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Restoration Resources
Schematic from
Nostalgia Air
My Bendix Model 110 is listed in Rider's Volume 18.
You can jump straight to the Bendix 110 info and download it for free at Schematic or you can see the whole list of what's available there at their Home Page
Phil's Old Radios
Possibly the oldest antique radio web site on the internet. Phil has tons of great articles on how he restored vintage sets.There's lots of good info there, especially for newcomers to the hobby.
It is no coincidence that my restoration articles have a similar look and feel as Phil's. I love his site. If you do some exploring there, you'll be lost for days! Phil's Old Radios
Parts Resources
Usually, all an old tube radio needs to come back to life is a replacement of the old electrolytic and paper capacitors. A great source for these at good prices is WJOE Radio
Old Radio Restorations
Don't miss my other radio restorations - I have several listed on my "Projects" page. More…
Bendix Model 110
The second radio I restored was made by Bendix Aviation Corporation -- a model 110. There was a lot of things that I liked about the radio. Its art deco styling is hard to resist and also, my dad worked for Bendix Aviation for many years. He worked here in South Bend on jet fuel controls, but it is still fun to see the Bendix name on a radio from the 40's. I knew my dad would get a kick out of seeing it.
The radio arrived dirty and with a cracked dial scale. -- something that is quite common with this model and other similar Bendix radios with a curved plastic dial scale.
I could have purchased a replica replacement, but I decided to try scanning the damaged scale with a computer scanner. I cleaned up the image with a photo editing program, printed a new scale on photo paper and installed it back in the radio between two pieces of plastic. I think it turned out pretty good!
Here are before and after shots of the radio, with a closeup of the scale.
Here I've provided before and after images of the dial scale itself. Click on the image for a full size view that you can download. Any fellow radio restorers are welcome to use the "after" image to fix up your own radio. You might want to play with the coloring a bit. Printers vary and you might prefer a bit different tint. For some reason, the "after" pictures of my radio make the dial scale look lighter and not as yellow as the original. I think that is due to the lighting used since the dials look very close to the same in person, It wouldn't be too tough to touch up the "after" image on the printer to change the hue and print out a new one to install in the radio.
The chassis restoration for this radio was pretty straightforward. I replaced all the old paper capacitors and electrolytics, cleaned up the controls, and it played nicely.
While putting the finishing touches on this radio, I was delighted to hear the sounds of an old favorite by the Artie Shaw band coming from the radio! It was a magical moment and I felt as if I and my workshop had been transported back in time to when my Bendix radio was new. In actuality, I had stumbled across CHWO in Toronto on 740 kHz AM. They play lots of old music. My favorite show is the one I discovered while working on my Bendix radio - Big Band Sunday Night with George Jonescu. If you like big band swing music, give it a listen!
I always love hearing from visitors to my web pages. If you have any comments or questions, you can email me using the link at the top of this page or, better yet, sign my guestbook. Thanks!


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The Sights and Sounds of Baseball
|Art Gallery
|Sounds of the Game
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|OBC Scrapbook
O B C : A T r a d i t i o n o f E x c e l l e n c e S i n c e 1 9 9 1
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subset: commoncrawl


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The 11th annual Beverley Food Festival, organised by Beverley Town Council, takes place on 2 October.
The Wolds poultry firm's support will help towards building the infrastructure of the Cookery Theatre Marquee, where high profile local chefs will be creating dishes primarily using East Yorkshire produce.
Three other organisations from the surrounding area have also agreed to sponsor the popular festival.
It was through an East Yorkshire Local Food Network Event where Tom Kingston, sales manager at T Soanes & Son, met Beverley Town Council Town Clerk, Helen Watson that the idea of sponsorship was first explored, explained Kingston.
'Showcase products'
"Through supporting Beverley Food Festival, we're not only able to help raise the profile of the town, but we're also able to support our customers in Beverley and showcase our products to new and existing customers."
T Soanes & Son also hoped to promote the Middleton on the Wolds' game business at the Food Festival, Kingston added.
Beverley Food Festival will showcase local producers and will feature entertainment, music from Britain's Got Talent semi-finalists, The Garnett Sisters and street food.
Cooking demonstrations
There will also be cooking demonstrations from James Mackenzie, chef and joint proprietor of The Pipe and Glass Inn; David Nowell, head chef at Tickton Grange and Beverley pastry chef Thierry Condette.
Helen Watson, who also sits on the East Yorkshire Local Food Network (EYLFN) Committee, said the council was delighted that a local, family food producer is supporting the festival.
"I have known about T Soanes & Son for years - in fact we used their chicken when we used to run charity barbecue stalls.
'Excellent partnership'
"I think this is an excellent partnership because they reflect our values. As a council and through the festival, we work to promote local producers and the local economy, Soanes being one of them, to help them be more prominent in the area.
"We've suffered from a lot of funding cuts so without our sponsors, it would be very hard to run the event therefore we need good local companies to team up with to ensure we're able to offer everything we did before the cuts."


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Pharmacy Resources
We are committed to providing appropriate, high-quality, and cost-effective drug therapy to all Ambetter members.
Use our Preferred Drug List to find more information on the drugs that Ambetter covers.
- 2018 Preferred Drug List
- Participating Network Pharmacies for 90-Day Extended Supply Prescriptions
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mr. omaha wrote:I just received a text from a friend who may or may not work for ConAgra who said: "Now that we've announced that ConAgra is vacating those two buildings I can tell you that HDR is going to build on the site."
I have seen posts on this forum from "people in the know" saying that HDR is not building downtown, HDR is building downtown, and HDR is building at Aksarben. With Childrens' purchase of the HDR land, it sounds like we may be speculating for quite awhile. I would think that HDR wants to own the land that they build on. I don't think any of the land at ConAgra is locally owned. Or did ConAgra buy the land of the 2 buildings it is going to vacate in order to sell it?


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HEY there lovelies!! It's been FFFOOORRREEEVVVEEERRR since I've done any real blogging, and while I'd like to give some excuses for why I haven't blogged, I really don't have any, lol.
How have you all been? I hope life has been treating you very well! I've been working (teaching is a never ending job), traveling (these photos were taken in Toronto during Thanksgiving week), doing all that I can to enjoy life, and working on developing a new business, Tous Lovely (DIY parties, anyone?).
In the midst of trying to enjoy all that life has to offer this year, I've told myself that I would blog each week, but that never seemed to happen. I've found myself feeling like I have nothing to say…like there is no point in taking outfit pictures…like maybe I should be doing something else with my time… or like no one is listening to the nothing that I have to say, if I had anything to say at all…like Consider Me Lovely is just another blog in the crazy saturated blogosphere. Admittedly, these are sentiments that I've felt and expressed here before, but this time I've reached a final resolve.
I've decided to close Consider Me Lovely. After 5 years of making, what I hope has been, a positive mark on the blogosphere, I believe that my time has run its course. It's been a true honor to share my random thoughts, talk fashion and style, encourage and inspire each other (you guys have been here through many of my highs and lows), support your businesses and having you all support mind, and so much more. My experience on Consider Me Lovely is one that I will never forget and can never replace, and having the opportunity to create my own little space of loveliness on the internet is something that I am truly grateful for. THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF MY LITTLE SPACE OF LOVELINESS!!!
P.S. There will be another post or two as the year comes to an end because I have some pictures waiting to be shared and maybe a few more thoughts to clear out, lol. Also, the blog archives will remain, as I'm not ready to take down the blog in it's entirety, so feel free to look around, and you can always find me on social media {see icons in sidebar} :-).


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|The Blue Bonnet, Vol. 5, No. 9, 1938-03-04
|Alternative Title
|The Blue Bonnet, Vol. V, No. 9, 1938-03-04
|Creator (Local)
|Contributor (Local)
|USS Houston (CA-30), U.S. Navy;
|Place of Creation (TGN)
|March 4, 1938
|Subject.Name (LCNAF)
|Genre (AAT)
|Type (DCMI)
|Original Item Location
|ID 1981-001, Box 12, Folder 1
|Original Collection
|Cruiser Houston Collection
|Original Collection URL
|Digital Collection
|USS Houston Blue Bonnet Newsletters
|Digital Collection URL
|Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries
|Repository URL
|Use and Reproduction
|This item is in the public domain and may be used freely.
|Page 3
|Format (IMT)
|File Name
|Howdy, here we are again with bits of news and events once again. What with this unusual weather we are having it is almost impossible to get al'ound on topside and find out how our deck force is getting along. * * * * As this issue consists mostly of Avia-tion, Gunnery and Marine articles it is most natural that they creep in this column. As the Aviation Unit is spending their time down in San Diego this week we haven't much dope in that respect but we do know that Pat Readette i" one proud man now that he is the papa of a girl. Ask him to show you a picture of her, he is always carrying one with him and we can't blame him for wanting to show it to everyone. * * * * This rain is keeping the Gunner's Mates below decks these days and we know that they are one class of people who like rain. The Armory looks more like a coffee shop than " Bob's Place" on the landing. * * * * The Marine Unit has been preparing for their annual drill on the beach. This accounts for the sailors you see wearing leggings around the ship. The menu arranged for the Marines when they make their landing has them worried quite a bit. Seems they will be given only a ration while they are used to having seconds on board ship. Cheerup though as it will be only for one night. * * * * The following men are getting air-minded very much these days and are attempting to become Naval Aviators: Garcia, Martin, Whitehouse all radiomen; Ramella and Rice both seamen. Here's wishing them lots of luck in taking their examinations. THE BLUE BONNET Red Meyers of the " E" Division recently acquired his ball and chain and is now stringing along with the G. G.' s Aint love grand, Red. It should be worth the cigars. * * * * Are you troubled with dandruff, hair falling out, or turning grey? If so, see Chandu Ridge, F2c. He guarantees a dome covered with curly red locks over night. What's the secret Chandu? Oddity in the news: Seen prior to the showing of the cinema, Sunday evening was " Sea Gull" Crego minus hat and coat indulging frantically in a gedunk. Looks like we have an Eskimo midst our three Rover Boys. * * * * An admirer contributed the following: Harry " Salty" Jones has found a relief for his ever ailing feet. Says the formula is H20 and Soap. • • • • Sure feel sorry for those men on the anchor detail these days. All they seem to be doing is manning their stations and staying wet most of the day. • I • Sports .... Whaleboat Race Scheduled The final heavy cruiser whaleboat race of the ye~ r will take place between selected crews on Friday, 11 March, and all hands are asked to give their complete support to the HOUSTON oarsmen. Other athletics on the ship are being given a continual boost forward and we can make it a hundred percent by just a little more enthusiasm or encouragement for thJse who wield the oars. A most intensive training schedule will be necessary during the next two weeks at anchor in order to get a FIRST ! ! ! Don't forget what the CHICAGO did in the last race- and we can't let an old rival show us up twice in a row. ComCruScoFor Sweater A black sport sweater was presented to E. A. Chick, Sea. Ic, by Commander Cruisers for Chick's excellent work in representing the cruisers in the All Navy Wrestling Contests. Being All Navy Champion has its just rewards. Page 3 IT The editor tells me that this is to be a Gunnery Issue and so, Gunner's Mates and others of your ilk, watch out for here it comes. IT Johnny Sharp, GM2c, has been making quite a splash in the Hollywood area lately in these fancy " civvies" of his. Take it easy kid, some of the storekeepers have a pretty big option on some of that country. IT A certain Turret Captain first asked for " Love boat" duty and that day it rained. He now claims that Jenkins, GMIc, knew it was gonna rain and put it over on him ( Pappy). IT Gunner's rate sure must be going down hill! Saw a Watertender in the Armory one day recently and have noticed him around there a lot since; been wondering if he was thinking of changing his rate. IT When it comes to lady- killin', Hubbard, CTC of turret one, is right on the job. It seems he asked a girl friend of one of the other Gunner's Mates on the ship why she wasted time on a mere first class; why not come along with a chief who had some real dough? IT Witless Wimpy Wilkinson, " Gunner's Mate ( if he's lucky) to be," of the " F" Division, was running around the other day with a hot water bottle in his grasp. Said it was for his stomach but we have our doubts. Is it true that Buck Weaver, CGM, is trying to lose weight? He was playing volleyball on the beach in uniform and says all that kept him from being in a bathing suit was there were none large enough to encircle his girth. IT What part does Henry, GMlc, play in causing all the compartment cleaners and so on back aft to keep their paint guarded so closely? Some folks say that he is painting the magazines and is too lazy to walk to the paint locker and draw his own paint. ( Continued on palrc '.)


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Hard labour: rebuilding Aceh
Page Tools
Irwansyah, who lost his family in the tsunami, helps clean up his devastated village. "I want to work," he says. "I don't want to wait any more."
Photo: Matthew Moore
Three months after the tsunami, billions of dollars in aid remain tied up in red tape. Now, Banda Aceh's survivors are taking matters into their own hands, writes Matthew Moore.
Faisal thought he had a reasonable chance of getting a typewriter. But the local official in charge of Punge Jurong village in Banda Aceh learned that getting any of the billions of dollars of reconstruction aid promised after the Boxing Day tsunami was much harder than he thought. It was certainly harder than getting emergency help in the frantic days after the disaster.
Faisal is the government official responsible for one of scores of villages that make up Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh Province, where up to 200,000 of the region's 4.5 million people died and up to 500,000 were made homeless, many in the area surrounding the capital. It is a job he inherited after his boss and two others of the 10 staff members disappeared in the tsunami, along with all of the office equipment and records.
Faisal wanted a typewriter, a desk and a chair to speed up his work writing some of the thousands of new identity cards, death certificates and other official papers that locals queue to get from his office each morning.
He sought help from Aswar Hassan, a passionate, energetic young Acehnese man who was living in Jakarta when the tsunami hit. Hassan came home to search for family members and ended up setting up his own organisation to help overcome bottlenecks in delivering reconstruction aid.
Hassan organised a meeting of the 16 local government officials in the Meraksa subdistrict of Banda Aceh and found they were all in the same position as Faisal. They thought the British-based charity Oxfam might help by paying for 16 typewriters, chairs and desks.
The charity was keen to assist, but Faisal says he had neither the skills nor the time to fill in a six-page form to outline the reasons for the request. With his constant work helping survivors, Hassan says he didn't have the time to get the three separate purchase orders Oxfam also needed. So Faisal went back to his office to continue writing longhand on furniture scavenged from the remains of a school down the road.
The people have the spirit and the energy and they know best what they want to do.
WARDAH HAFIDZ, director of the Urban Poor Consortium
Three months after the tsunami, the massive international aid effort is changing focus from emergency assistance to the far more complex task of helping reconstruct the shattered society. Aid groups, the Indonesian Government and the Acehnese are fast finding it is going to be difficult to make this second phase as successful as the emergency relief operation.
Government worker Faisal, who supplies identity papers for tsunami survivors, outside his office.
Photo:Matthew Moore
The new phase requires co-ordination on a deeper level than did the delivery of emergency aid, although, with more than 300 agencies involved, that in itself was a hugely complex task. And despite the massive outpouring of donor aid - the Red Cross alone has raised about $2 billion internationally, half of which may go to Aceh - much of this money is now on hold as aid agencies and the Indonesian Government try to agree on how and where it should be spent.
With the World Bank estimating that the total cost of rebuilding Aceh's infrastructure will be a relatively modest $1.5 billion, the region is, on paper at least, awash with money. But the Government will not allow the agencies to begin major infrastructure works until it has decided where it most wants them. Many of the agencies, for their part, will not hand over money to the Government, insisting they control distribution of their own funds.
There are now scores of agencies ready to build schools, but until the central Government knows where it wants them, what sort of schools it wants and how many children will be in them, real work cannot begin.
In the meantime, many Acehnese are building houses with timber and corrugated iron they can salvage from the wreckage. The wealthier are buying their own materials and building their own houses, while others have simply left the emergency camps and are staying in tents where their houses once stood, with generators, tools, food and medicine provided by the aid groups.
Today marks the three-month deadline imposed by the Indonesian Government for the release of the blueprint that everyone hopes will answer these and countless questions like it. But there are increasing signs that the document being prepared by the Minister for Planning, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, may only be a general plan devoid of many of the decisions donors are waiting for.
A statement last week from the minister responsible for co-ordinating relief in Aceh, Alwi Shihab, hinted that more patience may be needed. "Although an initial master plan is targeted for completion by March 26, 2005, the Government believes that more time needs to be allowed for further consultation with donor countries, agencies, and humanitarian organisations," it said.
But Acehnese are saying they cannot wait for this or any plan. They want to go back to their villages or "kampongs", the communities that form the building blocks for all Indonesian towns and cities and which are the glue that holds Aceh society together. They are leaving their emergency camps, houses of friends and relatives and even some of the semi-permanent barracks the Government is still constructing.
On March 7, the heads of 14 kampongs representing several thousand villagers in Banda Aceh signed a declaration stating their intention to return to their villages to begin rebuilding. In preparing the declaration, they worked with a Jakarta-based organisation called the Urban Poor Consortium. It is best known for its work defending squatters facing eviction from their slums in Jakarta.
With materials from the consortium, the villagers firstly build open timber structures in each of the kampongs where they meet, cook and sometimes sleep while they rebuild houses on or near their original sites.
The director of the consortium, Wardah Hafidz, says there's no point waiting for any master plan from the Government and it is best to allow people to go back to their villages as soon as possible and start rebuilding. She dismisses talk of a building-exclusion zone by the coast and insists that no government will attempt to stop people returning to their kampongs.
"This is to show the Government how to do it, to show them they should trust the people. The people have the spirit and the energy and they know best what they want to do."
While the consortium and other Indonesian aid groups can help people build new houses in their kampongs, the big international agencies must wait for decisions from Jakarta before deciding where they can spend their huge reconstruction budgets.
Oxfam spokesman Kim Tam says his organisation cannot help people build permanent houses until the Government has said where it wants them. "For the local people, it's a big issue as well, with all sorts of rumours around about a buffer zone and where you can and cannot build," he says.
Like several of the big agencies, Oxfam has put a lot of money and effort into "livelihood support", running schemes to pay villagers to clean up the rubble, replant mangroves and start small businesses.
Mr Tam says Oxfam uses community development officers for these projects, and no forms are required before money is disbursed to local communities. He says Oxfam wants to form a partnership with Hassan and has given him a four-page form to complete. Purchasing orders are normally required for any applications seeking money. "We have a serious responsibility of accountability to our donors," Mr Tam says.
While donors naturally expect such accountability, Acehnese villagers, and even community leaders, are not well-equipped to handle such requirements, and distributing help to those who need it will be tricky.
On the outskirts of Banda Aceh, Junaedi and his wife, Aidiyani, stop collecting old wood for their new house to explain they have received no help from their local government officials. They are building a house from whatever they can find. "The Lurah (local government official) refused to give us a stamp on a form we needed to get aid from Obor Berkat (a charity) and said the stamp was lost," Junaedi says. "And he told us it's embarrassing for the village to ask for aid."
To reach communities in need, donors need relationships with established Acehnese groups with a record of performance - and there are not many. "We know the whole conflict environment in Aceh is one where civil society did not have much room to develop and was being constantly undermined," says one senior aid adviser.
Distributing aid might be a problem; a shortage of money is not. Aid organisations have been swamped with donations and most have stopped collecting. As one senior Western official planning the Aceh relief effort puts it: "The aid groups have a bit of a paradox, they probably have more money than they will ever be able to spend."
Martin Unternahrer, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jakarta, admits the difficult part is working out how to spend it. "The fact you have the money does not mean anything. At the beginning it was easier," he says. "There was a huge need to cover food, shelter, access to water. But now it's becoming much more complicated and it (the money) has to be part of a bigger plan."
The Indonesian Red Cross has given the Government a two-page proposal outlining where an initial $A520 million could be spent. It touches almost every area from building and equipping schools, to developing programs to reduce discrimination against HIV/AIDS sufferers. There are scores of organisations putting up similar proposals and Unternahrer says it is "difficult to not have duplication".
For some projects, such as rebuilding the road on the west coast, the competition among donors is fierce. Indonesia's Co-ordination Minister for the Economy, Aburizal Bakrie, says Australia, the US and Japan all want to build so badly the Government will probably give them a section each.
With many organisations insisting they control their funds themselves, the Indonesian Minister responsible for the master plan, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, has warned that co-ordinating all the different proposals could become impossible.
While the amount of money pledged to Aceh is huge, the Indonesian Government has not yet had a lot to spend, according to Joel Hellman, a senior World Bank official working on the project. "Obviously there's a lot of money, but actually money available for public spending is quite small. It's a bit like water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink."
When the money does start to flow, it is hard to think of someone who might appreciate it more than Irwansyah. He lost his brothers, sisters and parents but came back to his kampong a month ago to help the others, who are his only family now.
He is grateful for the tent he calls home, provided by the International Organisation for Migration, which also gave him a shovel he is using to plant a vegetable garden. He would love one of the 11,000 relocatable houses the organisation has been asked to produce but would be just as happy to build a house himself like the ones going up around him.
"If we had a house like that one," he says, pointing into the distance, "we could bring the rest of the families back from the camps. I don't want to live in camps or barracks, I want to be here, to catch prawns and crabs. I want to work. I don't want to wait any more."
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Republican Gov. Paul LePage, Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud and independent Eliot Cutler covered a range of topics in the first debate of the 2014 gubernatorial campaign Wednesday, sparring over faculty and program cuts at the University of Southern Maine and the December closure of the Verso Paper mill in Bucksport.
No crippling blows were delivered, however, with each candidate scoring points that are likely to please their supporters in the closely contested race.
The second of five debates before the Nov. 4 election, sponsored by the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce, is scheduled for Thursday morning at Thomas College in Waterville.
Wednesday's forum drew a crowd of about 670 paid attendees at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland. A recent poll done by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram indicated that Michaud has a slight lead over LePage, but within the margin of error, and that Cutler is running a distant third.
Before the debate started, moderator Chris Hall, CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber, called for a quiet room. The audience immediately complied.
The exchanges among the candidates were pointed, but relatively civil. The format limited rebuttal time, perhaps setting the stage for more vigorous arguments in the televised contests next week.
Michaud and LePage criticized each other repeatedly. LePage, the most animated of the three, was alternately forceful in defending his record and self-deprecating in acknowledging his history of impolitic comments. As Cutler and Michaud took turns attacking his record, LePage leaned back, brought his hands to his chest, shook his head and smiled at his supporters in the crowd.
On two occasions, LePage high-fived Cutler, whose candidacy is dividing the anti-LePage vote, stoking the Democratic narrative that Cutler's participation only serves to help LePage. The image, captured by the Portland Press Herald, ricocheted on social media, with Democrats characterizing the LePage-Cutler relationship as a "bromance."
Cutler said he was surprised by LePage's gestures.
Michaud consistently attacked LePage's record. He neither spoke directly to Cutler, nor responded to the attorney's attacks. The tactic reflected his campaign's insistence that the race is a two-man contest and that the election is a referendum on the governor.
The tone was set early. Hall, the moderator, asked the candidates to return for another event the day after the election. Cutler said he would. LePage wavered, saying he had travel plans. Michaud joked that he would help the governor leave.
"That's good," said LePage, clasping his hands and laughing.
Cutler's remarks were detailed, beginning with the question about the USM cuts and changes confronting the entire University of Maine System. He said the state should merge the university and community college systems to shed duplicative administrative costs.
"We have two CEOs, two boards of trustees, two of this, two of that," he said. "We need to do a better job. It's not Noah's ark."
LePage wasn't convinced that the independent's plan was a good one.
"(The systems) have different missions. I don't like to see the missions corrupted," LePage said.
Michaud said the USM reorganization announced this week was the result of a "perfect storm" of stagnant funding and declining enrollment. He said his Maine Made plan, which would make the second year of college tuition-free, would help enrollment.
Denise Vachon, executive director of The Park Danforth, a senior housing project in Portland, thought all three candidates performed well, and she remains undecided.
"Depending on the question, I found myself resonating with each of them," Vachon said. "I don't think there was a slam dunk."
The candidates offered a range of opinions on the Verso closure. Michaud said that declining demand and internal corporate competition had hamstrung the paper mill. He also blamed LePage for not working with the other New England governors to expand the capacity of natural gas pipelines supplying Maine, which was a factor in the closure.
LePage said the state's regulatory environment was partially responsible for the plight of the paper industry.
He addressed Cutler's proposal to have the state buy the energy plant at Verso, saying he'd better "stand in line" because five other companies have expressed an interest in purchasing it. The governor also criticized Michaud for voting in Congress to delay natural gas expansion.
Michaud, a former worker at the Millinocket paper mill, said the issues affecting the paper industry were global and complex, but said it is still viable.
"Not only are these companies competing with other companies, they're competing within the same corporation for capital dollars," he said.
Cutler hit both of his rivals, saying neither had done anything to plan for the closure. He urged the governor not to pursue a deal like the one that LePage endorsed for the now-shuttered mill in East Millinocket.
"Please don't do another Cate Street deal," he said, referring to the investment firm that secured a taxpayer-backed loan and tax credits to run Great Northern Paper Co.
The candidates hit a number of other hot-button issues, including raising the minimum wage, public education and the expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. Michaud also criticized LePage for a 2011 tax cut package that wasn't entirely paid for and ultimately led to the governor's 2012 plan to cut municipal revenue sharing. The revenue-sharing cut was criticized by Democrats for shifting the cost of paying for the 2011 tax cuts from the state to local property taxpayers.
Cutler agreed that the state should honor its agreement with municipalities and should fund 55 percent of local education costs.
"The difference between you and me is that I've figured out how to pay for it," he said to Michaud, referring to his tax reform proposal that makes an array of changes in sales taxes and exemptions.
LePage defended his 2011 tax cut, citing its broad bipartisan support. He also called municipal revenue sharing "code for 'we don't want to work with our neighbors,' " a reference to towns' resistance to consolidating services. He advocated for stronger county government.
"Local control is a mainstay in Maine and everybody loves it," LePage said. "But local control is expensive. We can keep it and that's fine … but the state of Maine should not be tapped to pay for it."
During closing statements, Cutler appealed to the audience to choose a different path than the one his party rivals were offering.
"We need a vision and a plan and a strategy for the 21st century," he said. "Prosperity in Maine isn't going to be a coincidence and it's not going to be an accident. We have to plan and we have to make it happen."
He said the election would decide whether the next four years would be a repeat of the previous "embarrassing, frustrating gridlock" that dominated LePage's first term, or a repeat of the Democratic rule that triggered "an 11-year slide in Maine's economic activity."
In his closing, LePage first slammed the "liberals" leading in Augusta, making a distinction between them and "some good Democrats."
"They talk and talk and talk," he said. "That's all they've done for the last four years.
"I think my actions speak louder than my words," he said. "Despite what you hear from my opponents, there are some good things happening in Maine."
LePage then addressed his reputation for impolitic comments. Referring to one of the ads that said he was an embarrassment, LePage joked that most of the controversial things it recounted occurred during his first two years in office.
"Even a Frenchman can be taught to cool down," LePage said emphatically, drawing laughs from the crowd.
Michaud addressed why he was running, citing LePage as a primary reason.
"People are fed up, of the divisiveness and the failed policy of this administration," Michaud said.
"We have to forge a new future in the state of Maine," he said. "There's one person holding us back, and that's Gov. LePage. He has no plan – he never had a plan – of how to move forward."
After the debate, LePage said something to Michaud as he shook his hand.
Asked what the governor said, Michaud replied, "That's between me and the governor – for now."
Staff Writer Eric Russell contributed to this report.


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The Quality of wordpress themes coming from Woothemes is amazing, it just gets better and better, you could say the leading theme creators are living up to their name. Inspire, seems to be the perfect name for this theme as it is surly to have that kind of impact. It seems to have been built so anyone can show off and sell their product, the way it has been designed is so you can feature your product images and videos in the featured slider which covers the page from left to right, it also has multiple fade in and out options, you get all different widget areas, add all featured posts below and also add in different user testimonials as well as customer feedback, above that you can show off your tweets, and even further down you get more widget areas; did I say there are a lot of widget areas!?! You get 10 different colored backgrounds to pick from and much more. Certainly a beautiful looking business wordpress theme by woothemes.
| Download Now | Preview Theme |


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Something funky has happened with my page over the past hour; columns are overlapping, the pages which are usually listed horizontally under my blog title are now vertical, my dashboard is barely visible, and so on. I checked some other WordPress blogs I read and it seems to only be happening with the Andreas09 theme I use. Any help or info would be great! Thanks.
Need help? Check out our Support site, then
Something up with Andreas09?
Yep! The formatting of my Andreas09 template is also affected. Good to know that it's not something I have inadvertently done. Have you sent a Feedback in?
So.. You're Andreaso9? Anyways... Go to Presentation>widget, and take everything. Look at the forum, i gave a better explanation already.
Sorry, can't see your explanation - what topic heading is it under? Anyhoo, all seems to have resolved now, at least for me and hope goodbuds is sorted, too.
I don't know.. I'll look it up. I forgot ^^
Should have known WordPress folks would resolve this quickly...thanks! (And thanks meagenda and serversblog.) I wonder if walking away from my Lotto ticket for a few minutes (as I did walking away from the puter for a few minutes, then coming back to everything fixed) might have the same results. ;)
Well.. Just today, I wanted to quit WordPress because my page was ruined. Nobody knew how to fix it. But some dude on the forum ( corneli ) he helped me. ^^
Grrr...it's glitchy again. Categories displaying in boxes where they should be text on background colour only. Using default Andreas09 with no additional widgets and in default mode Categories should not display as boxes.
Volunteers on the forum do not have back end access to blogs and some like serverblog lack experience with wordpress software. If this situation persists then you must contact staff directly http://wordpress.com/contact-support/
Thank you, makes me feel good. =(
No insult was intended. You simply haven't been around long enough to know how things work as yet but you're a quick learner and that's good. Those of us who are experienced are online and we can handle these questions.
Relax ... blog lots ... and be happy. :)
I read a lot of guides ^^
I just like to help. =/
I know you want to help and that's a good thing. But we are not short of helpers on the forum and what your blog needs is a Google ranking. That means is that your time is best spent on writing blog posts and promoting your blog. :)
P.S. This is strictly a support forum so I won't be chatting here any more. The off-topic forum is for chat. ;)
I have plenty of time.. ^^
If these formatting issues haven't resolved in next 48 hours, I will contact staff. At least I know that this is something which is affecting other users of Andreas09 and not specific to my own blog and that is helpful to know.
No I am not Andreas09, I am using Andreas09 template. If you were familiar with Andreas09 you would know that when using this three column template "out of the box", it comes with a number of widgets as standard in both the Left and the Right Sidebar. None of these standard widgets are actually displayed in the L and R sidebar boxes in the Presentation> Widget section. So there are ***no*** widgets to take out of either sidebar if something is displaying incorrectly when using only the Widgets supplied in default mode.
You can of course customise your choice of widgets, change the order in which they display in the two sidebars and whether they display on the L or the R Sidebar by dragging from the "available widget" area. The action of dragging an additional widget, for example, adding a Text widget to the top of the L Sidebar, clears the L Sidebar of all default widgets (but leaves R Sidebar intact, in default Mode). It is then necessary to drag back Categories and Archives from the "Available Widget" selector. But in Andreas09, when Categories and Archives are added via the selector, they display as boxes not as text on background. This means that they take up far more room down the sidebar. My default is currently displaying Categories (but not Archives) as boxes - this is incorrect for the defalt mode of Andreas09. So your suggestion "Go to Presentation>widget, and take everything..." is not appropriate as there is nothing displaying to take out in standard mode. It might be possible to correct this by dragging in Categories and Archives, saving changes, then dragging them out again. It may then revert to standard display. But you cannot take out what ain't there in the first place!
Just thought I should add this information for those who are trying to diagnose the problem above and possibly rule out problems with the template itself. Last week I Googled: "Blogger Vs WordPress" and found this site: jayajha.wordpress.com and the excellent Andreas09 template. After five minutes of looking at the template and browsing the WordPress features I made the switch from Blogger to WordPress and created two blogs, one private and one public. I then set up the Andres09 template on my private blog with additional widgets including text and images, customized links, stats, RSS and numerous additional pages. Since the first day of using this template I have had no problems at all, it runs perfectly. The only issue I had was with my public blog where the privacy settings seem to turn on and off intermittently, friends have reported not being able to view my public blog, but I do not think that has anything to do with the template. I hope this information helps you....
Staff tend not to hang out in the forums, so any help you can give them with bugfixing needs to be directed through feedback. If you look on the contact page you can see that the problems with Andreas09 are a known issue that is currently being worked on.
I am here a lot. Really I am.
That may be true but it's not for the other staff members.
You would be surprised how much of this forum is read by Matt, Barry and myself let alone the rest of the team. Just because we aren't posting does not mean we are not reading.
Just to update, I have been working with the Andreas09 template all afternoon without any problems at all. I have finally got my blog up and running and I'm really pleased with it. I cant thank you guy's enough (The WordPress team), WordPress is truly awesome! It just blows Blogger out of the water, but the key to this success for me is not just the mind blowing functionality but also the excellent layout and design of the Andreas09 template, without it WordPress would not work anywhere near as well for me. In addition, a couple of my friends have just signed up, again using the Andreas09 template with no problems at all. Thanks again WordPress team :)
I'm always interested in what it is about each theme that draws people to them; if you have the time, would you mind explaining just what it is about Andreas09 that you like? It certainly has its loyalists, and I'd like to understand better why.
I will probably write a short post about the Andreas09 template sometime soon as it is relevant to my fellow students. The main reasons for my use of the template are: 1.The body and content of the page is 100% of the browser window, this draws you in and you feel more involved in the page, the effect is rather like watching a movie on widescreen TV in full widescreen mode rather than using the 4:3 aspect ratio. 2.The columns are fixed which is great because you wouldn't want widgets bleeding all over the screen when the browser window is resized, but the main content, or element one is completely fluid, which enables it to be read on devices with small screens such as PDA's etc. 3.The layout of the template, with header, footer, central content and columns either side follows the Sklar screen map perfectly. 4.The location of the navigation bar for pages etc also fits within the Sklar screen map and feels very natural, it is easy to see because it is usually the second element that your eye scans when reading the page. Hope that helps....
Thanks, very enlightening. I appreciate the time you've taken to respond in such detail.
There's certainly something special about Andreas09. A few months ago, I found a site offering free XHTML 1.0 Strict compliant website templates and for some reason the Andreas09 one caught my fancy.
It just 'works'.
(P.S. I'm new around here and to blogging in general. So I don't know if there's a connection to the template I mentioned and the one which this thread is about.)
If you look here -> Presentation ->Themes -> Andreas09 then you will find the theme as adapted to run on this multi-user blogging platform. It may not be exactly the same as what you expect. Try it out and see.
Yes, Andreas09 is special and your blog looks so good in the Blue colour option that I'm tempted to switch from Black. Both Andreas, the designer, and Anslie (who developed Andreas09 for WP usage) have sites, if you would like to express your appreciation. What's not to like about Andreas09? I provide material for a patient community many of whom suffer visual and cognitive impairment. I appreciate the extra width of the line measure for longer posts but on some screens the default font size is a little on the small side. Even with Text size increased from browser this still gives a large number of words per line - often twice what I would aim for if I were designing for print. I'd like to see a slightly larger default font size, otherwise, this is one of the most flexible and visually appealing designs and with horizontal tabs and a three column layout, it feels and functions a little more like a webpage than a blog. Perhaps glitch in display of Categories will be resolved today.
Question: How does Jaya Jha get the "Categories" to appear in those elegant little boxes on the site jayajha.wordpress.com ?
I read what meagenda wrote ["in Andreas09, when Categories and Archives are added via the selector, they display as boxes not as text on background. This means that they take up far more room down the sidebar."] but couldn't seem to get my lima-bean sized brain to grasp it. :c
I have always adored this theme (never saw any other that drew me away). However, recently I see the "Recent Comments" that are listed on the left column under "Categories" are over-running the right edge of their column? This is in Firefox.
(If I had a complaint about Andreas09 it would be the tendency for it to go askew in IE5 as used on old i-Macs.)
Grateful to wordpress community and to Andreas Viklund and Ainslie Johnson.
Topic Closed
This topic has been closed to new replies.


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Bubble Live Wallpaper - FREE
by Xllusion, Version: 2.1.1 , 1787 KB Official Site
Package name: com.xllusion.livewallpaper.bubble , Last Update: 2012-10-13 00:46:12
31544 ratings (4.373 average)
>250,000 downloads
What's new in this version (2.1.1):
- Implemented auto-reload after rebooting with 10 sec buffer so custom images will appear again when sd-card is available (But not all devices will guarantee to work)
A fun bubble live wallpaper where you can tap bubbles to burst.
Now you can customize bubble image from your gallery, choose your lucky color theme and poke your friends to improve affection:)
You can also change different themes, bubble colors and number of bubbles floating.
If you like this wallpaper, please support us by purchasing Pro version with more themes and features.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xllusion.livewallpaper.bubblepro
- Custom bubble image
- 7 background themes
- 7 bubble colors
- Bubble droid
- Ability to change number of bubbles floating
- Smooth the edge of bubble
- Reverse bubble acceleration
- Rotating right/left to accelerate bubbles
- Bubble counter
- Use 3D hardware to render images, save battery
- Support most resolutions including Android 3.0 tablet
Home -> Menu -> Wallpapers -> Live Wallpapers
Note: It is live wallpaper so you can't open the app, you will need to follow the instruction above in order to set the wallpaper. Also slower/older devices (shipped with Android OS below 2.1) can't run it too, currently it has been tested on Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 and Samsung Galaxy S3 so any mobile devices that is equivalent to them should run fine.
If you have put the app on SD card and restarted the phone, the wallpaper will reset to default since the system couldn't find the app first.
1. Why is there "Internet access" permission?
It is for Google ads on setting screen only, nothing else. Pro version is ads free with more features.
2. Wallpaper resets to default after reboot/restart the phone?
Please move the app to phone instead of SD card.


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My brand new Vostro 3550 has a problem. Always when I turn it on, i hear beeps (5 times per serires).
I can't find this in beep code.
After Windows start beeps are gone. All test from Dell Diagnostics passed. I don't know what's wrong. Help me
Contact Dell Support right away.


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Cuomo, DiNapoli spat continues
Governor and comptroller continue tiff over pension reform in talks to mayors
Published 10:39 pm, Monday, February 27, 2012
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli continued their long-distance war of words over pension reform Monday with two separate talks to mayors from around the state who were in town for a conference.
"The comptroller is irrelevant from a voting point of view because he doesn't vote," Cuomo told reporters Monday morning after he gave a speech to the Conference of Mayors at the Hotel Albany. The governor said he was concentrating his efforts on talking to lawmakers who will have to approve his proposal.
"I may not have a vote in it, but I do have a voice in it," DiNapoli countered later in the day as he spoke to a smaller afternoon crowd at the conference.
Cuomo told mayors, who are worried about rising public pension costs, to pressure their Assembly members and senators to approve his plan for a less-generous Tier VI pension plan for future public employees.
Mayors, Cuomo said, deal with the fallout of rising pension costs since they end up raising local property taxes to meet their obligations — decisions that state legislators are left out of.
"I need you to go back to your communities and explain. ... Call up your assemblymen and call up your senators," Cuomo said.
A former assemblyman who received heavy support from public labor unions during his 2010 run for comptroller, DiNapoli has emerged as the main statewide elected official to oppose Cuomo's proposal, which also calls for a 401(k)-style option similar to that used by many private-sector employers.
The comptroller urged the mayors to be aware of potential snags with a 401(k): There's no money budgeted for the employer match, and municipalities would need to alter their payroll systems to accommodate the new plan.
He also said public employees already have the option to augment their defined benefit pensions with a voluntary 401(k) — he uses one himself.
DiNapoli noted that a Tier VI pension won't reverse the impact of the 2008-2009 stock market crash, which has caused municipalities and local school districts to shell out more property tax dollars for pensions.
"A new tier will not undo the market collapse," DiNapoli said.
With the state's pension funds generating less income after the crash, localities have to make up the difference, usually from property taxes, since pension payments are constitutionally protected from reductions. For instance, Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings earlier pointed out that 22 percent of the city's property taxes last year went to pension costs.
The comptroller spoke some four hours after Cuomo. The crowd clapped politely when he finished — in contrast to the standing ovation Cuomo received in the morning.
Both sides, though, said they were open to compromise. Cuomo expanded on earlier reports that he might drop the push for a 401(k): "At the end of the day, it's about the money. It's about the savings," he said.
"I was born flexible. I've gotten more flexible as governor — a veritable Gumby," Cuomo joked.
DiNapoli has pushed back hardest on the 401(k) concept, saying it's costly to administer and wouldn't provide adequate retirement security for many public workers. In addition, he believes that labor representatives should play a role in changes to the traditional pension.
When asked if state employee pensions should be taxed, DiNapoli said, "I haven't seen any proposals to change that."
Retired state employees don't pay New York state income taxes on their pensions. Officials say those taxes are essentially paid as the money is put in the system. Private-sector pensions, though, are only exempt from state income taxes on the first $20,000 per year.
email@example.com • 518-454-5758 • @RickKarlinTU


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Being Green: Elmo Goes "Green" to Help the Earth!
Elmo turns green in this all new DVD premiere!
LifeBites has found this wonderful new DVD to feature in Green Hollywood.
Watch as Elmo and Abby pitch in to help Mr. Earth (actor Paul Rudd in a hilariously large costume) host Sesame Street's first Earth-a-Thon. Mr. Earth teaches Elmo and Abby how "it can be easy being green" by recycling, re-using, and conserving water and energy. Abby, in her desire to help Elmo be more "green", accidentally turns him the color green and can't remember how to change him back! Lots of fun ensues as Abby is eventually able to poof Elmo red again. Elmo, Cookie Monster, Rosita and Telly join Mr. Earth in pledging to continue to do "green" things to help our planet because Earth Rocks!
Runtime: 45 minutes on 1 DVD


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|Thread Tools
|2014-07-03, 17:24
|Link #21
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
This was a curious season. Realtively few midrange stuff, lots of great shows, lots of terrible ones too. Opinion, in order of score
10: Ping Pong is my favorite anime since Utena and the only show post-2000 that I give a 10. Probably the best characters I've seen in a series. Great art
8: Break Blade, Sidonia.
Sidonia is very good sci fi, and looks great even if took some using. The action scenes werent' Majestic Prince tier but were close. The quetions regarding Sidonias past and the gauna are intriguing. Break Blade had good characters, great combat. It's great to see a whole episode devoted to a single fight, and what a fight it was.
7: Daimidaler, Chaika.
Chaika was simple adventuring fun. Somewhat intriguing story. Some missteps, mostly it's cluelesnes on how to handle Fredrica. Daimidaler was hilarious, despite my general dislike for ecchi shows.
6: Mushishi, Kamigami no Asobi, Akuma no Riddle.
Mushishi had 4 great episodes, 5 boring ones and a terrible one. Kamigami no Asobi was a nice comedy. Akuma no Riddle was kinda disjointed and the ending took a crap on the whole show, but is acceptable.
5: One Week Friends started good, but the second half decided to do it's best at sinking it with dumb turns for forced melodrama and the most obvious backstory possible.
4: Brynhildr in the Darkness was the best comedy this season. Too bad it was supposed to be serious.
3: Wixoss was mostly dumb, with twists that put me to sleep, characters that were absolutely uninteresting and senseless.
2: No Game No Life, I won't talk about this.
Ongoing and still watching: Matsutaro is fun, and in an unexpected turn I'm watching Ashita no Joe right now. Majin Bone is very good if like kiddie shows. JoJo is JoJo, although the first series was better so far. Mahouka is terrible in concept, execution, ideas and writing, it's treatment of magic is comparable to a high-school physics book.
Dropped: M3 was a mess, bad in every way, and it decided to get rid of the only thing keeping it afloat. Captain Earth, aka name-dropping: the anime, consisted mostly of talking heads.
|2014-07-04, 04:06
|Link #22
The Voice of Reason
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: The Netherlands
Age: 41
Since I caught up with most of the show, here's what I think:
Akuma no Riddle - Had potential, but suffered from being too short and having too many characters, hardly any of which got real development (not even our two protagonists). The ending also seemed to be too much of a cop-out. 7/10
Black Bullet - It has some glaring flaws, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, even if the main attraction were the cute, and ass-kicking lolis. 8/10
Bokura wa MInna Kawisoui - I had my doubts in the first few episodes, but it turned out to be very enjoyable near the end. Ritsu is hella cute, and the other characters were funny. 8/10
Date A Live II - Season 1 didn't really move me, this season was much of the same. It wasn't bad, but not very good, either. 7/10
Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka? - To me, this was the best show of the season, or at the very least, the best SoL show of this season. Heartwarming, cute and relaxing. 10/10
Hitsugi no Chaika - I liked it a lot. Chaika is cute, Frederica is funny and even though I don't really care much about the other characters, it was definitely better than I initially thought. Looking forward to the second half. 8/10
Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san - This was quite funny, even if it was short. Liked all the characters whose names were derived from animals. Would've liked more development between the two title characters, but I guess I can't win them all. 8/10
Isshuukan Friends - The best 'feel good' show of the season (was there even competition?). Wasn't too keen on the drama in episode 10, and I would've liked Hase and Fujimiya move past the 'friends' stage and into the 'lovers' stage, but that might be something for a second season, assuming we'll ever get one. 9/10
Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara - The surprise of the season. I went in, expecting a typical harem, with lots of fanservice, but it turned out be quite tame, and even though the story left me in a state of confusion near the end, I applaud it for even having one, or at least one that made some sense. 8/10
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - I have yet to continue this one (left off at episode 5), but I have mixed feelings about it, and am currently undecided whether I should continue or not, especially when reviews seem to be mixed as well (though bordering on negative). Current status: unknown.
Mangaka-san to Assitant-san To: The Animation - I loved this one. The pervy MC was funny as hell, and the girls that eventually became part of his daily life were quite lovely as well, and I liked how they eventually warmed up to him bit by bit. 9/10
Mekaku City Actors - I'm unfamiliar with the whole Kagerou franchise, but MCA proved to be quite interesting on its own. Even without all the stuff that was revealed in other projects, I managed to understand most of it. SHAFT's visuals weren't always high-class, but given how the people involved are perfectionists to a tee, the BD will probably look a lot better. 8/10
Nisekoi - Carryover from last season. Highly entertaining romcom. Chitoge = best girl, with Kosaki coming very close second (her shyness was both her strength and her weakness). Could've done with Marika, who struck me as annoying lost of the time. Regarding visuals, this show was tailor-made for SHAFT, and they did a good job on it. 9/10
No Game No Life - Second best show of the season. Sora is badass, Shiro is adorable, and together they're unstoppable. The side characters are quite interesting, too (especially Jibril). 9/10
Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin - This show also proved better than expected. It was nice that the main guy wasn't what he appeared to be. Nanana was cute, and Tensai was just awesome. Ending hook was probably unnecessary, given that S2 chances are probably low. 8/10
|2014-07-05, 23:13
|Link #23
Join Date: Oct 2009
Mushishi - this is the most notable series this season specially that the season 1 was way way past back then, and still delivering a epic story of the relationship between man and mushi.
No game no life - also another notable series wherein my expectation was exceeded by many folds, it's an adaptation in a nice form considering the ln adaptation being a mess.
Black bullet - have a huge impact on me specially on the characters department to be precise, the lolis. If only the pace of this was right it can even surpass mahouts which is full of difficult terms.
|Thread Tools


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The nascent--and rapidly growing--green healthcare business is turning out in force this week in Boston at a conference and trade show called CleanMed that is drawing large numbers of a new professional group: hospital "sustainability managers".
Hospitals have been appointing officers to improve their environmental footprint after an admittedly bad track record for a very long time, and the effort is gaining momentum as hospital CEOs see the effort as a way to become greener and cut costs.
The movement began--at least as defined by the organizers of CleanMed--about 17 years ago by an activist named Gary Cohen who targeted removal of mercury toxins from hospitals and the closure of dioxin-spouting hospital incinerators. The group he founded called Healthcare Without Harm focused on hospitals because of their role in the economy, potential to become a model, and problematic environmental record....
Read more


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'Ben and Kate' Series Premiere Review
- By
- 3 Comments
The idea of one sibling with their life together and another who just can't seem to grow up has been visited time and time again in both film and television. But somehow, the new Fox comedy series Ben and Kate – starring Nat Faxon (Bad Teacher and co-writer of The Descendants) and Dakota Johnson (21 Jump Street, The Social Network) as the titular brother and sister – brings a fresh approach with a lot of charm and scene-stealing supporting characters.
Ben Fox is the manchild who never quite learned how to take on responsibility, while Kate Fox is the woman who grew up too fast (complete with a seemingly unexpected pregnancy) leaving her with a precocious and adorable 5-year old daughter, Maddie (We Bought a Zoo star Maggie Elizabeth Jones). And while Kate is seemingly always on the verge of forcing Ben to grow up, it's her brother's undying love and big heart that keeps her defending him.
In the pilot, Kate is doing her best to keep a handsome guy on the line while Ben keeps showing up at the wrong moments with drum sets and off-the-wall ideas. Sometimes this dynamic is a little too on the nose. For example, when Ben reveals his plan to sabotage the wedding of his high school crush, whom he's always referred to as "Mrs. Ben Fox," Kate responds with the eye-rolling line "I'm not going to take part in another one of your hair-brained schemes!" If a laughtrack would have been on during this moment, this show might not deserve another chance.
Thankfully, the rest ofBen and Kate avoids too many of those generic moments. Helping the humor are Lucy Punch (Bad Teacher) as Kate's best friend BJ, and Echo Kellum in a hilarious role as Ben's friend Tommy. Both supporting characters bring more over-the-top and somewhat absurdist humor; Punch offers an almost off-the-cuff presence with her great comedic delivery and Kellum knowingly interjects lines here and there, showing why Tommy is such good friends with Ben.
Nat Faxon and Dakota Johnson in Ben and Kate
But the real star is the genuine love and chemistry that seems to exist between Faxon and Johnson. Some of this can be contributed to their performances – both being solid but not stellar in the pilot – but mostly this element comes from creator Dana Fox, who based the show on the relationship she had with her own brother. Having said that, the series could do with a little less of the sweet (sometimes it reaches cavity-inducing levels) and a little more of the funny. This is a comedy series, after all.
The only downside is that we don't get a good idea of where these characters are going. Obviously Ben's misadventures will drive most of the episode plots, but Kate's love life will certainly be a big focus – especially if Maddie's father ever comes back into the mix. That's something I look forward to in the future – if the show survives.
In the end, Faxon and Johnson's dynamic should keep viewers around for a few episodes, and Punch and Kellum will hopefully only get funnier. The series certainly shows the potential to blossom and find sure-footing, much in the same way that New Girl or Happy Endings did through their first seasons.
Ben & Kate airs Tuesdays on Fox at 8:30 p.m. ET
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Red Cross blood drives in Bellevue honor local toddler
January 6, 2014
BELLEVUE, Neb. — Emily Stephenson will turn 2 in February. Since her birth, Emily has received at least 20 blood transfusions – nearly one for every month of her life.
Emily is dependent on blood transfusions because she was born with a genetic blood disorder called sphereocytosis, which destroys her red blood cells and causes severe anemia.
Emily's parents, Air Force Staff Sergeant Wayne Stephenson and his wife, Amy, hope that Emily's story will inspire others to give. A number of upcoming Bellevue and Offutt Air Force Base blood drives are being dedicated to Emily as a show of support.
"We will always be thankful for blood donors because they are saving Emily's life," said Amy Stephenson, who plans to attend the blood drives with Emily. "With each person that chooses to donate, they're helping patients like Emily."
The blood drives being held in Emily's honor come at an important time for the Red Cross. The winter months can be a difficult time to collect blood donations, due to inclement weather and seasonal illnesses. All blood types are needed, especially types O negative, A negative and B negative. One blood donation could help save up to three lives.
Give blood in honor of Emily Stephenson:
- Jan. 5 from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Iglesia Ni Cristo Church of Christ, 2111 Kimberly St., Bellevue, Neb.
- Jan. 6 from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran, 104 Galvin Rd., Bellevue, Neb.
- Jan. 9 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Airmen Leadership School, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
- Jan. 18 from 7 to 11:30 a.m. at St. James United Methodist Church, 1501 Franklin St., Bellevue, Neb.
- Jan. 28 from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church, 10100 Cedar Island Rd., Bellevue, Neb.
- Jan. 31 from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Ehrling Bergquist Clinic, 2501 Capehart Rd., Bellevue, Neb.
The Red Cross hopes to collect more than 250 blood donations during these drives, which is enough to help save as many as 750 lives.
How to donate blood
Simply call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org to make an appointment or for more information. All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients. A blood donor card or driver's license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age (16 with parental consent in some states), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. High school students and other donors 18 years of age and younger also have to meet certain height and weight requirements.
About the American Red Cross
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.


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The southbound carriageway of the A1 at Great Ponton is blocked due to an accident involving numerous vehicles.
The accident happened about 8am this morning. Photographs of the scene show vehicles, including a double decker bus and lorries, across the carriageway near the pedestrian bridge.
Diversions are in place and police are asking drivers to avoid this area of the A1 southbound. Northbound traffic is reported to be very slow. Police have said in the last 10 minutes they are awaiting the recovery of vehicles and drivers should expect long delays.


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Silence may be a very serious movie, but that doesn't mean Andrew Garfield can't have some fun while promoting the Martin Scorsese-directed drama.
Just watch the video above to see how things started went when I sat down with Garfield this weekend to discuss his starring role in the movie as one of two 17th century Jesuit priests (Adam Driver is the other) who travel to Japan to look for their mentor (Liam Neeson).
Let's just say that Garfield and I had a nice case of he giggles. Watch the video above for all of our fun. I promise you'll be laughing, too.
Paramount Pictures
Somehow, I did manage to find out what he was doing when he learned he was nominated for both a Golden Globe and SAG Award for his work in Hacksaw Ridge as a real-life conscientious objector during WWII who refused to use a weapon but managed to save 75 soldiers fighting on the frontlines.
"I was in bed, Marc," Garfield said. "I was in bed sleeping and then the other time I was in the shower washing."
What was he washing? Yeah, ya gotta watch the video to find out.
Don't worry—we did eventually focus and talked about Silence, his dramatic weight loss and more. Come back to E! Online tomorrow for the rest of our chat.
Silence is in select theaters on Friday, Dec. 23.


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HAS ANOTHER PLAN IF SEA-SLED FAILS; But After Another Trial with America Curtiss Is Confident the Device Will Work.
Lieut. John Cyril Porte, who will pilot Rodman Wanamaker's transatlantic flier the America, arrived in this city yesterday morning and will remain here until the watertight false bottom of the sea-sled type is built upon the airboat at the factory of Glenn H. Curtiss at Hammondsport, N.Y.
July 17, 1914
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The study of 1.5 million births found that the danger of early delivery rose proportionally with the mother's figure.
Women who were overweight - meaning a Body Mass Index (BMI) of between 25 and 30 - were 25 per cent more likely to have an extremely premature baby which is more likely to struggle for survival, compared with mothers of healthy weight.
With a BMI of between 30 and 35 (obese) the risk was 60 per cent greater, rising to 100 per cent greater for those with a BMI of 40 or more.
Experts said the 18 year study on Swedish mothers, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, sounded a warning to women in the UK, where three in five adults are now overweight or obese.
Britain has the highest number of premature babies born in Europe, with 40,000 such births each year, figures show.
The study found that much of the risk was caused because obesity increases the risk of severe complications in pregnancy, such as pre-eclampsia, which mean babies have to be delivered earlier.
Separate research on more than 35,000 births published today found that older mothers are more than twice as likely than others to need a Caesarean delivery.
The Irish study published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology found that 54 per cent of mothers over 40 had a Caesarean birth, compared with an average of 24 per cent for women of all ages.


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Definition of dedans
n. - A division, at one end of a tennis court, for spectators. 2
The word "dedans" uses 6 letters: A D D E N S.
Direct anagrams of dedans:
desand sadden sanded
Words formed by adding one letter before or after dedans (in bold), or to addens in any order:
d - addends e - deadens i - dandies l - dandles m - demands maddens r - danders s - desands saddens
Shorter words found within dedans:
ad add adds ads ae an and ands ane anes as dad dads de dead deads dean deans den dens ed eds en end ends ens es na nae ne sad sade sae sand sane saned sea sedan sen send sned
List shorter words within dedans, sorted by length
Words formed from any letters in dedans, plus an optional blank or existing letter
List all words starting with dedans, words containing dedans or words ending with dedans
All words formed from dedans by changing one letter
Other words with the same letter pairs: de ed da an ns
Browse words starting with dedans by next letter
Previous word in list: dedal
Next word in list: dedicate
Some random words: vug oka klatch pluck vocable degum mho
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So… here's the low down on the panda… Michelle, you know Michelle, my lovely, talented daughter and partner in crime here at Wee Folk Art? Well, she comes to me a week ago and said:
"I have a request. Can you make a panda applique? I need to make t-shirts for the kids for camp next week, and the theme is pandas."
I really don't have time. Really I don't. But I make the time, because this is Michelle asking for an applique block. I ask ya, if I can't design an applique block for my own daughter, what kind of mother would I be? So I do. And he's cute as a bug's ear.
So, I'm uber busy this week. My mom had surgery, and the whole week has been spent coming and going with her. As the week wears on, I'm thinking… "Where are these t-shirts that Michelle was suppose to make the kids?" So I ask her, "Uh, where are the t-shirts?" And, she looks me right in the eye and said, "I didn't have time to make them."
Take a deep breath and count to 10, right? Well, I hit 73 in about 4 seconds. "Didn't make them? After asking ME to design a panda when I was so busy, and you didn't even use my applique?" And she replies rather sheepishly, "Well, you can still use them on Wee Folk Art, right?"
Truth be told, I really wasn't angry… actually found it more amusing. My craft closet is full of supplies I bought to make a specific project that never got made… like the bear costume for a 3 year old Drew or a quilt I was making for a wedding gift. It happens. But I must admit I was feeling a little deflated. Then, I received this request from one of our readers:
Submitted by Amanda on Tue, 08/02/2011 – 22:26.
I absolutely love all your applique blocks! I have spent the better part of the day printing them and pinning them on pinterest so that I can find them in a jiffy. I love the butterfly, and was wondering if there was any way you could make a ladybug applique block and/or a panda bear applique block if/when you have a chance? My sister has cerebral palsy and loves ladybugs and pandas…her room is filled with everything my mom, my little sister, and I can find. She changes her ladybugs and panda bears out daily. I would love to be able to make her something for her room with one of your blocks. Thank you so much for sharing your talent! It is truly inspirational!
How serendipitous is that? So, I'm doing a little dance, feeling oh so thrilled that Michelle asked me to design a panda. I was able to tell Amanda to check my post on Friday. BTW… I have 3 ladybug designs that have been sitting in journal for 2 years. If I get a chance in the next couple of weeks, I'll share 1 or more of them, too.
As always… the block was designed to fit a 6″ x 6″ block. It can be enlarged or reduced to meet your needs. The pattern for the Panda can be found HERE.
And, Amanda… hope your sister loves the design. Let us know what you wind up making. Love to see pics 🙂
BTW… panda's have dark eyes, which you wouldn't be able to see… I'm not sure I love the "twinkle", but I also didn't want to make them white. I didn't have enough time to try something different. Anyone have any better ideas or do you like the twinkles?
Copyright © Wee Folk Art 2008 – 2011. All rights reserved.
All photos, text and patterns are copyright protected. You may not copy, reproduce or redistribute any material found on WeeFolkArt.com without written permission. Wee Folk Art retains all rights.


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Published in 1934, Tender Is the Night was one of the most talked-about books of the year. "It's amazing how excellent much of it is," Ernest Hemingway said to Maxwell Perkins. "I will say now," John O'Hara wrote Fitzgerald, "Tender Is the Night is in the early stages of being my favorite book, even more than This Side of Paradise." And Archibald MacLeish exclaimed: "Great God, Scott...You are a fine writer. Believe it - not me." Set on the French Riviera in the late 1920s, Tender Is the Night is the tragic romance of the young actress Rosemary Hoyt and the stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver. A brilliant young psychiatrist at the time of his marriage, Dick is both husband and doctor to Nicole, whose wealth goads him into a lifestyle not his own, and whose growing strength highlights Dick's harrowing demise. A profound study of the romantic concept of character - lyrical, expansive, and hauntingly evocative - Tender Is the Night, Mabel Dodge Luhan remarked, raised F. Scott Fitzgerald to the heights of a "modern Orpheus".
©1933, Charles Scribner's Sons (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
"Plummer's skill with varied voices and accents is without equal. She navigates Fitzgerald's glamorous world with panache, immersing the listener in the intense characters' personalities. The result is an entertaining production in which the narrative is as alive as the characters themselves." (AudioFile)
"Was it all just the champagne"
This story struck a chord with me that made it a swell time, easy to pick up and put down. I don't speak French but you knew what was being said. You want to feel for each caracter and celebrate there victories but at the same time you remember that like in the great war no one wins you only survive.
"A great summer listen"
The narration is fantastic, a lovely story in a forgotten time. Characters are memorable and easy to like. Descriptions of beaches and shops draw you into the story with ease
"Remembering the Genius."
Enjoyed the flow of listening . Maybe the 40 plus years since reading my outlook has changed.
If it has been a long time, listen. If you have only done Gatsby or never Fitzgerald this book should be enjoyed.
Performance was 5 star.
"Tender is the Night - More Fitzgerald"
Story: I found the story very Fitzgerald. Believable but difficult to feel any empathy for the characters. Their problems seem all self-induced and it is hard to pity them. What did enjoy is the backdrop of the story and travels from to and from the first location. It is another slice of life that no longer exists, good or bad.
Reader: Very Good.
Performance: Very Good
"Excellently performed!"
Beautifully read, the voices were amazing! The story was romantic and tragic, but not in a way that brings you down. It wasn't particularly suspenseful or exciting, but that wasn't was I was looking for anyway. A lovely read.
"Subtle yet grand"
* If narrators are very important to you, please skip to second paragraph.
I think I appreciated this book more after I had finished it, than I did in the process. It slides along so easily. Drifting from moment to moment in these very wealthy people's lives, between the two World Wars. Nick isn't a train wreck, that's too immediate and encompassing. He's the accumulation of choice after choice. Lost moments and poor decisions. And this privileged world that he slips into rarely holds up a mirror to his actions, or calls him to account in any way, until it's far too late. In the end, the scope and elegance of the plot is really an enormous literary achievement.
The narrator, though perfectly fine, if a little dramatically breathless, in portraying young American women, is incredibly poor at accents. Even basic ones that I would assume anyone who thinks of themselves as an actor would be able to do a passable job at (Australian, for instance - who screws up Australian?) are beyond her capacity. I was actually shocked when it was finally mentioned that Nick was an American. I had no idea. I was pretty much able to ignore it (had to finish this book up for book club), if there's another reader out there, I'd certainly recommend giving them a go first.
"Perfect Pair"
Another great audiobook! A beautifully written story by one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century - it's a little long, but I sped it up with 1.25x. Therese Plummer (on of my favorite narrators) told an amazing story.
"Loved itThe fact"
Great read, book bounces around a bit more than gatsby but an excellent read nonetheless
"Not my favourite Fitzgerald"
I didn't love it. It felt melodramatic and over written. More especially I felt the narrator entirely wrong for this period. She should stick to reading chick lit. She's a technically good narrator - apart from her icky accent work - but she added to the sense of the overblown that tended to dominate. Average only.
"Narrator perfection"
This would be an amazing story no matter what, but the narrator really brings it to life. She should consider an acting career (or maybe she already has one)!
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The Indianapolis Colts didn't waste any time to add depth to their team.
The free agency period started yesterday and within the first few hours, the Colts announced five signings.
The most important of those signings is former first-round pick Gosdar Cherilus. He is slated to replaced Winston Justice at right tackle.
The Colts know they have to protect quarterback Andrew Luck if they plan on having success.
Who else did the Colts sign? We fill you in after the jump…
Before I list the rest of the signings, it's important to note the reason the Lions let walk. He had microfracture surgery on his knee in 2010 and even went to Germany for a procedure last offseason. The terms of his deal with the Colts were not disclosed. Let's hope it didn't cost Indianapolis too much for the risky signing.
The other signings are former New England guard Donald Thomas, former Green Bay linebacker Erik Walden, former Arizona cornerback Greg Toler and former Atlanta defensive end Lawrence Sidbury.
Thomas is a veteran guard who started eight games for the New England Patriots over the last two seasons. The signing adds much needed depth on the offensive line.
Walden has played five seasons with Kansas City, Miami and Green Bay. He has totaled 68 tackles and six sacks over the last two seasons with the Packers.
Arizona didn't re-sign Toler because he was clearly a player who added depth at cornerback. He missed the entire 2011 season due to a torn ACL. He registered two interceptions in 11 games with Arizona.
Lastly, Sidbury is a 6'2, 266-pound linebacker who will enter his fifth season in the NFL. His best season came in 2011 when he had four sacks with the Falcons.
These signings are lost in the slew of big names who signed big deals yesterday, but they're important. The Colts showed their lack of depth when a few key players went down with an injury. If team wants to be a title contender, they must have depth at every position.
I expect them to be in the hunt for a wide receiver to pair up with Reggie Wayne. Indianapolis is not expected to re-sign Donnie Avery and they released Austin Collie early this year. If they don't fill the need in free agency, look for them to use their third-round pick on a receiver. They don't have a second round pick in this year's draft, since they sent it to the Miami Dolphins for cornerback Vontae Davis.


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WTA Championships
Johanna Konta to miss WTA ChampionshipsBritish number one Johanna Konta withdraws from next week's Kremlin Cup, resulting in her absence from this year's WTA Championships.
Oct 12, 10:08
Result: Dominika Cibulkova beats Angelique Kerber to win WTA FinalsDominika Cibulkova claims a 6-3 6-4 victory over Angelique Kerber in the final of the WTA Finals in Singapore.
Oct 30, 13:30
Result: Agnieszka Radwanska advances to last four of WTA FinalsAgnieszka Radwanska joins Svetlana Kuznetsova in progressing out of the White Group and into the last four of the WTA Finals in Singapore.
Oct 28, 14:23
Result: Angelique Kerber reaches semi-finals with win over Madison Keys at WTA FinalsAngelique Kerber reaches the final four of the WTA Finals with a straight-sets win over Madison Keys.
Oct 27, 14:03
Result: Dominika Cibulkova stays alive in WTA Finals with battling win over Simona HalepDominika Cibulkova keeps alive her hopes of reaching the final four at the WTA Finals by beating Simona Halep in straight sets in Singapore.
Oct 27, 13:12
Result: Agnieszka Radwanska keeps semi-finals hopes alive with win at WTA FinalsAgnieszka Radwanska will fight for a spot in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals after beating Garbine Muguruza in straight sets.
Oct 26, 17:25
Result: Svetlana Kuznetsova outlasts Karolina Pliskova at WTA FinalsSvetlana Kuznetsova edges out Karolina Pliskova in a final-set tie-break to move to the brink of the WTA Championships semi-finals.
Oct 26, 15:11
Result: Madison Keys grabs first ever win at WTA Finals by beating Dominika CibulkovaMadison Keys wins her first ever match at the WTA Finals as she overcomes Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets.
Oct 25, 16:58
Result: Angelique Kerber wins second straight win at WTA Finals by beating Simona HalepAngelique Kerber grabs her second consecutive win at the WTA Finals with a straight-sets victory
Oct 25, 16:42
Result: Karolina Pliskova battles past Garbine Muguruza in WTA Final openerKarolina Pliskova overcomes Garbine Muguruza in three sets to win her opening clash at the WTA Finals in Singapore.
Oct 24, 18:27
Result: Svetlana Kuznetsova begins WTA Finals with win over Agnieszka RadwanskaDefending champion Agnieszka Radwanska begins her WTA Finals campaign with a 7-5 1-6 7-5 defeat to Svetlana Kuznetsova in Singapore.
Oct 24, 15:34
Result: Simona Halep victorious in WTA Tour Finals openerWorld number four Simona Halep is off to a winning start at the end-of-season WTA Tour Finals, courtesy of a 6-2 6-4 victory over Madison Keys.
Oct 23, 11:36
Britain's Johanna Konta misses out on WTA Finals placeBritish number one Johanna Konta loses her spot at the WTA Finals after Svetlana Kuznetsova beats Daria Gavrilova in the Kremlin Cup.
Oct 22, 12:56
Draw made for WTA Finals in SingaporeBritish number one Johanna Konta finds out who she will play at the end-of-season WTA Finals, should she claim the eighth and final place.
Oct 21, 13:10
Serena Williams withdraws from WTA Tour FinalsSerena Williams pulls out of the end-of-season WTA Tour Finals after being advised to continue rehabilitation of a shoulder injury.
Oct 17, 09:37
Agnieszka Radwanska: "It means everything"WTA Championships winner Agnieszka Radwanska speaks of her delight following her triumph over Petra Kvitova in Singapore.
Nov 1, 15:33
Result: Agnieszka Radwanska wins biggest career titleAgnieszka Radwanska overcomes Petra Kvitova in three sets to win the WTA Championships title for the first time in her career.
Nov 1, 12:49
Result: Petra Kvitova sees off Maria Sharapova to reach WTA Championships finalPetra Kvitova will play Agnieszka Radwanska in the WTA Championships final after beating Maria Sharapova in straight sets.
Oct 31, 12:38
Result: Lucie Safarova win puts Petra Kvitova through in SingaporeLucie Safarova's straight-sets win over Angelique Kerber results in Petra Kvitova advancing through to the semi-finals of the WTA Championships.
Oct 30, 10:43
Result: Garbine Muguruza secures semi-final spot at WTA ChampionshipsGarbine Muguruza beats Petra Kvitova in three sets to grab a place in the semi-finals of the WTA Championships in Singapore.
Oct 30, 08:47
Result: Maria Sharapova's win sends Agnieszka Radwanska through to semis of WTA ChampsMaria Sharapova defeats Flavia Pennetta in straight sets to send Agnieszka Radwanska through to the semi-finals of the WTA Championships.
Oct 29, 13:13
Result: Agnieszka Radwanska shocks Simona Halep to keep semi hopes alive at WTA ChampsAgnieszka Radwanska remains in contention for a semi-final spot at the WTA Championships after beating Simona Halep in straight sets.
Oct 29, 09:03
Result: Garbine Muguruza beats Angelique Kerber in straight setsGarbine Muguruza overcomes sixth seed Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-4 in her second round-robin match at the WTA Championships.
Oct 28, 13:57
Result: Petra Kvitova overcomes Lucie Safarova to claim first WTA Championships winPetra Kvitova beats Lucie Safarova in straight sets to claim her first round-robin win at the WTA Championships in Singapore.
Oct 28, 09:03
Result: Maria Sharapova makes it two from two at WTA ChampionshipsMaria Sharapova defeats Simona Halep in straight sets to record her second win at the ongoing WTA Championships in Singapore.
Oct 27, 14:15
Result: Flavia Pennetta claims first WTA Championships win by beating Agnieszka RadwanskaFlavia Pennetta grabs her first round-robin win at the WTA Championships in Singapore by beating Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets.
Oct 27, 08:52
Result: Angelique Kerber overcomes Petra Kvitova in SingaporeAngelique Kerber defeats Petra Kvitova in their group opener at the WTA Championships in Singapore.
Oct 26, 14:48
Result: Garbine Muguruza gets off to winning start in SingaporeNew world number three Garbine Muguruza records a straight-sets victory over Lucie Safarova at the WTA Championships.
Oct 26, 12:32
Result: Maria Sharapova battles back in SingaporeMaria Sharapova overcomes a one-set deficit to beat Agnieszka Radwanska in the WTA Championships.
Oct 25, 15:15
Result: Simona Halep cruises to win over Flavia Pennetta in SingaporeSimona Halep begins her WTA Finals campaign with a 6-0 6-3 victory over Flavia Pennetta in the opening game of the round-robin stage.
Oct 25, 08:30
Simona Halep, Maria Sharapova to meet at WTA ChampionshipsSimona Halep and Maria Sharapova are drawn together in the Red Group at the WTA Championships, which starts on Sunday.
Oct 23, 12:46
Result: Serena Williams claims fifth WTA title with victory over Simona HalepSerena Williams wins her fifth WTA Finals title after a comfortable 6-3 6-0 victory over Simona Halep in Singapore.
Oct 26, 12:58
Serena Williams admits she was second best against Caroline WozniackiSerena Williams admits that she did not deserve to beat Caroline Wozniacki in their last-four meeting at the WTA Tour Finals.
Oct 25, 14:45
Serena Williams "excited" to face Simona Halep againWorld number one Serena Williams reveals that she is "excited" to face Simon Halep again in the WTA Finals after being thrashed by the Romanian earlier this week.
Oct 25, 14:06
Result: Simona Halep brushes Agnieszka Radwanska aside to reach finalWorld number four Simona Halep is through to the final at the WTA Championships after thrashing Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 6-2 in the last four.
Oct 25, 12:29
Result: Serena Williams reaches WTA Tour FinalsSerena Williams advances through to the WTA Tour final after beating Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals.
Oct 25, 10:57


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Shellfish farms still closed
It is not yet known when shellfish farms on Tasmania's east coast will be able to harvest again after a toxic algae scare stopped production late last week.
Routine testing of mussels from Spring Bay Seafoods uncovered a type of naturally occurring algal bloom.
The company issued a worldwide recall of its mussels and commercial shellfish harvesters have put their operations on hold while more tests are carried out in east coast waters.
Tasmania's health department has received test results revealing the type of toxic algae.
Public health director Roscoe Taylor says it has been detected before in Tasmania, but never in shellfish.
"We're currently taking a whole lot more samples and investigating this further," he said.
Spring Bay Seafoods believes operations could be on hold for a week or longer.
Managing director Phillip Lamb says it is unclear whether compensation can be sought through insurance.
"We're still looking into that so I can't answer that at the moment," he said.
"Obviously your customers are thought of first and so ensuring there's just no potential is what the recall's all about.
"We're still counting the cost and getting the recovering of volumes that are out there but we're not talking sheep stations."
He says mussels filter a lot of water each day and the algae may pass through quickly.
Dr Taylor says the Health Department has not received reports of illness caused by contaminated shellfish.
"Our task is to make sure that the public remains protected from unsafe shellfish so we're focusing on sampling in a more broader area to make sure that things are okay and holding the shellfishery closures in place," he said.
"If we take the worst case where the toxins present are all of a fairly significant type of toxin, you may only have to eat three or so mussels in order to become significantly ill.
"But, as I say, we haven't had any cases like that reported, so it's possible that the toxins aren't necessarily of the same type as those that occur overseas."
Topics: food-safety, food-and-beverage, fishing-aquaculture, triabunna-7190
First posted


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Lately it seems as though all I post about is the Legend of Zelda Adventure System that I've been working on. Which isn't really surprising, I'm inspired to work on it and I don't have anything else related to tabletop games drawing my attention right now. I enjoy the OD&D game I participate in on Monday but don't have a lot to say about it beyond that, and it's been awhile since my Pathfinder group has found time to get together. So when I work on tabletop stuff, it's focused on the Legend of Zelda.
But I thought that instead of posting another monster constructed with a half-finished monster system, I'd adapt one of the most classic Zelda enemies to Pathfinder: The octorock. It's a land-based octopus that shoots rocks out of its mouth. Literally, that's how it was originally conceived. See?
As with all of my recent Zelda work, however, I'm using the Link to the Past as my source. That game's conception of the creature was a little less silly looking I think. Unfortunately, there is no art for the creature that I am aware of, but I did find this nice image of the game's sprite:
I'd also like to note that starting with this post, and from now on, I will not be using the 'proper' methods for creating monsters in Pathfinder. It takes far too long, and the results are not worth the effort it involves. My monsters will have no skills, nor will they have any feats, nor will they be constructed with painstaking care to ensure that the CR is "accurate." Personally, I don't even use the CR anymore, preferring that my players learn the fine art of running away if they encounter something beyond their ability. I'll still include the most accurate CR I can, but it will be estimated, not calculated.
Pathfinder Octorok
The Octorok is an aberration which makes its home in plains. It is often incorrectly assumed that the octorok prefers plains of dirt, but this is only an illusion. Octoroks often migrate to grassy plains rich in plant and insect life, but they quickly overgraze the land, reducing it to an expanse of dirt where the creatures must forage for worms, beetles, and nutrient-rich soil.
Part of this confusion rises from the assumption that the nozzle on an Octorok's face is a 'mouth.' For lack of a better word, it is in fact a kind of sphincter which the octorok uses to expel waste products. The octorok's actual 'mouth' is an unusual scooping apparatus located on the bottom of its body. Octoroks feed by moving across the ground at high speeds, picking up soil, insects, and plant life as they do so. The octorok's digestive tract quickly siphons part of this collection into the octorok's stomach, where it is digested and used to produce energy. Meanwhile, any unneeded food, or inedible substances such as stones, are shunted to the octorok's colon, where they are coated in an unusual kind of adhesive juice which is actually quite valuable if it can be harvested. This organ shapes the 'leftovers' into a solid ball, which the octorok can hurl with some force from its forward nozzle. The ball formed by this process is quite hard, making this hurling ability an effective defense mechanism for the octorok.
While similar in appearance to the aquatic Octopus, Octoroks differ in a number of important ways to help them survive and thrive on land. On close inspection, their eight 'legs' more closely resemble the bodies of snakes than they do the suckered tentacles of a cephalopod. While these legs might not seem practical, they actually allow this aberration to move much faster than many larger creatures. Most of the Octorok's body is also covered by a soft 'shell' which protects the creature from most attacks. While this shell is not calcified as a turtle's shell is, meaning it can be pierced or cut, it is actually much more resistant to cracking, and distributes the force of an impact more effectively. This is a useful ability when traveling in a herd of creatures which are constantly hurling heavy objects around.
A dull red creature darts past you on a mass of wriggling legs. A strange nozzle protrudes from its face.
Octorok; CR 2; [Aberration] [Plains] [Temperate/Warm Climate] [Diurnal Cycle]
N Tiny Aberration
Init +9; Senses Darkvision 60ft, Perception +0
AC 17, touch 17, flat-footed 12 [10 + Dex(5) +Size(2)]
DR 3/Slashing, Piercing
Fort +9 Ref +4 Will +5;
Speed 45 ft.
Melee +2 Slam (1d4)(Bludgeoning)
Ranged +7 Rok Hurl (1d6)(15ft)(Bludgeoning)
Str 10 Dex 20 Con 10 Int 2 Wis 14 Cha 10
Languages None
SQ Quick Initiative
Environment Plains. They prefer grassy plains, but quickly reduce these to large expanses of dirt.
Organization A 'Tangle' of Octoroks is usually between 6 and 20. They are rarely seen in smaller groups.
Activity Cycle Octoroks are diurnal, so they function during the day and sleep at night.
Diet Plants, Insects, Earthworms, Nutrient-Rich Soil; Natural Enemies Hawks, Leevers, Most Medium-Large Aberrations
Treasure Typically None


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It may be "American Idol" to most, but in San Antonio, it's "The Waiting Game."
Yes, "Idol" fans hoping to see the Alamo City spotlighted in the four-hour season premiere tonight and Wednesday are out of luck.
The San Antonio auditions, which took place late last summer, aren't scheduled to air on the Fox show until Jan. 31 (at 8 p.m.).
The first batch of talent — and non-talent — that will be scrutinized by Simon, Randy and Paula as well as viewers comes from Minneapolis. Watch those auditions from 7 to 9 tonight.
On Wednesday, Seattle heads into center stage, also between 7 and 9 p.m.
The rest of the schedule is as follows: Memphis, Tenn., Jan. 23; New York, Jan. 24; Birmingham, Ala., Jan. 30; San Antonio, Jan. 31; Los Angeles, Feb. 6.
The Hollywood rounds will kick off Feb. 13 and wrap up on Valentine's Day with 24 semifinalists getting the kiss, rather than the kiss-off.
Oh, and one last thing: If you plan to watch these shows, why not drop me a comment or two on this blog, sharing your opinions? I would love to read them.