkdyk's sandwiches, and a daily selection of Black Walnut pastries—bacon cheddar buttermilk scones, a toasty, flaky almond croissant—make up the food menu and pair perfectly with a creamy cappuccino while you wait. Afterward, descend into the legendary basement "junkyard," where you'll find one of the best used bike selections in town. 117 Washington Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612-371-9565, oneononebike.com
Angry Catfish Bicycle and Coffee Bar
How serious is Angry Catfish about coffee? Enough that owner Josh Klauck opened a second, bike shop-less cafe—Northern Coffeeworks—in downtown Minneapolis last year. In a few months, GM Rhea Hartford will start leading coffee classes, and there's even a remodel coming soon; like a fat bike tire on a Barbie tricycle frame, the cafe side is getting a bit too big for its space. Angry Catfish coffee is strong but balanced, the atmosphere industrial but cozy, the baristas exacting but consistently grinning—macho bike culture doesn't rear its cycling-capped head, and there ain't one angry employee in the bunch. What makes the place fun is that you can almost forget you're in a bike shop, so homey is the atmosphere—until you look up from your laptop to see sunlight dancing off the frames suspended overhead. 4208 28th Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-722-1538, angrycatfishbicycle.com
Venture North Bike Walk & Coffee
As much a community gathering hub as it is a bike shop, Venture North has been slinging drinks and building bikes in north Minneapolis since 2011. The beans are local—sourced from Up Coffee in Northeast—as is the art. And the mission is, too. The Harrison shop runs All About Bikes, a mechanic course where north Minneapolis youth learn all about fixing and maintaining bicycles. When the program ends, two even get to stay on staff, honing their wrench-wielding skills as paid apprentices. If you're not based in North (or aren't a youth), anyone over 16 can learn some of those skills at a free, volunteer-led open shop each week—or just venture north, as the name suggests, to sip smoothies over a borrowed board game. 1830 Glenwood Ave., Minneapolis; 612-377-3029, venturenorthbwc.com
Deals on wheels
By Theresa J. Beckhusen
Wallet a little light from pouring your hard-earned cash into parts and repairs? Finally splurged on that All City Macho King you've been eyeing? Let your bike pay you back a bit with the cyclist-friendly food and drink deals at these Twin Cities businesses.
(* Bicycle Benefits deal. Cyclists who purchase a $5 sticker at participating businesses receive these—and other!—discounts. Find a full list at bicyclebenefits.org.)
Pizza Nea
There's nothing like a cold beer after a sweaty summer ride, and if you pedal to Pizza Nea on Thursdays, helmet in hand, you're eligible for a free one. 306 E. Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-331-9298, pizzanea.com
Birchwood Café*
Show your Bicycle Benefits sticker to the folks at Birchwood Cafe to get $5 off a purchase of $25. Get all the savory waffles! 3311 E. 25th St., Minneapolis; 612-722-4474, birchwoodcafe.com
Dumpling gives cyclists a 50 percent discount on dumplings for pedaling up. 4004 Minnehaha Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-724-8795, dumplingmpls.com
At Nightingale, your Bicycle Benefits sticker furnishes a free drink with a $10 purchase. Good thing their cheese plate starts at $13. 2551 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-354-7060 nightingalempls.com
Quixotic Coffee*
Pedal up to this busy Highland spot with your BB sticker, and you'll get 20 percent off your order of food and/or cold brew. 769 Cleveland Ave. S., St. Paul; 651-699-5448, quixoticcoffee.com
Mojo Monkey Donuts*
How does a BOGO donuts deal sound? That's exactly what your sticker gets you at Mojo Monkey donuts—an excellent idea if you want to work your way through the shop's many, many sugary creations. 1169 Seventh St. W., St Paul; 651-224-0142, mojomonkey.biz
Summit Brewing Company*
Summit Brewing has a BOGO deal, too: Show your sticker, grab two beers for the price of one, and cool off on the breezy patio (or in the freshly renovated taproom). 910 Montreal Cir., St. Paul; 651-265-7800, summitbrewing.com
Tattersall Distilling
Don't want a donut or a pint? How about a stiff drink? Every Sunday until September 30, cycle to Tattersall's cocktail room, show your helmet at the bar, and buy one drink to get another on the house. 1620 Central Ave. NE #150, Minneapolis; 612-584-4152, tattersalldistilling.com
Tin Whiskers Brewing*
Bike on up to Tin Whiskers, sticker on display, and you'll receive a dollar off any pint of beer. 125 Ninth St. E., St. Paul; 651-330-4734, twbrewing.com
Everest on Grand*
Everest on Grand offers cyclists 10 percent off their order (which should include the yak momos and the eggplant curry). They also have tons of options for vegans. 1278 Grand Ave., St. Paul; 651-696-1666, everestongrand.net
Cruise around to rest of our 2018 Bike Issue:
- The 8 best bike rides in Minnesota
- The 8 worst bike lanes in Minneapolis & St. Paul
- This summer's 7 best bike events
- Dockless rideshare bikes are coming!
- Lose the Lycra: Local designers talk fashionable, practical bikewear
- Revisiting the Cleveland Avenue bike lane battle, two years later
- Everything you need to know about E-bikes


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"Love of wood is something that all mankind has in common. Regardless of where people come from, they cannot stop themselves from letting their hands stroke a piece of wood, hold it, sniff it, and experience the material."
Edward studied at the London College of Furniture where he pursued his passion for working with solid wood. He then began restoring antique furniture and acquired a knowledge of traditional wood finishes working at Rupert Bevan Ltd. He initially specialized in gilding and painting before going on to tackle everything from French polish to modern lacquers.
In 1995, these skills brought him to work in Vietnam, where he helped train local artisans in specialist finishes for the export furniture industry.
The result of this first visit to Vietnam was an enduring interest in the country and the endless manufacturing possibilities it presented. Many trips to Asia followed, where he sourced products and designed for local manufacturers in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and India. But a strong desire to create something different still lingered, something that made use of the materials, recipes and techniques of old to bring out the natural beauty of solid wood furniture.
Justin was born near Sherwood Forest, Nottingham and growing up, shared the same passion for design and nature as Edward. He first started producing live-edge furniture, which makes use of the natural shape of the tree, while living in Hanoi in 1998. On a trip to a craft village north of the city he met Duc, a like-minded artisan who turned his designs into reality. They would spend days looking for the perfect slabs of timber for a particular piece.
By 2005, Justin's quest for the ultimate timber source for his live-edge furniture was bordering upon obsession and had taken him to see timber merchants from Croatia to Canada. Sustainability, large diameters, correct kiln drying, beautiful colour and a strong definition between the mature heart-wood and the young sapwood were just some of the qualities he was searching for.
So, when Justin and Edward met in 2003, it didn't take long for their interest in solid wood, their shared love of design and passion for sustainability to spark a firm friendship.
In 2007 Square Roots was born, with the aim of bringing together this unique combination; the secrets of the alchemist finisher and the wisdom of the woodsman.
The inspiration was to marry Edward and Justin's skill-sets, which dovetail so well. The mission was to create modern furniture with clean lines, and a natural, organic spirit. This philosophy became known as Square Roots.
They are inspired by mid-twentieth century designers, in particular master craftsmen such as Hans Wegner and George Nakashima.
Using natural forms and embracing the characteristics of solid hardwood, many designs include the natural 'live' or 'waney' edges of the tree and use large sections of timber. All of them incorporate variations in grain, colour and texture.
'Keeping designs simple and light is the most effective way to spotlight the soul of the tree. By balancing the flowing beauty of nature with finely engineered structures we can showcase man's understanding of the rational and the aesthetic' – JUSTIN
'It's inspiring to think that hardwood has been used as a building material since the dawn of time and the joinery techniques we use follow a tradition dating back hundreds of years. Today it's still one of the most ecologically sound and beautiful of materials to use' – EDWARD
"The best friend of earth and of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth."
Square Roots takes great pride in understanding oak in all its complexity. By selecting the best quality and most environmentally responsible suppliers they produce an exceptional quality product.
The upland Burgundy region of France has cool climatic conditions with forests that produce harder, heavier timbers. This French oak has distinctive grain patterns and a beautiful pale colour. The wider girths and larger lateral limbs result in characterful wood that is rich in tannins.
Justin's travels led him to this region where he found two mills that are certified by the PEFC forestry management system (www.pefc.org). By working directly with these mills, Square Roots achieves two of its core aims; procurement of the best quality timber and complete confidence in the sustainable management of that timber source.
The integrity of Square Roots' products is in stark contrast to much of the other oak furniture on the market, which is comes from smaller, less mature trees that are inferior in strength and are not managed sustainably.
Wood constantly reacts to the environment that surrounds it, by attempting to create a balance between the moisture in the air and the moisture inside its cells. This causes movement across the grain. Allowing for this movement is absolutely crucial to a well-engineered design.
Maintaining the right environment is also critical to the long-term health of Square Roots furniture. The coldest winter months are the most important to monitor. This is when showrooms and homes are sealed from the elements and heating is applied to the sealed air. This can lower the relative humidity of the air to as low as 6%. The moisture content of a dining table top will be around 12%, so moisture will leave the timber to join the atmosphere and the timber will shrink.
In order to prevent timber from drying out during winter, it is essential that rooms are humidified. This can be achieved with special humidifiers but also by simple measures such as leaving out bowls of water to evaporate.
In particular, be sure that items are never placed on top of under floor heating, next to radiators and air conditioning units or in direct sunlight.
In many cases small cracks which open up in dry conditions, will close again when the correct humidity is achieved. Always remember that solid wood is not static, it is a living, breathing material that adapts to the world around it. Small hairline cracks should not be feared, they are to be expected during the lifetime of a piece and are part of the nature of the material. When treated correctly Square Roots furniture will last for generations.
Many Square Roots designs use recycled, sand cast iron. This involves the collection of old engine blocks, obsolete machines and disused equipment. This material is melted at over 1500 degrees in a furnace before being set in carefully crafted sand molds. The traditional process is highly skilled and can produce a great variety of shapes and effects.
The metal is then finished by oxidizing the surface for a natural black paitina or other effects are created by traditional gilding techniques.
Solid brass is also cast or cut by hot wire to form small components before being patinated into a variety of colours.
"There are no styles modern or traditional, only good, bad, honest or dishonest ."
Fumed oak became a popular finish during the Arts and Craft movement in the UK more than 150 years ago. We use the same traditional process to create a warm light brown version of the finish that accentuates the heart and sapwood telling the story of the tree. The colour penetrates deep into the wood fibres and is then sealed and protected by two coats of oil to ensure a long-lasting finish.
Rich browns and oranges are conjured from our oak by reacting the tannins and revealing beautiful depths not apparent in the natural state of the wood. Developed from the traditions of artisan finishers it is exceptional and unique to Square Roots. Two coats of oil are used to seal and protect ensuring a long-lasting finish.
Created by a special process that colours the natural tannins present in the wood fibres, our finish produces a beautiful ebony black with a natural depth and variation that is unique and full of character. Sealed and protected with two coats of oil, our sustainable oak provides an ebony colour as fine as the ebony timber that inspired it.
Creating a natural, unfinished look on oak that retains the original pale colour takes particular skill and a carefully hand rubbed finish. For our standard raw we source a Belgian made finishing oil that bonds with the wood fibres and remains virtually invisible leaving all the natural character to shine through.
Inspired by the ancient Japanese technique called Shou Sugi Ban, Square Roots Burnt Oak is created to mimic the same colour and texture created by burning the wood surface. The resulting finish is hard wearing with a deep, dark brown burnt oak colour. The top surface is protected with a layer of wood finishing oil
Our dark fumed follows the traditions of the Arts and Craft movement started in the UK more than 150 years ago. A special formula penetrates deep within the wood fibres to create a gorgeous honeyed brown colour that reflects the strengths of the tannins present and to show how the oak has grown. It is sealed and protected by two coats of oil to ensure a long-lasting finish.
The finishes that distinguish Square Roots' designs have been developed over years of experimentation. Some are based on old recipes handed down by antique restorers while others are entirely new, developed in the Square Roots factory.
Oak is very high in tannins, which gives scope for the creation of interesting colours and effects. The alchemy lies in combining these with special chemical preparations, which then react to create many beautiful finishes. The advantage of these processes is that the colour penetrates deep into the wood and it won't scratch or rub off over time. Each individual piece has its own unique look, based onthe grain patterns and the strength of the natural tannins present in the timber.
To enhance and protect the colours created by the finishing processes, the best imported European products are used as topcoats. The preference is for hardwearing finishing oils rather than lacquers. These vegetable-based oils are blended with modern resins to give a natural look but with greatly improved performance. They offer good water and scuff resistance, they don't chip or flake and are easy to maintain and repair.
Oak darkens over time and when cared for correctly will last a lifetime, developing a deeper, evermore beautiful patina.
"Art is the overflow of emotion into action."
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
To clean or wipe up any spills use a soft, damp cloth with mild detergent. Never leave spillages – remove them immediately with a blotting action. For protection against heat and liquids use tablemats and coasters. Any objects on the surface need to be moved regularly to avoid shading and when writing, a mat should be used to protect surfaces from marking.
Every six to twelve months, depending on usage, the surface can be rubbed back lightly with a mild abrasive. We recommend a fine scotch brite pad (No. 96) or some fine
wire wool (000 Grade). Then apply a thin coat of furniture oil with a soft cloth, being careful to keep the application even, with coverage between 80 – 100 ml per square meter. The oil will be completely dry after 3-4 hours and can then be lightly rubbed again to even out any streaks or smears.
If damage occurs, the oiled finish can easily be repaired. A dent, scratch or stain should be carefully sanded back using sand paper. Make sure to sand an area around the
damage and not just the small damaged spot, as this will make it easier to match in the repair. Clean away all dust, and using a soft cloth, apply an even coat of oil over the
whole area. When this is dry, check to see if it needs another light coat to match the surrounding area. Finally rub the whole surface to create a seamless repair.
"If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old."

subset: commoncrawl


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Hoi Polloi: A Casual Choir for Community & Collaboration
Posted on: Sat 18 Nov 2017
Hoi Polloi describes itself as slightly organised group, singing. They bring an ensemble together, learn a song (including harmonies) and perform – all in a matter of hours!
On Sunday 19 November, Hoi Polloi is holding a fundraiser for the Port Adelaide Artists' Forum at the Gallery Yampu Old Port Sailing Club from 3pm. Click here for further information.
Lisa caught up with founder of Hoi Polloi Adelaide, Gina Zoia, to chat about the group, its goals to bring people together and the weekend's event. Head to the Hoi Polloi Facebook page to find out more.
Produced by Lisa Harper Campbell
Image supplied by and used with permission from Gina Zoia of Hoi Polloi Adelaide


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Labor is provided free of charge for the service of glass, windows, screens, hardware, and installation. This warranty is only valid for products installed by California Window Masters (CSLB license no. 972660)
California Window Masters warranties all installations for as long as you own your home. This warranty can also be transferred once to a new home owner at any time.
This warranty does not cover acts of God such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, etc., acts of vandalism, building settlement, misuse, or abuse.
California Window Masters makes available to the owner of the residence in which the products were installed a Lifetime Limited Warranty, warranting against glass breakage for as long as the property owner (single family, owner occupied) shall own or reside in the home in which the products were installed. This warranty is valid only if the windows are installed on the premises of the original installation. Removal or any altering of the windows voids this warranty.
Tempered glass, specialty art glass, triple strength, and triple pan glass is not covered in this warranty and will incur additional charges. This warranty does not cover acts of God such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, etc., acts of vandalism, building settlement, misuse or abuse. For further details please contact a California Window Masters associate.
Condensation accumulation on the surface of the glass units is the natural result of excessive moisture in the home and does not indicate a defective product or faulty installation.
Important: This warranty is fully transferable at any time so as long as a written request for transfer along with new homeowners name is submitted to California Window Masters.
The warranties set forth in the forgoing provisions of the certificate are limited to their precise terms and provide exclusive remedies expressly in lieu of all other warranties. California Window Masters is not liable to anyone for incidental or consequential damages for breach of any written or implied warranty for its.
Our window replacement experts focus on customer service based on integrity, trust and loyalty, offering you the best brands, products and services available. We select only the best and most reputable top brands to ensure your new vinyl windows and doors are a perfect fit:
Call us or go online and schedule a free in-home estimate to learn more about we can craft your replacement windows and doors.


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ICSA Ireland
04 July 2016
The Central Bank recently published a paper entitled 'Notification Process for (Re)Insurance Undertakings when Outsourcing Critical or Important Functions or Activities under Solvency II' (the Guidance). The Guidance is designed to assist (re)insurers in complying with Regulation 51(3) of the European Union (Insurance and Reinsurance) Regulations 2015 (the Regulations).
This provides that (re)insurers must notify the Central Bank, in a timely manner, before outsourcing critical or important functions or activities (CIFA) and regarding subsequent material developments with respect to those functions or activities.
Although notification is required, the Central Bank's Guidance points out that this does not amount to a supervisory pre-approval. According to the Central Bank, prior notification provides it with an opportunity to discuss any concerns with the notifying (re)insurer in the event that the outsourcing appears not to comply with the outsourcing requirements and, if necessary, the opportunity to object to the outsourcing where the Bank's concerns have not been addressed.
Factors for consideration prior to outsourcing
Section 5 of the Guidance sets out a detailed list of requirements for (re)insurers to comply with prior to any outsourcing arrangement coming into effect.
This includes factors to consider in respect of the outsourcing arrangement and sample areas to consider for due diligence when selecting a service provider. The Guidance also advises (re)insurers to have appropriate documentary evidence showing that the relevant factors and due diligence considerations have been taken into account.
Form, content and timing of the notification
Notification to the relevant supervisory team in the Central Bank should take the form of letter or email, signed by the CEO or Captive Manager of the (re)insurer and provided at least six weeks before the outsourcing is due to come into effect. If the Central Bank does not raise any concerns in advance of the date the outsourcing is due to come into effect, the (re)insurer may assume that the outsourcing is acceptable to the Central Bank.
The content of the notification must include a description of the scope and rationale for the outsourcing, the service provider's name and a declaration that the (re)insurer has taken the factors referred to in Section 5 of the Guidance into account.
Where subsequent material developments in relation to the outsourcing occur, a further notification should be made to the Central Bank promptly, in written form, in accordance with the requirements for the initial notification. This includes all developments which are relevant for the supervisory process.
Where the proposed outsourcing relates to one of the four key functions of the system of governance, the Guidance states that additional information is required, including:
For functions other than the four key functions of the system of governance, the Central Bank refers (re)insurers to EIOPA's Guidelines on the System of Governance to assist them in determining for themselves whether an activity is critical or important. This determination should be on the basis of whether the activity concerned is essential to the operations of the (re)insurer as it would be unable to deliver its services to policyholders without it.
Wider issues
A question has arisen as to whether the Guidance has any relevance to existing outsourcing arrangements.
Article 274(3) of the Solvency II Delegated Act (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35) states that (re)insurers must undertake a due diligence in relation to six specific matters when choosing the service provider for a CIFA. The term 'when choosing the service provider' suggests that the due diligence should be undertaken before the appointment of the service provider. Therefore it would seem that the provisions do not apply to existing service providers of CIFA.
Furthermore, Article 274(4) lists 12 requirements which must be included in the written outsourcing agreements 'to be concluded between the insurance or reinsurance undertaking and the service provider'. This language also suggests that these provisions should apply only on a prospective basis.
However, in a response to a paper on the subject prepared by certain industry members of the Solvency II Implementation Forum, the Central Bank has indicated that it is of the view that the provisions in existing outsourcing agreements which continue after 31 December 2015 should have been subject to a review to ensure compliance with the requirements of Solvency II.
The Central Bank's position is that all existing outsourcing agreements should contain the 12 requirements which are listed in Article 274 of the Solvency II Delegated Act. Moreover, the Central Bank has stated that it takes a similar position with regard to Article 274(3), which deals with pre-contract due diligence assessments.
The Central Bank's interpretation seems at variance with the language of paragraphs Article 274(3) and (4) as set out above. Notwithstanding this, (re)insurers should be mindful of the Central Bank's position.
Action required
The purpose of the Guidance is to assist (re)insurers in their compliance with the obligations under the Regulations. It is not an exhaustive analysis of every aspect of outsourcing under Solvency II. However, the Guidance does provide (re)insurers with direction in terms of the Central Bank's expectations regarding the mechanics of the notification process (as well as the content of the notification). It is important for (re)insurers outsourcing critical or important functions or activities to review and embed this process as necessary within their compliance frameworks.
Browse the topics from Agenda, your regulatory insight into Ireland.
Get the latest updates from Agenda and browse past editions.


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Lean PCOS Update
Lean PCOS Update
My yoga journey really began with my journey with PCOS. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is an umbrella diagnosis for female endocrine disorders. What happens is there is a misfiring or a lack of firing on the hormonal levels that impacts a woman's reproductive cycle. This disorder is much more common in heavier women than lighter. My main symptom was no periods.
I spent most of my teens and half of my twenties going years without periods. All my friends thought this was awesome but for me it made me think of my fertility, if my uterus was healthy and the crazy hairtruism I had experience (Literally one chin hair turned into a beard!).
I jumped at any diet, nutrition plan, exercise regimen, medication you could think of. Here are a few things I've done:
- Lost weight
- Gained weight
- Gluten free
- Paleo (previously adkins now called keto) diet
- Pescitarian
- Vegetarian (I could give up me just not butter lol)
- Omega 3 supplements
- Pregnitude (Myo-Inositol & Folic Acid)
- Parasite cleanse
- Probiotic cleanse
- Spiritual cleanse (I had some clean my aura)
- Acupuncture
- Birth control
- And much more LOL…
These are just to name a few… I started with birth control as a teen to get a period and quickly stopped having periods on birth control. I tried BC (birth control) several more time but tried the more holistic route. For the natural route I would get a period but could not sustain one. That seems to always be my problem
After doing all of this. I found something that works. 15 years after my first period I now have regular-ish periods. And this is GREAT for me. What did I do?
I had a long (hard) talk with my gynecologist who wanted me to go back on birth control. I was very reluctant. Our compromise actually ended up being my solution. I take BC pills four months out of the year and I have successfully been able to have a period at the end of each BC pack. Perhaps giving myself a break from the BC (moderation) work better for my Lean PCOS body than taking BC every month.
I just wanted to provide my PCOSisters an update and encouragement throughout your journey. This may work for you or it maynot. I have 15 years in the game and want you to know there is a bright side on the other side. I'll be bringing you weekly updates and some of the methods I've tried. I hope you can use some of all of it.
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When: Sunday December 16th 2012 @ 12:00 NOON
Where: Mont Clare Temple 6910 W. Grand Ave, Chicago, Illinois.
Please join us as we bring in the Holiday spirit with Family & Brothers at our 1st ever Pot Luck Christmas lunch.
Bring a dish of your choice or a dessert to share with all. Santa will stop by so bring your camera.
-WBro. Ivan, Worshipful Master.
Please RSVP by Dec 1st email me.


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This is a nice little Bob Wyatt pattern that Hans ties up. It's a pattern I have sort of avoided tying in the past because it looked a bit tricky to get the wing right, but Hans makes it look quite easy and I'm going to re-visit the technique.
DHE (Deer Hair Emerger)
Hook: Partridge GRS 6A #12
Thread: Uni-thread 6/0, Brown
Rib: Tying thread tag end
Wing: Deer hair, natural
Abdomen: Hare, dyed olive (or color to match the natural)
Thrax: Hare's ear, natural
Check out more from Hans at http://www.danica.com/flytier or his Youtube page – http://www.youtube.com/user/HansWeilenmann


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Experience the incredibly beautiful and cruel world of Utopia. Evolution Heroes of Utopia is a game of a new generation, designed in the style of a revolutionary new genre, the "RPG-clicker". It's easy to learn and lets you quickly plunge into a vast world full of adventure and intrigue, dangerous enemies and various weapons, sinister plans and epic bosses. As you try to rescue Utopia, you will encounter five unique factions, learn dozens of different technologies, learn how to create weapons and possess psychic abilities. But most of all you will meet the twenty legendary heroes of Utopi.
Evolution Heroes of Utopia is a new clicker RPG by the same folks that made Evolution Battle for Utopia. Graphically, the games are similar, but the method of play is completely different. You and your heroes fight against all manner of bosses, with tapping as your main method of attack, and you collect biofuel and several other forms of currency that you can use to power up. Read on for some tips and tricks for Evolution Heroes of Utopia.
To download this game on your computer PC or laptop you need a good Android/ iOS game emulator which will help you run this game on any version of Windows or Mac smoothly.
Here is the list of some of the best Android emulators given below with the download link.
1- BlueStacks – Download Link
2- YouWave – Download Link
3- Andy Player – Download Link
4- iPadian Player – Download Link
Now you will need to select any of the above mentioned Android/ iOS Emulator from the given list and follow the instructions given in the download link to successfully download and install Evolution Heroes of Utopia for PC Windows 10/8/7 Desktop PC or Laptop.
The simpler and best way is to download Evolution Heroes of Utopia
1- Download BlueStacks player from here–Link
2- Open the app
3- Click on the search and paste the game name Evolution Heroes of Utopia
4- Once it shows up, Just click on the install button to install the game on your PC.
That's it. If you have any other player installed you can follow the instructions given in the download link.
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Robotics and Cyber SecurityTuesday, November 29th, 2016
Many thanks our guest blogger, Mark McCourt, of Allied Universal
The emergence of smart technology into the security sector is changing risk management economics and strategy in unique ways. Such technology leverages information management at its core for a more effective security program. Case in point is the burgeoning role of autonomous data machines (ADMs or robots) that are purposely built for security.
Will the advent of robots eliminate physical security officers at a site? Not any time soon, but robots are a real force multiplier by adding effectiveness and efficiency to security programs. The use of ADM technology augments security personnel by providing "smart eyes and ears" that enable security officers to manage information and communicate quickly and effectively.
Threats, crime and mischief do not operate on a timetable, nor do they sleep. Robots provide 24/7 autonomous patrolling and monitoring including autonomous recharging without human intervention, so that a company's assets can be secure 24/7.
Hence, the new partnership formed this year between Allied Universal and Knightscope has brought this sophisticated technology to California clients and it is expected to be offered nationally in 2017.
The reasons to include robots in your security program include:
- Cost savings—cost reduction without sacrificing security coverage.
- Constant coverage—24/7 physical security presence with autonomous patrolling and monitoring.
- Force multiplier—More effective information sourcing and sharing, accessible in real time from the desk or on the run.
- Monitoring, detection and alert capabilities—Human error is reduced with improved incident and response resolution time with analytics, information sharing and reporting capabilities.
- Works with new platforms—A mobile app allows security officers to engage with the robots and use them as tools to cover more ground and do their jobs more effectively.
Leveraging robotic technology with manpower is the latest trend in asset protection. Blending the technology with people may prove to pay off for clients in the long run. It's also a methodology more industries may soon tout as the new normal.
Remember that safety is a daily priority for everyone – in the 3D world as well as cyberspace. A convenient and affordable way to make sure you are prepared for disasters and emergencies of virtually every kind is to subscribe to the Allied Universal Training System by Allied Universal Fire/Life Safety Services, which has been designed to help improve and save lives. For more information about the best system out there, or to subscribe, click here.


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Looking for a quick lunch of soup, salad or a sandwich? Maybe you ought to think Vietnamese. Perhaps an exquisite vegetarian meal? Well, then, why not think Vietnamese? Or is tonight time for multiple dishes, contrasting flavors, varied textures and exotic ingredients? Once again, it's a good time to think Vietnamese. Or perhaps something healthy and "lite?" Guess what: think Vietnamese.
While Vietnamese food has long been appreciated in France, the former colonial power, U.S. residents are only beginning to discover its many fine features. Vietnamese chefs like to refer to their cooking as "the nouvelle cuisine of Asia." And indeed, with the heavy reliance on rice, wheat and legumes, abundance of fresh herbs and vegetables, minimal use of oil, and treatment of meat as a condiment rather than a main course, Vietnamese food has to be among the healthiest on the planet.
Regional Cuisine
Cuisine in this country of 70,000,000 people differs strikingly between the north, south and central regions, but two key features stand out. First, rice plays an essential role in the nation's diet as it does throughout southeast Asia. But this is also a noodle-crazy population, regularly downing them for breakfast, lunch and dinner, in homes, restaurants and at roadside stands. Noodles are eaten wet and dry, in soup or beside soup, and are made in different shapes and thicknesses of wheat, rice and mung beans. Secondly, no meal is complete without fresh vegetables and herbs. A key portion of every meal, north, south and central, is a platter containing cucumbers, bean threads, slices of hot pepper, and sprigs of basil, coriander, mint and a number of related herbs found principally in southeast Asian markets.
As in any country, Vietnam's cuisine reflects its geography and history. Geographically, it consists of two great river deltas separated by a belt of mountains. Vietnamese describe their country as two great rice baskets hung on either end of a carrying pole. The Red River Delta surrounding Hanoi provides rice for the residents of North Vietnam. The tremendously fertile Mekong Delta, centered by Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) produces rice plus a wide variety of fruits and vegetables both for itself and the central strip of the country whose principal city is the former imperial Hue.
A former colony of China, Vietnamese adopted Confucianism, Buddhism, chopsticks and the wok. But in spite of centuries of domination, Vietnamese food retained its own character. Due to its proximity to the border, north Vietnam reflects more Chinese influence than central or south. Soy sauce rarely appears in Vietnamese dishes except in the north. It is replaced by what is perhaps the most important ingredient in all of Vietnamese cuisine — fish sauce or nuoc mam. Stir frying plays a relatively minor role in Vietnam and once again is seen more in the north than elsewhere. Frying in general is less important than simmering.
Northern cuisine exhibits fewer herbs and vegetables than the other regions because its climate is less hospitable than that of the Mekong Delta. For heat, north Vietnamese cooks rely on black pepper rather than chilies. Residents also exhibit a particular fondness for beef, picked up from the Mongolians during their 13th century invasions.
The royal tradition in the central region goes back beyond the more recent Vietnamese monarchy to the ancient kingdom of Champa. The royal taste reveals itself in the preference for many small dishes placed on the table at once. The more lavish the spread, the wealthier the household. But even the poorer families are likely to have multiple dishes of simple vegetables.
Servings are larger and fewer in the south; and hot chilies replace black pepper for heat. The profusion of fruit in the area means that sweet fruit occasionally makes its way into a dish of meat and vegetables. Preparations are less complex than many of those in the center and the style of cooking often resembles that of neighboring Cambodia. This is the part of Vietnam responsible for curries. Once again history influences cuisine for ancient Angkor, centered in Cambodia, once ruled this portion of Vietnam.
Dining Customs
But what about the ordinary eater? For in spite of this glorious culinary tradition, Vietnam remains a poor country of peasants and workers. Just what does the ordinary Joe or Jill eat from day to day? I asked a friend who had just come back from a year as a bartender/ English teacher in Hanoi. "Noodles!" exploded Toby Miller of Berkeley, California. "Noodles and soup. There were times when I was convinced I was going to turn into a noodle!"
At mealtimes, noodle stands line the roads where people pull over their bicycles or, if they are somewhat wealthier, motorscooters for a quick meal, a shared chat and a cigarette with their co-workers. Three meals a day of noodles is not uncommon.
Fortunately for us living in the U.S., we have the option of sampling both the healthy, simple and delicious meals-in-a-bowl provided by the Vietnamese noodle passion and more elaborate meals at our local restaurants. So get out there and do yourself a favor. Or buy one of the excellent cookbooks on the market and start experimenting at home.
Vietnamese Soup Customs
Soup is customarily served for breakfast in Vietnam–big bowls of steaming noodle soup, with meat and any number of ingredients added at the last minute, like bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, chili peppers, lime slices, and green onions. All, of course, spiced with with plenty of fish sauce (nuoc mam), chili-garlic sauce, and/or hoisin sauce in nearby dipping dishes. It's an unusual melange of cooked rice noodles, raw vegetables and herbs, and shaved raw meat or seafood that cooks in the broth just as it's brought to table.
Ph�, as it's known, is now hugely popular in the United States–and people line up at the doors of Ph� restaurants night and day to sit at trencher tables and feast on the soup til sweat pours down the backs of their heads. The term ph� translates as "your own bowl," since it's one of the few meals where the food is not passed around and shared.
"Small" soups, by contrast, are served as first courses–they generally don't have noodles; they're served in small portions; and they're called sup. The famous Sup Mang Tay, or Crab and Asparagus Soup is in this category–so is Sup Nam Trang, a fascinatingly complex soup of crab, shrimp, and dried white fungus (mushroomlike).
Finally, the class of soups known as Canh are generally served family style, out of one big bowl–often spooned into smaller bowls at table with rice. And they are generally light–also served as a first course to whet the appetite. These include Canh Sa Lach Soan (Watercress-Shrimp Soup), Canh Chua Tom (Hot and Sour Shrimp and Lemongrass Soup), and Canh Chua Ca (Hot and Sour Tamarind Fish Soup).
But what about soups for snacks? Foodwriter Thy Tran from San Francisco (website at www.wanderingspoon.com) writes "the Vietnamese enjoy sweet bean soups as snacks. The whole class is known as che, but they each have a specific name that usually reveals the color of the bean: che dau den (black bean), che dau trang ("white bean," or what we know here as black-eyed peas), even che dau xanh ("green beans," referring to the green covering on mung beans). Coconut milk, lotus seeds, taro root, tapioca, even crunchy seaweed are common additions. Western Vietnamese restaurants sometimes offer them as dessert, but they're really meant for snacking, which SE Asians love to do. You can serve che warm or chilled."
Thy adds, "Interestingly, the idea of using beans in savory dishes (other than sprouts) is not as natural for most Vietnamese people. Just like when I told my family, while sipping artichoke tea in Saigon, that in the States we serve the whole vegetable as a delicacy, they were horrified."


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Behold, a Room Made of Wine Corks and Cigar Boxes
This Malvern home was built new to look old. Historic barn beams were used in the great room, while the brick fireplace is a replica of one in Vickers, a historic building that dates back to at least the early 1800s. The home's first floor master bedroom was created by Archer & Buchanan, a West Chester-based architectural firm well known for historic restorations. That room, according to the listing, features more old barn beams and wood, "antique iron hardware, cast iron fireplace mantle and classic rounded walls."
The wine cellar (4,000-plus bottle capacity) has some old-school touches, like exposed brick pillars. But it clearly serves the current owners as a modern man cave as well. A room adjacent to the wine cellar has one wall made of cigar boxes and another made out of corks placed in a geometrically pleasing design. I guess this is where you stick the cigar smokers: in a giant humidor.
The home has plenty of windows and French doors through which to see a beautiful spring-fed pond, or you can sit outside on the wraparound deck or porch to watch the wildlife. If you don't see any wildlife, well, the property also has carved wood animals. So use your imagination, okay?
130 Jaffrey Rd., Malvern PA
Beds: 4
Baths: 3/1
Square feet: 4,527
Price: $1,845,000
• Listing: 130 Jaffrey Road, Malvern, PA [BHHS Fox & Roach-Devon]


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It's 2015 and we still don't know much about black holes, although there are a lot of theories out there. Now, Stephen Hawking has a new one, but this one is not about being destroyed, but rather you will enter an alternative universe.
In Hawking's latest theory, a black hole may be the pathway to another universe.
The only catch is, you will not be able to return, according to Hawking.
Hawking presents new idea on how information could escape black holes:
According to Space.com: "Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that the physical information about material gobbled up by a black hole is destroyed, but the laws of quantum mechanics stipulate that information is eternal. Therein lies the paradox."
"Hawking—working with Malcolm Perry, of the University of Cambridge in England, and Harvard University's Andrew Stromberg—has come up with a possible solution: The quantum-mechanical information about in-falling particles doesn't actually make it inside the black hole," Space.com added.
"The information is not stored in the interior of the black hole as one might expect, but in its boundary—the event horizon," Hawking said at the Hawking Radiation conference. Hawking formulated the idea that information is stored in the form of what are known as super translations," the KTH Royal Institute of Technology wrote on its website.
"The idea is the super translations are a hologram of the ingoing particles," Hawking said. "Thus they contain all the information that would otherwise be lost."
In a lecture that he gave the night before in Stockholm, Hawking talked about his thoughts on where things that have enter a black hole may eventually end up.
"The existence of alternative histories with black holes suggests this might be possible, the hole would need to be large, and if it was rotating, it might have a passage to another universe. But you couldn't come back to our universe," the 73-year-old theoretical physicist said.
"So although I'm keen on space flight, I'm not going to try that," Hawking added.
Click here to read more Science stories, LIKE us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.


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json vs pickle
in python JSON is faster, smaller and more portable than pickle …
At work, I'm working on a project where we're modeling newspaper content in a relational database. We've got newspaper titles, issues, pages, institutions, places and some other fun stuff. It's a django app, and the db schema currently looks something like:
Anyhow, if you look at the schema you'll notice that we have a
Page model, and that attached to that is an
OCR model. If you haven't heard of it before OCR is an acronym for optical character recognition. For each newspaper page we have, we have a TIF image for the original page, and we have rectangle coordinates for the position of every word on the page. Basically it's xml that looks something like this (warning your browser may choke on this, you might want to right-click-download).
So there are roughly around 2500 words on a page of newspaper text, and there can sometimes be 350 occurrences of a particular word on a page…and we're looking to model 1,000,000 pages soon … so if we got really prissy with normalization we could soon be looking at (worst case) 875,000,000,000 rows in a table. While I am interested in getting a handle on how to manage large databases like this, we just don't need the fine grained queries into the word coordinates. But we do need to be able to look up the coordinates for a particular word on a particular page to do hit highlighting in search results.
So let me get to the interesting part already. To avoid having to think about databases with billions of rows, I radically denormalized the data and stored the word coordinates as a blob of JSON in the database. So we just have a
word_coordinates_json column in the OCR table, and when we need to look up the coordinates for a page we just load up the JSON dictionary and we're good to go. JSON is nice with django, since django's ORM doesn't seem to support storing blobs in the database, and JSON is just text. This worked just fine on single page views, but we also do hit highlighting on pages where there are 10 pages being viewed at the same time. So we started noticing large lags on these page views – because it was taking a while to load the JSON (sometimes 327K * 10 of JSON).
As I mentioned we're using Django, so it was easy to use django.utils.simplejson for the parsing. When we noticed slowdowns I decided to compare django.utils.simplejson to the latest simplejson and python-cjson. And just for grins I figured it couldn't hurt to see if using pickle or cPickle (protocols 0, 1 and 2) would prove to be faster than using JSON. So I wrote a little benchmark script that timed the loading of a 327K JSON and a 507K pickle file 100 times using each technique. Here are the results:
|total seconds
|avg seconds
Yeah, that's right. The real simplejson is 62 times faster than django.utils.simplejson! Even more surprising simplejson seems to be faster than even cPickle (even using binary protocols 1 and 2) python-cjson seems to have a slight edge on simplejson. This is good news for our search results page that has 10 newspaper pages to highlight on it, since it'll take 10 * 0.033183 = .3 seconds to parse all the JSON instead of the totally unacceptable 10 * 0.976193 = 9.7 seconds. I guess in some circles 0.3 seconds might be unacceptable, we'll have to see how it pans out. We may be able to remove the JSON deserialization from the page load time by pushing some of the logic into the browser w/ AJAX. If you want, please try out my benchmarks yourself on your own platform. I'd be curious if you see the same ranking.
Here are the versions for various bits I used:
- python v2.5.2
- django trunk: r9231 2008-10-13 15:38:18 -0400
- simplejson 2.0.3
So in summary for pythoneers: JSON is faster, smaller and more portable than pickle. Of course there are caveats in that you can only store simple datatypes that JSON allows you to, not the full fledged Python objects. But in my use case JSON's data types were just fine. Makes me that much happier that simplesjson aka
json is now cooked into the Python 2.6 standard library.
Note: if you aren't seeing simplejson performing better than cPickle you may need to have python development libraries installed:
aptitude install python-dev # or the equivalent for your system
You can verify if the optimizations are available in simplejson by:
ed@hammer:~/bzr/jsonickle$ python Python 2.5.2 (r252:60911, Jul 31 2008, 17:28:52) [GCC 4.2.3 (Ubuntu 4.2.3-2ubuntu7)] on linux2 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. <<< import simplejson <<< simplejson._speedups <module 'simplejson._speedups' from '/home/ed/.python-eggs/simplejson-2.0.3-py2.5-linux-i686.egg-tmp/simplejson/_speedups.so'>
Thanks eby, mjgiarlo, BenO and Kapil for their pointers and ideas.


text: Brighouse Confectionary We have found 7 items matching your search query. Sort By: TitleDatePopularityFeatured List Grid Map 01484 400567 Hartleys Confectioners Confectionary Hartleys Conectioners and Bakery, producers of artisan breads, freshly made sandwiches, and a selection of confectionary in Brighouse and also Lindley. More Details 01274 882020 Maria's Cakes Confectionary Maria Webster is a designer of traditional and bespoke wedding cakes , birthday cakes, children and corporate cakes made to order in Brighouse and the surrounding areas. More Details 01484 721777 Wildings Cakes & Chocolates Confectionary Wildings Cakes & Chocolates is located in Brighouse. Quality chocolatiers and cake decorators including traditional icing work, cup cake style and the unusual. You design it we create it. More Details Good Foodz Confectionary More Details Maria's Cakes Confectionary More Details 01484 401238 The Cake Maker Shop Confectionary The Cake Maker Shop in Brighouse creators of wedding, birthday, special occasion and bespoke cakes. Also suppliers of sugarcraft supplies and cake making and decorating supplies. More Details 01484 719677 Greggs Coffee Shops & Tea Rooms Greggs the bakers. Freshly baked pasties, sandwiches pastries and cakes. Breakfast and lunchtime deals available. Opening hours 08:00 – 17:00pm More Details 1 Page 1 of 1


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I am looking to wipe the hard drive of an older Inspiron 9300 before sending it to electronic recycling so no personal information is on it. Unfortunately the CD that was used to restore it to how it was when purchased is lost. Is there any way I can do this even reformatting? Thanks.
When I replaced the HDD in my Inspiron 9300 with an SSD the SSD came with Acronis software utilities that included a cloning tool and a drive cleanser. I bought an external USB adapter for connecting IDE/ATA or PATA drives and SATA drives via USB. My 9300 didn't recognize the SSD when I tried to use the cloning tool so I had to install Windows 7 all over again. But, the drive cleanser worked great. I simply connected the HDD that I replaced to the external USB adapter and used the cleanser to perform a complete and secure wipe of the HDD. Instead of recycling it I ended up selling the old HDD on eBay. So I made a few bucks. The external USB adapter has proven to be very useful for stuff like this.


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It is the year 2071 and humanity is living in an interplanetary society. A new breed of "cowboy" bounty hunters pursue outlaws across the lawless solar system in the hope of receiving high rewards for the hackers, drug-dealers and terrorists they capture. Shipping Fall 2004, Cowboy Bebop has not yet been rated by the ESRB.
- Play as Spike, Jet or Faye in this Action Adventure game.
- Use Spike's Jeet Kune Do skills or Jet's bull-dog-style fighting techniques to defeat more than 50 different outlaws and then collect the bounty.
- Finish the game to unravel mysteries of the Cowboy Bebop story.
- Unlock additional playable characters and game play modes.
- Featuring the renowned jazz music of Yoko Kanno.


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How to Get a Good Business Coach
If you look around at the best actors who have great success in their careers, they will tell you that at a certain point in their lifetime, they received some training from their coaches. When you search for a mentor, you are searching for somebody who has understanding or knowledge you don't have in managing a specific subject. It is far superior if you utilise particular mentors for special issues that you are encountering with the goal that you get the best answers for all of them.
The mentor that you employ must have the ability to trust that you can accomplish what you plan to pick up and give you the important inspiration to push forward. It is imperative that you feel their support as they are coaching you to achieve your desired objectives. For a mentor to be of significant worth, they must have an involvement in the given region you are worried about. For instance, if I am an independent company mentor for entrepreneurs in ranges of administration and advertising, I would allude them to another person if they needed speculation or money related instructing. A pivotal qualification between your mentor and different associates is that an instructor works with you to make you responsible for making substantial moves to progress. It is a typical practice for the coach to have both the abilities and the assets to help their understudies in their goals. While the mentor isn't a formal instructor, he or she is somebody who is helping you take in more by extending your alternatives and illuminating you of techniques for accomplishment in different organisations. Don't avoid getting too close to your coach since this is not a bad thing. You ought to build up an agreeable relationship whereby you can share anything that you need with them and still be okay.
Ascertain that the agreement you are signing with your mentor is well detailed and that both of you have agreed to the terms and conditions set therein. Be sure of the help you are looking for, and the time it will take to finish such an undertaking. It is vital that you set up trial period before you use the full services so that you test whether the relationship will be mutually beneficial. You must both have the same focus. If you are serious with your objectives, you are bound to achieve more.
Make it clear your favoured method for being trained. It ought to be a strategy that you are OK with, and you can deal with. Screen the instructing procedure to decide whether you feel the mentor is pushing you excessively, or perhaps too little. Like all connections, your instructor will require your input keeping in mind the end goal to help you the most.
Where To Start with Businesses and More


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YOUNGSTERS in Shepley have been collecting toys for Christmas presents for children in poverty-stricken countries.
Pupils at Greyfell Academy - a private day nursery - have donated some of their toys to be sent to youngsters in developing countries.
The Greyfell children have included the toys in shoeboxes full of clothes and gifts, which will be sent to children in countries like Africa by Samaritan's Purse.
The charity runs the Operation Christmas Child appeal, which asks people to pack a shoebox full of aid as a Christmas gift to a poverty-stricken child.
The Greyfell shoeboxes will be sent abroad with Operation Christmas Child this December.
Louise Stocks, deputy manager of Greyfell Academy, said: "We decided the children should be made aware that some children are less lucky than themselves."


text: 0 We're really sorry... ...we don't currently have that one in stock Please add your email and we'll notify you when it's back Store Home » Universal Mesh » Grill Mesh Sheets 6in. x 36in. Twister Hexagon Mesh Sheet - Vertical - Silver Discounts Apply !SKU Twist-Hex-V-S6UPC: 682604772851Availability: In StockFree ShippingPrice: $49.99 Quantity:-+ Product Information Raw Material: Aluminum Raw Thickness: 0.065" / 14 Gauge Open Area: 25-75% Our Vertical Twister 6" x 36" sheet is 6 inches tall (top to bottom) and 36 inches wide (left to right) and is ready to be cut and installed right out of the box. This sheet is a bright silver color and is raw aluminum. Check out the description below for more info, our product video, and customer installs. For additional sizes and colors, please view our main product listing here: Twister Mesh Sheets. The Original Twisted Mesh! Each hexagon on this sheet is adjustable to allow as little or as much air flow through your bumper as desired. Create unique designs, or direct air to where your vehicle needs it most. There's endless possibilities with this mesh! Please Note: Twisting the mesh weakens the connecting point that bridges the hexagon. A hexagon with a twist less than 45° remains very strong. A twist 45° - 60° is moderately strong. Twists above 60° will become increasingly weaker the higher the angle. Twists above 90°, and repeated twists are not recommended. Product Video Customer Pictures More Info & Deals Everyday Low Price: No Coupon Required Click Here For Tech Specs Opening Width: 1.00" Opening Height: 0.87" Strength: Medium Flexibility: Good Paintable: Yes Weight: N/A Finish Type: Raw Country of Origin: U.S.A. Tweet Product ReviewsNo Reviews For This Product.Click to review this product


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I read Richard Cohen's rant about Israel's survival (July 22). Never does he mention the fact that Israelis have killed at a rate of 10 Palestinians to every one Jew who's been killed. Israel also has killed many Americans (USS Liberty, Rachel Corrie, etc.) while taking $3 billion-plus per year in U.S. aid for 60 years.
In this latest conflict, there are over 600 Palestinians, including women, children and hospital workers, dead versus 28 Israelis. They have improved their kill rate. When is The Intel going to let the other side have its say?
Don Naughton
Point Pleasant


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Find local sources of native plants here, including local plant sales, as well as retail, wholesale and native plant seed suppliers. This list is not comprehensive and is not an endorsement of any organization or business. It is intended to provide a starting place for your own research. For more resources including what plants to use for different conditions (sunny & dry, shady & wet, etc.), click here.
Many of the nurseries below are also listed in the Native Plant section of our Conservation Directory. You can also download a PDF version of the list below. The Backyard Habitat program (a joint project of the Audubon Society and the Columbia Land Trust) has an interactive map where you can find many of these nurseries and more.
Note: Many of the nurseries listed below do not use neonicotinoids; check this list to see if your favorite one is neonic-free!
Free Native Plant Swap!
- SWNI Westside Watersheds Resource Center hosts a Native Plant Swap website where you can post what you have to share and what you are looking for, all for free!
Local Native Plant Sales (seasonal or annual, arranged by date, updated as needed)
- Sparrowhawk Native Plants: Online ordering several times a year with pick-ups at varying locations. https://sparrowhawknativeplants.com
- Tualatin Hills Nature Park: TBD, possibly in spring 2021 (pre-COVID-19, it was usually in October and April)
- East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District: That's us! Usually mid-January, but due to COVID-19, we are currently assessing all options, and will post more information as soon as possible.
- Polk Conservation District: Online ordering for bulbs and perennials happening NOW (mid-October), with pick-ups Nov 19-21. Winter bare root sale coming soon!
- Clark Conservation District: Online ordering opens November 9th at 4pm.
- Yamhill Conservation District: Pre-ordering is closed, but some plants will be available on first-come, first-serve basis at their pick-up on March 6th and 7th.
- Leach Botanical Garden: Spring ephemeral sales usually in early March.
- Washington County Small Woodlands Association: Usually in March.
- Friends of Baltimore Woods: Usually in March.
- Tryon Creek Trillium Festival: Usually in April.
- Hardy Plant Society of Oregon: April 17th and 18th, 2021.
- Clackamas Community College Horticulture Department: Usually in the spring; includes some native plants.
Retail and Wholesale within 50 miles of Portland
- Aurora Nursery, 22821 Boones Ferry Rd NE, Aurora, OR, 503-678-7903, www.auroranursery.com
- Beaverlake Nursery, 21200 S. Ferguson Rd, Beavercreek, OR, 503-632-4787, www.beaverlakenursery.com
- Bosky Dell Natives, 23311 SW Bosky Dell Lane, West Linn, OR, 503-638-5945,
- Brooks Tree Farm, 9785 Portland Rd, Brooks, OR, 503-393-6300, www.brookstreefarm.com
- Echo Valley Natives, 18883 S Ferguson Rd, Oregon City, OR, 503-631-2451, www.echovalleynatives.com
- Garden Fever! 3433 NE 24th Ave, Portland, OR, 503-287-3200, www.gardenfever.com
- Green Seed Nursery 2742 SE Territorial Rd, Canby, OR (*By Appointment Only*), 503-490-6340, www.tgsdesignandnursery.com
- Livingscape, 3926 N. Vancouver Ave, Portland, OR 503-248-0104, www.livingscape.com
- Portland Nursery, 5050 SE Stark, Portland, OR 97215, 503-231-5050 and 9000 SE Division, Portland, OR 97216, 503-788-9000,
- Sauvie Island Native Plants, 14745 NW Gillihan Road, Portland, OR (*By Appointment Only*), 503-621-3357, www.facebook.com/sauvienatives
Retail and Wholesale more than 50 miles from Portland
- Balance Restoration Nursery, 27995 Chambers Mill Road, Lorane, OR, 541-942-5530, sites.google.com/site/balancerestoration
- Native Foods Nursery 81868 Lost Valley Ln. Dexter, OR 97431, (206) 356-0354 https://nativefoodsnursery.com/
- Humble Roots Farm & Nursery, llc, Mosier, OR, 503-449-3694 http://www.humblerootsnursery.com/
- Watershed Garden Works, 2039 44th Ave, Longview, WA, 360-423-6446, www.watershedgardenworks.com
Wholesale or large projects only – Regional
- Champoeg Nursery, 9661 Yergen Rd NE, Aurora, OR, 503-678-6348, www.champoegnursery.com
- Nursery Guide, Oregon Association of Nurseries (this very useful site lets you search by plant name for nurseries) nurseryguide.com/Find_Plants
- Scholls Valley Native Nursery, Tigard, OR, 503-624-1766, www.schollsvalley.com
- Sevenoaks Native Nursery, 29730 Harvest Drive SW, Albany, OR, 541-757-6520, www.sevenoaksnativenursery.com
- Valley Growers Nursery, 30570 Barlow Rd., Hubbard, OR 503-651-3535, www.valleygrowers.com
Wholesale Seed – Regional
- Emerald Seed and Supply, 9330 NE Halsey St, Portland, 800-826-8873, www.emeraldseedandsupply.com
- Hobbs & Hopkins, Ltd., 1712 SE Ankeny, Portland, 503-239-7518, www.protimelawnseed.com
- Native Seed Network 563 SW Jefferson Ave, Corvallis, OR, 541-753-3099 www.nativeseednetwork.org
- River Refuge Seed Company, 26366 Gap Road, Brownsville, OR, www.riverrefugeseed.com
Local Places to See Native Plants in Natural Settings
- Camassia Natural Area, West Linn
- Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton
- Forest Park, Portland
- Hoyt Arboretum, Portland
- Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve, Hillsboro
- John Inskeep Environmental Learning Center, Clackamas Community College
- Leach Botanical Garden, Portland
- Marquam Nature Park, Portland
- Nob Hill Nature Park, St. Helens
- Oxbow Regional Park, Troutdale
- Portland Community College, Rock Creek Campus, Beaverton
- Powell Butte, Portland
- Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge, Ridgefield, WA
- Sauvie Island Wildlife Refuge, Portland
- Smith & Bybee Lakes, Portland
- Tryon Creek State Park, Portland
- Tualatin Hills Nature Park, Beaverton
- Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, Sherwood
- Wildlife Botanical Gardens, Brush Prairie, WA


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Tortola is the playground of the British Virgin Islands, where most of the island chain's inhabitants live, work, and play. All you have to do is choose your adventure. Those who can't get enough of the water can spend their days surfing, sailing, and diving through shipwrecks. Land lovers can hike one of the seven trails at Sage Mountain Park, where the highest peak in the Virgin Islands offers spectacular views. The park's rainforest-like conditions mean there are plenty of exotic lizards and frogs to spot.
When the sun goes down, keep an eye peeled for the full moon. If you want to party the night away, look no further than Tortola's full-moon parties, which happen all over the island in places like Capoon's Bay and Cane Garden Beach. Once a month, the bar-strewn beaches of Tortola come alive with music, drink specials, dancing, and even carnival attractions such as fire jugglers.
When you need tips and recommendations on your trip, don't hesitate to consult our concierges. They know all the secrets for a perfect Tortola vacation.
Contact our well-traveled Time & Place team today to reserve your next trip to Tortola. Our luxury vacation rental homes await your arrival.
|Starting Nightly Rate
Trunk Nest
Our Time & Place concierges live on Tortola and are happy to curate luxury travel experiences for every guest. For example, we can:
Nothing should get in the way of your perfect experience. Check these helpful tips for ensuring a smooth journey.VIEW LIST
If you are traveling with prescription medicines, carry them in their original containers and bring a copy of your prescription. If you buy medications abroad, be aware that they may not be FDA-approved or allowed into the United States. For more information on customs rules and regulations, please contact 202.354.1000 or visit www.cbp.gov.


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The following information about this tower just appeared on Cityrealty.com (Dec. 4, 2006):
Sleek mixed-use tower planned for 161 Maiden Lane 04-DEC-06
A sleek, mixed-use tower is planned for 161 Maiden Lane, a site directly south of the proposed residential tower designed by Santiago Calatrava for Sciame Construction Company at 80 South Street.
The new mixed-use tower, which overlooks the East River a few blocks south of the South Street Seaport, has been designed by Rogers Marvel Architects.
It is north of the 41-story dark glass office building with an angled base and a space-frame lobby at 180 Maiden Lane that was designed by Der Scutt, then at Swanke Hayden Connell.
The Calatrava tower, a stack of 10 four-story residential "cubes," has received wide critical acclaim but its status in uncertain as construction has not started and apparently no units have yet been sold.
Mr. Calatrava was quoted in a Fortune Magazine article last month as stating that he was "full of hope we will start it," although an article by Gabby Warshawer in this month's edition of The Real Deal noted that the marketing firm for the project, I. Kahn Inc., & Company, was "no longer associated with the building's marketing and sales," and that the project's building plans, which were approved January 28, 2005, may need to be resubmitted next month to avoid being considered "dormant."
The Calatrava tower and another major tower nearby designed by Frank O. Gehry for Forest City Rattner on Beekman Street near City Hall were widely seen as greatly enhancing Lower Manhattan especially during the long uncertainties and controversies over the redevelopment of Ground Zero.
Construction has started on the Gehry-designed tower and recently plans for its public plazas have been unveiled. Rob Rogers, a partner in Rogers Marvel, told CityRealty.com today that the 161 Maiden Lane project, which would probably be about 500 feet tall, is still in preliminary design, which should be finalized by early next year.
His firm's design won a design competition for the project, which, Mr. Rogers said, will be the first project in New York City for a major developer.
Renderings of the project on the architectural firm's website indicate that it would have a light-colored façade with a top ratcheted at the corners by inset balconies.
Mr. Rogers said that the developer for his project has had discussions with Mr. Calatrava's developer, adding that the 80 South Street project is "having marketing challenges but is very exciting and great for New York."
Rogers Marvel Architects PLLC recently designed the very handsome Theory Corporate Headquarters low-rise office building near the Gansevoort Hotel and Pastis restaurant in the Meatpacking District, the Studio Museum in Harlem, One Seventh Avenue South and 350 West Broadway.


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There is no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are one of the top digital marketing trends in 2019 and it will even top the list by 2020. This is because chatbots technology is moving so quickly, it's essential for every marketing pro to stay updated.
Critical Chatbots Statistics
Did you know?
- 48% of consumers prefer a chatbot that solves issues over a chatbot that has personality.
- 15% of US consumers believe nothing could stop them from using a chatbot.
- 21% of consumers see chatbots as the easiest way to contact a business.
- 95% of consumers believe 'customer service' is going to be the major beneficiary of chatbots.
- 48% of consumers would rather connect with a company via live chat than any other mean of contact.
- 35% of consumers want to see more companies using chatbots.
Currently, Voice Search Is On the Rise
In this digital world, people are switching to a hands-free way of data input while on the move. This is the reason why chatbots have become a new trend. Research says 60% of consumers have used voice search to find business information in the last year and almost half of those use voice search daily to find local businesses. The growth in voice search is partly due to the huge advances that have been made in understanding human speech with machine learning algorithms.
Chatbots Has Become a Standard in 2019 and Shaking Things Up
Chatbots are becoming so sophisticated! Did you know, Facebook was forced to abandon an experimental chatbot project last year after the bots created their own language? This is the reason, why many companies have been developing chatbot technology at the moment. It is expected that because of the increase the potential for more organic visits, by the end of 2019, chatbot will be the standard on every website and app.
Top 10 Benefits of Using a Chatbot for Your Business
1. Automation of repetitive work.
2. Chatbot provides 100% satisfaction to customers.
3. It helps you in saving your hard earned money.
4. Efficiently handle the customers than you do.
5. Professionally helps the customers.
6. Available 24/7.
7. Get valuable analytical insights.
8. Ensure personalized communication and advertisements.
9. Create proactive and intimate interactions.
10. Boost the brand's creative storytelling.
So, How to Build Your Own Chatbot?
If you've not started thinking about this yet, now is the time. Don't fall behind, get chatbot to your website with the help of a digital marketing agency and increase the potential for more organic visits.
- The Most Wanted Cloud Business Phone System by CEO's - May 29, 2020
- What Are Positive Emotions In Positive Psychology? - April 29, 2020
- #SEMrush For Ecommerce: Spy And Outgrow Your Competitors - March 9, 2020


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Vera Black's famous Feather Hair Clips, ornate feather jewellery for your hair. They come in 3 sizes, to match your length of hair.
The Firebird Feather Clip is made with a mixture of natural colour and dyed feathers and detailed with red garnet beading.
Attached with a hair extension clip for easy installation and safe grip. The Large clip features pauashell pendant from New Zealand.
*Small:/Single Approx. 25cm 1x feather plume/ shell tooth pendant, 3mm micro-suede
*Medium: Approx 38cm 2x feather plumes, 3mm micro-suede
*Large: Approx 45cm 2x Feather plumes/ Pauashell Pendant, 5mm micro-suede
Photo's show the long feather clip.


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AGC/VT is the premier Vermont trade association representing every aspect of the construction industry.
Founded in 1961, members of AGC/VT are general contractors, equipment and material suppliers, insurance companies, bonding firms, financial institutions, consultants and other businesses and individuals connected to the construction industry.
Click on the links below to learn more about AGC/VT.


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This month, Infor transitioned their entire sales force to Infor CRM. Not just the CRM division, the whole company. To me, this is a strong indicator of their commitment to their CRM product.
Here is a communication we received…
"To be very clear, Infor is committed to our CRM product, so much so that we just moved our entire salesforce to the platform. SalesLogix was acquired in 2014 and since then we have continued to make significant investments. As we move forward, we continue our goals of:
- Creating a Delightful UX
- Integrate into Suite
- Intelligent Solutions
- Open Platform
- Next Gen Analytics
- Agile Cloud
We are currently carrying several parallel work streams including:
- the redesign of CRM UX using the latest Xi controls from Hook & Loop
- Embedding geocoding for proximity search
- Extended integration with Ming.le (Infor Collaborative Portal) providing role based widgets, embedded BI
- Integrating our applications into Suites such as our Sales Suite (CRM+ CPQ ( Product Configurator) + CLM ( Contract Life Cycle Management)) or our Marketing Suite ( MRM+ OOCM+ IA)
- Integrating Data science and predictive analytics to help increase the sales performance
- Introducing several Cloud Suite verticals
- More…"


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Business Planning With Values and Vision
Do you have an online business plan or are you flying by the seat of your pants? A yearly planning document that reflects your values and goals is the most useful tool in your business arsenal.
Your mission statement and your business objectives provide a road map that keeps your successful business moving in the right direction. However, the map is not enough. You also need a compass to stay the course and realize you are on track. Your values and vision comprise the compass.
A statement of values is a set of principles that guide the way you operate your business. For example, whenever you have an important decision to make, like setting a price for your services or for a product you sell, you would review your decision according to your values. The values and decision are congruent, not at odds. This process means you won't question your decisions or wonder if you are doing the right thing. You operate your business from a core of integrity.
A vision statement is a precise set of words that tells people what your successful online business does and how you do it. The vision defines what you hope to achieve.
The planning I suggest is a simple blueprint for how you intend to establish or grow your business. Use your business
plan to map out your goals, action plans, and financials while significantly increasing your chances for success.
Business Planning Benefits
1. A yearly business plan organizes you to take stock of your progress, examine what is working, and coordinate goals and actions for the upcoming year. Almost all of the very successful business owners will tell you that they create business goals and action plans on a regular basis like each month.
2. A business plan reflects your most profitable path.
3. A plan shows you where are making mistakes or losing profits.
Planning a business includes these sections:
1. Description of your business model
2. Who are your customers, the target market?
3. What do you offer? How is different from others who offer the same thing?
4. What are your specific, measurable goals that you want to achieve and when?
5. What marketing strategies will you put in place and what is their timeline?
6. What are the tasks you need to complete and when?
7. How much is all of this going to cost on a monthly basis, and what kind of revenue will you expect? How long will it take to break even and make a profit?
In summary:
A business plan is a living, breathing document that will grow and change along with your business. When first starting a new business, determine if you have a financially viable idea.
At the beginning of each year, it helps you to plan out your goals and strategies. Of course, if you need to raise money, people will want to see a detailed plan.
You need to revisit your business plan regularly. Why? Market conditions change. Laws or regulations change. Technology changes your results too, and this should be reflected in your plan.
Your business plan serves as your blueprint for success. Write it and live it for your best results.
What If you have a great business idea but still wondering about how to create a viable business plan?
Register for Successful Coaching Business Set-Up In Systemized Steps. This course will not only help you make a plan of activities, but it will take you step by step from planning, designing, marketing and making money out of your business.
Successful Coaching Business Set-Up In Systemized Steps


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We first heard word of the HTC Desire Z launching on Bell yesterday, and now we have a launch date. Coming November 3rd the HTC Sense equipped G2 will be ready for Bell's super fast HSPA+ network.
Being the first device in Canada even capable of such speeds, the Desire Z will definitely be the choice for users who are looking to utilize the new network. We do not know a price as of yet for subsidized models is set at $499.99 which is very reasonable.
[Via BGR]


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This Week In Movies By Pete Hammond – Water for Elephants
By Pete Hammond
HollywoodNews.com: Continuing a very good first quarter of 2011 for adult-themed fare, 20th Century Fox's big screen adaptation of the Sara Gruen best seller, Water For Elephants scored an encouraging third place opening (behind Rio and Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family) an estimated $17.5 million and garnered a very promising A- rating from Cinemascore meaning the largely older (25 and up) female audience it drew liked what they saw and with a $7 million first day haul were clearly eager to see it as it dropped slightly (about $500,000) from Friday to Saturday, unusual for such an adult skewing movie. Usually for the slow-to-show older audience it's the opposite especially as word of mouth and positive critics reviews kick in. In terms of the latter Elephants scored only a middling 52% among all critics and even less , 44%, among so-caled top critics checking in with Rotten Tomatoes. The audience seemed to like it better if the exit polls are to be believed. On the heels of respectable showings for grown up fodder like The Lincoln Lawyer, Limitless, Source Code and The Adjustment Bureau, it's clear that if they have a good experience at the multiplex adults will keep coming back for more , albeit not in blockbuster numbers like the kind of business summer tentpoles Fast Five , Thor , Pirates Of The Carribean etc will do this summer. Fox has has luck turning female friendly best sellers aimed at the 25-plus demo into hit movies in recent years with The Devil Wears Prada and Marley and Me demonstrating strong appeal , each grossing in the hundreds of millions worldwide. Elephants , an old-fashioned period depression-era circus-set movie is decidedly darker but its love triangle and marketing campaign emphasizing the romantic angle is what used to sell in Hollywood once upon a time and now Fox has proven it's not quite dead. These films always have legs too so expect slower than normal drops in the weeks to come as more mindless fare opens aimed at the fanboys, and adults crowd around the precious few films targeted with them in mind during the summer months.
When I visited one of the elaborate sets of the film on the 20th Century Fox lot while the film was just wrapping up production, Studio co-chairman Tom Rothman told me this was the kind of movie Hollywood still had to take chances on. As we looked at the elaborate small town street and circus parade taking place he said it looked like old times on the backlot of a studio. It did indeed as stars Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz marched down the street full of extras and animals , Witherspoon atop the film's star elephant Rosie (played brilliantly by showbiz veteran Tai). In the finished film this whole sequence last less than 10 seconds tops. It's interesting to see all the time, effort and hoopla director Francis Lawrence took in getting it done right just for that small amount of time in the actual movie (it's part of a larger montage sequence showing the success of the circus ). Author Sara Gruen was also on set that day in period garb serving as an extra but blink and you'll miss her , if she didn't wind up on the cutting room floor in the first place . Fox 2000 topper Elizabeth Gabler was clearly also proud that she could get a movie like this made at a major studio and told me she was hopeful audiences were going to support it. It's somewhat risky in today's mindset where comic book fare, remakes and sequels rule the roost. At a budget of $40 million it certainly looks like this will be a moneymaker for Fox and hopefully serve as a signal that there are audiences out there clamoring for something a little more sophisticated.
Fox had a very good weekend with their smash hit 'toon Rio scoring first place again and also burning up the wickets internationally. With over $26 million for the Easter weekend and over $80 million domestically after just 10 days Rio stands as 2011's biggest success story to date. As for the number two movie, Tyler Perry just keeps turning out this stuff. Every Easter he has another flick, this one focusing again on his popular cross-dressing creation Madea. Lionsgate had no screenings for critics but it doesn't really matter does it? Perry is one of the few who deliver a faithful audience no matter what any of us sour-faced media types have to say. He even has his name in the actual title. That's clout. As Madea movies go this one was on the softer side but still should pump up an overall respectable gross before it's finished.
Follow Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.
Hollywood News, Hollywood Awards, Awards, Movies, News, Award News, Breaking News, Entertainment News, Movie News, Music News


text: To enter your magazine competition answer(s) online: click below on the name of the magazine you have purchased; or enter the competition ID in the search box below, and click on the yellow Search button. Prizes will be sent to the address in your My Profile area so please keep this up to date. Good luck!


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One of the weirdest, coolest, most hyped multiplayer games in years is here, and it started with a tweet:
"Contemplating building a game entirely with friends on twitter/fb. Totally open and 'Mad Lib' style. Could be fun or totally awful."
The tweet, posted by Mike Mika a little more than a year ago, was followed by another. It showed a crude red box among white and gray platforms.
"Where to go with this?" it read. "I've started a new project, it draws a red box. Thinking platformer. #helpmedev."
"I think the red box needs to make a critical choice, and the narrative flows from there," he tweeted to his 236,000 followers.
With that, development began.
Great ideas and half-baked jokes poured in. Maybe you could rent movies from the red box. Maybe instead of running/jumping on platforms, all it can do is hang/walk on the ceilings. Add a morality system and some in-app purchases and you're done.
Mika read them all, added a few, and posted another screenshot. A green box joined the red one, with gravity and collision detection. He'd piqued peoples' interest. Suggestions poured in. Someone added the hashtag #IDARB to collect ideas, creating a handy acronym for "It draws a red box."
Suddenly, surprisingly, #IDARB went viral. Mika didn't know it, but he was creating more than a game. He was creating an exciting new way of developing games.
It'd be easy to consider this a stunt, and in some ways, it is. But Mika and Other Ocean have accomplished something almost unheard of: They built an incredibly fun, playable game in very little time, drawing the best ideas from the people who ultimately will play it. This upends traditional game development, with its big budgets, hushed development and long lead times, and could become a new model.
"If we have an idea, 10 minutes later we're trying it out," Mika says. "It's like improv. People throw ideas at us, and we try to interpret those and incorporate them into the game in a way that doesn't compromise the integrity of the game, but adds to it."
In the 13 months since Mika sent that first tweet, #IDARB has become a chaotic, competitive multiplayer game that calls to mind Super Smash Bros. and basketball if you played them while shaking cans of soda and rickrolling friends.
The premise is simple: Two teams of up to four players apiece score points by shooting a ball into a goal. But the execution—a frenetic combobulation of crazy ideas that's as fun to watch as it is to play—is brilliant.
This is #IDARB. It's available now for the Xbox One. And it is unlike anything you've ever played.
Balls for All
Mika didn't set out to create a great multiplayer game, let alone pioneer a new way of creating games. Until now, he was perhaps best known as the guy who hacked Donkey Kong so his daughter could play as Pauline.
"I'm still shocked that it got the reception it's gotten so far," he said. "People really like the game."
Awareness grew following that first tweet on Jan. 3, 2014, and #IDARB changed daily as Mika incorporated ideas. "I thought it would be a fun, brief thing to just try to put in all the ideas and just see what would happen," he said. He tried a shooter-deathmatch. An adventure-platformer. Something with branching morality trees.
Still, it wasn't coming together. There was no shortage of ideas, and many of them were fun—but nothing that would hold your attention for more than a few minutes. Five days in, Mika had a game in which four soda cans navigated their world via an exploding soda fizz mechanic. But what should they do? Brandon Sheffield, a game designer and editor of Gamasutra, suggested adding a ball—something players could carry and steal from each other, with a goal at each end.
"I LOVE THIS IDEA," Mika responded. "Gonna run with this."
Mika added the mechanic and posted a Vine video, knowing he was onto something. The twitterverse thought so too; the ideas became sports-centric, bizarre versions of NHL94, Sensible Soccer, or NBA Jam. For a time you maneuvered the ball by shooting it, but that idea fell flat and Mika pulled it. He refocused on sports mechanics. Carrying the ball. Passing the ball. Shooting the ball.
#IDARB was finally taking shape.
"When I dropped the ball into the game, it was a moment where I realized what the project was capable of being, rather than what it was up to that point," Mika said. "It felt more like a sport, and I understand sports mechanics. When we showed it to other people, too, everyone—but especially non-gamers—instinctively grasped that a lot more than running around and shooting each other."
Chris Charla, head of Microsoft's ID@Xbox initiative, was fascinated by what was happening. He and Mika are old friends, so he asked if #IDARB could be ported to the Xbox One. It didn't seem to matter that no one, least of all Mika, knew where the game was headed. Within a week, it was running on Xbox One development kits.
It was a gamble, but Charla considers Mika "one of the best mechanics designers in the entire game industry." He wasn't worried in the slightest.
"Obviously I have a lot of faith in Mike as a designer," he said, "but the kind of ideas bouncing back and forth, and how fast Mike was iterating, I just knew it was going to be hilarious."
Twitter Plays GameDev
Two months later, Microsoft invited #IDARB to its indie showcase at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. People loved it. At one point, the cheers coming from the #IDARB booth drowned out a presentation Major Nelson, director of programming for Xbox Live, was giving in the next booth over.
"People were just blown away by how stupid it was," Mika said. "There were so many dumb things in it. We had temporary audio that we probably shouldn't have been playing. We had weird sayings that didn't make much sense. But it was a bizarre enough mix that it attracted people to play."
Everyone had ideas. Mika fed them all into a spreadsheet, tracking what it was, who suggested it, how crazy it was and how easily it might be implemented.
It was around this time that the online phenomenon Twitch Plays Pokemon reached critical mass. Thousands of Twitch viewers controlled a single game of Pokemon running on an emulator, entering commands through the streamed game's chat. A discarded Other Ocean game riffed on this concept using Twitter. Given that #IDARB was, essentially, Twitter Plays GameDev, it seemed fitting to extend that reach into the game itself.
"It allows us, as we play, to invite anyone around the world to join in and do stupid stuff to the game," Mika said.
Each game gets a unique alphanumeric hashtag, displayed in the corner of the screen. Spectators use this hashtag with keyword "hashbombs" like #reverse, #freeze, or #clown in tweets or Twitch chat to make wonderfully strange things happen in the game. They can turn the ball into a bomb, for example, or invert everyone's controls. They can have a crudely-pixellated Rick Astley croon "Never Gonna Give You Up," because who wouldn't want to do that?
Like the new assist trophies and other power ups in Super Smash Bros., hashbombs add a layer of chaos and chance to a skill-based game. More importantly, they turn spectators into participants. You aren't watching the action and awaiting your turn, you're influencing the game. (Yes, you can turn off the hashbombs, but what's the fun in that?)
Haters Gonna Hate a Game That 'Looks Like Shit'
The game came together in about a year, and the version that won so many fans at GDC was built in less than eight weeks. Mika shattered any notion that creating a fun, playable game requires a big budget, a big team and a big timeline.
Not everyone was happy about that. Mika recalls a developer at GDC bitching that people ignored his "absolutely gorgeous" game to play something that "looks like shit." Even people within Other Ocean resented seeing games they'd spent years honing falter, even fail, while this weird side project got all the love.
What these people too often overlook is people love #IDARB because it's so damn easy to pick up. The learning curve is essentially flat. Controls are simple—move with the control stick, one button jumps, one button passes, pull the trigger to shoot.
"There's all these other controls doing other things, but all you really need to know is jump and throw," says Glen McKnight, a developer who worked with Mika on the game. "You're able to play the game with just those two buttons, and probably do fine. A lot of games aren't that way."
Mika attributes that simplicity to his experience with mobile games like Maze Finger and Dr. Awesome. Mobile has brought non-gamers to gaming and allowed us to play in places and at times—on the train, while waiting in a lobby somewhere—that require a low barrier to entry. Making a game easy to understand is paramount, especially given that #IDARB is designed to be played with friends.
Matches are quick and engaging. The game is snap to learn, and ensures everyone—players and spectators alike—has fun. It deserves all the praise it's gotten so far.
For all its crazy ideas, #IDARB is incredibly refined. Core gameplay has changed very little since that GDC build nearly a year ago, allowing Mika and Other Ocean to focus intently on ensuring everything looks, feels, and plays just right.
There's just one stage: a 2-D vertical arena with platforms, walls, and a goal at each end. It sounds simple, and it is, but Other Ocean spent months studying heatmaps of how players moved around during hundreds of games, making minor tweaks. They added platforms you can jump through, for example, after players reported frustration at bumping their heads. And they made subtle tweaks to, say, cause a player to get dizzy when another player jumps on their head.
"Not a lot of developers get a chance to get non-developer feedback at a point where you can still make changes," McKnight said. "I worked on so many console games that by the time you got to sharing with people, you heard the ideas, you loved their ideas, but you were way past the point where you could do something about it."
Bring On #IDARPG
The two things that took Mika the longest to hammer out are the game's AI and how it handles online multiplayer. For AI, the simplest solution ended up being the best. The code is tiny, and essentially says, If I don't have the ball, move toward the ball. If I've got the ball and I'm close to the goal, shoot the ball. Online multiplayer is a bit more complicated, but draws from Other Ocean's experience porting one-on-one fighting games like Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection to Xbox Live.
#IDARB uses a couch vs. couch system where one team of as many as four people (a couch) plays a locally formed team (another couch) of similar size. This simplifies network communication to minimize lag and ensures everyone is in the same room. It's a smart compromise that maintains the local multiplayer spirit of the game while allowing online matches.
But for all its success here, it should be noted that crowdsourcing may not, and perhaps should not, replace conventional development methods. Much of #IDARB's success can be attributed to the dev team's expertise transforming a hodgepodge of ideas into a game. Ideas are only as good as the execution.
The simplicity of the game's engine was key, too. The faster an idea can be incorporated and tested, the faster you can determine whether it's worth pursuing. Not every game lends itself to this—there's no way a Halo title ever will be crowdsourced—but open development is changing how indie games are made.
Kickstarter and Steam Early Access have shown the merits of involving a game's community from the early stages of development.
"#IDARB is a logical conclusion of the way developers and the community are getting closer and closer together," Microsoft's Chris Charla said. "Obviously a lot of games really value community management and listening to the community, and with this game Mike was able to say 'let's just take that to a logical extreme and have the community design the game.'"
Now a cavalcade of developers are following that lead, sharing projects on Twitter through game development hashtags like #gamedev and #indiedevelopment.
"There's hundreds of projects being shared with [the hashtags]," Mika said. "It's awesome to watch the dialog between people who are following, and developers talking to other developers. I think that's the future of game development."
Mika and his crew at Other Ocean had a ball making #IDARB and think they're onto something here. "We already know it's a success," he said. "It's a playable game that we enjoy. It'll go out, and the people who have supported us will probably love it. We just hope we get the chance to do it again."
They don't lack for ideas. There are hundreds that didn't make it into #IDARB. The standing joke is Mika will make #IDARPG next. And come to think of it, a motley band of adventurers wandering a distant land ruled by real-time tweets would be one hell of a lot of fun.