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Welcoming Tonya Kinzer back to the blog to share her latest release. Thanks for stopping by!
Let's gather on the porch of Cassi's Wyoming home where she and Gabe have many conversations sitting in these Adirondack chairs. I'm a sucker for awesome log homes and she's got one. Doesn't that interior just call to you to come in and roam around? Plenty of places to tie up a cowboy…..mmmm….damn! Alas, I didn't include any scenes like that in Come Tame Me, sorry. Several readers asked if I could write a series without any Dom/sub bondage involved and even though I hint at it…I didn't include restraints and blindfolds. You have no idea how hard that was. LOL
As Gabe and Cassi work out their differences, I take the readers to a few real places in Jackson Hole, two of them being Snake River Lodge and the Snake River Brewing Company. The Lodge took my breath away and I plan to make a visit to the brewery soon! Take a peek, I think you'll enjoy visiting these with my characters – imagine them at these locales.
As I wrote this, the characters helped quite a bit with scenes they wanted me to include and Dani was pretty persistent. She saw only one way to prove to Cassi that her heart still longed to be wrapped in Gabe's arms…and getting Cassi hot and bothered came too easy for Dani. For those who love reading f/f scenes, enjoy their scene HERE!
Gabe and Cassi deal with many obstacles that come between them. Can they rekindle the relationship they had ten years ago or has time hardened her heart? Grab your copy today and find out. I hope you get lost in the pages of their story as well as wanting to know more about her best friend Dani. My website has buy links to your favorite online store of just do a search for my books. Reader reviews are what help a book climb higher on the charts so if you enjoy the story, please consider leaving a review and star rating (another contest for reviewers! Click Contact Me on my website). I also have a newsletter with two types of content; the sign up is on my website too.
Thank you all for stopping in to learn more about me. I also write erotica/BDSM for those who love kink in their reads. My website has more on The Boss's Pet series. Do get into the contest below. I'll pick a winner on Tues May 6. Good luck and please use the share buttons here.


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We hear many love stories in our line of work. Your story is what makes your relationship unique. Having the chance to help our clients document their own love story is what makes our job so amazing. It helps us understand you as a couple and helps us capture moments as they unfold on your wedding day.
It just so happens that we have a love story of our own. And since we'll be hearing all about yours, its only fair we share ours.
As fate would have it when I met Andrew I had a broken heart. At that time I was planning a solo trip abroad and was in desperate need of procuring a camera. Lucky for me, Andrew knew a thing or two about photography.
Andrew would trudge over to my place, in the dead of winter, and walk me through the basics of photography. When I left for that trip, I had no intentions of coming back to Calgary. In fact, I was ready to move half way across the world with whatever I had with me. I almost booked a one-way ticket to Melbourne with what I had left in my bank account. But something held me back.
After two months of being away, Andrew flew to meet me in Istanbul for a three-week foray through Turkey and Greece. So, you ask, when exactly did we fall in love? That one's easy.
We were staying on Santorini and had just missed our pre-booked Ferry back to Athens. Since our sight seeing plans were ruined, we spent the afternoon floating in the pool at our hostel. I can remember it very clearly. In the warmth of the sun and the comfort of the water I remember thinking he was the most perfect creature I had ever laid eyes on. I was very much in love and I had finally realized it. If you ask Andrew, he'll admit that was the moment he knew he loved me too.
So in the end, I am with the man who flew half way around the world to fix my broken heart. And for that, I am forever grateful.
And that's our story. We'd love to hear yours.
Drop us a line. We'll have you over for one of Andrew's famous lattes (or better yet, a beer!). Let's discuss how we can help tell your story on your wedding day.
(photo credit: Abby+Dave Photographers)

subset: commoncrawl


text: Bed and Bathroom Solutions Hoveround knows how important it is to stay safe in your own home. The bedroom is your sanctuary, and the bathroom is one of the most dangerous rooms in your home. It is important that you make both of these important rooms as safe and comfortable as possible. Hoveround has an array of bedroom and bathroom safety solutions to help you. You can call one of our Mobility Specialists to assist you or simply order these products online. Bathroom Solutions Bedroom Solutions


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Category Archives: Location
Images from the runway at Heathrow
I managed to take a few shots down on the tarmac at Heathrow, just off the runways, of the walkway passenger chutes that guide us safely onto our planes. Once the plane has gone, they're just left hanging there – waiting for the next plane. They look so odd and eye-catchingly abstract, I just couldn't resist!!
Corney and Barrow Portfolio 2013
This year's Corney and Barrow Portfolio Tasting was held at the top of Millbank Tower in the Altitude 360 Bar, sporting some of the most incredible views in town. The event is in two very distinct halves. First half, Trade and Press clients sip, sup and swig their way through the 100 or so wines from across the world on offer, commenting, noting and mingling with fellow suppliers, traders and experts. The second half of the day (now evening) is for the private customers to do the same, but in a much busier, noisier and almost party like atmosphere.
Two Nurses, a tandem and a few locations – Marie Curie
Ben Wicks from the Marie Curie Press Office got in touch and said he had this great idea – to celebrate this year's UK leg of the Tour de France he'd got two nurses and a tandem and wanted to photograph them in Cambridge and London on the same day in front of a dozen locations in mid-October. Was I in? Was I up for it? Crazy question of course!! Naturally I was.
Let it snow – Brighton Style!!
I went for a fantastic walk today. Three hours around a couple of parks in Brighton, with it snowing all the while. Gorgeously fresh and fun!! Everyone out, doing what we all do best in snow. Building snowmen, chucking snow balls, sledging. That's really about it. Oh, and taking dogs for a walk – but nothing much would stop that!!
London cityscapes from 78, Cannon Street
During the World Architecture Day event today, held at the impressive 78, Cannon Street building on the 6th floor, it was great to have an almost 360 degree view of the City of London, with it's various on-going construction sites and famous landmark buildings.
Over 100 TGI's bartenders attempt a Guinness World of Record flairing
Crown BC wanted me to document the event they were organising for TGI Friday's to mark the 25th Anniversary of the store opening in Covent Garden. They were covering it with several cameramen, lighting and sound technicians, staging a band called The Creatures (not Siouxie & Budgie's 1980's incarnation), with[…] continue reading →
Two Day Photographic One-to-One Workshop
I've just finished Day Two of a two day photographic course devised specifically for my client, Santiago Gowland from Unilever, who approached me for essentially a crash course digital communications course. The first day was Friday 11th March and both sessions were carried out in and around Santi's house in[…] continue reading →
Portraits of Author Charles Bancroft – Brighton seafront arches
Now here's a thing – not only am I a photographer, I also do voice-over work – obtained largely through presenting my own radio show since April 2007 in Brighton on Radio Reverb. Charles Bancroft, local Brighton author, asked me to do an audio version of his first book The[…] continue reading →
Down on the tube tracks with SIMS
First day with the signal box company SIMS, a job pitched for through Design company Harrison & Co. Met Jeff Fray at the Barbican tube station at about 8.30 this morning and he togged me out with safety hat, goggles & hi-vis jacket, coupled with the regulation boots on my[…] continue reading →
Picture Library style images for CRi, Brighton
Got a fantastic group of people together who all agreed to be photographed in various guises and situations for use in the charity CRi's Picture Library for internal use in their brochures, leaflets and on-line websites. Worked closely with Becky De Sancha from CRi and together we got a great[…] continue reading →


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Erick Sermon has some new music for the soul! Today, he dropped his new song "Make Room" featuring Sheek Louch and Joell Ortiz. The song is a head bopper and gives a grimey, 90s hip-hop vibe to it. Erick didn't miss a beat! He is expected to drop his new album "ESP"sometime soon this year, so be on the lookout for that! Press play:
Check out Erick's visit last week here on the Sway in the Morning show:


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The Climbing Max® Collection by award winning and leading rose breeder W. Kordes' Sohne of Germany, is a collection of the most beautiful and healthiest climbing varieties. Any variety carrying the 'Climbing Max' badge will not disappoint.
Resulting from a change during Kordes breeding program over 20 years ago, where they moved away from pesticide and fungicide usage. Only the strongest most vigorous and floriferous specimens emerge, to then be selected from as release candidates for the rest of us to enjoy in our gardens.
Kordes climbing varieties can go through a testing period of 10 to 12 years before being introduced into the market, with Treloar Roses trialling each one further still under Australian conditions.
Below are the varieties from the Climbing Max® Collection that have released on to the Australian market so far...


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Heliamphora pulchella (Amuri Tepui, Venezuela)
Heliamphora pulchella (Amuri)
Heliamphora pulchella (Amuri Tepui)
On Amuri we saw the most colorful and outstanding plants of H. pulchella.
Formerly known as hairy variety of H. minor.
As most Heliamphoras this species needs lots of light, cool nights and does not like permanent misting. The plants can be grown in various peaty mixes, however many growers prefer pure living Shagnum-moss. In recent times dead Sphagnum of very high quality from Chile and New-Zealand became widely available. A mix of such moss with horticultural-grade Perlite, a bit of good quality peat-moss and pinebark-choppings makes an excellent mix. However, when using Sphagnum-moss, it's important to allow for a good drainage as otherwise, Sphagnum has the tendency to rot quickly. Please note, that all Heliamphoras require good illumination. They can, however easily be grown indoors under fluorescent tubes as long as they are close to the lights and temparature requirements can be met. Many growers in fact prefer to grow them in terrariums under fluorescent tubes from cultivatiing Heliamphora in the greenhouse.
Heliamphora pulchella (Amuri Tepui)
On Amuri we saw the most colorful and outstanding plants of H. pulchella.


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Day-to-day operations are extremely easy because FRS is so intuitive. FRS is very useful to our business because the updates to the software applications are a direct result of the actual user's input from our industry. The updates always contain helpful tools and they listen to those of us who use the software and provide the tools we need. The FRS software is driven and steered by the actual users who use the system each day. Therefore, we also get to benefit from the good ideas of other system users whose ideas FRS also incorporates. From what I understand, other platforms seem to have developers who are not familiar with background screening and don't bother to understand what we deal with each day. The fact that FRS developers have so many years of industry experience shows in the finer details of screening operations that really make a big difference for us.
The FRS system has many checks and balances for quality control that minimize human error while increasing the speed and quality of the final product that is delivered to my client. There are so many built-in features that seem small, but FRS comes with tons of alerts and red flag notifications built in to handle situations with our orders and the research to bring those to our attention well ahead of time so that we can notify our clients very quickly. Many of the features improve our customer service by allowing us to always keep our clients totally up-to-date on the status of our research.
FRS also keeps us well ahead of the industry with leading technology. These guys know XML and the client access I achieve through the LinXml.com gateway has been extremely valuable for our business.
I have it all with FRS. They are a great company with wonderful people to work with. The FRS system and support has allowed us to grow ten times larger than if we had kept our proprietary system. If I was still maintaining that proprietary system, just getting it to do one-quarter of what FRS does would be costing me a fortune. The FRS team and the product are 1st Class!
About Affirm Background Screening
Affirm Background Screening is a wholesale criminal records research company. We concentrate exclusively on wholesale on-site criminal records searches and MVR's (driver records). Over the past ten years we have built a network of hands-on record retrievers in all counties, nationwide. The largest network of its kind. We do not use private databases for our searches, ever. If you are an employment screening company, you have come to the right place. We are 100% wholesale. We are not your competitor; we are your source for current, accurate, FCRA compliant criminal court records in all counties, coast to coast. Learn more at www.affirmbackgrounds.com.


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Before I get to some new stuff today I wanted to get this lesson uploaded. It's another sketched version of an animal and I think you guys will like it. Here is "how to sketch a bear", step by step. I haven't sketched or drawn any bears lately so this is one of those practice run lessons to see how the bear would turn out using a new drawing program. Anyways, here is my version on sketching a bear. As you can see this bear is mighty looking as he stands or poses on his rugged rock ledge. Bears love climbing and exploring on rough terrain even if the bear is a forest dweller like the black bear. Grizzly bears on the other hand like walking about anywhere. I labeled this tutorial intermediate because of the main tutorial image. Other than, it should be pretty simple to tackle the tutorial. I will be back in a bit with other lessons for you all to enjoy so stay tuned in for more fun.
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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In January of 2017 as Trump was inaugurated as President, I published the following article - Will A Weaker Trump U.S. Dollar Be Toxic for Stocks?
Through the first half of 2017, the U.S. dollar (DXY) continued to trade around 100, the level it was when Trump entered office. But beginning in mid-May 2017 the dollar started to trend progressively lower, and has broken down through a key historical average level of 90.
In an interview in Davos on January 24, 2018, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin reiterated the Trump administration view that a "weaker dollar is good for trade." As shown in the real-time capture of the dollar trade at the moment of the remarks, the US dollar dropped, continuing its trend lower.
The relevant investment question is whether a weaker dollar is actually good for stocks (not trade!)? Against a backdrop of an inversely correlated move in U.S. interest rates, as historical data published in the article shows, chances are very high that the market will collapse as the trend progresses. There are three points in market history that reviewed in the article – The Nixon Dollar Shock, The Reagan Plaza Accord and the Bush / Snowden Policy.
I strongly advise that you read the article if you are an investor interested understanding how market risk is fundamentally and rapidly escalating at the present time, and how long it took for the stock market to re-calibrate lower in response to very similar US President direct dollar moves lower in recent history. Nothing has changed from a market analytical standpoint since the time the article was published. What has changed is that the US Dollar is now weakening, stocks (SPY) (DIA) (QQQ) are substantially higher, and US interest rates (TLT) (SHY) (TBT) (IEI) are poised to move much higher as the Treasury has to enter the market to finance the Tax Reform Bill not just short-term, but for many years to come.
Is this a toxic market scenario in the making? In my opinion, very likely; it is just a question of when for stocks. And, given that the stock market is starting from an inflated position relative to many market measures, the stock collapses after the post 1971 and 1985 dollar declines are the relative points in history most applicable to the current stock market set-up.
Daniel Moore is the author of the book Theory of Financial Relativity. All opinions and analyses shared in this article are expressly his own, and intended for information purposes only and not advice to buy or sell.


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Atascadero Library Expansion
For Friends of the Atascadero Library
In 2011, the Hind Foundation granted $100,000 to the Friends of the Atascadero Library (FOL) to help fund their Library Expansion Project. The new home of the Library was purchased in January 2010 and is located at 6555 Capistrano Avenue in downtown Atascadero. The building is twice the size of the current building and is located in an easily accessible, pedestrian-friendly location. Currently FOL is working to raise the $1 million needed for the tenant improvements for the new library. As of June 2011, FOL reached the half way mark in their "Open the Doors" campaign.
Noteworthy Outcomes
Community Pride
FOL's efforts have brought together the community of Atascadero and are proving that no goal is too big if you work together.
|Area of Funding: Music & Visual Arts
|Type of Funding: Standard Grant
|Amount Funded: $100,000
|Year Funded: 2011
|Year Completed: 2011
|About the Organization
|Friends of the Atascadero Library
|PO Box 9
|Atascadero, CA 93423
The mission of the Friends of the Atascadero Martin Polin Library is to support, promote and expand the library's resources and programs.


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Hershey a perfect host for grand AHL celebrationby Corey Masisak
There is only one AHL city that routines welcomes more than 10,000 fans into its arena and only one franchise with 11 Calder Cup banners hanging from the rafters. That is why Hershey, Pa., home of the two-time defending Calder Cup champions and the franchise en route to posting the best attendance in the league for the fifth straight season, is where the 2011 AHL All-Star Classic will conclude with the All-Star Game on Monday night at Giant Center.
The celebration got under way Sunday afternoon with the 2011 Reese's AHL Skills Competition, and a sold-out arena welcomed a showcase for the league's top players.
"It is such a great hockey town and there is so much history here that to bring an event like this here means a lot to the fans and a lot to the city in general," Hershey Bears forward Andrew Gordon said. "When you put 10,500 people in here for a skills competition in the minors, I think that speaks volumes for the caliber of people that are in this town and how much they love the game."
"It is such a great hockey town and there is so much history here that to bring an event like this here means a lot to the fans and a lot to the city in general. When you put 10,500 people in here for a skills competition in the minors, I think that speaks volumes for the caliber of people that are in this town and how much they love the game." -- Bears forward Andrew Gordon
Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau, a former Hershey bench boss, is in town for the weekend and will be the keynote speaker at the 2011 American Hockey League Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony on Monday.
The game will feature several top prospects like Holtby and Gordon. A couple of defensemen to watch are John Moore, a first-round pick by Columbus in the 2009 Entry Draft, Brendan Smith, a first-round choice by Detroit in 2007, and Viatcheslav Voynov, a second-rounder for Los Angeles in 2009 who won the fastest skater competition Sunday afternoon. That trio of rearguards makes up one-fourth of the 12 first- and second-round draft picks who will participate in the game.
"It is great. You are selecting the best players from the second-best league in the country, or in North America for that matter," Gordon said. "That is going to be a pretty good talent pool. A lot of the guys are high draft picks and young guys that are proving themselves and establishing themselves as professionals, and big things are ahead. It is great to be nominated and brought into this atmosphere with so many great players and in a situation to showcase yourself."
While the four current Bears will all receive raucous ovations from the crowd, one of the guys on the Western Conference team will also be serenaded by the fans at Giant Center. Alexandre Giroux scored 153 goals in the previous two seasons combined for Hershey, including 29 in 43 postseason contests.
After joining the Edmonton organization in the offseason, Giroux has 25 goals for Oklahoma City and will be the captain of the West squad.
"That's going to be really special for me," Giroux said. "I played four years there and we won two Cups. Going back as a captain will be something special. I am really excited and proud to be picked for that event. I'm going to enjoy it as much as I can and see all the guys that I played with in the past and try to put on a good show.
"I didn't really think about being a captain, but I definitely wanted to be one of the players picked for the game. A lot of the guys like to go to Mexico or someplace warm during the break, but this year I definitely wanted to be there with it being in Hershey. It is going to be a real special weekend for me and it should be great for the league."
Giroux was the AHL MVP two seasons ago when he scored 60 goals in the regular season and added 15 more in the Calder Cup Playoffs. He also broke Brett Hull's league record for most consecutive games with at least one goal. The guy who set him up on many of those goals was Aucoin, who took home league MVP honors last season.
"Yeah, that's going to feel a little funny to use the visitors' locker room again, but I will be happy to see the banner from winning the Cup last year," Giroux said. "I'll also be happy to see Keith Aucoin since he's been such a big part of what I've done the past couple years. I'm going to go to lunch with him and it will be great to catch up with him."
The younger players in the league are under constant pressure to perform. They rarely know the specifics, but there is always someone watching -- whether it is a key talent evaluator from their own organization or someone else's franchise who could be monitoring with interest.
This is one weekend where guys like Holtby and Gordon can relax a little -- even if they are playing in front of the hometown fans.
"The beauty of this weekend as a player is it the one weekend out of the year where you can play with absolutely no pressure," Gordon said. "I did the target-shooting contest today and if I didn't hit one, we didn't drop in the standings or miss the playoffs or anything. We are just here for fun. Obviously I wanted to make the crowd proud of me in front of the Bears' fans, but at the same time if things didn't go my way no one was going to hold it against me. Those two Calder Cups trump a skills competition any day."


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Now into their third year, the Fuzzies have slowly grown from inauspicious beginnings to a worldwide audience of dozens! Who will take home prestigious awards such as Best Actor, Best Director and Best Onscreen Butt? Find out all the winners right here...
Best ActressEmily Blunt in Sicario - Blunt's powerful intensity propelled this tense war on drugs drama to great heights. Plucked from her regular Albuquerque beat and into the cutthroat world across the border, Blunt's character, Kate Macer, is kept in the dark along with the audience for most of the runtime, with numerous secrets spilling towards the end.
Blunt works really well as the kite caught in a hurricane, but it's the final scene she shares with Benicio del Toro's ominous Alejandro that cements this performance as the best of the year.
Runners-up: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl), Rooney Mara (Carol), Jennifer Lawrence (Joy), Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
Best ActorMatt Damon in The Martian - An outside choice, but I plumped for Damon in this category simply because he made the film so much better than it could've been. Acting against just the sparse Martian landscape for 90% of the runtime (well, the Jordan desert technically), Damon's wry wit and survive-at-all-costs depiction of stranded astronaut Mark Watney took Ridley Scott's The Martian to great heights.
Covering laughs, tears and everything in between, Damon's performance showed immense range - and that's something to make a song and dance about.
Runners-up: Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl), Michael B. Jordan (Creed), Tom Hanks (Bridge of Spies), John Cusack (Love and Mercy)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
However, it's her impeccable performance in Alex Garland's sublime low-budget sci-fi Ex Machina that sees her carve a name for herself as one of the best young actresses working today. Hauntingly quiet and pensive, Vikander's intentionally robotic performance slowly peeled back the layers of her intelligent AI character to show a real unsettling humanity and depth.
Runners-up: Elizabeth Banks (Love and Mercy), Helena Bonham Carter (Suffragette), Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria), Tessa Thompson (Creed)
Best Actor in a Supporting RoleBenecio del Toro in Sicario - Another astounding performance that kept me on the edge of my seat this year came from Benecio del Toro in Sicario. Through hushed whispers and tight lips, it always felt like del Toro's elusive assassin Alejandro was keeping something back and never giving us the full story.
Then, in a rapidly unravelling third act, we find out that Alejandro has been driving the mission forward all along, determined to exact revenge on those who wronged him. Del Toro's performance really sells us on this seething intensity bubbling beneath the surface and the pulsating finale is the icing on the cake. You wouldn't want to cross this guy, trust me.
Runners-up: Paul Dano (Love and Mercy), Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies), Sylvester Stallone (Creed), Harrison Ford (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
Best DirectorGeorge Miller with Mad Max: Fury Road - Kinetic, visceral, aggressive, edgy, dynamic, exciting; I had to buy a bumper thesaurus to write my review for Mad Max: Fury Road back in May, and most of that is due to the superb direction from everyone's favourite Aussie grandpa, George Miller. After spending some time making cute family films about pigs and penguins, Miller returned to the cutthroat world of Mad Max for a rip-roaring fourth entry that is the best in the series to date. Boom, not bad for a septuagenarian.
Runners-up: Ridley Scott (The Martian), Denis Villeneuve (Sicario), Alex Garland (Ex Machina), Steven Spielberg (Bridge of Spies).
Best Soundtrack/ScoreJohn Williams on Star Wars: The Force Awakens - A recent entry onto the list, but John Williams' revived score on the titanic Star Wars comeback is simply brilliant. My personal favourite track has to be Rey's Theme; the best new theme for the best character in the film.
Runners-up: Harry Gregson-Williams (The Martian), Johann Johannsson (Sicario), Junkie XL (Mad Max: Fury Road), Ludwig Goransson (Creed)
Best CinematographyRoger Deakins on Sicario - If you were to surmise Sicario in three words, I'd propose you start with 'grim', 'tense' and 'macabre'. Much of this is thanks to some masterful cinematography from Roger Deakins, whose night compositions were breathtaking to behold.
Runners-up: John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road), Edward Lachman (Carol), Danny Cohen (The Danish Girl), Linus Sandgren (Joy)
Best Cinematic MomentRey vs. Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens - JJ Abrams punctuated his return to a galaxy far, far away with its fair share of 'punch the air' moments, but none were greater than the final duel between Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). When Luke's iconic lightsaber flew across the snowy forest and into the outstretched hand of the young scavenger, I literally couldn't have smiled any wider. And that my friends, is why it's my favourite cinematic moment from 2015.
Runners-up: Indominus Rex vs. T-Rex and Velociraptors (Jurassic World), Church bloodbath (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Cruise takes off (Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation), Thomas and Friends (Ant-Man)
Best Australian FeatureMad Max: Fury Road - It's been a pretty cracking year for Aussie films has 2015, but the clear winner in this category is undoubtedly Mad Max: Fury Road.
Sure, it wasn't filmed here this time around but it has been earning rave reviews left and right ever since May, and with any luck will stage a late dash for a cheeky Best Picture nomination. Great work from director George Miller, who earns a celebratory slice of pavlova along with this prestigious award.
Runners-up: Holding the Man, Last Cab to Darwin, The Dressmaker, Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead
Best Animated FeatureInside Out - Not a lot of competition in this field to be honest. I haven't seen Shaun the Sheep and The Peanuts Movie doesn't open here until New Year's Day, but regardless of that Inside Out would've won be a country mile regardless.
Runners-up: The Good Dinosaur, Shaun the Sheep, Home
Worst Actor
Runners-up: Jaime Dornan (Fifty Shades of Grey), Adam Sandler (Pixels), Josh Gad (The Wedding Ringer)
Worst Actress
Breakout Star of the Year
Ridley in particular revealed herself to be the complete package during the breakneck pace of The Force Awakens; charming, funny, talented, intelligent, Ridley she may be known for Star Wars right now, but let's hope she has a long and rewarding career long after the trilogy has wrapped also.
Runners-up: Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, Testament of Youth, The Danish Girl, The Man from UNLCE, Burnt, Seventh Son), Amy Schumer (Trainwreck, every single article posted on Buzzfeed), Taron Edgarton (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Legend)
Best Ensemble CastThe Martian - Let me just lay this one out as simply as I can; in what universe does a cast that includes Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Michael Pena and Sebastian Stan not win Best Ensemble Cast of the Year?
The Michael Bay Award for Most Unnecessary Collateral DamageFast and Furious 7 - This prestigious accolade, which has been awarded to Man of Steel and Transformers: Age of Extinction in years gone by, is being graciously accepted by the crew behind Fast and Furious 7 this year.
Gone are the days that the series was about actual street racing - no, nowadays F&F is all about unrestrained property destruction, and Dom Toretto's gang don't care which city their cavalier approach to saving the day harms - Los Angeles, Tokyo, Azerbaijan*, Abu Dhabi - you name it, they'll plow through it at 200mph.
*not a city, but shut up
The Award for Most Shameless Product Placement, Sponsored by Bud LightSpectre - The Bond franchise and shameless product placement go hand in hand, and 2015's Spectre is no different. From cars (Aston Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce), clothes (Tom Ford, Missoni) and phones (Sony, naturally) to alcohol (Belvedere, Bollinger and Heineken) and watches (Omega) it seems as though there isn't a product that MI6's finest won't flog.
The Liara T'Soni Award for Sexiest AlienCompetition in this category wasn't as strong this year (there weren't any sexy green people in The Martian), so I'm going to cheat a little and pick Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She looks human, but technically is from a galaxy far, far away - so she's an alien, okay?
The Lucius Malfoy Award for Worst WigKeegan Michael-Key in Tomorrowland - Dear God, there were some really cracking choices out there this year - Kate Mara's wig in Fantastic Four had a life of its own, whilst Hugh Jackman's purposely stupid lump in Pan was dreadful. However, topping them all, was Keegan Michael-Key's mouldy old mop in Tomorrowland. It looked like a whole colony of spiders had formed one ginormous mass of hair and spent a week slowly inching towards death whilst listening to Bob Marley. Truly horrifying. Sorry Keegan.
The Footloose Award for Most Unnecessary Remake
The Sir Isaac Newton Memorial Award for Utter Disregard for the Laws of PhysicsFast and Furious 7 - Parachuting a car out of a plane? No probs, bruh. Jumping through not one, but two Dubai skyscrapers? Easy-peasy. This is Fast and Furious bitch, physics and logic don't apply son!
The Mark Lewis Award for Creepiest Borderline Sexual Predator and/or StalkerA new award this one, created to honour Jaime Dornan's especially seedy performance as Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey.
The Attack of the Clones Award for Least Distinguishable Lead Actor
The Hermione Granger Award for the Most Inappropriate Sexualisation of a Minor
The Fast and Furious Award for Biggest Guilty Pleasure
The Inception Award for Biggest MindfuckTerminator: Genisys - Last year I gave this award to Predestination for its expertly crafted time-hopping narrative that also needed a white board and several Red Bulls to unpack. This year, the honour is bestowed upon Alan Taylor's Terminator: Genisys for the same reason, but in totally different circumstances. Genisys' plot is utterly incomprehensible regardless of how many energy drinks you swig; is it a sequel, a reboot or a spinoff? Where do all these Terminators come from anymore? And who keeps sending them through time to kill poor Sarah (Emilia Clarke)?!
This also gets bonus mindfuck points for the crap spelling of genesis; is it genysis or genisys? We may never know.
The Alien 3 Award for Most Misleading TrailerTomorrowland - In the trailer for Tomorrowland, Brad Bird promised to transport us to a magical futuristic realm filled with all our hopes and dreams. In the film Tomorrowland, Brad Bird transported us to a frazzled futuristic realm where any whiff of hopes and dreams are quashed, and even then it was haphazardly pressed into the final 20 minutes of the movie. Disappointing to say the least.
The Mister Freeze Award for Worst Movie VillainDoctor Doom from Fantastic Four - Doctor Doom is an iconic Marvel villain, and many fans were disappointed with how he was portrayed in 2005 and 2007's cheesy Fantastic Four films. But that version simply doesn't come close to the abominable pile of shit that this latest adaptation cooked up - I'm not going to go into detail, but this version of Doom has seemingly spent a year trapped in a barren wasteland where nothing grows or flows, magicked a cape into existence somehow and developed the ability to make people's brains go pop using just his mind. Disastrous doesn't even cover it.
The Last Airbender Award for Biggest LetdownFantastic Four - Call me naive, but I was still rooting for this film right until the halfway point when they threw up that 'One Year Later' card. It was shaky, but from thereon out the film plummeted faster than a skydiving sumo wrestler with anvils strapped to his feet. There was no shortage of talent on the roster - Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan - but the slapdash execution, generic story and bland visuals make 'Fant4stic' the biggest letdown of 2015 for me.
The Kleenex Award for Biggest Tear JerkerInside Out - We're used to Pixar playing with our emotions, but then they go and literally play with our emotions? Pixar, you've overstepped the line - you have any idea how many tears were shed during Inside Out? And they say global warming is causing the oceans to rise.
The Primrose Everdeen Memorial Award for Poorest Excuse for a Hunger Games Film
The Crystal Skull Award for Most Unnecessary SequelAs always, we've got a huge pool to choose from in this category - but I'm going to pick Paul Blart Mall Cop 2. If ever there was a film that didn't require a second chance, it was Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and this dismal excuse for film-making was the evidence.
The Neill Blomkamp Award for Most Wasted Potential
Unexpected Same Gender Crush of the YearMichael B. Jordan in Creed - There was a point about halfway through Creed where my long-term girlfriend leaned over to me and said, "The actor playing Adonis is really attractive!". As much as I wanted to protest, I had to admit - she was right. That guy is jacked as hell. Phew, is it getting hot in here?
The Award for Best Onscreen Butt, sponsored by Bonds
Plus, keep your eyes peeled for my Top 10 Films of 2015 post in the next few weeks! (Bonus points for anyone who can correctly guess the Top 3 in the comments of this post!)


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We see dynamic, interdependent partnerships and mutually nurturing relationships with Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA-Togo), and other missions and churches as together we respond to spiritual challenges in modern Togo and beyond, beginning with a focus on the unreached Muslim people groups.
We see dynamic, interdependent partnerships and mutually nurturing relationships with Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA-Togo), and other missions and churches as together we respond to spiritual challenges in modern Togo and beyond, beginning with a focus on the unreached Muslim people groups.
Ven y Sirve
Academia Bingham
Este ministerio provee educación cristiana de calidad para los hijos de los misioneros y de otros que buscan tener un impacto del reino en Etiopía.
Un campo misionero bien administrado permite a los misioneros de largo plazo alcanzar a los menos alcanzados.
Agencia Misionera ProVisión
Our desire it to send Chileans into the mission field. We would like to see hundreds of Chilean missionaries going to communities where Christ is least known worldwide.
Americas Leadership & Development Conference
This conference will bring together the SIM directors who serve in Latin America to provide leadership development and training.
Apurímac Church Planting and Discipleship
Under the Christian organization AIDIA, Peruvian believers and SIM missionaries seek to see churches planted and believers discipled into mature Christians in the rural villages of Apurímac. In this region only 8 percent of the villages have an evangelical church.
Asociaciones de Iglesias
Facilitar que más iglesias en Australia cumplan la misión global de Cristo y la misión transcultural localmente.
Asociaciones Ministeriales y Desarrollo
Este ministerio sirve la meta estratégica de movilizar a los obreros a través de todo el norte de África.
Asunción Guest House & Conference Centre
The aim of this Guest House & Conference Centre in Asunción is to provide a place where rural SIM missionaries may stay and rest when in the capital city as well as providing a large meeting place.
Building Peace & Reconciliation
BRiCC is a community centre in central Jos that aims to build peace and reconciliation through relationships.
Capacitando, Equipando y Conectando
Nuestro deseo es equipar a los cristianos nepalíes para que crezcan en su fe y tr4abajen para el mayor beneficio de todos los nepalíes.
Centro de Salud para Mujeres
The intent of Centro Evangélico de Medicina do Lubango (CEML) is to build and equip a Women's Health Centre on the hospital site.
Centro Juvenil Mongu
El centro juvenil alcanza a los jóvenes locales por medio de deportes, estudios bíblicos y reuniones, proveyendo un seguro ambiente.
Children's Outreach and Discipleship
Our aim is to express Christ's love to the children and youth of Guinea.
Christian Camp Ministry
Camp is an important tool in reaching and discipling youth and leaders in Paraguay. It is the hope to develop more effective camps, utilizing the location, size and design of the camp property and buildings.
Christian Education
Our aim is to transform Christian education and worldview development by improving several Christian schools that already exist.
Christian Education
El ministerio de educación cristiana busca alcanzar a los niños, uno de los grupos más vulnerables, con las buenas nuevas de Jesucristo.
Christian School Ministry
Centro Educativo Internacional is a Christian school that shares the good news with Paraguayans through English language and other opportunities.
Church Leadership Training
Train servant leaders who love the Lord Jesus and who are competent in various ministry skills.
Church Leadership Training
Few of the church leaders in Mauritius have advanced biblical training. This ministry provides courses in biblical knowledge and evangelism for pastors and church leaders of various denominations.
Church Planting
The aim of this ministry is to grow and empower the Uruguayan church by planting and equipping church plants in a society where secularism is the dominant religion.
Communities where He is least known
The largest group of Muslim peoples in Togo are the Met. The majority of the Met live in the central city of Sokodé and in the approximately 60 surrounding villages. Over the years, Met communities have formed in neighbouring Benin and Ghana. Although about 90% of Met are Muslim, many mix Islam with their traditional religion. They are primarily farmers, growing corn, millet, rice, beans, yams, manioc, ground nuts, and okra. They also keep animals such as cows, goats, sheep, and chickens. In urban areas, they tend to be small-scale merchants. The majority of the taxi and truck drivers in Togo are Met.
About 1% of the Met have become believers over the past 20 to 30 years, usually through the witness of friends and family. Several foreign and indigenous missions are reaching out in villages and cities, especially in contexts where the Met are away from their families.
One organisation is translating the Scriptures into the Met language, with the goal of completing Genesis and the New Testament within two years. SIM began to minister among this people 25 years ago through radio, a ministry that continues today. Today missionaries minister through friendship, disciple-making, children's ministry and biblical training. An initiative is underway that will assist new Muslim-background believers, both financially and spiritually.
Pray for openness to the gospel among the Muslim Kotokoli, Lokpa, Bago, Fulani, and Tchamba peoples.
Pray for additional missionaries to serve in Togo, both indigenous and foreign. Pray specifically for missionaries to be sent by the SIM West African Office.
Pray for maturity in the ECWA-Togo churches in disciple-making, leadership training, church planting, and missions outreach.
Pray for Christians throughout the country to develop a love and burden for their Muslim neighbours.
Pray for maturity in the ECWA-Togo churches in disciple-making, leadership training, church planting, and missions outreach.
Pray for training of the pastors with whom SIM works, that God will guide the planning of biblical, spiritual, and practical training.


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Many tasting rooms operate on different schedules during the weeks of Christmas and New Year's. If you are planning on doing some winetasting in Northern California during the holidays, you might want to call your favorite wineries in advance to make sure their tasting rooms will be open. If that's too much work, here's some general guidance.
Most wineries will open and close at their regular times each day from December 21 through January 3, except on December 24, 25, and 31 and on January 1. A few of the small wineries will close for a few days during this period.
Most wineries will close early on Christmas Eve and a few will be closed entirely. After 2:00 p.m., there are very few tasting rooms open on December 24. Wineries also may decide to close earlier than planned if business is slow.
All tasting rooms are closed on Christmas Day.
Most wineries will close early on New Year's Eve; although some will stay open until their regular closing times. After 2:00 p.m., definitely call prior to visiting a tasting room to see if it is open.
Only a handful of wineries are open on New Year's Day. I know that Nicholson Ranch near Carneros and V. Sattui in Napa are open, but I am sure there are a few more. Phone ahead of your visit to confirm if the tasting room will be open.
If you would like to take a private wine country during the holidays or in 2009, please feel free to phone me at (866) 326-4237 (toll free) or e-mail me by clicking here. Blue Heron will be closed on both Christmas and New Year's Day.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Winetasting During the Holidays
Labels: Alexander Valley, Carneros, Dry Creek Valley, Napa Valley, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
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When working in the HVAC industry, employees are always driving to different locations to perform installations and repairs to heating and cooling systems. The employee may use the company vehicle for traveling to different locations, as they have to pay for gas, toll roads and parking expenses. Properly compensate the workers for their travel route expenses with our HVAC - mileage tracker. This form can efficiently track mileage for every service call.
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Our HVAC - mileage tracker can be used on any mobile device. So the worker can place information into the form template at the start of the trip and when they reach their work destination. This form has the following categories:
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The Importance of Local Church Membership Part 2
Last week we considered the question, "What is the importance of church membership and why do I have to become a member of the local church?" First, what is the local church? It is a group of believers that regularly gather together for the purpose of accomplishing specific, divinely ordained tasks as laid out in Scripture (1 Tim 4:13; 2 Tim 4:2; Eph 4:7-12; Rom 12:3-8; 1 Cor 12:4-31; Luke 22:19; Acts 2:38-42; Matt 28:18-20). Understanding what the local church is, begins to help us see the importance of why we should join a local church. Yet, we could understand that God intended for us to express our faith in local churches and still not belong to one particular local church. Therefore, we must ask, "Is it really necessary to "join" a church or to "become a member?" Why can't I just hop around to different churches or come without committing?"
In the previous article, the first biblical reason to join or become a member of a local church was presented, which was that the existence of church government demands formal membership. Please go back to that article for a fuller explanation. The second biblical reason is:
2) The Exercise of Church Discipline Demands Formal Membership
In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus outlines the way in which the church is to seek the restoration of a believer who has fallen into sin – a four-step process commonly known as church discipline. First, when a brother sins, he is to be confronted privately by a single individual (v.15). If he refuses to repent, that individual is to take one or two other believers along to confront him again (v.16). If the sinning brother refuses to listen to the two or three, they are then to tell it to the church (v.17a). If there is still no repentance, the final step is to put the person out of the assembly (v.17b; cf. 1 Cor 5:1-13). The question raised is, "How can you be "put out" of an assembly you don't belong to?"
In Acts 5:1-14, after the disobedience and subsequent death of Ananias and Sapphira, indeed a case of divine church discipline, Luke records, "And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things. At the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico. But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number" (Acts 5:11-14). This text demonstrates that people can't be afraid to join nor can believers be added to the church at Jerusalem without formal membership.
In 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Paul admonishes the Corinthians for not removing a fornicator from their midst. The problem was that he was a part of the church, and Paul said he needed to be removed from the church so much so that they weren't even supposed to share meals. Paul summarizes, "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves" (1 Cor 5:12-13). If Paul didn't intend formal membership, how could he consider some to be "within the church" and others "outside"? How do you "remove" someone from among yourselves if they aren't formally a part of you?
To be removed from the church you must first be a part of the church. The exercise of church discipline, according to Matthew 18 and other passages (1 Cor 5:1-13; 1 Tim 5:20; Tit 3:10-11), presupposes that the elders know who their members are. For example, the elders of Immanuel Baptist Church have neither the responsibility nor the authority to discipline a member of a church down the street. The Bible's teaching on church discipline assumes church membership. The third biblical reason is:
3) The Exhortation to Mutual Edification Affirms Formal Membership
The New Testament teaches that the church is the body of Christ and that God has called every member to a life devoted to the growth of the body. In other words, Scripture exhorts all believers to edify the other members by exercising their spiritual gifts (Rom 12:3-8; 1 Cor 12:4-31; Eph 4:7-12) and practicing the "one-anothers" (Heb 10:24-25).
Spiritual gifts were given to the committed members of local churches. In Romans 12:3-8, Paul reminds the believers at the church at Rome that they are "members one of another" and as such, they were to be contributing to one another spiritually. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-21, Paul reminds the believers at the church at Corinth that they were each a part/member of that local expression of the body of Christ (vv. 12-14), and as such, they all had different roles and gifts (vv. 15-19) and they all needed one another. In Ephesians 4:11-12, Paul tells the local church members in Ephesus that God gave them pastors/teachers to equip them for the work of the ministry. The original context demands that access to such equipping from these pastors would happen when they were assembled as a church. It is significant that each of these passages was addressed to local congregations, thereby conveying the original context in which the inspired writer intended for these gifts to be exercised.
Similarly, the "one-anothers" were given to committed members within local church contexts in the NT. This signifies that mutual edification and the mutual obligation between fellow Christians can only take place in the context of the corporate body of Christ. Exhortations to this kind of ministry presuppose that believers have committed themselves to other believers in a specific local assembly. Church membership is simply the formal way to make that commitment.
Many Christians seem to think that because they are saved without church membership, and church membership will not make them any more sure of salvation, they need not concern themselves with it. This is a purely selfish point of view. What difference will church membership make to me is the question often in mind. But it is the wrong question. The purpose of church membership is in relation to the local church, not the individual.
Do you see the importance of local church membership? The existence of church government, the exercise of church discipline, and the exhortation to mutual edification all demand formal commitment to a local church body. Therefore, I would encourage you to consider the teaching of Scripture and to become a member of a local church granted that you are a born-again believer. Membership matters!
Pastor Mike Srisam-ang
God's Patience & Jonah's Message
Jonah 3:1-10
Dr. Daniel Davey
Matthew 12:38-42
Evening Service:
Walking in the Truth
3 John 1:1-14
Rev. John Corcoran
The Security Committee has been working on measures to make our church safer during our meetings, particularly on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. Starting on Wednesday, March 14th the following will be in effect:
Wednesday nights – All doors on the south end of the church (parking lot glass doors, library door, Mizpah Room door and courtyard glass doors) will be locked at 7:15 PM and reopened at 8:15 PM. All these doors have push bars for exiting. If you would like to enter the church after 7:15 PM, please come around to the north glass doors near the office.
Sunday nights – The north and south glass doors and the north transept door will be locked at 6:45 PM. If you would like to enter the sanctuary after 6:45 PM please enter through the Thompson Street doors.
If you have any questions, please contact Bob Andrews or Paul Dreiling
Easter Flowers: We will have mums and hydrangeas available if you would like to order one in memory or honor of someone for Easter Sunday. Cost is $12 for mums and $18 for hydrangeas. Make checks out to IBC and drop them by the office or mail to the church. Deadline is March 5th. Click here to order.
If you have been worshipping with us and would like to learn more about our church, or think you might be interested in becoming a member, we invite you to attend our upcoming new members class Sunday, March 18, after the morning worship service. Lunch is provided so please reserve your spot today.
Click here to Register!
Wednesday, March 7th, 6:45 – 8:15 PM / Annex
The purpose of the meeting is to get more face time with parents as well as go over what we have been doing and what to look forward to. There will also be a time to ask any questions that you might have. No need to RSVP, just show up!
Save the Date for VBS:
July 30 – August 3, 9 AM to 12 PM
Word of Life Kids Clubs have the following openings for March-May on Wednesday nights:
– Men: Small group leader for elementary Olympians
– Teacher's Helper: Gopher Buddies class (4 yr. olds)
– Game Coach: to lead game time with 3 different groups, game ideas provided. Contact Peter or Sara Bunn: firstname.lastname@example.com
Upcoming Events:
Feb. 25 – Business Meeting
March 11 – Daylight Savings Time
March 16-17 – Church Wide Cleaning Day
March 18 – Membership Class
– Gilliam Report, Reception & Offering, PM
April 1 – Deluxe Easter Breakfast
April 7-8 – Spring Missions Conference


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This is an energetic class for adults who want more variety from their dance classes while increasing their aerobic fitness. If you are bored of gyms or regimented classes and want to increase your fitness while stimulating your mind, then this class is for you.
Becoming fit through the creative medium of dance is the perfect way to stimulate both mind and body, while at the same time learning new dance styles from various genres. Perfect for those who like all styles of dance and want to try out new things within the same class.
In Dancacise we move to many genres of music with routines inspired by jazz, indian, hip-hop, salsa plus other styles of dance for a full body cardio workout.
No matter what your level of fitness you will be welcomed into our friendly classes, where we work out and have fun. Although we can't do all of the exercises the first time, (especially when we try and get our arms and legs to do different things!) the sense of achievement when we do manage it is wonderful! So don't be shy, come and join us


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July 20, 2010
Regular Movement Key to Your Teenager's Well-Being
Pasty-faced vampires may be the current rage in pop culture but if your youth is starting to resemble these characters because it's been a long time since they've seen daylight, it's time to have a serious talk about physical activity.
Getting moving regularly is necessary for optimal health and can be a lot of fun. It improves mental sharpness, helps youth navigate social challenges more easily and also helps them better cope with the wide range of emotions they may be experiencing. That means mood swings caused by raging hormones and challenges that arise at school or in relationships may be better navigated, simply because of at least 30 minutes of activity a day.
As Deanna Betteridge, in motion Coordinator, explains, "Parents tell us that physical activity improves their children's ability to cope with emotions like anger, anxiety and frustration and gives them self confidence that helps them in social situations. Their energy level is improved and, because they can focus and learn better, there are academic benefits."
Canada's Physical Activity Guide for Youth recommends:
How can you support, encourage or help your kids find fun ways to get moving on a regular basis?
1. Physical activity needs to be a part of your teenager's day and routine
2. Start small
3. Encourage your teenager to be honest about their fitness level
4. Help them choose the right activities for them
5. Limit or reduce screen time
6. Encourage them to use their human power as much as possible.
Physical activity doesn't have to be a chore or a pain. It can be fun. Your kids need healthy, strong messages about physical activity so they can be inspired and encouraged to get active. Some kids may shy away from team sports and may feel better about attending fitness classes or working out independently at a gym. If you haven't discussed these as possibilities with your kids, you may want to.
"It's about being supportive and creating opportunities for your kids and doing things with and as a family," says Deanna.
Getting moving doesn't have to cost a lot of money. Simply putting on a pair of comfortable walking shoes and going for a walk with your kids could be a fun way to get active and catch up with what's going on with them.
The Youth Health Survey asked youth a number of questions about physical activity. Click here to view a sample survey and here to read the report. Here's a snapshot of what they had to say:
Local resources to get your kids moving
Boys and Girls Club of Winnipeg
General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres
Where can your kids get moving?
YMCA-YWCA Teen Pass
City of Winnipeg recreation facilities
Skateboard parks in Winnipeg
Kids of Mud
Community bike shops/bike recycling programs
Boys and Girls Club of Winnipeg
General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres
Where can your kids get moving?
YMCA-YWCA Teen Pass
City of Winnipeg recreation facilities
Skateboard parks in Winnipeg
Kids of Mud
Community bike shops/bike recycling programs
Version française de cette page


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The ancient and holy city of Hebron is rarely out of the news; and the news is never good. "There's this thing that happens here, over the Hell Mouth", says Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "where the way a thing feels – it kind of starts being that way for real. I've seen all these things before – just not all at once".
In May 2016, we visited Hebron, a fault line of faiths and a front line of an old war still being waged for possession of the Holy Land. It is a hot spot, a flash-point, where tensions between Israelis and Palestinians are usually followed by calamity, and bad things happen. It is the seemingly intractable conflict in the raw, a microcosm of the Occupation, and there is no denying the brutality of the place. Most western journalists and commentators give their readers an impression that Israel absolutely dominates this Palestinian city of some 200,000 souls. In reality, the area under military control, immediately surrounding the ancient Ibrahimi mosque, holy to two faiths, is very small. But in this pressure cooker of a ghetto reside some 700 settlers and thirty thousand Palestinians, segregated from each other by walls and wire, fear and loathing – and by two soldiers to every settler.
On our return, the e-magazine Muftah published the following article.
Children of Abraham and the Battle for Hebron
You who build these altars now to sacrifice these children, you must not do it anymore.
A scheme is not a vision and you never have been tempted by a demon or a god.
You who stand above them now, your hatchets blunt and bloody – you were not there before,
When I lay upon a mountain and my father's hand was trembling with the beauty of the word.
Leonard Cohen, The Story of Isaac
I recently returned from Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The city is a fault line of faiths and a front line in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. It is a "hot spot," a flash-point, a place where tensions between Israelis and Palestinians are usually followed by calamity. Hebron has been a key focus of the tension and violence that has characterized the troubled relationship between Palestinians and Israelis. Since October 2015, over 200 Palestinians and thirty Israelis have been killed across the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel, in the latest flare-up in the decades-long conflict.
In March this year, an Israeli soldier was filmed shooting and killing a wounded twenty-one-year-old Palestinian, following a stabbing attack on Israeli soldiers. The soldier, just nineteen years of age, is now facing trial, amidst massive outcry on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide.. In June, not long after we left Israel, a young Palestinian murdered a thirteen-year-old Israeli girl as she slept in nearby Kiryat Arba. Hours later, a Palestinian woman was shot dead by Israeli soldiers outside of the Ibrahimi Mosque. Later that afternoon, Palestinian gunmen ambushed an Israeli car on a road just south of Hebron, killing a father and wounding his family. Local Palestinians gave emergency first aid to the victims and shielded the children from any further attack.
A Holy Land
Hebron has long been sacred to Muslims and Jews as the last resting place of the prophets Abraham and Isaac – the founding father of Judaism, and the son he had resolved to sacrifice until God ordered him to stay his hand. In the first century BC, Herod the Great, famed builder and bad boy, raised a mighty mausoleum above the cave where Abraham was laid to rest. Abraham's wife Rachel, and his son, Isaac, Isaac's wife Rebecca, and Isaac's sons Joseph and Jacob – whose wrestled with an Angel to represent man's struggle with God – and Jacob's wife Leah are also buried there.
As time went by, Christians and then Muslims revered Hebron as a holy place. Abraham was the founding father of both religions and his sons and grandsons, buried in the cave, are considered prophets of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In time, a mosque was established on Herod's edifice, and for a short while, during the hundred years of the Crusader kingdom, a basilica too.
In the thirteenth century, the Mamluk Sultan Baybars expelled the Christians from Hebron. A small community of Jews continued to reside in the town of Hebron, however. In 1929, amidst rising religious and nationalist tension in the British Mandate of Palestine, some seventy Jewish men, women, and children were killed by Palestinians who had been incited to violence by rumours that Jews planned to overrun the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam. Many local Palestinians also helped save Jewish neighbors from the bloodshed. Following the riots, Hebron's Jewish community largely ceased to exist, until the an-Naksa, or 'setback', of 1967, when Israeli military forces occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the Golan Heights.
In the early days of the occupation, Israeli authorities did not encourage Jews to return to Hebron. One of the first illegal Israeli settlements was established outside Hebron in what is now Kiryat Arba, and thereafter, a small settlement was built around the Mosque of Ibrahim. Beginning in 1979, some Jewish settlers moved from Kiryat Arba to the former Jewish neighborhood near the Abraham Avinu Synagogue which had been destroyed in 1929. Other Jewish enclaves were established with the Israeli army's support and more homes were subsequently purchased or forcibly taken over from their Palestinian owners.
With the establishment of a Jewish presence in and around Hebron, the religious right-wing demanded that Jews be permitted to pray at the tombs of the patriarchs, and the 700 years old restriction on Jews praying here was lifted. Muslims and Jews were now obliged to share the holy place, although it was formally administered by the Muslim Waqf. Thus, even prayer became a focus of conflict and tension, and sometimes, violence, particularly during each faith's holy days.
Tensions and Divisions
Since 1979, tensions have continued to increase between the small community of Israeli settlers living in Hebron (several hundred) and the tens of thousands of Palestinians whose lives have been turned upside down by their presence. These tensions reach boiling point in February 1994, when US-born Israeli doctor Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslims worshippers during the dawn prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque. He killed twenty-nine people and wounded another 125 before he was overcome and killed by survivors. Hundreds more Palestinians were killed or injured in the Israeli military's response to the ensuing violence.
Goldstein had been inspired by a boyhood mentor, the ultranationalist New York Rabbi Meir Kahane, and had belonged Kahane's militant Jewish Defence League, founded ostensibly to protect Jews from antisemitism, but implicated in numerous acts of violence in the USA and elsewhere. On emigrating to Israel, he joined Kahane's right-wing Kach Party.
The Israeli government condemned the massacre and responded by arresting Kahane's followers, and criminalizing Kach and affiliated organizations as terrorists, forbidding certain settlers from entering Palestinian towns, and demanding that those settlers turn in their army-issued weapons. It rejected a demand by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation that all settlers in the occupied territories be disarmed and that an international force be created to protect Palestinians.
UN observers came to keep the peace, but, after Israeli and Palestinian authorities could not reach agreement on resolving the situation, they departed. The Hebron Protocol was signed in January 1997 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat under the supervision of US Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Under its terms, Hebron was divided into in two. H1, 80% of the city, and home to over 120,000 Palestinians, was placed under the Palestinian Authority's control. H2, which was home to nearly 40,000, was placed under the exclusive control of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in order to protect some 600 Israeli Jewish settlers who lived in the area.
Jewish Israelis were barred from entering HI, whilst Palestinians found it nearly impossible to Access H2 unless they lived there. Palestinian residents of H2 experienced forcible displacement, restrictions on their movement, the closure of their businesses, IDF checkpoints and searches, and verbal and physical harassment by settlers protected by the IDF.
In a surreal, sad parody, the mosque too was divided, with a separate mosque and synagogue. The IDF controls access, closing it to Muslims on Jewish holy days and to Jews on Muslim holy days. There are frequent bans on the call to prayer on the grounds that it disturbs the settlers, and likewise on exuberant
Dual Narrative
We travelled to Hebron on a "dual narrative tour". It was run by Abraham Tours, which operates out of the Abraham Hostel at Davidka Square in Jerusalem, and caters for independent and mainly young travelers on limited budgets. One half of the tour was conducted by a Palestinian guide and the other by a Jewish guide. They walked us though the streets surrounding the Mosque of Ibrahim, and gave us the opportunity to meet and talk with several members of each of the communities.
We visited the Muslim side of the mosque, which retained the wide prayer hall, the empty catafalques of Isaac and Rebecca, the qibla and minbar, and the beautiful dome; and the larger Jewish side, which was, once upon a time, the open courtyard leading to the mosque. Abraham and Sarah occupy the neutral ground between the two halves.
The area around the divided holy place is a ghost town. On one flank, a deserted street is patrolled by young Israeli soldiers in full battle gear, leading to the settler neighborhood. On the other side, past checkpoints and security screening, is Shuhada (martyrs) Street, an impoverished souq with more shops locked up than open, a small number of Palestinian storeowners, and a bevy of children endeavoring to sell us souvenirs. Above the few shops that are still open, there is a wire mesh to catch rocks, garbage, and various unmentionables thrown at Palestinians from Israeli settler families who have literally occupied the higher ground, abutting and overlooking the souq.
Scapegoating the Other
The Palestinians we met told us that Jewish settlers have been trying to drive them out of H2, to claim it for themselves, and that they will resort to all manner of harassment to do so, including throwing stones, and assaulting Palestinian children on their way home from school. Indeed, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently confirmed that movement restrictions, along with on-gong settler violence, reduced income, and restricted access to services and resources, has led to a reduction in the area's Palestinian population.
It is a desperate, hard life for all the Palestinians who live there. They cling on, refusing to leave or sell their ancestral homes. Offers, some very large, have been made in the past, but people will not trade their birthright, even when they are faced with physical threats to their lives. One Palestinian whose home we visited told me that his late wife was shot by Israeli soldiers, while his children were attacked by settlers. Nowadays, he and his few neighbors have no choice but to remain or flee without compensation as the Palestinian Authority has forbidden selling property to the settlers. And so they remain, in poverty and punishment.
The rebuilt and refurbished settler zone is a mix of run-down apartments. waste grounds, new community buildings and playgrounds, and a street of shops that once served the settlers' needs but are now locked and neglected in a dusty, empty street. Here, the settlers too play the victim card, claiming that they area harassed, insulted, and killed. We met the administrator of the small Jewish museum and library who told us of how her grandfather was killed in 1929, and how her father was killed by an assailant in his own home.
Today there are two Israeli soldiers for every Jewish settler. They are youngsters, barely out of high school. Heavily armed and nervous. With the power to end or destroy the lives of the Palestinians they occupy, many of them youths just like themselves.
"You who build these altars then to sacrifice these children, you must not do it any more".
If only it was that simple on the fault line of faith and nation.
Below is a selection of photographs taken during our visit.
Read more in In That Howling Infinite on the Middle East : A Middle East Miscellany
You can read more about the pain and passion of Hebron here:
See also, my collection of posts about Jerusalem, and A Middle East Micellany


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Nottinghamshire Local History Association is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered with the Charity Commission and managed by a Committee of Elected Trustees.
Nottinghamshire Local History Association is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered with the Charity Commission and managed by a Committee of Elected Trustees.
|JOHN PARKER – Chairman
Lives in Ruddington. NLHA member since 2010, co-opted onto Committee 2010, elected 2011, Chairman 2012. Background in finance and management, degree in Business Studies. Studying for MA in Local and Family History at the Centre for English Local History (University of Leicester). Member of The Friends of English Local History and of the editorial board of East Midlands History and Heritage magazine.
Roger is no longer an NLHA committee member and trustee but he continues to act as programme manager for Angel Row History Forums. He also supports several other local history organisations, currently active in organising events for Pentrich Revolution 1817′.
|David Anderson
Lives in East Leake. NLHA treasurer and membership secretary, also responsible for origination for The Nottinghamshire Historian and support for website developments. Treasurer and membership secretary of East Leake Local History Society and Friends of Nottinghamshire Archives (FONA) committee member.
James Wright FSA is an archaeologist and historian currently working as a doctoral researcher at the University of Nottingham. He has formerly held positions at Trent & Peak Archaeology, Nottinghamshire County Council and the Museum of London Archaeology. His principal field of interest is Mediaeval and Early Modern architecture.
Nick Hayes lectures in urban and medical history at Nottingham Trent University. He's the Editor of East Midlands History and Heritage, and has also published numerous articles on the history of the area on topics such as housing, hospitals, the local press, politics, charities and voluntary associations. He's lived in Bramcote, on and off, for most of his life.
Lives in West Hallam, Derbyshire, but takes a keen interest in the history of both sides of the Erewash Valley. Originally from Langley Mill, Robert is the treasurer of the Heanor Local History Society, and also of the Friends of The Centre for English Local History at Leicester University. Robert's first degree was in Classics, but he has been actively involved in local research since 2000, and now gives many talks on local history topics throughout the East Midlands. He has published two books on the Heanor area.
Lives in Gedling. Was Principal Archivist for Public Services at Nottinghamshire Archives and since retirement a Heritage Consultant. Has written a range of articles and books on Nottinghamshire and the City of Nottingham, undertaken research into local history and given a variety of talks and workshops to local, community and family groups. Currently on the Board of the Nottingham Civic Society, President of the Lambley Local History Society, Vice Chairman of Nottinghamshire Local History Association. Has always tried to encourage interest in archives and local history across the County.


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Indo-Pak next Siachen talks on June 11-12
"Pakistan and India will hold talks on the Siachen issue on June 11-12 at Islamabad," Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan said in a brief statement on Thursday evening. He did not give details.
The last round of talks on Siachen was held in Delhi by the Defence Secretaries of the two countries almost a year ago. The announcement by Khan came shortly after diplomatic sources told PTI that Pakistan had asked India to reschedule talks on the Sir Creek border dispute which were to be held in New Delhi next week.
The Pakistani side has sought fresh dates later this month or in June for talks on the Sir Creek issue, the sources said. They said fresh dates would be decided through diplomatic consultations. The reasons for Pakistan`s decision could not immediately be ascertained.
Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan had recently announced that officials of the two countries would meet in New Delhi during May 14-16 to discuss the Sir Creek issue.
Some reports have suggested that Islamabad wants to assess progress on the Siachen issue before holding talks on Sir Creek. Representatives from Pakistan`s powerful military play a key role in talks on both Sir Creek and Siachen.
There have been calls from Pakistani politicians, including main opposition PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, for the demilitarisation of Siachen after 139 people were buried under dozens of feet of snow when an avalanche hit a high-altitude Pakistan Army camp at Gyari on April 7.
Pakistani commentators and security analysts have questioned the strategic value of deploying of troops at Siachen and also highlighted the environmental costs of the standoff on the glacier.
Search teams are yet to find any trace of the buried men, including over 120 soldiers.
During recent visits to the site of the avalanche, Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani called for the demilitarisation of the glacier and said the India and Pakistan should resolve all outstanding issues to ensure "peaceful co-existence" which would allow the two sides to focus on development and welfare of the people.
Kayani said Pakistan hopes the Siachen issue is "resolved so that both the countries don`t have to pay the cost". However, he also contended that India had hardened its position by seeking the demarcation of the Line of Control instead of the authentication of troop positions on the ground. "There is nothing like a peaceful resolution. The best thing is a peaceful resolution but short of that, we will do what we are supposed to do," Kayani said during a visit to Gyari on May 3.
Defence Minister A K Antony has made it clear that there is no change in India`s stand on Siachen. Pakistan has also considerably hardened its stand on the Sir Creek issue in recent months though the two countries had said they had made progress after a joint survey of the marshlands.


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Dungeon Tiles
By Wizards of the Coast
All o' Board
Throughout society, great disappointments after initial excitement far outnumber the unexpected surprise. Within the political realm, consider the last two administrations. With respect to Hollywood, consider the Matrix sequels. And within the gaming realm, consider Space: 1889 when it was released. Lots of hype, lots of anticipation, lots of buzz… that quickly faded into a disillusioned emptiness and several Academy of Game Critics awards, including "Biggest Letdown after an Extended Media Hype." The First Edition Gamer Bling Official Companion was a similar meltdown letdown: young, leggy, sharp, and blonde, all of which engendered such a strong reaction in the genetic programming of Gamer Bling's Viking blood that it impaired much of Gamer Bling's higher brain functions (like the ability to notice that she was, in fact, empty).
Yet, sometimes one finds treasures in unexpected places. Like the Second Edition Gamer Bling Official Companion, for example.
See, when Gamer Bling and the woman-who-currently-helps-Gamer-Bling-maintain-the-illusion-that-he's-civilized first met, they both wrote each other off within 30 seconds. The soon-to-be Official Companion clearly averred that she thought Gamer Bling was a lazy geek, and the air was filled with the SFX of a flushing toilet. This did not particularly bother Gamer Bling, inasmuch as he was angling for the soon-to-be Official Companion's best friend, who, unlike the soon-to-be Official Companion, was (a) blonde and (b) had big boobs.
For reasons that Gamer Bling cannot to this day explain, he nonetheless spoke with the soon-to-be Official Companion week after week, and eventually they had a very nice casual wedding at which much Winchester Root Beer was consumed, that being the last time that Gamer Bling has ever seen the stuff (to his great sadness).
Thirteen years and two Official Expansions later, there's still not a better Official Companion to be found. And, since we live in the South, her hair gets sun-bleached every summer, and in the wake of childbirth, her dimensions have also improved. Who says you can't have it all?
Now if only she liked new wave and technopop. Instead, Gamer Bling is forced to listen to The Buggles only when she is not around, because the Gamer Bling Official Companion just does not appreciate the fact that video did indeed kill the radio star.
No particular segue here, but the aforementioned story (or at least the second half of it) is rather a parallel to the subject of this week's review.
See, in all the time that Gamer Bling has spent playing games, attending cons, and working at WotC, he has never heard anyone talk about Dungeon Tiles.
He means this most sincerely. It is not a joke. Even while he was snarbbling up 3e at the company store, Gamer Bling cast nary a glance at the Dungeon Tiles. Nor did any of his friends, coworkers, or fellow brand managers mention them even once.
Pretty surprising, since it is a long-running excessory line from one of the gaming industry leaders.
He can't even remember seeing Dungeon Tiles in a game store. They had to have been there—right?—at the very least at ONE of the stores he has visited, but they made no impression on him, unlike the fist of that street thug who sucker punched him and broke one of his teeth. Real brave, waiting until Yours Truly was looking away. But, as Gamer Bling was at that time one of the Guardian Angels, the Houston Police addressed the matter quite nicely, thank you very much.
How utterly sad.
Not the police thing, but the Dungeon Tiles thing. And the broken tooth, too. But Gamer Bling is not here to write a review on the sub-par crown that the dentist installed. The old man's probably retired now, anyway, and thus no longer in a position to misalign someone's jaw.
Dungeon Tiles. Stay on target.
Gamer Bling always assumed that Dungeon Tiles were retail versions of the cardstock cutouts of the sort that were included in early 3e issues of Dungeon and Dragon. Thus he never spent any mental energy looking at them, thinking about them, or having lascivious dreams about them. Unlike many of the other items he has discussed on this blog. Like, for example, the Second Edition Gamer Bling Official Companion.
Until now.
On a lark, the vivacious Katie Page, who has a great phone voice and gets to work as a publicist for the D&D brand line, enclosed a set of Dungeon Tiles along with the [Adjective] Heroes packs she was sending to Gamer Bling for review.
And Gamer Bling, who had never before in his life actually picked up a package of Dungeon Tiles for some inexplicable reason, picked one up and thought to himself, "Woah," in his best Keanu Reeves fashion, as his ignorance jumped off a virtual building and fell into the street and went splat.
No low-estimation assumption of Dungeon Tiles survives the first jump.
This is because Dungeon Tiles are not a thin pack of notebook-sized C2S cardstock. A pack of Dungeon Ties measures almost half an inch thick. Each sheet is a heavy piece of cardboard almost 2mm thick (that may sound small, but measure it out), and reminds Gamer Bling of the markers and counters used in the cool games that Yaquinto used to make.
Each sheet is roughly 8.75 x 11 (a little bigger than A4, if Gamer Bling recalls his wonky European paper sizes correctly, and you Europeans are hereby allowed to mock your humble reviewer openly if not), which gives enough space, when one deducts for dividers and federal taxes, to create 80 squares of full-color terrain. That's 2000 square feet, for those of you still playing 3.5 and derivative works.
But that's not all! Each piece is printed front and back, giving you 160 squares (4000 sf) of varying terrain. And, if you are very patient with a razor blade or band saw, you could slice the sheets in half crosswise, and use all the terrain squares at once! Yeah… in Gamer Bling's dreams.
The terrain is demarked into squares (5'x5' squares for you gam3rs) by the edges of large flagstones for dungeon flooring, or by small white crosses for wooden or grassy terrain. Various smears, stains, lichens, shadows, and other details help obscure the fact that the terrain is, in many places, cloned.
Roughly half of the room tiles have darkened areas at the edges to denote the presence (or absence) of walls.
Even better, some of the sheets are cut and printed in a manner to allow you to assemble 3-Dimensional terrain! When assembled, these are plenty sturdy enough to withstand casual play abuse from gamers and miniatures, and when dropped to the floor they remain in one piece instead of disintegrating into their component parts. (Those of you who have read Gamer Bling's dice tray piece understand that this last comment was one he had not anticipated putting in this review, until he had, shall we say, an inadvertent and spontaneous experiment in Dungeon Tile drop durability.)
And, best of all, since the 3-D pieces are assembled by with mortis-and-tenon or interlocking joints and held together by friction and good engineering, you don't have to glue them. This means you can take your pieces apart and reverse them (turn the piece inside out, as it were) when you need 3-D terrain with a different feel.
And thus did Gamer Bling write up this review while gleefully cackling and fiddling with small pieces of cardboard terrain. Note that this is not generally considered a sign of mental stability.
Weak Points
First of all, the packaging is minimalist like Scandinavian furniture. Except that this, unlike Ikea kits, comes with no instructions for the 3-D pieces. This is not a problem unless you are one of those people who is, shall we say, architecturally challenged.
As mentioned above, many of the textures are cloned. Gamer Bling noticed it was especially egregious on the stonework walls—but once they're assembled, you rarely see more than one wall at a time, so it doesn't matter as much as he feared.
The Dungeon Tiles are absolutely not marker friendly. No dry-erase, wet-erase, or non-erase markers should be used on them. Ever.
The fact that these are built with interlocking pieces of cardboard means that, unlike terrain made with folded paper, your 3-D pieces have eaves and flanges (as shown below). Depending on how strong your suspension of disbelief is, this may or may not be important. Likewise, expect no curving walls.
The die-cutting is excellent, with few sprues, but it's not perfect. Just to test, Gamer Bling removed an 8×8 tile, rotated it 90 degrees, and couldn't quite get it to fit back into its place. Likewise, sometimes the die cutting just misses the white crosses. Small and niggling, these weaknesses are, but Gamer Bling is duty bound to pick as many nits as possible.
And, finally, you gotta carry them around. Which means, if you're a lazy geek like Gamer Bling (see the third paragraph at the start of this review), then you have to find a box to tote all your 3-D pieces.
The Bottom Line
If you got an extra ten to fifteen bucks, Gamer Bling says these are awesome. Durable, attractive, high quality, the generic utility of these pieces and their three-dimensionality makes them as valuable as the Second Edition Gamer Bling Official Companion of dungeon excessoryville.
Bling Factor: 8
Quality: 9
Utility: 8
Price: $11.95, more or less, depending on which set you get
This is a WotC product. It's almost, but not quite, as readily available as water. So support your local Gamer-Bling-reading retailer and buy it from them. If you have no Gamer-Bling-reading retailers in the area, whup them upside the head with a big stick and larn them some blog-reading etiquette.
The Future
So long as these continue to be profitable, WotC will continue cranking them out. Savvy businesses work that way. Because printing money is fun.
Apparently Dungeon Tiles vary widely in price and contents. But Gamer Bling's hands-on experience is seriously limited as of this writing.
Harrowing Halls (DU 6) – $11.95
This set is based on a keep or fort, of the sort used by a mad nobleman, a band of robber knights, or a venerable keep where everyone is afflicted with lycanthropy or undeaditude. It includes up to 367 squares of walkable terrain. Most of the pieces are interior, with wooden flooring. The 3-D pieces, however, have both wood and stone sides.
This set includes a bedroom, study, bunkhouse, front porch (2 versions), bar, ground floor of a tower, slatted wood rope bridge, kitchen, bath, parlor, den, entry hall, and dining hall with a U-shaped table surrounding a carpet upon which your fop bard belly dancer can perform. The tiles range in size from a pair of 8×8 rooms to a single 1×2 hall, with most hovering around 4×4.
There are also a number of empty rooms and corridors, plus tiles for a table, a forge, and a magic circle that can be placed as ornamentation wherever is most suitable.
The 3-D pieces include stairs, a few raised areas (shoulder height and ceiling height), a free-standing door, a well, and a couple of tables. Good, generically useful pieces.
Gamer Bling has few quibbles with the art. It's nothing supremely clever, but it is thorough. For example, the bedroom has not just the requisite bed, but end tables, wardrobes, a wood stove, and a mirror. The study has a reading table with lamps, books, and inkwells.
On the other hand, the bunk room is pretty darned roomy for a batch of hired thugs, and the bathroom does not have a water pitcher or water pump by the sink.
But it took a while for Gamer Bling to figure out why the wooden flooring bothered him. There are two flooring patterns: a standard parallel pattern, and a nice herringbone pattern. But the paralleled floorboards are beveled at the edges, which would be unconscionable for flooring. And the herringbone pattern has irregularities in it, presumably at the cloning edges. The irregularities Gamer Bling can ignore—medieval craftsmen being unable to go to Home Depot for nicely milled supplies—but the beveled floorboards are definitely annoying to the aesthetically sensitive new-age gaming male.
Of course, if you're paying that much attention to the flooring during the game, it means you're lying around being useless and making death saves. Snork.
As Gamer Bling's first set of Dungeon Tiles, this will always hold a special place in his heart. At least until such time as Katie Page sends him a new set to review.


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by John Hawthorne
From MoBox Marine
July 11, 2017
Right now, the world is teetering on an abyss of sorts. Scientists, in general, are starting to believe that we're in the middle of an extinction level event; the sort of catastrophe that wiped the dinosaurs off the planet.
What is this traumatic event? What sort of catastrophe are we headed toward at mach-level speeds?
Humanity as a whole is swallowing up its natural resources, destroying them and tarnishing them at a rate too fast for them to replenish.
And the resource that's taking the biggest and baddest beating?
Our oceans.
John F. Kennedy said:
We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came.
The waters that cover our globe, that support so much life, are being slowly but surely destroyed.
You're probably familiar with many of the ways we're hurting the oceans. We dump plastic into them. Giant companies spill millions of gallons of oil, destroying species and ruining ecosystems. We pour chemicals down the drain which are eventually funneled into the oceans. We don't purchase seafood in a sustainable manner.
But there's more.
Today, we are going to discuss a lesser known evil - one that we are just as guilty of producing - that's insidiously, deliberately and continuously wearing down our ocean's capacity to maintain life.
We're talking about ocean acidification.
Continue reading "The Oceans Are Getting More Acidic...Here's What You Need To Know" »