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The Hidden Costs Of Offshoring
from the not-so-wonderful dept
Mike Hostetler writes in with a link to a story about all the hidden costs of outsourcing (some of which aren't really so hidden). While I've been fairly vocal about not putting place reactionary protectionist policies, I've also said repeatedly that many companies engaged in offshoring are going to regret it. They're not thinking through the real problems they're facing and, instead, are just looking at the cost issue. It's yet another result of managers only looking at the cost side of the "cost-benefit" equation, and not realizing what they lose when they cut costs. Many times, companies decide to outsource because the processes they've set up at home are a mess, and they seem to think that offshoring it, and pushing the issue away from headquarters will magically solve the problem. What they're finding is that ignoring the real problems and targeting a "low cost" solution actually makes the problem worse. I just heard someone from a top research company say they've been looking to do a case study on companies doing offshoring, and no one will agree to be the study. However, she said that they've seen a large number of companies go with an offshoring strategy, only to bring the work back domestically less than a year later, realizing the additional problems that offshoring creates. For all those who have a knee-jerk reaction against offshoring, a much more productive course of action is to make this sort of information more widely known. Well thought-out, well executed offshoring can be a boost to the economy. Just trying to cut costs often ends up doing more damage.


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TUCSON, Ariz. – The New England Revolution conceded a pair of goals in the dying minutes of Wednesday night's Desert Diamond Cup group stage finale against Real Salt Lake, slipping to a 3-2 loss and settling for a spot in the tournament's consolation game on Saturday evening.
The Revs (1-2-0, 3 pts.) will face the New York Red Bulls (0-2-1, 1 pt.) in the consolation match at 6 p.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 23, while Real Salt Lake's (1-1-1, 4 pts.) late heroics earned the club a spot in the nationally-televised championship game against Seattle Sounders FC (3-0-0, 9 pts.) at 8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
For the second straight game the Revs erased a halftime deficit, cancelling out Devon Sandoval's 22nd-minute opener with goals from Andy Dorman and A.J. Soares early in the second half. But on this occasion they weren't able to hold on as Alvaro Saborio and Khari Stephenson struck in the 88th and 90th minutes, respectively, to lift RSL to a dramatic victory.
Playing amidst a mix of pouring rain and swirling snow – which briefly halted the game midway through the first half – it took both sides the opening 20 minutes to find their footing with scoring chances limited.
When the first serious chance did arrive in the 22nd minute, Real Salt Lake made the most of it by taking a 1-0 lead. Sebastian Velasquez let fly with a 25-yard drive which forced Bobby Shuttleworth into a diving save, but Sandoval was on hand to bury an uncontested rebound from close range.
Velasquez and Sandoval linked up again in the 37th minute with a clever give-and-go and came inches from doubling the lead when Velasquez's shot flew inches wide. Shuttleworth came up big just before halftime, sprawling to his left to deny RSL midfielder Enzo Martinez's tight-angle drive.
New England had its best chance of the first half in the 39th minute when Kelyn Rowe received a short corner and whipped a cross to Jerry Bengtson, who directed a close-range header over the crossbar.
The Revs made mass substitutions to start the second half and it took the new group just five minutes to level the score. Andrew Farrell – who started at right back but moved to center back after the break – played a long ball for Diego Fagundez down the left wing. The young forward took the ball down with expert control before rounding his defender and centering for Dorman, who finished from close range.
Seven minutes later New England took a 2-1 lead through Soares, the result of a well-worked set piece. Unsigned rookie Gabe Latigue whipped in a free kick from the right channel and Soares rose above the pack to send a glancing header into the far upper corner.
There was late drama, however, as RSL scored twice in the final three minutes to turn the game on its head.
Saborio first pulled RSL level with a fantastic individual effort in the 88th minute. After receiving a short pass from Ned Grabavoy, the Costa Rican striker weaved his way into a shooting position before lashing home a left-footed drive into the upper corner.
Grabavoy was again the provider just minutes later, driving down the right wing before pulling a pass back for Stephenson, who settled at the top of the box before blasting a low drive past Shuttleworth with what proved to be the last kick of the game.
2013 Desert Diamond Cup
New England Revolution vs. Real Salt Lake
February 20, 2013 – Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
Real Salt Lake 3, New England Revolution 2
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Devon Sandoval (unassisted) 22
NE – Andy Dorman (Diego Fagundez) 50
NE – A.J. Soares (Gabe Latigue) 57
RSL – Alvaro Saborio (Ned Grabavoy) 88
RSL – Khari Stephenson (Ned Grabavoy) 90+
Real Salt Lake: Josh Saunders^ (Jeff Attinella 69), Rich Balchan (Tony Beltran 69), Aaron Maund (Chris Schuler 69), Carlos Salcedo (Kwame Watson-Siriboe 69), Lovel Palmer (Kenny Mansally 69), Yordany Alvarez (Kyle Beckerman 69), Enzo Martinez (John Stertzer 69), Cole Grossman (Ned Grabavoy 69), Sebastian Velasquez (Khari Stephenson^ 69), David Viana (Joao Plata 46, Alvaro Saborio 69), Devon Sandoval (Olmes Garcia 46, Robbie Findley 69)
New England Revolution: Bobby Shuttleworth, Kevin Alston (Tyler Polak 46), Jose Goncalves (A.J. Soares 46), Stephen McCarthy (Bilal Duckett 46), Andrew Farrell (Juan Toja 64), Donnie Smith* (Cameron Brown^ 46, Sainey Nyassi 73), Kalifa Cisse (Andy Dorman 46), Scott Caldwell (Clyde Simms 46), Kelyn Rowe (Gabe Latigue* 46), Lee Nguyen (Dimitry Imbongo 46), Jerry Bengtson (Diego Fagundez 46)
^ - Training camp invitee
* - Unsigned draft pick
Misconduct Summary:
NE – Bilal Duckett (caution) 54
NE – Andy Dorman (caution) 67
RSL – Yordany Alvarez (caution) 68
Referee: Ismail Elfath
Weather: Raining/Snowing, 38 degrees

subset: commoncrawl


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Conversation, The (UK - DVD R2)
Marcus hides under a sink and listens in to Francis Coppola's Conversation...
"He'd kill us if he got the chance"
Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is a highly respected private surveillance expert in San Francisco but his job has left him obsessed with his own security and privacy, and as a result he lives a lonely life. One day he and his colleague Stan (John Cazale) are tasked with monitoring the private conversation of a couple (Cindy Williams and Frederic Forrest) as they walk through a crowded Union Square. Caul is able to cull a coherent recording of the conversation and takes his work to his employer for payment. But a specific phrase catches his attention, and touches a nerve that warns him against sharing the tapes. As his employer's aide (Harrison Ford) pursues him, Harry falls into a cycle of angst and paranoia.
I'd never seen The Conversation before getting this review disc but after Gabe's review a few weeks back I was very keen to. To be honest I'm a little blind to most of Francis Ford Coppola's work outside of the obvious stuff so going into The Conversation was quite an exciting prospect after revisiting Apocalypse Now and The Godfather recently. From the opening scene this is very much a Coppola movie. His ability to set the scene is always fantastic and those small moments where he just films life happening around his characters grounds us in reality immediately.
What's so great about this film is that this single, quite lengthy conversation which we slowly get more detail about as Caul cleans up the audio and discovers things that we never heard before seems to change depending on the situation we hear it in. Early on it means nothing to us, just two people talking. Then as Caul begins to get intrigued by the the content, the same conversation seems to change for us to. Then when it's replayed over a scene where Caul is in a bit of a slump after one of his colleagues records a private conversation between him and a friend and plays it back for all to hear, the conversation seems more specific to Caul's own situation and this goes on adding more and more weight on his shoulders as he carries the burden of his recording and the knock on effect it could have.
Expertly, Coppola keeps it all about Caul. We never get much of an insight into the subjects in the conversation or indeed Caul's employer and because of this we are as cautious as he is. We feel every inch of his paranoia - when he makes an assumption we're totally in the same head space and even with all that seventies technology everywhere nothing feels at all out of date. The Conversation still holds its relevance and Coppola delivers a blinding thriller that doesn't follow the rules and makes it a real character piece.
This distinctly seventies movie looks pretty good. There's a thin layer of grain as expected but the the colours here look fantastic, really natural, bright and alive. Skin tones can sometimes look a bit pinky in interior scenes but nothing outlandish and there's some fine details in close ups such as the wrinkles on Gene's face as he listens to the tapes.
There's a good amount of detail in the frame generally and really it's only the odd darker scene that struggle a bit with the grain levels and overpowering blacks but generally this is a pretty good standard definition presentation that captures the era the film was made in with only minor dirt and and print damage showing up from time to time.
The Dolby Digital track is quite layered, with the opening scenes offering up the most to marvel. The hustle and bustle, the score, digital voice recording sounds and the clear dialogue all make a nice atmospheric feel to the movies most important element and the clever level changes in each element make this quite an airy experience that draws you in to find out more about what's happening.
As we move on, winding reels, more digital noise and audio manipulation play a key part in the sounds of the film and are all crisp and clear and the dialogue remains strong throughout. The score volume rises at the most dramatic moments and of course Caul's saxophone has a nice bit of power to it but it's the apparent murder scene that's an absolute attack on the senses. It's so well handled and has a real effect and I felt as baffled and unaware of what I just saw as Caul was in the film because of it.
The first commentary is with Francis Ford Coppola and I have to say I love his commentaries. He always comes across totally open about his process, whether frustrated or happy and we get every layer of Caul through the eyes of his creator. Most scenes open with Coppola raising questions to us as an audience and his answers widen our understanding of the story and his characters and while Coppola can sometimes go a little off track it never ruined my enjoyment.
The second commentary is with editor/sound designer Walter Murch. His voice can get a little dull but this is a a good lesson in editing and his work with Coppola generally. Sometimes this repeats Coppola's track in the wider descriptions of the scenes and Murch gets a bit quieter towards the end of the film but it's all good stuff.
Next up is the 'Cindy Williams Screen Test' from 1972 (04:46) as well as the 'Harrison Ford Screen Test' (06:28) with him reading Frederic Forrest's part, as opposed to Harrison's role from the film.
'No Cigar' (02:22) is a short bit from Coppola explaining a short film he made with his uncle. It's his firt film and he explains how it influenced The Conversation as well as some other lonely male characters he's had in his films.
The 'David Shire Interview' (10:35) goes into his score for the film. 'Then & Now' (03:38) shows us how the locations have changed between 1973 and 2011. The 'Gene Hackman Interview' (03:56) is from 1973 and offers up a small chunk of from the actor about the film. 'Script Dictations' (47:30) is Coppola's recorded audio notes on the screenplay, reading the scenes and giving the full descriptions on events. 'Close Up on The Conversation' (08:21) is the original short making of with some great interviews with Coppola and a lot of the word "Eavesdropper" showing its more sinister use as opposed to it sounding like busybody listening behind a wall. Lastly there's the trailer (02:44).
Well I have to say, I thought The Conversation was a fantastic film. Gene Hackman's central performance just kept getting better as the film went on and I think as I get older I find myself appreciating Francis Ford Coppola's work more and more. The disc has a nice batch of extras, though it's the commentaries that make up for the lack of retrospective documentaries so be sure to check them out if you haven't already.
Review by Marcus Doidge
hogaburger Contributor Join Date: April 2007 Location: United States Posts: 1,153
Grabbed the US-BD on sale today along with Mimic for under $20(£12). Looking forward to revisiting it.
Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over
Disc Details
Release Date: 31st October 2011
Discs: 1
Disc Type: Single side, dual layer
RCE: No
Video: PAL
Aspect: 1.78:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Colour: Yes
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 English, Dolby Digital 5.1 German
Subtitles: English, German
Extras: Director Commentary, Editor/Sound Designer Commentary, Close-Up on The Conversation, Screen Tests, No Cigar, Harry Caul's San Francisco: Then and Now, David Shire Interviewed by Francis Ford Coppola, Interview with Gene Hackman, Script Dictations, Trailers
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Gene Hackman, Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest
Genre: Drama and Thriller
Length: 109 minutes
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Jail term for Chepstow siege gunman
A gunman who said he was going to commit "live murder on Facebook" during an eight-hour-siege at his home in Chepstow has been jailed. Greg Searle, 35, posted updates on the social networking site as he threatened police with what was eventually discovered to be a fake gun.
He pleaded guilty to affray and admitted threatening police officers with an imitation firearm.


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Samsung is known as the King of Plastic to Android fans, so it was a little bit shocking to see them unveil a new smartphone this week with at IFA 2012 a metal casing. The new Samsung ATIV S features a thin 8.7 mm brushed aluminum chassis and looks quite stunning, but don't get too excited because it runs Windows Phone 8.
Hopefully this is a new direction for Samsung Mobile. Hardcore users have been pretty vocal about wanting a smartphone made from materials other than plastic, and Samsung appears to have been listening. If you recently purchased the Samsung Galaxy S III and wish it looked like this, let us know in the comments below.


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Plants and Gardens
This part of the site contains a wealth of information about plants.
There is more information about plants in other parts of the site:
Our plant of the month is a regular feature, and there is a growing collection of other plant portraits.
The AGS has very strong views on the conservation of plants in the wild and their habitats:


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Performance and ease of use are top application development goals. Sometimes these two goals are mutually exclusive, but they don't need to be. In this issue, I show you how to solve an ease-of-use and performance problem with one simple Active Server Pages (ASP) page.
This article's sample application retrieves and displays Contact table data in an intranet application for our training company's sales and management teams. The application's ease-of-use goals are threefold: to display a contact list from the Contact table in SQL Server, to help users find contacts quickly, and to let users manipulate the contact data by sorting it different ways. The application also needs to perform well by displaying the results quickly. ASP can meet these goals easily because it lets you create flexible pages in script. I use VBScript because of its ease of use and its prevalence in Web applications. You can easily benefit users by using script to build flexible features such as sorting into your applications.
Listing 1 shows the T-SQL code that creates the Contact table. Web Listing 1 shows database.asp, which contains the ADO and ASP code you need to access the database that contains the Contact table. (For download instructions, see the More on the Web box, page 62.) I don't show database.asp here because it's very similar to adohelper.asp, which I wrote about in "Standardizing Data Access with ADO and ASP Scripts," http://www.sqlmag.com, InstantDoc ID 15986.
Displaying the Contact Data
The first problem our company needed to solve was how to display the contact data. We didn't want to list all the contacts when a user visited the intranet page because the Contact table is large and growing rapidly. Displaying all of a page's data drains SQL Server and pushes a large volume of data across the network, slowing down the page and delaying users as they try to sort and find the information they need.
So, we filtered the data by limiting the initial data display to contacts whose last names started with A. The filtering process gives users three options: selecting a displayed last name beginning with A, selecting other last names by their first letter, or selecting All Contacts. Figure 1, page 62, shows the page's interface, which is clean and works like the interface for the Contacts table in Microsoft Outlook. Users can sort the display by clicking any column header in the table, and in Edit mode, they can open a contact by clicking it.
The ASP Code
Web Listing 2 shows sqlcontactlist.asp, the page's code. The first few lines of code, which callout A in Web Listing 2 shows, define several variables that the ASP code uses. The include file brings in the database.asp code that you use to access SQL Server. You must either place the include file in the same folder you use for the main file or change the include path to point to the file's location. The functions in database.asp also rely on constants from the ADO type library. You can reference the type library by opening the project that contains these files in Visual InterDev, selecting Project References from the Project menu, then selecting the ActiveX Data Objects library. To make the database functions work, you must change the connection information in GetDSN(), which is in database.asp.
The first two lines of code at callout B in Web Listing 2 set script-level variables that contain the filter and sort criteria for the page. The variable sLastNameSelect contains either the letter a user wants to filter on or the string All. The sSort variable, which contains the sort criteria, sets only when a user clicks a column header to re-sort the display. When a user visits the page for the first time, the sort value is empty.
Two or three variables hold the SQL statement that extracts the contacts. The sSQL variable includes the base part of the SQL statement:
sSQL = "SELECT * FROM Contact "
I built the SQL statement dynamically by storing the filter in the sWhere variable. I can then either add the ORDER BY clause directly to sSQL or use the default ORDER BY from the sOrderBy variable. The first IF statement in callout B defaults sLastNameSelect to A if sLastNameSelect is blank. The second IF statement instructs the WHERE clause to filter the selection as long as sLastNameSelect isn't All. If sLastNameSelect is set to All, you don't need the WHERE clause, because an empty WHERE clause returns all records. The last statement in callout B sets the default ORDER BY clause that executes when a user accesses the page for the first time.
The code at callout C in Web Listing 2 contains the SELECT statement that sets the ORDER BY clause when a user clicks a column header. If you've already set the WHERE clause, it appears in sSQL when the SELECT statement executes. The SELECT statement's Else clause adds the default ORDER BY clause. The last statement in callout C executes the SQL statement by passing it from database.asp to the RunWithRS() function, which takes a SQL statement as a parameter, executes it, and returns an ADO recordset.
The code at callout D in Web Listing 2 builds the HTML that provides the interface for filtering the page by letter. The interface is a set of anchor tags in one cell of an HTML table. Each tag contains a different query string that sets the sLastNameSelect variable. The code at callout E in Web Listing 2 contains the header for the HTML table that displays the contact data. The column headers are anchor tags that set the sSort variable to the appropriate column name and set the sLastNameSelect variable to the current filter state. To set the sort mode and maintain the current filter in the resulting SQL, you must set both variables. The code at callout F in Web Listing 2 loops through the recordset (rsContacts) that matches the sort criteria, then displays the output in HTML.
Fast and Easy
This ASP page exemplifies an application that is easy to use and performs well, yet is simple to develop. First, the page holds little database code, because you use database.asp to encapsulate database access. Second, filtering the data on the first letter of the last name adds zip to the application and reduces clutter for the user. Third, the sort routine is clean; it simply sets the SQL statement's ORDER BY clause. In addition, you can take the selector lines (the anchor tags) and put them in another page to add the same functionality to that page. Because the HTML URL links are in the anchor tags, with one click, you can access the filter for the initial page that the user sees. Finally, to make the application run even faster, you can easily convert it into one or more stored procedures because you've isolated the SQL code.


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Based on recent postings in the OTN forums and from investigations with my own clients I have to warn you not to upgrade to Internet Explorer 7 if you are using Discoverer Viewer. After you upgrade to IE 7 you will not be able to drill to a related item because somehow IE 7 prevents you from seeing the list of items that you could drill to. This is certainly true if you are using Discoverer 10.1.2.0.2. Unfortunately, I have no idea whether the latest 10.1.2.2 patch (link to Abhinav's recent posting) fixes this. Does anyone know and has anyone been brave enough to try?
An interesting observation here is that IE 7 is included in Microsoft's automatic updates for XP. Therefore, if you have automatic updates enabled you may come in tomorrow and if you are not paying attention you could find that you have been upgraded. Microsoft state (link) that when the update is downloaded you will be presented with a window that will inform you that IE 7 is ready to install. You should not click Install when so prompted.
IE 7 is currently not certified for use with Discoverer and is also not certified for use against Oracle E-Business Suite 11i (link to Steven Chan's recent posting) Until such time as Oracle certify IE 7 for use against Discoverer and / or E-Business Suite I recommend turning off Microsoft's automatic updates.
Here is a workflow to alter the upgrade policy on Windows XP:
1. Launch Control Panel
2. Click Security Center
3. Click Automatic Updates
4. Deselect Automatic by selecting one of the other options
5. Click OK
On my own PC I set this to Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them. I will then be able to select which updates I want. I certainly don't want to miss out on the other updates, and I certainly don't want to install IE 7 by any act of carelessness or confusion on my part.


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Displaying Travel Souvenirs & Photos
We tend to collect a lot of little tchotchkes on our trips — matchbooks, coins, charms, ticket stubs, postcards, receipts — and for sometime after we come home, we leave them out, a tactile reminder of our travels. We've been looking for a better way to display them than piling them on our kitchen counter. Here are some ideas we've rounded up in our travels through our archives and around the blogosphere…
- Try a Typecase: Over on the blog JooJoo, Afi displays the figurines she makes in a typecase by Mr. Tom Vintage Shop. We like the idea of using one of these for a constantly changing display of our most recent travels.
- Natural Collections: A friend collects sand and dirt from the places she and her family visit. Poured into little bottles, they march along the mantlepiece. Remember those shell frames you made in grade school? Another friend makes frames every year from the shells her family gathers during their summers on Cape Cod.
- Memory Quilt: In the movie Eclipse, Bella's mother sews a quilt made from souvenir t-shirts collected from the places she and Bella have visited.
- Photo Fabric: Using your home printer, turn those photos into fabric that can then be made into pillows and other items for your home
- Use Your Photos as Art: Your best pictures can be blown up and framed or turned into stretched canvas prints or even shower curtains. Even better when they're pictures that will remind you of your vacation.
- Vacation Memory Jar: Fill a jar with the little keepsakes that remind you of your trip.
Images: JooJoo; Abby Stone; Flickr member knitsteel, with a Creative Commons License; Trendhunter; Abby Stone
For more ideas, see Regina's post Tasteful Display of "Tacky" Souvenirs.


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Book-Inspired Kids Room Decor
Books have inspired more than just cakes. Some parents create a whole room for their child inspired by a favorite, beloved book. Here are four from our archives…
• Parker Olivia's room includes a large Babar poster complimented by a hanging fabric hot air balloon.
• The walls in Bettina's son's room are based on artwork from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's classic The Little Prince.
• Enzo's whimsical bedroom is adorned by none other than classic Seuss.
• This room brings Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are book to life on the walls and, cleverly, a huge armoir. (Two more examples of Sendak murals: here and here.)


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Papuaweb.org - book reviews.
NEW GUINEA: What I did and what I saw
A book review by Alfred Rusell WallaceLittell's Living Age, No.1909 (January 15, 1881), pp.186-189.
Reproduced from articles in Nature 23:581 (pp.152-155) and 23:582 (pp.175-178).
(To see the original text of this document, click here.)
Of the few travellers who have attempted to explore the great island of New Guinea, Signor d'Albertis must undoubtedly be considered the chief, since he alone has made extensive and repeated journeys both in the north-western and the south-eastern parts of the island, and has thus been able to examine and compare some of the most distinct tribes or races which inhabit the country. The narrative of his travels has therefore been looked for with some interest, for though several of his journeys have been more or less fully described in newspapers and magazines, it was felt that much must remain to be told, and that so energetic a traveller would probably be able to throw some fuller light on the hitherto doubtful affinities and relations of the Papuan races.
Leaving Genoa in November, 1871, in company with the well-known traveller and botanist Dr, Beccari, and making short excursions in Java and the Moluccas, our travellers hired a small schooner at Amboyna in March, 1872, to take them to Outanata, on the south coast of New Guinea; and after some delays at Goram seeking a pilot and interpreter, on April 9 D'Albertis records in his journal: "A memorable day ! At last I tread the mysterious land. At last, leaping on shore this morning, I exclaimed, 'We are in New Guinea!'"
Finding no safe or convenient place to stay at on the south coast, they proceeded to Salwati and fixed their abode for some time at Sorong, a small island close to the north-western extremity of the mainland of Papua. From this point they made excursions into the interior, and D'Albertis resided some time at the inland village of Ramoi, where he was near dying of dropsy and fever. They then went in a native vessel to Dorey Harbor, where they arrived in August, and settled themselves at Andai Village, where a German missionary resides. Here they had a house built, which was their headquarters till November, and D'Albertis succeeded in spending some weeks at Hatam, a village on Mount Arfak, about thirty-five hundred feet above the sea, and in the midst of the forests inhabited by the finest and rarest of the birds of- paradise. On the very day after his arrival here he shot both the shielded and the six-shafted paradise-birds (Lophorina atra and Parotia sexpennis), two species which had certainly never before been seen alive or freshly killed by any European; and before he left this spot he obtained many other rare species, besides an altogether new and beautiful kind, which has been named Drepanornis albertisii.
Constant attacks of fever and dropsy, however, reduced him to such a state of weakness that it was absolutely necessary to seek a change of climate, and returning to Amboyna lie was taken by an Italian man-of-war to Sydney, making some stay at the Aru Islands and south-eastern New Guinea on the way. Thence lie went home by way of the Sandwich Islands, San Francisco, and New York, reaching Europe in April, 1874, and thus terminating his first voyage to the far east.
When leaving Dorey in the end of 1872 he had determined to return to the north coast and to penetrate further into its forest-clad mountains, but the subsequent journeys of Dr. Mayer, of which he heard at Sydney, and Dr, Beccari's intention to return to the same district, induced him to turn his attention to the south, where be had obtained from the natives the skin of a new bird of paradise, and where the lofty ranges of Mount Yule and Mount Stanley offered the prospect of an equally rich and still less known exploring ground. Accordingly in December, 1874, he reached Somerset (Cape York) by way of Singapore, with the intention of settling at Yule Island, which he had before fixed upon as convenient headquarters for the exploration of southern New Guinea. After some difficulty and delay he reached the island on March 17, and finding the natives friendly obtained permission to occupy some land and build a house. Here he stayed till November, having with him a young Italian, two Cingalese, and five Polynesians; making large collections of natural history, exploring the island and the shores of the mainland, but being quite unsuccessful in his attempts to reach even the foot of the great mountains of the interior.
[end page 186]
This completes the first volume, which contains by far the most interesting matter both to the naturalist and to the general reader. The second volume is devoted to a detailed journal of three successive voyages up the Fly River, the first in the missionary steamer "Ellangowan," the two others in a small steam-launch, the "Neva," lent him by the governor of New South Wales, On the second and most successful of these voyages D'Albertis penetrated to the very centre of the great southern mass of New Guinea, reaching the hilly country, but not the great central range of mountains, of which a few glimpses were obtained at a considerable distance.
The first impression produced by the careful perusal of these volumes is, that Signor d'Albertls has all the best qualities of an explorer - enthusiasm, boldness, and resource, a deep love of nature, great humanity, and an amount of sympathy with savages which enables him to read their motives and appreciate the good qualities which they possess. To the character of a scientific traveller he makes no claim, and those who expect to find any sound generalizations from the results of his observations will in all probability be disappointed. Let us, however, by a few examples and illustrative passages, enable our author to speak for himself.
While residing at the village of Ramoi he became prostrated by fever, and was besides almost starving, for the natives would sell him nothing neither would they carry his baggage to enable him to return to Sorong. Determining however, not to die there without an effort, he sent for some of the chiefs to speak to him, and then grasping his loaded revolver assured them that unless they gave him men at once to assist him to leave the place not one of them should quit his hut alive. The plan succeeded. One was allowed to go and fetch the men, the others remaining as hostages, and the revolver never left his hand till his baggage was all on board the canoe. A little later when the travellers were on their way to Dorey, the native crew were very insolent, and boasted that when they reached their own country they would kill all the white men. D'Albertis, hearing this, asked the man if he dared to repeat it, and on his doing so suddenly seized him by the throat and pitched him overboard. He was, of course, on board again in a moment, and instantly seized a bamboo to attack our travellers, but they exhibited their revolvers, and so cowed the whole crew that they became quiet and submissive for the rest of the voyage. An admirable portrait of one of these Dorey Papuans (Fanduri) is given, and the present writer can almost believe that he recognizes in it one of his own acquaintances at Dorey in 1858.
More amusing was the way in which Signor d'Albertis made use of the aneroid on his journey to Hatam. His porters, who had agreed to take him there for a fixed payment, stopped at a village to rest; and on being told to go on. said, "This is Hatam; pay us our wages." He knew however, both by the distance and elevation, that they were deceiving him, and told them so, but they again said, "This is Hatam; pay us. How do you know that this is not Hatam?" He then took his aneroid out of his pocket, and laying his finger on a point of the scale said, "Here is Hatam; this thing tells me where it is;" and then explained that when they got higher up the mountain the index would move, and when they reached Hatam it would come to the point he had marked. This astonished them greatly, but they would not believe it without proof. So he let one of them carry it himself to the top of a small hill near, when they saw that the index had moved, and on coming down that it moved back again. This quite satisfied them. They acknowledged that the white man knew where he was going, and could not be deceived, so they at once said, "Let us rest today; tomorrow we will go to Hatam." Of course every man and woman in the village wanted to see the little thing that told the stranger where lay the most remote villages of the forest; and thus the traveller's influence was increased, and perhaps his personal safety secured."
In his second journey he provided himself with dynamite and rockets, which were very effectual in frightening the savages and giving him moral power over them. At Yule Island he was on excellent terms with the natives, on whom he conferred many benefits. Yet during his absence on an exploration his house was entered and a large quantity of goods stolen. In recovering these and firmly establishing his power and influence he showed great ingenuity. Calling the chiefs and other natives together - who all pretended great regret at his loss, though the robbery must have been effected with their connivance - he told them that he was determined to have his property back, and that if it was not
[end page 187]brought in twenty-four hours he would fire at every native who came within range of his house, which fortunately commanded a great extent of native paths, as well as the narrow strait between the island and the mainland. He then made his preparations for a desperate defence in case he was attacked, loaded some Orsini shells and mined the paths leading to his house, so that with a long match he could blow them up without exposing himself. At the end of the twenty-four hours, nothing having been brought he commenced operations by exploding five dynamite cartridges, which made a roar like that of a cannonade, the echoes resounding for several seconds. He then let off rockets in the direction of the native houses, and illuminated his own house with Bengal fire. All this caused terrible consternation ; and the next morning the chief arrived with five men, bringing a considerable portion of the stolen goods, and trembling with fear to such an extent that some of them could not articulate a word. He insisted however that the rest of the goods should be brought back ; and the next day, to show that he was in earnest, fired at the chief himself, as he was passing at a distance of three hundred yards, being careful not to hurt, but only to frighten him. A canoe was also turned back by a bullet striking a rock close by it. The effect of this was seen next morning in another visit from the chief, with live complete suits of clothes, axes, knives, beads, and other stolen articles. Much more, however, remained, and D'Albertis took the opportunity of impressing them thoroughly with his power. He first asked them to try to pierce a strong piece of zinc with their spears, which were blunted by the attempt, while be riddled it through and through with shot from his gun. He also sent bullets into the trunk of a small tree a hundred yards distant, showing that a man could not escape him. They had been seated on a large stone near his house, which he had mined. He now called them away, and having secretly lighted the match, told them to look at the stone. A tremendous explosion soon came, and the stone disappeared. The natives were too frightened to move, and begged him to have pity on them, promising to restore everything. A great hole was seen where the stone had stood, while some of its fragments were found a long way off. For twelve days more he kept up a state of siege, turning back all travellers and many canoes by rifle-balls in front of them, but never hurting any one. Then another large instalment of his goods was brought, leaving little of importance, and ultimately he recovered almost everything. During the whole of this time he never hurt a single person or did any damage to their property, but succeeded in getting back his own by impressing them with his, to them, superhuman power. The result was that after eight months1 residence he parted from these people on the best of terms. They all embraced him, and most of them shed tears, while their last words were : "Maria rau! Maria rau!" "Return, Maria! Return, Maria!" - that being his second name, by which they had found it most easy to call him.
As a fearless capturer of snakes Signor d'Albertis rivals, if he does not surpass, the celebrated Waterton; indeed he seems to like them rather than otherwise. At Yule Island the natives had found a large snake under a tree, and all ran away from it, crying out, and this is his account of what happened,
"At last I went to the natives and tried to ascertain the cause of their conduct, and they made me understand why they had fled. I then returned to see the snake myself, which in fact I did, although two-thirds of its length was hidden in a hole in the earth. His size was such that I concluded he could not be poisonous, and I at once grasped him by the tai. While dragging him out of his lair with my two hands I was prepared to flatten his neck close to his head with one foot the moment he emerged, so that he should not have the power of turning or moving. My plan succeeded perfectly, and while the snake's head was imprisoned under my foot I grasped his body with my hands, and, as though I had vanquished a terrible monster, turned towards the natives with an air of triumph. They, struck with terror, had looked on at the scene from a safe distance. I must confess that the snake offered little resistance, although it writhed and twisted itself round my arm, squeezing it so tightly as to stop the circulation, and make my hand black. I remained however in possession of its neck, and soon secured it firmly to a long, thick stick I had brought with me, I then gave the reptile to my men to carry home." This serpent was thirteen feet long, whereas the one Waterton caught single-handed was but ten feet, though it might have been equally powerful. This snake was kept alive and became quite tame, and
[end page 189]
when the natives saw D'Albertis kiss its head and let it coil round his legs they howled with amazement and admiration. Six weeks after the capture he writes: "My snake continues to do well; it has twice cast its skin, is well-behaved and tame, and does not attempt to escape, even when I put it in the sun outside the house; and when I go to bring it in, it comes to me of its own accord. It never attempts to bite, even when I caress or tease it. While I am working I often hold it on my knees, where it remains for hours ; sometimes it raises its head, and licks my face with its forked tongue, It is a true friend and companion to me. When the natives bother me it is useful in putting them to flight, for they are much afraid of it; it is quite sufficient for me to let my snake loose to make them fly at full speed." He kept this serpent for nearly six months, and latterly another of the same species with it, till at last both escaped, and he mourns their loss as of dear friends, adding, "for I loved them and they loved me, and we had passed a long time together."
The furthest village on the mainland visited by D'Albertis was Epa, where he lived five days, and of which he gives a very pleasing account. It is about fifteen hundred feet above the sea, but a very short distance from the coast. The village is surrounded by a strong double stockade, and the people appear to be good specimens of the superior Mahori-Papuan race. By the aid of these people it would probably not have been difficult to penetrate to the mountains of the interior, but our traveller was drawn away by the opportunity of exploring the Fly River, and has left the exploration of this grand mountain range with its rich natural treasures for some future exploration or some other explorer.
Alfred R. Wallace.


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|The Handmade Dress
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This is sweet little peasant style dress or top and diaper cover, with options for honeycomb smocking. There are detailed instructions for honeycomb smocking included! Add lace and have a sweet heirloom frock, or you could always have a precious holiday night gown. With no buttonholes or plackets to fuss with it's a quick project! Who can resist a smocked dress that comes together during the babe's nap time?
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Love this pattern! It has great directions, and turns out adorable.
Had a little difficulty understanding why the smocking dots were on the bloomer pattern pieces, but figured it out. Turned out really cute.


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Copyright 1959 Hollywood Pictures Corporation
Reviewed by
Andrew Borntreger
on 21 June 2008
The Characters:
Thorne Sherman - James Best! He is a skilled boat captain and handy with a welder, but his real passion is impersonating Elvis.
Ann Craigis - She really needs to learn to relax. I am sure that trying to cook, clean, and raise her and Sherman's rugrats will lower her stress level. Women love that kind of stuff.
Dr. Craigis - He wants to achieve two scientific breakthroughs. The first is solving world hunger; the second is creating the perfect martini. He is pretty close to realizing the latter goal.
Jerry Farrell - Angry alcoholic who is a terrible shot. He could hit a barn door, but anything inside the barn would be safe. Ends up as shrew chow.
Dr. Baines - Nerdy assistant to Dr. Craigis whose last thoughts were, "Must...adhere to...scientific method. Rosebud..."
Mario - Hired hand. He dies after being bitten by a giant shrew (it sucks to be the hired hand).
Rook - Slightly overweight sailor who made the mistake of wearing Milk-Bone underwear and bacon aftershave. Et.
The Killer Shrews - Giant shrews (which are not rodents, but of the family Soricidae) created by a genetic experiment gone wrong. They look suspiciously like dogs wearing carpet remnants!
The Plot:
This is an excellent piece of vintage schlock for fans of classic b-movies. Genetic fiddling accidentally creates a few hundred DOGS WEARING CARPET REMNANTS that get loose on a private island! Okay, so the creatures are supposed to be giant shrews. It does not matter what they are supposed to be, because any rational person can easily recognize them for what they are: dogs with scary masks (getting the canines to wear those without tearing them off must have been a feat) and ratty clumps of carpet on them. To this day, if my wife and I are driving down the highway and see an old rug or piece of carpet on the shoulder, we remark how sad it is that a killer shrew was run over while trying to cross the road.
People traveling in cars with us rarely understand what we are laughing about.
A hurricane or tropical storm is loose in the Gulf of Mexico as Capt. Sherman and Rook approach a private island. The boat is loaded with supplies for Dr. Craigis, which were apparently so important that Thorne was willing to make the trip. Seeing that the weather is deteriorating rapidly, the captain decides to anchor the boat in a sheltered cove to ride out the storm.
However, when Thorne and Rook go ashore, they meet Dr. Craigis, Jerry, and Ann, and can tell that something is wrong. One clue is that both Ann and Jerry seem worried; another is that Jerry is tightly gripping a double barrel shotgun. It is a private island in the Gulf of Mexico; why in the heck does Jerry need a shotgun? The only reason I could think of was feral dogs running loose (I was almost right).
The island's residents get very agitated when Thorne tells them that a storm is coming, and that the boat cannot leave until it has passed. Dr. Craigis wants Ann to go back to the mainland with the sailors. Captain Sherman is invited to Dr. Craigis' home on the island, leaving Rook to secure the boat alone. The place where the scientists live looks like "Fort Redneck!" Even better than that is what goes on inside. The most striking piece of furniture in the Château Craigis is a well stocked bar. Before long, everybody is drinking martinis and scotch and sodas.
Friends, this is a drinking movie. These people can drink; I cannot keep pace with them! Holy cow! They must make their martinis a gallon at a time, because somebody is always "freshening" the drinks, or going to the bar for a refill, or asking who wants more alcohol.
Dr. Craigis' research involves genetic manipulation, specifically to help alleviate world hunger by reducing the size of the average human and extending their lifespan. He wants to fill the world with eternal vegetarian midgets! I bet they would be drunken eternal vegetarian midgets! This man has got to be the coolest scientist I have ever heard of in my entire life. Even more impressive than that Hawking fellow who raps about black holes and stuff. In any case, if anyone knows of a scientist conducting experiments to create drunken eternal vegetarian midgets, please tell me. I want to help by donating money. Even if I have to sell blood, hair, or other replenishable parts of my body to get the cash.
It's for
As the evening progresses, Ann continues to be jumpy; just about anything startles her. It is not until Capt. Sherman insists on leaving that she completely flips her wig. The young lady grabs a revolver and threatens to shoot Thorne if he tries to open the gate! Talk about high maintenance. Finally, Anne tells the bewildered sailor what is going on. Dr. Craigis made a fateful decision when he picked a test animal for his genetic longevity experiments. Instead of using mice, like any sane researcher, Ann's father selected shrews. During the genetic tampering, something happened and a batch of giant shrews were created, and Jerry screwed up by leaving the cage open (he was drunk, go figure). Now there are hundreds of giant shrews outside, and they have eaten every scrap of food on the island. The only source of protein left is the people.
Around now, the drinking kicks into overdrive, and major friction develops between Jerry and Thorne. Much of the conflict is born from the fact that Ann had been engaged to Jerry, until she realized he was an alcoholic moron. With Captain Sherman on deck, Ann begins to seriously consider dating a sailor. Okay, that is enough with the romantic minefield; what I really want to talk about is the drinking. Characters start snatching drinks from each other. We see Thorne engaged in a heated conversation with Dr. Craigis when Jerry walks up, takes Thorne's glass, quaffs the contents, then returns the empty highball to the captain's hand. Hahaha! This sort of behavior continues even after Jerry and Thorne have had a few violent disagreements.
I do not know about you, but somebody trying to steal my drink is grounds for a serious butt-whuppin', no matter who they are. My wife's grandmother almost learned that the hard way.
The storm knocks a shutter loose and a killer shrew hides in the basement. Thorne and Mario fix the shutter and go after the big critter, but the shrew gets the drop on them and bites Mario's leg. Check this out: Thorne slaps a tourniquet on the leg and winds it tight using the barrel of his revolver! Every time he puts another twist in the tourniquet the barrel points at either the injured man's head or part of the sailor's anatomy. I was just waiting for a loud bang (and then Thorne would need a tourniquet too, or Mario wouldn't need one anymore).
Too bad for Mario that the tourniquet doesn't help. When the scientists first attempted to deal with the shrews, they left out poison bait. Instead of dying, the voracious creatures absorbed the toxins, thus becoming giant, poisonous killer shrews. Funny, some shrews are poisonous anyway, but I guess Craigis made one good decision when he picked shrews for his experiments by avoiding those.
Does anybody remember Rook? Yeah, poor old Rook, left alone on the beach to tie up the boat. He encounters a pack of killer shrews and tries to escape by climbing up a tree that is obviously too weak to support a man of Rook's size. When the bough breaks, the Rook will fall; and the shrews will be waiting, to eat everything except his belt and shoes. That is all Thorne finds when he goes looking for his friend.
Back at Fort Redneck (that's Craigis' house), the place is starting to look like a shrew buffet. Killer shrews are digging through the plaster walls! Jerry is also coming apart so badly that he climbs up onto the roof and refuses to come down. Luckily, Thorne has a great idea: build a tank. Not exactly a true tank, but a protective shell made from four large drums lashed together, with viewports cut through the steel. By using the tank as a mobile bunker Thorne, Dr. Craigis, and Ann are able to make it to the beach and swim to the boat. Stupid Jerry stays behind on the roof; when he finally does come down to dash to the beach, the shrews get him.
Though Ann claims that there are two or three hundred killer shrews, we never see more than ten or so. The creatures congregate outside the house's tall wooden fence on more than one occasion. If Thorne and the others really wanted to improve the odds, they could have stood on a pile of crates and picked off quite a few shrews with the pistols and shotgun. The captain is the only one who should have been armed with a gun anyway. Every shot fired by Jerry was a complete waste of ammo (Jerry is one of those shooters who would be more dangerous if he used the pistol as a club).
I like this movie because it had some good ideas, like the makeshift tank, but what I love about it is the killer shrews and the drinking. Watching an actor scream in mortal terror at a coon hound wearing carpet remnants is hilarious, especially when the disguised pooch is doing the "happy dog" (the dogs probably got belly rubs and treats after every scene). As for the drinking, well, I would not recommend trying to keep up with the cast. Remember, some things we see in the movies should not be attempted at home. Drinking a gallon martini is one of those things. Of course, so is killing a vampire with a cue stick, but there were no vampires in this film, nor was a pool table evident.
Things I Learned From This Movie:
On the road of life there are small mammals that can breed faster than you can say "Zub zub" or "Zoom zoom", or whatever the heck it was that kid used to say that made people want to buy cars.
Shrews do not understand the concept of Tupperware.
Fathers are always happy to indulge their daughter's alcoholism.
Hispanic men call everyone "señor."
If you are fat and need to climb a tree, make sure it's not a sapling.
Knowing the difference between a wash basin and a chamber pot can be critical.
Mister Ed was eaten by giant shrews.
Under the right circumstance, rotting carrion
Keep your friends close, and your enemies directly in front of you.
Stuff To Watch For:
6 mins - I know what you are thinking, and that is "Why do they need a privacy fence on a remote island?"
7 mins - Drink!
8 mins - "Thank God you arrived. We are almost out of olives..."
12 mins - Drink!
16 mins - Drink!
28 mins - Snarl! Bark! Growl! (The funny thing is, I'm not talking about the dogs, er, shrews.)
30 mins - He is trying to figure out how to catch them Duke Boys.
31 mins - Drink!
32 mins - Drink!
32 mins - Take it easy on the alcohol, people. Twenty year scotch takes two decades to make, and you people are going through it entirely too fast!
38 mins - Imagine, if you can, that wall without the picture. Plain, no?
40 mins - Is that kanji?
45 mins - Yay! We've created giant, poisonous shrews! Whoopie!
56 mins - Drink!
57 mins - Just watching these people is getting me drunk.
68 mins - I have done the math
three times
and still come to the conclusion that there will be 0 shrews left on the island. Dr. Craigis, could you check my solution? 1 shrew that is dead of starvation = 0 shrews. Did I forget to carry a 1 or something?
Narrator: "The wildest and most vicious of animals is the tiny shrew. The shrew feeds only by the dark of the moon. He must eat his own body weight every few hours, or starve; and the shrew devours everything - bones, flesh, marrow, everything. In March, first in Alaska, and then invading steadily southward, there were reports of a new species: the giant, killer shrew!"
Dr. Craigis: "In twenty four hours there will be one shrew left on the island, and he'll be dead of starvation. An excellent example of overpopulation."
Audio clips in wav format
Starving actors speak out
Anne "I know, but I'm not saying you created them, Jerry. I am saying that because of your drunken stupidity in leaving the cage door open, you created the horrible situation that now exists."
Jerry: "Look Ann, this is a mistake any one of us might have made. I'm getting a little sick of being called an irresponsible drunk. Now, believe me I am."
Rook gets et.
Thorne: "'Shrew' must be the common name for those cute little animals."
Ann: "Cute! That's the last word you can use to describe those little monsters. They're the most horrible animals on the face of the Earth. As Father told you, they breed within three weeks after birth; their life span is one year."
Thorne: "Yeah, I know what your father told me, but what's that got to do with me opening that gate?"
Ann: "There are two or three hundred giant shrews out there, monsters weighing between fifty and a hundred pounds!"
Dr. Baines: "What happened out there?"
Thorne: "Oh, nothing much. Jerry just tried to kill me twice in the last five minutes."
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Oh no, it's a dog wearing a rug!
Notice that, in keeping with the rest of the film, right after the shrew bursts in and is shot to death, Jerry chugs a glass of something more than 80 proof.
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The Killer Shrews
Reply #1.
Posted on January 22, 2000, 01:06:41 AM by
Rosco P. Coltrane vs. dogs wearing carpet remnants! I love it! I love it!
The Killer Shrews
Reply #2.
Posted on January 28, 2000, 08:00:05 PM by lostmissy
darn it!! I had always hoped that this movie was shot in someone's backyard using the neighborhood dogs and casual people who justed dropped in...oh well in spite of the "professionalism" involved, this is one hoot of a movie!!! It really has to been seen to be believed!!
The Killer Shrews
Reply #3.
Posted on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM by Mark
I have only seen this movie on MST3K, and damn! It is just such a classic! The cheez just drips off of the TV when you're watching it. I *know* that if I ever come across some killer shrews in the wild, they will sound just like they do in this movie!
The Killer Shrews
Reply #4.
Posted on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM by Allan
My 50 y/o brother and I (age 47) saw "Killer Shrews" when we were kids in the '60s and happened to remember it today. I looked it up on the internet and saw this review. We were absolutely freaked out back then. I'd really like to see this movie as an adult. Any idea where I could get a copy?
I'm an MST 3K fan but have never seen Killer Shrews on that show.
The Killer Shrews
Reply #5.
Posted on August 20, 2000, 10:18:11 AM by Chadzilla
This is a great, little bad movie. Monster dogs, er, shrews! I especially love the comment Sheriff, uh , Captain Col..Thorne makes about trying not to think too much, pretty much explains how he went from this to The Dukes of Hazzard. James Best was also in Rolling Thunder, a vigilante movie where he feeds William Devane's hand to a garbage disposal. Goody goody.
The Killer Shrews
Reply #6.
Posted on September 08, 2000, 11:05:40 PM by
I saw this the first time (yes, I've seen in several times) in the late 60s on "SciFi Flicks" on Saturday afternoon, when I was about 9 years old. I THOUGHT they looked like dogs! So I was RIGHT! I knew it.
The Killer Shrews
Reply #7.
Posted on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM by BIJOCO
Basic premise of this thing is sound, and speaking of sounds,
one of the best things about the movie is the sound of the
shrews. Some shrews can't swim, but others can. Like
Sorex Bendirii, the pacific ocean shrew. It runs on top
of the water and then dives down for its prey.
Just like the ones in the new movie they're making.
The Killer Shrews
Reply #8.
Posted on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM by Alison
I finally had the courage to type the words, "Killer Shrews" into my computer. I first saw the movie when I was about seven and had nightmares for months. Given the descriptions of dogs wearing rugs, this all seems a bit silly now, but believe me, for some reason I was terrified. I need to see the movie now as an adult so I can lay all my fears to rest. It sounds like I won't have any trouble doing so.
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The Giant Claw
Earth is visited by a GIANT ANTIMATTER SPACE BUZZARD! Gawk at the amazingly bad bird puppet, or chuckle over the silly dialog. This is one of the greatest b-movies ever made.
Lesson Learned:
Osmosis: os·mo·sis (oz-mo'sis, os-) n., 1. When a bird eats something.
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MOSCOW — The acid attack on Bolshoi Ballet artistic director Sergei Filin was shocking when it happened and turned even more bizarre when police said it elicited a confession from a Bolshoi dancer known for playing the Evil Genius in one of the most beloved ballets of all, "Swan Lake."
Details came to light early Wednesday when Bolshoi soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko confessed to organizing the January attack, and police announced two other men confessed to carrying it out.
"I organized the attack, but not to the extent of the damage that happened," Dmitrichenko said to Russia's Channel One. The dancer planned the assault for "personal resentment related to his work," the police said, according to reports in the Russian media.
PHOTOS: Bolshoi Ballet visits L.A. with 'Swan Lake'
Arsen Serobian, a Los Angeles-based dancer who has trained at the Bolshoi, said he met Dmitrichenko on a few occasions in Moscow and Los Angeles.


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6:00 pm
Knit and Crochet Now! "Sweaters" Robyn is first up with a fashionable granny square sweater designed by Tammy Hildebrand and then Kristin will show how to knit a directional rib cardigan by Irina Poludennko. Afghan square this week is a crochet Scalloped Shell. D
6:30 pm
Paint This With Jerry Yarnell "Autumn's Delight, Part 1" (18 x 24 Acrylic) In this opening segment, Jerry shows his viewers how to under-paint the background of the forest with the large hake brush using a gradation of colors and values. Then he shows how to under-paint the reflections in the water using the hake brush. He finishes the program with under-painting the middle ground and rocky area. D
7:00 pm
Joanne Weir's Cooking Confidence "Spain On My Mind" Joanne shares with us her emotional connection to Spain. She begins by preparing Salmorejo, a cold tomato and bread soup she first discovered in Southern Spain, and then works with her student Joan to overcome his fear of cooking lamb by preparing a hearty lamb, white bean, and chorizo stew with a spicy infused olive oil drizzled over the top. Recipes: Salmorejo and Spanish Lamb Stew. D
7:30 pm
Martha Stewart's Cooking School "Pasta Sauces" Homemade pasta sauces far outshine store-bought jars. In this episode, Martha creates four mouthwatering versions: traditional, slow-cooked Bolognese; a quick-and-easy puttanesca; a rich carbonara; and a light but unforgettable sauce made with bottarga, a preserved fish roe that is a specialty of southern Italy. D
8:00 pm
This Old House "Cambridge 2012, Secondary Spaces" Finishing touches are coming together: the driveway, walk-in closets, home automation and some remarkable wallpaper in the powder room. Norm visits local glass artist Carrie Gustafson to see how she's making the foyer light, and Tom's helping the homeowner John Stone build a quick and easy workbench with one trip to the home center. D
8:30 pm
Rick Steves' Europe Classics "The Alps of Austria and Italy" Tirolean Innsbruck offers a towering Olympic ski jump and a dirndl- clad world of alpine thrills. Follow the Brenner Pass to Italy's rugged Dolomites for Alps with pasta.G
9:00 pm
Travelscope "Madhya Pradesh, India - India's Rural Heart" Joseph continues his passage through the heart of India with an expedition to Bandhavgarh National Park's tiger reserve. He then visits the princely town of Maheshwar where he celebrates sunrise and witnesses morning rituals along the holy Narmada River. In the city of Indore he joins the crowds for the Diwali Festival - a celebration of good over evil and the glory of light. D
9:30 pm
Lidia's Italy In America "St. Louis: Macaroni & Cheese: An American Favorite, Inspired by Italy" NULL
10:00 pm
Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen "Road Food at Home" Bridget uncovers the secrets to perfect Slow-Cooker BBQ Brisket. Then, Adam reveals his top picks for slow cookers. Next, Chris visits Harpoon Brewery to discover the best beers for cooking. D
10:30 pm
Simply Ming "On The Road In San Antonio with Chef Elizabeth Kossick" San Antonio is home to one of the country's leading culinary schools - the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) where Ming teams up with the CIA's own Chef Elizabeth Kossick. Working in their unique Latin Kitchen, Ming and Elizabeth use ingredients fresh from Elizabeth's extensive pepper garden. The focus of the dishes will be Peruvian with Ming adding his own personal twist. D
11:00 pm
Primal Grill with Steven Raichlen "By The Sea" Seafood may come from the water, but nothing brings out its briny succulence like the high, dry, smoky heat of the grill. This truth is readily apparent on the beaches of Brazil, at the waterfront grill stalls in Asia, and the seaside communities of the Yucatan. Here are three great grilled seafood dishes that solve the age-old problems of fish sticking to the grill grate or breaking apart when you go to turn it: Brazilian coconut grilled shrimp, Asian garlic grilled halibut, and snapper grilled in banana leaves, Yucatan-style. D
11:30 pm
Rick Steves' Europe Classics "The Alps of Austria and Italy" Tirolean Innsbruck offers a towering Olympic ski jump and a dirndl- clad world of alpine thrills. Follow the Brenner Pass to Italy's rugged Dolomites for Alps with pasta.G


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Thursday, April 09, 2009
Big House Blues - Spumco 1 - fluffing Stimpy Pillow
The mantid nabs the soft pulpy object, without emotion, only intent.
Here's a famous early example of a Ren and Stimpy jump cut. It's theoretically not supposed to work and I'm sure we got notes from Scary Marrington over it.
I had to reposition Ren to make this scene of him fluffing Stimpy like a pillow read. I also painted the cheesy color card.
The fluffing was done basically straight ahead as a cycle. I anticed by stretching Stimpy first,
Then squashed him all the way, and eased him out of the squash back to the antic, and repeated the action a few times.
Since Stimpy is a pillow, of course feathers have to fly out of him. Cartoon logic.
It's also an example of what I call "insect Ren". It's Ren asserting his instinctive rights upon his symbiotic partner and showing absolutely no emotion about it. Stimpy, of course goes along with it out of pure obedience to the insect life form higher on the evolutionary scale than him.
swing right
stretch and add a streaky Anime type BG to help accentuate th quick motion....
This section looks like it might be Lynne's, I can't honestly remember; it's been so long.
Swing Stimpy up into another antic and cushion the antic...
Then squash him down and press him into resistance. The more Ren presses Stimpy, the more Stimpy's nose expands like a balloon filling with air...naturally.
When the insect lets go, Stimpy recoils and wobbles to a stop.
Ren rubs his hands as if doing a professional job.
Then Stimpy slides down the wall into final pillow position.
Ren antics 3 times in a row here. 1 above
2, into layout antic...
3 Into jump antic...
Jump up fast - 1 drawing only
Float in an arc above Stimpy,
Then fall fast and sink into Stimpy's soft underbelly.
The BG btw, is another one of my cheats. Simple and gray, the easiest way to make characters read well.
This is played like it happens every day, so the characters don't show any surprised reactions to it. I like having some scenes where characters merely function by brute instinct. It's what's funny and cute about animals and dumb relatives.
By the way, try to imagine writing this scene in script form. It could only have been storyboarded to make any sense. If you wanna see the original board, go to the Asifa Archive and flip through it. It has many more scenes that we had to cut for time, but the cartoon looks a lot like the poses in the board. I wish I had saved the layouts, because there would have been more poses there than in the storyboards.
High rez that you can step through...
Next...a Dave Feiss scene, then more Bob and Kelly treats.
Oh, and check out Kali and Nico's Devo video:
14 comments:
- Trevor Thompson said...
Thanks so much for breaking this down, John! My sister's VCR didn't cut it.
I guess I was wrong about you using layout poses from the storyboard.... although they do look similar and usable.
Can't wait for the next one!
- trevor.
- Luke Allen said...
John, please take a look at my blog, any criticism would be really appreciated. Ta!
- John A said...
The old disappearing background trick. Is that a 100% Clampett creation? I don't recall ANYONE (outside of some UPA style commercials, I guess, to use this action.
- Frank Macchia said...
I never noticed that jump cut until you pointed it out.
It works perfectly though.
I always find that if used proporly, they add to the humour.
I once heard you say on one of the Ren and Stimpy commentaries that when youre boarding, you just focus on what the audience needs to see in order for the action to read. It's just a natural decision.
That always stuck with me. seems like the obvious and natural way to board...the "rules" of the camera are great, but I find that a lot of pople are bound by them or try to get way too "cinematic".
have any other theories on picking your shots, jump cuts, etc?
- Thomas said...
>> I like having some scenes where characters merely function by brute instinct. It's what's funny and cute about animals and dumb relatives.<<
That's certainly the case with "Boo Boo Runs Wild". Maybe it could've been titled "Cute Brute"
- eric said...
Great analysis, especially to be able to compare to the storyboard at ASIFA. You touched on the backgrounds & jump cut, I think of those both being so pronounced and unique to that era of Spumco.
- chrisallison said...
hey john, if you could do a post about sound design for filmmakers, i think that'd be a lot of help. you know, there's so much more to being a director than artwork that you've touched on (timing, etc.), but i want to hear some theories about sound if you get the time and have some interesting thoughts to share.
i don't even know specifics to ask about, so that's why i KNOW i need to hear more about it. i wonder if it's intuitive for you or if you can articulate something comprehensible for those willing to learn.
keep doin the good work
- Josh Latta said...
Ha! That DEVO video was great!
- Trevor Thompson said...
Did you lose the layouts?
- JohnK said...
My guess is we split them up among the artists.
There might be some on Jim's site.
- Rick Roberts said...
I always loved the insect, "sleepy eyed" Ren.
- Ross Irving said...
OH MY GOD. I was just reading your post, looking at one of the storyboards, to see the sound effect "fap". You probably already know what it means at this point, but in case you don't, it's something...suggestive. To see that sound effect on a storyboard in 1989-1990, before the term heavily came into usage on the internet a whole fifteen years later is just mindboggling.
To say something relevant though, it's weird how I never noticed Ren did three antics before jumping onto Stimpy. I never thought of doing something like that before, and it works surprisingly well when you see it animated. I watched the clip again trying to remember everything you pointed out about it, and was just able to notice everything.
- Darkhawk said...
I like the frame by frame of the squash and stretch of Stimpy. The frame where he's all pushed in is the ultimate key of a squash. It's not just simply scaling something, Stimpy really feels like a big fluffy pillow in that scene.
- Hernán G. Fuentealba said...
that was one of the tree or two rem and stimpy cartoons I had the chance to see, it was the year 1995 if I am not wrong , it is the first time I see that scene again , it is a quite funny scene,


text:
An atmosphere is a layer of gas that surrounds a planet or moon, held in place by gravity. On M-class planets, the lowest layer of the atmosphere is called the troposphere.
The atmosphere of Earth was primarily composed of nitrogen and oxygen, with notable amounts of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and noble gases.
- In an alternate version of 1944, the NX-class starship Enterprise entered Earth's atmosphere in order to destroy a Na'kuhl temporal conduit. (ENT: "Storm Front, Part II")
In 1986, as the HMS Bounty was approaching Earth, James T. Kirk asked Spock in what time period they had arrived at. Upon scanning the planet, Spock informed Kirk that based off the pollution content in the atmosphere that they had arrived at the late 20th century. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
In 2152, while sending a shuttlepod to meet with the mining colonists of Paraagan II, Captain Jonathan Archer and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed apparently ignited the tetrazine-filled atmosphere, wiping out the entire colony. (ENT: "Shockwave")
In 2161, Ensign Travis Mayweather piloted Shuttlepod 2 from Enterprise to Rigel X, a planet in the Rigel system. Upon entering the planet's troposphere, he warned the shuttlepod's occupants, an away team from Enterprise, that the craft might experience some minor turbulence. (ENT: "These Are the Voyages...")
In 2269, Doctor Leonard McCoy discovered that the former immortal Flint had lost his immortality because he had left the Earth's atmosphere. The Earth's atmosphere is what had made it possible for Flint to have instant tissue regeneration that made him, on Earth, immortal. (TOS: "Requiem for Methuselah")
In 2364, the USS Enterprise-D was able to defeat a cloaked drone of the Echo Papa 607 weapons system by luring it into the atmosphere of Minos, where it became visible. (TNG: "The Arsenal of Freedom")
In 2369, the space station Deep Space 9 lost its atmosphere due to several power failures. Commander Benjamin Sisko ordered the decompression protocol and Chief Miles O'Brien stabilized the systems. (DS9: "Q-Less")
In 2372, a Karemma vessel attempted to hide from two Jem'Hadar attack ships in the atmosphere of a gas giant. The USS Defiant followed and was able to destroy both Jem'Hadar ships, despite its systems being compromised by the ambient conditions. (DS9: "Starship Down")
In 2376, Captain Rudy Ransom of the USS Equinox evaded the USS Voyager by taking his ship into the atmosphere of an M-class planet. (VOY: "Equinox, Part II")
The graviton ellipse, discovered by the crew of Voyager in 2376 was found to have a primitive atmosphere. However, according to Ensign Tom Paris, it wasn't anything anybody would want to breathe in. (VOY: "One Small Step")
Atmospheric technologies Edit
- Atmospheric airscoop
- Atmospheric condenser
- Atmospheric probe
- Sikarian atmospheric sensor
- Universal atmospheric element compensator
Atmospheric phenomenon Edit
|Structure and layers of an atmosphere
| Planetary: Troposphere • Stratosphere • Thermosphere • Exosphere
Ozone layer • Ionosphere • Magnetosphere • Mesosphere
|Solar: Photosphere • Chromosphere • Corona


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Elbereth (disambiguation)
|By Ardamir. (Help; more articles)
Elbereth (pronounced [ˈelbereθ]) is a Sindarin name. It can refer to:
- Elbereth Gilthoniel, the Sindarin name for Varda, Queen of the Valar.
- Elven Hymn to Elbereth, a song sung by Gildor Inglorion in The Fellowship of the Ring.
- A Elbereth Gilthoniel, a poem in both The Fellowship of the Ring and The Road Goes Ever On.
Other versions of the Legendarium
- Elrohir, son of Elrond, occasionally referred to as Elbereth in earlier writings.
- Elurín, son of Dior Eluchíl, originally referred to as Elbereth.
Other Works
- Ilbereth, an elf, the secretary of Father Christmas in Letters from Father Christmas.
- Elbereth (journal), the journal of the Australian Tolkien Society Fellowship of Middle Earth.
|This disambiguation page is a list of articles associated with the same title. This is in accordance with Tolkien Gateway's Naming policy.
If an internal link referred you to this page, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.


text:
An elegant jQuery powered Portfolio template. With a Carrousel Slider on the homepage and static headers on other pages this template is great for showing off featured work and showcases!
Included in the template:
1) Valid (X)HTML Strict and CSS 2.1 code!
2) Sourcefiles in both PNG (Fireworks) and PSD (Photoshop) format.
3) Homepage with Sliding Carrousel.
4) Static page ("Services").
5) Contact page with contact form.
6) jQuery powered Portfolio page! Show off your work by category.
7) Headings are replaced with custom font (Museo in this case) with Cufon!
The template uses Sprite technique. Check: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/sprites for more info.


text:
David Hall: The Arkansas Centennial Commission had distributed the three 1936 Arkansas issues. It was decided to use a coin dealer for distribution of the 1937 Arkansas. The task was awarded to the New York firm of Stack's. The mintage of the three 1937 Arkansas issues was a little over half that of the 1936 issues. Stack's sold three coin sets, one of each mint, for $8.75.
The three 1937 Arkansas issues have basically identical mintages (5660 for the Philadelphia Mint, 5660 for the Denver Mint, and 5662 for the San Francisco Mint) so it is not surprising that they are of about equal rarity in MS63 and MS64 condition. In Gem MS65 or better condition, the 1937 is somewhat rarer than the 1937-D, but not as rare as the 1937-S. The average grade for the 1937 is MS63 to MS65. MS66 examples are very scarce, and MS67s are extremely rare. Circulated examples are almost non-exsistent as most of the original issue was saved. Like all Arkansas, the typical 1937 has frosty luster or some toning of varying degrees and eye appeal.
© 1999-2018 Collectors Universe NASDAQ: CLCT


text:
Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) - Members of the state House of Representatives have unanimously voted to repeal Hawaii's controversial state land development agency.
The full House vote Thursday comes four days after House committees approved the bill to repeal the Public Land Development Corp. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Chairwoman Cindy Evans of the House Committee on Water and Land says it's clear the community won't be satisfied with anything less than a full repeal.
County leaders and environmental groups have strongly opposed the agency.
They say the organization has too much power to develop Hawaii's lands because it can bypass county zoning and permitting laws.
Evans says the agency was well-intentioned but has tarnished public trust.
The organization was established in 2011 to develop state land through private-public partnerships.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


text:
The dedicated, full-time staff at the California Cattlemen's Association proudly serves California ranchers by sharing their voice at the state capitol and regulatory agencies throughout California as well as on federal issues in Washington, D.C. Because ranching is a round-the-clock job, California beef producers need someone watching their back while they are busy running their family ranching operations.
CCA's staff is not only educated and poised to go to bat for ranchers each day, this ambitious group is also passionate about preserving the western way of life. To reach any of the staff below, you may contact them by e-mail, in the CCA office at (916) 444-0845 or click on their names to learn more about them.


text: Cloud Sherpas, an up-and-coming Google Apps and Salesforce reseller, had a double dose of positivity in scoring a $40 million venture capital round and announcing its acquisition of CloudTrigger, a cloud VAR. Cloud Sherpas, which has acquired several other smaller cloud players in recent years, plans to continue building out its cloud services portfolio through acquisitions, David Northington, CEO of Cloud Sherpas, said in an interview with CRN. CloudTrigger focuses on Salesforce Service Cloud implementation, and its G2Maps mapping app is available on Salesforce AppExchange. Cloud Sherpas currently has more than 3,000 customers and expects to pull in around $100 million in 2013 revenue.


text:
eyeD3 is a Python module and program for processing ID3 tags.
Information about mp3 files (i.e bit rate, sample frequency,
play time, etc.) is also provided. The formats supported are
ID3 v1.0/v1.1 and v2.3/v2.4.
Maintained by: Andrew Lindberg
Keywords: python,id3,mp3
ChangeLog: eyeD3
Download SlackBuild:
eyeD3.tar.gz.asc (FAQ)
(the SlackBuild does not include the source)
|Individual Files:
| eyeD3.SlackBuild
| eyeD3.info
| slack-desc
© 2006-2018 SlackBuilds.org Project. All rights reserved.
Slackware® is a registered trademark of Patrick Volkerding
Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds
Web Design by WebSight Designs | Managed Hosting by OnyxLight Communications


text:
Gesneriaceae Research
Laurence E. (Larry) Skog, Curator and Research Scientist from 1973 until retiring in 2003, continues to work as an emeritus curator. Past projects include monographic work on the genera Gesneria, Pheidonocarpa, Kohleria, Reldia, Resia, Columnea, Cremosperma, Bellonia, Pearcea, and Gasteranthus; floristic treatments of Gesneriaceae for the Flora of Panama, Flora of China, Flora de Nicaragua, and Flora of the Guianas; and numerous papers describing 4 new genera and approximately 150 new species of Gesneriaceae. Larry is also a Research Associate at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida and serves on the board of the American Gloxinia and Gesneriad Society as chair of the Elvin McDonald Research Endowment Fund and as consulting taxonomist .
John Boggan has worked as a research assistant to Larry Skog since 1996. He assists the curation of the Gesneriaceae herbarium collection, maintains specimen, bibliographic, and nomenclatural databases, has coauthored papers, and has helped make the "Annotated Bibliography of Gesneriaceae" and "World Checklist of Gesneriaceae" available via the World Wide Web.
Warren L. Wagner is Curator of Pacific Botany and has worked extensively with the genus Cyrtandra on Hawaii and other Pacific islands. Online resources with information on Gesneriaceae include the Flora of the Hawaiian Islands and Flora of the Marquesas Islands.
Leslie Brothers is the assistant greenhouse manager in the department's Botany Research Greenhouses in Suitland, Maryland and among other duties is responsible for maintaining the Smithsonian's living collection of Gesneriaceae. Leslie also maintains the greenhouse accession data records and documents the living collection with photographs and herbarium specimens. Leslie worked as a research assistant to Larry Skog for several years and assisted in developing several projects.
Elizabeth Zimmer is a botanist in the Smithsonian's Laboratories of Analytical Biology and has collaborated on and co-authored several molecular systematic studies of Gesneriaceae.
John L. Clark received his PhD degree in 2004 from George Washington University in Washington, DC studying under Patrick Herendeen and Larry Skog. John's research is on the phylogeny, circumscription, and nomenclature of the genus Alloplectus and related genera. His molecular and morphological work towards a revision of the genus Alloplectus has led to a broader study of the relationships among the genera of tribe Episcieae. John is currently working on other projects in a postdoctoral position at the Smithsonian.
Christian Feuillet is a Research Associate who has worked closely with Larry Skog on numerous projects, most notably the Gesneriaceae treatment for the Flora of the Guianas and descriptions of new genera and species.
Silvana Marten-Rodriguez is a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland studying under Charlie Fenster and Liz Zimmer. Silvana is working on pollination studies and phylogenetic relationships in tribe Gesnerieae.
Anna Weitzman coauthored the treatment of Gesneriaceae for the Flora of China and is working with Larry Skog on the typification of Chinese taxa.


text:
Thieves scored hundreds of dollars in stolen car stereo equipment during a recent overnight crime spree in the mid-valley.
The Hood River County Sheriff's Department spent Dec. 22 responding to car prowl reports along Summit Drive and both Wy'East and Bartlett roads. The automobiles had apparently been broken into sometime the previous night or during the early morning hours.
Detective Gerry Tiffany said most of the cars had been left unlocked and sustained about $200 in damage when the dashboard was ripped apart during removal of the electronic equipment. He said the replacement costs for the missing stereos vary from $80 to $200 and numerous CDs were also stolen.
Tiffany said there was likely more than one individual involved in the Hood River thefts, and that group could be linked with similar crimes that have occurred recently in both White Salmon and The Dalles. He said these individuals might also be the perpetrators in a rash of car prowls that plagued city residents earlier this year but yielded no arrests.
According to Tiffany, at least one mid-valley citizen reported unusual barking from his dogs about the same time deputies estimate the recent crimes were being committed -- and citizens should pay attention to such canine alerts.
"If your dogs start barking give us a call and we'll take a look around," said Tiffany.
He said all county residents should take the following precautions while the new theft cases are under investigation:
Never leave valuables in plain sight.
Park in a well-lit area if possible.
Get in the habit of locking the vehicle whenever and wherever it is left parked.
Anyone with information about the recent car prowls is asked to call Tiffany or Detective Bob Davison at 386-2098.
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text:
Animal Friends' Black Tie & Tails - 11/6/10
Humans and animals alike donned formalwear at the 13th annual Animal Friends Black Tie & Tails: Recycled Pets are Best! Gala. More than 500 guests — along with 60 dogs, cats, and rabbits — attended the event at the Circuit Center & Ballroom. In an effort to further reduce the event's carbon "pawprint," the décor featured recycled doors, antique glassware, vinyl records, rubber bands, and moss. The event's communications were printed on recycled paper, and the invitations arrived in the form of T-shirts, designed by the artist Wayno, further highlighting the event's eco-conscious attitude. The evening raised $402,000 for Animal Friends and found homes for 20 animals. "It was an exciting event because of the theme," said Jolene Miklas, Director of Communications for Animal Friends. "It supported second chances for shelter animals by incorporating recycled elements in the décor."Read More
Photography by Katelyn Petraitis
Photography by Katelyn Petraitis
16 / 27


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Ballot measure: Proposition 32
The measure would prohibit unions from collecting members' dues for political purposes; corporations and unions would be banned from contributing directly to candidates or campaigns.
The campaign supporting the measure is now running a 30-second TV ad in major media markets in the state.
What's the claim?
"If you had a telephoto lens, maybe you'd see it: deals cut in shadows and back rooms. With contributions, big corporations and government unions control politicians. It's killing California. Eleven percent unemployment. High taxes. Lavish pensions. Billions in waste. Fifty billion dollars a year on education, but among the worst-performing schools."
Is it true?
The claim is a gross exaggeration.
The ad tries to capitalize on Californians' general disgust with influential interest groups. But it's hard to prove a direct link between the money that corporations and unions lavish on the political system and everything that's wrong with California. To be sure, the clash of special interests is at least partially to blame for Sacramento's dysfunctional government. But it's hard to place all of the blame on one side — labor interests — which is the unspoken but clear thrust of the pro-32 campaign.
What's the claim?
"Cut the money tie between special-interest lobbyists and career politicians. Put people back in charge."
Is it true?
The claim is political rhetoric. The measure would no doubt cripple the ability of public employees to raise political money. But it would do nothing to keep special-interest money flowing to the Capitol from powerful wealthy individuals and limited liability companies. The irony is that the ad was paid for by the American Future Fund, a 501(c)4 group with ties to Americans for Prosperity, the super PAC funded by David and Charles Koch, the conservative billionaire oil tycoon brothers.
— Steven Harmon, Staff


text:
In my day, cheerleaders wore letter sweaters over skirts that ended below the knee. They yelled "Boom Sis! Boom Bah! High School! High School! Rah! Rah! Rah!"
I never saw one jump more than a foot off the ground.
Not these days.
I've seen how today's cheerleaders throw each other up into the air and do back flips and all sorts of contortions usually confined to a performance of Cirque Soleil. I watched and applauded.
Then, granddaughter Sydney became a cheerleader for the Bluffton High School Bobcats.
'Do you have any idea of how many cheerleaders are paralyzed for life from being tossed up into the air and then, whoops, dropped?' I ranted and raved and carried on like you know what. 'Why don't you take up skating in a roller derby? At least they wear knee pads and helmets'.
Forget about being supportive. This was my grandchild.
"Lala," she said "I've only broken two toes and a finger. See' and held out a hand with one finger slightly askew." "Well," she admitted, "the finger isn't healing just right, but it's better. Besides," she continued, "I'm not a flyer. I'm on the base' then added thoughtfully. 'They're the ones mainly who get hurt."
Saints preserve us. Was that supposed to make me feel better? Whatever happened to old-fashioned megaphones and pompoms.
I got Cheerleading 101. There are two different kinds of cheerleading with the more traditional one that has the team standing in front of the stands and there is competitive cheerleading which is what Sydney loves. This is the sport that involves the pyramids that scare me to death and includes gymnastics with synchronized routines the Rockettes would approve. These cheerleaders practice tumbling and flips and practice hours on end.
They compete with teams from all over South Carolina and it is tough.
Our Bluffton girls made it to the state championship in Greenville. They competed against the best in the state after a night of cheering on the Bobcats to their win on the football field in Myrtle Beach, then riding a bus after the game across the state, snatching a few hours sleep and making us proud on the floor of the BiLo Center.
Did I gasp a few times during the two-minute 30-second performance?
You bet.
Howsomeever, when they go to the next competition, I hope to be there ready to cheer them on.
Fine atheletes, our cheerleaders led by dedicated coach Beth Herring and her assistant Allie Black. They deserve our support.
Go Bobcats!
Annelore Harrell lives in Bluffton and can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
EtA: For people overseas, the time is 3 AM Sunday GMT. London is 4 AM Sunday,
while Melbourne is 1 PM Sunday.
Couldn't catch you live, Red, but I'll check it out when it's up for download!ReplyDelete
Thanks, Rades!
I'll be honest in that I'm kind of glad there were only a few random "guest" accounts there, because otherwise I'd be a bit more nervous than I already was. The old "getting up in front of your friends to give a speech is harder than in front of strangers" thing...
I listened to the download the other day and just wanted to say that it was quite enjoyable! It's always fun to hear a blogger's physical voice, especially if they sound nothing like you expected. You sounded disappointingly normal though. ;)
Really loved your commentary on gaming in general (I hope I'll have children interested in roleplay one day!) and WoW in specific.
Thanks, Shintar!
Yeah, I sound normal; it's that Midwestern accent peeking through. My wife (and everyone else) will tell you that my voice carries, however.


text:
Licensing and Purchasing click here. To view our full range of products and services please click here.
Please Note:
Java and all Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun
Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.
[Copyright © 1997 - 2002 Neutron Solutions Limited - All rights reserved.]


text:
Car News
2014 Mazda6 Debuts at Moscow Motor Show
- Powered by fuel-efficient new SkyActiv drivetrain
- Available "i-ELOOP" regenerative braking system for increased performance
- Refreshed with "KODO - Soul of Motion" design language
At the Moscow Motor Show, Mazda announced the launch of its redesigned 2014 Mazda6 midsize sedan. The new model showcases Mazda's "KODO - Soul of Motion" design inside and out, and pulls obvious styling cues from the Takeri concept, originally shown at last year's Tokyo Auto Show (link). The 2014 model replaces the now-aging Mazda6 that debuted in 2009.
The Mazda6's new swooping fenders, shield-shaped grill and narrow tail lamps continue with the Kodo design language found on our long-term 2013 CX-5. Halo LED daytime running lights and subtle chrome trim pieces give the 2014 Mazda6 a premium look, while the large wheels and dual exhaust suggest that the updated model is as much sport sedan as economy cruiser.
Inside, the Mazda6 looks considerably more upscale than its predecessor. The button-covered dash has been exchanged for a simpler dials and much of the shiny, high-gloss plastic has been replaced with metal-look trim pieces. The navigation system is powered by Tom-Tom, and is operated through a console-mounted wheel and toggle.
For the Russian market, the Mazda6 receives the brand's new SKYACTIV gasoline engine, boasting traditional Mazda performance with improved fuel economy. The base engine is a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder producing 148 horsepower, but a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder producing 189 hp is available as well. The larger engine also includes Mazda's new "i-ELOOP" regenerative braking system, intended to decrease electronic leeching from engine power. Mazda's "i-stop" engine start/stop feature is available on both engine trims. If our long-term CX-5's fuel economy is any indicator of how the Mazda6 will perform, we'd expect mileage somewhere in the low-to-mid 30-mpg range.
While the details in Moscow pertained specifically for the Russian version of the Mazda6, we expect similar engine and technology options to make their way to the United States when the car is launched later this auto show season.


text:
Scope Freak Advanced – A new desktop software that enhance your business presence on internet marketing… Introduction Are you social media freak? Do you want to increase your business on social media, SEO marketing and avail periscope broad case? it …Read More »
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text:
http://www.allacrost.org/wiki/index.php ... _Standards
rujasu and I had a chat about a week ago regarding standards that we should set for map designs. I can't remember all of what we talked about there, but I added what I do know to the wiki page above. I'd like to invite others to contribute to this page, or offer your thoughts in this thread about what the standards should include.
Map Design Standards
A discussion area for general design issues that staff would like detailed feedback on.
Moderator: Staff
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