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Reserve online or call 01993 824 252
Start your shortlist by clicking on the icon next to any property
Centrally located close to the Par 47 golf these apartments are set around a community pool. From the roof terrace the views are over the Mar Menor and the South golf course. The central location makes Las Palmeras a good choice for easy access to the tennis centre.
This apartment has the charm and style of a typical Spanish villa with white walls and beamed ceiling. It is accessed by 7 steps to the front door. Free wi-fi is included in the price.
The newly fitted kitchen is well equipped with washing machine, microwave, oven, hob and extractor, fridge freezer and coffee machine. The high ceilinged living/dining room with exposed beams is comfortably furnished and complete with TV and DVD/CD player. Patio doors lead to the open terrace with table, chairs and built-in barbeque. From the front of the property external steps lead to the solarium, from where you have great views across the resort.
The three bedrooms all have twin beds which can be made into double beds if preferred. The master bedroom has a safe, and patio doors lead to a balcony. It has an en-suite full bathroom with additional walk-in shower, and twin wash basins. The second bedroom also has an en-suite full bathroom. The third bedroom has use of the separate full bathroom.
From the front of the property, steps lead up to the private solarium from where you have great views across the resort.
Terrace with barbeque and table & chairs, and solarium with great views.
A very well presented apartment in a peaceful but central community.
Please note: Saturday changeovers only in school holidays. Sports rights.


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A man wanted for murder in Philadelphia was caught Thurday at a home north of Middletown by the U.S. Marshals Service with help from Delaware law enforcement officers.
A man wanted for murder in Philadelphia was caught Thursday at a home north of Middletown by the U.S. Marshals Service.
United States Marshal Glen Paul announced the arrest of Amir Talib Miller, 21, in a home on Ann Drive, west of Route 1, just south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
A warrant was issued for his arrest by the Philadelphia Police for homicide. Miller is accused in the shooting death of a 24-year-old man following a fight May 30 inside a lounge along the 2000 block of Dennie Street in the Tioga-Nicetown section of Philadelphia.
Thursday, the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Philadelphia requested the assistance of the U.S. Marshals First State Fugitive Task Force in Delaware, in locating and apprehending Miller.
The First State Fugitive Task Force established surveillance on the 200 block of Ann Drive, north of Middletown, and at about 4:30 p.m., Miller was observed at the residence. Task Force members made contact with the occupants of the residence and after approximately 30 minutes Miller was found hiding inside a basement wall. Miller was taken into custody and transported for a court appearance regarding extradition to Pennsylvania.
The following Task Force agencies assisted with the apprehension of Miller: New Castle County Police, Delaware State Police, Smyrna Police, and Newark Police.
The USMS First State Fugitive Task Force is comprised of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in an effort to locate and apprehend fugitives wanted by or residing in the State of Delaware.

subset: commoncrawl


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EWG develops our annual Sunscreen Guide so you have the information you need to make smarter, healthier choices for yourself and your family. But we count on supporters like you to help fund our research and keep EWG on the cutting edge.
If you donate $10 or more today, we'll send you our Guide to Safer Sunscreens* FREE. This wallet card is filled with tips on how to read sunscreen labels, how to shop smart and other invaluable information.
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If you prefer to send a check, please print this form, fill out, and send to Environmental Working Group, 1436 U St. NW #100, Washington, DC 20009.
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50 students make up Triton's largest Destination ImagiNation group ever
BOURBON — This weekend you have the opportunity to see a preview of Triton students' Destination ImagiNation challenges before the March 9 regional competition.
"The kids are pretty much going to run through what they will do at the regional tournament," said Lisa Eiser, DI coordinator at Triton Schools. "So many people don't understand Destination ImagiNation…we hope that by letting the public see what we do, they will understand it more."
Destination ImagiNation is a creative problem solving program for students in grades K-12. Students solve open-ended challenges and present their solutions to tournaments. The challenges are based in science, technology, the arts, engineering, and math.
"In working to solve our challenges, our teams learn important life skills like time management, collaboration, conflict resolution, and creative and critical thinking," said Eiser. "We have the largest group we've ever had this year — 50 students — and I think people are realizing that these skills sets are important for students to have."
A new challenge was undertaken by a junior and senior high school DI group this year — Project Outreach. Their task is to find a community need and go through the process of meeting that need.
"When the kids began looking at this project and reading the challenge, they felt they wanted to contribute to Bourbon before they left," said Eiser.
The students chose the name Bourbon Community Awareness, Inc. and decided to beautify the community by painting a mural on the side of the Bourbon St. Pizza building downtown. This project will be judged based on a movie that the students will create about the mural. They will also answer questions about the project from a group of judges, or "appraisers."
Eiser hopes many will attend Saturday's open house to see what the students have been working on all year. Most have been practicing more than once a week after school.
"They work all year, and (at the competition) they only have eight minutes to present their challenge," pointed out Eiser.
The open house will take place in the Triton Jr./Sr. High School auditorium at 6 p.m. Saturday. It's open to the public and free of charge.


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PRO+ Premium Content/Storage
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Is storage management software worth it?
This article is part of the Storage issue of Vol. 2 No. 2 April 2003
Last year, an IT manager at a large manufacturing company went through the RFP process to find software to manage several hundred terabytes of mainframe and open systems storage. The winner was management software kingpin BMC. The company's Patrol Storage Manager (PSM) had reaped praise for its innovative application-centric approach. Even after a tough negotiation where the price dropped by nearly a third, BMC walked away with a $2 million deal for PSM and related products. But in February 2003, BMC pulled the plug on PSM, leaving PSM customers with no roadmap for distributed storage management. When the partner stops dancing A storage manager at an unnamed, large manufacturing company was stunned to learn when browsing technology business headlines on the Web that BMC had suddenly killed its Patrol Storage Manager product. The manufacturing company had only purchased the product some months before and had been diligently trying to implement it. In fact, the effort required considerable development work on their part. "We had ...
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Features in this issue
Tape: Alive and full of options
Sure, disk is going down in price, but don't underestimate the value of tape technology. We look at what's available in tape libraries for large-scale backup.
Rolling disaster
Rolling disaster
Picking Up the Pieces from the BMC Debacle
BMC unceremoniously dumped its open systems storage management suite leaving customers in the lurch.
Virtual SANs bring order to chaos
What will Cisco's embedded virtual SAN technology in its new MDS switch line mean to storage managers? For starters, a new way to manage SANs as they spread across the company.
Midrange or high end: what's right for you
While the line is blurring, it's not gone. We look at what really differentiates high-end from midrange storage. And we look at the virtues of combining them.
USC Spurns Usual Tape Suspects
In his role as director of emerging technologies at the University of Southern California (USC), Mike Lin is responsible for storing and backing up between 50TB to 100TB of data, for faculty and students alike.
Intelligence Sprouts in the Storage Network
It's still too early to tell how the fight for the so-called "intelligent switch" market will pan out, but players are slowly starting to reveal what team they're on.
Let the iSCSI Games Begin
From the time the iSCSI specification was ratified by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) this winter, there's been a spate of iSCSI product announcements.
SSPs Move to Bolster Security
Desktop backups don't happen automatically.
Is storage management software worth it?
High prices, deep discounts, expensive deployments, uncertain vendor commitment--what's a storage manager to think? We help decode the confusion that abounds in this market.
SATA drive challenges SCSI functionality
When it comes to disk drives, suitability for enterprise or desktop applications has little to do with the interface, but with the drive's underlying mechanical platform.
Storage managers grapple with Windows
The spread of Windows into ever-more serious applications and the growth of data on Windows servers means that more storage managers are attaching Windows hosts to their SANs. Along with that comes the need to decide whether Windows-based storage management software is the way to go.
Sony Promotes Tape for WORM Archival
Despite its unfortunate name, emerging tape WORM technology could be a real boon to storage administrators now required to archive, for example, e-mail or medical images.
How global companies are consolidating storage.
Learn how international companies are managing their storage globally through data center consolidation.
Mark Your Calendars
With tulips and daffodils also come trade shows. Here's a short list of storage conferences happening this spring.
Columns in this issue
Keep your SAN secure through zoning
Keep your SAN secure through zoning.
Real-world data storage utilization
Stephen Foskett takes a real-world look at how storage is being utilized and the answers are shocking.
Wake-up call for vendors
Wake-up call for vendors
Why won't EMC let us time the DMX against the competition
Storage Bin: Why won't EMC let us time the DMX against the competition?
Will you implement an iSCSI SAN?
Will You Implement an iSCSI SAN?
Controlling storage capacity
Storage capacity is rapidly growing. Here's how to control it. Hint: Storage management software isn't the answer.


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Randy Hulshizer wrote:LaurieG wrote:The Golden Pen Award is the grand prize, chosen from the 1st place winners of each quarter, and announced at the annual awards ceremony.
I think the point is that they usually do not divulge the titles of first place stories until after the Golden Pen winner has been chosen.
Oh, I see your point. I have no idea why they do it that way.


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Fresh Spring Quilts
Choose pastel prints, floral fabric, or spring motifs for a quilt that's perfect for the season. These projects will make your home feel renewed and refreshed (and will add a punch of color!).
Candy Cobblestones [1]
Florals, checks, stripes, and prints dance across the charming throw. Dark pink squares contrast with the subdued candy-stripe sashing rectangles, creating sweet lines between the Nine-Patch blocks set on point.
English Garden [4]
Put a new spin on the traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern by using a variety of modern florals in a summery quilt.
All Things Spring [7]
Use an array of light and dark florals to construct the sweet and subtle double-bed-size quilt. Set on point, color blocks stand out among the sashing strips that create stars where they intersect.
Sew-Easy Scallops [10]
Create a fresh variation of the traditional Log Cabin block. Surrounding each block with simple appliqué pieces gives the blocks a softer, more feminine look.
Pinwheel Flurry [13]
Combine machine appliqué and machine piecing to produce this lively quilt featuring 1930s reproduction prints.
Sunny All Around [16]
A simple Pinwheel block is quite a star when it's surrounded by multiple borders—pieced and plain.
Garden Paths [19]
Floral prints put a fresh spin on a classic Irish Chain. Alternate floral Irish Chain blocks with tone-on-tone print star blocks to create a sense of movement.
Flower Power [22]
Choose a garden-inspired palette of greens, blues, yellows, pinks, and oranges, along with a floral incorporating all those colors, for a springtime masterpiece.
Bee Happy [25]
Fast fusible appliqués stitched atop foundation strips make this buzz-worthy quilt cute as can "bee."
Pastel Party [28]
Make a pretty spring quilt using pastel and floral fabrics. Fussy-cut sashing squares add a seasonal accent.
Flower Crossing [31]
For a fresh take on the classic Endless Squares block, use whimsical floral fabrics in pink and mint, and frame the quilt center with a large-scale floral.
Bunny Patch [34]
Hop to it! Learn an easy spray-starch method to appliqué a cute critter on an egg-shape foundation.
Bright Bits Mini Quilt [37]
Make a bright, spring-inspired table topper using scraps of fabric.
Little Sprouts [40]
An easy appliqué method makes the leaves on this kid-friendly quilt spring to life in no time—we promise!
A Scrappy Romance [43]
Fall in love with this wall hanging featuring pretty pastels and romantic florals. Scrappy 36-Patch blocks and strategic sashing jump off a cream quilt center.
Flower Patches [46]
A scrappy assortment of green, red, and pink florals blooms across this wall hanging. Wide sashing and Four-Patches show off both large and small prints.
Sweet Tweet [49]
Embellish spinning pastel Pinwheel blocks with sweet details—rickrack, buttons, and just a touch of fusible appliqué.
Paisley to Please [52]
A long-time decorating favorite, the paisley pattern is back with updated flair. Show off hand or machine quilting once the simple piecing and appliqué are done.
Quilter's Garden [55]
Frame a fussy-cut fabric piece with a flower appliqué border and Log Cabin blocks. Pinks, oranges, and greens make for a fresh and bright wall hanging.
Wild Hare [58]
Baby rickrack adds playfulness and dimension to this cute, seasonal wall hanging.
Framed Flowers [61]
Sew a flowery springtime wall hanging by fussy-cutting a detail from your favorite big floral print. Fabrics in rich green and red hues add plenty of texture and bright color. A bold print border serves as a modern frame.
Flip & Sew Carrot Table Runner [64]
A carrot table runner is perfect for an Easter table. Strips of orange are an easy way to use up scraps.
Pretty in Pastels Quilt [67]
Use Double-Nine Patch blocks, star blocks, and a sawtooth border all made from pastel fabric in a pretty spring wall hanging.
Scrap Basket [70]
Mix and match fabric scraps in the triangle-squares filling these piled-high baskets. A light background of cream setting squares and triangles adds to the lighthearted look.
Buy this pattern here [71].
Pastel Strip Quilt [73]
Pastel batik rectangles and border are perfect soft touches to a spring quilt.
Pastel Mountains Bed Quilt [76]
A beautiful color palette in crisp, cool colors creates an exquisite bed quilt and matching ensemble of pillows for your spring bed.
Spinning Stars [79]
Careful color placement in the hourglass units in this table topper results in a pink pinwheel at the center of each block.
Spring Garden Wall Hanging [82]
Plant a garden of floral Square-in-a-Square blocks using sweet 1930s reproduction prints. Let white sashing represent the picket fence.
Stars and Sashing Wall Quilt [85]
Aqua, fuschia, and floral prints combine beautifully in this work-of-art wall hanging.
Playful Pastel Throw [88]
Arrange blocks of bright, springtime fabrics to create a nine-block throw with a game-board vibe.
Reproduction Baskets Quilt [91]
Surround basket blocks and a chain block with a scrappy, pieced border.
Spring Bird Appliqué [94]
Make a springtime scene wall hanging in no time using fusible appliqué to assemble the bird, tree, and pear motifs and fussy-cutting the flower pieces.
Scenery Snapshots [97]
Zoom in on favorite prints or fussy-cut designs with this camera-theme wall hanging. The lenses capture different scenes, artistically showcasing various prints.
Poppy Fields [100]
Red and turquoise combine beautifully in a wall hanging that features large floral prints and ample room for extensive quilting in spacious cream print setting squares.
Floral and Paisley Chain Quilt [103]
Use favorite floral fabrics for two-color blocks and setting rectangles that form a chain design.
Take Flight Wall Hanging [106]
Add a pop of color to any room with this bright, vibrant wall hanging. A bird background fabric and a fresh palette of greens and blues bring this piece to life. The brown border ties the different prints together.
Easy Floral Wall Hanging [109]
Sophisticated florals peek through a trellis of cream and green tone-on-tones in this wall hanging.
Gated Garden [112]
Stitch pieced strips and striped fabric into a quilt. Setting the blocks on point allow you to incorporate setting triangles and setting squares for added interest.
Chickens in the Coop [115]
A chicken-wire print background and appliqués in feed sack reproductions combine in a cute kitchen wall hanging.
Floral Double Nine-Patch Quilt [118]
Fussy-cut floral designs to add pizzazz to large Nine-Patch blocks. Small-scale prints and tone-on-tone fabrics add variety to the Double Nine-Patch block.
Painted Petals [121]
Far from a typical flower appliqué quilt, this project uses big prints, abstract floral patterns, and muted, nontraditional colors to make the throw appear as if it were painted.
Lemon Bars [124]
Simple squares and rectangles combine with sashing to create a quick-to-finish springtime maze.
Butterfly Garden [127]
Butterflies dance amid spring flowers on this colorful appliquéd quilt. Take the guesswork out of hand appliqué using an easy-to-follow overlay method to accurately position each pattern piece.
Buy this quilt pattern here [128].
Striking Stars Quilt [130]
Floral prints and pastel colors are the star of this wall hanging.
Fusible Appliqué Bird Pillow [133]
Use flannel scraps to create bird, nest, egg, and berry appliqué pieces. Fuse the pieces to a pieced pillowtop to make a handmade nature scene.
Wild Birds Ornaments [136]
Adorn plush birds with beaded hanging loops. The delightful birds will bring cheer to any season!
Buy Wild Birds pattern here [137].
Avian Table Topper [139]
Showcase fussy-cut bird designs in uneven Nine-Patch blocks and frame them with Flying Geese units in a tabletop quilt.
Pastel Pears Wall Quilt [142]
Combine a fruit shape with pastel floral fabrics to create a well-balanced design. Use the same cream tone-on-tone for the appliqué foundations and the rectangles and Four-Patch units in the pieced blocks to play up the chain effect.
Hen and Flowers Wall Hanging [145]
Use coordinating fabrics to fuse appliqué shapes to a wall quilt that has folk art flair. Tone-on-tones, stripes, and dots add depth to the farmyard scene.
Bunny Folk Art [148]
Create a bunny appliqué wall hanging that you can display year-round with muted greens, tans, and browns.
Spring Baskets [151]
Red, blue, and yellow 1930s reproduction prints have as fresh a look today as they did back then. Combine those primary prints with the classic basket block for a timeless throw.


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It will probably help a lot! Carrying my baby in a sling/carrier has saved my sanity pretty much daily! Even now at 18 months.From what I have read, it seems like it would be best if we hold the baby or at least have the baby attached to us in a carrier for much of the day. Will that help?
Hospitals will have hospital grade pumps, which are fantastic - better suction and way more comfortable. However they are expensive to rent. Professional grade pumps are cheaper, and while they are effective they are often not quite as effective as hospital grade pumps. I think it probably just depends on you budget.One more thing...my husband keeps dissuading me from buying my own pump. He says that the hospital will have pumps that I can rent. Will that be a professional or hospital grade pump? Is it better if I buy my own?


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I have a question about the The Rule of the Stronger of the Two Causes for a Lengthening section.
Assalaamu alaykum
May Allah accept your great work during this beautiful month ameen
I have a question about the The Rule of the Stronger of the Two Causes for a Lengthening section. It says that if both madd wajib mutassil and arid sukoon are reasons for lengthening the same madd then if you lengthen it 6 counts you are only doing arid sukoon but the wajib mutassil is stronger and I thought that the stronger madd prevails then should you only be allowed to do the arid sukoon madd 4 counts and not 6. Or does this section mean: which ever of the madds is the strongest then that is the least amount of counts allowed i.e. you cannot use less counts. I'm confused.
JazakAllahu Khayran for all your help
Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh
Ameen and may Allah accept all the Muslims fasts and righteous deeds.
If we are lengthening six vowels counts in our normal reading and we stop on a word which has both and sharing the medd letter, such as the alif in , is then the strongest because it is similar to a medd laazim when it is lengthened six vowel counts. We know the strongest of all mudood is medd al-laazim, so it is the medd used in this case. Again, this is only if we are lengthening all of our medd 'aaridh six vowel counts in our reading.
Wa iyyaakum.
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For those of you with an interest in cars and who live in the Lichfield area, you might be interested in popping over to Beacon Park this weekend.
I'll be there on the Streetly Motor Club stand, with the Frontera Sport parked next to a Lancia Delta HF Integrale, a MK2 Escort Grp A Rally car, a Peugeot 205 rally car, a Citroen Saxo rally car and a forest spec Lotus Elise rally car.
More info:


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Review | Author Bio | Read an Excerpt
Christin Ditchfield's Bio:
Christin Ditchfield is the host of the syndicated radio program Take It to Heart! heard daily on stations across the United States, Canada, Central and South America. She is a popular conference speaker and author of more than 40 books. Her articles have appeared in numerous national and international magazines, including Focus on the Family, Todays Christian Woman, Sports Spectrum, and Power for Living.
Visit Christin's website at www.takeittoheartradio.com


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Monday, March 31, 2014 - 7:05 am
UNI School of Music Facilities
UNI CMS Camp Musicmania is a multifaceted music and arts camp whose primary purpose is to provide fun and innovative activities that will engage campers in the excitement of exploring singing, dancing, drumming, Orff activities, drama, art, and the Camp Musical Theme "BONES" ! Although the theme of the camp will be "Bones", the production and performance of the actual Musical will be for the older age division (4th-9th grades). The younger age division (K-3rd) will enjoy age appropriate activities that incorporate the same theme... but will have their own parent performance to showcase their talents and share their camp activities. The two separate Age Division performances will be given on Friday. Instructors include UNI Faculty, UNI music, drama, and art education majors, and area music, drama, and art educators. Limited Scholarship monies are available. Early registration is strongly recommended. Registration Deadline: June 1, 2013 Time: Grades K & 3rd: 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Grades 4th - 9th: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Ages: Kindergarten-9th grade (Fall 2013) Cost: K-3 $75. 4-9 $95. Cost includes Camp T-shirt and snacks.


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He smashes Olympic records,he hauls home more gold thanany athlete in history, he inspiresadjectives.
Gather 'round wordsmiths:Thanks to the stunning performanceof Michael Phelps, anamazing accomplishment willnow be known as a "PhelpsianFeat."
Fellow swimmer Aaron Piersolcoined the term, thinking"Spitzian," which used to meanthe same thing, was as passe asMark Spitz's ample '70s mustache.
One could say it's all butPhelpsian, how fast the newword has slipped into the lexicon.
By yesterday morning, theword had produced nearly5,000 Google hits and its ownWikipedia entry.
It's too soon for The GlobalLanguage Monitor, a Texasbasedcompany that tracks languagetrends, to register theword. But Paul JJ Payack, itspresident and "chief word analyst,"considers Phelpsian to be"an excellent word that works."
"It works in the sense that thatother product of Baltimore,Ruth-ian, works," he said. "Ithas a certain, let's say, melodicsound to it. This is unlike Unitas-ian or Ripken-ian or, even,Poe-ian, which come across asboth unfamiliar and nearly unpronounceable."
But before the Beijing gamesend, the dictionary might haveto make room for even moreoriginal words.
Spitz: adj. Something outdated.Such as: Those shoulderpads are so spitz.
Torres v. To excel at somethingone is supposed to be tooold for. (See Dara Torres, who at41 not only earned a spot on theOlympic swim team, but wonthree silver medals.)
Chinese gymnast v. To sneakinto something you're too youngfor. Such as: Johnny totally Chinesegymnastedinto that bar --he's not even close to 21!
Costas v. To overdramatize asituation, usually in a grave toneof voice. Such as: Morgan Freemanhas really costased some ofthose Olympics Visa ads.
Debbie Phelps n. Mom bustingwith pride. Such as: She wassuch a debbiephelps when herdaughter took her first steps.


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Litchfield, Connecticut Teacher Jobs
Looking for Teacher Jobs in Litchfield, Connecticut? See currently available Teacher job openings in Litchfield, Connecticut on teacher.jobs.net . Browse the current listings and fill out job applications.
teacher.jobs.net is the starting point for a job search in any teacher job in Litchfield, Connecticut . We provide job resources for Teacher positions throughout the industry in Litchfield, Connecticut. teacher.jobs.net also provides Teacher jobs listings from around the United States. Job seekers can search and apply for jobs in Teacher by either city or state.
teacher.jobs.net is a teacher job search resource for job seekers in Litchfield, Connecticut. Here you can easily find all Teacher jobs in Litchfield, Connecticut, post a resume, and research your career.
Get started on your teacher job search in Litchfield, Connecticut on teacher.jobs.net today.


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Oh... Wow, I feel dumb. I can't wait to try out the game!
EDIT: I'm just getting started, but here's what I think so far.
1. It seems quite fun. I love the taking damage to level mechanic. It makes for very... interesting gameplay.
2. Does it ever say when you unlock the next level of an area? It seems to me that it is after getting 3 achievements on the previous, but I'm not sure. Also, the dagger upgrades say win abandon hut yielding the dagger. Shouldn't that be wielding?
3. Is there any way to back out once you select an area? I keep accidentally hitting the tutorial...
4. What does "deal damage once" mean for the purposes of bringing the alarm from green to blue? Also, when it says "win secret cave as assassin" does that mean every level?
EDIT: I think I may have beaten the game (so far). Is there anything past the secret cave 5, and the first warrior and assassin challenges? Every unlock seems to need the library, except the forest trail, mage skillchallenge, and tree level three. Also, about the tree level 3--it doesn't seem to count the flags I got for getting all achievements in any given dungeon (found on the light blue tile). Also, another bug, you can switch classes on the class challenges...


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Is Madonna's MDNA Tour Tanking?
There are two opposite opinions and perspectives of how Madonna's upcoming 66-date MDNA world tour, which launches in Tel Aviv next month, is performing, ticket sales-wise. Of course, her business partner Live Nation, with whom she has a $120 million, 360-deal where it profits from all of her revenue streams, says the tour is on track to be one of the biggest of all time. Other sources say its tanking due to aggressively priced tickets. So which is it, since it can't be both?
'MDNA' has been considered a commercial flop, since it sold 359,000 copies its first week in stores and only 19,000 its third. That's an astronomical drop off. The album sold well during its bow as it was offered for free with a ticket purchase and a first week pricing strategy designed to dazzle with its first week tallies. The most expensive tickets top out at $300, which is outrageous in this economy. Since Live Nation is tied into all of her moneymaking endeavors, if the album tanks, the company is affected by that.
"Sales were brisk for the first few days and then they tapered off," a source told The New York Post. "It doesn't mean she won't sell out, but it may take longer than they expected."
However, tour producer Arthur Fogel, chairman of Live Nation Global Touring, refuted the claims. Stats indicate that the overall deal is healthy, since Madge's 2008-2009 Sticky and Sweet tour was the first under her 360 agreement and it grossed $408 million overall. That's not shabby at all. Madonna's tour business is healthy, and is the biggest component of the deal. The first album, only a small part of the deal, may not be hotter than the sun, but the other elements are doing well.
"This tour is completely on track to end up in the top 10 tours of all time, especially considering we haven't put South America or Australia on sale," Fogel said. "To say this tour is not performing is so off base I don't even know what to say. When this tour is said and done, combined with 'Sticky and Sweet,' you're talking $750 million in gross ticket sales. That sounds pretty impressive to me."
Billboard.biz shared these stats: 76 gigs are on sale in North America and Europe combined. More than 1.4 million tickets have been sold, raking in $214 million. The average is $2.7 million per show, which hit stadiums and arenas.
Just because the tour is not totally sold out yet does not mean the death knell for Madonna in the live realm. At all. The European dates have been under a microscope, but the buying patterns are different. Madge's domestic promotion has been strong, bolstered by her Super Bowl appearance.
"She's at the top of her game and she ain't goin' away," Fogel declared.


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I recently found this part of a post on a different forum.
"it's such a festering pile of garbage with consistent, irrelevant and meaningless posts by moronic and despondent teenagers that have the need to speak, even if nobody wants to listen or tries to ignore their absurd rants about pointless things.
can anyone tell me why facebook is so popular and why people like it?
because i, frankly, don't understand why"
Do you agree with this or disagree?
Sailor Candy Moderator
Locked the old one. Please continue.
Tuxedo Mask!!!
"How do you think about it?"
I think you just grammared OP.
I'm naked typing this
What* I think about it is its boring that mite be because I have no one else to talk to....
I don't really like Facebook, although I disagree with the flaming part.
I only interact with about 7 people regularly on it, the rest of the "friends" I keep are for the sole purpose of laughing at their misfortunes.
Is the pizza here yet?
I look at facebook on my phone just to see what people are doing but other then that I rarely use it anymore
Where do you expect us to go when the bombs fall?
depends on how ya utilize it; that's my perspective.
b/c of the criteria i choose to view/post, i enjoy it... in moderation.
the fullmetal pharmacist!
It's good for "staying in touch" with people. I'm especially bad at doing that on my own so Facebook helps, somewhat.. I don't really do much on there, I just accept people's friend requests (rarely lol) and so if they want to talk to me or whatever, they can.. Lol >_<
I apologize in advance for late responses and dropped conversations.
I can tell you from a recent bad experience that Facebook and worklife do NOT mix. Never have coworkers as friends, nor add yourself to any groups remotely related to your job.
By the way, if a manager wants to get into your Facebook bad enough, they will find a way in. I learned it doesn't matter how many privacy settings you had, or if you blocked everyone you work with.
I like it for its convenience. I would have never been able to contact so many of my old friends and still see what they're up to if it wasn't for Facebook. It's also an easy way to connect/gather information on current news topics, companies that I have an interest in, and other stuff.
So, yes. There are "festering piles of garbage" and "pointless rants" like OP has mentioned. You can't help that once that kind of power gets in the hands of immature children, trolls, and feeders. But Facebook has its values too. It all depends on how you use it. If you don't want that stuff showing up in your newsfeed, just get rid of the source and be on your merry way ~ :)
GodWhomIsMike wrote:
I can tell you from a recent bad experience that Facebook and worklife do NOT mix. Never have coworkers as friends, nor add yourself to any groups remotely related to your job.
By the way, if a manager wants to get into your Facebook bad enough, they will find a way in. I learned it doesn't matter how many privacy settings you had, or if you blocked everyone you work with.
So true. Now that I'm starting to look into jobs and internships, I've been keeping my Facebook as clean as I can.
No longer active. Reach me on Skype or Twitter!
It's a good way to stay in touch with people you don't see every day that doesn't require calling/texting them. It's also a good way to communicate with a bunch of friends at once as it's much easier to invite 30 people to a party through facebook than it is to call each of them up individually.
It's also useful for event planning or just generally keeping people you work with up to date on things. Great for businesses as well since it's easier to set up a facebook than it is to set up a website.
Most people only bash facebook because it's popular and they want to feel like they're edgy and rebellious. So pretty much the same reason most people bash everything that's popular.
If I had a type it'd be you, fortunately I don't have a type so please stop.
Well Facebook to me is not to "like" exactly. It's to keep in touch with friends. Not all my friends and their families can pay for multi-networking services(Like a phone AND the web etc).And we more than likely go our different ways in college and transferals from different high schools.
At first I wanted to stay away from it.
But now-I'm grateful to Facebook. I've found some friends I thought I'd never see again.Including someone I really care for and admire. Even all the way back to Gr school.Apparently their were friends that were waiting/hoping for me to create an account.I'm glad they still remember me and wanted to keep in touch. I've only had it 2 years now.I'm guessing that's still inexperience for those who flame it tho.
Facebook is what you make it.I don't necessarily like it. I just depend on it sometimes to keep in touch and talk to friends. I'm not one who care when I get a reply,And I want to make myself available whenever a friend is in need.
P.S. And if you can-hang with your friends instead of IM on FB or other sites do that instead.
I think Facebook is pretty useful, especially when it comes to planning, coordinating, and communicating. It makes it easier to keep up with the various groups and organizations that I'm in, and it's a useful tool that allows me to quickly relay information to large quantities of people. I mainly use my facebook for school and business, but it's also a good tool for finding out what's happening in your area.
I don't really use it as much to socialize with people since I prefer in-person communication. If it weren't for the fact that I have so many people, projects, and events to keep up with, I probably wouldn't have a facebook. Hope this answers your question.
Facebook is boring now. It's dead to me. Used to be fun when you join it and now it's dead. All the sites I've been visiting is dead to me.
Never mind now


text:
There are no Upcoming Shows listed for this comedian.
The Doyle & Debbie Show
About The Doyle and Debbie Show The Doyle and Debbie Show is sublime parody, simultaneously lampooning and idolizing country music's tradition of iconic duos and their subsequent battle of the sexes. Bruce Arntson and Jenny Littleton wield the vocals of vintage country stars and the acting chops of Broadway veterans, taking audiences on a freewheeling joyride through a wickedly funny script and slew of equally hilarious original songs. Over the past three years, Doyle and Debbie have developed a rabid cult following in Nashville, many of whom have seen the show over a dozen times—everyone from theater-going professionals to college students who wouldn't be caught dead in a theater or a country bar. "...a gloriously tacky send-up of a washed-up country duo." - The New York Times "Brilliant". "The last time I laughed anywhere close to this hard was at "The Book of Mormon." "...hilarious. Drop-dead funny." - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune "90 minutes of goofy perfection — clever, hilarious, wacky and brilliantly performed..." Chicago Sun-Times "Bruce Arntson and Jenny Littleton are nothing short of fabulous" - Chicago Reader "...hilarious piece of low-brow inspiration turned into high entertainment." - Nashville Scene "The Doyle and Debbie Show is a brilliant musical revue that should be seen more than once." - The Tennessean "It is akin to George and Tammy doing a night at the Grand Ol' Opry - only on mescaline." - Austin Onstage "It's hilarious in the manner of Spinal Tap's tour in the mockumentary and just as spot-on in satirizing a musical genre's styles and sensibilities (or lack thereof)." - Austin Chronicle "Bruce Arntson (Doyle), who wrote or co-wrote the songs, and Jenny Littleton (Debbie) inhabit their characters with near-creepy perfection." - Austin American-Statesman "Littleton has a terrific voice that can evoke everyone from Patsy Cline to Dolly Parton." - The City Paper "Littleton and Arntson have breathtaking singing and acting talents." - The Tennessean "Arntson appears here with train-wreck curiosity, wondering just how deeply he'll dare to venture into his psychological black hole." - Nashville Scene "Littleton is talented as usual, using her coyly flexible voice to solid comic effect even when she's singing things straight-ahead. Arntson is often flat-out brilliant, inhabiting his frighteningly lifelike character with a passion and intensity worthy of the country entertainers he lampoons. His tongue-twisting delivery of the show's closing number is masterful." - Nashville Scene "In its raising of lowbrow Southern culture to the level of something approaching art, "Doyle and Debbie" can be enjoyed on more than one level, but the songs put it way over the top. In a good way." - Austin American Statesman "The Doyle & Debbie Show is like Spinal Tap with a twang, and it manages to tweak and tickle without ever denigrating country music." - Peter Cooper - The Tennessean "A great script, supremely clever songs and two extraordinarily talented performers make this show worth seeing again and again." - The Tennessean "It's the greatest thing I've ever seen!" - David Auburn, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning author of "Proof". "I laughed so hard I thought I was going to throw up. And I don't laugh very easily...I'm very critical. But 'Doyle and Debbie' is so funny it's worth getting on a plane to see." - Ron White, comedian
The Doyle & Debbie Show's Upcoming Shows
The Doyle & Debbie Show is Known For


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Mohali: Their campaign back on track after the 43-run win over Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid has said that opposition teams would be making a big mistake by taking side lightly in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
"I think we have shown in this competition that we are a team to be taken seriously even though not many people have given us much of a chance this time," Dravid said at the post-match press conference after beating Kings XI here last night.
Rajasthan is presently lying fifth in the standings with 10 points from 11 games, but Dravid is optimistic about his team making it to the play offs.
"We are underdogs in most games, but we like being that. We play good cricket and we have shown that in this competition, except for the last game against Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur. Every game we have been competitive and we have fought till the end. With five games to go, I hope we can get a bit of a roll here and hopefully, we can qualify for the eliminator," he said.
The win against Kings XI would act as a big morale booster for Jaipur outfit, who came on to yesterday`s game low on confidence after four defeats on the trot.
"We knew if we had lost this game, we would have made the task very difficult for ourselves. So, its nice to win a game and get back into the middle of the table. But it`s going to be tough from here. A lot of big teams are out there, much bigger names than us, but we are in that stage of the tournament where we are still in with a fighting chance," Dravid said.
Dravid made 46 while Australian all-rounder Shane Watson hit a 17-ball 36-run cameo and also picked up two wickets to help Rajasthan`s cause against Kings XI.
Dravid also said that Shuan Tait and Watson`s inclusion in the playing eleven has brought the much-needed balance in their bowling attack.
"We played Shaun Tait and Shane Watson and that showed in our bowling performance. But bowling is an area where we need to keep improving because our batting is quite strong and lot of guys are in good form for us," he said.
He said that Kevin Cooper`s injury had opened up a slot for Tait in the playing eleven.
"We can play only four foreigners, its not easy. Today we had to drop Owais Shah, who is in such good form to get in Tait. So its not an easy thing to do. We had to drop Brad Hogg, who has probably been the highest wicket-taker for us in the competition," Dravid added.
Dravid also said that fielding is one area where they need to work harder after his fielders dropped three relatively easy catches yesterday.
"The lights here in Mohali are quite low. But this (fielding) is an area where we can work on, go back and practice under the lights. I think it was a very good performance except for those couple of blemishes on the field."
Asked about his own form, the former India cricketer said, "I am really enjoying the way I have been batting this season. I think me and Ajinkya Rahane have been giving the team some good starts. He (Rahane) has been batting sensational this season. Our partnerships have been crucial to the team`s success so far."
"I think in the first six overs, Rajasthan Royals has scored more runs than any other team than Delhi Daredevils. I am pleased with the way we are going. I just try to play good cricketing shots. I have been timing the ball really well," he said.


text:
Make America Great Again
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Springpatch
Casino cash: $33532
Mock (3/28/13)
Let's break up the monotony at 1.1 a little, here.
1. The Chiefs extend Branden Albert for five years, $40m.
2. The Chiefs are unable to trade down.
On with the show:
1.1: DE Star Lotulelei, Utah
The Chiefs do not need a left tackle anymore only if Branden Albert signs long term, which has happened in this hypothetical. The Chiefs also are not impressed with Geno Smith, which we all know they aren't. They have put up tons of interest in the two edge rushers atop this draft, but neither is 1st overall caliber. That leaves Sharrif Floyd and Lotulelei, who is clearly the superior player as long as he checks out.
So this pick is one of those two players. If Lotulelei medically checks out, which I'm assuming he will, he's the guy. If not, the Chiefs would opt for Floyd.
Tyson Jackson is in his last year as a Chief. The team needs to fortify the trenches anyway, and Lotulelei is a penetrating, pocket-pushing machine. He is perfect for the 1-gap DE position, and can play NT in a pinch.
3.63: WR Aaron Dobson, Marshall
The Chiefs WR corps has vastly improved from the days of Samie Parker and Mark Bradley, but neither Donnie Avery or Jonathan Baldwin jump off the screen as #2 starters, yet. Even if they did, the Chiefs need more hands downfield. Dobson is the route-runner Baldwin may never be, and has the glue-hands that Avery's never had. Dobson absolutely reeks of potential, and if he survives to our 3(a) pick, he needs to be on the card.
3.96: OLB Brandon Jenkins, Florida State
Tamba Hali may be in his last year of Chief-hood if the team can't get him to restructure, and the Chiefs are thin at passrusher anyway. Jenkins is a great talent that has put up solid sack numbers comparable to Justin Houston. He's basically a straight edge rusher, however, and that makes him a great compliment to the more all-around talents of Houston, and a natural replacement for Hali should the team elect to lose him.
4.99: C Brian Schwenke, California
Schwenke is a pretty versatile guy but his natural position is center. The Chiefs, even after losing Eric Winston, are loaded at tackle. Donald Stephenson, Geoff Schwartz, and Jeff Allen all have experience there. The experience at center, however, especially considering how close to not recovery Rodney Hudson is, is suspect. Schwenke is a multiple year starter and could serve as a Day One plug.
5.134: ILB Nico Johnson, Alabama
There are a number of ILBs in this draft that are quality midround talent. For certain, one of them will be available atop the 5th round. This pick could easily be Jelani Jenkins or Kevin Reddick or A.J. Klein.
6.170: S Prentiss Waggner, Tennessee
Waggner is a physical specimen who can play both corner and safety. But his length and speed is a natural fit for free safety, though he will need a year or two to learn the position precisely how Andy Reid wants it played.
6.204: RB Jawan Jamison, Rutgers
A lunchpail workhorse at the RB position, Jamison carried Rutgers offense most of the year. He's not as big as most workhorses, and he's not as fast as most speedsters. He's a tweener in that regard, but he fits the two or three late-round RBs Andy Reid's taken before. A hard worker, some explosion, and a nose for the endzone.
7.207: TE Lucas Reed, New Mexico
Reed is a project TE that has a great deal of promise as an athletic receiving TE. I'm willing to bet this is Tony Moeaki's last year of being a Chief, so bolstering this position where we can is a good idea.
Posts: 54,097
Make America Great Again
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Springpatch
Casino cash: $33532
QB: Smith, Daniel, Stanzi
RB: Charles, Gray, Droughn, Jamison
FB: D'Imperio
WR: Bowe, Dobson, Avery, McCluster, Baldwin
TE: Moeaki, Fasano, Reed
LT: Albert, Stephenson
LG: Allen, Schwenke
C: Hudson, Schwenke
RG: Asamoah, Schwartz
RT: Stephenson, Schwartz
DE: DeVito, Bailey
NT: Poe, Powe, Toribio
DE: Jackson, Lotulelei
OLB: Hali, Jones
ILB: Johnson, Sturdivant
ILB: Johnson, Greenwood
OLB: Houston, Jenkins
CB: Flowers, Smith, Robinson, Arenas, Menzie
S: Berry, Abdullah, Lewis, Waggner
K: Succop
P: Colquitt
LS: Gafford
Posts: 54,097
We ain't stopping! Bury 'em.
Join Date: Dec 2006
Casino cash: $54114
OMG.....a 1st round pick that doesn't start!??!!?
Posts: 66,538
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Sydney, Australia
Casino cash: $8601
Posts: 12,630
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The Transporter Refueled
The Divergent Series: Allegiant
Big Game
The Divergent Series: Insurgent
Thor: The Dark World
Jayne Mansfield's Car
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
The Three Musketeers
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- Morning by Morning
- The strength of Joy
- Beauty from Ugliness
- Cheerful Givers
- Tithing
- Tithing Abundantly
- "My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O Lord" Psalm 5:3
- "He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much" Luke 16:10
- "That … remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations … and, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you" Luke 24:47, 49
- "A man that hath friend must shew himself friendly" Prov. 18:24
- "Ye have taken away my gods which I have made … and what have I more?" Judges 18:24
- "How full of tenderness and pity the Lord is" James 5:11 "Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted" Eph. 4:32
- "I pray ... that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil one" John 17:15
- "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart" Prov. 3:5
- "I will fear no evil" Psalm 23:4
- "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me" Gen. 32:26
- "I have trusted also in the Lord without wavering" Psalm 26:1
- "It is the voice of my Beloved" Song of Solomon 5:2
- "I would have you to be free from cares" 1Cor. 7:32
- "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" 1 Cor. 9:22
- "Have faith in God" Mark 11:22
- "They … searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so" Acts. 17:11
- "Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" Gal. 3:3
- "He walked with Me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity" Mal. 2:6
- "The disciples … said … Send them away … He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat" Mark 6:35-37
- "No longer I" Gal. 2:20
- "No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward…" Heb. 12:11
- "I AM THE LORD THAT HEALETH THEE." Ex. 15:26
- "I receive not honour from men." John 5:41
- "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh…let us draw near." Heb. 10:19-22
- "Go work today in My vineyard." Matt. 21:28
- "Thy Word is truth." John 17:17
- "Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore…" Matt. 28:18,19
- "God… which worketh for him that waiteth for Him." Isa. 64:4
- "Be filled with the Spirit." Eph. 5:18
- "Jesus said unto him, no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62
- "Truly my soul waiteth upon God." Psalm 62:1
- "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly." 1 Thess. 5:23
- "Come ye yourselves apart and rest a while." Mark 6:31
- "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter." John 14:16
- "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." Eph. 6:18
- "Thy gentleness hath made me great." Psalm 18:35
- "We love Him, because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19
- "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." 1 Sam. 3:9
- "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly." Col. 3:16
- "Unto you therefore which believe He is precious." 1 Peter 2:7
- "I have hated the congregation of evil doers." Psalm 26:5
- "Seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" Heb 7:25
- "Be clothed with humility" 1Pet 5:5
- "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; LOOK NOT AROUND THEE, for I am thy GOD: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness." (Isa.41:10)
Are You Saved?
If you were to die today are you 100% sure you would go to HEAVEN?
Things... that will NOT save your soul!
Read more about:
Assurance of Salvation.
Are you Born Again?
Hoe om Wedergebore te word.
I'd rather see a sermon..
I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day,
I'd rather one would walk with me than merely show the way;
The eye's a better pupil, more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear;
The best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds,
For to see good put in action is what everybody needs;
I soon can learn to do it if you'll let me see it done,
I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run;
The lectures you deliver may be very wise and true,
But I'd rather get my lessons by observing what you do;
I may not understand the high advice that you may give,
But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.
Latest Sermons:
On the subject of:
|Salvation /
|Holiness /
|Christ's Return /Wederkoms
Jesus die Enigste Weg
Lewende Water
Die Eenvoud van die Evangelie
Ware en Valse Bekering
Lewe van Heiligheid
Die Roeping - Heiligmaking
Die Skoonheid wat in ons lewe moet wees
'n Rein hart vervul met die Heilige Gees
|Die Antichris
Die False Profeet
Redes vir die Wegraping
7 Joodse Feeste
Die Bruilof van die Lam
(Johan Malan)


text:
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1986 Cal Ripken Jr. Pro-Model Bat
Starting Bid - $300, Sold For - $1,528
This Cal Ripken Jr. Louisville Slugger model "P72" transition-year bat was produced from 1985 Louisville Slugger bat stock, but actually shipped to Ripken in 1986. Factory records indicate that the only order of model "P72" bats ever shipped to Ripken during his playing career, that are consistent with the specifications of the offered bat, occurred precisely on 2/17/86. Although shipped in 1986, the bat was actually produced from 1985 stock, as defined by the barrel stamping and the fact that Ripken's facsimile signature is foil stamped on the barrel. The bat is not cracked and displays heavy use including ball marks, deeply embedded stitch marks, rack and cleat marks, pine tar, and grain swelling. Ripken's uniform number ("8") is written on the knob in silver marker. Ripken, of course, played in all 162 games in 1986, finishing the year with 25 home runs, 81 RBI, and a .282 average. In addition to breaking Lou Gehrig's long-standing record for consecutive games played, Ripken also won two MVP Awards and is one of only a few players to total 400 or more home runs and 3,000 or more hits in his career. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2007. Length: 33.5 inches. Weight: 34.1 ounces. Graded A8.5 by MEARS (5 point base grade, plus 2 points for use, 1 point for the uniform number on the knob, and a half point for the pinpointed factory record). Although this is one of twenty-five Cal Ripken Jr. bats listed in the MEARS census, it is one of only three graded at this level, with only four graded higher (all higher-graded examples are A9). LOA from Troy Kinunen/MEARS. Reserve $300. Estimate $500/$1,000. SOLD FOR $1,528
(Click the smaller thumbnails to the left and right (if any) to cycle through each photo in the gallery of images for this lot.)


text:
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Posted: 2018-01-26 10:08:20
Closing Date: 2018-02-11
Reference: NWW
Type: Reception
Contract: Permanent
Salary: (Under 21 NMW) (Over 21 £7.50) per hour
Location: Norwich West, NR5 0JS, East Anglia
Working for the Bannatyne Group is more than just a job. Here at Bannatyne we are dedicated to well-being and are always seeking energetic, personable people to join our teams. With Company benefits including full use of the health club facilities and discounts to products and services including our luxury spa treatments. We offer a Cycle to work scheme alongside many high street store discounts and are committed to people development whichever level of experience you enter the organisation at, ensuring every employee has the opportunity to be the best they can be.
Club environments are both exciting and enjoyable.
Front of House Assistant- 40 hours per week ( Including evenings & weekends) Early & Late shifts
Bannatyne's Health Club require a Front of house assistant that will complement the existing dynamic and motivated Reception team. As this position is Front of House you will need to possess a very outgoing personality and you will be able to work under pressure.
Key skills that would benefit an applicant would be computer literacy, cash handling and dealing with face to face enquiries. As part of our service requirement you will be expected to work shifts that will include evenings and weekends.
In return we will provide you with an exciting and rewarding working environment that will motivate and reward you.
Rewards & Benefits:
30% staff discount on treatments 20% on products, meals & overnight hotel stays at any four of the Bannatyne Hotels.
My Benefits Scheme - including Cycle to work, childcare vouchers & High street savings.
Free gym membership.
Health Assured Employee Assistance Programme (Free 24 hr personal support service)
Career development opportunities.
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text:
Improve Performance at the Aggregation Level
You can improve OLAP performance when you set a cube's aggregation level. When you build a cube, you set the aggregation level according to the desired speedup in processing queries. (Speedup describes how much faster queries run with precreated aggregations than without aggregations.) The system estimates the speedup based on the I/O amount that the system requires to respond to queries. The total possible number of aggregations is the product of the number of members from each dimension. For example, if a cube has two dimensions and each dimension has three members, then the total possible number of aggregations is 9 (3 x 3). In a typical cube, the number of aggregations possible is extremely large, so calculating all of them in advance isn't desirable because of the required storage space and the time it takes to create the aggregations. Imagine a cube with four dimensions, each with 10,000 members. The total possible number of aggregations is 1016. When you tell SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services to calculate aggregations for a 20 percent speedup, OLAP Services picks key aggregations (which are distributed across the cube) to minimize the time required to determine any other aggregations at query time.
Using Children to Automatically Update Products
Let's say you want to write an MDX query that shows sales for all hot beverage products for each month of the year. That task sounds simple enough, but what if you add and remove products from your product list each month? How would you write the query so you don't have to update it every time you update your list of products? Here's a trick to help: Use the descendants or children function. The example query that Listing 1 shows uses both of these functions. Try running Listing 1's query in the MDX Sample program. The descendants and children functions are powerful.
Saving DTS Information to a Repository
To save Data Transformation Services (DTS) information into the Microsoft Repository, choose SQL Server Repository as the location for saving the package. Then, use the Advanced tab on the Package Properties to set the scanning options, which Figure 1 shows. Doing so causes DTS to call the OLE DB scanner to load all source and target catalogs into the Repository. If you don't set the scanning options, DTS creates DTS Local Catalogs as the reference for all source and target catalogs, which can make locating the databases impossible. Each subsequent save replicates this reference, so you can't keep comments and other descriptive information updated.
You can run into problems when you try to save certain DTS transformations to a repository. If you use a script to perform a simple transformation and you choose the source columns explicitly (not from a query), all the transformation data is captured, as you can see in the transformation model in "The Open Information Model," March 2000, InstantDoc ID 8060. If you choose a query as the transformation source, that source becomes objects that aren't part of the OLE DB imported data. This choice makes following the connection back to the true source objects difficult. Also, the query isn't parsed to create a connection between the query columns and the columns you select the data from. So in many cases, the connection between source and target is available, but in some, it isn't. You can solve these problems by writing a program to resolve the references in a repository or by using a custom model along with the DTS model to store the source target mappings.
Intelligent Business
I knew nothing about business intelligence (BI) until I sat through a session about a new feature tentatively called the d-cube (for data cube) during the developer's conference several years ago for the beta version of SQL Server 7.0 (code-named Sphinx). The d-cube feature appeared in SQL Server 7.0 as OLAP Services, which evolved into Analysis Services in SQL Server 2000. At the time, I was sure that OLAP Services would immediately revolutionize the database world. In a nutshell, Microsoft's BI tools are all about letting the right people ask the right questions at the right time, then applying the answers to achieve competitive advantage. You'd think everyone would be using OLAP by now, but most organizations haven't yet applied modern OLAP techniques to their decision making. In fact, many still have no idea what OLAP is. The adoption of BI as a mainstream approach to problem solving has been much slower than I originally anticipated. However, I believe that the adoption rate is beginning to pick up and that more companies will embrace BI for competitive advantage. After all, who doesn't want to make better decisions?
I firmly believe that Analysis Services is an opportunity-packed specialty for SQL Server professionals, and I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I'm not going to let my core skills in SQL Server development rust away, but I do plan to spend most of my R&D time this year focusing on becoming a hard-core Analysis Services expert. Implementing successful OLAP solutions can have a tremendous impact on your client's bottom line, which is fulfilling for a database professional. But most important, I think the demand for skilled Analysis Services engineers will far exceed the supply, which is great for my wallet.
I've found that learning the basics of Analysis Services is relatively simple. The hardest tasks to master are modeling data multidimensionally (you'll need to forget many of the database-normalization lessons you've learned over the years) and using MDX to query the data (MDX is a rich query language, but it's much harder to learn and master than SQL).
You'll need to start somewhere if you're intent on becoming an Analysis Services pro. I suggest you start by attempting to master MDX. As the market for Analysis Services experts grows, the demand for your skills is sure to follow.
Techniques for Creating Custom Aggregations
Custom rollup techniques can solve a variety of problems, but a couple of alternative techniques also let you create custom aggregations. For example, if you need to define an algorithm for aggregating one or more measures across all dimensions but the basic Analysis Services aggregation types won't do, you can use either a calculated member in the measure's dimension or a calculated cell formula that you limit to one measure. Both of these techniques are powerful because you use MDX formulas, which are flexible and extensive, to define them. Calculated cells are possibly the most powerful custom aggregation tool because they control the way existing (noncalculated) dimension members are evaluated and you can limit their effects to almost any subset of a cube. (For more information about calculated cells, see "The Power of Calculated Cells," November 2000, InstantDoc ID 15525.)
Using Loaded Measures to Customize Aggregations
A common technique for customizing the way you aggregate a measure is to define a calculated measure based on a loaded measure, then hide the loaded measure. For example, you might aggregate a Sales measure as a sum, but in two dimensions, you want to aggregate the measure as an average. In the measure definition, you can specify that a measure be named TempSales and be loaded directly from the Sales column in the fact table. You can mark this measure as hidden so that it's invisible to OLAP client applications; then, you can use TempSales in a calculation without TempSales being available to your analysis users. You can then use Analysis Manager to create a new calculated measure named Sales that will return the unmodified TempSales value except when you want the value to be an average of TempSales.
This technique of creating calculated measures and hiding loaded measures is common in SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services implementations because OLAP Services doesn't support calculated cells or custom rollup techniques. However, calculated measures in both SQL Server 2000 and 7.0 have several drawbacks. For example, you can't use calculated measures when writing back to cube cells. One reason Analysis Services and OLAP Services won't let you write back to a calculated measure is that a calculated measure doesn't map directly back to a column in the fact table, so Analysis Services doesn't know which loaded measure to modify.
Consequently, calculated cells aren't particularly useful in budgeting or modeling applications. Another drawback of calculated members is that you can't use them with the MDX AGGREGATE function. The AGGREGATE function is a common MDX function that you use to aggregate a set of members or tuples. The measure you identify in the set determines the aggregation method that the AGGREGATE function uses. If you use a calculated measure in the set, Analysis Services (and OLAP Services) can't determine the aggregation method, so the AGGREGATE function fails. If you use a technique such as calculated cells to modify a measure's aggregation, the AGGREGATE function works because it is based on the measure's defined aggregation method.
Caution: Large Dimensions Ahead
Be very careful when dealing with dimensions. Look before you leap into Analysis Services' very large dimension feature, which places large dimensions into a separate memory space. This feature is buggy, so avoid it. Also be careful with Relational OLAP (ROLAP) dimensions, which the server reads into memory as needed at runtime. Because you can place a ROLAP dimension only into a ROLAP cube, performance will suffer mightily. In theory, ROLAP mode supports larger dimensions, but it's non-functional in my experience.
Decoding MDX Secrets
I joked in the December 2000 issue that I wished I knew some super-secret MDX command to help solve the problem of creating virtual dimensions on the fly. Well, believe it or not, an MDX function that was undocumented in the initial release of Analysis Services provides a great solution to this problem. The MDX function is CreatePropertySet()—you use it to create a group of calculated members, one for each member-property value. The query that Listing 2 shows, which creates a group of calculated members that are children of the All Store Type member in the FoodMart Sales cube, is a simple example of how to use this function. The query creates one calculated member for each unique Member Card property value for the members of the Customers Name level. The query creates a new set, CardTypes, with the new calculated members and displays it on the rows of the result. Figure 2 shows the query's result set.
Improve Cube Processing by Creating a Time Dimension Table
Some people create a view from the fact table by using the syntax
SELECT \[Fact_Table\].\[Date\] FROM \[Fact_Table\] GROUP BY \[Fact_Table\].\[Date\]
and use the view as a source for the Time dimension. This method has a couple of drawbacks. First, it's inefficient: The fact table is usually much bigger than the dimension table, and accessing a view of the fact table is the same as accessing the underlying base table. Another disadvantage of using the fact table as a source for the Time dimension is that the dimension won't contain a date that had no activity. Thus, this method can create gaps in the dimension sequence by skipping weekends, holidays, and so on. If you want these gaps, remember to exclude irrelevant dates from your Time dimension table.
A better way to create a Time dimension is to create a special Time dimension table in your data warehouse to hold all relevant dates. Simply create the table in Microsoft Excel, then use Data Transformation Services (DTS) to import the table into the data warehouse. This approach to creating a Time dimension significantly improves dimension and cube processing because you don't need to query the fact table to get the Time dimension members. And if the table's date field is of any time data type (e.g., smalldatetime), Analysis Services' and OLAP Services' Dimension Wizard, which you use to create dimensions, detects that the dimension could be a Time dimension and prompts you to confirm its choice, as Figure 3 shows. After you confirm that the dimension is a Time dimension, the Dimension Wizard helps you create the Time dimension's levels (e.g., Year, Quarter, Month, Day), as Figure 4 shows. You can also define the first day and month of the year; the default is January 1.
Transforming Data with DTS
Data Transformation Services (DTS) is widely used as a SQL Server data-transfer tool, but in addition to simple data transfer, DTS offers the ability to perform data transformations to the data you're transferring. The ability to perform data transformations makes DTS more versatile than most other data-transfer tools. DTS's transformations let it perform a variety of tasks that would otherwise require custom programming. For example, by using DTS transformations, you can perform simple conversions such as converting a set of numeric codes into alphabetic codes. Or you can perform more sophisticated jobs such as turning one row into multiple rows or validating and extracting data from other database files as the transformation executes.
DTS transformations are row-by-row transactions, and as such, they add overhead to the transfer process. The amount of added overhead depends mainly on how much work the transformation script must perform. Simple data conversion adds negligible overhead, while more involved transformations that require accessing other database tables add significantly more overhead.
To add a custom transformation to a DTS package, click the Transform button on the Select Source Tables and Views dialog box; you'll see the Column Mappings, Transformations, and Constraints dialog box open. Then, click the Transformations tab to display the Edit Script dialog box, which contains a VBScript template that by default includes code that copies the source columns to the destination columns. You can freely modify this template to create your own custom transformations.
The code in Listing 3 shows how DTS converts the values in the column named CHGCOD from a numeric code in the source database to an alpha code in the target database. You can see that the code tests the CHGCOD column to see whether it's equal to a 1, 2, or 3. If the code finds a 1, it writes an A to the destination table. If the code finds a 2 or 3, it writes a B or C (respectively) to the destination column. The code writes a D to the target column if it finds any other value.
Supporting Disconnected Users
A common shortcoming of analytic applications is that they can't support mobile or disconnected users. Because analytic applications are complex, developers move more application functionality to Web browser–based UIs, which use dynamic HTML (DHTML) and JScript to minimize the amount of application code that workstations download. Unfortunately, disconnected workstations (e.g., laptops) can't run this limited code without a network connection. Because I'm one of those mobile users, I appreciate applications that I can use whether or not I'm connected. The number of users like me is growing; more workers in the enterprise are using laptops instead of desktop computers. Managers, especially, rely on mobility, and they're heavy consumers of analytic applications. To support disconnected users, developers need to enable users to take part or all of an application with them.
I don't have a solution that will make a fancy DHTML Web application run well on a disconnected laptop. But I can tell you about a new feature in SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services that makes supporting disconnected users easier: local-cube Data Definition Language. DDL provides a simple way to create local-cube files in Analysis Services through MDX. These local-cube files let you put part or all of the data from a server-based cube onto a laptop. You can then use the local-cube file to perform the same analysis that you could if you were connected to the OLAP server on a network. To create a local cube without this new MDX syntax, you must construct a verbose SQL-like statement and pass it to ADO through a connection string.
Local-cube DDL is superior to the old connection-string method for three reasons. First, the shortcuts in the DDL syntax make using it simpler than repeating all the details of the server-based cube to create a local cube with the same dimension structures. Second, most OLAP applications don't give users the ability to customize the connection string to the required degree, so developers created custom applications to provide the CREATECUBE functionality. Third, a variation of the new DDL can create session- scoped temporary cubes
Dependency Risk Analysis
Many businesses use a type of analysis called dependency risk analysis. This type of analysis determines whether one group of items in your business (e.g., products) is overly dependent on just one item of another group (e.g., customers). Retailers describe an overly dependent item as at risk. For example, you might want to find out which products depend most on a single customer. To answer this question, you need to find what percentage of total store sales for each product comes from a single customer. To test yourself, find the top 10 highest risk products, and show the percentage and amount of the product's sales that are at risk.
Listing 4 shows a query that defines two new measures. One measure calculates the total of Store Sales for the selected product (e.g., you might want to find the total sales to that product's top customer). The other measure calculates the percentage of the product's total sales that's at risk. The MDX query in Listing 4 uses the PercentAtRisk measure to find the 10 products with the highest percentage of Store Sales at risk. The query then displays both the amount at risk and percentage at risk for each of the top 10 products.
Choosing the Right Client for the Task
The lessons our development team learned from building a Web-based analysis system can provide a valuable guide for deploying OLAP solutions in an enterprise. Microsoft Excel provides a capable, familiar client that you can deploy in a LAN but requires realtime connectivity to the OLAP server. Office Web Components (OWC) works well for deploying an Analysis Services client in an intranet because you can easily control the client platform and open ports securely in an intranet. The Analysis Services Thin Web Client Browser provides a good Internet solution when firewalls are in place and you want minimal impact on the user OS. For any development project, you need to understand the business requirements and needs of the people who will use the products you develop. By outlining requirements and weighing all the options, you can discover the right solution to satisfy your client's requirements.
Using Access as a Data Source
To analyze a relational data source, you need to first publish it as a data source in the Windows 2000 or Windows NT environment by establishing a data source name (DSN). To set up Microsoft Access as a data source, start by accessing the Data Sources (ODBC) settings in Windows NT through the Start menu under Settings, Control Panel. In Windows 2000, choose Start, Settings, Administrative Tools. Double-click to open the Data Sources (ODBC), then select the System DSN tab. Click Add; in the Create New Data Source window, select Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb). Click Finish to display the ODBC Microsoft Access Setup dialog box. Under Data Source Name, enter the name you choose for your Access data source. In the Setup Wizard's Database section, click Select. In the Select Database dialog box, browse to find the database, select it, then click OK. To finish the source-data selection sequence, click OK in the ODBC Microsoft Access Setup and the ODBC Data Source Administrator dialog boxes.
Calculating Utilization
One of the most common measurements of group or individual performance in a consulting agency is utilization. Decision makers in consulting groups calculate utilization by dividing the total number of hours billed by the total number of business hours available (e.g., 8 hours for each business day). Having a high percentage of utilization is good because it means you're effectively deploying available resources to generate revenue. You can use the cube structure that Figure 5, page 42, shows to create the MDX for a measure that calculates utilization for a selected employee and time period. The query in Listing 5, page 42, calculates utilization as a percentage of hours worked. The meat of the formula is in the definition of the calculated measure, AvailableHours. AvailableHours multiplies the number of work days in the selected time period by 8 hours. You get the total number of work days by eliminating weekend days and holidays from the total number of calendar days. The Utilization measure then divides the total work hours by the available work hours to get a percentage. The result is a percentage that can be more than 100 percent if the average number of work hours exceeds 8 hours per day.
Use Member Properties Judiciously
When you start up the OLAP server, the server loads every dimension—including member keys, names, and member properties—into server memory. Because Analysis Services is limited to 3GB of RAM, this is one of the primary bottlenecks for enterprise-scale deployments. For this reason, limit member properties to the bare essentials, particularly when the level has lots of members.
Get Level Names Right from the Get-Go
When you first build a dimension, level names default to the same names as the column names in the dimension table (except that Analysis Manager replaces special characters with spaces). This means that you wind up with level names like Cust Code, or worse. Then, after the cube is processed, you can't change the level names without reprocessing the dimension, which in turn requires that you reprocess the cube. Because it's painful to rename levels after the cube is processed, many cubes go into production with frighteningly cryptic level names. To compound matters, MDX formulas are often written with dependencies on the unfriendly level names, adding another hurdle to the level-rename task. Cubes are supposed to be easily usable right out of the box, so avoid this pitfall by getting the level names right from the beginning. As soon as you build a dimension, change the default level names to user-friendly names before placing the dimension into the cube.
Aggregating a Selected Group of Members
Sometimes you need to aggregate a group of dimension members for one query. For example, suppose you want to return Unit Sales for the quarters of 1997 for each product family. The solution is easy. But what if you want to run the same query for only the customers in California and Oregon, leaving out Washington? This is a common problem with a simple solution. All you have to do is create a calculated member that aggregates California and Oregon, and select that calculated member in the WHERE clause, as Listing 7 shows.
The Aggregate function aggregates the set of members passed to it and uses the Aggregation method defined for the member's dimension. In this case, the Customers dimension is aggregated with a Sum function that we defined in the OLAP Manager when we built the cube, so the new dimension member \[CA-OR\] is the sum of \[CA\] and \[OR\].
This tip is useful, but be careful. Performance can suffer if you use aggregation heavily in the WHERE clause. If you have a common alternative aggregation, you might be better off creating a second hierarchy for your dimension.
Determining the Percentage of a Product's Contribution
A common business problem is determining percentage of contribution to a group. For example, you might want to know what percentage of the total revenue of a product line a particular product contributed, or what percentage of growth of sales in a country each region in that country contributed.
Here's one way to solve this problem: For each revenue or dimension combination you want to analyze, create a new calculated member. For instance, if you want to analyze Store Sales as a percent of a group in the Product dimension, create a member, as Listing 6 shows. Figure 6 shows the result set from this query.
Avoid Crippled Client Software
Can you imagine using a front-end tool for a relational database management system (RDBMS) that doesn't let you specify an SQL statement? Of course not. Yet somehow that's what developers are faced with in the OLAP space. Remarkably, many shrink-wrap query and reporting tools that work with Analysis Services are crippled in a fundamental sense—they don't let developers supply an MDX SELECT statement. The problem is this: None of the commercial clients, even the most robust, come close to exposing the full power of MDX. Maybe simple cube browsing is all your users require. Nonetheless, to avoid painting yourself into a corner, choose a front-end tool that lets the developer specify custom MDX SELECT statements.
There's a catch to this advice, however. The client tools that don't expose MDX tend not to be tightly bound to Analysis Services—they provide connectivity to other data sources. However, I don't think it's asking too much for these query- and reporting-tool vendors to expose an MDX SELECT query string as a pass-through.
Setting OLAP Cube Aggregation Options
After you create an OLAP cube and choose the storage technique that's optimal for your situation, the OLAP server designs the aggregations and processes the cube. If you choose the Relational OLAP (ROLAP) storage technique, the OLAP server will create the summary tables in the source database after it processes the cube. Otherwise, aggregations are stored in OLAP server native format. You can choose the degree of aggregation by considering the level of query optimization you want versus the amount of disk space required. Figure 7 shows the Storage Design Wizard. For example, I chose 80 percent performance, which produced 124 aggregations and required 22.5MB of storage space for Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP) storage. The aggregations roll up, so if you choose low performance in favor of conserving disk space, the OLAP server query engine will satisfy queries by summing existing aggregations.
Use Views as the Data Source
Always use views as the data source for dimension tables and fact tables. In addition to providing a valuable abstraction layer between table and cube, views let you leverage your staff's expertise with relational database management systems (RDBMSs). When you use a view as a fact table, you can manage incremental updates by altering the WHERE clause within the view instead of assigning the WHERE clause to an OLAP partition. When you use a view to source a dimension, you can define logic inside the view that otherwise would have to be defined in Analysis Services (e.g., formulated member names, formulated member properties).
Enter Count Estimates
When you first build a dimension, Analysis Services stores the member count for each level as a property of the level. This count is never updated unless you explicitly update it (manually or by using the Tools, Count Dimension Members command). In addition, it's typical for cubes to initially be built against a subset of the data warehouse. In this case, the cube will likely go into production with the count properties understated by an order of magnitude. Here's the gotcha: The Storage Design Wizard uses these counts in its algorithm when you're designing aggregations. When the counts are wrong, the Storage Design Wizard is less effective at creating an optimal set of aggregations. The solution is simple—when you build the dimension, manually enter estimated counts for each level.


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Houseboat residents near the Olympic development site in east Londonare accusing British Waterways of an attempt at "social cleansing". They say proposed changes to rules for living on the canals before the 2012 Games could force hundreds of people from their water-based homes.
British Waterways, which manages 2,200 miles of canals and rivers, has put forward changes to the mooring rules on the river Lea, in east London, that could increase the cost of living on the waterway from about £600 to £7,000 a year. Residents see the move as a deliberate attempt to drive them away.
A draft note from British Waterways on 6 December 2010, seen by the Guardian, says: "The urgency . relates to the objective of reducing unauthorised mooring on the Lea navigation and adjacent waterways in time for the Olympics."
The canal boat residents fear they will be forced from the river if the proposals go ahead as drafted. Alice Wellbeloved, a freelance fashion designer, who has lived on the Lea for almost five years with her partner and baby, said the plan meant it was no longer feasible to live the family life they had built together. "For us it would be disastrous," she said. "We have a 10-month-old baby, and these proposals mean we could not work or get the childcare we need. We cannot afford to buy a new house. We feel we are being uprooted from our community."
British Waterways says between 160 and 200 boats in the area are used as permanent residences. These boats can exploit a lack of clarity in the waterways legislation to use a "continuous cruising" licence, costing about £600 a year, which lets owners move just short distances every fortnight.
Under the new proposals, people using a continuous cruising licence would not be allowed to spend more than 61 days in a year in each of six designated neighbourhoods across 40 miles of canal network, and they would be forced to move to a different neighbourhood every 14 days.
British Waterways says the changes are in line with a national policy on moorings. But residents on the Lea say they are being singled out to allow a "cleaning up" of the waterways before the Olympics next year. For British Waterways the Lea is a high priority because of "high demand for visitor moorings during the 2012 Olympics".
Mike Well, a photographer and Lea canal-boat resident for four years, said: "My boat is about a mile from the Olympic park and it is almost inconceivable that the authorities would allow anything unsightly or tatty during the games. This is social cleansing."
Wellbeloved said: "People say we're using the river on the cheap. We are desperate for a permanent mooring. But there are none to be had around here - they're so scarce that the last permanent mooring near here was auctioned for £9,000 a year in rent."Read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/mar/09/houseboaters-socially-cleansed-olympics
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Today I woke up stiff and sore – no doubt from all the laying around and eating I've been doing lately. So in honor of the new healthy me I headed out for a deep tissue massage. Relaxing huh?
NO! It was agony! I was in pain the whole time she was massaging me. I swear she knew exactly where all my sore areas were and instead of gently kneading them out, she pushed as hard as she could on them. She even had a little stool she would stand on sometimes to give her extra height so she could come down onto my muscles harder – I'm not kidding! I was cringing in pain the whole time and could not wait for it to be over. But after she was done and I got up, stretched a bit, and walked out of the spa I felt a weird kind of energy and my body, while quite tender, did feel more relaxed. I have just returned home to research massage and the benefits it has on the body and I came up with some interesting health benefits beyond relaxation that I didn't know about.
We all know that massage relaxes and loosens contracted muscles in the body but it also improves blood and oxygen circulation in the body. This allows the body to function better and move the blood to where it needs to go and help to remove the toxins from the body in a more productive manor. Massage also gets the lymph movement going in the body and that is extremely important since lymph drains waste and toxins away from the cells. Glands in the body are also relaxed so they can function properly – controlling oil, sebaceous, and sweat glands keeping your skin properly hydrated and help with some skin conditions.
There are many different types of massage but the most common tend to be Swedish massage which does help to loosen the muscles but mainly helps with the relaxation and circulation of the body, lymphatic drainage massage which mainly works on helping – you guessed it – the lymph system, Thai massage which helps to stretch the muscles out, and the type I had, deep tissue massage, which really works to relieve tense muscles and work on the tissues and fascia which surround and cover the muscles. Even though they all work your body and muscles in different ways, the health benefits I talked about above are generally the same for all of them.
So, even though I was in agony at the time, I do feel the benefits now. I'm a lot more relaxed and my body just feels all around good. Because my body feels so good now I was more inspired to come home and have a healthy dinner and drink a lot of water. I will definitely indulge in more massages again very soon because I know the benefits – and am looking forward to seeing them more in my body and skin, except next time I probably will go for a little more of a relaxing treatment!


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Dirty Ball - 4/18/09
Pittsburghers had the "time of their lives" while dancing the night away as the Attack Theatre presented the fourth annual Dirty Ball at the 51st Street Business and Technology Center in Lawrenceville. Featuring an evening full of performances, dancing, and scandalous activities like the Dirty Secrets Booth and the Dirty Words Wall the night left little to the imagination. As the near 1,000 guests celebrated at the "Descent of Man" themed event, arts patron Mark Freeman was honored. Photography by Megan WylieRead More


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Looking For A Paradise
It didn't always seem to be a special spot. We really didn't know what we had. It wasn't exactly a paradise, but we paved it anyway, installed brighter lights, and put up a parking lot. Now if these words remind you of Joni Mitchell's classic song, Big Yellow Taxi, that is by design.
But what you now see, wasn't what you used to see. What is now covered by asphalt, plantings, and white stripes was once covered by dirt, hoof prints, peanut hulls, a miniature golf course, and a hotel. Yes, that's what I said, a miniature golf course and a hotel.
Nearly two hundred years ago when the City of Dublin was first laid out, the town was divided into blocks with each block containing four lots. The blocks were primarily developed along Jackson and Jefferson streets. Businesses and factories eventually expanded to other streets in the city, especially those along the railroad and in particular, Madison Street. Most of the other city blocks were filled by homes. But for some reason, the northern edge of the first block of West Madison Street was never fully developed.
Back in the 1860s, one of the city's first hotels, the Troup House, was erected on the South Jefferson Street side of the block. It was in the days following the Civil War when the first traveling circus came to town and staged a show on the vacant lot.
For decades, the open space was often the scene of performances by traveling shows. Then in 1910, Dan Burch bought the entire southern half of the block. Burch erected a two-story building on the site of the Troup House, which he moved to the empty space in the rear.
The Troup House continued to be used as a boarding house until it burned in the early 1920s. The ruins were cleared and once again the lot became a parking lot for autos and horse and mule drawn wagons as the rest the businesses on Madison Street, both on the eastern and western ends, were enjoying their greatest years.
As automobile traffic began to skyrocket after World War I, P.B. Cheek, of Darlington, S.C. , planned to erect an auto garage on the Burch property on the corner of S. Lawrence and W. Madison streets. Up to forty cars would be stored and locked in separate stalls under Cheek's plan. Cheek also planned to install gas pumps with the capacity to pump gas into four cars simultaneously. The project never materialized and the Burch lot went back to its usual use as a parking lot and a portal to the stores of West Jackson, South Jefferson, and South Lawrence streets.
Then in 1930 in the darkest days of the Great Depression, a new and exciting idea was launched for the parking lot. The resurgence of golf in Dublin at the Dublin Country Club led a group of men to come up with a way that the ordinary citizen could play the increasingly popular sport.
An eighteen-hole miniature golf course, complete with fairways, hazzards, bunkers, and sand traps was constructed on the Burch lot in the early spring just in time for the warm weather. Organizers played a few trial rounds to work out the kinks. When too many holes in one and birdies were registered, the course was rearranged to make par a more difficult score to achieve.
The owners of the Dublin Miniature Golf Links hoped that the course, with its prime location in the central business district, would attract business men to sneak away for a relaxing round during the day.
A contest was held to come up with a clever name for the course. The Courier Herald offered a free yearly subscription by mail up to forty miles away. The first prize was for a handsome mounted golf trophy. That award went to Carl Nelson, who submitted the name of Golf A'While. The second prize of five cash dollars, which amounted to more than a week's salary for most people in those days, was won by J.C. Woodard. Marjorie Page, the third place winner, won three dollars, though the names of their entries were not published.
Contestants were required to join the club. In order to qualify to become a member, any aspiring golfer had to play only a single round at a cost of fifteen cents and fill out a registration form. It was not necessary for any member to be a good golfer. In the first few days of operation, new golfers discovered the excitement of the game and the outstanding value of their entertainment dollars.
In the beginning, there were lots of people who came to play. The course was even lighted on some evenings to accommodate the crowds. But, like most things, all good things come to an end. With a deepening depression, attendance slumped and the course closed and the improvements were removed. Once again, the Burch lot became a parking lot.
Then in the 1960s, the Dublin Downtown Merchants Association improved the lot to accommodate the vast numbers of shoppers who patronized the downtown stores in the days before the opening of Williamsburg Village, the Dublin Mall, and Westgate Shopping Center.
When the 1980s rolled around, downtown shopping was on the decline. Although the number of shoppers dwindled, businesses, mostly the mom and pop variety, held on. In 1990, the City of Dublin and Laurens County funded the organization of Main Street Dublin in an attempt to revitalize the heart and soul of the county's capital.
Some twenty years later in the sweltering summer of 2010, the Dublin Downtown Development Authority and the City of Dublin designed and enhanced one of the city's oldest parking lots, hoping that it would beautify and enhance the new businesses which have begun to thrive around the West Madison Street square. With the help of Laurens County and Georgia Power Company, the lot is friendlier and more illuminated than ever. Go by there at lunch time, you'll have a hard time finding a parking space. Walk a little further. It won't kill you. After all, wouldn't you walk a little further to find a paradise. I would.
The Development Authority and the downtown business owners hope and we all should hope, that with a little luck and a lot of public and private support, a paradise will emerge and once again Madison Street will thrive as a major business avenue.


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Master the Art of Game Design
Monte Cook explains game balance. Rob Heinsoo dishes on the 4th Edition design goals. Wolfgang Baur explains how to make a collaboration work. Ed Greenwood shows How to Plot. Plus sandbox designs, combat systems, and more!
"A cracking good read for any game designer." -- Satyre


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Shxts Getting Real: Brian Pumer's Jumpoff Set Him Up & Cops Come Through! "You Aint Never Gonna Get Signed To The G-Unit Click" [Brian Pumper Reality Show Episode 8]
BRIAN PUMPER REALITY SHOW EP8 (LIFE OF A PORN NIGGA). Shot by Dj Rob E Rob
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