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Kenneth T. Jackson is a Professor of History at Columbia University.
He is the author of Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States and The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930; and Cities in American History.
KENNETH T. JACKSON Professor of History Columbia University
QUESTION: How big was the post World War II move to the suburbs historically, and where does it fit in America's century-long population shift from rural to urban to suburban?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: Unbeknownst to the most people, Americans have been moving to cities for very long time - from the early nineteenth century - and they've been moving to suburbs almost as long, certainly by the 1820s, 1830s. But the movement changes in character and quantity after World War II in this sense.
There is a large suburban movement in the 1920s, but it tends to be middle-class or better. Then in the 1930s, because of the Great Depression, housing starts literally drop 95 percent and more. During World War II obviously the nation has more important things on its mind than building houses for people. So, between 1930 and 1947, virtually no housing is built for the general market. There's some war-related housing built for defense emergencies, but just for what you call a single-family house for a husband, wife and kids, virtually none.
What's unusual about the move to the suburbs and the move to single-family houses between 1947, 1948 and the early 1960s is that it's unprecedented in two ways, first of all just in sheer numbers. We're making on the order of 2 million [new] houses per year and about 95 percent of them are fully detached single-family houses. We are building a new kind of structure in the history of the world where if we compared to the end of the nineteenth century or earlier, more of the places would have been apartments or condos or something else, but in the 1950s we're talking overwhelmingly single-family houses.
The second thing to remember about it is [these houses are] affordable. Quite literally you could buy a house in the 1950s cheaper than you can rent it.
QUESTION: How unique is the postwar suburban movement? What made it possible in America, as opposed to other countries?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: Well, one reason suburbanization catches on has to do with almost unique American characteristics. One is we are an automobile-owning society. As early as 1929, there was one car for every five Americans. Everybody in the United States could've gotten in an automobile and ridden off. The rest of the world does not reach that level of market penetration - and I'm talking about advanced countries in Europe - until really the late 1970s, 1980s, and most places in the world aren't anywhere close to it in the twenty-first century, let alone 1929.
Another factor is cheap land. We have so much of it. I mean, there are other countries about as big as the United States: Russia, China, Australia, Canada, but all of them are really nations where the population is concentrated in small areas and most of the land mass is unlivable. Not the United States. We have a giant nation that's mostly arable, mostly settle-able. And so it was out there, it was accessible.
QUESTION: So how do you explain the housing boom at the end of the war?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: The American government has a very important role to play in the suburbanization boom after the war. First of all in deducting mortgage interest and property taxes from your income tax, your gross income, that's almost a unique American policy.
But more importantly I think, through the FHA and VA programs, which essentially guaranteed the lender against risk so that if the borrower defaults on the loan, the lender is not at risk, the government will pay it. That means that over a period of twenty-five or thirty years you could stretch of that mortgage payment, you can bring down the average monthly payment to below what a comparable place would have rented for. And then at the end of the twenty, twenty-five years you often have a piece of property worth many more times than what you paid for it. It's a great public policy.
QUESTION: Was World War II beneficial to big housing in the way it was to big business?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: World War II has a powerful impact on the way this nation builds homes. Essentially homebuilding has been a small-scale business as opposed to automobile manufacturers, steel, lots of other things. But as a result of World War II some people get experience building a lot of things quickly.
For example, the Levitts, who worked with the Seabees. You've got to build an air strip, you've got to build Quonset huts on some Pacific island and you've got to do it now . . . you've got to do it fast. And individuality is not important.
You have systematically figured out a way to bring the price down by reducing every step of the building process to something that's replicable and that one or two or a small team can do over and over again with great efficiency.
QUESTION: How would you characterize the forces that created the housing crisis after Word War II?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: Well, clearly the crisis after World War II was created both by a supply and demand situation. The demand is [that] millions of new households have been formed by returning GIs and the women that they had loved or left behind. And they are reproducing very rapidly.
But there [has] been no new housing built virtually all through the 1930s and all through five years of war and it takes a year or two for the whole industrial production system to get cranking again. So that by 1947 you have millions of husbands and wives and children living together, bunched up, crunched in with their in-laws. People were practically living in boxes, in what we think of as a dumpster today, and all sorts of kind of Quonset huts that were mass produced by the government during World War II. People were taking any kind of a place that had a roof over it and a wall around it is a place to live. I think that we have never experienced in American history the kind of pent-up demand for housing that existed about 1947, 1948.
QUESTION: So when these houses came on the market, were people lined up around the block? Were people really snatching these up?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: Well, of course, there are stories of the demand being so incredible that people would get in line, you know, like you would for playoff tickets in some sports thing today. And you would use anything. In fact, my family was so desperate my father never saw the house. [When] my father got the deal [he said], "Buy it. We don't have to look at it. It's okay, isn't it?" So in a sense it's extreme circumstances.
QUESTION: What were the typical characteristics of the postwar suburbs?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: Well, in contrast with the twenty-first century, the postwar World War II suburb was homogenous. [Suburbs] tended to be heavily GI, returning veterans, young families, fairly large families. Three children would have probably been typical; four would not have been unusual at all.
There would have been a kind of egalitarianism, in the sense that the big growth in incomes had not occurred yet. So in a place like Levittown, you got someone who [came back to] a blue-collar occupation as well as somebody who had graduated from law school and was about to take off.
QUESTION: What were some of the criticisms of the suburbs?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: I think criticism of the postwar American suburbs come from three different directions. One would be kind of an elitist notion that these suburbs are tacky; they're all alike. A guy named John Keats - not the famous English poet - wrote a book called The Crack in the Picture Window, [making the point that] if you really weren't paying attention you couldn't even remember which house was yours.
I think a second criticism would come from the other direction, that there were people who were shut out of this, especially African Americans. And the tragedy of that was, of course, that these were often government-assisted housing programs and [African Americans] were as deserving as anyone, and yet by virtue of race they were prevented. This was not a secret. This is not something that's kind of hidden off in a corner. This was out front and open for anybody who wanted to know. Levitt, who was no more culpable than anyone else, simply said, "People won't buy houses if black people live in a development."
This, I think, can only be considered a mistake from the [viewpoint] of history. This was an opportunity for the United States to move beyond its racist past. Because the demand for housing was so great, I would opine, that actually even if there had been a black person next door, well, what choice do you have? And that we might have actually saved this nation many decades of great bitterness if we had used that opportunity to integrate at a time when you need the house, and who's worried about who's living next door? And personally I don't think the argument [against this] washes.
And I think the third criticism is more of sophisticated one, and really one more looking back, and that is we have become so much a suburban nation that there's kind of a blandness. We've become overly dependent on the automobile. We've abandoned our cities. We have in a sense privatized the American experience through our exclusive reliance on the single-family house. That's a criticism that's come more from recent years. I think it's a very strong one, but nevertheless it certainly is a criticism of the suburban world that we built in large measure after World War II.
QUESTION: Now go back to this other more serious criticism. What did it mean for the cities that so many whites were establishing themselves in the suburbs? What was this creating in the urban environment?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: By building the suburbs beyond the cities, by discriminating against blacks and encouraging whites to move out, we encouraged the racial polarization of our cities. We subsidized the move of millions of families out of cities. St. Louis, for example, had over 800,000 people in 1950. Its population in the next half century declined to only about 300,000. That emptying out has to do with people moving to the suburbs, often with government assistance.
QUESTION: What do you make of the argument over suburban sprawl? Is that a serious concern today, or does it parallel the sort of type of elitist criticism we heard in the early years?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: [Although some see it as elitist,] I still think that that argument [against suburban sprawl] does have validity, that we have spread out too much. It's simply what Thorstein Veblen would have called "conspicuous consumption."
And I think we can blame a lot of this on American attitudes that were generalized after World War II, and so that we do pay a collective price. While it may work for the individual family - "look at me, look at my yard, look at my house" - as a society we are paying a price. We are the world's biggest polluters at this moment, and this has to do not with the emission controls on our automobiles or on our factories. Those are the strongest in the world. It has to do with the fact that we're sprawling all over the place, and therefore we can't do anything. We cannot get a carton of soft drinks, we cannot get cigarettes, we cannot get bread without cranking up a 150 horsepower engine and riding around for several miles. Our individual trips are no longer than they are in Germany or Japan. The difference is that we drive three or five times as many times as they do. And I think that can properly be seen as a legacy from this period after World War II.
QUESTION: Even with all the criticisms, do you think this boom in affordable homes for the lower-middle class or even working class can be called an American success story?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: Well, with all the criticisms of suburbanization I still think that at the end of the day we have to count the building of so many homes after World War II as an American success story. Here we have these many millions of families, all these young people are brought up in happy circumstances in a way that no other country on earth can even begin to approach. So I think it's a little bit arrogant of those of us who have criticism of it to suggest that somehow it wasn't worth it, when Americans were so busy voting with their feet and seemed to have such satisfaction with the suburban world. [It was] really the realization of the American dream for almost all Americans, again, except for the blacks.
QUESTION: Overall, what does the suburban movement say about America, about what our dreams are, about what government policy is, about how we are unique compared to other countries?
KENNETH T. JACKSON: I think what we really see when we look at the United States in the immediate postwar period is a nation that is just incomparably richer than other places. Europe has not recovered. The Communist countries are still in depression and in kind of a tank. But in America we have just vast resources that we can afford to build new houses for virtually all of our people, and at the same time give them a car to ride around in and a television set to watch in the house. I think, again, from the perspective of a half a century we forget just how revolutionary that was at the time. This became, in a way, the world's first great consumer society. And the suburb, the car, the television, the shopping center, [the fact that] all of this sort of all together in one package sort of shows the incredible distance between the United States and the rest of the world in the 15 years following World War II.
PBS Program | Trends of the Century | Viewer's Voices | Interactivity | Teacher's Guide


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Charles Nesson was joined by eon, Dean of Cyberspace, and they spoke about the importance of openness and how the Berkman Center contributes to this. Alas, that was all from him for the time being- I misread the agenda, and he was just up for introductions. So we moved on to Jonathan Zittrain.
Zittrain's talk was based on his new book, which I've given first thoughts on earlier this month. Because there is some overlap with that post and with prior coverage here, so these notes are not comprehensive, more things that jumped out at me.
Before long, the 'hourglass architecture' appeared on screen; this is the way that IP (edit: internet protocol NOT intellectual property) is a link between a diversity of technologies and a diversity of applications. We also heard about the IETF and the way it works, against the odds, and an overview of the creative and generative use of the Internet, through Wikipedia, Skype and more.
A new dimension to the talk, bits of which I'd heard before, was a detailed discussion about the YouTube outage earlier this year (Pakistan) and how this relates to the security of the Internet. George Tenet came in for a gentle bit of teasing, for his call (while director of central intelligence) to restrict Internet connections to those who can show they take security seriously, as did the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) for its creation of complicated models for next-generation networks and the future of the Internet, linked to its desire to 'save' the Internet.
Zittrain dedicated a good bit of time to talking about the iPhone. What interested me here was comparing with his comments of last summer, which was at an earlier stage of the iPhone's development. He put on the table the criticism of his original position – that the iPhone's new functionality (SDK for developers) was not the new dawn, as the terms and conditions are still part of the Apple mission to have a single supplier or intermediary; applications have to go through the iTunes store, they may be blocked or killed, restricted for reasons related to privacy, legality, etc. He compared this, unfavourably, with the environment that software for personal computers was developed in, where it was much more difficult to kill or block a single application; "it didn't happen because it couldn't happen".
The solutions require 'social buy-in'. For example, we can start to look at the ways for respecting something like privacy, before making the leap back to traditional methods of government control or competition between businesses, both hierarchical in a certain way. So norms are particularly important and the social links will define the future.
A brief Q&A followed, starting with the comment that "Jonathan does hyperbole quite well, and is sort of right". Lots more questions on the question tool. Now. Coffee!

subset: commoncrawl


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Well, my name is Latu. I am a 23 year old, on-again, off-again college student. My eventual goal is to become a Guardian ad Litem, so technically I am Pre-Law.
That about covers any small-talk questions you get while attending school, (name, age, major, and what you'll do with that major) but I am not finished :)
I work at a juvenile treatment center in the Provo, Utah area, and quite like my work most days. I am pretty bipolar with my personality; sometimes my bleeding heart drives me crazy and sometimes I am just the meanest cuss you've ever met. I try to stay pretty pleasant, but I can make no promises for people who wake me up in the mornings.
Once, I had surgery that they promised to wake me up from immediately after. Well, 4 hours after the surgery is done, I remember the nurse talking to me and just wanting her to shut up. I woke up to find my arms and legs strapped down and the nurse extremely frustrated at having to spend hours waking me up. I don't think she understands how extremely frustrating it was for me that she would not shut up no matter how many times I tried to swing at her!
I hate the color test (red, blue, white, yellow personality types) because none of the answers ever apply perfectly, and I feel like people judge me off inaccurate answers. That being said, I am half red, half blue.
I am quite critical of everyone. Some people get offended and emotional about it. I usually just get over it and brush it off as normal.
I get over things easily. It is a blessing and a curse all in one. Sometimes, I wish I could freeze my anger and thaw it out to use again later, but usually I end up forgetting why I thought any given situation was such a big deal. Good thing for traumatic situations, bad thing for holding grudges :)


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IFD: Andy Griffith is one of the few anglers alive who have caught a mako shark in the UK. Andy from Kent can also lay claim to being the only UK angler to have caught mako, blue and porbeagle shark plus common skate over 100lbs in one year, an amazing feat by anyones standards and the mako being a Welsh record. We were to delighted he could give us this interview so over now to Andy
IFD: Hi Andy, what was your introduction to fishing?
AG: It was fly fishing, I had a mate from down the road and his Dad would take us fly fishing. At first his Dad would cast out for us to retrieve and this way I had my first trout and I was hooked. Sometime later, we went on a trip to Deal pier and fishing with orange hand lines we caught out first pouting or Deal salmon as we called them. I don't know what it was about sea fishing but I was just drawn to it. I got a rod and reel and just went from there. Then my Dad took me on a few charters primarily for codling off the Kent coastline. Then I got to driving age and started beach fishing mostly at night. From there myself and a few friends would split the cost of a charter and fish for all the usual species.
IFD: Do you still do much shore fishing?
AG: Yeah funnily enough I only really got back into this year. I got myself some new gear and have been enjoying it. I'm looking forward to the cod fishing here in Kent over the winter.
IFD: What was your first ever charter like?
AG: My first ever charter was out of Deal, where they launched from the beach. The first fish of any note was a 4lb codling and I thought it was huge!
IFD: How did you first go to Wales for the sharks?
AG: I had tried sharking for three seasons in a row without success from Looe in Cornwall. Then one day I was watching John Wilson on SKY, and on that episode he was in Oban in Scotland fishing for skate with Ronnie Campbell and I thought I'd quite like to give that a go. So I got in touch with Ronnie and made a trip up there with a mate and I managed to get my first common skate 179lb. So I came back from there with the idea that I wanted to target the bigger species found in UK waters. I was thinking what would I go for next when I see John Wilson on the telly again this time catching blue sharks aboard White Water with Andrew Alsop. So after that I got in touch with Andrew and booked three days in August. Not knowing what to expect from my Cornwall experience I counted down the days till the trip and was going to be fishing with my buddy who was with me in Scotland.
We had seven the first day, six the next and three on the final day which for us was an amazing result and I had my first blue over 100lb. Actually on that first day I fought a fish for one hour forty five minutes that had managed to spit the hook and foul hooked itself on the pectoral fin. We lost it at the side of the boat but Andrew reckoned it was 180lb.
We went back the following year and had to cancel some dates due to the weather. I really was enjoying the sharking so the next year I booked even more trips.
Also in the winter Andrew moves the boat back to Penarth and continues fishing in the Bristol channel for numerous species. I started going on some of these trips and most of my PB's are from the there. There are many species on offer with many rays, cod, and smoothound.
IFD: Can you tell us about the Mako session?
AG: Well at the start of the season last year Andrew had bought a new boat, I had the second day of the season booked which was in June. They had been out the day before filming blues and had plenty of them. So I asked Andy could we try for a big porbeagle and he said yeah but on this mark we will either get one or we might get nothing at all. Anyway we set off and that day I had my PB porbeagle of 235lb. I had that fish on a 15/20 travel rod, shimano tld on braid so it was some battle. To go out so early in the season and catch that fish I was elated.
So it was three weeks later and I was back out again. That morning, I said to Andrew jokingly after the last porgy I would love it if we caught a mako!
We started by trolling baits very slowly and putting in a steady scent trail chumming all the while. We did this for a few hours and eventually stopped, we had put down a chum slick for miles. The first fish was the best of eight blues that day 120lb
Next the deepest bait went and and it was porbeagle on and turned out to be a fish of 119lb so I was chuffed with that.
There was an amazing amount of bird activity that day probably attracted by all the chum we had put in. A half an hour passed and the float nearest the boat took off and the reel started pissing out line. Before anyone could shout shark on, the mako just came vertically out of the water and Andrew and Julian shouted " It's a fucking mako", it was a beautiful clear day and it looked some sight jumping straight out of the water.
I just looked at them and thought "oh shit this is history" so the pressure was on from the start to land Wales's first mako. I only knew a little bit about the species but I knew how they were capable of great speed.
We had to move the boat a few times, the fish didn't go deep and was staying on the surface. I was surprised how easily it was coming in after the first runs and by ten mins it was nearly at the side of the boat. This species is known for it's intelligence and it was like it had just come in to take a look at the boat because it took off like a rocket after that. The fight went on and by forty five mins we had it on the deck, and that was after some nice landing skills by Andrew as it had a serious set of delph.
The crazy thing that day, was after the fish was hooked and David Morris started reeling in the other lines as quick as possible, a second mako followed one of the baits in and we reckon it was even bigger than my one. They are known to hunt in packs so it just goes to show. After all the excitement we headed back to port. We recieved a letter from the I.G.F.A to tell us it was the first time all three species were caught from one boat on the same day anywhere worldwide, a shark grand slam and I was especially proud of this.
My happiest memories in life were when the children were born and family things, but seeing that mako coming clean out of the water was a special point in my life and one I won't forget…
IFD: You have also fished in the Canary islands how has that been?
AG: I've done a bit of fishing in the Canaries, trolling lures. I've seen marlin quite a few times but never had one. I have had some skip jack tuna or bonito and some albacore and this year had a 48lb albacore while out fishing with my father in Tenerife.
I also have a trip to the Florida Keys next month over to Rodney Goodship. I'm really looking forward to it for some proper time sharking and maybe the goliath grouper. I'm going out there with Andrew and Mark Nelson the first UK angler to catch four species over 100lb in one year and Simon Hughes who has fished all over the world. Rodney's record is 63 shark in one day so we will try for that record. I'm really interested in getting a hammerhead but May is probably a better time of year to try. I'm looking forward to it and it will be a fun trip.
IFD: Well Andy thanks for talking to us and hope you have a great Florida trip
AG: Anytime Paddy my pleasure mate


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Cars and Cars 2 are...well, they're not Pixar's best work. They're mostly fine, but they lack that Pixar magic that sets apart films like Toy Story and Up and other films that leave you weeping like a child every time you watch them. But it didn't have to be this way.
No, if Cars were directed by George Miller and given the whole Mad Max: Fury Road treatment, I think that might just make Cars one of Pixar best franchises.
Plus, Immortan Joe could shout out "MEDIO-CAR!" in the middle of the film and it would be perfect. And since Cars already takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, it would make so much sense to do it this way. C'mon, Pixar.


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Wondering if you need to use the rental car coverage that the rental car company offers you? Check out this video for more information. Give us a call if you have any questions. Also, if you're not a client, call for a quote at 614-890-7222.
Rental Car Coverage
Published by johnkalmbaugh
John Kalmbaugh is a licensed independent agent with over 45 years of independent insurance experience. What does it mean to be an independent insurance agent? In short, it means we will take the time to develop a personal relationship with you and find out exactly what your needs are. Then, we can review the policies of several different companies and help you select the best possible coverage at the best possible price. You see, buying insurance is different from purchasing other types of consumer products – you can't take it for a test drive, try it on, taste, see or smell it. Yet, the purchase of insurance is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. With an independent insurance agent, you're dealing with a licensed professional who knows the insurance industry and cares about your needs . . . not some stranger on the other end of a toll free number or a cold computer monitor over the internet. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. We care about your needs. View all posts by johnkalmbaugh


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Lensbaby Optic Swap System – Seeing in a New Way
So you've bought your Lensbaby Optic Swap System and have thought to yourself 'what can I do with this, what kind of photos can I create?' Read on for suggestions on 4 ways you can Grow your Creativity using Lensbaby Optic Swap System.
As explained here the Lensbaby Optic Swap System is a different approach to D-SLR photography, as the image bends, so do the rules!
Below there are 4 ways you can grow your creativity using Lensbaby Optic Swap System
This is not meant to be comprehensive or exhaustive, merely suggestions to encourage you in the art of using the Lensbaby Optic Swap System and find your own niche.
Ever seen those wonderful photos where the background is out of focus, where the lights are mere blobs but enhance the overall image? If so, this is Bokeh
The Lensbaby Double Glass Optic is a good choice for creating magical photos, simply select an aperture disc with a low number (F2.0) or even just the optic alone.
The aperture relates to the amount of light hitting the sensor in the camera and the focal point of the image, otherwise called Depth of Field The lower the number, the more light hits the sensor and the point of focus is very shallow, blurring the background.
This is particularly effective for creating stunning portraits, where you would focus on the features of the model's face, the background bokeh helps to enhance the overall photo.
For even greater bokeh, try the Lensbaby Creative Aperture set. This is a set of aperture discs, but with shapes cut out in place of the aperture. Stars, love hearts – all there to help you develop your creative edge.
Looking for that creative edge? Thought about trying your hand at Tilt-shift photography? Choosing a mount such as the Lensbaby Composer Pro II or Control Freak, combined with the Edge 50 or 80 optics is a great way to produce photos that really stand out from the crowd. You can use other optics from the range as your confidence and creativity grows.
This is achieved by choosing your subject matter very carefully. I have found for best results you are looking for a scene with good depth. Ideally, you need subject matter in the foreground, mid-ground and background. Focus on your subject, then start tilting!
Using the ball and socket system on the Composer series of mounts, you tilt and swivel the lens until you have your 'slice' which is the selected part of the image which is in focus. Lock the Composer and using the right aperture for the depth of field, you should have an image which in the 'slice' looks miniaturised. This is due to the angle that the lens has been bent to, creating a very narrow area of the image which is in focus.
This type of photography is great for promotional product images also, used in conjunction with a wide aperture, creating a narrow depth of field can give some great perspective photos.
Back to photography basics with this. Lensbaby produce an optic called Pinhole/Zone Plate. This part of the blog focusses (sorry, no pun intended!) on Pinhole only; the Zone Plate is covered elsewhere within this website.
Pinhole is not strictly an optic, as there is no lens, just a very small hole in the housing of what we will call 'the optic' for ease.
Subsequently, this does not allow much light in as the aperture of Pinhole is F/177 so very small, hence the name. This optic gives the 21st Century photographer a chance to simulate 19th Century creativity.
Due to the very small aperture, the camera needs to be used in a very stable, secure place, such as mounted on a good tripod to allow a long exposure or slow shutter speed, thus avoiding any camera shake. It also gives best results in brightly lit conditions. As there is no lens in this optic there is no advantage to being able to tilt the mount as it cannot bend the image.
As strange as it may seem, you hold the key to the 4 ways to grow your creativity using Lensbaby Optic Swap System. Relax, go with your instincts, let go of the rules, focus on the unfocused and let your creativity take control. Further inspiration can be found here.
In no time at all you will find your niche with the Lensbaby, your work will become as identifiable as your signature, developing your own, unique style. You will start to look at objects and scenes with fresh eyes, looking for the ideal tilt-shift opportunity, or soft focus imagery, opening up a whole new world to you!
With your niche firmly created, why not look to make some money from your images? How to Make Money from Stock Photos is a good guide to helping you find the right platform for your work.
Thank you for reading this article and I hope that these 4 Ways You Can Grow Your Creativity Using Lensbaby Optic Swap System has inspired you!
Happy clicking!


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Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a tool that has been around since at least the late 90s. Companies, universities and other organizations, that have a need for security and privacy, used them extensively. In recent years, however, the existence of these types of services have come to the attention of your average consumer.
The revelations of mass data gathering by marketing companies, governments, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have led to an increasing amount of people concerned about their privacy. The nothing to hide argument is no longer valid as people realize that private data should remain private and not be manipulated, sold or exchanged by third parties most have never heard of.
There is also the issue of security as data theft has become increasingly common. Public networks are stupidly unsafe and when you connect to wifi in airports, hotels or cafes, you open up your data like banking details, private emails, health records etc. to potential hackers who can do with it what they wish.
A VPN encrypts all your data as it travels to the VPN provider's server so even if your ISP or random hacker know something is being transferred, what it is or where it originates will be indecipherable to them. You can then enjoy a higher degree of security and anonymity.
But a VPN is not only a reaction to the slight doom and gloom of the modern internet. You can connect to a VPN server in another country, for example, and enjoy local online entertainment that is usually restricted geographically.
A VPN will also allow you to shop more intelligently by hiding your IP address as prices for many goods and services are determined by location. Every device that connects to the internet is assigned an IP address, among other things, this allows websites to hone in on your devices' location. Using a VPN replaces your IP address with one of its own server in any country you wish, that the provider has servers in. From that point on any website, you visit will see you as located in that country.
This short article is really just the bare bones of how VPNs work and the benefits they provide. We hope to soon bring you a much more detailed and more technical analysis of what a VPN is and how it functions, in the meantime you can also read this beginner's guide.
For the time being, however, we'd like to share an infographic we made summarising the above, robots and everything. We think it's pretty awesome, hope you enjoy it and find it helpful.


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OPI recently released the Fifty Shades of Grey Collection for 2015! I am absolutely obsessed with the book series and cannot wait to see the film, so I knew I had to pick up the collection!
Each bottle within this collection is the standard 0.5 fl ounces and retails for $9.50 at Ulta, and around $9 at select salons and retailers that carry OPI.
I picked up three of the matte gray shades as you will see in the coming swatches and reviews. The first one I shall be reviewing and swatching for you guys is "Embrace The Gray". Which I'm sort of disappointed with the name, why not "Embrace The Grey", just my thought.
But let's get into the review!
"Embrace The Gray" is a medium cool toned gray that leans slightly blue in color. The color reminds me of a dolphin or shark skin, that gray with a touch of blue. This was one of the completely matte colors in the collection. There's no glitter, sheen, or metallic effect to this one. Just a creamy matte finish.
|"Embrace The Gray"
2 Coats
I found that the formula of this polish was pretty good, slightly thin, one coat was still a little streaky and about 80% opaque. Two coats was perfect; no streaks, completely opaque, and didn't look clumpy or thick on the nails.
Let's talk about longevity. I painted my nails this color on a Thursday, by Monday I had just minor tip wear on a couple of nails. So the wear of this shade is very good, typical of other darker OPI polishes I have tried. Typically by the 5th day I need to paint them again due to chipping.
If you are in the market for a great gray nail color that lasts and doesn't look streaky on the nails, you need to pick up this shade! I think this color will flatter anyone and the formulation of this polish is very good. Had this polish been opaque with one coat, I would love it even more! But none-the-less, it looks absolutely gorgeous on the nails!


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Joel McGinley, Managing Director and Founder of TranStrategy provides the tips freight brokers need to preserve capacity. The latest numbers from DAT... [more]
TIA Board Member Kenny Clark goes into how his initial disagreements with TIA led to the growth of his interaction and discussions with TIA. Also,... [more]
Rob Kemp, President of DRT Transportation, goes into the benefits of TIA Membership.
Robert Voltmann welcomes TIA members and discusses MAP-21 and its upcoming provisions. Matt Hirniak delivers TIA's 3PL Market Report.
President and CEO Robert Voltmann welcomes TIA's members and introduces the functions and capabilities of the TIA TV platform.


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BG Strategic Advisors is recognized as the top M&A advisor to dozens of successful logistics and supply chain companies, and is considered the leading authority in the sector.
Our firm specializes in providing CEOs in the transportation, warehousing, supply chain, and logistics industries with the tools that maximize value. Our core services focus on strategy-led investment banking. BGSA draws on deep market expertise, a trusted reputation for high-quality advice to top-tier supply chain and outsourcing companies, and a track record of integrity and success.
BGSA has advised dozens of top-tier logistics companies, including DHL, Agility, Total Logistic Control, WilpakJacobson, Unicity-PBB, NFI, Kuehne & Nagel, Nations Express, and others.
- RT @benjaminhgordon: #Blockchain Could Revolutionize #Logistics, But Is The Industry Prepared To Let It? via @forbes https://t.co/Seur0oqL953 days ago
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BG Strategic Advisors, LLC
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Investigators from the National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), and Duke University Medical Center evaluated long-term trends in thyroid cancer incidence and mortality according to histology, stage, and tumor size at diagnosis. Using data from the SEER-9 cancer registries, they identified 77,276 cases of thyroid cancer diagnosed between 1974 and 2013, of whom 2,371 died of thyroid cancer between 1994 and 2013. They found that overall incidence of thyroid cancer increased more than threefold over the past four decades, by an average of 3.6% per year, mainly driven by an increase (4.4% per year) in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), the most common type. Thyroid cancer mortality rates increased by an average of 1.1% per year over the past two decades, with the greatest increase (1.7% per year) observed for patients diagnosed with PTC. For advanced-stage PTC, average yearly incidence and mortality rates increased by 2.4% and 2.9%, respectively, during these time periods.
The results from the current study suggest that both over-diagnosis and a real increase in the occurrence of PTC have contributed to the observed trends in thyroid cancer incidence. The authors highlight the need for future studies to discern the specific environmental or lifestyle factors behind the increase, but also stress that thyroid cancer can be treated very successfully with surgery and radiation, if detected at an early stage. The study was published in the April 4th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.


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ESR Trans Am 2016 Round 3 October 23, 2016
Our 2016 Historic GT & Touring Cars Trans Am season is underway with close and clean sim racing towards a highly competitive 15 round championship.
Look for our dedicated race server "efnetsimracing.com" and go to forum.efnetsimracing.com for more news and info.
2013-2014 Can-Am Late Model Season Review
Can-Am Late Model Season Review
Our third crack at an oval racing series, in comparison to previous seasons, a success. On the one hand, car count was at times poor; the season opener at Delaware Speedway brought 12 cars to the table, with the same 12 starting at Barrie Speedway, but after that participation became spotty for several of the drivers, and counts hovered around the magic "9″ for the rest of the season.
Which is a shame–even a field of 14-15
Read More
Wednesday Can-Am Late Models: Coffey Sweeps Both Races at Iowa to Take The Championship!
Solid way to finish out the stockcar season, with a decent field of 10 at the season finale in Iowa!
With such a tight points battle, every position would count, and Qualifying put Rich Coffey where he needed to be, in third on the inside of rival Sherman Baumann, while teammate Tom Lory took his first career pole position in the Reed's Ginger Brew Toyota. Cameron Wagner would line up alongside.
The Championship scenario was pretty simple–whoever finished ahead of the other
Read More
Wednesday Can-Am Late Models: Baumann Dominates at Bristol, Narrows Championshipto 4 Points Heading to Finale!
Well unfortunately despite all our efforts we still only managed 9 cars for the big race at Bristol. But there was some good racing to be had regardless.
Qualifying was extremely close, but it would be EVOL'S Brandon Smith putting his Toyota on point, his second of the season, with teammate Rich Coffey alongside. Coffey would snooker Smith on the start to take a commanding lead, leaving him to deal with John Culbert, Jr. and Tom Lory just behind.
The performance of
Read More
Wednesday Can-Am Late Models: Coffey Dominates at Bowman-Gray; Baumann Takes Win With Final Lap Tap
As expected, it was a rough-n-tumble night at the legendary bullring of Bowman-Gray Stadium, though not nearly as messy as expected. Points leader Rich Coffey would put the Reed's Ginger Brew Toyota on point, but Qualifying amongst the top 5 was razor-close.
Race 1 was, frankly, a bit of a bore, with Coffey leading the entire 35 laps to take the win–though Cameron Wagner kept him honest, getting a nose in on a few occasions. After the last restart however, it
Read More
Wednesday Can-Am Late Models: Culbert wins Race of the Year candidate against Baumann at Madison; Coffey Picks up Race 2 Win
Decent turnout of 10 cars for our final stockcar event of 2013, at Madison!
Practice had several cars within a tenth or so of each other, but it would be John Culbert, Jr. landing his third pole of the season, an unbelievable 0.001 seconds ahead of Cameron Wagner!
Despite its high banks, Madison proved a difficult track to pass on, with the lower groove right down on the curb proving significantly quicker. Culbert would hold the top spot for the majority of
Read More
Wednesday Can-Am Late Models: Wagner Holds off all Challenges at Martinsville
Decent turnout of 11 cars for our mid-season race at the legendary paper-clip of Martinsville!
Lots of cars were running extremely close times in Practice, but it would be Brandon Smith putting the PPi Toyota on point for his first-career circle track pole. The front of the field was extremely close, the top 4 separated by only .080 seconds!
Things would get off to a rocky start as teammates Smith and Rich Coffey would go side-by-side into Turn 1, and make heavy
Read More
Wednesday Can-Am Late Models: Coffey Passes Culbert for Win in Race 1 at Thunderhill; Wagner Dominates Race 2
Good night of racing, despite only 8 cars taking to the grid, at the tricky D-Shaped ThunderHill Speedway.
Practice was agonizingly close amongst the top 5, but it would be John Culbert, Jr. putting the HAWK Performance Chevy on pole position. Only .084 would separate the top 3.
Culbert would lead from pole and withstand a fantastic challenge from Rich Coffey hanging on the outside for several laps, before finally jumping ahead exiting Turn 4. Two cautions in quick succession would fly
Read More
Wednesday LM: Wagner Picks Up First Career Oval Win; Coffey Wins War with Culbert at Stafford
Another solid night of racing, this time out at Stafford Speedway for our first American round. Car count remains low but the action high!
Hometown favourite Sherman Baumann would carry momentum from last week's domination at Cayuga to land pole position in the hillclimb.org Toyota, but would struggle a bit for consistency during long green periods–which we mostly had, with only a single caution in all of Race 1! Coffey would snooker Baumann on the start to take the lead, and
Read More
Wednesday Can-Am Late Models: Baumann Dominates at Cayuga
Well that was quick! Only 9 made the grid again for Cayuga, with Sherman Baumann taking pole position in the hillclimb.org Toyota.
Not much to speak of at the front of the grid, as Baumann had everyone's number all night, dominating to lead every lap and take the win, his second in a row. It would be our first-ever caution-free race, which did not benefit Brandon Smith, who qualified alongside and had similar pace, but had no chance to close the
Read More


text: Actual New control system ready for MR label machines Our customers often asked us to develop something for the older MR label machines. These machines are still fully mechanically available and also functionally only the control ran out of time and was sometimes not even available for some versions. here the solution from MK Gilze our boys have really delivered craftsmanship. it is also possible to integrate this in the control of the packaging... Read more New construction MK Tooling Sitting quietly is not in the genes of Machines Kennes outside the daily development at MK Gilze there is also a nice development at our daughter company MK Tooling Great news (www.mktooling.nl) In December 2018 a Go was given for expanding MK Tooling. Apart from the fact that a beautiful new machine is being added to our machine park, there will also be a complete new building. This... Read more Contour Cutter Read more 1 2 3 4 5


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Clerical Work from Home – Become a Virtual Assistant
Filed under: Freelance Work, Virtual Assistant, Work at Home Jobs
With the Internet revolution, one need not actually be present in the office to perform office related jobs. Now, you can do clerical work from home by becoming a virtual assistant! Read more
Work at Home Jobs for You
Filed under: Popular, Work at Home Jobs
Lately, it has been a season of job hunting. Finding the right type of work, its accompanying benefits, and the amount of pay are the considerations one has to weigh. Before, you may have been thrilled when getting an office job even if the pay wasn't that good. Today, you will be surprised to know that there are more individuals who are hooked with work at home jobs instead of office jobs. Read more
What are the Best Legitimate Work-from-Home Jobs?
Filed under: Franchises, Transcription, Virtual Assistant, Work at Home Jobs, Writing and Blogging
Despite the rampant scams inundating the home-workers' market, there do exist legitimate work from home jobs that have been helping many home based workers to earn money and gain better financial stability because of them. Although horror stories seem to be more widespread when it comes to work from home ideas online, there are real success stories shared by hundreds of thousands of individuals who had the good fortune to find real jobs from the remote locations of their homes. Read more


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To be cautious
If someone held a gun to your head and asked you to select between Iran with chemical weapons and intent on building a nuclear weapon and al-Qaeda with chemical weapons, which one would you select as your roommate knowing both will try to kill you the first chance they get.
Before you answer, there is a caveat.
If you attack Iran, you would face the wrath of the international community as an UN-card touting country with all the accoutrements of the legitimacy of a state and support from Russia, but if you attack al-Qaeda, many countries would sit it out in silence, including Russia, and the UN cannot come to al-Qaeda's aid as a legitimate entity.
The most cautious of people need to stop and think next time they feel compelled to choose Assad over al-Qaeda even if the certainty al-Qaeda will control Syria is beyond any doubt, which is not.
It is hard to play the odds with the lives of our children; however, in this instance, the odds are against Assad and Iran under the worst of circumstances.
Happy Rosh Hashanah


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LC Kids Trick-or-Treat
As David Bowie once sang, "Let's dance." Or, as his musical heirs will put it this weekend, "Let all the children boogie."
That's the title of a concert on Saturday at LC Kids Trick-or-Treat, a free Halloween revel on Lincoln Center's plazas. The show will celebrate the coming release of "Let All the Children Boogie: A Tribute to David Bowie," an album on which artists from both the young people's music world and grown-up entertainment have reinterpreted 20 of his songs.
"Halloween and David Bowie go beautifully together," said Stephanie Mayers, one of the album's producers, pointing to Bowie's signature "costuming and styling" (reflected in Jarrett J. Krosoczka's lively CD cover illustration).
Two of the album's other producers, Robert Burke Warren (known as Uncle Rock) and the Grammy-winning Dean Jones, will perform on Saturday: Mr. Warren and Tracy Bonham will offer a heartfelt "Lady Stardust," while Mr. Jones will join Lloyd Miller for their kazoo- and organ-pipe-infused "V-2 Schneider." Sonia De Los Santos and Elena Moon Park will lend a folk spin and exuberant violin playing to "The Man Who Sold the World." And one artist is only 15: Storey Littleton, whose soaring vocals will animate "Life on Mars" and a rousing rendition of Bowie's "Changes" with You Are My Flower, the band founded by her mother, Elizabeth Mitchell.
"I was really impressed with the diversity of the approaches," said Ms. Mayers, who developed the album with Bill Childs, whose label, Spare the Rock Records, will release it on Nov. 18. (Advance copies will be sold at the concert.) In translating Bowie for children, "some stayed on the path of his songs, and others really colored outside the lines."
The concert, at 12:15 p.m. in the David Rubenstein Atrium (space is limited; families should arrive early) honors a cause Bowie embraced: freedom of expression. All the album's proceeds will go to the It Gets Better Project, which supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.
"We want to spread that message to kids who feel they're struggling with their identity, whatever that struggle may be," Ms. Mayers said.
But the day isn't all Bowie. It also includes Peter Brown reading his book "My Teacher Is a Monster! (No, I Am Not)"; the jazz band Sammy Miller and the Congregation leading a costume parade; a postevent "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" screening; and a "scavenger haunt" whose stations feature "characters like a mummy and a witch," said Jonathan Shmidt Chapman, Lincoln Center's producer of family programming.
"They have all come to the big city and lost their Halloween spirit," he said. So they'll seek help from famously spirited specialists: young New Yorkers.
(11 a.m. to 1 p.m., family.lincolncenter.org.)


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Louie is an American comedy-drama television series on the FX network that began airing in 2010. It is written, directed, edited and produced by the show's creator, stand-up comedian Louis C.K. The show has a loose format atypical for television comedy series, consisting of largely unconnected storylines and segments (described as "extended vignettes") that revolve around Louie's life, punctuated by live stand-up performances.
Louie is a comedy filtered through the observational humor of Louis C.K. Each episode puts a spotlight on Louis' hectic life as a successful stand-up comedian and newly single father raising his two daughters. The single-camera comedy is a mix of Louis C.K.'s stand-up comedy and scripted short films.
Theme Song:
"Brother Louie" by Ian Lloyd
Louis C.K., Nick DiPaolo, Todd Barry, Jim Norton, Eddie Brill, Chelsea Peretti, Hannibal BuressRick Shapiro, Ricky Gervais
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I watched the first half of the first season and then never went back. I can't say I didn't like it. I enjoy his comedy in general.It just didn't make me want to come back for more. Maybe one day I'll sit down to a Louie marathon and change my mind.
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Thank you very much, worked like a charm. The default was 1000 records and I changed it to 15 and works perfectly.
Thank you!
Your friends over here at WebAssist! These Dreamweaver extensions will assist you in building unlimited, custom websites.
These out-of-the-box solutions provide you proven, tested applications that can be up and running now. Build a store, a gallery, or a web-based email solution.


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|Archived February 20, 2019
Renee Takesue Recognized by AGU for Excellence in Refereeing
Renee Takesue, a research geochemist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)'s Western Coastal and Marine Geology team, was among the recipients of the American Geophysical Union (AGU)'s 2006 Editors' Citations for Excellence in Refereeing. The awardees, cited by editors of AGU journals, were recognized for their service to AGU and commended for consistently providing constructive and thoughtful reviews. Takesue was cited by Laurent Labeyrie, editor of Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. Other USGS recipients were Roland von Huene (USGS Scientist Emeritus, cited by editor of Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth), Gerald Bawden (research geophysicist, cited by editor of Geophysical Research Letters), Hedeff Essaid (research hydrologist, cited by editor of Water Resources Research), and Jim O'Connor (research hydrologist, cited by editor of Water Resources Research). Congratulations to all!
in this issue:
Assessing Resilience of the Chandeleur and Breton Islands
Earth Science Day in Menlo Park, CA
USGS Emeritus Scientist Leads Field Trip
Abby Sallenger Wins USGS Shoemaker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Communication
American Fisheries Society Honors Biologist Walter R. Courtenay
Renee Taksue Recognized by AGU for Excellence in Refereeing
USGS Director Mark Myers Visits the Florida Integrated Science Center
New Book Includes USGS Sea-Floor Data
|Archived February 20, 2019


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50+ Leading Data Experts from Top Companies Cover Topics from the Edge to AI
Cloudera Now is the world's premier online big data event designed for architects, analysts, data scientists, engineers, IT specialists, developers and DBAs. Don't miss this chance to hear about the latest developments in AI, Machine Learning, IoT, Cloud, and more in over 50 sessions, technical deep dives, demonstrations and customer use cases.
Get answers to your top questions while learning how to apply open source technology to accelerate your digital transformation in any cloud from the Edge to AI.
Journey to the Enterprise Data Cloud
Doug Cutting, Hadoop Founder, Cloudera
Introducing Cloudera Data Science Workbench 1.6 and New ML Services
Hilary Mason, GM Machine Learning, Cloudera
Vortex of Change, Business Metamorphosis (In a Digital Age)
Rachel Mushahwar, Vice President and General Manager of US Sales, Intel
Building Cross-Cloud Pipelines with Kubeflow
Holden Karau, Developer Advocate, Google
Why Attend?
Big data, data science, and big innovation are in your DNA. Join your peers at Cloudera Now where you'll hear industry experts and practitioners as they share real-world use-cases, success stories, and best practices.
Built for a technical audience
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Is Giffords Circus worth the money? That's something people ask me all the time when I say that we've been, and I can understand why, tickets are £100 for a family of four and with snacks, icecream and travel on top, that can really add up to an expensive evening out.
All I can say is YES! Yes it is absolutely worth the money. We went with friends and got our tickets this year for the discounted rate of £50 for our family of four. (Not through blogging by the way!) But the previous year we went, I paid full price and next year I would happily pay full price again.
There is something utterly magical about a trip to Giffords. From the quaint painted wagons, the burgundy and gold colour scheme and the smell of sawdust and candy floss in the air, everything about Giffords Circus is like stepping back in time. There is a real sense of old fashioned good clean fun about the place, and the children absolutely adore it. We went when the show was in Cirencester but there are many other options of venue, over the summer they tour the Cotswolds and even visit London for some shows.
Each year has a theme, it's not your usual act after act here, there is a story-line woven in, and this year was about a Spanish court, and there was flamenco dancing, opera singing and the most exquisite costumes to wow the senses and transport you to another time and place. The musicians are incredibly talented and add to the atmosphere perfectly. There are some animals involved in the show, last time was horses and dogs, and this time horses and chickens! I am the first to admit that animals in circuses make me sad but not so with Giffords. The animals all look incredibly fit and healthy and exceedingly well cared for and loved.
We arrived an hour early, (how I really do not know!), and got straight in the queue, meaning we had front row, centre seats, perfect for the view and also hilarious for the children as both of the Daddies got picked on! Seating is unreserved so get there early to secure a good spot!
Tweedy warmed up the crowd and you could feel the excitement building in the children as they spotted their hero, there is something about him that all children simply adore and love to copy, thankfully this year he had some new catch phrases to the last show though, as I had a good twelve months of 'I've got a lolly!' and wasn't relishing the prospect of another twelve! 😀
The show moves seamlessly from act to act, mixing up slapstick comedy, death defying feats of daring and strength and quite a lot of risque material that zooms straight over the children's heads but has the adults roaring. There is an interval and there were plenty of clean portaloos with not too much queuing from what we saw. There are also plenty of food and drink options, including wood fired pizzas!
I don't want to give too much away about the show itself so I have just added a few of the photos I took to give you a taster of the evening. There was never a dull moment and the entire audience was absolutely gripped all the way through, with a lot of laughter and many gasps and cheers for the more dangerous stunts. There is so much talent on display, and the whole team work very hard to make sure the show has the wow factor and everything runs smoothly.
Any Port In A Storm is almost over for this year, (the last weekend seems to be sold out unsurprisingly!) but I'm pretty sure that they will be planning something equally wondrous for next year and we are excited already.
Have you been? Would you say Giffords Circus is worth the money? We certainly think it is!


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Armando Iannucci is literally part of the establishment and one of the UK's best comedy directors. He has several BAFTA wins and an Academy Award nomination.
His canon of work includes 'I'm Alan Partridge', 'The Thick Of It', 'The Day Today', 'In The Loop' and most recently the HBO production 'Veep' which picked up an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.
His commercial work includes the classic Nationwide spots with actor Mark Benton.


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How a video game proved that increasing supply won't fix the housing affordability crisis
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"Great Atmosphere on Water. Casual , Outdoor and Indoor Dining. Crab Legs-Yummy! "
- Consigliato da 41 persone del luogo
"Hands down the best pizza on Tybee! Great place to relax after a long day on the beach. "
- Consigliato da 34 persone del luogo
Ristorante di pesce
"If you're ever stranded on a boat in a rainstorm on your way to Wassaw Island (somehow that always happens when you're out sailing with us…) A-J's is the place to stop for a beer. You can tie your boat, kayak, or whatever you have up at the dock and then get a great bloody mary! "
- Consigliato da 34 persone del luogo
Ristorante americano
"A personal favorite. They always have great dinner specials. If it's busy it can take a little while to get food so we usually get an app to start with. It's right by North Beach so you can also get a drink to go and take it to the beach."
- Consigliato da 29 persone del luogo
"Tybee's only true fine dining restaurant. Relaxed ambience with fantastic food. Reservations are a must! "
- Consigliato da 22 persone del luogo
Locale per la colazione
"Bacon and eggs sorta breakfast place. It gets busy quickly during the summer. "
- Consigliato da 18 persone del luogo
Ristorante di taco
"Social Club is actually a bar and grill with very delicious food to match fantastic drinks. They have live music regularly and it is fun night spot as well. If you can, check out the Bluegrass Brunch on Sundays from noon-3p.m."
- Consigliato da 15 persone del luogo
"Great sunset view while sipping a refreshing beverage and having a bite to eat. "
- Consigliato da 15 persone del luogo
"Tybee's only true fine dining restaurant. Relaxed ambience with fantastic food. Reservations are a must! "
- Consigliato da 22 persone del luogo
"Variety of coffee drinks and nice atmosphere. Surrounded by quaint little shopping area. "
- Consigliato da 13 persone del luogo
"Tybee Bakery and Cafe Miss Korea are probably in the top 10 of my favorite places in Savannah! Miss Korea goes by reservation only, rarely serves more than 6 guests at a time, and cooks what she wants for you. Yes you read that correctly. No menu. You tell her what you *Do Not Eat*, and she shops for you, and prepares a custom meal unique to you. I'm sure you could make requests, but what's the fun in that? :) Her food is delicious, and you feel like a privileged guest to eat in the cafe. TIP - Do NOT skip Dessert!!! I talk about her partner, Simon, the owner and head Baker of the Tybee Bakery and his skillful creations in the just Desserts section. These two are a knockout culinary duo! Just Go."
- Consigliato da 1 persona del luogo
"Best place for lunch on weekdays. Mon thru Friday you have a choice of 2 meats and several veggies. The food is home cooking and absolutely my favorite lunch on the island and priced right. "
- Consigliato da 1 persona del luogo


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I played tennis last week with a friend that is 5-months pregnant. She was telling us about her crazy infatuation with Noxzema (YES, the facial cream). She said she dreams at night of bathing in it. We all laughed knowing how pregnancy can make you desire the most peculiar things. Her comment reminded me of my obsession for peanut butter while I was pregnant. I remember craving it so much that I would eat spoonfuls out of the jar and would go "nuts" if we ever ran out!
In honor of National Peanut Day this Friday, we are posting some deliciously tempting peanut butter treats. This smoothie is a favorite in my house. We used to make it with peanut butter but recently discovered Peanut Wonder and are hooked. If you have not tried this tasty product then you need to immediately! You will not believe how fantastic it tastes with only 100 calories and two grams of fat per serving. I guarantee you will love it and no longer have to feel guilty over that occasional PB&J. This smoothie is also made with flax seeds which are an excellent source of anti-inflammatory omega-3 essential fatty acids and heart healthy dietary fiber. Get your blender out and start whipping up some healthy peanut butter and banana yumminess.
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup vanilla fat-free yogurt
1 Tb Peanut Wonder Original (or peanut butter)
2 Tb ground golden flax seed
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 ripe banana, sliced
Place all ingredients along with some ice into a blender; process until smooth. Serves 2.


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Interesting article on the Alexander Technique
Excellent article on the benefits and application of the Alexander Technique. I have taken a few classes here in Santa Barbara with Ronit Corry, and I highly recommend this type of work to people who feel they could benefit from a having more relaxed posture.
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Dec 29, 2016
200: Baptism of Christ A (Jan. 8, 2017)
Featured Musician - My...
Dec 23, 2016
Featured Musician - Bryan Sirchio, "We Three Kings" from his newest album, December Recollections.
Dec 18, 2016
199: Christmas, A (December 25, 2016)
Support the Show: Donate and Audible
Featured Musician - "Glory In...
Dec 11, 2016
198: Advent 4A (Dec. 18, 2016)
Dec 8, 2016
We sat down with Christian over a warm cup of Skype to talk about Jordan (the Country, not Michael), Trump as Cyrus (or Not), and how to be less of an A-Hole in his new book Leaving A-Holiness Behind: From Pious Jerk to Not So Pious Jerk.
Support the Show: Donate and Audible


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The House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK Parliament. It is independent from, and complements the work of, the House of Commons. Members of the Lords play a vital role making laws and keeping a check on government.
Line by line examination continues in House of Lords
Committee will also hear from the Australian Senate
Witnesses include the President of the Family Division of the High Court and the Master of the Rolls
Lords looks at Welfare Reform Bill, EU drugs strategy and more
Education, including Topical Questions
Northern Rock
Housing Reform
Intelligence and Security Committee
Access to acute and crisis mental health care
No business announced for today
European Union Documents No. 14357/11 Commission Communication: Schengen governance¬—strengthening the area without internal border control, No. 14539/11 Draft Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 in order to provide for common rules on the temporary reintroduction of border control at internal borders in exceptional circumstances, No.16664/10 Draft Regulation on the establishment of an evaluation mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis with No. 14358/11 Amended proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of an evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis, and No. 14142/10 Draft Council Decision on the full application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania
Draft Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Regulations 2011
Draft Parliamentary Constituencies and Assembly Electoral Regions (Wales) (Amendment) Order 2011
Privacy and Injunctions - The Rt Hon Sir Nicholas Wall, President of the Family Division of the High Court and Mr Justice Baker (at 2.15 pm); The Rt Hon the Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Master of the Rolls and Mr Justice Tugendhat (at 3.15 pm)
BBC Efficiency Programme - Anthony Fry, BBC Trust, Mark Thompson, Director General, Zarin Patel, Chief Financial Officer, BBC
Financing for new housing supply - Andy Hull, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Public Policy Research, Peter Williams, Director, Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research, Jim Vine, Head of Programme, UK Housing Policy and Practice, Building and Social Housing Foundation and Roger Harding, Head of Policy, Research and Public Affairs, Shelter; John Stewart, Director of Economic Affairs, Home Builders Federation, Cllr Clyde Loakes, Vice Chair, Environment and Housing Board, Local Government Association, Ian Fletcher, Director of Policy (Real Estate), British Property Federation and Abigail Davies, Assistant Director of Policy and Practice, Chartered Institute of Housing (at 5.10pm)
EU Enlargement and Foreign Policy - Baroness Ashton of Upholland, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission
National early diagnosis campaigns following the enactment
Children's public service channels on electronic programming guides
International development funds spending
Current situation in Syria
London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill - Third reading - Baroness Garden of Frognal
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill - Second reading - Lord McNally
Welfare Reform Bill - Committee stage (Day 15) - Lord Freud
Privacy and Injunctions - (at 2.15pm) The Rt. Hon. Sir Nicholas Wall, President of the Family Division of the High Court; Mr Justice Baker; and (at 3.15pm) The Rt. Hon. the Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Master of the Rolls; and Mr Justice Tugendhat.
to consider the Bill - Committee visit to the Bank of England.
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Police arrested a Middlefield man trying to break into a Clinton business early Friday morning after he resisted arrest and fought with officers, according to police.
Clinton police responded to Grove Garden Center at 341 East Main Street at 2:15 a.m. on Friday after receiving reports that someone was trying to break into the closed business. Several officers and a police dog set up a perimeter around the business and found Kyle Debernardi, 25, hiding in shrubbery on the west end of the property, police said.
He tried to flee and when police cornered him he resisted arrest, police said. Officers took him into police custody after he struggled with police briefly, he said.
Multiple officers sustained minor injuries.
Police charged him with third-degree burglary, third-degree criminal trespass, interfering with an officer and assault on a police officer.
Police held Debernardi on a $10,000 bond and he was scheduled to appear in Middletown Superior Court on Friday.


text: After a long and cold training period from January to March, my buddy Chris and I ran the Virginia Creeper Marathon today in Abingdon, VA. The race was on the lower end of the Virginia Creeper Trail. The course was great – all trail except for a couple of miles at the beginning. The weather – not so much. It rained the whole time and temps started out at 38 and climed all the way up to 43. Everything got wet, shoes, shirt, and hat. I ran the race in a rain jacket because it was cold enough. Thinkgs went well until I stopped to change my socks and shirt at mile 18. It was hard to get back in the groove after that and I had to slow down and walk some. All in all, I'm glad I did it (especially now – aftewards). Miles 19-26 were pretty tough. I had to just find a pace I could maintain and just keep going.


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Click on the Stork to see the latest births at the RainForest Adventures Zoo
RainForest Adventures zoo is home to literally hundreds of tropical and temperate animals. Our focus is primarily on the animals you are likely to see on the Animal Planet, Discover Channel or other similar nature shows.
The majority of the animals at RainForest Adventures zoo have been born, or hatched in captivity. We have animals on loan from zoos all across the U.S., primarily for the purpose of education. So while visiting Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg take a break and come and meet our family of zoo animals!
Please click on any of the links to the left to be taken to some great photos of some of the creatures living at Rain Forest Adventures. We have organized the pages in such a way as to help you find the particular animal you are looking for.


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Sunday, 19 October 2008
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
So this weekend, I rented the last Indiana Jones movie, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I hadn't watched it when it came to the theaters.
About twenty minutes into the movie....I was questioning myself over having picked this selection. The script died somewhere after fifteen minutes and I was thinking this was a fairly dim movie. An hour into the movie....nothing had improved.
As I wrapped up this 120-minute movie...I just sat there laughing. It was a terrible waste of talent to bring these folks together and stick them to this script. The story went nowhere.
I have to be fairly honest. I considered the first Jones movie to be a classic....with the second being fairly awful and barely a 2-star movie. The third movie survived primarily because of the plot and one of the better scripts done in years. I'm hoping this is the end of the Indiana Jones line, and just it go. I can't see it improving.
Hammer Time
Over the years, I've known a number of women who believed their husbands were aliens....although none ever discussed alien plans of murdering them. None of them ever used a hammer on the husband, although I suspect that half would have enjoyed using a hammer for a whack or two.....just for the heck of it.
I'm guessing Gabrielle's husband...Ronald....will be really nice about charges and eventually drop them. I'm also guessing that all the hammers in the house will be locked up and tightly controlled. But don't worry.....Gabrielle is smart gal....she'll new weapons in the future, and eventually come to the conclusion that Ronald is a alien again....and have to whack on him.
Bama Voters, Growing Day by Day
As most of you know....I am from Bama....and I am into statistics.
This week....came an unusual event in six Bama counties. They have actually registered more folks on their voting rolls....than they have of people of voting age. At least this is what the U.S. Census Bureau estimates. I don't usually argue with these folks because they are the head bean counters.
Now, I am of the type that would analyze and ponder this event. It is possible that several thousand dead folks are on the rolls of the six counties. Its possible that some folks moved from one county to another....and simply signed up at the new spot...like you'd expect.
The curious thing here....are the spoken words by the Bama Secretary of State (Beth Chapman)...who said: "I can't say it's impossible that 100 percent of adults in five or six counties are registered to vote. But it is improbable."
What happens if all of these folks do vote? I'm predicting a pretty hefty schedule for the county prosecutor in each case for 2009. Lots of folks will find themselves in court to explain double-voting or false registrations. Jail will be likely outcome for some folks. And for you dead folks voting in Bama....I'm thinking something is wrong here.
Universal This and Unverisal That
I'm not much of a supporter of the universal health care program. I've seen it at work in Germany and realize the various problems associated with it, the real costs, and the huge amount of discipline thats required on doctors, nurses, hospitals and drug companies. Selling universal health care is practically impossible unless you just ram it down people's throats....namely doctors, nurses, hospitals and drug companies. Savings for the middle-class? In the end....I doubt that any middle-class guy ever saves a penny....and likely has to contribute more so that the lower-class can have the precious program.
I sat and pondered this entire concept of universal health care....and then came to some interesting thoughts.
If universal health care makes sense, why not universal vet care for your pets? If you own a pet, you pay $75 a year for each one and you get free vet care for your dog, cat or mouse? Every pet would be covered and poor folks wouldn't worry about their dog and his worms problem.
If universal health care makes sense, why not universal car repair? If you own a car, you pay $788 a year for each car and you get free maintenance at your local mechanics shop. You get a special card and when issues arise...you drive in and get free care. Need a new transmission....don't worry....universal car care will protect you.
If universal health care makes sense, why not universal septic tank repair? If you own a house with a septic tank, you pay $88 a year for free septic tank coverage. You got problems....you pull out your septic card and call the local guy, and he digs up the tank....replaces it....and leaves smiling because the bill is taken care by the government.
If universal health care makes sense, why not universal lawn care? You pay $185 a year which would provide a lawn specialist to mow your lawn every week.
If universal health care makes sense, why not universal plumbing care? You pay $850 a year which would provide free care for all your plumbing in the house. This would ensure poor folks get the same kind of care as everyone else.
If universal health care makes sense, why not universal massage service? You pay $59 a month which would provide two visits to the local massage therapist. Rich people and poor people would qualify. Everyone would get a boost in their morale.
If universal health care makes sense, why not universal congressional support? You pay $88 a month for the same service and support that rich people get when they run up and demand congressional folks write up special laws to exempt them from taxes.
If universal health care makes sense, why not universal newspapers? You pay $22 a month to get a newspaper on your lawn....and help all of those poor folks get a newspaper on their lawn as well.
If universal health care makes sense, why not universal fast food? You pay $80 a month to get a ration of Wendys or Burger King burgers....and poor people would also get their ration.
In the end....you were earning $48k a year.....and the total amount you see at the end of the year in your hands....is $2k. The rest went to universal something, taxes, and social security. At least everyone would be happy....especially the folks who stayed home and never worked.


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Sound and music play a big part in a number of business ventures, whether in the form of marketing or in entertainment and with any professional audio-visual setup, it is imperative that the quality is faultless. Great sound will reflect your business very well and is sure to 'drum up' support.
Every business aims at marketing that impacts and creates its brand image. Sometimes, it should be simple and streamlined but, in other cases it needs to be powerful and flashy. Sound or audio has a great impact in marketing as it works well alone or as a counterpart to other sensory experiences. Aside from radio or TV advertising, which utilize music and catchy slogans to get inside people's minds, sound can also be used direct in premises to influence customer satisfaction and rates of purchase. In order to make the right impression and make sure that any sound you use has the desired effect, the quality of the technology is of particular importance.
Creating the perfect audio element to your commercial enterprise is broadly dependent on the purpose for which you are going to employ it. For example, a restaurant or bar businesses are particularly reliant on atmosphere or ambiance. If there is a nice buzz or a chilled-out vibe, depending on the type of establishment it is, it will encourage people to feel relaxed and this is when they typically spend more money as customers will be happy to stay for longer. Other uses may be as an in-store radio which mixes good shopping music with broadcasts about deals and offers and other valuable retail information.
The feature of your sonic marketing that is going to make the most difference is the quality of sound. No-one wants to listen to music that is too loud or too quiet, or that is distorted or indistinct, especially not if you're trying to relax over dinner or drinks. As such, it is worth investing in high performance sound equipment. You will want to have multiple inputs so you can listen to music from a computer, MP3 player or CD and with the latter, to avoid long gaps between tracks it is important to use a multi-disc changer. The speakers should be of a good quality and appropriate in size and good speaker cables will improve the fidelity of the sound.
Choice of Music
This is naturally the most subjective element of the setup. Some will leave this at the discretion of their staff or even the customers, but if you are cultivating a distinct image, it is worth making a careful choice of music. The most ambient noises are fine for a very chilled environment but sometimes this can be lost and feel pointless. Good music for creating a pleasant atmosphere includes jazz, swing and soul, while classical, if chosen well, can be right for certain upmarket establishments.
Overall, there is no denying the importance of sound in modern business and getting it right involves defining your reasons, choosing the right music and assuring sound fidelity, right down to selecting the best hifi speaker cables. It may seem no more than an optional extra but can make a real difference.
Martin George writes regularly on audio-visual gear for a range of technology websites and blogs. He is a specialist on manufacturers of hifi speaker cables, as he worked in this industry for many years, as well as having expertise in a number of related areas.


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So the fully printed hand has arrived. There was a delay on shapeways end, but otherwise things are fine. I also received a few other things that I designed, and can be found on my shop here.
So far I've taken a few photos and done a paint job. I'm waiting for some resin to cure which will hold down the hand ends of the bowden tubes (PTFE tubing). This will let the tendons pull only at the joints that I want them to.
So hopefully over the next couple of days I should have a moving hand. I haven't recently done a head count of all the working servos I have, and so may not be able to fully articulate it immediately, but it should be enough to show the flexibility at the fingers.


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One of my songs is nominated for CNET Asia Song of the Year. Here's the email I received 5 minutes ago:
We are excited to inform you that 1 of your songs has made it to the nominee list for Song of the Year. From now till end December, CNET Asia is calling on readers to vote for their favorite songs. After the voting period, the song with the most votes will be crowned CNET Asia's Song of the Year.
But it's not all glory and no reward. The winning artist/band will walk away with a spanking new Nokia 5300 XpressMusic so tell all your fans and friends to support you at http://asia.cnet.com/music/promo/soty.htm.
The song that was nominated is called 'Our Spirit In Flight'. The grammatical mistake is made on purpose. It was meant to signify a singular element – one spirit – rather than many disparate souls.
This inspirational work was composed in 1999 but never commercially released. I produce new age albums and composed numerous musicals and this composition just can't fit into any of these collection for publication, so I thought I might as well put it online for sharing and download. Neither did I expect that my song is selected as one of the 8 finalists for online voting to be the Song of the Year. Groovy.
Support me by voting online at http://asia.cnet.com/music/promo/soty.htm
Before you vote for me, give the other finalists a chance by downloading their songs and listen. There are some really great songs and perhaps you might even vote for them instead.
Seems that the download feature is not enabled in my CNET song page, so if you have trouble listening, click here.
CNET Asia Song of the Year Nominee
Our Spirit In Flight
Chester Tan
And when you are done listening, vote at http://asia.cnet.com/music/promo/soty.htm


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Maya. Post-BDM. Mal, Zoe and Jayne encounter more problems, but the rest of the crew aren't doing too well either. NEW CHAPTER
"You know, Simon found out more about that plaque," Hank said, swivelling backwards and forwards in his seat until Freya began to feel a little seasick.
"Oh?" she said, turning to look out of the window into the Aegis sunshine.
"It's cursed."
"What?" She wasn't really listening to him.
"Cursed. There's some old document that says anyone removing it from its home will …" He stopped swivelling and looked at her. "Did you hear a word I said?"
"I was just wondering why it's gone quiet."
Hank stared, then said, "You don't think they touched that statue, do you? After I told them not to."
"No." She concentrated, pushing through the static River was still putting out. "No, they've okay. Just …"
Hank fiddled with the switches on the com. "Well, there's no reason this end for us not to hear them." He kept trying different combinations.
Freya leaned forward, running her eyes over the console. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, certainly no indication there should be anything wrong. She got to her feet. "I'll go check the array, make sure that's functioning."
He looked round at her. "Can you pick anything else up from them?"
She unfocused, feeling as if she was digging through the rock herself. "Mal's annoyed, but that's about it. They're okay otherwise."
"Can you talk to him?"
"No." She felt annoyed herself. "I … no."
"But they're okay?"
"I think they're on their way back."
"Well, you don't need to climb up on Serenity. Diagnostics show the array's working fine. I think it's just that booster Kaylee put together."
"I still think someone should –"
"Then I'll go." He thumbed the com. "Kaylee, can you come and babysit for a while?"
"Sure, Hank," her voice came back. "Where're you going?"
"Up top to check the array."
"We got problems?" Instantly her tone changed.
"No. Not like that. Probably just a short somewhere."
"I'll go."
"Nope. Your shoulder still ain't one hundred percent, and I ain't having your husband shout at me. Something about a doctor mad at me makes me … perturbed. All those potions he's got down in the infirmary …"
They heard Kaylee laugh. "He wouldn't hurt you."
"I want to be on the safe side of that. Just come up and keep an eye on things, will you?"
"On my way."
Hank turned to Freya. "See? No problem. You go down to the temple, see if you can fix the booster. Anyway, by the time you get there, I expect they'll be coming out." He smiled for her. "Be a nice welcome back, have you waiting for 'em."
"Yeah." She hurried off the bridge, her brow furrowed nevertheless.
"Hank?" Mal was getting to the end of his short tether. "Gorram it, where the hell are you?"
"I doubt he's doing this on purpose, sir," Zoe said.
"That doesn't make me feel any better." For a moment he closed his eyes, centring himself, then he looked at the others. "Best get back, then."
"About time," Jayne said, glancing at the golden statue. It looked so real, and the coloured gems were calling out to him. He shivered. "Yeah. 'Bout time."
Mal switched on his torch. Or tried to. "What the …?" He shook it, staring into the business end, but there was nothing. He shook it again, harder, hearing something rattle inside.
"I don't think that's going to work, sir," his first mate said, switching her own on, the beam pale in the sunlight through the vent.
"It might." Mal gave up. "At least we got two left," he said, then wished he hadn't spoken as the one in Zoe's hands died as well.
"You were saying?" Zoe inquired, one eyebrow raised.
"I know these things have a limited life span, but I thought Kaylee charged 'em up 'fore we left."
"She did."
"Well, something ain't right." He shook his torch again but there wasn't even a glimmer. "Okay, Jayne, gimme yours."
"Hey, no, I need this," the big man protested, taking a step back.
"And I'm going first."
"But Mal –"
"You want to be the one to walk into any traps Hank neglected to tell us about?" Mal waved his hand towards the tunnel. "Shiny. Just sing out when you fall into one of those pits."
Jayne glared, but handed his torch over. "You do the same," he grumbled.
Mal settled the pack more securely on his shoulders. "Come on. Better get going 'fore this last one gives out. I really don't wanna be feeling around this place in the dark."
"Cap, you really need to be careful what you say," Jayne pointed out, eyeing the torch beam as it flickered briefly. "Preferably by not saying nothing at all."
"You think I'm tempting fate?"
"Big time."
Mal glared at him again, then turned to head back down the tunnel, keeping to the left this time. Zoe followed close behind, Jayne bringing up the rear, his eyes clamped to the wavering light of the torch.
Freya ran down the steep slope towards the entrance to the gorge, ignoring the heat producing sweat that soaked her shirt. Gaining the gorge itself, she was in the welcome cool shade for a few minutes, then back into the bright sunlight as she hurried to the temple, dropping to her knees next to the booster unit. Taking a small roll of tools from her pocket, she began investigating every connection, doing her best to take no notice of the little voice at the back of her mind telling her to go and find Mal.
Hank opened the top airlock on the crest of Serenity's neck, inching out. Looking around, he felt a shiver go through him. No matter that he did this on a semi-regular basis, there was something about knowing there was a drop to solid ground all around that made him nervous. No, not nervous, he told himself. Just tense. And tense was good. It meant he concentrated fully on the job in hand. Hooking his line onto one of the safety rings, he made his way towards the array.
"Fifteen men on a dead man's chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum …" River was singing quietly to herself, not really taking notice of the words as she rocked Caleb. Something was unsettling, making waves in the ocean of normality she tried to live in, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't pin it down. It was like a stone dropped in the middle of a sea, where the ripples would reach land but with no indication of the original starting point.
She looked down at Bethie and Ethan, arguing over one of the coloured crayons. The sooner Jayne was back, the better.
"Cao!" Jayne's voice filled the narrow tunnel.
"What?" Mal stopped, turning the torch back to the big man.
"Something just … I ran my hand on something."
Mal moved next to Zoe, shining the torch down. "Where?"
Jayne was examining his right palm in the beam. "Gorram it," he muttered, seeing something sticking out of the skin. He took hold of it and pulled, holding it up in the light even as the small wound bled.
"It looks like a piece of one of these paintings," Zoe said, dragging a handkerchief from her pants pocket and flicking it open. She tied it around his hand. "Simon had better take a look soon as we get back," she added. "There's no knowing what kind of bacteria live down here."
"Great," Jayne said. "He'll probably want to cut it off."
"I don't think River'll let him," Zoe assured him.
"First aid all done?" Mal asked, feeling the chill of the stone settling into his bones. "Can we get going again?"
"Yes sir."
He turned back, shaking his head. "Like dealing with an overgrown child …" he muttered to himself.
The sun was burning into the back of her neck, and Freya knew she should have brought a hat or something to protect herself, but it was too late now. Her fingers slippery with perspiration, she was having to blink hard to clear it from her eyes too. That made all the sharp shadows in the carved rocks look like they were moving, and when she dropped the small screwdriver into the dirt, she couldn't help but shout in frustration. Scrabbling in the dust, she managed to find the tool, grit adhering to her fingers, but she knew there was nothing wrong with the booster. Standing up, she shielded her eyes and stared into the temple.
Hank knew there was nothing wrong with the array, even before he'd climbed up. He knew Serenity like the back of his hand, and like Kaylee he knew when something was amiss, and it wasn't the array. Sunlight beat up off the metal skin of the Firefly, sweat dripping from the end of his nose to splat on her plating, and he never knew if that was the cause, but suddenly his feet slipped out from under him and he went down onto his buttocks, sliding inexorably towards the edge and the drop some sixty-odd feet below. He tried to scramble back, but there was nothing to hold onto, and he knew he was going to fall.
"Simon!" River shouted, startling the children and making Fiddler howl.
"Rut it," Mal breathed, as the torch in his hand went out.
"Mal, I don't like the sound of that," Jayne almost whined.
"It's stopped working."
"I can see that." The big man tried to look about him, but there was just darkness. "Or rather, I can't. What the hell do we do now?"
"All the torches? All at the same time?" Zoe asked softly. "That's a bit more of a coincidence than I like."
"How do we get out of here without light?" Jayne demanded.
"Hang on," Mal said suddenly. "Just wait a minute."
The line snapped taut, and for a moment that seemed to last for the rest of his life, Hank hung suspended over the sheer drop, not just over Serenity's side, but over the edge of the gorge too. He waited for the telltale sound of the rope giving way, but there was just the ragged sound of his own breathing. Eventually he managed to turn until he was facing the ship, and reached up to grab the safety line, his hands slipping a little with sweat, but holding on for dear life. Nervous wasn't the word now, either, he decided. Gorram terrified seemed to fit a whole lot better. He started to pull himself up, the muscles in his shoulders and arms complaining with every movement.
Freya could feel the tension emanating from the people inside, and she could stand it no longer. She walked into the cold, the sweat on her body chilling her immediately. Without a torch she couldn't see too far, and the deep blackness of the shadows seemed to be hiding a multitude of things waiting to pounce, but she didn't stop. She carried on until her knee scraped against a large stone block, and she had to inch her way around it. "Mal?" she whispered.
"Xin gan?" Mal walked out of the darkness, his face the only thing reflecting the ambient light, and only as a pale blob at that.
"Thank God," she said softly, hurrying into his arms, feeling her heart start to beat again.
He held her close. "Hey, no need for that." He smiled, even as he knew she couldn't see it. "I heard you calling me."
"I didn't –"
Yes you did, she heard in her mind. Led me home. "Come on," he said, using words this time and taking her hand. "I really want to be back in daylight."
"You and me both," Jayne mumbled, heading for the entrance in front of them.
Outside in the air, the heat beating down on cold limbs, all four of them took a moment to reorient themselves.
"So was that the problem?" Mal asked, glancing down at the booster unit. "Why we couldn't hear you?"
Freya shrugged. "If it was, I can't figure out how."
"Maybe Kaylee can. And tell me how come all our torches stopped working."
Her eyebrows raised. "All?"
"Yeah." He looked at Jayne. "Bring that with you, dong mah?"
The big man nodded and picked up the booster, wincing slightly.
"Did you hurt your hand?" Freya asked, seeing the makeshift bandage for the first time.
"It's nothing." He looked at his palm, where the handkerchief was stained red. "Just a scratch."
"Simon'll see to it, soon as we're back on board." Mal looked back over his shoulder. "Really glad to see the last of this place."
"I'm fine," Hank said, as the young doctor fussed around him.
"Why does nobody on board this ship take my word for it?" Simon asked, of no-one in particular. "I spent all that time training, doing my residency, then specialising in trauma surgery, and everyone on this crew thinks they know better than me." He eased him through the top doorway into the cargo bay, Kaylee close behind.
"We just like to keep you on your toes," Hank explained, grinning at River who stood in the entrance to the shuttle, the children clustered around her legs. "Hey, sweetie," he said. "Thanks for sending him to help me."
"My pleasure."
"What's going on?" Mal asked, standing on the ramp and finding himself pushed unceremoniously out of the way as Zoe ran up the stairs to her husband.
"I slipped, but I'm fine," Hank said, nevertheless letting Simon take most of his weight.
"Doing what?"
"Checking the array." He smiled at Zoe as she put her arm around him from the other side. "I'm fine, honey."
"I think he might have strained a few muscles, but he should be okay," Simon confirmed.
"Just glad the line held," Hank added. "Otherwise you'd be scraping me up off the cavern floor."
"That would be … inconvenient," Mal said, relieved his pilot didn't appear to have sustained any permanent damage.
"Hell, for me too!" Hank agreed. He laughed. "It would kinda cramp my style."
"I think he's in shock," Zoe said quietly.
"Probably." Simon adjusted his grip. "Just help me get him into the infirmary so I can check him over."
"Of course." She looked stoically at the man hanging between them. "Although after I'm done talking with him, he might need your services again."
Hank seemed to shrink into himself a little.
Mal glanced at Freya. "Can you take us out of atmo? Something about this place does nothing for my calm."
She smiled. "I think I remember how."
"Then get us on course back to Ariel." He shrugged out of the pack and crossed to the bulkhead, dropping it next to the wall. "I wanna drop this thing off and get the rest of our money."
to be continued
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 12:07 PM
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 6:03 PM
Thursday, March 27, 2008 12:34 PM
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