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Monday, April 13, 2009
McNaughton 100: A Final Farewell
Andy put together a series of events that changed racing in the Midwest. He had a personal stamp on the events; cheering for every single person that raced, giving a pat on the back, asking what the runner would need, amazing. A very personal approach to race directing.
After adding the 100 miler a few runners asked about doing 150. Sure, we can add a 150 .. and he did, and they came to run 150 miles!! Simply amazing.
This year Ryan Dexter blew the 150 mile course away with finishing in 34 hours. Way to go, Ryan. Amazing. Simply stunning.
As Regis was running his 150 mile race, finishing up, or going out for even more than 150, I heard him say "Hey Andy, what about 200 miles?" Andy was on top of it immediately. He ran from the table, off to the course and said to Regis "YES, 200, in Vermont!" No problem. You want it? Andy will have it for you. He's an Ironman TRIPLE. Yeah, 1 Ironman wasn't enough, either was 2. Andy does Ironman TRIPLES.
A few years ago Andy visited Vermont and fell in love with the state. Last year he and his wife packed up their family-without jobs-and moved to Vermont. Both of them found teaching jobs and Andy, again a coaching job. They are very happy there. Thankfully he came back to Pekin IL for one final farewell to the McNaughton Trail Races.
When I think of McNaughton I become nostalgic. I feel like I grew up into an ultrarunner at this race. I had been running ultras for 1.5 years when I went to run my first 100 at McNaughton. I didn't know anything about running 100 miles other than what I had read and asked of others. I traveled with friends Bonnie, Donny and Larry, who I met through ultrarunning. My racing of ultras wasn't too fine; a few 50 milers where I missed one cut off but was still able to finish over an hour later and just made the other two cut offs by seconds. Nonetheless, I was willing to give it a try.
I finished that McNaughton in 29 some hours and took first woman. I couldn't believe it. I learned so much about racing, about myself, about others. I learned that I needed to find a solution for my blisters. They were atrocious and almost caused me to drop from the race. I learned how to run during the night, how to fuel for a race. I learned that ultra runners make great friends. I met Doug Hansel here; a winner of 100's, including the Superior 100. I was afraid of the dark and he ran the night with me. His slowest 100, my first finish. What a guy. I learned that I had a bit of competitiveness within me. When I learned I was in first place my blisters no longer mattered. I ran like hell. Fun.
My second McNaughton, and second 100, I went with friends again. I had the most fun road trip ever, traveling with John, Scott and Alicia. It was crazy fun. The race was incredible as well. The people, Andy introducing me as last year's champion, it was nuts. I finished faster than the previous year but took 3rd or something. I still hadn't figured out what to do with my feet. They were hamburger.
My third McNaughton I traveled with Maria, who ran the 50. She helped me out by figuring out my damn flashlight problems and to dress for the cold night. Karl Melzer and I were top boy and girl. It was incredible to watch him run through the mud, effortlessly. Maria had to bring me to the ER on the way home as I couldn't breathe. Two nebulizer treatments later and I was OK.
My fourth McNaughton I went solo. I would have never been able to go alone in the past. I would have been afraid of getting lost, of not taking care of myself while running, of feeling sad by being alone, of not knowing anyone. I've come a long way. I met Jim Wilson from Minneapolis who stood at the start/finish for almost every lap I ran and asked me how he could help me. The people at these races are amazing. I finished top girl again, 2nd overall and Andy made sure he said so at every lap I came across. I gave up swearing at the mud that is always at McNaughton. I finally learned to mix my foot potion and had NO blisters. What a relief. It made all the difference.
I ran my first 100 finish at McNaughton and +almost+ my 13th finish. I didn't get it. I was part of the high attrition rate, yet again, at McNaughton. Last year 19% finished the 100! I'm not sure what this year was, but know it was low again. I don't know why McNaughton carries the lowest finishing rate other than Barklay. I think people underestimate the course. The constant short steep hills, the mud that is always out there.
2009 McNaughton. I again travelled alone. This year I had decided to sleep in my car at the race and it worked out well. I was snug as a bug in a rug; stayed nice and toasty with my pillow and down comforter from home.
My iPhone woke me at 500, I reached into my cooler for breakfast. Cold fried egg whites + one yolk were fine, but the oatmeal, not so much. I ate the eggs and then a banana. Little carb, little protein. Got dressed and followed my nose to the coffee percolating at the race start.
The 150 milers began at noon the previous day so I watched some of them come and go, cheering madly for them. Just awe inspiring and jaw dropping. 150 freaking miles. 11 finished, I believe. They had to start the race in the rain so the course was pretty muddy. Well, more than pretty muddy. Ugly muddy. If you have run McNaughton you know what I mean.
We started out with dawn just approaching, I only needed my flashlight for a short while. It was 40F; warm enough for shorts and a jacket. My plan was 230 loops for as long as I could and whatever it took to finish.
By the second loop I left my jacket at the start, dropped off my flashlight and changed into a tank top. It was feeling good! The sun was bright and wonderful. I felt good, waiting to get into the zone which usually hits about 40 miles for me. My laps were all under 220.
The mud was taking its toll. Kind of think of skiing down mud hills-with big muddy puddles that are shoe sucking up to the ankle and over, deep. The mud stinks and I could smell it before I would approach it. Blech. It was just a waste of time to try to get around it, I was going to get muddy and then wet by crossing the two rivers that were knee plus high anyway so tramp tramp tramp through the mud. Oh, my pretty pink gaitors and Inov-8's that had only 8 miles on them pre race.
I ran with Travis for many miles, like half of the race I think. He was doing well, except for one loop when he became sick, so walked for a while. He did catch me the next loop however and looked very strong.
It was so incredible to see the 150 milers on the course. I could tell who they were immediately when coming upon them. They had the '100 mile shuffle' going on and more clothing than the 100 or 50 mile racers. When running for 24 + hours they are slowing down and becoming depleted and the chill is on. I patted Tracy Thomas, who was running the 150 on the back and told her she was a Rockstar, as she is. She told me 'you might as well take the win today, too, Julie' I told her the conditions were getting too good for a first. I didn't think the attrition rate was going to be so high as the mud was beginning to dry out and it was sunny as could be.
This course is odd in that it can be drenched, soaked with mud but as the day dry outs it kind of turns over with all of our foot traffic and the sun and becomes tacky, which is much better than all mud. There were still huge mud holes that you still had to wade through but at least the mud skiing down ALL of the hills was in the past.
30 miles in I was finding my groove. No blisters, I was able to eat and drink. I drank Hammerheed which was on the course and ate peanut butter jelly 1/4's at each aid station. Eventually I was hitting the sugar: jelly beans, easter candy and at Totem Aid a woman had made homemade gingerbread cookies that she rolled out and cut with a cookie cutter into easter eggs and a shark with a pair of legs coming out of his mouth with bright red 'blood' frosting! It was tasty and funny, too :)
At 50 miles I was just under 12 hours, grabbed my jacket and long sleeved shirt, hat, gloves, flashlights, etc and headed out knowing it would be dark soon.
As I was running down the hill after the rope rock ( a rocky hill that actually has a rope to help the runner get to the top) I noticed my right quad muscle contracting and then releasing. I've never felt that before. During the next few miles this continued and as I was again running down a steep, muddy hill I felt it contract, release, contract and POP. It felt like it expanded much larger or with much more pressure release than the release I was feeling the last few miles. I knew this wasn't normal 100 mile muscle fatigue or normal DOMS that sets in during a 100. I knew this was something else. There was a sharp intense pain.
I took the first Advil of the day, hoping it would cut the pain. It didn't. There was a sharp constant pain reaching up along my quad and down into my calve, coming from the inner quad muscle. Not good.
I continued to drag it along, I wasn't able to pull my leg forward as was necessary. My hamstrings were working hard, trying to push the leg forward without the quads help. Going uphill was OK, I could move up the hill with my hips but down hill was miserable. At Buffalo aid station they taped me up and I felt better for a few more miles. The muscle was stable and not as painful. I hit 60 miles and told myself I was just going to take the race aid station by aid station. I wanted to finish, I couldn't imagine not finishing but that possibility was staring me in the face. I went through all the scenarios. What if I did more damage?What if I tore the muscle? What if I finished the race but did so much damage I couldn't run for weeks? Would I rather run with Topaz each day for 8 miles or finish the race and not run again? It was miserable being in my head.
At 60 miles my leg was so swollen that the duct tape was cutting off my circulation. When I arrived at the stream I pulled the tape off and put it into my pocket, then stood there soaking my quad for a while. It felt good to let it soak.
60-70 miles was a battle mentally. I had to decide what to do. I realized that I had grown up as an ultra runner. In the past I would have belittled myself, beating myself up for thinking about stopping. Now I know better. Now I knew I had to take care of myself and made the decision myself. Nobody else could make the decision for me. I now knew the difference between 100 mile fatigue pain, mental tiredness just wanting to stop and injury pain. As I came into the two aid stations I decided to continue to 70 miles and would make the final decision there.
As I hobbled into 70 Andy had taken a nap and had another person posted to check in on us. He asked what my problem was, I told him, and told him I was going to made a decision now as whether to continue or stop. He told me his opinion: quit. I told him I was going to go to the fire to make the decision myself. As I approached the fire many questions were asked and advice given. Jim brought me icy hot and rubbed it into my leg, John offered to find biofreeze for me and another man said he could make a brace for me. I didn't think I should go back out there but wasn't 100% sure as of yet. As I pushed myself out of the chair I realized I couldn't bear weight on my leg. I walked around, hobbling, as the pain sliced through my quad. I shouldn't go back out. It wasn't worth it.
So I didn't. Jim removed my chip and gave it to the time man. I was done. I was part of the high rate of attrition at McNaughton.
I made the right decision. I have always told myself if and when, as it is going to happen, an injury comes along, I would rather drop a race than not be able to run my daily run with Topaz. I don't want to lose that, ever.
After commiserating at the fire I went off to my car to sleep again. At dawn I went back out to the start to watch the runners come in and around. I was able to see Travis finish 4th overall! I saw Ollie come in at 90 miles, onto his 100 mile finish. Fabulous stuff.
Our Minnesota contingent at McNaughton consisted of 1 50 mile runner, Jim Wilson, who finished and 4 100 mile runners: myself, Al Holtz, Karen Gall and John Taylor. None of us finished.
Again, when I look back on McNaughton I am filled with nostalgia. I feel like I grew up at McNaughton, like I cut my baby teeth there and developed into a more experienced ultra runner upon that trail. I've learned so much. I think about how I felt about DNFing at Superior Sawtooth 3 years ago and how I enraged I was at myself, for being weak and not finishing. I didn't get it. I do now. I get it.
Each race is different, with different obstacles and that is part of the challenge, even when upon the same course, you don't know what may happen out there. It is all a learning process. I have to know when to say when.
McNaughton is filled with wonderful memories. All of the people that I met at McNaughton, and would return each year, to see again. Ollie, Juli, Joe, Tracy, Ryan, Beth, Travis, Jess, Charlotte, Hans, Casey and of course Andy. What a great run.
After some coffee and packing up the car I headed for home. I stopped for some ice, taping it to my leg, adjusting the cruise so I didn't have to use my right leg too much. I made it home safe and sound before my family arrived home from Easter dinner. They came home with a plate of dinner for me and the rest of the Southern Coconut Cake I had made for them to bring along. I eased their fears of me being horribly injured and stated I was just fine, all would be fine.
They wanted to play Guitar Hero so I played a few songs with them. When I received a score of only 50% on Ozzy's Bark at the Moon they looked at each other and said "Mom has ultra brain" Life is good :)
I have an appointment with a sports doctor this afternoon. My quad is all bruised and when Topaz and I went for our post race walk, my inner quad just doesn't feel right. I know what quad soreness feels like post 100, this is something else.
A big congrats to all of those who toed the line at McNaugton and a huge thank you to Andy-for making it all possible! All of my memories of McNaughton are just fabulous!
12 comments:
I figured when I did not see your name in the results you were sick or injured. So sorry! I hope your injury is not serious and you are back at it soon. I know you will take what the Doc says and follow it to the letter. Best wishes!
- Helen said...
Julie - great report - you made the right decision under tough circumstances. It's been a great race over the years for you and must have been difficult to walk (limp) away from. As you say, it's a measure of growing up in this ultra world. I hope I'm smart enough to do the same when it happens to me.
- Matthew Patten said...
I have followed your "growing up" as an ultra runner from the get go.
It has to be a tough day when you and Al call it quits.
Doing the first 50 in 12 hours sounds pretty awesome from what I have heard.
McNaughton was a topic on everybody's mind at the campfire Friday night.
I bring some of your reports and experience with me on races.
I thought of you (Ozzy Fan) when I was climbing up a hill directly into the moon.
I think your nickname should be "crazy train"
Run On
Awesome work
- JojaJogger said...
I hope that your injury is not serious and you're out on the trails again soon. Thanks for the great race report, I'll be attempting my first ultra (a 50k) in two (gulp!) short weeks.
Hi Julie, it was nice meeting on Loop 1. I enjoyed your report. Congratulations on getting 70 miles. That's still awesome!
We'll see you at Javelina this year.
- Jeffrey S. said...
Ooo tough go Julie. Hope you are better soon. It's probably nothing a little CAKE won't fix. Mmm cake!
- Travis said...
Julie, It was a pleasure running with you at McNaughton. It's always great to see you. Thanks for letting me tag along for all of those miles, it really made a big impact on my day out there. Rest up and get well soon!
- SteveQ said...
We all heard that the weather was going to be bad at McNaughton (we got lucky at Zumbro), but I was sure you'd come in first yet again. Sounds like you have your first injury, something I know about - and I have my first finish, something you know about.
I've wanted to tease Ryan Dexter since he planned to do 150 in 24 hours at Badgerland and did fewer than 40, but now he's more than redeemed himself!
- Olga said...
Julie, you don't owe anybody explanation, really, but we tend to do it anyway. As we grow in this community, we almost feel responsible to others for what we do in a race. But as i learned myself, others are completely understanding and don't think any less of any of us no matter what decision we make. Only we, ourselves, are our worst challengers.
We grow on as we go. I remember first DNF, it was as if my life stopped, I am so useless creature! But time goes, we get smarter, we want to be in it longer...and yes, we get injured too. I DNF'd 3 times at a 100. Each was an injury. Only the first one was tragic in terms of mental state.
I hope your quad has less of a thing than it seems it may have. I am afraid it is not so. Just take care of it, Jul. We are in it for a long haul:)
- Kel said...
Sometimes I think it's tougher to pull the plug than to continue on even when you know you shouldn't. Sounds like you did the right thing.
Recover well!
- keith said...
Good decision...sorry it ended like it did; of course that doesn't mean it's over. I hope you recover well.
sorry Julie! you did the right thing though! hope you make a quick recovery!


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The Enzo Ferrari, a 12-cylinder mid-engine berlinetta named after the company's founder, was introduced in 2002 as an anniversary model inheriting the root of the F40 and F50. The mixture of individual elements such as monocoque chassis made of carbon fiber composite, Code F140 6 liter V12 engine with an output of 660ps, 6-speed F1-matic brings the car which only weighs 1266kg from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.65 seconds and a top speed of more than 350km/h. Pininfarina did the exterior design with the motif of modern Formula One car, achieving the absolute aerodynamic performance. It was built in a limited edition of 400 pieces and represents a symbol of extreme performance. This is the best and fastest road car Ferrari has ever created.
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Lord help us all. Tonight Rick Santorum won both the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, adding more slimy, frothy fuel to the loosely contained forest fire that is his campaign. While this probably won't matter much in the long run—except for further damaging the idea that Mitt Romney can appeal to voters in the South—it is nevertheless a healthy score for the Rickster. He can now legitimately continue to suck the life out of our souls like he's sucking the meat off of this rib.
The biggest loser of the night was Newt Gingrich. He came in second in both states, but his losses are a sign that his campaign is about as viable as a "person" the moment it is conceived. In fact, his quest for the presidency is so ill and rundown that if it were one of his wives, he'd have left it weeks ago. (Ugh.) He's sworn yet again that he's in it for the long haul, but let's hope he and Callista are packing their bags as we speak as Newt prepares to assume control of his fabled moonbase.
Santorum to sweep Mississippi, Alabama primaries, CBS News projects [CBS]


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Department of Human Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
phone: +49 (341) 3550 - 350
fax: +49 (0341) 3550 - 399
e-mail: streiber@[>>> Please remove the brackets! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Tsenka R.Tsanova
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Human Evolution
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
e-mail: tsenka_tsanova@[>>> Please remove the brackets! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Research Interests
I am currently employed research fellow at MPI-EVA. My study is centered on the technical stone equipment of Paleolithic societies from the transitional Middle to Upper Paleolithic period (approx. between 35-47 Ky BP) in the Eastern Balkans (Bulgaria), and partially other areas as well (Zagros, Levant, Sinai). My field work focuses on finding and investigating/ re-excavating sites from Middle and Upper Paleolithic. I obtained my PhD from PACEA-IPGQ, University of Bordeaux 1 in France. My doctoral research (2006) contributed to the understanding of Initial/Early Upper Paleolithic cultures in North Bulgaria and established links with the known synchronous cultures of Levant, Central Europe and the northern Mediterranean perimeter.
My first post-doctoral project (2007-8), involved Early Upper Paleolithic Baradostian assemblages from Zagros Mountains (Iran) excavated in 1960s and housed in the US. Those lithic collections from the rock shelters of Warwasi and Yafteh cave in Central Zagros show initial development of bladelet projectiles technology presumably introduced by Modern human together with techno-typological component typical for the Mousterian. Baradostian assemblages are always located at the base of UP sequences and they are conceptually comparable to synchronous technocomplexes in Western Eurasia (Ahmarian from Levant and Sinai; Kozarnikian from Eastern Balkans, Protoaurignacian in Western and Central Europe etc.)
Since 2015 I am co-directing with N. Sirakov re-excavation in Bacho Kiro cave (North Bulgaria) in collaboration between EVA-MPI and NIAM-BAS, Sofia. We have uncovered preserved layers and stratigraphy from the Initial Upper Paleolithic (43-40 Uncal Ky BP) and early and middle stages of UP (40-30 Uncal Ky BP). Actually we are collecting new data from the richest IUP layer (ex. Layer 11- so-called Bachokirian).
My work consists of setting up projects, connecting the local and MPI teams, organizing field work and study sessions, excavating and studying the lithic material. Improvement of lithic study methodology (refits, microfractures, use-wear, lithic taphonomy...) and combining the results from the other fields (paleoanthropology, archeogeology, zooarcheology etc.) is used to reconstruction of the material culture and behavior of paleo societies.
My research has been published in Journal of Human evolution, British Archaeological Reports, ERAUL, Paléo, Quaternary International and some Bulgarian archaeological journals.


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Maburaho: Kamishiro Rin
Still lacking… something, but at least not in the computer department now. Got me an i5-4690K, 8Gb DDR3-2133, MSI GTX 760, Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB SSD, 1TB HDD with a BenQ GL2460HM 24″ 1920×1080 monitor. Thinking about getting a pair of Axent headphones.
But on to the content. A long time procrastinating, here is Kamishiro Rin, as featured in Megami Vol. 46 2004-03 by Fujii Masahiro. I've restored the right side where another character overlapped. Later I also hid her bikini.
UHD res is equivalent to 1920×1080. Still playing with this posting format.


text: TV 'Entourage' Secrets From the Boys of Summer 11:44 AM PDT 7/20/2011 by Leslie Bruce , Lacey Rose FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Joe Pugliese Ari Emanuel's calls, Harvey Weinstein's threat, hopes for a movie: the execs and cast of HBO'S "Entourage," starting its eighth and final season,dish (finally!) on its history as a lens into hollywood -- and the untold stories behind its stories. It's lunchtime July 8, and the creator and stars of HBO's Entourage -- starting its eighth and final season July 24 -- are catching up over drinks at Montage Beverly Hills' new Macallan Bar, £10, for a discussion with The Hollywood Reporter. Adrian Grenier leisurely peruses his iPad as Jeremy Piven, Kevin Connolly and Kevin Dillon discuss the merits of Cowboys & Aliens star Harrison Ford. "He can open anything," Piven says with a dismissive wave of the hand. A noticeably slender Jerry Ferrara steps onto a balcony overlooking the hotel's glimmering pool and lights a cigarette while series creator Doug Ellin coordinates transporting his own entourage -- his brother Rob, childhood friend Larry and Larry's wife -- from the valet stand to £10 two floors above. Bowing in 2004, five months after the network's storied series Sex and the City bid farewell and as The Sopranos and Six Feet Under headed into the twilight, the half-hour dramedy from then-freshman showrunner Ellin and executive producers Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson (Wahlberg's longtime manager) followed four friends -- all little-known actors at the time -- from Queens as they navigated Hollywood's glitzy labyrinth of sex, drugs and velvet ropes. Averaging 8.1 million weekly viewers in its 2010 season, up from 4.7 million in season one, the first real glimpse at the seductive inner workings of the entertainment industry has become a cult favorite not only with its slightly male-skewing 18-to-49 demo (among HBO's youngest series) but also with the industry it depicts. Now, nearly a decade and six Emmy wins later, the group finally reveals the inspiration for the eerily familiar characters, too-close-for-comfort storylines and hush-hush plans for a big-screen sequel in a candid conversation with THR's Leslie Bruce and Lacey Rose. (Because of scheduling, interviews with Wahlberg, Levinson and execs Chris Albrecht and Michael Lombardo were conducted separately.) PART I: "HBO Was Very, Very Hard on Us" MARK WAHLBERG, executive producer It all started when I was making a documentary about my friend Donkey [Donnie Carroll], the real Turtle, and his quest to become a rapper. The reality TV craze was just beginning, and everybody started saying: "We should film you and all your guys and all the craziness going on. That would be even funnier." I said, "Absolutely not." So we decided to turn it into a scripted version. STEVEN LEVINSON, executive producer Doug's older brother is one of my closest friends from college, so Doug and I have been friends for a long time. I suggested to Mark that we go to him to do this. [At the time, Ellin was an out-of-work writer and independent filmmaker.] PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes THR's 'Entourage' Roundtable WAHLBERG Early on, Doug and [executive producer] Larry Charles would come over to my house and I would invite lots of friends over, and we would tell lots of stories of things that happened along the way. I always felt that I could trust Doug. DOUG ELLIN, creator Mark was gracious enough to say, "OK, I'm going to stand back and let you guys take whatever you want from my life and, hopefully, it's going to make me look good." I wrote a draft that Steve and I really liked. After showing it to HBO's Carolyn Strauss and Chris Albrecht, Steve called me and said, "They hated it." I said, "What did they hate about it?" And he said, "Everything." I took my German shepherd to the park, it was 1 o'clock in the morning, and I just sat there. LEVINSON The original script was pretty dark in terms of where Vince was in his career. There was an edge to it. It was very representative of where we ended up going. ELLIN It opened at the premiere of Vince's movie; everybody hated it and nobody knew how to tell him. Carolyn and Chris at HBO kept trying to get me to go further back with the story so I had somewhere to go with it. They were interested in the wish-fulfillment aspect. CHRIS ALBRECHT, former HBO chairman What I felt from the beginning was the same thing that I felt about Sex and the City before we launched that show. It was tapping into something that people were becoming obsessed about: celebrity and fame. And we were consciously going after a younger audience. We wanted to make sure we were grooming a younger demographic to want to become HBO subscribers, so this show had to be fun. We wanted the audience to want to be this guy. ELLIN I'd never run a show before. HBO was very, very hard on us. They had us do draft after draft. It was a long, tiresome project that I never imagined was going to go after the reaction to the first script. WAHLBERG If they had done my version, it would have had a lot more violence and craziness that people might not have found entertaining. Ultimately, you want to feel good at the end of watching it. Too much of it would have been a downer. LEVINSON It wasn't that there was a whole host of notes -- there was one note, and it had two words: "More fun." Doug and I initially needed to understand the distinction between fun and funny. It seems obvious, but it wasn't to us at the time. ELLIN If you're driving in a Ferrari with three beautiful women, you're having fun. It's not funny. HBO also was very adamant that this should not be a story-driven show. The last script I wrote had almost no story. I was like: "This is the worst script I've ever written. There's nothing happening, they smoke some pot, they pick up girls." That was the script that got green-lit. Then we had to find a cast. STORY: 'Entourage' Final Season Details Revealed WAHLBERG Originally, we couldn't find that many Boston guys who were believable and were going to fit those roles. My friends [on whom the characters are inspired by] all had an opportunity to play themselves. Johnny "Drama" [Alves] even auditioned for Ari as well. But the biggest thing was finding a guy who was a believable star that wasn't already one. ELLIN Nobody thought we could cast the Vince character. There was a time when HBO would say, "Less Vince, less Vince." ALBRECHT Vince was the tough one. If you didn't believe that Vince is a movie star, then you would never believe the show. But there was just something in Adrian's eyes that made me say, "I believe him; I believe this." It was definitely a different way to go; it wasn't quite Wahlberg; it was more Leonardo DiCaprio. ADRIAN GRENIER, "Vincent Chase" I was in Mexico at the time, flat broke, when I got a call from Steve Levinson, who's my manager, and he said: "You're coming to L.A. There's a show, and you're perfect for it." I asked what it was, and he said Entourage on HBO. I told him I didn't do TV, and I hung up. Imagine if he let me get away with that. ELLIN By the time we finally had a script that was a go, Adrian read it and said: "There's no character here. There's nothing for me to do." And there really wasn't. We added a lot of Vince literally in the last three days before we shot the script. WAHLBERG Adrian and Jerry were more concerned with the Yankees, who were in the playoffs at the time. I told Jerry: "This role is yours to lose. Go in there and f--ing smoke these guys." I was very involved with casting. Then I had to convince Jeremy that this would be a career-defining role for him. ELLIN Ari was not prominent in any of the earlier drafts. At one point, he came out of the show. Originally, Jeremy Piven reminded me of my agent Jeff Jacobs from CAA, so in my very first outline I had written Piven in as playing Jeff. Then I went into the initial pitch meeting and met [Wahlberg's agent] Ari Emanuel, who said: "All right, it's Mark and his life. This guy is going to write it, and if it sucks, we'll fire him and someone else will rewrite it." I had never seen anybody in this business really talk like that. I always thought that was just in the movies. So I said: "This guy's a character. He has to be in the show." Then I met Piven, who had gotten himself into great shape, and at that point he kind of looked like Ari. JEREMY PIVEN, "Ari Gold" My agent said I had this audition for Entourage. They said, go in and audition, so I read the pilot and, you know, I'm 200 years old and I've been acting for 197 years, so to play the ninth lead behind Turtle and make $11 -- I figured maybe I could go in and meet these fine people, and they'd say, "Thank you so much." ELLIN Our casting director didn't tell me that she was forcing him to read. I thought the meeting was to kiss his ass because I thought Jeremy was a big star. The role was not necessarily going to be a regular, and I was being told: "You cannot have him. It's that simple. He has to sign a six-year deal [and he didn't want to]." I was saying, "We can write him out, we can do anything, but we've got to have him." Ari Emanuel called from a plane in China and said, "Jeremy Piven plays me, or take my name off it." GRENIER Before Jeremy had agreed to do the part, we were already shooting 12- and 14-hour days. We didn't know if Jeremy was going to say yes. I remember Doug got off the phone and announced to the crew, "We got him." The whole crew erupted in applause. I'd never seen such relief on Doug's face. ELLIN I told Jeremy, "I swear to God, this show might be terrible, but I know how to write you." Ari Emanuel was a jumping-off point, just like all of these characters that exist in real life were jumping-off points. It clearly shifted from that. PIVEN I know I'm not supposed to talk about this, but I don't care. Ari Emanuel is such a specific guy. He's highly intelligent, motivated and an overachiever. He's such a character, and to be around him is kind of fascinating. Reading that pilot, his cadence was there. All of his tics, his energy and his brilliant ADD fuel this character. WAHLBERG There was a time when I think Ari was a little uncomfortable with it, but he's gotten used to it. Every once in a while he'd call up and say, "Guys, you cannot do this." Now, we go golfing, and somebody will come up to me and say, "I like Entourage." And Ari will say: "You know who I am? I'm the real Ari." KEVIN CONNOLLY, "Eric 'E' Murphy" When the calls were coming through about the show, I kept blowing them off. It was a little too close to home for me. Leo [DiCaprio] and I are buddies, so the way they pitched it to me sounded too weird. Finally, I got a call from Mark, whom I had known for 10 years, and it was like getting called in by the mob boss for a sit-down. I went to meet him at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and he was sitting at the bar with David O. Russell, who says, "Is this our guy?" And Mark says, "Yeah, that's him." KEVIN DILLON, "Johnny 'Drama' Chase" I was actually the only one auditioning for Johnny Drama. I looked around the room, and there were so many guys in there, I figured there had to be a couple Dramas. WAHLBERG When Kevin Dillon walked in the room, I said, "Nobody else should even read for the part -- and he shouldn't even have to read for the part." STORY: How 'Entourage,' 'Smallville' Writers Tackled Their Series Finales JERRY FERRARA, "Sal 'Turtle' Assante" I had just signed with Steve Levinson, and he had seen an independent film I did. He said I should meet with Doug. I auditioned for it quite a few times, and the biggest stress for me was just the age thing. I was 24 years old and didn't even have facial hair yet. CONNOLLY It's funny. I know it's something that you guys were concerned about early on, but nobody has ever questioned how these guys could be such good friends when the age difference is so great. It's never come up. DILLON It's because of my youthful good looks. PIVEN Let's be honest: We've been working for eight seasons without close-ups. You get close on Johnny Drama, and he's a crypt-keeper. PART II: Assembling a Show ELLIN The pilot was tough. It was seven days and a lot of voices. Kevin Dillon was like, "Can't you idiots figure out who's going to say what?" DILLON It was basically working with six directors. We were getting conflicting directions. It drove me crazy. ELLIN There was never really a plan. It was tough at first because you've got five great actors wanting to know, "What am I going to be doing?" I had no idea. I really didn't. CONNOLLY The Cannes red carpet was on another level. We were standing on the empty carpet that morning to rehearse the Medellin premiere scene, and they said to us, "You have one crack at this tonight, so if something happens, just go with it." When we stepped on the carpet at 3 p.m. [immediately after A Mighty Heart star Angelina Jolie stepped inside], it was so loud that we couldn't hear. We had to read lips so we didn't step on one another's lines. When the film came back a few days later, it was like: "Holy shit. How did you guys do that?" It looked like we had a million takes. From the beginning, we have always lived day to day, literally saying: "We don't have an actor to do this. What's going to happen?" In the pilot, there's a scene with Jeremy and I at Koi and Ali Larter comes up … ELLIN The original actress -- I won't say who -- didn't show up. CONNOLLY We called Ali from the set. She was like: "What do you mean? Tonight? OK, I guess." She helped us out in a huge pinch. ELLIN It wasn't even that easy to get Mark to do the pilot, but I wanted him in it. I didn't know if he was coming or not. I remember we were standing on the Warner Bros.' lot, and I was like, "Is he coming?" and Lev was like, "I think so ..." WAHLBERG Of course I had to do it. It would give it a little more credibility [to have another cameo]. ELLIN We were going to take bits of Mark's life for Vince, but it became a combination of people. When Vince got offered to do a male-male scene in the early years, that was what I thought Mark might have been thinking when he got the Boogie Nights script. But when Vince was fired off of Aquaman, it was based on stories that I'd read about Spider-Man and Tobey Maguire. The character is named Vince because of Vince Vaughn. It sounds crazy now because Vince Vaughn makes $20 million a movie, but nine years ago when I first started writing this script, I was like, "Do you think there's any way we could get Vince Vaughn?" It was done completely as an homage to the guy. ALBRECHT These guys were writing so close to reality that show business people would watch the show and say, "That's exactly how it is." You had professionals going, "Yep, that just happened to me today." ELLIN We were taking in stories that we heard in town and spitting them out the way they came. Ari Emanuel really did leave his agency. After he saw that episode -- which is still one of my favorite episodes in season two, where Ari gets fired trying to sneak out with the files -- he told me he watched that with his wife, covering his face. He didn't even know how we had gotten it so accurate. Then there was the Dom storyline -- it would be like if one of my friends from Merrick or Connolly's friends from Long Island wanted to come out to L.A. People were horrified. My mother called right after the episode and said she hated it. The phone calls just kept coming. And Ari and his wife are essentially my wife and me. PIVEN Perrey [Reeves], who plays Mrs. Ari -- and her name will be revealed this season, by the way -- had basically one line in the scene. ELLIN It's my wife's name, so … STORY: 'Entourage' Ending: Long-Running HBO Hit Films Final Scenes PIVEN Yes, so Doug can go home. (Laughs.) As written [in the show's fourth episode], we have this fight and I bark at her, "There's a cabstand at f--in' Yucca." I said to her, "Instead of me barking at you and then you wandering away, why don't you take the keys from me and wear the pants in this relationship, and then I'll slink off after you." She crushed it, and there was so much that was borne out of the relationship from that one moment. ALBRECHT There was a time where we actually got a little bit too close to real-life situations. We had to be responsible because we ran the risk of insulting somebody. ELLIN The Harvey Weingard character has an interesting backstory. Kevin Connolly calls me one night and says: "I'm at a party. Harvey Weinstein just came over and told me to tell my producers they're dead. Tell them if they ever mention my name again, they're dead." [The character Harvey Weingard appeared in season two as a foul-mouthed producer and again in season four, purchasing Medellin for one dollar]. CONNOLLY "I kill people. I f--ing kill people" is what he said. ELLIN And I'm like: "Did he really say that? Was he serious?" And [Connolly said], "I think he was serious." Obviously, Harvey Weinstein is a legend, and everybody who knows him loves him or fears him. The story really hit me, and I had to bring him back. After the episode aired, Ari and Harvey called me together, and they seemed to love it. CONNOLLY Early on, we took shots at people. It was never our intention to hurt anybody's feelings or make anybody feel bad about themselves. When we started to realize that was a thing, we tried to back away. Like the Tara Reid thing, when Ari said: "No tequila? Tara Reid steal it?" I knew her, so I got the call from her. It bothered her. PART III: Landing James Cameron ELLIN James Cameron gave the whole show credibility. Janace Tashjian is my postproduction supervisor. She worked on Titanic with him. I wrote him into a script, and she said, "What are you doing?" I was like, "You know him." I never in a million years thought we'd get him, and the truth is to this day, Aquaman the movie sounds terrible -- but James Cameron's Aquaman sounds great. Actually, I remember Mr. Cameron was writing Avatar while we were shooting his episode, and he came out of his trailer and he had my script, and he was like: "How do you do this? It's so simple. I've got all of these blue guys …" CONNOLLY When somebody's playing themselves, they are very careful about the way they are portrayed. It's funny how people take the show so literally. ELLIN We had a reference about [Traffic screenwriter] Stephen Gaghan's fee in an episode, and he called me up and said, "This is embarrassing, but you're going to drop my quote if you put that in the show." He was great about it. [In the episode that aired, Connolly's character says, "$275,000 down the drain" after hiring and quickly firing Gaghan for a Medellin rewrite.] CONNOLLY I always found that whenever directors, like Frank Darabont or Cameron, would come to Entourage, they'd all just seem to be happy to not be directing. DILLON We've had Gus Van Sant, Martin Scorsese, Paul Haggis. Brett Ratner came on and did like 20 takes. PIVEN Aaron Sorkin comes in, and he's a genius writer, but he's also an unbelievable actor. It's a little unsettling. He was out-acting all of us. ELLIN Sorkin killed it. There are some cameos we didn't get. I wanted Russell Crowe. I tried for Obama this year. And Charlie Sheen. I spoke to his manager Mark Burg and he's like, "Charlie loves it, he'll call you back today." I never got the call. CONNOLLY We never really wanted Anthony Weiner. Doug tried to make a joke about it in an interview. He said, "I sent Weiner a text message and I haven't heard back from him." WAHLBERG I think anytime you can have recognizable people playing themselves, it makes the show more effective. GRENIER And because the show is shot so docu-style, it's almost a reality show in a lot of ways. On some level, I think people get confused … CONNOLLY It's weird to me when somebody refuses to acknowledge the fact that it's not real. I'm like: "Dude, are we really having this conversation right now? This is going to be over in two seconds if you don't stop calling me E." They somehow think they've gotten sucked into an episode or something. FERRARA They often want an actual moment from the show. They'll come up and say, "Hey, want to come smoke a joint?" I feel them get disappointed when I'm actually like, "I haven't smoked weed in 10 years, sorry." And even if I did, I don't know if I would smoke your random weed. CONNOLLY After the Sundance episode, all my friends from Long Island were calling me and screaming, "We're going to Sundance next year!" After an episode airs, I have to break it to my buddies that it's not always 100 pretty girls and two dudes walking around. DILLON Everybody calls me Johnny. Actually, I started responding to it. Sometimes I'll have to do a little "Victory!" just to get them out of my face. PIVEN There was a moment when I actually went into my character's mode. I was coming out of an osteopath, and Joel Silver was there. He was on the phone screaming, and I go, "What's wrong, Joel?" He goes -- I shouldn't even tell this story, I'm going to get crushed. Anyway, he was trying to get Kate Beckinsale for a part, so I pick up the phone and start going as if someone yelled, "Action!" I started calling some people at my agency who got Kate on the phone immediately and worked this deal with him to get Kate Beckinsale a job. PART IV: How to End a Hit Series MICHAEL LOMBARDO, president of HBO programming I think Doug knew that if he was going to stay true to the characters, there would be bumps. As they're approaching their 30s, there would be more stumbling blocks -- not just disappointments in their careers but disappointments in their personal lives. He thought, and we totally supported him, that he had enough goodwill and had earned the opportunity with the viewers to take the show to a darker place last season. There were certainly some fans who missed the wish-fulfillment aspects of Entourage. CONNOLLY It just goes to show that we affected people. I had some fans come up and go: "Oh man, my life's hard enough. I watch your show to kind of boost me up for the upcoming week. What're you doing to me?" I think people want to watch a show and feel happy. ELLIN The only thing I can share about the final season is that I think people who have always loved the show, hated the show or changed their minds in the middle of the show, this will satisfy everybody. The last season gets back to our roots of the first season -- it's really about the guys looking out for one another. STORY: 'Entourage' Movie Script In the Works This Year LOMBARDO I went out to the last day of shooting [June 28], and I had a lump in my throat. It's very bittersweet. This is a great group of people, and the show has meant an enormous amount to HBO. When you have something that's working, it's very hard to see it end. FERRARA It's been an amazing eight-year run. We wrapped up in a very traditional Entourage way, with all of the guys at the airport. CONNOLLY I don't want to give too much away, but I think it was important to all of us involved that we didn't do an "ending" ending. We wanted to tee it up and be prepared to hopefully do the movie. We're certainly not in a rush. The most important thing is that it's done the right way. We've got a rep to protect. (Laughs.) ELLIN We'll see if there's actually interest from a studio or whoever has to finance it, but I'm up for it. WAHLBERG I think with the success of Sex and the City, there's a good chance people believe there could be a great movie here. People have always complained the episodes are too short. I will fight to the end to get the movie made. FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Leslie Bruce firstname.lastname@example.com @thr Lacey Rose email@example.com LaceyVRose


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My brother Brad has finally said I do! He picked the most amazing woman too! Brad and Emily were married in beautiful Napa, California. They had an intimate weekend with family and wine tasting! It was great to photograph such an amazing couple! I wish them the best and love them both!
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Hi john I select deumilanove with 328p in the boards.
Try selecting "Arduino Nano w/ ATmega328" instead. That should give you access to A6 and A7.
This is not working, I think i need to make the boards.txt entry.
"Not working" in what way?
Quote"Not working" in what way?I mean i tried using the simple Blink sketch on Pin 21 (A7) while selecting the Nano w/328p in boards but things didnt work
portMode(A6, INPUT) -> DDRC &= ~(1<<6);portMode(A6, OUTPUT) -> DDRC |= 1<<6;digitalWrite(A6, HIGH) -> PORTC |= 1<<6;digitalWrite(A6, LOW) -> PORTC &= ~(1<<6);portMode(A7, INPUT) -> DDRC &= ~(1<<7);portMode(A7, OUTPUT) -> DDRC |= 1<<7;digitalWrite(A7, HIGH) -> PORTC |= 1<<7;digitalWrite(A7, HIGH) -> PORTC &= `(1<<7);
I don't think you can use A6/A7 as digital pins AT ALL. They are only connected to the analog mux.


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Premium-rate call regulator PhonePayPlus has fined Red Play Media £50,000 for using Adword adverts to trick surfers into using premium-rate numbers to call non-premium services.
Red Play Media bought up Adwords, and Bing equivalents, to place links alongside searches for "NHS Direct" or similar. Clicking on the advert brings up a nice big phone number which, if dialled, will cost the caller £1.53 a minute as it offers to read out the real phone number or put the caller through (at the £1.53-a-minute rate), which was enough to garner 15 complaints and trigger the fine.
All companies using premium-rate phone lines are required to register with PhonePayPlus, which regulates their behaviour and investigates complaints, though not always as quickly as one might hope. The sites being run by Red Play Media - callerhelp.co.uk and phonenumber.co.uk - had been garnering complaints since December last year, with The Guardian reporting on the scam, and naming the companies, back in March.
And the practice is still endemic - type "tax office number" into Google and you'll get two ads for fastphonenumbers.co.uk and easyphonenumbers.co.uk, both of which belong to Square1 Communications Limited and rely on the small print to keep them legitimate:
An entirely legitimate service for those who don't want to call 0845 300 0627... click for small-print-friendly version
Wayback Machine archives for the Red Play Media websites indicate the company wasn't always so assiduous about mentioning its rates, and the fact that it wasn't affiliated with the service being called, but any service generating customer complaints can trigger a PhonePayPlus investigation.
Red Play Media was not the only firm doing this, but unlike the rules-abiding Square1, which only targeted those seeking tax advice, Red Play Media bought Adwords for "NHS Direct" and various hospitals - which meant it was was deliberately targeting vulnerable groups who might not be thinking entirely clearly while Googling for emergency aid, also against the PhonePayPlus rules.
So thanks to PhonePlayPlus, those searching for a hospital - or Wonga.com (which Red Play Media also bought) - will be safe until the next buyer steps up, but those looking to call their local tax office should still dial with care. ®


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Why does my air conditioner smell like must when it starts blowing?
My air conditioner smells musty when it starts blowing.
1. As you find foul odor occurs when a wet laundry is left unattended for a long period of time,
bad smell can occur as moisture on cooling fins in the indoor unit are dried by wind.
2. This can occur when the unit is used after left unused for a long period of time.
Odor occurs due to water inside the product and the drain hose.
How to fix
If an air conditioner works fine, this odor may be due to poor ventilation in a room.
2. Open windows to ventilate. Set cooling at 18℃ on the unit and let it run for about 20 minutes.
3. Ventilate the room until the odor goes away when the unit is used for the first time.
<Ventilate with open windows>


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Patient Room Art 106
DescriptionJim Brandenburg has provided nature photographs for patient rooms in Children's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on third floor. These reflective, soothing, and refreshing photographs utilize water elements and soft hues to provide comfort to children.
- Categories: Jim Brandenburg, Minneapolis: 3rd Floor, Minneapolis: All Care Areas


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Affordable Touring
River Cruising
Vacation Packages
Buenos Aires may be the "Paris of South America," but when it comes to its culinary range, the focus is squarely on beef, beef, and more beef! Every second street corner boasts a parrilla (steak house)—a temple to the carnivorous arts, where whole cows are roasted above hot coal pits, wall-charts show the prime meat cuts (including bife de lomo, sirloin, and bife de Costilla, T-bone), and tuxedoed waiters whisk the flesh from table to table like somber priests. But when you sit down to enjoy a succulent steak, it's also worth considering beef's pivotal role in Argentine history.
It all began in the Spanish colonial era, when a handful of imported cattle were let loose on the endless pampas and multiplied in record time on the lush grass. Huge estancias (ranches) sprang up, run by the hard-bitten southern gauchos (cowboys), brilliant horsemen who wore baggy pants and wielded sinister-looking knives. Beef became the Argentine staple at a time when only rich aristocrats could afford it back in Europe; even the poor could enjoy a steak for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Then, in the 1890s, breakthroughs in refrigeration meant that Argentina could ship its prize product overseas. Beef funded Argentina's Golden Age: the city of Buenos Aires was rebuilt on the model of Paris (then the paragon of sophisticated urban beauty), and its citizens enjoyed a higher standard of living than the U.S. Millionaire Argentine playboys roamed European nightclubs, spending their money like Texas oil barons.
Today, the glory days are over, but you can still get a superb steak in almost any little restaurant in Buenos Aires, cooked bien hecho (well done), a punto (medium), or jugoso (rare). Be sure to ask for the chimichurri sauce, a spicy oregano-based mix that was a traditional gaucho favorite.
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By the CFCA Prayer Team
On June 8 and 9 the preachers and presenters of CFCA gather at our headquarters in Kansas City for our annual Preachers Conference. The conference is designed to build community, share the work being done in our overseas projects, and energize our preachers and presenters to go forth and spread the good news of CFCA sponsorship across the U.S. On June 10 the CFCA governing board will convene and work hard to give guidance and encouragement to CFCA all over the world. Please take a moment to pray for our CFCA preachers, presenters and board members.
Please pray:
Gracious God, you have created a beautiful and powerful movement in CFCA that desires nothing more than to do your will. Please surround and guide the preachers, presenters, staff and board of CFCA so that individually and collectively we may all work together to serve the poor of this world. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
CFCA Prayer Team


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For That Soccer Fan!
Notice the detailed headboard which features an authentic soccer theme. Lovely Soccer Ball finials add the finishing touch to this one of a kind iron bed. Beautifully handcrafted by talent craftsmen of Corsican. Each piece is cut by hand; bent by hand and each connecting joint is formed by hand pouring molten metal into a mold. For more than 40 years Corsican Furniture has manufactured iron furniture and accessories with a commitment to quality and attention to detail. Our skilled craftsmen uphold a tradition of hand crafted beauty, personal care and attention to detail.
Shipping: FREE


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mywalit is an Italian brand of designer leather wallets, bags, coin purses and handbags.
It was founded in 2005, in Lucca, Italy, when the first shop was created in the old Roman
Amphitheatre, at the heart of the cosmopolitan shopping district of this historic town of Tuscany.
mywalit is brand made of colour, creativity and fun.
The company has created an empire of innovative style, daring colours, quality and avant-garde designs.
We originally concentrated on creating colourful purses and wallets and have since enriched our collection
to include multi-colored handbags for day and evening, travel accessories, and a classic, yet unique Office
Collection featuring iPad and laptop cases, and business organizers.
Our bold color combinations, attention to detail in manufacturing and use of the finest soft nappa leathers
has quickly built our reputation for quality and individual design.
Our people are from a wide variety of countries and background, bringing an equally wide
variety of skills, interests and experiences to colour their contribution to the team. In our
offices, conversations are held in a mix of Dutch, English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.
Mywalit is an international company with offices in Italy, the UK, and the United States, and
distribution channels in all continents.
Our products are also sold worldwide in designer stores, leather goods and duty-free shops,
boutiques and other specialty shops.


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Men's Bedridden Patient Hospital Gowns For Sale
Traditional hospital gowns leave patients exposed at times they are already feeling vulnerable. Silvert's hospital gowns feature full back overlaps and adaptive designs allowing for discrete, easy and pain free dressing. We offer also beautiful anti strip socks to match with our nightgowns for bedridden patient.
More information about hospital gowns...
Silverts, the original adaptive clothing supplier, has been pleased to make dressing easier for disabled adults, seniors and the elderly by offering the largest selection of quality affordable adaptive clothing and adaptive footwear for over 89 years.
A large percentage of our customers are caregivers who purchase adaptive clothing, elderly clothing and/or elderly footwear for their loved ones. Silvert's understands the difficulty of purchasing on others behalf and the caregiver's need for a full return and exchange policy.
For many this may be your first time purchasing adaptive clothing or adaptive shoes for your loved one. Questions may arise such as: what is adaptive nursing home clothing? or what size clothing should I order? Silvert's Customer Service Department is pleased to respond to all your questions and concerns.by phone 1-800-387-7088, Email [email protected] or by Online Chat during regular business hours (EST).


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Christine Lagarde, the outspoken and highly popular head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has made a rather bold statement about how to achieve peace in a region known for its many years of turmoil. She has called upon the nations of the Middle East to improve their taxation systems and enact significant fiscal reforms as a way to create political stability and, ultimately, peace.
Lagarde outlined her philosophical pathway to peace in the second speech she has delivered this week in the Middle East.
"I think the economic issues have to be at the table...We cannot stop the warriors, we cannot bring truce, but certainly we can help with good economic policies...with a state that actually works for the benefit of people, that collects tax that organizes public spending in an efficient way for countries that finances infrastructure projects where it's needed."
Christine Lagarde made her comments during the Global Women's Forum in Dubai. She went on to note that oil-dependent nations, as many in the Middle East are, face a "new reality" thanks to the decline in oil prices. At present, global oil prices are around $34 per barrel, a steep decline from the more than $110 per barrel they would have fetched in mid-2014.
This has led to budget deficits, unemployment, and general feelings of unease among many in the region. To counter the negative economic effects of cheap oil, nations like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain have been forced to reduce subsidies, raising the cost of gasoline, electricity, and meat. This has exacerbated an already tense situation.
Lagarde's plan would be to use taxation and economic reform to stem the rising tide of disquiet by providing services and support in a manner similar to developed Western nations, rather than the subsidies approach currently observed. Lagarde also said young people needed to be shown that they have a future and feel confident in that knowledge, or else they could turn to extremism.
In previous statements, the IMF had warned that as many as 1.6 million young people would enter the workforce by 2018 in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations. Unfortunately, at current levels of economic activity, there will only be an estimated 600,000 jobs available when they arrive. The frustration of these young people can be a key driver for movements, such as the Arab Spring uprisings that occurred in 2011.


text: Embark on a Cosmos Eastern Europe tour for a unique and fascinating vacation. In Romania, visit Bran Castle, inhabited by Vlad the Impaler-better known as Dracula. Learn about life in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital, and Belgrade, Serbia's capital. Or discover the magnificent scenery in Croatia's Plitvice National Park. You can even tour the mosques and markets in Sarajevo. From Sweden to Russia, Cosmos offers affordable tour packages that let you explore this region's unique treasures.


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Hear the story of how AFSC partnered with local organizations in the South Valley of New Mexico to create the Farmer to Farmer training program. Participants in the program have recently formed the Agri-cultura Network, a brokerage of farmers that provides local public schools with fresh vegetables year round. Listen to the voices of the community members who have contributed to this program's success.
This podcast is part of a series, "Calling forth the goodness," which will share the stories of how AFSC works in communities around the world.
Produced by Madeline Schaefer. Intro music by Jon Watts.


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Attack, Attack, Attack!
A Warhammer: Invasion Spotlight by Guest Writer Torsten Krämer
The Orcs live for battle. So it didn't come as a big surprise when the Morrslieb cycle gave the Greenskins the ability to wreak more and greater havoc by gaining an additional battlefield phase with Bash 'Em! (Chaos Moon, 26). At the tournament level, though, where cost efficiency is crucial and players have fewer turns to build up large assault forces, this tactic hasn't seen a lot of play. Nonetheless, we are now knee deep in the Eternal War cycle, which aims to emphasize battles more. For the Orcs, this renewed focus on battle is a tremendous boon. It means their thirst for more bloody clashes gets increased and rewarded.
In a recent article, we saw that the legendary mad shaman Wurrzag (Battle for the Old World, 41) allows you to play Bash 'Em! for free. Also, we learned that with Da Great Waaagh! (Battle for the Old World, 42), the Orcs gained another way to create an additional battlefield phase.
While attacking multiple times in one turn and therefore dealing damage multiple times is a great reward in itself, it gets better when you have the new Raider keyword. Then, more attacks mean more resources raided.
Orcish Glory
Your Greenskins' celebrations won't end there, though. The upcoming Battle Pack, Glory of Days Past, will further increase the rewards of a strategy incorporating multiple attacks. When you're assaulting your opponent for the second time in one turn, the unique Borgut Facebeater (Glory of Days Past, 70) allows you to put any Orc unit in your hand into play as part of your attack, meaning that your nasty surprise attack will be a downright ugly one. After all, you might get a free Arachnarok Spider (Fragments of Power, 5), aimed straight at your opponent. Or since Borgut isn't a Hero himself, he could net you a free Grimgor Ironhide (Core Set, 63). Let's also note that with his three power at cost four, Borgut packs enough punch by himself that he's a worthwhile combatant even if you don't get to trigger his ability.
However, when you do get to send Borgut in for a second helping, you might want him accompanied by a Boar Rider (Glory of Days Past, 71), a unit for which the first attack is like foreplay. Boar Riders charge at your opponent much harder the second time around, and since their increased power lasts until the end of turn, your Boar Riders are great units if you can manage to create even more battlefield phases. And the whole time, they'll steal new resources for you on their raids.
Muster Your Defenses
If you're one of those players unlucky enough to see Borgut, the Boar Riders, and other rampaging Orcs ready to mount repeated strikes, things are likely to look grim. Your best option would be to destroy all the attackers during their first charge, but if you can't, you might want to make sure you have some Imperial magic on your side. Because while the Bright Wizards are usually associated with offense, their flames can also serve to keep your enemies at bay.
Fulminating Cage (Glory of Days Past, 66) is the perfect counter to Orc decks that plan to launch multiple attacks, and it can save your hide from every other army, too. The safety it offers you comes at a steep price, though, even when you make use of its Ambush keyword. Also, if you plan to bring your Fulminating Cage into play with its Ambush ability, you'll need to make sure it develops the right zone.
Why bother, then, with the guesswork and the resources? Especially against multiple attacks, but even against single attacks, the protection provided by this Epic Spell is greater than that offered by cards like Master Rune of Valaya (Core Set, 25). This is because Fulminating Cage doesn't just prevent damage, but also keeps many combat-related abilities, like the Scout and Raider keywords from triggering. And while it may be tricky to discern which zone is the best to protect, if your Imperial troops forge an alliance with the Dwarfs, you can call upon some of Burlock's Ingenuity (City of Winter, 81) to make sure that no matter where you developed your Fulminating Cage, it was the right zone.
The Glory Days Are Still Ahead
With cards like Borgut Facebeater, Boar Rider, and Fulminating Cage coming soon, you'll find new ways to win glory in the battles of Warhammer: Invasion The Card Game!
in our forums!


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You want your guests to celebrate love at both your ceremony and your reception. Making your own centerpieces is a great way to show your creativity and add personality to your table settings. Start out with vases or dishes that have the potential to let your imagination take shape. Create a unique atmosphere creatively with Wedding Centerpieces from Little Things Favors. In a wide selection of styles, you can choose the centerpiece that will fit your wedding theme best without making a huge dent in your wallet. Wedding centerpiece options from Little Things Favors give you the freedom to make inspiring centerpieces as unique as your relationship.
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SHIRAISHI's rounding is earlier than expected and at the time he was making 15.7 knots.
An enthusiastic SHIRAISHI reported this morning, 'I have passed Cape Horn! It was stormy weather during the day. In the night I could just make out the Cape by the light of the stars in the sky and see the light of the light house. It looked a real picture. I really want to say thank you to everyone for helping me pass Cape Horn safely.'
Since rounding the Horn the wind has of course dropped off to next to nothing - something that the Japanese skipper says has been a feature of this leg. 'I haven't been lucky with the weather. The wind has either been nothing or gale force or upwind. There hasn't been any stable following winds. I hope that it improves in the Atlantic.'
Quite why it has gone light is a mystery. There is a large depression to his south. It is possible SHIRAISHI is in the wind shadow of the Horn itself now, however most likely it is simply the weather - out to his east the forecast charts are indicating a light patch. While he has been under the influence of the depression his south, SHIRAISHI reports that the wind has been quite shifty. 'The wind is very tricky so I haven't slept well for 48 hours.'
Which Side Of The Falklands?
Spirit of Yukoh has yet to reach Estados Island, which lay 62 miles to his northwest at the time of the 10:20 UTC position update. Once round this, SHIRAISHI needs to decide which side of the Falkland Islands to go, but the forecast indicates that the wind will go light and turn northwesterlies, so it is most likely that he will follow STAMM to the east of the British island group. Unfortunately with this forecast SHIRAISHI says it does not look like he will have much opportunity to catch up on his sleep until he is past the Falkland Islands, still just over a day's sailing away for him.
Action is piping up on Cheminees Poujoulat where now up to the latitude of Uruguay, the Swiss race leader is experiencing southwesterlies winds that are set to build to gale force strength, generated by the depression at present to his northeast. 'I'm in approach of the center of the low pressure,' STAMM wrote earlier. 'The wind is increasing slowly. Normally , I'll be very close to the centre in ten hours. The night is dark like black ink and it begins to be warm. I saw the first flying fish yesterday and it was still an albatross flying around.'
Still with 1,325 miles to go to Cape Horn Unai BASURKO (ESP) on Pakea is holding third place but with only 79 miles separating him from fifth placed Graham DALTON (NZL) on the Open 50 A Southern Man AGD. While DALTON is following in his Spanish rival wake, Sir Robin KNOX-JOHNSTON's (GBR) SAGA Insurance is now 70 miles to the north of BASURKO having put in a gybe yesterday afternoon. According to the forecast charts all three boats are enjoying brisk southwesterly conditions.
About The Race
The first leg of the VELUX 5 OCEANS started on 22 October from Bilbao, Spain. Six international skippers crossed the start line in the Bay of Biscay bound for Fremantle, Western Australia. The leg is expected to take approximately six weeks with the first boat arriving in Australia around the first week in December.
The VELUX 5 OCEANS is the longest race for any individual in any sport. Over the first few days, the fleet will make their way along the northern coast of Spain to Cape Finistère where they will turn south towards the Southern Ocean. However, all of the skippers know that this race is a marathon and not a sprint. During the 30,000 miles sailed in the VELUX 5 OCEANS race, the yachts will encounter some of the most extreme sea and weather conditions on the planet.
For a complete list of all the news about the VELUX 5 OCEANS 2006-2007 CLICK HERE.


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In 1819, Sir Walter Scott published a blood-and-thunder novel about a pair of star-crossed Scottish lovers, "The Bride of Lammermoor." It's a tale filled with hate-filled rival families, tempestuous drama and a wonderfully demented mad scene for the heroine. It was a story that cried out to be adapted into an opera. Which is exactly what happened when Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" had its premiere on Sept. 26, 1835, at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
On Saturday, Los Angeles Opera ventured (for the third time) into this operatic landscape of revenge-seeking lairds and love-crazed lassies. But don't expect to see a depiction of crumbling castles and great halls lined with antlers, let alone a plate of haggis. This new production, directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, designed by Carolina Angulo, with costumes by Christine Crook, lighting by Duane Schuler and projections by Wendall K. Harrington, is about as Scottish as a cannoli.
But does it really matter that the stage is an abstract series of color fields or that the characters look more like jackbooted Italian fascists than tartan-clad squabbling Scots? Very little. That's because in bel canto opera, it's all about the singing. And as conductor James Conlon rather humorously referenced in his preperformance lecture, it's ultimately about one sumptuous melody leading to one climaxing high note after another.
With its challenging techniques and tessitura, Lucia is one of those roles that illuminate the vocal gifts of a coloratura soprano. In modern opera history, the comparison was often made between the fiery dramatic intensity of Maria Callas versus the pearlescent, seemingly never-ending high notes of Joan Sutherland, although Beverly Sills, and more recently Anna Netrebko, also carved their initials deeply into the part.
The current Los Angeles production starring Russian soprano Albina Shagimuratova is earthbound, though her high notes certainly soar. Stylistically, Shagimuratova possesses a great deal of vocal luster, if not the most dramatic sense of emotional imbalance. She does, however, faint a lot.
Seeing Sutherland perform the role, there was never any pretense that she was going to do anything but sing. Seeing Callas, you actually believed she was losing her mind because she was an excellent actress. Shagimuratova tends more toward the Sutherland school. But you also can lay at least part of the blame for that with Pulitzer, who is clearly a graduate of the Traffic Management School of Opera Directing — you go here, you go there, now stand and sing. Shagimuratova's Lucia may not be a dramatic triumph, but it is very impressive vocally.
Every good soprano in a bel canto opera deserves a red-blooded tenor and a dastardly baritone. The current production provides both.
You're not likely to mistake Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu for a young Placido Domingo or Luciano Pavarotti. But Pirgu does bring an abundance of fire and heart-on-sleeve intensity to the role of Edgardo, last master of Ravenswood. His voice is as stalwart and eruptive as his character, complete with crooning softness and solid high notes. His Edgardo is also a man with serious anger management issues.
Baritone Stephen Powell is a worthy cad as Lucia's brother, Enrico, who is willing to drive his sister to distraction and murder if it brings about his own financial security. And if revenge against his family's archenemy, Edgardo, is also in the cards, he's happy!
The role of the family's conspiratorial chaplin, Raimondo, is sung sonorously by James Creswell, but with all the physical and emotional flexibility of a wooden plank. "Stand and deliver" is his motto.
The look of the production is elegant, minimal, totally un-Scottish and clearly influenced by the glowing light sculptures of James Turrell. The sets consist of vast, saturated color fields bordered by strips of glowing neon onto which projections of stormy skies, bottomless pools and dripping blood are projected.
If any conductor understands the dynamics of bel canto opera, it's Conlon. From the first downbeat, he was in total control, driving the action, sculpting the melodies, modulating the gorgeous sextet and propelling the music to its series of climactic high notes. The orchestra, particularly the strings, winds and horns, never sounded better, plus it had the rare addition of a glass harmonica (performed with melodic dexterity by Thomas Bloch) to accompany poor Lucia's decent into madness. Bellissima!
Jim Farber is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.


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Upgrading your Windows 8 or Windows RT PC to Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 will bring you enhancements in personalization, search, apps, the Windows Store, and cloud connectivity, all with the security and reliability features you expect from Windows.
Beginning in July 2019, the Windows 8 Store is officially closed. While you can no longer install or update applications from the Windows 8 Store, you can continue using those already installed. However, since Windows 8 has been out of support since January 2016, we encourage you to update to Windows 8.1 for free.
Before you begin
Before you begin, here are some things to keep in mind.
- Your files, desktop apps, user accounts, and settings come with you. Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 come with some new built-in apps and will update or replace some of your existing built-in apps. Your existing Windows Store apps don't come with you, but once the update is complete, you can reinstall all of these apps at once—or just the ones you want.
- We'll check your desktop apps and devices for you. As part of the update, we check your current desktop apps and connected devices. We'll let you know what you'll need to do to get them ready for the update or to get them working again after the update. In most cases, you won't need to do anything—most desktop apps, devices (like printers), and network connections will work normally after the update.
- Consider using a Microsoft account to sign in to your PC. If you already use a Microsoft account to sign in to Windows 8 or Windows RT, you'll use that same account to sign in to Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1. If you don't, we recommend that you start using a Microsoft account in Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1. If you already have an account you use with Outlook.com, Xbox LIVE, Windows Phone, or Skype, then you already have a Microsoft account.
- You can keep working while the update is installing. Download and installation times vary from about 30 minutes to several hours, depending on your internet connection speed and the speed and configuration of your PC, but you can still use your PC while the update is installing in the background. During this time, make sure to save your work and close any apps you have open before leaving your PC unattended in case your PC needs to restart automatically while you're away. After it restarts, you won't be able to use your PC for a little while (from about 20 minutes to an hour) while the updates are being applied. After that phase is complete, we'll walk you through choosing a few basic settings and then Windows will finish applying any final updates that are needed.
Prepare your PC
- Back up your files. Although your files and apps come with you when you update to Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1, it's a good idea to back up your important files to an external drive or the cloud.
- Make sure you have enough free disk space. If you're currently running Windows 8, you need 3,000 MB of available space to install the 32-bit version of Windows 8.1 and 3,850 MB of available space to install the 64-bit version of Windows 8.1. On a Windows RT device, you need 2,250 MB of available disk space to install Windows RT 8.1.
- Plug in your laptop or tablet. It's important to keep your PC plugged in throughout the update process, because if you lose power before it's done, the update might not install properly.
- Connect to the internet. It's best to stay connected until the update is done. If you don't, you'll need to connect again to finish setting up later and setup will take longer.
- Get the latest critical and important updates. There are some updates you might need before you can install Windows 8.1. In most cases, the latest updates will be installed automatically using Windows Update. But if you don't have automatic updates turned on and you need to check for updates manually, or if you'd like to check to see when the latest updates were installed, you can do this from Windows Update.
- Temporarily turn off your antivirus program. Some antivirus software might interfere with the installation. After you install Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1, remember to turn your antivirus program back on.
Get the free update
- Go to the Start screen, and select the Store tile.
- On the Update Windows tile in the Store, select the Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 update and then select Download.
- The update will download and install in the background while you use your PC to do other things. The installer will check to make sure you have enough disk space, that your apps and devices will work with Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1, and that you have all the required updates.
In some cases, the installer might find something you need to take care of before you can continue installing the update. If so, you'll see a message telling you what you need to do.
- Note
If the installation is interrupted for any reason, you can restart the update from where you left off by going back to the Store and downloading the update again.
To see the update to Windows 8.1 in the Store, your PC needs to have updates KB 2871389 and KB 2917499 installed.
Some editions of Windows 8 don't support updating to Windows 8.1 from the Store, including Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 8 Pro (if installed using volume licensing or activated using a Multiple Activation Key), and preview versions of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1.
If you leave your PC before it's ready to restart, be sure to save your work and close any desktop apps you're using to make sure you don't lose anything when it restarts automatically. Your PC might need to restart more than once, depending on how it's set up and whether additional updates are needed.
Restarting will take longer than usual—from 20 minutes to about an hour—while the update is applied. During this time, you won't be able to use your PC.
Choose your settings
For more info, select Learn more about express settings. To learn about how these settings affect your privacy, select Privacy statement.
Sign in
Next, you'll be asked to sign in. If you already use a Microsoft account to sign in to Windows 8 or Windows RT, your account name will be filled in for you. If you previously used a local account, you can still use it to sign in
If you have a Microsoft account
- Enter your Microsoft account email address, if needed, and your password.
- We'll send a security code to the alternate email address or phone number you've set up for this account, and you'll need to enter that code to verify that you're the owner of the account. This helps us protect your account and devices when you access sensitive info. If you don't have alternate contact info set up for the account yet, you'll be asked to provide it now.
If you signed in to your PC using a Microsoft account before you installed Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1, then you might not need to enter a security code.
If you have a local account
To sign in with your local account, enter your password. You can always connect to a Microsoft account later, and we recommend giving it a try. Simply put, your Microsoft account is the glue that holds together so many useful features of the new Windows. With an account, you'll be able to get apps from the Windows Store, automatically sync your settings and documents between PCs, back up your photos to the cloud so you can get to them from anywhere, and see all your contacts from multiple email and social networking accounts together in the People and Mail apps.
OneDrive cloud storage
If this is your first time setting up a PC with Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1, you'll see the new OneDrive options.
If you already have another PC running Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 and you chose to sync settings on that PC, then your OneDrive settings will also sync from your existing PC to this one and you might not see this screen.
If you select Next on this screen, your PC will use these default OneDrive settings:
- Photos you take with this PC are saved to your camera roll folder on this PC, and a smaller copy of each photo is automatically backed up to your OneDrive.
- When you create a new document, the default save location is OneDrive. But you can always choose to save individual documents locally or on another drive.
- Windows will save a backup copy of your PC settings to OneDrive. If something ever happens to your PC and you need to replace it, your settings are saved in the cloud and you can transfer them to a new PC instantly.
You can change any of these settings later in PC settings. If you'd prefer to turn off all of these settings now, select Turn off these OneDrive settings (not recommended).
Final updates
Because Windows is always being updated, it's possible that critical updates have become available since Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 were finalized. Windows checks for these critical updates when you finish setting up Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 for the first time, and if it finds any, it will download them automatically. Downloading and installing these updates might take a few minutes, depending on the updates you need. Your PC might also need to restart one or more times to complete the updates.
Reinstall your apps
Your desktop apps come with you when you update to Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1, but you'll need to reinstall your Windows Store apps. You can see all of the Windows Store apps you own in the Your apps section of the Store. From here, you can choose the ones you want to install on your updated PC and install them all at once.
- On the Start screen, select the Store tile to open the Windows Store.
- Select Account, and then select My apps.
- Select all the apps you want to install, and then select Install.
You don't need to wait for the apps to finish installing. They'll keep installing in the background while you do other things.


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We previously brought you the first looks at Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) in a new version of his RoboCop suit, but now we have a few more looks at Kinnaman as the 100% human Alex Murphy. Speaking of superhumans, director Jeff Wadlow recently tweeted a number of photos of the Kick-Ass 2 cast in costume. Though none are as awesome as the first look at Jim Carrey as Colonel Stars, these set photos do have that "official" ring to them.
Director Jose Padilha's RoboCop also stars Abbie Cornish, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton and Jackie Earle Haley and opens August 9th, 2013. Kick-Ass 2, starring Aaron Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, opens June 28th of next year. Hit the jump to see the new images.
The RoboCop photos come courtesy of CBM while the Kick-Ass 2 images are from Wadlow's Twitter account. Enjoy!


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Move aside, big men: Guards have taken over the NBA
- NBA has become guard-dominated league%2C with perimeter players opening up floor and passing
- Four of past five rookie of the year winners have been guards%2C as are favorites to win this time
- Mike Conley%2C Goran Dragic%2C Kyle Lowry among guards snubbed from All-Star teams
Much has been made of the NBA's decision to eliminate the center position from the All-Star ballot. But while the All-Star Game is nothing more than an exhibition, this change signifies a greater transformation in the game.
The NBA is now a guard-driven league, with the majority of teams relying on backcourt talent.
Eleven of the 24 players on the two All-Star rosters play one of the two guard positions, and plenty of deserving players (such as the Phoenix Suns' Goran Dragic, Memphis Grizzlies' Mike Conley and Toronto Raptors' Kyle Lowry) were left off simply because there was not enough room.
Over the past six seasons, teams have become slightly more reliant on assists for their made field goals, which speaks to the effects of the influx of point guard talent in the NBA.
Based on the league averages provided by Basketball-Reference.com, 58.0% of teams' made field goals this season have been assisted. Last year, that number was 59.6%. The past two years represented a small increase from the previous four: Teams assisted on 57.5% of field goals in 2011-12, 57.7% in 2010-11, 56.4% in 2009-10 and 56.5% in 2008-09.
The new wave of analytic-based front offices have placed a greater emphasis on spacing and ball movement, leading teams to target facilitators and perimeter shooters above elite inside players.
The past several seasons have seen successful teams build offenses around shooters. The Orlando Magic made the Finals in 2009 by surrounding center Dwight Howard with shooters such as J.J. Redick and Rashard Lewis. The Miami Heat have won the past two NBA championships by putting small forward LeBron James in a similar role, featuring him more in the paint with the option of passing out to Shane Battier or Ray Allen. Even the Heat's de facto center, Chris Bosh, is a converted power forward.
More of the top-level incoming talent in the last half-decade has been in the backcourt. The five NBA drafts from 2008 to 2012 have produced 15 players that have made at least one All-Star team, and nine of them are backcourt players.
Four of the past five winners of the NBA Rookie of the Year Award have been guards, and the favorites to win the award this season (the Philadelphia 76ers' Michael Carter-Williams, Orlando Magic's Victor Oladipo and Utah Jazz's Trey Burke) are as well.
The All-Star rosters bear out this glut of guard talent in the NBA. In addition to Conley, Dragic and Lowry, the Indiana Pacers' Lance Stephenson and the Atlanta Hawks' Jeff Teague are in the middle of All-Star-caliber seasons. And spots for the several players that did make it were likely only opened up because of the injuries to the Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook, Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose and Boston Celtics' Rajon Rondo.
Even the most effective frontcourt players are succeeding in part because they adopt the tendencies of point guards, taking on more playmaking responsibilities. The two leading MVP candidates, LeBron James and Kevin Durant, are essentially unguardable because they are threats to pass as well as to score. With Rose out the last two seasons, the Chicago Bulls have increasingly run their offense through center Joakim Noah. Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin has also greatly improved his passing in his four years in the NBA.
The new All-Star roster composition rules adopted in 2012 squeeze out centers as a defined position, but in giving more spotlight to backcourt players, they reflect the changing nature of the NBA game.


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Black Wing Beginning Shotgun Clinic At A Glance:
- Great introduction to all aspects of shotgun shooting
- Shotgun, ammunition, eye and ear protection & targets provided.
- 5-Star Facility That Is Clean & Comfortable.
- Instructors With Over 75 Years Of Combined LE & Military Experience.
-- Minimum age 10 years. Parent or Guardian must complete student waiver for young people under 21. Please note that parents are not allowed to stay with a young person unless they are taking the class.
Course Description:
Beginning Shotgun Clinic is the ideal course for people who want to try shotgun shooting for the first time. The course covers safety, how the firearm works, how the ammunition works and how to hold and shoot the firearm to achieve great results. This is a great introduction to the shotgun shooting sports.
Experience the exceptional. That's not just a catch phrase. It's our philosophy!


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Lightflow focus on One Page Parallax Responsive Multipurpose WP Theme that can use all kind of Business sites.
Lightflow is the Aristocratic theme for corporate business. It's a design that helps you to connect modern world customers. This theme achieves you to your target customers and bestow them an amazing user experience.
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- One page design
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- Parallax effect
- Different layout resolution
- 285 vector Icons (social icons included) – Entypo
- Dynamic and fixed Navbar
- Google Web Fonts (Lato & Oswald)
- Advanced Admin Panel
- Demo Content Included
- 7 Color variations
- Blue
- Cream.
- Green
- Orange
- Pink
- Yellow
- User Friendly Documentation.
- Cross Browser Compatible (i.e. FF19, Chrome, IE10, Safari.).
- Nice Google Font.
- Contact Form 7 Integration
- Animated icons & buttons
- Custom Tooltips
- Animated menu when passing breakpoint
- Nice big dual button
- Animated service boxes
- Image effect on mouseover
- Responsive menu (even in smaller devices)
Update History:
Version 1.7 (1 June 2016)
- WP 4.5.2 Compatible - Fixed Meta-box - Update Demo data
Version 1.6 (18 April 2016)
- WP 4.5 Compatible - Included Child Theme - Responsive issue fixed. - Fixed internal Code issue.
Version 1.3 4 Dec 2014
- Parallax fixed for mobile device - Responsive issue fixed. - Update some CSS.
Version 1.2
- Predefined Color CSS Fixed. - Minor bug fixed.
Version 1.1
- Top Menu on/off from Admin - Mobile Menu Fixed
Release Version 1.0
Images are not included in this file and is only part of Display.


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