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Motorists on State Route 7 in south Pierce County will encounter one-way, alternating traffic over the next two weeks as they approach Muck Creek near Weiler Road, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) announced Thursday.
Starting at 7 a.m. Sept. 20, the two-lane highway will be reduced to one lane around the clock through 7 a.m. Oct. 4. During that time, construction crews working for the DOT will replace a culvert that allows Muck Creek to run under the highway. If the work is completed before Oct. 4, crews will reopen the highway to two lanes sooner than scheduled, a DOT spokeswoman said.
This traffic control restriction will not be new to motorists, who have already encountered occasional one-way traffic restrictions at the project site. What will be new is reducing the highway to one lane 24 hours a day.
With the end of summer approaching, crews will work long shifts over the next two weeks to install the culvert. Once the culvert is in place, crews will do final roadway paving and striping to complete the project.
Flaggers will provide traffic control at the site. Motorists can expect delays of up to 10 minutes and should plan extra travel time to reach their destinations, the DOT spokeswoman said.


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PLYMOUTH — A Saturday morning cooking demonstration at Plimoth Plantation, the living history museum chronicling life in the original 17th century Plymouth Colony, destroyed a Colonial-era building, according to museum and public safety officials.
The fire broke out about 9:30 a.m. at the plantation, a full-scale historical reenactment village that draws tourists from all over the world to this iconic South Shore community, particularly during the Thanksgiving season.
The cooking demonstration – intended to show how early colonists prepared meals over an open flame – started in a fireplace inside Cooke House, then spread to the structure's straw roof, officials said.
No one was hurt in the incident, which happened while the seaside community was awash with locals and tourists alike, including thousands who packed Court Street for Plymouth's annual Thanksgiving parade.
Plimoth Plantation Executive Director Ellie Donovan said the museum will raise money to rebuild Cooke House, named for Francis Cooke, who arrived in America aboard the Mayflower.
The fire forced the plantation to close for about 1½ hours and severely damaged the building, which will be razed.
Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the blaze, but not before it "ate up the whole roof," Plymouth Fire Department Batallion Chief Dean DelTorro told the Boston Globe.
Staying true to Colonial-era construction methods, the 30-foot-long by 20-foot-wide Cooke House was built with wood, straw and other materials commonly used by America's first European settlers.
Despite the fire, it will be business as usual at the plantation for the traditionally busy Thanksgiving week, Donovan said.
The director said the plantation has a good fire-safety record, adding that the last such incident occurred more than a dozen years ago.
Information from the Associated Press, Boston Globe, Brockton Enterprise and Quincy Patriot Ledger was used in this report.

subset: commoncrawl


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De Alton started as a coffee plantation, but it has expanded to roast and distribute premium Guatemalan coffee. The company has taken advantage of the beauty of its plantation and has created a tourist industry around it. The plantation became a restaurant, hotel and tourist centre in the vicinities of Antigua Guatemala. Since the company has succeeded with its current business model, it is expected that De Alton will continue its activities going forward, focusing on premium coffee to attract...
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App List: Splitting Utility Bills with Roommates
Say goodbye to broken email threads, group texts, and whiteboard scrawl. A new wave of apps has emerged to help take the pain out of divvying up those monthly bills. I've written before about the best apps for transferring rent to your roomie, but these apps specialize in squaring away additional expenses like utilities and cable. Ready to make your life easier? Read on.
A fully fledged IOU manager, Splitwise allows you to track debts and make payments via PayPal. The UI is beautiful (perhaps the best of the bunch) and there is an equally easy to use iPhone app.
- Very easy to add people & groups.
- Easy categorization of expenses and sweet spending breakdown according to these categories.
- A "Whiteboard" for group communication.
- Facebook Connect to make things easier.
- I couldn't figure out how to make payments using their iPhone app. I'm sure the answer must be there somewhere, but it's not obvious.
- You can't connect your utility & cable accounts to automatically import your monthly bills, something I was definitely looking for in a product.
Not as pretty to look at as Splitwise, but the idea is the same. It's an easier way to keep track of bills and divide shared expenses. After registering (quick & easy) you can choose to "Add a Bill", "Add an IOU" or "Add a Payment". BillsAreIn.com also has a "House Wall" to track group messaging, and plenty of options for categorizing the expense.
Unlike Splitwise, BillsAreIn automatically sends an email to the other members of a group when a bill is added and instructs them to pay their share. Also unlike Splitwise, however, there is no way to pay your share using this app. You can "record a payment" and allow the other party to accept (acknowledge that it has in fact been settled up), but no money can switch hands here. So, that kind of stinks.
- Pretty easy navigation and ability to view expenses owed and paid.
- A "House Calendar" for keeping track of roomie events. This could be handy for chores, upcoming dinners, trash night, bill due dates, etc.
- The "Statistics" tab is much like the "Charts" section of Splitwise, minus the fancy pie graph.
- Site wasn't secure. I don't know if it was just my browser, internet connection or what, but when dealing with finances that's a pretty big red flag.
- No corresponding iPhone app.
- Could not make payments through site – more of a record keeper than full on bill management system.
This one looks a bit more promising. PayDivvy comes with a clean looking landing page & a Facebook Connect option to sign up. After signing up, I was asked for my home address – not sure why. Luckily I was able to skip this step, and the one beyond it asking if I wanted to import contacts from any number of external address books (Gmail, Yahoo!, etc.).
After this step it was time to add a payment method – credit card or bank account only, no PayPal here. With the previous two apps this step was less upfront, but I guess it makes sense to provide a clear call to action when the goal of your app is to facilitate easy financial transactions between roommates. It didn't take me long to discover that PayDivvy was my favorite of the bunch. Why? Finally an app that allows you to connect your utility accounts for easy access to past statements and unpaid bills. Cutting out the middle man, don't mind if I do.
- Good looking site & Facebook Connect.
- Ability to connect with Provider accounts!
- Ease of paying recipients with on file bank account or credit card.
- Again, no corresponding iPhone app, but improved functionality is worth it for me.
- A bit more complicated user experience (but lots of helpful lightboxes to steer you along the way).
How do you and your roomies square up each month? Are you using any fancy methods or just a good ol' fashioned checkbook? Let us know in the comments below.
November 10, 2012 | Posted in Apartment Living by Lillian Smith
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Results tagged ' Dan Radison '
Drew Storen, Kevin Mench and Coach Dan Radison Visit the National Rehabilitation Hospital
Friday, August 13 was a lucky day for patients at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in northwest D.C. Washington Nationals players Drew Storen and Kevin Mench joined First Base Coach Dan Radison for a visit to the hospital, which specializes in treating patients with physical disabilities caused by spinal cord and brain injuries, as well as a variety of other neurological and orthopedic conditions.
In addition to handing out hats, posing for photos and signing autographs, the players took part in rehabilitative activities and were able to see firsthand what patients experience as part of their rehab process. Storen, for instance, was challenged to a game of "Stick Ball," with the goal of scoring points by hitting the ball between the wheel chairs.
"I enjoyed spending time and interacting with the patients at the National Rehabilitation Hospital," the rookie pitcher said. "While it was tough to see the hardships they're going through, I hope that our visit brightened their day for at least a little while."
Radison and Mench were also given the opportunity to show off their competitive sides when they were invited to play Wii Baseball by a group of young patients who were eager to find out if the Big Leaguers were as skilled at the videogame as they were on the field.
"The kids and adults are here for rehab and we were able to bring a smile to their faces," Mench said. "Anytime you can bring a smile to someone's face, you can change someone's life."
Nats finalize coaching staff
The Nationals finalized their coaching staff today. Hitting Coach Rick Eckstein, Pitching Coach Steve McCatty and Third Base Coach Pat Listach will return in the same roles in 2010. The club also named John McLaren bench coach, Jim Lett bullpen coach and Dan Radison first base coach.
Eckstein returns for a second season in Washington. He played an instrumental part in reshaping the offense and it showed significant gains in 2009 in runs per game (+0.40 per game), home runs (+39), batting average (+.007), on-base percentage (+.014), slugging percentage (+.033) and OPS (+.047) compared to the previous season.
McCatty was the Nationals Triple-A pitching coach for four seasons before being summoned to Washington on June 2. McCatty employed numerous pre-existing relationships with Nationals pitchers to help his staff post an ERA exactly one run better than that recorded in the season's first two months (5.69 ERA from Opening Day-May 31, 4.69 ERA from June 2 through season's end).
Listach will return for a second season as Nationals third base coach. Last season, Listach's judgment saw only 11 Nationals thrown out at home plate on non force-outs, a figure bettered by only the Cardinals (eight) in MLB. With added responsibilities as the Nationals infield instructor, Listach had a hand in Ryan Zimmerman earning his first career Rawlings Gold Glove.
McLaren, 58, will draw on 22 seasons of Big League coaching experience, including a stint as Mariners manager for portions of the 2007 and 2008 seasons. He replaced Mike Hargrove as Seattle's manager on July 2, 2007. While skippering the Mariners, McLaren hired Riggleman as his bench coach in 2008.
McLaren worked on Lou Piniella's staff for 15 seasons, and also enjoyed stewardships under Mike Hargrove, Cito Gaston, Jimy Williams and Joe Morgan. He has experienced five postseasons, including four division titles (Toronto in 1989 and Seattle in '95, '97 and 2001). McLaren spent the 2009 campaign as a Rays special assignment scout. He also served as Team USA's bench coach during the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006.
Lett, 58, will draw on 15 seasons of Major League coaching experience, 11 spent as a bench coach with the Reds, Blue Jays, Dodgers and Pirates. He served as the Dodgers bullpen coach from 2001-04, where he worked alongside Riggleman, who was Jim Tracy's bench coach at the time.
Lett joins the Nationals after spending the previous two years coaching in Milwaukee's Minor League system. Lett has worked in professional baseball for each of the last 35 seasons as a player, coach, manager or front office executive. Lett is also a highly respected catching instructor.
The 59 year-old Radison begins his third tour with Riggleman, as the two worked together during Riggleman's managerial stays in San Diego and Chicago (NL). Outside of his stints with the Cubs and Padres, Radison has managed, coached or scouted for the Yankees, Cardinals and Mets organizations from 1984-2006.
He spent the previous three seasons as the Cardinals Minor League Hitting Instructor. While there, Radison worked closely with Eckstein, and helped Rick Ankiel (as a hitter), Skip Schumaker and Colby Rasmus graduate to St. Louis.


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JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009
March 20, 2009, 10:40:36 PM »
JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009
Thanks for dropping by and checking out JTA's roundup of all of the Hasbro Q&A sessions from around the web. This week's answers come in a little late as Hasbro has slid back the time to answer. The roundup is continually updating as we get more and more responses posted at the participating websites. If you know of a site that's participating in the Q&A's but isn't represented in our roundup, please drop us a line with a hyperlink to that site's Q&A.
You can check out each site's postings by clicking on the website title. And please do, as some of these websites need the traffic. The Star Wars Q&A's are posted alphabetically.
Also be sure to check back as we distill the Q&A's down to the real nitty gritty with out Q&A Headlines. That is where we give you real news that comes out of the Q&A: newly confirmed items, assortments, exclusive details, etc. And feel free to post about what Hasbro is saying in the Q&A process here in the Jedi Temple War Room.
That being said, let's start of at home:
The Clone Wars figures on the new cardbacks that were shown at Toy Fair included Mace Windu, the ARF Trooper, Super Battle Droid Sergeant. But there was also an Obi-Wan Kenobi that was originally released as 2008's CW02 on the new cardback, but with a CW01 number. Is that new cardback accurate to the new line's numbering scheme? Additionally, will Hasbro be re-releasing some of those 2008 Clone Wars basic figures as refreshes when the line relaunches this August in the new packaging? And if so, what would those refreshes include?
There will be many refreshes in the new red & white line look; quite simply, kids cannot get enough of the excitement of Clone Wars, and their demand persists for the main characters. We would not want to drop them from the line when they will continue to be the best-selling figures. The package you saw was a placeholder; the 2008 Obi-Wan figure will be released as CW19 later on in the assortment after we have run the space-suit Obi-Wan for a while. Other re-release figures will also be coming, but we do not have a final list.
One of the staples of the Basic Figure line over the years has been Darth Vader. He's the most iconic character of the Star Wars saga. But he was noticeably absent from the Toy Fair exhibit and presentations.
Be that as it may, the modern figure aesthetic has given us a tremendous new version of the Dark Lord with the release of 2008's BD #8 Darth Vader. That begs the question, where does Hasbro believe there is room to continue to innovate with future OT versions of Darth Vader? Might we see Darth Vader relegated to Greatest Hits type of assortments? Or could we possibly see a new REVENGE OF THE SITH version, perhaps with the trademark Sith eyes and cloak?
Darth Vader will continue to be a huge figure for us in the Legacy and Saga Legends basic figure waves. We are always looking for ways to bring new takes on him to future waves and your suggestion could be interesting. Thanks!
Noticeably absent from the Hasbro presentation at this years Toy Fair were the Clone Wars figure & droid 2-packs that are starting to appear now at retail. How extensive can we expect this line to be, and will it consist of refresh figures only, or will some new figures be appearing in this line of 2-packs?
The figure/droid 2-pack lineup will not be extensive, and all will be repacked.
And now to continue through the Star Wars collecting community...
Could we get a photo of the gunner inside the turret of the Geonosis Assault Battle Pack from the Toy Fair coverage? If no additional turret, can we expect some additional clone gear/weaponry in the set?
Unfortunately, we do not have a picture at this time of the Clone inside the turret. The fit is not that tight - it's pretty roomy in there actually. There will be no additional weaponry besides their helmets and basic Clone blasters.
Will the vulture droid be repainted into episode 1 colors? And, how about a picture of the vulture droid in walking mode?
Eventually, we might repaint it into alternate colors drawn from previous entertainment but right now there are no plans. Here is a pic of the droid in "walking" mode.
Any update on the cantina bar dispenser or any other extra bar parts? Its been a while and a lot of people really want to complete that cantina.
Unfortunately, we were not able to develop the dispenser after all. The piece was simply too deep and complex to be delivered as an accessory in the basic figure assortment. It's possible that someday we could do this accessory in an exclusive pack, but right now there is nothing on the drawing board.
Right now, based on what you've said and shown at Toy Fair, the 2009 basic TLC waves look like this: February (ANH), May (ESB 1), September (TPM). We know the '09 EU wave got pushed into '10, but according to your prior answers that still leaves 4 more TLC waves crammed into the last part of the year. 2008 suffered pacing issues and delays in part because the Hasbro SW team was focusing on Indiana Jones, but this year there is no such sidetrack, so why the pacing problems and slowdowns? Does the fact that so many other movies are getting Hasbro toy lines (GI Joe, Transformers 2, Wolverine) slow the flow of SW toys? Will all 7 remaining '09 waves actually make it to market in this year, or will all those waves on top of each other in the last 3rd of the year cause another push-out and all-repaints wave? As per your Dec 10th Q&A correction, will ROTJ and ANH 2 waves get released between May's ESB wave and September's TPM wave?
Indiana Jones, nor any other movie, had (or has) nothing to do with the issues we have had on Star Wars with regard to schedules. Star Wars has a dedicated team assigned to it, and our schedule issues have been due to simply trying to cover a great deal of ground at once. Between Star Wars basic figures, Clone Wars basic figures, Comic Packs, exclusives, and our design to add newness to everything we do, it's an unprecedented level of support for Star Wars. A line the size of Star Wars is challenging for design, sculpting, engineering, and packaging, and any delays for any of these, or delays in securing Lucasfilm's approval, can cause disruption in the pipeline. The system was stressed, but we're back on track again and should be straightened out for this Fall and beyond. Right now, all waves will indeed make it out this year with the last wave likely to be Dec or Jan at the latest, following by the EU wave. There will be no repaint wave planned because there are quite a few regular waves falling into line. Had we been able to react to the delays this Spring, we would have activated a repaint wave this Spring but could not get one done in time and we held the final Spring wave (EpVI) over for the red/white line look rather than cutting it short in Spring.
What are the requirements that a retailer must go meet to get a Star Wars exclusive, do they have to be a certain size company, make a certain number of Hasbro orders a month, etc.? Is there some sort of process that a retailer has to go through to get an exclusive, do they work with Hasbro on what item to produce, or is it out of their hands?
Our retail partners are just that - partners in Hasbro's overall business. To be considered for an exclusive, a certain level of overall support needs to be met. Some retails are specific in what they would like to see, but the majority defer to the team to deliver exclusives that meet their needs and target the consumer base we are both looking for (i.e. kids or collectors, or both).
With the Titanium Series line, how much influence does Lucasfilm put into it? Have they ever asked for a specific ship to be included in the line when it otherwise wouldn't be? Have they ever requested a feature be added to a vehicle, or even possibly a potential feature removed? Is the LFL approval process fairly smooth with this line compared to something like the action figure line, have they ever sent a Titanium Series vehicle back to the drawing board or even canned it altogether?
Lucasfilm reviews each line plan for overall approval, accepting the majority of concepts but occasionally rejecting some and proposing alternates in their place. Features are a less important feature of the Titanium line, but are a big topic of discussion for other vehicles, such as the Starfighter 3-3/4" Vehicle assortment which is much more feature-oriented. In general, Titanium vehicles have a smoother approval process than 3-3/4" figures, simply because there is less subjectivity involved in the interpretation of things like faces and fewer deco issues. Incidentally, 2009 will be the last year for the Titanium vehicle series. It will be put on hiatus after this year.
Having seen the Toy Fair coverage on various other websites, I was just wondering how 2009s exclusives will be handled for overseas markets and customers. With a month or less left to go on Stateside distribution for some of the exclusives slated for this year, like the three Wal-Mart Comic 2-Packs or Jabbas Rancor with Luke, is there any projection for getting more of these exclusives released abroad? The main reason I ask is because I <i>still</i> havent found a European website to carry the Lucky Lekku Gunship, or Battle of Christophsis and Battle at Carkoon Ultimate Battle Packs, so I have to pay through the nose to get them shipped over from an American online dealer, and I dont want to have to do that too often this year if at all possible. (Not because of the Credit Crunch, but because Id rather spend the money on army-building.) Im a bored collector with little to buy, and I want to hand your corporation money by the shovelful without getting too many middlemen involved. How can we make this happen?
We have offered every item in the line to retail partners in Europe so far for 2009, but not every item has been accepted, which poses problems for getting to the manufacturing minimums needed for some of the items. We are trying to work through these issues. The goal is to have complete distribution, at least in the U.K. and Germany, for every item. Unfortunately, the reality is that this will not be possible, and the Rancor is one of those that has not been selected to be supported in Europe.
Why does Hasbro love the re-pack? Is it simple economics or are your sculptors part of a Commie union and lazy?
We rely on repacks because we would not be able to do Star Wars without relying on our vast library to help offset tooling costs. To put it in proper perspective, the "completist" collectors who would like us to do every Cantina alien, every Separatist, every Pod Racer, every one of Jabba's denizens, comprise a relatively small user base. Some collectors may find this hard to believe, but the vast majority of Star Wars figures that consumers purchase every year are from core, recognizable, characters along with clones and other high-profile figures. The tertiary or background characters are released in much smaller volumes, yet consist almost entirely of new tools. The business model for the obscure characters is thus "upside down." If we had to rely on 100% new figures to propel the line, we would only make the core heroes because it makes the best business sense to develop what most people want to buy. We don't want to do that, however, because collectors are an important part of the consumer base for us (and we are fans of the tertiary guys ourselves!), and doing smaller-run figures is an important way to keep everyone engaged and interested year after year. We have to carefully manage how many we do, however. We hope that clarifies why repacks are, and will continue to be, a vital part of our strategy.
Since weve already gotten several different Clone-, Storm-, and Rebel Trooper army-builder multi-packs (which seemed to sell well), is there any chance we could get similar multi-packs for the various multi-hued Battle Droids and their ilk (Super Battle Droids and Droidekas, for example), or for Podracing-livery-themed Pit Droids?
We do not have plans to do Battle Droid-themes Battle packs, although droids will be a prominent theme in the Deluxe assortment that will be relaunched this Fall. We would not do a Battle Pack centered around Pod Racing; that topic is too niche to be of general interest for a successful Battle Pack.
To be continued.
Last Edit: March 27, 2009, 05:36:03 PM by Gold 5
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Re: JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009
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March 20, 2009, 10:48:07 PM »
JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009 - PART 2
Many collectors are eagerly waiting for more information regarding the upcoming Return of the Jedi wave. Our evil spies report that you intended to show the wave at Toy Fair, but that it was not possible due to time constraints. Is there any chance that you could share pictures with us when it becomes available? We are all very excited to know more about the Death Star II Luke Skywalker, the 'innovative' "Slave" Leia , Skiff Guards, etc.
We did indeed intend to show the wave, but did not get the hard copies done in time. We still don't have great photos of this wave, but will send along one of the images we have - for the Nikto Skiff Guard. Enjoy!
Hasbro, you obviously keep the molds used for figures and vehicles, where and how are they stored? I'm picturing the government building in Indiana Jones right about now.
That's about what it amounts to. Generally, each tool is stored on a pallet and stacked up on large heavy duty racks. We have a vast amount of tooling spread out across the various factories in China, and even some (although doubtful any Star Wars) in Rhode Island. Periodically, we have to go through and scrap tools that we do not plan on using again, although on Star Wars we try and keep just about everything. You never know when it will come in handy...
Finally, with everything shifting pretty heavily toward the latter part of the year, a few of the products heading our way feel a bit like "placeholders". In particular, I'm interested in asking about the Mini Rigs that were mentioned at the Toy Fair presentation. Can we safely assume that even if certain products (the Battle Droid and Tank) don't sell gangbusters, we're still going to see NEW Mini Rigs vehicles on our shelves in for the "back half" of the year? Also, just to calm (my) shaking nerves, is the maestro of the orginial Mini Rigs line (Mark Boudreaux) heading up this very honorable extension of a beloved vintage favorite?
The Mini Rig type concepts will be coming in 2010 for the most part. We don't plan on going too long with the assortments this Fall so we will be in a good position come Spring when the newly tooled ones arrive. Of course, if the whole assortment is a disaster for some reason (which we doubt), then all bets are off. Our preference for this assortment is to work with on-screen vehicles from the Clone Wars, but the number of choices we can make in the "personal craft" size is still unfortunately limited. So we needed to take some liberties (just like the original Mini Rigs) and Lucasfilm liked our suggestions. Mark is indeed involved in the new Vehicle/Figure assortment.
The Comic Packs Lumiya figure - knee articulation or no? Some folks see a knee joint in those Toy Fair pictures, but others don't (and frankly, due to information overload at Toy Fair, I can't remember myself what type of articulation she had).
Yes, Lumiya will indeed have knee articulation.
The Clone Wars Nikto Bounty Hunter figure - we know he's not coming in the Jabba Battle Pack anymore, but can you confirm that he will make it out at some point in the near future? He's such a great figure, we'd love to get him sooner rather than later!
Right now he does not have a home, but because he is tooled it is guaranteed that he will eventually come out either as a basic figure or part of an exclusive. He's a great figure, we're just looking for the best way to get him into the line.
Just to clarify a point that has come up on your 10th Anniversary Eopie Mail-Away - will the "Mark of Maul" stickers be found only in Phantom Menace wave or will the stickers be found in other toys/figures as well?
Currently, only the Legacy/Droid Factory fist waves of figures will have the sticker. We looking at whether we can carry the stickers across all basic figures. Even if the other figure SKUs (Clone Wars, Saga Legends) do not have the sticker, all basic figures will be eligible for the mail-in promotion.
First of all, it was really good to see a Yuuzhan Vong figure revealed at Toy Fair. Does Hasbro plan to release any further EU figures from New Jedi Order such as Jacen and Jaina. Also, are there any plans for a Zayne Carrick figure either as a Comic Pack or Legacy Basic figure release?
Yes, there are plans for Jacen and Jaina at some point. As for Zayne, there are no plans right now. His was the very last pack cut from the list before we nailed down the 2010 line plan. He is a strong possibility for a 2011 comic pack, however.
Can you please clear up the issue regarding the Battle Pack with Gun Turrets - this has got people very confused and annoyed. Please can you confirm how many Fun Turrets we're getting in the Battle Pack - is it one or two? If it's two then great, if not, why are we paying for a Battle Pack with two figures and one Gun Turret - when this was originally released as a figure from Episode II we got a figure with Gun Turret for the cost of a Basic Figure - now we could be expected to pay three times the cost for a lot less!
Originally, we designed this set to have two turrets and two clones.
However, we could not get costs from our factories to fall in line with the cost targets we needed to hit. As a result, there will be one turret in the pack. The choice at the end of the day was quite simple: one turret and two clones, or to not produce the item at all. We obviously feel that it is a nice addition to the world of Star Wars and hope that fans show that our intuition and passion for items like this was not misplaced.
There were reports of a Galactic Heroes AT-AT with electronics (apparently this was seen at the UK Toy Fair) but this wasn't mentioned or seen as part of the US Toy Fair Coverage. Can you clarify the position on this item and when and if we're likely to see it?
The item will not be released in 2009; it is being considered right now for 2010.
Since we are getting more large vehicles these days, what is the chance of ever getting a large vehicle/playset of the Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser. As a kid I always wanted a cool Star Destroyer toy and since the Cruiser was in the movies and featured regularly in the cartoon it seems like a logical pick to get some plastic love from you guys?
There is very little chance of this. The Cruiser (and star Destroyer) are simply too big and not exciting enough to be considered.
Last year you all pulled a major surprise out of your hat before SDCC with the BMF Falcon and I know t Toy Fair you all said there would be no other large vehicle this year other than the Turbo Tank, however I was wondering if you are planning anything that will be on par with last years summer surprise later this year for fans that you could tease us with?
There will be no surprises on par with that. There will be a lot of product news at Comic Con, but it will be against the remaining Fall mainline waves and some tasty exclusives.
Any plans to expand the 'Build a Droid' concept to something beyond just droid, like a Build a Alien or 'Build a monster/creature' figure?
There are no plans to expand the buildable mechanic beyond the Droid Factory concept.
To be continued.
Last Edit: March 27, 2009, 05:36:52 PM by Gold 5
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Re: JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009
Reply #2 on:
March 21, 2009, 09:55:44 AM »
JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009 - PART 3
In the recent Toy Fair slide-show, we saw that the Japanese RC droids are coming to Target. The Remote Control R4-P17 wasn't on the slide. Will he be included, and if not, will he be available at any time domestically?
We only brought four of the 3-3/4" RC droids to retail, because that is how many can be active at once on different frequencies. It's possible that, if this run is successful, we will sequel the program again at some point with additional droids. If we do that, it's highly likely that R4-P17 would be among them.
Thanks to the recent Build-A-Droid series the list of movie droids that still need to be made is dwindling fast. What are the chances of any of the following seeing the pegs over the next few years? R5-X2 (Jabba's red/white unit from the podrace), R2-A5 (the white/green droid in Mos Eisley), the R3 and R5 units from the Rebel Briefing scene in Return of the Jedi and last but certainly not least a vintage update of the Lars Family Power Droid (Gonk Gonk).
None of those figures are in the works for the buildable figures in the Droid Factory lineup, but that doesn't mean that we won't be pursuing them in other formats (basic figures down the road, exclusives, the occasional Battle Pack). We do like to turn our attention to the droids we haven't done, so they are in our "Parking Lot" for the long haul.
I'm impressed with the Build-a-Droid figures, and I was wondering if you consider the quality of the fully assembled figures to be on par with figures released in the basic line-up? For instance, would you consider releasing some of the Build-A-Droid figures in the Legends Line at some point? That Dark Trooper coming this year is begging to be army built by collectors, if he were to be released in the Legends line some day (hint hint!).
While we like the buildable figures, and believe that we have put in hooks to enable them to be seen with the same quality lens as the regular carded figures, we don't have any plans to release them on the basic cards. It's possible that the bodies themselves could be used later for basic carded figures, but as the basis for new figures not as straight re-releases. So the only way to get these specific Droid Factory figures will be to collect the pieces. As for the Dark Trooper - it will be far too big to ever put on a Saga Legends card!
My son and I love the Clone Wars voice changer helmets. He has the Blue and I have the plain white. They are really great items with excellent electronics and very durable. Yet we have been thinking...as Boba Fett is a favorite character of his (ours)...is there a chance at a Boba Fett Voice changer helmet in the future? You could even make a Jango Fett plus an entire Mandalorian range in different color schemes.
We're really glad you like them. A Mando helmet is a cool idea, but we would only consider it if there was some form of additional current entertainment support for a Mando-type helmet. Being relevant to kids is the only way to make an item like this viable (look how long we waited to do a Clone helmet!).
The articulation in your figs keeps getting better and better but sometimes some of the figures have swivel elbows rather then the ball jointed elbows.
My question is will you guys phase out the swivel joints and completely replace them all with ball joints? Also is there any talk about a new way of doing the hips? Perhaps ball jointed hips?
Thanks for the comment. It's unlikely we'll ever phase out swivel arms, as they remain a viable alternative for us as we can't simply produce every figure with super-articulation due to extraordinary costing challenges. We are happy with our current hip designs, and don't feel the need to go to ball hips as a universal solution.
This is more of an idea for "down the road", but one I was wondering if you had ever considered. 2-Packs seem to be popular among collectors, and can make great display pieces when the packaging is interesting.
So, have you or would you ever consider do a series of 2-packs featuring the Animated version of a charcter along with it's Legacy version? It would be an interesting way to perhaps celebrate the Animated series and the SW Legacy at some point down the road. Now, I know that not every character could be done as not all characters in the animation appear in the Live-Action. Obvious choices would be Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Padme, Clone Trooper, Grevious, Dooku, Commanders Cody & Gree, C-3PO and R2-D2. What do you think?
At the present time, we would not consider this sort of combination. The simple reason is that it would narrowly appeal only to those collectors who appreciate both styles of figures. While more and more collectors are getting into Clone Wars, not everyone collects both styles nor would want to be "forced" to collect the other style to complete their collections.
How about a Queens of Naboo Evolutions 3-pack? Use an as yet unproduced version of Queen Amidala from Episode I, Queen Jamillia from Episode II, and Queen Apailana from Ep III.
There are no plans for Evolutions to return, at least for the next few years. If we ever did look to reactivate the concept, your concept would certainly be an interesting one.
Toy Fair was great, but we're an impatient bunch. Can you give us a tease to something that we can hope to see at Comic Con?
Sorry - but we revealed so much at Toy Fair that we are guarding all of the remaining concepts for Comic Con. We promise that we will have some great news regarding things that folks so far have not uncovered... assuming the spies don't ferret them out before then. Stay tuned!
Considering the "crazy" price rises on most of your ranges of toys how come you religiously maintain that items such as Comic-packs have to be designed to a price-point. Hence the fact that we have "SECOND FIGURE SYNDROME" whereby the other figure in a pack is usually a disappointment/total waste of time. eg; the recent Asajj Ventress. Why not just give fans what they want, two fully articulated figures and price accordingly?
Once we set a price, we have only so much flexibility to increase the price; retailers have a tremendous say in what they will support. So sometimes, it takes steps to get where we need to go. Since Comic Packs were originally designed to be something of a value pack, including two figures *and* a comic, it limited our flexibility on what we could include and the amount of articulation we could afford overall. We have reacted to your (collective) comments though and are doing our best to ensure both figures are of commensurate articulation with the rest of the line.
First our compliments on what was a far better display at this year's Toy Fair, most all of the new products looked great, and were a great deal better than what was shown at TF08!
That said, the old school collectors have a bone to pick. Last year - about this time, you announced that we would FINALLY be getting a new Luke Skywalker as he appeared on the second Death Star, and that the new DS2 Luke would be appearing in a ROTJ wave in the Spring of 2009. Granted that was with the caveat of "if the schedule holds." So while we understand that schedules change - the Original Trilogy fans can't help but feel like the OT continues to get pushed back in favor of PT and CW waves. We're sure that there are valid reasons for all of this, but when, oh when are we finally going to see the ROTJ wave? This delay seems especially silly considering that over time you've revealed the name of EVERY figure in the wave!
Can you tell us when this will be released? And while we know that there's a bunch of love for the OT coming (in the form of additional Empire and A New Hope waves). With the current schedule, we can't help but be concerned that once again "the good stuff" got pushed into next year. Help us understand how the final four waves of the year will be released between September and December. Your own slide presentation corroborates the numbers that all four are still expected this year:
46 figures translates to:
1st ESB Wave - 6 figures
AOTC Wave - 6 figures
TPM Wave - 6 figures
ROTJ Wave - 8 figures
ANH Wave - 8 figures (technically the second ANH wave, considering the ANH wave currently in stores)
ROTS Wave - 6 figures
2nd ESB Wave - 6 figures
Add those up and you get 46 figures. You've gone over the waves in Q&A's recently - so we have to assume that things haven't changed that much. Please help re-assure the OT fans that they will be taken care of, and that perhaps we won't have to wait all the way until SDCC to get something shown for us to get excited over!
And BTW - if you HAVE to kick a wave into 2010 - move the ROTS wave, we've had four straight years of ROTS releases, so it would be okay to finally take a break!
Thanks Again!
The EpVI wave will be the second wave in the Fall assortment. We'll be leading with the EpI wave because the red/white packaging is timed to start with the Qui-Gon Jinn & Eopie mail-in promotion, but after that there will be a flow of OTC goodness, we promise. 2010 looks great as well, as long as schedules hold of course...
Could you give any more details about Mighty Muggs becoming TRU Exclusives? What will this mean for future waves? If you see the line ending, will you try to pump out the highly requested Muggs like Jedi Luke, young Anakin, Darth Malak, TIE Pilot, Sandtrooper, Jawas, Galen Marek, etc?
After Spring (from August on), Mighty Muggs will be found exclusively at Toys 'R Us. Right now there are no plans for additional exclusive waves of Muggs beyond what has already been shown.
I absolutely love the multitude of rebel pilots as of late , but I have one questions- Are we EVER going to see a grey squadron y-wing pilot from ROTJ, and if yes, when? This is a figure that has never been done in any line, vintage or modern.
We'd love to see a Gray Squadron pilot or two ourselves, especially a Col. Salm or Lt. Telsij. The former would be a likely candidate someday for a comic 2-pack if the line continues for a long while.
To be continued.
Last Edit: March 27, 2009, 05:30:18 PM by Gold 5
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Re: JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009
Reply #3 on:
March 21, 2009, 07:08:51 PM »
JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009 - PART 4
How does a new paint job and box justify a $30 price increase on an "exclusive" that just came out in December (the ARC-170)?
Now we understand - thanks for clarifying. We're not sure where the $30 increase comes from, as the ARC-170 was marketed at $44.99 last Fall. But the answer to your question really lies in what our commitment and hope is long term for this vehicle SKU. As we articulated at Toy Fair, we plan to run a limited number of ARC-170s to set the shelf while we work to get in the new exciting Clone Wars Y-Wing as quickly as possible. That is the reason this vehicle assortment exists at the price it does. Without the ARC-170, this assortment would not exist as it may not make it out to retail until Sept. or Oct - later than retail would tolerate. Thus, the Y-Wing exists because we were able to bring the ARC-170 out and the pricing for the assortment reflects the new tooling. Hopefully this assortment will be a success and we can look forward to continuing it in 2010 as well.
With all the remakes and upgrades you've done over the years on insignificant characters, is there any chance that we might ever see a new improved Admiral Ackbar figure anytime soon? He's only about the most important strategist that the rebellion has...
We do have our eye-stalks set on an update of the dear Admiral. Hopefully, he will debut before the end of 2010, if not, then he will be in the 2011 lineup.
Hasbro's newly revealed pilot/gunship turret pod battlepack comes with 2 pilots and one turret and looks AMAZING! To completely outfit 1 gunship, kids and collectors will need to purchase 2 battlepacks. Will we need to buy ahead and purchase extra battlepacks in anticipation of future gunship releases? Or will Hasbro release this battlepack in conjunction with any and all future gunship repaint/repack releases?
Excellent question. This pack is designed to have a limited run - likely less than 12 months, as the Battle Pack format will change in Fall 2010 back to the original thin depth we used from 2006-2008. This means that any of the sets developed for the deeper design will remain out of circulation, unless demand is so hot that get them back out as exclusives. Even then, it will likely take some time and there is never a guarantee they will come back out. So best buy 'em when you see them...
Over the recent years we are finding at retail that figures packs are being returned to stores tampered with. In this case the actual figure and accessories have been swapped out but will keep a retailer from restocking because they believe they have actual product. Is it possible to use tamper resistant tape instead of the clear tape Hasbro uses?
We have looked at tamper resistant tape, but it is unusable for our needs. Luckily, the vast majority of collectors are upstanding citizens and the cases of tampering are rare. Any collectors who see tampered product can return it to the customer service desk and notify store personnel, who can then report that tampered toy as damaged goods and effectively remove it from circulation and inventory.
Hasbro has shown great confidence in the Mos Eisley cantina scene, recognizing that the iconic scene has great mileage with both collectors and kids, and pledging to complete the roster of background aliens. With that in mind, might Hasbro be interested in expanding that to include Ket Maliss, Cebann Veekan, Myhr Rho, Y'bith, Thorp, Kelbo, the Tin Tin Dwarf, and/or Kal'Falnl C'ndros - characters who are "just off camera" and yet appear in various sources from behind-the-scenes materials to the Decipher's CCG and the Holiday Special? Many of these designs fit well with the in-film Cantina styled characters and all have precedent in or around that area, they could certainly be passed off to casual collectors as being part of that element, just as was done with your recent Bane Malar figure.
First let's get something out of the way - Cantina aliens, and the scores of characters like them including the Jabba's denizens, Senators, Pod Racers, female characters, and other tertiary and background characters are interesting only to collectors. It's very important that we not produce too many of these characters, and be careful about how many we produce (can anyone say Yarna?) or else the line risks being imbalanced and unproductive for retailers. Now for your question... the short answer is, probably not. With the Cantina, there are still a solid number of on-screen characters that we would look to do first before we go off-screen even thought there are some very cool choices in the ones you suggest (the Y'Bith is awesome, as is what appears to be the first Nikto in any entertainment - Kal'Falnl C'ndros [editor's note: Hasbro likely meant Kelbo rather than Kal'Falnl C'ndros, who is a large ostrich-type alien whose legs were seen in ANH -JT]). Thanks for the entertaining look at this interesting group.
Titanium Series has suffered another indignity by not being included at New York Toy Fair. With recent significant price increases, a continued focus on pointless repaints, a general feeling of lack of support from Hasbro for pretty much the life of the line, canceled and displaced molds (some shown at the '08 Toy Fair), what is happening with Titanium Series? Fans keep asking about the line, and Hasbro keeps saying they will give it more attention at the next venue, only to get shorted again. What does the future hold for this line that is in many ways the only outlet for most Star Wars vehicles in toy form? Are sales at least solid enough that Titanium collectors can relax their fears a bit for the foreseeable future, or is the line considerably weaker than the 3.75" figure line and thus vulnerable in these uncertain economic times?
Titanium is indeed a much less-collected sub line that the 3-3/4" line. In the first year of Titanium vehicles, the line showed promise, but the audience never materialized to grow the collecting base. Since them, we have struggled with the amount of new tooling the line could justify along with the extraordinary number of new/refresh items the line needed to stay productive at retail (an outcome of the smaller batch sizes). While we feel that this year we are giving it some great attention and some exciting new tools, this will be the last year for Titanium. The line will be put on hiatus after 2009.
Will we be seeing any episode-specific Battle Packs for The Clone Wars? This would be a great way to get several of the individualized clones, battle droids, or astromech droids from any given episode without spreading them over a long period of time into the basic line, especially when they're only minor retools or mere repaints or kitbashes.
There will be episode-specific packs, but they will mostly be drawn from existing figures (for instance, there will be an upcoming Battle Pack for the episode "Holocron Heist" but there will be no new figures in it). It's possible that 1-2 episode-specific packs will be coming out as exclusives that will have new characters as you suggest, but those have not been confirmed yet.
[editor's note: in case you're wondering, the episode Hasbro mentioned has not yet aired, its novelization won't even be released until September. -JT]
With the re-release of certain SAGA/TAC 5 figure battlepacks in Legacy packaging, could the TAC Battle on Mygeeto battlepack which was hard to find in the US/not released in Canada be re-issued as a Legacy item? If not could we see the figures released individually in the Saga Legends lineup?
We don't have any plans to re-release that one in particular, nor do we have plans to release the figures on Sega Legends cards except for the Tri-Droid, which is currently out in the Saga Legends line (in the original TAC colors as opposed to the Battle Pack colors).
Will we ever see the release of new Mighty Muggs in Canada? Wave 5 shipped in the US back in September, never found this side of the border.
At his point, it's highly unlikely. There are no plans for new Mighty Muggs after this Spring, although TRU will continue to carry and re-order the existing Muggs as needed to continue their business.
I believe and trust that Hasbro will eventually do a figure of every single Cantina Patron and all of Jabba's cronies, including the human ones, before the license runs out. However, do you think Hasbro will ever get to the citizens/extras from the streets of Tatooine or Bespin? As a diorama builder, some citizenry would be great, perhaps even like the less articulated three packs from the Saga/Clone Wars era?
Honestly, it's highly unlikely we'll ever do generic citizens (Willrow Hood is about as far as we'll commit to going!). We certainly hope to continue to cover a lot more Cantina patrons and Jabba's denizens, but it all depends on collectors' supporting the ones we are bringing out in order to continue. We know the economy has challenged some collectors wallets lately, but it's exactly these collector-specific figures that are most "sensitive" to folks staying on the sideline. When you see the more obscure figures, make sure you take them away with you to ensure the healthiest flow of these crazy-cool creations.
Recently you made the Spacetrooper figure from
and included the likeness of
concept artist Joe Johnston under the helmet. How much back and forth is there with Lucasfilm licensing regarding what faces you can put under the masks of Stormtroopers? A Jango Fett head here or there makes sense given the descent from clones. But when you do things like the flip-up visor Scout Trooper or this Stormtrooper, what is the approval process?
It's pretty simple. If we know we are going to do a unique head, we decide what reference we'd like to do and sculpt it up for approval. In some cases we may use employees for reference since it's always easier to do a sculpt when there are ample photo references available. When there is a special figure such as the Joe Johnston homage, we'll discuss that with Lucasfilm before proceeding to make sure they're on board with the direction.
In a recent magazine article it was revealed that we would be getting R5-H6 as a Build a droid figure later this year, with the associated text going on to identify this droid as being present at the pod race on Tatooine in Episode 01. The problem is, at least as far as we collectors know, that red and white droid was actually R5-X2. To our best knowledge, R5-H6 was a grey and purple background droid from Episode 02, a very different looking astromech. Can you please clarify which droid we can expect to see as a BaD release and can you say whether or not the dome has been newly tooled to reflect the unique appearance of all the prequel trilogy R5 style droids? Or is it a reuse of the same R5 dome sculpt that is currently available on the yellow R5-A2 Mos Eisley BaD toy?
The figure we are releasing will be R5-H6 and he will have a head that is re-decoed from the R5-A2 tool. There will be three additional astromechs coming in future waves in 2009 and they include R3-O1 with a clear dome along with R3-A2 and R4-P44.
Recently figures have taken another price jump at retail, hitting fans, collectors and kids hard in these tough economic times. I can't find a less blunt way to put this, so here goes - who's to blame? A lot of people are shaking their fists in Hasbro's general direction. But is this stricly 100% set by retailers? Did WalMart and Target just coincidentally decide to jump prices? Or did some other factor come into play?
We will not go into the details of what it takes to manufacture a toy and and the costs associated with that. But you probably already have a good understanding of the different aspects. It has been well documented in public statements that Hasbro has pursued price increases to offset the higher costs of goods coming out of factories. What retailers choose to market figures at is additionally up to them and we do not have any control or influence over that.
To be continued.
Last Edit: March 27, 2009, 05:34:27 PM by Gold 5
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Re: JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009
Reply #4 on:
March 22, 2009, 12:07:46 PM »
JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009 - PART 5
With the new $60 vehicle price point, are we going to see a Nu-Class Shuttle from the Clone Wars? It would serve as yet another incentive for collectors to troop build!
That would be a great vehicle to do if the price point continues, which we certainly hope it does. At present though, we have no plans - we need to take it one vehicle at a time.
There are pics circulating of a rumored upcoming Wedge Antilles X-Wing, which is very promising. But there is a concern that his astromech is not be decoed accurately. In cockpit shots of Wedge in ANH, it is plain that his R2 unit has a red dome with white panels (similar to R3-T2), while in ROTJ you can see that he has a white-domed R2 with black markings. Since onscreen accuracy is of paramount concern to collectors, can we be sure it will be corrected before any release of this vehicle? -- pod
We took our direction from Lucasfilm on which droid to include. There does appear to be conflicting reference, but we have to defer to the official source on this one.
Based on questions answered in previous sessions, I believe we're getting two ground-based Clone vehicles in the Starfighter assortment this year. With the TX-130 announced, can we get confirmation of the Swamp Speeder? -- Galactic Hitchhiker
We're not sure we ever confirmed a Swamp Speeder for this year. In any case, it is not in the Starfighter vehicle assortment for 2009.
Will the Amanin that's in the upcoming comic pack ever be released on Amanin battle (and without ending up with dozens of dirty Sunbers).
There are no plans right now to release the Amanin on a basic figure card, but it's an interesting idea. We're thrilled that folks like this guy - he's quickly become one of our favorite figures!
I'm glad to hear that the 'build-a-droid' series will be continuing on into 2010 and that you are using it as a chance to put some obscure droids into the figure lineup that might not otherwise make it. I hope there are lots more to come! On that note, have you given any consideration to two of my most wanted droids, Boba Fett's droid BL-17 from the Droids cartoon and Z-X3 from Marvel Star Wars 47?
We are glad you like the Droid Factory concept. You might have missed our Toy Fair presentation where we announced that BL-17 will indeed be coming out in the Wal-Mart Droid Factory 2-pack assortment that will feature the Dark Trooper buildable figure (look for that in July). Z-X3 was on our short list but did not make the cut. It is possible that we could do him as a future comic pack someday - that chest blaster is pretty wild.
Could Hasbro make it a point to include the ladder with all of your future X-Wing releases? Or to include the ladder again with another Yavin hangar battlepack so collectors can pick up a few spares to go with their existing X-Wings?
If/when we release more X-Wings, that would indeed be a good accessory to include. Right now there are no plans for more Yavin hangar packs, but if we do any more we'll keep your suggestion in mind.
You have mentioned more Legacy comic packs coming, any chance we will be seeing the Ghost of Luke Skywalker or a Han Solo figure in one of the packs? I think that would be a great way to continue to tie the Legacy characters with the Original Trilogy.
We don't have plans for the ghost of Luke, but it is one that we really want to do at some point. No plans right now for a new Han, but that could change depending on what is in the new Dark Horse NJO-era comic.
With the live action Star Wars TV series looming on the horizon, I presume Hasbro is already working on figures for it, so are there any plans on what we are likely to see and will it be included within waves or will it have it's own collection like TLC or CW?
We have not begun work on live action. Lucasfilm has yet to announce a schedule, but when they do we look forward to getting reference material as soon as it's available.
There appears to be a lot of the stuff shown at USTF that are not making it currently to the UK and with the loss of one of the UK's biggest high street toy buyers Woolworths, it looks pretty bleak for UK Star Wars collectors. How does Hasbro see the UK market now and how will it make sure that UK collectors can still buy from within the UK?
Almost everything offered in the U.S. "mainline" will be available in the U.K. We are working hard to get all exclusives distributed in Europe as well, as least in the U.K. and Germany. That has proved challenging as some retailers have decided not to carry them, which have caused some items to be dropped.
Price hikes. We hate them. We also realize they are sometimes a necessary evil when it comes to retail sales.
In the past youve stated that you dont directly set retail prices but Hasbro is the M in MSRP and retailers agree to that MSRP. Now with the prices in oil going down, the country in a recession and the dollar not going as nearly as far as it did, how can retailers (who are hurting) charge nearly $2 more now per action figure, comic pack, titanium, battle pack* and vehicle?
The natives/collectors are restless, can you clarify this point further for them since they helped to make the Star Wars brand the #1 license for 2008 (before the price hikes)?
*I thought the drop from the 5 to 4 figure battle pack format was supposed to stave off a price hike for this assortment?
A drop in oil prices does not mean that prices drop to produce toys. That is just one factor of many that affect bringing toys to shelves. Rather than discuss in detail here, we suggest that anyone interested in reading further seek out Hasbro's statements to investors regarding our prior public comments on pricing.
YF: With that answer, we won't be asking pricing related questions in the foreseeable future.
Recently, preorder info has been made available online for the large Clone Wars Octuptarra Droid. What further details can you provide (size, FOBs, cost) regarding this?
We can provide no further details. An announcement will be forthcoming at Comic Con.
The new TPM and AOTC Obi-Wan figures are fantastic, thanks for finally updating them. But can something be done at this late stage about the lightsabers included with them? The Episode II figure is shown with the complete wrong saber, and the Episode I saber is the correct one, but chunky and inferior to not only todays standards, but you have already made a saber that not only looks more like the screen used saber but has the "energy flares" coming from the emitter like all current sabers. It was included in 2003's deluxe Obi-Wan on Kamino set. Any chance of this perfect looking saber coming with these two perfect looking figures?
The EpII Obi-Wan lightsaber in the cross-sell images is not the lightsaber that is actually included with the figure. Currently they both come with the same accessory but your suggestion of switching to the saber that came with the Deluxe figure is a good idea. We will look into this as an option for a running change and also look to improve the decoration.
My question is in regards to the recently revealed upcoming packaging for the basic figures. The cardbacks have a unique shape that looks like they will be very different from previous Star Wars packaging. I noticed that the top trapezoidal area (SW logo & character face) has some heavy shadowing underneath it. Will the top trapezoidal area be placed as an additional piece of cardboard on top of the bubble, adding a three dimensional aspect to the packaging? Or, is that just the way the card looks and the bubble will be on a flat card as in the past? Please review the attached moc-up images I made illustrating my concept. Thank you!
The card back will in fact be flat, with the logo on the same cardblank as the rest of the card.
A previous Q & A revealed that the battle droid from the Galactic Heroes Jedi Starfighter Cinema Scene was dropped due to costs, hence the incorrect packaging image on the rear, but the ones I am seeing on the shelves now have the battle droid figure included. What changed? And why do some people feel like they have been cheated out of a battle droid?
The droid was dropped, but since the packaging was released with the droid in there, we felt that we should include it after all and reinstated the droid. Unfortunately, it could not have been from piece 1.
We were doing a second look at Hasbro's powerpoint and we noticed that on the slide for the Force Unleashed Stormtrooper, it states: "Available and Hasbrotoyshop.com and StarWarsOnlineShop.com". We assume you meant StarWarsShop.com because if you take a visit to StarWarsOnlineShop.com, it isn't owned by Lucas or Hasbro (from what we have seen) and even has pop ups flagged by many anti-spam pop up blockers.
Yes, we meant
. Thanks for the clarification.
Please keep checking back as more sites continue to file their Q&A sessions through the weekend.
Last Edit: March 27, 2009, 05:35:05 PM by Gold 5
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Re: JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009
Reply #5 on:
March 23, 2009, 10:19:28 AM »
Last Edit: March 23, 2009, 10:28:00 AM by Gold 5
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Re: JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009
Reply #6 on:
March 25, 2009, 04:58:38 PM »
UPDATE - Added SW ACTION NEWS
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Re: JTA - HASBRO STAR WARS Q&A ROUNDUP - WEEK OF MARCH 20th, 2009
Reply #7 on:
March 27, 2009, 05:25:01 PM »
Hasbro has posted their official Q&A roundup
Two sites added - Creature Cantina & Snowtroopers
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Between Nothingness and EternityHearsay
Other than the annual Bertha Coolidge show, there's little to zero jazz fusion in the Fort. I guess most local musos are too time-strapped (or lazy) to spend the time rehearsing to get the inherently complex music right. ...
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Though Holy Moly toured Europe this past summer, the cowpunk quartet somehow managed to write, record, and produce an album, Clickity Clack, whose official release will be celebrated Saturday at The Aardvark (2905 W. Berry St.,...
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Funk? Check. Jazz? Check. The kitchen sink? Check.


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Edmund Kalaola, Sr. 85
Edmund Kalaola Sr., 85, of Hana, passed away at his residence on May 17, 2014. He was born on December 20, 1928 in Kaupo, Maui.
Visitation will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 31, 2014 at St. Peter's Church in Puuiki, mass at 11 a.m., and burial will follow in Puuiki Cemetery.
Edmund was a Cowboy at Hana Ranch.
He was predeceased by his wife, Isabelle Kekaiku'ihala Koko Kalaola, and daughter, Stephanie "Bobo" Kalaola. He is survived by his sons, Edmund (Frances) Kalaola, Jr., and Patrick (Claudia) Kalaola, Sr.; 11 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren.
Condolences may be sent to: www.ballardfamilymortuaries.com


text: Pinoy Real pronounced Pinoy Re"al street gang was founded in the early 1980's in Atwater Village, California. Located 9 miles Northeast of Downtown L.A. Pinoy is a Filipino slang name for a Filipino male. Real used in a Spanish term, pronounced Re"al which means Royal or King. The gang name is abbreviated to PR or PRG (G meaning Gang). PR members are of predominantly Filipino and Asian descent but also include dedicated Latinos, Blacks and Whites in the gang. Latinos in the Gang associated the abbreviated name to PR13, which represents Southside or SUR which represents their affiliation to Surenos prison gang. Pinoy Real has known sets throughout Southern California and Las Vegas and Philippines. PR do not sport any specific colors or claim Bloods or Crips. PR members are known to sport Pittsburgh Pirates apparel. PR's known criminal activities include home invasion, kidnapping and torture (of rival gang members), extortion, arson, auto theft, robberies, narcotics sales, assault, shootings and numerous unknown homicides. Atwater (L.A. side) PR has a long history of continued rivalry between Hispanic gangs ToonerVille Rifa (TVR) and Temple St (TST) along with other Filipino gangs. Thee Rascals Gang (TRS) and PR kept mutual respect and shared the same Atwater village torritory. PR and TRS has fought side by side to keep rivals out of Atwater. Older Atwater clique called "PR Crazies" or PRC was known as one of most ruthless PR cliques, that conducted many violent acts against rival gangs. It has been known that smaller Filipino gangs have clicked up with PR at certain times. With PRs assistance these smaller Filipino gangs are able to carry out violent attacks against their rival gangs. Pinay Real or PYR was the female side of PR. No longer active, some have settled down with older PR members. PR has established many sets through out the years and certain sets are low in concentration and/or activity. Today PR is considered the most hated "Filipino gang" among their Hispanic, Filipino, and Asian gang rivals due to many unpleasant encounters with PR in the past. Active sets includes: Atwater Village, Granada Hills, Norwalk, West Covina, Hawthorne, Rancho Cucamonga, Pasadena, Las Vegas, Culver City, Anaheim, Rowland Heights to name a few. Pinoy Real Gang is considered one of the largest and most violent of Filipino gangs in California.


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Movie power rankings: James Bond aims for No. 1 with 'Skyfall'
Like an old friend, Ian Fleming's suave British agent James Bond always seems to be there when you most need him and always seems to say the right thing (but would probably steal your girlfriend). "Skyfall," the third movie in the re-booted 007 continuity, won't be out until the fall, but fans already have plenty to get excited about. While there's still no footage from the film (patience, my pets) the first videoblog from the set seems to be a good indicator of the film's tone -- and hopefully we'll get something more like 2006's excellent "Casino Royale" than 2009's convoluted "Quantum of Solace." Director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty," "Road to Perdition"), a newcomer to the franchise, claims to be a big fan of the long-running series (check out Drew McWeeny's new ongoing column for more thoughts on the saga here), and with Daniel Craig signed for multiple films, we'll likely be seeing quality 007 films for years to come.
As for the rest of this week's list…
February 21, 2012
1. "Skyfall" (Last week: Not ranked)
"The Hobbit" and "The Dark Knight Rises" may end up banking more at the box office, but Bond is still Bond, and "Skyfall" is among the most anticipated films of the year.
2. "Amazing Spider-Man" (Last week: No. 3)
A new clip shows young Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) facing down his deadliest enemy yet: A nosy doorman. This movie has it all!
3. "The Avengers" (Last week: Not ranked)
We already know that the upcoming Marvel mega-movie features fights, explosions and action galore, but it also has some rather calm moments, as proved by these sort of boring new photos.
4. 'Hunger Games" (Last week: No. 1)
Tickets are on sale now. And mall appearances are coming soon. Mall appearances.
5. "I Am Legend 2" (Last week: Not ranked)
Will Smith's follow-up to the sci-fi hit has to be a prequel, right? Right?
6. "Untitled Bin Laden Project" (Last week: Not ranked)
Kathryn Bigelow's timely follow-up to her Oscar-winning "Hurt Locker" features a cast that just keeps getting better and better.
7. "John Carter" (Last week: No. 14)
Are fans doing a better job of promoting the film than Disney?
8. "The Counselor" (Last week: Not ranked)
Michael Fassbender will officially re-team with "Prometheus" director Ridley Scott for the Cormac McCarthy-penned film.
9. "GI Joe: Retaliation" (Last week: Not ranked)
Director Jon Chu promises the sequel will include a new-and-improved Cobra Commander. Cobraaaaa!!!!
10. "The Muppets" (Last week: Not ranked)
Get another chance to hang with Kermit and Piggy when they present an award at the Oscars. That's one reason to watch.
11. "Descendants" (Last week: Not ranked)
Alexander Payne's George Clooney drama continues to pick up awards left and right, but will they translate into Oscar glory? Or will front runner "The Artist" silence the competition?
12. "Kolchak the Night Stalker" (Last week: Not ranked)
After "Dark Shadows" and "The Lone Ranger," Johnny Depp continues his quest to relive his childhood through big screen remakes.
13. "Red 2" (Last week: Not ranked)
Bruce Willis and his gang of geriatric action stars are coming back again (no, it's not "Expendables 3"), with "Galaxy Quest's" Dean Parisot directing.
14. "A Good Day to Die Hard" (Last week: Not ranked)
Bruce Willis again, now featuring a "Spartacus"-approved son -- Jai Courtney.
15. "Wanderlust" (Last week: Not ranked)
This weekend's big comedy looks genuinely funny. Not a surprise, considering the cast.
Movie Power Rankings appears weekly on HitFix. See the previous installment's rankings here.
What do you think of this week's rankings? Share your thoughts below.


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Become a Summer 2011 Teacher-Ranger-Teacher
Contact: Lauren Gurniewicz, 580-622-7282
Chickasaw National Recreation Area is seeking a dynamic teacher to work as a uniformed park ranger as part of the Teacher-Ranger-Teacher program this summer. The teacher will assist with outreach, develop lesson plans, and take on projects. They will bring park resources into their classroom by developing and presenting curriculum-based lesson plans that draw on their summer's experience.
The selected teacher will receive training, a $300 per week stipend and uniform. Housing in the park may be available. For more information or to apply for the position, contact Lauren Gurniewicz at 580 622-7282 or by e-mail at email@example.com. Applications can be found online at www.nps.gov/chic. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2011.


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First, Sasha Roiz, who plays Portland Police Captain Renard on "Grimm," has been cast in "Pompeii," a film from director Paul W.S. Anderson ("Resident Evil"), according to The Wrap.
As their story says, Roiz "will play Proculus, the bodyguard and right hand man to Senator Corvus (played by Kiefer Sutherland). Proculus is described as "the menace standing behind the Senator's despicable schemes."
In addition to Sutherland and Roiz, the film's cast also includes Kit Harington ("Game of Thrones"), Jared Harris ("Mad Men") and Carrie Anne Moss ("The Matrix.") The project will reportedly start shooting in Toronto later in April.
Ouch. Wonder if that will be written into the show, as Season 2 approaches its end? After all, that Wesen-chasing looks pretty hazardous. It's not hard to imagine Hank getting hurt in the line of duty.
-- Kristi Turnquist


text: smh.com opened on 16.7.1950 and this domain is 66 years, 3 months old. We see that smh.com is using Google Adsense to monetize and , 730721 Alexa Rank and Country rank shows us how good and useful this site is.It is well known webmasters care about W3 Validator and fortunately W3 didn't find any error and warning on smh.com. It is important for every website to open quick and be smooth while surfing. We see this site opens in 1840 milliseconds and it isn't a good score at all, you can make your site faster by compressing your scripts and stylesheets. This domain's nameservers are ns1.smh.com and ns2.smh.com.On our researches we see smh.com doesn't get any visitor from search engines but we think this website is getting visitors directly. This website doesn't have any keyword, we think they should put at least one or two keywords. We see smh.com has DMOZ record in False category that is why we think this website is 100% secure to surf but since DMOZ wants money to add your website to Dmoz we can't say, if a site is not in Dmoz then it is not a secure site.We see that your website gets most of the users with these missed types;amh.com, sh.com, sjmh.com, smb.com,


text:
TEMPLE, Ga. (AP) — Hip-hop star Soulja Boy proclaimed his innocence as he encountered dozens of screaming fans outside the Free At Last Bail Bonds company following his arrest on a drug charge.
CBS Atlanta reports that the artist said "I'm innocent, man" during the chaotic scene Tuesday as bodyguards rushed him into a waiting car.
Soulja Boy, also known as DeAndre Cortez Way, faces a drug charge after police stopped his rental car in the west Georgia town of Temple on Interstate 20.
Temple Police Chief Tim Shaw said police stopped the Cadillac Escalade early Tuesday morning because a light wasn't working. He said officers found marijuana inside.
The rapper was released on $10,000 bond.
Carroll County officials say he was represented by attorney Kip Jones, who had no comment when contacted.


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The Word Jeff Jarvis / 2001
I have to confess that I never completely got the profound and magical opening to the book of John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory…"
It's beautiful. But it seemed like so much divine haiku to me, obtuse, subtle, circular logic, starting one place and ending up back at that same place again: "In the beginning was the Word…" "…And the word was with God, and the Word was God…" "And the Word became flesh…."
At young age, I gave up on fully comprehending that verse, figuring it was beyond me; I was missing something; it was one of those unfathomable mysteries of faith. I just closed the door on that room, left it dark, walked away.
But having to come up with a sermon once a year (thank goodness for me – and for you – it's once a year at most)… having to come up with a sermon is a good excuse for going back and tackling just such a mystery.
When Ken Wildrick warned me last year that I wouldn't get out of vacation sermon duty again this summer, I started thinking about a topic: our relationship to the written word, to the Bible. I wondered what our faith would be like if we had lost one of the books of the Bible: What would Jesus mean to us if we did not see him through the eyes and voice of Luke or John? And what if there were still faith-altering books of the Bible we had not uncovered? I then began reading a novel about the discovery of a lost book of Judas, but it was such a bad book I put it down after one plane flight. All of this was fairly meaningless, just hypothetical speculation.
At the same time, I kept returning to John's profound opening, mulling it over as I drove to work and ran at dawn. And finally, a first, dim light bulb went on for me as I realized something quite basic about the word, "word."
What separates us from the rest of God's creation is not our thumbs or our unique ability to get sunburned or invent traffic jams. What separates us is God's gift of words. Oh, yes, other animals can communicate: Dolphins squeak; apes can be taught sign language; ants lead each other to picnic goodies with chemical signals. But only we have the ability to use words as the tools of thought. Only we communicate, think, and create in words. If we are created in God's image, I come to believe that means that we, like God, are fluent with words. It is how we communicate with Him and He with us.
Words lead us to our greatest accomplishments: novels, poems, songs, history, humor, philosophy, cures for disease, professions of love.
But words also get us in trouble, becoming our weapons for fights, ego, office politics, and hate.
I just read the autobiography of Marcel Reich-Ranicki, the leading literary critic in Germany, a renowned and popular star who has his own TV show and appears on the covers of magazines to talk about books. He's a remarkable man: born of German parents in 1920, he fell in love with German literature at an early age and it became his life's passion. He moved to Berlin to study. Then the Nazis came to power. Reich-Ranicki is Jewish and so he was deported to Poland, where he soon ended up imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto, watching the rest of his family marched to their murders. He and his wife survived to the end of the war hiding in a Pole's basement, nearly starving. After the war, Reich-Ranicki became a successful writer and critic in Poland but he gave all that up and risked everything to leave with his wife and child and escape over the Iron Curtain to return to, of all places, Germany – simply because he so loved the German language and its literature. He understands the irony well. "Should I be asked to give two names to represent what I understand Germanism to mean in our century," he writes, "I would answer without hesitation: Germany in my view is Adolf Hitler and Thomas Mann. These two names symbolize the two sides, the two possibilities of Germanism. And it would have dire consequences for Germany to forget or repress either possibility." In Reich-Ranicki's view, the profound power of Thomas Mann's writing balances and compensates even for the evil of Hitler's hate.
Words do lead us to our best and our worst. Words represent not just communication and thought but the freedom and choice that are the essence of the human soul – the freedom and choice that are God's gifts to us. Words are the fruit of that tree in Eden that we cannot help but pluck, and that give us a tremendous possibilities, tremendous powers, and tremendous responsibilities.
Mankind did well with words for many eons – but eventually we needed help with them. In fact, Moses had to ask for help. After he led his people out of Egypt, Moses was acting as judge and counsel for his people, and his father-in-law, Jethro, told him that he should instead teach his people "the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do." In other words: Make them depend on the words of God instead of on you, Moses. Words will live on; you cannot. And so Moses went to Mount Sinai and received God's words.
God laid down the law.
And there came the second lightbulb going on for me, another step around John's circle. "In the beginning was the Word…" … "and the Word was with God." God gave us the power of words and then He gave us His words, his Ten Commandments, his law that became the foundation of Jewish and Christian tradition.
Of course, God gave Moses far more than just Ten Commandments. Keep reading in Exodus and you'll find that God gave Moses scores more rules and regulations, about compensation for oxen that trip in your fire pit, and perjury, and the building of altars, and murder.
Jewish legend has it that God also whispered in Moses' ear the beginnings of the Talmud, the amazing Jewish document in which learn-ed rabbis argue with each other over the fine points of God's law, speaking centuries apart, yet on the same pages; their discussions are the basis of study in synagogues everywhere; it is said that even God studies the Talmud three hours a day. This never-ending discussion in and about the Talmud demonstrates that God's word and law are not dead sentences to be taken at face value, simply and literally. No, God's word is meant to be interpreted and thought-through and even argued over using the power God gave us to think and choose – to learn and discern. That is our very tradition as Congregationalists, as Ginny Scott taught us last year in her class on our denomination: It is our responsibility to take the word of God and learn, learn, learn, and through that to discern the will of God and what we are to do. I am delighted when I see moments like that, that bring together our Jewish heritage with our Christian teaching.
I just read a short and wonderful book called "The Talmud and the Internet" by Jonathan Rosen, in which he explores the similarities of the dialogues that occur in the Talmud with those that occur on the Internet – the efforts of a community to learn and discern together, over time.
Rosen begins his story with the death of his grandmother and his efforts to search the Internet for lines by the 17th-century writer and preacher John Donne, words Rosen can't remember but seeks for comfort. He finally finds them and they are a wonderful picture of our relationship to words. Donne writes: "All mankind is of one author and is one volume. When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated. God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves for that library where every book shall lie open to one another." What a wonderful piece of writing that is, part of a brief meditation in which Donne also pens the immortal lines, "no man is an island, entire of itself" and also, "therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."
From those special words about words, Rosen launches into his explanation of the very special Jewish relationship to words through the Talmud. "The Talmud was produced by the moral imperative of Jewish law," he writes, "the free play of great minds, the pressures of exile, the self-conscious need to keep a civilization together, and a driving desire to identify and follow the unfolding word of God." That word, again, is alive and electric, not dead and static. It is history that becomes tradition that becomes learning that becomes life.
And so Rosen gives us the history of the Talmud and that unfolding word of God. He begins with the first destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem and the creation of the Bible itself. He tells us that the exile and return that followed the destruction of the Temple "transformed Judaism from a local religion into one that could cross borders, that was preparing to live without a land. During the resettlement of the land of Israel, the Temple was rebuilt but – far more important – Ezra the Scribe began to transcribe the fragments that were gathered into what became the Bible. The realization that only words were durable had dawned on the Jewish people." Words allowed God's laws and intent to live without dependence on any person or place or thing; words are stronger than that. God gave us the power of words and then His own powerful words – words that become a part of the fabric of our lives, meant to be stretched and sewn and torn and worn and lived with.
Those are great gifts, but they are not the greatest gift. The circle of John's words is not yet complete. There is one more step, one more light bulb to turn on, one more gift, the greatest gift of all. And that, of course, is the gift of God's son.
This final piece dawned on me in a new way thanks to Rosen, this Jewish writer looking for his relationship to God's word. As he glories in that relationship to the ancient but living words of his religion and our God, Rosen still expresses some dissatisfaction, some longing. He laments "the limitation of stories, for all their power. It is only a virtual world they conjure, after all. And there is some doubting piece of me that wonders what good words are if you cannot touch the speaker." I think I hear his yearning for a Messiah.
Rosen goes on to confess: "That is, in some sense, a heretical admission because, in my tradition, God revealed Himself in words and lives in stories and, no, you cannot touch or even see Him. The word, in Judaism, was never made flesh."
Ah-ha. But in Christianity, the word was made flesh.
Again, Rosen illuminates this for me: "In my primitive, nontheological understanding of Christianity," he writes, "I always feel a certain tension between the utterance of John – 'In the beginning was the word' – and the declaration John then makes that Jesus is the Word made flesh. It's a tension between embodiment and disembodiment that I recognize from Judaism, but in Judaism things move in the opposite direction. In Christianity, the word became flesh – God became a man, literally embodying Himself and coming down to Earth. In Judaism, I'm faced with the equally challenging notion that the flesh became words."
And so there it is, I think: the complete circular path of John's poetic opening: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.The word was God…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory…"
From words … to The Word ... to the living Word in Jesus Christ.
The word lives. It lives past Moses. It lives past the Temples. It lives past borders. It lives past the Cross.
The word comes to live in Jesus… and in this church… and, if we try, in our lives. And we have something better than words on a tablet or a page. We have the very life of Jesus – the word become flesh – to see as our example, as the embodiment of God and God's word.
And the light finally dawns on me.
"In him was life," John writes, "and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it …."
n Jeff Jarvis / 2001


text:
quote ExonerateShouldn't you be revising?D I O S You mean 'different', mate, not 'difference'.
Also, this is over two legs, right? Chelsea will win.
quote D I O SI done that back in december, should have this sorted by nowI have to write another *bleep*ing personal statement. And contact my referee. And figure out what my student finance thing is. And figure out what courses I'm doing. By next Tuesday.
Basically, my life is *bleep*ed, and you're not helping. Dickhead.
quote D I O SD:What are you, my mom?
Anyway, less spam more football.


text: MUNISING, MI. - Bernadine Nola Allie "Bing," 81, of Munising had a great day Saturday, March 8th visiting her daughter, grandson and two great granddaughters. We brought peace and joy to her day talking to her and watching the kids play, we laughed and smiled. It was time to leave, granny gave the kids hugs and told them, I love you, they replied back, I love you. Christopher and I helped her back to bed, we hugged her and said I love you and said goodbye. Bernadine was so tired she finally went to sleep. I am so glad we brought her peace before she went to sleep.