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Crysis 3 full review
After the disappointingly dialled-down Crysis 2, the one-time king of gaming graphics attempts to retrieve its crown. Sci-fi first-person shooter Crysis 3 might be a multi-platform game, but it's on PC that it flexes the kind of muscle that has traditionally lifted this series above the crowd on a technical level. You'll need more money than sense to own a system capable of running Crysis 3 with all bells and whistles enabled at 1080p higher.
The jury's somewhat out on a) whether it's worth it and b) whether it really looks all that much better than 2008's still graphics card-troubling Crysis 1. Certainly, the sheer amount of detail on show in this sci-fi shooter, set in a post-apocalyptic New York, outdoes most any other game you could name, but its tendency to be set in the dark, its pursuit of photo-realism rather than distinctive style and to populate its rogues' gallery with oddly shapeless aliens means it's not as eye-catching as it perhaps deserves to be. Pore across still screenshots and there's much to be wowed by, but in motion it's oddly murky.
Making up for that quite a bit is the sweeping scale of the levels – shattered skyscrapers on the horizon, mile-long dams, towering iron fortresses and flooded boulevards mean Crysis 3 isn't your common-or-garden grey-brown apocalypse.
Even so, it's not quite enough of a looker to justify an eye-watering outlay for a new graphics card. Console versions, meanwhile, hold up well given the machine's age, but Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners will certainly be forgiven for thinking the next-generation's already here if they do clap eyes on the PC edition of the game. That's especially true of the handful of character faces you get to see during in-engine cutscenes. They're flat-out incredible, really not far off being suitable for a cinema screen.
Unfortunately you don't have free run of the ruins of New York. While Crysis 3 is more open and generally free from the tunnels of its predecessor, it's certainly not the sandbox of the oft-revered original game. Objectives and enemy locations are fixed, so while the road from A to B might be a very wide one compared to contemporaries such as Call of Duty and Medal of Honor, it's only ever going in one direction. The game's much more interested in evoking and outdoing the spectacle and scripting of a Modern Warfare game than further exploring the freedoms of the original Crysis or its predecessor Far Cry.
Far greater liberty than most of Crysis 3's peers can be had from the combat system, which most of the time allows free choice between all-out warfare, sniping or stealth. Pseudo-science-spouting protagonist Prophet wears a Nanosuit, able to temporarily imbue him with invisibility, bullet-proofing or super-jumping, and how you employ those abilities has a dramatic effect on the kind of game you'll have. If you want it to be a run and gun game, it can be that. If you want to sneak around snapping necks silently or avoiding enemies altogether, it can be that. If you want to hang back and pick off everyone from afar, the new crossbow, with its silent and one-shot-kill bolts, will be your best friend.
As a Predator simulator, it really knows what it's doing – making it doubly a shame that it so regular interrupts itself with the screeching, juvenile babble of its plot. It's Saturday Morning Cartoon nonsense, but it's rarely playful about it, instead opting to take itself deadly seriously when it bangs about System X and Alpha Cephs and New York being trapped inside a Nanodome. At least the cutscenes are skippable.
Frankly, Crysis 3 would be a bit of a bore if it wasn't for the muscular, flexible combat. It remains a big step down in terms of strategy and freedom compared to the first Crysis, but it has recaptured some of its earlier spirit compared to the claustrophobic second game. It's a shame to not see any bars being raised, given developer Crysis used to be famed for doing just that, but as simply a flashy, noisy distraction Crysis 3 does the trick.
Crysis 3: Specs
- Available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. PC system requirements: • Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 • DirectX 11 graphics card with 1Gb Video RAM • Dual core CPU • 2GB Memory (3GB on Vista) • Example 1 (Nvidia/Intel): • Nvidia GTS 450 • Intel Core2 Duo 2.4 Ghz (E6600) • Example 2 (AMD): • AMD Radeon HD5770 • AMD Athlon64 X2 2.7 Ghz (5200+)


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In his first public comments since beating out other bidders for the Los Angeles Clippers, Steve Ballmer said late Thursday he loves basketball and embraces "inclusiveness."
The former Microsoft CEO bid $2 billion for the Los Angeles team in a sale handled by Shelly Sterling, who co-owns the team with her husband Donald Sterling.
"I will be honored to have my name submitted to the NBA Board of Governors for approval as the next owner of the Los Angeles Clippers," Ballmer said in a statement. "I love basketball. And I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win – and win big – in Los Angeles."
"LA is one of the world's great cities – a city that embraces inclusiveness, in exactly the same way that the NBA and I embrace inclusiveness. I am confident that the Clippers will in the coming years become an even bigger part of the community."
Ballmer's bid for the Los Angeles franchise comes after Donald Sterling was banned from the league for life by the NBA amid revelations the Clippers owner made racist remarks. Donald Sterling's comments angered many local leaders, who said such racist views don't represent the diverse city of Los Angeles.
The league also moved to force a sale, prompting Shelly Sterling to fast-track the bidding process for the team, which her husband purchased in 1981.
Though the deal still requires NBA approval, the league vetted Ballmer last year during his unsuccessful attempt to buy the Sacramento Kings. On Thursday, Ballmer said he was "grateful to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and his colleagues for working collaboratively with me throughout this process."
If the $2 billion sale is finalized, the Clippers would fetch the second-largest price ever in North American pro sports, behind the $2.15 billion sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012. It would also shatter the record for the sale of an NBA franchise, currently set by the Milwaukee Bucks, which fetched $550 million last month.
Donald Sterling's attorney Maxwell Blecher said Thursday afternoon his client would resist any forced sale. Asked if Donald Sterling would be amenable to a voluntary sale if the league's June 3 hearing to terminate his ownership is delayed, Blecher said: "If that occurs — which we doubt — we'll see where it leads."
On Thursday, Shelly Sterling said she was acting under her authority as the sole trustee of The Sterling Family Trust in accepting Ballmer's bid. A binding agreement was signed between Ballmer and Shelly Sterling.
"I am delighted that we are selling the team to Steve, who will be a terrific owner," Shelly Sterling said in a statement. "We have worked for 33 years to build the Clippers into a premiere NBA franchise. I am confident that Steve will take the team to new levels of success."
Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson on Thursday praised the proposed sale to Ballmer.
"This is happening on a faster pace than any of the professionals thought it would go," Wesson said.

subset: commoncrawl


text: ZINJIBAR, Yemen -- For more than a year, Abyan province has been the epicenter of an intensifying covert war against Ansar al-Shari'a, a new al-Qaida incarnate spreading along the remote shores of the Gulf of Aden in southern Yemen. Hellfire missiles fired from Predator and Reaper drones have killed hundreds of Ansar soldiers since last June when the CIA began flying its fleet of drones from a secret base somewhere on the Arabian Peninsula. Since Ansar established its first so-called Islamic Emirate in Abyan last spring during the tumult of Yemen's revolution, the CIA and Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) have carried out some three dozen air strikes, a fivefold increase by U.S. forces over the nine preceding years combined. Some say the ramped-up Yemeni drone campaign, whose existence the White House will neither confirm nor deny, paved the way for the two-month-long Yemeni troop surge, dubbed operation Golden Swords, that only two weeks ago shattered the Islamic Caliphate and liberated Abyan from al-Qaeda's grip. Others insist the barrage of remote-guided missiles needlessly killed scores of civilians and inflamed the smoldering al-Qaeda threat: Ansar has taken to Afghanistan-style suicide bombings across Yemen as a means to settle the score, killing some 100 soldiers at a parade rehearsal in May, assassinating the top Yemeni military commander in the war against al-Qaeda in June and killing a top Yemeni intel chief in July. Amidst this tumult, Yemen's interim President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi is quietly steering the divided country toward multiparty elections in 2014, as part of a US-backed Gulf country power transfer deal that kicked longtime dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office and arguably jerked the Arab world's poorest country from the precipice of civil war. The success or failure of the Gulf plan could have major ramifications for the wider region, where Somalian pirates swarm the Gulf of Aden, through which swollen oil tankers from the world's number one supplier pass daily. In an exclusive reporting trip to the war-ravaged hamlet of Zinjibar, Abyan's provincial capital, Danger Room caught a first glimpse of Washington's latest shadow war. All photos by Casey L. Coombs Above: Drugs and Decapitation "Yeah, a lot of humanitarian workers have come here since al-Qaida left, but all they've done is take pictures," a local qat dealer told Danger Room. Ansar al-Shari'a restricted the use of qat, an amphetamine-laced leaf chewed by millions of Yemenis, in cities like Zinjibar. Some residents chewed the substance in complete isolation after witnessing their militant leaders publicly behead alleged spies and thieves.Leftover Bombs, Mangled Bodies The road to Zinjibar is littered with bullet-pocked storefronts, bombed out buildings and thousands of land mines planted by Ansar militants, who fled a 10,000-strong wall of ground troops amidst intensifying drone strikes of Operation Golden Swords. Since mid-June, a ragtag team of Yemeni de-miners have discovered more than 3,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in and around Zinjibar, according to the Governor's Office in Abyan. More than 80 returning residents have been killed and hundreds more mangled by UXO, according to reports.Abandonment Yemen's Central Security Forces abandoned their compound on the outskirts of Zinjibar shortly after Ansar militants besieged the city in May 2011, raising speculation that former President Saleh had struck a deal with al-Qaeda in a last-ditch effort to show Washington the country would fall to pieces without him.Sneak Attack Ansar militants beat back encroaching military forces from Zinjibar using tanks and other weapons pillaged from the Yemeni forces in nighttime raids. On March 4, Ansar soldiers surprised the 25th Mechanized Brigade stationed outside Zinjibar, slaying as many as 200 sleeping soldiers, kidnapping 73 more and pillaging much of the base's armaments. Ironically, US drones were in turn forced to destroy Yemeni weaponry stolen by the militants.Golden Swords Armed tribesmen across Yemen joined US and Yemeni forces in dislodging Ansar al-Shari'a from Abyan. A team of American special operations forces arrived to Yemen on the cusp of Operation Golden Swords to prepare the country's unprofessional military and tribal forces for the looming battle against mujahideen-trained guerrilla forces hidden amongst civilian populations in Zinjibar and neighboring cities. In late May, Ansar militants fired on three special ops soldiers at their hotel in the eastern town of Hodaida along the Red Sea.Mechanized Brigade A convoy of troops from the 25th Mechanized Brigade, who escorted Danger Room through Zinjibar, gaze down on tribal soldiers at a makeshift military checkpoint in Zinjibar. Some observers predict that once their common jihadist enemy is defeated, US-trained tribal and military soldiers will turn on each other to settle deep-seated hostilities stemming from years of northern military aggression against the south following Yemen's bloody 1994 civil war.Tunnel Dweller A Yemeni intelligence chief leads Danger Room through a series of sandy tunnels Ansar members dug from Zinjibar to the neighboring 25th Mechanized Brigade camp and adjacent military barracks. Tiptoeing to the tunnel's entrance along a narrow de-mined pathway in Zinjibar's unbearable humidity leant insight into the fanatical tenacity required of the tunneling designed to sabotage the enemy."Don't Confuse Your Enemies With Your Friends" Zinjibar's sole restaurant to reopen since Ansar al-Shari'a was driven from the city mid-June. Many al-Qaida members still remain, however, according to the Yemeni intelligence chief who escorted Danger Room through Abyan. After a minute of shooting photos and speaking with locals at the restaurant, gunfire rang out and the intel chief ordered Danger Room back to the armed convoy. An hour later in the neighboring town of Jaar, a local al-Qaida leader Danger Room's correspondent had met while reporting from there in March drove up on his motorcycle, acknowledged his journalistic acquaintance and drove into town unnoticed. "Don't confuse your enemies with your friends," the intel chief said while driving away from Jaar.Drones and Crucifixion A Yemeni policeman in Zinjibar said US drones in Yemen were "90 percent accurate," even though statistics detailing the number of people targeted and killed remains classified. One of the targeting techniques CIA and JSOC have employed, as illustrated by legal documents from the shari'a court in Jaar, is the placement of "chips" on al-Qaeda leaders. One suspect was sentenced to the death penalty for "recruiting spies working for the American warplanes and delivering chips to the spies, also he was the direct supervisor on placing it in the locations and cars of the mujahidin." Other punishments for those who "wage war against Allah and his Messenger," according to court documents, include "crucifixion or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned."Lone Wolves An Ansar al-Shari'a suicide bomber killed 29 Yemeni soldiers in this building near Zinjibar. Since being driven from Abyan by US and Yemeni military forces, Ansar al-Shari'a launched operation "Lone Wolf," which orders explosives-laden martyrs to destroy military and Western targets. In the past month, Ansar's "lone wolves" have assassinated the top army general in southern Yemen and a top intelligence official in Sanaa; more than a dozen other suicide missions have been foiled in Sanaa alone in recent weeks.


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David Klein - Retro 1950's Travel Posters
Vintage travel advertising and broadway window posters from the 1950s/1960s.
Coming from a watercolor background, Klein made post-war era travel appealing and animated through the way he implements landmarks and abstract coloring in his posters. He really knows how to provoke that gung-ho attitude through visual imagery in these.
The first poster was featured in an article by Entertainment Weekly in the discussion of the Emmy and Golden Globe winning AMC drama Mad Men. Surely one of the most influential and greatest commercial illustrators of our time. Found off grain edit here.
Tags: 1950s, california, illustration, travel, watercolor
Justin Van Genderen - Star Wars Posters
A little something for all you star wars fans out there: Justin Van Genderen designed these cool posters devoted to each city, planet, moon and floating metropolis in the Star Wars universe. When will these be available for prints? Until then, check out the original posting on his Behance.
Obey Giant - New Stuff
Poster for show in Cincinnati only available there.
Definitely good for a a comic tour poster, like Tyler Stout's Flight of the Conchords work.
Sold out here
Collaboration with Shepard Fairey, Cleon Peterson and Casey Ryder.
For Artists for Peace and Justice. All proceeds go to Haiti.
Sold out here
Collaboration with Shepard Fairey, Cleon Peterson and Casey Ryder.
For Artists for Peace and Justice. All proceeds go to Haiti.
If you're a Steven Colbert fan, download the printable pdf here.
Collaboration with Ernesto Yerena, available here.
Shepard Fairey of Obey Giant seems to be doing work for not-so-typical clients lately; the Henry Rollins and Stephen Colbert prints definitely surprised me. I can't say much about how much Goodness is in those posters (I doubt that the colbert one was actually touched by Shepard's hand...looks like something you could draft up in Illustrator...while forgetting completely about the type). However, the typography and geometry is VERY appealing in the first one, and I hope that's not arguable. See more OBEY in our previous posts.
Tags: OBEY, old school, political, shepard fairey
Network Osaka
Network Osaka update, with some 2010 work.
He's still doing his thing with a keen minimalist eye and a dashing approach at color selection.
Also his newest font Haute, now available for purchase.
Neat meets cluttered in his silkscreened thank you card he designed for Target from Wieden + Kennedy.
Design level:over 9,000!!!!!!
Tags: card, color, font, minimal, Network Osaka
Kent Hernandez - Haiti + More
Really digging how the country is divided up, really complements the typography.
Very geometrically and colorfully pleasing. Like a retro game show, but cool.
These thin flyers would make amazing bookmarks...
The album is still available for download here.
These thin flyers would make amazing bookmarks...
The album is still available for download here.
Take a look at any of these flyers and just try to tell me that they aren't some of the coolest things you've seen recently. We posted a while ago on Kent Hernandez, and its good seeing his new designs even more visually stunning than before. And, thanks for the props (of the props) Kent.
Tags: bar, club, colorful, Kent Hernandez, Miami, typography, USA
Ivan Petrusevski
Strong followup work on Ivan from Macedonia after checking in on his work again.
He has a very 90's Nickelodeon style in some of his designs that bring out the inner-kid for those who spent unnecessarily numerous but indispensable hours on cartoons during the best decade to watch them.
Also one of the first&few flyers I've seen that uses the font VAL rather nicely.
Our first find on him from last year here.
Tags: font, gig, illustration, macedonia
Small Studio
There's not too much I could find about Small Studio apart from their French blog, except for the fact that they are able to deliver solid poster designs with interesting typographic layouts.
Tags: france, gig poster, typography
M. Brady Clark
Another living example of agency-employed designers who turn into successful freelancers, M. Brady Clark has made posters for some big names, and apparently a lot of work for Johnny Cupcakes. As usual, if you like what you see, check out his shop on BigCartel to purchase prints.
Tags: Austin, gig poster, music, retro, texas
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February 13, 2013
In the New York capitol of Albany on Tuesday, hundreds of protesters vowed to resist Gov. Andrew Cuomo's recently enacted draconian gun law.
Angry gun owners confronted New York officialdom on February 1.
The protesters dwarfed a rally held by One Million Moms for Gun Control who were allowed to hold their event inside the capitol.
"If you read the Federalist Papers, the founders of the Constitution very clearly expressed their reasoning on why the Second Amendment was important," Myles McKeone told the New York Daily News. "It was put in place to protect us from tyrannical government… It was very clear that this was the teeth of the Constitution."
"Our governor has seen fit to try and restrict the rights we get by our Constitution," Tracy Brundege told Newsmax. "We're just not going to stand for it anymore."
Stewart Rhodes of Oath Keepers traveled to the state. "This is the first place where they've had a law that's actually passed in the wake of the shooting in Newtown, and so what happens here is going to happen all over the country if we don't stop it," he said.
The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association is planning a rally in Albany on February 28. The protest may draw more than 35,000 people, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Our 4th of July Super Sale has been extended! Get double Patriot Points and free shipping on the hottest items!


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Parts are RoHS compliant
DC link, Switchig power supplies, induction heaters, Motor speed controls
Capacitance: 2 uF
Dissipation Factor: 0.0006 Max at 1000 Hz and 25°C
Temperature Coefficient: -200 PPM/°C: -100 PPM/°C, 100 PPM/°C
Ripple Current: 8 A at 10 kHz - 60 kHz and +95°C
ESR: 11.5 milliOhms (typical) at 100 kHz and 25°C
Self Inductance: 1
Nanohenries maximum per mm of pitch
dvdt: 61 V/µs
Tolerance: -10 % , +10 %
Temperature Range: -40°C to +100°C
Above 85°C the rated (DC/AC) voltage must be derated at per 1.5%°C
WVDC: 1275 Volts DC
SVDC: 1465 Volts DC
VAC: 440 Volts AC
Terminal to Terminal Dielectric strength: 1.6 times the rated DC voltage when applied between the terminals for 60 seconds
Terminal to case Dielectric strength: 3000 VAC when applied between the terminals and case for 60 seconds
Insulation Resistance (Terminal to Terminal): 3000 MINIMUM after 100 Volts DC is applied for 60 seconds at 20°C
300 failures/billion component hours
Load Life: 60000 hours at 70°C with 100% of rated voltage
Capacitance Change: 0 of initially measured value
D.F. Change: 0 of maximum specified value
I.R. Change: 0 of minimum specified value
Insulation resistance (Terminal to Case): N/A Megohms MINIMUM after 0 Volts DC is applied for 0 seconds at 0
Length (L): 32 mm, .6 mm
Height (H): 33 mm, +/-.8 mm
Thickness (T): 18 mm, +/-.45 mm
Lead Spacing (S): 27.5 mm, +/-0.5 mm


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This product has been deactivated
The water-resistant Endura Hummvee 3/4 Knicker II does everything right. A Teflon treatment readies these knickers for anything the trail or sky throws your way. Durable mini-ripstop nylon construction is rugged wearing, with stretch lower back panel, seamless stretch inner leg panel, gathered elastic waist and adjustable belt to refine the fit. The inseam is a perfect length, with little excess material to bunch up or snag on your saddle. Versatile Clickfast liner 'snaps in' or floats independently, and features a 3-D molded chamois with Coolmax surface for maximum comfort and moisture management. Other details include two rear pockets with tabs, two front zippered pockets, cargo pocket, zippered mobile phone pocket and complete side-zip venting. The same great features as the Hummvee short plus an articulated knee with ventilated mesh calf. Adjustable Velcro closure below the knee fine-tunes the fit.
Endura 200-series Chamois


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Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: NFL Draft expert and newly revealed sleaze Mel Kiper Jr.
Kiper Jr. joined The New School with Shan Shariff on 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City to talk all about the allegations that he shilled for the players represented by Gary Wichard, a very high profile NFL agent. Kiper, in his patented fashion, jumps all over the board while denying any sort of wrong-doing, so take a read and/or listen.
On the allegations levied against him:
So obviously you're going to be subject to this type of scrutiny. I say, and I've always said, bring it on. If you can find a pattern of me so called schilling for an agent, show me where it is. Show me the proof. What I had to do the last day or so Shan, is go back and see, because I don't even remember, I don't even remember it, I don't even know who these agents represent. By the time I'm grading these players I do, but when I'm evaluating them through the process, they don't have agents yet. That's the thing you've got to realize. They don't have agents when you're formulating your ideas and opinions. Once they do, if at that point you say Mel Kiper will take a player and move him significantly up because he's a Gary Wichard client, I say okay, if that's the case, let me answer these so called allegations. Well I did, and I went back. It's factual, it's on paper. And I'll give you some of this quickly. 1997: Jason Taylor, Gary Wichard client. I had him 48th, he went 73. That's evidence I was schilling for Gary. I say so be it. He's a great player. I should have had him higher than 48. In 2000, Keith Bullock went 30th. I had him 8th. That suggests I was shilling for Gary Wichard. Keith Bullock should have gone 8th, it was an accurate rating and he had a heck of a career. That same year, Jacoby Shepard and William Bartee – I had Shepard 146, he went 162; I had Bartee 117, he went 54. Both Gary Wichard clients. Where's the proof I'm schilling for them. I had them significantly lower than they went. 2001 – two players, two Wichard clients, both out of Arizona State – Todd Heap, I had him 14, he went 31, that suggests I'm schilling for Gary but he had a heck of a career though for the Ravens. That same year, Adam Archuleta, I had him 39, he went 20, so I didn't have him nearly as high as he was. Dwight Freeney, future Hall of Famer, Gary Wichard client – 2002, I had him 21, he went 11. I should have had him 5, he went 21, I underrated him – Gary Wichard client. The list goes on and on….
On what his relationship with Josh Luchs was:
Josh worked for Gary and was an employee of Gary. I guess 2000-2004 was the time period, and that's why I brought up the Bartee's and the Shepard's and the Archuleta's, and Freeney's….and J.P. Losman, another Gary Wichard client. I think Josh was still there in 2004. I had him 38, he went 22. In terms of Josh, I would talk to him, I would see him at say the Senior Bowl and postseason All Star games. And if I needed something on a player, Josh would be there and answer the phone. Beyond that, then obviously he wasn't with Gary after a certain point. Whatever he did after that on his own, I would still see him and talk to him. I had the same relationship with him that I do anybody. It was professional, it was fine, and it was cordial. I have no issues with Josh, and he said he has no issues with me. We had no reason to – I never did anything to him, he never did anything to me. And whatever he said today, I think he voiced the fact that at no point in time did I ever do anything to talk about Gary Wichard and promote him to a player; and at no point in time did I do anything unprofessional or unethical. He said I was being used by Gary, well I guess I'm being used by a lot of agents. I guess in life you're used by a lot of different people without your knowledge. If that's the case so be it. I'm also, not 'using' them, but I'm using them as a vehicle to get to a player and ask questions and get to know that player beyond the fact, because that player might not be represented forever by that agent. It so happened that some of these guys have not been represented by the same agents. So it helps me through their career get to know them. So all Josh suggested was I was being used in the recruitment of a player. I'm not going to cut off that avenue to get to know a kid because somebody says I'm being used. So be it. I'm not going to say I'm never talking to an agent again. I don't have an agent representing me, never have…If I did have an agent, I'd say the same thing I'm saying now….
On if agents have ever tried to compensate him in the past:
Never, ever, ever, ever! First of all if it was ever suggested, they would be persona non grata with me, it would be over. And I'll say this: it's never been suggested. In 32 years of doing this, it's never been suggested that anything like that could ever be done.
On if he's worried that his future credibility will be at all tarnished by this:
None, zero. I said that to anybody, I could care less, Shan, about what people perceive about me and what I do. I don't lose any sleep over it, I'm over 50 years of age, I've been in this business for a long time, 32 years. I don't care what people think. There's going to people…there's Kiper haters out there, go to the internet, read them, type in my name. You'll see a lot of Kiper haters, Mcshay haters, Mayock haters, Mayock lovers, Kiper lovers…That's just the way it is. You"re not going to please everybody, everybody's not going to like what you say and what you do. And the one's who hate you and don't like you, are going to pounce you and say 'this proves it..he this..he that..' And others will do what they do and not even worry about it. You can't fight this, there's too much out there. People have ways to look and everything you say and do and twist and turn it and make it look like a certain thing is happening when it's not….As far as my credibility, my credibility is 32 years of doing a job for ESPN and for myself at Mel Kiper Enterprises. Nobody bats 1.000. People want to say 'he was wrong….' Guess what? If you do this for 32 years and you think you haven't been wrong, you're the most arrogant person in the world…I always say if you're afraid to be wrong, you're never going to be right. So if you're too scared to make a call, you shouldn't be in this industry. All I'll say is no, I have no fear, no issue, no anything…I'm not going to lose any sleep over people making unfair, inaccurate allegations and accusations. All I can do is answer them…All I can do is continue to do my job, and if people find fault with anything I do, then so be it, they find fault with it.
This post, written by Bunk, appears courtesy of Sports Radio Interviews. For the complete highlights of the interview, as well as audio, click here.
More From Sports Radio Interviews
• Paul Pierce Settled Into A Deep Depression Following The NBA Finals
• Kyle Busch Is Car Racin', Mad Man
• Max Hall Thinks Short People Should Be Treated Better


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Being a new restaurant at Ara Damansara, Heaven Cafe has recently introduced set lunch in a bid to capture the afternoon crowd. The set lunch costs RM 6.90 which comes with a free drink. Not bad considering they are offering western food which can be quite expensive in some other restaurants.
Each day, they will pick one dish as their promotional set lunch. We went there on Tuesday and had the Chicken Sausage Pasta. The inclusion of fries was something I didn't expect but nevertheless helped fill the stomach.
The sliced chicken sausage tasted like how it should. No surprises here.
The spaghetti sauce is slightly sourish which wasn't a bad thing.
Overall for RM 6.90, I would say it is cheap.
If you happened to be around Ara Damansara, do give Heaven Cafe a try. At Rm 6.90 for set lunch, I doubt you can find a deal better than this.
Heaven Cafe
No. 137-G, Jalan PJU1/41B
NZX Commercial Centre
47301 Ara Damansara
Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel: 017-396 4896 / 019-321 3288
Location Map


text: Sijun Forums :: View topic - MOON PLEASER Log in to check your private messages Sijun Forums Forum Index >> Gallery/Finished Work View previous topic :: View next topic Author Topic : "MOON PLEASER" JIMmemberMember #Joined: 01 Nov 2000Posts: 107Location: MI, USA Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2001 12:16 am it started as a quickie...ended as a 2 hour allnighter. Go figure, for such a simple picture. TA-DA Back to top faustgfxmemberMember #Joined: 15 Mar 2000Posts: 4833Location: unfortunately, very near you. Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2001 12:49 am ...first Sin City album? ------------------ sky high with a heartache of stone you never see me 'cos i'm always alone/ministry the law of lead now reigns!@#!/earth crisis firstname.lastname@example.com icq#35983387 http://faustgfx.0wns.org Back to top Matt EldermemberMember #Joined: 15 Jan 2000Posts: 641Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2001 1:12 am Love the image and the simplenss of the style. Nothing I could really suggest apart from 'tightening' the image and possibly making the finger holding the smoke/light a little bit smaller (if it is a smoke, you might like to add some smoke to it). ------------------ See ya on da flip side Matt http://www.mattelder.com Back to top CuddlymemberMember #Joined: 02 Jan 2001Posts: 161Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2001 3:57 am I love it! The colors mesh well and it looks like a frame taken off an animated movie actually. Very nice! Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Sijun Forums Forum Index -> Gallery/Finished Work All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Digital Art----------------Digital Art DiscussionWork in ProgressGallery/Finished Work Miscellaneous----------------Random MusingsArchive : Sep99 - Dec00 You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2005 phpBB Group


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From $679.00 USD
At every turn you will live the authenticity of Italy's great Triad – Venice, Florence, and Rome on this independent by rail. On Central Holidays' Rail programs, we plan all of the main details of your trip, but you set the pace. Simply relax and enjoy it all, traveling between your selected cities and towns by deluxe rail. Make your way from destination to destination in comfort on board Italy's splendid trains as you gaze upon spectacular views and vistas that are sure to take your breath away. , famed island city of lively piazzas, elegant palaces, gondolas and gondoliers. Delve into the Renaissance city of Florence and discover such iconic sites as the Ponte Vecchio, Michelangelo's statue of the David in the Accademia, Brunelleschi's imposing Duomo, and Pitti Palace. and visit the Roman Forum, stop at the Colosseum, and enjoy Rome's "Dolce Vita" through its people, piazzas, historic sites, and tratorrias. Take some time while in the Eternal City to where you can visit the Vatican Museums, St. Peter's Basilica and Square and, at the Sistine Chapel, see Michelangelo's magnificent ceiling and wall frescoes painted by many celebrated artists. It's a superb by rail that takes you to experience Venice, Florence, and Rome at your own pace.
Terms, conditions and restrictions apply; pricing, availability, and other details subject to change and/ or apply to US or Canadian residents. Please confirm details and booking information with your travel advisor.


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3:30 PM bored at work and 3# of bees in my car waiting for me to take them home and install them. Longest day EVER.
2:30 pm and I'm at work, bored as hell. I'd rather be fishing **sigh**. :roll:
Did you just say hell? Man, that is kinda a swear word, think I'll use it too, hell!
My boat broke and I am sad.
HAB- hope dad is doing much better? After a day like that when do you work the bees?


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Relationships with
Photo Credit: Buckminster Fuller's picture is courtesy of NNDB. Photographic illustrations of Buckminster Fuller are copyright © by their respective holders. The images are published with permission or as allowed by the copyright law's fair use or quotation provisions. If any copyright holder objects to an image being included, please notify us and it will be removed immediately.
Disclaimer: This information about Buckminster Fuller is derived from astrological interpretation of Buckminster Fuller's date, time, and place of birth.


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Microsoft has signed a deal with Sky that'll see the broadcaster's programmes available on your Xbox 360.
Sky Player brings the broadcaster's TV shows, movies and sports coverage to your Xbox 360
Described as the world's first service enabling "premium live television to be watched through a games console", the deal will deliver a selection of Sky channels, individual programmes, films and sports events through Xbox Live.
Although specific details about which shows and channels you'll have access to haven't yet been announced, Register Hardware tried the service – called Sky Player – at a recent unveiling in central London.
Sky Player retains Xbox Live's familiar floating panel structure, as shown above, and is accessed through the Video Marketplace menu. From here you can choose from among a number of programme genres - including Sports, Movies, Entertainment and News – which are streamed to you live or on demand.
Stream live TV (shown above) or watch films on demand
Sky has used Xbox Live's avatars to bring interactivity to sporting events. Your avatar will be able to invite up to seven other Xbox chums to watch a football match together.
Avatars add interactivity to Sky's football coverage
You'll be able to don a headset and hold voice chats with friends, or vent your anger about Rooney's missed goal using a range of emoticons.
The avatar feature will initially be restricted to football games. But a Sky spokesperson told us that it'll be rolled out over time to other sports, including cricket.
All live content will be streamed in standard definition, while on-demand content will be sent over in "DVD quality", Sky said.
Sky's EPG has been replicated on Xbox Live
Existing Sky subscribers need a Multiroom package to simultaneously watch, say, Sky One on a bedroom telly and a film through their Xbox 360 in the lounge.
Sky Player will be launched in the UK this autumn. More concrete details about content availability and pricing will be available closer to the launch. ®


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|Green Chile Sauce (Salsa Verde)
The Recipe: A New Mexico-style salsa verde, green chile sauce. Tomatillos add a certain authentic sourness, poblano chiles a warm smokiness. This is definitely "not" a spicy-hot green chile sauce. In fact, it's almost smoky-sweet – and astoundingly good.
The Conversation: What's the first thing Minnesota snowbirds eat when returning to New Mexico for the winter? Green Chile Burgers!
When my snowbird aunt and uncle reach New Mexico in a few weeks, their first food stop will be for green chile burgers.
My aunt is adamant about the choice. With the winter's first green chile burger, she says, "I know that we are really back in New Mexico." Somehow, green chile burgers proclaim, "Hello, New Mexico! We're here! We're back!"
So on my own trek to Santa Fe in August, I knew to hunt up a green chile burger, just to clinch, for sure, my arrival. Ha! Never once did a green chile burger appear on a menu!
So ever since, I've wanted to experience one as authentically as possible, even if concocted back here in the Midwest.
First up, the green chile sauce, which, according to The Feast of Santa Fe: Cooking of the American Southwest is also called chili verde, salsa verde, chile verde con tomatillos and salsa de tomatillo.
And wow, this stuff is fresh and wonderful! It has that slight sour from the tomatillos, that smoky darkness from the roasted poblanos. This stuff is good, worth a trip to the Southwest and definitely worth the hour it takes to make at home.
Next up, green chile burgers! At first I fussed with recipes for gourmet burgers, y'know, where you grind this with that and add this and poke that. My butcher laughed at these notions and packed up a big hunk of good ground beef. "You won't be able to tell the difference," he promised.
So simple good is simple does. Good ground beef. Salt and pepper. A toasted bun.
It gets no better. We're back in Missouri. But for a few bites, I feel transported back to the arroyos and rainbows of New Mexico.
CRAZY FOR GREEN CHILE Ever since our trip to Santa Fe, I've put green chiles into one recipe after another. Here are just a few! For dinner, check out Supper Casserole with Pumpkin & Green Chile Cornbread Topping or Quick Green Chile Stew. For sides, try a Savory Sweet Potato Casserole and Microwave Green Chili Cheese Grits.
Time to table: about 2 hours
Makes 3 cups
- 1 pound tomatillos, husks removed
- 1 pound poblano peppers, stems, seeds and membrane removed, halved
- Olive oil
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 a large onion, chopped
- 1 large clove garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1-1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
TOMATILLOS Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the tomatillos, cover and return to a boil. Let boil for 5 minutes, drain. Transfer to a food processor, process until smooth.
POBLANOS Meanwhile, place a large sheet of foil on a baking sheet. Skin-side up, flatten the peppers onto the foil, rub a tiny bit of oil on the skins and put under the broiler until the skins bubble and blacken. Fold the foil over to form a packet, seal and let rest for 5 minutes. Peel off and discard the skins. Add the flesh to the tomatillos and process until smooth.
SALSA VERDE Meanwhile, in a large pot or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil on medium heat until shimmery. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and barely golden. Stir in the flour and stir well, let cook for a minute. (Cooking the flour in an almost-dry pot helps cook off some of the rawness. It takes just a minute but makes a big difference in the resulting flavor.) A tablespoon at a time at first, add the broth, fully blending in each tablespoon before adding another.
Stir in the tomatillo-poblano mixture, the spices and seasoning. Return pot to a boil, watching carefully so not to burn the bottom. Reduce heat to maintain a very slow simmer. Cover and let simmer for 30 minutes.
Can be eaten immediately or covered and refrigerated until ready to serve. Usually, you'll rewarm it for serving.
For Word Dancers: Chile vs Chili
Let's not put a chill in the room but can we talk chile vs chili? I've gone back and forth but at the moment in 2015, when I say"chile" it's to refer to hot and spicy capsicum peppers like jalapeños, poblanos, Hatch chiles, etc., also to the special dishes made from them. "Chili"? That's reserved for hot soupy-stews that we serve by the bowl during cold weather.
But if you say chili? No problem! Either way, could we please just chill out and eat?
More Recipes Starring Tomatillos & Poblano Peppers
Exploring Santa Fe
What an unforgettable afternoon! We stopped on the side of the road between Santa Fe and Taos, outside was pounding rain! But directly above were blue skies and sunshine. And then we looked toward the Rio Grande, an amazing rainbow!
"Aqua Santa" is unimpressive from the street but the open kitchen and warm service make for a place I'd love-love-love to have in my own neighborhood. Sorry, update, this restaurant has closed. The Compound's sunny outside patio made for a special lunch. Cafe Pasqual's is a touristy spot but the friendly between-table banter and the easy breakfast choices took us back twice.
But my favorite place of all is in a small casita north of Santa Fe that doesn't take reservations, a little spot called Karina's Kitchen. Oh wait – that's not a restaurant, it's the home of the Gluten-free Goddess herself, Karina Allrich. She and her husband Steve hosted a memorable birthday supper, where we feasted on simple pleasures like this gluten-free cucumber salad and formed friendships easy to imagine lasting a lifetime.
My aunt recommends two spots for green chile burgers in New Mexico, the Owl Bar and Manny's Buckthorn Bar & Grill, both in San Antonio, New Mexico. Note to Self: Never again leave New Mexico without sampling at least one green chile burger. Otherwise, obsessions with green chile sauce may ensue.
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Saturday, April 08, 2006
The Punitive Spinal Tap
So if you come in to my department and you simply want narcotics, do what any sensible person would do. Do a little research, make up a story that is believable, and stick to it. Try not to come up with a complaint that I can disprove with a simple test. Especially don't come in with some cockamamie story about how pain is shooting from your big toe to your ear and that you have a headache and your neck hurts. I will do the following... I will express concern about your headache and neck pain and then, after obtaining your consent of course, I will stick a large needle into your lower back and withdraw some spinal fluid to prove that you don't have meningitis. If you make it through this procedure (which really is more scary than painful) then I guess you win... you can have your eight Lortab.
Posted by 911DOC at Saturday, April 08, 2006
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Capitol dome renovation: Historic icon set for 2-year facelift
By DAVID LIGHTMAN | McClatchy Washington Bureau | Published: December 25, 2013
WASHINGTON — "To-night I have been wandering awhile in the Capitol, which is all lit up," wrote poet Walt Whitman in 1865.
"The illuminated rotunda looks fine. I like to stand aside and look a long, long while, up at the dome; it comforts me somehow."
It still comforts America.
But while you'd never know it to look at it, the Capitol dome is slowly, gently crumbling.
As a result, Washington's most iconic symbol is undergoing a 21st-century-style facelift. Soon, it'll look like a high-tech version of the planet Saturn, ringed by softly lighted scaffolding. Workers will be painstakingly patching hundreds of cracks, scraping off the rust and getting the lead out. The $59.5 million project aims to have the dome repaired and refreshed in time for the inauguration of the next president on Jan. 20, 2017.
In the meantime, no one is in danger of being struck by a falling ornamental iron flower from the dome. "The Capitol is in great structural condition," said Stephen Ayers, the architect of the Capitol.
This is strictly an inside, and outside, job. "We're not going to do anything that's too artistic," he said.
The cracks are a growing problem. From a few hundred a decade ago, there are now an estimated 1,300.
Other problems appear on a walk up the 349 steep, inside-the-structure steps nearly to the top. There are the painted-over initials of Montgomery C. Meigs, the 19th-century supervising engineer. Something newer also appears: random brown lines and blotches, signs of current-day trouble.
The Capitol has been battling seepage for decades. Sometimes it's become a deluge — 23 years ago, birds clogged gutters during a storm, sending water pouring into the Rotunda.
That storm exposed other potential difficulties. "It became clear there were serious problems with the iron work," said Kevin Hildebrand, head of the architect office's architecture branch.
A big restoration project was needed. This fall, workers started taking precise measurements and surveys inside and outside the dome.
Visitors soon will find themselves amid a peculiar combination of construction site covers and some of the nation's most famous artwork. The Rotunda's paintings and statues will be covered for a few weeks early next year. A covered walkway will be set up to take people through the Rotunda.
When people look at the top, they'll see the Frieze of American History, which rings the ceiling ringed by what looks like a huge white doughnut.
Outside, the scaffolding will go up piece by piece, starting in the spring, eventually creating a virtual piece of modern art when it gets the LED light treatment at night.
On the scaffolding will be workers getting the 150-year-old dome up to modern structural standards. They'll remove the old lead paint. Cast-iron surfaces will get new coatings. Seams will be sealed. Broken windows will be replaced or repaired.
Workers will repair cracks, some causing leaks, with unique pins stitched together — no welding, since the aged iron wouldn't tolerate traditional repair techniques.
This is the latest update for a dome whose roots stretch to 1792, when William Thornton designed the first one. He envisioned a neoclassical building with a domed center, based on the ancient Roman Pantheon. In 1824, the first dome, wood covered by copper, was completed.
Fires were a problem at the Capitol, and there were fears the wood dome could spark a catastrophe. So when the Capitol and the country were expanding in the mid-19th century, Congress agreed that a bigger, sturdier dome was needed. It had to be more majestic, more representative of a nation embracing its Manifest Destiny.
Architect Thomas Walter understood. In 1854, he proposed a new, fireproof, cast-iron dome that would stand majestically at the Capitol's center, bringing the Senate and the House of Representatives together in the shadow of great patriotic artwork. It would be topped with a dome far bigger than the last, with lots of windows and a statue at the top.
Lawmakers quickly embraced the idea, and within weeks, with little debate and no hearings, provided $100,000 for the project.
The old dome was removed in 1856. "Ironwork for the new dome was hoisted with a huge derrick," according to a congressional history. "Steam engines on the roof of the Capitol supplied power."
Even during the Civil War, work continued. President Abraham Lincoln saw the project as an important statement that the Union endured. "If people see the Capitol going on, it is a sign we intend the Union shall go on," he said.
Money grew tight, but 1.3 million pounds of cast iron were already waiting, so the contractor agreed to work without pay. The Statue of Freedom went atop the dome on Dec. 2, 1863. The interior was completed two years later, as Italian-American artist Constantino Brumidi's fresco, The Apotheosis of Washington, was unveiled 180 feet above the floor.
Brumidi spent 11 months completing the work, which shows Washington ascending to the heavens, surrounded by figures representing Liberty and Victory. Thirteen maidens, representing the original 13 states, surround them.
The dome's works were updated throughout the 20th century. The frieze, which depicts 19 historical scenes, was begun by Brumidi in 1878, and three scenes were added in the early 1950s.
Today's renovations face risks. The last major Capitol project, a visitors center that opened five years ago, wound up costing more than double the original $265 million projection. Ayers said he was unworried about overruns. "We have a really good plan in place," he said.
More problematic is the weather and the unknown. Getting the scaffolding in place and removed is a "massive logistical effort," said Ayers. "It's probably one of the biggest risks on the job."
So is speed. After the paint comes off the dome, the cast iron can rust in hours, meaning workers have to move fast. What if it rains?
Ayers is convinced the team is ready and not about to let small setbacks distract it.
After all, its mission is to be true to Whitman's observation as the dome was being finished 150 years ago.
"A vast eggshell, built of iron and glass, this dome — a beauteous bubble, caught and put in permanent form," the poet wrote. "I say a beauty and genuine success."


text: DISCLAIMER: Please note that some of the links in this article are affiliate links. In fact, just go ahead and assume that anywhere you see a link, that it's an affiliate link. There is NO additional cost to you if you decide to make a purchase, I will simply earn a small commission for referring you. For more information - please see my Affiliate Disclosure page.


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Kurt Nimmo
February 5, 2011
Earlier this week, Department of Homeland Security boss Janet Napolitano traveled to Arlington, Texas, where the Super Bowl will be held to shill the government's recently unveiled "If You See Something, Say Something" propaganda campaign.
"We are partnering this year with the NFL on our 'If You See Something, Say Something' campaign and launching that NFL partnership right here at the Super Bowl," Napolitano said during a press conference on Monday at Cowboy Stadium.
"The idea is simple," she continued. "We are simply asking the American people to be vigilant, recognizing that our security is a shared responsibility that all of us must participate in. If a fan at the Super Bowl or any other American at any other place sees something that is potentially dangerous, then say something about it to local law enforcement or someone in authority."
DHS is also working with federal, state, local and private sector partners to support security efforts at the Super Bowl through additional personnel, technology and resources, according to a DHS press release.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
- {openx:49}
Public-private partnerships are the very essence of what used to be called fascism.
The DHS trained around 1,200 stadium employees as "first observers" and the venue has become a high profile showcase for a concerted effort by the government to expand the Gestapo zone concept from airports to stadiums and eventually malls and other public buildings.
"In these current times you would be shortsighted, really, not to have gone to the nth degree to design security and security equipment and security areas … and this stadium represents that," Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, told CNN on Friday.
Fans attending the game this weekend can expect the same kind of intrusive procedures they might endure at an airport, including passing through magnetometers and TSA-like pat-downs.
Small bags will be searched and jackets will be X-rayed, reports the Kansas City Star. A large number of items will not be allowed in the stadium, including camcorders, tripods, camera cases, binocular cases, umbrellas, strollers, grills, tents, poles, sticks, banners, noisemakers, horns, beach balls, Frisbees, laser lights and pointers, containers of any type, coolers of any size, backpacks, bottles, cans, and hairspray.
Such in-your-face control is instrumental to the effort by the government to get us to accept ever increasing intrusive behavior by brutish police goons and other authorities. It is part of an ongoing effort to convince you that the dictates of the state and its phony war on manufactured terrorism negate your private space and personal liberty.
Team vehicles will have have RFID credentials and will be tracked in real-time. Frank Supovitz, NFL senior vice president, told reporters in Texas his organization will use GPS to track cars, limos, and buses that will be carrying teams, officials, and VIPs. Credentials will be checked against a database pre-loaded with names and photos.
Jones said the stadium has perches for snipers. Video cameras will record every inch of the stadium. During the game the airspace for a 30-mile radius over the stadium will be restricted and patrolled by NORAD fighter jets.
Private-public relationships. Mussolini defined such arrangements as fascism.
Bomb-sniffing dogs, gun-toting police and cops trained to detect suspicious behavior are part of the TSA teams already deployed on the region's DART transit system, according to CNN.
National Nuclear Security Administration teams will move through Arlington with equipment to detect radioactive isotopes of the sort emitted by a dirty bomb. Debbie Wilber of the NNSA said the administration's sensors picked up 10 hits at the 2010 Super Bowl. It turned out the hits had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or Muslims who hate us for our freedom to watch football – they were the result of nuclear medicine.
"We have 10 bomb squads and federal agencies involved in this endeavor," Stephen Lea, assistant fire marshal with the Arlington Fire Department, told Discovery News.
The government has gone over the top in its effort to exploit the Super Bowl and use it as a showcase for its emerging police state – additional resources that will be available include: chemical and biological detection devices, bomb-retrieving robots, high-tech weaponry, and even a small unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a camera capable of flying inside the stadium.
The bomb-retrieving robots are made by the Northrup Grumman robotics company Remotec. One of the robots, known as the Andros F5, is sturdy enough to pull a trailer hitch and is studded with with cameras, microphones and two-way communication.
There will be huge Big Brother telescreens at the game displaying DHS propaganda. Government PSAs are also now prominently displayed at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and on the local DART transit system.
In its story on Big Sis and the Super Bowl, CNN mentioned the Tucson shooting and a string of absurd homegrown terror incidents provocateured by the FBI. These sensationalistic events are crucial to the propaganda campaign designed to get us accustomed to ever increasing intrusions by the state and sell us on the ridiculous idea that al-Qaeda will strike at any moment.
The DHS "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign is the centerpiece of the latest push to turn America into a high-tech police and Stasi snoop state.
From the DHS press release cited above:
Over the past six months, DHS has worked with its federal, state, local and private sector partners, as well as the Department of Justice, to expand the "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign and the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative—an administration effort to train state and local law enforcement to recognize behaviors and indicators related to terrorism, crime and other threats; standardize how those observations are documented and analyzed; and expand and enhance the sharing of those reports with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and DHS—to communities throughout the country. The "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign has recently been launched in Minnesota and New Jersey, as well as to more than 9,000 federal buildings nationwide, Walmart, Mall of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Amtrak, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the sports and general aviation industries, and state and local fusion centers across the country.
Last month we reported on the DHS effort to convert Walt-marts around the country into Stasi snoop zones. As noted above, the DHS plans to expand this program to Mall of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the sports and general aviation industries.
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"We now know how that expansion will manifest itself – with Americans at every level of society being trained that activities such as using cash, not having a credit card, taking pictures or video footage, asking questions, and wearing certain items of clothing are all suspicious and should be reported, while being coerced into living in constant fear of terror, when in reality they are more likely to die from peanut allergies, lightning strikes, or accident-causing deer than terrorist attacks," Paul Joseph Watson noted on January 20.
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Latest News
Harris Primary Academy Merton Achieves Highest Ofsted Rating
Harris Primary Academy Merton has achieved an 'outstanding' rating in every category assessed in its first Ofsted report since opening in 2014.
The academy, based on Abbotts Road in Mitcham, is a two form entry school for children aged 3 to 11, with a nursery for 60 children. The academy also has an additional resource base for 20 children with autism.
Inspectors were impressed by the school's ethos and the high quality of teaching on offer.
Their report said:
- "The pursuit of excellence is at the heart of the work of leaders and staff. Morale is high. The staff team is fully behind the principal's vision and has helped develop a culture where high expectations of work and behaviour are the norm."
- "Pupils are highly motivated to learn. They are confident learners who persevere when faced with difficulties."
- "Teachers make learning exciting. They use imaginative methods for putting across new ideas and provide interesting activities for pupils to practise their new skills and deepen their understanding."
- "Parents very much support the work of the principal and her team. They greatly value the sense of unity by seeing teachers at the gate welcoming them and their children each day."
- "Pupils show that they fully understand and follow the school's golden rules of 'Show respect', 'Take responsibility' and 'Always make the right choice'. They are very caring and show great respect for adults and others around them."
Victoria Forbes, Principal of Harris Primary Academy Merton, said:
"I am very proud of all that our staff and pupils have achieved since the academy opened three years ago. I am particularly pleased that, alongside our high academic standards, the excellent behaviour of our pupils and high morale of our staff has been highlighted in this Ofsted report. Our school is happy, successful and well supported by our parents and governors.
"This is something for the whole school community to celebrate and a great start to the brand new school year."
Click here to read the full report.


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Resistance Burning Skies PS Vita (Pre-owned) Description
Developed by Nhilistic Software, Resistance: Burning Skies is the PlayStation®Vita debut of the popular PlayStation 3 (PS3) system first person shooter franchise, Resistance®. Resistance: Burning Skies features an all-new story in the Resistance storyline. Resistance: Burning Skies introduces fireman Tom Riley, an all-new hero who experiences first-hand the initial days of the assault by overwhelming Chimeran forces on the U.S. eastern seaboard. Set in an alternate universe, Resistance: Burning Skies stays true to the franchisewith unique 1950Âs Americana locations, hordes of returning and never-before-seen Chimera, the signature Weapon Wheel with fan-favorite weapons, and a robust multiplayer experience.
Nihilistic Software has taken advantage of the unique features of the PS Vita system to create the first true FPS experience on a portable console: dual analog sticks provide precision aiming and navigation, front touch screen functionality allows for easy to use primary and secondary weapon fire.
Story of the Resistance
Taking place in the Resistance storyline between Resistance 2 and Resistance 3, Resistance: Burning Skies follows New York City firefighter Tom Riley as he experiences first-hand the initial days of the Chimeran assault across the U.S. eastern seaboard. Riley travels from city to city, searching for his family but finds himself an integral part of the battle. Riley meets other bands of survivors throughout his journey and together they must fight to save themselves and humanity.
Resistance Burning Skies on PlayStation Vita Features:
- First fully portable, true FPS experience only available on the PS Vita system: dual analog sticks provide precision aiming and navigation, front touch screen functionality allows for easy to use primary and secondary weapon fire
- Hallmark Resistance experience that stays true to the franchise with classic Chimeran enemies, trademark weapon wheel, and a robust multiplayer experience
- Increased level of weapon customization, with returning favorites as well as all new weapons – all with a PS Vita system twist
- Engaging single-player campaign and fully competitive multiplayer experience
All our pre-owned games are quality tested & fully playable, but bonus content or codes for online play may have been redeemed. Game may not include original artwork and/or manual.
Pre-owned games may have minor scratches but are guaranteed to work.


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In a small, modest office overlooking the heart of Palo Alto, Mie-Na Srein, corporate outreach and programs coordinator for the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University, is persuading corporations in Silicon Valley to take action against hepatitis B.
"When you have the policy in place then all the small things can start falling into place and you have more support and funding to get those things done," Srein said.
Sixteen years after its establishment as a grass-roots campaign, the Asian Liver Center is thinking big. The nonprofit recently launched a corporate outreach program with a five-step employer tool kit that integrates hepatitis B wellness and education into existing corporate wellness programs. It is an easily implemented wellness program that employers can use to bring visibility to hepatitis B in the workplace for the benefit of their employees and the community's overall health, Srein said.
People who are foreign-born or have foreign-born parents are much more likely to be living with undiagnosed chronic hepatitis B because of mother-to-child transmission. According to the World Health Organization, one in 10 foreign-born Asian-Americans is chronically infected. The agency recommends all at-risk individuals be screened and vaccinated.
Despite the World Health Organization recommendation, many Asians and Pacific Islanders remain uninformed, untested, and unprotected. About 40 to 65 percent of Asian-Americans have never been screened, and nearly two-thirds of foreign-born, hepatitis B-infected Asian-Americans are unaware of their infection. When chronic hepatitis B is left undetected and untreated, it can cause premature death from liver failure or liver cancer, killing one in four of those infected.
The Asian Liver Center's five-step employer tool kit is designed to help solve the problem by connecting employees with the education and tools for preventing hepatitis B. Informational brochures educate workers about the benefits of testing and vaccination, while an online assessment identifies at-risk individuals based on the birthplace of the employee and his parents. The tool kit ensures company-sponsored health care includes prevention, treatment and long-term management for employees found to be chronically infected with hepatitis B, Srein said. It also assists in eliminating hepatitis B discrimination in company policies and practices, she said.
Santa Clara and San Francisco counties host the two largest Asian-American and Pacific Islander populations in the United States, at 33 percent and 34 percent, respectively, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Srein is reaching out to employers in Silicon Valley who have an Asian-American and Pacific Islander employee base of at least 20 percent. She asks employers to bring visibility to hepatitis B by expanding their company-sponsored health care to include a one-time blood test, hepatitis B vaccination for unprotected employees, and routine liver cancer screenings, blood tests and doctor checkups for chronically infected employees.
If an Asian-American or Pacific Islander mother is infected, the company agrees to provide the prenatal care for the mother and her baby, including the hepatitis B vaccine and the hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) shot.The Asian Liver Center also advises corporations to offer on-site screenings and hepatitis B vaccinations for employees. HepB Free Santa Clara and San Francisco Campaign, partners with the Asian Liver Center, provide the staffing and resources for screening and vaccinating employees.
Juniper Networks, a Silicon Valley communications company, was the first corporation to begin implementing the recommended Asian Liver Center steps into its corporate wellness program.
Srein presents the five-step tool kit as a way for employers to improve employee overall well-being.
"If (a corporation has) 2,000 employees who are all born in China, chances are a certain percentage will be chronically infected (with hepatitis B)," she said. For corporations with a large Asian-American and Pacific Islander employee base, Srein said she believes "hepatitis B needs to be made a fundamental part of wellness. Just like some groups get routine screenings for cholesterol and blood pressure, for (Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders), hepatitis B is also a vital sign for which screening is absolutely necessary."
Team HBV at Stanford University, an outreach arm of the Asian Liver Center, is joining Srein in the effort to promote early detection and accelerate the eradication of hepatitis B.
For Catherine Lu, president of Stanford's Team HBV, hepatitis B is an issue that hits close to home.
"A family member has hepatitis B but didn't realize until he was tested in college, so there was a pretty big gap between when he was infected at birth and when he found out in college," she said.
Team HBV, a student-run grass-roots campaign, addresses awareness, prevention and treatment for hepatitis B. The chapter works with Vaden Student Health Center at Stanford to offer free hepatitis B screenings for all students at-risk of chronic infection.
Like Srein, Lu advocates early detection. She helped to develop an incentive-based Screening Initiative Program with a variety of prizes to encourage students to take advantage of the free hepatitis B screenings at Vaden Health Center. During the monthlong initiative last February, 150 students were screened for chronic hepatitis B. Lu hoped to get even more students screened during the third annual Screening Initiative Program last month. "We have made some strides, even if it is just at Stanford, where people have found out they are at risk or need the vaccination."
Srein identifies Lu as a passionate leader who, like the Asian Liver Center, is confronting hepatitis B in Silicon Valley.
Though the Asian Liver Center's five-step tool kit has only been in place since mid-August, it has been successful in offering corporations a program that is tangible, concise and actionable.
"At the end of the day, we need something to hand to companies and be able to say: This is exactly what we want you to do," Srein said.
"We are really out there for the benefit of the people and for the benefit of employee health," Srein said. She then relaxed into her chair and turned to the final page of the five-step employer tool kit and stressed that through awareness, early detection and vaccination, Santa Clara County can become the first hepatitis-free county in the nation.
Emily Robinson is a junior at Santa Clara University. She is majoring in biochemistry with a minor in public health and is planning to attend medical school.
A portion of this story was corrected on March 8, 2013


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Composite plummer block housings
Composite plummer block housings are used in the ball bearing unit series listed in table 1.
Composite plummer block housings (fig. 1) are made of lightweight glass fibre reinforced PA6 and have no relubrication feature. For durability, mechanical strength and thermal stability they are reinforced with a "moulded in" steel coil and the two oblong attachment bolt holes are reinforced with chromium6+ free zinc-coated steel inserts.
Composite plummer block ball bearing units are particularly well-suited for applications with relatively high speeds, moderate loads and where reliability and minimal maintenance are key factors.
End covers
To protect the bearing arrangement at the end of a shaft, and to avoid the possibility of an accident caused by an exposed shaft end, composite plummer block housings are able to accommodate ECY series end covers (fig. 2). End covers are accessories and must be ordered separately. The designations together with the distance A5 that the end cover protrudes from the housing (fig. 3) are listed in the product tables (→ Plummer block housings for insert bearings, Ball bearing plummer block units).
The complete assortment of end covers for insert bearing housings and units is listed in the product table.
End covers are made of polypropylene (PP), have good resistance to most chemicals and can withstand operating temperatures up to 100 °C (210 °F). They are mounted by snapping them into the recess of the housing.


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Rugged laptop PC is built for military and police on tough assignments
Pros: Extremely tough, new sunlight readability and concealment mode, great battery lifeCons: Expensive even for a rugged computer, only military and police would probably use new features, tablet touch-screen comes without fold-down LCDPerformance: AEase of use: CFeatures: A-Value: B-Government price: $5,049 as tested
Panasonic's Toughbook line is among the best known in the rugged-computer field. Toughbooks almost always perform well in our lab tests, surviving heat, moisture and shocks that would kill less-fortified computers. And among Toughbooks, the Toughbook 30 is the fully rugged workhorse, a nearly indestructible block of metal-bound computing power that could probably survive many conditions that its user would not.
So when Panasonic representatives told me the company had recently upgraded the Toughbook 30 to make it even more attractive to government users who work in harsh conditions, my mind began to wander a bit. Short of having the unit come with its own armored column, what more could be done?
It turns out that the upgrades don't focus on ruggedness but address the concerns of police and warfighters who operate in shadowy areas of the world.
The first issue has to do with light. Though many have tried, computer companies have a difficult time making computers that work in bright sunlight. In places such as the desert of Iraq, bright sunlight will almost always be an issue for users during the day. A computer mounted inside a police car in the United States can be just as hard to use, with the sun coming in from almost every angle.
The upgraded Toughbook 30 uses four methods to reduce glare and comes closer than any system we have tested to being truly readable in sunlight. Three of the methods we have seen before, but never all together.
The first thing the Toughbook 30 does is increase its brightness to 1,000 nits, compared to about 250 on standard laptops. That raw light power is important because the screen has anti-glare and anti-reflective coatings. Normally those coatings reduce the brightness of a monitor, but the Toughbook 30's brightness compensates nicely.
Finally, Panasonic has figured out how to use circular polarization to increase the contrast on the screen, which helps it maintain the 5-to-1 contrast ratio — the difference between the brightest white and the darkest black — needed for sunlight readability. Automated teller machines often use the same technology.
Light originating inside the display is unpolarized and remains so after going through a wave plate. It then leaves the screen after traversing a vertical polarizer. Light coming from the outside moves through the same vertical polarizer and is converted to right-hand circular polarized light. After it's reflected from the screen, it becomes left-polarized because anything you see in a mirror will be backward. The same wave plate that lets the unpolarized light out will convert the reflection to horizontal so the filter can block it. The end result is that you can barely see your reflection on the screen, which is sort of like a magic trick. This is how a vampire must feel.
When you sit the upgraded Toughbook 30 beside a standard LCD display, you can see the difference right away. You can lose a lot of brightness when you add circular polarization technology to a screen, but, as we said, the raw light power of the Toughbook 30 monitor makes up for it.
Panasonic addressed another problem that can crop up in certain situations: Laptop PCs tend to give off light. For cops trying to remain undetected in unmarked cars on a dark city street or warfighters on reconnaissance missions, the last thing they want is a glowing computer calling attention to their presence. Even something as insignificant as an LED drive light could give them away in pitch darkness. So the upgraded Toughbook 30 has a function key that activates a concealment mode.
By default, the mode does nothing. You have to go into the BIOS and configure how you want it to operate. You can set each component to continue to operate and ignore concealment commands, operate at minimal levels, or shut off completely. You can also configure concealment mode to work with the monitor, keyboard backlight, speakers, wireless radios and LEDs on the computer, such as the hard-drive activity light.
We tested it by setting everything to OFF in the BIOS. Then we started watching a movie streaming wirelessly via the Internet. When we activated concealment mode by pressing the appropriate key combination, the computer instantly shut off — or so it seemed. If you looked closely at the screen, you could still see the cursor, though the movie stopped streaming because the wireless connection had been disabled. And all the external LED lights were dark.
After we pressed the same key combination, the system came back to life as if nothing had happened. It works much faster than standby mode because the system was still running and ready for action as soon as we were. Having the radios turn off is a neat option that could come in handy if, say, a bad guy was scanning for radio traffic, and you wanted to remain electronically hidden, which is probably more of a plus for military users than police.
Panasonic has also improved the battery life of the Toughbook 30. Our test unit had a standard battery that fit inside the laptop case. We disabled all battery-saving features and ran a movie set at 80 percent brightness and sound — a worst-case scenario for battery testing. We were expecting perhaps three hours of life, but the Toughbook 30 kept going, finally dying after 5 hours, 41 minutes. Using the unit properly in the field would probably warrant even longer life, though almost six hours for a worst-case test is pretty amazing.
Of course, the Toughbook 30 has to be rugged or it wouldn't be so attractive to feds. If the added modes decreased its ruggedness, they would be no good at all. But they didn't. We ran the Toughbook 30 through shock testing under the Mil-Std 810F specification. It survived drops of 36 inches on all sides. And it ran for three hours inside GCN's rain forest environment, where temperatures reach as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity is close to 100 percent. It emerged steamy but no worse for wear. In terms of ruggedness, the new model matched other Toughbooks we have tested, and it remained at the top of the pile in terms of survivability.
The unit we tested had a 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor SL9300 with a 6M L3 cache. The standard upgraded Toughbook 30 has 2G of memory and a list price of $3,649. However, ours had 3G of RAM and a price of $5,049. There is an option to add the 3G Global Mobile Internet to the standard 802.11 a/b/g/Draft-N setup we had, though that would increase the price.
The price is reasonable if you need the extra features because you won't be able to find them elsewhere, as far as we know. However, the Toughbook 30 is not designed for just anyone, and the price will keep it out of the hands of the casual rugged user.
There were a few negatives. Like most rugged computers, the Toughbook 30 is heavy. Our upgraded model tipped the scales at 8 pounds, 7 ounces, not including the power cord. You wouldn't want to carry it around unless you needed the extra protection.
Also, the Toughbook 30 has a touch screen, which is a nice addition. But the LCD screen is configured the same way as the older models. It flips up like a normal screen, but it doesn't flip back and fold down over the keyboard, which limits its functionality for tablet PC applications. If you are going to pay extra for a touch screen, you probably want the full functionally offered by a typical LCD tablet configuration.
Using mobile USB drives with the upgraded Toughbook 30 continues to be a problem, just as we have found with every other model. The USB port is recessed almost half an inch into the case, so only very skinny drives can be inserted to make the connection. A lot of high-security drives that are rugged or have extra features, such as fingerprint readers, are too thick to work with the Toughbook. We realize that ruggedness is an issue, but the USB port needs to be flush with the outside casing.
Finally, the upgraded Toughbook 30, like others in the line, has no optical drive. There is certainly enough room in the case to add the drive, and the unit already weighs more than 8 pounds, so what why not add a few more ounces for a needed feature? To compensate, users will be forced to carry an external drive, which probably won't be rugged. Given the problems using the USB port, the need for an internal optical drive is even more acute.
Problems with the USB, optical drive, touch screen and weight lowered the unit's ease-of-use grade, though its score on features remained high because of the new extras.
Like most rugged computers, the Toughbook 30 will only appeal to certain people. The new concealment mode and sunlight readability expand that list slightly. If your job requires a stealthy touch or a lot of time in the sun, the upgraded Toughbook 30 won't let you down even in the most adverse conditions.
Panasonic, 888-223-1012, www.panasonic.com/toughbook
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When Gordon Fitzpatrick's father Ross bought a winery in Kelowna in 1986, it was a small farmgate operation, one of a handful in B.C.
Ross planted several hundred acres of grape vines and produced about 2,000 cases a year of what Fitzpatrick calls "suspect wine."
A quarter-century later, Cedar Creek Estate Winery has 10,000 acres of grapes and produces 45,000 cases of wine each year. Its vintages are in restaurants and storefronts in B.C. and Alberta and the winery wins several Canadian wine awards every year.
Fitzpatrick, who now runs Cedar Creek, says Cedar Creek's success story has resonated across B.C.'s wine industry over the past 20 years. There are now 215 wineries in the province growing more than 60 grape varietals.
Success didn't come without challenges. Harsh winters and forest fires have wiped out vines before, and Mother Nature's wrath is always lurking.
While his winery remains profitable, Fitzpatrick says the days of exponential growth at Cedar Creek are now long gone. That's partly because the double-digit growth occurred mostly during the first few years of business, but also because competition — not just from within B.C., but from around the world — is fierce.
"Some of these other wine-producing regions, they're planting vineyards by price points, so they've got big tracts of land, everything is mechanized," says Fitzpatrick. "They also have a climate where they can crop at higher yields than we can, or they have inexpensive labour costs. So that's just something very difficult for us to compete with."
On average, Cedar Creek can produce four to five tonnes of wine per acre in the Okanagan; vineyards in central California or Australia can yield two to three times as much.
Vineyards in countries like Chile and Argentina can pay workers for a full day's work with what B.C. workers get paid for an hour, says Fitzpatrick.
It's that sort of international competition, plus a strong Canadian dollar, that's led the industry's growth to level off in B.C. over the past few years, according to the B.C. Wine Institute.
Executive director Miles Prodan says the volume of B.C. Vintners Quality Alliance (BC VQA) wine sold — wine that is 100-per-cent made-in-B.C. and generally costs between $12 and $25 a bottle — is steadily declining. Last year, B.C. sold 8.2 million litres of BC VQA, a one-per-cent dip from the year before. While sales revenue continue to grow, they are not growing nearly as much as in the past.
However, Prodan says the industry is getting more money for what it sells.
"You go into the liquor store and you'll see there are quite a few wines that are under $12. That's where the pressure comes in for us," he says.
"When I see volumes flattening a bit, but overall sales are increasing, that's a good sign because consumers are still willing to pay for BC VQA wine, even though there will be less-expensive import wines available."
A recent study on the Canadian wine industry conducted by the Bank of Montreal appears to confirm Prodan's observations.
According to the study, wine is overtaking beer as the beverage of choice for Canadians. Between 1995 to 2011, wine rose from 18 per cent to 30 per cent of Canadians' total alcohol consumption, while beer fell from 53 per cent to 45 per cent. Spirit consumption fell from 29 per cent to 25 per cent.
The study says the wine industry overall is poised for solid growth over the next five years. As demand grows and consumers become more sophisticated drinkers, they seem to be willing to buy more premium wines.
"The good news is that people are discovering wines more and more, especially at a younger age, and so the rise of the consumption of wine continues," says Fitzpatrick. "But the industry (in B.C.) does need to start to look to develop new markets if we want to continue to grow like we have."
For Fitzpatrick, that means targeting markets beyond Canada, such as China. For others, it means producing wine from non-traditional areas of B.C., such as Lillooet and Creston, where land prices are much lower than in the Okanagan.
Bob Johnson, of Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery, planted a 6.5-hectare vineyard in what was formerly an apple orchard in Creston five years ago. While he and his wife chose that location primarily to be closer to family, he said the property also made sense because there was only one other small-scale winery around.
"The initial land cost is better (in Creston). We're competing against the cherry business really for land, as opposed to other vineyards," he says.
Johnson estimates a hectare of vineyard land in Creston these days would probably cost $100,000, while the same prime land would cost anywhere from $200,000 to $250,000 in the Okanagan.
Nonetheless, setting up shop in Creston is not without its obstacles. Rates of return on wineries are poor anywhere, but since wine producing in Creston is relatively new, Johnson says some capital costs are very high.
"If we were in the Okanagan, most wineries of our size would be using a mobile bottling line that comes in and does their bottling," he says. "We had to actually buy the equipment ourselves and do our own bottling because there's just no economics in bringing that mobile bottling line over."
Creston's cooler climate also means Johnson can only grow a few varietals, such as Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay. Marketing Creston-made wine is also challenging.
"That's been a little bit of an uphill battle, but we knew that would be there, coming from a new area," he says.
"Most of (the customers) just go, 'What? You're kidding me,' and they don't realize the history of fruit growing in the Creston area because it's not followed like the Okanagan area is."
Johnson, having won several B.C. and Canadian wine awards already, remains optimistic about the industry's future. So does Fitzpatrick. Both maintain the industry is young and there are opportunities for the province's wineries to continue to hone their craft.
"Our business is measured in decades, not in quarters, so it does require patience," says Fitzpatrick.
For him, the focus over the next few years at Cedar Creek will be on improving the quality of its wines.
"We have to take a page out of the Burgundy and Bordeaux book," he says. "What we can do extremely well is make these small, crafted wines that are very, very unique. You may have to spend a few dollars more for it, but it's worth it."


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shmenguin wrote:sniper wrote:AlexPKeaton wrote:I'm missing Jordan Staal quite a bit. I know we couldn't afford to keep him, but at least he brought some offense to that third line. Has anyone other than Neal, Malkin, and Crosby scored this season? I can't even remember.
Martin, Letang, and Kennedy.
We could afford to keep Staal. He didn't want to stay.
Could have had him this year. Make a run with the best team possible. I would have rather played this year out, knowing he was going to leave rather than trade him for a 3rd liner and a couple guys that are years away from contributing
Years not over. They could trade those guys they got who are 3rd liners and years away from contributing for guys who can help now, right?


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It's not the typical musical instrument for a kid to choose. Cindy Wyatt says the appeal for her was immediate. She knew that she wanted to play the harp. "I started when I was 11," she said. "It was very glamorous. A harp is a beautiful thing for a kid."
That harp has taken the Vol State Associate Professor of English many interesting places. When she is not teaching literature or composition, she can often be found in a Nashville recording studio. You may have heard a few of the artists that she has recorded for: "Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, Barbara Mandrell, Ronnie Milsap and Glenn Campbell," she said, with just a partial list. "Johnny Cash did a Christmas TV special and I was on camera with him. They put makeup on me and it gave me a rash for two weeks. I looked like a pumpkin."
Like many Nashville session musicians, she usually does her tracks by herself and long after the artist has finished. She remembers one recording moment in particular. "Usually I'm overdubbing and so it was eerie to me that this was Elvis singing in my head. It was just amazing." It was harp work for Elvis's last album, before he died.
Wyatt has plenty of memories and even played on a big hit, "When I Dream" by Crystal Gayle. But it may be a rather odd piece of recent Christmas music that brings her artistry to the widest audience.
"I got the call in early October. It was for the Duck Dynasty Christmas CD. I was called in to do a harp overdub for "Duck the Halls."
"Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas" debuted in the Billboard top ten in November and is being called one of the hottest selling CDs of the Christmas season. The CD features the cast of the mega-popular reality TV show "Duck Dynasty."
"I thought the music was kind of hokey, actually," said Wyatt. "But they are so popular, everyone is getting it."
Wyatt plays everything from jazz and classical to Celtic music on the harp. She is also a writer and that ties in with a life-long dream. "I had a fantasy that I would write a novel that would be published and Johnny Carson would have me on and I would play my harp," she said with a laugh.
The Carson dream may now be unobtainable, but the harp session work will most likely continue. "My mother realized early on that harpists are pretty rare in the music world. So, there are more jobs available to harpists; which is still true."
There is still one more dream and, perhaps, a more achievable one. "I never have had a gold record," she said.
If the Duck Dynasty CD continues to sell, the television stars may help her reach a milestone that Elvis Presley, Garth Brooks and Faith Hill could not.


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Major Sioux Falls Snow Removal [AUDIO]
In light of the five to six inches of snow received overnight in Sioux Falls, Gaylynn Huber of Sioux Falls Streets says his crews have been on the job since midnight.
Huber tells KSOO Radio: "right now, we have all our motor graders and all of our contract motor graders working. I have a support sander running behind each one of them. We have kept the emergency routes driveable. We are also working the secondaries so we can get people to work this morning. There is a considerable amount of snow. That's what we are currently doing right now. Emergency routes are looking pretty decent. We started getting into the secondary roads as best we can."
If you plan to drive this morning, Huber urges you to use caution. "Use common sense. If you get to an emergency snow route, it's very driveable. There are still branches and power lines laying around. If you are driving, there are lots of obstacles out there. Take your time and be prepared. Carry warm clothing in your car just in case you get stalled."


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Message Board
Donald Hamilton Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Hamilton has written!
Author Hamilton's Book Reviews
Death of a Citizen
Matt Helm is a counter-assassin, honed to a razor's edge by his experiences in the Second World War. Those were experiences he had left behind some 15 years before - experiences that his wife and children are better off not knowing about in the first place. All that changes, though, when an old flame of Matt's shows up at a party. She's an another wartime killer - except this girl is still on the job. And there's more. She wants Matt to help her o...