text:
This tutorial uses ClockworkMod Recovery (CWM) and an insecure kernel released by Recognized XDA-Developers, arco68. It is allows Galaxy S4 Mini users to root their devices without any difficulty.
Disclaimer: Rooting voids the warranty of your device. We and the developer of this rooting procedures shall not be held responsible if any undesirable outcomes may happen to your device. use of this root guide is solely at your own risk!
1. Install USB Drivers for Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini on the computer.
2. Enable USB Debugging Mode on the phone by navigating to Settings >> Developer Options.
3. Make a backup of all your important data before following the guide.
4. The Galaxy S4 Mini should be factory unlocked and not locked to any particular carrier.
5. Ensure the battery of the phone is charged more than 80 percent.
6. The CWM recovery and Root Kit files works only on the LTE version of Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini (GT-I9195). Applying these to any incorrect variant might brick the device. Verify the model number of the Galaxy S4 Mini by navigating to Settings >> About Phone.
Files Required
1. CWM - Mirror Link (recovery-clockwork-126.96.36.199-serranoltexx.tar.zip)
2. Root Kit - Mirror Link (S4Mini_RootKit_v2.zip)
3. Kernel - Mirror Link (GT-I9195_Kernel_v1.zip)
4. Odin 3.09 - Mirror Link
Steps to Root Galaxy S4 Mini (LTE) I9195 Running on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean Firmware
Step 1: Extract the CWM recovery .zip and Odin .zip files using WinRAR/7-Zip/WinZip or any other extracting tool.
Step 2: Copy the RootKit .zip and Kernel .zip files to the SD card of your phone.
Step 3: Switch off the Galaxy S4 Mini. Then boot into Download Mode by pressing and holding Volume Down, Home and Power buttons together until a construction Android robot icon with a warning triangle appears on screen. Now press the Volume Up button to enter Download Mode.
Step 4: Launch Odin on the computer as an Administrator.
Step 5: Connect the Galaxy S4 Mini to the computer using USB cable while it is in the Download Mode. Wait until Odin detects the device. When the device is connected successfully, the ID: COM box will turn to light blue with the COM port number. Additionally, the successful connected will be indicated by a message saying Added.
Note: If the Added message does not appear, then try re-install USB drivers or changing the port on the computer.
Step 6: In Odin, click the AP button and select the CWM recovery .tar.md5 file. Verify that F. Reset Time checkbox is NOT selected.
Step 7: Double-check and click Start button in Odin. The installation process will now begin.
Step 8: Once the installation process completes, your phone will reboot automatically. When the phone vibrates, IMMEDIATELY press and hold Volume Up, Home and Power buttons at the same time to boot into CWM Recovery.
Step 9: In CWM Recovery, select "install zip from sdcard" option then select "choose zip from sdcard". Now, navigate to the RootKit .zip file that you copied earlier and confirm the installation.
Step 10 (optional): Return to main recovery menu and repeat Step 9 but this time select the Kernel .zip file to use a custom stock kernel, which might fix battery drain for some.
Step 11: Once the installation process completes, return to main recovery menu and select "reboot system now".
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini (LTE) I9195 running on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean is now rooted successfully. You can now install any app that requires root permission. Verify the root status of the device by downloading Root Checker app from Google Play Store.
Thank's to all fellas at XDA who first tried out this rooting technique. This method was originally posted via XDA-Developers original thread.


text:
- Home
- How to Use Charger Plates
How to Use Charger Plates
Chargers plates bring practicality and style to classy dinner settings—transforming and protecting your tabletop in your own unique way. But if you're not familiar with how to use charger plates, you probably have some questions! We'll show you how to use charger plates and more in our simple guide.
What is a Charger Plate?
At formal events, a charger plate is placed under the plates and bowls used to serve each course of the meal. Chargers plates are not intended to come in contact with the food that will be eaten. Their purpose is to add to the visual effect of your table, allow servers to easily replace the bowls and plates held on the charger and prevent stains and damage to your linens by catching food and spills!
How to Use Charger Plates
As with any piece of a formal event, there are guidelines for how to use charger plates correctly.
- Unify your theme with charger plates. Charger plates come in a variety of materials, shapes, colors and sizes to match your style.
- Pick charger plates that match the atmosphere of your dining experience. Consider the location, linens, decorations, silverware, glasses and formality of the event as you choose.
- When designing your table, the charger plate is placed on the table in front of the guest's seat—between the flatware, below the drinking glass and one inch from the edge of the table.
- Set menu cards and napkins with napkin rings on the charger plate before guests arrive. Your guests will definitely be impressed!
- When the food is served, the bowls and plates go directly on top of the charger plate. Entrées occasionally replace the charger plate but are usually placed on the charger plate.
- Chargers are not used with the dessert plate.
- Servers can either replace or wipe the charger plate clean in between each course to preserve the neat and clean appearance.
*Pro Tip* - Use charger plates as a colorful base for floral centerpieces, as a base for candle arrangements or as a tray for small appetizers or sweet treats. But unless the charger plate is food safe, always place a napkin or linen on the plate when serving food.
Charger Plate Extras!
Charger plates actually come in handy for more than just visuals and stain prevention.
- Use charger plates to hold the dining tablecloth in place, effectively remove wrinkles and create a firmer foundation for other decorations.
- Have a minor imperfection in your table or tablecloth? Place your charger plate strategically, and no one will notice!
Now that you know how to use charger plates, your next formal dinner will have an extra special touch that takes your event from great to awesome!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
24x7 Ticket Support System
In order to streamline support requests and better serve you, we utilize a support ticket system. Every support request is assigned a unique ticket number which you can use to track the progress and responses online. For your reference we provide complete archives and history of all your support requests.
Call Me on my Mobile
User Registration and mobile verification Required
SRPK Representative will call you on your registered and verified mobile number between 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
We are providing 24x7 Live support but we can only able to call you within above time frame as per conditions applied by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
Callback request via SMS
type 684YQ and send SMS to 9220592205
You can even use this call me facility via SMS without registering or verifying your mobile number
SRPK Representative will call you between 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM (Monday to Saturday)
Email to SRPK
You can E-mail us at support(at)srpk.in , Only registered users can able to send the Email to generate or reply the support ticket. Maximum five inquires including open tickets or emails will be entertained concurrently. User should wait to generate next new ticket through email after closure of last 5 cases.
Customer Care Contact Number
Call: 0858-606-6563 (PAN INDIA NUMBER)
Quote your 16 Digit SRPK Card Number to process it more faster
022 6700 4950
Mention your email and mobile number or SRPK Card number during fax
Contact Office
Write a letter to : SRPK - 15th Floor, Dev Corpora, Pokhran Road No.1, Eastern Express Highway, Thane - Mumbai 400601, Maharashtra
— Abhishek
The service received has been very good.SRPK team has been in regular contact with me to provide information regarding my applied jobs, upcoming jobs, my orders etc
— Neha Sharma
Very Positive! Staffs are always helpful and obliging. Also they found me the exact job that I wanted in the location that I wanted. They also helped my friends to get some suitable jobs
— Subhash Sharma
Really great service given by SRPK, I have been pleased with the regular contact and when I have a query, SRPK have always been there to help.
— Priya Mahajan
I really appreciate this SRPK govt. employment promotion center. It allows us to provide a lot of useful information about govt. jobs, and make it easy for us to apply a number of jobs in single time.
Send email to firstname.lastname@example.com from your registered email Id
type 684YQ send SMS to 9220592205
Universal Access Number


text:
Too busy to post here and at Mrs.4444 Cooks tonight, so here's a teaser...
Check out my Beef Barley Soup!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Our Friday Night Excitement
6 comments:
Now I'm wondering what you do in your kitchen besides cook.ReplyDelete
Forget about the soup what did you do on Friday night!! Spill it!ReplyDelete
Awww!! Kiss the cook. :o)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 17, 2010 at 11:58 AM
Oooooh baby, it looks like your cookin' up something...but what???ReplyDelete
You little tease you! Have a great time!!!
This is SUCH a sweet picture!ReplyDelete
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Customer Reviews
Very high quality, adjustable fit, great anti theft pockets, very easy to set up and amazing fiber optics
I am one week away from Ubbie DUBBI and already know people are going to love seeing this in action. To be continued.....
The lights are amazing the only thing I would change is how quickly you can drink the water out of the bag I felt like it was too slow
I get so many compliments on this bag! I will say the front pocket is not super deep once the bladder is full so I only fill it 3/4 of the way that I can fit a tapestry and some essentials. Bladder is super easy to fill with the handle on the opening. The hidden inside pocket is very well hidden from security.
Unfortunately of the fiber optic stopped working on my third day of a festival. Customer service was immediately responsive and sent out a new bag super quickly. Really happy with this company and looking forward to purchasing more of their products
Truly the best company I've had the pleasure of ordering from. Not only are their products insane, any time I had any sort of problems they were extremely quick and nothing short of helpful to any extent possible.
Customer Reviews
I am so in love with this top so versatile and beautiful!! Got sooo many compliments all night definitely a hit! 😍
I own the MDNT Fanny Pack and I've gotten soooo many compliments at events I bring it to, I couldn't imagine how eye catching this top will be at my next event! It's very comfortable, the straps are really soft, and the bra part itself is very thick and supportive and the lights can change so easily and you can make each side a different color so it can match every outfit :) Definitely worth the investment!
It is literally SO cute and SO flattering !! The material is so supportive and the lights are beautiful and easy to charge and use !!
This top is perfect. Comfy and lights up whatever color I want/whatever vibe I am feeling for EDC. I cannot wait !
Customer Reviews
Good product, could be a bit brighter but like good and solid battery life
Quality of product and support is above beyond any company these days. When service has been a weak point of many companies in the past few years, this one I can say is not one of those.
I've gotten many compliments and only worn it twice.
Got lots of compliments wearing it to a rave. Going to wear it to EDC Orlando next week!
Customer Reviews
I just got my order. I havent really learned to play with it all yet. It took a while for the battery to charge. I am a small girl... 5'2" and about 120 lbs. My chest is a 32-34DD. After reading some of the reviews I thought it best to size up as some said it ran small so I got the medium. I wish I would have ordered the small because the medium is just a tad too big. I don't think they do exchanges so I just have to get used to wearing it a little big. I was able to turn it on and play with some of the app settings for few minutes. It would be cool if there was a video to watch on how the app works. I better go look on youtube and see if I can find one. Either way.. I think its cool and cant wait to wear this on Groove Cruise.
The coat is actually so much cooler than I expected. Love it so much.
If you want to stand out amongst everyone else, this is the crop for you! I love how universal it is, being able to pair it with skimp, dance outfits or a cozy onesie at nighttime. The crop length is perfect to be able to show off that booty you've been working so hard on and you can leave the front zipped or unzipped. Just plug in a little, rechargeable battery, drop it into its little interior pocket and choose from tons of static oe changing colors via your phone or the battery itself. The app allows you to adjust the brightness as well and the battery, lasts me all night. A backup battery can be purchased too, which is a great idea for long trips but or just to have a backup. Oh, and just another reason you need to get yourself one… safety. For at nighttime
THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER BOUGHTEN TO WEAR TO MY SHOWS. EVERYTIME I WEAR MY CELESTE CROP I AM STOPPED AND ASKED WHERE I GOT IT! I FEEL LIKE THE MAIN CHARACTER WHEN I WEAR IT. ALSO THE MATERIAL IS SO CLEAN AND LOOKS EXPENSIVE, IVE GOTTEN OTHER LIGHT UP CLOTHING BEFORE AND NOTHING COMPARES. DONT HESITATE TO BUY ITS WORTH EVERY DOLLAR.FAV FEATURE IS THAT THE LIGHTS CAN MOVE TO THE MUSIC!!! (the photo is to show material, the lights look so vibrant in the dark)
I was concerned about the fit. But Im a 5'10" 140lb boy and the large fits fine. The colors are amazing and the app works pretty well. The hood is definitely pretty big but it works overall. My only complaint is the battery pack I got seems a little finicky. When I plugged it in the first time the light wouldn't come on for awhile to show that its charging so I thought it was broken. It also took well over a day for the light to turn green but maybe it just takes that long to charge. Not sure. Or maybe that's just mine. It does work fine though once its charged.
Customer Reviews
All the products I got came with a battery pack, but it's really great to have a backup. In case you lose one, realized you forgot to charge your main one as you're walking out the door or are just going to have a really long and fun night/weekend/week
You literally have no idea how terrified I was about Inlighten going out of business. I thought I'd never stay lit up again. Finding out you're batteries were compatible with my coat was the best news I've had in awhile. Now I'll stay lit all night 😎


text:
Being agreeable is not a bad thing. It means you care about others and try to be a empathetic person. Being too agreeable is where the problem arises. You can be agreeable and still realize it is perfectly ok to say no.The word no is a complete sentence. It doesn't need expanding and it doesn't need an explanation. Alot of times people will try to change the no or try to make you feel guilty. It is perfectly acceptable to say no, mean it, and realize this does not make you a bad person.
Signs You Are To Agreeable
Being agreeable is not a bad thing. It only becomes a issue when you are too agreeable. Here are some things to ask yourself to find out if you may be to agreeable
- Do you let things go even ? If someone has hurt you and you just let it go without settling the issue you may be too agreeable. This does not mean keep a fight going. It means express how you feel and see what can be done for you both to move on. If they are not willing to work at the relationship it may be time to say no to the relationship
- Do you give of your time when you don't have the time? It is not bad to give of yourself as long as your are maintaining your responsibilities. If you are so busy doing for others that you are neglecting yourself, your family, or your responsibilities it may be time to start saying no.
- Do you agree with opinions that do not coincide with your beliefs? If you agree to a opinion that you don't agree with you may be too agreeable. Just because someone says something and you don't agree does not make you a bad person. To agree with them means you are setting aside your values, morals, and beliefs. If you ind yourself doing this it may be time to say no and let them know that you do not approve.
- Do you find yourself stressed but still saying yes? If you are stressed and overwhelmed but still say yes it is a good sign you are too agreeable. Saying yes should not be a burden.
You need to recognize you are important and so is your mental and emotional health. It is ok to say no to ensure your mental and emotional health.
Why Saying No Is Ok
You Are Important
Giving of yourself is beautiful and loving. However there may be times that it is just not possible. You need to recognize your limits and recognize that your time and well being is important. If saying no means your mental and emotional health then say no and do not feel guilty. There are times it will be vital for you to say no
- You are tired. Rest is important to your mental and physical health. If you are tired saying no may mean you have the time to get the rest that you need.
- You are just saying yes to please someone. Sometimes it is ok to say yes just to make someone happy. However, do not make this a habit. Always putting your needs or desires on the back burner can be mentally exhausting
- You are uncomfortable. If saying yes will put you in a uncomfortable position then just say no. If you truly feel as though it would be uncomfortable then your mental health is more important than saying yes.
- When you just don't have the time. If you already have commitments and try to cram more in you may drop the ball on one or more thing. If you do not have the time say no and focus on what you already committed to.
- Because you just don't want to. There may be times you just don't want to do something. Say no and mean it. You are important and it's ok not to say yes to everything.
You Can Not Control What People Think of You
People are going to judge you and form their own opinions. It is not your job to worry about what they think of you. You can not control this. It is perfectly fine to accept what people think about you because at the end of the day what they think is not what is important. No matter how many times you say yes they will still have their thoughts when you say no. Instead of worrying about what they think about you spend time worrying about how you feel about yourself. Do not say yes to anything that will change the positive you feel about yourself or will affect who you are trying to be.
Setting Boundaries Defines How You Respect Yourself
Not agreeing to things that are against your values will make you respect yourself. Saying no and only accepting what is appropriate for you will help you validate yourself and your values. If you can respect yourself and validate your beliefs then others will also. That does not mean there will not be some who do not respect you or do not try to wear your no down. This is a quick way to see who deserves to be in your life. Real people who care about you will not only accept your no but they will respect you for it.
Saying no is perfectly acceptable. As stated before no is a complete sentence. It does not need expanding or explanation. Being agreeable and helpful is a great thing but if you can not do something then it is ok to say no. Putting your mental, physical, and emotional health first is vital to be you being the best you that you can be.


text: K2 Recon 120 Plus Boots | 2023 Sale! from 41997 59995 /per Size 24.5 25.5 26.5 27.5 28.5 29.5 30.5 Add to Cart This item is currently on backorder. You can still purchase it now and we'll ship as soon as more become available. MISMATCHED. ON PURPOSE. Features Powerfuse Spine - A rear co-injected "Y" shaped support that adds strength and power to the Energy Interlock in order to maximize fore/aft flex efficiency and lateral stiffness for responsiveness in every type of terrain. Dual Cuff Alignment Index - Dual-sided cuff alignment for +/-2 degrees of cuff adjustment. Precisionfit Pro - Pre-molded and Lasted with Ultralon heat moldable foams. Features an asymmetric tongue, pre-molded ankle pockets, and a high-density power collar for a firm but comfortable performance fit. Energy Interlock - A rivet-free technology that integrates the cuff and shell, putting less stress on the boot's material and produces a smoother, progressive flex. Fast Fit Entry - Softer TPU designed into the instep area of Powerlite shell for quick and easy entry and exit. Powerlite Shell - 1650 grams @ 26.5 - 4 different stiffnesses of TPU and optimal wall thickness come together for high performance and lowest possible weight. The totally new shell is purpose-built to result in the best skiing, lightest weight boots ever produced. Made with four different stiffnesses of TPU and optimized wall thickness profiling, the Powerlite Shell achieves a paradoxical balance of lightweight agility and power. The resulting boots weigh in as some of the lightest alpine and freeride on the market, yet they ski with all the power and drive of heavier boots. Rounded out with FastFit ease of entry and full TPU boot fitter customization capabilities, the Recon, Anthem, and Mindbender boot collections have raised the bar and proven that truly LESS IS MORE. GripWalk Outsoles - Removable and interchangeable ISO 9523 alpine rockered soles collaboratively designed to work with Marker's Grip Walk binding system for better grip and added comfort when walking and standing in boots, but doesn't compromise the power transmission and release function between the boot and binding when skiing. Preinstalled.


text:
When it comes to this fuzzy caterpillar, you can look, but you sure don't want to touch.
Poisonous caterpillars, known as puss caterpillars, are once again popping up in Florida, and officials are warning residents not to be fooled by the creature's soft and furry appearance.
It's the most venomous caterpillar in the U.S. and even a simple brush with the insect can cause "excruciating pain," according to National Geographic. The caterpillars' fur hides toxic spines that stick to your skin.
One mom in Plant City, Florida, learned that lesson the hard way last week when her 5-year-old son accidentally stepped on one as he played outside.
"He started screaming, screaming and screaming," Staggs told CBS News. "He screamed, 'Get them off me!'"
At first, Angela Staggs thought her son walked on a pile of ants. She carried him to the bathroom and examined his foot over a bathtub, but there were no bites.
"He started to hyperventilate from screaming, and I was trying to figure out if he got into stinging nettles, but this scream was blood-curdling," Staggs said. "Then it clicked…" Staggs told her dad to go outside to look for a caterpillar. "He comes back in and says 'there's a fuzzy looking thing out there, but I don't think it's a caterpillar.'"
"When my dad said a 'fuzzy-looking thing' my heart dropped," Staggs said. "I knew exactly what it was before I even got out there." When she ran outside, she saw the poisonous puss caterpillar on the porch, which her son must have stepped on after taking his shoes off to go inside.


text:
Authors: Piers Anthony and Kenneth Kelly
Publisher By: Dreaming Big Publications, 2017
Reviewed By: Corinthia M
About the Book
Virtue Inverted is the first novel of a hard-hitting sword and sorcery trilogy by Piers Anthony and Ken Kelly. Benny Clout is a poor mountain boy who has found true love in Virtue the vampire. However, Virtue is not an ordinary vampire; she's actually a very nice girl. Her bites contain extraordinary power, but will that power be enough to combat the evil that awaits them?
Review, Rating 3/5
For me, starting Virtue Inverted was a promising beginning. I enjoyed reading about a boy getting magically conned into going on an adventure with a strange otherworldly being and a corrupting hero. It was fun watching the unlikely trio interact with their surroundings. However, for me, as soon as our leading vampire lady, Virtue, was introduced the plot became muddled and the storyline went downhill.
Ken Kelly and Piers Anthony write in a way that makes their own voices distinct, but remain a nice blend of their narratives. For me, this was a better one of Piers Anthony as he reined in a bit of the sexual content, but not his strong male gaze (which I felt weakened much of Virtue's character). However, I applaud both authors. Writing a narrative with someone else (especially a series) takes a strong dedication and love for what's being wrote, and the passion that these two authors have for their work comes through strongly in their narratives.
Although, Virtue Inverted wasn't for me it would be a great read for any of Ken Kelly and Piers Anthony's fantasy fans.
DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for writing a review. I was not obligated to give a positive review, and all thoughts are my own.
About Authors
Piers Anthony is one of the world's most popular fantasy authors, and a New York Times bestseller twenty-one times over. Anthony is the author of the Xanth series, as well as many other best-selling works. Piers Anthony lives with his wife in Inverness, Florida.
Kenneth Kelly is a 26 year old native of Plant City, Fl. He has been an avid writer his whole life, and has had a number of short works published during grade school and college. He has a Bachelors degree in English Professional Writing from St. Leo University.


text:
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
I actually made this a few weeks ago, after yet another family visit that left behind the remains of a bunch of bananas. Neither of us is at all fond of eating fresh bananas, particularly ones that are getting past their prime.
On the other hand, such bananas are just reaching the perfect stage for baking, and we are both big fans of baked stuff with bananas. And if your grandkids happen to leave behind some nearly-overripe bananas and you don't feel like baking with them right away, did you know that you can freeze them to use later? It's true – just wrap them in plastic wrap, or put them in a ziplock bag, and plop them right into the freezer. When you want to use them again, you can thaw them and use as you would fresh bananas in any recipe.
I've even seen recipes for smoothies that use frozen bananas, but you will have to test that one yourself, since I don't like them in smoothies either. I only really like them in a sugar-laden carby dessert kind of way. I make up for it by eating lots of kale though, so I figure it all comes out even in the final balance.
The best thing about this Banana Streusel Coffee Cake though is that pebbly, crunch streusel topping – and the ribbon of it that runs through the center of each slice. A little bit of heaven right there, trust me!
Banana Streusel Coffee Cake
The Topping
- 1/2 cup very soft butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
The Coffee Cake
- 1/2 cup soft butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 or 4 very ripe bananas mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
Make the Topping
- Measure the topping ingredients into a medium bowl, and combine, using a large fork to kind of mash it all together. It will form nice big crumbles. Set aside.
- Generously butter 4 small loaf pans and preheat the oven to 350º
Make the Coffee Cake
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter.
- Beat in the sugar and eggs, then the bananas and vanilla.
- Combine the dry ingredients, and add to the butter mixture.
- With the mixer running, add the buttermilk, and mix until completely combined and smooth – a minute or so at medium speed.
- Fill the loaf pans about 1/3 full, in an even layer, reserving remaining batter for the moment.
- Scatter a few tablespoons of the topping over the batter in each pan - you will use about half of the topping.
- Divide the remaining batter among the pans, and smooth the top.
- Scatter the remaining over the tops of the loaves, pressing lightly with the back of spoon to make sure it adheres to the cake.
- Bake on the middle rack for about 35 to 40 minutes, turning the loaves and switching their relative positions about half way through. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick near the center of the loaves - no more than a moist crumb or two should come out.
- When done, cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, loosen the edges with a table knife, and finish cooling on a rack. Best served warm, and it can be reheated if wrapped in foil first.
- Refrigerate leftovers.
I'm not the least bit sorry that I don't like to just eat a plain old banana. You won't be either.


text:
It is Wednesday my dudes! That means it's time to put on my MAGA hat and pump out another minor league preview. If you have someone special in your life, good luck getting them that perfect gift for tomorrow. I suggest getting them a bottle of wine or two (or three). If you don't have someone special in your life, get the wine anyway and just drink it yourself. That's what I do. Meanwhile the Cubs minor league preview is my loving gift to you. They aren't nearly the powerhouse system that they were in the past. Apparently St. Valentine was beaten with clubs and then beheaded. The last few blurbs of this preview might be a similar experience. Enjoy!
Grade A
1. Nico Hoerner, 2B/SS | Age: 21 | ETA: 2020
Hoerner was selected in the first round of the 2018 draft. I think he has the potential to be a nice table setter with enough pop to get to 12-15 homers at peak. He has a plus hit tool and better than average speed. In his pro debut, Hoerner struck out in only 7% of his plate appearances, compared to a 15% walk rate. He should move quickly, with High-A and Double-A due up next.
Grade B
2. Aramis Ademan, SS | Age: 20 | ETA: 2020
I like Ademan, but I'm not seeing much power potential, and for a guy with a plus bat his 2018 campaign was a struggle. He hit .207 in 450 plate appearances in High-A and struck out at a 21% clip. He just turned 20 this fall, so I wouldn't do anything crazy yet, just a down year that hopefully he can bounce back from and move on to Double-A.
3. Brennen Davis, OF | Age: 19 | ETA: 2022
Davis has double-plus speed and fits the mold of the center field leadoff hitter prototype. Roederer (below) is a more balanced player, but Davis could make a big impact in steals. He has good on-base skills too (.431 in a very small sample of 70 plate appearances), which – if he can keep it going – should help his stolen base totals.
4. Cole Roederer, OF | Age: 19 | ETA: 2022
Roederer was a second round selection of the Cubs in this past year's draft. He has above-average tools across the board and hit .275 with five homers and 13 steals in his first taste of pro ball. He also walked in 11% of his appearances, which is a good sign. At the same age and position as Davis, it will be interesting to track the pair's development at center.
5. Miguel Amaya, C | Age: 19 | ETA: 2021
Amaya will likely rank in the top spot on traditional lists, but catchers can be a tricky (and long term) investment for fantasy porpoises. Amaya has a decent bat, but has limited power and is known more for his glove than his offensive goods. He did pop 12 homers in 2018, but I fear that that is approaching his power ceiling. He has good on-base skills for folks in deep OBP leagues though.
6. Brailyn Marquez, LHP | Age: 20 | ETA: 2021
Marquez has a plus heater and an above-average curve, plus he's still got room to grow and develop pitches at just 20 years old. That screams upside and in 2018, Marquez struck out 59 batters in 55 innings. It's not an ace profile, but a solid 3/4 with some strikeout potential. His fastball sits in the mid-90s and can touch 99 at times. I'd invest in this one if you can get him cheap.
Grade C
7. Zack Short, SS | Age: 23 | ETA: 2019
Full disclosure…this list takes a sharp downhill turn from here out. To ease your pain, I've included this link to play in a separate tab. It's a chill choon and an appropriate title. You might want to smoke something or take something (anything) before reading on. Short had a good 2018 run – hitting 17 homers and walking at a 16% clip in 524 Double-A appearances. He also struck out 26% of the time for a .227 batting average. He's likely a future utility player rather than an everyday option.
8. Justin Steele, LHP | Age: 23 | ETA: 2019
Steele is still making his way back from Tommy John surgery. He threw 46 innings in 2018, striking out 53 batters and posting a 2.31 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. He probably needs almost another full season in the minors to build up innings, but a taste of Chicago later this year isn't out of the question. What does Chicago taste like? Pizza? Wind? There's some upside here if you're bold and can buy low.
9. Adbert Alzolay, RHP | Age: 23 | ETA: 2019
Alzolay, like Marquez, has a plus fastball and curve combo. He went down with a lat injury though, which limited his season to just over 39 innings pitched. I'm probably dinging him too much for the injury and lost time, but I get scared off pretty easily by anything other than TJS with pitchers. If you're a braver person than I (and you most definitely are) this could be a good time to buy the stock.
10. Trent Giambrone, 2B | Age: 25 | ETA: 2019
I should come up with a name for the guy I take a completely unfounded shot on with the tenth slot in these previews. That's Giambrone for the Cubs. He's got utility written all over him (in Sharpie!), but he could run into some offensive stats. In 2018, Giambrone hit .251 with 17 homers and 26 steals. When Giambrone wins NL ROY, I want you to look back on this blog post with warm nostalgia.


text:
A letter to the next secretary of state for healthBMJ 2015; 350 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h2296 (Published 29 April 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h2296
- Gareth Iacobucci, news reporter,
- Rebecca Coombes, head of features and investigations,
- Fiona Godlee, editor in chief
- 1The BMJ, London, UK
- Correspondence to: G Iacobucci giacobucci{at}bmj.com
Dear Secretary of State,
At the time of writing we don't know who this letter is addressed to or what coalition or partnership deals will be needed to form a government. What we do know is that the next five years are likely to be the most challenging and decisive that the NHS in England has ever faced. Our intention in writing this letter is to set down in a non-party political way what we believe is needed to heal the NHS.
Let us start with the current situation as we see it. Still reeling from the costly and distracting Lansley reorganisation, with virtually flatline funding in real terms since 2010,1 and the growing demands of an ageing population with increasingly complex needs, England's NHS is stretched close to breaking point. Extreme cuts to social care have exacerbated the pressures, causing knock-on effects across the service.2 Waiting times for treatment are the longest for many years.3 Staff morale in many parts of the service is at rock bottom because of real terms pay cuts and the relentless workload. Many GPs are retiring early, and new recruits are thin on the ground.4 Patient safety is now at risk, with …
Log in
Log in using your username and password
Log in through your institution
Subscribe from £173 *
Subscribe and get access to all BMJ articles, and much more.
* For online subscription
Access this article for 1 day for:
£38 / $45 / €42 (excludes VAT)
You can download a PDF version for your personal record.


text:
The big BBC software project has gone up in pyre of bytes.
They've written off £98m as totally worthless work – and there may be another £80m behind that. One question remains of interest to the Public Accounts Committee – who's going to carry the can?
The answer to that has an even larger question: how do we control these very large public service bodies? They pay each other little miracles of money in salaries, expenses, bonuses and pensions, and when their projects collapse they talk about learning lessons and the journey they've been on.
They have realised that if they "say sorry", there's nothing further that can be done to them. Now they are all starting to construct painfree apologies. You can tell there's no real repentance – there's no contrition – and therefore no real change in behaviour.
But leave the theology to one side.
Over £2m a year in salaries sat in front of the PAC this afternoon. License payers will probably give them a further £20m in today's money before they die.
A heckle: "Let's not have them paying tax at the 50p rate, let's halve their salaries!"
The previous technology chief has been named as the guilty man, so he put in a bid to pass the parcel. No one held it and the music never really stopped.
When Anthony Fry, the ex-Trustee said he took full responsibility for it all, he also said, "What more can I say?"
"I RESIGN!" was the dominant heckle. But of course it was a Tony Blair apology. "I take full responsibility so shut up."
The Chief Financial Officer (£337,000pa) was jiggered if she was going to admit that a certain set of names on the Report were all either from Finance or Technology. The accusation was that no one wanted this vanity techno-project except geeks – for the purposes of this hearing, people who didn't make programmes. No, no, on the contrary, Mrs £337,000 said, they were all fully involved, the business people who would use the system.
So why weren't their names on the Report? She said they were fully involved. So why weren't their names on the report? They were fully involved. So why weren't – they were f- WHY W-THEY WERE! Oh, all right all RIGHT! She admitted their names weren't on the report. (But they were fully involved.)
It was like drawing teeth and the only time I've enjoyed the experience.
So, fully involved, or fully informed or fully reported – whatever the £2m at the witness table said, we only had their word for it – this was Stewart Jackson's slur. Unrebutted but a slur in the modern parlance, being a criticism.
So many important things were decided or passed around in a sofa government way. Pay-offs worth hundreds of thousands were agreed by word of mouth. Legal advice was given orally, without record or minutes.
In addition, the ex-Director General Mark Thompson was accused broadly and narrowly of misleading the committee. He defended himself. But Mr £680,000 is not a reliable witness (see his Savile story earlier today) so his defence will remain in the transcript.
He said he had a nose for "business obstinacy". He could "smell it".
A good nose may have been worth the £680,000 a year he had himself paid – but he, the man in charge, got nowhere near the underlying rot of the software project.
He took what he was told, the Trust took what they were told, the Chief Operating Office (£328,000) got her dates muddled up, felt there'd been so many reviews, she wanted just to get on, so she took what she was told. A sidebar – she's in ballet administration now.
Mrs £337 was too optimistic about her transformational abilities (that's her "saying sorry"). And the Trustee ("full responsibility") said that of course more should have been done sooner – in hindsight, in retrospect – but no system of governance would have done any better.
The BBC has done well recently with the Olympics, and their move. And iPlayer apparently is a great achievement (though I'm not sure I couldn't have done that myself with a year of Imperial College computer scientists armed only with a set of Allen keys).
But these big public services are well worth a new sort of scrutiny. They are an estate within the state. The fifth estate, perhaps. All the other estates have had a jolly good kicking in the last 10 years and now – without wanting to sound vindictive – it's their turn.


text:
In the ever-evolving landscape of smartphones, Google's Pixel series has consistently pushed boundaries, offering users top-of-the-line features with each new iteration. The Google Pixel 7, the latest entrant in this line-up, is no exception. Combining Google's innovative software prowess with cutting-edge hardware, the Pixel 7 sets new benchmarks for what a smartphone can be. From […]Continue reading
Day by day gaming on android is becoming very popular. Now a days many popular game developers are releasing games for android. To be honest I play a lot of games on my Nexus 7 and I love it. In order to maximize my gaming experience, I bought some gaming controllers. One of them is […]Continue reading
Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime is release in the October of 2014. The name of this device proves that it is an ambitious name for this new device. It is an mid-ranged smartphone with many many features. It looks awesome in hand and in table also. In order to keep the awesome look you might be searching […]Continue reading
Gone are days when we used to look for normal Bluetooth speakers. Now a days life is becoming more fast and we need to have the fun at anytime. In this article we are listing some of the best waterproof Bluetooth Speakers which will allow you to listen to music at shower or in the […]Continue reading
Nowadays we are using tablets everywhere. After coming from work, it is annoying to hold that phone or tablet. It would be awesome if we could appoint someone to hold that tablet for me. However, that is not possible actually, some but we can use tablet stand or tablet clamp. These tablet stands can hold the tablet […]Continue reading
Selfies are becoming very popular day by day. It has already become very popular that almost everybody with a smartphone is taking selfie. Wherever you go , you will see that people are taking selfies. This is a trend which has been followed by the teens first ,but now a days everybody is taking selfies. […]Continue reading
Smartwatches are becoming very popular day by day. People are preferring smartwatches over traditional watches. These smartwatches are advanced in many aspects. They are not only providing unique usage system but astonishing design also. Many manufacturers are trying to provide the best smartwatches to the consumers. However, some of the manufacturers are ahead of the […]Continue reading
If you are a traveller or on a journey or like to go outside a lot and don't want your android/iPhone, smartphone or tablet to run out of battery juice, or you want to have enough battery juice for your digital devices than you can get a power bank. There are many types of power […]Continue reading
Best Custom ROMs for Nexus 4 Nexus 4 is an awesome handset which is produced by LG & Google. If you are bored witht the stock ROM and want some changes then you can install custom ROMs on your handset. By using these ROMs you can change the interface of your handset and totally change […]Continue reading
Best Cases & Covers For Nexus 9 Google's new HTC Nexus 9 is a beautiful android tablet. There are many accessories on the market for this awesome tablet. Many third party manufacturers are making beautiful covers and cases for HTC's Nexus 9. It's an 9 inch tablet with beautiful display ,and that is why the […]Continue reading


text:
Challenging conditions in Andorra for the first FWT event, but an exciting start to the season.
Stay tuned for the full report by our man in the field Ethan Stone. In the meantime, here are the results:
Mens Results
1. Kristofer Turdell – 90.50
2. Jérémie Heitz – 87.50
3. Ivan Malakhov – 86.62
Womens Results
1. Jackie Passo 70
2. Eva Walkner 68.50
3. Evelina Nilsson 66.75
Jackie Passo – fast, fluid and solid controlled skiing.
Eva Walkner – good technique and well controlled
Conditions: Low tide, sharky, variable snow in spots,
Winner of the FWQ Europe Kristofer Turdell – 90.5 – Very technical line at the top with a big drop at the exit. Then he surprised everyone by dropping the biggest cliff of the day by far and stomping it beautifully. Skied fast, technically and smoothly the entire way.
Jeremie Heitz – 87.50 – Hard charging, super fast with a big cliff drop at the top and a triple line at pace with no turns drop at the bottom.
Ivan Makachov – 86.62 – Lots of sizeable drops throughout his entire run, taking a different line to everyone else. Slight hesitation but then a large drop and straight-line to finish it off.
Logan Pehota – 86.50 – Super unique triple line at the top, charging super fast and airing out of the first section. Clean 360 on the standard drop finished it off with a huge drop at the bottom.
Leo Slemmet – 86.00 – Very unique line with a huge drop at the top. Smooth skiing through a critical middle section topped off with a drop. Technical skiing through a tight chute a the bottom finished off with another large drop.
Fabio Studer – 84.00 – Super clean cork 360 at the top, always in control he threw down a fluid line with lots of style and a sizeable drop at the bottom.
Veteran Julien Lopez – 87.25 – two drops at the top and a solid backflip that was perfectly landed. energetic skiing and a solid drop at the bottom.
Stefan Häusl – 81.75 – super fast and clean skiing a the top, taking the drops larger than most and landing clean. continued with a fast double line at the bottom.
Reine Barkered – 78.50 – Fast fall line skiing with two difficult cliff drops in the top section and no hesitation on the bottom section.
Drew Tabke – 76.75 – smooth technical riding at the top, sent a huge 360 in the middle that was landed solidly but a little back seat. finished it off with a massive drop in the bottom section.
Defending World Champion, George Rodney – – Creative line choice in the top section, huge drop to major backseat landing, lost his pole, another massive drop in the bottom section.
Loic Collomb-Patton – 72.50 – Relaxed but smooth line at the top, with a few difficult drop, but then sent a gigantic drop out of a very difficult billy goat line.
Charlie Lyons – – 3 drops and a 360 in the top section. got massively bucked.
Defending event champion, Sam Smoothy got absolutely smoked on the first drop of his run. We hope he is't injured


text:
KernelExecOnCells library and nbextensions¶
The KernelExecOnCells library is a shared library for creating Jupyter nbextensions which transform code cell text using calls to the active kernel.
This scheme has been applied to create several nbextensions which are also included in the repository. For instance, to prettify code, see the code-prettify nbextension, or to refactor python 2 code for python 3, see the 2to3 extension. These nbextensions are defined as simple plugins of the main KernelExecOnCells library. Defining such a plugin, jupyter-autopep8, is described in the last section below.
Compatible Kernels¶
The library is kernel-language agnostic, as described in the internals section below. Essentially any kernel capable of interpreting and creating json-formatted strings, and sending them to the stream output (where print statements in most languages go) should be easy to integrate. Hopefully, that covers pretty much all languages!
The library uses a series of options, describing the configuration of the
plugin. Default values for these options are specified as an object in the
plugin source file, and can be overriden by values loaded from config.
There are a few nbextension-wide options, configurable using the
jupyter_nbextensions_configurator or by editing the
notebook section config
file directly.
mod_name is the name of the plugin module (e.g.
...) and
LANG the lowercased kernel language (eg julia, python, r ...), then
the options are as follows:
mod_name.add_toolbar_button: Whether to add a toolbar button to transform the selected cell(s). Defaults to
mod_name.button_icon: A font-awesome class defining the icon used for the toolbar button and actions. See fontawesome for available icon classes. Defaults to
mod_name.button_label: Toolbar button label text. Also used in the actions' help text. Defaults to
mod_name.register_hotkey: Whether to register hotkeys to transform the selected cell(s)/whole notebook. Defaults to
mod_name.hotkeys.process_all: Hotkey to use to transform all the code cells in the notebook. Defaults to
mod_name.hotkeys.process_selected: Hotkey to use to transform the selected cell(s). Defaults to
mod_name.show_alerts_for_errors: Whether to show alerts for errors in the kernel calls. Defaults to
mod_name.kernel_config_map_json: The value of this key is a string which can be parsed into a json object giving the config for each kernel language.
The following give the per-kernel options of the parsed json, using the language key
LANG, to be replaced as appropriate:
mod_name.kernel_config_map_json.LANG.library: String to execute in the kernel in order to load any necessary kernel libraries.
mod_name.kernel_config_map_json.LANG.replacements_json_to_kernel: a list of pairs of strings, used as arguments to javascript's
String.replace(from, to)to translate from a json string into a valid representation of the same string in the kernel language. Since json strings are particularly simple, this can often (as with the python language) be left as the default, an empty list.
mod_name.kernel_config_map_json.LANG.postfix: strings added as bookends to the kernel string (translated from the json string using the replacements above) to make up the kernel prettifier call kernel's prettifier libraries.
mod_name.kernel_config_map_json.LANG.trim_formatted_text: Whether to trim whitespace from the transformed cell text. Since jupyter cells don't usually have leading or trailing whitespace, the default behaviour is to trim the transformed text, in order to prevent the transform adding extra newlines at the end (a common behaviour for source files, where having a trailing newline is often considered good practice).
The model is essentially:
- The cell text is grabbed by client-side javascript, then turned into a json
string using javascript
JSON.stringify. Since json-compatible strings are a particularly simple string format, which is compatible with many other programming languages without much modification (e.g. a valid json string is also a valid string in python 3, and also in python 2 when prefixed with a
u), and easily converted for use in others (because of its simplicity).
- Optional regex replacements are used to translate the json-format string
step, but other languages may do, so it's implemented for flexibility
using the per-kernel config key
replacements_json_to_kernel, which is a list of pairs of arguments to javascript
- The kernel-specific prettifier call is then composed from
kernel_config.postfixand sent to the kernel for execution. This kernel call is expected to get the formatted cell text printed as a json-compatible string. Since most kernel languages have json packages, this should hopefully be easy to arrange. The reason for the printing text rather than simply displaying it, is that it prevents us having to translate from a kernel string representing a json string.
- The callback for the kernel execution in client-side javascript parses the
printed json-format string, optionally trims trailing whitespace according
to the
trim_formatted_textkey (which defaults to
true) in the per-kernel config, and then sets the cell text using the result.
The process is probably best illustrated using an example for the python
implementation in
At nbextension load, the
code_prettify.kernel_config_map_jsonconfig option is parsed to give the json object
{ "python": { "library": "import json\nimport yapf.yapflib.yapf_api", "prefix": "print(json.dumps(yapf.yapflib.yapf_api.FormatCode(u", "postfix": ")[0]))" } }
(other kernel languages are omitted for clarity).
On kernel becoming ready, the nbextension looks up the config for the kernel's language (in our example, this is the
pythonkey of the kernel config json object above). It then sends the kernel config's
librarystring to the kernel for execution. Thus the python implementation above executes
import json import yapf.yapflib.yapf_api
On requesting a cell be prettified which can happen by clicking the toolbar, or with a (configurable) hotkey, the following happens:
Say the cell to be formatted contains the following ugly python code:
msg= 'hello '+"world" print ( msg )
Then the result of the
JSON.stringifycall will be a string containing
"msg= 'hello '+\"world\"\nprint (\n msg )"
(note the opening and closing quotes). Concatenating this with the prefix & postfix strings from the python kernel config above, gives us the kernel code to execute. The call sent to the python kernel is therefore
print(json.dumps(yapf.yapflib.yapf_api.FormatCode(u"msg= 'hello '+\"world\"\nprint (\n msg )")[0]))
What gets 'printed' by the kernel (i.e. returned to the javascript stream callback) is the following json-format string:
"msg = 'hello ' + \"world\"\nprint(msg)\n"
The default is to trim whitepace from the returned prettified text, which results in the final prettified python code for the cell:
msg = 'hello ' + "world" print(msg)
Defining a new plugin¶
As an example, we will add a new plugin which reformats code using the
autopep8 module in python, rather than the yapf library used by
code_prettify. Such a plugin, jupyter-autopep8 was developed by @kenkoooo
as a fork of an old version of
code_prettify. Redefining it here has the
advantage of using the updated and more-robust architecture, in addition to
making it possible to reformat the whole notebook in one go.
For this new nbextension, we just have to run
import autopep8 as the kernel
library code, and then call the
autopep8.fix_code function on cells' text.
Hence what we have to do is:
button_icondefault config values in the new
autopep8.js. Also update the
cfg.kernel_config_mapvalue to use the correct kernel code:
cfg.kernel_config_map = { // map of options for supported kernels "python": { "library": "import json\nimport autopep8", "prefix": "print(json.dumps(autopep8.fix_code(u", "postfix": ")))" } };
autopep8.yaml, and update its values (name, require, readme, plus the new defaults for hotkeys, icon, and kernel_config_map
that's all :-)
Of course, for this simple case, one could equally have just updated the
configuration of
code_prettify using the jupyter_nbextensions_configurator
to use autopep8 instead of yapf to reformat the python code.
But, if you want two alternative prettifiers available for the same kernel
language, we need to define separate plugins.
- @jfbercher, august 14, 2016, first version, named
- @jfbercher, august 19, 2016, second version
- introduced support for R and javascript.
- changed extension name from
- @jcb91, december 2016
- made addition of toolbar button & hotkey configurable
- reworked to avoid regex replacements for conversion to/from kernel string formats, in favour of json-string interchange
- made kernel-specific prettifier calls configurable, allowing support for different prettifiers & arbitrary kernels
- improved documentation
- @jfbercher, december 2016-january 2017
- added a configurable shortkey to reflow the whole notebook
- extracted most of the code to build a general library of functions,
kernel_exec_on_cell.js, which can be used for all nbextensions which needs to exec some code (via the current kernel) on the text from cells.
- added 2to3 as a plugin to the shared library
- @jcb91, january 2017
- library: Use actions to avoid problems with auto-generated actions generated by keyboard_manager, which were overwriting each other. Also fix toolbar button removal.
- @jfbercher, january 2017
- updated documentation
- added autopep8 nbextension as a plugin using the shared library


text:
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Colbert is my Hero
Suffice it to say, the President and First Lady didn't seem too pleased at what Colbert had to say, and left fast.
Time Flies
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Out of the Night, When the Full Moon is Bright
Well, here comes Ape Entertainment to the rescue (and with a name like that, how could they be bad?), getting the issue in print and into stores only weeks after its original release date. Available in finer comic shops everywhere, The Black Coat #1 is the first of a four issue miniseries.
Who is the Black Coat? Here's the description of the character, from the creators' website:
Nathaniel Finch is a budding scientist, a successful business man, and the editor of a weekly newspaper in New York City. An exceptionally intelligent and hard working man, Nathaniel could easily have found himself to be one of the most influential men in the Colonies, knee deep in politics, along side men like Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin. But as much as Nathaniel might be tempted to lead what some would call an 'ordinary life', he has a different set of priorities. Perhaps better than anyone, he knows that there are things in this world – mysterious, unexplainable, deadly things - that represent more of a threat to life and liberty than taxation without representation.
To combat these threats and to keep those around him safe, Nathaniel Finch has become the masked spy known as The Black Coat. Even as a revolutionary war is burgeoning around him, The Black Coat, assisted by a network of agents, fights another kind of war - a war unseen by most men. His determination, skill, and wits are his only defenses against ancient curses, mythical creatures, and enchanted science.
From the outset, the idea was vintage pulp, with a nice historical twist, and the art was superb, so the only question that remained was whether the execution would hold up. Well, it does, in spades. The hero's quips in battle are occasionally a bit much, and I seriously doubt that 18C colonial strumpets walked around in strapless evening gowns, but those are minor quibbles. Where the story really needed to come through, it absolutely did. A fast-paced, rollicking pulp adventure, and well worth the price of admission.
Reading it, I was reminded that Michael Stewart and Bret Blevins have been doing a great series of "Scarecrow of Romney Marsh" shorts in the pages of Disney Adventures. Whether that suggests that Disney plans to revive the Dr. Syn character in some other medium, I'm not sure, but the little four page stories of Stewart and Blevins make for nice little bite-sized snacks.
Friday, April 28, 2006
The Man from Krypton
My own contribution is titled "Jewel Mountains and Fire Falls: The Lost World of Krypton," and is a paean to the Krypton of the Silver Age and Bronze Age comics. In particular, I praise E. Nelson Bridwell, who picked up the torch after uber-editor Mort Weisinger resigned, and under whose guiding hand Krypton really came into full flower in the 1970s. Naturally, I heap praise on Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbons's "For the Man Who Has Everything," which I think owes its narrative weight to the constant evocation of the minutia of Krypton's invented history and culture. And, finally, I blame John Byrne for lousing up the whole thing, by choosing to make Krypton a place which would repel and revulse Superman, rather than a lost home for which he'd wax nostalgaic.
Basically, these sorts of projects are opportunities to read huge stacks of favorite old comics as "research," and to get paid for typing up the same sorts of rants with which I bore the clerks at the comic shop on a weekly basis. What could be better than that? This weekend I'm working on my contribution for BenBella's forthcoming book on Battlestar Galactica (having finished the introduction to PJF and Danny Adam's "The City Beyond Play" yesterday). I'm dirt poor, but I've got the best job in the world.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Advice to a Young Writer
A few weeks ago, a friend wrote to ask if I had any advice for his daughter, who'd decided to become a writer. I think he was specifically asking about university programs and the like, but I took the opportunity to, as John puts it, bloviate. I touched on a lot of the same points as he does, though with considerably less panache, I'll admit.
Here's what I told him to tell her, and I'd tell any other aspiring writer the same:
As far as universities go, I don't think any one in particular would be better than the others. So long as it has a strong liberal arts program, she should be fine.
In my experience, the best things for a writer to study are history and literature. Studying "creative writing" itself comes a distant third. A knowledge of history is invaluable for any writer, whether of fantasy, or sf, or any other genre; not because it's useful to know names and dates of ancient wars (it's not!), but because knowing how the real world has developed is invaluable when it comes to "world building", whether that means building a fantasy world like Middle Earth, or devising a plausible future history, or even making up a small town as the setting for a murder mystery. And the more a writer knows about people in general, in as many cultures and historical epochs as possible, the better they'll be able to make-up convincing fictional people.
Studying literature, the next big skill, provides insight into how other writers have tackled these questions, in different eras, cultures, and movements. Creative writing, as a class or major, can be useful, but there's the real danger that the only thing the professor or department will teach is how *they* think a story should be written. Creative writing programs very often turn out "cookie cutter" literary writers, unnecessarily limited to one particular mode or style.
As for breaking in, yes, it's extremely difficult. Virtually every writer I know worked for years before they sold a single story. In my case, I finished my first novel when I was twenty-two, but didn't sell a story until I was thirty-three. In those eleven years, I wrote dozens of stories and seven novels. That said, in my experience if someone is talented, develops their craft, and sticks with it, eventually they'll succeed. It may take a *long* time, and even then they might never be able to "quit their day job," but they'll start selling books and stories, eventually.
Your daughter already has a bit of a leg up, having been to conventions. The thing that I didn't know as a young writer was the importance of networking. Once a writer has learned how to write, and is ready to start trying to sell their stuff, going to professional conventions and meeting editors and other writers is *invaluable*. I didn't learn that until I was thirty-one, but once I did I started placing stories and novels almost immediately. For anyone writing science fiction and fantasy, the two invaluable conventions are the World Fantasy Convention and WorldCon (the World Science Fiction Convention). I never miss them, and I tell every aspiring writer I meet that they shouldn't, either. There are always editors looking for new writers to publish in attendance, and other writers who know what markets are buying, and which editors to stay away from, and so on.
I think I mentioned to your daughter at Comic Con last year the importance of always keeping a notebook handy, and as I recall she already does. Which is another advantage she's already got going for her. It's an old cliche, but it's true, that every writer has hundreds of thousands of bad words in them before they start to write anything good, and the sooner an aspiring writer can get the crap written and move on to the good stuff, the better.
Sorry to ramble so long, but I think I can sum writing up in three steps: Read a lot, write a lot, and learn how the business works.
That's my two cents, so take it for what it's worth. I hope some of it is helpful.
Paragaea Found
Details about the book, along with sample chapters, character bios, and maps, can be found at www.paragaea.com. To whet your appetite before reading the book, or as a bit of dessert once you're finished with it, download the FREE prequel novel, Set the Seas on Fire, which recounts an earlier adventure of the novel's male lead, Hieronymus Bonaventure. It's a nautical adventure/romance with Polynesian zombies. Who could ask for more?
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
"Set more than 50 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica, Caprica takes place on the capital world of the Twelve Colonies. There humankind thrives, living in a peaceful society with the benefits of high technology. But the development of an advanced, robotic, artificial life form is about to change everything."
I'm not sure what I think about this. My love for BSG knows no bounds, and I've got nothing but faith in executive producer Ron Moore, so I should be optimistic. But television has not necessarily been kind to SF spinoffs (and vice versa). For every Deep Space Nine, there's a Voyager, if you know what I mean. So my primary reaction is just, well, hmmm...
I've been thinking about these sorts of issues since I read John Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades last week, which raises some interesting questions about the intersection between intelligence and consciousness. The fact that the brain seems to shut down the latter when the former is overtaxed is, well, just plain weird.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Tiger Boy
For a character with the ability to do anything, turning into a strange half-boy/half-tiger seems an odd choice, but at least Paul Canfield isn't a one trick pony, as evidenced by my favorite line of all: "Steel Man EATS bullets!" Well, naturally.
New Adventure Vol 1 Review
The other books reviewed in this issue are Orson Scott Card's Ultimate Iron Man, Vol. 1; Stephen Jones's The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror #16; Lucius Shepard's A Handbook of American Prayer; Lou Anders's Futureshocks; Justina Robson's Silver Screen; Octavia Butler's Fledgling; John Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades; and Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job. That's a whole lot of people I like and books I like even better (I just read Scalzi's TGB last week, and may like it better than I liked Old Man's War, which I loved). This is the first I've heard of Some Fantastic, but I'm really impressed with what I've seen of it so far.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Lost Star
K9 Adventures
But will they use the themesong from "K9 & Company?" We can only hope...
Sunday, April 23, 2006
New Paragaea Review
Labels: reviews
Friday, April 21, 2006
X-Men: The Return
This week I got word that the book's cover will be illustrated by the incomparable John Picacio. The X-Men will never have looked so good.
New Trek
"J.J. Abrams is becoming the next Gene Roddenberry.I'm cautiously optimistic. Alias got a few good seasons before it went horribly wrong, and I'm a huge fan of Lost. That said, if I ran the world I'd have left Trek a-moldering in the grave a mite longer yet. I think ten years would have been a good amount of time to let the franchise recharge a bit. But the fact that this appears to be an entirely new creative team is encouraging. And a new continuity, as well? That's the only way I can see Spock and Kirk at the Academy at the same time working, unless Spock is sent back for remedial training after serving a decade on the Enterprise under Captain Pike.
"Paramount is breathing life into its "Star Trek" franchise by setting"Mission: Impossible III" helmer J.J. Abrams to produce and direct the 11th"Trek" feature, aiming for a 2008 release. Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk, Abrams' producing team from "Lost," also will produce the yet-to-be-titled feature. Project, to be penned by Abrams and "MI3" scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, will center on the early days of seminal "Trek" characters James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer space mission."
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
A Sesame Street History of the Movies
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
An Anniversary of Sorts
Somewhere in there, we were sitting on my crummy couch, smoking Camel Lights, drinking Pepsi (my two passions, for most of my adult life, both sadly now relegated to special occasions), and watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which she'd never seen. It was probably "The Visitor," the series' best episode, but I can't say for certain. When the credits rolled, I got up to eject the tape, sure that she'd be ready to move onto something else, and glad that she'd been patient enough to sit through one episode. I was halfway across the floor when she said, "Do you have any more?" I knew, right then, that I would marry her. We ended up watching nothing but DS9 for days, which only served to seal the deal.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Geodesica: Ascent wins Ditmar
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Bosnian Pyramids?
Friday, April 14, 2006
Our Mutant Overlords?
Take a look at the opening spread:
I couldn't help but find that familiar. Now, check this out, and see if you don't, too:
That's a page from Uncanny X-Men #14, published in November 1965. The story, scripted by Stan Lee with art by Jack Kirby, introduced the Sentinels, designed by scientist Boliver Trask as an answer to the mounting "Mutant Menace."
I'm guessing that Kirby, at least, and likely Lee as well, had a copy of the December 1953 Mechanix Illustrated pretty close at hand while working on that story. Our mutant overlords in both pieces appear to have used the same tailor, wouldn't you say?
Secret Wars Re-Enactment Society
Yesterday, una novela pop
What appears the publisher's press release can be found on here, but as my Spanish fu extends little farther than "Two more beers, please," "I would like twenty-four doughnuts," and "Where is the restroom?" I'm having to accept Google's translation on the matter.
The book appears to be available from an online seller, who has this to say about me: "Chris Roberson ha irrumpido con fuerza en el panorama literario anglosajon," which according to Google means that I have "burst in with force into the Anglo-Saxon literary panorama." How about that? I've been working for years to burst in with force into a literary panorama, and it takes a Spanish bookseller to tell me I've succeeded.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Venture Bros
Data Mining
For my part, I find Google and Wikipedia invaluable tools. I know that much of the information found on both is unreliable, and always look for independent verification, but the sheer breadth of data on both is just staggering. When I was in college, I practically lived at the Perry-Castañeda Library at the University of Texas (it helped that I lived literally across the street, and could walk from my dorm room to the front door of the library in a matter of minutes), and at any given time would have dozens of books checked out, all research for whatever novel or story I was writing at the time. I kept handwritten notes, though I had a Mac Classic II I used for writing, and looking back at those notebooks now it's clear that I was lucky to wring more than a few individual facts from each of those books. Dozens of books would boil down to just a few pages worth of notes at best; not terrifically efficient, but it was the best solution at the time.
Now, I can look up a topic with which I'm unfamiliar on Google and Wikipedia and, in a matter of moments, have a fairly good overview. Granted, some of the information in that overview might be a bit off, and some of it might be outright incorrect, but it's taken me only a few minutes, and not a week of reading. I'm then able to use that overview to locate the most useful source materials, whether a well-sourced website or a book or what-have-you. And thanks to Alibris and Abebooks I can usually find any books available for sale, and usually for just a few bucks. So with a few minutes on Wikipedia, a quick search on Abebooks, and media mail transit times, I can get more research done than I used to be able to do in weeks, even though I had access to one of the best university libraries in the country.
People can decry the inaccuracies and "banality" of Wikipedia and Google all they like, but for me the use of these tools is a one-way street. I'm not going back; I just don't have that kind of time anymore. I welcome whatever follow-on information tools will success "Web 2.0," but in the meantime I'm quite happy with the banality, thanks very much.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Getting lift from helium, and using compressed air to add a bit of propulsion, once the GravityPlane tops out at ten miles or so, it deploys wings and uses the pull of gravity to drive turbines that refill the compressed air tanks. It can glide at high speeds, in a slow descent, for 400 to 600 miles. When it gets too low, it shoots out the compressed air again, rising back up to 10 miles, and starts the process over again.
I lack the math and engineering fu to say whether this is feasible or not, but it seems workable to me. The GravityPlane is still on the drawing board, so it remains to be seen whether they can build a working prototype, but wouldn't it be cool if they did?
Monday, April 10, 2006
Friday, April 07, 2006
Visited States
create your own visited states map
Da Vinci ruling
"'It would be quite wrong if fictional writers were to have their writings pored over in the way The Da Vinci Code has been pored over in this case by authors of pretend historical books to make an allegation of infringement of copyright,' Smith said in his 71-page ruling, the trade paper reported. "
Fiction draws from fact endlessly, and if a successful novel brings the nonfiction writers whose work might have served as its source material out of the woodwork looking for a cut, it could have a chilling effect. I hope that Baigent and Leigh have seen increased royalties from boosted sales, spillover from Da Vinci Code readers hungry for more of the same, but I don't think they're entitled to any of Brown's profits. (I leave it to wiser heads than mine to determine whether their book is "pretend historical," as much as I like the turn of phrase.)
Global Dimming
Allison and I caught the episode of BBC's Horizon on "Global Dimming" the other week, which was the first we'd heard of it. So far as I know, it isn't being widely reported, if at all, in the States, though the science behind it has been percolating for decades. The short version is that pollution levels, specifically ash and particulate pollutants in the atmosphere, have had the effect of reducing the amount of sunlight hitting the surface of the Earth for decades. In recent years, we've been doing a much better job of curbing these sorts of pollutants (while still doing nothing about carbon dioxide emissions), and as a result the temperature has been climbing much, much faster than even climatologists' direst models had predicted. The theory is that the dimming effect has skewed the predictions about how bad we've really borked the environment with CO2, which still isn't classified as a pollutant in the US. The most optimistic predictions say that we've got just a few years at most to curb CO2 emissions, or within a generation England's going to look like North Africa and the rainforests are going to catch fire and burn. Oh, and if you thought post-Katrina New Orleans was bad, wait until Florida and the Netherlands are floating under a few meters of saltwater. And that's assuming that the sudden rise in temperature doesn't destabilize the methane hydrate concentrations beneath the oceans, because if those things hit the surface, then we're really screwed.
Isn't it great to live in a country where the environment policy is written by oil companies, though?
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Deep Ancestry on a Budget
There's not room in the family budget for it just yet, but if we get a bit of breathing room, I might just see what a cheek swab can tell me about myself.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Orbiting a Dead Star
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
The Simpsons Movie, a bit too late?
TV is your Friend
I've got a few significant objections to the methodology of the cited studies. I'm reminded of a study I read about last week, that said that children who wore clothing with beer advertising on them were more likely to go on to drink, which I think has more to do with the effects of being the child of a parent who purchases clothing with beer advertising on it for their kid, than it does the efficacy of the advertising itself. The casually mentioned links here between violent media and "young men from violent communities," for instance, suggests to me very strongly that anything to do with the media and not the community as a primary cause is rather missing the point.
But the thing about these sorts of studies that I find so offensive is that there appears to be no distinction made in the methodoly among the different types of TV viewing a child can engage in (at least they distinguish between "violent" and "benign" video games, which is a start). Does an extra hour of Sesame Street a day really make a kid more likely to be overweight at age 3? Does watching two or more hours a day of shows like O'Grady and Avatar: The Last Airbender really make a teen more likely to have sex? While I have no doubt that there can be detrimental effects of kids watching inappropriate media, seeing things they lack the sophistication or development to process, there are loads of programs that are entirely appropriate for kids, and extremely beneficial for them.
As with so many things, I'm afraid this really boils down to the parents. What sort of shows are parents allowing their kids to watch? Do the parents talk to their kids about what they watch? Do they talk to their kids at all, for that matter? Yes, if TV is used as a cheap babysitter in a house, and toddlers are left to their own devices with a remote control and a bag of Cheetos, they're likely to turn out a bit pudgy. But if used appropriately, TV can be an invaluable part of educating a child.
TV is a medium, just like books, and there's good and bad examples of both. I'm tempted to say that anyone who suggested that reading more than one book a week can lead to fat, violent, sex-obsessed teens would be laughed out of their profession, but for all I know the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine is set to run that study in their next issue.
If you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch Sesame Street with my daughter. I guess the fact that she can recite the alphabet at the age of twenty-five months will come as cold comfort when she's obese next year, right?
Monday, April 03, 2006
Orbital Camp-out
"Orbital camp-out"? Is that what we're calling it now?
Time Scale
So if I've done my math right, and there's no reason to think I have, then the lifetime of Brahma is equivalent to 4x10^22 human years. That's a pretty damned big number. Not as big as the 10^10000 it's currently theorized that the universe will take to reach its low energy state (assuming there's no Big Crunch), but quite a bit bigger than the 6x10^3 years at which James Ussher placed the age of the universe (with the clock starting on October 23, 4004 BC, to be precise). That there are still people in the US who think Ussher was right on the money is just flat embarrassing.
(from Ramesh Menon's The Ramayana)
"A chaturyuga, a cycle of four ages [the kritayuga - 4,800 divine years long; the treta - 3,6000 divine years; the dwapara - 2,400 divine years; and the kali - 1,200 divine years], is twelve thousand divine years, or 365 times 12,000 human years long. Seventy-one chaturyugas makes a manvantara; fourteen manvantaras, a kalpa. A kalpa of a thousand chaturyugas, twelve million divine years, is one day of Brahma, the Creator.
"Eight thousand Brahma years makes one Brahma yuga; a thousand Brahma yugas makes a savana; and Brahma's life is 3,003 savanas long.
"One day of Mahavishnu is the lifetime of Brahma."


text:
Airport Limo
Prudent and professional- Limos Of Napa airport limo drivers always arrive on time, handle luggage with care, courteously hold open the passenger door, and offer relevant and current travel or tourist information.
Napa Limo and Chauffeur Service
Located in Napa, serving Napa, Napa Valley and Sonoma areas
Prudent and professional- Limos Of Napa airport limo drivers always arrive on time, handle luggage with care, courteously hold open the passenger door, and offer relevant and current travel or tourist information.
We offer customized airport transfers and local limousine services for business meetings, holiday trips, city tours, family outings and many other special events. We pride ourselves on offering the most efficient and experienced airport limo taxi service.
Avoid the hassle of designating a driver or parking, and keep the party going in between stops with a fully equipped luxury limo service. Whether you are the groom, the best man, groomsman, or a guest, treat the guys to a VIP experience as you cruise to downtown clubs, bars and restaurants in safety and class.
Say goodbye to your days as a single lady and party the night away in style and sophisticated comfort with Limos Of Napa's bachelorette party limo services.
A bar or bat mitzvah is a once in a lifetime experience and Limos Of Napa can help create wonderful memories with a luxury limousine rental from our impeccable fleet of late model vehicles.
Our professional chauffeurs will arrive at your door to pick you up in a fully equipped Limos Of Napa luxury limousine and transport you in style and comfort to the most popular entertainment spots. Start the festivities on your way to your destination with a customized birthday limo party package and make your special occasion a night to remember with friends!
Guarantee a night of fun when you choose a Limos Of Napa casino car service. Arrive in a sleek and stylish stretch limo or town car and make an impressive entrance with an added touch from our professional door-to-door chauffeur service.
Limos Of Napa understands that today's busy business executives require nothing less than the best quality executive car services that include: a well-maintained fleet of late model limousines, professional chauffeur services and reliable and efficient logistics planning that meet a full range of corporate transportation requirements.
Whether you require a limousine service for a wedding, a night on the town, a city tour or corporate event– Limos Of Napa is known for its longstanding reputation. We have maintained the highest levels of customer service and a quality fleet of exotic limo rentals.
With the many arrangements and details to take care of when a loved one passes, Limos Of Napa provides carefully organized and simplified funeral limo rental services– focused on making a difficult time a little easier with professional funeral transportation.
After all your hard-academic work, reward yourself with a grad night that you will remember forever. Travel in style and luxury in a five-star limousine or party bus from the Limos Of Napa fleet that meets all your partying needs.
For luxury limousine rentals customized to suit any special occasion, Limos Of Napa offers exclusive limousine rentals and corporate car services with professional and courteous chauffeurs.
Limos Of Napa provides reliable and efficient limo shuttle services to and from airports hotels, convention centers, business establishments, sporting events and more. Streamline your business, corporate or leisure travel planning, or run errands safely and securely at affordable rates.
When you want to add something extra to your night out, rent a limo from Limos Of Napa for added excitement and fun. We offer reasonable rates on limousine services and a large and impressive fleet of cheap limos to choose from.
Bring your next group event to the next level of excitement with a Limos Of Napa party bus. With unlimited pick ups and drop offs, you and your guests can enjoy the very best hotspots without ever having to worry about a designated driver or separating your group into multiple vehicles.
Your high school prom happens only once in a lifetime. Make it the best night ever with a Limos Of Napa prom limo rental that ensures your safety and security while you and your friends have the time of your life! Feel like royalty in the luxury vehicle that suits you and your group of grads and experience true VIP treatment.
Select from the impressive Limos Of Napa fleet that includes sedan and town car limo rentals for airport transfers, wedding limo services, corporate events or any other special occasion.
Limos Of Napa takes great pride in providing superior luxury transportation for special events. Make the milestone events in your life even more memorable with our lavish fleet of luxurious town cars, limousines, SUV's and party buses.
Let Limos Of Napa enhance your special occasions and corporate events with specialty cars and limousines from our fabulous fleet.
Limos Of Napa offers a fleet of luxury late model limousines and flawless chauffeur services that include fully equipped SUV limos with finely upholstered spacious interiors for extra leg and luggage room.
Make your sweet sixteen celebration a night you will remember forever with a Limos Of Napa limo party bus that is fully equipped with the most awesome amenities and sophisticated customer services.
Make your important lifetime celebrations one to never forget with a vintage limo rental from the limo service experts at Limos Of Napa. Whenever glam and class are called for, our highly experienced and professional chauffeurs will ensure you travel to your wedding ceremony, reception or graduation banquet in ultimate comfort and style.
Your wedding day requires a reliable and experienced limo service rental company who understands how to make you and your guests feel extra special. Fully trained and professional; Limos Of Napa staff pays extra attention to detail and ensures your wedding transportation needs are handled with sophistication and comfort.
Limos Of Napa is the top choice for tours of Napa Valley's wine country. With our intimate knowledge of the area, our immaculate fleet of luxury limousines, and our unbridled commitment to our customers, we're confident that we'll make your next wine tour an incredible experience.
Let Limos Of Napa provide you with luxurious and efficient transport for an exclusive wine tour. For your next special event, visit the finest wineries in the region with your own private chauffeur and your choice of a luxury vehicle.


text:
Wrongful Death Attorney Manchester NH
Standing Up For Surviving Family Members
If you have lost a loved one due to the careless or negligent actions of a person, business or organization, the attorneys at Borofsky, Amodeo-Vickery & Bandazian, P.A., are here to stand up for your rights. Our lawyers are experienced and compassionate allies for families that have lost loved ones in Manchester, in Nashua and throughout New Hampshire.
How We Can Help
As experienced wrongful death attorneys, we can help you obtain maximum compensation for the losses associated with a loved one's fatal injury.
New Hampshire wrongful death law allows surviving family members to pursue compensation for damages such as:
- Final medical bills
- Funeral and burial expenses
- Lost earnings and lost earning capacity
- Lost contribution to the household economy
- Loss of comfort, society and companionship
- Conscious pain and suffering of the decedent prior to death
- Loss of enjoyment of life
We understand the financial strain that accompanies the loss of a family member. We are here to help you pursue the compensation you need to pay the bills and rebuild your life after this tremendous loss. At Borofsky, Amodeo-Vickery & Bandazian, P.A., we can also help you through the complications of the probate process.
We Are Here For You
We understand that legal matters may not be foremost on your mind during these troubling times. When you are ready to explore your legal options, we will be here for you. Contact us by email, complete and submit the form on this page or call 603 625-6441 to discuss your wrongful death lawsuit with an experienced lawyer. The initial consultation is free. We do not charge an attorney fee unless we obtain compensation for you.
Request A Consultation
The use of the Internet or this form for communication with the firm or any individual member of the firm does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent through this form.


text:
10% off For Students and TeachersExpires: Ongoing
10% off For Students and TeachersExpires: Ongoing
$5 off purchase of $50 or moreExpires: 03/31/17
$5 off purchase of $50 or moreExpires: 03/31/17
$10 off purchase of $100 or moreExpires: 03/31/17
$10 off purchase of $100 or moreExpires: 03/31/17
Up To 50% Off TOMS Sale Styles + Free Shipping On $55+Expires: Limited Time Only
Up To 50% Off TOMS Sale Styles + Free Shipping On $55+Expires: Limited Time Only
Sale Items, Up to 35% Off!Expires: Ongoing!
Sale Items, Up to 35% Off!Expires: Ongoing!
Women's Sale Items, Up to 35% Off!Expires: Ongoing!
Women's Sale Items, Up to 35% Off!Expires: Ongoing!
Men's Sale Items, Up to 35% Off!Expires: Ongoing!
Men's Sale Items, Up to 35% Off!Expires: Ongoing!
Kid's Sale Items, Up to 35% Off!Expires: Ongoing!
Kid's Sale Items, Up to 35% Off!Expires: Ongoing!
Toms Expired Coupons
$5 Off $50+ Sitewide$5 Off $50+ Sitewide
$5 Off $50+ Sitewide$5 Off $50+ Sitewide
$10 Off $100+ Sitewide + Free Shipping$10 Off $100+ Sitewide + Free Shipping
$10 Off $100+ Sitewide + Free Shipping$10 Off $100+ Sitewide + Free Shipping
About Toms
TOMS.com is a website that sells a number of shoes and eyewear products. This is a site that is associated with TOMS Shoes, a shoe company that is closely associated with Friends of TOMS, a non-profit organization. People who buy products from TOMS.com will do more than just help themselves to some appealing fashions. The customers who buy these products will also be assisting people in many developing countries where people may not be able to afford certain things.
TOMS.com was formed in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie. It was inspired by his visit to Argentina noticed that children and other people in developing countries were not getting the shoes that they needed. This often led to children suffering from injuries and infections, thus keeping them from going to school. In addition, children were not receiving the eyewear that they needed in order to lean to read and to see properly.
This led to the creation of TOMS Shoes, a company that was named after his "Shoes for Tomorrow" project. The website has particularly helped to give people access to many shoes that they can buy while helping children.
The big part of this site is that it uses the "One for One" policy. When a person buys a pair of shoes or a pair of glasses on the site, the company will send a pair of shoes or glasses to a child who needs them for free. This is all done with the intention of helping children to receive the shoes that they require.
What TOMS.com Sells
TOMS.com particularly sells canvas slip-on shoes for men, women and children. These are made of cotton or canvas materials and have rubber soles to them.
These shoes are designed with many different kinds of styles in mind. These include shoes with all sorts of different prints and colors on their bodies plus a few models that feature laces. There are also sandals, wedges, flats and boots for sale on this website.
The eyewear products for sale here include all sorts of sunglasses including pilot, oversized, and polarized sunglasses. All of these options are designed to make it easier for people to see things right and to keep UV rays out from one's eyes. The site takes pride in having a large variety of sunglasses for people to choose from.
The Marketplace is a new addition to the site that is worth taking a look at. This is a feature where a customer can order jewelry, accessories, apparel, bags and items for the home. This includes many products from a variety of smaller artisans from around the country who are looking to make a difference in the world. These include artisans who are interested in supporting children's' health initiatives, women's rights, health issues and clean water production.
TOMS Commercial
Looking Around the TOMS.com Website
The TOMS.com website has many options for people to take advantage of and it is particularly easy to use its website to find products. The site is arranged in a series of sections that relate to products for women, men and kids. People can browse through items based on the latest arrivals, the best-selling products and the types of shoes or other products they want to get.
Customers can then narrow down the items they want based on the prices for products, the sizes that people can get and the colors that are available. The site has a large variety of products divided in all of these points and will make it easier for people to all around to see what is open. There are also various ratings and reviews for different products based on their appearances and the features that they come with.
People can also go to the Marketplace to find items based on the causes they support, the regions that different vendors are devoted to and the many brands that have products for sale. People can easily search for items within individual sections based on things like jewelry, accessories and more. The options that are open are certainly of use to those who might like these products.
The process of ordering products from TOMS.com involves simply adding items to a shopping cart and then paying for them at the checkout. The site accepts all major credit cards as well as PayPal transactions. The site does not take in check or cash payments and a customer can only use one payment option during a transaction.
People can get their products shipped through a standard ground shipping service. It is free to use this service within the continental United States. It is also free on Marketplace orders of $65 or more.
Special TOMS.com Deals & Promotion Codes
People can find many good deals on the TOMS.com website. People can get free shipping on Marketplace orders that are $65 or more in value, for instance.
The site also has some discounts on various items throughout the year. However, these discounts tend to be scattered all around the website so it can take a good amount of effort to find discounts.
TOMS.com even has promo codes for customers to use. These are offered as a means of allowing people to get better access to shoes so they can continue to provide pairs of shoes to people in need. These typically involve small amounts of money due to the need for the site to continue to support its charitable efforts. Still, codes can include benefits like $5 off of an order of $25 or more. This could be a useful discount depending on the total value of one's full transaction.
The efforts that TOMS.com makes for improving the lives of people all around the world are very significant. People can shop with TOMS.com to find all sorts of quality shoes, eyewear products and other items and help give back to the world. The causes that are supported by TOMS.com are very important and essential to the needs that people have. It is particularly easy for people to take a look at around different things relating to what it currently has to offer.
Customer Ratings:


text:
SKU: h4000*NATCHK*SM
AVAILABILITY: In stock (25 items)
PRODUCT TYPE: Fedora
Ever so suave, with its elegant design. The Midnight Luxe Straw fedora hat by Walrus Hats is the perfect summer accessory. Made from a smooth, lightweight Sisal straw, this straw fedora is sure to impress. Kick back, relax and look...
AVAILABILITY: In stock (139 items)
Reel in a big one with the Big Catch straw fedora hat by Walrus Hats. The wide brim is perfect for keeping those sun rays out of your face and protecting you from harmful UV rays. Sail in style and...
AVAILABILITY: In stock (67 items)
Inspired by the beautiful beaches of South Beach, Miami, we introduce the South Beach wide brim straw fedora hat by Walrus Hats. This hat was crafted with the sun in mind, its wide brim was designed to keep the sun...
AVAILABILITY: In stock (43 items)
Find your little piece of paradise, with the Paradise straw fedora hat by Walrus Hats. The beautiful raffia straw is a dream to wear, with its soft lush feel. The paradise's lightweight and breathable build makes it the perfect summer...
AVAILABILITY: In stock (33 items)
Lose yourself in the cool and comfortable Cast Away straw fedora hat by Walrus Hats. The crocheted raffia straw is lightweight and flexible making this hat extremely comfortable to wear. This quality straw fedora will withstand those long, hot summer...
AVAILABILITY: In stock (28 items)
Nothing says summer like the Sandbar straw fedora hat by Walrus Hats. The lightweight, breathable paper braid straw is perfect for any summer event. Feel the breeze, and block the sun. Summer just wouldn't be the same without this spectacular...
AVAILABILITY: In stock (14 items)
Take a walk down beach, and enjoy the Shoreline straw fedora hat by Walrus Hats. Inspired by the sea, the crashing waves, the sand under your feet, and the sun this is the best summer straw fedora. The wide brim...
AVAILABILITY: In stock (12 items)
Sophisticated, with a casual appeal, try on the Peninsula straw fedora hat by Walrus Hats. Summer style flows through every stitch and braid. Shine brighter than the sun, and show off your sense of summer style. The Peninsula consists of...
AVAILABILITY: In stock (26 items)
A classic style with a summer flair, meet the Driftwood straw fedora hat by Walrus Hats. The tight weaved paper braid straw creates a stunning look, and comfortable feel unmatched by any other straw fedora. This classic style is perfect...
SKU: h4009*NATCHK*XS
Search for "{{ result }}"
Do you want to add products to your personal account?