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VANCOUVER — Sirens sounded in the northeastern British Columbia town of Hudson's Hope, as its 1,150 residents were ordered to flee from what officials called a blaze too extreme for firefighters to battle on the ground.
The Mount McAllister wildfire was caused by a lightning strike on Sunday, has mushroomed to 20,000 hectares, or 200 square kilometres, and continues to grow.
Citing a need to "ensure the protection of human life," the District of Hudson's Hope issued an evacuation order Wednesday, telling residents to leave the area immediately and go to an emergency centre in Fort St. John, about 90 kilometres away.
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Authorities also ordered BC Hydro employees to evacuate a pair of nearby hydroelectric dams. About 200 staff and contractors at the GM Shrum and Peace Canyon generating stations fled their posts after the order, said Simi Heer, a spokeswoman at BC Hydro.
GM Shrum at the WAC Bennett dam is the province's largest hydroelectric station, and the dams generate about 30 per cent of BC Hydro's overall capacity.
"These evacuations will not impact our ability to provide power to the province, as the units at both generating stations can be operated remotely. Also, we can shift more of the load to our generating stations on the Columbia River, including Mica and Revelstoke, if required," said Heer.
Police and emergency officials went door-to-door to Hudson's Hope homes and businesses telling people to leave. Local resident Scott Linley, the co-owner of Legacy Village Market, said the smell of smoke and quarter-inch chunks of ash have filled the sky for the past two days, and early Wednesday afternoon firefighters told him to close down the store and leave town.
Linley said he can't see the fire, even at night, because the sun doesn't set until late in the northern community, but the ash and smoke are adding an interesting hue to the sky's colour.
"Right now everything's an amber colour because of the haze in the air," he said. "You know the sunlight? What do they call it, sequoia? When you take a picture with that smoky look? That's what we're looking at for colour."
Linley said he heard the sound of sirens in the town, but he won't leave until he has no other choice.
"I'm reluctant to leave the store for obvious reasons, and so I'm going to be sticking around until I have to go. I appreciate there's an evacuation order but I've got to look after my property."
Tom Matus, the chief administrative officer and emergency coordinator for Hudson's Hope, said police remained in town, but the vast majority of residents had left by the early evening.
"The town is empty," he said.
Jillian Kelsh of the Wildfire Management Branch said an incident management team, which is a group of specialized personnel who help co-ordinate the battle, is setting up in the nearby community of Chetwynd.
"We don't actually have firefighters on the ground," she said. "The fire behaviour is actually too extreme to safely put firefighters on the ground and do any sort of direct suppression at this time."
Kelsh said when fires become too dangerous to fight directly, personnel battle the flames indirectly. She said firefighters move ahead of the flames and burn off trees, debris and other foliage to create fuel-free areas. When the advancing fire hits those areas, it loses its momentum, she said.
"It's definitely one of the larger fires that we've got going on," she said. "And definitely with communities in the vicinity in an evacuation order, and an entire community, that it's definitely one of the worst fires in B.C. at this time."
Premier Christy Clark tweeted Wednesday that B.C. has had the driest conditions since 1958 and that the province is spending $3.5 million a day to fight the fires.
"Half are human caused. Be careful."
Also on Wednesday, the B.C. Wildfire Management Branch asked for more personnel from other provinces to help with the elevated fire risk.
Candace Green, who lives in Fort St. John, a 45-minute drive from Hudson's Hope, said her community is exceptionally smoky.
"There's ash raining from the sky, which is kind of apocalyptic," she said. "It's been muggy and smoky and ashy. The sun looks like a little red dot."
"I've been here 20 years and I've never seen this," Green said. "It seems like everything's on fire," she said, adding smoke from a blaze in Banff is also affecting the community.
Green said residents aren't worried about a fire in their community but people are talking about offering up their homes to anyone who's been forced to leave nearby communities.
Janey Morgan of MacKenzie, B.C., said two fires are burning close to the area but smoke and ash seem to be coming from a fire in Chetwynd, about a two-hour drive north.
"In all the years I've lived here we haven't seen the stuff that's coming," she said, adding she's been in the community since 1976.
Morgan said residents are concerned about conditions getting worse.
"We're supposed to be getting lightning, and we have so much pine-beetle wood, dead wood."
Residents are grateful for firefighters who are working hard to keep them safe, Green said.
"I think people are aware of what might happen but the fire guys are working and we're praising them, going on Facebook and saying,'Thank you, thank you."'
"Right now, I understand they're winning the battle but at the same time it is scary. Look what happened in Slave Lake," she said of the Alberta community, one third of which was destroyed by a wildfire in 2011.
Navi Saini of the Wildfire Management Branch said there are currently 123 fires burning in the province, most of them in the Coastal, Kamloops and Prince George fire regions.
Meantime, an evacuation alert has been issued for up to 35 properties near Murray Lake, southwest of Merritt in the Thompson-Nicola region. The Maka-Murray fire, west of Murray Lake is believed to have been caused by lightning on Monday and is now estimated to be about 80 hectares.
Firefighters are struggling to contain a fire at Apex Mountain, west of Penticton. The fire started Tuesday afternoon and by Wednesday afternoon it had grown to 60 hectares from 15 hectares.
Fire information officer Kayla Pepper says officials suspect it was caused by human activity. Thirteen firefighters worked overnight and more resources are set to be deployed later Wednesday. Although the blaze is spreading, it is not threatening any homes or structures.
The Wildfire Management Branch reports there are a few dozen fires larger than 10 hectares that are still burning in the province or in the mop-up stages.
Meanwhile firefighters are beginning to get a handle on the Red Creek fire, burning 61 kilometres southeast of Tumbler Ridge. The blaze is now mapped at just over 6,000 hectares from more than 10,000 earlier this week and firefighters say it is now 35 per cent contained.
An evacuation order remains in effect, however, for a nearby oil and gas camp. About 200 people are affected by that order.
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UK inflation leapt to 2.7% last month after university students were hit with a near-trebling in tuition fees and households faced rising food costs, official figures revealed today.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by the largest amount in more than a year between September and October, up from 2.2%.
The Government's move to lift the tuition fees cap to £9,000 was the biggest factor behind the bigger-than-expected hike in the cost of living, according to the ONS.
The rise was far more than economists had pencilled in and marks the first time inflation has risen since July.
The ONS said education costs jumped by 19.1% last month - the largest increase since records began.
Students starting at university this year will have to pay up to £9,000 a year, increased from a cap of £3,375 a year ago.
Food inflation was also behind the rise in CPI after the record wet weather earlier this year left the UK with its worst potato and carrot harvest in living memory, which pushed up vegetable prices, according to the ONS.
Today's figures also showed the Retail Prices Index (RPI), which includes housing costs, rose to 3.2% in October from 2.6% in September as mortgage rates also increased.
The RPI rise between September and October was the largest monthly increase for two and a half years.
Inflation had fallen to a near three-year low in September, but there are fears the cost of living will continue to rise as the raft of recent energy bill hikes also start to come into effect.
The ONS said last month's SSE bill increase - which saw tariffs rise by around 9% - were not taken into account for the October figures.
Other utility firms are increasing prices from this month onwards.
Some experts believe CPI could rise as high as 3.5% by the middle of next year.
The figures will be in sharp focus ahead of the Bank of England's inflation report tomorrow.
Rising inflation will likely also fuel speculation that the Bank will hold off from taking further action under its economy-boosting quantitative easing (QE) programme.

subset: commoncrawl


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Bumblebee Harriet
B&W lineart for coloring or crafting. 300 dpi in JPG and PNG.
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Breathe easy George Lucas fans. Your hero is not crazy after all.
Or is he? The legendary director raised eyebrows Wednesday when actor Seth Rogen recalled a recent conversation with Lucas where the movie maker said he believed the world was going to end in 2012.
"George Lucas sits down and seriously proceeds to talk for around 25 minutes about how he thinks the world is going to end in the year 2012, like, for real. He thinks it," Rogen told the Toronto Star.
But it turns out Lucas wasn't "for real" after all. In fact he says -- through a spokesperson since he's George Lucas -- that he was totally kidding.
"He was not serious when he talked about the end of the world in 2012," Lynne Hale told Wired after speaking with Lucas.
Leaving it there would have been just fine but the rep couldn't do that.
"He is an adamant believer that the world is flat, that Stonehenge was built by aliens, and that the sun revolves around the Earth," the rep said. "These are among the many subjects he commonly discusses at length with Elvis, who he's going to digitally insert into Indy 5 along with a roster of famous dead actors."
At least that gives Lucas time to work on his pet project.
George Lucas Was Just Kidding About That End of the World Thing
Breathe easy George Lucas fans. Your hero is not crazy after all.


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Swansea has a lot of tourist attractions and aside from that, the city is bustling with every entertainment you could think of, cinemas, restaurants, occasional student gatherings, you name it!
Swansea is also within easy reach from London or Cardiff Airport, three hours and an hour respectively, so it is effortless if students want to travel for a mini weekend break.
People in Swansea live in a close community so you don't feel left out. You are so much in a part of the family as everyone else is. The student societies are very active in Swansea University and there are a lot of choices to choose from.


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The UC College of Medicine, founded in 1819 by medical pioneer Daniel Drake, MD, is one of the oldest medical schools in the nation.
From graduate degrees to continuing education, the college offers a broad spectrum of educational opportunities.
The UC College of Medicine is continuing its upward path in cutting-edge research to enhance discovery sciences and facilitate translation of these discoveries to improve health and clinical care while recruiting new faculty. The new undergraduate program fosters scientific curiosity and investigation for our students. We are creating an environment of advanced clinical care that surpasses any in the region.
The College of Medicine features 26 academic departments, offering clinical, education and research opportunities.
The UC Cancer Center focuses on disease-based centers of excellence to offer a multidisciplinary approach to cancer care, education and research.
The UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute provides advanced evidence-based treatment and active research of complex neurological conditions.
The UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute builds upon its nationally known cardiovascular diseases discoveries to make significant contributions to research, education and patient care.
The Center for Integrative Health and Wellness promotes the value of treating the whole person and works to provide evidence-based wellness initiatives across the Academic Health Center and into the community through education, research and clinical care.
Hoxworth Blood Center was founded in 1938 and serves over 30 hospitals and medical facilities in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Hoxworth Blood Center also is a leader in the coordination of research projects developed for the advancement of transfusion medicine, including clinical trials for transfusion medicine-related products.
The College of Medicine has identified four institutes in which we have outstanding quality, a track record of success, opportunities for funding and ability to advance translational research and deliver high-quality personalized care.
The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine is known for its strong educational programs. From medical degrees to summer research programs, the College of Medicine offers some of the most innovative and captivating science and research opportunities in the nation.
Today is
Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020
Are you an undergraduate science student, interested in scientific research and thinking about a career in Biomedical Research? You can get the experience you need to prepare for graduate school and a career in this expanding field by participating in one of our summer research programs.
The SURF Programs are designed for sophomore and junior level students who are US residents. Students must be able to commit to a 10 week program to do a research internship.
SURF students are matched with an appropriate faculty advisor, based on mutual research interest. The advisor and intern design a specific research project within the context of the research focus of the advisor's laboratory.
We typically award fellowships to 150 undergrads each summer to do clinical, translational, or basic biomedical research. You can apply to any or all of the following programs.
Office of Graduate Education Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF - GE)
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF - CCHMC)
Summer Undergraduate Research Program in Neuroscience (SURF - Neuro)
American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF - ASPET)
Biomedical Informatics Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURF - Informatics)
American Heart Association Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURF - Heart)


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Although we didn't get to know the alternative side of the German kitchen (nobody managed to get hold of a real classic Mett-Igel), the energy level was still high on the second day. Would everybody manage to create a lettering which can be read in different ways? It turned out that some self defined problems were easier to solve than others. Within such a limited time-frame, you also need a bit of luck with the chosen words. 'Apfel/Birne' turned out to provide more typographic possibilities than 'Mett/Hack' for example. Nevertheless, in the end of the day everybody presented their products with its new label.
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No one should want to go to war, unless it is a choice of last resort. But if the need arises any able-bodied man or woman should have the privilege and opportunity to serve.
On Wednesday news came that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had accepted a Joint Chiefs of Staff recommendation that will officially allow women to serve in combat.
We use the word "officially" because, as casualty reports show, women have already found their way into combat zones — past and present.
As reported by The Associated Press: The necessities of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan ... propelled women into jobs as medics, military police and intelligence officers that were sometimes attached — but not formally assigned — to battalions. So while a woman couldn't be assigned as an infantryman in a battalion going out on patrol, she could fly the helicopter supporting the unit, or move in to provide medical aid if troops were injured.
But the decision by Panetta and the Joint Chiefs is more than just a decision to move more women into combat roles. It opens the door to career advancement in a profession that values combat and leadership experience.
While the move toward equal rights for women has made great progress since the 19th Amendment gave them the right to vote in 1920, many a glass ceiling has stood in the way of advancement to positions of authority and power.
We see it to this day in the corporate world where the 2012 Fortune 500 is said to have made history with the greatest number of women at the helm in the listing's tenure — 18 female CEOs, up from 12 in 2011. Such a number is embarrassing when the United States population is 51 percent female.
But the reason for such low numbers reflects the same kind of glass ceiling that has dissuaded women from joining the military and, when they do, from moving up the ranks.
Without front-line experience — corporate or military — women have not been afforded an equal opportunity to climb the executive ladder.
Make no mistake, Panetta's announcement does not automatically clear the way, just as the voting rights amendment failed to level the political playing field. We still perceive a tinge of prejudice embedded in the words used to report his announcement.
Again, from the AP: The change won't take place overnight: Service chiefs will have to develop plans for allowing women to seek the combat positions, a senior military official said. Some jobs may open as soon as this year, while assessments for others, such as special operations forces, may take longer. The services will have until January 2016 to make a case that some positions should remain closed to women.
Panetta's announcement would have been much more satisfying had he said anyone of able body — man or women — will now be assigned duties based on their ability. Man or woman, if you are not strong enough to shoulder a weighty backpack and rifle, you don't charge the enemy from the front lines. If you have the aptitude to pilot a bomber over a Middle East target, we don't care about your sex.
But we all know the road to equality is a long one, with many a crater waiting to slow progress.
That said, Panetta's announcement is still historic, but leaves us understanding that much needs to be done to shatter the last of a dwindling number of glass ceilings which deny women equal opportunity.


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John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
leading Whig and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister on two occasions
(Redirected from Lord John Russell)
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century.
- It is impossible that the whisper of a faction should prevail against the voice of a nation.
- Letter to T. Attwood, October 1831, after the rejection in the House of Lords of the Reform Bill (7 October 1831).
- If peace cannot be maintained with honour, it is no longer peace.
- Greenock, 19 September 1853
- [A proverb is] one man's wit, and all men's wisdom.
- Variant: [A proverb is] the wisdom of many and the wit of one.
- Remark to James Mackintosh on October 6, 1830, reported in his posthumous memoir, Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Sir James Mackintosh, Vol. 2 (1836), p. 472
External linksEdit
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The classic story that made Batman a darker knight than he'd even been before is rising again through animation. Warner Animation's latest direct-to-home-video "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part One" hits stores on Sept. 25.
Decades before film director Christopher Nolan layered realism and social metaphors onto the movie Batman, superstar writer/artist Frank Miller – best known as the creator of the "300" and "Sin City" comic books, and co-director of the latter film adaptation – revolutionized Gotham City's protector with his deluxe, groundbreaking four-part series "The Dark Knight Returns." It reimagined an aging Bruce Wayne emerging from retirement as an obsessive urban avenger returning to confront his increasingly vicious, violent city with equal ferocity.
Miller's daring, cutting-edge story and avant garde approach, in concert with longtime inker Klaus Janson, was the epitome of a game-changer, forever redefining the very essence of the character, profoundly altering the face of comic book industry as a whole. Grim-and-gritty character makeovers reigned, and adult themes prevailed -- comics would no longer cater to juvenile audiences.
Members of the top-tier creative team – including executive producer Bruce Timm ("Batman: The Animated Series," "Justice League"), director Jay Oliva ("Young Justice"), screenwriter Bob Goodman ("Warehouse 13") and actors Peter Weller ("RoboCop," "Star Trek Into Darkness") and Ariel Winter ("Modern Family") – reveal the secrets of bringing one of comic books' most sacred texts to animated life.
Bruce Timm, executive producer: Once we started doing these direct-to-video movies, 'The Dark Knight Returns' was way at the top of the wish list. Eventually DC Comics came to us and said, 'We think now is the time.' They didn't want it to interfere with what Christopher Nolan was doing in the live-action movies, and there was a period in between the last two movies where they weren't really sure where he was going with the third one. There was a concern that maybe this would be a little too similar to what he was doing. But at a certain point they realized we'd be okay to do a more faithful adaptation, so we said, 'Great – let's do it!'
Peter Weller, voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne: I know Frank Miller from 'RoboCop 2' [for which Miller wrote the screenplay]. He's a great guy and very inventive, and deeply immersed in the genre of superheroes and perfectly suited for heightened action or animated action… This idea that Miller had, of Batman coming out of retirement – subsequently then he turned it into this fantastic, astounding direction.
Timm: There are still things about it that amaze me. When I went back and read the comic in preparation for doing the movie, there are things in the comic that people still haven't ever really adapted into other comics, or into the movies, whatever. For one thing, it's really dark, violent, and in a way that the movies, being big summer tent pole movies, can't really do. And it doesn't follow a traditional character arc – It's a little bleaker than that. It doesn't have a real pat through-line. It's unique in that respect, and it's something that still seems fresh close to 25 years later.
Bob Goodman, screenwriter: My job, obviously, was adapting. When [executive producer] Alan Burnett gave me the job, he said 'Be slavishly loyal to the source material – and change anything you need to.' It was totally my call, which way I went with that. And I really looked at my job primarily as one of figuring out how to make these books into two satisfying movies that work in their own right, but also work as a single unit when you watch them together. Having to really pare stuff down, and even with two full movies I had to leave stuff out for space and infrastructure. I had to find what the arcs of part one and part two are, shuffle things around. As cinematic as those things are, they're not a movie, and it takes adapting to make a movie.
Timm: All of these movies have been a little more PG-13, a little bit more violent, a little bit more adult, but we kind of pushed it to the wall in this one, especially in part two. There's some stuff in part two that makes me a little queasy…We definitely consulted the comic a lot, every step of the way: from the art style to the color to the background painting style. We took the original comic in mind, even when we were casting it, in terms of the characters had to be unique to this movie. We couldn't just use any old Batman cast that we'd used before. It had to be really special and unique for this. I think we got the perfect cast.
Weller: I bring age to it. With me playing him, he's not a guy in his twenties or thirties. He's not a virile stud of youth. That's the distinction that I bring to him: experience, and a guy who's turned a corner in his life. He's bowed out and now come back. When someone says, 'Come and do Batman,' it's not as if I'm going, 'Oh, wow – I'm following in the footsteps of Michael Keaton and George Clooney and a lot of other great guys I admire.' I jumped on because I know [Batman creators Bob] Kane and [Bill] Finger's origins of it, their impetus to create this guy who's got sort of a void inside of himself and he's trying to fill that up by using his intellect for good, even though his personal life was havoc – or nonexistent, family-less. That's the thing that I clued in on, and that's what I read as a kid.
Goodman: This is Bruce Wayne/Batman's story first, and the effect he has on the city is a crucial, crucial part of the story, and I think everybody who watches it will agree that was very, very dear to my heart. I really think of Batman as kind of an Arthurian figure: as Arthur thrives, Britain thrives; as Arthur falls, Britain falls. That's true of Batman and Gotham City.
Classic Batman Tale "The Dark Knight Returns" Gets Animated
Frank Miller's revered pitch-black vision of an aging Batman hits home video
The classic story that made Batman a darker knight than he'd even been before is rising again through animation. Warner Animation's latest direct-to-home-video "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part One" hits stores on Sept. 25.


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Thank you - thank you for all your sweet comments, welcoming me back to the Blogging World. I really have missed this kind of contact with other stitchers and its so heartwarming to have you still coming back to my blog. I'm trying to make the rounds of all the blogs in my sidebar and slowly but surely I'm getting there.
I don't have too much to show for my week but my daughter Kelly sent me a picture of the the Halloween banner I made for her last month.
Its called Lost Spirits, by Birds of a Feather and its stitched on a piece of 28 ct linen called Fossil - I think its by Picture This Plus fabrics. Its a really gorgeous brown shade and I would love to get more of this, because I have a couple more Birds of a Feather Halloween charts and I think this works great. Don't you love the Pumpkinhead girl at the bottom!
This weekend can't come fast enough - Sunday is a stitching get-together at Clare's and it sounds like there will be a houseful. I'm taking my camera so I'll have pictures! Have a great weekend all!!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
A Halloween finish - a little late....
Thank you - thank you for all your sweet comments, welcoming me back to the Blogging World. I really have missed this kind of contact with other stitchers and its so heartwarming to have you still coming back to my blog. I'm trying to make the rounds of all the blogs in my sidebar and slowly but surely I'm getting there.
Posted by Wendy at 10:06 am 10 comments
Labels: Birds of a Feather
Monday, November 09, 2009
Is it really November?
I'm back in blogging land! No real excuses as to where I've been or why - but I guess I found I had overloaded on responsibilities. Something had to give. And then procrastination set in....
I've been around and lurking and commenting here and there and stitching and quilting and knitting and reading to my heart's content! Well almost - work does tend to get in the way somewhat.
Wanna see some pictures? Because after all, that's what we are really about. If we can't do it all, we can at least look at pictures of people who stitch and quilt and knit wonderful things and imagine that we will some day too.
This is what I did on my summer vacation - really. Lo How a Rose - in a Christmas book that I begged, borrowed and pleaded to get because I had seen it so many times in so many places and I knew I had to make this one for myself. Luckily Clare had the book and she lent it to me just in time for my August vacation. It took about 8 days of dedicated stitching to make and Ta-Da - I'm in love with this piece. I used only DMC for it - no fancy threads here - and I dug out a piece of Lakeside Linens 36 ct linen that I had in my stash. I used one thread over 2 because I wanted a lighter, lacy feel for it. Its been relegated to my bag of finished pieces (BFP's) until I can scrounge up enough $$ to get this one framed.
This is Yule Sampler by Primitive Needle. I finished it last week and I am still in shock that I got something done before a holiday took place, instead of my usual finishing of it after the fact. Again, DMC's, not the called for Crescent Colours, because although I have a healthy selection of CC's, I didn't have one bloody skein that was called for. This was done on Lakeside Linens River Willow 32 ct. Its such a cute little piece and I really enjoyed it.
"Greetings" by Blackbird Designs, from their Peppermint& Holly book. I started this last week, using mostly GAST (with a little DMC, because of course I don't have all the ones that are called for). I'm using the rest of the Lakeside Linens piece of 36 ct fabric that I used for Lo How a Rose above, but 2 threads over 2 this time, for better coverage. Don't you just love BBD's!
And I finished up 2 Hallowe'en pieces, that have already been put away and given away....before pictures were taken (Gasp!). One day I'll get a picture of those.
I made this wee quilt to actually hang something on one of the walls for a change! Its only going to be 24" x 36" when finished and its just waiting to be quilted now. I used the Square in a Square technique - classes that I have been taking with Marg since last January! The main quilt that we are making is a ways from being completed, although we only have 2 classes left. I have lots of very pretty blocks made but I was needing to see something finished so I got this one put together with one of my favourite blocks, I think called Ribbons.
The urge for a new start isn't limited to my stitching - it takes over quilting too. This is the start of 'Log Cabin Squared' using two 'chelsea buns' from Sanctuary. Chelsea buns are rolls of fabric that are 1 1/2" strips from one fabric line, this one called Sanctuary. Really could the manufacturers make things any easier? But I wish they would get away from these yummy food titles for these things.
And lastly, a peak at something waiting to be quilted, using 2 charm packs from Blackbird Designs, called Beach house.
Whew, that was exhausting! Bella thinks so too :-D
Posted by Wendy at 6:11 pm 20 comments
Labels: Blackbird Designs, Primitive Needle, Quilting


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Thermostats used to be primitive on-off switches that required a lot of tweaking -- up a hair to ward off a chill, then down a hair to cool off.
Modern versions have keypads and digital readouts that control heating, cooling, humidity and even the amount of fresh air taken in through a heat-exchanger. And they're programmable.
That's the best feature, and makes them probably the most effective energy-saving investment you can make.
When you're asleep and toasting under a quilt, the thermostat turns itself down until morning. When you're at work, the thermostat setback saves more fuel, then automatically rises to a comfortable setting before you get home.
Two misconceptions
Old or new, dial or keypad, thermostats are often misused in two ways that waste energy. Both stem from common misconceptions about how furnaces work.
*The first is that you get more heat faster by temporarily boosting a thermostat above the normal setting. That doesn't work because furnaces produce heat at a constant rate. If you want more, the furnace has to run longer. There is no overdrive setting for extra heat production.
*The second is that it doesn't pay to reduce the temperature when you're not there (or asleep) because the furnace will use up the saved fuel climbing back to the old setting.
Some people think thermostat setbacks waste even more energy as the furnace somehow works harder and longer to recover temperature than it does to maintain temperature. It doesn't. As the Department of Energy (DOE) puts it, "This misconception has been dispelled by years of research and numerous studies. The fuel required to reheat a building to a comfortable temperature is roughly equal to the fuel saved as the building drops to the lower temperature."
Aha, say the skeptics. The up and down is a wash so why bother? Because the furnace uses less fuel at the lower setting -- and the savings add up when you extend the down time, for instance, overnight, during the day while you're at work, or both. It will take a little time to rewarm the house. But a short warm-up is peanuts compared to daylong and nightlong savings.
Expected savings
Houses and household living patterns differ, so there is no single savings equation. But the DOE says that a 10- to 15-degree setback for only eight hours will save from 5 to 15 percent of total heating costs. The National Association of Homebuilders says programmable thermostats typically offer savings of 10 to 15 percent without compromising comfort.
That last point is key. Yes, your house will be colder at times, but you won't be there (or awake) to notice. And if you don't want to cower under the covers until the house to warms up, simply program the furnace-on setting 15 minutes or so before the alarm goes off. Programmable thermostats are not an extra-sweater solution to saving energy.
To estimate your savings, use this rule of thumb: save about 1 percent of heating costs per degree of setback over eight hours. That's about 3 percent per degree over 24 hours.
Though two setback periods are possible (eight hours overnight and eight hours during work hours), in most households even one major setback can save enough to pay for the thermostat in a year or two. It's probably the best energy-saving investment you can make -- and gets even better when you include similar savings in the summer with central air conditioning.
Buying the right model
Latest Real Estate
A new version of the traditional, round manual-adjust thermostat costs about $35. An entry-level programmable is about $10 more. Prices rise with programming capacity to $100 and up for a top-line thermostat with touch-screen technology that can handle several setbacks a day seven days a week -- every day different if you want. Those units can control heating, cooling, humidity and ventilation -- aside from telling you when it's time to replace the air filters.
The bells and whistles are nice, but many top-line thermostats offer more technology than you'll ever use.
So before buying, it's smart to make a weeklong schedule of possible setback times lasting at least four hours. Then match the schedule to the thermostat programming capacity. If you want only one setback overnight, the most basic and inexpensive unit will do.
Some units also offer remote control, which seems like overkill on a thermostat that's already programmed to your lifestyle. But one worthwhile extra is built-in battery backup. It eliminates the need to reprogram the unit, which can take a while, after a power failure.


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text:
Despite the nation experiencing its tenth straight year of temperatures cooler than 1998's peak, and much of New England experiencing its worst ice storm in decades (video embedded right), the Associated Press on Sunday published one of the most hysterical articles concerning global warming I've ever seen.
In writer Seth Borenstein's view, climate change is "a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can't avoid."
"Global warming is accelerating. Time is close to running out, and Obama knows it."
Where's Rod Serling?
For those that can stand it, here are some of Borenstein's disgraceful lowlights:
When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, global warming was a slow-moving environmental problem that was easy to ignore. Now it is a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can't avoid.
Since Clinton's inauguration, summer Arctic sea ice has lost the equivalent of Alaska, California and Texas. The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since Clinton's second inauguration. Global warming is accelerating. Time is close to running out, and Obama knows it. [...]
U.S. emissions have increased by 20 percent since 1992. China has more than doubled its carbon dioxide pollution in that time. World carbon dioxide emissions have grown faster than scientists' worst-case scenarios. Methane, the next most potent greenhouse gas, suddenly is on the rise again and scientists fear that vast amounts of the trapped gas will escape from thawing Arctic permafrost.
The amount of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere has already pushed past what some scientists say is the safe level. [...]
Scientists fear that what's happening with Arctic ice melt will be amplified so that ominous sea level rise will occur sooner than they expected. They predict Arctic waters could be ice-free in summers, perhaps by 2013, decades earlier than they thought only a few years ago.
What kind of media outlet would publish this hysterical nonsense with much of the nation in the grips of extremely harsh winter conditions? Does the AP have any idea?
It snowed in Houston Wednesday tying a record for the earliest appearance of the white stuff in the city's history.
There were rare snowfalls in Southern Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi Thursday.
They're expecting possible record-breaking cold in the Pacific Northwest.
Record cold in Montana.
Record cold in Denver.
Supposed to snow in the San Francisco Bay Area Monday.
And the AP thinks we're running out of time to solve global warming.
With Democrats in control of Congress, and about to take over the White House, I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry.
Actually, given how cold it is outside, I think I'll opt for the former as my tears would be icicles.
*****Update: University of Oklahoma's David Deming responds to Borenstein's piece (with permission):
How can this guy call himself a "science reporter?"
He is perhaps the worst propagandist in all the media, and that's stating something.
In his latest screed, he screams: "global warming is accelerating"
How then does he explain the fact that the mean global temperature (as measured by satellite) is the same as it was in 1980?
How can global warming be "accelerating" when the last two years have seen dramatic cooling? Is this guy totally removed from all reality?????
He completely ignores any evidence contrary to his personal beliefs, and twists everything to meet his preconceived notions.
How can anyone so ignorant be a reporter for AP? Seriously?
Beats me, Professor.


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iGive Away a Car is the 11th episode of the second season of iCarly and the 36th episode overall.
Carly, Sam and Freddie host a contest for a free new car from Flanken Motors after a boy named Jeffery claims that his father suggested the contest. The winner, shockingly, is Nevel Papperman. When Freddie and Sam go to retrieve the car for him, the two find out that the car did not exist. Carly, being disappointed with the news, starts to question Nevel on how he won the contest. The three find out that Nevel was the one who created the contest and sent Jeffery to them, but iCarly must still provide him with a car or iCarly will get shut down for fraud by the LCC. Meanwhile, Spencer buys a prop from a movie (Galaxy Wars) online, but finds out that he was simply fooled by a replica, and Carly decides to give the prop to Nevel as his new car. Nevel then tests drives the car, and crashes into a flower shop, and iCarly succeeds in preventing their website from being taken off the internet. At the end, all of them go get popsicles.
- In the HD version of this episode, the graphics during the iCarly webcast are removed for an unknown reason. The graphics are present in the SD version of this episode.
- One car in the Flanken Motors dealership lot is identical to the car that Miranda Cosgrove used in order to learn to drive, a 2009 Dodge Challenger owned by Dan Schneider.
- The website which Spencer buys the Proton Cruiser from is called "Craig's Mix" a pun of the popular website, "Craigslist."
- It's revealed in this episode that Freddie has a jewelry box. This was due to the fact that Mrs. Benson wanted a daughter.
- Sam mentions Freddie and Spencer discussing Galaxy Wars as "Dorks Gone Wild," a pun of "Girls Gone Wild."
- Nevel has shown in this episode that he can play the recorder very well.
- One of the movers mentions the book called, "Sister's Who Had Magic Pants," a spoof of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." Spencer had already read the book and in rage, yelled to the mover, "At the end of the book, they find out the pants aren't magic and the middle sister dies!", (the plot of Little Women), then he slams the door.
- It's discovered that Spencer's friend Socko has an uncle named Otto who sells used cars. Socko also has a cousin named Rob who steals things, and a brother named Tyler who makes flashy neckties.
- It's discovered that Spencer's favorite movie is "Galaxy Wars."
- The pickle jar that Sam drinks from at the beginning of the episode says "Schneider's" on the label. This is a reference to the show's creator, Dan Schneider.
- It's discovered that when Nevel grows up, he wants to run a Haberdashery, which Nevel says is a men's retail store selling zippers, buttons, belts, etc. This is the US definition - in the rest of the World, a haberdashery is a shop that sells sewing supplies.
- George the Bra who tells ghost stories, makes an appearance and surprisingly seems to actually manage to tell a scary one.
- The LCC is an obvious parody of the FCC
- Running Gag: Spencer says "Pewww".
- According to Spencer, Carly has a habit of taking very long showers whenever she gets depressed about something.
- In this episode, Carly took a chair into the shower with her, indicating that she planned to be in there for a while.
- When Spencer was showing Carly, Sam and Freddie the Galaxy Wars Proton Cruiser on his laptop, the word "View" in "View Bid History" was spelled "Veiw".
- This is the first time that Freddie says "In 5,4,3,2" outside of doing the web show. He does the countdown when he and the girls do their cupcake game at the start.
- If you look closely, the mean movers' names are Dave and Buster: a reference to the restaurant/arcade Dave & Buster's.
- 2 scenes were cut when this episode aired in the UK:
- Don Flanken making up words past "Something functional".
- Nevel mentioning that he is about to rid the internet of iCarly forever, with Spencer, and Mr. Bullock "bumming" his joy.
- Carly and Sam open the envelope, read the answer to the "brainbuster", then immediately announce the name of the winner of the contest on iCarly. However, as they did not know the answer to the "brainbuster" in advance, after they opened the envelope they would have to search through all the entries to find the winner, which would have taken some time.
View Gallery for this episode here.
Nevel: You have 48 hours, iCarly! Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock... (Carly closes the door on him, but he continues anyway) Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock...
Nevel: Well?
Sam:(Mockingly): Well?
Carly: Ready for your new car?
Nevel: (sarcastically) Yes, my heart is pounding.
Sam: Good, maybe it'll explode.
Nevel: What is that poop? Freddie: It's your new car Nevel: That car's not new. Carly: It's new to you
Carly: What's wrong with you, Nevel?! Why is your lifelong dream to get rid of iCarly?!
Nevel: It's not! My lifelong dream is to open my own haberdashery.
Freddie: ...What's a haberdashery?
Nevel: (miserably) Oh, why does everyone ask that?! (walks away, then returns) A haberdashery is a men's retail store that sells men's accessories such as wallets, hats, buttons, belts, ribbons, and zippers! (storms off again)
Sam: Where's Carly? I've been calling and texting her for hours.
Spencer: She's been in the shower.
Sam: All day?
Spencer: Pretty much. She takes really long showers when she gets depressed.
Sam: Well, when do you think she's going to come out?
Spencer: I don't know...she took a chair in there.
Spencer: Guess what happened?!
Sam: Your belly button started talking to you!
Spencer: ...No... but that would be so cool!
Carly: [To Jeffery] So, what kind of contest?
Sam: How about guess the number of zits on Freddie's butt?
Jeffery: Wow, that's really gross. No, see, my dad wants the contest to be a brain buster; something you really have to figure out.
Freddie: Oh...like how many od Sam's relatives are on parole.
Sam: Hey, don't go banging on my aunt Maggie, cousin Garth, and Uncle Morris, all right?
Carly: We're having a meeting! [To Jeffery] So, the first person that sends in the correct answer wins a car?
Jeffery: Yep.
Carly: Love it.
Sam: It would give iCarly a lot of buzz.
Freddie: Oh yeah, isn't your uncle Buzz on parole too?
[Carly gives the envelope to Freddie regarding the answer to the question for the contest]
Carly: [gives Freddie the envelope] Here, why don't you lock this in your jewelry box?
[Everyone looks at Freddie]
Freddie: My mom wanted a daughter, okay?!
Nevel: On your web show, you said, "All you gotta do is win this brain buster", and I was the first person to send in the correct answer to iCarly.com and then....
Sam: WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!!
Freddie: We didn't say you didn't win the car!
Nevel: Then where is it?! I don't see a car! All I hear is a lot of prenatal...
Sam: [screams and attacks Nevel]
[After Nevel reads fraud papers]
Freddie: If you just give us a couple of days....
Carly: Wait a minute. Why do you have that printed out?
Nevel: Because I like to print things
Freddie: No! You would only print that out if you knew you were gonna need it!
Sam: Yeah, how did you know there would be a problem getting you the car?
Nevel: Please, I don't have time to be interviewed
Carly: You set this whole thing up! That Jeffery guy or whatever his real name is, you sent him to us didn't you?!
Nevel: Oh, I don't know, I send a lot of guys a to a lot of places
Carly: [disbelief] You evil, evil little elf.
External links
- Images from the Internet Movie Cars Database


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More names of clients in Maine prostitution case to be released
KENNEBUNK, Maine (AP) � Police in Kennebunk are schedule to release more names of accused clients in a high-profile prostitution case in Maine.
Police say they'll be releasing more names Monday of people charged with engaging in prostitution with 29-year-old Alexis Wright, a former Zumba instructor who has pleaded not guilty to 106 counts of prostitution, invasion of privacy, tax evasion and other charges.
Officials so far have released the names of 54 alleged clients, including a former mayor, a former minister and a high school ice hockey coach.
Authorities say Wright and her alleged business partner kept meticulous records of her encounters and videotaped many of them without her clients' knowledge.
Police have been releasing names every two weeks as they continue investigating the case and issuing summonses.


text:
I primarily work with gedcom files for my genealogy. What software is available for the mac which allows me to view and edit gedcom genealogy files?
If there are several options, I'd like one that interfaces with ancestry.com and/or other similar sites so I don't have to quite as much work managing searches and downloads of gedcom files.
Icing on the cake would include apps that have ipad counterparts so I can take it on the go for at least viewing, and hopefully editing.
I'm fine with apps that have their own database or file format as long as they import and export gedcom as well.


text:
The Obama administration has unveiled several key decisions aimed at bolstering ties to the immigration reform community as the president's campaign has stepped up efforts to woo Latino voters ahead of the 2012 elections.
The moves come as Republican presidential contenders have begun staking out positions on immigration, making it a focal point of political attacks leading into the South Carolina and Florida primary elections.
Latino and immigration reform groups have heavily criticized President Obama for not doing enough to overhaul the country's immigration system to provide a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally.
The groups, on and off Capitol Hill, have stressed that the same Latino voters who helped bring Obama into office in 2008 are not a sure bet for him in 2012. As Republicans begin to attack the president on his immigration record, Obama will be forced to highlight the steps he's taken to improve the immigration process.
In a strong nod to Latino groups this week, Obama appointed Cecilia Munoz, the former senior vice president at the National Council of La Raza — the largest U.S. Latino civil rights and advocacy group — to be the director of the Domestic Policy Council where she'll help shape the president's domestic policy on immigration, education, health care and energy issues.
And last week, the administration proposed a long-awaited and greatly sought rule change that would fast track certain visa applications, lessening the time U.S. citizens are separated from their families who are required to remain outside the country while their immigrant visas are being considered.
Though the proposed rule change has been in the works for years, the two moves — taken into context with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) recent prioritization of criminals when deporting illegal immigrants — represent an attempt by Obama to make good on campaign promises to the growing Latino population who gave him two-thirds of its votes in 2008.
Bolstering Obama's immigration record is a series of legal suits the Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed against states — such as Arizona and South Carolina — that recently passed laws allowing for law enforcement officers to stop people they suspect of being in the country illegally, opening the door for possible cases of discrimination and racism.
But as Republican presidential candidates descend upon South Carolina in preparation for the state's primary, the issue of immigration and state laws versus federal government intervention is likely to launch to the forefront of the debate, according to the Somos Republicans, the largest Latino GOP group in the country.
Obama's campaign is not ignorant of this shift in focus.
In a recent interview with the Daily Beast, Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, pointed to the increasingly central issue of immigration in the GOP presidential race and highlighted the importance of capturing the Latino vote in November.
"One of the defining issues of the Republican primary has been the complete race to demagogue immigrants, and there will be a price to pay politically for that kind of rhetoric," said Messina. "The Latino vote will be absolutely crucial in this election."
Earlier this week former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the winner of the New Hampshire primary, accepted the endorsement of Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state who helped craft the controversial state laws broadening law enforcement's reach.
Romney is planning to hit opponents Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry on their immigration records next week, scheduling an appearance on Monday with Kobach, who said Obama's recent proposed rule change to fast track visa applications was akin to granting amnesty to illegal immigrants.
Two weeks ago in Iowa, Romney said as president he would veto the DREAM Act if Congress passed the measure granting citizenship to illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. Obama has pushed Congress to pass the DREAM Act, which is broadly supported by Latinos throughout the country, but Republicans have thwarted his efforts.
Romney's rejection of the DREAM Act prompted the Somos Republicans to call on their base to vote against the former New England governor at the polls. Instead, Somos Republican founder DeeDee Blase told The Hill that many of the group's members were leaning towards Gingrich or Jon Huntsman, who are not favored in most polls but have proposed different approaches to immigration.
For Latinos, Obama may be forced to run against his own record rather than against a Republican opponent when it comes to immigration, said several immigration reform groups.
Wendy Sefsaf, a spokeswoman for the American Immigration Council, said that "the jury's still out" on the incremental steps Obama has taken to change the immigration system — prioritizing criminals for deportations and fast tracking visa applications for family members of legal residents — and so it will be hard for him to make the case that he has dramatically shifted the country's immigration system.
"I don't think he can tout this," said Sefsaf. "Nobody knows how these changes will actually impact anybody. It's not like they can point to evidence and say, 'Look what we've done.' If he was politically motivated, he would do something like, take all DREAM Act eligible kids will not be deported."


text:
|This material is published under the OGL
These creatures operate on instinct, driven by simple needs such as food and reproduction. Except where noted, vermin attack only when hungry or threatened.
Vermin Traits: Vermin possess the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature's entry).
- Mindless: No Intelligence score, and immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
- Darkvision out to 60 feet.
- Alignment: Always neutral. Vermin are not governed by a human sense of morality.
- Treasure: Vermin generally possess no treasure. For those that do, this treasure consists of possessions formerly owned by a creature that the monster has killed.
- See Also
- Vermin Type
- Swarm Subtype
- Swarms
List of VerminEdit
Extension:DynamicPageList (DPL), version 2.3.0 : Warning: No results.
Back to Main Page → System Reference Document → Creatures
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


text:
Right about now, Joaquin Phoenix would probably like to thank the Academy...for their deep wells of forgiveness and continued patience.
While it was just a month ago that "The Master" star and repeat Oscar winner quite spectacularly bit the hand that may soon continue to feed him, calling the Academy Awards "bulls--t" that he neither wants "to be a part of" or "believe in," he seems to have changed his tune.
And right in time for awards season!
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
See what else Joaquin had to say about the Oscars, aka "the stupidest thing in the world"
"I wouldn't have the career that I have if it weren't for the Oscars," a newly chastened Phoenix told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I haven't been in a lot of movies that have made a lot of money...and getting nominated for a movie has probably helped my career tremendously."
It's quite an about-face for the twice-nominated actor, previously singled out by the Academy for his supporting role in "Gladiator" and lead role in "Walk the Line," who told Interview magazine last month, "I never want to have that experience again."
Check out Joaquin Phoenix's fellow celebrity hoaxsters--and their biggest public pranks
Now he's doing his best to tone down his slightly over-the-top rhetoric.
"It's not like I f--king hate the Oscars," he told the paper. "It doesn't occupy my time to where I can build up hate."
Good thing, too, since Phoenix's critically lauded role has made him a presumptive frontrunner for the upcoming awards season. If only he can keep a lid on it until then.
Joaquin's not alone--see which TV stars have dissed their shows


text:
Next time you visit Sydney, you might put the Sydney Harbour Bridge on your list of places to see.
And perhaps you don't want to just see it, you want to climb it. Climb leader Phil Roach is among the guides who will take you to the top of what he, while standing atop the bridge, describes as "the most unusual place" — something spectacular, marvelous and even historic.
"I'm looking out across our magnificent city as it wakes up and heads to work. What a beautiful morning!" he says. "I climb the bridge four days a week, sometimes three times a day. I never get nervous. I suppose I'm blessed in that way."
Roach may feel so stable because he has a a long history of climbing. As a kid, he climbed to the top of the highest trees; he says he's always been adventurous.
That should be comforting to the tourists who choose to climb to the top of the bridge.
"They're guided by a very experienced team to achieve their goal of standing atop the bridge. You are standing on an exposed steel girder, suspended in space, and you're looking out across the most beautiful city vista anywhere in the world," he says.
People have all sorts of reactions when they finally reach the top, Roach says.
"Climbing up's a bit of a thighbuster, so generally everybody wants to cheer and throw their arms up in the air, and there's a lot of cheering, a few high fives," he says. "Some people have very emotional reactions to the view, in fact, people break down in tears, reflecting on their own personal achievements. It really is a heroic feeling to see the sun rise out of the Pacific Ocean, to see all of that light spilling out of the harbor, lighting up the sails of the Opera House. It's just magnificent. You feel like you're the king of the world."
Nature does its part to make the climber appreciate the wonder, as well.
"On our climb to the summit this morning, we saw a magnificent flock of white sulphur-crested cockadoos," Roach says. "They're a very distinctive, large Australian parrot. They were ducking and cartwheeling and weaving in among all of the steel girders up on the bridge."
There are other birds who make a home in and around the bridge, including two resident ravens.
"They're very affectionate, and we know them quite well," Roach says. "We've nicknamed them Russell and Sheryl Crow. They have a little nest on the bridge," he says.
Congratulations to our "Geo Quiz"/World Text game players who came up with the correct answer: the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Bella in Scottsdale, Ariz., Charles in Santa Monica, Calif., Brannon in Jefferson, W.Va.


text:
French bread (large Boule) sponge-like crumb
I have attempted to make a large French boule, but the crumb always turns out like a sponge. I have tried higher and lower hydration levels. I want a fluffy, cottonball-like crumb, but consistently end up with an unusually heavy, spongy loaf and I'm tired of this!!!!
Here's the recipe that I tried...
1- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup water
1/8 tsp instant yeast
Final dough
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp salt
2/3 cup water
I added enough flour to make a sticky dough that almost completely pulled off of the kneading surface and let it proof in the refrigerator for about 15 hours.
I let the dough rise for about 45 minutes. When the internal temperature reached about 205 degrees F, I removed the loaf from the oven (conventional oven) with baking stone, preheated at 425 degrees F.
There were some irregular sized holes, which I don't really care for. I just want a more delicate crumb and not a sponge. It tastes decent when toasted, but I want a bread that is tasty enough to eat without toasting.
Should I bake at a higher temperature for about two minutes, then reduce temp. to about 450 degrees F?
How good can French bread turn out using instant yeast? Has anyone tried using fresh yeast and how was the crumb?
Any suggestions most appreciated.


text:
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|Did you see any bootleg NES/FAMICOM games? I love that stuff.
|Aug 27th, 2010 02:22 AM
|Another great city you could visit is Zacatecas. They have what I believe is the only underground night club in the world (built inside a mine).
|Aug 25th, 2010 09:02 AM
Those shark skulls and neon-painted skulls should team up.
Oh, knockoff Cliffjumper, where would we be without you? Probably teamed up with Ben 10 and Naruto, that's where.
|Aug 25th, 2010 12:42 AM
|Aug 24th, 2010 03:45 PM
|Captain Pecker will haunt my nightmares forever.
|Aug 24th, 2010 02:57 PM
|Dude la cochinita is the best japaneses food place in all of México EVER !
|Aug 24th, 2010 10:56 AM
Good to see you visited Mexico RoG.
Your astonishment about the Frosted Flakes being called "Zucaritas" over here reminded me of, when I was a little lad, I was in my school and our English teacher told the class we had to make a sketch about cereals for the following open class (a kind of stage show for the parents in which the students show off what they do in school and what they are supposed to be learning). As I had lived abroad, everyone asked me the names of the regular cereals were called in English, like Corn Flakes, Cheerio's, Honey Smacks and the like. Most of them were the same in the Mexican market, but no one believed me -not even my teacher- when I told them that Zucaritas are just called "Frosted Flakes" in English. Thinking I was joking with them, they decided to use the weird sounding name "Sugaritas" (pronounced like Sugar with the "-itas" ending) for the sketch. If I had known better, I would facepalmed sooo bad that it would still have medical repercussions today.
And since youre venturing into our country, I once again suggest going to Real de Catorce, a small town in central Mexico that used to be a mining town during colonial days. Since you love the eerie stuff, you'll love that town. It has a strange aura floating on it, you can almost feel your energy being drained while staying in the town.
But unluckily, it doesn't have any drug-discount stores selling Cialis and Viagra, so no Viagra-man.
|Aug 24th, 2010 04:13 AM
|Did you go to Mexico with Maddox?
|Aug 23rd, 2010 06:04 PM
i'm gonna do one like this when the dia de muertos market comes here it gets really close since i live sandwiched by two cementeries
also one thing you should have bought in mexico cajeta delicious candy made of just milk and sugar
|Aug 23rd, 2010 04:41 PM
|Stolen WoW art? Don't mind if i do!
|Aug 23rd, 2010 03:40 PM
|All Hail Duke
those shark heads are gnarly looking, could hang them to ward off unwanted visitors
and noticed Fly Fowl's weapon is the sword of Grayskull (2002 version)
|Aug 23rd, 2010 03:32 PM
|The Leader
|Soon sharks will be extinct and we will have only Mexico to blame.
|Aug 23rd, 2010 03:14 PM
"Tacos Nemo"? Is that the best they can do? Here at Monterrey there is a small restaurant called Chicken Lee, an obvious reference to Chicken Little that even uses the mentioned character on the banner at the front of the building.
Zucaritas and Azucaradas... Yeah, these two are not the only brands of food that have strikingly similar names. Talking about potato chips, for example, there are the famous Ruffles from Sabritas, and there are also the Rugges from Leo (quite clever, as the name is derived from "ruges", first person of the verb "rugir" which means "to roar"... And Leo obviously means lion, so...).
I'd get you some photos if I have the chance.
|Aug 23rd, 2010 02:39 PM
|I love the Japanese sun guy.
|Aug 23rd, 2010 01:53 PM
|10,000 Volt Ghost
|That hammerhead shark is intense.
|Aug 23rd, 2010 12:50 PM
|Mr. Viagra is clearly giving Rog a boner. How can i tell? Well, Rog has his "boner face" on. Too bad it's the only way to notice it...
|Aug 23rd, 2010 12:07 PM
|For some reason it slightly tickles me that Garfield is trying to feed some of his chocolate cereal to Pookie. I think it's because I never imagined Garfield to be much of the sharing type.
|Aug 23rd, 2010 11:28 AM
|Ha, you didn't even mention that the little boy playing on the rocks is obviously a young Waldo. And you found him!
|Aug 23rd, 2010 05:18 AM
|Hm, if it weren´t so far away!
|Aug 23rd, 2010 04:15 AM
I-Mockery's Road Trip To Mexico!
Automatically generated comment thread for I-Mockery's Road Trip To Mexico!.


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The world is awash with orchestral string collections, with all formed of mammoth sampled libraries. Other orchestral sections aren't represented in the marketplace to the same extent, but Swedish company Wallander Instruments is addressing this balance with its WIVI Instrument libraries.
Rather than samples, WIVI uses synthesized modelling techniques to produce its sounds, with a correspondingly low demand on your computer's CPU and almost immediate instrument load times.
WIVI magic
The WIVI interface is Wallander's secret weapon, as staggering amounts of variation can be controlled. To get started, simply click the '+' button in the bottom right-hand corner of the main pane and up pops a list of all of the instruments. Click to add one or drag upwards to add multiple instances of the instruments you want; these are added to the virtual stage of your choice.
There are several acoustic spaces available, with a 'man' icon at the bottom indicating your virtual listening position. Tone and reverb are shaped in real time, so you can position yourself and shift instruments around until you've created your perfect 'virtual' setup.
You can even direct instruments individually, replicating a shifting microphone placement by turning the instrument through 360 degrees until you find the sound you want, while reverb is also fully tweakable.
Control and conduct
Beyond that, you can decide whether all instruments will play back on the same MIDI channel or be spread across many, choose muted or unmuted variations, and assign controllers for vibrato and articulation - the results of which can be stunning.
Most of the excellent range of instruments sound great, with wonderful richness in the low orchestral brass a major highlight, as are the solo saxophones that, particularly when used with MIDI controllers, truly come alive.
The weakness for us is in the flute sounds, which somehow lack the required air and breath - though they do integrate well into ensemble groups.
Straight out of the box, this is an impressive instrument but it gets better still. WIVI supports scripting codes that can carry out a multitude of musically useful tasks, such as creating sequences or shifting tuning scales.
By default, the Standard Edition Player is included, but the Professional Player can also be purchased to 'unlock' additional playing techniques that will appeal to pros looking to make these collections their go-to brass and wind libraries.
The collections aren't cheap but, pro or otherwise, they deserve your attention.


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A Warwick dentist who signed a voluntary agreement to give up his practice in October had his license pulled last Wednesday.
Dr. Frederick S. Lury signed the consent order on Oct. 26 that arose …
A Warwick dentist who signed a voluntary agreement to give up his practice in October had his license pulled last Wednesday.
Dr. Frederick S. Lury signed the consent order on Oct. 26 that arose after inspectors found some irregularities in the way he was managing his practice. The inspectors complained that Lury, who was in the process of selling his practice and retiring from dentistry, had some misbranded narcotics and an expired solution when they conducted their inspection on Sept. 20.
According to the voluntary agreement, Lury was to stop practicing dentistry after Nov. 2 and to surrender his certificate to prescribe controlled substances at the same time. The agreement was explicit in saying that signing the agreement was neither an admission nor a denial of the inspectors' finding on Sept. 20. He also agreed to continue to provide care and medications for patients already in his care and to provide those patients with all necessary records or transfer the records immediately on request or when needed, presumably as the patients find another dentist.
But Lury's case was in front of the examiners again after they heard from a patient that he treated her for a filling on Nov. 1 and saw her again, after she complained of jaw pain, on Nov. 10, in his office at 1090 Toll Gate Rd. Examiners said the patient told them he took an x-ray of her tooth on that occasion, wrote a referral for her and scheduled another appointment for Nov. 26. Examiners said the woman also told them a dental hygienist and other patients were in the office on Nov. 10. Examiners said they verified that he saw at least one other patient after the Nov. 2 deadline and determined that his continuing practice of dentistry constituted an immediate danger to the public.
Another part of the voluntary agreement was that Lury would not seek to establish another practice outside of the jurisdiction of Rhode Island. The voluntary agreement also made it clear that Health Department inspectors found him in civil non-compliance of state codes and no evidence or charges of illegally providing drugs were provided in the consent agreement. Lury has 10 days to ask for an administrative hearing on the summary suspension.
Before his suspension and retirement, Lury had been practicing dentistry in Rhode Island since 1997, according to the documents, and is a 1977 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine.
This is alarming. You can never really tell if you are working with a fake or a suspended professional unless you do a background check. I personally have no time for that and what I normally do is call 888-747-0038. Because they have a list of accredited and licensed dentists guaranteed to provide professional service.


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Police and emergency crews have responded to hundreds of accidents in several states that stranded cars along the road and caused dozens of pileups and major traffic jams. Thousands of flights were also canceled. NBC's Dylan Dreyer reports.
Up north, snowplows are armadas — hundreds of them that fan out over and over to clear the streets during the punishing storms of winter. If they're handled carelessly, as more than one mayor of New York has learned, there's political hell to pay.
Not so for Columbia, S.C., which has a grand total of nine.
"They usually hang in the shed," said Robert Sweatt, the city's superintendent of street maintenance. "When we need them, we pull them out."
The Arctic weather system is expected to move north, producing a shift in current weather patterns. NBC's Al Roker reports.
On Tuesday, the city was ready to give them a workout for the first time in at least three years. A rare winter storm stretched from Texas to Virginia, grounding thousands of flights and making a snowy, icy mess of roads.
Traffic came to a complete stop in the Atlanta area, where a traffic officer delivered a baby late Tuesday afternoon in the back seat of the car for a couple who were stranded in icy conditions on Interstate 285 in the suburb of Sandy Springs. A spokesman for the Sandy Springs police said mom and baby, who weren't identified, were doing fine.
Classes were canceled from Texas to the Carolinas, while some school districts that did open told parents it would be safer to simply let their kids stay at school overnight.
Related: Aaaaugh! Hundreds of kids stranded at schools in Georgia, Alabama
The Home Depot hardware chain said it was keeping 14 Atlanta-area stores open overnight to provide shelter for stranded motorists, hundreds of thousands of whom were dumped onto the region's highways — already among the nation's most clogged — by early-closing businesses.
At 11:45 p.m. ET, the Atlanta traffic map still looked eerily like an illustration of the chart of the human heart, with red lines leading in all directions:
Even Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said he'd been personally stuck unmoving in traffic for more than an hour.
Shortly before midnight, Deal told reporters he hoped road crews would finally be able to get to some of the interstate parking lots "in the next couple of hours."
"We are going to have to look for the best in human behavior out there," Deal said. "We are handling it one call at a time, trying to get to those who are stranded."
Forecasters said the storm would push through by Wednesday, but not before dumping as much as a foot of snow on Virginia Beach, Va., as much as 6 inches on Raleigh, N.C., and as much as 4 inches on Columbia.
"If we get a lot of snow, usually we can work with that snow over two-three days and it'll get gone," Sweatt said. "That's my plan. As far as my counterparts up north, my hat's off. I don't think I'd want to do that."
Sub-zero temperatures are keeping millions across the Midwest bundled up. Many areas won't see the mercury go above zero, and schools are closed from Minnesota to Pittsburgh. NBC's John Yang reports
The flight-tracking site FlightAware said more than 3,200 flights had been scrapped by 10 p.m. ET, most of them in the travel hubs of Atlanta, Chicago and Houston. All arrivals and departures were canceled at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans and at Savannah/Hilton Head Airport in Georgia.
Related: How locked-in weather spreads woe from Alaska to Alabama
Farther north, millions of people suffered Tuesday under another day of deep freeze. Subzero temperatures stretched from Montana to Pennsylvania. It was 11 below zero as the sun came up in Chicago, 8 below in Pittsburgh and 6 below in Cincinnati.
At least nine deaths have been blamed on the weather since Sunday, including two adults and two young children who were killed early Tuesday when the mobile home they were staying in burned down in rural Itawamba County, Miss.
The state fire marshal's office said the fire was started by a space heater that was being used to keep nine occupants of the home warm in sub-freezing temperatures.
- The driver of a pickup truck died Tuesday morning in Colorado when the truck collided with snowplow on state Highway 67 near the town of Divide, about 15 miles northwest of Colorado Springs, the state Transportation Department said.
- Two people — a 68-year-old woman and a 37-year-old woman — were killed in separate crashes on icy roadways Tuesday in Surry County, N.C., the county emergency management agency said.
- A 46-year-old man was killed Monday in Midland, Texas, when a pickup truck went out of control on icy U.S. Route 10, overturned and rolled and through the median and slammed into his car, Midland police said in a statement.
- A 40-year-old Rockford, Ill., woman was killed Sunday evening when her car skidded at an icy intersection and rolled over in Winnebago County. The county sheriff's office said her husband and their 7-year-old son were also in the car but were expected to be OK.
The latest blast of frigid weather arrived just as a shortage of propane, the fuel used by 14 million Americans to heat their homes, reached critical proportion, with prices having more than doubled to almost $5 a gallon. Half the country — 26 states — was under some form of emergency declaration easing transportation rules or lowering fees and taxes for propane delivery trucks.
Salt was also in short supply. The bins were already empty Tuesday in the Cleveland suburb of Westlake, which usually goes through 6,000 or so tons a year.
"It makes me terrified," Public Service Director Paul Quinn said. "Our citizens [are[ complaining, and I don't blame them."
Help could be on the way. Quinn said the city had been promised 300 more tons by the weekend.
James Brady, Gabe Guttierez and Sara Shookman of NBC News contributed to this report.
This story was originally published on Tue Jan 28, 2014 9:13 AM EST


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- Gold Reef City: this amusement park is built on an old gold mine, and is based around the gold rush.
- Victoria & Alfred Waterfront: you'll find shops, restaurants and more at this 123-hectare development which welcomes 24 million visitors annually.
- Cradle of Humankind: a UNESCO World Heritage Site spanning over 130.000 acres and full of archaeological delights.
- Boulders Beach: home to a free-roaming colony of African penguins.
- Constitution Hill: an infamous prison which is now home to exhibitions about local history.
- Table Mountain: take a day to hike up the mountain and experience to beautiful views of the city.
- Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden: enjoy well-kept gardens away from the city.
- Cape Point Nature Reserve: the point where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet just outside Cape Town.
- Kruger National Park: different kinds of exotic animals in vast open lands in Nelspruit.
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Morenci's Town and Country Festival will go on as planned June 27-29, but what about the next year?
Festival committee members aren't sure what's in store for the future.
"We're at a crossroads," said committee member Barb Foss. "There might very well not be a festival next year."
The group is looking for more volunteers, more ideas and more sources of revenue.
"We want the public to know that it costs from $10,000 to $15,000 annually," Foss said, "and most of what we offer doesn't pay a return."
There's no admission charged for fireworks, for example, and the cost of the show is around $5,000. A few thousand dollars are spent on bands and those are also offered free.
Foss said it's difficult finding a carnival that will sign a contract without a guaranteed minimum profit. The agreements bring the festival little, if any, income.
"The rodeo was successful last year," she said, "but we barely covered their fee."
Foss says committee members approach the same local businesses over and over for donations and she knows there are limits to that endeavor, especially during the existing tough economy.
"We're all very concerned," she said. "We don't know how we're going to get more money."
She said the committee is very open to listening to ideas, not only for fund raising but also for making the festival better. She's certain there are people in the area with good ideas, but they seldom step forward to present them.
"They don't have to take charge of it," she said, "just give us the ideas."
This year's festival will take on more of a family day atmosphere on Sunday. There will be no mud bog, but a BMX bicycle race is planned. The chicken dinner might be moved to Sunday, also, she said.
"We're going to try some different things to bring more people into the park."
The festival committee works at Michigan International Speedway for all three races. With enough help, Foss said, those events are very big fund raisers.
The group is allotted space for 18 workers for each race. Volunteers must be at least 18 years old. The committee is looking for people to work in at least one of the three races.
The committee meets at 7 p.m. on the third Sunday of the month. Anyone from the public is welcome to attend.
For more information or to offer services, call Foss at 517/458-2319 or Sue Snyder at 458-2047.


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Duncan Appoints William J. Taggart to Lead Federal Student Aid Office
Duncan Appoints William J. Taggart to Lead Federal Student Aid Office
Jane Glickman, (202) 401-1576, email@example.com
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced the appointment of William J. Taggart as chief operating officer (COO) of the department's Federal Student Aid office (FSA).
"Taggart is an inspiring leader, and he has the deep operational experience critical to maintaining and improving the major systems at FSA," Secretary Duncan said.
FSA became the federal government's first Performance Based Organization (PBO) when it was established as part of the Higher Education Amendments in 1998. PBOs create incentives for high performance and accountability for results, while allowing more flexibility to promote innovation and increased efficiency.
President Obama's proposed FY 2010 budget would significantly expand the federal student aid programs to make them more efficient and effective in serving students and families seeking help to pay for college. Under the budget proposal, the Department of Education will administer over $129 billion in new grants, loans, and work-study assistance in 2010—a 32 percent increase over the amount available in 2008—to help more than 14 million students and their families pay for college. A major initiative of the plan is for all new parent and student loans to be issued directly from the government rather than through private lenders. The change would save taxpayers an estimated $4 billion a year that will be directed to Federal Pell Grants and other aid for needy students.
Taggart has more than 24 years of business management experience with Fortune 50 U.S. companies. Before joining the Education Department, Taggart was president and chief executive officer of Veritas One Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in strategy execution planning headquartered in Charlotte, NC.
Prior to his work with Veritas One, Taggart served as chief operating officer of corporate and investment banking at Wachovia Corporation, Charlotte, from 2004-2008. With Wachovia since 2000, Taggart served in a number of leadership capacities, including head of client services, president of Info-One, and chief administrative officer, Wachovia Insurance.
Taggart worked for First Union Corporation, Charlotte, from 1995 to 2000, serving as managing director, strategic support services, automation and operations division. From 1984 to 1995, Taggart worked in various technology, consulting and marketing roles for International Business Machines (IBM).
Taggart received a master's degree from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration (1991) and a bachelor's degree in business administration from Howard University (1984).


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Kroger and the American Cancer Society are partnering Sunday, February 5 through Saturday, February 18 to fight cancer. During the two-week campaign, Kroger will urge its customers to donate to the Society and purchase $1 Relay For Life "footprint" icons at Kroger checkouts.
"The American Cancer Society is thrilled for the opportunity to have generous support from Kroger's customers and associates," said Randy Redner, the Society's Vice President for Georgia. "Kroger knows cancer touches so many people and affects so many lives in the communities it serves. With this fundraising campaign, Kroger is taking action to fight cancer and advance the American Cancer Society's quest to create a world with less cancer and more birthdays for everyone."
All 215 stores in Kroger's Atlanta Division – which includes locations in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Eastern Tennessee – will participate in the campaign. "Almost everyone knows someone – a wife, father, brother, sister, grandparent or friend – who has been affected by cancer," says Glynn Jenkins, director of communications and public relations for Kroger's Atlanta Division. "With more than 1.5 million new cancer cases diagnosed each year, Kroger is committed to raising awareness and support for those whose lives have been changed by this disease."
The "footprint" campaign with Kroger is an extension of the Society's Relay For Life, a signature fundraising event, that takes place in more than 5,000 communities nationwide and abroad. There are 159 Relay events every year in Georgia.
Relays bring together everyone in a community – businesses, churches, schools, civic organizations, cancer survivors and caregivers – for an overnight event filled with inspiration and fun. They are held at schools or other locations with tracks for teams to walk around while raising funds and awareness to fight cancer.
Every Relay begins with cancer survivors taking the first lap around a track while other participants cheer them on. After dark, each Relay features a reverent luminary ceremony, with hundreds of candles lit in celebration of those who have survived cancer and in remembrance of those who have lost their battles. The event ends the next morning with closing ceremonies.
For more information on the American Cancer Society, visit www.cancer.org or go to www.relayforlife.org for information on Relay For Life or to find a Relay near you.