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It was an age when men wore skirts of leather, planted their feet and commenced to speechifying about heroic deeds, which they made up, or at least exaggerated – in Greek. This is the world of Hercules, a B-movie with a hint of 300-Lite about it. Directed by Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand) and starring Dwayne Johnson, it's a brief, violent and narrowly-focused tale of a Hercules utterly removed from myth.
It was an age when men wore skirts of leather, planted their feet and commenced to speechifying about heroic deeds, which they made up, or at least exaggerated – in Greek.
This is the world of Hercules, a B-movie with a hint of 300-Lite about it. Directed by Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand) and starring Dwayne Johnson, it�s a brief, violent and narrowly-focused tale of a Hercules utterly removed from myth.
This is Hercules as hired warrior, Herc the Merc, an incredible Greek hulk whose �half-man, half-god� story is declaimed, loudly, to one and all by his brash press agent of a nephew, Iolaus (Reece Ritchie of Prince of Persia).
Iolaus weaves tales of Herc�s 12 labors, his battles with the hydra and gigantic boars and lions. This impresses those who would hire Hercules and his mercenary sidekicks. And theoretically, at least, it intimidates his enemies. Who wants to fight a fellow whom Zeus sired, a man who cannot be killed?
Who knew Hercules had sidekicks? In this tale of the man mountain, he has wily knife-thrower Autolycus (Rufus Sewell), Amazon archer Atalanta (Ingrid Bols Berdal), the mute berserker Tydeus (Aksel Hennie) and wizened spear-wielding seer Amphiaraus (Ian McShane) as his crew.
When Lord Cotys (John Hurt) and his hot daughter-in-law (Rebecca Ferguson) need help fighting a warlord, they offer to pay Hercules �twice your weight in gold.�
To which Autolycus cracks, �Eat up.�
The rapists and pillagers confronting Thrace are numerous, tall, bald and painted green.
�Look at me,� Hercules barks. �Do I look afraid?�
Johnson leaves his eyebrow-arching bit behind for this action epic, and that�s a pity. The humor is what works best, and most of the funny bits go to McShane, playing a seer who knows when he�s supposed to die, and how (or thinks he knows) and Sewell, every bit McShane�s match in landing a punchline.
What Ratner has turned out here is a myth with all the mythology stripped from it. This 98-minute film has three decent battles in it, and a long training sequence where the Thracians are prepared for battle. Why make a Hercules movie about that?
Hercules is haunted by the deaths of his family, tormented by visions of the three-headed dog from Hades. (Yes, they tell you it�s Cerberus, just in case you slept through that class in school.)
Joseph Fiennes shows up as the King of Athens, along with a klatch of character players you�l l recognize. The production team does a swell job of recreating the ancient citadels of the 4th century BCE.
But for all the fun these folks could have had with Hercules maintaining the supernatural assistance facade, or denying it as his handlers gild his lily testifying that it�s true, the movie is content to just go through the motions. Ratner doesn�t so much as ask his actors to walk and talk at the same time. Perhaps the digitally augmented sets demanded it, but players standing still, staring into each other�s eyes and delivering pep talks, trash talk, threats and jokes to each other is dull and stagy – and bad theater.
And Johnson, in a role he was buffed up to play, seems more inclined to go through the motions than his colleagues. At 42, he�s still got the bulk, but the grace of movement is gone, along with the eagerness, the twinkle in the eye and the cocked eyebrow that always let us know he was in on the joke. Hercules was plainly just a paycheck, repayment for all those years in the gym, and in every scene, Johnson reminds us of that.
* * *
Hercules. Directed by Brett Ratner.
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for epic battle sequences, violence, suggestive comments, brief strong language, partial nudity)
Running time: 1:38
Now showing at the Arena Grand, Crosswoods, Dublin Village 18, Easton 30, Georgesville Square 16, Grove City 14, Lennox 24, Movies 16 Gahanna, Movies 10 at Westpointe, Movie Tavern Mill Run, Pickerington,Polaris 18, Star, Strand Theatre
* * *


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Submission + - Gardasil cleared of Anti-Vax nonsense (slate.com)
Zane C. writes: A new study once again proves that vaccines have no link with yet another batch of medical disorders. The vaccine in question is a relatively new HPV vaccine called Gardasil, mainly targeting preteens to reduce infection. Phil Plait has more on this, debunking anti-vax claims and explaining why you should receive the vaccine.

subset: commoncrawl


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Coney Island—Brighton Beach—Seagate
A 33-year-old woman was arrested for throwing a glass coffee pot at another woman on Surf Avenue on Sept. 19.
The victim told police that she was between W. 20th and W. 21st streets at 10 pm when the suspect hurled the glass percolator at her, hitting her in the arm. The suspect then allegedly used her nails to scratch the victim on the chest and neck.
Police arrested a 47-year-old woman who they say ransacked a Brighton Seventh Street home on Sept. 12 — taking bibles and religious plaques.
A witness told police that he was outside of the victim's house between Oceanview and Brighton Beach avenues at 5 pm when he saw the suspect snooping around inside.
When police arrested the suspect, she admitted to stealing the religious articles from the victim's home, cops said.
Two boys, ages 15 and 16, were arrested for beating and robbing a woman on Brighton 13th Street on Sept. 18, taking her purse.
The victim told police that she was between Oceanview and Brighton Beach avenues at 8:34 pm when the younger suspect grabbed her from behind and began punching her in the face and head. The other accomplice struck the victim in the back of the leg, causing her to fall to the ground, and the suspects grabbed her purse and fled, cops said.
— Colin Mixson
Reach reporter Colin MIxson at cmixson@cn©2012 Community News Group
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Why People With ADHD Are Likely to Have Hypersensitivity
"Just as we have trouble filtering what goes out," says Hallowell, who has ADHD himself, "we have trouble filtering what comes in. I can't back this up with research, but in my clinical experience, and in my own life, it seems that we tend to let things get to us. We take on the experiences of others very quickly, like the insect on the leaf that takes on the color of the leaf."
Maté explains that, if ADHDers are born with a high level of sensitivity, it takes less stimulation for them to feel more, making stimulating environments and conversations feel overwhelming at times. Plus, the more sensitive we are, the more likely we'll feel pain. "Emotional pain and physical pain are experienced in the same part of the brain," he says.
Many of us have discovered positive things about living with ADHD, and a high level of sensitivity may also be used to our advantage. But like ADHD, hypersensitivity must be managed and controlled to let the positive aspects — creativity, empathy, and depth of perception — shine through. I've managed to do it, and so can you.


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Peter Wolfram, a Maumee dentist, is led away in handcuffs after his sentencing in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
A Maumee dentist who enticed a 13-year-old boy to try what police said was crack cocaine was sentenced yesterday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court to two years in prison.
Peter Wolfram, 41, who was convicted of attempted corruption of another with drugs, could have been placed on community control for the crime.
But Judge Gary Cook imposed the prison sentence, in part, because of the harm caused to the victim.
"You brought somebody else along for the ride. He was a 13-year-old. I just can't imagine some parent out there finding out for the first time that their child was introduced to crack cocaine," Judge Cook said during the sentencing.
Wolfram, who lives at 6391 Glenhurst Drive, faced up to five years in prison. He entered into a plea agreement Sept. 10.
At the time of the incident, Wolfram, then a Sylvania Township resident, took the boy, who then was 12, to his office at the Fallen Timbers Medical Center in Maumee, and then to the Residence Inn in Springfield Township.
Prosecutors said the victim smoked the drug after Wolfram told him the substance in the crack pipe was a gas that commonly is used to sedate dental patients.
The defendant returned the victim to his home, and he later told a counselor at his school about the incident.
Jon Richardson, an attorney representing Wolfram, said his client was undergoing counseling for a drinking problem when he got hooked on cocaine, an addiction that drastically changed his behavior and sent him into a downward spiral.
Wolfram told the court he was sorry for the harm he caused the victim.
But Judge Cook wanted to know why the defendant involved the victim in his drug problem, and asked how he would feel if it was his child who was given crack cocaine.
Wolfram replied that he would be upset.
Police said Wolfram also offered $100 to the teenager to engage in sex acts, but the charge for that offense - compelling prostitution - was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
After the hearing, Mr. Richardson said the prison sentence was appropriate for the crime.
"What Judge Cook did was perfectly fair under the circumstances," Mr. Richardson said.


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Fwd: Important changes to the Max List
———- Forwarded message ———-
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Castle Crags | [ Sizes: Orig | Large | Med | Small | Thumb ] | |||
"North Pinnacle", the Castle Crags highest point pierces the horizon. Castle Dome is visible on the lower left of the Crags formation. On the horizon, Burney Mountain, Crater Peak and Lassen Peak can be seen. Viewed from the ridge leading to "Castle Peak". November 2008. | Castle Crags Wilderness (Area/Range) Bubba Suess's Image Gallery Trinity Divide (Area/Range) Castle Crags (Area/Range) "Castle Peak" (Mountain/Rock) Castle Lake Trail (Route) Image Data
Image ID: 466282 Hits: 4313 Lat/Lon: 41.21792°N / 122.38289°W Object Title: Castle Crags |


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Remote Viewing
An Introduction to Coordinate Remote Viewing
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Take the First Step to Unlock Your Extraordinary Powers of Perception
Have you ever had flashes of insight about events that happened miles away from you, or that were about to happen in the future? If so, you have tapped into a gift that we all possess, according to David Morehouse—one that you can develop with the right training.
With Remote Viewing: An Introduction to Coordinate Remote Viewing, here is your chance to learn from the leading authority on this remarkable practice for unlocking your innate psychic ability. The program includes:
- An introduction to Remote Viewing—the science and history of a practice that applies focus and discipline to human extrasensory powers
- Preparing for your journey—clearing your obstacles and setting yourself up for success in the practice
- A basic, practical overview of the protocol of Remote Viewing for beginning students
- Three guided "target sessions"—go step-by-step with David Morehouse to experience Remote Viewing for yourself, including target feedback on DVD to measure your level of mastery
- What's next? The power of Remote Viewing to revolutionize your life
David Morehouse has taught tens of thousands of Remote Viewing practitioners how to unlock their ability to look across vast distances of space and time. Now here is your chance to get your first taste of your own limitless potential with Remote Viewing.
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Contents 4 CDs (4 hours, 13 minutes); 1 DVD (14 minutes) Date Published October 01, 2006 ISBN-10 1-59179-240-1 ISBN-13 978-1-59179-240-6 Dimensions 5 x 5 3/4 inches Product Code AW00888D Audio Download
Contents 1 Audio download (4 hours, 13 minutes) Filetypes M4B, MP3, MP4, PDF, ZIP Date Published October 01, 2006 ISBN-10 1-60407-518-X ISBN-13 978-1-60407-518-2 Product Code AW00888W


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Containing only flour, water, yeast, and salt, bread is a simple dish that can take years to master. Daniel Stevens shortens the learning curve for would-be bakers in this informative introduction to making great bread at home. Accompanied by detailed photos of key steps in the bread-making process, Stevens patiently guides readers through the steps of crafting a toothsome loaf, explaining the qualities of various yeasts and flours, the particulars of hand-kneading, the cons of letting a stand mixer do your work for you, and tips on shaping dough into the desired shape. Once a baker has mastered Stevens's basic bread recipe, they're free to spread their floury wings and attempt Italian ciabatta, a rich French brioche, or even the intimidating croissant. Tips on storage (never in the fridge!) and leftovers (croutons, bread crumbs, Spanish migas) and a one-page troubleshooting guide guaranteed to get earmarked ensure bakers reap great rewards from their labor. Though readers may not go to the lengths of building their own clay oven (included here in detail) Stevens's accessible take on the subject is sure to inspire confidence, an appreciation for the craft, and a willingness to experiment.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The River Cottage Bread Handbook
by Daniel Stevens, Hugh Fearnley-WhittingstallThe River Cottage farm, established by British food personality Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to promote high-quality, local, and sustainable food, has inspired a television series, restaurants and classes, and a hit series of books. In this new addition to the award-winning collection, River Cottage baking instructor Daniel Stevens shares his irrepressible
Editorial Reviews
—Everyday Food, Favorite New Cookbooks, December 2010
"Stevens's accessible take on the subject is sure to inspire confidence, an appreciation for the craft, and a willingness to experiment."
—Publishers Weekly STARRED review, 8/23/10
"A remarkably compact, glove box-friendly guidebook to baking. . . . A bread survival book. . . . The River Cottage Bread Handbook is a refreshing change from so many American cookbooks that magically transform copious recipes into 12 easy steps and still promise fail-proof recipes."
—LA Weekly, 8/11/10
"Be prepared to make space on your cookbook shelf for these practical, passionate guides. . . . Stevens lays down a bread-making foundation with an in-depth introduction (and full-color step-by-step photos), then proceeds to help readers perfect their skills in his witty, conversational style."
—Oregonian, 8/3/10
"These compact yet comprehensive hardcover volumes, part of a series written by experts in the River Cottage fold, inspire and instruct with their English charm, deploying a chatty hand-holding that nudges you through the process. The head River Cottage baker, Daniel Stevens, who put together THE RIVER COTTAGE BREAD HANDBOOK spends over 40 pages on mastering the basic loaf. His kneading explanation was so clear I didn't need to constantly refer to the photos; and it taught me some new tricks. . . .This wide-ranging book inspires exploration, and not just because I'll soon be able to slather my warm Scottish oatcakes, roti and even bagels with my own jam, thanks to THE RIVER COTTAGE PRESERVES HANDBOOK. Here Pam Corbin, who runs the Preserving Days at River Cottage, explains the fundamentals of jam, jelly, chutney, cordials, pickles, sauces and more in a demystifying manner. . . . Recipes for hearty ale chutney, spring rhubarb relish and Hugh's prizewinning raspberry fridge jam are within delicious reach."
—NY Times Book Review, Summer Reading Issue, Cookbook Roundup, 6/6/10
"This book is not only beautiful and inspiring but it also adds new bread-making ideas and formulas to the lexicon. It definitely goes on my 'must-have' bread shelf."
—Peter Reinhart, author of the James Beard and IACP Cookbook of the Year, The Bread Baker's Apprentice
The New York Times
Product Details
- 9781580081863
- Publisher:
- Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony
- Publication date:
- 06/15/2010
- Pages:
- 224
- Sales rank:
- 523,068
- Product dimensions:
- 8.16(w) x 5.62(h) x 1.08(d)
Read an Excerpt
Why Bake Bread?
There is nothing in the world as satisfying to eat as home-baked, handmade bread. Of course, technically, the artisan baker down the road is much better at it, but no amount of skill and craftsmanship can replace the utter joy of eating and sharing the stuff you make yourself. And it is practical to make bread exceptional bread with your own hands, in your own home, on a regular basis.
I know you are busy, so I have given you roti a flat bread you can make, from cupboard to table, in less than five minutes. But I know that you also have free time, and I hope I can persuade you that free time spent in the kitchen by yourself, with friends, or with children, with music in your ears, wine in your glass, flour in your hair, and magic in your hands is time that could not be better spent.
If you are new to bread making, this sense of pleasure might not be immediate, but I am confident that you will reach it more quickly than I did. I remember my first loaf well even the birds wouldn't eat it. I had followed the two-page recipe to the letter and the cookbook assured me that "homemade bread is easy." That was rather hard to swallow (as was my bread). Still, I soldiered on, day after day. After all, practice makes perfect.
There are two kinds of bread in the world: bread that hands have made, and bread that hands have not. In an ideal world, all bread would be hands-have-made by your hands and my hands, and by the hands of those few professional bakers left who are still doing it properly. I guess there will always be hands-have-not bread, and while it's not that bad, or at least it is surely edible, it seems a shame that bread has become so standard and commonplace that we don't even consider what a small miracle a risen loaf is.
Mass-produced bread
Some would say that 1961 was a bad year for bread. It was the year the Chorleywood Bread Process came into being. Developed by the Flour Milling and Baking Research Association in Chorleywood, England, the process revolutionized the baking industry. This high-speed mechanical mixing process allowed the fermentation time to be drastically reduced and meant that lower-protein British wheats could be used in place of the more expensive North American imports. Various chemical improvers and antifungal agents are necessary ingredients, as are certain hydrogenated or fractionated hard fats. This is high-output, low-labor production, designed to maximize efficiency and profit at the expense of the consumer.
Mass-produced bread is almost undoubtedly worse for you. Apart from the dubious additives and fats it contains, the short fermentation makes the wheat harder to digest. Indeed, some believe the Chorleywood processing method is partly to blame for a sharp increase in gluten intolerance and allergy. It is also probable that the prolific crossbreeding and modification of modern-day wheat, to produce stronger, tougher, harder-to-digest gluten, has contributed to wheat intolerance.
Somewhere in the region of 98 percent of bread baked in England is mass-produced, and most of it comes from around a dozen huge plant bakeries. Supermarkets love to crow about their in-store bakeries, but they are really nothing more than mini versions of these plants. And 98 percent is a lot. That means hands-have-not bread is not just the preserve of the supermarkets; it is the same bread you buy in most local "bakeries." I'm talking about the ones that sell white pan loaves with flat tops and apple turnovers, where there is little hint of baking activity save for the oven warming of sausage rolls, ham-and-cheese croissants, and "Cornish" pasties. The bakeries whose bread looks the same as everyone else's . . . Well, nearly everyone else's.
Bread from real bakeries
Real bakeries are special places where bread is made in small batches by real people's hands and baked on-site. You can tell when bread is made by hand. For a start, it will look different from other bread in other shops, because every baker has a unique, recognizable style. Shop at one regularly and you may spot changes in the bread from one morning to the next. You may even be able to tell if the baker was in a bad mood, so sensitive is real bread to the hands that make it. Some real bakeries sell their bread to local stores, which is excellent the more places selling real bread, the better. Real bakeries are a rarity, though. If you are lucky enough to have one near you, then you would be mad not to use it. The bread will cost more . . . So it should.
Bread made at home
Home is the bakery where handmade bread does not cost more. At home, you can produce a large loaf, made with organic flour, for less than half the price of a similar-sized, mass-produced, non-organic loaf from a local shop. And your homemade bread can be great bread even if it doesn't quite go according to plan the first time.
I still have that first bread recipe I attempted both pages of it. And now, years later, I realize why my first loaf was such a disaster. The basic method is fine, but to make good bread you need to understand the process. Some professional bakers and cookery writers skirt this all too briefly. As I discovered, being told what to do is simply not enough. There is so much to know, and I really believe that the more you know, the better your bread will be. Two pages? Not even the best baker in the world could teach bread in two pages.
The basic bread recipe
This is my simplified bread recipe, which can be adapted to create a host of different breads (see chart on p. 75). You will find more detail on the essential stages (highlighted in bold below) in the previous chapter. To begin, you need to measure the ingredients.
Makes 2 large or 3 small loaves, or 12 rolls
8 cups (2 pounds, 3 ounces/1kg) flour
1 tablespoon (0.35 ounce/10g) instant yeast
4 teaspoons (0.7 ounce/20g) fine salt
21/2 cups liquid (warm)
2 handfuls of extras
A piece of old dough, or a ladleful of sourdough starter
About 1 tablespoon (a good slug) of fat
2 handfuls of coating
Scant 1 cup milk or water (if coating with anything other than flour)
First, mix the dough. This is the one-stage method; you can adapt it for other methods. Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add smaller extras if you are using them (save nuts and dried fruit for after kneading). Add the liquid and, with one hand, mix to a rough dough. Add a piece of old dough or the starter if you are using one. Add the fat if you are including it and mix it all together. Adjust the consistency if you need to, with a little more flour or water (or your chosen liquid), to make a soft, easily kneadable, sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and clean your hands.
Knead the dough until it is as smooth and satiny as you can make it as a rough guide, this will take about 10 minutes. If you are using larger extras, like nuts and fruit, stretch the dough out on the work surface, scatter the ingredients over the dough, then fold, roll, and knead briefly, to disperse them.
Shape the dough into a round once you have finished kneading. Then oil or flour the surface and put the dough into the wiped-out mixing bowl. Put the bowl in a trash bag and let ferment and rise until doubled in size. This could be anywhere between 45 minutes and 11/2 hours or longer still, if the dough is cold.
Deflate the dough by tipping it onto the work surface and pressing all over with your fingertips. Then form it into a round. If you like, let rise again up to four times. This will improve the texture and flavor.
Now, prepare for baking. Turn on the oven to 500°F or its highest setting, put your baking stone or baking sheet in position, and remove any unwanted racks. Put the roasting pan in the bottom if you are using it for steam (in which case, put the kettle on). Get your water spray bottle ready if you have one, your serrated knife if using, a hot pad, and your peel if you are using a baking stone. Clear the area around the oven.
Divide the dough into as many pieces as you wish (I suggest 2 large or 3 small loaves, or a dozen rolls). Shape these into rounds and let them rest, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes.
Shape the loaves as you wish, and coat the outside with your chosen coating. Transfer the loaves to well-floured wooden boards, linen cloths, tea towels, or proofing baskets and lay a plastic bag over the whole batch, to keep it from drying out. Let proof, checking often by giving gentle squeezes, until the loaves have almost doubled in size.
Transfer the loaves for baking to the hot baking sheet (removed from the oven), or one at a time to the peel. Slash the tops, if you wish, with the serrated knife, and before you bake the bread, spray it all over with water if you can. If using steam, bring the boiling teakettle to the oven. Put the pan in the oven, or slide each loaf onto the stone, pour some boiling water into the roasting pan, if using, and close the door as quickly as you can.
After about 10 minutes, turn down the heat to 400°F if the crust still looks very pale; 350°F if the crust is noticeably browning; or 325°F if the crust seems to be browning quickly. Bake until the loaves are well browned and crusty and feel hollow when you tap them: in total, 10 to 20 minutes for rolls; 30 to 40 minutes for small loaves; or 40 to 50 minutes for large loaves. If in doubt, bake for a few minutes longer.
Let cool on a wire rack, or anything similar that allows air underneath. Bread for tearing can be served warm, but bread for slicing must be cooled completely.
Look after your bread and enjoy it. After all, you have put a lot of work into it. And don't waste a crumb.
P.S. Remember that timing in the recipe relates to convection ovens. If using a conventional electric or gas oven, increase the temperature by 25°F. Use an oven thermometer to check the accuracy of your oven.
Meet the Author
As well as baking fresh bread every day in the River Cottage headquarter kitchens, DANIEL STEVENS leads the ever-popular Build and Bake courses, which equip students with the skills to build their own outdoor wood-fired oven. Daniel has been cooking and baking in professional kitchens for several years, both in Hertfordshire, where he grew up, and more recently in Dorset, where he now lives. He has been part of the River Cottage headquarters kitchen team since 2006.
HUGH FEARNLEY-WHITTINGSTALL is a renowned British broadcaster, writer, farmer, educator, and campaigner for real food. The author of seven books, including the James Beard Award-winning River Cottage Meat Book, Hugh lives with his family on the River Cottage farm.
Customer Reviews
Average Review:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Most bread books simply give you recipes for bread, but not this one. Daniel Stevens actually teaches you HOW to make bread, and not just what to put in it. Really the best part is that while he does show you quite a few recipes, it is clear that there is still a lot of room for your own personal touch. The prefaces to everything are also all very informative, and if you ever had any desire to build your own clay oven, there's a whole section on it in the back. If you've ever had the desire to bake really good bread, but just can't grasp those other recipe books you've found, I'd recommend picking this one up.
The best explanation, step-by-step, of what it takes to make a wonderful loaf of bread.


text: Yesterday I did the newbie stuff and gained levels 1-6. Today I did levels 6-12 and I'm afraid it wasn't quiet as enjoyable. I got my landspeeder which helped plenty on the various scout and hunt missions. I heard that when the game initially released there were no vehicles and everyone had to run everywhere. I can confirm that it would have been utterly brutal to run to all the locations that I was sent. My noob-speeder isn't exactly a Forumla-1 racer, but it beats walking and is fun to drive. I had a little trouble piloting it down the streets of Mos Eisley, but I was impressed that they let me do so. Today the graphics got turned down. The larger maps that I encountered today seemed to take a bit out of my machine and I was experiencing a number of graphic errors. None of them crashed the machine or impacted play, but they were annoying. For some time my character wasn't showing the default attack animations. I was damaging foes, but standing still. When kneeling, sitting and laying down failed to animate, I knew something was up. Luckily I didn't have to reboot. When I changed the graphic settings it seemed to fix itself and the remaining 5 hours of my session ran smooth. I'm finding the controls a bit clunky. For those who haven't played Star Wars Galaxies, there are two distinct modes. One where your mouse is free to move around the screen to click on UI elements and one where you're locked in mouselook mode for targeting. Pressing the handy ALT key switches between the two, and it is almost natural for me now, but in tense moments I get all fuggered up and cause myself a ton of problems. I generally like the UI, but its customization seems to be lacking, especially in terms of hot buttons. The default hotbar has several banks of buttons like most MMOs, but I can't find a way to create a new bank that would allow me to show a complete second set of them. This means I have to scroll through button banks with Ctrl + or - which also fuggers me up if I have to do it in battle (rare so far). The mission are of the standard kill 10 rats, bugs, lizards or bandits and I got tired of doing so, but I did get good XPp for my efforts. Equipment rewards for the quests have been noticeably absent and since NPC vendors are scarce and the bazaar on my server is pretty much empty, I'm still using my newbie gear that I was granted by the initial quests. On a side note, I don't seem to NEED better stuff yet, but I'm left wondering: where the heck do I get it when I do need it? I see a ton of crafting stations littered about the cities, but after my foray into crafting in EQ2 I swore it off forever. I'm hoping I won't be forced to break my anti-crafting streak in order to get some new gear. I found the local starbase and acquired a free trainee ship which I promptly named 'Government Cheese'. The ship missions are also something I'll likely stray away from. I was never a fan of Wing Commander or X-Wing style games, and the space battle in SWG (while nicely executed) resembles those frustrating games from my youth. The in-game training for piloting a ship was thorough, but ended up being pointless due to its complexity. "Press and hold Tab-E while double clicking the middle mouse button, then swing your mouse in a wide arc while playing Wipeout on the floor using only the third and fourth toes of your right foot. This will allow you to acquire a missile lock on an opponent." I'm exaggerating only a little here. More importantly, 'Government Cheese' allows me to fly to other planets, which I did. My arrival in a centrally located star system was uneventful. There were very few people present and the mobs were beyond my ability. I guess tomorrow I'll fly back to Tatooine to hunt more lizards. A a jedi in training, my main question is: when do I get some cool force powers and a light saber? |


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What happens when someone asks me, "What films has Christine Lydon been in?"
The answer goes something like this:
Okay, so it's not complete by any means, but where else you gonna find this kind'a stuff?
If I've missed something, email me at firstname.lastname@example.com and I'll update it.
Email Video Additcs Hot-Line Video Addicts Hot-Line is © 1994-2003 David Masters. All rights reserved.
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I am working on a project that I need to create a square mask in the middle of my matrix. Is it possible to create a mask in jitter with a .png image and superimpose the image on another one? Any suggestions on how to do this? Else I will use the .lcd way of tutorial 29 but I think is more trouble…
Any response appreciated… Thanks in advance,
uhm… i'm having the same question. as far as i gathered from the examples, other posts and the documentation i could somehow use a jit.gl.slab with cc.alphaglue.jxs but this seems really quite heavy for what i want to achieve since as i understand this, i would have to pack the incoming video with my still image matte for every single frame anew which i can't believe to be very economic. isn't there a simple way just to load my matte key once as a texture (set texture) and then simply tell gl.slab (or whatever) to use that to blend my two incoming videos?
as always, any help much appreciated!
i fiddled around some more and figured i might be able to do this simply with a videoplane… i loaded my texture and if i click it, it displays fine in the videoplane, with alpha and everything. but as soon as i enable any real video input the videoplane overlays the video (one layer above the other) as intended) but completely forgets about my nice little texture. how do i get videoplane to map the incoming video to my alpha matte? or is this whole approach completly wrong anyway?
i know that this is probably embarassing simple but somehow i can't find any example which covers that and so i'm somehow stuck…
stop, i finally found it in some other thread and it does work with videoplane, see here: http://cycling74.com/forums/topic.php?id=10385#post-56184 there are two patches, the first one using opengl seems to be quite the thing i was looking for, thanks to whoever provided that!
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Dangerous Assignments | Algeria, Bosnia, Iraq, Rwanda, Somalia
Dangerous Assignments | Algeria, Bosnia, Iraq, Rwanda, Somalia
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In a squeeze? State has parking
Union workers get shot at 1,000 new spots under assistance plan
10:40 am, Wednesday, March 29, 2017
ALBANY — Just as parking spaces are being snapped up by downtown residents taking advantage of a new city permit system, the state Office of General Services is offering 1,000 spots to unionized state workers who are members of the Civil Service Employees Association and Public Employees Federation.
OGS Commissioner RoAnn Destito on Wednesday said the spots would be temporarily available while the agency works to reorganize what it acknowledges has deteriorated into a chaotic system for allocating parking spaces. The changes also follow a year of multi-agency "restacking" efforts that moved state employees from rented offices throughout the Capital Region to previously unused space, mostly in and around Empire State Plaza.
CSEA and PEF members who don't currently have a parking space must apply online by Feb. 13 at the OGS website, http://www.ogs.ny.gov
The city of Albany began issuing resident permits for people who live near the state complex.
City dwellers have long complained that state employees who drive in from the suburbs take up too much on-street parking during the workday. Now, parking in newly defined areas will be limited to two hours for those without the permits.
Union officials say they haven't received a lot of complaints from commuters who are being boxed out of street parking spots, but they stressed that they were happy to see the newly opened-up spaces.
"CSEA members without a dedicated parking spot should get some relief from this initiative," said CSEA Capital Region spokeswoman Therese Assalian.
"CSEA looks forward to more details of the upcoming reconfiguration of OGS' parking program that hopefully will further ease the burden of parking in downtown Albany," she added.
PEF spokeswoman Jane Briggs added that the spots would serve as a welcome "release valve" in the parking issue.
The new spots haven't come from any land purchases or garage expansions — they are simply coming from a list of spaces that haven't been assigned to commuters.
Some of the space is the result of a downsized state workforce.
The spaces will be scattered throughout the Plaza's underground garages, as well as existing lots on Elk Street and McCarty Avenue.
"Over the last few years, attrition and retirements combined with the real estate optimization have created vacancies and prompted a new look at the way we manage parking," OGS spokeswoman Heather Groll said in an email.
She added that the way spots have been allocated to those who want them hasn't made a lot of sense lately.
"We inherited a system that allocated spaces on many different sets of criteria and is in complete disarray," Groll said. "This is why we are evaluating the entire parking issue and working in collaboration with the unions to establish a system that is better organized and workable."
email@example.com • 518-454-5758 • @RickKarlinTU


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We took our pig to the butcher last week, and they don't do live weights on animals. Our pig's hanging weight was 200 lbs. Is there an easy way to guestimate live weight? The guy said he'd estimate 250 lbs...but he just guessed.
Ours was 400 Live weight with a hanging weight of 294lbs - that is about 74% of the live weight. If your pig was 250 live, hanging 200, that would be about 80% - so I'm thinking your live weight was higher than 250 - but I don't know that there is a sure way to tell. If you went with what we had at 74% of live weight, your pig would have been approximately 275lbs. I'm no math genius and I'm no pig genius - there are probably others on here that are and will share their expertise and knowledge with you
I think the general rule of thumb is 72% but it depends on breed, body shape, if they count the head, how much fat they might trim off, etc. I'd guess more like 275 to 280 for the average meat pig. Too late now, but there is a way to estimate live weight by measuring girth and length. It's pretty accurate. (Girth x girth x length) / 400 Measure girth around the body right behind the front legs. Length is base of tail to spot between bases of ears along the natural curve of the back. I usually take about 5-10 pounds off, seems I always go just a little high.
We tried that measuring thing and our last measure came out to something like 300 lbs, which seemed kinda high.
What breed of hog ? Did the hanging weight include the head skin and feet. If it is a York or factory type pig with the head,skin,feet on it was around 290 lbs. live weight. If it was a Tamworth it would weight around 250 lb. live weight. Best, Gerold.
Good questions, Gerold. I'm not sure what breed she was, she was a cross. Duroc and something maybe? Here's a thread with pictures of her. And I'm not sure if it included head/skin,etc. I thought the standard was just to dress them (gut them) and then weigh? I'll have to ask when I go pick her up.
Looks like she is close to 290 lbs. Nice looking pig. Some processors included the head etc. in the hanging weight some don't. Best, Gerold.
We use the measuring method every week for selecting pigs for market and find it quite accurate. It does take some practice to measure consistently and some cooperation from the pig. See: http://sugarmtnfarm.com/how-to-weigh-a-pig-with-a-string/ We find that: Hanging Weight = 72% of Live Weight Commercial Cuts Weight = 67% of Hanging Weight The Commercial Cuts is what people are used to seeing in stores. Not everyone wants the head, feet, etc. However there is a lot of good eating in that other 33% from soup bones to trotters, etc. See: http://sugarmtnfarm.com/what-good-is-a-pig-cuts-of-pork-nose-to-tail/ Your 200 lb hanging weight pig probably weighed about 300 lbs live weight. Note that the method used for slaughter can affect my percentages above. We have scald/scrape, head and feet on. With skinning, head off, feet off it will be different. Cheers, -Walter
Thanks for the help everyone! Walter, we used your method of measuring, and she was pretty cooperative so I'm pretty sure my measurements were pretty accurate. We just thought 300lbs seemed high, but I guess looks are deceiving! :goodjob: And we are getting everything back that we can...feet, fat, ears. The head will be made into scrapple. Can't wait to pick it up!


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Niche Finder Software – Why I chose this one.
There are a lot of good niche finding software out there and it gets hard to decide which one to put your hard earned money out for. Some people buy them all as each has different information and we all have a different way of looking at a niche and what the information gives us.
For me, I like it simple. Market Samurai, Micro Niche Finder, Keyword Elite, Niche Finder and many more that I looked at are all good pieces of keyword research, niche finding and domain finding software. Niche Finder was the simplest for me.
Most of them gave me too much information and thus I got confused and ended up doing nothing. I wanted to take my list of InstaCash Keywords and enter them into a piece of software that would tell me if there where enough searches a month to make it worth going after (sanity check) and the domain was available. Niche Finder went a step further and gave me a Red, Orange or Green light if the search term was a good one or not. Along with giving me some alternatives.
You can read more or Click Here for Niche Finder
Market Samurai provides way too much data that I personally never used. I wanted a software that could generate keywords and then show me exactly how difficult they would be to rank in Google. I use this for a variety of things:
- getting EASY traffic to my money sites
- for my adsense style site
- for my niche product sites
- for my CPA offer sites
Micro Niche Finder "sort of" did this, but nowhere near as good as I needed/wanted. Here's why…
– The competition images (green, yellow, red) I found were just not accurate most of the time. The reason is because the "stuff" used in the formula to determine competition just wasn't anywhere near enough stuff. It was extremely basic. That's fine in some cases, but I wanted something much much more reliable. Niche Finder analyzes the real stuff that determines competition (i.e. number of links, page rank, AND on page optimization). Micro Niche Finder mostly looks at "total results" in Google inside quotation marks, and a couple other queries like intitle etc. As you know, that's just not enough to determine true competition level.
– I wanted a tool that would show me the competition level for ALL keyword WITHOUT having to manually click on each individual word one at a time. Huge pain for me to do. MNF forced me to click on each individual keyword. Again, not terrible, but I didn't want to spend time clicking constantly. I wanted to run the software and then sort the columns or filter the columns based on what I wanted to see. Niche Finder calculate competition levels automatically for ALL keywords without forcing you to click each word. Plus, the competition level numbers you'll get are much more reliable.
– I wanted a software that would allow me to find exact match domain availability for each keyword. Micro Niche Finder does this, BUT again… you have to click each word and wait a couple of seconds for every word you click, before it returns the answer as to whether it's available. Niche Finder returns this for ALL keywords all at once and does it extremely fast. Only a couple of seconds for ALL keywords at once. PLUS, Niche Finder will give you many many more recommended domains that have a high density for each keyword that are available.
Neither Micro Niche Finder or Market Samurai have the abilities above. If you want a keyword tool so you can be a better Google "Adwords" or "pay per click" marketer, Niche Finder isn't a software I would use.
If you're wanting to find keywords that lots of people are searching on, and hardly anyone is optimizing for, then Niche Finder is PERFECT and I can guarantee that no other product will help you find REAL keywords that will actually make you money. Niche Finder won't generate 5 bazillion keywords. But, I can guarantee that it'll find you keywords that you can actually use to get traffic fast.
I'm very serious about finding keywords like the ones I've mentioned above and no other keyword tool was truly built to find those words. It was almost as if that was a "secondary thought" when other keyword tools were built..
I really could go on and on about why Niche Finder will help you whether you own a million other keyword tools, but I'll leave it at that, as I doubt you read this far into my post anyway. I was starting to bore myself 🙂
Click Here to get Niche Finder


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Another smugglers' ship capsizes off Italy; 27 dead
VALLETTA, Malta – For the second time in a week, a smugglers' boat overloaded with migrants capsized in the Canal of Sicily on Friday as it made the perilous crossing from Africa to Europe. At least 27 people drowned, but 221 people were rescued in a joint Italian-Maltese operation, officials said.
Helicopters ferried the injured to Lampedusa, the Italian island that is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland and the destination of choice for most smugglers' boats leaving Tunisia or Libya. It was off Lampedusa that a migrant ship from Libya capsized Oct. 3 with some 500 people aboard. Only 155 survived.
Friday's capsizing occurred 65 miles southeast of Lampedusa, but in waters where Malta has search and rescue responsibilities.
The two shipwrecks were the latest grim reminder of the extreme risks that migrants and asylum-seekers often take in an effort to slip into Europe every year by boat. Facing unrest and persecution in Africa and the Middle East, many of the migrants think the Lampedusa escape route to Europe, which is barely 70 miles from northern Africa, is worth the risk.
Some 30,100 migrants arrived in Italy and Malta in the first nine months of 2013, compared with 15,000 in all of 2012, according to the U.N. refugee agency.


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This is a summary. To read the whole story subscribe to BostonGlobe.com
A Massachusetts state trooper was convicted in federal court Friday of extortion for threatening a gambler who owed their fellow bookie more than $3,000 in debts.
John M. Analetto, 49, of Belmont, a trooper for more than 20 years, remained silent but shook his head in apparent disappointment as the jury rendered its verdict and for several minutes thereafter. His family members and friends sat quietly.
After deliberating for more than eight hours, the jury was hung, however, on a second count of extortion, known as Count One, and US District Court Judge George A. O'Toole Jr. declared a mistrial on that charge. Prosecutors will decide whether to bring that charge to trial again. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.


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Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Top Tens and Resolutions
15 comments:
- Tam said...
Good luck with that resolution. My friend Craig has dancing monkeys but that's something altogether different.
Have a good evening and stay safe and warm as you ring in the new year. Much success in 2010. - 1:08 PM
- Teddy Pig said...
Best thing to do is setup some hick girl with a yapping dog and red disco shoes and tell her she has to kill the wicked witch.
Glenda knew what she was doing. Got her flying monkeys without having to lift a finger. - 1:16 PM
- Chris said...
Best resolution I've read so far! Happy New Year!
- K. Z. Snow said...
Thank you, Tam, and infinitely more thanks for your support. UX4 will be on its way to you on the 5th or 6th. Don't paint the town red tonight; I'm sure everybody in Ottawa knows where you live. ;-)
- K. Z. Snow said...
Hiya, Chris! Ah, fuck resolutions. I don't think I've ever kept one in my life.
- K. Z. Snow said...
HA TeddyPig!
Man, I've been rethinking those monkeys. Monkeys are vicious creatures--I was once bitten by one--but their suits are just so damned cute! They kind of remind me of Johnny Roventini, the Phillip Morris bellhop from those old TV and magazine ads.
Hick girls I don't need. There are plenty around here already. Now a Dorothy drag queen would be cool. ;-) - 1:35 PM
- MB (Leah) said...
My New Year's resolution? To eat what the eff I want to and be a deboucherous pig.
Cause seriously, whenever I've been a deboucherous pig, I've lost tons of weight and had tons of hot sex. Trying to be a good, healthy girl doesn't work for me. snort
Good luck with them flying monkeys. :D
Oh and one other resolution, read Acts of the Saints :D - 2:24 PM
- K. Z. Snow said...
Hey, Leah, long time no see! How are things in that tropical paradise? Bet you don't have two feet on snow on the ground and temps in the teens.
By all means, go for it! May I live vicariously through you? :-D
Hope you like Acts. But be warned: it's no picnic. - 4:12 PM
- Kris said...
You need to come on down to the Land of Oz, hun. Flying monkies are the least of it.
Happy New Year to you!! - 4:46 PM
- K. Z. Snow said...
Kris, talk about minions! Want me to hook you up with some?
- Jeanne Barrack said...
Hey, KZ
Yesterday was not one of my better days...but seeing your list made me feel much better!
I'm trying to look at 2010 with a more positive outlook.
Change that to optimistic...
Knew good things would come your way, kiddo!
word veri: rolat
*sigh* this word veri cannot speak French properly.
It should read
laissez le bon temps rouler
Let the good times roll! - 12:08 PM
- K. Z. Snow said...
Happy New Year, hon! And BIG congrats on that wonderful review for Bend in the Road!
- Jeanne said...
Thanks, KZ
You know what word I liked especially in that review.8>) - 11:33 PM
- Clare London said...
Gosh, is that Clare *me*, or one of other fab Clares you know ? :)
These year-end lists have been getting me down a tad - I've been preparing a provocative post at my blog on the topic, but (luckily? heh) a fellow author has stepped into the gap I had in the schedule. So the provocation waits for another day *hehe*. Its theme also fits rather neatly with your lovely 'authors-as-people category.
You've had a great year, love, and with more to come. I'm so excited for you.
Forget the monkeys, I want surfer dudes in beach shorts and friendship beads who'll smile when I feel down. Dammit, even if they can't iron my shirts and I *still* have to find time myself for promo...
"coldblers", changing at the last minute to "mablichn"?!! - 4:55 AM
- K. Z. Snow said...
Well, damn, I should've been more specific, since I know so flippin' many writers named Clare. ;-)
Yeah, those end-of-the-year lists tend to get me down too. If it weren't for dear Jen, the only listmaker who thinks I can write, I might be considering a new career right about now.
For what it's worth, you're tops in my book, sugar. (And let's not forget who's received not one but two golden tickets from invitation-only publishers! That'll only happen to me if I start my own elite company and invite myself. *g*) - 9:24 AM


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Unlike Kanye West for his first baby with Kim Kardashian, Alec Baldwin plans to be in the delivery room when his second child arrives — though there have been more definitive statements from expectant fathers.
"Right now I suppose I will be," he says. "That's the plan. In the modern world, the man who doesn't is instantly a lowlife."
"I was there for my first child," he says of daughter, Ireland, 17, whom he had with first wife, Kim Basinger.
Hilaria Thomas, whom Alec married last June, is due this summer with their child. Baldwin says his top priority now is keeping her happy and reassured.
"Right now it's just whatever I can do to get my wife to relax," he says. "She is a young woman. I give foot rubs. I say, 'You are doing great'. "
With his daughter, and niece, Hailey (brother Stephen Baldwin's daughter) in the public eye, Baldwin considers what advice he gives them and whether there is a Baldwin dynasty.
"Dynasty pertains to people more enshrined, like the Barrymores," he says. "To Hailey and Ireland, it is more to deal with the Baldwin Condition."
"I tell my daughter, one of the things I loved about 'Orphans' even though it was enervating and frustrating experience," he continues, referring to the Broadway play he was in this season, is "there was a scene where I say, 'Every young man's shoulders need an encouraging squeeze now and then — especially when you are young.' That makes you think there is hope."
"My daughter is beautiful," Baldwin says. "She is privileged. What I want her to focus on is — she is funny and talented and to have a chance, to have a lot of possibilities in this business. This business is tougher now. If I came into the business now I would never make it."
Baldwin has abandoned any political aspirations he once harbored. "My goal is to find a way to make a living outside of the public eye," he says.
But after all those years of being on TV, in films and on stage, does he actually need to make a living? "No," says Alec. "But I want to be outside of the public eye and dedicate myself to something. No offense, but I don't enjoy this (he refers to the interview). I want privacy."


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This is your resource to discuss support topics with your peers, and learn from each other.
Were you able to get any answers for this? I am also wondering the same thing
02-23-2011 05:56 PM - edited 02-23-2011 05:59 PM
You guys have to integrate ZXing core and the RIM specific bits into your app (better off just importing the ZXing library classes into your project).
Also, disregard the J2ME Image-specific LuminanceSource class, since it isn't as effective as using a native Bitmap subclass, which you have to implement on your own. In other words, J2ME Image's setRGB() in LCDUIImageLuminanceSource is almost identical to Bitmap's setARGB(), so it should be trivial to create a LuminanceSource subclass to support Bitmap instead of Image. Then, just find a way to create a Bitmap object from the captured image file (open file, get the file's inputstream to create EncodedImage, and then get that object's Bitmap). As a result of using Bitmap, I was able to scan 1D (w. auto-focus camera of course), and processing times decreased.
Also, make sure that the FileSystemJournalListener is removed only when you have an image file path (i.e. ends with ".jpg"), since there are cases where it sends back other non-image paths, or it sends image paths where it doesn't start with "IMG", since I recently saw this on the BB Torch when geotagging is enabled when capturing an image.
Finally, do not use the threading routines in the test app verbatim, since they are running on the Event Thread and that's a big no-no for a heavy task such as this one. Instead, spin them off as a separate Thread, and just get the event lock to close screens and so forth within it. Also, this task can hang if processing a large image, so you should find a way to check if it timed out (second watchdog thread to check if it's still processing).
Diego, thanks for all your advices. It would be awesome if you could share your BitmapLuminaceSource with us.
I'm developing an application with 1D barcode reader that should support OS versions less than 5.0. I got it working but it's very hard to take a decent picture with these devices, actually I was able to decode only large barcode images from the internet.
Somebody told me that would be better to do a continuous scan rather than taking only one photo of the barcode, but I don't know how to do that, I'm new in using ZXing. Do you know anything about this approach?
Thank you.
02-24-2011 08:21 AM - edited 02-24-2011 08:23 AM
I got mine working doing what this guy said:
Besides the whole library and core stuff, you will have to get the com.google.zxing.client.rim package and also the com.google.zxing.client.j2me to get the LCDUIImageLuminescence file. Then just check how it's done in the ZXingLMMainScreen.
And follow what diegotri said.
02-24-2011 10:20 AM - edited 02-24-2011 10:25 AM
That Bitmap-specific LuminanceSource file is currently proprietary to our app, so I can't share the source code. However, here's a hint: take a look at LCDUIImageLuminanceSource's setRGB functions. All I did was convert the J2ME Image object into Bitmap and modify it to its respective functions and that was it. Piece of cake it was. Also, if running this app on OS 6.0, make sure to give it different class name other than BitmapLuminanceSource, since it'll conflict with RIM's version.
Finally, for 1D, as long as you get a clean and sharp shot of the barcode from an auto-focus camera, it'll scan perfectly. Remember for ZXing, you have to define the type of barcodes you want the API to decode, so narrow the scope as to what you want to scan.
02-24-2011 11:04 AM - edited 02-24-2011 12:33 PM
Thanks diego!
But what about the continuous scanning using the video camera? Someone has told me that it works in the iPhone. I don't know, since it mainly would be getting many pictures to try to decode while the user points to the barcode, I think decoding the image take too much time to get an advantage from this approach. And it would not help anyway if the device camera doesn't have auto-focus.
Do you think it's worth a try?
Continuous scan is next to impossible to pull off on anything below 6.0, since RIM doesn't allow devs access to the raw video frames. That and trying to capture it in a thread that takes images every second would just be too intensive for the platform. Even then, I was able to capture 1D on a single shot using the external camera a FileSystemJournalListener and it worked fine.
That's it then.
Thank you.
Guys, I couldn't make this work. Even using devices which has the auto-focus feature, and taking good pics of the barcode.
This is how I'm proceeding:
1- Add a FileSystemJournalListener and invoke camera
2- When the fileJournalChanged is called (picture taken) I get the entry path and confirms that it is an image.
3- I run a new Thread to get the image, and then I create the BinaryBitmap, using a HybridBinarizer with the LCDUIImageLuminanceSource I got from the image file.
4- I try to decode using a MultiFormatReader with the hints: PURE_BARCODE and TRY_HARDER.
That's it, I get that from the ZXing Blackberry example, I didn't change much of it, but it didn't work as expected. I was only able to decode large barcode images that I got in the internet. Is there anything else that I can do to improve the detection?
I would very much appreciate any help.
I'm sending the BarcodeReader file I created to do all that stuff.


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Sunday, August 24, 2008
2 comments:
- Abel said...
Thanks for the run Seanie... Slap Fest III was crazy! A ton of peeps in da hiz-ouse!!
- August 25, 2008 at 10:18 AM
- bford said...
Great pics and that band seems very familiar.. had so much fun that night. I'm still tired.
bford - August 25, 2008 at 10:10 PM
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Expect a mostly sunny day ahead with highs in the lower 80s Thursday in South Florida.
Conditions remain dry though a stray shower can't be ruled out through the morning hours. While the breeze has calmed down a bit, rip currents are still possible on this afternoon on the coast.
Skies clear tonight with lows dropping into the middle 60s near the coast and closer to 60 in the western areas.
Friday brings more of the same with high pressure moving in across the Southeast region keeping conditions warm and dry.
Hurricane Season: Special Coverage
Published at 6:49 AM EST on Nov 15, 2012 | Updated at 7:29 AM EST on Nov 15, 2012


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May 28, 2013
A model of the truck that will be used to transport the Muon g-2 ring, placed on a streetscape for scale. The truck will be escorted by police and other vehicles when it moves from Brookhaven Lab to a barge, and then from the barge to Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. Credit: Fermilab
Brookhaven's g-2 experiment (pronounced gee-minus-two), which operated between April 1997 and April 2001, is hitting the road. The experiment was conducted to test of the validity of the Standard Model of particle physics by measuring a key property of subatomic muons, and it revealed some tantalizing hints of new physics. But more precision is needed for definitive proof. So the experiment is being dismantled and moved to the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois, where researchers from 26 institutions from around the world will collect new data using a much more intense and pure beam of muons. If successful, the experiment could indicate that there is exciting science awaiting beyond what has been observed.
While most of the experiment can be disassembled and moved to Fermilab by truck, the massive electromagnet, which is the centerpiece of the machine, must be transported in one piece. Scientists and engineers have devised a plan to load the 50-foot in diameter ring onto a specially prepared barge that will travel down the East Coast, around the tip of Florida, and up the Mississippi River to Illinois—a 3,200-mile journey.
The ring is expected to leave New York in June and arrive in Illinois in late July. The land transport portions on both the New York and Illinois ends of the trip will occur at night to minimize traffic delays.
2013-3995 | INT/EXT | Media & Communications Office
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Toddlers, TumbleBooks and Trains. Oh my!
Today, in the Toddler storytime we discussed the TumbleBook Library. If you were unable to attend the program or are unable to find your handout click here to learn more. Many children enjoyed making a simple train puppet during the program. I have included the Little Red Caboose lyrics below so you can continue the fun at home.
Little Red Caboose
Little red caboose chug, chug, chug
Little red caboose chug, chug, chug
Little red caboose behind the train
Smoke stack on its
Back, back, back, back
Coming down the
Track, track, track, track
Little red caboose behind the train. Choo. Choo!
Whoo! Whoo! Goes the Train Anne Rockwell
Down by the Station [BIG book] illustrated by Jess Stockham


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Floyd County P.O. Box 218 Floyd, VA 24091 (540) 745-9300 E-Mail: email@example.com
The Floyd Information Network is sponsored by the County of Floyd VA.
These departments help manage the civic and governmental responsibilities in Floyd County. Within each department are links to information that you, citizens of Floyd County, may find useful or interesting.
Copyright © 2004 - 2011 Floyd County.


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A likable hillbilly sets out for bloody revenge after seeing his fiancée, his friends, and his family ruthlessly gunned down during his engagement party in this parody of violent, Kill Bill-style revenge flicks. Awakening from his extended coma with an unrelenting desire to kill Buljo, the vengeful hick bumbles his way to the top of the criminal food chain in a ridiculously ludicrous rampage of mayhem and idiocy. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
All Kill Buljo cast + crew photos


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Get directions to this dealer
Monday - Friday: 12:00PM - 7:00PM
Saturday: 10:00AM - 7:00PM
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Watch this video to learn about the
Jacuzzi dealer experience.
About Premium Spas & Billiards
Premium Spas & Billiards features an impressive selection of hot tubs in Fredericksburg and quality customer service. Thanks to our consistent professionalism and excellent selection of spas, we've received Jacuzzi® Gold Club Awards andJacuzzi® Exceptional Service Awards. Stop by our showroom and allow us to help you find the perfect Fredericksburg hot tub today.
Our Services
Premium Spas & Billiards is dedicated to assisting you with all your spa needs. Whether you're looking for a new tub or have questions about your existing spa, our team is on hand to help. Don't wait, check out our spa accessories and browse our selection of best-selling hot tubs in Fredericksburg to transform your backyard space.
Areas We Serve
Brooke, Burr Hill, Casanova, Catlett, Dahlgren, and Dumfries are all located near our Fredericksburg dealership.
Why We Choose Jacuzzi®
Premium Spas & Billiards turns to the Jacuzzi® brand because of its high-performing, quality spas. Jacuzzi® Hot Tubs provide our customers with the latest designs, models, and amenities. From spacious tubs to state-of-the-art technologies, these spas offer the ultimate hot tub experience. Swing by our showroom and receive a free hot tub quote today.
Service area: Fredericksburg, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Dumfries, King George, Ruther Glen, Locust Grove, Bealeton, Triangle, Quantico, Woodford, Catlett, Bowling Green, Remington, Midland, Unionville, Partlow, Nanjemoy, Milford, Rhoadesville, Sumerduck, Brandy Station, Goldvein, Lignum, Elkwood
The gentleman at the showroom explained everything to me and how each different hot tub had all these different features so it could really be customized to you and your family. I felt so much more empowered to make the right decision for us and our family.
- Kirsten A.
I would definitely recommend Jacuzzi brand to anybody looking for a hot tub. After having sat in that Jacuzzi on numerous occasions, I can tell you it's an amazing experience.
- Kirsten A.
They talked about warranty. They talked about maintenance. All those types of features that you want to know before you make your final decision. The showroom experience I think made the difference in the whole process.
- Aleman Family
The quality of the tub as I compared them to other tubs really stood out for me. The fit and finish was very good as compared to the other tubs. And again, that just shows a sign of pride in the manufacturing process and a product that's well done.
- Edward A.
Download your printable Dealer Visit Guide - Your roadmap to making the most of your visit and finding your perfect hot tub, checklists and essential questions to ask.
DownloadWhen shopping for a hot tub, be sure to consider the warranty. Other manufacturers offer warranties that last 1 or 2 years, but our quality tubs feature limited warranties for up to 10 years! In addition, Jacuzzi's network of authorized dealers is standing by to ensure years of worry-free enjoyment. VIEW WARRANTY OPTIONS
From news on the best ways to care for your spa to how to get a better night's sleep. Learn and stay informed with our Jacuzzi


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Elmira/Corning Regional Airport
Walmart Workers Could Stage Black Friday Strike
Walmart is fighting back against a threatened walk out by workers on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
The nation's largest retailer filed a complaint against the labor union organizing the walkout. Walmart claims the United Food and Commercial Workers union is illegally organizing picket lines and other demonstrations.
The union is calling for Walmart employees to skip work or walk off the job on Black Friday.
Workers are angry about plans to open thousands of stores at eight o'clock on Thanksgiving night.


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Your feelings don't matter to him.
As I was doing my daily Internet lurking, I stumbled upon something really beautiful—MIMS new music video for "Fuck Your Feelings." In case you've forgotten, MIMS made "This is Why I'm Hot" and along with Maino was one of the few vaguely shining lights during New York's pop-rap dark ages. These days, it seems that MIMS is repenting for his sins, jumping on the cloud-rap bandwagon and and blissfully leaving all of his fucks behind. Look at the gif above and the video below for your proof.


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Due to unadaptability of the style sheet with the browser used in your computer, pages may not look as original.
Even in such a case, however, the contents can be used safely.
Information about NEC Foundation of America can be found on the following website.


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Royalty Free Music #hot111 Charts
starfrosch is your destination for the world's most popular Royalty Free Creative Commons music charts, news and radio. Every Monday our robot fetches the last month legal and downloadable Creative Commons MP3 tracks from SoundCloud®, Jamendo®, Free Music Archive® and Archive.org®. That's more than 50'000 tracks everytime. He runs them thru the Spam filter, sorts them by Hotrank® and spits out the #hot111. That's it. Enjoy the Top MP3 downloads and streams.
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How Green is My Stash? Monotone Scrappy Traditional Lap Quilt Pattern |
This scrappy How Green is My Stash quilt pattern is truly a fabric-lovers delight! If green isn't a color you love, imagine this fun project made in reds, blues, or a medley of colors.
Skill Level
Finished Size 66½˝ x 82½˝
Featured Fabrics
Sherri used assorted fabrics from her stash to make this quilt.
Further Information
To order Sally's sturdy and versatile Magic Triangle template, visit her website, sallyschneider.com. Learn more about Judy Lumberg on her website, sharedthreads.com.
McCall's Lesson!
Our experts show you how to use a slick technique, originally developed by Sally Schneider, to make triangle units without sewing along bias cut edges.
Check out our website for...
FREE Quilting How-To Videos from McCall's Quilting University (MQU) Video Library - click here!
Library of FREE online Quilting Lessons from McCallsQuilting.com - click here!
How Green is My Stash lap quilt pattern is fully patterned in the McCall's Quilting/America Loves Scrap Quilts Winter 2012/2013 issue shown below. Print (while supplies last) or instant digital download available for purchase at QuiltandSewShop.com.
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You know how sometimes you eat a wonderful dish or drink a great bottle with friends and although you want to share the joy, you just never seem to work it into a post on your blog? Me too, I know exactly how you feel. Here are some things from the past few months that I haven't managed to write about, but are worth sharing:
I know I just mentioned Bodegas Tradición Palo Cortado last week, but that was a glass pour at a restaurant. Thinking that the wine is not imported to the US (the Oloroso and Amontillado are, but not the Palo Cortado for some reason), I brought a bottle home in my luggage last October. I opened it when some one was over for dinner, and then had a small glass every day for a over a week - you don't need a lot in one sitting. The wine is great, my favorite of the Bodegas Tradición wines, but it takes a few days to unfurl after the bottle is open. There is almost none of this wine in the US, and I'm telling you, if you like Palo Cortado comprised of very old wines, you should try this. It's amazing in it's richness and depth, and whoa - it has so much finesse. A bottle will run you $90 but think for a moment before you say "no way." You're going to have 10 glasses minimum, so it actually becomes cheap considering what it is you are drinking. Crush has 3 bottles as of this writing, for the few and the bold among you.
A generous person brought this bottle of 2000 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses to a dinner, just to get things started properly. This was a Barolo dinner and there were a few blue chip wines on the table, including wines by Giuseppe Mascarello and Francesco Rinaldi. The Clos des Goisses was the wine of the night for me. It clearly showed the ripeness of this very fine vineyard, and also its elegance and detail of flavor. Whoa, a special treat.
Recently I decided to drink red wine while having dinner at home, a rarity these days. I opened my last bottle of 2007 Filliatreau Saumur-Champigny La Grand Vignole, and it benefited well from a scant few years in the cellar. I love this wine with a couple years on it, particularly in the vintages that are not 2005 or 2009 hot. Whoa, the 2007 is in a great spot right now, very fresh but there are prominent leathery and earthy notes too, and the minerality is strong on the finish. A lovely under $20 wine and a great candidate for mid-term cellaring.
This is bluefish crudo. Whoa, raw bluefish. I ate this not long ago on Martha's Vineyard at a dinner hosted by Chris Fischer, the former chef and current farmer who I believe sells produce to several hip Brooklyn restaurants, including the Andrew Tarlow joints. Anyway, bluefish is oily and very strongly flavored and isn't something that I think of eating raw. But this fish had been caught earlier in the day and it was beautiful, simply served with lemon, olive oil, salt, and herbs - full of fresh and complex flavors. Memorable.
Peter came for dinner one night and brought these two 375 ml bottles of Manzanilla: Equipo Navazos 'I Think' and Valdespino Deliciosa. Drinking these bottles next to one another, whoa - that is a particularly interesting experience in that it highlights the impact of filtration on Manzanilla Sherry. Deliciosa is bottled from a solera in the great Sanlucar bodega called Miseracordia. 'I Think' is a blend of selected wines from that same solera, including barrels from earlier criaderas. It is bottled unfiltered. I think both are great wines and drinking them together like this was fascinating. Deliciosa has a fineness that 'I Think' does not achieve, and 'I Think has a complexity and depth' that Deliciosa does not achieve. You can perform this little experiment yourself for less than $40 at Tinto Fino, the shop devoted to Spanish wines in the East Village. They are the only retailer to carry 'I Think,' and they also carry Deliciosa.
A friend had a BBQ the other night and one of his pals brought this fine old bottle of 1987 Quintarelli Valpolicella to share. Whoa! I've had Quintarelli maybe three times in my life and this is by far the oldest bottle. It was wonderful wine. So much to say, and although much of it was in a language that is foreign to me, there is no mistaking the quality here. The wine is detailed and expressive and fresh as a daisy at 25 years old. After some time I began to notice what I thought might be dried grape flavors. Should that be - isn't the Valpolicella the dry wine in the stable? I contacted my buddy Jeremy who sent me an informed and amusing set of messages about the wine and the idea that dried grapes could have made their way in there. I could almost hear him laughing as he discussed this, and it seemed to me as though he was saying that there are rules against this, but who knows what really goes on sometimes. "The Valpolicella can be made with up to 70% ripasso wine, wine that has been aged on the lees and solids of Amarone" Jeremy wrote. "So the answer is yes, although not directly." Jeremy also said that wine originally destined to become Amarone was blended into the Valpolicella in some vintages. And as he said, "who's complaining?"
Lastly, I just want to share the wonder of this old bottle of Cream Sherry. Not old as in old wines at bottling. Old as in Whoa, I found it in my parents' liquor cabinet and my mother maintains that she bought it over 10 years ago and periodically uses it for cooking. It has not been refrigerated in that time and it was a little more than half-full. I had to try it. It was actually not so bad, I enjoyed a glass. I swear, I'm not kidding.


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Hey Sebastian,
Just a quick thought. Your website has so many visitors, and I bet you could make a lot of money putting some ads on it. But I kind of admire that you don't. I understand people putting ads on their websites, because it is business and an easy way to make money can be quite nice. However, I can't help but feel that people not putting ads are more... how should I put it... I often view them as superior in an intangible sense. I'm struggling to grasp in which. Attitude, pride, standards, noble? Hmm.
With your websites and ads, I wondered why you don't put up any. You don't need the money? Or is it from some kind of internal stance, and you wouldn't put any in either way? By the way, reading your website feels, to me, nice independent of content cause no ads are there to annoy me. These days it seems you can't read many good blogs without drowning in ads.
My blog doesn't generate enough constant traffic to make me consider adding any, but... I wonder, would I? I don't know. It's like the pride matter, though not the same.
Ps. I liked your absurdity post
Thanks - good email and questions here. I see five points here I'd like to cover -
1. "However, I can't help but feel that people not putting ads are more... how should I put it... I often view them as superior in an intangible sense."
2. "With your websites and ads, I wondered why you don't put up any."
3. "You don't need the money?"
4. "Or is it from some kind of internal stance, and you wouldn't put any in either way?"
5. "My blog doesn't generate enough constant traffic to make me consider adding any, but... I wonder, would I?"
Starting off -
1. "However, I can't help but feel that people not putting ads are more... how should I put it... I often view them as superior in an intangible sense."
I believe the reason you see sites without ads as superior on some level is because the absolute-highest-quality writers usually don't have ads.
Sites like Paul Graham's, Eliezer Yudkowsky's, Mark Cuban's, and Steve Blank's don't have advertisements.
There's exceptions - there's some really high quality sites with advertisements. But overall, the set of popular sites with no advertisements is higher quality than popular sites with advertisements. There's probably a lot of reasons for this - I can think of a dozen potential reasons off the top of my head. But those aren't super important - the important thing is, yes, by not having ads on a somewhat popular site, you do gain the mental association of a "no ads" site which is a favorable one.
2. "With your websites and ads, I wondered why you don't put up any."
Linda Evangelista is one of the highest paid models of all time. That quote by her, half-joking - "We don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 per day" - is brilliant.
Consider the modeling profession. There's billions of people on the planet, and a large fraction of them would be happy to appear in pictures and shoots for just the prestige of it. This would naturally suggest that the price to shoot with a model would be driven down quite low.
Then Ms. Evangelista comes along, and says, yeah, I'd rather just stay in bed and sleep if they're not paying $10k or more. Ridiculous, huh? But she got it! And kept getting it.
Here, I've been corresponding a little with Jason Nochlin who is a very smart guy. He wrote this to me -
Your response reminded me of how I moved from a $20/hr web developer to a $120/hr web developer in about 12 months simply by increasing my rate at every contract bid I put out and occasionally doing some very high, just-to-see type bids. I never lost a contract due to cost (unless I wanted to ;) ), it was purely a mental barrier.
Here, let me summarize that, it's important -
Jason: "I started making 600% more money by asking for more... I never lost a contract due to this, it was purely a mental barrier."
Why don't I have ads on the site? Well, I don't know exactly how much I could make from ads right now. But let's say, conservatively, I could make $80 per month. (I know a guy with similar traffic and similar audience making $500 to $800, so I reckon $80/month would be close to automatic)
That's $960 per year. Hey, that's really cool. I'd like $960 more per year, who wouldn't?
But that's not the level I want to be playing on. Don't get me wrong - I'll shovel shit if that's what it takes to get me to the most important goals and objectives I have. But like my freelancer friend wrote, or like Ms. Evangelista says - if you've got the chops, you set your own rates to a large extent. I'm not looking to pick up $80 per month at the expense of other things. More on this in a minute.
3. "You don't need the money?"
See, I love this question. I love the phrasing of this question.
Money is cool for almost everyone. Everyone could use money.
But as soon as you need money - and people know - you're hosed.
And you know, it kind of permeates around you to some extent. When you don't need money, you just don't take shit from people. I met a guy some months back who made 1.2 million pounds sterling in 2010. Really cool guy in a number of ways, doing some interesting things. I'd have worked with him, and I had a skillset that would have been useful to him. I made negative money in 2010 (second year in a row that I did so), and you know, that can't go on forever.
Anyways, this guy... we had coffee and ate some meals together a few times, had some good convervations, swapped some knowledge. But I was getting a strange impression from him. Well, not strange, I guess this happens sometimes. He's a guy that divides people into categories of "respected on my level person" and "flunky" - you really don't want to work for someone like that.
Long story short, he writes me an email and asks if I can run an errand for him while I'm in Singapore - something really trivial, he wanted to me to go buy him a bound leather notebook and mail it to him.
And it's like, dude, come on, you can buy a notebook in any stationary store in any international city anywhere in the world. You can ask the concierge at your hotel to get you one, and he'll do it. You can ask your assistant to do it, and she'll do it.
So I guess I made a mistake somewhere along the line, because he'd mentally put me in the "flunky" bucket. I wrote back, "Sorry, I'm a bit busy, but I think you can pick up one at pretty much any stationary store. Good luck."
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm willing to shovel shit for what I believe is worth doing and I'd always encourage that. And you might be thinking - well, hey, he's just asking you to do one thing to prove you can get stuff done.
Indeed, he is. Yes. But in the flunky capacity. This guy didn't see me as a peer of his, apparently, and he doesn't treat people underneath him very well.
But what happened next was surprising (or perhaps not) - after I told him politely that he can buy a notebook at any stationary store (duh), he became about 1,000 times more interested in meeting up again internationally while we're traveling, or talking on the phone, or connecting more.
I'll run errands for someone I've got loyalty to. If I'm a guest at someone's home, I'll usually do all the dishes, even if they've got a maid. But the ability to take or leave any deal on your terms is almost magical. It's why you've got to pay off debt and kill recurring expenses until you've got cash in the bank. You asked - "You don't need the money?" - well, 95%+ of people in the world would like more money. Maybe 99%+.
But as soon as you need money, it becomes a lot harder to get it. People are naturally sensitive to leverage, and they bid you down to what they think they can. Everyone does this - wealthy or poor - people naturally hesitate to question self-assurance, and they naturally become skeptical and defiant of people who are doubting or desperate.
4. "Or is it from some kind of internal stance, and you wouldn't put any in either way?"
So, advertisements? I'm not morally against advertising, it's a part of the world and the advertising-supported business model has seen a lot of amazing media and content created on a wide range of subjects. The world would be worse off without advertising.
But there's a few factors at play here.
*The first-impression credibility boost from no ads is worth something
*I'd rather work on larger things than low-end ad revenue
*You set your own rates to some extent
*I'm okay on cash, I don't need the money
*Even if I did (which I don't), it's really important to look like you don't need the money
*Yes, I wouldn't want to endorse something I don't believe in
That's probably my biggest beef with low end advertising - you get stuff on your site like, "Five Weird Old Tips - Discovered By A Mom - For a Flat Belly!!!"
I don't want that crap on my site.
I would, however, love to have advertising from a company I legitimately respect and enjoy using their product - Lavazza for coffee, To Boot New York for boots (awesome boots, by the way), one of my favorite airlines (there aren't many good ones, but the good ones are great - ANA, Singapore, Cathay, Emirates), American Express, Fidelity, BMW...
Sooner or later, it'll probably be worth my time to reach out to companies I really admire to work with them. Right now, I've got a lot going on that's more important to me and has a better short-term/long-term upside mix than reaching out to advertisers that I respect, but it's something I'll do eventually.
5. "My blog doesn't generate enough constant traffic to make me consider adding any, but... I wonder, would I?"
Here's a question that I always ask myself when I'm confused or unsure about something -
"What is winning?"
You could phrase that a few ways. "What are my objectives here?"
"What do I want, and how will I know I've gotten it?"
"What are my goals?"
But I like, "What is winning?" It's succinct.
You've got to ask yourself, "What is winning?"
And it's a constant process of thinking and re-defining as you learn more. You don't want to get chained to your old positions.
Should you have ads on your site eventually? Well, what's your goal? You get a credibility boost for having a popular with no ads, yes. If you're looking to grow in popularity as quickly as possible and the cash you could get from ads doesn't matter, then yes, go without ads.
However, if you're close to being able to quit your full-time job and just do your own projects, even low-end advertising might be the thing for where you're at.
It seems to me that high-end advertising would suit most people well - if you select the advertisers and reach out to them based on admiring their company and products, that could be a real win for everyone. In that case, too, you also inherit some of the prestige of your advertisers. I remember the first TED video I ever saw had a BMW advertisement before it started, and it made me kind of make a subtle mental association between TED and high quality. (Seriously, BMW is amazing. I went through their factory in Munich - go if you ever get the chance. Fanatic attention to detail. Inspirational.)
Even then, you've got to remember that any action you take that affects money is going to affect your incentives - so learn and be aware of all of that, but again and again, the question to come to is - "What is winning?"
Winning for me is playing on the Linda Evangelista level, so no "Five Weird Old Tips Discovered by a Mom" on the site. But winning is different for everyone - you define it, you set it, and you go get it. Five weird old tips might be just the thing, depending on where you're at...
From an old friend. Very effective guy -
If there's anything I can do to help -- websites, marketing, design, tech are all areas of expertise, among others -- just let me know.
Want to see you succeed!
Reply -
Today is a big day for btyb. Why? I have an actual advertiser besides google. Actually, google has recently been paying me about twice what I used to get. I have no idea why. My best guess is that they're getting better at figuring out what sorts of ads are appropriate for my site, and people are clicking them. Either way, between my advertiser and google, I now make enough to justify the time I spend writing. What a cool feeling!
Here's how I got my advertiser:
Steve, my boss / compadre, belongs to a group called "Hill Country Outdoors". It's a group that you can join for $15/month or something and they plan cool trips and activities. One such activity was hang gliding, which he invited me along for.


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This colorful watch has the LEGO® Legends of CHIMA™ character Worriz the fierce leader of the Wolf Tribe built right into the strap! Additional buildable links let you adjust the band to fit wrists of different sizes. The analog watch face features Worriz in action and the LEGO Legends of CHIMA logo. Makes a great collectible gift! Features analog watch with quartz movement Includes sculpted non-poseable minifigure link and additional interchangeable links Water resistant to 50 meters Makes a great gift!
Check stock and price


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On the season finale of "Ravenswood," there is so much awesome. So much.
The Curse
Remy, Luke and Olivia do some research into the bloody-eyed boy Remy saw last episode. He's Ryan Atwater, who it turns out is sort of the teens' conduit into the past — he showed Olivia the lab fire at the school, not Abby. They go to the mayor's office to see if Ryan will show them what happened to Mayor Matheson.
In a flashback courtesy of Ryan (so everyone can see it), Dillon is revealed as Mr. Matheson's killer, shouting, "I don't want to die" as he stabs the mayor in the chest. But as Dillon was stashing the bloody knife inside Mrs. Matheson's coat, he touched a book and left a bloody thumbprint on in the inside cover. Back in the present, Remy has the evidence in her hot little hand.
But Dillon knows something is up because he breaks into Remy's house that night, knocks her out and carries her off. Caleb confronts Collins about it and Collins reveals that whomever stands up against the curse gets killed — Miranda's mom was a victim and that's why Raymond sent Miranda away as a girl.
Dillon takes Remy to the chapel on the cemetery grounds, which is just a lure to get the four teens to the chapel. Abaddon is there and he gives Miranda her life back — but it's only because he needs to kill all five at once, not just Miranda as the lone casualty of the car accident.
Collins rides to the rescue to explain all of this to the teens and he bargains their lives to set a specific soul free that Abaddon wants — original Caleb Rivers. The soul flies away into the night and then … demon child Max leads Dillon to fall to his death in front of a speeding train. Um, what?
But who cares, because original Caleb sees present-day Miranda sitting on a bench and runs to her! He thinks she's original Miranda and she just sees her Caleb, even though she knows something is off, but they can feel each other because they're both ghosts and it's awesome. Awesome. That ending was AWESOME.
Hanna and Caleb
Hanna comes to Ravenswood dead set on confronting Miranda about stealing Caleb away. Caleb has to tell her what's going on — not all of it, but at least the part about Miranda being dead and him helping ghost Miranda with her "unfinished business." Hanna naturally thinks he's insane.
But Mrs. Grunwald convinces her that Caleb isn't crazy — which, why would it be so hard to believe after what happened at Halloween? Anyway, Hanna stays and is immediately contacted by creepy Max, who then morphs into the spider-face lady. EP Joseph Dougherty told Zap2it that Abaddon can take many forms, so perhaps Max and spider-face lady are just two other forms of the demon.
Hanna and Caleb say goodbye, with her understanding why he has to stay in Ravenswood, but still not knowing the entire story. Miranda overhears their love-filled goodbyes and is sad.
Thoughts & Tidbits
- The red rubber ball moment when Max meets Hanna totally gave us a shiver remembering the old Fritz Lang silent movie "M." It's not really similar to "Ravenswood" in terms of plot, but the ball-rolling thing sparked a memory of that movie. It's worth a watch, but it's very upsetting.
- The scene between Hanna and Miranda in the funeral parlor was lovely. Nicole Gale Anderson really nailed it, Miranda is so tragic in this story.
- It's nice that the show had a phone conversation between Emily and Hanna, explaining that she just ran off to Ravenswood in the midst of what is going on with Fitz in Rosewood — because both on tonight's "PLL" and next week's "PLL," Hanna's trip to Ravenswood goes conspicuously unmentioned.
- The Dillon train death was so weird and random, right? Guess the demon
in charge of everything got tired of him, but it was a very WTF moment. It also robbed us of Olivia getting to have it out with her father's killer. We guess it's justice that he got ran over by a train, but we wanted to see Olivia tell him off. - Original Caleb and present-day Miranda offers so many amazing possibilities. She can have a buddy! She can have a love interest! And it's complicated by the fact that it's the spit and image of her present-day friend and love interest Caleb. Delicious. Love it. I even knew original Caleb was in this episode in non-flashback form and didn't put it together. Bowled over, stick in a fork in me, I'm done. That was terrific.
Best Lines:
Dillon: "I don't know who's been showing them what happened, but I'll get them there before they see anything else."
Remy: "Poor Miranda."
Luke: "Why poor Miranda?"
Remy: "Don't be such a boy."
Miranda: "I'll protect him until he can come back to you. I promise."
Did you love the season finale of "Ravenswood" or what?