text: jameson (ST) 61 Posted August 6, 2013 ,, Numenéra ,, Vitals: Published By Monte Cook Games • 416 pages • on sale August 14th • full color PDF or Hardcover ,, Introduction: ,, Let me start out by making a few things clear: I backed the Kickstarter campaign, which is how I have an early copy of the rules. This review will come in parts, mostly cause this book is huge, and my time is finite. I have yet to play the game, so opinions on the mechanical aspects are thusly informed. I'm reviewing a PDF so I cannot speak to the physical quality of the book until such time as mine arrives. That said this thread will grow as I add to it with additional chapters of the book as I go, I am hoping to have the entire book reviewed by the end of the month. ,, First Impressions - The Look & "Feel" ,, ,, This book looks amazing, plain and simple. The artwork is a mix of full color paintings and pencil or line art. The art ranges in size from tiny sketches in the margins to half page paintings. Quality of the artwork is generally very high and helps to establish the look and feel of the setting throughout. The remainder of the layout is full color as well, with color page borders, section transitions, and even portions of text use color as a highlight. ,, Text is a mix of one and two column format with a generous margin on the outside of each page. These margins are populated with copious small artworks, definitions of key terms, and hyper-linked cross references of important terms and sections. Many people seem to prefer reading a physical book to a digital one, but the quality of the hyper-linking and cross-referencing makes this book read almost like it were a Wiki page (this is a good thing). ,, The only downside to the digital format is that there is no file Table of Contents (ToC). This is not to be confused with the book's Table of Contents (there is one), but digital ToC that is accessible from a toolbar would make some degree of navigation between chapters without the use of the hypertext more useful. As it stands currently flipping back to the book's ToC page and hyper-linking from there is functional, if less than perfect. Lastly the file is huge topping out just over 70 MB, which means that Adobe can occasionally be a bit chunky when navigating. ,, New World, New Game and Part 1: Getting Started - Or, How I Learned About the Year 1 Billion ,, The Ninth World is about discovering the wonders of the worlds that came before it, not for their own sake, but as the means to improve the present and build a future. - Numenera, page 12 ,, The book starts out with a short introduction by Monte Cooke about the origins of Numenera and his goals in creating this setting and game. Immediately following this is a story The Amber Monolith that tosses the reader head first into the the Ninth World and immerses them in a story that showcases the world through the eyes of a character who could easily be a player. ,, The first two chapters provide high level introductory overviews of the setting and the rules. The setting, The Ninth World, is set one billion years in the future, and is built on the rubble and remains of the prior either worlds. The game is a mixture of science fiction and fantasy, with medieval level cultures using the remnants of the prior ages' technology as typical fantasy-world denizens would use magic. As the book reminds early on, Clarke's Third Law applies: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ,, Mechanically the game uses an entirely new system that operates on a d20 dice mechanic and a ten rank difficulty system. To facilitate a mechanically light system that focuses on storytelling over combat the system is light on skills, stats, and even dice rolling - the GM never need toss a die during normal play, all rolls are made by the players. I'll get deeper into the mechanics later, but the light rules seem like they will do well to facilitate a more story driven play style similar in some ways to FATE, or the various Apocalypse World variants. ,, ,, Next up, Characters and Chargen ,, Feel free to comment or ask questions, I'll try and reply as I am able. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Debbie Bradford
School Leader
Debbie has been a Montessori teacher and school administrator for the last 14 years. Her roles have included Toddler and Primary classroom teacher, school administrator, and most recently serving as Lead Elementary teacher. She is Montessori certified and proficient in the Albanesi Curriculum which is designed purposely to guide teachers in selecting the Montessori materials that best serve the curriculum being taught to students.
Debbie has extensive experience supporting the Montessori curriculum, supporting Lead Guides and students in ways which enrich student experiences including field trips, school events and studies in art and cooking. She has also been doing parent education events, reading groups, and new family tours for years at her previous school. In addition to her Bachelor of Arts and Montessori certification, Debbie has studied architecture and art history at the University of Florence in Italy and has a culinary degree from L'academie de Cuisine in Maryland.

subset: commoncrawl


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Dan Barker's Freedom from Religion Foundation is immersed in their annual war against all things religious. That is of course how they view it: a war. In this war, they have had quite a few successes, in large part because they realized early on that public sentiment was not on their side. That is, they could never achieve their goals legislatively. Their only hope was to turn to the courts, and here the playing field is more to their advantage. After all, it is easier to persuade one judge or three than it is a million, hundred thousand, etc.
In a guest view posted today in the La Crosse Tribune, Dan Barker comes out in defense of the 'in your face tactics' that his organization has been employing. Basically his argument is this: religious people have been ridiculing nonbelievers for thousands of years, so turnabout is fair play. We of course will bear in mind the common view taken by nonbelievers that they are morally superior to believers–the present example a good illustration of how well they 'rise above' the bad behavior of religious people… by joining in.
"What is wrong with ridicule? What is wrong with protest?" Dan Barker wants to know. "Protestantism is based on protest–it's right there in the word itself." The irony, here of course, is that Dan Barker and his ilk does wish to immunize their viewpoints from public scrutiny and ridicule. If you raise your voice, even ever so slightly, with a new atheist, you will practically drive them to tears and indignation. You see, they can be as rude as they like. Not only must you treat them with extreme politeness, but of course you must give into their every whim in the name of 'tolerance' and 'diversity.'
One searches for the appropriate prism by which to view such attitudes, and I think we have at least our first hint in Barker's letter. "To us nonbelievers, the nativity scene is a ridicule of human nature. … Believers might see a cute baby in a manger, but most nonbelievers see a reprehensible put-down of humanity."
This is akin to the claims often heard that the mere sight of Ten Commandment tablets on public property, or lighted crosses, or whatever, causes them great mental anguish. Of course, we know the truth: they need to say such absolutely asinine and ridiculous things in order for their court cases to go forward. Personally, I doubt very much that they are as effected, but let's take Barker at his word in this case: the mere sight of a nativity scene evokes the sense that they are being ridiculed and reprehensibly put-down.
Through what prism should we view such people? I think we must regard them as being more like children than anything else. If there is anything that drives children batty, it's seeing other people enjoying a toy that they themselves cannot have. If they can arrange it–and bullies have some skill with this–when they get the toy, they will guard it fiercely to keep others from sharing in the pleasure. In my household, I have seen my own children hide items that they had lost all interest in just so that their siblings couldn't have them.
Similarly, the mere sight of something that offends a new atheist is enough to drive them batty. Not content to do what adults learn to do (change the channel, avert their eyes, shop somewhere else, ignore, etc) they've got to put a stop to it. After they've put a stop to it, of course they have to make sure that no one else can do the same, even if it doesn't impact them in the slightest. I don't know how else to view this behavior other than childish.
I will now be seen as 'ridiculing' them by this characterization. Well, sometimes the truth hurts. Mere ridicule is meant to merely hurt. Telling the truth is meant to convey a benefit. I do earnestly wish the new atheists would grow up. After all, if you put children in charge of the operation of heavy machinery, the odds are that someone will soon get very hurt. However, if someone decides to view it simply as mockery, then I appeal to Dan Barker for my defense: "What is wrong with ridicule? What is wrong with protest?"
Another characteristic of children is that they can dish it out, but they can't take it. I doubt we'll see anything in the comment section on this that will prove me wrong in my assessment. In religion they see a perceived slight, and in response to this perception, they have no qualms against dishing out actual slights. They expect everyone to be cowed by this, but having been on the receiving end of actual physical threats by new atheists, I assure you, this is one writer that won't be.
Unfortunately, these children are more canny than most and, again, most unfortunately, have access to 'heavy machinery.'
Buried in Barker's screed is an even more pernicious goal that his FFRF has, beyond merely being jerks trying to prove a point:
In America, Christians are welcome to celebrate whatever they want. We are happy to share the season with them. They just can't use the government to privilege their party over everyone else's.
Christians can do whatever they like in their churches and private property, but in the American public square, there is room at the inn for all of us.
The idea that putting up nativity scenes or other icons of religion 'privileges' religious folks is so absurd that I cannot even believe that we have to take it seriously. I think it is clear from the foregoing that on the merits, I don't. However, the argument and attitude encapsulated in the two quotes above must be taken very seriously because the stakes are very high, indeed.
To explain, allow me to frame it this way. Every December we have to deal with a bunch of whiny, perpetually offended atheists, chiseling away at all religious expression the public square. Dan Barker says that 'there is room at the inn for all of us', but if he believes that, my regard for his intellect goes even lower than it was. I think the evidence is that he does not believe that and in fact he is purposefully trying to achieve the opposite. In Barker's world, any religious expression in the public square constitutes 'using the government to privilege one religion over another.' "Christians can do whatever they like in their churches and private property" but in FFRF's conduct we know that they cannot do anything they like outside their churches and off their private property.
By way of example, a slew of atheists filed an amicus brief against Hosanna-Tabor Lutheran School in their attempt to fire someone who flagrantly disregarded the beliefs and values of that institution. The FFRF is not a signatory (a surprise, honestly) but they are all the same crew. In the amicus we read:
Amici wish to bolster the principle of religious neutrality that government may not prefer religion over nonreligion [..] A decision of this Court recognizing the ministerial exception would have the constitutionally impermissible effect of denying equal protection of the laws to the employees of religious organizations and of advancing religion by creating special rights for religious defendants, and in so doing undermine the rule of law.
You can stop laughing now. No, really. They actually said that they cared about the 'rule of law.' Stop your chuckling and attend to my words.
You see in this comment the exact reference to 'the principle of religious neutrality' that Barker made.
In a bizarre twist, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the atheists. Where that puts the American Atheists/Humanist's assertion that the Sixth Circuit's argument was 'based on a misreading of the Constitution' I don't know. Still my point in referencing this example is to show that in point of fact, atheists do not think that "Christians can do whatever they like in their churches and private property." Actually, they believe that this constitutes 'special rights for religious defendants.'
Now, are they lying about their true position or is their worldview so incoherent that even four fabulously progressive liberals on the Supreme Court couldn't get it to align with reason? I don't have the answer to this question, but personally I think it is a little of both, with the addition that they say some of the stupid things they say as part of a legal strategem. (Really? They're offended by a baby in a manger? I find it hard to believe.)
For our purposes it doesn't matter how we answer that. What matters is that we are aware that there are bigger things afoot.
It is worth mentioning here that Hosanna-Tabor was up against the Federal government itself– the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In short, the Obama Administration. (One more reason I'm perplexed by the decision, since two of the SCOTUS appointees were made by Obama.)
The Obama Administration buys into the new atheist argument that the Constitution implies a 'principle of religious neutrality' that entails no 'special rights for religious defendants.' Indeed, we just saw them enact HHS rules requiring religious organizations to fund behaviors that they find morally objectionable: contraception; which of course sometimes is identical with abortion itself. (I understand that many liberals view abortion itself as contraception. I'm referring to the fact that some contraceptive drugs are actually abortifacients.)
Here again we discover that the secular humanists do not really believe that "Christians can do whatever they like in their churches and private property."
What Obama has been saying is that the Constitution enshrines a 'right to worship,' but in his conduct, as well, we see the same sort of dilemma where we either have to conclude that he has jello for brains or he is simply a liar. Even in his book, Christians can't do whatever they like in their churches and private property.
Now let us compare these sentiments with the actual words of the Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Usually we talk about the first half of this–the establishment of religion. Atheists have made great headway towards creating the precedent that allowing nativity scenes on public property constitutes an 'establishment of religion.' On this view, a Christian's bumper sticker on his car on a public road constitutes an 'establishment of religion.' He is, after all, on public property. But my point is to the second part of the clause: "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
I will casually note that the clause does not go on to say, "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof in their churches and private property."
With all religious expression in the public square fiercely attacked every year at this time and the atheists and Federal agencies with Obama at the head pushing headlong into the affairs of 'their churches and private property' one is hard pressed to imagine just what kind of 'free exercise' these folks will actually allow. To me, it seems to consist solely of singing Kum Bah Yah, provided that no one else can hear you.
This is a far cry from what the Constitution says or implies. It is quite clear from the words of the first amendment that, contrary to modern assertions otherwise, that the government cannot limit religious expression in the public sphere, period. Moreover, since the same sentence forbids and establishment of religion even as it forbids prohibiting the free exercise of religion, the framers obviously did not perceive that the latter necessarily amounted to the former.
We must think very seriously about what may happen if the lunatics consolidate their control over the asylum. If the Obama administration and his atheist backers succeed in driving 'religious expression' into the deep recesses of our skulls, allowing it public expression only insofar as one is publicly seen moving from one's car to one's church, what kind of society can we expect?
I would like to answer this question by pointing out that Christmas is not the only holiday that Christians have given us. The list is actually quite long–atheists of course have not given us any–but there is one in particular I want to emphasize: Independence Day.
As Barker correctly notes, European settlers to the Americas were driven on in search of religious freedom. (He incorrectly has the Puritans fleeing the Roman Catholics.) The first people to come to America were deeply concerned about the 'establishment of religion', which is reinforced by the fact that the first ten words of the entire Bill of Rights moves to prohibit it, and the next six words insists that religious expression shall not be prohibited. Then comes the right to free speech, the right of a free press, and so on.
Compare the placement of these words and their emphatic nature with a comparable document that would arise shortly after, in the 'Declaration of the Rights of Man", one of the founding documents of the French Revolution.
10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.
11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.
As the French Revolution played out, the import of the italicized caveats became clear. Spurred on by Enlightenment principles (ie, ones that disparaged religion and held 'free thought' very high, indeed), in very short order there came massacre upon massacre. Something called "the Committee of Public Safety" (not to be confused with the Health and Human Services department) established itself as a virtual dictatorship, and in the 'Reign of Terror' some 40,000 people were simply executed. After all, each shall be responsible for the abuses of their freedom, and by no means should the public order be disturbed.
This is an aside, but an important one: it may seem odd that the Committee of Public Safety, acting on principles espoused in a nice sounding document such as 'the Declaration of the Rights of Man' could turn so viciously upon their own fellowman, but there was something else in that declaration that goes far to explain it–
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.
In other words, the nation comes first. Individual rights come from the nation–and can be taken away. The nation is everything, and anything that undermines the nation must be violently dealt with.
Compare and contrast with the first words of the American Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
In other words, the individual comes first. Their rights come from God and not even a nation or 'social contract' can obliterate them. The former principle led to the slaughter of tens of thousands, the latter principle to the freedom of millions.
With some exceptions, sadly: the American founders did not do the right thing and abolish slavery as they ought to have done so right at the start. In the name of the 'nation' (ie, the former principle, and not the latter) they sacrificed their own principles. In about sixty years, Abraham Lincoln would rise victorious in a conflict that would slay 500,000 people: in the name of the nation. (Stand by for cheap shot: It is probably a coincidence that Lincoln is a favorite of many atheists.)
I think it is safe to say that nothing but blood and terror has followed where the principle that the nation stands above everything else, and everything else must answer in accordance to whether or not it 'disturbs the public order.'
The American framers understood that checks and balances were absolutely necessary for a fair and just society to exist–because "We are all damned sinners who need to be 'saved' by bowing down to the baby in the manger." In other words, they saw as a simple statement of truth about humans what atheists regard as a "reprehensible put-down of humanity." Original sin is real. If you believe as such, liberty is the result. If you don't, the French Revolution, the American Civil War, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Holocaust, Pol Pot's Killing Fields, and so on and so forth, is the result.
Understand why I say this. It is different than the typical battle over atheism's role in 20th century atrocities. Yes, most of the revolutionaries referenced in these examples were atheists, but one does not need to be an atheist in order to fall into the trap that the 'nation' is a thing to be upheld at all costs.
That was a long aside, but it had to be said, because this is essentially the same issue that is before us today: to what exactly will we give our highest allegiance and who will decide this question?
The Christian men and women of early America argued that God warrants our highest allegiance, but this question is worked out individually, not collectively. Their beliefs gave us Independence Day, another holiday that 'we get to stay home for.' Driven on by their religious beliefs, they gave freedom to all.
To put the whole thing another way, just as you can only have pacifists in a country ringed by armed protectors, you can only have atheists in a country where the 'free expression' of religion in all spheres–public and private–are welcome. Only in a country where it is actually the case, and not mere lip service, that "there is room at the inn for all of us", can there be life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Dan Barker and the New Atheist Quest for the Freedom From Religion, if successful, will end in their own slavery, along with everyone else's, because if ever our fellow man is given the right and authority to decide where we put our ultimate allegiances, abuse and tyranny is bound to follow. So is the testimony of history.
So, while the efforts of the FFRF are very childish indeed, their successes do not bode well for the future. Not ours, nor theirs, either.


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Here is a card I made for the City Crafter Challenge Blog
Also for The Shabby Tea Room
for this challenge we have to include a celebration sentiment.
My papers are from My Mind's Eye, Lost and Found. Butterflies and sentiment stamps are from Hero Arts. Scroll stamp at bottom is from Waltzing Mouse. Border punch is EK Success. Spellbinders tag. Hero Arts black ink. Distress inks in black soot, victorian velvet and tattered rose. Flowers, pearls and ribbon are from Michaels.
Thanks for dropping by!


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Product details
Product name: Elephant Dance: A Story of Love and War in the Kingdom of Elephants
Reviewer: Kate Arneman
Author: Tammie Matson
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Price: $34.99
G Rating:
Australian-born Tammie Matson became captivated with Africa as a 15-year-old on safari with her Dad in Zimbabwe. The experience set her on a path to becoming a zoologist and conservationist (not to mention the author of two autobiographical books!) who would return to the vast, mesmerising continent time and again.
Her gap year working on that same safari ranch, a stint teaching English in Zimbabwe and researching the endangered black-faced impala in Namibia are recounted in her first book, Dry Water. Elephant Dance is the second installment of an enviably adventurous life - and the protaganist is only in her early thirties by the end of it!
In a style that is effervescent and chatty, Matson deftly weaves observations of landscape, wildlife, the interaction of cultures, the legacy of colonialism in India, Africa and Australia and relationships between the sexes together with her personal story.
Following the break-up of a long-term relationship and feeling "thoroughly impala-ed out", Tammie jumps at the opportunity to work with a different species: elephants. Her mission is to investigate the causes and potential solutions to conflict between these not-always gentle giants and Bushmen (the diminuitive tribe portrayed in The Gods Must Be Crazy) in Namibia.
A rapidly expanding elephant population coupled with human settlement in what was once wilderness had lead to competition for resources, primarily water, but also bush foods. Although the community appreciated the income elephants attracted through tourism, they feared for their safety (one woman had been trampled to death and many had been chased) and property (elephants routinely destroyed solar panels and water pumps).
After four months surveying the sites of elephant-human conflict and interviewing Bushmen, Matson initiates an environmental education program, before visa issues compel her to return to Australia.
Back home, she feels the agonising pull of two worlds and the disparity between her own privileged existence and the poverty she has witnessed in Africa. At the same time questions about her own biological clock start to weigh on her mind.
After unexpectedly landing a job at conservation organisation WWF, leading a program to conserve threatened native species, Matson finds herself in Sydney. It's here that the love interest arrives in the form of co-worker Andy Ridley (who just happens to be working on the launch of Earth Hour).
The two head to India, Andy on holiday, Tammie as a consultant to a WWF project on elephant-human conflict. Unlike African elephants in Namibia, where populations are surging, Asian elephants in India are struggling to survive.
In the Assam region only a third of the forest, which is the elephant's natural habitat, remains. This has driven the animals to seek food on farmland, threatening the livelihoods of the farmers. Dozens of people have been being killed each year by elephants as they tried to defend their crops and there have been many retaliatory killings of elephants.
Matson suggests a strategy that has been successful in Africa, where farmers in elephant-human conflict zones are encouraged to plant chillies as cash crops. Not only do elephants steer clear of the crops, thus ensuring the farmers an income, but the chillies can be used to create effective elephant deterrents around water installations and the like.
Elephant dung is mixed with chillies and dried. When a hot coal is placed on top of the briquette, it releases a smoke that keeps elephants at bay. Another method is to douse cloths in a chilli and oil mixture.
Elephant Dance winds up in Africa, with Matson up a tree and Ridley at the bottom. A fitting end to a book that manages to be funny, informative and satisfying.
Printed on carbon-neutral Envi paper.


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23 July 2013
James Nurton
We've chosen our 50 most influential people in IP this year. But who would you add to the list?
The 50 people included in our annual most-influential list would make for an interesting cocktail reception. By one table, Federal Circuit Chief Judge Randall Rader, retired Indian Supreme Court judge Aftab Alam and "notorious patent troll" Erich Spangenberg are chatting about patent litigation. Across the room, Kim Dotcom, Pete Wishart MP and Angelina Jolie are arguing about music and movie piracy. And who is that over in the corner? Could it be Tim Tebow (below), Christian Louboutin and OHIM's Antonio Campinos discussing trade mark strategies?
These are just some of the people we selected for this year's list, the 11th we have published (see the full list, with links to individual profiles). As in previous years, we have selected a diverse (you might say eclectic) bunch, with just a few ground rules: no lawyers in private practice, for example.
Our main aim when deciding who should go in (we start with a much longer list, and have to whittle it down) is to represent the key debates, controversies and developments in IP in the past year and the near future. That's why we include some unexpected names such as Jolie and Tebow as well as the more predictable figures such as judges, IP office heads and politicians.
What are the main issues represented this year? Here are some: US patent litigation reform, copyright piracy, new gTLDs, trade mark changes in the EU, design reform in the UK, free-trade agreements, smartphone patent wars, pharmaceutical regulation and IP in the developing world.
So, that leaves two questions for readers. First, which important issues have we neglected this year? And second, which figures best represent them? In other words, who would you like to have seen included in the MIP 50 2013? Click on the comment button and let us know.
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Commissioning and Induction of Fast Attack Craft (Missle) PNS HIMMAT built for Pakistan Navy at KS&EW
An impressive yet simple Commissioning and Induction Ceremony of Fast Attack Craft (Missile) PNS HIMMAT built at KS&EW for Pakistan Navy, was held on Friday 28th July 2017. Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah NI(M), Chief of the Naval Staff, graced the occasion as Chief Guest. The ceremony was attended by high ranking officials from Government, Chinese Embassy, Pakistan Navy, China Shipbuilding & Offshore Company (CSOC) and distinguished guests from various walks of life.
PNS HIMMAT is a 63 meter long Fast Attack Craft fitted with state of the art Weapons and Sensors. One of the important achievements in this project is installation of indigenously built Missiles System. Craft is also fitted with various other weapons and sensors for manifestation of speed and lethality at par with modern navies arsenal.
The Chief Guest in his key note address mentioned that it is a landmark occasion when 2nd indigenously constructed Fast Attack Craft (Missile) is inducted in Pakistan Fleet. It will definitely further strengthen the Fleet and is a reminder of our resolve to safeguard national sea frontiers. He further iterated that Karachi Shipyard is a strategic and vital organization supporting Pakistan Navy in building new ships and major repairs essentially required during the life cycle of the sea-going platforms. He also iterated that construction of various Naval platforms such as PN Fleet Tanker, F-22P Frigate, Fast Attack Craft (Missile), Small Tanker cum Utility Ships, and Tugs etc at Karachi Shipyard is in line with our indigenization policy for attaining self reliance in shipbuilding.
He reiterated the need of transfer of technology in maritime sector and praised the role of MoDP in facilitating and meeting PN needs through indigenization and capacity building. He categorically mentioned that the trust and confidence posed by PN on indigenously built platforms under ToT will also provide impetus to Pakistan defence exports.
While highlighting the significant of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the CNS highlighted the need for expeditious development of associated maritime infrastructure. He expressed that CPEC will bring prosperity not only in Pakistan and China but for all regional countries. The obvious need of secure maritime environment was highlighted and Pakistan Navy's commitment to achieve important objective was reiterated. Induction of another Fast Attack Craft (Missile) today was cited as yet another step in enhancing the maritime security.
Earlier, MD KS&EW Rear Admiral Syed Hasan Nasir Shah HI(M), in his welcome address said that this state of the art ship is another landmark in the history of Pak-China cooperation in the field of defence production, as it has been built in collaboration with our Chinese friends M/s CSOC and Xingang Shipyard.
He said that during the recent past, KS&EW has successfully completed various projects for Pakistan Navy. As a result, KS&EW has been awarded a number of other projects including 17,000 Tons Fleet Tanker, 02 x Maritime Patrol Vessels (MPVs), Indigenously Designed Fast Attack Craft (Missile), 2 x 32 Tons BP Tugs and a Multi Purpose Barge which are at various stages of construction. He informed that contracts of 3 x new projects have also been signed prior closing of last financial year which include 3,000 Tons Survey Ship and 1,900 Tons OPVs for Pakistan Navy and 2 x FRP Boats for Pakistan Customs.


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I'd request it from the 1st. If there's an issue with the top up you get told as such. I think if it's a system issue caused by Three it's given back but if it's a bank issue then it's not. So if that happens just PM the mods here. Think thats pretty fair. @Mopi
@Mopi yeah ayce for a while now on prepay (well I have a prepay and billpay) scheduled top up never leaves me down apart fro when my card was replaced as I lost it (bank sent me a new card with the same number but diff exp date) I failed to update the card and because the expiry date was different the top up failed. I still check each month on my3 app out of habit but it has helped me with the poor memory!
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Living Room Decorating Ideas Brown Will Bring Warmth
Living Room Decorating Ideas Brown Will Bring Warmth – Chocolate is a color that can applied in interior decorating from different areas of the house, although it more appropriate for a living or dining room. The chocolate color is ideal for interior decoration of a room.
When decorating a room, we must consider the following factors to make a good decoration:
We must pay close attention to the lifestyle of the family. The furniture should be placed in a functional way. The room should place where you can flow easily. Living room decorating ideas brown is ideal, as it gives a different, elegant touch with contrasting walls and furniture.
Decoration of living room
The chocolate color gives the room an air of naturalness, as it associated with organic and earth. It is also an excellent idea to paint our living room; the chocolate color brings stability, warmth, comfort and safety. And do not forget that lighting place may give greatly to create special environments.
In the next picture we have a decorated chocolate room, where we have used a table in the center of chocolate color. We have also used glass shelves and a beautiful fireplace to offer the familiar warmth. And finally we have put a rug in beige with furniture three bodies and part of the wall of the living room we've painted a lighter shade.
Living room decorating ideas brown can used to create effects stunning in interior design. Different shades of brown associated with lighter colors can give a warm country fell to a room and promote feelings of peace and well-being. A chocolate-brown sofa clean line can bring to a room when supplemented with right environment.
Living room decorating ideas brown are a common choice for living room. In addition, brown color of living room to meeting a variety of decorative styles, it is easy to hide stains sofa, which is an added advantage in high traffic rooms such as living room.
Although brown is a basic, neutral color, furniture in this color doing not have simple and boring. You can make your sofa look contemporary or glamorous by adding cushions in a variety of colors and materials that match your cabin, lodge, or with your modern and eclectic style. Accessories are finishing touch on a great living room decorating ideas brown.
The following choice of photos shows it is living room decorating ideas brown with cute accessories and various decorative details.


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Flared midi skirt
Cotton midi skirt with a frilled hem and elegant stitching details. Pintucks gather the fabric at the hips for a flared silhouette.
Product details
Shipping & Returns
Return Service:
We also provide an easy return service: just ship your items back to us with a shipping service of your choice within 30 days from delivery. Read more on Returns & Refunds.
May we help?
Call us at +44 (0)2078113950
Contact us by filling out our form


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Power your world ... naturally.
Energy Efficient LED Lighting
LED lighting offers close to an 45% return on investment per annum due to the considerable savings incurred on electricity bills, and lower replacement costs.
At the same time, switching to LED lights provides excellent light quality, improved safety and a greener image for the building and business occupying it. The lifespan of an LED lamp is not affected by on-off cycling and their instant-on capacity means no more waiting for full power lighting as with CFL lamps. Fewer lumens are needed to illuminate a target area because LED lights provide directional light, thus reducing wastage. LED lighting is efficient, cost-effective and attractive, providing a green alternative to traditional lighting that will benefit the environment, your building and the people inhabiting it.
Light-emitting diodes are used in applications as diverse as replacements for aviation lighting, automotive lighting (particularly brake lamps, turn signals and indicators) as well as in traffic signals. The advantages of LEDs mentioned above have allowed new text and video displays and sensors to be developed, while their high switching rates are also useful in advanced communications technology.


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While working at AT&T I colaborated with seveval coworkers to file many invention disclosures. Two of these inventions were selected by AT&T's legal team as potential patents. Patents for both inventions were filed in 2002. They are still pending.
System and method for providing video program information or video program content to a user [pdf] – If a name said it all and AT&T was granted this patent they would control all TV's in the US. But alas this is a vague name for a system that would allow a television viewer to tune in to a show after it has started and use the catch me up feature to quickly summarize the portion of the show the viewer missed. This summary could be a voice over, a series of quick clips or anything that catches the viewer up to the current point in the show.
Method and system using docking stations to distribute a set top box between multiple monitors [pdf] – Again a vague name. This patent is for a system allowing the sharing of content between two TV settop boxes. For example you record Seinfeld on your Tivo downstairs. It is late and you want ot watch it on your Tivo upstairs. Bummer. But with this dock you could remove the storage media from the downstairs Tivo and plug it into the upstairs Tivo. Voila!
This dock could also allow simpler upgrades of storage capacity and features. Depending on what elements of the settop box are in the dock the entire smarts of the box including the codec could be upgraded by just replacing the removable module.


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de Poel and NEPO secure NOA Professional Awards 2016 shortlisting
de Poel has been announced as a finalist alongside client organisation North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO), in The National Outsourcing Association (NOA)'s fourth annual Professional Awards.
The NOA's Professional Awards exists to recognise the individuals, teams and companies who do their utmost to make outsourcing work. The shortlist spans a wide variety of functions and industry sectors, but all of those featured have one thing in common – a drive to achieve outstanding success through sourcing.
Shortlisted in the 'Excellence in Business Process Outsourcing (Public Sector)' category, de Poel says the listing is recognition of its and NEPO's collaboration to enhance the temporary labour provision of NEPO's eleven North East local authorities and range of associate members.
Andrew Preston, group MD of de Poel, said, "We are delighted to have been recognised for our partnership with NEPO, to provide the very best temporary staffing solutions on behalf of their growing customer base. The shortlisting serves as testament to our commitment and aligned vision to drive better value in the supply chain and an enhanced service delivery experience."
Kerry Hallard, CEO of the NOA, commented, "The availability of skills is increasingly becoming a chief concern for those operating in the outsourcing sector in the UK and beyond – our research throughout 2015 demonstrated this is the case now more so than ever. And that's why the NOA's Professional Awards exists – to showcase outsourcing's most talented, and encourage the professionalisation of outsourcing globally."
The winners will be announced at the NOA's Professional Awards 2016 on Thursday 19th May 2016. This year the ceremony takes place in Manchester, at the Museum of Science and Industry.


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Metal screeched, the chittering birds stopped, then a thump: her bear, in the garbage that she'd dragged out to the road less than ten minutes ago. Bonnie grabbed her shotgun and hurried to the front door. At the end of her long driveway, trash trailed from the tipped-over can across the grass into the woods, the C-cure lid wobbled by the big oak, but her bear was gone. She fired skyward. Even if she got a bead on him, she would never shoot him. She and he—she was sure her bear was a he—they were engaged in a long-term game of mutual attention and respect. When the shotgun's echo died, she righted the can and gathered the debris as the garbage truck rumbled into view at the bend in the road. Eleven o'clock, right on time.
Lenn jumped from the cab, re-tying the bandanna around his neck—he thought he looked sexy—and said, "He's a sly one, that bear. You got the best can, best lid, these things"—he batted the useless bungee cords as he dumped her garbage—"and you keep it locked up. Only thing left is to quit making garbage."
"Us humans, we make garbage, but I'm doing my best. Does he get into the Levitskys' or the Nelsons'?" Her neighbors up the road, whose houses weren't visible, even in the winter when the deciduous trees were bare.
"I'd say Mr. Bear likes you, Miss Bonnie. You got that special, single woman thing going."
"Come on, Lenn."
"Fancy cheese wrappers, smoked trout, maybe, nice smelling shampoo and body wash." He stretched out "body wash."
"Give it a rest, Lenn." Lenn, married, with six kids under ten, was the island flirt.
"You get scared of Mr. Bear, you call me." He mimed phone-to-ear as he jumped back into the cab.
"I'll call Vardeen first." His wife.
"Spoil sport." He laughed and waved as he drove off.
That's what Bonnie loved about this place: everyone had a take-it-in-stride attitude. Bear in the garbage. Bats. Mice drowning in the bucket under the leaky sink. Snow-bound winters. Frozen pipes. Nature rules, islanders said.
She'd moved north to the island two years ago, after her mother died and left her twenty thousand dollars. She'd wanted a new life, far from her kids, her crummy job in the county clerk's office, and her mother's depressing house on Chicago's north side, which she'd also inherited, and where the kids, or at least Sadie lived, and where Milo came to recover each time he messed up. Training racehorses in Florida, he knew nothing about horses; organic farming in Missouri, a pot farm, probably, where the farmer refused to pay him, so he said; living on the beach in Kauai, where he panhandled for food. Milo had taken so much out of her. Sadie, too, always thinking she knew better than Bonnie how to do just about everything. A different life, that's what Bonnie wanted, and some distance. The island, a day's drive from Chicago, but a million miles away, was no vacation destination. Working quarries, managed forests, three taverns, the gas station/grocery store where she worked part-time, a post office, a medical clinic open one afternoon a week, all near the ferry dock. The only paved roads led from the dock to the quarries and the gated entrance to the forest. She bought a house eight miles out on a dirt road and, in the first six months, had been frightened by every sound. She bought a .410 shotgun, took lessons, practiced with soup cans on the stump out back. She learned to chop wood, plow her driveway, and thwack a scythe through the brush at the edge of the ever-encroaching woods. You don't fight back, the woods will reclaim your place in a year, that's what everyone said.
She set her shotgun on her kitchen counter and walked toward the sliding glass doors that overlooked her deck and the woods beyond.
She'd seen the bear just once. A sunny day. She'd been standing at these glass doors, and a black shape, big as the meat freezer in her garage, glided through the un-mown grass between her deck and the edge of the woods. The upper edge of the thing, a moving line, head and spine, she realized later, glistened with sunlight, even though the shape was so black that it looked like an inexplicable gap torn in the familiar. When it was gone, she understood it had been a bear. She waited for him to reappear, wanting to feel again the eerie thrill of his presence, but for days, she'd been too scared to go into her backyard. You got nothing to fear from bears, if you're no threat, everyone said.
She touched the glass, watching the woods. That's where he was now, maybe watching her.
The phone rang.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Sadie.
"My bear's been in the garbage again." Bonnie fixed her eyes on the aspens behind her target stump.
"Listen, Mom, I need to talk to you. It's about Milo." Sadie always spoke about her brother in a superior, big sister way, although they were only a year apart. Twenty-seven and twenty-six. Irish twins, Bonnie's mother had called them, disapproving of two births so close together and Bonnie not married. Blaming Sandro for that, and for hijacking Bonnie to the godforsaken farm in Ontario. And blaming Bonnie, forever, when Sandro deserted her.
"Mom, promise me you won't look up what Milo did on the internet."
Milo on the internet? Witchy fingers threaded through Bonnie's gut. "I don't have the internet," she said, keeping her voice calm. "A storm knocked out my connection."
Sadie told her to sit down. Bonnie lied, said she was sitting as she remained at the sliding glass doors watching a dragonfly big as a hummingbird land on the coffee mug she'd left out by her deck chair.
"Milo's been arrested. Eleven felony counts so far."
Bonnie closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to the glass. Was he dealing again?
Sadie talked about a van, a rental van, Nashville.
"Nashville?" Eleven felonies. How could that be?
"He thought he'd get into the music scene." Sadie paused, waiting for Bonnie to say something. When she didn't, Sadie went on. Milo didn't have a credit card. You need a credit card to rent a van. He got angry, beat up the guy, took keys, stole a van, crashed into a Payless shoe store, broke into two houses, then beat up an old man. "He kicked an old man, Mom. Milo kicked an old man walking to church on Sunday morning."
Sunday? What was today? She looked at the calendar on the pillar near the kitchen, trying to breathe. It must be Tuesday. Why hadn't Sadie called her sooner? Needing air, she slid open the glass door. The dragonfly was gone. Birds cried, two of them, call and response, and the wind ruffled the aspens. Any light breeze could set the aspens dancing.
"Where is he now?" she asked. Her blue-eyed boy. Eleven felonies. This wouldn't be like the time he stole the car. She'd gotten him off, but then he was sixteen. Or the time he lit a fire in the psych ward, when Bonnie's attorney got him off by threatening the hospital with a negligence suit.
"The police have him. In Louisville."
"Louisville or Nashville? I thought—"
"He was going to Nashville. Mom, are you getting any of this?"
"Where are you?"
"At home. Milo called me." She meant, You're his mother, he should have called you.
"What was he doing in Louisville?"
"Good god, Mom. He's been living in Louisville for six months."
Bonnie didn't even know where her son was living. The last time they'd talked was two months ago, maybe more. He'd phoned to ask for three grand to buy a couch. When she'd protested, he'd said, "This is a fresh start." How many times had she heard this? "Great," she remembered saying, she always tried to stay positive, "but why do you need a three thousand dollar couch?" Then he ranted. She didn't understand, she didn't care. How could he make something of himself if he lived in a homeless shelter? No, he wasn't living in a shelter. He'd found an apartment. He was applying for jobs. Why couldn't she see that he needed nice things? She asked if he was taking his meds. He hung up. She'd been worried but persuaded herself he'd call when he was ready. Not hearing from him was good. He was, after all, twenty-six.
"I'll drive down," she said to Sadie. "Tell me where to go. I'll see what can be done."
"Come here. We'll go together."
Bonnie said she'd catch the first ferry in the morning and arrive in Chicago around three, three thirty. After she hung up, she closed the glass door, shutting out the bird sounds and breeze, feeling as if the lid had been lowered on her coffin.
She phoned RJ at the store. Could he find someone to cover for her for a few days, maybe a week? Family emergency. Sure, he could make do. He was shaking his head, Bonnie knew, commiserating. Everyone here was kind.
In the closet behind her suitcase she saw the box storing the old videos. The player was long gone, but she hadn't thrown out the tapes. She didn't need to play them to remember.
The video opens with a green swath, the grass in her mother's back yard. Bonnie is holding the camera. The image tips up to find a blurry Milo squatting beside the sandbox while Sadie's four-year-old voice squeals at Bonnie to hurry. A frog. A frog. The picture bounces as Bonnie hurries toward Milo with Sadie's hand entering the frame to wave her forward. Don't touch it. Mommy's coming.
In late afternoon, after she'd packed and put up the storm windows, a job she'd planned for next week, she heard a car in her driveway. It didn't reverse out. She went to the window and saw a dark sedan with a heavy man standing beside the open driver's door. Wanting directions? Interested in buying her black walnut trees? He lifted his hand to shield his eyes from the low sun and hitched his shoulders in a familiar way. Sandro? Sandro, thickset and old? She'd never imagined him aging. She ducked back—he couldn't have seen her—and reached for her shotgun. Edging close to the window again, she watched him straighten and turn slowly to shut the car door. What was he now, fifty-six? Twenty-four years ago was the last time she'd seen him, when he'd put her and the kids, Milo still nursing, on the train south to Detroit, then on to Chicago, to stay at her mother's. He was to join them in two weeks, after he helped Clary sell the livestock and ready the farm for winter. When he didn't come and didn't come, Bonnie had believed he'd been hurt or kidnapped or lost his memory, was wandering in some urban hell or locked up in a charity hospital or a jail cell. When Clary finally answered the phone, she said Sandro had taken his share of the livestock proceeds and left, saying something about Vancouver. "But he's supposed to come here, to me," Bonnie had protested. After an interminable silence, Clary had said she didn't know anything about that.
Now here Sandro was, standing in her driveway looking at her home. Jeans, dark shirt, boots, much the same, but heavier, his hair, dark and long-ish, like he was still trying to get women.
She propped the gun against the doorjamb, in reach—she wasn't going to make a fool of herself—and waited. At his knock, she opened the door. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Hello, Bonnie." The maritime accent she'd forgotten.
She shocked him, she could tell, even though his expression didn't change. Had he expected the smooth-faced, compliant girl she'd once been? Now her skin was freckled and her brown hair salted with gray and short, no longer twisted into a braid that reached to her waist. Not bad for forty-eight, but she wished she looked better, to make him regret, and was furious at herself. Behind his thickened face—he probably drank too much—she could make out the ghost of the younger, handsome Sandro, ready to charm.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she repeated, holding the door. What she'd planned to say to him if she ever saw him again, the complaints and questions that she'd rehearsed and refined over all those years in the back bedroom of her mother's house, adding new charges as the kids got older—and he not there—all that was gone. She had nothing to say to him, and she sure as hell didn't want to hear what he had to say. The absence of explanation had become a comfort. The void of reason, that made sense.
He glanced at the shotgun in the shadows beside her. "You shoot strangers?" He was amused, she could see. A gun? She'd hated the guns on the farm, hated the fall slaughter, hated even the killing of hens for the stew pot.
"There's a bear," she said.
He nodded, uninterested, and studied her. He could look all he wanted and see nothing true about her. He inhaled and flexed his shoulders, as if preparing to say why he'd come. She crossed her arms to say she didn't care.
"It's Milo," he said.
He knew. How the hell? She willed her expression to give nothing away. "What does that have to do with you?" Sadie must have found him. The damned Internet. Sandro wouldn't have gone looking for them. Milo had to have been in on it, too. They, her children, had kept this from her. For how long?
"Sadie asked me to come," Sandro said. "Believe me, I'm here for one reason only, for Milo and Sadie."
"For Milo and Sadie? After not caring all the years when they cried every night for you." Or when Sadie refused to go to kindergarten, or the year when the cool girls shunned her, or the time she broke her leg. Or when Milo had such a hard time losing his baby teeth and his one incisor never came, or when the calls from the school began and the run-ins with the cops, the drugs, the string of alternative schools, his dropping out altogether, the hellish business with the psych ward. "You know nothing about the kids. You abandoned them."
Milo looks up, his little moon face pinched with nervousness and excitement. When he sees her, he bends forward, picks up a lump, lurches to his feet, and runs toward her, his stubby legs churning. She's knelt on the grass to steady the camera and waits. He holds the frog smack in front of his chest, so proud, clutching it with both hands. A few feet in front of her, he trips and falling, he thrusts the frog at her, the frog's head filling the frame, its mouth stretched wide, shooting out red, gouts of blood, as Milo squeezes the life out of him. A plunge to green as Bonnie drops the camera to reach for her blue-eyed boy.
"Jeesuz-H-Christ, Bonnie." Sandro ran his fingers through his hair in the way that had once made her melt. Her gut clenched. "Listen, we have to talk. Can I come in?"
She wanted to pick up the gun and bash his face, but she reached behind her with a stiff arm and closed the door.
"We can talk out here." She didn't want him in her house, looking at her things and making assumptions about her.
He stepped back a few feet, maintaining the distance between them, and peered up at the expanse of siding that she'd re-stained herself in the heat of July.
"This isn't where I thought you'd end up," he said.
His smugness infuriated her. "Sadie's calling on you is pathetic and desperate. She's confused you with a real father. Say what you came to say and get going."
His nostrils flared. "You've got a rulebook, don't you, Bonnie, a fucking rulebook. You've gone from being a needy, play-by-the-rules girl, love-marriage-baby carriage-rules, to a self-righteous… What's the word?"
"Woman? Grown-up woman?"
"Christ. Okay, I didn't operate by your rulebook, but there's more than one way of looking at things. Don't forget that. I'm here, right this goddamn minute, because you and I need to talk before seeing Sadie, and Milo. If they'll let us see Milo."
Us? "Have you seen them in the last two decades?"
He turned away, his gaze traveling beyond the corner of her house to the woods. At the edge of her yard, behind the stunted pine she felt a presence. Her bear, she guessed, watching her now with this stranger. Had he felt Sandro's threat?
"I'm not saying—"
"Not saying what? That you screwed them and me? This now, with Milo, has nothing to do with you. I'm driving down in the morning. I'll handle it, like I've—"
"Do I have to say again that Sadie asked me to help? She asked me to talk to you and to come. I'm here because our children asked me. You better believe that you're about the last…" An ugly red flushed his cheeks. He shoved his hands in his pockets and exhaled. "Sadie doesn't need any of your shit making this even harder. When I got her call, I was on the road. She gave me this address, and your number, but I knew you wouldn't pick up the phone if you saw my name."
Sadie was a traitor.
He walked to the porch railing. "I have to get back to the Cities tonight, that's where I live, but I'll drive south by mid-afternoon, should arrive by late tomorrow at Sadie's house."
"The house belongs to me. That's where I raised them, without you. My mother left the house to me."
He said nothing, shifting to face away. She was being petty, that's what he meant. That she'd raised the children on her own: that was irrelevant. She snapped her fingers. That was all any of it meant to him. At the sound of her fingers snapping, he turned, but she looked past him. Shadows had crept from the woods. Above the fringed top of the trees, the tip of the tallest spruce caught the slanting rays of the sun and glowed like polished brass. In there somewhere her bear was watching.
"I'm not sure if we'll be able to see Milo," Sandro said.
"Why couldn't we?" Why had she said we?
"Bonnie, it's cold. Can we talk inside?"
The wind had kicked up, swaying the grass beyond the porch. She shivered. A few times in the summer, she'd seen a trail of trampled grass circling her house, her bear keeping an eye on her. She knows where he sleeps: in the crushed ferns next to the tip-up, in the patch of broken Indian pipes under the beech, and on the far bank of the creek near her property line. Never has she seen any other sign of him, no scraps of her garbage dragged into the woods, no small half-eaten carcasses left behind. Her bear is immaculate. His life is clean.
She could sense him gazing at her.
Sandro shifted his weight, startling her. She said, "I'll meet you at . . . Did you see that bar, right outside of town on the left, the Island Oasis? I'll meet you there in a half hour."
He locked his eyes on hers.
She looked through him, to what was ahead. The emphasis would shift from Milo's disaster to Sandro's arrival. The father returning to save the day would replace the disappearing dad. She would be the old grind; he would be the wondrous savior.
"I'll be there," she said to Sandro.
Off camera, Bonnie reaches for Milo to hug him close as the videotape records a tangle of grass. His flailing fists, his body fighting to twist away from her, his wild heart pounding against hers, all this goes unrecorded, as do his shrieks, "Don't want you. Want my daddy. My daddy."
Sandro backed out of her driveway, the headlights switching on.
She walked through the house, the sight of her fat couch, the lamps she'd made from dairy cans, the smell of fireplace ash comforting her—she had created a whole new life—and imagined Sadie phoning to say that Milo had not done whatever he'd done, it was all an ugly joke, and she was sorry. Or Sandro might disappear again. Or have a heart attack. Or Bonnie could. She put two fingers on her neck and felt the pulse of her stupidly reliable heart. Then she brought in the mug she'd left on the deck, closed the windows, washed her face, splashing her shirt, not caring, and stuffed her wallet and keys into her jacket. Outside the night air was cold, crisp, and clean, the moon just visible to the east.
She had come this far to get away, and it wasn't far enough.
Her boots caught in the grass as she walked past her target practice stump. If her bear were anywhere near, he would understand in the way that animals understand that she was no threat. You got nothing to fear from bears, if you're no threat. She just needed a few minutes to breathe unsullied air. At the edge of the woods, she turned to look back at her house, her kitchen lamp shining through the glass doors.
At the Island Oasis Sandro would be settling in, a Black Russian in front of him, chatting with Lucien behind the bar, or trying to charm the deadbeats who hung out there in the middle of the week. If she left now, he wouldn't have cause to check the time and think she was being difficult.
Brambles snagged her jeans as she stepped into the forest. Ahead, all was shades of black and silent, the small animals gone quiet. Even the dumbest creatures know to dive for cover when menaced. They couldn't know that she was no menace. She held her breath. No wind, no rustling, no bear pushing through the underbrush.
In a while, Sandro would be annoyed. He'd mask that, charmer that he was, ordering another silly girls' drink, or several, and in an hour, he'd realize that she wasn't coming, toss money on the bar, and drive out here to berate her. No. He had to get back to the Cities. He'd phone Sadie, tell her that Bonnie had refused to cooperate, and Sadie would think, as she always did, that Bonnie was a lousy mother. Even so, they would expect her to show up tomorrow.
And she might. She could sleep next to the tip-up, where the moss was thick and spongy, and in the morning, brush off the leaves she'd used for a blanket. She could catch the first ferry.
Or her bear might come for her. Would that be so bad? To die? To be free of the entangling feelings that had snared her since Sandro appeared, since Sadie called, since Milo began screwing up, since the beginning? Her bear would be quick. Skin flailed, muscle torn, bones broken, pain, excruciating pain, but over in a flash. Then . . . nothing. Such ease it would be to feel nothing.
She was tired of it all, tired of human beings, tired of being human. Nearby the little animals began to rustle and click. What they and her bear had was what she wanted: a constant present, no past, no future, only this inhalation, this heartbeat, this moment.
When she didn't show up in Chicago, they would . . .what? They would have to travel to where Milo was, angry with her, but not worried, focused on Milo. With Sandro there would they even need her? In a week, maybe two, Sadie would phone RJ and he'd call the cops. They would find her kitchen light on and her car in the garage. They might think she'd gone off with someone. They'd ask questions of the Levitskys and the Nelsons, they'd check with the kids who worked the ferry. When that came up bust, they would search the woods. Her boots, shredded clothes, keys, skull, shattered bones. A tragedy Sadie and Milo would be told. Nature Rules.
Taking a deep breath, she stumbled forward, a vine grazing her shoulder, her eyes straining to see. In the distance a black patch broke free from the dark and thundered toward her. Branches thrashing, ground shaking, roaring everywhere in her head, veins, limbs, everywhere. She waited, terrified, eyes shut, hoping it wasn't a deer.


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Carriage Rides
Special Occasions
In the Robins City Limits – $100/hour if leaving from Hilltop Ranch. If the carriage is to be driven to a location, the cost will be determined from when we leave Hilltop Ranch until we arrive back at Hilltop Ranch. A Hilltop representative will determine how long travel time is and add the length of the event to give you a cost.
Within the Cedar Rapids City limits = $200 travel time and $100/hour for the event.
Weddings (Bride and Groom only)
$450 basic charge – includes travel time to wedding within the Cedar Rapids/Marion/Hiawatha/Robins city limits. The price includes up to1 hour for pictures and ride after the wedding. If transporting to a reception area, round trip charges of $100/hour are applied (3 block maximum). A Hilltop representative must ok route and location before booking event.
Click to download.
Carriage Agreement


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Tasting Notes
Cherry blossom aromas are met with bright acidity, bringing forward fresh flavors of red delicious apple and sweet pomegranate. A subtle finish of mixed red fruits charred cedar round this full-bodied wine.
Winemaking Notes
Vintage: 2015
Varietal Blend: 100% Merlot
Appellation: Columbia Valley
pH: 3.65
TA: 5.3 g/l
RS: 0.91% g/l
Alcohol: 13.75%
Vineyards: Oasis, CVR, Pepper Bridge, Wallula
Oak: 20% new Oak
Fining: None
Aging: 11 months
Yeast: Andante
Harvest Dates: 9/2/15-10/6/15
Bottling Date: Sept. 12-14, 2016
88 Points, Top 100 Best Buys of 2018
2016 Vintage
Wine & Spirits
Best Buy, Top 100 Value
2016 Vintage
Mar 01, 2018
Wine & Spirits
90 Points, By-the-Glass Value
2012 Vintage
Feb 01, 2015
The Tasting Panel
Juicy and bright with tangy plum and berry fruit; fresh and clean, racy and lifted with long, lively flavors. - Anthony Dias Blue
90 Points
2011 Vintage
Dec 15, 2014
Wine Spectator
"Light and tangy, with tobacco and coffee overtones to the black cherry and tangy balsamic flavors, lingering with persistence. Offers presence and refinement." (published in the Wine Spectator Advance)
88 Points, Recommended
2010 Vintage
Oct 01, 2013
"An easy-drinking Merlot that is juicy, fresh, and supple, with lifted aromas of black raspberry, red cherry, and baking spices. On the palate, the vivid m lange of berry fruit comes coupled with vanilla, leather, and cocoa, while a hint of licorice appears on the medium finish with its soft fine tannins."
Score: 88
Best Buy
2010 Vintage
May 01, 2013
Great American Values
2009 Vintage
Oct 15, 2012
89 Points, Best Values
2009 Vintage
May 31, 2012
"Light and refreshing, with zingy raspberry and mint flavors that linger effortlessly. Drink now."
89 Points, Best Buy
2009 Vintage
Apr 01, 2012
Washington Merlot proves its merit onces again, delivering big taste and even better value. At $12 this Watebrook 2009 Merlot is a steal. Enjoy!
Best of the West, Steals $15 and Under
2008 Vintage
Nov 01, 2011
Sunset Magazine
In its annual roundup citing the best of the West in several price tiers, Waterbrook's 2008 Merlot was cited as a finalist for steals $15 and under. -Sara Schneider, November 2011
89 Points, Best Buy
2008 Vintage
Jul 01, 2011
"Excellent grapes from the Horse Heaven Hills, Walla Walla and Yakima Valley AVAs combine to craft a supple, smooth, lightly chocolatey red wine that harks back to the great Waterbrook Merlots of the 1980s. - Paul Gregutt, Wine Enthusiast, July 2011
88 Points, Value & By-the-Glass Recommendation
2008 Vintage
Jun 01, 2011
The Tasting Panel
"Smooth, fresh and earthy with ripe, juicy plum and blackberry fruit; harmonious and supple with balance and good length." - Anthony Dias Blue, The Tasting Panel, June 2011
89 Points, Top Value
2006 Vintage
Jul 24, 2009
Wine Spectator
"Polished and refined, glowing with currant and blackberry; persists impressively on the poised finish."- Harvey Steiman, July 30, 2009
In his Washington report, Steiman also writes, "WHEN IT COMES TO FINE RED WINES AT FAIR PRICES, WASHINGTON EXCELS. It's Cabernet Sauvignons are rich in pure fruit flavors and Merlot remains a sold performer. Best of all in these turbulent times, you can explore terrific versions of all these varieties for $30 a bottle or less."
#1 Value Merlot - The Best WA Wines of 2007
2004 Vintage
Dec 19, 2007
The Seattle Times
Acclaim Sell Sheet:
Tasting Note:
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Acclaim Shelf Talker:
Acclaim Shelf Talker:
2016 Merlot - Best Buy, 2017 Top 100 Value, 2018 All-Star Brand, Wine & Spirits
Acclaim Shelf Talker:
2016 Merlot - Best Buy, 2017 Top 100 Value, 2018 All-Star Brand, Wine & Spirits
Acclaim Sell Sheet:
Acclaim Shelf Talker:
Acclaim Shelf Talker:
2016 Merlot - Best Buy, 2017 Top 100 Value, 2018 All-Star Brand, Wine & Spirits
Acclaim Sell Sheet:
Acclaim Shelf Talker:
Acclaim Shelf Talker:
2016 Merlot - 88 Points, Top 100 Best Buys of 2018, Wine & Spirits


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We believe we must change the way we see our world. The change must start everywhere and by everyone. That's why Zotos is in the process of implementing one of the largest private industrial sustainability programs in the nation.
Check out all our green projects below. And check out www.joico.com for the many ways Joico is taking steps towards social responsibility, beautiful hair and a beautiful world.
Wind power is one of the fastest growing forms of new electricity generation in the US, which is why Zotos has begun to invest in alternative energy sources to better our environment. We have installed two 364-foot wind turbines at our Geneva NY-based plant, securing us a spot on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Top 20 On-site Generation list and earning recognition by the American Wind Energy Association as one of the top on-site wind projects currently being undertaken by a manufacturing company in the United States. With approximately 6.5 million kWh of electricity expected to be produced annually, the wind turbines will provide more than 60 percent of Zotos' energy requirements and are expected to reduce overall CO2 emissions by 50 percent in 2011. Our goal is to utilize 100 percent renewable energy by 2012.
We are committed to eliminating our carbon footprint and leading sustainable business practices; therefore we have joined forces with Verus Carbon Neutral to offset 100 percent of our Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from our manufacturing facility in Geneva, New York. We will completely neutralize our carbon footprint in 2011, making us one of the first US companies in the beauty industry to do so. Zotos supports the following initiatives, helping to reduce carbon emissions locally and globally:
By supporting these projects, we will offset more than 5,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions from the environment.
Here at Zotos, we are at the forefront of materials production. Beginning in the first quarter of 2011, we will launch new packaging created from a hybrid bioplastic resin, making us one of the first beauty companies to use this new and innovative material. The new packaging will be a composite of post-consumer recycled plastic and thermoplastic starch derived from plants, which unlike other bioplastics, will not contaminate recycling streams. As a result, Zotos anticipates reducing its packaging-related greenhouse gas emissions by more than 75 percent. This initiative is just one of many at Zotos. We also manufacture bottles with up to 70% post-consumer recycled plastic and cartons that use 100% recycled paperboard. We print information on the inside of our cartons to eliminate paper inserts. And we're committed to finding new ways to shine bright, clean and beautiful…now and for generations to come.


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Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook, 15th Ed.
Need immediate access to Kurzban's? Subscribe to AILALink for three or six months!
|Release Date
|June 2016
|2,328 pages
Since the release of the first edition in 1990, Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook has been the go-to legal reference on U.S. immigration law. It cuts out lengthy explanations to provide busy legal professionals with what they need and want- comprehensive, authoritative, and concise analysis of a complicated area of law.
As U.S. immigration law has evolved over time, so has Kurzban's. It will provide you with a brief history of U.S. immigration law so you'll gain a thorough understanding of how this practice area has evolved over time, bring you up-to-date with expert analysis of the current state of the law, and serve as a quick reference sourcebook for citations to a multitude of cases, statutes, regulations, and more.
Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook is the first reference thousands of immigration lawyers, immigration judges, and other government officials turn to for reliable answers to both simple and complex immigration issues. It is frequently cited in other immigration resources and case decisions-including the ineffective assistance of counsel ruling in U.S. v. Juarez, 672 F.3d 381 (5th Cir. 2012), in which the court stated that Kurzban's interpretation of the statute would have provided some guidance in the area and "would have helped guide [counsel's] legal discussion…").
Whether you're a seasoned immigration lawyer, a government official charged with reviewing and deciding immigration cases, or you're just starting your immigration law career, it's imperative you have the latest edition of Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook.
Below is a list of changes in the 15th edition that affect most, if not all, immigration law professionals:
- New section on ethical issues for immigration attorneys
- AAO Practice Manual and new policy memoranda
- New Visa Bulletin format to determine when an adjustment of status application can be filed
- Statutory changes to Visa Waiver Program / P.L. 114-113 Consolidated Appropriations Act
- Litigation surrounding DAPA/expanded DACA
- New memo on CSPA regarding the meaning of "sought to acquire"
Additional Changes Affecting Various Practice Areas:
- Prosecutorial discretion memoranda
- L-1B policy memo
- Asylum changes in particular social group under Matter of A-R-C-G-, 26 I&N Dec. 388 (BIA 2014)
- Regulations allowing representation in bond hearings only
- Symantec Corp and post-Symantec cases regarding advertising requirements
- January 2016 regulations regarding DHS rules enhancing opportunities for H-1B1, E-3, CW-1, and outstanding professors
- H-4 employment authorization for spouses of H-1s
- New regulatory changes to H-2B program
- Refugee/Parole Program for children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras
- Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program
- Humanitarian relief by DHS for special situations
- TPS for Yemenis and TPS due to Ebola virus for Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea
Get the reference immigration law professionals rely on for authoritative analysis. Get the 15th edition of Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook.


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|Zhao Ling is at work. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun]
As time goes by, ancient books suffer wear and tear and, in the worst situations, are damaged by worms and/ or gnawed by rats. What can be done to save such valuable books? Ancient-book restorers are able to solve the problem. Zhao Ling, who works at Hangzhou Public Library, is an expert in repairing ancient books. She puts much effort into repairing "weak" ancient books, so they can regain their beauty and be passed on to future generations. Zhao has oft been referred to as a person who "rescues history."
Zhao Ling broadcast live her restoration of an ancient book via a live-streaming platform. Many netizens left online messages indicating they wanted to study ancient-book restoration under Zhao. "The work of repairing ancient books requires the restorer to endure the boredom. When I repair an ancient book, I need to sit still for several hours. I never thought many people would be interested in repairing ancient books," says Zhao.
Studying Book Restoration
Zhao began working on the circulation desk in Hangzhou Public Library, in Hangzhou, capital of eastern China's Zhejiang Province, in 1988, after she graduated from high school. One year later, Zhao went to Shanghai to study ancient-book restoration at Shanghai Library. She had studied how to recognize the versions of ancient books and how to store and repair ancient books in Shanghai for half a year.
After Zhao returned to Hangzhou, she was named the first, and still only, full-time, ancient-book restorer at the library. As a newcomer to ancient-book restoration, it was hard for her to repair the shabby books with crispy paper. So, an expert in mounting and repairing ancient calligraphy and paintings was invited to the library to teach Zhao how to repair ancient books.
There are three stages in ancient -book restoration — separating, repairing and rebinding the book. However, the process of repairing the book involves more than 10 steps. "As a new hand, the step of making paste was a big problem for me. The glue sold in the shop has chemical components. So, I needed to make paste by myself. The first step is to mix flour with water. The second step is to heat the mixture on the stove. I needed to stir the mixture when it was being heated. Then, I had to put the paste in the refrigerator, after it cooled down. When I repaired a book, I dissolved some paste in the boiled water," says Zhao.
|Zhao Ling shows how to repair an ancient book. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun]
"The steps of making paste seem simple. However, it is not easy to make good paste. When my teacher taught me how to make paste, he only told me to use two liang (100 grams) of flour, a little alum and the right amount of water. I needed to practice making paste again and again, before I knew the exact amount of alum and water needed … It took me two years to master the skills of making good paste," continues Zhao.
"It (ancient-book restoration) is a little boring. At that time, I asked myself if I wanted to do the work all my life. I thought about going to study cosmetology and hairdressing in Shenzhen. However, my parents stopped me. As I repaired books better and better, my teacher often praised me. When I saw a broken book regain its beauty, I had a sense of accomplishment. The (Chinese) government has paid more and more attention to the protection of ancient books since 2007. It is fortunate that I did not give up repairing ancient books," recalls Zhao.
|The tools of repairing ancient books [Women of China/Fan Wenjun]
Becoming an Expert
There are more than 40,000 ancient books in Hangzhou Public Library. Of those, more than 5,000 books are rare editions. The valuable books are well-preserved in boxes in the stack room. The boxes are moth proof, with the smell of camphorwood fragrance. The lamplight in the room is a special yellow light. The temperature in the room is between 20 -25 C, so the books can be maintained for a longer time. "I have the entrance card, and our department's director has the key. Only if the director and I are present, can we open the door," says Zhao.
Books published before 1911 are considered ancient. Books published between 1911-1949 are called ancient books of the Republic of China. "There is a common saying that paper can last for 1,000 years. Only handmade paper, without any chemical materials, can be kept for a long time. Machine-manufactured paper, with chemical additives, becomes yellow and crispy easily, as time goes by. Most of the ancient books of the Republic of China were published with machine- manufactured paper. It is more difficult to repair ancient books of the Republic of China," Zhao says.
The climate also affects paper. The weather in northern China is dry, so the paper in ancient books becomes crispy easily. The weather in southern China is moist, so the paper is easily damaged by worms.
|Zhao Ling shows how to repair an ancient book. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun]
"I need to detect the material of the paper of an ancient book before I repair it. In the past, I checked the material of the paper with both my hands and eyes. Now, I can detect the material of the paper by equipment. Then, I select the paper to use to repair the book. The paper should be made with the same materials as the paper in the ancient book. I also dye the selected paper yellow, which is close to the yellow paper of the ancient book," Zhao says.
Hangzhou Public Library has many professional ancient-book repairing machines. However, Zhao still prefers to repair books by hand. Zhao can repair seven or eight pages in a day. Generally, it takes her nearly a month to repair a whole book.
"I have worked as an ancient-book restorer for 20 years. For me, the happiest thing is completing the restoration of a whole book. I will have a sense of accomplishment. Repairing ancient books is 'rescuing history.' The ancient books cannot be passed on to future generations if we do not repair them. In fact, ancient-book repairing is a job that benefits our offspring," says Zhao.
|Zhao Ling is at work. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun]
(Women of China)


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Is all about flying color. A post for those that only come to the northern states monthly… see what you missed in the garden. But there is much more for the rest of you to explore. We have the newly posted Downy… Peck, Peck, Peck…
More to explore? Like the books I read… wanna know?
I know many of you have seen 1 thru 5 in the series, but two more are on the way with the previews below. Camera settings are in each post and in the last post in the series, you get a sense of shooting in sunlight on winter snow. It is one of the hardest landscape shots to judge exposure.
The post on Woodpeckers, Peck, Peck, Peck, shows camera settings on the gloomiest, rainy day, where cloud covered skies prevail. A post to highlight the difference between a blown out background of a white sky and getting definition in a black and white subject. I had no ability to use flash when it was most beneficial. No long-winded advice, just a look to see the camera settings. They may be of help in a similar situation. Winter scenes have their good days and their bad days…
Each graphic in this post has slightly different photos than the post it features, like our squirrel. Poor guys did not get their turn yet… Just too many birds…
The graphics in this post each has a tip or two from the previous posts in the series.
Click any image to get taken to the post about the bird and some backyard tips you might not know.
The posts are filled with ideas and techniques learned from video classes I took from Moose Peterson, a well-known photographer and naturalist. One of the classes, Shooting Backyard Birds, dealt with making your backyard photo friendly and a working habitat for the wildlife that visit.
His book Captured: Lessons Learned from Behind the Lens of a Legendary Wildlife Photographer is a great read of his over 30 years of beautiful and unique moments in nature. After reading this book, I look at photography in nature differently, with more heart, more passion. Plus I learned a lot about animal behavior I did not know.
I also use the The Sibley Guide to Birds for a great identifying resource. I love the graphic illustration in this book. It makes me want to bring out the brushes and paints myself.
The website of choice… The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds.
Click the woodpecker and see a bunch more in a collage, or use the link to the post, Peck, Peck, Peck. The post has images on a rainy day of a yard is filled with Downys, and for the 16th., a few more from the top of the pear. Hammer it hard little woodpecker…How did I get up there? Next post, find out. The Woodpecker tip is in the graphic above.
Then there is one more post in this series, Cardinals in the Snow – The Search for Food. I and Carolyn, from Carolyn's Shade Gardens, are off to sun and surf for ten days in my farewell post on the 18th. Do you know where we are headed?
Joining May Dreams Gardens


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English Meadow Wildflower Collection - 30x Plants Growing Chart
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Growing GuidesView All
Our products are all grown with the utmost care and to high standards of quality. We regularly check our nursery stock to determine exactly when they will be at the optimum time for despatch.
We despatch our fresh, nursery-grown live plants (including vegetables, trees and flowers) when they are at a stage of growth ready for you, the customer, to plant on at home.
The delivery period shown on your order confirmation indicates when you can expect to receive your order and we will endeavour to despatch your plants in this period within 7-14 days
Customer Reviews
Plants arrived in excellent condition, they were well packed for the journey to me & are growing on nicely.
English Meadow Wildflower Collection - 30x Plants
£17.98 each
Create your own country meadows in an instant with this 30 plant collection. Every lovely flower attracts garden birds, bees and colourful butterflies to bring your garden to life.
We brought together these colourful varieties to produce a wildflower mix with visual impact. No variety takes over so every flower has its own designated space to maximise its impact.
You receive six plants each of:
Selfheal Prunella Vulgaris - A lovely carpet-forming flower that thrives even in semi-shady parts of your garden. Pollinating insects will love this flower as much as you will.
Meadow Clary Salvia Pratensis - A charming plant, great for growing in wildflower collections. They're particularly attractive to pollinating insects like bees and butterflies.
Ox-eye Daisy - Wild white daisy with yellow centres attract the compound eyes of most pollinators. This variety looks great as a cut stem in a vase with sweet peas.
Red Campion - Tall wildflower that has a long flowering period; flowers are at their greatest number in June but some last through to autumn.
Teasel - After this thistle-like flower has bloomed allow finches to feed from the seed heads, then leave the heads overwinter for attractive stems.
You just need to designate an area of your garden (around three square metres) for your 30 plants and these plants will flower for the summer. By mid-summer you will have a charming and colourful flower mix which reflects a Monet painting.
Once your flowers have bloomed for the year we recommend you tap the stems to release the seeds from the seedheads for a bank of flowers the following year.See Full Description +
- Quantity 30x Plants (6x of each variety)
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Stock Status: Out of stock