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Doctor Who: Ambassadors of Death (UK - DVD R2)
The Wilson Bros are tickled pink with this recoloured Pertwee story...
Jon Pertwee's first season of Doctor Who was marked by a sharp u-turn in the direction of the series, with longer, Earth-based stories that would help to not only ground the series in a degree of reality, but more importantly, it would reduce the budget by not having to create so many props and costumes per series. The switchover to colour also helped to give the series a more contemporary edge that appealed to casual viewers. After tackling more conventional Doctor Who monsters in the shape of the Autons and the Silurians, it was time to take on something more ethereal and unnerving in the shape of the Ambassadors of Death.
Mars Probe Seven has been missing in space for months, and a ship has been sent out to discover what happened to it. Recovery Seven is lost just as its pilot, Van Lyden, makes contact with the missing Mars Probe and a piercing scream-like sound is heard over the speakers at mission control. This scream immediately attracts the interest of The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Liz Shaw (Caroline John) and they set about trying to discover not only what happened to the Mars Probe and the Recovery Seven, but also to uncover the source of the strange scream that silenced Van Lyden...
Let's get this out in the open - we were never fans of the longer-running stories of the early Pertwee years; rarely did the increased number of episodes in a story actually help the drama in any way, more often than not, the stories felt over-padded and just made you think that a seven-parter distilled down to four would have made for a more exciting and faster-paced affair. Even Inferno - which we regard as being the best of the protracted stories of this era - doesn't really kick into high gear until about the third episode.
The decision to exile The Doctor on Earth not only resulted in longer stories, but it also seemed to feature a tonal shift, where some of the more gritty and/or mundane aspects of day-to-day living are featured. An example of this comes when a couple of heavies are doubled-crossed and disposed of in a gravel-pit and the corpses are buried under a large amount of slate - such an ordinary disposal of bodies was not something seen in Doctor Who and the scene has more in common with some of the crime shows aimed at more mature audiences of the period. Still, seeing as this scene took place in a gravel-pit, The Doctor could have gone there are pretended that he was still wandering around the galaxy to alleviate any feelings of cabin-fever he might have been suffering. There is also a genuinely exciting car-chase during one episode that features Liz Shaw being pursued by a couple of thugs - the sequence is well-filmed and crisply edited in what was then a modern, cinematic style and had a jazzy score that fits the scene perfectly and would have made casual viewers tuning in wonder if they were actually watching Doctor Who and not something made by ATV or ITC. At one point, Liz Shaw is seen having a gun very roughly stuck under her chin, forcibly tipping her head back and leaving her staring somewhat fearfully at the person holding the weapon - it's something that seems tonally out of place on Doctor Who, not that the show was a stranger to showing violence in various manners, but this act was not removed from reality in any way and it is a reasonably brutal moment. There also a sequence where some poor sod gets thrown over some high railings and falls to almost certain death below; what really makes this piece something to wince at is that you see the impact and it really is something that makes you wince - Doctor Who is no stranger to having people doing high falls, but to show the end result in a very blunt fashion was pretty uncommon.
Ambassadors of Death has an interesting history as far as the story is concerned, David Whitaker originally conceived it as a story for the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), along with Jamie (Frazer Hines) and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) as the companions. The subsequent departure of all three actors meant that a rewrite was in order, and it was tailored to suit the modern-day Earth setting. Whitaker was unable to change it satisfactorily and went through several drafts before script editor Terrance Dicks stepped in and, along with Malcolm Hulke, rewrote all but the first episode (which had uncredited assistance from programme associate Trevor Ray). Dicks was able to get David Whitaker full credit for all of the episodes because he felt that Whitaker had been treated very unfairly by the establishment.
The opening episode shows some interesting - if somewhat implausible - meddling with time as The Doctor continues his work on getting the TARDIS to work again after having the dematerialisation codes taken away; there are some nifty disappearing and reappearing by The Doctor and Liz Shaw and gives the viewer a little insight into the concept of occupying the same space in different times. OK, so we're skating on thin ice when describing this scene as implausible - it's like saying that a jalapeno pepper is less spicy than a habanero pepper, but this scene is merely a set-up to establish how something vital can vanish later in the story, but it's good fun all the same, allowing Pertwee to do sleight-of-hand conjuring that is vaguely reminiscent of Sylvester McCoy's stock-in-trade on Doctor Who. The item that he makes vanish is something that looks a little like a videotape - could Mr Pertwee have been responsible for the disappearance of many sixties episodes of Doctor Who...? Before anyone gets upset at this allegation - we're only kidding.
The location footage looks very cinematic, with, episode two featuring an extended sequence that shows the recovery of the vessel, with much use of location footage that give these scenes a very cinematic feeling, complete with helicopters, outriders, explosions and the like. The fact that a full-size prop for the returning spacecraft was built really helps to sell the illusion that these things are really happening. Seeing the craft loaded onto the back of a truck and driven along makes for an exciting sequence and must have caused quite a bit of consternation amongst any members of the public who might have wandered across the filming.
Episode two also features a sequence that is genuinely tense and exciting, where the Recovery Seven craft begins re-entry; it as good acting, taut direction, snappy editing and suspenseful music that all combine to produce something exciting and will have you on the edge of your seat. The great spacecraft scenes keep coming with the sequences featuring The Doctor in the rocket; they are most interesting to watch, as it seems apparent that Pertwee's audio was recorded through microphone on the headset he is wearing and gives the thing a nice sense of realism when you hear his somewhat boomy and distorted voice. The scenes showing The Doctor suffering from the effects of G-force are great (they seem to use the same technique employed to show Roger Moore undergoing something similar in Moonraker), and it's a credit to Pertwee's abilities as an actor that he is really able to sell the illusion of taking off in a spacecraft in the conventional manner. The scene where The Doctor makes contact with the missing craft is remarkably suspenseful and has an almost ethereal quality to it as both The Doctor and the audience are wondering what will be found when he boards the vessel.
The titular ambassadors themselves are wonderfully eerie creations, mainly seen just in the spacesuits that were originally occupied by the human astronauts; the helmets obscure their faces and they walk slowly and menacingly, with the ability to kill anyone who comes in contact with them. Much of the time, they are little more than zombies, slow-moving but with a sense of lethal menace that builds tension when handled correctly and Dudley Simpson's bizarre, almost dreamlike music adds to there otherworldly menace. The mixture of something familiar (the human spacesuits) and the menacing, slow-moving demeanour of the beings inhabiting them makes for a cocktail that will linger in the memory and trigger a shiver down the spine whenever you see that famous picture of one of the ambassadors with his hands outstretched.
You can certainly tell that Barry Letts had firmly established himself as producer by this point, as the establishing shot of the inside of the alien spacecraft seen in episode five is achieved by the miracles of Colour Separation Overlay, with Pertwee climbing out of the space capsule and walking along, all with a floatiness that was the norm with CSO at that time. Letts' enthusiasm for embracing new technology to tell a story was admirable, even if it didn't entirely pay off every time. Speaking of Mr Letts, his influence seems to be left on the ending of this story, where there is a resolution that works out best for both the humans and the extraterrestrials (including The Doctor himself), and this is the hallmark of Letts' Buddhist beliefs; people may get killed along the way, which is a necessity in order to establish the threat element and also to show that the bad guys mean business (in this case, the thugs that Carrington has under him), but ultimately, a peaceful resolution to the situation occurs.
This story has a unique set of opening titles, along with a slightly re-jigged format, showing the cliffhanger of the previous episode, then bringing up the name of the episode, and even this is done in a manner that had never been seen before or since. These rearranging of the title sequence will initially have you wondering what the hell is going on, but you quickly get into them and actually enjoy the refreshing change.
Jon Pertwee is particularly good in Ambassadors of Death; we have long considered him the most limited of the actors to play The Doctor during the original run of the series, but there were areas where he excelled, particularly when it came to giving authority figures a dressing down in a manner that resembles the school swot intellectually running rings around a school bully. Pertwee was also great at doing dramatic "end of scene" posers and this story contains one of very best - when the spacecraft has been brought back to Earth, The Doctor states in a very dramatic manner "whatever came down in the Recovery Seven wasn't human" - it's a very simple line, but Pertwee delivers it in such a beautifully dramatic manner that it not only serves to make the characters around him wonder what could be in the craft, but it also sets the minds of the viewers at home into overdrive.
Ambassadors of Death really proves that Caroline John was a great companion, but sadly one ahead of her time. Strong female characters might have been the key selling points of shows such as The Avengers in the previous decade, but having a companion of the fairer sex in Doctor Who giving everyone's favourite Gallifreyan renegade a run for his money was something that didn't seem to sit right. Liz Shaw was intelligent, educated, cynical and capable (a stark contrast to the qualities found in the subsequent companion), but - if we were to continue to make comparisons between other popular cult television shows - some viewers, not to mention some at the BBC, didn't like the idea of having a Scully to The Doctor's Mulder. At one point in the story, Liz Shaw is captured and though the capture of a companion was not a new development by this point, Caroline John never once portrays her character as a stereotypical damsel in distress - you can see that Liz Shaw is constantly absorbing information about her predicament, her location and those around her, ready to put this gathered information to good use when the time is right; she even manages to persuade slightly unhinged scientist Lennox (Cyril Shaps) to bluff his way out of the place and try to get help. There is even a moment in episode six where Liz is given a choice of either joining the adversaries who have kidnapped her or being deprived of the benefits of living - John plays this scene beautifully, with only mild alarm, but a steely determination on her face at the same time. The only time you get to see the mostly unflappable Liz Shaw get into a flap is when the Ambassadors start to reveal themselves in episode six - she is inside a confined quarantined area and you see Liz get into a tiz by panicking and banging on the thick glass to try and get attention; the contrast between the noise inside the confined area and her silent panic is very nice, but she immediately makes a bolt for the doors, which makes you wonder why she didn't just do that in the first place. As well as doing the more cerebral sequences, the late Ms John also really throws herself into the action scenes in this story, with the most famous one being where she performed her own stunt and threw herself over the railings of a bridge - this was potentially dangerous anyway, but Ms John was pregnant at the time and if the stunt had gone wrong, it could have been even more disastrous.
Nicholas Courtney is as fine as ever playing Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, injecting a fine mixture of stiff upper-lipped authority and weariness that makes for a great comedic pairing with Pertwee's Doctor - the late Mr Courtney always worked to best effect with Pertwee's Doctor, as the clash with military authority was something that brought out the best in Pertwee. The Brig gets to stretch a little during Ambassadors of Death, as he starts to question the motives of his superior officer and mentally deduces, compiles and collates various bits of information that are pieces of the puzzle during the final act and begins to arrive at the same conclusion as The Doctor.
Michael Wisher is on hand, playing the character of Wakefield, a reporter who acts as a sort of Greek chorus and spelling things out for the audience (not just the fictional ones he is broadcasting to, but also the real viewers at home), being almost a surrogate companion in some respects, asking the equivalent of "what is it, Doctor?" when The Doctor isn't around. Wisher played a surprising number of roles in Doctor Who, always bringing something different to each part, whether is more comedy-based in Carnival of Monsters, or commanding in Planet of Evil, or to portraying a thinly-veiled version of Hitler in Genesis of the Daleks. Michael Wisher was a sterling actor and his role in Ambassadors of Death is a testament to his versatility and clearly demonstrates that there was more to him than just being the definitive Davros.
The best piece of casting in this story is probably Ronald Allen as Professor Cornish; Allen had appeared in the Patrick Troughton snoozer, The Dominators, as one of the title characters and it's great to see him playing a character who not only acted and sounded completely different to the previous one he played in Doctor Who, but he also looks almost unrecognisable from his role in The Dominators. Allen is pretty suave and dashing as Cornish, a stark contrast to the ugly and somewhat hunchbacked Navigator Rago in the Troughton story. It's a testament to an actor when he or she can just move from role-to-role and not have much in the way of baggage from previous parts. Professor Cornish's personality couldn't be more different from that of Rago's - Cornish is the dedicated scientist and Rago is the brutal, evil bastard. Rago's demeanour was driven by the worst factors of evil and Cornish's were driven by good, but then again, Cornish didn't have the hump all the time...
We couldn't mention the guest cast without putting John Albineri under the spotlight. He plays General Carrington with the sort of pig-headed bluster that you expect of bullish army officers at the upper-end of the ranking scale; the fact that he knows more about the whole situation than he is letting on just adds to the sense of frustration the viewer has toward him; he is intent on blowing Mars Probe Seven the mysterious alien spaceship out of the stars, regardless of how people with more scientific knowledge than him (even The Doctor) feel about the situation. Albineri makes Carrington a character that is easy to dislike and with little to sympathise with, and as such, he makes for a great target for Pertwee's Doctor, who almost delights in getting angry at senior authority figures and showing them up in public. At one point, the General wants the Ambassador's ship destroyed by nuclear missiles and will not listen to reason; after he leaves there is a lovely exchange between The Brig and Professor Cornish - it's simply written and wonderfully performed...
The Brig: "I think the General is a little overwrought."
Cornish: "I think he's insane."
It's nice to see Benton (John Levene) back in the action, having been promoted from Corporal to Sergeant since that nasty business with the Cybermen. Though many dismiss Levene as a "glorified extra" (and as we have worked in that field, we can assure you that he didn't fall into that category), Levene gives Benton a certain charm that is infectious and it's always nice to see him in Doctor Who - it would be cool if he could come back for audio adventures.
Ambassadors of Death was one of those titles in the Jon Pertwee era that was a victim of the junking policy that existed at the BBC up until the late seventies. With most Pertwee stories, colour copies of missing episodes were discovered in other parts of the world, but there were one or two where no colour PAL or NTSC copies existed ( Planet of the Daleks and Invasion of the Dinosaurs had one episode a piece in black and white, whereas The Mind of Evil was entirely in monochrome). Ambassadors of Death was somewhere in between in that one episode exists in the original PAL format (episode one), but the others were junked and existed in the form of black and white film recordings. Colour recordings of the other episodes were made on a domestic Betamax video recorder in the US and these served as the basis for the official VHS release in 2002, where just over half of the story was able to be presented in colour. The advances made in the field of colour recovery technology in the last decade are remarkable, and building upon the work performed on episode one of Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Ambassadors of Death is presented in full colour for the first time in nearly four decades. So, how does it look?
Well, let's get the easy one out of the way - episode one looks spiffing, as it survived on the original 2" Quad videotape (it is the earliest surviving episode of Doctor Who on its original videotape) and looks as fresh and as vibrant as anything else seen in Doctor Who during the seventies.
Of the others, episode two is the patchiest, with mild kaleidoscope-like patterns of pink and blue present on some plain backgrounds; such things are a little distracting, but it's certainly not the end of the world. Things get better with episode three, as there seems to be more stability and less of the aforementioned patterns appearing. Better still is episode four, which looks pretty impressive and even less of the pink and blue patterns. Episode five looks pretty damn good and episode six looks very similar to episode four. Episode six and episode seven look pretty good, with some of the characteristic shifting patches on plain backgrounds, but nothing that's going to have you throwing an autistic-like freak-out because it's not perfect..
Ultimately, this is a story that few ever thought would be seen in full colour again (OK, let's skip over the fact that atrocious quality colour bootlegs had been sold at comic and film conventions for decades), and we would say that this alone is reason to cut a little slack in terms of the results of the colour-recovery work performed here. We personally thing that the Doctor Who Restoration Team has done a wonderful job here - the results are better than the colour recovery on episode one of Invasion of the Dinosaurs - and whilst the recoloured episodes presented here are certainly far from 'perfect', they look comparatively fabulous. Our caps are indeed doffed - once again.
Nothing out of the ordinary to report here - the audio sounds fine, even on the episodes that had a long and troubled history. Dudley Simpson's eclectic music score (including some jazzy passages and that run about 50/50 in terms of being appropriate for the scene) is a delight on the ears.
Mars Probe 7 - Making the Ambassadors of Death: The Doctor takes on modern space travel, and this enticing look at Ambassadors of Death gets things get off to an interesting start by noting that The Doctor's near-disastrous flight into space was broadcast exactly the same day that Apollo 13 launched, as though the fates of both were intertwined. Not waiting momentum, Terence Dicks clearly wears his 'pissed off' jumper as he relates the treatment of Doctor Who scribe David Whitaker at the near-tyrannical hands of Producer Peter Bryant and Script-Editor Derrick Sherwin, who kept sending each of the overworked writers' scripts back for numerous re-writes. Worn out, Dicks recalls how he arranged for Whitaker to be paid him off, with the ten grand he trousered buying a new life in Australia, as "Carriers of Death" was re-written by others, principally Malcolm Hulke.
There is some great vintage footage of the HAVOC guys clowning around, with some of it set to quicken the pulses of any women watching - yep, the boys are seen in the shower, complete with their tradesmans' entrances on display! This kind of free spirit which HAVOC embodied is mourned, with the days of a gang of stuntmen deciding in an off-the-cuff manner who did what dangerous feat that day, not to mention the freedom to improvise anything they wanted within the location and time allotted to them. Derek Ware and Roy Scammell rattle off some terrific stuff, including when the latter doubled for Caroline John on both the weir stunt and for the driving sequence, where there is mention of the transvestic classic Some Like it Hot!
There is an interesting look at the differing philosophies between Dicks and the director Michael Ferguson, laid bare when Dicks remembers how the convoy was originally diverted by use of a phoney policeman and a single sign, keeping the cost of production as economical as possible. Ferguson thought it needed to be more elaborate and militaristic in nature, opening up the scale and making it more exciting and turned to a new organisation formed by a guy he knew: Derek Ware. Naturally, the HAVOC boys played their part, with helicopters and explosions turning it into a much more cinematic than the frugal script-editor originally wanted!
We keep banging on about it, but we're always stoked to find the participation of women from the production side of things, and the recollections of Assistant Floor Manager Margot Hayhoe, who compares the HAVOC guys to jazz musicians, being free-spirited and always ready with an amusing anecdote to tell. She also notes that it was due to the helmets of the Ambassadors not being designed with ventilation in mind which caused a build-up of condensation, leading to the menacing appearance of their misted visors. She also spills the beans that it was upon her suggestion that the name on the laundry van use her name, along with that of Director's Assistant Pauline Silcock once signage had been changed.
The most engaging section comes with the telling a story of one of the few times someone was injured by the stunt team during filming. Sure, the guys who throw themselves in harms' way are always sustaining various scrapes and bangs, but this time it was one of the crew who copped it. Aforementioned Director's Assistant Pauline Silcock had her leg gashed open when Stan Hollingsworth lost control of a motorbike due to poor ground and smoke-bombs obscuring vision, having to be taken to hospital for treatment. Even now, the two HAVOC guys interviewed here are still a mixture of mortified, maudlin and regretful about the incident, just that a member of the crew other than a stuntman copped it when something went wrong.
Ferguson rounds things off beaming with pride that he was responsible for bringing in the "scream" music right up front to preface the end credits, a tradition which became iconic. In fact, Ferguson - a man Dicks describes as one the best directors to have worked on the show - remembers his time on Ambassadors of Death as: "…One of the most enjoyable times of my career". This is yet another excellent, entertaining look at a classic Doctor Who production, crammed with even more fun than usual - if that's possible - due to the involvement of the HAVOC guys. Watch and smile!
Audio Commentary: The ever-personable Tobe Hadoke is your host for a look at one of the most mysterious of the complete Doctor Who stories, and with him to dispel the shadows enshrouding it are as motley and likeable bunch as you are likely to find, encompassing main cast, the director and stuntmen. Will the actors team up against the more physical participants, or will the boys in the kneepads thrown themselves out of a breakaway window rather than be subjugated? With a full roll-call consisting of actors Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney, Peter Halliday and Geoffrey Beevers, director Michael Ferguson, Terrance Dicks, HAVOC personnel Derek Ware Roy Scammell and Derek Martin. OK, they all get along amicably, but we hope Mr Hadoke was packing the stripy shirt and whilst for this audio commentary!
The nature of the 'biz is brought to the fore when Ferguson is asked if anyone he set to cast actually turned him down on principle of the job being a Doctor Who story, in spite of it being a god proving-ground, to which the erudite director notes that: "…It's a bit like The Bill, isn't it? I don't remember anyone saying the wouldn't do it - a few I imagine said they couldn't do it…". At this point, the reliably blunt Terrance Dicks wades and with: "Remember, it's ninety percent unemployment - actors don't say "no," if you're offered a job, you take it!" Now we all know that Dicks can shoot a fair amount of venom, but one instance comes about through a sort of anti-Freudian-slip, making the error when asked about the Quatermass influence which manifested the show during Pertwee's first series. "It was a conscious decision," he starts, "by my predecessors, upon which I seem to be heaping a great brain". Noticing his mistake, he quickly retorts: " …Of blame. Brain was the last thing you'd heap on them…"
The lovely Caroline John is always chiming in on various topics, particularly amusing when crystallising how the stuntmen came unstuck in the show and got killed "…because they didn't have a [character] name. Anyone without a name was expendable". Best of all from the much maligned companion is when she reveals how a fan changed her mind about the work she did on Doctor Who. "I always thought I was terrible in this," she concedes, "…and someone sent me a DVD once, and one Monday morning about ten years ago, I dared myself to look at it, and because it's so far away, I thought 'someone thought I'm OK'. I think my skirt especially in this particular episode (four) is rather short, in fact probably shorter than a lot [young girls] are wearing at the moment! And I did enjoy this particular story, as I was allowed to have my hair down…even though it was a wig, which I had to share with Roy [Scammell, for the water stunt]…and the hat!" Gales of laughter are then broken into when Dicks notes that it's typical "BBC Economy…" Ms John's wonderful personality really comes through when joined by her husband for the final episode, and even though he admits that his memory isn't very good, there are some great reminiscences which followed in the wake of the show. Caroline John recalls when the two of them were accosted by a fan at Waterloo station, exclaiming that Halliday "…"Played The Master..," then affecting a strange accent to note how, "…he had a mask on all the time! How did they recognise you?". Beevers echoes his Missus' amazement, chipping in with: "I was under a hood and covered in black makeup!"
Derek Ware elaborates on the origins of his beloved daredevil organisation, born out of the need to bring younger talent into the business, populated at the time by old-hands ready for the pip and slippers. Wonderfully self-reflective when talking about the name of the group, Ware elaborates that: "..I didn't want to be associated with stunts in that it was people who could eat 26lbs of cement or throw themselves off of London Bridge into a rowing boat full of broken bottles, so I called it HAVOC - specialist in hazards, which sounds terribly pretentious now…" The other stunt guys wax philosophical about how computer animation is getting the point of making their work redundant, as Scammell points out that: "…There'll be CGI in ten years time which will knock stuntmen out completely… it's getting so good now, it's only going to improve." Ware goes on the defensive and counters any optimism within the digital medium as he almost bitterly recalls that: "…The first time I was aware of it was on that Mission Impossible, where Tom Cruise - on that train - gets bent into positions the human body couldn't stand without snapping." He goes on to vent his disappointment with Cruise's face being "painted on" to a stuntman during a horse-fall in The Last Samurai. It's not all doom and gloom, as Martin is still both pleased and bemused at the royalties which pop through his letterbox for the show, from the various stories over the years. "By Image of the Fendhal," interjects Hadoke, "you had been promoted to a speaking role." Martin performs the sum of his dialogue with relish, as he lets out a couple of "Arrghs" which would make any thespian jealous.
When former Doctor Who actress and wife of you-know-Who Jean Marsh is brought into conversation, Peter Halliday rattles off a very interesting anecdote, one which goes to prove that if you have a good idea, keep it firmly to yourself. "I had a brilliant idea," he recalls, "…about a family, it's a Victorian theme, and I said it's just the kitchen and the cook and everybody… I meant to call it The Green Baize Door, and nobody goes through the green baize door - after they go through, they go into another world, which is the Upstairs, and Jean was fascinated by this, she said 'that's a very good idea,' and she told Eileen [Atkins] about it and it became Upstairs Downstairs." The warnings from Filthy Rich and Catflap are confirmed with this little gem!
Nick Courtney was always a great person to have on commentaries, as he spent most of his time reacting to the tales of the other participants, and filling in the little details, and usually augmenting everything being said, like a piano-player in a burlesque theatre. A vintage example of this knack comes after the stunt guys elaborating in the big warehouse shootout in the story, where ol' Nick sniggers away at the carnage left in their wake, and the unfortunate sods who have to take care of the bodies. "The poor UNIT staff," he chuckles, "Clear that up! Clear that up, Benton!" Both he and Caroline John will be missed, and it's just nice that there will always be the commentary on Spearhead from Space to get an undiluted fix of their wit and chemistry together.
All members as a lot of fun, regardless of how many episodes they get to sit in on, and Hadoke is required to do less prompting this time around, with few of the participants clamming up about their experiences, leaving ol' Tobe to let it all unfold, as a good interviewer/moderator would. It's a shame that there are only a finite amount of commentaries left, as Mr Hadoke really has become damn good at keeping it all damned entertaining.
One of things which keeps hitting us every few Doctor Who releases is every now and again, the extras contain the participation of those who have entered the great beyond, in this case, the recently-deceased Caroline John and Doctor Who staple Nicholas Courtney. It highlights just why their contributions need to be captured on ventures such as these, as without them, posterity becomes a much more narrow, lesser-faceted experience, and their voci dal profondo are a bittersweet, yet welcome, experience.
Production Subtitles: From the dawn of time they came, moving silently through the centuries, seeking to win a prize of ultimate knowledge and total consciousness - but the sword-wielding immortals of Highlander really shouldn't have bothered, as it seems that The Prize has already been claimed by another of the compilers of the unimpeachable Production Subtitles found of Doctor Who releases. There is no way any normal human being could possess this much knowledge without existing on some higher plain of existence, but such a man is not greedy with all they know, as they have seen fit to share it with the rest of us mere mortals once again, and an absolute corker it is, too!
There are MANY changes between varying versions of the script, and you can rest assured in the knowledge that you won't miss out on a damned thing courtesy of an utterly comprehensive comparison between the two found here. Huge chunks of dialogue are faithfully reproduced from the varying drafts, many of which would have been of great benefit to the final product, shedding more light on characters and their motivation. Every little detail of the production is to be found here, including exactly when relevant sequences were shot - and in some cases, re-shot, and the numerous problems which cropped up as they tried to put Ambassadors of Death before the cameras. You'll marvel at how the story was slated to film ten days worth of material in a nine day slot, gasp at the amount of studio time allotted to each story and be utterly amazed that the location filming clocked up a massive twenty-three hour overtime bill for actors, crew and stuntmen alike! More incredible is that the BBC actually paid out on that one…
Filming of the Recovery Seven craft being checked out by The Doctor and co was delayed for a while after a yokel resident reported seeing a flying saucer in the area to the authorities. With perfect timing, the track reveals: "Yes, that's right: this spacecraft". They say that humour loses a lot in print, but it's always managed with aplomb whenever these guys get their hands on a keyboard. Speaking of space vehicles, we find out that the production office split the cost of a capsule with their opposite numbers on Doomwatch, as both need the same thing for their current stories, with Doctor Who getting sloppy seconds when it came to using the set in the studio.
With BBC credits being somewhat rudimentary with those it lists, it's always nice that the Production Subtitles go out of their way to give every single devil their due, from extras to some of those performing necessary stuff behind the camera. Among others, it spills the beans on the identity of Pertwee's dresser, and even goes one better with Caroline John, revealing both her costumer and her hairdresser! Well, her wig-stylist, anyway. They might have also named the stylist for Pertwee, but we'd think that poodle-clippers would prefer to remain anonymous…
Though many might have thought that it was due to changes between the drafts, but there's a good reason why a good deal of Michael Wisher's lines were cut from the show was due to the original concept of the character of Wakefield reading all his dialogue from a teleprompter, but the one they were using broke down, and the BBC newsroom refused to let them borrow theirs. "Newsreaders in having to actually learn lines" shocker! Speaking of Space Control, you get a comprehensive list of where all the other monitoring stations are around the Earth, saving us all the trouble of squinting at the map on the TV, and eliminating possible Andi Peters-style burns from plasma-screen monitors.
We have to salute the power behind the Production Subtitles for having a pulse, one which pumps blood to every part of the body. It gets to a point in fifth instalment where the track unexpectedly announces that: "…It's tights-inspection time for Liz Shaw." Whilst you might think that they might be hoping for traces of skid marks or hitting the jackpot with other fluids, they quickly elaborate before too many questions are thought up about said check, noting that they are: "…a completely different, darker pair from the ones she wore in Episode four". With the combination of short skirt and Go-Go boots, we really wouldn't blame anyone for studying that sinfully wonderful area of exposed flesh between the two for any great length of time. Get that man an ice-water and hold the bromide!
He might not wield a sword, hasn't been mentored by Sean Connery and probably doesn't have a rather interested variety of Scots accent, but boy can he really throw together a fascinating and entertaining subtitle track, one which can't fail to increase the understanding and appreciation of the story being told. It really is a labour of love to give anyone watching a richer experience from the show, and something which will be watched a fair few times to come, as there is far too much information to absorb in one sitting. There can be only one - and his name is Martin Wiggins! Show him some well-earned respect and make this track a priority.
Tomorrow's Times - The Third Doctor: Taking a break from narrating Crufts, Peter Purves is your host for a look at just what the press thought of the Bouffanted One's tenure on the show. Opinion on Worzel's time on the show forever fluctuates, but from the clippings of the time, he was looked upon very favourable by the press, and seen as a breath of fresh air. Colour probably helped, but he certainly had charm.
One of the cutest items is found in the pages of newly-launched tabloid The Sun, running a rather sweet interview with Caroline John, explaining how she took her young brother to the set, and came away looking rather sheepish when she forgot that there were actors inside the Silurian suits, buying into the costumes completely. Naturally, the tenth anniversary of the show is brought into conversation, and Purves notes with a fair degree of resentment that he among those who weren't on the guest list for the celebratory bash.
Breaking away from the TV, we get a rather puzzling rant/quote about the Doctor Who stage play Seven Keys to Doomsday, where The Times theatre critic Irving Wardle printed a favourable review, but kinda blew it when he huffed that: "Terence Dicks allows authorship to go to his head, and permit's the Doctor to open a Dalek like a hinged biscuit-tin, and scrap out its occupant… for suggesting that Daleks contain anything more than the standard printed circuit, Mr Dicks deserves a rehabilitation sentence down in the reactor room." Yes.
Hot on the heels of the shit-storm stirred up by Terror of the Autons, we get to that interfering old [insert your own word here] Mary Whitehouse, a woman who wielded self-righteousness as a sword, used religion as a shield and would not rest until everyone in the UK was bashing tambourines in dull unison. She was quoted in The Times as wanting the BBC Finance Department to commission a study to find the psychological effects of the show on children, and "…in the meantime, we ask to switch the programme to 6.30". Now, let's consider all of this. The National Viewers and Listeners Association was/is a privately-funded organisation, with a lot of religious money in their pot, and they are requesting that the BBC use taxpayers' money to commission research which is purely to push their own agenda? Still, she would have manipulated the findings on it to suit her own ends, anyway - just take a good look at the whole "Video Nasties" phenomenon to see she that she was especially good at that sort of thing. That Whitehouse asked for the timeslot to be changed whilst a report would have been in the works suggests that she had already formed her own opinion, so maybe she should have taken a leaf out of her own book: judge ye not. OK, rant over.
This is great stuff, and Purves is possibly the best presenter to have worked on Tomorrow's Times, with a naturalistic style combined with a warm humour that sweeps you along with it all - not to mention being one the few able to read an autocue without being obvious about it. For a guy who stayed away from anything to do with the show for so long, he has a clear fondness for it all, and it's something which really comes through. Recommended for both casual and hardcore fans alike, although Italian fans will certainly a-like it…
Trailer: This is clearly a reconstruction coming about through an audio-only recording made by a fan at the time, but there are only a few little giveaways to it being built from existing materials, the main one being how the voiceover is rather muffled, coming from a microphone placed near a TV speaker. It will be a revelation to anyone who watches it, as you just wouldn't expect this sort of thing to survive at all, let alone have been put back together the way it has.
Photo Gallery: Good grief! It's another top-flight collection of imagery from a vintage story, with ones familiar to many through the pages of the Doctor Who Monthly, but graced with photos seen by precious few. There are some really nice images here, with a number of them familiar to fans through lower-resolution printing, but here they are, and crystal clear. There are a few which are certain to be used as wallpaper one fans get ahold of this, including the shot of Pertwee with full cape/wingspan surrounded by a number of classic monsters, including - ironically - a Cyberman, and you get some awesome photos of the Ambassadors, which really look as though they were taken yesterday. We are treated to numerous shots of Caroline John, showing lots of leg on a few of them, and we also see her in the makeup room, along with numerous aliens. There are production stills, reference picture of the sets and loads of other good stuff to be found, all accompanied by excellent selections of music and Special Sound.
PDF Materials: Yep, we are treated to a hefty dose of nostalgia, as the Radio Times listings for each episode are faithfully listed herein. It's nice to know that a handy key provided tells us that Doctor Who is - indeed - a "BBC recording". Right up there with Space Dust and Texan bars, this stuff!
Coming Soon: It's The Claws of Axos. Many love it, but we really didn't groove on it. This is a pretty cool trailer, and it even generated some interest in us, but it's not top of our particular pops.
We have to admit that we weren't looking forward to revisiting this story; we first saw the thing on UK Gold about a decade ago when we were doing a "mopping-up" exercise on watching Doctor Who stories we hadn't seen - watching Ambassadors of Death in a pretty poor quality monochrome transmission that had been edited into an ominibus version really didn't do the story any favours.
It's amazing what a little love and care will do for something; the restoration work performed on the Ambassadors of Death has not only restored the audio and video quality, but will also do much to restore the original intent of this story, which had long been shrouded by a monochromatic smog of indifference.
Doctor Who stories weighing in at more six parts or more are rarely able to have enough story to properly justify the added length, but we were pleasantly surprised by Ambassadors of Death. It's true that there is some noticeable padding, but the story rattles along faster than some six-part Pertwee stories - The Monster of Peladon being a good example. With some excellent extras and the chance to see it in colour, this is a terrific package and gets a hearty recommendation from us. You could say that with this Ambassadors, the BBC are really spoiling us... sorry.
Review by Wilson Bros
Existing Posts
"...the late Ms John also really throws herself into the action scenes in this story, with the most famous one being where she performed her own stunt and threw herself over the railings of a bridge."
Roy Scammell actually did that stunt; it's discussed in the extras.
Roy Scammell actually did that stunt; it's discussed in the extras.
I can't wait until this is released in the USA on October 9th. I skimmed through the review and it is another bang up well written job.
Wonderful review guys, looking forward to getting this release and seeing the colour restoration.
I wasn't aware the commentary had been recorded quite some time ago, it'll be a sad experience to listen to Nic, Caroline and Peter knowing that they're no longer with us but it's great that the Restoration Team had to foresight to record these before the DVD was ever planned for release.
I wasn't aware the commentary had been recorded quite some time ago, it'll be a sad experience to listen to Nic, Caroline and Peter knowing that they're no longer with us but it's great that the Restoration Team had to foresight to record these before the DVD was ever planned for release.
General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children
Disc Details
Release Date: 1st October 2012
Discs: 2
Disc Type: Single side, dual layer
RCE: No
Video: PAL
Aspect: 1.33:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 English
Subtitles: English
Extras: Audio Commentary, Tomorrow's Times, Mars Probe 7 - Making Ambassadors of Death, Production Subtitles, Photo Gallery, Trailer, Coming Soon Trailer, PDF Materials
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Michael Ferguson
Cast: Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney, Michael Wisher
Genre: Sci-Fi
Length: 170 minutes
7Review Guide
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text:
Feb 9, 2012
News Update: February 9, 2012
Coming soon to a video game console near you: Muppet costumes for the popular game Disney Universe available on the X-Box 360 and PS3! The game, which acts as Disney's answer to the popular Little Big Planet games (which coincidentally also have Muppet costumes), features downloadable content which allows you to get more costumes for your player to dress it up as your favorite Disney characters. Specific characters or costume details (or even pictures) have yet to be released, but for an example of what they might look like, check out the Mike Wazowski (from Monsters, Inc.) costume at right!
In huge awards show news (no, The Academy still hasn't changed their minds about Original Song performances), Miss Piggy will be hosting the Red Carpet for the BAFTAs in London! BAFTA stands for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and they've chosen Piggy to host their red carpet arrival ceremony before the awards kick off. This means that our British friends across the pond have the chance to see Piggy on TV interacting with the likes of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep, and many, many other major actors and actresses. The show begins this Sunday night in London. No word yet on if American audiences will get to see the Pig in action... but one can hope.
Speaking of the Brits, Kermit the Frog and Pepe the Prawn recently filmed a commercial for the Cravendale milk company. The commercial stars Kermit and Pepe (obviously) along with the breakout star: Pepe's magic potato. Watch for yourself below...
Hysterical, no? What's even better, our good friend Matt Drapper has started an internet sensation (sort of) with his Tumblr account: Pepe Potatoes, where he matches up Pepe and his magic potato alongside quotes from history and movies and television. The result is absolute hilarity. Check out one of our favorites below and head over to Pepe Potatoes on Tumblr for yourself!
Virgin Radio's contest page and click the "Like" button to help make this the winning film!
Finally, in Oscar news, after The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that there would be no Best Original Song performances on the Oscar telecast--thus meaning no Muppets--people all over the internet took to protesting. Celebrities ranging from Judd Apatow (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up), Alison Brie (Community), Adam Levine (Maroon 5), Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm), and Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille) took to Twitter to show their support for the Muppets and their disdain towards The Academy. Even The Muppets co-writer Nicholas Stoller took a stand alongside Jason Segel on Twitter to protest the decision. But the biggest contribution came from noted blogger Perez Hilton who started a petition to "Get The Muppet On The Oscars!" As of writing, the petition has over 9,000 signatures (in less than one day, mind you) and is still growing. If you haven't already, please go sign and show your support for Walter, the Muppet, Jason Segel, Peter Linz, Bret McKenzie, and everyone on The Muppets team. Don't they deserve it? You never know if we can make a difference!
The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, firstname.lastname@example.com
2 comments:
I'd like to point out that The Muppets has a higher rating on Rotten Tomatoes than any of the Best Picture nominees save one: The Artist.ReplyDelete
So... more importantly than the Muppets not performing - which is a tragedy - how come The Muppets wasn't nominated for best picture?
Food for thought.Replies
Justin-- The world may never know. Its a real shame. :(Delete
This certainly isn't the first time that the Academy has snubbed great movies.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
How typical of Archbishop John Hughes — still getting people mad at him 15 years after his death. This time the issue was St. Patrick's Cathedral, today perhaps the best-known Catholic house of worship in the United States, but then a tempting target for anti-Catholic venom.
New York's cathedral was dedicated in a splendid, hours-long ceremony on the morning of Sunday, May 25, 1879. Shortly before, the Atlantic Monthly, a mouthpiece of the Northeast's non-Catholic establishment, ran an article trashing the building and Archbishop Hughes, whose great project it was. He'd been dead since 1864. The author, architectural critic Clarence Cook, wrote that the fourth bishop of New York was a "politician" as well as a priest — one of the few Catholic priests "able to win, by their own character and energy, a national reputation."
"We are not saying it was an agreeable reputation," Cook continued. "The archbishop belonged to the church militant … always in the saddle, never weary, and, what was more never desponding … so convincing that, when he called for money, if a widow had but one penny, yet should he have a farthing ere he went."
Someone reading that now may wonder what lay behind this bilious outburst against a long-dead prelate. In his history of the Church in America, "American Catholic: The Saints and Sinners Who Built America's Most Powerful Church" (Vintage, $18.95), Charles R. Morris says Cook grasped the symbolism of St. Patrick's just as Archbishop Hughes had done. The archbishop cherished it, but Cook, to say the least, did not.
"It enunciated a vision of Catholicism as a new power center, a major moral and political force," Morris writes. "Cook was shouting, Beware! With a man of John Hughes's forcefulness at the head of the Catholic Church in the United States, anything could happen." As for the archbishop, he would probably have replied in kind to Cook's attack. And much enjoyed the verbal tussle that followed.
John Hughes reigned — the word fits his style — as Archbishop of New York from December 1842 until his death in January 1864. In that time he established himself in the eyes of his fellow Americans as a Catholic bishop unlike any they'd seen up to then.
Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore and his successors tended to be low-profile men who labored to accommodate the non-Catholic society in which American Catholics sought acceptance. Archbishop Hughes was something else — high-profile, combative, aggressive, never shrinking from, and actually seeming to relish, a really good fight.
While personality differences obviously had much to do with that, so did numbers. When Archbishop Carroll died in 1815, Catholics in the United States numbered a mere 120,000. But between 1820 and 1870, 2.7 million Catholic immigrants came pouring into the country, most of them from Germany, France and Ireland. From his vantage point in New York, Archbishop Hughes presided over the peak years of that influx.
Clearly, the times were changing, and so was the Catholic presence in America. The Archbishop of New York embodied the change and did his vigorous best to turn it to the advantage of the Church and the nation alike. He was, says Morris, the "archetype" of a "new breed" of bishop who "imposed order and discipline on fractious urban dioceses and started building the vast network of Catholic institutions" that has been a notable feature of American Catholicism up to this day. At the beginning, no one would have guessed all that.
John Joseph Hughes was born June 24, 1797, in the southern part of Ireland's County Tyrone, third of seven children of a hard-working tenant farmer. The young man came to the United States in 1817. Drawn to the priesthood, he soon applied for admission to Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. But he was turned down as academically unprepared and was hired as a gardener instead.
Around this time, he met Mother Elizabeth Seton, convert foundress of the Daughters of Charity in the United States, and it was through the intercession of this future saint that he was admitted to the seminary as a student by Father Jean Dubois. Ordained in 1826, he took up pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, earning a measure of fame in a public controversy with a Presbyterian minister who had attacked the Church.
In 1837, John Hughes was named Coadjutor Bishop of New York at the request of its Ordinary, his former seminary rector Jean Dubois. Consecrated in January 1838, the hard-charging coadjutor quickly took charge of the affairs of the diocese from the elderly Dubois whom he succeeded in December 1842. In 1850, New York was elevated to the status of an archdiocese, and he received the title archbishop.
The challenges facing him were many. Besides the pressing need to respond to the immigration-fueled explosion of Catholic numbers, Archbishop Hughes, along with his fellow American bishops, confronted a rising tide of anti-Catholicism that often accompanied this Catholic expansion.
This article is the second installment of a year-long series by Russell Shaw. Browse the full series here
In 1834, an Ursuline convent in Charlestown, Mass., was burned by a mob. It was the beginning of two decades of violence aimed at immigrants and Catholics. Two years after the burning of the convent, a mob burned most of the Irish section of Boston. Violence flared in Philadelphia, and churches, convents and Irish homes burned there, too. Through the 1840s, clashes between Catholics and non-Catholics occurred repeatedly in many American cities.
There was trouble in New York, too. "Are you afraid?" the city's mayor asked the archbishop, apparently hoping to provoke him. "Yes," was the answer. "Not for my churches but for yours. If a single Catholic church is burned here, New York will be turned into another Moscow." He then ringed his parish churches with armed Irishmen. No Catholic churches or convents burned in New York.
Archbishop Hughes ran the archdiocese's internal affairs with a similarly strong hand — so strong that his priests took to calling him "Dagger John." The nickname referred to the cross he put before his signature on documents — and also to his pugnacious manner.
"I will suffer no man in my diocese that I cannot control," he is said to have snapped during a run-in with the Catholic convert writer and social thinker Orestes Brownson, himself no slouch as a controversialist. Brownson took the hint and moved his base of operations across the Hudson to New Jersey.
But John Hughes was more than just a petty tyrant. He was a successful administrator, a builder of churches, promoter of parochial schools, champion of the Irish, skilled manipulator of the levers of politics and a man whose patriotic sentiments embraced both his old country and his new one.
"Never forget your country," he lectured his faithful. The "country" was Ireland, and many of those faithful were Irish-born like himself. But then he went on: "Let this love of old Ireland affect you only individually. In your social and political relations you must become merged in the country of your adoption."
As Cook's posthumous attack suggests, Archbishop Hughes had more than his share of enemies. In fact, he may have earned them. But some of the enemies were not above fictionalizing in order to damage his reputation.
That was the case with an urban legend regarding the acquisition of the land on which St. Patrick's was built. According to this version of events, the archbishop pulled strings to get a sweetheart deal enabling him to buy the site "for the consideration of one dollar." It was a malicious fantasy. The city had sold the land to a private party in 1799, and the property had several owners in succession before the future cathedral's trustees acquired the title in 1852 for $59,500 — hardly a small sum back then. Yet even some modern histories of New York repeat the tale of the sweetheart deal that never was.
In the end, of course, the city's Irish and their archbishop were vindicated. One hundred-forty years after its dedication, St. Patrick's Cathedral stands in the heart of midtown Manhattan as a monument to faith, vision and determination. The Catholics have arrived, the mighty church still proclaims, and Archbishop John Hughes had — still has, in fact — quite a lot to do with it.
Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.
Copyright © 1996-2018 Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.


text:
The following important information is for financial aid
recipients. It is important to read the entire message to
understand your financial aid options. If you do not receive
financial aid, and do not have any interest in receiving
financial aid, please disregard this message.
As you may be aware, earlier this year Congress approved
a new federal loan for graduate students, the Graduate PLUS
Loan. Unlike undergraduate PLUS loans, where the borrower
is the student's parent, Graduate PLUS loans allow only
the student to be the borrower. Students must meet federal
credit criteria to qualify.
The Graduate PLUS Loan will be beneficial for students
who need additional aid beyond the Federal Stafford and/or
Perkins Loan. Previously, the only option available to these
students was a private loan.
Students in need of additional aid will have to decide
whether to apply for a Graduate PLUS Loan or a private loan
for the 2006 -2007 academic year. Generally, our office
recommends the Graduate PLUS Loan. The primary reason why
this loan is more beneficial to students is the interest
rate, which is fixed at 8.5%. While this may seem like a
high rate when compared with the historically-low Stafford
Loan interest rates of recent years, it is important to
remember that interest rates are rising. The majority of
Chicago-Kent students will not qualify for a private loan
with a rate lower than 8.5%. Even for the few that do, the
Graduate PLUS Loan may still be a better option, since private
loans have variable rates, which are expected to continue
Ultimately, the decision to apply for a private loan or
a Graduate PLUS Loan is yours, and it is one that you should
consider carefully. At the following link you can view a
chart that compares the terms of the Graduate PLUS Loan
and private loans.
If you decide to apply for a Graduate PLUS Loan, the application
process is very similar to that of the private loan. Please
visit the following link (http://www.kentlaw.edu/depts/finaid/federalgraduatesloan.html)
to view a list of our preferred lenders and the chart that
compares the private loan to the Graduate PLUS loan.
Click on the lender of your choice to complete a Graduate
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If you decide to apply for the private loan instead of
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Apply with your lender. Once your private loan is approved
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If you choose to use a private loan instead of the Graduate
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After your application is complete, your lender will contact
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If you have any questions, please contact the Office
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The new Federal Stafford Loan rate for funds
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Aid created this document to provide students with general
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In order to qualify for federal financial
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If you choose to use a private loan instead of the Graduate
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text:
Bill's Gamblin' Hall, a lesser-known hotel that might be considered a poor cousin among Las Vegas' glittering resorts, will close its doors Feb. 4, but not before a farewell bash at Drai's, an after-hours club long popular with the all-night party crowd.
The final blowout will begin at 10 p.m. Feb. 3, three hours earlier than the club's usual opening hour, and continue until 8 a.m. Feb. 4.
Local entertainers including male strippers the Chippendales and hypnotist Anthony Cools will walk the red carpet as the doors open for the final time. Owner Victor Drai – who also operates both Tryst and XS at the Wynn – will be on hand to greet guests.
Drai's, with its 1 a.m. opening, served a niche audience for 15 years. When it premiered, the hotel in which it is housed at Flamingo Road and Las Vegas Boulevard was called the Barbary Coast.


text:
Considering when he was drafted by the Bruins in 2007 he was first heading to play a season in the USHL, Tommy Cross's arrival as a pro has seemingly taken forever.
Today the former Boston College defenseman finally took that huge step by signing his entry-level deal with Boston. He'll now report to the Providence (AHL) farm club for the weekend before the regular season ends. Providence is two points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but it's a multi-team race.
Cross, the 35th overall pick in '07, just won the national championship as a senior with BC. While serving as team captain last season, he set career highs in games played (44), assists (19) and points (24).
At 22 years old, Cross might have an age advantage come fall against some of Boston's best defense prospects. But obviously he'll have to fit in behind the likes of Dougie Hamilton and Ryan Krug, as well as Matt Bartkowski and David Warsofsky.


text:
One on one messaging conversations can now be initiated within the Chat area, provided both parties are in Chat.
If you see a member 'Available in Chat', you can click their name to initiate a Chat conversation with them. Of course, they may choose not to participate since you will be initiating it without prior notification.
Instant Messaging (as described above) should work on computers and some tablet devices, although it is not currently working on mobile phones.
We are working on the Instant Message system as an extension of our Chat system, and hope to have it working on mobile devices in the near future..
It could be that they are engaged in Chat elsewhere in the site, or they may not be interested in chatting with you.


text:
MANHATTAN — A 1-year-old girl died Tuesday after being severely burned by a radiator in her grandmother's Morningside Heights apartment, police said.
The baby, identified by police sources as Gabriella Grimes, was staying with her grandmother at 424 Cathedral Parkway when she apparently rolled out of bed and got caught between the bedframe and the radiator, sources said. The child's horrified grandmother discovered her about 6:15 a.m., sources said.
Gabriella, who sources said was visiting from Albany with her 3-year-old sibling, was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital in cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead, officials said. Her sibling was unharmed.
Police said the death appears to be an accident, and Gabriella's grandmother, Lourdes Carrigan, 60, was not expected to be charged.
Diane Johnson, 55, a resident of the building who described Carrigan as "a sweetheart," said she heard the emergency responders arrive early Tuesday morning.
"I heard the sirens and I ran downstairs," Johnson said. "I saw them taking the baby out."
She said one responder was carrying the baby in his arms, and EMS workers tried to revive the child using CPR.
The Medical Examiner's Office will determine the Gabriella's official cause of death, a spokeswoman said, but police sources said it appeared that her burns were fatal.
The Administration for Children's Services is investigating, a spokesman said.


text:
Registration ends this Friday, November 1, for the Money Savvy Symposium, set for November 5 in Des Moines! This day-long conference is designed to help credit union staff increase their skills to assist members with their financial management concerns.
Today, it's easier than ever for credit unions to utilize member data for identifying more "share of wallet" opportunities. In keeping with the credit union philosophy of "People Helping People," it may even be considered a disservice not to be proactive in getting the most beneficial products and services in the hands of members.
Adam Carroll, Iowa Credit Union Foundation (ICUF) Financial Education Consultant, will lead attendees through rapid learning techniques in this extremely hands-on workshop. You'll be encouraged to exchange ideas and participate in group discussions, while gaining awareness and insight into how you can use innovative ways to talk to your members about their financial situations.
This day-long conference is designed for all levels of staff and will help attendees leverage their unique talents and skills to better serve members.
Symposium Details
Check the registration website for an updated agenda, information and registration.
Reminder - The registration deadline is this Friday, November 1!
*Small credit union discounts will apply. Use the following discount codes:
0975IA - 75% discount ($0 - $4.9 million in assets); 0950IA - 50% discount ($5 - $9.9 million in assets); 0925IA - 25% discount ($10 - $14.9 million in assets)


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Topics Include Immersion Lithography, Advanced Interconnects, DFM
TOKYO, Japan, October 12, 2005 -- Online registration opens October 3 for the SEMI Technology Symposium (STS) 2005, to be held December 7-9 at the International Conference Hall, Makuhari Messe, Tokyo, in conjunction with SEMICON Japan 2005.
STS Japan, now in its 24th year, provides a comprehensive platform for technical information exchange between semiconductor device makers and equipment and materials suppliers. The program comprises nine sessions and opens with a keynote address by Michael Polcari, president and CEO of SEMATECH, on the topic of "Innovation and Productivity: Accelerating the Next Technology Revolution". Attendance at the keynote is free of charge and no advanced registration is required.
"The STS program brings together the best minds in the industry to address key challenges at the leading edge of semiconductor process and device technology," said Takashi Kumagai, president of SEMI Japan. "Last year the program attracted 1,245 registered attendees, a reflection of quality of the technical papers and the expertise of the authors."
The STS 2005 technical sessions will cover topics such as advanced devices at the 45-nm node, copper/low-k dielectric solutions, etching techniques, nanotechnology, IC testing, and advanced IC packaging. Two sessions will focus on lithography; specifically, IC mask design in the manufacturing process, and future options beyond immersion lithography. A session on manufacturing science will address productivity issues in the era of LSI devices for low cost, high functionality consumer electronics.
In conjunction with STS 2005 will be the International Packaging Strategy Symposium (IPSS) 2005 on December 8 from 10:00 to 16:35. The theme for this year's IPSS will be "The New Packaging Business; Approaches for the Winners"
The STS 2005 Japan program includes the 12th annual STS Awards Commemorative Speech, set for December 7. Presentations will be given by six award winners who were selected from last year's STS program.
The program chair for STS 2005 is Shinji Okazaki from the Association of Super-Advanced Electronics Technologies (ASET).
For additional information about STS 2005 and online registration, visit www.semi.org/sj05
For general inquires contact the SEMI Japan office at 81.3.3222.5993; e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com. In North America, contact SEMI Customer Service at 1.408.943.6901; e-mail: email@example.com.
SEMI is a global industry association serving companies that develop and provide manufacturing technology, materials and services to make semiconductors, flat panel displays (FPDs), micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and related microelectronics. SEMI maintains offices in Austin, Beijing, Brussels, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose (Calif.), Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit SEMI at www.semi.org.
Shigeko Tatsuma/SEMI Japan
Tel: 81.3.3222.6020
Fax: 81.3.3222.5757
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Scott Smith/SEMI
Tel: 408.943.7957
Fax: 408.943.7970


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Find Hotels in Eindhoven
Eindhoven Hotel Deals from ZUJI
Looking for cheap accommodation in Eindhoven, Netherlands? ZUJI helps you compare hotels in destinations all over the world for any time of year, whether youre booking early to secure a great rate or trying to snap up a cheap last minute room. Compare TripAdvisor reviews, browse our comprehensive range of Eindhoven hotels and make your travel booking with ZUJI today!


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This week, the Wall Street Journal detailed the ways in which cheaters are proving to be even more and more high-tech. We're talking spy cameras and tactics that would make James Bond blush. From getting others to feed them answers to downloading answers for future test-takers, these cheaters are relentless.
With the advent of more advanced computer-based testing, it makes sense that the solutions become more and more advanced as well.
Is there a way to best these high-tech highwaymen? Let us know what you think in our poll below:


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Lager volumes during the three months to December 31, SAB's third quarter, were up 2pc on the previous year but had slowed from 4pc during the first half.
The beer giant, which generates most of its revenue in Latin America and Africa, said China was predominantly to blame as plunging winter temperatures dissuaded drinkers from going out for a cold beer.
China, where SAB produces brands such as Snow through a joint venture, accounts for a quarter of the group's volumes but only about 2pc of earnings.
In Europe, growth also slowed significantly, hit by problems in Eastern Europe, where the Czech government introduced a blanket ban on all spirits after 19 people died from drinking bootleg alcohol.
The ban had a knock-on effect on beer consumption in pubs and bars as well.
In the UK, SAB reported 4pc growth as drinkers splashed out on premium brands regardless of the economy.
Despite slowing volume growth, group revenue jumped 8pc in the third quarter following strong performances in Latin America and Africa.


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Hackensack, New Jersey Sap Jobs
Looking for Sap Jobs in Hackensack, New Jersey? See currently available Sap job openings in Hackensack, New Jersey on sap.jobs.net . Browse the current listings and fill out job applications.
sap.jobs.net is the starting point for a job search in any sap job in Hackensack, New Jersey . We provide job resources for Sap positions throughout the industry in Hackensack, New Jersey. sap.jobs.net also provides Sap jobs listings from around the United States. Job seekers can search and apply for jobs in Sap by either city or state.
sap.jobs.net is a sap job search resource for job seekers in Hackensack, New Jersey. Here you can easily find all Sap jobs in Hackensack, New Jersey, post a resume, and research your career.
Get started on your sap job search in Hackensack, New Jersey on sap.jobs.net today.


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Team Questionnaire
Thanks for letting us know your opinion on Team Play.
If you indicated Yes, and filled out the survey you will be contacted by Martin Spira in the coming weeks.
Thanks for letting us know your opinion on Team Play.
If you indicated Yes, and filled out the survey you will be contacted by Martin Spira in the coming weeks.
Clubhouse Monitors - 416.483.4546
Head Pro and Club Manager, Arthur Wolf
Member Support and IT, Jim Longo
President, Anne Fairlie
Vice President, Eric Anderson
Secretary, Sue Pridham
Treasurer, Sheila Burke
Membership Director, Sergio Vettese
Social Director, Annette Lindy
Teams Manager, Kitty Chow
Tournament Director, Joyce Lee-Assang
Director of Instruction, Geoff Kent
Wanless Park Community Tennis Club is a family oriented club whose mission is to provide tennis facilities to members in a welcoming environment. We also strive to promote the growth of tennis by providing tennis instruction to junior and adult members, and to run organized activities designed to accommodate all levels of tennis players within the community. We have been active in the Yonge and Lawrence area for over 50 years and have a very active membership.
Our club is a not-for-profit corporation that manages and maintains facilities owned by the City of Toronto, and in accordance with the City of Toronto's Policy for Outdoor Community Tennis Club Operations has the following as part of our mandate: "To reduce barriers to access, each community organization using Parks and Recreation Division permitted space will support the creation of an equitable society through the organization's effort to undertake planned, monitored and co-ordinated activities aimed at enabling diverse communities to participate fully in their services, programs and decision-making."


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Livin' Lite Develops Jeep Folding Camping Trailer
March 31, 2010 by Bob Ashley · 1 Comment
A private-label, all-aluminum Jeep folding camping trailer built by Livin' Lite Recreational Vehicles LLC debuts today (March 31) at the 2010 Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah.
The diminutive 9-foot Jeep trailer, weighing about 1,000 pounds, is equipped with Jeep tires and rims, taillights, fenders, bumpers and Jeep logos and is fashioned after Livin' Lite's Quicksilver 6.0 pop-up trailer.
"This opens a whole new market for us to build off-road campers. There is a lot of interest," said Scott Tuttle, president of the Wakarusa, Ind., RV manufacturer.
Tens of thousands of off-road aficionados are attending the Jeep Safari in the Utah desert that began March 27 and runs through Easter Sunday. The Chrysler LLC's Jeep division is showcasing new products and aftermarket accessories during the annual event — Tuttle's new camper among them.
Two versions of the new Jeep trailer — one for off-road use, the other for more traditional camping — include a bed and convertible sofa to sleep four people, plus a storage cabinet and removable dinette table.
An off-road package features an enclosed underbelly with a steel skid plate, a pintle hitch that rotates 360 degrees and a lift package that allows for 37-inch tires.
Full production is to begin in May. "If they are here, Jeep dealers will be able to place orders," Tuttle told RVBUSINESS.com while attending the event.
The Jeep trailer has been in development since the first of the year after a Chrysler executive saw a Livin' Lite Quicksilver folding camping trailer in Australia where they've been sold for three years.
"There was a lot of prototyping with Jeep parts," said Tuttle, adding that Livin' Lite has added a special production line to accommodate the Jeep trailer. "They wanted as much OEM equipment on it as possible."
Livin' Lite will begin production of a Quicksilver version of the Jeep trailer — without Jeep's proprietary equipment — by early summer. "This will be the first of some off-road vehicles that we will build to get more people camping," Tuttle said. "That is what's exciting for us."
The standard Jeep trailer is expected to sell for $6,500 to $7,500 while the off-road edition will retail for $8,900 to $9,900, Tuttle said.


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Tagalog Bisaya Translation of
tagalog bisaya translation of "organismo" is "organism". More translations below.
If you know something about this term, share it here. Many people are also searching for information about organismo. Help them find it, make them happy.
Let us help each other. Please be polite in asking for help and sharing thoughts. Sort the comments to "Reverse Chronological" to see the latest posts.


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It's not that my house contains any dirt. Oh no! I spend every waking hour polishing the copper and putting things back where they belong, dusting beneath them as I flit about. No one ever notices my efforts, of course, but one day I'll jet off to Havana for a week and people will see what it's like when I'm not there, how the contents of every room gradually creep into the kitchen and the dear little flowers droop and wither.
So I'm not sure why I want a steam cleaner: it's just a yearning, probably to do with being 41, a natural progression from making yogurt and becoming dependent on eggshell paint and idly thinking about upholstering a chair but never actually bothering to do so. I suppose the device will shine my windows and turn the teacups so that the handles are the right way round. I'll have more time to spend with the children and Pink Daughter will award me two stars on the chart she keeps to monitor my behaviour.
Do you have a steam cleaner and how has it changed your life? Is it better or worse than a staple gun?


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Thousands of residents were displaced when the April 27, 2011, tornado left a nearly 6-mile path of destruction through Tuscaloosa. Officials reported that 1,257 residences were destroyed and 4,105 were damaged. Two years later, many of the affected areas are still construction zones.
Thousands of residents were displaced when the April 27, 2011, tornado left a nearly 6-mile path of destruction through Tuscaloosa.
Officials reported that 1,257 residences were destroyed and 4,105 were damaged. Two years later, many of the affected areas are still construction zones.
According to the city of Tuscaloosa, 2,411 residential building permits for new construction and repairs estimated to cost $89 million have been issued in recovery zones as of Thursday. That includes new construction valued at just more than $48 million and close to $40 million in repair permits.
Vacant lots and concrete foundations still line hard-hit 26th Avenue East in Alberta, but building permits that hang from utility poles promise redevelopment. A few streets away on Juanita Drive, crews from Habitat for Humanity have erected frames and are well on the way to completing several homes. Similar empty lots can be found in the Forest Lake area, but several houses have been built and are advertising for lease or rental in the fall. Families began moving into the newly constructed 88-unit first phase of Rosedale Court in December.
Authorities know that the city's population shifted from the damaged areas, but they expect that people will move back once more housing options are available.
"We anticipate that the tornado, when we look at it after a five- or 10-year period, should have minimal impact in terms of population shifts," said Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox.
In February 2012, the Tuscaloosa Board of Education shared results from a demographics study conducted by law firm Phelps, Jenkins, Gibson & Fowler. The firm worked with several engineering firms and used data from the City of Tuscaloosa's information technology department to determine how many people remained in tornado-devastated neighborhoods and how many people planned to move back to those areas.
Researchers found that between 30 and 41 percent of students attending Alberta Elementary, University Place Elementary and University Place Middle schools lived outside their school zone at the time, nearly a year after the storm. Based on parent surveys but not considering future residential development, enrollment at Alberta Elementary was expected to decrease slightly, while enrollment at University Elementary and Middle schools were projected to rise.
Many of the destroyed residences were rental homes and apartment buildings.
"We had an abundance from an overbuild in the rental market," Maddox said, so people were easily able to find places to live. Only two families took advantage of FEMA trailers, he said.
Many of the renters from the Alberta area moved to apartments along Kicker Road, said Jeff Motz, geographic information systems manager for the city who assisted with the school system study. A lot of families moved to apartment complexes south of Skyland Boulevard, near Southview Elementary School. Many displaced families who had lived in Rosedale Court moved to Hay Court and surrounding areas in west Tuscaloosa, he said.
Tuscaloosa City Councilman Kip Tyner said he believes the residences in Alberta will fill up after the opening of the performing arts school, where ground was officially broken Wednesday.
"I have talked to a lot of people who really want to move back," he said. "But I think some people may not. Some have moved to different school districts like Skyland and Northington and may stay there. It seems like a significant number of people have moved to Northport or the Skyland area."
City officials intend to continue monitoring where people live.
"We want to have an idea of how many people were impacted that moved outside of our metropolitan area and from that, to be able to determine how many moved back in, as it relates to the improvements that will be going on in the recovery zone," Maddox said.
Reach Stephanie Taylor at email@example.com or 205-722-0210.


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Howard Rosenthal necesitaba un nuevo diseño de impreso o envases y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 111 diseños de 39 diseñadores freelance.
We need a brochure which will be mailed to advertising companies promoting our photography business.
Howard Rosenthal Photography
We are a new company, trying to generate business from advertising agencies who can use our services. Since these agencies already deal with photographers, this brochure must really grab their attention and make them want to know more about us.
The following should be included in design:
Howard Rosenthal Photography Logo (Note that the graphic in the library shows the logo in a black box. Only the text is part of the logo, not the black box on which the logo is placed. If it were possible, I'd have created a jpg of the lettering with a transparent backgound)
55 Northern Boulevard
Greenvale, NY 11548
800 631 7870
516 706 1399
Sample photos (use one or several - your choice) can be downloaded as follows:
Go to http://www.HowardRosenthalPhotography.com
Click on the proofing menu option on the left hand column
Click on link to visit online proofing site
Select Gallery – Graphic Designer Work Files (password 99designs)
Select a thumbnail to display full page photo
Move cursor to upper left side of photo
Select 'Download Original'
- Eye Catching
- Upscale
- to be printed on 8 1/2" x 11" brochure sheet
- File Requirements:
- Resolution 300dpi
bleed 1/16"
size 8.627" x 11.127"
2588px x 3338px
- Must supply photoshop psd file in addition to layout file (Illustrator or Quark)
- Childish
- Budget
- Cheap


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Can You Trust Your Kid With $5.25 Million?
Wealthy families got a holiday gift on Jan. 1, when Congress agreed on permanent estate-tax rules that are much more generous than many financial planners had expected.
Some aren't celebrating, however. Instead, they are grappling with new questions about how best to set up trusts for their heirs—while keeping a measure of control over their wealth.


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Marlton-based Hill International announced Wednesday that it will provide project management consultancy services to Das Real Estate Co. LLC during construction of the Langham Palm Jumeirah hotel in Dubai.
The yearlong contract is estimated at $1.6 million in value.
"We are seeing an increase in construction activity in Dubai," Mohammed Al Rais, senior vice president and managing director (Middle
East) for Hill's Project Management Group, said in a statement. "Having been part of bringing Palm Jumeirah to fruition, it's exciting for Hill to be back managing a premier hotel project on the island."
Construction of the $88 million, 883,000-square-foot, five-star hotel is expected to be completed in early 2015.
Christie signs new budget with vetoes on business, millionaire's tax increases
Setting new standards for designing affordable housing in N.J.


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Nineteen years ago, in February 1976, the Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science ran an editorial entitled "The Answer is Yes: Information Brokers Can Succeed" and a 10-page article titled "Information Brokers: Who, What, Why, How," both by then-editor, Lois F. Lunin. In the article, nine information brokers (see accompanying story) from seven organizations answered questions about their businesses and themselves. I was one of them.
Lunin's research began at the 1974 ASIS Annual Meeting in Atlanta, which was the first professional meeting I'd ever attended. Just the year before, I had received my Masters of Library Science degree from Simmons College and started an information service. At ASIS '74 I was on a panel that focused on information brokering, I was interviewed by Lois (which made me feel incredibly important) and I prowled the ASIS exhibits.
The article that you are reading now is the result of serendipity of human memory. When I read about plans for this special issue of the Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science, I remembered Lois Lunin's earlier article and her questions, and I even found a carbon (remember carbons?) of my written answers. I telephoned Simmons, where current students consulted 1970's paper indexes for bibliographic clues. ASIS headquarters used these clues to unearth the February 1976 Bulletin ("a green cover," I remembered). ASIS FAXed the 1976 material to Janet Gotkin, editor of this special section on information brokers, and Janet re-FAXed the material to me.
Looking Back
In Lois' 1976 article, an information broker was defined as "an individual or organization who - on demand - seeks to answer questions using all sources available and who is in business for a profit." (We early brokers disliked that term on demand, saying that no one "demanded" that we do anything - we had to beat the bushes for customers.)
Rereading Lois' article, I was struck by how most of us then were trying to be everything to everyone. An industry leader in 1976 called his firm an "information clearinghouse;" we provided "a variety of services," "information in any form" to "anyone who needs us." I myself was guilty of saying "We'll do anything with information except to falsify it." We "did bibliographies," we provided "back-dated clipping services," we "counted citations."
Today's information brokers are infinitely more focused than we were in early days. Today's brokers know exactly what they are selling and to whom. They've segmented the market, they specialize.
We charged for our services then, as now, with difficulty: by the hour, by the job, by retainer, by subscription. Charges in 1976 ranged every bit as widely as they range today. We still agonize over slow-pays, no-pays and seekers of free advice.
We found customers then as we do now: any way that works. Most still agree that repeats, referrals and word-of-mouth are best. Radio advertising was tried in the 1970's, brochures got and continue to get mixed reviews. Articles by us and about us in all manner of publications still draw inquiries and clients.
Size of firm? Answers ranged from "no employees except myself" to 25 full-timers. Many spoke of "banks" of part-timers, runners, consultants. Today's information companies, which literally come in all sizes, speak more formally of "sub-contractors."
When asked about information resources, many queried by the ASIS Bulletin in the 1970's were developing voluminous in-house information files. We also depended heavily on access to libraries - and we and the libraries that we used worried a lot about how to keep peace with each other. Today's information brokers confess that they "sometimes forget" to check print sources (both in their own offices as well as in libraries), as "we are so used to being online."
Although the word copyright does not appear in the 1976 article, there is discussion of "who owns" the information obtained for a client and agreement that what the client is really buying is a broker's skills, not information itself.
How did information brokers get started, where did we get start-up money? Answers varied, of course. Most start-ups were self-financed and self-designed: we essentially invented our businesses from scratch. Little had been written about what we were doing, we had few guidelines.
We were asked, finally, what advice we would give to someone interested in becoming an information broker. Obviously, the advice then (as does today's advice) ran the full gamut: work hard, it takes money to make money, be able to weather a slow start, fewer big jobs are better than more little ones, keep overhead low, be well trained and experienced, treat your customers well, run your business like a business.
Looking Ahead
The reminiscence in the February 1976 ASIS Bulletin tells about how we were 19 years ago. The articles in this issue look at us today and help us begin to look ahead.
What will our information world be like 19 years from now, in the year 2014? I don't know; I can only guess.
At information exhibits in the early 1970's one "counted terminals" and there were, as I remember, four terminals at ASIS '74 in Atlanta. One exhibitor with a terminal, who represented a newspaper databank, got into fisticuffs with an information broker over the issue of the broker's proposal to install a newspaper databank terminal at his own office, to "broker" searches, and "sell results to customers." "Never!" said the exhibitor, "It's the future!" said our information broker.
What will exhibits look like in 2014? Will there actually be exhibits? Will we physically transport our bodies to annual meetings? Who knows.
I suspect in the year 2014 magazines like the Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science will not be printed on paper and sent to ASIS members via U.S. mail. Access to back issues, such as this one, will be, presumably, almost fully electronic.
Whatever we information professionals are up to in 2014 - including and in spite of human memory and serendipity - I trust we'll know what we're doing. And I hope I'll be around to see it all.
What Are They Doing Now?


text: Harry, You're spending way too much time reading the "pundits" on the TT reflector. Spend some time with the Orion and you'll find an entirely different story. Wonderful radio. Fun to use. Very few glitches (one master reset required on mine in the entire 16 months I've owned mine.) Works great, sounds super in any mode. and gets the job done even better than my Omni VI+ did. (and I loved that radio too!) 73, Duane On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 11:27:38 -0700 Harry Reed <doon at infoscientific.com> writes: > Methinks that people are forgetting the big picture. > > Most, if not all, here want dependability, reliability, and > repeatability in their rigs - > especially ones that costs ~$4000. Is that *really* too much to ask? > TTs competition doesn't > seem to think so. If I wanted an experimental rig I'd go out and buy > a SDR-1000. > > While the Orion's hardware seems to be up to the task (albeit > getting a little > long in the tooth) TT firmware seems to have lingering problems. I > gather TT software > engineering has been more than a little taxed trying to implement a > bug free SDR HF XCVR. > Real-time software is a bear unless done exactly right - the last 2+ > years of upgrades > has shown that they haven't. Indeed, going from a 1.x release to a > 2.x release indicates > that they probably programmed themselves into a corner, so to speak. > "When all else > fails do a rewrite!" Let's see if they can get it right with the v2 > firmware. If not, maybe > they should open up the firmware development to the FS/OS software > community (ala GNURadio) > and get it done right HIHI :) > > > Please, don't misunderstand me, I'm not bashing TT or the Orion. TT > seems to be a fine > company and the Orion has the potential of being a fine rig worth > its asking price. I > just don't think people are happy in spending ~$4000 on a SDR whose > firmware is still > very much beta quality and a work in progress. I'm curious what's > happening to TTs reputation > in all of this? Surely it can't be good. Indeed, one has to wonder > how many people bear with > TT and their Orion in the hopes that TT will fix the problems and > that the Orion will get > better because they don't want to admit that they spent their hard > earned $$$ on a subpar, > even flaky radio? > > For these reasons I'm holding off my Orion purchase until v2 of the > firmware comes out and > the Orion owners/users/abusers have their say. I don't demand a > *perfect* radio. > Just one that doesn't hang or require a HW reset because I twiddled > a knob the wrong way - > one that works reliably and predictably when I want it and when I > need it. > > Harry Reed, AB7YF > > > ><<<I just can't see any viable reason to not try/own an Orion. > Especially > >any technical reasons.>>> > > > > >I'd go through the reflector archive for the past 2-3 years and > look > at what earlier >purchasers went through. > > > >If you have a lot of free time to tinker, maybe it's okay. For > example > if you are >retired and have a lot of patience maybe it's okay. > > > >I'm pretty low on time and patience. I want dependability. I want > to > be able to unbox >the rig, power it up, hook an antenna to it, > ground, > mic, key, cans...whatever i >need, adjust collector PA current and > mic > gain, adjust AF/RF gain, tune around, hit >the PTT button and start > > making contacts. > > > >If it's much more involved than that, or its behavior mysteriously > > changes from one >day to the next on a regular basis, then I start > loosing interest. > > > >So the likes and dislikes probably have as much to do with > operator > personality as >anything else. > > > >rob/k5uj > > _______________________________________________ > TenTec mailing list > TenTec at contesting.com > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec > > -------------------------------------- Duane Calvin, AC5AA Austin, Texas http://home.austin.rr.com/ac5aa