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Nowhere Island University volume 1: Glad You're Not Here is available on Amazon. Follow Nathan Jacob's adventures in the brutal first semester. Available in paperback and on Kindle.
Nowhere Island University volume 1: Glad You're Not Here is available on Amazon. Follow Nathan Jacob's adventures in the brutal first semester. Available in paperback and on Kindle.
"Nate," Eliza said as we walked through the bombed out buildings of Worcester, "You sure this is a good idea?"
Around us, dozens of people walked milled in an open-air market. A few of the reconstituted cops and Dragon's Teeth soldiers walked around, making sure none of the stalls made out of rubble were being looted.
"You're only saying that because you've only been in there a few days," I said. "Trust me, voluntary confinement in a big building isn't much better than involuntary confinement in a small room."
I scanned a shop. The guy running it was extremely chubby, but that didn't fool me. One of the few remaining reliable source of food was cake mix. If you ate nothing but birthday cake (minus the icing,) you would probably end up fat. Everyone was suffering from malnutrition, and judging by the man's straw-like hair and flaking skin, he was no exception.
"I heard about you," he said.
"Really?" I said. "I'm sorry, but my girlfriend just got out and is making me quit the booze."
The man looked at me for a while, a cold expression on his face. I noticed he was staring at my hands. That's how I realized they were shaking. "Not what I meant," he said. He then looked behind me and nodded.
"Nate…" Eliza said. I turned. A small group of cops and better-fed civilians had surrounded us. It wasn't surprising that the cops were armed, but underneath the weathered clothes, the civilians had bulges or clothes pulled down in odd ways. Behind them was a van with open doors.
"There's a five-minute window," one of the cops said, an elderly black man. "These ladies and gentlemen would like you to meet someone. Without the Dragon's Teeth knowing."
"Sure," I said.
"Get in the van." One of the people dressed like civilians said this. She was in her fifties and had an anarchist symbol tattooed on her chest right beneath her collar bone.
Eliza gave me a look that just screamed "this is not a good idea and you should feel stupid." I shrugged.
"Get in the van," the woman repeated. "They could be back any second."
I began walking and Eliza grudgingly followed. It was set up for cargo, so there were no seats or windows and the view to the front was blocked off. Four of the civilians followed us in and shut the door. In front, I heard the driver's door open, then slam shut. A few moments later, the engine started up and the van began moving.
"This is puttin' me on edge," Eliza said.
A burly white man who was about my age, maybe a little older, and sporting a buzz cut responded, "My plan was to shove a bag over your head and force you into the van, ma'am."
I looked him over. "Let me guess: Marines? Law enforcement?" The man looked surprised for a second, then returned to his stony silence. "If it had just been me," I said, "it would have worked."
"But if we got caught," a nerdy-looking black man said, "you would just say we kidnapped you. But now, if we get pulled over, we've got a bunch of witnesses saying got in willingly."
I nodded. It was a fair point, especially how it was implying that I'd have to back them up on whatever story they made up or be in trouble. But I could always say they threatened me. Then it would basically be a game of chicken, seeing if they cared about the people fed by my (theoretical) ability to keep the factory running. It also depended on whether or not they thought they could capture May and Andy wherever they were or train a replacement.
"But you didn't want us seeing where we're going," Eliza said.
No one responded to that, apart from a few looks of "what do you expect?" We drove the rest of the trip in silence. Eventually, we came to a stop and heard a garage door close. The driver got out, waited for a bit, then knocked on the door to the cargo area. One of our hosts opened the door, revealing a parking garage.
"Come with us," the elderly anarchist said. We walked down a ramp, past several derelict wrecks. I had a hunch we were underground. Finally, sitting on the hood of a very scuffed-up Dodge Charger was the man himself.
"Agent Hicks," I said. "I had a suspicion we'd meet."
He smiled cynically. "Nate, you sound like a Godamn cape. I think we both know that you wanted this meeting. If you decided you didn't want to talk me all you'd have to do is stay in that factory of yours and no one could touch you."
So he hadn't heard about Mayu. Eliza looked at me questioningly when he said that. I said, "Well, there are some exceptions."
"And those exceptions would be very unhappy with you coming to me," Hicks said. His tone was still conversational, but there was an edge. He was being cautious. He stood up, and walked over to me. Despite the fact that he was shorter than me, it was very intimidating. He then said, all the warmth in his voice gone, "I wonder why you're doing this."
"The truth?" I said. I began ticking off the reasons. "There's boredom. That's a big one. Almost killed myself because all there is to do in the factory is alcohol. Guilt. I mean, I basically talked people into coming into a death trap? And for what? Look at what's happening. Plus I was released pretty early and am starving slower than most other people. And I'm still, y'know, under the delusion that you can change all this. Oh, and a bit of wounded American pride as well."
"So," the Marine said, "you're going to do this partly because you're bored?"
I turned around to face him. "Never been in solitary, have you?"
"How long did they put you in?" Hicks asked.
"A long time," I said. "If they ever catch you, remember: they lie about how long you've been in."
"So there's an element of revenge?" Hicks asked.
"Not on my part," I said. "I mean, I don't owe them, I don't like them, but I respect the fact they could have just murdered me." I sighed. "I just want this to end, you know?" I composed myself. "Anyway, what do you want?"
"I don't like the Dragon's Teeth either," Hicks said, "and I need your help."
"As long as it doesn't involve fucking with the food," I said. Hicks raised his eyebrows. "You didn't know?" I asked, surprised. "We're producing medicine and food. If you've been eating from Dragon's Teeth stuff, you may have come across some awful sludge." I noticed that the people in plainclothes who didn't look malnourished made some gagging noises in response to that. "You must be choking it down, Hicks. You don't look like you've been eating bread and cake mix like the rest of us."
"Is that really something you need to know?" Hicks asked. I suddenly realized that knowing that kind of information could get his location uncovered. If he was working for the Teeth and in my position, that would have been the first thing he'd ask. I also decided not to ask about his partner, Agent Barton.
"No," I said. "Just some pride in my creation, that's all." I waited a few minutes. "Anything you want?"
"Information," Hicks said. "We're going to push, and I want to know if they'll push back. Also, do you know where your friend Jennifer Kagemoto is?"
"No," I said. "We convinced her to run rather than being captured." Suddenly, a thought struck me. "Oh, and by the way, ask Mai Lau how the Dragon's Teeth managed to open up a portal in her territory without her noticing."
"First thing I did," Hicks said. "She snuck me up into her penthouse to discuss her desire to be a double-agent. She also wants to know where Jen is."
"If Jen is still around," I said, "I would be very disappointed if you gave her up."
"I want the option of having her rally the local criminal population instead of Lau," Hicks said. "I trust her more." He stood up. "In the meantime, write down everything you know about the Teeth, even the stuff you think I already know, and give it to… who's their contact again?"
"He met him already," the anarchist woman said. "Looked at his stall and everything."
"Good," Hicks said. Then he waved us off. "Go on, get outta here. I'll be in touch."
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"The booze is gone," Eliza said as we were making the cake mix. "An' you aren't getting it back."
"Ok," I said.
"You're taking this very well," Eliza said suspiciously.
"That's because now you have to decide an alternative," I said. Eliza stared at me blankly. "You took away the booze so you have to think of something to do today."
"Well," Eliza said, "is the internet still on?"
"In a manner of speaking," I said. "We have internet but the vast majority of sites are down. That includes all social media, Netflix, and YouTube. Even PirateBay is down, and the sites that are up have no one on them."
"There's some Dragon's Teeth propaganda for about two hours a day. It's static the rest of the time."
"What about playing cards or board games?"
"Apparently, most of them got burned for warmth. The books as well."
"How the fuck were you able to find all this booze, then?" Eliza asked.
"That's the fun part," I said. "It's dangerous, but, judging from my little escapade last night, I think that may have been more of a feature than a bug."
Eliza shook her head. "Bloody 'ell, I'm gonna go crazy 'ere instead of in Isolation." She stood up. "At the very least, we're gonna see if somethin's on the telly. D'you reckon we'll 'ave to pay a license fee to the bastards?"
"At this point," I said, "I think they're trying to get everyone to watch TV at the set times. Some people seem to be protesting by refusing to watch."
We stopped talking for a while. Suddenly, I heard something fain from outside the factory. Eliza did too. "Sounds like someone's talkin' over a microphone," she said.
"Makes sense," I said. "They're probably trying to get people to watch TV."
"Well," Eliza said, "that's what we're going to do."
I walked down to a ruined meeting room that hadn't been used until the last battle, Eliza following. The door lock had been fused shut by a defender who had gotten a welder or some acid, so we walked through a hole the Teeth had so courteously blown in the wall with shaped charges. The TV had been right next to the hole and apart from a couple stray bullets to the screen, it was pretty much intact. The rest of the room, however, was a complete mess. The conference table and chairs were gone except for some splinters and scraps of fiber I'd missed, and the opposite wall had been turned from a calming blue canvas into Swiss cheese and stained a disturbing brown in places. Luckily, the smell of the massacre that had abated, instead leaving
"Well," Eliza said, "Under normal circumstances this'd be sarcastic, but you've cleaned it up nicely."
"Thanks," I said. "That's been one of the few things I can do here. And there's a lot of work to do. A lot I can't because, well, I saw it through the security system and I just keep reliving it." I stared at the wall. "I have no way of cleaning blood and… other liquids. The Deets took all the cleaning supplies, so there's a lot of stains. Luckily, the ground in this room was carpet and I could just rip it out." After that task, I had almost been too mentally and emotionally exhausted to continue. Then, when I had left the blood and piss-soaked carpets and the wood boards that had held them in place just beyond the factory walls, I noticed that they had disappeared. Hoping it was because they had gone to a good cause, I did the same with all the ruined wood and carpet I could find.
We turned on the TV and sat down on the cold concrete. A Legionnaire spoke to us, his helmet off to reveal a rather Mediterranean complexion. "Civilians in the US-NE Precinct, welcome to the daily briefing. We now have the resources for daily broadcasting. Please tune in every day."
I rolled my eyes. "Like that'll work." From what I could tell, for all our talk of being a proud nation, we US citizens hadn't really taken up arms after being taken over. We'd been completely exhausted by the massive death and destruction. Instead, most had been relatively compliant with a growing amount of civil disobedience.
The announcer continued on. "In other news, multiple refugee convoys are making their way to this Precinct. We would prefer all convoys move East past the Appalachin Mountains. We have also increased automation thirty-three percent. Now all raw materials gathering positions have been automated. All other jobs except in the medical, law enforcement and instructional fields are being reduced to fifteen hours a week."
"So what's everyone else going to do?" Eliza asked. "From what it looked like, labor was the only thing most people were doing."
"More importantly," the announcer said, "this Precinct will be home to the first UN-Dragon's Teeth Summit. In several week's time, there will be an influx of UN humanitarian and security personnel. For those of you who are originally from a foreign country not under our control this will be your opportunity to leave."
"Bet that got some attention," I muttered.
"As you may have noted," the announcer continued, "the docks in Boston have been under guard for several weeks now. This is where the security zone shall be located. Security will be split between Dragon's Teeth warriors and UN Peacekeepers. Unarmed humanitarians and journalists and armed Peacekeepers will venture out with Dragon's Teeth guards. They arrive in two weeks." That was sooner than I expected and not something I'd heard about. News was traveling a lot slower, because I'd heard nothing about Boston docks having higher security. Of course, due to the fighting, the subsequent migrations, the Deet's insistence no one live to close to the coast, and possible deliberate genocide, Boston had gone from a bustling city to a ghost town.
The announcer continued, "Commander Brosnan of the UN Security Force asks that you not make any contact with the UN unless asked."
"Wait, Brosnan?" I asked. "One of the two people who sent me to die in NIU so a fucking Klansman could steal tech for them to sit on?"
"If it's him," Eliza said, "'Ere's 'oping that Takashi died. Painfully." Takashi and Craig were the two people who had recruited me to go to NIU for UNIX. One time in my second year at the college, almost two semesters after I was supposed to have died, Takashi had threatened me in front of Eliza and I (much to my regret) had to stop her from disemboweling him in the middle of a fancy restaurant.
As the announcer continued talking about the UN, I said, "Fuck, isn't… wasn't? UNIX based in France? Hell, does it still have enough members to exist at this point?"
"They're fucking rats in UNIX," Eliza said, "and the higher up they are, the better they are at getting off a sinking ship. I'm surprised Carter-Howell thought he could trust them."
I thought about President Anthony Newton Carter-Howell of NIU. He seemed to have a problem with people stabbing him in the back. I wondered how much of that was his fault, and if the core founders of UNIX who'd graduated NIU had been as slippery before learning from him. Of course, before I'd been to NIU, I had never even touched a gun or even been in a real fight.
The announcer suddenly got my attention again. "And now for the list of public enemies. These people are dangerous and are clear and present threats to the peace we are working so hard to build."
He seemed to be listing from least to most threatening. I saw several cops, soldiers, politicians, and activists from before the war. I noticed very few super heroes and villains were mentioned.
"Oh hey," I said, "they didn't list Jen. Have you heard anything about her?" Jennifer Kagemoto was a Jumper like Mayu. Before the war, she'd been high up in organized and costumed crime in New York and a fellow NIU student. She then fought with us in the last battle before we convinced her to teleport away.
"No," Eliza said. "But they're just about to tell us enemy number two, so there's time yet."
Instead, we saw a grainy picture of Mayu Nakashima shooting an elderly man in the head with a pink and black VP70 machine pistol. "Enemy number two is Mayu Nakashima," the announcer said. "Before the war, she had killed multiple FBI and CIA agents. Now she is torturing former US intelligence and law enforcement agents and kidnapping and interrogating members of the Muslim and Latino population. She is also wanted in the deaths of multiple Dragon's Teeth Warriors."
"Wait," Eliza said, "how the 'ell's she number two?"
"Took the words right out my-" I began. Then they showed the next picture.
"And number one," the announcer said, "wanted for violations to disrupt the peace process, trafficking arms, and providing aid and comfort to Canadian and Mexican Special Forces, is former FBI Agent Connor George Hicks."
"Well," I said, looking at the craggy face of the man who had investigated me, "someone's been busy."
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Eliza watched as I boiled the rice. "Is this all we're going to 'ave?" she asked. "Thought we'd get more stuff than this."
"Actually, you're kind of lucky," I said. "I've been saving this hot meal for a special occasion. Apart from some cake mix I found, most of what we're going to be eating is bread."
"What kind of bread?" Eliza asked. "Please tell me it's not that crusty stuff they fed us in prison."
"The good news," I said, "is that they've got the Wonderbread factory working again." I opened a loaf and hander her a slice.
Eliza took it and nibbled on it. Her face slowly became more and more disgusted with each chew. "So they didn't give us that awful stuff as punishment." She took a few more chews. "You sure this is the bread and not the cake?"
"They kept the original recipe because it's high in calories," I said. "When you get a loaf of this stuff per person per bi-weekly period, you need every calorie you can. I'm an 'important war asset,' so I get two loaves per week. So I go around and trade my spare loaf with people for booze or give it away to people who really need it."
Eliza looked at the loaf with dawning horror. "I got three slices a meal," she said. She did some quick math. "I was eatin' better'n you."
"Yeah," I said. "Probably. Almost everyone here is dying, as I said before." There was a long, long pause. "Want to celebrate by getting totally drunk?"
"How drunk can we get?" Eliza asked.
"Well," I said, "seeing as how paper currency is only used for kindling and toilet paper, that loaf of bread you're holding is this brave new world's version of gold."
"This shite's worth its weight in gold?" Eliza said incredulously.
"You're thinking in pre-war terms," I said. "Gold is fucking worthless now. Food, any kind of food, is one of the few things that are worth anything. Guns and other weapons are worth more. Medicine tops even that."
The assembly line below had been rumbling the entire time, but as Eliza's eyes drifted down, I could tell she was suddenly remembering that I was making all three. "So this's a bloody diamond mine, innit?" she whispered. "Don't that make you nervous? Bein' 'ere alone, with nothing but the three most valuable things in the world?"
"Come with me," I said, motioning her to follow me. We walked down into the basement. Two things were obvious: the hole where the Dragon's Teeth had blown their way into the basement and took the factory that was now patched up and the shelves and the nine shelves of liquor.
Eliza paused, wondering what was so interesting, then she realized. "How did you fill all those shelves?"
"Bread and Power Sludge," I said. "People will eat it now."
"Jesus Christ," Eliza said, shaking her head, "this truly is the worst timeline, innit?" She walked over to it and picked up a bottle of American whiskey that wasn't bourbon shaped like a hip flask. "How the hell did this even survive?"
"Dunno," I said, "but these bottles end up in a pile over there, 'cause I've got nowhere else to put it."
Eliza stared at the bottle for a moment. "Never heard of this before," she said, "but now's a good time to find out what it's like." She popped off the cork and took a swig. "Gah, 's been a while. Forgot 'ow much this shit burns."
"That's the spirit!" I said. "Ha. Spirit." I walked over and took a random bottle. I gave it a quick look-over. It was potentially the last bottle of over-proof rum in the state. It was at least a gallon bottle. I unscrewed the top and took a swig. The swig turned into a gulp, and that nearly turned into a chug. I stopped. I wanted to get shit-faced, not choke on my own vomit. I'd almost done that enough times these past few months. "It's ok," I said, seeing Eliza's look of shock and worry. It wasn't, but she didn't have to know that.
"If you say so," she said, and took a pointedly ladylike sip from her bottle. "Anyway, the Final Prophecy-"
I took another swig from the jug. Eliza shot me a look. "Sorry," I said, "but that prophecy bullshit just never ends well for me." The Final Prophecy had already predicted Alma and Mubashir. And Eliza had always been a big believer in it, and so was Mayu. I'd been introduced to Mayu's obsession because of Eliza's near-religious belief, and also been shot in the lung during an ill-fated expedition to Japan. My chest still twinged thinking about it. Just like other parts of my body ached and twinged from the combat I'd been in.
Eliza shrugged. "Fair 'nough. Any rate, it ain't over." I took another swig. Luckily, Eliza had taken a sip as well and couldn't say anything. "We 'aven't seen the fiery angels come down from the 'eavens to wreak vengeance upon us yet, and they aren't fighting."
A few years ago, I would have protested. I would have told her she couldn't have known that, that all this was crazy. That prophecies were bullcrap. Instead, I took another swig and said, "If we're lucky, they'll kill enough of us so that the famine won't be a problem anymore."
"Bloody 'ell," Eliza said, "You're drunk already."
"No I'm not," I said. Or at least not drunk enough yet. Depending on what I was drinking, sometimes I didn't realize it until I had reached my goal of blacking out twice a week. Once or twice, I'd woken up with the circles from a gun barrel on my skin, or one of the pistols I'd designed still in my mouth. That had been less a bug and more a feature, so I upped the nights I got drunk to three.
Suddenly, the overproof rum hit me like a freight train. My thoughts became muddled, and I blinked. "Now I am," I said as things started to darken. I took another swig.
The next of the night passed in bits and pieces. One point, I remember yelling "THE LAST THERAPIST I HAD WAS NAMED JACK FUCKING DANIELS AND I KILLED HIM!" to an empty room while waving a bottle around. The next scene was me lying at the bottom of a staircase, my leg at a funny angle and Eliza calling my name from somewhere far off in the factory. The final time, my vision was blurry and I was looking at a wall, wondering why my hand, face, and foot hurt, and why there was a red spot on the wall, and why it was slowly falling to the floor.
Finally, I woke up in an office, light streaming from the window. My leg was in a make-shift cast, my nose had a splint, and the fingers of my left hand were also in a cast and bandaged, with the bandage having some red leak through. My throat was also sore like I had been shouting for hours on end. Across from me, Eliza glowered, her eyes puffy.
"You," she said, "'ave a fuckin' problem."
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I got out of the car and walked over to one of the Legionnaires. "Hey, uh, what's happening?" I asked.
"Your backup generators were shut off fifteen minutes ago," the Legionnaire said. "We thought that it was a bomb or technical failure, but we were rapidly able to determine that someone manually shut off the power."
I froze in horror. "You mean," I said, horrified, "someone came in to the factory, without tripping alarms, walked either into the courtyard or the basement, again, still no alarms tripped, and turned off the backup power. That's guarded by the most advanced security system in several hundred miles."
"Yes," the Legionnaire said.
"You wanna maybe give me some idea as to how that happened?"
I turned and walked back to Eliza. "So," she said, "sounds like someone's testin' our defenses."
"What do you want to bet it's our Japanese friend?" I asked.
"Everything I 'ave," Eliza said. "Which is basically my dad's army jacket an' th' rest of my clothes. But I'm just concerned 'bout 'ow we can stop 'er."
"No idea," I said.
We waited around a bit for the Dragon's Teeth to signal the all-clear. As we did, I noticed that people were starting to mill. Between the deaths from the war and the rampant disease and starvation, the cities had emptied out. Worcester, for instance, had gone from around a little over 180,000 people to several million refugees to just under fifty thousand. Most of the people who were still there who hadn't spread out to the surrounding areas to forage or escape disease were now working on what appeared to be emergency shelters. These people seemed to be on break or too weak to do heavy lifting, so they had gone scavenging.
"When's the last time these people've eaten?" Eliza asked. "It looks like a bloody zombie movie, don't it?"
"I don't know," I said. I only partially agreed with Eliza. Yes, these people looked skeletal and most had an odd, shuffling gait, but they were extremely silent. Not a one moaned. Instead, they looked at us with a restrained loathing, and there was a low, resentful muttering.
One of the Legionnaires raised his rifle and cocked it menacingly. "Shit," I said, getting out of the car. "Hey!" I yelled, walking over to him.
"Oi! Nate!" Eliza yelled, "The fuck you doin'?"
I noticed that the other Legionnaires were cocking and raising their Pilum rifles, the hundred-round drum mags of 6.5mm caseless ammo more than enough to shred the crowd. I positioned myself between the Legionnaires and the crowd and said, "Stop. Think about what you're doing."
"Standard protocol," one said. "Raise the stakes. If they refuse to disperse, open fire."
"Great," I said, "they taught you riot control on opposite day. No, you tell the crowd to disperse using your big boy words."
Behind me, I could feel the crowd getting angrier. I could hear things like "Fuck you!" and "This is still America!" being shouted occasionally. The slogans were a little worrying.
"This isn't a riot," the Legionnaire said. "This is a potential follow-up to an attack-"
"Or it's something unrelated!" I said. They paused. "Please," I said after a few seconds, "try deescalating."
There was a pause. During that time, I noticed that the crowd had become a bit less resentful and a bit more curious. Finally, the Dragon's Teeth soldier said, "All citizens, this is an illegal gathering. Disperse in fifteen seconds, or we will open fire."
There was grumbling. One angry civilian pointed directly at me and yelled, "Fuck you, snitch! We gon' get you!"
"Disperse immediately!" a Legionnaire yelled back in response.
Meanwhile, another Legionnaire said, "Please enter the building." He ushered me back into my Subaru and I drove into the factory.
After the Legionnaires and Picts that had made up the quick response force were all gone, I went to check out the security logs. Eliza followed me. "So I guess we're collaborators or somethin'?" she asked. "And I guess you're going t'pick at your flakin' skin in front of a lady?"
"Sorry," I said, stopping my fiddling with some of the burns I had experienced from America's brief, tragic war with the Dragon's Teeth. "It itches a lot."
"Better than hurtin' I guess," Eliza said.
"It does that, too," I said, "and I don't think I can get painkillers anymore. The Jason Project didn't feel that giving their creations painkillers was economical-"
"Fuck me…"
"Yeah, I know, and plus the painkillers, and the means of producing more, are pretty much gone," I said. "As for me being a collaborator, well, I've given up. You were there, weren't you? You saw what all my bullshit amounted to in the face of them. Nothing." I paused, "Plus, we're one of the few sources of food left. Parts of the Midwest are still burning. I don't collaborate, and even more people starve."
"'Ow many people are starving?" Eliza asked grimly, obviously not wanting to know the answer.
"Have some of the Dragon's Teeth taken off their masks around you?" I asked. "Because sometimes they do around me, and you can tell that they aren't eating that well. In fact, it's easier to list the people who aren't dying of malnutrition."
Eliza suddenly looked very guilty. "I'm not sayin' we were in a five-star 'otel," she said, "but I'm pretty sure we got at least three meals a day. At least, we got that when we weren't in isolation."
"Hey," I said, "don't feel guilty about eating. I've bartered with people who've done a lot worse than I thought possible to get booze and I don't judge them."
"What had they done?" Eliza asked.
"I… I don't want to talk about it," I said. "Some people, when they hear or do horrible things need to talk about it. Others need to avoid talking about and…"
"I understand," Eliza said.
We sat in silence. "I'm gggoing t'check the factory," Eliza said. "Make sure our friend hasn't left us any surprises."
"Go ahead," I said. "Scanning the security logs might take a while." The factory, being entirely automated by Andy, was a thing of beauty and the security system was no exception. It didn't cover against Jumpers, Parahumans who could teleport or "jump" short distances, but they could be blocked by certain radio waves (unless their name was Mayu Nakashima) and only a select few could do a jump to place they didn't have line-of-sight on without suffering horrible consequences. What the factory did have were a series of laser trip-wires (invisible and full-length lattice weave so that if something tripped it, it would be identified and classified,) atmospheric sensors that could "smell" poison gas and explosives, automated turrets, locking blast doors, 360-degree cameras, discrete metal detectors, dedicated lines that used to go to the Worcester PD department and now went to the local Dragon's Teeth HQ, and, at the center of all of it, an AI that interpreted everything and made decisions. Badly. Before the Dragon's Teeth had shut them off, I had only turned the ones with arcs of fire outside factory grounds on when the Teeth had come knocking and we hadn't installed any interior ones. We also had turned many of the systems off because normal factory operations and literal bugs would cause the system to freak out and act like we were under attack.
Another problem with the system was that there were so many data points I couldn't even begin to see what was going on. I would probably need a year to decipher it. Andy had been highly pressed for time, so everything was a basic command-line system and organized haphazardly. Many commands were broken and/or unintuitive.
As I was fighting with the interface, I heard Eliza come running back. She threw open the door to the security room, her hair askew and a piece of paper in her hand. "Nate," she said, "you need to see this."
I looked at the paper. It was actually an envelope with odd black stains on it, and smudged Japanese characters in what appeared to be…
"…Is that blood?" I asked.
"The moon script? Yeah," Eliza said, "and it smells like Miss Nakashima's." I kicked myself for forgetting Eliza's Lupine powers included enhanced smell. "It's slightly differen' but I'd wager it's 'er's. That's 'ow I found it. Like she knew I'd be released and left it out so that only I'd find it." She cocked her head. "Don't know what the black stuff is. Grease paint, maybe? Smells like it, but I have no clue why it'd be there."
"Don't know either," I said, "but the Hiragana spells out Nakashima."
"Didn't know you passed Japanese."
"I didn't," I said, "but I learned some things. Anyway, what does it say?"
"If it's in Japanese," Eliza said, unsealing and extracting the letter, "we're probably screwed." She opened the letter and her face fell. "Oh. Well, at least we know what it says."
She turned the letter around. I never really learned cursive, so reading the beautiful calligraphy took a few seconds.
I know where he is. You will help me.
After I read it aloud, I said, "We're still pretty screwed though."
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Eliza was trying to make small talk with me as we drove back to Worcester. I noticed that she'd stutter, and her voice would catch on consonants. One instance was when she said, out of nowhere, "I mmmean, this-this isn't…" There was a long pause, then she said, "Fuck. I forget what I was going to say."
"You ok?" I asked.
"Sorry," she said. "I just have some trrrouble talking when I get out of isolation.""I did too," I said. "It took me a long time to get things, y'know, working."
"Still got some of the aphasia?" Eliza asked. "I know that Cross gets th-that e'rrytime 'e gets bbback."
"Is he still alive?" I asked.
"Yyyeah," Eliza said. "Remember 'ow 'e, Eric and Doc went to hide that-that Castle bloke out back?" I nodded. "Buncha Berserkers jumped out and surprised them."
"Anyone else?" I asked.
"Oro an' two of 'er mates are alive, dunno 'ow 'an neither do they," Eliza said. "John got pinned under some rubble, they 'ad to dig 'im out."
"What about MC Disaster, Ray-Gun and the Monk?" I asked.
"Disaster's alive," Eliza said darkly. "To 'ear 'im tell it, 'e's not lucky. They got 'im in the spine. 'E, Ray-Gun an' the Monk were firin' at the Teeth below an' the ones inside shot 'em in the back."
"That's more than I was expecting," I said. "Hopefully we'll still have some booze left over when they get out."
Eliza looked at me strangely. I noticed that my hands were shaking as I gripped the wheel. "Maybe you've 'ad enough," she said.
"You haven't been out here that long," I said. "And it might not affect you, because, well, you don't know the area. But this," I nodded to the burnt trees, blown up buildings, and scrapped vehicles along the road, "doesn't get better as we go along. It's even worse when you get out of the factory and look at all the starving people. Try going out every day and realizing that you are the only person who isn't starving to death."
"Th-then why dddon't you stay inside?" Eliza asked.
"Because," I said, "if I don't go out and talk to people every few hours, the voices come back." I took my eyes off the road for a few minutes. "Do you really think I'd get out of a year of isolation just to voluntarily undergo it?"
"Nothing," Eliza said "you said has anything to do with booze." Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her staring at me. Eventually her eyes strayed from my face to the graveyard of cars and burnt trees we were currently driving by. "But you're right. I think I need a bloody drink."
We had just merged onto a new highway (much easier these days now that everyone was dead) when I saw sirens behind us. "The bloody 'ell?" Eliza said. "Are there still cops?"
"Yeah," I said as I pulled into the breakdown lane, even though I could have parked so I was blocking all three lanes of traffic and theoretically not caused a slowdown. "They started reinstating any police officer who was still alive in January." I realized Eliza might not know the month. "That was last month."
"There seems t'be a shortage of police cars," Eliza said looking in the mirror. I followed her gaze. The police car was a minivan from the late 90's that had been hurriedly painted a soothing powder blue, but the work was so shoddy even at a distance you could see the original brown. The hood had been painted white with black border and sported a stylized gold badge decal. The sirens attached to the hood were on slightly cockeyed.
Two people got out of the minivan. One was an older man in a police uniform that was the same soothing blue as the minivan, but somewhat more well-made. The other was a Legionnaire with just a Gladius SMG in a sling across his chest. He followed the cop closely, so close that if I had been the cop and the Legionnaire had just been my partner instead of a member of a genocidal occupying army, my personal space would have been feeling extremely violated.
The cop, who was sweating profusely despite the chill, tapped on the window. I rolled it down. "Good morning," I said. "What seems to be the problem?"
"Just a standard check," the officer said. To distract himself from the looming Legionnaire, he added, "This weather, huh? Sky's so dark it looks like night."
"Yeah," I said. "Also, did you hear it's the same temperature here as it is in the poles."
"You kidding?" the officer asked. "No wonder the rivers are all overflowing despite not getting any rain. Fucking weather." He turned, noticing Eliza. "Excuse my language, miss."
"Not a prob," Eliza said. "Not a prob at all."
"Oh, you're from England? In case you didn't know, there should'a been snow. There hasn't. Crazy, crazy weather. Me, personally, I think it's from all the plasma that the Teeth-" the cop was interrupted by the Legionnaire clearing his throat. "Oh, sorry," the officer said, a note of panic in his voice. "This is a standard search. Please exit the vehicle."
We did as instructed. "Is this on Olaf's orders?" I asked.
The cop started to say something, but the Legionnaire cut him off causing everyone else to jump. I, personally, had never heard one speak outside a weird prayer they'd recited around me when I was in North Korea. "Yes," he said, "but thanks to your divine protection from the Goddess Thana, you will not suffer his full wrath."
"Tell her thanks," I said. And maybe also to come get her boy, I added silently.
"Your supplication has been noted by the Death Mother," the Legionnaire intoned portentously. He turned to the cop and said, "Search the car."
"I see the Fourth is gone as well," I said as the cop began to search the car, looking for who-knows-what. He wouldn't find anything except crumbs and maybe a liquor bottle.
"So's the rest of the Constitution," the cop said, shaking the driver's manual to see if anything fell out. "Luckily, my colleagues who are happiest about that don't last long." I suddenly remembered Olaf's desire to liquidate the police force and felt like warning him. "Anyway, looks all clear."
As we drove away, Eliza said, "So that was our local Vichy rep, eh? Lovely chap for a collaborator."
"Hell," I said, "compared to me, he's practically resistance. I'm producing weapons for them and he might be helping Canadian SpecOps." We were silent for a long time. I smiled. "It helps that I pay for my drink with some of my product. The booze I pay for with a Maccabee and a couple hundred rounds of ammo is better than the booze I find abandoned."
"Nate," Eliza said. "I don't know whether to congratulate you or beat you senseless."
"Honestly," I said, "I'm cool with either one at the moment." I sighed. "I know I need therapy. Probably some meds as well. Only problem is that all the shrinks are either dead or worse off than we are right now."
Eventually, we were back in Worcester. I turned down into the maze of rubble that led to the factory where I pretty much lived. We would pass the occasional survivor. All looked malnourished to some degree, and most, disturbingly, seemed sick. They wandered around, some with desperate, others in shock, and a select few who had some sort of reaction to the Dragon's Teeth hallucinogenic gas and were now lost in their own world. It looked like a third-world country that had suffered twenty years of war.
We were only a turn or two away when I saw a young black woman walking in the opposite direction wearing very feminine clothes that were suspiciously in good shape. The state things were in, there was no way to find clothes that looked new. My jeans and t-shirts I wore were slowly falling apart, and I wasn't living the life most other people were. Maybe things were getting better, or someone had found a stash of clothes.
It was only for an instant I could look at her, and we were on our way through the maze of bombed-out streets. And then the factory was in view.
And in front of the factory were about fifteen Charon APCs with Picts and Legionnaires throwing up a cordon.
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We left the office and headed to one of the dorm rooms in the Harvard quad. On the way, we passed the executed JTF2 operators. I had been hearing some things about Canada and how they were dealing with the fallout of the Dragon's Teeth War. Mexico was being cautious; after all, they had their troubles before the war. Canada, meanwhile, had taken two strategic plasma forces when they had advanced south before retreating. The first thing they had done after signing the armistice was make a compact with New Zealand and Australia that was very much like what had been the EU, except they also were uniting under a join military structure.
"So," I said, "You planning on taking the fight to Canada?"
"No," Olaf said. "We're using the Swiss strategy." When I shot him a quizzical look, he said, "Switzerland was one the only European country to resist longer than a few months. After we defeated this country, we decided that if they didn't want to submit to the Death Mother, we didn't have to feed them. The problem is, their population was too bloated to be maintained without assistance and they'd forgotten how to grow their own food. Besides, their soil is pretty much completely barren. We didn't say it, but their choices were to join with us, starve to death, or find… other means of sustenance." He turned to me and smiled. "They just agreed to join us last week."
"Your idea?"
"Of course," Olaf said. "Shame that we are reconsidering using the tactic."
"Well," I said, "considering it's technically genocide, I'm glad you aren't doing that."
"It's the only way to win," Olaf said. "The Jacob's Project put us on this path, and we have to complete it or die. We can change course slightly so the Death Mother isn't too pained, but I will put the lives of my brothers over her comfort."
"Alternatively," I said, "you could always leave Earth and go back to whatever planet you came from." We had entered one of the dorms just as I said this. Dragon's Teeth lounged in the various tasteful chairs and their boots had scuffed the fine wood floor. Guns rested against richly paneled walls, wood tables and leather chairs. If the Dragon's Teeth ever left, it would take a fortune to restore it.
Two Legionnaires in full body armor frog-marched a pale, red-haired woman with green eyes and fox ears down the stairs. She stared at me hesitantly, and looked back and forth from me to Olaf, as if she wasn't sure I was real. It was Eliza.
"Eliza," I said. "You ok? Have you heard from the others?"
"They say they put me in isolation a week ago," she said slowly, as if she'd forgotten how to speak. "but they lie 'bout that. 'Aven't heard from any of them since." She paused. "Where were you?"
"I was in solitary for probably about six months," I said. "Then they let me out."
"I think it was only a few days we held you," Olaf said.
"Fucking liar," I said. "The leaves were falling when you brought me in, they were blooming when you brought me back out. Where are the rest of them?"
"I have a deal for you," Olaf said. "When the UN makes its little inspection, you can get everyone back. All at once. Just be cooperative."
"When?" I asked. "I want a concrete time frame."
"I was thinking that the first stop on our tour would be to release some prisoners," Olaf said. "They see how well we've kept prisoners, and that we're reintegrating them into society."
"Such as it is."
Olaf rolled his eyes. "Such as it is. We will fix much of this by the time they arrive."
Eliza was looking at us questioningly, so for her benefit, I said, "Mass starvation and multiple outbreaks aren't something you can fix in… how long? A month? A week?"
"Sounds like fun," Eliza said, some of her normal sardonic behavior coming back in. "Can I go back to isolation?"
"He's getting full rations," Olaf said, "despite being an ungrateful little shit. And if you really want to go back to isolation…" Eliza's face went even paler and she began to tremble. "Thought not," Olaf said. "It's amazing how normal humans think brutality is the end-all be-all to horrible things. The success rate for making people talk just by locking them in a room with no human contact or knowledge of the outside world astounds people."
"The UN inspectors will realize its torture," I said, "and they will ding you for it."
"Ooooh, scary," Olaf said.
The room went yellow and things began to blur. "I am going to ding you." I didn't need to see all the Dragon's Teeth drop to their knees to know it was Alma. The creepy leader of the Teeth was pretty much a ghost at this point. "Olaf," she said, her monotone voice more dangerous than usual, "of all clone commanders, you seem to be the one having the most difficulty adapting. It's almost like you prefer the old ways, if not the old commanders."
"The old ways are satisfying," Olaf said.
"The old ways are going to kill millions," Alma said. "I only allowed Switzerland because it was a back door into Europe. Never again. If you fail the UN inspection, I will send you back to Thebes. Are we understood?"
"Nobody's going to pass," Olaf said. "No matter what we do. And eventually, you'll need me. So everything you're doing here is pointless."
"You have your orders, Commander," Alma said. "Follow them."
Olaf glared at her for a moment. Then he said, "Yes. Ma'am."
Alma turned to me. "I have something to tell you, Nathan."
"No, you don't," I said. "I think we're done talking after you let him" I jerked my head over to Olaf, "run roughshod over my home for about a year. Now if you'll excuse me-"
"Mayu Nakashima is not accounted for."
"What?" I asked. "How can she not be accounted for?" If there was one thing that could be worse than the Teeth, it was Mayu Nakashima finding what she was looking for.
"We don't know," Alma said.
"If she's in the US, and if I were her, I wouldn't be anywhere else, she's somehow managed to avoid thousands of checkpoints manned by highly trained individuals equipped with tech she couldn't have thought up while she was in stasis," Olaf said. "She's been… a pain."
"Let me guess," I said. "she's killed a few more Berserkers than I have?" Olaf glowered.
"We decided," Alma said, "that it was safer to have her go after you than have her head straight to Mubashir. That's why we're releasing Eliza."
"Wait," Eliza said, "I can barely bloody walk, and you're asking me to do 24/7 protection on someone? I mean, I'll do it, but 'e's a fuckin' goner."
"She won't kill him," Alma said. "She needs him to get to Mubashir." Mubashir Mubarak (also known as Moob) was the thing that could make Mayu worse than the Dragon's Teeth. He had powers that could reshape reality and seemed to control him rather than the other way around. He could avoid unleashing them, but Mayu might have a way to change that.
"She won't mean to kill 'im, but she'll flip for 'alf a bloody second an' he'll be chokin' on 'is own blood!" Eliza yelled, incensed. "Did you fuckin' see 'er when she went for 'im in Hawaii?"
"I know you didn't," Alma said. "And I know that when I can make contact with her, her mind is becoming rapidly more organized."
"Wait," I said, a sinking feeling in my stomach, "you can't find her with you power? And she's becoming functional but still trying to find Moob?"
"It's her only way of focus, I think," Alma said. "Her obsessiveness is letting her do incredible things. I just have a suspicion that if someone doesn't let her down gently, she'll snap. Or she'll somehow shape Mubashir into what she thinks he should be."
"You can't pay me enough to get close to her," I said. "Being around her, no matter what my history with her is, is pretty much an end run at this stage. The likely scenario, no matter what safeguards you put in place, no matter how much progress she's made, is that she will kill me. She'll find out I don't know where Mubashir is, or she'll snap like Eliza said, or you'll send the Teeth to try and rescue me, and I will die. And I'd be fine with that, but you decided to release Eliza just in time for… for this. Fuck you."
Alma stared at me for a long time. "You," she said, "are not the only one with a death sentence. I am trying to fix that, but I need help."
I sighed. "I know, something worse is coming." I looked at Eliza. If I pushed this, she would probably be sent back to solitary. "Fuck. I have no choice, don't I?"
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Super Hero Support Group
"An uneducated man may rob a rail car. An educated man can steal the railway."
A Complete Web Serial
Wildbow discusses writing


text:
You should look for the Nursery Furniture since you will never go wrong to take the first steps towards choosing the best furniture. The furniture includes bassinets and cribs to chairs and dressers. You will get all the furniture pieces that you require to have in the room of your baby when you decide to buy them as a set. The furniture is made in the wood and they are upholstered to last longer as the time passes. You can also find adorable toddler beds which the youngsters are going to love when it is time to start using them. There is the furniture in the classic and contemporary designs and you will always get something that can match the style you have in mind.
The nursery furniture also consider grown ups
The nursery furniture is not meant to be used by the children alone but it should also help you when you are looking to spend a special day with the baby. You have to be sure of the safety standards so that you can have peace of mind.
The nursery furniture includes first the basics and it includes everything you need to have to concentrate on the how your babies are growing. To keep your baby clean and fresh all the time, you will get the materials for your baby baths which have rounded corners and anti-slip protection. You should buy storage and changing tables to have everything you need near you.
Playing furniture
While buying the furniture, you should remember playing furniture which includes the sounds and textures or many colors in the baby toys. The toys engage the touch, sound and sight of the children and they had become fun for many people. They are able to stimulate intellectual and physical development. While looking for the toys of your child, you have to ensure that they are safe by not using toys with small parts or harmful chemicals.
Sleeping furniture
The babies can spend at least 20 hours every day sleeping and it is important to have the right bed where the children can sleep soundly and safely. The cots have to be safest standards. They should come with a protector, mattress pads and mattress. You can get everything you need so that your baby can sleep in a comfortable way.
In addition of the essentials, the Nursery Furniture may include other fun things that you can buy. The babies are able to learn when they play and you can get toys such as gyms and rattles to choose from. Other materials are sturdy highchairs, plastic plates, training beakers and feeding spoons.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
IGT Aerosol Static Suppressor to -20° F
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Call our sales department toll free (877) 338-9403 to purchase case quantities of 12/case for only $225.00


text:
semphr. h
SemaphoreHandle_t xSemaphoreCreateRecursiveMutex( void )Creates a recursive mutex, and returns a handle by which the mutex can be referenced. Recursive mutexes cannot be used in interrupt service routines. configSUPPORT_DYNAMIC_ALLOCATION and configUSE_RECURSIVE_MUTEXES must both be set to 1 in FreeRTOSConfig.h for xSemaphoreCreateRecursiveMutex() to be available (configSUPPORT_DYNAMIC_ALLOCATION can also be left undefined, in which case it will defailt to 1).
Each recursive mutex require a small amount of RAM that is used to hold the recursive mutex's state. If a mutex is created using xSemaphoreCreateRecursiveMutex() then the required RAM is automatically allocated from the FreeRTOS heap. If a recursive mutex is created using xSemaphoreCreateRecursiveMutexStatic() then the RAM is provided by the application writer, which requires an additional parameter, but allows the RAM to be statically allocated at compile time. See the Static Vs Dynamic allocation page for more information.
Recursive mutexes are 'taken' (obtained) using the xSemaphoreTakeRecursive() and given (released) using the xSemaphoreGiveRecursive() API functions respectively. xSemaphoreTake() and xSemaphoreGive() must not be used.
Non-recursive mutexes are created using xSemaphoreCreateMutex() and xSemaphoreCreateMutexStatic(). A non-recursive mutex can only be 'taken' by a task once. Any attempt by a task to take a non-recursive mutex that it already holds will fail – and the mutex will always be given back the first time the task 'gives' the mutex.
Contrary to non-recursive mutexes, a task can 'take' a recursive mutex multiple times, and the recursive mutex will only be returned after the holding task has 'given' the mutex the same number of times it 'took' the mutex.
Like non-recursive mutexes, recursive mutexes implement a priority inheritance algorithm. The priority of a task that 'takes' a mutex will be temporarily raised if another task of higher priority attempts to obtain the same mutex. The task that owns the mutex 'inherits' the priority of the task attempting to 'take' the same mutex. This means the mutex must always be 'given' back – otherwise the higher priority task will never be able to obtain the mutex, and the lower priority task will never 'disinherit' the priority.
- Returns:
- If the recursive mutex was created successfully then a handle to the created mutex is returned. If the recursive mutex was not created because the memory required to hold the mutex could not be allocated then NULL is returned.
Example usage:
SemaphoreHandle_t xMutex;
void vATask( void * pvParameters )
Create a recursive mutex.
xMutex = xSemaphoreCreateRecursiveMutex();
if( xMutex != NULL )
/* The recursive mutex was created successfully and
can now be used. */


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Politicians love to propose "banning" handguns in Toronto — and across Canada — to combat violent, urban, gun crime.
The problem is that while calling for a ban is easy and popular — since most Canadians don't own handguns it's not surprising most support "banning" them — it's also impractical, simplistic and counter-productive.
Counter-productive because the inevitable political fight over imposing a handgun ban — which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is considering, supported by municipal politicians in Toronto and Montreal — distracts from real-world solutions.
Those include:
Bolstering police forces when it comes to fighting urban gun crime — as Ontario Premier Doug Ford has done by earmarking $25 million to Toronto police for that purpose.
Tougher penalties for gun crime, including mandatory minimum sentences.
Reinstating a workable form of street checks (aka "carding"), because gathering intelligence from the public is one of the most important functions of policing.
Improving mental health care and funding effective programs that offer young people living in urban slums a realistic opportunity for a better life.
As for a handgun ban, we agree with the previous position of Toronto Mayor John Tory, who now advocates, along with council, banning handguns and the sale of bullets in the city.
But in the 2014 mayoral race, Tory said "calling for a ban isn't leadership. It's an empty gesture", because what proponents of a ban — in that case then mayoral contender Olivia Chow — don't "seem to understand is that criminals and gang members don't obey the law."
Tory says he's changed his mind because police now say 50% of the guns used in urban street crime originated with illegal sales by domestic, legal gun owners, as opposed to being smuggled in from the U.S. — a claim legal gun owners hotly dispute.
But whatever the number, surely the solution to that is to crack down on anyone buying handguns legally and selling them illegally, not banning handguns.
Tory and council had the right idea last month when they called, among other initiatives, for the Trudeau government to impose tougher, mandatory, minimum sentences for gun traffickers and for Ford to amend provincial legislation to enable the city to evict gang members involved in gun violence and drug trafficking from social housing.
That would be a start.


text:
Wilton-primarily based Blue Buffalo is a leading sponsor of pet cancer consciousness and important research of pet most cancers, well being, therapy and nutrition. Blue Buffalo is recalling batches of its Blue Kitty Yums Chicken Recipe Cat Treats that may include low ranges of propylene glycol.
They went to highschool for years and have a DVM after their identify and pass their boards but but individuals value something anyone can publish on the web about meals or from somebody who breeds pets for a living over a health care provider.
Pets love you as a lot while you're sad or drained as they do whenever you're having an excellent day.
Meg died on 15 June 2011 aged eleven; she was the primary Blue Peter canine whose demise was not talked about on the programme.
I've recommended Blue Cross to fairly a variety of pals and acquaintances only as a result of I know their pet(s) will get the best caring treatment.


text:
Agnico Eagle hungry for fresh deals after Osisko
Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM) is seeking to enhance its presence in Latin America after teaming up with fellow Canadian gold miner Yamana Gold (TSX:YRI) to buy Osisko Mining Corp. (TSX:OSK) in a friendly $3.4 billion deal.
Agnico now wants to add assets in Mexico or another country through smaller deals that would possibly lower the company's average costs while increasing a project's value, Chief Executive Officer Sean Boyd told Bloomberg.
The cash-and-stock bid for Osisko beat an earlier hostile offer by Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) (NYSE:GG) and gave each of the acquirers a 50% stake in the Montreal-based company, which operates the low-cost Malartic gold mine in Quebec.
The deal is the largest in Toronto-based Agnico's 57-year history and the biggest in the industry since 2010.
Agnico stock has advanced 41% in Toronto this year, according to Bloomberg, which says the miner's first-quarter earnings, less one-time items, have more than doubled analyst estimates.
Merger and acquisition activity in the sector declined in 2013 to its worst total deal value in a decade as the price of gold plunged.
Such activity has rebounded this year with the gold price recovering.


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Spring 2019 Ready-to-WearVersus Versace
Versus will fete its 30th birthday in 2019; Versace's "special baby" hangs in millennial territory, born in 1989 as a gift to Donatella Versace from her brother Gianni. This loving (and clever) act of affection was openly celebrated in the Spring collection, where the design team reinterpreted an archival lettering hand-painted by Gianni for the book Vanitas: Designs, released in 1994. Using this artsy font, the phrase "Gianni Gave Donatella Versus 1989" was scattered in a swirl of lettering on street style–inspired looks throughout the collection, together with a new bold rendition of the Versus Versace logo, proudly boasting the label's date of birth. The young design team didn't seem intimidated by Versus Versace's mighty legacy; while clearly relishing a deep dive into the archives, they went for their own fresh, rather irreverent take. Donatella, with her ahead-of-the-curve spirit, pushed them toward a forward-looking, freestyle translation of the heritage's codes.
A vintage flair was juxtaposed with a visually rich approach. Injected with a very Versace confident boldness, the au courant street/sporty/workwear/athletic inspiration was given a down-to-earth, cool feel. "We created the collection as a lineup of singular items," said the design team's spokesperson. "Every piece speaks for itself; it doesn't have to tell an entire story." A bit of storytelling fatigue perhaps? "For the last 20 years, there has been this huge merchandising craze, which is probably kind of winding down a bit." It's rather a good point; yet the coed collection's sense of fierce individuality was emphasized as much as its spirit of community, which was also expressed through the lookbook's group images. "We always go back to the notion of reality, of real clothes that everyone should be able to wear," enthused the team. Hence a series of believable uniforms for the everyday. For the girls, the offer encompassed jersey minidresses with gothic-tattooed tees, logoed maxi sweatshirts, and sexy tube tops baring the midriff worn with hyper-skinny jeans and tough-looking, '80s-inspired black napa-leather tracksuits. For the guys, easy pieces exuded a no-nonsense sporty attitude. Lo-fi nylon shells and joggers were rendered in bright colors; vinyl Bermudas matched logoed oversize knits; patched denim pants were worn with motocross leather biker jackets.


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In the quarterfinals of the 3rd FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup taking place in Ghazeer, Lebanon, the Lebanese national team once again showed who's boss on the court by ending the first quarter on a 30-0 run, eventually beating the young Kazakhstan 101-57. It will play in a rematch of the Opening Day with Philippines, who beat Iran 79-67 behind a strong 4th quarter. On the second face of the semifinals, Qatar avenged its loss last year to the Chinese Taipei by defeating them 86-78, and will face the only team that managed to make it to the semis out of Group A, Japan, who in their turn ran over a 9 man Jordan 94-80.
Staring the game trailing 8-0, Kazakhstan scored seven straight points, only to find itself suddenly trailing by 31 points after the FIBA World Cup-bound Lebanese team scored 30 uninterrupted points, mostly by Jackson Vroman and Fadi El Khatib. Since the end of the 1st quarter, the game was completely out of hand, as Kazakhstan never found its rhythm back in the game while the Lebanese kept on pressuring and increasing the gap. Vroman led the hosts with 24 points in addition to El Khatib's 16 points and Rony Fahed's 13 while Dmitry Kilmov had 12 points for the Philippines.
Facing Lebanon will be the Philippines, who rid on an excellent 4th quarter behind Joe Casio's 12 points and Chris Tiu's 9 points to defeat the reserve Iranians, while the starters prepare for the World Cup. Leading by 2 at the end of three quarters, Philippines started off with 8 unanswered points that gave them the lead for good and no trouble at all. Marnel Baracel had 18 points for Philippines, while Asghar Kardoust had 24 points for the losing team.
Missing a lot of players, the Jordanian team played with 9 players to be healthy for the World Cup but that was not enough to beat the Japanese, as they ran over them in the second half to beat them 94-80. Takuya Kawamura had 31 points for Japan, in addition to Takumi Ishikazi's 25 points, while Aiman Idais had 24 points for Jordan.
Japan, who lost one game so far, will face Qatar, who also lost one game so far, after the Qataris beat the Chinese Taipei 87-79. Once again, Targuy Ngombo was the man for Qatar, knocking down a game high 33 points, 11 in a crucial second quarter, in addition to collecting 10 rebounds. Erfan Saeed had 17 points as well in addition to Daoud Musa's 14 points and 6 rebounds. Mao Chia-En led the Chinese Taipei in a losing effort with 16 points.


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Wednesday, May 15 — most of the top 20 cryptocurrencies are reporting moderate gains on the day by press time, as bitcoin (BTC) has fallen below the $8,000 mark again.
is nearly a percent down on the day, trading at $7,975 at press time, according to CoinMarketCap. Looking at its weekly chart, the coin is up over 25.7%.
Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph
Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.


text: uryu ishida #1 Posted June 14, 2011 So I was watching excerpts from the final scene from here:http://www.aoltv.com/2011/06/13/game-of-thrones-season-1-episode-9-recap/And I noticed that as the sword is coming down (at the 0:55 mark), you see Ned's lips move. Anyone know if he's trying to say something intelligible? Or is he just licking his lips? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Ajos wind farm (42 MW) in Kemi, Finland was completed in 2017
OX2, a leading Nordic developer within onshore wind power, has signed a purchase agreement with LähiTuuli for one of the largest wind power projects in Finland. The project rights acquired via the wind power project will allow OX2 to build a wind farm of 24 wind turbines in North Ostrobothnia, Finland.
The total capacity of the Metsälamminkangas project will be approximately 150 MW. Annual production will be equivalent to the electricity consumption of around 80,000 homes (5,000 kWh per household). The project will be based in Vaala, around 120 km southeast of Oulu.
"Metsälamminkangas is one of the largest wind power projects in Finland. It will strengthen our position as a leading wind power player in the Nordic countries," says Teemu Loikkanen, Regional Manager, Finland and the Baltics, at OX2. He continues, "We've already begun tenders with suppliers and started negotiations on a power purchase agreement and funding. Our aim is to be able to start construction next spring, meaning the turbines could be installed in summer 2021."
"Metsälamminkangas is one of the largest wind power projects in Finland. It will strengthen our position" Teemu Loikkanen, Regional Manager, Finland and the Baltics, at OX2
The project has planning permission as part of the area's general plan, allowing 24 wind turbines to be built. The highest wind turbine will be approximately 230 m, and the land on which the turbines will be built is privately owned.
The Metsälamminkangas wind farm will be connected to the national grid, Fingrid, via the Vuolijoki substation through an expansion of 32 km of the existing 110 kV section of the grid.
LähiTuuli Oy, the developer of the project, is pleased with its contract with OX2. "Metsälamminkangas has been an extremely important project for us right from the start, and it's great to see it now moving to the next phase. We think it's important that our farm continues to develop all the way to electricity generation, and this has been a crucial consideration for us when choosing a new owner," Miika Pilli, CEO of LähiTuuli Oy, says.
"Metsälamminkangas has been an extremely important project for us right from the start" Miika Pilli, CEO of LähiTuuli Oy
Wind power in Finland
At the end of 2018 Finland's wind power capacity was 2,041 MW, and there were 698 wind turbines. Last year, wind power met approximately 7% of electricity demand and constituted approximately 9% of all electricity generated.
In 2018, Finnish wind power generation met the annual electricity consumption needs of approximately 300,000 electrically heated detached houses, or one in four in Finland.
Source: Finnish Wind Power Association
About OX2
OX2 develops, builds and manages renewable power generation. OX2 has taken a leading position in large-scale onshore wind power over the past 15 years, having generated more than 2 GW of wind power in the Nordic region. By constantly increasing access to renewable energy, OX2 is promoting the transition towards a more sustainable future. OX2 has operations in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Poland, Lithuania, France and Germany. Its head office is located in Stockholm, Sweden. Sales revenue in 2018 amounted to EUR 403 million. For more information, please visit:
About LähiTuuli Oy
LähiTuuli Oy is a 100% Finnish, privately owned company which develops and owns wind power sources nationwide. LähiTuuli is a sister company of TuuliSaimaa Oy, which provides specialist services in the renewable energy sector. LähiTuuli Oy was established in 2009 and its headquarters are in Lappeenranta.
For more information, please contact:
Teemu Loikkanen
OX2, Regional Manager Finland and the Baltics+358 50 373 6243 email@example.com
Miika Pilli
LähiTuuli Oy, CEO+358 50 505 5188 firstname.lastname@example.com


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Professional Snooker - 2016 Indian Open Qualifying (Day 3)
28th-30th May 2016 / Guild Hall, Preston, England
The line up for the venue stages of the 2016 Indian Open is now complete after the third and final day of qualifying at Preston's Guild Hall.
Jimmy White began his 37th consecutive professional season with a bang by eliminating Ali Carter 4-1.
Continuing to approach the sport with the same desire, 54 year old White proved his evergreen ability to overturn an opponent currently 89 places higher than him in the rankings.
It is set to be the 'Whirlwind's' maiden appearance on the main stage of this event having fallen early doors in 2013 and 2015. In fact, it is the first time Jimmy has outright qualified for a World Ranking tournament venue since the 2014 International Championship.
Next up for White is fellow experienced campaigner Joe Swail, who registered a hat-trick of half centuries in beating gallant Australian debutant Kurt Dunham 4-1.
A number of star names elected to give this competition a miss, with just half of the World's Top 16 taking part. However, all eight of those players will be boarding the plane for Hyderabad, with Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy and Stuart Bingham making it a clean sweep on Monday.
Bingham crafted breaks of 72 and 110 to dispatch Cao Yupeng 4-0, in what was his first match since losing his crown at the Crucible.
Murphy was aided with efforts of 65, 82 and 93 in recording the same scoreline over Lyu Chenwei, although Barry Hawkins needed a deciding frame to oust Scott Donaldson 4-3.
It was a miserable day for the Chinese contingent with returning professional Chen Zhe going down 4-0 to Anthony McGill as well, but Q-School graduate rookie Fang Xiongman upset the odds to defeat compatriot Li Hang 4-2; Fang in great scoring nick as he fashioned breaks of 56, 52, 52 and 66 throughout.
Possibly the upset of the day though goes to amateur 'top-up' player Oliver Brown, who shocked 1997 World Champion Ken Doherty 4-3.
Brown has been somewhat of a giantkiller over the last few seasons. As an invited player he has taken the recognisable scalps of Ding Junhui, Oliver Lines, Andrew Norman, Dave Harold, Gary Wilson, Jamie Cope, Mike Dunn and Ryan Day too.
Fellow amateur Steven Hallworth also squeezed past Iran's Hossein Vafaei Ayouri to become the fourth non-tour card holder to progress for the latter stages at the start of July.
Stephen Maguire, Matthew Selt and Alfie Burden all comfortably advanced with 4-0 victories over Charlie Walters, Gareth Green and Paul Davison respectively; Burden rounding off his win by compiling a 132 break - which was incredibly just one of nine centuries made during the bank holiday weekend's action.
Matthew Stevens starts the 2016/2017 season in 44th position - his lowest standing since 1997/1998. But the former UK and Masters champion began his assault to climb back up with a quality 4-1 success over Adam Stefanow (Poland). Stevens notched up contributions of 72, 67 and 71 in the process.
Robin Hull, Mark King and David Grace were the other happy cueists at the Guild Hall on Monday.
The Indian Open will take place between the 5th-9th July.
Written and published by Michael Day on the 31st May 2016


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I feel like the email we got to tell us that we placed was a little ambiguous, and now I am embarrassed to be mistaken. It is the first year for this type of show...
"Contentment" did win Second Place in the category "Wall Quilts: Applique." I am doing cartwheels!! A few years ago, I got an Honorable Mention, more recently a Third Place Ribbon, and now Second Place. I am climbing the ladder!
This will keep me shooting for improvement.
In stitches, Teresa :o)


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Turbo training session at the YMCA in Redhill.
Get there around 1915 for a 1930 start.
Things to bring include bike(!), turbo trainer, drinks, heart rate monitor (very useful), warm clothes to put on after and a fan would also be good if you have one. A mat to go under your setup would be good, but not essential.
The actual turbo training will be about an hour long and we should be out of there by 2100. I am going to take riders through some high / low cadence work and some intervals. It should be possible for riders to make the session as hard / easy as they wish by means of selecting a resistance that suits them on their trainer (but not too easy!!).
Cost will be £2 or £3 depending on the no of riders to cover room hire.
If it happens to snow so much that people cannot get to the YMCA, I will update this calendar entry by 1700 on Monday so please check that if it has snowed so you do not make an unnecessary or hazardous journey.
Update Monday 11th @ 1600 : This event is definitely going ahead!


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St Agnes Estate, Freedom Village
1316 North East Road, Tea Tree Gully SA 5091
A New Beginning.....
The St Agnes Estate is a perfect example how a new development can blend with old world charm.
The local heritage listed building of the old St Agnes Winery, constructed in 1904 by the Angove family and used until 2009 will feature as a cornerstone of the St Agnes Estate.
The old fermentation cellars has been converted into apartment style living and is now known as 'The Chateau'. Being located to the rear of the heritage building, this has provided these residents with under croft parking along with lockable storage areas for each apartment.
The iconic tower building use to be the distillery tower for the Angoves Winery. This building is currently being refurbished and will allow residents to enjoy a range of activities including use of the lounge, dining area, new kitchen along with TV and reading areas. There are also upper levels of the tower where you can relax and take in the panoramic views of Adelaide.
The St Agnes Estate will contain a total of 31 prestigious homes some of which are located within the historic building ensuring its memory lives on. The surrounding grounds have been master planned to compliment the vegetation native to the area with new mature landscaping being a feature throughout the Estate.
To cater for all lifestyles, the Estate will have a range of homes from 2 bedroom, 2+study and 3 bedroom, single or double garage through to the large two storey homes with elevators. All homes will have ample sized bedrooms with built in robes, open plan living areas and come with two car parking spaces.
This unique Estate will give you the freedom to own your own home with a share in the common facilities. Unlike 'Lifestyle' or 'Retirement' developments at the St Agnes Estate you will own your own piece of land instead of having a 'Life Lease' arrangement. This enables you to sell your home whenever you wish and the proceeds belong to you. NOW THAT'S FREEDOM!
To view the Estate and completed home
House Number 22 (Lot 7)
1316 North East Road, Tea Tree Gully
House Number 22 (Lot 7)
1316 North East Road, Tea Tree Gully


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A stylish haven on a private 220sqm+ dual access blockA peaceful elevated setting on one of Lilyfield's best-loved streets gives this tastefully renovated bungalow an incredible sense of privacy with the convenience of level rear lane access from secure parking. High above the street affording magical sunsets from the front verandah, the freestanding home links the old with the new via a sleek contemporary kitchen and dining area designed to embrace sunny north-east facing gardens.
- Wide entry hall, polished floorboards, high ornate ceilings
- 2 large bedrooms with built-ins plus an integrated study
- Spacious living room with gas heating, built-in cabinetry
- Caesarstone and Wenge gas kitchen with central island
- Dining opens via bi-fold doors to a sunny deck and garden
- Stylish bathroom with rainwater shower, separate laundry
- 220sqm+ block with rear lane access to secure parking
- 350m to light rail, walk to village , markets and Easton Park
Additional details
- Land size approx 221 m2
- Council rates $495 pq
- Water rates $192 pq


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May 16, 2018
Boys golf team takes sixth in conference meet
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Watford City's youth showed up as the varsity boys golf team took sixth out of eight teams competing in the Northwest Conference Golf Tournament on May 8 in New Town.
Tucker Shelley, a freshman, and Jacob Goff, a sophomore, paced the Wolves in scoring as they carded 18-hole scores of 94 and 99, respectively.
For the full story, subscribe to the McKenzie County Farmer


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At some point you may find your relationship with the Savior becoming cool and distant. A look at the apostle Peter's life reveals that he denied Christ three time, even going so far as to tell his accusers, "I do not know Him" (Luke 22:57). This disciple was sure of his relationship with Jesus and had said to himself and others, "I could never grow cold in my love for Christ. Others may walk away, but I will die for my Lord" (see Matthew 26:35).
So, what had brought Peter to this point? It was pride, the result of self-righteous boasting, and he was the first among the disciples to give up the struggle. He forsook his calling and returned to his old career, telling the others, "I'm going fishing." What Peter really was saying was, "I can't handle this. I thought I couldn't fail but I failed God worse than anyone by denying Jesus. I just can't face the struggle anymore."
By this time Peter had repented of his denial of Jesus and been fully restored in the Savior's love. He was forgiven, healed and Spirit-breathed, yet he was still a frayed man inside, unsure of himself. He was still in fellowship with Jesus and the disciples. In fact, after a time of fishing with his friends, he saw Jesus on the shore and they had a pivotal exchange.
"'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?'" He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.' He said to him, 'Feed My lambs'" (John 21:15). Note that at that time Jesus did not remind him to watch and pray or to be diligent in studying God's Word. No, Peter was instructed to "feed the lambs." This simple phrase is a key to guarding against neglect in our spiritual life. Jesus was saying, "I want you to forget about your failure and minister to the needs of my people. As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you."
As you strive to pray, study the Word, live a holy life, and love Christ passionately, be sure you do not ignore the hurting ones in Christ's Body — the lambs.


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Today the plan was to make popcorn garland for the tree. And we did.
Well, actually, Breanne and I did. Janey wanted no part of it, and was even more angry when I took her picture. She just wanted to eat the popcorn (which I totally let her do, she was just tired and angry and needed a nap, I guess).
The thing I didn't realize about making the popcorn garland was how hard it would be, how frustrating it would be for kids, or how MESSY it would be. This is the floor under our table where we were working. Ew.
I planned on making enough to actually make it look decent on the tree, but we gave up. So this is what we got. Looks ok, but a little too sparse. Oh well.
Hard to see here, but Cailin's face makes it all worth while--she is in love with the tree.


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Phantaruk Launch Trailer Released
Phantaruk is an FPP Sci-Fi survival horror game currently under development. This indie video game is a product from the Poland-based game developer, Polyslash. In Phantaruk the player controls a character trapped on an abandoned spaceship named; Purity02.
Not much is know of the protagonist other than he was a science experiment. The titular in-game character is a mysterious beast that roams the intergalactic ship. As with most survival horror games, the aim is basic. The player must find a means to escape and/or survive the hostile environment. Aesthetically, the game draws inspiration from survival horror titles from yesteryear.
Patryk Polewiak, Main Game Designer shared the following comment regarding the aesthetics on Phantaruk:
"One of our goals was to make sure that the player can never feel completely safe. We created an environment in which you are constantly hunted down and can be surprised at every corner.
The in-game antagonist is a mysterious beast that roams the intergalactic ship. As with most survival horror games, the aim is basic.
A planned release date is set for August 2016. The target platforms will be Steam for PC and. A release is proposed for Mac/Linux. Xbox One and PlayStation 4 console owners may have to wait a little longer to play Phantaruk.
Key Features:
• Find and use medical syringes to get rid of the toxins in your body which raise your pulse – if it gets too high, you will die.
• Be on the constant lookout for batteries – without them, your flashlight won't work.
• Survive in first person perspective, hide when in danger, crawl through ventilation shafts and peek around the corners to see what hides in the shadows.
• Discover the mystery of Purity-02 by reading notes left behind by the ship's crew.
• Enjoy the stunning visuals running on the Unity engine and beautiful soundtrack composed by Draco Nared
Stay tuned to the Phantaruk Facebook fan page for more information


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Proposed designation of Orton Fells as a National Park: reasons for extending the northern boundary to the rivers Leith and Lyvennet.
by O.J.Weaver, Secretary,
Leith-Lyvennet Conservation Group.
A pdf of the response form is available for download from Natural England's website at www.lakestodaleslandscapes.org.uk (click on 'Lakes to Dales Consultation page' link and scroll down to 'Consultation Documents'), or you can download it directly from this link: http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/L2DFurtherResponseFormApr11_tcm6-26230.pdf.
We strongly agree that the Orton Fells should be designated within a National Park but we believe, equally strongly, that there are compelling reasons for the boundary to be extended to the natural boundary formed by the rivers Leith and Lyvennet. This boundary is easily definable. It respects communities. It embraces an area that is recognisable, consistent, and of outstanding interest.
On the western side of the area bounded by the two rivers, the Higher Limestone continues as a prominent ridge from the high moors in the designated area further south to the vicinity of Great Strickland. There is a gradual lessening in height but no significant difference in character. Along its length is the same landscape of exposed limestone outcrops, large-scale fields of improved or semi-improved pasture, a scatter of prehistoric monuments, and a historic pattern of dry-stone walls. From the ridge are breath-taking views of both the Pennine Fells and the Lake District peaks.
To the east the land slopes gradually in a series of small, well-wooded valleys whose streams and rivulets gather themselves before reaching the dominant valley of the river Lyvennet on its eastern side. The underlying geology is the same throughout the area so field walls, farmsteads, villages and hamlets are all of carboniferous limestone giving the total area a remarkable cohesion, as yet largely undisturbed by modern intrusions. Away from the wooded valleys much of the land is pasture and for those with an eye for historic landscape it is not difficult to see, under the smaller rectangular fields and straight Surveyors' roads of the Enclosure Awards, the once open stretches of moor, grazed communally by the tenant farmers of the local villages and still recorded in land names : Reagill Common, Newby High Moor, In Moor, High Moor, and Shap Common. Administered by the Courts Baron of the manors, the common grazing of these large areas can be traced in great detail by court records, bringing to life the patterns of life of the mediaeval countryside. Visually and in historical record the landscape of the area is a remarkable survival and worthy of preservation.
Equally remarkable are the villages of this area. Two of them, Morland with its eleventh-century west tower, unique in Cumbria, and Crosby Ravensworth are ancient settlements. Others are planned villages of twelfth-century date, built deliberately to settle the land and increase its population. Each follows an arranged pattern of individual farmsteads, usually along a single street, and each allocated with strip fields stretching back from the street and often to a nearby stream. Much is still visible today and maps and aerial photographs reveal more evidence of this highly organised pattern of mediaeval settlement. Planned villages are rare. To have such a group in one area is of exceptional interest and has been described by a leading landscape historian, Dr Brian Roberts of Durham University, as "important on both a national and a European scale". Most of the villages have vestiges of their original field system but at Reagill, Newby, Great Strickland, and Maulds Meaburn, the evidence is particularly strong. The boundary proposed by Natural England would include only one of these, Maulds Meaburn. A Leith-Lyvennet boundary would include all and preserve the unity of the area.
The boundary proposed would also have the unfortunate result of dismembering one of the key elements in this landscape, the river Lyvennet. In its upper part, which would be included, are the sites and monuments of prehistoric and Romano-British occupation. In its lower part are the villages, farmsteads, and watermills of a predominantly mediaeval landscape, little altered by modern development. The river moves gradually from the wind-swept slopes of its upper reaches to the greater tranquillity of its middle and lower parts where its banks are clothed in attractive woodland. It is, for those who have explored it, a river valley of outstanding natural beauty with a history of human settlement that is of exceptional interest and eloquence. The proposed boundary would sever the river in two. A Leith-Lyvennet boundary would preserve its natural unity.
The history of the area can be read in its manor houses, farmsteads, cottages, and barns which give the villages their dominant character, still largely untouched by modern intrusions. Many of the buildings are of seventeenth and eighteenth century date and traditional in style. But while this is a predominantly agricultural area, evidence of an industrial past is to be found in its abandoned quarries and limekilns, and, of particular interest, the former coal pits of Reagill, Sleagill, and Newby, worked from the late seventeenth century to the coming of the railway in the mid-nineteenth, and whose grassed-over miniature spoil heaps are an unusual feature of the landscape. Details of the output of coal, its transport to places in the locality, and the names of the colliers who worked in the pits, researched and published by Dr Blake Tyson, give a vivid picture of a small but flourishing industry of former times.
Outstanding among the people who once lived in the area is Thomas Lawson, Quaker schoolmaster of Great Strickland, born in 1630 and buried in the Quaker burial ground at Newby on his death in 1691. A leading botanist of his time, his work is recognised as of national value. His notebook recording his research is in the library of the Linnean Society, London. Of more local renown is Thomas Bland of Reagill (1799-1865) who created the celebrated Image Garden in Reagill, built the monument to Charles II at the source of the Lyvennet in 1851, 'Black Dub', and whose drawings of the antiquities, manor houses, mills, cottages, and landscapes of north Westmorland are now preserved in his notebooks in the museums and libraries of Penrith, Carlisle, and Kendal. His nephew, Thomas Salkeld Bland is the author of 'The Vale of Lyvennet'.
It is a much visited area. It is well provided with footpaths, bridleways, and quiet lanes which are popular with walkers, riders and cyclists. It has a national cycle route passing through its centre. The principal roads, M6, A6, and A66, pass close by but do not intrude. Nor is there any other major blemish. From many parts of the area the Pennine Fells form an ever-changing background and from the western ridge the mountains of the Lake District are in view. In contrast, the small wooded valleys in the heart of the area give a more intimate beauty. For its natural beauty, its cultural heritage, and its recreational value, this area bounded by the Leith and Lyvennet is a natural extension of the Orton Fells area and fully deserving of National Park designation.
Leith-Lyvennet Conservation Group.


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Mrs. Sandy Stines Sherlin, age, 58, of Marion, passed away on Monday, October 28, 2019 at her residence with her loving husband Eddie by her side. A native of Marion, Sandy was born on May 31, 1961 to the late Johnny Stines and Frances Miller Stines. Sandy served faithfully in the United States Army and also retired from the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville. She had quite a talent for crafts, with a special passion for creating art that represented people. The detail and time that she would invest in her art and crafts showed beautifully in her work. Sandy also had a passion for looking her families' ancestry. She loved spending quality time with her husband in their flower garden and traveling all over the United States. Sandy and Eddie also spent time at car shows and exploring caves. She had a love for animals and made sure that they were always well taken care of. Sandy was a member of the Asheville Mushroom Club and C.B. Radio Club.
Surviving are her husband of 23 years, Eddie Sherlin; a daughter, Crystal Lening of Swannanoa; a step-son, Eric Sherlin of Atlanta, Georgia; and a brother, Gerald L. Stines and wife Pam of Marion.
A celebration of her life and memories will be held on Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 12:00 p.m. at her home.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Sandy (Stines) Sherlin, please visit our floral store.


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I am going to get one of these Cameras.
This is going to be primarily a family camera to take pictures of the kids. Doing all the fun things they are going to do. I think both cameras will fit these need just fine.
The problem I am having in making my choice is more centered on Movies. Both will shot them but I understand that with the Canon focus can only be accomplished through manual focus where the Nikon will auto focus if you are shooting movies. Again these movies will be for family use and I want to make movies with a camera I am going to spend 1500 on.
The movie feature is more for a hey that is cute lets shot a video of that right now. I do not want to think about it when I am doing.
My question is was I told correctly by the sales guy about the canon. Will the Nikon be a better option do to the continuous auto focus feature?
Is there something I am missing that would make one of these cameras stand out. They are priced close enough to each other that price on these two cameras is not a consideration.


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| 14.9°C Dublin
Fashion designer Louise Kennedy has delivered a masterclass in using colour to create textures and form.
Her AW15 show at her Dublin home was a mix of standout fabrics and bold winter brights with clever silhouettes offering maximum wardrobe versatility.
The 'field of gold' foliage outside her salon was a clue to the opulent use of colour awaiting guests. Many arrived asking about the Brooke Cape jacket in black copper lurex on the invitation.
For AW15, Louise is bold with her dramatic hues, such as black and gold, inspired by a viewing of Faberge evening bags during a visit to the Metropolitan Museum in New York last year.
Black double-faced crepe is adorned with glittering embellishments and the 'Marigay' and 'Iman' (€3,500) encrusted evening gowns are the show stoppers. Meanwhile, the visually rich amethyst/amber and gold/bronze lurex cloths were specially created in Como.
"This season was inspired by fabric texture and colour. We sent colour combinations to the mill to co-ordinate with our cashmere/cashgora coatings," explained Louise.
"The gold lurex reminded me of molten lava and I love how it adds a 3D effect to the cloth. Although jacquard is a luxe fabric, I love how it has such a modern look."
American philanthropist Barbara Hutton, who had one of the finest collections of Art Deco jewellery, was the muse for the bejewelled necklines and sleeves and Louise has embellished her jersey gowns with pearls and Swarovski crystals.
Irish Independent


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Purchase a gift card for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas or a birthday. Our gift cards will be sent via e-mail to you directly within 2 business days. This way you can send it to the recipient at the right moment.
Share the love of plants with a loved one; purchase a gift card from Colorado Hardy Plants.


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CHAKWAL: A crack Down was launched against the illegal agencies established throughout district chakwal and a very good quantity of diesel and petrol was stored in the shops and there were no security and other precaution measures have been adopted. Civil defense officer Chaudhary Talib Hussain on Saturday sealed various shops that were working without getting Permission and NOC from District Administration. These steps were taken after the incident of Ahmed pur east. Civil defiance officer Chaudhary Talib Hussain also warned petrol pump owners that they must adopt all security and safety measures at their petrol pump and now negligence in this regard would be tolerated. And challans would be send into the police station for registration of FIR. It is learnt that the shops of Diesel and Petrol were established at the village level almost in every village throughout district Chakwal. And they have not even get NOC and there was no safety measures adopted in these shops
Home Crime News Various illegal Petrol and Diesel Shops Sealed


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Thanks to AMT's Diyana Hrzic for the GREAT JOB editing ALL of these videos and for Hilena Hailu for getting these organized and posted!
As is stated at the MTConnect Institute's homepage:
[MC]2 2013 Conference Presentations and Videos Released
The second annual [MC]2 MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference was held in Cincinnati, OH on April 10-11, 2013. With over 150 attendees, the conference brought together an energetic and inspired group of manufacturers, developers, technology builders, and technology distributors. It consisted of business and technical tracks, and provided an opportunity to learn from the experts to understand how this game-changing technology is making tremendous productivity gains in manufacturing. The exhibits, birds of feather sessions, and receptions also gave attendees plenty of opportunities to network.
Visit the [MC]2 2013 page to download presentations and view videos from the conference.
Visit the [MC]2 2013 page to download presentations and view videos from the conference.