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The Big Picture: Next Light
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Also, "zombie love story":
I'm sorry that girl actually said in that trailer "This is the future" REALLY? That's bad screen writing 101, no one says "we're living in the future" because to them its the FUCKING PRESENT! GOD DAMMNIT! Thats even worse, in fact a million times worse, than that one part in the new (shitty) Total Recall when that woman is injecting him with the needle and she says "Its still the best way to get chemicals into the human body." Yes he probably knows that already you dumbass exposition spouting fool.
That comedy with the lad from Skins looks funny though, it was probably the song.
As for the mortal instruments... f-FUCK! Thats pretty edgy what they're trying to do, and I'm more than okay with it. Well there are two things technically.
Capcha: bizarro jerry. Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Capcha that's the crazy phrases I love you for :D
Well the sentient zombies in Warm Bodies look way prettier than the sentient ghouls from Fallout.
Also, they should make a Homestuck movie franchise, it would be like 20 movies long. It's also popular with teens and doesn't have [SPOILER] unlike The Mortal Instruments.
This must be the webcomic you're looking for: http://hijinksensue.com/2008/11/12/30-days-of-twilight/
I'm starting to wonder if the movie industry is going to follow the same formula for tween-lit horror/romance from the Simpsons episode "The Book Job", what with how Bob described these upcoming movies. Side note: WTF was happening in the spinning dining room with the gawd-awfulvfake Southern accents? And ZOMBIE romance? Really? That better just point out how dumb this whole "undead romance" THING is as a whole.
I am also surprised, and was kind of expecting it as an obvious one. If anything, it looks like THE one example of trying to follow Twilight's trail and being successful.
And I wouldn't be surprised if they stretch it out for some years. Without spoiling much, let me say that the 3rd book could be adapted into two movies, while the 2nd one barely being worth one.
I'm a little bit sad that everything that Hollywood's turning into movies almost sounds like plots for short stories I was writing in Junior High when I should have been studying.
Short of that, I'm apprehensive for Warm Bodies. I kind of wish the Funny or Die sketch about When Harry Met Sally 2 was more real then a love story with zombies.
Although, here I am complaining about a love story with Zombies when Shaun of the Dead did it first and did it best, so who knows? Maybe I'm a grumpy old man already.
The only thing Twilight related I would watch is a Spin-off revolving around the Volturi.
Im totally serious! I would love to see a movie staring Micheal Sheen just mincing to the camera. It'd be fucking awesome.
Of course they are going to make a 50 Shades of Grey Quadrology (they will split the third book in two), they will do anything to prevent development hell, since it will bring stupid amounts of money to the studios, so getting it out as fast as possible is the best option, and they will hire the prettiest underwear models as actors, kind of like transformers. Welcome to hell.
My 22 year old brother Straight A brother and his girlfriend also likes the Hunger Games, guess Straight A people don't have a lot of time to develop good taste.
Well maybe because the first movie of the Quadrology is out (They are going to make it a quadrology since Harry Potter and Twilight did it) it's not what's on the horizon as the video said, rather it's what's popular right now. They are going to strech it until 2015 at the least.
I might actually like to see that one... maybe. Although that Mortal Instruments did actually look interesting. ...except for the love triangle part.
Just remember, people... Breaking Dawn part 2 opened to $141 million.... while Dredd opened to around $6 million.
You have no one to blame but yourselves.
More Twilight-esc movies...
It looks stupid in that really corny/cheesy kind of hilarious way.
Like they're going for that it seems, which can either go wildly right or horribly wrong.
Yo Dawg. I've heard you like a plot twist. So let me put a plot twist in your plot twist so you can twist the plot while twisting the plot.
I'm thinking horribly wrong, esp considering certain other inevitable scenes... *shiver*
Yeah kind of sad. Wonder if it's a good thing or a bad thing that Hollywood doesn't or can't try to cash in other fandoms. Twilight is horrible, but on the other hand comic book movies are getting to be quite good. Personally my preferred medium is fantasy, which outside of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones (the HBO treatment here is awesome!) it's mostly overlooked.
These books tend to be much bigger than their teen fiction counterparts, so it's probably better to go the HBO method rather than the movie method, which unfortunately loses a lot of budget. If it did get picked up more though one that would probably work well for movies is the Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Trilogy.
they are not ________ and ______, by blood, father adopted him do to guilt over his experiments, however she does have a ________ by birth. All this happens in the 3rd book.
On the Mortal Instruments twist
Worked for Star Wars
Honestly, one of my favorite gothic horror novels - Dhampire, by Scott Baker, had a very similar twist - and then went on for another 100 pages, sex included. Still somehow worked for me, as at that point it went to fucked up world.
I can't believe someone chose a zombie of all monsters to put in a romantic movie. Vampires have superpowers. Zombies can, um... shuffle, and survive dismemberment. I bet the ladies love guys who can do that.
When you mentioned that scifi movie, I was so sure you were going to say the parasite fell in love with its host. That could actually be kind of interesting. Its forcing its host to do all these auto-erotic things and forcing the host to love it while trying to cope with the fact that it is overriding the hosts will and is as such not treating its lover with love.
What it actually is does not sound interesting to me at all though.
All is forgiven, all I ask now is an ancient Egyptian deity romance flick. Like... Not-Bella and Anubis hooking up to preserve cosmic balance against Lovecraftian horrors.
Bloody hell, suppose if you want anything done properly, you'll have to do it yourself...
Kristin Stewart should play a zombie in one of these movies. Imagine the money they'd save on make-up
Not to speak for Bob, but I'm guessing he left that off because the first Hunger Games movie was already released, whereas the stuff he covered is upcoming.
Did that zombie romance film remind anyone else of Fallout?
With the sentient and feral ghouls it just seems obvious.
*slow clap* I should not be laughing at this. You should not be encouraged.
If it weren't for his inclusion of The Host I would suspect Bob gave it a bye because it wasn't a supernatural romance. I would like to think he didn't include it because its better quality, though he pretty much panned the movie. I found Hunger Games to be very well written (as best I can judge given that I'm neither in the target age nor gender demographics), though IMHO the first book was stronger than its sequels.
Easy there, hoss. People make up new names all the time and with good reason - maybe this author didn't want to use a word freighted with meaning from the Old Testament. Consider how comic fanboys react when someone messes up an origin story. If I was an author writing pulp fantasy I'd probably cross to the other side of the proverbial street to avoid a confrontation with bible fanboys. Or maybe it was to clarify - a quick wikipedia check of the word means that one translation that's been passed down simply means 'giants' or 'fallen warriors'. And while Nephilim is indeed a name given to the children of angels and men, I suspect there are words from other cultures which are no less on the mark. So, you know. Chill.
Seconded. It'd take a lot of rhetorical wind out of people's sails but arguments would be a lot more clear if people 'fessed up when they knew they weren't part of the intended audience when posting online. Everyone's still entitled to opinions but if IRL I complain that Justin Beiber doesn't do much for me as a pop star, I'm just going to get I bunch of weird looks. Because yeah, the music might be insipid but I'm not a tweenage girl so, you know. I should fuckaway off and find something I do like.
I went to Sandman Slim, personally, but I grok the reference.
best i can put it with getting into the spoiler details
Instead of finding what the next Twilight will be, why don't we find what the next Avengers Saga will be, or some other good movie series.
No, not only that, guys also get all kinds of shit from others for being "immature idiot man-boys" by enjoying entertainment with violence or something that involves attractive women (been getting it from a lot of gaming columnists and videos lately too unfortunately).
That stuff is wrong, but middle-aged women publicly forming groups dedicated to lusting after hunky shirtless under-age teenage guys in romance-porn is fine.
All I could think about when Bob showed that clip at the beginning was Saxton Hale. It should have a text box that reads "COUGAR TACKLE!" or something.
I say fuck all this. Ridiculous. If anyone wants some badass psychotic love triangle action set supernaturally feel free to join me in watching TrueBlood. At least it has ultra violence and tits.
I looked up that twist at the end of City of Bones (Mortal Instruments) and as for how mainstream audiences will handle it, I have to point out (POSSIBLE SPOILERS i guess) that star wars did it so its not that big of a stretch.
I was kind of sad when I saw Mortal Instruments, for one moment I though he was talking about the Mortal Engines quartet and I was thinking "Holy shit, a film about moving cities eating each other, its going to be awesome"
I can still dream.
If you're spinning a yarn from the Judeo-Christian ball, then you may aswell stick with the vernacular.
It's like writing a story in the Lovecraft universe and then calling 'Dagon' 'the almighty fish' or something.
I'm not saying they need to stick to their inspiration/source material verbatim. It'd be awfully dry if they did.
But don't go and reinvent the wheel. If you're having angels and demons and calling them angels and demons. Don't then go and take the Nephilim and call then shadowhunters because it sounds angstier.
Personally, I'm really looking forward to Warm Bodies. It seems to be that kind of oddly ironic humor that makes it sound like it would work, and so far nothing about it seems too outlandish or silly.
So hey, maybe this'll be good. Hopefully, at least.
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The Queen, by former games writer Ste Curran, is something you should probably listen to. Especially if you like Dwarf Fortress and/or good games writing.
It runs 16 minutes, so you might want to make a cup of tea and settle in. And if you like it? Buy it for £1, and encourage more of this sort of business.
The Queen [By Ste Curran]

subset: commoncrawl


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Overseas Americans: Time to Say 'Bye' to Uncle Sam?
Chased by the U.S. Government, Thousands Are Severing Ties With America. Here's What You Need to Know
Here is a sign that life is getting complicated for U.S. taxpayers with assets abroad: More of them are deciding they are better off cutting official ties with America.
In the first half of 2013, 1,809 people renounced their American citizenship or permanent-resident status, according to a tally by Andrew Mitchel, a tax lawyer who tracks U.S. data. At that pace, the 2013 total would double the previous high of 1,781 renunciations in 2011....


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WALTHAM, Mass.- Led by sophomore center fielder Amanda Genovese (North Haven, Conn./ North Haven) and senior Casey Ducinski (Duxbury, Mass./ Duxbury), Brandeis University softball earned a split with the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors. The Judges lost the first contest 3-0 before winning the nightcap 7-3 as they move to 23-15 on the year while the Warriors go to 26-12.
With three steals in the two contests, Genovese broke the career record for stolen bases at Brandeis with 73, surpassing Melissa Cagar's '11 career mark. She has 51 stolen bases this season. She is only the fourteenth player in Division III history with 50 or more steals and is currently tied for 10th for the most steals in a season.
In the first contest, ECSU, ranked eighth in New England, was propelled by stellar pitching from sophomore Erin Miller (Waterford, Conn./ Waterford). She hurled a four-hit shutout while walking one and striking out two as she improved to 11-2 on the season with the 3-0 victory. The Warriors got all the scoring they needed in the top of the first when senior 1B Kelly Paterson (Southington, Conn./ Southington) singled home junior center fielder Mattie Brett (Waterford, Conn./ Waterford). ECSU would extend their lead in the fifth with a solo home run by senior 3B Arielle Cooper (Mystic, Conn./ R.E. Fitch Sr.) and completed their scoring in seventh on an RBI single from junior left fielder Megan Godwin (Manchester, Conn./ Manchester).
Junior 2B Leah McWilliams (Billerica, Mass./ Billerica Memorial) led the Judges offensively with a 1-for-2 performance while Genovese added one steal after reaching on an error. Junior starter Melissa Nolan (Windsor, Conn./ Loomis Chaffee) fell to 9-5 on the season after seven innings where she allowed three runs on seven hits with three walks and no strikeouts.
The Warriors were led by offensively by Cooper who went 2-for-4 with two runs, an RBI, and a long solo shot to right-center field.
In the second game, it was Ducinski's pitching that led Brandeis to their 7-3 win. After shutting ECSU out for the first three frames, Ducinski allowed the Warriors to tie the game at 1-1 in the fourth. The Judges' bats responded in the bottom of the frame by putting up four runs on four hits while taking advantage of two costly ECSU errors. With one out and runners on second and third, sophomore Cori Coleman (Burr Ridge, Ill./ Hinsdale South) executed a squeeze bunt to perfection as classmate shortstop Anya Kamber (Sammamish, Wash./ Skyline) raced home from third. Then, when the pitcher overthrew first, rookie 3B Madison Sullivan scored as well to put Brandeis up 3-1. After a single and a sacrifice bunt, Genovese was up and her grounder to short forced a hurried throw that allowed two more runs to score and give the Judges a 5-1 lead. Genovese stole second and third in that inning to break the record but did not score. After the Warriors cut the lead to 5-3 in the sixth, Brandeis responded again with two insurance runs on RBI singles from Genovese and Ducinski in the bottom half of the inning as the Judges went on to win 7-3.
Ducinski improved to 9-6 after her complete game. She allowed three runs on seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Genovese was the offensive leader going 3-for-4 with a run, two RBI, two stolen bases, and her first career home run, a solo shot to right in the third. Ducinski was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI while rookie 1B Jordan Buscetto (Old Lyme, Conn./ Old Lyme) was 2-for-3 with a run scored.
ECSU's starter, senior Christine Akcer (Milford, Conn./ Jonathan Law), fell to 7-4 on the year after three inning of work, allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits with no walks and two strikeouts. The Warriors were led offensively by Brett who went 2-for-4 with a run and Paterson who was 1-for-2 with a run, two RBI, and a solo homer to deep center in the fourth.
The Judges continue their season at MIT on Wednesday May 1st with game one scheduled to being at 3:30 p.m. ECSU continues with their conference tournament on Thursday May 2nd at noon against UMass-Boston.


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Billionaire Paul Allen backs Burt Rutan's vision of air launch
In what is probably the year's most exotic approach to space launch, billionaire entrepreneur Paul Allen and aircraft designer Burt Rutan aim to use the equivalent of two Boeing 747-400s to carry a Falcon 9-derivative rocket to 30,000-35,000 ft. for an air-drop launch of satellites or humans into low Earth orbit.
Their two-fuselage design brings to mind the Model 76 Voyager developed by Rutan that circled the world without stopping or refueling Dec. 14-23, 1986, or, more recently, the WhiteKnight mother ship for SpaceShipOne that won the Ansari X Prize in 2004 as the first privately funded, human-rated spaceship. But this time the carrier aircraft is to have a wingspan stretching 385 ft.—a 747-400's is 212 ft.—and a takeoff weight of 1.2 million lb., which rivals an Airbus A380's.
"Since the success of SpaceShipOne, I have thought a lot about how to take the next big step, a private orbital system," Allen says of his new venture, Stratolaunch Systems, part of Vulcan Inc., the business and philanthropic holding company he owns in Seattle. Funding the venture will be "an order of magnitude beyond SpaceShipOne," he acknowledges. Stratolaunch aims for the first test flight of its "carrier aircraft" in 2015 and an initial rocket launch in 2016.
Allen and others associated with the venture—including Rutan, former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin as a company board member, and Gary L. Wentz Jr., former chief engineer of science and mission systems at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center who is now Stratolaunch's chief executive and chairman—declined to provide many specifics about the program's design, specifications or costs during a briefing in Seattle last week. Rutan says their reluctance stems from a need to protect proprietary data.
The Stratolaunch enterprise is scattered across the country. Scaled Composites, the company Rutan founded that is now part of Northrop Grumman, will build the composite carrier aircraft in a new hangar it is constructing at Mojave Air and Spaceport in California. The Falcon launch vehicle is being developed at the campus of Space Exploration Technology (SpaceX) in Hawthorne, Calif., and the 40,000-50,000-lb. mating and interface system needed to suspend the rocket from the carrier's center wing is being developed by Dynetics Inc., an aerospace and engineering company in Huntsville, Ala.
Wentz says Stratolaunch is in the process of purchasing two used 747-400s that will be cannibalized for engines, avionics, flight deck, landing gear and other proven systems that can be recycled to cut development costs. One task is to design the launch control system, which will be handled entirely from the carrier aircraft, he says.
Dynetics's mating and interface system will be required to hold a launcher weighing up to 490,000 lb. "We'll be integrating the mission planning stuff associated with the drop and the launch, and building the hardware that will allow the drop," says David A. King, a Stratolaunch board member and executive vice president of Dynetics.
For that work, Dynetics will apply its experience as prime contractor on the U.S. Air Force's GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (Moab) bomb, and with Boeing on the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (Mop) bunker buster, which weigh 20,000 and 30,000 lb., respectively.
"We've got a fair amount of experience dropping big, heavy stuff, too, both aerodynamically and from a mechanical perspective," King says.
Aerodynamic considerations probably will require a shorter version of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle than the one SpaceX is using in its bid to supply cargo and eventually crew to the International Space Station. That in turn will likely drive the air-launched Falcon to fewer than the nine Merlin kerosene-fueled engines SpaceX uses in its ground-based first stage. King says those trade-offs are still being worked out, as is the timing for moving from unmanned payloads to crew vehicles.
"We've been providing Vulcan with a lot of information about what we believe the market to be, at least in the [Defense Department]/NASA world," says King, a former director at Marshall. "Obviously, we don't know as much about the commercial world or the tourism world, but we're talking with them now about how we're going to stand up the right kind of team to go do that."
Dynetics has been under contract to Vulcan for almost a year and has some 40 employees on the project so far. SpaceX joined more recently, and the overall team is still working through details of how to progress toward its 2016 first launch.
"This is a development program, and development programs take five to seven years to get through," King says. "A lot of that depends on funding and funding profiles and how well you do and how much existing technology you're putting in place. I don't think we're developing any new technology here, but this is a very complex system that we have to optimize, and we have to optimize it just right to make it work and get the kind of payload capability that we need. We've got a lot of work to do, but we see this as a fairly typical development program."
The result, he says, will be a Delta II-class launch vehicle able to compete with anything in that class worldwide. "Anything there and south of there—we'll be taking a look at those markets," King says.
Among the details still to be nailed down are where the Stratolaunch System will operate from. Potential sites include Florida's Kennedy Space Center, Edwards AFB near Scaled Composites' headquarters in Mojave, or Hickam AFB in Hawaii, Wentz says. The carrier will require a 12,000-ft.-long runway and the capability for fueling the two-stage liquid-fueled Falcon rocket.
While Rutan began sketching out such an air-launch system 20 years ago, he emphasizes that today he is retired and it is the younger engineers at Scaled Composites doing the detailed work.
Also yet to be determined is the venture's revenue stream, says Griffin. "Initially, there is a thriving communications satellite market" for small comsats suitable for the Falcon. The Defense Department and NASA's scientific community have similar needs.
"There's also a huge demand for payloads produced by unskilled labor at home that would like to go into orbit," Rutan jokes of humans eager to orbit the Earth.
Because satellites are the easiest payloads to launch, the companies that want to send them into orbit are most likely to be Stratolaunch's initial paying customers, Griffin says. Spacecraft weighing up to 13,500 lb. will be carried by the unmanned Falcon.
"At some point, we will have the capability to loft up to six people," Griffin says. Beyond the need to assure their safety during launch, the question arises as to what passengers will do once they are in space. One obvious answer is that they will be space tourists on missions lasting no more than a few days.
Griffin says it is too early to say whether the Stratolaunch can service the International Space Station, although Rutan says it is shameful that the U.S. no longer has the capability to carry its own astronauts to the station.
"It's become more expensive to put people in orbit with the systems this country has [now] than it was in the very first year of the very first decade" of U.S. manned spaceflight, Rutan says.
"I believe there have to be several really big breakthroughs to make [spaceflight] more affordable and safer so we have access to orbit," Griffin adds. "I believe using air launch may be one of several breakthroughs to do that."
Asked if he would like to be among the first passengers, Allen demurred, saying he is inherently cautious—even if he is apparently willing to risk $200 million or more as the backer of Stratolaunch.


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The news the other day about producer Lauren Schuler Donner hinting at the beginnings of plans for an X-Men 4 movie (and a movie based on The New Mutants) got me thinking of some of the infinite possibilities for the next X-Men installment.
I could go on and on about stories and characters I'd like to see, but keeping to the basics, I'll discuss some of the issues from the existing X-trilogy that need to be rectified going forward with the next movie, should it come to fruition.
Join us as we discuss what we'd like to see from X-Men 4 and open the floor for your ideas!
We'll go through some topics that need to be addressed, many of which stem from issues we were left with from X-Men 3: The Last Stand, starting with who the villain(s) should be.
A New Villain
Magneto's reign is over, have him as a guest role to touch on his relationship with Xavier and perhaps have him redeem himself in some way, becoming the friend he used to be when he was the X-Men's co-founder prior to the events of the X-trilogy.
This would be a nice concluding touch to the story of X-Men: First Class, which I think may feature Magneto working alongside Xavier to build the institute and the Cerebro device. With a possible role in that film and his own origins solo movie, Magneto's story will be continued in the past, not the future: leave him out of X4.
So who must the X-Men dance with? Mr. Sinister and the Marauders? Apocalypse? Sentinels?! You could make multiple movies using any of these villains, let alone the time-traveling storylines featuring Bishop and Cable, which would allow for some very cool tie-ins to other X-films in development.
The Marauders would offer a good way to showcase a team of enemies and would tie Gambit into X-Men 4, while bringing Mr. Sinister into the mix. His interest in Jean Grey/Cyclops could be a key storyline and his involvement could help branch into existing or new spinoffs in development. Going that direction could also allow for the storyline of Cyclops fathering Cable as a result of Mr. Sinister's experiments (I doubt it would follow the comics though) .
Give Rogue some Power!
Rogue was the leading lady of the first X-Men movie and then became a completely unused and wasted character in its sequels. Her power is to acquire other powers and she didn't do that once over the span of three superhero movies. I don't get it and judging by the interviews I saw for the movie, neither does Anna Paquin, the actress who played Rogue.
Paquin has matured as an actress and she has a strong following with her hit show, True Blood. Bring her back and bring her into the action. Let her fly and smash things.
A more significant (and useful) role for Rogue could also include or setup a possible storyline with her and Gambit; Wolverine star Taylor Kitsch is very interested in doing just that, and many fans would like to see it happen.
Speaking of powers, Iceman finally iced up in the final action sequence of X3: The Last Stand so now he should be a full-fledged mutant combatant and X-Men member. Let him and Rogue dominate in the large-scale action sequences. Ice slides, anyone?


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Zion Lutheran students learn about careers and
Album 2
on photos below to enlarge.]
[April 09, 2014]
Send a link to a friend
Pictures by Nila Smith
In this session students were learning improv
acting. The instructor, Autum Robison, called out different
scenarios; then the kids were to act them out.
In this scenario, students were acting out a
Civil War battle.
Rich O'Hara quizzes the kids on interesting
facts about elk.
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An Interpretation of the Dispersal of BlackandRed
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GABF 2013: Best of the Thursday night session
Here are our favorites from Thursday's opening session of the 32nd Great American Beer Festival – and one place where the beer ran out early.
The fest can be a strange place. There were long lines at Russian River and Port Brewing/Lost Abbey – and their beers are worth waiting for – but none at all at the Pizza Port booths, pouring some of the finest beers around.
Maybe it was just luck, but at no point did we feel squeezed or crowded in the festival hall. On to the picks …


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When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began accepting mortgage and credit card complaints last year, consumers were quick to respond.
According to the CFPB's semi-annual report, between July 21 and December 31, more than 13,000 consumers contacted the bureau to vent about issues with lenders they've encountered.
Credit cards have been the largest source of complaints so far, with 9,307 reported to the agency.
An interim report released in December identified billing disputes as the biggest issue. The CFPB's latest report states 13 percent of complaints (1,278) were about billing disputes; meanwhile, identity theft and high interest rates were the second and third biggest areas of concern.
Of the 2,326 who dished about their mortgage problems, 38.2 percent said the issues stemmed from problems making payments, loan modifications and foreclosures, for example.
In response, the bureau introduced a new pilot program last month that would tap consumers for tips on how to simplify mortgage closing disclosure forms and make the terms easier to understand.
Though the CFPB has made efforts to address the issues, the companies on the other side have not been as quick to respond.
The bureau sent 75 percent of all complaints to companies. Credit card companies responded better. While 64 percent of the credit card complaints received a partial or full resolution, conversely, nearly half of the mortgage complaints stayed unresolved.


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90 Joseph V. Rizzo '73
|HOF Class of '90
Joe Rizzo was a four-year letter winner for the football squad. He was named All-ECAC, All-Conference, and All-America throughout his career. Rizzo captained the 1972 team helping the Mariners record a 23-12-1 record over his four years. He still holds the Academy record for longest punt; a 90-yarder in 1971.
After graduation Rizzo played with the Denver Broncos, becoming a starting linebacker in 1975 for the famed "Orange Crush" defense. Rizzo led the Broncos to the 1978 Super Bowl against the Dallas Cowboys. After the Super Bowl, Rizzo's number 93 was retired by the academy.


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Behind the Seas Tours at Marineland
Behind the Seas Tours at Marineland
Start Date - 11/02/2018
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Event Phone:
Event Fax:
Marineland Dolphin Adventure, 9600 Oceanshore Blvd., St. Augustine FL 32080
Behind the Seas Tours
Marineland Dolphin Adventure- Daily tours, tour times listed below.
Go behind-the-scenes and below-the-decks of Marineland Dolphin Adventure! Their Behind the Seas Tour offers an exclusive backstage look at our facility and animal habitats, and an opportunity to explore their unique and fascinating history spanning over 75 years.
From their beginnings as an underwater film studio to their new, modern facility, Marineland Dolphin Adventure has been creating memories for generations. Along with their many advancements over the years, guests will learn about Marineland's pioneering work in aquatic animal research and advancement of life support systems for aquatic environments.
The Behind the Seas tour also features new exhibits with animals native to the Southeast region of the United States, and an opportunity to learn the importance of the Gulf Stream, ecosystems and conservation. Guests will also discover facts about invasive species and their effects on aquatic populations along the eastern seaboard, such as lion fish, green moray eels, jellyfish and lobsters.
Pricing (includes General Admission):
Adult (ages 13-59): $26.95
Child (ages 3-12): $16.95
Seniors (ages 60+): $25.95
Length of tour: approximately 45 minutes. Daily tours run at 10 a.m, 11 a.m., 12 p.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. & the final tour runs at 3:20 p.m.


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Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!! Hope you all had a wonderful day, I know that I have. We had a great family get together yesterday here at our house. It was great to see everyone & catch up!
Our week this week isn't too crazy. I am meeting up with 2 of my girlfriends on Thursday night at P.F. Changs! YUM! Love the Shanghai Cucumbers & Singapore Street Noodles. I can't wait!
Sunday ~ Burgers, baked beans, broccoli & mixed greens salad
Monday ~ Salmon w/ buckwheat, roasted asparagus & salad (kids having pasta w/meat sauce)
Tuesday ~ Grilled Chicken, baked sweet potatoes, green beans & salad
Wednesday ~ Soft Tacos, refried beans, corn & salad
Thursday~ Kim out w/friends to P.F. Changs. Mac & Cheese for the kids & Aaron
Friday~ Homemade Pizza (Bob's Red Mill) BBQ chicken or Buffalo Chicken for me; cheese & marinara for the kids
Saturday~ Leftovers
Baked Goods
Pamela's GF Bread
Bob's Red Mill Bread Sticks (making with the pizza crust mix!)
Filed under: Family, Gluten-Free | 7 Comments »


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Beauty And Personal Care Industry
Care industry in China with research from Euromonitor's team of in-country analysts.
Find hidden opportunities in the most current research data available, understand competitive threats with our detailed market analysis, and plan your corporate strategy with our expert qualitative analysis and growth projections.
If you're in the Beauty and Personal Care industry in China, our research will save you time and money while empowering you to make informed, profitable decisions.
When you purchase this report, you also get the data and the content from these category reports in China Beauty and personal care witnessed dynamic value growth in China during the review period


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San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree has been questioned by police regarding a sexual assault allegation, the San Francisco Police Department confirmed to NFL.com and NFL Network. Police said the alleged assault occurred in a city hotel room early Sunday.
Officer Gordon Shyy told NFL.com that Crabtree was interviewed earlier this week. The victim did not contact police until a few days after the alleged assault, after which police interviewed Crabtree with his lawyer present.
The officer did not provide details as far as a timeline for the investigation, only noting that it is "active" and Crabtree is being cooperative.
The 49ers arrived in Atlanta on Friday night in advance of the NFC Championship Game. NFL.com's Jeff Darlington reported Saturday, via a 49ers source, that Crabtree did indeed make the trip to Atlanta with the team.
Crabtree's attorney said in a media release that Crabtree had met with police and provided a statement.
"Michael fully cooperated with the inspectors and will continue to do so throughout this investigation. We have confidence in the process," attorney Joshua Bentley said in the release.
The 49ers released the following statement on the matter: "We are aware of the allegation against Michael and understand that he has fully cooperated with authorities. The 49ers take such matters very seriously. We will have no further comment at this time as the legal process is ongoing. Additional requests for comment should be directed to Michael's attorney."
The San Francisco Chronicle and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area report that Crabtree is expected to play on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. Crabtree has not been detained or arrested, and he has agreed to make himself available for possible further interviews about an assault.
No other information is available at this time, but we'll continue to update the situation as news warrants.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.


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Attorney off Suffolk Police Chief Burke case
The attorney representing the Smithtown man accused of breaking into Suffolk Police Chief James Burke's department-issued vehicle asked to be taken off the case Friday.
Judge Martin Efman granted defense lawyer Toni Marie Angeli's application to be relieved from representing Christopher Loeb on the condition that another attorney take over the case.
The Garden City-based attorney told the court she had a conflict and asked to be removed, a court spokesman confirmed.
She was initially replaced by Michael J. Brown, a Central Islip-based attorney who is also a former prosecutor at the Suffolk County district attorney's office. But within an hour, Brown said he had reconsidered and was no longer accepting the assignment, the spokesman said.
Angeli will continue to represent Loeb until a replacement is found, which could be next week, the spokesman said. Angeli refused to comment on the matter.
The application comes days after sources said that federal officials are investigating Burke to see if he violated Loeb's civil rights.
The FBI served nearly a dozen subpoenas to Suffolk police officers, detectives and headquarters personnel who may have direct knowledge or indirect knowledge of what happened the day of Loeb's arrest at his Smithtown home or at the Fourth Precinct where he was processed. More subpoenas will be issued soon, the sources said.
Loeb, 26, was held on a $500,000 bond at a Riverhead jail since his Dec. 14, 2012, arrest until federal authorities took him into custody Tuesday as a material witness.
Loeb faces charges that include fourth-degree grand larceny, fourth- and fifth-degree possession of stolen property, seventh-degree possession of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon after allegedly implicating himself in a police statement.
Police and prosecutors say Loeb and an accomplice took a bag out of Burke's department-issued vehicle. Records show Burke's bag contained a gun belt, ammunition, cigars and other items.
Loeb told family members that Burke punched him in the Fourth Precinct squad room hours after his arrest, his mother, Jane Loeb, said earlier this month.
Suffolk Police Commissioner Ed Webber and Burke have declined to comment. Burke denied any wrongdoing earlier this month.
-- With Andrew Smith
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The essence of competition
Huw Richards
June 3, 2011
Colin Meads is an icon in New Zealand © Getty Images
A very happy birthday to Colin Meads, who is 75 on June 3. That he is not 'Sir Colin' is down solely to New Zealand's decision to cast off elements of its colonial heritage - the award of Companion of Merit, the successor honour, in 2001 gives him a standing equal to other Kiwi icons like Dame Kiri te Kanawa and Sir Edmund Hillary.
It was a status underlined during the British & Irish Lions tour of 2005, when New Zealand papers spoke without irony of visiting fans 'having an audience' with him. The experience was doubtless worthwhile. While great players are by definition exceptional people, they also express something of where they are from, and few great sporting performers have epitomised their time and their roots better than Meads.
He was the embodiment of the All Black style of the 1960s, one he described himself after a particularly grim mullering of the French as "heads down, bottom up and drive, drive for 80 minutes", but he also continued the lineage of exceptional All Black second-rows, combining the power and intimidatory qualities of Maurice Brownlie with the athleticism and all-round play of Tiny White.
Carwyn James and John Reason wrote that "it was as if God had distilled in him the essence of competition", but his creator can also be argued to have distilled the essence of All Blackness, at least in traditional terms. Meads was a farmer - once famously photographed carrying a sheep under his arm. This was happenstance since the animal was ill, but left the impression of a rural behemoth who trained by carrying livestock around.
He was gruff and unshowy, to team-mate Chris Laidlaw "a non-lover of publicity", and he trod the line between intimidation and unacceptable force - falling the wrong side in inflicting the injury that ended brilliant Australian scrum-half Ken Catchpole's career and, in the judgment of referee Kevin Kelleher, in kicking out too close to Scotland scrum-half David Chisholm at Murrayfield in 1967.
That sending off had a much higher profile than the one in a club game in 1955 that might easily have cost him his first New Zealand Colts trial. That offence was followed by a rapidly-convened disciplinary hearing chaired by local official Eddie Walker, who ticked him off firmly, followed him outside and told him "Take no bloody notice of what I said in there. Get yourself down to Palmerston North and get stuck in."
If this sounds like a foretaste, except for the farmer bit, of Martin Johnson, we should not be surprised. England's Rugby World Cup captain played as a youngster in Meads' King Country and his return home after winning junior New Zealand honours was regretted by Meads, who once said: "He was a good one, and it was a pity we let him get away."
The sheer length of Meads' career continues to amaze. He played for North Island as a teenager in 1956 and was still playing for the All Blacks in 1971. If his total of 55 caps looks unimpressive by modern standards, his 133 appearances in all matches for the All Blacks is a hint at the total he might have accumulated nowadays. His tally of 361 first-class matches remains impressive by any standards.
Meads only looked like a giant. At 6 ft 3 in and 16 stone (roughly the same dimensions as Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips) he was no bigger than most international counterparts and smaller than quite a few. He came from a small union, King Country, that only intermittently produced All Blacks - although he characteristically pointed out that this gave him an earlier shot at representative rugby and helped win him a place on the famous junior All Black tour of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1955.
As a child he suffered from scarlet fever and rheumatism and was taught how to knit to give strength and flexibility to the curved hands that resulted. The treatment clearly worked, since there was nothing wrong with his hands in adulthood, where he was famed for his ability to win line-out possession by ripping the ball from opponents.
The impact left by his presence and persona is testified to by the anecdote of a Scottish debutant who cheekily stole a line-out ball in the first few minutes of a match. Meads turned to the youngster and told him in some detail what would happen if he did it again. When asked by friends as to his response, the Scot said: "I told him tae f*** off, but I didnae say it very loud."
True or not, the story speaks of the ogreish aura that clung to Meads, although he was much more than simply a big strong guy. He had ball skills and dropped a goal in his first match for King Country, although the exploit was never repeated and seems equally to have passed out of fashion for the national team he represented with such distinction.
While he is reputed to have remonstrated with Fred Allen when 'The Needle' introduced the All Blacks to a more fluid style in 1967, he had the athleticism and handling skills needed to adapt. He had, after all, spent much of his early career on the flank or at No.8 - a role in which he reckoned he peaked on the 1960 tour of South Africa - before settling into the second-row.
After 10 years of close observation Laidlaw, by nature a critic, reckoned to have spotted "no detectable weaknesses". It took the passing of time to reduce him to human dimensions, but the 1971 Lions still saw him as a formidable adversary as both lock and captain.
He might have coached the All Blacks had he not chosen to work with the rebel New Zealand Cavaliers' tour of apartheid-era South Africa in 1986, but he did serve on the New Zealand Rugby Union board in the 1990s until it was reduced to a smaller, streamlined body with strong business input in the aftermath of the shift to professionalism.
His autobiography sold 57,000 copies - Da Vinci Code-like quantities in a country with a population of three million, even if New Zealanders are much more bookish than stereotypes suggest. Those sales testified to his place in New Zealand life - a sporting legend who at the same time tells the country's inhabitants something about themselves.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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Can be downloaded for free
It was an honor for Sant Kirpal Singh to make the message of the spiritual science available for everybody freely and openly. Therefore all our publications are free of charge. This is possible due to our own printing press, as well as with the help of many volunteers and co-workers who bring in various skills in printing, translation, etc.
Some of our books and pamphlets are accessible in PDF format, but most of the material is available as hard copy. Upon request we gladly provide a list of the printed publications. The majority of our publications is available in English and German. A number of translations can be obtained also in Spanish, French, Italian, Croatian, Romanian and Chinese.
For books and pamphlets in Hindi and Punjabi please contact our office at the headquarters in Kirpal Sagar/INDIA.
Email: email@example.com


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Join Chesapeake Ghost Tours for a 1.5 hour paranormal investigation at Furnace Town in Snow Hill.
You'll tour our restored historic buildings all of which have had paranormal activity around them for years. Group will be able to enter the old Church – home of the "Heavy Bible" and also investigate around the old iron furnace, but the highlight will be walking into the secluded (and haunted) Pocomoke Forest.
Sightings of Sampson Harmon, a free Black man who worked at the iron furnace and lived in the forest with his cats until he was 104 years old have been known to occur. Some people catch a glimpse of his cat. Harmon is one of over a dozen legendary spirits said to haunt the Pocomoke Forest.
This forest has a 200 year legacy of of being haunted, and it is by far, the most haunted forest in Maryland.
Adult: $25
Child: $15


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Discussions Regarding Health & Ancestry and their Correlation and Causation.
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.
Forum Rules


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Robert Kinsella necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 99 diseños de 24 diseñadores freelance.
Identity Promotional Products and Gifts
IDENTITY knows the value of Branding. At IDENTITY we know that building your Brand is essential to enhancing a strong corporate identity and reputation. That is why we ensure every product is of the highest quality, branded to emphasize your corporate message and enhance your reputation. At IDENTITY we are much more than suppliers of promotional gifts – we help our clients define their Brand identity and corporate reputation through careful product selection and appropriate, clever and clear customising.
IDENTITY has a proven track record. We have over 12 years experience supplying quality Promotional Products and Gifts to a blue chip client base including market leaders in the Pharmaceutical, Construction, Financial, Manufacturing, Technology and Government sectors. From Fast Moving Consumer Goods to luxury leather and electronic goods, IDENTITY will ensure you get the product that's right for your sector. Quite simply: we succeed when our customers succeed.
IDENTITY is committed to customer satisfaction and ethical trading and offers a full range of environmentally sound products.
We want a fresh new look, we want to relaunch an optimised website and brand and are looking to start with a logo,
we will then be looking at a web page,
look at our website to see what our logo looks like now,
attached is the colours we use.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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An Ode to OBX by David Alan Harvey
Throughout my travels, I have seen and visited many beautiful beaches around the world, each of which has their own unique and captivating elements that create a special allure. However, despite that, the Outer Banks (also referred to as OBX), is and continues to be the most special place in my life.
Being from the DC area, vacationing in OBX was not uncommon, in fact, my family had been vacationing there for over 20 years. It is where I learned to surf and more importantly, where I learned what it really meant to be a beach lover. With that said, however, once I reached high school, the immaturity of my adolescence kicked in. As I saw all my friends hanging out back home while I was away, I became envious of the fact that I couldn't be there with them, to the point where I took my time down south for granted.
Now, as I look back, the saying, "the youth is wasted on the young" could not ring more true for I would do anything to be able to spend my entire summers there again.
So, as I tried my best to articulate why the Outer Banks is so incredibly special, my words just do not do it justice and therefore, I decided to use the best tribute to OBX that I could find, which happens to come from none other than the talented photographer and OBX native, David Alan Harvey. Originally published for National Geographic, Harvey's words say it best.
Read below and get inspired.
It's difficult to explain to some folks why I've ended up living on what is essentially a hurricane-prone sandbar. But I've been coming down to North Carolina's Outer Banks, often referred to as OBX, since 1956, when I was 12, right around the time I got hit by a passion for photography. Now the smells, light, and rapid-fire weather changes that are so OBX are part of my psyche. When I'm not walking down a dusty road in Senegal or dancing in Rio during Carnaval, I make the Outer Banks my home. After more than 40 assignments for National Geographic I've seen a lot, and I've lived deep. But nothing seems sweeter than the view from my front porch.
For me the Outer Banks is personal. For everyone here it is. Nobody comes down to build a career. Escape one, yes. Build one, no. Even though I'm usually working down here, the pace suits me better. When my parents brought me here as a kid, the place was a Waldenesque backwater, a few summer cottages scattered among the trees. I camped on the beach and bodysurfed. As a teenager I let some air out of the tires on my family's '53 Chevy and drove a little too fast with my buddies on the low-tide flats, arm out the window, radio blasting—and please pass me another cold one. A few years ago I bought a house I'd had my eye on. I've spent my career trying to capture the right moment. Now the right moment is here.
Even my memories, though, don't fully explain the Outer Banks' hold on me. It is something more primal, something about the capriciousness of the weather. Every day unfolds with its own mix of sun, wind, surf, and rain. The wide, sweeping sky offers a broad stage for summer squalls that frequently blow through. A fleet of white clouds will appear on the horizon and then suddenly darken. Lightning flashes, waterspouts rise out of the sound, and sheets of rain mixed with sand pelt the windows. And then, just as suddenly, it's all over. The sun returns to dry out the beach chairs, and the breeze lifts the kites up again.
These little tempests serve as reminders that at any moment the fickle winds can hurl a boat onto the shoals. (As the wrecks of a couple thousand ships along the OBX coastline attest.) Or possibly fling you into the sky. (They carried Orville and Wilbur Wright into immortality.) Living here is a straight-up bet on the weather.
The islands are highly mobile piles of sand, and the Atlantic gnaws at them little by little. Moves them around. They're not going anywhere for a while, but building a house on the waterfront should not be considered an investment for your grandchildren. Major hurricanes and tropical storms blow through every few years, sometimes cleaving new inlets through the islands. My neighbors Billy and Sandra Stinson lost their historic summer cottage to Irene last year. It had been in Billy's family for more than 50 years and was one of the few remaining original Nags Head houses. It had been built on stilts over dry land, but slowly the waters of the sound had crept beneath it. Billy and Sandra are determined to rebuild. It's a classic gambler's move—doubling down on their weather bet.
Why would anyone live with such a lack of security? Because we're all gamblers, thinking our luck will hold. And because when there's no hurricane, life is at its best. It's that simple.


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CNN's Debate Fact Check Falls For Romney's False Claims About Auto Bailout
CNN's Christine Romans offered an incomplete fact check of whether GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney ever said "let Detroit go bankrupt." She focused heavily on the origin of the phrase rather than the almost-certain outcome of Romney's opposition to the auto industry bailout.
Romans appeared on CNN's Early Start to discuss the October 11 vice presidential debate and to fact-check what the candidates said. One of the claims she analyzed was Vice President Joe Biden's claim during the debate that Romney would have let Detroit go bankrupt:
We knew we had to act for the middle class. We immediately went out and rescued General Motors. We went ahead and made sure that we cut taxes for the middle class. And in addition to that, when that -- when that occurred, what did Romney do? Romney said, "No, let Detroit go bankrupt."
Romans rated Biden's statement false, declaring that Romney had never used the exact words "let Detroit go bankrupt." The basis of Roman's judgment are the actual words Romney used in a 2008 New York Times op-ed that ran under the headline "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." Romney, Romans argued, did not write that headline, and he "never used those words in that piece."
But the actual policies Romney advocated are far more informative than the debate over who wrote the headlines.
Romans noted that while President Obama used government funds to rescue the auto industry, Romney had an alternate vision: He "did not want a direct injection of tax-payer funds into the companies as they were." It is the absence of that public investment that is crucial.
While Obama loaned federal funds to General Motors and Chrysler to allow them to go through a bankruptcy, Romney explicitly opposed giving GM and Chrysler any money until after they went through the bankruptcy process. Indeed, in his New York Times op-ed, Romney even suggested that the federal government spend money on research rather than give it to the auto industry.
But experts said at the time and continue to say that without government funds, private financing for an auto industry bankruptcy would have been "all but impossible to get."
Indeed, Jennifer Granholm, who was governor of Michigan at the time, has explained that they were "calling everyone begging" for private funds for General Motors, but none was forthcoming.
And in the absence of financing, the auto companies most likely would have been forced into liquidation.


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All Stores
Here is our very long alphabetical list of merchants and the respective cash back rates that Coupon Cactus members can expect to earn. We included the main categories each merchant falls into so you have an idea of what services or merchandise they provide. If you are looking for a particular merchant who is not listed, please contact us so we can bring them onboard.


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Opponents of Chinese policy in Tibet, Darfur, and elsewhere are calling for total or partial boycotts of Beijing's summer Olympics. Protesters disrupted the running of the torch in London and Paris this week, triggering talk of canceling the international leg of the relay. And Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called on President Bush Monday to boycott the opening ceremonies in Beijing.
These efforts are mistaken. History suggests a better idea: Revive and promote the idea of the Olympic Truce period, when violent conflicts halt for the period of the Games and sometimes afterward.
As the Olympic flame began its long ceremonial journey last month to Beijing from Greece, the Games' ancient birthplace, International Olympic Committee chairman Jacques Rogge rejected the boycott idea. The 2008 Games, he said, would help to open China, including its human rights policies, to the world media.
Since the ancient Games were revived in Athens in 1896, few if anyone proposed boycotts during the early decades of this most global of sporting events. Human rights activists in 1936 could have justifiably stigmatized and boycotted the Berlin Olympics. But they didn't, even though Adolph Hitler's persecution of Jews and other minorities and his territorial expansion in Europe had already begun.
The first Olympics boycotted – by Spain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland – were the 1956 Melbourne Games because of the Soviet Union's crushing of the Hungarian revolt. Egypt, Iraq, Cambodia, and Lebanon also boycotted Melbourne because of the Suez War. None of these boycotts had the slightest beneficial effect on the political situations they tried to target.
Many African states threatened or carried out boycotts of the Games in 1972 and 1976 to force officials to ban white-ruled South Africa and Rhodesia (they failed to get New Zealand banned in 1976 because its rugby team had played in South Africa). This aroused sympathy for the athletes banned from competing, but apartheid and white rule weren't affected in the two banned states until years later.
The US and the USSR boycotted each other's Los Angeles and Moscow Games in 1980 and 1984 respectively. President Jimmy Carter led 65 nations boycotting the Moscow Games in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviets retaliated by keeping their teams and those of 13 other East bloc states away from Los Angeles, promoting their own "Friendship Games" in that summer of 1984. Careers of many athletes suffered and cold war tensions rose as a result.
This year, an alternative to boycotts – reactivating the ancient Olympic Truce concept – would serve the causes of peacemakers and human rights activists everywhere. Last year's UN General Assembly session, referring to the Beijing Games, reiterated the Olympic Truce resolution taken for the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2001.
The UN's appeal for observance of the Olympic Truce in the 1990s allowed athletes from former Yugoslavia to participate in the Lillehammer, Norway, Winter Games, despite the wars raging in their regions.
The Olympic Truce concept first arose as early as the 9th century BC. The Greek city-state of Elis and two neighboring states arranged a cease-fire. Elis citizens traveled around Greece to publicize it. Athletes and their families and fans were guaranteed safe travel through hostile territory for seven days before and seven days after the Games.
Groups who urge boycotts of Beijing could instead cooperate with the UN and its members in promoting the truce concept. One way would be for China's government to invite a Tibetan delegation headed by the Dalai Lama to Beijing. China should further guarantee the safety and security of those attending the Games, including dissidents and protesters. Opposition groups, for their part, should suspend aggressive or violent tactics.
The Dalai Lama has often expressed readiness to travel from his exile in India to talk peace and Tibetan autonomy with Chinese leaders in Beijing, despite their wrathful denunciations of him.
At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, when delegates from supposedly hostile North and South Korea marched together under a unification flag, Kofi Annan, then UN Secretary-General, said: "Olympic ideals are also United Nations ideals: tolerance, equality, fair play, and most of all, peace."
Not a bad formula to inspire the Beijing Games – and many future Olympiads to come.
• John Cooley, author and former Monitor correspondent, has covered the Middle East and parts of Asia for nearly 50 years.


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Rory McIlroy had an 11:25 a.m. local time (important) tee time this morning. Rory was a little bit late getting to the Ryder Cup because he has no idea what time it is. According to NBC/Golf Channel, Rory was telling time by the television and since they kept giving his tee time as 12:25 p.m. because they "always do things with eastern time zones in mind," he thought his tee time was at 12:25 p.m. Only problem is, the Ryder Cup is being played in Medinah, Illinois, which is in the central time zone and is one hour behind eastern time, so his tee time was actually 11:25 a.m. Rory arrived via police escort, mid-report, approximately 10 minutes before his scheduled tee time.
There may be more to the story though, as golf live-tweeting savant Norm Macdonald sees through the mixup and asks what some may be too afraid to ask.


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A Virginia winery and a commodity exchange in China have agreed on a five-year wine export deal.
Gov. Bob McDonnell announced the agreement between Chateau Morrisette in Floyd County and the Tianjin Commodity Exchange Company on Monday. McDonnell is leading a job creation and economic development marketing mission to China, Japan and California.
McDonnell says in a news release that Chateau Morrisette's initial sale of more than 1,150 cases of wine is scheduled to arrive in Tianjin during the trade mission.
Chateau Morrisette general manager George Weldon says the agreement is part of a long-range strategy to increase both domestic and international distribution.
The commodity exchange's president and CEO, Chuanliu Ni, says the Chinese market for wine is growing rapidly.


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Food Serving
- Table Top Carvery Unit £49.50/item Size: W1135 x D535 x H575mm
- Hot Cupboard with Bain Marie Top and Gantry Light £160.00/item
- Cold Servery Unit £220.00/item Size: W1200 x D670 x H1450mm
- Table Top Bain Marie £50.40/item Size: W600 X D600 X H305mm
- Chafing Dish - 9 Litre £13.00/item Size: 320(H) x 600(W) x 350(D)
- Chafing Dish - 4.5 Litre £6.50/item Size: 4.5 Litre
- Chafing Fuel Gel £2.25/item Size: 2 Hour Burn Time
- Gastronorm Trays/Pans £2.30/item Size: GN1/1
- Soup Kettle £34.00/item Size: 10 Litre
- Fish/Cake/Pie Slice £0.40/item
- Serving Spoon - Kitchen £0.40/item
- Ladle £0.25/item
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Laser power measurements
Laser power measurements should be quick and easy. They should not involve time consuming set-up and alignment problems. Ideally, the measurements should also be able to be made at any point in an optical system where losses are likely to occur. Unfortunately, most laser power meters have sacrificed ease of use to gain continuous power readings. However, in most laboratory and production situations, the usual requirement is for a quick spot-check of power with a minimum of disruption. Even when tuning up a laser, researchers have found that it is best to tune for a desirable mode pattern.
The Power Probes are calorimeter-type power meters which measure laser power using a timed exposure. They display average power absorbed on a calibrated readout scale and can be used with continuous or repetitively pulsed lasers ranging from small 20 watt YAG lasers to large 10,000 watt CO2 lasers.
Each power probe is a self-contained unit consisting of an absorbing head, a temperature measuring mechanism, a zeroing knob and a readout dial. In operation, the dial is zeroed. Then the absorbing head on the end of the Power Probe is exposed to the laser beam for a specified time interval. After the Power Probe has been removed from the laser beam, the average laser power can be read out on the dial. The process takes about one minute. If it is necessary to make several power measurements in succession, the absorbing head can be rapidly cooled by immersing in a beaker of water between measurements.
Our digital laser power probe is a completely portable, easy-to-use calorimeter type power meter. The instrument consists of two components: a microprocessor-based digital meter and a probe head.
Different probe heads are available to cover various laser types with power ranges from a few watts to over 11 kW. The meter accepts any of the probe heads so it is easy to change power ranges as well as check a reading using a second probe head of the same type.
All digital power meters may be ordered in individual components or as a complete kit.
The kit consists of:
- Digital power probe meter
- Probe head (model to be specified upon purchase)
- Padded cover to protect probe head
- 1.5 m long unmounted thermocouple accessory to permit the meter to be used as a digital thermometer
- Padded carrying case large enough to accommodate a second probe head
Probe heads for the series H models with thermal element connectors for the older digital readouts of model 30 are available on request.


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Which companies can particularly benefit from blogs?Posted by Mark White, Blog Consultant in Blogging for Small Businesses , Consultants , Corporate Blogging , Small Business Blogging
While there is a growing recognition of the pivotal role that social media can play in business marketing and the key role of a business blogs at the very centre of that activity, I still get the feeling that some companies often wonder whether they could also benefit from this or if it's just for others.
Personally, I feel that there are very few cases where businesses cannot gain enormously from using a blog in the key area of interaction with their customers. Clearly they need to focus (and perhaps plan – heaven forbid!) to deliver real results and that, as always, is key. This applies whether they are using the blog as part of their marketing and business development activities, their customer support, their product development or as another key touchpoint. The benefit would then feed back into all parts of the business.
There are also certain "company types" which would particularly benefit from elements that a blog could give them; a few examples include:
Companies needing to differentiate themselves: on occasions, professional services organisations have been accused of all having a rather "grey" image, causing them to blend into the background. By using blogs to help break down these preconceptions, companies can really differentiate themselves as well as reveal some of the personalities carrying out the work together with their expertise – this can only help in developing greater trust with your potential clients in a generally very competitive and customer focused environment.
Companies which rely on their specialist knowledge to attract clients: consistently demonstrating expertise in a chosen field can quickly help to build a positive reputation and encourage potential clients to contact you. Client case studies go part of the way, but displaying both your general and specialised knowledge over a period of time and giving the opportunity to interact helps develop this more than a sanitised case study can ever do. Think of it as multiple case studies on steroids if you like. This is particularly relevant for independent consultants and specialist consultancies.
Companies which have progressed beyond the hard sell approach: direct advertising and the hard sell has become less and less successful as a business development approach. We tend to be put off by "interruption marketing" nowadays rather than be attracted by it. However, an educational marketing (or relationship marketing) approach, where you provide potential clients with information on which to make their own informed decision on their purchase, has gone from strength to strength. Help your customers decide they want to buy from you rather than go all out to sell to them.
Companies wanting to become more of a partner than a supplier: engaging with potential clients through your Business Blog helps develop trust and a relationship which can position you as a partner rather than a simple supplier. People prefer to work with and buy from people and companies that they trust – a blog will allow you to achieve this.
Companies wishing to be THE information resource for their market niche: most of the information that your prospective clients are looking for is available somewhere on the web. It's just a case of finding it! So rather than let potential clients wander round the web looking for it and perhaps finding it on a competitors site, provide it yourself or provide links to it on your Blog. Become the preferred place to go for this type of information and let this attract anyone interested in your niche to your blog.
Companies organising conferences, seminars and exhibitions: blogs are the ideal focal point for collating and distributing information to attendees pre-Conference and for gathering feedback from them during and after the Event. You can update the conference details and add new information yourself, and you automatically develop a powerful online Search Engine marketing tool as well.
Companies looking to develop a network or community around themselves: as a networking tool, a business blog can help in many different ways but one of its most powerful is when it allows the creation of a network of like minded people interested in a particular area. It is particularly positive for the company setting this up and running it because they find themselves at the centre of this network and therefore in a high profile position.
Companies developing new products or services: customer feedback and input is essential in the product development process. By taking the step to allow this feedback to take place on a Blog, you are allowing discussions and generating ideas which can be invaluable to the process. Added to this, you have a group of people who have contributed to the product and so are likely to be its strongest evangelists and advocates.
Ah, so many options! What other types of companies would you consider to be ideal candidates to consider using blogs
Tags: Business Blogging, CEO Blogs, Consultant Blogs, Corporate Blogs, Exhibition Blogs, Expert Blogs


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PHOENIX -- It took one swing of the bat, a few swings of the fist, and the World Baseball Classic finally has everything it's coveted since its inception.
Life, momentum and a future.
Team USA, sparked by Adam Jones' two-run double heard 'round the WBC, knocked off Canada, 9-4, whose fisticuffs and bravado a day earlier reminded us why we're supposed to care about this event.
CAPSULE: USA advances after win over Canada
The tournament still has plenty of flaws, and something is wrong when Miami Marlins star Giancarlo Stanton is sitting on the bench the entire game and Washington Nationals All-Star pitcher Gio Gonzalez has yet to see his USA teammates, but his team's victory at least sparked this country's interest.
"It would have been embarrassing if we had lost," said USA second baseman Brandon Phillips, a batboy in the 1996 Olympics. "USA, this is where baseball started. We have to represent our country. And I feel like if we had lost, we didn't do our job.
"This is a blessing in disguise, man. We shouldn't have been here. But we picked ourselves up. It's a beautiful thing. It's a dream come true."
And how close it became to a national and WBC public-relations nightmare. Canada, which engaged in a full-scale brawl against Mexico, was five outs away from putting Team USA away for the biggest victory in their history. Yet, when you're using a starting pitcher who has never pitched above Class AA, and two relievers who were in Japan last year, you discover the cruel reality that miracles only happen in hockey.
The U.S., which led in only five innings in the tourney, got its biggest hit in WBC history with Jones' two-run double in the eighth. It broke the Canadians' spirit, and allowed the U.S. players to escape to Miami without returning to their spring training camps with the shame of eight countries playing a tourney without them.
"I'm not ready to go back to Goodyear, man," said Phillips, the Cincinnati Reds second baseman, of the club's Arizona camp, "because there's nothing in Goodyear. I'm ready to go back to Miami."
If you watched Team USA these first three games of the tourney you can understand Canadian hitting coach Larry Walker's viewpoint.
"We got more passion," said Walker, the three-time batting champion and 1997 NL MVP, "than the USA."
Now, we'll find out about their pride.
"This is America's game," USA shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. "We got to remind people of that."


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YEAST STRAIN: 1010 | American Wheat™
A strong fermenting, true top cropping yeast that produces a dry, slightly tart, crisp beer. Ideal for beers where low ester profile is desirable.
Flocculation: Low
Attenuation: 74-78%
Temperature Range: 58-74° F (14-23° C)
Alcohol Tolerance: approximately 10% ABV
- American Wheat or Rye Beer
- Cream Ale
- Düsseldorf Altbier
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Mayerling was MacMillan's fourth three-act ballet, completed after he had resigned as artistic director of the Royal Ballet in 1977. His interest in the Habsburg royal family and the demise of the Austro-Hungarian empire had been sparked by a 1974 book, The Eagles Die, by George Marek. The story of the double suicide of the Crown Prince and his young mistress at the Mayerling hunting lodge had been romanticised in several films; MacMillan wanted to show the social, political and personal pressures that might have driven the prince to such desperate measures.
Edward Watson and Mara Galeazzi in Mayerling courtesy of Royal Opera House Archives.
He commissioned a scenario from Gillian Freeman, author and script-writer, who researched the period in depth, providing MacMillan with pen portraits of key figures in the Habsburg court and Viennese society. John Lanchbery, who had been the Royal Ballet's chief conductor from 1960, suggested Liszt as an appropriate choice of composer. Not only would Liszt's music provide the right atmosphere for the dramatic events (extracts from his Faust Symphony serving as a motif for Rudolf's obsession with guns and death) but he had actually written piano music for Empress Elisabeth to play. Lanchbery arranged and orchestrated some 30 pieces of Liszt's music as the score for Mayerling.
Lengthy preparations meant that the intended premiere in autumn 1977 had to be postponed. MacMillan had started work with Anthony Dowell as Rudolf, until he was injured early on and David Wall replaced him as the creator of the role. Rudolf is scarcely off the stage throughout the ballet, dancing seven major pas de deux with five different women. Mayerling was the first British ballet to make such demands of a male dancer in a leading role.
Mayerling starts and ends with a funeral. In a brief prologue, an anonymous coffin is lowered in the rain. Only in the epilogue will the audience realise that the corpse is that of Mary Vetsera, buried clandestinely in the cemetery of the Heiligenkreuz monastery, not far from the Mayerling hunting lodge outside Vienna.
After the sombre prologue, the first act opens with a state ball celebrating the marriage of the Crown Prince of Austro-Hungary and his Belgian bride, Princess Stephanie. Crowned heads, political dignitaries, courtiers and hangers-on file past before the ball begins. Although first-time viewers have little chance of identifying who they all are, significant players in the drama are on parade, including Mary Vetsera and her mother. Rudolf soon offends his bride by paying conspicuous attention to her sister, Princess Louise. He is reprimanded and it becomes apparent that he is a misfit in this pompous, hypocritical court. His dynastic marriage is intended to tame him and to produce an heir to the empire.
Georgiadis's Act I set features tiers of stuffed dummies in ceremonial uniforms, reinforcing Rudolf's awareness that he is always under surveillance. He is pressurised by four Hungarian nationalists to support their separatist cause; his complicity with them will spied upon and reported. To add to the intrigue, Rudolf's former mistress, Marie Larisch, reminds him of her sexual claims on him. The Emperor interrupts their liaison and orders Rudolf to attend to his new wife.
On the way to the bridal chamber, Rudolf visits his mother in her apartments. Their encounter reveals his craving for her love and sympathy, but she is unable to respond. The real Elisabeth, married at 16 to the Emperor, had had little contact with her third child and only son, whose upbringing had been harsh. Unhappily married, Elisabeth found her life in the court barely tolerable. Both she and the Emperor had affairs. In the ballet, the relationship between mother and son is fraught with emotions both have to suppress.
Rudolf takes out his pain on his bewildered bride, terrifying her with a skull and a revolver before forcing himself on her. While Stephanie was prepared to submit to her marital duties in a dynastic marriage, she evidently had no idea what awaited her.
In the second act, Rudolf obliges Stephanie to accompany him to a tavern frequented by whores and their clients. She soon leaves in disgust, escorted by Bratfisch, Rudolf's private coachman, who knows all about his master's dissolute tastes. Rudolf, drunk, is entertained by his mistress, Mitzi Caspar, while the Hungarian conspirators amuse themselves. Rudolf hides with Mitzi from a clumsy police raid on the tavern. Afterwards, his mind disturbed, he tries to persuade Mitzi that they should commit suicide together. Repelled, she leaves conspiratorially with Count Taaffe, the Prime Minister, who knows that Rudolf is still in the tavern.
On the prince's way out, he is met by Marie Larisch, who presents him to Mary Vetsera in a carefully contrived encounter. The real Larisch was Empress Elisabeth's niece (albeit illegitimate) and Rudolf's cousin. Married to a count, she had a place at court. She was a friend of Baroness Vetsera, Mary's mother, a well-connected socialite. Mary, at 17, was already sexually ambitious.
In the next scene, Mary is sighing over a portrait of Rudolf when Larisch arrives on a visit to the Vetsera household. She sets up Mary as the next royal mistress-to-be by foretelling her future with a pack of cards. She encourages Mary to give her a letter for Rudolf.
Larisch finds a way to hand over the letter during Emperor Franz Josef's birthday celebrations. All the court is assembled, including the Dowager Empress Sophie, Franz Josef's formidable mother, and a pregnant Princess Stephanie. Elisabeth presents her husband with a portrait of his mistress, Katherina Schratt, who is by his side. While a firework display diverts the court, Elisabeth consorts with her lover, an English cavalry officer nicknamed 'Bay' Middleton after his horse. Rudolf is sickened by his parents' duplicity and by the hopelessness of his own future. His mental state is deteriorating, damaged by disease (Rudolf had contracted syphilis) and morphine. Larisch provides a distraction by tempting him with Mary's letter.
An assignation made, Larisch leads Mary to Rudolf's bedchamber. Well-instructed or instinctively in tune with Rudolf's fantasies, Mary confidently seizes the skull and pistol with which he had terrified Stephanie, and proves she is as sexually voracious as he is.
Act III opens with a royal shooting party in the snowy countryside, everyone elaborately dressed in furs to keep out the cold. As in all his three-act ballets, MacMillan starts each act with a crowd scene depicting the society in which his key characters move, before narrowing the focus to their personal dilemmas. During the shoot, Rudolf, evidently in a bad way, fires his rifle wildly, killing a bystander. The shot has narrowly missed the Emperor, and although Rudolf is suspected of aiming at him, someone else is arrested in a cover-up.
a clip from mayerling, A south bank special, 1978.
Back in his apartments in disgrace, Rudolf has been joined by Larisch, who attempts to console him. Empress Elisabeth discovers them together and angrily orders Larisch to leave. Larisch ushers in Mary Vetsera, who offers herself as an alternative to the morphine to which he has resorted. He proposes a suicide pact with her, to which she agrees. Her reason for so doing is left open. The real Mary was highly-strung, impulsive and self-dramatising. Perhaps, like adolescent girls through the ages, she romanticised the idea of death as the supreme act of love or defiance.
The final scene takes place in the hunting lodge at Mayerling. Rudolf dismisses his drinking companions and waits for Mary to arrive, escorted by Bratfisch. The coachdriver tries in vain to entertain the couple by dancing and juggling with his hat, but soon withdraws. Tension mounts as Rudolf, drugged with morphine and alcohol, engages Mary in a sexually frenzied pas de deux. He shoots her and then himself.
The epilogue shows how Mary's corpse was taken by her uncles, propped up between them in her hat and coat, to the Heiligenkreuz cemetery at night. The double suicide had to be hushed up to protect the royal family and the state. Mary's burial was kept secret and Crown Prince Rudolf was declared to have died of a heart attack – but rumours of suicide and even assassination soon spread and have never ceased to fascinate.
Mayerling's premiere, somewhat inappropriately, was on Valentine's Day 1978, at a royal gala. The audience gave it, and MacMillan, a prolonged ovation. Critics, invited to the next performance, applauded the boldness and originality of MacMillan's approach. Mary Clarke in The Guardiandeclared that MacMillan had vindicated his decision to resign from the directorship of the Royal Ballet to devote himself to his true vocation. The world was short of choreographers who could make big narrative ballets for opera houses and who could show a great company to advantage. 'It is a thrilling, moving theatrical experience'. Clement Crisp commented in The Financial Times that MacMillan had moved the three-act ballet from its 19th century structure and conventional fantasy figures into a form able to deal with the harsher realism of modern life. John Percival in The Times, a harsh critic of Anastasia and Manon, found that in Mayerling MacMillan had the full courage of his convictions: the set-pieces were relevant, the character-drawing clear and 'even the most far-fetched of inventions [in the duets] worth the fetching'.
Percival and other critics recommended that cuts be made (Mayerling originally ran at three and a quarter hours). After the intial run, some of the scenes were trimmed – notably the hunting scene in the snow. The song, Ich Scheide ('I am leaving'), sung by Katherina Schratt at the Emperor's birthday party, was cut and then restored when its absence was found to unbalance the ballet. The stillness of the sequence allows the cast and audience time to register the relationships between the characters and the emotions seething beneath the formal etiquette of the court.
Mayerling's reception in the United States, when the Royal Ballet took it on tour to the West Coast, was mixed. Audiences and local critics were impressed, but Clive Barnes in The New York Post (and on radio) and Anna Kisselgoff in The New York Timespanned it. Influential Arlene Croce in The New Yorker wrote a complex review that intermingled respect for what MacMillan had achieved with strong reservations about ballet taking on subjects she considered it ill-equipped to deal with, such as politics, disease and motives for suicide. Rudolf was 'a titled creep forever Hamletizing around the house with a skull in one hand and a gun in the other' but she summed up Mayerling as 'this curious, crippled, provocative work by [a] master choreographer'.
The Metropolitan Opera House in New York initially refused to accept Mayerling as part of a Royal Ballet season in 1983. MacMillan threatened to withdraw all his ballets from the Royal Ballet repertoire if the Royal Ballet gave in. Mayerlingwas duly scheduled for just two performances, which were so over-subscribed that a matinee was added. East Coast audiences arrived by the coachload, their interest roused by the 1978 South Bank Show documentary about the making of Mayerling, which had been shown across the eastern seaboard by a TV company filling air time. Kisselgoff changed her mind in The New York Times, declaring that Mayerlingwas now a ballet that deserved to be seen in New York. It contained, she discovered, 'unsuspected opportunities for great dancing as well as great acting', and the Royal Ballet was dancing at a higher level than before. 'It now has to be said that as a model of its own genre, [Mayerling] works completely on a level of sophistication and richness of detail'.
Although Mayerling has become a staple of the Royal Ballet's repertoire, it is rarely seen in the United States. Only a few other companies dance their own productions of MacMillan's ballet: they include the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Vienna State Opera Ballet and the Hungarian National Ballet.
First performance: Covent Garden, London, 14 February 1978
Company: Royal Ballet
Cast: David Wall, Lynn Seymour, Merle Park, Georgina Parkinson, Michael Somes, Wendy Ellis, Laura Connor, Graham Fletcher.
Music: Franz Liszt, arr. John Lanchbery
Design: Nicholas Georgiadis
Benesh notation score: Jacquie Hollander, Lyn Vella-Gatt (Master Score, 1978)
Video: Opus Arte (Mukhamedov, Durante, Bussell, Collier)


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Saudi Arabia slammed critics of its human rights record as enemies of God, religion and humanity and said its Islamic Sharia law was the best guarantee of rights.
Justice Minister Abdullah bin Mohammad al-Sheikh was quoted Tuesday by AP as saying that recent criticisms of human rights under Sharia law were false allegations.
"We all know that those who instigate those doubts are the enemies of God and the enemies of all humanity. Their hearts are full of hatred," he said.
Amnesty International Tuesday criticized defects in Saudi Arabia's criminal justice system, including a lack of safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention, and summary and secret trial proceedings, said Reuters.
In a report released in London, the human rights group highlighted the absence of the right to prompt access to a lawyer upon detention, and the use of confessions extracted under duress as sole evidence for conviction.
Reuters quoted Amnesty International's secretary general, as saying that one of the factors that perpetuates the patterns of human rights violations in Saudi Arabia is the inherent structural defects in the criminal justice system.
Saudi Arabia dismissed a March report by the agency as short on facts and objectivity but said it had invited an Amnesty official and a United Nations investigator to look at its justice system.
It also said it was establishing a government committee to investigate allegations of torture and an independent body to "publicise and protect" human rights but denied the moves were a response to international pressure - (Agencies)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)


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