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Photograph: Sean Joseph Patrick Carney.
I saw poet Andrew Durbin read in a light drizzle in the backyard of Essex Flowers, a ground-level flower shop on New York's Lower East Side with an artist-run gallery in its basement. Despite the crappy weather, the patio was packed and I felt lucky to be near the stage with a decent view.
Next-Level Spleen (which was published last year in online magazine The Destroyer) took about 20 minutes to read aloud. Durbin's voice began with a casual cadence, his pace quickening during certain passages—not because he was rushing, but because the text required urgency. The poem begins as the narrator gets ready for a movie night (code for sex) with a FWB at the unoccupied apartment of the friend's father. The narrative setup suggests a sort of New Sincerity/Tao Lin-esque intoxicated banal hipster casual romance scene, but breaks that promise when the plotline of Clueless, which plays on loop on a television screen in the bedroom, becomes the central focus of the piece.
(For readers over 40, under 18 or clueless, Clueless (1995) stars Alicia Silverstone as Cher, a rich, popular high school girl in Beverly Hills, California who falls in love with her unfashionable older stepbrother, played by Paul Rudd. Cher's seemingly shallow and materialistic persona is itself proven only superficial as she sees past the importance of designer labels and social status to recognize the inner beauty of Paul Rudd's supposedly average-looking, but caring, character.)
The lovers ask each other what the film is supposed to mean, giving the narrator the opportunity to draw the listener out of the scene and into an essayistic analysis that proposes Cher as a Baudelaire of Los Angeles consumer culture, a flâneur of great privilege "whose primary objective is to be / carried through urban space without having to engage it / herself." Even the natural aspects of Cher's Los Angeles seem to be a consumerist projection:
The sky is ubiquitous yet culturally specific; its color relies less on place or time and more on how it's branded. Where many poets use fictitious characters or vivid sensorial descriptions to relate the reader to the work, Durbin uses proper nouns pulled from pop culture. (Kyle Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head," Katy Perry, Jay-Z and Kanye West''s "Niggas in Paris", Calvin Klein, MTV, and Michael Bay are just a few of many that pop up within the 1500-ish word poem.) To his mostly young audience, Durbin's brief mentions of celebrities and pop songs carry much more weight than the superficiality they often represent.
When I heard Durbin describe Clueless with these words—
a visionary
force of astonishment and the singular item of cinema that
produced the self I embody today.
—I reflected on how Cher had influenced me as a girl. Clueless made the valley girl lexicon and superficial materialistic persona that went with it so easily relatable and ripe for imitation. The movie came out in 1995, and I vividly remember reciting proudly memorized lines with my girlfriends by the lockers in middle school. It was fun to pretend to be Cher—it was a way to draw attention.
A grimmer vein of romantic comedy was referenced in a John Kelsey article, also titled "Next-Level Spleen," which was published in Artforum in 2012. Speaking of an art world where "isolation has been systematically designed into connectivity," Kelsey likened today's "hyperrelational artists" to movie characters from rom-coms like Friends with Benefits and No Strings Attached. In these films, "the abstraction of the body within the screenlike void of the social is performed by actors who seem to Skype their gestures and tweet their lines, reformatting acting for the windowlike stages of Net space." Clueless seemed aware of its place in the cycle of reference and imitation: it seemed drawn from life in Beverly Hills, which was itself a palimpsest of so many movie fantasies, and it also presented this life in a way that could be taken up and reused by its viewers for their own ends. Nearly two decades later, Friends with Benefits and No Strings Attached were humorlessly distilled from a thousand pop culture stereotypes and jokes, to be recycled in equally rote fashion by their audiences.
So on a rainy night in 2014, exhausted by the irony that pervaded the 2000s yet unsure about how to be sincere, it was Paul Rudd's character that jumped out at me from Durbin's poem. He was normcore before there was normcore, wearing no name brands in Beverly Hills. If Cher used her privilege to stand out in a crowd while doing nothing to change her surroundings, Paul Rudd used his to disappear in that crowd while dating girls who spoke as if they were giving TEDtalks for world peace. In Durbin's poem, Paul Rudd reading Nietzsche by the pool comes across as just another facet of the Los Angeles consumerist fantasy landscape, but at least he stands for something.
"'As if,' Cher says in the film a total of four times to vent contemporary spleen against misunderstanding." Drawing from Baudelaire, Durbin says of spleen that it is a "tendency in the subject to hate the urban conditions that produce alienating economic and social forces, etc." and that it "means nothing." Cher's "As if" doesn't change her underlying unwillingness to engage with the city around her; it becomes a symptom of this disengagement. In Kelsey's article, this refusal is presented in a positive light: "Spleen, that resistant affect which remains when all others have been channeled as productive labor, surrounds networks but won't be put to work in them." For Kelsey, spleen helps us evade a system that enforces constant productivity; for Durbin, it is simply a symptom of great privilege. Baudelaire, he notes, "depended on his mother for financial support."
So when privileged-but-engaged Paul Rudd was briefly mentioned in Durbin's poem, I felt oh so romantic—sitting in the rain and patiently listening to poetry aloud in the backyard of a flower shop whose roses I could faintly smell from a distance. I fought my generational tendencies to check my phone notifications, yawn/roll my eyes, and/or document the experience, trying to focus on a reading whose content was so my generation, yet whose form was so not; it required an attention span more common in the 90s.
Of course everyone who's been to Forever 21 recently knows the 90s are back—not Cher nineties, Paul Rudd nineties. We all want to be poetic, we all want to be authentic, and we don't quite know how. But we can adopt his look, and we can relate to each other, to ourselves, through the shared experience of the screen, deeply connecting through shallow pop culture.


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Come to a HUGHF meeting!
HUGHF is always open to new members! We meet every Monday at 10 p.m. in the Quincy Spindell Room. There is no application or official "comp" process because we do not believe in pigeonholing people to specific roles. If you're looking to become more involved in global health at Harvard or simply make some new friends, come check us out!

subset: commoncrawl


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See Studies on Map
Map of All Studies in ClinicalTrials.gov
Click on the map below to show a more detailed map (when available) or search for studies (when map not available).
Click on a [map] link to show a map of that region
Click on a [studies] link to search for studies in that region. Use the back button to return to this list and try another region.
Studies with no locations are not included in the counts or on the map.
Studies with multiple locations are included in each region containing locations.


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I am taking care of my two little sisters who are growing fast. I need clothes and shoes for both girls and school supplies for the 7th grader.
I just want to thank everybody for everything you have given to us. I really appreciate it, it's going to be a really big help. So, thanks so much.
I just want to thank everybody for everything you have given to us. I really appreciate it, it's going to be a really big help. So, thanks so much.
I need clothes and shoes for my two little sisters and school supplies for the one who is in seventh grade. This includes shirts and pants, nightgowns, size nine toddler shoes, size six shoes and school supplies for my one sister who is in the seventh grade.
Meeting this need will help me because I really can't afford to get the girls what they need. They deserve to have clothing that fits them, shoes that go on their feet, and supplies for school. It's just so hard to get them what they need. I know in a few months my mom will be back, and we will be better able to take of everyone, but right now, I really need help.
Meeting this need will help me achieve future goals because it would help the girls and be one less thing on my plate. I want to work in early childhood education, so I don't mind taking care of my sisters, but things are really hard financially.
Since my mom was arrested, my little sisters have grown a lot. The 3 year-old has grown out of all of her clothes and shoes. My 12 year-old sister needs things like a calculator and school uniforms.
Right now, my biggest challenge is trying to get around with the three children and get them the things they need. I don't have a babysitter or anyone to watch the kids. I took the girls because no on e else would take them, and they need someone. They shouldn't go into foster care. I love them a lot, and I'm the closest to them in age. But this is very hard.
I really think things will get better in the next six months, but right now we are really having a hard time. My sisters deserve to have what they need, but I can't provide everything for them.
My mother was arrested and put in jail about six months ago. I'm only 20 years old, but I took my two younger sisters to live with me. They are 3 and 12 years old. Three months after they came to live with me, I had a baby myself. Now I am raising all three of the girls. My mom will probably be in jail for a few more months, and it is challenging to take care of all the girls by myself. Even after my mom gets released, I'll probably have to keep the girls for several more months.
I really think things will get better in the next six months, but right now we are really having a hard time. My sisters deserve to have what they need, but I can't provide everything for them.
I think of myself mostly as a very caring, open person. I don't know the words, but I guess that I have an open heart. I love my little sisters like they are my own children. I know I am only 20 years-old, but I want to be the best parent I can be for them.
I am most proud of being able to make a home for myself, my baby, and my sisters under these circumstances. I make sure that everyone is clean, fed, and in school.
I've worked at jobs including Party City, auditing at a warehouse, and as a receptionists at a spa. Something interesting about me is one day I hope to work in early childhood development.
Thank you for helping Melissa fund this need.
$365of $360
13 supporters
This need has been validated by Alexis from CLAIM (Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers)
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Validated by Alexis from CLAIM (Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers) (What does this mean?)
I have known Melissa's mother for several months. We begun meeting with her in the jail after she attended one of our classes. We quickly learned about her wonderful daughter, Melissa. After speaking with Melissa several times, we invited her to our offices and spent time with her, her daughter, and her little sisters.
I think meeting this need is important because these are children who are truly at risk. If Melissa hadn't stepped up to care for her sisters, they would have done into foster care. Instead, Melissa is raising them with a lot of love and warmth. However, things are hard. Melissa is only 20 years old, and she has her own three month old baby, she was evicted from her home because of her mother's arrest, and now she is raising her 3 year-old and 12 year-old sisters. They children need clothing as the weather gets colder. They need shoes that fit. With all they've already been through, they shouldn't have to worry about having a sweater or socks.
This will move the recipients life forward by allowing her to concentrate on the other things she needs until her mother is released from jail in a few months. She has her high school diploma, and her next goal is to go into early childhood education. Not worrying about her sisters having clothes or school supplies will help her to move to those next steps.
We meet a lot of families, and they are all very deserving. I have to say, though, Melissa is one of the sweetest young women I've met. She cares so very much and deeply for her little sisters. She stepped up when no one else would. I've watched her clean their faces, make sure they have food, and tear up when describing how badly she wants then to have the clothing they deserve. Meeting this need would mean so much to them. Thank you very much for helping them.
My job title is Pro Bono and Staff Attorney. I have been in this position since April of 2012. My work involves helping incarcerated mothers, formerly incarcerated mothers, and the caretakers of their children. What I like about my job is I get to see families brought together.
In the future, I… Read more
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All News Releases By Date
2 New England Facilities Join, and 7 Re-Commit to Environmental Improvements
Release Date: 09/23/2008
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017
(Boston, Mass. - Sept. 23, 2008) - Seven New England facilities have renewed their membership in an EPA program that invites organizations to set environmental goals beyond what is required by law. Further, two additional businesses have joined EPA's Performance Track program.
The nine facilities, representing companies in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, have either renewed their membership or joined for the first time in EPA's National Environmental Performance Track program. This program encourages facilities with strong environmental records to work toward goals that surpass the legal requirements. The program's 61 members in New England and 506 members nationwide include facilities from major corporations, small businesses and the public sector.
Performance Track members that want to renew their membership must set two to four new environmental goals (such as reduced energy use), have an independent review of their environmental management system and be screened by EPA for sustained compliance with environmental laws.
In New England, the facilities accepted for new three-year memberships were:
- Covanta Mid-Connecticut.of Hartford, Conn.
- Covanta of Southeastern Connecticut of Preston, Conn.
- Covanta of SEMASS of Rochester, Mass.
- New Hampshire Ball Bearing.of Laconia, N.H.
- OSRAM Sylvania of Hillsboro, N.H.
- Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine
- Louisiana Pacific of Houlton, Maine
To qualify for Performance Track, a facility must have a sustained record of exceeding compliance with environmental regulations and must commit to future environmental goals that exceed national standards.
The two new members of Performance Track are:
- Coca-Cola Northampton, Northampton, Mass.
- Stanley Tools New Britain Plant, New Britain, Conn.
To encourage members to address EPA's regional or national environmental priorities, Performance Track offers renewing members "challenge goals," which are more demanding than standard environmental goals. Three renewing members in New England chose to set challenge goals for the next three years. Bath Iron Works, Louisiana Pacific of Houlton and Covanta SEMASS have selected the EPA-New England Energy Challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5 percent.
Since its inception in 2000, Performance Track members in New England have set more than 440 goals for environmental improvements, many of which will achieve environmental results in areas that are not covered by regulation. The renewing members have set a total of 23 new goals this year.
During the last three years of the partnership, New England's seven renewing member companies made many environmental gains. Among them:
- Covanta Mid-Connecticut reduced Mercury use 22 percent; reduced zinc in stormwater 96 percent and retrofitted three local school buses with diesel particulate filters;
- Covanta SEMASS reduced transportation energy use 19 percent, eliminated need for the use of a hazardous material and partnered with the Rochester Land Trust to conserve 50 acres of habitat;
- The Astro Division of New Hampshire Ball Bearings reduced water use 13 percent, reduced non-hazardous waste and hazardous waste 24 percent and 41 percent, respectively, and reduced energy use by 36 percent;
- OSRAM Sylvania reduced energy use by 16 percent, reduced use of VOCs 30 percent, and eliminated use of lead;
- Bath Iron Works reduced hazardous and non-hazardous waste 12 percent and 6 percent, respectively, reduced paper use 49 percent and reduced energy use by nearly 5 percent.
Since the beginning of the program in 2000 New England members have:
- Reduced greenhouse gas emissions of 103,864 "Metric Tons CO2 Equivalent" or the equivalent of the emissions of over 19,000 cars for one year.
- Reduced facility energy use of 268,602 "millions of Btus" or the equivalent of over 2900 homes for one year.
- Reduced materials use of 1,776 tons (1,461 tons non-hazardous and 315 tons hazardous)
- Reduced water use of 1.1 billion gallons
- Reduced waste generated by 61,089 tons (59,413 tons non-hazardous; 1,676 tons hazardous)
- Reduced discharges to water of 3,619 tons
- Protected 4,100 acres of habitat
Nationwide, Performance Track members have saved enough energy to power 46,000 homes for one year, enough greenhouse gases to offset the emissions of 57,000 cars for one year, and conserved or restored more than 16,000 acres of land and habitat.
More information:Performance Track members (https://www.epa.gov/performancetrack/events/renewing_facilities_aug08.htm)
Search this collection of releases | or search all news releases
View selected historical press releases from 1970 to 1998 in the EPA History website.


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All Visual Badges
Smith & Warren Custom Badges
Each Smith & Warren custom badge is hand crafted from start to finish. Smith & Warren has been building badges with the same precision and attention to detail since 1925, and National Law Enforcement Supply is proud to offer such fine badges to our customers. The Visual Badge designer makes ordering a custom badge easier than ever by showing you step by step what your finished badge will look like.
Please note: Custom badges take about 4 weeks to make. Some badges may require proof of employment or extra documentation. For more details, please see our Cancellation Policy and Custom Order Acceptance Policy.


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I would like to learn how to write a software product definition. Therefore I am looking for online materials or books which would help me to learn more about this topic. I would like to learn, for starters:
- what must be included in such a document
- what must not to be included in such a document
- how to make a product definition to sell internally the product
- finding balance between use case descriptions (the why), and feature descriptions (the how).
I am aware that it is not something that can learn in 15 minutes but I think such a discussion could help me to have a good start.


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Measurement of inclusive jet cross-sections in pp and PbPb collisions at √sNN=2.76 TeV (2017)Physical Review CInclusive jet spectra from pp and PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, are presented. Jets are reconstructed with three different distance parameters (R=0.2, 0.3, and 0.4) for transverse momentum (pT) greater than 70GeV/c and pseudorapidity |η|<2. Next-to-leading-order quantum chromodynamic calculations with nonperturbative corrections are ...Journal Article
Pseudorapidity dependence of long-range two-particle correlations in pPb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV (2017)Physical Review CTwo-particle correlations in pPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02TeV are studied as a function of the pseudorapidity separation (Δη) of the particle pair at small relative azimuthal angle (|Δϕ|<π/3). The correlations are decomposed into a jet component that dominates the short-range correlations (|Δη|<1), and a component that persists at large Δη and may originate from collective behavior of the produced system. ...Journal Article
Mechanical stability of the CMS strip tracker measured with a laser alignment system (2017)Journal of InstrumentationThe CMS tracker consists of 206 m2 of silicon strip sensors assembled on carbon fibre composite structures and is designed for operation in the temperature range from −25 to +25°C. The mechanical stability of tracker components during physics operation was monitored with a few μm resolution using a dedicated laser alignment system as well as particle tracks from cosmic rays and hadron-hadron collisions. During the LHC operational period ...Journal Article
Observation of charge-dependent azimuthal correlations in pPb collisions and its implication for the search for the chiral magnetic effect (2017)Physical Review LettersCharge-dependent azimuthal particle correlations with respect to the second-order event plane in p−Pb and PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV have been studied with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurement is performed with a three-particle correlation technique, using two particles with the same or opposite charge within the pseudorapidity range |η|<2.4, and a third particle measured in the hadron ...Journal Article
Measurements of differential cross sections for associated production of a W boson and jets in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV (2017)Physical Review DDifferential cross sections for a W boson produced in association with jets are measured in a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 fb−1. The W bosons are identified through their decay mode W→μν. The cross sections are reported as functions of jet multiplicity, transverse momenta, and the scalar sum of jet transverse ...Journal Article
Jet energy scale and resolution in the CMS experiment in pp collisions at 8 TeV (2017)Journal of InstrumentationImproved jet energy scale corrections, based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb-1 collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, are presented. The corrections as a function of pseudorapidity η and transverse momentum pT are extracted from data and simulated events combining several channels and methods. They account successively for the effects of pileup, ...Journal Article
Search for supersymmetry in events with one lepton and multiple jets in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV (2017)Physical Review DA search for supersymmetry is performed in events with a single electron or muon in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data were recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 fb−1. Several exclusive search regions are defined based on the number of jets and b-tagged jets, the scalar sum of the jet transverse momenta, and the scalar sum of the missing transverse ...Journal Article


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Are you looking to buy equipment? We have a huge selection of used golf and turf equipment.
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in Verticutters, Turf Equipment, Thatch-Removal, Spreaders & Seeders, Greens Rollers, Dethatchers
458 Wyoming Avenue
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I still remember the back page.
It was my very first day as a paid, professional sports journalist, and I was in charge of assembling the sports section for Rutgers' Daily Targum. The lead item was a story on a Rutgers-Seton Hall men's game by the incomparable Brian Johnson, with a lead that still sticks with me: "Exit 16W has always been more of a trap than an exit for the Rutgers men's basketball team. Beneath the fold was a women's preview. And in a box in the upper right corner was the AP game story from the Pittsburgh-Seattle Super Bowl. It was Super Bowl Sunday, 2006.
Five years later, we're on the verge of Super Bowl Sunday, 2011. And fittingly, we're on the verge of my final day as a paid, professional sports journalist.
I'm covering the GMC swimming championship Saturday at Rutgers. Once that ends, I plan on finding a diner, sitting down to a tuna melt dinner with a slice of apple pie for dessert. It's a tradition usually reserved for the night of the final game of a respective sports season. There is still a month and a half left in this basketball season … and yet a-ritualin' I will go.
Monday will be my first day at John Wiley & Sons publishing in Hoboken. After three very fulfilling years here at the Home News Tribune and Courier News, on top of four years at the Targum, I'm hanging up my notepad and recorder. With the newspaper undergoing its own round of changes that was probably going to affect the way high school sports is covered, I'm taking the opportunity to take my life in a different direction, one with more regular hours and no more late Saturdays at the office. I wish I could tell you exactly what will be different starting on Monday and what won't, but I honestly don't know much.
I do know my biggest regret is leaving in-season, with so many loose ends that deserve tying up. Someone will finish the season out, but I'd be surprised if it was as expansive. I would guess the Union County boys basketball teams outside the papers' coverage area will be dropped. I doubt the softball and soccer team pages will rear their heads again. Knowing the people staying behind, I think you'll get something good, but I can't make any assurances to what it will be.
But it is what it is. I cannot thank enough all the athletic directors and coaches and athletes and parents for all of their help and all of their readership the past seven-and-a-half seasons. You are the ones who have made all the effort, all the late hours, all the blogging worth it. And it was most definitely worth it. Thanks for reading.
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."


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Radiant heat is thermal radiation between two surfaces. Thermal radiation occurs when a material transmits infrared radiation, thereby warming a second material, without causing the air around the materials to be heated.
The sun is a good example of a powerful source of radiant heat, as it heats the earth exclusively with thermal radiation.
In buildings, wood stoves and radiators transmit a lot of radiant heat. Heat sources like these also emit convective heat, meaning that the air around them is heated as well.
Heating with pure radiant heat can cause indoor climate problems, as the large differences in temperature can give discomfort. Pure radiant heat is typically used as heating in athletic halls, workshops, storehouses, etc, so only the areas that are used are heated.


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NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / Ken Kremer / Marco Di Lorenzo
A mosaic of photos taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager on NASA's Curiosity rover shows the underside of the rover and its six wheels, with Martian terrain stretching back to the horizon. The four circular features on the front edge of the rover are the lenses for the left and right sets of Curiosity's hazard avoidance cameras, or Hazcams. Because of the different perspectives used for different images, some of the borders of the photos don't line up precisely.
More than a month after landing, NASA's Curiosity rover is finally ready for its close-ups, and they're coming in bunches: After taking its own profile picture, the six-wheeled robot has snapped a series of images that show its flat-as-a-board belly.
Today's flood of photographs comes courtesy of the Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, one of Curiosity's 17 cameras. The self-focusing, 1.5-inch-wide (4-centimeter-wide) camera is mounted on the end of Curiosity's robotic arm, and is designed to take up-close pictures of rocks and soil on Mars. It serves a purpose similar to that of a geologist's hand lens — hence its name.
MAHLI is undergoing a series of checkouts now that the 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-long) robotic arm has been limbered up. The rover is making its way to its first major destination: a geologically intriguing spot called Glenelg, which is about a quarter-mile (400 meters) from the spot in Gale Crater where Curiosity landed on Aug. 5.
The rover's $2.5 billion primary mission is aimed at determining whether Mars ever had the chemical constituents to support life. Glenelg will serve as a good warmup for the centerpiece of Curiosity's two-year trek: a climb up the slopes of a 3-mile-high mountain called Aeolis Mons or Mount Sharp.
So far, all of Curiosity's instruments appear to be in great shape — with the exception of a wind-speed sensor that was apparently taken out of commission by a hail of pebbles kicked up during the rover's descent. Curiosity's handlers had worried that the pebbles might have damaged the MAHLI camera as well. Fortunately, the pictures taken over the past few days prove that MAHLI (pronounced like "Molly") is in great shape.
This mosaic of Curiosity's trim underside was put together by Ken Kremer, a New Jersey-based journalist, research chemist and photographer; and Marco Di Lorenzo, a physicist who is a high school educator and photographer in Italy. Kremer and Di Lorenzo are among the habitues of UnmannedSpaceflight.com, where image-processing gurus are having a field day with the MAHLI pictures. NASA's website for the Curiosity mission is also mad about MAHLI today. Check out these MAHLI masterpieces, plus a bonus panorama from Ken Kremer and a video from NBC Nightly News:
NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
This picture shows just how much detail the MAHLI camera can pick up. It shows a one-cent coin and a few of the symbols printed on a calibration target mounted on Curiosity. The image was acquired from a distance of 2 inches (5 centimeters). The coin is a 1909 penny provided by MAHLI principal investigator Ken Edgett. "Everyone in the United States can recognize the penny and immediately know how big it is, and can compare that with the rover hardware and Mars materials in the same image," Edgett explained. "The public can watch for changes in the penny over the long term on Mars. Will it change color? Will it corrode? Will it get pitted by windblown sand?" Flecks of reddish Martian sand can already be seen on and around the penny. One of the images printed above the penny is a cartoon character called "Joe the Martian."
NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
This image, captured by Curiosity's MAHLI camera over the weekend, shows a patch of ground measuring about 34 inches (86 centimeters) across. The size of the largest pebble, near the bottom of the image, is about 3 inches (8 centimeters).
NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
A combination of images from the MAHLI camera provides a close look at the Curiosity rover's wheels, right down to the dirt stuck in the treads.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / Ken Kremer / Marco Di Lorenzo
Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo produced this "colorized" version of a panorama looking back at the Curiosity rover's tracks on Sol 24 of its mission (Aug. 30). The panorama is based on black-and-white imagery from Curiosity's Navcam system. Missing patches of the Martian sky have been filled in. The lower reaches of Mount Sharp can be seen at the picture's left edge, and the rise of Gale Crater's rim stretches across the rest of the horizon.
NASA's Curiosity rover took a self-portrait on Mars, using a camera mounted on its robotic arm. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Update for 9:05 p.m. ET: Kremer points out that the pictures of Curiosity's underbelly are far sharper than similar underbelly images that were captured by the Spirit rover in 2009, when mission managers worried that it was hung up on a rock. He said the difference illustrates the "quantum leap" in capability between the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which were launched in 2003, and the Curiosity rover, which was sent toward Mars last year.
More vistas from Mars:
- Curiosity snaps its own profile picture
- Mars rover's tracks traced from orbit
- Curiosity looks back at its first tracks
- Rover's first moves at Bradbury Landing
- Martian peak picks up some extra color
- Curiosity rover points to its target peak
- Cosmic Log archive for the Mars mission
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.


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Synod's Rough Landing
An otherwise successful gathering of bishops at the Vatican to discuss problems in the Middle East ended amid controversy.
JERUSALEM — Vatican-Israeli relations, which were already strained in recent years over property-tax issues, the Palestinians and the Holocaust, may have received a further blow at the conclusion of the recent Synod of Bishops meeting.
(For more coverage of the synod's final statement, see page 5.)
During the Oct. 23 closing press conference of the bishops' gathering, which examined problems Christians face in the Middle East, the predominantly Arab body of bishops released a statement expressing solidarity with Middle East Christians, whose numbers have plummeted due to widespread emigration.
Under the section dedicated to relations with Jews, the synod message warned against inappropriate use of the words of the Bible. It said that "recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable."
It was generally interpreted to refer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In his own elaboration of the passage, Bishop Cyril Bustros of the Greek Melkite Eparchy of Newton, Mass., convener of the synod's drafting committee, said at the press briefing, "For us Christians, you can no longer speak of a land promised to the Jewish people." The coming of Christ, Bishop Bustros said, showed that Jews "are no longer the preferred people, the chosen people; all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people."
What the bishops wanted to say, in Bishop Bustros' view, is that the theme of the Promised Land can't be used "to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the expatriation of Palestinians."
Palestinian Reaction
Palestinian officials lauded the statement, which censured Israel's "occupation." Israelis, meanwhile, said the synod — or at least some of its bishops — refused to acknowledge Jewish rights to the Holy Land, and that it was "hijacked" by Church officials with anti-Israel sentiments.
Although the synod statement did condemn terrorism and expressed solidarity with the suffering of the Iraqi Christians, it did not censure the government of a single Muslim country, even Iraq.
Instead, the bishops evaluated "the social situation and the public security in all our countries" in the Middle East, and took account "of the impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the whole region, especially on the Palestinians who are suffering the consequences of the Israeli occupation."
In describing that impact, the statement mentioned Israeli military checkpoints and the separation barrier it built to prevent terrorists from entering Israel, but which also severely limits Palestinians' freedom of movement. It went on to include Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes on security grounds and the ongoing conflict's "disturbance of socioeconomic life" on Palestinian livelihoods.
The bishops said they reflected "on the suffering and insecurity in which Israelis live," but also expressed anxiety about "unilateral initiatives" that threaten Jerusalem's "composition" and put at risk its "demographic balance," an apparent reference to Israel's continued determination to build in the eastern part of the city, which Israel captured after Jordan attacked it in 1967. Both Israelis and Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be part of their respective capitals.
"With all this in mind, we see that a just and lasting peace is the only salvation for everyone and for the good of the region and its peoples," the statement said.
Saeb Erakat, the Palestinian Authority's chief negotiator, said that President Mahmoud Abbas "welcomed" the statement's conclusions.
Echoing the synod's statement, Erakat said that Israel cannot use the biblical concept of a Promised Land or chosen people to justify new settlements in Jerusalem or Israeli territorial claims. The statement, he said, "is a clear message to the government of Israel that it may not claim that Jerusalem is an exclusively Israeli city."
Erakat asserted that Israel "has imposed a legal regime aimed at ethnically cleansing the city of its indigenous Christian and Muslim population," a claim Israel flatly denies.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon charged that the synod — which examined the reasons Christians feel so vulnerable in the Middle East — "had become a forum for political attacks on Israel in the best history of Arab propaganda."
Ayalon said his government is "especially appalled" at Bishop Bustros' language during the press conference. He called on the Holy See to distance itself from the comments, which he called "a libel against the Jewish people and the state of Israel."
Rabbi David Rosen, international director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, the only Jew invited to address the synod in his capacity of Jerusalem-based adviser to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, said the bishops appeared to lack the courage needed to address challenges of intolerance and extremism in the Muslim countries in which they reside, "and rather chose to make the Israeli-Palestinian conflict their first focus."
Rosen, who was awarded a papal knighthood in 2005, said Bishop Bustros' words "reflect either shocking ignorance or insubordination in relation to the Catholic Church's teaching on Jews and Judaism flowing from the Vatican II declaration Nostra Aetate."
The Second Vatican Council, Rosen said, "affirms the eternal covenant between God and the Jewish people, which is inextricably bound up with the land of Israel."
The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said Oct. 25 that the final message of the Synod of Bishops reflected the opinion of the synod itself, while the remarks by Bishop Bustros were to be considered his personal opinion.
Father Lombardi told reporters the final message was "the only approved written text" issued by the synod.
"There is a great richness and variety of contributions offered by the synod fathers that, however, should not be considered as the voice of the synod in its entirety," he said in the statement.
Bishop William Shomali, the auxiliary bishop of Jerusalem, said that the concluding statement "could have been more balanced," but stressed that it was "a positive statement from a religious point of view" toward the Jewish people.
"It underscores the importance of interreligious dialogue and the importance of our common values, and especially the Old Testament," Bishop Shomali said.
The statement, he said, condemns both anti-Semitism and religious extremism. Bishop Shomali said Israelis should not have been shocked by the statement's wording on "the occupation."
"This has been the Vatican's stance throughout the occupation," he said. "The Church believes in the Palestinians' right to self-determination. This is nothing new."
The Vatican has had full diplomatic relations with Israel since 1994. The Church gained legal status there in 1997. During the Palestinian uprising, the Vatican defended Israeli rights to live without the threat of terrorism and the Palestinians' right to a homeland.
Even so, "the paragraph on the occupation was long and might have led to an imbalance," Bishop Shomali acknowledged. "We should have mentioned that in Israel there is complete religious freedom, and that there are many Israeli people working for peace and who help Palestinians."
Said Bishop Shomali, "This would have balanced the negative statements."
Michele Chabin writes from Jerusalem.
CNS contributed to this report.
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- November 7-20, 2010


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The alumni H-Club at HopeCollege will present its "Hope for Humanity Award" to Kenneth J. Weller of Pella, Iowa, on Saturday, Oct. 4, during the college's Homecoming Weekend. A 1948 Hope graduate, he spent two decades on the Hope faculty and then another 21 years as president of Central College in Pella.
The alumni H-Club at HopeCollege will present its "Hope for Humanity Award" to Kenneth J. Weller of Pella, Iowa, on Saturday, Oct. 4, during the college's Homecoming Weekend. A 1948 Hope graduate, he spent two decades on the Hope faculty and then another 21 years as president of Central College in Pella.
The award, first presented in 1990, recognizes Hope athletic alumni for consistent service to others and demonstrating the values of Christian commitment and service. The H-Club consists of Hope alumni who were athletic letter winners and other honorary letter winners as approved by the H-Club's Board of Directors.
The group will honor Weller during its annual Homecoming luncheon, which will be held in the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse.
Weller graduated from Hope with a degree in economics and business administration. His co-curricular activities as a student included football, track, debate and the Fraternal Society.
He completed an MBA in marketing at the University of Michigan in 1949, when returned to Hope as a member of the economics faculty and football coaching staff. He rose to the rank of full professor, and also chaired the department of economics and business administration. During his time on the faculty he also served as an assistant to Hope President Irwin Lubbers and coordinated Management Institute programs at the college. In addition, while teaching at Hope he completed his doctorate in finance and business economics at the University of Michigan in 1961.
He remained at Hope until 1969, when he was named president of CentralCollege. Central prospered during his presidency, with accomplishments including significant growth in enrollment and the college's endowment; the construction of six new academic buildings; the expansion of the international studies program to include campuses in England, Wales, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Spain, China and Mexico; and a broadly successful athletic program with 65 occasions in which teams finished in the top 10 of Division III. In 1988, he was named one of the top 100 college presidents in the nation. He retired from Central's presidency in 1990.
Weller was active in the NCAA while at Central. He served on a wide variety of committees, most notably on two task forces which made women full participants in the NCAA and established the Presidents Commissions. While chair of the Division III Steering Committee, he wrote and achieved adoption of the Division III statement of philosophy.
His professional activities while at Central had included chairing the board of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and serving as president of both the Iowa College Foundation and the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
He has received a variety of awards in recognition of his career, including decoration by the Queen of the Netherlands as a knight in the Order of Orange Nassau; honorary doctorates from Hope and Central, and appointment as an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College of Wales; a resolution of appreciation for service to the Reformed Church in America on both local and national levels; and the City of Pella Award for community service for his 17 years as the volunteer founding president of the Pella Community Foundation. He also received an award for outstanding service from the national Council for Independent Colleges. CentralCollege named its Center for Business and International Studies in honor of him and his wife Shirely, who is a 1950 Hope graduate.
One of his hobbies is officiating in track and field, which began at Hope about 50 years ago, culminating in officiating in Big 10, Big 12, Drake Relays, and NCAA National Championships in Division I and III. His work over the years has been recognized by the MIAA and by election to the Iowa Track Officials Hall of Fame in 2008.
In addition to his honorary degree, which he received in 1983, Hope presented him with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 1971. He and Shirely established the college's "Vanderbush-Weller Development Fund" award, first presented in 2000, in honor of longtime Hope professor and football coach Alvin Vanderbush, who retired in 1972 and died on Feb. 20, 2005. In addition to having been a former Hope faculty colleague, Weller was one of Vanderbush's former players.
The Wellers have two grown sons, Bill, a 1976 Hope graduate whose wife Sally is a 1978 Hope graduate, living in Crystal Lake, Ill.; and Matt of Green Bay, Wis. They also have five grandchildren, including Claire, a Hope junior studying this semester in an off-campus program in New York City.


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Flickr Faves on Fridays: Serene and Scaled in The Netherlands
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Becky |
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Scaled properly that is. Check out how perfectly scaled Flickr member irideeën's furnishings are. For example, the size of the mirror over the fireplace, and the size of the curtains:
Don't you just love how airy, light, and sophisticated this is? It's just so obvious it must be in Europe. That desk is absolutely to die for.
The other end of the room is slightly more casual:
and when we turn another ninety degrees, we're surprised again; this time by some envy-inducing built-ins and a peak into the next room:
I kinda dig the way irideeën made me work for it, piecing together the room shot by shot. Nice work irideeën! Oh, and irideeën has a blog here, be sure to check it out. Also, irideeën lives in The Netherlands. After seeing this pad, I don't think anyone else can make a herringbone floor as beautifully as the Dutch can.
All three images from Flickr member irideeën.


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Medical Misdiagnosis in the Gifted
Tamara Fisher interviews three experts about the individual and societal impacts of medical misdiagnosis of gifted youth.
Tamara Fisher interviews three experts about the individual and societal impacts of medical misdiagnosis of gifted youth.
All students have equal value as learners, which is why Tamara Fisher contends they each are worthy of the dignity of an education that fits them. For teachers, this means understanding the fine distinction between 'same' and 'equal.'
Concerned that research evidence indicates a decline in children's creativity, Tamara Fisher offers insights, resources, and ideas for nurturing creative thought in our homes and classrooms.
Are you parenting a gifted child? These free webinars offer insights, advice, and information to support you in that journey!
Tamara's students share their reflective feedback on the independent learning project process they underwent in her class.
What happens when gifted students who live over 150 miles apart have an opportunity to interact, share, and reflect upon a common learning experience?
Tamara Fisher sends out her gratitude to teachers everywhere who have mastered the art of challenging the gifted learner.
Via photos, Tamara Fisher illustrates fun, thought-provoking, and heartwarming moments from her classroom.
Last week, on a bit of a lark, I wrote something on the whiteboard in each of my "classrooms," then waited to see if the kids would notice and what, if anything, they would contribute. Below are the results. (Multiple kids added to each list, so there's an occasional repeat within a list.) "10 Ways GT Has Helped Me," from my 2nd and 3rd graders: 1. To get a challenge 2. To have a challenge and not have everything be easy 3. To play logic games and learn new things 4. Perseverance 5. Logic thinking 6. To not get stuff ...
Reaching busy administrators with quality, quick-access information about gifted learners just got easier!


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Estelo dagnir, Melo ring
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,121
Will you let me help you?
Parkuns initial reaction to Ashs offer and question was surprise and anger bordering on disgust. No, he did not want the boy to help him. They all thought he was so weak
Kun did his best to look thankful, and hoped any other emotion might be passed off for pain. He was in pain, after all. He still took Ashs arm hesitantly, and at first he let hardly any of his weight fall on the younger man. After picking up the pace a bit, though, he found himself actually using Ash for support. His skin tingled with his disgust at having himself practically held up by the boy.
Suddenly everyone froze as they heard howling from somewhere deeper in the forest to their right. Kun doubted himself for a couple moments, and went back to walking slowly when the group began moving again. He was all but forced to move more quickly, and they drew near the clearing in which he had first encountered the wargs sooner than he liked.
From the clearing came a loud, growling battle cry that sounded as if it were in another language, as well as yelps and growls less human or dwarf.
Much too soon.
Kun felt like he was being tackled suddenly, as the new dwarf actually embraced him. The man felt truly disgusted this time, but that was not what kept him rooted to where he stood. Icy panic enveloped him. He felt cold, faint, numb, and like he needed desperately to empty his stomach all at once. He felt he was being choked. He was going to die
What had the Dwarf said? Let us hasten to him before the battle is won.
Could Kuric really take on five wargs? But no, there were not necessarily all five. They had heard howling from somewhere else on their way here. He had brought them too early, and they were all supposed to be brought together. This was no longer a trap. At least not for the defenders of Bree.
He was going to die.
Dûrkoth stared at the short two-legs body. No, he would not be getting up again. But neither would Snagath, or Carchel. As Agarcarag and Morfin sniffed the dying two-leg and licked at his blood, Dûrkoth stood over Carchels twitching form. He was trying to get up, but he would receive no help from his comrades. His eyes were wide with pain and fear, though they had already begun to cloud over. It did not seem Carchels eyes could widen any further, but they did as they gazed up at Dûrkoth.
Its called death, Carchel, the large, silver-backed Warg grunted. It comes quickly to the weak and the foolish.
Dûrkoth would have watched his minion die with interest, but he caught a scent several scents close.
More two-legs! Dûrkoth growled. It was too late to hide and lay in wait. And he would play no more games with these two-legs. He would save the skinny, bright-furred one to devour last, so he could pick at him slowly with an already full stomach.
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Erling could not remember much of the rest of the march. There was little talk from anyone. They all seemed to know that they were close to the end of their adventure-whatever that was going to be... None of them looked to hopeful.
Suddenly, they all halted, stricken. At first, Erling did not know what had filled their heart with so much horror and made them stop. But then, he realised. Howls! Nearer and stronger than they had heard them before! And then....then...Kuric's battle cry-it had to be him, it sounded like his voice. Released from the frozen state they had been rendered by the howls, the defenders hastened forward.
As they ran, Erling tried to take his long knife from his seath. He had to do it quickly, he thought. He had to, lest the wargs caught him unprepared and helpless. Finally, he managed to take it out. He glanced at it, and its appearance did not encourage him at all. It was slightly rusty and the blade did not seem to be too sharp. Erling's heart sank. How was he going to take on the Wargs with that? Why hadn't he the sense to at least sharpen his knife before setting off?
They were close now, he knew that. The holws were louder than ever. Clutching his knife, Erling ran with the others, trying not to think or to remember how terrified he was. Soon, they would reach the Wargs. Soon, it would end-one way or the other.
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,262
The howls died away. It was all silent but for the rustling wind in the treetops. The defenders' breath and footsteps rang loud in the night. No birds could be heard and then even the wind stilled.
There was a low snarl and howling, so much closer than ever before.
The defenders of Bree froze. In no time at all there were deadly claws and teeth everywhere. There were cries and sounds of weapons and moving bodies. The night that had been so silent only a twinkling of an eye before was bursting with the noises of life and death.
It was difficult to see who was fighting and where. Amidst all the hassle, there were two bodies laying on the grass some hundred feet from them. Lea could recognise Toby and Kuric. She turned to Orin. The wargs had not attacked either of them in their first dash. "Listen. We go to Toby and Kuric. We try to save them. It might be too late later." She grasped Orin's arm and they ran.
"Keep an eye on the wargs!" Lea hissed to Orin, who looked very pale. Meanwhile, she cast a quick glance at the men laying on the ground. They were both very pale but breathing. "Orin, tear strips of your tunic and bind their wounds. Just like you bound the foot of farmer Kettle's dog last winter. Tightly. Be careful but try to be quick too. I'll protect you."
The boy had the sense to obey. Leanora took her bow. It was a slight bow, designed for hunting rabbits, not killing wargs. Nevertheless, it would have to do. She took an arrow too, and put it on the bowstring and drew the bow. She aimed at the nearest warg and released the arrow, and missed her target. Refusing to despair, she took another arrow. This time she shot more quickly and hit. The warg howled in pain, but did not turn. The lonely bowman was not much of a threat, not yet.
Only the childhood summers spent with his Aunt Rhea's dogs saved Ash's life. When the giant wolf landed on the top of him, he used its momentum to roll a little sideways so that the beast's groping jaws could not reach his neck. Its paws were tearing through his clothes and through his skin. Ash blocked the pain and stuck his knife to the creature's side. It howled in rage and attempted at his throat again. This time its teeth sunk to his shoulder and it was his turn to cry out. He pulled his knife off the beast and stabbed it again. They rolled in the ground, wrestling, the warg groping at the man's head and the man trying to stab the warg with his knife.
Ash felt himself weaken. The warg was too much for him, too strong. His shoulder was bleeding and his left arm was an alarming mixture of piercing pain and cold numbness. He put all his strength to the effort and managed to sink his knife hilt-deep to the warg's belly. It howled again, more agonised than ever before, but it retaliated with a deadly speed. Ash did not have the time or the strength to push its gaping jaws away.
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Facing the world's troubles with Christ's hope!
Posts: 1,735
A chorus of howls broke out all around the defenders and Gorin turned just in time to see a gaping mouth, filled with teeth, rushing straight at him. He still had the sense to jump out of the way; the long years spent in the wild had taught him the importance of agility. Gorin landed on his chest with a thud and immediately turned himself around to get back up. The swiping blow of a paw against his shield sent him stumbling back, but not knocking him down. A mountain of fur loomed in front of him growling ferociously, and was in turn answered by Gorin's defiant yell. They rushed at each other, the warg lunging with his open mouth and Gorin side stepping to deliver a painfully hard blow with his axe at the animal's side. The strike had phased the warg but not beaten it, Gorin soon found this out as it spun around and knocked him down with its flanks. Gorin made got up as quickly as he could, but was surprised that he had not felt the warg's death blow. As he got up he saw Sam not too far from him with and arrow in his string and two more in the dead warg. He wanted to thank him, but this was not the time.
The scent of death was all around him. He glanced frantically around to catch a glimpse of his friends and could see that the battle proved ill. Erling had his hands full but was fighting well as Sam joined his side. It was then that Gorin saw him: Kuric! Leanora and Orin were rushing to his side, but he remained stiff and still as if he were frozen. Despair took him for a second and then a rage consumed him. His hands clenched around his shield and axe, his body felt light as if he could fly; he did not feel tired, weary, or fear just anger.
Ash was fighting for his life with a large warg. Gorin rushed at it with all the focus and speed that he had ever known. Out of the corner of his eye he could see another warg attempting to intercept him, but it was stopped short by an arrow from Lea found its mark in the warg's back. Ash was on the ground and bleeding as the warg began to grip his teeth around the man's waist. Gorin braced his right foot against a rock and leapt into the air, and landed with his full weight on the warg's neck. Both of them tumbled to the ground, but Gorin was the first to get on his feet.
"Come on," Gorin yelled at the warg, "Soon I will teach you the meaning of death, and you will taste the fury of this dwarf!"
Last edited by Groin Redbeard; 08-03-2008 at 02:09 PM.
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
It had begun. It had begun quicker than Erling had expected. Before he could tell his senses what was about to happen, before he could decide upon a plan that might keep him alive, the Wargs were upon them. He had little time to realise what had happen and even less time to decide how to act.
Clutching his knife, he began hitting this way and that, without pausing to look whether his blows struck home or not. At one point, he was sure he had hit something, but he did not dare to stop and look. He was barely thinking about what he was doing. Everything was happening much too fast, and anyway he was growing tired. Only one thing was urging him on-the will to survive, the knowledge that, if he stopped, he would surely be killed. At one point, he dimly registered that Sam had joined him. He smiled slightlly, glad in some part of his head that he was no longer alone.
Suddenly, there was a brief pause in the attack and Erling caught a glimpse of Kuric lying motionless on the ground and of Lea and Orin rushing to his aid. For some time he stood still watching them, although his weariness made it dificult for him to register what he was seeing. Nor did he have too much time for it. Once again he was attacked, and once more he began fighting, moved only by his desperate will to live yet another minute longer.
Estelo dagnir, Melo ring
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,121
Dûrkoth knew before the two-legs arrived that his pack was now considerably out-numbered. And there was another dwarf, who also looked like he would put up a fight. What were two dwarves doing in Bree-land? The weaker two-legs had the advantage in numbers and in luck, it seemed.
Morfin went for one of the tall two-legs who did not hesitate in using a knife. The man had little skill, but the will and desperation to survive was enough power to deal Morfin a wound. Agarcarag went straight for the dwarf, and Dûrkoth cursed him as a fool. The tall two-leg Morfin battled was soon joined by another small one, but only after the small one's bow had defeated Agarcarag.
Morfin howled in rage and lashed out more fiercely than ever at the man and hobbit. Dûrkoth had no need to redouble his efforts against his first prey. He soon had his jaws around the waist of one of the tall two-legs. This one looked young…unfortunately it was not the bright-haired one. Dûrkoth had all but finished the boy off when the dwarf charged him.
Morfin had broken away from his fight with the other man and hobbit – as if he thought he needed to save his chief, Dûrkoth thought bitterly as he caught his minion's movement out of the corner of his eye – but he received an arrow in his haunches, and he yelped before turning and racing in blind anger back towards the hobbit.
The dwarf leapt onto Dûrkoth, and the large warg went down, his neck nearly crushed. He rolled himself away from the short two-leg, and pulled himself to his feet, though not quite as quickly as the dwarf. Dûrkoth snarled a laugh as the short two-leg made his short speech. He would show him the meaning of death? Dûrkoth knew all there was to know about death. There was nothing left but for him to experience it, and there would be no knowledge to be gained in that moment.
Dûrkoth allowed himself a quick side-glance to where the fallen dwarf lay. No, these two-legs would be the ones learning a great deal about death.
"You should not waste what precious breath you have left with such words, dwarf," he growled. "You know the bright-haired two-leg traded your lives for his own. Too bad that one messed things up a bit," he snarled as he gestured with his muzzle in the direction Kuric lay. Dûrkoth let out a howling laugh.
Parkun was soon left alone just paces outside the clearing. All the others had charged in with little hesitation behind the dwarf. He was fascinated for several moments by the sounds that emerged from the clearing and seemed to surround him. How many had he brought to their death, after all?
Hopefully five wargs at least, Kun thought as he broke into a run, crashing through the trees in a direction opposite the clearing. He would run until he could hear no more sounds.
Last edited by Durelin; 07-21-2008 at 11:10 AM.
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Facing the world's troubles with Christ's hope!
Posts: 1,735
Gorin was shocked at this new revelation. He did not want to believe what the warg had said, but Parkun's absence in the battle confirmed it: they had been betrayed. His battle furry was soon renewed as the great warg howled with delight over the slain body of Kuric.
"Laugh while you can, fowl beast of the shadow, I will finish my kinsman's work!"
With those final words Gorin leapt at the warg. It bit at him with it's large chomping furiously at him. The dwarf dodged every attempt beating the warg's face with his shield, and as he slammed it again the warg stood on his hind legs towering above him. It swiped at him with his paw, Gorin blocked the blow, but it proved futile, as his shield splintered into a hundred pieces at the force of the warg's paw.
There was a searing pain in his arm as backed away, it was broken. He retaliated fast, in order to catch his foe off gaurd, jabbing his axe into the warg's face. The warg reared and howled in pain, as Gorin raised his axe for another blow.
"Yeeaarrgh!" Gorin struck hard at the neck, the blow sent the warg spiraling to the ground, his axe still deep in the wargs throat. It lay still and Gorin wondered if it was really dead. He withdrew one of his throwing axes from his belt and approached the warg, not knowing that it was still alive!
Last edited by Groin Redbeard; 07-27-2008 at 03:27 PM.
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Facing the world's troubles with Christ's hope!
Posts: 1,735
All the sounds of battle had faded from his ears, a pain he never experienced before was searing through his left arm. For a moment he forgot where he was and what was happening around him, all that mattered was his vengeance which he would unleash upon the beast that he had slain. Gorin could hear his own breaths exiting from his open mouth in heavy gasps, like a relentless bellows that could not stop as he walked toward the limp Warg. His heart beat fast from his adrenaline of battle, which had not yet subsided, as he approached the Warg. Hot tears streamed down his face and rolled on his beard when he stopped stood over the carcass of his foe.
Without any warning or sign, the dormant Warg sprang back to life, to the complete amazement and bewilderment of Gorin. It was weaker and less tenacious than it had been in their previous struggle, but it still had the strength to fight to the death with the dwarf's axe still embedded in it's throat. Gorin's short axe was of little use to him as he hacked, kicked, punched, and lunged at the monstrous animal with as much energy as he could muster. Gorin ducked under the Warg's swiping paw and dealt a blow to it's hind leg with his small axe; the Warg howled in pain. It retaliated chomping his hand that held the axe, but the dwarf pulled it out of the way and the Warg tore his sleeve off. It growled and came back at him, but this time Gorin wasn't fast enough and a mouth of sharp teeth clamped down on his other hand. The pain was excruciating and with a yell of pain and anger he drove his elbow of his good arm into the Warg's eye causing it to back off but not before it took the dwarf's hand with him.
Gorin prepared to die as they both backed off for a final charge at each other. He stumbled to the ground on on one knee, finally overtaken by the grievous situation of his wounds. No, I will die proudly today! With the last effort of will he stood straight and proud, laughing at the Warg's futile fighting. Soon he would be killed and the beast succumb to it's wounds, which were many. It was then that the Warg yelped in pain and thrashed about. It was Leanora, brave Lea, who had rushed to her brothers side and was shooting as fast as she could at the her brothers attacker. The arrows flew fast and wildly at the Warg, not piercing deep but stinging like a swarm of bees at an oppressor that had just riled them. The Warg limped as fast as he could away from the clearing for the cover of the forest, but just before he disappeared into the brush Gorin axe struck him in the shoulder, a mighty hit that would have felled lesser things.
They battle was won! Two dead wargs lay dead by Erling and Sam, and with their leader soon to be dead the threat of a returning terror was over. Gorin doubled over in pain when he saw his left hand missing. He tore of some of his garment and wrapped it tightly around the wound, which was bleeding profusely. Erling and Sam gave three loud cheers as Ash stood up with the help of Lea, his wound to his shoulder would need to be bound up and his arm was broken, but he would live to recant his tale to the town council. It was then that Gorin saw Kuric's body again, laying there so cold and still. He stumbled over to his side and fell on his knees.
"Brave, foolish Kuric," he said through his watery eyes, "Your valor shall not be forgotten, nor what you have done here. Alas that I should see the death of one of my own! Our people our few and the loss of one so noble is one that we can ill afford, for he fought like a hero of old where they would sing of your deed. But who will sing of you now, who will remember the brave deeds of Kuric." Sobs shook his body and his tears poured down like rain. "Goodbye, Kuric Spearhead. A good friend you were to me, for that short while!" Then Gorin clasped his friends hand in his own and wept bitterly over his body.
Last edited by Groin Redbeard; 08-13-2008 at 07:37 PM.
Estelo dagnir, Melo ring
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,121
Dûrkoth heard the yelp of his dying minion and then the whistling of arrows. They struck him with sharp stings that made his body shake. But each time his heart beat, the pain seemed to grow less and less. His body was growing numb but he still thought very clearly, if only of one thing.
As quickly as his weak limbs could carry him, Dûrkoth disappeared into the woods surrounding the clearing, in the direction the two-legs had come from. It was not long before he picked up the scent of fear. The air was thick with the smell where he found the bright-haired two-leg. The warg did not bother with stealth as he approached the two-leg. The boy would see his death as it came to him, but he would not be able to escape it. No one could. Not even the mighty Dûrkoth.
Parkun sat at the foot of a tree, trying frantically to decide what story he would tell when he returned to town, when he heard the soft crunching of vegetation somewhere to his left. He jumped up and whirled toward the sound. The first thing his eyes caught was two yellow orbs that sent shivers throughout his being. Every nerve in his body seemed to be quivering, urging him to move, but he could not.
As the warg approached him, Kun almost felt relief. He suddenly could breathe again. There was a large gash in the wargs neck, two arrows in his side, and in other areas his fur was matted with blood that was likely mostly his own. The beast would be dead in moments. It paused its approach, and seemed to waver on its large paws.
Suddenly all was clear to Kun. He had the perfect story to redeem his disappearance. The young man allowed himself a nervous smile as he drew his dagger. Who should be begging for their life now? Parkun asked, his smile growing. He was enjoying the wargs ragged breaths. He felt powerful. He was in control.
But when he dared look the beast in the eye again, Kun knew it was smiling back.
Dûrkoth left the two-leg to bleed out a slow death, his stomach ripped open. The warg disappeared again into the trees. He would give no one the satisfaction of watching him die.
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
It was over before Erling had even had time to realise what was happening around him. He looked puzzled at the Warg that lay dead at his feet. He thought he heard himself give a shout of triumph, but he was as yet much too bewildered and tired to understand its meaning much.
He looked around him. Gradually, the realisation that they had won was making its way in his mind. They had won. There would be no more troubles from now on, the Breelanders could sleep peacefully at night once more. They could once more pick up their former, carefree life. Or, at least, those who had not seen the battle could, for Erling very much doubted he would have the strength to be carefree again. Perhaps later on, much later on.
And it had not been without sacrifices, Erling thought ruefully. He remembered Grimbeorn dead near Edin Cengal's farm, and now Kuric, and...But suddenly, he realised something was wrong. They were too few. Not all of them were there.
"What happened to Kun?" he asked. "Where is he?"
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,262
Lea was supporting her twin as well as she could. He was leaning on her and his breathing sounded pained. Lea could see his clothes were bloody all over and his face was very pale. Horrible thoughts were coursing in her head. She could not lose him. They had always been together, he could not leave her now. She didn't dare to ask how bad it was, she didn't even dare to take a proper look at his wounds. She was trying so hard not to cry.
Ash tried to focus his eyes but couldn't. He was weak, so weak. He had never been like this before. He felt as if he would faint. He was glad of his sister, his brave strong sister, being there and holding him. Amidst all the pain and confusion he could sense she was not as calm as usual. Was something wrong?
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and looked around. He could see Lea, anguish in her eyes. A wave of weakness hit him suddenly. "Lea... I need to sit. I feel... so frail. But... I'm going to be... alright."
Orin could see his sister helping his brother sit down. They were only concentrating on each other, once again. Fair enough, he did not want any company now. He stood up. He was still shaking from all the effort and tension. He knew he should have been happy for their victory, but there had been too much blood and death. It made him sick. He could see the big warg attacking Ash again and again... He spun around and disappeared to the woods while no one was looking. He hoped he could be alone for a moment.
Just a while ago, the dark forest had been the most terrifying thing imaginable. Now it was comfortingly calm and silent. The darkness was better than the moonlit images of the clearing - here there were no mutilated bodies, no blood, no death.
It was then that he saw what was left of Parkun Felderth, a twisted shape in a pool of blood. Orin let out a cry of terror and ran.
Estelo dagnir, Melo ring
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,121
The dark wood around him was more oppressive than ever. He did not have the strength to move any part of his body, if he could even feel any part. The pain had been the greatest when he had first been torn open, but in just minutes it went beyond something he could register as pain. And now it was so cold.
Kun was dying. He was dying. He was alone, all alone, and dying. This wasnt how it was supposed to be. He had escaped. He had brought the others to where he had been told. He had done his part, it wasnt his fault they werent ready, that the crazy dwarf had charged off ahead, that things hadnt gone right. Things had gone all wrong, but it wasnt his fault. He didnt deserve this. No one deserved this. Alone and dying and left to be eaten by the scavengers of the forest.
Kun could see those eyes, and he thought at times they were all around them. He could not turn his head to look and see, but they would flash at him from out of the corner of his eye, and he could feel them boring into him. Just as those claws had into his gut
He heard footsteps again, and when he couldnt breathe for a moment he thought this was the end. But his eyes saw a figure and his ears heard a scream. And then it was gone and though he could breathe again Kun barely choked out any words. Come back, come back come back!
He did not think he had enough energy left to do so, but he began to cry. He was dying. Theyd all leave him for dead. Did they know? It didnt matter. He would be dead before any others came upon him. It was so close now. Why did he want to see them anyway? Why did he want them to see him? But he did not want to be alone. He cried because he was still afraid because it was cold, it was dark, and he was dying.
Maundering Mage
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 4,632
All was black and fading, Kuric knew or remembered nothing; there was no pain, no fear, no suffering. Quietly he began to drift into the eternal sleep, suddenly deep in the recesses of his soul it came to him; there was unfinished business still at hand.
Pain overtook his frame and mind as he regained consciousness, he wasnt sure he would be able to complete his final mission, his pride and stubbornness wouldnt let him fade, not yet.
Groggily he began to open his eyes, all was hazy and cloudy. He couldnt make out any images, just fuzzy outlines. Lad, he called out weakly, hoping to call for Gorin for, as fortune would have it, he would only trust this task to a fellow dwarf and providence had provided just such a dwarf.
All warmth was leaving his body and he knew that he didnt have long. Mustering up his strength he managed to call out Gorin, come here lad with more volume than the previous plea. A figure approached acknowledging Kuric, he knew not who it was but there was precious little time left. Gorin, Kuric said feebly, I need ya ta Kuric began coughing violently and took a moment to regain his ability to speak. Gorin, I need ya to bring me mail back Kuric again coughed and felt his strength leaving him, bring it back to me king, hell understand. I just hope Kuric began to doze, quickly shaking it off he began to talk again I just hope I made a difference in Middle-earth
With that, Kuric knew it was finished and let death come over him quickly, he would fight no longer.
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Orin's cry made Erling start. What was happening now? Was it not over, after all? Was there more to come, more batles, more blood, more death? He looked at Lea and Ash and saw that they could not possibly go and see what had happened to their brother.
"I'll go." he assured them, and sped through the darkness of the forest towards where he had heard Orin's cry. Suddenly he bumped into Orin himself who was running from the opposite direction. The boy looked terrified. "More Wargs, then." Erling thought, biting his lips. But it was not that.
"Parkun..."Orin gasped, pointing to the forest behind him. "Lying over there... Dead, I think..."
Erling nodded urgently and dashed forward. Perhaps he was not dead yet. Perhaps he could be saved somehow. He had to see. But when he finally caught sight of Parkun he realised he had been wrong. He was not dead yet, but he was surely dying. There was nothing anyone could do for him.
Erling kneeled beside Parkun and saw a flicker of recognition in the dying man's eyes. "Don't try to talk." he told him quickly. "It's..." But he could not go on. It was wrong, he thought, telling someone who was about to die that it was going to be alright when they could easily see it was not true. But he had to comfort him somehow. No man deserved to die without comfort. True, Parkun had abandoned Toby to the Wargs, and had ran off while they had been fighting, but he still did not deserve to die without comfort, without hearing one last kind word. Erling took Kun's hand in his, determined to stay with him until it was over. "Don't worry." he told him. "I'll stay with you. I...I'll see you through this."
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Facing the world's troubles with Christ's hope!
Posts: 1,735
The tears had all been drained from the young dwarf's eyes and the acceptance that Kuric was finally dead began to set in. He looked on the dwarf's ghostly white face, it was old and bore the scars of age yet it was peaceful. He heard Orin's screams of horror in the distance and a look of dread came over him. Gorin wanted to help the young man child, but the grief was too strong for him to leave Kuric's body. He reached for Kuric's mace and lifted it the best he could with his one arm, but Erling dashed off before Gorin could follow. Using the mace as a crutch he lifted himself up and tried to look as threatening as he could in hopes of scaring whatever enemy might be out there.
"Lad," came the familiar voice of Kuric. At first Gorin was frightened, fearing that it was his friends spirit who was talking, but Kuric's body moved and a faint hope stirred in Gorin.
"Kinsman, I'm here what is it you need." he said, his deep voice almost cracking with emotion when Kuric did not notice him.
Kuric's voice was weak, but firm as he spoke. Gorin stayed silent as he watched his friends mind slowly drift farther from him.
"I just hope I made a difference in Middle-earth." Kuric's last words where drawn out as his last breath left him.
"Kuric, brave Kuric, all that you have done here tonight will be told to your king. I swear that I shall return and build you a monument so that the story of your deeds will live on in the annals of men and dwarf long after you are gone. I shall do what you ask of me!"
Gorin clenched his great fist in frustration. He wanted to weep, but the tears had left him. He turned to Lea and Ash and then back to Kuric.
"Forgive me if I live you here for a while, but the night is not yet done and our foes are gathering again." He then took Kuric's cloak and folded it over his comrade the best he could.
The wind had picked up and the stars appeared again as Gorin walked to Ash and Lea's side with Kuric's mace as his new found weapon.
"You have saved my life, Lea. I will never forget you or you kin, I am indebted to you for life." Gorin gently kissed Lea's hand and repeated his oath in his own tongue.
"Tonight has been a strange one. By chance it was that I met your company, yet I think it was for the best so that Kuric may not die alone." he looked back at cloak that covered his friend, "Alas, his was the most costly sacrifice that he could offer on the altar of justice." Gorin fell silent retreating to his own thought, standing by the side of his new unlikely friends.
Estelo dagnir, Melo ring
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,121
Parkun still cried for himself, but even through failing eyes blurred by tears, he was able to recognize the new figure that knelt beside him. It was Erling. Though they had never been close, he was one of the many constant figures in Parkuns life. They both had grown up in Bree, and Erling was a regular face in the inn for many years.
They shared their hometown, but Kun thought they shared little else. He was never the good son like Erling, he was not the good citizen. He was the coward who did not fight for anyones sake but his own.
Don't try to talk. As if he knew what to say Did Erling know the truth? Of course he must know that he was not at the battle, but
Don't worry. I'll stay with you. I...I'll see you through this.
So kind, as if he truly cared. He must not know what Kun had done. But that did not comfort Kun. Did he want him to know? But how could he tell him? Why should he? What did it matter now? He was the one dying.
I Im it was hard to say anything, but especially this.
Parkun suddenly felt lighter. It no longer felt like he was lying, a pile of flesh, on the hard ground. The air no longer seemed so heavy, the darkness felt peaceful there were no more hungry eyes.
But he only had a few moments more before he felt less and less, before Erlings face was swallowed by the darkness. He felt as if a great terror, a great nothingness was approaching him. He now realized what he should have been afraid of all along.
No, no, no, no Kun cried. His cries were quickly cut off, and then his ragged breaths lasted for a minute or two longer before all was still.
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,262
The night was pierced by a high-pitched scream. Lea and Ash glanced at each other in terror. It was Orin!
"I'll go," Erling said instantly and rushed away. "Thank you," Lea shouted after him, but she doubted he heard it. She was staring after him, hoping to see her little brother. Suddenly Ash twisted beside her. "Are you alright?" she asked anxiously. He mumbled something that sounded like "yes" and started leaning on her more heavily. His breath was very heavy too.
Lea stroke his hair. It was dirty and there was blood on it. Ash's blood or the warg's blood, Lea didn't know. Ash had quickly bound his wounds himself - Lea wondered where he had found the strentgh to do it - and would not let her look at them. She would have wanted to, but she knew that once they were bound it would be foolish for anyone else but a professional healer to finger them. So she had to be satisfied with just sitting by his side and stroking his hair.
"Lea? Do you mind if I... sleep?"
"No, not at all."
He closed his eyes and instead of falling asleep, he let go of his consciousness. His sister wasn't scared by it. She could feel his heartbeat, he was most definitely alive. She knew he had been fighting this weakness for long just not to worry her too much. "Sleep well, my dear," she whispered and moved him so that he was laying on her lap.
When Ash wasn't there anymore to occupy her mind, she got worried about Orin again. She tried not to think of what kind of horrible things might have happened to him. He was probably just a little scared by something and Erling would find him.
"You have saved my life, Lea. I will never forget you or you kin, I am indebted to you for life." Lea looked up in surprise to see Gorin. He kissed her hand gently, said something in his own tongue and continued then in common speech:
"Tonight has been a strange one. By chance it was that I met your company, yet I think it was for the best so that Kuric may not die alone." He looked back at cloak that covered his friend. "Alas, his was the most costly sacrifice that he could offer on the altar of justice."
She could not think of a reply. She was deeply moved by the Dwarf's words, he had not known that Dwarves could be like that. She had always considered them rather brusque and unlikable, but this Gorin was a gentle man with a brave spirit.
She reached out to touch his hand lightly. "Your friend was a very courageous man. He saved us all tonight. His spirit has found its peace now."
With those words, her eyes wandered to the other unmoving figure laying on the forest clearing. Toby Mugwort looked pale and his face was possessed by unnatural calm. Lea thought he must be dead, after all. As if to confirm her assumption, Sam Tunnelly, who had been standing by Toby's side, knelt down and closed his eyes. Then the Hobbit walked slowly to the others. He did not say a word, nor did Lea or Gorin.
When he dashed from the woods, Orin did not say a word either. His face was pale and stained with tears. Lea opened her arms and the boy ran to her. She hugged her crying brother tightly.
After a moment, Orin started talking. "I saw Parkun in the woods. He is dead." The boy's tone was calm, almost devoid of feelings. Lea knew he was afraid he'd start crying again.
"You're a brave boy," Gorin said quietly.
Sam nodded gravely. "And these sad tidings must be brought to Bree as soon as Erling returns. Where is he, by the way?"
"He went to see Parkun," Orin said, still shaking a little.
"So I supposed," Sam replied. "And also, we must take your brother to the village too."
Orin's face truned paler than it had been, if it was even possible. He looked at Lea, immeasurable anguish on his face.
"Is he..."
"No," she said. "He's not. You can try and feel his heartbeat."
Slowly, relievement filled the boy's face. He did start crying again, but no one thought any less of him because of that.
"He's going to be alright," Lea said, smiling at Orin. "We're all going to be alright now."
Estelo dagnir, Melo ring
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,121
Blood Run
Mayor Hershman absent-mindedly shuffled parchment around on his desk. Perhaps he had started out looking for something, but he would pass by it numerous times before he remembered he was looking for it. His eyes burned and begged for sleep, but his mind was wide awake, filled to the brim and getting ahead of itself more and more with every thought. The world was beginning to become a bluish-grey, giving away the sun's presence somewhere beneath the horizon, and he had not slept that night beyond nodding off for a few moments and forgetting where he was and why he was still there.
He was awaiting word from the "Defenders of Breeland", a group he had thrown together to do…something. Anything. Because that was his job, as far as he knew it – to have something done when something needed to be. As if he knew what to do about mysterious attacks on farms! Of course sending the "Defenders" out had removed a few people from off his back, but all evening he'd had people in and out to ask if there was any news.
The last news Hershman had heard was that the Defenders were seen heading out toward the Chetwood, and so he could not sleep.
It was only long after all other curious and worried folk had retreated to their houses for the night that the knock came, and Erling was welcomed in along with a dwarf – though not the dwarf who had originally set out with the party. At the end of one of his arms was a bloody stump. It took a moment before he found himself able to say or do a thing, but then the mayor was quick to act.
Eventually a story was told, after wounds and much worse were tended to. Mayor Hershman felt surprisingly calm as long as he was busy telling people where to go and what to do, even when three bodies were brought in. But as soon as he allowed himself to sit and listen to Erling and Gorin, shock hit him hard. A young man severely wounded, a dwarf missing a hand, and three dead…dead! Toby and Parkun, a most admirable citizen and the son of the innkeeper… There had been a battle and much bloodshed…here, in Breeland! He felt hopeless and heavy in heart and mind.
Mayor Hershman never would have believed there was such evil left in Middle-earth, other than the evil men could cause themselves. Wargs were something akin to legends as far as the Mayor had been concerned. Certainly they existed at some point, somewhere, even not long ago, but…
The mayor was shut up in his office with Erling and Gorin for over an hour – though he never learned the circumstances of Parkun's death – and when the young man and dwarf left to get much needed rest, he remained seated at his desk for some time. What could he do? What could he say? There was so much that needed to be said, particularly to the Mugworts and the Felderths, but who was he to say it? He had a title and an office, but he was just an old man who sent others out to die…
No, he thought, with sudden clarity, they did not risk their lives at your bidding. And they certainly did not die for you.
Mayor Hershman paged through a stack of parchment on his desk, as if he hoped to find answers written out for him. He did not register much of anything he read until a certain word caught his eye.
"Wolf"…"Wolf Run", the heading to a historical record from the Third Age.
The mayor began to read of the "Heroes of Breeland" with tear-filled eyes. Heroes…
Last edited by Durelin; 08-27-2008 at 08:17 PM.
Desultory Dwimmerlaik
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Pickin' flowers with Bill the Cat.....
Posts: 7,815
- Finis -
Last edited by piosenniel; 08-26-2008 at 11:07 AM.
Desultory Dwimmerlaik
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Pickin' flowers with Bill the Cat.....
Posts: 7,815
~ To Elvenhome ~
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Dressing up for a black tie event does not have to be a daunting task. We should take the opportunity to flaunt our absolute best and show off some of our pieces of jewelry that have been tucked away. Nowadays, depending on the formality of the event, we can get by with wearing the perfect little black dress. To complete your look, choose a hairstyle that is different from your everyday look, a statement handbag or satin shoes, which are perfect for a black tie affair.
Circe, 3630 Brownsboro Road, 502.894.0095
Merkley Kendrick Jewelers, 138 Chenoweth Lane, 502.895.6124
H. J. Redmon, 3933 Chenoweth Square, 502.894.9800
Sam Meyers, various Louisville locations, www.sammeyers.com


text:
Serie A Preview: Milan look to bounce back
Milan will look to bounce back from a surprise defeat to Hellas Verona when they host Cagliari on Sunday.
Massimiliano Allegri's side were stunned 2-1 on the opening day, with veteran striker Luca Toni's double handing them a poor start to the season.
Milan bounced back in the UEFA Champions League four days later though, defeating Dutch side PSV 4-1 on aggregate to ensure their progression to the competition's group stages.
Mario Balotelli was on the scoresheet, while Kevin-Prince Boateng struck a double in the 3-0 second-leg win.
The Ghana international's goals proved to be his last for the club though, with the 26-year-old completing a move to Bundesliga outfit Schalke on Friday.
Milan replaced Boateng quickly though, as Alessandro Matri arrived at San Siro on the same day from Juventus.
Matri - who scored eight Serie A goals in 22 appearances for Juve last term - will bolster Milan's already impressive attacking options.
And the club's vice-president Adriano Galliani has compared the player to popular club icon Filippo Inzaghi, who retired last year.
"Matri will get the number nine jersey," Galliani confirmed to the club's official website.
"His arrival reminds me of Pippo Inzaghi's, 12 years ago. He was more or less the same age when he came to us."
Young midfielder Ricardo Saponara has resumed training although he is unlikely to be fit in time for the match.
Sunday's clash at San Siro will see Allegri lock horns with a club he both played for and managed, with Cagliari having made a winning start to Serie A this season.
After their surprise 2-1 Coppa Italia exit to third-tier Frosinone, Cagliari came from a goal behind to beat Atlanta 2-1 on Sunday.
Cagliari have lost their last nine Serie A matches against Milan at San Siro and striker Marco Sau is aware that claiming an upset will not be easy.
"I think Milan will try to make the game and we have to be ready. Our attitude will count a lot," he told Cagliari's official website.
"Balotelli is obviously the number one danger, but ... we're talking about a very strong team, with players of great class that can hurt (us) at any time."
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We had Parent Teacher Conferences last night and I am so SUPER DUPER PROUD of our Beans and Razz. All glowing praises from their respective teachers! Razz is pretty much done with the Kinder curriculum (after the first quarter) and her teacher now has to challenge her for the rest of the year. Beans is excelling all around as well. It was SO hard for me to contain my smile.
I wonder though, is it wrong to gloat? That paragraph up there was going to be my FB status. Then, I thought, is that ok? Is that frowned upon? Is it too show-offy?
My FB friends are people I know in real life with the exception of 2 bloggers, but I've "known" them via blogs since I was pregnant with Beans (who will be 8 on Sunday!!!!). Now, we are FB posters, I mean, my hubby and I post a lot – photos and status updates. Mostly because our family is on there and our immediate family is in NJ and TX and cousins all around the US and in the Philippines. It's a way for us to all keep up with each other without having to do mass emails all the time like before. Now, we also have friends from grammar school and high school that we may not have kept in touch with if it weren't for FB. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we all found each other and reconnected, but you know, there are some that we're just not tight with that are we are friends with. Who knows, they're probably sick of us and hid us from their timelines, but anyway, I digress.
Is it in bad taste for me / us to post how proud we are of our children? I was wondering, maybe someone's child is having a hard time and they may take our post in a negative way.
for more Wordful Wednesday Entries, check out Angie's site: http://sevenclowncircus.com/2013/10/wordful-wednesday-jdm.html and linky-linky!