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Accessibility is an important part of any app. Whether you're developing a new app or improving an existing one, consider the accessibility of your app's components.
By integrating accessibility features and services, you can improve your app's usability, particularly for users with disabilities.
Note: Although it's beneficial to add accessibility features in your app, you should use them only for the purpose of helping users with disabilities interact with your app.
Impact of accessibility
By integrating accessibility features in your app, you make it more inclusive:
Increase your app's reach.
According to The World Bank, 15% of the world's population has some type of disability. People with disabilities depend on accessible apps and services to communicate, learn, and work. By making your app more accessible, you can reach more users.
Improve your app's versatility.
Accessibility can make it easier for all users, not only those with disabilities, to interact with your app. For example, if someone is using your app while cooking, they can use voice commands instead of touch gestures to navigate.
Development resources
To make your app more accessible, follow these key principles of inclusive design, development, and testing:
Design your app to support accessibility needs.
By following material design best practices, you allow all of your users, including users with disabilities, to navigate and interact with your app more easily.
Develop your app using accessibility best practices.
As you create your app, follow basic accessibility principles that make a big difference to your users, including content labeling, touch target size, color contrast, and view attributes.
To make this process easier, learn about the different accessibility services that Android offers, such as TalkBack and Switch Access. By familiarizing yourself with these services, you can better understand the experience of users with accessibility needs.
Test with accessibility in mind.
Integrate accessibility with your app's testing cycle by incorporating both manual and automated accessibility testing.
If you want to create a new interaction model to help people with a specific type of disability, or if your app's content has a particular accessibility requirement, you can create your own accessibility service.
Additional resources
To learn more about making your Android app more accessible, see the following additional resources:


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January 31, 2019
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subset: commoncrawl


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Up, Down, Round & Round. Chariot Skates.
It's should never surprise anyone at the sort of marvels that humanity can accomplish. I mean we've been doing it for such a long time that it sort of comes natural to us. That's whats so great about being a person. The capability to create or surpass anything that can make like more fun, convenient or simply beneficial. This falls into the fun department. And it's roller blades on acid. [ Continue Reading ]


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Multimedia Lecturer
Malaysia, Cyberjaya, Full Time
We are global university with campuses across Asia, Africa and Europe with 30,000 students from 165 countries. We are now looking for candidates to join our Faculty of Information & Communication Technology in Cyberjaya, Malaysia.
- We are looking for a candidate to fulfil a fulltime teaching position in the following areas:
- Multimedia Authoring
- Character Animation
- Computer Graphics
- Concept of Modelling and Animation
- Establish and maintain high standards of teaching and effective learning by supporting and complying with teaching quality assurance standards and procedures
- Undertake teaching and teaching-related duties such as design; prepare and develop teaching materials; conduct classes, lectures, tutorials and practical tests; provide consultation to students, invigilation, marking, and assessment
- Plan and implement teaching strategies to optimise learning and to motivate students
- Significantly contribute in high-quality course and curriculum development
- Participate in scholarly activities including research, conference presentations, journal publications and relevant community work
- Seek and secure external grants to support research activities and scholarship
- Develop research collaborations with other schools in the University and/or other universities and external agencies
- Participate in administrative responsibilities such as attending departmental meetings; participate in committees and working groups within the Department and other schools
- Engage in continuous professional development including participation in relevant professional activities
Teaching & Learning
Administration & Other Activities
- The responsibilities outlined below are not intended to be an exhaustive list but an indication of the main responsibilities of the position.
- The ideal candidate must possess at least a Master's Degree or a Doctorate (PhD) in Information Technology or a similar field.
- Expert knowledge in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Video Editing, 2D & 3D modelling, Virtual Reality.
- Fluent in English, both verbal and written.
- Must possess excellent communication, interpersonal, presentation skills.
- Must have at least three (3) years of working experience in related field.
- Must be willing to work in Cyberjaya.
- Remuneration will be based on experience.
We offer a competitive remuneration package for the right candidate. Please send in your comprehensive resume through online application or email to firstname.lastname@example.com and email@example.com stating current and expected salary together with a recent passport-sized photograph.Shortlist me


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Hands Across the Sand
Photo essay: Scenes from a massive protest to protect beaches from Big Oil.
Click here to view the photo essay.
For the second summer in a row, people all over the world went to their local beaches to join hands in a call for an end to offshore oil drilling. Originally inspired by the disastrous BP oil spill, demonstrations have happened in all 50 states and more than 30 countries.
"No one industry should be allowed to make mistakes that put so many people's lives and livelihoods at risk," says Dave Rauschkolb, who organized the first event. "The only way that we're going to get off our dependence on oil is to change our energy policies so that renewable energy industries can flourish."
How one Florida restaurant owner organized a force against offshore drilling.
What happened when eleven young activists confronted the president about his climate and energy policies.
Photo essay: A photographer confronts the BP oil disaster.


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Henkel is your global manufacturer and supplier of one component moisture-curing liquid polyurethane adhesive systems for engineered wood. Under the brand LOCTITE PURBOND we provide high-quality adhesive systems, competent advice from industry specialists, and dependable technology support for your needs.
We are leading with high-impact solutions, created with consumers in mind. Partner with us to [be more] sustainable!
Unique customers call for unique and sustainable designs. Discover how our high-quality adhesive solutions for the engineered wood industry can help your customers create breathtaking sustainable constructions.
We understand the changing market dynamics driven by consumer trends, and we put this knowledge into every innovative solution we develop. Our high-impact solutions are created with consumers in mind – how can our adhesives experts help you to [be more] for your customers?
LOCTITE PURBOND Center of Expertise
Purbond was founded on September 1, 2003. Henkel & Cie AG maintains a Center of Competence for LOCTITE PURBOND Engineered Wood Adhesives in Switzerland. From here we guide innovation, development, application engineering, and marketing activities all over the world.
Traditionally, wood is a product with a strong local identity. Staff members at the Center of Competence make certain that we act in concert with our local partners so as to create added value for our customers through intensive knowledge sharing.
Innovation, high product quality, and top-flight technical support make Henkel your partner in the use of moisture-curing liquid polyurethane adhesives to produce load-bearing wood components.
Service Package
- Gain the confidence you need to apply state of the art PUR technology in your business.
- Receive the technical support you need to successfully implement the new adhesive technology.
- Remove concern about the interfaces between the adhesives manufacturer and the mechanical engineer. Henkel assumes the responsibility for the entire application.
- Access a broad range of adhesives to select the perfect solutions for your specific applications and business.
- Work with adhesives that are approved.
- Offer services that are environmentally responsible and ecologically sustainable.
Contact us
Please fill out the form below and we'll respond shortly.


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New Vision Packaging work with some of the BIGGEST & BEST brands in the UK...
Do not hesitate, contact us today!
New Vision Packaging are the exclusive agents, in the UK and Ireland, for the worlds finest manufacturer of transparent packaging, Scatolificio Cristina SRL. read more
A message from our Managing Director


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Save and Track Your Favourite Properties
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Bathroom renovations are one of the most popular home improvement projects in Canada. Creating your dream bathroom can add greatly to both the value of your house, as well as your family's enjoyment of your home. But bathroom renovations also offer a number of opportunities to include several features that can dramatically improve the energy- and water-efficiency of your house, while making your ...
uyer and seller activity created balanced market conditions within the region, we also experienced some upward pressure on home prices over the course of the year," Ray Harris, REBGV president said.
The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver ends the year at $638,500. This represents a 5.8 per cent increase compared to December ...
New year means new beginnings! Here are some great healthy happenings in Vancouver to start 2015.
1. Non-GMO Show
To GMO or not to GMO, that is the question. Proponents of genetically modified crops say the technology is the only way to feed a growing population. Critics say we tamper with nature at the risk of personal health. Who's right?
To learn about the different sides of GMOs, ...
Kevin Spacey and Jack Lemmon work in a tough Chicago real estate office in Glengarry Glen Ross.
By Dan St. Yves
Eventually, screenwriters find a way to work every subject into a movie. Go ahead, think about it – love, war, Spring Break, zombies…Heck, even warring zombies in love on Spring Break. There's probably been a movie made about it!
Real estate or real estate ...
If you're selling a small condo, how do you make it feel bigger than it is?
By Barry Magee Real Estate Weekly
With land at such a premium in the Lower Mainland, a lot of first-time buyers are spending their time shopping online for condominiums these days. Lifestyle is of the utmost importance to the younger generation, so walking to work, having easy access ...


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Skyblivion v0.1 Released!
Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4
Reconversion project of Oblivion to Skyrim.
Installation instructions and links are not available, please wait for version 0.2
Type in game's console "cow tes4tamriel 5 10" to travel to Waterfront in Imperial City. "tmm 1" will show all map markers.
If you want to know more about conversion, read this thread.
If you wish to work with Skyblivion in Creation kit, you'll need a stripped Skyrim.esm master (because Skyblivion is bigger than Skyrim and CK can't load them both in memory at the same time). Use tesvsnip utility and remove CELL and WRLD groups from Skyrim.esm. Don't forget to restore the original one back when playing, or game will crash.
Welcome to Oblivion!


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Nutrition Facts
Servings and Times
Save leftovers for lunch or freeze for a quick future lunch or dinner.
Ingredients and Preparation
- Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add half of the meat and brown on both sides. Season with a dash of salt and pepper, and transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining meat.
- Pour beer and water into the skillet and add the bouillon cube. Scrape brown bits off the bottom of the pan and then transfer the pan juices to a bowl with a pour spout or a large measuring cup.
- Add the rest of the oil to the skillet and cook the onions for 2-3 minutes.
- In a Dutch oven or large pot, layer ½ of the potatoes, the meat, the onions, and then the remaining potatoes (ie, begin and end with the potatoes). Season the top layer of potatoes with the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt and add the reserved pan juices.
- Cover and cook over low heat until the potatoes are soft and the meat is tender, about 45 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve.


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Apartment Talk #5: Rich Pell / Center for PostNatural History
Rich Pell came down to the Lawrenceville apartment to talk about his Center For PostNatural History, a cultural outreach center dedicated to the collection and documentation of life forms that have been intentionally altered through selective breeding or genetic engineering. We had quite some enlightening visual and mental 3D moments, and Rich is soon going to open a new permanent home for the Center on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh in early 2012.
This took place on Sunday, October 30th, 2011, 6–9 p.m., at 113 44th Street, in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh. The Apartment Talks series serves as a satellite space of the Carnegie International and the Contemporary Art Department of the Carnegie Museum of Art.


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See the history of military aviation come alive as the Selfridge Air Museum is now open to the public for 2013.
The museum, inside the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, was established in 1979 to recover the history of Selfridge, one of the oldest continuously running military airfields in the United States. It houses historic aircraft from all military branches, both active and reserve units.
New this year are the F-89C Scorpion, a C-130E "Hercules" and an A-10A "Thunderbolt II" in the outdoor air park. A three-quarter scale historically accurate model of the original "Wright Flyer" will soon be on display in the SPAD WWI hangar.
The museum is designed to take visitors through a chronological history of military aviation, starting with World War I, World II and Vietnam, and other noted conflicts through the modern day. One of the most popular sections of the museum, especially for kids, houses three airplane cockpits, including a World War II link instrument trainer, a Vietnam A-7 jet fighter and a modern era F-16. Visitors can actually get in the cockpit, put on a helmet and imagine themselves in a battle for sky supremacy. Two of the 32 aircraft in the air park can actually be accessed as well, including the C-130 Hercules transport and the P-3 Orion sub hunter.
The F-89C Scorpion, believed to be the only one of its kind still in existence, will require a new paint job and should be fully restored and ready to go by early summer.
"The F-89 was designed as an interceptor flown by the Air Force and then the Michigan Air National Guard, and it had nuclear capability," said museum Executive Director Lt. Col. (Ret.) Lewis Nigro.
The museum is staffed completely by volunteers, receives no federal or state funding, and stands as one of the few remaining historical venues of its kind.
"I think this museum is critically important, especially for the people that live in this area," Nigro said. "This base has been around since 1917. We're almost 100 years old. And now that the Air Force and the Air National Guard have eliminated the historian position, we're all that's left to track the history of this base and the Michigan Air Guard."
Nigro added that the museum is a great place for aviation veterans to come and reminiscence and share memories with their families.
"We have quite a few veterans that come through here," Nigro said. "I think the most touching thing I ever saw was a World War II veteran who brought his grandson out to our World War II Corsair — apparently he flew it. I saw Grandpa and his grandson walk out to it, and I saw Grandpa reach out and touch the side of it. I could feel the electricity from here.
The museum is accessible by vehicle only through the main Selfridge gate at the intersection of M-59 and Jefferson Avenue. For security reasons, guests arriving in a private vehicle that is being driven by someone without a valid government identification card must register for a visitor's pass at the gate. A current and valid driver's license, vehicle registration, and proof of vehicular insurance will be required to obtain a visitor's pass.
Admission is $4 per guest over the age of 12 and $3 for children between 4 and 12 years of age. There is a minimum admission of $25 for all by-appointment tours. General public hours of operation for the museum is noon to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays, Independence Day and Memorial Day, from now through Oct. 27. The museum can be opened by appointment at other times throughout the year by calling 586-239-5035.
Further information on the Selfridge Military Air Museum and Air Park can be found on its website (www.selfridgeairmuseum.org), by mail (Selfridge Military Air Museum, 27333 C St., Bldg. 1011, Selfridge ANGB MI 48045), or by phone (586-239-5035).


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Shop for guitars, ukuleles, keyboards, pianos, drums, percussion, stringed and wind instruments, karaoke equipment, microphones, live sound and recording, DJ equipment and headphones and more.
If you're already an experienced player or want to buy a guitar for a beginner, check out the Amazon music shop for everything you need. Turn your living room into a karaoke party instantly or make your laptop into a home recording studio. Buy online guitar lessons and songbooks of your favourite music or invest in professional PA and stage gear for your live shows. If you've ever wanted to pick up a new instrument or if you're already an expert player, have fun browsing the music shop.
Join the ukulele craze or pick up that new clarinet for the budding musician who just joined his or her first jazz orchestra in school. The music shop has string instruments like violins, mandolins, harps and banjos as well as all the major wind instruments, including saxophones, trumpets and trombones. Pick up a digital tuner, new rosin, picks and strings so you're always ready to practice or perform.
DJs and sound engineers can find loads of music equipment for the studio or live gigs. Shop for a new microphone, studio monitor headphones, speakers and PA systems. Controllers, mixing boards and portable DJ media players allow you to bring the party with you anywhere you go.
Keyboardists have plenty of choices when it comes to samplers, digital pianos, synths and keyboards. There are also upright pianos and organs if you love classical music. Should your little one not be quite ready for the real thing, a toy grand piano fits neatly into the living room and preps little fingers for playing down the line. When you're excited about making a sizeable investment and need some assistance, look for monthly payment options in the music store for qualifying orders of at least andpound,400 or more.
The music store has nearly every instrument on the planet for experienced musicians and novices. If you've dreamed of owning a classic Gibson Les Paul, this is your chance. No matter what you're looking for or what kind of music you want to make, have fun shopping for all of it here.


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Burglar Alarms supplied, Fitted. No Monthly Fees.
Get a Quote
Union Security understands how complicated it can be when purchasing a new alarm system for your home.
Local news and social media is full of yet more burglaries in your area and you want to protect your family and keep them safe.
So you find yourself online trying to figure out which alarm you should buy and which company to use.
Before you make that choice, here are some things you need to know:
Some companies will charge you monthly AND yearly fees
Large companies have big expenses that go on to the price of the Alarm
You don't need a sensor in every room to make your home safe
Alarms should be easy and friendly to use
Recognised by Police and Government Bodies
Fully Insured & DBS Checked
At Union Security, we are unique when it comes to products and services – unlike any other company we keep things safe and straightforward. And here is how:
No monthly or yearly fees – just 1 fee (supplied and fitted)
Unlimited phone support
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Hundreds of genuine reviews from happy customers
14 days money back if you are not totally satisfied
So what are you waiting for? Just give us a call today for free advice and we will guide you through the process.
For more information and free advice please call 020 8226 2006
Click below to view our independent reviews:
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Union Security Limited registered office 46-54 High Street, Ingatestone, Essex, CM4 9DW | Vat Number: 266 5489 59 | Company Reg: 07488210
Union Security Limited registered office;
46-54 High StreetIngatestone, Essex, CM4 9DW


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When discussing the Sixties, most commentators point to 1968 as the year that not only "defined" the decade but, in fact, somehow encapsulated the hopes and fears of the entire era. Without a doubt, across the U.S. and around the globe, major events in '68 seemed to come fast and furious: the Prague Spring; the Tet Offensive; the assassinations of Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy; student riots in Paris; police riots in Chicago; the Mexico City summer Olympic games; the return of Elvis as a cultural force. For sheer volume of significant markers, 1968 has all the other years of the decade—and most of the years of the 20th century beat.
But with all due respect to 1968, one could as easily argue that it was really during 1963 when not only the 1960s, as we've come to remember them, but the latter half of the 20th century was truly born.
After all, in 1963 the Viet Cong won their first major victory of what would prove to be the signature conflict of the time; the Beatles recorded (in one day!) and released their first album; Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique; a 22-year-old singer-songwriter released the genre-demolishing masterpiece, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan; in late August, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial; two weeks later, four young girls were murdered in the 16th Street Baptist Church terrorist bombing in Birmingham; and in November, on the very same day that the Beatles released their second album in the UK, the 46-year-old President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated on a warm, sunny day in Dallas, Texas.
Here, LIFE.com presents a gallery featuring all of LIFE magazine's covers from 50 years ago, in 1963: a look back at one year that played an outsized role in shaping America's view of itself, through the singular lens of a hugely influential publication. There are classic, memorable covers here and, to be frank, utterly average ones, too. There are covers tied to critical, historic people and events, and covers that quite likely barely registered on readers' radar even when the issues were still peering out from newsstands, or were being pulled from subscribers' mailboxes.
In the end, we hope that the gallery provides viewers with at least a sense of the vertiginous highs and the appalling lows — as well as the far more numerous weekly trifles — that millions of Americans encountered on the cover of LIFE 50 years ago.
— Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE
[MORE: See all of LIFE.com's Vietnam War galleries.]
[MORE: See all of LIFE.com's Civil Rights galleries.]
[MORE: See the gallery, "LIFE With Steve McQueen: Photos of the King of Cool in 1963."]


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Grease Management Services in Gateshead
Your one-stop solution for commercial grease management
We offer a broad range of grease management services in Gateshead to suit the individual needs of every commercial kitchen. To ensure that your commercial kitchen abides by the correct waste legislation and that your establishment is able to deal with grease and oils appropriately, we offer a comprehensive solution that can be tailored to the needs of your business.
Listed below are just some of the areas we can help with. For more information about our extensive range of grease management services in Gateshead, contact our team today.
Our grease management services in Gateshead include:
- Comprehensive grease management products
- Repairs
- Grease separator relining and refitting
- Pumping station de-sludging
- Grease trap maintenance
- Installation
- Diagnostics/consultation
- Consultancy service
Our service is carried out in 3 Stages:
Site Survey
Filta will survey your establishment, to correctly identify your requirements.
Our trained engineers will install a grease management system to suit your needs.
On a regular basis, we will ensure the equipment is working effectively & efficiently.


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New England Revolution 2, Sporting Kansas City 0 | MLS Match Recap
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Sporting Kansas City were minutes away from escaping Gillette Stadium with a point after playing down a man for nearly 20 minutes, but the New England Revolution struck twice in stoppage time to grab a 2-0 victory on Saturday night.
Teal Bunbury scored his first goal in a Revs uniform in the second minute of stoppage and Lee Nguyen added a penalty kick just before the whistle to extend New England's undefeated streak to three games and ended a 590-minute regular-season score drought vs. Sporting KC.
After a game that was remarkable mostly for its defensive battles, Sporting went down to 10 men when Aurélien Collin earned a red card for a hard tackle on Diego Fagundez in the 74th minute, but the Revolution were unable to make anything of their free play from 25 yards out.
Just when it looked as if the teams were ready to split points as the clock struck 90, in swooped former Sporting KC striker Bunbury, who redirected a long pass from Fagundez to break a scoreless draw with his first goal in a New England uniform.
The Revs added another after Fagundez forced play back into the box on a two-on-one rush, a hand ball was called on Sporting midfielder Oriol Rosell and Nguyen buried home the penalty shot, his second in as many weeks, giving New England the victory.
Both clubs came out with a patient approach in building up their possessions in the first half, with New England showing a little extra creativity and quickness while Sporting using a fluid passing attack on their end.
Jerry Bengtson's effort in the 14th minute was as close as either team got all game, after Nguyen floated a pass over the defense in the box where the Honduran international, despite being questionably offsides, found himself all alone, but shot wide right of Sporting 'keeper Eric Kronberg.
Bunbury, starting on the wing for the first time this season, had two big first-half chances in the box, one which was blocked by Seth Sinovic and another point-blank effort saved by Kronberg.
The second half lacked the rhythm of the first, but Sporting were capable of pushing the of play into their favor early on, keeping Revs 'keeper Bobby Shuttleworth on his toes.
Sporting quickly pushed the attack up field, with Dom Dwyer bursting down the right wing before feeding it across the box to Benny Feilhaber, who created an open chance, but misfired on his shot, and play stalled out for much of the remainder of the game until the dramatic finish.
With the win, New England improve to 3-3-2 and remain unscored-upon at home this season. They next head to Toronto on May 3.
Sporting Kansas City, meanwhile, drop to 3-2-2 and return to Sporting Park on May 4, when they will pick up their MLS Cup rings prior to hosting the Columbus Crew.
MLSsoccer.com Men of the Match
|What We Saw
|Teal Bunbury
|Former Rev played like a man possessed, with the game-winner the icing on a decent two-way performance.
|Lee Nguyen
|Once again the engine pushing New England forward all game, despite lack of help during much of it.
|Matt Besler
|Despite the unfortunate ending, US international remained the calm in the storm in an ugly game.


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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Alice in Wonderland Mugs & Bookworm Necklace Giveaway
62 comments:
I like that Alice is a departure from the usual 19th century child protagonist. She is not content to be a typical docile, quiet, and obedient little Victorian girl. She is curious, imaginative, strong-willed, and honest. She is a cultural icon.ReplyDelete
I love that Alice is adventurous!ReplyDelete
I like Alice's sense of adventure and the impossible because she is inspiring and magical!ReplyDelete
I like that Alice is clever and the book is bursting with imagination and humour.ReplyDelete
I love that Alice is curious...I would like to think I am too!ReplyDelete
So adventurous at such a young age and she doesn't seem to find it all frightening to be in another world.ReplyDelete
I like Alice because Carroll's books have wit and fantasy unequaled before or since!ReplyDelete
- Angela BoucherDecember 18, 2017 at 8:41 AM
I love that she is so curious and adventurous because it makes the story really interesting.ReplyDelete
She is quirkyReplyDelete
I love Alice because she stumbles into the world innocent, and emerges with the innocent view still intact.ReplyDelete
she's quirky, interesting and friendly xxReplyDelete
How she just goes along with it all :D I would have run screaming for the hillsReplyDelete
I love the creativity of the novel and the made-up words.ReplyDelete
She is adventerous!ReplyDelete
I love the Mad Hater. He's my favorite character in Alice.ReplyDelete
I love the whimsical absurdity of Alice in Wonderland. I love it all!ReplyDelete
She has a wonderful imaginationReplyDelete
I love her sense of adventure.ReplyDelete
- Michelle SmithDecember 19, 2017 at 12:28 AM
Her sense of adventure and not afraid to take chancesReplyDelete
I love that in Carroll's books we see a seven-year-old, but to see who Alice grows into is awesome because it gives more depth to a favorite character. :)ReplyDelete
- AUSTIN MEESONDecember 19, 2017 at 4:50 AM
She is curious, imaginative, strong-willed, and honest. and a beautiful babe.ReplyDelete
I love how she has an adventurous spirit :)ReplyDelete
That she finds herself in all situations but remains true to herself.ReplyDelete
I love the whole story!! I loved it as a kid and it's even better as an adult!ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
- @Finnpajsaren87December 20, 2017 at 12:28 AM
How she expresses that freedom of being who we are deep downReplyDelete
I love her sense of adventure!ReplyDelete
I like that even after all the craziness she went through she didn't give up. She's not a child who's scared of crossing the line. She's adventurous and curious unlike most kids that were shown in the books around the time when Alice in wonderland was written. Obedient, scared and nervous.ReplyDelete
I love that Alice wishes to find the queen's beautiful garden and even though she is encountered with many misadventures she persists until she finds herself in the garden.ReplyDelete
I love how everything is logically-mad, as everything is so logical that it does not make sense.ReplyDelete
I haven't read Alice,just watch the cartoon :DReplyDelete
I like Alice's curiosity the most :)ReplyDelete
I like that Alice did things that most of us now would never do (eat that cake or drink that drink)ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
I love the surreal nature of the book and all Alice's adventures.ReplyDelete
I love how courious she was about it all and really so openly sursprised about everything.ReplyDelete
I have loved the book since I was a child. The White Rabbit is my favorite, and a close second is the Cheshire Cat. I always wished as a child that I could turn invisible!ReplyDelete
I like that she's quite independent and she stands up for herself.ReplyDelete
I like her imagination because it makes her uniqueReplyDelete
The dormouse. He is so cuteReplyDelete
I love Alice because she's so curious and never lets anything stop her being adventurousReplyDelete
I love her confidence when faced with difficulties.ReplyDelete
I like that Alice is smart and strong as a character but at times can be funny too.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 2, 2018 at 6:26 PM
I love Alice for the places she goesReplyDelete
https://plus.google.com/u/0/116323573693055422688 for follow us I accidently put my twitterReplyDelete
She is so adventurous wish i could be like her!ReplyDelete
I love how well she copes with total utter madness.ReplyDelete
I like that she is so accepting of all the complete madness going on around her, and managed to make a success of it!ReplyDelete
i love how she copes with the madness like its normalReplyDelete
i like Alice because she is adventerous xReplyDelete
I love her positive attitude to everythingReplyDelete
I love her curious sideReplyDelete
She reminds me that it is ok to be a little mad.ReplyDelete
I have yet to read this classic - this has inspired me to dig out my childhood books, thankyouReplyDelete
I like how adventurous she is because it keeps you guessing.ReplyDelete
- Shelly WennJanuary 7, 2018 at 4:48 PM
My Daughter Alice, is an Alice in wonderland fan. Her favourite character is White RabbitReplyDelete
She's very open-minded and just accepts the oddness that she meets along the wayReplyDelete
how curious and open minded she is about going new places, trying new thingsReplyDelete
- Maureen MJanuary 8, 2018 at 12:09 PM
Just an amazing book that's stood the test of time1ReplyDelete
- Chris DentJanuary 8, 2018 at 4:01 PM
I like that Alice is so curious because it leads her into such a magical, strange world which we love to read about! I don't think you ever get too old to enjoy 'Alice in wonderland'.ReplyDelete
I like the crazy but fun adventure if you seen it for the first time you would not no what crazy thing was going to happen next.ReplyDelete
I like that Alice is not incurious but she remarkably accepting and adaptable.ReplyDelete
{in the contest I am Margot C__ on the Rafflecopter}


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Nikon's manuals don't explain auto 'high'- fp very well - or the limitations involved .
Most cameras have a focal plane shutter
{ Except the D1 , D40 , D50 and D70[S] , they have electronically switched sensor/shutters and can do what I call 'realsynch flash' and effectively have 6X as much power with flash at maximum speed , compared to a pro body in high-fp mode } , but other cameras need high-fp mode .
At your camera's maximum synch speed [ 1/200th sec for the D90 ] the shutter opens , the flash fires , and the shutter closes , which means that the entire sensor gets the full flash .
Here's an older camera with a 1/90th sec synch speed ...
As the shutter speed increases the " first curtain " of the shutter opens and the " second curtain " starts chasing it across the screen right after it starts moving which means that a slit slides across the screen . If the flash were to fire at a higher shutter speed than the maximum synch speed you will get a partially-lit photo .....
As you can see in the above image the flash fired , it lasted about 1/10 000th sec and turned off - the slit was still in the beginning stages of its travels though and so only a slit has been lit , as the slit continues its journey with no light source the top of the image will be black .
The solution is for the flash to act as a ' continuous ' light , it fires rapidly in succession and may fire tens of thousands of times per second , and so is effectively a 'continuous ' light and behaves the same as the ambient with regard to the fact that shutter speed now controls the flash output as well as the ambient .
It would look something like this in slow motion - as the slit slides across the frame the flash keeps firing .... bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
This is an old Canon camera so it is not exactly what the Nikon shutter would look like but it conveys the general idea . The main trade-off being that a lot of light is being wasted on the back of the partially open shutter .
To do the maths you simply need to put your SB800 on the camera and assume 'sunny 16' rule - for the brightest clearest day you could have - at iso 200 and 1/200th you would be at F16 - set it to that , it's a " worst case scenario ' for outdoor flash .
Now have a look at the working distance shown on the back of the flash with the flash head facing forward , we have :
1.) 18mm 8.8 feet .
2.) 35mm 11 feet .
3.) 105mm 17 feet .
Now when we keep the ambient exposure where it is we can assume that changing to F8 will let in 4 X as much light so we would have to go to 1/800th sec shutter speed which is high-fp mode .
This gives us :
1.) 18mm 4.6 feet
2.) 35mm 5.8 feet
3.) 105mm 8.8 feet .
The calculations :
1.) 4.6/8.8 = 0.522 X the distance .
2.) 5.8/11 = 0.527 X the distance .
3.) 8.8/17 = 0.517 X the distance .
So that means that we have just over half the working distance in each situation when we keep the ambient exposure where it is . To confirm this we can go to F4 , let in 4 X as much light , and to keep the ambient where it is we will have to go to 1/3200th sec effectively cutting that 4 X as much light in 1/4 again and negating the " advantage ' of opening the aperture .
So now the flash is behaving the same as continuous light and whatever we do , keeping the ambient correctly exposed , we will have that same working distance .
Because of the 'inverse square law' [ 2 X the distance needs 4 X the power , while 1/2 the distance only needs 1/4 the power ] .
When the subject is twice as far the lengths of the sides doubles , 2 X 2 = 4 X the area .
And of course halving the distance means you will only need 1/4 the power .
Once again it's not all that simple . The distances shown are with regard to the flash having to light the entire scene , something we don't need when we have the ambient correctly exposed .
A common setting for those who use 'fill-flash' outdoors is TTL-1.7 compensation , just to add some light to the subject without overpowering it with flash .
TTL flash doesn't know how well you have the ambient exposed and negative compensation will need to be dialed in . TTL/BL on the other hand takes the ambient exposure into account and if it detects correct exposure it will automatically dial itself back to the equivalent of TTL-1.7 in situations where they meter equally .
Many people will dial in even more negative compensation so if you had to assume an 'average' of -2 EV for the flash compensation that is two stops , or 1/4 the power that you are 'demanding' of the flash anyway so it will be able to do that at the first distance suggested by the flash head before you changed to high-fp mode .
If you were in TTL mode and went to high-fp , at105mm , and shot a subject 17 feet away [ when the flash head tells you that your limit is 8.8 feet ] the flash head will probably register -2 after firing telling you it never had enough power .
But if you have dialed in '-2' on the flash head it will be happy to light a subject 17 feet away because it can do that at '-2' :) .


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Blizzard Barrels Toward Area
Nor'Easter Is Expected to Bring 2 Feet of Snow, Though Storm Surge Not Predicted to Rival Sandy's
The New York region, where few snowflakes have been glimpsed all winter, launched itself onto emergency footing Thursday as authorities forecast a blizzard for Friday packing wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour and dumping as much as two feet of snow.
The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning, taking effect at 6 a.m. Friday and extending to 1 p.m. Saturday, and said near white-out conditions would make travel "extremely dangerous."
While New England is expected to absorb the brunt of the winter nor'easter, late forecasts Thursday indicated that New York City, Long Island and New Jersey would begin seeing significant snowfall beginning as early as Friday afternoon.
In areas recovering from superstorm Sandy, authorities voiced concern that flooding and storm surge could wreck dunes and beaches that have been steadily rebuilding over the mild winter.
New York state emergency and transit officials said they were taking the impending snowstorm "very seriously," and recommended New York City residents avoid travel Friday afternoon—taking Friday off if possible.
Officials said the city could see between 12 and 20 inches of snow, with wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour. Storm surges in coastal areas could reach 3 to 5 feet, said Jerome Hauer, commissioner of the New York state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. He said that compared with Sandy-driven surges that topped out at more than 13 feet.
New York City schools planned to remain open Friday as of late Thursday, officials said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority anticipated a hectic commute beginning Friday afternoon. Service could be "temporarily reduced or suspended" on Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road.
In low temperatures, freezing rain, or with the accumulation of more than five inches of snow, subway service in New York City could also be hampered, the MTA said. Some express trains could run as locals, and other lines could be curtailed. Heavy snowfall also would likely hamper city bus service. The city Department of Transportation warned commuters on the Staten Island Ferry to expect delays Friday afternoon.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said more than 250,000 tons of salt was on hand and that crews aboard plows and salt-spreader trucks would be working round-the-clock starting at 7 p.m. Friday.
"Having it happen overnight Friday into Saturday is probably as good timing as we could have because the sanitation department then has the advantage of cleaning the streets when there's normally less traffic," said Mr. Bloomberg, who held a news conference at a West Village Sanitation Department depot.
Alternate-side-of-the-street parking rules are suspended Friday.
Mr. Bloomberg received some of the toughest criticism of his mayoralty following a Dec. 26, 2010 storm when city services seemed overwhelmed. That winter, 61.9 inches of snow fell in Central Park, federal records show. Since then, snowfall has been scant. During the 2011-2012 winter, 7.4 inches fell. This winter so far: 5.1 inches.
A blizzard is defined by sustained winds or frequent gusts of wind measuring 35 miles per hour or more, with snow falls that reduce visibility to less than a quarter mile, according to the weather service.
With historic snow totals and widespread power outages possible, emergency-management agencies set contingency plans into motion. The Long Island Power Authority, which serves Long Island and some sections of Queens, said that National Grid, which normally handles operations for LIPA, also would "communicate storm preparation and storm response to the public," a spokeswoman said.
LIPA was widely criticized for how it communicated with customers and local officials during and after Sandy. Lacking a computerized system to track information about power outages, LIPA relied on an outmoded system of paper maps, photos and Post-it Notes to coordinate its service efforts with National Grid.
A spokesman for the governor's office said it had been communicating with National Grid over several weeks to ensure they make advance preparations and response plans for storms.
Snowfall could reach two inches an hour Friday evening, said Gary Szatkowski, meteorologist for the National Weather Service's forecast office in Mount Holly, N. J. said.
"We could be looking at some very treacherous and dangerous road conditions," he said. "If you're stuck in your car for six to 12 hours, that's no fun."
According to FlightAware.com, more than 240 U.S. flights were canceled by late Thursday afternoon, and more than 1,100 were already canceled for Friday, including more than 200 at Newark Liberty International Airport, more than 50 out of La Guardia Airport and 24 out of JFK airport.
Amtrak officials said they would shut down service in the Northeast beginning just after midday on Friday. The final Northeast Regional train will depart Boston for New York at 1:40 p.m. Friday, and the final Acela Express will leave at 1:15 p.m., the railroad announced. The last departure from New York's Penn Station toward Boston will be the 1:03 p.m. Acela.
In New Jersey, the storm is expected to cause flooding and a storm surge of around three feet along the Atlantic coast north of Atlantic City—the same area ravaged by Sandy.
"This is going to slow people down there for several days and may undo some of what was done since Sandy," said Mr. Szatkowski,of the weather service.
Still, the storm surge is likely to be less than half that experienced during Sandy, Mr. Szatkowski said. He advised coastal residents to prepare for flooding, including bay areas that didn't traditionally get hit with water intrusions until Sandy.
Officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the agency was deploying additional staff and is assembling snow-fighting equipment for area's airports, bridges and tunnels, and the PATH train system. NJ Transit said it expected to run normal service on Friday and Saturday—but that was subject to change.
In Sandy-battered neighborhoods in the Rockaways, some residents who weathered the October storm said they were taking all precautions.
On Thursday, Jonathan Perez, a 25-year old construction worker who lives on Beach 114th Street said he was going to buy gas and all the supplies he might need in the event of a major disruption to heat and electricity.
"We're prepared this time," he said. "I stayed through all the storms this year—I'm not leaving for this. I've been rebuilding my home myself since Sandy."
—Ted Mann, Eric Holthaus, Lisa Fleisher and Danny Gold contributed to this article
Write to Tamer El-Ghobashy at firstname.lastname@example.com and Heather Haddon at firstname.lastname@example.com
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8


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Kansas City, Mo., June 11, 2013 – (Business Wire) – Smith Electric Vehicles Corp. ('Smith Electric' or 'the Company'), the leading global producer of all-electric medium-duty commercial vehicles, today announced that it has now produced over 700 of its all-electric Edison™ and Newton™ trucks, which have cumulatively generated over five million miles on the road. This is a significant milestone for the Company and shows that the adoption rate of commercial electric vehicles by major global blue chip corporations continues to expand.
The Benefits
The growing demand for fleet transformation through electrification is driven by Smith Electric's customers in recognition of the significant economic and environmental benefits of short-haul fleet electrification. Medium-duty gas and diesel trucks are expensive to operate and are one of the biggest contributors to urban pollution. These vehicles typically travel on fixed routes of fewer than 100 miles in a single day, and are based in a centralized depot, making them ideal for conversion.
Customers who work with Smith Electric to transform their fleets save an estimated 70% annually on fuel and maintenance during the life of the vehicle and eliminate all vehicle-based emissions. Across a large fleet this can mean millions of dollars in annual operational savings, hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel offset, and sparing the air of tens of thousands of tons of greenhouse gases.
The five million miles travelled by Smith Electric vehicles have resulted in significant environmental benefits including the offsetting of an estimated 700,000 gallons of fuel, and eliminating more than 10,000 short tons of greenhouse gases.
"We do not think in terms of the truck; we think in terms of full end-to-end fleet transformation and all its associated benefits. This delivers substantial economic and commercial benefits for our customers and helps drive the growing demand for our product", commented Bryan Hansel, chief executive officer of Smith Electric. "With these important milestones achieved, Smith will be positioned to move fully into commercial scale manufacturing and enable electric fleet transformations around the world. Most importantly, we have first mover advantage in a vast global market for full fleet transformation. We look forward to the future with confidence."
The Demand
Demand for Smith Electric's complete, end-to-end fleet transformation service, which comprises initial consultation, vehicle supply and ongoing performance monitoring and maintenance, is frequently driven by CEOs and CFOs of companies who recognize the economic, environmental and commercial benefits of fleet electrification.
As a result, Smith Electric is the market leader in the commercial electric vehicle industry, with more miles and more trucks on the road than its three largest competitors combined.
Smith Electric believes that short haul urban transport is the current greatest market opportunity for fleet electrification, a market in which operator demand, logistical viability, political support and environmental benefit are all aligned. There are six million medium-duty commercial vehicles, representing a $40 billion market across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The company estimates that a significant portion of these vehicles service short-haul routes in urban centers, and is targeting this segment for fleet electrification.
About Smith Electric Vehicles
Smith Electric Vehicles Corp. is a leading designer and producer of all-electric commercial vehicles for short haul urban fleets. Smith produces zero-emission vehicles that deliver a significantly superior performance to traditional diesel trucks, at greater operational efficiency and significantly lower cost. The Smith mission is to be the leading producer of high efficiency, zero-emissions vehicles in the commercial transportation industry, utilizing its unique platform to partner with world-class brands to transform their entire fleets, help them operate more profitably and return energy to the grid.
The Smith Newton™ and Edison™ models are deployed in several countries across a variety of applications, including parcel, food, beverage and equipment delivery, and personnel transport. Smith Electric provides a full end-to-end approach to fleet transformation, comprising Smith Drive™ (fully integrated EV drive and control system maximizing vehicle performance), Smith Power™ (networked battery & power management system) and Smith Link™ (networked performance data). The Company operates manufacturing facilities in Kansas City, Mo., and Newcastle, U.K.


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If you love Caribbean culture, be it the food or the music, this is the move for you. Solomon & Kuff is a venue that specializes in brunch parties that cater to a large Caribbean crowd. The DJ's are always ready to turn a calm brunch into a fete in a matter of minutes, the music is 75% Caribbean, you will be dancing. Same rules as usual, after you buy an entree, $20 gets you an hour of unlimited brunch drinks.
Caribbean Dreams Brunch & Day Party
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11.19.2019 3:00 pm - 11.20.2019 12:00 am
Each and Every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday at La Agenda. This Happy Hour last from 3pm-12am and everyone is greeted with a free shot of Tequila. $5 goes a long way in La Agenda on a Tuesday night. you can get 2 delicious tacos, guac and chips or a strong margarita, each for just $5. $20 gets you a pitcher of margaritas, so if you're going with friends, this is the best choice.
11.19.2019 5:00 pm - 11.19.2019 11:00 pm
Fresh catch Tuesday is the perfect afterwork mix for the seafood lovers. Every Tuesday at Caribbean Social you can indulge in their seafood menu while enjoying one of their specialty drinks.
11.19.2019 5:00 pm - 11.20.2019 12:00 am
Tuesday's just got better with the launch of Woodland NYC's new Tuesday night feature. $1 Wings with a minimum of 5 wings per guest. Accompanied by great drink specials and a great DJ, you'll have a great night and good energy going into Wednesday. This special last from 5pm-12am, but I'd recommend you get there right afterwork!
11.19.2019 8:00 pm - 11.20.2019 2:00 am
Every Tuesday at Chloe's Bar in the LES you can come party wit DJ Woodly. Ladies are free all night! Drink and hookah special available.
11.19.2019 8:00 pm - 11.20.2019 4:00 am
$2 Tuesdays at Plenty's the move after work for happy hour every Tuesday! Same specials, same time, same place. Get some co-workers together after work and do some "Team Building" exercises.
11.19.2019 5:00 pm - 11.20.2019 12:00 am
Let's face it, Mondays aren't for everyone and Tuesdays are sometimes just as rough. If your week is off to a slow start, I highly suggest you make your way to The Don in Brooklyn for some happy hour drink and pizza specials. Happy Hour Specials include $5 drinks and a free slice before 8pm. Go enjoy a drink and some delicious pizza and link up with good people.
11.20.2019 4:00 pm - 11.20.2019 10:00 pm
The happy hour specials at Marthitas starts at 4pm and ends at 10pm. If you get there before 9pm your hookahs are free, with $10 refills. $75 bottles, $2 shots and tacos and $6 drinks. This is the perfect place to meet the week halfway!
11.20.2019 5:00 pm - 11.20.2019 11:00 pm
Wednesday nights are ladies night at Sugar n Coal. If you order a hookah, you get a free dessert. If that doesn't do it for you, you should definitely take advantage of the half off drinks happy hour special.
11.20.2019 5:00 pm - 11.20.2019 10:00 pm
Each and every Wednesday afterwork, Shani Kulture and Woodland in Brooklyn, make sure you're well taken care of and leave full. This is the move to make, if you love Mac & Cheese. They put a little spin on it and add jerk chicken to the mix. The caribbean twist doesn't end there, as the DJ (EZ New York) will be playing all of the caribbean classics you love, while you and your party enjoy your evening.
11.21.2019 5:00 pm - 11.22.2019 12:00 am
The week is almost over but if you can't wait until the weekend to party, you can make your way to Culture Thursday's Afterwork Fete and turn up a little early. Happy hour starts at 5pm and the DJ starts up at 6pm. Sweet Bar in Brooklyn has delicious food, you can't go wrong here.


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Mercedes-Benz, we love you. We love the CLS 63 AMG and we love the E63 AMG Wagon, and now you go ahead and make something beautiful with space in the boot and lines that give us goose bumps. But you're teasing us like so many other manufacturers before you, because for some reason the U.S. is just never on your mind when deciding where to send a car some of us would offer a kidney to throw our luggage in and do donuts around pedestrians—safely of course.
The CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake runs the same 5.5-liter V8 biturbo as its four-door sibling, meaning it cranks out a healthy 516hp and 518 lb-ft of torque, but if you swing for the "Edition 1" option you're left with 550hp and an obscene 590 lb-ft that MB claims will fly past 60mph in 4.3sec. Stupid fast? Yes, and you can bet your wallet it sounds just as awesome, like all the other AMG cars.
What more could you ask for? We suppose you could ask for space, but the Shooting Brake has loads of it, 54.74 cubic feet with the seats folded down to be exact. And for that rich, classy appeal, the cargo floor is covered in open-pore American cheery wood, so maybe think more fine leather suitcases instead of your Labrador puppies, plus, they could never handle the Gs. Hopefully if we express enough desire, Mercedes will send this one over, because, well, it looks downright awesome.


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The Better Energy Homes Scheme provides homeowners (including landlords) with access to grants to improve the energy efficiency of their house or apartment.
Check out the Gas Network's Ireland map to see if natural gas is available in your area. Gas not available? Don't worry we can arrange an LPG conversion for you and guide you each step of the way.
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Posts tagged Free Fiction
Free Story: Call Me Unfixable: A Bryant Street Story
Aug 24th
Posted by Dean Wesley Smith in Free Fiction
As a trial lawyer, Craig could face any situation and make it work. But facing his controlling wife and her lover (while they drank wine in his bed) turned out to need more than just a good plan.
Craig needed to believe in his actions, every action, no matter how small. Or large.
Copyright © 2012 by Dean Wesley Smith
Published by WMG Publishing
Cover Design copyright © 2012 WMG Publishing
Cover art copyright © Maksim Shmeljov/Dreamstime
Available for $3.99 in all electronic formats on Smashwords, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Apple, Kobo, and many others. Also available in trade paperback for $4.99 from Amazon and CreateSpace. For more information, click on the "list of stories" tab above. Signed copies coming soon here and on www.deanwesleysmith.com
Published by WMG Publishing
Act One
I sat in my brand-new green Lexus on the hot pavement of Bryant Street and stared at the front door of my home across the lush and expensive green lawn, always perfectly kept, of course.
Before any rough day in court, as a major trial lawyer, I always sat in my car and made sure I was completely in character. The worst thing I could do in a courtroom was to have sudden doubts, or fall out of my belief system.
I thought of it as going on stage. I had to be completely in my character, completely submerged in the part I needed to play.
And that's what I had to do now. I had to stay in the part, in character. I couldn't let a stray thought break my concentration.
I again stared at the house. Right now the state-of-the-art sprinkler system was giving the lawn "just a taste" to keep it fresh looking even in the August heat. Most of the watering was done at night.
That stupid piece of green lawn had been taken out and replaced four times because Salina, my wife, wanted it to look better. Four different times it had been carefully rolled into place, carefully cut, carefully everything. And "carefully" meant expensive.
The brick planters along the front of the house always had to be perfect as well, present the perfect picture to the world of a happy, perfect home in our little subdivision. The perfect flowers had to be planted carefully in each planter for each of Portland, Oregon's seasons. Those flowers got replaced every two months, even if some of the old ones were still blooming.
And even worse, I had spent more money than I could ever imagine on slug poison because Salina had read an article about how slugs were bad in this part of the country.
Our lawn and planters, plus parts of the garage and the basement, were pure death to any poor slug that happened to wander into the yard. And who knew what all that poison was doing to other animals unlucky enough to venture across the line into Salina's perfect point-four acres in the suburbs.
Salina had loved her home, her yard, her plants, her furniture, her clothes, her dishes, her kitchen, everything she touched. She had tried to make everything perfect.
Even me.
But I was the one thing she could never make perfect, or convince to spend enough of my own money on myself to become what she considered perfect.
I was the one flaw in her perfectly ordered and maintained life.
She could spend my money on everything else, but I had drawn the line with changing myself.
And that had become our biggest problem. I just didn't care enough to be perfect. I kind of liked myself the way I was. I stood six-two, worked out so I had no excess weight at thirty-three, unlike most of my friends and co-workers in the law firm. And I had a smile that many said lit up a room.
But Salina said my nose was crooked and it needed to be fixed. It was crooked, slightly, because of skiing accident up on Mount Hood when I was twenty-four, a year after I married Salina. But I liked it. I thought it gave my face character.
Salina saw it as an imperfection.
And she was big into Yoga, but no chance in hell I was going to do that. I ran in the gym down near the office and played golf in the summer and skied in the winter. No way I was going to sit and try to get my damned leg over my head.
Salina was into fine wines and had me spend a fortune for a wine cellar dug under the house. That cellar had been one of our biggest fights. Of course, she won.
The wine cellar was tighter than most bank vaults and controlled with its own environmental system. Expensive didn't begin to describe that room.
I hated most wines. I liked a good micro-brew and had a fridge in the perfectly clean garage that kept my beer.
And she had wanted me to learn to like the cultural stuff around Portland, but all I had wanted to attend was a University of Oregon Ducks football game.
So after years of marriage, I had become an abomination to Salina. She wouldn't allow me to touch her and she seldom talked to me unless she wanted something from me or wanted to criticize something I was doing, eating, or watching.
So today, as planned, I would end it.
If the plan worked as set out, Salina's little perfect world would come crashing down around her head.
I was in perfect form, ready to go on stage and play my part. It felt good to do this preparation time again.
I glanced up the street at the deep-blue convertible Cadillac parked like it belonged to the house three doors away. But Jimmy, my private detective and best friend, told me it belonged to Percy Samuels.
Salina and Percy.
Such a perfect-sounding couple.
Percy owned what seemed like a swank health spa in the Pearl District downtown, but Jimmy told me he was completely broke. Percy lived in a sloppy apartment littered with Coors beer cans and was within one month of having that fancy blue car repossessed.
On top of that, the IRS had liens on his business and were about to strike, a source told me.
That source, of course, was Jimmy.
Everything I knew about Salina and Percy came though Jimmy.
Jimmy and I had been friends since college and he knew how to dig out information in both legal and illegal ways. We skied together in the winter and played golf together every Saturday.
And now, with everything, we spent almost all our time together.
He only stood five-four, but was the most powerful small man I had ever met. I might be ten inches taller and weigh more, but not a chance in the world would I ever want to take him on in a fight.
Jimmy often found me information for a client I couldn't legally use, but that illegal information usually pointed to something I could use.
Way back when I asked him to look into what Salina was doing, all he did was laugh. Then he said, "I was wondering when the sex was going to turn bad and you were going to grow a pair in dealing with her."
So Jimmy did his best and found all sorts of information that would allow me to kick Salina down the road and not pay her a cent.
Salina and Percy had been lovers now for six months. Usually in the afternoons when they knew I was going to be in court.
I had to admit, that was smart.
Of course, that backfired on them, all their careful planning.
And Salina had been stashing some cash away, which I had managed to make vanish out of her accounts.
Jimmy managed to get all our joint accounts locked down tight and all her credit cards cancelled.
Salina was as broke as her lover Percy.
I looked out over the perfect green lawn saturated in snail bait. It was time for me to play this game, walk on this stage, and go into that house once again. I already had a wonderful condominium downtown, only blocks from my office. And I liked it, had furnished it the way I wanted a place furnished, including the biggest screen one of the rooms could handle.
Percy and Salina were in their perfect world. They just didn't know it.
I almost felt sorry for him. Her, I never would have a moment's regret.
My cell phone in my pocket was on and open, connected to my best friend. "You there, Jimmy?"
"Waiting just around the corner as usual, Craig," Jimmy's deep voice came back strong. "Just leave the line open and I'll make sure I get everything. I'll come running if there is an ounce of trouble."
"Thanks, buddy," I said.
Jimmy played his part in our little play perfectly. You couldn't ask for a better friend.
Leaving the connection open in my pocket so that Jimmy could hear, I moved from the car and out into the sun.
For Portland, the day was warm, promising to top out in the mid-nineties.
Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, just as I did when going into court, I moved up my front walk, my leather dress shoes making faint clicking sounds on the concrete that sounded like it echoed up and down the street.
I wasn't actually sure they made any sound, but I sure hoped they did, at least a little. In this play, I wanted them to make the noise.
Then, moving as silently as I could, I went through the front door and stood just inside. It felt like I was sweating slightly in the sudden coolness of the air. I wasn't sure if I actually was or if I just wanted to believe I was.
I had done it. I was inside.
I stayed very still to try to discover what I could hear.
Of course, there was nothing. I had done so much build-up to this, like planning a major court case, my nerves were almost out of control.
It made me feel alive, which I loved.
"You okay, Craig?" Jimmy's voice came faintly from my phone in my pocket.
I whispered. "Inside the house. Give me a minute."
The play continued.
I started down the hallway toward our master bedroom, working hard to make as little noise as possible.
No one there.
The huge room was in perfect condition, the bed made, the blinds open, the summer light filling the pink and orange space that was Salina's idea of a perfect master bedroom.
I felt dizzy, so I made myself take a couple deep breaths until the swirling passed. I couldn't let the images of anything but today come into my mind. I had to stay firmly in character or this would not work yet again.
After a moment, I went back to the game of searching for my wife and her lover, making sure I stayed right on the script Jimmy and I had worked out.
That was critical.
Of course I found nothing.
The house was empty.
I carefully opened a cabinet and took one of my old coffee mugs out and placed it on the counter, just where it wasn't supposed to be.
I stared at it for a moment, almost stunned, but again working to keep myself in character, acting as if what I had just done was perfectly normal.
Salina would have never allowed that to happen. It was something out of place, something not perfect, so if I left the mug there, she would have cleaned it up.
And then I would have heard about it for an hour.
"A place for everything and everything in its place," she would repeat over and over.
I tended to agree with that now for her.
I stared at the mug for a moment longer, savoring the victory.
Then I walked through the house again, looking in all four bedrooms, in my study, in her private room. Then I went down the narrow flight of stairs and into the wine cellar, making sure that I covered everything.
I had come to love the wine cellar and actually stood for a short time with one hand on the wine racks and just smiled at all the wine I had bought Salina that now she would never drink.
Then, as if I did the action every day, I took some slug bait from a trap in a back corner and spread it into the small wall heater. Then I turned on the wall heater.
It started to crackle. Perfect.
It worked.
I had managed to do at least that much this year.
I caught myself and made myself stay in perfect character for the play.
I continued my search.
No one.
The house had a feel of emptiness to it, and now that I was looking around again, I could see faint signs of dust in certain places.
The cleaning services were clearly not doing a good job.
I moved into the kitchen area and looked out over the living room. A very empty place, even though it was full of very expensive furniture.
I talked in the direction of my shirt pocket. "Jimmy, no one home."
"Be right there, buddy," he said and hung up.
I stood there on the edge of the living room staring around at the empty house with all the perfect furniture that had never felt like a home to me.
The play needed to continue.
Every detail needed to be perfect if this was to work. So I headed down the hall to make the motion of checking for her car. I had to stay on stage. That's what kept me grounded.
It was the only thing that mattered.
As I expected, her car was still parked there.
I went back to the dark granite kitchen counter as Jimmy came through the front door and moved over beside me.
He had a very worried look on his face.
I gave him a thumbs up and pointed to the mug.
"So where are they?" I asked him, indicating the empty room, continuing the script we had set up.
"Damn," Jimmy said. "I was so hoping that this year you would remember."
"Remember what?" I asked.
Jimmy started into his part of his script.
"Three years ago Salina and Percy figured out that you were going to kick her down the road. So they tried to poison you with slug bait."
I shook my head. I needed to pretend I had no memory of any of that. "What happened?"
"You managed to fight them off and get outside and call me and I managed to get you to a hospital. You were in a coma for almost four months."
I said nothing since I had no lines in this play and Jimmy went on talking, telling me a fantastic story that I knew wasn't possible.
Yet part of me wanted to believe it was possible, because it was such a nice story. A lot better than the truth I wanted to believe.
And a ton better than the real truth.
"When Salina and Percy realized you were going to live and they were going to be arrested, they made a run for Mexico. They didn't make it. She's still in jail in California for some crime they did down there and will be for another ten years before coming back up here to face charges for trying to kill you."
Jimmy could really tell a wild story and he had this one very well practiced after the years of telling it to me.
Again I said nothing, staying in the part of a person who couldn't remember anything that happened.
"When you woke up," Jimmy said, "you had only half your stomach left and no memory of anything. You were convinced instead that you and Salina were divorced and that she's completely gone. You just won't seem to believe anything else."
I would have never thought it would have been possible for Salina to try to kill me. I would have never thought the perfect woman in the perfect house with the perfect life had that sort of thing in her. Yet, in the real world, she got rid of everything that wasn't perfect or fixed it, so getting rid of me would have seemed logical to her.
It sure made for a great story for Jimmy to feed me to keep me on stage and solidly in this play.
Jimmy just went on telling me the story that he told me every year at this point. "You've kept this house perfect, just as Salina would have wanted it, even though you never come here except today. Every year, on this day, you come back here to tell her you are kicking her out. And I come with you to help."
I honestly loved this play. It was so real.
And Jimmy made his part of the story very convincing.
"And it happens like this every year?" I asked.
"Every damn year," Jimmy said, answering my question.
He was standing beside me, looking very worried.
"I think I'm going to be all right. The memories of the last few years seem to be coming back."
"Seriously?" Jimmy asked, his square face set in frown lines.
"Yup, I think I remember now," I said. "At least most of it. Still some foggy places."
Jimmy's large brown eyes just looked even more worried.
"So what do you remember?" Jimmy asked. "Everything. Run me through it."
And so the second act of our little play started.
Act Two
"I don't remember Salina serving me the slug bait," I said.
Again, this was just like being in a courtroom defending a client. My beliefs needed to be distant from my actions. I could never allow any belief but the belief I needed that day in court to come to the surface.
And that's the way I was playing this.
"I do remember a doctor telling me that the kind of coma I had gone into can cause some brain damage, especially to memory."
Jimmy nodded, staying on his part of the script and I could feel all this becoming solid and very real.
I smiled at my friend. "I remember you and I were planning on coming here later in the week to catch Salina and Percy doing the bed-sheet mambo and kick them out. But it never happened. Right?"
Jimmy nodded and said nothing.
I looked around the perfectly decorated big house.
And just like I was supposed to do in this part of the story, I did not mention to my best friend that Salina and Percy were behind the shelves in the wine cellar. That was the script. So I went along with the game he and I were playing to bring me back to the world.
We had tried this same game for the last couple years. Same game every year. Same script. We were getting better at it.
This very well might be the year.
"I have no memory of Salina being in jail however. Didn't she and Percy just vanish?"
"They did." Jimmy shrugged. "I've thought that they were better off gone from the start."
"But I do like the story of her being in jail," I said and Jimmy smiled.
If I really had memory issues.
As I did every year at this point in our little play, I asked the question once more. "Any idea where they are?"
Jimmy shook his head.
I looked around. "So why do I keep this place?"
Jimmy shrugged and said his lines perfectly. "Maybe it's because you think Salina and Percy might return if you keep it."
"That's just flat silly," I said, smiling at my friend and getting a smile in return.
I knew for a fact that they had never left.
"So you are making progress," Jimmy said.
"Real progress," I said.
I picked up the mug and put it back in the cabinet.
A place for everything and everything in its place.
Jimmy just nodded and smiled.
Salina and Percy were drinking wine naked the day I walked in on them, four days before I drank the slug poison to cover for me killing them, making people believe they had tried to kill me instead. She loved her wine cellar so much. She and her lover are now happy together down there.
A place for everything and everything in its place.
The wine cellar is a little smaller than it was originally designed, but I doubt anyone will notice.
"That's a hell of a story you tell me every year," I said to Jimmy, pretending I now remembered how much of a story it really was.
"I'll do anything to help," he said.
"Oh, you do help," I said.
And thus started the third act of our little play as we walked out into the afternoon sunshine.
Act Three
Salina and Percy were sitting there, in my car, Percy behind the steering wheel.
Right on schedule, as they always were. Salina did not believe in being late for anything.
I was now in perfect courtroom mode. I was deep in the belief of the case, knew what I had to believe and had tossed out all other beliefs. The ability to do that, stay completely submerged into the play in the courtroom, was why I had won so many cases.
After a moment Salina and Percy got out and started up the walk toward the front door, neither saying a word to the other.
Clearly the sex was going bad between them and poor old Percy was starting to understand what kind of woman he had gotten hooked up with.
Jimmy and I stepped to one side and let them pass, then followed them back into the house.
We had done the same thing every year, but this year I hoped things would be different.
I made myself stop and not think that way. I needed to stay solidly on the script.
"So how come we just don't sell this place?" Percy asked. "We could sure use the money."
I was stunned. They had gone through most of my money and insurance in just three years. That was a lot of money.
I pushed that thought down as well and got back into my belief system.
Salina turned to him and gave him that nasty look she used to give me. "And have someone discover the bodies in the wine cellar?"
"That would be nice," I said.
Jimmy laughed.
Of course Salina and Percy didn't hear me. They just headed for the wine cellar.
Percy pulled the door open and said, "Wow, that's a smell."
Jimmy glanced at me and smiled. He knew at that moment that I had managed to get the slug bait on the heater and turn it on.
"It's in your head," Salina said, pushing past him and going down the stairs. "The bodies can't smell, you fool. We wrapped them up too tightly in layers of plastic and they are behind a very solid wall, remember?"
"How could I ever forget," Percy said, following her.
They went down the narrow stairs to check on where they had buried me and Jimmy behind the wine racks after killing us three years ago today.
I turned to my best friend. "I seemed to have left the door to the wine cellar open in my check of the house."
"Better close it," he said. "You know there are expensive bottles of wine down there you wouldn't want stolen."
So as if I was still playing the game of looking for Salina and her lover, I moved to the wine cellar door, pushed it closed, and locked it.
Everything in its place.
Then I turned off the lights and went to the breaker box and flipped the breaker switch, leaving the breaker for the heater down there on.
Jimmy just cheered beside me.
"Holy crap, we did it!" he shouted, jumping up and down in his excitement.
Actually, I was pretty stunned as well.
I could feel myself smiling and smiling.
The two people who had killed Jimmy and me were now locked with our bodies in the wine cellar in the dark.
And they were breathing very poison air.
A moment later I could hear Percy banging on the door shouting to be let out. His voice did not sound like he was much in control.
Behind him I heard Salina coughing. Then she said, "Idiot! Why did you pull the door closed behind you?"
"I didn't," Percy said, his voice a couple octaves higher than normal.
Salina coughed a few more times, then said, "Break it down, you fool."
The door pounded hard, but I remembered that when we had that wine cellar built, Salina wanted the best material and the best locks since we were going to have a lot of expensive wine down there.
She had said that many, many times to me during construction and in the arguments leading up to construction.
So the door held and then after a moment there was a loud crashing sound as two bodies tumbled back down the stairs.
And then it was silent.
"I'll be," Jimmy said, laughing. "We did it! We actually did it!"
I could feel this immense sense of satisfaction. Three years of practicing the scripts to make sure I felt connected to the real world. Three years of returning here to this house I hated on the day she had killed me and my best friend. We had caught her making love to Percy, but we didn't expect the gun she had bought and had in the drawer beside her.
And I didn't know about her trips to the gun range to learn how to use the thing.
Three years waiting for revenge.
And now it was here.
Outside I could hear the faint sounds of a siren headed this way.
"She got off a 911 call," Jimmy said, suddenly looking worried again.
"They won't be alive by the time the police find them," I said, smiling at my best friend.
"I hope you are right," he said.
"I am," I said. "Head back to your waiting spot for a minute, would you? We need to start the play over just one more time. I want to make sure they find our bodies as well."
He looked puzzled, but just nodded and then vanished.
A moment later his voice came over my phone inside my suit coat. "I'm here if you need me."
I said in the general direction of my pocket, "Listen and enjoy."
I put myself back in the courtroom, back in the belief that I was alive and could actually move physical objects without thinking about it.
I believed it more than I had ever believed in a case.
I was here to look for Salina and Percy in bed together.
I looked around the home I hated, then moved over to the front door and opened it and left it standing open for Jimmy to come in. Just in case I had trouble when I found Salina and Percy in bed together.
Staying solidly in my belief of where and when I was at, I went back through the house, looking for Salina and her boyfriend. Making sure that with every thought, every belief, I would find them alive and making love.
Of course, I didn't find them.
As I finished my search of the back bedrooms, I heard a call from the front door. "Police! Anyone here?"
I had heard no sounds at all from the wine cellar in almost five minutes. So on the way toward the front I clicked back on the breaker lights for the wine cellar.
Then focusing as hard as I could to stay in the act of our little play and not get caught for murdering my wife and her lover and putting their bodies behind the wine racks, I went forward to greet the police.
I had to play this one perfectly. Just like a summary statement in front of a jury.
I had done it a thousand times. Once more, with flourish this time.
"Hello," I said and two young cops both turned to me.
Wow, they were making patrol officers young these days. Both looked like they were right out of college, if that. One even had a face of pimples.
I pointed at the door just off the kitchen. "My wife and her boyfriend are dead down there in the wine cellar."
They both just looked at me, clearly stunned and trying to process what I had just said. Then the one with the bad skin said, "Did you do it?"
What a stupid question for a policeman to ask, but I was glad he did. He played right into my plan perfectly.
"Of course I did," I said. "I killed them. But there are two bodies behind one of the wine racks that she killed. Make sure you take care of those as well."
Then, while they stood there stunned, I walked for the last time out the front door of the house Salina built and I had come to hate.
"Hey, wait a minute!" one cop said behind me and turned to follow.
But I was gone.
"Where did he go?" the one cop asked.
Quickly they went in different directions around the house, looking for me while calling in for backup.
But they would never find me, at least this part of me. I hoped they found my body down there behind the wine rack.
But this part of me was back in my reality. I was off stage, out of the belief that I had needed to touch the few things I had needed to touch. I knew and believed now that I was only a ghost.
And beside me, Jimmy was laughing.
"Well played," he said. "Who knew you could act like that."
"I'm a trial lawyer, remember," I said. "I can believe anything if I really need to."
"Oh, yeah," he said. "Who would have thought as a ghost I would need a lawyer."
Laughing, we turned and walked down Bryant Street.
I had no idea where we were going, but anywhere was better than staying in that home with that woman.
Free Story: For the Balance of a Heart: A Poker Boy Story
Aug 19th
Posted by Dean Wesley Smith in Free Fiction
As a superhero in the gambling universe, Poker Boy works directly for Stan, the God of Poker. Poker Boy's job? To save those who need saving and take money at the poker tables from those who need it taken.
But when Lady Luck herself comes calling and asks for a personal favor, Poker Boy and his team must travel far beyond the edges of Las Vegas to find the Queen of Hearts.
Copyright © 2012 by Dean Wesley Smith
Published by WMG Publishing
Cover Design copyright © 2012 WMG Publishing
Cover art copyright © Maksim Shmeljov/Dreamstime
Available for $3.99 in all electronic formats on Smashwords, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Apple, Kobo, and many others. Also available in trade paperback for $4.99 from Amazon and CreateSpace. For more information, click on the tab above. Signed copies coming soon here and on www.deanwesleysmith.com
Published by WMG Publishing


text:
New Canaan lacrosse team dominates Greenwich for fifh straight win
NEW CANAAN -- A look at the respective records of the Greenwich and New Canaan High School boys lacrosse teams entering Thursday's game suggested it might be a typical tight, down-to-the-wire FCIAC matchup.
Yet halfway into this much anticipated game between the two rivals, there was no question at all which direction it was headed.
Playing what head coach Chip Buzzeo described as "the first complete game we played all year," New Canaan seized a six-goal halftime lead and never looked back, coasting to a resounding -- and somewhat surprising -- 12-0 triumph over the visiting Cardinals.
Senior Puck Richardson and junior Harry Stanton scored four goals apiece for the Rams, who carried the action on both ends of the field throughout.
"We came out with a lot of energy, ran our offense well, moved the ball quickly and received outstanding defensive play," Richardson said.
The win was the fifth straight for the Rams, who raised their record to 10-1 overall and 8-1 in FCIAC play. New Canaan, which also registered its second consecutive shutout, has outscored its foes 30-0 the last two games.
"Between the lines, we had our best game of the year," Buzzeo said. "We were solid on the faceoffs, clearing, riding, moving the ball and getting good shots. I'm very proud of how we prepared for Greenwich."
The Cardinals (8-3, 7-2 FCIAC), who had won eight of their last nine going into Thursday's game, suffered their third straight loss to the Rams dating back to last season. Greenwich played the game without the presence of head coach Scott Bulkley. Bulkley, who is in his fourth season at the helm, was suspended from his coach duties regarding a team matter, pending an investigation according to athletic director Gus Lindine. Since taking over as coach of the Cardinals in 2010, the team has won an FCIAC title and qualified for the conference and state tournaments each year.
Facing a red-hot team like the Rams, the Cardinals also weren't aided by the absences of senior attack Alex Moeser and sophomore attack Decker Curran, both of whom are nursing injuries.
"Today was a tough day at the office," GHS assistant coach Kevin Faughnan said. "We never felt it was out of reach because we were getting in there and battling. We were just not succeeding the way we usually do. We took our lumps today and it was a good lesson for the boys."
It what would become a theme all afternoon, New Canaan controlled possession the majority of the first quarter. Richardson displayed his athletic ability and shooting touch early, putting a low shot past GHS goalie William Waesche while falling to the turf for the game's first goal 2:51 into the opening quarter.
Greenwich's best scoring chance in the opening half occurred when senior attack Will Gibian's shot hit the post midway through the first quarter. For most of the half, the Cardinals' chances were few and far between, as the Rams clamped down defensively. Seniors John Rhudy and Eric Persky led a Rams defensive unit that has helped limit the opposition all season.
"John Rhudy had his best game of the year and our defensive midfielders were great," Buzzeo said. "Hats off to them."
Richardson carried the ball from behind the goal and tallied on a short shot with 2:13 left in the first quarter, giving the home team a 2-0 edge. Richardson set sophomore Michael Kraus up for the first his two goals of the game and senior Griffin White sent a laser past Wasche from 15 yards out, putting GHS in a 4-0 second-quarter hole. Another goal from Richardson and a tally from Kraus off a feed from behind by Cole Turpin, made it a 6-0 game at halftime.
Stanton scored four times during the second half for the Rams, who received six saves from goalie Trent Nader.
"On offense, we focused on being patient and not forcing anything," Stanton said. "We dodged a couple of times, then re-dodged and really showed a lot of patience, which was the key. We pride ourselves on keeping the defense moving."
Said Kraus: "We moved the ball around really well and starting clicking right at the beginning. On attack, we know who is going to dodge and what each other's tendencies are."
As for the Cardinals, they know they have to put the setback behind them quickly.
"We have hit rock bottom today, so we are going to climb our way back up," GHS junior midfielder Kyle Foote said. "They have not seen us at full strength and I think we'll definitely see them again, so we'll remember this the next time."
firstname.lastname@example.com; 203-625-4423
New Canaan 12, Greenwich 0
Scoring: NC -- Puck Richardson 4 g, Henry Stanton 4 g, Michael Kraus 2 g, 2 a; Duke Repko 1 g, Cole Turpin 1 g. Goalies: G -- William Waesche (11 saves); NC -- Trent Nader (6 saves).
Records: Greenwich 8-3; New Canaan 10-1