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Snap-On Smile is a great product for those looking to makeover their smile without undergoing extensive dental procedures. It works exactly like it sounds, a new set of "teeth" are created that are placed over your current teeth by snapping them in place. You can have a beautiful new smile in just two quick and painless visits to our office.
Snap-On Smile is a great option for patients with stained, chipped, cracked, crooked, or missing teeth. On your first visit with us you will pick the shade and style of your smile. We will then take an impression of your teeth so the Snap-On Smile can be properly fitted. The Snap-On Smile is then made with a light, durable resin to create a strong yet thin set of snap on teeth. In about three weeks you will return for your next visit where your new smile will be waiting! The Snap-On Smile will be placed onto your current teeth and you will leave the office with a bright new smile. No drilling, no extractions, no whitening chemicals are necessary – the whole process is quick, easy, and painless.
Your friends and family will be amazed by your transformation. You will be able to eat and drink with your Snap-On Smile , and caring for it is very easy. We will supply you with a cleaning solution during your final appointment. It can also be easily removed to clean your natural teeth, to participate in sporting events, or before you go to sleep. With proper care your Snap-On Smile can last from 3-5 years. If you have any questions about Snap-On Smile or would like to schedule a consultation please give our office a call. Remember, you are only two short, painless visits away from a beautiful new smile.

subset: commoncrawl


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Watch Rick Moranis' 'Spaceballs' Return From 'The Goldbergs'
It's been almost 30 years since Spaceballs hit theaters, and Rick Moranis is finally back under the (dark) helmet. Watch the beloved star come out of retirement to reprise his role as Dark Helmet in a clip from Wednesday's Goldbergs episode.
Yahoo shared a first look at the May 9 "Spaceballs" episode, which features Moranis returning to voice the villainous Dark Helmet during a dream sequence of Adam Goldberg (Sean Giambrone)'s. The scene finds Helmet storming Adam's bedroom to battle with the Schwartz, but devolves into a familiar-looking pitch session for an actual Spaceballs sequel. As show creator Adam F. Goldberg explained in the initial announcement, contributing to Spaceballs II is a real-life goal of his. Watch the clip below:
Moranis last acted onscreen in 1997's Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, and famously left the acting world to focus on his family. Goldberg claimed to have "courted Moranis for several weeks to get him to say 'yes,'" especially as the actor notably declined even a brief cameo in the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot. Moranis did reprise his Second City role as Canadian doofus Bob McKenzie for a benefit last year, but has otherwise expressed no plans to return to acting full-time.
Here's hoping Moranis makes a comeback eventually, but you can watch the full Goldbergs episode in the meantime on May 9.
Gallery: The 20 Best TV Show Revivals, Ranked


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Linda Delgado, Ex-Christian, USA
Linda Delgado, Ex-Christian, USA (part 1 of 2)
Description: How an American police officer came to know about Islam.
By Linda Delgado
About five years ago, I was fifty-two years old and a Christian. I had not become a member of any Christian church, but all my life I had been searching for the truth. I attended many churches and studied with their teachers. All fell short and I recognized none as being the truth about Allah. Since I was nine years old, I had read the Bible everyday of my life. I cannot tell you, over the many years, how many times I searched it for the truth.
During the long years of my search for the truth, I studied with many religious faiths. For over a year I studied two times a week with a Catholic priest, but could not accept Catholic beliefs. I spent another year studying with the Jehovah Witnesses and did not accept their beliefs either. I spent nearly two years with the LDS (Latter-Day Saints, i.e. the Mormons) and still did not find truth. I had a Jewish friend and we had many discussions about the Jewish beliefs. I went to many Protestant churches, some for months at a time, trying to find answers to my questions.
My heart told me Jesus was not God but a Prophet. My heart told me Adam and Eve were responsible for their sin, not me. My heart told me I should pray to God and no other. My reason told me that I was responsible for both my good and bad deeds and that God would never assume the form of a man in order to tell me that I was not responsible. He had no need to live and die as a human; after all, He is God.
So there I was, full of questions and praying to God for help. I had a real fear of dying and not knowing the truth. I prayed and I prayed. I received answers from preachers and priests like, "This is a mystery." I felt that God wanted people to go to heaven so He wouldn't make it a mystery as to how to get there, how to live life accordingly, and how to understand Him. I knew in my heart that all that I was hearing was untrue.
I live in Arizona, USA and at the age of fifty-two had still never talked to a Muslim. I, like many Westerners, had read much in the media about Islam being a fanatical religion of terrorists, so I never researched any books or information about Islam. I knew nothing about the religion.
My Discovery
About four years ago, I retired after twenty-four years as a police officer. My husband also retired as a police officer. The year before my retirement I was still a police sergeant/supervisor. Police officers worldwide have a common bond, which we call a law-enforcement brother-sisterhood. We always help one anther no matter what police department or country.
That year I received a flyer asking for help with a group of Saudi Arabian police officers who had come to the United States to learn English at a local University and attend a police academy in the city that I live in. The Saudi police officers were looking for homes to live in with host families in order to learn about US customs and to practice the English that they would be learning.
My son is raising my granddaughter as a single parent. We helped him to find a house next to ours so that we could help in raising her. I talked to my husband and we decided that it would be good to help these police officers. It would be an opportunity for our granddaughter to learn about people from another country. I was told that the young men were Muslims and I was very curious.
An Arizona State University Saudi interpreter brought a young man named Abdul to meet us. He could speak no English. We showed him a bedroom and bathroom, which would be his when he stayed with us. I liked Abdul immediately. His respectful and kind manner won my heart!
Next Fahd was brought to our home. He was younger and shyer, but a wonderful young man. I became their tutor and we shared many discussions about police work, the USA, Saudi Arabia, Islam, etc. I observed how they helped each other and also the other sixteen Saudi police officers who came to the USA to learn English. During the year they were here, I came to respect and admire Fahd and Abdul for not letting the American culture have any impact on them. They went to mosque on Fridays, said their prayers no matter how tired they were, and were always careful of what they ate, etc. They showed me how to cook some traditional Saudi foods and they took me to Arab markets and restaurants. They were very kind with my granddaughter. They showered her with presents, jokes and friendship.
They treated my husband and me with much respect. Each day, they would call to see if I needed them to go to market for me before they went to study with their fellow Saudi officers. I showed them how to use the computer, and I ordered Arab papers online and began to search the Internet to learn more about them, their customs and religion. I did not want to do things that would offend them.
One day, I asked them if they had an extra Quran. I wanted to read what it had to say. They sent to their embassy in Washington DC and they got me an English Quran, tapes, and other pamphlets. At my request, we began to discuss Islam (they had to speak English and this became the focus of our tutoring sessions). I grew to love these young men, and they told me that I was the first non-Muslim they had ever taught Islam to! After a year, they completed their studies and training at the police academy. I was able to help them with their police studies, as I had been a police instructor during my career as a police officer. I invited many of their brother-officers to the house to help with university projects and to practice English. One brother had his wife come to stay here in the US, and I was invited to their home. They were very gracious and I was able to talk to his wife about Muslim dress, prayer ablutions, and similar things.
A week before "my foster sons" were to return home to Saudi Arabia, I planned a family dinner with all their favorite traditional foods (I bought some because I didn't know how to cook all of them). I purchased a hijab and an abaya (long Islamic gown). I wanted them to go home remembering me dressed appropriately as a Muslim sister. Before we ate, I said the Shahadah (public declaration of faith). The boys cried and laughed and it was so special. I believe in my heart that Allah sent the boys to me in answer to my years of prayers. I believe He chose me to see the truth by the light of Islam. I believe Allah sent Islam to my very home. I praise Him for His mercy, love and kindness to me.
My Journey in Islam
My Saudi boys returned to their homeland about a week after my reversion. I missed them greatly, but was still happy. I had joined the local mosque as a member almost immediately after my reversion and registered myself as a Muslim. I was anticipating a warm welcome from my new Muslim community. I thought all Muslims were like my Saudi boys and the other young Saudi officers whom I had met and spent time with during the previous year.
My family was still in a state of shock! They thought I would stick with this new religion for a while, become disgruntled, and move on to another religion as I had done all my adult life. They were surprised at the changes that I began to make in my daily life. My husband is a congenial man, so when I said that we were going to be eating halal foods and eliminating haram (forbidden) foods, he said, "Okay."
My next change was removing pictures of people and animals from the rooms in the house. One day my husband came home from work to find me placing family pictures that had once hung on the walls in our home, in large, handsomely-bound photo albums. He watched and didn't comment.
Next I wrote a letter to my non-Muslim family telling them about my reversion and how it would and wouldn't change our family relationships. I explained a few of the basics of Islam. Still my family kept their own counsel, and I continued to work on learning prayer and reading my Quran. I got active in sister groups on the Internet and this facilitated my learning about my new beliefs.
Linda Delgado, Ex-Christian, USA (part 2 of 2)
Description: New experiences after embracing Islam.
By Linda Delgado
I also attended a "Fundamentals of Islam" class at the mosque when I could get away from my work. I was still a state police sergeant and it was difficult – no, impossible to cover. This became a source of real discontent and concern for me. Just eight months and I could retire, so I asked for and was granted the right to telecommute from my home three days a week doing planning and research projects.
After the first six months had passed, sisters at the mosque that I attended still hadn't warmed up to me. I was disappointed. I began to feel like an outsider. I was puzzled and concerned. I tried to become active in community services with a few sisters who had been friendly towards me. I looked for the kindness, friendship, and best of manners that were practiced each and every day by my Saudi boys. I made many mistakes at the mosque, such as talking in the prayer room as I tried to get up and down from the floor. I went to a community celebration and ate with my left hand; I wore clear nail polish on my trimmed nails and got scolded. I did wudu (ablutions) incorrectly and was frowned at. I became very discouraged.
Then one day I received a package in the mail from a sister-friend who I had met on the Internet. In the package were several abayas, hijabs, silk stockings, and a warm and friendly note welcoming me as her sister in Islam. She lives in Kuwait. Next a dear sister sent me a prayer robe and prayer rug she had hand-made herself. This dear sister lives in Saudi Arabia. I got an email that had a statement that I always remember at times when I get that "outsider" feeling. The note said: "I am glad that I became Muslim before I met many Muslims." This is not an insult. It was a reminder that Islam is perfect and it is we Muslims who are imperfect. Just as I have shortcomings, so may my sisters and brothers. I also began to understand what I personally believe to be one of the greatest gifts that Allah gave to the Muslims: the sister and brotherhood in Islam.
Over the past four years my life has changed dramatically. My family has come to accept with generosity and tolerance that I am Muslim and will remain Muslim. All thanks be to Allah for sparing me the trials of so many reverts who must deal with beloved family who strive to dissuade them from Islam.
Gradually, I made some sister friends locally and by cyber space, dozens of sister friends became my Muslim family bringing me support, love and friendship. It was close to my first year as a Muslim that I became ill with a series of life-threatening diseases. I clung tight to the rope of Islam and was grateful for the black seed tea and ZamZam water that my sister-friends sent me from around the world along with their daily du`aa' (supplications).
As my health continued to fail and I grew weaker physically, I had to discontinue community service work and became more isolated from the local Muslim community. I continued to work hard on my prayer, having great difficulty with the Arabic pronunciation but not giving up. My Islamic teacher made some cassette tapes, and a sister brought them to my home to help me. After two years, I had learned to recite four Surahs (chapters) of the Qur'an. This may seem like a small number to most Muslims, but for me it was a very big accomplishment. I set about learning the words for the other parts of prayer; another two years of struggle.
During the early part of my third year as a Muslim, I suffered a heart attack and had heart surgery. It was a sad time for me, as I knew that I would never again touch my head to the floor when praying, but would forever have to sit in my chair and pray. It was at this time that I truly understood the provision from Allah that Islam is the religion of ease. Praying while seated in a chair is acceptable; not fasting when one is sick is acceptable. I did not have to feel that I was less a Muslim because of these circumstances.
After visiting several mosques and observing that they were like mini United Nations, I began to see that the small groups within the mosque were mostly formed because of language and culture and not because of liking or disliking any person. I felt good that regardless of these differences, I could always count on a smile and an "As-Salaam' Alaykum!"
After a while, I began to gravitate towards sisters who are reverts to Islam like me. We have much in common – we experience many of the same trials, such as non-Muslim family members, difficulty pronouncing Arabic, being lonely on Muslim holidays, and not having a family member to break fast with during Ramadan. Sometimes our reversions meant losing life-long friends who just couldn't accept our new habits, or it was because of our discontinuance of activities common to non-Muslims, such as dancing and mixing in groups.
As I grew less able to do community services, I searched for some way to contribute to the greater Muslim community. I continually asked Allah for His help in this. One day, my young granddaughter suggested that I write books about my Saudi boys, Islam, and my family's experience with Islam. I decided to write the books and also include stories about a group of young girls, both Muslim and non-Muslim, who were friends. The stories would include the young girls' problems encountered at school and at home and I would use my knowledge of Islam as a guide for these book characters.
I began writing a book series that I called Islamic Rose Books. I created an e-group for sister authors and aspiring writers and this developed into the creation of the Islamic Writers Alliance. The Alliance is an international organization created to provide support for female Muslim authors and aspiring writers. Our main goal is to help each other promote our works to readers and publishers. I also decided to help two Muslim food banks by creating databases that help them to track their inventory, clients, and contacts and to create reports necessary for funding purposes. I decided that I would spend a large portion of my profits from book sales to buy books for Islamic children's libraries. I have discovered that many such libraries have lots of empty shelves where Islamic books belong.
I still have much to learn about Islam. I never tire of reading the Qur'an and one of my favorite pastimes is reading about prominent, historical Islamic figures. When I am unsure about something in Islam, I look to the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him). I see how he responded to situations and use this as my guide. My journey in Islam will continue, and I look forward to many new experiences. I thank Allah daily for His Mercy and Love.


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The National Research Council (NRC) released the latest in its roughly decennial assessment of research doctoral programs, and its findings provide a treasure-trove of historical data on the activities of history PhD programs.1 Whether the NRC rankings of those programs merit similar acclaim probably depends on where your department ended up.
The information on history doctoral programs is slightly dated, since it relies on data from the 2006–07 academic year. And the NRC information is muddled a bit by the inclusion of a number of highly specialized programs (such as history of science) alongside departments that include multiple subject areas. For clarity, this analysis will exclude specialized programs, and focus solely on the 123 history departments in the NRC report. Note that this does not include all history departments with PhD programs. The AHA's database of history doctoral programs shows 152 departments conferring the PhD, but the NRC excluded programs at universities that chose not to participate in the survey or had conferred fewer than five PhDs between 2000 and 2006.
The NRC report gains most attention for its rankings of the doctoral programs, which are based on the views of scholars in the discipline. These rankings are based on two polls: one that surveyed program reputations and another that first asked scholars in the discipline to determine the relative weights of significant and objective measures of achievement within each department, and then used those for calculating more objective rankings. Taken together, the two types of measurement offer something of a diffuse cloud of rankings that make it nearly impossible to construct a simple tabular list of the "best programs" in history.
The lack of a clear hierarchy of history programs is for the best, since what makes one program measurably better than another generally depends on the specific field of specialization and who is asking the question. Broken into four broad tiers, the reputation rankings and the supporting data in the report provide a useful way of analyzing some of the characteristics that may set one doctoral program apart from another—ranging from the production of new scholarship by faculty members to the departments' support for students and their goals.
The most prominent characteristic of programs in the top half of the reputational rankings is size. Two-thirds of the top-ranked programs are the largest in the discipline measured by faculty and student population (Figure 1). Programs in the top quarter of the rankings have an average of 62 faculty members, and annually conferred an average of 13.1 PhDs from 2002 to 2006. In comparison, programs in the bottom quarter of the rankings had an average of barely 30 faculty members and conferred an average of less than five PhDs per department each year.
The type of institution housing the department did not seem to make a significant difference in the upper ranks, as programs in the top half of the rankings were evenly split between public and private institutions. Departments in the lower-half of the reputational rankings, however, were significantly more likely to be in public universities—accounting for 79 percent of the bottom ranked programs.
Student Issues
The rankings show some significant qualitative differences for doctoral students. Judged solely by GRE scores, students entering top-ranked programs from 2004 to 2006 seemed better qualified than students entering programs at the bottom of the rankings. Students at programs in the top quarter of the rankings had an average of 652 on the GRE's, as compared to an average score of 578 for students at programs in the bottom quarter.
And students at the top-ranked programs also enjoyed significantly more support for their studies. An average of 90 percent of the first year students at top-ranked programs in fall 2005 had full support for their studies, as compared to an average of 51 percent of the students at programs in the bottom quarter (Figure 2).
Students at the top-ranked programs were also more likely to have fewer strings attached to their support, which might impede their studies. An average of 10 percent of the students in programs in the top quarter of the rankings had external funding support for their studies, while none of the students in programs at the bottom of the rankings enjoyed such support. Students at departments in the bottom quarter of the rankings were much more likely to support their studies with teaching assistantships. In fall 2005, an average of 45 percent of the students in bottom-ranked programs had teaching assistantships, as compared to 30 percent of the students at top-ranked programs.
Students at the programs in the top-ranked programs were also significantly more likely to have other benefits as well, such as work spaces allocated to their use and health insurance provided by the institution.
Despite these apparent advantages for students at departments with the best reputations, there was relatively little difference in the average time-to-degree and completion rates between the different programs.
Among students in all history PhD programs, the completion rate after eight years averaged just 42 percent in all reporting departments. Completion rates at programs in the lower half of the reputational rankings seem only modestly lower than at departments in the top tier—40 percent as compared to 45 percent (Figure 3).
The actual completion rate is certainly higher than these figures suggest. Students who had completed their programs spent an average of 7.46 years in their studies, which indicates that a large proportion of the students completed their degrees after the eight-year window used for the study's completion figure.2
Regardless of the low completion number, there was very little variation in time-to-degree for students across the departmental rankings. Students from programs at top-ranked programs completed their studies in an average of 7.41 years as compared to an average of 7.44 years for students from departments in the bottom quarter of the rankings.3
Despite the other disadvantages of students in the lower-ranked programs, one of the more remarkable findings in the report is that there is very little variation in the proportion of students who reported academic employment at the time they earned their degrees. Among students who earned their degrees between 2001 and 2005, an average of 46 percent of the students at programs in the top quarter of the rankings had a contract "with an educational institution" at the time they earned their degree. In comparison, an average of 47 percent of the students from programs in the bottom quartile were similarly situated. The average for students from programs in the middle tiers was actually slightly lower than the programs at the top and bottom of the rankings.
This reinforces findings from earlier AHA studies which suggested that the smaller and less prestigious programs serve a vital niche market—feeding faculty into positions at small two- and four-year institutions, particularly in the interior of the country, which students from elite programs would not consider.4
Faculty Productivity and Support
Not surprisingly, the differences between the departments in the top and bottom tiers were also marked by the faculty's level of productivity and support for their research. Faculty members in programs in the top quarter of the programs published an average of 13.2 publications (defined broadly) each in the seven-year period from 2000 to 2006. In comparison, faculty members in programs at the bottom quarter had published an average of 9.3 publications over the same span.
Faculty in the top-ranked departments also earned a much larger number of awards to recognize their research. As of 2006, the faculty members in programs in the top tier of programs had earned an average of 3.9 "prestigious" or "highly prestigious" awards. Faculty in programs in the bottom quarter of the rankings had earned an average of 0.5 awards.
Faculty in upper-level programs also enjoyed a higher level of support for their research. An average of 21.2 percent of the faculty in departments in the top quartile had grants to support their research in 2000, as compared to an average of 16 percent in programs in the bottom quartile.
These differences are partially due to the demographics of the elite departments as compared to their lower-ranked peers. Departments in the top quarter of the rankings have a higher proportion of tenured senior faculty and a lower proportion of junior faculty. This is hardly surprising, as the wealthier and more prestigious schools often use the lower-ranked programs as a sort of farm team, hiring away the senior faculty after they publish significant work in the field.
Demographics of Faculty and Students
The survey offers some additional demographic data on doctoral programs in 2006. In that year, 34 percent of the faculty and 43 percent of the students in the department were women. There was little variation in the representation of women among the faculty among the different tiers of the rankings, but the student populations at departments in the bottom half of the rankings were significantly less diverse. On average, almost 50 percent of the doctoral students in programs in the top half of the rankings were women, as compared to an average of 39 percent of the students in programs in the bottom half of the rankings.
In comparison, there was very little variation in the representation of racial and ethnic minorities among faculty and students in the different strata of history doctoral programs. The NRC data excludes minorities of Asian descent, but shows that an average of 11 percent of faculty in these departments were members of a "Non-Asian Minority" in 2006. There was very little variation among departments at the top and bottom of the rankings.
The representation of non-Asian minorities among students who were citizens and permanent citizens in fall 2005 was similar to the faculty—averaging 12 percent in history doctoral programs. The representation of minorities in the student population was higher than the faculty in top-ranked programs (averaging almost 15 percent). Programs in the bottom half of the rankings were less diverse than their counterparts at the top of the rankings (averaging less than 10 percent of the doctoral student population).
These are the major gleanings from the preliminary data tables. When the data is finalized, staff at the AHA will prepare a further study comparing the history doctoral programs to PhD-granting departments in other disciplines.
Robert B. Townsend is the Association's assistant director for research and publications.
1. Jeremiah P. Ostriker, et al, A Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States (Washington, D.C., National Research Council, 2010). The data tables and related methodology reports can be found online at www.nap.edu/rdp/ . For a quick look-up of data about specific departments, see PhDs.org, an independent web site not affiliated with the National Research Council that has incorporated data from the research-doctorate assessment into its Graduate School Guide.
2. The NRC uses two different ways of measuring completion and time-to-degree that may make it confusing to understand. The completion rate was calculated by looking at how many of the students who entered doctoral studies between from 1996-97 to 1998-99 had completed their studies within an eight year window. The time-to-degree figure was calculated by looking back to the start date of all students who received doctoral degrees from 2003–04 to 2005–06.
3. This is lower than the average of around 9 years shown in the annual Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), as reported in Robert B. Townsend, "History PhDs Grow in Number and Diversity in 2007–08," Perspectives on History " (January 2010, online at www.historians.org/Perspectives/issues/2010/1001/1001new2.cfm). This is due to the different methodology of counting, since the data for this report is collected from departments, while the data for the SED is collected directly from the new PhDs (who are told to include time spent in other graduate programs).
4. See for instance Anthony Grafton and Robert B. Townsend, "The Parlous Paths of the Profession," Perspectives on History (September 2008) available online at www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2008/0810/0810pro1.cfm.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Attribution must provide author name, article title, Perspectives on History, date of publication, and a link to this page. This license applies only to the article, not to text or images used here by permission.


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Goodbye Glare, Hello Photochromic Lenses!
How many times have you stepped outside looking forward to feeling the sun on your face, only to wince at the sudden glare?
The obvious remedy is sunglasses, but that can become complicated for those of us with prescription glasses. Short of buying a separate pair of prescription sunglasses or wearing contacts just so we can wear non-prescription sunglasses, how can we escape the glare?
What Are Photochromic Lenses?
You probably already know photochromic lenses under another name: Transitions®. This is just a brand name, like Kleenex or Band-Aid; the actual name for the lens type is photochromic, meaning lenses that darken like sunglasses when exposed to direct sunlight and lighten again indoors. These lenses are self-tinting, adaptive, and light-reactive!
[iframe https://www.youtube.com/embed/pnsVks0SshA?rel=0&start=33 620 349]
Protect Your Vision
Protecting our eyesight from the sun's UV rays is crucial, as they can cause short-term damage like photokeratitis (sunburn of the eye) and even lead to long-term problems like cataracts. Photochromic lenses play an important role in helping provide the protection you need because they absorb 100% of UVA/UVB rays.
On the road, sometimes the sun can make it hard to see, and trying to squint at road signs in harsh lighting can cause major eye strain. Your windshield already protects you from harmful UV rays to an extent, but wearing photochromic lenses can add protection from glare and make your eyes much more comfortable.
Sunglasses Versus Photochromic Lenses
Photochromic lenses are similar to sunglasses in many ways, but some prefer one over the other. One advantage of photochromic lenses is that they save you the cost of prescription sunglasses. You can buy one pair that's great for both indoors and outdoors, and you won't have worry about remembering to bring your other pair everywhere.
If cost and convenience are your main concerns, then photochromic lenses are a great option. However, if you like sunglasses for their style or tend to prefer darker lenses, regular prescription sunglasses may serve you better. Another factor to consider is whether you take a lot of photos outside, because photochromic lenses will darken in sunlight even when you don't want them to!
We'd Love To Help You Pick Your Pair
Whether photochromic lenses or prescription sunglasses are the better option for you, we strongly encourage you make your eye safety a priority by wearing some form of UV eye protection outside. If photochromic lenses are something you feel you could benefit from, come in or call us today and we can discuss which options would be best for you!


text: As an authorized RoadWorks® Manufacturing truck accessories dealer, Allstate Peterbilt of Eagan, located in, Eagan, MN, is committed to helping you have access to high quality stainless steel accessories for your semi-truck and your lifestyle. Allstate Peterbilt of Eagan has a wealth of experience when it comes to all sorts of semi-truck accessories. Allstate Peterbilt of Eagan are expert installers and will ensure that your RoadWorks accessory is installed professionally and properly. Simply put, Allstate Peterbilt of Eagan offers the best choice in , and many other high-quality stainless steel truck accessories. If you want the best deal in stainless steel big truck accessories and want it installed right, quickly and with no remorse, then head over to Allstate Peterbilt of Eagan in Eagan, MN, your local preferred RoadWorks accessories dealer.


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Date(s) - 12/02/2015
8:00 pm - 10:30 pm
Cwmdu Inn
Monthly meeting As you would expect in an agricultural area like Cwmdu, there are many people interested in old farm machinery, and in old or classic cars and vehicles especially those with an agricultural heritage. An evening of chat about; history, experiences, techniques and theory encompassing all things mechanical and more! The club is very informal: no membership fees or programme, so come along and meet fellow enthusiasts?


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Spa Valley Railway » Fund Raising » Donations for General Purpose
The immediate impact of the COVID-19 Lockdowns is behind us, we still need your generous donations towards improvements at the Railway.
Please only donate what you can afford, we are extremely grateful for any donations that you can give.
« Back To Fund Raising


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Our ziplines and slacklines will give you, your friends and the whole family one of the best and most exhilarating outdoor experiences ever with many hours of exciting fun.
This kit contains everything you need for a zipline with a length of 45 metres. Suitable for children and adults and easy to install.
Can be installed by two people and be ready for use in around 120 minutes or less.
Our ziplines and slacklines are of the highest quality. Our products are designed to get you, your friends and your kids outside, active, away from TV's, tablets, game consoles and getting your and their share of vitamin D, exercise and fresh air!
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This kit consists of:
45 m galvanized steel cable 7x19 type
2 x 2,5 m galvanized steel cable for the anchor points
2 x cable thimble
18 x cable clamps
2 x cable turnbuckle size 1/2" x 9"
DIY bungee brake kit
double handle
oval steel carabiner
stainless steel pulley
installation manual
safety and maintenance instructions
Maximum load 175 kg.
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The American people FAIL to REFUDIATE VIRAL and EPIC A-HA MOMENTs when we FACEBOOK and GOOGLE the BACK STORY of our BFFs for the WOW FACTOR. Just MAN UP MAMA GRIZZLIES. LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST. I'M JUST SAYIN'!!
We just wanted to make sure you were paying attention. Buzz word overload? Have no fear, if you think these words are overused and abused, you are not alone. Today, we are highlighting Lake Superior State University's 2011 List of Banished Words. Some of the top choices for banished words were "epic", "viral", and "fail".
Improve the way you communicate and give us all a break by checking out the list here. What are your top choices for words that should be blacklisted?
Photo credit: http://rcayao.com |


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The Safety and Effectiveness of DuraSorb for Lower Pole Reinforcement in Patients Undergoing 2 Stage Breast Reconstruction
Are you eligible to participate in this study?
You may be eligible for this study if you meet the following criteria:
Conditions: Breast Reconstruction
Age: Between 22 Year(s) - 70 Year(s)
Gender: Female
Other Inclusion Criteria:
- Is scheduled to undergo either unilateral or bilateral mastectomy with immediate 2-stage breast reconstruction.
You may not be eligible for this study if the following are true:
- Is pregnant or planning to become pregnant during study participation.
- Has a history of failed tissue expansion or breast implantation at the intended reconstruction site.
- Has a residual gross tumor at the intended reconstruction site.
- Has been treated for a systemic infection or a local infection at the surgical site within 30 days prior to surgery.
If you are registered as a volunteer, please log in to contact the study team/express interest in this study.


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My friend Eva Blue takes much better pictures than I could ever hope to do. This is her batch from Wednesday night's burger challenge.
Kitchenette's Chicken Fried Chili Cheeseburger with roasted peppers.
Le Boucan's jalapeño smoked burger. A Stuffed smoked jalapeño wrapped in bacon and served in a bun with homemade condiments.
Le Jolifou's smoked apple wood salmon with sweet cherry bomb pepper crystals and an aioli chipotle sauce.
Chez l'Épicier's double burger of seasoned duck and foie gras with figs.
Pintxo's foie gras burger.
Le St-Urbain's osso bucco burger. A braised veal shank burger on a smoked duck fat and pecorino bun.
Le Grain de Sel's mini boudin burger with banana chutney, aioli, chocolate and ancho chiles.
Barroco's pork and truffle burger. Braised pork served on a homemade bun, topped with peppercorn pecorino cheese and a truffle and cauliflower remoulade.
Bice's Angus beef and mozzarella burger.
Café Ferreira's spicy three meat burger with Serra cheese on a Portuguese bun.
Me looking pregnant with the other judges and MC after eating all ten "burgers." From left-to-right; Jean-Philippe Tastet, Ryk "E Coli" Edelstein, yours truly with the eight month-old belly, Lesley Chesterman (looking lovely as usual) and Anne-Marie Withenshaw.
Discussing the finer points of cooked ground beef…
And there are tons more here.


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Yesterday of this current dark/new moon phase, I burned away some false beliefs. There were and still are many of these programmed beliefs, I've only just questioned the ones on the surface. It might seem like I'm going through some sort of crisis but it's not so much to do with everyday life, it's more about my relationship with the world around me -- what is real and who is real. So much of what I've thought and believed and participated in is illusion. The frequency I was once in tune with has gotten fuzzy and distorted and it's time to find a clear connection again. Like a radio. A place to be, which I sort of don't have right now, I'm in between.
And lest this sound political, I'm not on either side.
Then I went and finished the Hitchhiker scarf. I didn't quite make the 42 points the pattern is named after (the book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"), I think there are 39. The scarf is over 60" long and made from sock yarn -- it took a very long time, nearly two years with my highly irregular knitting sessions.
This morning of the new moon, I put fresh cloths on the little table that is my altar. The cloth on the left was made by my Grandmother Lucia and I stitched 16 blue moons onto it recently. The cloth on the right was made by me for St. Lucia's Day a few years ago and always reminds me of my grandmother. A few nights ago I stitched the words "the way is clear" -- a message I've apparently sent to myself because everywhere I've turned the last few weeks I've seen or heard the words "the way is clear".
Then I drew a card for guidance and wouldn't you know....The Moon.
I'm gathering items to burn on Brigid's Day, there may be a new batch of false beliefs to throw in as well. If you'd like to bless your own home and hearth, my last year's Brigid's Day Household Ritual is here.


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Continental Grand Prix 5000 700c
Continental Grand Prix 5000 700c
Regular price
Regular price
Sale price
Unit price
The best allrounder in the field, brought to a whole new performance level. Ride faster, more comfortable and with increased puncture protection. Made to make you better.
+12% better rolling resistance (speed) : +20% more puncture protection : -10g lighter (25-622) : improved comfort
- BlackChili compound: It's all about how you mix it With our unique tread compound, which is produced only in Germany, we have revolutionised the sport of cycling. With the legendary BlackChili Compound we have answered the eternal question of the best balance of grip and rolling resistance for cycling. Regular test wins confirm the measureable and noticeable advantages for the cyclist, established in the laboratory and on the road. The latest polymers as well as specially developed carbon black particles and filler materials guarantee unique performance
- Active Comfort : The revolutionary approach in cycling. Embedded in the tyre construction the Active Comfort Technology absorbs vibrations and smoothens your ride.
- Lazer Grip, to make you one with the road. The lazered micro profile structure expands over the tire's shoulder and provides outstanding cornering.
- Vectran™: The benchmark in puncture protection Vectran™ is a synthetically manufactured high-tech fibre from a natural model. Like spider silk, Vectran™ is a liquid-crystalline polymer (LCP). Vectran™ is spun from the melted liquid polymer Vectra and processed further to a multi-strand thread. Spider silk like Vectran™ has an enormous tear resistance at a very low weight: Exactly the right properties to process into a premium Continental bicycle tire as a puncture protection insert. A Vectran™ Breaker is lighter, more flexible and protects more effectively against cuts than the comparable nylon breaker. Vectran™ Breaker does not adversely affect the rolling resistance.


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Yanagisawa Metal Baritone Saxophone Mouthpiece
Yanagisawa silver-plated brass saxophone mouthpieces are designed and manufactured with the same uncompromising excellence that is the hallmark of the instruments themselves. They produce a true saxophone sound, enhanced with a brightness and edge that derives from the silver plating of beautifully machined solid brass stock. All Yanagisawa metal mouthpieces feature square chambers and come complete with matching ligature and cap. Visually as well as acoustically, these mouthpieces are true works of art, created for the true artist.


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This editorial originally appeared in the January issue of See Page XX as Trail of Cthulhu and 13th Age, and we want to make sure everyone who follows 13th Age news has a chance to see it. In it, Pelgrane Press publisher Simon Rogers makes a commitment to support for 13th Age that will match the support for its best-selling game line to date — Trail of Cthulhu.
If you're deciding on your next fantasy RPG and publisher support is a factor, you can be confident that 13th Age is a strong product line with many adventures and supplements to come. Here are just a few.
Trail of Cthulhu was a game-changer for Pelgrane. I was very excited when Chaosium agreed to the license, and when I added Kenneth Hite to Robin Laws' GUMSHOE system I was pretty sure we had horror gamer catnip.
The analogy with 13th Age is plain. Take the two developers of the previous versions of D&D, free them to do exactly as they wish, and we get something fresh, original and idiosyncratic for fantasy gamers. If you look at my business post – you can see what happened in 2008 when Trail was released, and in 2011 when 13th Age was placed on pre-order.
For both projects, the look and art was a given – it had to be Jérome Huguenin for Trail, and Lee Moyer and Aaron McConnell for 13th Age. Ken's interactions with Jérome's art influenced the final Trail manuscript, and Rob riffed off Aaron and Lee's take on the 13th Age. These weren't artists called into illustrate a finished project – their art influenced the writers and designers, and vice versa.
The two lines have another similarity. They are both commercial and critical successes. 13th Age is rapidly catching up with Trail in terms of core book sales, and reviews of both lines are stellar. So why am I banging on about this?
Well, 13th Age is at the stage where Trail of Cthulhu was in 2008, and I want to give 13th Age players an idea of the extent of support we will give 13th Age; so that if you mount the 13th Age dragon, you have some idea where the ride might take you.
Trail of Cthulhu
Since Trail launched in 2008, we've released 33 supplements, including music and compilations, racking up 13 ENnie awards, nominations and honourable mentions. Our most widely acknowledged contribution to Mythos gaming is in the breadth and innovation of our adventure design and 21 of these releases were adventures. The first supplement for Trail of Cthulhu was Stunning Eldritch Tales – Robin Laws establishing a benchmark for Trail adventures, which Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan followed up with Arkham Detective Tales. Here are a few more highlights:
Shadows over Filmland: this set of adventures mixes up the Mythos with the horror films of the 1930s, and includes the Backlot Gothic , the gloomy and torch-wieldling festooned setting for thos films. Each chapter has a frontispiece illustrated by Jérome in the style of a film still. So, meet the Lord of the Apes, Dracula, the invisible man, zombies and Dr Frankenstein – who has Herbert West's lab notes.
Rough Magicks – Ken's more detailed take of mythos spells and rituals was followed by Robin's Armitage Files, a new take on GUMSHOE which encouraged improvised play, showing the versatility of the system (and the creator).
Graham Walmsley's Purist adventures: featuring the sad and the soul-sapping, Graham brought a new aesthetic to Trail, where hope is lost, characters have no good choices and the Mythos is victorious. They have since been collected together in Final Revelation.
A series of PDF adventures: by authors including Jason Morningstar, Bill White and Adam Guantlett allowed those authors to play their own games in our playground of despond, giving us scenarios set in Georgian times, in the Great War, at the dawn of the Nuclear Age and in a 1930s apocalypse, now collected in Out of Time and Out of Space.
Bookhounds of London is Ken's bravura take on a Mythos city book, which with its companion volume Paulas Dempsey's Book of the Smoke formed part of the amazing Bookhounds of London limited edition.
Finally, I'll mention the culmination of years of work from Will Hindmarch and Jeff Tidball, with help from many others: Eternal Lies, the world-spanning adventure inspired by Chaosium's seminal campaigns. Combined with James Semple and his team's music this is truly epic and the most ambitious book we have created to date.
We will continue to support Trail with vigour – it is evergreen. Coming up are Mythos Expeditions, Dreamhounds of Paris and Fearful Symmetry. Many more are in the pipeline.
13th Age
Its clear that 13th Age will be bigger than Trail. We will support 13th Age just as solidly and vigourously as we have Trail of Cthulhu, bring in top writers and artists, and our own uninhibited take on fantasy roleplaying.
Fire Opal Media are producing some books in-house for Pelgrane to publish (13 True Ways) – with others we are working with various degrees of collaboration mainly with Rob Heinsoo on the Fire Opal side. So what should you expect?
We will work with the best people we can find who are inspired by 13th Age. Whether that's our staff, freelancers we respect, or third-parties taking our open game license engine and having their own take on the Archmage Engine, we are happy.
So what's to come?
- The 13th Age Bestiary is in layout, and it combines everything we've learnt from monster creation in the Dying Earth, the Book of Unremitting Horror and Trail itself – that is, monsters should be entertaining and carefully constructed opponents, but also adventures in their own right with life and background – but they should not be set in stone. We want GMs to have the material they need to reimagine their creatures to fit their version of the 13th Age.
- 13 True Ways is a labour of love by the original designers at Fire Opal, and features the elements 13th Age fans have said are missing from their games – in particular a wider range of classes and creatures. Progress report here.
- Shadows in Eldolan brings an urban mystery for 1st level adventurers featuring rival wizard schools and the undead – a benchmark adventure.
- The Lair of the Stone Thief is Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan's dungeon campaign featuring a living dungeon, malevolent and viscious with a similarity to a certain white whale.
- Shards of the Broken Sky is a sandbox adventure for 13th Age centering on the crash of one of the Archmage's flying realms. As threats multiply, the flying land turns out to have been the control point for magical wards neutralizing three ancient evils. With the cone of secrecy shattered, each of the thirteen icons offers rival opportunities for glory, plunder, or heroic sacrifice.
- The Strangling Sea is Robin D Laws introductory adventure. In this 13th Age adventure for a party of 4-6 1st-level adventurers, our heroes attempt to retrieve the enigmatic engineer Inigo Sharpe from his unfortunate imprisonment in the Stranglesea. This fantastical equivalent of our world's Sargasso Sea traps wrecked ships, strands castaways, and supports an array of dangerous animal life.
These are still at the pitch stage – let us have your comments:
A 13th Age GM's screen which is based on The Noteboard, and a Noteboard based battlemat with the 13th Age map on one side and a whiteboard on the other.
All for Love: (1st to 10th level campaign) Every generation, the rich, beautiful, politically powerful Orlando family introduces its sons and daughters into Imperial court life in a series of balls, jousts, tournaments, and increasingly perilous quests.
Every generation, the Orlandos' rivals (human and otherwise) try to destroy them in a series of vendettas, assassinations, and increasingly unhinged proposals of marriage. You and your fellow heroes have fallen in love with the newest generation of Orlandos — or at least with their wealth, beauty, and political power. What will you do to win their attentions, to protect the things — and perhaps even the people — you love? Everything it takes, of course.
A book on Icons and their organisations.
Kenneth Hite's Swords and Mythos – either a straight Earth port, or set in an earlier age: both of Ken's pitches follow:
Swords and Mythos – Terran Version
From Sarnath to Mu to Hyperborea to Cimmeria, the ancient Earth swarms with dark cults, eldritch horrors, and foul magics — and with mighty heroes who drive them back into nightmare or master inhuman lore for human gain. This sourcebook reframes 13th Age for the primal Earth of heroic dark fantasists like Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Karl Edward Wagner, and Richard Tierney — and for a surprising amount of Lovecraft! Gods and monsters of the antediluvian Earth appear, ready to topple civilization or sink a continent. Magic, Icons, Relationships, and One Unique Things get their own spin for a world where attracting something more powerful than you isn't always the best idea … but you've got the steel to meet them in the shadows.
Swords and Mythos – 13th Age Version
Before the Dragon Empire, before the storms calmed in the Midland Sea, before the Elf Queen took her oaken throne, before the Orcs were formed from the corpse-meat of a forgotten species, there was an age of terror and wonder — the Zeroth Age. The oldest Icons ruled, then: the Tattered King, the Dreamer in the Deep, and the Crawling Chaos, Icons that walked the world as Avatars and selected heroes to carry steel and shape sorcery in the names of those Great Old Ones. In this "swords and Mythos" setting, the familiar 13th Age rules and Relationships get their own spin for a world where attracting something more powerful than you isn't always the best idea … but you've got what it takes to meet them in the shadows.
The OGL and Third Party Publishers
We've presented a clear and complete SRD, and in the next week or two, expect to see compatibilty licenses for publishers similar to those used for Pathfinder (we thank Paizo for the use of their license). The following creators have added 13th Age to their project.
- Dragon Kings project: Timothy Brown, creator of Dark Sun setting is providing a PDF rules supplement, funded through his Kickstarter.
- Sasquatch Game Studio: Features Richard Baker (3rd edition, Pathfinder), Stephen Schubert (3e, 4e, D&D Miniatures), and David Noonan (3e, 4e, Pathfinder) and their Primeval Thule offers 13th Age rules alongside D&D and Pathfinder
- Vorpal Games: Brian R. James (3e, 4e, Pathfinder), Matt James (4e, Pathfinder) in their Red Aegis RPG.
- RKDN Studios: artist Chris McFann, whose work with publishers helps him bring designers such as Monte Cook, Wolfgang Baur and Ed Greenwood to projects such as the Bestiary of the Curiously Odd .
Watch out for a big announcement in the next couple of months, featuring a big RPG name.


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Most people go to Washington, DC, only once in their lives on a family vacation or even a school trip. If you aren't returning to the nation's capital, you are missing a lot. The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument are a few things that aren't going to change, but there are always new attractions popping up. The other thing you may not know is that DC has become a foodie haven. All types of cuisine can be found here to provide fuel for your exploring.
What You May Not Have Seen
Even if you have been to the Smithsonian Museums, it's worth going again. After all, they are free! Exhibits are always changing and you'll find new things to see. The same goes for the White House. Every President redecorates and there are always changes in the gardens.
The Smithsonian National Zoo has new guests for you to visit, but the Giant Pandas will always be there. Some of the attractions that have recently opened are Planet World Museum, an interactive, voice-activated museum; the Native American Veterans Memorial; and the World War I Memorial.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial opened in 2011 and I found it very compelling and suggest a visit. The other ones you may not have seen and shouldn't miss is the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which is on the National Mall.
An event I didn't know about until my last trip to Washington, DC is the World Embassy Tour. This happens one day a year (usually in May) and is something you can't experience anywhere else in the world. Embassies open their doors for visitors to learn about the many cultures represented on the city's Embassy Row. When you step on their grounds, you are actually entering another country.
Where You Should Eat
Washington, DC is a city filled with people from around the world so it makes sense that its food reflects that. For quick bites to stay or go, Alfa Pie House has freshly made and delicious Greek dishes, salads, and pastries. Brasserie Beck is a perfect lunch spot for a French meal you won't soon forget.
Cuba Libre is as much an experience as it is a wonderful meal. The décor brings you right into Cuba and the food will support that. Everything is good here, but you must start with the Pineapple Guacamole. Also try their Mojitos.
The Turkish Ottoman Taverna offers a selection of Mediterranean items you probably haven't had before. Enjoy the bread and dips, and order Sigara Borgl, stuffed with feta cheese. Everything was good here. The prix fixe dinner is a good way to sample a lot.
Where You Should Stay
Washington, DC offers dozens of options to stay in the city and the surrounding areas. It depends on the experience you are looking to have. Hotels range from those filled with history, such as the Watergate, to the luxurious, like the Four Seasons or the Waldorf Astoria. One of the most buzzworthy hotels in DC now is the Pendry DC, which opened in 2022 on the city's newly renovated wharf. If you are looking for something better on the budget, consider heading a bit out of town. On one of my visits, I stayed at the Embassy Suites. It's inside the Chevy Chase Pavilion, which has a mall and a rail station.
How You Should Get Around
The Metrorail system in DC is clean and easy to use to get to all of the city's attractions. I traveled in a mobility scooter and had no problem. It has 97 stations in DC, Virginia, and Maryland. I also found the nation's capital to have more handicap-accessible Ubers and Lyfts than any other city I had traveled to.
Another option is the Hop on, Hop off bus tours offered by multiple companies. It's an excellent way of seeing a lot and not having to worry about transportation. Most of the tours make stops at the memorials and museums, as well as Arlington Cemetery and the White House. Check the itinerary before you pick one.
Getting There
Washington, DC is a very easy city to get to. Two major airports are within the city, Dulles International and Ronald Reagan Washington National. In addition, Baltimore Washington Airport is close by. You can also take Amtrak into DC from anywhere in the country.


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Photo by Only 15% of regular drinkers become dependent on alcohol. Photo by Axel Bueckert / Shutterstock.
For Markus Heilig, the years of dead ends were starting to grate.
A seasoned psychiatrist, Heilig joined the National Institutes of Health in 2004 with grand ambitions of finding new ways to treat addiction and alcoholism. "It was the age of the neuroscience revolution, and all this new tech gave us many ways of manipulating animal brains," he recalls. By studying addictive behavior in laboratory rats and mice, he would pinpoint crucial genes, molecules, and brain regions that could be targeted to curtail the equivalent behaviors in people.
It wasn't to be. The insights from rodent studies repeatedly proved to be irrelevant. Many researchers and pharmaceutical companies became disillusioned. "We cured alcoholism in every rat we ever tried," says Heilig, who is now at Linköping University in Sweden. "And at the end of every paper, we wrote: This will lead to an exciting treatment. But everything we took from these animal models to the clinic failed. We needed to go back to the drawing board."
Heilig doesn't buy that mice and rats have nothing to teach us about addiction. It's more that researchers have been studying them in the wrong way. Typically, they'll let the animals self-administer drugs by pressing a lever, which they almost always learn to do. That should have been a red flag. When humans regularly drink alcohol, only 15 percent or so become dependent on the stuff. Why them and not the other 85 percent? That's the crucial question, and you won't answer it with an experiment in which every rodent becomes addicted.
Eric Augier, who recently joined Heilig's team, tried a different approach—one pioneered in his former laboratory to study cocaine addiction. After training rats to self-administer alcohol, he offered them some sugary water, too. This better mimics real life, in which drugs exist simultaneously with other pleasurable substances. Given a choice between booze and nectar, most rats chose the latter. But not all of them: Of the 32 rats that Augier first tested, four ignored the sugar and kept on shooting themselves up with alcohol.
"Four rats is laughable," says Heilig, referring to the study's small size, "but 620 rats later, no one's laughing." Augier repeated the experiment with more rats of various breeds, and always got the same results. Consistently, 15 percent of them choose alcohol over sugar—the same number as the proportion of human drinkers who progress to alcoholism.
Those alcohol-preferring rats showed other hallmarks of human addiction, too. They spend more effort to get a sip of alcohol than their sugar-preferring peers, and they kept on drinking even when their booze supply was spiked with an intensely bitter chemical or paired with an electric shock. "That was striking to me, as a clinician," says Heilig. "Embedded in the criteria for diagnosing alcoholism is that people continue to take drugs despite good knowledge of the fact that it will harm or kill them."
Many lab studies treat animals as if they were identical, and any variation in their behavior is just unhelpful noise. But in Augier's work, the variation is the important bit. It's what points to the interesting underlying biology. "This is a really good study," says Michael Taffe, a neuroscientist at the Scripps Research Institute who studies drug addiction. "Since only a minority of humans experience a transition to addiction, [an approach] such as this is most likely to identify the specific genetic variants that convey risk."
That is exactly what the team did next. They compared the alcohol-preferring and sugar-preferring rats and looked for differences in the genes that were active in their brains. They focused on six regions that are thought to be involved in addiction, and found no differences in five. "But in the sixth, we did," says Heilig. "And it made me smile because I started out doing my Ph.D. on the amygdala."
The amygdala is an almond-shaped region that sits deep within the brain, and is heavily involved in processing emotions. When Augier looked at the amygdala of alcoholic rats, he found signs of unusually low activity in several genes, all of which are linked to a chemical called GABA.
GABA is a molecular red light: Certain neurons make and release it to stop their neighbors from firing. Once that's done, the GABA-making neurons use an enzyme called GAT3 to pump the molecule back into themselves, so they can reuse it. But in the amygdala of alcohol-preferring rats, the gene that makes GAT3 is much less active, and makes just half the usual levels of the pump. GABA accumulates around the neighboring neurons, making them abnormally inactive.
The consequences of this are unclear, but Heilig thinks that all this extra GABA hampers the rats' ability to deal with fear and stress. They are naturally more anxious, which might explain their vulnerability to alcohol. He predicts it will take another five years of work to fully close this loop. But for now, his team have definitely shown that GAT3—the GABA-recycling pump—is important. They took rats that prefer sugar and deliberately reduced the levels of GAT3 in their amygdala. This simple procedure was enough to convert those resilient rodents into addiction-prone, alcohol-preferring 15-percenters.
At this point, the team submitted their result to a journal, which agreed to publish them. Good news—but after Heilig's long history with rat-shaped dead-ends, he wanted to do one more experiment. "Curing alcoholism in rats is not important," he says. "What's important is what this looks like in humans with alcohol addiction."
As it happens, it looks much the same. Heilig's colleagues examined postmortem tissue samples from people who had donated their brains to research, some of whom had alcohol addiction. As in the rats, they found nothing unusual in five of six brain regions. But in the amygdala, they found low levels of GAT3.
Others scientists have found connections between alcoholism, the amygdala, and GABA-related genes. But by identifying rats that are particularly vulnerable to alcoholism, Heilig's team has begun fleshing out the details behind these somewhat hazy links. "It is a very significant study that will impact the alcohol research field deeply," says Jun Wang from Texas A&M University. "Identifying GAT3 is not that important because alcoholism is controlled by multiple genes, but [the team's new approach] will help to find those genes. It's a wonderful method for modeling human alcoholism."
There are other signs that what Heilig found is relevant to humans as well as rats. A decade ago, a French cardiologist named Olivier Ameisen claimed to have cured his own alcoholism by taking a drug called baclofen. "That was met with skepticism, and there was no basic science to support his claims," says Heilig. But there is now: Baclofen stops neurons from releasing GABA. If individuals with alcoholism aren't good at recycling this chemical, it might be possible to compensate by producing less of it in the first place.
But baclofen is controversial. It has been tested in several clinical trials, to mixed results. Two studies, which analyzed the results from these trials, concluded that the drug's ability to treat alcoholism is only "slightly above placebo effects" and its growing use is "premature." It can be harmful, too. People quickly build up a tolerance to it, which prompts them to seek higher doses. They can experience severe side effects, and France has seen more than 100 cases of people inadvertently poisoning themselves with baclofen. "It's a terrible drug," Heilig says.
Other drugs like benzodiazepines also exert their effects through GABA, but like baclofen, they're easily abused themselves. "They're a good alternative for alcoholism in the short term but they're not safe in the long term," says Lara Ray from UCLA.
But Heilig's study suggests that other chemicals, which could influence GABA levels in more subtle ways, might help people to control their addictions. Several such substances are in development, and Heilig's team can see if they change the choices of their alcohol-preferring rats.
"It's just such an impressive breakthrough for the field of alcoholism, with real potential for therapies," Ray adds.


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I have a real problem with evolutionary psychology, and it goes right to the root of the discipline: it's built on a flawed foundation. It relies on a naïve and simplistic understanding of how evolution works (a basic misconception that reminds me of another now-dead discipline, which I'll write about later) — it appeals to many people, though, because that misconception aligns nicely with the cartoon version of evolution in most people's heads, and it also means that every time you criticize evolutionary psychology, you get a swarm of ignorant defenders who assume you're attacking evolution itself.
That misconception is adaptationism.
In a forlorn attempt to forestall the buzzing mob that will immediately accuse me of creationism and of denying natural selection, that does not mean that I think selection is unimportant or not essential. It does not mean that I think other modes of evolution are more important. It means that there is a large collection of mechanisms that all play a significant role in evolution, and that you can't simply pretend that one is all that matters. Not appreciating the importance of these other mechanisms is a bit like being an electrician who thinks that voltage is all that matters, and resistance and current can be ignored.
In particular, random genetic drift, the variation in a population caused by sampling error, is far more significant than most people (including most evolutionary psychologists) assume. Most of the obvious phenotypic variation we see in people, for instance, is not a product of selection: your nose does not have the shape it does, which differs from my nose, which differs from Barack Obama's nose, which differs from George Takei's nose, because we independently descend from populations which had intensely differing patterns of natural and sexual selection for nose shape; no, what we're seeing are chance variations amplified in frequency by drift in different populations.
Why? Because selection is blind to small differences. Chance dominates, unless the selection coefficient is relatively large.
Let me explain why with an analogy to a gambling casino. If you are at all numerate, you know that casinos are a colossal rip-off, great big shiny vacuum cleaners designed to suck all the money out of their clientele's pockets (if you don't know that, stop now, go read a math and statistics book until you understand what's going on). I'll assume you all understand this, and that you also understand that, like selection, it's a consequence of the power of small advantages amplified by repetition. The house has a small advantage (OK, I'm lying a little bit there: the house advantage is typically between 5 and 20%, depending on the game), but every single gambler, every time they play the game, is facing that probability of kicking in a contribution to the house profits.
And it adds up. Every once in a while someone will get lucky and win, but the more they play, the more likely the odds will catch up with them, and eventually, inevitably, they will be busted, and the house will win. This is a powerful statistical consequence, and most people do understand that this is also how evolution can work: small differences played out for generation after generation can eventually result in extinction (if you're at a disadvantage) or fixation (the difference spreads to be expressed in 100% of the population, if advantageous).
But it's not enough. Imagine, for instance, that you discover a loophole in a casino game, and it's enough to shift the odds in your favor. Let's say you identify a set of circumstances in which a roulette wheel turns up red 51% of the time, giving you a 1% advantage if you place a bet on red when those circumstances are favorable. You have a system, and we're going to pretend that it actually works, unlike most gambling systems.
So, equipped with your favorable impression of the power of selection and your 1% gambling advantage, you run out to your local casino and buy one $1 chip, convinced that you can now just gradually run it up into $10 million, just by playing patiently.
I think you can see the flaw right away. You will lose your $1 investment in the first spin of the wheel 49% of the time. Even if you build up a little pile of chips, you can be wiped out by a short run of bad luck. A selective advantage does not represent an inevitable triumph.
Similarly, a selective disadvantage does not represent an inevitable defeat. People still occasionally, very rarely have a net win after a night of playing roulette, despite the hefty house advantage working against them.
So how can you win with your advantage? Gamblers know this one: you need to go in with a substantial stake. Show up with a million dollars that you dole out in $10 bets all night long, so you have a buffer to deal with inevitable vagaries of chance, and the odds are really good that you'll go home in the morning with $1,010,000. (Well, or the casino managers will notice your peculiar betting habits and toss you out — they're rather zealous about protecting their advantage.)
There's an important lesson there. Because this is a mechanism built on chance, you need both a selective advantage and a sufficient number of trials for that advantage to work. Few trials: chance dominates. Many trials: selection rules.
In a population of individuals, we have a term for that number of trials: it's called the effective population size, or Ne. Remember, in evolution we care about populations, not individuals, so the variable of interest is not how many times an individual spins that roulette wheel, but how many members of the population descend on that device. Before we can assess the effectiveness of selection for a trait with a coefficient of selection s, we also need to know the population size.
One rule of thumb is that for selection to be effective,
|s| >> 1/Ne
What that means is that selection works best in large populations, while chance dominates in small populations — you need a very large s to make the selective advantage rise above the noise generated by chance variation.
What it also means is that in any population there will be a range of variation that is effectively invisible to selection, a range that will be rather narrow in an immense population of bacteria, but will be relatively wide in small populations…like, for instance, a large, slow-breeding population of Pleistocene primates.
Again, that does not mean that selection did not apply to our Paleolithic ancestors. Being born with a heritable heart defect meant you were strongly selected against, and that trait would be gradually eliminated from the population; being born with testes that produced voluminous robust sperm, or having an immune system that made you more resistant to a common virus, would still give your offspring an edge. But keep in mind that even the most wonderfully advantageous allele that arose by a de novo mutation in you has a good chance of being lost by meiotic segregation (1 over 2 to the number of children you have, to be precise), and even if your children do inherit that one trait, there's a significant probability that one of the multitude of other factors that constrain survival and reproduction can work against it.
I repeat: A selective advantage does not represent an inevitable triumph. A selective disadvantage does not represent an inevitable defeat. Chance is an important element of the game of survival.
Here's a specific example: color blindness. Being unable to discriminate differences in a particular range of wavelengths is a disadvantage — probably a very small one, but it's clear that having trichromatic vision swept to near-fixation in old world monkeys and apes fairly rapidly, and fairly thoroughly…and not having it is a step backwards. So why hasn't natural selection culled it from our populations? This isn't a recent innovation that hasn't had time to be corrected; trichromacy arose sometime after the split between the old and new world monkeys, 30-40 million years ago. It's X-linked in those other primates, too. Shouldn't this defective allele have been long gone from the primates?
No, and there's a simple explanation: color blindness is a defect that's below the threshold for a strong selection pressure to work against it (all you colorblind readers can heave a sigh of relief—Nature isn't going to come gunning for you).
And if color-blindness is invisible to selection, I'm going to be pretty damned skeptical when an evolutionary psychologist tries to tell me that girls' fondness for pink colors is or was a functional adaptation: a product of a 100,000 years of natural selection. It's not impossible that pink preference could confer a benefit, but the idea that a pink preference was so strongly selected for that we can infer that it must have had a selective advantage is so unlikely that it can be dismissed as totally bogus, in the absence of exceptionally strong evidence for such an improbable circumstance. Furthermore, even if a pink preference existed as a heritable trait (which I doubt), the most likely explanation for its presence in a population is drift, not selection.
I've been assured that this is a decent summary of evolutionary psychology by a credible source. If you understood what I wrote above, you'll immediately see the problem.
*** Is evolutionary psychology legitimate?
The foundation of the approach is very hard to disagree with. Tell me which you believe to be incorrect:
1. Organs are complex functional adaptations, results of selection processes
2. The brain is an organ
3. Therefore, we can understand it in terms of the past, just as we do for every part of the body in humans and in all other life forms on earth. (Note that understanding the history of a feature is not the same as saying any observable trait is adaptive or was. Red blood cells are not red because redness was selected for. Hemoglobin is simply a good oxygen transporter, and happens to be red. We still need to understand all this to explain the redness.)
The foundation of the approach is very easy to disagree with if you have any understanding of modern population genetics. It's blown to flinders at the very first premise.
First of all, let's just dismiss that "complex" quantifier. It's irrelevant and often not true; simple functions can also be the product of selection (or drift!). My next post in this series will deal with the whole complexity canard, which is something I've noted in the past as being one of the favorite buzz words of ID creationists…and complexity usually isn't a product of selection, but primarily of chance. They use it to make their arguments look sciencey when they're not. Evolutionary psychologists like to toss it in for the same reason.
But that first statement has to be revised to make it fit reality. How about…
Some features of organs are functional adaptations, the result of selection processes. Others are not.
Now you can see that the first problem the evolutionary psychologists have to confront is whether the feature they are examining is actually a functional adaptation; they can't simply assume that it is, as they often do, and then proceed on their merry way, building hypotheses to explain an assertion that they haven't yet established as true.
Wait, check that. Actually, the first thing they have to do is show that the feature they're examining is a direct product of a genetic variant in the first place, and shows some pattern of inheritance. They often skip this step, too.
Now this is not to say that every single researcher and paper in evolutionary psychology sucks. I've read a few that were decent (and lately people have sent me some others), but I've noticed something interesting: the farther the paper gets away from the "psychology" part, the more it looks at wider variation in populations, the better it is at narrowing the discussion to traits that actually exhibit demonstrable patterns of inheritance, and the farther it moves away from this Pleistocene nonsense, the stronger it is. The best of the work is more about quantitative genetics and comparative ethology; the more it fits under this banner of the Pleistocene hypothesis, and worse, the EEA and this kind of awful human centered crap, the farther I want to throw the paper across the room. Don't even get me started on papers that assign deep evolutionary significance to the results of surveys in Psych 101 classes; those need to be pissed on at length.
Too often what I think of when I see these bad human psychology papers is a comparison to my favorite research animal, the zebrafish. Zebrafish are great as a model system for studying developmental mechanisms, they are abysmally deficient for studying evolutionary processes…but I imagine their evolution could be studied, with a lot of hard work looking at native populations and closely related species. Same with people: they are dismal specimens for studying evolution of behavior, although you might be able to do it with a wide enough and deep enough reach. EP is a hypothesis that tries to short-circuit the requirements for good evolutionary biology research.
The only salvation for the field is to get away from the BS I quoted above.


text:
Celery seed (Recipe: refrigerator zucchini pickles)
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text:
Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling ruled out an independent bid for Virginia governor Tuesday, clearing the way for a one-on-one major-party showdown between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Ken Cuccinelli.
Bolling announced his decision in a Tuesday morning email to supporters, more than 3 months after folding his Republican candidacy for the office in November and leaving Cuccinelli uncontested for the GOP nomination.
In the end, Bolling wrote, his decision came down to the daunting task an independent candidate faces raising money without the help of a major party, and the fact that the lifelong Republican would have to forever sever his ties to the GOP.
"You can have a winning message, but if you don't have the resources to effectively communicate that message to voters you cannot win," he wrote, saying he needed to raise $10 million to $15 million to wage a credible campaign.
"Based on my discussions with key donors over the past three weeks, I was confident I could raise enough money to run a competitive campaign, but I was not confident I could raise enough money to run a winning campaign," he said.
A campaign by Bolling would have been a major obstacle to unchallenged GOP candidate Ken Cuccinelli, possibly diluting the conservative vote in Cuccinelli's race against McAuliffe.
Bolling neither endorsed nor criticized either major party candidate, but he voiced continued concern about the sharp right turn he sees the GOP making with Cuccinelli at the helm.
In their responses to Bolling's decision, Cuccinelli and McAuliffe each sought to establish solidarity with him.
Cuccinelli's campaign dismissed McAuliffe as "a career Washington Insider and Democrat fundraiser" and pledged to advance tax and education reforms and implement "a comprehensive transportation plan."
"That is what I will do as Virginia's next governor, just as the (Gov. Bob) McDonnell, Bolling, Cuccinelli team has worked together to accomplish," Cuccinelli wrote in a statement. Cuccinelli didn't note his opposition to a bipartisan transportation funding package the General Assembly passed last month. Cuccinelli called it a major tax increase.
McAuliffe, without mentioning Cuccinelli by name, clearly labeled him as a conservative ideologue hostile to bipartisan solutions.
"Just this past month, I was pleased to join Lt. Gov. Bolling, Gov. McDonnell and both parties in the legislature to support a mainstream compromise on transportation. Despite the efforts of a few on the far right to derail the compromise, we were able to come together and address a major economic issue for Virginia," McAuliffe wrote in a press statement.
The only other candidate still in the race is one-time alleged White House party crasher and former reality television figure Tareq Salahi, who also abandoned his little-known campaign to run as an even lesser-known independent.
Bolling had questioned whether Cuccinelli's starkly conservative positions were the right direction for the Republican Party.
"While I am very concerned about the current direction of the Republican Party, I still have many dear friends in the Republican Party, people who have been incredibly supportive of me over the years," Bolling said.
Almost two weeks ago, in a similar email to Republican leaders, party activists, community leaders and the press, Bolling sought advice about whether he should re-enter the race as an "independent Republican" or stay out. In it, he promised to put job creation and business development in the forefront of his policy agenda.
While tea party activists either vilified Bolling or urged him to stay out, perhaps the most prominent and persuasive voice to publicly urge him to stay out was that of GOP moderate state Sen. Walter A. Stosch, R-Henrico, a perennial favorite of the state's powerful business lobbies.
Bolling said he plans to "return to the private sector" and look for other ways to serve the state, not specifying whether that will include a later bid for elective office.
Virginia and New Jersey are the only states to elect governors this year, and Virginia's race is the only one competitive. A recent Quinnipiac University statewide poll showed a tie between McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and fundraising guru for the presidential campaigns of Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Cuccinelli, Virginia's activist conservative attorney general.
With Bolling in the race, according to the poll, McAuliffe edged to a tenuous lead of 3 percentage points, roughly the survey's margin of sampling error.
Bolling to Forgo Independent Bid for Virginia Governor
Copyright AP - Associated Press


text:
April 7, 2013
Ziggy Report
40 comments:
- Sherri B. said...
Oh my, can she really get any bigger...poor thing.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. xo - April 7, 2013 at 12:14 AM
- Michelle said...
I don't think she plans to move until they come out, so let's hope she's just a day or so late!
- April 7, 2013 at 12:23 AM
- Unknown said...
I hope and pray she has those babies quick!! She looks pretty done!
- April 7, 2013 at 1:30 AM
- Farmer Barb said...
How does a goat (or a person) get that big and bounce back? How does she walk around? Oh, poor Zig...
- April 7, 2013 at 5:53 AM
- Leigh said...
Sherri, especially with all the weight shifted down like that! Most of the photos I've seen of goats that size end up with triplets or quads.
Michelle, oh I hope so!
Jaclyn, prayers appreciated!
Barb, I can't help but think it takes a physical toll. I read on the Kinder Goat list that does who have multiples every year often end up with hind leg problems as they age. I certainly hope it's not the case with Ziggy. - April 7, 2013 at 6:15 AM
- Tami said...
Wow! That first pic says it all. That's one pear shaped Momma. Good luck with the birthing!
- April 7, 2013 at 7:12 AM
- A. Wright said...
Oh my that is one preggers goat, the poor lady. She must be very ready to be done.
- April 7, 2013 at 7:32 AM
- thewovenspoke said...
OMG! I hope she has those kids soon, she looks ready to pop! I can't wait to see them.
- April 7, 2013 at 8:36 AM
Oh my, she looks like she is about to explode :/
- April 7, 2013 at 8:43 AM
- Unknown said...
Bless her heart!!! I can hardly wait to see the babies! :)
- April 7, 2013 at 8:49 AM
- famousthecat said...
Aw, sweet Ziggy! How many babies do you think she's got hidden away in there? I hope for her sake she gets on with it soon!
- April 7, 2013 at 9:03 AM
Omg...poor Ziggy! She looks so uncomfortable, I hope she kids soon! Hugs Ziggy!
- April 7, 2013 at 9:33 AM
- Renee Nefe said...
sign that eviction order Ziggy! Get those kids to move out!
I think the kids just like it too much in there. - April 7, 2013 at 9:40 AM
- Renee Nefe said...
I was just over at cakewrecks.com and perhaps what Ziggy needs is a baby shower with a cake! ;o)
- April 7, 2013 at 9:48 AM
- Katy said...
triplets or quads! ?
Poor Ziggy, I feel pain just looking at her. Kinda like my next door neighbor who's due next week - every time she walks down to the mailbox I want to whimper.
Let's get this show on the road! I hope you get a bunch of little girls :) - April 7, 2013 at 10:23 AM
- Woolly Bits said...
oh my, is she trying to give birth to a whole herd?? reminds me of women pregnant with 5 or 6 babies.... I hope all is going to work out well!
- April 7, 2013 at 10:29 AM
- SmithGang said...
Oh my poor Ziggy! Hope she delivers safely. I would definitely say triplets:) I agree all girls would be a blessing.
- April 7, 2013 at 10:47 AM
- Leigh said...
Oh yes, trips or quads, all girls!!!!
- April 7, 2013 at 10:53 AM
- Florida Farm Girl said...
Poor baby! She can hardly walk. Sure hope those babies get here soon and in good health.
- April 7, 2013 at 10:53 AM
- Judy said...
Ziggy has my sympathy! Is Ziggy going to get the year off next year?
- April 7, 2013 at 11:11 AM
- Mama Pea said...
What is the record number of healthy kids delivered? I think Ziggy's going for it. I don't think there's any way she could go three more weeks, do you?
- April 7, 2013 at 12:11 PM
- Carolyn said...
Oh. My. Gawd.
But, are you sure she's pregnant? LOL! - April 7, 2013 at 12:21 PM
- MTWaggin said...
Oh my she looks rather uncomfortable!
- April 7, 2013 at 12:53 PM
- Nina said...
Poor girl looks like she's ready to explode! I'm hoping that she's just late. I can't imagine her having another 19 days to go. Poor girl.
- April 7, 2013 at 1:29 PM
- luckybunny said...
Unless she's got a lotta babes in there April 26 seems far away for the looks of her. But it's so hard to say with these girls sometimes. Sometimes they are really reliable but sometimes they are certainly not. Paws crossed everything goes smoothly when it does happen!
- April 7, 2013 at 1:38 PM
- icebear said...
Its hard to believe that those fine little goat legs can carry so much. I hope everything goes smoothly when its time to go!
- April 7, 2013 at 4:36 PM
- Unknown said...
Poor girl, she must be exhausted!
- April 7, 2013 at 5:02 PM
- Donna Costa said...
Seems impossible that she could go that much longer. Poor thing will be too exhausted from carrying them around to give birth. Keeping my fingers crossed for good things.
- April 8, 2013 at 1:00 AM
- Tina T-P said...
I'm with Michelle - I hope she's just a few days late for this date. Gives new meaning to the term "wide body" T.
- April 8, 2013 at 1:09 AM
- Sandy Livesay said...
Poor Ziggy, she looks so uncomfortable. I don't think Ziggy will be waiting until the 26th of April. She looks like it's going to happen much sooner than the 26th.
I hope everything goes well with her delivery. - April 8, 2013 at 1:53 AM
Zig, you poor little thing...Those babies need to be born...quick!
- April 8, 2013 at 8:49 AM
- Seeking Serenity said...
oh dear! I hope you have a vet on call :(
- April 8, 2013 at 8:56 AM
- Cat Eye Cottage said...
Good Gracious! She is big!
- April 8, 2013 at 11:39 AM
- Julene said...
She does look a bit large! It will be an exciting day when she delivers and fun to see how many! She may need your help!! "Goat mommy helper!"
- April 8, 2013 at 12:08 PM
- Benita said...
She looks like a pear with legs.
Quads?? - April 8, 2013 at 4:00 PM
- Elaine said...
Poor baby! I hope everything goes well (and soon!)
- April 8, 2013 at 5:34 PM
- Shiralyn said...
I feel her pain. I went 3 weeks over my due date.
- April 9, 2013 at 1:30 PM
- Thistle Cove Farm said...
Bless her heart...she's Enormous!
- April 9, 2013 at 8:31 PM
- Leigh said...
She looks the worst when she's sitting like that because all the weight sinks down. When she's up and about it isn't so bad but she definitely is a big pregnant.
- April 9, 2013 at 8:56 PM
- Effieq said...
Hi Leigh :)
Ah bless her not easy being a female :):) She looks happy and content doesn't she. Very healthy looking animal. Her kids will be super cute. I am sure you are excited.
God bless - April 10, 2013 at 10:05 AM


text:
Kam's Movie Kapsules for 6-7-13
Kam's Kapsules:
Weekly Previews That
Make Choosing a Film Fun
by Kam Williams
For movies opening June
7, 2013
The Internship (PG-13 for profanity, sexuality, partying and
crude humor) Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson co-star in this buddy comedy as a
couple of downsized salesmen desperate to reinvent themselves in the Digital
Age who find themselves competing against some tech-savvy, young geeks for jobs
at Google. With John Goodman, Rose Byrne and Max Minghella.
The Purge (R for profanity and disturbing violence)
Futuristic sci-fi thriller set in the U.S. where all criminal activity,
including murder, is legal for one day a year. Plot revolves around a man's
(Ethan Hawke) attempt to protect his family from harm when an intruder breaks
into their well-fortified gated community during the period of state-sanctioned
slaughter. With Lena Headey, Adelaide
Kane and Max Burkholder.
Dirty Wars (Unrated) Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill
narrates this expose uncovering the hidden truth behind America's
neverending covert War on Terror being conducted all over the world by a secret
army that supposedly doesn't exist. Includes commentary by Matthew Hoh, Andrew
Exum and Abdul Ghafoor.
Evocateur: The Morton Downey, Jr. Movie (R for profanity and
nudity) Raucous documentary highlighting the exploits of the late, TV talk show
host who cultivated legions of loyal fans with a confrontational, in-your-face style
of interviewing his controversial guests. Featuring appearances by Glenn Beck,
Hermain Cain, Pat Buchanan, Gloria Allred and Alan Dershowitz.
Hey Bartender (Unrated) Bifurcated documentary featuring
portraits of a wounded ex-Marine and a jaded white-collar worker trying to make
it in a new career serving wine and spirits at an upscale Manhattan
Much Ado about Nothing (PG-13 for sexuality and drug use)
Screen adaptation of Shakespeare's classic, battle-of-the-sexes comedy about
two couples, one (Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof), at war, the other (Fran Kranz
and Jillian Morgese), in love. Support cast includes Emma Bates, Reed Diamond
and Spencer Treat Clark.
Rapture-Palooza (R for profanity, drug use and crude
sexuality) Post-apocalyptic horror comedy about a suburban Seattle couple (Anna Kendrick and John
Francis Daley) left to deal with plagues and an amorous Anti-Christ (Craig
Robinson) after billions of other souls ascend to Heaven during the Rapture.
Ensemble includes Ken Jeong, Rob Corddry, Ana Gasteyer, Thomas Lennon and Rob
Syrup (R for profanity, sexual references and brief drug
use) Screen adaptation of Max Barry's dark novel of the same name about a
slacker (Shiloh Fernandez) who has to trust a cutthroat marketing executive
(Amber Heard) if his million-dollar idea is to have any hope of succeeding.
With Brittany Snow, Kellan Lutz and Rachel Dratch.
Tiger Eyes (PG-13 for a violent incident, mature themes and
underage alcohol consumption) Coming-of-age drama based on the Judy Blume
best-seller about a grieving teenager (Willa Holland) trying to cope with the
murder of her father who finds a shoulder to cry on in the Native-American
(Tatanka Means) she meets after her mother (Amy Jo Johnson) moves the family to
Los Alamos, New Mexico. With Elise Eberle, Cynthia Stevenson and Russell Means.
Violet & Daisy (Unrated) Crime drama about a pair of
mild-mannered, teenage assassins (Saoirse Ronan and Alexis Bledel) who knock
off New York City mobsters when not obsessing about their favorite pop singer
(Cody Horn). With James Gandolfini, Danny Trejo and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.
Wish You Were Here (R for profanity, sexuality, violence and
drug use) Missing persons drama about four Australian friends enjoying a vacation
in Southeast Asia until one member (Antony
Starr) of their party disappears mysteriously. With Joel Edgerton, Felicity
Price and Teresa Palmer.
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet (Unrated) Otherworldly drama
revolving around a deceased playwright (Denis Podalydes) who somehow casts and
stages one of his celebrated works from beyond the grave. Starring Mathieu
Amalric, Pierre Arditi and Sabine Azema. (In French with subtitles)


text: Florolle Églantine is 13-inch soft body doll, the perfect size for young make-believe mommies and daddies to cradle in their arms. She has silky, rooted hair styled in a bob, a playful look in her hazel painted eyes and a cheerful smile! Her head, arms and legs are made of soft, supple vinyl that is delicately scented with vanilla, a Corolle signature. Dressed in a floral-print dress and with a matching scrunchie in her hair, Églantine is one of three dolls in the les Florolles Corolle collection, all specially designed for little ones playing with dolls for the first time. Ages 18 months and up.