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layout: post title: Yetserday love was such an easy game to play. date: '2017-06-24T08:20:00.000-07:00' author: Adam M. Dobrin tags: modified_time: '2017-10-14T05:30:34.671-07:00' thumbnail: https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7iXBhdf7-tQ/WbkaYBl1pOI/AAAAAAAAG0g/Zu8cPu5p7B0Ufinn_Qvxv1N4_iaay_gRACLcBGAs/s72-c/Screenshot%2B2017-09-13%2Bat%2B7.28.25%2BAM.png blogger_id: tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758503587102933296.post-2790153980416034492 blogger_orig_url: ./2017/06/yetserday-love-was-such-easy-game-to.html
FOR IT'S YOU AND II've long held the belief that there was no better day or time to start "this thing" to start making the world a better place, and seeing the truth... well, than yesterday. It took me until this very moment, on September 13, 2017 to connect that oft repeated explanation of why "do it right now" was always my answer and will be until, well, until tomorrow. With no doubt, I believe with all my heart and SOL and my mind--that we are late to the party of truth and love, and that being late is not bad--so long as it doesn't for some odd reason make us wait yet another day. Today is the right day to see the truth, to start talking and working together, this very moment is "the right time." The right time for "freedom" to begin, in lieu of yesterday, well; it's today.
The stars have fallen from the sky in more ways than one, they are you and I in more than one way, and together the Heavens and Earth have "stopped the rain" and those tears, those tears are something we need, and need to see, to be free. To even know me a little bit, to ever get to know me, to see who and why the Doors too fall from the sky, it's just got to rain first. Hear the light, "it melts into wonder" see the word, it means "won dark to right" and it's talking about the Universe, it's talking about you and I.
let the the tears fall from the sky and from my eye
jesus wrote a blank check, it's a rain check
i've cashed it, and forged it
redde mihi in the sky
It was always this song, this "Touch Me" that I linked to this movement of universal voting, of truly touching my heart and seeing that the "You and I" is really about everyone, it's really everyone and you--every day we walk this maze to Heaven. To see that "teary rain fall" means freedom to me, and that doesn't lose light when you see Ra's in bright display on Ellis Island. It is "you and I" that rekindles a love for freedom and ensures that this story does in fact come to life. Turning around this southeasterly fall to oblivion and seeing the stone pointing to the northeast carrying the circle of the son in his hand; that's reality, that's the key to the you and I verse.
Some "light" reading for Yetserday...
I spent a very short time doing forensics in high school, but these were the two pieces that me and my mother chose together for me to read. This first poem is her favorite, and I am pretty sure The Gift of the Magi was something I read in AP English. I talk a lot about microcosms hidden away in my life, and these two pieces still touch me today, they still give me great hope.
Speaking of touching, yesterday was the one year anniversary of the very first "You and I" email linking the eponymous Doors song to the "election is not to die bold" message that is now on it's third iteration. It also happened to be Janet's birthday, so happy birthday to you. I am hoping that one day we will call it the youNiversary, and maybe some people will celebrate it. If I were to choose a day, a single day, that to define the change wrought by the touch of the master's hand, it would be June 23, 2016.
Well, you'll never believe it; but looking at "The Gift" it's just not the story I read in the year 1997; though I'm sure the story I read was called that. Almost positive. The story I actually read is included here also, it's called "The Necklace." For what it's worth, my "take away" from that story, linking it to the Magi and to the Touch... is something about the world "paying in" for a long, long time for a goal, or a thing that they weren't sure was real, or they were sure wasn't. In the end though, it turns out that it truly is "the real thing." This, friends, is the real thing.
This message begins by undeniable proving the existence of time travel both by predicting the 3/11/11 earthquake and the 9/11 attack in Exodus, Ecclesiastes, and Revelation and showing the world previously hidden and very obvious ancient references to modern technology--centering around computer science. With a tiny shred of thought and some serious research it the becomes clear that our entire computing industry (and the focus on science and technology in our time line as well as the arts) is part of an ancient and divine plan to build Heaven.
Someone, I can't seem to figure out who, has taken this message and tied it directly to now verifiable proof that our evolution of democracy was "helped in the beginning" and then artificially held back, using this same hidden technology. That through the years of our most advanced technological advances--from cars and phones to computers and the internet, we failed to make the obvious leap to attempting to use these technologies to advance the infrastructure of our "governments of the people," specifically for voting and the creation of legislation. Implied strongly, is the possibility that without some kind of disruption, it might have taken many years, decades, centuries, or forever for us to have moved past this idea of "representative democracy" being the very best system possible.
The Touch of the Master's Hand
'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar. Then two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?"
"Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three…" But no,
From the room, far back, a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loosened strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice,
And going and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand.
What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:
"The touch of the Master's hand."
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd
Much like the old violin.
A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine,
A game — and he travels on.
He is "going" once, and "going" twice,
He's "going" and almost "gone."
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the touch of the Master's hand.
The Gift of the Magi
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. There was clearly nothing left to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the look-out for the mendicancy squad. In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young." The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, the letters of "Dillingham" looked blurred, as though they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good. Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard. To-morrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling - something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honour of being owned by Jim. There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier-glass in an $8 Bat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art. Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its colour within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length. Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out of the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy. So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet. On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she cluttered out of the door and down the stairs to the street. Where she stopped the sign read: 'Mme Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.' One Eight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the 'Sofronie.' "Will you buy my hair?" asked Della. "I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it." Down rippled the brown cascade. "Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand. "Give it to me quick" said Della. Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present. She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation - as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and value - the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 78 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain. When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task dear friends - a mammoth task. Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically. "If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do - oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?" At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops. Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit of saying little silent prayers about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please, God, make him think I am still pretty." The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two - and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was with out gloves. Jim stepped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face. Della wriggled off the table and went for him. "Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again - you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say 'Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice-what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you." "You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet, even after the hardest mental labour. "Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?" Jim looked about the room curiously. "You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy. "You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you - sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with a sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?" Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year - what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on. Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table. "Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first." White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat. For there lay The Combs - the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped for long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise-shell, with jewelled rims - just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone. But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!" And then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!" Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to {lash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit. "Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it." Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled. "Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on." The magi, as you know, were wise men - wonderfully wise men - who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.
Dear Sea, see "Julian, Adam, Nanna... and" and Why it's art.
Adam Marshall Dobrin about.me/ssiah |


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Commitment to space travel has ebbed and flowed. Physicist Stephen Hawking believes the way to ensure human survival is to continue space exploration. Critics of space travel argue that Planet Earth is in dire need of our attention and resources right now. Is there a trade-off between going to space and fighting climate change, overpopulation and other earthly concerns? Be part of the live studio audience for this special edition of TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin.

subset: commoncrawl


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Alumni Profile
Booeymonger Owner Leads by Example
For Ron Vogel, CAS/BA '72, the lessons of running a business came as a student on the campus of American University.
Ron owns Booeymonger, a thriving D.C.-area delicatessen that cooks up specialty sandwiches fresh to order. He stays busy serving as what he describes as a "cheerleader/ motivator/repairman/traffic controller" for each of the deli's four locations—the original in Georgetown; Friendship Heights; Bethesda; and Ballston, the newest.
Owning a restaurant is not the first job he had in mind. When he came to AU, Ron set out to follow in the footsteps of his father and brother, who were dentists. However, science coursework did not prove to be his cup of tea, and a conversation with then-associate dean Ruth McFeeter changed his outlook.
"She told me, 'Do what you're good at, instead of what you think you should be doing,'" Ron recounts. What he was good at was the food business. He found a home at 97 Carry Out, a student-run carry-out service on campus. He began working there his first year of school in 1968, and by 1970 ran the entire operation.
What Ron experienced there laid the foundation for the rest of his career. "It humbled me," he says, with particular reverence for his fellow workers who served food directly in the dining halls. "They had a certain respect for the job, a certain respect for the students. It gave me a good sense of what hospitality is all about," he says.
A guiding principle that Ron lives by is treating all of his employees as if he worked for them. He has a clear philosophy on leadership. "There are two ways to motivate people," he explains, pausing to set up the contrast. "You can give them more money and more input on decisions; or you can work alongside them." Moments before uttering these words, Ron jumped up to assist a patron with a stroller entering his restaurant.
Booeymonger also has provided Ron with a natural outlet to stay connected to AU, primarily through the athletic department, which he passionately supports. Feeding athletes at countless sporting events sparked a close relationship with the basketball team in particular, with whom he occasionally travels.
A one-time AU basketball player himself, Ron's genuine admiration for student-athletes is obvious. "Whenever I talk to them, they want to ask me about my experience in business, but I want to know more about them!" he exclaims, his face lighting up. What inspires Ron the most about college athletics is the incredible amount of work the students put in to be successful both on the field and in the classroom. "I have such an appreciation for what they do."
As his restaurant hours become less intensive, Ron looks forward to spending more time volunteering at AU. He remembers fondly an occasion when he spoke to a class of business students, and he hopes he will get the opportunity again. In addition, he could see himself one day as a guide for Discover DC, a program that introduces new students to sights around the city. In whatever capacity he gives back, Ron will always cherish the personal interactions and most enjoy "dealing with students, helping them get involved."
Ron will be honored with this year's Alumni Eagle Award, given to alumni who have rendered outstanding service to the university, the alumni association, or both.


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I have not used any of the 6410 variants, but I would think if it has a UART interface that you should be able to connect to it and program it.
If it does have a UART interface be aware the correct voltage levels.
Then you should be able to refer to the mini6410 documentation to learn how to program it.


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"The Tineina contain the smallest of the Lepidoptera, and are best known as clothes moths. These clothe themselves at our expense in the warmest woollen garments, which they traverse in all directions, leaving behind a gnawed and worn-out path, so thin and bare as to yield to the slightest pressure. They also destroy furs, hair, feathers, and many other articles of domestic economy, and are the exterminating pests of zoological museums. To them we no doubt owe the destruction of the most perfect specimen of the Dodo known, which was once preserved in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford." — Encyclopedia Britanica; 1893
Lepidoptera: Moths and ButterfliesSource
The Encyclopedia Britannica, New Warner Edition (New York, NY: The Werner Company, 1893)
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Dragon dragon, rock the dragon
Dragons and jetpacks, Civilization and StarCraft. Mix'em all together and what do you get? Divinity: Dragon Commander.
Okay, it's a bit more complicated than that, but those are certainly the core elements at play when discussing Divinity: Dragon Commander. It's not quite a real-time strategy game as complex as StarCraft, and it's just shy of being as big-picture as Civilization. It does have jetpack-wearing dragons, however, which sort of puts things in perspective. I mean, what else really matters?
Divinity: Dragon Commander (PC)
Developer: Larian Studios
Publisher: Larian Studios
Release Date: August 6, 2013
The single-player mode in Divinity: Dragon Commander sets up a decent plot about a being who can transform into a dragon who is disputing with its other, equally crazy siblings. The story portrayed through the cutscenes is certainly well told, but serves as more or less a justification to go from one map to the next.
Though the tutorials don't do much to explain this, Divinity: Dragon Commander is a mix of boardgame-style territory control (a la Risk) and real-time strategy (RTS) battles. The majority of a "match" will have players moving pieces around a game board in an attempt to control and dominate as much of the map as possible. The biggest problem is that the tutorial doesn't even attempt to explain any of this.
After watching the multitude of tutorial videos, it's easy to assume that the game is only an RTS game, as it doesn't touch on any of the mechanics associated with the boardgame portions of a match. When first confronted with the board, some tooltips are displayed to help explain things, but they are incredibly insufficient. The tutorials for the RTS elements are also insufficient, as is the case with just about every non-interactive tutorial. There is a "Training Ground" that allows players to screw around as they please, but it does little in the way of actively teaching anything.
The boardgame portions of the game take place in turns and require a "big picture" type of thinking in order to play effectively. Two types of resources are up for grabs: gold and resource points. Occupying various areas on the map will add to the amount of resources gained per turn, the exact amount being displayed on the territory itself. When a battle occurs, the player has the option to choose a specific general, each with their own playstyle, to auto-simulate the battle and play the odds, or they can control the Dragon Commander and head into battle themselves.
The battles play out like many other real-time strategy games, but with one twist: the player can take control of a jetpack dragon and partake in the battle themselves. Doing so is somewhat limited; there are a couple of minutes in the beginning of the match in which the dragon cannot be spawned (it takes resources, which you don't yet have, to spawn the dragon), and there is a brief period after death in which the dragon cannot be spawned. The dragon has specific abilities at its disposal as well, each with its own separate cooldown. There are also three different dragons to choose from, each with their own abilities and playstyle.
Playing as a dragon is like playing a third-person shooter; it's very action-oriented. When doing so, however, it is important not to forget about the troops on the ground. Battles will be fought in tandem, as the player commands the dragon in the sky while their troops march beneath them into battle. There are limited army commands while in dragon mode, so it is possible to command an army while simultaneously breathing fire on enemy scum. Mastering these army commands is a hugely effective way to get a leg up on an opponent, since it's incredibly easy to forget about a ground army while soaring through the air and toasting fools.
Playing as a dragon against the AI can feel a bit unfair at times, as it takes a battle with a statistical 30% chance of victory and turns it on its head due to the enemy being disadvantaged and dragonless. It makes the single-player campaign a bit of a breeze on normal difficulty, so long as the player knows when and how to use their dragon. If multiple battles break out in the same turn, however, the player-controlled dragon commander can only be used in one of them, leaving the other two up to the AI and auto-complete. It's a nice caveat to give AI opponents a break from the one-sided dragon battles.
As for the non-dragon RTS mechanics, battles consist of vying for resources called Recruits. Recruits are gained over time as long as the player has Recruitment Centers built on top of certain locations around the map. These locations are neutral in the beginning of the map, and need to be captured by having at least one unit nearby. The beginning of the match is incredibly important as players have limited units and must try to capture and hold as many build locations as possible, both for Recruitment Centers and unit-producing buildings.
Since there are only so many locations that can hold buildings, players must decide which type of buildings to build and where to construct them. Most maps have at least some water, allowing for boats to be built and used, taking the battle from the land to the sea.
Structures can also be built on the boardgame-style map after owning a territory. The buildings have a variety of effects: some will increase the amount of gold or research points per turn, others will generate cards. Cards are strategic advantages that can be played before battles or on territories themselves. Some cards will reduce the amount of units on a territory while others will add units to the player's side during a battle or reduce the effectiveness of a specific type of unit on the enemy's team.
The RTS controls do feel a bit clunky when compared to the standards of the genre. Intermediate tactics like control groups can be utilized, but most units move way too slowly to micromanage effectively. In addition, the camera is constantly shifting position when going back and forth between RTS and dragon mode and it can be quite frustrating to constantly have to re-adjust the camera.
The true highlight of the single-player campaign is what happens in between turns, aboard a ship called the Raven. This is where the diplomatic elements come into play, as a group of five diplomats will constantly bug the player with proposals and recommendations as to how to run a country. Each diplomat represents a specific race: Undead, Elves, Dwarves, Lizards, or Imps. Making certain decisions will alter how each race feels about the player, so balancing the favor of each race becomes quite the juggling act.
The Raven is also where players will spend their research points. These points, accrued each turn, can be spent on new units and unit abilities or on new dragon abilities. Deciding where to spend research points is no easy feat, as doing so can drastically alter a playstyle. One player might want to spend heavily on their dragon, making each player-controlled battle that much easier, while someone else might want to focus on their army and let their AI generals auto-simulate the battles.
A good amount of humor is peppered throughout these interactions. One turn you may be asked to legalize an Elven herb with "healing properties" for medical use and the next you may have to pick a wife in order to form a political marriage with one of the races. There are plenty of goofy situations and decisions to be made, which are only made funnier by the fact that the council is completely serious about these proposals.
A lot of polish has gone into the interactions that take place aboard the Raven. Most of the dialogue is well written and can be genuinely funny instead of relying on cheap jokes for laughs. I continually found myself spending more and more time talking to the NPC characters simply because I wanted to read more of their dialogue.
It is, of course, also possible to take the battles online against honest-to-goodness humans. The Raven doesn't make an appearance in any multiplayer mode, since chances are people would spend forever in between turns, but its absence is made up by the presence of dragon-on-dragon battles. There are two game modes: Campaign and Skirmish, the latter of which is a single battle in the RTS-style of gameplay, without the boardgame map. The former is just like single-player but without the Raven.
The dragon battles are the clear highlight of multiplayer. Battles are no longer instantly won once the player decides to command their dragon, because the enemy player can do the same thing and fight back. The strategy shifts dramatically when a player knows that a dragon can emerge at just about any moment. Anti-air units are way more valuable as most of them, when grouped up, can take out a dragon pretty quickly. The dogfights, er, dragonfights, that can happen in the air are intense and are a true test of a player's focus, as it's even easier to forget about a ground army when using skills and dodging.
Each area and NPC looks unique and beautiful, both in terms of technical graphics power and character design. A pretty big issue for some players, though, is the lack of a colorblind mode, as the default colors of the single-player campaign are red and green. This issue persists on both the overworld map as well as mid-battle. During the battle, enemy units are labeled when far away from the camera with a red icon, but the icon goes away as they get closer for some strange reason, reverting back to the reliance on color differentiation. This is less of an issue in multiplayer, since players can choose their color.
The voice work of Divinity: Dragon Commander deserves special mention. With so many different characters aboard the Raven, the voice acting was immediately a cause for concern for me. Luckily, each character performs well and it is a joy to talk to each and every one. Sure, no one character's voice actor stands out as particularly amazing, but the sheer virtue of not having a single character grate on the nerves is not to be understated.
Divinity: Dragon Commander is a prime example of a game being bigger than the sum of its parts. The RTS elements are a bit rough, but at least it's possible to control a dragon with a freaking jetpack to blow stuff up, while the boardgame-esque territory map requires players to think of the big picture. Talking to the colorful cast of NPCs aboard the Raven in between turns in single-player was easily one of my favorite non-dragon parts of the game and really highlights the writing and wit that the Divinity series has come to be known for. The tutorial needs a lot of work and the game isn't very friendly to colorblind players, but Divinity: Dragon Commander will certainly unleash the dragon strategist in all of us.


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amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research
Posted by Kent Klindera, May 4, 2011
I am visiting Swaziland and last night I had a wonderful conversation with three 20-something gay men—an immigration official, a nurse, and a school teacher. Into the wee hours, over a little whiskey, we talked of their disdain for closet doors (one had recently been confronted by his parents and he did not lie); of their challenges in finding true love; male circumcision; and of their dreams of marrying a man and starting a family (one talked of mixing his partner's sperm with his to use with a surrogate mother). They also were pretty scared of HIV/AIDS and talked about how they "almost" always used condoms, but admitted not all their gay male friends feel at risk—this in a country where more than 25 percent of the population has HIV, the highest prevalence rate in the world. Swaziland has the highest HIV rate in the world yet its government denies the existence of MSM
Swaziland has the highest HIV rate in the world yet its government denies the existence of MSM
No research has been done here on HIV among MSM. Sadly, the government denies the existence of MSM and has not invested any funding in MSM-specific HIV programming. The good news is that the U.S. government is examining how to conduct a study on MSM and HIV, which would prove the existence of gay men and shine a light on risk factors associated with HIV. amfAR's MSM Initiative is currently supporting such a study in Zambia as well as others in Jamaica, Peru, and South Africa.
What I saw in Swaziland was idealism and courage. Three young men who recognize that they are "the change" (as Gandhi said: "be the change") and that they can help make Swaziland better for younger gay and lesbian people. The teacher, a masculine-looking guy, talked of how he is quick to stop school children from bullying other kids who are displaying "alternative gender norms," as well as students who may be transgender and in the process of realizing their identities.
In a country with very few freedoms (Swaziland is the last governing monarchy in Africa), it was great to be a part of a discussion of young men about to break free!


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The Gleim Personal Counselors are experienced, knowledgeable experts who can advise you on everything from how much study time you need to which part to take first. They can also answer any questions you have about the exam process or the exam itself.
For candidates using a Review System, the Personal Counselors will:


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With the all-electric BMW i3 already on the market and the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sports car poised for its own launch, the BMW Group portfolio boasts the world's first premium automobiles purpose-designed for zero-emission mobility.
The international media launch of the BMW i8 in Los Angeles will include the presentation of a solar carport concept developed by BMW Group DesignworksUSA for the use of renewable energy. It combines high-grade technology for generating electricity from solar power with an innovative design that perfectly complements the BMW i models.
In its choice of materials, design and colour, the DesignworksUSA carport concept takes its cue from the characteristic styling of the BMW i models to form a harmonious counterpart. The holistic sustainability concept is underlined by the materials used in the construction of the carport and by its solar modules. In addition to the carbon elements on the side of the carport, the principal material used is bamboo in the form of struts. Thanks to its rapid growth, bamboo is considered a particularly sustainable raw material. For the generation of electricity, high-grade glass-on-glass solar modules are used. These are translucent and very durable, as well as generating a high energy yield. For the panels used in Europe, the manufacturer offers a 30-year guarantee.
The solar carport not only guarantees the supply of green power but furthermore allows for energy self-sufficiency, so that customers remain independent of electricity prices. In conjunction with the BMW i Wallbox Pro, the car can be specifically charged with solar electricity from the carport. The Wallbox also indicates the amount of solar energy that goes into the car and provides an analysis of recent charging processes which shows the respective proportions of solar and grid power. If the solar panels provide energy beyond the requirements of the vehicle, this surplus solar power can be put to domestic use.
Generating private electricity with the aid of solar collectors and feeding this CO2-free energy via the BMW i Wallbox into the vehicle's high-voltage battery further optimises of the life cycle assessment of the BMW i models. Regularly hooking up the high-voltage battery to the Wallbox connected to the solar carport enables a high degree of CO2-neutral usage of the BMW i8. With a fully charged high-voltage battery, the plug-in hybrid sports car has a range of around 37 kilometres (22 miles) in all-electric mode.
During development of the solar carport concept by BMW Group DesignworksUSA, the spotlight was firmly on the harmonious interplay between vehicle design and architecture. The glass-on-glass solar modules of the carport are supported by exclusively designed bamboo and carbon elements that authentically reflect the hallmark lines and surface sculpting of the BMW i automobiles. "With the solar carport concept we opted for a holistic approach: not only is the vehicle itself sustainable, but so is its energy supply," explains Tom Allemann, who is responsible for the carport design at BMW Group DesignworksUSA. "This is therefore an entirely new generation of carports that allows energy to be produced in a simple and transparent way. It renders the overarching theme of lightweight design both visible and palpable." The BMW Group subsidiary headquartered in California runs an international design studio network in Europe, Asia and America. As an impulse-generator in the fields of design and innovation, the company works for the BMW Group brands as well as for numerous other high-profile international clients spanning a range of industrial sectors.


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25 Foot Karcher Replacement Pressure Washer Hose M22F to Click (fits New Karcher trigger guns)
This is NOT the original manufacturer's hose - This one is higher quality for extra durability & long life! Comes with a Professional Karcher M22 brass screw coupling to fit onto your washer. Features a heavy-duty, durable protective cover to protect against being damaged while being dragged along the floor. The other end of the hose features the Karcher "New" CLICK coupling to plug into the Karcher trigger gun. This hose will suit your new type Karcher K series domestic pressure washer. The hose should connect to the pressure washer by screwing on, and your trigger has a Yellow Button (not Black) to allow the hose to push in - This is the correct hose. Please note: This hose does NOT suit the older Karcher machines with a Black C Clip.
Same Day Shipping
Orders placed before 11am (pst) - 2pm (est) typically ship same day from our Mayfield Kentucky warehouse. There are exceptions, due to unforeseen circumstances.
We will either ship product either via USPS, mostly smaller parts or for larger products we use FedEx Ground signature required.
As soon as you place your order we will send you a confirmation email, and then once we ship your product we forward your tracking information via email.
Depending on where you are located in relation to Kentucky your product can take 3-5 business days to be delivered.
International Orders (including Canada)
As of now, we do not accept any orders shipped to an International or APO address.
Hawaii and Alaska
The shipping cost on orders shipped to Hawaii and Alaska is very high. There are additional surcharges to these two states and these will be presented inside the checkout.
Limited Life Time Warranty
(Overview and Terms of Limited Lifetime Warranty)
1: All internal electronic parts are lifetime warranted to be free from defects in material and workmanship when utilized for normal use by the original purchaser only.
2: One (1) year parts and labor on accessories and housing.
Accessories are warranted to be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of one (1) year from the date of purchase when utilized for normal household use by the original purchaser only. This does not include replacement of items due to wear.
For this warranty to apply the original purchaser must email firstname.lastname@example.com the date and place of purchase along with a copy of the original purchase receipt.
Should any defect covered by the terms of this lifetime limited warranty be discovered, our team will repair or replace any defective part provided the unit is returned by the original purchaser on file with the warranty form information.
The liability under this warranty is limited solely to the cost of the replacement parts or the complete unit at the discretion of Maxxus. This warranty is void if damage is resulting from accident, misuse, improper operation, unauthorized repair or alteration, tampering, commercial or other than home use, or damages accruing in transit. This warranty does not cover any shipping fees to or from our facility.
This warranty is extended to the original purchaser only and excludes all other legal and/or conventional warranties. The customer is responsible for all shipping fees to and from our facility. Carefully pack returning items for repair to avoid damage in transit. Be sure to include in the box all your contact information including name, phone number, email address and shipping address along with a prepaid return ship tag from UPS or FedEx. Contact at (650) 292 4445 or email firstname.lastname@example.com for making arrangements to return items for repair or service. EquipMaxx is not responsible for any shipping cost to or from our facility.
Shipping Damage or Missing Parts
In the unlikely event that your item arrives damaged or is missing parts please email us the details at email@example.com. Contact our customer service department within 7 business days of the delivery date to report any damage. Unfortunately, packages can be damaged during the shipping process after leaving the warehouse. If your order arrives at your door damaged, broken or defective, we will either replace the broken parts if possible or ship out a new one at our discretion and completely at our expense. Please be sure to inspect your item(s) for concealed damage even if you do not plan on using it immediately and always keep all packaging until you are satisfied with your item. PLEASE do not refuse any shipments as this limits our options in getting you a perfect item. Requests for replacement parts will be processed as quickly as possible but expect them to take 1 to 3 weeks to be received. Please email firstname.lastname@example.com with your needs.
No Hassle Returns Policy
If you want to return any product... no problem! We offer a no hassle returns policy that makes it easy.
If you receive a product and within 30 days would like to return it we will accept it for a refund. Please Note: there is a 20% Restocking Fee for returned merchandise.
- Our goal is to make your product shopping a pleasant and simple experience.
- Quality products you can rely on
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Sales Tax
Sales tax is charged for items shipping to California and Kentucky.
Payments can be made through US issued Credit Card/Debit Card or through Paypal. We gladly accept Visa and MasterCard through our checkout. Please enter your credit card number on the secure online order form.
We want you to be 100% satisfied with your EquipMaxx order. If you're unhappy with the item you purchased for any reason, return it to our warehouse within 30 days of the shipment receipt for an exchange or a refund of the full purchase price. (Note: If your item was damaged or defective, see our Damage section above). We are proud to offer the best return policy online. Please note: certain items are not returnable and will be clearly stated on the listing.
Returned merchandise must be sent to us prepaid and insured at the address listed below.
Please remember, all returned merchandise must be new (never been used) and in its original box with all the packing materials, manuals and registration cards intact. We will not accept dirty, broken or used products or any items in non-standard packaging. You will need to enclose your order/invoice number and/or a copy of your e-mail confirmation with your return along with a memo explaining the reason for return. Please insure your item with the carrier and send the tracking number to email@example.com once it ships. We will issue a refund (minus restocking fee) for the purchase price of any products you return that meet the above conditions within 3 days of receipt in our warehouse.
Please do not pack using Duct Tape only use clear packing tape.
All items must be returned to:
D&D (Maxxus)
1 General Street
Mayfield, KY 42066
Cancellations on orders that have already been processed will be accepted and handled in the same manner as returns.


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Comfortable Mt Hood vacation cabin rentals, affordably priced.
Lodging in Welches close to services, hiking, mountain biking, the golf course, Ski Bowl and Timberline Lodge.
Scenic surroundings and mountain fresh air.
Our quality Mt Hood lodging is perfect for year-round family vacations and romantic get-a-ways.
- Mt Hood Studio Vacation Cabins
- 5 Duplexes in the Trees
- Vaulted Knotty Pine Ceilings
- Sleeps 1 to 4 Guests
- Patio with Wooded Seasonal Creek View
- Near Skiing, Hiking, Biking, Fishing & Dining
Our quiet, wooded cabins provide lodging in Welches and are close to skiing, fly-fishing, hiking, restaurants, shopping and services. The cabins are a great location for couples weekends, honeymoons, wedding parties, family reunions, outdoor recreation and more… Choose from a 5 styles of Mt. Hood cabin rentals.


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Sanders-Brown Researchers Produce New Research on Little-Understood Brain Disease
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 5, 2013) — As the population of older adults continues to grow, researchers at the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging are engaged in work to understand the mechanisms of a variety of diseases that predominately affect those of advanced age.
Three recent papers authored by Dr. Peter Nelson and others at the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, explore the neuropathology behind a little-understood brain disease, hippocampal sclerosis (known to scientists and clinicians as HS-AGING). HS-AGING, much like Alzheimer's disease, causes symptoms of dementia - cognitive decline and impaired memory - in aged persons. Although Alzheimer's disease is probably the most recognized cause of dementia, HS-AGING also causes serious cognitive impairment in older adults.
In those who live to a very advanced age (beyond the age of 85) HS-AGING is almost as prevalent as Alzheimer's. Remarkably, HS-Aging appears to be a completely separate disease from Alzheimer's, although it is almost always diagnosed as Alzheimer's disease while people are alive.
The first paper, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, draws from a very large sample population and shows that presently around 20 percent of all dementia cases are diagnosed as HS-AGING at autopsy, although almost none are given that diagnosis during life. That means that the presence of this disease is currently almost unknown by the health care providers who are seeing patients.
Research of this kind could only be done with the collaboration of the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (or "NACC"; the first author of this study, Willa Brenowitz, is based in Washington state and works with NACC), enabling Nelson and colleagues to incorporate data from dozens of federally funded Alzheimer's Disease Centers around the country. These centers are funded by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health. The research was supported by NIA grant numbers U01 AG016976 and P30 AG028383.
A second study, "Arteriolosclerosis that affects multiple brain regions," appears in a recent issue of the journal Brain, and looks at small blood vessels in patients with HS-Aging and describes a specific change, called "arteriolosclerosis," which is present in patients with HS-Aging. This small blood vessel change may provide a new therapeutic target to alter the progression of the disease. These analyses were also boosted through collaboration with the larger NACC-based dataset. Further, the first author, Dr. Janna Neltner, provided critical expertise in digital pathologic measurement of the brain.
Finally, the third paper, "Hippocampal sclerosis of aging, a prevalent and high‑morbidity brain disease," appears in Acta Neuropathologica and offers an overview of HS-AGING for patients and researchers. This paper reviews the relevant scientific literature and also presses home the point that HS-AGING is a very common disease that exerts a strongly adverse impact on public health.
It is important for physicians and scientists to understand the unique pathology of HS-AGING, and to be able to differentiate it from other diseases, as it is only by making an accurate diagnosis that clinicians can hope to treat people who present with signs of cognitive decline. These current studies represent a leap forward in the knowledge base about HS-AGING, and represent potential new paths to explore for diagnosis and treatment of this serious, but under-appreciated brain disease.
MEDIA CONTACT: Allison Elliott-Shannon, email@example.com


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Why TIPS Won't Protect You from Inflation...and Other Government Lies
Politics / Inflation Dec 27, 2012 - 02:22 PM GMTIf the "World Snake Oil Salesperson Society" had a hall of fame, good old Uncle Sam would be a charter member. When it comes to smooth-talking folks into buying debt instruments, he's the slickest around.
And Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) are one of his slickest gimmicks.
Here's how the federal government describes TIPS:
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) are marketable securities whose principal is adjusted by changes in the Consumer Price Index. With inflation (a rise in the index), the principal increases. With deflation (a drop in the index), the principal decreases.
The relationship between TIPS and the Consumer Price Index affects both the sum you are paid when your TIPS matures and the amount of interest that a TIPS pays you every six months. TIPS pay interest at a fixed rate. Because the rate is applied to the adjusted principal, however, interest payments can vary in amount from one period to the next. If inflation occurs, the interest payment increases. In the event of deflation, the interest payment decreases.
When a TIPS matures, you receive the adjusted principal or the original principal, whichever is greater. This provision protects you against deflation.
Sounds like a sure-fire winner, right? If inflation goes up you're protected; and if deflation occurs, you'll still earn interest on the original principal.
When TIPS were introduced in 1997 my broker suggested them to me. My response was, "Okay, I'm the lender, right? And the amount of the loan, the interest rate, and the time frame are fixed. The only variable is the size of the final principal payment based on the inflation rate determined by the Consumer Price Index (
Let's look at the details. Both the interest and principal growth are taxed. If the government calculates the inflation and pays out a net 4%, the investor must pay federal income tax on the income. That sure seems like a guaranteed way not to keep up with inflation.
And the picture gets even worse in today's economic climate. The government's version of the inflation rate, which it uses to adjust the interest and principal payments, is currently 3% – but that's really a lowball estimate. In the last few decades the government has significantly changed how it calculates inflation. Using the government's 1990 method, Shadowstats reports that the true inflation rate is really 6.2%, which is a much more realistic figure. If that's the case, the loss of buying power to inflation is even greater. Not only does the investor lose to inflation by being taxed on the income, he also loses because the true inflation rate is higher than the government's rate. This results in a final principal payment lower than the true inflation rate. I would call that a double-barreled loser.
The government has changed its method of calculating the
I recently spoke with John, and he believes many consumers are under the illusion that the
In 1949 Benjamin Graham wrote an investment bible called The Intelligent Investor, and many pundits and advisors reference his work to justify their recommendations. Graham passed away before TIPS were introduced, but Jason Zweig has added some significant comments to the most recent publication of Graham's book, including a discussion on TIPS.
Because of the taxable nature of TIPS, Zweig suggests owning them inside an IRA or some other type of tax-sheltered account. He offers the following notes on TIPS:
In one easy package, you insure yourself against financial loss and the loss of purchasing power.
Either directly or through a fund, TIPS are the ideal substitute for the proportion of your retirement funds you would otherwise keep in cash.
For most investors, allocating at least 10% of your retirement assets to TIPS is an intelligent way to keep a portion of your money absolutely safe – and entirely beyond the reach of the long, invisible claws of inflation.
I would have agreed with the author when he wrote the book, but times have changed.
Most successful investors have a couple of things in common. First, they're not blinded by smokescreens and can see things as they really are. Second, they understand cause and effect. I suspect Graham, who had both of these qualities, would see TIPS for what they really are. When one applies these two principles to TIPS, a few conclusions become clear.
- TIPS won't protect against inflation if they're not held in a tax-sheltered account.
- If the government adjusts the principal of TIPS based on the
CPI inflation rate, the best an investor can hope for is to stay even with inflation. - If John Williams' inflation numbers are accurate, a TIPS investor risks losing a good portion of his life savings to the ravages of inflation.
Unfortunately financial planners tend to perpetuate the myth that TIPS adequately protect against inflation. Recently, when I asked a certified financial planner at a major brokerage firm how he protected his clients from the potential ravages of high inflation, he said he recommended TIPS. When I asked if they were doing anything else, he answered, "Not really." Several of my friends with managed accounts have also said their money managers "protect" them with TIPS.
Many financial planners simply take all of a client's financial information and plug it into the company computer, which then produces a report outlining a suggested financial strategy. If the person writing the computer program plugged TIPS into the formula, that's among the items a final report may suggest. If your planner insists that any of your money should be invested in TIPS, I would certainly ask for a solid explanation.
In my opinion, TIPS do the opposite of what they're supposed to do. With inflation on the rise and some creative accounting on the part of the scorekeeper, I think TIPS are a terrible investment. I urge every reader to do his own due diligence – ShadowStats is the best place to start. Questioning financial planners and money managers may lead to some stressful conversations, but the risk of losing a large portion of your nest egg to inflation warrants taking the time to educate yourself by demanding answers.
Many friends have asked me what they should invest in to protect themselves against inflation. Unfortunately, they're looking for an easy answer that doesn't exist. Only a combination of investments can accomplish the goal. Our model portfolio recommends a variety of alternatives to TIPS with the income potential and capital appreciation to help protect your portfolio.
Many readers may remember an entertainer named Alex Karras who also played professional football for the Detroit Lions. At the time, the Lions had a terrific defensive team and a horrible offense. When a reporter asked Karras for his prediction on the upcoming season, he replied, "I predict we will play to a lot of scoreless ties!"
If you're heavily invested in TIPS, a scoreless tie is the best you can hope for. At Miller's Money Forever we have much higher aspirations.
How I Realized the Government Lies about Broccoli
As a kid, I was led to believe the federal government was close to God. If a report came out from the government or even Walter Cronkite, no one considered questioning its authenticity. It was fact.
But somewhere in my 20s I actually started to think for myself a bit more and question certain things, including the government and its messages.
It all started with a headline-making government report. Apparently if I didn't eat broccoli – I mean at least two big helpings each week – I was certain to die of cancer by the end of the decade. Now, I hate broccoli. I hate the taste of it, the smell of it, and even the idea of having to eat it to survive. I began to suspect something was fishy.
Shortly thereafter there was a big editorial about Washington lobbyists corrupting America. I looked down the list and sure enough, there was a big broccoli lobby. Bingo! The broccoli lobby had corrupted the research process in the US. It bought and paid for the study that published the data indicating I had to eat two big helpings a week to avoid an early deathbed. Wasn't it that same broccoli lobby that paid someone to dump truckloads of broccoli on the White House lawn when Bush the First was president?
That was a traumatic day for me, realizing that the federal government could be paid to educate the public about something that wasn't true… particularly regarding broccoli.
I've finally concluded that any government that will lie to its constituents about big things like broccoli will think nothing of lying to them about little things like unemployment numbers, the inflation rate, nuclear weapons in Iraq, or the Vietnam War. Once it gets comfortable lying about the big stuff, the little ones come easy.
If you're looking to get past the lies and misinformation on TIPS and want straight talk on retirement planning and boosting your income during retirement—without having to go back to work—then take a few minutes to read my newest report in my Miller's Money Forever service.
© 2012 Copyright Casey Research - All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.
Casey Research Archive |
© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


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A look at pedalboards used onstage by Deftones, Alice in Chains, Dave Matthews Band, 311, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Johnson, and many more
photos by Chris Kies
Looking for more great gear for the guitar player in your life (yourself included!)? Check out this year's Holiday Gear Finds!
Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s Faded
SE Standard 24-08
MONO FlyBy Ultra Backpack
JBL 3 Series Studio Monitors
Guitar Tech Screwdriver Set
Xvive U2, U3 and U4 Wireless Systems
Elixir® Strings Acoustic Phosphor Bronze with NANOWEB® Coating
Elephant Foot Risers and Frames
D'Addario XPND Pedalboard
Cloudlifter CL-1
Caparison Horus-WB-FX MF
The Woman Tone
Templo Devices Holiday Specials
Taylors Guitars GS Mini
DR-05X Stereo Handheld Recorder
Sennheiser MD 421
Jaclyn Slimm
EARTHBOARD Pedalboard
Nobels ODR-1(bc)
Orangewood Guitars Oliver Jr.
Marshall CODE 50 Digital Combo Amp
Line 6 Catalyst 100
LR Baggs Venue DI
Kali Audio LP-6 V2
Eventide H90 Harmonizer®
Wilkinson R Series Trev Wilkinson Signature Pickups
Hercules Stands Five-Piece Guitar Rack with Two Free Expansion Packs
ISP Hum Extractor Pedal
Wampler Metaverse
Gator Cases Transit Guitar Gig Bags
DeLoach Guitars DL-225
Wampler Pedals Ratsbane
Outlaw Effects introduces their next generation of NOMAD rechargeable battery-powered pedal boards.
Available in two sizes, NOMAD ISO is a compact, versatile tool that offers the convenience of a fully powered board plus the additional freedom of not having to plug into an outlet. NOMAD ISO is ideal for stages with limited outlet availability, quick changeovers, busking outdoors, temporary rehearsal locations, and more.
NOMAD ISO builds upon the legacy of the ultra-convenient and reliable NOMAD rechargeable pedalboard line originally launched in 2018. The brand new NOMAD ISO editions feature eight isolated outputs (1 x 9V DC, and 1 switchable 9V/12V DC) for even more versatility and clean, quiet power. With an integrated lithium-ion battery pack boasting 12800mAh capacity, NOMAD ISO can fuel a wide array of pedals, and will last over 10 hours* on a single charge.
Each NOMAD ISO pedal board includes adhesive hook & loop pedal-mounting tape, eight (8) standard DC connector cables, and one (1) reverse polarity DC cable, giving you everything you need to build your ultimate "off-the-grid" rig. A rugged, road-ready padded gig bag with shoulder strap is also included, to safely protect your gear while you're on the move.
Dimensions: 19 ¼" x 5 ¼"
Dimensions: 19 ¼" x 11"
More info: https://www.outlawguitareffects.com.
Dunable announces new Minotaur model featuring Grover Rotomatic Keystone tuners.
The Minotaur's DNA is rooted in their classic Moonflower model, which Dunable discontinued in 2017. However, they have long since wanted to create a fresh take on a carved top guitar design, and various attempts to rework the Moonflower led them to a brand new concept with the Minotuar.
Dunable's goal is to give the player a guitar that plays fast and smooth, sounds amazing, and gives maximum physical ergonomic comfort. The Minotaur's soft and meticulous contours, simple and effective control layout, and 25.5" scale length are designed to easily meet this criteria.
Dunable Minotaur!
- 25.5" scale length
- Dual Humbucker
- one volume, one tone, push pull for coil splitting
- Grover Rotomatic Keystone tuners
- Grover Tune O Matic bridge with brass Kluson top-mount tailpiece
- jumbo nickel frets
- 12" fretboard radius
This full-amp-stack-in-a-box pedal brings a new flavor to the Guitar Legend Tone Series of pedals, Missing Link Audio's flagship product line.
Adding to the company's line of premium-quality effects pedals, Missing Link Audio has unleashed the new AC/Overdrive pedal. This full-amp-stack-in-a-box pedal – the only Angus & Malcom all-in-one stompbox on the market – brings a new flavor to the Guitar Legend Tone Series of pedals, Missing Link Audio's flagship product line.
The AC/OD layout has three knobs to control Volume, Gain and Tone. That user-friendly format is perfect for quickly getting your ideal tone, and it also offers a ton of versatility. MLA's new AC/OD absolutely nails the Angus tone from the days of "High Voltage" to "Back in Black". You can also easily dial inMalcom with the turn of a knob. The pedal covers a broad range of sonic terrain, from boost to hot overdrive to complete tube-like saturation. The pedal is designed to leave on all the time and is very touch responsive. You can get everything from fat rhythm tones to a perfect lead tone just by using your guitar's volume knob and your right-hand attack.
- Three knobs to control Volume, Gain and Tone
- Die-cast aluminum cases for gig-worthy durability
- Limited lifetime warranty
- True bypass on/off switch
- 9-volt DC input
- Made in the USA


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Yesterday, I was organizing the iRunFar offices while also helping my girlfriend pack for the Marathon des Sables stage race. That combo led to my pondering, "What gels would I take for an unending stage race?" Fortunately, I had all my energy gels laid out on my desk. I'll let you know what I'd bring, as I think it's representative of my favorite gels. What are your favorite energy gels when you fit the trails?
My Fin du Monde Stage Race Gels
- Clif Shot: Double Espresso – A great, earthy taste and 100 mg of caffeine (about as much as a cup of coffee) make this my wake up gel whether it's breakfast time or late at night.
- Gu Energy Gel: Jet Blackberry – I received some sample Mountain Berry Gus. They've disappeared quickly. I'll be sure to throw at least one in the pack for every long adventure until they run out!
- Chocolate Agave #9 – This low glycemic index (46) gel gel has fewer calories (70) than most gels. An enjoyable, complex chocolate taste from just two ingredients – organic agave and breakfast cocoa. Note the lack of added salt. Unlike other gels, this is not a significant source of electrolytes. Adjust accordingly.
- Gu Energy Gel: Vanilla Gingerbread – I'm pretty sure Gu originally named this flavor "I Can't Believe It's Not Gingerbread"… or at least they should have! The best thing about this gingerbread is that it's not going to go stale in a week. Just thinking about this gel makes me want to eat on. I just may. They're that good.
- Gu Energy Gel: Just Plain – Plain. Good and simple. Plain Gu is the gel I eat when I don't feel like eating a gel or, often enough, when I want a Plain Gu.
Of course, this being the selection for an unending stage race, I'd include primarily "energy dense" gels. Good thing I created an energy gel comparison chart last year that looked at energy density. (iRunFar Energy Gel Comparison article)
That's it from me. Let us know what your favorite energy gels are and why!


text: Astigmatism is an uneven or irregular curvature of the cornea or lens which can blur or distort vision. Other symptoms include eyestrain, headaches and eye fatigue. Most people have some degree of astigmatism. Moderate to severe astigmatism that impacts the quality of your vision can be treated by your Vision Source doctor.


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The new research, led by researchers at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy in Milan, Italy was published in Science Express.
The disorder that weakens the body's immune system is caused by a mutation in a gene that encodes the protein WASP. The most often used therapy is a bone marrow or stem cell transplant from a matching donor — often a sibling or relative. It can be curative for some patients — mostly those who have a strongly matching donor.
An alternative is to obtain blood stem cells from patient, and, in the laboratory, use gene therapy involving a form of retrovirus to take the normal gene into the cells to correct the defect. The patients are then given back the genetically changed blood cells back.
This approach has been successful in a number of diseases, including who had Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome. However, over the long term, some patients with immune deficiencies, including those with Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, developed blood cancers.
Researchers believe the viral vector used to take the gene into the cell inserted itself next to a oncogene in the DNA, turning it on and causing the cancers.
In this new research, the team used a partially inactivated lentivirus to take the normal gene into the cell, while reducing the risk of the gene inserting next to a cancer-promoting gene.
In these cases for whom there was no matching donor, the researchers led by Alessandro Aiuti of San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy in Milan, Italy; and including Dr. Jordan Orange, professor of pediatrics–rheumatology and Pinaki Banerjee, assistant professor of pediatrics — human immunology at BCM and Texas Children's, took the patients' own blood stem cells and, in the laboratory, used the lentiviral vector combined with the normal WASP gene to correct the genetic defect in the blood. After a special treatment to eliminate their defective immune system, they received their own blood cells that had been altered to contain the normal WASP gene.
After 20 to 30 months, the three children showed significant improvement. New blood cells had the corrected WASP gene.
Orange referred one of the patients for treatment and saw one of them at a recent meeting. He and Banerjee contributed to the analysis of the gene corrected patient cells at the laboratory level using highly quantitative high-resolution imaging Orange maintains a high-and super resolution imaging facility in the Center for Human Immunobiology at Texas Children's Hospital.
source : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130711142403.htm


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Flan and apple pastries from Bonaparate in Savage |
For the short-ribs-and-shrimp feast that the '34 Act Gourmet put on, I had to find something that could hold its own on the table -- and I had to do it on the way home.
That's how I ended up among Bonaparte Bakery's pastries in the Savage Mill. The bakery does spectacular breads, but I focused on the display case where I passed on several cream-and-pastry creations to buy slices of flan and individual-sized apple pastries.
These are high-end desserts. For $5 each, I got substantial desserts. Two of you could split one. To sample for the blog, the four of us split four. Dense, lightly-sweet flan slices -- almost more like a sweet-potato pie than a Spanish custard. Perfectly-tender apple slices with a sweet gel, baked onto a complex pastry crust that managed to be light and crisp without being dry.
Bonaparte does all kinds of intricate French desserts. The chocolate croissants and the breads make it worth visiting any time, but keep Savage in mind when you want something sweet to make a special dinner.
If you check out Laurel Meat Market from Howard County, then Bonaparte can be a quick detour on the way home. If you want more bakeries, check out my post about the revolution in bread in Howard County. If you want more intricate pastries, stop at Touche Touchet in Columbia, especially for the chocolate croissants, fruit tarts and cookies.


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Personality Howard is a Jewish aerospace engineer at Caltech's Department of Applied Physics who often hangs out at Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon Cooper's (Jim Parsons) apartment where he is best friends with Rajesh Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), he was born in 1981 as specified in season one's episode "The Pancake Batter Anomaly". Howard sports a bowl-style haircut and tends to wear loud, vintage, 1960-era outfits, a V-neck or tee shirt over a turtleneck or dicky which sport a variety of pins, and always has skinny pants. He is also fond of unusual belt buckles, which have included a Nintendo controller, a silver Batman logo, a 45 RPM record insert, a Klingon communicator and a buckle containing the superhero the Flash. Like his friends, Howard is a big fan of comic books and superheroes. It is also quite clear that his current and preferred personal transportation is via his Vespa motor scooter. Besides English, Howard is a polyglot and speaks other languages, these being French, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, and Persian and the constructed language Klingon from the Star Trek franchise. Although in the show Howard has been mentioned to speak these languages, the writers haven't explored much his proficiency. One time, when Leonard, Sheldon, and Raj went to their usual Chinese restaurant, the waiter referred to Howard as "their annoying friend who thinks he can speak Mandarin". As an evidence, when in S1E01, he greeted Penny in Chinese ("洗个痛快澡" "have a good shower!") with wrong tones. Another time, Howard addressed Penny in Russian («Ты очень красивая девушка» — "You are very beautyful girl"), but he had a really bad pronunciation. In season 3 (The Precious Fragmentation) he also has shown he knows some of the elvish language created by J.R.R. Tolkien for The Lord of the Rings novels. Howard fancies himself a "ladies' man" and he provides outrageous pick-up lines whenever there is a female present. Howard describes himself as a romantic, although he usually comes across as overtly sexual and, in the words of Penny, disgusting. Howard, much like Penny, dislikes many of Sheldon's antics, but he has grown accustomed to them. One time, Penny asked Howard why he and Raj became friends with Sheldon, he simply replied "We liked Leonard". Howard is allergic to peanuts, and they pose a serious threat to his life. He also mentioned having transient idiopathic arrhythmia. Howard is proud of the fact that he has only 3% body fat, which Raj notes makes him look like a human chicken wing. Although Jewish, Howard is not very serious about his faith and does not keep kosher. For instance, he eats pork, and when the price of pork went up at the group's favorite Chinese restaurant he remarked "it's getting tougher and tougher to be a bad Jew". When Howard got sick after eating a chinese pork cuision, Raj criticized him for eating something non-kosher and quoted Leviticus 11:3. In another occasion, when Howard tried to date Sheldon's sister, Missy, he said he would kill his rabbi with a pork chop if his religion was an impediment, and one of the reasons he was happy to continue dating a Catholic girl named Bernadette was the chance to really annoy his mom. Despite this, Howard has shown some belief in his faith. When he and Raj posed as goths to pick up women, he wore fake-tattoo sleeves on his arms, and refused to get actual tattoos so he could still be buried in a Jewish cemetery. Family Howard is noted for still living with his overbearing mother, who is oblivious to his accomplishments as a grown-up and usually treats him like he is still a child, filling the cliché of a Jewish mother. Mrs. Wolowitz is never seen on-screen but her voice is heard when he is at their house or when he talks to her on the phone. She talks to Howard always by yelling at him, which results in awkward long-distance conversations with Howard yelling back at her. She makes Howard's life miserable at home which prompts him to call her a "crazy old lady". In "The Precious Fragmentation" Howard reveals that his father left his family when Howard was 11. His mother bought him an Alf doll to help Howard try to get over it. When Howard finds a similar doll at a garage sale he starts talking to it as if he were 11 again, asking him to find his dad and bring him home. This causes Penny (who usually avoids Howard and is sickened by him) to be sympathetic. The trauma of this and the lack of a father figure throughout adolescence may be the root of much of Howard's behavior. Work Unlike Leonard, Sheldon, and Raj, Howard does not have a Ph.D., and is sometimes mocked about it, especially by Sheldon. He defends himself by pointing out that he has a master's degree from MIT. Howard is usually seen working on equipment to be used in NASA missions and the International Space Station, though many times he is careless about it. In the first episode, Howard mentioned working on the design of a satellite that orbits a moon of Jupiter taking high-resolution photos. Having worked on the Mars rover project, he invited his date, Dr. Stephanie Barnett, to drive it at a secret facility. Instead, the rover became stuck in a Martian ditch and he spent the rest of the night with Sheldon and Raj trying to repair the damage. When this proved unsuccessful, he decided to erase the hard drives of the facility to cover up his doings, only to later find out that the rover had discovered water in the ditch. On another occasion, Howard worked on a zero-gravity human-waste disposal system, essentially a "space toilet", that was deployed in the International Space Station. He later realized the equipment had a structural weakness, and again sought the help of his friends to correct it. The solution proved unsuccessful. Being the engineer among his physicist friends, he assumes the role of leader for small hands-on projects. He was the primary force behind "M.O.N.T.E.", a killer robot designed to enter a robot fighting competition. The robot was destroyed by Barry Kripke's own robot, the "Kripke Krippler", in an unofficial match. Relationships Howard is consistently depicted as the most sex-crazed of the guys. When it comes to women, Howard doesn't discriminate and is not very concerned by a woman's age or physical attractiveness, and he is open to try new things. One time he developed a mathematical formula for the likelihood of him having sex by applying and modifying the Drake equation to include the "Wolowitz coefficient", which he defined as "neediness times dress size squared". He stated, "I'm a horny engineer,... I never joke about math or sex". Howard's techniques to approach women are varied, including magic and card tricks, ventriloquism, and techniques from the Mystery Method, such as peacocking and negging. Along with Leonard and Raj, Howard also attempted to date Missy, Sheldon's fraternal twin sister. His offer wasn't accepted. Since the beginning of the series, Howard shows interest in Penny, but she always turned him down. After yet another approach by Howard, Penny finally confronted him about how he treats women. This greatly affected Howard, and he fell into depression, missing work and staying home. When Penny went to apologize, Howard told her about his past relationships and Penny showed some sympathy for him; after her comforting words, Howard tried to kiss her, but she reacted and punched him in the face. With the situation resolved, Penny believed they had come to an "understanding", but Howard thought he was merely "half-way to pity sex" with her. Howard engaged in a "friends with benefits" relationship with Leslie Winkle which brought him a few benefits beside sex. However, he still became depressed when Leslie dumped him some time later. In order to cheer him up, Leonard and Raj took Howard to Las Vegas, and managed to hire a prostitute for him. When the guys travelled by train to a symposium in San Francisco, Howard had a chance to talk to Summer Glau (portraying herself); eventually she got so annoyed by him that she broke his cell phone. During a camping trip with Leonard and Raj, in which they all got stoned by eating cookies laced with marijuana, Howard revealed he lost his virginity with his second cousin Jeanie, after his uncle's funeral. Despite the fact that Howard is undeniably obsessed with women, he is accused of being in a homosexual relationship with Raj. In the show, this has been pointed out by Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, Leonard's mother. In her words, they are in an "ersatz homosexual marriage". Raj and Howard have several arguments during the series, in which Raj repeatedly accuses Howard of leaving him for everybody who's only slightly better looking and otherwise assuming the cliché female role in partnership arguments. More recently he has a new romance named Bernadette (Melissa Rauch). A waitress paying her way through graduate school microbiology studies, Bernadette was introduced to Howard via Penny. At first she and Howard did not get along, as they appeared to have nothing in common. However, when they found out they both had overbearing mothers they immediately felt a connection. Subsequently, Howard realized Bernadette was a real opportunity to develop a lasting relationship, and in an impulsive manner he proposed to her. Although Bernadette rejected his offer, they remained a couple for a time, but they did eventually break up. Now there is often a running gag between Leonard and Howard mocking Raj for being single. In The Plimpton Stimulation, Howard briefly mentioned that he and Bernadette broke up a couple weeks earlier, but did not mention it since he "was waiting for the right time." Non perdere tempo a leggere.. ma se vuoi.. Sono una persona di sesso maschile circondata da troppa gente comune.. e.. sono in cerca delle mie radici nerd.. studio grafico quindi se avete qualche richiesta non esitate a Bazingare! Un giorno conquisteremo il mondo insieme ai piccoli umpa-lumpa della scienza!!! bwahahaha
Kenny Easterday – The Man with Half a Body
Equinoxe – Evolution (8Bit Girl)
Proteus Syndrome
Nine Drawings
Immagini Surrealistiche
Halo T-Shirt incauto acquisto
Meet the super Cow
Star Wars T-Shirt vecchio incauto acquisto
The Everyday Life Of The Imperial Stormtrooper
The Hard Times Of RJ Berger
Bendito Machine
Summer Wars [easter egg]
La Venere Acchiappamosche robot
FFFUUUU il sito
Ciao Darwin
Unown Alphabet
BSG Cylon Action Figures
Halo Reach: elmetti per Xbox Live
Escape from Tatooine
Wallbase, wallpaper per tutti
La Top 10 del BSoD
The original Light Sabre Simulator
Star WarZ: Ah new hop
The Asylum
Leeroy Jenkins
Jurassic Park Operation Genesis
Raccolta di Spot Japan con Schwarzenegger
LA Pizza TV Spot
La più grande "fan" di Alice Nel Paese Delle Meraviglie
Colpisci Cespuglio!
Darth Vader si diverte con poco lol
Van Gogh e la Monna Lisa vendono caramelline!
Verona ComiX
The Dangers Of World of Warcraft
Super Effective!


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The blinkered members of the US Congress are confused. Not an unusual condition, but it is particularly evident in proposed legislation on how best to cope with Iran should it show bad faith on its nuclear program.
The American fist hovers above the Washington-Tehran negotiations, a constant reminder that sovereignty on matters nuclear tends to be qualified and held in deep storage. The question for those politicos in Washington, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is whether they would like to withdraw the fist, allowing negotiators to breathe a bit, or darken matters further.
That fist comes in the form of S. 1881, otherwise termed the Kirk-Menendez bill or the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013. The bill was introduced on December 19 by Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL), claiming that it would not be an obstacle, let alone a contradiction, to the Iran-P5+1 talks. AIPAC has made little secret of its enthusiasm behind the bill.
What the bill effectively does is sink the Geneva interim agreement or Joint Plan of Action signed on November 24 between Iran and the P5+1 powers while leaving, in the words of Ed Levine of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation "a Hobson's choice between going to war with Iran and accepting Iran as an eventual nuclear weapons state." It imposes unilateral guidelines for compliance. It targets Iran's mining and petroleum industries (Huffington Post, November 19, 2013). And it makes Congress the ultimate judge of the whether Iran is behaving appropriately.
Levine makes a few arguments to support his claim, many which find their mark. The Kirk-Menendez bill tends to be expansive and purposely untenable, created in order to fail. For one, it links Iran's compliance not merely in terms of nuclear activities but also in terms of testing missile programs, notably those "with a range exceeding 500 kilometres." There is no time period specified for such compliance.
Another provision of the bill, notably s. 301(a)(2)(H), loops Iran with terrorism and compliance. The President must able to certify that "Iran has not directly, or through a proxy, supported, financed, planned, or otherwise carried out an act of terrorism against the United States or United States persons or property anywhere in the world." Levine puts it this way: if a bomb by Hezbollah was to detonate outside the firm of a US office in Beirut, sanctions would become effective even if Iran's nuclear activities and negotiations were being undertaken in good faith. Nor is there a time limit on that provision either.
The question posed, not eloquent, not elegant and not even admirable, is whether a vote is required on the bill that would slap a disobedient Iran on its meaty wrists should the occasion arise. US political representatives are at odds about it. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is not convinced anybody is in a hurry, and prefers the strolling approach. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a co-sponsor, would like to take a leaf out of his counsellor's book: "let's talk about it." According to Reid, "While [negotiations] are going on and while the legislative process is working forward here, I'm going to sit and be as fair an umpire as I can be."
Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) sums it up rather neatly by his comments that he is not averse to smacking Iran, providing it is done after the chat. "I'm willing to vote for additional sanctions if negotiations falter, but right now, we're in the midst of the first serious discussions with them for a very long time about ending their quest for nuclear weapons, and I think we need to give the diplomatic opportunity a chance" (The Hill, January 14).
The intervention by Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), who deems the bill a "march to war", may well be one of the more significant riposte's to the bill's passage. While she has a love affair with security, notably of the NSA type, it is an affair with American security. To see Israel's interest in the subtext of the bill proved a touch irksome. "While I recognise and share Israel's concern we cannot let Israel determine when and where the US goes to war. By stating that the US should provide military support to Israel should it attack Iran, I fear that is exactly what this bill will do."
Her speech is not grand in its penetration, having stretches of dullness, but it does make a vital point. Regimes are not petrified. Feinstein remembered the Spain of General Franco, barred from the UN till 1955. "Spain is now a close partner of the United States and a fully democratic member of the EU." South Africa abandoned apartheid. Vietnam opened up. The former Yugoslavia dissolved leaving independent states. In short, she believed that "a nation can change." Kudos was granted to Iran's moderate President Hassan Rouhani; direct communication between Iran and the US had been facilitated.
For Feinstein, the bill represented "an egregious imposition on the executive's authority to conduct foreign affairs." Congress might well have done a bit more imposing over previous foreign policy decisions, but on this one, it needed to take a back seat. Keep the sanctions in check. Don't impose any more in case they upset the applecart. Allow the negotiators to do their work.
Even conservatives and Iran hawks are against the overgilding quality of the bill. Jeffrey Goldberg, for one, argues that Iran hawks, having gotten what they want – an Iran willing to negotiate after a regime of punishing sanctions and the threat of military force – now wish "to slap additional sanctions on the Iranian regime" (Bloomberg, January 14). Five major newspapers – the New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and Minneapolis Star Tribune tend to agree.
The unimaginative Republicans are getting anxious to vote on the bill, given that it has reached a near filibuster-proof quality. "We believe we ought to have that vote," claims Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). But they, and AIPAC, may well be disappointed, at least until they get their numbers, let alone perspective, in order.


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Man breaks into Indianapolis home, crawls into bed with two girls
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – An Indianapolis family is pleading for help to find the man they say broke into their home and ended up in bed with two little girls.
Veronica Mildenberg says her 6-year-old and 10-year-old daughters were sleeping in the top bunk of her bed when the stranger climbed up with them.
The 10-year-old woke up and screamed.
"He must have climbed up the stairwell and got in bed with her," Mildenberg said. "That's when she hollered for her grandma. He woke her up because he touched her leg."
The surveillance video below shows the suspect peeking into the windows of the home on New York Street around 1:45 a.m. Minutes later, family members say he went to the back of the home and climbed through a kitchen window with a broken lock.
"I remember my daughter waking up saying, 'mommy, someone touched me, a man touched me,' screaming and crying," Mildenberg said.
Robin Marcun, the little girl's grandmother, says she ran to the bedroom when she heard her granddaughter scream.
"I happen to look in, I thought I was freaking out, I seen a grown person," Marcun said. "When I got to the door handle, he jumped out at me."
"I said 'who are you and why are you in my house?' He said, 'it's storming, I live two doors down and you let me in and said I could stay all night," Marcun said. "I said, 'you really need to get out of my house, I don't know who you are, I've never seen you.'"
The family says the incident has left them frightened and on edge and they're now taking extra precautions to protect their family – including putting alarms on all of their doors and windows.
"Ever since then, it's like if I hear a noise I'm completely awake," Marcun said. "Is he going to be out there watching me? Is he coming back or what? It's a scary situation."


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DVD Review —
Expert Companion Bird Care Series: Volume I
By M S Echols and B L Speer
2010. Avian Studios, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Price US$24.95. Order online at: https://avianstudios.com
This DVD is the first in a series on bird care aimed
at the serious bird owner. It brings together practical
and current information on the housing and
feeding of pet parrots, as well as information on
recognizing signs of illness in pet birds, and
discusses common household toxins. These topics
are discussed in 15-minute segments, and cover a
great deal information, which is well illustrated.
For example, the section on housing discusses
appropriate cage sizes, layout, positioning, perch
choice and techniques that can be used to provide
environmental enrichment. These sections are
very good, and would be of use to the pet owner
as well as generalist veterinarian who want to
improve the level of care they provide to their
avian patients. There is also a section on parrot
identification that, in the author's opinion, is too
general to be of much practical use. However,
owing to the scope of this project the information
is of necessity general in nature, and owners of
more unusual species will have to do further
research after viewing the DVD. For display in the
waiting room, for educating clients, and for a
review of basic psittacine husbandry, this series
promises to become an indispensable addition to
the library of veterinarians seeing pet birds.
W van Wyk
E-mail: email@example.com
Jl S.Afr.vet.Ass. (2011) 82(1): 8–17