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'I wonder what the foreman of the jury, whoever he'll be, has got for breakfast,' said Mr. Snodgrass, by way of keeping up a conversation on the eventful morning of the fourteenth of February.
'Ah!' said Perker, 'I hope he's got a good one.' 'Why so?' inquired Mr. Pickwick.
'Highly important — very important, my dear Sir,' replied Perker. 'A good, contented, well-breakfasted juryman is a capital thing to get hold of. Discontented or hungry jurymen, my dear sir, always find for the plaintiff.'
'Bless my heart,' said Mr. Pickwick, looking very blank, 'what do they do that for?'
'Why, I don't know,' replied the little man coolly; 'saves time, I suppose. If it's near dinner-time, the foreman takes out his watch when the jury has retired, and says, "Dear me, gentlemen, ten minutes to five, I declare! I dine at five, gentlemen." "So do I," says everybody else, except two men who ought to have dined at three and seem more than half disposed to stand out in consequence. The foreman smiles, and puts up his watch: — "Well, gentlemen, what do we say, plaintiff or defendant, gentlemen? I rather think, so far as I am concerned, gentlemen, — I say, I rather think — but don't let that influence you — I RATHER think the plaintiff's the man." Upon this, two or three other men are sure to say that they think so too — as of course they do; and then they get on very unanimously and comfortably. Ten minutes past nine!' said the little man, looking at his watch.'Time we were off, my dear sir; breach of promise trial-court is generally full in such cases. You had better ring for a coach, my dear sir, or we shall be rather late.'
Mr. Pickwick immediately rang the bell, and a coach having been procured, the four Pickwickians and Mr. Perker ensconced themselves therein, and drove to Guildhall; Sam Weller, Mr. Lowten, and the blue bag, following in a cab.
'Lowten,' said Perker, when they reached the outer hall of the court, 'put Mr. Pickwick's friends in the students' box; Mr. Pickwick himself had better sit by me. This way, my dear sir, this way.' Taking Mr. Pickwick by the coat sleeve, the little man led him to the low seat just beneath the desks of the King's Counsel, which is constructed for the convenience of attorneys, who from that spot can whisper into the ear of the leading counsel in the case, any instructions that may be necessary during the progress of the trial. The occupants of this seat are invisible to the great body of spectators, inasmuch as they sit on a much lower level than either the barristers or the audience, whose seats are raised above the floor. Of course they have their backs to both, and their faces towards the judge.
'That's the witness-box, I suppose?' said Mr. Pickwick, pointing to a kind of pulpit, with a brass rail, on his left hand.
'That's the witness-box, my dear sir,' replied Perker, disinterring a quantity of papers from the blue bag, which Lowten had just deposited at his feet.
'And that,' said Mr. Pickwick, pointing to a couple of enclosed seats on his right, 'that's where the jurymen sit, is it not?'
'The identical place, my dear Sir,' replied Perker, tapping the lid of his snuff-box.
Mr. Pickwick stood up in a state of great agitation, and took a glance at the court. There were already a pretty large sprinkling of spectators in the gallery, and a numerous muster of gentlemen in wigs, in the barristers' seats, who presented, as a body, all that pleasing and extensive variety of nose and whisker for which the Bar of England is so justly celebrated. Such of the gentlemen as had a brief to carry, carried it in as conspicuous a manner as possible, and occasionally scratched their noses therewith, to impress the fact more strongly on the observation of the spectators. Other gentlemen, who had no briefs to show, carried under their arms goodly octavos, with a red label behind, and that under-done-pie-crust-coloured cover, which is technically known as 'law calf.' Others, who had neither briefs nor books, thrust their hands into their pockets, and looked as wise as they conveniently could; others, again, moved here and there with great restlessness and earnestness of manner, content to awaken thereby the admiration and astonishment of the uninitiated strangers. The whole, to the great wonderment of Mr. Pickwick, were divided into little groups, who were chatting and discussing the news of the day in the most unfeeling manner possible — just as if no trial at all were coming on.
A bow from Mr. Phunky, as he entered, and took his seat behind the row appropriated to the King's Counsel, attracted Mr. Pickwick's attention; and he had scarcely returned it, when Mr. Serjeant Snubbin appeared, followed by Mr. Mallard, who half hid the Serjeant behind a large crimson bag, which he placed on his table, and, after shaking hands with Perker, withdrew. Then there entered two or three more Serjeants; and among them, one with a fat body and a red face, who nodded in a friendly manner to Mr. Serjeant Snubbin, and said it was a fine morning.
'Who's that red-faced man, who said it was a fine morning, and nodded to our counsel?' whispered Mr. Pickwick.
'Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz,' replied Perker. 'He's opposed to us; he leads on the other side. That gentleman behind him is Mr. Skimpin, his junior.'
Mr. Pickwick was on the point of inquiring, with great abhorrence of the man's cold-blooded villainy, how Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz, who was counsel for the opposite party, dared to presume to tell Mr. Serjeant Snubbin, who was counsel for him, that it was a fine morning, when he was interrupted by a general rising of the barristers, and a loud cry of 'Silence!' from the officers of the court. Looking round, he found that this was caused by the entrance of the judge.
Mr. Justice Stareleigh (who sat in the absence of the Chief Justice, occasioned by indisposition) was a most particularly short man, and so fat, that he seemed all face and waistcoat. He rolled in, upon two little turned legs, and having bobbed gravely to the Bar, who bobbed gravely to him, put his little legs underneath his table, and his little three-cornered hat upon it; and when Mr. Justice Stareleigh had done this, all you could see of him was two queer little eyes, one broad pink face, and somewhere about half of a big and very comical-looking wig.
The judge had no sooner taken his seat, than the officer on the floor of the court called out 'Silence!' in a commanding tone, upon which another officer in the gallery cried 'Silence!' in an angry manner, whereupon three or four more ushers shouted 'Silence!' in a voice of indignant remonstrance. This being done, a gentleman in black, who sat below the judge, proceeded to call over the names of the jury; and after a great deal of bawling, it was discovered that only ten special jurymen were present. Upon this, Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz prayed a TALES; the gentleman in black then proceeded to press into the special jury, two of the common jurymen; and a greengrocer and a chemist were caught directly.
'Answer to your names, gentlemen, that you may be sworn,' said the gentleman in black. 'Richard Upwitch.'
'Here,' said the greengrocer.
'Thomas Groffin.'
'Here,' said the chemist.
'Take the book, gentlemen. You shall well and truly try — '
'I beg this court's pardon,' said the chemist, who was a tall, thin, yellow-visaged man, 'but I hope this court will excuse my attendance.'
'On what grounds, Sir?' said Mr. Justice Stareleigh.
'I have no assistant, my Lord,' said the chemist.
'I can't help that, Sir,' replied Mr. Justice Stareleigh. 'You should hire one.'
'I can't afford it, my Lord,' rejoined the chemist.
'Then you ought to be able to afford it, Sir,' said the judge, reddening; for Mr. Justice Stareleigh's temper bordered on the irritable, and brooked not contradiction.
'I know I OUGHT to do, if I got on as well as I deserved; but I don't, my Lord,' answered the chemist.
'Swear the gentleman,' said the judge peremptorily.
The officer had got no further than the 'You shall well and truly try,' when he was again interrupted by the chemist.
'I am to be sworn, my Lord, am I?' said the chemist.
'Certainly, sir,' replied the testy little judge.
'Very well, my Lord,' replied the chemist, in a resigned manner. 'Then there'll be murder before this trial's over; that's all. Swear me, if you please, Sir;' and sworn the chemist was, before the judge could find words to utter.
'I merely wanted to observe, my Lord,' said the chemist, taking his seat with great deliberation, 'that I've left nobody but an errand-boy in my shop. He is a very nice boy, my Lord, but he is not acquainted with drugs; and I know that the prevailing impression on his mind is, that Epsom salts means oxalic acid; and syrup of senna, laudanum. That's all, my Lord.' With this, the tall chemist composed himself into a comfortable attitude, and, assuming a pleasant expression of countenance, appeared to have prepared himself for the worst.
Mr. Pickwick was regarding the chemist with feelings of the deepest horror, when a slight sensation was perceptible in the body of the court; and immediately afterwards Mrs. Bardell, supported by Mrs. Cluppins, was led in, and placed, in a drooping state, at the other end of the seat on which Mr. Pickwick sat. An extra-sized umbrella was then handed in by Mr. Dodson, and a pair of pattens by Mr. Fogg, each of whom had prepared a most sympathising and melancholy face for the occasion. Mrs. Sanders then appeared, leading in Master Bardell. At sight of her child, Mrs. Bardell started; suddenly recollecting herself, she kissed him in a frantic manner; then relapsing into a state of hysterical imbecility, the good lady requested to be informed where she was. In reply to this, Mrs. Cluppins and Mrs. Sanders turned their heads away and wept, while Messrs. Dodson and Fogg entreated the plaintiff to compose herself. Serjeant Buzfuz rubbed his eyes very hard with a large white handkerchief, and gave an appealing look towards the jury, while the judge was visibly affected, and several of the beholders tried to cough down their emotion.
'Very good notion that indeed,' whispered Perker to Mr. Pickwick. 'Capital fellows those Dodson and Fogg; excellent ideas of effect, my dear Sir, excellent.'
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By the end of the novel, Dickens proposes a viable solution to some of the social problems he addresses, like debtor's prison.
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Bloggy note: This post ought to have been posted three days ago, but due to some carelessness on my part, it didn't occur. Better late than never- please enjoy the following foolishness to the best of your ability. I will try and get back on line and visit you folks as soon as I can. TTFN
Soon, very soon, here in Japan, those of us who live in the here and now will be communing with those who reside in the shadow realm.
It is OBON time again and I will be disappearing for the next week or so.
This year I have special reason to light the welcoming beacon and wait for the past to catch up with me.
Once again I will be doing my best to reconcile the world I was raised in; with the culture of my choice. It is a challenge to make the summer in Japan feel like it did when I lived in New York. First of all I plan on doing the traditional Bon Odori- a special dance that serves as a fertility rite and aphrodisiac. I am hoping the farmers will offer me their daughters . It has always been my dream to be breeding stock.
The festivities don't stop there!
I intend to engage in a very ritualistic event that involves the placement of a hard, spherical object into a designated receptacle. This is done with an assortment of tools all specially designed to ensure the exact placement of said dimpled sphere.
Some find this to be one of the highest religious events that can occur in one's life and it has been said that many a faith has been broken by unfavorable results.
This must be washed down with copious amounts of very cold beverages containing a psychotropic element.
One must be careful when indulging in such festivities. Accidents have occur ed and many embarrassing moments have been recorded on film and distributed to the world via YouTube.
It all amounts to getting away from life's hairy bullshit and enjoying the heat and sunshine that comes with global warming.
I sincerely hope that all of you will do your very best to ditch work and enjoy the sultry, summer insanity

subset: commoncrawl


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Jupiter's Circle Vol 2 #4- One of the problems of a prequel is that everyone knows the ending, so how could you put in excitement for the whole thing? A favorite tactic is to throw a red herring to readers and this seems to the method of choice for writer Mark Millar. Since the beginning of Jupiter Circle, Millar has been doing this but he took it to a whole new level this issue. Simply put, Skyfox's abrupt change of heart makes no sense. This guy kidnapped the Vice-President of the United States of America, and then turned around and rescued the only group of people who are capable of stopping him? What? And Skyfox is supposed to be the smart one in the bunch? That makes no sense!
Ms. Marvel #5- This is fun. Writer G. Willow Wilson has tried from the start to give an unique voice to Ms. Marvel. She has mostly been successful and this issue showed why. Between the Kamala Khan clones, Bruno's desperate cries for help, the upcoming wedding, fighting blue ninjas all over Jersey; you would think there's too much going on. In fairness, there were times in this issue when it felt that way but it never went overboard. For that, a lot of the credit has to be given to artist Nico Leon who managed to handle the energy beautifully with art just this side of being totally goofy. Nice, fun issue.


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Data Matching Software: Benefits for the Business User
The importance of data matching cannot be emphasized enough in today's business environment. Major advances in the accuracy of the data matching process have propelled the ease of use among business users. The benefits for a business are numerous:
- Gives users a single customer view
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- Can identify duplicate records in customer files
- Drive and optimize marketing efforts
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Generally speaking, the definition of data matching refers to the ability to identify and merge related or corresponding records together from different sources. The main goal in data matching is to have information connect together that is accurate. The main steps involved in data matching include indexing, record comparison, classification, and quality identification.
A few of the data matching techniques Data Ladder uses includes:
1. Creation of a data profile of your data set, which includes graphical representations of data quality and duplicate estimates
2. Parsing and standardizing address or any type of raw text information
3. Identifying duplicates within and across multiple files with multiple simultaneous definitions of duplicates
4. Email cleansing: Identifying typos in email addresses and offering automated corrections
5. Complete counts of all text combinations within a data set
6. Merge / Purge capability based on your survivorship (what records should survive / have precedence) rules.
Data Ladder's comprehensive data matching services can match disparate sources from different data sets. Through special algorithms, our data matching software can identify variations in name formatting and spelling, address differences, and other incomplete information. Our advanced fuzzy matching algorithms can accommodate up to 100 million records.
DataMatch Enterprise
DataMatch Enterprise, Data Ladder's flagship data matching software, can help users detect all possible matches. With DataMatch Enterprise, users can:
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3. Import and export from Excel, Access, Text Files, ODBC, and other file types.
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6. Parse addresses, email, and other data with customizable parsing tools
7. See graphical reports on the number of records with potential linkages
We have worked with several clients across various industries on their data matching needs. From education and healthcare to music and apparel, learn how we have helped businesses of all sizes solve their data matching challenges. Read more on our case studies page.
Data Ladder is the world leader in data matching software. We help businesses across the Fortune 500 use data quality tools effectively to make smarter decisions for their business. In a recent independent study, Data Ladder's data matching software DataMatch Enterprise outperformed companies such as IBM and SAS on both accuracy and speed.
DataMatch Enterprise is the best data matching software suite available on the market today. Download a free trial today, or get in touch with our data matching specialists to get a free consultation for your business.


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A Kliks boudoir session is often a provocative and personal growth experience for women. They may find that the photos set the tone for a new relationship or offer a segue to reawaken a long standing one.
Boudoir photos also make for a memorable way to celebrate special occasions such as a wedding, anniversary, birthday, retirement or holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day. Additionally, women send photos to their partners serving overseas; we like to think of it as our way of supporting our troops.
Our female staff has discretely photographed over 1,400 women. We work with brides, graduate students, nurses, moms getting their groove back, preacher's wives, retired school teachers and the LGBT community. We also see women who are single or divorced who do this for themselves as a source of empowerment, to restore their self worth or to put the vibe out there for that next special someone.
This is not a 'work-it-baby' photo shoot with loud music and a crowd of people tugging at you. You can look forward to a relaxing and dimly lit studio where you and Audree will privately (and sometimes humorously) work together. Know that you are welcome to invite a female friend or bring a cocktail. Your session and view will take take an hour and a half. It's natural to feel hesitant about doing something out of the box but we promise that you'll be so preoccupied with feeling beautiful (and trying to remember your left from your right) that your nerves will subside within minutes. Rest assured, your session will be handled professionally with the highest regard for your comfort level.
If you have it, we've already worked with it. We have photographed women 20 years old to 60+ years young, women of all shapes, woman who have had significant weight loss and have extra skin to contend with, and women with pre and post mastectomies, as well as an array of physical challenges. You'll be posed in a manner that compliments your assets while artfully concealing any challenging areas. With our posing, lighting and touch up skills, there is absolutely no need to get a tan or worry about weight. All ordered prints come with flawless full-body touch ups including:
- body contouring of chin, belly, bum, etc…
- face and neck creases
- stretch marks
- cellulite
- varicose and spider veins
- scars
- tattoo removal
Audree photographs boudoirs Monday through Friday.
Reach us through email or give us a call, we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Clients must be 20 years old. A supportive female friend is welcome to come along. In fact, we're happy to schedule friends back-to-back. If your photos are for a special occasion, we recommend you reserve 3+ weeks in advance to allow for unforeseen weather, medical or childcare factors. The session and selecting your photos takes about an hour and a half.
We ask for your respectful intention to keep your appointment, as it is difficult for us to fill your spot on short notice. We appreciate a 7 business day reschedule notice. The top 3 reasons women say they considered postponing but were glad they didn't:
- Nerves We've worked with women of all levels of bravery; rest assured, your nerves will subside within minutes. Besides, you're welcome to bring a friend or a cocktail.
- Body Image No worries, between our poses, lighting and flawless touch-ups, you will look like how he sees you, not how you critique yourself.
- Finances We understand that a flexible layaway plan may best suit your budget (see rates).
Browse through our portfolios and blogs for ideas and read the following trustful suggestions. Sessions include 3 outfit changes.
Consider bringing things of personal interest to him; golf club, motorcycle helmet, military fatigues or even cooking utensils with matching lingerie. For another outfit, consider something romantic in jewel tones, warm pastels, animal prints and fur. Lastly, wear something that will surprise him such as leather, a bustier, garter belt and stockings.
Weddings are for announcing your love to the world but bridal boudoir is an intimate expression for your partner's eyes only. Brides and women celebrating anniversaries are welcome to bring their bridal trove; a collection of bridal and honeymoon lingerie in white, off-white and pastels, your wedding dress (as a prop), jewelry, shoes, veil, and your groom's tie.
For Kliks veteran vixens and newcomers who want to knock it out of the park, consider fantasy with glam hair, wigs and heavier makeup. Stretch your imagination with (2) outfits with leather, shelf bras, bustiers, fishnet stockings, naughty Halloween costumes and toys. You can do it.
- Stilettos sizes 7-10ish in red, black, nude and some pink
- Rhinestones, pearls, silver and gold necklaces and bracelets (no earrings)
- Cowgirl and black fedora hat
- Bridal veil, garter, tuxedo shirt, bow and long tie
- Chain bra
- Bondage props
Stockings and garters can offer an unexpected wow. Audree can assist you in attaching them to your garter. We prefer sheer or fishnet (not solid tights) for just one outfit without elastic tops in black and nude (or white/nude if you are a bride). If you get the elastic tops, consider buying them one size larger and try them on before your session to see if they cut into your thighs. As one client exclaimed, "I didn't want to look like a busted open can of biscuits!"
Do not wear apron shaped lingerie that has the sides cut out, man sized jerseys or strapless bras (strapless bustiers are fine). Unless your baby doll is formfitting, rather than hiding challenging areas, it will make you look larger than you are. Also, if the baby doll does not have ample chest support, be sure to layer it with a complimentary bra. We are not able to do touch-ups on anything under sheer material so, if you want to conceal something, wear a more solid material. Do not bring blankets or sheets. Stilettos (you don't have to walk in them) are better than short heels and solid boots that visually shorten the length of your legs.
We offer topless photos where we can show the entire bare chest or have your hands cover your chest. If you are wanting to go topless by covering with your hands (which can limit our posing options), please bring a bra with this outfit so that we can have posing options. If you would like to appear fully nude (with or without chest showing), bring a thong and Audree will pose you accordingly.
Ladies who have ordered clothing from websites based overseas have found them to be late arriving and ill fitting.
Affordable, fun pieces can be found locally or at:
Our dressing room will be occupied so you'll want to have your hair and makeup done before you arrive. Unless you are going for a natural look, both should look as you would going to an event; stay away from tight prom curls. Makeup should be applied heavier than you wear during the day. If you are going to a salon prior to your session, allot for additional time in case your stylist runs late. If you are late, we may have to cut back on your session time. A red lipstick option, false eyelashes and hair extensions can be a nice addition. Do not tan as it may dull your skin, we will add a warm glow to you.
Because you'll be looking and feeling resplendent, you may want to have a pre-planned date night. Just tell him they were doing free makeovers at the mall.


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The Skills Bank is an exciting new service that invests in skills and expertise to drive business growth. It supports employers in the Sheffield City Region to invest in the skills that their staff need to help their business develop and grow.
The £17 million fund comprises of funding from the European Social Fund and Government Growth Funding.
The Skills Bank can provide funding of up to 70% of the cost of training your staff to gain new skills or refresh existing capabilities.
The Sheffield College are an approved Skills Bank training provider, which means that we can work with you to identify your staff's skills development needs and then deliver the required training.
We have an extensive range of training courses to choose from, covering:
Please see our Skills Bank Training Catalogue for full details.
In addition, we can design and deliver a bespoke course to meet the specific training needs of your business.
To access the funding we will work with you to identify your training needs, support you through the Skills Bank application process and then once approved, will deliver the training to your staff.
If you have any further queries please contact the Employer Engagement team on 0114 260 2619 or via firstname.lastname@example.com .


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Shannon over at Cozy Home Scenes awarded me this!
How sweet is she?
With this I need to say 7 things you don't know about me.
1) I am the oldest of three girls and I
boss act like I am the oldest.
2) My brother in law is THE diet coke guy.
3) I am a shopaholic.
4) My husband has pale green eyes, I fell hard for those green eyes and he had me at "hello" :)
5) I have Hemochromatosis which is an iron loading disorder. I felt absolutely terrible for twelve years and now that I found out why and got all that extra iron out I feel amazing now!
6) I love, love, love the holidays.
7) I make my bed EVERY SINGLE DAY (unless my husband gets up last and then he makes it!~well trained!)
Now~ for those bloggers that I think are wonderful! In no particular order.....
These ladies are all so talented, please go and check them out!
Remember the love seat at The Barn I showed you a few posts ago? You can see it here.
Well here it is in my home! I love it! It is so cozy to sit in.
These photos were from my iphone, sorry for the yellow tones!
Have a great week!


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2017 » Affordable Afro Ponytails
Hair Tip:In the 1st visit with a new hairdo it is best to show how many hours you might have to your hair dressing program. Are you currently usually in a hurry early each morning and therefore will need wash-and-go hairdress? Do you wish to air dry hair occasionally and/or you quite convenient by using blow-dryer, around comb and hair styling items? Mention your way of life in addition to reveal whether you work in the traditional or hip environment.


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Yesterday, Kotaku's Stephen Totilo published an interview he had with EA's Chief Operating Officer, Peter Moore, about the company's new online distribution platform, Origin. What you many not remember is that he used to be with Mircrosoft's XBox division and then went to EA to head the Sports division in 2007.
The interview starts off asking Moore talking about Steam:
"If you go back and dust off the transcripts of when Steam first came out, it had the same reaction. People didn't like it. You were obligated."
This is, in my opinion, comparing apples to a sponge in the sea. The reason I feel this way is that EA already had an online distribution platform called the EA Online Store. The reason people never wanted to use it was because EA charged extra for you to download your games, and that was only guaranteed for two years from the purchase date. The other major complaint I'd heard and seen for myself was that the download speeds were horrifically slow. At that time, Steam was much faster than EA's service, so it's silly to think that anyone would want to use a slower and more expensive service.
Everyone at EA seems to think that just because Origin is new and different that it'll clean the slate of their previous actions. Valve didn't have another online distribution system before Steam, so their argument is invalid. The reason many people spoke out against Steam was because they didn't know what was going to happen or how it would affect them personally. I know I heard many say Valve was going to force everyone online to play any game and we couldn't download the games anytime we wanted. I know it seems silly now, but we knew nothing and many planned for the worst. However, I'll agree with this statement:
"They provided, over the years—to Gabe and the team's credit—value to the gamer. Those first 12 months were very rocky."
Things were very rocky, but they put their best foot forward and were honest with everyone. By contrast, EA has been completely dishonest with what Origin would be from the get-go: they said it wouldn't compete with Steam, but that's bullshit. That's exactly what it's doing, and that's what they planned all along; they just obfuscated their true intentions so they could make their games require Origin. It's greed, plain and simple. Here's what Moore said about why Origin exists:
"We felt the PC business was having a little bit of a renaissance, and we felt great opportunity with both Star Wars and Battlefield. Mass Effect to come. That this was the time to build out a true platform."
Looking at this statement, it tells me that from the beginning, EA's plan was to compete with Steam. They just lied to everyone else and hoped we would've forgotten this. Some have, obviously, but I haven't and I'm trying to humbly remind everyone else of it as well.
Then Moore touched on how people feel about requiring Origin:
"We need to continue to add social layers so there is value to the consumer so it doesn't feel like, in their words, 'something that is mandatory that I don't want.' And it got off to a rocky start for all the wrong reasons which were mostly inaccurate: accusations of spyware. The EULA… We were clearly focused on by some folks who said, 'We don't like this. How can we start picking things apart?'"
I'm not going to disagree with Moore about changing our hearts and minds here because that does need to happen. However, Moore is obviously wrong about one thing, and that's the EULA. I wrote an article about it here at Gaming Bus, and I recommend you read it before moving onto my rebuttal to Moore's statement.
The EULA was worded in such a way that it gave EA the right to look at our private data, use it any way they saw fit, and monitor our activities online. I have this to ask Mr. Moore, what is wrong with you and EA? This wasn't idle speculation, nor was it people nitpicking about something they didn't like, so they found a reason. The EULA was an invasion of privacy, plain and simple. EA was trying to make it so they could make money off of targeted ads in games, sell the information to telemarketers and spammers, spy on its customers, and give us no legal recourse in the matter. There's no reasonable argument that one can make that would justify these terms in a way that would benefit a user, not a single one.
After that statement from Moore, the conversation turned to this:
"It's an open platform. There is nothing I would love more than to have Valve's… everybody's games. We're talking to every publisher, as you can imagine. I think it's healthy for the industry to have more opportunities to go, if you will, to shop around, to find different things that you like, different content. The more stores there are for me in the mall, the more entertaining it is. Sometimes my wife will drag me to a little boutique mall that's got like eight stores. [groans] I like the gamut. I like choice."
I agree we need to have more options and places to buy our games, but EA went away from Steam because Valve told them that using Steam as a distribution platform for their games meant they couldn't sell DLC exclusively with another service. Thus, if they offered it on D2D, they had to offer it on Steam and they didn't like that. Again, what EA wanted was more of the profits, and they didn't like being told what to do with their games. I agree with EA here to a point: no company should be told what to do with their products in the business. However, I also whole-heartedly support Valve in this because EA was denying Steam users the opportunity to get this DLC, thus hurting them and Valve. This means that Valve will do what's right for all customers even if companies like EA don't think they should have a say.
Finally, Moore gave this statement in regards to where Origin is headed:
"It's one of those things where I would ask give us 18 months to two years. And if we sit here two years from now, start looking at it then. I think the ability to have your own direct platform with the consumer is going to be very important in the digital world going forward."
The only reason I think Origin is going to be around in two years is because they're requiring it for their games. What I think EA needs to do is stop thinking like mine, mine, mine I want all the money for a short while, if only to realize these simple truths. First, for them to say they want an open platform, they need to provide all content fairly to all distributors, not just the ones they can get the best deal from. Second, they need to stop trying to make themselves out to be the underdog fighting the big bad Steam entity. They've done many things right, and EA's playing catch up; the best they could do to gain popular opinion is to play the sympathy card here. Third, EA needs to stop lying to everyone to make themselves sound better. I haven't heard Valve lie to me once since Steam was announced. What makes them think I'm going to stay with Origin when I know they've lied to everyone? Finally, it seems that everything that comes out of EA is based on money, and their actions show that they want more of it. They really need to stop acting like they're the only game business that deserves to make a profit.
I will never use Origin beyond playing a game I want, and that's as far as I'll go. I know those who absolutely refuse to use it, and I've boycotted companies and games before; but in the end, I was one of the few that never got to play because almost everyone chickened out on day one. Nothing is for certain in life, and the same goes for Steam and Origin. In the end, I think it'll have to do with how customers are treated both on the platform and off it to determine who will live. I have no problems paying for an EA game on Steam and having to install Origin because it's required, but I should have the option to buy it on the platform I want and not be forced to buy it from one place because EA's being greedy. This is how I'm sure many others see it, and I think if they keep that mindset, they'll fail—but only because they don't know how to practice what they preach.


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I will be including my updates for all of these challenges in my Monthly Recap posts and the end of every month.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
I will be including my updates for all of these challenges in my Monthly Recap posts and the end of every month.
12 comments:
Thanks for joining the YA Contemporary Challenge! You're the first person I've seen going for the "Rose" level :) There are so many amazing contemporaries coming out this year.ReplyDelete
I'm also participating in the DAC and Fairytale Challenge. I'm planning to read An Ember In The Ashes for the DAC, and I'm not entirely sure what else I'm going to read for that or the Fairytale challenge yet. I love the sound of that 365 Days of YA Challenge. It looks like so much fun! Good luck with all of your challenges :)
Yeaay, good to have you at my Fairytale challenge :D I'm also participating in Flights of fantasy and I can't wait to read all the books this year. Happy reading and good luck!ReplyDelete
Yay, you caved! bwhaha. I'm doing all of these except the last one. Enjoy the Grisha series, it's great!ReplyDelete
I love the idea of the 365 Days of YA challenge! I'm checking it out right now!ReplyDelete
I'm doing the Flights of Fantasy and Debute authors too! I also added the EW and NetGalley challenge to keep me motivated on those eARCs.(They also all cross over with each other!) The Epic Reads challenge looks interesting. I will have to look into it!ReplyDelete
I really think the 365 Days of YA is such a cool challenge, but I don't want to put the pressure on myself with all my other challenges, so I won't be joinining. I do hope to read some books off the list without being aware.ReplyDelete
I've been seeing that infographic around and couldn't quite figure out what was going on with it, haha! That is a cool idea and looks like a lot of fun. I'll have to embiggen it and see how many I've read or want to read :DReplyDelete
I'm doing the fantasy and debut author challenges too! It'll be great to see which books we both read. :) I'm doing a contemp romance one as well, but hosted by a different blog. Contemporary is my favorite genre so I'm excited for that one.ReplyDelete
Good luck with these, lady!


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In an endeavour to foster a love of history in young people the Launceston Historical Society sponsors various prizes for history students.
University History Prize
The annual Launceston Historical Society – Dr Marita Bardenhagen History Prize of $500 is awarded to a first year History student from the University of Tasmania studying at Launceston.
Primary School History Prize
Primary school students in the Launceston area are encouraged to enter a piece of historical research presented in a variety of formats. A combined award presentation is usually held at the Town Hall, Launceston.
Entries for the 2018 History Prize are now open. Deadline for submission is 19 October 2018.
Primary History Prize Entry Form 2018
Guidelines for Primary History Prize 2018


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Let's trade blog links, network and chat about social media events throughout Florida! Also share your giveaway links and especially Florida-only giveaways with other Florida bloggers! Great place to share Florida events and stories! Join us!!
My name is Christie O., my blog is Average Moms Wear Capes, www.averagemomswearcapes.com! I am 35, with two little boys, ages 5 & 3. I am a former news producer turned stay at home mom, I've been home for 5 years and am just now starting to do some work from home. I live near the Tampa area, I love to blog about motherhood and fitness, reviews and giveaways! I am @christieo on Twitter and I have a Facebook page: Average Moms Wear Capes.
Leave your blog and twitter links below, let's link up!
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No Elves and Dwarves y'all. More politics, more intrigue, but there's little story, and few intriguing characters beyond, perhaps, the Fool. The last 20% of the book is where the plot really begins, with the marriage of Fitz' uncle to a northern princess. The story also, for the most part, feels "distant" as it is written in first person, and told by an older Fitz relating his childhood growing up in Buckkeep. It takes away from the drama, I feel. "I had walked for hours when I chanced upon..." It's not that I don't like first person - Rothfuss did it admirably in his books about Kvothe - but here it feels..almost as if Fitz is bored while telling his tale. Also, he has an extraordinary memory remembering all those details that overflow from the pages of the novel. In the end, I found it a well written book that just didn't grab me, certainly not enough to want to continue with the next book in this trilogy (in that regard, Assassin's Apprentice fortunately works well enough as a stand-alone). On the cover, George RR Martin has gently provided a recommendation ("Fantasy as it ought to be written") but I'm thinking that's what should be printed on the cover of his books. I realize there are a lot of fans of this series, and it has its moments, but this one felt more like a chore, something I wanted to finish because I wanted to have read it, and it was ultimately just too slow. When I read Martin, I can practically hear the swords clash in the courtyard. In this novel, it's more like "I went to train and fought for six hours, then I went home and I was so tired but fortunately I had a dog to comfort me and so I drifted to sleep thinking of all the things I had to do tomorrow." Unexciting, not involving, ponderous but with a nice, if predictable, story stretched out over too many pages.
While struggling through Robin Hobb's "classic" (is it a classic?) I purchased J.W. Rinzler's The Making of The Empire Strikes Back, to support the resurgence of my fascination for all things Star Wars. All things except the prequel trilogy, that is. Last year I bought and read The Making of Return of the Jedi and found it a very worthwhile read. I can say the same for this one. I devoured it in no time, and there was (to my surprise, to be honest) a lot of stuff I didn't know, even though I'm a maniac about the original movies. It is a very insightful book, with a lot of interesting (and also some not-so-interesting) documentation on the production of my favorite story of all time, from the early days immediately following the success of Star Wars (1977) to the release of the film and the aftermath. Combined with video and audio links and a lot of images, The Making of The Empire Strikes Back is a must-have for any fan of the saga. Together with Jedi, these are probably the best books about the movies I have read, along with Laurent Bouzereau's Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays. Goes without saying that my next Kindle purchase might just be J.W. Rinzler's The Making of Star Wars. I kind of have to complete the trilogy now. 323 days until The Force Awakens. But only nine weeks until we get a new season of Game of Thrones! I have only half paid attention to the production this time around, but it seems we're in for some absolutely massive changes to the source material. And we'll probably be getting spoilers as well. I mean, spoilers that will spoil even die-hard fans who've read the books way too many times. Scary.
Right. Finally, I have finished R.A. Salvatore's The Companions. As a fan of the Forgotten Realms - as a setting, as presented by Ed Greenwood in endless source-books back in the eighties/nineties, mostly - I was curious about this book, because it heralds a new beginning for the setting/franchise. With The Companions, the Realms would be rebooted to its former glory after it went down the drain for a good while. And this is the story they chose to start the reboot with (also to coincide with the release of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition).
I have to be honest. I'm lying when I say I finished it. Last night, I decided to give up. It's so horrifyingly bad I don't know if I can properly express just how bad it is. There's like nothing to redeem here. It's crap from start to finish. It doesn't paint a vivid picture of the Forgotten Realms at all. Because, seriously, the Realms are a colorful, vivid, and above all, fun place to be in; Ed Greenwood, while not technically a great writer himself, created an underrated, but immersive and fun world in source-books like his "Volo's Guides". His books on the Realms are absolute treasure troves, for inspiration, or just for daydreaming of an incredibly detailed, rich setting. R.A. Salvatore's The Companions betrays all this by being bland, generic, lifeless. The story could have been set anywhere and it wouldn't matter because Salvatore doesn't paint it in any shade of imagination. There is nothing to set the Silver Marches apart from the southern coast of Aglarond; while by all accounts these are two wildly different areas of the Realms.
The characters are likewise as dull as dust gathering on a dog's turd. Their story is totally out there, and to make it believable, you pretty much have to craft some solid sentences and paragraphs and chapters. The main characters are all dead, you see, but are sent back to the Realms into new bodies. This allows Salvatore to continue with his old heroes even though the setting has moved on a century or two. So his halfling hero, Regis, is reborn in some town on the coast of Aglarond, while the former dwarf king Bruenor is reborn in some other dwarf citadel.
I have read about 70% of the novel and the characters have yet to meet (which is the plan; get reborn in the Realms and meet up), and I just can't take the absolutely appalling writing anymore. Just the abundance of exclamation marks is enough to make me want to tear my eyes out. Now, I don't mind over-the-top zany ideas. The concept of heroes reborn and then needing to unite could have been cool if it was well written. I kind of hope to find a book of extreme fantasy like this, only well written. Whenever there was a fight (not often) I had to stop reading because it was written in such a dull manner. And the characters were clearly so much more powerful than the opposition that any tension was lost (at least the dwarf king). I want to like Realms novels, but this is the worst one I've read yet. Even worse than Red Magic, which I have a pretty scathing review somewhere in the backlog of this blog. I mean, I can tolerate a little shoddy writing or a plot that isn't totally coherent, but this was just painful to get through. It really is no wonder that the Forgotten Realms might have a bad reputation when this is what they choose to start off the "new era" with. It's so inane I want to claw at something. Now.
What if they had asked, say, Steven Erikson, to do a Realms novel? Now that could have been cool. He knows how to write epic and overblown yet make it intensely interesting. It's a shame they pump out novels like this, when the original source material by Greenwood is so entertaining. Oh well, my search for a good Realms novel continues. In fact, I have a few on my shelf, books I've found by accident here and there. Sales, and stuff. I'm not expecting much, but it can't possibly get much worse than this. To think that Salvatore is hugely popular...frankly, it is an astonishing thought. Avoid at all costs.
Right. With these three out of the way, I am looking at finishing The World of Ice and Fire (one page at a time, I have moved the massive tome to the toilet area of the house, so I really do read a page or two a day...reading about the Vale now), The Way of Kings (while as ponderous as Assassin's Apprentice, if not more, at least it has a well developed and unique setting), and Miles Cameron's The Red Knight (I have read the opening scenes, and it seemed really promising). In addition, I've promised myself to finish Wolf Hall, aforementioned Realms novels on my shelf, and geez do I have a lot of unread books stacked away. Man.
Finally, while I was not overly impressed with Brian Staveley's debut last year (The Emperor's Blades), the sequel is getting great reviews and seems to be an improvement, so I am considering seeing what Brian has in store in The Providence of Fire. I also downloaded a sample of Django Wexler's (what a fantastic name) novel The Thousand Names. It was quite promising, with just the right dash of grit and that call to adventure, so I might have to buy that one too. Got to love Kindle and it's ways. Downloading samples is a new thing in my world. I have a whole host of them. Makes it easier to find those gems while we wait for The Winds of Winter. The only book that matters.
Oh, and on Steven Erikson's recommendation, I am going to read John Gardner's Grendel. I can't remember why the esteemed Malazan author thought Grendel was a must-read, though. Oh, and of course, I also have said Erikson's The Wurms of Blearmouth in paperback, which I bought as a Christmas present for myself. Now that's one book I am eager to read...I guess that will be my next project in fantasy lit.


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|Macavity is distraught
Frontline Cat is having a new recipe. It'll still have the same great lolzcatz flavour but will now have added juicy meaty chunks of English!!!
Well I tried having a bit of fun with the lolzcatz speech and letting Macavity do so articles, but it seems some of our non-native English speakers are having a bit of a hard time understanding the cats. Some of our native speaking English buddies too seem to have problems, which truth be told as a dyslexic I can fully understand. So the next articles will have added English with little bits of lolcatz speech, I'll also go back and edit the previous articles to make them slightly more 'comprehensible'. Macavity is distraught that his Sweedish, German, Polish, French and Spanish friends couldn't understand how awesome his opinions are and has decided to let me translate his words into English... after he went and sulked for a couple of hours. Peace out!
Articles now with added English:
Macavity Ponders: Battlefoam
Clash of the Dungeon Crawlers Quarter-finals
Clash of the Dungeon Crawlers Semi-Finals
Clash of the Dungeon Crawlers Grand Final


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By New Cherry
May 17 2018
Amazing what carnage a bit of artwork can create. Since launching the new look Glaws badge earlier this week its attracted more publicty than our inability to close out big games on the pitch ..
The offer to pay for the faithful to have their old tattoos replaced with this new image has brightened the mood after the Challenge Cup defeat - couldn't imagine Quins or Barff actually admitting that any of their followers actually had a tattoo.
Regardless of whether it looks like the Tigers logo, or whatever, it's a more modern and punchy desig than its semi-military predecessor. Let's hope it inspires those who wear it
View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.


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No spoilers here.
So I got dragged to this movie by a friend who didn't even know it was an alien movie and #2 doesn't know how to spell Tom Cruise (she spells it Cruz...).
After bickering about where to sit I sat closer to the front of the theatre and she sat at the back. We figured oh well, we can discuss the film AFTER instead of during, much to the happiness of the people sitting around us.
Without the spoiling the film for anyone I give it 4 stars. It was a pretty decent film, even though I kind of despise Tom Cruise. I suppose if it had been an actor I actually like I might have given it 5 stars or 4.5. Hard to say.
What was kind of weird was the soundtrack... It kind of felt like we were watching Tron Legacy. *cough* Which is probably because it was directed by Joseph Kosinski, who directed Tron Legacy. So small surprise there.
Even the plot is a bit like Tron Legacy too. And similar to Avatar in a weird way.
The good news is that the plot was nicely tied up in a bow too, which means no chance for a sequel. Which is good because I don't want to see Tom Cruise in "Oblivion II".


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Section 2.3 focuses on the economic opportunities across the built environment as a consequence of the moving to a low carbon economy.
It also outlines the corresponding Strategic Objectives with associated actions previously detailed in Section 1.3 of the strategy. Wider issues relating to business and industry, transport, energy, and natural resource-based industries are dealt with in other parts of section 2.
Transforming the Built Environment
Building standards have been substantially reformed over the last two decades. However, the built environment still accounts for more than 40% of our CO 2 emissions, generated through the heating, lighting and running of buildings. Clearly it represents a major focus for efforts to reduce emissions and change behaviours and an area where there are both low carbon opportunities and challenges for businesses, investors and householders.
Legislation has provided an efficient and effective means of driving down energy use and carbon emissions in new buildings, challenging a mainly traditional industry sector and providing a clear pathway for both improving building performance and driving innovation and new skills.
EU/ UK and Scottish low carbon regulations ( ETS, CRC energy efficiency scheme, Climate Change targets, new building standards) are already obliging the construction sector to address the growing imperative to invest in research and development and implement the use of innovative products and methods. Future building standards, for example, will deliver further improvements in the environmental performance of new buildings in Scotland.
New housing for which a warrant is applied for from 1 October 2010 onwards will emit 70% less CO 2 than equivalent new buildings in 1990. And we are working towards an overall ambition that all new buildings in Scotland will be zero carbon by 2016/17 64 if practicable. Energy efficient and sustainable building design delivers immediate cost benefits with respect to operational costs, and ensures that the building is fully resilient to future climate conditions.
Improvements in the performance of existing buildings through upgrading and retrofitting as well as improved performance of new build will be essential to meet emissions reduction targets.
The Scottish Government estimates that billions of pounds of investment is required to increase energy efficiency across the built environment to a sufficient standard to meet climate change targets. This is a significant task given the current economic climate. However, as a small and responsive economy with a skilled workforce, Scotland is well placed to drive forward and attract that level of investment.
Local Development Plans are already introducing policies in line with Section 72 of the Climate Change Act 65 to avoid a specified and rising proportion of greenhouse gas emissions from use of new buildings. The Scottish Government's approach to improving the energy efficiency across the built environment is set out in the Energy Efficiency Action Plan 66 and the broader strategy for reducing emission in the Report on Proposals and Policies 67.
Sustainable schools - Inverclyde Academy opened in January 2009, with an Energy Performance Certificate 'A' rating - a significant achievement for a secondary school building. The Council were committed to producing a landmark campus that would also act as an exemplar to inform the design of subsequent schools.
The design of the new Academy makes use of natural daylight and ventilation providing high quality learning and teaching facility for the children and wider community. High efficiency condensing gas boilers and heating and water services systems are. Sustainably sourced materials, such as Forestry Stewardship ( FSC) sourced timber, were specified where practical and affordable. A 50kW wind turbine will provide 15-20% of the power to the school reducing ongoing energy costs and CO 2 emissions.
The Council has incorporated the lessons learned from the Academy project into their PPP Schools programme, which will deliver two new primaries and two new secondaries by 2011. In the first tie-up of its kind in Scotland, the Carbon Trust worked alongside the Council and the building consortium E4i through the procurement process, providing a range of technical advice. The Carbon Trust is now working with other authorities on a similar basis.
More broadly, sustainability is a key theme for the Scottish Construction industry and central to Scottish Construction Forum's68 industry plan: 'This theme will be a key driver for change in the construction industry, affecting planning, design, procurement and working practices in order to reduce the overall carbon footprint of a built structure over its entire lifetime. The construction industry must be encouraged to design for whole-life sustainability, build with minimum waste, dispose of waste responsibly, use sustainable resources, reduce energy consumption, recycle and reuse materials, create minimum pollution and cause the least possible environmental impact'.
There are a range of drivers and barriers shaping the low carbon built environment:
Market Opportunities
Two broad market opportunities exist in relation to the built environment:
Reducing the emissions of new and existing buildings
A range of current and near-term market opportunities exist in helping reduce the emissions of the current building stock including:
Better energy efficiency in buildings and communities offers savings with respect to operational costs for owner and tenants, and additional benefits for owners from long-term more efficient capital stock of the buildings.
Figure 13: Emissions (%) by sector (2005)
Source: Carbon Trust 2009: Building stock emissions by sector 70
Currently approximately, 45% of the UK's carbon emissions are generated by energy consumption within the building stock: 25% within domestic buildings with a further 18% within non-domestic buildings. In addition it is estimated 71 that around 16% of the entire carbon footprint of the UK construction industry is related to design, manufacture, distribution and on-site operations activities, with 84% accounted for by energy use for electricity, water and space heating within homes and businesses. On top of this the construction process itself is a carbon intensive activity.
Figure 14: Estimate of the carbon footprint of UK construction, 200772
While the ambition is that all new buildings in Scotland will be zero carbon by 2017, where practicable, it is also estimated that the market opportunity for retrofitting the existing building stock is huge and will be driven particularly by the value of energy savings, given that 73% of UK domestic emissions arise from space and water heating. In addition, significant opportunities also exist in improving the energy performance of the 200,000 or so non-domestic buildings in Scotland.
Case Study: Aberdeen Heat and Power
Aberdeen Heat and Power is an independent not-for-profit company set up by Aberdeen Council to develop and manage combined heat and power district heating schemes. Over the past 10 years they have implemented several phases of their District Heating project. It is currently seeking funding to extend the infrastructure of the district heating network in Aberdeen. The funding would pay for highly insulated district heating pipes to be laid in the ground, plus additional generating capacity. The extension of the network would also make the connection by a number of other buildings on the route which may present additional carbon savings as well as being a good economic proposal for the relevant building users. These include: Transition Extreme (a leisure facility with climbing walls), a hotel, and Satrosphere (a science centre run by a local voluntary organisation.
There are clear environmental and economic benefits from increasing the use of timber as a construction material and in supporting innovation within the Forest Industries sector more advanced engineered timber-based products. Whereas the total value of the new-build sector in Scotland is currently worth over £3 billion annually (where 80% of all new homes are timber-frame construction), the US market is worth £300 billion (where 90% of homes are timber-framed). The potential for exporting innovative timber-based products is significant. This is a key objective of the Scottish Forest Industries cluster 73 in addition to meeting the Scottish Government's target to grow forest cover to 25% by 2050.
Given the significance of heating in contributing to carbon emissions, large and growing opportunities also exist in implementing alternative forms of heating such as district heating, industrial waste heat, and combined heat and power, including heat generated from biomass and waste. These various forms of lower carbon heat present a range of infrastructural issues and costs in relation to the built environment, requiring the close involvement of planning authorities in the design of residential or commercial developments.
There are also environmental and economic benefits relating to low carbon design and planning, through the development, implementation and articulation of passive design techniques as a means to delivery low carbon buildings and neighborhoods. In addition to new build, the adaptation of the existing building stock presents a big challenge and is important in terms of carbon reduction. It brings significant opportunities for innovation and skills development in the upgrading and retrofit of existing buildings, in particular housing.
Roof Truss Company ( RTC), Elgin
The Passive Wall is a pre-insulated closed panel wall system which can reduce building energy consumption significantly RTC have developed the product using materials sourced locally to minimise carbon emissions. The Passive Wall has been used in passive certified houses in Scotland, most recently at Scotland's Housing Expo in Inverness.
RTC's range of innovative products is helping to significantly boost the company's growth, taking them from a £3.1 million to a £5.5 million business in only three years. This will be achieved by sustaining their current market position; expanding their current premises to accommodate their expected growth; developing new technologies to improve efficiencies and support modern construction methods; and developing new products for the low carbon housing market.
Permitted development rights have been extended for domestic microgeneration 74. Consultations are underway on extending permitted development rights still further for domestic microgeneration and also for non-domestic microgeneration 75.
Exploiting new sustainable building technologies
The main sub-sectors relating to the built environment are; building technologies and energy management. It is estimated that these sectors alone will support 15,000 low carbon jobs by 2019/20 in Scotland. Overall sales are projected to increase from £1.1 bn in 2008/9 to £1.4 bn to around £1.9 bn in 2019/20, with the breakdown shown in Figure 15 76
Figure 15: Sales projections for Built Environment Sub Sectors
The majority (approximately 84%) of employment in this sector within Scotland will be in supply, installation and manufacture of the low carbon technologies with around 16% of employment in consulting, R&D or training.
Figure 16: Employment in Built Environment Sub Sectors 2019/20
Source: Scotland's Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services Sector Study, Innovas Solutions, 2010.
Scotland has the opportunity at an early stage to develop comparative advantages in these low carbon sub-sectors and foster companies that can provide market leading solutions not only to a Scottish market but to a growing global low carbon market.
Analysis on potential for comparative advantage ( RCA) in the built environment sectors (An RCA above 1 indicates that Scotland's exports/imports ratio for a particular item is greater than Scotland's ratio of exports/imports for all goods). It shows that Scotland has advantage across all sub-sectors and that this increased across all bar one from 2007 to 2008 77. There are potential opportunities for this sector to develop and not only service the Scottish supply chain, but become globally competitive companies and supply the low carbon global export market.
Figure 17: RCA Built Environment Sub Sectors
Potential for growth lies in the high demand for retrofit technologies utilising new technology and new construction ideas e.g. new material development and smart sensors. The Building Technologies and Energy Management areas of Environmental & Clean Technology ( ECT), being supported by the ECT Partnership, will play a crucial role in the development and deployment of these technologies. Scotland has over 500 companies (many in the construction industry) who can address the UK market opportunity which is expected to be £21bn by 2014/15.
In spite of the strong regulatory drivers, a range of barriers exist that inhibit the development and widespread adoption of low carbon building technologies including:
The Low Carbon Building Technologies Gateway will for the first time establish a Scottish low carbon building technologies innovation pathway by enabling the development and integration of two initiatives and allowing for a clearly articulated support system from concept through to market demonstration within Scotland. Led by Edinburgh Napier University's ( ENU) Building Performance Centre and supported by Scottish Enterprise, ERDF and SPIRIT funding, it combines with the ongoing development of the Building Performance Centre in Glenrothes (aka Hangar 17) which provides discrete test facilities which also protect commercial sensitivity, with an Innovation Park intended to provide a showcase for Low Carbon Building Technologies.
The project will provide continuous support for innovation and enterprise in relation to Building Technologies from concept through to market outreach. This will provide faster, better, more efficient processes to support innovation by SMEs in order to meet the future market demand for low carbon construction products. Additionally, the project will link to wider centre of excellence work being undertaken across Scotland via the Scottish Energy Laboratory and the CIC-Start online academic consortium. Specialist technical work that cannot be delivered by ENU/ BPAC or will be procured by ENU from wider project partners in Scotland. There are also important synergies with SE's recently LCBE Supply Chain Innovation Support project through provision of the physical resource to support the innovation process.
The Project will remove barriers and de-risk commercialisation of low carbon innovation while retaining the process within Scotland. Over a ten year period following intervention, the Project is forecast to contribute a total cumulative net gross value added of £182m. This unique approach has the potential to attract considerable interest from non- UK firms.
Strategic Objectives for government and the wider public sector
This section sets out strategic objectives for the built environment, previously described with associated immediate actions in Section 1.3 of the strategy.
Objective 7: Moving towards a low carbon built environment. Reducing carbon emission, from all phases of the building process, from design to construction, through operation and maintenance, within the new and existing building stock.
In the new build sector, we can expect that better performing construction materials and a change in methods of construction as staged improvements in energy standards within building regulations in 2010, 2013 and 2016 require, for example, much improved thermal performance.
Scottish Government has worked closely with industry in developing sustainability labelling for new buildings through building regulations. Proposals would recognise the achievement of reaching the demanding mandatory regulations from October 2010, as well as providing optional upper levels for those who wish to demonstrate their green credentials. The aspirational levels reflect a broad range of aspects of sustainability for domestic buildings and include challenging enhanced targets for carbon emissions reductions for all new buildings. Ministers have approved for proposals to go to public consultation in 2010. The system's intended introduction would follow during 2011.
A significant programme of refurbishment of Scotland's existing building stock will be needed to accompany the ambition of net zero carbon new buildings from 2016/17. This will build on existing Scottish Government programmes such as the Home Insulation Scheme and Energy Assistance Package. Local Authorities have a significant role to play, in particular, through Local Housing Strategies, influencing and identifying area planning initiatives and/or regeneration projects in statutory local development plans.
For the existing housing stock, improvements are driven by householder action to reduce fuel bills through energy efficiency measures, supported by Government action on fuel poverty and promoting insulation, including through obligations on the energy companies. Significant opportunities exist for company expansion to meet the scale of activity that will be required, accompanied by new recruitment into the industry and skills upgrading among existing employees.
While demand for retrofitting homes and premises is increasing it is still not at the levels required by our emission reduction targets, and the current range of market drivers and incentives need to be strengthened. Anticipated rising energy costs and greater affordability of retrofit technologies over the next decade should provide strong levers to create market demand. Support from energy companies and UK Government programmes in addition to the Scottish Government's own incentives will also be important in optimising uptake, particularly in the current economic climate. Other drivers and incentives include:
The Scottish Government is also considering its position in respect of the powers available to enforce energy efficiency standards in private sector housing and existing non-domestic buildings contained in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act. We will also consider whether appropriate standards should be developed for the social rented sector.
Objective 8: Exploiting and integrating low carbon building technologies into the design and construction process.Helping to develop, commercialise, test, demonstrate and market innovative new building technologies and materials and integrate these into the design process alongside passive technologies.
It is clear that continued joint working across the public sector is needed to address the market barriers that currently exist in relation to low carbon building technologies. This will help close the gap between the development and market exploitation of new technologies and products, together with their mainstream adoption across the construction industry.
The Scottish Government's Construction Works Procurement Guidance 78 contains best practice, policy and procedures for public works procurement. For example, Section 3 contains advice on complying with EU procurement regulations in selection and award procedures and Section 7 acts as a signpost to policy and best practice endorsed by the Scottish Government to help embed sustainability into public works procurement.
The Planning Application Notification on Renewable Energy Technologies is being updated and will be web-based, allowing for further more regular updates than in the past. It will seek to maximise opportunities for renewables, whilst managing environmental impacts, through the new planning processes. Scottish Government has also commissioned research on the use of quantitative greenhouse gas impact assessment to inform future strategic planning policy development.
Planning authorities are encouraged to prepare heat maps to inform spatial plans and policies for renewable heat with development plans. Such heat maps are based on a range of data, such as sources of raw materials, areas of high heat load, grid availability, fuel poverty hotspots, and designated sites and can be used to identify opportunities and areas of greatest benefit.
The Scottish Government is funding a heat mapping pilot project in the Highland Council area, with the results to be disseminated to Councils across Scotland. The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a Waste Heat Study that will investigate the potential for the provision through waste heat and its economic impacts. This applies to low carbon district heating and renewable heat.
Scottish Government has commissioned research, which is currently underway, to assess overall financial capacity of the social rented sector, to establish potential for significant new investment in quality measures as well as provision of new housing. Where financial capacity exists it is dependent on circumstances of individual local authorities and housing association and may not match investment requirements in housing stock.
Once the most cost-effective product and process solutions are validated there are likely to be considerable benefits as scale increases. This will be facilitated by the effective sharing of best practice solutions as they emerge.
The use of off-site production and other modern construction methods is growing, often offering advantages in terms of energy efficiency and improved product quality.
Objective 9: Promoting low carbon building design at all scales from neighbourhood upwards. -Encouraging the development of walkable, well-connected places.
We need to encourage wider understanding of the critical importance of the design of units larger than the individual building to the development of an effective low carbon economy and sustainable places and communities. Examples of these larger scale approaches include the layout of neighbourhoods and larger urban units, including design approaches which encourage easy pedestrian and cycle access (as advocated by Designing Streets: A Policy Statement for Scotland.) We also need to take account of the fact that some low carbon technologies (such as district heating or combined heat and power) will often operate most successfully and efficiently at the scale of community rather than at the level of individual buildings.
The Scottish Government is already working with a range of other public and private sector organisations to promote projects which demonstrate integrated approaches to low carbon design. There is scope for the wider promotion, evaluation and dissemination of the achievements of these projects and for the consideration of how the scope of other projects may be developed to demonstrate important aspects of low carbon design. An example of the later is the recent design ideas competition for architect and developer teams at the Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative ( SSCI) project at Whitecross near Linlithgow.
Page updated: Monday, November 15, 2010


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10/27 at 3:35 a.m. Joseph M. King, 46, of Birch Street, Biddeford, was arrested on Blackstrap Road by Officer Jeff Pardue on a charge of operating under the influence.
10/26 at 6:49 a.m. A 17-year-old male, of Inverness Road, was issued a summons at Walton Park by Officer Steven Townsend on a charge of misuse of identification.
10/28 at 8:20 a.m. After a vehicle driven by Elaine Smithwick was rear-ended on Bucknam Road, Lt. John Kilbride said a vehicle driven by Paul C. Tukey, 20, of North Street, Portland, fled southbound on Interstate 295. Based on witness descriptions, police spotted Tukey driving in Portland near the Eastern Promenade and arrested him without incident. He was arrested by Officer Al Twombley and charged with leaving the scene of a vehicle crash, operating under the influence, violating conditions of release and possession of marijuana. The victim suffered minor injuries. Her vehicle sustained about $3,000 in damages.
10/29 at 5:21 p.m. A thief smashed the window of a parked car at Foreside Fitness and absconded with a purse. Lt. John Kilbride said "smash and grabs" are common throughout the region, whether night or day, secluded or public.
10/31 at 8:21 a.m. Vehicle crash on Ledgewood Drive.
Falmouth emergency medical services responded to 24 calls from Oct. 25 to Nov. 1.


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Get one thing straight. Saddleback High School sprinter Teddy Baker is not a meteorologist. Weather for him is what he runs through at a high rate of speed--perhaps faster than any prep athlete in Orange County.
But it's uncanny how Baker acts as a barometer of his team's fortunes. When he feels well and performs well, the team wins. So now that the senior says this is going to be his best year ever, it's been one sunny day after another at the Roadrunner track.
Saddleback has won all three of its dual meets this season, and Coach Jim Knapp counts more than 58 medals his athletes have won at invitationals this year.
"I have a really good feeling about this season," Baker said after a recent practice. "Last year, my legs were tired at the end of the season and I didn't run as well as I could have.


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Work for a globally based company? Want to travel the world without quitting your career? If you're not already travelling internationally for business purposes, negotiating this is your first step. If you are travelling internationally for work, all you have to do is be strategic with project deadlines and PTO or negotiate remote work days. Convincing your … Continue reading How To Get the Most Out Of Your Work Travel
Author: Sanoma Jean
This winery, owned by the Lunardelli family, sits in the Italian countryside in the delineated Piave POV zone, just outside the Veneto region. For three generations, the Lunardelli family has been producing everything from Chardonnay to Cab Franc to Prosecco. I was fortunate enough to be welcomed here by the Lunardelli family and to enjoy … Continue reading VignaLuna
How To Road Trip Around Ireland in 6 Days
If you only have six days in Ireland, on one hand, the good news is that it's a relatively small island. On the other hand, if you enjoy quaint towns, nice people, a local experience, and well...Guinness, then like me you may find six days just enough to get hooked and leave you wanting so … Continue reading How To Road Trip Around Ireland in 6 Days
An Icelandic Adventure
A common stopover country, Iceland's popularity with tourism has been on the rise for the past couple years. And if you're looking for a unique and breathtaking getaway (and you have a decent chunk of change to spend) Iceland is absolutely your place. Being an island, just about everything in Iceland is imported, so prepare … Continue reading An Icelandic Adventure
Hygge: What it is and how to find it.
The danish concept of hygge (pronounced hue-geh) encapsulates everything that people love about the holiday season. When the cold makes your cheeks rosy, hygge. Hot glüwein from the brightly lit Christmas market, hygge. Cozy blankets and warm oversized sweaters, hygge. While there is no english equivalent it's a very merry concept that can be felt … Continue reading Hygge: What it is and how to find it.
I Didn't Study Abroad & Traveled for the First Time after College Graduation
I was constantly berated with stories of my peers, specifically the wealthier ones I knew through Greek life, going on Christmas vacations to Paris, spending summers in Patagonia, and spending a year of their life exploring Thailand. I was simply not that person. My family was (is) poor and growing up international travel was absolutely … Continue reading I Didn't Study Abroad & Traveled for the First Time after College Graduation


text: "There are birds with big beaks, / but not even a few can / hold as much fruit / as the beak of a toucan." Captioned by this and similarly frisky proto-riddles, McKie's brightly colored menagerie will make fascinating viewing for the diapered set. The big, familiar animals appear against textured, vibrant, mostly monochromatic backgrounds, and two playfully die-cut foldouts—one going up to make room for a tall giraffe, the other opening sideways to reveal a toothy lion—provide additional peek-a-boo drama. As if that's not enough, the typeface occasionally wraps itself around its subject to ratchet up the visual fun. Both the clever rhyming and the broad, simple brushwork in the pictures recall Doug Florian's fauna-themed works. Read it aloud for best effect; young children will name all the creatures with enthusiasm. (Picture book. 3-6)


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|A Varied Sittella Daphoenositta chrysoptera walks down a branch
I have been out doing the rounds of the Tawny Frogmouths over the past week, and will be doing so for the next few months as the breeding season runs on from now. Although it is still winter in Canberra, the birds are beginning to nest and the frogmouths are in pairs beside their prospective nest sites. Some have even began to build, adding a few sprigs to forks in the branches.
Meanwhile, many of the passerines are still in mixed winter flocks, flitting through the woodland canopy. And while I was out, I was passed by a flock of Varied Sittellas as they worked their way through a wood. There were twelve of them in the party, it took me several attempts to count them as they shifted position so often and quickly.
|Although their colouring blends well with that of the dead limbs they climb on,
their quick jerking movements and constant twittering betray their presence.
Sittellas fill a similar niche as European nuthatches, searching for invertebrates in dead wood, mostly by climbing down the branches rather than up like treecreepers. They are also known as barkpeckers, which is very apt, as they chip away at the dead bark, opening up cracks with their seemingly delicate, but obviously strong little bills. The bottom mandible is curved, allowing them to probe deep into holes.
|They are comfortable in all postures
Sittellas are cooperative breeders, the whole group helps to build one nest and feed the chicks when they hatch, but that will be a few weeks yet. For now, they will work together as a team, searching for food in the dead branches. This is one of those species that would be lost if all the standing dead timber were felled. Tidying up dead wood is not good for nature.
|They even perch on top of branches like other birds
One bird which likely has eggs now is the Wedge-tailed Eagle, and a single male bird glided over the canopy while I was with the Sittellas. A sign that his partner was probably on the nest incubating eggs.
|A Wedge-tailed Eagle slipped overhead
The sittellas were noisy, constantly chittering as they had to be to keep in contact with one another. The eagle was silent as it soared alone. And the frogmouths sat quietly in the winter sunshine, patiently waiting for Spring.
|Meanwhile, the Tawny Frogmouths sat quietly in their sunny winter roost


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I had these photos I took in Barcelona waiting to be scrapped since 2013!!! Finally I found a way to put them all in a page :-)
Avevo questo "folder stack" che non aspettava altro che essere utilizzato e zac... ho avuto l'illuminazione!! :-P
I also had this "floder stack" and I gave a sudden idea!!
Partecipo anche alla sfida di JotMagazine con questa splendida moodboard:
I followed the Stuck?! Sketches November challenge and the tris proposed by Fate le Creative, choosing paper tape, geometric shapes and color drops.
I also was inspired by JotMagazine moodboard:
Ho riscoperto il glossy accent: le mie lettere erano grezze, le ho colorate con un pennarellino blu poi "glassate"... effetto favoloso, come nuove!!
I rediscovered glossy accent: my alphabet was raw, I colored the letters with a blue marker then covered them with the "gel"... it worked great, they are as new!!
Che ve ne pare??
Grazie per la vostra visita e il vostro tempo!
What do you think??
Thank you for your visit and your time!


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Leffel is my age exactly and has taught for decades passing on the golden brush of knowledge as so many artist do. His method has had tremendous influence on this genre in our time. And now Carla offers that golden brush to a few dozen of us in the Texas hill country. Paul Strisik, who lived on my beloved Cape Ann for over forty years also painted this type of classic still life, with the expected oriental themes. Below are three of my class pieces.
For more than sixty years I have studied, collected, repaired, and bought and sold antique dolls. They have been back ground music in my life at every stage, sometimes louder, sometimes subdued, but always there with me. To see only the posts about dolls on this blog, click the banner on the right titled "Dolls for My Red Cape". Keep clicking "Older Posts" to see more. Some of the posts featuring rug hooking are gathered under the banner "For Cathy". From time to time items are offered for sale under the banner "O'Neill's Antiques" which was our shop name for many years. ~Edyth O'Neill
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
For Everything There is a Time
18 comments:
Your paintings are beautiful!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 20, 2016 at 9:07 PM
I can only comment as anonymous - don't know how to do the other ways listed - sorry. But your blog is an inspiration and a joy to me. I should comment more often. I enjoy your posts so much. Take care. Lynn in IllinoisReplyDelete
Hi Lynn, thank you! Gremlins live in my computer too, they have a mind of their own for sure. Best wishes, eReplyDelete
Hi Edyth,ReplyDelete
I am so glad to see your blog. I lost touch with you when I left the ebay doll group. I became ill and it has taken me some time to get back online and into the groups. I have been on Facebook for a few years now but this is the first time I have seen your blog. I Love all of your paintings. My one desire in life was to be able to paint or draw. I can do neither and watch helplessly as almost everyone in my family can. I write and that is fulfilling but I can only imagine how fulfilling it must be to envision an idea and see that come to fruition must be. Thank you so much for sharing and I plan to continue reading and enjoying your blog. All the best, Kimmee
Beautiful paintings and so nice to hear how much you enjoy doing them, Edyth. Those candle sticks are fantastic. ...janReplyDelete
Your talent knows no bounds The paintings are wonderful and to be able to study under such talent is such a great experience too and the rewards are endless Thank You for sharing your paintingsReplyDelete
The paintings are lovely. I enjoy all the photos of your collections as I'm newly interested in this style.ReplyDelete
Arden are you interested in painting this style or collecting this style of antiques? I was not clear on this. If painting the still lifes is your thing I have collected a lot of good u tube links of demos. Best, eReplyDelete
So glad to know you are doing well and are on to new adventures! Lovely paintings, especially the bluebonnets!!! Painting flowers sounds much better than actually gardening to me today, as I've been out in the gardens for two days straight and now I'm so stiff I can barely move! :0 Fondly, PaulaReplyDelete
Hi Paula I have seen pictures of your gardens, lovely! Nice to hear from you dear friend, eReplyDelete
Your paintings look lovely framed. I like the radishes one! :-)ReplyDelete
Hello Edyth! I have missed you. I always check your blog for updates and was worried that something had gone amiss. Glad to know that you were doing what you do best: create! Very interesting to see how you set up the still lifes. Beautiful!ReplyDelete
Hi Mary, thank you, I am down a bit but not out.. grateful for a beautiful spring here and enjoying my friends and home and sweet little town. eReplyDelete
Edyth, I can understand why you were in love with the candlesticks. What a blessing your husband was able to recreate them in wood.ReplyDelete
I always enjoy your posts but don't always comment. Love your paintings. I so admire and "envy" people who can paint. Glad that you are enjoying your hobby. Myself, I am a quilter.ReplyDelete
Happy Mother's Day Edyth! I LOVE your paintings~ the one with the beets my favorite~ thinking of you often Dear one! XOXOXOXOXReplyDelete
Thank you Rachael! I am glad you can tell they are beets! Dixie wrote that she liked the one with the radishes so scale was somehow not conveyed. Ha!ReplyDelete
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Blazer - H&M
Blouse - H&M
Jeans - Topshop
Bag - Topshop
Watch - Micheal Kors
Who said you can't mix red tones? Because I personally think it looks freaking cool! The only thing that held me back so long from a tone on tone combination was the memory of an english teacher I had long ago. She would always wear things in one colour. Everyday. And gosh, it looked awful to me.. (If she's reading this: I'm sorry). However I decided to let go of any prejudices and go for it.
I mixed my favourite Topshop jeans with my H&M Blouse in a pinkish tone which is from the Lana del Rey collection. I love how my bag and Chelsea boots build a dark contrast to the rest of my outfit and how they complement each other.
Today I've been to the city center together with my mum. We planned on going to about 3 stores but ended up staying in Topshop only. I only wanted to buy a black high waisted jeans but they had so many great things in their Sale section... I just had to try everything I liked on. If you're interested in what I ended up buying: I'm doing a Topshop Haul Lookbook soon on my blog. I'm really excited to wear my new things.


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I've just in enrolled in Simon and Bianca's online Yoga Fundamentals course. I had a peek at their Anatomy and Physiology course last year but was running around without an internet connection while waiting for my japan visa and couldn't actually do the course, although i have their Anatomy and Physiology of Yoga text book.
A few months back I became fascinated with the Spinal sequence that Simon and Bianca posted on their blog last year and wanted more. That Spinal sequence series of videos makes up part of the fundamentals course.
Looking through the materials it reminds me of the Online distance learning course I was doing at Nottingham last time I was in japan. That was an Ma in Linguistics but the set up was similar, online lectures, powerpoint presentations, reading materials, forums etc. This is all very professionally produced but then Simon and Bianca teach a course along these lines at the university so i imagine there is a lot of cross over of materials.
The main reason I'm taking it is that after meeting Simon in Turkey last year I'm fascinated by his approach to practice (we were both teaching at the Rainbow festival so this post where I was lucky enough to Interview Simon and talk about the breath http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2014/05/interview-with-simon-borg-olivier.html).
He has an interesting background but it's how that background interacts with his years of practice and teaching that is interesting, Simon is a great experimenter putting all his research and discoveries to the test on and with his own body, an explorer in fact and what else where those old yogis of the past
At the age of six, he was introduced to yogic breathing (pranayama) by his father George who taught him to swim underwater, and the main bandhas (internal locks) through a family friendship with Rhodesian Olympian Basil Brown. At the age of 17, he met a Tibetan Lama who introduced him to the philosophy and practice of Tantric Yoga. In 1985, Simon met his primary teacher Natanaga Zhander (Shandor Remete) with whom he studied for almost two decades. He has also studied with such internationally revered Indian teachers as BKS Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois and TKV Desikachar. Since 2007, Simon has been developing his yoga practice and understanding by studying with Master Zhen Hua Yang.
During the past 20 years, as well as running a successful yoga school, Simon has continued to both study and teach at the University of Sydney. Simon has completed a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology, a research-based Master of Science in Molecular Biology and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Physiotherapy.
( and this link to Bianca Machliss http://yogasynergy.com/main/bianca-machliss)
I'm interested in how I can bring Simon and Bianca's approach/research into my own practice, bring about a better understanding of whats going on in my body with those most subtle of movements, the vinyasa, as much as the asana themselves.
I once wrote a post on what I called the hidden asana, that all the variations of an asana that we often think of as preparation for an asana are asana in themselves and should be valued as such rather than dismissed as a cheat. Turns out that Krishnamacharya thought the same and we can see that in Ramaswami's teaching But more........, that you could film your vinyasa and asana and then take a screenshot every second to and from the asana and that these would be hundreds of hidden asana, every one with their own subtle differences and I suspected benefits. My suspicion is that Simon and Bianca's course may give a sense of how true that actually is.
I thought it might be nice to do a series of posts as I work through the course so watch this space over the next 13 weeks.
Below are some screenshots.
The first is of the course resources...
The practice videos....
The breath: Simon Borg-Olivier made me fall in love with asana all over again.
and there are more besides.
the link below takes you to this page where you can have a closer look at the materials. http://fundamentals.yogasynergy.com/
My interview with Simon, full post and the transcription here
See also
Preview of Simon's excellent book Applied Anatomy & Physiology of Yoga
See also my earlier post on Simon's book
The nine bandhas (yes Nine) in the APPLIED ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY OF YOGA of Simon Borg-oliver and Bianca Machliss
And this just in a blogtalkradio interview today
Five Things that Block Energy and 10 Ways to Move Them With Simon Borg-Olivier
Unfortunately I don't think we cover the unsupported headstand in the course


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Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories [Full Album] (2013)Posted: April 24, 2013 | Author: Miguel | Filed under: Rock | Tags: alternative rock, Ambient, art rock, experimental rock, jazz fusion, krautrock, post-punk, progressive metal, Progressive rock, Psychedelic rock, Steven Wilson, The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories | Leave a comment
Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician and producer, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. He is involved in many other bands and musical projects both as musician and producer (including No-Man and Blackfield) and also maintains a solo career. In 2010, Wilson began writing music alongside Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt for their project, Storm Corrosion.
Wilson is a self-taught producer, audio engineer, guitar and keyboard player, playing other instruments as and where required (including bass guitar, concert harp, hammered dulcimer and flute).
He used to split his living time between London and Tel Aviv, Israel,[1] but no longer holds a permanent residence in the latter.[2]
The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) is the third solo album by British musician Steven Wilson, released by Kscope Music Records on 25 February 2013. Each track on the album is based on a story of the supernatural. Alan Parsons, well known in part for his involvement in Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, was responsible for engineering the album.[1][2]
There is a deluxe 4 disc edition of the album, which is "a 128 page hardback book containing lyrics and ghost stories, illustrated by Hajo Mueller".[2] In addition to this, the album is also available in stand alone double-vinyl, CD and Blu-ray editions.[1]
Track listing
All music composed by Steven Wilson.
|"Drive Home"
|"The Holy Drinker"
|"The Pin Drop"
|"The Watchmaker"
|"The Raven That Refused to Sing"


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Understanding Home Buying Contingencies!
During your search for a new home, you find that many have Contingent Offer statuses. It is important to understand what these are and whether or not you want to proceed with that particular property. Contingent offers are standard in real estate contracts. They mean that once an offer has been made by the buyer and accepted by the seller, the final sale is contingent upon a set of criteria. There are 3 major contingencies you will find: Home Inspection, Appraisal, and Mortgage. These contingencies allow the buyer to back out of the sale within a certain amount of time and regain their deposit if something goes wrong.
The one contingency that you almost always want to have is the home inspection contingency. This gives the buyer the right to have the home professionally inspected before the deal is finalized. A good inspection will find anything wrong with the house. When an issue is found, the buyer can ask the seller to fix it or back out of the sale.
The appraisal contingency means that the lender will hire a third party to evaluate the fair market value of the home. If the appraised value comes in less than the sale price, the buyer can back out of the deal. This helps protect the buyer from overpaying for a home. Here is an example. A home is selling for $250,000. Your loan covers 90% and you need to put down 10% upfront. The home is appraised for $215,000. The loan will now be for $193,500, covering 90% of the appraised value. This means instead of paying a down payment of $25,000 you now are expected to pay $56,500. If the seller will not lower the price based on the appraised value, the buyer can walk away and get their deposit back. In a market with a lot of competition, buyers might want to waive this contingency to be more appealing to the seller. However, realize that waiving this can be a risky move. You can always ask for a second appraisal and present the lender with evidence as to why the home is worth more. This might enable you to secure a loan for the full amount.
The mortgage contingency protects both the buyer and seller by ensuring that the proper finances are in place before getting into a sale. This contingency gives the buyer a certain period of time to obtain a loan that covers the mortgage. If a loan cannot be secured, the buyer can exit the sale with their deposit. This contingency can be easily avoided by knowing that you qualify as soon as you start the home buying process. Use our Loan Analysis tool to help find out what you can afford.
Still have questions? For more Home Buying Tips, give our experienced Team a call, visit our website, or check out our Facebook Page. We are here to help if you're considering Buying, Selling, or Investing in Real Estate in the North Iowa. Contact us today at 641-425-4900 or http://www.janefischer.com/.