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Some fitness clubs are finding it isn't always easy being green. At least two large university rec centers in the Midwest recently pulled the plug on technology retrofitted to their ellipticals that harnessed the energy of a workout and turned it into electrical power to be fed back into the club's electric grid. But other users sing the praises of this technology.
In fall 2009, the Ambler Recreation Fitness Center at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, installed technology to turn 15 elliptical machines into mini power converters designed to promote the center's green profile and reduce electrical power usage and cost. Initially, students were excited about and engaged in the green technology, but that interest began to wane, especially as many of the students said they thought the retrofitted machines' resistance was greater than that of the non-retrofitted ellipticals, says Mary Chappell, director of recreational services at the rec center.
"People want a workout, not to be a workhorse," Chappell says.
In addition to these concerns, the $20,000 investment in the technology was shaving just $35 per month off the rec center's electric bill, she says. In February, Chappell pulled the technology, even though she says that the University of Kansas remains firmly committed to sustainability and green initiatives.
Stan Campbell, director of campus recreation at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln (UNL), tells a similar story about the green technology added to some of his rec center's fitness equipment.
"We have removed the equipment but told the company that we would be interested in trying it again if it became more reliable," Campbell says.
In the meantime, UNL is designing two new facilities with all manner of "green" practices and solutions, including meeting Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification status.
Despite these problems, some fitness facility operators are finding their investments in retrofitting their equipment worthwhile. Stuart Birdseye, assistant director of recreational sports at the University of North Texas (UNT), says its 36 ellipticals that are now retrofitted by ReRev, St. Petersburg, FL, to be green have been a big hit with students and rec center staff alike. Birdseye says UNT has the "largest human power plant" in the country, and that some students even like the idea that higher resistance on the elliptical means producing more electrical power during their workout.
"Our students really like the idea that they are directly contributing to power at the rec center," Birdseye says.
Not all the green technology is added on to equipment. At least one company, SportsArt Fitness, Woodinville, WA, makes a complete green line of cardio equipment, its Green System, that does not need to be retrofitted. This line is UL certified for safe use in commercial facilities, which, the company says, means it offers better reliability.
The SportsArt line also offers new user interfaces that tie in with social media. It features an ECOFIT wireless platform that lets users track, post and share workout results—as well as energy generated—with others via Facebook and Twitter. As members generate watts through their workout, the system credits member accounts with points that can later be used for discounts on club merchandise or specials at local merchants.
Dave Johnson, executive director for ECOFIT, says the software creates a strong incentive for eco-friendly workouts while putting the user in a "green" frame of mind.
"We look for environmentally responsible companies as merchant partners," Johnson says. "We use digital media screens to show messages about energy use and environmental responsibility. People tell us that after their workout they are more careful about turning out lights when they leave a room or maybe opening blinds before they turn lights on."
Software and display panels on equipment motivate members to be more green, says Michael Curnyn, chief strategy and marketing officer for The Green Revolution, a Ridgefield, CT-based company that makes equipment to connect bikes at boutique cycling studios, elementary schools, universities, commercial fitness clubs and corporate health clubs to the grid.
"Classes compete against each other to see who can produce more," Curnyn says. "We can have universities go against one another. We would even like to see a national champion to see who is generating the most electricity."
The University of Oregon has had success with its 14 electricity-generating machines for the past three years. Bryan Haunert, associate director for physical education and recreation at the university, says the goal was never to create great cost savings but rather to have a "sustainable, educational opportunity on campus."
Haunert adds that each football season, in the week leading up to the so-called "Civil War" football game between Oregon and Oregon State, the universities face each other in elliptically produced energy generation.
"We call it the Civil War Energy Challenge," Haunert says, "and it gives us a great opportunity to have some fun and educate people on green energy."
Promotion of green consciousness may, in fact, be the primary capitalization of electricity-generating machines in fitness clubs. Four years ago, Adam Boesel founded The Green Microgym in Portland, OR, with the goal of increasing awareness about green fitness, knowing that the direct financial return on the equipment is not the primary reason for investing in this technology.
"If you do the math on the payback, like you would for solar panels, you will come to the conclusion that it is a bad economic model," Boesel says. However, the technology is just part of an overall green business plan. Club members will always support green initiatives, Boesel says, which means the payoff may come later in higher recruitment and retention.
"Everybody is looking for a gym that has gone green and doubled revenues or doubled membership, but that's not going to happen overnight," Boesel says. "It always takes time. Your motivation has to be that this is good for people and good for the planet."


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Lesson Plan
Avoiding Sexist Language by Using Gender-Fair Pronouns
|9 – 12
|Lesson Plan Type
|Standard Lesson
|Estimated Time
|Two 50-minute sessions
|Lesson Author
Blacksburg, Virginia
This lesson plan engages students in a brief writing assignment that concretely illustrates how language and gender stereotyping interact causally. Students write a response to a short prompt which includes no information about the participants' gender. Once the writing is complete, students and teacher analyze the narratives for the use of pronouns and what the pronoun choices reveal about language use.
In-Class Narrative Writing Assignment: This writing prompt asks students to write a story using specific characters (doctor, judge, nurse), using clear pronouns.
Student Ascriptions of Gender Table: Use this table to analyze the genders students assigned to various characters in their narrative writing assignment.
Purdue OWL: Using Appropriate Language: This resource offers guidelines and tips for avoiding bias and stereotype in language.
As we use language to communicate with one another, we also reveal much about the ways that we think and view; for what we know is revealed in the ways that we talk about the world around us. In his article on epistemic teaching methods, Kenneth Dowst explains: "(1)[W]e do not know the world immediately; rather we compose our knowledge by composing language; (2) how we can act depends on what we know, hence on the language with which we make sense of the world; (3) serious experimenting in composing with words is experimenting in knowing new ways, perhaps better ways. (70)"
By writing and examining a short narrative in this activity, students demonstrate their own assumptions and ways of thinking and how their language use reveals those assumptions. After a discussion of this writing assignment, more students understand why gender-fair pronoun use is encouraged.
Further Reading
This lesson is adapted from: Hayes, Christopher G. "A Brief Writing Assignment for Introducing Non-Sexist Pronoun Usage," Teaching English in the Two-Year College 28.1 (September 2000): 74-77.
Dowst, Kenneth. 1980. "The Epistemic Approach: Writing, Knowing, and Learning." Eight Approaches to Teaching Composition, pp. 65-85. Ed. Timothy R. Donovan and Ben W. McClelland. Urbana, IL: NCTE.

subset: commoncrawl


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Director Ron Howard turns focus on opera legend.
Movie Review: Movie Minute reviews Pavarotti documentary
Has filmmaker Ron Howard hit the right note with his new documentary of opera great Luciano Pavarotti? Check out this week's Movie Minute with Postmedia News film critic Dana Gee and Arts & Life editor Aleesha Harris to see how Howard handled the legendary Italian tenor and High C maestro.


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Hmm now wondering if there is an easier way to do this.
Now ive got the doubles as the scores of each line..
now the max score can be 6.0
the min score is -6.0
i guess i want to add the pipes to the end of the line..
0.1 score is equal to 1 pipe..
instead of going:
etc.. is there a easier way of doing it. The graphs go like this. the blank space before the start is the 60 negative scores.. if its negative the bottom 1 will show how it goes.. the opposite direction to the positive..if(score[m] == 0.1){ Out.println(" |"); } else if(score[m] == 0.2){ Out.println(" ||"); } else if(score[m] == -0.2){ Out.println(" ||"); }
so is there an easier way?


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GG Magazine
Lifestyle. Personalities. Real Estate
GG is your global guide to style and design.
An award-winning, luxury lifestyle magazine, GG blends the worlds of architecture, lifestyle, design and travel with the finest real estate represented by Engel & Völkers.
As one of our most powerful marketing tools, this seasonal publication is available on newsstands throughout Europe and delivered directly to our top clients and local shop locations worldwide. Through GG, Engel & Völkers unlocks exclusive access to some of the most fascinating personalities and stunning geographies while uniquely showcasing our clients' finest listings to a curated audience of global clientele with an appreciation for the best in life.
In This Issue
We take you with us to the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc on the Cap d'Antibes in the south of France. Originally envisaged as a writers' retreat, the hotel has since become an icon of the Côte d'Azur, and is celebrating its 150th birthday this year. For Laura Bailey, model, photographer and Creative Ambassador of the Oetker Collection, it represents classic glamour infused with great creativity. In an interview with Editor-in-Chief Michaela Cordes, she reveals why the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc is such a special place.
Another destination featured in our spring issue is Namibia, where the scenery is truly incredible and the natural world can be experienced up close in safari camps. We also show you on board the recently restored Orient-Express, take an excursion to Mustique, the Caribbean island that became world-famous thanks to Princess Margaret and Mick Jagger, and introduce you to Hotel Mamá in Palma. After all, Majorca is always worth a visit.
Travel the world with us. Visit one of our Engel & Völkers shops closest to you for a complimentary copy, or click below to access the digital issue. Enjoy your read.
Read Now


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Visual Art + Design - Theatre
Welcome to Southeastern's Theatre Area
Over the past several years, our students and our productions have been recognized among the region's finest through the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Our dedicated young performance faculty is comprised of professionals with a wide range of experience including specialization and training in:
- film and media performance,
- Viewpoints,
- Meisner technique,
- Shakespeare and other period performance styles,
- musical theatre,
- and improvisation, among others.
Students learn firsthand from those who have acted or directed in such venues as The Actors Studio, 13th Street Repertory Theatre, The New School for Drama, Madison Square Garden, The Kennedy Center, Cleveland Playhouse, The Hudson Guild, Cleveland Public Theatre, etc.
All Southeastern Louisiana University theatre productions are built and/or designed by undergraduate students. Our student designers have been recognized for their work at both the state and regional level. Southeastern theatre alumni are currently working for such prestigious theatre/film/television companies as The Blue Man Group, ESPN, Martha Stewart, The New York City Fringe Festival and numerous Off-Broadway and film endeavors.
Southeastern Louisiana University's theatre area is designed to give undergraduate students hands-on experience and the preparation, training and exposure needed to pursue professional careers and/or graduate training in Acting, Design, Technical Theatre, Directing and Playwriting. Our challenging undergraduate curriculum within a liberal arts environment offer students knowledge and appreciation of the performing arts at a consistently recognized level of excellence.
Theatre Updates
Students from the APO Theatre Honorary donated money to The Rose Theatre in London, England. To learn more about our Communication and Theatre in London, England please visit www.southeastern.edu/studyabroad.


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Previous Lecture
Complete and continue
Usui Reiki Level 1 Certification
Introduction and Preparation
Meet Your Sensei (7:31)
Everybody has a story...Here is how Reiki Saved My Life - LITERALLY!! (13:21)
Reiki Level 1 - Course Game Plan (3:45)
Closed Reiki Student Facebook Group
Initial Grounding & Aligning Meditation (30:49)
Foundations - Quick and Informative
The 5 Reiki Principles (10:00)
Meet Sensei Mikao Usui (10:17)
Meet Hayashi and Takata (2:57)
About Reiki - The Beauty of this Healing Art
Reiki - The Word & The Levels (3:33)
Reiki & It's Power (15:15)
WTF is Reiki and How to Explain it to others (29:13)
The Importance of Grounding & Protection (25:32)
7 Reasons Why Reiki Won't Work (1:25)
Energy, Frequencies & Vibrations - It's a Whole New World
Energy 101 & The Energy Body (14:07)
Moving Meditation (34:39)
Chakra Talk (12:08)
Inner Light Fusion and Chakra Activation Meditation (37:48)
Let's Open Your Reiki Channel
The Attunement - What is it? (13:23)
Before and After Your Attunement
Your Attunement - Many Blessings (28:14)
Sense & Sensibilities (4:32)
Various Healing Hand Positions
Practice, Practice, Practice
Preparation of your space (7:41)
Time to Reiki Yourself...Get Set, Ready Go (4:53)
Full Treatment Positions - Close Family and Friends (17:50)
Performing Seated Reiki - Close Family and Friends (5:04)
Self Healing & Facilitating Healing
Understanding the Pendulum (13:03)
Plants and Animals (12:51)
Ethics, Forms and Documents
Code of Ethics
Forms - Reiki Recipient Form
Moving Meditation
Lecture content locked
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text: Built in 1992, then renovated in 1998, the Macomber Boathouse is the home for Wesleyan men's and women's crew. Located just 1/2 mile from campus on the Connecticut River in the Harbor Park area of Middletown, the boathouse has two stories. On the upper level are locker rooms for both the men and women as well as two workout/meeting rooms and a balcony overlooking the river. On the lower level are three bays which provide ample storage for the teams' top-of-the-line equipment.


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TzScan, the Block Explorer for Tezos.
TzScan is a block explorer for Tezos, written by the OCamlPro team.
Compared to other block explorers, TzScan does not only display the raw content of the blockchain, but tries to interpret this content and show its meaning for the network. Proof-of-stake and delegations become easier to grasp this way. The prototype of Tezos was initially designed and developed at OCamlPro since 2014.


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The Cottagers are four points adrift of safety with nine matches to play, beginning at home to the Magpies, who are without Pardew for the first of seven matches due to his ban for headbutting Hull midfielder David Meyler.
"Every team has his manager beside normally, so it's not usual
It could be a chance for us
(But) always you have to take the chance," Magath said.
"Everybody makes mistakes
He was punished
That's it."
Magath has called on his players to wake up to their predicament at the bottom of the table and seize their chance against Newcastle.
"The most important thing is to win one game to give the players and the team more confidence," said Magath, who has one point from his three matches in charge.
"We didn't take the chance three times
Now we have to take the chance tomorrow in the home game against Newcastle.
"We've got the chance to take three points
If we can realise that I think we have a good chance (of survival)."
Magath targeted six wins from 12 games on his appointment, but is still chasing his first.
He believes results at Craven Cottage will be key, with the Magpies, Everton, Norwich, Hull and Crystal Palace still to come, and thinks six wins is still achievable.
He added: "Now we have five home games left
I think it is possible to win the home games and take a win from the away games, too."
Winger Ashkan Dejagah faces a fitness test to determine if he can play after picking up an injury in last week's loss at Cardiff.
Midfielder Georgios Karagounis is out with a muscle strain suffered in south Wales, joining Scott Parker (knee) in the treatment room.
Parker could be back next week but Damien Duff (knee) is out for the rest of the season.
Pardew will set his team out in advance but leading scorer Loic Remy is likely to miss the next three games with a calf problem, and he will be joined on the sidelines by full-back Mathieu Debuchy, who has a groin problem and will sit out at least the same period
Central defender Fabricio Coloccini returns after a family bereavement, but keeper Rob Elliot and full-back Davide Santon (both knee) remain doubts and midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa will not be included because of a family illness.
Newcastle skipper Coloccini insists Pardew has the full support of his players as he prepares for his enforced exile.
The 52-year-old boss will begin this three-match stadium ban and will subsequently spend four matches watching from the stands as part of his punishment for headbutting Meyler.
Pardew has also been fined a total of ?160,000 and left in little doubt that his behaviour at the KC Stadium, where his side won 4-1, was unacceptable.
However, while the contrite Newcastle manager readies himself to deal with the consequences of his actions, Coloccini has confirmed that he has the backing of the dressing room.
The 32-year-old Argentina international said: "Of course we are behind him
He's the manager and he is like our team-mate
The players and the club support him.
"He knows what he did
It's finished
All of us can do something wrong.
"After these seven games, he is going to have the chance to show to everyone it was a mistake, and no more than that."
Pardew will give his team-talk at the hotel before handing over the reins to assistant John Carver as the players board the bus for Craven Cottage, and will be helpless from that point on.
But he has faith in Carver, who worked under Sir Bobby Robson at St James' Park and led the club to a 3-0 Barclays Premier League victory over Blackburn as caretaker manager in September 2004.
And the players share that trust.
Coloccini said: "He's an experienced man
He was here for the best years when Sir Bobby Robson was here.
"It's nothing new for him
He has all of our help."
Source : PA
Source: PA


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Faster Internet at the Pine Gulch Data Center - jimthompson.org
Luckily for Jim, he is enrolled via Earthlink so he doesn't have to deal with email address switching.
We received notice back on July 20th via email that we would soon be getting another email advising us it was time to convert email from the houston.rr.com domain to the Comcast one. We are still waiting for that one. I'm not too worried as I can't imagine too many folks are enrolled in Comcast broadband with our "real" Germanic surname. It remains pretty rare.
Anyway, earlier this week just past dinnertime, Alvis was on the couch firing up the laptop to do a final check of her social-networking sites. However the laptop was failing to grab an IP address for network connectivity. I did a quick refresh/renew and nothing. I checked the wiring and home router and saw that no WAN connectivity was flowing. So I checked downstream and looked at the cable modem. Only two lights were fluttering instead of the usual five to six. I reset it a few times but nothing.
Since the cable itself was working, I figured the Comcast network upgrade in our East Harris County area had began. (Or maybe it was just a storm-related interruption.) We eschewed technology for the rest of the night and just did some family reading time.
Next day the Tubes were flowing again and I thought nothing of it; until Jim's post that is.
Testing, Testing...
Jim posted his speed-test results yesterday:
Via Speedtest.net: 6317 kb/s download and 240 kb/s upload
Via Speakeasy: 6240 kb/s download and 241 kb/s upload
Jim seemed pretty happy with the results...although they seemed close to what we were getting here before.
TechBlog Captain Dwight Silverman got quite better results: (Note Jim and I are testing against the Dallas servers...Dwight journeyed to Oklahoma for his.)
Via Speedtest.net: 6675 kb/s download and 1790 kb/s upload
Via Speakeasy: 9514 kb/s download and 1742 kb/s upload
So I decided to check things out here at the Valca nodal point:
Last Night:
Via Speedtest.net: 8306 kb/s download and 1439 kb/s upload
Via Speakeasy: 15455 kb/s download and 2048 kb/s upload
I had to run the speakeasy one several times to be sure, but yep. That's what it consistently hit.
This Morning
So in composing this post I ran it again this morning.
Via Speedtest.net: 19168 kb/s download and 1519 kb/s upload
Via Speakeasy: 21828 kb/s download and 1959 kb/s upload
Great Green Gorilla Goop, Batman! The Joker must have dumped a ton of grease from the fry vat into the tubes out here near the Batcave!
I don't know if these speeds will hold up in the long-run or not...but this seems quite incredible to me. I can't help but keep running the test over and over again just to see the numbers come up. I've never been a gambler but is this what Slots players feel?
Might the Modem Model Help?
I also don't know if Jim has an "older"
TimeWarner Comcast modem. If anyone doesn't, I would highly recommend taking the time and trouble to exchange the older ones out for a new one.
Our modem is just over a year old and was new out of the replacement box. At that time I was getting about 13344 kb/s download speed at peak with averages around the 5000-8000 kb/s range. So even though that was high, the new speed is significantly better.
I'm sure there are other factors at work as well here.
Simply amazing.
And the crazy thing is I feel a bit guilty for it being that much higher over my respected friends' speeds.


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Section - Banner
Research Grants
The Research Grants and Data Management Division offers a full range of post-award services to the Research Institute community. It serves as a liaison between researchers, Research Institute administrators, sponsors, and funding agencies.
Activities include opening new grant accounts, monitoring institutional compliance with terms and conditions of grants or contracts, billing and financial reporting, and closeout of awards and contracts. The Division also administers postdoctoral research fellowships awarded by external funding agencies.
The Research Grants and Data Management Division develops policies and procedures to ensure:
• compliance and eligibility with sponsor regulations
• proper financial management of research funds
• effective conduct of research in accordance with highest standards of ethics, professionalism and safety.
The Division is also responsible for managing, compiling, and analysing data about the RI-MUHC's approximately 600 researchers. Data include but are not limited to funding, publications, scientific impact, student supervision, and collaborations. The Data Management Office also plans and coordinates data exchange with McGill University, other McGill-affiliated research institutes and between divisions.
For more information, please contact Susan James, Director, Research Grants and Data Management at firstname.lastname@example.com
Montréal, QC H3H 2R9
Fax: 514 934-8270


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Kessler Horty
Sometimes you have to sail away from the safe harbor and experience the world on your own before you can realize that the town you grew up in (if it's anything like the town of Camden) is one of the best places you can choose to be. And that's exactly what Kessler did.
Growing up in a family passionate about art, architecture, and real estate helped shape Kessler's interests from a young age. However, Kessler wasn't so sure how he would use these foundations in his own career until he graduated from Ithaca College and moved to Huntington Beach, California where he began his real estate career.
After a few years, Kessler decided to relocate back to Maine so he could experience the four-seasons again. Upon returning, he moved to Portland and obtained his Associate Broker's License. He worked as the team coordinator for the number one RE/MAX team in New England for two years, and enjoyed every minute of it.
Returning to Camden was a natural progression from there. Kessler is proud to be a part of the wonderful business he has watched his father create, and he is happy to return to the close-knit community he has always called home.
Kessler is an active, upbeat, team member with a distinguishable laugh. He loves to talk about houses, but he can also catch you up on the latest sports news. He will work hard to answer any questions you may have, and he places a high value on providing excellent customer service.
When he is not working with the team, Kessler enjoys working on home improvement projects and spending time outdoors with his wife, Adrienne, their son Desmond, daughter Arden and Bernese Mountain Dog, Mady.
Phone: 207-272-9346
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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First Commentary by Adam-Troy Castro
Fright Night (1985). Directed by Tom Holland. Screenplay by Tom Holland. Starring William Ragsdale, Christopher Sarandon, Amanda Bearse, Roddy McDowall. 106 minutes. ** 1/2
Fright Night (2011). Directed by Craig Gillespie. Screenplay by Marti Noxon, from the prior screenplay by Tom Holland. Starring Alton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, Toni Collette. 106 minutes (one of the rare sequels the same length as the original, to the minute). * 1/2
Related Films Not Covered Here: Fright Night Part Two (1988)
You are a rather unremarkable and not very interesting suburban teen with a loving girlfriend, an outcast friend and a single Mom. Your life is unexamined, though it's safe to say that there's not really all that much worth examining. You're not exactly Holden Caulfield. But then one day the vacant house next door sells to a new owner: a fellow who, it turns out, is a vampire intent on making your neighborhood his new feeding grounds. You can't get anybody to believe you. Your only hope is a local celebrity named Peter Vincent, who incorporates vampire mythology as part of his act and who might be induced to see you as something more than a fanboy who needs to get out more.
This is the premise of two teen horror comedies made 26 years apart, and the first thing we need to say here is that we're not about to overstate the quality of either one of them. The first one featured a fine late-career performance by Roddy McDowall as the vampire hunter and a smoldering performance by Chris Sarandon as the vampire, but is otherwise not tremendously overflowing with wit, interesting variations on vampire tropes or genuine scares. It's just a dopey, time-killing, amusing and frequently very fun but ultimately wholly forgettable piece of multiplex fodder. It would only be remade in a remake-mad cinematic climate where vague title recognition is considered more important than, you know, a fresh story. Similarly, the second plays many of the same notes – albeit to lesser effect – and is not wholly devoid of entertainment value, but otherwise doesn't provide much for audiences who want to remember their movies longer than it takes to drive home afterward.
Both movies have a regrettable void at their center: the character of Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale in the original, Anton Yelchin in the remake), a kid who is just a generically good-looking teen played by somebody not in his teens, whose character is never at any point any deeper than what's happening to him at any given moment. In the first film, his major issue is trying to get his girlfriend to put out for him; in the second, it's a desire for popularity so overwhelming that he's re-invented himself to be one of the cool kids and completely forsaken his nerdy old friend, "Evil" Ed (Christopher Mintz=Plasse). It's a minor point, even so, sped past for the benefit of an audience that would rather get to the so-called "good stuff;" it certainly doesn't make him at all interesting. He doesn't grow in any particular way, he doesn't discover himself in any particular way, and though he must act as a hero by the time the action is over, there's no real sense of him rising to the occasion, as the most satisfying heroes must.
Both Charleys are also intensely stupid, in their way. Here's an intelligence test: if you find out that your next-door neighbor is a vampire, who has murdered at least one local hooker, do you blurt out "he's a vampire!" to anybody who can help you, thus making them see you as a delusional crank? Or do you employ more subtlety, showing instead of telling? In the first film, Charley first becomes suspicious of his neighbor when the beautiful young woman who arrives in a cab to visit his next-door neighbor is recognizably the murdered hooker the TV newscast references the next morning. Okay, so this is not the kind of thing you want taking place next door, and Charley does (after waffling about it) call the police. However, blurting out in the presence of a skeptical detective that he search the basement for the vampire's coffin is clearly not nearly as promising a tactic as what Charley doesn't do, namely advise the detective that the hooker arrived in a cab and suggest that the cab driver might be able to corroborate her arrival at this particular address on this particular day, mere hours before her body was found. Also, both Charleys, seeking help from their respective versions of Peter Vincent, are adorably certain that the two show-biz figures actually do believe in vampires and actually have experience in fighting them. These are boys who have reached their late teens and still haven't absorbed the elemental lesson that the people they see on television, playing parts, may not be exactly like the people they play. Their naivete might have made more sense had the two Charleys been about five or six years younger, media-saturated kids who actually believed the shit they watched, but the Charleys we get seem too too old to be so inept at distinguishing fact from fiction, artifice from reality, in the case of Peter Vincent, that they seem almost mentally ill.
The 26 year interval between the two films does present us with some interesting contrasts. For instance, watching the old film after an exposure to the new, one realizes that we've completely lost what used to be a vital device in cinematic shorthand, to wit: am abandoned television set showing nothing but static in the wee hours of the morning, thus establishing that nobody was paying attention when the station ended its broadcasting day. Yes, once upon a time, you could really turn on TV at 3 AM and find nothing but snow, rendering literal the standard complaint that nothing was on. This is no longer the state of affairs in a world of 500 channels of 24/7 programming, so this oft-used cinematic shorthand has gone the way of the dodo.
More to the point, the character type McDowall played in the 1985 film no longer existed by 2011. In 1985 Peter Vincent was an old-time horror movie actor, of the Peter Cushing / Vincent Price / Christopher Lee type, who has fallen on hard times and is now employed as a local-TV "horror host" – a personality of the sort who was once used to introduce a station's horror movies, with some kind of witty in-character banter. There used to be a dozen of these guys (and some girls), up and down the dial – when there were dials – and some of them had followings so loyal that fans tuned in to see the shtick more than the show it introduced. No less a personage than Alfred Hitchcock did a version of the horror host, a cartoonishly macabre version of himself, for every episode of his anthology program, though most of the people we're talking about were introducing mostly-bad old movies and not original productions like Hitchcock's. In 1985, Peter Vincent reduced to horror host was an effective, if only barely-explored, exercise in presenting us with the plight of a once-famous man now reduced to cannibalizing what was left of his notoriety. He was such an instantly sympathetic secondary protagonist that many of this viewer's complaints about the movie would be negated if viewpoint character Charley were removed or given less time, and Vincent rendered the main figure.
But a quarter of a century later, there were no horror hosts, really; some of the older members of the remake's target audience might have remembered Elvira, but that was about it. So Vincent's character had to be re-invented completely, and here became a big-time Las Vegas magician, who uses vampire lore as part of his shtick. This was a clever bit of story surgery, and was probably necessary given that the earlier model of the character no longer worked, but…really. In terms of sheer likeability, the difference between a broken-down old actor holding on to the memorabilia of past accomplishments, who has been fired from his TV-host job and is about to be evicted from his home, and a wealthy Vegas entertainer living in a luxurious penthouse along with a super-model girlfriend he treats like crap, is night and day. One is a poor fellow who becomes what he once pretended to be; the other is a rich asshole who doesn't even have enough heart to grieve for thirty seconds when the girlfriend he had just been screaming at is gorily murdered.
One would almost forgive that last touch if the second Peter Vincent was supposed to be, not just a rich prick, but an outright sociopath. But no. It's just unforgivably bad story construction. The movie simply fails to notice that Peter Vincent should feel more over the death of a woman he lived with, even if he didn't like her much. (Perhaps especially if he hadn't liked her much.)
The screenplay was written by Marti Noxon, who as a major contributor to TV's Buffy The Vampire Slayer should have done better; we can only guess if what was on-screen reflects her work or if it was mangled afterward. But it's not the screenplay's only violation of basic human nature. What follows is a pet peeve of mine. Any thriller where a character's loved one – or even somebody they just sorta kinda like — dies in horrific circumstances, where those circumstances are later overcome at great personal risk, and where the person who should now finally have time to mourn his loss makes light-hearted jokes with his fellow survivors, just to provide an undiscerning audience with the fake comfort of a supposedly happy ending, is absolute bullshit. Give the ending of the remake more than five seconds of thought and it's not just bad; it's downright revolting. (For an example of a movie that gets it right, see the somber mood of the survivors even as they wait to be rescued at the end of the original The Poseidon Adventure. Ernest Borgnine looks back at the disaster that claimed his wife, and weeps.)
Another bad innovation of the 2011 version: the revelation that its Peter Vincent actually has a vampire-related tragedy in his past (a bloodsucker killed his parents), and has thus spent his life collecting artifacts that include the very same artifacts vital to killing this movie's bloodsucking fiend.
The major problem with this is that it's profoundly shitty storytelling.
Why is it profoundly shitty storytelling?
Let us summarize.
What's more satisfying?
1) A naïve kid who, upon discovering that his new next-door neighbor is a vampire, goes to a vampire-shtick celebrity who happens to live within commuting distance, but who doesn't have the answers he needs, and who therefore has to overcome his very real limitations to become the hero anyway.
2) That very same naïve kid making the same unsettling discovery and going to another vampire-shtick celebrity who also happens to live within commuting distance… and who by sheer convenient coincidence actually does own the artifacts necessary for killing this particular vampire, because he secretly knows vampires exist and is in fact motivated by the childhood loss of his parents and who ultimately finds out that his parents were killed by that very same vampire? Man! That is known as wrapping too much up in a bow. It is known as being fortunate that you have the screenwriter on your side!
David Tennant, who played the 2011 Peter Vincent, has shown in another venue I won't insult you by naming that he excels at playing flamboyant characters who fight monsters. But this film gives him precious little to do except scream insults at his girlfriend before joining Charley's fight. He certainly gets nothing to do as satisfying as the seesaw of mingled horror and pity that McDowall so splendidly emotes while watching one recently-turned vampire writhe in its lengthy death throes. (It's one of the best performances of McDowall's late career, though for absolute best you need to check out a suspenseful little film called Dead Of Winter.)
For some reason, I wrote off Christopher Sarandon as male-model bland in 1985, but seeing the movie for the first time in a quarter-century appreciate the nuances in his performance now; I especially like a lengthy nightclub scene, detailing the seduction of Charley's girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse), which really is nicely put together. And he shows a significant sense of humor, throughout. I find it oddly interesting that, when first revealed as a vampire, he gives Charley a chance to just mind his own business before declaring war; I can only wonder why (maybe as a courtesy to a neighbor?), but it is an interesting bit of character nuance. (And I wonder where the story would have gone if Charley had said yes; would we have had scenes of him earning extra money by mowing the vampire's lawn, while nodding at the latest prostitute to be dropped off by cab?) Sarandon is certainly a highlight of the first film, almost as important as McDowall is. Colin Farrell's vampire is by contrast just a smirking asshole, even if he does get at least one somewhat-suspenseful early scene, in which Charley tries to escape the house with a girl who's stayed to be dinner. The two movies have different bumpy routes to the finale, and each boast effective set-pieces not duplicated by the other – the pathetic apparent death of the vampirized Evil Ed in 1985, a fine attempt to get away from the vampire by car in 2011, a superior nightclub scene in 1985, the sad fate of a victim Charley manages to free in 2011– but, to this viewer, neither really congeal as movies worth falling in permanent love with. It's simply not worth a scene-by-scene comparison. The stories are not strong enough, not memorable enough, to render the exercise worth the effort.
One thing's for sure. Remakes can be most confidently dismissed as gratuitous when the first movie isn't all that great and the remake isn't either – indeed, when the remake has so few notes of its own to play that it makes a point of ticking off the bad guy's fondness for apples. Talk about sad.
I do, however, love the name of the 2011 leading lady, Imogen Poots.
And now, the wife creeps in through an unguarded door, carrying a stake and a crossbow…
Second Commentary by Judi B. Castro
Fright Night (1985). Directed by Tom Holland. Screenplay by Tom Holland. Starring William Ragsdale, Christopher Sarandon, Amanda Bearse, Roddy McDowall. 106 minutes. ** 1/2
Fright Night (2011). Directed by Craig Gillespie. Screenplay by Marti Noxon, from the prior screenplay by Tom Holland. Starring Alton Yelchin, Colin Farrel, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, Toni Collette. 106 minutes (one of the rare sequels the same length as the original, to the minute). *1/2
Related Films Not Covered Here: Fright Night Part Two (1988)
I was so darn excited to get into these films.
I remembered the first film with great fondness. Not for its greatness in and of itself mind you, but for the sheer fun I had watching it all those years ago. I remember seeing Chris Sarandon at a Horror convention and thinking not about his truly fun Humperdinck, but only his sexy vampire. This was how I felt a modern vampire story should play out, and I held that memory as a cherished possession all this time.
Then that memory was soiled by the horrid, poorly understood remake made by folks who DEFINITELY should know better!
Yes, I know, vampires are evil, nasty ratlike creatures, who go for the easy pickings and low hanging fruit, but come on guys! Where the Sarandon vamp is suave and smooth, the Colin Farrel one is sleaze personified. Sure they are both great looking, but Farrel doesn't even bother with seduction, just calling hookers and having his meals delivered. His threats are clear and unveiled, no trying to just scare the kid off, just let him know that he and his are on the list. Sarandon's vampire tries everything to avoid killing the kid, well until the virgin girlfriend comes into his sights. Even then he still seems to prefer seduction to killing in the overall scheme of things.
And, maybe today's audiences don't have the wherewithal to sit through a bit of storytelling, since the new film eschews most of the creepy atmosphere and build up to get right to the attacks and effects.
Now, let's compare our Peter Vincents.
Roddy McDowall, aging child/adult star, playing aging former horror movie dude, now relegated to late night horror host. Got it! When I was a kid, these hosts were pretty common, not so much now. I asked a twenty something that I work with about Elvira and she only "kinda thought" she had heard of the character, couldn't describe her or place her in any way. I get the need for an update, but unfortunately, as much as I ADORE David Tennant (yes, I am a Whovian), the character given to him is too damn successful to care about the story these kids bring to him. Come on again writers! The vampire is the same one that killed his family and so he gets to play vengeance chicken. Nuuh Uhh! No how! No way! Too stupid even for the youngest teens. Did that idea come from the 7-11 school of screenwriting, because my teachers would have blown cannon holes through it all.
Now, this doesn't mean that the new film has no redeeming values. David Tennant is still great (blinders are removed from my eyes here, I loved his Hamlet too!), despite the limitations of the character. Colin Farrel seems to enjoy phoning in his vampire thug. I always enjoy watching Toni Collette play American. And the kids honestly try real hard to get across the fears. But again, the original, for all the flawed deliveries and dated material (G-d I hate the look of early eighties hair/clothing), still produces more punch per minute, than the 2011 film can muster in any thirty.


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YOGA DOG ~ CERAMIC COFFEE MUG 11oz
What better way to start the day than with our Eat More Plants mug.
This porcelain mug is so cool that it will be the only cup you would want to use around your house. At 11oz, this cup is large enough for coffee, tea, soup or cereal
Porcelain mugs comfortably hold drinks up to 170 degrees.
Microwave safe.
Handwash to protect food-safe inks.
Imported, printed in the USA.
Color: White


text: Intel LGA1156 Platform / Intel® P55 Express Chipset True USB 3.0 or SATA 6Gb/s Support - Future Transfer Technology ASUS Hybrid Technology ASUS 16 Hybrid Phase Design**16 Hybrid Phase = 12+2 Phase x T.ProbeTurboV EVO - Ultimate O.C. Processor T.Probe - Leading Active Cooling Technology Shop Modal header CPU, Chipset and Graphics features LGA1156 Intel® Lynnfield/Clarkdale Processor Ready This motherboard supports the latest Intel® Lynnfield / Clarkdale processors in LGA1156 package, which has memory and PCI Express controller integrated to support 2-channel (4 DIMMs) DDR3 memory and 16 PCI Express 2.0 lanes, enabling higher graphics performance. Intel® Lynnfield / Clarkdale processor is one of the most powerful and energy efficient CPU in the world. Quad-GPU CrossFireX Support! P7P55D-E brings you the multi-GPU CrossFireX. The motherboard features the most powerful Intel P55 platform to optimize PCIe allocation in multiple GPU configurations. Expect a brand-new gaming style you've never experienced before!* The ATI® CrossFireX™ Technology requires the second PCIe x16 slot (black) to run at x4 mode. Intel P55 The Intel® P55 Express Chipset is the latest one-chipset design to support latest 1156 socket Intel® Core™ i7/Core™ i5 Processors. Intel® P55 providing improved performance by utilizing serial point-to-point links, allowing increased bandwidth and stability. PCIe 2.0 Double Speed; Double BandwidthThis motherboard supports the latest PCIe 2.0 devices for double speed and bandwidth which enhances system performance. Memory Features Dual-Channel DDR3 2200(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 support The motherboard supports DDR3 memory that features data transfer rates of 2200(O.C.) / 1600 /1333 / 1066 MHz to meet the higher bandwidth requirements of the latest 3D graphics, multimedia, and Internet applications. The dual-channel DDR3 architecture enlarges the bandwidth of your system memory to boost system performance. 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Intelligently push systems to the fastest, stable clock speeds with Auto-Tuning. Turbo Key boosts performance with a simple touch, while TurboV offers additional advanced options for breaking those records! Auto Tuning Auto System Level UpAchieve extreme yet stable overclocking results automatically with Auto Tuning! With built-in stability testing, Auto Tuning lets even beginners improve performance with no additional cost. ASUS Xtreme Design - Hybrid Phase ASUS 12+2 Phase Power Design Unprecedented Innovation with the Best Quality Component for Best PerformanceThe groundbreaking 12+2 phase VRM design is brrought to the ASUS motherboards. 12+2 phase power design, 12-phase for vCore and extra 2-phase for Memory controller inside CPU, can provide the highest power efficiency, and hence generates less heat to effectively enhance the overclocking capability. 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First Look: Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken in Washington D.C.
Another major player in the fried chicken and doughnuts phenomenon sweeping D.C. this year is Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken. It finally opened in early April, after long delays concerning a custom-made dumbwaiter, and it's quickly become a Penn Quarter hotspot for breakfast and lunch.
We spoke with co-owner Elliot Spaisman and chef Jason Gehring back in January for a preview of their extensive doughnut offerings, but now that the shop is open, we had to pop in again to sample the chicken.
Astro exists as a tiny take-out counter adjacent to The Laughing Man Tavern, steps away from Metro Center. They also share kitchen space with Laughing Man downstairs, hence the dumbwaiter, which is used to ferry doughnuts and chicken up and down. So far, the overwhelming response from the neighborhood has necessitated that Astro stick mostly to serving only the classic buttermilk chicken. With such a small staff and high demand, Gehring is still smoothing out kinks in the workflow before adding members to his team. The buttermilk fried chicken is the classic brined and salted Southern-style chicken.
What's New On Serious Eats
While the morning hours (8 until 10:30 a.m.) are meant primarily to be a coffee and doughnuts affair, Spaisman and Gehring have actually been surprised with how many people have demanded fried chicken. Luckily, they'll soon be introducing a Chicken BLT ($7). A concoction of a savory chive, bacon, cheddar doughnut (without the hole) and fried chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a Sriracha mayo. Gehring also recently began serving his spicy garlic glazed chicken. Double fried and flavored with garlic and soy, Gehring calls it "the closest I could come to my own Korean fried chicken." It's spicy, sweet, crispy, and messy, but worth it. Spaisman's Sriracha glaze chicken is still forthcoming.
On the doughnut side of things, as we mentioned in our preview, there are six standard flavors available daily (including vanilla glazed and the popular maple bacon) and five daily flavors that rotate each day of the week. Gehring is constantly creating new flavors like the blood orange glazed vanilla doughnut with a candied orange peel (surprisingly citrusy and only lightly sweet) and the peanut butter glazed vanilla doughnut filled with chocolate and topped with almonds and fleur de sel (the almonds and fleur de sel offer a great salty complement to the familiar peanut butter and chocolate flavors), which were both recently featured on a daily menu. Expect Gehring to continue producing inventive flavors every week.
Astro's been selling out almost everyday. If you're lucky enough to be in the area, before they've sold out for the day (be sure to check @astrodoughnuts first), then stop in for a sample one of DC's latest food trends.
Fried chicken sells for $5.25 for two pieces, $10 for four, and $18.50 for eight; Doughnuts range from $2.25 to $2.85.
Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken 1308 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20005 (map) 202-809-5565; astrodoughnuts.com
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Levels of a biomarker used in the diagnosis of heart attacks are almost universally elevated in patients who have undergone coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG) and, when markedly elevated, are powerfully prognostic, a team of researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Heart Center has found. Their report implies that, while measurement of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) can help determine patient prognosis, current consensus recommendations regarding the use of cTNT to diagnosis post-CABG heart attack (myocardial infarction) probably should be reconsidered. The paper appears in the September 8 issue of Circulation and has been released online,
"Although postoperative concentrations of cTnT were powerfully predictive of the risk of complications and death after CABG, we found the currently recommended cut-points for diagnosing myocardial infarction are far too low," says James Januzzi, MD, director of the MGH Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, the study's senior author. "But use of cTnT to predict overall postoperative risk does look very promising."
Patients recovering from bypass surgery, in which blood supply to the heart muscle is rerouted around one or more blocked coronary arteries, are at risk for a number of postoperative complications, including heart attack. Current standards for the diagnosis of post-operative myocardial infarction include consideration of symptoms such as chest pain, electrocardiogram changes and the results of biomarker tests. However, since patients recovering from cardiac surgery inevitably experience chest pain and the results of postoperative electrocardiograms are often unclear, clinicians may heavily rely on biomarkers like cTnT to diagnose post-CABG heart attacks.
An earlier study of the prognostic role of cTnT in cardiac surgery patients found that extreme elevations of the enzyme strongly predicted the risk of complications and death in the year following surgery. But that study examined a mixture of post-cardiac-surgery patients and also did not consider diagnostic guidelines outlined in a 2007 consensus statement from four organizations, including the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.
The current study was designed to specifically evaluate the usefulness of cTnT in the diagnosis of post-CABG heart attack and to examine factors associated with postoperative cTnT elevation and how well cTnT levels predicted postoperative complications in general. Measurements of cTnT levels were taken from almost 850 CABG patients immediately after their procedures and 6, 8, 18 and 24 hours later. Those levels were then analyzed based on several factors related to the patients' original illness, surgery, and short- and long-term outcomes.
The results indicated that cTnT levels were elevated in virtually all post-CABG patients, although only 2 percent actually met postoperative myocardial infarction criteria. Factors predicting cTnT elevation included the complexity of the initial coronary artery blockages, the number of grafts that were placed and the patients' immediate postoperative condition. While the near-universality of cTnT elevation made it a less useful indicator of heart attack, cTnT levels 10 times higher than the current consensus guidelines powerfully and independently predicted the risk of death and other postoperative complications, adding to the predictive power of risk-scoring models such as that developed by the Society for Thoracic Surgery.
"These findings imply that the diagnosis of regional post-CABG myocardial infarction should continue to be based largely on clinical judgment and angiographic demonstration of postoperative closure of a bypass graft, which is fortunately a rare situation," says Januzzi, who is an associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "On the other hand, excessive diffuse myocardial injury — as reflected by significant cTnT elevation — may be more common than suspected; and cTnT does an excellent job of identifying those patients destined for complication in the postoperative period. This makes a strong case that troponin testing should be incorporated into overall post-CABG risk assessment, independent of its use for MI diagnosis."
Asim Mohammed, MD, of the MGH Division of Cardiology, is lead author of the Circulation paper. Additional co-authors are Roland van Kimmenade, MD, PhD, Abelardo Martinez-Rumayor, MD, Sandy Green, MD, and Rene Quiroz, MD, MGH Cardiology; and Arvind Agnihotri, MD, MGH Cardiac Surgery. Support for the study included grants from the Dennis and Marilyn Barry Fund for Cardiac Research, the Interuniversity Cardiology Institute of the Netherlands and the Balson Scholar Fund.
Massachusetts General Hospital (www.massgeneral.org), established in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of almost $550 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, systems biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine.


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Regardless of how extensive you want your case mod to be, you will need one thing: light. Without illumination you can't appreciate the clean cable runs, elaborate water cooling setups, or simply the components themselves.
GIGABYTE has a solution: LED lights along the motherboard. On select GIGABYTE 100 series models, including the Gaming G1, there is a multi-color LED trace path around the board. With the Ambient LED app in the GIGABYTE APP center you can customize the light pattern, with three different options, and seven different color options.
Check out this video from the GIGABYTE Motherboard and Brix YouTube channel for more information:
With all the color and light pattern options the possibilities are endless. The LED lights can compliment case mods or additions like high-end coolers, illuminating them so you can show them off. Or simply on their own they can provide a cool, custom look for your rig.


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Hamilton, VA Real Estate
Hamilton, VA is located just east of Purcellville, off Route 7. After the Civil War, Hamilton became a destination of interest with the construction of the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad as visitors from Washington and Baltimore sought relief from the hot city summers.
Quality of Life:
Hamilton keeps the spirit of "small town America" alive and well. There are ample amenities located in nearby Purcellville. Lowry's Farm Market offers fresh produce from March to December.
Hamilton is home to the beautiful Hamilton Community Park. Open promptly at 7:30 am to sundown every day. It is open to the public free of charge; the park pavilion can be rented for events or parties for $50.
Getting Around:
Like many of the communities in Loudoun County, Hamilton is easily accessible by Route 7.
Ronald Reagan National Airport: < 50 miles.
Washington Dulles International Airport: < 25 miles.
Baltimore Washington International Airport: < 80 miles.
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Black Elastic Shirt. Composition 100% cotton. Bespoke and customizable. Great variety and best quality fabrics


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Silentnight Ayton Oak Bed Frame
- Soild Sprung base
- The Ayton has a chunky shaker style design.
- This bed is made from ethically sourced wood
- Easy to assembly, comes with instructions
The Ayton Oak Bedstead
The Ayton is a chunky traditional style shaker bed that will make a statement in any bedroom.
Finished in a natural look , this bed is made from ethically sourced wood
This bedstead is easy to assemble and comes with step by step instructions
Dimensions - Double 105cm x 144 x 206, King Size 105cm x 159 x 206
The bedframe comes with a 12 months guarantee
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Items will be delivered to door step only and are not included in our 2 man set up service - Bedframes & Mattress-Now rolled products will be delivered on a next day basis Mon - Fri
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For restricted areas an additional charge may be required and your delivery may take longer than the times detailed above, we will confirm these as you checkout your order.
Headboard only purchases will be delivered to door step only and are not included in our 2 man set up service.
For more information please view our delivery information
Our Take-back/Removal Service
Mattresses and beds to be removed must be in a safe, non-hazardous condition and the premises from which they are to be removed must be accessible and not hazardous or dangerous to enter or to remove the mattresses or divan beds from, in the opinion of our delivery operatives or delivery operatives working on behalf of us. Additionally, any bedframes/bedsteads must be fully dismantled prior to collection, failure to do so will result in refusal to remove this item.
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In the unlikely event that your order arrives in an unsuitable condition, please contact us immediately and if the damage has been caused in transit we will arrange a replacement as quickly as possible.
What happens if the product I ordered is not what I expected?
If, for whatever reason, you are unhappy with your purchase, please contact us within 14 days of receipt. After we have received the product back, we will then refund you in full, alternatively we can also offer you store credit to the value of the item.
Do you deliver products outside the United Kingdom?
No, our delivery service is limited to the UK including Northern Ireland.


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Recent studies have found that state-level religious and political conservatism is positively associated with various aggregate indicators of interest in pornography. Such studies have been limited, however, in that they either did not include data measuring actual consumption patterns and/or did not include data on individuals (risking the ecological fallacy). This study overcomes both limitations by incorporating state-level data with individual-level data and a measure of pornography consumption from a large nationally representative survey.
This article presents the case for utilizing business directories in building commercial gentrification indexes as tools for research on neighborhood change. It reviews several existing methods of capturing retail change within the growing literature, codifies them as the boutique index, the food index, and the ethnic index, and discusses methodological issues that emerge in building them.
As the economies of production and trade have dwindled in Western cities, urban locales have had to capitalize on other opportunities for growth. Middle and upper class consumers are now sought after resources for cities and neighborhoods once supported by manufacturing. This article considers the role of local retail actors in shifting neighborhood identity towards luxury consumption.
Amidst findings of increased bicycling in the United States, research continues to demonstrate that women and racial minorities are underrepresented as cyclists in the United States (Buehler and Pucher 2012). While quantitative data may reveal estimates of these disparities, we know little about the motivations or deterrents related to cycling as they are experienced by individuals.
With reduced hours, decaying infrastructure, and precariously positioned staff, local public libraries provide much needed services in cities devastated by inequality and slashed safety nets. In this article, I draw on ethnographic research of a small public library in a diverse, mostly working class neighborhood in Queens, New York. I show that in addition to providing an alternative to the capitalist market by distributing resources according to people's needs, the library serves as a moral underground space, where middle‐class people bend rules to help struggling city residents.
This article extends Suttles' (1972) theory of the defended neighborhood by applying the framework to a contemporary context and exploring the social processes that residents of a diverse community used to defend their neighborhood from change.


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Digital Production
The Gnomon Workshop offers the most comprehensive set of Digital Production tutorials anywhere. The broad scope of the tutorials contained in this section range from foundational understanding of the software tools all the way to the professional application of these tools and concepts used by artists working in the film and game industries.
Entertainment Design
The Gnomon Workshop is widely regarded as the global leader in training tutorials for the designer working in the entertainment industry. With tutorials ranging from foundational drawing and design concepts to process tutorials from some of the top concept and character designers in the world, there is surely something here to inspire.
As the tattoo industry has seen an explosion in popularity over the last few years, the need training in this field has also grown. In these video tutorials, some of the top tattoo artists in the world share their techniques and their take on the art of tattoo. The tutorials range from absolute beginner level to advanced color and blending techniques used by some of the world's best.
The Gnomon Workshop offers professional training on most of the software applications used in today's digital pipelines. There are foundational titles to introduce users to the software and tools, as well as advanced production titles that discuss application tools and processes vital to the production of digital assets and media.
Professional Training for Artists
The Gnomon Workshop seeks out the most highly-regarded traditional and digital artists and technicians currently working in the entertainment and design industries. Our instructors have shared their practices working at such top studios as Pixar, ILM, Blizzard, and many more.Instructor GalleriesInstructor Interviews
Jack has been a practicing and exhibiting fine artist and freelance illustrator for over 35 years. He has taught drawing and painting at Cornell University, College of New Rochelle, University of Southern California, Otis College of Art and Design, Gnomon School of Visual Effects, and Woodbury University, to name a few institutions. He did background painting briefly at Hanna-Barbera and was hired as a trainer in Feature Animation at Disney in 1995. In 1999, he continued as a training consultant to Disney and taught at various institutions until he was hired to set up an Animation Department at Woodbury University, which he chaired for three years. He retired two years ago after eight years at Woodbury, as Professor Emeritus. Jack Bosson received his Diploma of Design from The Cooper Union, he studied painting and drawing at the l'Ecole des Beaux Arts, in Paris, France, on a Fulbright Fellowship, and received his Master of Fine Arts Degree from Cornell University, in 1966.
"I only wish that Gnomon had existed when I was a kid. It's that brilliant nexus of imagination and practical reality; a place where dreamers learn to realize, share and bring to life the visions in their heads. The latest and greatest technology is meaningless without inspired instruction."
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Gnomon specializes in computer graphics education for careers in the entertainment industry.


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The impact of shades on your homes efficiency
With every change of season comes differences in how your home operates. As the weather gets colder, you may find certain home deficiencies, like drafty windows or old caulking, disturbing your home's comfort levels and energy efficiency. If you observe a difference in the atmosphere of your house, you may need replacement windows (or replacement caulking). But while you are looking for more efficient windows, there's an often-overlooked thing that can help improve your energy efficiency and comfort now—suitable shades and blinds.
Shades or blinds on replacement windows have the potential to save you money on your monthly energy costs, particularly during winter months in Terre Haute when temperatures dip. The significant way to getting the most benefit from your shades and blinds is correct installation. It's also beneficial to make these adjustments as the colder months approach:
- North-facing windows – Your windows facing the north typically get the least amount of sunlight. It's smart to keep your shades closed on these windows because not much heat will be gained from sunlight.
- South-facing windows – The windows on the south side of your house allow you to benefit from some natural warmth from the sun during Terre Haute winters. Keep your shades open on your south windows for extended periods of time because these windows provide the best chance of catching some of the sun's warmth.
- East-facing windows – Keep your shades open on the east side of your home throughout the morning.
- West-facing windows – You can keep your shades open during the afternoon and evening hours for the windows on the west side. Blinds are also a good option for west-facing windows (interior blinds are more suitable than exterior blinds in the winter because they will allow more heat in).
Saving energy in your home can be that easy with window shade adjustments, but proper installation is also key. Keeping your shades as close to your window glass as possible will help decrease heat loss. Window shades with a double layer of fabric are even better, if they are an option for your house. Lighter-colored window shades will reflect heat in the summer and darker-colored shades will attract heat in the winter.
People often forget the energy efficiency shades and blinds can give a home. If you are in need of enhancing your comfort levels this winter and you think your windows might be the problem, invest in proper shades and follow our opening and closing tips until you're ready for replacement windows. Pella Windows and Doors offers a variety of window shade and blind styles at our Terre Haute showroom, so come stop by. You can also contact us at 812-234-0729 or set up an in-home appointment with us online so we can assess your windows and give you shade recommendations.


text: How did Jackie Kennedy feel in the wake of her husband\'s assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963? That is the question explored in Jackie, a picture which paints a perceptive portrait of Camelot\'s First Lady by speculating about her mental state during the days immediately following the assassination of JFK (Caspar Phillipson). In that regard, this behind-the-scenes biopic is rather reminiscent of The Queen (2006) which presumed to provide a fly-on-the-wall\'s perspective of the goings-on inside Buckingham Palace after the untimely death of Princess Diana.


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The presidential inauguration ceremony is getting its first Latino and LGBT poet.
Richard Blanco, born in Spain to Cuban exiles, will recite a selection of his work during President Barack Obama's second inauguration on Jan. 21, Obama's Inaugural Committee announced. Blanco also will be the youngest inaugural poet at a swearing-in ceremony.
"Richard's writing will be wonderfully fitting for an Inaugural that will celebrate the strength of the American people and our nation's great diversity," President Obama said in a statement.
Blanco's parents emigrated to New York City days after he was born then settled in Miami. Interested in the "engineering" of language, Blanco's first poetry collection, "City of a Hundred Fires," won the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize and his second book, "Directions to The Beach of the Dead," won the PEN American Center Beyond Margins Award.
He published a third collection in 2012 called "Looking for The Gulf Motel."
The Inaugural Committee describes his work as an exploration of "the collective American experience of cultural negotiation through the lens of family and love, particularly his mother's life shaped by exile, his relationship with his father, and the passing of a generation of relatives. His work also explores the intersection of his cultural identities as a Cuban-American gay man."
"I'm beside myself, bestowed with this great honor, brimming over with excitement, awe, and gratitude," Blanco said. "In many ways, this is the very 'stuff' of the American Dream, which underlies so much of my work and my life's story—America's story, really. I am thrilled by the thought of coming together during this great occasion to celebrate our country and its people through the power of poetry."
Presidential Inauguration Gets First Latino, Gay Poet
The presidential inauguration ceremony is getting its first Latino and LGBT poet.


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Patricia Cave Found "Not Guilty" in Domestic Violence Homicide Case
Patricia Cave was found "not guilty" of manslaughter while armed today in the stabbing death of her on-again-off-again boyfriend Lamont Warren. Cave's defense attorneys had argued that Cave was a victim of domestic violence and the June 2011 stabbing was in self-defense. Before the jury returned from deliberations, Judge Robert Morin reminded the audience to … Read more →


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6 percent more in taxes expected
The New Canaan Town Council Wednesday approved a $138,303,112 budget for fiscal year 2015, a 4.74 percent increase over fiscal year 2014.
The amount includes all town operating expenses, debt service, capital expenditures and Board of Education operating expenses.
The budget includes previously contentious expenses, such as a license-plate reader and two additional officers for the Police Department.
Councilmen Roger Williams and John Emert voted against the Board of Education's operating budget as well as a $464,493 capital expenditure for wireless infrastructure upgrades at Saxe Middle School and the high school.
"We should slow down," Emert said referring to the cost of upgrading the technology infrastructure at the schools. "There are a number of issues that I think we need to consider, stakeholders that need to be heard."
The Board of Education's $80.9 million operating budget passed as recommended by the Board of Finance in March. The amount is $2.9 million higher than the current year's budget and $2.3 million lower than what the board requested in January.
After revenue, the town will have to raise $127,035,728 through taxation, 3.72 percent more than the current year. The total estimated revenue for the upcoming fiscal year is $11,267,384, an increase of $442,881.
With the new budget, the town's preliminary mill rate is projected at 15.515, or $15.52 for every $1,000 of assessed property value, which in an increase of 6.37 percent over the current year. The official mill rate will be set after the assessment appeals process is complete.
Although the Town Council approved additional officers for the Police Department, it cut $25,000 from the department's overtime budget. Emert said the reduction aimed at encouraging the department to "promote better control of overtime."
More InformationFiscal year 2015
Total town operating, all debt service, all capital expenditures and Board of Education operating expenses: $138,303,112
Town operating expenses: $40,753,166
Board of Education's operating expenses: $80,870,557
Board of Education's capital: $867,361
Capital projects for the town and Board of Education to be funded through Capital & Nonrecurring Fund: $2,521,193
Amount to be raised by taxation: $127,035,728
Preliminary mill rate: 15.515
The council agreed that the additional officers, as well as a new scheduling software that was also approved for the department, would help the reduction take place. The department has a force of 45 officers, but only 39 of them are active. The other six are either injured, on vacation or in training.
"The software will help, but I'm also hoping that there will be fairly constant look at who's out, why are they out, are they sick, injured? And that should be done in a real-time basis," Emert said.
Councilmen Kathleen Corbet reminded the council that the new total number of officers could be reduced in the future if the number of active officers increases.
Each of the two new officers would cost the town about $114,000, including salary and benefits, according to Police Chief Leon Krolikowski. With the additions, Saxe Middle School soon will have a full-time school resource officer.
The department's first license-plate reader, which will cost $20,000, also was approved. After some privacy concerns, Krolikowski was able to convince the council that the plate reader would not be used to store data of innocent drivers. The chief committed to a 14-day data retention period, unless there is a crime.
As for the schools' wireless upgrade project, Emert, who made a motion to cut the project from the budget, said he would "like to see the town's ICT department weigh in" on the expenditure.
In previous budget meetings, Robert Miller, the school district's director of information and communication technologies, said the strength of the schools' wireless network is insufficient to pass through every classroom wall. The project calls for one wireless access point per two or three classrooms.
Councilman Steve Karl, who opposed Emert's motion, said the upgrades could not wait any longer.
"While I respect the idea of pausing, I don't think technology can pause," Karl said. "We have kids at the schools who need to access all the apparatus they have. In today's world, you just can't push the pause button on technology. This is something that's needed."
Williams, who seconded Emert's motion, said he didn't think enough vendors had weighed in.
"No one is suggesting we hit the pause button. What we're suggesting is we approach this more intelligently. (This is) basically half a million dollars of taxpayers' money."
The vote in favor of the project passed 9-2.
John Engel was the only councilman absent at Wednesday's meeting.
Councilman Penny Young thanked the Board of Education for providing an "unbelievable amount of information" about the operations of the schools. Young said, however, the town and the board should work together to find cost reductions before next year's budget cycle.
"We got an extraordinary burden on our taxpayers and we have to all be willing to think outside the box and do things, perhaps in different ways," Young said.
Departments that saw operating budget increases include the Department of Public Works, which is getting a $568,799 increase; the Recreation Department, which is looking at a nearly $50,000 increase; and the library, which is getting $2.03 million from the town next year, which is a 5 percent increase.
Health and Human Services will see the biggest decrease -- 18.2 percent to a total of $690,554.
Another previously contentious item on the budget was the town's contribution to the Outback Teen Center. Although the Human Services Department requested $17,500 for the Outback, the teen center will get $20,000, as much as it received for the current year.
First Selectman Robert Mallozzi, who was watching the vote from the audience, thanked the Town Council for the many meetings and long hours they spent along with other town bodies and departments working on the budget.
"Unanimously, on the Board of Finance, on the Board of Selectmen, the relationship with this current town council in this budget process was as genuinely helpful (and) cooperative that we've ever seen," Mallozzi said. "The town was wonderful and the goal of getting to the number was always at the forefront."
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Decadent chocolate truffle torte
Create a mouthwatering chocolate truffle torte - and there's no cooking necessary!
Nutrition and extra info
- Freezable
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal331
- fat29g
- saturates18g
- carbs17g
- sugars15g
- fibre1g
- protein2g
- salt0.09g
- 250g dark chocolate
Dark chocolatedahk chok-o-let
Dark chocolate means the shiny, dark-reddish brown treat produced from the cacao bean, theobroma…
- 2 tbsp golden syrup
Golden syrupgoal-dun sir-rup
Golden syrup is a translucent, golden-amber coloured, sweet syrup, which can only be produced…
- 568ml carton double cream
- 4 tsp instant coffee granules
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- cocoa powder, for dusting
Get your equipment ready (see tips below). Break the chocolate in small pieces into a large heatproof bowl. Spoon in the syrup and pour in about a quarter of the cream. Stand the bowl over (not in) a pan of hot water over the lowest possible heat and leave until the chocolate has melted, about 15-20 minutes. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir to combine. Leave until barely warm – dip your little finger in to check.
Get your cake tin ready. Do this while you are waiting for the chocolate to melt and cool so you're not hanging around. Cut open the plastic folder along the bottom, then cut out a disc to fit in the bottom of the tin and 3 strips to line the sides. (See step 2).
Pour the rest of the cream into a very large bowl and tip in the coffee and cinnamon. Whip with a balloon whisk until the cream looks like step 3. When you shake the bowl the cream should wobble like a thick milkshake, and when you dribble some cream from the whisk, the trail it leaves in the cream below should disappear in 1-2 seconds.
Fold the two together. Pour the cooled chocolate into the bowl containing the cream. With the largest metal spoon you've got, fold the cream and chocolate together in a figure-of-eight motion. Don't be nervous – keep going until they are evenly and smoothly mixed and the mixture has a soft, pillowy, downy texture – you will see and feel it thicken as you fold.
Set the torte. Pour the chocolatey cream into the tin and level the surface with the back of the spoon. Put the tin in the fridge and leave to firm up. This can happen in under an hour, but you may need to leave it longer, depending on the coldness of your fridge (you can leave it overnight if this is more convenient).
Unmould and serve. Unclip and remove the side of the tin, then remove the pieces of plastic around the sides. Invert a serving plate over the torte and turn the torte upside down on to it. Lift off the tin base and peel away the plastic. Dust all over with cocoa (including the plate if you wish to be fashionable) and serve in thin slices.
Recipe Tip
Try it with nuts or orangeFor a nutty finish, sprinkle with 25g/1oz chopped toasted hazelnuts instead of the cocoa. Or for chocolate orange torte, omit the coffee and whip the cream with the cinnamon and 2 tsp finely grated orange zest. Decorate with roughly-chopped chocolate coated orange peel (try Duchy Originals).
Recipe Tip
EquipmentYou'll need a small cake tin with a loose base- an 18cm springform tin (the type with sides that unclip) is ideal- you can use a larger tin but it will make the torte shallower. A tip I've picked up from chefs is to line the tin with plastic to get a smooth edge, so you'll also need an (unused) A4 clear plastic folder. You could use cling film, but take care to get it well into the corners of the tin as the torte will take the exact shape of the cling film, wrinkles and all.