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Duff McKagan: Q&A with the Velvet Revolver bassist and one of Fender's latest bass signature artists …
Duff McKagan
A Q&A with the Velvet Revolver bassist and one of Fender's latest bass signature artists …
McKagan onstage with his Jazz Bass Special.
Photo by Scott Uchida
In all of hard rock, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more reliably solid bass player than Duff McKagan. When Guns N' Roses came boozing and brawling out of Los Angeles in the mid-'80s to restore a much-needed shot of rock 'n' roll authenticity to a scene (and charts) dominated by an embarrassingly harmless glut of pretty-boy hair-glam poseurs, the volatile group's swaggering sound and songwriting were smartly underpinned by McKagan's strong, clear bass work.
From more than a decade with Guns N' Roses to other groups such as Loaded, Neurotic Outsiders, and his current stint with Grammy-winning hard-rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, the lanky McKagan has always turned in powerful bass performances that combine no-nonsense hard rock with the energy and spirit of punk and a solid devotion to groove. Although he has many basses, McKagan still wields his longtime favorite, a mid-'80s Fender Jazz Special that served as the model for his 2007 Fender signature model.
Born Michael McKagan in Seattle in February 1964, he is the youngest of eight children and grew up in a musical household in which everyone was encouraged to learn an instrument. Nicknamed "Duff" by a neighbor while still a young boy, McKagan learned guitar, bass and drums and was playing in punk bands by his early teens (he was the first of many drummers for Seattle punk-pop heroes the Fastbacks). At age 19 he moved to Los Angeles, where he immediately met guitarist Saul "Slash" Hudson and concentrated on bass guitar. Both musicians soon joined vocalist Axl Rose, guitarist Izzy Stradlin and drummer Steven Adler; this lineup of Guns N' Roses played its first gig in June 1985 at the Troubador in West Hollywood.
GN'R, of course, went on to untold heights of rock stardom with multi-platinum albums Appetite for Destruction, GN'R Lies, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II before the original lineup imploded. McKagan went on to record or perform with Iggy Pop, Neurotic Outsiders, Loaded, 10 Minute Warning, the Racketeers, the Presidents of the United States and others before forming Velvet Revolver in 2002 with Slash, drummer Matt Sorum and vocalist Scott Weiland.
In June 2008, McKagan called time out from his busy schedule—working on a new Loaded album and auditioning new singers for Velvet Revolver—to speak with Fender News about his history, his original Fender Jazz® Special bass and the 2007 Duff McKagan signature model based on it, the occasionally dubious nature of Wikipedia and the refreshingly candid fact that he is definitely not a gear-head …
FN: You were born in February 1964 in Seattle—the month the Beatles first played on the Ed Sullivan Show.
DM: Yeah. It was also … Kennedy was shot, like, three months before. A bunch of stuff happened right around then.
FN: Your Wikipedia page says you started out on guitar and drums. But you know Wikipedia …
DM: I haven't looked at my Wikipedia page! I suppose I should …
That's not so accurate. I was the last of eight kids, and one of my older brothers was a bass player. He played in bands, like, in the '60s and in the '70s, and he was the coolest guy—still is a cool guy. He was really like the cool guy in our neighborhood, and he was my brother. And there was a left-handed Les Paul Custom bass in the house, and so—I write left-handed—I would've played left-handed if he didn't move out. He's 14 years older than me, that particular brother, and he moved out when I was young, so there's no more left-handed guitars or basses in the house. So I had to learn right-handed when I started playing on my own. So when I started I was interested in bass.
There was great music around my house, growing up—Sly and the Family Stone, and Hendrix, the Stones, James Gang and Zeppelin. Cool, cool music. But the groovier stuff is what kind of hooked me in—like Sly and the Family Stone. And there was a drum kit next door to our house; there were musicians. You know, all my other brothers and sisters played something and, next door, their family was a big family too, and they all played something. So there was music and instruments around. So I learned how to play drums pretty early on, and guitar and bass.
And the first punk band I had, you know, when it was kind of "my time" to start playing, punk rock had just happened. And it was great for a young musician—I was 13, and there were no rules; it was like, "OK, form a band and go play a gig." And if you can't get one, you put your own gigs together and everything was OK. There was a lot of freedom of musical thought and ideas, and it was really great. And so, in the first band I played in, I did play bass. But the second band, I was asked to play drums, and so I played drums a lot, like, in my teens, and I played guitar in other bands and I played bass in other bands, too.
FN: You played with the Fastbacks, right?
DM: Yeah, that was my first band that I played drums with.
McKagan onstage with Velvet Revolver.
Photo by Scott Uchida
FN: Very cool band.
DM: I'm making a Loaded record right now, and I was up in Seattle all last week, and Kim (Fastbacks bassist/vocalist Kim Warnick) is my dear friend; she's my musical mentor. To this day she's my musical mentor. Kim was tending bar and she said, "Hey, come on up," And so I went up, and Kurt (Fastbacks guitarist Kurt Bloch) was there and Lulu (Fastbacks guitarist/vocalist Lulu Gargiulo) was there—so the original Fastbacks were all in the same room, and it was like, "Man, we should play a gig!"
FN: How did you get the name "Duff"?
DM: Yeah, my mom—I don't know if she ever called me Michael. "Michael" was a really popular name back then in the '60s. On our block—it was an Irish Catholic neighborhood—there were a lot of kids being born; a lot of boys being born, and a lot of Michaels. And since I was the last of eight … you know, whatever the last kid was, at any given time they were always called "Baby." I mean, that's what I call my kids. But my mom knew I was going to be the last one, and I was being called "Baby," and she thought, "Well, this isn't really going to work because he could get stuck with the nickname 'Baby,'" which wouldn't be too cool. And there was an Irish grandfather in the neighborhood, and he nicknamed a bunch of us on the street. Since there were a bunch of Michaels, he gave a few of us different nicknames, and mine was "Duff." And it stuck—my mom called me Duff, and all my friends. Everybody did.
Now, I don't change my name to Duff because it just would be too much of a pain in the ass, I guess, at this point.
FN: When you moved to Los Angeles at age 19 in the mid-'80s, you met some key people in your future almost immediately, didn't you?
DM: Slash. Uh-huh—right away. I decided I was going to play bass to get my foot in the door. My drum kit was a piece of crap and I was an OK guitar player—at that point it was '84, and I played like (Johnny) Thunders and Steve Jones. And at that point there was a bunch of Eddie Van Halen/Yngwie Malmsteen kind of things going on in L.A., and I didn't want to get looked at in that same vein. So I thought, "OK, well, I'll sell my stuff; I'll buy a bass and I'll buy an amp, and I'll get my foot in the door and see what the lay of the land is in Hollywood.
And the first guy I met was Slash and, wow, I was glad I didn't play guitar, because he was already so good and so soulful at 19. I understood where he was coming from; he understood where I was coming from, and we really had—really from the first night we met—we had a musical understanding that is still there to this day.
FN: That doesn't happen often.
DM: No, no. It just doesn't happen.
FN: After that, the rest is history for you …
DM: Yeah, so once we formed the band—Guns N' Roses—it was like, "OK, well, I am a bass player." I'd never taken one of the instruments I played real seriously. I thought, "Well, I'll just be a multi-instrumentalist (laughs)," you know, like Prince. But I started to take bass pretty seriously and started to work on my chops and listen to passing notes and things, without just playing the root note all the time.
FN: In your melodic intro to "Sweet Child o' Mine," for example, it seems clear that you were thinking like a bass player.
DM: Yeah, yeah. That's when I started thinking like a bass player—when we were writing those songs. And to really think about a groove, and talking to Steven (original GNR drummer Steven Adler) and sitting and playing with Steven for hours. We played, like, Cameo and stuff. And it took a lot to simplify Steven's thing, but in simplifying his thing we created this really cool groove that he made his own. You know, he really was a groove drummer.
FN: You've always played a somewhat unusual Fender model—a mid-'80s Jazz Bass Special.
DM: Yeah. We got our record deal; Guns N' Roses got signed, and we each got, like, $7,500, and I could finally buy what I wanted to buy. And I went into Guitar Center and I saw that bass—the one I got in '86—a Jazz Special. I think I played it through a setup they had there, and the bass just felt right. It sounded perfect for what I thought I should sound like, and I've really never changed. They started making those at the Custom Shop for me, and I'd get them when I could.
Close-ups of the Duff McKagan P Bass.
FN: How does your 2007 signature model compare with your original?
DM: It's actually better, for some reason. There were prototypes and stuff, but they sent me the one that, I guess, was the first one, and I signed it. They sent it out on the road; they wanted me to sign it and send it back (laughs). And I played it—it was before a gig somewhere—I played it and I asked McBob, my tech, I'm like, "What's different about this?" And he said, "Well, nothing." I said (laughs), "Well it sounds better than mine." And he says, "I don't know … maybe something in the wiring they did or something."
FN: That must've seemed strange …
DM: Yeah. It was just killer. And I don't have a hard time when people ask me, "Hey, should I get one of your basses?" They're killer basses.
FN: Did it ever seem weird to you that it looked so much like a Precision but was called a Jazz?
DM: I didn't really care much about the name of it, you know? And, truthfully, I really didn't know at the time the difference between a Jazz and a Precision, really. I didn't really stop to look around; I didn't really stop to study what a bass was and what it was called and why that one was a Precision and why that one was a Jazz, or whatever. I didn't care—you know, if it played good, that's all I cared about.
FN: It seems so often that a bassist is devoted strictly to one or the other, so it's cool to hear you say that it wasn't about that for you.
DM: Yeah, and it still isn't. I've got a Reggie Hamilton bass that I think is killer; I've got a Geddy bass that I think is cool. I'm really not that particular as long as it sounds good.
I remember, I was looking for a Les Paul like in '91 or something, and I thought, "Oh, Lenny Kravitz—he knows everything about guitars." And I called him—we were friends with him early on, me and Slash were—and I said, "Hey Lenny, how do I know which Les Paul is good? Does it gotta be, like, a '71 or a '60 or …" you know, I didn't know anything. And he goes, "Well I don't f—–' know. How does it feel?" I said, "Oh, you know, uh, OK; that's what I should go off of?" He goes, "Yeah—how does it feel? How does it sound?" And that's kind of like me, you know; it's like guys like us—we just don't really care about all the other s— if it sounds good and plays good.
FN: You're making a new Loaded record right now; the band first recorded several years ago, right?
DM: We did, yeah. Before Velvet Revolver. We play every Christmas up in Seattle for a charity, and this last Christmas it just felt too good. So we decided, "OK, well, let's make a record this summer." So I wrote a bunch of songs and we're making a record, but it's not a vanity project; it's just my fellas. It's not business; it's fun.
FN: Will Loaded tour after the album comes out?
DM: Yeah—we're going to Europe in September. I'm taking two weeks off from Velvet Revolver, and we're gonna go out and play a bunch of clubs in the U.K. and play some festivals in Spain and Milan.
FN: And Velvet Revolver is as busy as ever?
DM: We're trying out singers all this week and next week. Hopefully we'll get our guy. We might've even got him today, actually.
FN: Really? We won't even ask …
DM: Yeah (laughs).
FN: That must be a relief.
DM: We're moving on, yeah. Anything would've been better than to continue on as it was going. It was just … it was gnarly, this last year.


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Summer has officially arrived and it is oh, so, good. So excited to share another hidden treasure around these parts with you...and at the perfect time nonetheless. Summer? Popsicles? Perfect! Take it away Kim!
(image via vintage fine art prints)
The other day when I was in Staples, I forget what I went in to get….not uncommon for me lately. Fortunately I ran into Chris Anderson, and she showed me her really cute flyer she was having made up for her new company Bella Pops. This made me so happy; I didn't mind forgetting why I was there.
The thought of popsicles reminds me of when I was a little girl. My friend Barbara lived 3 blocks up from me on Sunset Drive, in the summer her brothers sold popsicles out of the garage. It was a long walk, uphill the entire way. But it was well worth it, because in their freezer they had a multitude of flavored popsicles to choose from.
The Bella Pops that Chris makes are more sophisticated then the popsicles of my childhood; her pops are true healthful frozen gourmet treats. Made from fresh fruit, pure cane sugar, natural flavorings & fresh herbs. No artificial anything! Such a great idea! Of course I had to invite myself over to try a few. When it comes to food, I am not shy.
On the menu for our tasting were 3 of the many flavors to choose from.
- Strawberry/Basil: I loved the addition of the cinnamon basil; maybe because it made it seem just a little more of a grown-up treat.
- Meyer Lemon: Perfect balance of sweet & tart, and a touch of lemon zest for added flavor, I could eat about 6 of these…no kidding. I didn't, but would have if there was nobody around to watch me.
- Chocolate /Orange: Decadent for sure, No cream, but the texture is smooth and the rich dark chocolate flavor was offset perfectly with the orange, it's flecked with zest of orange too. Far too rich to eat more then 1
I was not able to choose a favorite, but it was between the Meyer Lemon and the Chocolate Orange, both were too good to say one was better then the other. I am also anxiously waiting the fresh watermelon pop that is in the works too!
Popsicles make me smile. Memories of sitting on the curbside in front of Barbara's house, on a hot summer day, enjoying a popsicle and giggling as we watched the older neighborhood girls come by and flirt with the brothers.
Bella Pops are available at the Pismo Pier Farmers Market Wed 3-6pm
For your special event, wedding or party. Call and make a tasting appointment.
Delivery and non-electric freezer containers are available.
Bella Pops
Handcrafted Frozen Pops
(805) 781-0827

subset: commoncrawl


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The euro is not in trouble but there are big imbalances in the euro area that need to be addressed, the Eurogroup's president Jean-Claude Juncker told CNBC Wednesday.
"I do not think the euro is in danger," Juncker said in an interview.
The imbalances should be remedied by structural reforms, while a macroeconomic debate regarding the competitiveness of countries in the euro zone should have taken place "more intensively" over the past few years, he added.
"I think governments are realizing that if they are in some budgetary crisis they are there because they were losing in terms of competitiveness," Juncker said.
On Tuesday, German chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the euro was in an "exceptionally serious" situationbecause of the Irish debt crisis.
The Irish government is releasing details of a 4-year fiscal plan and, as part of the efforts to bail out its overstretched banks, would take a majority stake in Bank of Ireland and could fully nationalize Allied Irish Bank.
In another CNBC interview, European Central Bank Governing Council member Yves Mersch said the ECB will be able to gradually phase out the measures it to support the euro zone economy.
Mersch said that, although the ECB's bond-buying program will not be scrapped, it "is not at present in the same functioning mode as it has been six months ago."
S&P downgraded Ireland's credit rating to A from AA- late Tuesday, sending the euro to a two-month low.
The euro was trading at a two-month low Wednesday, shrugging off record German business confidence on continued worries about the debt crisis.


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Yearly mammography screenings for women ages 40 to 59 do not reduce breast cancer deaths, even though they make a diagnosis of illness more likely, according to a long-term study of nearly 90,000 Canadian women.
The research, published Tuesday in the British Medical Journal, is the latest in a series of studies that question the value of annual breast X-rays for pre-menopausal women and whether too many women are being "overdiagnosed" by the popular test.
"We found absolutely no benefit in terms of reduction of deaths from the use of mammography," said study leader Dr. Anthony Miller, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
The controversial finding is unlikely to trigger an immediate change in national screening policies, although it will enliven an already heated debate over screening. Experts have been arguing the merits of breast X-rays since 2009, when a government panel recommended that most women under 50 could safely skip the test. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force determined that the chances that a 40-year-old woman would be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in the next 10 years was 1.44% and that her odds of dying from it were just 0.19%.
However, the breast cancers that strike women in their 40s are often more aggressive, and they account for about 17% of deaths from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.
The ACS and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend annual mammograms for women beginning at age 40, and the National Cancer Institute advises women in their 40s to have the test once every year or two. The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care advises women to have mammograms every two to three years between the ages of 50 and 74.
The British Medical Journal report, based on data from the Canadian National Breast Screening Study, argues that mammography all too often finds small cancers that would never become dangerous if left alone. Roughly half of all cancers found by mammography — yet undetected through physical examination — fell into this category, the study authors wrote.
The researchers examined the medical records of 89,835 women in six Canadian provinces between the ages of 40 and 59. All of the trial participants received annual physical breast examinations, while half of them also had yearly mammogram screenings for five years, beginning in 1980.
Over the next 25 years, 3,250 of the 44,925 women in the mammography arm of the study were diagnosed with breast cancer, along with 3,133 of the 44,910 women in the control group. In addition, 500 patients in the mammography group died of breast cancer, as did 505 women in the control group.
The researchers found that women who got mammograms were more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer but that the test did not reduce their risk of dying from the disease.
The research team calculated that 22% of the cancers found on mammograms were overdiagnosed. That means that for every 424 women who were screened, one received unnecessary cancer treatment.
The study did not address the use of mammography as a diagnostic tool, which most experts agree is valuable.
In light of their findings, Miller and his colleagues concluded that "the rationale for screening by mammography should be urgently reassessed by policymakers."
The American College of Radiology, one of the leading critics of the task force recommendations, was quick to denounce the study's conclusions. The group said in a statement that the Canadian National Breast Screening Study was "deeply flawed" and "incredibly misleading." Among other problems, the study relied on "second-hand" mammography equipment that was operated by poorly trained technicians, the group said.
"It would be an outrage for women if access to screening was curtailed because of the poor results in the Canadian National Breast Screening Study," said Dr. Daniel Kopans, a senior breast imager at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "It has been known for years that the trial was compromised from the start."
The study authors said they stood by their conclusions and challenged the critics to produce data showing that mammograms reduced deaths. Other recent studies have found that advances in breast cancer treatment have eroded some of the benefits of early detection.
"Modern treatment is so much more effective now that the lead time gained by mammography has little impact on the outcome," Miller said.
Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, an epidemiologist and biostatistics professor at Dartmouth College's Geisel School of Medicine, said the study offered the highest-quality evidence yet on the prevalence of overdiagnosis.
"I think there's growing realization that all is not well with mammography," said Welch, who co-wrote the book "Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health." "People in the cancer community and the cancer surgery community are aware of the problem of overdiagnosis. They're aware that mammography was oversold, that its benefits were exaggerated and its harms were kind of downplayed."
In an editorial that accompanied the study, three breast cancer experts from the University of Oslo who have studied the effects of screening in Europe said Miller and his colleagues made a convincing case that current policies should be reconsidered.
"This is not an easy task, because governments, research funders, scientists and medical practitioners may have vested interests in continuing activities that are well established," they wrote.
Similar studies on mammography screening have been conducted in Europe, and critics have said that they don't apply to American women. The Canadian researchers said that their results are highly pertinent to the United States and that their study is probably the largest we will ever see.
"Many people believe you do not adopt policy on the result of one trial, and yet there's not likely to be another trial like this," Miller said. "It takes too long."


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Monday September 16, 2019; 10:58 am EDT
Let's raise the stakes on voting
Annapolis voters — all 4,277 of them — have decided who gets to run for mayor of our capital city.
Democrat Josh Cohen, the current mayor, will run against Republican Mike Pantelides in November.
Cohen won the right to run again by beating Democratic challenger Bevin Buchheister 1,774 to 1,332.
Pantelides won the right to move on to November by beating two competitors. Republican voters gave him 765 votes to Bob O'Shea's 365 and Frank Bradley's 41.
Only a Democrat and a Republican get nominated because only Democrats and Republicans get to vote in Maryland primary elections.
That's one good way to keep the vote down. Party rules closed the Annapolis primary polls to the 4,836 citizens otherwise registered as independents or Green or other.
But Citizens know the best way to keep the vote down: Don't vote.
Of 23,675 voters registered in Annapolis, fewer than 20 percent bothered to vote.
True, contests were few.
In addition to the mayoral competition, in only two of eight wards did one candidate challenge another. Both were races between Democrats.
In Ward 1, serving alderman Joe Budge won the right to keep the job, beating Tom McCarthy 374 to 171.
In Ward 2, Kurt Riegel won the right to run against serving Republican alderman Fred Paone in November. Riegel won 355 votes to opponent Tim Manutti's 180.
Each of the nine competitors ran for reasons that gave voters choices. You could find out what choices they offered pretty easily. They came knocking on your door and gathered in forums to talk to you.
September 17's vote was a referendum on the candidates. In the Democratic competition for mayor, where choices were clearest, Buchheister was opposing the direction of development — especially at City Dock and Crystal Spring on Forest Drive.
What happens now will, as I wrote last week, affect the lives not only of Annapolitans but also of all of us tied to Annapolis by its role as our capital city and perhaps our place of employment.
We've got it all wrong about how to get more people to vote.
Accessible registration, early voting, cheerleading and admonitions: none of the bright ideas we implement to get out the vote is working.
Maybe we should try reverse psychology, the tactic at work in states where voting isn't your right for the asking.
In Alabama, Kansas and Tennessee, you've got to prove you're a citizen before you can vote. Making you hunt for your birth certificate or excavate your passport might put a higher premium on voting.
Maybe we could even revive poll taxes, under the theory that you don't value anything you get for free.
Absentee voting offers lots of ways to make us reach a little higher for the right we take for granted. We could require students away from home at college to get a note from their dean and their mother to apply for absentee ballots. We could carpenter a nice narrow window — say in January, when all snowbirds are flown — for applications for absentee ballots, which could, of course, only be requested in person.
We could decide that people in the military, in the Peace Corps or diplomatic corps live in the country where they're serving.
The Anne Arundel County Council used a parallel strategy to turn Daryl Jones out of office because he was serving five months in prison out of state for tax evasion. True, Maryland courts overturned that decision, and Jones got his seat back this week. But it worked for a while.
Anyway, we're not talking about taking people's votes away, only making voting more precious because, like gold, it's scarce.
If you don't like reverse psychology, we could revive patronage. Under that time-honored system, your political party buttered your bread. Voting for its candidates was part of the way you showed party loyalty. Sit on your vote, and you'd find yourself without not only butter but also bread.
Makes sense, doesn't it? We're more likely to vote if there's something in it for us. Something immediate, like a paycheck. Or something rare that you've got to work for.
Of the two approaches, I prefer patronage. I'm open to queries about just how much my vote is worth.
What about you? Send your bright ideas for getting out the vote to [email protected].
Sandra Olivetti Martin
Editor and publisher; [email protected]


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- Ingredients
- About the brand
- Review
- Age
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- low protection (SPF 6 – SPF 10)
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About the brand Shiseido
Shiseido fragrance | Shiseido beauty brand was born in 1872 which makes it one of the oldest brands of skin care in the world. Over the course of its history, Shiseido saw the rise of many different categories of beauty products in general, probably the most prominent among them being hair care and skin care for both women and men.
For the longest time, Shiseido products have been reliable and highly effective in helping the brand's customers feel beautiful. Especially over the last few decades, Shiseido also became one of the most popular fragrance brands on the market.


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Jeff Shane/Daily Record
Editor's note: The reorganization of the Cañon City School District is the No. 3 story of 2012.
The Cañon City School District underwent some significant reorganization in 2012 including the consolidation of two elementary schools and the creation of an expanded exploratory school.
The Cañon City School Board in April voted unanimously to close Madison Exploratory School and Skyline Elementary School and to establish a new elementary school, Cañon Exploratory School, in the Skyline School building. The new school serves kindergarten through fifth grade, with an option for sixth-graders to remain in the program.
The decision stemmed from the district facing a budget cut of nearly $1 million for the 2012-13 school year. The district has faced declining enrollment in the last 10 years and had eliminated 40 jobs since 2009.
The board considered several options and recommendations to trim the budget, as well as improve academic achievement and better utilize district facilities. The cost savings of establishing the new school was expected to be about $125,000.
"This action was not taken lightly, obviously, it's closing a school, and it's closing a school that has some pretty passionate parents and has some pretty awesome kids in it," said board member Larry Oddo during the April meeting.
The board made its decision after hearing recommendations from a Budget Reduction Committee comprised of school board members, parents, teachers, support staff, administrators and community agency and business representatives that was formed to find ways to reduce the already-squeezed budget.
After reviewing an extensive facilities assessment, the committee in February recommended that the board consider closing one or more schools.
The board also had two special meetings in March and April to hear public input on the proposed recommendations.
"It was never our intention to get to our goal simply by closing schools," said board president Honey Moschetti during the April meeting. "Many options were presented, and every line and item was looked at and discussed. Academic achievement was, and is, foremost as we move forward."
The board also approved to establish the former Lincoln Elementary School as the "Lincoln School of Science & Technology" to serve as a vehicle for improving science achievement in the district. In addition, the board approved the consolidation of the alternative Garden Park High School program at the Garden Park facility with Cañon City High School and to move the program into CCHS. GPHS closed, saving the district $87,000.
In November, the Cañon City School Board approved listing contracts with the former Madison School building and the Garden Park Learning Center with Bill Christiansen of Century 21 Real Estate.


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A contractor summit connecting Connecticut businesses to opportunities coming out of Electric Boat's new multi-year $17.6 billion submarine contract with the Navy, originally expected to attract a few dozen companies, instead brought about 300 manufacturers Monday to the Avery Point campus of the University of Connecticut.
EB spokesman Robert Hamilton said about three-quarters of the contractors were from the state, but others came from Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York. Officials said the idea behind the summit was to draw wide interest from the contracting community, allowing firms to find out more about the defense procurement process and perhaps provide for healthier competition among companies to keep down costs.
"It's kind of a new environment for subcontractors," said U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, in an interview outside the auditorium of one of Avery Point's academic buildings.
Courtney said that with a contract in hand calling for 10 Virginia-class nuclear submarines to be built by EB over five years, manufacturers that might otherwise hesitate to invest in expensive equipment and processes for a one-time deal now have the confidence that their services could be used over a longer period of time.
"There's a lot of interest now that the sub rate has become more substantial," Hamilton said. "That's going to be good for everybody."
Anne S. Evans, director of the U.S. Department of Commerce at the Connecticut District Office, said the event was closed to the public because it involved defense contracting and procurement issues.
But one of the attendees willing to talk outside the auditorium, Joseph Loffredo, general manager and vice president at South Windham-based Micro Precision LLC, a firm that already is doing a substantial amount of manufacturing for EB, said he was there to support Courtney's efforts, meet other suppliers and get more information about new sub work.
"It takes a village," Loffredo said. "We support a lot of smaller shops."
At a press conference earlier this month, officials said the summit -- the most substantial get-together of EB-related defense contractors in years -- would allow attendees to understand what the shipyard buys and what its standards and certificate requirements are, as well as offering an overview of future needs. It also could help contractors not already involved in submarine work to get in on the estimated $79 million worth of sub-related purchase orders recorded in the Second Congressional District last year.
In addition to contractors, attendees included Marjorie Valentin, an associate dean at Three Rivers Community College, who said she was there to hear about EB's manufacturing needs in order to better align the educational institution's programs with potential jobs. She noted that there is a "critical skills gap" in such areas as metal manufacturing that educational institutions must address to ensure that job openings can be filled.
George Mathanool, chairman of the Groton Economic Development Commission, congratulated Courtney for helping southeastern Connecticut businesses connect to millions of dollars of potential defense work. He suggested that as a follow-up, incentives could be developed to encourage some of EB's 5,000 national suppliers to relocate to the state.
"Congressman Courtney has done tremendous heavy lifting on southeastern Connecticut's behalf," Mathanool said in an email. "This summit is another good example."


text: Blog Of The Nation Judge A Book By Its Cover — Everyone Does! April 6, 2011 You know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover. But admit it, you totally do. And authors know it. Matthew Galloway at The Awl spoke with several authors about their experiences with cover designs and blurbs.


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seanazul needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 42 designs submitted by 17 freelance designers.
We are starting a tutoring company called Little Professors and need a logo that is professional and fun
Little Professors
We would like an logo that will resonate with parents and students. As mentioned above, it needs to be professional yet fun. Our service matches students with tutors that match their learning needs.
- Pretty open here
- Nothing Cold or offensive
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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The Mount Cavern Trek in Mount Remarkable National Park has been closed due to safety concerns until further notice.
We acknowledge and respect the Traditional Custodians whose ancestral lands we live and work upon and we pay our respects to their Elders past and present. We acknowledge and respect the deep spiritual connection and the relationship that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have to Country.
We also pay our respects to the cultural authority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their nations in South Australia, as well as those across Australia.


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Oh, Dear. Vajazzling is Here
Ready to be Vajazzled?
Here's one for the "In-Case-You-Missed-It" file. Think of the Bedazzler--you know, that utensil that presses rhinestones into clothing--and then think of your most private parts getting the same treatment. Yes, I am afraid it's true. Ladies are decorating their nethers with little shiny crystals. The celebrity who has recently shared her love for "Vajazzling" is Jennifer Love Hewitt. Oh, dear.
What do you think?
Get vajazzling in orlando, FL at: Go Bare! unisex body waxing & skin care. Find out more & see samples of work at: www.GoBareOrlando.com


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Call me a stick in the mud, but part of my skepticism disagrees with the concept of True Love/Soul Mates. It is all a fantasy, a wish. I hope this discussion will either help me feel better about feeling this way, or change my mind. Go for it.
Views: 550
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You might know Michael Avon Oeming best for drawing the cartoony yet gritty tales in the hits series Powers, written by Brian Michael Bendis. But the artist's also a well-regarded writer in his own right. Oeming's next work will be coming out from Dark Horse and Kotaku's got an exclusive look at the moody interior artwork.
The Victories will focus on a group of superheroes who appear to fit certain archetypes but with far more tortured backgrounds than the characters they remind you of. Look for the first issue to hit this summer. Click on the Expand button in the lower-right section to see each image in full.


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From Sabine, the Assistant Cook and one of the activists on board the Arctic Sunrise in the Med right now - for our bluefin tuna campaign.
I have been at sea for almost five weeks now. To be out on the sea puts everything into a different perspective. Everything is magnified – both our human community and wild, pristine nature. For, not only is there a different, very special camaraderie among people on board, all of us being confined to a small space together for six weeks, but when you look at the sea and see no land and nothing but blue – the water, waves and the sky - our human presence in this setting feels quite miniscule.
In view of this it is a trip to try to understand how human beings – such a minority species – can inflict such damage. How we are capable of hunting bluefin tuna to extinction.
At the same time it is even more baffling to realise that we are practically the only people out here trying to directly stop the bluefin tuna fishing. And we are but a tiny spot within the Mediterranean Sea.
Now, we all read up on environmental and social injustice issues from our homes, in the newspapers, and take part in online actions to try to create a change – an important one. At the same time there is something amazing about actually being right in the middle of the action–– it is quite amazing to see that there are not many people out there in the field, so to speak.
Just looking at the sea and seeing nothing but blue and the water and the waves, and maybe an occasional fishing vessel in the distance, again shows me how small we are. This again reinforces my belief in the importance and necessity of activism, of direct action to protect the planet. I think it tends to get forgotten that direct action actually does make a difference that a few people can set off larger scale environmental and social change. So, if anything, my experience on sea and the different perspective of humans and nature that is triggered by it, reminds me of the necessity, power and effectiveness of this kind of action – for if no-one goes out and does something against the impending bluefin tuna extinction (and, needless to say, this applies just as well to all other forms of life on the planet) the whole issue at hand will just remain as abstract and removed from our "lives" as the tuna that is served on your plate in a restaurant.
Being right at the scene of the bluefin tuna fishing is a great reminder that activism, indeed, can create a change, that a few people on a boat can makes such a difference – be it simply in forms of bearing witness, or actually directly confronting the fishing. I love it.
All images © Greenpeace/Paul Hilton
:) U make me smile...
Go Sabine GO GO!!!
i didnt know that GreenPeace has ships like that-so big and beautiful...
killing so fast Tu...
:) U make me smile...
Go Sabine GO GO!!!
i didnt know that GreenPeace has ships like that-so big and beautiful...
killing so fast Tuna fishes and seling so cheap,whery sad...
18 June, 2010 at 20:05
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Let's go friends!!! Remember always to praise t God on all your expeditions and he will be with you :)
19 June, 2010 at 6:33
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Keep up the good work,guys!
19 June, 2010 at 6:55
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je suis tres fière de vous LisaV. j aimerais pouvoir aller faire se que vous faite mais par rapport a mon dossier judissiaire je ne peut pas pass...
je suis tres fière de vous LisaV. j aimerais pouvoir aller faire se que vous faite mais par rapport a mon dossier judissiaire je ne peut pas passer par les états unis si je le pourrais je ferrais tellement plus.you are my eros keep doing I am so proid of you.
19 June, 2010 at 12:01
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Fantastic blog. Uplifting, inspiring and motivating. Thank you.
20 June, 2010 at 16:39
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wish i was there T_T
lol keep it up, good work =)
21 June, 2010 at 18:54
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While I applaud the intent, I don't always approve of the method.
Banning humans from 40% of the Earths oceans does not solve anything si...
While I applaud the intent, I don't always approve of the method.
Banning humans from 40% of the Earths oceans does not solve anything since trash migrates. If you want to pollute less, cut your ginormous ship up and sell it for scrap. It burns a river of oil each year and gives environmentalists a bad name with illegal thug like behavior on the high seas.
A carbon tax which is really going to be used to build up India and China's economy (two of the biggest polluters) will not solve anything, it will just weaken the poor in the US even more as the two other countries are the zionists preferred low cost slaves.
Islands in the south pacific are the biggest polluters as they try to live like westerners and throw their trash on the beach. Ever thought of building a plastic recycling center there or even a trash incinerator? How about a ban on plastic and promote glass as that can be crushed back into sand and make their island bigger.
Real solutions and not necessarily victories but somehow well intentioned people are led astray.
BYW - I know how all free energy devices work and we never needed a drop of oil in the last 100 years. Have you ever funded that research or supported an inventor?
Science will blacklist you for even bringing it up but we found from the climate gate that you can get 3000 scientist to conspire for funding just like you really can get Greenpeace to work for area denial in the Ocean when that does noting on a moving sea.
24 June, 2010 at 3:58
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@Sabine: Thanks for the post :-)
@porky: Zionism, free-energy (did those Zionists change the laws of nature?) and the ten million people ...
@Sabine: Thanks for the post :-)
@porky: Zionism, free-energy (did those Zionists change the laws of nature?) and the ten million people on the South Pacific islands being responsible for all ocean pollution (what about the other seven billion?). Do you sometimes feel like the whole world is against you? Like they're out to get you? Maybe it's time to take a bit of rest.
28 June, 2010 at 12:27
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Read this Q&A that jsonline writer Tom Silverstein had with TT recently. I want to be one of the first to commend Silverstein for not asking easy questions. This is a good interview that asks some important questions and difficult questions for TT. It's fairly evident to me that one concern Silverstein had throughout this season was the lack of veteran leadership. He raises this point several times in the interview and TT doesn't take well to it.
The interview made me think of several things: TT didn't like our defense, he cares about what's written about him, he was smart not to touch the Favre situation, I like that he denied injuries being a major factor, he may be putting too much emphasis on the kind of person a player is which may cloud his judgment re the player's ability to contribute (think Poppinga), and finally, and importantly, he does care about this team.
On a related noted, usatoday.com did a story on TT too. There is one interesting exchange in this interview that I thought stood out. Recently Charles Woodson shared with the media his belief that the team needs more veteran leadership, apparently implying that a lack of this kind of leadership affected the team's ability to win close games. Read here from the article for more:
Some tried to draw a straight line between the Packers' youth to a lack of leadership, perhaps providing a reason — THE reason? — the team faltered in so many close games. Veteran cornerback Charles Woodson appeared to be solidly in that camp, calling on the Packers' front office to bring in some veterans. "Well, Charles is a very bright guy, so I'm not going to dispute what he says," Thompson said. "Other than to say that, you know, we were in a bunch of close games that we didn't win, and I think it's a little too simplistic to say that we were too young."
A lack of veteran leadership didn't alone cost the Packers those games – Ted's right. But I also think TT missed Woodson's larger point – veterans could have helped in those games and others. Like the author of the article states, Woodson was driving at the possibility that the team lost close games because there were too many young guys out there inexperienced in those tight situations. And, a veteran leader or two might help pull the team through moments like that while at the same time just adding needed competence and depth to a questionable defense in particular.
I agree with Woodson (and I'm assuming Silverstein here) here. I actually think a good number of Packer fans probably would agree too. What's interesting is that it seems TT is concerned about bringing in a free agent who may not fit in the locker room. Doesn't seem like he's considered the possibility that certain free agents might come in and actually improve team chemistry. In fact, team chemistry can often be improved simply by being better and if we add a quality free agent veteran or two (or five), we will get better (can't get much worse), which may improve team chemistry. Packer fans remember how Reggie White came in and made the defense legit immediately. Eugene Robinson also helped quite a bit. While there aren't many free agents who could step in and alter a defense like Reggie White, there are certainly quality guys out there who could fill our defensive holes or at least add depth, while at the same time providing some added leadership.
One final thing I do want to say is that I am not one of those people asking for TT's head here. I don't think he should be fired right now and I haven't even jumped ship on his overall philosophy (though I am souring). I do think it's important though that we question him more and more when the team is not winning. When things aren't going well many fans naturally shift to trying to problem-solve to make this a winning team – just like TT and his staff will do. Let's hope things get turned around this coming year – I just hope he dabbles a bit more with free agency than he has in the past.


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The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors is literally shipping today from our warehouse to retailers all over the world. It seems like an opportune time to get Richard Crossley's thoughts on the response so far to the Crossley ID Guide series, the decision to publish a guide to raptors, and what's next on the horizon for this popular series. Happily, Richard took a short break from his hefty travel schedule (he was in Seattle last week, Massachusetts Audubon this week to talk about the Crossley books) to answer a few questions:
PUP: The Raptors guide is the second in the popular The Crossley ID Guide series. We published the Eastern Birds in 2011. What was the response like to the Eastern Birds guide? Did anything surprise you?
Crossley: The response has been everything I hoped for. No real surprises.
PUP: You've been traveling a lot to talk about The Crossley ID Guide. What has the response been from birders?
Crossley: Mixed. Most love it, but some are finding old habits die hard. The Peterson system was a game changer in its day and some people have spent their whole life looking at a sideways bird on a white piece of paper with an arrow pointing at one of the bird's features. But I've always thought we can do better so I challenge readers with complex scenes with multiple birds at different angles, realistic backgrounds, and no arrows. To change a lifetime habit will take time, but my book is based on an understanding of how the mind works and how we learn. Using modern technology we can make images more lifelike, complete, and understandable. For the expert who already has a wealth of knowledge, some of these things are not as vital as for the beginner, but my system is designed around how we learn everything else and it will work for almost everyone.
PUP: Why did you decide to publish the Raptors guide next?
Crossley: Because it only covers North American raptors it offers a nice contrast to The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds. Because there are fewer species to cover, we can include lots of panoramic double page spreads and each species gets several pages of coverage. While both books have the same in-focus scenes, the additional space really demonstrates the flexibility of this style of imagery and how lifelike scenes are more engaging and informative. Plus we can include lots questions and other thought-provoking things to interest the viewer. The Eastern Birds book introduced the Crossley ID Guides to the world, and the Raptors guide really shows how powerful and beautiful this system of learning can be.
PUP: The plates in the Raptors guide are phenomenal. Do you have a personal favorite? Which raptor was the most difficult to photograph?
Crossley: Thank you. There are lots of plates I really like—you would hope so since I designed them! The one I get the most feedback on is the double page American Kestrel plate—it catches the eye for most people. As a 'designer' it is always interesting to try and work out why something is so popular.
As for the most difficult to photograph, my stock answer is the one I wasn't able to get. Thankfully Jerry and Brian have fantastic collections of images that made 'Raptors' a relatively easy project.
PUP: That brings up another question. The Eastern Birds was a single authored project. For the Raptors guide you are collaborating with co-authors Jerry Liguori and Brian Sullivan. What was that like?
Crossley: Jerry and Brian are two of the best. Jerry has published several highly acclaimed Raptor books and Brian is a well-known photographer and project manager for eBird. I have known both since the 1980's—scary how time flies—so there were not a lot of surprises. They handled nearly all the writing and Crossley Books handled the visual side of things. They did a great job. They were asked "to be the bird" for the introductory section of the species accounts and these accounts may well be the highlight of the book. They really give you a fantastic sense of each species' personality and lifestyle.
PUP: You shot the majority of the photos in the book and they are beautiful. Do you have any special tips or tricks to photograph raptors?
Crossley: Shooting Raptors is the same as for other birds. I am a big fan of travelling light and I always have my camera ready so that when the moment comes it is as simple as point and shoot. The moment often comes when you are not expecting it. The question is, "are you ready for that moment," because you will never have it again.
PUP: Fans of the Shorebird guide will be pleasantly surprised to find you've included mystery plates in the Raptors guide. What was behind that decision?
Crossley: The Crossley ID Guides will always be about inspiring people to understand and relate to nature. Giving people a quick-fix answer is not the goal. The more we look, the more we learn! Questions are the key to understanding because they make us look, see, and ultimately, understand. This is how we learn. People love working out puzzles because they are fun and because they help us improve at whatever we do. The sense of accomplishment and understanding that come from figuring out the answer for ourselves is a powerful aphrodisiac for nature.
PUP: Many of the plates show birds from odd angles—above, below, behind—or in less than ideal lighting situations. Why did you choose to include these plates?
Crossley: Nature occurs at odd angles and in varying light. The goal of The Crossley ID Guide is to make the images so lifelike that when you see a bird in the field, it matches what you have seen before in the book.
Research shows us that the mind is very good at working things out. The problem comes when we don't tell the whole story. It is important to show everyone—particularly beginners—the complete picture so they can work it out and understand what they are seeing. If you've only seen one image of a bird standing still, looking to the right, and painted in full color, how will this help you identify a bird flying overhead at dusk? The same goes for plumages. So-called "beginner books" often show birds in their brightest breeding plumage and the dullest nonbreeding plumage without showing them in transition between. This is a great way to confuse the reader.
PUP: Speaking of "beginners", you've recently co-founded a new initiative, Pledge to Fledge. Can you tell us a bit about that and where The Crossley ID Guide and books like it fit in?
Crossley: The goal with everything I do these days is to popularize nature, the outdoors and a healthier lifestyle. Ultimately, getting more people involved in birding and nature will result in positive impacts for conservation. Pledge to Fledge is a global birding initiative for birdwatchers to introduce a friend, family member, an associate, or anyone they know to birding. Organisations are encouraged to do it on a larger scale, too. By fledging a birder, taking the 'pledge' on the Pledge to Fledge web site (www.pledgetofledge.org), and sharing your stories globally through social media, birdwatchers around the world can help grow birding. We invite everyone to take part in April and August. Pledge to Fledge is an organization for us all to come together and make a difference.
The Crossley ID Guide series is part of this popularization because the books make birds and nature accessible, too. With the publication of The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland, we're taking this message to a global audience, and while we don't have additional plans for international guides at this time, the opportunities for places such as China are very exciting.
PUP: You've mentioned the Britain and Ireland guide, so that brings me to the million dollar question. What else is coming down the pike and will you publish other books on specific groups of birds?
Crossley: There are a number of books in The Crossley ID Guide series that are close to completion. A complete guide for Britain and Ireland will come out this November. That will be closely followed by a guide to Waterfowl and then a major guide to Western Birds of North America. We hope to have both of those books out in 2014 and have additional projects planned after that. Fun times but some sleep would be nice!
PUP: Last question, I promise. Who is the audience for the Raptors guide? How do you hope people will use it?
Crossley: Given the previous answers, I hope everyone will recognize it is for you. It is for people who love the beautiful outdoors. And, of course, it is for people who enjoy birds; who want to know their personalities and how they feed and behave; and who want to connect in a way that is different to other published Raptor guides. If you want to identify, age and sex birds, we believe it is the best. The mystery photos are suitable for beginners and intermediate birders. There is something for everyone.
Birding for me is a voyage of discovery that is exciting. I always wish discovery to be at the heart our books. Hopefully, this will prove to be a book that everyone enjoys for some reason, even if they didn't expect to. Well, that is my dream…..
PUP: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions.


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My daughter is 8 weeks old & is already up to 7 ounces, eating every 3-4 hours. About 3 weeks ago, my mother-in-law told me to start putting cereal in her baby formula to thicken it. I did that for a week, until a friend told me her doctor said that it can cause food allergies. My mother-in-law has done that for all 3 of her children, with no problems or complications. I plan on talking to my doctor on my next visit but wanted to get advice from other moms until then! Thanks!!!
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Slow Food Seattle Co-sponsors the Buy Local Campaign KPLU 88.5 National Public Radio
Slow Food Seattle cordially invites members to write and submit story ideas, personal anecdotes, food-related content and full articles on behalf of our local chapter. Chosen submissions will be included on the KPLU Buy Local website.
In regards to content – Slow Food Seattle would like to use this platform to educate the public using our local and national mission as a guide for all submissions (see below). Otherwise, writers have free rein. Ideas may include:
Local, good, clean and fair food/beverage production
Profiles of food personalities, entrepreneurs or features on like-minded non-profit groups that demonstrate Slow and Local by example
Local manifestations of Slow Food USA programs
Local food values or rights work
All submissions will be subject to review – as long as it stays within the guidelines of public radio – no calls to action, or use of comparative words such as largest, best, oldest if it sounds like something heard on a commercial station –it probably doesn't belong on a public radio station.
Slow Food Seattle is the first organization that has offered to contribute regular content for KPLU so we're open to ideas on how we can optimize our participation to help educate and inspire our local community about good, clean and fair food for all.
Please direct questions and submit ideas directly to co-chair Lucy Norris at email@example.com. This is a purely volunteer assignment. No compensation is being offered for this effort but this is a fine opportunity for members to share their voices and represent Slow Food at the same time.
Thanks in advance! We are excited to engage our members to strengthen the local food community in this way. So far we've submitted articles ranging from Community Supported Agriculture to Washington's sustainable seafood.For more information:


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Online Retailer Says If You Give It A Negative Review It Can Fine You $3,500
from the yeah,-that-sort-of-thing-would-NEVER-backfire dept
Lots of quasi-legal action has been taken over negative reviews left by customers at sites like Ripoff Report and Yelp. Usually, it takes the form of post-review threats about defamation and libel. Every so often, though, a company will make proactive moves (usually bad ones) to head off negative reviews.
Nicci Stevens sends in this report from Salt Lake City's KUTV, which details the actions taken by one company against a dissatisfied purchaser who left a negative review at Ripoff Report.
For Christmas several years ago, Jen Palmer's husband ordered her a number of trinkets from the website kleargear.com. But for 30 days, Kleargear.com never sent the products so the transaction was automatically cancelled by Paypal, Jen said.Kleargear, unfortunately, was not simply bluffing. Up until August 2013 at least (the date of the last crawl by the Internet Archive), Kleargear had this atrocious bit of wording on its "Terms of Sale and Use" page.
Wanting an explanation, Jen says she tried to call the company but could never reach anyone. So frustrated, she turned to the internet writing a negative review on ripoffreport.com.
"There is absolutely no way to get in touch with a physical human being," it says. And it accuses kleargear.com of having "horrible customer service practices."
That was the end of it, Jen thought, until three years later when Jen's husband got an email from Kleargear.com demanding the post be removed or they would be fined.
Non-Disparagement ClauseNice. I'm not sure what part of "fair and honest feedback" includes threatening unhappy purchasers with a $3,500 fine for publicly expressing their displeasure, especially considering Kleargear has made the clause entirely "eye of the beholder" by including the phrase "in its sole discretion." There's nothing "fair or honest" about this policy or the people looking to enforce it.
In an effort to ensure fair and honest public feedback, and to prevent the publishing of libelous content in any form, your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any action that negatively impacts KlearGear.com, its reputation, products, services, management or employees.
Should you violate this clause, as determined by KlearGear.com in its sole discretion, you will be provided a seventy-two (72) hour opportunity to retract the content in question. If the content remains, in whole or in part, you will immediately be billed $3,500.00 USD for legal fees and court costs until such complete costs are determined in litigation. Should these charges remain unpaid for 30 calendar days from the billing date, your unpaid invoice will be forwarded to our third party collection firm and will be reported to consumer credit reporting agencies until paid.
It's especially shady considering the page has now been yanked by Kleargear. It no longer exists in its sitemap and reroutes to its "Bestsellers" page if the URL is typed directly into the address bar. The "Terms of Use" link simply puts you right back on its generic "Help" page. The nasty clause is gone and it's only gone because Matt Gephardt at KUTV started asking questions.
Why would Kleargear insert such a customer-unfriendly bit of wording into its "terms of sales?" Maybe because its reputation used to be atrocious. (I mean, more so...)
There are many posts in addition to Jen's on Ripoffreport.com as well as other online consumer complaint boards. In 2010, the company was slapped with an "F rating" by the Better Business Bureau for "not delivering products purchased online in a timely manner," says the BBB's website. Kleargear.com today has a "B" rating.This clause makes you question the validity of its shiny "B" rating. (Not that a BBB rating isn't questionable in its own right…) If it's been heading off complaints with borderline extortionary tactics, that "B" is worthless. When Gephardt finally got an (anonymous) response from someone with Kleargear on its "Smile or Get Fined" policy, the person reached defended the $3,500 fee, stating that the threat towards Jen wasn't "blackmail," but rather "a diligent effort to help them avoid the fine."
Obviously, the company doesn't truly believe this tactic is truly justifiable or it wouldn't have memory-holed the page with the non-disparagement clause. Even worse, it's made no move to undo the damage it has already done to this customer's credit by sending the unpaid, completely bogus fine to collections.
According to the Internet Archive, that clause didn't exist in 2008, when Jen wrote her review, so there's no way the company can claim that charge is legitimate, even by its own shady metrics. It actually doesn't appear until June of 2012, suggesting that its battle to raise its BBB rating wasn't going as well as it had hoped, but rather than overhaul its customer service, it decided to bill its way back to the top at $3,500 a review.
Now, it would appear that if you're dissatisfied with your Kleargear experience, you're free to let the internet know about without getting hit with a $3,500 bill... for the moment. The clause may have been removed because the company's currently feeling a little heat, but if it was willing to use this sort of underhanded tactic to quiet unsatisfied customers, then there's a good chance it will put something like this back in its "Terms of Sales" once it feels the worst has blown over.
Or maybe, just maybe, it will finally, after a half-decade, make an attempt to fix the underlying problem.
Filed Under: fines, kutv, online reviews
Companies: kleargear.com, ripoff report, yelp


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Fairchild Village Real Estate
Lying between Silva Valley Parkway and El Dorado Hills Boulevard, Fairchild Village is a quiet enclave with classic looking ranch, Craftsman and traditional homes. Homes dating back to the '60s sit amongst custom-built newer houses. Lots are large and front yards are pristine with well-manicured lawns and lush trees and foliage.
The area is home to numerous recreational opportunities. Art Weisberg Park features walking trails and open spaces and Fairchild Park is home to the historic Indian Grinding Rocks. Stephen Harris Park includes tennis and basketball courts, soccer field, exercise courses and play structure and the Wild Oaks Park offers walking trails through a natural grove of oaks, pines and native grasses. Folsom Lake is just two miles away.
Lakeview Elementary School, a California Distinguished School, Rolling Hills Middle School and Oak Ridge High School all lie just on the outskirts of the neighborhood.
Search for Homes in Fairchild VillageView all Fairchild Village listings
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Copycat Restaurant Recipes: 17 Casseroles to Make at Home
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Latest Comments
apostolic1966 8130121
"Tried this recipe? What did you think?"
gouchr 0236764
"Follow my post next time and let me know how it turned out.."
gouchr 0236764
"Have made this, but mine is better..... First I purchased 2 packages of the largest breast from "Sprouts" openair market.. Roughly 9lb's of chicken of skinless breast meat.. 3 diced red bell peppers,,,,,,, 2 cns (7oz) of diced green chili's,,,,,,,, 1 cn of the "HATCH" diced chili's.... 1 large bag of 3/4" egg noodles..... A large jar of Alfredo sauce and a 16 oz of sour cream.. Combine these 2 with the cn's of green chili's and bake @ 350 (covered) for the first 45 minutes.. Then twards the end of oven time,,,, Sprinkle "GENERIOUSLY" with "Monterey Jack ckeese"..... WATCH OUT,,,,,,,,,, This one hurts!!"
"The name of this recipe goes back many years. The community and neighbors would help with the meal after the funeral. Thus, the name. Please educate yourself before being so judgemental."
pepperminttpatty3 3527918
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For those nights where you have absolutely no idea what to do for dinner, try this Kitchen Sink Rice Bake recipe. This ham and rice… Continue reading: "Kitchen Sink Rice Bake"
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text: Hockey club "Metallurg" Magnitogorsk - the team in ice hockey from Magnitogorsk. The club was founded in 1950. Since 2008, the acts of the Continental Hockey League. Evgeni Malkin - Russian hockey player, center forward, the world champion in the Russian team, the winner and the best player of the World Hockey Championship 2012. T-shirt is available in sizes from S to XXL.


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Welcome to EnvEast Welcome to EnvEast
The EnvEast Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) was created in November 2013 with funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). It draws together expertise from three universities and ten research centres of national and international importance. Led by the University of East Anglia's world-renowned School of Environmental Sciences, the partnership aims to address some of the grand challenges facing contemporary society by providing excellent multidisciplinary training to a new generation of science and business leaders working in the broad area of environmental science.
The EnvEast NERC DTP is offering over 60 fully funded PhD studentships over five student cohorts, starting in autumn 2014. EnvEast PhD research projects are grouped around three key themes of international significance, but we also offer projects and training in other important areas of NERC's scientific remit.
For further information, please follow the link on the right hand side of this screen.


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"He moved as if he had studied deportment with some very aged teacher, possibly with Mr. Turveydrop himself." — Robert Bernard, Death and the Chaste Apprentice (1989)
Theme and Subject
- Legitimacy, identity, and law
- The most medical of Dickens's novels
- The Rouncewells: Old and New; or Captains of Industry and the Old Landed Gentry
- The Pitchman and the Protégée: Oral Performance Art in Bleak House
- Ugoretz on Double Narration in Bleak House
- Johnson on Narration in Bleak House
Image, Symbol, and Motif
- Symbolism in Bleak House and the novel's illustrations
- Esther's biblical allusions and their ironic undertones
- Letters as a way of understanding the city: Dickens' Bleak House
- Descriptions of Fog in Bleak House
- The Crossing-Sweeper Nuisance (Punch)
- The Slum of All Fears: Dickens's Concern with Urban Poverty and Sanitation
- Dickens's Description of a Graveyard
Characters and Characterization
- Unidentified illustrator for the Co-operative Publication Society's edition of Dicken's works [1912?]
- Forty Illustrations by Phiz plus preparatory sketchs for some and passages illustrated for all
Related Web Resources
- Andrew McDonnell's Bleak House site [This site, or at least its server (www.birdonnell.com), no longer seems extant.]
Last modified 3 July 2019


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Forms Jobs
Posted: Thursday, May 17, 2012Department: College Board Newsletter
CAB is a publication by the College Advisory Board (CAB) and the Human Relations Department that highlights CAB programs and local issues pertinent to college students.
The Winter 2012 Issue
Campus Acceptance Survey, Salem Students Showcase Their Talents, CAB and International Row, Welcome to New Members
CAB Newsletter Winter 2012 [pdf/2.7kb]
If you are reading this in your e-mail, you can go to the Human Relations web site and then click on the Newsletter link to see it online. Or copy and paste this URL for the College Advisory Board newsletter into your browser.
This newsletter can be e-mailed to you! If you are signed in as a member, click the "Subscribe to this Newsletter" link at the bottom of the page. Not a member? Click "Sign in" from the left column of the city's home page to begin your registration. Confirm by the e-mail you will receive.
CITY OF WINSTON-SALEM Mayor: Allen Joines; City Council: Vivian H. Burke, Mayor Pro Tempore, Northeast Ward; Denise D. Adams, North Ward; Dan Besse, Southwest Ward; Robert C. Clark, West Ward; Molly Leight, South Ward; Wanda Merschel, Northwest Ward; Derwin L. Montgomery, East Ward; James Taylor Jr., Southeast Ward: City Manager: Lee Garrity
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Faculty Survey open to Friday, April 25
April 21, 2014
What do faculty need in the digital age? VCU faculty to participate in survey through April 25. Data will inform strategic decision-making.
Teaching and research faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University are invited to share their insights in the inaugural Ithaka S+R Local Faculty Survey. The study, which broadly explores faculty needs in teaching, researching and publishing in the digital age, opens Monday, April 7 and closes Friday, April 18. About 3,500 teaching and research faculty selected for participation will receive an email invitation to participate in the survey on April 7.
While VCU Libraries is administering this first study of its kind for VCU, the survey questions are expansive and touch on far more than library services. Faculty perspectives are invited on a range of topics, including data creation and management in their research and peer review and scholarly publishing. Questions also cover how faculty perceive the library. "We expect to gain insight into how our faculty members work in a rapidly changing and increasingly digital environment," University Librarian John E. Ulmschneider said.
The Ithaka S&R Local Faculty Survey is a customized, institution-specific version of a national survey of faculty that has been conducted five times since 2000. (You can read more about the survey VCU is coordinating its survey with several other research universities in the Southeast, so that we can compare results and better understand our needs within the larger context of VCU's peer and regional research institutions.
"Your responses will play a key role in shaping library collections and services for research and teaching over the next few years as VCU continues to develop as a major research university," said Ulmschneider. "It will provide vital guidance and assessment data."
The confidential survey should take approximately 20 minutes to complete. VCU Libraries is offering these incentives to encourage participants to respond:
- One (1) $1,000 departmental stipend will be awarded to a survey participant selected at random. These funds will transferred to the winner's department and may be used for travel, professional development, or other business-related purchases such as books, computer equipment, etc.
- A $2 contribution to Central Virginia Food Bank will be made for each completed survey, ensuring that a tangible impact of your participation will be felt beyond VCU.


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Ahead of me I spotted two teenage girls, probably about 13 years old or so, dressed in a school uniform with bulging rucksacks standing with an elderly lady who was holding a purse. The lady extracted something, probably money and handed it to one of the girls, who in turn gave the lady a hug and a kiss on the cheek. The girls walked on, possibly to school and the lady in the opposite direction.
|Image courtesy of Google
I loved nothing more than heading to Smiths in the High Street and wandering along the bookshelves and every so often bringing a book, lovingly selected home.
The memories kept me company as I continued my short journey and I was acutely aware of how much I miss my Grandmother, her wisdom, practicality, laughter and presence. Her ability to simply be aware when something was wrong or troubling me. I miss being able to talk with her and discuss my decisions and share a joke or two.


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BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The visiting Framingham State University Rams posted a 16-0 shutout over the Bears of Bridgewater State University in a New England Football Conference (NEFC) Bogan Division clash on Friday night at Swenson Field.
The defending Bogan Division champion Rams (3-1, 1-0 NEFC Bogan) limited the Bears (3-1, 0-1 NEFC Bogan) to 148 yards of total offense and just 30 rushing yards on 25 attempts. Bridgewater was averaging 237.3 yards on the ground and 353 yards of total offense coming into the game.
Junior running back Melikke Van Alstyne (Salem, Mass.) paced the visitors with 107 yards on 30 carries. Van Alstyne entered the contest averaging an NEFC leading 143.3 yards per game.
FSU freshman quarterback Matt Silva (Dracut, Mass.) came off the bench to complete 9 of 16 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown. He connected with sophomore receiver Philip Clain (Swampscott, Mass.) on a nine-yard touchdown pass to give the Rams a 14-0 lead with just nine seconds remaining before halftime.
Framingham opened the scoring with 10:20 remaining in the second quarter on a two-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Matt Mangano (Winchester, Mass.). A Bridgewater State fumble at their own 17 yard line gave the Rams tremendous field position. Five plays later, Mangano punched it in from two yards out to give Framingham a 7-0 lead.
Later in the quarter after a BSU punt, the Rams took over on their own 41 with 3:35 remaining in the half. Seven plays and three minutes and 26 second later, Silva connected with Clain in the end zone on third and goal from the nine.
The only scoring in the second half came on a fourth quarter safety as junior defensive end Jeff Touron (Brockton, Mass.) sacked BSU junior quarterback Mike McCarthy (Edgartown, Mass.) in the end zone.
McCarthy finished with 118 yards in the air for the Bears as he completed 13 of 32 pass attempts. He was intercepted twice and sacked three times. With his 118 yards passing, McCarthy became the eighth quarteback in BSU football history to eclipse the 2,000-yard barrier. He has thrown for 2,088 yards in three season with the Bears.
Along with the three sacks, two interceptions and a forced fumble, the Framingham defense also came up with nine tackles for loss and seven pass breakups. Junior defensive backs Samuel Hill (Lynn, Mass.) and Brian Castellanos (Peabody, Mass.) recorded the interceptions for the Rams, while junior linebacker Michael Altavesta (Tewksbury, Mass.) notched six tackles (five solo) including two for loss. Junior safety Kevin Donahue (Norfolk, Mass.), who transferred to Framingham from Bridgewater, added five solo stops with two going for loss to go along with a pass breakup.
Both teams struggled with their field goal kicking. Clain missed a pair of field goals from 26 and 32 yards out. The 26-yard attempt came on the opening possession of the game. BSU sophomore kicker Jarred Diorio (Kingston, N.H.) was wide right on the Bears' first possession which was also their longest drive of the game in terms of both plays (16) and yardage (64).
Sophomore linebacker David Silvia (Barrington, R.I.) paced a strong defensive effort by the Bears as he notched a season-high 14 tackles including nine solo and one for loss. Junior defensive tackle Adam Toman (Barrington, R.I.) added nine stops (eight solo). Framingham, which entered the game averaging 344 yards of total offense and 260 yards on the ground, was held to 149 yards rushing and 261 yards of total offense.
Penalties hurt the Bears as they were flagged ten times for 87 yards. The Rams held nearly a 12-minute time of possession advantage (35:53 to 24:07) and did not turn the ball over.
In NEFC Bogan Division action a week from Saturday, Bridgewater travels to Westfield State for a one o'clock game with the Owls, while Framingham entertains Mass. Maritime Academy at noon in the Rams' Homecoming Game.
Notes: Bridgewater State was shutout for the first time since October 2nd of 2010, a 15-0 loss at Westfield State. The last time the Bears were shutout at home was a 17-0 defeat at the hands of Plymouth State University on September 9th of 2010. The game was played at Bridgewater-Raynham High School due to Swenson Field construction.


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The Earthmother
|The Earthmother
|Initial worship
|Prep penalty
Missing info
The Earthmother is the goddess of nature and plants, and doesn't enjoy heroes cutting a safari-style path through her precious flora. The Earthmother is one of the most straightforward deities in the game to please, and in practice the one of the few which you can reliably go the entire game without ever incurring any penalty to piety. She offers strong combat boosts in the early game, good experience boosts throughout, and potentially a lot of mana refreshment for the late game. However, her boons spawn plants which can cause exploration to be difficult.
The Earthmother is uncovered in a subdungeon to the South. Her subdungeon is completely revealed, filled with plants and level 9 "Gardeners". Cut your way across the room to her altar to unlock her.
The only two acts that anger the Earthmother are destroying plant life and using the life-steal ability. The only act that pleases her is using IMAWAL (you can also use the Plantation boon to gain piety). This makes her fairly easy to play; petrify stuff to gain piety, and leave her plants alone. Since most dungeons don't have any plants to begin with, and the Earthmother does not create very many, it's unlikely you will ever have serious issues before the time comes to convert out.
The Earthmother's best boon is Entanglement, slowing every monster on-screen. Slowed monsters lose their first strike benefits, and also grant 1 extra XP when killed. For a mere 5 piety, this is a very good boon and one that you should almost always take. It's cheap enough to be used multiple times as a finishing move against single higher level enemies.
Vine Form is quite useful for low-level characters, granting extra hit points and damage reduction. Against low-damage monsters such as the Meat Man this can allow you to fight enemies three or four levels higher than yourself. When fighting high damage enemies, Vine Form can also be used to boost your hit points to a level where you can take one hit. However, these benefits do not scale with your level and they will be largely meaningless by the time you're level 10. Try not to invest in more than you need.
Greenblood boon adds a flat amount of corrosion damage per hit and ignores resistances, and therefore works well when more attacks will be required to kill the enemy. It's strongest in the early game, but the added damage remains relevant throughout the game when combined with attacks that deal low damage, such as knockback, fireballs, and monk hits. For example, four uses of Greenblood is equivalent to having an extra character level for the purpose of casting fireballs. The curse removal can also occasionally come in handy.
Clearance restores 10 mana if there are enough plants on the map to be cleared, at a very affordable piety cost. This allows Earthmother followers a massive amount of extra spellcasting during the late game. If there aren't enough plants remaining on the map, the full amount of mana won't be restored. Entanglement can be used to spawn plants cheaply if needed.
The plantation boon can be used to generate large sums of piety, and is particularly useful when converting into the Earthmother during the end-game. Keep in mind that using this boon will effectively preclude a conversion into Dracul, since those blood pools will no longer be available for him. If you intend to make such a conversion at some point, avoid Plantation.
The Earthmother grants 5 piety for petrifying plants and other non-XP enemies, and 10 piety for petrifying XP-yielding enemies. The best targets for this are plants, high level monsters that you are unlikely to kill such as the Animated Armour, and low level monsters. Petrifying plants can be used as a renewable piety generator, since the piety gained from petrifying the plants can be used to buy more boons which will spawn more plants. In this way, the penalty for preparing Earthmother's altar can sometimes actually be beneficial, although you will need to be able to cope with having your path blocked sometimes.
Sometimes you may need to chop down a plant or two as a last resort if you get blocked and take the piety hit, so in cramped levels consider maintaining a small piety buffer. An early Clearance can also be used for this purpose, particularly if the mana restoration can be put to good use to kill a high level enemy.
Earthmother's boons are strongest during the leveling up phase of the game. A dedicated Earthmother worshipper is often able to kill enemies one level higher than otherwise, and the bonus XP from these kills will be further multiplied by IMAWAL's 50% boost. This translates to more Entangled popcorn left on the field, and makes it easier to to level up twice during the boss fight.
One strategy with the Earthmother is to use a variety of her boons at a low cost, then either use IMAWAL or plantation to build up to 100 piety, activate the entanglement boon, and convert to another god with 50 piety. On the flip side, converting into the Earthmother to use plantation and then spend your piety on clearance to get mana for the final boss is a great "last-ditch" move for characters dependent on spellcasting. The Earthmother also makes a good "escape deity" choice if you just want to avoid taking further piety punishments. If there are no plants on the field and you don't have a life-steal ability, she will never punish you.
The Earthmother also has the least harmful desecration penalty on her altar, causing a mere 5 layers of corrosion. You can cure this with a burn cure potion, and it's not going to be a huge deal for a higher-level character anyway. This makes her pretty much the only deity who is routinely desecrated immediately after converting out, and one of the most frequent victims of desecration of any deity.


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- I have this one great idea. Remember when some DLC characters traveled to mars?
- In my idea Keydar goes in time.
Here goes nothing:
Keydar finds a portal and goes back in time to kill Illidan while he is a baby and then instantly teleport back in the future. He kills the baby (whom she presumes to be actual Illidan), but the nanny (discovering the death), replaces the baby with a street gypsy's baby, and she presents this baby to the father as his own. The father proceeds to introduce this son to his family as "Illidan", presumably the Illidan Stormrage known to history in the first place.
Ironic isnt it? ...and this is why we become unprepared all over again.
P.S.: The Pool has only these options: YES and YES. This is not a mistake lol. IT SOUNDS BETTER WHEN PEOPLE SAY THIS IS A GREAT COMIC IDEA.


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Hoffman's Ice Cream in NJ is pretty famous. It's been featured on Man Versus Food and in numerous travel guides. The line is totally out the door all summer long.
But, you know, before it was on Man Vs. Food, it was where my grandma would take me and my sisters for a treat after going swimming by her house in Point Pleasant. Or where my soccer team would go to celebrate if we won a game (or drown our sorrows if we lost).
And recently a friend and myself visited Hoffman's to see if it tasted as good as I remembered.
Of course, my spytastes have become slightly more refined. During youth, my favored flavor was bubblegum (it was pink, with chiclets); but I decided to go for something more adult now that I am nearing thirty. Well, that is actually a lie: they did not have bubblegum on the day of my visit. I totally would have gotten it.
Our flavors of choice: a cup of cookie dough for me, a cup of chocolate peanut peanut butter for my companion, who got his in a cone, but it was soft, so they put it in a cup anyway and he kind of crumbled up the cone on top, like an ice cream cone crouton or something.
Happily, the ice cream was just as perfect as I remember. It's fairly simple stuff: the flavors are not extremely faceted or delicately balanced, but they are sweet, creamy, and delicious. As my companion said: "This is extremely good blue-collar ice cream."
...and that is just fine with me.
Hoffman's Ice Cream, 3 locations; I favor the one in Spring Lake; find hours and information here.