text: Coalitions and the enduring importance of stability in German politicsAt a recent Center for European and Russian Studies event, German commentators said their politicians would forge a stable coalition government by early 2018, but that recent parliamentary elections marked an end to traditional post-World War II alliances in Germany. Posters advertising the AfD, CDU and SPD parties prior to the 2017 German federal election. Photos: harry_nl/ Flickr, 2017; cropped. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.by Kevin Sprague (UCLA 2018) UCLA International Institute, October 29, 2017 — This September, all eyes were on Germany as the republic's citizens elected a new federal parliament (Bundestag). Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and its sister party with whom it governs in the Bundestag, the Christian Social Union (CSU), won 32.9 percent of the popular vote. While Merkel will serve a fourth term as chancellor, it was her party's worst showing in federal elections since 1949. While the CDU/CSU faltered, the extreme right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party made significant gains, garnering 12.6 percent of the public vote and receiving the third largest volume of votes cast. The next government will likely be a coalition between the CDU/CSU, Free Democrat (FDP) and Green parties, informally called the "Jamaica coalition." (The parties' respective colors are black, yellow – recently changed to magenta — and green, the same colors of the Jamaican flag). The SPD has chosen to enter the opposition. On October 19, historian Paul Lerner (University of Southern California) moderated a panel discussion at the UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies featuring Nico Lange, current director of the Washington office of the political foundation/think tank Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and former political consultant to Chancellor Merkel's CDU, and Consul General of Germany in Los Angeles Hans Jörg Neumann, former ambassador of Germany to Benin. The panelists discussed coalition building and compromise in the German parliament, the legacy of Merkel's immigration policy and the impact of the AfD on German politics. Lange and Neumann agreed that German politicians' skills in coalition building, together with the social imperative of stability, would produce a working coalition government, but not before the new year. Merkel's decision to accept roughly a million migrants in 2015 has created splits within both the CDU/CSU and the SPD and gave the AfD an issue to run on. Although populist parties will remain active during the long period required to integrate the migrants into German society, the speakers concurred that the AfD was riven by conflict and represented a protest vote. The changing ground of party coalitions "We do not have the same phenomenon of 'left versus right' which the United States has," where everything the other side says is wrong," said Hans Jörg Neumann. "In the United States it is often so hard for politicians to compromise, but that is not the case in Germany. Our system is built on compromise. "Politicians in Germany often negotiate coalitions at many levels," said Neumann, pointing out that the state, or Länder, governments, often consist of coalitions that differ greatly from the federal coalition. He was confident that there would be no issues in forming a new federal government. "In 1976, if you were Catholic, we knew you would vote for the CDU, if you were in a trade union you would probably vote for the left, [while] an entrepreneur would likely vote for the right," Lange said. "This is no longer the case. Voters change their minds all the time in Germany, where there are not two but four — or even six — options to vote for." "There have always been several parties in the Bundestag, and the formation of grand coalitions has moved many of those parties closer to the center," explained Neumann. "Even though there are many differences between the parties' agendas, there is so much common ground to be found that it is fairly easy to form a functional local, community and even federal government," he said. Nico Lange concurred, observing that coalition building in Germany is led by the idea that "political stability is the most important thing to German citizens." "The usual party combinations are not possible anymore," said Lange. "It's very interesting for German leaders, who need to find creative solutions and form new coalitions to execute their agendas." The expected coalition signifies a shift on the part of the Green and FDP parties, said Lange, who usually form the opposition, while the Social Democratic Party (SPD) — a partner in the CDU's current governing coalition — has opted to join the opposition in hopes of "rebooting" the party's image. "The SPD now has the chance to reinvent itself separately from the CDU," said Neumann. Anxiety, infighting and the rise of the AfD Previously unrepresented at the federal level, the AfD now holds 94 seats in the Bundestag in addition to various offices at the Länder level. "[The AfD] does have seats in 12 regional parliaments, which is noteworthy. But they are constantly fighting among themselves and have very little influence," said Neumann. "Compare their presence in the Bundestag to the extreme right's presence in the governments of France, Austria or the Netherlands, and this is a small percentage." He urged the audience and the German public not to overestimate the power of the AfD, saying many people had voted for it out of protest. Lange was reluctant to call the AfD a right-wing party, saying, "Sometimes with European populist parties, it can be very difficult to distinguish left from right. The AfD is very strong with former Green voters in the eastern Länder, as well as many [voters] throughout Germany who previously voted for the far left," he said. The think tank director observed that the AfD had served as a "vacuum cleaner that took up protest votes" from both left- and right-wing voters dissatisfied with the German federal government's handling of immigration, and warned against speaking too broadly about its supporters "You can label certain people in the party [as extremists], but if you label everyone who voted for them as such, you will only get more protest," Lange said. Paul Lerner, Nico Lange and Hans Jörg Neumann at the UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies on October 19. (Photo: Kevin Sprague/ UCLA.) Migration and the sea change in Germany "The core issue in this election was always migration: the fear of people who are different," said Lange. He noted that with the exception of the AfD, the other parties largely ignored the immigration issue during the campaign. This allowed the AfD to push its "us vs. them" narrative and mobilize a large number of voters, he explained. "Germany can certainly handle one million immigrants — it is ridiculous to think that [this] number would cause chaos," Lange said. "The problem itself is certainly solvable, but the perception is that there was no unity and the government was not able to handle this, and this perception was reflected in the election results." One topic has dominated the discourse on Merkel's time in office: immigration. "[Merkel's decision to increase immigration] has shaped the future of Germany forever," Neumann said. "This makes some Germans afraid and causes them to question these changes, while others see it as amazing." "There is no quick fix to the issue of immigration," said Lange. "It will take years, many partners and it is very complicated." Because of this, he speculated populists and protest voters would continue to "harass the political system" for the foreseeable future. "In [order to address immigration properly], we will have to address the question of what it means to be a German citizen," said Lange, predicting a debate and a new law on immigration that will define what it means to be German and how to "become German." "Migration policy discussion must lead to security policy discussion in the European Union," insisted Lange. "If you want to create conditions where immigrants can return home, it's not about changing conditions in Germany. You have to discuss the situation in Iraq and Syria, and how to address violence in immigrants' home countries. Otherwise, the problem is never solved." Neumann reflected that Merkel's decision had permanently changed German politics. "No matter what we do, it's quite clear that we have to integrate these people," he said. "We have to do our best to not have a situation like London or Paris, where there are too many segregated neighborhoods — these immigrants... are here to stay," he concluded. Relations with Europe and the U.S. Because Merkel's political position has been weakened, Neumann believed that she will have to focus her energy more on internal rather than European matters. While her loss of support is troubling to many in the European Union, the consul general was confident that the CDU/CSU's coalition partners, as well as many of Germany's opposition parties, remain pro-EU. "We will continue to support the European idea and European unity — which is more important than ever," he asserted. The diplomat went out of his way to emphasize that the U.S. remained a very important partner for Germany. "We know that the United States is the most important partner for us and we need [it to] influence trade and politics," he said. "No matter who is in the White House, in California, in cities and in many other places all over the United States, Germany is making sure this transatlantic relationship will continue." Nevertheless, he foresaw difficulties in the U.S.-Germany relationship on such issues as climate change, free trade and a vision of the global future. Neumann was confident that the chancellor would have a successful term. "Merkel has been very important for her party. She has changed the CDU and its perception quite a bit. She has made it a party that, even if one is not a fan, [one] still says Mrs. Merkel does a good job," he commented. Published: Sunday, October 29, 2017


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What are the minimum requirements for using the web?
What are the minimum requirements for using your web site? Well, the answer could include any of the following:
How many requirements does your site make? How many are really necessary and how many can you eliminate?
Being accessible means minimizing requirements. The less requirements you have, the more freedom people have to use your site, the more accessible it is to the world.
The more requirements you make, the more you're requiring people to have specific devices, software and even physical abilities that may not be possible. As a result, the site becomes inaccessible to some.
But how many are just trivial requirements, made to save a bit of programming or decision making? And how many are simply unreasonable given the wide range of physical and technical limitations people face in the world?
One thing is for sure: plain HTML makes the fewest requirements. Start with that and add other technologies carefully and unobtrusively.
Finally, there is an automated CSS Sprite Generator (via)! Just upload a zip of graphics and it will spit out a single image and a block of CSS you can use.
What are CSS Sprites? If you use a ton of CSS backgrounds for things like icons, buttons and other non-repeating graphics, then you can combine them into a single graphic and use background-position with width and height to show a slice of the larger graphic. This can make a site load faster since there are less files to download.
This is generally a pain to do by hand (not only combining the graphics, but calculating and remembering pixel positions), but with a tool like this it should be a cinch!
Are you attaching an onload function to an image but finding it doesn't always get called?
The problem is almost always this: you need to set the onload before you set the src. The reason is obvious when you think about it: if the image is in the cache, the image will be loaded immediately after setting the src, even before the onload is set.
Adding fuel to the fire, Firefox and Safari will let you set an onload immediately after (it seems they don't call the onload until the block of JavaScript finishes). This doesn't happen in Internet Explorer or Opera.
Long story short:
// evil: var image = new Image(); image.src = 'image.jpg'; image.onload = function() { // sometimes called alert('image loaded'); }; // good: var image = new Image(); image.onload = function() { // always called alert('image loaded'); }; image.src = 'image.jpg';
No matter how many times I come across this bug and find the solution, I end up making the same mistake a few weeks later. I'm hoping that blogging about it will get this stuck in my long-term memory.
No, I don't recommend smoking hash before doing your JavaScript debugging :) But I did figure out a technique which you can use to switch a page in and out of debugging mode.
What happens if you need to debug a site that's getting traffic, and you don't want everyone getting your
alert() messages or whatever else you need to debug?
Well why not check location.hash and look for a special keyword:
function debug_mode() { return location.hash == '#debug'; } if (debug_mode()) { alert('We are in debug mode!'); }
Now you can just add #debug to the URL (and hit enter) to turn on debug mode, or just drop the #debug to turn it off. You can even have more than one special "mode" and use different hash values to switch between these modes.
Sometimes you just have to sniff for Internet Explorer 6 (and under) in JavaScript. Using conditional comments is a decent solution, but I don't want them scattered all over my code.
With a bit of help from Dean Edwards, I worked out the following:
var IE6 = false /*@cc_on || @_jscript_version < 5.7 @*/;
With just a single conditional comment, you can have a JavaScript variable that you can reuse throughout your code.
(IE6 will be true in Internet Explorer 6 and under, but does anyone really care about IE5 anymore? Thought not.)
You could use this technique to sniff for other things:
// exactly Internet Explorer 7 var IE7 = false /*@cc_on || @_jscript_version == 5.7 @*/; // at least Internet Explorer 7 var gteIE7 = false /*@cc_on || @_jscript_version >= 5.7 @*/;// any Internet Explorer (thanks to Dean) var isMSIE = /*@cc_on!@*/false;
Note: browser sniffing is evil but sometimes painfully necessary.
Great news: jQuery 1.2 is out, and the heavily-awaited jQuery UI (an "official" replacement to Interface) will be out on Sunday.
Be sure to have a read of the jQuery 1.2 release notes, but here are a few highlights that I can't wait to use:
If you want to load a whole web page with Ajax, but only want to cut out a portion of the page and stick it in to an element on your page, you can now do this:
$('#stats').load('same_page.php #stats');
This will make it really easy to refresh an element on the page without needing to change the server-side logic.
Traversing and selecting remain the most powerful features in jQuery, and it'll be great to be able to use
.andSelf() to include the original set when traversing, and
.prevAll()/.nextAll() to select all the siblings to one side or the other.
There are a ton of new Effects features, but my favourite is probably
.stop(), allowing us to finally stop animations. Together with the new
:animated selector, it's trivial to stop all ongoing animations at once:
Some of the other Effects features have a lot of potential, like being able to use percents or animating by a relative amount (eg. add 100px).
Extremely powerful is the new ability to write extensible animations. I assume they did this to ease in the development of jQuery UI, but this allows all of us to harness the power of jQuery animations to do anything we want! Okay I'm starting to drool...
Oh, one more thing. If you're used to creating elements in jQuery like this:
var link = $('');
then you need to stop using invalid HTML and either make it XHTML compliant or add a closing tag, otherwise it will break in Internet Explorer. This is true since jQuery version 1.1.4, and I've had to make a lot of changes in my code as a result.
Now any of the following is okay:
// okay, XHTML-style var xhtmllink = $(''); // also okay, valid HTML style var htmllink = $('');
I've been doing a bit of experimentation with web pages in the iPhone, and I've realised the first major problem is trying to prevent the iPhone from zooming way out on a web page, making it rather difficult to work with and more difficult to read.
One would assume that a 100%-width layout would be good enough for the iPhone's Safari to stop setting the browser width to 964px. But alas, it's not.
I had a look at probably the best iPhone app out there right now, Joe Hewitt's Facebook for the iPhone. Joe was awesome enough to release iUI, a collection of CSS, JavaScript and images for making user interfaces that match the look and feel of the iPhone.
I spent some time dissecting his examples, and eventually realised it wasn't the CSS nor the JavaScript which was able to stop the iPhone Safari from resizing. It was just a
<meta> tag in the
<meta name="viewport" content="width=320; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/>
It turns out this was all well documented on Apple's site, iPhone for Web Developers. There are lots of other techniques discussed like how to specify stylesheets and integrate with the built-in Google Maps application.
I hope that other device manufacturers implement things like the
<meta name="viewport"> tag and the only-for-certain-widths stylesheets. The iPhone may not end up in everyone's pocket, but we will need to make web sites and applications that work across an ever-wider range of devices.

subset: commoncrawl


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It just doesn't get any easier for the UMD Bulldogs.
UMD has faced teams either tied with or ahead of it in the NCHC standings every weekend of conference play, including notably tough opponents St. Cloud State and Denver. Adding to it, the non-conference schedule has included Notre Dame, Minnesota, and now the North Star College Cup.
In this four-team tournament, the Bulldogs see two teams in the top five of both national polls, and a third team -- UMD's opponent on Friday -- which is absolutely a bubble team in the PairWise rankings, which mimic the NCAA Tournament selection process.
That's right, 14-10 Minnesota State has vaulted itself straight into NCAA consideration, despite a so-so non-conference record. Last week's home sweep of then-No. 2 Ferris State helps matters a bit.
We knew going into the season it was a tough schedule, and it has been every bit of that. It's a great challenge, and this weekend presents a great opportunity for the 9-9-2 Bulldogs.
"We've got one of the toughest schedules in college hockey," freshman defenseman Carson Soucy said this week. "In college hockey, every team is so close. It makes you have to battle so much harder."
The Bulldogs take on the Mavericks Friday afternoon at XCel Energy Center in St. Paul. It's their first meeting at a neutral site since UMD took down MSU in the 2003 WCHA Final Five third-place game. Besides the historical significance of the NSCC's first game, this is a key game for both teams.
MSU went 1-3 on an early-January trip to Alaska, but as second-year coach Mike Hastings noted when I talked to him this week, the Mavs rebounded quickly.
"We came back and decided to leave Alaska in Alaska," Hastings said. "I thought our leadership group with (captain) Jonny McInnis and Zach Lehrke did a great job of re-focusing our group. We really did take it a period at a time and tried to make sure we were controlling what we could control. We did a good job of it this past weekend."
As part of my weekly preparation for UMD games/series, I like to watch the opponent's most recent games. Technology makes this a pretty easy process, and I take a few hours each week to look for certain tendencies and just get a feel for how a team is playing.
Through that study and UMD's games, I've said without apology that St. Cloud State is the best team I've seen this season, with Minnesota and Notre Dame trailing. I haven't been prone to hyperbole with this work each week, so hopefully no one thinks I'm talking out of my rear end here.
Minnesota State is up there with the best teams I've seen on video.
The Mavericks were on fire last weekend against Ferris State. They attacked with speed, drove the net, and got strong goaltending.
"I was very impressed," UMD coach Scott Sandelin said. "I thought they were a team that went hard to the net. It was a very competitive series, very physical. They got to the net really hard. They have some skill players. I was very impressed with their speed."
MSU will be short-handed in Friday's game. Forwards Teddy Blueger and Zach Stepan were given game disqualifications Saturday for their role in a fight. They are automatically suspended for the semifinal.
"It's not going to change how they play," Sandelin said. "Certainly, if they play like (they did against Ferris), we're in for a major challenge."
For the second straight weekend, UMD is in a matchup of two of the nation's top penalty kills. The Bulldogs held a powerful Denver power play scoreless last weekend, and the UMD kill is now fifth nationally at 88.6 percent. MSU is third at 89.3 percent.
"Our penalty killers have done a really good job," Hastings said. "Penalty killing is a lot of selfless work. You're doing everything to make sure that puck doesn't get into the net."
Hastings knows his team has a challenge on its hands Friday, too.
"To see them play on tape, they're playing with confidence. The impact that their freshmen are having on the team, they grow weekly. Look at the schedule, they're getting tested every weekend. They're getting better all the time. They're a team that's gonna end up making a lot of noise in the playoffs in the NCHC."
UMD's defense will be seriously tested. Guys like Matt Leitner and JP LaFontaine will attack the net. They have already proven themselves at this level, and Hastings notes both have been playing much better as of late. The Mavericks attack in waves, and if UMD isn't careful, odd-man rushes could become the order of the late afternoon in St. Paul.
With the job the Bulldogs have done protecting Aaron Crandall and limiting second-chance opportunities, much of Friday's keys involve keeping the Mavericks forwards from getting in Crandall's kitchen and disrupting what has been an impressive run for the senior goalie. With a .949 save percentage over his last four starts (2-1-1 record), Crandall enters the NSCC with plenty of confidence, and the team has confidence in him.
But for UMD to move into the title game Saturday night, 60 consistent minutes with an emphasis on sound puck possession are required. If the teams take to the ice in front of thousands of empty seats as I fear they will, the one that gets into the game early and plays with energy has a great advantage, no matter the goaltending.


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You are here: Home Projects Snetterton
The power station has passed the liability test in April 2017 and is now in commecial operation, operated by BWSC
BWSC main web site
Case StoryBWE main web siteOwners web site
Snetterton Biomass Plant is a straw-fired power station that is planned for Norfolk/UK. The project combines the environmental benefits of renewable power generation with more local economic benefits that will add Snetterton to the new market for the supply of straw. The project has significant national and regional benefits, as summarised below: • Steam data: 173 t/h, 112 bar(G), 540 degC • Boiler efficiency: 91.8% (EN 12952-15) • Heat input: 130 MJ/s • Output equivalent to 65,000 homes • 250,000 tonnes CO2 saved per year
Guide for HGV traffic
Access to site:
All access to the site must take place through the Main Gate.
Delivery address is:Snetterton Renewable Energy ProjectBWE Site OfficeF.A.O: Mads ThomsenChalk LaneSnettertonNR16 2JZNorfolkUnited Kingdom
GPS Coordinates:52.4810° N, 0.9513° E
All goods to arrive to the site must be announced in advance to BWE according to the guidelines in the Shipping Instructions


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Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Angelic Christmas Card
19 comments:
Gorgeous girl!! of course you didn't need me to tell you that though! :DReplyDelete
Thank you for the lovely inspirational card! Your instructions are easy to follow and I can't wait to make my own version using similar dies and stamps.ReplyDelete
Lovely card, love the angel and the subtle colouring too. Lovely design. Tracy xReplyDelete
Gorgeous & congratulations!ReplyDelete
Wow, this is beautiful Richele! Love the poinsettia!ReplyDelete
Your card is so beautiful! Great tutorial too. I did not think I needed that angel die but you are making me think I should invest.... Anne xReplyDelete
Beautiful! I have been looking forward to seeing some projects with this angelic die. Perfect for cards. Thanks for the easy to follow tutorial!ReplyDelete
Every time I see an easel card, I tell myself that I need to make one. Of course, I rarely do. Your explanations are so clear and concise; no more hesitating for me. (Except it's bedtime, so I do need to wait until later this week 😄ReplyDelete
I adore this card, so beautiful, simple and clever! Amazing work! BarbarayayaReplyDelete
This is card is gorgeous. You have given beautiful justice to the Angel. Sometimes, just seeing the white cut out, it's difficult to imagine the finished product. I want that die now :) Tfs!ReplyDelete
Beautiful card.ReplyDelete
A gorgeous carg you have made :)ReplyDelete
So beautiful! I love the colors and your angel is fabulous! !ReplyDelete
Sandy xx
I love this card!ReplyDelete
Oh dear... Your card is awesome. Just love all the elegant details. You created a fabulous card !!!ReplyDelete
Thank you for sharing your art. Really inspiring !!
Hugs from Monica... Spain
Simple … easy … love it!ReplyDelete
Thankfully Tim did a recap because I missed this gem! It is beautiful and clever!!! Just what I need for a push to get me going on cards, thanks!ReplyDelete
Gorgeous card, I love the ease of the easel card you created!ReplyDelete
Love this card. Beautiful and simple!! Thanks for the idea!!ReplyDelete


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Saturday, April 25, 2015
V is for Vampires
27 comments:
That is tough! Be even more difficult if it was Blade II. But I will go with Underworld, for obvious reasons.ReplyDelete
I'm not a big fan of vampires, but I love the under the sea!ReplyDelete
I love the Underworld series, especially the first two entries, but it doesn't really get any more badass than Wesley Snipes in shades and a leather trenchcoat. Plus the first Blade movie more or less paved the road for subsequent superhero movies at a time when everyone was still reeling from the disaster that was Batman & Robin.ReplyDelete
Unfamiliar with these movies but I must check them out, especially after you pointed them out, of all the vampires out there.ReplyDelete
My favorite Blade movie is Blade II. But I'll always vote for Underworld. Love it!ReplyDelete
I haven't sampled either of these. I did read the series of the "glitter" vampires, Twilight with my daughter. The Vampire movie I have seen that I enjoyed the most was the one Tom Cruise played the lead in. I don't remember titles very well, so I don't remember what it was called.ReplyDelete
Visit me at: Life & Faith in Caneyhead
I am Ensign B of Tremps' Troops
with the A to Z ChallengeReplies
I believe you're thinking of Interview With A Vampire?Delete
Underworld. I still find it amusing that when I first saw it, I didn't understand the appeal of Bill Nighy at all. I thought he ruined the movie.ReplyDelete
I'm definitely going with Blade. I found those movies slightly less ridiculous than the Underworld series :).ReplyDelete
I'll go with Underworld since I haven't seen Blade.ReplyDelete
I'm sure I've seen Underworld, but I don't remember anything about it. Can I throw in a wildcard vote for Bram Stoker's Dracula? :-)ReplyDelete
Annalisa, writing A-Z vignettes, at Wake Up, Eat, Write, SleepReplies
I think that's the perfect write-in. I love that movie.Delete
Not much of a vampire fan but I'll go with Blade since I remember watching that.ReplyDelete
I like vampires as charismatic villains, but sympathetic anti-heroes are harder to pull off.ReplyDelete
I haven't seen Underworld. I watched Blade last year, and while I can respect that it helped with getting superhero and comic book movies out there more, I didn't really like it. So no vote from me today, just rambles.
Abstaining today; haven't seen either :)ReplyDelete
I go with Blade even though I love strong women who know how to kick assReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 26, 2015 at 6:14 AM
I have to vote for Underworld on this one!ReplyDelete
Not into vamps of any kind. Didn't watch ANY of the movies or series or anything else, so no vote for me. Good post though.ReplyDelete
I think Underworld would win in this smackdown.ReplyDelete
~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee's Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
I don't watch Vampire movies so I don't know. I just wanted you to know I was here :)ReplyDelete
Love both but have to say underworld. I also have to throw in Dracula 2000 because Gerard butler played vampire well.ReplyDeleteReplies
I LOVE that movie. It's such a good twist on the Dracula tale.Delete
I'm not familiar with either of these films but will give both of them a view because I can tell that I value your opinion and recommedation on Vampire flicks and books . We seem to share the same view . I'm tired of the over saturated vampire market full of vampires who seem to have lost most of the qualities and vices that we equate with being a vampire . Vampires today can live in the sun, mingle with humans and have no problem resisting their urge to suck the humans dry of their blood. They no longer need to feed, they can just mosey on up to a bar and order a bottle of O neg, and dance with a human, their lips inches from the humans neck and veins and never even feel temptation . I hope these two films portray vampires with their original needs and vicesReplyDelete
Blade! Underworld was a bad movie, but I liked it anyway because it is the closest we got to a World of Darkness film (and the werewolf transformations were pretty cool).ReplyDelete
@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary
Both are good, but Underworld had more style.ReplyDelete
Wesley Snipes versus Kate Beckinsale? Sorry Wesley, you're out!ReplyDelete
Chatter From the Mongoose Den
OMG - I'm supposed to choose between these two? They both have hybrids, they both have vampires! I love both of them, but my loyalty has to go with my own sex, so Underworld wins (and also Michael's character hits every button I have - hurt/comfort, hybrid, very pretty ;)).ReplyDelete
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)


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BOGOTA, Colombia — Nearly a century ago, Konrad Preuss did pioneering work in Colombia's most important archaeological zone, called San Agustin. But the German archaeologist also took 35 stone statues back to Germany, and now residents of the southern Colombian region where he worked have mounted a campaign to get them back.
About 1,800 residents of the Andean community of the San Agustin region signed a petition this month in a grass-roots effort to urge Colombia's government to make a formal request for the return of the intriguing artifacts. Some of the statues are on display and others are in storage at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin's Dahlem neighborhood.
The statues in Berlin, which are as tall as 3 feet and at least 1,000 years old, were carved to resemble "supernatural" human figures, often with feline or reptile characteristics. Little is known about the society that produced the statues, its people having vanished long before Spanish colonists arrived in the late 15th century.
With their odd headgear and goggle-like appurtenances, the statues caught the attention of Swiss author Erich von Daniken, who mentioned them in his writings as possible evidence of extraterrestrial visitors.


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Lady Freedom Pique Women's Polo Shirt – Navy
Gear up for summer golf in this beautiful, one-of-a-kind patriotic shirt! The Lady Freedom Pique Polo Shirt has been pre-washed for a soft hand feel and comfortable but sturdy fit and boasts a unique stars and stripes design. The shirt features stars embroidered on shoulder, contrast chambray fabric inside the yoke, woven twill tape inside the collar and side seam, embossed buttons, and a woven fancy label on the right sleeve.
- Rib knit collar and cuffs
- Side vent styling
- Classic Fit
- Johnny collar with 2-button closing
Measurements on the 1/2″


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Monday, August 17, 2009
Get your #2 pencils out cause I've got a pop quiz for you!
Did Perez Hilton achieve his successful blogging site Perezhilton.com by:
a.) Delicately commenting on Hollywood gossip and stars
b.) Becoming a grammatically correct and beautiful writer
c.) Boldly speaking his mind and constantly pushing the limits.
Answer is.....
An awesome fellow blogger, Copyblogger, declares in a recent post that blogging boldly is the way to keep people interested and coming back for more.
Audiences want to be entertained. So dilly dallying around your point, novel descriptions of what you ate/did last night/saw at the movies/your crazy dream, random uninteresting news, and not letting your personality show in your blog are sure ways to lose your audience. Try to avoid them at all costs.
Check out Copyblogger's site for more info on the subject.
COMING SOON: List of sites and blogs that excel at keeping readers around.
Until next time,
Sloane and Chelsea
Posted by Blueprint PR and Design at 11:27 AM
Labels: blogging points, Copyblogger, Perez Hilton, social media
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"Gena Rowlands revealed on the ITV show 'This Morning' that her son Nick Cassavetes ("The Notebook") was originally going to direct an "Iron Man" movie… he's now instead thinking of doing "Captain America" for Marvel Studios…" (full details)
"Toby Wilkins ("Splinter") will direct "The Grudge 3″ for Ghost House Pictures with shooting expected to start in January. Wilkins takes over from Takashi Shimizu, who helmed the second outing…" (full details)
""The X-Files 2″ is tentatively set to go before the camera in December, with Carter directing, based on a script he wrote with veteran X-Files writer-producer Frank Spotnitz. Duchovny will reprise his role as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder, and Anderson will return as Special Agent Dana Scully…" (full details)