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African Natural History
On-line version ISSN 2305-7963
Print version ISSN 1816-8396
Afr. nat. history (Online) vol.7 Cape Town Jan. 2011
Cretaceous faunas from Zululand and Natal, South Africa. The ammonite genus Oxytropidoceras Stieler, 1920
William James KennedyI; Herbert Christian KlingerII
IDepartment of Earth Sciences, Oxford University, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, U.K. E-mail: email@example.com
IINatural History Collections Department, Iziko South African Museum, P.O. Box 61, Cape Town, 8000 South Africa E-mail: email@example.com
Ten species of the distinctive oxycone ammonite Oxytropidoceras are described from the Middle and lower Upper Albian Mzinene Formation of northern KwaZulu-Natal. Oxytropidoceras (O.) alticarinatum (Spath, 1922) was originally described from western Europe. O. (Manuaniceras) manuanense (Spath, 1921), O. (M.) falcatum sp. nov. and O. (Venezoliceras) umsinenense (Van Hoepen, 1931) are only known from northern KwaZulu-Natal. The following species were previously recorded from Madagascar: O. (O.) basseae (Besairie, 1936), O. (O.) hoepeni Collignon, 1936, O. (Adkinsites) multituberculatus Collignon, 1936, O. (Mirapelia) hourcqi Collignon, 1936, and O. (M.) colcanapi Collignon, 1936. O. (Venezoliceras) madagascariense Collignon, 1949, was recorded from Madagascar, southern Mozambique and Venezuela.
Keywords: ammonites, Oxytropidoceras, Albian, Cretaceous, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
The genus Oxytropidoceras Stieler, 1920, comprises oxycones that are up to 270 mm in diameter. A series of subgenera are recognized on the basis of ribbing style and/or the presence of one to four rows of tubercles. Extensive reviews of the genus are given by Young (1966) and Cooper (1982), but the majority of the numerous species recognized are based on few specimens, and ranges of intraspecific variation have not been documented for the majority. The analysis of Oxytropidoceras (Mirapelia) buarquianum (White, 1887) by Cooper (1982) is a notable exception. In the case of the 10 species described below from northern KwaZulu-Natal, four are known from single specimens, and the remainder from only a few individuals. As a result, we have adopted a conservative approach, recognising the following:
Oxytropidoceras (Oxytropidoceras) alticarinatum (Spath, 1922).
Oxytropidoceras (Oxytropidoceras) basseae (Besairie, 1936).
Oxytropidoceras (Oxytropidoceras) hoepeni Collignon, 1936. Oxytropidoceras (Manuaniceras) manuanense (Spath, 1921).
Oxytropidoceras (Manuaniceras) falcatum sp. nov. Oxytropidoceras (Adkinsites) multituberculatus Collignon, 1936.
Oxytropidoceras (Venezoliceras) umsinenense (Van Hoepen, 1931).
Oxytropidoceras (Venezoliceras) madagascariense Collignon, 1949.
Oxytropidoceras (Mirapelia) hourcqi Collignon, 1936. Oxytropidoceras (Mirapelia) colcanapi Collignon, 1936.
Oxytropidoceras first appears in the lower Lower Albian Leymeriella tardefurcata Zone of France and Austria (Kennedy et al. 2000), and ranges into the lower Upper Albian in KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Texas and elsewhere. The geographic distribution extends from Western
Europe (where it is very rare outside of southeastern France) to Morocco, Tunisia, Angola, southern Mozambique, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, Madagascar, Pakistan, China (Tibet), Georgia, California, Texas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Brazil.
In KwaZulu-Natal, O. (O.) alticarinatum occurs in Albian III of Kennedy & Klinger (1975), in association with Lyelliceras lyelli (d'Orbigny, 1841), which dates it as basal Middle Albian in terms of the international standard (Hart et al. 1996).
Oxytropidoceras (O.) hoepeni , O. (A.) multituberculatus O. (M.) hourcqi and O. (M.) colcanapi are assigned to the Middle Albian, Albian IV ofKennedy & Klinger (1975) on the basis of their geographic location in relation to well-dated faunas in northern KwaZulu-Natal. This dating is in agreement with their co-occurrence in a one to two metre-thick glauconitic sandstone at Androiavy, Madagascar (Besairie 1936, p. 78), and the correlative unit at Berambo (Besairie 1936, p. 76).
Oxytropidoceras (M.) falcatum was collected in the environs of locality 144 of Kennedy & Klinger (1975), and may be uppermost Middle or lower Upper Albian.
Oxytropidoceras (Manuaniceras) manuanense (Spath, 1921) has been collected in situ in bed 1 of the section at locality 51 ofKennedy & Klinger (1975), and dated as uppermost Middle Albian, as it occurs immediately below the first occurrence of Dipoloceras cristatum (d'Orbigny, 1841), the international marker for the base of the Upper Albian (Hart et al. 1996).
Oxytropidoceras (Oxytropidoceras) basseae (Besairie, 1936) and Oxytropidoceras (Venezoliceras) umsinenense (Van Hoepen, 1931) have been collected in situ at locality 51 of Kennedy & Klinger (1975), and are firmly dated as lower Upper Albian. O. (V.) madagascariense is similarly dated on the basis of the type occurrence in Madagascar (Collignon 1949, p. 37).
The following abbreviations are used to indicate the repositories of specimens cited in the text: BMNH: The Natural History Museum, London. OUM: Oxford University Museum of Natural History. SAM: Natural History Collections Department, Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town.
Details of most field localities are given by Kennedy & Klinger (1975); further descriptions of these localities are deposited in the Geological Collections, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, The Natural History Museum, London, and the Natural History Collections Department, Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town. Specimens with catalogue number prefixes Z16-Z20 in brackets are from localities on the western side of the Pongola River, north of the Mfongozi Spruit, described by Haughton (1936, pp. 290-292, fig. 3), reproduced here as Fig. 24. We have not been able to collect from these localities, and we provisionally retain Haughton's annotations for these.
Dimensions are given in millimetres: D= diameter; Wb = whorl breadth; Wh = whorl height; U = umbilicus; c = costal dimension; ic = intercostals dimension; R = number ofribs per whorl. Figures in brackets are dimensions as a percentage of the diameter.
Suborder AMMONITINA Hyatt, 1889
Superfamily ACANTHOCERATOIDEA deGrossouvre, 1894
Family BRANCOCERATIDAE Spath, 1934
Subfamily MOJSISOVICZIINAE Hyatt, 1903
Genus Oxytropidoceras Stieler, 1920
(= Pseudophacoceras Spath, 1921, p. 218)
Subgenus Oxytrop doceras (Oxytrop doceras) Stieler, 1920
Type species
Ammonites roissyanus d'Orbigny, 1841, p. 302, pl. 89, by the original designation of Stieler, 1920, p. 346.
Oxytrop doceras(Oxytrop doceras) alt car natum
(Spath, 1922)
1858 Ammonites roissyanus d'Orb; Pictet & Campiche, pp. 173-176 (pars), pl. 21, figs 3a, 3b, 4.
1922 Pseudophacoceras alticarinatum Spath, p. 98.
1978 Oxytropidoceras alticarinatum (Spath); Casey, p. 630, pl. 99, figs 13, 14, text-fig. 240 (with additional synonymy).
The lectotype, by the subsequent designation of Casey, 1978, p. 631, is the original of Pictet & Campiche, 1858, p. 173, pl. 21, fig. 3a, 3b, from the 'Gault Moyen' of Sainte-Croix, Vaud, Switzerland. One of the original figures of the lectotype is reproduced by Casey (1978, fig. 240a). The original syntypes of Pictet & Campiche have not been traced, and they may have decomposed, for as the authors stated they were 'á l'état de moules pyriteuse.' The occurrence of 'Ammonites mammillatus' (Pictet & Campiche, 1858, p. 208) in pyritic preservation in the 'Gault Moyen' dates the material no more precisely than upper Lower to basal Middle Albian.
SAM-PCZ022403 (H76/14), 022423 (H76/15), 022404 (H76/16), 022405 (H76/26), from the lowest Middle Albian, Albian III, Mzinene Formation at locality 154 of Kennedy & Klinger (1975). PCZ022406 (Z17) from locality Z17.
Coiling is moderately involute, with a small, shallow umbilicus that comprises around 19% of the diameter. The umbilical wall is low, sloping outwards, with a broadly rounded shoulder. The whorl section is lanceolate, with the greatest breadth below mid-flank. The inner flanks are swollen, the outer flanks convergent. There is a high, sharp, entire keel. There are 24 primary ribs per whorl. They arise at the umbilical seam, and are strong, narrow, and prorsiradiate, straight to feebly flexuous on the flanks, across which they strengthen progressively. They reach their maximum strength at the umbilical shoulder, where they develop into a narrow, pinched elevation. From this point the ribs sweep forwards, and are markedly concave. They are strongly projected forwards on the venter, narrow, and decline rapidly. The keel is ornamented by growth lines and striae only.
These small specimens have a comparable ribbing style and density as in the no-doubt idealized figures of the type material. Similarly small individuals from southern England (Casey, 1978, pl. 99, figs 13, 14) are the only other figured examples of this species.
The KwaZulu-Natal material is associated with Lyelliceras lyelli (d'Orbigny, 1841), and are thus dated as basal Middle Albian. The English records are from the condensed Cleoniceras floridum-Protohoplites puzosianus Zone fauna of the main mammillatum bed at Folkestone, Kent. Records from Isère in France are from a condensed Lower and lower Middle Albian unit at la Balme de Rencurel (Breistroffer 1947).
Oxytropidoceras (Oxytropidoceras) basseae (Besairie, 1936) Figs 1H-J, 2, 10C-E
1936 Manuaniceras basseae Besairie, p. 190, pl. 17, fig. 5, text-fig. 12e.
1963 Manuaniceras bassae [sic] Besr.; Collignon, p. 134, pl. 293, fig. 1278.
The holotype, by monotypy, is the original of Besairie 1936, p. 190, pl. 17, fig. 5, text-fig. 12e, refigured by Collignon, 1963, p. 134, pl. 293, fig. 1278, in the collections of the Sorbonne, now housed in the Laboratoire de Paléontologie of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. It is from the Middle Albianof Androiavy, Madagascar.
SAM-PCZ022407 (D835/7-1), SAM-PCZ022408 (D835/7), OUM KY11834, from the lower Upper Albian of bed 6 at locality 51 ofKennedy & Klinger (1975) and SAM-PCZ022409 (EM215) from the lower Upper Albian at locality Z17 orZ19.
All specimens are juveniles. SAM-PCZ022408 (D835/7) (Fig. 1J) is 51 mm in diameter. Five umbilical bullae per half whorl perch on the umbilical shoulder. They give rise to primary ribs that extend to the inner flank, where they flex back and split into two or three concave secondaryribs, as do occasional non-bullate primaries. There are 20-22 ribs per half whorl at the ventrolateral shoulder. The ribs flex forwards over the ventrolateral shoulders, where they strengthen and broaden before progressively weakening, project strongly forwards across the venter, and disappear before reaching the shallow grooves that flank the prominent ventral keel. SAM-PCZ022407 (D835/7-1) (Fig. 1H,I) is a fragment of an individual of comparable size and style of ornament, with stronger flank ribs. OUM KX11834 (Fig. 2) is a well-preserved phragmocone 43.7 mm in diameter with a whorl breadth to height ratio of 0.49. The inner flanks are smooth on the adapical half of the outer whorl; six feeble, progressively strengthening bullae are present on the adapertural half whorl. They give rise to pairs of ribs, which may bifurcate, while additional ribs intercalate to give a total of 28 per whorl. The ribs broaden and strengthen on the outermost flank and ventrolateral shoulder, where they are markedly concave. As in the previous specimens they then decline markedly on the remaining section of the venter. SAM-PCZ022409 (EM215) (Fig. 10C-E) is 56.8 mm in diameter, and is interpreted as a densicostate variant, with twelve feeble to obsolete bullae on the umbilical shoulder, the ribs increasing by bifurcating at various points on the flanks to give a total of 40-41 ribs at the ventrolateral shoulder.
Upper Middle Albian, Zone á Oxytropidoceras alticarinatum et Manuaniceras jacobi in Madagascar, and lower Upper Albian (lower part of Albian V), in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Oxytropidoceras (Oxytropidoceras) hoepeni Collignon, 1936
1936 Oxytropidoceras hoepeni Collignon, p. 184, pl.19, fig. 2, text-fig. 12o.
The holotype is the original of Collignon, 1936, p. 184, pl. 19, fig. 2, text-fig. 12o, in the collections of the Sorbonne, now housed in the Laboratoire de Paléontologie of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. It is from the upper Middle Albian of Androiavy, Madagascar.
SAM-PCZ022410 (Z19 (4)), from the upper Middle Albian of locality Z19.
The specimen is an adult approximately 250 mm in diameter, and shows eccentric coiling to the body chamber. The umbilicus comprises approximately 16.7% at a diameter of 180 mm, and 42% at the end of the body chamber. On the phragmocone, coiling is very involute, the conical umbilicus small and shallow. The whorl section is lanceolate, with the greatest breadth below mid flank. The inner flanks are broadly rounded, the outer flanks converging to a sharp venter with a high keel. At the smallest diameter visible within the umbilicus, the inner flank ornament is highlydis-tinctive, with ribs arising in groups ofthree at the umbilical shoulder. They are narrow, rounded, radial, and borne on broad folds, separated by depressions in which the beginnings ofshorter intercalated ribs are just preserved. On the outer whorl, the phragmocone bears approximately 30 fine, delicate, low, rounded ribs per halfwhorl. Most ofthese arise at the umbilical shoulder, either singly, or in groups oftwo or three, some connected by mere striae. A few ribs branch on the flank, and there are occasional intercalatories. The ribs are prorsiradiate, narrow and straight to mid flank, where they flex slightly, and broaden. They reach their maximum breadth on the outer flank, where they are feebly concave. The ribs project strongly forwards on the ventrolateral shoulder, taper, and decline into mere lirae and striae, disappearing before they reach the keel. This type of ornament persists onto the adapical part of the body chamber, but thereafter declines, to be replaced by crowded flexuous riblets, lirae and striae, which efface on the outer flank, where the ornament is markedly concave, projecting strongly forwards on the mould, and indicating the presence of a long apertural rostrum.
SAM-PCZ022411 (Z19(8)), a juvenile fragment, probably belongs to this species. It shows feeble irregular ribbing at a whorl height of 48 mm.
The outer whorl of the present specimen differs in no significant respects from the holotype, with a whorl breadth to height ratio of 0.42, vs 0.44 in the holotype. The inner whorls are very distinctive in our specimen, the branching of ribs at the umbilical shoulder being more marked than in the holotype, where they arise either singly or in pairs, with intercalated ribs present in both specimens.
Upper Middle Albian of Madagascar and northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Subgenus Manuaniceras Spath, 1925
Type species
Pseudophacoceras manuanense Spath, 1921, p. 281, pl. 25, fig. 1a-d,bythe original designation of Spath, 1925, p. 182.
Manuaniceras are Oxytropidoceras that lack tubercles and have bifurcating low, flat, ribbon-like ribs separated by narrow interspaces. Cooper (1982) and Wright (1996) regarded Manuaniceras as a synonym of Oxytropidoceras (Oxytropidoceras). Cooper (1982, p. 290) stated that "Collignon (1936) provided the following emended diagnosis of Manuaniceras: 'Ammonites with few whorls, which are much higher than wide; there are many flat ribs at some stage in the ontogeny, and the ribs may be single or bifurcating at one or more positions at the umbilicus or on the flank.' Unfortunately, however, flat topped ribs are not a feature of manuanense (Spath) ... and cannot be used in the formulation of the diagnosis of this taxon." In support of this, Cooper illustrated as his text-fig. 31B the original of Spath, 1921, pl. 25, fig. 1c refigured here as Fig. 4E, where it is reunited with the outer whorl fragment not illustrated by Cooper (or Spath), which indeed bears flat ribs. The large macroconch phragmocone fragment illustrated here as Fig. 11 shows the same style of ribbing on the penultimate whorl as on the inner whorls of this specimen, and an outer, but still septate whorl with the diagnostic flat ribbing. It is our view that this distinctive ornament defines a natural group that merits subgeneric status by comparison with the other subgenera recognized within Oxytropidoceras. Pseudophacoceras Spath, 1921, with Ammonites roissyanus d'Orbigny, 1841, p. 302, pl. 89, is an objective synonym of Oxytropidoceras Stieler, 1920, p. 346, having the same type species, as noted by Spath, 1925, p. 182.
Oxytropidoceras(Manuaniceras) manuanense (Spath, 1921)
Figs 1M,N, 4A-E, 5A, C-E, 6-9, 10A,B, 11
1921 Pseudophacoceras manuanense Spath, p. 281, pl. 25, fig. 1.
1982 Oxytropidoceras (Oxytropidoceras) manuanense (Spath); Cooper, p. 309, text-fig. 31B.
1996 Oxytropidoceras (Oxytropidoceras) manuanense (Spath); Wright, p. 138, fig. 106d,e.
The holotype is SAM-PCZ19474 (formerly 2725), the original of Spath, 1921, p. 281, pl. 25, fig. 1a,b, re-illustrated here as Fig. 7, and said to be from the Munywana (Manuan) Creek, and collected by the resident magistrate at Ubombo (Spath, 1921, p. 284).
SAM-PCZ19476 (formerly 2726), the original of Spath, 1921, pl. 5, figs 1c, 1d, from the same locality as the holotype.
BMNH C78875, C78877-8, C78889 and SAM-PCZ19802, 19803 (H207/7), SAM-PCZ17090-92 (H 207/1/5, H207/1/8, H207/1/6) are from the uppermost Middle Albian (top of Albian IV) ofbed 1 at locality51of Kennedy & Klinger (1975, fig. 4).
SAM-PCZ19828 (D835/4), 022412 (D835/1), PCZ19829 (D835/2), PCZ19830 (D835/3), PCZ022413 (D835/5), PCZ022414 (D835/6), PCZ022415 (D835/8), from the environs of locality 66 of Kennedy & Klinger (1975).
SAM-PCZ022416 (Z19), and SAM-PCZ022417 (Z19/6) from the uppermost Middle Albian of locality Z19; OUM K10031, from the Mzinene Formation, Albian IV, between locality 176 and the western end of locality 177 of Kennedy & Klinger (1975) in the Ndumu area ofnorthern KwaZulu.
Coiling is evolute, with a small, shallow, crater-like umbilicus, comprising 11.9-16.6% of the diameter on the phragmocone. The low umbilical wall slopes outwards, and the umbilical shoulder is broadly rounded. The whorl section is very compressed, with whorl breadth to height ratios of 0.44-0.46, the greatest breadth just outside the umbilical shoulder. The inner flanks are feebly convex; the outer flanks are flattened, and converge to the narrow venter. There is a sharp keel on internal moulds. Where shell is preserved (for example SAM-PCZ19829: Fig. 5C,D), there is a pronounced groove on either side of the keel such that the inner part of the keel is thinner than the outer part.
20-24 ribs per whorl arise at the umbilical seam, and strengthen over the umbilical wall and shoulder, without developing into well-defined umbilical bullae. The ribs bi- or trifurcate at the umbilical shoulder, and may also bifurcate at mid-flank, and on the outer flank, where occasional intercalated ribs arise, to give a total of70-80 ribs per whorl at the ventrolateral shoulder. The ribs are low, flat, as wide as or wider than the interspaces. They are prorsiradiate, straight on the inner flank feebly convex at mid-flank, flexed back and concave on the outer flank, reaching their maximum strength on the ventrolateral shoulder, from where theyflex forwards and are strongly projected on the venter. Where shell is preserved, as in SAM-PCZ19829 (Fig. 5C), fine growth lines and striae project forwards on the venter, and define the shape of the long ventral apertural rostrum.
Maturity is marked by the egression of the umbilical seam, and the development of eccentric coiling. The ca. 85 mm diameter phragmocone of SAM-PCZ19476 (Fig. 4E) was figured by Spath (1921, pl. 25, fig. 1c) without the critical body chamber fragment, the two parts reunited in Fig. 4E herein. The coiling and effaced ornament of the bodychamber fragment show the specimen to be an incomplete micro-conch. SAM-PCZ19830 (Fig. 8) has a phragmocone 110 mm in diameter. It retains a 240° sector of body chamber, and shows marked weakening of ornament on the inner flanks on the adapical end of the body chamber, although this strengthens again towards the aperture. The holotype, SAM-PCZ19474 (Fig. 7) is a somewhat worn adult macro-conch, with a phragmocone diameter of 155 mm. It shows a decline in rib strength towards the adult aperture, and a change from branching to predominantly single ribs; the adapertural part of the body chamber is slightly contracted. BMNH C78875 (Fig. 11) is also an adult macroconch, a 180 mm long fragment of a huge phragmocone, with a maximum preserved whorl height of 95 mm and a whorl breadth to height ratio of 0.43.
Most of the Manuaniceras described from Madagascar by Besairie (1936) and Collignon (1963) belong to other subgenera. O. (M.) spathi Besairie (1936, p. 189, pl. 17, fig. 3, text-fig. 12c) has primary ribs well developed on the nucleus to a diameter of 70 mm. Beyond this, there are primary ribs that are restricted to the inner flank only, the outer flanks are smooth according to Besairie. O. (M.) inerme Collignon, 1963, p. 136, pl. 294, has weak primary ribs on the inner whorls, the outer whorl is virtually smooth. The type material of these species come from the same horizon and locality (Androiavy) and they may well be no more than intraspecific variants.
Oxytropidoceras (Manuaniceras) manuanense is only recorded from northern KwaZulu-Natal. Specimens we have collected come from bed 1 at locality 51. Dipoloceras cristatum occurs just above this level suggesting the species to be uppermost Middle Albian. Previously collected specimens are from the uppermost Middle or lowest Upper Albian.
Oxytropidoceras (Manuaniceras) falcatum sp. nov.
Derivation of name
Latin, falcatum: sickle-shaped.
The holotype is SAM-PCZ19827 (D1183), from the uppermost Middle or lower upper Albian Mzinene Formation in the environs of locality 144 ofKennedy & Klinger (1975) in the southern part of the Mkuze Game Reserve.
A Manuaniceras with broad, flat bifurcating crescentic ribs, the adapical edge convex, the adapertural face concave.
The specimen is a fragment only, with a maximum preserved whorl height of 67 mm. Oxycone, the whorl section is very compressed, with a tiny, near-occluded umbilicus. Feeble primary ribs arise at the umbilical seam. They broaden rapidly across the flanks, bifurcating at the umbilical shoulder or on the inner flank. Occasional ribs bifurcate at mid-flank. The ribs are very broad across the middle of the flanks, flat-topped, and separated by narrower interspaces. They are prorsiradiate and very strongly convexi-concave, and taper on the outer flank. The venter is not preserved.
The near occluded umbilicus, very broad bifurcating meniscus-shaped convexi-concave ribs are utterly distinctive and separate the species from all others referred to the subgenus.
As for the type.
Subgenus Adkinsites Spath, 1931
(= Androiavites Collignon, 1936, p. 186)
Type species
Ammonites belknapi Marcou, 1858, p. 34, pl. 2, fig. 1, from the lower Upper Albian of Texas by original designation of Spath, 1931, p. 350.
Adkinsites are coarsely ribbed Oxytropidoceras with well-developed umbilical bullae and weak ventrolateral clavi on the inner whorls. Androiavites Collignon, 1936, p.186, type species Oxytropidoceras (Androiavites) besairiei Collignon, 1936, p. 186, pl. 18, fig. 3; pl. 20, fig. 4, from the Middle Albian of Androiavy, Madagascar, is a subjective synonym ofAdkinsitesas discussed byYoung(1966, p. 117)
Oxytropidoceras(Adkinsites) multituberculatus
Collignon, 1936
1936 Oxytropidoceras (Androiavites) multituberculatus Collignon, p. 186, pl. 19, figs 1, 3, text-fig. 12n.
1963 Oxytropidoceras (Androyavites) [sic] multituberculatum Coll.; Collignon, p. 138, pl. 295, fig. 1281.
The holotype, by original designation, is the original of Collignon, 1936, p. 186, pl. 19, fig. 1, a specimen in the Sorbonne collections, now housed in the Laboratoire de Paléontologie of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, fromthe upper Middle Albianof Androiavy, Madagascar.
SAM-PCZ022418 (Z19(3)), from the upper Middle Albian Mzinene Formation of locality Z19.
SAM-PCZ022418 (Z19 (3)) is a mature adult, with a 240° sector of body chamber preserved. Coiling is evolute, the umbilical seam of the body chamber egressing markedly. The whorl section is compressed, lanceolate, with a whorl breadth to height ratio of 0.55, the greatest breadth below mid-flank. The umbilicus is shallow, with an outward-inclined umbilical wall and shoulder, broadly rounded inner flanks, convergent outer flanks, and a prominent, high, entire ventral keel. There are 25-26 ribs per whorl at the smallest diameter preserved. They are broad, flexuous, and prorsiradiate; most are primaries, arising at weak to incipient umbilical bullae; there are a few intercalatories. The phragmocone is 215 mm in diameter, and bears an estimated 30-31 broad, prorsiradiate ribs on its outer whorl. They arise at the umbilical seam, and strengthen on the umbilical shoulder without developing into bullae. They pass straight across the inner to middle flanks, where they are broad, although narrower than the interspaces. They flex gently forwards and broaden on the ventrolateral shoulders, where they become spatulate and decline before reaching the keel. They flex gently forwards on the adult body chamber, weaken, crowd, and become more markedly prorsiradiate, project forwards, and are concave on outer flank and ventrolateral shoulders, where they efface. The aperture is not preserved.
The adult whorl of the present specimen differs in no significant respects from that of the holotype. Collignon (1936, p. 187) separated this species from O. (Adkinsites) besairiei Collignon, 1936 (p. 186, pl. 18, fig. 3; pl. 20, fig. 4) from the same horizon and locality on the basis of the more numerous and more massive umbilical tubercles of multituberculatus. Strong umbilical tubercles in the penultimate whorl are well-shown by both the holotype (they are more obvious in Collignon's (1963) illustration of the specimen) and Collignon's second specimen. This feature is only weakly expressed in the present material.
Upper Middle Albian of Madagascar and northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Subgenus Venezoliceras Spath, 1925
(= Lophoceras Van Hoepen, 1931, p. 40, non Hyatt, 1893, p. 466; Tarfayites Collignon, 1977, p. 13 (1963, p. 142, nomen nudum).
Type species
Oxytropidoceras venezolanum Stieler, 1920, p. 394, from the lower Upper Albian of Venezuela, by original designation of Spath 1925, p. 182.
Venezoliceras are Oxytropidoceras in which some of the primary ribs develop a lateral bulla and all ribs develop a ventrolateral bulla. Lophoceras Van Hoepen, 1931 (non Hyatt, 1893, p. 466, a nautiloid) is a clear subjective synonym, as is Tarfayites. Two species are recognized in the limited material from KwaZulu, O. (V.) umsinenense (Van Hoepen, 1931) and O. (V) madagascariense Collignon, 1949. The differences between them are no greater than that encompassed by the normal range ofintraspecific variation displayed by acanthoceratoid ammonites with a comparable strength of ribbing and tuberculation, but we cannot demonstrate them to be conspecific on the basis of our material, and retain a conservative taxonomy here. We very much doubt that the ten Venezoliceras species from lower Upper Albian of Venezuela described by Renz (1968) merit separation, and note that his material includes individuals which are referred or compared to O (V) madagascariense described below.
Oxytropidoceras(Venezoliceras) umsinenense
(Van Hoepen, 1931)
1931 Lophoceras umsinenense Van Hoepen, p. 41, text-figs 1,2.
The holotype is SAM-PCZ19190 (formerly D574), the original ofVan Hoepen, 1931, p. 41, text-figs 1, 2, from the lower Upper Albian, bed 10 of the Mzinene Formation at Locality 51 of Kennedy & Klinger (1975), illustrated here as Figs 13, 14 (the specimen was coated with acrylic paint by a former member of staff at the South African Museum, obscuring the finest surface detail).
SAM-PCZ022418 (Z17(1)), PCZ022420 (Z16(D)), PCZ022421 (Z16(B)), PCZ022422 (LJE167), SAM-Z1707, 10582, from the Mzinene Formation, Albian IV or V of localities Z16 and Z17; SAM-PCZ19835 (Z1707), 10582, 19833(Z1162), 19834 (D1058/2) from the Mzinene Formation, Albian IV? or V from locality 54; OUM K10028, BMNH C78874 from the Mzinene Formation, Albian V from Bed 10 of the section at locality 51 of Kennedy & Klinger on the lower reaches of the Mzinene River in northern KwaZulu-Natal. OUM K10028 from the Mzinene Formation, Albian IV or V between locality 176 and the western end of locality 177 of Kennedy & Klinger (1975) in the Ndumu area of northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Coiling is evolute, the ventrolateral tubercles of the inner whorls housed in the umbilical seam of the succeeding whorl. The umbilical wall is low and rounded, the whorl section compressed and lanceolate in intercostal section, with the greatest breadth below mid-flank, the intercostal whorl breadth to height ratio varying from 0.54 to ~0.62. The greatest breadth is at the umbilical bulla in costal section, with a costal whorl breadth to height ratio of 0.59-0.63. The venter is fastigiate, with a high, sharp, entire keel. There are 40-42 ribs on the outer whorl of the complete specimens. The ribs are strong, narrower than the interspaces, and have narrowly rounded crests. They arise at the umbilical seam, strengthen, and are crowded on the umbilical shoulder, where they vary in strength, the strongest developing a feeble to incipient umbilical bulla. The ribs are prorsiradiate and feebly flexed to near straight on the flanks. The stronger ribs develop prominent, sharp inner lateral tubercles that are as wide as the ribs; weaker tubercles also develop on some of the weaker ribs. The holotype, PCZ19190 (D574) (Figs 13,14), has 25 tubercles corresponding to 43 ribs on the outer whorl. PCZ19835 (Z1707) (Fig. 16) has an estimated 18 umbilical tubercles corre- sponding to 49 ribs. PCZ19834 (D1058/2) (Fig. 17) has 17 umbilical bullae and 42 ribs on the outer whorl. There is no regular pattern to the sequence of tuberculate and non-tuberculate ribs, and the tubercles vary from weak to incipient in the weaker ribs. The ribs flex back from the lateral tubercles, strengthen, and connect to sharp, conical ventrolateral tubercles, at which point the ribs are at their strongest development. Beyond this tubercle, the ribs broaden markedly, and sweep forwards and terminate on the venter, which bears a high, sharp keel.
The holotype has dense ribbing on the penultimate whorl. It is clearly pathological, with an asymmetric cross-section (Fig. 13), and weaker ribs, and no ventral tubercles on one flank. All but the last few centimetres of the outer whorl are phragmocone.
PCZ19834 (D1058/2) (Fig. 17) appears tobeanincomplete adult, with a 180° sector of body chamber, the umbilical wall egresses markedly, the ribs crowding, weakening, and becoming more flexuous at the greatest preserved diameter.
PCZ19835 (Z1707) (Fig. 16) has a 240° sector of body chamber preserved, but shows no indications of maturity, and is presumed to be a juvenile.
BHNH C78874 (Fig. 18) is a very well-preserved fragment of body chamber with a maximum preserved whorl height of 90 mm, and 3-4 ribs that lack a flank tubercle between tuberculate ones.
PCZ19833 (Z1162) (Fig. 19) is a huge body chamber fragment, with a whorl height of 144 mm, and a whorl breadth to height ratio of 0.65, indicating an original estimated diameter of ca. 330 mm. It bears seven ribs. Stronger ribs with prominent lateral tubercles are separated by two weaker ribs, which either lack, or have only a feeble lateral tubercle. There are sharp, narrow ventral tubercles that are no wider than the ribs. The ribs extend from these tubercles, are near-transverse to the point where they merge with the venter and pass into prorsiradiate riblets and striae that indicate the presence of a long, sharp ventral apertural rostrum.
Although only a small number of specimens are available, the disparate size of the adult individuals indicate PCZ19834 (D1058/2) (Fig. 17) to be an adult microconch, PCZ19835 (Z1707) (Fig. 16) an incomplete macroconch, and PCZ19833) (Z1162) (Fig. 19) part of a macroconch body chamber.
Oxytropidoceras (V) bituberculatum Collignon, 1977 (p. 19, pl. 8, fig. 1), from the lower Middle Albian of the Tarfaya Basin, Morocco, is a close ally of the present species. It differs in the coarser, concave ribs on the adapertural half of the outer whorl, compared to the denser feebly flexuous ribbing of the present material at the same size. Of the numerous species of Venezoliceras described from the lower Upper Albian of Venezuela by Renz (1968, 1982), O. (tf) multicostatum Renz, 1968 (p. 631, pl. 1, fig. 1, 2, text-fig. 5a; 1982, p. 56, pl. 16, fig. 4), O. (V) intermedium Renz, 1968, p. 634, pl. 2, figs 1-3; pl. 3, fig. 1, text-fig. 5b,c; Renz, 1982, p. 56, pl. 17, fig. 1), O. (V) karsteni Stieler, 1920 (Renz, 1968, p. 636, pl. 3, figs 2, 3; pl. 4, fig. 1, text-figs 5d-e, 6, 7a; 1982, p. 56, pl. 16, figs 2,3; pl. 17, figs 2, 3, text-fig. 4O), O.(V) commune commune Renz, 1968 (p. 639, pl. 4, fig. 2; pl. 5, figs 1-3; pl. 6, fig. 1, text-fig. 5f,g), and O. (V.) commune tenue Renz, 1968 (p. 642, pl. 9, fig. 1, text-fig. 5i) are all more finely and densely ribbed than the present material. O.(V). commune pulchrum Renz, 1968 (p. 641, pl. 6, figs 2, 3; pl. 7, figs 1, 2; pl. 8, fig. 3, text-figs 5h, 7b) has more finely ribbed inner whorls, but the outer whorl of the original of Renz' pl. 7, fig. 2 is close to the present material at the same size. The neotype ofO. (V.) venezolanum Stieler, 1920, is the original of Renz, 1968, p. 644, pl. 8, fig. 2, text-fig. 5m. According to Renz, it has 27 ribs at the umbilical shoulder and 35 at the ventrolateral shoulder at a diameter of60 mm. The total rib density matches that of some of the present specimens at the same diameter, from which it differs only in the more rapid coarsening of the ribs. The Venezuelan assemblage thus contains individuals close to those here referred to O. (V.) umsinenense but the majority of specimens are more finely and densely ribbed.
Lower Upper Albian of northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Oxytropidoceras(Venezoliceras) madagascariense
Collignon, 1949
1949 Venezoliceras madagascariense Collignon, p. 19, pl. 2, fig. 1.
1963 Venezoliceras madagascariense Coll.; Collignon, p. 140, pl. 296, fig. 1284.
1968 Oxytropidoceras (Venezoliceras) madagascariense (Collignon); Renz, p. 646, pl. 9, figs 2, 3; pl. 10, figs 1, 3 4, text-fig. 5n.
1975 Oxytropidoceras (Venezoliceras) madagascariense (Collignon, 1951); Förster, p. 225, pl. 12, fig. 1, text-fig. 71.
1982 Oxytropidoceras (Venezoliceras) madagascariense (Collignon); Renz, p. 57, pl. 18, fig. 2.
The holotype, by monotypy, is the original of Collignon, 1949, p. 19, pl. 2, fig. 1, illustrated here as Fig. 20, from the lower Upper Albian zone á Dipoloceras cristatum of Andranofotsy, Madagascar, in the collections of the École des Mines, Paris, now in the Université Claude Bernard, Lyon.
SAM-PCZ022423 (Z16C), from the Mzinene Formation, Albian IV from locality Z16; OUM K10029, from the Mzinene Formation, Albian IV, between locality 176 and the western end of locality 177 of Kennedy & Klinger (1975) in the Ndumu area of northern KwaZulu-Natal.
The holotype is a poorly preserved sandstone internal mould (Fig. 20), with an estimated original maximum diameter of 110 mm. Coiling appears to have been fairly evolute, the umbilicus broad and shallow, the umbilical wall low, the umbilical shoulder broadly rounded. The whorl section is compressed lanceolate in costal section, with the greatest breadth well below mid-flank. The greatest breadth is at the lateral tubercle in costal section. There are an estimated 14 ribs per halfwhorl. The ribs arise at the umbilical seam, and all are predominantly primaries on the adapertural half whorl at least, strong, straight and narrow on the umbilical wall, and strengthen across the umbilical shoulder. Theyare straight and prorsiradiate on the flanks, occasionally bifurcating, with occasional intercalatories. On the adapical half whorl, every third rib develops a small, sharp mid-lateral bulla. On the adapertural halfwhorl one or two non-bullate ribs separates the bullate ones. All ribs bear small sharp ventral tubercles that give rise to broad transverse ribs that efface before reaching the high ventral keel. It is not possible to establish the position of the final septum.
SAM-PCZ022423 (Z16C) (Fig. 5B) is an internal mould with an estimated 120° sector of body chamber. The total diameter is estimated at 100 mm. Coiling is moderately evolute, with a shallow umbilicus. The umbilical wall is low and rounded, the whorl section compressed, with the greatest breadth at the lateral tubercle in costal section, and below mid-flank in intercostal section. The umbilical shoulder is broadly rounded, the whorl section stoutly lanceolate in intercostal section. Ornament is of two types. On the penultimate whorl, visible in the umbilicus of the outer whorl, it consists of fine, sharp, prorsiradiate, feebly flexuous ribs, most of which arise at feeble umbilical bullae, with intercalated ribs arising on the inner flank. On the outer whorl, the ornament is coarse. There are 18 ribs, alternating more or less regularly long and short, on the adapertural halfwhorl. They are narrow, straight and prorsiradiate, and vary markedly in strength and tuberculation. Strong primaries arise at the umbilical seam, and are strongly flared, with an umbilical bulla linked to a stronger lateral tubercle that is the same width as the rib. The ribs decline in elevation on the outer flank, and link to strong ventrolateral bullae. Up to three weaker ribs intercalate between successive bullate primaries, most of which extend to the umbilical shoulder. They may develop a feeble outer lateral tubercle, and strengthen to match the primary ribs on the ventrolateral shoulder, where all ribs form a sharp, narrow tubercle. The ribs flex forwards over the ventrolateral shoulder, taper, decline in strength, and efface before reaching the strong, high, ventral keel.
OUM K10029 (Fig. 21) is a phragmocone retaining traces of recrystallized shell with a maximum preserved diameter of 127 mm, and much of the ventral region lost. The ornament of the penultimate whorl is as in the previous specimen. There are 22 primary ribs on the outer whorl. They arise at the umbilical seam, and are narrow straight and prorsiradiate on the umbilical wall, strengthen markedlyon the umbilical shoulder, are straight and prorsiradiate on the flanks, across which they strengthen progressively. Massive pointed lateral bullae that are the same width as the ribs strengthen progressively around the outer whorl, the bullate ribs separated by from one to four non-bullate ribs, All ribs bear bear strong ventrolateral bullae.
SAM-PCZ022423 (Z16C) compares well with the worn holotype (Fig. 20), and the material from Venezuela referred to this species by Renz (1968, p. 646, pl. 9, figs 2, 3; pl. 10, figs 1, 3, 4, text-fig. 5n; 1982, p. 57, pl. 18, fig. 2). OUM KY10029 has rapidly coarsening ribs and massive lateral bullae, and approaches O. (Venezoliceras) robustum Renz, 1968 (p. 647, pl. 10, fig. 2; Renz, 1982, p. 58, pl. 18, fig. 4; pl. 19, fig. 1), which may be a junior synonym of madagascariense.
Upper Middle and lower Upper Albian ofKwaZulu-Natal, southern Mozambique, Madagascar and Venezuela.
Subgenus Mirapelia Cooper, 1982
Type species
Ammonites mirapelianus d'Orbigny, 1850, p. 124, by the original designation of Cooper, 1982, p. 291.
Oxytropidoceras(Mirapelia) hourcqi Collignon, 1936
1936 Oxytropidoceras hourcqi Collignon, p. 184, pl. 20, fig. 5, text-fig. 12l.
The holotype is the original of Collignon, 1936, p. 184, pl. 20, fig. 5, text-fig. 12l, a specimen in the Sorbonne collections, now housed in the Laboratoire de Paleontologie of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, from the upper Middle Albian of Androiavy, Madagascar.
OUM KY10027, from the upper Middle Albian, Albian IV, Mzinene Formation between localities 176 and 177 of Kennedy & Klinger (1975), southwest of Ndumu in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
OUM KY10027 is a worn internal mould, septate to a diameter of 126 mm. Coiling is moderately involute, with 64% of the previous whorl covered. The shallow umbilicus comprises 25.4% of the diameter, the umbilical wall low and subvertical, the umbilical shoulder quite narrowly rounded. The whorl section is compressed, with a whorl breadth to height ratio of 0.66, the greatest breadth well below mid-flank. The inner flanks are broadly convex, the outer flanks convergent, the section concave from the ventro-lateral shoulders to the strong, high, siphonal keel. An estimated 18 ribs arise at the umbilical seam, and strengthen across the umbilical wall and shoulder. They give rise to one, occasionally two ribs, while there are also a few long intercalated ribs, to give a total of approximately 30 ribs at the ventrolateral shoulder. The ribs are broad and coarse, straight to feebly convex, and recti- to feebly rursirdiate on the inner flanks. They flex forwards and are feebly concave on the outer flanks, where they strengthen and broaden before sweeping forwards and declining on the ventrolateral shoulders and venter, where they form an obtuse chevron with the siphonal keel at the apex.
The holotype of O. (M.) hourcqi is a much larger individual than the present specimen, being some 225 mm in diameter, but with essentially the same style of ornament. The differences between the holotype and other contemporaneous Madagascan species based on similarly large individuals including O. (M.) paucituberculatus Collignon, 1936 (p. 187, pl. 18, fig. 4), O. (M.) boulei Collignon, 1936 (p. 183, pl. 18, fig. 6, text-fig. 12j), and O. (M.) colcanapi Collignon, 1936 (p. 182, pl. 18, fig. 7, text-fig. 12k) are likely to be those of individuals rather than species. O. (M.) mirapelianum (d'Orbigny, 1850) (p. 124) has much stronger, narrower ribs on the inner flank, and a much more marked thickening on the ribs on the outermost flanks and ventrolateral shoulder, while the ribs are near-transverse on the venter (Kennedy, Bilotte & Hansotte, 1997, p. 466, pl. 5, figs 12, 13), rather than forming an obtuse chevron as in the present specimen.
Upper Middle Albian of Madagascar and northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Oxytropidoceras (Mirapelia) colcanapi Collignon, 1936
1936 Oxytropidoceras colcanapi Collignon, p. 182, pl. 18, fig. 7, text-fig. 12k.
The holotype is the original of Collignon, 1936, p. 182, pl. 18, fig. 7, text-fig. 12k (reillustrated here as Fig. 23), a specimen in the Sorbonne collections, now housed in the Laboratoire de Paléontologie of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, from the upper Middle Albian of Berambo, Madagascar.
OUM KY10030, from the upper Middle Albian, Albian IV, Mzinene Formation between localities 176 and 177 of Kennedy & Klinger (1975), southwest of Ndumu in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
OUM KY10030 is an approximately 180°whorl sectorwith a maximum preserved whorl height of 50 mm. Coiling is evolute, the umbilicus comprising 25% of the diameter approximately. The umbilical wall is low and convex, the umbilical shoulder broadly rounded. The whorl section is compressed lanceolate, the greatest breadth around mid-flank, the inner to mid-flank region broadly convex, the outer flanks convergent, the venter with a strong, high siphonal keel. Fourteen primary ribs are present on the fragment. They arise at the umbilical seam, and pass forwards across the umbilical wall and shoulder. They are strong, straight, crowded, and feebly prorsiradiate on the inner flanks, across which they strengthen progressively, flexing forwards, broadening and strengthening markedly on the outer flank and ventrolateral shoulder, sweeping forwards and declining on the venter, where they form an obtuse chevron with the siphonal keel at the apex.
The flank ornament of this specimen is closely comparable to that of the holotype (Fig. 23) a much larger individual, 210 mm in diameter according to Collignon, and with the same rib density. The present specimen differs from the slightly larger individual referred to O. (M.) colcanapi, described above, in having exclusively primary ribs that arise singly from the umbilical seam without any bifurcations on umbilical shoulder. It differs from O. (M.) mirapelianum in the orientation of the ribs on the venter, which form an obtuse chevron, rather than being near-transverse. Cooper (1982, p. 296, 304) regarded colcanapi as a possible synonym of O. (M.) buarquianum (White, 1887), but noted that 'the true affinities of the Madagascan material must await reassessment at population level', a view with which we can only agree.
Upper Middle Albian of northern KwaZulu-Natal and Madagascar.
We thank the staff of the Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford, and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Natural History Collections Department, Iziko South African Museum for technical support. Kennedy acknowledges the financial support of the Oppenheimer Fund (Oxford) and Klinger the NRF (South Africa). We thank Dr Herbert Summesberger (Vienna) for constructive comments.
BESAIRIE, H. 1936. Recherches géologiques á Madagascar, première suite. Mémoires de l'Academie Malgache 21:1-259. [ Links ]
BREISTROFFER, M. 1947. Sur les zones d'ammonites dans l'Albien de France et d'Angleterre. Travaux du Laboratoire de Geologie de la Faculté des Sciences de l'Université de Grenoble 26: 17-104 (1-88 in separates). [ Links ]
CASEY, R. 1978. A monograph of the Ammonoidea of the Lower Greensand. Part 8. Palaeontographical Society Monographs: 583-632. [ Links ]
COLLIGNON, M. 1936. Les Oxytropidoceras de l'Albien moyen (niveau supérieur) de la province d'Analava. In: BESAIRIE, H. Recherches géologiques á Madagascar, première suite, pp. 176-188. Mémoires de l'Academie Malgache 21:1-259. [ Links ]
COLLIGNON, M. 1949. Recherches sur les faunes albiennes de Madagascar V. L'Albien superieur d'Andranofotsy (cercle de Manja). Annales Géologiques du Service des Mines, Madagascar 19: 7-41. [ Links ]
COLLIGNON, M. 1963. Atlas des fossiles caractéristiques de Madagascar (Ammonites). X. Albien. xv + 184 pp., pls. 241-317. Tananarive, Service géologique. [ Links ]
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GROSSOUVRE, A. de 1894. Recherches sur la craie supérieure, 2, Paléontologie. Les ammonites de la craie supérieure. Mémoires du Service de la Carte Géologique détaillé de la France 1-264. [ Links ]
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HOEPEN, E.C.N. VAN. 1931. Die Krytfauna van Soeloeland. 1. Lophoceras, Rhytidoceras, Drepanoceras en Deiradoceras. Paleontologiese Navorsing van die Nasionale Museum, Bloemfontein 1: 339-354. [ Links ]
HYATT, A. 1889. Genesis of the Arietidae. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge 673: xi + 1-239. [ Links ]
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KENNEDY, W.J., GALE, A.S., BOWN, P.R., CARON, M., DAVEY, R., GRÖCKE, D. & WRAY, D.S. 2000. Integrated stratigraphy across the Aptian-Albian boundary in the Marnes Bleues at the Col de Pré-Guittard, Arnayon (Dröme), and at Tartonne, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, a candidate Global Boundary Strato-type Section and Boundary Point for the base of the Albian Stage. Cretaceous Research 21: 591-720. [ Links ]
KENNEDY, W.J. & KLINGER, H.C. 1975. Cretaceous faunas from Zululand and Natal, South Africa. Introduction, Stratigraphy. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Geology 25: 263-315. [ Links ]
MARCOU, J. 1858. Geology of North America; with two reports on the prairies of Arkansas and Texas, the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico and the Sierra Nevada of California. 1-144 pp., 9 pls. Zurich: Zürcher. [ Links ]
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RENZ, O. 1968. Über die Untergattung Venezoliceras Spath und Laraiceras n. subgen. der Gattung Oxytropidoceras Stieler (Ammonoidea) aus den Venezolanischen Anden. Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae 61: 615-655. [ Links ]
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Received 26 July 2011
Accepted 17 October 2011


text: I'm a new player to the site, and need some clairification. Does Bombard mean: You can only lower the number of troops in the bombarded region? Or does it mean you can actually capture from say a catapult to a tower? The term bombard would make me think you could only weaken the attacked region, so can someone help me out with this?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Dear Em,
I just got your letter and card and I am glad to know that every thing is O.K. Say I would liked to have had a plateful of them beans you spoke of watering, and about a half dozen home made anything in the bread line. We just came in from drill and mess call is blowing for dinner. I will go up now and eat, and tell you just what we had, and how I enjoy it. I am very hungry so whatever they have I'll eat it don't worry.
Well I just got through eating and here is what I had. Two sausages, one potatoe, two slices of bread, a leaf of lettuce, and a cup of lime water. Some feed. I think I ate too much. Now I have to take a bath, attend non-comp school, wash out two sets of under wear and get ready for 24 hours of out post work tonight.
It is pretty cool here today, and it wasn't so hard hiking and drilling this morning. It didn't rain last night so the roads were nice and dry. You see we have to walk about four miles to our drill grounds, and after drilling for about two hours we hike back again. You say you can make out what is written on these postals, and I am glad of it for they are easier and quicker to write than a letter.
I have got quite a lot of mail from you Lena, and different other prople that were so thoughtful, and wrote to me. I get mail every day, and it is pleasing to find it waiting for me when we get in from drill. I am glad you are giving me incouragement as to my army life and I promise to do all I can to make good. Of coarse I like the business any way, but there are times when I get pretty sore and disgusted, and that is the time when I have to keep my mouth shut.
© Copyright 2008 by Richard Landers, All Rights Reserved. No reproduction without permission.


text:
Updating a policy
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This update is not intended for situations in which the employer succeeds (in whole or in part) another employer in the operation of a business. Refer to Selling or buying a business for more information on that type of update.
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No U.S. military force is so steeped in a tradition of honor, pride and loyalty as the Marines. Their official hymn contains a vow "to keep our honor clean." Their advertisements cite "The Few. The Proud. The Marines." Their motto is "Semper Fidelis" -- Always Faithful.
Tom Gervasi and many former Marines like him must wonder why those lofty statements don't apply to them.
Gervasi, a Sarasota retiree, and the others served and fought for their country. Now, when their bodies are riddled with cancer -- apparently as a result of that service -- who will fight for them?
The Marine Corps and their government, as detailed in stories by the Herald-Tribune's Donna Koehn, have largely ignored the men's suffering and their requests for compensation to help pay the costs of care for themselves and their families.
It is an outrage.
Carcinogens in the water
We say the former Marines' cancers are "apparently" linked to their service because it is well established that the water they drank, cooked with and bathed in while at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was contaminated by toxic chemicals, including carcinogens.
Gervasi is among at least 80 men who lived at the Marine base and later contracted breast cancer -- a disease so rare in men that only 1 in 1,000 develop it in a lifetime. Other types of cancer -- of the brain, lungs, liver and bladder -- have been found in former Marines and family members who lived with them at the camp.
Tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the contamination of the camp's wells, which were closed in 1985.
News reports of the high incidence of cancer in former camp residents, combined with families' lobbying of Congress, led to the enactment last August of the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act. The law provides medical care for Marines and families.
But the honoring and caring were limited: The act only covers those who lived at the camp from 1957 to 1987. Gervasi left Camp Lejeune in 1956. Studies of the groundwater in the part of the camp where Gervasi lived have dragged on for years, and the results -- scheduled to be released four years ago -- will not be available until next spring.
Request denied
Gervasi, who is 76, does not know if he will live that long. The cancer has now spread to his bones and lungs.
He suffered another setback last week when the Department of Veterans Affairs denied his request for compensation for his cancer. The VA said Gervasi lacks proof that his cancer was caused by the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
The Marine Corps acknowledges the contamination, but says the link to cancer has yet to be confirmed.
So Gervasi and the other former Marines like him must wait -- victims of delayed test results and the neglect of a military and government they were proud to serve.
The Corps and Congress should demand to know why the test results have been so long delayed. (Sarasota area U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan has made Gervasi's case a priority, a spokesman said late Monday.) They should insist that the Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act be extended to all Marines and family members who contracted cancer as a result of their service.
The Marines pride themselves on leaving no man behind. Tell it to Tom Gervasi.
The ones left behind Who will fight for ex-Marines whose cancers appear linked to service?
No U.S. military force is so steeped in a tradition of honor, pride and loyalty as the Marines. Their official hymn contains a vow "to keep our honor clean." Their advertisements cite "The Few. The Proud. The Marines." Their motto is "Semper Fidelis" -- Always Faithful.


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All purchases are charged in GBP and prices in other currencies are provided as a guideline only and are subject to fluctuation
Replacement mirror components for the V70II 2000-2008 and V70XC / XC70 2001-2007
PFS Parts Ltd. is a specialist parts company established in 2003. This site offers a 'one-stop' online parts shop for Volvo car parts at great prices. We can supply a huge selection of Volvo parts, including genuine Volvo parts, aftermarket parts and performance parts. Click for more about PFS Parts...


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Stephanie Seymour shows off her bikini body while hitting the beach with her adorable daughter Lily on Saturday (December 22) in St. Barts.
The 42-year-old former supermodel was also joined by her fashion forward son Harry as they soaked up the sun and went for a stroll before returning home.
"Time for some last minute Xmas shopping," Harry wrote on his Twitter account. "I see.. lots of pharmacy presents in my loved ones futures."
10+ pictures inside of Stephanie Seymour and her family vacationing in St. Barts…More Here! »


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Merino DK – Copper
Merino DK is available in 4 ounce/280 yd skeins. The gauge is 5-6 stitches/inch on size 5/6 US needles. For best results hand wash with your favorite wool wash and dry flat. To minimize variation, alternate skeins while knitting. Each dye lot is unique, so please order all yardage required for your project.
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Do you consciously use eye contact to help control or encourage players?
When an extroverted or otherwise dominant player adversely affects the group experience, do you use eye contact to seize his/her attention, followed by a "cool it!" message, verbal or by signal?
Conversely, do you use eye contact (again possibly in combination with verbal or nonverbal signals) to encourage and empower shy or ineloquent players?
Other than the special cases above, does direct eye contact generally encourage your players and make them feel valuable members of the group? Or does it make your players nervous?


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Lindenwood University has announced that General Crosbie Saint (ret.), former commander in chief of the U.S. Army in Europe, will deliver the keynote address at Undergraduate Commencement on Saturday, May 18. He is joined by Douglas Greenlaw, communications industry executive, who will speak at Baccalaureate and Graduate Commencement the night before.
Undergraduate Commencement will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 18, while Baccalaureate and Graduate Commencement will be at 7 p.m., Friday, May 17. Both ceremonies will be at the Family Arena, at 2002 Arena Parkway in St. Charles, and are open to the public.
Saint, who was born at West Point, N.Y., in 1936, graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1958 and was commissioned a second lieutenant. Saint commanded armor and cavalry units and culminated his career as commander in chief of the U.S. Army, Europe, and the Seventh Army and commander of the Central Army Group, NATO. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam and five tours in U.S. Army, Europe. He was a first lieutenant on duty in Germany when the Berlin Wall was erected, and he was commander in chief of the U.S. Army, Europe when the wall was dismantled. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1992 and established a private consulting organization specializing in foreign relations, national security issues, strategic planning, and other matters.
Greenlaw, currently CEO and chairman of Greenlaw-Marshall Communications in Greenville, S.C., has served as president for advertising and marketing at MTV Networks, CEO of Whittles Communications and Switchboard, Inc., and COO of Multimedia, Inc.
Over the two ceremonies, Lindenwood will confer 1,531 bachelor's degrees, 1,271 master's degrees, 98 Educational Specialist degrees, and 35 Doctor of Education degrees. This will be the first year that Lindenwood's Belleville campus will hold its own commencement ceremonies; an additional 289 graduate degrees and 223 undergraduate degrees will be conferred there.


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Equipboard's gear archive is collaboratively built and maintained by fellow music lovers like yourself. Anyone can submit gear and equipment to artists. Joining Equipboard also allows you to create your own list to track the gear you have and want, and follow artists like Hugh Laurie to never miss gear updates.
Hugh is seen playing this guitar on the show House.
The source and notes on this submission are correct.
[Check out my fave website](https://equipboard.com)


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- Status : Released
- Movie Genre : Action, Adventure, War,
- Youtube Id : -youtube_id-
- Duration of movie : 117
- Vote Count : 1935
- Film Note : -movie_rating-
- Average rate : 6.7
- Original title : 300
- Languages spoken : English
- Societies of production : Warner Bros.
- Tagline : Spartans, prepare for glory!
- Release Date of film : 2006-12-08
- Gerard Butler Character (King Leonidas)
- Lena Headey Character (Queen Gorgo)
- Dominic West Character (Theron)
- David Wenham Character (Dilios)
- Vincent Regan Character (Captain)
- Michael Fassbender Character (Stelios)
- Tom Wisdom Character (Astinos)
- Andrew Tiernan Character (Ephialtes)
- Andrew Pleavin Character (Daxos)
- Rodrigo Santoro Character (Xerxes)
- Giovani Cimmino Character (Pleistarchos)
- Tyler Neitzel Character (Leonidas at 15 yrs)
- Greg Kramer Character (Ephor #1)
- Stephen McHattie Character (Loyalist)
- Alex Ivanovici Character (Ephor #2)
- Kelly Craig Character (Oracle Girl)
- Eli Snyder Character (Leonidas at 7 / 8 yrs)
- Tim Connolly Character (Leonidas' Father)
- Marie-Julie Rivest Character (Leonidas' Mother)
- Sebastian St. Germain Character (Fighting Boy (12 yrs old))
- Peter Mensah Character (Messenger)
- Arthur Holden Character (Partisan)
- Michael Sinelnikoff Character (Elder councilman)
- John Dunn-Hill Character (Councilman)
- Dennis St John Character (Spartan Baby Inspector)
- Neil Napier Character (Spartan with Stick)
- Dylan Smith Character (Sentry #1)
- Maurizio Terrazzano Character (Sentry #2)
- Robert Paradis Character (Spartan General)
- Kwasi Songui Character (Persian)
- Alexandra Beaton Character (Burned Village Child)
- Frdric Smith Character (Statesman)
300 Synopsis:
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Last week, we told you about Armoured Vehicles India, a Nov. 18-20 conference in New Delhi about just that subject, with dozens of generals weighing in on the state of armored warfare today.
Today, we take a look at an equally armored vehicle that is a bit closer to home and a lot more manageable in city streets. (Imagine trying to toss a tank up Madison Avenue.)
The Mercedes-Benz S-class is frequently the transportation choice of presidents, diplomats and royalty. But they have to be protected while they're out and about. That's where Transeco-Bremen GmbH comes in. The German company takes a standard S-550 and armors it to within a few inches of its very long life. (Mercedes has its own armored versions, too.) More about armoring up your S-550 in this Autoweek piece.


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Start a Support Ticket
Computer Services offers a variety of support for McCombs students, faculty and staff. This page provides some general information about our support providers.
Hours: M-F, 8-5
Location: CBA 1.324 (or visit the Service Desk, located at GSB 3.132)
Contact: email@example.com, 232-6617
Paul Bartel, Luis Cardenas, Dipto Chaudhuri, and Justin Pollok are the user support staff for the McCombs School of Business. Our mission is to provide hardware, software and network support for the computers used by faculty and staff of the McCombs School of Business. We install and upgrade computers and peripherals.
Please note that we will provide computer advice to faculty and staff whenever possible, but we can only perform work on computer equipment that is owned by the University of Texas.
Hours: M–F 8:00am–5:00pm when classes are in session
Location: GSB 3.132
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About: The trained student staff at the McCombs Service Desk provide support services for McCombs students with notebook computers.
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text: We are a Houston corporation dedicated to serving our customers with their heater needs. We sell various heater parts, including valves and radiants, also known as bricks.We also sell gas space heaters, which are also known as gas room heaters. Our selection includes new and used Dearborn, Atlanta, Rinnai, and Thermolair heaters. We also carry antique and bathroom heaters as well. For more information please click on the appropriate link below.


text: We've been taking Clarkie, one of the newest members of Bird Show, off site for some training.Today he had a huge media audience who came along to watch his progress.We currently have three Peregrine Falcons. Khan is the resident star and flies on days with strong southerlies or westerlies. Nike and Clarkie both came in over the past two months. Nike is a female so that means she is huge! Girls are always larger than the males in the raptor world. The boys are both around 500 grams and she's a whopping 800 grams!Clarkie is further ahead in his training. Whilst Nike will be trained for shows, Clarkie is actually being rehabilitated for release as he came in to our vet clinic from the wild. Having hunted in the wild before this makes him a suitable candidate; we just need to build up his fitness levels. As the fastest animal in the world you need to be in peak fitness to catch your food!We took Clarkie to Balmoral Oval. He is currently being trained to fly to a baited lure. The lure is a long piece of leather that somewhat resembles a bird. His aim is to fly to it. Eventually the steps get harder but he started with flying just a few feet to a lure being pulled across the ground … but now he's putting in much more effort as we encourage him to fly first before hitting the lure.


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Half the fun in giving a gift is imagining the look on the recipients face when you finally place it in their hands, is it not? I have this in mind each time I wrap a gift, but at no time more than during the holidays. There is a spirit of child-like wonder in the air that makes giving and receiving so much fun. I like to parlay that spirit into themed or unexpected packaging that is often part of the gift itself.
Today, I'm sharing some creative ways to package your holiday gifts that will no doubt make a big impression, even before the true gift is revealed.


text: neo1911 793 Posted September 1, 2013 Few days ago, I installed Windows 8.1 RTM like a starved tech child. I also managed to activate it with my previous upgrade key. All fine and dandy. All I see is a fake Start button, few customizations of themes and some better reorganization of newer control panel. But 90% desktop users request goes ignored. That is Modern apps on Desktop Taskbar. Ability to freely resize them to my liking. Have a better multi tasking that has been familiar to me since time immemorial. As a result I have still not been able to adapt to modern apps. I don't use them as desktop based apps are so much superior with better multi tasking. Windows Image based system recovery has been removed from GUI. Now I have to pass some obscure DOS based commands. To me Microsoft is fixing what ain't broken. I also did not like the blatantly desperate attempt to display "you can download apps from our app store" in biggest font possible at post install. All this makes me feel that Microsoft is getting more and more arrogant and then they backtrack due to public backlash. Fun fact: Windows Blue RTM has yellow as default wallpaper. Feel free to chip in your thoughts about Windows 8.1 Is Microsoft loosing it? 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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A Hero of Our Time
In most wars it is images and artifacts that emerge to shape our memory of events. The recent Iraq war may be remembered less for the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue than for the pile of naked bodies in the Abu Ghraib prison. The Bosnia war gave us the stick figures looking out from behind barbed wire in Serb-run concentration camps and a Muslim woman who escaped Serb guns in Srebrenica but who then hung herself from a tree in a refugee camp. Rwanda will be remembered for the scores of whitened, bloated bodies that bobbed down the Kagera River, and for the proud, humbled visage of the Canadian general Roméo Dallaire.
General Dallaire was the commander of the 2,548-man United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, or UNAMIR, which the states on the Security Council established in October 1993 to monitor a peace agreement between the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front and the Hutu-led government. Within two months of arriving in Rwanda, Dallaire began warning of the horrors that lay ahead, and when the genocide began he described the massacres as they were happening. He was ignored and written off as a simpleton and a "loose cannon."
Dallaire is best known for the fax he wrote three months before the start of what would become the fastest killing campaign of the twentieth century. On January 11, 1994, he wrote to Kofi Annan, who ran the UN peacekeeping office in New York, that, according to "Jean-Pierre," an anonymous informant high up in the inner circles of the Rwandan militia called Interahamwe, Hutu extremists "had been ordered to register all the Tutsi in Kigali." "He suspects it is for their extermination," Dallaire wrote. "Example he gave was that in 20 minutes his personnel could kill up to 1,000 Tutsis."
Jean-Pierre had warned not only of a threat to Rwanda's Tutsi but also of the militants' plan to murder a number of Belgian peacekeepers in order to "guarantee Belgian withdrawal from Rwanda." The informant was prepared to identify major arms caches scattered throughout Rwanda, but he wanted passports and protection for his wife and four children. Dallaire admitted the possibility of a trap but said he believed the informant was reliable. He told Annan that his UN forces were prepared to act within thirty-six hours. "Where there's a will, there's a way," Dallaire signed the cable. "Let's go."
Annan's response was firm. Dallaire was not to confront the extremists. In October 1993, just three months before Dallaire sent his fax, eighteen US soldiers had been killed in Mogadishu in Somalia. Annan believed—probably correctly—that the United States and its allies would not want to cross what became known as "the Mogadishu line." But instead of confronting the major powers or attempting to shame them by leaking the alarming news, Annan told Dallaire to lie low, to stick to his limited mandate, and to notify both the Rwandan president—who was himself known to be implicated in the plot—and the Western ambassadors in Kigali of the…
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Japan is breathing a slight sigh of relief after official word the crippled reactors at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant are now in a "cold shutdown" state. That means the water used to cool the damaged nuclear fuel rods is remaining below the boiling point, preventing the highly radioactive fuel from re-heating. But with a massive radioactive cleanup job unfinished - and possibly lasting decades - few have much reason to celebrate as 2011 comes to an end.
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami killed 20,000 people in northeastern Japan. Not only did the disaster trigger the meltdown of three reactors at the coastal Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, it also reignited debate about the risks of atomic energy.
Although no one died of radiation exposure from the Fukushima accident, communities were evacuated. Even those hundreds of kilometers away from the nuclear plant are worried about long-term effects of the higher than normal radiation levels, especially on the health of children.
That anxiety is compounded by the detection of radiation levels above the legal limit in Japanese crops, fish and even milk.
Public confidence has been shaken since the first days of the crisis when the Fukushima plant operator and the government appeared to understate the severity of the disaster.
Roger Cashmore is chairman of Britain's Atomic Energy Authority. The nuclear physicist says the slow flow of information from Tokyo and the apparent withholding of important data during the height of the crisis undermined trust.
"Transparency is the word. One has got to be completely open about all of this and make sure that shortcuts and things like this can't be taken," said Cashmore. "People, I think, in retrospect have become very concerned about the regulatory system that existed in Japan."
The concern has led to scrutiny of what is dubbed the Japanese "nuclear village" - a cozy community of industry and government regulators as well as a complacent domestic media and powerful politicians.
Former U.N. Undersecretary Secretary General for Disarmament Affairs, Nobuyasu Abe (a director at the Japan Institute of International Affairs), says nuclear industry supporters have hampered oversight.
"In Japan, a great number of Japanese politicians receive political contributions from power companies," said Abe. "They may be influenced or they may be hesitant to be critical."
A former foreign minister and environment minister of Japan is criticizing the official response to the crisis over the past nine months. But Yoriko Kawaguchi, of the opposition conservatives, says the government must not let Tokyo Electric Power Company, known as TEPCO, go under at a time of crisis.
"There is no question, ultimately, that we will survive. We will manage the situation," Kawaguchi said. "TEPCO is almost bankrupt and the government is helping, financial institutions are helping. We have no other choice but to let TEPCO survive and do the work, no matter how long it's going to take."
About 80 percent of Japan's nuclear reactors are now offline, mainly for safety inspections.
That, along with increasing generation costs and a slowing demand for electricity (with China being the notable exception), has led to nuclear power production globally falling this year, according to the Worldwatch Institute.
But Kawaguchi says Japan, an island nation with scant natural resources, cannot follow Germany, which has decided to shut down all of its nuclear power plants.
"Without nuclear power generation, it will be difficult for us to keep our economy growing, probably for some years - 10, 20, 30 years to come. Japan is isolated," Kawaguchi said. "We are not like Germany where you can import energy from France where electricity is produced using nuclear power."
To maintain economic growth, she says the Japanese government must restore public confidence, which vaporized after the reactor meltdowns. That could turn out to be a task that takes decades to accomplish.


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Last Saturday, October 19th, a quiet little park in the heart of the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles, CA) was awakened bright and early by the wonderful sound of roaring BMW engines. Vintage BMW engines to be exact. Hundreds of pristine cars as well as those in need of some TLC, gathered in the park for a day of showing off prized possessions and telling stories of how the car obsession started.
Vendors, selling BMW related items, were placed across the park as well as food trucks for hungry show goers and owners. Some old tunes played throughout the day, adding to the vintage show feel. While you might expect to see a large amount of older folks, there were also young people, bringing their classics or coming out to take a look at the cars on display.
In its six year, this meet invites 1988 and older BMWs including classic generations such as: E30, E28, E26, E24, E23, E21, E12, E9, 2002, NeuKlasse, 700, Isetta and all going back. Two new chassis were also added this year, E32 7 Series and the E34 5 Series.
There was plenty to see with row upon row of wonderful vintage charm. Some were more-rare than others and some stood in categories all of their own. One in particular had us stop in our tracks and take a few photos - we could not track down the owner unfortunately.
This stunning 3.0 CSL was begging for our attention. As one of the most iconic BMW production cars ever made, it's hard not to stop and take a look. Not a surface or panel on this car had a mark on it. The paint, flawless. Engine, gorgeous. Interior, pristine. We can only imagine the owner's tales of this car, but with a nickname like 'Batmobile,' it must be special.
But the show field wasn't the only place where owners displayed their toys. Almost the entire parking lot was filled with BMWs old and new. For those who didn't register or had something more modern, the parking lot was a great place to see a healthy variety of BMWs. We happened upon a 2009 M3 for instance that featured brake and wheel upgrades.
A Colorado Orange 2002tii displayed front and center won 'People's Choice' for the 2002 category. In the second row to the far right was a red M6 that won 'People's Choice' for 'Best 6 & 7 Series.' Further details on these cars can be found in our "Top Lists" (top 2002s of the show and top M cars of the show) specific to this show - see Event section of website. If the electric blue 2002tii in the second row looks familiar, that's probably because it is the same one featured at the recent German Car Show at the Petersen. It won 'People's Choice' for 'Best Modified BMW.'
Overall, the show filled a Los Angeles park with rolling examples of BMW history, brought together likeminded enthusiasts and topped off what was a beautiful day in sunny California. It didn't matter who you stopped to talk to, they had a story to tell and were willing to share it with you. If you haven't found the time to get your vintage Ultimate Driving Machine out to play, now may be a better time than ever. We hope to see you at the next SoCal Vintage BMW Meet!


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Spanish Tile Thank You Card
Anniversary Thank You Cards
Spanish Tile Thank You Card, Item# TYAI7622
Note: Sparkles are simulated and will not light up.
Spanish Tile Thank You Card, Item# TYAI7622
Note: Sparkles are simulated and will not light up.
Spanish Tile Envelope Seals
Spanish Tile Return Address Labels
Spanish Tile
Our Anniversary fold-over notecard, "Spanish Tile", features a design motif that echoes the style of traditional azulejo tiles with grey accents set in the background. Mix and match from a variety of colors to suit your taste.
A custom message can be printed with flat printing inside the fold-over card (for an additional $0.50), to acknowledge that special gift.
You will be able to select the typestyle and ink colors to use for your personalized text during the design process. Start by clicking on the green 'Personalize and Continue' button. We recommend using the default typestyle and ink colors.
|Estimated Postage Required:
|$0.55 stamp - if other items are not added into the Envelope. Click here for additional postage information.
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March 20, 1957 - December 11, 2012
Walden, NY
Lance Roy Hall, a longtime resident of Walden, NY, passed away on December 11, 2012 at St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh, NY. He was 55 years old.
He was born on March 20, 1957 to William M. Hall, Sr. and Margaret J. Goble. Lance was born in Newburgh, NY.
He was an assembly person for Occupations Inc. located in Middletown, NY and proudly served there since October of 1975.
He is survived by his two brothers: Marvin R. Hall, Sr. and wife, Eileen of Wallkill, Monte A. Hall, Sr. and wife, Robbee of Walden; three sisters: Margaret "Missy" E. Snyder and husband, Scott of Walden, Christine R. Sczesny of Newburgh and Tracy L. Hall and companion, Ray of Hibbing, MN; several nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, great nieces and great nephews. He was predeceased by his brother, William "Billy" M. Hall, Jr.
Visitation will be held Monday, December 17, 2012 from and 5 to 7 p.m. at the Gridley-Horan Funeral Home, 39 Orchard St., Walden, NY; services will follow at 7 p.m. Cremation will be at Cedar Hill Crematory.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society.
Arrangements are by the Gridley-Horan Funeral Home, Inc. 845-778-3811. www.gridleyhoran.com


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By Loretta LaRoche
More Content Now
My ex-husband would always berate me when I spoke to a stranger. He would wait, thank God, until the person was out of earshot, and then the lecture would begin. �Why do you talk to people you don�t know?� �How do you know they aren�t annoyed by you invading their space?�
Well, first and foremost, I am a people person. I love to meet new individuals and discover what they do and where they�re from. I truly cannot think of one incident where someone treated me with anything but delight that I had engaged them. My retort to my ex was always the same. �They might have been strangers before, but they�re not anymore.�
He was never amused by my response, but that�s part of the reason we�re not together anymore. His life revolved around safety and not making waves. Talking to people he didn�t know could be embarrassing. What if they ignored him or acted uninterested? I on the other hand came from a family of smoozers.
I was born into an Italian family from Brooklyn. We lived in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other, and if they didn�t they soon would. Wherever I went with a member of my family you could be sure that they would engage someone they never met and eventually bring them into the fold. Not all of them became a permanent part of the clan. But many of them did and it helped create the fabric of my life. My books have reflected the many characters I met and their stories have been woven into my work as a stress management consultant.
Over the years I have noticed that as a culture we have become more and more distanced from one another. I know that technology has something to do with it, but the wedge that has been driven between us has also been driven by the constant fear messages the media fills us with. What if I talk to someone who might stab me if they don�t like the way I look. Or what if I inadvertently touch someone that is riddled with the latest plague? And after all, doesn�t everyone want to simply get where they�re going? They don�t want to take any time to simply have a pleasant chat with a stranger?
How sad not to realize that the world is made up of many fascinating people that could enrich our lives if we simply said �hello.� Just smiling at someone helps create a connection. Unfortunately we are getting so used to looking down at a gadget in the hopes that someone is trying to reach us that we have forgotten how to reach out to those around us. Remember when you�re looking up you see the world, when you look down all you see is the ground.
Author, humorist, PBS star and Fortune 500 trainer Loretta LaRoche lives in Plymouth, Mass. To share your pet peeves, questions or comments, write to The Humor Potential, 50 Court St., Plymouth, MA 02360. Visit her website at www.stressed.com.
Get A Life: The world is full of fascinating people
By Loretta LaRoche


text: What are they good for? Locating articles in both scholarly journals and the popular press on sociological topics. Sociological Abstracts is your best bet if you just want articles from the sociological literature. Be sure to click on the UILink button to locate full text articles. To search for books and articles together, try InfoHawk+.


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Chances are, if you're a woman and a "Real Housewives" fan, you want to trade in your husband for Mauricio Umansky, aka Kyle's tall, dark and handsome real estate entrepreneur baby-daddy. And if Mauricio is not your thing, then you, at least, want to be best friends with Lisa and Ken, the easy, breezy British millionaires, who are shockingly un-annoying... for reality stars. Either way, here's a taste of both: Mauricio's super-luxe website and the page he created for Lisa and Ken's $29M estate.
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|System: PS3*, Xbox 360
|Dev: Team Ninja
|Pub: Tecmo Koei
|Release: September 3, 2013
|Players: 1 (2+ Online)
|Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p
|Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Violence
by Angelo M. D'Argenio
Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate is the third Dead or Alive 5 release to happen within a year. No really, the original Dead or Alive 5 came out less than a year ago, and we are only a few months off of the "ultimate" release for the PS Vita. Sure, it's old fighting-game hat to release multiple versions of the same game over and over again, but this is kind of ridiculous. So what does Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate have that its predecessors don't? What does this version of the game have over the two games we have already paid full price for?
Well, first of all, it has new characters. Ein and Leon return from previous Dead or Alive outings, and Momiji and Rachel have made their way over from Ninja Gaiden. In addition, Jacky Bryant, from Virtua Fighter, has joined Akira, Sarah, and Pai as another guest entry to the roster.
The characters are kind of a hit-and-miss lot. Ein and Leon are practically identical to their previous DOA incarnations, with a few balance tweaks here and there. Fans of both characters will be happy to play as them again, but they are unlikely to make anyone switch from their favorite character. They also don't do much to put a dent in the already well-established Dead or Alive 5 tier list.
Jacky is very reminiscent of his Virtua Fighter 5 incarnation, which is a good or bad thing depending on who you are. While this means that Virtua Fighter players don't have to strain their brain to figure out how to use him, it also means that "punch punch punch parry punch punch punch win" is back and plaguing your Dead or Alive fights now. He plays like a strictly better Jann Lee, which is sure to make a lot of Jann players switch.
Momiji and Rachel are probably the two most interesting character. Rachel moves incredibly slowly, but she's a powerful hitter, which falls in line with her Ninja Gaiden incarnation. It's kind of nice to see a slow-moving female brawler, but she doesn't seem to have the chops to compete with some of the higher-tier characters. Momiji feels a bit like a fusion of all the other ninja characters in the game, and there are a lot of them. There's nothing particularly bad about her, but she doesn't really feel "new."
In addition to new characters, Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate introduces a new move for every member of the cast: the Power Launcher. The Power Launcher is a lot like the Power Blow in that it can only be used once a match, at 50% or less health. However, unlike the Power Blow, which is pretty much useless if you don't have a convenient stage-object to hit your opponent into, the Power Launcher is usable in pretty much any stage. It launches the opponent up ludicrously high, setting up an easy juggle opportunity that can take off huge chunks of your opponent's life. It feels like a little bit of Tekken's juggle system, transplanted over into DOA5.
Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate also comes with a variety of balance changes to help even out the cast. Many Dead or Alive fans may remember that the DOA5 team was religious about fiddling around with balance tweaks to make sure the game would turn out as fair as possible. Well, most of those tweaks are here and then some, and they aren't unnoticed. You won't find easy stun-locks, simple juggles, pseudo infinites, or inescapable throws in DOA5: Ultimate. Unfortunately, these changes aren't really noticeable to anyone but the most hardcore of players. You aren't going to find drastic changes to move-lists or in-game systems here, just a slight refinement of what made the vanilla version of Dead or Alive 5 awesome.
For online warriors, you will be happy to know that tag battles have been added to the game's online suite. Not only that, but tag mechanics have been altered to be more balanced. For example, you can now execute a "snap back"-style attack that forces a damaged opponent back onto the field. Character rankings have been added into the online mode as well, but anyone other than score-obsessed leaderboard climbers will likely ignore them. The netcode has apparently been improved as well, but as of the time of writing, there simply aren't enough people on the game's servers to come to a concrete conclusion.


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Modest in size—one of the marks of mid-century modern design—this Los Angeles bungalow makes up for its stature with beautifully-rendered details and post-and-beam construction. Reclaimed wooden detailing throughout along with plenty of plate glass let in the light and help blur the line between the home and its natural habitat; an expansive deck overlooks the surrounding canyon and stream, which runs directly through the property. Surrounded by fully-mature trees, this home is perfect for the mid-century modern enthusiest with a strong love of nature—and privacy. A real steal at $949,000. View property.
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