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David CornJul. 29, 2009 11:34 AM
On Wednsday, I reported that the National Archives is considering using a CSI-ish procedure that could produce clues as to what was said during the infamous 18 and 1/2 minutes missing on one of Nixon's Watergate tapes. The story got much attention, and several Watergate historians--who often don't agree on anything--told me they each are hoping that the testing yields something.
The procedure, which is rather straightforward and can be done relatively quickly, would try to determine if there are tell-tale indented impressions on one of the two pages of Nixon chief of staff Bob Haldeman's notes from this meeting--impressions that might have come from possibly missing notes that correspond to the 18 and 1/2 minute gap.
Today, I received an image of that particular page.
Does it literally hold the key to solving this Watergate mystery?
You can follow David Corn's postings and media appearances via Twitter.
Kevin DrumJul. 29, 2009 11:27 AM
Mike Konczal has a nice primer over at the Atlantic about high frequency trading. You're likely to hear a lot more about this subject in days to come, so it's worth a few minutes to head on over and read it.
There are two aspects of HFT that are drawing attention. The first is just the basic effect of ultra-fast, high-volume trading on equity markets in the first place. The second is "front running," the allegation that big players are able to gain access to stock prices a few milliseconds before the rest of us via flash orders, thus allowing them to enter orders early and make guaranteed profits. Konczal's conclusion:
As the debate unfolds, remember to ask yourself, (1) whose information is being exploited by whom and how, (2) does this make financial markets stronger and more efficient — say by providing liquidity — during a downturn when markets need them the most, and (3) what is this doing to the price mechanism — is it helping prices converge to fundamental values or driving them further away? The evidence currently looks like HFT is doing bad things on all three accounts.
As Konczal points out, if you ask the HFT community what benefit HFT provides, the answer is usually "liquidity." But this is an answer that should be treated very skeptically indeed. Major stock exchanges are not notably illiquid except under very specific, limited circumstances, and HFT traders aren't obligated to provide liquidity under these circumstances anyway. And they won't. They'll just flee, like everyone else.
So: cui bono? As near as I can tell, HFT is just a pure, artificial money spinning machine with no value at all to the wider financial community. In fact, as Konczal points out, it's quite likely to make markets weaker and less driven by fundamentals. This is worth keeping your eyes on.
Kiera ButlerJul. 29, 2009 7:00 AM
Blue-Marble-ish posts on our other blogs, for your Wednesday morning reading pleasure:
Obama not following doctor's orders? Obama's GP thinks the president is wrong about healthcare.
O'Reilly: oh, really? Bill O'Reilly thinks Americans don't live as long as Canadians because "we have ten times as many people as you do. That translates to ten times as many accidents, crimes, down the line." Really.
Cash for kidneys: The case for paying people to donate organs might be logical, but Kevin Drum isn't convinced.
Blue Dogs won't budge: Lawmakers who oppose a public healthcare option often represent the very districts that would benefit most from such a plan.
Kevin DrumJul. 28, 2009 8:35 PM
Scott Lemieux isn't happy with the compromise healthcare bill being put together in the Senate:
The normal justification for passing a compromise bill is that once a new system is entrenched it can be tweaked later. But I don't think it applies in this case. The public option is the core of the reform; a Blue Dog bill isn't so much half a loaf as a few meaningless crumbs. And far from making a public option more viable in the future, if anything, passing something that could be called health-care reform will reduce the impetus to pass actual reform. And, worse, a bill with no public option will further entrench the insurance industry and make it easier for them to block actual reform in the future.
Ezra Klein disagrees. Partly this is because a public option would cover only a small fraction of the currently uninsured ("That's not a gamechanger, it's a tweak"), but mostly because he thinks what really matters isn't how they're covered, but merely that they're covered:
What has kept health-care reform at the forefront of liberal politics for decades is moral outrage that 47 million of our friends and neighbors are uninsured. That medical costs are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy in the United States. That an unemployed machinist gets screwed by fly-by-night insurance schemes while a comfortably employed banker need never worry. That the working class ends up in emergency rooms with crushing chest pains because they didn't have health insurance and didn't get prescribed cheap blood pressure medications five years before.
One of these days I need to think this through more rigorously, but I have a slightly more idiosyncratic view that's closer to Ezra's than Scott's. Both coverage and a public option are important, but I think what's more important than either one is a simple change that — to my surprise — hasn't attracted any real opposition: community rating on a national scale. Basically, this means that insurance companies have to take all comers at the same price. They're allowed to adjust premiums for things like age and gender, but they can't refuse you due to preexisting conditions. If your blood pressure is high or you have a family history of breast cancer, they still have to accept your business.
This hardly solves every problem. In particular, it doesn't do much to rein in costs. But if you combine (a) Medicare, (b) our current employer-based insurance regime, and (c) community rating along with subsidies for low-income families, you've essentially institutionalized universal healthcare insurance. Not everyone will take advantage of it — there will always be a few people who go without coverage even if it's affordable — and you still a need a few other things like out-of-pocket caps. Still, it's basically a statement that everyone in the country can and should be covered. And once that becomes a cultural norm, it will never go away.
It will also, I suspect, eventually turn the private healthcare insurance industry on its head. But maybe not. That's the part I haven't thought through completely. But if there's any single thing that's critical, it's moving public opinion in the direction of viewing healthcare as a universal prerogative. Community rating plus low-income subsidies doesn't get us 100% there, but it gets us pretty far along.
Stephen Robert MorseJul. 28, 2009 8:13 PM
After a series of negotiations that primarily focused on the economy, ace global ambassador Hillary Clinton managed to convince her Chinese counterparts to sign off on a "memorandum of understanding" in which the planet's #1 (China) and #2 (U.S.) polluters pledge to cooperate so that a comprehensive climate change agreement can be reached in time for December's Copenhagen climate conference.
But will the memorandum actually do anything? At this point, that's unclear. But at least it's a start, which is surely better than hardcore diplosquabbling, as was the case for Clinton in India last week.
My prediction: India will be the biggest thorn in America's side this December, and Brazil won't make the conference a cakewalk either.
Nikki GloudemanJul. 28, 2009 7:22 PM
Last week came news that the Colorado River may go dry. Could the Fertile Crescent be next?
Akio Kitoh of Japan's Meteorological Research Institute thinks so—he forecasts that the Crescent will disappear in this century.
Several factors have contributed to the depletion of the once-lush Mesopotamian marshes, where the Euphrates and Tigres rivers converge. Dams constrict water flow, drought grips the area, and Iraqis are increasingly draining the water for agricultural purposes.
There have been efforts to make the area fertile once again. But if conditions don't change dramatically, the cradle of civilization may eventually be no more.
Ben BuchwalterJul. 28, 2009 2:50 PM
One of the most controversial issues related to the health care debate currently raging in Congress is whether the government plan, like most private plans, should cover the cost of abortions. And compromise on the issue may be impossible as Republicans and some moderate Democrats continue their campaign to distract the public by focusing on divisive issues like abortion. Dana Goldstein of the American Prospect writes today about the smear campaign, disseminated by conservative media outlets like Fox News, to portray health care reform as a tacit approval of government subsidized abortion:
Abortion is far cheaper and safer than pregnancy and childbirth and prevents society from shouldering the cost of children parents aren't prepared to care for. President Obama has said his health-reform goals are to offer Americans more health choices, bring down costs, and make our society, as a whole, a healthier one. In that context, abortion coverage is a no-brainer. … If every American were going to be covered by government-funded health insurance, we wouldn't be debating this topic. While constantly grandstanding on abortion, our political elites have been surprisingly adept at making sure women with the ability to pay -- in other words, the daughters, sisters, and girlfriends of politicians -- will always have access to abortion. But by maintaining a system full of inequities, in which women with fewer options and resources are more likely to rely on the new public plan, Democratic leaders have allowed abortion opponents, once again, to hijack a policy debate. And that, sadly, is uniquely American.
More than torpedoing compromise, though, pro-lifers from both sides of the aisle are actively trying to get abortion spiked from any bill that moves through Congress. Last month, 19 Democrats wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying that they would not "support any healthcare proposal unless it excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan."
And President Obama is staying out of it. Louisiana Republican John Fleming claimed recently that "by being silent on this issue [Obama is] actually making an affirmative statement in favor of taxpayer abortions." That wouldn't be so bad, but instead it's something much worse. As Ezra Klein points out today, the health care discussion is being run by centrist Democrats and conservative Republicans. So by staying silent on the issue, Obama is not effectively condoning government subsidized abortion; he's letting it die on the table.
Kevin DrumJul. 28, 2009 2:37 PM
From Bill O'Reilly, responding on the air to Canadian viewer Peter Gillies, who noted that Canadians have higher life expectancies under their healthcare system than we do under ours:
Well that's to be expected, Peter, because we have ten times as many people as you do. That translates to ten times as many accidents, crimes, down the line.
Note that this wasn't just an off-the-cuff howler. O'Reilly chose to air Gillies' letter and had his response all teed up on the prompter. Here are the alternatives for how this happened: (a) Not a single person on his staff noticed that this was nonsensical. (b) Someone noticed but didn't have guts to tell O'Reilly he was wrong. (c) Someone noticed, told O'Reilly, but was unable to convince him that he'd flubbed his fourth grade arithmetic. (d) O'Reilly does this stuff all by himself and doesn't show it to anyone before airtime. I'm going with (b).
Kevin DrumJul. 28, 2009 1:24 PM
Oddly enough, a persistently popular topic of conversation in the blogosphere concerns the ethics of paying people to donate kidneys. It just goes to show the power of Virginia Postrel, who donated one of her kidneys to a friend and has written about it frequently since then.
The idea, frankly, makes me very, very queasy. Offering large sums of money to people in desperate straits to sell a kidney? I'm just not there. But today, Ilya Somin takes on three common objections to "exploiting the poor" in an effort to persuade doubters like me:
I. Poor People Are Allowed to Take Much Greater Risks for Pay. Many organ market critics may be unaware of the fact that the risks of donating a kidney (the main proposed organ market) are actually very small....If it is somehow wrong to allow poor people to assume these very minor risks in exchange for pay, why should they be allowed to brave vastly greater dangers for money? Military personnel, firefighters, police officers, and others accept far greater risks to life and limb than kidney donors do. ....II. Is Preventing "Exploitation" Important enough to Justify Killing Thousands of People?....80,000 lives per year in the US alone could be saved by legalizing kidney markets. Even if you find the "exploitation" of poor people in organ markets morally repugnant, you have to ask whether following that moral intuition is so important that it justifies sacrificing all those lives. ....III. Organ Sales are Actually Good for Poor Donors. Given the minimal risks of organ donation, it is highly likely that kidney markets will actually benefit poor donors far more than they could conceivably harm them. The logic isn't complicated. After all, one of the main problems that poor people face is lack of money....If the poor person reasonably believes that the risk is worth it, I don't see why the government should force her to choose otherwise.
I. Poor People Are Allowed to Take Much Greater Risks for Pay. Many organ market critics may be unaware of the fact that the risks of donating a kidney (the main proposed organ market) are actually very small....If it is somehow wrong to allow poor people to assume these very minor risks in exchange for pay, why should they be allowed to brave vastly greater dangers for money? Military personnel, firefighters, police officers, and others accept far greater risks to life and limb than kidney donors do.
....II. Is Preventing "Exploitation" Important enough to Justify Killing Thousands of People?....80,000 lives per year in the US alone could be saved by legalizing kidney markets. Even if you find the "exploitation" of poor people in organ markets morally repugnant, you have to ask whether following that moral intuition is so important that it justifies sacrificing all those lives.
....III. Organ Sales are Actually Good for Poor Donors. Given the minimal risks of organ donation, it is highly likely that kidney markets will actually benefit poor donors far more than they could conceivably harm them. The logic isn't complicated. After all, one of the main problems that poor people face is lack of money....If the poor person reasonably believes that the risk is worth it, I don't see why the government should force her to choose otherwise.
This is all very logical, as libertarian arguments tend to be, and the fact that my instincts scream that this is a bad idea is hardly a persuasive counterargument. But I'll make a few others as well.
First: entering a generally risky profession is different than being coerced to do a specific act because you're feeling specifically desperate at a specific time. At least, it feels quite different to me. The other two arguments, baldly utilitarian though they are, strike me as more persuasive.
Second: Would this would be a global market? My discomfort with the idea is doubled or tripled at the idea of luring the poor in Bangladesh or Liberia into donating kidneys. Am I right to feel this way?
Third: I'll admit that my moral sense is affected by how much a kidney is worth. (I'm taking Somin's word for the fact that the risk involved is actually fairly small.) If the going price were $10,000, that seems like a bad deal. If it were $100,000 — well, that really could make a difference to a poor family. Hmmm.
Fourth: This one is by far my most important objection: right now both the law and the taboo against selling organs applies to all organs. But if we make an exception for kidneys, does that weaken the taboo and make it more likely that markets will develop in other organs? Obviously it wouldn't for donations that would kill you, but how about corneas? You've got two of 'em, after all. Or maybe a piece of one lung? Or a chunk of something else. And then another chunk. Would venture capitalists start insisting on organ donations from entrepreneurs to prove their seriousness before they put up money of their own? Could a bank ask a bankruptcy judge to demand a kidney donation in order to pay off a loan?
I'm not generally a big fan of slippery slope arguments, but they do have their place. History suggests that once the rich and powerful figure out a way to exploit the poor in one way, they'll pretty quickly start pushing the envelope in related directions as well. So, yeah, this makes me pretty nervous.
But it's not as if my mind is made up. Mainly, things are kind of slow today so I thought I'd toss in a post on an offbeat topic and let everyone talk about it. Obviously, for example, you might feel quite differently about the whole thing depending on what kind of regulatory regime was put in place. Comments?
Mark FollmanJul. 28, 2009 12:42 PM
Guest blogger Mark Follman writes frequently about current affairs and culture at markfollman.com.
I took notice back when David Foster Wallace chronicled the cultural dark side of going on a cruise. But ultimately it's the environmental dark side of the industry that makes me know I'll Never Do It at All.
Over the weekend, an adult fin whale—a threatened species in Canada—turned up dead in the waters at a cruise ship terminal in Vancouver. The rare marine giant was impaled on the bow of the "Sapphire Princess," a Princess Cruises' ship arriving from Alaska.
[Read more]
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subset: commoncrawl


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WASHINGTON---Cadbury-Schweppes will no longer market 7UP as "All Natural" according to a statement put out by the company. Rather, the company will highlight ingredients "for which there is no debate" over whether they are natural, which will obviously exclude the controversial factory-made sweetener known as high-fructose corn syrup. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) will drop a planned lawsuit against the company now that the misleading "all natural" claims will be halted. CSPI notified Cadbury-Schweppes of the possibility of a lawsuit in May and has discussed labeling issues with the company off and on since then.
"We are pleased that Cadbury-Schweppes has fixed what was a flawed and deceptive marketing campaign and that this issue was resolved without our actually suing," said CSPI litigation director Steve Gardner. "We look forward to seeing exactly which words the company uses to describe its ingredients on labels and on marketing materials, but trust they won't imply that high-fructose corn syrup is 'natural.'"
High-fructose corn syrup is nutritionally similar to natural table sugar, which comes from sugar cane or sugar beets. But in to contrast to table sugar, high-fructose corn syrup is made through a complex chemical industrial process in which corn starch molecules are enzymatically reassembled into glucose and fructose molecules.
CSPI's litigation unit has encouraged several major food companies, including Quaker, Frito-Lay, Procter & Gamble, Tropicana, and Pinnacle Foods, to halt deceptive labeling or marketing practices. KFC stopped using partially hydrogenated oils after being sued by CSPI, and Cadbury-Schweppes and other soda manufacturers avoided a CSPI-led lawsuit by agreeing to phase sugary sodas out of schools. In coming weeks and months CSPI may file previously announced lawsuits against Coca-Cola and Nestlé (over Enviga , a deceptively labeled green tea drink positioned as a weight-loss aid) and Kellogg and Viacom (for marketing junk foods to young children).
For Immediate Release: Friday, January 12, 2007 Contact: Jeff Cronin, 202-777-8370 or Patti Truant 202-777-8316
© 2004-2008 by foodconsumer.org unless otherwise specified Top of Page


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How Does Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Work?
In the book I'm writing on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) I've had to address the question as to how ECT works. However, in spite of the fact that ECT has been in use since the 1930s we really don't know how ECT works.
But recently we may have gotten a bit closer to figuring it out.
[Note: I am running a survey on real patients' experiences with, and perspectives on, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). If you've had ECT and want your voice heard, please take the survey here. More detailed information on the ECT survey can be found here.]
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor
One of the things we have noted is that people who undergo ECT have measurably increased levels of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which is critical in supporting healthy cells and cell growth in the brain. This increase in BDNF is something we've noticed when people take antidepressants as well. When you think about it, it makes sense that this would be part of why ECT and other therapies work as it combats the shrinking of the brain seen in depression and other mental illnesses.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) "Reboots" the Brain
And one of the things I have said is that electroconvulsive therapy does not "reboot" the brain. There is just nothing similar to this analogy that we can point to with regards to ECT. Until now, that is.
Recent research shows that functional connectivity in areas of the brain may be up-regulated in people with depression. In other words, there are areas of the brain with too much connectivity. This theory is known as the "hyperconnectivity hypothesis."
This seems counter intuitive when you think of depression but I suppose it's like anything else, too much of anything can be a bad thing, especially in the brain.
Recently a study was done where functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measured the connectivity in areas of the brain. And specifically around the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortical region it was found ECT decreased the functional connectivity, and this decrease in functional connectivity seemed to correlate with positive results from the ECT on depressive symptoms.
Thus ECT was found to change the functional architecture of the brain in a way that helped with depression.
Note that the study size was extremely small but that this is typical for studies using technology like fMRIs. Thus, we cannot say this study proves anything but we can say it leads us in a new, and perhaps promising, direction in terms of discovering how ECT works.
Please see Electroconvulsive therapy reduces frontal cortical connectivity in severe depressive disorder for all the details.
Why Does it Matter How ECT Works?
Well, on the one hand, it doesn't. For the people for whom ECT has worked, how it worked doesn't matter a lick. However, the end goal for researchers is to figure out how ECT works so that they can retain the therapeutic component of the treatment while reducing the side effects (like memory loss). Maybe this study got us one step closer.
(Thanks to Herb for pointing out the new research.)
About Natasha Tracy
Natasha Tracy is an award-winning writer, speaker and consultant from the Pacific Northwest. She has been living with bipolar disorder for 18 years and has written more than 1000 articles on the subject.
Natasha's New Book
Find more of Natasha's work in her new book: Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar. Media inquiries can be emailed here.


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Science Boot Camp for Librarians – West
Friday, June 28th, 2013Guest post by Margaret Mellinger, Oregon State University Libraries
Over 120 attendees participated in the first western version of Science Boot Camp for Librarians, held on the University of Colorado
Boulder campus from June 19 – 21, 2013. The event was funded in part with Federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, under Contract No. HHS-N-276-2011-00008-C with the University of Washington.
The purpose of the Boot Camp — West was to help science librarians who did not major in, or recently study, scientific or medical fields gain a basic understanding of goals and methods in select disciplines. This event was modeled after the successful annual events held in Massachusetts. Boot Camps are comprised of an immersive, two-and-a-half-day program, featuring educational presentations on scientific and medical topics. Speakers for the Western version came from the University of Colorado system.
Day 1: After registration and lunch, we kicked off the boot camp with two speakers on the topic of physics. Dr. Ariel Paul, set the stage by giving us a whirlwind overview of the history of physics, using colorful analogies and memorable quotes. Dr. John Bohn filled us in on a hot (pardon the pun) topic in physics – the study of ultracold atoms. Following the physics session, attendees either took in the exhibit "Systematic Wonder: Science Observed through Rare, Historic, & Artistic Works" in Special Collections, or heard "Stories from the Collection: Highlights of the Colorado University Museum of Natural History" told by Jim Hakala, Senior Educator at the museum. Dinner was held on the club level of Folsom Stadium and featured a panel of CU women in science with Dr. Patricia Rankin, Dr. Andrea Iglesias, and Dr. Monique K. LeBourgeois, moderated by Flora Shrode (Utah State University).


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E: firstname.lastname@example.com
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Hey I just posted my second design here on DBH, for the Fleetwood Mac contest. I still don't know a lot of people on here and with the new site I can't figure out how to browse all artists…? If you wouldn't mind swinging by and checking out my new design I'd appreciate it, and please feel free to give me some feedback and/or vote.
Prints / Wins | 0 |
Votes Received | 0 |
Votes Given | 42 |
Comments | 21 |
Shirts Owned | 29 |
Closet | 0 |
Just here to enjoy the scenery…stopping to smell the roses…
Hi toolgirl, Welcome!! to DBH , check my first design, and give me a vote and comment if you like it.
Thank you… :)
hi! welcome to dbh.. looking forward to your designs.. feel free visiting my humble designs.. and yes, please do vote if you like them :)
Thanks for the Welcome!! I love the peeps on this site-it is very cool!! :)
Hi colleagues to "work" xD, check out my my new design that I did vote and beauty? thank you very much!
Guten Morgen
LOVE AND LIGHT to you, come check my designs.
Guten Morgen to you!! :) I'm likin' the photo "seek balance"—nice design too!! :)
Welcome! If you get a chance, please check out and leave feedback on my latest design, SKATE OR DIE (yealling 'yeah bro!' is optional, ha.) Thanks in advance!
That was fast, thanks! Appreciate the feedback!
Welcome human, to this here crib, here be DBH.
oh check out my design :)
Hey There! Welcome Home! Please Check out my ORIGINAL GANGSTER shirt! Tell me your comments! Thanks
thanks for the vote and support.
Heyyy, welcome in to DBH!! I'm keeping a sharp eye out for all your great stuff!
I've got two of my very first designs in for the running, would be fantastic if you could vote and leave a comment, you know you want to!! Whenever you put a new design in just let me know and I'll check it out for sure!
Charlie :D
Will do—you have wonderful designs!! I could tell what the Amy Winehouse one was from the thumbnail—GREAT WORK!! Lovin it-can't wait to buy your work!! :)
Hey there, I know you liked my "SKATE OR DIE" design, and I was wondering if you could give some feedback to my newest design called "CROWNED". Thanks, I'd appreciate it!
Thank you I'm so glad you liked it!


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Good Humor Man? Hardly! Stark uniform? Not a chance! Out for milk deliver? Whatever!
Who knew a white wardrobe could be so questionable, yet so easy and amazing. And here's your big secret....white is NOT just for summer!
Let me back up. Last week in my ask Lisa video, I was wearing an all white ensemble. Several people asked if there were rules with wearing white. Rules? Do you know me at all? ...View Entire Post
How to wear White Pants this summer
Lisa Lehmann - Tuesday, July 31, 2012


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The album will feature fourteen tracks as reported by USA Today in 2007 B . Nelly explained the reasoning for the title as "the best way" he can explain "how hard it's going to hit you." Due to the amount of delays "Brass Knuckles" has undergone, many fans have begun referring to Nelly as a "huge tease."
Nelly has a range of featured guests lined up for Brass Knuckles, with appearances from Akon, Ashanti, Avery Storm, Chuck D, Ciara, Fergie, LL Cool J, Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg, St. Lunatics, T.I. and Usher. Jermaine Dupri also stated possibilities of hopeful collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson. Dupri gave a look into the two collaborations, one being Nelly, Carey and Jackson all appearing on the same track, in which he stated Nelly has laid the following blueprint:
Nelly's got a crazy collaboration he's trying to put together, which is him, Janet and Mariah Carey all on one song…That's what he wants. If he could convince them to do it, it would be crazy. He wants Janet to rap a 16-bar verse, he wants Mariah to sing the hook and he's gonna do two verses. He has it all planned out. You ask him about it! This is what he wants; he's 100-percent deadlocked into it.
He went on to speak about the possibility of the Springsteen collaboration and that two of his own tracks will appear on the album,
I think he's doing a record with Bruce Springsteen. You know he always has to do one of those! My two records [that J.D. has produced for Nelly so far], he's gonna have some people on them — I won't tell it yet. I don't want to jinx the record.
Nelly was unable to get to collaborate with Springsteen as he was too busy around the world, though he if still hopeful to collaborate with him on a future album, or even a repackage of Brass Knuckles.
More production will come from Bryan-Michael Cox, Neff-U and Pharrell Williams, among others.
On March 30, Nelly told HipHopDX.com that "the album would feature a handful of new producers."
Nelly mentioned in an interview that producer Polow da Don will be producing 4 tracks for the upcoming album
* "Bay"
* "Body on Me" (featuring Akon & Ashanti)
* "Brass Knuckles"
* "Chill" (featuring St. Lunatics)
* "Hold Up" (featuring T.I. & LL Cool J)
* "L.A." (featuring Snoop Dogg & Nate Dogg)
* "Let It Go (Lil Mama)[ (featuring Pharrell Williams)
* "Lie" (featuring St. Lunatics)
* "Long Night" (featuring Usher)
* "One and Only"
* "Party People" (featuring Fergie)
* "Piece of My Heart"
* "Problems" (featuring Janet Jackson)
* "Self Esteem" (featuring Chuck D)
* "Stepped on My J'z" (featuring Jermaine Dupri & Ciara)
* "Thinkin' bout You (featuring Babyface)
* "Warriors"
* "Who Fucks with Me" (featuring Avery Storm)
* "Roots" (featuring Ja Rule)


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Laura DiSilverio penned her first novel for a creative writing class at Trinity University. Professor Bob Flynn inspired Laura and heroically refrained from gagging when reading the contemporary romance she titled Jeweled Torment. That manuscript is buried in a box in her garage, along with the Regency Romance she wrote shortly after joining the Air Force. She concentrated on becoming a good intelligence officer for many years before doing any more significant writing. DiSilverio served with an F-16 wing in Korea, and helped resolve reports of live-sightings of Vietnam prisoners of war while working out of the embassy in Bangkok.
She also pushed paper at the Defense Intelligence Agency, earned a Master's degree at the University of Pennsylvania, taught English for three years at the Air Force Academy, learned cool things about satellites (none of which she can ever write about) at the National Reconnaissance Office, attended various professional schools, did time in the Pentagon, commanded a squadron in England, and ended up in Colorado.
Along the way, she married her wonderful husband and produced two beautiful children who re-defined what is important in life. A moment of Holy Spirit-guided epiphany in Elliot's Bay bookstore in Seattle convinced DiSilverio it was time to embark on writing and mothering full time. She retired from the Air Force in late 2004.
DiSilverio's motto? Never, never, never, give up. She is also fond of the saying that sits on her desk beneath a photo of a sailboat on the sea: "You cannot discover new worlds unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore."
Laura was kind enough to share some Thanksgiving moments with me. Enjoy!
What are you most grateful for?
Healthy, well-adjusted kids; a loving and dependable husband; my mother and brothers and their families; all Tom's extended family; my church community. Gosh, I guess it all boils down to people, doesn't it? I'm also grateful for our home, for privacy and a sense of safety, and the gift of living in the United States.
Favorite Thanksgiving tradition?
Going around the table to hear what everyone is most thankful for each year.
Where will you spend Thanksgiving this year?
At home with my immediate family and a couple of friends.
What's your number one splurge food?
Stuffing. I love stuffing.
What do you prefer, sweet or salty?
Yes. Salty followed by sweet, as in stuffing followed by pumpkin pie. Repeat.
What are your plans for the holidays this year?
Stay put, avoid airports, church on Christmas Eve with my family, present opening and traditional breakfast (huevos rancheros with champagne) made by my hubby on Christmas morning.
What are the five tools you must have in the kitchen for Thanksgiving dinner?
5. Can opener
3. Take-out menu
2. Phone
1. Corkscrew!
If you could have a dream Thanksgiving dinner party, who would you invite?
I have invited them: my family.
What's the one Thanksgiving dish your family can't live without?
Probably mashed potatoes and gravy. Not exotic, I know, but it's always the first empty bowl. Ahead of the Brussels sprouts with walnuts, can you believe it? (No, I don't really make Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving, or any other time except my husband's birthday; they're his favorite veggie.)
What do you do after the meal is finished? Play football? Watch football? Movies?
Yes. If the weather's nice, we'll go down to the park and play football before coming back for more pie and some football on TV. We're also likely to watch a movie or two and play some games. Scrabble and Apples to Apples are popular with us right now.
Pumpkin, Pecan, or Apple?
You keep putting "or's" in these questions! All three. Maybe at once. Maybe pumpkin after dinner, pecan while watching football later, and apple for breakfast on Friday.
Are you up early the next morning to kick off your holiday shopping?
Nein, non, nope! I try to have most of my shopping done before Thanksgiving so I can relax into the holiday season, maybe enjoy a party or two with friends, decorate the house with my kids, and enjoy wrapping the presents I bought while listening to Christmas carols.
Thank you so much for this warm Thanksgiving memory.
Happy Thanksgiving from my house to yours! Thanksgiving wishes from the Blogcritics team.
Laura's Halloween Fright Bites.
My review of Quickstep to Murder.
Powered by Sidelines


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In this video production later shown on TV as well, young student Marty Hiller (Justine Bateman) needs a roommate and finds Alec Danz (Adam Baldwin). After beginning a brief affair with her new roomie, Marty realizes that he is becoming obsessed with her and will stop at nothing to possess her. ~ John Bush, Rovi
All Deadbolt cast + crew photos


text: A PlayStation Move Wheel Races OutBrian Ashcraft6/04/12 12:45pmFiled to: PS3SonyE3E32012Kotakucore1EditPromoteShare to KinjaToggle Conversation toolsGo to permalink Revealed at E3, the PlayStation Move Racing Wheel can turn your Move into a car steering wheel, a motorcycle handle, or what looks like a medieval torture device. Advertisement According to Sony, the wheel has force feedback, racing car style paddle shifters, and motorcycle twist throttle controls. It's priced at US$39.99 and out this fall.The wheel is almost identical to images supplied in a patent we covered recently, which led Owen to say "What the Hell is This Thing Sony Just Patented?" PlayStation Move Racing Wheel [PlayStation] Reply1 repliesLeave a reply


text: Secretary' s WMC/FEM/MT/990 23rd June, 1938. Mr. E. Edwards, Mineworkers' Federation of Great Britain, 50, Russell Square, LONDON, W.C.1. Dear Mr. Edwards, ASTURIAN MINERS' ORPHANS, ETC. Thank you for your letter of the 22nd June, informing me that your Federation has appointed a sub-committee to deal with the allocation of money collected for the Asturian Miners' orphans, etc. I note that you would like our Chairman and myself to meet your sub-committee to discuss this matter. We shall be very pleased to do so. With regard to dates, I am wondering if another date other than the 30th June would be equally convenient to your Committee. I have to speak that day at the Conference of the National Federation of Building Trades Operatives at Hastings. I was invited there for several days but I shall only be able to attend on the one day. Mr. Elvin, our Chairman, will also be away on that date. I am wondering, therefore, if any of the following dates would be equally convenient to you - Monday, 27th June, at 3 p.m. Monday, 4th July, at 11 a.m. Tuesday 5th July, at 11 a.m.


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It is very important that your doctor check your progress at regular visits to make sure this medicine is working properly and to check for unwanted effects.
Zolpidem may cause serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis can be life-threatening and requires immediate medical attention. Tell your doctor right away if you have a rash, itching, hives, hoarseness, trouble breathing or swallowing, or any swelling of your hands, face, mouth, or throat while you are using this medicine.
If you think you need to take zolpidem for more than 7 to 10 days, be sure to discuss it with your doctor. Insomnia that lasts longer than this may be a sign of another medical problem.
This medicine will add to the effects of alcohol and other CNS depressants (medicines that make you drowsy or less alert). Some examples of CNS depressants are antihistamines or medicine for hay fever, other allergies, or colds, sedatives, tranquilizers, or sleeping medicine, prescription pain medicine or narcotics, medicine for seizures or barbiturates, muscle relaxants, or anesthetics, including some dental anesthetics. Check with your doctor before taking any of the above while you are using this medicine.
This medicine may cause some people, especially older persons, to become drowsy, dizzy, lightheaded, clumsy or unsteady, or less alert than they are normally. Even though zolpidem is taken at bedtime, it may cause some people to feel drowsy or less alert on arising. Also, this medicine may cause double vision or other vision problems. Make sure you know how you react to zolpidem before you drive, use machines, or do anything else that could be dangerous if you are dizzy, or are not alert or able to see well.
If you develop any unusual and strange thoughts or behavior while you are taking zolpidem, be sure to discuss it with your doctor. Some changes that have occurred in people taking this medicine are like those seen in people who drink alcohol and then act in a manner that is not normal. Other changes may be more unusual and extreme, such as confusion, worsening of depression, hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there), suicidal thoughts, and unusual excitement, nervousness, or irritability.
This medicine may cause you to do things while you are still asleep that you may not remember the next morning. You could drive a car, sleepwalk, have sex, make phone calls, or prepare and eat food while you are asleep or not fully awake. Tell your doctor right away if any of these things occur.
If you will be taking zolpidem for a long time, do not stop taking it without first checking with your doctor. Your doctor may want you to gradually reduce the amount you are taking before stopping completely. Stopping this medicine suddenly may cause withdrawal side effects.
After taking zolpidem for insomnia, you may have difficulty sleeping (rebound insomnia) for the first few nights after you stop taking it.
If you think you or someone else may have taken an overdose of this medicine, get emergency help at once. Taking an overdose of zolpidem or taking alcohol or other CNS depressants with zolpidem may lead to breathing problems and unconsciousness. Some signs of an overdose are severe drowsiness, severe nausea or vomiting, staggering, and troubled breathing.
Do not take other medicines unless they have been discussed with your doctor. This includes prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicines and herbal or vitamin supplements.
Portions of this document last updated: March 01, 2017
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The blockade imposed on Gaza is a powerful psychological device aimed at wringing concessions from Gazans and Hamas.
Life in Gaza has been reduced to relying on human ingenuity and improvisation [Getty]
Gaza "the giant open prison" are not the words of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president. Nor were they scripted by Hamas' Khaled Mishaal or Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas. They belong to David Cameron, the young and charismatic British prime minister.
Since the imposition of the Gaza blockade nearly four years ago, no single European leader has voiced moral outrage over the sanctions with such alacrity, simplicity and forcefulness. His words have reverberated widely in Gaza as well as elsewhere in the Arab world.
Like Cameron's words, the untold misery shatters the international political society's quasi silence and questions the immorality of indifference and inaction towards the blockade.
Gazans need to reclaim their state of dignity and humanity before reclaiming the seemingly illusionary hope of a Palestinian state. A peek inside the 'big prison' reveals the blockade to be multi-layered - affecting economy, polity, diplomacy and security.
For most Arabs, that Israel imposes a de-humanising blockade may be easy to explain, but Egypt's role in the blockade defies logical explication. The music one hears from the Egyptian regime and other Arab states about adherence to international agreements convinces neither Arabs nor Westerners.
But abiding by sanctions that traumatise, de-humanise and isolate fellow Arabs, as in Iraq (where tens of thousands died as a result) or in Gaza is acceptable in the name of good citizenship in the international arena.
Occupied Palestine: Homo Sacer
There are many 'prisons' that dot the Middle East's vast body politic. However, Gaza is unquestionably the most restricted.
Cameron told the UK parliament in June 2010 that the world is unable "to sort out the problem of the Middle East peace process while there is, effectively, a giant open prison in Gaza". Israel needs to hear its friends' moral protest and heed their advice to end the blockade.
The blockade on Gaza is an affront to civilised behaviour. Period.
The horrors of the Holocaust are a lesson that no segment of the human race should be subjected to. The Holocaust belongs to all humanity and demeaned all humanity. It is not the exclusive bastion of Israel.
In Gaza, the Geneva Convention's obligations on occupying forces have been overruled and invalidated countless times, rendering the fourth convention no more than ink on paper.
Whether Israel is still an occupying force may be a tired legal red-herring. But the fact remains that Gazans cannot move, eat, watch TV, use the Internet, drive cars, study, work, think of the future, make and raise babies, and literally be, when Israel controls air, sea and land routes in and out of Gaza.
Without the protection of international law, Gaza is effectively treated almost as a homo sacer amongst the community of human entities and international society of cities and states. War, sanctions and a psychologically traumatising siege on 1.5 million human beings render them 'accursed', almost stripped of all rights afforded in and to societies of human congregations in all corners of the world.
Over the last few years Gazans have been placed on a forced collective 'diet', bombed in the middle of the blockade, starved of financial liquidity, causing Gaza to backtrack into an appalling state of sub-human existence.
Obama's daughters in Gaza
What is baffling in all of this is that the sanctions maintained by Israel and Egypt are not UN-mandated yet nearly the whole world - bar UN relief agencies - seem to abide by them.
Poor Obama whose advent to power whetted the appetite of the 'wretched of the earth,' who expected him to liberate them from hunger, occupation, authoritarianism and under-representation.
He is lost for words when it comes to Gaza. But his silver tongue virulently and eloquently lashed at Hamas and other Palestinian factions' rockets against the settlement of Sedorot. He was correct to lend support and sympathy to Sedorot's inhabitants. Ismail Haniyeh, the besieged premier in Gaza, concurs. Like many other Hamas leaders, he sees no utility in this strategy. Just as many Israeli leaders and people oppose the blockade and the bombing of Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009.
"If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israelis to do the same thing," the then president-elect told Israelis in July 2008.
Malia, Sasha and their puppy would not endure the blockade in Gaza like the hundreds of thousands of puppy-less Gazan children whose parents cannot afford to feed them, much less buy them pets.
Maybe Obama thinks it but does not speak it: "If somebody was cutting off the electricity and food of my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Palestinians to do the same thing."
A Tale of Two Cities
The politics of urban space used by Israel is brilliant. It is another method in its inventory of war against Palestinians. Ramallah is ensconced in the false illusion that normalcy is back to people's lives. The trappings of normalcy - food, a degree of free movement, education, law and order and night clubs - abound.
The credit goes partly to Keith Dayton, the American officer who sculptured out of Fatah's unruly militias a nuclear body for an 'Abbas-istan' in the West Bank. There is, however, still policing against dissidence, corruption and nepotism.
Unlike Ramallah and Bethlehem where living standards are satisfactory, Gaza has to make do with little. Indeed, the blockade has been eased and more foodstuffs and other goods make their way into the Strip on a daily basis. However, to a large extent the strategic goods essential for reconstruction are still banned. Cement and metal are vital for rebuilding close to 20,000 homes destroyed during the 2009 bombing.
Coupon culture is rife. With nearly 40 per cent jobless, the blockade has turned a large segment of the Palestinian population into parasites, relying on food coupons and rations doled out by charity organisations and the government. Were it not for Qatar, amongst other donors, the local bureaucracy would have been wage-less. But as the crisis of liquidity bites, Haniyeh has to reduce wages by about $40 a month. The tunnels still serve to smuggle large amounts of cash but not enough to run a state.
Hard Power vs. Soft Power
This is exactly at the core of the blockade: to re-stratify the Palestinian polity between the haves of Abbas-ville whose livelihoods are secure, and the have-nots of Gaza where collective punishment makes people re-think loyalty to Hamas and commitment to its political strategy. It is a powerful psychological device aimed at wringing concessions from Gazans and Hamas.
Time has come for investing more soft power in Gaza to lure Gazans and Hamas to the negotiating table, and unburdening Israel and Egypt of their dehumanising tactics. Hamas needs to sharpen its diplomatic skills to open up Gaza. Gazans have endured enough humiliation and isolation.
The 'carrot' that is the West Bank has not thus far tempted Gaza. Instead of queuing up for the benefits of secure existence in Ramallah and its surroundings, Gazans affirmed resistance by digging tunnels, claiming in the past four years the lives of nearly 300 tunnel diggers.
Hamas sought self-sufficiency in fruits and vegetables and has partly succeeded. A lease-based farming system in the so-called muharrarat (formerly mustawtanat or settlements vacated by Israelis) has been instrumental in this strategy.
The release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and of Gilad Shalit, the captured Israeli soldier, can be one step in deploying soft power with Gaza.
Asta Quando?
It was heart-warming to see images of the Chilean miners winched to freedom and the world caring for 36 human beings trapped underground for over two months.
There is half a million minors (between the age of zero and 18), and 1 million adults trapped in Gaza in an inhumane state of siege, which is not UN-mandated but the whole world seems to observe. Why? They, too, need to be winched to freedom of movement and existence.
Dr Larbi Sadiki is a Senior Lecturer in Middle East Politics at the University of Exeter, and author of Arab Democratization: Elections without Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2009) and The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses (Columbia University Press, 2004), forthcoming Hamas and the Political Process (2011).
Source: Al Jazeera


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The Real Meal Revolution
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Spud - Exit, Pursued by a Bear
[Paperback]Author(s):John van de RuitAfter an unexpected and diabolical farewell breakfast conversation with his father, Spud Milton returns to boarding school for his 1993 Matric year, his last as a schoolboy. Armed with a prefects' tie and a raging libido, Spud soon discovers that being a large(ish) fish in a small pond has its fair share of challenges. -
Fifty Shades of Grey
[Paperback]Author(s):E. L. JamesWhen literature student Anastasia Steele interviews successful entrepreneur Christian Grey, she finds him very attractive and deeply intimidating. Convinced that their meeting went badly, she tries to put him out of her mind - until he turns up at the store where she works part-time, and invites her out. -
Bared to You A Crossfire Novel
[Paperback]Author(s):Sylvia DayOur journey began in fire... Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness - beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily... -
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 & 2 The Official Script Book of the Original West End Production
[Hardback]The Eighth Story. Nineteen Years Later. Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, a new play by Jack Thorne. -
The Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells
[Hardback]Author(s):Judika IllesThe definitive magic reference book for Witches, Wiccans and all devotees of the magical arts. This is the real version of the archetypal master spell book of fantasy that has a place in our collective imagination. The spell book also contains a brief history of and basic precepts of magic, plus -
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[Game]Performed by (orchestra, band, ensemble):Prima Toys'Romantic, liberating and totally fun, this is the party game that will entertain and surprise you as it reveals how you see your friends and how your friends see you. All players listen to the vanilla style question before secretly voting on which of the eight pre-determined friends they believe -
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[Other]Ankh-Morpork, set in the largest city-state in Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Lord Vetinari has disappeared and different factions are trying to take control of the city. Each player has a secret personality with specific victory conditions, which means that you're not sure exactly what the other -
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text:
Keeping the lights on.
Find out what causes power outages, how service is restored and how Alliant Energy is working to prevent future blackouts.
On average, Alliant Energy customers have electric service more than 99.9% of the time. That is among the highest reliability rates in the industry.
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Typing tutors and wizards are an important tool from which almost everyone could benefit. If you are interested in upping your WPM (words per minute), then try one of these freeware programs.
Go straight to the Quick Selection Guide
In the unorthodox corner, we have Stamina Typing Tutor. It was by far the funniest typing program I have ever used and probably ever will. When you make a typing mistake, you get an annoying taunt. Some of my favorites are "oye!","uh-oh" and, "I'll be back" (from The Terminator) when you exit the program.
Along with its funniness, Stamina Typing Tutor contains some very cool features. The text scrolls like Rapid Typing Tutor, but in this case, it feels much more smooth. You will definitely notice the difference if you have used other typing tutors with side scroll. Stamina also has a fair lesson layout including the basics, digits, symbols, phrases and a few more. If you don't like any of the default lessons, you can make your own using the built-in lesson editor.
Another impressive element is that you can customize the background with your own images! You probably noticed I used a fallout 3 wallpaper ;) Stamina also has background music. Everyone knows typing to techno music is the best tempo to use whilst typing! The songs play on a playlist, so you can pick and choose which songs you want to play including any songs you might have in the mp3 format.
To wrap it up, the interface is user-friendly and looks superb. The only feature Stamina Typing Tutor doesn't possess is virtual hands, but I find this is a marginal issue because most people don't need virtual hands to type any faster then they normally do. I would recommend Stamina Typing Tutor as the best typing program for users who already have some basic typing skills.
Rapid Typing Tutor is another good typing tutor for intermediate learners who want to improve their typing in a new and interesting way. I especially liked the colorful theme because I am a strong believer in the link between color and memory comprehension.
What sets Rapid Typing Tutor apart from other typing programs is its many noteworthy features including: a virtual keyboard with moving hands; progress tracking that displays your current/past printing speed and accuracy; and the capability for you to make your own lessons.
Although Rapid Typing Tutor has a multitude of features, I would not recommend it to beginners. There is no instruction on how to type other then watching the moving hands, and the interface is largely confusing. However, it is a great program for people who have memorized where most of the keys are and just want to become more proficient in their typing skills.
I suggest outright beginners start with Kiran's Typing Tutor because of the informative lessons Kiran gives.
Kiran's Typing Tutor takes typing back to square one. The introductory lessons do a wonderful job teaching proper habits, techniques, and posture to use whilst typing for optimum productivity. Kiran also teaches you a variety of different hand exercises and stretches to perform before a rigorous typing session.
Informative progress reports display your past/present wpm and accuracy, as well as the letters you most frequently mistype.
Unfortunately, Kiran's typing design is extremely flawed. When you have finished typing a set of letters or words, the screen changes, making it hard to type at a constant speed. Furthermore, you receive an error if you press the space bar after typing the last letter/word which you would normally do in the real world.
For that reason, I do not recommend Kiran to intermediate users. It is, however, an ideal typing tutor for absolute beginners. The interface is user-friendly, and there is a large amount of typing instruction/practice available for both QWERTY and Dvorak keyboard layouts; it also includes 4 typing games.
To Be Reviewed:
- amphetype (Jan 2009)
- Analytical Eye (Aug 2002)
- Bruce's Unusual Typing Wizard (Jul 2006)
- Gabe's TypOmeter (May 2002)
- KeyBlaze Free (May 2013)
- Kid's Typing Skills (Mar 2006)
- Klavaro (Jan 2014)
- KP Typing Tutor
- MaxType LITE (Nov 2006)
- N-Type (Apr 2013)
- TIPP10 (Mar 2011)
- TypeFaster (May 2013)
- Typing Test TQ (Jul 2006)
- Typing Trainer (Typing Master) (Oct 2013)
- Stamina Typing Tutor (Sep 2002)
- Rapid Typing Tutor (Feb 2014)
- Kiran's Typing Tutor (Mar 2007)
Currently reviewing: Bruce's Unusual Typing Wizard
Related Products and Links
You might want to check out these articles too:
Stamina Typing Tutor
Rapid Typing Tutor
Kiran's Typing Tutor
This software category is maintained by volunteer editor George.J. Registered members can contact the editor with any comments or questions they might have by clicking here.
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Hope this works. I recommend trying Ratatype. I have made a free online typing training application where you can enter your own texts in any language or copy a text from a website directly and it will clean it up in plain text for you. You can also set up custom time and view comprehensive statistic typing info, quite detailed. Results are also explained and displayed graphically. The text can bi formatted to different sizes and fonts etc. You can try it out here http://protyper.bisbay.comComments
It is really amazing typing tutor. http://www.ratatype.com


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Bourg-en-Bresse or Bourg (bōrk-äN-brĕsˈ) [key], town (1990 pop. 42,955), capital of Ain dept., in Burgundy, E central France. A major transportation hub, farm market, and tourist center, it is the chief city of Bresse. Machinery, morocco leather, furniture, shoes, and ceramics are also made. The church (late 15th cent.) of nearby Brou is one of the finest in France.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.


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THE WORLD HAS BEEN INVADED BY ALIENS! It's up to a nerdy, lazy high school kid to save it!
3.83 / 5.00 6,254 ViewsDescription about The Simple Arena? It's simple. There are enemies, and there's you. You kill the enemies and win. But is that all? With a slightly complicated controls, 27 upgrades, 30 kinds of enemies including 10 bosses and 50 levels, things aren't going to be so simple. Can you make your way to beat the final boss, Ultimateshooter?
There's also the Enemy Info feature to access descriptions of enemies you can encounter, and also a secret bonus feature... locked until you win the last level.
- Arrow keys to move
- Z and X to rotate
- Hold C to fire
- Press A, S and D to use Active Weapons when available once you bought them.
^'we' are the same person, Freezicle24 is my other name.
Reviews welcome.
This is pretty fun but it's kinda boring but I just wish the enemys weren't squares. If id did 0 stars I would post this NO FUS DO RAH but this is pretty good!
Actually they're squares because the graphics are supposed to be simple.
Guess I may be too lazy to make nice graphics and using 'simple' as a reason...
make turning the turret controlled by mouse position and firing left click and then ill play it. cant buy an upgrade after level one? tank moves slower then green squares and doesn't do enough damage to kill them before they catch up? needs a lot of tweeks to be played enjoyably.
Actually, the tank doesn't move slower than the green squares and if you run away you can kill them before they catch you (in level 1 at the beginning) and turret controlled by mouse is a bit unoriginal... although I think maybe it would've been better if it's made like that considering how many people complaining about that. Also, you can always play previous levels for the money to buy upgrades if you're stuck at a level. Except if you're stuck at level 1.
Interesting concept, but it is incredibly bland. The controls need alot of work. the turning capabilities of the turret is pretty bad. and alot of the upgrades cost way too much. I don't want to have to spam the heck out of the first 3 levels just to get enough money to get an upgrade. Better luck next time.


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Just wondering what the community has to say about NI's new system coming out. My immediate response is the controllers kind of weak and doesn't really open up anything new but their preset/sound categorization scheme sounds quite interesting. Hopefully this isn't too far off base puttin up in the max forum.
Kore is pretty cool, but it does not seem to be incompatible with Pluggo. Unlike Logic which crashes Auval but will still load Pluggo AU plugins, any Pluggo plugins that get past auval, will crash Kore when you try to load them.
Other than that, if you're going to use resource-heavy plugins like reaktor or moog modular, you will need a blazing fast computer since Kore currently uses only one processor in dual processor computers. Its a real resource hog if your plugins are resource hogs.
Pluggo, Mode and Hipno work fine in Kore. There are some problems with the parameters in hipno and transport functions in general, but no crashes.
We shall be working in the future to round out Kore compatibility.
Could auval and Kore be crashing because I'm trying to load the demo version of Pluggo? If not that, any suggestions what I can do to troubleshoot this problem?
I can't get Pluggo nor Modes plugins to be seen by Kore browser ! ! where should I look or check something ???
the same behavior in Kore stand alone or Kore hosted by Logic or Live
thanks for help
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For the 2015/16 Summer Season, The Royal Ballet presents a triple bill showcase that features work by three diverse choreographers, all closely associated with the Company. The programme comprises a new one-act ballet by Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor, Kenneth MacMillan's dark drama The Invitation and Christopher Wheeldon's Within the Golden Hour.
The Summer Season for The Royal Opera includes David Bösch's new production of Verdi's middle-period masterpiece Il trovatore, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, music director of Teatro Regio Torino; while Welsh National Opera celebrate their 70th anniversary with performances of Iain Bell's In Parenthesis, a new opera based on the epic poem by Welsh World War I poet David Jones.
The Season sees two revivals: Daniele Abbado's production of Verdi's Nabucco, in which Plácido Domingo and Dimitri Platanias share the honours in the title role; and Benoît Jacquot's production of Massenet's Werther, which sees Antonio Pappano conduct a stellar cast including Vittorio Grigolo and Joyce DiDonato.
View more details of the 2015/16 Season:
Autumn | Winter | Spring | ROH Live Cinema
Booking for Summer Season 2015/16 opens to Friends of Covent Garden on 1 March 2016 for dance productions and 2 March 2016 for opera productions. General booking opens on 12 April 2016.
]]>General booking for performances in the Summer Season will open online at 8am on 31 March rather than 10am. However, booking by telephone or in person will still open at 10am. Please note that between 8am and 10am there will be no Box Office support by telephone or in person.
This follows a trial with Friends of Covent Garden earlier this month which proved successful.
We know that many of our valued customers have had poor experiences on days when a new Season goes on sale, with our recent Spring Season suffering an hour of interrupted sales back in January. Although we've spent a lot of time and effort rebuilding an outdated and unstable ticketing system over the past few years we know that problems related to our new systems have caused huge frustration and inconvenience for our audience, for which we sincerely apologize. We wanted to let you know how important your booking experience is to us and how committed we are to doing everything we can to make it work well.
If we do have a problem in the future we want to minimize the impact on our audiences, and testing has revealed that if we separate those who book online from customers who do so on the phones or in person it will make a real difference to the booking experience for everyone. We know that 90% of our audience book via our website and only 10% use the telephones or book in person, so we will ensure that we have an allocation from across the house for our customers who book in person or by telephone supporters who do not have access to the internet.
We are planning to trial staggered booking to see whether this improves the experience for our customers the way it did for the Friends of Covent Garden earlier this month. This means that on 31 March, online booking will start at 8am and booking by phone and in person opens at 10am, as normal.
This is an approach taken by other organizations including the Royal Shakespeare Company. Depending on the findings of this trial, this may be rolled out for future booking days. Please note that we are still opening advance package booking on 24 March at 10am both online and by telephone.
There are other things you can do to improve your booking experience; Take a look at the website ahead of the booking day – you may find our new Season pages helpful. If you have trouble with the card payment stage of your purchase, we also offer the option to complete your order via PayPal, which is a safe, quick and easy way to pay: visit the PayPal website to set up an account in advance. And finally, if there is a problem or you want to get live information during the booking, the best place to go is social media. We continuously monitor our Twitter and Facebook accounts during booking days, posting updates and answering questions. You don't need a Twitter or Facebook account to read our updates, but you will need one to ask a question.
Thank you for being so patient with us through what has been a challenging time. We do care very much about the experience of all our valued customers and will do our very best to ensure that future booking days are trouble free.
]]>Priority Group Booking for Summer Season productions opens on 17 March, two weeks ahead of public booking on 31 March.
Groups can save up to 40% on an outstanding line-up of opera and ballet, securing the best seats at the best prices. Groups of ten or more are eligible for group booking, making it is the ideal opportunity to introduce family and friends to Royal Opera House productions. The more people in your group, the greater the discount. Find out full details of summer offers.
Operas available for group booking are the farewell revival of John Copley's beloved production of Puccini's La bohème, one of the greatest romances in opera; Verdi's masterful comedy Falstaff; Kasper Holten's entrancing production of Mozart's Don Giovanni; and a new production of Rossini's final masterpiece Guillaume Tell.
Ballets on offer this Season are Wayne McGregor's Woolf Works, which will have its world premiere on 11 May, and a Mixed Programme that includes work by Jerome Robbins (Afternoon of a Faun and In the Night) and Kenneth MacMillan (Song of the Earth).
Other benefits for group bookers include a 'book now, pay later' arrangement and a dedicated group booking phone line.
Tickets can be booked through our Group Sales Department by email at firstname.lastname@example.com and by telephone on +44 (0)20 7304 4002.
Find out more about Group Booking.
]]>We know that many of our valued customers have had poor experiences on days when a new Season goes on sale. Although we've spent a lot of time and effort rebuilding an outdated and unstable ticketing system over the past few years we know that problems related to our new systems have caused huge frustration and inconvenience for our Friends of Covent Garden, for which we sincerely apologize. We wanted to let you know how important your booking experience is to us and how committed we are to doing everything we can to make it work well.
If we do have a problem in the future we want to minimise the impact on our Friends, and testing has revealed that if we separate the Friends that book online from the ones who do so on the phones it will make a real difference to the booking experience for everyone. We know that 90% of Friends book via our website and only 10% use the telephones or booking forms, so we will ensure that we have an allocation from across the house for our supporters who do not have access to the internet. Should we have technical difficulties we will shut the website until a fix is in place, rather than channelling frustrated customers into an overloaded phone system.
We are planning to trial staggered booking for the Friends of Covent Garden Summer Season to see whether this improves the experience for our customers. This means that on 3 and 4 March, online booking will start at 8am and booking by phone will open at 10am, as normal. We will keep a proportion of seats for the telephone booking which opens at 10am. This is an approach taken by other organizations including the Royal Shakespeare Company. Depending on the findings of this trial we may be testing early online booking times when general booking opens on 31 March.
As a Friend there are also things you can do to improve your booking experience; logging into the website early (before 8am), and being sure to refresh your page as booking begins, can help you get through the first part of the process before the rush begins. Take a look at the website ahead of the booking day – you may find our new Season pages helpful. If you have trouble with the card payment stage of your purchase, we also offer the option to complete your order via PayPal, which is a safe, quick and easy way to pay: visit the PayPal website to set up an account in advance. And finally, if there is a problem or you want to get live information during the booking, the best place to go is social media. We continuously monitor our Twitter and Facebook accounts during booking days, posting updates and answering questions. You don't need a Twitter or Facebook account to read our updates, but you will need one to ask a question.
Thank you for being so patient with us through what has been a challenging time. We do care very much about the experience of all our valued customers, especially The Friends of Covent Garden; and will do our very best to ensure that future booking days are trouble free.
Please let us know if you have any questions about this change.
]]>All the booking dates below open at 10am other than where stated. Please note the early start times of some online bookings days are at 8am.
Ballet and Dance
Woolf Works NEW
11–26 May
By Wayne McGregor
Music: Max Richter
Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor presents his first full-length ballet for the Company.
Afternoon of a Faun / In the Night / Song of the Earth
29 May–4 June; Welcome performance for families on 29 May
By Jerome Robbins / Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Claude Debussy / Fryderyk Chopin / Gustav Mahler
The Royal Ballet's mixed programme brings together two of Jerome Robbins's masterpieces with MacMillan's powerful depiction of love and loss.
The Architect / mixed programme (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By Kenneth Tindall / NEW tbc
Northern Ballet
One of the UK's leading touring companies visits the Linbury Studio Theatre with a mixed programme.
The Elves and the Shoemaker
By Daniel de Andrade
Northern Ballet
Northern Ballet presents a new children's ballet from its award-winning series Short Ballets for Small People.
Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance; Verve; Ballet Central; Dutch National Ballet (Linbury Studio Theatre)
1–6 June
The Royal Ballet School Summer Performances
Opera and Music
La bohème
23 May–16 July; Live cinema relay on 10 June
Giacomo Puccini
Dir: John Copley
Cond: Dan Ettinger / Alexander Joel
A lost key and an accidental touch of cold hands in the dark – so begins one of the greatest romances of all opera.
The Cure / The Corridor NEW (Linbury Studio Theatre)
Harrison Birtwistle
Lib: David Harsent
Dir: Martin Duncan
Cond: tbc
A double programme of chamber operas celebrates the work of Harrison Birtwistle, marking his 80th birthday.
Dot, Squiggle and Rest NEW (Clore Studio Upstairs)
Elspeth Brooke and Joy Haynes
The award-winning Polka Theatre presents their enchanting children's opera in collaboration with The Royal Opera's former Composer in Residence, Elspeth Brooke.
Don Giovanni
12 June–3 July
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Dir: Kasper Holten
Cond: Alain Altinoglu
ROH Director of Opera Kasper Holten directs a mesmerizing reading of Mozart's tragicomedy.
Guillaume Tell NEW
29 June–17 July; Live cinema relay on 5 July
Gioachino Rossini
Dir: Damiano Michieletto
Cond: Antonio Pappano
Damiano Michieletto makes his UK debut with a new production of Rossini's final opera and greatest masterpiece.
6–18 July
Giuseppe Verdi
Dir: Robert Carsen
Cond: Michael Schønwandt
Robert Carsen's production of Verdi's comic masterpiece is filled with wit, humour and joie de vivre.
Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Performance
18 July
Staging: Greg Eldridge §
§ Jette Parker Young Artist
Plácido Domingo's Operalia
19 July
Competition Final
The final of Plácido Domingo's international singing competition comes to the Royal Opera House for the first time, in an extravaganza of operatic song.
Peter Pan NEW
24–5 July
Richard Ayres
Lib: Lavinia Greenlaw
Dir: Keith Warner
Cond: TBC
WNO presents Richard Ayres and Lavinia Greenlaw's new family opera adapted from J.M. Barrie's beloved fairytale.
Friends of Covent Garden will be able to book Advance Booking Packages next week on Tuesday 4 March. Advance Booking Packages are available to all from 4 April.
Packages offer savings of up to 33% on ticket prices, giving patrons the chance to secure some of the best seats for the most in-demand performances at a discounted rate.
A wide range of packages – Total Opera, Total Ballet, Mini Packages and Family Packages – are available across the Summer Season for seats in the Orchestra Stalls, the Stalls Circle and the Amphitheatre.
Read our packages leaflets to find out full details:
Those who book an Advance Package also receive vouchers to exchange for a complimentary programme and a glass of champagne for one of their chosen performances. You can book by calling +44 (0)20 7304 4004
Total Opera
A choice of five packages allows you to enjoy all four Royal Opera productions in the Summer Season: Jonathan Kent's new production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut, starring Jonas Kaufman, Kristīne Opolais and Christopher Maltman; Christof Loy's production of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, in which Karita Mattila makes a role debut; Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser's new production of Donizetti's masterful Maria Stuarda, starring Joyce DiDonato; and John Copley's classic production of Puccini's La bohème, featuring two wonderful casts - Ermonela Jaho and Charles Castronovo or Angela Gheorghiu and Vittorio Grigolo.
Total Ballet
With a choice of five packages, this summer you can enjoy both of the Royal Ballet programmes on dates to suit you: the world premiere of Alastair Marriott's new work performed alongside two comic masterpieces – Frederick Ashton's The Dream and Jerome Robbins' The Concert; and Balanchine's sublime Serenade performed with Christopher Wheeldon's exhilarating DGV and Liam Scarlett's dark and dramatic Sweet Violets.
Mini Packages
A choice of eight mini packages enables you to select your three favourite operas and/or ballets on set dates.
Family Packages
Let the whole family experience one of the greatest romances of all opera - Puccini's magical La bohème. Family Packages, which offer two adult tickets and up to four under-18s tickets, are ideal for a family treat.
Find out more on our Advance Booking Packages page.
Please note: Packages are not yet available to book online but we aim to make this available during the 2014/15 Season. To book, you can call the Box Office on +44 (0)20 7304 4000.
]]>Frederick Ashton's much-loved summer ballet La Fille mal gardée will be broadcast in cinemas across the UK on 5 August.
The production, which was originally screened live in May 2012, starred Royal Ballet Principals Steven McRae and Roberta Marquez.
'La Fille mal gardée is a real family ballet,' says Steven. 'Although it's technically challenging, there's comedy and it's very light-hearted. It's a real Company piece and you have a lot of fun on stage.'
A quintessentially English ballet
La Fille mal gardée was the final full-length staged ballet by Frederick Ashton. Inspired by his love of the Suffolk countryside, Ashton created a romantic comedy that was emphatically English, despite its Gallic title. Find out more about Frederick Ashton.
The story and the choreography
The ballet follows country beauty Lise who falls in love with young farmer Colas, much to the distaste of her mother Simone who has other ideas for her daughter's future. A charming story that showcases virtuosic choreography, including everything from ribbons to clogs to maypoles, it was a huge success on its premiere in 1960 and has become a true classic.
Review the production
Read audience reactions to the live cinema relay last year, and add your own review.
La Fille mal gardée is the final production of the Summer Cinema Season 2013. A small number of cinemas will also be showing screenings on 7, 22, 26 and 28 August. Find out where you can see it.
The 2013/14 Live Cinema Season begins with The Royal Opera's Turandot on 17 September 2013.
All the booking dates below open at 10am.
View the Royal Opera House 2013-14 Summer Season Seating Plan (PDF 1 MB)
Use the links above to see a full list of events that can be booked on that particular day. This can be useful when adding a number of tickets from different productions to your basket.
Please note: Although they will be staged in the summertime,Tosca and Dialogues des Carmelites are part of the Spring Season and as such will be available to book with Spring Season productions.
Dir: Jonathan Kent
10 May–26 June 2014
Drama, passion and fabulous music – Tosca is one of the great evenings of opera. Jonathan Kent's production is set against the turbulent backdrop of Rome in 1800.
Dialogues des Carmelites NEW
Dir: Robert Carsen
29 May–11 June 2014
Robert Carsen's award-winning production of Poulenc's sublime opera is set during the violent upheaval of the French Revolution.
Manon Lescaut NEW
Dir: Jonathan Kent
17 June–7 July 2014
Puccini's first triumph returns to Covent Garden for the first time in 20 years in a new staging by Jonathan Kent.
Musical Rumpus: The Mountain Shakers (Clore Studio)
Dir: Zoë Palmer
17 and 18 June 2014
Spitalfields Music present Handel's Acis and Galatea in an enchanting adaptation for babies and toddlers up to age two.
Quartett (Linbury Studio Theatre) NEW
Dir: John Fulljames
18–28 June 2014
A new production of this vibrant and unsettling opera by acclaimed Italian composer Luca Francesconi.
Ariadne auf Naxos
Dir: Christof Loy
25 June–13 July 2014 and in concert in Birmingham on 6 July 2014
Grand passions and comedy collide with wonderful effect in Christof Loy's production of Strauss's dazzling opera
Maria Stuarda NEW
Dir: Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser
5–17 July 2014
Two queens become bitter rivals in Donizetti's tragic opera, given a new staging by directors Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser
La bohème
Dir: John Copley
9–19 July 2014
A lost key and an accidental touch of cold hands in the dark – so begins one of the great romances of all opera. John Copley's production brings 19th-century Paris to the stage in vivid detail.
Gloria – A Pigtale (Mahogany Opera Group, Linbury Studio Theatre)
Dir: Frederic Wake-Walker
16–9 July 2014
Frederic Wake-Walker's production of this darkly comic opera makes the most of H.K. Gruber's brilliantly zany cabaret style and sharp satire.
Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Performance
20 July 2014
See the opera stars of tomorrow on the Main Stage at Covent Garden – a specially selected programme that showcases the talents of the Young Artists.
Moses und Aron (Welsh National Opera)
Dir: Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito
25 and 26 July
A thrilling new production of Schoenberg's rarely-performed masterpiece by Welsh National Opera.
Springboard (Linbury Studio Theatre) NEW
Verve | Ballet Central | Rambert School | Dutch National Ballet
6–29 May 2014
Springboard returns in 2014 with more compelling work from young professionals at some of the world's finest dance schools.
Serenade/Sweet Violets/DGV
14–26 May 2014
A mixed programme of exhilarating contrasts, from a dark Victorian melodrama to a celebration of hi-tech modernity.
The Dream/Connectome/The Concert
31 May–13 June 2014
A world premiere and two comic masterpieces make this a delightful evening of exuberant humour and flights of fancy.
Draft Works (Linbury Studio Theatre) NEW
2–4 June 2014
The Royal Ballet's Draft Works presents choreography in its most elemental form as Royal Ballet and guest dancers are given the opportunity to perform work still in development.
The Royal Ballet School Summer Performances (Linbury Studio Theatre)
2–5 July 2014
The Royal Ballet School presents a summer showcase of dance in the Linbury Studio Theatre, displaying the full range of the School's talent.
The Royal Ballet School Annual Matinee
12 July 2014
An exuberant showcase featuring a wide range of heritage and contemporary repertory, performed with verve by students from the Lower and Upper Schools.
Restless Creature (Linbury Studio Theatre) NEW
22–26 July 2014
Wendy Whelan of New York City Ballet collaborates with four young choreographers to create a suite of duets that she will perform with each choreographer in turn.
Nobody's Baby – The World's Greatest Show (Paul Hamlyn Hall) NEW
27 July 2014
Arthur Pita, creator of the award-winning The Metamorphosis, presents a unique new piece of dance theatre in the Paul Hamlyn Hall.
Cubanía NEW
21–3 July 2014
Carlos Acosta presents an exciting mixed programme featuring works from leading Cuban artists.
Romeo and Juliet
28-31 July 2014
The Mariinsky season opens with Lavrovsky and Prokofiev's iconic telling of Shakespeare's tale of star-crossed lovers.
Swan Lake
1-14 August 2014
The Mariinsky dances Konstantin Sergeyev's classic production of Tchaikovsky's romantic masterpiece.
Apollo / A Midsummer Night's Dream
8-9 August 2014
The Mariinsky performs two Balanchine masterpieces, with music by Mendelssohn and Stravinsky.
The Firebird / Marguerite and Armand / Concerto DSCH
11-12 August 2014
The Mariinsky dances a spectacular mixed programme with works by Fokine, Ashton and Ratmansky.
15-16 August 2014
Ratmansky's first full-length ballet, set to Prokofiev's score, is a contemporary retelling of Perrault's fairytale.
To accompany the productions on-stage, Royal Opera House Restaurants are providing menus tailored specially for each production. Find out more closer to the time in our Restaurants and Bars section.
Priority Group Booking for Summer Season productions opens today, two weeks ahead of public booking on 9 April.
With savings of up to 40% on opera and ballet and the chance to secure the best seats at the best prices, it is the ideal opportunity to introduce family and friends to Royal Opera House productions.
Opera on offer for Summer 2013 includes Elijah Moshinsky's compelling production of Simon Boccanegra, Nicholas Joël's La rondine and Jonathan Kent's classic Tosca - this last being one of Puccini's best-loved works and the perfect introduction to opera.
For ballet fans, Kenneth MacMillan's darkly passionate Mayerling and Marius Petipa's exotic La Bayadère are included, alongside a Mixed Programme of Balanchine's Symphony in C and Wayne McGregor's Raven Girl, a brand new work created in collaboration with award-winning author Audrey Niffenegger.
Other benefits for group bookers include a 'book now, pay later' arrangement and a dedicated group booking phone line. In addition, if you confirm your booking by 1 May, your group can benefit from an extra 5% discount. Find out full details of Summer offers.
Groups of 10 or more are eligible for these offers. Tickets can be booked through our Group Sales Department by email at firstname.lastname@example.com and by telephone on +44 (0)20 7304 4002.
Find out more about Group Booking.
]]>Booking days
View our Summer Season Seating Plan (PDF 1MB).
Details of our Advanced Summer Packages:
The Importance of Being Earnest by Gerald Barry (Linbury Studio Theatre)
Dir: Ramin Gray
14 June – 22 June
Lively and inventive, the score includes everything from smashing plates to megaphones, and Ramin Gray's production promises to be just as imaginative as the music.
Simon Boccanegra by Guiseppe Verdi (Main Stage)
Dir: Elijah Moshinsky
27 June – 16 July
'Renowned baritone Thomas Hampson will perform as the Doge of Genoa in one of Verdi's most compelling works, a role he recently performed to acclaim with Chicago's Lyric Opera.
Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Performance
Dir: Pedro Ribeiro
30 June
Featuring scenes from 2012/13 Season productions.
Tosca by Giacomo Puccini (Main Stage)
Dir: Jonathan Kent
2 March – 20 July
Drama and passion combine in this turbulent production of Puccini's classic, set in 19th-century Rome.
La rondine by Giacomo Puccini (Main Stage)
Dir: Nicolas Joël
5 July – 21 July
A sumptuous production with sensational sets, it will bring the glamour of 1920s Paris to the main stage.
The Canticles by Benjamin Britten (Linbury Studio Theatre)
Dir: Neil Bartlett
10 July – 12 July
Five miniature musical gems, The Canticles are the perfect demonstration of Britten's talent as an opera composer.
Capriccio in Concert by Richard Strauss (Main Stage)
19 July – 21 July
Featuring universally acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming.
Mayerling (Main Stage)
19 April - 15 June
Adult drama meets sublime choreography in Kenneth MacMillan's masterpiece. A story of passion and madness based on historical fact.
Hansel and Gretel (Linbury Studio Theatre)
8 May – 11 May
Artist-in-Residence Liam Scarlett presents his first full-length work in the Linbury, a dark re-telling of the Grimm Brothers' classic fairytale.
Witch Hunt (Linbury Studio Theatre)
22 May – 25 May
Cathy Marston brings a new full-length work to the Linbury with Bern: Ballet. Based on the harrowing tale of Anna Göldi, the 'last witch in Europe', it promises to be a powerful piece.
Mixed Programme: Raven Girl/Symphony in C (Main Stage)
24 May – 8 June
George Balanchine's masterpiece Symphony in C will be performed alongside Raven Girl, a brand new work by The Royal Ballet's Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor, created in collaboration with award-winning author Audrey Niffenegger.
Blood (Linbury Studio Theatre)
27 June & 28 June
Choreographer/dancer Jean Abreu explores the raw experience of being alive through a multimedia production that draws on images by acclaimed artists Gilbert & George. The score is by Paul Wolinski of 65daysofstatic.
Royal Ballet School Summer Performance (Main Stage)
14 July
From students as young as 11 to graduates, dancers from the Royal Ballet School take to the main stage to showcase the breadth of talent.
Throughout July and August, the Bolshoi Ballet will also be performing in Covent Garden. Find out more about the Bolshoi's residency.
To accompany the productions on-stage, Royal Opera House Restaurants are providing menus tailored specially for each production. Find out more closer to the time in our Restaurants and Bars section.


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The University of Kentucky College of Agriculture is once again teaming up with the University of Tennessee to offer the sixth-annual Mid-South Stocker Conference set for Feb. 21 and 22 in Bowling Green. This year's conference will provide cattle producers with innovative ideas.
Sponsored by the Cooperative Extension Services of the universities of Kentucky and Tennessee and each state's Cattlemen's Association, in partnership with Bayer Animal Health and BEEF magazine, this year's conference will offer information relative to a changing industry.
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Wash still has faith in slumping Hamilton
Wash still has faith in slumping Hamilton
ARLINGTON -- Josh Hamilton was once a bona fide Triple Crown candidate.
His 28 home runs this season were tied with Adam Dunn for the Major League lead, and he had 78 RBIs entering Monday, one behind Miguel Cabrera's Major League-leading 79. But over Hamilton's last 12 games, he had only six hits, two of them home runs, dropping his batting average to .293. Despite the fact that Hamilton struck out 14 times on the Rangers' 10-game road trip, manager Ron Washington still has faith in him.
"He's going to rise to the challenge," Washington said. "This game will humble you. Don't ever think you're better than this game. It will knock you down. He's been challenged. ... That's the beauty of this game. When you're challenged, that's when you figure out what you're made of. It's not when you're doing well. When you're not doing well, that's when you find out the character and makeup of someone. Josh will show us what he's all about."


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Treatwell: Beauty Salon Booking & Appointment App
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My experience at Open Wing was divine. I thoroughly enjoyed a two hour deep tissue massage last Friday. The therapist's name is Ena and she is one of the most professional, positive and knowledgeable therapist's I have ever met. I suffer from chronically tense muscles and I have quite an athletic physique. Often some therapists find it hard to reach deep within when giving me a massage. Ena adjusts the pressure accordingly without having to be constantly reminded, and she even massaged me for over two hours as she was so focused on relieving my chronic tension. I recommend you book a two hour session in order to reap the full benefits. During the session, Ena asked if I would like to try 'cupping' and I agreed. I have never tried it before, but I would definitely do it again, as it provided another dynamic and enhanced the muscle relief. If you are familiar with the area, you will know that this is not a fancy salon, however; do not be put off, and give it a try. You will not regret it, as Ena does not charge salon prices therefore you will also have money left over to book another massage!
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Teens: Get Your Game On @ the Library This Saturday
Celebrate National Game Day with an afternoon of tabletop gaming at the library. This Saturday, November 16th from 2-5pm, teens can snack on pizza while playing the latest games like Awkward Family Photos, Doctor Who Yahtzee, Zombie Dice, and more! Don't miss it!