text:
Above: M-J de Mesterton in a Tibbett Duffel Coat of Elysian Wool, Insulated Aigle Boots from France; a Mongolian Cashmere Scarf by Johnstons of Elgin, Scotland; a White Fox Hat Made in Helsinki; a Plaid Tweed Skirt, Black Leather Cashmere-Lined Gloves from Italy, and a Walking Stick Made of Scotch Broom
PUBLISHED in DECEMBER, 2016: Wear warm clothes when it's cold outside and inside. The days of women showing their bare arms year-round just because an occupant of the White House does it to show off her biceps are coming to a close in about three weeks. The current president has, since 2009, kept the oval office at a balmy 85° year-round, as though he were in Hawai'i, while instructing the citizenry to "tighten your belts". The rest of us, if we have heat at all, keep our places at 68° or even cooler, thanks to the punitive cost of fuel.
Above: on Christmas Day, I'm wearing a turtleneck under a round-necked dress, nylon stockings, a silk & cashmere pashmina, and faux-fur-lined tall leather boots. Most winter days, I'd be wearing tweed and sweaters.
Rugged, traditional, and elegant tweed made from Scottish wool is the best material for fall and winter dressing. Easily covered with a trench-coat or embellished with a pashmina or long wool scarves, tweed will keep you warm and dry. Tweed suits, skirts, trousers and jackets are always fashionable.
My husband and I found it odd, if not historically-incorrect, to see the inhabitants of Downton Abbey wearing sleeveless flapper dresses all over the huge, inevitably cold and difficult-to-heat house, at all hours, without wraps or sweaters. Those dresses were made to be worn at nightclubs while dancing the Charleston, where hyper-activity and body-heat of the crowd made it possible to stay warm while baring arms.
Dining at Downton: thanks to cocktails, aperitifs and wines, scantily-clad ladies there could abide the evening without shivering. Or maybe not; Ralph Lauren designed wardrobes for the series, and may have just assumed that women dressed like flappers in most situations because it was the Roaring Twenties. I doubt that 1920s women were so silly, but there have always been nonsensical followers of fashion, like the ones who are now wearing peep-toed shoes without stockings all winter long in cold climates. My grandmother, who was born in the Victorian Age, told me that to be beautiful, one must suffer–I know that freezing's not what she meant. Even body-heat from large groups at table does not take the chill off England's grand country houses for most months of the year; shoulders are usually covered with something at dinner, such as a little fur garment or shawl that could be removed later in the evening for dancing. And no self-respecting woman would be standing about the house during winter in just a sleeveless gown.
Speaking of winter dressing and silly followers of fashion, here is a post that I made here at Elegant Survival News in December, 2011:
Talking Heads Clad Badly and Barely-Shod
From 2011: Why is the anchorwoman wearing a sleeveless summer dress in cold NYC on December 6th? Are biceps something that female talking heads suddenly find a crying need to bare, even in freezing temperatures? Are they using too much energy, in an effort to keep tropically warm indoors? Is it seasonally appropriate to wear bare-toed shoes on wintry days, as the woman in red is doing, or sandals (the first lady wore sandals at a Kennedy Center gala last weekend) in December? I don't think so. These women are on a national television show, displaying their irresponsible, energy-inefficient lifestyles before the public, as if to say that a size XXX carbon-footprint is desirable. The rest of us are wearing wool and tweed, living in homes with little-or-no heat most of the time.
In an Alpine Climate, January: Dressing in Furry Boots, a Scottish Hand-Made Fair Isle Sweater, and an Austrian Wool Skirt


text:
Topic List:
- Traditional Event Handling
- Alternatives to Code-Behind
- Routed Events
- An EventTrigger (no code)
- More on ApplicationCommands
- Custom Commands
Traditional Event Handling
If you are used to WinForms the following will seem very familiar. Add a Close button to our Window, after the Expander:
</Expander> <Button Grid.Row="4" Grid.Column="6" Content="Close" Name="btnClose" Click="btnClose_Click" ToolTip="Close the form" /> </Grid>
When you are within Click="|" VS offers 'New Event Handler'. You can name the event yourself but accept the default for now. Double-click 'New Event Handler' and it inserts the name 'btnClose_Click'. You can then right-click it and choose Navigate to Event Handler to be taken to the code behind, in the file Mainwindow.xaml.cs:
private void btnClose_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { }
(If you name the event-handler yourself you can still right-click it and choose Navigate to.. and it will create the initial code for you.)
Modify the code to this:
private void btnClose_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { Application.Current.Shutdown(); }
If you want to check what events are available click in the word Button, or another control, view the Properties Window and click the lightning bolt to list the available Events.
From here you can also double-click an empty box to generate the event-handler code, or double-click an existing handler-name to go to that code.
Alternatives to Code-Behind
Firstly I will say that it is not wrong to use event-handling and code-behind. The history of WinForms illustrates the issues though. With WinForms it is the only way to achieve interactivity on a Form and it leads beginners in particular to mix the presentation-logic with application-logic. Once they acquire this habit it becomes very hard to break, particularly when it is so easy to start writing code-behind.
The problem with mixing presentation and application code/logic is that it is very difficult to unit test code. Moving to a different presentation-layer - perhaps from WinForms to WPF or to a website - requires a complete re-write. It also creates messy code, cf. separation of concerns:
wiki said:
The value of separation of concerns is simplifying development and maintenance of computer programs. When concerns are well separated, individual sections can be developed and updated independently. Of special value is the ability to later improve or modify one section of code without having to know the details of other sections, and without having to make corresponding changes to those sections.
With WPF we have a number of alternatives. Within the XAML we can use Triggers (Style, Data, Event, etc., Triggers). These keep effects, animations and property changes within the XAML itself (the presentation-layer) without requiring code.
MSDN said:
There are other types of triggers. MultiTrigger allows you to apply changes based on the state of multiple properties. EventTrigger allows you to apply changes when an event occurs. DataTrigger and MultiDataTrigger are for data-bound properties.
Trigger Class :MSDN
We can also create Custom Commands - see the later section.
Commanding Overview :MSDN
Significantly with WPF, we can bind controls and control-properties directly to objects or object-properties. This is exemplified in the Model-View-ViewModel pattern.
wiki said:
MVVM was designed to make use of data binding functions in WPF to better facilitate the separation of view layer development from the rest of the pattern by removing virtually all GUI code ("code-behind") from the view layer. Instead of requiring user interface (UX) developers to write GUI code, they can use the framework markup language (e.g., XAML) and create bindings to the view model, which is written and maintained by application developers. This separation of roles allows interactive designers to focus on UX needs rather than programming of business logic, allowing for the layers of an application to be developed in multiple work streams for higher productivity. Even when a single developer works on the entire code base a proper separation of the view from the model is more productive as the user interface typically changes frequently and late in the development cycle based on end-user feedback.
Conversely, people often take this information too much at face-value and wrongly assume that code-behind is a bad thing, and somehow breaks the MVVM pattern. It doesn't.
There is nothing wrong with code-behind as long as it involves UI interactivity and doesn't contain any business-logic. Yes, it may be technically possible to write an entire application without any code-behind (in Mainwindow.xaml.cs) but it is not worth sacrificing understandable, and simple, code to achieve this aim.
At the end of the day, writing XAML-equivalent code can be quite complicated. If I can achieve what I want with a couple of lines of event-handler code then I will do this.
I apologise for any confusion, particularly at this early stage, but it is a necessary discussion.
Routed Events
WPF elements use RoutedEvents: direct, bubbling and tunneling.
- Direct events are similar to WinForm events: only the source element itself can call event handlers.
- Bubbling events are the most common in WPF. The event starts with the source element and 'bubbles' up to its parent, then its parent and so on.
- Tunneling events start at the element root and travel downward to the source element.
Routed Events Overview :MSDN
Understanding Routed Events and Commands In WPF :MSDN Magazine
The following modification demonstrates the top-level scenario mentioned in the first of these two links:
<StackPanel Grid.Row="4" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="5" Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Button.Click="CommonNavHandler"> <Button Content="First" Name="btnFirst" /> <Button Content="Previous" Name="btnPrevious" /> <Button Content="Next" Name="btnNext" /> <Button Content="Last" Name="btnLast" /> <Button Content="New" Name="btnNew" /> </StackPanel>
The StackPanel declares the Button.Click event-handler. Clicking any Button within the StackPanel will execute the handler. (It it weren't handled it would bubble-up to the StackPanel and beyond.)
Create the event-handler in the way outlined in the first section above:
private void CommonNavHandler(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { FrameworkElement feSource = e.Source as FrameworkElement; switch (feSource.Name) { case "btnFirst": MessageBox.Show("You clicked 'First'."); break; case "btnPrevious": MessageBox.Show("You clicked 'Previous'."); break; case "btnNext": MessageBox.Show("You clicked 'etc..'."); break; case "btnLast": break; case "btnNew": break; default: break; } }
Note: This demonstates the principle but may not be appropriate for these types of buttons.
An EventTrigger (no code)
EventTriggers listen for events such as Click and are typically used to initiate animations. Modify App.xaml to include this simple, annoying, example:
<Style TargetType="Button" BasedOn="{StaticResource controlStyle}"> <Setter Property="HorizontalContentAlignment" Value="Center" /> <Setter Property="MinWidth" Value="70" /> <Setter Property="Opacity" Value="1" /> <Style.Triggers> <Trigger Property="IsMouseOver" Value="True"> <Setter Property="FontWeight" Value="Bold" /> </Trigger> <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Click"> <BeginStoryboard> <Storyboard> <DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity" From="0" To="1" Duration="0:0:2" /> </Storyboard> </BeginStoryboard> </EventTrigger> </Style.Triggers> </Style>
When any Button is clicked it immediately disappears (Opacity = 0) and then reappears over a two-second period. Recall that we may need to set the initial Opacity to 1 within the Style-definition, as it may be over-ruled by an inline attribute - and we wouldn't see the animation. Rather than worry about whether it will, or won't, be over-ruled I always redefine any property that will be changed, or animated, within the Style-defintion.
FULL CODE for App.xaml for reference:
More on ApplicationCommands
I discussed ApplicationCommands in Part2, mentioning that for most of them it requires us to provide the context, and meaning, of the Command.
To demonstrate this start a new WPF application and add a Button to the Window:
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication4.MainWindow" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525"> <window.CommandBindings> <CommandBinding Command="ApplicationCommands.Close" Executed="OnClose" /> </window.CommandBindings> <Grid> <Button Content="Close Me" Command="ApplicationCommands.Close" /> </Grid> </Window>
When the Close command is executed the OnClose() method is invoked. We still need to write the code-behind though:
private void OnClose(object sender, ExecutedRoutedEventArgs e) { Application.Current.Shutdown(); }
We can also use <window.CommandBindings> to associate our Custom Commands (see the next section) with method-calls. However, because we will need to create code and code-behind anyway, I don't really see an advantage in doing this part in the XAML.
Custom Commands
Custom Commands can be grouped together in a static class.
Full disclosure: I've borrowed the following code from the book C# 4.0 How To by Ben Watson. This is a great little book and has some really interesting code, but it isn't a book for beginners, nor a tutorial.
Return to our main application and add the following static class (MyWpfCommands.cs):
using System; using System.Windows.Input; // RoutedUICommand etc. namespace ProgrammersWPF2 { public class MyWpfCommands { public static RoutedUICommand ExitCommand; static MyWpfCommands() { InputGestureCollection exitInputs = new InputGestureCollection(); exitInputs.Add(new KeyGesture(Key.F4, ModifierKeys.Alt)); ExitCommand = new RoutedUICommand("Exit Application", "ExitApplication", typeof(MyWpfCommands), exitInputs); } } }
This creates our new ExitCommand and assigns it the keyboard-shortcut of Alt-F4. We can essentially copy and paste these few code-lines to add any number of commands, keeping their definition in this single static-class.
Modify the code-behind (Mainwindow.xaml.cs) to add this code:
namespace ProgrammersWPF2 { /// <summary> /// Interaction logic for Mainwindow.xaml /// </summary> public partial class MainWindow : Window { public MainWindow() { InitializeComponent(); // setup handlers for our custom commands CommandBinding cmdBindingExit = new CommandBinding(MyWpfCommands.ExitCommand); cmdBindingExit.Executed += new ExecutedRoutedEventHandler(cmdBindingExit_Executed); this.CommandBindings.Add(cmdBindingExit); } private void cmdBindingExit_Executed(object sender, ExecutedRoutedEventArgs e) { Application.Current.Shutdown(); }
This creates a CommandBinding, and attaches it to our application's CommandBindings, which was achieved in XAML in the previous section.
The key-point is that the code within cmdBindingExit_Executed will be executed when we call our Custom Command, named ExitCommand.
Now we need to hook-up our Command in the XAML. There is a complication though. Although our new class and our application exist within the same namespace (ProgrammersWPF2) this doesn't carry through to the XAML and so we need to create a namespace-reference at the top of Mainwindow.xaml:
<Window x:Class="ProgrammersWPF2.MainWindow" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:local="clr-namespace:ProgrammersWPF2"
We are essentially mapping an XML namespace to an assembly. If our class were in a different solution we would also need to add a reference to it in our project.
Now we can use local: to locate our Commands. Modify our Menu item so that it uses our Command:
<Menu DockPanel.Dock="Top"> <MenuItem Header="_File"> <MenuItem Header="_Exit" Command="local:MyWpfCommands.ExitCommand" /> </MenuItem>
It should work now! Choosing File/Exit, or pressing Alt-F4, should exit the application.
Modify the Close-Button we added earlier to also use this Command:
<Button Grid.Row="4" Grid.Column="6" Content="Close" Name="btnClose" Command="local:MyWpfCommands.ExitCommand" ToolTip="Close the form" />
Once you have both exit-methods working we can add something further: the CanExecute event-handler. This is a significant feature in that it won't matter where the Command is called from - if CanExecute returns false then the Command won't be executed. In Mainwindow.xaml.cs:
public MainWindow() { InitializeComponent(); // setup handlers for our custom commands CommandBinding cmdBindingExit = new CommandBinding(MyWpfCommands.ExitCommand); cmdBindingExit.Executed += new ExecutedRoutedEventHandler(cmdBindingExit_Executed); cmdBindingExit.CanExecute += new CanExecuteRoutedEventHandler(cmdBindingExit_CanExecute); this.CommandBindings.Add(cmdBindingExit); } private void cmdBindingExit_CanExecute(object sender, CanExecuteRoutedEventArgs e) { e.CanExecute = (txtFirstName.Text.Length == 0); } private void cmdBindingExit_Executed(object sender, ExecutedRoutedEventArgs e) { Application.Current.Shutdown(); }
To demonstrate I am just tying CanExecute to the characters in the firstname TextBox. If there are any characters then the application won't be shutdown. (It can still be shutdown using the close-icon.)
Run the application and type some characters in the firstname TextBox. Notice that both the Close Button and Exit menu-option are disabled.
In the code-behind, and the CanExecute and Executed methods, we can refer to other controls on the window. However, it is important that we follow the intended purpose of the Command. The ExitCommand should either exit, or not exit, the application.
Rather than using a static class the ICommand interface can be implemented. Curtis Rutland's tutorial Basic WPF Databinding uses this approach.
Commands are an interesting, but not essential, option. They can be part of the MVVM pattern but are not a requirement for it.
Commands in MVVM :codeproject
FULL CODE for Mainwindow.xaml:
This post has been edited by andrewsw: 11 May 2014 - 08:15 AM

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Get DVD Talk Feeds
A lot of genre fans get their feathers ruffled over remakes, especially when the film being remade is a classic. When it was announced that
David Cronenberg was going to be updating Kurt Neumann's 1958 Vincent Price vehicle of the same name, people were skeptical for obvious reasons – the original is a very beloved film and a very well made one. Thankfully, Cronenberg knocked this one out of the park and, like John Carpenter's remake of The Thing it stands as not only one of the best horror movies of the 1980s but one of the best remakes of all time. The fine folks over at Fox know this, and have finally opted to give the film's many rabid fans the special edition DVD release we've all been chomping at the bit to get for so long, and thankfully, it doesn't disappoint in the least.
Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) is a quirky but brilliant scientist who has created the world's first teleportation system. Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) is a journalist who writes for a scientific journal sent by her boss to meet with Brundle to get the details on his creation. The two meet, they hit it off, and Seth takes her back to his lab which also happens to be his loft/apartment. What Veronica witnesses when they arrive is pretty amazing stuff – Seth is able to put an object in one of the teleportation pods and send it to the other one on the other side of the room by reducing the object to particles and then having the device reassemble it upon arrival. Seth proudly proclaims to her that his invention will change the world and she's pretty hard pressed to disagree with the strange man.
A day after their first meeting, Seth wants to see her again. When they meet he asks her not to publish her findings on his work right away, to hold off a little bit until more work is done. In return for doing this, he'll let her document his progress and use her writing as the basis of a book. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Veronica accepts this proposition and soon Seth explains to her why he wants her to hold off before going public with all of this – the machines cannot teleport living things, only inanimate objects.
Seth continues to work away on his computers and machines, trying to find the right code that will allow him to successfully teleport a living creature and make his creation complete. As Veronica is there, recording each and every detail of the procedures involved in his research, the two start to fall for one another and soon enough they can no longer deny the mutual attraction. This is unfortunate for Veronica, who used to go out with her editor at the journal and who is now growing quite jealous of the time that she's spending with Seth. When Veronica leaves one night to try and smooth things over with her ex, Seth finally cracks the code he's been working on and decides to use himself as a human guinea pig. He steps into the teleportation device, flips the switch, and successful rematerializes on the other side – or so he thinks. What Seth doesn't realize is that a fly got into the pod with him and that upon rematerializing, his DNA was mixed with the fly's DNA and that now he is no longer truly human.
Going into further details about the plot would be a grave injustice to anyone who has not yet seen this masterpiece of modern horror, so let it suffice to say that it gets really, really ugly.
Cronenberg's knack for bringing medical and body horror to life on the silver screen is brought full force to this film. Though he had made more interesting films before this one and has made more polished and more experimental films since, his version of The Fly is such a success on so many levels that it's hard not to instantly identify the director with this film, even if he probably should be better known for Videodrome, Naked Lunch or Shivers.
The focus of the movie is on transformation, not only of Brundle into the Brundlefly but also of the relationship between Seth and Veronica. Two very different dynamics and two very different evolutions to be sure but both are extremely important to the success of the film and without those two key elements it just wouldn't work as well. The transformation into the fly is important for obvious reasons – it provides the horror, the reason for the make up and gore effects, and is the perfect vehicle for Cronenberg's obsession with what the human body can become (see eXistenz for the next step on that journey). The transformation of the relationship between Seth and Veronica, however, is important for very different reasons as it morphs from cold, clinical and professional to passionate and dangerous and romantic. This provides the pathos, it makes you care about the characters and shows that Brundle isn't just a cold machine of a man but a human being – or at least he was. The believability of the relationship between the two characters makes it easy to suspend our disbelief and as such the scary bits are scarier, the gross bits are more grotesque and the tragedy of it all is all the more biting. Goldblum and Davis are perfect as the leads and both really nail their roles. While they've both been very hit or miss in a lot of the projects they'd take on in later years, here they're fantastic and the casting choices, as unorthodox as they may seem, are brilliant.
The Fly isn't all metaphorical scientific melodrama, however – make no mistake this is a horror movie. The effects are excellent in the film, even now almost twenty years after the fact, and the stand out set pieces where Brundlefly has to dissolve some of his food before he can eat it are still incredibly obscene and work beautifully – especially the first time you see the film when you really don't expect those types of things to happen in the movie.
The cinematography does an expert job of capturing the coldness of the loft/lab. The cool steel of the teleportation pods (modeled after the cylinders on Cronenberg's motorcycle) are unfeeling and unsympathetic to anyone or anything. When the fly makes it in and Seth merges with it, you're not surprised as those machines just look mean and nasty and ugly and uncaring. The rest of the film matches this tone from the decay of Seth's body to the cool blackness of the bedroom where he sleeps. The sun doesn't shine in The Fly, it's a dark and gloomy picture – one that, in less capable hands could have really misfired and came off as a joke, but that here stands the test of time as a masterpiece of modern horror.
The DVD
The 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that Fox has whipped up for this release is very nice indeed. The film has always looked a little dark in spots but that was on purpose and thankfully, that darkness is well preserved on this new DVD. Light scenes show excellent color reproduction while black levels are strong and deep throughout. The level of both foreground and background detail in the widescreen image is exceptional and there are only trace amounts of edge enhancement and line shimmering present. Mpeg compression artifacts are never a problem, and overall things look very nice. There are trace amounts of print damage here and there that show up in the form of the odd speck of dirt or dust but these don't reveal themselves often enough to be a serious concern. Contrast levels are also dead on. Fans should be impressed with how the film has been treated here – it looks fantastic.
Fox presents The Fly in a couple of different audio options. First and foremost are the two English language 5.1 Surround Sound tracks in both DTS and Dolby Digital format. There's also a French language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track and a Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track thrown on for good measure. Removable subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish and an English closed captioning option is also present.
If your receiver can make it happen, take the time to check out the film in the DTS mix as it is a noticeably fuller mix than the Dolby Digital track, though both sound very good on this release. Dialogue is crisp, the score sounds absolutely beautiful, and the sound effects are plenty squishy when they need to be. The low end fills up nicely during key moments and there aren't any problems with shrillness or strange directional effects seeming out of place. Most of the dialogue comes out of the center and front channels allowing the rears to build up behind you with atmospheric effects and the like.
Fox has, wisely, chosen to spread the extra features across two discs rather than cram everything onto one that already sports a hefty sized DTS track. Here's how it all plays out…
There's only one supplement on the first disc in the set, but it's a good one and it comes in the form of a commentary track from the director of The Fly, David Cronenberg. Anyone who has taken the time to listen to one of his director commentary track in the past knows that he's always an interesting guy to spend some time with and this track continues his tradition of delivering thought provoking and interesting commentaries for his films. He covers a lot of ground on this track and even if there is the occasional moment of dead air time, there's still a lot of worthwhile information to find in here as he covers pre and post production difficulties, why Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis were chosen for their roles, and how some of the FX work was done. He does a fine job of filling us in on all of the basics surrounding the genesis of the film and his insightful comments are a very welcome addition to the DVD.
Here's where the bulk of the extra features are. First up is an absolutely amazing documentary entitled Fear Of The Flesh – The Making Of The Fly. At a whopping two hours and forty odd minutes in length, this massive segment covers everything you could possibly want to know about the making of the film and those who made it all happen. Fox has chosen to break this documentary down into three sections, each dealing with a different portion of the film: Larva covers the pre-production, Pupa the middle ground and shooting of the film, and Metamorphosis the post work. There are tons of clips from the movie in here but also footage from the dailies, some great test footage and very raw takes from moments familiar to anyone who has seen the movie, and different deleted scenes as well as four different finales that were considered for the movie but never actually used. Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum are both on hand and give extensive recollections of their time spent on set and their subsequent feelings on the final version of the film as well as what it was like working with one another and with Cronenberg. Plenty of crew members are also on hand to talk about their work. They discuss who was to originally direct the film and why, they cover some of the changes that Cronenberg made to Pogue's original script, and they cover a lot of the effects work in quite a bit of detail. Sadly, the video quality on this documentary isn't so hot and the image is quite soft looking whenever we're treated to the new footage. Fox really should have put more effort into making this massive project look as good as possible and it's a downer that they didn't but everything is still perfectly watchable (it's presented in anamorphic widescreen and in 5.1 surround sound, oddly enough).
Deleted and extended scenes are up next! The four deleted scenes are a second interview with Seth, the notorious cat/monkey scene (storyboards and script pages are also included for this sequence), a sequence involving some interaction between the fly and a bag lady (which was never filmed and is presented only as a series of storyboard images), and Veronica's butterfly baby dream sequence. As far as the video quality goes on this material, it's all over the place with much of it sourced from old archived VHS tapes so it doesn't always look perfect but it's great to finally get to see a lot of this material after having heard about it for quite a while.
The two extended scenes include a nice option that highlights what parts were cut and what parts were left in and are basically just dialogue and character interaction scenes. They're entitled Reconciliation and The Poetry Of Steak and the filmmaker's did the right thing by trimming them down as they don't add much to the movie at all, however it's definitely nice to see them included here.
One of the more interesting supplements is the inclusion of some effects test footage. These were snagged right off of the original negative for the film and it's very cool to see them in this form. Included for your enjoyment are test versions of the opening credits, pod effects work, Brundlefly make up tests, the exploding buy, and a nice bit entitled Cronenfly that features the director taking on Goldblum's role. The combined running time of this footage is just under eight minutes in length.
A second featurette is also included, entitled The Brundle Museum Of Natural History. This runs for about twelve minutes and it focuses in on the effects work and the props used in the film, many of which have been preserved by Rob Burns. They also examine in more detail the infamous and still disgusting hand erosion scene as well and also exhibit some of the conceptual art developed for the film.
Let's move on to the promotional materials section! First up is a teaser spot, followed by the full length theatrical trailer. Also look out for three different television spots for the film, as well as the entire press kit for the movie as well. As a nice little bonus, Fox has also included trailers for The Fly 2 as well as for the original Vincent Price film as well.
In the Promotional Featurettes section we see that the vintage Featurette that was made to promote the movie around the time of its release is included next, and it's an interesting if very promotional feeling look behind the scenes of the movie. Also included is a Profile On David Cronenberg which is a brief biography on the director that details his work up through this point in his career. At under five minutes it's not as comprehensive as most of us would have liked but it's still nice to watch for fans of his work.
Wrapping up the extra features are some interesting text and image based supplements – five still galleries (Publicity, Behind The Scenes, and Visual Effects, Lobby Cards And Poster Art, and Concept Art), George Langelaan's original short story (originally published in Playboy magazine!), Charles Edward Pogue's original script, and David Cronenberg's screenplay rewrite. There are also three magazine articles relating to the film included here: one from Cinefex magazine from 11/86, and the second and third from two separate issues of American Cinematographer. There's an absolutely massive amount of reading material on this disc and Fox has done a nice job in choosing a very readable and very easy on the eyes font to present it in which makes reading off of your TV less of a chore than you might think. Everything is all wrapped up under some very slick interactive menus that add a nice touch of class to the whole superlative package.
Cronenberg's The Fly has never looked or sounded as good as it does on this release. The film itself holds up incredibly well and Fox has truly gone above and beyond by putting together such an excellent package as this for a movie that really deserves it. I don't hand out the DVD Collector Series rating too often, but this release really deserves it.
Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.


text:
A number of years ago, we had a French intern working with us... the daughter of a friend of a friend - you know how those things go. She was a sweet girl with a lovely accent, and we had fun asking her for the translation of things we tag as "French": a French braid to her was an Indian braid; French cut was Brazilian cut; French fries were American! We didn't get into all the amazing sewing techniques influenced by fine French (or heirloom) sewing. There's the French cuff, French dart, French knot, French curve, French binding and today's topic: the French seam. Ready to give it a try? Wearing a beret is optional.
The French seam, which is part two in our series on Machine Sewn Seam Finishes, is one of the best finishes for a variety of sewing projects. Unlike part one of this series, in which we explored the most popular types of seam finishes you can do using a variety of built-in stitches on your sewing machine, in today's tutorial, we look at how you can use just a basic straight stitch to create a professionally finished seam inside and out.
In general, the purpose of any seam finish is to prevent fray-prone fabrics from raveling beyond the seam and leaving a hole in your sewn project. However, regardless of fabric type, finishing a project's inside raw edges will not only elevate the final appearance, it will also elevate your sewing skills to a professional level.
Deciding when and where to use a French seam is fairly simple. If a fabric is sheer and/or delicate, it's an ideal candidate. Heavyweight fabrics can be used but are a challenge because of the bulk of the seam. As with all techniques, it always best to test the French seam on scraps to determine if it's truly the best finish for your fabric type. In general, light to medium weight fabrics are perfect for a French seam finish.
We will warn you this technique may appear to be a bit of a brainteaser to execute, but it's actually very easy. Once you've given it a try, you'll be so happy you did. The result is worth the extra steps.
One other note of caution, the French seam technique is best used on straight seams. Curved situations, such as a set-in sleeve in a garment, are finished using a different seam finish (hang in there... we have four parts to this series!).
Tools to have on hand
- Needle and thread appropriate for your selected fabric type
- Standard foot: The one on your machine when you took it out of the box.
- Sharp scissorsor pinking sheers
- Ironand ironing board. Pressing is a big part of the French seam technique!
Understanding the seam allowance measurements
As we mentioned above, the French seam can seem confusing at first because it's a two-step seaming process: first you sew with wrong sides together, then with right sides together. Anyone who is an avid sewer will immediately feel they're doing something gravely wrong by placing the fabric wrong sides together. But, fear not, as we go through the steps and explain the seam allowances, you will see why this works so well.
We always like to review the standard seam allowance measurements for the type of projects you may want to sew. In home décor, the general seam allowance is ½", whereas in garment construction, it's ⅝". (You would not apply this seaming technique in quilting.)
Since the French seam technique is based in garment sewing, we will first explain how this seam allowance is divided in the two-step process. In step one, you sew a ⅜" seam wrong sides together. The seam allowance is trimmed to ⅛" from the line of stitching, which means you are trimming away ¼". In step two, the fabric is placed right sides together along the previously sewn seam, and sewn with a ¼" seam allowance, enclosing the raw edges of the first seam. Confused yet? The important part to understand here is that the total seam allowance of ⅝" is maintained, ⅜" + ¼" = ⅝". And you thought you'd never use those pesky fraction lessons from fourth grade!
Now, if you're working on a home décor project, using a ½" seam allowance, it's best to add ¼" to all the cuts where you'll be applying the French seam technique, giving yourself a ¾" seam allowance. Why? Because you need that little extra to complete the process, otherwise you'll be working with very tiny seam allowances.
Whether you're following a pattern or designing your own project, take a few minutes to consider if you need to add a little extra to the seam allowance to accommodate a French seam finish. Once you practice and become familiar with the technique, these tiny seams won't be an issue, but if you're just starting out, give yourself a bit more fabric with which to work.
Basic Steps
As if the French seam isn't confusing enough already for most folks, there's more than one way to complete the seam: the traditional way and an alternate that has evolved over time. The final product is quite similar, so we encourage you to try both to find your favorite.
Traditional method
NOTE: For this method, we are using a garment seam allowance of ⅝". We are also using a contrasting thread so you can see the stitching clearly on the fabric. You would use a thread color to match your fabric.
- Set up your sewing machine for a straight stitch, with the appropriate needle and thread for your fabric type.
NOTE: If your sewing machine has a Cloth Guide, as many of our Janome studio machines do, this is the perfect time to use it. Maintaining accurate seam allowances is key to this technique.
- Place your fabric wrong sides together. Pin as needed.
- Sew a ⅜" seam along the raw edge.
- It's just a plain seam. See... nothing to be afraid of.
- Trim back the seam allowance to ⅛", trimming away to ¼". Why stitch then trim? So the fabric fibers do not poke through the final seam.
- Press the seam allowance together and to one side. This is an important step so don't skip it! Pressing the seam flat helps to maintain an accurate seam allowance and will makes it easier to sew along the seamed edge in the following steps.
- Now, fold the fabric right sides together. Your sewn seam becomes the new edge of the fabric.
- Press again along the edge. Lightly pin in place if needed.
- Sew ¼" from the seamed edge, enclosing the raw edge of the first seam as you sew.
NOTE: If you have a Quarter Inch Seam foot for your machine, it will help you keep an accurate seam line.
- Press this second seam to one side, and admire your professional French seam finish from the inside and out!
Alternate method
The basic difference with this method is you do not trim the edge after sewing the first seam.
NOTE: We are using a home décor seam allowance of ½", so we added an extra ¼" to our seam allowance before cutting out the fabric pieces.
- Set up your sewing machine in the same manner as for the traditional method above.
- Sew wrong sides together, using ¼" seam allowance.
- Press the seam allowance together and to one side.
NOTE: We discovered some sewing blogs who mentioned they prefer to press the seam open at this step. It's a bit of a personal choice, and it depends on the fabric type.
- Fold the fabric right sides together. As above, your sewn seam becomes the new edge of the fabric.
- Sew a ½" seam allowance, enclosing the raw edge of previously sewn seam.
- Press to one side again. Fantastique!
Additional tips
- If you're planning to use French seams on a project of your own design, remember to account for the proper seam allowance in the two-step process.
- Before you sew the second seam in the process, you can pink the raw edges rather than simply trimming.
- Avoid using French seams on really heavyweight fabric due to the bulk. Super stretch fabrics are not a good choice either.
- Curved areas are best completed with a mock French seam (more info of these coming up later in our Seam Finishes series).
- Avoid garments with set-in sleeves, as this is an advanced technique for the experienced sewer.
- If you plan to use French seams in a home décor project and feel confident with sewing tiny yet accurate seam allowances, you can sew the first step with a scant ¼" seam, trim to ⅛", then use a generous ¼" seam for the second step. This eliminates the need to add on the extra ¼" suggested above.
- Even if you own a serger, sometimes a fabric is simply too delicate for an overlock stitch. The French seam technique is the way to go!
If you would like to continue to build your knowledge about other seam finishes check out the following Sew4Home tutorials:
Machine Sewn Seam Finishes - Most Popular - Part 1 of 4
And don't forget about those hemlines!
Sample Creation and Instructional Outline: Jodi Kelly


text:
Paperback, 160 pages
Released: February 2002
In recent years John Bellamy Foster has emerged as a leading theorist of the Marxist perspective on ecology. His seminal book Marx's Ecology (Monthly Review Press, 2000) discusses the place of ecological issues within the intellectual history of Marxism and on the philosophical foundations of a Marxist ecology, and has become a major point of reference in ecological debates. This historical and philosophical focus is now supplemented by more direct political engagement in his new book, Ecology Against Capitalism. In a broad-ranging treatment of contemporary ecological politics, Foster deals with such issues as pollution, sustainable development, technological responses to environmental crisis, population growth, soil fertility, the preservation of ancient forests, and the "new economy" of the Internet age.
Within these debates on the politics of ecology, Foster's work develops an important and distinctive perspective. Where many of these debates assume a basic divergence of "red" and "green" issues, and are concerned with the exact terms of a trade-off between them, Foster argues that Marxism — properly understood — already provides the framework within which ecological questions are best approached. This perspective is advanced here in accessible and concrete form, taking account of the major positions in contemporary ecological debate.
Foster's introduction sets out the unifying themes of these essays to present a consolidated approach to a rapidly-expanding field of debate which is of critical importance in our time.
Ecology Against Capitalism is a fine and well timed book. The boom is over, the earth is warming, the fundamental questions are coming again to the fore. Foster fortunately answers, as only he can, in a voice both balanced and clear headed.
Foster has written another extremely valuable book. Anyone who wants to understand our current environmental problems and what we need to do to solve them should read [Ecology Against Capitalism].


text:
Young Champions for Education (2007)
Training of Trainers Workshop Report
Author/Publisher: UNGEI - The United Nations Girls' Education Initiative
Language: English
Download: pdf
All countries in the region have signed up to various international agreements and commitments, from the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guaranteed free and compulsory elementary education, to the more recent Millennium Development and Education for All goals. Yet still after nearly sixty years of promises, many countries still have a long way to go, especially for girls.
Governments have adopted comprehensive national policies to meet these commitments, yet it is often the smaller, individual and group initiatives that can be more effective at a local level reaching the hard-to-reach and helping to change community attitudes.
This is the basis of the Young Champions movement. Young people are more receptive to knowledge from their peers and celebrities, especially if presented in a fun way, than they are to official policies. Ideal role models are just normal people who have accomplished something.
The young people selected for this Training of Trainers workshop are exactly such role models. All are already actively involved in working with their peers, advocating for childrens rights, providing help and advice on matters of importance to young people and, most of all, spreading the word of education. Later they will go back to their countries and communities, and expand the movement with enriched ideas and the backing of UNGEI and UNICEF.


text:
by Thomas Baker
In the Stream: Orchestra fans turn to the Web to listen, if not to buy.
Two years after the Internet boom turned into a bit of a bust, there's some surprising and little-noticed good news about online classical-music listening habits: Arbitron's ratings of the most-listened-to Internet broadcast streams consistently rank classical webcasts as the dominant genre. For example, in January, three of the top ten online radio stations were classical, and www.wqxr.com, the industry leader offered by New York City's commercial classical FM station, had nearly 100,000 unique online listeners.
It should be noted that WQXR.com content is offered free to listeners who log on. On the other hand, companies looking for actual revenue from online classical music streams, through pay-for-play or subscription models, have either gone under or are still very much in a startup mode. Some once-high-profile ventures like the London-based Global Music Network (www.gmn.com) have ceased producing new content, while other subscription-based online music services, such as Andante.com, are not disclosing their (reportedly low) initial paid-subscriber numbers.
Which report offers a true picture of Internet classical music? Alas, they both do. Whether you believe it or not, your audience is on the Internet in significant numbers, ready to listen--but at the moment, they haven't found much reason to pay for the things they find there. So, for an orchestra, is putting music on the Web a great idea, or simply a costly giveaway? If you are still thinking that the kind of people who listen to classical music aren't "wired" or willing to use the Internet to pursue their interests, those days (if they ever existed) are officially over. More than 20 percent of Americans now have broadband, high-speed Internet connections at home--and classical listeners, according to Scarborough Research, are nearly half again as likely to have them. In addition, home-computer networking and wireless technology are making significant inroads. And once music can move more easily from that computer in the basement office to the kitchen or to your "real" music system, the old excuse--"Why would I listen to music on a PC?"--will be history. Already more than a third of all Americans report they've listened to music on the Web--and the demographic analysis confirms that these days, it's not just kids who are tuning in. Arbitron reports that more than 40 percent of regular online listeners are over the age of 35.
Listeners have already shown a willingness to spend significant amounts of money on classical music online: More than a third of all classical CDs sold in the U.S.--an estimated $100 million worth annually--are now purchased on the Web. The sales are driven in part by necessity. With the number of retail stores and terrestrial radio stations dedicated to classical music dwindling, the Web is practically the only place left for anyone who's interested to find classical music.
But will they make the effort to find it? And if they do, how does it help the online business or orchestra that's offering the music?
Strictly Business
Even as many higher-profile classical music ventures seem wobbly or have faded out entirely, one entrant is still quietly assembling a critical mass of classical content: Rhapsody, a digital music service offered by San Francisco-based Listen.com (www.listen.com). While not an exclusively classical service, Rhapsody claims to offer the largest online library of classical recordings anywhere, including nearly the entire Naxos catalog of some 2,000 CDs' worth of music. Gradually, Rhapsody is also adding backlist classical content from the traditional major-label groups, including BMG and EMI. For about $10 a month, subscribers get to listen as much as they want, and they have access to Rhapsody's large pop and rock catalog as well.
"Classical listeners are completely underserved by conventional media," says Sean Ryan, CEO of Listen.com. "It's the perfect segment to go digital." Ryan notes that while classical music accounts for a relatively small portion of his overall traffic, those customers are his most demanding in terms of quality--and also the most loyal when it comes time to pay up. Like most music startups, Listen.com won't disclose its subscriber figures, but Ryan does note that Rhapsody plans a significant investment this year in its classical search technology, a sign that, unlike the major record labels, Rhapsody sees long-term opportunity in the category. (At this writing, Mozart was eighth on Rhapsody's Top Ten Artists list, just behind the Dixie Chicks.)
Still, Listen.com, like the other pay-for-play services out there, isn't yet a bonanza for the orchestras or record labels included in the playlist. It pays labels a small royalty every time one of their tracks gets played--but the numbers aren't yet large enough to make that a significant payment. As for orchestras, "Medium- to long-term, digital is going to be a significant boon for orchestras, first in a PR sense, later by generating some money," advises Ryan. "After all, don't you want your music available to anyone with a broadband connection, with a royalty from anyone who listens to it?"
At exclusively classical Andante.com, a recent management shakeup has reportedly introduced a new, more frugal marketing phase, after the service's splashy, heavily advertised launch. But there is interest in adding more content to the site's music room, and Andante.com still has fans. "They remain the best thing in the marketplace right now," says Joseph H. Kluger, president of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which offers dozens of its current and archival performances for streaming to the site's paid subscribers. "The real barrier that has to be overcome with all these businesses is getting music off the computer into the living room, or even better, into the car," he adds, alluding to future wireless or Internet technologies. "Once that happens, orchestras will regret not having been there to participate at the beginning."
For the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the reason to go online is clear: promotion. "We want young people," says Marc Mostovoy, the 30-member orchestra's founder and music director. "This is where they're accustomed now to listen to music." Few orchestras have put as much music online as Mostovoy's. The Chamber Orchestra (www.concertosoloists.org) offers several dozen complete performances for free download, drawn from live concerts, originally recorded by the orchestra's own team and also broadcast on the local public radio station. Encouraged by an Internet-savvy board member who also helped finance the initial streaming setup nearly four years ago, the orchestra offers performances of some 50 works, ranging from Handel's Water Music to a Gossec rarity to contemporary pieces. Each includes a professionally voiced spoken intro, so that no matter where the audio file travels, the orchestra gets a plug.
The Chamber Orchestra (formerly known as the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia) counts several thousand downloads of these performances a month, and it has also collected nearly a thousand e-mail addresses from site visitors. With ongoing bandwidth costs of several hundred dollars a month, has it paid off as a marketing investment compared to, say, spending the same money on direct mail? "You simply can't compare them," says Marketing Director Eric Haecker. "Once that brochure is in the mail, it's gone, and thrown out. With this investment, once the music is up, anyone can see it at any time. You get a scaling factor that you can't possibly get with direct mail."
Very few orchestras have taken the perceived risk Mostovoy's group has and put music up on their own sites as MP3 files for listeners to freely download, copy to a personal player, or share with anyone else. Wasn't there some internal concern about the rights issues? "Everyone knows we're not making any money on this," Mostovoy responds. "We simply don't want to be playing to an empty hall. [Our musicians] know that this online presence is only going to help people figure us out." The musicians consider the program, which produces no revenue, as a promotional activity for which they don't seek additional income. While acknowledging that their site needs more marketing dollars behind it to generate even more traffic, Mostovoy says that's no reason to wait: "In our situation, we simply have to do it."
Necessary, Not Magical
At the much larger, media-savvy San Francisco Symphony, there's just as much recognition that putting music online is absolutely necessary--but an even greater sense that putting all the music in the world on a web site won't work magic without an overall audience-building strategy.
"It's never going to be the main event," says John Kieser, the orchestra's director of operations and electronic media. "People are not going to rush home and eat dinner so they can watch a webcast. The Web is where people go to explore something they heard about somewhere else."
The issue isn't whether people will seek out and listen to music online. At the San Francisco Symphony's site, www.sfsymphony.org, they already do. Nearly one out of five site visitors listens to one or more of the one-minute orchestral excerpts that are scattered everywhere, such as next to program listings and in an extensive educational resource area. Kieser believes the sound clips help sell tickets and bring site visitors back.
How do you get someone looking for that music in the first place? Probably through something that reaches people in the old-fashioned, off-line world. As an example, Kieser points to plans for the SFS's extensive American Mavericks web site (www.americanmavericks.org), with nearly four dozen complete orchestra performances of music by out-of-the-mainstream composers available for streaming. Most site visitors, Kieser feels, will look for the site after they've been exposed to the American Mavericks concept through a companion television program and book project. The web site and its music alone, goes the thinking, wouldn't attract new listeners to the orchestra; but in combination with the "reach" vehicles of print and broadcast, it gives those new listeners a depth they would never get from the other places the orchestra's work appears. "It's a completely necessary leg of the stool," Kieser says. "But first you've got to push them to the site somehow to make it worthwhile."
Overall, classical music on the Web, like the Web itself, remains too new to draw firm conclusions. Even the initial success of classical radio streams may be only temporary, as royalty payments (see "An Online Primer," page 10) have already knocked such industry stalwarts as Chicago's WFMT off the Web entirely. But in the classical music world, as with many other old-line media businesses that have struggled with the Web successfully, there are a few words of wisdom that may help form more realistic expectations and avoid disappointment in efforts to move music online.
Get noticed. Generally speaking, people don't come to orchestra web sites looking for music. They visit to check out concert programs and schedules or to purchase tickets. Acknowledge up front that you'll need a strategy to help people learn that you have music available, whether it's through traditional PR and advertising channels, search-engine listings, or working with one of the music aggregators, webcasters, or retailers on the Web.
Offer depth.
Whether it's news, retailing, search engines, or music, the Web's most successful sites are usually the deepest. A few scattered sound files don't make a compelling offering. Consider providing a full range of recent performances--not just the occasional excerpt.
Look for a payoff.
You may not charge money for your content, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't expect some very quantifiable benefits from having music online. Ask listeners for e-mail addresses, demographic information, even donations to the orchestra--and compare the dollars you're investing in online music to the quality of the leads and sales you're getting in return.
At a time when just about every budget item at every orchestra is under scrutiny, is there a case to be made for investing even a few hundred dollars on Internet music--on letting the world hear what your orchestra sounds like? If your concern is selling tickets next week, perhaps not. But for any group with a longer-term view, the audience that is ready and waiting for classical music on the Web can't be ignored. "We spend too much time worrying about the concert hall," says San Francisco's Kieser. "There is a large audience out there that may become our donors and supporters who will never see that hall. And the Web is a part of reaching them."
Thomas Baker is a strategy consultant for media and Internet companies as well as arts organizations, and for seven years was general manager of The Wall Street Journal Online. He has been working with the Electronic Media Forum on ConcertWorks (www.concertworks.org).


text:
387 members176 Comments 10 Likes
40 members8 Comments 2 Likes
2081 members5545 Comments 65 Likes
1435 members375 Comments 25 Likes
432 members87 Comments 6 Likes
Started this discussion. Last reply by Goz Jul 12, 2010. 16 Replies 0 Likes
I'm a bartender and I'm not shy about messing with people! I will be at work in 2 hours and I need some jokes that will do 2 things: 1.) give the nonreligious something to laugh at 2.) not let the…Continue
Rachelle Smith has not received any gifts yet
Yep vegan-ism IS awesome :D:D. glad to meet a fellow "vegan-atheist." Great to hear you're a bartender, I have a healthy drinking appetite ;). yes, I was raised in an extremely religious family. Ultra-conservative, far right-wing religious nutjobs. Dont get me wrong, they're wonderful people, just hate their philosophy. I've been practically forced to go to church every sunday as well as several times during the week, it was a hell-hole. However, I am not an atheist because of all that; I'm an atheist because..well, I THINK. Great to meet you Rachelle, drop by my page and blogs when you can :)
© 2020 Atheist Nexus. All rights reserved. Admin: The Nexus Group. Powered by


text:
You might be surprised that Mk1 and Mk2 Ford Escorts are powered by four-cylinder engines. Listen to a bunch of them rip some burnouts and you'll think they run on angel trumpets.
This was at a demonstration run on the Isle of Jersey back in 2011 and, as far as I can tell, there was no plan to do these burnouts. The drivers just had the cars and felt like showing off. Clearly, RWD Escorts are the cars of choice for vintage-style British hoons.


text:
Start chatting to our centre now by clicking the button above
With a stunning sporting design and uncompromising performance and dynamics, the new BMW 8 Series Coupé is the ideal car for those wanting the feel of luxury and the power of a sports car. The BMW 8 Series Coupé has a superb design, both in and out, with strong contour lines and M Sport aerodynamics.
Click here to discover the Standard Equipment Highlights for the 8 Series Coupe.
With a compelling choice of engines available across the BMW range, there is a lot to consider when choosing which engine is right for you. Find out the distinctions between each of them and what you need to think about when deciding which BMW engine is best suited to your requirements.


text:
From 1790 until 1870, patent applications had to also include a miniature model, less than 12 square inches in size, along with the idea. We wish the policy were still around, at least to weed out the more ridiculous ideas.
Today, tech companies are some of the worst offenders in patent application, filing crazy patents for any half-baked idea they can think up, without the slightest regard for whether an object can actually be made. That's not even going into patents for basic ideas like Page Up/Page Down keys. Questionable patents aside, the strict miniaturization policy might have finally given us an iPhone Nano.
The days of physical patents are over, but some are still collecting the rare miniature versions, including the roller skate and paper clip. They're pretty cool, especially if you're as big a paper clip fanatic as I am. [Wired]


text:
Nearest Town: Macks InnSite Size: 20 mile route
Highlights: Raptors, Shorebirds, Songbirds, Upland Birds, Waterbirds, Waterfowl
Access: Snow may limit vehicle access. Access free of charge.
Directions: From Macks Inn, N on US 20 for 1.7 mi; R at mp 394.3 on FR 059 (Big Springs Loop Rd); go 4 mi; at intersection of FR 059 and FR 066 zero odometer and go L onto FR 066 (Black Canyon Loop Rd) and continue to the intersection of FR 066 and FR 071 (mi 9); all roads beyond FR 071 are closed; backtrack to US 20.
Description: Red-naped Sapsucker, Mountain Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Hermit Thrush, Red Crossbill, and Pine Siskin can be seen regularly in late spring and summer. Listen for Dusky and Hammond's Flycatchers during June. Coniferous forest may yield Northern Goshawk, Blue Grouse, Gray and Steller's Jay, Townsend's Solitaire, Pine Grosbeak, and Cassin's Finch during the breeding season. In the fall, look for Clark's Nutcracker and raptors.
More Information: US Forest Service (208) 558-7301Island Park Chamber of Commerce (208)558-7755
General Services:
Handicapped Services:What do these icons mean?
Select a species from the list to view other sites on the Idaho Birding Trail Sites this species may be observed.


text:
After several months of increasingly worrisome local employment figures, the March numbers released over the past week seemingly offer reason to be upbeat. The Rochester-area economy had a lower unemployment rate and gains in non-farm and private-sector jobs.
However, just as an overly pessimistic view of previous months' data was to be avoided, a note of caution should accompany the new numbers.
Consider the jobless figures. The state Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate for metropolitan Rochester-Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans and Wayne counties-declined to 8 percent from 8.3 percent a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted, so year-over-year comparisons are best).
This reflects a decline of 4,200 in the number of unemployed people in the Rochester area. But the number of employed people also declined, by 900. The explanation? A decrease in the size of the labor force.
As for the increases in non-farm and private-sector jobs-1,100 and 200, respectively, compared with March 2012-they mark a positive turn from the declines in the first two months of the year. But as M&T Bank Corp. economist Gary Keith notes on this week's Economy Track page, it's not exactly cause for celebration. The private-sector gain, he writes, "paled in comparison to the average year-over-year gain of 3,700 recorded throughout 2012."
His column also points to a fact noted here before: the continuing impact of Eastman Kodak Co.'s downsizing. Using preliminary data from the Census of Employment and Wages, he shows how the chemical manufacturing sector-where Kodak jobs are concentrated-accounts for the biggest chunk of job losses. Combined, all other manufacturing sectors actually added a small number of jobs.
The dimming job picture late last year and early in 2013 was particularly disheartening to some because Rochester had boasted one of the best private-sector job growth records among the nation's 100 largest metro areas since the start of the Great Recession.
In reality, the region's performance probably was neither as strong as it appeared then nor as weak as it seemed this past winter.
4/25/13 (c) 2013 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or email email@example.com.


text:
App Review: Geared by Bryan Mitchell (with helps)
August 27, 2009 by Rob
Filed under Daily App Reviews, Entertainment, Games, Staff Favorites
We're pretty much suckers here at AppChatter.com for puzzle games so when I saw Geared come to the App Store we just had to try it. Similar in style to many of the other "hand drawn graphics" puzzle games (like, Blocked), Geared is a new style of puzzle. The game reminds me a bit of Fantastic Contraption, but the whole premise is quite different. Your goal is to use the provided gears, place them on the screen to make all of the gears turn. Sounds easy, right? Wrong.
Actually, the first several levels are quite easy to complete. After a while of playing I was asking myself if the puzzles would get challenging or not. Adding gears into the screen and getting all the gears to turn seemed too easy, especially on the easy levels. However, once I got into the medium difficulty did things start to get a little challenging. Adding "no touch" zones to the screen makes it difficult to add gears where you want them, since the center of the gear cannot touch this area when you are moving them into place. The secret here is to drop the gear into place by holding the gear above the "no touch" zone then letting it drop. Hopefully it will land where you want, but if it doesn't simply grab it and try again.
Geared by Bryan Mitchell is a fun and addicting puzzle game that I'd recommend to anyone that likes puzzles (or rotating gears!). We found the game enjoyable and challenging to play for a wide range of audiences. Since the easy levels are quite easy children can solve them while adults will find the medium and difficult levels more their speed.
- Remeber that gears are subject to gravity. So you can "drop" them into place. This is especially helpful on levels that have the "no touch" zone.
- Use the gravity to stack gears where necessary, starting from the lowest on the screen.
- If a gear reaches the final one but doesn't turn it, you may need to keep adjusting it just tiny bits until it does.
Some Helpful Solutions
We've had a lot of requests so here are Level's 4 and 5 from Geared FREE:
For gee wiz, here are Level's 4 and 5 from Geared PAID:
Geared PAID Level 44 and Level 45:


text:
Firm fingers Apple over pointing tech
By INQUIRER staff: Thursday 29 December 2005, 14:24
A UK COMPANY filed a lawsuit against Apple and Fingerworks just before Christmas alleging the companies had breached a patent it owns.
Quantum Technology Management Ltd, a UK company based in Haywards Heath, alleges Fingerworks and Apple breached patent number 5,730,165 - Time Domain Capacitive Field Detector, granted on the 24th of March 1998 to a Harald Philipp and subsequently acquired by Quantum.
...could this legal threat have prompted Fingerworks to seek acquisition by a firm better able to handle a legal attack?
I'm thinking that they typo'ed the exact patent number, that patent seems to be about ??


text:
The future of urban mobility
The Uber Elevate team is working toward transforming the world through aerial ridesharing at scale. Imagine soaring above congested ground traffic. With Uber Air, this future is closer than you think.
Uber is developing shared air transportation—planned for 2023—between suburbs and cities, and ultimately within cities. We're working with our Elevate Network partners to launch fleets of small, electric VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft in Dallas, Los Angeles, and our first international market in Melbourne.
The Uber Elevate Summit
The Uber Elevate Summit is an annual event that brings together a diverse community of builders, investors, policymakers, and government officials for 2 days of envisioning the future of urban aerial ridesharing.
Uber Air launch markets
Over the next few years, Uber will continue to work closely with city and country stakeholders to create an aerial ridesharing network that's intended to be safe, quiet, and environmentally conscious, and to support other transportation options.
Recently announced, Melbourne joins Dallas and Los Angeles in becoming the first cities to offer Uber Air flights, with the goal of beginning demonstrator flights in 2020 and commercial operations in 2023.
Uber Elevate Whitepaper
In October 2016, the Uber Elevate founding team published a comprehensive, first-principles analysis that breaks down the critical barriers to launching a scaled, aerial ridesharing product on Uber's platform.
The whitepaper brought together the efforts of many to help catalyze what is now a vibrant industry and ecosystem of engineers, investors, policymakers, and scientists who are actively building this future.
Come build the future with the Elevate team
We're excited to hear from you. Please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
I caught him just before he disappeared
The threat of thunder storms kept me off the bike today. The sun was rising on the drive to work but I also saw the distinct line where the clear sky turned cloudy. It looked ominous.
My 11 year old neighbor Austin, left his bike lying in my front yard. I noticed the bike had a flat and there was a spare tube on the ground next to it. Am I being taken for granite?


text:
Yasmina's Necklace
Product Code: Y36000
- Comedy | Drama
- High School | College and Adult | Family (all ages)
- 5m., 2w.
- 110 min.
Meet Abdul Samee: his father is Iraqi, and his mother is Puerto Rican—but if you ask him, he'll say he's Italian. Longing to shed his cultural identity, he changes his name to Sam, marries an American and does everything in his power to turn his back on his heritage. But when Sam meets Yasmina, a beautiful woman from his father's homeland, he begins to learn that a tree without roots cannot stand for long. Learn More
$9.95 /script
Min. Royalty Rate: $80/perf
In StockLearn More


text:
The following list of events require registration. For a full listing of events, visit the calendar.
|Event Title
|Registration Link
|2019 Arizona Network Conference
|Click Here
The Arizona Ministry Network is driven by its' mission to advance the Kingdom of God through relationships and networking resources in partnerships of churches and ministers.Our Mission
The leadership of the Arizona Ministry Network exists to help support and resource the work God is doing in our state. Our prayer is that He will continue to build a network of deeply connected ministers and churches for his glory.Leadership
The Arizona Ministry Network is more than an office. It's a network of ministers and churches across Arizona. Our mission is to help strengthen each minister and the churches they represent.Find A Church
We have created a series of ministries with the purpose of resourcing and equipping you and your church. These ministries are a strategic part of our work across Arizona.Full Calendar
The Great Commission is at the center of our passion both locally and globally. As we work to build the kingdom here in Arizona, we also want to ensure that we are participating in God's work around the world.Global Missions
Credentialing is the primary means of connecting with other ministers in the Arizona Network. Through support and accountability, we believe credentials play a critical role in every minister's life and work.Credentialing Process
Each spring, our Network Conference is an opportunity to connect with other ministers and unite in prayer and vision for what God is doing in our state. With nationally recognized speakers and ministry partners from around the world, it's an event you won't want to miss.Event Information
The following list of events require registration. For a full listing of events, visit the calendar.
|Event Title
|Registration Link
|2019 Arizona Network Conference
|Click Here


text:
tiju_t needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 13 designs submitted by 4 freelance designers.
We are a startup engineering company, an offshoot of a sheetmetal company, which has acquired an existing (rundown?) brand of products.
P&R Sheetmetal - Hendicare Mortuary Equipment
No tagline for now
Desired Color Scheme:
Blue, yellow and white as per our current logo
Desired Style:
Not too conservative, but not loud
Accepted File Formats:
Various for print and web media
Our parent company's website is http://www.prsm.com.au, and it has a logo which is not too bad.
Our current product name is Hendicare Mortuary Equipment which has been recently acquired.
We'd like the new logo to
1) Have both components P&R Sheetmetal and Hendicare Mortuary Products
2) To be related to the original P&R Sheetmetal logo - although this is not quite that important.
3) Use the same blue, white and yellow combination.
We are targeting the products to universities, hospitals and mortuaries, so in my opinion it shouldn't scream out and be loud, but I don't want it to be too conservative, if you understand what I mean.
We will use the logo in web and print media, so we will need it in a variety of formats.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
Ben and Jerry's recently took a bold step in declaring their switch to be fully fair trade by the end of 2013. They've long used fair trade coffee chocolate in some of their yummy flavors (think Smooth Chocolate and Coffee Heath Bar Crunch) but now they've set their own bar even higher. Over the next few years the company will source all ingredients available Fair Trade Certified to be just that. They'll be using fair trade bananas, sugar, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, nuts and other flavorings, adding new fair trade ingredients as the fair trade marketplace grows and new products become available. Wow! I have not heard of any other ice cream company making such a move. Ben and Jerry's switch will influence over 27,000 farmers, according to a press release on their site. Impressive.
While we're on the subject of ice cream, I wanted to let all you do-it-yourselfers in on my latest ice cream discovery. I received an ice cream maker from my husband for Christmas and let's just say it's a well-loved addition to our household. Our absolute favorite flavor is Chocolate Chocolate Chip made with Sunspire's fair trade chocolate chips. A quart of this good stuff lasts about as long as it takes to inhale. Warning: This is not a health food. Here's my recipe:
Fair Trade Chocolate Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
2 1/4 cup whipping cream
6 tablespoons fair trade cocoa powder
1/4 cup fair trade sugar
Pinch of salt
6 ounces Sunspire fair trade semisweet chocolate chips (about 2/3 of a bag)
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon fair trade vanilla extract
Whisk together the cream, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk frequently until it begins to foam and boil. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate chips, stirring constantly. You want the chocolate chips to melt most of the way but still leave some small chunks at the bottom of the pan. Once the chocolate is mostly melted (no big chunks coming up when you stir) add the remaining milk and vanilla. Chill in the fridge until cold all the way through (at least 2-3 hours), then freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Then enjoy a divine chocolate experience!
Adapted from David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments
By the way, Sunspire chocolate chips are super expensive compared to regular old Nestle. Most grocery stores around here that carry them (Whole Foods, New Seasons) charge anywhere from $5.50-$6 per bag. That makes for a pretty expensive quart of ice cream or batch of chocolate-chip cookies, unless you do what I do. Sunspire has lately had a $3 off $10 on every bag of chocolate chips. I wait until they go on sale, usually for around $4.50/ bag, then stock up buying 6 or so bags at a time. With the coupon that makes them about $3.50 per bag. Still more than a cheap brand of chocolate chips but much closer, plus the Sunspire flavor does not compare to Nestle (which tastes like it contains more wax than chocolate).


text:
Pixel Perfect Guarantee
We want you to be completely happy with your purchase and our Pixel Perfect Guarantee ensures that the print you receive matches the preview shown on our web site.
If you are not happy with an item, or have simply changed your mind, do please let us know as soon as possible.
Please do not return any items without contacting us first as you may need to return it to a different address.
You can visit our Feedback page to send us comments or suggestions at anytime, or simply reply to one of our emails.
In the unlikely event you receive a faulty item please let us know as soon as possible and we'll try to help resolve any issues.CHANGED YOUR MIND?
Simply contact us within 30 days of receiving your prints for details of how to return any unwanted items. We are happy to refund your shipping charges on the original order, but you'll have to pay return shipping charges.
We are happy to exchange goods within 30 days from delivery. After this we can only exchange items if they were received faulty or if the wrong item was received. Free exchanges apply to UK orders only, replacement items sent to an overseas address may incur additional postal costs. If you are in a hurry we advise that you return the item for a refund and place a fresh order since exchanges can take slightly longer to process.
Any prints bought as a Christmas present during November can be returned up to January 6th, extending the normal 30 days. The item must be returned in the condition received and in its original packaging.
We check every item returned and if found not to be faulty by independent testers we may return the item with a postage charge.


text:
The Park Ventures Ecoplex is a prime grade building in Wireless Road, the heart of Bangkok's CBD.
Designed by renowned architects Palmer & Turner, it is one of Bangkok's most iconic towers, and the first commercial building space in Thailand to be certified LEED Platinum (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
Designed by Palmer & Turner (Thailand) Ltd, Park Ventures Ecoplex was completed in 2012, and features 34 storeys and 27,000sqm of grade A offices. Each floor offers 2,000 square metres of column-free space.
The Park Ventures complete was developed from the philosophy of balancing innovative and green construction, and includes over 25% green areas. The unique design was also inspired by the Wai Design concept, representing a warm traditional welcome gesture in Thai culture.
Located directly at BTS Ploen Chit station, The Park Ventures Ecoplex offers excellent transport connections. In-house amenities include a pharmacy, bank, Okura Hotel, patisserie, postal services and laundry. The complex also contains a Kasikorn Bank branch, Apple store and Dean and Deluca coffee shop.
The building boasts a spectacular architectural design in the centre of Bangkok. Many of shopping malls – including Central Embassy, Siam Paragon, the Central Department store and the famous Lumpini Park, (lungs of Bangkok) are just a stroll away.
Building occupants include the global businesses such as Cartier and Google, plus an impressive list of law firms and financial institutions.
Servcorp offices are located on level 18 of the Park Ventures Ecoplex.
Level 18 features unique oil on canvas paintings by local Thai artists, a variety of abstract paintings, and an exclusive selection of black and white photographs of The Grand Palace by Simon Bonython.
Facilities and services include:
Park ventures Ecoplex is an environmentally friendly complex in the centre of Wireless Road. It is Bangkok's first business Eco complex, , designed to reduce electricity and water usage, as well as increasing green space in the heart of Bangkok's CBD.
The Park Ventures complex enjoys excellent transport connections, being directly linked to the Sukhumvit Skytrain line Ploen Chit station. The complex is home to a number multinational companies, as well as amenities such as The Thai Post Office, Kasikorn bank and the Okura hotel.
30 mins by taxi from Suvarnabhumi Airport
Direct covered link to the BTS Ploenchit station


text: Linens and chair covers are perfect when you need to change up your decor to match a specific theme! Whatever your fabric choice, silks, linen, gauze, we have it all in as many colour combinations as you could imagine! Search here for Linens Chair Covers in Brighton and Hove, England.


text:
Local couples react to gay marriage Supreme Court cases
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court took up California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage.
New Hampshire couples are reacting to the high court's case. New Hampshire is one of nine states and D.C. where same-sex marriage is legal and recognized. But federal benefits don't extend to those couples. Now the argument is whether it should stay a state issue or should federal laws be rewritten.
Edie Windsor, 83, took her case all the way to the Supreme Court when her wife died. She was left with a $360,000 federal estate bill she would not have to pay if she married a man.
"This today is like a spectacular event for me. I mean, it's a lifetime kind of event," said Windsor.
The justices heard arguments over the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA.
The 1996 federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman since then states, including New Hampshire and D.C., legalized same-sex marriage while people protested it outside. Inside, justices questioned state vs. federal recognition of same-sex marriage.
"There are two kinds of marriages. The full marriage and then this sort of skim milk marriage," said Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
"We've had so many victories and so many setbacks," said Brendan Denehy.
Denehy and Brian Rater said their marriage is recognized by New Hampshire but not the federal government. They said benefits are impacted, health insurance, social security and their tax return.
"We're married but the federal government makes us say a lie in that I have to say that I'm single," said Denehy.
"If they're relating to state law you have to say that you're married, but if they're related to federal laws you have to say that you're single," said Rater.
They want the high court to acknowledge a changing marriage landscape in America.
"This really is historic. It has a huge impact on tens of thousands of couples," said Rater.
A decision on both cases is expected in June.


text:
White Sox Minor League pitcher Terry Doyle, catcher Josh Phegley, infielder Tyler Saladino and outfielder Brandon Short will be part of the Mesa Solar Sox in the 2011 Arizona Fall League. Triple-A Charlotte skipper Joe McEwing will be the club's manager.
The AFL starts on October 4 and concludes with the AFL Championship on November 19.


text:
Schmidt Brothers® - Starter Set with City Block
Earn 10% back 20% back in Reward Dollars* with your West Elm Credit Card.Learn More Apply Now
- Overview
A cut above. Designed by the New York-based Schmidt Brothers® as part of their debut west elm collection, this 7-piece starter set includes an acacia wood City Block and six carefully crafted knives. The patented Schmidt Brothers Curve™ provides a space for your forefinger to rest and guide the knife for greater control.
- Exclusive collaboration with Schmidt Brothers®. Learn more.
- 100% German stainless steel; acacia wood handles.
- Full tangs are triple riveted to the handles for durability and control.
- Sturdy high-carbon steel that resists stains and corrosion.
- High-polish, precision-sharp blades.
- Block holds up to 10 knives in universal slots.
- Imported.
- Details + Dimensions
- 8" Chef: Blade length–8"; Handle length–5".
- 8" Bread: Blade length–8"; Handle length–5".
- 8" Slicer: Blade length–8"; Handle length–5".
- 5.5" Tomato/ Bagel: Blade length–5"; Handle length–5".
- 5" Utility: Blade length–5"; Handle length–5".
- 4" Paring: Blade length–4"; Handle length–4.5".
- City Block: 10"w x 3"d x 3.7"h.
Use with care. Hand wash with warm water and a mild detergent. Rinse and dry immediately. Sharpen as needed, usually once or twice a year with regular use. Periodically rub mineral oil on the wood handle to prevent drying. Store in a safe place.
- Shipping + Returns
With Front Door Delivery, your item ships from our Distribution Center by UPS and arrives to your home within 4-5 business days of order receipt.
The shipping rate varies depending on your order total and shipping options. Visit our Shipping Information Page for more information.
Add $8.50 for each gift wrap. For next day delivery, add $26.00 per address. Items shipped directly from the manufacturer and oversized items are not eligible for next day delivery.
For an extra charge of $26.00 per address, within the contiguous 48 states, we can arrange for next day delivery to most destinations. If we receive your order by 6pm PT Monday through Friday, you'll receive your order the next business day; orders placed on Friday after 6pm PT through Sunday will arrive on Tuesday. Note: Next day delivery service is not available for out-of-stock items, personalized items or for items shipped directly from the vendor.
You can return eligible items within 30 days of receiving an order or 7 days for Quick Ship upholstery items for a refund of the merchandise value. An original receipt or gift receipt is required. Monogrammed items and Made-to-Order furniture or rugs are not eligible for returns. Review the full list of ineligible items and our refund policy below before starting the process.
How to return:
- Return to Stores: You can return most non-furniture items to your local west elm store for free (west elm outlet stores excluded).
- UPS: For items under 70 lbs, you can print a return label from our Returns Policy page and bring to a UPS location.
- For furniture and other oversized items that are not Made-to-Order, please contact our customer service department at 1.888.922.4119.
Items not eligible for return:
- Made-to-Order (MTO) items, including custom rugs and furniture
- Drop Ship items, with the exception of wall art
- Monogrammed items
- Mattresses
- Gift cards
- Final sale items (with prices ending in $.X7 or $.X9)
- Items damaged through normal wear and tear
Complete details:
- For full details, please visit our Returns Policy page.
- For further assistance, please call our customer service department at 1.888.922.4119 or send an email to email@example.com.


text:
Last week, an important step was taken to moving the national conversation about marriage forward. It was entitled, "The Ring Makes the Difference". The participants in the event were Archbishop Dolan, Pastor Johann Christoph Arnold of the Bruderhof Community, and the scholars Brad Wilcox and Elizabeth Marquard. A video of the event is available here, and is well worth watching. There's also an excellent article in Catholic New York.
For the most part, the public debate has centered on the battle over the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples. That makes perfect sense, since there is very well-funded, active, organized movement to accomplish that goal. The Church has been a major opponent of this movement — and a target of their vitriol — and we will continue to do so.
In fact, the same-sex "marriage" movement seems to believe that the only important discussion about marriage is about them. It's become difficult to even bring up the subject of marriage without the redefinition advocates interrupting and clamoring for their cause. And the "Ring Makes the Difference" event was a perfect illustration of this. They protested outside the theater, and dominated the question/answer session with their personal appeals for the recognition of their unions (apparently they didn't get the memo that their bill was passed already in New York).
But in a larger sense, the debate has never really been about same-sex couples. Most reliable surveys show that only about 4% of the overall population self-describes themselves as "gay" or "lesbian". In those states where marriage has been re-defined, only a small percentage (an estimated 5%) of that small percentage have entered into "marriages". In fact, recent Census reports show that there are only about 130,000 same-sex "marriage" households in the United States. To put this in context, there are about 60,000,000 households that are founded on real marriages, and another 7,500,000 unmarried opposite-sex couples who are cohabiting.
Let's do the math. Based on those Census numbers, same-sex "marriage" couples make up about 0.2% of all households — just two tenths of one percent, or two out of a thousand.
So why is the discussion being dominated by such a tiny population, most of whom don't even seem to want to be married anyway? How about if we start talking about the 99.8% of the households who are not in same-sex "marriages". Shouldn't the discussion be about how the redefinition of marriage affects them, and what social policies we can develop that will help them?
That was the point of the Ring Makes a Difference event, and that's why it's so important — to focus our attention away from the small special interest group, and towards the vast bulk of the population, and the common good. In fact, the conversation needs to concentrate on the nature of conjugal love, which is oriented to the union of man and woman, with the procreation and raising of children as an inherent part. The debate can then appeal to the unchallenged scholarly consensus about the social benefits of marriage — how it is the best place for the emotional, financial and overall good of men, women and children.
To that end, the remarks of Archbishop Dolan were particularly apt. He made four major points, which in my opinion can serve as a good outline for the discussion as we go forwards:
- The defense of marriage is not a religious issue, but is a question that stems from the natural law, and is an expression of responsible American citizenship.
- This is not an anti-"gay" issue.
- Our concerns about the re-definition of marriage can be seen in the very real threats to religious liberty that are emerging.
- The challenge to marriage does not just come from outside, but from inside as well — our own Catholic population has largely lost the proper understanding of true marriage.
The debate about marriage affects the vast majority of the population, and the common good of all. It is a dis-service to have the conversation focus only on same-sex couples. We need to re-orient the discussion.
Tags: Marriage, Same-Sex "Marriage"


text:
Questions? Call Mod Experts at 714-582-3330 Mon-Fri: 8am - 6pm / Sat: 8am - 5pm
Shopping cart (0): $0.00
Be the first to review this product
Please scroll down to view the size bulb your vehicle uses.
Email to a Friend
Change the look of your BMW without spending hundreds to do so
with GP Thunder 3500K Halogen Bulbs.
This GP Thunder Bulbs appear a golden yellow color, and come in all sizes. Quality is never an issue with
this supreme quality light bulb. GP Thunder bulbs are made of
fused quartz glass in order they may produce maximum power
with a smaller bulb. Turn
heads like never before by replacing your OEM halogen bulbs with
GP Thunder 3500K Golden Yellow Bulbs.
*Only if your 1 Series
has halogen low/high beam bulbs. Please ensure your
vehicle does NOT have HID bulbs.
Use spaces to separate tags. Use single quotes (') for phrases.


text:
In the last decade or so, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) – mediation and arbitration – has come a long way. In fact, a good argument can be made that the "A" in ADR could probably be dropped.
Briefly, mediation is the process of seeking a negotiated resolution/settlement to a dispute using a neutral third party to facilitate the negotiation. There is no "decision maker" in a classic mediation. Mediation is a process that can take place outside of litigation entirely, be engaged in the context of litigation in an attempt at pre-trial settlement, or can even take place in the context of an arbitration proceeding (Med-Arb or otherwise).
Arbitration, by contrast, is much closer to the adversarial and adjudicative process that we associate with the courts. Sometimes arbitration is mandated by legislation or a non-negotiated contract between that parties (that one party didn't really have any say in). In those cases, a party might be stuck with arbitration whether it/he/she wants to be or not. Other times, however, parties will jointly agree to forego the courts in favour of arbitration. There are, as far as I'm concerned, only really four essential reasons that parties might opt for arbitration over litigation.
- Privacy – unlike court proceedings, which are public in nature, arbitration is a private process where no decisions are published and the parties can keep the evidence and outcome private.
- Process – parties to an arbitration normally have the opportunity to agree upon procedures and rules that are different from the Rules of Civil Procedure and thereby shape and tailor the process to suit the needs of the dispute.
- Speed/Cost – because an arbitration has an adjudicator hired by the parties and they are not caught in the public system "waiting their turn", there is at least the theoretical possibility of getting a result faster than if the parties were simply to litigate (for example, in Toronto it is not uncommon to have to wait five or six months to get a 15 minute hearing for a simple procedural motion).
- Appeals – the parties to an arbitration can limit the rights to appeal the decision of the arbitrator.
Zafir Holdings Inc. v. Grassmere Construction Ltd., 2013 ONSC 1835 is a very recent case out of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that demonstrates how the objectives of arbitration aren't always satisfied in the manner that the parties may have hoped when they agreed – perhaps with flowers and butterflies floating about – to arbitrate.
Zafir Holdings was the owner and Grassmere Construction was its general contractor in relation to a large industrial construction project. A dispute arose between Grassmere Construction and one of its subcontractors regarding some of the earthworks and that dispute percolated its way up to become a dispute between the Grassmere Construction and Zafir Holdings. Grassmere Construction's subcontractor got judgment at a trial against Grassmere Construction and Grassmere Construction and Zafir Holdings agreed to arbitrate the issues between them. The arbitrator found that Zafir Holdings owed Grassmere Construction a large portion of the amount that Grassmere Construction had to pay its subcontractor (as well as other amounts in relation to other issues). Zafir Holdings sought, and was granted, the Court's permission (leave) to appeal the arbitrator's decision.
In the context of this short article, this case is notable insofar as it demonstrates how the primary objectives of arbitration were probably almost entirely obliterated in the end result. Consider:
- Privacy – the appeal, and the very fact that I was able to read the Court's Decision and write about it here, means that if the parties had privacy as one of their objectives (whether unilateral or mutual), that benefit of arbitration has been lost.
- Process – there's no way to tell whether the parties achieved any benefit here but, insofar as the ability to modify process usually has cost as its objective, I generally doubt it.
- Speed/Cost – the dispute arose in 2004 or 2005 and Grassmere Construction's subcontractor obtained its judgment in June 2010. By contrast, Grassmere Construction and Zafir Holdings didn't get their decision in the arbitration until November, 2012 – two and a half years later! Given that both Grassmere Construction and Zafir Holdings were likely involved in the litigation with the subcontractor (at least to some extent) and then had to adjudicate their dispute before the arbitrator (and pay the arbitrator's fee which was likely substantial), it's hard to imagine how there might have been significant cost-savings in the way that it all unfolded.
- Appeals – Zafir Holdings has been granted leave to appeal so there was no benefit here (in fact, the motion to seek leave to appeal added a layer of cost that wouldn't have existed if the underlying arbitration decision had been a judgment of the court).
I'm not anti-arbitration – it certainly has the potential to be a useful alternative to litigation in certain types of cases. However, cases such as Zafir Holdings Inc. v. Grassmere Construction Ltd. highlight the reason that I believe most parties contemplating putting a mandatory arbitration provision into an agreement, or those facing a decision whether to arbitrate rather than litigate in the face of a dispute, should very carefully and deliberately consider the potential benefits of arbitration. In such circumstances, the question should be asked: "Is there a really compelling reason that I/we should take on the cost of an arbitrator (in addition to the cost of my/our lawyers) rather than proceed in a public forum and let my/our tax dollars pay for the judge?" More often than not, in my view, the answer will be "No".