text:
What are ways of getting only the egg white from an egg? Can it be done after the yolk is broken?
The traditional method is as Rumtscho describes.
I got tired of this method for several reasons:
Now I just crack the egg into my hand (which has been thoroughly washed -- cleaner than an eggshell). I hold my fingers a little apart and let the white slip through, leaving the yolk in my hand.
Quick and simple.
Regardless of the method that you use you should use three bowls: one for the collected whites, one for the white you are working on, and one for the yolks.
Remember: only dump the current white into the collected whites after verifying that the yolk is whole. That way you don't spoil all your whites with one broken yolk.
It can't be done after the yolk is broken/pierced. But, of course, separating white from yolk requires that you break the egg shell to separate them.
Generally, it is OK to have a tiny amount of whites with the yolks, so you don't have to separate perfectly.
It can happen that yolk gets pierced. If you need the egg whites (e.g. for meringue), don't use the ones into which yolk has bled, even if it is a tiny amount. Dump both yolk and contaminated whites into the yolk bowl (or trash).
If your yolk is pierced and you need the yolks (e.g. for hollandaise) and there is still lots of egg whites with the yolk, you have to continue separating. But if you suspect that you might need the whites pure, just put the contaminated whites from this egg in a separate receptacle (e.g. a teacup) and add them to something which uses whole eggs.
This YouTube video by updowngroupfood illustrates the method nicely, only they crack the egg into two different-sized "halves." For me, it works better when the halves are of equal size.
If by the egg being broken you mean the shell, then yes, of course! If you mean the yolk, it's very tricky. And if you mean after you've dumped the whole egg into a bowl, possibly, but you have to very careful not to break the yolk.
There are probably various ways of separating an egg, but I do it by carefully tapping it on the side of a bowl. Then, I break the egg in half while holding it vertically so that the yolk remains in one half of the shell, letting the white in the non-yolk half fall into the bowl. Then I gently tip the yolk into the empty half, while leaving the white behind (and letting any dribbly bits fall into the bowl as I transfer the yolk). Repeat until most of the white is in the bowl.
Remember, if you are separating the egg to get the yolks, a little bit of egg white is fine. If you are separating the egg to get whites, you can't get any yolk in there.
You can buy egg separators, which are like measuring spoons with a small hole in the bottom. You crack the egg into the spoon and the white runs out through the hole. But why shell out (no pun intended. Ok, maybe a little...) for that when you can do it in 5 seconds without it?
All you need is a small empty plastic water bottle. Break an egg on a plate, then squeeze the bottle lightly and bring it to touch the egg yolk. Let go, and watch the yolk slide into the bottle! Check out a video of this method in action.
The simplest way would be to put a small hole in the narrow edge of the egg (using small narrow object like tine of fork) and tilt the egg slowly. The white will come out of the small hole and yolk will remain in the shell.
Once the yolk is broken, it starts mixing with the white, so its almost impossible to separate them.
The method rumtscho describes works well with practice. But if you're lazy like me, consider picking up an egg separator tool - it catches the yolk and lets the whites fall through.
Crack the egg into a saucer, put an egg cup over the yoke, tilt the saucer and the white falls off. Whaddya mean you don't have an egg cup, you have eggs!
Place a slotted spoon over a cup or jar. Break the egg into the spoon and let the whites slip through the spoon's slots. The yolk will remain in the spoon.
I make egg white omelettes nearly every day. I have tried a number of ways to separate the eggs. Being sensitive to how easily the yolk can be pierced led me to this process. Here's the simplest way I've found yet:
A pair of suction-separators have recently hit the market that promise to make it easy to separate yolk from white.
The Pluck ($12.99):
And the Yolkr (£18.00):
Separating eggs will never be the same.
Crack open the egg and gently dump the entire egg into a bowl - you don't want the yolk to break . Make certain your hands are freshly washed, and then just scoop your fingers around each yolk, and lift out. Hopefully you don't have long, jagged fingernails that would pierce the yolk and contaminate the whites. I use this method when I have to separate 2 or more eggs.


text:
Steak Diane Recipe
4 (3-ounce) filet mignon medallions
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 teaspoons minced red onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup sliced white mushroom caps
1/4 cup Cognac or brandy
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup beef stock
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 drops hot red pepper sauce
1 teaspoon minced parsley leaves
Season the beef medallions on both sides with the salt and pepper.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the meat and cook for 45 seconds on the first side. Turn and cook for 30 seconds on the second side. Add the shallots and garlic to the side of the pan and cook, stirring, for 20 seconds. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until soft, 2 minutes. Place the meat on a plate and cover to keep warm.
Tilt the pan towards you and add the brandy. Tip the pan away from yourself and ignite the brandy with a match. (Alternatively, remove the pan from the heat to ignite, and then return to the heat.) When the flame has burned out, add the mustard and cream, mix thoroughly and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the veal stock and simmer for 1 minute. Add the Worcestershire and hot sauce and stir to combine. Return the meat and any accumulated juices to the pan and turn the meat to coat with the sauce.
Remove from the heat and stir in the green onions and parsley. Divide the medallions and sauce between 2 large plates and serve immediately.
Garlic Rosemary New Potatoes
1/2lb Red New Potatoes (cut in 1in pieces)
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Season Salt
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp dried oregano
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients until well coated. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 30 min. Stir potatoes then return to oven for 15 more min. Potatoes should have a light brown crust to them.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Event Information
We are sexual assault peer educators at Grand Valley State University who advocate for a safe campus free of sexual assault. We conduct educational programs for classes and various campus organizations, and host programs such as Take Back the Night, the Clothesline Project, and Rock Against Rape.
Visit our Facebook page for more information at "Eyes Wide Open- GVSU"
This event also occurred on 1/6/2014, 1/13/2014, 1/20/2014, 1/27/2014, 2/3/2014, 2/10/2014, 2/17/2014, 2/24/2014, 3/3/2014, 3/10/2014 and 4 others


text:
Must-see climate change video connects the dots, while a NY Times story on the record Arizona wildfires fails to
Last month, 350.org founder Bill McKibben published a must-read op-ed about the failure of the media and others to connect any dots between recent extreme weather events and climate change. Stephen Thomson of Plomomedia has combined McKibben's words with striking images.
Underscoring McKibben's point is an uber-lame New York Times story today, "As Arizona Fire Rages, Officials Seek Its Cause," which, you guessed it, is dot free. Meteorologist Dr. Jeff Masters wrote Friday, "The return of critical fire conditions this weekend means that the Wallow fire will likely become Arizona's largest wildfire in history."
Before taking on the NYT piece, let's look at the video:
McKibben's piece is a nice work of rhetoric. After April saw records set for most tornadoes in a month and in 24 hours, I examined the climate-tornado link in great detail here, looking at the data, the literature, and expert analysis. That piece concluded:
- When discussing extreme weather and climate, tornadoes should not be conflated with the other extreme weather events for which the connection is considerably more straightforward and better documented, including deluges, droughts, and heat waves.
- Just because the tornado-warming link is more tenuous doesn't mean that the subject of global warming should be avoided entirely when talking about tornadoes.
The NY Times has been doing some very good science reporting recently (see NY Times Bombshell: "The latest scientific research suggests" climate change is "helping to destabilize the food system"). But their overall reporting team is not connecting the dots (see, for instance, my May piece "New York Times blows the Dust Bowl story").
The NYT had promised two years ago to do more coherent reporting, as the Columbia Journalism Review noted at the time:
Environmental S.W.A.T. Team
On Thursday, The New York Times will launch a new, crack environmental reporting unit that will pull in eight specialized reporters from the Science, National, Metro, Foreign, and Business desks in a bid for richer, more prominent coverage.
The more prominent coverage simply never happened, as I detailed in the second half of my January piece, Silence of the Lambs: Media herd's coverage of climate change "fell off the map" in 2010, which shows that in all of 2010 none of "the largest lead headlines" in the paper dealt with climate. As professor Robert Brulle, an expert on environmental communications, wrote me at the time:
Apparently, the editorial board of the NY Times has yet to fully grasp the importance of global climate change to our collective survival. As the science becomes stronger and more dire, the editors of the NY Times bury their head deeper into the sand.
Today's Arizona story is a case in point. Now I don't necessarily think that every single story written on the record Arizona wildfires must focus on or even mention climate change. But the NYT story is quite specifically on the "cause" of the fires. Worse, the newspaper has no difficulty repeating dubious right-wing myths as to the cause of the fires
Many wildfires are caused by humans — and investigators say this one may have been started by two unattended campfires — distinguishing them from hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes….
Residents heaped plenty of blame on Mother Nature as harsh winds spread the flames and low humidity left the forest full of fuel. But residents and experts also pointed their fingers at a variety of policies that they said had contributed to wildfires that seem to have grown in intensity over the years.
Some complained that it was environmentalists who had caused the forests to become tinderboxes by preventing the thinning of trees as they sought to protect wildlife. Others, like William Wallace Covington, a forestry expert at Northern Arizona University, countered that the leading factor was the grazing of forest grass for generations. The government's longstanding practice of quickly extinguishing forest fires was also seen as adding to the thick clusters of highly combustible trees.
You would never know from the NYT that this standard right-wing talking point has actually been examined in the scientific literature and found wanting. Back in 2006, Science magazine published a major article analyzing whether the recent soaring wildfire trend was due to a change in forest management practices or to climate change. The study, led by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, concluded:
Robust statistical associations between wildfire and hydroclimate in western forests indicate that increased wildfire activity over recent decades reflects sub-regional responses to changes in climate. Historical wildfire observations exhibit an abrupt transition in the mid-1980s from a regime of infrequent large wildfires of short (average of 1 week) duration to one with much more frequent and longer burning (5 weeks) fires. This transition was marked by a shift toward unusually warm springs, longer summer dry seasons, drier vegetation (which provoked more and longer burning large wildfires), and longer fire seasons. Reduced winter precipitation and an early spring snowmelt played a role in this shift.
That 2006 study noted global warming (from human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide) will further accelerate all of these trends during this century.
Again, this isn't to say that forest management practices played no role whatsoever in a specific fire — only that if the New York Times is going to publish an article on the "cause" of this massive wildfire, and push this dubious talking point with the wishy-washy attribution "some complained," then at the very least they have to put forward the far better documented science that human-caused climate change is creating ideal fire conditions in the West.
As meteorologist Dr. Jeff Masters explained last week, whatever the triggering cause was (i.e. "unattended campfires"), this record-setting wildfire season as a pretty straightforward underlying cause:
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions over most of Texas, New Mexico, and Eastern Arizona are largely responsible for the record fire season.
It's a sad commentary on affairs when a video of an op-ed is more informative than a major article in the most important newspaper in the country.
Related Post:
- Joplin disaster spurs media whirlwind on link between climate change, extreme weather, and tornadoes
Below are the earlier comments from the Facebook commenting system:
There is no silver bullet to fix the crisis.
We running out of chances, to prevent the crisis. Basically it must be clear to people that you cannot sit this out or settle somewhere else, because climate change affects the entire global spectrum.
We have to accelerate evolution in prospect of our environment, in order to prevent the worst case scenarios. That means we have to evolve to a sustainable way of living. To transition to a low carbon economy – society. This for example means to fight poverty, because poorer people tend to have more offspring and are less likely to have the education for a more sustainable living. One way to do this is to provide cheap reliable energy. Hence why projects like Desertec are so important. i.e. http://www.desertec-southamerica.org/ , because they help to prevent climate refugees and fight the problems at it#s root.
Projects for fossil energy generation must be stopped!
I saw this video at 350.org- it was very good- and yes, connected the dots for climate change.
Just a few observations – the weather/climate is changing, but thus far internationally there has been far more recognition that the changes are connected to C02 emissions.
In the USA there has been hardly any movement to a consensus media wise, or politically that a problem exists. This is very troubling to say the least. Americans for too long, and throughout history have isolated themselves from external conflicts. They have remained comfortable on their continent within North America, that all will be fine. With AGW, this same cultural mindset remains.
I do not see any change for decades- perhaps by 2030- when the extreme conditions we all know here happening now become hard to ignore, with a public suffering continually from heat waves, floods, fires, droughts and rising food prices make it impossible to ignore.
The science is all too clear -too few see changes thus far that they perceive as a threat to their lives and safety. When those events begin to happen= nothing will change.
The USA
If it's land use , and "Smoky Bear Syndrome " , why is Siberia burning in May?
Sun May 22, 2011 5:15am EDT.
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Fires are spreading fast across vast Siberian forests in a reminder of last year's worst drought on record which killed dozens of people and forced Russia to suspend grain exports.
3 weeks later –
(CNN) — Russia sent emergency fire-fighting aircraft over Siberia's Taiga forests and residential areas to battle 200 new wildfires raging over the past 24 hours, the Emergency Ministry said Saturday.
Twenty-two major ones have been reported, officials said. Since summer began, there have more than 5,500 forest fire outbreaks in Siberia, the government agency reported, with 210,000 hectares (518,921 acres) ablaze, three times more than in 2010.
Russian President Medvedev: "What is happening now in our central regions is evidence of this global climate change, because we have never in our history faced such weather conditions in the past."
So i wonder what he will say or better what action russia might be adopt – this year …
June 12 at 12:28pm
Every record extreme is something we havent experienced before. When there is a trend what more can one concluded.
The fact that ghg emissions are a record for as far back as we can perceive means we are in big trouble.
I think we are not only looking at civilization collapse, but very likely species (meaning us) survival.
And this is all going to start steam rolling before the end of the century.
Isn't anyone gong to declare a state of emergency?
Or are we actually going to destroy the biosphere with out reacting.
June 12 at 4:52pm
"And this is all going to start steam rolling before the end of the century."
Totally agree but …faster, much faster, the global food network will crash way before end of century.
Any one that survives that nightmare will then have to deal with the inherent inertia of the climate system as you say "steam rolling" everything in it's path.
June 13 at 11:20am
Wildfires are driven by more than just climate change:
(BONUS! A song in honor of Joe!)
The MODIS page shows smoke , and lots of clouds.
The World Is Burning, And The New York Times Fiddles Inhofe's Tune.
As nation, Russia, and world swelter under record-smashing heat waves, The New York Times sets one-day record for most unilluminating stories.
If it's land use , and "Smoky Bear Syndrome " , why is Canada burning in May?
Smoke hangs over a large wildfire burning in the northeast corner of Alberta, Canada in this natural color image taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on June 8, 2011. Red outlines actively burning areas.
The fire has been burning for three weeks and has consumed a staggering 416,000 hectares (1,028,000 acres or 1,600 square miles), reported CBC News on June 9, making it the largest fire to start in Alberta since 1919.
The fire ignited in mid-May, at the same time that multiple fires started in Alberta under high winds and low humidity, including the Slave Lake fire, which destroyed 30 percent of that town on May 15.
If it's land use , and "Smoky Bear Syndrome " , why is Britain burning in April?
Firefighters tackle Dorset heathland fires.
Two heath fires in a part of Dorset may have been ignited by smouldering peat.
Man… that Smoky Bear dude really gets around!
June 12 at 2:40pm
If we only complain to each other about poor reporting, we won't change anything. Looks like the NYT reporter, Marc Lacy, doesn't have much background in climate or environment, though as we know, every reporter really should, because climate has an impact on every topic. Go here and click "send an e-mail to this reporter" to write him a note making the points Joe made above: http://nyti.ms/ieERBm.
Then copy the same e-mail to the Times' public editor (firstname.lastname@example.com) and managing editor (firstname.lastname@example.com). Reader response matters to them.
Then go join my Facebook group to do something about media irresponsibility on climate! http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_351728604633
Sea Ice graph –
An excellent review of the causes and effects of global warming –it connects the dots between CO2 and the record heat, rain falls, floods, and recond snow falls.
The notion that fires are caused by environmentalists opposing thinning is pure timber industry PR. In reality, tree farms, or "managed" forests, are much more prone to fire here in the West, according to innumerable scientific studies.
Native forests rarely have fires that destroy all of the trees, since they have cooler and wetter microclimates, and the thick bark helps fire resistance as well.
The Forest Service and even many in the timber industry have figured out that we cannot continue to bring in the firefighters and helicopters every time a forest fire gets going. It is generally better to let them burn. The quandary we face now is that we do not have the resources to either stop them or care for forests by retiring logging road access and allowing our logging caused moth eaten national forests to regenerate.
Mike –
The largest fire in Ga. history was in the spring of 2007 , in the largest swamp in Ga. As I said at the time to people that made the "Smoky Bear Syndrome " case …………
"It's a swamp burning folks".
June 12 at 2:56pm
The largest fire in Utah history , Milford Flat in 2007 burnt 100,000 acres in a day, most of it large sage. July 2007 saw the warmest month on record at Salt Lake City.
June 12 at 3:05pm
Thanks to an extreme drought. Otherwise, It would seem to be hard to believe a normally very wet swamp burned up. www.wildfirelessons.net/documents/Historic_2007_GA_Wildfires.pdf
June 12 at 3:15pm
The largest fire in Alaska in 2007 was the tundra. Which also became the the largest fire in the area in the last 5,000 years –
The Tundra is on Fire
June 12 at 3:23pm
It's not as if "unattended campfires" are a new phenomenon. Indeed, there's prob more care taken to extinguish fires than ever before, and yet a couple of embers can spark fires that burn millions of acres. That's like saying someone died because their heart stopped. Well, DUH! But what was the cause of the heart stopping? Similarly, why is the forest not able to self-regulate situations like this anymore?
June 12 at 9:10pm
wow – nice video.
Thank you. Sharing. At last a piece that doesn't judge the victims or dismiss the obvious.
here's more examples where the video is allowed to tell the story without giving analysis or context.A variation of "if it bleeds it leads" climate style.
Flash Floods Wreak Havoc in Romania.
Torrential rains and flooding damage houses and rip down power lines, forcing more than 250 people to evacuate in Sibiu County, Romania. Raw video.
Arizona Wildfire Chars 400,000 Acres.
Winds and dry weather blamed for steep increase in the size of one of the state's biggest fires in history.
Another huge band of rain yesterday fell north of the Ohio River with big rain totals..
4.32 in At Cincinnati , the monthly average for there in June is 4.42 inches.
White Hall , Ill. – 3.02 in.
Peru, Ind. – 2.53 in.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – 1.92 in.
Cincinnati got over 20 inches in April and May ,
All of it headed into the Ohio River.
Nice. (The only thing that makes me nervous about "connect the dots" approach is that someone from an opposite persuasion can cherry pick evidence, string them together and make an emotional case. This is how conspiracy theories get started. I'm torn on the methodology. I'm torn between the rhetorician and the scientist in me.) At least, the video does a nice job in raising the question.
Off topic, but are the links in this article to other Climate Progress articles working for anybody? When I click on them, or try to open them in another tab, or paste the URL into another browser even, they just end up back on this page. Apologies if this is a known issue.
Joe –
The AP now has the death toll in Russia last year down to 55 people.
" In 2010, an unprecedented heat wave triggered fires that killed 55 people, destroyed thousands of houses and torched 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres) of forests — an area slightly larger than Oregon."
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Russian-forest-fires-could-be-even-worse-this-year-1416676.php#ixzz1P7Nl7M9X.
One must be burnt to a crisp , dying in a flat because the air is poisoned does count on the fire tab.
June 12 at 10:24pm
The Hot Summer of 2010: Redrawing the Temperature Record Map of Europe.
The Russia Death toll –
Moscow July August 2010 — 10,900 extra deaths.
ALL of Russia – July August 2010 — 55,800 extra deaths over the same period in 2009.
There are many factors contributing to such a big fire. One is fire suppression. Instead of more dense villages like those in the Alps, Americans have wanted to own their slice of the wilderness and that means more fire suppression to protect randomly scattered homes, vacation homes, resorts and other buildings.
Another is drought. Another is a heat wave. Another is high winds. Climate change is at least a factor in all three.
Pine beetle kill is another factor, and the causes of that include lack of cold snaps to kill them off during winters, drought and ozone stressing trees and not allowing them to fight off the pine beetles as they had in the past, and logging and previous fires then creating a monoculture of same-age pines when they grow back. Pine beetles prefer adult trees, and such a monoculture allows them to move more easily from one to another than a naturally diverse forest of more tree species would allow. Longer summers might be leading to an increase in two annual breeding cycles instead of one.
Then there are cigarettes, campfires, motor vehicle sparks and arson.
Welcome to some of the many symptoms of Anthro-Earth. The Lamestream Media, to quote the beyond-eloquent Sarah Palin, is so myopic it's as if every case of pneumonia killing what should be healthy young people in the early 1980s is unrelated, with no attempt to understand or report on the AIDS epidemic. The epidemic of such sheer stupidity will ultimately be far more tragic still.
doppler radar shows 6 to 8 inches of rain falling west of Bismark tonight.
By Chinta Puxley, The Canadian Press – 15 hours ago.
WINNIPEG — After four soggy years of flooded pastures and ruined crops, the Manitoba government is looking at how to help frustrated farmers cope with climate change in the province's Interlake region.
The province has quietly issued a request for proposals for a study on how to deal with "excess moisture on agricultural lands" in the area sandwiched between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg, north of the provincial capital. The study is to include a look at drainage policy, crop insurance and best practices by affected farmers.
Many frustrated farmers say the proposed study is too little, too late, but the province says it's an important part of coming up with a strategy to help beleaguered producers.
Tony Szumigalski, a policy analyst with the Agriculture Ministry, said climate change appears to be causing greater extremes on the Prairies — from drought in Alberta to chronic flooding in Manitoba.
"The Interlake has been under water for the last three or four years," he said. "It's been very difficult, especially for a lot of the livestock producers. Their hay fields have been flooded out so there have been issues getting enough hay. There have also been issues related to crops as well."
A better article here on the water and snowpack situation in the west.
Ignorance is bliss.
Comment on an article in Grist Magazine with title: Science connects climate change and wild fires. Why wouldn't the media?
The reason the media doesn't do anything, is because, like so many, journalists only report and do not understand the different impacts of human behavior on our environment, especially not those that are causing pollution. The environmental focus has been solely on the nuisance pollution is causing, while public health and the disturbance of an ecological system, has taken a backseat.
Probably the largest blunder has been the fact that a faulty applied water pollution test caused the failure of the Clean Water Act. The goal of this second largest federally funded public works program was to eliminate all water pollution by 1985, but due to this faulty applied test, EPA ignored 60% of the pollution in sewage Congress clearly intended to 'treat'.
This faulty applied test (verified in 30 minutes of reading on www.petermaier.net) also caused the EPA to ignore all the pollution caused by nitrogenous (urine and protein) waste in sewage, while this waste, besides exerting an oxygen demand (just like fecal waste), also is a fertilizer for algae and contributes to eutrophication often resulting in dead zones, red tides and the destruction of coral reefs.
Unfortunately because nobody wants to admit that such a basic mistake was and still is made, all environmental impacts, as the result of the increased production and presences of reactive nitrogen, can not be discussed, even not the enormous increase of reactive nitrogen, due to the increased use of synthesized fertilizer. The increase is causing nutrient enrichment of our biosphere, responsible among many other phenomena, for global warming and green rain.
Green rain contains fertilizer, which during the wet weather, stimulates excessive plant growth and provides plenty of kindle wood for wild and ranch fires, during periods of dry weather. This excessive kindle wood is making forest fires and range fires also hard to fight and because the fires are now so hot, large trees also start to burn, which in turn results in land erosion and mudslides, when root systems are lost.
In spite of all this, the impact of reactive nitrogen in our biosphere is still not discussable and all that because of a faulty applied water pollution test. If this attitude is not changed this planet is doomed.


text:
It is currently Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:48 pm
Please REGISTER to become a member
The Radish wrote:Hey Brian, welcome to Seahawks.net. I imagine someone here can help.From your IP you live in California?
Return to [ THE OFFICIAL NET NATION FAN FORUM ]
Powered by the Heart of the 12th Man
© 2016 Seahawks.NET
dotNET TwentySixteen template created by Anguish


text:
Trace Lip Liner Refill
Product Actions
Available in Reveal, a warm neutralStyle # 074025047
First launched at Barneys New York, science-meets-beauty cosmetics brand Hourglass was founded by makeup industry veteran Carisa Janes in 2004. Distinguished for its innovative formulas, clinical levels of active ingredients and sleek custom-designed packaging, the beauty collection is acclaimed for its modern color combinations and complexion perfecting products.
Need Help? Have Questions? Contact Us.
Please call 1.888.222.7639 to speak with a Customer Service Representative.
We're here to help you:
Monday - Friday, 9 AM - 9 PM (ET)
Saturday - Sunday, 10:30 AM - 7 PM (ET)
If you prefer email, we can be reached anytime at email@example.com.
Free Shipping & Returns on all U.S. Orders. See Details.


text:
Enter your zip code for product availability and pickup options at your nearest store or select a store by state.
Store everything from garments to linens to shoes while keeping them safe from pests and dust with Our Clear Storage Boxes. Designed and molded to our exacting specifications, our boxes are made from clear, unbreakable polypropylene to provide uncompromised visibility of the contents. Each box features an easy-open, locking lid. The entire collection is modular to stack securely and makes the most efficient use of your closet space. The Long Underbed Box is ideal for storing rolls of gift wrap. They're designed to fit perfectly on standard 12" and 16" depth closet shelves. For convenience, we offer our popular Clear Storage Boxes by the case.
How do we measure?
Enter your zip code for product availability and pickup options at your nearest store or select a store by state.
In 1998, after many unsuccessful attempts to find the perfect storage box, we worked with one of our most trusted manufacturers to create Our Clear Storage Boxes. We wanted to offer boxes of only the highest clarity, with easy-to-open lids and a smart, space-saving stacking design. And, they're designed to fit perfectly on an elfa shelf! Only the perfect storage box is good enough to bear The Container Store name!


text:
The 6 Most Badass Murder Weapons in the Animal Kingdom
What's the most badass thing you've ever seen a man do? Crack a cinder block with his fist? Catch a crossbow bolt with his bare hands? Chew bubble gum with his ass cheeks? Well take that shit and multiply it by about a thousand, and you'll have the kind of things that other species do in their everyday routine. We're talking about creatures like the...
#6. The Mantis Shrimp's Fists of Death
The mantis shrimp lays claim to owning the fastest and tastiest arms of the water bound kingdom. If Chuck Norris lived under water, he would drown and die. And a mantis shrimp would punch a hole in his carcass.
Those tiny boxing gloves aren't for gardening.
The speed of the mantis shrimp's punch is delivered at some 50 mph. Keep in mind the shrimp is doing this in water. If you've ever stupidly wrestled with friends at the beach, you realize how your devastating roundhouse winds up moving in slow motion as you slosh through the surf. Think how strong you'd have to be to punch through the water as fast as a moving vehicle.
Wait, What?
The mantis shrimp's power comes from the two club-like arms it keeps behind its head. It locks those arms in place allowing energy to build up in the muscles. For an added "fuck you" there's an organic spring mechanism in the joint that adds extra force.
So when the local shrimp from Cobra Kai start shit, the mantis shrimp unleashes the force of the muscle which, when combined with the added oomph from the uncoiling spring, means the weapon is released at an acceleration which can reach 10,000 times the force of gravity. That's kind of like being punched by Mike Tyson in his prime, if his outstretched arm was attached to a meteor as it entered the atmosphere.
How Badass is That?
In captivity, the shrimp have been known to punch through aquarium glass, totally fucking up people's rugs. In fact, the punch of the mantis shrimp is so fast, it actually lowers the pressure of the water in its path which--conveniently for a badass sea-ninja who fancies some pre-cooked crab--boils the water around the punch. Steven Seagal's probably only done that once or twice at best.
#5. The Trap-Jaw Ant's... Trap Jaw
The trap-jaw ant is the proud owner of the fastest moving predatory appendage in the animal kingdom. Can you guess what it is? Here's a hint: It's called the fucking trap-jaw ant.
The smaller insect will soon regret taking a closer look at the ant's sweet handlebar mustache.
Wait, What?The trap-jaw ant has two mandibles attached to the front of its head which are held open at 180 degrees, making it look a bit like a surprised Southern gentleman. If the fine hairs lining the mandibles are touched, the mechanism is triggered and the jaws close at speeds of up to 140 mph. That's 2,300 times quicker than you can blink your freaking eye.
How Badass is That?
The speed of their jaw is useful for catching food and also facilitates one of the most incredible evasive maneuvers, or party tricks, in nature. In a tight spot the ant can bite at the ground and use it to jump incredible distances, the human equivalent of which would be the ability to snap into a Slim Jim with such ferocity it rocketed you over a four-story building.
#4. The Giant Amazonian Centipede's Ninja Skills
Any time "giant" and "centipede" end up in the same sentence, if you're not talking about Atari games, it's probably a bad scene. And at over a foot long, the extremely venomous giant amazonian centipede certainly qualifies.
Like any centipede this one is earth bound. But rather than sticking to an easily attainable centipede diet of insects and the occasional cast member from the film Willow, this species has instead refined the art of catching bats in flight. Yes you read right: it catches fucking bats in flight. Shit.
Wait, What?By climbing the walls of bat-caves, the centipede is capable of suspending its body from an overhang and holding itself there, waiting for its unsuspecting prey to pass by. From this seemingly prone position, they've been seen snatching bats nearly twice their own size. To fully appreciate how awesome that is, look at the next fat dude who passes you at CostCo. Imagine trying to hang from your feet and catch him. Now imagine he's flying and you have to hold him for two hours until you're done eating him.
How Badass is That?
The giant amazonian centipede has 42 murderous legs, but it only uses ten of these to keep hold while it dangles, catches and eats. So to further enhance the captive flying fat guy scenario, imagine doing the whole thing while hanging from the ceiling with only two toes.


text:
Craftsman 8 pc. Metric Dual Ratcheting Wrench Set for $34.99 + free shipping
They also have a standard set for the same price: http://http://www.sears.com/craftsman-8-pc-inch-dual-ratcheting-wrench-set/p-00914755000P
This Dual Ratcheting Wrench is 100% ratcheting on both the open end and the box end of the wrench. Craftsman's patented ratcheting open end design allows you to fit into tight spots with the open end without taking the wrench off the fastener, making jobs faster and easier. This feature combines the speed of a ratchet with the the access of the open end wrench.
8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19mm
Fully assembled
Guaranteed forever
3 Comments add a comment
I've already got a standard ratcheting set, been looking for a metric. Never tried the box-end type of ratchet before, hope it works and doesn't round heads. The other set I have has all enclosed ends, but has twice the sizes as a result. I hope the limited variety of metric sizes doesn't become a problem.
Damn. I think the deal is dead. The site is showing $59.99 for me.
The deal is for in-store pickup only. And they have a set amount of stock reserved at the sale price. (I've seen kmart do this recently also, which makes sense since sears = kmart now) Then you have to select a location and hope they have any of the sets "reserved for the sale" left at that location. Ship-to-location and ship-to-door do NOT get the sale price. Got my set last night, not bad. Hope the box end ratchet mechanism is durable. But it's craftsman, so if it's not, back it'll go for free replacement. :) The closed end ratchet appears to be very good quality, 64 clicks per rotation, high precision and usable in tight areas, has a good feel to it, no slop in the mechanism as I've seen with other ratcheting wrenches. NOT reversible though.


text:
The Summer Olympics are over and will return again in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
It beat Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago three years ago and now has four years before the world will descend on the small municipality of more than 6,000,000 people.
A really good thing is it is a one hour time difference for us, so more stuff hopefully will be shown live by NBC and we can actually watch it as it happens.
I am guessing those ratings will blow these ratings, as good as they were, out of the water.
Of course, the ratings will only be as good as the American athletes perform.
As sad as that is, it's true.
Another 104-medal performance would blow the ratings through the roof.
The summer gathering every four years, to me, is far better than the winter games.
The summer showing has more sports with which we are familiar - basketball, volleyball, track and field, swimming, wrestling, tennis, gymnastics and, in four years, golf.
Wonder if Tiger is going to play?
Because, you know, he's back - at least that's what everybody says.
The 2012 Summer Olympic program featured 28 sports and 38 disciplines.
Yep, I'm still bummed there is no baseball and softball, but at least in four years we will get kitesurfing.
Also added to the menu in four years is rugby sevens, a seven-man version of the sport. That will be really fun to watch.
I sure hope there isn't a bunch of guys trying to lose a rugby match and there be a scandal like there was this year in badminton.
Water polo came to the forefront again, showing that it has to be the toughest team sport around.
Wimps need not apply.
The U.S. men's water polo coach, Terry Schroder, is a four-time Olympian in the sport and is the model for the male statue which stands outside the Los Angeles Coliseum, site of the 1984 Olympics opening and closing ceremonies and track and field action.
That was the year Florence Griffith-Joyner just whipped everybody.
Schroeder, who missed the 1980 games like all Americans because of the stupid boycott by former President Jimmy Carter, has a scar on his right wrist and talked about it in a 1992 Sports Illustrated article by Kenny Moore:
"The Russian's tooth came off in my arm. I shot over him and hit him in the face. In water polo there is unlimited fouling. The position I play, two-meter man, is the quarterback of the offense. The ball comes to me, and I'm fouled. That can happen 75 times a game. I've had a total of 100 stitches in my face, but it's funny, I've never broken my nose. A former teammate, Doug Burke, had his nose broken at least 12 times.
"I have to be able to wrestle the heavyweights, take blows and keep focused on the game. That's my strength, to take a beating and hold my own, to not start thinking how I'm going to get this guy back but to keep alert for the next pass. You sometimes see kids with Olympic-caliber talent who can't control their emotions when two guys are pushing them underwater. It's tough. It's great. I love it.
"The sport combines so much. You wrestle constantly for position, and then on the fast break you need pure swimming speed. All six guys have to go. If one man pulls out, his defender is freed and the attack collapses. You can't touch the wall until the quarter's over, so you learn to hang on other guys.
"Wrestlers, cross-country skiers and water polo players are the top strength-endurance athletes on the tests. We lift weights, we do eggbeater kick drills carrying bricks, we do up to 6,000 meters a day of lap swimming. We eat a ton. Training twice a day, you eat 12,000 to 15,000 calories a day - and go to bed hungry."
Yep, a tough sport.
Apparently the 2016 summer affair will be without Michael Phelps and Misty May-Trainer, to name two, but will will also get to see Missy Franklin, Katie Ledecky, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Usain Bolt, Ryan Lochte, Allyson Felix, Carmelita Jeter, Brittany Griner, maybe Ashton Eaton and Jennifer Ennis, and who knows how many of the women's soccer players or men's basketball players.
I want to see if Bolt can three-peat.
He won three gold medals and ran in the finals of three races for less than 40 seconds.
That is just nasty.
I know some people think he has an attitude, but I kinda like his playfulness.
When you are that good, it's nice to see someone having fun.
I would just like to see him finish every race like he did the 4x100 relay.
Then there is also all the heartache, which goes right along with the tears of happiness.
I don't think anyone fit the heartbreak more than Morgan Uceny.
Rounding the first turn of the final lap in the 1500, Ethiopia's Abeba Aregawi clipped the left leg of Uceny, sending her to the track and dreams of gold gone.
It was the second year in a row Uceny was tripped in the 1500 as it happened the previous year at the World Championships in Daegu.
Uceny sat on the track in London, pounding it with her hands and fists before burying her head in those same palms, unable to control her emotions.
Uceny posted on her Facebook page:
"I've never experienced such a heart breaking moment. I put myself in the perfect position coming into the bell lap and felt so relaxed and just ready to roll...I even thought to myself " I AM getting a medal" and the next thing I know I'm skidding on the track, out of contention. As soon as it happened I knew it was over, and I couldn't control the emotions. I was able to see my family tonight, and
"I don't know what I would have done without them. They all shared my tears but also were the rocks of support that I needed. I feel like I'm in a dream, and that I will wake up tomorrow to August 10th to race the 1500m final over....but no. I can't thank all of you enough for the TREMENDOUS amount of support given to me. It's been unbelievable and has made me realize was special people are in my life, so thank you. And here's to the journey ahead, cheers."
(Mathison, a Weirton resident, is the sports editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times and can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.com and can be followed on Twitter at @MathisonMike)


text:
Suppose someone keeps a plant that must be watered daily in order for it to survive. May that person water the plant on Shabbat? Note that this is definitely allowed and even required for pet animals who must be fed daily; however, plants seem to me as though they might be different in this regard.
Mi Yodeya is a question and answer site for those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more. Join them; it only takes a minute:
Sign up
Sign up
Here's how it works:
- Anybody can ask a question
- Anybody can answer
- The best answers are voted up and rise to the top
The reason not to water an animal is that it was banned by rabbis because it takes too much time and effort (tircha) (e.g., Aruch Hashulchan 324:1). They built exceptions into the ban in cases of need (such as, usually, when the animal depends on you for food) (e.g., 324 passim). The reason not to water a plant is because God said you can't make a plant grow on Shabas (e.g., 336:2). He didn't build in any exception for your own plants.
That said, consult your rabbi if this is a practical question for you, rather than relying on what you read on this site.


text:
GENESEO, N.Y. - The development of successful small businesses in Livingston and Wyoming Counties is alive and well, according to statistics from the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at SUNY Geneseo.
In the previous nine calendar quarters, SBDC in Geneseo assisted more than 350 people who needed help with their businesses, either to get them up and running or to improve their existing operations.
Forty-four of those people reported that the SBDC helped them create 134 new jobs and were able to save or retain another 30. They also reported investing nearly $3.6 million from all funding sources in the process, with more than $1 million of that investment coming from banks and other commercial lenders.
Richard Barth, director of the local SBDC, said these results are not record numbers for the Geneseo Center but do indicate that interest in small businesses remains strong in spite of a very difficult lending environment and a difficult startup market.
"Our clients usually come to us with a business dream, but little to no business experience," said Barth. "We help them understand what it's going to take to make the dream a reality, and what's going to be demanded of them once they open their doors. Many of them need financing from a commercial lender who will require a complete business plan," he said.
Barth says the SBDC helps clients get a realistic plan in place and find financing to get the business off the ground. While lenders have been very conservative over the last 2 years, he says they are still showing support for business ideas that are well thought out and well planned.
Since 1993 the SUNY Geneseo SBDC has provided free help primarily for business startups in Livingston, Wyoming and Monroe Counties. Nearly 3,000 people have received assistance, resulting in 1,565 new jobs and another 320 retained by existing companies. More than $165 million has been invested in the local economy by the center's clients.
SBDC services are confidential and available free to the public. Appointments and information are available through contact offices in Geneseo (585-245-5429), Perry (585-237-4110) and the South Wedge area of Rochester (585-256-1740 x 103); or contact by email at firstname.lastname@example.com.
View upcoming SBDC training programs. All are free and open to the public.
Media Contact:
David Irwin
Media Relations Manager
(585) 245-5516


text:
Approaching the end of his stellar career at West Virginia, Tavon Austin continues to find ways to impress his teammates.
Now he has a new fan in Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads.
After returning from a 51-23 win at Kansas, Rhoads started looking at the tape of West Virginia's 50-49 home loss to Oklahoma and quickly realized what Austin was up to.
"Soon after that, we vomited," Rhoads joked.
Running all over a Sooners defense that was set up to stop the pass made Oklahoma sick, too.
Used at the running back position for the first time this season, Austin amassed a school-record 344 rushing yards and Big 12 record 572 all-purpose yards Saturday.
With a shorter week to prepare before West Virginia (5-5, 2-5 Big 12) travels to play the Cyclones (6-5, 3-5) play on Friday, Rhoads is scrambling to come up with ways to slow down Austin.
"It's a pain in the rear end, especially with a six-day work week," Rhoads said. "Seven days are hard enough to prepare for the offenses that you face in this league, and then they start doing things different and you've got the unknown. You don't want to chase ghosts, but to a certain extent, you have to, especially when that player is as talented as he is.
The only thing to stop Austin against Oklahoma was time. West Virginia had the ball near midfield when the clock ran out. Austin came up 6 yards short of the Bowl Subdivision record set in 2000 by Utah State's Emmett White against New Mexico State.
"You don't do that against the University of Oklahoma and their personnel," Rhoads said. "You just don't do that. He's a very, very special player and now you've got to spend the time to make sure you're ready for it. You give your kids at least a chance to try to tackle him."
Scoring on runs of 4 and 74 yards, Austin became the first player in school history to have a touchdown receiving, rushing and on kick and punt returns in the same season.
The senior also had 82 yards receiving and 142 yards on kickoff returns against the Sooners. His all-purpose yards average jumped to 231 and he's now second nationally behind Western Kentucky's Antonio Andrews, who's at 241.
Even in an offense averaging 510 yards per game, Austin's effort left his teammates in awe.
"I don't think you can put that in perspective," quarterback Geno Smith said. "The offensive line got him to the second level, and that was all she wrote. He does a great job of bursting in and out of cuts. He makes guys on the second level that are really talented look silly. I don't know how he does it."
Coach Dana Holgorsen admits Austin should have been used in the backfield long ago. At least he'll have that option as the Mountaineers try to break a five-game losing streak and become bowl eligible in their final two games.
"If Tavon was an every-down running back and could carry the ball 40 times a game, he would have been doing that for the last four games," Holgorsen said. "He is a guy that you look for matchups and you put him in a position to exploit those matchups. That is not necessarily always going to be the case with him in the backfield."
Austin was moved from slot receiver because Holgorsen wanted to shore up a running attack that had failed to reach 100 yards in three straight games. Austin was reunited with the position he played at Baltimore's Dunbar High School before switching to receiver in college.
"They told me I was going to get the ball quite a bit, but I didn't think it was going to be 21 times," Austin said. "Being in the backfield, it felt like I was back at Dunbar. It probably took me about two or three plays, but everything came back in how I would read blocks and it worked."
Yet if he had the chance to start his career over, Austin would keep things the same.
"No, I think it would still play slot," he said. "Just for my reasoning only, for my dream to play in the NFL. I don't think I would last in the NFL as a running back."
No matter what Holgorsen decides to do with Austin this week, Iowa State can't forget Austin as a receiver.
He has a team-high 100 catches for 1,050 yards and 11 touchdowns. He leads the nation with 10 catches per game, and with two more receptions, he'll break the single-season school record he set last year.
"I have said from day one, especially this year, that he is the most explosive player with the ball in his hands that I have ever seen," Holgorsen said.


text:
Premium Stereo Headset /w Remote Volume Control and Mic for Apple iPhone 4 4G
New Stereo Headset keeps your hands free for driving or for doing other tasks at the same time while talking on the phone.You can also use this handfree to enjoy yourself when walking or driving. It features noise isolation, mic and pulsating bass that you can actually feel. Package Includes: 1 X Stereo Headset /w Remote Volume Control and Mic for Apple iPhone 4 4G 3G 3GS. Color: White.
100% Brand New product(Non-OEM). Color: White
Excellent sound quality and super clear sound, Superior Comfort
Control music and video playback - including play/pause and next/previous - by pressing the center button
Includes Remote Volume Control and Mic
2 Comments add a comment
why no listed price? that's always a bad sign.
and is the vendor reliable? never heard of them before...
Also no mention of what brand these are.


text:
Print this page
Product Reviews
Summer Beach Towels
Summer beach towels. Woven towel in ribbed, yarn-dyed cotton. Soft, absorbent and generously sized beach towels reverse to a terry loop for added softness and absorbency. Choose the summer beach towels in three whimsical patterns: In the swim, Flamingo and Watermelon. Beach towels coordinate with our expandable summer beach bags available in the same three playful prints. Summer beach towels measure 40 x 70." Also available: our Newport Stripe beach towel. Machine wash. Imported. Exclusively ours. You'll be the belle of the beach, lake or pool with our bright and bold beach towels. Made of thick, thirsty cotton that dries quickly, the summer beach towels are offered in your choice of three exclusive patterns—juicy watermelons, bright fish or the Florida-chic pink flamingoes. Soft and absorbent, our generously sized beach towels (measuring 40 x 70") reverse to a terry loop for added softness and absorbency. You'll love wrapping yourself up in this cozy towel after a dip in the pool or brisk swim in the ocean. Plus, the whimsical prints are so eye-catching, you'll have no problem spotting yours after returning from the water! Our light-hearted summer beach towels also make a great gift for the beach, lake or pool-goer in your life. Pair the summer beach towels with our expandable summer bags for a well-coordinated beach look. Both summer essentials are available in the same three irresistible prints: In the swim, Flamingo and Watermelon. Exclusively ours, you'll only find our cheery summer beach towels at The Company Store.
Customer Reviews for
Summer Beach Towels
This product has not yet been reviewed.
Click here
to continue to the product details page.


text:
Collab Chapter Two: Pripyat
Second part of collab with Queenie. Posted in separate posts due to character limit.
It was a few days later, and Damien was currently at Kiev airport with Rose. The flight had been fairly uneventful, despite some slight turbulance halfway through, and despite the early hour, Damien was feeling fine. Kiev airport was just as busy as the airport in Chicago, though it was a different kind of bustle. Damien led Rose to the luggage carosel; he hadn't brought much with him, just a rucksack which could have bottles of water and food put in it when they bought supplies in Kiev. After they'd left the airport, they'd then have to collect their permit for visiting Pripyat, and also arrange transportation. Because Damien had no intention of going along for the ride with other people who might want to know what they were up to, he planned to hire a motorbike with the temporary credentials he'd been given by Azhdeha. That way, he and Rose could travel alone; all they'd have to do would be to hand their permit to the guards at the checkpoint.
While they were waiting at the carosel for Damien's rucksack to come through, Damien was thinking. During the past few days, he'd come to really like Rose, though he had no idea whether or not she felt the same way. He decided to risk it all and kiss her. If things panned out and she did like him back, it would be good. Otherwise... there would be awkwardness, but Damien felt he could survive it. In any case, Rose wouldn't be able to go off in a huff seeing as she was in a foreign country and needed to stick with him. So with nothing to lose, Damien suddenly kissed Rose.
Rose had slept for the majority of the flight, and was currently pretty well rested, despite the early hour. At the moment, she was wearing a pair of black slacks and a plain pink t-shirt, just tight enough to look nice but loose enough so that she didn't look bad in it. For her hair, she'd simply let the curls go wild, and used only an elastic headband to keep it out of her face. Her curls were the sort that could almost make an afro, but not quite, and she hated them.
Her feelings toward Damien hadn't changed over the past few days, so when Damien suddenly kissed her, it came as quite the shock; she hadn't known he liked her. So she stood there for a moment, then decided to throw all caution to the wind and tried to kiss him back. Unfortunately, she had no idea what she was doing, and she was very awkward with her big lips at first, and she seemed to know it. But, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect, and she finally seemed to get the hang of kissing Damien, and found that she liked it. In fact, she liked it a lot.
Finally, she pulled back. She lifted a shaky hand to her tingling lips. And, boy, were they tingling; that weird feeling she got around Damien had made kissing him odd, like drinking soda when one had expected something flat, like orange juice, but it also made it quite exhilarating. "Whoa," Rose said. She then shook her head as if her clear it. "Damien, why didn't you just tell me you liked me?" She asked, looking up into the eyes hidden by those d@mned sunglasses; she wanted to rip them off so she could really look into his eyes, but knew that she probably shouldn't.
It had been a few minutes of wondering what would happen, and worrying that Rose was just going to push him away or worse laugh in his face... and then, Rose kissed Damien back. He could tell that she wasn't very experienced, but that didn't really matter. He didn't mind at all; in fact, he liked the fact that she was so into him. His previous girlfriends tended to have their minds half on whether their hair was getting messed up, which annoyed him; especially since he couldn't help but read their minds. When Rose spoke to Damien, he hesitated then said, "I didn't know whether you felt the same. I didn't know what to say, so I thought that this way was better." He automatically stuck out a hand as his backpack came round and picked it up. "We'd better go and collect the permit now; and I need to go hire that bike," he said. "We can talk better once we're alone in Pripyat."
Damien led Rose out of the airport, once all the security formalities were over and done with. He first went to the tourist centre to collect the permit to enter the dead zone; there wasn't any problems there. The next place he went was to a nearby hire centre to hire a medium sized motorbike that could carry a pillon passenger. And finally, he went to the outlet that supplied food and water bottles to anyone planning on visiting Pripyat, and also hired out geiger counters. The woman who was in charge told Damien and Rose that they could also have a shower once they were back, to get rid of any residual radioactive dust. Damien hadn't thought of this, but supposed it was a good idea; he might not be affected by the radioactivity, but he didn't want to bring back particles that might harm anyone else.
All the time they were going through these places, Damien held on to Rose's hand. As well as liking the feeling of skin to skin contact, he also didn't want to lose her. Damien hoped that Rose didn't mind about going on the back of the bike. He asked her to choose what food she wanted to take, as she would be the one eating most of it, after all. Damien picked up a geiger counter too, simply to take a few readings of the radioactivity inside the dead zone.
Rose decided that she'd liked the sound of the word 'alone' a bit too much; indeed, they would have to talk. For now that the status of their relationship had changed, she needed to go over her limits with him, for she knew she wouldn't be able to enforce them without his cooperation, not with things the way they were going.
Rose was a Christian, and had been one all of her life. This meant that she believed that the act of, er, "mating" was something special, something meant for life-partners only. She needed to discuss boundaries with Damien for sure, though she knew that he was not the kind of jerk who'd try to take advantage of her. Still, it was an important matter to her, and she planned on speaking with him about it first-thing when they arrived in Pripyat.
For food, she picked out a small bag of chips, some applesauce cups, a juice bottle, and a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich. "Damien, did the bike come with helmets?" Rose asked. She wondered idly if her poof-ball hair would fit into a helmet, and did not look forward to the challenge in the slightest. She'd put the food, after it had been paid for, into her own small backpack, and then had resumed holding onto him.
But for her, it was for purely sentimental reasons; Rose didn't fear losing Damien, for her natural sort of repulsion to him would help her with that, so long as he was within a certain range. If he wasn't, she could always find some spider or other to guide her to a conspicuous spot where Damien would be sure to find her; spiders were surprisingly chatty creatures, and Rose loved them. She didn't know what she'd do without her powers of animal speech.
Damien replied to Rose straight away, answering her question, "Yeah, it comes with helmets. I asked them especially cuz I was going to be carrying a passenger. I can ride a motorbike alright; Dad's taught me how. I just can't get a licience in America for a good few years yet. We can set off now, if you like." Damien had bought a couple of large water bottles, too; the water in the dead zone would not be safe for Rose to drink and unpleasant for himself. He left the shop with Rose and went to the bike, handing Rose a helmet. "Put this on; also, you might want to hold on to me," Damien said. "The roads aren't that good round the dead zone; well, they wouldn't be seeing as not many people go there any more. There might be a few people around when we're there; perhaps a tourist group, and there are a few old people who still live in the dead zone cuz they didn't want to leave. But they won't bother us."
They set off. Damien rode the bike carefully, not taking unnecessary risks and eventually leaving the main road for the road leading to the checkpoint. The checkpoint was manned by two guards, who examined permits then allowed people into the dead zone. The only ones who could bypass this necessity were the animals. Damien could have gotten in the animal's way, in other words, through the forest, but that had only been a last resort in case he could not get a permit. Thankfully, it would not be necessary. They soon arrived at the checkpoint and Damien asked Rose to remain with the bike while he showed the permit to the guards. They looked it over then raised the barrier so that Damien and Rose could pass. Damien went back to the bike and once he'd checked that Rose was alright, sped off.
The journey did not take long. The road was, as Damien had said, in disrepair with a few cracks where plants had grown through. Damien managed to avoid these, though, staying on the parts of the road which were comparitively smooth. As they got nearer to where the farmland was, it became apparent that nature was fast taking the land back. Trees grew all around, pushing through the road. Animal tracks led through the grassland, and a small herd of wild horses could be glimpsed grazing in the distance, around a broken down farmhouse. The power station was visible in the other direction, a small distance away, near the main city of Pripyat, which had once housed many of the people who worked there.
Rose had managed to get her helmet on with surprisingly little difficulty. She was perfectly comfortable with wrapping her arms around Damien to hold on. At first, she felt odd with the experience of a motorbike, and a bit nervous; what if they fell, or crashed? It would just be the two of them and whatever hit them first, be it pavement or another car. But, after a while, she began to relax and enjoy the ride. She waited quietly at the checkpoint, and was glad when they got through.
She found the ride on the bumpier roads less enjoyable; once, she accidentally chomped down on her own tongue. And, to think, Damien's doing a good job avoiding the BIGGER bumps she thought sourly to herself. But then, when she saw the horses, she cheered up immensely; she loved horses. She was eager to go and greet them, to learn about how they lived. She was almost enchanted by the trees, which looked fairly young but healthy and strong, and was glad to see that nature really and truly conquered all.
When Damien stopped the bike, Rose hopped off and took her helmet off. "Damien? Before you go to, uh, do your job, can we talk?" Rose asked. She swallowed nervously and, not waiting for an answer, went on, "I - I mean- uh- well since things have changed between us, we need to talk about - about boundaries." She swallowed again. "Damien, I'm a Christian; always have been, always will be. It is my firm belief that - that 'going all the way' is reserved for people who intend to spend the rest of their lives together. I - I want you to tell me your policies on - on that. I think it's necessary for any couple to come to a full agreement on how far they think it's acceptable to go." She sucked in a deep, steadying breath and hoped that he wouldn't hate her for saying this, that he wouldn't sneer with disgust and call her a prude, or something.
One journey was over, at least. Damien planned to leave the bike at this point, and for Rose to stay with it; he doubted that she'd mind, seeing that there were animals nearby for her to talk to. As well as the horses, there was a cat sunning itself on the roof of the abandoned farmhouse while four kittens played around it. She would be fine here while he walked on to the power station. He couldn't take the bike as the roads were almost completely broken up at this point; trees had cracked the paving and destroyed the roads, and other vegetation had filled in the gaps. In any case, Damien was certainly well able to deal with a short walk to the power station. He didn't want to risk taking his dragon shape til he was right up close to the power station and knew for certain that there would be no-one at all nearby. Then he could fly right up and land right by the sarcophagus and be able to inspect it at his leasure.
Damien took his sunglasses off briefly so he could remove his crash helmet. Rose's question took him by surprise, and he had to think about it for a while. Finally, he said, "I don't know about that; I mean, my parents are together but they're not married. I don't want you to think that marriage is the be all and end all of everything; two people can be married and then split up, and another two people can not be married but stay together always. I'd rather stay in the second group. I understand you'd want to wait and everything and I respect that. My parents never got married cuz it would just be too difficult, what with Dad never having been born and therefore not having any of the documents and everything."
He wondered just how Rose would react. Damien wasn't saying that he didn't want to stay with Rose; far from it. He just hoped that she wasn't going to be choosing a dress and wedding venue when they'd only been together for a few hours. "Look; I don't want you to get the wrong idea and think that I'm saying I don't want to be with you, cuz that's not true," Damien said. "I'll project my thoughts into your mind, so you can see for yourself what I really think." He did so; Rose would instantly get the image that he did like her a lot, and wanted to be with her for a long time. "The thing is, I inherited Dad's immortality, so what 'the rest of our lives' means doesn't really mesh with that," he added. "But it would be for a long time."
Rose smiled at him, "I know, Damien, I know; my parents split up, remember?" She leaned onto him for a moment. "Since I know you can, will you look into my mind? Please? It'll work better than words." She wanted him to know that her reason for asking had nothing to do with her possible visions of them walking down the aisle. In fact, if Damien scanned her mind as she'd requested him to, he'd find that Rose wanted him, and wanted him badly; what she'd meant by her query is whether or not he'd help her from letting herself get carried away with him. Sure, she wanted him, but she wanted to put limits on that, not only for the sake of her beliefs but also because she didn't want him to think she was easy, or anything of that sort. Also, she knew that neither of them were ready for the sort of commitment parenting required, and that was something that weighed heavily on her mind.
She liked Damien, and knew he liked her; she just thought that it was best to have all the tricky things agreed on before they plunged fully into their budding relationship. Her father had always taught her that it was better to think things through ahead of time and make a sure decision, and then things usually were a lot easier from there because you had that earlier solid decision to fall back on. Since she had no idea how to go about expressing this with words in a language that she hadn't spent a lot of time practicing, she let herself think and feel this wordlessly, knowing that he'd understand if he scanned her mind.
Rose looked up into his eyes, which were utterly black. But, unlike his father's, Damien's eyes did show his emotions, and Rose was glad to see his eyes for once, instead of the glasses. Some people would be freaked out by Damien's eyes, but Rose, who made a habit of talking to many animals with similar eyes, accepted them, and accepted him. Damien wasn't anything near normal, but neither was she; normal was overrated, anyways. Rose was so intent on what she was doing that she hardly noticed the animals anymore.
Damien willingly scanned Rose's mind when she asked him to. He was relieved beyond belief when he did so, and found that what she wanted mirrored his choices. He said, "I get it now; you want to wait, right? That's fine with me. We haven't seen each other in a decade so we need to get to know each other properly first, before we do anything else. Now, I need to go and get this job over with so I'm going to leave the bike here with you, OK? You can keep an eye on it and the crash helmets, too; I can't drive up to the power station cuz the road is wrecked. I won't take long; I'm just going to check all over the sarcophagus then I'll come back here. I'll put a psychic shield around me so that I don't pick up anything from the core that would hurt you. We can look around the place after, if you want; the radioactivity isn't as much in the city."
Damien had a camera on him to take photos of the core and sarcophagus; he was going to keep it within the psychic shield so that it wouldn't be affected by the intense radiation without when he was doing his inspection. He briefly checked the geiger counter; the level was higher than normal, but Rose wouldn't suffer any ill effects by staying in this vincinity for the moment. Damien could tell that there wasn't anyone around in the immediate area; there was a small group of people within Pripyat, along with a few scientists who were working on the other side of the city. So he wouldn't be interrupted as there wasn't anyone nearby at all.
The horses grazed, occasionally flicking their tails at intruding flies. The cat lazily stretched out her paws, the claws extending as she did so. A kitten pounced on a butterfly. The area looked just like any other area of natural beauty; the trees were tall and healthy and the plant life covered nearly everything. Just the reading from the geiger counter showed that not all was well in the area; that although nature populated the dead zone, humans could not settle down here again and perhaps, due to the memory of what had happened, never would.
Rose smiled and said, "Sure thing; this time, our alone time won't be spoiled by serious talk," She then let him go to do his job. She wandered over to the horses, being careful to make sure they saw her coming. Other than that, she let herself relax; despite the radiation levels, the air was crisp and clean smelling, though she could also faintly smell that one of the horses had saw fit to relieve him or herself in the area. The kittens mewed pleasantly as they played, and Rose could hear birds twittering away in the trees. She enjoyed the way the sun pooled here and there in clearing between the relatively young trees, and the sky above was achingly blue with only wispy clouds high up breaking it up.
While Damien was away, Rose had helped one horse, who'd gotten a stone stuck in its hoof, and healed it. She'd spent a good amount of time talking to the horses, and had been amused when one of the horses had asked to try a potato chip and had found that he hated them. The mother cat had been protective at first, but then let Rose play with the kittens, dragging some string around and letting the kittens chase it, muttering to themselves and pretending it was real prey. Rose suffered no ill effects at all form staying around and playing with the local animals, and in fact had a wonderful time of it.
Word soon spread through the local animal community that there was a strange human present who could talk to them. A few more curious animals had joined her, including several types of bird and a pack of dogs. When Damien did return, he'd find that Rose had become popular with the animals, and said animals usually avoided people at all costs; after all, the humans had destroyed the land to begin with. But they saw Rose as almost different, for she understood them and agreed with them about a lot of things.
The power station wasn't very far away by Damien's standards; quite a long walk for a regular human, but Damien was well able to manage it. He walked through the city, noting the huge amount of plant growth, the trees that were not very old, but strong and vigorous which pushed through the concrete. He heard voices and correctly assumed them to be from a tourist group. Damien avoided the group as he did not want to be asked awkward questions and set off towards the power station. The geiger counter went crazy as he approached the power station; it had leapt to a level that would indicate a dangerous dose of radiation for a normal person. Damien put up the psychic shield around himself and everything he carried so as not to collect radioactive dust, and walked purposely towards the power station. It was still in a level of disrepair; the radiation coming from it would kill any unprotected person, so the people who came to work on it had to wear protective gear and could not remain in the vincinity for longer than two hours. But Damien had no such trouble.
He took a quick look around to make sure that there was no-one around; there were sometimes workers or scientists, but there was no-one. Damien changed to his winged reptile form, the one he called his dragon form though it resembled a dinosaur more than a dragon, and flew straight up. He landed by the new sarcophagus and changed back to his normal form. Damien then took some time inspecting it, and photographing the concrete shield from every angle. It was perfectly intact, and definitely an improvement on the old one, which had been cracked in places. Damien put his camera away, feeling that now the American President could rest easy with no cause for concern, and changed shape so he could fly back to the ground. He took his normal shape and walked briskly away from the power station. Despite his shield, the level of radiation still made him feel very uneasy and he was glad to be out of there.
It was also uneasy for Damien to walk through the abandoned city, but at least the geiger counter had gone back to a lower level of radiation. He'd dropped the psychic shield as soon as he'd left the area of lethal radiation. The city had been looted on more than one occasion, so that only non valuables had been left behind. The saddest part of the city by far was the amusement park, with its empty ferris wheel and rides; it had been scheduled to open three days after the disaster, so no child had ever rode the dodgems or the whirlers, or been taken aloft in the ferris wheel. A teddy bear, with its stuffing coming out of a tear in its stomach, lay on the ground by the ticket box. Here too the plant life triumphed; growing out of cracks in the ground and throwing vines over the man made buildings. Damien hurried as quickly as he could to get back to where he'd left Rose with the motorbike.
Upon further conversation with the animals, Rose found that all of them believed this place to be a sort of blessing; it was free of humans and their meddling. The horses didn't have to be restrained, put away, and forced to carry humans on their backs, the rodents weren't being poisoned or trapped, same thing for the bugs, and none of them felt the effects of radiation.
Specifically, the mother cat talked to Rose about being born in the abandoned farm. Her mother had told her the story of the evacuation and abandonment of Chernobyl. But it was the mother cat's great great grandmother that had been alive during all of this. The story had simply been passed from momma cat to kitten all this time.
The story was one of much confusion, of humans expressing much grief. The cat's ancestor had been left presumably to die, for her humans hadn't been able to afford to take her with them; she'd been bitter at first, but eventually let her anger go, for she couldn't expect a creature as fickle and clumsy as a human to remember any but their own kind when trouble arises. Rose sat and listened to the story and, despite that fact that she was human herself, had to agree; humans really did care only for themselves. At least, the majority of them did. The mother cat was in the middle of saying something when she stared off into the trees as if she heard something.
"What is it?" Rose asked in the special language she instinctively used to communicate with animals.
"Something headed right this way, but a ways off yet, you wouldn't hear it. It sounds like that - that boy you arrived here with." The cat said.
Rose shook her head. "I can, er, send out my hearing, but I think I'll take you at your word."
Damien had taken a roundabout route back to Rose by taking a detour and going through the amusement park. He took a few more photographs, before looking at his watch and seeing that he and Rose probably should be off if they were going to get to the motel on time. Damien had not been able to face the idea of catching a plane there and back on the same day, so he'd booked a hotel room for himself and Rose. It was a twin bed room, so he didn't think that Rose would have a problem with that. In any case, he was tired and he figured that Rose would be as well. Eventually, after some time of walking, he left the city and entered what had once been the farmland. Here too there was evidence of animal life; prints of the little sharp hooves of wild boar, with small marks indicating babies. Damien wasn't worried about them, and he didn't worry for Rose, who would no doubt be able to speak to the boar.
The old farmland was full of noises, but only of animal life. It was a lot easier on the nerves than the deserted city, with its near silence and complete lack of any human life save that of visitors. Damien wondered how it would be for the scientists and workers who came here all the time. Surely all the silence would tell on most people? Perhaps, since the workers were being paid a day's wage for working an hour or so, they didn't mind. Or they tried not to think about how it felt to live in a city deserted by people. Damien soon made it back to where he'd left Rose and the bike.
When Damien appeared, Rose grinned. The cat eyed him, then turned to Rose and meowed, "He's certainly good-looking for a two-legged." She winked at Rose, then called for her kittens. The kittens tumbled after her as she left. Generally, the other animals took this as their cue to leave, and a good many of them eyed Damien nervously, for they sensed the predator in him. Rose sat there blushing, glad that it wouldn't show on her rich, dark skin; she knew Damien had no idea what the cat had said, and she didn't want him to.
She stood and brushed her clothes off, then said, "Well, how'd your little project go? And where do we go to next?"
Once Damien returned to where he'd left Rose, he relaxed. She was safe and surrounded by animals; but then, Damien knew that she'd be in no danger there. In reply to Rose's question, Damien replied, "I booked us a motel room; we can go there. Of course, we can't go there straight away. We'll need to go to the place where we got the food so that we can head round the back and shower, and decontaminate our clothes. That won't take long. Then we can head to the hotel. I've already had a look around the city; if you want to go, you can but there isn't that much animal life there, that's all in the villages and farmland. Just mainly rats and mice living in the city."
Damien walked to the bike and started up the motor, warming it up because it had stood there for a while idle. The hotel that Damien had booked a room at also had internet access; not in the bedroom of course, but in a computer room inside the main hotel. He was going to scan in the photos he'd taken and send them as an attachment in an email to his private email address, just in case he lost the camera or something else untoward happen. This is how Damien always operated, and it worked well. He would of course print out the photos once they got back and send it along with his report to the President by courier.
"Well, let's go, then," Rose said. She walked with Damien over to the bike, waiting for it to warm up. They'd arrived in the late afternoon, and now the sky was ablaze with the reds and golds of sunset. Where the sky wasn't flaming, it was a soft blue-purple. Rose stared up at the sky and inhaled deeply; it was back to city air after this, and she didn't much look forward to it. She smiled as a bird flew by overhead, only the black silhouette visible against the rapidly darkening sky.
After a minute or two in silence, Rose looked back down and at Damien. She found it remarkable how, only a day or so ago, she'd been unaffected by his more subtle good looks, that she'd only seen the boy from her past. But he wasn't just a boy any more, he was rapidly becoming a man, and she knew that now. Funny that she'd only noticed reality when he'd planted her with a kiss; for an aspiring scientist, she could be remarkably unobservant. She waited for him to indicate for her to get on the bike so that they could leave.
After a while, the bike was thoroughly warmed up. Damien took a last look around, before indicating to Rose to get on the bike behind him when he did. Damien got on, waited til Rose was secure enough on the seat behind him, then he took off down the road. As before, Damien made sure of avoiding the larger cracks in the unkempt road so as to make the ride smoother for Rose. The city was now behind them, and they just had to ride down to the checkpoint so that they could be let out of the dead zone. Though, for a so called dead zone, the place was crawling with life. Perhaps not human life, but certainly all kinds of nature and plant life, and it would be empty of people for some time. Even after the deadly radiation had lessened, perhaps people would not want to inhabit the scene of such a devastating tragedy and loss of life; perhaps it would simply remain as a monument for ever more.
Damien and Rose arrived at the checkpoint as the sun went down. The guards nodded at them and raised the barrier to let them go through. Damien raised a hand, then gunned the engine of the bike. He was now going to make for the halfway place in Kiev where they could decontaminate themselves and after that, to the hotel. He had the hire of the bike til the next morning; there would be plenty of time to return the bike to the shop before they caught their flight. Damien himself hoped to return to the dead city one day; he had always been interested in the place, and there was just something about it that appealed to him. Maybe Rose would come too. He certainly hoped so. He found that he cared a lot about Rose, and wanted her by his side. But next time, Damien thought, he'd let Rose choose where they went.
They're cute together; seeing how they acted as kids in the RP and seeing them in this is a huge contrast and a ton of development. And yay, Okeam raised Damien right! XD
|All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:37 PM.
© 2007 The Doll Palace


text:
The following items are similar to QuickPix 2007:
The workers wrangled up all the iconic stragglers and the result is the annual QuickPix collection for 2007.
The Iconfactory releases the QuickPix 2008 collection containing all of the single icon releases of this year.
Our previous report that none of the workers have hacked their iPhones has now gone out the window. Thanks Craig!
The Iconfactory and ARTIS Software are proud to announce the release of Frenzic, now for iPhone & iPod touch.
Artist Kate England releases the follow up set to Marmalade Moon's recently released iPhonica icon collection.
Complete set of QuickPix icons released in 2008.
Complete set of QuickPix icons released in 2006.
Cool and unique World of Aqua object icons.
More desktop folder icons in the Yosemite style.
Artist Kate England releases Volume 2 of her series of icons based on the upcoming GUI of Apple's new iPhone.
The Iconfactory search engine is a great tool to help you find whatever you are looking for. We have associated keywords with all of the content available on the site. These keywords span icon sets, desktop pictures, iPulse Jackets, software products, support items, design services projects and even news page postings.
In order to make it easy for you to find what you are looking for, we have built some features into our search engine that allow you to customize your search:


text:
NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast faced the anniversary of devastating Hurricane Katrina by hunkering down for a new storm amid "a high level of anxiety," as the Crescent City's mayor put it Monday.
Forecasters project Tropical Storm Isaac will reach hurricane strength and could be a Category 2 storm when it hits the northern Gulf Coast early Wednesday, seven years to the day after Katrina slammed ashore near the Louisiana-Mississippi state line. Residents of low-lying coastal areas from the Florida Panhandle to southeastern Louisiana were ordered to evacuate ahead of storm surges and heavy rain, while New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu acknowledged his own jitters due to the coincidence.
Isaac is expected to be weaker than Katrina, a Category 3 hurricane with 125-mph winds. But as of Monday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center projected Isaac would come ashore with top winds around 100 mph.
New Orleans could start to feel tropical storm force winds by midnight Monday, and while Isaac may veer off its currently projected course, "It seems to be settling into a pathway and a speed that is becoming predictable," Landrieu said.
"It is quite ironic that we have a hurricane threatening us on the seventh anniversary of Katrina," he said. "That brings a high level of anxiety to the people of New Orleans." But he added that as of Monday afternoon, "There is nothing this storm will bring us that we are not capable of handling."
Most of Katrina's nearly 1,800 deaths occurred when the protective levees around New Orleans failed, flooding the city. But Landrieu said the levees have had $10 billion in improvements since 2005, and the city's pump stations have backup generators ready in case of electrical outages.
At 5 p.m. ET Monday, Isaac was centered about 255 miles (415 kilometers) southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. Its top winds had increased to 70 mph (110 km/h), just 4 mph below hurricane strength, and it was moving to the northwest at 12 mph, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center reported.
The projected track brings it ashore before dawn Wednesday in the marshes downriver from New Orleans. But tropical-storm-force winds extended more than 200 miles from the center, and hurricane warnings stretched from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida border; while tropical storm warnings extended eastward to Destin, Florida and westward from Morgan City to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, about 150 miles west of New Orleans.
Landrieu has not ordered an evacuation of his city, most of which is below sea level and protected by a network of levees. But he said he would "strongly urge" about 900 people who live outside the levee system to leave -- and if anyone else is thinking about getting out, "now would be a good time to go."
Others in low-lying Louisiana parishes and in coastal counties and barrier islands of Mississippi, Alabama and northwest Florida were told to clear out ahead of the storm. In Alabama, state Emergency Management Agency Director Art Faulkner warned that strong winds and high water may affect the Mobile area even if the storm hits as far west as Louisiana.
"It is a very large storm," Faulkner said. "And oftentimes we confuse and focus on a specific dot that may be identified as the center of the storm when very dangerous conditions may exist as far as 200 miles from that specific dot."
The Hurricane Center projected storm surges of three to six feet for the Florida Panhandle, six to nine feet for the Alabama coast and six to 12 feet for the Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana shores.
But on Dauphin Island, south of Mobile, many residents were preparing to sit out Isaac at home, said Alexa Alexander.
"We are boarding up getting supplies ready," said Alexander, who lives and tends bar on the island. "We've had a little bit of people leave Dauphin Island, but not much. Most of the locals are going to ride it out."
Dauphin Island was badly damaged by Katrina, which cut the island in half -- a gouge since filled by sand and rock. The skies there were just clouding up Monday afternoon, Alexander told CNN.
And Louisiana resident Ryan Unger plans to stay in place despite an evacuation order. He filled up gas tanks Sunday night in case he has to run his generator.
"Starting to get a little sense of anxiety, like, OK, am I ready for it?" he said. "Realizing we ain't really ready for a storm. So we're just all thinking about what we gotta do to get in place to get ready for it."
Some 9,000 residents in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, were ordered to evacuate Monday morning. The towns of Jean Lafitte, Crown Point and Barataria are affected.
"We're worried about tidal surge," Jean Lafitte Mayor Tim Kerner said.
And Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called on residents in coastal parishes prone to flooding to voluntarily evacuate. A mandatory evacuation was ordered for St. Charles Parish and for parts of Plaquemines Parish.
Even pro football player Courtney Roby of the New Orleans Saints was a little nervous.
"Kinda a scary feeling of uncertainty," he said via Twitter.
Mississippi officials dispatched 1,500 National Guard troops to the state's three southern counties to help with emergency operations, as well as 45 state troopers to ease traffic flow. The state has distributed 10,000 sandbags to residents ahead of the storm.
"In short, we have done everything in our power to be prepared for the storm," Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said.
In the coastal Mississippi city of Pass Christian, people were moving their boats to higher ground and preparing their homes.
"Lookin' like we're gonna be ground zero again," said Daryl Vaught, as he prepared to place sandbags in front of his doors and garage.
"It seems like Katrina just happened yesterday," Vaught told CNN affiliate WDSU. "Hopefully we'll dodge a bullet here this time. I didn't last time."
It appeared Monday that the storm's ferocity would mostly bypass Florida's west coast and the Republican National Convention in Tampa, where the schedule was pushed back a day by organizers over concerns about the storm. Isaac's eye is forecast to pass well west of Tampa.
Still, Isaac's reach is so large that much of south Florida got heavy doses of rain and wind. In Pompano Beach, Florida, Scott Segal put up hurricane shutters outside his condo as the rain came in horizontally.
"The wind is getting stronger, and the ocean is starting to build, and the waves are getting bigger," he said. "I am prepared, but not nervous."
After slamming into Haiti, where at least six people died in storm-related incidents Saturday, Isaac lashed Cuba and the Florida Keys.
As preparations continued on the northern Gulf Coast, Florida Gov. Rick Scott was assessing damage as Isaac skirted the state's western coast, bringing strong winds and heavy rain.
"We are experiencing some minor outages in the southern part of the state," he said at a news conference in Tampa. He said his main concern for Tampa was no longer a direct hit from Isaac but tropical-storm-force winds.


text:
NEW CUMBERLAND - It's literally back to the drawing board for Hancock County commissioners now that they have rejected all the bids for the construction of the new county 911 Dispatch Center and health department building.
Commissioners rejected the bids at their regular meeting Thursday after learning all six bids for the two-building complex on state Route 2 came in at well over the project estimate of $5 million. That estimate included the cost of construction and the new technology necessary to support the 911 center.
"It's almost cost-prohibitive to build new," Commissioner Mike Swartzmiller said. "We're going to have to sit down and look at this and decide what we want to do."
The lowest bid was $4.8 million, not including the $2 million add-on for the technology package, said Thomas Zielinsky, executive director of the county's Office of Technology and Communications. The highest bid was a little more than $5 million, he said.
Zielinsky expressed disappointment at the turn of events for a project that has consumed countless hours of his time over the past year.
"I was very much surprised that the lowest bid was at the total price of the project (including technology equipment)," he said, noting that accepting one of the bids would have put the project cost at more like $7 million. "We're going to have to go back and ... see what we can salvage out of this."
Zielinsky advised commissioners to reject the bids after consulting with project architect L.R. Kimball of Ebensburg, Pa., and determining that "significant cost reductions cannot be made."
The project calls for the construction of two buildings on county-owned property at state Route 2 and Rockyside Road - one for the Hancock County Health Department and one for the 911 center/Office of Emergency Management. All three agencies currently occupy quarters in the Hancock County Courthouse and a neighboring building.
Among the factors driving up the cost of the project are building requirements imposed by the West Virginia Office of the State Fire Marshal and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Zielinsky said. The latter has jurisdiction because Hancock County lies within the 10-mile emergency planning zone for FirstEnergy's Beaver Valley Power Plant, a nuclear facility in nearby Shippingport, Pa.
In other business Thursday, commissioners accepted a bid from Juszczak Development to disassemble and haul away all the equipment from Newell Memorial Field. Juszczak bid $7,323 on bid package five, which included all four of the individual bid packages.
The contract includes the visitors' side bleachers, the home bleachers, the press box and all other equipment (fencing, scoreboard and lights).
The contract does not include demolition of the restrooms, the concession stands or the World War I and II memorial.
The latter, including the bronze plaque, will be moved and reused by American Legion Post 114.
Commissioners bought the Newell property - and the old Jimmy Carey Stadium in Weirton - from Hancock County Schools in December for $400,000. They want to clear the 4.25-acre site on state Route 2 by the end of the month so that it can be used for economic development purposes.


text:
Continued employment expansion in Colorado in the first half of 2014 is signaled in a quarterly report released today by Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler and prepared by the University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business.
"Coloradans continue to persevere and show their can-do spirit by pursuing the American dream," said Gessler. "As these business leaders create jobs, hopefully our employment continues to tick upwards."
The Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators Report is published by the Business Research Division at the Leeds School using data from the Secretary of State's central business registry.
During the first quarter, a total of 26,522 new businesses filed with the Secretary of State's office -- a decrease of only 0.1 percent compared with the same time last year.
"The economic metrics are overwhelmingly positive this quarter," said economist Richard Wobbekind, executive director of the Leeds School's Business Research Division. "However, given the slight slip in new business filings in quarter one, we will be paying close attention to the next quarter's data to see if a downward trend is emerging."
The quarterly report is based on an analysis that found a strong correlation between new entity filings and total nonfarm employment.
Colorado recorded 89,721 new entities during the past 12 months ending in March -- a 3 percent increase from the previous 12 months.
At 118,167 for the first quarter, existing entity renewals also were up 7.3 percent compared with the same period in 2013. The first quarter finished with 533,927 total entities in good standing in the business registry, an increase of 5.4 percent from the previous year.
Visit the Secretary of State's website to view current and past reports or to sign up to receive the report by email. For more information about CU-Boulder's Business Research Division visit http://leeds.colorado.edu/brd#overview.
Brian Lewandowski, Leeds School, 303-492-3307
Rich Coolidge, Colo. Dept. of State, 303-860-6903
Andrew Cole, Colo. Dept. of State, 303-860-6903
Elizabeth Lock, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-3117