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Have you ever dreamed of having your own red carpet moment? Or wondered how to emulate the effortlessly chic style of the most photographed trendsetters? Or wished you could master the art of all things glamorous?
In STYLE A TO ZOE, Hollywood's hottest celebrity stylist, Rachel Zoe, shares her insider tips in this essential guide to the art of a fashionable, behind-the velvet-rope lifestyle. With an eye toward living the luxe life, even if it's on a dime, Zoe zeroes in on the must-have accessories and wardrobe staples for all occasions, when to splurge and save on handbags and heels, how to decorate, entertain, and travel in style.

subset: commoncrawl


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As Dr. Allen Frances read through the list of proposed changes to psychiatry's bible of mental sickness, alarms started ringing in his own mind.
"I was surprised," the renowned U.S. psychiatrist says, "that the proposals managed to be much worse than my most pessimistic expectations."
By the time he was finished reading, Frances had calculated that the recommendations contained within the first draft for the fifth and latest revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- a hugely influential book used daily by doctors worldwide, psychiatry's official classification of all the ways humanity can go "mad"-- could unnecessarily trigger wholesale "epidemics" of mental illness and expose millions more adults and children to potentially harmful psychiatric drugs.
Dr. Frances, more than most, knows the kind of surprises that may be lurking. He chaired the task force that wrote the current edition of the manual -- referred to as DSM-IV -- which he says is a book that unintentionally contributed to vast and sudden increases in the diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and childhood bipolar disorder (manic depression), after it made changes in those definitions. Rates of bipolar disorder alone jumped 40-fold in the U.S. after the definition was broadened to suggest that children don't have to experience the typical manic symptoms seen in adults to be diagnosed bipolar -- and that depression in kids can be a persistent irritable mood. "Most of this was not our fault," Dr. Frances said.
Rather, he blames "a runaway fad led by thought leaders and pushed by drug companies and advocacy groups."
"We were remarkably conservative and very careful. We laboured very carefully not to have surprises, not to have unintended consequences," said Dr. Frances, former chair of the psychiatry department at Duke University's School of Medicine.
But once a diagnosis gets out of the bottle, he says, "it spreads like wildfire in ways you could never imagine."
This psychiatrists' bible is in the midst of its first major rewrite in 16 years, coming at a time when anti-depressants, tranquillizersandotherpsychoactive drugs have become the second most-prescribed drug class in the country, second only to cardiovasculars, according to prescription drug tracking firm IMS Health Canada. Across Canada, pharmacies last year dispensed 61.2 million prescriptions for psychotherapeutics, worth nearly $2.4 billion.
Increasingly, some of the most potent, mood-altering drugs are going to children. Between 2005-09, the number of prescriptions forsecond-generation antipsychotics for children under 13 more than doubled, according to IMS data. Last year, nearly 700,000 prescriptions for such antipsychotics were dispensed for kids under 13.
The changes being proposed for the manual of mental illness -- whose sales since 2000 have topped $40-million -- would create even more patients for whom psychoactive drugs can be prescribed.


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On Saturday, July 17, I attended the noon session of the 18th Annual Vermont Brewers Festival, at Waterfront Park in Burlington, Vermont. The numbers go like this: 39 breweries present, of which 19 were from Vermont alone, 188 (at least) different brews to taste, 10,000 people expected to attend the three sessions over two days. So much more than numbers, however.
I barely got tickets – I was reminded Tuesday night by my son that tickets were likely to sell out in advance, so I got online and checked – panic! – the website said they were already sold out for the noon session! I emailed several people, including the festival organizer herself, hoping someone could point me towards a couple of tasting tickets and a designated driver entry. While my homebrewer friends searched, I found out from the festival folks that the website had a bug, and that the session was not, in fact, quite sold out, although there were no DD tickets left. I grabbed two tickets quickly and decided to worry about the DD at the gate.
Saturday came, my wife and I picked up our friend Rick at a mutually arranged parking lot and off we went. Arriving in Burlington, we got in line (with a couple thousand kindred spirits) and waited for the opening. When we got to the gate, after about 20 minutes in line, there were, in fact, no DD tickets available at all. My poor wife was forced to go kill 4 hours shopping instead, while Rick and I talked to brewers, tasted beers, and generally enjoyed a beautiful sunny July afternoon. Enjoy we did. For $25, we got a 3 oz. glass and 15 beer tickets. We decided early on to choose different things from each brewery and swap so as to double our potential tastings. Over the next three and a half hours, I managed to taste 23 different beers from 15 breweries. Some were quite memorable, others not so much, but I can honestly say that I did not spit any out or dump any on the ground. I took hasty notes on each beer, thinking that some day I might want to develop recipes to clone them.
Among the highlights of the day were conversations with the brewer at Pioneer Brewing (Fiskdale, MA) who claimed to have used my book as a resource; with Patrick Dakin, brewer at Jasper Murdock's Ale House (Norwich, VT), our nearest neighbor brewery; and a conversation, in French, with a guy from Brasserie Benelux of Montreal who was pleased that I ordered a beer correctly… Along the way, we ran into almost 40 of our regular customers from the Market, a few friends and neighbors, a few other old acquaintances from my old Seven Barrel and judging days, and got to hang out with my son and his girlfriend and a couple of their friends… All in all, an outstanding festival and a great afternoon.Turns out the evening session on Saturday was shortened due to dangerous thunderstorms, forcing people to leave with unused tasting tickets and some real frustration. We were glad we went to the early session, of course! Hope the organizers are thinking about a way to refund or otherwise make it up to those who missed out…
A list, then, of beers I tasted (as best I can remember) with a quick 1-5 scale rating:
Three Needs – Scotch Ale (3/5)
Pioneer Brewing – Industrial Pale Ale (4/5)
Brooklyn Brewing – Blast (Stong IPA) 4/5 & Local 1 (Belgian Strong Golden) 3/5
Beau's All Natural – "Grolsch" style lager 4/5
Perfect Pear – Porter 3/5 & IPA 3/5
Harpoon – 100 Barrel Series "Landbier" (Vienna Lager) 2/5
Alchemist – Ball & Chain IPA 4/5 & Your Mother Pilsner 5/5
Jasper Murdock's – Fuggle Pale Ale 4/5 & Dark Humour (Black Witbier) 4/5
Northshire Brewery – Battenkill Ale (brown ale) 2/5
Benelux – Ergot (Triple Rye Saison) 4/5 & Strato (Black IPA) 5/5
Dieu Du Ciel – Aphrodite (Vanilla/cocoa stout) 5/5 & Pionnière (black IPA) 5/5
Bobcat Café – Pocock Pilsner 4/5
Zero Gravity – Macerator Dopplebock 3/5 & Solstice Gruit 3/5
Peak Organic – Espresso Amber Ale 3/5
Le Trou Du Diable – La Buteuse (Abbey Tripel) 4/5 & La Penurie (IPA) 3/5
Naturally, there were many many more beers we would have liked to try, but a 4 hour session with 3000 people in line
doesn't allow unlimited access. I noted the ones I missed and we are beginning to plan a couple road trips to make up for our gaps. If I had to pick a top three (of what I tasted) I would have to say, for now, that my favorite beers (not necessarily in this order) were:
Your Mother Pilsner from the Alchemist
Strato Black IPA from Benelux
Aphrodite Stout from Dieu du Ciel
So, did you go to the Fest? What were your favorites? The dialogue begins here…


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I am delighted that my friend and fellow Indie Author, Trish Dawson, has asked me to be this week's featured guest writer. As we travel along this exciting journey called life, we may be faced with unexpected obstacles, challenges, and may have to adjust to the changes we face as we travel down this road. Change. Such a daunting thought. Change can be good, and yet, at times, it may not …
It's been said that,
"Change is good."
"It's for the best sometimes."
"Change makes us stronger."
At this point in my life, I am beginning to wonder what is so good about it?
For some, change is as painful and as terrifying as a root canal without anesthesia. Many people fight it kicking and screaming and thrashing about like a 200 pound swordfish having it out with a rusty hook impaled in its scaly cheek.
Lately it seems as if change is becoming a constant force in my life; as constant and predictable as the setting sun and the ebb and flow of the tides. As these life altering changes take place of late, I've become very adept at learning how to juggle many spinning plates in the air at one time and have become very good at balancing quite precariously on an incredibly narrow tightrope taking one delicate step at a time along the wire shaking with fear, because unbeknownst to me, some wise guy has removed the safety net! I'm curious to know exactly when I joined the circus and became the featured performer, however I will admit there is quite a thrilling show within the center ring.
One recent afternoon when I ventured to the mall to make some much needed purchases, I noticed a large advertisement hanging in a store window featuring a beautiful model's scantly clad, young body. She was adorned in lacy underthings and there was not a ripple of cellulite or ounce of excess fat on this lovely creature.
"Hmmph," I growled upon looking at her in all her seductiveness.
I wanted to draw a big, fat mustache on her upper lip, but I resisted the temptation to do so. Featured right below her perfectly toned thighs, were the following words written in frilly, feminine font:
"Change Your Bra. Change Your Life!"
As I read those words over and over a few times, I chuckled to myself and pondered that proclamation while wishing my torso and thighs were as perfectly airbrushed as hers.
"Change Your Bra. Change Your Life!"
Oh, if only it were that easy!
So, throwing caution and my well worn undergarments to the wind, I ventured into this secret place and decided to take a huge leap of faith and one giant step toward changing my life. I figured at this point I had nothing to lose except 50 bucks and a little bit of time. Upon entering this elegant establishment, I gazed upon rows and rows of satiny, frilly, and lacy brassieres that sent my head
spinning as fast as one of my plates in the air, but not being one to dilly dally and being the kind of woman who knows exactly what she wants, I zeroed in on a satiny black number with a prominent rhinestone perfectly positioned right in the center of this piece of feminine lingerie. Wasting no time, I approached the register and plopped down my American Express card. The young, twenty-something salesgirl began to wrap my new purchase carefully and meticulously in leopard print tissue paper while I looked on with fascination and anticipation. I thanked her profusely and proudly carried my pink striped bag out of the mall like a giddy school girl upon receiving her first straight-A report card.
Arriving home faster than normal, I trotted up the curved stairway and placed the bag upon my bed and stared at it with wonder and thought,
"Could this simple, yet sexy brassiere be the key to my happiness, prosperity, eternal youth and true love?"
Removing my treasure from the leopard print wrappings, I began the divine ceremony feeling as if I possessed the Holy Grail between my very own two hands. I stood there before the full-length mirror admiring my new purchase and its perfect, almost seamless fit on my 50-plus year old body as the sun glinted off the prominent rhinestone and sent the rays glinting toward the ceiling.
Waiting, wondering, wishing …. hoping that some magical transformation would take place within the walls of my bedroom as if I were under some fairy-tale spell thinking that at any moment my windows would burst open and the warms rays of the sun would illuminate every square inch around me, the trees would bloom profusely with perfect flowers, the walls would spring forth with vines overflowing with purple and pink passion flowers, the birds would flutter into my room and sit adoringly on my window sill chirping their little avian hearts out, the bunnies, and rabbits and raccoons, Bambi-like deer batting their long, luscious eyelashes and assorted other forest creatures would spring happily and rest at my feet looking at me with wonder and adoration, and me, here in my black bra would burst triumphantly into song with a voice like an angel singing with passion only to wish that someday my prince would come …
It's been about three weeks now since I changed my bra, and as of this moment in time, not too much has changed. I haven't won the lottery, been able to buy my dream car, save the whales, pay cash for a 7,000 square foot penthouse in New York City, and my Prince still has not arrived, but I'm still hoping. And yes, I'm still wearing my new, black satin with a rhinestone in the middle bra, and still hoping that my 50 dollar investment will someday yield forth some serious returns.
"Change Your Bra. Change Your Life!"
As of yet, nothing for me, but when the change finally does happen, you'll be the first to know!
Thank you SO much Susan for joining us today! The post was lovely! (Everyone join me in a warm round of applause for Miss Susan's wonderful post today!!) You can follow Susan on her blog and be SURE to check out her upcoming release: "My Life in the Lounge – Observations of Life from the Edge of a Martini Glass". Thank you again for your visit today Miss Susan!! 😀
Happy Hump-Day, Everyone!


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Rabbi Tarfon said: The day is short, the work is abundant, the workers are lazy, the reward is great, and the Master of the house is insistent. Ethics of the Fathers, 2:20
A king and his entourage, traveling through a foreign land far from their kingdom, were set upon by marauders intent upon robbing and killing the entire party. As his officers fought to the death, the king managed to escape, only to find himself lost and helpless in the wilderness. With neither food nor water, the king quickly grew weak and feared that he would not last much longer.
There seemed little hope, until a nomad happened upon the king, revived him with food and drink, then led him back to civilization where he could arrange transport back to his kingdom. The king wished to reward his rescuer, and having nothing of value to give him and lacking a common language, he finally convinced the nomad to accompany him back to his kingdom. Once there, the king led his rescuer to the treasure room, handed him a large sack, and indicated that he should take whatever he liked.
The nomad looked at the king with disbelief. I saved this man's life, even escorted him back to his country, and now the man had the audacity to put me to work! The nomad wanted to march right out of the room, but figured that this man, obviously rich and powerful, would become angry and throw him in jail. Best to play along, he decided, picking up a few of the rocks that filled the room and tossing them into the bag, but I am not going to work too hard. After a couple of handfuls, he sat down and refused to do anymore work.
An hour or so later the king returned. He gave the nomad a peculiar look, seeing that he had collected so little from the room, but the king did not seem angry. He then set the nomad on his way home and, to the nomad's increasing wonder, left him in possession of the bag of rocks he had begun to fill.
When the nomad returned to his own country, he happened upon one of his landsmen and immediately began to recount his peculiar encounter with the mad king. His companion, somewhat more worldly, asked to look at the "rocks" he had collected.
"You fool!" he exclaimed. "These are diamonds. Each of them is worth a fortune."
"Then I'm rich!" cried the nomad.
"Perhaps so," replied the other. "But you have only a fraction of what could have been yours had you worked diligently during the time you had in the treasure room."
"The day is short..."
Life in this world is but a few short years compared with the eternity of the World to Come. When we are young we imagine our years to be endless, but as we grow older, as we watch our children grow up and move on with their own lives, as we feel the opportunity of youth slip away though our fingers, we lament how poorly we have taken advantage of the time accorded us. Yes, the days of our lives are short indeed, and there are few tragedies greater than looking back across seven or eight or nine decades and wishing that we had spent them better.
"The work is abundant..."
The world is littered with diamonds of incalculable value. These are the mitzvoth of the Torah, the acts of kindness, of virtue, of righteousness, and of sanctity by which we earn for ourselves eternal reward in the World to Come. It is a never-ending task, a vocation without limit, to acquire these priceless gems by following the timeless traditions of the Jewish people. And like the nomad in the king's treasure room who thought himself rich for having picked up a few stones, the one who shirks this labor will ultimately discover the inadequacy of the few prizes he has collected.
"The workers are lazy..."
There are many kinds of laziness, and aversion to physical labor is not the worst of them. True, almost all of us waste countless hours of our lives procrastinating, taking short cuts that end up being long cuts, and searching for our glasses or our car keys because we lack the discipline to put them away properly.
Even worse, however, is intellectual laziness. We live in a world so multifaceted, so richly fascinating in its wonders and miracles, so replete with scientific and biological anomalies that our minds should spin contemplating the infinite complexity and beauty of nature. For this reason was King David called the sweet singer of Israel: through the composition of his Psalms he proclaimed the divine harmony that arranges all the miracles of creation into a single spiritual symphony, and he forever praised the Conductor responsible for their arrangement. God hides His face, but He hides where He can easily be found, if we only summon up the resolve to look for Him.
Perhaps worst of all is moral laziness. The superficiality, political correctness, and moral equivalence that define so much of today's conventional "wisdom" turn criminals into victims, terrorists into freedom fighters, even Jews into Nazis. Intellectual discipline first requires intellectual integrity, the willingness to care about finding the truth and the willingness to recognize truth, even when it flies in the face of current intellectual and moral fads.
"the reward is great..."
The reward for a good life is a good life, both in this world and in the next. The satisfaction of knowing that one's life contains ultimate spiritual meaning far surpasses any sort of temporal physical or intellectual pursuit. The commitment of one's existence to a higher purpose makes life in this world not only tolerable but truly fulfilling. It produces a joy and an intense psychological pleasure that the most self-indulgent hedonist cannot begin to imagine.
But even this fulfillment is only a drop in the ocean compared to the final reward that awaits us in the World to Come. And, lest one question whether that final reward truly does await him or is truly worth the effort...
"the Master of the house is insistent."
How many of us remember our parents not letting us go outdoors in April without a sweater, grounding us for a D on our report cards, refusing our pleas to quit piano lessons, or withholding our allowance until we cleaned up our rooms? How many of us have become the same kind of parents?
Parents don't insist standards from their children because they are cruel, because they are power-crazed, or because they want revenge for what their parents did to them. They insist on standards because they love their children, because they want what's best for them, because they want them to learn responsibility so that they will grow into happy, successful adults.
So, too, the Almighty, our Father in heaven, created the world so that we, His children, can work to earn the eternal reward He has prepared for us in the World to Come. And yes, He is insistent, for His love for us is boundless and timeless. There is no other purpose for creation, and the Creator will not allow us, His creations, to casually discard the days of our lives without pricking our consciences and prodding us back toward the true work of our days.
Yes, Rabbi Tarfon teaches, the day is short, the work is hard, and we are often lazy. But we can overcome these obstacles if we remember the great reward that awaits us in this world and the next, and if we remember that there is no other enduring purpose for our existence.


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Officials say a gas leak may be to blame in a deadly house explosion that killed a toddler on New York's Long Island. WNBC's Tracie Strahan reports.
Authorities are investigating the cause of an explosion that leveled a house on Long Island, N.Y., killing an 18-month-old baby and injuring another 17 people, officials said.
Rah-quan Palmer died in the blast that razed his family's two-story home on Prospect Drive in Brentwood just before noon Tuesday. Palmer's mother, Christina Morgan, 23, and his father, Rashamel Palmer, 28, remain hospitalized along with their tenants Calvin Harris, 23, and 63-year-old Irving Justiniano.
A State Farm Insurance agent, 46-year-old Patricia Salegna-Maqueda, who had been assessing a recent claim submitted for flooding, and a plumber, 48-year-old Michael Ray, also were injured.
Eleven people outside the house also were injured, including seven police officers, two firefighters and a mother and son who lived next door. Their injuries were minor and all were treated at local hospitals and released.
For more, visit NBCNewYork.com
Firefighters sifted through the rubble of the home Tuesday afternoon into the evening, seeking answers to what may have prompted the destruction.
Neighbors described a chaotic scene.
"One of them came out, and his clothes were all ripped, his face was all bloody," said Anthony Acevedo. "The mother of the baby that came out, she was bloody and crying, and she kept screaming, 'My baby's in there, my baby's in there.'"
Another neighbor, who said he often waved to the family, saw rescuers pull the baby from the rubble, but he wasn't moving.
"That's the sad part, and that image just kills me," said Carlos Bescosne. "I saw the fireman run with the baby."
Another woman, Dawn Paris, said the explosion shook her house and she lives a mile away.
Frank Catalano, a worker with AMS Restoration and Environmental Services said that a pipe had burst in the house last week, causing a flood.
"There were issues in the house," Catalano said. "The condition wasn't the greatest."
The house had been illegally converted into a rooming house with at least eight rooms, which were being rented for $300 a month, said Inez Birbiglia, a spokeswoman for the Town of Islip. The owner of the house was issued 10 summonses for code violations in September 2011 and was given until this October to bring the house into compliance.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation. Authorities say two 200-pound propane tanks were discovered in the debris and are investigating if the propane may have contributed to the explosion.
National Grid spokeswoman Wendy Ladd says it appears natural gas was not used in that house or on the entire block.
Officials have condemned the houses on both sides of the explosion, which were badly damaged. Red Cross is assisting 19 people find temporary shelter until residents are allowed into homes that were intact but may have been compromised.
Last April, another home in Brentwood exploded. The home was vacant at the time and no one was injured, though 21 people from neighboring homes were taken to the hospital for evaluation.
A gas leak was believed to have caused that explosion.
View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.
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The work of Elmore Leonard has already been turned into more than a dozen films and three TV series. Next is his book about a group of ex-'60s radicals with a gift for bombmaking.
Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, William H. Macy and Craig Robinson are poised to join writer-director Charlie Matthau's adaptation of "Freaky Deaky," reported Deadline.
Here's Deadline's synopsis of the film:
U.S. & World
Dillon plays Chris Mankowski, a Vietnam vet who is on the Detroit police bomb squad; Fraser plays Skip, the former 60s radical who becomes a Hollywood demolition guy; Macy (who signed on late last year) plays an alcoholic playboy millionaire who's threatened by Skip and his girlfriend that he'll have his mansion blown up if he doesn't pay $3 mlllion; and Robinson plays a former Black Panther also looking to cash in.
We're loving the Leonard-inspired "Justified," starring Timothy Oliphant, and "Out of Sight," starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, is a classic, but the success rate of Leonard adaptations isn't nearly as high as his books.
And we're big fans of three of the four guys (we'll leave it to you to guess the odd man out) who are on board for this film, but none of them are the kind of guy who carries a film, so we're a little suspicious that Mattahu hasn't attracted bigger--if not necessarily better--talent. And Matthau's own track record as a director doesn't exactly inspire confidence.


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(Pocket-lint) - Let's get the disappointment out of the way now. After last week's review of the Beetle where we tried - and failed - not to mention Herbie, this week's review of the Skoda Yeti will contain no references to abominable snowmen or monstrous Himalayan creatures. Sorry to let you down.
Be not dismayed by its name however, because the Yeti is a car deserving of your attention. You might remember it from Top Gear a year or so ago. They landed a helicopter on it, tattooed a bloke while driving across a field and supposedly put Sienna Miller in the glovebox. At the end of all that, the one with the stonewashed jeans declared it to be one of the best cars on sale today. With Pocket-Lint-coloured shades on, does its star shine as brightly?
Pretty much everything the VW Group makes (VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Bentley, etc), is available with another badge. So your Golf is an A3 is an Octavia is a Leon, effectively. But not the Yeti. And it's this uniqueness which is its biggest selling point.
This is estate car meet MPV meets 4x4. The seating position's higher than a car, there's loads of room inside and it has individual rear seats like an MPV. It looks "rugged" and tough like a 4x4, yet it drives like a car. And the image is neither "get out of my way" SUV aggression, nappy-strewn MPV, nor antique dealer estate. We like it.
Inside, there's no Range Rover-like sense of occasion, but families will really love the Yeti for its versatile cabin. Three independent, sliding and removable rear seats which Skoda calls Varioflex come as standard – the centre seat folds to become a table. Plus there are stacks of cubby holes in the cabin, even if none of them appears big enough to fit Sienna Miller in.
Even the boot's clever. The floor lifts up to reveal a sub-divided tray to stow those bits everyone has rolling around their boot, but you can also fold back part of the carpet to split the boot floor and lodge taller things in. On the side there are two rails with hooks to hang things like bags of supermarket. Handy.
Yet all this versatile spaciousness is wrapped up in a car that's barely longer than a Golf. So the Yeti doesn't suffer from the size issues that afflict many SUVs on the supermarket and school run. With the glass roof option of our test car, it's a lovely airy place to be too - a bonus of which means it's also easy to park and position on the road.
The main option missing from our top of the range "Elegance" spec Yeti was satellite navigation. But other than that, everything you'd expect was standard and just works. That means telephone connectivity through Bluetooth, an aux and USB-in port, dual zone climate control and cruise control. Handily, most of these things can be operated via buttons on the wheel and we're big fans of Volkswagen group cars being able to mirror much of what's on the centre stack system in the screen between the speedo and rev counter.
The Yeti's available with two or four-wheel drive, the 4x4 guise we tested it in brings with it not only the reassurance of greater traction from four driven wheels, but an "off road" button which is supposed to help in slippery conditions. It includes functions such as hill start assist, downhill assist (like hill descent control in a Land Rover) and special settings for the ABS, traction and stability control when working off-road. All stuff you'll probably never use until you come to get out of a wet field on school sports day and want to laugh at all those BMW and Mercedes estate drivers you leave flailing behind.
Opt for the cheaper, more economical "Greenline" diesel version of the Yeti and you also get things like Stop/start and energy recovery to the battery to help boost your fuel economy. On our 1.8TSi petrol however, the only notable economy feature was a gear recommendation indicator, which we found more annoying than useful.
Buy a car like the Yeti and you might think your days of driving fun are over. But after a few minutes behind the wheel you discover why the likes of Mr Clarkson are such big fans of it. Despite being a bit taller than a normal car, it drives better than most ordinary hatchbacks. The best thing, given the state of UK roads, is the ride, which remains smooth regardless of the surface. Given this, you might not expect it to go round corners too well, but it actually enjoys being thrown around. Thanks to those hooks in the boot, you can drive like Lewis Hamilton on the way back from the shops and arrive home with your eggs still in one piece.
Equally impressive is the refinement. We opted to test the 1.8TSi petrol. Partly because modern petrols are supposed to have closed the gap in terms of economy with diesel engines and partly because we'd been tipped off it was the most fun to drive in the Yeti range. In the latter department, we had no complaints. Switch it on and it's so quiet you almost don't know the engine's running, but need to overtake someone and it shows a surprising turn of speed.
Sadly, on the petrol versus diesel front, we managed to get only 29mpg during our time in the Yeti. Perhaps it's because we were having so much fun out on the road driving and doing lots of journeys just nipping to the shops. Do bear in mind though that the petrol versions are cheaper to buy than the diesel equivalents and that right now diesel's 5-10p per litre more than unleaded. If you don't do many miles a year, petrol might still be best.
There are two ways of looking at our Yeti Elegance's £22,520 price tag. The first being that it's a lot of money for a Skoda. Or the second, and correct one, is that it's an absolute bargain for one of the most versatile yet enjoyable cars we've driven in the past year. Given this price includes things like leather upholstery, heated seats and xenon lights, we don't think it's unreasonable at all. Bear in mind there are smaller engine options and less luxurious trim levels costing many thousand pounds less.
We've started to see a lot of Yetis on the road and having lived with one for a week we can see the appeal. Put simply, this is a brilliant family car but also one which, if you enjoy driving, won't make you feel like you're being punished for having kids. We think it projects the perfect image for current times too – tough, rugged and a little pumped up without being flash or having the OTT bling aggression of many SUVs.
It might not have the appeal of a Range Rover Evoque, but it'll do nearly all the things that car does, without any fuss and at half the price. Or put another way, think of this as an Audi but for ten grand less than the four-ringed brand would charge you, and you'll be laughing all the way home. It's the perfect family car for our times. We highly recommend it.


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Mostly some random stuff from the weekend.
Back in the day when I was delivering pizza, I found myself occasionally delivering to a guy who restores classic cars. One of the cars he was working on was a BTTF-Replica Delorean DMC-12. Today on my way home from church, we saw it in a parking lot. All I had was my camera phone.
One point twenty one jiggawatts! Great Scott!
I also saw this at his place before the conversion several years ago. He hasn't invested much into the restoration but has started converting it to look like the Ghostbusters car.
Our container garden is about to make a break for it! Cucumbers, radishes, peas and green onion are represented here.
At the crack of dawn this morning, my wife and I went back to Black Hoof Park to fish.
While there, I got another crappy shot of the spillway. I really need to bring my Canon out to capture this. I'm not sure any camera can do this dam justice, though. It's a sight to behold in person.
The GhettoBasket holds my fishing gear on the way home. I caught exactly zero fish, but had a lot of bait stolen right off my hook. This is the first season fishing's been allowed at Lake Lenexa, so my guess is I was using too much hook for what's likely to be mostly small panfish. Either that, or turtles -- the sneaky beasts that they are -- were nibbling at my bait.
I went to the parents' place for Father's Day lunch. I cooked up some steak for the family. After lunch, dad asked if I'd lay down a bass line for a new song he's working on. Surprised, I obliged. Even though the song called for a pretty simple blues groove, it took me a bunch of takes to get it right. He says that's how multi-track recording works. I've done lots of live mixing and DJing, but never studio recording -- much less been the one being recorded. It was fun!
Random Tunage:
Barenaked Ladies - One Week
Ben Folds Five - Brick
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Great Scott!
Mostly some random stuff from the weekend.
5 comments:
If it's the same one I saw at a show a couple weeks back, you missed my 2 favorite parts - the 88 MPH plate and the NES in the dash. I've got pics of those sitting here.
-ThatGuy from DDRKC
- June 22, 2009 12:48 PM
- TG said...
- June 23, 2009 7:35 AM
- Noah said...
Hey! You have a profile now! We missed you at PHP. A newcomer was looking for details on GMaps mash-ups.
- June 23, 2009 7:41 AM
- TG said...
Yeah, I've evidently had this account sitting around for a couple years. I posteed my DeLorean pics in the blog. That figures, I miss it at just the wrong time.
- June 23, 2009 1:09 PM
- Steven said...
Man, I forgot to leave a ...
... "Great pics!"
- June 23, 2009 2:46 PM
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CONCORD — A Derry Republican wants the trucking industry to support his proposed gas and diesel tax increase or face reductions in the amount of cargo it can haul on New Hampshire highways.
CONCORD — A Derry Republican wants the trucking industry to support his proposed gas and diesel tax increase or face reductions in the amount of cargo it can haul on New Hampshire highways.
Senate Transportation Chairman Jim Rausch said Thursday he will work to reduce maximum truck weights below 104,000 pounds if his bill to increase the tax by 4 cents a gallon fails.
Rausch said he isn't threatening the industry. If there isn't more money to maintain New Hampshire's roads, something else has to be done and lowering the weights trucks can carry would cause them less damage.
"All I'm saying is, if we can't fix our roads, I believe it is our responsibility to do everything we can to prevent serious damage," Rausch said.
Bob Sculley, president of the New Hampshire Motor Transport Association, said the industry will not drop its opposition to the proposed tax hike it believes is too costly and called Rausch's proposal an act of retaliation.
Rausch insists reducing weights wouldn't be retaliation.
"That's not true. I'm trying to preserve the roads," Rausch said.
Rausch has an ally in his House counterpart: Transportation Chairwoman Candace Bouchard, a Concord Democrat.
"If nobody wants to pay any more, then we have to look at preserving roads and bridges in a manner we can, and some of that will have to be in a reduction of truck weights," she said Friday.
Sculley said a better funding source would be from legalizing casino gambling, which is being considered by the House.
Rausch's bill proposes calculating future increases using the Consumer Price Index. His first calculation would be based on the difference in CPI from 2003 to 2013. Later increases would be every four years and Rausch estimates they would average a penny.
The 18-cent tax would rise about 4 cents per gallon in July under the bill. It has not been increased since 1991 and is the lowest in New England.
Senate Ways and Means Chairman Bob Odell said Thursday he anticipates the bill will receive a favorable recommendation from his committee on March 4 if an amendment is adopted to remove indexing the increases, which drew the strongest opposition.
The 4-cent initial tax increase is projected to raise $32 million annually but it is unclear how much would be used for road improvements and how much to shore up the Department of Transportation, which estimates it will have to lay off nearly half of its workers without more money in the two-year budget that starts on July 1, 2015. The department projects it will have a $49 million deficit in 2016 that grows to $106 million in 2017.
Transportation Commissioner Chris Clement said his department needs operating cash because a series of one-time funding fixes enacted by lawmakers are ending. Even with a tax increase, he would still be forced to lay off some workers, he said Friday.
Without additional money to repair the state's roads and bridges, reducing truck weights will only delay the deterioration of the state's infrastructure, Clement said.
The Senate will vote on the bill March 13. It isn't clear if it will pass because Senate President Chuck Morse, a strong casino backer, opposes hiking the tax.
Gov. Maggie Hassan has said if a consensus is reached on a tax increase, she will sign it.


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Church of Scientology of Moscow: Decision In European Court of Human Rights Now Law
The landmark European Court of Human Rights decision affirming the religious rights of Scientologists throughout Europe has now become law. The court denied the Russian government's application for review of its April 5 decision in favor of the Church of Scientology of Moscow. That decision overturned the Moscow City government's refusal to register the Church of Scientology of Moscow as a religious organization.
With the decision becoming final, it is now a precedent-setting ruling that helps guarantee the freedom of religion and right of association for Scientologists and people of all faiths throughout the 47 nations that comprise the Council of Europe.
The Court found that "in denying registration to the Church of Scientology of Moscow, the Moscow authorities did not act in good faith and neglected their duty of neutrality and impartiality vis-a-vis the applicant's religious community. In the light of the foregoing, the Court considers that the interference with the applicant's right to freedom of religion and association was not justified. There has therefore been a violation of Article 11 of the Convention read in the light of Article 9."
Elena Saycheva, spokesperson of the Church of Scientology of Moscow, praised the Court's ruling saying, "This decision not only confirms the rights of Churches of Scientology, but also sets another important precedent to protect the rights of all other religious communities in Europe."
Russian Scientology Churches in St. Petersburg, Surgut, and Nizhnekamsk, also have cases pending in the European Court of Human Rights for similar discriminatory harassment concerning their registration.
The Scientology religion was founded by L. Ron Hubbard. The first Church was established in the United States in 1954. As of 2007 it has grown to more than 7,500 Churches, Missions and groups in 163 nations. The Russian Federation has more than 40 Scientology Churches and Missions from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok.


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Looking for a great laptop MIDI keyboard. What's a great buy?
Answers Given
Answers Favorited
There are a lot of options. Looking for one to use at home, basic functions, inexpensive.0
There are a quite a few laptop-oriented MIDI keyboards to choose from. It's hard to make a single recommendation because needs vary quite a bit based on your playing experience and the types of things you want to be able to do.
Korg, Akai, Alesis, Edirol (Roland), M-Audio, Novation and others all make a variety of MIDI keyboards (sometimes called keyboard controllers) that are well suited for use with a laptop. Portable keyboard controllers vary in price from $50 to about $400.
First of all, you need to decide how good of keyboard you want. Do you just want something similar to a computer's QWERTY keys that allows you to just press keys to trigger notes or do you want something closer to a piano feel? There is a quite a range available in the quality, size and weight of the keys and the presence of velocity sensitivity, aftertouch and such. If you have expectations in this area (such as experience playing piano) it's best to try the keyboard out before committing.
Second how large of a note range do you want? MIDI keyboards all allow you to adjust the octave range up and down the scale, but the number of keys on the keyboard will have a huge impact on the playability of the keyboard. On the other hand, obviously, this is a tradeoff with portability. Many laptop-oriented MIDI keyboards have 25 keys that allows a keyboard with two octaves of mini, but usable sized, keys to fit in a laptop bag.
A third concern is driver compatibility. Your best bet with respect to drivers is to find a keyboard that is "MIDI class-compliant". That means the device will work "plug-and-play" with most computers (Mac, Windows, Linux, iPad) without the need for special drivers. Special drivers from the vendor can add useful features. But there are often long, frustrating delays between new operating system versions and availability of updated MIDI drivers to support your keyboard with the new OS.
Another issue is power: many smaller MIDI keyboards are designed to operate off USB power and/or batteries and don't require a wall-wart AC power supply. If you are looking for a keyboard for truly mobile use, this is really important.
In addition to the note keys most MIDI keyboard controllers have additional buttons, pads, rocker switches, knobs and sliders for other uses such as pitch bend, modulation, sustain, drum/trigger pads and MIDI CC control functions. The mechanics and utility of these features will vary quite a lot from one keyboard to the next, but some sort of pitch bend and modulation controls are pretty much standard on any MIDI keyboard.
One last consideration is that just about any MIDI synthesizer will also function as a keyboard controller. Just to show how fuzzy this line is, some keyboard controllers throw in a synthesizer module with the rest of the electronics. So a small stand-alone synth will double as MIDI keyboard controller for many uses.
richardl posted a very good overview of things to consider when talking about midi keyboards, but for recommendations for laptop midi keyboards, I will drop 1 model in the hopper that I have personal experience with. I'm assuming the keyboard needs to have some decent portability, and Kevin's stated requirements of basic functions, and inexpensive (ignoring the obvious that you should be able to use a portable keyboard at home, too).
The Korg nanoKEY2 is a very portable USB midi keyboard that can easily fit into a baggy jacket pocket, or be tucked into a backpack or messenger bag, taking up about the same volumetric space as a paperback. It has basic midi functionality, like Octave up and down, Pitch up and down, Sustain, and Modulation. Its 25 non traditional, pressure sensitive, keys feel more like PC keyboard buttons when pressed, and the black keys are off-set to keep from interfering with the white keys, but this oddity is made up for by the ability to, again, easily take this compact gadget anywhere. And, considering price, it can be had for about $50 new.
I don't have one, but the Akai LPK25 looks like it has a similar footprint to the nanoKEY2. The trade-off is that it loses some portability by having more traditional piano keys, which some may have no trouble using up some more bag or pocket space for. It is also priced at about $50 and I am looking at picking one up to try it out.
I had the same question several months ago. I ended up buying an Akai Pro MPK Mini 25-key controller. If you're considering the LPK25, the MPK Mini is basically the LPK25 combined with the LPD8's pads in one chassis. I just mess around with midi and use the controller for projects, experimentation and noodling with various audio workstation packages like Reason and Ableton so I can't speak to how good the MPK is for serious users. I also don't travel with it much so portability pluses and minuses don't matter to me. But it is great for my purposes and having the controller and the pads all-in-one means I don't take up desk real estate with two different components. The MPK is $70 at Amazon and is well-reviewed on sites like musicradar.com.
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The "Immortal" Hulk Hogan joined Busted Open with Dave Lagreca and Doug Mortman an hour before Lockdown began at the Alamadome. You can hear Busted Open on Sirius 92, XM 208 and Sports Zone on the app. Here are highlights from the interview:
His knee and overall health: "Thursday was a month, so a month and two and a half days for the old knee replacement, so I think I'm doing good. I saw some other wrestlers that had some knee replacements done and around the same time, I feel like Tarzan here all of a sudden, they said they weren't even going to be able to walk around for eight or nine weeks, so I'm a little bit ahead of schedule.
"The weird thing is, now I got two new knees, two new hips; after eight back surgeries my back's fixed, I think I should be getting a title shot pretty soon. The oldest Heavyweight Champion of the world."
His fatherly perspective on Brooke getting more involved in TNA: "Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's actually my worst nightmare coming true, but I'm not the one who's in charge of her happiness and for some reason she seems to light up when she's around this business. She's really good on camera, like when we were doing Hogan Knows Best I used to say she's the only one in the family that's a real actor. So for her to be around the business and she's got this built in following and she's got a good instinct for the wrestling business. I'm to the point where she's not 18 anymore and she's in her early 20's so she's got to choose her direction. Life is all about choices. The one thing I worry about, I'll watch Kurt Angle walk around in back, I'll watch Jeff Hardy walk around in the back, and they're kind of borderline of maybe going too far and I don't want them to end up like me, that's what I'm worried about with Brooke. I don't want her to get into this business and blow her knees out or hurt her back. We have a masseuse that comes to the house like once a week, maybe once every two weeks, and he goes 'O my gosh, your daughters got the same injuries you do.' I'm going, 'what do you mean?' He goes, 'well her backs got that same tweak in it and the knees got the same tweak.' A lot of it's genetic, but my biggest fear is her getting in this business, and you don't have to wrestle 30 years like I did, you could wrestle 2 years or a year and a half or 5 years and get hurt, so that's my biggest fear."
Fans buying into Brooke: "It's just so weird, because, you've got all these naysayers. I run social media now because Brooke and my son, Nick, have taught me how to do it, and you get on the social media and you get all these naysayers that say, 'how come Hogan is still hanging out in wrestling?' or 'I want to be a writer for TNA, their creative sucks, give me a job' and 'why is he pushing his daughter in this business?' and all of a sudden, nobody realizes it, all of a sudden there'll be the Pope or Jesse Sorensen or there'll be Hulk Hogan, you don't know what everybody's contract is, you don't know if Sting can wrestle 200 days a year or twenty days a year. You don't know what his contract says and there's so many givens that these people don't know, so I kind of have to back away from them because I realize I'm the biggest mark there is. I love this business, I watch all the shows, I watch our show and everybody else's show just like a fan and I realize that these are all a bunch of marks, just like me, that don't know the whole story. Then when I see 'what are you still doing in wrestling?' or 'why is your daughter in it?' Then I think about Lou Thesz who wrestled into his 70's, I think about Vince McMahon who is a lot older than me, I think about Vince's daughter Stephanie who's part of the business, so you just have to take it with a grain of salt. It's hard to separate the two. There are a lot of family members who are part of the business, second generation wrestlers, and they don't have to be all men, they can be women, just like Von Erich's daughter Lacy was in it. Vince's daughter Stephanie wrestled. It's just so weird how the social media fans will try to pick individual things apart."
Fans not knowing what is really going on backstage and Bobby Roode's contract: "When you're working for a company, sometimes you don't focus on what your contract says. I was here last year, I was working at a PPV and my contract had run out. I didn't know it. Dixie didn't know it. We weren't worried about it. We're here because we love this business and all of a sudden I call my attorney and say, 'Henry, is my contract up?' He goes, 'Yeah, it ran out ten days ago.' I didn't even know it. Dixie didn't know. We weren't worried about that; we were worried about putting on a good show. It's just so weird that 'O my god, Bobby Roode's contract is over', I looked at Twitter today, 'Hogan you're an idiot, afterthought, [email protected]$$.' All these things that are being said to me, I've got nothing to do with that. Here's the deal; Bobby Roode, great talent. I'm sure he wants to be here or he wants to be anywhere and he can make his own deal, but we sure don't want him going anywhere. We love him to death. I was hoping that he'd have the belt on the UK tour just so we'd have a TNA champion over there. It's all weird how everybody tries to tear our business apart. We're all here for the same reason, we love this business and if he doesn't have a contract I bet Booby Roode would wrestle tonight without a contract until we get it straightened out. That's how much he loves it."
TNA's new road schedule and leaving the Impact Zone: "The truth is, all that stuff [about the Impact Zone] was incorrect if I said anything negatively because there were a lot of crowds that came in that weren't wrestling crowds, they were just part of the park. But the weird thing is, all that stuff that was so bad or was a horrible thing, I mean, now that I actually look at it, it was actually a setup to move on to something better or a stepping stone to this company becoming great. That all happened for a reason. We weren't ready to go out on the road a couple of years ago. So thank god for Universal. Now I look at it completely different than maybe what I said before."
Changing the format to 4 PPV's a year: "I think we need to switch gears and yes I do like it. It's just helter skelter. All of a sudden it's like every company has a PPV every month and nothing meant nothing and I think we're just trying to get back to the dance. Not like wrestling used to be, but like how wrestling should be and just make things mean something again. I think for us as a company, for us to keep gaining momentum and not really care about what anybody else does, but like I said, make this from a good little company to a great company. I think we're regrouping in the right places. The TV is our star, the Spike network. A lot of our payoffs, to me, we were throwing the dart at the wrong target. We were worried about a PPV where we should be worried about the TV that's supporting us and build up some major angles and then bang, have them on TV instead of the PPV. Now we can get these major angles on TV and have the bigger, bigger ones for these four PPVs, so I think we're on track with it."


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oh i can't wait
Quote from: ilhamrizki on October 12, 2012, 06:51:42 AMoh i can't wait and to RFF, ilhamrizki! I hope you have lots of fun here!
It looks like there may be an option to perform a Blind U-turn here
I feel so happy with what they have in store for Indonesia right now.. First it was the double elimination, Second the double blind u-turn..The third time visit later on.. wonder what will TPTB do..
In the third promo we see James and Abba before the Chippendales performing the detour. Is it safe to assume they are on the first train and at that point of time before the Chips?
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36 freedivers from 20 countries are preparing for Vertical Blue 2016, the elite freediving competition held at the world's deepest blue hole in the Bahamas. It starts on April 22 and runs for 11 days. Get a view from the inside here.
Dean's Blue Hole has a depth of 202 m. © samovidic.com/ zooom.at
On the white sandy shores surrounding the deep, still waters of Dean's Blue Hole waves of activity come and go.
Under the warm tropical sun, freedivers, competition judges, safety staff, photographers, media and organizers are preparing for Suunto Vertical Blue 2016, the most important depth diving competition of the year.
The athletes are putting the finishing touches on their training, or resting up and preparing their bodies with yoga and relaxation exercises. Diving down into the murky depths on a single breath requires total relaxation, which is more difficult to maintain under competition conditions.
Click here to learn about the different disciplines of competition freediving
Spectators look on as the competition gets underway. © samovidic.com/ zooom.at
Safety staff are busy finalizing protocols. Organisers are testing underwater cameras, including a new underwater drone that will follow each diver down and back again – a world first for a freediving competition.
We caught up with some of the players to give you a sneak peak behind the scenes.
The world champ
William is the first and only person to freedive to 101 m with no assistance. © samovidic.com/ zooom.at
Suunto athlete, world champion freediver, and competition host William Trubridge usually wins the top spot, which is more likely this year as his friend and rival Alex Molchanov isn't competing this year.
The competition might still prove challenging for William.
"I've had a lot of recent injuries and sickness, so I am still not in top form," he explains. "I'm treating this more as a warm-up competition for the season, but if I start doing good dives during the 11 days of the event then who knows?"
How deep do they dive? Click for a visual guide!
The island yogi
Kate runs a freediving and yoga school on an island near Bali. © katemiddletonyoga.com
Four weeks ago New Zealand record-holding freediver and yoga teacher Kate Middleton travelled from her tiny island home in Indonesia to tiny Long Island, the home of Dean's Blue Hole, to focus on training for Vertical Blue 2016. The 27-year-old ocean lover is satisfied with her preparation.
"I've done all of the training that I can do beforehand," she says. "Now I will benefit most from staying dry and resting up."
For Kate, the competition is the pinnacle of the world's freediving competitions. The professional organization, the robust safety system, the media attention and the level of competition make it special, she says. With no individual depth world championship in 2016, Vertical Blue is the most important competition of the year.
Read: The secret to freediving – relaxation.
Yoga helps freedivers to move fluidly and efficiently. © katemiddletonyoga.com
"All the activity is centred around the blue hole," Kate says. "Pre- dive, most people are very quiet and focused. Post-dive everyone is really social and chatty. Everyone understands each other in that way. There's a lot of respect for where someone is at."
Achieving her personal goals for the competition is one thing, but for Kate one of the main reasons she attends is for the community it offers.
"Freediving is a small sport so it's rare that you're around so many people who have also devoted their life to this and to share something like that you really develop strong friendships quickly. Freediving brings everyone together."
The judges
CarlaSue Hanson says its going to be a big 11 days. © Francesca Koe
President of AIDA International (Association for the Development of Apnea) CarlaSue Hanson is one of the judges at this year's competition. To be a judge requires completing a specific AIDA course. Competition organizers pick judges according to their level of experience, something CarlaSue has in spades.
"The main responsibility of the judge is to ensure that all requirements of the rules of AIDA International are upheld," she explains. "Safety is the main concern above all else."
As AIDA president, CarlaSue knows many of the competitors.
"It does help to know the divers when tracking the results and also watching for any indications of stress or possible injury. I have a little record in my head about the past dives and it gives me some indication of what I might expect to see."
Click to learn how to become a freediver!
William Trubridge resting before a dive. © samovidic.com/ zooom.at
Like Kate, CarlaSue sees Vertical Blue as a prestigious event that attracts the world's best freedivers.
"The unique setting and calm water of the lagoon provide for consistent conditions without excessive wind and current," she says. "It's also easier for all of us, as the competition site is so close to the shore so we don't have to take a boat out to the venue.
"It is also one of the only competitions where we have spectators. The other athletes can watch their friends and rivals dive and we also have locals and tourists coming out to cheer and enjoy the competition."
Chief of safety
Stephen Keenan runs a freediving school in Dahab, Egypt. © Francesca Koe
Competitive freediver and freediving instructor trainer Stephen Keenan is chief of safety this year. In previous years he has performed the role of platform coordinator so he knows well how to run a tight operation.
"My role is crucial to keep things running smoothly and to create a comfortable environment for the athletes to do their best," he says.
Freedivers to watch
CarlaSue knows who's who in the freediving world. She says there's a lot of talent at this year's event that she expects to do well.
Sayuri Kinoshita, Japan
"She won the overall women's gold medal at Vertical Blue 2015 and was also CNF gold medallist at the AIDA World Championship."
Sofia Gomez, Columbia
At last year's competition she earned national records in the sport's three disciplines: FIM, CNF, CWT.
Marianna Krupnitskaya, Russia
In 2014, Marianna was the world's number one ranked female freediver. Last year she became the Russian national depth champion.
Johnny Sunnex, New Zealand
Johnny won bronze at the AIDA World Depth Championship in 2013. He served as chief of safety at Vertical Blue 2014.
New to Vertical Blue
"We have some other athletes that are big names in freediving but are new to Vertical Blue: Aolin Wang and Jessea Lu of China, Italian Homar Leuci, Camilla Jaber from Mexico, Stephane Tourreau from France, American Ashleigh Baird and a local Bahamian Luke Maillis."
CarlaSue expects many national freediving records to fall. At last year's competition 29 national records were broken by 12 freedivers.
Click here to read about last year's results and here to see this year's athletes.


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The Daily Planner Undated - Cut Out
The Completist
The Daily Planner is a satisfyingly chunky, undated planner with a page dedicated to each weekday. Saturday and Sunday share a page. You can start it whenever you want and you don't have to feel guilty if you don't use it for a few months.
Beautifully packaged in a manila envelope with washer and string closure to help keep all your papers in one place. Makes it perfect for gifting.
Designed in Peckham by The Completist and produced entirely in the UK. The cover is a luxurious, textured 250gsm G.F. Smith card which has 35% cotton content. The book itself has special binding that means it will lay flat on the table - perfect for left-handed people who struggle to use the start of notebooks. Printed with vegetable inks which make the deinking process easier when it comes to recycling.
Vital stats:
144 pages
52 weeks
A5 size
Lay-flat binding
Teams beautifully with this little brass pen holder clip and pen.
Shop the full collection of The Completist here including daily and weekly planners and notebooks.


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Erasmo labors, offense held in check by A's
Mariners bats unable to come alive after trailing from get-go
SEATTLE -- From the moment Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson crushed a two-run homer in the first inning, Mariners starter Erasmo Ramirez was working from behind.
On a night Ramirez didn't have sharp command, he battled his way through five innings to keep the Mariners close, though the bats couldn't get going in a 3-1 setback to Oakland on a crisp Saturday at Safeco Field.
Ramirez failed to record a 1-2-3 inning and gave up three runs on six hits. He struck out three and walked three while throwing 94 pitches, 53 for strikes. He allowed the leadoff hitter to reach in every inning and worked out of jams in the second, third and fourth.
"He just did not have command. I did not see command of the fastball. I did not see command of the secondary pitches," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said after Seattle dropped to 6-4 and out of first place in the American League West. "Very disappointing outing. I thought I would see better this time. For some reason he didn't really have command, and it was a tough night for him right from the start."
He ended his outing by inducing Brandon Moss to hit into a double play, earning him a pat on the back in the dugout from pitching coach Rick Waits.
"I will say this: Erasmo really battled," McClendon said. "He gave us five innings and actually kept us in the ballgame. It was an ugly five, but he kept us in it."
They couldn't take advantage because A's ace Sonny Gray was mostly in control after second baseman Robinson Cano knocked in the Mariners' lone run of the game with a groundout in the first.
Ramirez's performance allowed the Mariners to have a chance late in the game.
Trailing 3-1 with one out in the seventh, Seattle put runners on first and third when Dustin Ackley doubled, Michael Saunders grounded out and John Buck walked. With Abraham Almonte representing the go-ahead run, Gray struck him out on a low breaking ball to end the inning.
"We had opportunities," McClendon said. "We just couldn't take advantage of it."
Gray's line: seven innings, five hits, one run, nine strikeouts and two walks. With the win, he improved to 2-1 and raised his ERA, which was 0.75 entering Saturday, to 0.95 in 19 innings this season.
"At times he gets a little erratic with his fastball," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "And a lot of times, the ball has a mind of itself. It'll cut, it'll sink, do a lot of different things, and that's kind of a strength of his, too, because you never really get a good read on his fastball."
Oakland's two-run first inning was the difference, as Coco Crisp sparked the A's offense with an infield single. Donaldson followed an out later with his two-run homer over the left-field fence to give the A's the early lead.
"My body feels great. Everything about my mechanics are OK," Ramirez said. "It's just mental."
The Mariners got one back in the bottom of the inning after Almonte and Brad Miller hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with no outs. Cano's chopper allowed Almonte to score.
In the third, Ramirez again struggled with his command, walking Crisp and Jed Lowrie to begin the inning. After Donaldson grounded into a fielder's choice, Moss drove in Crisp with an RBI single to left field to give the A's a 3-1 lead. On the play, Ackley made a sliding catch but dropped the ball on the transfer. Perhaps thinking Ackley completed the catch, Moss was called out after passing Donaldson at first base.
"It's just one of those things ... it was just a situation where I thought I could have got the guy going back to first on a relay," Ackley said. "It's tough. I just got to get better at that."
Ramirez eventually worked his way out of the jam thanks to a diving stop from first baseman Justin Smoak on a sharply hit ground ball from Alberto Callaspo.
Mariners rookie Dominic Leone entered in the sixth inning and pieced together the best relief appearance since being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma last week. In two shutout innings, Leone gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one. He's yet to give up a run over 4 1/3 innings in three Major League appearances.
Leone combined with left-hander Joe Beimel on four shutout innings. Seattle's bullpen, which entered Saturday with the second-best ERA in the AL, has given up just three earned runs in the past 18 2/3 innings.
Leone and Beimel kept the Mariners within striking distance against the A's bullpen. With one out in the ninth, pinch-hitter Willie Bloomquist and Ackley notched back-to-back singles, but Saunders struck out and Buck grounded out to end it, as Seattle finished 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
"I thought Leone and Beimel did a tremendous job," McClendon said. "If you think about it, they really saved our bullpen quite a bit. This could have been an ugly night for it."


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Pittsfield, New Hampshire
|This article is a stub. Help us to expand it by contributing your knowledge. For county and town page guidelines, visit U.S. County Page Content Suggestions.
Pittsfield is a town in Merrimack county, New Hampshire. It was formed in 1782 and has gone by the following other name/s: Chichester. Its parent county/ies is/are Rockingham. For more information, contact the county at P.O. Box 98, Pittsfield 03263. On the attached map, Pittsfield is shown as 24 in Merrimack.
For information about the state of New Hampshire see New Hampshire Family History Research.


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Friday 25 January
|Nanger (1)
These large, pale gazelles once gathered in their hundreds on the open plains of the Horn of Africa (2). Soemmerring's gazelles bear short, heavy, lyre-shaped horns that sweep backwards and point inwards at the tip. The large head is also distinctive due to the prominent facial markings (2); dark stripes run down the nose and from the corners of the eyes to the nose, separated with white stripes (3). Soemmerring's gazelle has a tawny-red coat on its back, with an extensive white patch on the rump. Its undersides are bright white, as are its long legs, ending in large hooves (2) (3). The short, tapered tail is mainly white but ends in a black tuft (2) (3). Three subspecies of Sommerring's gazelles are recognised, each distinguishable by aspects of their appearance. Nanger soemmerringii soemmerringii has a brown face and shorter horns; the face of N. s. berberana is blacker and it bears longer horns, and N. s. butteri has darker flanks and stripes on its thighs (2).
In the past, the attractive Soemmerring's gazelles used to gather in their hundreds as they undertook seasonal migrations (2). Today, this magnificent sight is rare, as the gazelle is seldom seen in herds composed of more than 15 individuals. These are often herds of females and their young, accompanied by a single adult male on his territory. The territorial male marks his range with dung, and should another male venture onto his land, aggressive confrontations may ensue (2). Such encounters involve scraping their horns on the ground (3), head-flicking, and yanking their opponent's horns sideways in an attempt to destabilise their rival (2).
Mating in Soemmerring's gazelle peaks between September and November (2). After a gestation of around 198 days, the female gives birth to a single calf that lies well hidden in grass until it is strong enough to keep up with its mother (3). This usually takes about a month (2), during which time the mother returns to her calf only to nurse it (3). By the age of six months the calves are weaned, and by just 18 months the gazelle is sexually mature and capable of reproducing. Soemmerring's gazelles live for up to 14 years (2).
Soemmerring's gazelles feed primarily on grasses (5); their narrow muzzle and mobile lips enable them to carefully select the best quality grass (3). The main predators of Soemmerring's gazelle include cheetahs, lions, leopards, Cape hunting dogs, hyenas and even pythons (3).
Endemic to the Horn of Africa (2), Soemmerring's gazelle occurs in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan (1). N. s. soemmerringii occurs primarily in Sudan, N. s. berberana is found in Somalia and N. s. butteri primarily inhabits southern Ethiopia (2).
Soemmerring's gazelle inhabits rough, hilly country and semi-arid grasslands, often with scattered Acacia trees and bushes (2) (4).
Classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List (1).
Assessed as Vulnerable to extinction by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) (1), the Soemmerring's gazelle has experienced a serious decline in numbers (6). It has now been exterminated from many parts of its historical range, and remaining populations exist in small pockets (2). While overgrazing by domestic livestock and agricultural development, which reduces the Soemmerring's gazelle's food supply, is believed to be the main cause of this decline, hunting may have also played a significant role (2) (6), as for a long time gazelles have been hunted by people for food (6).
The largest population of Soemmerring's gazelle occurs in Awash National Park in Ethiopia (7). However, even within this protected area, seasonal cattle grazing occurs which may impact the gazelle's food supply (8). There are no specific conservation measures known to be in place for this vulnerable gazelle at present.
For further information on conservation in the Horn of Africa see:
This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:
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Configure SiteLock SMART scans on Managed and Fully Managed servers
Note: As of June 1, 2017, Malware Removal is no longer available for purchase by GoDaddy customers. For our latest security product, please check out Website Security.
By default, SMART is set up on your Managed or Fully Managed server. However, its default configuration does not remove malware for you automatically; using these instructions you can change that.
- Log in to Malware Removal.
- Go to the Settings tab.
- Go to the Download Settings tab.
- Make changes to the following fields:
Field New Value Select a speed... Select Fastest. Maximum Download Time Select 120.
- Click Submit.
- Go to the SMART Settings tab.
- Select Yes, remove malicious code automatically, and then click Submit.
If there are sections of your website you don't want SMART to scan, click Manage Exclusions and configure those options.


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Ace Social Media and Dental Marketing Meeting Dallas, Texas
We are excited about the upcoming ACE social media and dental marketing meeting in Dallas, Texas. This is one dental seminar/conference you don't want to miss. This is the meeting where you get all kinds of great ideas to attract new patients to your dental practice. You'll hear from a wide range of dental marketing professionals all sharing their unique expertise that will help your grow. We're proud to be on the speaking agenda this year. We're going to be talking about the explosive online video opportunities, how to create high production videos on a low budget with entry level video editing software. What you should look for when hiring a professional video production company. Things to avoid during your production that will save you time and money down the road and much more.
If you are free March 16th and 17th, its not too late to sign up for the ACE Social Media and Dental Marketing meeting.in Dallas. Click Here


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Every year about this time, I find it prudent to go back to the basics of my business. New assumptions and new challenges have emerged over the course of the year, and upon assessment, I may have found that not everything I set out to do in the current plan was completed. Additionally, competitors may have introduced new innovations or tactics that could threaten my business and new opportunities have likely emerged.
For financial advisors, it's easy to assume that the business is much simpler and not much has changed over the course of a year. However, experience tells us this is delusional thinking. If your practice is one that is not growing or evolving, chances are the seeds of destruction were planted long ago. On the other hand, if your practice has been going through dynamic change including rapid growth, the risks to your business could be growing exponentially as well. It's possible your pursuit of growth may have caused you to miss new opportunities. It is even more common that the pursuit of new opportunities may have inadvertently caused you to alter your strategic course.
Key to reviewing the basics is to remind yourself of the framework you created for making strategic decisions in the first place. In other words, what's your vision for what you want your business to become? Did the choices you make throughout the year move you closer to your vision or detract from it?
For example, assume your stated long-term vision was that you wanted your firm to be recognized as the leading provider of comprehensive wealth management to business owners in your region. However, most of your growth this past year came from a jump in assets from foundations and retirement plans; so much so that you hired two people to support this activity. Would you say that your investment in the business and your deployment of resources moved you closer to your vision or detracted from it? Further, would you say that this dramatic growth may have even changed the strategic direction of your business?
Many advisors would argue, "Who cares? We grew revenue and we have more assets. Does it really matter where it came from?" If you measure success in short-term movement, it probably doesn't matter. But if you developed your vision and strategy thoughtfully based on a reasonable set of assumptions, then your active pursuit of non-core business is like violating the guidelines of your investment policy statement. If you made the same type of opportunistic decision with client money after agreeing to a strategy, how would you justify it?
Now one thing I am certain about is that entrepreneurs, including financial advisors, tend to recoil whenever they hear "consultant speak" that includes words like vision, mission and culture. As a result, many firms tend to avoid the time-consuming process of strategic planning and the discipline to implement it effectively. Rather, they deal with issues as they arise. That's just like your clients who want you to implement an investment strategy without going through the process of goal setting or assessment of risk tolerance. The reality is that it takes just as much effort to tread water as it does to execute a business strategy, so why not do the latter?
A refresher
In its simplest form, a well-conceived strategic plan has four stages:
- Strategic plan, the process through which you create a vision for what you want your business to become.
- Focus, whereby you develop a mission statement that clearly and succinctly articulates what your firm does for whom and how you distinguish your business from others.
- Assessment, the process by which you determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in light of your vision, and then create specific long-term goals for your firm.
- Operating plan, wherein you create specific, measurable, actionable objectives to be accomplished in the next 12 months.
It's important to grasp the distinction between strategic and operational planning. The strategic plan tells you where you want to go, whereas the operating plan tells you how to get there. The tactical elements of an operating plan have immediate appeal to entrepreneurs because they are action-oriented and designed to create an immediate impact like reducing costs, driving revenue or increasing profits. However, when operating plans are created without the context of strategy, focus and assessment, the result is often muddled and resources are poorly allocated.
Once your plan is in place, it is necessary to have a process for measuring and monitoring your progress against the plan. This step is often missed, which is why so many plans sit on the shelf gathering dust.
Where to Go from here
The business challenge then is to decide which phase you are in. Is it time to refresh your strategy or merely time to assess your gaps vis-a-vis the market and the competition? At a minimum, this is a time to update the plan of action for the next 12 months. What is critical is that the action plan—your specific objectives—is specific and measurable and supports one of the goals you established in your strategy.
For example, you may have five goals that sound something like this:
- Increase the amount of revenue from our optimal client (as defined in your vision statement)
- Increase the number of partner candidates inside our firm
- Improve our profit margins
- Add more clients that increase the average net worth of those we serve
- Enhance the risk management processes within our firm
All of these are priorities for your business and each of them will require attention in the coming year. When you create an action plan for the next 12 months, if you come up with an initiative that doesn't help you move closer to any of these goals, then you should discard it. Be careful! You could easily rationalize the goal of improving profit margins without regard to which types of clients you onboard. You need to test your decisions here to make sure that if you take steps to do one thing, it doesn't compromise another. For example, improving profit margins without regard to who you do business with could undermine your strategy and force you to misallocate precious resources.
Strategy is not marketing. Marketing is a component of one's strategy. The development and implementation of a strategic plan is all about resource allocation. So if your vision is to be recognized as the leading provider of wealth management solutions for business owners in your region, then you have a framework for where you will spend your time, money, management and energy.
The goals that you commit to then guide you to build an operating plan that helps you capture the right kinds of clients, develop your staff, improve your profitability, enhance your productivity and protect your firm from damage. A vision for your business that will attract new business, energize you and your staff, differentiate you in the marketplace and produce a reasonable return is the key to transforming from practitioner to business owner.


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April 5, 1928 - February 17, 2013
Chester, NY
Charles R. Oetzel of Chester, NY, a lifelong resident of the area, died February 17, 2013 at Wingate of Ulster, in Lloyd, NY. He was 84 years of age.
The son of the late August and Florence Stevens Oetzel, he was born in Harriman, NY on April 5, 1928.
Charles was a member of the Teamsters Union. He was a longtime employee of the Short Line Bus Company, where he was the Supervisor of Maintenance Department for 28 years, and then a school bus driver for St. Patrick's in Harriman, NY and the Monroe Woodbury Central Schools District.
He is survived by his wife, Christine Oetzel at home; his daughters: Stacy Padilla-Mott of Chester, NY, Gretchen Zaccaro of Washingtonville, NY, Inez Finkle of Wurstboro, NY, Evelyn Miller of Goshen, NY; his sons: Ed Oetzel of Bloomingburg, NY and Richard Oetzel of Milton, NY. Charles is also survived by 15 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his son, Charles "Chuck" Oetzel, Jr. and his brothers: August "Junior" Oetzel and Edward Curtis.
Visitation will be held on Saturday, February 23rd, during the hours of 2 to 4 p.m. at Flynn Funeral & Cremation Memorial Centers, Inc., 3 Hudson St., Chester, NY 10918. A Memorial Service will be held at the funeral home at 4 p.m., with Bishop George Langberg officiating.
Funeral and cremation arrrangements have been entrusted to Thomas F. Flynn and the staff of Flynn Funeral & Cremation Memorial Centers, Inc.; for directions to the funeral home or to offer an online memorial, please visit www.flynnfh.com


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Earls 306016ERL Auto Flex Hose, 6 Foot, -16 AN
Universal Fit, -16 AN Hose Size, Synthetic Rubber, Stainless Outer Braid, 6 ft. Hose Length
A stainless braided hose at a price competitive with the imports. Earl's Auto-Flex HTE stainless braid- protected synthetic rubber hose is manufactured to our specifications in the U.S.A. Earl's Auto-Flex HTE hose features a recommended temperature range and maximum operating pressure equal to our premium quality Perform-O-Flex hose...at a much better price. A partial coverage textile inner braid is imbedded in the HTE liner during manufacture. The hose is finished with a full coverage stainless steel braid which is bonded to the reinforced HTE liner. Continuous use temperature rating is - 40 to 300 degrees F. Auto-Flex hose is intended for use with Swivel-Seal, Auto-Fit and Auto-Mate hose ends only. No other Earl's hose ends are intended for use with Auto-Flex hose. The use of other manufacturers hose ends is not recommended.
- Maximum Pressure Rating of 750 PSI
- Protects Synthetic Rubber Hose
- Stainless Braid
- Remains Flexible at Temperatures Between -40°F and 300°F
- Competitive Price
- Clean and Fast Flowing
- Textile Braid In Hose Liner
- Meets USA Specifications
Installation Instructions (PDF)
Important Messages:
- This item ships directly from the manufacturer. It may take an additional 2 business days for Earls to ship this item.
- Get FREE shipping when your order includes this item and exceeds $99! Ground shipping only in the contiguous US.
- This item ships via Ground Shipping only. Expedited and Air shipping options are not available.
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Earls 410016ERL PC Hose, 10 Foot, 750 Max PSI, -16 AN
Dick from Koul Tools shares a tip on how to properly seat the AN fittings using the Koul Tools device.
What fittings should you use with your brake or fuel system? What does AN and NPT stand for? All of these questions plus more will be answered in Speedway Motors' latest article about fasteners!


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The Hope College Alcor chapter of Mortar Board has placed first in the national organization's "Virtual Book Drive" for the third consecutive year, raising funds to provide books to children nationally as well as locally.
The Hope College Alcor chapter of Mortar Board has placed first in the national organization's "Virtual Book Drive" for the third consecutive year, raising funds to provide books to children nationally as well as locally.
The chapter raised $10,899.61 in the July 24-November 12 drive, which the national Mortar Board organization held in conjunction with First Book, a national literacy nonprofit.
The Mortar Board Virtual Book Drive is a fundraising challenge in which chapters compete to raise funds in order to bring new books to local programs serving children from low-income families. The funds are available for use through the First Book Marketplace, where programs can choose from hundreds of high-quality titles at deeply discounted prices.
A tenth of the total will support First Book's work providing books to children all over the country. The remaining 90 percent will be used in Holland, along with an additional $600 that the chapter won for being the drive's top fund-raiser and for raising more than $500, for a total of $10,409.65.
Of the total, $9,000 will become credit for use by Holland West K-7. The other $1,400-plus of the funds will support the Children's After School Achievement (CASA) program, which is a community organization housed at Hope that provides academic and cultural enrichment for at-risk first- through fifth-grade students. CASA is also receiving about 100 books that the chapter collected during the college's Homecoming football game in October.
Hope's total in the national Virtual Book Drive exceeded the total raised by the second-place finisher by more than $5,700. Across the drive's three years, the Hope chapter has raised more than $24,000.
Mortar Board is a national honor society that recognizes college seniors for outstanding achievement in scholarship, leadership and service, and provides opportunities for continued leadership development, promotes service to college and universities, and encourages lifelong contributions to the global community. Since its founding in 1918, the organization has grown from the four founding chapters to 228 collegiate chapters with nearly 250,000 initiated members across the nation.
The Alcor chapter has existed at Hope since the 1936-37 academic year, although it did not become part of the national Mortar Board organization until 1961. During the 2010 Mortar Board National Conference in July, the chapter received the organization's highest honor for a collegiate chapter, the Ruth Weimer Mount Chapter Excellence Award. The chapter also received eight "Project Excellence Awards."


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Gay couple may sue Church of England to wed in church
CANTERBURY, England (RNS) The British government's promise that no religious organization will be forced to conduct same-sex weddings following the passage of a gay marriage bill may soon be tested.
Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, 42, and his partner, Tony, 49 -- millionaires who run a surrogacy company in Britain and the U.S. -- have been a high-profile couple since 1999 when they became the first gay couple to be named on the birth certificate of their child.
Now they have five children by five surrogate mothers. All the children are American citizens born in California.
While planning for a sixth, they told the Daily Mail they plan to sue the Church of England to get married there.
"I want to go to my church and marry my husband," said Drewitt-Barlow in an interview published Friday (Aug. 2). "It is a shame that we are forced to take Christians into a court to get them to recognize us."
Referring to the legislation that received the queen's approval last month he said: "The only way forward for us now is to make a challenge in the courts against the Church."
The couple own a company based in Essex called the British Surrogacy Centre. It recently opened a branch in Los Angeles.
The new law stipulates that no religious denomination will be forced to carry out such services.
But that's not good enough for the couple.
"We need to convince the church that it is the right thing for our community for them to recognize us as practicing Christians," said Drewitt-Barlow.
"It upsets me because I want it so much -- a big lavish ceremony, the whole works. I am a Christian -- a practicing Christian -- my children have all been brought up as Christians and are part of the local parish church in Danbury."
Neither the Church of England nor the Roman Catholic Church recognizes gay marriages. Other religious groups, including Orthodox Jews, Hindus and Sikhs do not perform such marriages.
Some religious bodies, including Quakers, Unitarians and Reform Jews, say they plan to conduct same-sex weddings when the law goes into effect next year.
The threat of court action against the established Church of England -- whose supreme governor is Queen Elizabeth II -- has provoked a strong reaction from the Coalition for Marriage, which led opposition to the bill.
Director Colin Hart said Drewitt–Barlow's comments clearly shows that churches are certain to face litigation.
In a statement, he said: "The ink's not even dry on the bill and churches are already facing litigation. We warned Mr. Cameron (Britain's prime minister) this would happen, we told him he was making promises that he couldn't possibly keep. He didn't listen. ... Mr. Cameron's chickens are coming home to roost and it will be ordinary people with a religious belief who yet again fall victim to the totalitarian forces of political correctness."


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Welcome, to the redesigned SuppliesNet.com! In our continuing effort to be your #1 source for Drafting & Art Supplies, we have upgraded everything on our site to serve you better.
We have over 17,000 professional supplies to help get your projects
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