text:
Well I took a week off from writing anything (more like I have a shitload of work to do before the end of the semester [this is the life of a procrastinator in full effect]), or even doing anything anime or Eye Sedso related, but I did have this draft that I wrote, and just never put up. In it, I review pretty much anything that I would've reviewed, had I not been getting my character list out instead.
First are reviews of shows and stuff that I finished I want to just say that it is becoming very hard for me to watch anime at all, for several reasons:
- Whenever I start an episode, I can't seem to get through it without my shitty computer shutting off from "overheating". FYI, it's NOT overheating, it just THINKS it is, because it's a PIECE OF SHIT. I would LOVE to get a new one, but for that I need MONEY, and finding a job right now is NOT EASY (especially if you don't look, like me….that being said, the ski slope opens soon [job I have] and training for lifegaurds is going to be soon [another job I will have], so I'm kind of just holding out until then).
- I have MUCH LESS TIME on my hands than I usually have, for a few reasons: First of all school work is actually finally starting to become….how you say….heavy? I actually have lot of shit due, and most of this shit takes a lot of time to produce.
- I've been reading manga more than watching anime, because with manga you can read on your own time. You don't have to commit 24 minutes to it, you can read for 5, 10, even 654 minutes at a time. Not only that, but the artwork and stories in manga seem to have more depth to them. I actually sometimes go to Borders books and READ MANGA now (once, about a month ago….okay 2 months). I need to buy some manga now.
Just a warning, this is a longgggggg freakin post (maybe my longest ever….well….that I put up all at once at least). This is mostly due to Queen's Blade, since Queen's Blade takes up about half of this post. (chances are, I made 1000 spelling/grammar mistakes).
Section #1: Anime Series Reviews
Pandora Hearts
You know what seems to be a trend? In every anime, whenever characters have a cheers, the camera suddenly shows the outside landscape, and than pans upward to the sky when they all say Kampai!!! Anyone else find that odd?
Anyway, Pandora Hearts was good, and I'll get to that in a bit, but first let me get to the bad:
- Oz. He started off as a pretty cool character, seemingly not giving a fuck, but then it turned out that he was just an emo bitch, and toward the end especially, he was just miserable as a character, asking himself, "What am I, who am I, why didn't daddy love me?' Enough Oz. Cut the bullshit, act like a man, and go kick some ass.
- Unanswered questions. Remember when Elliot complained about having that dream? It seems obvious to me that he is to Glenn what Oz is to Jack. Aka. However, they brought this whole "dream" bullshit up, only to never talk about it again. That's just one example. This, along with it's lack of ending, leads me to believe that a second season would be coming, but apparently, this is not the case (so I hear). In that sense, this anime was a complete waste of my time.
- The fuzzy animation quality. Even the torrents were pretty poor quality (which is no ones fault really, you use what you get), but even the high quality torrents that I saw still had that fuzzy, dull look that I absolutely HATE. It reminded me or Shikabane Hime or Kurokami (both good shows however). The actual animation wasn't bad though, only the color schemes.
- The characters were a HUGE PRO, and a big part of why I liked this series. We have Alice, aka one of the most awesome characters EVER. We have Echo, a minor character who ruled. We have Break and Sharon, both who are awesome either by themselves or paired up. We have Gil….who was…….gay?……Anyway, the characters were great. Even Oz was pretty cool for the most part.
- The premise, despite the lack of an ending, the plot was actually relatively intriguing. Chains and the Abyss, Alice and the Will, Vincent and his deal (another unanswered…..you know what, there were no answers to anything). The search for Alice's memory……everything was tied into each other pretty nicely, and for the most part, I found the plot great.
- The comedy was awesome. I went into this in another post that I don't feel like looking for, but the comedy was done pretty nicely, and put in at the right moments (although I guess that is mainly credit to the manga, if the anime copied it).
- Alice. Without her, I may have dropped this show.
For this, I give Pandora Hearts an average
Spice and Wolf II
Well, the first season was awesome. And the second season was more awesome. I don't really have much to say here, so I'll just list whatever about the show (There will be spoilers in this little list, but only in the little list):
- Horo was in it, so it was good.
- Lawrence sold Horo off to some guy in marriage.
- Lawrence sold Horo off to the church.
- Lawrence sold Horo off to people for sex, and collected the money Well, he might have well have (had well? I don't know the right grammar here).
- Horo got drunk.
- Horo and Lawrence plotted and schemed.
- Lawrence confessed his love to Horo!!!! Unexpected! (actually it's not that big of a surprise).
- There were awesome money transactions.
- Several BAM moments.
- Great new supporting characters.
There was probably more, but I really want to watch Gintama, so I'm going to finish this up…. The second season of Spice and Wolf was even better than the first, which was awesome, and seeing as the first got a grade of 5^^ (which is my highest grade in my awkward system), this season also gets a
Don't watch this, it sucks. The first episode was okay, and then it was all downhill from there, as the series became riddled with repetitive, stupid plots, and retarded characters. At one point, it took me a week to get halfway through one episode.
Basically, it's a show about a little girl who loses her grandma aka entire family (she kicked the bucket, meaning she's fucking dead), and is now looking for a place to stay. What she finds is a newspaper delivery service that offers boarding to it's employees, of which are compiled of, a 4th grade boss, a lesbian pedophile alcoholic, a girl with a money obsession, and a lesbian couple. She also meets Mika, an employee from a rival paper who she is destined to have lesbian relations with, once they are both of age.
Sounds like it could might be good, right? It actually really doesn't, but Rie Kugimiya is in it, so I had to watch it. No surprise, but it ended up sucking pretty bad. Each and every single character was incredibly one dimensional. The only characters I found decent were the 4 year old boss and Mika. The money girl was okay too, only because she was normal and didn't get on my nerves.
I struggled through it, until I finally got to the last episode. Ironically (and I love irony) I actually thought that the last episode was funny, and enjoyable. Maybe because it had great scenes where Mika and Kana pretend to be on bikes, and Kana dies (for pretend, which makes it pretty remarkable). It's completely retarded, and I like stuff like that (because I am completely retarded). Even Haruka, the pedophile, managed to do something funny. She told Kana that she would like to "have" her, but Kana, who was not listing, and was instead thinking about a book she wanted to buy, absentmindedly said, "2800 yen". Haruka went and got the money, assuming that Kana wanted money for sex. Misunderstandings are funny sometimes (this is the only one that was funny in this show). Actually, five seconds late (can you tell that I'm watching this episode as I write this?) Yuma tells Kana to pick up 2 notebooks tomorrow, and that she could keep the change (which would be enough for Kana to buy her book). Kana declines, and not one second later, Yuuki (Yuma's lesbian lover) comes in holding 2 notebooks, displaying that she is completely Yume's bitch.
It's the last episode and the last episode alone that bumps this anime up to an amazingly low
If you want to know my favorite character, consult The Character Page, under, "K" (obviously).
Tokyo Godfathers
I've had this movie on my computer for about 4 months now, just taking up space. Why I hadn't yet watched it is beyond me. Truth be told, I was a little put off by the premise of hobos carrying around an infant for an entire movie. After literally just finishing it (at least when this post was originally written), I can now say that judging a book (or in this case, movie) by it's cover is the one thing you should never do. This movie was absolutely fantastic.
If I could sum this movie up in one word (and it just so happens that I have just the word to do so), it would be:
Every second there was a BAMmy BAM BAMerific BAMpster waiting to kick me in the face. I actually was kicked in the face so many times that I no longer have any teeth, and my nose is broken, and that's a good thing. Let me rewind (don't worry, no spoilers here).
This centers around three homeless people: a runaway girl, a homo (I like to refer to him as a hombo [homo + hobo]), and a man who seemingly threw his life away (I don't want to spoil). They find a baby, and decide to bring it back to it's mother. Now what makes this movie truly great is the pasts of each of the main characters, and how everything seems to come together in a GIGANTIC PLETHORA of HUGE BOMB SHATTERING and AWESOME COINCIDENCES. There are SO many coincidences and awesome turns, that I couldn't help but punch several holes in my wall, just out of sheer joy (lol, can you imagine me jumping around my room laughing and punching holes in my wall? I can completely see myself doing it, and that's scary).
The animation was FANTASTIC. Notice the colors. What movements! What power! (that's sort of an inside joke) This is why I love animated movies. They're so much more alive then series. The movements of the characters are so fluid when compared to a series (some exceptions). Tokyo Godfathers might even crack a TOP FIVE on my top ten animated movies list. In fact, it definitely does (now where did I put that list…)
. . . . .
Ah, here it is…..really? Howl's Moving Castle isn't better than Akira! I need to revise this a bit……annddddd:
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
- Akira
- Tokyo Godfathers
- Howl's Moving Castle
- Steamboy
- Princess Mononoke
- Spirited Away
- Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
- Perfect Blue
- Kiki's Delivery Service
That's right, I gave it the three spot. this was fantastic.
Shakugan no Shana-tan 3
The best one yet, and adding Hayate to the roster of shows on JCStaff certainly didn't hurt. I really don't have much to say, but this, just like all of the -tan shorts, was very amusing and entertaining and funny and awesome and great an-
Section # 2: Anime Series First Impressions:
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza
Okay, it took me watching this new season for me to realize just how awesome the last season was. Not only that, but I just watched episode 3, and to my surprise, I found Rie Kugimiya voicing a typical rich, tsundere character, and also using the main lead character as her butler. I'll stop there and just say that it pretty much mirrored an episode of Hayate no Gotoku…..well, it was similar at least.
What can I say, I knew that that it would only be a matter of time before Rie Kugimiya was in this show, and she even made a short reference to Taiga from Toradora (at least that's what I saw it as), aka her best performance ever. I fuckin love this show (even though it is extremely corny, very stupid, and completely retarded). Not only that, but we also got a new maid, named Koko or something. The reason why she is great is that the only words that she speaks are her name, which happen to be "Koko, koko", (just like a Pokemon!) but the one thing that makes her great is her ability to pretty much kill anyone, due to the use of a weapon that looks very very very very similar to Dokuro-chan's weapon Excaliborg (or whatever it's called) from Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan (which is a fucking hilarious show done by the same studio I think…..or the same director……or something lik- you know what it's in another one of my posts, go look for it).
Section #2.5: Manga First Impressions
Okay, so I was checking up on TJ's blog which usually reviews only awesome shows and manga, and I came across XBlade, a manga I had somehow never heard about, and later found that it is one of the greatest mangas I've ever read (after 2 chapters) and is filled with so much bad ass bad assery and assnes that isn't good, that the whole God damn thing is one giant, continuous BAM. Just reading it puts hair on your chest. Hmmm. You might not get it, or might be underestimating this manga with that, so here's this:
Normally I make all of my pictures sized to 500 x whatever, but I made this one 600 x whatever, because it's so fucking sick that I developed a fetish for vomitting by reading it (that was just too gross). It's awesome…..too bad I already caught up to the manga…
Ultimate!! Hentai Kamen
I should first point out that this isn't hentai as in porn. There is no nudity. In fact, if I were to compare this to any other anime/manga, I'd say that it's like Dragonball Z. Basically, this manga is a bit childish, but is also really really funny, and I started reading it by accident. I meant to watch Until Death Do Us Part, but the scroller is shitty, and I somehow started reading this. Speaking of Until Death Do You Part….I'm actually thinking of dropping it (which I won't acually do), mainly because I'm reading it, but I have no idea what the fuck is going on.
Mahou Sensei Negima!
Pretty much just like the first show, which I consider one of my favorite shows (top 20? if not than certainly close). Awesome. I could read this really quickly if I wanted to, but I'm going to try and go slowly.
Section #3: Queen's Blade:
Did you think I had forgotten Queen's Blade? Shame on you. There's reason why I save Queen's Blade for last, and why it get's a whole section to itself. I may have not put out any posts about it in the past 2 and a half weeks, but I've been watching, and I've been liking. No longer is this show just a ridiculously hilarious fan service/softcore porn show. Now, Queen's Blade actually has a good plot, and interesting twists. I actually anticipate episodes now, for different reasons than previous. Ready? Here are all of my episode reviews:
Episode 6
This fight (#6) actually changed my mind about Claudette. I used to hate her, but now I kind of respect her resiliancy and slight bad assness. She finally stands up and exclaims that she doesn't give a fuck, she's going to be the Queen:
WINNER = Claudette
Meanwhile, Irma, (my 2nd favorite active character), is being hunted by EH-Risty (Evil Hot Risty). However, when hope seems lost, her old master shows up and rescues her. Personally, I love this development in the plot….that's right, DEVELOPMENT in the PLOT. In Queen's Blade! I love it!
Elsewhere, Airi (my favorite active character) is still being nagged by Cattelya's bastard child, and because of this, she hasn't really been able to eat (human life force) in front of the kid. Airi has kind of become less of a bad character, and more of a gaurd dog to Rana, but I like characters who change, and Airi has an awesome scythe, which is why she wins as my favorite charcters. Anyway, Tomoe catched Airi about to feast, and then tell her that she and Shizuka will take care of the bastard child instead. Airi veiws this as an opportuniy to eat (human life force), and flies across town to get a meal, but right when she's about to eat, Rana, being the bastard that he is, grabs her skirt….how he manages to catch with someone who was flying is beyond me, but it is then decided that they will be together for the rest of this season (apparently). In my opinion, I think that as long as Airi is paired with Rana, she won't get frozen in yellow carbonite like her counterparts, Menace and Mellon (I forgot to tell you, Menace got frozen in yellow carbonite).
Up next is another Queen's Blade battle, this time it's
Queen's Blade Fight 7: Tomoe vs Elina
Personally, I hope Elina gets her head cut off and dies. I hate her stuck up bitch additude. It's fairly obvious that Tomoe is going to win (I feel like she's destined to meet Reina in the finals), so I look forward to this. I find it kind of funny how Elina fouht in fire during the first fight, and now is fighting in snow during her second one. That kind of sucks.
Queen's Blade Fight 8: Irma vs EH Risty
Needless to say, I have a bad feeling about this fight. I have a feeling that Irma is about to get the boot. You can't beat EH Risty, and her whole conversation foreshadowed pretty blatantly that she couldn't win, just from the general tone and Echidna's little monologue at the end. Just don't like it. Of course, I could be wrong, maybe Irma knocks Risty back into reality or something.
Episode 7
One thing I've noticed is that the fight scenes do two things:
1) Everyone's shirts rip, and both fighters are left topless by the fight's end.
2) The fight sequences are getting pretty good.
The same can be true for the fight between Irma and EH-Risty (as I obviously just showed). This fight ruled, despite it's shortness in length. I loved the music, and the ice cavern. What also made this great was the flashbacks of Irma's past during the fight, as well as Echidna's little monologue. I thought it brought a good amount of drama to the fight. However, they didn't let us forget that this is still Queen's Blade, and kind of ruined a dramatic scene, after Irma get wailed on by that spiked ball you see in the above picture. after getting smacked in the back, she stands up (or manages to get to her knees anyway) and then coughes up blood, and falls backward, as dramatic music that actually really fits the scene plays in the background. But whoops, she's not wearing a shirt, soooooo
Instead of feeling like, "FUCK, Irma fucking DIED. I'm pissed (because she is….or was, my second favorite acting character)", I instead just laughed.
WINNER: EH Risty
After the fight, we see a similar pattern play out, as the scene moves to Airi and her dilemna with Rana, and how she's all "OMG a kid OMG." It's becoming noticible that her weak state (due to lack of human life force) is starting to take it's toll, and I don't believe that she's going to be surviving her next fight.
At the same time, Echidna finds an inconcious (or dead) Irma, and has to deal with her. In a sense, both are dealing with feelings of being a parent figure (or older sister figure) in looking out for the young ones. On to the fight between Tomoe and Elina.
Almost right away Tomoe loses her shirt (because she's a whore). Elina is using mind games so that she can win (because she's a huge lesbian whore). However, Tomoe unknowingly FLIPS THE SCRIPT, and uses mind games on Elina when she tell her that she and Reina (whore) ate and slept together.
When Elina hears this, she gets so upset that she kills herself by strangling herself to death.
. . . . .
Okay actually Tomoe just literally kicks the shit out of her (well she kicks her at least).
WINNER – Tomoe
And then, just to remind you that this is still Queen's Blade:
Up next we have an awesome fight, between Nanael and Airi. Both of them are hungry, because they haven't eaten, and they're both some form of spirit. They're actually like mirror images of themselves, now that I think about it. I don't know who will win this. I almost feel like Nanael will lose, because she's stupid, she bet on herself (never a good thing), and she's a dirty whore (look at the picture). Honestly this fight looks like it will be more of a comedy act than a fight.
However, before this gets started, we have a bombshell dropping, as Shizuka reveals to Tomoe that she's actually an assassin hired to kill her (Tomoe) and thus, she tries to kill her. GASP!
Of course, this turns out to be a lie, and Skizuka just wanted to fight Tomoe so that Tomoe would have no more weaknesses (which makes perfect sense….oh wait, no, it's just stupid). So Tomoe obviously kills (yes, kills) Shizuka, and then cries like a bitch. Queen's Blade is getting HEAVY.
Corny montage of Shizuka plays with music. This is good, because it means that Irma must be alive (she had no montage).
Episode 8
The fight between Airi and Nanael starts, but isn't being shown anywhere (mainly because it's being held in front of Queen Aldra, which means someone is getting frozen in yellow shit).
Anyway, as the fight progresses, both fighters are tired, and it appears as though Nanael has the upper hand. Thinking quickly, Airi sheds her clothes, and attacks using "Bra-Panty Slut Combo"
Then, as what usually happens with all of my favorite characters, Airi FUCKING DIES.
Maybe I should choose Reina as my new favorite character, so that she could die. Let's take a look back on my favorite characters, and what happened to them:
Allean – Held back by a worthless, pantsless loli. Lost and was eliminated from Queen's Blade.
Irma – Got completely raped by EH Risty. Lost and was eliminated from Queen's Blade.
Airi – Started becoming awesome, was held back by a worthless, tiny kid. Fucking died.
Fuck me right? In related news, I now absolutely despise the character of Nanael, and hope that she dies. She's so stupid and that little fucking wing she has is annoying as fuck. I mean, why is she even participating in Queen's Blade anyway? Sometimes, I just want to take her by the throat an-
Can you get back to the review?
Can I…What!? Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do!? You want a review? Here a review of the rest of the episode:
- Rana and The Dwarf Girl whose name I always forget talk, and Rana decides to help said dwarf girl reforge the sword. I guess that means that the dwarf girl is about to die, since everyone who hangs around Rana gets the ax.
- Reina is a whore.
- Reina's dad is planning something to take back the throne.
- Melona is freed from the yellow stone, due to the fact that holy milk was spilled on it, mainly due to the fact that Nanael is a clumbsy whore. This is pretty big news I guess, but whatever.
- Reina is a whore (still)
- the dwarf's name is YMIR! (hits himself in the face with a bottle of contact solution [it was close by])
- The next fight begins! I can't wait for it, because one of my two least favorite characters will lose!
Queen's Blade Fight #10: Nanael vs Reina
Suddenly, I don't hate Nanael anymore. In fact, I'd say that she's now my favorite active character!
WINNER – Reina
Episode 9
So the last episode ended with the next two battles announced to be
Queen's Blade Fight #11: EH Risty vs Claudette
Queen's Blade Fight #12: Reina vs Tomoe
Honestly, I don't care who wins first one (leaning toward Claudette actually), but I really want Tomoe to win her fight, since she is now my favorite active character, and Reina absolutely pisses me off. This means that EH Risty and Reina will win their fights (I'm assuming). The count planned to take advantage of the final Queen's Blade fights by attacking with his troops, but as it turns out, the fight between Claudette and EH Risty is being held AT THE CASTLE, hindering his plans (literally pretty much copied this word for word from the subs).
Anyway, the count decides to send out the troops anyway, and Elina and Reina have sex.
Randomly, we switch back to the fight, where Claudette, who spent last episode watching way too much Pokemon, breaks out her moves:
Unfortunately for Claudette, it looks like EH Risty, who has been known to like Onyx (both the rapper and the pokemon) seems to have been ready for Claudette's electric attacks, and as you know, electric is weak against ground type pokemon. Anyway, Claudette is no level 7 pokemon (despite using a weak attack like thunder shock, when thunder or thunder bolt is much better [personally, I prefer thunder bolt. It's more accurate, and is still a good move]), and so she starts breaking out the body attacks.
With EH Risty now in a weakened state, Claudette decides to finish her off with one of her electric moves, so that she can regain her pride (what's better than beating a ground type with an electric move? Sex, and that's it.)
With EH Risty apparently down for the count, Claudette takes this time to talk smack to the count (that wasn't an awkward sounding sentence or anything). She tell him that he's a stupid fuck, and that she will become Queen. unbeknowngst to the two of them, Aldra had given EH Risty a Max Revive, and she suddenly comes rushing after the Count, but is blocked by Claudette. However, Aldra also gave EH Risty an X Attack, so she's like, super strong now (we're talkin' red eyes strong). Realizing this, The Count and Claudette try to run, but as any good pokemon trainer knows, you can't successfully run when you're facing another pokemon trainer. Eventually, EH Risty uses Fissure. and even though it misses 4 out of 5 times, this time it does the job. As you know, fissure kills any pokemon in one hit, and since Claudette was fucking awesome in this fight, and I actually really like her character, and was rooting heavily for her to win, she of course FUCKING DIES. That's right, she's fucking dead. Good for me. i bet Tomoe dies in the nexy fight, and then every single character besides Reina dies after that. STOP KILLING THE CHARACTERS I LIKE!!!!! Now it reads like this:
Allean – Held back by a worthless, pantsless loli. Lost and was eliminated from Queen's Blade.
Irma – Got completely raped by EH Risty. Lost and was eliminated from Queen's Blade.
Airi – Started becoming awesome, was held back by a worthless, tiny kid. Fucking died.
Claudette – Cheated out of a victory by the Queen. Fucking died. Oh good, she didn't die, she just lost.
This is pissing me off a little.
WINNER – EH Risty
After this a bunch of shit happens, although not much of it is important. Tomoe kicks the shit out of some trees (oooo real hard). And Melon steals Nanael's milk, because Nanael is retarded and can't realize something obvious when it comes along (I thought she knew Melon was not to be trusted? What a moron, she deserves it). Then it shows Aldra looking at her frozen yellow stuff collection. Then it cuts to the ED which is basically a place for Menace to act like a stripper.
Episode 10
To start out, Nanael is getting hammered off some milk, which is the most abundant of all liquids in the world of Queen's Blade. Some bullshit happens, and she eventually wanders into the woods, looking for Flabby Pink, which I think is a much better name than Melon. There, she finds Tomoe, who has apparently ascended to the level of unstable psycopath bent on killing bamboo trees.
A bunch of other stupid bullshit happens, and then it's time for the fight, which is being held, coincidentally, at Tomoe's birthplace. Also, Tomoe looks, FUCKING AWESOME:
As Tomoe completely beats up on Reina (something that makes me happy), Ymir (I remembered her name for once) talks to a crowd about how her blade is being used by Reina. Tomoe is using sick moves, and is just beating down Reina as if she were a helpless child. I was thouroughly enjoying it, until Reina said that she, "can't afford to lose." Somehow this makes her strong, which is complete bullshit. The end result?
WINNER – Reina
God damn it you know? Anyway, Ymir makes a shitload of money by selling cheap knockoffs of the blade she HALF made, and Flabby Pink was apparently pretending to be Rana for a while (I kind of spaced out when she said why though). Tomoe is wakes up before the Queen, and my sleep cycle is completely fucked up right now (I woke up form 9 hours of sleep at 1 in the morning).
Bonus Section: Thing(s) I Need:
Here are some thing I really need now:
- The Girl Who Leapt Though Time on DVD. I really want to watch it again, but my computer struggles when it plays MVK files (and all files, really).
- More anime movies.
I wish there were a place in CT where I could buy mainly anime stuff, but there really isn't (sure Best Buy or Fye might sell a few movies/series, and Borders might have a slim manga section, but it's mainly bullshit stuff). I don't "do" online shopping anymore, just because.
Was this post long or what?


text:
For sale: custom vintage auto with Hollywood pedigree. Three-liter V-6 engine, polished aluminum hood, serpent horn, wings. Has history of issues with exhaust system.
Sure, you could drop $2.6 million on a Bugatti Veyron to cruise the Sunset Strip, but for less than that you might be able to really make an impression with the "fantasmagorical machine" from the classic 1968 film "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" starring Dick Van Dyke.
The roadster, designed by Ken Adam, goes up for auction Sunday at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. This particular model, one of seven Chittys built for the film, was the one used in principal photography (including the driving sequences filmed in 70 millimeter), and the publicity campaign. It's registered in England (with GEN 11 plates).
The additional Chittys were mostly incomplete and used for stunts, such as the floating Chitty, which was attached atop a motorboat. Another, built with a more muted silver hood to accommodate lighting, was used for the close-up flying sequences.
Owned by British stunt driver and actor Pierre Picton since the film's promotion ended, the car is expected to fetch $1 million to $2 million.
"I'm very sad," Picton, 76, said from his home in Warwickshire, England. "It's like losing a child. I'm getting old and I love the car dearly, but I think it's time. I'll miss it terribly. It really is a magical car. You feel like a king with something that everyone wants to see."
After penning about a dozen James Bond novels, Ian Fleming wrote the children's storybook "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car," in the mid-1960s, inspired by an actual monstrous European chain-driven racing auto from the 1920s.
Producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, who steered the Agent 007 film franchise, put the vehicle into flight on movie screens, capturing the imagination of children and adults alike with breathtaking scenes shot in England, France and Bavaria.
Van Dyke, in his recent memoir, recalls that the car was a little difficult to maneuver "with a turning radius of a battleship."
Picton meticulously maintained the car in running condition; it's made appearances all over Europe, starting with Queen Elizabeth when the film premiered. "We presented Corgi model cars of Chitty for her children, Prince Charles and Prince Andrew," Picton recalled.
Picton is confident the iconic auto will "go to a wonderful home." And he and his wife will be there to hand the keys to the highest bidder.
If "Chitty" is a bit beyond your budget, there are some other pieces of entertainment memorabilia also on the block at the auction being held by Profiles in History, run by appraiser Joe Maddalena of "Hollywood Treasure" fame.
Among the items up for bid are signed, original animation cels from Disney movies, including the classics "Cinderella" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (expected to fetch around $20,000 each); an early draft of John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" ($200,000 to $300,000); and the first concrete slab footprints from Grauman's Chinese Theatre ($35,000 to $55,000).
Visit latimes.com/memorabilia for a photo gallery of some of the more intriguing pieces that might look fabulous on your mantle.
Times staff writer Noelene Clark contributed to this report.

subset: commoncrawl


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Author Notes: In defense of milk for adults. But in a cocktail? Why ever not I ask? Hear me out. See milk, when combined with coconut-rum liqueur and strawberry sorbet (for coolness and refreshment) turns into luscious cold drinkable cream, sliding down throats parched with thirst. Because not even a dipping pool inches away can wet throats....parched with thirst. You could always reverse the proportions - more liqueur, less milk.
I'm not suggesting with this recipe that you go out and buy strawberries and lemon to make 'The River Café' Strawberry and Lemon sorbet. But if you do, then you'll be able to bring this recipe together in a snap. If you don't, blitz frozen strawberries with lemon and sugar, to taste. Easy peasy.
Then all you'll have to do is scoop, pour, watch float, stir and drink. With a straw. On the couch or by the pool side. Take your pick.
Malibu, Baileys and other milky liqueurs are game. —Kitchen Butterfly
Makes: 2 cocktails or 6 minis
1 cup cold (half-fat) fresh milk
1/2 cup Tiburon Tropical rum flavoured batida's
Strawberry and lemon sorbet (I used the River Café sorbet)
- Set two regular cocktail glasses, or several smaller glasses, with 125ml capacity, pictured. Place small scoops of sorbet into the glasses.
- Combine the milk and the Tiburon liqueur and pour into the glasses (with the sorbet). Watch float :-), without the classic bubbles of the famous root-beer float.
- Top with a touch more sorbet, placed in centre. Serve with straws.
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Poolside Cocktail
More Great Recipes:
Cocktail|Ice Cream/Frozen Desserts|Milk/Cream|Strawberry|5 Ingredients or Fewer|Fourth of July|Memorial Day|Mother's Day|Spring|Summer|Vegetarian|Hors D'Oeuvre


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|Summer Shirts and Summer Blouses - Shopzilla Clothing Guide Women's Clothing Women's Shirts & Blouses Styles
Shirt Definition Apparel Search Shopping Guide Clothing Retail Stores Women's Clothing Retailers Fashion Fashion News Fashion Week Fashion Jobs Women's Fashion
This section of the Apparel Search clothes shopping directory is arranged to assist you with shopping for women's shirts. The shirts that are listed in this section are arranged by the style of the shirt. On this particular page, you will find access to the summer shirts and summer blouse area at the Shopzilla shopping website.
You are welcome to start shopping for women's summer shirts from the shopping link below.
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Hey, if you are looking for a summer shirt, I suggest you also check the t-shirt section.
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ReleasesBack to
Michel Petrucciani
This double LP finds pianist Michel Petrucciani often showing the influence of Bill Evans. His interplay with bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Eliot Zigmund (an Evans alumnus) is consistently impressive and these eight performances (all but two are between eight and 12 minutes long) never lose their momentum. It's recommended for lovers of piano trios.


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As a Syrian Refugee, I Think Destroying ISIS Means Destroying Assad
Syria was intolerable long before ISIS existed. It was so intolerable that brainwashed Syrian schoolchildren like me -- Christians, Muslims, and all other faiths -- have grown up to free their minds and sacrifice their lives by the thousands for a free Syria. The international community ignored our cries. Now that the Islamic State is in the picture, the world is paying attention to Syria again. As the world fights the radical presence of ISIS, they must keep in mind that Assad and the Islamic State are two sides of the same coin. They are both brutal, bloodthirsty murderers. If we destroy ISIS now, another ISIS will quickly emerge. I believe that the only way to destroy ISIS is to destroy Assad too.


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If you're finished with Batman: Arkham City and sad that you've got no more bat-themed gaming to do, fret not. Batman: Arkham City Lockdown appeared on iTunes last night without herald, and is yours to download for $5.99.
Arkham City Lockdown is a one-on-one fighter with a few shades of Infinity Blade about it. It's apparently decent, so if you've an iThing, you might want to look into it. It's actually been developed by NetherRealm, so that's interesting!
Anyway, get it if you want. Or don't. It's your choice.
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Big Joe Is About To Release A Tell All Book Called "Interview Of A Diplomat" (About Secrets In The Industry & Artists Dark Secrets) "Its No More Take That - Take That. Your Time Is Up. Let The Young Niccas Come In"
Big Joes book tells all. Shout out to Deep Freeze - Sub-0 DVD
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Find used cars in Brownsville at CarsDirect.com. As the 15th largest city in Texas and the 129th largest city in the United States, Brownsville is part of an even larger metropolitan area with over one third of a million people, most of whom have cars. Many of these people are selling their cars, as well as a large number of used car dealers. With this many people and this many cars, how easy will it be to find the used car that is best for you? Can you imagine the time it will take navigating all the traffic as you try to visit all the dealers and car owners who are selling used cars? Then consider the fact that the best car for you might not be in the Brownsville area at all: it might be somewhere in Pawnee. How would you find it there? Now, imagine yourself sitting at your computer, at home with thousands of cars to look at from all around the area. All you have to do is visit CarsDirect.com and your imagination can become reality. Just log on to the Internet, then enter CarsDirect.com into your web browser. Once there, you can type in your zip code, look for particular makes and models of cars. You can even sort by the mileage on the car or the distance the car is away from you. CarsDirect.com will allow you to look at more cars in Texas than you could ever hope to look at by physically travelling to the car's location. You get to see hundreds and even thousands of cars at CarsDirect.com, while if you went shopping for a car, you would be limited due to time and distance. By using CarsDirect.com, you'll have more time to take a college class, walk along the ocean or visit Sunrise Mall. Once you experience CarsDirect.com you will soon find out why it's the best way to look for a used car in Brownsville.Show More »
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Greetings, folks!
I opened our "Places, People, & Prayers 2009" blogs in a long distant past (well, May 1 to be precise!) with an account from Jerusalem on our first night in the Holy Land. Time always seems to balloon when one travels far away from home and regular schedules. And by my reckoning, we could easily have been gone months, rather than the 3 1/2 weeks that stretch from Thursday, April 30, to Saturday, May 23. But our trip is now history, so far as the travel of it is concerned. And now here I am once again, with "a few last words" about our concluding days of touring . . . .
From Wednesday, May 20, through Friday noon, May 22, we made our home on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, at the YMCA just north of Tiberias. Here we had stunning views morning by morning of the sunrise over the Sea. (It's enough to take your breath away. But don't trust me. Go, see it for yourself!) The peacefulness of this setting was profoundly nourishing to our spirits after the emotional challenges of our time in the West Bank in previous weeks. Here we could sit just above the beach, facing the water, for our regular Evening Prayers. And here we could eat our breakfasts and dinners in the open air with a stunning view of the Sea in front of us. What a gift!
Wednesday was (finally!) our day to see the sites associated with Jesus' Galilean ministry. We started our morning that day with a peaceful boatride across the Sea of Galilee from Nof Ginnosar (site of ancient Genessaret) to the boat landing at Capernaum (Jesus' "hometown" during his Galilean ministry). No wild storms or sinking boats on May 20, 2009! Nor did anybody step out of the boat and walk on water! We stopped in the middle of the water, though, to read the Markan story of Jesus calming the storm. From there we traveled to Chorazin, with its ancient synagogue ruins and its "Seat of Moses" (see Mt. 23:2), and then on to the Mount of Beatitudes, a high bluff overlooking the Sea of Galilee. After time for quiet reflection (and photography!) at the Church of the Beatitudes, some of us hiked down the hillside, still covered with the same "lilies of the field" that Jesus saw and enjoyed 2000 years ago. You can't build a church over an entire hillside! And if you look the other direction from the banana plantation now covering half of the hillside, you can imagine things just fine! Down below we visited the churches of the Primacy of Peter (see John 21) and of Tabgha (the church that commemorates the multiplication of the loaves and fishes). At Capernaum we saw the gorgeous ruins of the ancient (2nd/3rd century) synagogue built on first-century foundation stones from the synagogue that Jesus would have known. And we looked into the "house of St. Peter," a site which stands a very good chance of being the "real item."
Thursday was our trip to the "north." Days before we had traveled to the "south" (the Negev desert), to Beersheba, where it was all dry and brown and barren. Now we traveled to the other end of the biblical "Land of Israel" ("from Dan to Beersheba") to Tell Dan, at the headwaters of the Jordan River. Here everything was lush and green. And here the water rushed furiously along its little stream on its way into the Jordan. From Tell Dan we traveled on to Caesarea Philippi (known also as Banyas, for the temple built there to the god Pan), where Jesus questioned his disciples about his identity. Here, on the site of a large complex of pagan temples built up against a huge cliff, we pondered the words of Jesus ("But who do you say that I am?") and the confession of Peter ("You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.").
In the afternoon we hiked from Banyas to a beautiful waterfall before boarding our bus for a drive through the Golan Heights. Here we caught a glimpse of Mt. Hermon, with its snow-covered peak, witnessed the ruins of a Syrian military camp from 1967, and looked across a great wide plain past a UN border camp into Syria itself. And here we stopped to buy fresh cherries at a Druze village near to the Syrian border. But our most significant stop of the day was at Yardenit on the southern edge of the Sea of Galilee, the "baptismal site" at the spot where the Sea of Galilee opens into the Jordan River. Here we witnessed, joyfully, the baptism of Marilyn Gerlach and the immersion of Curtis Wheeler in remembrance of his baptismal vows. This was truly a day for "living water"!
On Friday we closed out our time together with a morning of retreat–a time of worship, silence, journaling, shared reflections, and a Communion service by the Sea of Galilee. After lunch at a nearby restaurant (St. Peter's fish, complete with their smiling heads on the platter!), we headed south to Caesarea Maritima for a short stroll along the beach at the Mediterranean. We had now gotten our toes (at very least) into the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, and now the Mediterranean. And from Caesarea we headed south and east to Abu Ghosh (one of three different "Emmaus" sites!) for our final night before our trip home. Here we were housed at the Sisters of St. Joseph, a stunningly beautiful setting high on a hill.
And at 1:00 AM on Saturday, May 23, we boarded the bus for our trip to the airport . . . .
It has been a rich experience–and a stretching one as well–in all kinds of ways. And now that we are home, we can begin to "unpack" all that wealth of experiences, both the happy ones and those that stretched us far beyond our comfort zones. We give thanks to God for all that we have lived and learned in these past weeks. And we give thanks to all of you for your prayers as we traveled.
Blessings to all of you who have been following our travels! Perhaps such a journey could be yours in future . . . .
Dorothy Jean (for the entire "Places, People, & Prayers 2009" group


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Eat Sleep Code Repeat
We create WordPress Plugins for EveryoneThemePunch is a team of web enthusiasts with the mission to provide everyone with affordable premium WordPress plugins & WordPress themes.
Our aim is to deliver a perfect product that is easy to use, highly customizable and offering innovative features you have never seen before.
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Canucks show no rust in blanking Flamesby Aaron Vickers
CALGARY -- The Vancouver Canucks didn't skip a beat after taking a week off.
Eddie Lack made 18 saves for his second career shutout and the Canucks returned to action after a seven-day Christmas break by beating the Calgary Flames 2-0 on Sunday night at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Jannik Hansen scored late in the first period and Lack made the goal stand up until Mike Santorelli added some insurance with 2:16 left in regulation.
"Of course you want to get back at it," Hansen said of the long break. "The game is a little different than we're used to when you're playing every other night. We got a long break, but the points are just as important as they are in late March and early April and these points are going to stick with us to the end.
"If you look at the standings, it's extremely tight. If you're not stringing wins together you're not going anywhere. We've played a tremendous December and we're still fourth in our division. It takes a lot of wins and it takes a team effort to get them on a nightly basis."
Since returning from their break, the Flames have been shut out in back-to-back home games. After scoring at least once in their first 33 games, the Flames have been shut out three times in their past six. They've won just three times in their past 10 as well.
"It gets very frustrating out there, but we have to do a better job of keeping our emotions in check and we've got to generate more," Flames captain Mark Giordano said. "We're not generating enough, and when we are, it seems like it's not going in right now. We have to find a way to get an ugly one and get going."
Due to a quirk in the schedule, the Canucks had a full week between games sandwiched around the Christmas break. It didn't take them long to return to form and win for the 10th time in 12 games.
And though he missed most of warm-ups receiving "five or six" stitches after a puck off the post hit him in the ear, Henrik Sedin didn't miss Hansen behind the Flames' defense to help Vancouver open the scoring.
After Giordano's shot was blocked before it got to Lack, Sedin corralled the puck and found Hansen streaking through the neutral zone with a saucer pass he bobbled before ripping a shot by the blocker of Reto Berra with 39.7 seconds left before intermission.
"He took off and I was going to give it to him right away, then I was going to throw it off the end boards," Henrik said. "The third option worked out. It was a lucky bounce a little bit for him but it was a great shot."
"It's a tremendous play," Hansen said. "He's finding seams and holes that not a lot of players can do in this League and if you're open, it's going to get there."
The goal came on the Canucks' 13th and final shot of the period. Calgary managed just two and failed to put a puck on Lack until Mike Cammalleri's opportunity from the faceoff dot at 13:02.
The lopsided total was aided by Vancouver's five-minute power play after Calgary forward Brian McGrattan was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for elbowing defenseman Andrew Alberts 2:43 into the game. Alberts didn't return.
"It was an ugly incident," Hansen said. "You definitely don't want to see a guy go down like that."
The Flames mustered six shots in the second period and showed a little more life.
Just 1:41 in, Mikael Backlund took a drop pass in the slot from Cammalleri and wired a puck into Lack's chest. Joe Colborne also tested the Canucks goaltender, bursting by Jason Garrison down his off wing before driving to the net. Lack's goal line stand kept Colborne and the Flames at bay through 40 minutes.
Berra, who finished with 28 saves, did the same at the other end.
Facing another 11 pucks, Berra frustrated the Canucks while Calgary slowly started to find their legs. His best stop came off Daniel Sedin with 6:41 remaining; he denied Daniel's three whacks to push the puck past his pad and over the goal line.
Lack stopped 10 shots in the third period. He got his paddle on TJ Galiardi's spinning backhander from the slot at 5:32 and headed away another Galiardi chance 2 1/2 minutes later.
The saves paved the way for Santorelli's ninth of the season, a quick shot past Berra after a feed by Ryan Kesler on a 2-on-1 break.


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Andrew Clarke needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 51 designs submitted by 26 freelance designers.
Sports Den
The Sports Den is an outdoor sports shop based in Ireland and currently developing a web presence, we specialize in outdoor sports such as shooting, fishing and hunting but also cater for other specialized sports such as archery, bowls, camping and horse riding.
Outdoor sports enthusiasts, gift seekers.
We would like to logo to encompass colors to fit with the outdoor theme (not camouflage) and for it to encompass the word 'SportsDen.ie' or possibly just 'Sports Den'. The logo will dictate the colour scheme of the website and so that should be taken into account.
The logo will be used on the website and also on branded items such as business cards, shopping bags and possibly t-shirts.
Deliverables are illustrator, jpeg and psd versions of the logo and variations.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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The curse of treasure in fragile states
|Bless them. Photo source Wikipedia.
As people return from the holiday break in early January, the citizens of south Sudan will be voting in a long-awaited referendum [1]. Polls suggest there will be a big majority in favor of southern independence. Boosting people's hopes for the new state are its oil reserves worth some $2 billion a year.
Sorting out how the North and South will divvy up the benefits of oil is not clear. While most of the oil is in the South, the export and refining infrastructure is in the North. Revenues are currently shared roughly 50-50 but there is no agreement yet over the fate of Abyei, a significant oil producing region on the North/South border.
Still, the prospect of oil revenues is central to southern thinking about financing its way to a better future. Assuming the problems with the north are sorted out, are they right to see their natural resource endowment as the basis for future prosperity?
History teaches us that natural resources can be a mixed blessing. In the 1970s, commodities were often associated with the curse of poverty because of volatile terms of trade and perennially low prices.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development spent years trying to negotiate a deal to stabilize prices through a series of commodity agreements [2] supported by a Common Fund [3].
Today, prices remain volatile but they are at the other end of the spectrum as instability of supply caused by weather, politics and strong demand raise prices for everything from food to metals to energy.
The rich pickings offered by natural resource endowments are now associated with a different type of resource curse as often violent groups vie for their control.
The movie Blood Diamond [4] and news stories from around the conflict-affected world have built a public perception that an abundance of natural resources—especially ones that are easily 'lootable'—are at the root of violent conflict.
Starting in the 1990s, a growing body of research pointed to a 'paradox of plenty'. This holds that the mineral and other natural riches of many poor developing countries are key drivers of their descent into violent conflict. Their extraction economies create bloody rivalries as groups compete for the power and money that comes with control of these lucrative assets while ordinary people are impoverished and brutalized in the scramble.
There is plenty of evidence—from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia to Sierra Leone and Liberia—that illegally traded minerals and other natural resources are the fuel behind many gruesome conflicts.
The World Development Report 2011, which is delving into the causes and correlates of violent conflict, asked John-Andrew McNeish [5] of CMI in Norway to take a fresh look at the subject of resource conflict.
McNeish charts the ebb and flow of conventional wisdom on the topic. In the 1980s, resource abundance was seen as a boon for development. By the mid-1990s the exact opposite view came to hold sway, with resources described as a 'curse' that can provoke inhuman behaviors in people driven by greed to line their pockets and maintain their dominance—with the people, of course, the losers.
There is plenty of evidence that natural resource abundance is associated with the onset of civil war—and with its intensity and duration. It can also complicate the process of peace-making, with opposing sides in resource-rich places taking longer to agree to end civil wars than protagonists in places that don't have valuable natural resources.
Resource rivalries are as potent in sub-regional and cross-border conflicts as they are in civil wars. In Eastern Congo, for example, minerals did not spark conflict but competition for natural resources exacerbates tensions and prolongs the misery for millions of people.
It all sounds quite commonsensical: greedy people in lawless countries maximizing their interests at the expense of the masses—often with international actors in cahoots. But McNeish's study goes beyond this simple logic. While there is a lot of evidence of linkages between resource abundance and conflict, the evidence is not conclusive, he says.
He calls for more focus on the specific circumstances that, in the context of natural resources, may or may not lead to conflict. This means much greater attention to the historical, social, political and other contextual dynamics. He also urges us to look beyond the greed-based analytical framework of the 'resource curse' [6] and focus more on historical grievances, as well the complications caused by religion, ethnicity, identity and ideology.
As South Sudan prepares to vote in January's referendum, its energy reserves offer both the promise of financial security and the risk of increased stress as it grapples with internal rivalries, interest from resource-hungry outsiders, and a new oil deal with the North.
- Tags:
- Sudan [7]
- Sierra Leone [8]
- Liberia [9]
- Congo, Democratic Republic of [10]
- voting [11]
- Vote [12]
- South Sudan [13]
- oil [14]
- natural resources [15]
- conflict [16]
- Civil War [17]


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ukcanuck wrote:Second round and bore the crap out of everyone ...
I had a friend post his $245.50 ticket stubs on Facebook the other day...
250 bucks to watch dump and wait and clutch and grab hockey.
You can see that at your friendly neighbourhood beer league game for free..
Winning in a boring way is better than losing in a prettier way. Case in point - compare our 2006-2007 team and their results to the 2005-2006 team that missed the playoffs but popped in over 250 goals if I recall correctly.
Again - it's a short term solution/strategy. Once Horvat, Shinkaruk, etc., all develop (sometime between 2014-2016?) to the point where they become impact players, then we can open up again..............just as the Canucks did at the start of the 2008/2009 season when our young guys came to camp all developed and ready to go.
And again - that 2006/2007 team was fucking terrible..........but still got to the 2nd round due to a tremendous work ethic and good attitude.
Our current team is far more talented than that 06/07 team.
As like I said - our current GF is similar to that of LA's and Boston's already. Only difference is that their GA is a lot lower. If we can improve our GA and team defense, why couldn't we have a similar GF/GA to LA and Boston? ( and hence, be at their level?).


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Tag: premium spotify downloads
Free Spotify MP3 Downloader ID3 Tags
You always wanted to find a Free Spotify Mp3 Downloader? We have the solution.
With Spotify on constant grow most users forgot about MP3 Format. But the advantage of having a Free Spotify Mp3 Downloader relies on device playback.
MP3 is the most used music format to date, it happens to be low sized and very easy for playback on any device. With Spotify you have an online database that also needs internet connection to work, with MP3 you don't need it.
Using MP3 you can also create your own albums with ID3 Tags and pictures to show up on almost every multimedia device created to date. If you want to have the full Discography from any artist you can also do it since MP3 format makes it possible to fit on even the most cheap USB device.
Having Spotify as source for MP3 is really advantageous, that is why they do not offer you to download any track. The Piracy on music scene always existed, but with streaming services people are completely forgetting about having offline unrestricted possibilities.


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Grey's Anatomy - Season 5, Episode 1
43 min
Follows the personal and professional lives of a group of doctors at Seattle's Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.
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There was split reaction among Connecticut interest groups and government officials Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court voted to uphold President Barack Obama's sweeping health care legislation.
The narrow 5-4 ruling, which, most importantly ruled Constitutional the individual mandate that will require most people to purchase health insurance in 2014, brought praise from many leading Democrats in the state and raised concerns from business interests.
"Today's ruling is a landmark moment in the fight for stable, secure health coverage for all Americans," Congressman Joe Courtney said in prepared remarks. "Congress debated, the Supreme Court decided, and now the implementation of the Affordable Care Act can move forward."
Courtney went on to say that the health care reform law isn't set in stone and that Congress has the authority to make changes to it in the future in response to real-life problems.
"For example, we already repealed the onerous 1099 filing requirement last year, and extended age 26 coverage to military families after ACA's enactment," Courtney said. "I look forward to actively promoting that smart, positive effort."
Meanwhile, one of Connecticut leading business lobbying groups said the ruling "is a deep disappointment to small businesses everywhere."
"The tragedy in this ruling is that Connecticut residents are now at the mercy of politicians from other states and bureaucrats in Washington whose decisions won't be based on what is best for Connecticut," said Andrew Markowski the Connecticut state director of the National Federation of Independent Business. "Small businesses here will be overwhelmed by mandates, taxes and burdens imposed on them by people whom we cannot as easily hold accountable."
The court's ruling upheld the law's central provision -- a requirement that all people have health insurance.
The importance of the decision cannot be overstated: It will have an immediate and long-term impact on all Americans, both in how they get medicine and health care, and also in vast, yet-unknown areas of "commerce."
The polarizing law, dubbed "Obamacare" by many, is the signature legislation of Obama's time in office.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, which said that the Commerce Clause of the Constitution does not give Congress the authority to require people to have health care, but that other parts of the Constitution did.
The act passed Congress along strictly partisan lines in March 2010, after a lengthy and heated debate marked by intense opposition from the health insurance industry and conservative groups.
When Obama signed the legislation later that month, he called it historic and said it marked a "new season in America."
While it was not the comprehensive national health care system liberals initially sought, supporters said the law would reduce health care costs, expand coverage and protect consumers.
In place of creating a national health system, the law banned insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, barred insurers from setting a dollar limit on health coverage payouts, and required them to cover preventative care at no additional cost to consumers.
It also required individuals to have health insurance, either through their employers or a state-sponsored exchange, or face a fine beginning in 2014.
Supporters argued the individual mandate is critical to the success of the legislation, because it expands the pool of people paying for insurance and ensures that healthy people do not opt out of having insurance until they needed it.
Critics say the provision gives the government too much power over what they say should be a personal economic decision.
Frances G. Padilla, executive vice president of Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, applauded the Supreme Court's decision saying "Hundreds of thousands of residents can look forward to getting the health care they need and keeping consumer protections, such as guaranteed coverage, regardless of preexisting conditions."
Connecticut State Medical Society President Dr. Michael M. Krinsky, said "Although the law does not guarantee patients access to medical care, it removes an important barrier to care, which is the ability to have health insurance coverage.
"Clearly even large insurance companies have come to understand the benefits of extending insurance coverage to young adults under their parents' policies in agreeing to leave those benefits in place no matter the outcome of the decision. Raising Medicaid reimbursement rates to match Medicare levels may bring about greater access to care for patients who have the most acute health needs and the least ability to obtain regular medical care today. Now it's up to state officials to choose whether to pursue this important course of action to increase access."
State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, who has been a major advocate of health reform over the years, said "This victory, while critical, is only a new starting point. The federal government – and Connecticut – must maintain momentum to reform and improve our health-care system at every level.
"Connecticut has been a leader in health care innovation – transforming its own health care system, as an employer, to save lives and dollars by focusing more on quality preventative care."
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I like lightweight Linux distributions. For me an operating system should sit in the background and make it as easy as possible to do what it is I want to do.
I don't need flashy cubes which make you go "ooh" or hotspots and gestures which make you go "aah".
Last week I wrote a review of Manjaro and for me the whole experience was brilliant. The system was highly responsive despite being an older laptop with fairly low specifications. The navigation system was great. For more experienced Linux users who are happy to see a terminal screen every now and then Manjaro is perfect.
This week's review is about Linux Lite which falls into the same lightweight category as distributions such as Zorin OS Lite, Peppermint Linux and Xubuntu.
So what is the purpose of Linux Lite. The following quote comes from the original distribution release notes.
"This distro was created for
three reasons. One, to show people just how easy it can be to use a
Linux-based operating system and to dispel myths about how scary Linux
operating systems are. Two, to help create awareness about Linux-based
operating systems. And three, to help promote this community. Linux Lite
is free for everyone to use and share, and suitable for people who are
new to Linux or for people who want a lightweight environment that is
also fully functional."
From the above statement you can assume two things:
- Linux Lite is easy to use
- Linux Lite should work on older hardware and is not resource intensive
Linux Lite can be downloaded from sourceforge.net/projects/linuxlite/files/. If your internet connection is slow or you have a download limit you can also buy a Linux Lite DVD from http://www.osdisc.com/products/linux/linuxlite.
Once downloaded you can use unetbootin to install the ISO to a USB drive or you can use any disc burning software to burn the image to a DVD.
When you insert the USB drive or DVD you will be able to boot to either a live environment or install directly to the hard drive. I always try the live version out first to make sure there aren't any obvious show stoppers.
Linux Lite runs very well in a live environment and I was able to get online and test the software that was loaded as part of the live install.
I don't however tend to do reviews in a live environment. I prefer to install the operating system to the hard drive. On the desktop there is an icon called "Install". Clicking this icon brings up the Ubiquity installer which is common amongst Ubuntu based distributions.
The installer is easy to follow.
The first thing to do is choose whether you want to install Linux Lite over any existing operating system (IE use the whole disk) or alongside an existing operating system.
Now choose whether you want to download updates as you go and whether you want third party software installed. The third party software enables you to watch flash videos and listen to MP3s.
When you click next to install the files start copying from the DVD or USB drive and you can get on with choosing the username you wish to use to log in to Linux Lite and the locale and timezone.
Depending whether you choose to install updates or not the installation time is about 15 minutes. If you choose to download updates then it depends on your internet connection how long the updates take.
When everything is installed you are able to continue using the live environment or you can reboot the computer into the newly installed Linux Lite operating system.
First Impressions
Linux Lite loads into a black background with the Linux Lite logo. There is a taskbar as the bottom with a menu, launch bar and system tray.
I once tried Crunchbang and I have deliberately not written a review of it because my mind hasn't worked its way past the scarily black background which says more about my psychy than it does about Crunchbang. I do plan to review Crunchbang properly in the future.
The black background for Linux Lite is broken up by the logo which makes it look smart and professional.
The taskbar has a menu icon, three icons in the quick launch section which are Firefox, Thunar file manager and Terminal. The system tray has an icon for virtual workspaces, a network icon, a battery icon and a clock.
The desktop environment for Linux Lite is XFCE. If you don't like the look and feel of Linux Lite you can always follow this tutorial to customise the XFCE desktop.
Windows users will feel somewhat familiar with the Linux Lite system. Everything is pretty much in the same place for Linux Lite as it is for Windows. Zorin OS and Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop also provide a familiar look and feel for Windows users.
Connecting to the internet
To connect to the internet click the network icon in the system tray. (looks like 2 monitors). Alternatively click the Menu icon and select Internet -> Network Manager.
The Wicd Network Manager application will appear with a list of all available wireless networks.
If your wireless requires an encryption key then you will need to click the properties button next to the network you wish to connect to.
The Wicd application is fairly smart and should pick the correct encryption method for your network.
All you need to do is enter the encryption key into the Key field.
Now at this point I want to mention something that happened to me. It might be local to my particular laptop which is a Samsung R20 but it might also be a problem on other Samsung computers or indeed other makes and models.
It is worth checking the box next to the Key field to see what is actually being entered into the Key field as opposed to showing asterisks (*). The reason I say this is that certain characters on my keyboard showed up as different characters. For example the 0 key became a forward slash (/).
To get around this all I had to do was to press the FN key and F11. This key sequence may be different for other makes and models. You are basically looking for the function lock.
When you have correctly entered the security key click OK to return to the main WICD screen and press connect to connect to the network. You can also check the automatically connect to this network checkbox if you always want to connect to the same network.
The default browser installed with Linux Lite is Firefox.
Installing Software
To install software click Menu -> Settings -> Install/Remove software. The Synaptic package manager loads and you are able to search for software to install.
Within Synaptic to install software you first mark the software for installation and then click apply to actually install it. This means you can mark multiple applications for installation and then install them all at once. You will also be told of any libraries or applications that your chosen applications depend on.
As well as Synaptic, Linux Lite also provides a menu to install more common applications.
To access the list click the menu icon and then Install Additional Software.
You can now install a calculator, file and folder search, instant messenging, remote desktop, restricted extras, torrent software, video editing, virtualbox, weather monitor and/or Wine.
The restricted extras package includes proprietary libraries and applications which enable the use of Truetype Fonts, Java, Flash and the ability to playback MP3s.
If you chose the install third party software option when installing Linux Lite you might not need to install the restricted extras package but if you find Flash and MP3 playback doesn't work then installing the restricted extras package will fix this.
Installing Virtualbox enables you to install other operating systems in virtual machines.
Installing Wine enables you to run Windows programs within Linux Lite.
Flash and MP3
I didn't check the install third party files option when installing Linux Lite so I went straight for the restricted extras package.
After installing the restricted extras package I was able to watch Eden Hazard's assault of a ball boy during the league cup semi-final on Wednesday night.
For listening to MP3s I noticed a glaring exclusion in the list of pre-installed applications. There isn't a music player installed. (Although VLC is available).
To get around this problem I installed Guayadeque which I have to say has grown on me as an application in the last month as I use this as my default music player on the Raspberry PI.
The MP3s on my computer played back perfectly with no GStreamer errors which is normally the case when MP3 codecs aren't installed.
Customising the desktop
To change the background right click on the desktop and choose desktop settings.
A settings window will open and you can choose to change the background to one of the pre-installed backgrounds or you can choose one that you downloaded.
There you have it, something a little more colourful although still a bit drab. If you don't like that one there is actually a really nice set of images provided with Linux Lite as the next image shows.
- Application Finder – Makes it easy to find applications
- Screenshot – Screenshot capturing
- Task Manager – Task Manager similar to the one in Windows
- Terminal – Terminal
- Leafpad – Text Editor
- XArchiver – File Compression
- Steam
- Link to buy Humble Bundle games
- GIMP – Image Editor
- Ristretto – Image Viewer
- Firefox – Web Browser
- Mumble – Voice Chat
- Thunderbird – Email Client (Similar to Outlook)
- Network Manager – Set up wireless connections
- XChat – IRC Chat
- Xfburn – CD/DVD burning
- Audio Mixer – ALSA audio mixer
- PulseAudio Volume Control – PulseAudio volume control
- VLC Media Player – Video player
- LibreOffice Write – Word Processor
- LibreOffice Calc – Spreadsheet
- LibreOffice Impress – Presentation
- PDF Viewer – PDF Viewer
At the beginning of the article I made mention of the fact that Linux
Lite is supposed to be easy to use and lightweight in nature.
If you are coming from a Windows environment you will feel instantly familiar with Linux Lite and it will certainly breed new life into older hardware.
Connecting to the internet is easy and Firefox is an adequate web browser although not as good as Chromium (in my opinion).
By default you will have most of the applications installed that you need for common activities including LibreOffice and GIMP. There is also a quick access list to install other applications. Synaptic is also a very good tool for searching and installing applications from the Ubuntu repositories.
The list of installed applications is a bit eclectic. I wouldn't particularly say any of them are lightweight so really the only lightweight part of the system is the use of XFCE. There is also the glaring lack of an audio package.
Linux Lite is very responsive. The boot times are good and I feel very comfortable using Linux Lite in the same way I feel comfortable using Zorin OS Lite or Peppermint OS.
I also have to mention that Linux Lite is very stable. No crashes and no real issues have been encountered thus far and I have been using Linux Lite for a week.
All in all Linux Lite is still in its infancy at version 1.0.4 so its true place on the Linux landscape has yet to be determined but it is has a good starting point to build from.
Thankyou for reading.


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Alexander.Thiel needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 175 designs submitted by 43 freelance designers.
We are two individuals who have seen the devastation Malaria causes in Africa (A child dies every 30 seconds). However, most people in the US, especially the younger generations, have very little awareness for this issue and lack the belief that they can actually have an impact. Through our web campaign, we will make it possible to send and track mini-donations that will $ for $ be used to purchase and deploy drug treatments on the ground and thereby save lives.
The primary audience is 16-35 year olds within the US - predominantly using social media (Facebook, etc)
We need a logo (word design and picture symbol) for our brand - "Fight".
We want the logo to depict: impact, action, empowerment and collaboration. Active impact is at the core of the brand identity.
We want the brand to make communities feel that they are making a powerful difference by combining their small acts into a large impactful one.
The campaign that this will be used in will be "Fight Malaria" although the brand is "Fight". Thus we would like Fight to standout while including "Malaria" in a complementary and consistent way. An analogy would be "Nike shoes" where Nike is clearly the brand and that needs to stand out although shoes needs to look consistent with this pairing.
We would also like to one version with the tagline "Fight the good fights"
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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LaFerrari model with remote control
This cheery reproduction of the famous LaFerrari car, with a remote control, is dedicated to all Scuderia Ferrari fans age 12 months and up!
This colorful toy version of the LaFerrari hybrid, produced by Bburago for Scuderia Ferrari, can move forward and backward thanks to the large, two-function remote control. Featuring a lively graphic, this car was designed to delight the youngest of fans, stimulating their motor skills and imaginations. Complete with an open box so that it can be admired in all of its glory, the LaFerrari Lil Driver is also the perfect gift that will ignite the passions of the most adventurous aspiring pilots.
- Two-function IR remote control
- Forward and backward motion
- 2 AAA batteries for the car and 3 AAA batteries for the remote control not included
- Recommended age: 12 months and up
- Composition: 50% Plastic, 50% Iron
We offer both Standard and Express shipping: choose the service that best meets your needs at checkout.
We provide an easy return service: just ship your items back to us with a shipping service of your choice within 30 days of delivery.


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By RJ Sepich
In his first season as head coach of the Pitt wrestling team, Jason Peters led the Panthers to an undefeated dual meet record in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the outright regular season conference championship.
With the Pitt wrestling team ranked No. 10 in the nation heading into the ACC Tournament at Virginia Tech on Saturday, March 8, we sat down with Coach Peters to discuss winning the ACC Dual Meet Championship and his hopes for the Panthers in the postseason at the ACC and NCAA Championships.
Q: After setting the goal at the beginning of the season to win an ACC Championship, how good did it feel to achieve that after beating North Carolina last Saturday?
JP: Anytime you can win a championship it's exciting. It was great to see our guys embrace the goal throughout the season and put in the work necessary to achieve that goal. We have great assistant coaches that helped us do it as well. We're still getting ready for the conference tournament now, so we can't celebrate too soon. We've got to stay focused on what we're trying to do every day at practice: get better at wrestling. Hopefully we can carry that success into the postseason.
Q: How exciting was it to win a championship in your first season as head coach?
JP: Yeah, it's pretty cool. I don't know if it matters if it's in my first year or not - any time you win a championship, it's exciting. Championships are championships. I enjoyed the championships we won during my 10 years as an assistant coach here. It's exciting and fun to win championships. It's been good to continue the winning tradition of Pitt wrestling.
Q: And being the first team on campus to bring back an ACC Championship to Pittsburgh, is that something you take pride in as a program?
JP: That's definitely pretty neat. We talked about it as a staff and team that no one will ever have the opportunity to do this again. We won't have another first year in the ACC, so we wanted to make the most of it. And we were fortunate enough to bring the first ACC trophy back to Pittsburgh, which is pretty cool.
Q: Did it feel good to show the other ACC programs that your team more than belonged in this traditionally tough wrestling conference?
JP: Yeah, it felt great. I think they knew we were coming to wrestle when we joined the conference. And we did a good job of following through and winning a championship. Now we want another one at the ACC Tournament.
Q: Now heading to that ACC Tournament next weekend, does the points system that rewards pins, technical falls and major decisions affect the way your guys wrestle?
JP: In the postseason, you can get points for winning big, but you also get points for how well you place in your weight class at the tournament. We have a few guys vying for top seeds and competing for individual championships. The format may be different, but not much changes with what we're trying to do. We're going to work really, really hard to prepare to win as many bouts as we can. If we can do that and win the close contests like we did in the dual meets, we can win another trophy at the ACC Tournament and send seven or eight guys to the NCAA Championships.
Q: With five guys on the team who won Eastern Wrestling League individual championships, how important is it to have that kind of experience heading into the postseason?
JP: It's great to have guys who won early in their careers and still have an opportunity to win more championships towards the end of their careers. Anytime you have several guys who've had success in Division I wrestling that can help mold and lead the underclassmen, that can only help your program. We have guys who've won individual championships that want to win more, but we also have guys like Edgar Bright who want to win their first individual championship as a freshman. It's nice to have that balance of experience and youth.
Q: Finally, in wrestling, these guys work so hard for their entire careers for a chance to get on the podium as an All-American at Nationals and to compete for a national championship. What will you tell your guys that qualify for NCAAs before they go out onto the mat for that opportunity of a lifetime?
JP: We want to finish strong and add to the great history Pitt has built in wrestling. I believe the sky's the limit for our team. The goal is to win. That's what I've told them from the first day of practice, and that's what I'll tell them at NCAAs. That committed mindset of winning that everyone has here - the coaches and wrestlers - gives us a good chance at having success.


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eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge 2016
The eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) 2016 Academic Innovation Challenge is a university-level challenge designed to engage and retain students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The competition is intended to link with senior- and graduate-level design curricula that emphasize hands-on design, research, development, and manufacture of functional prototypical subsystems that enable functionality for space habitats and deep space exploration missions. NASA will directly benefit from the challenge by sponsoring the development of innovative concepts and technologies from universities, which will result in innovative ideas and solutions that could be applied to exploration. The Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Exploration Augmentation Module (EAM) project will offer multiple X-Hab awards of $10k - $30k each to design and produce functional products of interest to the EAM project (see topic list) as proposed by university teams according to their interests and expertise. The prototypes produced by the university teams may be integrated onto existing NASA-built operational prototypes (examples shown in Figure 1). X-Hab proposals will have a proposal submittal, where down-selection will determine which projects will be funded. X-Hab university teams will complete their products for evaluation in May-June 2016 with the EAM team. Universities may collaborate together on a project team.
Students in the Critical Path: The X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge has a unique approach to student involvement, in that the student team is placed in the NASA mission critical path for the product or technology that they develop. The student team is considered equal with all the other subsystem teams, as Principal Investigator (PI) for their particular project. They are required to go through NASA System Definition Review (SDR), Preliminary Design Review (PDR), and Critical Design Review (CDR) on a similar footing as other NASA engineered products. In doing so, the NASA team is putting a great deal of responsibility on the students, and in turn gives the students a bigger stake in the future development of space technologies that likely will become heritage to actual systems and technologies that will be flown in space in the years and decades to come.
Proposals will be accepted from faculty who are U.S. citizens and currently teach an Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accredited engineering senior or graduate design, industrial design, or architecture curriculum teaming course at a university affiliated with the National Space Grant College (if applicable) and Fellowship Program, or other US accredited university. Multi-discipline, multi-departmental, and/or multi-institutional teaming collaborations are highly encouraged.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and other minority serving educational institutions are particularly encouraged to apply. Proposals from women, members of underrepresented minorities groups, and persons with disabilities are highly encouraged.
Proposal Information
- eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge Solicitation
- Important Dates - Anticipated Dates
|11 Mar 2015
|Date of Announcement / Release of RFP
|4 Apr 2015
|Questions for online Technical Interchange Due
|11 Apr 2015
Responses for questions published online
|30 April 2015
|Proposal Due Date
|29 May 2015
|Award Announcements
- Program Q&A
- Resources
Previous Challenges


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Blues Legend B.B. King is Coming to Tyler — Get Your Tickets NOW [UPDATED]
You read that right, B.B. King is coming to Tyler. This is an amazing chance to see one of the music world's kings and legends here in our little corner of East Texas. Will you make the bad choice to miss him? I hope not.
Stanley's Famous Pit BBQ and Larry Shaeffer have done us all a great favor in presenting B.B. King at Caldwell Auditorium. Tickets are on sale at Stanley's BBQ and online, so there is no excuse to not grab one for an experience that will make the stories for generations to come. This show, set for January 17th, will be a once in a life time experience that will never be recreated.
There are a lot of rumors floating around that the tickets for this show are sold out. This is not true. There are still more than a thousand spots left in the auditorium for blues fans. It would be a great tragedy to have such a legend as B.B. King come and perform for empty seats. Go down to Stanley's Famous Pit BBQ right now and get your tickets for this amazing music experience. This will probably never happen again folks, so don't leave something to regret later in life. Come get your fill of awe inspiring blues right in your city.
This 87-year-old musician has been the reigning king of blues longer than some of us have been alive. His recording career began in the 1940s, that alone is great feat. How many other artists can you think of at his age with that length of a career are still out on the road and recording?
Coming to Tyler is a man obsessed with making music. His songs and especially his guitar are what allow him to breathe. His guitar style is one of the most recognizable in all of music history. Even the most novice of blues fans can identify a B.B. King song within the first few notes strummed. Almost everyone has a favorite song or story of the king.
One great example of not only his love of music and his guitar, but a great story for all to appreciate is about a fire that almost took his guitar and left him with a lesson.
One night while King was performing for a dance in Arkansas in the 1950's, two men started a fire that made history. On stage, B.B. King played all the crowd's favorites and on the floor trouble began to rise. Two men started to brawl. This fight became unruly and out of control. The scuffle knocked a kerosene stove toppling over, catching the dance hall ablaze. King ran to safety with the rest of the people in attendance, but quickly realized he had left his beloved guitar back in the flames. He ran into the face of danger to save the thing that allowed him to live and make music. When King learned that the men had been fighting over a woman, he decided that he never wanted to make such a mistake. He decided to name his saved guitar after the woman that caused such a ruckus. Lucille is now the name that is given to every guitar after that first was made into an example of what can be lost with such silliness.
You know you're a legend when your own guitar has its own Wikipedia page.
There are not many stories of someone running into a burning building for something less than the thing he loves most. This story shows how near and dear music is to the man. Music may be the very thing that makes B.B. King, he may not be able to live without the songs emitted from his guitar and belted from his throat. This all makes sense when you hear that he is still playing music at such an advanced age.
The love of music this man carries can be intoxicating. The dedication and tenacity he shows for creating it and then sharing it with the rest of us is to be commended. He is a legend. He is what has slowly been squeezed from the music industry. There are no men like him performing and recording any more. It is a sad thought to think once he ceases to play, the world might have seen the extinction of grand music and great musicians.
To see such a hopeless future come without seeing the last great play would make the skies a little more grey and terrifying. Do not miss out on your chance to experience this greatness. Do not let the world change without seeing how awesome it once was.
Let your mind, body, and soul vibrate with the emotions that cannot just be heard, but felt.
How a stranger you have never really known but is so close to your heart can play an instrument that speaks the words you couldn't find. How a song told about all of your heart breaks and hard times without being about you. How just one man influenced so much of your life and the world around, with just words and a guitar. These are the things that you will will know after seeing B.B. King perform for you.
Give an old man the respect he deserves and make his trip to our city worth it. Come in the masses and crowd the streets, our king has come to town.


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Dear readers, don't fear, I have not forgotten you! In the past two weeks I have started four blog posts on at least three different topics, and have written at least that many more in my head while drifting off to sleep at night… Alas, the semester has begun and with it the fracturing of my time and attention.
One of the things I have been thinking about is the passing comment my director made about needing me to focus and stop going in so many directions. I snorted and put the thought aside (it was an emailed comment…). But i do struggle with this. I was hired to have no focus — to select materials in six diverse and complex subject areas (and build relationships with those units) and to provide instruction without regard to my specialties or my collection development areas. As such, I was hired to be a big picture thinker, and I bring that. To wit:
I am passionate about information literacy, and wish I could spend more time learning about pedagogy and applying it, refining assessment techniques, developing more and better relationships with my regular profs and new profs and profs who don't use instruction but would benefit.
I am fascinated with collection development in a small undergraduate institution. What does it mean to have a collection that solely supports student learning at this level? How do balance and bias come into the criteria? How do you support interdisciplinary topics on a tiny budget when they have no designated line? How to build the relationships with other selectors when our areas overlap (and maybe they don't perceive the overlap)? How to manage areas that aren't taught but need to be int he library collection? How to use collections information to leverage library usefulness and expand information literacy where it is most needed, and let departments know that their collection use tells us something about their students they might not know?
Electronic resources are an issue too — the concerns about owning or licensing materials, about the role of selecting what we want versus selecting aggregators who select is still an issue, and it is now moving into the reference collection, and perhaps soon into the monograph collection. How can we come to peace with these trends given our budget, staffing, and consortial situation?
The digital frontiers also raise concerns about moving selection and instruction into digital realms, educating our students and colleagues about the information tools they need to be familiar with, and the digital footprint issues they should be aware of or concerned about — and all this means educating myself as well.
And then there are the issues of being a member of the college community and all that brings to bear.
So, am I intellectually scattered? Yeah, I've got a lot of balls in the air at work. Is it possible for me to do the job I have and be focused? I'm having a hard time seeing it…. I can put it all under a large umbrella ("user-centered holistic librarianship" is my term du jour; "undergraduate education and The Library" works most days too) and say it's all one thing, but that's just gilding the lily. Is there another way to do my job, do it well, and find intellectual focus? I can't be the only one in this position — what say you? How have you managed the conflict between engaging in a job that demands multiple personalities and focusing on becoming expert in a single thing?
Curious minds want to know 😉


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Welcome to Portsmouth!
Portsmouth is a dynamic and vibrant waterfront city packed with great reasons to visit.
From the pomp and ceremony of our proud naval and maritime heritage, to towering world-class visitor attractions, museums and galleries, unique shopping destinations, great places to eat and miles of beautiful waterfront, Portsmouth offers something for absolutely everyone.
Ideally situated on the south coast of England, the UK's only island city is ideal for a short break by the sea. There are lots of things to do in Portsmouth, with magnificent museums, live music venues, contemporary art galleries, two cathedrals, a diverse literary heritage, nightlife, festivals and countless events throughout the year.
Portsmouth was the birthplace of Charles Dickens, and has also been home to Arthur Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling during their lifetimes. These literary greats are celebrated at museums throughout the city and with frequent events.
If there are big, outdoor events in Portsmouth, chances are they'll be hosted on Southsea Common, a 100-acre open space right on the seafront. It's a popular location for sports, picnics and dog walks. Recently, the Common has also hosted a number of high-profile events, including the America's Cup World Series and Victorious music festival.
Also situated on the Common is Southsea Castle, one of King Henry VIII's most famous fortifications. It's from the castle's vantage point that Henry is said to have watched the sinking of his flagship vessel, the Mary Rose.
The ship was to remain at the sea bed for 437 years, until it was raised and put on an intensive conservation programme. Now, the ship takes pride of place at the centre of its very own museum, where visitors can now see the ship in all her glory - even going through an air lock to breathe the same air.
There's also Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the UK's premier destination for Naval History. Inside you'll find 11 attractions including Lord Nelson's flagship HMS Victory, HMS Warrior 1860 and the National Museum of the Royal Navy. You can also get out onto the water on the Harbour Tour excursions, or take the waterbus to Gosport to see the Royal Navy Submarine Museum and Explosion Museum.
Not forgetting, of course, what is fast becoming the modern emblem of Portsmouth - the Emirates Spinnaker Tower. This imposing structure stretches 170 metres above Gunwharf Quays - making it taller than Big Ben, the London Eye and Blackpool Tower. On a good day, visitors can see 350 degree panoramas stretching up to 23 miles.
With all this and more on offer in one small island, Portsmouth certainly is the Great Waterfront City.
If you want to keep up with all the goings on in Portsmouth, sign up for our newsletter here.
Last but not least, you can also check out some of our other popular pages by clicking the following links: Accommodation, Hotels, Bed & Breakfasts, Self Catering, Restaurants, Pubs, Parking & Maps.