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KayCee Stroh Clutches On For Good Luck
KayCee Stroh gets glamorous in a gold custom-made Nancy Barrus gown (the very first of Barrus' evening gown line) at the premiere of her new movie, High School Musical 3: Senior Year premiere. (The red carpet event was held at the Galen Center at the University Of Southern California on Thursday in Los Angeles.)
The 24-year-old KayCee, who is planning her January 2009 wedding, also wore custom jewels that were handmade by Nancy Barrus. She accessorized her look with Carmen Steffens shoes and her grandmother's heirloom clutch, which is over 100 years old. "Just for good luck!" she said of her clutch on the red carpet.
Also spotted on the red carpet: Fellow wildcats Monique Coleman, 27, and Corbin Bleu, 19. Monique went strapless in a violet Nicole Miller dress and sparkled in Erica Courtney jewelry.
25+ pictures of Kaycee, Monique and Corbin at the HSM3 premiere…


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Microsoft appears to be on track to release its new Windows 8 operating system in time for the crucial U.S. holiday shopping season after making a "release preview" of the new code available for download on Thursday.
Windows 8 is the first version that will run on tablet computers as well as PCs, providing Microsoft's first real challenge to Apple Inc's iPad.
Microsoft's release preview is similar to what the software company used to call a "release candidate," meaning the product is all but finished. The next stage is "release to manufacturing," when Microsoft hands the code to PC makers such as HP, Dell and Lenovo to install on new PCs, laptops and tablets.
Based on the timeline for Windows 7 three years ago, Microsoft is on track for full release by October or November, when machines running it will be available in stores. The company has never put a firm date on the release of Windows 8, but says it aims to have a new system every three years. Windows 7 debuted in October 2009.
In the meantime, in order to prevent a drop-off in PC sales, Microsoft said on Thursday that customers who buy Windows 7 PCs between now and January 31 can get an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $14.99.

subset: commoncrawl


text: I have just received a Dr Bott extendAIR omni, external antenna to use with my Airport extreme base station. Unfortunately, all is not well! The signal (measured at various points throughout my house using MacStumbler) is LOWER when the antenna is attached. BTW, each time I plugged/unplugged the aerial I rebooted the base station either by pulling the power or through Airport Admin Utility. Does anyone have any good/bad experiences with this product? Are there any other similarly priced alternatives?


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Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Tears at Christmas and the Greatest Gift of All
My still-recovering-from-a-bad-sinus-infection body slumps into the chair while my dad and sister go and get the food.
**photo credit
Even at two in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, the place is bustling with activity.
Two large groups of ten or more fill the restaurant with the cacophony of holiday fun and camraderie. Close behind me, accents from other lands fill my ears, with the chatter of the local twang mixed in for good measure, and I smile.
A father chases his young son out the door as mommy follows close behind. A gray-haired lady finds a table by the fire, removes her layers, and settles in cozingly. Moments later, a man her age appears with food and drinks. They munch comfortably, reading papers and soaking in the afternoon lull.
I feel alive with the Christmas spirit around me.
And then, out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of another woman. Attractive, well-groomed, tailored, also white-haired, and yet her face plummets quickly into her hands. I turn away swiftly, unwilling to intrude in her private moment, but my heart betrays me and I chance a peek again moments later as her friend arrives. Their words are muffled, but I can hear the desperation in the beautiful woman's voice.
I am saddened by her sorrow at Christmas.
A few weeks ago, I reveiwed Mandisa's new Christmas album, and this one song finds its way into my heart in this moment... Sometimes Christmas Makes Me Cry.
{Click here if you are in a reader/e-mail or cannot view video}
While I have walked through some personal losses and continue to live the life of unseen dreams making the past few Christmases...well...hard.... I have found my face full of a torrent of tears more than once, and yet somehow, some way, I have found my way ONE DAY AT A TIME...back to the heart of the Father, back to the Hope of Christmas... Jesus.
And to be REALLY real...it is still hard.
And not without personal loss...
So today from a heart who knows brokenness, my heart aches ...
for the mother who mourns for her child,
for the soldier far from home,
for the loved one dead and gone,
for the relationships broken and beyond repair,
for the lonely and the desperate and the forgotten,
this Christmas.
For you.
For the ones you love.
For the one who lives next door to you.
For the one you pass in the grocery store.
I believe and pray that the tears of sorrow for the woes of this earthly life will be transformed by the Hope that is to come, by the Peace that passes every understanding of our human minds, by the Love that not only lights our way in this world, but shines in and through our hearts. May you know that the Father understands every tear, feels every pain, knows your every struggle because He Himself found a way to surrender His one and only Son in the form of a babe, knowing He would die a painful death because through that .... YOU would be His!
May your tears find their way back to the beauty of that Love, that precious promise, the greatest gift of all.
5 comments:
Absolutely beautiful, Baby! I love it. I love YOU!!
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- December 27, 2012 at 6:17 AM
Beautiful post! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
- December 27, 2012 at 11:52 AM
Thank you, friend! Quiet and slow due to sickness but it made it peaceful and stress-free too...so that was GOOD! How about you??
Happy New Year!
- December 31, 2012 at 2:06 AM
Thanks, Mama! I love you too!
- December 31, 2012 at 2:06 AM


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Some villains are born great, some achieve greatness and others have had greatness retconned upon them. There have been quite a few villains that were introduced early on in various series and built up to be the archenemy of the hero, but then ended up being sidelined for whatever reason. Some just had squandered potential. Some only stood out because they were the first supervillain a hero fought. Still, I thought I'd look at some villains who could have been or were meant to be big-time villains. I don't necessarily even like some of these characters or think they should have been made into "big-bads", but I felt they all deserved a shout-out (I'm also going to skip characters that are still used as major villains, like the Ultra-Humanite). Are the respective series that these villains have appeared in the poorer for not using them? You decide.
1) The Owl:
Poor Daredevil. During the 60s, he had perhaps the worst rogues' gallery of all the Marvel heroes, precisely because, well, he really didn't have one. Few if any of Daredevil's foes returned unless the story was a two-parter. Those who did could take literally dozens of issues to return, sometimes hundreds. Having such losers like Stilt-Man and Leap-Frog number among those few foes to come back for seconds wasn't exactly a great consolation; neither was having the rest of the rogues be second-string villains from other comics like The Ox (from Spiderman), Eel (from the Human Torch solo series) and Electro(also from Spiderman). One foe of Daredevil's who certainly had potential was The Owl, who debuted in Daredevil's third issue and was the first supervillain unique to Daredevil's own comics.
The Owl's first grand scheme was pretty silly and improbable, with him hiring two hit men (one of whom was a fairly good shot, the other of whom was fairly strong), and intimidating them into obeying him by demonstrating that…he could glide on air, sorta. It's also hard to deny his similarity to Batman's foe the Penguin. Nevertheless, Stan Lee did a good job making him a sinister presence (he is described as "A merciless man…a man with no friends…no loved ones…nothing to connect him to the human race save the fact of his birth!" Now that's how you introduce a villain!) He began his first appearence by framing his lawyer and driving the poor guy to suicide.
The Owl's first grand scheme was pretty silly and improbable, with him hiring two hit men (one of whom was a fairly good shot, the other of whom was fairly strong), and intimidating them into obeying him by demonstrating that…he could glide on air, sorta. It's also hard to deny his similarity to Batman's foe the Penguin. Nevertheless, Stan Lee did a good job making him a sinister presence (he is described as "A merciless man…a man with no friends…no loved ones…nothing to connect him to the human race save the fact of his birth!" Now that's how you introduce a villain!) He began his first appearence by framing his lawyer and driving the poor guy to suicide.
Darkest Silver-Age panel ever.
HOLY CRAP! Dr. Doom never did anything like that.
Clearly, the idea of having a corrupt, fat businessman who hires assassins as Daredevil's archenemy was a good one. The Owl just proves that they didn't necessarily have to use a Spiderman character to fill such a role.
2) Mr. Element/Dr. Alchemy:
This poor fucker gets no respect, not even a Wikipedia article. What makes this guy cool is something that comics' writers rarely consider: Madmen with access to super weapons are scary, but they are much scarier when they're actually competent. Other villains just attempted crimes and hoped that no superheroes would show up, or would lay a trap for a superhero by issuing a challenge to the hero and basically setting himself up for defeat, and thus not really doing anything that he could potentially profit off of. This guy commits robberies, but also has everything set up in case he meets a superhero, specifically The Flash.
Now, that is flippancy.
Mr. Element debuted in Showcase #13, and made it clear he was a guy who had thought up every possible outcome; keep that in mind, possible. Even when he does issue a challenge to The Flash to lure him into a death-trap, he makes sure it works. No faulty wiring, no leaving the trap running with his back turned so the Flash can think of a solution, no he sticks around throughout the whole thing. The only reason Flash escapes is through the most improbable mangling of science possible, and even then it was because the death trap had worked so well that Mr. Element couldn't keep his eye on him. The only thing that defeated Element in the end was that he just wasn't crazy enough to count on a coincidence saving his adversary.
Also, I just love how obsessed the guy is with, well, elements. He names his henchmen after the periodic table, and finds ways to work elements into casual conversation, just not all the time, like say, some of Two-Face's "two" puns. He's believably obsessed.
In his second appearance (the next issue), he meets an inmate who owns the Philosopher's Stone (what are the odds?) and breaks out of prison like it's no big deal, implying he could have escaped whenever he wanted and was just biding his time. After accquiring the stone, he changes his name to "Dr. Alchemy" and dons a vaguely medieval costume. "The Alchemist" would have been a better name, and the costume is pretty silly, but I can't hate a guy who knows how to adapt and evolve.
Interestingly, Element/Alchemy is referred to as Flash's "archenemy" twice in both appearances. Considering that the first story took place over the course of weeks, he probably was the most persistent foe that the Flash had ever encountered at that point.
Obviously, Element/Alchemy was raring to go as Barry Allen's archenemy, but ended up getting pushed aside for these two cheesy fuckwits,
then ultimately by this cheesier fuckwit when he killed Iris West.
There was also an attempt to make Alchemy into Flash's equivalent to Two-Face or The Lizard, by having him reform and switch back and forth between his good persona and his evil one. Whaa? The logic behind this was that, because of the inconsistency of his costumes and names, he had schizophrenia. That seems a little much, I was always willing to accept that his name and costume changes were simply because he adapted himself to fit his new gimmick. Making him schizo just ruined everything. Oh well.
Still, as Barry Allen's first recurrent villain, as well as the fact that all he really needs is a more menacing medieval-style costume, I really do think Flash comics are poorer for never building the not-so-good doctor up. Some say the character doesn't work because his name changes are too confusing, but are they really any worse than Eobard Thawne/Zoom/Reverse Flash or whatever the hell he's called? I'm sorry, but I won't buy a guy as a deadly serious archenemy if one of his aliases is "Professor Zoom", no matter how many girlfriends he offs.
3) The Monk:
I've often wondered what would have happened if Batman's series had been a flop and been cancelled early on, or at least before Robin was introduced, and Batman was forevermore an obscure character whose only use was the occasional cameo in All-Star Squadron or something. I find it amusing, because if that had happened, then whenever some historian would recall Batman, all the core elements of the mythos would still be in place: Batman would still be recalled as a brooding creature of the night who was traumatized by his parents death, lives in a shadowy city, has a shaky working relationship with Commissioner Gordon, and most importantly of all, battles bizarre villains.
Such a pity then that so many early Bat-foes, such as Dr. Death, Hugo Strange, the Duc D' Orterre and The Monk have fallen into obscurity.
Such a pity then that so many early Bat-foes, such as Dr. Death, Hugo Strange, the Duc D' Orterre and The Monk have fallen into obscurity.
Live journal user John Hefner has done a fine job chronicling Professor Hugo Strange, but as much as I love Hugo (and as much as he deserves a spot on this list) I thought I'd focus on a villain who not only predates Hugo, but gets even less attention; The Monk.
The Monk is a vampire. Or werewolf, or Shadmock, whatever. What has stayed consistent is that he's some sort of supernatural being who dresses like a monk and has a female assistant named Dala.
While Batman encountered a mad scientist named Dr. Death twice before The Monk, the not-so-good doctor still pops up (in a radically different form) from time to time. The Monk has the distinction of having never appeared in a story that wasn't a retelling of the original. In the 1980s, Gerry Conway and Gene Colan created a multi-parter where Dick Grayson became seduced by Dala, and in the course of events, Batman became a vampire himself. The Monk took a backseat to Dala in this story, which portrayed them as brother and sister. The explanation for his attire was that he attempted and failed to cure himself of his vampirism through prayer or something. The Monk's next appearance was a joke cameo in Legends of The Dark Knight #94, in a sequence which was a pastiche of the earliest Batman stories.
His most recent (and prominent) appearance was in Matt Wagner's tedious 'Mad Monk" mini-series (wildly inferior to his 'Monster Men" mini-series), which set the story in Gotham and set the Monk up as a cult leader.
Fairly unimpressive resume there, Monk.
But it doesn't have to be. DC could do so much with this character. He could have been used in Dracula's role in Red Rain, he could be DC's answer to Dracula since Marvel already has it's own version. He could also have easily been used in place of Ras Al Ghul too, being an immortal villain with a female accomplice and a mountain retreat. There are tons of possibilities. When I read Grant Morrison's Gothic arc in Legends of The Dark Knight back when it first came out, I speculated that Mr. Whisper (the main villain of Gothic), who was a monk who had made a deal with the devil and had a castle in Europe, was going to be revealed in a twist-ending to have made a second deal with the devil and would become The Monk. Nothing happened. How 'bout that? The one time that Morrison's fan-boyish use of an obscure character would have actually worked, and he disappoints.
Anyway, if he does not become an archenemy to Batman, or even a major villain to anyone, the Monk needs to make a return soon, and hopefully not in another goddamn retelling. Batman's first costumed and super-powered villain deserves that much.
4) The Vulture:
For a guy who is mostly used nowadays as the target of senility jokes in Twisted Toyfare Theater, it's hard to remember that, for a time, Vulch was actually Spiderman's most prominent villain.
I'm serious.
The Vulture has the distinction of being the first genuinely super-powered foe Spidey fought (appearing in Amazing Spiderman #2), when previously he had only fought crooks and spies (okay, I guess, the Chameleon counts as a super-villain). For a long-while, Spidey's battle with the Vulture was considered his "baptism of fire" and this was played up in things like the first annual. It's also worth mentioning that The Vulture was the first Spiderman villain to come back for a second round, making him Spidey's first recurring villain.
There was also this little moment in issue #8: A computer called "The Living Brain" is asked to decode Spiderman's identity and Peter is struck with horror at the prospect, and envisions how it will affect the most important people in his life. Guess who the only villain depicted is?
So, if Amazing Spiderman had been cancelled with issue #10, this means that The Vulture would be considered the main candidate for Spidey's archenemy.
Now personally, while I like the character (there was a great storyline in the 90s where he attempts to regain his youth) I don't think he should be Spiderman's archenemy. I'm fine with Doctor Octopus and The Green Goblin. Still, since this is the day of the obscure villain, I couldn't resist letting him have a moment in the sun.
Also, for a senile old man, he's a better strategist than so-called "genius" Doc Ock.
5) Cyrus Smythe:
Go ahead. Name one Plastic Man villain. Yeah, it's pretty hard to think of any for your average reader who isn't too familiar with Plastic Man. It's not much easier for those of us who are fans of the character.
For all of his boundless imagination, Jack Cole preferred to make most of Plas's foes ordinary (well, fairly ordinary, they were still very much of the Dick Tracy school of nicknamed and deformed weirdos) gangsters who stumbled onto some weird gimmick, or he would introduce the occasional supervillain, but almost all of Plas's foes were done in one. This is funny, because Jack Cole created one of the iconic bad-guys of early comics in The Claw for Lev Gleason publications. In Police Comics #4-5, Cole introduced Madam Brawn; the butchy headmistress of a girl's school for crime. Madam Brawn had potential, being a fairly atypical villainess for comics, even though if she had been continually used she would probably have been the target of fat jokes by later writers. Still, Plas had no real recurring villains after that, the most prominent exception being an incredibly stupid attempt at a Bond villain parody called "Dr. Dome" in the 60s, whose gimmick was that…he wore a dome on his head. This was supposed to be funny. Dome does deserve credit for having the most appearances of all Plastic Man villains, even appearing in the Ruby Spears cartoon.
However, in one of the most infamous stories of the early run (Police Comics #11), Jack Cole created a villain who was obviously meant to be the archenemy for his amorphous hero, and he seemed to recognize this. This character, my friends, was Cyrus Smythe. Who was Cyrus Smythe? Go get some earmuffs, because the plot of this story is so bat-shit crazy your brains will leak out your ears. Now, it's partially because I don't want to damage my archive editions of Plastic Man (my preciousssss) that I won't scan the craziest parts of this story for proof, but also partially because envisioning this story in your head will keep you from fully comprehending its insanity. I swear I'm not making any of it up.
"Many years ago when London was in its infancy, there lived a doctor by the name of Smythe who loved to experiment". Smythe, a man who resembles Woozy Winks in a powdered wig, has created a growth serum, but his test subject (a giant ape) kills him ("Thou art breaking my neck") and trashes the place, causing an explosion. Somehow, the chemicals in the lab keep Smythe's brain alive even though his body is dead. His body is buried in a pauper's grave and his body rots, leaving him with no possible way of communicating("And I've so much to tell the world"). The loneliness drives him (it?) mad and the brain vows that if ever freed, it will kill every man alive.
We cut to the present day (1942), where an American soldier named Tad Wilkins reports for duty over in Britain, leaving behind his parents and fiancée. During a bombing raid in London, his head gets partially blown off and someone finds Smythe's brain and assumes that it's Tad's. Somehow, the doctors are able to put the brain into Tad's body (??) and Smythe is re-born, although the surgery has crippled him. Everyone writes off Tad/Smythe's behavior as amnesia, so he decides to play along with everyone, except for Tad's fiancée, whom he instantly loathes ("Indecently clad modern wench!"). He recreates his growth serum, grows to giant size and squishes both of Tad's parents flat. His fiancée's response to all of this? "He's gone mad! He may hurt someone!"
Plastic Man investigates and runs into the now giant-sized Wilkins/Smythe, who walks around on his hands with his dead legs dangling in the air (picture that, a giant cripple walking around on his hands speaking in Ye Olde English, slaughtering people for fun). Plas and the villain then tangle. Literally.
Note Cole's use of chiaroscuro.
A local mobster makes a deal with Smythe and they plan to take over the world. Eel 'O Brian (Plastic Mna's alter-ego) is a member of the mob, overhears this, and then when he sees Smythe violently rebuff a gun moll (who is attracted to the villain, despite having a gazillion stitches in his head and being paralyzed from the waist down) he formulates a scheme as Plastic Man. He gets Tad's fiancée to dress like an 1800's woman (in a dress which is actually more revealing than any modern clothes we see women wear in the story) and Smythe falls in love with her instantly. They go to get married, but the preacher turns out to be Plastic Man in disguise, who attacks him. Smythe grows to giant-size and attempts to eat Plas. But inside his stomach, Plas crawls down (into what could only be his colon) and plugs it up. Smythe suffocates to death and returns to normal size. Once again, Tad's fiancée writes Tad's inexplicable scientific knowledge off as the result of brain-damage.
But that's not the end. The last panel shows the brain inside the coffin, plotting revenge 'They've got me now, but someday, somehow, the Brain of Cyrus Smythe will rise again to plague all mankind!". Then, Father Time himself, scythe and all, points to the reader and says "Mark my words, he will!"
Probably a true story.
Fortunately for mankind in Plastic Man's universe, but unfortunately for readers whose jaws had hit the pavement from reading this craziness and wanted more, Smythe's brain never returned despite that promise. A good reason he was never brought back is quite possibly because even Jack Cole himself couldn't top that kind of craziness. Still, any story that bat-shit crazy deserves to be followed up somehow, and having Smythe come back, however improbably, with his brain ending up in new bodies (a'la Baxter Stockman and the Ultra-Humanite) would make for a wonderfully twisted counterpart to Plastic Man's shape-shifting.
Hey, you know what? Maybe Dr. Dome could be made into a cool villain; maybe it could be revealed that he wears that dome for a reason, to hide his surgery scars, because his head is where the brain of Cyrus Smythe now resides!
6) Leapo aka Bulls Eye
Like Plastic Man, Green Arrow has never really had an archenemy. He's had a few memorable and well-known villains, notably Clock King and Count Vertigo. However, most of these villains have been appropriated for other heroes. There were attempts to set up Justice League villain Merlyn the Archer as an arch-foe for Green Arrow, but so far it's been a case of being told, not shown. Merlyn hasn't even appeared in any of Green Arrow's own titles!
Still, I'll take any of these guys over the first attempt to give Green Arrow an archenemy...
It should be remembered that Green Arrow was conceived as a sort of second-rate Batman, thus it would make sense for him to have his own Joker. But still, even though by the time Leapo had debuted the Joker was no longer the homicidal maniac he had initially been, any attempts to take Leapo seriously were dead from the start, and that bulls-eye symbol just makes him look like a target.
A literal circus clown, Leapo managed to last more than a dozen appearances (despite what Comicvine says) before calling it quits. Should he be brought back? Not everything old is gold.
7) The Weaponers of Qward:
Imagine if Bizarro world was played straight, and you'd have a good idea who these guys are. The Qwardians were a race of aliens who lived in a "negative dimension" parallel to earth, they considered evil to be good and good to be evil, thus criminals are heroes and heroes are criminals. These guys are most famous for being Sinestro's henchmen in his early appearances (they were the ones who developed a yellow ring for him), but what you may not know is that they were the first recurring villains Hal Jordan fought. The Weaponers debuted in Green Lantern #2 and appeared almost consecutively thereafter until the writers realized Sinestro and Hector Hammond made for more compelling villains, as those two would be GL's most frequent foes for the rest of the 1960s. The Qwardians still appear today, with most of their good-evil philosophy abandoned, thankfully. Anyway, it's tough to do stories where an entire people are the enemies of a hero. I'd say that ditching them was no big loss.
8) The Black Queen:
Will Eisner was never one for actual supervillains in The Spirit, mostly preferring to use either Dick Tracy-esque nicknamed crooks or femme fatales. The Black Queen was something of a trial run for both types of character, boasting a nickname and a gimmick, as well as ending up in cheesecakey situations like having the Spirit walk in on her while undressing.
While Dr. Cobra (from the first Spirit story) was the first Spirit foe to return, Black Queen outclassed him in both scope and number of appearances.
In her first appearance she was little more than a crooked lawyer, and got blackmailed by The Spirit (this was when he was a more Robin Hood-ish character) along with the rest of the city council into staging a re-trial for a murderer whom she had gotten off named Slot Grogan. Thing is, the Queen's gimmick wasn't merely that she was a lawyer, but that she was the best lawyer in the world, able to talk her client's way out of virtually anything. However, Grogan ended up giving himself away and confessing to the murder. After a brutal beating, the Spirit then forced Grogan and the Queen to give their stolen money to a school lunch fund. At the official re-trial, however, (and this shows how ahead of the curve Eisner was, because there's no way The Spirit's method of getting Slot to confess would have held up in court), the Queen used her skills to make Grogan out to be the victim because of the way he had been brutalized by the Spirit, and passed off his donation to the schools as proof of his repentance (he still got life in prison).
It's kind of a silly story, but it marks the first time Eisner used humor, social satire and played around with conventions. It also marked the first use of Ebony as the Spirit's sidekick, and like I said before, the Queen can be considered Eisner's first great femme fatale. I guess, in a way, I'd argue that the first Black Queen story was also the first "true" Spirit story as well. It's quite funny too, in hindsight, to compare the Queen with real-life lawyers like Roy Cohn & Johnny Cochran, who really were no less outlandish than she was!
Eisner's skills at drawing girls were still developing.
Despite the satirical possibilities of having a ridiculously good lawyer as an arch villain(ess), her next two appearances used the Queen as a more standard supervillain, plotting to hold the entire city of New York for ransom, and then returning with a "kiss of death" while wearing an actual costume.
She was killed off shortly thereafter. Still, she deserves credit for being the template for all of the other Spirit villains: The hidden crime boss with elaborate schemes (The Octopus), the various femme fatales (P'Gel, Satin, and god knows how many others) and corrupt politicians (Ward Healy).So there you have it; the arch-villains that weren't. Do they have potential, or should we be glad some of them have rarely seen the light of day in years?


text: Maggie is a certified life purpose and career coach. After being Director of Learning & Development for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for several years, she became Martha Stewart Living Radio's Career Coach on SIRIUS and XM Satellite Radio. Maggie hosts "Making a Living with Maggie" every Wednesday at 4pm eastern/1pm pacific on SIRIUS 112 and XM 103. Join Maggie to learn how to create your personal vision and mission on today's program.


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We rented a sled so that we could take Charlie sledding but quickly discovered that all she wanted to do was have a snowball fight!
We were at a great spot to see the boys going up the mountain with their ski school.
After an epic snowball battle, we took her up the gondola to watch her brothers ski.
Waiting for your hot chocolate to arrive is very sad!
Funny face selfies to the rescue!
It finally arrived!!!
Getting their ski school medals on the last day!
Celebrating ski school graduation with a traditional German beer. ;)
All dressed up to tour Garmish!
Its below freezing, of course ice cream is needed.
Having not had a chance to ski for a few years (Ryan) to never having been on skis (Bryce), they did so great by the end of the week!


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Edens End
Edens End
Welcome to Eden, where you are all live. Eden is a large, prosperous city-state located in the western continent. It maintains strength through an absolute 0 tolerance law. Long ago, the leaders of Eden decided they wanted to turn their city into something better. They wanted to be seen by the world as a beacon of justice, and end tyrants. They decided that man was not capable to overseeing a society like the one they envisioned, as they would are weak to the influence of power and corruption. The only way they could lead their city with absolute justice was to gain the assistance of beings of absolute law.
They used their wizards to summon forth from the lawful plane constructs meant to uphold law in the universe. The newly formed council used these constructs to advise their decisions. However, as much as the council wished to uphold true law, they soon realized that the planar beings were too harsh even for them. They always wanted to seek the harshest punishments, even for the smallest crimes. Once, the council found an accused murderer innocent, as they did not have enough evidence to know it could have only been him. The constructs, not agreeing with the decision, took matters in their own hands. They killed the murderer, as well as the guards that helped defend him. They then decided the council was too weak to rule this supposed lawful country, and overthrew them. They used their magic to banish the old council, and established a rule over Eden. They took law in a meaning nobody else expected.
The new rulers affixed magical bands to the neck of all citizens, capable of causing great pain and draining a man of all his strength, even his life. Anything deemed "unlawful" was reason for an enforcer to activate the band, anywhere at any time. These public punishments, sometimes executions, did have an effect on the people though. Soon, the citizens learned to just live by the rules of their lawful tyrants. The new generations grew up without knowing what any other kind of living would be like, thus the constructs even gained loyalty from the people. But not everyone.
There were those who rebelled. Most were killed in the streets, or in battle against the clearly combat superior oppressors. There was one who was smarter than the others, and put on a smile while following the orders of the constructs, and silently grew powerful right under their noses. He was able to remove his band, as well as a number of his secret followers, and escape the city, soon establishing a resistance against Eden. It has been years now, and the endless war against the rebels draws most citizens to swear fealty to their lords, keeping them safe from the chaotic rule of Cypher with their army of "volunteer" soldiers. You are were instructed to be such volunteers, and as such you are here now. After a short successful stint in the town guard, then standing militia, you have been summoned to meet with an ambassador to the Lords, apparently with task that needs urgent attention.


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Anthony Dominic
Content Producer, Club Industry
Anthony joined Club Industry in September 2016 and covers fitness industry news, in addition to administering the brand's e-newsletters, social media and sponsored content.
Anthony previously worked as an assistant editor at Dispatch Magazines in Columbus, Ohio, where he earned an Excellence in Journalism Award from The Press Club of Cleveland for feature writing. He also won numerous grants and accolades during his tenure as editor-in-chief of The Burr, Kent State University's student magazine, including a William Randolph Hearst Award. In 2015, Anthony was published in "Car Bombs to Cookie Tables," Belt Publishing's fifth narrative nonfiction anthology about the storied Rust Belt city of Youngstown, Ohio—located just north of where Anthony grew up.
Anthony is an avid follower of boxing and basketball, and spends much of his time reading, writing, climbing and mountaineering.


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Ariat Croc Print Floral Studded Leather Belt
Item # 2581G2
- Ariat Croc Print Floral Studded Leather Belt
- Item # 2581G2
$77.99 Original Price -$12.41 Sale Savings
$65.58 Final Price
16% Total Savings
Additional Information
Features & Description
- A great western belt by Ariat!
- Genuine leather construction
- Fashionable croc print design throughout
- Silver-tone studs create scroll & floral pattern
- Sparkly rhinestone embellishments
- Removable buckle & leather keeper!
- Order a larger size for lower jean rises (measure to fit hips)Order a
Floral stamped leather lends to the western appeal of this Ariat belt, but the bling encrusted belt buckle is all about the fashion! Floral studded pattern details leather belt and silver-tone buckle. Clear acrylic rhinestone embellishments. Women's Ariat belt measures 1 1/2" wide. Sizes: S(28-30), M(32-34), L(36-38), XL(40-42).


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We make our own sacrifices and worship our own gods, from materialism to social justice. We have our own talismans, always connected to our human conceit.
Tag Archives: NepalContinue reading
of gods and boxes
help wanted
There were classes in science, math, English and Nepali, all based on workbooks and recitation. I would not have been able to study, with the amazing view outside the open windows.Continue reading
everyday riches
I could thank the Puritans for my luxuries, with their clean, industrious ways. I'm sure I can thank the Lord, whose mercies are new every morning—even in Nepal. I just want to remember how rich I am.Continue reading


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Those looking for the perfectly holiday cocktail recipe should look no further than this delicious Pumpkin-Eggnog Martini that's deliciously crafted to be a scrumptious treat that's ready for Thanksgiving, Christmas or both.
Instead of using store-bought eggnog, the Pumpkin-Eggnog Martini is crafted entirely from scratch using ingredients like egg whites, almond milk, agave nectar, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg and a splash of rum (the rum is optional). When combined and shaken, the Pumpkin-Eggnog Martini is served in a martini glass that has been rimmed using agave nectar and a mixture of sugar and pumpkin spice.
Able to be consumed with or without alcohol in it, this holiday cocktail recipe is great for any get together in the colder months to help satisfy a craving for traditional beverages.
Multi-Holiday Beverages
More Stats +/-
Vegan Seasonal Beverages
Vegan Holiday Drinks
Hidden Halloween Menus
Deep Fried Champagne Bites
Gluten-Free Eggnog Cakes
This Holiday Cocktail Recipe Makes a Delicious Pumpkin-Eggnog Martini
- By: Michael HemsworthNov 21, 2015
References: recipegirl & recipegirl
References: recipegirl & recipegirl


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Victoria White 4 videos View Her Videos
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Bella22,011 Views, 80 Likes, 427 Favorites Tags: Athletic Body, Dark Hair, Natural Tits, Outie Pussy, Shaved Pussy, Small Ass, Small Tits, White / Caucasian
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There's nothing like a beautiful latina woman. If it's a Cuban woman even better. Who doesn't love some Caribbean booty? She's only been in the U.S. for about six years and she just turned 18. She wanted to get in to porn simply because she knew she loved to fuck and the money helps too. Preston and Bella hit it off even though there's a language barrier. Bella doesn't speak great english, but she gets by. Enough to get fucked at least. Bella is a quiet hottie, but once she gets a dick in her mouth the shy girl disappears. Preston gets to have first dibs on Bella. He's a lucky bastard as always, bt we get to watch Bella's first adventure in the porn world with us! Enjoy.
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Bella Likes The Fellas W/ Bella
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Bella hails from Cuba. An island paradise known for its tropical weather, spectacular food and gorgeous women. Bella is a cutie. She's soft spoken and petit. She's ready to fuck and suck some cock. Bella's been living in Miami for about six years and was interested in getting in to porn for a while now. She's shy to talk but not when comes down to it. Pauly is the lucky Bang Bros soldier who gets to have his way with Bella and she doesn't seem to mind at all. After she teases him in the living room they quickly move the party to the kitche where they proceed to fuck right on the kithen counter. Que viva Cuba!! Enjoy.


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Magnusson: If I owned West Ham 100% it would've been different
With West Ham seemingly facing an uncertain few months ahead, Richard Edwards speaks to the man who was previously at the helm of the Upton Park club, Eggert Magnusson, to see where the Icelander feels he went wrong...
A 5-0 FA Cup drubbing to a club in the Championship was hardly the ideal fillip for a side that has experienced the high of a Premier League victory just once in 13 matches.
In fact, in a season that has had more troughs than a bustling pig farm, West Ham's humbling at the hands of Nottingham Forest represented a new low.
Sadly, with many subscribing to the Lambert Theory of FA Cup Evolution (2014), the club's demise in a competition they last won (famously) in 1980 was greeted with a shrug of the shoulders rather than anger. After all, in the modern era of Bentleys, offshore banks and banter, it's Premier League survival that should be pursued to exclusion of almost everything else.
Watching events at the City Ground unfold from a distant Reykjavik was Eggert Magnusson, the man whose controversial reign as chairman is still remembered with frosty antipathy from the club's long-suffering supporters.
He headed up the Icelandic consortium that took over the running of West Ham in November 2006 and oversaw one of the most troubled periods in the club's recent history, as the tentacles of the global financial crisis wrapped themselves firmly around E13.
Magnusson, though, tells FourFourTwo that as a true football man he always had West Ham's best interests at heart and vigorously defends himself against the ferocious criticism he received when David Sullivan and David Gold took over the club in January 2010.
"It seems to be that it always happens when people come in and want to blame the people that were there before," he says. "It's similar with many managers. They come into a club and the first statement that comes from them is unbelievable – the players are not in a condition to play football.
"But if you look at what has happened at West Ham in recent years, there have been many good things but also many mistakes – that's how it is in football and life. You make decisions, some of them are correct and some are not correct. If you make no decisions then nothing happens."
The decision to buy Andy Carroll is clearly one of the most questionable made by the current ownership team, with the former Newcastle and Liverpool man – a £15m acquisition by Sam Allardyce this summer – yet to play a match this season.
It's not going well for West Ham at the moment and I worry about them a little bit
Carroll returned to training with the Hammers last week and his return to the first team can't come soon enough. The Irons' forward line has looked so toothless this season, it has made Nobby Stiles look over-loaded with canines.
The club now face a situation similar to the one that Magnusson inherited back in 2006 and he knows better than anyone just how hard it is to escape relegation when you find yourself in the drop-zone going into a New Year.
"It's not going well for them at the moment and I worry a little bit because when I came into West Ham we were in the bottom place of the Premier League over Christmas," he says. "What really happened then was unbelievable. We won seven of our last nine matches and saved ourselves in the last game of the season at Manchester United. It was almost a dream come true. That was so tough, it was a miracle.
"The main thing for me as chairman during those months was to encourage everybody to believe that it was possible to stay up. That was the message every day during those long days and months when we were in big, big trouble."
The losses announced by Bolton last week will be enough to give any owner of a side in the bottom half of the Premier League sleepless nights and clearly illustrate that relegation can potentially spell financial Armageddon for clubs with huge squads and salaries commensurate with the richest league in world football.
"It's very, very difficult (if you do go down)," says Magnusson. "We saw Bolton Wanderers' accounts and what it really means. Like everybody who is relegated from the Premier League you try to come back within two years, if that doesn't happen it's very, very hard to get back and balance the books. You need a rich owner who is there to help out."
If I had owned it 100% I would have done things differently
Magnusson himself was merely the figurehead of an Icelandic takeover that floundered as soon as the full weight of the financial crisis hit. The country's banks folded quicker than England's top order Down Under and left the former president of the Iceland Football Association powerless to halt the dismantling of a side who were looking up rather than down under the stewardship of Alan Curbishley.
Now, with Sullivan and Gold focused firmly on survival once again, he says that he would have done things rather differently during his own turbulent reign as chairman.
"I've been involved in football all my life so when I was asked to go with my friend – who was, of course, the rich guy in this connection (Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson) – and buy West Ham United it was all about football and the possibility to try something new," he says.
"Of course, there might be some different thinking from some of the owners in the Premier League today but that's not for me to say. From my point of view, when I entered into it, it was a new adventure in football.
"I have mixed feelings. If I had been the owner of the club myself or owned it 100%, I would have done things very differently. But with hindsight, if I had known what I know now I perhaps wouldn't even have done it at all."
There's a melancholy tone to Magnusson's voice that suggests he is still scarred by the experience, but he's far from the only foreign owner who has been chewed up and spat out by a league which is now a world away from the one graced by former Hammers' greats Bobby Moore, Trevor Brooking and Geoff Hurst.
Owning a club can't be about enhancing your own personality or be about PR
Recent events at Cardiff have once again seen giant question marks raised against the attitude and motives of foreign owners in the Premier League but Magnusson believes that most are driven by football rather than ego.
"I don't think it matters (whether an owner is British or foreign) as long as the person involved is there from a football perspective," he says. "I just look at the club who is close to where I live now in London, Chelsea, and I think it's great for Chelsea to have an owner like (Roman) Abramovich. So much has happened since he took over – what more could the fans ask for? I've no doubt in mind that for him it's all about football.
"That has to be the case, though, it can't be about enhancing your own personality or be all about PR. Sometimes people forget how the fortunes of some clubs have changed. People are putting in a lot of their own money."
At Upton Park, however, it's survival rather than European excursions that are dominating the thoughts. And the natives are getting restless.


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The fourth adventure for geologist Trace Brandon, who seeks a gold-bearing vein in Washington state and may have to thwart a hostile takeover of his mining company in Reneau's (south of good, 2014, etc.) thriller.
Trace and a few friends go in search of the infamous lost mine in Okanogan County's War Creek. Many have searched for the mine, originally discovered by a guide in 1882, and some have never come back. Trace receives his share of warnings, including one from an elderly Native American who foresees death. Sure enough, someone murders a claim staker. But trouble also brews elsewhere: inmate Anthony Delucia, who blames Trace for his son's death, has escaped. Meanwhile, New Orleans Mafia don Peter Pantelli may have a sinister agenda now that he's a major shareholder in Trace's Ruby Mining Company. The notable protagonist derives his strength from his well-chosen allies; standouts are Marion Thistlewaite, a "former clandestine operative," and Trace's cousin and retired sheriff Hank Orvis, who dares anyone to interrupt his Gunsmoke reruns. Despite the Washington setting, the story boasts a bit of Southern flair: Trace and company ride horses to War Creek, and everyone, it seems, drops the occasional "ain't." At times, good guys seem to outnumber bad, but the villains are unquestionably formidable. Delucia tracks Trace, et al., a little too well, while Pantelli isn't just a financial threat; he'll also hire backup, like a proficient female assassin, to do his dirtiest work. The abundance of subplots is dizzyingly fun but not befuddling, and the novel has a bit of action, a hint of the supernatural, and a few whopping surprises. Reneau's writing is unadorned but often playful: when pal Cyrus asks Trace what kind of trouble he's found, Trace replies with a wry, "The dead kind."
A rousing tale with a good deal of Southern charm in northern Washington.


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Einstein's love of Mozart, and the inspiration it provided him, is the theme behind ''Einstein's Mozart: Two Geniuses'' by Kate Light. The composition -- an integration of two of Mozart's great string works with the narration of Light's original poetry and prose -- will be performed today at the Zoellner Arts Center by the Serafin String Quartet, with Light as narrator.
See, something like this, I can sit through, mainly because it is more of an entertainment. And they don't try to "interpret" physics into music, especially by musicians who are not trained in physics, which is rather pretentious.


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You're set up on your 5 day juice plan or your 3 day overhaul, and everything seems great because you have a "plan". The challenge arrives when the plan ends, how do you proceed? What comes next? When your plan ends, your health goals don't have to. Try incorporating these 9 key tips to continue a healthy lifestyle.
Smart Sweet: Baked Apples with Almonds, Cranberries & Cinnamon
Since I'm one of the Guided Reboot coaches I'm consistently working with my Rebooters to make sure they have enough healthy eating options to enjoy once their Reboot comes to an end. I came up with this healthy and delicious baked apple dessert for a group who had a sweet tooth! Get the easy and delicious recipe.
Good Fats vs. Bad Fats – The Facts
FAQ – How Often Can I Reboot?
Q: How often can I Reboot? A: It is recommended to engage in a 15 day Reboot no sooner than 3 months or 12 weeks from your last Reboot. Rebooting "once a quarter" has been the norm for many Rebooters. A 5 day Reboot express can be done every 2 months or 8 weeks.


text: Filmmakers and film historians comment on 25 most important film titles and, thus, offer viewers a broader perspective on the golden era of the Czechoslovak cinema. The documentary builds on the television series of profiles The Golden Sixties. Unlike the TV series based on the individual testimonies of various artists, the feature-length documentary shows the 1960s in Czechoslovakia in the national and global contexts. It identifies how the Czechoslovak New Wave moved the goalposts and enriched international cinema, as well as where it left its indelible mark.


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Sunderland finished their Barclays U18 Premier League season with a flourish, decisively beating Wolves 4-1 today in the final Group Two game to round off a promising campaign.
Wolves did have chances, but solid defending, allied to clinical finishing, was the essential difference between the two sides.
The game was played in perfect conditions, still and sunny. In goal for Sunderland was 6ft 4in highly rated New Zealand U-17 International Michael Woud and the youngster was almost faultless throughout.
Elliot Embleton and Dan Pybus ran the midfield in the early stages and, in the 18th minute, Embleton had a magnificent effort from the edge of the box tipped onto the post and away by Wolves keeper Harry Beasley.
But, after 22 minutes, they did take the lead when a shot by Pybus was deflected by a defender past the keeper from ten yards.
The visitors came back and Jordan Allan had only the keeper to beat but shot wide. There were other several near misses, but Woud made some outstanding blocks and saves to keep the lead at half-time.
Five minutes after the restart, the hosts doubled the advantage with left back Josh Robson surging forward to get to the line and pull back for Pybus to hammer his second high into the net.
Seven minutes later, they made it three when Pybus was brought down in the area and got up to claim his hat-trick from the spot-kick, scoring easily to the keeper's right.
Shortly afterwards, Embleton curled another shot just wide, but, on 67 minutes, the Midlanders pulled one back with a penalty awarded for hand ball against Brandon Taylor, with Morgan Gilds-White scoring from the spot.
Minutes later, Woud had to go full length to keep out another fine effort by the visitors as they tried to save the game.
However, their efforts were in vain as Sunderland wrapped up the game in style five minutes from time.
Sub Dan Wright got down the left on the break and cut-back for Luke Molyneux to steady himself and superbly crash the ball into the top corner.
It was a fitting end to a keenly fought game in which Sunderland had the edge which was based on their well-taken goals.
Coach Elliott Dickman summed up the match by saying: "It was a good all-round display with great finishing by us to finish the season."
Sunderland: Woud. Taylor, Casey, Storey, Robson J, Poame, Allan, Pybus (Wright 58), Molynuex (Hacket 85), Maja, Embleton. Subs not used: Talbot, Hickey.


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The Ontario Provincial Police is pleased to offer Citizen Self Reporting, an alternative reporting option that allows the public to report specific crimes to police via the internet, anywhere, anytime. The OPP's Citizens Self Reporting system allows members of the public to use a computer or mobile device to report an incident without requiring an officer to attend the scene.
Citizen Self Reporting is simple and convenient and can be used when reporting incidents that do not involve injury or a suspect, or a crime that is not an emergency. The use of this new system is completely optional. Police will still attend a call for service if desired.
Visit the website yourself to check it out:
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is improving its capacity for emergency response and enhancing the safety for an important segment of the communities it serves.
Beginning Wednesday, April 15, the OPP will be equipped to receive emergency calls for service via Text with 911 (T9-1-1) from people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech impaired (DHHSI) and for which the OPP is the Primary Public Safety Answering Point (P-PSAP).
T9-1-1 enables emergency communication with OPP 9-1-1 call takers via text message (or SMS). In order to use T9-1-1, members of the DHHSI community must register their cell phones with their wireless carrier in advance. Some older model phones may not be compatible. Those who have more than one cell phone will need to register each phone individually. The T9-1-1 service is not intended for use by the general public.
An Information Card is available on the OPP website at this address (http://www.opp.ca/ecms/index.php?id=620) and via several OPP-serviced jurisdictions. More information is also available through the Canadian Wireless Telecommunication Association at www.cwta.ca.
"The OPP is committed to increasing accessibility for persons with disabilities, and has made extensive network upgrades to be able to offer Text with 9-1-1 service in the communities we serve." -- Commissioner J.V.N. (Vince) HAWKES
"Preparing to offer Text with 9-1-1 was complex and involved months of collaboration with our service provider and the communities. The OPP appreciates the patience of many stakeholders while we implemented the necessary changes to provide this important and innovative service." – Chief Superintendent Rick BARNUM, Commander – OPP Communications and Technology Services Bureau
Ontario Police
Provincial provincial
Police de l'Ontario
Communications and Technology Services Bureau
Bureau de gestion de communication et technologie
Lincoln M. Alexander Building
777 Memorial Ave.
Edifice Lincoln M. Alexander
777, avenue Memorial
(705) 329-6177
(705) 329-6176
File Number/Référence:
April 13, 2015
Dear Mayor / Reeve,
On July 7th, 2014 the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) introduced Citizen Self Reporting (CSR), an internet-based reporting system, as an alternate means of reporting non-emergency incidents to police from the traditional phone call to a Communications Centre. Utilizing this system is completely optional and has been introduced as a simple and convenient method to use a computer or mobile device to report specific incidents that are not deemed to be an emergency, or where there are no suspects or no injuries involved.
Since the program was implemented, the OPP has received hundreds of online reports from citizens across Ontario. With this information, police have been able to use these online reports to make linkages to property crime investigations, some of which have led to the arrest and charging of suspect(s).
The OPP is constantly looking for ways to improve efficiencies and increase public safety and we are confident that online reporting has greater potential moving forward now that citizens can report non-emergency incidents anywhere, anytime.
The OPP are collaborating with our municipal partners to promote and support Citizen Self Reporting throughout the province. Citizen Self Reporting will be instrumental in allowing members of the public to report less serious occurrences on their own time. As members of the public engage the Citizen Self Reporting system more frequently, it will permit valuable front line resources to be focused on more serious crimes and community based projects.
Municipalities can assist in supporting this system by posting the enclosed web information on your municipal website. The following link will take you directly to the CSR website:
Community safety and well-being in Ontario is everyone's responsibility. Your ongoing support will make a difference.
Yours truly,
R.W. (Rick) Barnum, Chief Superintendent
Bureau Commander
Communications and Technology Services Bureau
Ontario Provincial Police


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Michael Mercieca responds to the MAS review by Christine Farnish
Young Enterprise highlights the importance of financial education in schools, as raised by the Independent Review on the Money Advice Service (MAS) by Christine Farnish
Today, an independent review, led by Christine Farnish, into the Money Advice Service (MAS) has been published. The review was commissioned by the Treasury in March 2014. Farnish, formerly chief executive of the National Association of Pensions Funds and consumer director at the FSA, was chosen to lead the work.
Young Enterprise, home to pfeg, welcomes the importance that the Christine Farnish review places on financial education in schools. We believe that an essential life skill for children and young people is a clear understanding of how to mange their money. MAS, in its strategic overview of the sector, must act as a crucial high level advocate in support of financial education in schools.
The review rightly highlights the importance of a web-based schools portal that is accessible to all, which we already offer via our pfeg website (www.pfeg.org). The pfeg website provides a range of advice and resources to anyone teaching children or young people about money.
Quality assurance for financial education is a key area discussed by the report – it provides confidence to parents and teachers that initiatives are unbiased and of high quality. The Quality Mark run by pfeg is the UK's only widely-recognised accreditation system for financial education resources, supporting high quality teaching and learning about money. Our Quality Mark provides the many teachers delivering financial education with the confidence that the materials they are using contain accurate and up-to-date information, are of the highest educational value, and are engaging and relevant for young people.


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Special Available - 1/2 off application fee! Also, we are Meeting You Halfway - 7th Month Free on a 12-Month Lease. Contact the Leasing Office for details.
Even though i don't have the go ahead to live there because of a few evictions , i still referred someone else
Love the prices cobbcounty to higj
I am trying to see the apt from what I see on the web I think I would like to live there
Lovely just lovely. I would like to have more information on this place. It's just me and my 9 year old daughter.
If I could give these apartments 0 stars I wouldnt have clicked on even 1. I kept my apartment. Spotless with not even 1 dish in the sink and it became roach infested. Even in the daytime there would be roaches all over the walls. They came and bombed my apartment but they told me that it probably wouldnt get rid of the problem because no now else requested for their apartment to be bombed. Even besides the roaches I lived on the second floor, my patio caved in while my father was on it and our ceiling in our bathroom fell in. These apartments should be condemned. When the ceiling fell in they came and cleaned up the debris and taped a plastic bag over it. It was still like that in my shower when I moved out! Do Not Move Here! Worst experience ever!
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Variable, 12-Month


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A one day course (minimum of 6 hrs teaching) for anyone working in catering or the provision of meals. The course outlines good practice for food handlers to implement in the work place.
We deliver high quality training by qualified tutors. The course costs £63 per person or £48 for Cyrenians Community Food Members. Payment is taken by invoice which will be issued via email or post after completion of this booking form. We also accept ITA funding. If you would like to use ITA funding, please book via the Skills Development Scotland MyWorldofWork website.
The course is a nationally recognised qualification accredited by the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS). Participants will be issued a certificate on successful completion of the test. The certificate is valid for 3–5 years.
The course will cover:
- Basic bacteria
- Food poisoning
- Personal hygiene
- Working environment
- Cleaning practices
- Pest control
- Basic legislation
A light lunch will be provided and there will also be two coffee breaks throughout the day.
Where can I contact the organiser with any questions?
Please email firstname.lastname@example.com with any questions or call Sue O'Neill Berest or Hanna Wesemann on 0131 554 3900.
Do I have to bring a printed copy of the booking confirmation on the day?
You do not need to bring a copy of the booking confirmation. However if your course is funded by the ITA please bring the token identifier or code provided by the ITA in relation to your course booking.
Is my registration/course place transferrable?
If you need to cancel less than 2 weeks prior to the start of the course, at our discretion, you may send somebody else to fill the space and transfer your booking to a later course.
What is the refund and cancellation policy?
Please note that refunds cannot be given for cancellations less than two weeks prior to the date of the course. Cancellations made before the two week cut off will be entitled to a full re-fund.
We reserve the right to give one weeks' notice in the event of having to cancel the course if our minimum attendance numbers are not met.
What are my transport/parking options getting to the event?
The depot is approximately 30 minutes walk from the City Centre and there are multiple bus routes serving Leith Walk and Bonnington Road adjacent to Jane Street.
From Princes Street take bus 22 or 25 and from Leith Street bus 7, 14, 22, 25 or 49 to Steads Place/after Stead's Place stop on Leith Walk (Jane Street is a side road on the left just after the bus stop).
There is unrestricted car parking available on the road near to the Good Food Dept. Please do not park in the forecourt area.


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"Ask How Much He Earns" – Toke Makinwa
Want tips on how to nail a first date? Toke Makinwa to the rescue.
On an all new episode of Toke Moments, the Nigerian media personality dishes on "First Date Rules". With her split from Maje Ayida behind her now, she will probably be doing a lot of this.
So what are the questions to ask and how can you tone down on the cray-cray.


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Power Gallery 1 clashing with drop down menu
I have an issue, this page menu was working fine unitl i Embed in PHP Page code from Power gallery version on this page and it's php page I don't know why it's clashing with the menu. Could you help me out please. thanks


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Contact us for an appointment to view our apartment homes.


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Sport Pitches & Artificial Grass Maintenance
In sports, comfort is very important. This is why the pitches need to be maintained very well. In the modern day, pitches for football, handball, hockey, cricket and even tennis courts may be made from astro turf. What does this mean in terms of artificial grass maintenance and the associated costs? Why is it important to properly maintain astro turf especially when it is used in sports fields and pitches?
More information on artificial grass maintenance
Safety and differences in playing characteristics
Besides comfort, the safety of players is extremely important. With a poorly maintained pitch, the chances of injury are much higher. Poorly maintained pitches degenerate at different rates for example, one section may have a high slip rate, another may have a high bounce rate while in some other areas, and the ground may be too compact resulting to muscular and sometimes physical injuries. The ball may also be affected given that different sections will have different bounce rates and different speeds. This affects the quality of the game all together. Proper maintenance ensures that there is uniformity throughout the pitch, which reduce the risk of injuries and ensures that the playing characteristics are uniform. Remember that injuries that result from poor maintenance may result in litigation problems for the officials involved.
If poorly maintained, the turf degenarates faster than it would. This necessitates spending more money to replace the turf sooner than projected. This may lead to financial problems and blame games amongst the responsible individuals. Overall, it affects the coordination amongst the responsible officials and which ultimately reflects on the sports teams.
Aesthetic value
A poorly maintained pitch is unsightly and unattractive to both players and spectators. This has a direct effect on the morale of the players and the quality of the game will be affected. Some players may even refuse to play on such pitches to maintain their own brands. Sports officials may also reallocate sports and games that were scheduled on that pitch. This leads to loss of opportunities for the local people to not only host the sport or game but to also make money from the event. The local economy is therefore likely to suffer.
Preventing slipping, minimising injuries after a fall, preventing discomfort brought about by grounds that are too compact and ensuring uniformity in speed of items on different sections are some of the benefits enjoyed by Tennis, football and hockey players when pitches and fields are properly maintained. Team work and proper planning can ensure that all pitches remain well maintained over the seasons.


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Utilize A Cell Phone To Watch VideoWhen the jacks are usually connected on the end among the cables, perform snap the keystone jack into the wall plates and screw the wall plates into the gang boxes in the wall.
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The SC connector is often a push-in/pull-out type connector description has a two.5 mm ferrule. It can be quite popular as a result of excellent performance record. The SC connector was standardized in TIA-568-A, and is very popular for final two modules concern 15 years or thus. It took a while to surpass the ST any price a good deal users were comfortable one ST. Now it's increased competitive with pricing and can be so a super easy install, only requiring a push in and use connection. This is extremely helpful in tight schemes. Simplex and duplex SC connectors are available. The SC was developed your Japanese several say is short Standard Connection.
The dimensions of the phone measures ninety seven.8 x 49.5 x 11.2 mm and weighs just 87 g. Is actually also clear around the dimensions that barefoot running can definitely be fitted your market pocket. The styling of phone offers unisex design with clean lines on its body that looks attractive while holding on hand. Sides and front of the gadget are light silvery in color, but the bed is engrossed in dark and faux metal finish, obtaining the an attractive finish for the overall bodily. Above the video display there can be an earpiece located that functions as a loudspeaker, also.


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AUGUSTA, Maine — There's a sign on the wall in the Bangor Municipal Golf Course's snack bar quoting Arnold Palmer on the easiest way to knock five shots off your score: "An eraser."
I noticed that quip last weekend when Mike Van Sickle and I competed in the Greater Bangor Open there. I was in contention for low amateur before tanking in the last round while Mike, my son, shot a course-record 60 in the opening round and ended up in a playoff, losing on the fourth extra hole. David Chung got the win and a $9,000 first prize. Mike won $5,200.
Two days later, an eraser played a big role in Mike's round. This time, it was Monday's first round of the Maine Open at Augusta Country Club. (Not that Augusta. Mike actually called ahead to see about a practice round there while we were still in Bangor and after searching for the phone number online, called the wrong Augusta Country Club. "I think you want the one in Maine," someone named Bryson drawled. "This is the one in Jawja.")
Monday, Mike made seven birdies in a row in the middle of his round, chipped in for eagle at the par-4 16th hole (he'd hit a drive to the fringe) and was just short of the par-5 18th green in two. If he pitched in, he'd shoot 59. If he got up and down, he'd shoot 60. Course-record territory.
It had been raining for a few holes and by then started coming down hard. Play was stopped by the Maine Golf Association. Mike had the option to finish the hole but, because it was absolutely pouring, thought it would be better to wait. Two hours later at 1:40 p.m., play was suspended and five minutes later, almost mockingly, it stopped raining.
Maine Open play wasn't just halted. All of the morning scores were erased. Fifteen golfers had already posted 18-hole scores and all of the morning half of the 156-man field had made the turn. The entire day's golf was curiously tossed aside in favor of a re-start.
Instead of the scheduled 36-hole event, the Maine Open became a 18-hole, one-round sprint. Everyone started over. Officially, Monday at Augusta CC was like a day in Las Vegas. It never happened.
Once they make the decision, it's like being called out by an umpire. You can argue and you can debate the issue but you're still going to be out.
Still, I didn't understand wiping out half a day's golf. When I've been at events that re-started, it's been when players got through only six or eight holes. This was a two-day event that needed 12 hours of golf per day to finish.
Stranger still, the radar showed the rain was about to end when play was erased. By 4:30 p.m. or 5, the course may have been reasonably playable and as it turned out, the sun came out. Since it's light enough to golf until at least 7:30 p.m. in Maine on a cloudy day, the rest of the morning wave could've finished 18 and the afternoon wave could have gotten in nine holes or so. The next morning, the afternoon wave could've finished and the top 40 contenders or so could've gone back out in the afternoon to settle things in a second round as originally intended.
Even if it was reduced to an 18-hole tournament, why not just pick up where play left off Tuesday instead of starting completely over? With 156 players to get around 18 holes, the whole tournament depended on a perfect, no-delay day Tuesday. The event couldn't run into Wednesday because the New Hampshire Open started then and a number of Maine Open contestants were entered in that. A thunderstorm blew through about 9 p.m. Monday night and dropped more rain but luckily the sun was out by morning. Tuesday was a beautiful day and though Augusta CC was puddled and soggy and featured numerous water-filled bunkers, the Maine Golf Association got its drama-less 18 holes in. Andrew Mason won it, then had to drive three-and-a-half hours late Tuesday night to be first off Wednesday morning in the New Hampshire Open. Mike Van Sickle shot 70 and was not a factor.
Here are some of the reasons Maine Golf Association officials gave us for the wash-out erasure instead of any other option:
*The course's pro and superintendent asked officials not to send the field back out in the afternoon if they didn't have to because the club has a big member-member tournament this weekend and didn't want the course damaged when it was so soft. The Maine Open had a $10,000 first prize so it's kind of a big deal for a bunch of struggling young pros but apparently it's not bigger than a member-member four days later.
*They couldn't cut the field, they said, because they had scheduled a 36-hole event and couldn't change the rules in the middle of the tournament. Making it an 18-hole event by counting Monday's start and finishing up Tuesday was an option the MGA declined to consider.
*It wasn't fair to the afternoon players who would've had to play at least nine holes in sloppy conditions with puddles in some fairways and bunkers, probably struggling with mud-balls. Restarting the tournament would level the playing field and allow everyone to play lift, clean and place in the second round. After the overnight rain, the course was in no better shape Tuesday morning than it would have been Monday afternoon at 4:30. When did dealing with mud-balls become illegal, by the way? I thought that was a rub-of-the-green part of playing golf. Deal with it.
*A majority of the afternoon wave might not finish nine holes (depending upon the restart time Monday afternoon) and therefore there was no point in trying to play. This goes back to the Maine Golf Association's refusal/inability to institute a cut in order to get 36 holes in under the circumstances.
We've all played in wet conditions with puddles and casual water. As long as there isn't standing water on the greens, almost any conditions are playable. If one entire fairway was underwater and there was no place to take full relief from casual water, that would be a problem. Was that the case? No one waited to find out.
The Bangor Open folks were so thrilled about Mike's course-record 60 there that they mounted and framed a copy of his scorecard. That didn't seem to be the case here. "It's amazing how many guys tell you 'Great round!' once they know it doesn't count," Mike said.
Word had gotten out about Mike's round during the delay. Many players and most of the officials had heard the buzz that he had a chip for 59. After the controversial wash-out, Portland Channel 13 sports director Dave Eid, who'd already shot footage for a tournament report, asked if it was okay for Mike to go back out and finish playing the 18th to see if he could get the 59. After initially rejecting the request, an official relented and Eid set up his camera behind the green to record it.
Mike had a 15-yard pitch over a bunker and the shot he played probably would've been good before the rain but with the soft conditions, it splashed and checked up 10 feet short. Mike missed the birdie putt, which he barely lined up on account of he was still upset by the ruling, and tapped in for an imaginary 61.
I'm biased in this case, obviously, but here's a question someone else asked me: Would the round have been washed out if a Maine pro, not an outsider from Pennsylvania, had a chance to shoot 59 or 60?
It doesn't matter. Mike had already been called out by the umpire and that wasn't going to change.
What happens in Maine, stays in Maine. Unless someone decides that it never happened at all.


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|Top left: I went out for Run Club today
Bottom left: I forgot I had Adidas Response trail shoes with only 150K on them
Right: My ATB race shirt from last year.
- Talk about forgetting stuff! When I had drinks with my old running pals last Friday, one of them mentioned acupuncture for my Morton's Neuroma. I never thought about this before. I have since read several forums on the internet and there are some success stories. I don't know if it will actually work for me, but I'm willing to give it a try. I've pretty much exhausted every other avenue and acupuncture is covered under my work's health plan. So it certainly won't hurt. I'm going to explore this further after I run the Around the Bay (ATB) next weekend. I don't want to do anything different before the race.
- I got an email on Friday from the organizers of the ATB. Apparently there is a labour disruption by truckers at the Port of Vancouver which is preventing delivery of the shirts. This means I will not be getting my shirt when I pick up my race kit next Saturday. It's not that big a deal because I never wear the race shirt on the day of the actual race. I have to earn it first. But I do like to wear my shirt for my recovery run later in the week. Oh well, I guess I'll wear last year's shirt for this year's recovery run.
- I am beginning to get very excited about running the Bay. I only have 3 more runs before race day. Three more runs and 7 more half-assed sleeps. It's a historical year. This will mark the 120th year of the race. It's older than Boston, but Boston is the longest running marathon. I have my last half marathon (Niagara Falls Women's Half) medal hanging from my rear-view mirror. It will be nice to replace it with a commemorative ATB medal!
|Some historical photos of the Around the Bay. (source)
- This morning I went to Run Club at the Running Room. I haven't seen a lot of those runners since last spring. Probably May? I ran with Monica and Dawn. Monica was running 10K and Dawn was feeling under the weather. She'd been battling the flu all week. Dawn wasn't sure if she could do 10K, so I said I would stay with her and if she wanted to do less, that was fine. We all ran 3K together before Monica went off on her own. Dawn wasn't well and decided to walk back to the RR. I ran ahead of her for a couple of kilometers, then ran back to her to walk the rest of the way in. So my 10K was cut in half. It's all good though. The 1st rule of Run Club is you don't leave a buddy behind. And I was actually only slotted to do 6K today anyway.
- I may just run 10K tomorrow morning. My first appointment's not until 11am and it's in Hamilton...Hmmmmm. That would have me running 6 days in a row. BUT, BUT none of them have been long runs. This is my scale back week and I'm not sure how I'm going to fare. Three short runs is all I get? This may not be good for my therapy.
- Yesterday I ran 7.27K. I felt like I was sluggish because my legs were getting tired. Although my legs were tired, my breathing was steady. My heart rate was up the entire time and I would think I was having a good run, then second guess my good run vibes. My form was still slightly off because I was still clumping along. So bad form and tired legs made me feel like I was dragging my ass a times. Imagine my surprise when I finished my run and saw that I ran my quickest pace ever. I have never run 6:06/K. Not even when I busted my ass last May and tried for a sub 30 minute 5K. So all my whining and moaning about the snow and ice was actually helping me because it was building up leg muscles I could use at a later time. Who knew? This means I will be running another 5K race soon. I have to get the sub 30 for sure this time. Although my legs were getting tired, I could have given more.
|My best pace EVER!
- Tomorrow night I have my second therapy appointment. It's really my first one again because I had to switch therapists and I'll have to start all over again. I got a phone call from the coordinator tonight confirming my appointment. That was a nice touch. The last therapist just called me 10 minutes before my appointment to tell me that she was going to be 10 minutes late and she ended up being 20 minutes late. Then she called in sick last week and couldn't book me again for two weeks. I just hope this therapist is more reliable.
- Julien wants to be a YouTube star. He follows this boy on YouTube who has his own channel and he wants to be just like Evan. All I can say about Evan is he uploads a lot of videos. Like once a day. I'm not sure why I get notifications every time he does. I thought I changed that in my preferences, but I think Julien keeps adding it back. So he wanted us to do a video of YMCA as a family to upload on YouTube. I warn you right now, you will never get the 3:45 it takes to watch this video back, so proceed with caution. Our only direction was that we were not allowed to sing over him so hubby and I mouthed the words. I need to mount my phone next time. It would would be a lot less shaky then. It was a fun thing we did together. My kid is not camera shy, that's for sure! Next up? The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?). Kill me now:(