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It's finally time for me to talk about my current infra-red project. This Sony A7 camera has been converted to 'Full Spectrum' by ACS, but although it's capable of shooting colour and UV it's still infra-red that's my primary focus. This page has now been updated with more information about filters and some more examples from my first 3 weeks with the converted camera. For those of you who aren't familiar with what a full spectrum conversion is, here's a quick explanation:
All digital cameras have a filter in front of their sensors called a 'low-pass' filter. This blocks most of the ultraviolet and infra-red light from being captured, which improves colour accuracy and reduces numerous aberrations. Converting a camera involves replacing this filter with (what is essentially) a piece of glass. Here's a diagram that shows why a normal digital camera, using an infra-red filter on the front of the lens, doesn't get very much light and is stuck with long exposure times:
With the 'low-pass' filter removed - UV or IR 'pass' filters can then be added externally to let in significantly more invisible light. Exposure times for UV and/or IR photography can then be fast enough to allow images to be taken without a tripod.
Full Spectrum - Then & Now
Full spectrum is nothing new, but in the early days of digital - converting a DSLR didn't make photographing UV or IR very friendly. It still required the use of a tripod, due to opaque external filters blocking the viewfinder. Compact cameras fared better, but historically have been limited to smaller image sensors and poor displays. When 'live-view' was added to digital SLRs this caught them up to compacts, but this still only provided low resolution screens that were difficult to visualize accurate focusing. They were also easily washed out from bright reflections in good lighting conditions.
The Benefits of Mirrorless & EVF
The wonderful thing about the Sony A7, A7R & A7S is that they combine a relatively high resolution electronic viewfinder (EVF) with a full frame sensor and a highly versatile lens mount. Optical viewfinders (OVFs) may still have the edge in quality and speed (at the moment), but since using cameras with EVFs I've noticed several advantages and some of these are indispensable for shooting infra-red (highlighted in green).
- The camera is significantly smaller & lighter (compared to a DSLR)
- The viewfinder doesn't shrink when using crop lenses
- The possibility of light leaking is greatly reduced
- You can't blind yourself when looking into the sun
- Super-imposed horizon level (don't know what I did without this)
- The colours and tones of the spectrum you're shooting in can be seen in real-time
- Correct exposure & White balance can be seen in the viewfinder
- True focus can be viewed and zoomed in on (Great for Infra-red)
The flexibility of shooting whatever spectrum you choose whenever you want is great, but... Internal filters offer better image quality (because they're closer to the sensor), so if you want to mostly shoot infra-red I highly recommend converting your camera to full-time IR. Using an internal filter like a 665nm, 695nm or there about. That way you can still add more aggressive filters externally for pure black and white.
Another potential down side is that shooting colour won't be as easy as it was (before conversion). Colours don't come out as they did when using Hoya or B+W external UV/IR blocking filters. A simple tweak of the white balance just won't cut it with most images and retrieving warm colours from night shots will require a lot post-process if you're picky. There could be better UV/IR block filters available. I'm looking in to this, but don't have any evidence that they're as good as people say they are yet and cost can be an issue.
The flip out screen was amazing for this shot. I simply could not have captured this without it. It's not that I'm against rolling around in the dirt, but if I had it would have frightened the glorified chicken away.
Both of these images were taken using focus peaking with the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 lens. They are right on the edge of a decent exposure, considering I was trying to keep the camera at base ISO. It seems like reds are the hardest thing to get right post conversion, but more about that in later post, for now it's time to focus on the infra-red aspects of this camera.
The noise levels from the A7 are not the best ever, but they're not terrible, better than anything I've had before and I'm sure it will cope very well with hald-held infra-red photography. The recently announcement for the Sony A7S makes me rather jealous that I didn't wait (as it would probably be a few stops better at high-ISO), but mostly I'm happy that this converted A7 is ready for early spring :).
Here is a scene taken with the nine different filters I have so far. This should give a rough indication of what colours to expect with each filter and how each affects the exposure values.
There are a couple of things to note before reading too much into these images.
- These filters will not perform similarly on non-converted digital camera, or even on one that's been converted to infra-red. For example: A red filter on a normal digital camera will simply make red images and it will do nothing at all on one that's been converted to IR only.
- Infra-red images are generally heavily processed, so this does not represent the full potential of each filter. This is a starting point from an auto white balance. I will dedicate a post to the processing of colour infra-red images as I don't want to overwhelm this post with that technicality. ** If you're reading this and you would like help with achieving a specific effect please feel free to leave a comment in the space below.
I will start off by showing an image that's been taken without any filters (Full Spectrum) and then go through each of the filters (stating it's brand, type, exposure setting and white balance figures). Before I show them, however, let me explain a bit about my test set up and the processes I've adhered to:
- All shots were taken on a tripod, using a Nikon 35mm f/2 AF-D lens
- Cameras setting were: Aperture Priority, f/11, iso 100 and +1.3 eV
- Custom white balance was set for each filter (directly from this scene)
- White balance temperature wanted to be below 2000 for all shots
- Images are taken from RAW, but no adjustments have been applied
- Focus was not changed, so these don't make good sharpness examples
If you look at these examples and feel like there's not much to take away from them let me share some thoughts I've had while using these filters:
Full Spectrum can be pretty and it gives about an extra stop of exposure, but it has ghosted/blurry corners from the varying focus distances and offset detail in the colour channels. This can destroy much of the fun that you might have seeing the world in this way, so in reality it isn't all that great to shoot with very often. Even if you're not keen on the colours you could use full spectrum for shooting at night with wide aperture lenses. This hides most of the corner issues and differences in colour, so you could simply use the extra stop of exposure.
Orange and Red filters can give some really nice effects with some processing experimentation, but they suffer a little from the same effect as full spectrum in the corners and it can look more obvious with the limited colour pallet too. Red does show less of these aberrations though so if you really like the more obvious colour separation that's the one I would recommend if you're looking for detail and funky colours. That said - I managed to get the orange filter to give images with blue skies and red trees without the 'false colour' technique, which was easier and gave interesting results.
Infra-red filters with lower cut-off points in the spectrum, like the 665nm (which lets in quite a bit of red) can give slight corner aberrations, but they offer a good amount of play in the colours through processing and the exposure times with these filters are barely diminished compared to colour.
Infra-red filters with higher cut-off points in the spectrum reduce more and more visible colour information as they go. They get sharper and have less contrast too, but their exposure times suffer. At 800nm it's unlikely they will show any colour at all. Actually colour information is all-but invisible to humans at 750nm, but a filters rating is not a hard cut off point and they can start letting in light 50-100nm lower than their rated figure. The 850nm filter you see above is as near to pure infra-red as you'll get without being too crazy.
Ultraviolet filters like the Hoya U-360 also let in a lot of infra-red and their tones are overpowered by IR. They are actually great for taking IR images with naturally blue skies, but if you want pure UV tones you'll need to stack another filter in front of it (IR block).
Image Quality: All the filters I've used above (Hoya, B+W, Heliopan and Schott) have very high quality glass. I haven't noticed any issues with these, but I have had poor quality unbranded filters in the past. I wouldn't recommend everyone stick to these, but it is safer. I will be doing a sharpness test between these filters soon, to see if I can see any difference between them.
Following on from the diagram I made at the beginning of this post - I will try to illustrate just how much difference converting a camera makes with infra-red exposures on modern digital cameras.
The Nikon D600 sensor is the same one that's used in the Sony A7, so this makes for a good test. Although Nikon's processing provides better high-iso noise quality.
Normal colour photos like this, taken in direct sunlight tend to have clipped values. This image has had the contrast lowered as well as shadow and highlight retrieval applied (in RAW) to keep it from looking overly harsh.
The B+W 093 filter is quite aggressive, passing 50% light intensity @ 850nm. Unlike the Hoya R72 there is little to no colour information captured here. By comparing the exposure values this filter only loses about 1.5 stops of exposure compared to a normal colour camera, which makes it a breeze to use. Dynamic range is almost always captured without clipping. The contrast in this image has actually been increased to maximise the shadow and highlights. With base iso easily achievable there's little noise (if any) when adjusting exposure values in post (RAW).
Keen observers will notice that the glasses are different here (these lenses are normally transparent). Sorry, this was a from a bit later in the day, but the light levels were very similar. Otherwise this is the same lens and filter as the Sony image (previously), but we're back to the (normal) Nikon D600 again. This was my attempt at a hand-held infra-red photo using this non-converted camera.
The exposure difference between the two cameras is nearly 16 stops, but since the IR filter being used here is already 1.5 stops slower than colour, that's an effective loss of about 17 stops. To get this shot on the Nikon I had to guess the focus distance and framing (live-view screen was completely useless). The haze that you see across the middle of the frame is light leaking through the optical viewfinder. This is another sign that the camera is really struggling to see anything (although covering it up works fine). Getting a reasonable shot here was a difficult task.
This level of aggressive blocking from the internal filter is enough to make a modern non-converted camera completely unusable without a tripod, but not all cameras are like this. To see a modern camera that can be used to shoot hand-held IR see my post on the Fuji X100 here.
Disclaimer: I am a big fan of available light & low light photography, I'm also a total bokeh whore. I can be quite forgiving of pixel peeping sharpness and aberrations because I'm more interested in the image as a whole. I generally seek out the widest aperture lenses available, so Sony's current range of full-frame E-Mount lenses (mostly Zeiss at the moment) don't really suit my needs. What interests me most about the lens mount of the A7 is its ability to adapt almost any other lenses to it. Since I already have some great glass and I don't mind manually focusing it was obvious what lenses I should use with the A7 first.
I bought the A7 with its kit lens, which is currently the only non-Zeiss lens available (28-70mm). This is a very cheap option, but this is another huge lens that rather destroys the great size of the A7 for me. Image quality was OK, but understandably not stunning. Image stabilisation actually destroyed some of my images and turning that off could only be done in the menu. This was the final straw for me so I got rid of it and initially concentrated on my existing SLR lenses from Nikon.
After being completely smitten by the Fuji X100 for about a year I really wanted something just like that, but for full frame. The Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 lens would be a perfect option, but it was just too much for me to spend after buying the camera and having it converted. In hindsight perhaps a nicer option would have been the Canon 40mm f/2.8 pancake combined with the metabones autofocus adapter, but my first choice was this...
If you're being critical about sharpness and aberrations this lens will not impress you, but I don't mind these things and really quite enjoyed it for colour work. Unfortunately for IR images it was rather lacklustre and on top of that it produced bad hot-spots and extreme flaring, so I wouldn't recommend it for IR photography.
Not that small, but still very light. IQ performance is superb in infra-red, with no hint of hot-spot or crazy flaring. The close minimum focus distance allows for some nice shallow depth of field @ f/2.0 with portraits / flowers and the common 52mm filters will fit on many other lenses. Focus ring is easy to knock, but still - highly recommended!
My favourite lens for colour and is quickly becoming so for infra-red too. It's a bit unwieldy to carry on the A7, but in use it's fine. It shows no sign of hot-spots or excessive flaring in IR. This lens has come down in price a lot lately, but it's still not down to the levels of the very capable Samyang 85mm f/1.4, although I don't know how that does with IR.
I will be testing the Sony A7 with many more lenses soon and when I do I will update this space with a mini review of how they cope with infra-red. Next up (after the remaining Nikon lenses) is the Mitakon 50mm f/0.95, fingers crossed that it copes with infra-red better than the 35mm Voigtlander.
Post Conversion
Now that I've had the Sony A7 back in my hands for a few weeks, let me show you a few of the infra-red images I've taken with various filters. There isn't any examples from the Voigtlander here I'm afraid. This was due to it not being well suited for infra-red. It's now gone to a better home...
Manually focusing lenses on the A7 is pretty easy with focus peaking. The only negative is that when using this in infra-red it's slightly less responsive, perhaps due to infra-red having less contrasted tones. It's not too different however and is still a very useful addition.
Focus checking could be great if it was a little different. Currently you activate it by pressing a button once and then again to confirm which area you want to zoom in on. This is really unnecessary since you will only want the middle 99% of the time. This lasts only for a couple seconds and then automatically goes off, making it very frustrating to use, as this process has to be repeated until you're sure focusing is correct. With only a few small changes it could be vastly improved. A button that you could simply hold to zoom would be all you really need here, so I really hope that an option for this is added with a firmware upgrade.
As for autofocus I really can't offer much insight yet because I got rid of the kit lens before I had the camera converted. I will update this section once I've had some experience with some Sony and/or Canon lenses.
Overall I am extremely happy with the Sony A7. It's a great little camera with a lot of scope for creativity. The lens compatibility is probably my favourite aspect. A few weeks on (after conversion) it has surpassed my expectations. As a choice for this infra-red project the Sony A7 has been great, but there are a couple of things that I'd like to see improved. Here's a few negative bullet points about this camera (rated out of 10 for annoyance):
- Body is a bit plasticy and feels fragile (although it's nice and light) - 3
- Battery life is very short (although, again, this helps the cameras be nice and light) - 5
- LCD screen is always exposed leaving it open to damage (but it's quick to use) - 2
- Confusing buttons and uncomfortable layout - 7
- Menu and C2 buttons very hard to press - 5
- Custom button options need work * - 8
* Custom button functionality is a great feature and there are several buttons available to customise here. The down side is a lack of useful finctions available to assign to these buttons and this is rather frustrating. It has some nice options, but most of what I wanted just wasn't there at all. I would really like the following features (rated out of 10 for potential usefulness):
- Switching between LCD, EVF and Auto view would be great. Currently you can only assign a button to turn off the LCD, but it only switches off the feed (the back-light stupidly stays on) - 10
- Auto ISO toggle button (this is even more useful than a hardware ISO dial) - 9
- Focus check as a toggle for quick operation. Currently this is a two button press - 8
- The ability to change the minimum shutter speed before ISO values drop (1/60th only is pretty useless for me because I either shoot with a 35mm or 85mm lens) - 10
- 1/8000th shutter * - 10
- Very generous buffer considering it's an entry level model * - 10
- Rotating screen is great for low angle shots - 10
- Nicely placed video button for still photographers. Out of the way, but easy to get to - 7
- Video starts recording with one button press & in any mode - 9
- The ability to output uncompressed video - 9
- Can mount many types of SLR lens (Nikon, pentax etc.) in manual focus - 10
- Can mount Canon lenses while retaining autofocus (using not so cheap adapters) - 10
- Can mount Leica or Contax lenses (using small adapters) - 10
- Focus Peaking for manual lenses - 8
- Rear dial is also a directional switch and works well - 8
- Exposure compensation dial has nice friction - 9
- Exposure compensation works in Manual mode (with ISO) - 10
OK, that's enough for now. I will follow this up with tutorials for processing colour infra-red images (from different filters) and the in-depth lens reviews (how well they work in IR). If you have any requests for me to test certain things or make tutorials for any of the processing please feel free to write a comment below.


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Many people have a wool sweater, cap or hat in the closet that they love, but don't wear any longer because it has become itchy or uncomfortable. Wool can take on a stiff or scratchy texture after years of use and washings. There are several new and tried-and-true items on the market that are designed for softening wool, but you can also do the same by soaking the item in a light solution of regular formulated hair conditioner and water.
Wash the wool item first in lukewarm water and shampoo to remove any dirt or dust. Shampoo is specially formulated for protein-based fibres, such as human hair and wool, and is much gentler than laundry soaps. Wash the item by submerging it and swishing it around. Do not wring or rub the surface or it may felt.
Rinse the wool item in clear, lukewarm water of the same temperature. Temperature variation may cause wool garments like hats to felt. You can add 1 tbsp vinegar to the rinse water help remove any residue (optional).
Fill up a new basin of clear lukewarm water and add 1 tbsp of conditioner. Stir the water around to make sure the conditioner is well mixed into the water.
Add the wool to the solution and gently submerge the item, stirring it around with your hand for 2 minutes as it absorbs the solution. If the wool item is a shaped hat or a fine weave, don't rub or agitate it roughly, as doing so may damage the texture. Remove the wool item.
Fill the sink with lukewarm water again (same temperature as before). Rinse the item gently, using the same dunking and swishing process. Remove the wool item.
Dry the item by rolling it gently in a dry towel, pressing it with your fingers to remove excess water. Repeat this process, using a new towel if necessary, until you have removed as much water as possible. Do not wring the item with your hands or the material may stretch.
Remove it from the towel. If the item is a hat, shape it gently with your hands, then lay the garment on a fresh dry towel and let it dry.
Most recent
- Use a conditioner that leaves your own hair soft and comfortable, not sticky. Try these steps out on a test piece of wool material if you are unsure. If the conditioner leaves a film on the swatch, then you are probably using a conditioner that is specially formulated. Switch to a regular conditioner.
- These softening steps can be used with wool yarn as well.
- Don't use a conditioner that is formulated for special hair conditions.
- Don't rub the wool or wring it.
- Don't vary the water temperatures. Radical changes can damage the texture of some woven items.

subset: commoncrawl


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by Brian K. Asbury
Ten bottles, standing on a wall.
None of them were green, and none accidentally fell — at least, while they were still bottles. One turned into a golf ball and rolled off the wall, another became a puddle of mercury and simply glopped away, while a third seemed to disappear, actually transforming into an invisible cloud of carbon dioxide gas. The remaining bottles became a variety of everyday objects, from a teddy bear to a plastic Daffy Duck figurine, all except for one.
"Are you all right, Ronald?"
"Yeah, sure, Professor. It's just the same feedback as usual. But it's not so bad with something that isn't actually alive. I knew this was gonna happen, though. It always does, so why do we need to test it?"
"Because I need specific data if I'm going to try to figure out how our powers actually work," said the disembodied voice of Professor Martin Stein, unheard, of course, by anyone other the individual who shared this red, white, and gold-costumed body with the flaming hair, known to the world at large as Firestorm.
"Well, it beats me how this helps, Professor," Ronnie Raymond's voice said, issuing from Firestorm's mouth. "I mean, we already know that our powers don't affect anything organic."
Professor Stein's voice seemed to laugh. "That's not strictly true, Ronald. Each of those bottles were made of different materials, and several of them were organic, in the strict chemical definition of the word. If we couldn't change organic matter, we wouldn't be able to affect plastic, and yet you even created plastic objects. The wicker bottle was changed without difficulty, too, yet the material it was made from was once living matter. Only the leather bottle remains unchanged."
"Right. So why do you think that is?"
"I don't know for certain. We know that our Firestorm powers cannot affect anything actually alive, but while we can affect nonliving plant-based matter, the same cannot be said for nonliving animal protein. And there's an exception even to that. Our powers affect living matter when we merge to form Firestorm, and even my leather shoes enter the fusion with us and are restored when we split. For some reason, ourselves and anything we happen to be in contact with when we fuse seem to be an exception to the general rule."
"Yeah, well," Ronnie said, shuffling impatiently on the spot. "I don't understand all this stuff myself — I'll leave it to the big brains like you to figure it out, if you don't mind. Can we get back to Vandermeer now?"
There was a puzzled tone to the voice in his head. "There are no classes today, Ronald. It's Sunday."
"I know, Professor, but there's more to student life than studying, y'know. I've got a date with Doreen tonight."
"Oh, I'm sorry, my boy. We'd best go, then."
"Thanks, Professor." Firestorm launched himself into the air and soared gracefully back toward Pittsburgh and the Vandermeer University campus where Ronnie was a student and Martin a teacher.
However, as he flew over the city, his keen eyes caught a plume of smoke issuing from a tall building about half a mile away. "Looks like we're not gonna get back straight away after all, Professor," he sighed.
"Indeed not, Ronald," remarked Professor Stein. "I'm afraid a super-hero's work is never done."
They changed course and headed toward the smoke.
"He's coming," said a heavily muscled man standing at the window with a pair of powerful binoculars in his hands.
"Very well, then," said another man, stocky and with a full beard. He slipped on a lab coat. "Everyone into the lab and take your places.."
"That Amy girl isn't back yet," one of his subordinates pointed out.
"So? We don't need her for this," their leader said, a slight hint of irritation in his voice. "Peterson will take her place." He noted the doubtful looks on some of their faces. "Yes, I know this is earlier than I had originally planned this to happen, but we might as well do it while Firestorm is available. Everything is ready; there's no point in waiting any longer."
He opened the door to the laboratory. Smoke billowed out to greet him. "Geez," said the man who had complained about Amy not being back. "Do we haveta go in there, boss? I'm gonna be coughing my lungs up before–"
"Get in and quit complainin', Seeger!" said the man with the binoculars.
They began coughing and spluttering from the effects of the smoke. "God, where is he?" croaked Seeger, holding a handkerchief to his face. "Boss, I can't stand this. My asthma!"
"All the more realistic for our guest," said the bearded man smugly. Alone of them, he seemed almost unaffected by the smoke and fumes issuing from the burning machine in the corner. "Speaking of whom, here he comes now."
And as he said this, the opposite wall glowed, and a brightly costumed man with flaming hair phased though it.
As Firestorm phased through the wall of the penthouse suite of the Milgrom Building, he found himself engulfed in smoke. "First things first," he said. "Let's make the air a bit cleaner around here." With a gesture, he changed all of the carbon particles in the smoke to nitrogen, revealing six coughing men in what looked to be an electronics lab of some sort.
"The source of the fire seems to be that machine in the corner," the voice of Professor Stein said in his mind.
OK, I'm on it, Professor, Ronnie thought back. The filing cabinet-sized machine was still belching out smoke, although there was little sign of flame. Firestorm's keen eyes sought out the electrical flex, and he transformed it into pasta. He then changed the air and smoke around the machine to dry ice, which evaporated instantly as it touched the hot metal, smothering the fire with carbon dioxide, and at the same time cooling it to a safer temperature.
"Good work, Ronald," said the professor.
Thanks. Firestorm alighted and cast his gaze over the six other men. "You guys OK?" he asked out loud.
One of the men, a white-coated stocky man with a beard, approached him. "Yes, yes, thank you, Firestorm. You've saved our lives and the project." He held out his hand. Firestorm took it. "I'm Dr. Montague, and you have my eternal gratitude and that of my colleagues, of course."
"What happened here?" asked the nuclear man.
"One moment," said Dr. Montague, turning to the others. "Is everyone all right?"
"I think Seeger's in a bad way," said one of them — a big man who looked more like a nightclub bouncer than a scientist. He was supporting another man, who was coughing prodigiously.
"Take him into the other room and call the company doctor to come and have a look at him," said Montague. "Peterson, give them a hand. And get me something to drink, please. My own throat is rather parched."
"Yes, Doctor," said the man called Peterson, helping the other two.
"Uh… I could fly your friend to a hospital if he's in need of attention," said Firestorm.
Montague smiled. "That won't be necessary. Mr. Seeger is an asthmatic, is all. Our company doctor is based only two floors down. He'll be here in a jiffy." Peterson returned with a glass of orange juice. "Thank you, Peterson." Montague took a sip. "Oh, but I forget my manners, Firestorm. Would you like something to drink?"
"No thanks," Firestorm said. "But like I said, what happened here? Is this a lab of some kind?"
"That is rather obvious, Ronald," Professor Stein said silently.
"Yes," Montague said. "We're working on a unique project. One that might well interest you, in fact. Luthor," he said to a red-haired man who was examining the machine which had been burning, "what do you see?"
"Luthor?" spluttered Firestorm.
Montague laughed. "Oh, don't worry. Burt Luthor, here, is no relation to the notorious Mr. Lex Luthor, so far as we know. "He's perfectly harmless."
"Aw, not that old chestnut again." Grinning, Burt Luthor said, "It was what we thought, Doctor. This old unit couldn't handle the load."
"It was a good thing it was a redundant unit not vital to the project," said Montague. "You see," he added to Firestorm, "we're on the verge of success." He pointed to a large, shapeless lump under dust covers. "I have perfected a machine which will enable us to contact other planes of existence, co-existing with ours but vibrating at different rates. We were just about to test it when the accident happened."
"Ronald! This could mean–!" Professor Stein mentally exclaimed.
I'm way ahead of you, Professor, Ronnie answered. If it's true, we could use it to contact Earth-Two and the Justice Society!
Dr. Montague handed his empty glass back to one of his subordinates. "Would you like to see our psi-com machine, as we call it?" he said.
"Um… will it take long?" Firestorm said.
Yeah, yeah, Professor, but remember my date. Doreen gets mad if I'm late, y'know. You don't have to deal with her.
"Ronald, as you just pointed out, if the project these people have been working on really does what they say, it could re-establish communications with Earth-Two. Remember how much some of our fellow members in the Justice League have been worrying about the fate of their friends there. We still don't know if Vixen, Vibe, and Gypsy ended up on Earth-Two as has been speculated. And the Flash, in particular, has been tremendously concerned for the welfare of his counterpart, Jay Garrick. And remember that some of them were badly injured — Wildcat and Hawkman, to name just two. Everyone is anxious to hear how they are."
Yeah, OK, Ronnie sub-vocalized gloomily. I guess that's important. But I'm running out of original excuses, Professor.
"One of the problems of leading this double life, my boy!"
Oblivious to this silent conversation in Firestorm's head, Dr. Montague had moved to the bulky shape in the middle of the room and, with the help of Burt Luthor, had begun to remove the dust covers. "It's a good thing we hadn't taken the covers off before we tested the transformer array," Burt said.
"Quite. It is, as I have explained, important to keep the equipment clean. To answer your question, Firestorm," he said, addressing the nuclear man, "I hope that a quick demonstration will not take long." He smiled. "I understand, of course, that as one of America's premier super-heroes, you probably have a busy schedule, but the psi-com could be of great use to the Justice League. Like everyone else, I heard about those other Earths that briefly impinged on our own during the great Crisis of last year, and I read in Lois Lane's column that their super-heroes have interacted with you and your colleagues on many occasions."
"That's right," said Firestorm. "But since the Crisis, we haven't been able to contact the other Earths. Are you sure your machine will be able to do that?" He surveyed the exposed psi-com machine, which resembled a high-tech dentist's chair with a big hair dryer at the top end. It was surrounded by computers and banks of other electronic equipment. What do you make of this, Professor? he asked silently.
"It's hard to say. This isn't my field of expertise. But I have to say, I've never seen communications equipment that looked like that."
"I realize the psi-com looks a little strange," Montague was saying, "but remember that this is only a prototype." He and his colleagues began to flip switches, and various lights came on on the equipment.
Firestorm walked around it, allowing Professor Stein to study it. "I'm sorry, Ronald. I still can't make head or tail of it. This sort of technology is beyond my experience."
"How long have you been working on this project?" the flame-haired hero asked.
"Oh, about five years now," said Montague. "Are we ready, gentlemen? Mr. Luthor, are we certain that the remaining transformers will be able to handle the load without any further, ah, accidents? We are? Excellent! Then let's begin."
"What are you going to do?" asked Firestorm.
Montague moved to the psi-com and seated himself in the chair, tilting back as he operated the controls and pulling the dryer helmet over his head. "Why," he said, "I'm going to test the psi-com in a little experiment, of course." Burt Luthor operated another set of switches, and the whole array lit up like a Christmas tree. "In just a moment, if this works, you should be talking to your friends on those other Earths!"


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You can't write beyond what you know.
I wonder at times if people understand that you can't write about something that you don't know, haven't studied, or haven't experienced.
Songs reveal the spiritual understanding, knowledge, and experience of the writer.
So if you haven't read God's Word, haven't consumed it and allowed it to consume you because you're too busy, then when you write songs, your ignorance will show.
Yes, we're all on a journey in our spiritual growth, and we will always be learning. But, as songwriters, we should first be students of God's Word. Our songs, that we ask others to sing in worship, should not be written from a place of hurt or even healing.
Worship is about God. It is worship OF God. Worship songs should be about Him and to Him. Not about us or to us.
A great worship song has its base in Scripture and its core in an experiential knowledge of WHO HE IS.
The best songs, the ones with an anointing on them, are written when a songwriter understands a revelation of who God is as revealed in the Bible, and that songwriter has taken the time to glorify and honor God privately in worship, speaking those scriptural words about His character to Him. The experience that the songwriter will have during that time of worshipping in that scriptural revelation of God will be the catalyst for songs born from his or her spirit in adoration of God.
Read the Bible, study it, live it, speak it, praise it, and worship God with the revelation of the Scripture that the Holy Spirit gives you. Then, write the song that's in your spirit. It won't be about you; it will be about and to Him. And it will be powerful.


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SLO Chamber of Commerce - San Luis Obispo, California
LEED Consulting and energy modeling
Program: 5,000 SF Office Tenant Improvement
Achievements: LEED-CI Silver
Awards: 2013 C4 Green Rehab/Renovation Award; 2013 C4 LEED Parade: Adaptive Re-use Award
The project involved converting an existing retail space into an office use for the Chamber's Visitor Center and their administrative offices. The new office space is located in the historic "Paiarola" Building on a prominent street corner in downtown San Luis Obispo.In addition to the location and the buildng re-use, green buildng strategies include daylight, indoor air quality, and green buildng education for business members and the public.
- Architect: RRM Design Group
- Contractor: Maino Construction Company
- Structural: Allshouse Engineering
- Mechanical: BMA Mechanical Engineering
- Electrical: Thoma Electric
- Plumbing; BMA Mechanical Engineering
- Interior Designer: Design Collaborative 2
Photography courtesy of SLO Chamber of Commerce


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Uniform is a very important aspect of being a student at National Church of England Academy and we have high expectations about the standard of dress for all students. The general principle of this is that if the attire would not be appropriate professional wear in a business environment then it would not be appropriate for National students.
For a detailed breakdown of our expectations of uniform, please download the Uniform Guide below.
Suppliers and stockists
To enable families to have wide choice of where to buy uniform items from, we work with three local suppliers; Schoolwear Solutions in Mapperley, together with Hucknall Sports and Price & Buckland based in Hucknall.
Schoolwear Solutions do offer the facility to order via their website: www.schoolwearsolutions.com together with all suppliers offering families the chance to visit their shop and try on the individual items.


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Hue Daily Tours
- Hoi An countryside tour
- Hoi An to Prao ethnic
- Hue to Prao ethnic
- My Son holyland tour
- Vinh Moc tunnel tour
- Hoi An to Hue
- Self riders to Hoi An
- Hue city tour
- Hoi An motorbike rental
- Hue Royal Tombs discovery
- Hue Motorbike Rental
- Hue highlands Trip
- Hue Motorbike Repair
- Motorbike for Sale
- Hamburger hill tours
- Learn how to ride motorbike ?
- Cho thuê xe máy ở Huế
- Motorcycle protective equipment
- Thuê xe máy tại Đà Nẵng trả xe tại Huế
- Hai Van Pass
Photo Gallery
Hue to Hoi An by motorbike
If you want to experience the breathtsking view and excellent scenery that Hue has to offer you must take Hue Mototbike Adventure team tour. After being a bit nervous about riding on the back of a motorbike. It truely paid off! We loved it so much we decided to take the motorbike to Hoian. It was so so so much better then sitting in a bus and looking out the window. We were able to stop for a swim when we felt hot or saty on somewhere a bit longer. If you felt like it !!! Definately an amazing way to see the wonderful spots this country has to offer.Charlototte Adam - Cork Ireland
Hue to Hoi An by motorbike tour
Hue to Hoi An by motorbike tour . Nothing is better riding to Hoi An with wind on your face and the sunshine . You can see the real highway1A traffic at all also through to countryside village to see daily life of Vietnamese people . On the way you can stop : Vietnam countryside village , Tam Giang lagoon fishing villages , Vung Voi waterfall , Lang Co beach , Hai Van Pass – Top gear ,Da Nang city ( the best city for life in asia ) Marble mountain , Hue to Hoi An by motorbike tour which is the best way .
Hue to Hoi An by motorbike tour . We provide exclusive on-road and off-road motorcycle tours in Viet Nam . Our customised tours provide a chance to journey on a road of self-discovery and encounter life-changing moments along the way. Exploring Hue to Hoi An by motobike tour is the perfect way to experience rich culture and discover breathtaking landscapes , Pass – TOP GEAR not found anywhere else. Life is a journey. Enjoy the ride.
Driving 145 km South from Hue to Hoi An to motorbike tour , down the National Route 1A highway, is a rite of passage for every traveller who comes to Southeast Asia; it was for you and rightly so.
Duration : 5 – 6 hours included stop , take pictures
Transport : Motorbike with english driver
Distance : 140 km
Sightseeing stop : On the way
09:00 A.M . Our guide pick up at hotel ride to Hoi An . On the way we will the first stop was a small fishing village outside Hue where we watched Vietnamese daily life unfold. Many families call the tiny fishing boats home and spend their days hard at work on the water. One of the highlights of our stop was spying a farmer with his water buffalo in the fields nearby : Vung Voi Waterfall – Elephant falls
10:30 A.M . Vung Voi waterfall – Fishing villages . The Elephant ( Vung Voi ) springs make an excellent break in your journey from Hue to Hoi An , Drive into the spring takes you through vibrant jungle .
12:00 AM .Lang Co Beach . With its 10 km in length . Lang Co beach bordered a section of the 1 A National Hightway , Lang Co beach was a beautiful introduction to the Vietnam beach scene and we loved dipping our toes in the ocean .Nearby Hai Van Pass . The was the best beach in Vietnam . Relax , Have lunch time
13:00 P.M . Heading to the Hai Van Pass (Vietnamese for 'Ocean Cloud Pass', the name just says it all), a 21km stretch of perfect, curving coastal road, framed by huge mountains on one side and Sea on the other, is surely one of the best highways in the world.we'd conquered the majority of the Hai Van Pass, the views only seemed to get more stunning as we drove down the ranges into the coastal city of Da Nang
14:00 P.M . Da Nang city . Cross a famous Dragon brigde after that riding along My Khe Beach
14:30 P.M .Marble Mountain : Five elements mountain is a cluster of 5 marble and limestone hills located in Ngu Hanh Son ward , South of Da Nang
About : 16h00 . We arrive . End of tours , Drop off at your Hoi An
Price : $ 45 per / person = 1.035.000 vnd
Included : Private tours – Motorbike with english driver , Helmets , Gas , Road fee , Parking lot .Lunch ( lang co beach ) , entrance fee
Payment ?
- You can pay by cash : Vnd or USD or Paypal
Our customer's care & Booking
Email : email@example.com
Hotline phone : 0985005113 – Oversea call : 0084985005113
What'sApp : 84985005113. Mr Harry Vu – English speaking guide
Guide leader tours – Mr Harry Vu – High recommended on tripadvisor – 20 years experienced guide


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Dear fans of Elder Blair,
This week we had a pretty fun time. Elder Lewis and I spent a lot of time and saw many of our "less actives" this past week (by the way you asked where he was from? Elder Lewis is from Tremonton, Utah). Our focus was talking to them to see why they had not been attending church and then trying to get them to come to church on Sunday. It really kept us very busy throughout the week. The good news is that we saw some success from our week's efforts, which is always nice. Another great thing is that we currently have had many families start what we call Family Mission Plans this last week. This is a plan that they set up as a family with goals and ideas of how they as a family can share the gospel with their friends. We have already had one member bring two of his friends to church, after setting up his Family Mission Plan with us. Therefore, that's great!! Member work is a lot different from tracting all week, but I think I am starting to get the hang of it.
We took a walk on the wild side this last week. Here is that story. We saw this place awhile back and finally decided to give it a try. We went to a little hole in the wall-eating place; it was located in a little trailer that sits in a parking lot of a laundry mat. Ha-ha!! Oh yeah super good black BBQ!! Lol The owner of the "trailer restaurant" was all out of ribs so we had the BBQ chicken instead. However, he promised us next week if we come back, he would have ribs all ready for us!! Oh yeah baby!!! BBQ ribs for Lewis and Blair coming right up! Therefore, I will be looking forward to that this week.
We also had an amazing zone meeting this week. They taught us a ton about how to work with members and how to unite us with them; so they don't feel separated from the missionaries. And, so far, it has been working and I am really happy about that! Elder Lewis uses his i phone to help him remember his lessons etc. due to his short-term memory loss; it all works out pretty well for him. We are doing great together. We are also going to teach Todd again this week since they are back from their trip to Disneyworld and invite him to be baptized.
We are still hoping to have him all ready to baptize his daughter when she turns 8 next month.
Other news, Katlin, our recent convert down in Ocala had her baby two nights ago! It's a baby girl, and mom and baby are both healthy and doing well! So that's pretty cool. Well that is pretty much the missionary news for this week.
I am so excited for Halloween this year! We are going to be helping with the trunk or treat this year and I am also going to be decorating our apartment this year. So what is everyone back home doing for Halloween this year? If anyone wants to make a Halloween decoration donation to the Starke tool shed home for Elders Blair & Lewis, please feel free!! Ha-ha!! We welcome all decoration donations!!
The woman on the Mission blog is Erin Sapp. I taught her last year along with Elder Taft. Oh that was super fun to see she finally stepped into the waters of baptism, her husband was able to dunk her and it made her family so happy to have her take that step! Fun, fun times here in the Jacksonville mission! Oh yeah be sure to send those haberno hot peppers our way…we are up to the challenge…ha-ha!! I am sorry I missed seeing Jupiter last week but the moon here was so big and bright I totally could not see the planet at all. Oh well maybe in another 40 or 50 years…LOL
Believe it or not, things are finally starting to cool down a bit in Florida. How about Utah? Do you see any of those wonderful fall colors coming your way yet? I miss the signs of fall; Florida has no fall to speak of…just yellow leaves. I am glad to hear about all of the mom's that attended the luncheon from Jacksonville, and super glad to hear that our mission won…but I really never had any doubt that Jacksonville wouldn't win (wink). I know all the missionaries of the mothers that attended! So that is pretty cool. And I am glad you got to meet Elder Chadburn he is a real good guy! Sounds like an awesome time at the luncheon! If you want to make me up some more of those green eggs and ham books, I want to give those out to some of the kids I baptize back here. If you have time and want to make some more that is, I could use about 3 more. They are cool! Be sure to say thanks to everyone for their letters, I sure love looking in the mailbox and seeing letters jumping up and down and yelling "pick me…pick me" ha-ha!!
I will be watching conference this weekend at a local member's house and I will be thinking of everyone back home watching it at the same time! That will be cool, I am pretty pumped for conference!! And you commented on the picture of the pigs' feet…you were absolutely right…it looked super gross and indeed, it tasted super gross too!!
Well that's my life as of now, nothing of much news to report this week. Be sure to take care of each other for me and I will talk to everyone again next week. Love to everyone,
Elder Blair, Elder Blair, Elder Blair (just practicing with Elder Lewis)
Monday, September 27, 2010
Starke, FL Letter #8 Sept. 27, 2010
Dear fans of Elder Blair,
Posted by Elder Blair at 8:57 PM 0 comments
Monday, September 20, 2010
Starke, FL Letter #7 Sept. 20, 2010
Well family and fans,
Well, I had a pretty awesome week! However unfortunately Elder Bass is now in Georgia and hard at work serving up there on a bike! (Which is pretty funny…well it is funny to me anyways). I know his pain…oh so well!! I bet he is missing having a car about now. So since this last week was the last week with Elder Bass we spent some time during his last few days here going around and saying goodbye to all of his friends that he made here while serving in Starke. Then the night before he left (Wednesday), we went to a good-bye party for Elder Bass hosted by some ward members here in Starke. It was pretty fun, lots of good food, and great people! Then before the night came to a close Elder Bass got hawooginized. You're now asking, "What is a hawooga?" Well let me tell you…a howooga is where someone holds you down, then takes their knuckle and jams it into the person's inner thigh and grinds it into their skin. Big ouch!! I tell you that it gets pretty intense (especially when a bunch of 400 lb of dudes lay on top of you!) Moreover, this family has this as a tradition and they always do it when a missionary is being transferred. Therefore, I had the blessing of watching Elder Bass get owned, because Elder Blair is staying in Starke.
My new companion is Elder Lewis. He is a pretty cool kid. Elder Lewis has short-term memory loss. He reminds me a lot of Dory from Disney's Finding Nemo. Lol He is really funny and totally cool about the whole thing. So that is pretty much the news of the week. Oh, one more thing…my companion Elder Lewis ate some Zingers that had some maggots in them the other day. Which of course he then properly puked up! Oh how I love being on a mission!
I wanted to tell you about our visit from the Seventy last week. The 70 basically told all of us that we need to be a lot better as an entire mission. He went through a lot of different ways to improve and told each of us that we need to put the "old self" behind us and work on becoming a new person while here. I think a lot of our mission is not 100% supporting and sustaining President. I think that is why he was challenging us to improve and become a new self. He was an amazing speaker, he spoke about effort and attitude, and the things we need to change to become better as missionaries and individuals. He pointed out that we need to realize our duty here; our relationship with God and who we are. We need to change our identity and to become true disciples of Jesus Christ.
I really loved the green eggs and ham book! I have been sharing it with some of the members here. We are seeing our investigator Todd when he gets back from Disney world with his family. We are still hoping he will want to get baptized right away so he will be able to baptize his daughter next month. Well we are about the Lords work and keeping busy. So you guys take care of each other and always remember I love you guys!!
Love Elder Blair (Who never eats Zingers!!) LOL
Posted by Elder Blair at 8:54 PM 0 comments
Monday, September 13, 2010
Starke, FL Letter #6 Sept. 13, 2010
Hello family and friends!
Well first things first, I am not being transferred this week. I am going to stay another 6 weeks here in Starke it looks like, (which is good, I am happy about that)!! However, my companion Elder Bass is being transferred so that kinda stinks. I have been enjoying serving with Elder Bass and really didn't want a new companion, but oh well...
Things here are going well here in Starke. Elder Bass and I have set a baptism date with some amazing people named Chris and Liberty. So we are very hopeful they will be baptized. This past week we had a super powerful lesson with a couple of kids named John & Jacob (they are 13 and 12) During the lesson (we taught the first lesson) we explained to each of them what the spirit feels like when it testifies of truth. We told them to pay attention to what they are feeling and then we paused a moment. Then we asked if they were feeling any of those feelings now? And they both said "yes".
They both want to be baptized, however their mom is not so sure about all of it. She wants to talk to them about it first to make sure that they really want to do it. She is struggling with the fact "If they are old enough to make that choice for themselves?" Therefore, we are hoping and praying that their mom will soften her heart (get the answers to her concerns) and let both of the boys be baptized!
Another wonderful thing this week that happened- is that we had an awesome lesson with a part member named Todd! His little girl is turning 8 in October. Elder Bass and I thought that it would be cool to have him be baptized early, so that he will be able to receive the priesthood in time to baptize his little girl in October. It would be cool if he could be the one to baptize her! So after our last lesson we talked (one on one) with his wife, and asked her about it. She thinks that would be cool, so she is praying for it to happen. We have several other members of the ward doing a mighty prayer for Todd that he will soften his heart and accept the prompting of the spirit. And then follow the example, which Christ has set for him (and everyone) to be baptized. That is the update and information on what is going on with our investigators here in Starke.
Another major thing happening in the mission is that we have a Seventy coming to the Jacksonville mission this Thursday! He has asked that all of the missionaries have a 5 minute talk prepared about "What we are doing to be a more effective missionary?" So I have been spending time working on that, hopefully that will go over well on Thursday.
Well everyone, that's pretty much it...for my "News of the week". I really love the packages and newsy letters that everyone has sent me lately! I really think that, is one of the reasons Elder Bass is so sad to be transferred this week, because he won't be enjoying those wonderful "friends and family of Elder Blair" care packages anymore...LOL (it has nothing to do with me as his companion)...ha-ha!! The "love in the mailbox" makes the difference - ha-ha!! Seriously everyone has been super cool to keep writing me and updated on the happenings back home! Thanks for that! Anyways I love you guys, stay safe and be happy. Take care of each other for me!
Elder "staying put for now" Blair
Posted by Elder Blair at 7:38 PM 0 comments
Monday, September 6, 2010
Starke, FL Letter #5 Sept. 6, 2010
Hello family & friends back home,
Well today has been a busy day! To start the day (for Labor Day) we went to a lake located on a military base at Camp Blading. There we had some hamburgers and hot dogs, then got to watch the members have fun in the lake while we just sit on the picnic table and watched. Lol it was a great time though and a nice day to spend with members and to be outdoors.
Something funny this week happened while doing a service project. Here is the story. Well earlier this week we were doing service (at a member's house in Starke) helping them install some insulation in their attic. It was a crazy thing crawling up into a small attic and carefully stepping on the 2x4's -so we don't step down on the dry rock. We had to be really careful where we were stepping. We had to crawl all the way down to the end of the attic and hang up some lights (so that we could see). It was as if I was crawling in a mine, Elder Bass and I described it as the mines of Moria!! yeah!! (from Lord of the Rings) Anyways… as we were installing the insulation; I was carefully duck taping the insulation pieces to some pipes when all of a sudden I heard this huge crash!! I turn around to see Elder Bass's lower half is through the ceiling, and then just as I registered what my eyes were actually seeing, the rest of him fell through the hole he created. So I hurry as fast as I can carefully crawling over the boards and look down through the hole. Now I can see Elder Bass dancing around and rubbing his elbows. Once I realized he was ok; I just start chuckling to myself! It was so funny... and somewhat ironic I suppose. Here we are trying to do free service to help them fix their attic and Elder Bass smashes a whole through their ceiling. So needless to say...we are going back this week to do "more service" to help fix the hole Bass left. Ha-ha!
Another interesting thing that happened to us this last week was making a big catch! We caught a moth that was the size of a bird!! (I am not kidding either; you should have seen this thing). Super crazy!! It was flying around our house, (after I let it in accidently) and after an epic chase, we finally caught it! Then we took it outside and threw it into our pet spider's web!! However, it got out so we chased it again and then threw it back into the web. So now our pet spider won't need to eat for 2 months at least! (Don't worry I have it all on video).
But the major highlight of the week is the baptism of Michael and Katlin!!! They were married this week (on Saturday) and then baptized on Sunday!! I was blessed to be able to attend both events. However I was late to the wedding, cause the person from Ocala that was going to give me a ride… I didn't realize that I gave him bad instructions on how to get to our house, which made us late. I did make it to their reception! Oh, man it was soooo awesome to see them again!! I was so, so, so, happy! Finally, after a long time of much prayer and fasting… they did it!!
So I stayed in Ocala for 2 days for their wedding and baptism. For the baptism Elder Day got to baptize Michael and I baptized Katlin. Man it was such an amazing event. There was a member from the ward that sang a beautiful song just before the baptism. The name of the song was "I will seek Him". After that song, there I was; standing in the water with Katlin and the spirit there was felt so strongly, that it took me a few seconds to even begin get the words out.
Man, I love my mission; Elder Day and I had some very very powerful lessons with them last transfer. And we have just seen them grow so much! It was such an epic moment of my mission. Michael, Katlin, Elder Day and I, have certainly made a friendship for life!! Miracles like that just make my mission! I promised Michael and Katlin that when they are sealed in the temple I will not be late! I will even be a day early!!
Well, my own testimony has grown so much once again, just over the example of what Michael and Katlin have done! Watching them struggle, learn and grow…and then watching them reach this point was amazing and extremely faith building. I know this church is true and it brings happiness! I saw it in their eyes! They have found the happiness that everyone is trying to find in this failing world! And I am just so, so, so, so glad that I was able to witness the event of them coming closer to their Savior.
Well I love you guys! Ya'll stay safe now and I will talk to you soon!
Elder (still smiling) Blair!!!
Posted by Elder Blair at 11:46 AM 0 comments


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Albertville 4 Mile
Larne Athletic Club members were out in force at the Albertville 4-Mile Road Race on Friday evening as almost three hundred runners set off in dry sunny conditions around a flat and fast course starting at the Portside Inn on Duncrue Road.
Martan Keane was first finished for Larne AC, running strongly from the start to finish 15th in a time of 23:29. Jordan Heron continued to show his future potential, winning the Junior category prize. Jordan ran steadily for the first half of the race before pushing on to finish in an impressive 18th place with a time of 23:50. Andy Gregg was next in 28th (24:21), with James Topping 41st (25:33) and Bobby Boal 44th (25:45).
Larne AC ladies had a very successful evening. First finished was Beveley Gaston winning the Female Vet35 category prize in 101st place overall with a time of 29:49. Jayne Liddle was next in 112th (30:43) while Mandy Johnston won the Female Vet55 category in 114th place overall and a time of 30:53. These three results meant that Larne AC won the 2nd Ladies Team prize.
Kerrianne Craig in 132rd (31:45) and Emily Boal, 175th (35:17) completed the top five Larne AC ladies. The full list of Larne AC finishers was as follows:
15. Martan Keane, 23:29
18. Jordan Heron, 23:50
28. Andy Gregg, 24:21
41. James Topping, 25:33
44. Bobby Boal, 25:45
56. Johnathon Topping,26:27
58. Emmett Woods,26:40
62. John Magill, 27:03
95. Dan Magill, 29:27
100. Steven Gilliland, 29:45
101. Beverley Gaston, 29:49
112. Jayne Liddle, 30:43
114. Madeline Johnston, 30:53
116. Andrew Davidson, 30:59
130. Ian Brennan, 31:34
132. Kerrianne Craig, 31:45
175.Emily Boal, 35:17
193. Clare McGuinness, 36:49
194. Michelle Woods,36:49
199. Shiree Brennan, 37:08
225. Gail Montgomery, 39:12
230. Pearl Henry,39:42
Thank You to all at Albertville Harriers for hosting the race and for the post-race barbeque.
The Albertville 4 Mile was also the sixth race in this year's Larne AC Handicap Series. Congratulations to John Magill for finishing in first place – John finished 62nd overall in a time of 27:03. Michelle Woods was second with a time of 36:49 with Jordan Heron third with a time of 23:50. Thank you to John Neill for setting the handicap times, to Clare McGuinness for ensuring everyone was entered and to anyone else who assisted in any way.


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Your audiobook is waiting…
The Case of the Howling Dog
Publisher's Summary
Compared to a juicy murder trial, a case of feuding neighbors isn't exactly Perry Mason's cup of tea. But Arthur Cartright insists that Mason is the only one who can muzzle the howling hound that's driving Cartright crazy. But Perry doesn't realize just how crazy until he meets his client's neighbor. Clinton Foley says Cartright is barking up the wrong tree with his canine companion - and swears that the man is dangerously insane to boot.
Mason's not the type to cop out on a client - but when Cartright draws up a will that leaves everything to his neighbor's wife, even Perry has to wonder if the man has slipped from anger into madness. That's why he pays a personal visit to Clinton Foley's house, where he finds one missing wife, one poisoned dog, and one corpse....
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- 10-19-17
Great Perry Mason Mystery
These early Earl Stanley Gardner "Perry Mason" novels are extraordinary. There are some legal and cultural anachronisms but if you allow for the early 20th Century writing and setting during Prohibition America, the legal and cultural issues are understandable. Some nomenclature used is offensive by 21st century standards but were common during the period. I will never want this book nor any others modified for current political correctness. Such people who desire to revisions "Huckleberry Finn" or ban "To Kill A Mockingbird" have minds of low caliber that do not wish to remember history. This is a well written mystery and a historical document.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
- Victoria J. Mejia-Gewe
- Los Angeles, CA United States
- 05-25-18
Good story with excellent narration
In The Case of the Howling Dog by Erle Stanley Gardner, Perry Mason, fresh off a huge court success, gets visited by a man wanting help making a will and stopping his neighbor's dog from howling during the night. The new client, Arthur Cartright, is concerned that a howling dog means death in the neighborhood, and the neighbor's wife, Evelyn Foley, has been seriously ill. Cartright is concerned that Clinton Foley has been making his dog howl in order to scare his wife into dying. With the news that Foley is trying to have Cartright put in a mental institute, Mason tries to send word to Cartright to lie low but never reaches the man. When Mason goes to Foley's house, he finds the man shot to death and the dog dead near his master.
Soon, it becomes known that Evelyn Foley is not really the lawful wife of Clinton Foley, who has been living under an assumed name, and his true wife, Bessie Forbes, gets accused of the murder. Mason takes on the case to defend her. He uses all his tricks in the courtroom to get Mrs. Forbes off the case.
I enjoyed The Case of the Howling Dog, but not as much as the first two books in the series. I found Mason's courtroom techniques intriguing as he points out inconsistencies with the prosecution. The courtroom scenes were dramatic and impressive as Mason strategizes the best way to foil the methods of the prosecution. Another feature of this book that I didn't like is that outside the courtroom (and inside sometimes too) Mason yells easily at others around him, in particular the police responding to the murder, which got disturbing, especially because in the first two books, he didn't resort to yelling in order to get his way. Rather, he used logic and skill.
I also did not like the attitudes expressed towards the Chinese in this book. Written in 1934, this book serves ro remind us that African Americans were not the only ones to receive discrimination in this country. In fact, in 1882, Grover Cleveland signed the Chinese Exclusion Act that made it illegal for Chinese to move to this country. In addition, even Chinese born in the United States could not become citizens. The law was not lifted until the middle of World War II, in 1943, but only 105 were allowed each year into the country then. So the negative attitudes towards Chinese shown in this book, including racial slurs, reflect the prevailing attitudes of the day. The Chinese Exclusion Act is seen when immigration officers come and drag away the Chinese cook because he sneaked into the country from Mexico, not having been allowed to immigrate legally. The way the officers talk to the man is truly offensive based upon today's standards, so it is crucial to read this book with the era in mind.
One other detail I didn't appreciate as much was the way Mason makes it clear that he is out to win, no matter what methods he uses. To do so, he uses tricks to discredit actual facts that don't help his case. He explains his philosophy that his job isn't really to find the truth but instead to win.
Alexander Cendese performs the audio version of The Case of the Howling Dog. He sounds ideally as I might imagine Perry Mason might sound and uses his powerful voice effectively. The courtroom scenes come across strongly, with effective direct and redirect scenes. Cendese's use of voices for the other characters comes across effectively too. I found his performance to work well and really appreciated it.
In all, I appreciated The Case of the Howling Dog. The story was interesting, and the courtroom scenes were full of drama. However, I did not find this book as effective as the first two books in the series. I didn't like the yelling, and I didn't like Mason's tricks that squashed the prosecution's actual facts. I give this book for four stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful
- Amazon Customer
- 05-17-18
the best
the best perry mason book by erle stanley gardner. fast pace. unable to put the book down when i read it in 1989


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text: Oasis Center for Women and Girls Oasis Center Entrepreneurs Sell Sustainable Party Supplies By Tom Flanigan • Jul 13, 2019 Tom Flanigan Tallahassee's newest business set up shop in Railroad Square on Friday, July 12. The "owners" were about three dozen summer campers who had created party supplies from recycled materials and discarded household items and were selling their creations to customers. Oasis Girls Launch Downtown Business By Tom Flanigan • Jul 25, 2017 Tom Flanigan It lasted just a few hours, but Tallahassee's newest downtown business was really packing in the customers the afternoon of Friday, July 21. The enterprise was this summer's "Girls Mean Business" camp hosted by the Oasis Center for Women and Girls. History-Making Women Awarded By Tom Flanigan • Mar 2, 2017 Tom Flanigan A standing-room-only crowd honored some outstanding Tallahassee women today (Thursday, 3/2) during the local kick-off for Women's History Month. Powerful Girls Hold City Hall Summit By Tom Flanigan • Sep 23, 2016 Tom Flanigan One-hundred twenty-five 7th through 12th grade girls spent much of today (Friday, 9/23) at Tallahassee City Hall. They were attending the first "Girls Summit" hosted by the Tallahassee-Leon Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. Oasis Camp Means Business For Young Girls By Jim Ash • Jul 19, 2016 It's never too early to crack the glass ceiling. At least that's the philosophy of Oasis Center for Women & Girls as it celebrated Girls Mean Business Week with a ribbon cutting downtown. Commission Announces 'Year Of The Girl' By Kate Payne • Nov 13, 2015 Kate Payne The Tallahassee/Leon County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls is calling 2016 the "Year of the Girl". Learning Biz Skills Is A Piece Of (Cup)Cake By Caitie Switalski • Jul 31, 2015 Caitie Switalski / WFSU News A new cupcake shop opened Friday in Downtown Tallahassee. Its owners ranged in age from 5-to-15. Upcoming Tally Event To Encourage More Women To Run For Public Office By Sascha Cordner • Jul 3, 2013 Encouraging more women to seek public office is the goal of a first-of-its-kind initiative for the Big Bend area. Residents can learn more about the program through the "Women Can Run! Launch Party" Monday. The Oasis Center for Women and Girls is partnering with several organizations, including the League of Women Voters and Leadership Tallahassee, to launch the Women Can Run! program. The Oasis Center's Haley Cutler says the year-long effort will empower more women to have a voice in politics. Leon Co. Women, Especially Women Of Color, Worse Off Than Men By Jessica Palombo • Nov 26, 2012 More than half of Leon County residents are women. But, a women's status report that the county commissioned suggests, they are doing worse than men in a number of areas. The report comes after 18 months of research. It shows women are doing worse than men in areas like access to healthcare, leadership and employment. Haley Cutler, with the Oasis Center for Women and Girls, said one of the most surprising findings is that 58 percent of single mothers are living in poverty.


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Indianapolis 500 Souvenir and Winner Edition Newspapers
When the Indianapolis Motor Speedway officially opened in 1909, there were three major local daily newspapers in Indianapolis: the Star, News and Sun. The Indianapolis Star, the morning paper in Indianapolis, began publication in 1903 and is still being published. The Indianapolis News was the afternoon/evening paper that began publication in 1869 and ceased publication on October 1, 1999. The Sun was a daily newspaper that began publication in 1888. The Sun became the Indiana Daily Times in July of 1914 and then The Indianapolis Times in 1922. The Times ceased publication on Oct. 11, 1965.
Newspapers prior to 193 are much larger than today measuring 19" x 24" when unfolded. After 193 through 196 the width shrinks to 16 3/4 but the length stays the same at 24". After 196 through 198 the overall size shrinks to x . After 198 the overall size shrinks again to 11 1/4" x 21 1/2"and is so through the present.
Indianapolis 500 Winner Editions - 1911 through today
Banner headlines at this time (1909-1910) were usually reserved for major news stories so races at the Speedway may have had a column on the front page, but more than likely were found in the sports section.
The inaugural 500 in 1911 did make the front page but not as a banner headline as seen from the Indianapolis Star the next day. Note there is no rear view mirror on Harroun's car which indicates it was probably taken in 1910.
The 1912 '500' dominated the front page of the Indianapolis News, but still no banner headline.
The first known** year for the Indianapolis 500 to be the banner headline is from 1913 and would've looked similar to the 1915 below. From this date* to the present day, the Indianapolis 500 has been a banner headline.
Indianapolis 500 Souvenir Editions - 1933 through the present.
Souvenir editions were a special separate section to the newspaper which was usually issued within a few days of the race. The words "Souvenir Edition" will appear on these sections for the most part but not always however, one can tell it is a Souvenir Edition because it will have a special theme, pictures etc., relating to the '500'.
The first known* souvenir edition which was a separate section to the newspaper is the Indianapolis Times from 1933. In 1935 both the Indianapolis Star and News followed suit and issued their own souvenir editions where a separate section of the newspaper but were a smaller magazine format.
* This information is to the best of our knowledge. If anyone has more information, please contact: email@example.com
** Seen on microfilm at the Indiana State library.


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Korea Travelogue: Day 1 - Hallasan and Black Pork BBQ
Day 1 Itinerary (Part 2)
- The Forest Hostel (Accommodation)
- Mt Halla/Hallasan
- Black Pork Street
Hi~ Omg it took uberly long for me to edit all the pictures and even then we are still on Day 1 only *instant mental breakdown* T.T Anyway you can refer back to this post for the first half of the day's journey.
Choice of our accommodation for 2 nights was The Forest Hostel which is located in Jeju-si. Jeju Island is separated into two halves - Jeju-si and Seogwipo. Seogwipo is in the southern part of Jeju Island and that is where all the major tourist attractions are which makes it the more popular choice for tourists to search for accommodation.
However, in consideration of my friend Hyunju's late evening flight from Seoul to Jeju that day, we decided to stay in the Jeju-si half of the island because of the close proximity to the airport and also because we were not planning to rent a car to drive on our own (We hired a driver the next day to take us to all the tourist attractions. This will be in the next entry :D) since I was the only one with a driving license and I was not confident on driving on the left hand side of the road :/ Better to be safe than sorry.
Anyway I am very ashamed to say that this is the only picture I have of my double room at The Forest Hostel HAHAHA! We had arrived there at around 1pm, checked-in, left our bags at their storage area and headed off to the tourist information centre to catch the free shuttle bus up to Mt Halla or Hallasan as part of a Winter Festival organized by the Jeju Tourism Organization (JTO). Obviously this will not be available anymore when my entry is published but okay, you can pray that it'll be organized again this winter perhaps? LOL #sorry
No matter how tired we are, there is always time for a wefie!
Kyyyyaaaaaa!~ Finally reached Mt Halla/Hallasan after 45 minutes on the bus and was greeted by this sea of white snow :D Our decision to come here instead of going to a ski resort back in Seoul was because 1. this is a free event and we thought we'd save money by using the sleds/toboggans provided 2. YOLO - none of us had visited Hallasan before.
But sadly, nothing is free here. You have to bring your own sleds/toboggans, food stalls only ran for a certain timing by the organizers and there was a small 'convenience store' run by the staff working at the park which had nothing but cup noodles/ramen and candy O.O
Omg it was so shocking for us because we had expected food tents to be set up (yeah it was... just that we arrived past their operational hours wtf) and obviously no sleds/toboggans were available for rental. Moral of the story? Don't be too kiam and just spend the money to go to a ski resort xD
Since we were already there we just decided to bear with the hunger and just milk the opportunity of having to take pictures in the snow. Free one, cannot hiam too much really lol.
These are all brought by the people who came. Apparently they sell those plastic toboggans at Lotte Mart too (I saw hahahah!). Could only look on enviously at them having fun playing in the snow. Here's the photo zone experience as advertised on the event page.
You can see how enthusiastic we were in taking photos non-stop that day lol. Partly also because it was only Day 1 of our trip.
Do you want to build a snowman~ *sings*
There were a lot of cute cuddly kids around having fun in the snow. Look at this cutie of mixed ethnicity below! Everyone of us was stalking him and secretly taking pictures of him LOLOL!
We left after roaming and camwhoring for over an hour by walking down to the nearest bus stop... 20 mins away OTL Honestly it was hell walking down in that cold weather (still not accustomed yet) and knowing that the bus only came at a certain timing (FOL) left us super tired when we reached the bus stop at the foot of the hill.
Please check the bus timings if you can. Else you can head to the tourist centre there to ask them for timings - that's what we did! If you asked for my opinion whether Hallasan is worth going, I'd say no. Unless you're there specially to hike, I'd say spend your time elsewhere on the island really.
Made it back to Jeju-si after an hour or so on the squeezy bus. Changed buses to get back to Dongmun Rotary which is where our hostel is located and we all headed to the market in search of food. Super famished by then and it was still some time before Hyunju and her friend arrived in Jeju so we really needed to fill up our tummies.
I think the location of our hostel is really fantastic! Food is easily available everywhere wheeeeeee~
Ordered a portion of tang su yeok to share among us.
Very enthusiastic staff lol. He was posing for another tourist oops.
This humongous portion is only KRW5,000! The rest of them went to order other food such as eomuk and also hotteok! Yay to finding hotteok easily in Korea :D
Hotteok 호떡
There is also another market beside it so if you want to buy the Jeju oranges/fruits, you can get them here as well.
The street leading up to The Forest Hostel (green building). I will save my review for this guesthouse once I've concluded the Jeju portion of my travelogue so please stay tuned for that :)
After we had met up with Hyunju and her friend Sunmi, we headed out to what is literally dubbed 'Black Pork Street' as you can see in the sign above for dinner. You can just turn left upon exiting The Forest Hostel's guesthouse and walk straight ahead.
Hwaro Hyang 화로향
Address: 제주특별자치도 제주시 관덕로15길 27 or try this link
We let Hyunju decide what to order - black pork samgyupsal!! - and the food there was really yummy! I won't go into further details on the food but let the pictures do all the talking! :D
Everyone had a selfie stick incl my good friend here hahaha! It's mandatory to bring it out in Korea (just kidding! >_<) And here you see Stella totally judging Hyunju lolol.
Thanks to the selfie stick, we managed to take a wefie!
Our Korean friends cooked the meat for us hehe. Actually, it's also polite for the youngest to cook for the older people and since Sunmi is the youngest there.... hehehe!
Hyunju cooked for us too hahah. I basically sat there and stoned while the rest cooked the meat because I was too exhausted from the day's activities.
I'm sorry to say that I don't remember how much the bill was
because it's been 3 months since I came back but it was one of the more reasonable places to have black pork BBQ along that row of stores. The store was filled with a ton of people and even when we exited the restaurant, there were people queuing outside to enter.
After that we headed to Ediya Coffee which was just round the corner of the main road for coffee because... it was damn sad to just head back to the guesthouse to sleep then xD The night was still young~
Coffee came courtesy of Hyunju because we had paid for hers and Sunmi's portion at dinner. Don't you find it funny how the Koreans like to add whipped cream to EVERY single drink? Lol.
I settled for a cup of cappuccino just to stay awake (barely). It feels really nice to have a warm drink during the cold winter.
We headed back to the guesthouse to rest for the day afterwards and.. I had a really fitful sleep. Guess I was pretty tired out too from the long day D:
Anyway, the next day was filled with a ton of activities in Jeju island so stay tuned for that! I'm going to edit the pictures now lol.


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Raqs Media Collective: Spinal
31 Jan 2019 – 16 Mar 2019
- 17-18 Golden Square
- London
- United Kingdom
- www.frithstreetgallery.com
Travel Information
- 3, 6, 9, 12, 13, 15, 23, 88, 94, 139, 159, 453
- Piccadilly Circus
Raqs Media Collective makes art, edits books, curates exhibitions, and stages situations. It follows its self-declared imperative of 'kinetic contemplation' to produce a trajectory that is restless in forms and exacting in procedures.
Raqs articulates an intimately lived relationship with time, memory, and history through conjecture, entanglement and excavation.
Spinal follows on from Raqs' immersive installation Not Yet At Ease, co-commissioned by Firstsite and 14-18 NOW, the UK's arts programme for the First World War centenary.
Invoking transcripts of letters and diaries, close readings of medical records and official dispatches, extracts from novels and poetry, accounts of dreams and nightmares, fragments of archival film & photography and spectral snatches of voices captured in hundred-year-old sound recordings, Raqs foreground the experiences and testimonies of the soldiers and followers from the Indian Subcontinent who saw action in the First World War.
Spinal invents a dreamscape to build a lyrical and imaginative layer of reflection. It discovers and highlights the official discomfiture with what was taken to be an 'excess of poetry' (read as a sign of 'mental disquietude') in the soldier's accounts. Raqs consider this early admission and evasion of the psychological distress produced by war to assert that the 'unease' generated by the First World War has not yet ceased.
Raqs Media Collective are: Jeebesh Bagchi, b. 1965, New Delhi, India; Monica Narula, b. 1969, New Delhi, India; Shuddhabrata Sengupta, b. 1968, New Delhi, India.
Recent exhibitions include: In the Open or in Stealth (The Unruly Presence of an Intimate Future), MACBA, Barcelona (curated by Raqs); Everything Else is Ordinary, K21 Ständehaus, Düsseldorf; Not Yet at Ease, Firstsite, Colchester (all 2018); Twilight Language, The Whitworth, Manchester (2017); Why Not Ask Again?: 11th Shanghai Biennale (curated by Raqs); Thicket, a participatory installation, Tate Exchange at Tate Modern, London (all 2016).
Raqs Media Collective will be the Artistic Directors of the forthcoming Yokohama Triennial in 2020.
Not Yet At Ease was co-commissioned by Firstsite and 14-18 NOW, the UK's arts programme for the First World War centenary, with support from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, and from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Please contact email@example.com for further information


text: #26 A Question Not Asked of Women...Enough! As a woman, I recall the first time I was asked by an intimate partner during a sexual encounter - what is it that you like? I was in my 40's and I was dumbfounded, I was lost for words, I went completely silent. It took me some time to realize why that question had such an impact on me. As women, it's so rare that we are we asked for our opinion that to hear the question under any context is a foreign experience. In our world, romance means you're supposed to be able to read the mind of the other person, it doesn't occur to people that even if we could read your partner's thoughts is that really a strong base for a healthy relationship. I ask, is there not supposed to be dialogue in relationships? For centuries women were made to believe that what they felt or what they thought was of no importance to anyone. If you believed that then how could your own thoughts be of importance even to you. When I was actually asked the question by my partner, what do I like, it became a pivotal moment in my life. It was one where I realized that this man is actually looking at me, he wasn't looking at a projection of what he thought came in a package in the shape of a woman, he was looking straight into me, he was seeing me as I am. In my relationship with that man, for the first time in my life, I found it really easy to say exactly what I was thinking and what I was feeling, but only because some part of me knew that he would be ok with whatever I had to share. To some degree, I feel women are always hedging their bets in relationships. If you're going to be a good little girl then there will always be all sorts of information and examples around to tell you exactly what it takes to be a good little girl and that will never include how to be a sex goddess or a bitch.This is but one of the spicy topics we share with professional Astrologer, psychic, writer, and facilitator, Lesley Francis. PodCast #26ck Chris KennedyJune 5, 2017 Facebook0 Twitter Tumblr Pinterest0 0 Likes