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Paper Gangsta
January 24th, 2013
Hey, here's a funny story in the TMI category, but look, never stopped me before: Shortly after I posted about the ANXIETY SPIRAL I . . . I got my period. I am not suggesting these things are related, OH HO, I would never do such a thing, but I'm saying I . . . I feel better. Draw your own conclusions.
Anyway, here are some quick things I've been thinking about — I've promised to write here more, for myself, even if no one reads it. Besides, my mother would yell at me if I stopped. "I passed the URL on to the ladies at church and you hadn't even UPDATED," she admonished me one day.
The ladies at church. A conservative church. Well! What a surprise this is and must have been for them. Hello, church ladies, I am terribly sorry for my period talk and potty mouth.
— This is the first year I've really had Things I wanted to accomplish. Concrete things that are measurable and actionable and move the needle somewhere. I — we — have some pretty aggressive financial goals, so I have been redoing our budget and making changes and GOD, look, every time I fall off the wagon a little, I forget what a money nerd I am. I kind of get off on slashing things and doing without and making little changes to save money here and there. (MY KINGDOM FOR A GIANT SLASH IN FLORIDA.) I can exercise such RESTRAINT with money when I put my mind to it, and it makes me feel virtuous and smug and each purchase I don't make cheers me to no end, as does the monthly transfer into whatever account I'm paying down or growing.
It's gaining satisfaction from deprivation, which is twisted but rewarding, right? So why why WHY am I not as disciplined with diet? WHY? It's the same principles! The same theoretical rewards made real! WHY? WHY? WHY?
— In the realm of finances, I was chatting with Liz today and talking about my biggest hang-up with money is that I am STUPID with spending and sort of thoughtless. Like, I will spend $500 in a single month at Target if I'm not careful, but if I have to make a SINGLE purchase more than, say, $50, I balk. Oh, that's too much MONEY, I'll tell myself. When really, it's not any more than I've spent on random shit like an extra pair of unnecessary leggings, four crappy T-shirts, a face mask and six extra boxes of Band-Aids that were on sale. Stuff I didn't even NEED.
But if I STOPPED doing that and actually started paying attention, I could use that money to buy something I DO need, like new couches, because I'm sure you thought yours were disgusting, but you're wrong. Ours are the grossest. We bought them back in 2000, when we moved into our first apartment together. That's right, we have THIRTEEN YEAR OLD couches that have been through a cat, a dog, two children and seriously, I think I had a nicer sofa set in college. The cushions on the back don't even stand up anymore. But it seemed so ILLOGICAL to buy new ones when we were having, you know, small children who will, and have, barf, pee, poop and otherwise sully them. Except we realized that we don't spend any time in an ENTIRE ROOM OF THE HOUSE, because we hate sitting on them so much.
But no. Much better to have stockpiles of awful beauty products lying about. Buy the damned couches.
– Why am I still talking about this? I don't know! Maybe because I've spent three days talking to financial advisers and re-doing budgets and buying Hello Wallet and GETTING SHIT DONE. I feel like some kind of FINANCIAL WIZARD, but really, ah, no.
I'm sure this is all very riveting. Sorry. Look, I never promised you a rose garden.
I hope you have a great weekend.
*Lady GaGa
Entry Filed under: Nuttin',The anxious anxiety
37 Comments Add your own
1. Julie | January 24th, 2013 at 11:12 pm
We are financial derivation twins. I practically giggle when I hand over a wad of coupons at Walmart – Walmart! – or wave my ad in the cashier's face for a price match. I have been known to test myself by going shopping just to see if I can overcome temptation. Show me a potential deal, and i salivate. I am insane.
My downfall lately has been online deal websites (I know, I know, unsubscribe, but I'm weak). One click and suddenly I'm considering buying something I probably don't need because it's such a markdown (allegedly). What if I need it later and the price goes up? Clearly, I have some issues to work on this year.
I think you're doing a great job. I hope those couches are in your near future.
2. Ginger | January 24th, 2013 at 11:35 pm
I have that issue of spending a chunk of money at Target but being unwilling to spend more than $50 on an individual item. Hence why all my shoes are crap from Target, when I SHOULD buy something quality that won't look like hell in 2 months.
I don't know how to fix that little quirk though. I'm pretty bad about budgeting—it's like the last bastion of adulthood I can't seem to wrap my head around. Which is why my financial planner just sighs and shakes his head at me.
3. Angela | January 25th, 2013 at 12:04 am
I'm so glad someone besides me has the hang up with spending more than $50 on a single item, but I can spend money at at walmart (sadly no target her) on absolute crap without thinking twice about it! People always look at me like I'm crazy when I mention this. My money spending anxiety with larger amounts is so bad that I make my husband go in and pay for clothes when I need something pricy. He uses the debit card that is tied to our joint account, that of course I also have with me. It's just ridiculous.
4. Swistle | January 25th, 2013 at 7:10 am
I have that same issue with "Can spend $600 on Target miscellany but not on a recliner." It's comforting to see how even with just a few comments, we seem to be in a majority.
5. Erica | January 25th, 2013 at 8:23 am
As I was reading this, I couldn't help but think "Jonna's a Money Anorexic!" I'm pretty sure someone is going to be pissed that I'm treating an eating disorder in a flippant way, but COME ON. You totally sound like an anorexic with the smug satisfaction of deprivation. Although, with your Target binges, maybe you're more of a Money Bulimic. Personally, I am a Money Grazer, in that I spend a little all the time and never save.
Also, I do the same thing re: period hormones. One day I will realize that I hate everyone's face and want to stab them and my life is shit and oh god why do I even try? I'll check my period tracking app (SHUT UP) and sure enough, it'll say anything from 8 days to 3 days until my next period. And then I'm all "WELL DUH." I'm surprised by this every single damn month.
6. Shelly | January 25th, 2013 at 8:48 am
Oh, I am in the SAME place as far as I actually some real goals this year! It's a good feeling – I want to accomplish something! I have a purpose! But also scary, because one of the biggest things I want to accomplish this year is changing jobs.
And I absolutely think that my manky, 12 (wait, no, I got it second hand – okay, I have no clue how old) couch will out gross your couch. The children sit on it, but my hubby and I do not.
7. A. | January 25th, 2013 at 9:07 am
I'm the same way when it comes to Target. I finally just got a Red Card so I could save some money there, but then do I save the money I'm saving? No – it probably gets spent on lunch or coffee. But buying a double stroller for when the baby comes? I can't bring myself to pay that kind of dough.
Money. GAH.
8. Sarah | January 25th, 2013 at 11:22 am
Yeah, I have this weird pride about the fact that I've never spent more than fifty bucks- and usually way less- on shoes or bags. BUT I spend way too much, every single damn month, on coffees and lunches and expendable things. I still am okay with it most of the time, because I take genuine pleasure in those treats so to me it is worth it. But my husband is always baffled. "Wouldn't you rather save for a new- whatever it is I've been complaining about wanting?" And no, apparently I would NOT rather. Decaf lattes and lunch with my mom saves my life.
This month, though, since I have seriously sick kids since the end of December, I have not spent nearly as much as usual on little treats like that. We would have saved a boatload except that we're, uh, extensively adding on to the house. So. Still broke.
9. Kathryn | January 25th, 2013 at 11:51 am
Ok, so here's my thought on why I am not ever effective in dieting: I am disciplined in SO MANY areas of life (money, cleaning, household managing, trying to raise kids the not-as-lazy way, exercising) that I simply cannot also be disciplined in this one area that brings such pleasure. I have been trying to lose the same 10 to 15 pounds for the last five years, in between pregnancies, and in the back of my mind, I think, "Splurge a little. Eat a chicken nugget with your kids/don't hassle with a salad, you know that grilled cheese looks sooooo good/you DESERVE a little indulgence right now." It's messed up, I think, but it is my way of not being a robot. Maybe it's the same for you?
10. Corinne | January 25th, 2013 at 12:26 pm
WRT couches: Go to IKEA and just do it. I just went through the same thing, where I was literally using my couch and chair from COLLEGE (I am 41) and thinking "Oh, we shouldn't get new furniture now with little kids and cats" and meanwhile would not let anyone in my home because I didn't want them to see the filthy disgusting furniture. I finally snapped and went to IKEA and I AM SO HAPPY. I sit on them and just giggle at how nice and clean and awesome they are – and, they were CHEAP, so when the kids do trash them and we need new furniture in 5 years, no big. (TIDAFORS in Tullinge gray-brown, if you are wondering, and they are so great.)
11. Artemisia | January 25th, 2013 at 12:37 pm
Cheese and crackers. If I would just not buy so many ugly lip glosses and quit stocking up on bundles of tubes of toothpaste (why?), I could afford nice boots or kick the shit out of my student loans. But, no.
I swear I have the EXACT same financial and spending habits and thoughts as you. EXACTLY.
A. tolerates it, but he does not get it. NOT LIKE YOU DO.
I am so stinkin' excited. Now I want to work on my budget, RIGHT NOW. I was planning a nice session of Budget Readjusting this weekend already, as A. starts a new job on Monday. We will no longer be a one-income household and oh, the budgeting tweaks that must be done!!
I am a dork. And I love you. Happy Friday to you!
12. Artemisia | January 25th, 2013 at 12:41 pm
Also, I am so repulsively smug about being able to avoid temptations presented by an "amazing deal." If I don't need it, I don't need it, even if it is a deal.
But I cannot get control over my lip gloss and extra toothpaste weaknesses. So lame.
13. shin ae | January 25th, 2013 at 3:21 pm
Jonna? I'm from a conservative church, and I love you and your blog. Surprise!
I now feel better about my couch. I've been keeping people out of the house because I think it's so disgusting, but maybe it's okay. I doubt I'd have thought anything of your couch, had I seen it, or of Corinne's, either. Also, it's the colder winter months, so that helps, right? Um, scent-wise? Ugh.
I've been exercising more financial restraint out of necessity, and I do get the wonderful glee every time I put something back on the shelf. There's something to it.
14. HereWeGoAJen | January 25th, 2013 at 3:50 pm
The way you feel about your couches is the way I feel about our floors. I hate them and they are so gross. I refuse to put the baby down on them. He will never learn to crawl.
15. Maggie | January 25th, 2013 at 3:55 pm
Yeah I only go to Target on or shortly after pay day. I've gotten *SO* good at Target shopping, actually, that I can usually estimate to within $5 what my total is going to be. No I don't add as I go along…that would be, like, kind of budgeting, and pay day Target trips are those which I pretend don't really exist, as I deduct all bills, etc. AFTER the Target trip…
Re: couches…it took us over 2 years to decide on what new couch we wanted, and went through several design iterations. We finally decided on a design and found a custom furniture place that would build it to our specifications. In order to get the Very Best Price, we also picked out an Ikea couch that we felt we could totally "live with", so we knew we had the upper hand in negotiations & could just walk away if we didn't get the price we wanted. We ended up getting the price, and we love the new couch, but the moral of my story is…I think…Ikea has some great couches that are cheap enough to justify buying a new one, and also cheap enough that you won't freak out every time a child with a sippy cup or goldfish goes near it…
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Freaking Target and its siren song. It gets me every time.
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I feel like if Target had to make a 10 year plan, it would be to eat my soul.
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Also, I am so repulsively smug about being able to avoid temptations presented by an "amazing deal." If I don't need it, I don't need it, even if it is a deal.
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I was planning a nice session of Budget Readjusting this weekend already, as A. starts a new job on Monday. We will no longer be a one-income household and oh, the budgeting tweaks that must be done
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30. cdccontracting | May 31st, 2013 at 3:15 am
Yeah I only go to Target on or shortly after pay day. I've gotten *SO* good at Target shopping, actually, that I can usually estimate to within $5 what my total is going to be.
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text:
As the historic changes to the monarchy were agreed, the Queen, at the Commonwealth summit in Perth, Australia, hailed the power of women to change the world.
The reforms mean the if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child is a girl, she will take precedence over any younger brothers in the order of succession.
The 16 Commonwealth 'realms', including the UK, Canada and Australia, also agreed to scrap outdated laws which ban anyone in the line of succession from marrying a Roman Catholic.
The changes were announced by Prime Minister David Cameron at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth.
As politicians unanimously agreed the dramatic reform to royal succession laws dating back more than 300 years, the Queen said the untapped potential of women and girls should be set free.
Speaking at the opening of the summit of the 53 Commonwealth countries, she said: 'The theme this year is Women As Agents of Change.
'It reminds us of the potential in our societies that is yet to be fully unlocked and it encourages us to find ways to allow all girls and women to play their full part.'
'We must continue to strive in our own countries and across the Commonwealth together to promote that theme in a lasting way beyond this year.'
Her comments will be taken as a sign that the Queen approves of the reform.
Read more here
The Queen makes the opening speech for the Commonwealth summit.
Women as Agents of Change - Animated Film
The Commonwealth

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Geril Muller, founder of the Orange County fine-dining institution Ambrosia, has died. He was 87. Trained in culinary and hospitality service in his native Denmark, Muller is credited with introducing a style of dining that was foreign to Orange County diners in the mid-1970s.
Read full obituary: Famed fine-dining legend dies


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Adults, especially those who have been single children or those who have forgotten their growing up years or those who have no teenager home, assume that sibling rivalry is something relevant only to small children. However, that is completely untrue. Teenage siblings squabble a lot too. Whether they are six or sixteen, children still find it difficult to articulate their feelings and they tend to take out their suppressed feelings on their brother or sister. The easiest solution of all is to separate squabbling siblings. Though that may solve the problem temporarily and give you some peace, it is not a long-term solution and teaches your child absolutely nothing. The most common reason for sibling rivalry is jealousy. Elder children resent younger children as they feel these new arrivals have usurped their position and have diverted away their parents' love and attention. The younger ones resent the elder ones because they find it hard to digest that it is only the older ones who are considered sensible and sensitive and they are always considered immature and wayward. Everyone hates their order of birth.
The solution for this is to understand that this is a call for love and attention. We have to make sure that the children are getting it adequately. Another reason for sibling rivalry is competitiveness. Children hate being compared to another. Parents and teachers tend to compare siblings. Statements like, "Why can't you write neatly like your brother?", "Your sister used to solve such kind of problems easily. Why can't you?" tend to aggravate children. Make sure you never make such statements and let the teachers know that you do not want them to compare your children with each other too. Each child is unique. Allow them to develop their skills and abilities accordingly.
One more issue that can spiral out of control and create huge fights among siblings is boundary issue. Children, even teenagers, do not like to share their things. Teenagers place value over their special possessions and they crave privacy. "Don't touch my guitar!", "Get out of my room!" etc. are the usual screams released by them on their siblings. In such situations find out what is the problem, call them to the kitchen table and have a calm session on how they need to communicate their problems. Teach them how to negotiate, compromise and arrive at peace. While it is usual to want to scream and yell at them, try not to yield to that urge. You are setting a very bad example and you are validating that it is okay to scream and shout when unhappy.
It is okay for your children to argue among themselves but give them a time limit to sort out the issue. If they are unable to sort out within that time, only then should you step in. If the squabbles are too many, then draw up an agreement and list all the rules of the house along with consequences for not obeying them. Make the kids sign the same and hold them up to it. Each child needs some one-to-one time with each parent. You need to make sure that you spend some time with each child alone. Though this is hard to do, the benefits of the same can impact the entire household and can help solve most sibling rivalry issues.


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I've had a few of people ask why they are getting database errors during the first run of their new drupal system, so I thought I'd post this just in case it helps.
[b]Please make sure that you populate the Drupal database[/b]. This is described in Part 3 or 4, Page 10, Listing 5. Most of the database errors I've been sent are caused by folk missing out this critical step or somehow ending up with a partially build database. If your database is partially built, clear it out (drop all the tables in the database using phpmyadmin or the MySQL admin/query browser tools) and initialize the database again.
If you get an error like, "error 1364 (hy000) line 803: field 'page' doesn't have a default value", when you build the database then use the solution described at http://drupal.org/node/43316.
Another issue to be aware of is the PHP version, as described at http://drupal.org/node/92802.
These last two bugs may have been fixed in the new version of 4.7.
In case you didn't know, Drupal 5.0 has a new installation process that builds the database for you.
Hope this helps.
SystemAdmin 110000D4XK
161 Posts
Pinned topic Database and config issues
Answered question This question has been answered.
Unanswered question This question has not been answered yet.
Updated on 2006-11-27T15:04:42Z at 2006-11-27T15:04:42Z by SystemAdmin


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I was just wanting to get some input from people and see how long it took them from when they first started wakeboarding up until they could throw 360s, tantrums, backrolls, etc. I just bought a boat this summer and have been tryin to complete w2w jumps and just get used to riding, no tower and a bowrider at that.. I was just curious thats all.. Im in AR so season is from about april to Oct for riding and Im going start riding during the week so i can keep the "feel".... anyway all comments are welcome!!
personally for me, it took about 3 summers to get where im at, and thats a fairly basic level, tantrums, backrolls, 3's, etc. there are so many factrs that determine your progression though, frequency of riding, obviously if you ride every day youre gonna get the hang of it pretty quick. obviously if you have a wake boat you will progresss faster, however i ride behind an 18 ft sea ray w/tower, and thats just fine to do what im doing. another thing is that some people, for some reason are just naturals, and learn new tricks faster than others, for me what it all comes down to is willingness to learn, threshhold for pain (yeah water does hurt) and overal attitude. be positive, id love to be riding behind an xstar or wakesetter, but hell i dont have $70K just layin around haha, so be happy with what you have and just ride.

ps- i learned my heel w2w and 1 wake TS 180 behind my 16ft fishing boat. Learned my w2w TS jumps behind a freakin jetski haha
We dove head first into wakeboarding after buying a boat. i was doing half cab 180s wake to wake after one summer.

like Kiley, i was throwing tantrums and backrolls after 3 summers.
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text:
Genesis of Volcanic Rocks, Heard IslandEntry ID: ASAC_400
Abstract: Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 400
See the link below for public details on this project.
Taken from one of the referenced papers:
Oceanic basalts are produced by melting of the Earth's mantle and are widely used to probe its composition. The observation of systematic, coupled variations in the neodymium, strontium and lead isotopic compositions of ... these basalts has been widely interpreted as reflecting the mixing of identifiable mantle components. White and Zindler and Hart have suggested that the isotopic compositions of mid-ocean-ridge and ocean island basalts (MORB and OIB) can be considered as mixtures of a depleted MORB-type mantle component with a few other components reflecting long-term enrichment of Rb/Sr, Nd/Sm and/or U/Pb ratios. It remains unclear whether these components should be considered as hypothetical mixing endmembers, or whether they exist physically as mantle reservoirs. This question may be addressed if the mixing endmembers of individual mantle plumes can be identified. To this end, we report linear Pb-Pb and curvilinear Pb-Nd and Pb-Sr isotopic covariations in Recent lavas of Heard Island, southern Indian Ocean, indicating binary mixing. The hyperbolic relationships are unique among oceanic basalts and tightly constrain the isotopic compositions of the plume source components, which do not coincide with the mantle endmember components of ref. 3. If our results are generally applicable to other plumes, they call into question the existence of large mantle reservoirs corresponding to these components, and indicate that actual oceanic basalt source reservoirs have intermediate isotopic compositions.
Related URL
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Spatial coordinates
Temporal Coverage
Start Date: 1986-09-30Stop Date: 1995-03-31
Location Keywords
Science Keywords
ISO Topic Category
Quality Values provided in temporal and spatial coverage are approximate only.
Access Constraints A pdf copy of one of the referenced papers is available for download from the provided URL.
Use Constraints This data set conforms to the PICCCBY Attribution License
Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference at the provided URL when using these data.
Ancillary Keywords
Data Set Progress
Data Center
Distribution Media: HTTP
Distribution Size: 1,298 kb
Distribution Format: pdf
Fees: free
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT
Phone: +61 3 9905 4894
Email: ian.nicholls at sci.monash.edu.au
Contact Address:
Department of Earth Sciences Monash University
City: Clayton
Province or State: Victoria
Postal Code: 3168
Country: Australia
Role: DIF AUTHOR
Phone: +61 3 6232 3244
Fax: +61 3 6232 3351
Email: dave.connell at aad.gov.au
Contact Address:
Australian Antarctic Division 203 Channel Highway
City: Kingston
Province or State: Tasmania
Postal Code: 7050
Country: Australia
Barling J., Goldstein S.L. (1990) Extreme isotopic variations in Heard Island lavas and the nature of mantle reservoirs. Nature 348. 59
Barling J. (1990) Heard and McDonald Islands. Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans 48. 435-441
Barling J. (1990) The Petrogenesis of the Newer Lavas of Heard Island, Southern Indian Ocean;
Extended Metadata Properties
(Click to view more)
Creation and Review Dates
DIF Creation Date: 2000-10-12
Last DIF Revision Date: 2014-08-29


text:
Sorry I have been a little quiet on the blog the last few days. As some of you might already know, this was because I was back at home in The Netherlands to compete in my 1st Half Marathon! Now, I haven't always been a runner, far from it really – growing up I was more into team sports and for years I was a keen hockey player. As I got older I started going to the gym to keep fit but even then I was more of a classes or cross-trainer kind of girl…and then we're talking about 30 minutes max!
However, when I moved to London I found that so many of my friends were into running and training for long runs and races. I admit that for a long time I used to refer to these people crazy….especially when they tried explaining to me "but Roz, running is so addictive" Ha I just laughed! Then, finding myself getting bored with my exercise regime, I eventually caved and thought maybe I should give this running thing a go and see what they are all on about. I always considered myself to be a pretty fit person but I knew I was a useless runner; meaning I would be out of breath and struggling to go much further than 2-3km.
So I decided to download an app called Get Running (link) which trained me brilliantly to literally get me off the couch to comfortably be able to run 5km! So being a girl that likes a good challenge, I decided around November 2011 to set myself a New Years resolution that in 2012 I would complete my first ever 10km race. Which I did. In May 2012 I competed in the London BUPA and in September 2012 I took part in the London Virgin Triathlon as the runner (10km) as part of a team. I suddenly started to get what people had been telling me for years…running is addictive! I found it was great for my body and for my mind – being able to just switch off and run to my music and finding it an amazing way to clear my head. I felt this sense of power and achievement and wanted to push myself further and further. So for 2013 I felt I needed a new challenge and the CPC Loop – The Hague Half Marathon seemed the perfect one because it meant I would be able to join my family members at this famous sporting event in my own home town. For the last 4-5 months I trained a lot, pushing myself to 15-18 km runs (sometimes doing 40-50km in a week). Unfortunately because of this, in the last few weeks leading up to the half marathon, I ended up injuring my IT band, which is a common runners nightmare!
So as you can imagine, this Sunday morning before the race, I was a bunch of nerves; my knee wasn't properly healed, it was very cold (wind chill of -6), they were expecting snow and the wind was blowing fiercely…ahhhh help would I be able to do it?! Luckily my sister, her boyfriend and my sister-in-law were also competing in the race and for them this was the 2nd time round doing the City Pier City 1/2 Marathon. Their encouragement and support was so valuable and together we were able to pep each other up! Here we are yesterday right before the race feeling very excited, nervous but keen to just DO IT!
The last few moments when getting ready to go….the countdown, the atmosphere, it was just amazing! Being there in the crowds with 35,000 other runners and all the supporters around, music pumping, people jumping up and down; it was impossible not to be excited and wanted to start running and get this 21.1km over and done with :)
And I am proud to say….I DID IT! Yes it was cold (there was snow), yes it was windy (the parts along the seafront were a serious physical and mental struggle) and yes at points I thought my knee and my right foot were going to either collapse or explode from the pain – but I did it. I just ran, and ran and ran until I could no more and the moment I sprinted across that finish line…I was exhausted but I had the BIGGEST smile on my face and no one could ever take that achievement away from me! And here it is; my medal, woooohoooo :)
These are my official race results of the 21.1km Half Marathon. I was aiming for a time between 1:50 and 2:00 so especially considering my injury I am very pleased with my final time for my first ever half marathon!
|10,996 km/hour
|5 kilometer
|25:59 (25:59)
|10 kilometer
|52:49 (26:50)
|15 kilometer
|1:21:33 (28:44)
|20 kilometer
|1:49:31 (27:58)
As you can see below, I started really well but after 10km I hit a bit of dip – my knee was hurting and my right foot was suffering from a strange burning sensation I'd never experienced before (at one point I even had to stop to take off my shoe and give it some air for a while because I felt the blood in my foot was bubbling and boiling and I was convinced my foot might actually explode haha). At 15km, realising I only had about 30 minutes to go I felt my energy levels pick up again and I got excited once I realised, I could do this – I would finish it and I even managed a little sprint at the end, woop woop!
Now I realise running isn't for everyone – trust me, I never thought I would be capable of running 21km, but I have to say I am quite proud of myself for this achievement and completing my first half marathon is a memory that I will cherish and will stay with me forever. My body is in quite a bit of pain today, I've hobbled around the office like a cripple! Running these kind of distances can be really hard on your body but hopefully with enough rest and taking care of my muscles the next few days I will slowly recover and can continue my running 'addiction'.
Because YES it is official…I am one of the crazies now and I am not ashamed to admit it!! Next up?? The London Royal Parks Half Marathon in October! Here we GO :)


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BioShock (Windows)
Published by
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ESRB Rating
Critic Score
100 point score based on reviews from various critics.
User Score
5 point score based on user ratings.
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SummaryWho is John Galt? -- A question without an answer.
The GoodDo you like the term - intellectual shooter? I don't, since it's used mostly to identify oneself as an intellectual gamer instead of celebrating the game itself. However, I think it's impossible to find any other two words describing BioShock so fully and extensively. I mean it in the most neutral sense of the phrase, because it is a well-known fact that you can't take good without the bad. And it can't be more so as in case of BioShock.
Irrational Games' lastborn child, a successor to the critically acclaimed, yet ultimately unknown System Shock series, BioShock has brought the company just two things they were short of – wealth and fame. Now if there was just a single developer company that didn't get enough of that, I would have bet on Irrational anytime of day. During its eight years course it hasn't released a single average game. Let me remind you of the the unique concept of Freedom Force, flawless game mechanics and stunning level design of SWAT4, brilliant storytelling and engaging multiplayer of Tribes: Vengeance. All of those games (including, of course, System Shock 2 – the masterpiece of sci-fi horror) clearly showed that Irrational Games is an extraordinary team worthy of any amount of hype, overreaction and 10/10 reviews making the unsuspecting X360 owners rush into the street in order to buy a title from one of the most prominent developer of the recent decade.
However that should not cloud one's judgment in light of the most obvious of BioShock faults, which we're going to look over shortly.
Now to the premise. BioShock casts you in the role of a simple man living a simple life, who accidentally discovers a huge underwater city which the brightest minds of the post-war (WWII) world have made their home. Rapture. The world of unlimited possibilities for anyone who is willing to work and create. It opens its gates for anyone except for a single man - a parasite, a man who's unable to do anything with his life, carrying his pathetic existence through the false notions of compassion, mercy and morality. Those who live in Rapture reject these people and all the governments supporting them, which is pretty much the whole "civilized" world. "It was not impossible to build Rapture at the bottom of the ocean, it was impossible to build it anywhere else", says Andrew Ryan, the architect and the mastermind behind the city.
But you arrive too late to ripe the fruits of one man's vision. As with all the ideas and utopias there is always one thing people forget to account for – it's the faulty nature of the man himself. In case of Rapture, greed and lust for power turned out to be the harbingers of city's downfall. You can't build a society based on rationale and objectivism, because (watch out! Another Star Trek quote is coming!) human-beings are extremely irrational creatures and logic is just the beginning of wisdom. Despite seeming overwhelmingly complex the main idea of the game's story is actually very simple and profound. It's about how faulty the man is. No matter how much we strive into the sky towards perfection we should not forget about the chains on our legs, chains of human nature. The only thing that can beat the story of this game is the presentation of it..
The postfactum nature of BioShock's storytelling provides the most impressive strength of the game. You're not experiencing the story through the series of cut scenes or dialogs. Actually there's no even a story to experience. Of course there is a series of events taking place inside the gameworld with varying objections and motivations but it is secondary to the history of the place. It's not that important who you are and what you're doing, what is important are the characters of Rapture and the details of their sad demise. The game achieves that sort of unusual narrative through the series of audio logs scattered throughout the gameworld combined with the detailed vision of what a certain environment has become. Irrational doesn't connect the dots for you as it is done in many games via cutscenes or long dialogs. It offers you point A and point B and let your imagination do the rest, with results being much more striking and impressive.
That level of immersion is possible only in a video game, which in its own turn creates a much needed excuse for ideas of BioShock to take form of a video game. It creates an illusion of time overlapping – you hear the choices people made, the feelings they've experienced and at the same time you see the consequences of those choices and feelings right before your eyes. An amazing example of the interactive storytelling!
Ron Gilbert, the creator of Monkey Island series has once said that a game is a shitty place to tell a story. Yes, Mr. Gilbert it is, but instead of trying to tell it with the common devices used in movies and books, (yes, Square, you too) BioShock chooses another method unimaginable in the limits of those two media.
Certainly, a knowing man would notice that all of that (retrospective narrative, audio logs, post-factum presentation) was already presented by both System Shocks, Doom 3 and lots of other games which thought this to be a neat way to cut expenses on cutscenes, motion-cap and character modeling. But very few of them offered such an amazing treatment of this technique as BioShock did and neither has put it to so much use. The counterarguments to the tenets of objectivism, coined by Ayn Rand, are perfect fit for the BioShock's way of narrating, with the characters speaking not of the current events or explaining a lot unnecessary info but expressing their thoughts and views in words instead. This in its own turn creates one of the most fleshed out set of videogame characters of recent years.
The best one being nobody else but the creator of Rapture himself – Andrew Ryan. Much as his prototype – Ayn Rand – Andrew has emigrated from the Soviet Union when he had found himself unable to cope with all the changes happening to his country. Yet he didn't find any rest in USA either. Everywhere he was despised for his talent, money and radical views. He didn't want the parasites, people without ambition or talent, to impose their will upon him. Much in fashion of Dostoevsky's characters Ryan saw himself as an extraordinary being far above the issues of morality and decency. But unlike Raskolnikov, Ryan doesn't doubt his beliefs and is not tormented by them. He is the man of great faith and strong convictions. He firmly believes in everything he does and doesn't care what others think of it. So even in time of his death he remains as strong in his faith as he ever was.
To be frank, the scene of Andrew Ryan's death requires some more space of this review. This is undoubtedly the piece of drama that will stay in your mind forever. Without spoilering much I can only say, that during witnessing it, I haven't thought for a second about how great/talented/skilled the guys at Irrational are. All of my thoughts were with that man before me, who even in his death doesn't lose a single inch of his faith and views. Very strong and convincing scene, indeed. It would make every movie director jealous.
In the spotlight is also a well-known duo. Big Daddy and Little Sister are perfect metaphor to unconditional love that requires no objective or rational explanation. You will love those interplays, they bring warmth and create a very important contrast to the cold and menacing environments of the city. Of course it's a cheap argument to put a cute little girl on one plate of the scales and Ayn Rand with her philosophy on the other. The contrast works well, however.Partly, because it is a contrast which you, the player, must inevitably break, not by your choice, but by the necessity.
Other characters do not disappoint either. Each of them is a representation of a specific part of the new, corrupted Rapture. Art, Science and Industry. Fueled by plasmids (which are essentially a plot device and a key gameplay feature) they strive for perfection in those areas. A mad plastic surgeon with his mind completely whacked, an artist finishing his last masterpiece of dead bodies and a smuggler with non-existent values. Each character has lots of background to him depending on how thorough you are in examining your environments, finding clues and actually thinking. Because, as I mentioned earlier, Irrational doesn't care if you're following a story or not. This is excellent, since it always keeps you on your toes and your mind is always working, trying to figure out the real motivations of the characters. No wonder there are so many plot-analysis written after the game's release.
Visually, Bioshock is nothing but stunning. The game's visuals are a beautiful example as to what exactly constitutes great graphics in a game. Obviously, not technical superiority or the hardware the game is capable of taking advantage of. The true brilliance of graphics lies on sole shoulders of an artist. Artistically, BioShock is a very ambitious project. It has been compared to Fallout on numerous occasions with similarities in its 30's ads stylistic approach. Some people attached "art-deco" label shortly after. But the truth is that BioShock is something you haven't ever seen before. It seamlessly combines incombinable. The screaming ads of smiling people reminiscent of mid-20th century America is merged with technological wonders which feels more at home in Wells and Verne novels, than in the works of Asimov and Clarke, and all that is spiced up with the extreme attention to details. Texturing, modeling, special effects - everything in here is working in a single unit to bring the atmosphere of the decayed city of wonders as to close to reality as possible. I've already known that level designers of Irrational are miracle workers with their amazing job on SWAT4 realistic levels, but this time, when they were not constrained by limitations of our real world, they outdid themselves. Sometimes, I even felt like crying staring looking over beautiful locations, so different and yet following the same stylistic guidelines.
That does sound like a perfect game, doesn't it? Well, I don't want to break it for you, but it isn't. The irony is that if BioShock didn't have all those extraordinary things I've mentioned up to this point I might have had no problem with it whatsoever. But the game's unique and unusual subject, superior artistic design and overall professional quality brings me to blaming BioShock for a thing I wouldn't consider to blame any other game for. Namely, it's genre choice.
The BadWhy on Earth this game decided to be a First Person Shooter?
As I said I had no problems with any game's choice of genre up to this point. You see in games like No One Lives Forever, System Shock I & II, Outlaws, Dark Forces, Strife, Half-Life - all the additional features (non-shooting) are used to enhance them. Thus, it results in a perfect blend. We take a shooter canvas and put some nice touches on it that elevates it above it's contemporaries. It worked on numerous times, and should have worked with BioShock as well.
Especially, if we take into consideration, that the "shooter canvas" of it is much more superior to any other FPS. You have lots of abilities to choose from, different plasmids in various combinations can easily provide a lot of unexpected results. It's fun to experiment with those techniques, trying to find an instant-kill solution. Which, of course, is impossible to find, prompting you to keep chaging your approach in every situation. I didn't miss any of the System Shock exclusive features, like inventory, research or character stats, and was completely satisfied with the way revival chamber were realized in BioShock. So, what's wrong? We have an excellent story/subject and great gameplay which easily result in a game like one has never seen before, don't we?
The problem is that those do not go together at all. I think the reason of that lies in BioShock's subject which requires everything to work for it. It wasn't a problem in NOLF - where subject required you to be a spy, you did what spies usually do (at least in 60's movies), in Outlaws - subject required you to take revenge on your dead wife and daughter. And what does BioShock subject (counterarguments to objectivism) requires you to do? Nice question.
Kill hordes of zombie-like Splicers is the answer. Now tell me, how does that reinforce the game's point? What is the reason to all the time I spent in-between admiring locations and listening to the logs? There's none. BioShock with its serious subject would have looked much better in the canvas of adventure or an RPG (as showed by Bioware/Black Isle) or maybe tried to get there by some other means. The core of the BioShock's gameplay should have been "a choice" instead of "a shooting". The choice players face in the current game is laughable, because it doesn't provide any effect on the story, (it shows another cut-scene in the end, true, but how does it help to change the message of the game?) and benefits from saving the girls are obvious from the start.
Once again, I will say that have the subject of the game been simpler and less dominant; it wouldn't have made the action seem much more appropriate. But as it is, each part of the game must work towards a single goal -- conveying an idea. Obviously, "shooting zombies", which is somewhere around 70% of the game doesn't help that cause much.
I completely understand the reasons behind BioShock's choice of genre. First, people were expecting a successor to System Shock, secondly, one cannot expect BioShock the Adventure to break as many sells as BioShock the FPS did. Which is a shame, since in the end, it did outgrow both System Shocks, and perhaps became the best top-sold game of the last decade. It certainly deserved upon much better treatment.
The Bottom LineThis is my first review that features a newly created rating system. It came up as I wasn't satisfied with the criteria usually used for game ratings. I called it TAPEA, with each letter standing for a certain aspect of Developer Company as reflected by the game.
Talent: 5/5
One should not doubt the talent of Irrational. Once again they proved that they were touched by God himself. I can't imagine an untalented person coming up with those outstanding locations and brilliant ideas. Rapture, Big Daddies, Art-Deco, Plasmids, Little Sisters, Underwater setting – they're constantly feeding you high-class ideas, which could've only born in the minds of extremely talented individuals.
Ambition: 4/5
In BioShock the developer offered something rarely seen in a video game. A mature subject venturing beyond love/hatred/revenge clichés. Unfortunately they didn't dare to carry this ambition through. I mean creating a gameplay that would have been on par with the game's subject, hence a drop in one point.
Pteity (Pushing The Envelope - ity): 3/5
BioShock does go when nobody has gone before. It changes your mind on the subject of how games can communicate stories and ideas. Unfortunately, all of those elements have been already seen in other games, even if executed on a much lower scale and with much lesser effect. The story repeats itself in game play department as well - it does provide some unique ideas, but nothing warranting a legion of clones.
Effort: 5/5
The colossal attention to detail and the game's impressive length (around 12 hours) show many sleepless nights and cups of coffee drunk in the Irrational Games headquarters.
Adequacy: 5/5
The overall coherency of different departments is the evidence of how much the developer cared about how things are fitting together, the style and theme are always maintained regardless of the situation. I won't drop any point here since even the game's questionable FPS attitude towards gameplay is reasonably justified within the limits of the gameworld. Completely adequate and nothing feels out of place.
In the end we receive 4.4/5 which is an average score of those five equally important criteria.
As for the closing part I'll just repeat the one-liner "Who is John Galt?" It's a quote from "Atlas Shrugged", book by Ayn Rand, which BioShock names as its primary source of inspiration. It's a synonym to hopelessness and inability to change anything. The same feelings I am left with after completing BioShock. I understand that you can't have best of both worlds at the same time. You can't be commercially successful and yet break new grounds, at least not on a scale, shareholders' meeting would appreciate.
Perhaps, you need people like Andrew Ryan or Dagny Taggart (a character from the book) to do it, people not constrained by the concerns of others or by the questions of appropriateness and decency. Men who uses only common sense and objective truth as their Bible. And, you know, I am sure that the phrase "BioShock could have been so much more" would have been written somewhere in that book.
Maybe Ayn Rand was actually right?
Nah. :)


text:
I'm trying to add a block to all quiz results pages. However, when a user finishes a quiz, the url is '../node/330/take', (which is the same as all of the questions), rather than something like '../node/330/results/110'. I don't want to add the block to the question pages. It's the same whether user is anonymous or authenticated. Am I doing something wrong?
Comment #1llillf CreditAttribution: llillf commented
I have the similar issue. does anyone know a possible solution?
Thanks a lot!
Comment #2drewbe121212 CreditAttribution: drewbe121212 commented
There is a hook (at least in version 7-4x) available called 'hook_quiz_finished'. I have never tested this, but you should be able to do something similiar:
function mymodule_quiz_finished($quiz, $score, $rid)
drupal_goto('/node/' . $quiz->nid . '/results/' . $rid);
Comment #3Sivaji CreditAttribution: Sivaji commented
It is recommended not to use
drupal_goto() in any hook implementation as it might prevent the executions of subsequent implementations. Workaround would be to set highest weight to module calling
Comment #4djdevin CreditAttribution: djdevin commented
|» 7.x-5.x-dev
|» Fixed
Fixed in 7.x-5.x
The quiz results are now on their own page.


text:
Carolyn Hax: Give inheritance equally to grandkids
Wed., Nov. 6, 2013
Hi, Carolyn: My mother passed away a few months ago.
She and my only sibling were on the outs for the past 25 years. I was placed on all of my mother's accounts, as well as on her condominium. Before she passed she verbally instructed me that my sibling was to get nothing, and that I distribute money to the grandchildren.
I sent a nice note with the checks to my sibling's children saying their grandmother wanted them to have this in her memory.
I eventually phoned my sibling to verify that the checks were received. This brought back memories of my mother's complaints that she never received acknowledgements for birthday checks and such.
Now the condominium is going to sell, and we are talking more money than the several thousand dollars I distributed from the savings account.
Maybe I am being unfair, or overly sensitive, but honestly I have no interest in sending my sibling's children any more money. I sense (maybe unfairly) that sending them more will still not achieve my mother's goal in having them remember her. – In a Quandary Here
Decide how much you'd like to give your own kids, and give the other grandchildren the same.
Your mother instructed you to give money to the grandchildren, and hoped it would secure her memory. I see the instructions as your business, but not the hope. Your concern about the kids' indifference might be valid, and you were indeed given leeway to decide how much to give, but I don't think, ethically, it's your place to decide whether these grandkids showed sufficient gratitude to meet your mother's definition of "remember."
They might have no idea you're deciding how much they receive; they might believe, understandably, that their grandmother decided the amount and therefore would be the one to (not) thank if they could.


text:
Integrated producers such as Suncor Energy Inc. and Cenovus Energy Inc. are countering the slump in Canadian crude prices by cutting costs, shipping by rail and maxing out capacity at refineries.
"What you're seeing coming through in spades is that those companies with integrated operations, like Suncor and Cenovus, are the ones that are doing better in this environment," said Chris Theal, chief executive officer of Kootenay Capital Management Corp., which owns shares of both companies.
Canadian oil producers wrestled with a 13 percent decline for Western Canada Select, a crude blend sourced from the land- locked oil sands, in the second quarter as demand for its products stagnates in the U.S. The drop was bigger than the fall in U.S. and international benchmarks.
While Enbridge Inc., TransCanada Corp. and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP are proposing pipeline expansions to the Pacific, Gulf and East coasts in the coming years, much of the new output is stranded in Canada or places like Cushing, Oklahoma, depressing prices. Suncor and Cenovus, both based in Calgary, are finding ways to circumvent the blockage.
Suncor's cash flow from operations rose 18 percent to C$2.34 billion ($2.33 billion) in the second quarter, while net income declined after the company took an impairment charge after suspending its Syrian operations. At Cenovus, cash flow slipped 1.5 percent while Canadian crude prices fell almost 10 times as much.
Growth Visibility
Cenovus has a price-to-earnings ratio of 18, while Suncor's price to earnings ratio is 9.1 in the most recent period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
"Cenovus continues to deliver quarter after quarter," Raymond James Ltd. analysts Justin Bouchard and Kristopher Zack said in a July 26 note. "Although some may point to the lack of catalysts and a valuation premium as reasons to not own the stock, we continue to like the company's excellent growth visibility and think the multiple is warranted."
"Suncor really is in an enviable position," the Raymond James analysts said. "It has significant balance-sheet flexibility, generates a lot of cash and is opportunity rich."
Meg Energy Corp., which doesn't own a refinery, reported a 32 percent drop in cash flow from operations and a net loss of C$29.5 million in the second quarter, the Calgary-based company said on July 26. Athabasca Oil Corp., which also has no refineries, widened its loss to C$14.4 million in the period from C$10.5 million a year earlier.
Oil Salesmen
Imperial Oil Ltd., which owns four refineries and is the only Canadian company to have a AAA rating from Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, said second-quarter cash flow from operating activities more than doubled to C$1.32 billion. Net income at Imperial, majority owned by Exxon Mobil Corp., matched the decline in the price of Canadian crude.
"The volatility in the oil price itself has spooked a lot of non-resource investors away from this segment of the market," said Eric Nuttall, a portfolio manager who helps manage C$9.7 billion at Sprott Asset Management LP in Toronto. "Previously the biggest challenge of an oil executive was to find oil, it wasn't how to sell it."
The average price for Western Canada Select fell to $73.53 a barrel in the second quarter from a year earlier. That translates into a bigger drop than the 8.8 percent decline for West Texas Intermediate, a U.S. benchmark, which averaged $93.35 a barrel in the second quarter. It was a bigger drop than the 7 percent decline for Brent, an international benchmark, which averaged $108.76.
Refinery Hedge
Suncor operates refineries in North America, including Montreal and Sarnia, Ontario, where it refines products such as jet fuel. That allows the company to price 96 percent of its output to Brent, said Chief Financial Officer Bart Demosky.
"It's important to reiterate that Suncor is effectively hedged against these crude discounts because we're able to recapture the majority of the spread through our inland refining operations," he said on a conference call with analysts last week.
Suncor also cut costs per barrel produced at its oil-sands operations by 19 percent to C$39 a barrel. The company credited the decline on higher output, less maintenance and a drop in natural-gas costs.
"We think the second-quarter earnings result again demonstrates the benefit of the company's integrated business model under the current elevated North America crude oil differential outlook," Paul Cheng, a New York-based analyst at Barclays Capital Inc., said in a July 26 note. "We believe the shares will outperform over the next 12-18 months."
Project Delay
The producer also may delay a plan to expand production to 1 million barrels a day by 2020 in order to maintain profitable growth, said Chief Executive Officer Steve Williams.
"We are heavily involved in these profit-improvement reviews at the moment," Williams said on the Suncor conference call. "The indications are that some of these projects are moving backwards, not forwards."
Suncor has gained 7.9 percent this year, beating the 3.4 percent decline of the S&P/TSX Energy Index. Cenovus's shares have declined 7.1 percent.
Cenovus is currently shipping about 11,000 barrels a day to Vancouver on Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline. The oil is then sold at the port to international shippers, earning an extra $10 to $20 per barrel, Chief Executive Officer Brian Ferguson said in an interview. Those prices are closer to those paid for Brent and at a premium to West Texas, Ferguson said.
Rail Shipments
"Innovation is really important," Robert Schulz, a professor at the University of Calgary business school, said in an interview. "If Cenovus is first on the Trans-Mountain pipeline, that's going to constrain others' ability to do the same."
Cenovus is also shipping almost 5,000 barrels a day of oil by rail to move oil to the Gulf Coast and unspecified amounts to the East coast, where the company also captures higher prices.
"Companies like Cenovus that are becoming more innovative in reaching more markets are also showing advantages," Kootenay Capital's Theal said.
The company next year will look at ways to revamp its Wood River, Illinois refinery, a joint venture with Phillips 66, to take more Canadian heavy crude, while continuing to look for more opportunities to ship crude to new markets, Ferguson said. The Canadian company is also part owner of a refinery in Borger, Texas.
"We are taking a portfolio approach to our transportation arrangements," Cenovus's CEO said. The company has already committed capacity to proposed pipeline expansions like Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain conduit and those planned by TransCanada and Enbridge to the Gulf and Pacific coasts because of significant expansion opportunities in the oil sands, he said.
Low Cost
Cenovus had operating cash flow from refining of $344-million, an increase of $22-million from the year-earlier quarter. The company is counting on new technology, hedging and higher production to help reduce costs of its oil-sands production in the coming years.
"In any commodity business, it's the low-cost producer that is always the one that benefits whether there are high prices or low prices," Ferguson said.


text:
Mr Monk's bill was read the first time before Easter, and Phineas Finn still held his office. He had spoken to the Prime Minister once on the subject, and had been surprised at that gentleman's courtesy — for Mr Gresham had the reputation of being unconciliatory in his manners, and very prone to resent anything like desertion from that allegiance which was due to himself as the leader of his party. "You had better stay where you are and take no step that may be irretrievable, till you have quite made up your mind," said Mr Gresham.
"I fear I have made up my mind," said Phineas.
"Nothing can be done till after Easter", replied the great man, "and there is no knowing how things may go then. I strongly recommend you to stay with us. If you can do this it will be only necessary that you shall put your resignation in Lord Cantrip's hands before you speak or vote against us. See Monk and talk it over with him." Mr Gresham possibly imagined that Mr Monk might be moved to abandon his bill, when he saw what injury he was about to do.
At this time Phineas received the following letter from his darling Mary:
" Floodborough, Thursday
"We have just got home from Killaloe, and mean to remain here all through the summer. After leaving your sisters this house seems so desolate; but I shall have the more time to think of you. I have been reading Tennyson, as you told me, and I fancy that I could in truth be a Mariana here, if it were not that I am so quite certain that you will come — and that makes all the difference in the world in a moated grange. Last night I sat at the window and tried to realise what I should feel if you were to tell me that you did not want me; and I got myself into such an ecstatic state of mock melancholy that I cried for half an hour. But when one has such a real living joy at the back of one's romantic melancholy, tears are very pleasant — they water and do not burn.
"I must tell you about them all at Killaloe. They certainly are very unhappy at the idea of your resigning. Your father says very little, but I made him own that to act as you are acting for the sake of principle is very grand. I would not leave him till he had said so, and he did say it. Dear Mrs Finn does not understand it as well, but she will do so. She complains mostly for my sake, and when I tell her that I will wait twenty years if it is necessary, she tells me I do not know what waiting means. But I will — and will be happy, and will never really think myself a Mariana. Dear, dear, dear Phineas, indeed I won't. The girls are half sad and half proud, But I am wholly proud, and know that you are doing just what you ought to do. I shall think more of you as a man who might have been a Prime Minister than if you were really sitting in the Cabinet like Lord Cantrip. As for mamma, I cannot make her quite understand it. She merely says that no young man who is going to be married ought to resign anything. Dear mamma — sometimes she does say such odd things.
"You told me to tell you everything, and so I have. I talk to some of the people here, and tell them what they might do if they had tenant-right. One old fellow, Mike Dufferty — I don't know whether you remember him — asked if he would have to pay the rent all the same. When I said certainly he would, then he shook his head. But as you said once, when we want to do good to people one has no right to expect that they should understand it. It is like baptising little infants.
"I got both your notes — seven words in one, Mr Under-Secretary, and nine in the other! But the one little word at the end was worth a whole sheet full of common words. How nice it is to write letters without paying postage, and to send them about the world with a grand name in the corner. When Barney brings me one he always looks as if he didn't know whether it was a love letter or an order to go to Botany Bay. If he saw the inside of them, how short they are, I don't think he'd think much of you as a lover nor yet as an Under-Secretary.
"But I think ever so much of you as both — I do, indeed; and I am not scolding you a bit. As long as I can have two or three dear, sweet, loving words, I shall be as happy as a queen. Ah, if you knew it all! But you never can know it all. A man has so many other things to learn that he cannot understand it.
"Goodbye, dear, dear, dearest man. Whatever you do I shall be quite sure you have done the best.
"Ever your own, with all the love of her heart,
This was very nice. Such a man as was Phineas Finn always takes a delight which he cannot express even to himself in the receipt of such a letter as this. There is nothing so flattering as the warm expression of the confidence of a woman's love, and Phineas thought that no woman ever expressed this more completely than did his Mary. Dear, dearest Mary. As for giving her up, as for treachery to one so trusting, so sweet, so well beloved, that was out of the question. But nevertheless the truth came home to him more clearly day by day, that he of all men was the last who ought to have given himself up to such a passion. For her sake he ought to have abstained. So he told himself now. For her sake he ought to have kept aloof from her — and for his own sake he ought to have kept aloof from Mr Monk. That very day, with Mary's letter in his pocket, he went to the livery stables and explained that he would not keep his horse any longer. There was no difficulty about the horse. Mr Howard Macleod of the Treasury would take him from that very hour. Phineas, as he walked away, uttered a curse upon Mr Howard Macleod. Mr Howard Macleod was just beginning the glory of his life in London, and he, Phineas Finn, was bringing his to an end.
With Mary's letter in his pocket he went up to Portman Square. He had again got into the habit of seeing Lady Laura frequently, and was often with her brother, who now again lived at his father's house. A letter had reached Lord Brentford, through his lawyer, in which a demand was made by Mr Kennedy for the return of his wife. She was quite determined that she would never go back to him; and there had come to her a doubt whether it would not be expedient that she should live abroad so as to be out of the way of persecution from her husband. Lord Brentford was in great wrath, and Lord Chiltern had once or twice hinted that perhaps he had better "see" Mr Kennedy. The amenities of such an interview, as this would be, had up to the present day been postponed; and, in a certain way, Phineas had been used as a messenger between Mr Kennedy and his wife's family.
"I think it will end", she said, in my going to Dresden, and settling myself there. Papa will come to me when Parliament is not sitting."
"It will be very dull."
"Dull! What does dullness amount to when one has come to such a pass as this? When one is in the ruck of fortune, to be dull is very bad; but when misfortune comes, simple dullness is nothing. It sounds almost like relief."
"It is so hard that you should be driven away." She did not answer him for a while, and he was beginning to think of his own case also. Was it not hard that he too should be driven away? "It is odd enough that we should both be going at the same time."
"But you will not go?"
"I think I shall. I have resolved upon this — that if I give up my place, I will give up my seat too. I went into Parliament with the hope of office, and how can I remain there when I shall have gained it and then have lost it?"
"But you will stay in London, Mr Finn?"
"I think not. After all that has come and gone I should not be happy here, and I should make my way easier and on cheaper terms in Dublin. My present idea is that I shall endeavour to make a practice over in my own country. It will be hard work beginning at the bottom — will it not?"
"And so unnecessary."
"Ah, Lady Laura — if it only could be avoided! But it is of no use going through all that again."
"How much we would both of us avoid if we could only have another chance!" said Lady Laura. "If I could only be as I was before I persuaded myself to marry a man whom I never loved, what a paradise the earth would be to me! With me all regrets are too late."
"And with me as much so."
"No, Mr Finn. Even should you resign your office, there is no reason why you should give up your seat."
"Simply that I have no income to maintain me in London."
She was silent for a few moments, during which she changed her seat so as to come nearer to him, placing herself on a corner of a sofa close to the chair on which he was seated. "I wonder whether I may speak to you plainly," she said.
"Indeed you may."
"On any subject?"
"Yes — on any subject."
"I trust you have been able to rid your bosom of all remembrances of Violet Effingham."
"Certainly not of all remembrances, Lady Laura."
"Of all hope, then?"
"I have no such hope."
"And of all lingering desires?"
"Well, yes — and of all lingering desires. I know now that it cannot be. Your brother is welcome to her."
"Ah — of that I know nothing. He, with his perversity, has estranged her. But I am sure of this — that if she do not marry him, she will marry no one. But it is not on account of him that I speak. He must fight his own battles now."
"I shall not interfere with him, Lady Laura."
"Then why should you not establish yourself by a marriage that will make place a matter of indifference to you? I know that it is within your power to do so." Phineas put his hand up to his breast coat pocket, and felt that Mary's letter — her precious letter — was there safe. It certainly was not in his power to do this thing which Lady Laura recommended to him, but he hardly thought that the present was a moment suitable for explaining to her the nature of the impediment which stood in the way of such an arrangement. He had so lately spoken to Lady Laura with an assurance of undying constancy of his love for Miss Effingham, that he could not as yet acknowledge the force of another passion. He shook his head by way of reply. "I tell you that it is so," she said with energy.
"I am afraid not."
"Go to Madame Goesler, and ask her. Hear what she will say.
"Madame Goesler would laugh at me, no doubt."
"Psha! You do not think so. You know that she would not laugh. And are you the man to be afraid of a woman's laughter? I think not."
Again he did not answer her at once, and when he did speak the tone of his voice was altered. "What was it you said of yourself, just now?"
"What did I say of myself?"
"You regretted that you had consented to marry a man — whom you did not love."
"Why should you not love her? And it is so different with a man! A woman is wretched if she does not love her husband, but I fancy that a man gets on very well without any such feeling. She cannot domineer over you. She cannot expect you to pluck yourself out of your own soil, and begin a new growth together in accordance with the laws of her own. It was that which Mr Kennedy did."
"I do not for a moment think that she would take me, if I were to offer myself."
"Try her," said Lady Laura energetically. Such trials cost you but little — we both of us know that!" Still he said nothing of the letter in his pocket. "It is everything that you should go on now that you have once begun. I do not believe in you working at the Bar. You cannot do it. A man who has commenced life as you have done with the excitement of politics, who has known what it is to take a prominent part in the control of public affairs, cannot give it up and be happy at other work. Make her your wife, and you may resign or remain in office just as you choose. Office will be much easier to you than it is now, because it will not be a necessity. Let me at any rate have the pleasure of thinking that one of us can remain here — that we need not both fall together."
Still he did not tell her of the letter in his pocket. He felt that she moved him — that she made him acknowledge to himself how great would be the pity of such a failure as would be his. He was quite as much alive as she could be to the fact that work at the Bar, either in London or in Dublin, would have no charms for him now. The prospect of such a life was very dreary to him. Even with the comfort of Mary's love such a life would be very dreary to him. And then he knew — he thought that he knew — that were he to offer himself to Madame Goesler he would not in truth be rejected. She had told him that if poverty was a trouble to him he need be no longer poor. Of course he had understood this. Her money was at his service if he should choose to stoop and pick it up. And it was not only money that such a marriage would give him. He had acknowledged to himself more than once that Madame Goesler was very lovely, that she was clever, attractive in every way, and as far as he could see, blessed with a sweet temper. She had a position, too, in the world that would help him rather than mar him. What might he not do with an independent seat in the House of Commons, and as joint owner of the little house in Park Lane? Of all careers which the world could offer to a man the pleasantest would then be within his reach. "You appear to me as a tempter," he said at last to Lady Laura.
"It is unkind of you to say that, and ungrateful. I would do anything on earth in my power to help you."
"Nevertheless you are a tempter."
"I know how it ought to have been," she said, in a low voice. "I know very well how it ought to have been. I should have kept myself free till that time when we met on the braes of Loughlinter, and then all would have been well with us."
"I do not know how that might have been," said Phineas, hoarsely.
"You do not know! But I know. Of course you have stabbed me with a thousand daggers when you have told me from time to time of your love for Violet. You have been very cruel — needlessly cruel. Men are so cruel! But for all that I have known that I could have kept you — had it not been too late when you spoke to me. Will you not own as much as that?"
"Of course you would have been everything to me. I should never have thought of Violet then."
"That is the only kind word you have said to me from that day to this. I try to comfort myself in thinking that it would have been so. But all that is past and gone, and done. I have had my romance and you have had yours. As you are a man, it is natural that you should have been disturbed by a double image — it is not so with me."
"And yet you can advise me to offer marriage to a woman — a woman whom I am to seek merely because she is rich?"
"Yes — I do so advise you. You have had your romance and must now put up with reality. Why should I so advise you but for the interest that I have in you? Your prosperity will do me no good. I shall not even be here to see it. I shall hear of it only as so many a woman banished out of England hears a distant misunderstood report of what is going on in the country she has left. But I still have regard enough — I will be bold, and, knowing that you will not take it amiss, will say love enough for you — to feel a desire that you should not be shipwrecked. Since we first took you in hand between us, Barrington and I, I have never swerved in my anxiety on your behalf. When I resolved that it would be better for us both that we should be only friends, I did not swerve. When you would talk to me so cruelly of your love for Violet, I did not swerve. When I warned you from Loughlinter because I thought there was danger, I did not swerve. When I bade you not to come to me in London because of my husband, I did not swerve. When my father was hard upon you, I did not swerve then. I would not leave him till he was softened. When you tried to rob Oswald of his love, and I thought you would succeed — for I did think so — I did not swerve. I have ever been true to you. And now that I must hide myself and go away, and be seen no more, I am true still."
"Laura — dearest Laura!" he exclaimed.
"Ah, no!" she said, speaking with no touch of anger, but all in sorrow — "it must not be like that. There is no room for that. Nor do you mean it. I do not think so ill of you. But there may not be even words of affection between us — only such as I may speak to make you know that I am your friend."
"You are my friend," he said, stretching out his hand to her as he turned away his face. "You are my friend, indeed."
"Then do as I would have you do."
He put his hand into his pocket, and had the letter between his fingers with the purport of showing it to her. But at the moment the thought occurred to him that were he to do so, then, indeed, he would be bound for ever. He knew that he was bound for ever — bound for ever to his own Mary; but he desired to have the privilege of thinking over such bondage once more before he proclaimed it even to his dearest friend. He had told her that she tempted him, and she stood before him now as a temptress. But lest it might be possible that she should not tempt in vain — that letter in his pocket must never be shown to her. In that case Lady Laura must never hear from his lips the name of Mary Flood Jones.
He left her without any assured purpose — without, that is, the assurance to her of any fixed purpose. There yet wanted a week to the day on which Mr Monk's bill was to be read — or not to be read — the second time; and he had still that interval before he need decide. He went to his club, and before he dined he strove to write a line to Mary — but when he had the paper before him he found that it was impossible to do so. Though he did not even suspect himself of an intention to be false, the idea that was in his mind made the effort too much for him. He put the paper away from him and went down and eat his dinner.
It was a Saturday, and there was no House in the evening. He had remained in Portman Square with Lady Laura till near seven o'clock, and was engaged to go out in the evening to a gathering at Mrs Gresham's house. Everybody in London would be there, and Phineas was resolved that as long as he remained in London he would be seen at places where everybody was seen. He would certainly be at Mrs Gresham's gathering; but there was an hour or two before he need go home to dress, and as he had nothing to do, he went down to the smoking-room of his club. The seats were crowded, but there was one vacant; and before he had looked about him to scrutinise his neighbourhood, he found that he had placed himself with Bonteen on his right hand and Ratler on his left. There were no two men in all London whom he more thoroughly disliked; but it was too late for him to avoid them now.
They instantly attacked him, first on one side and then on the other. "So I am told you are going to leave us," said Bonteen.
"Who can have been ill-natured enough to whisper such a thing?" replied Phineas.
"The whispers are very loud, I can tell you," said Ratler. "I think I know already pretty nearly how every man in the House will vote, and I have not got your name down on the right side."
"Change it for heaven's sake," said Phineas.
"I will, if you'll tell me seriously that I may," said Ratler.
"My opinion is," said Bonteen, that a man should be known either as a friend or foe. I respect a declared foe."
"Know me as a declared foe then," said Phineas, and respect me."
"That's all very well," said Ratler, but it means nothing. I've always had a sort of fear about you, Finn, that you would go over the traces some day. Of course it's a very grand thing to be independent."
"The finest thing in the world," said Bonteen; only so d — d useless."
"But a man shouldn't be independent and stick to the ship at the same time. You forget the trouble you cause, and how you upset all calculations."
"I hadn't thought of the calculations," said Phineas.
"The fact is, Finn," said Bonteen, you are made of clay too fine for office. I've always found it has been so with men from your country. You are the grandest horses in the world to look at out on a prairie, but you don't like the slavery of harness."
"And the sound of a whip over our shoulders sets us kicking — does it not, Ratler?"
"I shall show the list to Gresham tomorrow," said Ratler, "and of course he can do as he pleases; but I don't understand this kind of thing."
"Don't you be in a hurry," said Bonteen. I'll bet you a sovereign Finn votes with us yet. There's nothing like being a little coy to set off a girl's charms. I'll bet you a sovereign, Ratler, that Finn goes out into the lobby with you and me against Monk's bill."
Phineas, not being able to stand any more of this most unpleasant raillery, got up and went away. The club was distasteful to him, and he walked off and sauntered for a while about the park. He went down by the Duke of York's column as though he were going to his office, which of course was closed at this hour, but turned round when he got beyond the new public buildings — buildings which he was never destined to use in their completed state — and entered the gates of the enclosure, and wandered on over the bridge across the water. As he went his mind was full of thought. Could it be good for him to give up everything for a fair face? He swore to himself that of all women whom he had ever seen Mary was the sweetest and the dearest and the best. If it could be well to lose the world for a woman, it would be well to lose it for her. Violet, with all her skill, and all her strength, and all her grace, could never have written such a letter as that which he still held in his pocket. The best charm of a woman is that she should be soft, and trusting, and generous; and who ever had been more soft, more trusting, and more generous than his Mary? Of course he would be true to her, though he did lose the world.
But to yield such a triumph to the Ratlers and Bonteens whom he left behind him — to let them have their will over him — to know that they would rejoice scurrilously behind his back over his downfall! The feeling was terrible to him. The last words which Bonteen had spoken made it impossible to him now not to support his old friend Mr Monk. It was not only what Bonteen had said, but that the words of Mr Bonteen so plainly indicated what would be the words of all the other Bonteens. He knew that he was weak in this. He knew that had he been strong, he would have allowed himself to be guided — if not by the firm decision of his own spirit — by the counsels of such men as Mr Gresham and Lord Cantrip, and not by the sarcasms of the Bonteens and Ratlers of official life. But men who sojourn amidst savagery fear the mosquito more than they do the lion. He could not bear to think that he should yield his blood to such a one as Bonteen.
And he must yield his blood, unless he could vote for Mr Monk's motion, and hold his ground afterwards among them all in the House of Commons. He would at any rate see the session out, and try a fall with Mr Bonteen when they should be sitting on different benches — if ever fortune should give him an opportunity. And in the meantime, what should he do about Madame Goesler? What a fate was his to have the handsomest woman in London with thousands and thousands a year at his disposal! For — so he now swore to himself — Madame Goesler was the handsomest woman in London, as Mary Flood Jones was the sweetest girl in the world.
He had not arrived at any decision so fixed as to make him comfortable when he went home and dressed for Mrs Gresham's party. And yet he knew — he thought that he knew that he would be true to Mary Flood Jones.
Last updated Sunday, March 27, 2016 at 12:01


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The Oregon Coast Community College's Small Business Development Center has announced the hiring of Gretchen Ammerman as the host of the SBDC's Digital Media & Marketing Studio. Funded by a Lincoln County Economic Development Grant received in early 2016, the studio offers small businesses throughout the county the opportunity to take professional photographs of their products, artwork and more, and to record audio and video content.
"Everything you can do with the studio is designed to help businesses sell more products, locally and across the globe," Ammerman said. "Better photos, compelling video and audio content – all of it can help Lincoln County businesses better compete online, both on their websites and on a wide variety of social media channels."
Ammerman brings years of experience working with photography and Apple computers. She recently left The News Guard newspaper in Lincoln City, where she had served as editor. She is an avid trail runner and cyclist and freelances for a variety of publications on the Oregon Coast. The studio is available for businesses to rent for just $20 per hour, in two-hour blocks. The SBDC maintains a calendar of availability; to reserve your time, call 541-994-4166.
"Since the SBDC is all about training," Ammerman said, "my goal is to help our clients get certified quickly to use the studio alone, as soon as possible. Once certified, businesses can rent the studio for just $10 per hour, and won't have to schedule around my calendar." Businesses new to the studio will register with the SBDC prior to their first appointment.
"We're getting a lot of inquiries about videos," Ammerman said. "And, while clients can shoot video here in the studio, they are also free to bring in their own video files and edit them, any time between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, in the College's new iMac video editing lab." That lab was funded by a separate grant from the County's economic development program, and is available to the public at no charge whenever classes are not in session.
"The SBDC is currently recruiting for instructors interested in teaching Final Cut Pro video editing, as well as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign, using the new lab," said SBDC Director Dave Price. Anyone with expertise in any of those applications who might be interested in teaching at OCCC should contact Price at 541-994-4166 or by email.
Information and photo provided by OCCC


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Here's a quick recap of the week's projects.
if you haven't entered all the giveaways from this week, here's some quick links that will take you to the various posts:
Alright, my lovelies – that's it! Go enter all the giveaways & print out a copy or 2 of the fun subway art for your decor. Don't forget we'll be pinning your ideas throughout the weekend on our Valentine's boards. So make sure you are following so you can repin some of the incredible ideas that I'm sure will be linked up!
Can't wait to see!


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Chris, I agree that this song from the '80's is profoundly suggestive of Christian things,
including leaving to go home to Christ.
And you are right that God speaks to us even through pagan things; this is inevitable
if we live in a fallen world, for the Holy One must speak to us through the things of the flesh
while we are here. Our task here is to redeem the "fallen" (things and people) as much as
we can, but we can never do it perfectly while here. When we have an epiphany through
a "pagan" rock song, we feel it deeply, and with sadness, for we know that nothing can
be completely right here, and yet we feel joy too that our lives, including our fallen bodies,
will be totally redeemed!
I was an English teacher in a college, and before that in high school. I "analyzed" many poems
with my students, and before that I analyzed them with my teachers at university. This was my
"silly" profession. Better I had been analyzing scripture in a Bible college? Perhaps, and yet
one works through the foolish things of God.
This poem (song) "New Moon on Monday" is very high up there in speaking of many things, not
just of going home to God but of other less holy experiences. This very capacity to reference diverse
things is what makes it a great poem. A great poem will bring to mind not only its main message but
many side-messages, making it very rich, very layered. Some would say this is a syncretic thing.
It is. But our task here, living in this fallen world, is to see all the possibilities and discern the right one.
When we discern the right one, the Holy Spirit is vindicated. He won! We focused through the myriad
prisms and found the core prism, so He won. And we won, through Him.


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Hello, We received the following question: However, I can not seem to parse the return address, so I will take a stab at providing an answer. If anyone can obtain Kostya's return address please forward this message. > Does anyone know what name one should use to register MML in Windows > ? clipboard? (e.g. rtf is registered with "Rich Text Format") Since MathML is an XML application, it is really just text. Kostya you might want a named type for negotiation and the representation would just be text. Angel --- Dr. Angel L. Diaz Research Staff Member, Interactive Scientific Publishing Mathematical Sciences Department IBM T. J. Watson Research Center Yorktown Heights, New York USA 10598 Phone (914)-945-1065 Internet address firstname.lastname@example.com W3C Mathematical Markup Language http://www.w3.org/Math/Received on Friday, 31 July 1998 09:16:26 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Tuesday, 6 January 2015 21:27:28 UTC


text:
You have chosen to publish your review anonymously. If You click 'OK' your review will be published under the pseudonym 'VivianO'Brien' which has been randomly generated by us. If you would prefer your review to be published as 'Guest' please select this option.Publish as 'Guest'
Item Name: Costa Dorada, Cambrils Park, Salou
Category: Spanish Campsites


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MERCER COUNTY, Pa. (WKBN) – Motorists traveling through a stretch of Route 18 in Mercer County, Pa., will be detoured next week.
Starting Monday, nighttime closures are scheduled for the Route 18 bridge on the Shenango River causeway. The northbound lanes of the road will be blocked off, as contractors are removing beams on the northbound lanes of the bridge, according to Jim Carroll of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
The section of the road that crosses the Shenango Reservoir between Clark Borough and Pymatuning Township will be closed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Thursday.
Contractors are removing beams on the northbound lanes of the bridge.
A detour will be posted using Route 18, Route 518, Route 846 and Rutledge Road.
Approximate location of bridge closure:


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Lexus RC Coupe and Kia Forte
Lexus RC Coupe | Starting price: $40,000
Any proper luxury brand like Lexus is expected to offer a sporty luxury coupe. It must have the obligatory front engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, two doors, swoopy styling and lots of power. The Lexus RC coupe fits that description very well.
The RC is offered in several versions. The RC Turbo has a turbocharged 2.0 4 cylinder engine with 241 horsepower. The RC 300 has a milder tuned 3.5 V6, and the RC 350 models have corralled 306 horsepower under the hood.
The RC F, however, is fitted with the 5.0 liter V8 and is a lovely, glorious road monster. It sports the 467 horsepower V8 and will drill to 60 miles an hour in 4.4 seconds flat… very fast! All offer the 8-speed automatic transmission and both rear and all-wheel drive versions are available.
Several driving modes are offered that range from ECO to Normal to Sport to Sport+. In Eco mode, the car purrs along in a sedate tractable manner. As you progress up the driving modes the intensity of the vehicle increases. The shift points change, the exhaust note gets louder, the suspension firmness increases and Dr. Jekyll becomes Mr. Hyde! The tachometer shows a 7,300 rpm redline which is crazy high for either the 3.5 liter V6 or the 5.0 V8 engine. Yet, in the fury of the Sport + mode, they both go there.
The V8's special exhaust system emits a rumbling baritone note and Active Sound Control (ASC) electronically "boosts" the raging exhaust note under hard acceleration into the cabin via the audio speakers. The driver can turn the ASC system off…I don't know why you would, but you could.
Well I suppose that if you were enjoying the RC's unique Mark Levinson 17 speaker premium audio with "decompression" (compensating for the loss of audio quality during digital file compression) you might. Where they fit 17 speakers into the cabin of this car I don't know but the system sounds fantastic.
With Lexus Enform Remote, the customer can remotely view and control certain aspects of the RC using a mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Functions include remote door lock/unlock; remote start/stop for the engine and climate control; vehicle finder, guest driver monitor and more.
The RC F can go fast and with the additional performance features like torque vectoring suspension, track grade brakes and even all-weather drive, it is very good at staying on the road as well.
A full suite of safety gear is available including blind spot monitoring, cross traffic alert, radar cruise control, pre-collision braking and parking assist, plus every airbag in the book including those for knees. If you're comfortable with active safety, the RC is capable of dodging or out-smarting lots of problems if the driver will employ all its capabilities.
The RC does everything a car like this is supposed to do. There is a tremendous range of models and options in the RC with prices ranging from $40,000 to almost $80,000.
Kia Forte | Starting price: $16,600
The Forte is Kia's highly successful compact sedan. It lines up against the Toyota Corolla, Chevy Cruz and Honda Civic to name a few. It is a well sculpted, feature-rich sedan that continues to be very popular.
All brands have family styling cues. Clearly, the Forte is a member of the Kia family. It tends to be somewhat rectangular and a bit boxy, yet is a very nice-looking car and that squarish design provides maximum interior space.
This 2017 model has been updated and refreshed to keep it in the mainstream of what buyers of this class of car are looking for. It's what Kia calls European sport-sedan styling and it's topped off with their signature "tiger nose" grille.
The Forte is offered in three trim levels…the LX, the S and the EX. The new S trim amps up the Forte's dynamic demeanor by adding a sport-tuned suspension, 16-inch alloy wheels, LED positioning lights, rear spoiler, and a chrome exhaust tip.
The LX and the S models get the Atkinson version of the 2.0 liter engine. The EX gets DGI direct injection 2.0 liter which has better power but worse fuel economy. The Atkinson produced 147 horsepower but delivers an overall average of 32 mpg. The DGI 2.0 has 161 horsepower but offers a significantly lower 28 mpg fuel economy. Though you can get a 6- speed manual transmission, it's not advisable unless you just really have to have one. The automatic is much easier to drive, it's faster, gets better fuel economy and has better resale value, but other than that…!
The Forte is a roomy compact. Entry and exit are a breeze and the car is fun to drive. My test car had more of a feeling of substance than most compacts. You feel like you're in a miniaturized premium sedan rather than a small economy vehicle.
While the entry level model is priced at $16,000, the fully optioned EX can cost over $27,000. Car manufacturers have discovered that there is a large group of buyers of compact cars who want the same upscale options found on larger vehicles. They want small but blingy.
The Forte offers a broad array of options that are bundled into a few packages. The base LX is well equipped for its price. It's a 4 cylinder, manual transmission, power windows, locks, air conditioning, simple info-display type of car that has good quality and is basic but solid transportation with nice styling.
Adding almost $10,000 to the price of the EX with the Premium Package gets you these items: automatic transmission, alloy wheels, LED headlamps, power heated and cooled leather seats, dual climate control, push-to-start plus keyless entry, cruise control, back up camera, blind spot detection, collision alert, self-braking, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, rear cross traffic alert, navigation with upscale audio system, cornering lights, a moon roof plus more.
What Kia offers in the Forte is a full-featured, reliable and attractive compact sedan that can be configured to suit many drivers' tastes.
For more information about these and other vehicles, visit mycardata.com.
Category: New Automobiles