text: 27Mar2012 View MAC Cosmetics In Extra Dimension! Posted in BBB Favorite Products, beauty, eyeshadow, Image, makeup, Pretty by brittainyhall To all of my MAC Addicts out there!!! April 5th, MAC will launch a new collection called MAC In Extra Dimension! It is a new new liquid-powder hybrid formula with prismatic reflections that instantly sculpts & highlights the face giving it EXTRA DIMENSION! There will be 3 Extra Dimension Skinfinish and 10 Extra Dimension Eye Shadows! The colors are AMAZNG and will look great on any skin tone! REMEMBER: April 5th is the day…hurry and get yours before they are gone!


text:
- Glow Recipe has made a name for itself in the world of K-beauty with its watermelon sleeping mask and moisturizer.
- Because its so popular, the Watermelon Glow moisturizer has now sold out twice.
- Here's 5 alternatives to the coveted moisturizer — including ones by Drunk Elephant and Herbivore.
You always want what you can't have — especially when it comes to beauty products. That's why we're getting the inside scoop from your favorite retailers on what's selling out right now, how to sign up for waitlists, and where to go to find the next best thing. Because if everyone's buying it, you know it has to be good.
If you're into K-beauty, chances are you've stumbled upon Glow Recipebefore. Since the retailer's launch in 2014, it has become one of the top purveyors of hard-to-find exports from South Korea, making it a go-to for skin-care experts and novices alike. So, given the site's popularity, you can imagine the buying frenzy that ensued when the brand launched its first skin-care collection last year, with just two products: the Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask and Blueberry Bounce Gentle Cleanser.
The Watermelon Sleeping Mask sold out just five hours after the launch and racked up a waitlist of over 5,000 people. A year later, the brand announced that another watermelon-infused product would join the family: the Watermelon Pink Juice Moisturizer.
The lightweight, sweet-smelling moisturizer is already poised to make a similar splash. According to representatives from the brand, the product has sold out twice already — once two hours into its pre-sale earlier this month, and again when it officially launched on January 25th (it sold out in four hours on the retailer's site).
So if you miss your chance to buy (or want to try something new), check out a few of our favorite similar hydrators ahead.
Glow Recipe Watermelon Pink Juice Moisturizer ($39)
This pink moisturizer is 90% watermelon extract, which hydrates while reducing inflammation. The high amount of fruit extract is also why the bouncy gel appears pink in the ice cube-inspired bottle. What's in the other 10%? A mixture of hydrating and brightening ingredients like hyaluronic acid, licorice root, and cabbage extract.
The cooling gel sinks into the skin in a matter of seconds and leaves no greasy residue behind, making it a great moisturizer for oily skin and for makeup prep. Drier skin types may find this best used as a serum under heavier moisturizers or oils.
Drunk Elephant B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Gel ($52)
Watermelon rind is one of the main ingredients in this moisturizing gel (along with pineapple ceramides and vitamin B5). The lightweight gel absorbs quickly and layers well under makeup without pilling. We've even been known to mix a pump into foundations and oils for an extra hit of hydration, too.
Pai Chamomile & Rosehip Calming Day Cream ($60)
This cream may not contain watermelon, but the soothing formula is still a winner for sensitive skin types thanks to a formula rich in chamomile and rosehip extract (and free of irritants like alcohol).
Herbivore Botanicals Pink Cloud Rosewater Moisture Crème ($48)
This cream won't just sit pretty on a vanity, it's effective, too. Despite its feather-light texture, the formula is loaded with hydrating ingredients like rosewater, aloe vera, sodium hyaluronate, white tea, and rice extracts.
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel ($16.17)
Thanks to this moisturizer's hero ingredient, hyaluronic acid, it manages to effectively hydrate while feeling weightless on the skin. Plus, because of the gel's smoothing texture, it creates a great canvas for makeup.
Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask ($45)
Glow Recipe's Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask can't be used during to day due to its acid-rich formula, but it's a great night treatment for anyone looking to wake up with brighter, softer, plumper skin.
Sign up here to get INSIDER's favorite stories straight to your inbox.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Easy Cleaning Essentials
Even if you don't use professional help throughout the year, consider calling a maid service or a professional organizer annually to help you whip your home into shape. And, while your carpet may not require the regular cleaning that other types of flooring demand, it should be professionally cleaned once a year. Professional carpet cleaning extends the life of the carpeting and contributes to better air quality, reducing allergies and illness.
Do-It-Yourself Damage
Ideally, your carpet should be professionally cleaned. However, to save money, many people alternate between the do-it-yourself cleaning and professional cleaning. While the do-it-yourself approaches are far less expensive, they are almost never as effective as professional cleaning and involve a considerable amount of time and hard work. Depending on the method used, it is also easy for the novice to damage the carpet.
Beware of the three most common ways do-it-yourselfers (and inexperienced pros) damage carpets:
Failing to protect the wet carpet from furniture Over-shampooing occurs when either too much shampoo is used or the carpet is not adequately rinsed. Both are practically inevitable with some wet do-it-yourself approaches. This is the biggest reason why even hard-core do-it-yourselfers should occasionally use a professional. If they don't, the build-up of soapy residue can be impossible to clean out, leaving a carpet that is a virtual dirt magnet.
Over-wetting occurs when too much water soaks into the bottom of the carpet. Some backing materials cause the carpet to discolor if they get too wet. Some carpets will shrink, literally tearing themselves up from the floor. If the backing and pad get wet, it is very difficult to dry them, and you run the additional risk of mold and mildew problems.
The final hazard is stains caused by furniture coming into contact with wet carpeting. Many kinds of wood furniture will release some of the dyes in their stain if left in contact with a wet surface. Many pieces of furniture have feet that are at least partially metal. The metal can rust, leaving a stain in the carpet.
Do-it-yourselfers are more likely to encounter these problems because they often don't remove all the furniture from the room when cleaning, and they often don't have ready access to the foam blocks and foil-backed cardboard squares that the pros use to keep the furniture off the carpet until it is dry.
Professional Cleaning Methods
One carpet-cleaning method, dry extraction, isn't technically a "dry" procedure; it's more a "moisture-controlled" process. That is, it applies a controlled amount of moisture to clean the carpet and still leave it dry. This process is similar to the do-it-yourself "dry" method, but the equipment is larger and much more thorough.
Though it uses the same cleaning chemicals, the dry process alters the amount of chemicals used and how they're applied. A machine with two counter-revolving brushes moves the cleaning agents through the carpet's material. The cleaner supplies enough liquid to dissolve the dirt, then re-absorbs the soil and liquid, which leaves the carpet dry for vacuuming and immediate use.
Some professionals spray a carbonated cleaning solution onto the carpet. The carbonation allows the cleaning agents to get to the carpet fibers with minimal wetting. The solution doesn't contain the oil or detergents that typically leave a dirt-attracting residue. Dissolved dirt is removed with a machine that rubs soft cotton pads over the carpet.
When compared to wet systems, this method may not get as much of the deeper dirt out, but is very effective at cleaning the visible portion of the carpet. It does this without the risks of residue or over-wetting. Many businesses use this system because the carpet is usually dry and ready for traffic within an hour.
Otherwise, professionals use methods similar to do-it-yourself approaches, with two important differences. First, pros do this all day every day, and that experience helps them realize the maximum cleaning potential of each system and avoid the hazards of each.
Second, pros usually use much more powerful and sophisticated equipment and cleaning agents. Because they know what they're doing, they can use all that extra power without succumbing to the risks that power entails.
For example, on heavily soiled carpet a professional might first use a power shampoo system and then follow it with hot water extraction. There is equipment that does both in one pass. Often, the vacuums used in hot water extraction systems are extremely powerful and are mounted on a truck that is parked in front of the home.
Professionals have two other advantages as well. First, they're accustomed to moving the heavy furniture. Second, they usually know a lot more about how to handle specific challenges like heavily soiled areas and stains.
David Hollies is a remodeling industry educator and consultant. He is also the founder of Washington D.C.-based Home Connections, Inc.


text:
Success Stories
"Ari Meisel is my favorite productivity expert, who has personally helped me get a much more effective ELF (Easy, Lucrative, and Fun business) and I think he is a genius!"
Joe Polish – Founder of Genius Network
"I'm consulting, plus I run my business full time. Through Ari, I went from being a solopreneur to having a team of 11 and then building a consulting business with a partner and taking on clients. I travel all over the world, and we're launching a mastermind at the same time because I have a lot more time on my hands."
George Bryant – Marketing consultant and founder of The Civilized Caveman
"We all have blind spots. We all do things we shouldn't be doing. We all have our bottlenecks in our business, and sometimes it's so difficult to get out of our own way. Somebody like Ari and his team helps us see things from different angles and show different possibilities and opportunities. And that's why professionals like myself come to him: Less Doing is freedom."
Shari Alexander – Speaker and Persuasiveness Coach
"My buddy Ari Meisel is bringing his Business Efficiency course to town. My staff has taken it, it's amazing!"
Daymond John – Investor, Shark Tank
'Ari encourages people not to get bogged down in how to do stuff, but to really just pay attention and see the validity of what they're doing. He teaches you to find the right "who" instead of trying to figure out the "how" so you can accelerate your path of actually getting it done."
Dean Jackson
Ari Meisel makes being productive a real joy. He has walked in all our shoes and never speaks from some mountaintop of overly complicated directives. He's a real person, dealing with real stuff, and he carves a path that all of us can follow.
Tony robbins
With this book, Ari has created a blueprint of how companies get big in the 21st Century, and he's created a guide for you to be able to grow more quickly, with less pain involved.
Dan Sullivan
Great if you are true to your aspiration of wanting to create a meaningful (sustainable) business success.
Jay Abraham – World Renowned Business Growth Strategist
This is a magic wand for creating more in less time.
Sally Hogshead – #1 New York Times Best Selling Author, Fascinate
"I'm a productivity hacker myself. I teach others about productivity and automation — and Ari is where I go when I need help or have questions. He's a guru's guru."


text:
About This "Fast Track" Trade Deal
By Marc Platt
I would never pretend to know more than experts like Elizabeth Warren or our President when it comes to any area of the government, but when something smells bad, my nose works just fine.
I am liberal-minded when it comes to politics, but not on everything.
I agree with most Republicans when it comes to trade and opening up channels for trade deals in the Asian markets. This is an area President Obama and the Republicans are in agreement. This should NOT be a partisan issue. Economics in an ever-changing world is an issue in the United States BECAUSE of the states and their geography.
A U.S. Senator like Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has to walk a very narrow line because the people of his state are used to an "Old School" economy based on factory jobs and unions that protect those workers.
The unfortunate reality of progress is the fact that many factories and union jobs have disappeared because the way the economy has shifted and automation has replaced many of those once-sacredly held jobs that would be passed down from generation-to-generation.
Massachussets Senator Elizabeth Warren, the most liberal-minded Democratic U.S. Senator of all of them has foolishly decided to take on the leader of her party and the man who "Fast Tracked" her ascendency in the U.S. political landscape.
President Obama is a shrewd educator and has a platform to explain how and why he thinks it is important to move our country into the 21st century, despite the fact that many elected representatives are howling at him because they have to let their folks in their states that they "Have their backs."
America really needs to get real on this. We MUST join the worldwide economy and start doing business like they have been doing.
Just how many Ford and Chevy cars do you think are on the streets of Tokyo right now? That's right. We have a zillion Japanese cars parading through U.S. city streets and if there are 10 U.S.-made cars in Japan, I would be shocked.
This is not right. Let the professionals (President Obama and his people) do their jobs and bring us into the 21st century so we can compete and truly be "Exceptional." We talk about "Exceptionalism," yet are far from it in reality. Sure we have an incredible military force, but that makes us powerful, not exceptional.
Elizabeth Warren should be ashamed of herself for FUNDRAISING off of this situation. She got into a pissing match with Obama and sent fundraising emails to left-leaning citizens. This is the same crappy behavior Republicans use when they scream about how President Obama does things like the Affordable Care Act, which has now added millions of people to the "Health Care" club who previously didn't have what should be available to all.
Ms. Warren please stop acting like every other Washington politician and educate yourself on the reality of where America is really at. President Obama is not a perfect man, but he seems to want to help ALL Americans and you are sounding more like the enemy every day and not the bright, educated liberal you claim to be.


text:
One of the Parish priorities identified in the Town Hall meetings and surveys in 2015 was the desire for more Adult Education opportunities. Building on the Parish's successful Monday Night Lenten Supper and Spirituality series, the Parish Leadership team developed a monthly program called Faith, Food, and Fellowship.
The Faith, Food and Fellowship evenings are held on the second Monday of the month. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with a Potluck dinner in which participants are asked to bring a salad, veggie or dessert to share. The main dish is provided by the parish, and is usually donated by one of the local restaurants. Families share the meal together and have an opportunity for meeting new people and sharing a bit of fellowship.
Around 7:10 p.m., the educational part of the program begins. The Presenter generally has an interactive style, including some discussion topics for folks at each table to talk about as part of the examination of the topic. The evening ends around 8:30 p.m. Topics generally come from the Suggestion Boxes in the Church, so please be sure to place your ideas for topics to be covered into those boxes. Check the website and bulletin for information about upcoming topics.


text:
Quick Ways to Sell a Home
Worried that it may take long before you get a customer to buy your home? Well, don't worry as your home can even take a week before you get a prospect customer. Following the right steps can help you find a reliable home buyer with ease. You can comfortably get a home buyer within the first month of advertising but you are not guaranteed to secure a high profit from the sale. This is because you will be expected to reduce on the cost so as to attract more customers than other home sellers. The overall view of the house plays a huge role in assisting you to acquire more home buyers. As the saying goes, the first impressions matters a lot, and so to be able to attract more customers to even want to look at your house, ensure that it Is appealing. This applies to all areas which include the outdoors, the roof, the kitchen, bathroom, and even the garage if you have one. Note that you may be required to spend some dollars to prepare your house for sales, but it is all worthwhile.
Did you know that special part of your house can actually help you sell your house fast? Does your garden have a water fountain or the swimming pool has underground LED lights? These are some of the focal area that can help sell your house quickly. Keep in mind that some parts of your home can help you quickly sell your house. A real estate agent can easily point out the areas which are likely to market your house.
You also need to depersonalize or disassociate your house to be able to sell it fast. No buyer is interested to know the people who have been living in the house and hence, remove all your belongings. Start off, by removing all the pictures on the walls, if there are any, family drawings. Removing your belongings gives a way for the buyers to clearly analyze the house and see it if fit for his or her family or not. The cleanliness of the house will boost its sales and so ensure to remove all the wastes and the house is toned down in colors. Since the buyer may want to add their own paints or decor, a clean house enables them to evaluate if their preferred designs will fit or not.
Another factor that can help you sell your house quickly is the price you set. All home customers focus on the price of the house when buying for affordability purposes. The cost of the house should be reasonable.
Why not learn more about Houses?


text:
You Wouldn't Want to Be Cleopatra!
Thank you! We will contact you when the item is available.
Your order will ship on or around the release date
8/1/07 School Library Journal
These books focus on an important ruler in Egyptian history and are told from the point of view of an individual participant with fictional dialogue and imagined thoughts. Cartoon illustrations, several per page, are quite funny. Information is imparted through blocks of text in different sizes and fonts, dialogue balloons, and "Handy Hint" boxes. The plotting against Cleopatra and Tutankhamen and the customs, violence, and life and death during their times are explained in short paragraphs. These fictionalized books provide an overview of material found in more depth in biographies such as Diane Stanley's Cleopatra (HarperCollins, 1994) and Brian Williams's Tutankhamen (Heinemann Library, 2002), and should be considered for recreational reading rather than for serious research.
RELATED SUBJECTS: World History
You Wouldn't Want to Be Cleopatra!
Library Binding


text:
Side swiped
Sharon and I are now dealing with something that we never thought we would have to deal with. About a few weeks ago my wife Sharon woke up in the morning with a painful lump in her breast. We didn't panic, but she did quickly see her doctor who then ordered a mammogram. Shortly after they called her in for a biopsy and then, this past Friday we received the results from the surgeon.
She has in fact been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.
Fortunately, it is the most common type of breast cancer and therefore the most treatable. Unfortunately, that treatment is rather extreme which involves surgery in the form of a mastectomy proceeded by a few months of chemotherapy.
At first we were in shock and scared. However, we've had a few days now to digest, research and understand what is going to happen and the bottom line is she is going to survive. The treatment is going to suck, but the end result will get the cancer out of her body and we will go on to live a happy and full life together.
This thing came out of nowhere. Sharon has no family history of breast cancer and we didn't even know it was there until the tumor was at least two inches. It just goes to show you that something like this can happen to anyone at anytime no matter what the circumstances.
Sharon's surgery is next week and after that we will know some more about the extent of her treatment because there are some unknowns right now as far as if the tumor has spread and some other issues.
I will certainly keep everyone up to date and I thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and support.


text:
Tag Archives: Progress
How about now?
The comedian Kevin James has a bit in his stand up act about unlocking a car door for a passenger. You know how that goes, you hit unlock just as they lift up the handle and the stupid door doesn't unlock. So you try again and it happens again until somebody changes the behavior. The Kevin James version is hilarious with the passenger uttering a never ending stream of "Now? No, now? How about now? Wait…oh, now?" until James finally screams in desperation and orders the passenger to go sit on the curb.
I think we've all been in that sort of situation whether it's unlocking the car door, or waiting in line or egads, at the DMV. We have these moments that can be frustrating and a little confusing, and sometimes a bit ridiculous. At times it might be better to voluntarily step back in the moment, just to try another tack. Trying something new can be good it can stop the cycle and fast track everyone involved to the finish line. And, sometimes it's just easier to go sit on the curb.
My problem is that we've had several years of crazy and ridiculous and I think I've defaulted to sitting on the curb. Somewhere along the way I got tired of asking, "Now?" At some point, I gave up and decided to avoid the back and forth, the frustration and parked my butt on the curb.
Recently though, I am finding that sitting on the curb is not that satisfying. And I think I'll bypass the crazy part too. I am ready to stand up and yell over the top of the car. "Unlock the damn door! It's time to move on! Right now!"
Rinse. Repeat.
This is a good reminder and I will be repeating it as often as necessary. I've got a lot going on this week and it would be easy to just let it all go. I am going to stay on track even though I'd much rather build a blanket fort and eat Nilla wafers.
So, I've got my plan and I've got some ideas for extra motivation. Wish me luck! I hope everyone has a good and successful week. See you Wednesday!
Writing space…
Last week, I rambled about point of view, and the tendency for people to be fairly rude online. Monday evening was spent on Chapter 1, switching my POV from first to third. It was easy enough, in spite of a wonky mouse but as I went along I realized that I really hate the beginning of this story. I've changed it around ten or twenty times already and so far nothing is making me happy. I moved a major event up in the story, which is a good thing but now I am still trying to cram the same amount of stuff into a smaller space. It's not working.
Needless to say I am once again reworking the beginning and therefore, I am not any farther in my revisions. I am going to chalk this up to progress though. This process is definitely moving me forward and I can't really complain because right now any progress is ten times more than a few weeks ago.
So, today while I was trying to streamline things and work on a new outline, I straightened out my writing space. It's a fair assumption that sometimes I clean my desk as a delay tactic. I mean back in college the only time I would really clean out my closet was when finals rolled around. When you think about it, that's pretty good for a college student to clean out the closet twice a year. Anyhow, I feel that having a clean, organized space is often conducive to getting work done. I figured as I sorted papers and put things away that I could let stuff roll around in the back of my head and maybe come out the other end with some good ideas.
My desk is fairly good at multitasking, writing space, household management, drop off point for random items from around the house, and of course, the gateway to most of my internet activities. Needless to say my desk gets overrun with detritus of various origins and periodically I have to clear everything off and start over. Today was just a minor search and seizure sort of cleaning but the pictures below are from the last major overhaul.
I built this desk about eight years ago. It looks really cluttered but this is how it looks when it's clean. Honest. That's Jericho snoozing on the corner.
I built the bookcase a little after the desk and modified it last year. I made room by removing the middle shelf and added some dry erase and magnetic boards to keep some of my visual inspiration close at hand.
This closeup picture is a bit blurry but you get the general gist of how I am using the boards.
The colored folders on the right hold my main notes for the different stories in the series that I am working on now. I'll check to see if I've posted about them before, either way I will follow up with a link to the previous post or in a future post.
The stack of books on the left are various books resources on writing, I've even read some of them.
I have clipboards hanging on the inside of either end where I have other notes like character descriptions, maps, floorplans and other various information.
I got this set up last year but then ultimately stalled on my revisions. As I work on the new outline, I plan on doing more with the boards to keep me on top of everything.
I think next week I will post about some online tools that I have found to be helpful.
Rough draft…
I am currently in the revision phase of a book that I wrote two years ago, well closer to three years ago. I started writing it during National Novel Writing Month (NaNo) in November 2010. I finished it in May and June of the following year and received a free proof copy for my hard work. I love my proof copies, they are so pretty and they have my name on them. I remember crying when I saw the first one, it's just an amazing thing. But I am getting off track here, anyway, for the last two plus years I have tried on and off to rewrite this story. It needs some serious rewrites because anything written during NaNo is going to have some blah, blah, blah parts because you are just trying to get words on the page.
During July's Camp NaNo I reapplied myself to making revisions. According to the good people at NaNo they count every hour of editing as 1,000 words. My word count goal was 20,000 words which equals 20 hours of editing. Sounds easy, right? As it turns out, not so much on the easy. I knew going in that I needed to change the beginning, there was too much lead up and I really needed to get things moving sooner. Ok, so I had a plan and I again I thought 'this will be easy'. I got about two pages in and realized this was going to be a bit more complicated. The timeline needed to be changed, a character that had several scenes in the original version was down to one scene that wasn't very important, scene locations had to be moved as the story evolved and the list goes on. The biggest realization was that it had been so long since I'd written the book that I couldn't remember the sequence of some of the smaller events. Even worse I didn't have a handle on the characters anymore. I remembered what they looked like and what they did but that was two dimensional I needed to refresh myself on how they talked and felt and all of that other three dimensional stuff. Clearly, I needed to read the book.
Now I have a proof copy that I could read and make notes in, but honestly the thought of writing in a book horrifies me. I don't know if it was my Catholic school upbringing or my OCD mentality or my over all affinity with books but I have never been comfortable making notes, highlighting or making any sort of permanent marks in a book. We were encouraged to do so in several classes during college, I tried it for about a week but I had to really talk myself into it every single time that it was taking me forever to get my reading done. I finally resorted to using sticky notes and removable flags and that was a good compromise. I guess my point here is that I've got a pretty proof copy and I don't want to write in it.
I could print out the 200 plus pages but not my favorite idea either. Reading from a stack of 8.5 by 11″ paper would not be comfortable and it would feel like I was grading papers. I, also didn't want to spend $20 on the ink and paper it would take to print the darned thing out. The other thing to think about was the fact that there was no guarantee that I wouldn't end up feeling the same way about making notes on the clean copy of the story.
After a good three days of himming, hawwing and occasional whining in Sully's general direction I had an idea. Didn't I read somewhere about side loading stuff (books, documents, etc.) onto my Kindle? A quick check of Google revealed that I did in fact read about this and with the help of the Calibre program it would be pretty easy.
Loading my book onto the Kindle was super easy and I couldn't stifle the giddy giggle that bubbled up when I saw my book and my name on my Kindle book list. I just finished the first chapter and I have already figured out several things to fix the timeline and the character/scene problems. There's a note feature on the Kindle so I can just click a button and then type in a few words. My notebook is also with me so that I can make more detailed notes and keep an eye on the timeline. I am actually very excited to get started on these changes.
Shared Worlds…
Every writer needs a little encouragement along the way. A helpful word of advice from people who've been there can be especially helpful. The very groovy people at Shared Worlds have asked some of fiction's writers, editors and artists write down some words of wisdom on their hands and take a picture.
Hand in Hand…
Neil Gaiman
I love this. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite people. I've only read a few of his books but I've been reading his blog and following him on Twitter for a while. I actually got to meet him in June while he was on his book tour for 'Ocean at the End of the Lane'. He spoke for about an hour and a half before the book signing and as always, he was funny and smart , and really quite amazing.
I love his hand-written advice. It really does play on what I truly need to do. I need to write, finish what I am writing and keep writing.
Here are some of my other favorites…
Jody Lynn Nye
Patrick Rothfuss
Karin Lowachee
Shared Worlds is a creative writing experience offered to high school students by Wofford College in South Carolina. You can see the rest of the Hand in Hand advice here.
Do what works…
Today we will find a second installment of writing conversation from Kevin Hearne on the subject of linear vs. non linear writing. Kevin shares some of his experience with this issue, a few of Kevin's writer friends also chime in.
Writing Encouragement No. 2
In writing, the shortest distance to the end is not always a straight line.
Click here to get the full post on Storify.com
Check out Kevin's website to learn more about Kevin and his awesome books.
Here are my unpublished and inexperienced two cents…
I've finished two of my NaNo novels. The first one I wrote skipping around and sort of stitching things together. The second one I wrote in a more linear way and I am finding the rewrites on this on to be much more difficult than the first. I think the problem may lie with each scene and chapter being so connected to the next. There isn't enough of a separation to allow me to wedge my red pen and delete button. I think it will take me some time to really get a handle on this story and get it rewritten the way it needs to be.


text:
Luminox Carbon SEAL 3801: Singapore Price And ReviewWritten by Alvin Wong
A Luminox sports watch for the weekend? Consider this military-inspired beast.
You may think that you've seen this before, but the folks at Luminox will assure you that you haven't. As its name suggests, the Carbon SEAL 3801 sports a carbon case that, at first glance, appears similar with Luminox's earlier carbon cased creations. But there is a vital difference. Those versions were made by mixing carbon power with polymers. In the case of the Carbon SEAL 3801 (excuse the pun), long carbon bars are utilised instead to support the polymers.
But so what, you ask? Ostensibly, this type of construction results in a lighter and more robust case. After a week on the wrist, we must say that the Carbon SEAL 3801 certainly feels like next to nothing -- carbon is said to be lighter than steel or titanium.
As for the watch's hardiness, we'll have to admit that the most strenuous activity that we put it through was braving the rush hour commute, which it obviously passed with flying colours. That said, the carbon case is purportedly super scratch resistant, and impervious to chips and tarnish – qualities that undoubtedly complement the watch's military-esque vibe. The case is also touted to be highly chemical and temperature resistant – up to 285°C before it starts disintegrating – features that we are more than happy to take the press communique's word for.
Get the latest watch reviews and comparisons straight to your inbox
Luminox's claim to fame as the watch of choice for over two generations of Navy SEALs is no mere boast. The vote of confidence is backed by rock solid performance, particularly in the fields of water-resistance and luminosity.
The Carbon SEAL 3801 is water resistant to 300m – which is dive-worthy, a virtue expressed on its unidirectional dive bezel – and the hour markers are powered by tritium-filled micro gas tubes (a Luminox signature) that promises illumination in the dark for up to 25 years without the need for charging. As for timekeeping precision, the watch runs on an industry-grade Ronda quartz movement with eight years of battery life, so one's military machismo is guaranteed for a very long time indeed.
|46mm carbon compound with unidirectional bezel
Black with tritium gas tubes
|Quartz Ronda 715 HH6
|Hour, minute, date
Water resistance
S$1,134.20 (including GST)
Alvin Wong
Alvin promises not to be a douche when talking about watches. He may have scoured the Basel and Geneva watch fairs for the past 15 years, and played an instrumental role to the growth of Singapore's pioneering horological and men's lifestyle publications, but the intrepid scribe seeks to learn something new with each story he writes.


text:
Included in this article
The Content Recommendation Engine (CRE) allows you to recommend specific content you'd like to promote. However, sometimes you may not want to include it on certain pages. You can exclude these pages from having the CRE on them by specifying those URLs in Account Settings as pages to be excluded.
Including and Excluding pages
You can select pages to exclude/include for the CRE display:
- In RTP, go to 'Account Settings'
- Under the 'Domain Configuration', locate the 'Recommendation Engine' section
- Choose to 'Include' or 'Exclude'
- Paste the URLs you want to include/exclude (e.g. /contact_us*; *action=logout*, (use * for wildcards) Use semicolon as separator)
Examples of exclude/include configuration entries
Maximum number of Inclusions / Exclusions
The maximum character limit for the Inclusion / Exclusion field is 1,000 characters.
Alternate way of hiding CRE
You can place the following HTML code on pages where you want to hide the recommendation engine:
visibility: hidden !important;
visibility: hidden !important;
If you have trouble with your Content Recommendation Engine Bar showing up in places it shouldn't, check out Troubleshooting Web Personalization (RTP) - Content Recommendation Engine Bar shows up on all or excluded pages


text:
Search for Examples of Miracles Inside Your Spiritual Memoir:
You can find examples of miracles inside your spiritual memoir through spiritual journaling! This page can help you use a spiritual journal to write about the miracles in your spiritual autobiography. Even if your story is full of struggles, you can look for the miracles within your journal.
Today I still believe in miracles. That doesn't mean that I've been completely healed or that God has taken away all my troubles. In fact, I still struggle with a lot of stuff that I have been asking God to fix for much of my life. Most of the miracles in my life are more subtle than a "big healing" or an instant fix. My faith in God in the presence of pain and disappointment is my miracle. All along I haven't really been searching for a God who will fix my life. What I've really been searching for is a God who loves me enough to answer my prayers in His best way. I no longer worry whether other people see God alive and active in my life. I don't need their affirmation to hold up my faith. My God is a God of miracles regardless of what anyone thinks.
Sharing My Journey
Finding examples of miracles in my life:
I begin a new painting. I play with perspective. Some like my skewed views and others criticize them. They say I'm technically immature, or they say I'm advanced beyond my years. I decide it's not a good idea for me to pay attention to what "they" think. Vitality could be lost in an attempt to make every line do what it's supposed to do. If I copy what I see and I copy it well, but it's not passionate, then what have I achieved?
I'm tired of pleasing others and that's a miracle. If there's one place I'm not going to satisfy everyone else it's on my canvas. I have a place where there are no rules and no people I care to appease. It's the one place where I feel completely free. It's the place where only what I want matters. I'm impervious to judgments and criticisms. Think or say what you want about what I create. I don't care. You can't touch me here.
I have a place where I can go where everyone else's opinion doesn't matter and that is one gigantic miracle. Maybe, by modern day standards, my miracle isn't "big enough" to qualify as a miracle? Maybe, the idea of a "religious" miracle seems like an accident or chance? I guess it depends on your definition of a modern day miracle. For me, when God moves and changes my life, that's a miracle for yesterday, modern day and tomorrow. My miracles come stripped of "religious" expectations: God can love anyone (including me) from anywhere without rules and restrictions. When it comes to simple, straight forward, unadulterated modern day miracles, I'm a believer!
Completely Free
Age 24
Sharing Your Journey
Finding examples of miracles in your life:
The idea of miracles can seem too "religious" or almost ridiculous for many. Their definition of a modern day miracle is limited to the complete healing from stage three cancers or the paraplegic who walks again. A broader definition of miracles can surprise us and show us that miracles really do happen. When friends forgive us, when a child is born, when the seasons change and when great joy is experienced, you are in the presence of a miracle. Look for the miraculous in your life and make it a part of your spiritual story.
We long for miracles. We long for the miraculous. Many of us long for a God that proves that He is real. Some of us think Jesus Christ is a fairytale that we wish would come true. When it comes right down to it we are hungry for a God who makes our life miraculous.
What miracles do you long for? Jot down these wishes and desires and consider what they say about your spirituality. Write a letter to God about your wants and needs. Ask Him to help you find deep satisfaction. Believe that God wants to do a modern day miracle in your life. Believe that He wants to be the answer to your wishes, desires, wants and needs. Trust that He can bring you the miracle of deep satisfaction. Believe that God has a place for miracles right inside your spiritual story. Believe that He can make the miraculous part of your spiritual autobiography.
Testimonies: The Power of Inspirational Christian Stories was formerly titled Dancing in the Doghouse. This spiritual autobiography has been renamed and redesigned to better reach its audience.
Past Work!
Real Life Angels,
Age 38
Click on these Spiritual Autobiography Links:
Spiritual Autobiography Blog
Spiritual Autobiography Articles


text:
Ecolicious HANDS ON Therapeutic Hand Cream
Ecolicious Hands On Theraputic Barn Hand Repair Cream - Full of Banana, Avocado and Shea Butter goodness, this cream feeds your hungry skin.
This full-service lotion moisturizes, nourishes and shields hands and nails from the elements.
The light, uplifting scent of Sweet Orange will lift the spirit of you and your horse! Certified Organic Hemp Oil helps to strengthen nails and soften cuticles. Silicone free non-slippery formula.
Apply before grooming or riding. Don't worry you won't lose grip.
Best of all, each drop of this cream is jam packed with natural goodness so you can use less.
114 ml 100% Recycled Plastic Bottle


text:
(Thanks to eni, Wired, Peoplesound, Material Connexion, PAWorldStandDesign, EuroMilano, Triennale Bovisa and Absolut Vodka)
During the Week of the Furniture Fair and up to the end of May, there was a series of workshops open to the public at the Triennale Bovisa. The subjects of the work were taken from a series of key words extracted from Riccardo Dalisi's Manifesto: invention – change – craftwork – minute production runs – micro-productions – sustainability – reflection – experimentation – humble materials – contaminations – humankind – machine – thoughts – action – design – theatre.
The common theme of all the workshops was that of generating infinite 'collections'. A collection of collections: whistles, lamps, minimal living spaces, shoes, clothes, software, ... For the entire week of the Fair, the Triennale Bovisa became the location of this theatre turned into a school (or this school turned into a theatre), a place open to the entire city, to the visitors, to students and to design professionals.
NABA and Friends go to Triennale. Clip by Pierluigi Anselmi (NABA design).
Luca Poncellini + Petra Tikulin (NABA Master Interior Design)
Construction of multiple scale, geodetic domes.
Made from paper, plastic, wood, bamboo. Working on a collection of domes that begin with a colossal geodetic dome for ants (10 centimetres in diameter), and arriving at a 10 metre large dome which will become the beating heart of the entire show.
12th, 13th, 14th of April h 2pm / 6pm
Ben Hughes (MA Industrial Design Central St. Martins)
Transform a sheet of A4 into phantasmagorical notebooks.
Each year, tons and tons of flyers, handouts, posters, catalogues, books and magazines are produced for the Fair. How can all this wealth of paper (99.99% of which is destined to become waste) be transformed into useful (and beautiful) notebooks in which we can record our adventures at the 2010 Furniture Fair? A thousand different notebooks, all crying out to be collected.
13th of April h 2pm / 6pm, 17th of April h 10am / 1pm
Vered Zaykovsky (NABA Design)
Cold fusion
Create 'plastic' lampshades from cold, using Vinavil glue.
How to produce a collection of plastic lampshades to be constructed in a workshop where it's impossible to use 'hot' machines? And the answer is – Vinavil glue. An ingenious production system invented by Vered, thanks to which it is possible to become a craftsman in plastics.
12th of April h 10am / 1pm
13th of April h 2pm / 6pm
16th of April h 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
17th of April h 10am / 2pm
22nd of May h 2pm / 6pm
23rd of MAy h 2pm / 6pm
Andrea Costa + Ludovica Brigalli (NABA Design)
Transform enormous vertical surfaces using Xerox copies + sticky tape
A workshop where you can learn to build fantastical wall paper that will become, to begin with, the physical landscape of the exhibition itself. Just imagine a collection of your grandma's wallpaper transported to the world of Facebook and Twitter...
8th, 9th of April h 2pm / 6pm
Jon Rogers + Mike Shorter + Pete Thomas + Elio Caccavale (School of Design, University of Dundee)
Apple Kart (sing. dock. draw.)
Transform singing and the voice into drawings (via iPhone + radio controlled toy car).
Apple Karts are small machines that use the audio output from an iPhone for drawing. It will thus be possible to design your favourite song or 'tell' the Apple Kart what you want to draw (by singing).
15th of May h 2pm / 6pm
Michele Favale + Luca De Rosso (NABA Design + IUAV)
Informal Robot
Create robots built with recycled materials that can paint autonomously.
Learn to build a working robot capable of painting as if it were a master of informal art. A mixture of Asger Jorn, the Lucio Fontana before the cuts, strange engines, paint brushes and electronic components. At the end of the workshop days, the most beautiful collections will be auctioned.
13th, 14th of April h 2pm / 6pm
Duilio Forte (Atelier Forte / NABA design)
Build a catapult. That works. And play with it (without getting too hurt).
A workshop where you can build a working catapult to be positioned opposite the entrance to the Bovisa Triennale. A machine for launching paint filled balloons to create an enormous jacksonpollock as big as a football pitch.
12th, 13th, 14th of April h 2pm / 6pm
Alessandro Guerriero + Emirjana Bici (NABA / Futurarium)
Spiritual clothes
Create non-clothes clothes aimed at representing oneself.
A series of clothes that aim to represent ourselves and the rituals connected to their use, such as: working, talking, eating or just thinking. Some of these will only be designed; others built in extremely large format that will overwhelm the areas where they are exhibited. These are non-clothes clothes, of the more or less unusable sub-objects of both human beings and the system. These are stage clothes for a pretend decor. More than having a form, they have a proto-form, the simplest way of representing an idea, memory...these are clothes for meditating about ourselves... for organising a hypothetical liveable world....
13th, 14th of April h 2pm / 6pm
Ben Hughes (MA Industrial Design Central St. Martins)
Bags to Riches
Plastiform origami, beginning with a recycling operation
Create origami beginning with a collection of used plastic carrier bags. Plastic + an iron = plastorigami.
13th of April h 2pm / 6pm
16th of April h 10am / 1pm
Paola Anziché
Soft Landscape
Create a net made of rubber bands
A workshop where a spatial carpet will be woven using an unbelievable number of rubber bands. A special carpet that is not created for lying on the floor but which will float in mid-air, establishing a soft and unusual landscape in which to measure our uncertain footsteps.
from 14th to 19th of April h 2pm / 6pm (on 15th and 16th of Aprile also h 10am / 1pm)
Daniele Mancini (Prima Facoltà di Architettura "L. Quaroni", Università La Sapienza)
Big Babol
For an inflatable world.
A workshop as an introduction to inflatable structures. Simple, economic, with consistently impressive effects.
13th of Aprile h 2pm / 6pm
Pierluigi Anselmi (NABA Design)
Flip Flip
Create a flip-book
Ninety-nine masterpieces from the history of cinema, transformed into a flip-book. How to condense ninety minutes in 100 stills, in an improbable exercise of transforming film images into a pocketsize memory (insomuch as it can be taken away in our trouser pockets).
14th of April h 10am / 1pm
15th of April h 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
16th of Aprile h 10am / 1pm 15th of May h 2pm / 6pm
16th of May h 2pm / 6pm
Line Christiansen (Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar)
T-shirt? My shirt!
Or, in other words, how to make a t-shirt/souvenir, learning how to use serigraphic frames.
At the end of the route through a normal exhibition, you arrive at the bookshop where you can buy the catalogue or a t-shirt of the exhibition you've just visited. In this case, you can make the t-shirt yourself. A workshop where you can learn the three things you have to know about serigraphs and how to apply them to every possible support element small/medium/large/extra-large.
12th of April h 10am / 1pm
13th of April h 2pm / 6pm
Id-Lab (NABA Design)
Pin-o-rama. Un messaggio in una spilla
Pins for everyone (from all according to their capacity, to all according to their needs)
And what about those who prefer a pin to a t-shirt? Pin Pin! The stated objective of producing 10,000 souvenir pins that are all different the one from the other. The largest production ever seen of different pins as a souvenir of the same event.
12th of April h 10am / 1pm
13th of April h 2pm / 6pm
16th of April h 10am / 1pm
9th of May h 3pm / 6pm
15th of May h 11am / 2pm
Julian Koshwitz (NABA Design)
Interactive editorial design
Interactive Editorial Design
There are a lot of questions now arising with regard to recent changes to the press and the creation of new means of spreading information and for viewing it on the web, through mobile devices and e-readers. These questions are a challenge for designers of both the printed and interactive media. In this workshop, we will analyse both editorial design and interactive information design. We will try to provide a hybrid solution for newspapers and to question ourselves about how to improve the provision of online and multimedia content.
15th, 16th of April h 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
17th of April h 2pm / 6pm
Mariano Dallago (NABA Design)
Coffee and cigarettes
Build a pin-hole camera and develop the resultant negatives in coffee
The entire photographic production process (building of a camera, hundreds of pictures, developing and printing), starting with a cigarette packet and a cup of coffee. No magic but just ingenuity. An unbelievable collection of cameras for survival in an increasingly digitalised world.
14th of April h 2pm / 6pm
15th, 16th of April h 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
8th of May h 2pm / 6pm
9th of May h 3pm / 6pm
Francesca Grazzini (NABA Fashion Design)
Happy waiting to you
Create carpets with a lenci cloth. Do you know what 'lenci' means? It's an acronym of: "Ludus est nobis costanter industria" (play is our continuous form of research).
A workshop where, working with felt and 'lenci' cloths, we will build a large carpet on which to offer visitors a moment of relaxation within the normal frenetic activity of the Fair. A carpet made from as many different pieces as there are visitors/ participants in the workshop.
12th of April h 10am / 1pm
13th, 14th of April h 2pm / 6pm
15th, 16th of April h 10am / 1pm
Giorgio Partesana + Alberto Massa (NABA Design)
Trendy Brandy
Build luminous, unidentified objects by mixing recycled plastic with basic electronics.
The workshop will combine very simple electronic components with recycled plastic bags to create a series of luminous objects with a simple structure and a fascinating appearance.
13th, 14th, 17th of April h 2pm / 6pm
18th of April h 10am / 1pm
Luca Buttafava + Alessandro Confalonieri + Remo Ricchetti + Cecilia Pirovano (NABA Biennio Design Product)
Sense the Place
Luminous objects on an urban scale.
Build small, luminous objects that will be distributed in the hottest areas of the city to establish a contact between the Bovisa base and the rest of the galaxy. Each luminous object will be accompanied by a photographic map of Milan to be reinterpreted and re-designed.
16th of April h 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
Natascia Fenoglio (NABA Design)
Be my Yoko Ono
Create fake food with silicone rubber as if you were in a Tokyo restaurant.
Something that has always fascinated us in Japanese films and stories is the Japanese mania for perfectly reproducing every kind of food with mysterious rubber (to be used as a three dimensional menu). This workshop will teach precisely this oriental technique. What is the point? None at all. Why do it? To get ideas for a thousand possible uses.
12th of April h 11am / 1pm
13th of April h 5pm / 8pm
16th of April h 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
17th of April h 2pm / 6pm
8th of May h 2pm / 6pm
9th of May h 3pm / 6pm
Valeria Martignoni (NABA Design)
1 euro chindogu design
Create new, invented objects beginning with a 'all at 1 euro' type shop.
The expression Chindogu was introduced by Kenji Kawakami, a Japanese visionary. It's an authentic art form...of nothingness, or, rather, you need a lot of creativity to construct an object that is useful through its stupidity. For an object to be classified as Chindogu it must be: real, for daily use in various everyday problems but, above all, it must be absurd or uniquely strange.
13th, 14th of April h 2pm / 6pm
Stella Colaleo + Simone Muscolino (NABA Design)
Pillow Victim
Create elegant cushions and chairs made with bubble wrap and plastic bags
The workshop aims to construct cushions using the Upcycle method or, in other words, using waste materials (in our case, plastic bags) for the production of useful objects. Making e a cushion beginning with materials destined for other uses offers the public an opportunity to create a fashion design object and will suggest how, through simple steps, it is possible to create even complex objects using everyday tools.
12th of April h 10am / 1pm
13th, 14th of April h 2pm / 6pm
Soup Studio Designer Associati (NABA Design)
The flight of the tile
Creative mosaics designed on tiles
It's said that the best thoughts come when meditating sitting in your bathroom...those brief moments of solitude when thoughts travel, run and escape.
Noting down these fleeting thoughts can be important and, doing it on the bathroom tiles can be amusing. Why not recreate a similar environment consisting of white enamelled tile bathroom walls where individual thoughts are fixed onto every single tile? One after the other, the drawings will put together a single creative mosaic that can, in turn, be the source of inspiration for those arriving and deciding to leave a trace of their thoughts on a tile.
15th of April 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
16t of April h 10am / 1pm
Alessandro Busseni + Joyce Bonafini (NABA Design)
Manifesto mon amour
Flyers, hand-outs, posters: welcome to the world of the serigraph.
A frame, two frames, simple tools for putting your drawings and/or photos on silk and you are ready to print hundreds and thousands of copies on your preferred support element.
(warning: it causes addiction)
12th of April h 10am / 1pm
15th of April h 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
16th of April h 10am / 1pm
Luca Barello (NABA Design)
The unexpected guest
Build micro-rooms for animals and/or vegetables with gathered materials.
Build structures for hosting visiting animals in preference to spontaneous plants (for resting or eating as food). To be placed in somewhat forgotten areas of a building, such as balconies or terraces. Using material collected in the home (left-over packaging, boxes, variously sized containers of different materials...) and dry assembly: cutting, fitting together, tying up, to make 'micro-rooms' to be added to your own homes.
17th of April h 2pm / 6pm
Luca Macrì (Làbora)
Or, in other words, presenting oneself in a completely new way.
Participants will be projected into an imagined, already achieved success which will be the basis from which they will construct a new presence and will give life to their own particular device for communicating this.
13th, 14th of April h 2pm / 6pm
Sara Magnone (Naba)
Decorative raptus
Old things found in drawers. What can you do with them?
Give new life to all those objects which, for some reason, seem to have gone out of fashion, are banal and lacking character. So, just as we change our clothes, we can give a new image to such objects, recovering them, according to taste, with different materials. A world of buttons, bottle-tops, sponges, drawing pins, paper, elastic bands, materials…
14th of April h 2pm / 6pm
15th of April h 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
19th of April h 10am / 1pm
Maria Pina Usai + Margherita Fenati (NABA Master Landscape Design)
The marvels of Milan
Imagine new [extra]ordinary landscapes in the city of Milan.
Participants will imagine new opportunities for using the urban voids in the Milanese urban network, to suggest unusual solutions, real and dreamlike: new [extra]ordinary landscapes. A gigantic 2D map will be transformed into a three dimensional model from which 'small stage sets' will emerge for new, possible urban situations. A multimedia station will record the evolution of the public project in real time on the online blog.
14th of April h 10am / 1pm
15th of April h 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
Paolo Troilo (NABA Graphic Design e Art Direction)
Go motion
Create stop motion using Kreaton elements
The workshop follows the philosophy of the Kreaton product – the first lamp that does not impose a pre-established design created by a single designer but rather offers the possibility for anyone to create infinite forms through the modular system of building blocks. During the workshop, it will be possible to assist in the production of two stop-motion films that will see the lamp and its elements as the protagonists. The public can assist on the open set and, over the space of 6 days, in the shooting, montage, finalising and presentation of the video.
from 8th to 19th of April h 2pm / 6pm (12th of April only h 10am / 1pm, 15th and 16th of April also h 10am / 1pm)
Ghigos (NABA Design)
Romanzi in divenire
Recuperate waste objects with which to create new ones
Our homes describe us, how we were and how we might be: they are a mass of objects to which we grow attached and which become a part our history, unknowing actors in a nascent novel. Because an object is never just a means to an end, but is a symbol and a trace of different moods and loves. The animist house is a chest for these objects-treasures, it is the mental projection of a possible house, it is a fate that pursues and gives voice to the silent forms of things.
13th of April h 2pm / 6pm
15th, 17th of April h 10am / 1pm
Zach Weldy (Environmental Design School, Texas A&M)
Duct Tape Shoes
Learn how to make your own shoes: simple, beautiful and in step with time.
A workshop where you can become a shoemaker and learn how to make beautiful shoes with sticky tape.
Antonio Piccirilli + Corrado Bove (NABA Design)
Peasant design
The workshop aims, through the ancient methods of bare earth, to capture the cultural references, tools and regulations that characterise a design approach which is both responsible and correct with regard to the environment.
22nd, 23rd of May h 2pm / 6pm
Lorenza Branzi + Consuelo Redaelli
Street food
Street food, packaging, recycle…
Design/re-invent packaging for snacks from waste materials for the people arriving at the Bovisa Triennale!
8th of May h 3pm / 6pm 9th of May h 3pm / 6pm
Claudio Cetina (NABA)
E da mangiare che cosa c'è?
Obviously we cannot think about a performance-show such like this without remembering the buffet (better late than never…)
22nd, 23rd of May h 2pm / 6pm
Riccardo Dalisi
Tin Compasses. Today, tomorrow and the future.
Transform tin into marvellous and imaginative pairs of compasses.
Manipulate light materials (cardboard, blade, colours) to improvise through direct action: solutions that aerate the compasses (air ideas). In a search for fertile errors.
15th of April h 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
Luciano Speranza (Istituto d'Arti Applicate e Design di Torino)
Sustainable mobility: not only cars
Reflections about mobility, eco-compatibility, semplicity, interactivity, utility...
New sustainable ideas for the world of transportation: concepts, visions, innovative identities.
The workshop introduces a reflection related to eco-sustainability and simplified integration of existing technology. The issue is somehow totally missing in the transportation design field, although it is quite explored in our everyday experiments.
Simplicity - Interactivity - Utility, those the workshop keywords.
15th of April h 10am / 1pm and 2pm / 6pm
Valeria Muteri + Bruna cortinovis (Id-Lab)
Crumpling paper
How many ways are there to work with paper? Chose it, cut it, crumple it, paste it, rip it, embroidery it, model it and experiment with your own personal collection of towers. Every micro-Babel will build the quarters of the Babel we have always imagined: made of paper as a symbol of molteplicity. .
15th and 16th of May h 2pm / 6pm


text:
Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman are the subjects of former architect Dheeraj Akolkar's documentary Liv & Ingmar, produced by the Norwegian company NordicStories and distributed by Sweden's Svensk Filmindustri. After meeting in 1965, Ullmann and Bergman made 10 (narrative) films together; they were also off-screen companions for five years.
In Liv & Ingmar, Ullmann, 73, is shown spending a few days in Bergman's house on the Swedish island of Fårø.
While there, she reminisces about their personal and professional relationships. That sounds fascinating enough. But what makes Liv & Ingmar even more intriguing is that Ullmann's recollections are interspersed with scenes from her Bergman films, which is supposed to show how their personal lives directly affected their professional collaboration.
We see an intense close up of Liv Ullmann's face. "This is a story of 5 decades and 2 friends.". As the camera lovingly embraces the details of a house, we hear the gentle waves on the rocky shore. "I have so many memories of the island, where I acted and directed. It was my home, as well. And I met Ingmar there. He changed my life," Liv tells us. "I was 24, he was 46." The desire was so intense it scared her, so she "ran back to Norway." He pursued her and she returned... got pregnant, divorced her husband and married Ingmar. That's the chapter she calls "Love."
The next chapter is "Loneliness." Ingmar built a dream house on Faro Island... his dream, not hers. He didn't want her to have any visitors, and whenever they weren't filming, he stayed in his study working. "I tried to love it as he did." Ingmar wasn't oblivious to Liv's feelings... he wrote most of them into his movies.
So as their relationship was falling apart, it was also playing out on the screen... they were painfully connected. When Liv left, the sorrow of their breakup was on front pages all over the world. Eventually, Liv went on to have a career apart from Ingmar. But when they both got past the pain, a lovely friendship developed and they made movies together again. It was a 42-year relationship, and while it was only sexually passionate in the beginning, it truly was a love story.
Thanks to footage from their many films and home movies shot by Sven Nykvist, one of Ingmar Bergman's cinematographer, combined with new footage, Liv & Ingmar is visually richer than a typical documentary. At times, you may find yourself forgetting that it is a documentary. Much of the content, story flow and dialogue comes from Liv Ullmann's book, "Changing." All the chapters are named for emotions... love, pain, friendship... and there are many interesting and moving interviews with Liv.
Even if you're not that familiar with their films, Liv & Ingmar is a beautiful love story. If you do know the films, it'll be a trip down memory lane. One of the many things that distinguished an Ingmar Bergman film was the cinematography, especially the close ups and the intimacy of the filming... a technique he used long before it became mainstream. Don't be surprised if you find yourself wanting to search for and watch some of their films again. Both Liv and Ingmar made films with other people, but together they had a special alchemy. Perhaps Ingmar put it best when he said to Liv, "You were my Stradivarius."


text:
Hello everyone and welcome to my website about caring for a senior dog.
Let me begin by telling you how passionate I am about animals, and helping the people who share their lives with them. One of the ways I do that is through articles like the ones you'll find here.
Although a lot of what I write can be applied to dogs of all ages, my focus is on the care of senior dogs. Here you will find lots of helpful tips, advice and even products that will help make their lives safer, happier and more comfortable.
The beginning
You may find it interesting to know I didn't grow up with animals, nor did I know anyone who had pets. Do you know that one of my first encounters with a dog was when I was 25? My only encounter with cats were strays. Sounds unbelievable doesn't it? I know it does to me. I sometimes wonder how someone who is so crazy about animals and passionate about their welfare, didn't grow up with them.
The love affair began when my boyfriend at the time came by with a puppy, and it's as though a switch was flicked in my brain, and that was it. It was the beginning of my journey into the world of volunteering and adopting.
What I've done – experience and qualifications
Certified Dog Trainer and Behaviour Consultant
Diploma in Pet Care and Behaviour
Certified Pet Loss Grief Support Coach
Long time shelter volunteer – walked, trained and socialised dogs; helped with behaviour issues; fostered and adopted senior and special needs dogs; socialised cats; adoption adviser; committee member for an annual fundraising event; assisted the marketing department with fundraising ideas
Cared for a feral cat colony in my neighbourhood, spaying, neutering and feeding the cats
Started a pet sitting business in 1999, walking dogs and caring for cats and dogs when their owners were away
Started The Saffy Pearson Resource Centre, a mobile resource offering free advice to people who had cat or dog care or behaviour questions
What I'm doing now
I turned my love and passion for senior dogs into a way to help them and their parents by creating this website I'm so proud of. It's growing everyday into the one stop resource I want it to be.
I created a Facebook group called Senior Dog Care Club, a kind, caring and compassionate community of people asking for and offering support, advice, tips and yes a shoulder to cry on.
I offer virtual dog training, meaning dog training and behaviour consultancy services are offered through Skype or FB video. I advise on a host of issues including, but not limited to – senior dog care, keeping your senior dog comfortable, behaviour issues such as: on leash aggression, separation anxiety, non stop barking, urine marking, resource guarding… Experience with hundreds of clients over the years has shown me that a lot of the help they're looking for can be offered remotely. Meaning, a trainer does not have to be in their home to offer the one on one support and help they need. Sometimes that is really the only way, but certainly not always.
If you have any questions, or I can be of any help I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment below.


text:
'Not all those who wander are lost'
J.R.R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Here, on Earth, cycling isn't always about getting faster from point A to point B, as it isn't only about being eco-friendly. The only thing it takes is being close to nature. But, dear alien, you must know that Europe, this old lady in funny clothes, is getting more and more accustomed with bikers, which is why all the capital states (or, at least, most of them) have been investing in infrastructure to support the ecologists. But that's not what I'm telling you to visit, I'm not sending you to experience skyscrapers and civilization, but a little bite of how we value nature and cultivate adrenaline.
The stairway to heaven goes from Saint-Nazaire to Orleans
Yes, dear alien. It's for the greatest wine in the world that we treasure France so much; the classy, unmistakable scent of the refined drink from the vines in Burgundy is why you heard of it. But let me tell you how to remember this place, not how to recognize it.
This is most perfect place to combine cycling, along with a wine-tour pretext. You must know you'll have the most amazing time in Nantes and Angers, where along the water you'll see the friendliest French people. They'll invite you to join their barbeque, and some will even share their blankets with you whenever you want to take a break for reading. Amazing picturesque villages, places that would look so modest to you when you arrive, and whose folklore you'll discover as the journey goes: lots of cultural customs, these people will amaze you with their kindness and food. It's here where you'll find the true French spirit, so far away from the Parisian crowds of distant, refractory people. Tip: Say 'Hi' to everybody before they do (if possible, in French), people in small communities have the habit of saying hello to anyone around. Make sure you'll be the first one to do this, it's a gesture of politeness.
There's this one village that totally stands out from the community called 'The most beautiful villages of France'. Lavardin is just a little piece of heaven, a bundle of cultural symbols mixed with compressed ethnological traits. The less than 300 people you'll find living here wake up every morning seeing the ruins of a beautiful, gothic medieval castle (Château de Lavardin). Supposing you've only seen this punctual heavenly place, now you must know that the entire road along the Loire Valley is metonymically accurate – dotted about with castles of essential cultural significance. A great such example, proportional but more outstanding is Château de Villandry. The great edifice is but a pretext for the exceedingly beautiful gardens, whose popularity dates back from the Renaissance. Over 15 acres of differently shaped and cultivated breathtaking gardens make the most ideal stop for any biker who's a little tired. Tip. Don't leave the village without eating at a local's place. The most common small-talk will suffice for them to invite you for lunch. Don't miss it, they're exceptional cooks!
Don't miss the castles!
The route is one of the easiest in terms of biking difficulty, but I would recommend it first for the stunning sights. It's often referred to as the Garden of Kings because of the constantly changing river-scape with every step and even though most of the visitors come for the beautiful castles, nature is the reason they come back again and again.
Chambord. One of the most distinctive castles in the world, thanks to its personal French Renaissance architectural style and by far the largest you'll see in Loire Valley. Sprawling grounds, immense interiors, marvelously adorned, speaking of a sharp sense of opulence perfectly match the hunting lodge, which was the main reason for having built a castle there in the first place. The great finesse of the place is not given by the spectacular grandeur, but by the overall simplicity in which elegance is shown. Tip: Getting off your bike isn't only worth it for the castle visit here, but for the gig walks as well, to completely transpose you into the fairy world around you.
Another thing that you definitely have to try here are the double helix staircases. Very bold construction accessories for that time, they're spectacular because the helixes don't meet during the three floor path. People can follow the same direction at the same time (up or down) without properly meeting. Because the staircase is open, you won't be able to play hide and seek, as I would have recommended you otherwise. But the experience is still very enjoyable even now, centuries after this, it's a great way to spend your time out of your biking experience.
Château de Chenonceau. A great architectural mark of women's importance and style in the history of France, the place per se suggests that feminism isn't necessary in this country, thanks to women like Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de' Medici. It is thought to be one of the most romantic construction in France because of the galerie de bal crossing the river like a bridge. The construction of this achingly charming castle's been supervised by a women during different stages of its making, being also called the 'Castle of the Lady'. Tip: It would be unfair if you left the surrounding without having seen the spectacular official gardens, opulent and refined, speaking of taste and savoir faire.
There are many things to stop for in Loire Valley, and this is just a brief agenda of the point's you can't afford missing during your outdoor relaxing time. There is one last monument that you can't miss. This time, not only because of its beauty, but because it looks like being out place.
La Cathedrale de Chartre is a UNESCO World Heritage site and, without doubt, one of the world's most eloquent and representative examples of gothic architecture. Apart from the detailed stained glass windows of exquisite dedication towards art, the place is worth remembering about because of the legend of its construction. Its raising happened as a celebration after relic sacred Santa Camisia surpassed a fire unharmed. Tip: On your way to the cathedral, stop and marvel at the 12th century sculptures on the Royal Portal. With their robes stylized and their appearance cosmeticized, the statues show impressively lifelike features of the faces portrayed for the moment, a lot ahead of the fashion of time.


text:
Please wait...
{{var product.name}} added to the cart:Continue shopping or View cart & checkout
{{var product.name}} Item deleted.
Free Shipping on
Retail Orders over $100 (USA only)
Style : Country, Primitive, Casual
Collection : Table Runners
Material : 35% Wool, 33% Acrylic, 20% Cotton, 6% Nylon, 5% Polyester, 1% Other fibers
Weave : Hand Appliqued
Shape : Dakota Brown Hexagon
Manufacturer : Homespice
Color : Brown
Warranty : 3 Years
Backing : One Sided
Our table runners make great accents for your primitive home decor. These unique runners combine old world applique techniques with interesting designs to provide an exciting new decorating element.
Beautiful piece, nice colors, good description.....very happy!
Thank you for subscribing us!
We will keep you updated.


text:
Family Sessions
Your family session runs about 1-1.5 hours in length. This is a great amount of time for me to get to know your family, as well as connect with your precious kiddos. I create a fun atmosphere so your kids can feel comfortable with me. Once they feel comfortable, I can capture the best moments that describe your family perfectly. You will receive an online gallery with 45+ edited photos and prints.Please inquire for newborn sessions, or to learn more about my "baby's first year" package!
Investment: $300.00 for up to 5 people; $15.00 for each added individual
Senior Sessions
All senior sessions run about 1-1.5 hours in length. This allows plenty of time for your senior to get multiple outfit changes including prom attire, athletic attire, casual attire, dress attire, and more. Prior to the session, I take time to understand the requirements for senior portraits that will go into yearbook ads, and during the session, we will capture a great amount of photos to create your graduating announcements as well as fun photos that your senior will want to use for Facebook, or Twitter profile pictures. There are several different packages for you to chose from to best suit your needs. Also there is an online gallery of your beautiful and unique images to view and share with your friends and family.
Investment: $315.00 and up
You're engaged, congratulations! I remember when I got engaged, I woke up the next morning still not being able to believe what happened the night before…what an exciting time in life! There are few days as special as the day you marry the love of your life, and every day I wake up realizing I have the best job in the world: documenting that day for you. Over the years, a successful marriage is something I have grown passionate about. I strive to take that passion and use it to create an incredible wedding photography experience for you, from the moment we first meet in person, to the moment I hand over your final images.
Investment: $1850.00 and up. I'm also available for weekday affairs and elopements.
Videography services are also available starting at $1,000.
For more information or for event specific pricing available, please contact us today!


text:
Summer seems to have risen its head (finally!) in recent weeks and longer light hours in the sun always gets me in the mood for after work drinks!
There's something about sitting in the sun and enjoying a drink that slows the pace of life and melts away the stresses of the day.
Having been to Italy and seeing firsthand how the Italians do late afternoon drinks - relaxing outside, gathered around small tables with friends, enjoying a glass of something cool and small, fresh snacks - bringing a piece of this Italian tradition to Manchester would be a dream, right?
Well, authentic small restaurant group, Salvi's has answered that wish with the launch of their new 'Aperitivo Time' menu!
The aperitivo is such an integral part of life in Italy and Salvi's aims to bring this tradition into their Manchester restaurants, offering up a traditional aperitivo such as classics like an Aperol Spritz, Negroni, prosecco or an ice cold Peroni - teamed with a selection of authentic Italian cicchetti, including Salvi's famous imported buffalo mozzarella, along with cured meats, olives, cheese and breads.
The opening night saw a huge selection of traditional Italian snacks, served up sharing style at the front of the John Dalton Street, Cucina restaurant.
We were also lucky enough to try a few of the aperitivo drinks on offer such as a classic Negroni, Italian-style mojito and my favourite, Aperol Spritz - a bittersweet, refreshing mix of Aperol, prosecco and soda, swirled together with an orange garnish and loads of ice.
For just £10 per person, you'll receive a refreshing aperitivo drink from the selection and a board full of carefully prepared, Italian deli snacks.
You can get your own slice of Aperitivo Time at Salvi's Cucina on John Dalton Street or the Corn Exchange Mozzarella Bar, Sunday-Friday 4:30-6:30pm - it's your very own Italian Happy Hour!
Have you visited one of Salvi's restaurants?


text:
3. Sean Thackrey Pinot Noir Marin County Andromeda Devil's Gulch Ranch (2009)
Previously available for $64.95
Cally Pinot Noir with a real point of view. Bright, ripe cherries on the nose, but instead of the usual, heavy Cally vanilla oak, this is rounded out with herbal notes of pine needle and eucalyptus, with some earth and sweet pipe tobacco. Kept coming back to it. This might age wonderfully too.
Like this wine?
List It


text:
Portfolio Solutions
Global Trading Platform
Cash & Derivative Markets
As technology and trading options evolve and grow more complex, you can rely on State Street to be a strong and trusted global trading partner focused on helping you mitigate risk and minimize cost. Our expertise and neutrality provide you with full anonymity and help you maximize your liquidity reach.
Agency-Based Broker
Our agency execution model means we're not operating a proprietary trading book like other global brokers. Our team of investment trading professionals in Boston, New York, Sydney, and Toronto provide 24-hour service, throughout the global trading week, focused on facilitating your liquidity needs.
Our global trading platform is designed to intelligently access multi-venue liquidity, through the use of pre-trade optimization tools, algorithmic trading strategies and advanced smart order routing. With access to more than 50 strategies, we combine internal and external solutions with back-tested indicators from market observables, real-time liquidity analysis and intraday signals to help you capture performance.
Whether you need low-touch solutions, such as crossing1 and algorithmic execution, or the comfort of dealing with our traders in a high-touch model, we offer execution approaches that fit your business.
Multi-Asset Execution Services
When you use our global coverage for seamless electronic execution, you'll also benefit from our post-trade management and straight-through processing efficiency — in and out of your custody accounts held by us or a third party (based on your contract).
Commission Sharing Arrangements (CSA) Aggregation2
You can execute through our CSA program, aggregating multiple CSA broker research commission funds through one account while setting aside a portion of the commission to fulfill eligible third-party research obligations.
Commission Recapture Program for Asset Owners and Asset Managers
With our commission recapture program, asset owners can reduce trading costs and improve cash flow by returning some trading commissions to the underlying fund or asset owner.
Our Commission Recapture program:
- Has no volume requirements
- Enables you to direct the appropriate numbers for your fund or plan
- Taps an extensive network of global correspondence brokers for commission sharing
ETF Execution Services3
We have an "Authorized Participant" (AP) relationship with many ETF sponsors, and can act in the primary market directly with the sponsor to create and redeem shares.
Corporate Trading and Management Services3
For corporations looking to increase efficiency with expert execution, we offer:
Company Stock Trading
Use us as a broker or to lead the pool of brokers performing share buyback trading
Corporate Stock Repurchase
Let us manage your company stock plan transactions, tapping into our trading expertise within ERISA guidelines
1 Subject to the 28(e) safe harbour.
2 Offerings are currently available in the US only.
For institutional customers only.


text:
About Berry Sweet Daycare
Welcome to Berry Sweet Daycare, a family run childcare center located in Shawnee, Kansas, managed by Sarah and Jesse Starks. We are glad you could stop by! Please take a moment and look around, and if you need more information, do not hesitate to either give us a call or drop by to pay us a visit!
We are a caring center in a safe, clean, and very accessible environment. Our Berry Sweet teachers are trained to use the HighScope Curriculum as our educational approach, which emphasizes "active participatory learning." Active learning means students have direct, hands-on experiences with people, objects, events, and ideas. Our teachers offer physical, emotional, and intellectual support and expand children's thinking with diverse materials and nurturing interactions.
We take pride in providing excellent service, with numerous satisfied families as our references. Berry Sweet Daycare accepts applications regardless of race, gender, color, religion or nationality. We hope to have you as a part of our Berry Sweet family soon!
Come visit us today and meet our wonderful staff!


text:
|Peter Upton's
Subbuteo Tribute Website.
Old Figures - New Games.
Part One: Football Games.
The Team Colours Project (Ongoing illustrated team lists).
Miscellaneous Items - (1950s-1970s), (1980s-2000s), (odds and ends), (football clones), (cricket clones).
One of the most valuable possessions of any plastic kit manufacturer are the original moulds. As Airfix production over the last thirty years has shown, these moulds can have a long life if they are looked after properly. Of course this life span gives the moulds a high value, and there are many examples of them being sold between companies, allowing old forgotten kits to live again.
The same thing seems to have happened to Subbuteo's 1970s moulds, as the classic figures from this era have since reappeared in other games.
Zëugo Table Football.
Zëugo is an Italian Subbuteo table football clone that was first introduced in 1997. It was designed by Edilio Parodi, and is produced by the company that bears his name. Parodi was the Italian distributor of Subbuteo products, and when Hasbro stopped providing equipment for his Italian market, he produced this game to fill the gap. Parodi has a great reputation among the Italian table soccer fraternity, and his name is featured prominently on the boxes.
The standard box set has pitch, goals, two sizes of ball, and two teams in red and blue. So far, so Subbuteo! Later sets have different teams, with a final version using Aston Villa and Wolves who were also the final two sides in the team range. The pitch is a quality cloth one, unlike the recent Subbuteo nylon efforts, and the goals are a more robust version of the classic C130 World Cup goal. The player figures are based on the Subbuteo heavyweight figure of the 1970s but are clearly a second generation casting, being fatter and slightly less detailed than the Subbuteo equivalent. They are hand-painted in China, usually with a thick paint that looks bold and bright in play. The goalkeeper is on a blue rod, which is a couple of centimetres longer than the Subbuteo version.
The game is obviously Subbuteo table soccer under a different name, and you are left to wonder whether the Subbuteo patents have expired.
Unsurprisingly, Zëugo has a range of teams to keep players and collectors happy. This is obviously dominated by Italian club sides, but also has a few other top European sides, and some famous national teams. The original range consisted of 52 teams, and this was later expanded to 56. The original range can be viewed on the Zëugo Team Appendix page. The players were also available to buy unpainted, and the Woodentop shop in the UK did sell its own range of sides for a few years, covering most of the English and Scottish leagues, and other sides as requested.
The game does have an accessory range, but in general this is just spares for items in the box set; a pitch, goals, balls and goalkeepers. Subbuteo accessories have never been thin on the ground, and Parodi probably felt that teams would be the main attraction. However, there is one glorious exception to this rule. Zëugo has one accessory that Subbuteo doesn't have, although you may need a bigger house to enjoy it. This accessory is the running track. As the picture shows, this is a six lane track that fits around the Subbuteo pitch for the authentic European stadium look. Seeing as the Subbuteo pitch is already too big for some dining room tables, you may have to push two tables together to get the running track to fit. Add a full stadium around the outside of your running track, and you have a Stadium fit for the Champions League.... Except that the only way to reach the pitch to actually play the game would be to float down from above in a Tom Cruise/Mission Impossible type way.
In 2002 Edilio Parodi snc were granted a licence to produce genuine Subbuteo products by Hasbro. Parodi's Chinese workforce turned to painting Subbuteo teams, and the Zëugo range halted. When that licence expired, Zëugo was resurrected with a new range.
2004-05 Range.
With the end of Parodi's Subbuteo licence, the Zëugo range pretty much carried on where it left off. Rather than reproduce the original fifty six teams, the new version took forty four popular teams from the existing Parodi Subbuteo range, and painted them onto the Zëugo figure. The teams were housed in the existing square box, as shown at the top of this page. The set too, remained in the existing square box.
The one key difference was that the modern style flat bases designed for Parodi's Subbuteo range were now the standard outer bases for the Zëugo range. I believe that the old style bases were still available (possibly on request), but all the teams/sets I've seen had the new bases. The accessory range remained unchanged - pitch, balls, goals, goalkeepers and athletics track.
2006-14 Developments.
2006 saw the range amended slightly. Firstly, the teams were re-housed in an attractive blue box, which was more compact than the original design, but allowed room for a spare outfield player. Although the above illustration suggests a similar sized box to the Hasbro/Soccer 3D window boxes, these are actually quite a bit larger, and allow the players to be comfortably displayed and protected (as you can see with the Juventus player shown). A couple of new kits were added including the Juventus away kit from their ill-fated 2005-06 campaign. The biggest change however was in the bases. With the Enrico Techiatti designed "Subbuteo" base moving to Soccer 3D production (see below), Zeugo switched to Profibases.
In addition, a new edition of the game was produced in a large flat box. Like the team boxes, this set was essentially copying the Parodi Subbuteo design. Unlike the old square set, this new version had no interior inserts, and the two teams were simply supplied in the standard team boxes (the teams were generic red/white and blue/white kits).
The accessory range saw the addition of a Zëugo fence which, like the earlier bases, originally came from the Parodi Subbuteo range.
October 2006: Surprisingly perhaps, the new Zëugo box set
featured in the catalogue (and website) of my local toy shop - Gamleys. In addition, the Freemans
Christmas gifts catalogue of that year featured not only the set, but a range of
Premiership kits to go with it. These teams are in the numbered Zëugo range,
mostly between 50 and 75.
April 2009: The team range continues to grow. Astrobase have the range standing at 122, although it does look as if teams drop from the range as they sell out. Unlike the old Zëugo team range, newer versions of the same clubs do not always get the same number in the range. The Subbuteoworld website has numerous Zëugo teams, with the suggestion that the numbers reach over 200. However, these numbers do not match the Astrobase ones.
May 2010: A new team chart has been produced matching the Astrobase numbering. This reaches 161 teams, but only 114 teams are still available (as numbers are dropped as kits get replaced). In addition, 162-180 will cover all the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup who were not already being produced.
2012: The Zeugo teams are now housed in a minimalist green and white box, perhaps attempting to highlight its popularity with 1970s Subbuteo player/collectors who appreciate the shape of player and the hand-painted look. Pleasingly, the large box size remains, as does the spare player. Teams are available with either the modern Profi-base, or a more traditional 1970s style base. Teams with this older style of base have a sticker on the box stating "HW base", to make it easier to tell them apart.
The new teams illustrated are ref 250 Rochdale and 258 Inverness, which suggests that the Zeugo range is still expanding rapidly, as Italian table soccer team collections seem destined to do.
Soccer 3-D by Astrobase.
Astrobase are the leading Italian supplier of table soccer items, and are run by Enrico Techiatti. Techiatti's astrobases are regarded as the best quality pro bases, and come in a bewildering choice of sizes. Techiatti also designed Parodi's Subbuteo base and also his Subbuteo accessories such as the goals and fence.
With the ending of the Parodi/Hasbro agreement, Astrobase launched their own range of teams using the base and playing figure designed for Parodi, but obviously without the Subbuteo logos. This range was originally produced in conjunction with Subbuteoworld in the UK, but this agreement seems to have ended, with Subbuteoworld concentrating on heavyweight style Zeugo teams, and other UK sellers having 3D stock.
The packing is lower quality than the black box Subbuteo. The card box is thinner, and without the hanging tag. The white plastic interior is thin, and suffers the same problem as many late Subbuteo boxes - the indents are really too small for the assembled figures and their heads stick out. Some of the bases don't have as crisp a fit as the Subbuteo ones, but it is not a major problem. The painting style is glossy, and quite distinctive. It is not to everyone's taste, but they do look effective in play, and I'm pleased with the ones I own.All the teams are well illustrated on the Astrobase website (front and back) allowing customers to pick the teams they like with ease. However, don't visit if you do not have Broadband - too much video.
The team range has grown continually, and the number of different teams available is staggering. A look at the Astrobase website shows the 2005-08 range stretched over twenty-nine pages. With twenty-five sides on most pages, you are talking about 700+ teams. The 2009 range adds a further 170+ teams.... At this rate, there will soon be more Soccer 3D outfits, than were produced in the original fifty years of Subbuteo production. With table soccer a minority interest (even in Italy), it does make sense to sell many teams to the same customers, but the sheer quantities here seem overwhelming. It might be possible to collect a theme within the whole range, such as a particular league, or away kits of your chosen team, or World Cup groups.... I wonder how many of each kit is actually sold, and whether it is more of a "paint by request" service, within chosen parameters.
What this does illustrate is a problem of a modern day Subbuteo. The global game has thousands of teams, and fans tend to demand unique kits. With home, away, and third kits, all updated regularly, it is impossible to keep up. The Soccer 3D range gives good coverage of the Italian leagues, and English Premiership of course. There are World Cup teams featuring most of Europe and Africa (there are more than 50 nations in each of these qualifying sections alone!). There are some smaller English sides, and a reasonable spread of top European sides. There are world cup minnows, non-fifa Islands and regions (Cocos, Kosovo, Alaska, even Isle of Wight). The whole of the European Championship finals in 2006 (home and away) is covered, and many of the teams from the 2003 Subbuteo range (260+ teams in itself) have transferred across. There are a few South American and Mexican sides as well. The decision to sell named teams rather than numbered does leave far too many similar teams in the range. There are countless red/white/red kits that could have been covered with one team. Some teams also sneak back in as a later dated kit, or as a different side (the old Subbuteo Fulham is Salamanca in the 2009 range). Nevertheless, the range is still an immense undertaking, and something to be marvelled at!
There is also a Soccer 3D "heavyweight" range, which seems to be consist of the original Zeugo figure and base. This has yet another selection of teams, that this time includes most of the original (and now hard to find) Zeugo colours, in addition to an mix of old British sides, and some strange bits and pieces. It does look like an attempt to cover the teams produced by every other table soccer manufacturer on h/w style figures (i.e. Zeugo, Santiago, World Table Soccer), which gives this second range a rather cynical feel.
Soccer 3-D also have a range of accessories which nearly match the teams for sheer choice of finish. You can have fences, referees and balls in just about any colour you fancy. In addition, the new Soccer 3D version of the Astropitch has been very well received by the table soccer community.
Super Footy - by World Table Soccer.
Another old friend of this site, World Table Soccer have also launched their own version of the beautiful game called SuperFooty. This is a beautifully presented set, and will soon be backed up with a range of teams. World Table Soccer currently sell three different versions of their game. The budget version (£29.99) is the U-Paint Set. The customer can pick his/her own base colours, and the figures are unpainted. For £34.99 you receive the standard "Classic" edition, with painted teams. The "Pro" edition features GT Turbo bases, and costs £44.99.
As you can probably see, the figure is similar to the old heavyweight, but with the modern round base fitting. The figure is quite chunky, which makes it easy to paint, and robust for younger players. They also sell a reasonably priced "pro" base, the GT Turbo, which I believe is based on (or in fact is) the old reliable Sureshot base. Unlike other modern games, Superfooty has a "retro" style cotton pitch. The new versions of the game include a rules/playing guide DVD.
Total Soccer.
A new product for 2009, these teams and sets are made in China by Spanish company Netcam, essentially for the Spanish market. The original range was solidly La Liga based, but other famous national club sides and sets are now appearing. Netcam have licences with individual clubs for other figures/collectables such as FT Champs. This means that they can sell officially licensed products, which certainly helps the look of the range.
There are presently two different styles of box set, and a team range. The larger "Big Match" box sets feature two famous rivals in an appropriately illustrated box. The version shown here is the original "el clasica" version featuring Real Madrid and Barcelona. Alternatives include the Madrid derby, and the Milan derby. A cheaper "play set" comes in a more generic box, and a Liverpool version is shown here. The second side in these sets is an unnamed team. The boxed team range is slowly expanding, and they come in an attractive display box.
The individual teams are housed in boxes unique to the individual team. The boxes are in the familiar modern style, but are bigger and stronger than the later Subbuteo boxes with lots of room for the players. The most distinct thing about the players is that they are made of a much more rubbery plastic than other table soccer sides. Hopefully this means less broken ankles. The player design is unique, (the closest likeness is Stefan Corda's 2K4). These have individual touches both in the moulds (e.g. players with big hair) and in the painting (e.g. orange boots, captain's armband). The kits have great detail including badges, and numbers. The original teams had a sheet of tiny numbers/name stickers for the backs of the shirts, but later teams have numbers printed on. The bases look very much like Stefan Corda's Raptor design, and these have the team name and club badge printed on top. On the downside, the round pin of the player does not sit flush within the base, and some of the players look a little wonky due to their rubbery nature. In addition, some early teams had a problem with the dreaded "base rattle" - i.e. the weights had not been glued in properly. This seems to have been sorted with later teams, but I've not checked enough sides to be certain.
The original teams were Real Madrid, Valencia and Real Betis (Betis and Valencia are illustrated above, along with a later Roma).
The only English teams so far are Manchester United and Liverpool.
The range is recommended by FISTF, ESTFA, and other table soccer associations.
There was an eleven team range for the 2010 World Cup.
UK table soccer fans can find the range at Total Soccer teams from footballfigure.co.uk
The Team Colours Project (Ongoing illustrated team lists).
Miscellaneous Items - (1950s-1970s), (1980s-2000s), (odds and ends), (football clones), (cricket clones).