text:
How young should we encourage tots to socialise?
New research suggests that parents are confused about what age their children need to start building up their confidence through socialisation. A whopping 72% of parents are not aware that confidence development begins before the age of 5.
The study of 2,000 UK parents by Diddi Dance, a pre school dance class, revealed that 4 in 10 (38%) do not feel it is their responsibility to ensure their child is socialising the appropriate amount, with a third feeling it is down to nurseries (34%), and a quarter believing that pre-school programmes should hold the responsibility.
65% of those parents asked did not feel that this time spent with adults is as important as the amount of time their child socialises with other children, despite 43% acknowledging that children socialising with adults is important to their mental development.
The study did uncover that parents often place more emphasis on other factors in children's development such as healthy eating (12%), and physical activity (10%) due to growing pressure around childhood obesity. Yet, 4 in 10 still underestimate the positive impact that comes from the company of other young children for those under 5.
Fathers in particular are less aware of the positive impact that children socialising with adults can have with only 28% of fathers believed this to be the case, compared to 43% of mothers.


text: It seems that Apple (AAPL) fans are pretty intrigued by the iPad mini. MarketWatch reports that "two major resale sites reported eye-popping surges in business in the run-up to the iPad Mini launch" as Gazelle.com said that resales of iPads on its website surged by 700% on Tuesday while NextWorth.com "reported that trade-ins for iPads rose over 1,000% on Tuesday." What makes these numbers particularly surprising is that Gazelle and NextWorth both estimate that around 70% of Tuesday's resales were of third-generation iPads, which Gazelle says can still fetch up to $495 from interested buyers. Gazelle chief gadget officer Anthony Scarsella told MarketWatch that some users are planning to sell their old iPads at maximum price and then pay $329 for the iPad mini, thus netting them a profit of roughly $170.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Salida can't be the only town where there's a joke that goes like this: "What's yellow and sleeps six?"
"A city truck."
And in this day of constant criticism of public employees in conjunction with the contentions in Wisconsin, there's plenty of vitriolic talk going around.
But when I think of public employees, I remember one fall evening a few years ago when the water line broke between our meter and the main in the street. Kevin Nelson of the city public works department came by and said they wouldn't be able to do much until daylight. But he talked to our neighbors and then rigged a hose from their outside tap to ours, so we'd have running water that night — something I didn't know was even possible. And then he came by later to make sure everything was working.
Ah, yes, those lazy, featherbedding, overpaid public employees. I recall a pregnant friend who went into labor in Greeley 30 years ago and started driving toward Boulder, where she'd made hospital arrangements. Her new daughter arrived early and was delivered by a state trooper beside Interstate 25.
I don't think obstetrics are part of the state patrol job description. And I know that what happened next wasn't. A few days later, she received a bassinet from that trooper, with a note that said something like this: "I've spent years scraping bodies off the pavement. Thank you for the opportunity to help bring life into the world."
Much more recently, I saw another public employee, an assistant at the local library, venturing out into a snowstorm with a bag of books. One regular patron, she said, had broken her leg and couldn't get out. So on her own time, she found some suitable books and was taking them to her.
Like any other good American, I have fantasies of winning the lottery or producing a best-seller, so that I could be rich enough to become a Republican and start demonizing the public sector. I could have my own vast estate so I wouldn't use public parks or public land. I'd have my own extensive book and magazine collection so I wouldn't need the public library. My own security force so I'd never need to call the police or sheriff. My own helicopter standing by, so I need not care whether the roads were passable.
But I don't think that's going to happen for most of us. We rely on public employees to provide our water and treat our sewage, to plow and maintain our roads, to instruct our children, to maintain our parks, patrol our streets, protect our food supply, to extinguish fires, to do scores of other things that we can't realistically do on our own.
Sure, there are time-servers in public employment, slackers who can always justify not doing whatever they don't want to do. And especially when times are tight, we have every right to demand efficient management and an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.
I suspect most public employees want to deliver an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. And I've seen many of them go well past that — teachers coming by on their own time with lessons for our sick kids; Denver firefighters helping my daughter when she locked her keys in her car one cold night; a game warden pulling my pickup out of a ditch along a back road. I could go on and on.
To put this another way, who does you more good? Those awful public-sector employees, or some $250 million-a-year hedge fund operator on Wall Street? Which one is an overpaid parasite? Who more deserves our torches and pitchforks?
Freelance columnist Ed Quillen (firstname.lastname@example.com) of Salida is a regular contributor to The Denver Post.


text:
This is a very, very long post. I decided not to split it up because I want it to be read as one entity. For those (like me) who have to print out posts this long, here's a PDF. Sorry, trees.
When it comes right down to it, if you stuck a microphone in my face, here is what I would tell you is the value of libraries, to me, as a patron and not as a librarian: Libraries are important to me the way parks are important: you can't quantify the joy that they bring to people, the smiles, the shared moments and the private ones, the sense of wonder, the respite from loneliness. Statistics about numbers of items borrowed and numbers of computer terminals used are important, even crucial, for us as professionals, but for me as a person, the importance of the library lies in its importance as a place of refuge.
In this case, the quantitative can actually help flesh out the qualitative. I read 56 adult books last year, and an additional 106 children's books. If you average out the adult titles at about $30 a piece, and the children's ones at, say $20, then that adds up to a value of about $3800. I probably would not have bought all those titles myself: none of us who read that much would, if only for the lack of shelf space at home. And in reading fewer books, my life would have been much the poorer, but not in any quantifiable way. I would have been missing the joy and the comfort of being challenged, entertained, and engaged with all of those characters and ideas.
I would argue that we need libraries the way we need to be able to see the sky beyond the skyscrapers. When I was working at Westmount Library, back in the days when we all religiously powered off computers and had logins for OPACs, one of my favourite times of day was first thing in the morning, when I used to boot up the OPACs on the second floor. I would stand there, alone with the collection, waiting for the password prompt. Those computers were near 819 – Canadian poetry, and so I used to often pull out some Leonard Cohen or whoever else was at hand on the shelves that day, and read a few lines aloud, glancing out the window and up Mount Royal. That kind of serendipitous experience is necessary, not in a life or death kind of way, but for the well-being of the soul. Those books were there for when I needed them - as an insurance policy against becoming too hardened, too bogged down in the minutiae, as a pre-emptive strike against losing my sense of whimsy. Everyone should have the chance to experience that moment of wonder that comes from an encounter with an old friend in the stacks, or the discovery of a new kindred spirit.
The Annoyed Librarian recently wrote a post entitled "Busy isn't enough," about what public libraries do and why they are important. She picked up on Rex Murphy's recent editorial about ebooks, and poked some great holes in his arguments. I always have a soft spot for AL, because although she is sometimes harsh, or plain wrong, she always challenges me to think a little harder about why I believe the things I believe. Case in point: "You might protest, but if public libraries were essential public services, there wouldn't be this sort of arguing about them for 150 years. Nobody argues that cities should eliminate police departments or sanitation services, but public libraries are always ripe targets for budget cuts when times get hard. They're treated by politicians as luxury services for the good times." Libraries are definitely not essential public services in the same sense as police, sanitation or fire departments. That's a no-brainer, and AL's right that we do ourselves no favours when we pretend to be essential this way. As AL points out, "Librarians need to start reminding people of why libraries are necessary, even if nobody is using them. That's a harder argument to make because it can't be tied up into a neat little quantified package, but ultimately it will be a better argument."
That is the argument I am trying to make here: any argument about the value of libraries needs to include both quantitative and qualitative data. I recently sparked quite the debate about this on Facebook (details below....) and some friends made some excellent points about how to measure the value of libraries. One wrote that "there are strong arguments that say cultural institutions cannot be justified on an evidentiary basis, but that that does not make them any less valuable, and which makes it all the more necessary to protect them against the 'efficiencies' of capitalism." I would argue that some aspects of cultural institutions can and should be analysed and evaluated (note I do not say 'justified') on an evidentiary basis. As another friend observed, "specifics - where it's possible to get them - make an argument stronger," and "there are a number of things [libraries] could do a better job at measuring." That's part of the hard truth in this post. As much as it's important for librarians to focus on the work we do, I strongly feel that it is also important for us to focus on gathering evidence (both quantitative - facts/stats - and qualitative - anecdotes, responses, opinions) so that when (and it is when) the day comes when the value of libraries comes into question, we are ready.
One of my friends wrote that "by providing the kind of 'evidence' that would be accepted, all we are going to do is get sucked into the same corporate ideological framework that is causing the problem. By using their language we have to play by their rules. Di Brand [Toronto's poet laureate] is right: this is an ideological question, and no amount of evidence will satisfy an ideological objection [Alex interrupts a second time to point you to Di Brand's great article about public libraries here]. Culture cannot be justified by appealing to economic, fiscal, utilitarian, or 'instrumental-rational' evidence - it can only be appreciated, supported, and defended on its own terms."
I actually agree with that. When it comes to the reasons libraries are important to me, no amount of evidence can quantify that. Exposure to - and participation in - culture, via the library, cannot be defended using the language of the corporate and political world. On the other hand, unless we throw out the current predominant model for public library funding (a combination of various levels of government), we will kind of have to play by their rules, at least in part. Don't think I don't think about a model of public library service that doesn't involve more private funding, and less reliance on government, but never mind that for now. We are where we are, and if we have to play by their rules for the moment, why not try to bend them a little along the way? Rules can be bent in both directions: corporate and political decision-makers can try to adopt a greater understanding and appreciation of the nuances of qualitative, idealogical, "Gross domestic happiness"-types of measurement, and librarians and those who support culture can can also adopt more effective measures to quantitatively evaluate their work.
Oh, what a mess.... I won't even touch the Doug Ford Atwood comment or the Rob Ford "I can think of a word for her" comment. I think most of you reading this will have heard that funding for public libraries in Toronto was recently up for debate.... One of the responses to the Fords's challenge was a website sponsored by the Toronto Public Library Workers Union, called Our Public Library: Great people, great library, great city. Shortly after this website popped up, a reflection on this website, and the TPLWU movement, was posted by Dr. Ken Haycock, "Why Toronto Public Library Staff Gave Me Indigestion, Part I." Haycock, a frequent speaker at library conferences about political advocacy for libraries, didn't mince words, calling out the website for trying to advocate via "embarrassing the mayor," and engaging in fear-mongering, intimidation and misinformation; he also pointed out that "if [TPL staff] had relationships with their city councillors they could better make the case than embarrassing the mayor in the hopes of gaining support. They even had six months warning."
When I posted Haycock's blog post on my Facebook wall, I sparked a fierce debate. One of my friends commented that Ford's efforts at advocacy via embarrassing, fear-mongering, intimidation and misinformation were pretty effective, which is, sadly, true. As the Husband tried to point out to our Sunnyside patron, critical thinking (or even getting all the facts: basic information literacy skills - how ironic!) seems to be at an all-time low (and not just in Canada). I don't have a solution for this problem, but it's beyond the scope of this post, and frankly, it doesn't mean that we should stoop to this level, just because other people have. Another friend expressed wariness at the idea of "putting any kind of significant resources" into political advocacy, "particularly given the current climate of many of our local governments." While I would certainly agree, on a personal level, that the Harper government is a bit of a lost cause in my book, I don't think that any large public library with issues on the table can afford to not put resources into political advocacy to all parties. We're not in this for short-term gains (although hey, those would be great), and we need to be in this despite any personal misgivings or lack of trust: we need to be in this to continuously challenge (and attempt to raise) the level of discourse in this country. Maybe I sound all wide-eyed, naive, "be the change you wish to see in the world," but seriously, I am worried that if we tune out, we're all lost, and in libraryland, if we don't keep cultivating a place at the table, we will lose it.
Thus, without a place at the table right now, we're in a bit of a bind. Instead of focusing on the presumed possibility that "local branches of the Toronto Public Library would almost certainly be closed," or on a so-short-it's-embarrasing list of TPL factoids, we should be focusing public and political attention on the fact that TPL is seen by residents as a core service, and that both numbers and emotional tales back that statement up.
The quantitative: Here are some cold, hard facts, sourced from here and here:
- There was a 4% increase in physical visits and memberships and a 15% increase in virtual visits in 2010 at TPL
- 72% percent of Torontonians use TPL
- TPL experienced above-average visits per capita and circulation per capita in 2009
- Also in 2009, TPL spent an above-average amount of $ on materials in Canada and with Canadian publishers.
- As Atwood said in the Globe, "Toronto's system is the second largest, by number of branches, and the busiest by circulation, on the continent. New York City public libraries lent out 24 million volumes in 2010; Toronto's lent out over 32 million. The system has innovated, offering music and e-book downloads, making Internet access widely available, delivering materials to local branches, and lending out cards that give free access to local museums."
- Chapter headings of the strategic plan itself are action verbs: "Engaging Toronto's diverse communities," "Addressing the growing income gap," "Expanding access to technology and online services," "Supporting creativity and culture." There's the value in TPL: in engaging, addressing expanding, and supporting.
- The plan clearly shows that TPL patrons value the library as "public space," as a community hub and as a community partner. TPL branches have hosted everything from storytimes and book clubs to public meetings on the radicalisation of crime and the development of an anti-racist response to guns and gangs.
- Read the stories of people whose lives have been greatly influenced by the library: speaking about Poetry is Public is Poetry, one of TPL's contributions to city-wide cultural initiatives and local cultural expression, Toronto poet Rosemary Sullivan says "I never felt so profoundly how important libraries are to our cultural life."
- TPL is a place for new citizens to become engaged with the City and feel personally fulfilled: Gail Bowen writes about students who "went on to live lives that would have been beyond the imagining of their grandparents, and they were able to do this because the libraries of this country have always offered people the tools to build new lives."
I can't speak for all the librarians at OPL, but I'm willing to bet that most of us are eager for you to ask us about the library. We are sitting at those Information and Reference desks just waiting for citizens to ask us about why we have 33 branches, why we renovated a certain branch, why the fiction section was weeded, why we have those "toys" in the children's area, etc. The problem, of course, is that many of you who have concerns don't articulate them, because you don't visit the library, or you don't particularly care, or because you think front-line staff can't answer your question (most librarians can, or can forward your query and then follow-up to ensure the question is answered). If the questions aren't asked, however, it means myself and my colleagues need to be doing two things: encouraging more of you to speak up about what you feel is successful and what you feel is not at OPL, and reaching out to library users and non-users to highlight library projects or initiatives, so that the work that is being done is being effectively communicated, before and after the fact. I feel we've been getting increasingly good at the second point above, via our Annual Reports and other documentation, but we need to be better at the first point, as well.
Ten points for the Husband, then, for doing some true outreach. We often run right down the canal from Lowertown to the Lansdowne Park. We cross the canal at the Bank St. Bridge, and run up the opposite canal bank. Since the Husband is faster than me, he circles around the parking lot of the Sunnyside Branch of OPL (sometimes a few times) waiting for me to catch up (by the way, Sunnyside has a magnificent garden!) On Saturday, as he was circling, a patron (male; 50s) was returning some material in the book drop. I heard the Husband say something to him (turned out to be an innocuous enough comment about how it's great to see people using the library, especially with the stuff going on in Toronto) and I was close enough by then to hear the reply: "Well, you're not going to like it then, when I say that I think Ottawa has too many libraries." The Husband proceeded to get into a long debate about libraries (and other services), critical thinking, the hiring of consultants, and seeing both sides of an issue.... Since I didn't get a chance to respond to several of the comments the patron made about libraries, I thought I would here:
- "Ottawa has too many libraries" – Well, for this one, I guess my first question would be, what makes you think there are too many? Just the numbers (33 branches + 2 bookmobiles)? Or do you feel they are costing us too much? In any case, here are some points to consider: Ottawa has one of the largest geographic areas (2,778.13 sq. km) of any Canadian city, according to 2006 Census. This makes Ottawa the 11th largest city in Canada (Toronto, with its 99 library branches, is 43rd, and Edmonton, with 17 library branches, is 39th). As a consequence, OPL has many rural branches, and branches are spread out geographically to serve our citizens. The 2011 OPL Operating Budget is $36.8 million and the total 2011 City Operating Budget is $2.6 billion; in other words, the Library represents less than 2% of the total City budget. That's a lot of service for less than 2%, in my opinion!
- "Ottawa has a gold-plated library system" – I think this means you believe Ottawa should focus resources on something else. That's definitely an opinion you're entitled to hold.... In the meantime, I am going to take this one as a (partial) compliment, even if it might have been passive-aggressive. I do think it's a little tragic when we aren't proud of our city's successes. Councillor Jan Harder often cites the Library as a great success story of amalgamation... And yet sometimes, Ottawans are our own worst enemies! As part of a larger negative discourse about services and democratic rights, I would go back to Di Brand here and add that "we should be in a conversation about how we will provide broader, yes broader, democratic rights, deeper social care, to all citizens, not how to cut them."
- "Why does the library provide social services?" - The short answer is that we don't. If by social services, you mean that we provide a space for marginalised members of society to "hang out," read the newspaper or a book, and have a quick nap, then yes, we do provide a place for that - there are hardly any safe public community places left for those things, if you've noticed. But that is not, and was never, our main role and we are not, by any extension of the word, providing the same services as a shelter or a community centre. Most of us, and hopefully especially most librarians, have a clear idea of our role in the community: we specialise in helping members of marginalised communities (and everyone) with answering information needs and strengthening multiple literacies. We excel at building community partnerships and effecting expert referrals to social services when needed. We are called upon a great deal for additional services beyond our scope all the time, from secretarial to psychiatric, and we do our best to exhibit professionalism and compassion in these situations.
- "Why is the Children's department so big? People should just go to the neighbour's house for storytime!" and "Why are there all these toys in here?" - The Children's department got just a little bit bigger, but looks much bigger because they did a great job renovating it to be more inviting, tidy and whimsical! Library storytime is unique for several reasons: firstly, it likely (and definitely, in our case) incorporates the six early literacy skills into it. These are skills that librarians and children's programmers have become experts at: we've been trained to promote the skills in storytime, and we are the go-to resource for parents seeking assistance with promoting at home the skills that help prepare their child to be ready to read when school starts. The toys you see are part of OPL's newer foray into early literacy spaces in branches (read the report to the Board here); these spaces are designed "for families to explore through play and experience the six emergent literacy skills." All renovated branches will include these areas, which will "richly support physical, social and cognitive development, engage and activate the imagination, [and create] a sense of exploration and discovery." Rideau Branch, my heart's home, was the first branch to begin to incorporate some of the elements of the early literacy spaces during a renovation. The spectacular interactive elements in the spaces are from the Burgeon Group.
- "The people in this neighbourhood should just go to Alta Vista" - For one thing, most of the people in your neighbourhood probably don't want to go to Alta Vista Branch I say that with some degree of certainty because there is some evidence to back it up (see: 2004). There is also a significant amount of traffic and circulation, including more than 3,500 people visiting the branch each week. And even if they "should," in your book, visit elsewhere instead, no one individual gets to choose where members of the community go. Not to mention that traveling further sort of destroys the idea of a community library at the heart of a neighbourhood (again, with the qualitative). And to make it quantitative, do you really want all those additional cars on the road all the way to Alta Vista and back? I don't!
- "They renovated this branch for 9 months and it's now less user friendly and they got rid of a lot of books" - So much to unpack in that sentence! First, some great information about the renovation can be found here. They took longer than expected, in part, because of the unfortunate discovery of asbestos (Rideau Branch suffered the same fate...). As for weeding, I could write you a whole other article about that (oh wait, I already did - p. 14). Long story short, many libraries have often been remiss over the years with regular collection maintenance: any collection, like a garden, must be regularly weeded and refreshed. For the library, and librarians, this is a way to increase circulation, free up shelf space, renew the collection and keep us in touch with our users' needs (what they actually check out, what we need more material about, what we need less material about). We use our professional expertise, literary knowledge and awareness of the community in tandem with computer-generated lists and statistics to evaluate the collection and make decisions about weeding, new acquisitions, replacement copies and merchandising. Weeding aside, you're certainly not alone in being critical of some aspects of the renovation. I can tell you, however, that people (including you!) are rocking that external book drop. What can I say? Sunnyside is not my favourite OPL reno: that distinction belongs to Vanier Branch, actually. But that doesn't mean it's not a good job done. Some renos are not as glamourous as others: at Sunnyside, some of the best things are not things we usually get excited about (wheelchair-accessible washrooms with drinking fountains? More meeting rooms? Energy-efficient lights? WHEEE!), but they do make a real difference in the work, and the life, of the library branch and the experience of its regular users.
So, to conclude (oh, you're still here? Well done! Gold star!) the value of libraries is a complicated thing. It can never be measured down to the last decimal point; at best, we can aspire to a combination of qualitative and quantitative measures of the library's - and the librarian's - importance in community life, in cultural discourse, in artistic expressions, and in the advancement of our society and all its citizens. It's the astounding number of items checked out every year, and it's the feeling you get when you put your hand on the battered Leonard Cohen first edition in the 819s. We are large, we contain multitudes.*
*Sorry, Walt. But I bet you would have been OK with the paraphrase.


text:
Call of the West is a D&D campaign setting that melds high fantasy, the mythical Old West, and steampunk elements in more-or-less equal measure. In the mythos of this world, the gods split the great continent into two thousands of years ago with a river. East of the river, the land was civilized, ordered, prosperous, good, and safe. West, the land was a desolate waste filled with danger, mystery, evil, and monstrous beasts. The West has largely remained unexplored and forbidden. Until now.
Now, some children of the East feel drawn to the West. Some might be thrill-seekers enraptured with the promise of discovery and adventure. Some might seek understanding of the West or the reviled (perhaps unjustly) tribal gnolls that roam it on the back of giant turtles. Some might relish the chance to reinvent themselves in a strange new land, while others might be running to escape the responsibilities (or consequences) of their past. All the players are Easterners, and the first batch (more on this later) set out together on a wagon train.
I like this set-up, and it's intended to accomplish a few different things. First, it gives a bunch of strangers a more compelling reason to be in the same locale than, "Hey, you're all in the tavern and someone gives you a quest". (Of course, the first thing one of the players did when they got to the Dwarven mining community of Firepalm is look for a tavern and ask if there were any jobs that needed doing.) Secondly, at least potentially, it gives each player a specific motivation for being in the area, and thus a specific impulse that they can role-play. That also makes it easier for me to craft stories coming out of the characters and their motivations. Thirdly, the "let's just see what's out there"/road trip/no home-base-of-operations vibe allows for a more episodic "Dungeon-of-the-Week" structure. That way, it's alright for a player to miss a game, for new players or guest stars to join, without upsetting the sense of a cohesive world.
None of this is new stuff, of course-- but I find that by foregrounding it, making these features a deliberate part of the campaign setting itself, it makes it easier. The setting also makes ample room for my own personal D&D leanings. For example, with few civilized outposts the farther west the players move, there are no shops and thus no reason for the players to accumulate wealth; I never found "I just got 400 gold!" a particularly compelling reward. Instead of buying things, they'll find them-- a lot of hand-crafted pieces of loot. Instead of stocking up on supplies, it's up to the players to find the resources in the natural world that they need to survive (this is a harsh, barren West, after all).
The West also gives me more options, story-wise: not only do I have fantasy tropes to call on-- cursed tombs, monster-ridden dungeons, powerful artifacts, hordes of undead beasts, nefarious traps-- but I can throw in stagecoach robberies, revivalists, prospectors, temperance, Cowboys-and-Indians, drunken doctors, hookers with hearts of gold, showdowns at noon. This setting-- not exactly our West, but not exactly Medieval Europe, either-- allows for a more colloquial sort of speech than the sometimes stilted and flowery speech one associates with a fantasy milleau.
The Steampunk elements were a late addition to the setting-- one that's been shoehorned in, though with very little difficulty, because of player interest. One of my players created a Tesla-like Wizard named Irving, while another requested that his Filliam be an inventor with a repeating crossbow in place of one of his hands. You should have heard the giggles of glee when they crossed paths with an atypical gnoll in victorian dress wearing a bizarre pair of glow-in-the-dark goggles.
It's more, however, than just a bit of player fan-service, as it were. I soon came to realize that the steampunk elements bridge the gap between the two perhaps disparate settings of the Old West and your standard D&D fantasy world, in that certain aspects of steampunk are grounded in the West but that it possesses, above all, the thrilling sense of discovery and wonder that is part and parcel of D&D at its best.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
CALL OF THE WEST campaign setting.
Posted by Tom Russell at 1:27 PM
Labels: call of the west, d and d
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text:
Hey Guys,
I just wanted to put out a post explaining why Unboxed and Duke of the Blood Keep have been stagnant for the last couple of months. Primarily the reason is work, I have a casual job which means I have to take the work when it's available and I know that there is a long dry spell over Christmas so I've needed to work as much as possible the last two months. The upshot has been that I've had less than a handful of days off in the last two months.
However, it's not just that. I've been feeling a little burnt out lately and both Unboxed and Duke of the Blood Keep have started to feel like work, rather than fun and both game playing and painting have started to be less enjoyable because of that.
All that said I plan to come back soon, I've started playing games again and painting again and work is beginning to lighten up as we wind down into December. So here's a little taste of what is coming up:
Duke of the Blood Keep
In the next week or so I'll finish my commission meaning that I'll be able to get back to doing my How Not To Paint articles. The next one I have planned is a tutorial on creating convincing looking single colour minis using washes. I also have my Beholder primed and ready to paint and I have ton of other minis just waiting for the touch of my brush.
In the next couple of weeks I intended to return with some excellent reviews. I have Nightfall Martial Law and Thunderstone from AEG, two more LOTR LCG Scenario reviews from FFG, plus a couple more games from Right Games in Russia.
Unboxed will also see a return from regular contributors Board Game Guru and Boxed Up Fun.
Thanks for sticking with me guys, both sites are in need of some TLC and I hope to spend my downtime from work improving and updating both.
I'll be back soon… I promise, until then, have fun gaming!


text:
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Johann invited us to his fabulous, amazing, great kind of a farm in Voigtsdorf in the "Uckermarck".
Great country to ride and enjoy the summer with friends.
Basti, who organized everything planed the trip as a usual groupride and a 150km alleycat!
Yeah, it's true – 150km racing -start to finish – and there were really some freaks who were dare to do this, but only three of them who beared up. Silvio did it in 4something hours, half way with a partner, half way alone – so it was an amazing job!
Arriving at Johann's it was just a pleasure. Why? – See yourself:
It's hard to describe how wonderfull it was to be there and to enjoy the nature and the great ride. So if you wanna know more about how we ride – just join us next time!
And Johann – thanks again so much!


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About Friendly's
Friendly's was founded in 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts by brothers, Curtis Blake and S. Prestley Blake. Friendly's currently employs more then 10,000 employees at 380 restaurants across USA. Although Friendly's serves food, their most popular product is their custom home made ice cream. Unlike chains Denny's and IHOP, breakfast items at Friendly's are available mornings only; lunch and dinner are available later. If you are thinking about visiting one of their locations you may be wondering what time does Friendly's open or what time does Friendly's close. Below you will find Friendly's hours as well as Friendly's store locator.
Today, Friendly's is still the place where family and friends gather to create great memories. For quite 70 years, Friendly's has been the place where family and friends go to grab something to eat and enjoy a nice ice cream for dessert. No matter if you are going to eat or just wanting to grab an ice cream Friendly's hours are convenient. Friendly's is open in the morning and stays open all the way until the evening making it convenient to visit before work, during launch time or after work. Don't wait too long, most of their locations close at 8pm so keep that in mind!
Most Friendly's locations are OPEN during hours listed below.
***Please NOTE: Friendly's hours may vary from one location to the next. Some locations may open or close one or two hours earlier or later so we recommend looking up exact hours for the location you want to visit.***
Friendly's Holiday Hours


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My favorite 'Go-To' Product recently have been Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes contour kit and Barry- Wink Eye Marker. I am running out of both very soon so definitely placing an order for more!
The Barry M Eye Marker, after experimenting with many others (Revlon, MUA, Essence) has become by choice of everyday marker liner. Its highly pigment, the tip is soft yet stiff enough to glide easily on the lids. I don't need to reapply or touch up for at least 5 hours. This chunky marker does have mixed reviews as far as it's nib is concerned. some people think its too soft and not sturdy but I had no such concerns and find it easy to glide and very precise. I think the marker tips should not be too hard. Our eye lids have thin, sensitive skin and hard tips can be harsh. I also like the crisp, matte finish it leaves behind.
Eye Liner TIP: Instead of applying eyeliner or marker in one stroke, apply it in small strokes starting from the inner lid towards the outer lid. I tried it and it actually give a well defined line :)
Even though the Benefit kit has specified the use of each shade I use it my way. I only use the concealer sometimes. Otherwise I prep up my eyes with MUA Eye shadow Primer.
I also use the Liner shadow to lightly brush my eye brows which make them a bit more defined.
Apply Base color after priming:
Contour and subtle highlight followed byBarry M liner:
Finished off with Maybelline Colossal Mascara. The rest of my face I just apply BB cream (recent one is L'Oreal Revitalift) and face powder Color Studio Invincible. Lipstick is random. It ranges from Bright red to anything nude depending on mood and outfit :)
Anyhoot! This is my usual everyday eye makeup which takes me 10 minutes flat! If I have to go somewhere after work I just jazz them up a bit by applying black eye pencil on the lower line. Add more pizzazz by using colored eye pencil.
I got BarryM Wink eye Marker by fluke in a Ramazan exhibition at Mantra, Dolmen Mall Clifton last month. It is one of my best buys ever. Cost me approx Rs.1,200 and worth every penny. The people supplying it here are Salina Cosmetics who also deal with Gelish in Pakistan (havent tried Gelish yet!).
Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes Kit was a gift from a friend but as you have seen already (above photo) I use it a LOT.
Hope this post helped. I highly recommend both products. A Must-Have in your bag!
Red Alice
35 comments
Im loving the marker!ReplyDelete
Is it still available at Mantra?Replies
Great post. Im definitely getting that marker xReplyDeleteReplies
GET it! I <3 and well let me tell you soon HOW to get it. ordering someDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 10, 2013 at 3:59 PM
is it still available at mantra???ReplyDelete
Nida's Beauty Bag!!Replies
Nope it was a one day thing but I have inquired the same people and hopefully they will get back to me soon :DDelete
great marker :) Hope u had a great birthday :)ReplyDeleteReplies
I had a wonderful Birthday :) Thank you!Delete
I have my eyes on a berry M set available on a FB page.I think i will buy it most definitely now .Thanks for the pictorial and the review.Great indeed. xoxoReplyDeleteReplies
Oooh WHich FB Page???!!! *droool*Delete
Your liner looks amazing!ReplyDelete
Hello! Thanks for following live-and-dictate.blogspot.sg!ReplyDelete
Following you back! (:
Hey :) followed you back! your blog is brilliant!! and this looks like an amazing eye shadow. we haven't tried this one yet so we will have to give it a go xxxReplyDelete
That marker looks really nice!ReplyDelete
I love that its a pink :) xReplyDeleteReplies
and a yummy pink too!Delete
I love the flick you managed to do with the eyeliner! I love doing that, I think it makes my eyes look bigger xoReplyDelete
:D Thanks I love that flick too!Delete
Wow this is gorgeous they work really well together (: I'm not really fond of eyeliner pens but that one is really nice (:ReplyDeleteReplies
Ebony you should definitely try it :) and thanks for following xxDelete
I LOVE your blog, <33 totally following you ( i would be pleased if you could follow me back but thats not necessary )ReplyDelete
>>> N i k o l a M i l l s - beauty and fashion bloggerReplies
Of course I will follow you :DDelete
Wonderful post! Returning the comment love from (itsratedngee.com) . I'm also following you back on Bloglovin'!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks Love :)Delete
I love this it looks amazing perfect review :) xReplyDelete
www.krystelcouture.com ♥
Great review Maliha!ReplyDelete
Thanx for the follow ;)


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Search This Blog
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It is one of my favourite movies!!!!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMarch 15, 2010 9:17 am
up! was fantastic - it was so moving and funny too. Coraline was pretty amazing too!ReplyDelete
i loved up too! it caught me off guard in the beginning when it was so sad. no one warned me about it and i sat in the theater wondering why i was crying. i loved the bird more than anything!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMarch 15, 2010 12:37 pm
i cried in this movie! love it love it love itReplyDelete
I have actually been wanting to see this, but I didn't convince my sister enough to watch it with me. She has all the latest movies in Bali!ReplyDelete
I just watched this last night for the first time! Soo beautiful...ReplyDelete
seriously! i LOVED up!!! made me cry and was so uplifting, in my opinion. plus Dug was sooo cute and reminded me so much of my golden retriever!! "i hid under your porch because i love you!"ReplyDelete
I love UP. Its so adorable, loving, inspirational, and the colours the everything. I haven't seen Alice in Wonderland yet, but I will soon.ReplyDelete
I LOVE Up! It's so delightful. I have it on DVD too.ReplyDelete
I'm probably one of the few, but I really didn't like Fantastic Mr Fox. I felt it was far too Americanized and different from the book.
There's so many other good animated movies though. One of my top favourites is Mary and Max.
I love up! it was such a heartwarming movie! I watched it at the cinemas and cried within the first five minutes. It's one of those movies you just can't help but love. Sad, romantic yet also funny and heartwarming :)ReplyDelete
Go Disney Pixar! :D
i work at fenton's creamery. the ice-cream restaurant towards the end of the movie! I love the movie and Pixar technology!ReplyDelete
You are so right! I watched this film a couple of weeks ago and have to say it is now in my top 5! I did cry for the first 10 mins though! www.tigerlillyquinn.blogspot.com xoxoReplyDelete
I loved Up. It is definitely one of my favorite films together with Beauty and the Beast. :)ReplyDelete
Ok. Suddenly everyone´s sharing their love for this animation. I gotta find this somewhere. Sounds very promising :)ReplyDelete
I have yet to see this...but those gorgeous images really make me want to get on it ASAP!ReplyDelete
I'm actually an animation major, but I prefer stop motion. Like Fantastic Mr. Fox. Or James & the Giant Peach (classic!). I can't name just one favorite! I have a list of 8 favorite Disney hand drawn animations, and that's after I narrowed it down! HahaReplyDelete
I wanted to see this movie when I first saw the trailer, but forgot about it!ReplyDelete
Thanks for reminding me to see this!
Up was such a great movie. Pixar never fails to deliver!! Up, Finding Nemo...too many great ones to pick a favorite! Looking forward to the next one :)ReplyDelete
(And I'm reading that a lot of people cried through the first ten minutes! I had a friend who cried so hard that she couldn't enjoy the rest of the movie!!)
this movie made me cry, so beautiful!ReplyDelete
made me laugh, made me cry, made me cry, made me laugh again - so much love in this film. xReplyDelete
actually Up is my favourite animated film of all time! so beautiful, and inspring and deeply touching ♥ReplyDelete
and Fern Gully will always have a special place with me.
- AnonymousMarch 18, 2010 4:05 am
it's a wonderful movie. there are many important lessons we learn from ¨Up¨.ReplyDelete
Oooh, Up is such a wonderful movie! I adore it so. Me & my boy saw it when we were in London this fall. How I laughed & cried.ReplyDelete


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It's late afternoon as Paul Tolmé strides purposefully through the western-motif lobby of the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel, wearing a backpack and toting a reporter's notebook. An easy guess would be that he's an outdoor writer here on assignment for a ski magazine. That guess would be accurate.
As the sun descends on snow-laden Mt. Werner, he's wrapping up a day spent covering a national championship. You probably wouldn't peg the athletic and distinctly masculine Mr. Tolmé as, say, a writer of romantic fiction. That estimation would be correct, too, except for one small detail.
Flip to Chapter 22 in the 2007 novel "Shadow Bear," by bestselling romance author Cassie Edwards, and there you'll read some of Tolmé's prose, virtually word for word. Another small but significant detail is that the text – originally published in an environmental magazine – was replicated in the historical novel without attribution, compensation, or consent from Tolmé.
The result is an odd and unexpected tale of its own. Almost overnight, Tolmé has become a minor celebrity in journalism and literary circles, not for anything he has written, exactly, but for a few of his words that showed up in the romance novel – unknown to him.
Suddenly, he has been inundated with e-mails from admirers, garnered hundreds of new readers and followers, and regularly gets asked by women to pose for pictures, preferably bare-chested with black-footed ferrets (more about that in a minute). He has become, in other words, a sort of character in a real-life romance novel – with intrigue and plot turns and even a little pulchritude.
"I got more attention from this single incident of plagiarism than I've gotten from anything else I've written in my 16 years as a journalist," says a bemused Tolmé.
• • •
The story of Tolmé's improbable rise starts as any good novel might, with an unwitting protagonist. In 2005, Tolmé penned a story about the plight of endangered black-footed ferrets in South Dakota for "Defenders" magazine, a quarterly publication of the Defenders of Wildlife.
In the piece, Tolmé wrote this description about the small mammals: "Related to minks and otters, they are North America's only native ferret.... Their closest relatives are European ferrets and Siberian polecats. Researchers theorize polecats crossed the land bridge that linked Siberia and Alaska to establish the New World population."
Two years later, Ms. Edwards published "Shadow Bear," a native-American-themed book set in 1850 South Dakota. Edwards, known for her meticulous research, includes a scene in which two characters are having a tryst in the bushes when they are, believe it or not, startled by a family of ferrets.
"I discovered they are related to minks and otters," pioneer woman Shiona Bramlett tells Shadow Bear. "It is said their closest relations are European ferrets and Siberian polecats. Researchers theorize that polecats crossed the land bridge that once linked Siberia and Alaska, to establish the New World population."
The two lovers continue with dialogue that parallels the ferret article for several paragraphs. The exchange seemed such a non sequitur that one reader got suspicious, and searched the sentences on Google. There she found a match to Tolmé's article. Then in early January, Candy Tan, cofounder of a romance fan blog, made the discovery public. "We're not accusing [Edwards] of anything," she says. "We basically just wanted the information out there for people to see."
A flurry of media attention followed. "It's odd and bizarre," reflects Tolmé. "At first, I was miffed. But the absurdity of this story about endangered ferrets appearing in a romance novel – it was beyond absurd."
Tolmé emphasizes that he doesn't harbor a grudge toward Edwards. "I'm not angry with her. It seems like she committed a sin out of ignorance," he says.
Edwards, for her part, says she never believed she was doing anything wrong or unethical. The author, who previously has declined comment to the media, agreed to a telephone interview from her Mattoon, Ill., home. Still distraught by allegations in published reports, Edwards wanted to tell her side. "When I write these Indian novels, I research to try to get everything authentic for the reader, every detail," she says. "I would never purposely lie or cheat. That's not the way I was raised. I want it all to be true. What I take from books are merely descriptions. The research is research. I don't want to put in things that are just made up."
Edwards, who has 10 million copies of 100 books in print, has been a romance novelist for 25 years. She has always relied on other sources to make her historical novels accurate, she says, and was never asked by any editor or publisher to cite them. "No one ever told me I should be doing it differently." Still, she adds, "from now on, I will let my editors know where I got the research," submitting a list of her sources with every manuscript. Edwards is under contract for two new books.
When the controversy first erupted, her publisher, Signet Books, an imprint of Penguin Group, said the accusations against Edwards were without merit, and that under the fair-use doctrine, an exception to copyright law, "anyone may use facts, ideas and theories developed by another author, as well as any material in the public domain." The statement also said that the practice of meticulously footnoting and citing every source was "virtually unheard of for a popular novel aimed at the consumer market."
Although the terms plagiarism and copyright infringement are used interchangeably, they are different. Plagiarism is primarily an ethical issue; copyright is a legal matter. To plagiarize means to take the work or ideas of another and pass it off as your own. This in itself is not illegal, unless there's also a copyright violation.
Still, for some observers, when it comes to use of another's words, the question of legality is secondary to ethics. "Even if it's legal, it's still in my eye completely unethical to pinch another's language without attribution in a novel," says Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at New York's Columbia School of Journalism. "A clear lift of dialogue by a novelist is a violation of the implied contract with the reader."
Allison Kelley, executive director of Romance Writers of America, agrees. "If you're using someone else's words, you're using someone else's words," she says. "And it's not acceptable to have that in a romance novel without permission or attribution."
• • •
While others in Steamboat are enjoying the snow-gauzed slopes this afternoon, Tolmé, clad in Levi's and a fleece zip-neck, is marveling at all the attention the incident has attracted. At one point, he wrote a commentary about it for Newsweek.com. "I spent most of the next few days answering e-mails," he says. "I was getting hundreds per day. They came from educators, librarians, authors, wildlife lovers, and naturally, romance fans."
Some romance readers chided him for deriding the genre. But most were sympathetic – and a few even "frisky." "I suddenly became the focus of adoration of all these women romance readers," he says, with a combination of embarrassment and wonder. "They wanted to see pictures of me shirtless." Preferably holding a ferret, and sporting Fabio-like long hair.
But he is grateful to romance fans – not just for the compliments about his aquamarine blue eyes and comparisons to Justin Timberlake. "I reached more readers than ever before because of the romance community," he says. "Isn't that what every writer wants – an audience?"
The ferrets, too, received an unexpected boon. Romance fans have raised more than $10,000 in donations for black-footed ferret conservation efforts. The fundraising idea came from novelist Nora Roberts, who pledged to match donations up to $5,000. The romance blog's Ms. Tan, who helped spearhead the drive, says, "We wanted to transform something that had left a bad taste in our mouths and turn it into something positive," she says.


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- Rockwood Music Hall
196 Allen St., nr. Houston St.; 212-477-4155
Despite its tininessjust 520 square feet, and that's with a baby-grand piano onstageRockwood Music Hall attracts an outsize following, mostly owing to owner Ken Rockwood's singular obsession with booking topflight music (there are no readings or comedy nights or small-plates menus to distract from that mission). The typical lineup includes a discriminating mix of singer-songwriters (Amos Lee, Noe Venable, Ryan Star) and folk, rock, and indie bands. A musician himself, Rockwood runs sound from a nook above the entrance, his feet dangling overhead. Unlike the many other modest-size venues crammed into the Lower East Side, the stage isn't relegated to a back room or basement: It's visible from the street, surrounded by café tables, dripping candles, and a tip jar passed during each set in lieu of a cover charge.
Best Small Music Venue
From the 2009 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine
So what exactly does best mean in a city with thousands of pizza joints, hundreds of celebrity masseuses, and museum-worthy concept shops on every corner? Well, in the case of this, our annual Best of New York roundup, there's a heavy emphasis on what's new or what has somehow remained virtually unheard of (until now, of course).


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Hand Tooling Accessories
AMS hand sampling accessories will help you collect soil, soil gas, sludge and sediment, and groundwater samples using your AMS samplers. There are also a variety of accessories for cleaning or carrying your samplers, and storing samples.
Please make sure any accessories that you intend to use with your AMS soil, soil gas, sludge and sediment, or groundwater samplers use the same connection type.
See Connection Types for more information.
Adapters and CouplingsAdapters add quick conversion of your current Signature Series, 5/8" threaded or Quick Connect connections. Adapters allow for various connections from Cross Handles, Slide Hammers or Drills to extension pieces and other AMS products. Easily adapt your current 5/8" threaded or Quick Connect connections to the Signature Series product line. Signature Series adapters add versatility to AMS augers. Please make sure any AMS samplers you intend to use together share a common connection type. See Connection Types for more information.
Adjustable Foot StepThe 7/8" AMS adjustable foot step works on all 7/8" diameter AMS soil probes and 5/8" AMS extensions. The 1" foot step is used with the 1"x36" replaceable tip soil probe. The adjustable foot step allows for additional down pressure to be used to drive the probe. The foot step can be adjusted to fit anywhere on the soil probe or extension so that deeper samples can be taken. *Note: The AMS Adjustable Footstep does not work with AMS gas vapor probe or tile probe extensions.
Cleaning BrushesIn stainless steel and nylon. Easily maintain sampling equipment with stainless steel and nylon brushes.
Cross HandlesAMS Cross Handles are connected to AMS extensions – which are then connect to AMS augers and other samplers. AMS 18in and 22in rubber-coated handles are made of chromoly and are coated with textured rubber. The 18in rubber-coated handles are available with signature series, 3/4in threaded, 5/8in threaded, and quick connect connections. 22in models are only available with a 3/4in threaded connection, and are only intended for use with AMS 6in and 7in augers. Ratcheting handles are available with signature series, 3/4in threaded, 5/8in threaded, and quick connect fittings. They are made of durable carbon steel, and have an open-gear mechanism that allows for easy cleaning of the gear and cog. Quick connect ratcheting handles allow for reverse ratcheting. The AMS Hammer Head Cross Handle lets you pound your soil sampling device into the ground with an impact-absorbing hammer. AMS Slide Hammers are also used to pound AMS probes and core samplers into soils and sediments. Please make sure any AMS samplers you intend to use together share a common connection type. See Connection Types for more information.
DrillsAll the power you need! With a variety of drills and adapters to choose from, you are sure to find the one to meet your specific job site requirement.
End Cap InsertsMinimize loss of volatiles with stainless steel cap inserts. Designed to work in conjunction with the plastic liner caps, these stainless steel inserts are ideal for environmental soil sample collection.
ExtensionsThe welded fittings by AMS craftsmen on all extensions offer maximum strength and torque resistance. Signature Series in yellow zinc coated chrome molybdenum for added rust resistance. Threaded Extensions in either chrome molybdenum or stainless steel. Quick Connect Extensions also in chrome molybdenum or stainless steel. Please make sure any AMS samplers you intend to use together share a common connection type. See Connection Types for more information.
Fluoropolymer FilmSeal or wrap samples for shipping or used to cover material on which samples will be dissected and examined. For sealing samples in liners, select the perforated roll of 4" x 4" swatches.
Idaho SpoonThis cleanout tool is used for ejecting soil from the AMS Open-Face Auger and the AMS One-Piece Open-Face Auger.
LinersPlastic, stainless steel, brass, or aluminum! Order liners by diameter, length, and material type. The sizes shown are the retaining cylinder size (i.e. liners are sized by the OD of the liner). *Note: The 3/4" and 1" liners are 1 3/4" longer than the described length to accommodate the reach-and-grab soil probe system. Call for special size requests. Some plastic PVC liners are available in bulk quantities. Call 208-226-2017 or 800-635-7330 for more information.
Safety Liner SplitterThe AMS Safety Liner Splitter allows you to split liners up to 13-3/4" in length. This adjustable liner splitter accepts liner diameters as small as ¾" OD all the way up to 3" OD. Each liner splitter comes with a safety utility knife with spring-loaded retractable blade and (10) extra hook blades. This device offers a safe alternative for splitting liners open lengthwise in the field.
Liner CapsPlastic End Caps. Made from polyethylene, these plastic end caps are used to cap the ends of our liners, keeping the integrity of the samples high.
Quick Connect AccessoriesThe quick connect repair kit is used to repair quick connect connections. The finger rig is used to press the connection pin to release the connection.
AMS Foot JackAMS GVP Foot Jack is specifically designed to extract AMS 5/8" diameter gas vapor probe extension rods. The special open slot design on the shackle/jaws allow you to rapidly connect and disconnect from the extension strand. There is no need to thread on any type of T-jack adapter with this foot removal jack. The pair of jaws are designed to grab directly onto the GVP extension rods in order to extract your extension strand quickly & efficiently.
Removal JackRemove your tooling easily! The AMS removal jack works much like a regular tire jack. Special adapters make it possible to retrieve tile probes, soil core samplers and other tooling that cannot easily be pulled from the soil. The jack creates a smoother pulling motion than the more typical "beating out" retrieval method, which uses body torque and/or a slide hammer in reverse motion. The smoother pull may allow you to retain more sample integrity.
Replacement Bits for Hand AugersSave money by repairing your own regular, sand or mud auger bits. These must be welded on to your current auger. Your warranty is void after welding the first set of replacement bits on yourself. AMS is not responsible for damages caused by poor welding.
Rock Breaker KitUsed to split or chip rocks and stones found in an augered hole. The AMS rock breaker is an alloy steel sharp edged chisel designed for use with the AMS slide hammer. Used to break up obstructions in augered holes and to penetrate hard pan lenses.
Slide HammersAbsorbs the impact shock. A rubber coating makes it easy to grip, as well as significantly absorbing the impact shock. Pounds down for easy penetration, and then can be pounded up for tool extraction. Please make sure any AMS samplers you intend to use together share a common connection type. See Connection Types for more information.
Soil Color Charts, Geo Guide and GaugesThe Munsell Soil Color Chart Binder allows for color classification of soils using 250 mounted chips. The Munsell Color Chart enables color classification of soils using 250 mounted color chips. Developed with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, this guide is the industry standard. The McCollough Geo Guide Card and Geotechnical Gauge provide easy to use geotechnical information The Geo Guide Card and Geotechnical Gauge provide classification information on a rigid plastic card with lanyard. It includes soil type samples, classification by type, grain size and color.
Soil Core CatchersMinimize sample loss when sampling dry, loose soils and wet, unconsolidated soils. Made from thin plastic, the catcher fits into the liner with the fingers pointing upward. It is used in loose materials such as sand and unconsolidated loam soil to hold the sample in place when recovering the sampler from the borehole.
Soil EjectorsTwo different styles to choose from. Soil ejectors help you remove samples from your probe with ease and keep your fingers clean! The old style ejectors snap inside the slot of the probe and slide up as the sample enters the probe. They are fixed ejectors and are meant to stay inside of the slot of the probe for subsequent use. (*Only available for 7/8" soil probes). The new style ejectors are available for both 7/8", 1-1/8" and 1-1/4" soil probes. The head of the ejector fits snug inside the slot and ejects samples with little effort. The reverse side of the ejector has a nipple that is ideal for ejecting the remaining soil from the tip of the soil probe.
Soil Probe Replaceable TipsBeing able to replace the tip of your soil probe is a convenient and economic way to increase the lifespan of your equipment. AMS replaceable tip soil probes are a popular choice among agronomists, soil scientists, environmental consultants, and farmers. AMS offers several different replacement tip options that allow you to sample in a variety of soil conditions more efficiently. You can increase your soil recovery by utilizing our regular, mud, clay, oversized, or serrated tips in the appropriate soil conditions. Replacement tips are available for 1" and 1 1/4" AMS replaceable tip soil probes. Regular Tip – For most soil conditions. This tip comes with AMS replaceable tip soil probes. Regular Tip (oversized) – The OD of this tip is larger than the body of the soil probe. It allows the probe to be removed from the soil with ease and creates less disturbance to the sample on slotted soil probes. Clay Tip – This tip has the smallest ID of all our replaceable tips. It allows the soil to expand inside the soil probe and will increase recovery in clay and heavily compacted soils. Mud Tip – This tip has the largest diameter of our replaceable tips. It works great in mud and wet sandy conditions. Serrated Tip – This tip is used for sampling in heavily rooted soils. It will assist the probe through roots, silage and other obstructions.
Tooling CasesBuilt tough to protect your valuable equipment. Convenient carrying cases designed to provide storage and easy transportation for all of your sampling equipment. Available in a variety of sizes and either a flexible poly-canvas or a rugged, hard-sided case with foam padding inside.
WrenchesFor easy assembly and disassembly. Extremely handy tools for the job site.
TubingFluoropolymer Tubing and Polythylene Tubing are used with AMS Retract-A-Tip, the AMS dedicated tip, AMS Gas Vapor Probe Kits, and vacuum pumps for collecting soil gas samples.
Vacuum PumpsAMS offers Hand Vacuum Pumps and Electric Vacuum Pumps to assist in soil gas and groundwater sampling. The Hand Vacuum Pump allow for samples to be taken into suitable test containers at sites where electricity is not accessible. They have a vacuum gauge release valve and fittings. The 12-volt Electric Vacuum Pump includes a 15 foot cord.


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MarketFixx.com and our wholly-owned subsidiaries (collectively 'MarketFixx.com') respect and value your privacy. As such, this Privacy Policy details MarketFixx.com's treatment of personally identifiable information (PII) that it collects when you provide PII directly to MarketFixx.com through this website. This Privacy Policy also applies to consumers that have agreed to receive e-mail marketing material from MarketFixx.com's partner websites, third party partner websites, or otherwise (known as list management arrangements).
Here are the kinds of information we gather:
We receive and store any information you may enter on our web site or give us in any other way through sign-up forms or ordering forms for MarketFixx.com's publications, products and services. The option is always available to not provide us with that type of information, but the result may be the inability to take advantage of many of our services and features. We use information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your requests, customizing your web navigation experience for you, of improving our web site and communication with you.
Order Forms – MarketFixx.com requests information from the user on our order forms. Here a customer must provide contact information i.e. name, mailing address, email address etc. and occasionally financial information i.e. credit card number, expiration date etc. This information is used for billing purposes and to fill customer orders. If we have any trouble processing an order request, the contact information is used to get in touch with the customer.
Automatic Information Print – We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with the web site. For instance we use cookies or alphanumeric identifiers that we obtain certain types of information when your browser navigates MarketFixx.com or markettrendsoftware.com.
Log Files – We may use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user's movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information or data.
Sharing – We may share aggregate demographic information with our partners and advertisers. This is not linked in any way to any personal or financial information that can identify any individual person(s).
Links – This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that MarketFixx.com and it's subsidiaries are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage and remind our customers to be aware of each site's individual policies. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected by MarketFixx.com.
Other Sources – For reasons such as improving personalization of our service (i.e. providing better product recommendations or special offers that we think will interest you) we might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information. Any other PII the user submits during the course of normal correspondence with MarketFixx.com or its third-party companies.
Non-personally identifiable information is information collected by MarketFixx.com in the normal course of operating its business that does not reveal the specific identity of the consumer. This data records a consumer's activity either on the MarketFixx.com website or within a MarketFixx.com-initiated email. Types of non-personally identifiable information collected include:
- IP Address
- Consumer click-stream data;
- Consumer email-open data;
- Aggregate click-stream data provided to MarketFixx.com by third-party companies
Use Of Personal Information
MarketFixx.com collects and uses your personal information to operate its website(s) and deliver the services you have requested.
MarketFixx.com may also use your personally identifiable information to inform you of other products or services available from MarketFixx.com and its affiliates. MarketFixx.com may also contact you via surveys to conduct research about your opinion on current services or of potential new services that may be offered.
MarketFixx.com may sell, rent, or lease customer information to third parties for the following reasons: product sales, product fulfillment, advertising and/or list management purposes.
MarketFixx.com may, from time to time, contact you on behalf of external business partners about a particular offering that may be of interest to you. In those cases, your unique personally identifiable information (e-mail, name, address, telephone number) is transferred to the third party. MarketFixx.com may share data with trusted partners to help perform statistical analysis, send you email or postal mail, provide customer support, or arrange for deliveries. All such third parties are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide these services to MarketFixx.com, and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information.
MarketFixx.com may keep track of the websites and pages our users visit within MarketFixx.com, in order to determine what MarketFixx.com services are the most popular. This data is used to deliver customized content and advertising within MarketFixx.com to customers whose behavior indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area.
MarketFixx.com will disclose your personal information, without notice, only if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on MarketFixx.com or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of MarketFixx.com; and, (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of MarketFixx.com, or the public.
MarketFixx.com will use consumer PII collected on this site to contact the consumer in response to consumer-initiated inquiries, to provide services requested by the consumer, to alert consumers to changes in services or features, and to provide consumers with requested information regarding MarketFixx.com or our services. MarketFixx.com may share this PII with service providers who assist us with our marketing efforts, but those service providers will not use this PII for their own marketing purposes and are prohibited by contract from sharing this PII with any party other than MarketFixx.com. These businesses may include, but are not limited to: providers of direct marketing services and applications, including lookup and reference, data enhancement, suppression and validation services.
MarketFixx.com may use data-enhancement providers to augment data provided to us by consumers on this site. Data-enhancement providers will not use the data for any purpose other than to provide the enhancement information to MarketFixx.com, and are prohibited by contract from sharing that PII with any party other than MarketFixx.com. MarketFixx.com may, in order to provide the highest level of service, use data collected through another MarketFixx.com property to enhance the data we collect on this site.
MarketFixx.com may also share PII in the following limited circumstances: (1) upon receipt of a properly authorized and authenticated governmental request for information; (2) in response to a subpoena or a court order, (3) to comply with relevant laws; (4) in response to an investigation of fraud regarding a specific consumer, or (5) in an effort to safeguard the person or property of a MarketFixx.com employee or a third party.
Finally, MarketFixx.com may, in the future, decide to sell, merge or otherwise reorganize its business. MarketFixx.com reserves the right to transfer and disclose PII in this circumstance, but data collected by MarketFixx.com will be governed by the same privacy policy that existed prior to any change in business conditions unless you consent to the new privacy policy.
Consumer information managed by MarketFixx.com pursuant to a list-management arrangement.
MarketFixx.com may, in order to provide the highest level of service, use data collected through another MarketFixx.com property to enhance the data we manage for third parties.
MarketFixx.com will share PII collected by third-party marketing partners and managed by MarketFixx.com in the following limited circumstances: (1) upon receipt of a properly authorized and authenticated governmental request for information; (2) in response to a subpoena or a court order, (3) to comply with relevant laws; (4) in response to an investigation of fraud regarding a specific consumer, (4) if MarketFixx.com is sold or acquired, or (5) in an effort to safeguard the person or property of a MarketFixx.com employee or a third party.
MarketFixx.com may, in the future, decide to sell, merge or otherwise reorganize its business. MarketFixx.com reserves the right to transfer and disclose PII in this circumstance, but data collected by MarketFixx.com will be governed by the same privacy policy that existed prior to any change in business conditions unless you consent to the new privacy policy.
MarketFixx.com manages e-mail lists through its list management arrangements. Consumers may wish to remove themselves from specific MarketFixx.com marketing lists. As such, users may remove themselves from a specific mailing list by utilizing the list-unsubscribe option that is present and available at the end of each e-mail that MarketFixx.com sends.
Moreover, consumers may elect not to receive advertisements from a specific advertiser at any time. In every e-mail communication we send, there is also an unsubscribe hyperlink that allows the recipient to unsubscribe from receiving commercial emails from that specific advertiser by clicking the hyperlink provided and following the instructions provided. We process all unsubscribe requests in a prompt fashion.
Unsubscribe requests are either processed on an advertiser-specific basis or on a list-specific basis, depending on the selection the consumer makes. Unsubscribing from one list managed by MarketFixx.com will not remove the consumer from all MarketFixx.com marketing lists. Similarly, unsubscribing from one advertiser will not prevent the consumer from receiving all advertisers' emails.
Cookies and Technical Information
Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and provide features like "Remind Me" for our paying subscribers. Cookies are also used during the ordering process to help insure your order is handled in a timely and efficient manner.
Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to MarketFixx.com.
Google's use of the DART cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to MarketFixx.com and/or other sites on the Internet.
You may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the advertising opt-out page.
You may also opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.
Right to Contact Via Telephone
In addition, by registering at the website, you agree that such act constitutes an inquiry and/or application for purposes of the Amended Telemarketing Sales Rule (16 CFR §310 et seq.), as amended from time to time (the "Rule"). Notwithstanding that your telephone number may be listed on the Federal Trade Commission's Do-Not-Call List, we reserve the right to contact you via telemarketing in accordance with the Rule.
Information Received
Administrations – We may employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Fulfilling orders, delivering packages, sending postal mail, etc. They may have access to personal information needed to perform their functions but are strictly prohibited for using it for any other purpose.
Protection of MarketFixx.com and Others – We may need to release account and other personal information when we believe the release is appropriate to comply with law; enforce the terms of Legal Notices that accompany this Web site policy; or protect the rights, property, or safety of shortsalemagic.com, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organization for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
Security of Information
We work to protect the security of your information during the ordering process by using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input on the order forms.
We reveal only the last four digits of your credit card numbers when confirming an order. Of course, we transmit the entire number to the appropriate credit card company for processing of your orders.
It is important to you to protect against unauthorized access to your password, in our member area. Make sure you take the steps necessary to keep that secure.
Customer information is stored in our firewall-protected data center which is not directly accessible to the Internet.
Your California Privacy Rights
California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits California residents who have provided PII to MarketFixx.com or its partners in list management arrangements to request certain information regarding MarketFixx.com's disclosure of PII to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. Within thirty days of receiving such a request, we will provide a list of the categories of PII disclosed to third parties for third-party direct marketing purposes during the immediately preceding calendar year, along with the names and addresses of these third parties. This request may be made no more than once per calendar year. We reserve our right not to respond to requests submitted other than to the address specified in this section.
You may contact our Customer Service Department with any questions or concerns by writing to:
Customer Service
3400 N Ashton Blvd
Suite 170
Lehi, Utah 84043
Email firstname.lastname@example.com
Copyright 2017 All Rights Reserved


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Committees and Governance
Given the size, scope and complexity of the Epic implementation at Stanford Hospital & Clinics, specific committees have been formed to foster decision-making, issue resolution and the development of policies and procedures.
Some of the key groups include:
Executive Sponsors
The Executive Sponsor group is the team of executives that determines the strategic direction of the Epic system and has the ultimate decision-making authority for all Epic-related activities.
Medical Informatics Directors Work Group (MIDWG)
MIDWG represents the voice of the physicians and mid-level practitioners and is charged with the oversight and development of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) for that user group.
Resident Informatics Council (RIC)
The Resident Informatics Council is a group of Stanford medical and surgical residents who help guide the development, communication, training, and utilization of medical informatics tools and processes under the direction of the Stanford Medical Informatics Directors.
Ambulatory Care Steering Committee (ACSC)
The role of the Ambulatory Care Steering Committee is to provide leadership and oversight in the decision-making processes that affect the SHC clinics.
Financial Operations Work Group (FOWG)
The Financial Operations Work Group is responsible for providing oversight and direction in the areas that impact the revenue cycle.
Order Set Oversight Committee (OSOC)
The Order Set Oversight Committee is responsible for reviewing, approving and prioritizing all requests to create new or modify existing order sets.
Prioritization Committees
The Clinical and Revenue Cycle Prioritization Committees are responsible for reviewing, approving and prioritizing all requests to enhance the Epic system at Stanford.


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Daily Archives: 07/03/2016
How To Prepare Healthy Meals For Kids
Cooking healthy recipes and meals does not have to be difficult or time-consuming! Savor a one ounce portion on the end of your meal and you may declare yourself in healthy heaven. Cook skinless chicken breasts with garlic, tomatoes and arugula to function a sauce for entire-wheat pasta. By that I mean; frozen meat like chicken breasts, steak, diced meat, floor or minced meat, fish. Buying a blender or juicer may be the key to finding out precisely what healthy foods your children will likely be extra susceptible to eat on a regular basis. It is mostly used as salad dressings but could also be utilized in a wide range of ways when preparing your meals. I know that many consider steak as solely a dinner food, but nothing will get me going in the morning like a nice piece of meat.
We've all heard how important it is to …


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Brittany Davis
Avondale Church of Christ
Atlanta, GA
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Website: http://www.virtuousmagazine.com
Bio: Brittany Davis is the Founder of Virtuous Magazine and author of "Style Your Soul: Get Dressed From The Inside Out." She's married to her beloved husband, Willie and new mom to Landon.
As the eldest preacher daughter, Brittany was always taught to leave things better than she found them and that teaching has become her purpose in life.
Through her work she strives to leave the world a more Christ centered, loving and service oriented place.
Brittany studied journalism and marketing and received her B.A. from Georgia State University. Connect with her online at www.virtuousmagazine.com.


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Bangladesh Army yesterday closed its rescue operation 82 hours after Bahaddarhat flyover in Chittagong partially collapsed, killing 12 people.
The army declared the withdrawal of its technical team from the construction site of the flyover where 50 people were also injured after three girders fell on a kitchen market on Saturday in the port city.
Col Nayeem Ashraf, coordinator of the rescue team, said, "We have cut the girders into pieces and looked for bodies. Finding none under the rubble on the road, we have decided to end the operation."
However, the locals have been demanding to pump the water out of the nearby Bahaddar Bari pond as they fear that there might have been more bodies under the girder that fell in the pond.
On the locals' demand, Ashraf said four bodies were recovered from the pond during the search operation conducted by the Navy divers, Fire Brigade and local divers.
The divers used special cameras to search under the water and made sure that there were no more bodies in the pond.
Ruhul Amin, deputy director of Fire Service and Civil Defence, Chittagong, said they have only two pumps which can work for up to four hours at a stretch which is not enough to pump the pond.
Humayun Kabir, additional deputy commissioner of Chittagong (ADC-Land), said they found no reason to pump out the pond as no one has claimed for their missing relatives.
The five-member team led by Additional Deputy Commissioner Khaled Mamun Chowdhury in their preliminary probe found security measures for the workers as well as the locals were absent at the construction site and also negligence of the authorities in constructing the flyover.
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text: A total of US$20m will be invested in the centre over the next five years. This includes the purchase of equipment for process simulations, product characterisation as well as analytical models to complement the existing lab facilities in the Vitória unit, Espirito Santo. Around 30 researchers and technicians will be hired in Brazil over the next two years. Others may join our European or American research centres via assignments.


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Scientists announced Thursday the first ever observation of ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves, confirming a key part of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Scientists announced Thursday the first ever observation of ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves, confirming a key part of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.
The waves came from a cataclysmic event, the merger of two black holes, many light-years away.
In theory, gravitational waves resound from enormous objects moving through the universe.
If true, the research would mark one of the most important scientific discoveries in recent years.
In performing the research, scientists from the large international group of researchers that comprise the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration, also observed two black holes merging into one for the first time ever, an event that has been theorized but never seen.
The collision occurred approximately 1.3 billion years ago, but was first identified o Sept. 14, 2015, by LIGO detectors in the states of Louisiana and Washington.
"It is incredibly exciting to see the deep connections between theory and observation," said researcher Carlos Lousto, who also devised an important algorithm in 2006 to predict gravity wave. "This is the holy grail of science. To confirm amazing predictions of general relativity is a dream come true. We have witnessed a historic event, the confirmation of the 100-year-old predictions of Einstein regarding gravitational waves and our 10-year-old computation of the merger of two black holes in a single event."
Einstein's groundbreaking theory of relativity famously changed how scientists could perceive the universe by linking the dimensions of space and time, which were previously thought to be two very distinct entities.
Gravitational waves undulate through this fabric of space-time at the speed of light when giant objects move through the universe, like the two black holes LIGO detected, which were roughly 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun.
The discovery, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, will face the scrutiny of many scientists in the months to come (Anadolu Agency).


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"Meant to Bee" Personalized Clover Honey Wedding Favor (Set of 12) . Kisses sweeter than honey--especially that single most important kiss on your day of days! Everyone can see you were meant to be, and Kate Aspen's petite present of golden-rich clover honey sends all your guests home with that heartfelt, lasting message. Features and facts: Due to personalized nature of this product, manufacturer suggested order is 2 sets of 12 or more 1 3/4 oz. jar of gourmet clover Grade A honey. Pure and natural with no additives, preservatives or residues. Honey with personalized label and white screw-on lid. Jar measures 2" h x 1 3/4" in diameter Personalized label is a honeycomb pattern in honey-gold and white with your names and wedding date Gift presentation includes a white-organza ribbon and bow and a bronze bee charm Honey is Made In USA Some assembly required FAQ Q: Can I enter extra characters? A: No, character limit is 20 / 10, and that includes spaces. Q: Is the honey pasteurized? A: Honey is not pasteurized. Q: What grade is the honey? A: It is grade A honey. Q: What kind of honey is it? A: Pure natural honey, not containing additives, preservatives or residues. Q: What is the shelf life? A: Honey will stay good for many years in a sealed container.
- Price: 33.34 - In stock
- Brand: Kate Aspen
- Gtin12: 843905089295