text:
News - May 2013 - Portland State University
|May 2013
Browse by category:
- All Categories
- Campus Life
- Bike Hub
- Campus Public Safety
- Campus Recreation
- Daily Messages
- Diversity and Multicultural Student Services
- Diversity at PSU
- Housing Dining & Residence Life
- Information Technologies
- Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation
- Multicultural Center
- Native American Student & Community Center
- Portland State of Mind
- Resource Center for Students with Children
- Student Groups & Government
- Student Health and Counseling
- Student Legal Services
- Vikings Athletics
- Visit Portland State
- Women's Resource Center
- Academics & Research
- Portland Center for Public Humanities
- School of Business Administration
- Graduate School of Education
- Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science
- College of the Arts
- College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
- Anthropology
- Applied Linguistics
- Biology
- Center for Japanese Studies
- Center for Lakes & Reservoirs
- Center for Science Education
- Chemistry
- Communication
- Conflict Resolution
- Economics
- English
- General Studies
- History
- Intensive English Language Program
- International Studies
- Judaic Studies
- Mathematics & Statistics
- Philosophy
- Physics
- Psychology
- Religious Studies
- School of the Environment
- School of Gender Race and Nations
- Sociology
- Speech & Hearing Sciences
- World Languages & Literatures
- School of Social Work
- College of Urban & Public Affairs
- School of Community Health
- Hatfield School of Government
- Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies
- Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning
- University Honors College
- PSU Library
- Academic Programs
- Center for Real Estate
- Center for Turkish Studies
- Challenge & LINK Programs
- Education Abroad
- International Studies
- Middle East Studies Center
- Peace Corps Master's International
- Sustainability at PSU
- Systems Science Graduate Program
- University Studies
- Academic Services
- Office of Academic Innovation
- Advising
- Advising & Career Services
- Admissions
- Undergraduate Admission
- International Admission
- Graduate Admission
- Post-Baccalaureate Admission
- Re-Enrollment
- Oregon Residency Status
- Careers
- Commencement
- Disability Resource Center
- Financial Aid
- Graduate Studies
- Office of International Affairs
- Orientation
- Registration & Records
- Dean of Student Life
- Veterans' Services
- Writing Center
- Research
- Alumni & Giving
- Administration
- Academic Affairs
- University Advancement
- Finance & Administration
- Government Relations
- President
- Commission on the Status of Women
- University Communications
- Featured Content
- Calendar
- Global Diversity & Inclusion
Monday, May 6, 2013
»Elizabeth Almer, Kathy Rupley, and Donna Philbrick, Business Administration faculty, presented "Auditor Selection: Revisiting Public Company Audit Committee Members' Beliefs Post SOX" at the Western American Accounting Association conference in San Franci
»Talya Bauer, Business Administration faculty, was a presenter for "When it Comes to Practice, Do Applicant Reaction Models Matter?" and "Distinguished Teaching Contributions Award: Teaching Like it Matters: Applying Newcomer Socialization and Justice Rese
»Mel Gurtov, Political Science emeritus faculty, authored "Dealing with North Korea: A Time for Diplomacy" in the online IFES Forum, April 2013. He also organized and contributed a paper to the conference "Engaging Enemies," at Indiana University, April 18
»Christine Cress, Educational Leadership and Policy faculty, presented a session, "Engaged Reflection and Learning: Tools, Tips, and Techniques," at the Continuums of Service Conference in Portland, April 25.
»Julia Freybote, Business Administration faculty, presented "Off-Balance Sheet Financing, Joint Ventures and Cost of Debt in REITs" and co-presented "Institutional Investor Sentiment and Systematic Risk in Office and Industrial REITs" at the 2013 annual co
»Leerom Medovoi, English faculty, gave an invited lecture, "New Directions in Biopolitics," to the Department of English at University of Arizona, April 11.
»David Ervin, Economics faculty, authored "Voluntary Resource Conservation and Environmental Management in Agriculture and Forestry" published in the Encyclopedia of Energy, Natural Resource, and Environmental Economics, Vol. 2, Elsevier.
»Melinda Hutson and Alex Ruzicka, Geology faculty, and student Ryan Brown, authored a paper titled "Stones from Mohave County, Arizona: Multiple Falls in the 'Franconia Strewn Field'" published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science, Vol. 48.
»Ted Khoury, Business Administration faculty, authored an article titled "The Social Construction of Legitimacy through Signaling Social Capital: Exploring the Conditional Value of Alliances and Underwriters at IPO" published in Entrepreneurship Theory and
»Charles Klein, Anthropology faculty, authored "WiLLOW: Reaching HIV-Positive African-American Women Through a Computer-Delivered Intervention" published online in AIDS & Behavior, April 29.
»Sean Kohles, Mechanical and Materials Engineering and Biology faculty, co-authored a paper, "Tracking Knee Joint Functional Axes Through Tikhonov Filtering and Plucker Coordinates," published in the Journal of Novel Physiotherapies: Special Issue on Compu
»David Sailor, Mechanical and Materials Engineering faculty, authored the book chapter "Energy, Buildings and the Urban Environment" in Climate Vulnerability, edited by Roger Pielke and published by Elsevier.
»Anousha Sedighi, World Languages and Literatures faculty, presented a paper, "Heritage Persian Learners vs. L2 Learners in the Classroom," at the 25th conference of the National Council on Less Commonly Taught Languages in Chicago, April 25-28.
»Elizabeth Almer, Business Administration faculty, earned a Best Paper Award for "The Social Construction 'Off-Ramped Accounting Academics: Remedy to Accounting Faculty Shortage?'" presented at the Western American Accounting Association conference in San
»Berrin Erdogan, Business Administration faculty, participated on many levels at the annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Houston, April 11-13. She was a presenter for "Examining Overqualification and Positive Outcome
»Cynthia Gomez, Diversity and Multicultural Student Services, has been appointed by Governor John Kitzhaber to the Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs. The Oregon Senate has approved her appointment.
»John Hall, Economics and International Studies faculty, was recently elected to serve as president of the Association for Institutional Thought for 2013 and 2014.
»Nora Wendl, Architecture faculty, co-organized the symposium Strange Utility: Architecture Toward Other Ends held at Portland State, April 26-27. Her co-organizer was Isabelle Loring Wallace, a University of Georgia contemporary art faculty member. With c
»The Oregonian: Portland Startup Weekend -- A 54-hour sprint to new connections, horizons and possibilities


text:
Teaching in Upstate NY, come join me!
Just a quick announcement about some classes coming up in Upstate NY next week. I'm headed to visit my dear friends Suvir Saran and Charlie Burd at their farm American Masala. They have carved out a small piece of heaven in Battenkill county, where they raise hundreds of animals and create the most exquisit foods from the books Suvir has written Indian Home Cooking and American Masala. While I am there I'll be teaching two classes based on ABin5 and HBin5 at the Battenkill Kitchen on April 23rd and 24th. I would love to have you join me. If you live in the area, or are close enough to drive over for the evening, please come and bake with me.
Some items on the menu: Master Boule, Epi, pita, sticky buns, beignets, pizzas and much much more!
To sign up visit the Battenkill Kitchen website.
Hope to see you there and bring your friends! Zoë (more…)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
How YOU make LazyTown lazy again/get rid of Sportacus?
I would just ask him nicely. What? It could work.
How YOU make LazyTown lazy again/get rid of Sportacus?
I would just ask him nicely. What? It could work.
Robbie Rotten can do nothing alone.
He is the worst side of all characters combined into one.
What I would do if I was Robbie is I would exploit the children's weaker sides. I would give Trixie something to break, Pixel some videogames, Ziggy some candy, and Stingy...well...everythig else. Much like in Welcome to LazyTown. I would make myself their god. Not that Sportaloser. He would leave on his own eventually. If it came down to it, I would convince Bessie to hook up with the Mayor finally. She finds me charming; it wouldn't be that hard. In return, the Mayor would do ME a favor - Get rid of Sporty-cus.
But what to do with that pink cheerleader *blegh*
She is smarter than everyone else....what to do...what to do...
AHA! I will dress up like a dance instructor and tell her that I am here to take her away to the best dancing school in the world! Yes! It's disgui-.......wait...that's already been done. And it didn't work.
I could always just cage her up somewhere placed suspiciously near an apple tree. It didn't work the last few times but you know what they say! 8th time's a charm!
Like Toy Soliders
Let me put my brian on "Robbie"
Ok Now i'm Robbie.
All my plans have failed. Why? Because I do it alone! I'll clone myself! Sportakook can defeat 1 Robbie. Let's see him take on 2....or 10....or 100 or maybe...
Maybe I could lie to Sportacus, saying there is trouble in a place that doesn't exist far far away, so he can go there and take years to arrive, muahahahhaa. Of course just if I was Robbie Rotten .
Fresh off the runway
I'd make him taste some hot lead.
I'm the most vanted man in America! I cannot exactly browse the racks of JC Penneys!
You win I think!Originally Posted by xjocundxlilacx
If you were Robbie Rotten.......
I would move to busytown
No one's busy in busytown
...nice one ...I would have a lot of fun in Robbies lair...Originally Posted by pooky
Id ad a chemical to the town water supply that stops metabolism.....
more creative me thinks...
ill have to get back to you on this one...
Good to be back <(^^,)>
Put your Kitsune up!
He should run his plans by a five year old, because most of the time the problems are something a 5 year old could see a mile away.
Overall,though, I think he should just soundproof his lair and wash his hands of the whole thing. He's up against an entire town full of people who can't figure out that there's only one person over 6' tall who's constantly causing trouble- so this "newcomer" must be Robbie Rotten no matter how many times he tries it. They've passed from "so dimwitted they're easily manipulated" into "so dimwitted that there aren't enough brains to manipulate". Why does he even waste his time trying to make them lazy?
I agree that you win.Originally Posted by xjocundxlilacx
You obviously just found an interest in LazyTown reacently...I used to think that way when I was watching my first eppisodes...but think of it this way, it's a kids show...don't dwell on it too much, logic ain't welcome.Originally Posted by GoggiMega
I actually found it well over a year ago, and as much as I look at it and go "it's just a kids show, stop thinking about this" my brain is going "WTF!? was I this stupid as a kid?!". I really need to get better and suspension of belief, but I just can't. -_-Originally Posted by LazyTownWW
I totally understand what you're saying, it's hard for adult logic to be applied to a children's show. But there's not really a good way to fix it, I guess. If they figured out it was Robbie every time he appeared in a disguise the whole premise of the show would pretty much be ruined.Originally Posted by GoggiMega
Yes, we are different as kids, not stupid, or retarded, or anything...kids just view things in a whole different light...the best way to enjoy a kids show is to put yourself in the kid's place...think like a child lol. Try to remember your thoughts and feelings from when you were little.Originally Posted by GoggiMega
BTW I found it on December 3, 2008. I was amazed by it's illogicle-ness the first few episodes, then I started to like just that illogicle-ness...that's LazyTown's charm, it makes you go back in time, to your childhood, when you didn't have a care in the world, and all your problems just seemed to pass by you.
Well, I should stop the now...
I think I found it 2 or 3 months before you.Originally Posted by LazyTownWW
I try to do that, but I really can't remember what it was like to be a kid. Which is kind of sad.
Ehm...I kinda' agree...Originally Posted by GoggiMega
I'm loving the poisioning the water supply idea. haha.
And Yah. It's fun as hell to try and logically explain or interpret the "suspension of disbelief" stuff.
Robbie should just give up. They are not worth it. lol
A lot of people have said this already. but personally....I would focus on Stephanie if I were him. I mean, SHE'S the one who caused all this trouble in the first place! (Props to the LT crew for having Robbie figure that out....kinda...in the final episode. (Well, final for a while.)
PS: Can we post fanfiction on this board? I have the opening chapters of a LT fic that I wrote before I saw Dancing Dreams that kind of has this plot.)
There is one topic about it:Originally Posted by Jumpman256
I could be considered cruel but I would cause angst most of all. And that is because Sportacus' weak point is not sugar meltdown, but his big heart. Perhaps an intricate plan where I would throw random hints to Sportacus, whenever I happened to accidentally pass him by, about how meaningless life is and how much I no longer care about what the kids or he does. I'd be sarcastic and smirking rarely and vaguely until he'd think I am a shadow of my former self and get worried. Eventually he'd come to confront me, to offer help due to his big gullibly innocent heart and then I'd make sure I'd make him feel worse by telling him it is his fault I became like that because he is a superhero and he ought to care for everyone and yet he did not care for the troublemaker who lives underground, he didn't ask him why he was causing trouble, he didn't try to understand etc etc until Sportacus finally cracks. In order to remedy the situation I'd tell him to leave and never come back with hatred and pain. The sad thing is he probably would do so because he is too kind and innocent. And voila.
Yes I have written a fanfic about this, no it is not online. Yes I know I look like a bad person but I like angst with my favorite characters.
No, I wouldn't do that as Monochrome but I would have my Robbie character to do so. As in 'fictional character'
You...r Robbie has a severe case of Borderline Personality Disorder.
Ceterum censeo puellam roseam fraudulentam esse exstirpandam
Not really. This Robbie would be faking it all out of despair. And would probably cry a lot and regret it.
But then again if I was truly Robbie, I think I'd confront Sportacus and tell him I want in on the games rather than wanting to kick him out.
Another thing I'd do to send Sportacus away if I were Robbie would be to create a machine that would create a teleporting beam. I'd beam his airship to sun, boom it'd go and then teleport him to Jupiter.
I'd assassinate him. we know robbie has SAS training and he's an ex-marine. he could wipe that sporty fucker out with precision the like of which has never been seen on this earth.
Clone myself
sportaflop and the sportaflips coming to playhouse nickelodeon 201987654321
"make lazytown lazy again'
robbie is donald trump comfirmed


text:
Ex-Blagojevich Fundraiser Sentenced to Prison for Second Time
For the second time in two months, Tony Rezko was back in front of a judge Thursday to be sentenced to federal prison. Rezko was a fundraiser for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Rezko was recently sentenced to 10-and-a-half years behind bars for his role in corruption in the Blagojevich administration. On Thursday, he was back in front of a judge to be sentenced in a different case. This time for lying to get some loans to keep his failing businesses afloat. The case was brought as prosecutors were applying pressure to individuals involved in illegal fundraising for Blagojevich.
Judge James Zagel handed Rezko a seven and a half year sentence, which he can serve at the same time as his other sentence. Zagel also admonished Rezko for entangling, "an honorable man" into his criminal acts. By that he meant one of Rezko's co-defendants who pleaded guilty, but the judge didn't say to whom he was referring.
Rezko will also have to pay more than $4 million in restitution, something his attorney said Rezko cannot afford to do.
As the frail-looking 56-year-old left the courtroom, he smiled at his family, who waved to him and yelled, "Merry Christmas.


text:
by Hugh Gilmore
If you still don't believe that there are people in this world who really and truly sit in a room and plan how to break into your mind and steal your money, read on.
This past Saturday, on my way to a friend's house in Bucks County, my car needed gas, so I stopped at the first station past the end of the Route 309 expressway.
As I emerged from the car, I heard one of those happy-happy advertisements in the air, promising me happy-happiness if I boughtsomething. I looked around, guessing the sound came from someone's car radio. But, the auditory quality was different, more 'televisiony.'
But anyway, who cares? The modern world requires your brain to brush away thousands of these sounds every day. They're like mosquitoes, swarming about you everywhere you go, all day long.
I tuned out.
Wallet opened, VISA plucked from within, I oriented my card's stripe and started to swipe it when I came face to face with … did you guess 'a television set'? Yes, mounted on top of the gas pump.
An AccuWeather spokesman was now telling me the chances of my experiencing the weather I was experiencing. Could it be? Had the guys in the blue-blow planning room found yet another place to plant one of their brain drills? My eyes scanned the other 16 pumps at this station.
Yes. Every one. What had once been a holy mental-resting-place, akin somewhat to one of the Stations of the Cross, a place where I could be luxuriously bored while I refilled my car's gas tank, a place where I could be reminded of the horrors of inflation and the greed of Big Oil, had been retooled as a mental breakdown center.
A worry dashes in as I write this: How honest can I afford to be in writing for a family/community newspaper? I wonder. Because my first thought on seeing that that contraption had invaded "my" space (i.e. my mind) was to sabotage it. Puttinging hands in my pockets, I casually walked around the pump, getting up on tip-toes where needed, looking for weak spots, points of possible attack.
I needn't tell you this is a weakness of mine, this temptation to fight bak against Space Invaders. I've written columns about these skirmishes, the first one appearing in this paper more than five years ago ('Waiting Room TVs'). Back then I described an experience at the hallowed Wills Eye Hospital.
Flashback – 2006.
My then-19-year-old son, Andrew, blind in one eye as a result of 'retinopathy of the premature,' had called at 5:30 a.m. to say he thought the retina in his 'good' eye was detaching. He sensed a shadow, like a window shade drawing, in the corner of his eye. We knew what that meant from two earlier retina surgeries that had failed to save his left eye. Up we sprang to gather him from Arcadia University nearby and dash to Wills Eye Hospital.
At the hospital, the usual insurance delays and red tape kept us in the waiting room much longer than my nerves could stand. I said, at different intervals, to three different receptionists, "Look, never mind the insurance, I'll pay cash for someone to look at my son's eye. Time is the enemy. He needs to be seen."
This plea brought sympathetic nods, but no obvious actions. Information that might calm you down is always hoarded in hospitals and police stations. Things seem to move so slowly in emergency rooms.
Except when it's their emergency.
As in: "Sir, don't touch that!"
"Sir, what are doing, sir?
"Leave that alone, sir"
They'd all cupped their phones, or dropped their clipboards to stare, while the receptionist barked to stop me from turning down the TV.
The whole time we'd been waiting, the reception room television had been spewing its audio pollution at us. Good Morning America. Pretend news, shilling for the guests' new moneymaking ventures. Such loud, awful noise. No one was looking at it, so I'd walked over and reached to lower the sound. The staff reacted as though I'd tried to kick their puppy.
"Sir, other people are watching it, sir."
"No, they're not. They're trying to read."
"Sir, she'll take care of it, sir."
They looked ready to mace me, so I backed off, suspecting they'd call security and have me thrown out.
After a doctor examined Andrew later, we learned our son's guess was right. "There's some elevation of the retina in the corner," he said. Surgery was scheduled for tomorrow.
The next morning, they allowed us to keep Andrew company through admission and prep. We met the surgeon for the first time, asked our feeble questions, and then it was time for our son to be wheeled away to pre-op.
From Janet's journal:
"Only one parent could accompany Andrew into the prepping area. I went. Hugh had to phone Arcadia, etc. A doctor started an IV. The surgeon wrote 'BH' over Andrew's right eye. I asked what that meant. 'Bernard Hurley, my name. We initial the eye that's to be operated on.'
"They put a blue shower cap on Andrew just before wheeling him away. I looked into his eyes and thought that might be the last time he saw his mother's face, and I started to cry. He said, "Don't cry, Mom."
"I hugged him tight, so he wouldn't see more tears, and told him I love him. They took him away from me, and I broke down completely, hot tears of self-pity and godspeed-wishing and such a sense of sorrow for my little boy, who's been through so much pain. He is a Wednesday's child, indeed."
The family waiting room, 7th floor:
Two men were sleeping in a deeply settled posture that said they'd been waiting there a while and still had a long time to go. A woman knelt on the seat of a chair, facing the window, gazing moodily out and across the rooftops.
I felt bad for them. I hoped the person they were waiting for would be all right.
Jan and I were nervous. We started trying to suppress our cold panic by reading.
On cue, the woman came away from the window and used a remote to turn the high overhead TV on.
Loud. Static snow screen though.
The lady said, "How's this thing work"?
One man awoke and stood on the chair and turned dials till the picture appeared. Their voices were respectfully quiet, but why, if they knew to keep their voices down, did they let the TV yell so loud?
I'm thinking, "Geez, can't you folks live without noise from the world for a little while?" The occasion of medical danger calls for peace and calm. Consultants are paid lots of money to tell hospitals what colors to paint their rooms and what kind of art to put on the walls in order to soothe people. Then they install these monstrous scream-boxes to upset us.
The other sleeping man stirred at the noise. I was just ready to say, "Excuse me folks, can we vote on this TV thing? Majority rules?" counting on the sleeper's not voting, but then he stretched and stood and joined the others for a family conference in the doorway.
The TV stayed on as a kind of bookmark. The woman stepped back in and used the remote to turn the TV off and they all left together. Peace at last.
But for how long?
I didn't want to put up with any more Wills Eye TV. I put my book down and walked to the doorway and looked up and down the hall.
(Continued next week. One reader's revenge)


text:
Career Development
12 Sep 2019
Babbio 320
Undergraduate: Career Center Orientation
This workshop is mandatory to gain access to Handshake, the Career Center's new online job listing and campus recruiting system. Learn more about your step-by-step guide to writing resumes and cover letters, conducting a successful job search and interviewing for internship, co-op and full-time positions through the Career Center. Open to Stevens Undergraduate Students Only. Please bring your Stevens ID!


text:
International Delegations Arrive at SUNY CantonWednesday, October 21st, 2009
Ukrainian Academics to Present, Oct. 29
SUNY Canton officials will be meeting with two delegations from overseas schools over the next week to begin the process of expanding the college's international programs.
Faculty from the career-driven Dental Hygiene program will be receiving a delegation of Japanese dental hygienists on Thursday, Oct. 22. A second contingent of academics from Dnipropetrovsk State University of Internal Affairs in Ukraine will be on campus on Monday, Oct. 26, to review the College's Criminal Justice curricula.
"Our international programs began with a duel-degree program with Moscow about five years ago," noted SUNY Canton President Joseph L. Kennedy. "That program allowed us to expand our courses, and our classrooms, to students from more places. The articulations add a global approach to our signature programs."
The delegation of Ukrainian Academics became connected with SUNY Canton through Assistant Professor Tom G. Dempsey, who has taught in Ukraine. Recently, Dempsey and Provost William R. Trumble, along with other College officials visited Dnipropetrovsk State University of Internal Affairs to begin the process of offering the College's Criminal Justice, Criminal Investigation, and related programs in the former Soviet Union.
"By the end of this visit, we hope to create the plans to offer our courses at their college through on-line, distance learning, or exchange and on-campus programs," Trumble said. "We hope to design and sign a memorandum of understanding that will allow the two colleges to collaborate further."
During their visit, the four Ukrainian guests will be holding a symposium on the global recession and its impact on the eastern European criminal justice system from 12 to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, in Woodcock Conference suite 212. The event is free and open to both the college community and the general public.
Director of International Initiatives Marela Fiacco said that Dental Hygiene is a rapidly growing career in Japan. "During this visit, we'll be looking to create a three-day workshop at our state-of-the-art Dental Hygiene Clinic in Rome (N.Y)," she said. "Our Japanese visitors are very interested in our techniques and program."
The Japanese visitors will be meeting with Dental Hygiene Professor Susan Willette. The two-year Dental Hygiene program is offered in conjunction with Mohawk Valley Community College with labs and classroom facilities at the Veteran's Administration at Griffis Technology Complex. Willette oversees the four-year Dental Hygiene program offered online through SUNY Canton OnLine.
"Geographic boundaries are not a concern for the bachelor's degree program," Willette said. "In the future, we could offer the program via virtual classrooms and online course delivery to students anywhere in the world."
During the summer months, the college hosts on-campus students from Lomonosov Moscow State University in Russia, and students from the American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
SUNY Canton offers a wide variety of career-driven bachelor's, associate, and certificate programs. Most of SUNY Canton's new four-year programs are designed so students can take them on-campus, online, or both. SUNY Canton OnLine features more than 100 courses online each semester. The College's athletic teams belong to the NAIA's Sunrise Conference, enabling students to compete in their respective sports for four years. Construction is now underway for the College's new Convocation, Athletic, and Recreation Center.
Media inquiries should be directed to Gregory Kie, Media Relations Coordinator, or call 315/386-7528.


text:
Looking to make all-natural yeasted rolls at home? These light brioche hamburger buns are the perfect solution! With a dough that's simple to make and easy to handle, you'll never buy from the store again. *Updated with helpful tips in 2019
Now that it's officially BBQ season, I thought it would be fun to make homemade hamburger buns.
We like our burgers on brioche-style rolls and this recipe looked like a great starting place.
This brioche is lighter than the traditional kind that I'm used to (hence the title). It's still fluffy and moist, but not quite as eggy and rich. Even the color is a bit lighter.
In my opinion, nothing beats an all natural hamburger bun. We thought that it was the perfect vessel for a juicy burger and would be great for sandwiches too!
How to Make Light Brioche Hamburger Buns
Step #1: Make the Dough & Let it Rise
To begin, mix your dough using a stand mixer. It will be very sticky and have a shaggy appearance.
Place a damp kitchen towel directly over the bowl and allow it to rest until it has doubled in size. Depending on how warm your kitchen is, this will take about 1-3 hours (mine took 1 1/2 hrs @ 70 degrees F.)
TIP: Giving the dough enough time to rise is crucial in bread baking. In the past, I have rushed this step which caused my bread to be very dense. Rise times will vary, so be patient. Remember to watch your dough and not the clock!
Step #2: Cut The Dough
Once your dough has risen, dump it out onto a lightly floured work surface.
Then, gently flatten the dough to get rid of any air bubbles. Using a bench scraper (or a chef's knife) cut the dough into 8 equal portions.
If you have a digital kitchen scale weigh each portion so that they're all the same size. Do this by weighing the entire ball of dough first and then divide by the number of rolls you want to make.
Step #3: Shape into balls
To shape, gently flatten each piece of dough like a pancake.
Pull up each side pinching it together in the center. Repeat until the ball is sealed. Flip the ball over (seam side down) and move to an un-floured part of your board. It will be easier to roll this way.
To finish, place your palm over the top and gently roll into a smooth ball.
Transfer each ball onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Step #4: Second Rise
The dough will need to rise again, this time for a shorter period than the initial rise.
The balls should look puffy and slightly risen, about 1- 1/2 hrs. When they're ready, gently brush each one with egg wash.
See how puffy they are?
TIP: At this point, you could add sesame seeds to the top of your rolls if you'd like.
5.) Bake The dough
Preheat your oven to 400 F. and place a shallow metal baking pan on the oven floor.
Before the dough goes in, add about 1/2 cup of water to the pan to create steam. This will help keep the bread nice and moist.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Light Brioche Hamburger Buns
- Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
- Total Time: 15-20 minutes
- Yield: 8 buns
- Category: Yeasted Breads + Doughs
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Adapted from the NY Times, this recipe for light brioche hamburger buns is perfect for BBQ fare, sandwiches (try bacon, egg & cheese!) and so much more. You'll never buy from the store again!
- 1 c. warm water
- 3 tablespoons warm milk
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened.
- sesame seeds (optional)
- Whisk together the warm water, milk, yeast and sugar. Then, beat 1 egg.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flours, salt and butter. Using the paddle attachment, mix the ingredients until the butter is the size of crumbs.
- Stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg. Run the mixer on medium-low (I used #3 on my Kitchen Aid) until a dough forms, about 5-8 minutes.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary, and shape the dough into a ball. Cover bowl with a damp kitchen towel and let the dough rise until it has doubled is size, 1- 3 hours @ 70 F* See Note.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a floured dough scraper (or chef's knife), divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. If you have a scale, weigh each piece to guarantee that they're all the same size.
- To shape the dough into balls, gently flatten each piece like a pancake. Gather the ends and pinch the dough to seal in the center. Flip the dough over, cup the surface with your palm, and roll into a ball. Transfer to your baking sheet, placing them a few inches inches apart. Cover and rest for 1-2 hours, or until puffy and slightly risen.
- To make the egg wash, beat the remaining egg with a splash of water. When the buns are finished with the 2nd rise, gently brush each one with egg wash. At this point, you could add sesame seeds to the top of your rolls if desired.
- Preheat your oven to 400 F. and place a skillet or metal baking dish on the oven floor. Before the dough goes in, add about 1/2 cup of water to the pan to create steam. This will help keep the bread nice and moist. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Giving your dough enough time to rise is crucial in bread baking. Rise times will vary depending on temperature, so be patient. Remember to watch your dough and not the clock!
Keywords: light brioche hamburger buns, hamburger buns, brioche burger buns, hamburger rolls


text:
MONTREAL — The steady stream of revelations before the Charbonneau inquiry makes it easy to become bleary or blasé. But this week's testimony deserves extra attention. It contains the most disturbing disclosures yet.
Here's why.
Until now, we've learned that systemic collusion and corruption in public works contracts have existed mostly at the level of the Mafia and those construction companies whose business is generally confined to Quebec. These companies' bosses, while wealthy, are not generally part of the business elite. You wouldn't expect to see a Tony Accurso or Lino Zambito swanning around fundraising soirées for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.
What Michel Lalonde told the Charbonneau Commission on Thursday broadens our understanding of systemic crime among contractors, and alarmingly so. He opened what is not so much a can of worms as a barrel of snakes.
Lalonde, president of Génius Conseil (better known under its former name, Groupe Séguin), served in effect as the coordinator of collusion among all — repeat, all — of Quebec's largest engineering-consulting firms. They include not just SNC-Lavalin, often called the flagship of Québec Inc., but also CIMA+, Dessau, Génivar, Roche, Tecsult and several others. They often subcontract work to the previously implicated construction companies. Their leaders regularly make the society pages,
Lalonde himself was not one of the big boys. That his company was smallish made him, he explained, the cartel's ideal emissary in dealing with Montreal city hall — he could be relatively impartial. Between 2004 and 2009, he said, he worked with the city's then public works director (Robert Marcil), the then treasurer of the ruling party, Union Montreal (Bernard Trépanier), and the then executive-committee chair (Frank Zampino) to steer contracts to the appropriate member of the cartel. Bribes would then go the supposedly neutral contract-selection committee, composed of civil servants, so that it would ratify the choice. Depending on its size, each cartel member allegedly contributed either $100,000 or $200,000 in cash to Union Montreal in the 2005 election year, for a total of $1.3 million in illegal donations. The firms would also kick back three per cent of their contracts to the party, Lalonde said (as previous witnesses have said the construction companies also did).
To be sure, this isn't the first time executives of these high-class companies have been incriminated for local bid-rigging. Last fall, for example, the past president and a past vice-president of SNC-Lavalin were charged with fraud in connection with their company's supervision of the McGill University Health Centre's superhospital. In 2011, police also charged two Roche executives for fraud in suburban Boisbriand.
But, on the basis of what little information the police have given so far, these are isolated, stand-alone cases involving individuals (as distinct from their employers), Even a conspiracy theorist would be hard put to say the allegations are evidence of industry-wide corruption. As well, these allegations are not about collusion between engineering-consulting firms.
Lalonde's testimony is of another order entirely. It suggests corruption and collusion that are systemic and sustained. Each company, he said, delegated a senior executive (he named each) to deal with the system. (Is Lalonde a more credible witness than Martin Dumont? Yes, unlike that prevaricator, he says he played an active role in illegalities.)
Think a minute. Here, according to Lalonde, we have companies representing the upper crust of Quebec's corporate world that:
Subvert local democracy by illegally swamping a political party's electoral war chest, with the result that when that party gains power it is beholden to these corporations.
Hoist the cost of public works by up to 30 per cent, meaning that us dull-normal taxpayers have paid hundreds of millions of dollars for inflated contracts every year.
Corrupt not only Montreal's political structure but also the senior ranks of Montreal's supposedly neutral civil service. (True, earlier testimony has shown that the Mafia and construction companies had corrupted several civil servants, including Gilles Surprenant and Luc Leclerc, but the elite cartel allegedly bribed their boss, Marcil.)
It's too early to draw firm conclusions about the unlawfulness of the corporate influence that Lalonde describes: All parties must be presumed innocent unless proven guilty. But if the Charbonneau Commission's final report finds his account credible, Quebec's justice system will face a huge test of public confidence. Will it pursue the big shots?
It's one thing to prosecute Mafiosi and rough-edged construction bosses. It's quite another — as the timorous White House has shown in regard to certain Wall St. banks — to go after a society's paragons of corporate respectability.
Twitter: @henry_aubin


text:
THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
Today I discovered that you can have a working AS2000 database without repository data relative to structure internals to that database (cubes and dimensions).
Just to explain how it works.
I know at least one customer who currently use this "undocumented feature" (can we say that?) to support the distribution of a processed database so queries scale on a multi-server architecture. If they update the "master" database changing some metadata, adding a level to a dimension or a measure to a cube, the distribution is a simpe XCOPY deployment.
I didn't know that AS2000 is able to query a processed cube even without metadata...


text:
Alpha Graphics Lisle is not only conveniently located, they are very friendly and proactive when working on projects, small or large. We have used them for various event marketing purposes for a few years now and would recommend them wholeheartedly.
Cynthia K. Cynthia Kustush
Every time I have used Alphagraphics, Lisle to print programs and posters for our big IAEA Student Artist Art Show, I've been impressed with the speed at which they get back to me with a preview, and are so patient and willing to work with me through preview detail changes. Their turn-around time is amazingly quick!
Susan T. Illinois Art Educators Association (IAEA)
The Alphagraphics staff is incredibly responsive to our needs and has great attention to detail It is a pleasure to work with you all and we really appreciate your services. Bailey was wonderful and Tammy has done a fabulous job for us on the last couple of projects - really appreciate her abilility to manage our different simultaneous jobs. Tammy has great attention to detail and it is a gift!
Mary C. Society of Colonial Wars In the State of Illinois
AlphaGraphics is always the first company I think of when we have a printing project. Everyone there is always very nice, professional and have my order ready when promised.
ellen T. Comcast
AlphaGraphics made the process of getting our student book to press incredibly fast and gave thorough feedback to get the best book possible- with plenty of time for our publication launch.
Adam F. College of DuPage - Prairie Light Review
The Lisle Alphagraphics staff is a pleasure to work with. They are helpful and knowledgeable. We are always pleased with the quality of their work.
Nancy C. SE3
Bailey and Tammy are wonderful to work with and both are incredibly responsive. We are a very small nonprofit and even though we may not being the highest paying Aplha Graphics customer, we truly appreciate the excellent customer service and top quality in printing we always receive!
Cassandra S. Literacy DuPage
I love working with the people at Alphagraphic! They make it so easy to get the job done and they are all very friendly, patient and kind!
Candi E. Homecrest Foundation
Bailey Kovac is very talented, professional, and personable. She is the reason I keep returning to your location to have printing done for my business.
Stephanie S. Bellehaven Designs
We use AlphaGraphics for our marketing materials for our business, but I have also used them for personal printing materials, including my wedding invitations. Every single item comes out perfect to match my vision. They are honest and open about what the product will print like. I recommend them to everyone!!
Kelly B. Boerman Moving & Storage
Bailey was amazing thru the entire first time I have ever involved in such a project, process. She never gave up to help me achieve my needs, goals. Her creativity, communication, body of work for me was beyond compare. Thank you Bailey!!!
Gary F. Franger Equipment Sales
Alphagraphics is very customer oriented. The quality of the final product is always very good. The team does a great job with the designed materials and offers quality advice on customer designed material.
Marian S. Riverwalk Adult Day Services
Every time we order anything, Bailey Kovac, is so very helpful. She always gets the proofs over to us in a timely manner ,as well as getting our attention if we forget to approve the proof. I would recommend her service to anyone.
Jen Elmhurst Animal Hospital
I was on a strict time crunch to receive my business cards before a very important conference. Bailey was EXTREMELY helpful and turned my order around right away! It was awesome. I will definitely use Alpha Graphics again simply because the customer service was so great.
Kenneth C. Pad Scouts
I'm an illustrator that travels all over for work; I mainly sell prints and other merchandise of my artwork so when I finally get home, I have to immediately prep for my next event which involves lots of last minute printing and Alphagraphics always meets my ridiculous deadlines. Thank you for everything!
Yu C. Little Red Do
Alphagraphics is our go to company for printing letterhead and envelopes. Their customer service is incredible and we get our order done quickly and delivered in person.
Deborah G. Denkmann & Grabavoy
I asked you to rush an order and it was done beautifully and with kindness. Genuinely your company wanted to help. Your response to all email was fast and my order was completed perfectly
Laura L. Benet Academy
I've worked with Alpha for a number of years, and your reliability and level of customer service is unmatched. I love being able to work one-on-one with your professionals.
Jerry G. Salem Trust Company
We ordered 3 brochures from Alpha Graphics and they came out so beautiful! The turn around time was very quick as well for needing 600 of them! Customer service is wonderful and we will definitely continue to order from them :)
Diana P. Dr Jennifer Manfre
Tammy and Bailey are awesome to work with! Very friendly, both in email and on the phone, and responsive. I'm always nervous when working with new vendors but AlphaGraphics has made my job for our new Chicago office an easy one.
Sonia K. Talley Inc
Your AlphaGraphics team are very responsive and helpful for meeting a tight deadline. We do not have have much time between the end of our teams' seasons and the final season event. Each year, your team is ready and helpful for completing the printing of our annual yearbook and the quality is always very high.
Bob M. Neuqua Valley Hockey
I had a carbonless form made for a trade show and ordered just a few days prior to the show. You guys were able to complete the order that day and the price was reasonable.
Lisa W. Floors Come True
Great customer service!!! You guys are great!!!
Sam C. Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Joe LoRusso was great to work with as well as Bailey Kovac. Everything went smoothly and quickly once we made our decisions. Working with AlphaGraphics Lisle was a great experience.
Gina G. Precision Control Systems of Chicago, Inc.
Chantel was my graphic design super hero. I think she might need a cape to wear around the office to reflect her extreme customer service powers. :-) I was a newbie who needed a bit of coaching to get my file right for printing. She was patient and friendly. The women boss lady and the other graphic design girl were also wonderful to deal with. Shockingly good team. Alphagraphics saved me significant money over my other bids. Great staff, great price, great quality How rare!
Scott B. Spider Plant
Danielle and Bailey are always responsive and professional. They gracefully help our company navigate and meet the demands of a client that is often last-minute.
Stacey W. International Powered Access Federation (IPAF)
The Alphagraphics team went out of their way to insure we had our material for our event for the Lisle Band Parents event.
Rob M. Lisle Band Parents Org
We have always trusted Alpha Graphics to do great work in a very timely fashion. We had a tight deadline for our latest project, and AG not only met it, but got it done even sooner!
Barbara C. Grace United Methodist Church
Joe and Bailey were a great team--knowledgeable, professional, prompt, very easy to work with, and they produced great marketing materials and exterior signage on tight schedules. it was a pleasure to work with them!
Carol D. Pelvic & Orthopedic Physical Therapy Specialists
Staff is, without fail, friendly, quick to respond, and willing to go the extra mile.
Barbara S. St. Scholastica Parish School
Alpha graphics works well with us to produce what we want, and they get everything done so quickly for us.
Jen K. Elmhurst Animal Hospital
Extraordinary Work / Quality! We can always count on you to provide us with all our marketing needs at reasonable prices and speedy turnarounds! Thanks again AlphaGraphics!
Tyler E. Essential Auto Photography
Tammy and her team are always concerned with producing the best possible product, and offer innovating ideas to enhance the results. This is a combination that is hard to beat.
Roger B. Roger Bohn/CWRT
2018 off to another great start with AlphaGraphics! Last minute printing needs done ahead of schedule - CHECK!
Sherry W. Foodminds
This is my first time ordering from Alphagrphics on behalf of the Illinois Art Educators Association, and I couldn't be more pleased! Every person I talked with was knowledgble and very helpful! The process was smooth and very timely. I ordered twice for the IAEA this year with 2 different projects and both times the experience was terrific! The second time, I was running late to pick up and Doug stayed open until I got there. Thank you so much! All of the art teachers and students were so pleased with the posters and programs!
Susan T. Illinois Art Educators Association (IAEA)
I have used Alphagraphics Lisle for almost 15 years and find, consistently, that they provide prompt, quality service. Tammy is lovely, and her assistance is outstanding.
Jan S. Jan Strasma
We have relied on Alphagraphics for over ten years. They are familiar with our needs and save the day when we need items ASAP. Tammy and the team are excellent and provide great customer service.
Bernice A. ROC Exhibitions
Everyone I worked with was very helpful, and timing was amazing. Appreciate the quick turn around and advice.
Michelle P. DME Elevators & Lifts
Services very prompt, courteous, efficient, and price very reasonable
Ray K. Dong Fang Chinese Peforming Arts Assoctiation
Danielle was great to work with. She was punctual, offered advice, and made communication a breeze.
Justin A. Nortek Environmental, Inc.
Our business is often subject to last-minute changes. Alpha has never dropped the ball, nor whined about being inconvenienced. Their helpful and ALWAYS courteous staff makes them feel like a true partner. Highly recommended!
Amy A. Sugar Bash
The AlphaGraphics Lisle/Naperville has a great group of people working for them. All of the projects we give them for printing are completed by the next day if not the same day! All the employees are knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. What a great group of people!
Nancy K. Group MW
I am happy to repeat the same comments: "I love working with AlphaGraphics!" Tammy, Danielle and Bailey continue to provide excellent customer service. I know when I call on them, the job will be done efficiently, timely and in my budget! Hats off to the entire crew in Lisle!
Sherry W. Foodminds
I work with these folks frequently and they always impress me with their timeliness and quality of product. Highly recommend!
Mat M. MES Solutions
Bailey, our sales rep/designer is extremely fast to respond and always delivers in time. She is very creative and is great at turning an idea into a product.
Nicole Z. Navistar
Joe Lorusso was great to work with - timely follow-ups and had my project complete a full business day before it was needed (and I was on a very short lead time!). Appreciate the efforts of the team at AG for getting this done. We had 2 days of meetings with our consumers for which the boards created by AG were the stimulus. The boards looked great and our meetings were highly successful in terms of achieving our objective.
Jason E. Swanson Health Products
This Alphagraphics is a very professiona officel with a knowledgeable and accommodating staff. They met our tight turnaround deadline ahead of schedule.
Jim O. O'Connor Design
I have had the pleasure of working with this team for many years now. The quality of work, service and timeliness is always impeccable.
Bhavini P. 1st Choice Home Health Providers
Excellent service and staff at this Alphagraphics store. They actually helped me understand newer options which resulted in a $150 savings over past projects. They met my deadline and the results were outstanding.
Tom Renoir Group
We had an extremely tight deadline and your team pulled together and were able to meet that deadline. Their help was much, much appreciated!
Tracy M. Chicago Council on Planned Giving
First impressions are everything, especially when it comes to your business. Grab the attention of potential clients with striking graphic design for your marketing and branding materials.
Effective design is a critical component of effective marketing. By crafting balanced, clean materials your business conveys a powerful message: "Trust us, we know what we're doing." Customers are much more likely to make a purchase from a company they trust.
At AlphaGraphics, our skilled team of designers will work closely with you to develop images and graphics that reflect your brand's unique personality.
- Copywriting
- Branding and Identity packages
- Logo Design
- Strategic consultation and typesetting
- Color correction for print to digital
- Pre-flight services
From logos, letterhead, and newsletters to corporate identity kits and branded apparel, AlphaGraphics can help you make a powerful impression on your potential customers. We even specialize in desktop and mobile website design, as well as offset press, screen, digital and large format prints for all media and applications.
It's time to reinvent your company's look—and we can help. Because each project is different, our design and layout pricing varies based on project needs.
Give us a call today, or request a free estimate!
Trust the creative and experienced graphic design staff at AlphaGraphics Lisle to assist you in developing your brand vision or providing just the finishing touches to your own design.


text: Today, Eli's Cheesecake helped celebrated Chicago's 176th Birthday with a Big Eli's Apple Cinnamon Cake at the Chicago History Museum. Chicago's Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, and other citizens of Chicago came out to celebrate Chicago's Heritage and hope for a bright future for Chicago! Check out these great pictures from the event!


text:
A Handful of Thrillers, Most from the Seventies
MADONNA RED -- James Carroll
Exceptionally odd thriller tries to marry the "Catholic Problem Novel" (which always seem to down to "Those Mean Old Priests Are Trying To Stop Reform, Dammit") with, ah, um, a thriller.
I don't know what to say. I suppose it's better than marrying the thriller with the "Jewish Writer Problem Novel", which would probably end up with a lot of scenes of the hero masturbating fiercely in the bathroom. But it still seems like a really strange thing to do. Also a lot of genuflecting Irishims, the kind of book where JFK is mentioned and we're all supposed to bow our heads in prayer. Ridiculous, avoid.
THE SPY WHO SAT AND WAITED – R Wright Campbell
I only read a few pages into this, so maybe I'm missing some tremendous payoff down the line, but I kinda doubt it. For one thing I've been around, y'know? I know how stories work, pretty much, and I'm pretty sure I know where this is headed. Secondly, I kinda skimmed ahead and what I saw didn't surprise me none, yo.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I can live with that.
And anyway, I decided years ago I wouldn't put up with books that weren't good. Life is short, you'll never read half of what you promised yourself, let alone what's out there, don't waste your time on crap. At it's heart book reading should be fun, not a chore. This isn't 11th Grade English and you do not have to make a report on this when you're done.
Anyhow, the general concept here is this the "spy in deep cover who has to juggle his mission against the friends and connections set up in his new country". I have never bought this notion from the start, at least in any serious way. In it's more entertaining gonzo variants it's a plot right out of a Nick Carter: Killmaster novel, basically it transfers the "invasion of the body snatchers" type story to the spy novel. Fred the kindly old barber is really a Chinese Commie Spy? Really?
In it's more serious variants I think it's trying to move the "undercover cop in danger of losing site of his mission" trope to the spy arena. This is a more serious variant and I suspect that's the inspiration, particularly because I suspect "R Wright Campbell" is really "Robert Campbell" a guy who was once well known for tough guy novels. Like IN LA-LA LAND WE TRUST. So it would make sense, see, this would be a logical move for him.
In it's more serious variants it runs into problems immediately, though. To begin with, people do not leave their home, stay deep within another culture, and then at a predetermined time rise up and start blowing up bridges or whatever. Psychologically it doesn't work that way. The environment is too strong, the pressures to great, in the absence of careful mentoring (and it's made quite clear early on that there's no careful mentoring here) the subject will just join the new culture.
Yes, of course, moles have existed in the past and continue to do so, but don't miss the thread – these guys are converts. That's the point, and actually the interest of them. See TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY on this – the point is the mole wouldn't be so interesting if he actually WAS a Russian citizen, would he?
So, I don't really buy the premise. But let's set that aside, as much as we can, anyway, and look a little at where this comes from, like I said up top....probably the undercover cop story.
There's really only a couple of ways those kinds of stories can go. One is the "guy infiltrates Bad Guys to Bring Them Down, all the while Suffering Emotionally/Mentally/Physically". Think Scorcese's THE DEPARTED, if you need an example. In that case, our hero is definitely an outsider, has a mission, suffers but in the end completes (or at least tries to complete) the mission.
The other way is the "both sides are rotten" kind of story, the undercover cop tale as social commentary. This is much harder to pull off, because it's a lot less clear who to root for in such stories, but usually you end up just focusing on the viewpoint character himself, who usually comes to embody all that is Good and Pure and Noble in the writer's mind. Laurence Fishburne in DEEP COVER was a version of this.
Now, it's kinda dicey in a crime story, but if you got skills you can sometimes make it work there. In a spy story? Particularly a WW 2 spy story like the above? Never.
Think about the problems Campbell set for himself. He can't make it a battle between two equally bad systems, Nazi Germany and Great Britain, because, even setting aside the fact that it WASN'T in fact, it's going to be a helluva tough sell in the story proper. WW2 stories always occur in a context, they can't help it, it's a mediated war, and one of those contexts is "Nazis are evil bastards". If you're gonna challenge that context well.....well, good luck, I guess. It might even be an interesting book. It certainly would have a hard time out there, though. Probably.
So Campbell can't do that, he's a consummate pro and he realizes that trying to disengage the message of the 400 WW2 movies his readers have seen is a losing battle. So the Brits (actually, here the Scots) are good and the Nazis are bad. So.
So, why doesn't this guy just make a new life for himself in Scotland?
Because mind, this is a sensitive, caring, intelligent guy. This is part of the point too. A guy in his absurd position who really stayed loyal to Deutschland through all of those years, resist all the normal psychological pressures working against it, would almost certainly be some kind of weirdo – he certainly wouldn't be able to blend in under "deep cover". But since we ill-advisedly are in this guy's head, we see that he's a pretty decent chap, all in all. So why doesn't he just give up Germany? We're even told he has nothing to keep him loyal to the country. He doesn't seem to obsess over it much, except for periodic reminders that I feel are more authorial intent than anything. So why not?
Campbell never really gives me a good answer to that, in the pages I read, and I felt no need to read further. THE SPY WHO SAT AND WAITED is the kind of bad popular book that is sometimes mistaken for good. On some level it's very carefully written: it's a pro's job, the scenes are very carefully delineated, I wouldn't say the prose ever really distinguishes itself but it's fussy in a reliable craftsmanlike sort of way, intelligent as far as it goes, you won't hate yourself reading this. But taken as a whole it's a badly written book, and that's because the whole idea is, to put a fine point on it, stupid. It's a stupid premise. I could never suspend my disbelief that it could ever work, and the bad choice of viewpoint character ensured that the whole setup was just insane. When you're sneering at the book's main character that's not a good sign.
THE THREE JUST MEN – Edgar Wallace
THE FOUR JUST MEN is that rarity, a political thriller which is literally about politics – that is, about the ways we organize, decide, and conduct ourselves politically. It's a very unique book and if there's only one Wallace you read, it definitely should be that.
The sequels really do not match it. THE COUNCIL OF JUSTICE is a political thriller in the more standard tradition of the time – "basic action thriller with political overtones that skews conservative and does have some fascist overtones, frankly, like it or not". BLACK GANG sort of stuff. While not nearly as snazzy as THE BLACK GANG, COUNCIL is good on that level and worth reading. THE JUST MEN OF CORDOVA I don't remember a gosh-durned thing about, except that it's set in Spain and Wallace apparently really liked Spain. I wouldn't take my failure of memory as a recommendation. THE LAW OF THE FOUR JUST MEN is a collection of stories, and they vary in quality as most short story collections tend to do. I would describe the book as "pleasant, but minor".
Leaving THREE, the last one. And apparently Wallace decided to leave the characters with a bang. We're pretty far afield here of the mysterious grim men of FOUR, here the remaining three (one of 'em dies in FOUR...oh crap, is that a spoiler?) have been pardoned and actually work a detective agency in their spare time, where, as this book opens, they are apparently just sitting around waiting for the plot to start.
Yes, this is a straightforward pulp adventure novel, and on that basis it's quite entertaining. It has all of the standard Wallace elements: damsels in distress, a corrupt member of the aristocracy, a fiendish plot to defraud said heiress, a mysterious murder full of mysterious mystery, and best of all a memorable villain. The problem with turning the Just Men into just pulp heroes is that they were most effective in narrative terms when they were mysterious – Wallace, to keep the series going, ultimately had to characterize them, and while he did a professional's job they do lose some of their luster in comparison.
But accepting that, it's very entertaining. The best thing Wallace does here is two fine villains – a henchman who on the run from ahem "certain unspecified things" in Germany and, when he's not a psychopathic killer, is a master of disguise, and, best of all, the lead bad guy, Oberzhon, a guy who's just a marvelously entertaining collection of tics: he only sleeps in a chair; he rarely eats solid foods – there's a reference to him boiling down an entire ox and sipping that and there aren't enough exclamation points in the universe to indicate how awesome that is; he relaxes by reading the lesser Germanic philosophers (extra special points to Wallace by making sure we understood – the lesser.) There's a priceless sequence where he attempts to court a woman he, uh, kidnapped (don't ask) and he does it in a ponderous Germanic way which is the kind of thing they really gotta film, it's crying out for the movies.
Add to that a good-for-the-time mystery, for once; some cool stuff from the Just Men; and one really excellent fight sequence – we've spoken here before about how hard it is to do action properly, the fight with the snakes in the cellar is really masterfully done, very well choreographed. Not a necessary book like FOUR JUST MEN, but if you like Wallace this is one of his better efforts, and is the only other installment of "the Just Men" series that I would recommend.
THE HEIGHTS OF RIMRING – Duff Hart-Davis
Earlier we talked about one classic kind of bad book, THE SPY WHO SAT AND ATE A HOAGIE or whatever it was called, which was "the character study that springs from false assumptions, and thus is unbelievable on it's face". RIMRING is another classic kind of bad book, "the thriller which is really a travelogue".
The bio in the back of the book tells me that Hart-Davis spent time in the Himalayas, which I guess accounts for his setting, yo. He obviously loves the area, and the descriptions are nicely done. But this is all done in the service of an extremely hackneyed thriller plot: The Ex-Spy Who Is Roped Back Into The Business, The Evil Commie Opposition, The Simple But Good Natives, The Evil Cutthroat, The Love Interest, The Secret Idol, etc. The intent, I'm pretty sure, was to do a classic adventure, but you don't do a classic adventure by forcing the tropes of a classic adventure onto a modern setting: this ensures laborious stage-setting (where you're carefully told how sheltered the native populace is, how rural the environment is, where the Improbable Throwback From Another Era is carefully placed, etc.) and in general just makes the whole thing seem as contrived as it really is. Instead, you need to just move the tropes into the modern era. They're hardy things, they can stand them. To not do that is to betray a lack of faith in your story telling ability proper, it suggests that really you don't think you can TELL a good adventure story by itself, that you gotta rely on the old tropes to stand in and deliver for you. (Ie, the Mysterious Idol is now code for "the prize", instead of being, well, the prize.)
There's two ways to look at a book like RIMRING. Either the thought was "hey, man, you know the Himalayas and that's a classic setting for an old timey adventure story" (that's what I think happened) or "I want to tell a classic adventure – hey, I know the Himalayas! – wait, where's the typewriter..." (the old "tell what you know" fallacy). Either way it results in bad books, and any given installment of Edward S Aarons's "Assignment" series, which almost always took place in exotic parts of the world that he knew only through the local library, is simply superior to this kind of well-intentioned mediocrity.


text:
An unlikely vegetarian movement is taking root in Mongolia, where livestock outnumbers people 14 to 1 and meat consumption tops 200 pounds per person a year.
The first vegetarian restaurant in Mongolia, Ananda's Cafe, opened in 2006. Today more than 20 vegetarian and vegan restaurants pepper the capital, Ulan Bator, and a handful of others are scattered throughout the country. Ananda's has launched a catering service, and another popular restaurant, Luna Blanca, now sells frozen faux-mutton dumplings in supermarkets.
The restaurateurs, mostly Mongolians, belong to Christian and Buddhist-influenced spiritual movements that promote vegetarianism, some of them fringe foreign meditation sects.
Mongolians are turning to vegetarianism "mostly because of health. Also because of meditation – they're following this trend," says Solongo, a former assistant doctor for the United Nations, who like most Mongolians uses only one name. She estimates that vegetarians number around 30,000 or 40,000, just over 1 percent of the population. In the US, about 3 percent of adults are vegetarian, according to Vegetarian Times.
Increased trade with Russia and China and expanding Internet access are providing more information about food and nutrition, she adds.
"When things go to extremes, like extreme meat consumption, things go to the other extreme," says Altanzaya, a sociologist and a co-owner of Luna Blanca who considers herself Buddhist. "Our goal is to make it available."
Mutton dumplings, meat stew
Mongolia's unique brand of Buddhism does not emphasize sparing the lives of animals for food, probably out of pragmatism. The country's dry, mountainous landscape and nomadic culture mean that people have historically ignored agriculture and depended instead on meat and dairy products.
That high-protein diet fueled Genghis Khan's hordes as they swept across the known world some 800 years ago. Historians have noted that Mongolian soldiers could ride for days at a time, drinking blood from their horses' necks for nourishment on the go.
Some here consider meat the only real food. "If there's no meat, [my father] doesn't consider it a meal. You give him leaves and he says, 'What am I, a goat?" says Dolgor, a young mining company employee.
The staples here are often bland, relying heavily on flour, rice, and meat, particularly mutton. Dishes that most Mongolians refer to as the "national foods," buuz and huushuur – mutton-filled dumplings steamed or fried, respectively – and tsoivan, steamed noodles mixed with meat and root vegetables, originated in China.
Even more than meat, the traditional Mongolian diet depends on dairy products. Milk is viewed as sacred; each morning, women in countryside homesteads and urban apartment blocks throw an offering of the day's first milk tea to the sky.
A few generations ago, herding families subsisted almost entirely on milk products during summer, when grazing is good. Milk comes in all forms here: unsweetened yogurt, dried curds, thick cream, distilled liquor, pale cheese, or the ubiquitous milk tea.
'White food'
According to Altanzaya, one of the challenges of starting a vegetarian restaurant in Mongolia is getting people to realize that the menu isn't just dairy. The Mongolian terms are only subtly different; the phrases for dairy products (tsagaan idée) and vegetarian food (tsagaan khool) both translate to "white food."
The menus of most vegetarian restaurants here use soy-based meat substitutes to mimic traditional Mongolian dishes. At all of them, vegetarian buuz and tsoivan are among the most popular items. Vegetable-based meals are less common, except at Ananda's Cafe, which anchors its menu on a different vegetable medley every day – cauliflower, eggplant, zucchini, and others – to lure vegetarians hungry for a broader spectrum of nutrients.
The food's originality, or lack thereof, is often beside the point. "The more we care about the environment and others and animals, the better we feel," says Altanzaya.
Skepticism on both sides
Mongolian vegetarians often face skepticism. "A lot of people think we're crazy," says Erdenchimeg, a chef at the Loving Hut, a chain owned by the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association, which promotes meditation and prayer. She became a vegetarian in 2008 and in recent months switched to veganism – all part of a commitment to lessening her impact on the environment, she says.
Javkhlan, a university teacher in western Hovd Province, also took up vegetarianism18 months ago, after he began practicing the Supreme Master's meditation technique. He cooks tofu, dehydrated soy meat, and what few vegetables are available in the province center. The imitation meat tastes bland without flavoring, but he doesn't miss meat, he says. "I'm happy being vegetarian. My health has improved."
Still, even some of the vegetarian restaurants' employees haven't fully committed, for example, Amarmurun, a server at the Stupa Cafe, part of the international Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, a Tibetan Buddhist organization. "I like meat," she says sheepishly. "I just work here."


text:
At a speaking engagement this weekend somebody asked me whether I believe Abraham Lincoln was born in North Carolina. I don't.
The story is that Lincoln's biological father was a North Carolinian named Abraham Enloe (or Enlow, depending on who's doing the telling). After Enloe fathered a child with Nancy Hanks, he passed her and the kid off to Thomas Lincoln, who was supposedly in the Tar Heel State at the time.
We can document Thomas Lincoln's whereabouts for the period in question (as for much of his life), and he wasn't in North Carolina. As far as anyone can tell, he never set foot in the state during his entire life.
There were a number of women named Nancy Hanks living in North Carolina during this era, and Enloe enthusiasts often assume that one of them just had to be Lincoln's mom. If this line of reasoning is correct, then that would make me an evolutionary biologist, a philosopher, an energy analyst, a cartoonist, an Irish politician, and not one but two deceased baseball players. (I've lived a remarkably full life.)
As for the Nancy Hanks who married Thomas Lincoln, we have no evidence placing her in North Carolina at the time that Abraham Enloe supposedly impregnated her, but we do have evidence that places her in Kentucky shortly thereafter. If you're going to conceive a child with someone, it helps to be in the same state.
One bit of evidence often cited in favor of the Enloe theory is Lincoln's physical resemblance to members of the family. Unfortunately, this argument also applies to Thomas Lincoln, who of course has the benefit of the documentary record on his side.
Other problems include the information we have on Lincoln's older sister, the year in which Lincoln left home to strike out on his own, and documentary evidence written by Lincoln himself. This essay by Lincoln researcher Ed Steers covers the discrepancies clearly and concisely.
I think the Enloe theory has a lot more to do with wishful thinking than it does with scholarship. If I were you, I'd skip that family vacation to the Bostic Lincoln Center and drive on up to Hodgenville, instead.


text:
Tools for rendering sizes
Written by John Goerzen, firstname.lastname@example.com
|Takes a number and returns a new (quantity, suffix) combination. The space character is used as the suffix for items around 0.
Like quantifyNum, but takes a list of numbers. The first number in the list will be evaluated for the suffix. The same suffix and scale will be used for the remaining items in the list. Please see renderNums for an example of how this works.
It is invalid to use this function on an empty list.
|Predefined definitions for byte measurement in groups of 1024, from 0 to 2**80
|Predefined definitions for SI measurement, from 10**-24 to 10**24.
|Produced by Haddock version 2.6.0


text:
The Evolution of a Book Cover.
Book covers, we all need them, and most indie authors try to design these themselves. Sometimes, though not often, it works. Many of the results are pretty grotty.
I have some small experience of illustration and graphics, fonts and typography, from a spell working at a local art college as a graphics technician. I also occasionally slipped into lectures and learned some things. On top of this, I spent part of my life as a professional photographer, working for a local newspaper, and producing freelance articles for the British photographic press. So, I probably have an advantage over many writers when it comes to looking at images and font selection.
My own indie books wear covers I designed. You can see the results here on the blog under the tab, My Published Work. I leave it to you to determine whether you think they work.
However, I've also been published by Fantastic Books Publishing. Dan Grubb, owner of the company, believes in doing everything professionally. He organised the covers for my fantasy trilogy, A Seared Sky, and I think you'll agree they're rather special. Also, recently, he re-published a new and improved version of my scifi novella, The Methuselah Strain, which I'd previously self-published.
The two covers are displayed here, and I think you'll agree that the professional job looks a lot more professional than my efforts.
As many of you will know, I've recently been concentrating on a memoir of my period with ME/CFS. This is being published in both digital and paperback forms. Initially, I decided to design the cover myself. I preferred this route simply from a cost point of view. Half the profits from the book are going to the charity, Action For M.E. and I want as few expenses as possible to deduct.
So, I had a go at a cover. Well, I had several goes. You can see them here, along with the way in which the one I thought would be my final effort was developed. I showed them to my beta readers, a group of experienced writers and avid readers who have no qualms about telling me where I'm going wrong (you can't beat having such a group around you for keeping your feet on the ground and receiving honest and positive advice). To say their appreciation of my efforts on the cover were lukewarm is to understate the facts.
Then, one of my respected writing friends, Linda Acaster (you should read her books if you like intelligent paranormal themes), posted a piece on her blog about cover design. You can access it by clicking this link.
I'd sort of heard of Fiverr, but hadn't really considered it. I mean, what can you expect for $5.00 (£3.29) in the way of professional work? Then I saw the results of her association with the site. Impressive.
I had a look, found a link to ashillerydesign and liked what I saw and read. On investigation, the $5.00 brought no more than a single design and I wanted a selection. I opted for a small package and spent £20.81($32.00) to receive three designs. From these, I chose the eventual cover now in use. The artist was quick in her response, very helpful, and professional to deal with. In fact, she's currently working on expanding the cover so it can be used on the paperback version. That's costing an extra £14.21 ($21.00), but it'll save me a good deal of work and produce a better result than I could have arrived at myself. So, for £35.00 ($53.00), I have professional covers for the digital and print versions of the book. And, let's be honest, they're worth a good deal more than I've spent, aren't they?
So, if you're an indie and you're honest about the quality of your self-made covers and know they lack that professional touch, try the Fiverr route. It's minimal cost, and produces some very professional results. After all, most people do judge a book by its cover: it's the feature that first attracts their attention on any website.
9 Responses to "The Evolution of a Book Cover."
Valerie Allison
As usual a thorough, honest ,interesting piece. Much food for thought!
I know from experience with Carina Press just how important covers are. I loved my Tudor Enigma covers and could never hope to design any as good, but I love what you've done on the cover for your ME book. Best of sales.
Hi Stuart,
Believe it or not, even in the textbook industry covers were always a huge deal. Considering the similar content for many of these 'like' disciplines, cover images mattered. At Prentice Hall, we sometimes went through eight rounds of cover designs – it had to grab a potential customer's attention before another image took their hands away from a purchase…
Thanks for the ShoutOut, Stuart. The final cover from Fiverr looks superb. May it be a great flag for your 'ME & me' book.


text:
Cigarette butts
Spare change
Something else
Kurt K (e-mail)
SCCoA Member #: 443
'92 SC AOD -- 11.521s @ 116.748mph, 2.0 AR power
. . . . . . . . . -- 13.547s @ 101.01 mph, only w/ bolt-ons
'95 SC 5spd -- All Stock, except 17" Simmons wheels.
'90 SC 35th Anny 5spd -- 3rd owner, 16k miles
2 '89 XR7 5spd's -- on their way out, really!
I remember on my cougar I had 4 switches in mine as well. Mine wasn't as neet as Kurts. One was for neon lights inside, another was for the under glow kit, another for electric fan as car stock had a metal fan that rotated with the pulleys, and last switch I think I added a window on/off switch. I will try to find some pics of that.
For my Supercoupe, I have nothing in there but this thread makes me want to do switches again or something cool.
I largely leave trim screws, blown fuses, razor blades, and mystery nuts/bolts in my ashtray.
I also like sticking my iPhone in the spot under where my radio is supposed to go.


text:
It's vBeers time again, mark your calendar for vBeers in Amsterdam on the 22th of March. This is an informal event to network with other virtualization experts, share knowledge and just have some fun!
Location: Cafe de Omval
Address: Weesperzijde 250 (hoek Omval) – 1097 EB Amsterdam (Near Amstel Station)
Date: 22th of March 2012
Time: 06:00 PM


text:
To all People unto whom this --
Present Bill of Sale Shall come. William
Richardson of Lancaster within the County
of Worcester and Province of the Massachusetts
Bay in New England Yeoman Sendeth
Greeting Know ye That I the Said william
Richardson for and in Consideration of the Sum
of Ninety Pounds --
In good Public bills of Credit of the Province
aforesaid to me in hand at and before the --
Ensealing and Delivery of these Presents well
and truly Paid by James Dolbear of Boston
within the County of Suffolk and Province
aforesaid Brazier the Receipt whereof I
Do hereby Acknowledge Have Granted --
Bargained and Sold And by these Presents --
Do grant Bargain Sell and Confirm unto --
the Said James Dolbear My Negro man
named or Called Loran aged Twenty one
years or thereabouts To Have and to
Hold the Said negro man Loran unto the
Said James Dolbear his Executors adminrs.
and Assignes to his and their only Proper --
use benefit and behoof for ever. and I the
Said william Richardson for my Self my
and agree to and with the Said James --
Dolbear his Executors Administrators and
Assignes to Warrant and Defend --
the Said Negro man Loran unto the Said --
James Dolbear his Executors Administrators
and Assignes for Ever against the Lawful
Claims and Demands of all and Every --
Person and Persons whatsoever In Witness
whereof I have hereunto Sett my hand and
Seal the ninth Day of march Anno Domi
1732. and in the Fifth year of His --
majesty's Reign --
Signed Sealed & Delivd
in presence of. }
Received on the Day of the Date hereof of
of the aforenamed James Dolbear ye Sum of Ninety pounds
being ye. Consideration money before Expressed --
£ 90 -- --
[page three is blank ]
Negro Loran 1736
March 9th
from Willm. Richardson to
James Dolbeare for £ 90 --


text:
I have a confession to make that will probably turn off some of my readers: I hate Japanese animation. Hate it, hate it, hate it. This is nothing against the Japanese. It's not a racial thing. I have known and loved many Japanese people. I just wish they wouldn't try to draw stuff.
It's not really even the totality of the animation that I hate; it's mostly just the faces, and hair. I'm talking about this:
These images make my physically ill. Why? I don't know why. It's not like they all look the same, but all of them are incontestably Japanese (in style, not in ethnicity). It's something to do with the eyes, noses, and chins--and definitely the hair. (Are there no short-haired men in Japan?) Maybe it's because anime characters never really look Japanese: they look like Caucasians drawn by people who don't spend much time around Caucasians. Maybe it's the odd agelessness of the characters, so that female figures you're supposed to be attracted to look uncannily like children. Maybe it's just the fact that no one actually looks like this, and yet there's an entire industry devoted to churning out these images. Whatever the cause, thankfully this paragraph is now long enough that the preceding image has been pushed off the top of the screen and I no longer have to look at it.
The one in the lower right is from Sorcerian, so you can imagine that this game--along with scores of others--is going to be a bit of a problem for me right at the get-go. Thankfully, in this case the graphics quality is poor enough that I can't really see the anime influence except in the character portrait.
All right. That's out of the way.
Sorcerian is an odd offering: a PC game that looks like a console game. It is part of the Dragon Slayer series of games developed by Nihon Falcom for Japanese PCs (although some were ported to Nintendo, they are, despite their appearance, originally PC games). The series includes eight games, plus expansion packs, from 1984-1995, but Sorcerian is the only one to receive a DOS or (western) PC release. The original game was made in 1987, but the DOS port comes from 1990.
Before anyone has fits at the screen shot above, I should mention that the game is inescapably a CRPG. It might be an "action-RPG," but it has levels and character classes and inventories and experience, and all the other trappings of a CRPG. If I exclude this one, I have to exclude Diablo later. I will allow, however, that action CRPGs, which depend a lot on graphics and sound, don't age quite as well as regular CRPGs, which depend more on tactics and story. In this, Sorcerian shares much with the game I just abandoned after my six-hour minimum: The Seven Spirits of Ra. Both feature combat by mashing down the SPACE bar. In Sorcerian, doing so controls four characters at once, some of whom have swords and axes, some of whom have staves that shoot spells, but it's no less banal in its tactics.
You begin by creating a party of up to four characters, male or female, of one of four classes: fighter, wizard, dwarf, and elf. (This is the second recent game to conflate races and classes; the other was Le Matire des Ames.) You are assigned seven attributes: strength, protection, vitality, karma (basically charisma), intelligence, magic resistance, and dexterity, and you can allocate a pool of 3-5 bonus points to customize these attributes. Oddly, the attributes can be negative numbers; my dwarf above is so dumb he actually has a negative intelligence. All characters start at age 16, which would have been cool when I was 16 but seems kind of creepy now.
After character creation, you take your characters to the town to purchase weapons, armor, and shields (fighters and dwarves) or staves, robes, and rings (elves and magicians). Other features of the town that you don't use until after your first mission are the magician (enchants items with spells), the herbalist (mixes reagents into potions; sells potions), the temple (resurrects the dead and allows you to build karma through confession and prayer), the elder's house (identifies magic items), the throne room (advances levels), and the training field (ups your attributes at the expense of years). The "musician's guild" exists, as far as I can tell, only to give you a sample of the different songs in the game, none of which I can get to play through my speakers.
After that, it's a simple matter of heading out on a quest. There are, from what I can tell, 15 different quests to play, organized in three "scenarios." I don't think there's an ultimate "main quest," and thus no way to "win" the game, although I suppose I'd call it winning if you complete all 15 adventures. Still, the lack of an ultimate goal frees me from what I consider any obligation to play through all 15. I'll play it until I get sick of it.
I created a fighter (Fai-Tar), a dwarf (Da-War), an elf (Sil-Bani), and a wizard (Wii-Sar) and headed off into the first scenario. I've videoed a bit of it so you can see what it looks like to play:
The quest involves finding the royal scepter from the ouks in a dank cavern. I led my party somewhat randomly through the doors until I found a wounded adventurer named Goran who had been on the same quest. He told me I would need two invisible crystals to drain a room of acid and, later, a jewel to put in the hands of a demon statue.
The crystals, being invisible, were a bit of a pain to find, but Goran's clues helped. I then had to find a jewel in one demon statue and transfer it to a couple of others. It was a lot of trial-and-error and backtracking (lots of backtracking).
I had to contend with a variety of creatures, escape traps, and solve a couple of light puzzles that involved putting a blue stone from one place into another, and pouring water from one jug into another. There was at least one hidden switch that made a door appear, and a couple of holes that didn't look like doors but actually were, and two hydra-looking things that gave a lot of experience points (alas, they, unlike the other creatures on the level, did not respawn) but didn't seem to be guarding anything more valuable than an herb.
By the time it was all over, I wasn't entirely sure what I had done, but I had the scepter, a new long sword, and some more herbs. A return visit to Goran's cave found him gone (or dead) but his axe left behind.
When you return to town, you get the results of your quest, including items, gold, and experience...
...and much like Phantasie, you divide up the plunder among your party, or sell it.
Once I had received my reward of experience and gold from the king, I returned to town and spent some of my loot. I found that the "savory" herb the hydras had been guarding created a resurrection potion, and I was able to create cure and heal potions out of other herbs I had picked up. The elder said that my long sword had a "flame" ability that he could release for 480 gold--way more than I have, so that will have to wait. Finally, I visited the throne room and each of my characters advanced one or two levels.
A few additional notes, because I get the impression that y'all like bullet points:
- Each of your characters has an occupation that apparently he or she engages in when not adventuring. All of them start as farmers, but you can change them based on their levels and statistics. As far as I can tell, the only reason for the occupations is to give the characters annual incomes (years pass quickly in the game), and some of them are mildly amusing. If more were done with these occupations, it could make for an interesting role-playing element. I made my fighter a spy, my dwarf a translator, my elf a dancer, and my wizard an exorcist. I hope there's not a big call for that in the kingdom, though.
- You don't get experience for defeating enemies until you clear out an entire area of them. But even after this happens, they start appearing again almost immediately. I'm not sure there's any way to completely "clear" an area. In a couple of places on the opening scenario, I was swarmed by rats (yes, rats) that respawned so quickly I was never able to even momentarily clear them.
- Hit points and magic points regenerate constantly when standing still, and quite quickly, so combat is about the difficulty of individual battles rather than accumulated battles.
- Enchanting items apparently takes a long time. I had my wizard take his staff in for enchantment, and the magician told him to come back in three years. However, the first scenario took my characters two years to complete, so maybe it won't be so long in real time.
That's the gist of it. I'll play one or two more scenarios and re-evaluate. I admit to a little impatience because there is some awesome stuff coming up in 1988: Might & Magic II, Pool of Radiance, Ultima V, the first game based on The Lord of the Rings...I'm even looking slightly forward to The Bard's Tale III. But I have to get out of 1987 first.


text:
Who knew you could cram so much violence into a tiny little package the size of a deck of cards? I mean, beyond just a wicked knife? Meet "The Business." It's a credit card concept that's five kinds of deadly.
The Business is designed for this scenario: you're coming home late at night and you feel someone's quickening footsteps creeping up behind you. Maybe it's just someone in a hurry, but if it's a mugger, you're either prepared or you're out a wallet, a driver's license and all your credit cards. Maybe that's a little paranoid. But you know what the best cure for paranoia is? Hidden knives and pepper spray!
Hoang Nguyen and Anh Nguyen modeled The Business on the Victorinox SwissCard—a multi-tool that fits in your wallet. Instead of a nail file and a toothpick, each "card" inside the wallet-sized kit is a pain-inducing self-defense weapon designed to put an attacker on their ass. The kit includes pepper spray, brass knuckles, a pocket knife and even a whistle in the event that getting physical isn't an option. None of these weapons looks dangerous enough to kill anyone, but they'll definitely cause enough carnage to make sure you can make a clean get away. Now some intrepid manufacturer needs to take a stand for night owls everywhere and make The Business a reality. [Creative Sessions via Technabob]


text:
- This event has passed.
Watson Children's Shelter
November 20, 2019 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Join us tonight at KettleHouse Northside Taproom for Missoula's longest standing pint night that gives back! Enjoy fresh beer and network with your neighbors while supporting a great organization doing critical work for our community. The featured group tonight at KettleHouse Community UNite is Watson Children's Shelter. Each Wednesday from 5pm – 8pm $1 of every pint sold is donated to local nonprofits, needy causes, and local organization doing great work to help make Missoula a great place tolive.


text:
Join the Directors Mari-Ann & Linda 2016 Annual Conference
American Montessori Society 2016 Annual Conference
March 10 – 13
Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers
Chicago, IL
March 10 – 13
Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers
Chicago, IL
Sponsorships & Exhibitions: Information about sponsorships and exhibitions will be released late summer. For sponsor inquiries, contact Kristine Cooper. For exhibitor inquiries, contact George Markham.
About the Conference
"The laws governing the universe can be made interesting and wonderful to the child, more interesting even than things in themselves, and he begins to ask: What am I? What is the task of man in this wonderful universe? Do we merely live here for ourselves, or is there something more for us to do?" —Maria Montessori
Montessori has always offered an education for life, giving a child a strong foundation on which to build an authentic self, a robust community in which to discover an individual voice. In 2016, we're gathering in Chicago, the City of Broad Shoulders, to discuss and reflect on the fundamental principles, values, and perspectives at the heart of Montessori. It's an exciting time for the Montessori movement, and we'll reaffirm our unity of purpose as our numbers grow and our approach gains rapidly increasing interest and recognition.
Join us at the American Montessori Society 2016 Conference as we build on our past and welcome the bright future of Montessori education. Our principles are solid: In a Montessori classroom, children are valued and respected as unique individuals, and given freedom within limits so they can become active learners. Our values are clear: Montessori students and teachers are respectful and responsible for self, others, and the environment. Our perspectives come from the diverse experiences and identities within our community, united in our commitment to understanding and adapting to a changing world and society while staying true to our Montessori roots.
Come meet colleagues and friends old and new to celebrate all we have achieved and to collaborate on new undertakings. There's much for us to explore and discuss, from the physical design of our schools, to the best way to measure and assess our students' progress, to the work we still must do to increase understanding and acceptance of Montessori principles, values, and perspectives in the general educational community. We'll leave Chicago on a firm footing, clear in our understanding of what we stand for, renewed in our commitment to the path ahead of us.
Linda Mora


text:
More than a century ago, 3M started as a small-scale mining venture in Northern Minnesota, then named Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. Now a global powerhouse, our products improve the
Akili Labs is a biomedical startup focused on medical diagnostic technology. We aim to improve quality of life and in the field of medical technology we work on developing rapid diagnostic systems to
"A hand-held device brings medical imaging to remote communities, often for the first time." We have partners across the world who are using Butterfly iQ in low resource settings to create
Capsa Healthcare is a leading developer of medication carts, medical carts, and point-of-care computing workstations that improve the efficiency of clinical providers in hospitals, extended care, and
CareWear Corp is a privately held firm based in Nevada that has successfully led through innovation in printed light to advance wearable care for athletes, prosumers and consumers. CareWear has been
The future is here – with us and with advanced solutions for the healthcare market. EUROTRONIK is an experienced developer and manufacturer of NurseCare, worlds most advanced IP nurse call
Bonbouton is a medical technology company that has developed a smart insole that detects foot ulcers, a common cause of diabetes-related amputations. Its comfortable to wear, simple to use, and
Health Care Originals, Inc. (HCO) is an upstate New York start-up commercializing patented University of Rochester technology. HCO develops products for the management of chronic respiratory diseases
Medtor LLC is a development-stage privately funded entity located in Manhattan Beach, CA and focused on leveraging patented optical technology to bring medical grade vital signs monitoring to
Origins Thinklabs was founded in 1991 by Clive Smith, an Electrical Engineering graduate of Caltech. The name implies the company's goal - think deeply about problems that matter and
VivaLNK is a provider of connected healthcare solutions for wellness, patient care, and telemedicine. The companys portfolio includes wearable medical grade devices and data analytics