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Hi gorgeous!
How are you today? Thanks so much for checking out my post.
Welcome to my Christmas Rose Series! I'm excited to show you what I have in store for my Christmas Rose Tutorial, using the Christmas Rose Bundle & coordinating Christmastime is Here Suite. These products are only available until 30 November or while stocks last, so please get your set! It's stunning & you really don't want to miss this one!
How gorgeous is this Christmas Rose stamp coloured with Stampin' Blends alcohol markers! Oh my stars, I'm in love!
Step by step instructions are available for this project in my Christmas Rose Tutorial & you have three ways to get it:
- All of my November Customers will get this tutorial emailed to them for FREE
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- Not my customer or my team member? You can purchase this tutorial for just $10AUD! Paypal me at firstname.lastname@example.com & then email me at the same address so I can email you the tutorial. Let me know if you have any questions.
I hope you've enjoyed my projects today & that you're inspired to get crafty! Please see the links below to grab any of these products from my Online Shop!
Remember to use my November Hostess Code 6QA3SVVB at the bottom of your Shopping Cart, so I can spoil you! You'll get a handmade card from me every month you shop with me & all orders go in my monthly draw, too! November's prize is the gorgeous Magical Mermaid stamp set! All orders will receive my Christmastime is Here PDF Tutorial by email, so feel free to include it in your order!
Product List
NOVEMBER PROMOTIONS! Now available for purchase:
* The New Trimmer 152392 - available ongoing
* The New Christmastime is Here Suite 153947 or any items from it - only available until 30 November or when stocks run out! Get it quick!
* Cute Seasonal Grid Paper 153984
Hurry! Spots are filling up fast for my next Stamp Camp (17-19 January 2020)! To save your spot:
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Many on my Possum Posse team have joined for the discount on the kit and the discount they receive after joining. I support these types of demonstrators that don't want to sell, add people to their team or make it a business. Many do the math and realise that the 20% discount is worth it, just for personal use. Plus you get to choose $235 worth of any products you like & pay just $169 when you sign up! Win Win! Click here for more info or click here to Join My Possum Posse Team xx
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The Gaylactic Network is a national organization for gay people and their friends, who are interested in science fiction, fantasy, horror and gaming.
We work through our affiliated clubs on a local level to promote science fiction, fantasy and horror and other related genres in all forms, with particular attention to materials of interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
On a national level, we promote this interest and provide a forum and resources through this website, through Gaylaxicon, and through email lists for and by the members.

subset: commoncrawl


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Our editors will review what you've submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
- Key People:
- Gabriela Montero
improvisation, also called Extemporization, in music, the extemporaneous composition or free performance of a musical passage, usually in a manner conforming to certain stylistic norms but unfettered by the prescriptive features of a specific musical text. Music originated as improvisation and is still extensively improvised in Eastern traditions and in the modern Western tradition of jazz.
Many of the great composers of Western classical music were masters of improvisation, especially on keyboard instruments, which offered such celebrated composer-performers as Johann Sebastian Bach, W.A. Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, and Frédéric Chopin virtually boundless opportunities for the spontaneous unfolding of their rich musical imaginations. Many an idea so generated eventually appeared in a written composition. Some composers have regarded improvisation as an indispensable warm-up for their creative task.
Prior to the instrumental era in the West, improvisation within the systematized musical context was largely limited to ornamental variants of vocal parts in polyphonic compositions and to instrumental adaptations of vocal compositions, especially by lute and keyboard virtuosos. The monodic textures that originated about 1600, on the other hand, were ready-made, indeed in large measure intended, for improvisational enhancement, not only of the treble parts but also, almost by definition, of the bass, which was figured to suggest no more than a minimal chordal outline.
In essentially monophonic musical cultures, whether Western or non-Western, improvisation has been of paramount importance, if only because successful improvisation is always more readily achieved by soloists than by groups. A monophonic oral musical tradition, however, does not necessarily imply the prevalence of improvisational practices. Quite to the contrary, oral traditions have been prone to preserve the integrity of particular songs and dances from generation to generation with a degree of precision virtually unknown in literate musical contexts.
It is generally assumed that early European music from Roman Catholic chant to medieval polyphony was rooted in such improvisational practices as the exploration of motivic possibilities in the church modes (see church mode) and the addition of a second melody to a preexisting melody or cantus firmus. Modal improvisations have remained central to much non-Western music, including the chant of the Jewish synagogue, Islāmic maqām elaborations, and Indian raga performances.
In the West, cantus firmus improvisation inspired a great deal of instrumental music as well, beginning with late Renaissance improvisations over ostinato basses (relatively short repeated bass patterns) and maintained through the centuries especially by organists who embraced such popular ostinato genres as the passacaglia and chaconne. Organists have remained in the forefront of improvisation as a primary musical activity in no way at odds with written composition, while keyboard improvisation in turn has been responsible for compositions of a freely associative character of the sort found among hundreds of preludes, toccatas, and fantasies written during the past three centuries. Improvisations on Protestant hymn tunes gave birth to the important 17th- and 18th-century genre the chorale prelude. In the later 18th century, improvisation, often based on variation techniques but not excluding the strictly polyphonic procedures of canon and fugue, challenged the ingenuity of virtuoso-composers repeatedly in public improvisational contests, such as those that pitted Mozart against Muzio Clementi and Ludwig van Beethoven against Joseph Wölfl.
In modern times, improvisation survives as one of the chief distinguishing characteristics of jazz. Here, too, the process is usually inspired by, and structured (however loosely) in accordance with, salient characteristics of the model in question, be it a well-known show tune or a ground bass. During the second half of the 20th century, there arose among certain avant-garde composers and performers a tendency away from any vestige of traditional structure. A "composition" from this experimental school might be entirely devoid of conventional notation, consisting rather of a verbal instruction, a prescription for duration, or an idiosyncratic graphic code. Some works required performers to combine at random "building blocks" of brief musical phrases or entire sections presented by the composer; it has been asserted that such a process embodies a more profound creative collaboration between composer and performer than does the interpretation of a fully notated work or the express but limited freedom accorded performers at crucial moments in certain fixed compositions (e.g., the da capo section of an 18th-century aria or the cadenza near the end of a solo concerto movement). See also aleatory music.


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Way back at the start of the season, amid all the whistles and fouls, the defensive-minded teams appeared to be in trouble, a seemingly dying breed hamstrung by the NCAA's new hands-free rules.
As the season progressed, the top coaches and teams adjusted to the changes and found ways around the impediments.
Now, after the all increases in scoring and shooting percentages and offensive flow, the season has come down to a Final Four of teams held together by one common thread: shutdown defenses.''In general, it's like most sports: Defense wins championships,'' said Bill Frieder, a longtime head coach and TV/radio analyst. ''You still need to score, but basically when it gets right down to it, you have to make stops. The teams that can make a stop or two back-to-back are the teams that advance.''
The Final Four teams in this wild ride of an NCAA tournament earned a trip to North Texas this weekend because they can do just that.
Florida is the best defensive team in the country, allowing just 88.5 points per 100 possessions, according to the analytics of KenPom.com. The Gators can be downright dominating on the defensive end, swarming ballhandlers and luring shooters into a fall sense of security before rising up to swat shots back in their faces.
Defense has been a cornerstone for Bo Ryan since he won four national championships at Division III Wisconsin-Platteville and it's been the calling card -- along with that ultra-patient offense -- since he arrived at Madison, Wis. The Badgers are fundamental and fierce, allowing about 56 points per game to NCAA opponents -- nearly eight less than before the tournament.
For all the flash of Kentucky's fabulous freshmen, these young Cats can get after you on D. Kentucky's latest one-and-done lineup is filled with long, athletic players who can harass on the perimeter and guard the rim -- 10th nationally with 6.1 blocked shots per game -- like few teams in college basketball.
And for all the hype heaped on Connecticut's Shabazz Napier, the Huskies are pretty husky when it comes to defense. Ryan Boatright has become a point-guard stopper -- he had four steals and helped limit Michigan State's Keith Appling to two points in the East Regional final -- and UConn seems to have an entire roster of rim protectors, ranking 16th nationally with 5.8 blocked shots per game.
''We are predators out there,'' UConn head coach Kevin Ollie said.
In most years, the high-scoring teams often get the attention, whether it was Florida Gulf Coast's Dunk City a year ago or back to Houston's Phi Slamma Jamma of the early 1980s.
What usually happens at the finish? The best defensive teams end up with the hardware.
Louisville rode its swarming, chaos-inducing defense to a title last season.
The year before that, Anthony Davis and Kentucky's shot-swatting young Cats set an NCAA record with 335 blocked shots on their way to the national championship.
In 2011: Connecticut 53, Butler 41.
Great defensive teams litter the list of national champions throughout history, too.
UNLV ran its wrecking crew through the bracket in 1990. NCa State and Georgetown let the air out of Phi Slamma Jamma in consecutive title games. Indiana played superb team defense during the last perfect season in 1976. Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton anchored the UCLA teams that ran off 10 titles in 12 years.
Go all the way back to the 1950s and the San Francisco teams that won consecutive championships had a young Bill Russell dominating the middle before he went on to do the same thing for the Boston Celtics.
''In the NBA, it's always seems to come down to the teams that play the best defense and it's no different in college basketball,'' Arizona State associate head coach Eric Musselman said. ''At the end of the day, no matter how well you score, you've got to be able stop people.''
The Final Four teams have proven they can do it so far in the tournament.
Wisconsin opened the NCAA tournament by holding American to 35 points and reached the Final Four by preventing Arizona from getting off a potential game-winning shot before the buzzer sounded in overtime.
Kentucky held Kansas State to 49 points in its NCAA opener and held Michigan scoreless for nearly 4 1/2 minutes of a three-point Midwest Regional final win that sent the Wildcats to the Final Four for the third time in four seasons.
UConn went toe-to-toe with one of the nation's best defensive teams in the East Regional final, holding Michigan State to 39 percent shooting and two field goals -- one at the buzzer after the game was decided -- during the final 5 minutes.
Florida is the third team in NCAA tournament history to win four games by double digits and hold opponents to less than 70 points per game en route to the Final Four, limiting teams to an average of 55 points per game.
''We just take so much pride into being able to disrupt the team and being able to lock down guys,'' Florida forward Patric Young said.
So do the other three teams, a big reason why they're all together in North Texas.


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My question may be based on a misunderstanding of basic electricity so please correct me if I have the fundamentals wrong.
My understanding is that watts is a measurement of electrical power, the actual work that can be performed. We can obtain more electrical power by increasing either the current or the voltage.
Fuses are rated in amps. Most fuses for household items are 250V. We are told that we can use 250V fuses of the same amperage rating for our nominal 120V circuits.
Thus, if I need a 5 amp fuse for an amplifier I get a 250V 5 amp fuse.
What I don't fully understand is how the 250v fuse properly protects my 120v circuit.
250V * 5 amps = 1,250 watts
120V * 5 amps = 600 watts
Thus, it isn't the watts or electrical power that is blowing the fuse, it is the current. Otherwise the the 5 amp fuse wouldn't protect my 120V circuit.
So, is an amp is an amp, regardless of the voltage? That is, does an amp have the same affect on a fuse regardless of the voltage? Would the fuse blow at 160 watts in a 32V circuit (32V * 5 amps = 160 watts). At 5 watts in a 1V circuit?
Am I correct that the fuse blows any time that 5 amps passes through it because resistance increases as current increases? That is if voltage increases, current drops and more electrical power goes through the fuse. As voltage drops the current must rise to perform the same amount of work - the fuse blows once the current gets high enough, even though very few watts of work can be performed with the amount of power passing through the fuse because the voltage is low.
Bottom line: it isn't the amount of electrical power (watts) that blows fuses, it is the current. We think it is the electrical power that blows the fuse because voltage remains more or less constant in our homes. Thus, when we ask a circuit to perform to much work by demanding more watts that it can supply, it blows the fuse as the current must increase to do the work. Correct?


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Attract people to your business with this beautiful Multipurpose Outdoor Banner Signage suitable for any business!!! FEATURES:
1 Ai 1 EPS
Illustrator CS5 compatible
70×30 Inches Size
Quick and Easy editing
Organizaed Layers
includes help file
Fonts and images
Only free fonts used. Download links for fonts included in package. http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/open-sans


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Scripting and try again.
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Delicate decorative butterflies adorn this charming country basket, abounding with the sweetest array of birthday flowers that a pretty pasture could offer.
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Central Amazon
Site: Central Amazon Conservation Complex
Location: Brazil
Year Designated: 2003
Category: Natural
Criteria: (ix)(x)
Reason: These tropical forests in the heart of the Amazon basin are some of the most biodiverse areas on Earth and home to many species found nowhere else.
* * *
The verdant green forests of the Amazon Basin cover an area larger than Texas. And the largest protected area within this vast and vital ecosystem is the Central Amazon Conservation Complex—a sprawling 23,000-square-mile (6-million-hectare) site that is itself bigger than Switzerland.
The Amazon is one of the most biodiverse places on the entire planet. It's particularly rich in freshwater species—including more than 3,000 different fish species and the world's largest variety of electric fish. The region is also home to unique and threatened South American species, including the giant arapaima fish, the Amazonian manatee, the black caiman, and two species of river dolphin.
Within the enormous Central Amazon Conservation Complex several distinct, smaller entities house their own unique environments. Mamirauá Reserve's várzea ecosystem is a landscape of seasonally flooded forests, floodplains, and swamps where the "white water" is actually yellowish in color due to suspended sediments.
Each year the Amazon—which is so large its system contains 20 percent of Earth's freshwater—and its tributaries rise as much as 30 feet (9 meters) to replenish floodplain soils and nutrients and recharge lakes and ponds. Fish, reptiles, and other aquatic species take advantage of this cyclical occurrence to move into newly flooded areas and exploit their resources until the waters subside. (Some fish, for example, are known to eat fruit from forest trees.)
Jaú National Park's igapó (blackwater) drainage is a flooded ecosystem of low, thin trees named for the dark color its water acquires from decomposing organic matter.
While the Amazon is famed for these flooded forests, lakes, and channels, the region is also home to dry tropical forests.
But some of those trees are targeted by logging operations, which, along with mining and the conversion of clear lands to ranching or agriculture, constitute serious threats to the long-term future of the Amazon Basin. Although rules are in place to protect the Central Amazon Conservation Complex and other areas from inappropriate uses, they can be extremely difficult to enforce.
How to Get There
- Nat Geo Expeditions
Rivers, not roads, are the transportation hubs in this region, and most of the few visitors to the Central Amazon Conservation Complex arrive by boat, employing everything from canoes to speedboats. Manaus and Tefé are two popular gateway communities for such adventures.
When to Visit
The Amazon is hot and humid all year, so the main seasonal consideration is rainfall. Rain (and river levels) reach their low ebb in November, then begin to build toward annual maximums in June and July.
How to Visit
A visit to this area offers a chance to explore a vast wilderness largely untrammeled by tourist infrastructure. Most tourist access is regulated by the government, however, and independent travel can be a challenge. Visitors typically book boat tours and many stay in local ecolodge camps.


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Dr. Chuck Green of the Hope College faculty has received the 11th annual "Favorite
Faculty/Staff Member" award presented by the student body.
Green received the award on Saturday, Oct. 14, during halftime of the college's Homecoming football game at Holland Municipal Stadium.
Dr. Chuck Green of the Hope College faculty has received the 11th annual "Favorite
Faculty/Staff Member" award presented by the student body.
Green received the award on Saturday, Oct. 14, during halftime of the college's Homecoming football game at Holland Municipal Stadium.
Recipients of the "Favorite Faculty/Staff Member" award are chosen through a vote open to the entire student body and conducted at the same time as elections for the Homecoming court and king and queen. The students are not provided with a list of candidates for the award, but rather are asked to write in the name of the person that they feel should be honored. The award was first presented in 1996.
Green, a member of the Hope faculty since 1983, is a professor of psychology and director of the college's Phelps Scholars Program and First-Year Seminar program. The award is the second major campus honor that he has received within the past six months. In early May he was presented the college's seventh annual "Vanderbush-Weller Development Fund" award for strong, positive impact on students.
Green has directed the Phelps Scholars Program since 1998. The Phelps Scholars Program is an academic program for first-year students interested in learning about issues of race and culture. They take one course together each semester, live in the same residence hall, participate in discussions and workshops, take part in service projects and engage in various social activities.
He has directed the First-Year Seminar program since 2002. Established in 1997, the program is designed to provide an intellectual framework for pursuing college with an emphasis on class discussion that is geared toward making the students become active participants in their learning. Every Hope student enrolls in one of the seminars during his or her first year at the college. This fall, Hope has offered 40 First-Year Seminars on a variety of topics.
Green was director of the college's Carl Frost Center for Social Science Research from 1992 to 1999. His active involvement in the college's academic program has included service in the past as director of the educational assessment program and as co-coordinator of the general education program, and chairing the committee concerned with restructuring the college's core curriculum in the mid-1990s. He delivered the college's Opening Convocation address in 1999.
He was on the planning committee for the first Ottawa Area Summit on Racism. He has volunteered with several local organizations and agencies, including the Greater Holland United Way, the Holland Public Schools and the City of Holland, and is actively involved in his church, New Community Fourth Reformed Church.
Green received a Michigan Campus Compact (MCC) Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning
Award in February 2005, and in January 2003 received a
"Provost's Award for Service to the Academic Program" from the college.


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The Story Behind CAT BURGLAR BLACK
by Richard Sala
When I was twelve, our family moved from a bustling Midwestern city to a relatively small town in the Southwest. It's never much fun to move away from friends and neighbors you've known your whole life in the first place -- but to make matters worse, we moved in the middle of a school year. So not only was I the "new kid", but I was plopped right down in the middle of classes that had already been in progress for months.
I stood out with my pale complexion in a sea of tanned faces. And it wasn't as if I'd merely moved to a nearby town where things were changed but still recognizable. This was a completely different environment and culture.
It had been November when we left our old town, but in our new town it was still summer. Instead of 100-year-old house we'd lived in, filled with nooks and crannies and all kinds of strange and antique details, our new house was a year old with no personality whatsoever (yes, places can have personalities - but they take time to develop, just like people!). But I'm not saying one place was better than the other. They were just – different. Instead of Oak trees there were Saguaro cacti. Instead of squirrels, there were lizards. Instead of suits and ties, the teachers wore short-sleeved shirts, bolo ties and cowboy boots. Instead of nearby museums cluttered with dinosaur skeletons and mummies, there were modern galleries with paintings of grizzled, horse-ridin' cowpokes or Indian squaws, usually with a little papoose on their shoulder. Instead of nights filled with the sounds of whooshing buses, snippets of music and distant train whistles, the nights were filled with – silence.
Ah, the nights. The sky was so big. And with no high buildings or the bright lights of bustling night time activity to obscure the view, you could see so many stars – millions and millions – in a sky so huge you felt as if you might suddenly fall upwards into it… Even before we'd moved, I loved to read and get lost in my imagination. Now, instead of watching TV after dinner, I'd go outside, into the quiet, peaceful dark of our street and go for walks around the neighborhood. You could see lights on in the windows or the glow of TVs in the dark. Sometimes the warm desert winds would stir the bushes. Or headlights from a lone car would create giant moving shadows across the fences that enclosed every house on our block. Occasionally something might fly by above my head, black against the night sky. Was it a bat? Or some sort of nocturnal night bird? It was all very mysterious. And that's what I loved. That's when I fell in love with mystery and with imagination.
I'd imagine all kinds of things – usually based on whatever books or comics I had been reading or movies I'd seen. Maybe those glows were not TV screens – maybe a mad scientist lived there and was conducting secret experiments. Or maybe it was an alien, disguised as a human, contacting his home planet by interplanetary video-phone. And maybe that house at the end of the street with the one lighted window – perhaps there was a meeting of a secret society, a masked gang gathered around ancient maps, plotting ghastly deeds. I'd imagine dark avengers or cat burglars creeping up the sides of the houses, sprinting across the rooftops…
Then, eventually, I'd realize I had better get home – often to face the "don't ever wander off without telling anybody where you're going!" lecture. Which is, of course, good advice, but the pull of the night was irresistible and a much-needed cure for the confusions and humiliations of the daytime where I was just that pale new kid. Those night walks ended eventually. I made friends and became less of a loner. I was no longer "new", but the memories of having once been "new" never really leave you.
Now, as a writer, looking back, I realize how important those days were – and especially those nights. I love writing mysteries and thrillers, ghost stories and horror stories – stories about the night and mad scientists and aliens and dark avengers and cat burglars and even "new kids." In a way, all the stories I've ever written, including CAT BURGLAR BLACK – and all the drawings I've ever done – are an attempt to recapture the magical way I felt, just letting my mind wander and my imagination go nuts as I strolled along in the dark.


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Best of Montana Year-Round: Places to Stay
Find out where to stay to see sweeping vistas of Big Sky and for a home-away-from-home throughout the seasons.
320 Guest Ranch, Gallatin Gateway
This classic Old West guest ranch in the Gallatin Forest near Yellowstone National Park has been hosting travelers for about 110 years. Construction started in 1898, and the ranch welcomed its first guest in 1905. Today, high-end accommodations (with exposed wood everywhere) include 36 log cabin-like guest rooms, 12 riverfront cabins, seven log homes, two chalets, and a historic cabin. You don't have to be a guest here to join the old-fashioned Old Western fun: summer's Monday night pig roasts; winter cowboy chili sleigh ride dinners; a chuck wagon ride and steak cooked on an open fire; and two-hour to full-day trail rides on horses from the ranch's 80-head herd.
Belton Chalet, West Glacier
The Belton Chalet was the original Great Northern Railway lodge, a grand rustic hotel built in 1910 to serve passengers arriving at the western gateway to the new Glacier National Park. But by the late 1950s, the once bustling lodge was silent and shuttered. National historic landmark status saved the Belton from demolition, and after a 40-year closure and a complete restoration, it reopened in 2000.
Expansive wraparound porches, gleaming hardwood floors, Arts and Crafts-style furnishings, and simple guest rooms with one queen bed (book a balcony room for views of Apgar Mountain) reflect the chalet's original, comfortably basic feel. Guests arrive by train (Amtrak makes twice-daily stops) or car, and ride the chalet's convenient, free shuttle to Glacier's Apgar Visitor Center.
"Tourists are drawn by the history of the railroad and the park, but the Belton isn't just a tourist destination," says the chalet's general manager, Christie Dunn. "We're sort of like the bar [from] Cheers for our locals: cozy, comfortable, friendly, and everyone knows your name."
Rocking Z Guest Ranch, Wolf Creek
"We are focused on people who really want to learn about horses, not people who just want to take a ride," says Patty Wirth, who, along with husband Zack, co-owns the Rocking Z Guest Ranch, located about 25 miles north of Helena. The Wirths are a fifth-generation Montana ranching family eager to share their Western heritage and love of horses.
Beginner-to-advanced riders learn the basics of Parelli Natural Horsemanship, an instructional approach focused on building trust between cowboy and horse. Each guest is matched with a specific horse to groom, ride, and bond with during the stay. This connection, explains Patty, translates into a more enjoyable and genuine "dude ranch" experience. "Our guests are blown away when, after only a couple of days, their horse will come and meet them at the gate. The horse has a different rider each week, yet it still can figure out which person is their person."
Rocking Z is a small, laid-back ranch accommodating up to 18 guests in eight guest rooms. Rates include home-cooked meals, unlimited horseback riding (winter rides are shorter and slower), and traditional ranch activities like roping, shooting, wagon rides, and, in summer, swimming in the creek.
Triple Creek Ranch, Darby
Upscale Triple Creek Ranch is a 650-acre oasis of pampering tucked among the pines in western Montana's Bitterroot Range. Geared to adults (families with children 16 and up are welcome), the high-country resort has 23 elegantly rustic log cabins luxuriously outfitted with wood-burning fireplaces, locally made blankets, and private or nearby hot tubs. Rates include lodging, snacks and meals (ask Chef Nick for the chili recipe), house spirits and wine, and seasonal on-ranch activities like trail rides, guided nature and birding tours, fly-fishing, hiking, tennis, cross-country skiing, and photo safaris.
Everyone regroups in the rooftop lounge at night to watch a slideshow of the guests' varied activities that day. "The entire experience is like an intimate and luxurious adult summer camp," says Toni Haselton, who has been a guest at Triple Creek 11 times since the 1990s. "We go there for a romantic getaway, to relax in the mountain setting, and for the gourmet menu fit for foodies. Returning to Triple Creek each time is like the best ever family reunion."
The Lodge at Whitefish Lake, Whitefish
- Nat Geo Expeditions
The Lodge at Whitefish Lake is a grand mountain resort owned and operated by the fourth-generation Montanan Averill family. The posh rooms in the main lodge are primarily expansive studio suites equipped with all the comforts of (a luxury) home: gas stone fireplaces, top-of-the-line wet bars with mini-fridges and microwaves, and soaking tubs with walk-in slate tile showers.
The real draw is the setting: Whitefish Lake out back, Whitefish Mountain Resort ten minutes away, and Glacier National Park less than a 30-minute drive. One of the best outdoor amenities, however, is the Viking Creek Wetland Preserve located across the street from the main lodge at the property's Viking Lodge. Take the pedestrian sky bridge over Wisconsin Avenue from the main lodge to the preserve. The Averills donated land and funds to establish the 30-acre conservation preserve. Interpretive trails are open year-round, and snowshoes are available to guests who want to explore the preserve in winter. New for 2014: Viking Creek luxury cabins located next to the nature preserve.
Chico Hot Springs Resort and Day Spa, Pray
Chico is a literal Montana hot spot, boasting two warm natural spring-fed pools where you can soak the stress away. The 152-acre property also features a full-service day spa, a Western saloon, and a 114-year-old main lodge, as well as chalets, cabins, and log homes. The draw for locals is the pair of eateries onsite.
"The menu at Chico is so special because, like our property itself, it links the past and the future," says Colin K. Davis, managing partner. Restaurant fare includes classic dishes like beef Wellington carved tableside and roasted duck Grand Marnier, complemented by contemporary dishes such as bison short rib ravioli with a sweet corn cream sauce finished with a garden chili oil. In addition, the property has a full-time gardener and a sizable garden. The hot springs heat an on-site greenhouse that provides fresh herbs, vegetables, and fruits year-round. Adds Davis, "It is a luxury in Montana to have such immediate access to fresh produce and herbs, particularly in winter, and that is reflected in our fare."


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Rest in Peace 1980-2020
Premium Feather Member
8 Years
- Jun 28, 2011
- 39,162
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Winner announced post #78
Join our new Caption Contest Here!
Join our new Caption Contest Here!
Here's the deal. We will choose the highest thumbs-up rated photos from our photo submission thread and you all will post captions in the captions threads! You can submit captions and vote simultaneously, so the sooner you submit your caption, the more votes you could get! The caption with the most thumbs-up will be the winner, and we'll announce it at the end of the two weeks.
The winner will receive a free 3 month Golden Feather Membership for themselves or a friend.
How to Enter:
- Reply to this thread with your caption
- Vote for your favorite caption using the thumbs up button
That's it! Caption away!!
Here's the image for this contest:
If you would like your pics considered for these contests, submit them in This Thread
Last edited:


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Product Model Information
The Model U roller is spring retained, constructed of a 2-1/2" diameter 14 gauge plain steel tube and a 7/16" hex plain steel shaft.
Refer to the Roller Selection Guide for help.
U39 Construction
- Between Frame (in): 39"
- Roller Tube: 2-1/2"x14ga Plain Stl
- Shaft: 7/16" Hex Plain Stl
- Bearing: Commercial Light oil
- Roller Retention: Spring
- Capacity (lbs): 196
- Weight (lbs): 9.5
- Sleeve: none
U Configurations
- Commerical Light Oil Bearings
- Commercial Grease Bearings w/ Teflon Seals
When Can This Item Ship?
Lead times are subject to change depending on the size of your order. If we cannot meet the lead time that is listed on the website, we will contact you to discuss your order and your options.
All items in your order will ship together. The lead time for your order is determined by the items in your order with the longest lead time.
For more information about our lead times, please visit out FAQ page.


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Department of Medicine
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I was wondering if any of the bridge guys have made a hammock that is something like 28" wide in center, 6" or 8" curve, fabric ends are like 38" with bars something like 28" to 30"? I was thinking it would be interesting to build a summer use bridge hammock that would function as close as possible to a cot but still keeps some of the bridge hammock stability features? Does what I'm asking make sense?
If you have pictures please share. Also, if you have made something along the lines of what I suggested above could you share your experience and advice. Measurements would also be appreciated.


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Women's 1st Loop - 2011 NCAA D1 XC Great Lakes Regional
2011 NCAA D1 XC Great Lakes Regional Photos. Toledo, OH. Photos by John Brabbs. Interested in buying one of our photos? Both Digital Downloads and Prints are available for purchase. Just click on one of the gallery links below to get started. Questions? Comments? Please let us know.Read More


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The goal of any real estate investor is to earn as much as possible with minimal risk. This is only possible if you know how to make smart choices. To give you a foot in the door, consider the following three things that make a great real estate investment.
You can easily compare rental properties to stock markets. This is because most of us understand these and know that we need to spend money to make money. However, the problem with stocks is that they are so risky. It is comparable to retirement calculators, who make a guess in terms of when we die. If the estimate is wrong and you live longer, then you will end up broke before your death.
On a personal level, you need to learn to manage and negotiate and you need to have people skills. You also need to be able to do repairs, or have a team of people to do this for you. Finally, you need a property inspector. Generally speaking, investing in property means you will become a landlord. Hence, you will need to learn how to find good tenants and how to be a landlord too. Real estate investing is all about spending money to make more money. It will be nearly impossible to get involved in this world without having some money of your own. You are now ready to become an investor, which means you can start looking into locations. You can find out all sorts from the internet, local libraries and town board meetings. You must learn about what the location is like and how it is likely to develop.
Generally speaking, it is easier to get started with rental properties if you are younger, particularly if you don't have a lot of money to put down. This is because banks usually want at least 20% as a down payment before agreeing on a mortgage. 20% can equate to a lot of money, particularly if you will also need to do repairs. However, if you are a bit younger, banks may be slightly more understanding. There are quite a few other things you need to look into. One of the things you will need to work out is which property to invest in at all. However, even this requires a whole lot of research and analyzing. You also need to work with a good realtor to represent your needs. Their goal is to make sure that you find good properties and make solid investments. Once you have your property, you need to learn what it means to be a good landlord, which will also take some time. However, overall, it is time well spent.


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The Digital Preservation site didn't have enough activity during the beta, and has been closed. You can download the data dump of all questions here.
closed after20
days in beta
At the end of beta, this site had...
per day
per day
Needs Work – 10 questions per day on average is a healthy beta, 5 questions or fewer per day needs some work. A healthy site generates lots of good content to make sure users keep coming back.
Excellent – 90% answered is a healthy beta, 80% answered needs some work. In the beta it's especially important that when new visitors ask questions they usually get a good answer.
avid users
total users
Needs Work – Every site needs a solid group of core users to assist in moderating the site. We recommend:
- 150 users with 200+ rep (currently 0 users with 200+ rep)
- 10 users with 2,000+ rep (currently 0 users with 2,000+ rep)
- 5 users with 3,000+ rep (currently 0 users with 3,000+ rep)
answer ratio
Okay – 2.5 answers per question is good, only 1 answer per question needs some work. On a healthy site, questions receive multiple answers and the best answer is voted to the top.
Top Beta Users
No beta users with 200 reputation yet
This site has been
This proposal didn't have enough activity during the beta. It was closed 10 years ago.
You could try proposing a variation of this site that you think will have a better chance.
proposed by
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edited by
public beta start
private beta start
10 years ago
commitment start
11 years ago
committed users
378 users committed
32.3% signed up for beta
0% fulfilled commitment
224 users followed
22.8% signed up for beta
users also committed to
69.0% only this proposal


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The gourmet shop at Abt is a great place to stop for last-minute gift ideas. It's not just for kitchen accessories. We have anything you could imagine, from kitchen tools for kids to kitchen electrics for the most discriminating chef.
How about a gift for someone that loves to bake? All of the Kitchen Aid stand mixer accessories have a 20% rebate, just in time for Christmas cookie season!
Do you need a gift idea for someone going green? We have the Sodastream starter kit for $129. The kit is environmentally friendly, uses no electricity or batteries, and the bottles are reusable. Richie P., from the gourmet shop, says the Sodastream is good for kids too. She says, "It's easy to control sugar intake when you are making your own soda."
Looking for more ideas for a foodie, contact Rebecca or anyone else in the gourmet shop, they're always here to help!
-Kelly B.


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(CNN) -- Blanche Danick may be 86 years old, but she's pretty hip. She keeps up with all the latest health news, and a while back, she called her daughter wanting to know whether she should start taking the herb ginkgo biloba. She'd heard it might stave off Alzheimer's disease.
"I told her not to bother, that it wouldn't make much of a difference," says her daughter, Edythe London, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of California, Los Angeles. "On the basis of what I've read, I don't think it staves off dementia."
London's advice makes a lot of sense, according to a study out this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Ginkgo is a top-selling herb and has been hailed by some as a memory-booster, but the new University of Pittsburgh study found it didn't help prevent Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia in more than 3,000 elderly study subjects.
Ginkgo manufacturers say this isn't the first -- or the last -- word on the herb. "There is a significant body of scientific and clinical evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of ginkgo extract for both cognitive function and improved circulation," said Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council.
London's still skeptical. "But I do tell my mother there are other things she can do," says London, who's studied the brain and aging. "I tell her to go out and do things and see people every day and be active." Studies have shown that physical exercise, the kind that keeps the heart healthy, also keeps the brain healthy, according to the National Institutes of Health's Cognitive and Emotional Health Project. Watch more on staving off Alzheimer's »
People are like rats, London says. "If you put a rat in a cage by itself, it won't do well on cognitive tests. But if you give it toys and put other rats in its cage, they're going to be smarter rats."
In addition to playing with toys and hanging out with your fellow rats, here are five other tips for keeping your memory sharp. London says they help work on memory centers of the brain, including the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, identified in the diagram above.
1. Antioxidants
London makes sure her mother takes vitamins A, C, and E. They're antioxidants, which prevent cell damage and are believed by some to slow down diseases of aging. "There are studies that suggest antioxidants might prevent dementia," she says.
2. Fish oil supplements
Dr. Gary Small, director of the UCLA Center on Aging, says aging brains show signs of inflammation, and fish oil has anti-inflammatory properties.
3. Phosphatidylserine supplements
Phosphatidylserine is a lipid found naturally in the body. Small says he's not 100 percent convinced these supplements will help stave off dementia, but they're worth a try. "If I start having memory problems when I get older, I'll give them a trial run and see if they help," says Small, author of the new book "iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind."
4. Curry
Small, who's 57, says that as he gets older, he might also try eating more foods with curry in them. "Some studies in Singapore show that those who ate curry once a week had better memory scores," he said.
5. Cross-training your brain
"Our brains can be made stronger through exercise," says Andrew Carle, assistant professor of in the department of health administration and policy at George Mason University. "In the same way physical exercise can delay many of the effects of aging on the body, there's some evidence cognitive exercise can at least delay the onset of Alzheimer's."
But Carle says it's not enough to do just one kind of brain exercise. "Doing a crossword puzzle every day is good, but it's the equivalent of doing only pushups -- your arms will get strong, but not the rest of your body."
He recommends doing other activities in addition, such as computing numbers in your head instead of using a calculator, or using one of the "brain gym" computer games designed to enhance brain function.
As for London, who's 60, she thinks her best bet at staving off dementia doesn't come in a bottle, or on a dinner plate, or in a computer game. "I'm going to keep working on my research, and surround myself with young people, and do a lot of exercise," she says. "I'm going to be a happy old lady. That in and of itself is going to do a lot of good for my brain."
CNN media coordinator Ashauntae Porras contributed to this report.
All About Alzheimer's Disease • Vitamins and Supplements • Exercise and Fitness


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Sync your devices
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Firefox is made by Mozilla, the non-profit champions of a healthy internet. Mozilla also tackles issues like privacy, misinformation and trolling by investing in fellowships, campaigns and new technologies designed to make the internet healthier.
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Fast for good.


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The following articles is taken from the New York Times website. See: http://nyti.ms/1W2Y2hW. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of the Intervoice board.
New Approach Advised to Treat Schizophrenia
By BENEDICT CAREY OCT. 20, 2015
More than two million people in the United States have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and the treatment for most of them mainly involves strong doses of antipsychotic drugs that blunt hallucinations and delusions but can come with unbearable side effects, like severe weight gain or debilitating tremors.
Now, results of a landmark government-funded study call that approach into question. The findings, from by far the most rigorous trial to date conducted in the United States, concluded that schizophrenia patients who received smaller doses of antipsychotic medication and a bigger emphasis on one-on-one talk therapy and family support made greater strides in recovery over the first two years of treatment than patients who got the usual drug focused care.
The report, to be published on Tuesday in The American Journal of Psychiatry and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, comes as Congress debates mental health reform and as interest in the effectiveness of treatments grows amid a debate over the possible role of mental illness in mass shootings.
Its findings have already trickled out to government agencies: On Friday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published in its influential guidelines a strong endorsement of the combined-therapy approach. Mental health reform bills now being circulated in Congress "mention the study by name," said Dr. Robert K. Heinssen, the director of services and intervention research at the centers, who oversaw the research.
In 2014, Congress awarded $25 million in block grants to the states to be set aside for early-intervention mental health programs. So far, 32 states have begun using those grants to fund combined-treatment services, Dr. Heinssen said.
Experts said the findings could help set a new standard of care in an area of medicine that many consider woefully inadequate: the management of so-called first episode psychosis, that first break with reality in which patients (usually people in their late teens or early 20s) become afraid and deeply suspicious. The sooner people started the combined treatment after that first episode, the better they did, the study found. The average time between the first episode and receiving medical care — for those who do get it — is currently about a year and half.
The more holistic approach that the study tested is based in part on programs in Australia, Scandinavia and elsewhere that have improved patients' lives in those countries for decades. This study is the first test of the approach in this country — in the "real world" as researchers described it, meaning delivered through the existing infrastructure, by community mental health centers.
The drugs used to treat schizophrenia, called antipsychotics, work extremely well for some people, eliminating psychosis with few side effects; but most who take them find that their bad effects, whether weight gain, extreme drowsiness, or emotional numbing, are hard to live with. Nearly three quarters of people prescribed medications for the disorder stop taking them within a year and a half, studies find.
"As for medications, I have had every side effect out there, from chills and shakes to lockjaw and lactation," said a participant in the trial, Maggie, 20, who asked that her last name be omitted. She did well in the trial and is now attending nursing school.
Doctors praised the study results.
"I'm very favorably impressed they were able to pull this study off so successfully, and it clearly shows the importance of early intervention," said Dr. William T. Carpenter, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.
Dr. Mary E. Olson, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, who has worked to promote approaches to psychosis that are less reliant on drugs, said the combined treatment had a lot in common with Open Dialogue, a Finnish program developed in the 1980s.
"These are zeitgeist ideas, and I think it's thrilling that this trial got such good results," Dr. Olson said.
In the new study, doctors used the medications as part of a package of treatments and worked to keep the doses as low as possible — in some cases 50 percent lower — minimizing their bad effects. The sprawling research team, led by Dr. John M. Kane, chairman of the psychiatry department at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, randomly assigned 34 community care clinics in 21 states to provide either treatment as usual, or the combined package.
The team trained staff members at the selected clinics to deliver that package, and it included three elements in addition to the medication. First, help with work or school such as assistance in deciding which classes or opportunities are most appropriate, given a person's symptoms. Second, education for family members to increase their understanding of the disorder. And finally, one-on-one talk therapy in which the person with the diagnosis learns tools to build social relationships, reduce substance use and help manage the symptoms, which include mood problems as well as hallucinations and delusions.
For example, some patients can learn to defuse the voices in their head — depending on the severity of the episode — by ignoring them or talking back.
The team recruited 404 people with first-episode psychosis, mostly diagnosed in their late teens or 20s. About half got the combined approach and half received treatment as usual. Clinicians monitored both groups using standardized checklists that rate symptom severity and quality of life, like whether a person is working, and how well he or she is getting along with family members.
The group that started on the combined treatment scored, on average, more poorly on both measures at the beginning of the trial. Over two years, both groups showed steady improvement. But by the end, those who had been in the combined program had more symptom relief, and were functioning better as well. They had also been on drug doses that were 20 percent to 50 percent lower, Dr. Kane said.
"One way to think about it is, if you look at the people who did the best — those we caught earliest after their first episode — their improvement by the end was easily noticeable by friends and family," Dr. Kane said. The gains for those in typical treatment were apparent to doctors, but much less obvious.
Dr. Kenneth Duckworth, medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, an advocacy group, called the findings "a game-changer for the field" in the way it combines multiple, individualized therapies, suited to the stage of the psychosis.
The study, begun in 2009, almost collapsed under the weight of its ambition. The original proposal called for two parallel trials, each including hundreds of first-episode patients. But recruiting was so slow for one of the trials that it was abandoned, said Dr. Heinssen.
"It's been a long haul," Dr. Heinssen added, "but it's worth noting that it usually takes about 17 years for a new discovery to make it into clinical practice; or that's the number people throw around. But this process only took seven years."
A version of this article appears in print on October 20, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: New Approach May Alleviate Schizophrenia .
© 2015 The New York Times Company


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Much Not Known About Iranian Weapons Found in Afghanistan
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, April 23, 2007 – In the last month, U.S. troops in Afghanistan have found weapons made in Iran, though how the weapons got there is a vexing question, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told servicemembers during a town hall session here April 21.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace told the troops he wanted to be very precise about what the United States "knows and what we don't know" about the weapons.
"In the last month, we have intercepted in Afghanistan weapons that were made in Iran," Pace said in response to a question. "(We) don't know how they got here. (We) don't know if the Iranian government knows they are here. We just know that weapons made in Iran are here."
This is much different from what the United States knows about Iranian involvement in Iraq, he said. Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force are shipping weapons to Iraqi insurgents and training Iraqi insurgents in Iran, and coalition forces have captured Quds Force members in Iraq.
"But we don't know if the leadership in Iran knows about what is happening in Iraq," he said. "Either they do know, or they do not know about what is happening in Iraq. Either way, it's not good if their military is involved."
The picture is less clear in Afghanistan, he said. U.S. and coalition partners are dealing with the Iranian government diplomatically, the chairman said. Afghan leaders also are bringing the subject up with their neighbor to the west, he added.
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Lineup to Include Newly Announced "Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star", "STORY OF SEASONS: Trio of Towns", "AKIBA'S BEAT" and Highly Anticipated "The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II"
Torrance, Calif., – June 7, 2016 – XSEED Games, the independent-minded console publishing brand of Marvelous USA, Inc., announced its exciting lineup of games that will be shown for the first time at the 2016 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) June 14 – 16 in Los Angeles. Revealed today are Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system, and STORY OF SEASONS: Trio of Towns for the Nintendo 3DS™ family of systems.
The company will additionally showcase The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and "PSVita" system, Corpse Party for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, and recently announced indie games; Shantae: Half-Genie Hero for PS4™, Wii U™, and "PSVita", Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity for PS4™, and Exile's End for PS4™, Wii U, and "PSVita."
Also announced today was the addition of AKIBA'S BEAT, also for the PS4™ and "PSVita" to the company's lineup, which is currently set for a Winter 2016 launch. More information about the game will be made available at E3.
"We're excited about the expansion of our portfolio with the addition of titles from high profile franchises such as Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star and follow-ups to our acclaimed properties with STORY OF SEASONS and The Legend of Heroes," said Shinichi Suzuki, President & CEO of Marvelous USA. "Alongside independent labors of love including Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, we are very much looking forward to showing off these games for the first time at E3."
XSEED Games will be located in the West Hall, Booth #5000. The following titles have not yet been rated by the ESRB unless stated otherwise.
Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star
[Platforms: PS4, PSVita; Release: Winter] – Expanding upon the extensive and much-beloved Fate universe with a standalone story from acclaimed series writer Kinoko Nasu (of Fate/stay night fame), Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star, developed by Marvelous Inc., transpires on the new world of Extella through a diverse cast of "Servants" – ancient warriors of legend and imagination, always at their Masters' orders – who survived the Holy Grail War that took place on the Moon. In a future ruled by the all-powerful lunar super computer Moon Cell Automaton, these champions now duke it out for dominance over this digital realm, known as "SE.RA.PH." This story takes place after the events described in Fate/EXTRA, and depicts the world after that previous Holy Grail War. Players will experience the story from the independent perspectives of the three heroine Servants and face off against foes from a variety of Fate productions, including characters from Fate/stay night, Fate/Apocrypha and Fate/Grand Order, in fast-paced action. A new form change battle mechanic debuts in this entry to match its series-first gameplay style, transforming the player-controlled Servants and granting them considerable powers that allow them to devastate enemies and take formidable challenges head-on.
STORY OF SEASONS: Trio of Towns
[Platform: Nintendo 3DS; Release: 2017] – In celebration of the upcoming 20th anniversary of the longest-running farming and life simulation series, the beloved Bokujo Monogatari franchise – now known as STORY OF SEASONS in the West – returns with its biggest adventure yet in STORY OF SEASONS: Trio of Towns. Settled on a homestead in the middle of three distinct and uniquely themed locales, players can explore a diverse landscape as they search for new ways to grow their farms and friendships. Extensive customization and gameplay options are on offer in Trio of Towns, with each village offering its own variety of regional crops, lads and ladies to romance, animals, festivals, furniture, decorations and more. More ways to play sprout up as players connect to one another locally or via the internet to chat, trade, and enhance items on a mysterious multiplayer island.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
[Platforms: PSVita, PS3; Release: Fall 2016] – The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II picks up one month after the decisive collision which changed the fate of the entire nation at the conclusion of Trails of Cold Steel. Speedy, tactical turn-based combat with the newly-developed "ARCUS" system returns with all the bells and whistles players fondly remember alongside a new Overdrive mode, new means of transportation both across the land and sky, new allies, new dangers, and a renewed sense of hope as Rean tirelessly works to right the wrongs that have led the country to disarray. Cross-Save functionality between the game's "PSVita" and PS3™ editions returns, and clear data from the first game grants bonus stats and extra items. In addition, relationships cultivated during the earlier time players spent at Thors Military Academy affect future story elements and allow for more personalized conversations throughout the game.
Corpse Party
[Platform: Nintendo 3DS; Release: Summer 2016] – In the critically acclaimed cult hit Corpse Party, players take control of a group of Japanese high school students who inadvertently engage in a pagan ritual and find themselves inexplicably transported into a whole other space: an inescapable echo of a long-since demolished school building where a series of brutal murders once took place. Presented using crisp 2D sprite graphics in a classic 16-bit style, Corpse Party is brought to life with gruesome and horrifyingly detailed portraits and art stills, vividly descriptive text, and binaural 3D audio when played with headphones for a more immersive audioscape. Players' minds are prone to wander in this horror adventure, providing a uniquely engrossing and terrifying story-driven experience. Remastered from the 2011 PSP game, the Nintendo 3DS rendition of Corpse Party will feature redrawn, high-resolution character sprites, newly arranged music tracks, and 3D art stills, as well as four new Extra Chapters exclusive to this version that provide insight into lesser-shown characters and plot elements previously left unexplained.
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
[Platforms: PS4, PSVita, Wii U; Release: Fall 2016] – After three successful outings, Shantae is ready to embark on her first big-screen adventure in Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. Vibrant, high-definition graphics bring new detail to the series' charming hand-drawn sprites, which take center stage in this engaging 2.5D entry along with the franchise's signature action-packed platforming and heavy exploration elements. As Shantae masters her trademark Belly Dance Magic to transform into various creatures, old stages can be explored again to unearth new items and secrets, ensuring there's plenty of content for casual players and platforming gurus alike. Steamy jungles, ancient ruins, and stormy deserts lie between Shantae and the ultimate showdown against her arch-nemesis: the bodacious buccaneer Risky Boots!
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity
[Platform: PS4; Release: Summer 2016] – Set in the ever-evolving Touhou Project universe, the fan-created Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity trades in the series' top down bullet-hell roots for an action RPG style approach, drawing inspiration from games such as Ys while retaining Touhou's classic indie feel. Utilizing the titular Remilia Scarlet's vampiric powers or the time-stopping abilities of her devoted maid Sakuya Izayoi, players will explore a wide variety of environments in 1080p at a smooth 60 frames per second, fighting their way through the game's myriad of aggressive creatures while conquering tricky and highly varied platforming challenges. The series' signature complex enemy patterns and waves of projectiles will keep players on their toes with the game's fast-paced combat as they battle to retake Scarlet's manor in this standalone adventure!
Exile's End
[Platforms: PS4, PSVita, Wii U; Release: Summer 2016] – A dark and futuristic 2D sidescroller offering adventure-style puzzles, exploration-driven platforming, and dangerous extraterrestrials, Exile's End draws inspiration from classic "cinematic platformers" with its animated cutscenes, multiple endings, an atmospheric soundtrack by Keiji Yamagishi and much more. Players will investigate a massive, interconnected alien world as they solve the mystery of a strange disappearance on a distant mining planet and experience a story of ancient riddles and modern-day hubris. Backed by Japanese publisher Marvelous Inc., Exile's End is a collaboration between Tokyo-based indie game developer Matt Fielding and many talented local industry veterans, and a partial remake that significantly expands on the ideas behind Fielding's first game, Inescapable.
For more information on XSEED Games products, please visit www.xseedgames.com. Fans can also follow XSEED Games on Facebook at www.facebook.com/XSEEDGames and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/XSEEDGames.


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Läs mer om bandet...
Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a supergroup, from Halmstad, formed in 1996. Its members were in bands such as Carcass, Armageddon, Carnage, Mercyful Fate, Spiritual Beggars, and Eucharist. It was founded by Carcass guitarist Michael Amott along with Johan Liiva, who were both originally from the influential death metal band Carnage. The band was originally fronted by Johan Liiva, who was replaced by German Angela Gossow as lead vocalist in 2000. Gossow left the group in March 2014 and was replaced by Canadian Alissa White-Gluz, while remaining as the band's manage...
AMON AMARTH, Arch Enemy & Hypocrisy @ Malmö Arena 11/12-19
[Concert Review/Swe]
Arch Enemy - Summer Breeze 2014
[Concert Review/Swe]
Arch Enemy, Chthonic, Malefice & Grand Magus - 27/11/2010
[Concert Review/Eng]
Arch Enemy - Khaos legions
[CD Review/Eng]


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Instagram pictures have been wonky inside of Twitter ever since Instagram disabled Twitter cards in hopes of driving users to its own web interface. Now Instagram pictures aren't showing at all in Twitter's native web client, and that change is permanent.
From now on, links to Instagram pictures on Twitter will work as links and nothing but. If you want to get back instant-show functionality for your filtered pictures, you'll just have to switch over to the Twitter version that's due to launch sometime before the holidays. A Twitter status blog update confirms this is due to Instagram turning card support all the way off; this is no glitch. It's the end of an era.


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Earlier in the year I was contacted by Maison Lejaby about reviewing one of their pieces, and though I wasn't familiar with the brand, I quickly had a look around their website and gladly accepted! Maison Lejaby is a French brand that has been around since the 1930's, offering some absolutely divine pieces! They asked me which pieces I liked the look of and I found it really hard to choose. I eventually picked out the Theodora, Illusion, and Hanae styles, and I was thrilled when I received not one, not two, but three different sets! The first set that I received was the Theodora Unpadded Balconette Bra in Tropical with the regular matching briefs. I'm not usually a fan of orange-anything really, but this is an exception – I think this set is absolutely stunning!
I received the set in sizes 80F (30F) and Size 2 (Small) briefs. They use French sizing, so it took me a while to figure out which size I should go for, but I figured it out eventually! Continue reading


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Anna Escobedo Cabral
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Anna Escobedo Cabral was nominated on July 22, 2004, by President Bush to serve as Treasurer of the United States. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 20, 2004.
Immediately prior to taking this office, Ms. Cabral served as Director of the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Latino Initiatives, where she led a pan-institutional effort to improve Latino representation in exhibits, and public programming among the Institution's 19 museums, five research centers, and the National Zoo. From 1999 to 2003, Ms. Cabral served as President and CEO of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, DC, which partners with Fortune 500 companies to increase Hispanic representation in employment, procurement, philanthropy and governance. Under her leadership, the organization published a best practices series, and instituted a partnership with Harvard Business School to provide executive training programs in Corporate Governance Best Practices to community leaders.
From 1993 to 1999, Ms. Cabral served as Deputy Staff Director for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee under Chairman Orrin G. Hatch. The Committee's jurisdiction ranges from oversight of the Department of Justice and our nation's criminal and drug enforcement laws to approving federal judicial nominations, and it includes review of immigration, antitrust, patents and trademark, and technology-related legislation. In addition, she simultaneously served as Executive Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Republican Conference Task Force on Hispanic Affairs, a position she held since 1991. Ms. Cabral managed this task force of 25 senators dedicated to ensuring that the concerns and needs of the Hispanic community are addressed by Congress through legislation.
A native of California, Ms. Cabral majored in Political Science from the University of California, Davis, and earned a Master's degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in international trade and finance from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Ms. Cabral and her husband Victor have four children, Raquel, Viana, Catalina, and Victor Christopher.
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text: Online file locker Rapidshare is legal in Germany, but has to adjust its policy regarding infringing content, the Higher Regional Court in Hamburg has ruled. Rapidshare plans to appeal.Rapidshare, one of the largest file-locker sites in the world, was sued by the German copyright organization Gema, which represents 64.000 copyright holders in Germany. The organization claimed that Rapidshare allows users to unlawfully acquire copyright material on a large scale and that the resulting loss to copyright holders is immense. Gema wanted to determine which obligations an online storage service has to copyright holders.The court ruled on March 14, but the full verdict arrived at Gema and Rapidshare on Tuesday, a delay typical in the German legal system. After reading the verdict, both parties claim they are victorious.Rapidshare emphasized that the court explicitly recognized the legality of Rapidshare's business model and gave it legal legitimacy.Gema welcomed the court's ruling that Rapidshare is still prohibited from making public the works of musicians represented by the organization, but didn't get its way on the measures the court ordered Rapidshare to take to prevent copyright infringement.The copyright organization had asked the court to order Rapidshare to scan files during the upload process, but the court took another approach, ruling that Rapidshare must actively monitor incoming links from external sites to the files it hosts and take down any illegal files thus identified.This is exactly what Rapidshare has been doing for years, the company said. Rapidshare has an anti-abuse team that identifies illegal files that will be immediately blocked when spotted.Nevertheless, Rapidshare plans to appeal that part of the ruling because the company should not be obliged to carry out such measures, Rapidshare CEO Alexandra Zwingli said."It is not without reason that neither the American DMCA nor its European equivalents call for proactive monitoring of foreign sites," she said. "We believe that there is no need to change this rule. Any kind of obligation to police foreign sites would bring about significant exposure of liability for a hoster and could ultimately scotch innovations. It is good if hosters voluntarily become active -- just as we do -- but it would be wrong to turn hosters into policemen through the means of laws and court rulings."Loek covers all things tech for the IDG News Service. Follow him on Twitter at @loekessers or email tips and comments to email@example.com


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|Llewellyn's 2019 Daily Planetary Guide
|Yoga for the Creative Soul
|The Pure Heart of Yoga
It's dark in Chicago, and my ghost tour bus pulls into a narrow, nearly deserted alley that dead-ends at a railroad track after barely a block. The potholes are so deep that you can practically see all the way to the south side in them. The single streetlight lends the place an eerie glow to the broken street, the empty alley, and the deserted brick building. Walk up the hill to the railroad tracks and you'll get a perfect view of the skyline, but at street level, you can barely tell you're in a city at all.
"All right, folks!" I announce. "This is my favorite part of the tour—the part where we rob you of your valuables and leave you in an abandoned alley!"
In all seriousness, though, we're trudging down the narrow alley to talk about H.H. Holmes, America's first known serial killer. When we began running tours based on Erik Larson's Devil in the White City, a chilling account of his Chicago career, we decided to go back to the sources for research—historical records, period eyewitness accounts, and court transcripts rather than just reading the Devil or the many potboilers written about Holmes, who may have killed as many as two hundred people in his late-nineteenth-century career.
Finding genuine information about the guy is notoriously difficult. Many of the best stories turned out to come from eyewitnesses who were not thought to be all that reliable. Others came from Holmes' "confession," which was full of outright lies (three of the people he admitted to killing were still alive). Even government records on the guy were notoriously unreliable; the 1870 census lists him as 9 years old, but by the 1880 census, he was 23—a pretty neat trick.
Though he was best known for running "The Murder Castle," a secret passage-laden hotel on the South Side, he actually turned out to have buildings all over the city—a copier machine office downtown, a candy shop, apartment, and glass-bending factory on the North side; a house in the suburbs; and more. The conventional version of the story has him committing all of his murders in or around the South side castle, but our research made this seem highly unlikely. For instance, most books that mention her say that Emily Van Tassell, one of the two dozen or so victims who we know of for sure, worked as a secretary at the Murder Castle. In fact, she was probably never anywhere near the castle, unless she passed by it on the way to the World's Fair. Van Tassel lived across the street from Wicker Park, clear on the other side of town from the castle, and worked as a cashier in Frank Wilde's candy store. Further research told us that Frank Wilde didn't exist—it was one of Holmes's many aliases.
And only a few blocks from the candy store stood a small glass-bending factory "where #65 Sobieski Street ought to be," where, a contemporary believed, Holmes was using an extra large kiln for cremations. They discovered the place too late; by the time police raided the place, nearly everything except for some papers from Holmes' copier business and personal effects of one of his wives, Minnie Williams, was left in the place.
The few passing mentions of this place in contemporary literature intrigued us right away—we had never even heard of Sobieski street. We dug up enough articles on the place to establish the location of the place, which turned out, conveniently enough, to be pretty near our regular tour route. I decided right away to start taking tour groups there. After all, while a lot of customers asked to see The Murder Castle, it was really too far out of the way to make it a stop on normal tours. Perhaps, I thought, taking them to the glass-bending factory would be just as good.
It paid off beyond my wildest dreams.
Most of the places I go have been known to be haunted for years—residents and staff have been telling ghost stories about the places for years, and all I have to do is repeat them. Taking people to a place that hasn't been investigated before was something of a risk, but the story of Holmes is shocking and engrossing enough that it would work out as a tour stop whether there were any ghosts or not; after all, plenty of ghost tours take people to stops they know fully well aren't really haunted.
But within a month of the days I started to bring groups to the little stretch of road once known as Sobieski Street, strange things began to be reported. Moaning sounds were heard coming out of the ground. The sound of a woman crying was heard near some partially buried bricks thought to be the foundations of the glass-bending factory itself.
Most shockingly, there was a light above a nearby garage that tended to turn itself off or on every time I said the names "Emily Van Tassel" or "Minnie Williams," the names of the two women we can mostly likely trace to the place.
Now, most nights, I simply think that there's something wrong with the light. Some nights it just flashes at random. Others it stays off or on the whole time we're there, and when I tell the story about it going on, I end up standing there looking like an idiot (something that people who run ghost tours have to learn to live with). But every so often, I can say those names (or one of Holmes' many aliases) over and over, and the light will turn on or off nine times out of ten. Hector, my driver, will stand in the empty lot facing the light listing off the names of Sesame Street characters and the light won't react at all. Then, when he switches to the name "Emily Van Tassel," the light goes dead.
Then, of course, there's the holy grail of ghost tours: the full body apparition sighting. It's only happened to me once on a tour—and it happened to be on Sobieski Street. One night, as we boarded the bus and pulled out en route to the next stop, we spied a woman in a black dress standing in the middle of the road. As we inched our way down the street, she walked across the road in between two cars. When we reached those cars, she was gone. Into thin air.
Now, I try to be suspect. I've actually, honestly blamed things on swamp gas before. But swamp gas doesn't wear black dresses.
No bodies were ever found at the place by the police—neighbors indicated that Patrick Quinlan, Holmes' "janitor," had cleaned the place out shortly before the police arrived. Could the hauntings be the only evidence since the 1890s of what really happened to Minnie Williams or Emily Van Tassel?
Well, obviously, ghost sightings aren't really going to hold up in court. There's a phrase I toss around a lot—"there's no such thing as good ghost evidence, only cool ghost evidence."
The light could just be messed up. The moaning and crying sounds could very well be just natural phenomena that messes with our minds on tours. Even the woman in black could have been an actual person who just hid behind one of the cars. None of this is good ghost evidence.
But it's certainly cool—and it's given us great leads for the historical detective work that generates story after story.
Adam Selzer is the author of more than a dozen books, including several novels and the acclaimed Smart Aleck's Guide to American History. While doing research for stories to tell on the ghost tours that he's run in Chicago ...


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Romney recovery: London is ready
Under fire for suggesting that London might not be adequately prepared for the Olympic Games, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney repeated multiple times Friday that he now thinks the city is ready.
"After being here a couple days, it looks like London is ready," Romney said on NBC's "Today" show.
"I'm absolutely convinced that the people here are ready for the games," he added. "In just a few minutes, all the things politicians say will get swept away because athletes will take the stage."
Faced with criticism that he was being critical of London's games, Romney took time to be extra effusive.
"Of course it is hard to put on the games in a major metropolitan area. What they have done that I find so impressive is they took the venues and put them right in the city. You're going to be on the back side of 10 Downing Street for beach volleyball."
Romney said that the Olympics were about athletes, not politicians.
"The games are about the athletes. That's why the games virtually anywhere they have been have been success," he said.
The former Massachusetts governor had been savaged in the British press for saying that some of the challenges leading up to the games have been "disconcerting."
"The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials — that obviously is not something which is encouraging," the presumptive GOP nominee said.
As for Ann Romney's horse, Rafalca, and its Olympic dressage competition?
"I'd love to be there, but this is going to be kind of a busy time for me," chuckled Romney.
"I give him a pass when it comes to my horses, because he's so, so supportive of me, having to put up with my love of horses, so when it comes to the show part of the horse stuff, he gets a total pass," added his wife.
"One Christmas, my sons gave me a box, and said, 'If you wear this, mom will pay more attention to you.' It was a rubber horse mask," recalled Mitt Romney.