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The Project Eternity Kickstarter came to a close yesterday, collecting more than $3.98 million, making it the crowd-funding site's most successful videogame project. Add to that the more than $140,000 in PayPal contributions, and Obsidian Entertainment blew past all its stretch goals with more than $4.1 million.
With the final tally and more than 74,000 backers (including PayPal), Obsidian has promised Barbarian, Cipher, Chanter and Paladin classes, two big cities, a player house and stronghold, lots of races and extra companions, Mac and Linux support, crafting and enchanting, a 13-level mega-dungeon, and plenty more. And since they hit $4 million, it appears Chris Avellone will be forced to play Arcanum.
If you missed contributing to Kickstarter, Obsidian has said the PayPal option is still open, but not for much longer. Development is expected to go well into 2014, but Obsidian has already released a screenshot to tease fans about what they can expect.


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Quote from: Amy Rose on May 08, 2007, 09:27:40 AMOne more, then I'm done.FH went to school with a girl named Gentle Summer Love. I would like to inform you that diet Mtn Dew hurst, rather badly, when forced out the nose.Seriously, who would do that to their child!
One more, then I'm done.FH went to school with a girl named Gentle Summer Love.
There's an old Saturday Night Live sketch about this. Nic Cage's character gets a package and the delivery guy says he has something for A$$wipe (and pronounces it accordingly). Cage gets indignant and points out huffily that his name is pronounced Ahz-WEE-pay.Ahz-wee-pay has been in my lexicon ever since.
Quote from: Meridian on May 08, 2007, 08:32:15 AMHer mother was born in the south, and was (at the time) reading challenged. Would just like to point your assumption that southerners are more likely to be illiterate.
Her mother was born in the south, and was (at the time) reading challenged.
Gads, I hate it when people try to be "clever" with a childs name. Hello, these kids have to live with that name their entire life. Coming up with some ridiculous spelling or just making something up and calling it a "name" is so thoughtless. A decage ago I worked for an ambulance company and saw this all the time. A little boy named "Samaj Ekim" ( James Mike spelled backwards) The little girl "Champagnique Diamondtella". Or the twins Crystal Blue And Sky Blue Poole
I also graduated with a girl named Ryan. She is the most girly girl you can ever hope to meet.
I like some unusual names, too. I always liked Westley or Wesley for a boy, and Fiona for a girl, but since Shrek, I guess Fiona's out. I still may hold out for Wesley though!
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Submission + - Cingular's Free Music
PreacherTom writes: Music on one's mobile phone is nothing surprising: in fact, it is the entire principle of the upcoming iPhone. Downloading it for free is a different matter; both Verizon and Sprint's service directs to a proprietary store and charges up to $2.50 per song. Cingular plans on taking another route, having announced that they are gearing up to offer free music downloads to compatible phones. They hope to make up the difference through fees from the music subscription services for each new reference. The catch: a $15 per month fee.


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Milan Fashion Week: Colour-blinded by Jil Sander
It's always fascinating how the women's and men's shows here in Milan always seem to synch - sometimes, to an eerie degree of deja vu. D&G trotted their picnic inspirations out once again, Prada's wire-mesh runway installation was a keep-over from the June menswear (ditto the stack-sole shoes), and in a carry-over from Raf Simons' Pitti presentation, Jil Sander have once again colour-blocked their invite (although this time the orange is on the outside) - possibly indicating another display of global hypercolor on the Milanese catwalks? Not quite sure if they will aspire to recreate the spectacular gardens of the Villa Gamberaia where that menswear show took place, but they certainly have the uncertain weather once again! Sander is up next.


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Find the perfect size! Click here!
Visit our store in rocklin,california! Click here!
Need a little Help ? Click here!
Sparkly red, gold, silver and blue nailheads with gold rhinestones. (Design made in the USA)
Turquoise, Raspberry, Light Blue, Lilac, Lime and Chocolate not available in XXXL. Pink and Black are the ONLY colors available in sizes 5XL & 6XL.


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RATON, N.M. (AP) — The Raton Range, a biweekly newspaper serving the communities along New Mexico's northeastern border with Colorado, has ceased publication.
In a letter posted on the newspaper's web site, publisher Paula Murphy apologizes to readers for failing to deliver Friday editions, citing the high costs of printing and the shrinking population in Raton.
She says the company is saddled "with so much debt that it would take the glory days of advertising revenue to pay it back."
Still, she says she is an optimist and is working on one more potential option for saving the publication where she has worked for 28 years. Murphy says she cannot say with any certainty that it will work, but she hopes it will. "So this may not be our death, but merely a regrouping. "
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NBA Trade Rumors: Eric Bledsoe L.A. Clippers Shop PG? Paul Pierce, Pau Gasol, Al Jefferson, Paul Milsap, Andrea Bargnani All On The Move?
Below are some names that have circulated around the NBA trade market.
The deadline is still five weeks away, but team's jostling for the playoffs, or hoping to unload a hefty contract or two, could make a quick strike before Feb. 21.
The L.A. Clippers are the example of a team looking to win now, and they could move young talent to bring in the expiring contract of a top scoring forward like a Paul Pierce. Then there's the Toronto Raptors, who could make a playoff push, but may find it a better idea to move Andrea Bargnani for more draft picks and salary cap room.
Eric Bledsoe, L.A. Clippers
Currently a hot name with the Clips dominating the entire league. The third-year guard is arguably the best back PG in the NBA, and is a bargain with just $6.3 million owed to him over the next two seasons.
Chris Paul and crew would hate to see him go, but Clippers management may dangle him to get back another shooter or big man for a playoff run. ESPN reported that the Washington Wizards inquired about Bledsoe's availability, maybe as insurance for the oft-injured John Wall.
Pau Gasol, L.A. Lakers
His shooting and confidence are clearly down, and Gasol's been on the block for more than a year. In fact he was traded, but that ended quickly after league commissioner David Stern nixed the trade.
Next year he'll make $19.2 million and be 33-years-old. The Lakers are hurting, and the playoffs look like a longshot, which seemed unfathomable once they snagged Dwight Howard. And even though team owner Jerry Buss publicly stated he would not "blow" the team up, the Lakers could make a move to convince Howard they can still contend even with Kobe Bryant on the way out.
Al Jefferson and Paul Milsap, Utah Jazz
The Jazz are currently 1.5 games back from the West's final playoff spot, but Jefferson and Milsap could be on the move since both are free agents next season.
Utah has just $25 million committed to contracts next season, but have always been stingy and will probably look to re-sign one of their top frontcourt players, and develop Derrick Favors for the next few seasons.
Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics
CBS Sports reported Pierce is on the block, not only for his scoring but his contract. Pierce's $15.3 million salary for next season is not entirely guaranteed, which could make him an excellent rental for a team looking to make a run.
Andrea Bargnani, Toronto Raptors
The former No. 1 pick has been on the block for at least two years, with the Lakers previously mentioned as a destination. Who takes him and his contract on is the biggest question.
For someone owed more than $20 million over the next two seasons, the Raptors may have to take back heavier contracts or veterans in order to move Bargnani, who is shooting a career low 40 percent from the field and has a career average of five rebounds a game standing seven feet tall.


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BUT I ordered a couple of their new perfect fit tees, and they are fabulous. I don't usually gush over clothes unless they're made of cashmere, but these are gushworthy. The cotton is silky smooth, the fit is great (body conscious but not slut-o-rama), and the price isn't bad.
What more can a girl ask for?
BTW, this is NOT me -- this is just an image of the shirt.
I made muffins with the new Trader Joe's green tea baking mix. They're not bad, but they're not great either. The flavor is more akin to green tea ice cream than an actual cup of green tea. The texture is similar to inexpensive banana-nut muffin mixes, minus the nuts. A little gummy or something, and I tried not to overmix them. Let me know what you think if you try them!


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Pa. screening to show shale-gas films
Associated Press
The Pittsburgh Filmmakers are hosting a screening of short films about the shale-gas drilling boom, and a panel discussion.
The event Tuesday evening will feature excerpts from Gas Rush Stories, a series of films by Kirsi Jansa, and a panel discussion on the challenges journalists face when reporting on the shale-gas industry.
Panelists include Jansa, Reid Frazier, the Marcellus Shale reporter for WESA/Allegheny Front, and Tim Hudson, a professor of communication at Point Park University. Chris Moore of radio station WQED is the moderator.
Tickets are $10, and the screenings begin at 7 p.m.
The Pittsburgh Filmmakers are at 477 Melwood Ave. in Pittsburgh.
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10 tips to managing your business better
Twenty-five hundred years ago a new Chinese emperor took the throne of the Middle Kingdom. Because he was only 18, he called upon the court's wisest adviser.
"O learned sage. O venerable counselor," said the young emperor, "you advised my grandfather the emperor for many years. What is the single most important advice you can give me now for ruling my kingdom?"
And the adviser, who was the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius, replied, "First, you must define the problem."
Certainly sage advice — except most of us don't have a Confucius to consult. But we can learn plenty from studying the advice of top CEOs and business leaders.
For example, Anne Mulcahy, former chairman and CEO of Xerox, was asked by Fortune magazine what was the best advice she had ever received in business. She said it occurred at a breakfast meeting in Dallas, to which she had invited a group of business leaders.
One of them, a plainspoken, self-made, streetwise guy, came up to Mulcahy and said: "When everything gets really complicated and you feel overwhelmed, think about it this way. You gotta do three things. First, get the cow out of the ditch. Second, find out how the cow got into the ditch. Third, make sure you do whatever it takes so the cow doesn't go into the ditch again."
What a great management tip because when you break it down, it covers just about every situation. I'd like to share some other gems with you that will help you "define the problem."
- Make your calendar your best friend. As soon as you book an appointment or meeting, choose an appropriate date to prepare for it, and prepare a to-do list for that day. Allow sufficient time to gather and review all the information and material you might need.
- Don't waste precious time fretting about things over which you have no control. Although taking control of the details and tasks in your life is essential to becoming an effective priority manager, there are things that occasionally pop up over which you have little or no control. When that happens, just deal with them.
- Manage the function, not the paperwork. Remember that your job is to manage a specific function within the company, whatever that may be. There might be a lot of paperwork that goes with the job, but don't let that distract you from your real responsibility.
- Get out of your office. Management By Walking Around (MBWA) does work. You make yourself more approachable. You get information firsthand. You find out what's really happening. The auto pioneer Henry Ford was once asked why he made a habit of visiting his executives when problems arose rather than inviting them to his own office. "I go to them to save time," Ford explained, "and besides I've found I can leave their office a lot quicker than I can get them to leave mine."
- Delegate the easy stuff. The things you do well are the things to delegate. Hold on to those that are challenging and difficult. That is how you will grow.
- Don't get caught up in "looking good." Appearances can be deceiving. Don't try to act big. Don't exclude rank-and-file employees.
- Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
- Open your ears and close your mouth. Your associates, your employees, your suppliers, your customers all have something of value in what they have to say. Listen to the people around you. You will never learn what it is if you drown them out by talking all the time.
- Practice what you preach. To lead, you have to lead by example. Don't expect your people to work unpaid overtime if you leave early every day. Don't book yourself into a four-star hotel on business trips and expect your employees to stay in the motel off the freeway.
Mackay is author of The New York Times No. 1 best-seller "Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive." He can be reached through his website: www.harveymackay.com or by writing him at MackayMitchell Envelope Co., 2100 Elm St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55414.


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I think we're at that point of both of us saying virtually the same thing every post using different words. You keep talking about how the guys making the decision have done a lot more legwork and have experience doing this. I come back saying they had the same experience and did the same amount of legwork when they drafted Gruler and Howington, etc... You come back with perhaps they see something different. I respond by agreeing that it's possibility, but not one I'd be willing to give $2 - $3MM to. You find it funny that a non-expert feels so strongly about this. I find it funny that folks can give their loyal nod of approval simply because "experts" must know what they're doing. And so on a so forth.Originally Posted by traderumor
But just so we can agree on something, I will gladly cede the point that "perhaps, perhaps" Bailey will develop into everything these scouts thought he could be. It might sound like I'm arguing against that point, but I never meant to. I sure hope he turns into a perennial 20 game winner, and it's possible he will. But we're both aware of the odds. Can we agree on that?
One last thing, my opinion on this matter was formed long before the release of Moneyball. Moneyball has nothing to do with my opinions on drafting high school pitchers. Henceforth, anyone saying the belief against drafting high school pitchers in the first round with large signing bonuses attached is based on Moneyball will be slapped with a large trout.


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Bob, Mike, and F.P. break down the final game of the Battle of the Beltways as the Orioles win 7-4
In this week's edition of Dempsey's Dugout, Rick teaches proper bunting form
Orioles' bench coach Willie Randolph discusses his father's influence on him
Nationals owner Mark Lerner joins the Nats Xtra crew to discuss his Nats' recent success
Roch Kubatko gives updates on injured Orioles in this week's School of Roch
Brian Matusz tells Jim Hunter how he plans using his last outing to build his confidence
Debbi talks with Ivan Rodriguez and his recently drafted son Dereck for Father's Day
Jim Riggleman talks about Tom Gorzelanny's pitch count in his first start back from the DL
Jim, Mike, and F.P. discuss Sunday's keys to the final game of the Battle of the Beltways
Ryan Zimmerman talks about getting his stroke back to normal
Buck Showalter gives updates for several Orioles' injuries after they fall to the Nats 4-2
Jim Riggleman discusses the Nats' eighth straight victory as they defeat the Orioles 4-2
Drew Storen talks with the Nats Xtra crew about his role in the Nationals' bullpen
Dan Kolko catches up with Blake Davis to talk about his first callup to the Orioles
Tom Kolker talks with hitting coach Rick Eckstein about the Nats' offense during their seven-game winning streak
Buck Showalter discusses designating righty Jeremy Accardo for assignment


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"Hail! Who goes there?" A tall Man clad in green and brown, a bow strung in his hand, emerged from the oak and beech woods alongside the path as Rowanna and Gelion approached Emyn Arnen, alerted by the whistled signal from their Ranger escort. Rowanna reined in and inclined her head to him; the Ranger and his fellow exchanged a few swift words of Sindarin before Rowanna's escort bowed to her in the saddle, accepted her thanks, and turned his mount around.
"Rowanna daughter of MĒranna, as guest of the Steward and Prince of Ithilien," she presented herself to the sentry. "The Steward had intended to escort me himself, but he is delayed at Council in the City, and gave me leave to ride on ahead." She leant down from the saddle and passed the sentry the note Faramir had hastily penned early that morning before going in to the Council session.
"I must ask you to forgive me," he had said ruefully as he wrote, "and I shall certainly have to get down on bended knee and beg ╔owyn's pardon too, for I had promised her I would be back today! But these wretched negotiations with the Haradri ambassadors drag on; and tedious though trade and tariffs may seem, if we cannot reach agreement we'll have unrest on our southern borders ere long that we can ill afford. Aragorn wants resolution, and I cannot leave him unsupported in that, for there are elements on the Council who would urge a more... aggressive approach." He sighed as he finished the note and handed it to her. "You're sure you will not wait another day in the City, and we'll go together?"
"Truly, Faramir," Rowanna assured him, "I would much rather make a start ¢ Minas Tirith seems stifling in this heat after Dol Amroth!" And I was hoping IthildŅs would be gone south for the summer by the time I got here, she added inwardly, whereas she's here for another week dropping unsubtle hints about the urgent need for me to make myself respectable by finding a husband. Besides, everywhere I go... In just two days in Minas Tirith, she had found herself almost in tears half a dozen times, caught unawares by the sharp pain of memory: that street is where the Fellowship stayed, that's the windowsill he used to climb over, that alley leads up to the Houses... "From what you say, the roads are safe enough ¢"
"There will be plenty of traffic as far as Anduin," Faramir agreed as he got to his feet, "and that note will get you the use of my barge to cross with Gelion, and an escort the rest of the way. Not that there's any danger ¢ all the land between Emyn Arnen and Henneth Ann¹n is at peace now under the Rangers' watch ¢ but were Gelion to go lame or lose a shoe anywhere across the River you might have a long walk to find any help. Except, of course, for ¢" He broke off as an equerry strode into the antechamber and bowed.
"Your pardon, my Lord Steward, but the King is most anxious to begin ¢"
"I shall be with him straight." Faramir shook Rowanna by the hand and turned to go. "Fair journey to you, my lady. And do give my sincere regard and my contrition to my wife, else I may not dare return at all!"
Now the sentry swiftly scanned Faramir's note, and nodded. "Be welcome to Emyn Arnen, my lady. If you follow this path till it forks, and then take the right fork, you'll come to the house in a few minutes. The stables lie behind the house to the southern side, and you should find water, hay and oats there in plenty."
Rowanna thanked him and took the path as directed, grateful for the shade of the trees in the fierce afternoon sun. A few moments later, the woods opened out into a clearing. Towards the rear of it, cradled by the gentle rise of the hills behind, stood a simple white stone house, muslin drapes stirring in the breeze at its open windows. Rowanna smiled in relief, clicked to Gelion and made her way around to the stables.
Once she had introduced the horse to a pair of admiring stable-lads, and seen him watered, rubbed down and comfortably bestowed in a stall, Rowanna walked back round to the house. The great oak front door stood ajar; after a moment's hesitation, though, Rowanna lifted the wrought iron knocker and let it fall. Footsteps sounded within, and a minute later a middle-aged woman in a neat grey dress, fair hair covered in a white cap, appeared.
"How may I serve you, sir?" she began. Then a moment later, looking more closely at Rowanna, "Oh, I beg your pardon ¢ milady! It ¢ it was the breeches, if you'll excuse me..."
"Please, don't worry," Rowanna chuckled. "I know all too well the ladies of Gondor are accustomed to ride in skirts; but I was too many years away from the Southlands to change my habit now! My name is Rowanna; I'm here as a guest of the Steward, but he's been delayed at Council in the City and so we agreed that I would ride on ahead..."
"Oh ¢ yes, milady, we were expecting you. Please, do come in. My name is Frideswide; I'm housekeeper to Lady ╔owyn ¢"
"And came with her from the Golden Hall, I would guess?" Rowanna asked in Rohirric, and won a beaming smile in response.
"Why yes, mistress! How come you to speak our tongue?"
"I was born and brought up in the Riddermark ¢"
"Well, imagine that! Come within now, mistress, where it's cooler, and let me fetch you something to eat and drink after your ride." The housekeeper ushered Rowanna within to a comfortable dining-room, its shutters partially closed to keep out the harshest of the afternoon heat and light. "I'll let my lady know you've arrived as soon as she wakes, for she's resting just now ¢"
"Is ╔owyn ill?" Rowanna asked, concerned.
"No, no, have no fear ¢ she's just a little tired these days what with ¢" the housekeeper checked herself ¢ "the heat, and needs to rest after the noon-meal. Let me get you that drink."
Refreshed with a long cold beaker of small beer and a plate of bread, cold meats and cheese, Rowanna talked happily in Rohirric with the housekeeper, who was intrigued to find out how such a Gondorian-looking woman came to have lived in the Mark; and who also told her a little about the household and, as she warmed to her theme, confided her belief about the truth of ╔owyn's fatigue.
"It's by no means common knowledge, milady, but since you've known her all her life, and I know you'll not noise it abroad ¢ nothing's been said for certain yet, but my lady's sick in the mornings, very weary, and it's plain to any woman who's seen these things and especially to me, having the care of her linen... she must be with child."
"I'm glad for her ¢ and the Steward too," Rowanna said truthfully. "But I won't disturb her, Frideswide, if she's resting. Once I've finished eating, if you can show me to my room and have some water brought, I'll change into a clean shirt and breeches ¢ for the dust of the road's on these from head to toe! - and then perhaps take a walk from the house."
Installed in a small and comfortable room under the eaves of the house, Rowanna gratefully stripped and washed, changed her clothes, and accepted the help of one of the maids to wash the sweat and dirt of the road from her hair. Combing it out and leaving it spread over her shoulders to dry, she lay back on the bed and gazed at the patterns of sunlight and shadow dancing on the ceiling; but a little while later admitted to herself she was too restless to spend the afternoon lying down.
Pulling her boots back on, she found her water-skin and cloak and went in search of Frideswide, from whom she begged a couple of wrinkled apples by way of rations.
"How far do you plan to go, mistress?" the housekeeper enquired. "Not that it isn't safe enough all the way from here to Henneth Ann¹n, with the Rangers keeping an eye, but I don't know how well you know the land hereabouts. My lord and lady generally eat a little after sundown, though Lady ╔owyn may want to wait dinner tonight once I've given her your message from my lord Steward..."
"I'll be back by sundown for certain," Rowanna reassured her, "for I've no intention of getting myself lost in the dark! I can find my way by the sun and the line of the hills easily enough, I should think. I'd just like to begin getting a feel for the lie of the land, to start to talk to Faramir about where we might best think of starting his stud."
"Have you a cloak or a hood?" Frideswide asked. "It might seem too hot now, but thunder can come rolling in off the hills in no time at this season ¢ we had a great storm and downpour last night, you'll still see the puddles here and there."
Rowanna held out her cloak for inspection.
"That's a fine one!" Frideswide admired, running her fingers over the soft grey fabric. "That never came from the Mark?"
"No, it's ¢" Rowanna swallowed hard ¢ "Elven weave. It was given me, more than a year ago now, and ¢ I've not had the heart to part with it..."
"Well, it should serve you well enough." The housekeeper smiled and swung the front door wide for her. "A fair afternoon to you, mistress."
Rowanna looked in at the stables on Gelion, who whinnied with pleasure to see her.
"No, I'm not taking you out again yet, lad," Rowanna said firmly, "for you came a good way this morning, and through the mid-day heat; you rest, and I'll go afoot!" She made him a peace-offering of one of her apples, adjusted her water-skin where it hung across her hip from its strap and then, with her cloak slung across her arm, set off across the clearing.
After a little thought, she turned to the north; for further south is the way to the Cross-roads, she reflected, and Faramir said nothing certain about the state of the land south of Emyn Arnen, though I'm sure it's safe enough. Besides, from what I remember of the journey up to Cormallen ¢ she took one sharp inbreath ¢ the Vale of Anduin's broader and the grazing land likely to be better the further north you go.
She moved slowly through the woods, getting her bearings, noting here and there a fallen tree or a scattering of boulders to ensure she would find her way southward again. The forest, though quiet, hummed with life; birds called all about her, bees buzzed in the gorse, and the constant high-pitched sawing sound of crickets underlaid all.
As I thought, she reflected as she walked, close by Emyn Arnen itself's no good; it's still too hilly here, too many rocky outcrops, and it looks from here as though it's wooded all the way to Anduin or nearly. I wonder how far north you have to go to reach more open land? Well, from the sun there's plenty of the afternoon left; no harm in going on, for now.
She grimaced a little at the thought. Going on... that's all I've done, for a whole year, isn't it? Twelve months since ¢ since Arwen came south, and the wedding; and all I could do was keep going on from day to day, trying not to let Mother see that I wished the sun would never come up again, and wondering whether one day, somehow, I'd find a life to live again, and a place to live it in. I just hope I can convince Faramir that his plan is workable...
She heard a woodpecker's repeated tapping somewhere off to her right, and a puff of dust and flash of movement showed her a lizard skittering away from beneath her boots.
I wonder if they have woodpeckers in Mirkwood. I wonder if he is sitting in the shade of the canopy, even now...
Her heart ached, but the treacherous thought would not be suppressed; is he as deep in misery as I've been? I don't know which is worse ¢ the thought that he is just as wretched, or that.. he might not be... She let out a shuddering breath.
Could we have... should we have?... She had gone over and over the previous Mid-summer in her mind, and never found an answer. Everything conspired against us, that day ¢ if only we could have got away from everyone, from the crowds, from that nightmare of a banquet, and just talked, before we heard the Lay of Leithian, before doom was handed down as if from the Powers themselves. Perhaps L-Legolas was right; perhaps our song was already written, beyond our changing. I couldn't see how I could ask him to live with it; the 'binding chain of living love and mortal pain'... but are we both enduring it anyway? Well, it's too late now ¢ he's hundreds of leagues away, and I'll never see him again.
She scrubbed angrily at her eyes; if tears could mend anything, you would have had all put to rights long since! Keep your mind on what you're doing...
There was no human sound other than her own feet scuffing up leaves or occasionally snapping a twig; yet somehow Rowanna became increasingly convinced that she was being watched. If I were riding, I'd watch Gelion, and I'd know! she mused. As long as his ears are forward, or he's stealing bits of leaf and twig to chew on as he walks, then there's no danger...
Around her, though, the sounds of the woodland were untroubled; no sudden silences, no alarm-calls from birds or rustles from startled beasts. It feels... peaceful, Rowanna reflected. I'm sure someone is watching, yet the land feels no threat. So it must be one of the Rangers from Henneth Ann¹n ¢ perhaps more than one. Though why they don't just show themselves... She shrugged, bit into her remaining apple, and walked on, savouring the scents of pine and herbs in the forest air, occasionally slapping at a fly.
The shafts of sunlight dropping down through the canopy slowly turned to the deeper gold of late afternoon; it occurred to Rowanna that she might think of turning back, yet the walk was soothing her spirits, and she knew that now, at the height of summer, the sun would set late. The air grew a little cooler, and she fastened the grey Lothl¾rien cloak around her shoulders, where it was less trouble than carried over her arm. From time to time she paused at a clearing or a point where more than one way through the undergrowth was apparent; strangely enough, whenever she stopped, somehow there would come a flash of movement in the corner of her eye, or a slight rustle of leaves, which would draw her attention in one particular direction. She began to ask herself: Am I being followed, in truthģ or led?
After more than an hour of this, Rowanna's never-generous patience snapped. Reaching yet another clearing, she stood still, and when something seemed to move in the trees to one side of her, she stood her ground. The Rangers generally used the Grey Tongue, she knew; so she thought for a moment to make sure she had the phrases she wanted, and said clearly to the apparently empty air:
"Very well. I am here. What do you want?"
Although she thought she had marked the spot where her silent watcher balanced in the foliage, either she was mistaken or he had moved swiftly and silently across the clearing; for she neither saw nor heard him drop to the ground, and so it was only at the sound of his voice that she whirled around, dumbstruck.
"Mae govannen, brennilen."
And there he stood, leaning against the trunk of a great tree with folded arms, regarding her with the familiar, quizzical raised eyebrow. Legolas.
For all his apparent ease, something about his posture sent her mind flying back to the very first time she had set eyes on him in Rivendell's Hall of Fire; and as the memory stirred, she realised with a jolt that he was as unnerved and as brittle as she.
For a long moment there was silence. Somewhere in the clearing a bee buzzed.
"What in Arda's name are you doing here?" Rowanna eventually demanded, shakily.
"I might ask the same of you," he responded coolly. "I thought that you were returning to Rohan! To breed horses again with ¢ Aelstan?"
"I ¢ I changed my mind. After the War, everything wasģ different. And Mother decided to settle in Dol Amroth, with her cousin Pennastir and his wife Almiel, to help with their childrenģ"
"None of which explains what you are doing in the middle of the woodland of Ithilien," Legolas pointed out, eyebrow raised again.
"I am here at the invitation of the Steward," Rowanna retorted. "He wishes to build up Gondor's breeding stock of horses again after all that was lost in the War, and we had thought of establishing a stud farm ¢ perhaps somewhere over near Cormallen, on all that wonderful grazing land close by Anduin. He wrote and asked me to come this summer to discuss it. You, I would have thought, are considerably farther from homeģ"
"I am a Wood-elf, and this is a forest," he said teasingly. "How could I not be at home?"
Rowanna suppressed an impulse to stamp her foot. "You still speak in riddles, at any rate! What are you doing here and not back away North in the Greenwood? I thought I had heard that your father and the Lord Celeborn had taken each a part of the great forest for their domain and were undoing all of Sauron's evil there?"
"And so they are," said Legolas. "But Eryn Lasgalen, sad to say, is not the only forest in need of healing thanks to the foul works of Sauron and his creatures!" His mouth set for a moment in a grim line. "All over Ithilien from the Crossroads to the Black Gate ¢ wherever orcs had dominion in the years before the fall of Barad-D¹r ¢ they left poison and destruction. It will take lifetimes of Men to restore all; but I offered Faramir my aid to begin, and he accepted."
Rowanna shook her head in bewilderment. "Iģ I still cannot believe it! To find you, hereģ"
"Then come and see." For the first time since he had dropped into the clearing, the beginnings of a smile played about the corners of the Elf's mouth. "Why do you think I kept leading you northwards? You followed most attentively, I must say. When Galathil signalled that there was a Mortal woman walking alone through the woodland from the direction of Emyn Arnen, I confess I was curious; and once I realised it was you ¢"
He broke off abruptly.
"Will you come? Less than a league northward of here we are encamped."
"I ¢ no, I can't ¢ yes!" The reply was out of Rowanna's mouth before she had time to think. "Oh, but ¢ Faramir and ╔owyn's folk knew whither I went; Faramir is back in Minas Tirith for Council, and ╔owyn was resting when I left, but if I am not back by dark they will start scouring the countryside for meģ"
"That we can quickly enough forestall," Legolas said carelessly. "And later, we can lend you a mount, and one of the company will escort you back to Emyn Arnen." He gave a curious whistling call, and a moment later a dark-haired Elf in patched and faded brown and green, almost invisible among the trees until he moved, arrived in answer. Legolas said something swift in what Rowanna thought was the Grey Tongue, except that it was full of words she did not recognise; and the second Elf's reply, lilting and liquid, was completely incomprehensible, reminding her a little of Haldir's Lothl¾rien accents.
"There," said Legolas as the second Elf vanished once again into the trees. "Galathil cannot bear a message to Emyn Arnen himself, for he has no tongue in common with Men as yet; but he will pass on my order to Taurlaegel, who can be at the house well before dark and whose Grey Tongue will be perfectly comprehensible to Faramir ¢ and to the household, who will be able to cast the message into Westron, or Rohirric for that matter, for Lady ╔owyn if it should turn out that Faramir stays in the City tonight."
"I knew I couldn't make out a word of what he said!" Rowanna confessed. "So it was not just a strange accent?" Legolas shook his head.
"Not at all ¢ there are plenty still of Father's people who choose to speak only the Silvan tongue, though most understand the Grey well enough. And those who decide to follow me here are like enough to begin to use Sindarin to talk to the folk of Ithilien ¢ at least when they want to be understoodģ"
He gestured, somewhat formally, inviting her to follow him, and they set off further into the woodland which covered the hillsides rising to the east.
"Soģ what are your plans?" Rowanna asked tentatively. "You said 'those who decide to follow you' ¢ are you bringing a great company south?"
"Not yet, for certain. This year I have brought but a small band ¢ some of those who served me most closely in the Greenwood or who are wisest in tree-lore, who spoke up at once when I made known what I wished to do, and asked to join me. We need to take stock, survey all the land and the harm wrought upon it, before we can even begin to plan either the healing that must be done or the bringing south of a greater folk. I promised Father that I would not ¢ how did he put it? 'go haring off upon another wild enterprise' without due planning and forethought, this time!"
Despite her sudden nerves, Rowanna found she could not suppress a chuckle at the image of an errant Legolas thus chided; a moment later, at the expression on the Elf's face, it grew until she laughed out loud.
"A ¢ wild enterprise?" she gasped when she could speak. "You and the Fellowship saved all of Middle-earth and your father called it haring off upon a wild enterprise?..."
Legolas snorted. "I am glad someone else sees the funny side! The rest of Father's Council radiated disapproval when I was seen to smile at thatģ" He sobered. "Poor Father. My homecoming was not the unalloyed joy he had longed for, I fear. His son was hale, well, lauded as a hero of Middle-earthģ and Sea-struck, torn in two between forest and shore, and wanting only to take off again for the Southlands as soon as he could persuade a few comrades to join him."
Rowanna sighed. "The War seemed to split the world in two; those folk who just want everything to be as it was before, no matter what they must close their eyes to to make it so; and those who were touched by it all too closely, and know thatģnothing can ever be the same again."
"And no need to ask which half we belong to," the Elf retorted, with sudden bitterness. Rowanna gulped.
"No, forgive me. I should not have ¢" He broke off.
They said no more for some time, threading their way through the woodland side by side, each lost in thought.
As the sun was going down they stepped into a broad clearing where an Elf with elaborately braided hair was tending a small cooking-fire, his short bow and quiver resting against a nearby tree-trunk. Clearly word of their coming had gone before them, for he showed no surprise, merely raised a hand in greeting and called something across to Legolas in the same lilting tongue that Galathil had used.
A little group of horses stood untethered at one end of the clearing, grazing in the evening light; one lifted his head and nickered as they approached, and to her delight Rowanna recognised Arod. The little grey still liked to be scratched along his neck in just the way she remembered, leaning ecstatically into her touch.
"I might have known Arod would get more of your attention than any of us mere two-legged beings!" Legolas protested mock-plaintively. "There's a clean stream running down behind those rocks on the far side, if you want to refill your water-skin." Rowanna did so gratefully, taking a long draught and splashing her face. I need to make sure I am not dreaming, she thought, still slightly stunned. I thought him half a world away! And what in Arda's name am I doing accepting his invitation to supper ¢ for that matter, what in all the stars is he doing asking me?...
"While Falastir is cooking, come," Legolas urged as she returned to the fireside. "Let me show you something of what we have come to do..." He courteously motioned Rowanna ahead of him down the slope, waiting patiently when she had to stop to look for her footing. A year ago you would simply have taken my hand and hauled me through! thought Rowanna, sighing as she clambered across a rocky outcrop.
Placing her feet carefully, Rowanna frowned; now that they were over the rocks there was something increasingly odd about the terrain. The puddles of water which lay here and there in hollows from the previous day's rain had a strange sheen to them, and she caught traces of a harsh metallic smell. Then they came into a small clearing where the ground was pitted and filled with holes, and blackened as though it had been cleared by burning; Rowanna's boots scuffed up a cloud of ash, making her cough. When the dust cleared she saw that the trees around the lower edge of the clearing were stunted, shorter and frailer-looking than those they had passed through before, and the earth around their roots was slimy with blackened and dying plants.
"Watch your footing," Legolas urged. "All these pits have made the ground unstable, and sometimes you don't see the holes. And do not touch the earth if you can help it."
Rowanna shuddered. "What happened here?"
"This," said Legolas grimly, "is but a small example of how Mordor treated Yavanna's good green earth. Digging for metals; you see all the pits? ¢ there is iron and copper in these hills, which they wanted in endless supply to forge their weapons. But if you mine and smelt and take no care to clear away the spoil, then poison leaches back into the ground with the rain, sun-round after sun-round, and flows into the streams and the rivers, and is carried downstream for miles. See what it has done to the earth below the clearing?" He hunkered down, Rowanna crouching beside him, and used a stick to turn over the slimy, blackened leaves. "Leaves and plants thus poisoned do not rot down as they should, to feed the soil ¢ look, there are no earthworms, no burrowing creatures. The earth dies."
He went to take her hand to lift her to her feet, then checked himself and instead carefully stepped back to allow her to rise.
"And this is but the very edge of it, too close to Osgiliath for the Orcs to have been here for long or till recently. Can you imagine ¢" his voice shook a little ¢ "what the land looks like further from Minas Tirith's writ? As you draw close to Mordor itself? Watercourses running foul, black heaps of slag everywhere, trees all hacked down for their charcoal or simply because Mordor cannot bear a living green thing where it could have ugliness and deathģ" He looked away, fighting for control.
"I knew it was terrible," Rowanna said softly. "I remember how much pain it caused you on the ride to the Black Gate. But now that you are hereģ what can be done?"
"To begin with," the Elf replied as he led the way back towards the camp, "we go to and fro all across Ithilien, marking for the Steward every damaged site, all the poisoned ground. We make sure all know which streams they should not drink from, which berries not to harvest, where not to graze animals. And then ¢" he lifted a thorny branch aside to let her pass ¢ "we go to work! On the way back northward last summer I went to Fangorn, and not only ¢ despite his misgivings ¢ to discomfit Gimli. I talked long with Treebeard, who along with his Ents has much of the same work to do around Isengard, and whose forest wisdom stretches back even before the Firstborn walked Middle-earth. Where we must, we will dig out poisoned soil and take it away ¢ into Mordor, if there is any justice! If we can divert streams, we can wash some of the poison down into pools we line with stone, and filter it out with reedbeds. And Treebeard knows of many plants which can safely draw the poison from the soil without harm to themselves ¢ mustard, pigweed, alpine pennycress, some of which will grow well on Ithilien's slopes. Over a lifetime of Men, we can make the earth clean again. And where we have clean earth ¢ we will replant the trees!"
He stopped to draw breath, and Rowanna could not help smiling at the passion in his voice. "A lifetime of Men indeed! But time, fortunately, Elves are not short of. You will see Ithilien fair again."
"I will set my people on the way, at least," he replied, his tone suddenly less sure. "Whether I will hold out long enough to see it doneģ"
"The Sea?" Cold dread descended on Rowanna like a sudden mist. "Is its pull truly so strong?"
"It ebbs and flows," Legolas said with a sigh. "Father hoped that back in the Greenwood, hundreds of leagues from any shore, in the forest of my childhood, it would be so faint that I could ignore it; but it would come suddenly from nowhere, and then the pain of knowing I could not reach the Sea, even in a moon-round's journey, was unbearable. I thought that here, close to great Anduin which winds to the ocean, I would be more resigned, knowing that if it became too great I need only step onto a boatģ but sometimes that just makes it harder to resist. For days, weeks at a time there is no more than a whisper, and I almost forget it. But when the wind is from the south-west, sometimes, and comes bearing the tang of the salt and driving the gulls before the stormģ it is very bad indeed." Rowanna heard the strain in his voice; she had to check the impulse to pull him into her arms, and flushed to the roots of her hair.
"We must be nearly back," she said hastily to cover her confusion, "I can smell something cooking! ¢ fish?..."
Legolas, too, had composed himself and was carefully courteous once again. "Trout, I imagine; they seem to be plentiful around here. Fear not, Galathil knows how to choose a clean stream to fish from, and we will feed you well!"
He led her back into the clearing in the twilight, and the other Elves, looking with open curiosity at Rowanna, readily made room for them around the fire.
Author's Notes:
The idea that after the War Faramir might use a barge to make crossings of the Anduin in a more direct line from Minas Tirith to Emyn Arnen, rather than riding ten miles out of the way northwards to the bridge at Osgiliath and then south again, is the fruit of a question I asked on the H-A mailing list about the likelihood of extra bridges.
Mae govannen, brennilen ¢ Well met, my lady.
The use of certain plants to leach heavy metals and other mining and smelting contaminants from the soil is a genuine process known as phytoextraction (thank you, Wikipedia...)
The idea that after the War Faramir might use a barge to make crossings of the Anduin in a more direct line from Minas Tirith to Emyn Arnen, rather than riding ten miles out of the way northwards to the bridge at Osgiliath and then south again, is the fruit of a question I asked on the H-A mailing list about the likelihood of extra bridges.
Mae govannen, brennilen ¢ Well met, my lady.
The use of certain plants to leach heavy metals and other mining and smelting contaminants from the soil is a genuine process known as phytoextraction (thank you, Wikipedia...)


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I hate to cook, so do cinnamon buns come in those tubes you smack on the counter to open, and then just bake them?
I mother would also freeze cinnamon buns (and other types of pulla, we might have gotten them from Swedes but they're very popular in Finland too. My mither used to make the knot shaped ones with butter and vanilla sugar as filling, they're very good too) and I actually liked them frozen.
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Pope Francis began his first morning as pontiff by praying Thursday at Rome's main basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary, a day after cardinals elected him the first pope from the Americas in a bid to revive a Catholic Church in crisis and give it a preacher with a humble touch.
The former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, entered the St. Mary Major basilica through a side entrance just after 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) and left about 30 minutes later. He had told a crowd of some 100,000 people packed in rain-soaked St. Peter's Square just after his election that he intended to pray Friday to the Madonna "that she may watch over all of Rome."
The Vatican said Thursday that Francis would visit his predecessor, the now-Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, in the coming days, but "not tomorrow or the next day."
"As soon as it is planned we'll let you know," Rev. Federico Lombardi told journalists on Thursday.
Francis spoke by phone with Benedict on Wednesday, soon after he was elected. The visit to Castel Gandolfo will be significant because Benedict's resignation has raised concerns about potential power conflicts emerging from the peculiar situation of having a reigning pope and a retired one.
Francis was expected to give a private Mass with his cardinals in the Sistine Chapel at 5 p.m., Rome time, on Thursday (12 p.m. eastern). On Friday morning, he is to welcome and address the cardinals in the Vatican's Clementine Hall.
The new pope's official inauguration as Bishop of Rome will take place in St. Peter's Square on Saturday.
One of the largest questions looming on the minds of Vatican watchers on Thursday morning, is who Francis will pick as his Secretary of State -- the number two position at the Vatican. The position was held under Benedict by the powerful Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Bertone was considered a staunch traditionalist member of the Curia; a defender of the Church's secretive Rome-based bureaucracy and a man who impeded reform.
Francis' own background is not that of a Vatican insider, but rather a member of the Jesuit order -- a fiercely independent branch of the Church devoted to running teaching institutions and social programs, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips. Yet, until now, Pope Francis' conservative views on birth control, homosexuality and women's role in the Church have not made him popular with his relatively progressive Jesuit brothers. He's no great friend to the Curia, says Phillips.
Wednesday evening, at 7:06 p.m. in Rome, white smoke billowed from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel -- the first indication that 114 cardinals had elected Francis to lead the 1.2 million-strong church in an unusually quick conclave.
Francis, the first Jesuit pope, first pope from the Americas, and first non-European since the Middle Ages, decided to call himself Francis after St. Francis of Assisi, the humble friar who dedicated his life to helping the poor.
The new pope immediately charmed the crowd in St. Peter's that roared when his name was announced.
Waving shyly, he told said the cardinals' job was to find a bishop of Rome. "It seems as if my brother cardinals went to find him from the end of the earth, but here we are. Thank you for the welcome."
The 76-year-old Bergoglio, said to have finished second when Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005, was chosen on just the fifth ballot to replace the first pontiff to resign in 600 years. In the past century, only Benedict, John Paul I in 1978 and Pius XII in 1939 were elected faster.
Benedict's longtime aide, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, accompanied Francis on the visit at St. Mary Major, the ANSA news agency reported. In addition to being Benedict's secretary, Gaenswein is also the prefect of the papal household and will be arranging the new pope's schedule.
Also praying with the new pope on Thursday was the archpriest emeritus of the basilica, Cardinal Bernard Law. The ex-Archbishop of Boston was forced to resign that position in 2002 after leaked internal Church documents showed he had tried to shield pedophile priests in his diocese from outside persecution. Law moved to Rome after his resignation and was made archpriest of the St. Mary Major basilica in 2004 by Pope John Paul II, a position he held until 2011.
Francis' election elated Latin Americans, who number 40 percent of the world's Catholics but have long been underrepresented in the church leadership. On Wednesday, drivers honked their horns in the streets of Buenos Aires and television announcers screamed with elation at the news.
"It's a huge gift for all of Latin America. We waited 20 centuries. It was worth the wait," said Jose Antonio Cruz, a Franciscan friar at the St. Francis of Assisi church in the colonial Old San Juan district in Puerto Rico. "Everyone from Canada down to Patagonia is going to feel blessed."
The new pontiff brings a common touch. The son of middle-class Italian immigrants, he denied himself the luxuries that previous cardinals in Buenos Aires enjoyed. He lived in a simple apartment, often rode the bus to work, cooked his own meals and regularly visited slums that ring Argentina's capital.
He considers social outreach, rather than doctrinal battles, to be the essential business of the church.
"As a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us, he carries forth the message of love and compassion that has inspired the world for more than 2,000 years that in each other, we see the face of God," President Barack Obama said in a statement.
As the 266th pope, Francis inherits a Catholic church in turmoil, beset by the clerical sex abuse scandal, internal divisions and dwindling numbers in parts of the world where Christianity had been strong for centuries.
While Latin America still boasts the largest bloc of Catholics on a single continent, it has faced competition from aggressive evangelical churches that have chipped away at strongholds like Brazil, where the number of Catholics has dropped from 74 percent of the population in 2000 to 65 percent today.
Francis is sure to bring the church closer to the poverty-wracked region, while also introducing the world to a very different type of pope, whose first words were a simple, "Brothers and sisters, good evening."
He asked for prayers for himself, and for Benedict, whose stunning resignation paved the way for his election.
"I want you to bless me," Francis said in his first appearance from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, asking the faithful to bow their heads in silent prayer.
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TransDance 2012- Body Documents from 1960ŌĆÖs Reda Troupe Dance
In this talk, Sawsan Gad explores the body as a site of documentation of race, gender and class in the work of the 1960ŌĆÖs famous Egyptian Dance company ŌĆśThe Reda TroupeŌĆÖ, whose work was influenced by the rise of the nationalist and Arabist discourse set within a Nasser regime. The work of the troupe choreographically traced pre-existing dances from centuries ago, and distilled it through reenactments that are staged (or presented in film) defining an epistemological break through displaced choreographies. Their ŌĆśbody documentsŌĆÖ stand as an activated document, in constant friction with the context that surrounds them in Egypt, through the present. Sawsan GadŌĆÖs lecture is accompanied by screenings of dance sequences from the Reda Troupe repertoire.
ABOUT┬ĀSWANSAN┬ĀGAD Sawsan Gad works as a mapper in the field of disaster recovery. She also co-founded HarassMap, a mapping tool that aims to change the social tolerance of sexual harassment in Egypt. Through her work she deals with questions related to behaviour, perception and the will of masses from a grassroot, often gender-based, but always individualistic perspective. With HaRaKa, Sawsan has acted as an Associate Researcher, presenting research on the market control of beauty perception as well as curators' control of artist selection; both conditioning a culture that they indeed wish to challenge. Her work has been presented as lectures, text, and in live performance contexts.


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POSITIONING is crucial in Sydney Harbour's floating car park, especially on New Year's Eve. For 18 years, Sharon Heley-Wright and her family pile onto their 12.8-metre cruiser, named Wasabi - their dinghy is named Soy - to celebrate under the fireworks spectacular that lights up Sydney.
''With eskies filled with beer and French champagne, we compete with a barrage of oversized tinnies and extreme motor yachts for the ultimate viewing post of Sydney Harbour Bridge,'' Mrs Heley-Wright said.
To get a good spot in the harbour, she says it's vital to be on the water before 11am. But this year she and her family decided to spend the week before New Year's Eve, including Christmas, floating around Sydney.
Mrs Heley-Wright, her husband, Stuart, and children, Mariah, 12, and Sam, 19, will begin their New Year's Eve tradition eating Mrs Heley-Wright's self-proclaimed famous lobster bisque.
"One year, we knocked a lobster overboard so someone had to dive after it," she said.
New Year's Eve weather is an important factor when boating on the Harbour. In 2000, Wasabi ended up near Goat Island because of the wind. ''The harbour gets so rough sometimes you can end up like a cork in a bathtub,'' Mr Wright said.
Their favourite spot is near Taronga Park Zoo when there is a north-easterly wind but, if a southerly is blowing, they tuck in to Farm Cove near Lady Macquarie's Chair for a direct view of the bridge. The Heley-Wrights tie Wasabi against 20 other boats filled with friends.
Staying overnight is a must, says Mrs Heley-Wright, because drink driving rules apply to the water as much as they do to the roads. "The water police breathalyse every boat that moves after midnight."
There are plenty of larrikins on the water each year. ''There is always a boat full of naked people, always,'' Mrs Heley-Wright said.
But no incident has ever deterred the family from spending a New Year's Eve on the water because, in her words: ''Watching the fireworks leaves a lasting impression that Sydney Harbour is the greatest venue on the globe.''


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From the death of Michael Jackson last month to screen goddess Marilyn Monroe in 1962 to hip-hop kingpin notorious B.I.G. in 1997 to the 1981 death by drowning of Natalie Wood and the 1994 murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, the Los Angeles County coroner's office serves as more than a medical examiner's office -- it's Hollywood's psychic stopover between glamour and the grave.
"The L.A. County coroner's office is the busiest office in the United States," said David Campbell, who worked there for 20 years, rising to the rank of captain of investigations and spokesman, before retiring in 2005. "On average, it'd be fair to say, 15 to 25 bodies a day would come into the coroner's office."
Michael Jackson is the latest star in its high-profile history to grace the L.A. county coroner's office.
"Not surprisingly, with Hollywood, they have some of the most high-profile and complex cases. They're the most technologically advanced coroner's office in the world," said Brad Schreiber, author of "Death in Paradise: An Illustrated History of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner."
For more on the investigation into Michael Jackson's death, watch "Prescription for Death?" on "Primetime: Crime," Tonight at 10 p.m. ET
With national attention surrounding the investigation into the King of Pop's death, Campbell said stars like Jackson are given extra attention to protect their privacy.
"High-profile cases do get special attention. They may be isolated from other cases, and this way it prevents lookie-loos," Campbell told ABC News. "In addition to that, a security hold might be placed on the coroner's paperwork. It makes it more difficult for people to access it."
Still, Jackson's case has already sparked news of an investigation into reports that the singer's death certificate and other sensitive records were obtained by numerous employees in violation of regulations.
Yet, most victims -- no matter how famous -- barely raise an eyebrow at the coroner's office.
"When Nicole Brown Simpson came into the coroner's office, it was a very busy day. If I remember correctly, we had five or six homicides come in that particular day," Campbell said. "So there was no particular sense of 'oh my goodness, we've got a celebrity death or a high-profile case.'"
The subsequent autopsies and inquiries into the high-profile dead always seem to yield some telling details. According to the coroner's office, Nicole Brown Simpson's last meal was pasta; Sean Penn's brother, actor Christopher Penn, reportedly weighed some 310 pounds. And Campbell recalls a poignant image from the examination of singer Janis Joplin, who died from an overdose of heroin in 1970.
"It is in fact true that when Janis Joplin died, there was indeed bad drugs out on the streets," Campbell said. "In fact, I remember seeing a coroner's photograph of Janis Joplin when she died, and she -- she still had money, cash in her hand. She was clutching dollar bills."
Coroner Inquiries Provide Portraits of Death
The death of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe, who died five miles from Michael Jackson's last home, would remain haunting and mysterious until this day.
"The forensic evidence about her death suggests that she was not a suicide, because she took Nembutal, and yet there was no Nembutal in her stomach, it was in her bloodstream," Schreiber said. "The significance of that suggests that either forcibly, by an injection, or some other method, that she was given the Nembutal."
But the coroner's official finding as to the cause of her death was barbiturate intoxication, specifically Nembutal, Schreiber revealed.
Considerably more savage were the 1969 slayings by Charles Manson's followers of pregnant actress Sharon Tate, whom the coroner's office determined had been stabbed some 16 times.
"It was a historic low, at that point, to consider how brutally the people were killed at Roman Polanski's rented home," Schreiber said.
Other celebrated deaths received the same kind of dedicated inquiry now being carried out in Jackson's case. For Karen Carpenter, who battled anorexia before her death in 1983, an outside lab performed toxicological analysis at the coroner's request. Their finding: Her death was the result of her past abuse of Ipecac, a vomit-inducing drug.
"There is a technical term for it: emetine cardio toxicity," Schreiber said. "Emetine is the byproduct of Ipecac. So it is like a poison that makes the muscles of the heart grow striated, long and weak. ... [She] basically had a heart attack. She was a young woman, who had the heart of an old woman, and that's how she died."
Coroner's Office Unlocks Missing Link in Celebrity Deaths
And the L.A. coroner's office has unlocked the missing link in the death of Dorothy Dandridge, the first African-American to get a best actress Oscar nomination, who died suddenly at age 42.
"She'd broken a toe. And initially, when she was found in her Hollywood apartment, people thought that there'd been an embolism. And then it turned out that she was using an antidepressant that had just hit the market, called Tofranil," Schreiber told ABC News. "No one really knew what effects it might possibly have, but the L.A. coroner determined that the cause of death was overdose of Tofranil."
Hollywood's sordid history of death and stardom is almost as old as the town itself. Preliminary results of Jackson's autopsy show the powerful anesthetic propofol was a contributing factor in the pop icon's death, but results of the toxicology report are still pending.
And though little has changed at the L.A. county coroner's office in 2009, as Schreiber notes, their work's power to stun will never diminish.
"I know once I was at the coroner's office, and I was giving a tour to somebody. We happened to be walking by the autopsy rooms, and I pointed out and said, 'And over here is the autopsy room.' And they were actually doing an autopsy," he recalled. "My knees went to Jell-O, and I nearly did a face plant. It was stunningly horrifying. And I don't know how they do it, and how they do that day after day. I really admire them."


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All I have to say it that is an absurd amount of work for a 6th grader to do to get an A. ABSURD. A child shouldn't have to give up his whole life to do hours and hours and hours of extra work to get an A or a B.I wouldn't definitely take this up with the principal - and whoever implemented the ridiculous A, B and C plan.
Coley, would you mind if I posted the background information on the teacher discussion forum I referred to earlier? It's an active enough board that one or more of them might have experience with this sort of system and could shed some light on expectations. It could be that the teacher is misinterpreting the system in regards to grades.
Moving target deadlines. Inconsistency. Missing her own deadlines for posting assignments. This is ridiculous.Either she wants the kids to work at their own pace or she doesn't. She seems to be holding up your son so the other kids can catch up. If she continues to jerk you around, I would go to the principal or department head with your timeline.
That is a good question and districts can be a bit bipolar about what they ask of teachers. I knew a teacher who was scolded for expecting kids to do stuff on the internet because his expectation that they either use the library or school resources was unfair, then they turned around and encouraged teachers to assign kids to do assignments using cell phones based on the assumption that "they all have cell phones".
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Contact: Jim Gavin
Indiana Securities Division has active investigation against Schrenker and his business interests
(Indianapolis) – Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita issued the following statement upon learning Marcus Schrenker was apprehended:
"I'm pleased to learn of the successful capture of Marcus Schrenker and want to acknowledge the quick actions and dogged efforts of fellow law enforcement agencies including the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, the United States Marshals, local authorities in Alabama and Florida and others.
The work by my Securities Division will continue in pursuit of a successful prosecution and in an effort to account for and recover investor assets."
Media Contact: Jim Gavin: 317.233.8655 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Meanwhile back in Dublin South East… January 23, 2013Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.
In an odd way I'm reminded of the 1970s when reading about Lucinda Creighton, Minister of European Affairs, and how she has proposed an abortion Bill which 'excludes suicide as grounds for carrying out the procedure'. There's something, just something, of the Liam Cosgrave about her and his vote against the government of which he was Taoiseach in regard to the ban on importing contraception for married people. The government was defeated.
But then it's always fascinating to see how social issues cut so markedly across political formations and even ideologies.
The constituency Creighton represents is, to judge by its voting patterns in referendums, one of the most socially liberal in the state. In the 1995 Dissolution of Marriage vote it went Yes with 64.86% to 35.14%. [for full figures on referendums and constituencies you can do little better than go here to environ.ie].
Nine years before that Dublin South East voted 19,107 to 16,464 in favour of the proposal (that's by my reckoning 53% to 46%]. That has to be put in the context of 63.48% against overall and only 36.52% in favour.
When considering abortion referendums the picture becomes less clear because it's difficult to reduce the issue to simple yes/no choices given the abstraction of some of the proposals in the past, but as an indication, in 1983 on the eighth amendment of the Constitution the constituency voted 16,814 in favour and 17,292 against. Overall the vote was 66.9 % in favour and 33.10% against.
At the 1992 referendum the votes on the Twelfth amendment which held that the possibility of suicide was not a sufficient threat to justify an abortion were as follows: 10,361 in favour and 20,097 against. The latter position won through with 1,079,297 votes cast against nationally and 572,177 in favour. On the linked vote on the right to travel in light of the prohibition on abortion 27,966 voted for the right and 11,417 against it whereas nationally the vote was 1,035,308 in favour of a right to travel and 624,059 against. The Fourteenth amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech in relation to the distribution of information about abortion services outside Ireland was also approved, with 59.88% to 40.12%. In Dublin South East the vote was 26,557 against 12,573. On votes like the prohibition of the death penalty DSE has comfortably voted on the 'liberal' side of the fence. And even at the Twenty-fifth Amendment which sought to further limit abortion provision and where the proposal was not accepted by 50.42% to 49.58% the DSE result was 9,414 in favour and 19,558 against (btw, the highest No vote was in Dun Laoghaire with 68 %, by my calculation DSE came in at 67%).
And not just its referendum results. Consider the list of those who have represented it in the Dáil. One could have grave reservations about their socio-economic approaches while still acknowledging that in general terms Michael McDowell, Frances FitzGerald, Ruairi Quinn, John Gormley and one GFG were unlikely social traditionalists.
All this raises the thought that she is both entirely sincere and swimming against the tide of the constituency. On an issue such as this which has a particularly powerful political aspect it will be interesting to see if the former outweighs the latter. Or will party out? The other alternative is that having made it eminently clear where she stands she will find the government's proposals sufficient to allow her realign with her party.
Then again, as it stands where will any FG voter go if they're disenchanted with her stance? Truth is probably nowhere. Still, interesting.
- 1. Depps - January 23, 2013
Eoghan Murphy, the constituencies other blueshirt, is also in the anti-abortion camp which seems to rule out any sort of electoral strategising to pick up more of the conservative FG vote vis a vis her biggest competitor for the next GE.
Maybe FG have just perfected the art of attracting the most regressive elements of society into the party
- 2. hardcore for nerds - January 23, 2013
How many people make their primary decision on who to vote for based on 'social issues' like abortion (if indeed they base it on policy at all)? If a Dublin FG voter disagrees with the candidate's pro-life stance, they probably still agree with their "socio-economic approach"; and if it's a choice between FG and Labour, I know there may not appear to be much distinction in practice between their approaches from a Left perspective, I don't see the economically pro-FG voter being willing to switch just on the basis of the pinkos being less socially conservative. More likely, it'd be useful for FG to retain a traditional older vote… stop them not voting/voting for FF or Inds.
On the other hand, it could develop into the situation like with the Republicans in the US where their social stances are said to be alienating women (except there's not much of a gender divide on abortion opinion in Ireland, as Creighton illustrates). It's a problem of having a catch-all right-wing party.
- WorldbyStorm - January 23, 2013
I've long wondered how much the influence of US Republican hegemony in the 2000s influenced her generation. A lot it would appear.
- Branno's ultra-left t-shirt - January 23, 2013
I remember her saying she would have voted for McCain in 2008. The Waterford TD John Deasy worked as an intern for the US Republican party.
- WorldbyStorm - January 23, 2013
McCain, a bit liberal for her – no? 🙂
- 3. Irishelectionliterature - January 23, 2013
Whilst dublin south east did have garret fitzgerald as their fg td, they also had joe doyle longtime sacristan at donnybrook church . I doubt too many voters knew either murphy or creightons views on abortion either. Certainly their leaflets and newsletters never mentioned abortion.
- 4. 6to5against - January 23, 2013
I recall when Oliver j Flanagan was considered the backward wing of fg, and Garret Fitzgerald the future. How things change.
- WorldbyStorm - January 23, 2013
Yeah, me as well. I thought Varadkers comments about GFG some years back was the real proof of the pudding. GFG was never a leftist, particularly not on economic matters, but if he was too liberal for that crew that says something about how FG has changed.
- 5. Is Enda Going Too Far Preventing Those Voting Against Bill From Running As FG Candidates? - Page 2 - July 4, 2013
[…] a very liberal constituency , she is representing herself not the constituency and not the party. Meanwhile back in Dublin South East… | The Cedar Lounge Revolution Sign in or Register Now to […]
- 6. Ghandi - July 4, 2013
Leaving aside ones position on the issue, a point which is generally accepted is that the issue of abortion is devisive. The level of pro and anti is a matter of debate. Is it not somewhat disconcerting that for example in my own constituency (DC) all 4 TD's voted for the legislation and in DCC 5 of the 6 Councillors voted for Tormey's motion to remove Art.40.3.3.
The none reflection of the view of the citizens on this and other issues is surely undemocratic.


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Civil Rights in Germany (or better the lack thereof)
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 696
Civil Rights in Germany (or better the lack thereof)
Civil Rights in Germany
(or better the lack thereof)
by Germar Rudolf
Winter 2004
Germany is a constitutional, parliamentary democracy with an independent legal system based on the rule of law. That is what the German government claims and what the German "Basic Law" spells out. The Problem is that all governments of the former communist countries used to claim exactly the same thing, and that their constitutions read nicely too, on paper. The truth, as we all know, was different in those countries.
So what is the truth about Germany today? The truth is that in Germany:
* folksingers are threatened with imprisonment for singing peaceful songs;
* a professor who writes his disbelief about certain historical events in a footnote, written in Latin(!), in a scholarly anthology(!) was prosecuted and threatened with jail, and the anthology was confiscated and burned;
* a judge, writing a well-founded, but highly controversial book on historical topics, saw his book confiscated and burned, his pension cut, and his PhD title withdrawn as a result of this;
* a history teacher was sent to jail for uttering historical dissent in a private letter to a high-profile personality;
* a professor criticizing internationalism was kicked out of his job, harassed, prosecuted and driven into suicide;
* a historical dissenter was sent to prison for more than two years just because he published peaceful, scholarly historical material;
* well-founded, heavily footnoted books on political and historical topics, authored by academics with plenty of credentials, were and are being confiscated and burned by court order;
* authors, editors, publishers, printers, wholesalers, retailers, importers and exporters, warehouses, and customers buying more than two copies of a certain medium with peaceful, yet dissenting views on history or politics can be prosecuted for producing, stocking, importing/exporting, distributing such dissident material;
* the authorities hide from their citizens, which media are outlawed, so that one cannot possibly know whether or not one commits a crime when distributing such media;
* judges are threatened with prosecution because they did not punish political and historical dissenters harshly enough;
* defense lawyers are prosecuted if they try to introduce evidence showing that the dissenting historical views of their clients, for which they are prosecuted, are in fact correct;
* Internet providers are forced by law to censor the Internet by not forwarding dissenting political and historical material to their customers;
* the authorities are actually proud of conducting more than 10,000 criminal prosecutions every year(!) against persons for having committed peaceful "thought crimes", or more than 100,000 persecutions of peaceful dissenters in ten years!
You never heard of these things! Here you can find the evidence for it:
* German Censorship in Law and in Practice
* Case Studies of Civil Rights Violations in Germany
* Internet Censorship in and by Germany
* An Essay on Germany's Civil Rights Situation
I hate it when they say, "He gave his life for his country." Nobody gives their life for anything. We steal the lives of these kids. We take it away from them. They don't die for the honor and glory of their country. We kill them."-- Admiral Gene LaRocque
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Submission + - Serious Flaw Emerges In Quantum Cryptography (technologyreview.com)
KentuckyFC writes: "Although quantum key distribution is unconditionally secure, the devices used to send quantum messages are inevitably imperfect. Last year, physicists used this weakness to hack a commercial quantum cryptography system. That led others to develop device-independent quantum protocols that would be immune from these problems. However, group of British physicists now say these attempts all treat quantum cryptography as if it is a single-shot process that uses the equipment only once. That overlooks the possibility that an adversary can program devices to store data in one protocol and leak it in subsequent protocols, in ways that are hard or impossible to counter. The only known way round this is to use the cryptographic gear only once but this solution is so costly that the physicists query whether it is generally practical. That looks like a serious fly in the ointment for those promising perfectly secure communication."


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2013-01-10 / Enterprise
And the Judges Meet the Nominees!
We're getting closer to the big event. As the January 25 "40 under 40" awards night draws near, excitement is spreading through the local business community. Social media is abuzz with talk of how our next generation of businesspeople is setting the tone for our local and regional economic future.
The full version of this story is available only to subscribers. Subscribe now to access to full versions of news stories in our archive of over 12,000 stories going back to 1999.


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Swansea City already have summer transfer targets in mind
Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins claims the club already have a list of summer transfer targets drawn up.
Last Updated: 13/02/13 2:08pm
Having missed out on 'one or two' deals in January, the Swans plan to return to the negotiating table when the window re-opens.
Jenkins is confident quality additions can be made and hopes he and Michael Laudrup will be able to complete business early, offering new recruits as long as possible to settle into their new surroundings before the 2013/14 campaign gets underway.
He told the South Wales Evening Post: "Michael and I looked weeks ago at what we felt we need to do in January and one of the things he wanted sooner rather than later was to sign Roland Lamah.
"We got that done as early as we could, and there were one or two other things which we worked on behind the scenes.
"Ideally we might have got the players in during January, but in a couple of cases the players who we felt were right for us wanted to stay with their current clubs until the summer.
"We will review the situation then, but they are things we have worked on and we feel we have put ourselves in a good position.
"Hopefully, when the transfer window opens again, we can get things done quickly. Hopefully we can make sure we get our squad together before our pre-season trip - that's our aim."
With Swansea having allowed Danny Graham to head for Sunderland during the winter window, Jenkins concedes that a new frontman will be towards the top of Laudrup's summer shopping list.
He added: "I think nearly every club who are aiming to compete at the top end of the Premier League will be looking for forwards who can add something different.
"We will be looking to go down that road, and Michael is confident we can get the players we want in the summer."
To find out more about live football on Sky Sports, Click here


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BPA Plastic Warning: Your Water Bottle Could Be Lethal
Bisphenol A is a compound often used in the production of semi-soft plastics and, commonly referred to as BPA plastic, it has been a hot topic of conversation recently. Media messages are often confusing and created in a manner that encourage people to actually stay tuned or pick up the newspaper in order to find out if their family is at risk of getting whatever new ailment is being discussed. The use of plastics has been under the spotlight recently because of possible health and environmental detriments. News media and product manufactures have been exposing the dangers that result when a person ingests chemicals that may leech out of plastic containing substances. They comment on the environmental cost of producing these products and provide green alternatives. As a result, many items are now available that do not contain these "dangerous" plastic compounds and are either re-usable or made from more earth friendly products. Due to the prominence of the topic, let's discuss what is known about these substances to try to discern if your water bottle could be lethal.


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Microsoft: Big Loan To Dell, OS Conditions
While Microsoft had been rumored to be planning to invest in Dell's privatization, the operating system and software giant will instead loan the investors $2 billion to help finance the details. It is widely believed the change came in response to concerns that Microsoft might favor Dell over its other OEM partners.
However, there are strings attached. While Microsoft will not get a seat on Dell's board, there is a stipulation in the agreement between the two companies that "Dell would agree to use Microsoft's Windows software to power the vast majority of its devices," the Wall Street Journal reported.
This is seen industry-wide as a move by Microsoft to stem the customer exodus from the company's Windows operating system to other fast-growing operating systems such as Apple's iOS and Google's Android.
However, for Microsoft, the possibility of such a tight bond with Dell puts its OEM relationships with other top-tier PC and server vendors in possible jeopardy.


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Mount Vernon On Nov. 14, the Mount Vernon girls' basketball program celebrated seniors Kelly Loftus, Taylor Dunham and Tiffany Webster for choosing where they would attend college.
Loftus, a sharp-shooting guard, signed with Division I Hofstra. Dunham, who head coach Courtney Coffer called "the best point guard in the region," will play Division I ball at the Naval Academy. Webster, a slashing guard and defensive standout, is headed to Division II Barton College. Dunham and Webster plan to sign in the spring.
While each member of the talented trio has her college plans figured out, the Majors have some lofty goals to work toward back at the high school level.
Mount Vernon returns all but two players from a team that reached the Northern Region semifinals last season, falling one win short of a state tournament berth. The Majors won their second consecutive National District championship and finished with a 25-2 record, with their only losses coming against eventual state champion Oakton.
Loftus, Dunham and Webster have been on varsity since they were freshmen. In 2010, Mount Vernon lost to Oakton in the region quarterfinals. In 2011, the Majors lost to T.C. Williams in the region quarterfinals. Last year, Mount Vernon got past the quarterfinals with a win over Annandale, but lost to Oakton in the semifinals.
"I think going to states is a must," Dunham said. "Winning states is definitely the goal, but it's no longer OK for us to just lose at regionals."
Dunham is the team's floor general. She comes from a military family, which helped in her decision to attend Navy.
"I honestly believe she's the best point guard in the region this year, as a senior," Coffer said. "She can actually control the game for us. We can put the ball in her hands and we can tell her, 'This is the type of game we want to play, you implement the game plan, you be [a coach] out on the floor,' and she can do that.
"And then, if we're having an off night, she can get you 15 to 20 points, as well."
Loftus is the Majors' top offensive threat.
"I think going to states is a must. Winning states is definitely the goal, but it's no longer OK for us to just lose at regionals."
--- Mount Vernon senior Taylor Dunham
"She's a flat-out shooter," Coffer said. "If you leave her open, she's going to knock the shot down from anywhere on the floor. She's added range to her shot, but most of all, she's a playmaker. I think a lot of people don't really know that about her game --- she's able to make plays off the bounce. She's able to get in the lane and dump it down, she's able to see someone open and give them a backdoor pass and things like that. Just the dynamics of her offensive game is really what makes her very dangerous."
Webster can produce points and is one of the team's best defensive players.
"Every team needs a slasher," Coffer said. "We have a lot of shooters and she brings that slash game to us."
Webster said years of playing with Loftus and Dunham has helped build a strong relationship on the court.
"We know how each other plays," she said. "We always know to be ready for a pass, or that they're ready for a pass and we always know where somebody is on the floor."
Another key returner is junior Samantha Porter, who brings toughness and a strong work ethic near the basket. During last year's regular season matchup with Oakton, Porter continued playing after getting one of her front teeth knocked out.
"Most coaches say that there's one kid that you can't play without," Coffer said. "With all this talent that we have, if we don't have [Porter] on our team, we're not going to achieve our goals. She's all the hustle, she gives us 180 percent of her heart every night, she's tough [and] she rebounds the basketball."
Senior guard Deja Wanzer and juniors Morgan Kuhns (guard), Erika Irving (forward) and Chanel Shannon (guard) also return. Junior post Kelly Quigley provides the Majors with size in the paint. Freshmen Chanise Ray (guard), Jasmine Collier (guard) and Erin Irving (wing) are expected to contribute.
Mount Vernon will travel to Fairfax High School for a scrimmage on Saturday, Nov. 24. The Majors will open the regular season at West Potomac at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 27.
"This is my last chance. This is my last go-around," Loftus said. "Me, Taylor and Tiffany have been together since we were freshmen. We saw [former Mount Vernon standouts] Tracy [King], Jasmine [McDonald] and Jalinda [Venable have] their season end early. We saw how it felt, how they looked, [how] they cried. We just don't want that to happen. We want it to be a happy ending."


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GRIDLEY — The Butte County Fair is searching for a theme for the 2013 fair, and is asking for ideas.
Suggestions can be submitted by March 1 for a chance to win a family fun pass for the summer fair. The pass would allow two adults and two children entry for the entire fair.
Rules for participation: The theme must be agriculturally related; only one submission per person; and ideas must be submitted, emailed or postmarked by March 1.
Include a phone number with the submission and email to firstname.lastname@example.com; bring to the fair office at 199 East Hazel St., or mail to PO Box 308, Gridley, CA 95948.


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Yes I am saving to a local folder, just thought that if Windows is giving priority to system processes (that take a lot of time to finish because of the slow network) and do to a lack in memory/UC managment Achitect freezes.
forget about it for now, wait for next release and see. thank you for your time.
Architect is awsome anyway :)


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After some early 2014 World Cup qualifying struggles, underwhelming results and growing pains, Jurgen Klinsmann's USA has begun to hit its stride. It has held serve in home qualifying matches, meshed together while facing adversity and beaten the teams it is supposed to beat while springing the occasional surprise result.
The USA currently sits atop the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying hexagonal, with only a catastrophic final four qualifying matches preventing the Americans from reaching Brazil 2014. Elsewhere, the stars are aligning quite nicely for the Americans. Rival Mexico in a bit of a tailspin, no matter who suits up for El Tri or what competition is taking place, so it seems. The rest of CONCACAF remains a cut below.
That is why that even though the 2013 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup is nowhere near a must-win tournament for competitive reasons, there is still ample reason to put an emphasis on making a statement, coming out on top and not just using the tournament for experimentation. The opportunity is there for the USA to take another step in reclaiming its dominance over the region and wrestle it away from struggling Mexico by continuing to take care of business on U.S. soil.
In 2009, Mexico snapped the USA's two-time Gold Cup reign with a 5-0 thumping in the final at the old Giants Stadium in a "throwaway" Gold Cup that meant little aside from bragging rights. With that final as the tipping point, the USA has spent the better part of the last four years -- most notably the 2011 Gold Cup final -- looking up at El Tri. With its chief competitor wobbling, though, the USA has a chance to deliver a devastating blow and return the favor by ending Mexico's two-tournament reign.
Although it is not the traditional "off year" Gold Cup, the competition is still being touted as an opportunity for fringe USA players, or household names with something to prove, to state their cases for inclusion during the final World Cup qualifiers, and eventually next summer's World Cup.
In many ways, that is indeed the case. Despite having as glowing a resume as any U.S. international in history, Landon Donovan needs this tournament to prove his worth and get back in the "A Team." Stuart Holden has a chance to show just how far along he is in his return to form. Oguchi Onyewu has an opportunity to show he still has enough in the tank to stay near the upper echelon of the center back depth chart. U.S. Soccer has even made a point to rehash all of the players who have used the Gold Cup as a launching pad for further success in the past.
The tournament could be about so much more, though, something along the lines of that 2009 fallout. Regardless of the "B Team" nature of the competition, with only a place in a playoff against the 2015 Gold Cup winner for the region's 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup berth on the line, a psychological edge is at stake. The U.S. men's national team has not stood upon a victory podium in celebration since 2007, after Benny Feilhaber's superb volley dethroned Mexico at Chicago's Soldier Field and cemented the USA's place in the 2009 Confederations Cup.
Six years later, the winner's podium at the same venue awaits. No, the prize is not as large. Failing to win this tournament would not spell an ounce of doom for the USA or Klinsmann, and doing so would hardly put a detour on the road to Brazil. But taking care of business and emerging victorious in a region seemingly up for grabs would be another step in having the USA reclaim its territorial dominance without having a single excuse to make.


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Posted on September 24, 2013 in Pro Tennis Talk
It was another long, hard week of tennis in Costa Mesa. My doubles partner, Keith Crowley, and I had a great run all the way to the finals.
We came through a tough semifinal on Friday against the pair of Ernesto Escobedo and Eduardo Nava. We won the first set relatively comfortably, only to go down an early break in the second, before clinching it in the 3rd set super tiebreaker without a hitch. The final score 6-4 3-6 10-4.


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Indianapolis - Governor Mike Pence today announced grant awards of just over $3 million for new Innovative Career and Technical Education (CTE) Curricula. The grants are designed to encourage innovative and collaborative career and technical training opportunities for Hoosier students and adults working in conjunction with the eleven regional Works Councils around the state.
The grant funds, the first of $4.3 million in total provided by the Indiana General Assembly over two grant cycles, are a 3:1 match to the required private investments for the Innovative CTE Curriculum awards. Several Hoosier businesses have partnered to provide more than $4 million in matching funding and in-kind services to support the first grant awards, expanding new approaches toward certifications, dual credits and internship offerings designed to align with local business needs.
"We're grateful for the high level of commitment and collaboration from our Indiana business and local workforce communities to support innovative programs that expand hands-on opportunities," said Governor Pence. "Thanks to the General Assembly, these ideas will take root and expand career and technical education options to better prepare Hoosiers for their futures."
Career pathway sectors targeted by the grant applicants include advanced manufacturing, health care, welding and machining, logistics, energy production, entrepreneurship, and WIRED (welding, innovation, robotics, engineering and design). Highlights of the first group of recipients include:
- In Elkhart, students can enroll in work-based learning through Career Pathways in Health Care. Students will graduate with stackable and portable credentials, as many as 30 college credits, and a minimum of two health industry certifications.
- Vincennes University is working with Jasper Engines, Kimball Electronics, Toyota, Master Brand Cabinets and other businesses to create an advanced manufacturing program centered on trusted improvement methodologies (TPS, Lean Six Sigma).
- In Kokomo, Chrysler Group's Advanced Manufacturing program will serve 10 high schools and four CTE Centers through a developing curriculum with Ivy Tech and Conexus that features a stackable degree structure, which features a complete early-college experience that enables students to graduate high school with nationally-recognized certifications.
- Welding and machining sectors are the focus of the Warsaw Career Center and local biomedical companies to encourage students to achieve AWS and NIMS certifications, and include hands-on work in the new project design lab and project launch centers.
- Throughout the state, schools and career centers will implement Conexus/HIRE Technology curriculum by embedding it in a project-based, early-credentialing high school model that synthesizes the roles and resources of secondary and post-secondary education, adult workforce development and local manufacturers.
- Region 10 (Southern Indiana) is implementing a project-based advanced manufacturing curriculum that places a heavy focus on industrial maintenance, serving 21 high schools through the Prosser Career Education Center.
"The business community recognizes the value in these educational partnerships and has exceeded expectations through their commitment to invigorate students' learning experiences and pave the way for a more highly-skilled workforce in their respective communities," said Jackie Dowd, the governor's special assistant for career innovation. "The Works Councils are eager to implement these plans and develop innovative CTE curricula that is both sustainable and scalable for future learning opportunities."
All grant proposals were developed in conjunction with an Indiana Regional Works Council, which brings together local educational, workforce, and business and industry leaders to evaluate local landscapes for educational programming, business needs, and potential skills gaps between the two. Awarded funds for this first cycle must be expended between July 1, 2014 and September 30, 2015.
Grant applications are now available for the Innovative CTE Curriculum Grants--Cycle 2 at http://www.in.gov/irwc/2362.htm. The deadline to submit grant proposals for Cycle 2 is January 2, 2015.
A summary of the Cycle 1 grants can be found attached.
About the Indiana Works Councils:
Created by a unanimous vote of the 2013 General Assembly at the request of Governor Mike Pence, the Works Councils further Governor Pence's ideals of technical training options which encourage all students to achieve with a personal "Plan A" providing opportunity for success whether they want to go to college, learn a trade, or start their career right out of high school.
Maps of the 11 regional districts, as well as membership rosters for the works councils are available http://www.in.gov/irwc/2335.htm.