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Pastors' Conf. nominee announced
James A. Smith Sr./Florida Baptist Witness
Posted on Jun 4, 2007
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Updated 12:12 p.m. Eastern, July 9, 2007
LUTZ, Fla. (BP)--Michael Catt, senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., will be nominated as president of the Pastors' Conference, Florida pastor Ken Whitten announced June 1.
The June 10-11 Pastors' Conference precedes the Southern Baptist Convention's June 12-13 annual meeting in San Antonio.
Catt has led Sherwood Baptist since 1989 -- a "multi-generational, multi-cultural church" that "draws its membership from 29 surrounding communities in southwest Georgia," Whitten, senior pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Fla., told the Florida Baptist Witness.
Whitten said the numerical growth of Catt's church - including averaging 100 baptisms annually and the addition of 5,000 people to the church's ministry - is an "indication of dynamic leadership." But Whitten said Catt's pastoral innovation, multiplication and work in racial reconciliation are factors that have prompted him to nominate Catt.
Sherwood's production of the family friendly and popular movie "Facing the Giants" and other films is an example of Catt's pastoral innovation, Whitten said.
The church has learned "via e-mail that over 3,000 people have come to Christ" as a result of Facing the Giants, and "the film is being shown on major airlines' overseas flights around the world, on the Disney Cruise line, and over 6,000 churches have purchased a screening license to show the film as an outreach event this year," Whitten said.
Noting that the church is working on its third film, Whitten said Catt and his congregation have been sacrificial in their efforts.
"This kind of innovation says that while some preach against and shout at a growing secular mindset in our society, Michael Catt and the wonderful people at Sherwood are rolling up their sleeves and making a financial investment to change that mindset and be the salt and light to an industry that needs a demonstration not condemnation," Whitten said.
Catt's "heart for pastors and ministers is noteworthy" and illustrates the multiplication of his ministry, Whitten said, pointing to the establishment of the Ron Dunn Center for Biblical Studies in conjunction with New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary extension center in Albany, as well as Catt's work with Warren Wiersbe in beginning "2 Prophet U" and the Bridge Builders Conference that teaches expository preaching. Catt also is the founder of Refresh, an annual conference on revival and spiritual awakening in which 30 small church and bivocational pastors are given scholarships to attend.
"While many are talking about leaving a legacy, Dr. Michael Catt is using all the resources available to multiply himself and others to the next generation of preachers to ensure the Word of God will be preached generation to generation," Whitten said.
Whitten also said Catt's ministry has modeled reconciliation in his efforts to promote unity and understanding among different races in Albany and Dougherty County, earning him local awards in 1999 and 2003.
"The city where Michael pastors is 70 percent African American and 30 percent Anglo," Whitten said. "It is no wonder with a heart for the nations and demonstrating the ministry of reconciliation, Sherwood's membership includes people from 11 different countries, and he has African Americans in leadership positions on staff, on the platform and in committee structure throughout his church." Catt's leadership of the Pastors' Conference, Whitten added, "would demonstrate the variety so needed in our denomination to show Southern Baptist who we really are."
Catt received a bachelor's degree from Mississippi College, a master of divinity degree from Luther Rice Bible Seminary and doctor of ministry degree from Trinity Theological Seminary.
Catt and his wife Terri have been married 33 years and have two children.
Information for Sherwood Baptist Church from Southern Baptists' Annual Church Profile survey for the most recent year, 2006, lists 86 baptisms and primary worship service attendance of 1,451. The church gave $125,000, or 3.6 percent, through the Cooperative Program from total undesignated receipts of $3,484,786. According to the ACP, the church's total mission expenditures were $201,715, including $18.609 for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and $9,304 for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.
James A. Smith Sr., is executive editor of the Florida Baptist Witness, newspaper of the Florida Baptist Convention, online at www.floridabaptistwitness.com.
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Local Government Documents
Tarrytown Documents
Tarrytown Village Code
Board of Trustees Minutes
Tarrytown Budgets
Tappan Zee Hudson River Crossing Project
Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS)
Tappan Zee Bridge Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) Released
The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) was released for the new Tappan Zee Bridge project. The document which is available here http://www.newnybridge.com/documents/feis/index.html (scroll down to view; organized into individual pdfs by chapter), discusses the different options that are available for the proposed construction of the new bridge.
For more information about the different documents, studies and reports associated with this project, New York state has recently rolled out a website dedicated to this issue titled the The New NY Bridge http://www.newnybridge.com/index.shtml. Of interest to environmental and land use legal researchers, the site has a searchable archive http://www.newnybridge.com/documents/index.html which contains documents, hearing transcripts, handouts and reports on this issue dating back to 2000; it also contains news, calendars and contact information for individuals seeking to know more about the project.
There is one print copy of the FEIS at the Warner Library. Please ask at the Reference Desk. The documents must be viewed in the library. Patrons may make photocopies or use the library's computers to print pages from the Internet.
Tappan Zee Bridge Historical Articles
The following links are scans of newspapers articles from the library's vertical file relating to the Tappan Zee bridge over the decades. These scans were made possible thanks to our volunteer Angelia Ferrara of Suny Oswego State University. Thanks Angelia!
Tappan Zee Bridge Articles with captions part 1
Tappan Zee Bridge Articles with captions part 2
Sleepy Hollow Documents
GM Documents
Lighthouse Landing/GM Site Development
A Remedial Investigation Report (RI Report) has been prepared by ARCADIS on behalf of General Motors LLC (GM LLC), in accordance with Brownfield Cleanup Agreements (BCAs) with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) for the investigation and remediation of the Former General Motors North Tarrytown Assembly Plant Site located at 199 Beekman Avenue, Village of Sleepy Hollow, New York (Site).
Four other reports from January 2012 were delivered with the RI Report—
· Sediment Remedial Investigation Report
· Alternatives Analysis Report
· Sediment Alternatives Analysis Report
· Draft Remedial Work Plan (click title to view online.)
These documents are available for public review at the Warner Library Reference Desk. A complete electronic copy of these reports is provided on compact disc (CD) in a sleeve at the back of the report. The CD for both volumes of the RI Report is inside Volume 1. Pages can be photocopied or printed from the CD.
Remedy Proposed for Brownfield Site Contamination; Public Comment Period and Public Meeting Announced (click to view online.) NYDEC invites you to a public meeting to discuss the results of the remedial investigation and the proposed remedy for the site. You are encouraged to provide comments at the meeting and during the 45-day comment period.
Public Hearing, Thursday, March 22, 2012, 7:00 PM
Village of Sleepy Hollow Senior Center
55 Elm Street
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Board of Trustees Minutes
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Mount Pleasant Documents
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Greenburgh Documents
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Agendas and Minutes

subset: commoncrawl


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Storage Media Independent AVL Library
Storage Media Independent AVL Library
Published 02/08/2000
Storage Media Independent AVL Library
The Transactional File System (TxF), which allows access to an NTFS file system to be conducted in a transacted manner through extensions to the Windows SDK API. MFC 10, has been extended to support TxF and related technologies. This support allows existing MFC applications to be easily extended to support kernel transactions.
When is it appropriate to use a static construct? Learn about it here.
Even if you're a newbie, working with databases with VB.NET is a manageable task.
Arun Karthick introduces you to the state machine model and shows you how to create a simple working state machine sample using the .NET framework in the C# language.


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Elevated dining tray lets you elevate your dog's food and water bowls to the perfect dining height. Také Doggy Dining Tray adjusts to three different height levels to accommodate your dog's growth or breed size. It's an ideal solution for the neck and back discomfort caused by feeding/watering at ground level, especially for senior pets suffering from stiff muscles and joints. The tray adjusts from 4.1" up to 10.6" high to accommodate almost every pet.
The bamboo construction of this tray is not only beautiful but it is also eco-friendly, sustainable, and durable. The tray features a smooth lacquered finish and rubber feet to protect floor surfaces and prevent sliding. Lipped-edged tray top prevents bowls from sliding off the tray. Minor assembly required. 19" x 14.25" x 4.1" to 10.6" high. Tray pictured with Bridgeport Stoneware Bowls (sold separately).
Downloadable Také Doggy Dining Tray Assembly Instruction PDF.
Please click on "More Information" for care instructions.


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Gloryholes have long been the ultimate in anonymous satisfaction and we've got that in spades! These babes are often shy at first, but when they see a huge fucking cock jutting out of the wall at them, they invariably know what to do with it. Watch them lather those dicks up with their slippery tongue and work them with talented fingers. These sluts kneel on the cold porcelain floor fingering their fuck holes and milking those big dicks of every drop of cum. You can't see this shit anywhere but at HugeCockGloryHoles.Com -- c'mon in!
445 hi res pics
15 min video
Slut Gracie Glam Tastes Gloryhole SpermHow this gloryhole slut is seriously fucking hot! Her name is Gracie Glam, and she's a phenomenal young college babe with a truly flawless body. With her long hair and blue eyes, she really looks a treat! She's not just a pretty face - she's the kind of dirty fuck slut who will lick a big cock that comes poking through the wall in this filthy gloryhole public toilet, even though she has no idea who it belongs to! That's pretty much the definition of a cock addicted whore. She's got fantastic technique, gripping the big dick at the base and sliding her sweet, soft mouth up and down the full length of the quivering member.
325 hi res pics
17 min video
Platinum Blond Hottie Stevie Shae Sucks Mystery DickStevie Shae is a super hot platinum bottle blond hottie just mind her own business on the can. Suddenly, a thick pecker pops outta the hole and begs to be sucked! Stevie gets over her shock and immediately grips that cock and sucks it down! She takes her cute tits out her purple top and fingers her cunt as she works on making that mystery dick explode!
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Bad Girl Angelicia Raven Sucks Off Sneaky CockHoly fuck, I haven't seen a scorcher like Angelica Raven in a fucking long time. This utter bombshell is the perfect girl to sneak up and tease a gloryhole cock to for sure! Looking like a hot slut in stripper heels, pink thong, and a black top that accentuates her gorgeously huge rack, let's see if we can't get this super hot bitch to suck off a cock! After masturbating, she slurps that stiff pecker in her mouth and gets messy, sticky, jizzy shit all over her face and tits!
317 hi res pics
16 min video
Ashley Coda Takes Spunk on Her Chin in GloryholeDoe-eyed darling Ashley Coda is a screaming-hot piece of ass! She's just walked into a public restroom and pulled down her panties to do her business when out of fucking nowhere, a cock shoots out of glory hole! This co-ed hottie exposes her cute natural tits, lets her dress fall to floor and starts chowing down on that dick! She really works that rod with her hands and nibbles on some extra ballsack that's sticking through the hole. See Ashley Coda take hot spunk on the chin!
281 hi res pics
15 min video
Busty Vicky Vixen Sucks Gloryhole CockHuge titty slut Vicky Vixen is sitting on a public toilet when all of a sudden a massive black cock comes poking through the wall! The voluptuous cutie is speechless, her jaw dropping to the ground - and then she immediately takes her wide open mouth and wraps it around the thick black menace! She loves black poles, especially when they are so big and hard - she doesn't care who it belongs to! The anonymous stud on the other side of the wall lets out a moan as the blow job queen goes to town on his meat, slurping it right down to the base until her nose is touching the wall and the cock head is tickling the very back of her gullet.
196 hi res pics
14 min video


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After studying everything that could happen due to a downgrade of the United States' top-tier AAA credit rating, and the potential default on its debt, we found a scenario that would result in forced asset sales that are so widespread that global stock-and-bond markets would plunge - and economies around the world would crash.
Tangible evidence that this frightening scenario could really play out surfaced on Monday, when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) announced it was increasing the "haircut" that it applies to U.S. government debt posted as collateral by traders transacting on the exchange.
The retail investors who didn't just ignore this announcement altogether probably dismissed it as a boring bit of administrative housekeeping by the CME. In truth, however, this kind of re-evaluation of U.S. Treasury securities, widely used as loan collateral, could trigger global margin calls and widespread asset sales. If that occurs, it's only a matter of time before the ripple effects of escalating margin calls could weigh down asset prices around the world.
Let's take a look at how and why this could happen.
The "Haircut" Nobody WantsBecause U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds are considered "risk-free" they are every lender's preferred collateral class.
All of America's too-big-to-fail banks, major securities broker-dealers and giant hedge funds - and most of the world's biggest financial institutions - hold hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. Treasuries that they use as collateral to borrow in the overnight and term "repo" market.
Traders use their U.S. Treasury securities to borrow more money to buy still more Treasuries, as well as other more-speculative securities. The intention is to leverage the capital they have by borrowing against balance-sheet assets to take on bigger positions.
But what happens if there's no debt-ceiling deal by Tuesday - the theoretical day after which the country won't be able to pay its bills?
The actual answer to that question may not matter as much as the uncertainty that's been created. In fact, even with a deal - meaning there's no default - it's likely the United States is facing a reduction in its top-tier AAA credit rating.
Lately, the word "haircut" has been transformed to mean a loss - as in "my stocks went down in the bear market ... man, I took a real haircut."
But that's not the technical definition.
A "haircut" is actually a securities-industry term that pertains to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Uniform Net Capital Rule 15c3-1. Securities broker-dealers, regulated by the SEC, have to maintain a minimum amount of "net capital" - or enough of a capital cushion to remain solvent.
When calculating their net capital, securities firms weigh their liabilities against their assets.
But not all assets are treated equally.
In some cases, such factors as credit risk, market risk and even its maturity can bring about an increase in uncertainty for certain assets. If that happens, the SEC can demand that firms "haircut" that asset - marking down its cash value using general formulas that discounts its "present value."
The more an asset has to be haircut, the less its collateral value becomes.
The Collateral CalamityBecause U.S. Treasuries are U.S. government obligations and have traditionally been considered to be essentially risk-free, they typically haven't had to suffer much in the way of haircuts.
In fact, short-term Treasury bills aren't haircut and the longest-dated Treasury securities are only haircut by 6%. For the most part, haircuts on government securities are based on weekly yield volatility measures calculated by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
But since traders have used those Treasury securities to borrow more money to buy more government bonds and other (more-speculative) investments, a bigger-than-normal haircut on federal debt obligations will cause lenders to demand additional security on the loans they've made to leveraged trading desks around the world.
Leverage is all fine and good, as long as one of the following two things don't happen to you.
The first thing that's bad news for leveraged trader is if prices fall. If you're leveraged enough, and the prices of the assets you're loaded up with start to decline, you can quickly start eating into your capital base.
For example, if you are leveraged 10-to-1, meaning you have $1 of capital and a $10 asset position, the price of your position only has to fall by 10% to completely wipe out your capital. In the current market environment, a 10% move in just about any asset class can happen in a day or two - if not in a matter of hours or minutes.
The second thing that wreaks havoc with leveraged trades is if the collateral that's been posted to borrow money (with which the leverage is accomplished) falls in value, then lenders will demand additional collateral, usually in the form of cash.
Of course, the double whammy occurs if the value of your collateral (in our present scenario, that means U.S. Treasury securities) falls at the same time that the securities you're leveraged up with (we're once again referring to U.S. Treasuries) also fall in value ... well, you're toast.
And the fallout won't end with you.
The Ultimate Debt-Ceiling DebacleThis could actually result in a kind of "global margin call" - kicking off a worldwide de-leveraging scenario that could sink global markets and torpedo world economies. That's the Frankenstein-like facelift I referred to earlier.
Here's why.
The credit-ratings downgrade and an outright default play a big role in this, too. You see, while a ratings downgrade would affect America's perceived credit quality, an actual default would change the market's fundamental consideration of cashflow rights and the degree of certainty held about future payments regarding government obligations. Such a radical change in the quality and market-risk features of government securities would mean that they would be subject to deeper haircuts.
There's the debt-ceiling-debacle "trigger" I've been talking about.
As leveraged institutions have to take deeper haircuts on the Treasuries they've put up as collateral for their loans, they'll have to come up with additional collateral. If at the same time they are required to post additional collateral their leveraged positions are being marked down, there's likely to be a sell-off of multiple asset classes as cash has to be raised.
Default is a game-changer.
Government securities will no longer be pure-interest-rate instruments. They will immediately assume the risk profile and characteristics of lesser-credit products and not be the baseline against which all other credits are measured, but demand new measures of their own default probabilities.
It's bad enough that the U.S. government securities market is the largest securities market in the world. What's even worse is that the derivatives market - which is at least 100 times as large as the U.S. government securities market - principally uses Treasury securities as collateral for their "private contracts."
If you don't think this is a real scenario, think again: Monday's move by the CME shows that it's already started.
It's only a matter of time before the effects of building margin calls weigh on asset classes around the globe.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed: Let's just hope that Washington resolves this whole debt-ceiling debacle before this global-margin-call cycle gets started.
As an investor, the only way you're going to survive such a stacked-deck environment is to have the kind of top-shelf investing insights and intelligence that the investing masses don't have.
That's what we bring you.
We bring it to you each day in Money Morning. We not only give you the news, we tell you what that news means and show you how to turn it to your investing advantage.
But you need more.
You need to see how that news feeds into the longer-term trends that control global money flows, for that's where the real money is made. That's why successful investors also read our affiliated newsletter The Money Map Report.
MMR gets behind the stories and looks at the trends and powerful global money flows that are creating some of the best investing opportunities of our lifetimes. Those trends - as well as some great protection tips - will leave you better-informed, safer and wealthier than you've ever been.
Successful investors read The Money Map Report.
Please click here and take a minute to check out our latest offer.]
News and Related Story Links:
Money Morning:
The Debt-Ceiling Debate: The Death of the "Risk-Free" Investment.
If No Deal, U.S. Will Lay Out Plan.
Money Morning:
U.S. Debt Default Would Be Worse Than Lehman Brothers Collapse.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York:
Official Website.
Money Morning:
A Sovereign-Debt-Default Survival Kit: The Four Countries That Will Keep Their AAA Ratings.
Securities and Exchange Commission:
Official Website.


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SPENCER CO., Ky. (WHAS11) -- Officials are investigating a massive fire in Spencer County, Ky. last week as arson.
It happened last Thursday around 5 p.m. in the morning in Mount Eden, Ky.
Authorities say the building had been vacant for some time and had no electrical service or utilities. A $1,000 reward is now being offered to anyone with information


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How You Treat Your Customers Counts
Reuben is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
After a decent earnings report from Home Depot (NYSE: HD) that was largely attributed to an improving housing market, I decided to take a closer look at the company and others that might benefit from a housing turnaround, including Lowe's, Home Depot's main competitor. I went a step further and created a strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis for Home Depot that pretty much required a comparison to Lowe's.
In the end, while one of Home Depot's strengths was its name brand, a weakness was that consumers considered its stores less inviting than Lowe's stores. It boils down to the perception that Lowe's employees are nicer and its stores cleaner. I prefer to go to Lowe's myself for these very reasons. This got me thinking about the customer service dynamic and its impact on a company.
A Chink In The Armor
For Home Depot, the largest home improvement chain in the world, it would seem easy enough to dominate its industry. However, it doesn't largely because Lowe's is around. But why go to one over the other? Convenience is one factor that might lead a customer to one over the other, price and product selection are other reasons. However, since these two compete head to head, price and product are roughly similar. Convenience is an issue, but less so as the two encroach further into each others' turfs. Thus, for many, it boils down to the store and its employees.
Although customer service may seem a small factor, it is an important weak link for Home Depot that has provided its competitor a launching pad for growth. Moreover, it provides ample reason for Lowe's to risk going head to head in the same markets with Home Depot's often established stores. Worse, the perception of a better store experience at Lowe's is likely to linger well after Home Depot addresses the issue, if it can. For example, despite the vastly improved quality of domestic cars, most people will still tell you that Japanese cars are made better.
A Discount Disadvantage
Another company for which customer service issues are a major concern is fellow Dow-30 component Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT). The discount retailer is known for its low prices and what many consider its mistreatment of employees and unkempt stores. Both support the perception of a disaffected staff that doesn't really care. If you have ever been to a Wal-Mart you can make your own assessment of the veracity of these comments, but I, for one, prefer to shop at other stores.
That's a problem. Although I like the cut rate prices I can find at Wal-Mart, I'm not willing to suffer through what I consider cut rate service. So, instead of going to Wal-Mart, I go to Target. And I'm not alone. Target's prices and product offerings are roughly similar to Wal-Mart's, but its stores are much nicer looking and the displays are, for lack of a better term, "hip." Instead of feeling like I'm going to an off-price box store, I feel like I'm shopping at the trendy department store for the average Joe. As an investor, Target seems like a much better option and one with the ability to compete head to head based on one of Wal-Mart's core weaknesses.
Club Store Problems
The cut rate experience perception is a big issue and one that Wal-Mart's business model simply can't address. Clearly, it provides Target a distinct way to differentiate its stores. However, Target isn't the only one that takes advantage of Wal-Mart's weakness in this way. Costco competes with Wal-Mart's Sam's Club stores in the same manner. While there are other discount club stores around, Costco generally has the image of treating its employees well and those employees, in turn, treat customers well.
I personally made the switch from Sam's to Costco based only on that image and, happily, I haven't been disappointed. The products and pricing the are very similar and I simply prefer a better store experience. This is a big problem for Wal-Mart in the mature U.S. market. It also helps explain the difficultly that stores like K-Mart and Sears are going through, both of which are owned by Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD). Both chains have older, less desirable formats that simply don't resonate with customers. Moreover, neither stands out for customer service. Thus, customers go elsewhere and will likely continue to do so until the stores improve their images.
A Winner All Around
There are some companies that seem to get the whole customer service angle to the point where they can charge premium prices for their products. Perhaps the best example is Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). While the strength of its product portfolio is clearly impressive, so too is the perception of its trendy stores, staff, and customer service. In fact, the so-called Genius Bar was so genius that it has been replicated throughout the retail technology sector. Not only do you get a great product, but you get nice people to help you use it when you mess things up or simply need a little helping hand. This was part of the reason I switched to Apple products (though I admit I still use a Windows laptop for writing when I am home, I use my iPad when I'm away from the house and for virtually everything else).
Other companies have this same customer service success. For example, Nordstrom sells wildly overpriced clothing, in my humble opinion, but it can get away with it partly because its stores are a complete pleasure in which to shop. There's a big difference between being pointed in the right direction and having someone walk you over to the display you are looking for, and that attention to detail matters. Privately held Publix shares this kind of service focus, making its shares, only available to employees, a desirable, though unattainable, commodity to some happy customers.
Big Is Good, But It's Not Everything
In the end, size can bring valuable advantages. However, being big isn't everything, particularly if other aspects of the customer relationship get pushed to the back burner. The impact of a bad name can last for years; just ask Ford and General Motors. When you are looking at a company, keep customer service in the back of your mind.
ReubenGBrewer has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Costco Wholesale, and Ford. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Apple, Costco Wholesale, Ford, General Motors Company, The Home Depot, and Lowe's Companies. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is this post wrong? Click here. Think you can do better? Join us and write your own!


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5 Stocks Setting Up to Break Out
Mentor Graphics
A stock in the software and programming complex that's just starting to break out today is Mentor Graphics (MENT), a supplier of electronic design automation systems-advanced computer software and emulation hardware systems used to automate the design, analysis and testing of electronic hardware and embedded systems software in electronic systems and components. This stock is up around 12% so far this year.
If you look at the chart for Mentor Graphics, you'll see that this stock formed a triple bottom in August and September at $8.50 to $8.75 a share. After putting in that major bottom, the stock then took off and ripped to the upside to its current price of around $13.50 a share. That massive move up has now started to trigger a breakout trade today since shares of MENT are moving above some near-term overhead resistance at $12.98 to$13.17 a share on decent volume.
>>5 Stocks Under $10 Set to SoarMarket players should now watch for a sustained high-volume move and close above $13.17 and near the daily high of $13.52 to trigger a big breakout. Look for volume at today's close that's near or well above its three-month average action of about a million shares. If we see a close for MENT into breakout territory, then watch for this stock to make a run at its next significant overhead resistance levels of $15.40 to $16 a share in the near future. If you like how Mentor's chart looks, then one could be a buyer off any weakness and simply use a mental stop that's a few percentage points below $13.17, or even just a few points below $12.98 a share.
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Book Discussion at St. David's On-the-Hill: "Unbroken"
Event Date(s): 11/15/2012
Venue / Location Information:
Name: St. David's On-the-Hill
Address: 200 Meshanticut Valley Parkway
City: Cranston
State: RI
Address: 200 Meshanticut Valley Parkway
City: Cranston
State: RI
Event Time / Additional Information: 7 p.m.
Contact Info: 401-942-4368
Web site: www.stdavidsonthehill.net
The book group will discuss Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken," the inspiring true story of a Olympic runner turned Army hero who lived through a series of unbelievable catastrophes.
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Alternative fueled vehicles are vehicles that use forms of energy other than conventional gasoline and diesel fuel. A detailed definition is found in Arizona Revised Statutes § 1-215.4 . Pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) § 28-2416, in order to qualify for an alternative fuel special plate, the vehicle must be exclusively powered by one of the alternative fuels identified in Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) § 1-215.4, and be incapable of operating on any other type of fuel. This change became effective September 30, 2009.
All alternative fuel vehicles (except electric, solar and hydrogen powered) registered in or used to commute into metro Phoenix (Area A) or metro Tucson (Area B) are required to be emissions tested before the vehicle can be registered. Currently, Model Year 2012 and newer Original Equipment (OEM) Alternative Fueled Vehicles are exempted by payment of an in-lieu fee. If you are the owner of an OEM alternative fueled vehicle, you will likely receive a registration renewal indicating the in-lieu fee. If not, you must submit to ADEQ either the original documentation showing your vehicle is an OEM alternative fueled vehicle or bring the vehicle to ADEQ for inspection. Once verified, ADEQ will see to it that your OEM alternative fueled vehicle is identified in the MVD database.
New Alternative Fuel Vehicles
New alternative fuel vehicles being registered for the first time (with a manufacturer's statement of origin) are not required to be tested, but emissions testing will be required before registration in subsequent years. Alternative fuel vehicles may be tested at any of the vehicle emissions testing facilities.
For bi-fuel vehicles the test is the same as for a conventionally fueled vehicle of the same class, except that two tailpipe emissions tests will be run. A bi-fuel vehicle will first be tested on the fuel it is operating on at the time it is presented for testing. After the first test, the driver will be asked to switch fuels, and a second test will be run. The second test will begin after 30 seconds of operation on the second fuel. (Please note statutory change in A.R.S. § 28-2416, as listed above.)
An alternative fuel certificate is a document that ADEQ or the Motor Vehicle Division issues for vehicles that have been converted to operate on an alternative fuel and allows the vehicle owner to register the vehicle at reduced tax rate. The lower tax rate, intended to encourage the purchase or modification of vehicles to alternative fuels, is provided for in Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-5805 .
The following vehicles are eligible for an alternative fuel certificate:
For more information, please contact:
James Gass - (602) 771-3981 for the Phoenix Metropolitan Area
Russell Ledbetter - (520) 628-5651 for the Tucson Metropolitan Area


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Watch the video by clicking on the player below the photo to the right
VIDEO: Dog owner arraigned in Sandusky municipal court
Hang in there Donna Hansen!
Just a note.
*A ROTTWEILER running around the neighborhood is kind of like a ST. BERNARD running around the neighborhood--ODDS ARE that it is NOT A STRAY, DOESN'T HAVE RABIES, IS SOMEONE'S BELOVED PET, and IS CONTROLLABLE.
The three Rotts that mauled a child to death while he waited for the school bus were someones pets to . That person went to prison because she let her dogs roam the neighborhood .
Deadbeat dog owners.Repeat offenders,wonder if the dog was wormed had its shots and was fed and watered regularly.The animal thing is getting crazy,loose animals including cats are a big problem.Would the mail carrier lie?Fine them expect prompt payment even if it means asking the Dr. employer for a raise.
No excuse the owner knew the consequences and flaunted the law numerous times.
I am sad for the dog but these people broke the law again and again.
dog lover
i agree with you. She has been cited several times since 2007 i beleive. I saw the video. The dog lunged at the officer and he was in putting the dog down.
It has probably never seen the inside of a Vet's office.
you said the words "ODDS ARE". The cop played the odds as he saw it.
Except in this case her Rott chased three people down the street, one of which had to duck into a strangers house to avoid getting bit. All the while the dog was snarling and baring its teeth. It may not have been a stray, and it may not of had rabies, and it may of been someones baby, but it also posed a threat.
The new song parody for who let the dogs out is called " who tipped the dog over bang bang bang!
As someone who runs around the city a lot as exercise, you have no idea how terrifying it is when you see a loose dog. I have one run up to me showing his teeth and looking aggressive, and you know what I did? I stopped running, turned to it and yelled at it as loud as I could. Luckily that worked, but I am sure another dog would have bitten me. I have even seen people walking their dogs without leashes, and an owner never knows when an animal may take off to bite someone it perceives as a threat.
I don't know if the officer was justified as shooting the dog, but if a human comes running at an officer with a knife, than damn right he should shoot the person. I see a dogs teeth, the same way I see a knife.
If you watch the video you will see that he was NOT justified in shooting. He was in over his head (obviously the dog wasn't going to jump in the cruiser, which appears to be the only situation the officer was capable of dealing with) and instead of asking for assistance, he decided to just shoot. The dog was not lunging at him. And what about a freaking taser? Do our law enforcement officers now go straight for the kill shot? Are we, as citizens, going to stand by and allow that to happen? This isn't just about the dog being shot. It is about irresponsible pet owners and LE officers who are not capable of making logical decisions in the field.
From what I saw, he was justified!
Nope we are not going to stand and allow that to happen. I for one say "Good Job Officer" you made the right call in putting down a dog who had been charging at other people, and had a history of doing so, and had charged at you (I too saw the video). The cause of this dog's death is an irresponsible owner who truly did not care about the animals safety or well being.
The Bizness,
I agree with you. I don't oppose the lease laws. In this situation, if I heard it right, according to the btl video the officer was there 3 minutes after they were called. In the car cam video the dog wasn't displaying any aggression.
Yet again, an animal pays the price because humans are crappy. The owners should have cared for their dog better--even if the dog slipped his collar, I cannot imagine my dog barking for a long period of time and not getting up to see what was going on. Oh wait. My dog doesn't get tied up outside w/out supervision, so that point is mooot. So on the one hand, the dog had irresponsible owners.
Then the SPD sends in an officer who acted as if it was his first solo call right out of the academy. He acted COMPLETELY inappropriately and like the owners, should pay a price. He pulled his gun as the dog retreated, then shot the dog for simply sitting in its yard and giving off a "don't approach me" vibe. In the 5 seconds the officer stood looking at the dog and deciding to shoot it for NO REASON, he could have easily made the decision so call for the SPD's animal control officer or asked for the dog warden's office to be called in for assistance. Not only did he make very very bad decisions, he then LIED about it!!!!
The poor dog was surrounded by idiots. It never stood a chance. And because of these idiots, he died a horrible, violent, painful death...alone on a cold city sidewalk. Everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves.
Yeah and in those 5 seconds it takes to call for back up or the animal control officer that dog could have attacked. He was right to put the dog down.
Could have attacked but didn't .
Let me clarify: five seconds of the dog doing NOTHING. And the cop proceeded to LIE about that.
I watched the video and lets see here. 1) Dog running at large 2) dog barking at officer and charging neighbors and the mail carrier. 3) I believe SPD doesn't have and Animal Control Officer (budget cuts and all) 4) Dog barks at and charges the officer. It ran down the side of the house then turned around and charged back at the officer. Its on the video. 5) Completely irresponsible dog owners who let their unlicensed dog run around the neighborhood chasing other people over the span of years. And yet some how this is the officers fault?? Oh how did he lie??
Moderators have removed this comment because it contained Personal attacks (including: name calling, presumption of guilt or guilt by association, insensitivity, or picking fights) and Libel and defamation.
Bad owners (who need to stop playing the victim, btw, and admit their part in all of this) do not mean the dog deserves to be killed (for which the officer should not get a pass).
The dog charging at others in the neighborhood and then officer is what got it shot. That is the result of bad owners.
@Pastor Ron
Are you actually a pastor? Your comments don't seem to be that of a religious man. I agree the owner was at fault for not getting tags but your descriptive, judgemental comments about the owner, her lover and lifestyle are really inappropriate for a man of the cloth.
Moderators have removed this comment because it contained Personal attacks (including: name calling, presumption of guilt or guilt by association, insensitivity, or picking fights) and Personal information.
@ Pastor Ron: If the so-called allegations you are making about this young lady's lifestyle have never affected you in any way, why are you being so judgemental?
"Judge not that you may not be judged. Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye but do not notice the log in your own?"
She has sinned against Pastor Ron's god:
"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD." - Leviticus 19: 28
leave it to a failed lawyer to use a scripture out of context...
She didn't fail. The judges screwed her. You hadn't heard?
That Biblical saying more than fits your joke courts, too. That's why I've said many times over that GOD HIMSELF must shudder when he sees some of those hypocrites putting on those black robes.
I have a rottie, she is VERY vocal and does "talk" alot. I also know when she barks/growls and MEANS it in a threatening way. Rotties are known to be vocal, some more so than others. Just like a baby, you can tell by the sound of the cry/growl what it what it means.
Absolutely right Pastor Ron! And the Crowbar ( Home of the Strange Rangers) having a benefit for her is a joke. She couldn't pay her past fines now they want to help so she can possibly sue the city. Get real that's probably where she hangs out with all her rift raft friends.


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Looks like a couple of posts I've queued didn't go through; I will investigate.
*puts on Batman cowl*
"With Year One, we sought to craft a credible Batman, grounded in a world we recognise." - David Mazzuccelli
The above quote highlights one of the main concerns of the superhero genre; realism. It is true that superhero comics are a hybrid form made up of pictures working in synchronisation with the text on the page. Alongside this, their narratives are rather mixed too. Superheroes, if we take a basic view of their brightly coloured uniforms, are very inconsistent from their backdrop of a realistic urban city. It has been said that superheroes exist as "anachronisms in their diegetic worlds" (Comics & The City, 134).
If the superhero city is therefore so extraordinary in concept, how can Mazzucchelli's view hold up?
Both he and writer Frank Miller attempted to bring this to the forefront of comic books by re-telling the origins of Batman/Bruce Wayne in Year One. A grittier view. The comic book arrived in 1986, a year after Frank Miller and Alan Moore came to the genre with the so-called "re-visioning", which placed the heroes in harsher settings than they had been in before. The city that the characters of YEAR ONE populate is a city full of corruption; it finds itself squarely in the tradition of noir. That is, long shadows and even shadier people. Indeed, Nicholas Christopher places Batman in the "noir grotesque". The art, when also taken alongside the narrative illuminates specific things about the characters and mood. The comic book traces a year in the fictional Gotham. It is a year of intense emotion and change. I will place my discussion around the narrative of Jim Gordon; Gordon reflects the man seeking an "ordinary life" in the city, however his life is fragmented upon the arrival of the masked avenger Batman.
Like Ben Highmore shows in his reading on detective fiction, it is the idea that although the comic does not show the "everydayness of the urban", its ability to capture the moods and feelings that one feels inside a city is commendable.
At the start of YEAR ONE, Gordon had been travelling "twelve hours" and his "stomach's been trying to eat itself for the last five" (2). So, we notice his anticipation (or dread) of coming to this place. Indeed, it doesn't seem enticing. The first panel shows a city that can only be described as dire. The train, pulling in to Gotham, casts a shadow that extends up and into the top-left -corner of the panel. This seems to be a device to take the reader's gaze tonally into Gotham. Indeed, throughout reading YEAR ONE, it seems that this shadow stays with us.
Georg Simmel points out (in his essay "Metropolis and Mental Life") that man is a "differentiating creature". As a part of natural human experience, man as a person should be able to tell things apart, to see if things are different. Indeed, in Gotham, this could be seen as a struggle for the definition of speed and mobility. The crowded carriage that Gordon is in is full of people who do not have any features. They are simply "grey" people who seem to merge into the background, devoid of any definitions or individual personalities. Only Gordon, who is coloured in and glancing at his watch seems to have some sort of personality. The overall tone of YEAR ONE could be called, "grey". It's neither black nor white and reflects a transitory stage between the light and dark. This is the so-called ordinary life for the characters in YEAR ONE. The background characters generally do not have voices to speak; they exist as part of the shadowy realm that is Gotham. The struggle for human individuality is intensified as a result. The archetypal city, we can note, can bring up or destroy elements of character.
When Gordon confronts a deranged asylum patient, for example, we can note that this 'speed and mobility' manifests itself in the attitudes of crime and violence. The kidnapper "isn't making much sense" and we learn about some background of him; he's a "diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic" (26) who was released from Arkham Asylum two weeks ago. Worried that the police present would make it a "massacre", Gordon drives to the scene. He narrates;
"Last month Branden and his swat team calmed down a riot in Robinson Park. Didn't even leave the statues standing." (27).
The ironic juxtaposition between "calmed" and the violence is telling. Additionally, when a derelict tenement is blowing up later in the story one character comments, "Maybe Branden's cornered a jaywalker." (51). Further informing us of the attitudes of Gotham's police. Telling the officer Branden to "go find your own war" (27), Gordon subdues the kidnapper without killing him and saving the child as well. What this illustrates is Gordon's ethics vs. Gotham's to unnecessary violence. The order system in Gotham is so skewed, that when Gordon is lauded as a hero in the next day's papers, his superiors don't like it and say that he is "nothing but trouble" (29).
This feeling to change the world around him is a main issue of superheroes in their comic books. If we should turn away from the attitudes of Gordon, we can see that this gritty type of violence is "bound" into the inhabitants of Gotham City. We can trace this violence back to Bruce Wayne's childhood trauma. The death of Bruce's parents, in the flashback on page 21, at the hands of a faceless mugger is a resonant image in YEAR ONE. So much so that it is presented in bold, black and white. The flashback scene has no dialogue, perhaps to allude to the thought that the image of something is more powerful than what was said. Indeed, this image of a young Bruce kneeling down beside his dead parents is extremely emotive. Their bodies are "framed" by the circle of the streetlamp's light, which then dissolves into pure black. This is seemingly symbolic of Bruce forever being "in" this circle of street-light; meaning the urban. That he is, to take Uricchio's term, "locked" (126) in a place that forever defines his character. In other words, Gotham City is Batman. Batman is Gotham City. If we are to unpack this idea, then it would be interesting to note certain scenes where Bruce and Gordon "connect" throughout YEAR ONE.
Early in the book, (and early into his tenure in Gotham) Gordon is jumped and beaten up by a group of men who tell him that it's just a "warning". Near the end, Gordon hears a "familiar chuckle", it is Flass. Later, he drives to where Flass is (a poker party) and proceeds to beat him up, "I do just enough…to keep him out of the hospital" (19). Minutes earlier on the road, however, a man in a car drives fast past Gordon, almost hitting him. It's Bruce Wayne. Gordon admits that dodging the Porsche gives him "enough adrenalin to make the drive" (17). We can see that this interaction gives Gordon the will to see his plans through. It may not directly adhere to the overall plot, but it's an interesting point of foreshadowing nonetheless.
Moving on, the first "meeting" between Batman and Gordon is one of intense disruption and confusion. The scene depicts a runaway truck "his foot must be pressed to the accelerator"(42) that is going to hit a homeless person. Gordon tires to reach the wheel of the truck driver, but from his point of view, "it's over I've blown it" (43). Out of the shadows, and interspersed among these scenes of Gordon trying to reach the wheel are images of a silhouetted Batman angling off lampposts and jutting ledges. As Batman saves the person, Gordon falls hard onto the floor and the panel blacks out. He only catches a glimpse of Batman and tries to intimidate him with his gun, but as a result of the fall his "Fingers don't work" (44). These constant black outs could be significant in answering the city's connection to Batman. It's almost as if the city is protecting Batman because of his origin being so ingrained into the shadows of street crime.
In some way, Gordon seems to be buoyed by these actions that risk his life; he's shown by beating Flass up, "what it takes to be a cop in Gotham City."(19). As a result of Batman's disruptions of crime providing more paperwork for the department, Gordon and his partner, Sarah Essen have to work later into the night. They start a secret relationship (most of which isn't shown on panel, it's kept "behind closed doors"), however we are allowed entry into Gordon's thoughts about it on one particular night. This is perhaps his lowest moment in the story as he sits on the edge of the bed he shares with his wife and holding a gun that is "heavier than ever" (70). The sense of disconnectedness is created from the powerful, dense language like "heavier" and by having the ground dissolved underneath his feet (the bed is the only thing visible on panel and drawn on a black background). The pressures of Gotham have got to Gordon.
What the above points to, is Highmore's idea of the city being not a place that shows the "everydayness" of life, but the mood and experiences that one goes through. Modernity, then, places the person in the city amongst many different, conflicting things. These contribute to an overall disorientation of the senses. Modernity appears to promise an ordered life, structured to better the "flow" of people in a big city, but as we can see (at least in the case of Gordon) this fear of society being susceptible to the temptations and being swept away in the current is typified in Gotham's disjointedness.
Indeed, if we can take the book as a whole, the quick succession of moments between characters and events in one year (we never really get to dwell so long on one particular month or day) also slots into this category. If we turn to Scott McCloud's definition, he presents the claim that "Comics panels fracture both time and space, offering a jagged, staccato rhythm of unconnected moments", which could seem true if we take one panel out of sequence, but looked as a whole, then our brains can construct a "unified reality". It is similar to the idea that Dimendberg points out in his introduction to Film Noir ("Film Noir and the spaces of modernity"), that film noir's "fragmented narration remains well attuned to the violently fragmented spaces and times of the late modern world" (6).
This "violence" of the city is ever-present in Gotham. Perhaps it is best said in Gordon's own words, later in the comic book, thinking about his son, "…I pray he's very strong. And smart enough to stay alive." (30). He says this as he is sitting in a dark bedroom. The scene on the page is fragmented by a scene of Batman (again shadowed) running across anonymous rooftops, before returning to a domestic setting, with Gordon's "night off" with his wife. However, as stated, the city has an all-consuming effect and he is called out to work by a piercing "ring" of the telephone; his wife's frustrations and disappointments are reflected in her curt, "Chicken will keep."(30). Interestingly, as with the above, there are different points of the comic book when the city responds to Gordon's want for an "ordinary" life. When he talks about Barbara, and his want of being with her (as she is heavily pregnant) the violent city stops him from thinking too much about it. Whilst out on patrol, to take an early scene, Gordon mentions that he's out here "doing it for Barbara" (5), but underneath the text, there is a bold sound effect of "screech", stopping him thinking of a life with his wife.
Indeed, in the final scene, Gordon takes matters into his own hands and rises up against those who had threatened his family. When he shoots and crashes the escaping car, the sound that comes out of the wreckage are very human and animalistic; alongside the "rending metal and clattering glass", the area "hisses" and "spits" (93). The world that Gordon has entered is thus revealed to be in part "living" and a character in itself. All this talk of seeing the city through Gordon's eyes is important in understanding the premise of living in a "noir" like city, and experiencing it as someone new. The "ordinary" city, to go back to a point, is the feeling of something and not necessarily regimented actions (as we have seen, these two are "linked" by violence).
Indeed, there is also another crucial thing to note. Gordon's unborn baby is a constant dangling plot thread that runs through the narrative, from beginning to end. At the beginning, the hope for having a child in Gotham was so dire that Gordon, at one point early on prays the tests are negative (6). The birth of Jimmy Jr. signals to the reader the ultimate symbol of "life" in Gotham. However this is switched round by Miller. We must view this through a "gritty" filter, after all. In the scuffle between the crook and Gordon, Jimmy Jr. falls off. Jumping off the bridge, Bruce saves him. There is a silence and then a loud cry. What Miller shows in this is the grittiness of life; even though there is a "happy ending", the child still cries. These moments of hope and lightness are still put through a filter of noir.
It would be good to turn here to how the city is presented visually. At many points in the comic book, the city is simply reduced to a hazy, grainy static that exists forever behind the character's heads. Because of this, the city is depicted accurately. I will explain. If the art had depicted the cityscape in every panel and every page, the feeling of this distorted reality would be lost. We do not, in our experience of walking around our city, see whole pictures of them. Instead, we catch corners and lights and glimpses of things that constitute to some overall feeling of 'being' in the city. One scene that holds this well, would be on page 68. As already mentioned, Jim Gordon spends more and more time with his co-worker, Sarah Essen. When walking back from having coffee with her (in a Hopper "Nighthawks"-esque late night diner no less), the scene of them in a wet street, with one pulsating light behind them is important. The lights from the other buildings and apartments are muted and seem to get more abstracted as the next panel shows. We can see signs for "pizza" and a Burger King-like joint. These lights are disorientating and floating around both Gordon and Sarah's head's, as they are interrupted from their walk by a new torrent of rain. The two characters don't seem to notice them, the narration box reads;
"…Gotham weather. Just when the rain seems to be clearing up, lightning flashes…" (68)
Gordon is thinking back, narrating to this time. They kiss at the moment that lightning strikes, and their faces are illuminated by the flash. However, it is later revealed that the police department have been taking surveillance on Gordon and have photographic evidence of this kiss in a darkened, unspecified street. Although it is not revealed if this was the camera taking the picture (though it could well have been, given they were so oblivious to everything else around them), the effect that is created is one of further disorientation. Mazzucchelli's use of framing in this scene (for example) keeps the city from being overused and maintains its interest to the reader through the subjected use of light and noir techniques. Returning to the point, rather than going for a fatal realistic depiction of a whole city, the moods and experiences that one takes from it are what matters.
Through these contrasting symbols of neon lights, murky hazes, speeding cars and men in capes, we note that our attitude to Gotham is one of expected chaos. However, as Peter Fritzsche calls it, "word cities" can be legible as the cities are spaces to be literally and continually read. Indeed, the city and comic books have shared a very symbiotic relationship since the early R.F. Outcault The Yellow Kid drawings of 1895 urban city life. Comics are, as Jens Balzer points to, "part of an aesthetics that can consume the image of the "whole" only in its disharmony" (Comics and the City, 31). Taking this, and our experiences of the city, Gotham moves from being simply an idea on the page to being formed in one's head when reading it. Our own personal interpretation of a city is formed. As Scott McCloud points to, the human imagination takes ideas and "transforms them into a single idea" (Understanding Comics, 67).
Denny O'Neil described Batman's domain as "a distillation of everything that's dark, moody and frightening about New York. It's Hell's Kitchen. The Lower East Side. Bed Stuy. The South Bronx. Soho and Tribeca off the main thoroughfares at three in the morning".
This assertion is very important in understanding what makes the city of Gotham tick. By having these definitions rooted to New York neighbourhoods famously connected with crime, Gotham City can then successfully read as a legible place. It is, as Uricchio surmises, "inseparable" (Comics & The City, 125) from the logic of Batman's personality. Returning to when Bruce (in disguise) walks through the area of "The East End" (an garish area reminiscent of Times Square), this inseparability is very noticeable;
"It's been educational. I was sized up like a piece of meat by the leather boys in Robinson Park. I waded through pleas and half-hearted threats from junkies at the Finger Memorial. I stepped across a field of human rubble that lay sleeping in front of the overcrowded Sprang Mission." (10).
By saying that it is "educational", we are learning about specific Gotham locations and landmark signifiers with Bruce, as he travels through the different sections. Miller, by listing these landmarks, known only to the inhabitants of Gotham, creates a synchronisation between "our" world and Gotham's. The cypher of New York that exists as Gotham City exists in its landmarks, too. "Robinson Park" could easily manifest itself in the minds-eye as Central Park. Additionally, Bruce connects these denizens to specifics of a major city, "wading" and stepping through "human rubble" both shows that the crime isn't merely opportunistic and that it happens randomly (like some superhero comics demonstrate), this struggle of "human rubble" seems Sisyphean and very much a "part" of the fabric of Gotham City. It could be, therefore, that Gotham reads as a distorted New York City. I should turn back to the opening page of YEAR ONE; Gordon notes, when he is in the carriage full of the "grey" men and women, that "…in an airplane, from above, all you'd see are the streets and buildings."(2). Miller and Mazzucchelli do not show, throughout the course of YEAR ONE, any true establishing aerial shots of Gotham. We are free (and possibly expected) to think of a city in our mind and have that as 'our' Gotham.
In essence, what YEAR ONE ultimately achieves, through its use of fragmented narration and interesting art-style is a city that responds to the perception of whatever city the reader may have in his or her mind. By responding to the city through Lieutenant Gordon, we note that the ordinary life is one of intense violence and fragmentary signals. By looking at the art style, we note that the city can be disorientating, and very intimate to the individual, but very damning to the collective. By making the images throughout the work of late-night diners, illuminated sex shows, blank apartment blocks that are hazy, Miller and Mazzucchelli create an overall perception of a real city for the reader. As Mazzucchelli points out, in the Afterword, "superheroes are real when they're drawn in ink". This point can be complimented by Scott McCloud's analysis that "our identities belong permanently to the conceptual world" and that we gradually "reach beyond ourselves" (McCloud, 40) to create personalities and identities to images.
With all this in mind, I return to my starting quote; "With Year One, we sought to craft a credible Batman, grounded in a world we recognise". This comes true through the books use of noir-tinged pathos and credibility, as well as the creative detail that Miller and Mazzucchelli imbue into the work. That the book is a masterpiece of storytelling and atmosphere cannot be disputed. Writer Frank Miller convinces with a dense, yet fractured narrative, while artist David Mazzucchelli creates a visual language to successfully convey the narrative through his process of using "noir" angles and perspectives as well as the heavy use of shade and speed for the panel arrangement. The slight stumble that Miller presents in this rendition of a city, is that the world he imagines strays a little too close to a gritty and ravaged New York perhaps to break free from a connotation of pastiche. Nevertheless, Miller succeeds in creating a believable urban dwelling where a character can dress up as a Bat, and no-one would laugh. They would scream.
Batman Year One, Frank Miller and David Mazzuccelli.
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud.
Film Noir and spaces of modernity, Edward Dimendberg.
'Metropolis and Mental Life', Georg Simmel.
Somewhere in the night: film noir and the American City, Nicholas Christopher.
Comics and the city, ed. Jorn Ahrens, Arno Meteling.
Cityscapes: Cultural Readings in the Material and Symbolic City, Ben Highmore.
"100 Months" is the last published work of cult comic book artist John Hicklenton. Famous for the Judge Dredd and 2000 AD strips, he was more-or-less a maverick on the mainstream comics scene; famous for his no-nonsense attitude to projects.
It is this unflinching 'tude that he brings to "100 Months". Written in his final months (up-until he chose to end his 10 year fight against MS in Zurich), the title refers to Prince Charles' 2009 prophecy that we only have "less than 100 months…before we risk catastrophic climate change". As a result, this makes this work very personal.
The story follows the crusade of Mara, goddess of the Earth (daughter of Satan) waging vengeance against Longpig, an embodiment of all things capitalist and…um…pig-like. Longpig's followers are human; take that as a comment on the society's tendency to "follow" a leader blindly. The narrative is thin, however, and presents the weakest aspect of this work. But I think this doesn't detract from the book; after all, "a picture paints a thousand words."
Stylistically, each page contains only one image. This is an excellent move by Hicklenton; unbridled by the traditional comic book "panel", the images are free to move around the space between and genuinely attain a sense of chaos. The art itself is haunting. Every time a head is chopped off (and this happens a lot!) you can't help but linger on what happens around the image; the blood swirling or the blades twirling. The writing is seemingly sparse for a reason; the art work so well as a series of brutal vignettes.
Like any good book sets out to do, "100 Months", creates and excites and challenges. The fact remains that, whether you like the art style or not, it's raw. Beating. Alive. These were words that I heard repeated at the book launch (the London Print Studio) by Pat Mills (an old friend of Hicklenton's). As he states in the introduction, "100 Months" was "drawn by his soul rather than his hand".
Hickenton opens his wounds one last time and invites us in; the challenge for us readers, is to remain separate from the blurry fact/fiction, muddied by John's MS battle and further by the chaos that inhabits the world around us.
"100 Months" is an picture of a world torn apart, honestly told and professionally crafted into something that's both personal to the writer and applicable to the current state of the world.
I first heard about this Cloak & Dagger mini-series at last April's KAPOW Comic-Con. It was the last panel of the Sunday (the Spider-Panel), things were winding down.
Anyway, the panel teased that "SPIDER-ISLAND was coming". No-one knew much of this, only that it would involve New York getting Spider-powers. Interesting.
And indeed it has been interesting. Some of the best issues of Amazing in a long time.
In attendance at this Spider-panel last April, was Nick Spencer, new wonder boy of comics. Once announced he would be writing a Cloak & Dagger mini-series, I perked up. They have always been an intriguing concept to me: at least visually. Light/Dark. It's a simple power-set that really works to these strengths.
Spencer was asked about his approach to the characters, and although I can't remember it verbatim, it went along the lines of this:
"Two characters who can't be without each other, but forces threaten them apart…"
Young superheroes Cloak (Ty Johnson) and Dagger (Tandy Bowen) are evicted from their home and Mr. Negative hears a prophecy that he will die by one of their hand.
You won't need to follow the events of Spider-Island too closely to understand the story. The events serve as backdrop. This is perhaps the weakest part of the book; the question "WHY IS EVERYONE TURNING INTO SPIDERS?" is never really explained nor is it alluded to. However, this being a tie-in, you must be expected to at least read the handy synopsis page in the front. It explains the events surrounding Spider-Island as an event - but there feels like a missed opportunity in the main narrative.
However, I can forgive this confusion and vagueness if we look at Cloak and Dagger themselves.
Spencer's enthusiasm for these characters really shows. The dual-narrative boxes (showing both Ty and Tandy's thoughts at the same moment) are inspired and further serve to compliment these characters as best friends, confidants and seemingly dependent on each other.
But his emphasis on girl characters is - again - at play here (see Morning Glories, Forgetless). It is in the character of Dagger that he places the main narrative around. It is through this character that the writing really shines (sorry).
She is given centre stage in Mr. Negative's plot to control the events surrounding his prophesised death. Spencer writes her as a cynical but excitable person on the cusp of discovering herself. Indeed this is a large theme of the story; that of finding one's own place without friends. This is Dagger's story, but that doesn't discount Cloak.
I won't got too much into the storyline, but I will say this: the mini asks the question "What happens when Dagger is removed from Cloak?"
We are treated to a nice segment in issue 2 where he fights Mr. Negative's Inner-Demon bodyguards. The scene is wordless and plays very much like an old-school Kung-Fu flick. The action is frantic and the panel layout is impressive.
Emma Rios' art is strong in this series.
I particularly like her rendition of the infested spiders. The sea of spider-legs are confusing at first, but that adds an element of disorientation. It is - after all - a nightmarish scenario. It could have turned out cheesy (Eight-legged Freaks anyone?), but Rios adds a trauma to the events that really works.
This was a series that didn't rely on large events to straight-jacket its narrative; instead, it provided a stage set for future stories featuring the tortured youths. The series ends on an intriguing note: Spencer does something interesting to the dynamic of Cloak and Dagger (I won't spoil- you should read it!), but it is something I would like changed back at some point. However, if it means that Spencer writes and Rios draws more Ty and Tandy, then count me in.
There'll be spoilers!
PLEASE FEEDBACK (too long? too sentimental? too short? too unadventurous? what you would have done better?). I crave feedback. I eat it. Don't leave a man go hungry.
Everything moves in Marvel's rendition of New York City.
The hero jumps up and down skyscrapers battling super villains each issue. The Daily Bugle building is threatened by some maniac with "shock gauntlets" every other weekend. Quite often, a stray energy blast might blow a hole through a building or explode near a manhole, creating dangerous and uneven terrain.
In fact, the city's layers are laid so bare and so naked, that it evokes memories of a sandbox; a creator can construct a city and tear it down again, clearing the slate for more adventures "next time". It is, after all, the nature of sequential narrative in the super-city. Either that or Marvel's New York pay the city's waste removal dept. astronomic amounts to work around the clock clearing up after the mess. In short: random events happen all the time in this super-powered community.
No Marvel comic book hero is more connected to NYC than the character of Spider-Man. This is exactly what we see in the first page of "When cometh…the commuter". At the beginning of the story, Spider-Man (sticking to the corner of a building) encounters the Human Torch. This rather pedestrian encounter (they chat about their problems) evokes the kind of talk that one might have with a close friend, or neighbour. For the super-powered characters in this Marvel Comic, this is an element of their "daily" life and writer Peter David does an excellent job of showing this without sounding forceful or heavy-handed. It feels natural.
Good web-lines make good neighbours.
This is a big part of what makes this story unique, it asks the question that many of us had at some point: "What would happen if Spider-Man went to the suburbs?!" I mean, why would he want to? There are no dingy waterfronts for villains to hang out. More to the point, there are no skyscrapers.
Peter David answers this by first having the suburbs come to the city in the form of Ron, a down-and-out worker living in suburban Scarsdale. Ron wants money so he decides to rob an inner-city fashion store. His motivation for this seems to be a reaction against the monotony of his suburban life. Spider-Man chases him out of the shop but Ron escapes down a subway entrance. Luckily, there's a tracer on him so the next day, Peter tracks him down to Scarsdale.
Whilst there, he encounters obstacles "unique" to the suburbs; a barking Doberman, climbing a tree (because there are no high buildings!) which snaps, an overzealous Community Watch member, and being caught fare dodging on top of a bus. The list goes on. It's all very humorous and played for laughs. It seems to say that "this type of behaviour is accepted in the city" but not in suburbia. Indeed, going back to the comment earlier, when collateral damage is created (the tree snapping) and Spidey is called out on it by the Community Watch member, his response is disbelief: "I'm trailing a criminal." He is shown as very much "out of his depth", in suburbia.
Spidey even comments on this: "I feel like some sort of freak." This tension between the highly charged city-dweller (personified as Spider-Man) and the quiet suburban existence is further shown by the reactions to him being there. A child says, upon seeing Spidey on top of a garbage truck, "Mommy, he's not buckled up." The garbage man upon seeing him says: "And I was gonna call in sick today!"
The art by McLeod shows this contrast very well; of note are the sections where he splits the page down the middle and contrasts both Peter's and Ron's lives at the same moment. Where Peter is shown getting up early, eating breakfast and going out "to work" (in a red-and-blue Spider-suit, that is!), Ron is shown to be sleeping in with the curtains drawn. No dialogue is present, the images speak for themselves.
The panels in the first half of the story (set in the city) are compact and very close together. This arrangement changes in the second half, the panels are larger and sparser, the focus point is "in the distance" and down the long lanes of the suburbs. It is true that the amazement that the characters feel when they see a city-dweller like Spider-Man: "Are you a stranger?" are the first words spoken to him (by a little girl out riding her bike).
The story ends with Ron crashing into a lamp-post, attempting to flee with some of the money. He promises to give back all the money and since he hadn't actually hurt anyone, the plot seems to resolve in a safe manner. In fact, it seems that Spider-Man caused more trouble to the suburbs than Ron did; he's called upon by the community members that he caused grief to earlier; the Community Watch man, and the Bus Driver. "Don't forget about the dobie", Spider-Man quips. The final lines of the story state that Spider-Man is going back to the city for some "peace and quiet".
Looking at the first and last images cements this: the first page has Spider-Man sticking to a wall with his heads in his hands internally lamenting enemies and health problems. The mood is dark and foreboding. The final image has him sitting on a car, head in hands, jokingly wishing to go back to the city. It ends on a light note, but if we recognise what waits for him back in the city, then it holds some pathos.
The guy can't catch a break anywhere.
I suspect that I am reaching in my analysis, but nevertheless, David seems to be saying that superheroes do work best in major cities. There's a reason why in the lead-up to 2007's Spider-Man 3, NYC put up proclamations such as: "a hero comes home".
Spider-Man works best in the city, but testament to the writing (and character!) put him anywhere and interesting things will bound to happen.
See this kid, right here?
That's 10 year old me, looking out over New York City. I can tell you my thoughts at precisely this moment.
"I hope my glasses don't fall off…"
As you can probably tell by that, I was not a courageous kid. The friends I hung out with liked the shady corners or steep slopes that we could run up and jump off; pretend we were "superheroes"! At least, that was the hope. Spider-Man, Batman, Wolverine, Rogue, Cyclops were lived inside a lunch-break adventure.
Standing approximately 86 floors up from the ground level, I wondered just how they did it!? It was…a long way up. Or so the fear told me. Despite this fact, I couldn't help but imagine myself jumping out into open air…shooting a web-line at the last minute, saving my 10 year-old bacon from splattering across the pavement.
In my mind, this reality existed:
In this metropolis, I could see Spider-Man swinging past the "sheer walls" of the Daily Bugle building. When I looked at the subway grates, I imagined Storm battling Callisto deep inside the Morlock tunnels. Every skyscraper was the Baxter Building and every alleyway was a place where The Kingpin's lackeys did shady "business".
There was - of course - more to NYC than "just" superheroes (the food portions = god-like!) but for an impressionable ten year old kid, this was the real thing. It was straight out the pages of a Marvel Comic book and within my reach. I could smell, hear and see it. I could touch it. I could even pose in it.
A few years later and we're here.
I'm now 22 years old but one thing has stayed with me: superheroes, or rather, comic books. It's hard to explain what – exactly – I love most about the medium, but part of it is the unique expression that it allows. There's nothing quite like it out there; literature and art fused brilliantly.
Perhaps the reason why I felt things so strongly on that NYC trip was because the images and stories were so mythic and potent. My imagination was free to run wild (and fly wild!) in-between the panels, and so – it generated a deeper world.
I've grown to appreciate it objectively as an art-form to study and review (the main objective of this blog), but much like Peter says in the above panel: "I don't think I'll ever stop getting a charge out of it!".
As a rule, this is a review site. Many of the entries will concentrate on the issues surrounding the "comic book city". However, because I don't want to limit myself, I will open it up to things I've read or thought about in the world of comic books. I also take requests (if you think something's up my gritty alley - um, that didn't sound too hip).
Anyway, thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy the
rambling posts!
Images taken from:
Family photo album #23 (taken with a digi cam - quality low, sorry!)
The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #2


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May 2, 2014
And the winners are… 4
THE MASTERFUL MR. MONTAGUE by Stephanie Laurens LORA PATTEN ~*~*~ THE TRAP by Beverley Kendall PAULINE JACQUE DINA MARCY SHULER BRANDY D. ~**~**~ Congratulations, ladies! Please contact me at contests at theseasonforromance dot com to collect your books and don't forget to include the title. You have two weeks to collect your prize.


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42 U.S. Code § 12645 - Sustainability
The Corporation, after consultation with State Commissions and recipients of assistance, may set sustainability goals for projects or programs under the national service laws, so that recipients of assistance under the national service laws are carrying out sustainable projects or programs. Such sustainability goals shall be in writing and shall be used—
(1) to build the capacity of the projects or programs that receive assistance under the national service laws to meet community needs;
(2) in providing technical assistance to recipients of assistance under the national service laws regarding acquiring and leveraging non-Federal funds for support of the projects or programs that receive such assistance; and
Source(Pub. L. 101–610, title I, § 186, as added Pub. L. 111–13, title I, § 1612,Apr. 21, 2009, 123 Stat. 1538.)
Prior Provisions
A prior section 12645,Pub. L. 101–610, title I, § 186, as added Pub. L. 102–10, § 8(2),Mar. 12, 1991, 105 Stat. 31, directed Commission to issue final rules or regulations necessary to implement this subchapter, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 103–82, title I, §§ 122(a), 123,Sept. 21, 1993, 107 Stat. 867, effective Oct. 1, 1993.
Effective Date
Section effective Oct. 1, 2009, see section 6101(a) ofPub. L. 111–13, set out as an Effective Date of 2009 Amendment note under section 4950 of this title.
The table below lists the classification updates, since Jan. 3, 2012, for this section. Updates to a broader range of sections may be found at the update page for containing chapter, title, etc.
The most recent Classification Table update that we have noticed was Tuesday, August 13, 2013
An empty table indicates that we see no relevant changes listed in the classification tables. If you suspect that our system may be missing something, please double-check with the Office of the Law Revision Counsel.
|Description of Change
|Session Year
|Public Law
|Statutes at Large
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The software hosting service's CEO comes out with new details on the inquiry surrounding allegations of gender harassment at the company.
Apple finally delivers a cure for the "goto fail" plague, but this isn't the first time that sluggish Apple response times have put its users at risk.
A brief excerpt of an ABC interview with Apple's CEO discusses Apple's penchant for keeping things under wraps, and touches on sapphire and NSA surveillance.
A strongly worded letter from Microsoft's general counsel to Attorney General Eric Holder says secrecy about National Security Agency surveillance is harming fundamental "constitutional principles."
Apple's habit of keeping things close to the vest threatens the allure of one of its oldest, and still important, products.
A civil liberties group plans to tell a military appeals court tomorrow that the U.S. Army has unconstitutionally restricted public access to the case against alleged Wiki-leaker Bradley Manning.
Microsoft is accepting requests for the Windows Phone 8 SDK, but only from a select few developers. The rest will have to endure a "cruel" wait.
Companies are trying to keep key portions of sensitive documents private, but Judge Koh rules their requests go too far.
Apple's chief executive notes that the company's going to "double down" on secrecy when it comes to its products.
A new excerpt from the book "Inside Apple" notes that the company will often suddenly erect new walls, frost windows and install new security in office spaces--to the consternation of people working there.


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The Honors Village Residence Halls
The Honors Village is a collaborative partnership between the University Honors Program and University Housing that provides the opportunity to learn and live in a vibrant community.
The Village consists of three traditional style residence halls (Bagwell, Becton and Berry), a community building (the Honors Village Commons), a centralized green space (including volleyball court), and Clark Dining Hall. The community also connects directly to Clark Hall which houses the Honors Program offices, UHP library and seminar room – all of which offer wireless internet.
What sets the Honors Village apart are its students, who range from Freshmen to Seniors, representing all of the Colleges at NCSU. Along with the Village Scholar-in-Residence, the students create an environment which fosters meaningful, cross-disciplinary dialogue, creative inquiry and fun, transforming this residential setting into a truly engaged community of scholars.
Residential Experience:
The Honors Village provides students with a unique residential community and offers many engaging student-led programs.
Located nearby is Thompson Theater, and Pullen Park. The Honors Village Commons building contains a twenty-four hour service desk, a convenience store, computer lab, and student activity spaces. Additionally, the Honors Program Office, located in Clark Hall, offers a student lounge, wireless computing, and small library where students can find a quiet place to study.
Academic Experience:
The Honors program offers a series of Honors Seminars and workshops and requires a capstone research or artistic/creative experience in the discipline that focuses on the creation or expansion of new knowledge. Students will come to understand both the history and consequences of discoveries, inventions, new art forms, new ideas, and books. A total of 18 credit hours are required: 12 hours of Honors Seminars, and, in consultation with a faculty mentor, a 6 credit hour capstone project.
Honors Village Features:
- Honors Village Fellows
- Free cultural/social events
- Socials with professors
- Career/research workshops
- Visiting scholar lectures
- Proximity to Thompson Theatre and Pullen Park
- Honors Library and Student Lounge in Clark Hall
For more information on the Honors Village, contact:
Brian Peters,
Community Director


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The CEO of one of West Virginia's largest community banks says he sees another wave of merger activity coming, and his bank plans to be a survivor.
Larry Mazza of MVB Bank expects the 7,500 banking companies in the U.S. to fall to 3,500 to 4,000 in a few years. So, MVB is raising money through a stock sale for acquisition activity, and it is expanding in growth markets in West Virginia, he said.
Thanks to upcoming regulations and capital requirements, smaller banks will have problems with compliance, attracting the management expertise they need, making money and returning money to shareholders, Mazza said.
MVB Bank ranks 11th in West Virginia in deposits, and it ranks seventh among West Virginia banks in total assets at $587.9 million.
According to the FDIC, of the 62 banks and thrifts based in West Virginia, four have assets greater than $1 billion, four have assets between $500 million and $999 million and 15 have assets between $250 million and $499 million. The remaining 39 institutions have assets less than $250 million.
Mazza said there are three drivers of change in community banking industry. First is adapting to the Basel III capital rules, an international standard that requires banks to hold back more capital to back their assets.
"You live and die on capital. If you don't have adequate capital, the regulators shut you down or they can stunt your growth," Mazza said.
Then there is the twin punch of Dodd-Frank — 2,700 pages of legislation to be followed by 39,000 pages of regulations — and requirements of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he said.
"These two things will swamp banks, especially community banks, with regulatory fatigue," Mazza said.
Finally, there is QE3, a program of the Federal Reserve in which the government is buying $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities every month. QE3 has cut into bank margins, Mazza said. At one time, a 4 to 4.5 percent margin for a bank was good. Now 3 percent is good, he said.
QE3 is driving down interest rates to where a 30-year mortgage is going for 3.5 percent and a car loan is at 1.99 percent. Banks can't go much lower, Mazza said.
To get around these, banks can cut expenses, which has its limits, or they can grow their revenue, "which is infinite," Mazza said.
MVB has three strategies, Mazza said. First is growing internally, which means expanding in five markets. One is Clarksburg, where MVB recently opened a branch in the downtown.
"In three days, we had over a million dollars in new core deposits," Mazza said.
Second is Morgantown, where a branch is scheduled to open April 13.
Then there's Fairmont, where a branch that is in a grocery store will move to a new location with drive-up windows. MVB also plans to add a second location in Martinsburg.
And then there's downtown Charleston.
Charleston is particularly interesting to MVB for several reasons, Mazza said. It handled the recession well, and its deposit market of $2 billion is twice as large as the next largest in West Virginia, he said.
"Charleston is solid," Mazza said.
Also, if you want to be a West Virginia company with a name and influence, you have to be in Charleston, Mazza said.
And there is a good supply of banking talent in the city, he said.
MVB plans a raze-and-rebuild of a former BB&T property at 400 Washington St. in Charleston. Once the necessary permits are obtained from the city, construction on the 22,000- to 28,000-square foot facility with off-street parking could take about a year, Mazza said.
"It'll be something I think Charleston will be pleased with," he said.
Another strategy is growth through mergers and acquisitions. MVB has targeted smaller banks within a 50- to 100-mile radius of Martinsburg and Clarksburg for possible mergers and acquisitions, he said. M&A activity in the Martinsburg region could put MVB in the Washington, D.C., market, which is one of the best markets in the nation for banking, Mazza said.
And MVB will look for M&A partners in the Charleston metro area, he said.
The M&A activity will be assisted by a stock sale of $20 million to $25 million to raise capital.
The third piece of growth is through non-interest income. Part of that is the company's new wealth management service, which started earlier this year. Mazza said there are several new "shaleionaires" in North Central West Virginia, where people such as school teachers are now receiving royalty checks for as much as $60,000 a month for Marcellus Shale gas wells on their properties, he said.


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The death of three-month-old Kendalyn Elizabeth-Rose Little has prompted some friends to help raise money for funeral expenses.
Donations can be made at any Credit Union One location. Please make checks payable to the Kendalyn Elizabeth-Rose Little fund.
Information on the originating bank-fund:
Kendalyn Elizabeth-Rose Little Credit Union One 16255 Hall Road Macomb Mi 48044
Kenneth Michale Little Troy stands charged with open murder for killing his three-month-old baby girl, Kendalyn.An autopsy by the Oakland County Medical Examiner earlier this week determined the infant's death was no accident. "The autopsy was conducted, and the medical examiner ruled it a homicide, blunt force trauma," said Captain Robert Redmond with Troy Police.On Monday just before 2:30 a.m. when police officers were called to the family's home.When they arrived, they found the mother outside hysterical. The child and father were inside in a basement bedroom.
35 Skyline DriveLake Mary, FL 32746
Phone: (407) 644-3535News Tips: (866) 55-FOX35