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Mr. Joel Armstrong
Faculty Directory
Associate Professor, Visual Arts
M.F.A., Colorado State University
B.F.A., Texas Tech University
Artist Joel Armstrong was raised in Corpus Christi, TX, where he grew to love fishing, salt air, humidity and rust. He received his BFA degree in painting from Texas Tech University, and spent over 20 years as both an illustrator and graphic designer. While art director for Group, a magazine for youth ministers, Joel returned to College to receive his MFA in drawing from Colorado State University (2001). At CSU, Joel began to work in wire, and then became interested in Installation art. He has continued to do wire installation for almost 10 years after graduation. His last solo show took more than three years to complete, and was titled "Garage Sale".
Mr. Armstrong is an assistant professor at John Brown and currently teaches drawing, illustration and fine art. His wife Sandy is an artist, and their 3 children are also artists.

subset: commoncrawl


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" Thick, high quality and cushioned toilet paper. However, this thickness can cause issues with drainage systems as it doesn't break down properly in the pipes. "
* Prices may differ from that shown
Toilet paper. It's a day to day basic though they come with stripes, stars, colours and a seemingly endless variety of emollients to cater for sensitive nether regions. One of the market leaders is pushed by a pup. With this brand we were urged to buy by a bear. The connection was obvious if a little crude. Now a days the bear has been permanently exiled to the wood, the name has been changed from 'charmin' to 'cushelle' and a cute koala bear is on the pay roll. He seems like a nice fella and I'm guessing his main job is to communicate how soft the paper is. So, can we trust the koala?
Cushelle is, I would say, a mid price offering. Sometimes its hard to tell as toilet roll is one of those products that is always on offer. I have never paid full price for this one. It's a basic white paper. Although there is a pretty embossing of a koala on each sheet, there is no extra special benefit such as Shea butter, or different colours.
Cushelle comes in packs of 4 to 16. They are shrink wrapped and the larger sizes have a carry handle. The pack is easy to open. Once open there are no special features to distinguish the roll from any other. It's a similar size to other rolls and has about the same numer of sheets although I have seen a 'compact' variant that costs more but lasts longer. The white colour will go with most bathrooms. It looks cleans and hygienic.
The thickness is ok - there are thicker ones out there and there are softer ones too despite what the koala may imply. But, here's the killer for me. This product, like many of its cheaper counterparts, produces lots of dust. As the roll turns, dust is released as the edges of the paper have a fibrous quality. In a more expensive brand, the edges are sealed. I notice dust gathering with cushelle particularly on my bath.
I haven't done a precise study on this, however, I would say that whilst 2 sheets of a high end paper will suffice, I would probably use three of this. That's down to the weight and thickness of the paper.
So, not one I would seek out and pay full price for whether the bear was on the pack or a koala but I'd still pick up a pack if it was on offer.
Review of Charmin/Cushelle Toilet Paper
*Please note Charmin has been rebranded as 'Cushelle'*
Toilet paper is one of those things that I object to spending good money on, being on a tight budget and being a bit of a cheap skate anyway, it irritates me to spend out on something that is basically being thrown away.
With this in mind, I was interested recently when I saw an offer on a popular social networking site which offered a voucher for a free 4 pack of Cushelle toilet paper for simply liking the brand. Free being my favourite price, I followed the instructions, liked the page and added my details to receive my coupon. This arrived within a week and I took it with me the next time I went shopping.
**The Toilet Paper**
Presented in a purple and white plastic wrapper bearing a cartoon image of a koala, the toilet paper is found Cushelle stocked with other mid-priced toilet paper brands and the product was offered in white only, which suited me as I have no preference colour wise.
Cushelle is available in 4, 9, 12, 16, 18, 24 or 32 roll packs; my voucher was for a 4 pack so this was what I picked up. The 4 toilet rolls each consist of 180 2ply sheets of loo paper, all decorated with an embossed image of a koala bear, cute but adding nothing to the product really!
The toilet paper is certainly thick, but I have to say that it was not as soft as I had presumed it would be. There were no issues with fingers going through the paper I'm glad to report!
The toilet paper does its job and I won't go into details about how we use it, as I am sure our bathroom habits are no different to most peoples' and I doubt they hold any great interest to others, suffice to say it just did the job for which it is intended!
The paper is very absorbent and it is easy to tear off the roll. The roll fitted very well on our toilet roll holder but I did not find that the paper lasted longer than a toilet roll from Sainsbury's own range that I generally buy.
My main bug bear with this product is the thickness of the paper. It is fine in normal use but the problem I found was that as we have an energy saving flush system to our loo, this paper did not always flush away first time when using the water saving flush mode. I wouldn't say that we are extravagant or excessive in the quantity of toilet paper we use, but the sheer density of this toilet tissue does make it harder than our usual brands to flush away. This I feel rather defeats the objective of having the water saving flush system if you are need to always use the 'full flush' simply to get rid of the paper. We are on a water meter and I do try to be sensible with our water consumption, so although a fairly minor gripe, this really irritated me.
**My Thoughts and Conclusion**
As mentioned I used a free voucher to obtain my pack of Cushelle, the current price is £2.18 in Sainsbury for a 4 roll pack. When compared to my usual purchase of Sainsbury's Basics Jumbo 6 pack at £1.96, I do not think Cushelle represents very good value for money. I find the own brand comparable in quality, cheaper and it lasts longer than Cushelle. Cushelle is a good quality toilet paper, it does what you expect it to, but I certainly won't be buying it as I do not consider the toilet paper to be worth the extra money. I'm glad I took advantage of the free offer.
I am awarding Cushelle a 3* rating as to be perfectly frank, I did not find it to be anything special.
Thank you for reading.
©brittle1906 March 2013
N.B. My reviews maybe found on other sites under the same user name.
I've been buying Charmin toilet tissues for quite a long time though I tend to wait until they were on a money off offer before I'd buy them as they are quite expensive at full price. A while back now I suddenly realised that I as unable to find Charmin toilet tissue in my local supermarket and then I spotted some at a knock down price in Lidl, of all places. The assistant in the shop explained to me that Charmin had changed their branding (and their name) and they were now to be known as Cushelle. For this reason they were actually selling the old named toilet tissue for about half the price of the RRP as they were trying to get rid of old stocks before the newly branded rolls hit the shops. I stocked up with a lot of Charmin at that point. So much, I fact, that my husband had to put the extra rolls out in the garage as we had no room in our airing cupboard for them all.
These toilet rolls come in various pack sizes, starting off at 4 rolls in a pack right up to 32 rolls. I actually bought myself 8 packs of 18 rolls packs, which they were selling for the crazy price of £4.39. We do go through a lot of toilet roll in our house and I manage to keep about an 18 roll pack in the airing cupboard, but really there is no room for any more rolls than this in our house.
These toilet tissues have 180 sheets on each roll and they are all 2-ply really soft and luxurious feeling toilet tissue. I would personally say that Charmin toilet tissue are the only toilet rolls which even begin to compare to my current favourite Nicky toilet rolls. Charmin rolls have lovely deep perforations across every sheet so we are not left with horrible looking strands of tatty paper in the loo whenever someone has been using it. It is really a very thick and absorbent paper so therefore you don't have to use so much as you would a cheaper toilet tissue. I love the fact that when a roll is brand new I am not having to stand there for ages digging my nails in and looking for the place where I need to start off unrolling the paper form the roll. This can be a nightmare with some cheaper toilet rolls.
These are one of the better loo rolls around at the moment and the fact that they have changed their name is a mystery to me but they haven't changed the quality of the toilet tissue in the process. They are overpriced unless you can manage to get them on offer and whenever I see them reduced I always stock up.
Strong, soft and absorbent - everything I need and want in a toilet tissue and I give it four out of five stars, simply due to the price.
Charmin is a toilet roll which has recently been renamed as Cushelle however they are one in the same product. A couple of months ago there was a offer on the Cushelle Facebook page where if you liked the page then they would send you a coupon for a free 4 roll pack, not one to pass up on a free item I liked the page and have recently used my free pack.
The pack in my opinion is easy to spot and quite cute, the wrapper is see through in parts but also has a lot of lilac and purple on which looks really nice together and then a picture of a cute little Koala. The packet promises cushion softness, give you details for if you are not happy and tells you there are 4 rolls in the pack each one having 180 2 ply tissues on it and each one measures 120 x 104.5mms just if you were wondering!
The packet is pretty much like all toilet roll where you simply rip the packet to open it and then inside are 4 white toilet rolls, the rolls as a whole are rather soft and when you squeeze them they bounce back. It is easy to peel back the first sheets of the roll which is great as some toilet rolls I have tried you have wasted the first few sheets trying to start the roll.
Cushelle is available in normal rolls and supersized rolls and it comes in a variety of pack sizes too, in normal rolls you can get 4, 9, 12, 16, 18, 24 and 32 roll packs and in the supersize where each roll is apparently double the size of a normal roll you get pack sizes of 4, 6 and 9 rolls.
I find that the toilet roll is pretty soft however I have felt softer, the toilet roll is absorbent so you use less than the really cheap rolls and you don't end up putting your finger through the sheet as it is strong. The sheets are easy to tear off the rolls as it has really good perforations however it is not really any better than Asda or Tescos own version of toilet rolls and I don't see any reason to pay extra for them.
These rolls score 4 out of 5 with me simply because you can buy cheaper which is just as good, a 4 roll pack of these will cost you £2.18 but compared to Asdas shades which are only £1.78 it is a fair difference especially in our house where we go through loads of toilet roll.
Charmin is a mid - high range toilet roll brand.
Its advertised as being of "outstanding quality and softness" with "200 sheets per roll".
I am a big Charmin fan - it's very soft but yet strong with a reasonable level of thickness .(I hate some of brands which are practically translucsent!). This toilet roll is comfortable against the skin. I find that due to the quality you need to use less - so whilst Charmin is relatively expensive (for 4 rolls it would be around £2.50 or above depending on which Retailer you go to) I find its a false saving to buy a cheaper brand as you only need to use more! And I find that Sainsburys/Asda/Tesco will frequently have 50p off coupons in their magazines for this brand which is great!
The rolls themselve are very white and clean in appearance - I find occassionally in cheaper brands you will find little tiny specks of off white or grey colours - which is a pet hate of mine!In terms of packaging its pretty standard plastic casing.
The only thing I don't like about Charmin is that they don't appear to have any focus on the environment - some competiting toilet roll brands replant trees, others use recycled products. Charmin don't refer to the environment on there packaging (or website) so for this reason I have marked them down to 3 * otherwise I would have given 4* as the product is excellent.
Like a lot of people I'm sure, I hate spending a fortune on toilet paper, given its use and the fact that it gets flushed away. At the same time, I hate buying the value toilet roll, and always try instead, to find a bargain somewhere in the middle. Often I hae picked up bargains in my local chemist or superdrug rather than teh supermarkets, but recently, I was running out, and I had no choice but to purchase some on my weekly shop. Unfortunately there weren't too many bargains to be found in Tesco on the toilet rolls at that time, but one that was reduced slightly was this Charmins, now known as Cushelle, at a lower pried of £3.50 for a 9 pack.
I have previously used the Charmin brand (when it was on offer a previous time) and I knew that I was gettgin a decent product, so I picked up the pack. I was pleased on the front of the packagin, that it claims that these nine rolls are XL, so I was hoping that I would be getting my money's worth out of them.
Also on the front of the packaging is a picture of a cuddly koala bear, holding on tightly to the toilet rolls. THis image is then replicated on the roll itself with the name Cusheele embossed on each roll. I actually think it is a very clever idea, as I have been at friends houses, and I know exactly the toilet roll I am using when I spot the embossed label on the roll - so it is a great way to advertise your product. Andrex does a similar thing with its puppies on the roll.
On the back of the product, it states that this product is 'super soft...ultra cuddly toilet tissue'. It also likes to promote the fact, that despite the name change, it is the same great product. On the back, it also advertised some of hte larger packs of this product, which all claim to have the XL rolls.
When you take the product out of the wrapping, you can immediately feel how soft the roll is. You can also see clearly the thickness of the roll, especially if you were to compare it to some of the cheaper options out there. I have found so far, that we haven't seemed to have went through as much toilet rolls as we often do, and I do think that their claim that this is XL, is honest.
My only complaint about the product is the full price. It's a bit like andrex in that regard. At full price these toilet rolls are pretty costly for literally a bit of paper, and I would far rather put the money into something more useful, however, I will always happily pick this brand up when on offer, as it is then that I feel that is is good value for money, because of its durability and thickness.
So all round a great product, but pity about the full price tag!
AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Well, I am a loo paper snob, Andrex, ho ho ho, tried charmin/cushell, its the loo paper from hell, i spent friday night in the dark lifting a man hole cover and shoveling wads of the stuff into heavy sacks, it doesnt melt like proper paper. Worse than that, its so tough i shouted at my daughter and blamed her for flushing baby wipes, which she assured me she hadn't done.6 days later i'm at it again, the toilet is backed up and theres a whole new wad of cush HELL in my drain :(If i had had to call a plumber, i would seriously Sue these mongrels for making a stupid paper not fit for its purpose.
Charmin Toilet Tissue - Pack of 4 Rolls for £2.09.
I tried this toilet tissue for the first time last week and have to tell you that it's name has now changed from Charmin to Cushelle. The name change was something strange to do with Koala Bears!
I decided to try this toilet tissue because it was half price - I only paid about £1 for 4 rolls. This was down to a promotion concerning the name change.
I usually buy Tesco Value Toilet Tissue and using a luxury toilet tissue was a real treat. The pack contained 4 rolls - each roll had 200 sheets. The toilet tissue was the softest I have ever used. It was slightly quilted and had little Koala bears embossed onto the paper. The rolls are really wide, soft and squidgy and they lasted some time.
The toilet paper is fragrance free and dye free so it may be a very good alternative for someone with allergies, sensitive skin etc. It also goes easy on your plumbing, this toilet tissue breaks down quickly when mixed with water so there are no problems flushing it down your toilet.
This really is a luxury brand of toilet tissue and it really exceeded my expectations. I would definately buy it again but as I am on a budget I would only buy it if it was on special offer.
Very nice and very soft as it is - at the end of the day it is only toilet tissue and I can find more important things to spend my money on.
Asda Prices: a packet of 9: £4.60
or a packet of 18: £7.78
I'm always looking out for good deals - especially when it comes to loo roll. Yet I can not bring myself to buy the cheap stuff. I mean, it is comfort we are all looking for when it comes to loo roll!!
Charmin are by far the softest tissues on the market. After spending years experiementing with various loo roll brands - from harsh and uncomfortable, to thin and crumbly....these are quilted.
The only real competitor on the market is Andrex Quilts. This is because they are also quilted and feel almost as nice as Charmin.
The rolls seem to be thicker too - I believe they are slightly larger than others.
Charmin only comes in white - so if you're looking for loo roll that will match your yellow walls then Charmin might not be for you. Instead, pop over and buy Andrex which comes in a variety of colours.
Charmin is also excellent to use when you have a cold. I currently have one and have been using Charmin to clear my nose - it doesn't feel dusty like most loo rolls do. This is always good!
I can't say a bad thing about it really. Charmin are great!
I am a big fan of bargains and I don't like paying over the odds for basic products, so I often purchase things from supermarket value ranges. However one product I am not willing to compromise on is toilet paper. I find cheap toilet papers to be very scratchy and unpleasant to use, and seeing as they are something which we all use several times a day I think it's important to feel nice when doing so.
That's why I always buy Charmin toilet tissue. Charmin toilet paper comes in large white rolls, so those of you who like to have coloured toilet paper which matches your bathroom are out of luck. However it is very cute looking as it has little embossed pictures of the cuddly Charmin bear on it. This is fun for both children and adults!
The toilet paper has special 'absorbubbles' in it which make it very absorbent. It is also thick and strong and I have never had any break or rip when I am using it. It is really soft and never irritates my skin. It is a considerably different and much more pleasant experience than using cheap toilet paper which is usually rough and thin.
Charmin comes in different sized packs. You can purchase a packet of 4 for £2.12 from Asda, a packet of 9 for £4.60 or a packet of 18 for £7.78. The pack of 18 works out cheapest at 43.2 pence per toilet roll.
This obviously is much more expensive than many other toilet rolls, so if you don't have sensitive skin and are happy with the value ranges then this will be a big waste of money for you. However I think it's worth the price, and it's not the most expensive paper out there either, as some of the quilted brands are pricier.
Normally, I'll buy bog standard toilet tissue . Quite frankly, I've never seen much point in paying for luxury loo paper when it's money I will, quite literally, be flushing down the toilet.
A few days ago though, I ran out of loo roll, and rather than head off to the shop in the rain, I decided to pop round and ask Louise, the lovely lady next door, if I could borrow some loo roll . I don't mean literally borrow, of course, because returning it once used would not be very neighbourly , but that I would take a roll off her and give me one back .
Now, I have to say I could feel a difference between this and the value brands I normally purchase immediately - the sheets were larger, thicker, and more importantly, were incredibly soft and smooth. The rolls themselves were lovely and plump, and a look at the packaging when I went to do my food shop today told me that there were 360 sheets per roll - not bad, almost double my budget bum wipes .
Well, it's all very well sitting and stroking the loo roll like a beloved pet, but did it work well in use - and the answer to that is a big fat yes! The paper wiped clean very easily, and I found it very absorbant. I didn't need to use reams and reams of it either .
It's even passed the eyes and nose test - I have some issues with depression, and last night was a bad one, resulting in be having a bit of a sob and a whinge , with a lot of tears and nose-blowing . The paper coped admirably, it wasn't rough on my eyes or my nose, and again, I found it absorbed well when I had to blow my nose .
Overall, I'm pretty impressed with this loo roll, but it does have a downside . A four pack of Charmin costs £2.06 in my local supermarket, while their economy brand loo roll, the stuff I would normally buy , costs just 43p for four rolls.
However, on balance I think Charmin doesn't work out any more expensive really - I find I have to use less to get the same clean feeling, and then of course you have the fact that they have many more sheets per roll . I can certainly see a switch to Charmin in the future, and I'll give it 4 stars - one off, because that's still a lot of money to spend on spending a penny.
Charmin toilet tissue has incomparable 'wet strength' which is why, although it's relatively expensive, these days I always buy it.
It's not cheap - around the £4 mark for 9 rolls, but as is the case for almsot all 'premium' (ie. not the shop's own brand) toilet tissues, there's almost always some kind of promotion for it running somewhere. Buy 12 rolls for the price of 9; buy a block of rolls the size of a bale of straw for a fiver, that sort of thing.
Yes, I understand they sell it at 'Lidl' now at (lots of rolls) for £5 which is an offer I must look out for the next time I'm doing my discount Germanic shopping.
As to my requirement for a toilet tissue that has excellent 'wet strength' and properties of great absorbency, without wanting to go into too many lurid details, I was brought up having certian...Middle Eastern....personal hygiene habits, which effectively means that every time after I....go...I always need to dry my bum, and this stuff Charmin is absolutely tops for that. It dries very efficiently; the sheets are really thick so it all stays in one wodge and doesn't flake apart and generate 'bits' and 'flakes' that go all over the bathroom floor. Brilliant.
I read a 2005 review on dooyoo wherein someone related their plumber's opinion that 'Charmin clogs the pipes'. Yes, sadly in the upstairs bathroom, I have been noticing a certain toilet-bowl-filling-ominously-full-property since we 'converted' to 100% use of Charmin, but I still find it so good the thought of a blocked upstairs toilet fills me with minor panic (we've just had the ceilings done) it'll take more than a hint of an approaching blocked-drain disaster to wean me off it now.
Quite frankly the last time my Mum and sister came to stay, between them they managed to stuff so bloomin' much regular bog-roll down the loo that the pipes really DID get blocked (cue a noisesome morning spent poking about under the sewer cover with some hastily-purchased Dynorod), so it's clear that with enough concerted effort you can quite successfully block your household drains with even the el cheapo supermarket stuff.
I see that some other dooyoo reviewers say this stuff's good enough to be used 'all over your body'. While I'm certainly intrigued by what that's all about, I couldn't possibly comment.
I am someone who likes to go cheaply when it comes to shopping, but I have to admit I'm a bit of a loo paper snob. It's not that I want a brand name or anything, it's just that, well, my bits prefer not to be bothered with inferior quality papers that are harsh and don't wipe well if ya know what I mean!
For me Charmin Loo Paper offers a really good combination of decent quality and value for money. No, it's not cheap at around £5 for 16 rolls, but it's not crazy expensive either like some papers (Andrex for example). The value for money bit comes in because once you've spent your £5 you do know that the rolls will last a decent length of time. This is mainly because they seem to have thought all round the angles on this one.
First of all you have decent sized sheets - you're not forced to ignore the perforations and fold where is appropriate rather than along the dotted line as you do with some cheap paper. Secondly the paper is of a decent thickness and absorbency, so you don't need hundreds of sheets to do the job. Add this to the fact that you get a lot of sheets per roll (360 it says on the pack) and you can buy a decent sized pack with 16 in it instead of just little packs of 4, which brings the cost per roll down and you're doing ok here I think.
I got stubborn once and decided to do a comparison on how long a roll lasts in our house. Now I know that's a bit of an odd one, but what I did was said ok for £1 you get 3 and 1/5th rolls of Charmin, compare that to the cheapest reasonably ok loo paper I could find - I think it was Tesco own brand, but it might have been Asda, where you got about 6 rolls for £1. Then I marked down on the calendar how long each set lasted, and you know what, the cheap one only lasted a very few days longer which made me decide that it's ok for me to be a loo paper snob because actually the cost to quality makes it worthwhile buying.
A few other things that I approve of with Charmin are that the perforations always line up, again with cheap papers (and some expensive ones tbh), there's often that problem with them being out of line so that nothing matches properly. They stick a handle on their big packs so you're not struggling to carry them home or having to use an extra bag to put them in. I also like that the last sheet isn't glued to the cardboard tube like Andrex seem to do - I really don't understand the need for this, it seems to be a totally unnecessary way of wasting a sheet of paper. Oh, and the pack has a care line number on it so if you do have a problem you can contact them quite easily too, although I have to say I've never had to myself.
*Charmin has recently updated itself and is now calling itself 'Cushelle'. They don't appear to have changed anything other than the picture imprinted onto the paper itself. As Charmin it had a bear. Now as Cushelle it has a koala. Other than this, I have found no differences to it at all.
You might well be thinking to yourself "What is there to review about toilet paper?" or "I know what toilet paper is and how to use it, why do I need to read a review?" Well surely we all want to make sure we give ourselves the comfort we deserve, and sometimes it helps to separate the rough from the smooth!
And smooth is the category that this toilet paper falls into. We had been buying Asda's own, which was generally ok, but then we saw Charmin on offer. 16 rolls for a Fiver - for some reason it seemed like a bargain and a treat at the same time.
So the packet we got was 16 rolls but it does also come in different sizes. As I say, we bought 16 rolls for £5 in Asda, but at time of writing in Tesco, 4 rolls costs £1.60 and 9 rolls costs £4.49, so when it's on offer it's great value, but I can't say that we will be able to carry on using it when the offer stops. It should of course be available in all good supermarkets.
The packaging is see through, except for a purple stripe across the front, which has the name "Charmin" and the trademark smiling bear with some toilet paper. I have always liked this symbol as it takes a joke and turns it into a brand identifier. Also on the front is a thick yellow stripe with big red lettering saying 16 rolls.
The specification on the side of the wrapping says that it contains 16 rolls of 2-ply tissue. An average of 180 sheets per roll, the sheet size is 120 x 104.5 mm, which does seem a little bit smaller than some of the other rolls we have had but they don't tend to last as long and, let's face it, how often does anyone count the sheets on their toilet roll really? The total area is 36.12 metres squared and the total roll length is 21.6 metres.
So, how does it feel? It is a lot thicker than most supermarket own brands - it almost feels bouncy. The roll has the imprint of the bear logo on it, which is sweet if a little bit pointless. It is strong, smooth and feels quite soothing. Most importantly, it leaves you feeling clean, and the paper doesn't rip easily (although it does separate from the other sheets very well if you see what I mean).You don't seem to use as much of it as you would with other, cheaper rolls either.
The toilet paper claims to come with absorbubbles. I'm not sure these really exist, but the marketing works because when you squeeze the sheet, that word definitely seem to fit the feeling quite well!
All in all, a quality product. The only drawback being that it is a shade on the expensive side when it's not on offer in the supermarkets.
Outstanding quality and softness. 200 sheets per roll.


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Wildcraft! - A Cooperative Herbal Adventure GameHerbalists developed this intriguing cooperative board game to teach botany in the context of kind, compassionate play. Children help each other resolve challenges with herbal remedy plant cards to bring everyone home together. Learn More
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Summary of Senate Bill's Tax Provisions
Here is a summary of the tax provisions.
Reductions in Individual Income Tax Rates
Permanently extend the 10% bracket. Under current law, the 10% individual income tax bracket expires at the end of 2012. Upon expiration, the lowest tax rate will be 15%. The bill extends the 10% individual income tax bracket for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012.


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Reds bitten again by walk-off homer
SAN DIEGO -- Back-to-back losses thanks to walk-off home runs are no doubt painful moments to absorb for the Reds. But it would be reaching for low-hanging fruit to simply blame the pitchers who allowed them or credit the hitters who cleared the fences.
Monday's 2-1 loss to the Padres, which came on pinch-hitter Chris Denorfia's titanic two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth against Aroldis Chapman, was a culmination of what happens when offensive production has all but ground to a halt.Full Game Coverage
SAN DIEGO -- Back-to-back losses thanks to walk-off home runs are no doubt painful moments to absorb for the Reds. But it would be reaching for low-hanging fruit to simply blame the pitchers who allowed them or credit the hitters who cleared the fences.
Monday's 2-1 loss to the Padres, which came on pinch-hitter Chris Denorfia's titanic two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth against Aroldis Chapman, was a culmination of what happens when offensive production has all but ground to a halt.Full Game Coverage
"That's going to happen when you keep them in the game," Reds manager Dusty Baker said.
Chapman, called for the first time since Thursday to protect a 1-0 lead, walked first batter Yonder Alonso. Next came Denorfia, who sent a first pitch 98-mph fastball an estimated 423 feet over the center-field fence for the game-ender. Chapman's career-high fifth home run allowed gave him his fourth blown save in 28 attempts.
"They hit a home run, and there's nothing I can do," Chapman said through translator Tomas Vera. "It was a fastball like I throw to everybody. I just threw a fastball and he hit a home run."
An 11-game West Coast road trip that began with such promise, at 4-1, now has the Reds simply trying to hang on after four straight losses. Cincinnati, which scored 36 runs over the first five games, has scored only three runs over its last 38 innings. The Reds were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, while stranding 10 men, and are 1-for-23 in those situations over the last four games.
While the Reds were silenced by the likes of Dodgers lefties Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu on Friday and Saturday, they were facing a less-accomplished right-hander in Sean O'Sullivan on Monday. O'Sullivan entered with 0-2 record and 4.73 ERA.
"Sometimes you've got to fight through these bad periods," Baker said. "There will be times things don't go right. You've got to keep battling and keep battling. Things will turn around for us."
On Sunday, a strong seven-inning, 11-strikeout performance by Tony Cingrani was rendered moot in a 1-0 loss to the Dodgers in 11 innings. The game's only run came on Yasiel Puig's walk-off homer and silly slide into home plate.
"It's not easy to do, especially walk-off homers," Baker said. "That's two nights in a row. Maybe we've got them all out of our system. That sure hurts."
This time, Reds starter Mike Leake was the one who deserved better after working seven scoreless innings.
"All you can really ask for is to go into the last inning with the opportunity to win," said Leake, who gave up four hits and two walks and struck out five to lower his ERA to 2.59. "That one hurts. We just need to bounce back and come back tomorrow and battle."
In the first inning, Leake endured a 23-pitch frame with a leadoff hit and a two-out walk but escaped. In the third, the right-hander wiggled out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam before facing the minimum over the next four innings.
Pitching in his native San Diego for the first time in the big leagues, Leake retired 12 of his final 13 batters with the lone exception being Everth Cabrera reaching on shortstop Zack Cozart's throwing error. Cabrera was promptly caught trying to steal second base by catcher Devin Mesoraco.
"I felt good those first three innings," Leake said. "Maybe I was being a little too careful instead of going just after them and attacking. I settled down after the third inning or so and just pitched."
After tying a season-high of 22 consecutive innings without a run scoring, the Reds finally got a runner across home plate in the top of the fifth inning. Derrick Robinson led off with a triple to the right-field wall against O'Sullivan. Cesar Izturis followed with a hard grounder to first base. Alonso fired home on the fielder's choice, but the speedy Robinson scored standing up.
The floodgates did not open, however. Jay Bruce blooped a ground-rule double near the left-field line in the fifth, and the bases were loaded on Xavier Paul's two-out walk, but the Reds came away without adding on.
Fortunately, the Reds had Leake to keep the Padres down. Then J.J Hoover pitched a scoreless eighth to set the table for Chapman.
Alonso was in a 2-2 count when he fouled off a pitch before getting back-to-back balls.
"It bothered me because he's a left-handed hitter," Chapman said. "It was a walk. Nothing I can do but just continue going."
Denorfia certainly prevented that from happening as he stopped the game on a dime.
"It's pretty sweet," said Denorfia, an ex-Reds outfielder. "That's one of those where if you hit it on the good part of the bat you don't really feel any vibration or anything like that those are the ones you know you got good."
Added salt is the third-place Reds' losing streak coincides with a four-game losing streak by the first-place Cardinals. By not taking advantage, Cincinnati remains five games back in the National League Central.
"It's a situation where we know all of his home runs are off left-handed pitchers," Baker said. "That's what they were saving him for. But we shouldn't have been in that situation. We left a lot of runners on base again."
Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Mark My Word, and follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Tigers continue to evaluate Rondon, closer options
Dombrowski says process remains the same and nothing's been decided yet
By Jason Beck / MLB.com
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Sometime Friday afternoon, Bruce Rondon will take the mound at Joker Marchant Stadium for an inning of relief to try to carry the mechanical adjustments he made in his Wednesday side session into a game against Mets hitters. Among those watching will be pitching coach Jeff Jones, who made the adjustments after watching video, manager Jim Leyland and team president/general manager Dave Dombrowski.
They'll still be evaluating, Dombrowski pointed out. Amid all the trade rumors, scouting reports and panicked reactions, that process rolls on.
The process, Dombrowski suggested, stays the same.
"What we've said has not changed for three months, that Rondon is in a position where we feel he has a chance to be a very good closer," Dombrowski said Thursday afternoon before the Tigers took on the Braves. "He has dominant-type stuff. He's very close to being a closer. We'll see if he's ready to do it or not. We're still analyzing that situation."
That was the main theme Dombrowski sounded, that nothing has been decided yet. He also emphasized that it's still early in camp. In Rondon's case, it's four outings in.
Statistically, Dombrowski said, the struggles Rondon has had this spring aren't entirely different from the numbers some established relievers have posted. Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon has given up eight runs over 1 2/3 innings. Joel Hanrahan's four-run outing against the Twins pushed his spring totals for the Red Sox to nine runs -- six earned -- on nine hits over three innings.
"But they're proven guys," Dombrowski said. "That's just part of the thing that happens. And all along, we've said we're just going to see what happens. We never anointed Rondon as our closer. We said we feel he has a good opportunity to do so. But under normal situations [without a longer camp due to the World Baseball Classic], we would just be finishing our first week of Spring Training."
All along, however, these were never going to be normal situations. A closing candidate without Major League experience competing to make a team with championship aspirations was going to be a focus of attention. Dombrowski understood that, even contending that he predicted that going in.
"Let's say he was pitching very well so far," Dombrowski said. "People would still be writing, 'Is he going to be able to do it when the season starts?' It's the focus of attention. He hasn't had a good start to the spring, but the spring has just started."
If Rondon had dominated out of the gate this spring, though, that attention would not include a twinge of panic. It is an unusual theme for a front office that is known more often for being deliberate, for choosing patience over impulse.
Dombrowski said he was unfazed by that part.
"It doesn't surprise me," Dombrowski said. "I don't think it's accurate, but it doesn't surprise me."
At this point, Dombrowski does not sound like someone on the verge of an impulsive move. The Tigers are still watching Rondon, along with their other relievers, looking to see if anyone emerges for the closer's job or if going with a bullpen by committee is the best way to go.
Manager Jim Leyland has made it clear he'd prefer a set closer to allow him to set his other roles and take away the regular questions, but that he's open to a closer committee. Dombrowski sounded much the same tone, but also noted that a committee at the start of the season does not necessarily continue that way.
"My own thing is you prefer to have a set closer, but we're also open to bullpen by committee," Dombrowski said. "And sometimes you start with a bullpen by committee and somebody takes the job and runs with it."
That could be a caveat if Dombrowski or Leyland decide that Rondon isn't ready, but isn't that far off. It could also have an impact on what the Tigers do outside their own camp.
At the same time that Rondon and others compete, the Tigers will be sending their Major League scouts across Florida and Arizona to make their organizational reports on teams, four or five clubs apiece. It's the same process they do every Spring Training, and they'll try to get a pulse of every team's makeup.
They won't gather in Lakeland for any big meetings, but they'll send their reports covering everything, including a team's bullpen.
"Now, do they pay special attention to certain guys if they're pitching? Yes," Dombrowski said. "But that's the same thing that happens every spring, because that's what they do."
Dombrowski will be watching those reports, too. He'll also be watching his phone. But he won't be talking about those conversations. That part, maybe more than anything else, was expected.
"My job is to be thorough on everything that we do," he said. "I would never tell you any type of discussions that we are or are not having. And I don't mean that we are or are not. Because if I tell you one way or the other, it's very big news, and it becomes a distraction."
Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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The University Library of Columbus offers a number of services for IUPUC students, faculty, and staff.
We can connect you with the tools and resources you need to quickly locate and access accurate information on a range of topics and subjects.
Explore the links on the left to learn more about our services.


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The "Big Spender" punishing CBA is in place and will start hurting a team near you shortly. This is old news.
I have not heard much about the NBA's revenue sharing plans since the lockout had ended. Back then there were only rumors circulating that the Owners were working on it. Well, according to Joe Maloof, one of the owners of the Sacramento Kings, revenue sharing has undergone a big change:
Source: SI.comQuote:
Joe Maloof reiterated that the family finances are in order, and added that the league's new, post-lockout revenue-sharing plan is "a game-changer for every small market."
"Shoot, it's five times greater than it was before," Maloof said. "Things are different now because with revenue sharing, you have an opportunity with a small-market team to compete with the large market. So our position now [compared to] a couple years ago is completely different. We've got cap space. We're going to have revenue sharing.
"It's great for all the small markets, for the Utahs of the world, and the Portlands, the San Antonios. The league did a really good job with that. We can do very well with it."
So there you have it. Unless I missed some very major news on sports site and on here then no one is talking about this improved revenue sharing. It's not making headlines like you'd assume it would. So maybe Mr.Maloof inadvertently broke some major news here. Either way, what do you feel this means to the Raptors? I'm not going to argue the level of significance but as the title suggest, there are no more excuses. MLSE, build us a winner damn it! ;)


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America the Beautifularr. Carmen Dragon & Douglas E. Wagner - Alfred Publishing Belwin Division
The rich musical legacy of Carmen Dragon includes his iconic arrangement of America, the Beautiful. This musical feast of color and nuance is now available in an edition for younger players and their audiences to enjoy. All the majestic beauty and awesome grandeur of the original is preserved in this fresh scoring, with appropriate accommodations made for less experienced musicians. A stunning addition to the young band repertoire!
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PaperBoy Interiors
I've been living in Brockley for just over a year and working from a small office off the kitchen ever since.
PaperBoy was conceived when my two young boys outgrew their nursery-style room. I was looking for boys' wallpaper that felt hand-made, but wasn't folksy or whimsical or twee. Something more pleasing than tacky, standard licensed wares. But affordable, too.
After a long search for the right thing, I gave up looking and decided to make it myself. I came up with designs that would appeal to boys from pre-school to teens. Something for after the fluffy bunny stage that would see them through until they painted their bedrooms black.
Sadly there are no wallpaper factories in London so my paper is made in Norfolk. But I have a great fabric screen printer based in Bermondsey who is sampling the designs at the moment.
I don't know if Brockley per se is a good place to start a business or not yet, I don't feel part of a networked business community here and what I'm making is not really that dependent upon location. But I find Brockley a very peaceful and quiet place to live and work. It doesn't feel like I'm living in a city.
PaperBoy Interiors Ltd.


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I'm a film-maker, writer, actor, and singer. I love to read Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and the Chronicles of Narnia.
I'm an extreme fan of Tim Burton and my favorite movie of his is Sweeney Todd. And then Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, and the Nightmare Before Christmas.
My all time favorite movie is Pan's Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Toro.
My favorite song is Whispers in the Dark, which inspired me to write Whispers of the Night.
My favorite Harry Potter character is Severus and I am super happy they told his story in book 7! And for extra info, made me cry!


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I am new to the message board. I am a retired teacher, I have just inherited a Pfaff sewing machine from my mother and would like to learn how to quilt. I have asked at various stores about lessons but if you don;t buy the machine there-they won;t give you lessons. I fully expected to pay for the lessons, Does anyone have any ideas?
Hi Kathleen,
Sorry i cant help with the Pfaff, i have a bernina and a husqvarna (and as long as i only have to sew a straight stitch im fine).
I did however want to welcome you to QCA, we have lots of fun and laughs and i have learnt so much by joining QCA.
Lots of love
Sorry me again have you tried youtube, i just put pfaff and your sewing machine number and lots of different videos came up, it might be worth a try.
lots of love
Welcome to the site. I hope you enjoy your time with us. I don't know anything about the Pfaff machines but hopefully you can find something on YouTube.
Vinton, Virginia
Kathleen, is it lessons you need for the machine or quilting lessons? If it's the latter, you've come to the right place to learn. I suggest "Quilty" and "Quilty ll on Craftsy.com. Jenny Doan from Missouristarquiltco.com teaches these classes you purchase and her methods are very simple and easy to understand. The classes you purchase are yours forever so you could refer back to them anytime. BTW, welcome!
Millbury, MA
OOPS! the lessons should have read "Quilting Quickly" and "Quilting Quickly ll"
Welcome to the site! Post any question you might have and someone will get back to you. If you have a Joann's close by, they do have quilting classes and you don't have to buy the machine from them. Have you purchased all the necessary tools like a cutting board, rotary cutter, rullers? And, do you have a 1/4 inch foot for the machine?
Here is a site for an easy pattern to start with. http://www.friendfolks.com/store.php?cat=2 There are several variations of the Turning Twenty. I'm sure others will provide you with their favorite patterns. I started with the log cabin pattern.
Kathleen welcome to the club, If you are wanting to learn you have come to the right place, If you are a full member there are a lot of great videos on this site to learn from, Go to Amazon and get you some books or the library for beginners. these will aa help you .mot of us here are all self taught ,and this is how a lot of us learned . We are always here to answer questions if needed. Once yo get going you're gonna love it . Barbara
Welcome to the club Kathleen.
Kathleen, the lessons you are talking about are how to use the features on your machine, Quilt shops should have quilting lessons. Are the lessons you are talking about at a quilt shop or at a machine dealer?
I don't own a pfaff, but you should be able to find a pfaff group on yahoo that can help you with your machine. Have you gone online to find a manual on your machine, or do you have one already.
Are you talking about the quilting itself, which is sewing the layers together, or making a quilt top, ie. piecing or appliqué?, or both?
gini in north idaho
Geez, Kathleen, I got so busy asking you questions, I forgot to welcome you. Hello and welcome to the group. You will get lots of help here with quilting. Just let us know what you need.
Kathleen - what type of Pfaff do you have? There are many different ones - and are you looking for lessons on the machine - or lessons on quilting.
If you are looking for lessons on the sewing machine - you would be able to get them at a licensed dealer for that type of machine.
If you are looking for lessons on quilting - most quilt shops have lessons for beginners -
I can help you with some things on the pfaff if you let me know what type you have - I have 2 different pfaff machines and it is a pretty easy machine to sew on if you have done any sewing before...
How much of a beginner are you?
Thanks to everyone for their warm welcome. It is fantastic to find agroup so eager to help a "newbie". Thanks again.
Hi and thanks for your offer of help. The quilting lessons I can get through some local quilt shops. I think I can also get a lot of help here. The problem is the Pfaff lessons. The Pfaff dealer nearest to me will not give me lessons on the machine or allow me into any of the Pfaff clubs/-if I gain competence. Sin to a ce I did not purchase the machine there.
The machine is a 2144 upgraded to a 2170. My mother probably bought it in Springfield ,Missouri or Oklahoma. I don/t know what year.
I've stumbled through the manual for the basics but I do not feel competent in messing with the screen . The embroidery unit and hoops,3D box are all a mystery.
Welcome, Kathleen. Can't help with your machine, sorry about that. Ask around a local quilt shops, they may be able to give you the name of someone, who is a customer, and has a Pfaff. Try that. Also, check the phone book for dealers close by. Also, ask at the quilt shop if they know of a person who will teach you all the in's and out's of your machine. My sister did this, paid $30.00 an hour, and left knowing every function of that machine.
Hope yu can find help. Quilting is just so much fun. You will be amazed when you see your first quilt all finished and realize that YOU made that work of art.
Now, where are you from? Kids, grandkids? Let us know more about you. You will learn about us real quick!!


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Eric Iliff
February 26, 2003 07:40PM
Hello All,
I posted an earlier message about this idea earlier but I don't know where it went. I think it could be very very significant and effective if someone would start an Orthodox cable station like EWTN with the Catholic church and TBN with the Protestants.
It would make a huge impact on evangelizing Orthodoxy to America and beyond. Many people don't even know about the Orthodox Faith and I firmly believe we would see many more people coming into Orthodoxy if only they knew it was an option, but they don't even know who we are so as to informed of our Faith. Has anyone ever considered this? Perhaps it could be funded by all the archdiocese that wanted to be apart of it and endorsed by SCOBA? Who could take the reins of a project like this? Some feedback on this would be great. I would love to see an Orthodox cable station right up there with the other religious stations proclaiming us as well. I pray someone's heart might be sparked by this and consider stepping forward. God bless.
In Christ,
Why not an Orthodox Cable Station?
Eric Iliff
February 26, 2003 07:40PM
Re: Why not an Orthodox Cable Station?
September 23, 2006 07:10PM
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Ibanez Premium RG950QM Electric Guitar Cobalt Blue Surge
(Cobalt Blue Surge)
Sku #H91431000001000
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The Zero Point System in the Edge-Zero II makes tuning easier and faster as well as providing stable tuning for long performances, all while maintaining smooth tremolo playing. Engineered to remove all points of friction, ZPS is the smoothest Ibanez Back Stop ever. Even when a string breaks loss of tuning is minimized. For players that prefer a full floating system, simply remove the stop bar. The innovative use of an additional outer pair of springs provides easier tuning and noticeably greater tuning stability than the traditional floating tremolo.
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Bio: Curt has worked in almost every department within J&P Cycles in his 20 year career here. Today, he serves as Product Merchant in the merchandising department, specializing in lighting, air intake, fuel systems, windshields, and forward controls. Curt loves riding everywhere he can on his 2004 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Classic. Also an avid sports enthusiast, Curt also spends quite a bit of time on the golf course when he's not enjoying family time with his wife and four children.
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>Suggestions and Feature Requests>Training Plans
A feature where you can search and share your training plans......
If you are asking Eric to modify Running Ahead to allow for Training Plans, I believe its already been done......
Training Log - Training Plans..... and you can plan away, and make it public or keep it private...
A good feature and has been there for about 2 or 3 years.....
Champions are made when no one is watching
I mean more searchable, I know about the feature but I was hoping it could be more easy to find. Now you have to look up every single runner to find them....
A searchable training plan function may not be as useful as you think. There are tens of thousands of plans in the system. Even if you can filter based on goal race distance, workouts per week, longest run, and other criteria, you would still have hundreds of plans.
I built the training plans with sharing in mind, although the sharing part has not be added yet. I like to have a list of training plans. At this point, I don't know what's the best way to display the plans such that it would be useful.
If you can search Category 5K, Marathon etc Mileage per week, goal time and number of weeks you get far I think
Hmmm ... So if I understand this, if I want to follow a Pfitzinger 18-week plan, I must manually enter each day?
DWARP Marathon Madness Mob
Hi Dan,
If you have the plan yourself, then you would have to enter it manually. If you know someone on RA that has the plan, you can copy it from that person using the Copy function, unless I misunderstood your question.
You got it. I was being lazy.
If you search google with RA specified as the site, just add the /logs/ directory and you'll find some plans you can copy: "pfitzinger site:runningahead.com/logs/".
What doesn't Google know!


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These brightly colored custom measuring spoons are attached to an imprinted plastic tag that makes the spoons easy to find in cluttered kitchen drawers.
Promotional strainer that easily fits over most vegetable, fruit and tuna cans and quickly drains liquids from them.
A promotional pizza cutter that is supremely handy in the kitchen!
ePromos has many promotional products created by companies in the USA. These product can be customized for your business and are made here in the USA


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While Crysis was considered a brutal test for the past generation of GPUs, the torture test for the current generation is Metro 2033. With the eye candy turned up to the max, neither of the video cards are remotely playable. Especially for the FPS genre, framerates are too low to play save for small portions of the demo.
To make Metro 2033 playable on both the 6870 and GTX 560, the quality preset had to be changed from Very High to High, and the anti-aliasing method changed from MSAA to AAA. While you may note that the minimum framerate is a paltry 9-10fps, this is due to a weird artifact in the benchmark. Both of the video cards reported this low framerate for the 32nd frame, but the rest of the timedemo was smooth and mostly over 30fps (there was one occasion with both the 6870 and GTX 680 where the low was between 25-30fps, but it only lasted for a couple of seconds). The Radeon HD 6870 consistently took a small lead throughout our Metro 2033 tests.
DiRT 3 uses the EGO game engine, which was developed by Codemasters. Other than the DiRT series, it's also used by the popular F1 racing series games (also by Codemasters). It uses DirectX 11, and the same game engine will be used for the upcoming DiRT and F1 games due to be released late this year. Both the 6870 and GTX 560 are easily able to handle DiRT 3 with maxed out settings, with the minimum framerates achieved well above 30fps. The 6870 was faster though, and it beat the GTX 560 by 8%.


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Lee Police Chief Joseph Buffis fired; Selectmen cite improper cellphone billing
UPDATE | Lee officials will start search for Buffis replacement
LEE -- Police Chief Joseph Buffis was fired on Tuesday night -- not because he was under federal indictment on extortion and money laundering charges, but because town officials said he improperly billed the town for his personal cellphone use.
The Board of Selectmen, on the recommendation of Town Administrator Robert Nason, unanimously agreed to terminate Buffis' contract. The three-member panel said the embattled chief billed the town for nearly $5,000 over a two-year period to pay for his family cellphone plan with Verizon Wireless.
Buffis, 55, a 34-year veteran of the Lee Police Department -- the last two as chief -- didn't attend the meeting on the advice of his attorney Lori Levinson, who was in attendance. Afterward, the Great Barrington lawyer told reporters she would appeal her client's firing.
"I know there will be some recourse," she said. "I'm just not sure what it will be."
If the decision is upheld, the board plans to form a search committee to assist in the hiring of Buffis' permanent successor.
The Selectmen's decision came during a public hearing on Nason's decision earlier this month to relieve Buffis of his duties in the wake of the federal indictment.
RELATED STORY (Aug. 19) | Buffis' pay status on agenda: Board will listen to public before making decision
On Aug. 9, the administrator suspended Buffis without pay or benefits until the adjudication of his case. The suspension came one day after a federal grand jury indicted Buffis on charges he allegedly extorted money from a Lee couple and funneled it through a Christmas charity he once managed.
On an interim basis, Nason appointed former Lee Police Chief Ronald Glidden -- the man Buffis succeeded in September 2011 -- to lead the department. Glidden had retired from the position after serving as chief for 17 years.
Residents who packed the hearing at Memorial Town Hall were stunned by the firing and the reason behind it. Selectmen Chairman Gordon Bailey told the gathering the cellphone issue came to light on Friday and Buffis was unable to clearly defend his actions to town officials prior to Tuesday's hearing.
"We got three different explanations and none of them were plausible," Bailey said.
Levinson countered that Nason agreed that the town would pay for Buffis' personal cellphone service, along with that of his wife and two grown children. She said it was part of her client's contract when he was named chief nearly two years ago.
PHOTO GALLERY | After Select Board meeting, Lee Police Chief Buffis fired
Nason denied such a deal was struck, saying he "never, ever had a discussion about his [cellphone] plan."
Several residents felt the flap over the cellphones was an excuse to remove Buffis from the force.
"This has become the ax to fire the chief," Beverly Trombley said. "That's baloney."
Others, like Kathy Griffin -- whose children grew up with Buffis' children -- felt the Selectmen had to make the difficult decision.
"I don't see where you had any other choice," Griffin said. "I like Joe; it's a dire shame."
Meanwhile, Buffis has yet to answer to the federal charges against him.
Authorities have said Buffis will be summonsed to appear in court, not arrested, but an arraignment date hasn't been set. If convicted, Buffis faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each count.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, in February 2012, Buffis coerced a Lee couple to donate $4,000 to the Edward J. Laliberte Toy Fund that he controlled in exchange for a deal in which he would not go forward with prostitution-related charges pending against them.
Federal prosecutors allege the chief then transferred that money to his own account, used it for personal expenses and lied to investigators about it.
To reach Dick Lindsay:
or (413) 496-6233
(Aug. 9) | Lee Police Chief Buffis suspended without pay, benefits
(Aug. 8) | About Lee Police Chief Joseph Buffis
(Aug. 8) | Lee Police Chief Buffis indicted on extortion, money laundering
(Aug. 8) | DA to reinstate prostitution charges against owners of Lee inn
(March 6) | Status quo for Lee police chief tied to holiday fund that is under investigation
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.


text:
Thursday August 12, 2010
Apparently 14 tattoos are not enough for RnB star Rihanna, as she has added a fifteenth to her collection.
The 22-year-old has recently had the words 'rebelle fleur' inked onto her neck, which translates from the French language as 'rebellious flower.'
She gained the addition to her already-extensive ensemble of body art on a late night date in New York with current beau, Matt Kemp, 25.
The Umbrella singer is familiar with the world of tattoos and sees the art as an "entire culture."
She has a handgun inked onto the right-hand-side of her ribcage, the word 'shhh…' on her right index finger, the Pisces sign behind her right ear and a star in her left ear.
She even has the birth date of her assistant etched on her left shoulder in Roman numerals, among many others.
It is rumoured that her latest tattoo is her boyfriend's nickname for her, as he was spotted helping Rihanna pick out a design in the parlour.
Photo: � Rex


text: The Romulans had been in isolation for decades, perhaps even the better part of a century. Then they show up with ships over twice the size of the Federation's best and biggest, cloak equipped at that, and powered by a new type of power generation of great potential. Couple that with the traditional Romulan strategy of sneak and strike, and I'd be afraid of going to war with them myself if I were the Federation. As Picard said once while reviewing sensor data from a sector of the Neutral Zone "There could be an entire fleet out there and we can't even see them". The old shibboleth about "no warp Romulans" is a misinterpretation of Scotty's line about "simple impulse", which referred to the ship's power source, not a lack of FTL capability. Impulse power is basically fusion power. All of the statements in Balance of Terror where the Romulans are obsessing about power, about fuel, about "reserves" makes perfect sense if fusion power is powering their engines as well as their "big gun", the plasma-implosion torpedo.


text:
Cascade Volcanoes > Mount McLoughlin > Climber's Log
Mount McLoughlin Climber's Log
[ Sign the Climber's Log ]
Date Climbed: Sep 1, 2007
|A fun hike with great views. Lot of people on the trail, but then it was Labor Day. Perfect weather.
|Posted Sep 19, 2007 4:13 am
|Southern Snow Slope
Date Climbed: Jul 12, 2006
|The day after Shasta, I climbed McLoughlin starting on the trail and quickly moving to the snow slope on the left of the route. It must have been a good snow year b/c this year, there wasn't any. Not a bad view for such a quick and easy climb.
|Posted Aug 20, 2007 5:14 pm
|hazy day
Date Climbed: Aug 4, 2007
|Lots of haze in the air from forest fires, but was still able to make out all 3 sisters and had a great view of shasta. Bouldering up the left hand side of the SE ridge was fun.
|Posted Aug 4, 2007 7:08 pm
|Up the East Ridge
Date Climbed: Jul 24, 2007
|Peak 2 of the 4 day trip. Started overcast but soon turned to brilliant sunshine. First one to the summit but was soon followed by three others and two more were headed up as we were returning. A busy peak.
|Posted Jul 27, 2007 4:43 pm
|Winter Trip
|McLoughlin may be fairly easy in the summer, but it is another mountain in the winter. We snowshoed into one of the little lakes and stayed the night on the snow. We didn't quite make it to the top the next day because it started raining, but it was still quite the experience.
|Posted Jul 22, 2007 11:29 pm
|vancouver islander
|Perfect day on the standard route
Date Climbed: Jul 2, 2007
|Lovely hike up the trail as "dessert" after Shasta 2 days previously.
Great views from the ridge to the summit but there are a lot of trees to get through before you get there. The views only appear in the last 350 metres of a 1,200 metre climb.
Clouds of butterflies, sun, no wind and 360° views from the summit to accompany lunch and a nap. Shasta to the south. Diamond, Thielson and S Sister to the north all in view.
4.25 Hours up and 3.5 down as we almost ran the last 3 km to keep ahead of the clouds of mozzies that were biting even through 2 layers of DEET. The only negative in an otherwise perfect day.
|Posted Jul 5, 2007 3:03 pm
|East Ridge
Date Climbed: May 31, 2003
|Fun in early season with snow. Started at PCT from highway for bonus coverage. "Rescued" some compass-less SOU students who got a little lost in the trees on the descent.
|Posted May 25, 2007 5:18 pm
|the usual trail
Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2005
|Fun hike. There were quiet a few bees on the summit, they were going after me and my peanut butter and jelly. Other than that, it was a great climb.
|Posted Apr 10, 2007 10:29 pm
|Snidely Whiplash
|Clouds of Mosquitos
Date Climbed: Jun 29, 2006
|This must be what Alaska is like. Literally Clouds of Mosquitos, from the car all the way to timberline. Nice mountain, though. Sultry day. The heavens opened up on the way down and helped clean off the DEET. But lots of thunder and lightning.
|Posted Feb 26, 2007 1:17 am
|The usual trail
Date Climbed: Aug 1, 1961
|My Dad took my brother Lynn and I up when we were 8 and 10 respectively. I believe I complained a lot. On top, Lynn and I tried to convice ourselves we could see the Wallowas in the distance--maybe Paulina. Two falcons were circling the mountain off and on all day, the first falcons I had seen close enough to tell what they were myself. Exact day not recorded--late summer 1961. The map we had claimed the summit was almost 10,000 feet.
|Posted Feb 24, 2007 7:11 am
|Mt. McLoughlin Trail
|The last bit of the peak was pretty steep.
|Posted Feb 19, 2007 4:09 pm
|solo with a dog
|nice solo with a bivy above treeline. I picked a harder version so I could make use of both tools, while the mutt followed the ridge and met me on top.
|Posted Feb 1, 2007 8:02 pm
|Mt. McLoughlin
|Climbed Mt. McLoughlin with my college's outdoor program in September 1978. I remember it as being pretty easy. It was crowded, too. I almost accidentally climbed it again a couple of years later. I went out for a solo hike near Lake of the Woods and found myself on the Mt. McLoughlin trail, got lost in thought and found myself fairly high up on the mountain. I decided since I'd come this far to go for it. I was completely unprepeared for serious hiking, let alone climbing. While resting, another party came by and offered me water. I realized that I was being foolish and abandoned the attempt.
|Posted Oct 22, 2006 3:06 pm
|A clear view
Date Climbed: Aug 12, 2006
|I last climbed Mt Mcloughlin in late september of last year. It had stormed the day and night before. It left the mountain with a light snow cover (very nice) but limited views. I returned with an earlier date in mind and a couple of new climbing buddies.
We were rewarded with a perfect day not to warm and a lite breeze. we started at 7;15 A.M. and summited at 11:00 A.M. to a top notch view of southern oregon with The great Mt Shasta on the southern horizon.
|Posted Aug 13, 2006 4:35 pm
|shasta warm-up
Date Climbed: Jul 29, 2006
|another cascade volcano to add to my bag. the trail fades out as you make the ridge. stay close to the top of the ridge to avoid the soft ash below. the views from the summit are inspiring.
|Posted Aug 1, 2006 4:53 pm
|Nice early may Climb
Date Climbed: May 4, 2006
|Parked at higway 140, still four feet of snow at parking area. AT skied in the road to trailhead, followed standard route to summit. Got a azimuth on a direct path back to car. Follow approximate AZ of 150°. Had no problem carving turns for about 3500+ of vertical back to the car. AWESOME is all I can say.
About 8 feet or more of snow towards the summit... Heard what sounded like a bear growl while approaching the highway... shit myself, good thing I had my leatherman..LOL
From the photos on SP of this peak I'm glad I did it in the winter, much easier going.
|Posted May 5, 2006 9:32 pm
|Oregon's Fuji
Date Climbed: Aug 6, 1998
|Camped at Four Mile Lake. Followed the trail to the highest point and sang about the view!
|Posted Mar 22, 2006 5:14 am
|Mt. Mcloughlin
Date Climbed: Jul 3, 2005
|First 3 miles flat, last 2, straight up, very fun
|Posted Feb 18, 2006 7:38 am
|Route Climbed: Mt mcloughlin trail Date Climbed: september 17th 2005
|The hike began on a saturday morning. It had rained buckets through the night as I slumber at the trail head. I am met in the morning by two fellow climbers. The conditions are not great. We hike forward despite the fickle weather. We came along four other climbing parties on the way up. two groups turned around. Another had spent the night up high on the mountain, they were making a hasty retreat. Lastly a party of two climbers would break trail through late summer snows and we followed. The light snow cover made walking up the scree quite managable. The scree is normally the descent route. The views of the surrounding countryside were intermittant. The previous nights storm was retreating slowly. The views from the summit were like the view from the window seat of a jet airliner travling through heavy clouds. We ate lunch with a visiting pine marten. I am certainly looking forward to a return trip during more stable weather.
|Posted Jan 8, 2006 1:01 pm
|Re: Route Climbed: Mt mcloughlin trail Date Climbed: september 17th 2005
|Very evocative.
|Posted Mar 31, 2007 7:37 pm


text:
"It was so sweet backstage, you should have seen it: The Teamsters were helping Michael Moore into the trunk of his limo."
Related quotes
"And the shadows of tree-trunks and shadows of leaves
Interlace with low voices and footsteps and sunlight
To divide us forever."
"I was on top of Keanu Reeves, he was on his back and I was on my trunk, and I was breathing down his neck for hours and hours. It was... very erotic."
"No no, not boxers, they look like these kind of swimming trunks type thing, underwear, and it's the sort of thing that... I really can't see anyone wanting to wear them! And I sort of just get in, and I've not actually seen the bit where you see me with my top half undressed... but I've seen the bit after that where I'm just in the bath. It is very funny with Moaning Myrtle. It's a really good scene, but I'm sort of a bit nervous about seeing that in the cinema."


text:
Early Thursday morning fire destroys Hawthorne Avenue home in Pittsfield
PITTSFIELD -- The Pittsfield Fire Department is citing an electrical malfunction as the cause of a two-alarm fire that heavily charred a Hawthorne Avenue single-family home early Thursday morning.
Deputy Fire Chief Keith Phillips said Deputy Fire Chief Bruce Kilmer led a team of firefighters to respond to a 2:40 a.m. call of a reported house fire at 56 Hawthorne Ave.
"Upon arrival, firefighters saw smoke coming out of the rear of the house and the windows," said Phillips.
He said the home's resident, Robert Clum, and a woman were home at the time, along with five dogs.
The man, who said he was upstairs using the computer at the time, told firefighters he thought he had smelled smoke, an reportedly went downstairs to investigate. Upon seeing smoke, he went back upstairs, notified the fire department, the woman, who was sleeping at the time, and got themselves and the pets out of the home.
Phillips said firefighters were faced with "a large volume of fire" on the first and part of the second floor of the wood structure.
Multiple water hose lines were run to the front of the house to put out the flames.
The blazed burned out the home's stairwell, and the property sustained heavy smoke, fire and water damage.
Two firefighters were reported to have sustained minor injuries, including burns to their ears and under their chins.
Upon investigation, firefighters determined the origin of the fire at the rear of the home's first floor, near the kitchen. They believe the fire was caused by either an overloaded electric circuit or faulty wiring leading to the refrigerator.
According to a fire department report, the incident caused about $50,000 worth of damage. The property itself is listed under the ownership of Adams Savings Bank.
A yellow tape line and a notice of dangerous condition has been placed in front of the home by the city building inspector, declaring the house uninhabitable. Gas and electric utilities have also been shut off to the property.
Deputy Phillips said the people living there have found temporary housing at a nearby motel.
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.


text:
Burdette, who provided the clinching point in Stanford's 2010 NCAA title, won a pair of NCAA doubles titles, one with Gibbs and another with Hilary Barte.
Gibbs also won a pair of NCAA singles titles. She beat Burdette in three sets for the 2012 title. They turned pro within seven months of each other, each passing up their senior season.
Cardinal coach Lele Forood said she thought Burdette's game was suited for the pro circuit. Burdette certainly showed that playing on the pro circuit as an amateur last fall and succeeding at every stop.
Burdette went from college All-American to professional tennis player, literally, overnight. After reaching the third round of the U.S. Open, she clearly showed a potentially successful career.
She reached a career-high ranking of 68 in June, nine months into her professional career.
"This was the first time I was defending points," Burdette said after losing to Italian Francesca Schiavone, 7-5, 6-3, in the first round on Monday. "That made it easy for my ranking to go up so fast."
Burdette also had to play a lot of tough tournaments along the way and showed she belongs on tour. The Bank of the West was her 14th tournament of the year, 13 have been on the WTA Tour. She's played 18 of her 24 career tournaments at the higher level.
Burdette won two of the first three ITF tournaments she played and has also appeared at the French Open (she won her first-round match) and Wimbledon.
She went from winning $700 at an event in Memphis in February to earning $26,000 at Indian Wells in March, where she qualified and then reached the third round.
Burdette continued to play well at Miami, Charleston, Rome and Brussels heading into the French Open. Rating points and prize money continued to pile up. She's earned over $150,000 this season.
She might not have gotten a lot of sleep while in Brussels. She had the Stanford women's tennis team on her mind.
"I think my neighbors in the hotel thought I was crazy," she said. "I was waking up in the middle of the night and screaming at my computer. It was definitely a lot of fun to see them make that great run and take the title. I was so proud of them."
Burdette, ranked 76th, was playing for the first time this week since losing in the first round of Wimbledon.
"That was a tough one," Burdette said after losing to Schiavone. "I played a great champion but overall I did some things well. I've taken some steps forward the last few weeks after taking time off."
Burdette is one of 11 Americans ranked among the top 100, peaking at 68 the week of June 24. She does have three wins over the top 50 this season, including then No. 27 Tamira Paszek of Austria at Indian Wells.
"The Americans try to stay close," Burdette said. "I can say I've met some great friends. I've learned a lot this year. Coming to tournaments for the first time, I think I won the award for asking the most questions."
Burdette was coached by older sister, Lindsay, during the tournament. Mallory does not have an official traveling coach.
"She told me I looked like I belonged out there," Burdette said. "I'm happy with the way I handled myself at times, even I was frustrated."
The eldest sister, Erin, was also in attendance. All three were All-Americans at Stanford.
Gibbs, who turned pro moments after winning both the NCAA team and singles titles in May, won her second straight first-round match at the Bank of the West, beating Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-1.
Gibbs, who entered the tournament ranked 191st in the world, knocked off her highest-rated opponent in the 67th-ranked Bertens.
Gibbs, who faced No. 4 seed Jamie Hampton on Thursday, recorded a mark of 56-5 in college matches played at Stanford.
"Each week has its own challenges and opportunities," Gibbs said. "I want to put myself in position to win each week."
Gibbs made her professional debut at Wimbledon, the most storied of any tournament. She lost in qualifying but gained in experience.
The next time she entered a tournament, Gibbs took no prisoners, winning the title at Yakima and earning $7,600. More important, her ranking points started adding up. She went from 205 to 191 in two weeks.
"That was huge for my confidence," Gibbs said. "It's a different animal on the tour and I had some doubts in my mind. A poor performance would have been tough."
She reached the quarterfinals in another $50,000 ITF Circuit stop at Portland last week and her first- round victory at Stanford was just as important.
"I try to place expectations on myself without placing pressure on myself," she said. "I knew I had done everything there was to do in college tennis. This is a natural transition for me."
Last year, Gibbs played Serena Williams in the second round. This year?
"I'm looking forward to not playing Williams in the next round," Gibbs said. "But Hampton is having an unbelievable year."
The Bank of the West Classic wraps up this weekend with quarterfinals on Friday, semifinals o Saturday and the singles finale Sunday at 2 p.m.
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text:
Unsaving the U.S. economy
The U.S. savings rate sank last month to its lowest since November, official data showed this week, in a sour reminder of how the economy is still dangerously exposed to any financial downturn or other shocks like the fiscal cliff. Following are some facts about this usually overlooked indicator:
* The U.S. saving rate is basically the amount of dollars Americans are able to save from their wages after spending and paying taxes, as a percentage of income. In September the rate was at 3.3 percent, a drop from 3.7 percent the previous month and the lowest since 3.2 percent in November 2011.
* The 3.3 percent rate is much worse than the healthy 8.1 percent average of the 1950s and 60s, the Golden Age of the U.S. post-war economy. It is also below the 5.5 percent average of the 1990s.
* A low saving rate means consumers are spending too much in relation to their real earnings, making the economy as a whole precariously reliant on the financial wealth generated by rising stock markets and home values to keep growing at a robust pace and creating jobs.
* This was exactly the situation just before the 2001 slowdown, when the dotcom crash wiped out the financial positive effect that was leveraging growth in an economy where the savings rate had fallen for the first time since the Great Depression below 3 percent, and the recent Great Recession, when it was even lower.
* A financial shock like that seems unlikely now that the euro zone debt crisis is apparently contained. But with consumer budgets so tight, any other hit such as the imminent tax increases and automatic public spending cuts in the U.S. could hurt private expenditure, which accounts for two thirds of GDP.
* "Households were only able to boost consumption in the third quarter by dipping into their savings," said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, after the Commerce Department release. "Faced with the prospect of major tax hikes in the New Year, however, they will soon become more cautious".
* The causes behind the long-term saving rate fall are subject of debate. A decades-old trend of decreasing productivity and real earnings gains combined with an accumulation of many layers of spending in different goods and services could offer an explanation.
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/


text:
Rafa Benitez really knows how to drive a point home, Catania get out the handbags and the real reason Paul Pogba cut his hair, as Susy Campanale sums up the week's silliest statements.
"He's lying. Marco Materazzi's lying. He's lying. Just lying. Everything he said is a lie. Everything that he talked about me, the things that he said about me, when he was talking with Jose Mourinho, is a lie because nobody knew that I was going to Inter - even me. He's a liar. About the pictures, he's lying, so he's a liar."
Rafa Benitez urges you to inspect his pants, for they will be on fire
"A great boss like Marcello Lippi or Mourinho knows how to get their demands across to a dressing room whereas Benitez, he wanted to put them all in writing, 10 or 12 rules - like the Highway Code, or being at school!"
Materazzi is not a reader...
"Andrea Agnelli acted like a bitter spinster suffering from withdrawal symptoms."
Catania President Antonino Pulvirenti gets out the actual handbags
"Paul Pogba is like a Dali painting. Works of art are rare and are worth a lot because people appreciate them. Paul is one of them."
Agent Mino Raiola's comparison is probably what convinced Pogba the blond Mohican wasn't a good look
"We have spoken to Reto Ziegler. Negotiations are ongoing, but we are just waiting for the approval of the player. He could be the final icing on our cake."
Genoa President Enrico Preziosi has the right ingredients, but...
"Ziegler was like Del Neri's Godson. The negotiations for him are thus over."
... fast forward three days and Preziosi has fed the cake to stray foxes
"David Beckham is a player of real class. However, you can't wipe out his birth certificate and Milan have chosen to focus on youth."
Said Massimiliano Allegri days before signing 31-year-old defender Cristian Zaccardo
"In the 2002 World Cup, Gigi Buffon exchanged shirts with my father. If I get the chance, I'll ask him if he remembers that."
Jose Francisco Cevallos Jr really knows how to make a guy feel old
"Vasilis Torosidis has good pace and technique, even though defending doesn't seem to be his strong point..."
Leandro Greco is sure he'll fit in perfectly at Roma
"I've wanted to come to Torino for about two years. Why did it take me so long? I cycled here…"
No wonder Paulo Vitor Barreto is always injured
"How would I define myself? I'd avoid the word 'traitor' for a start. If you want, feel free to write I was naive, dumb or even an idiot."
Those are just the terms betting scandal patsy Matteo Gianello can say on a family website
"We'll be different, but still the same."
Catania Coach Rolando Maran is talking, but making little sense
"It's just a shame we conceded from a corner again, which is turning into a real phobia for us."
Cagliari boss Ivo Pulga traces it back to being made to stand in the corner at school
"Pogba can play instead of Andrea Pirlo, but also as an inside midfielder or even as a centre-back at the end of his career like Frank Rijkaard."
He's only 19 and agent Raiola is already planning Pogba's twilight years!
"I pointed out that with that powerful free kick he'd just fired into the wall, Francesco Totti was trying to kill one of our opponents, but that's against the rules."
Zdenek Zeman considers a new sport: Extreme Dodgeball
"I think Josip Radosevic is a smaller Gennaro Gattuso."
The boy's agent conjures up images of a really grumpy garden gnome
Keep up to date with the latest news and action from Spain's Primera Division with Football Espana - from the team behind Football Italia. [13]


text:
By Josh Troy
Russellville Alderman Randal Crouch attempted Wednesday to clarify his position on a proposed 2-mill tax increase. He said he was not in favor of the tax, but still wanted the input of citizens on the matter.
"If the citizens of Russellville would support a 2-mill property tax, that could be committed to the police department for the replacement of vehicles," Crouch said. "We have a lease right now of 20 cars, but we still have to appropriate that money each year for the next two years. We have already paid it this year. We always have to come up with the money for the police department's vehicles. That's just an ongoing expense. If we did do a 2-mill property tax, it would be totally dedicated to the replacement of the police cars."
Crouch said he mentioned the possibility of a 2-mill tax increase but later recognized 6/10 of a mill would be more accurate.
"Above all else, I'm not proposing a tax increase," Crouch said. "This is something I would like the citizens to tell me about. Would the citizens of Russellville support a 2-mill property tax totally dedicated to police vehicles?
"I want to hear from the citizens. Tell me how to run the city. I want to listen to you. I'm pushing for the citizens' input. That's an option they should consider."
For the past few months, Crouch has been working on a salary plan that would give city employees pay increases. He explained how the property tax would help fund the pay increases.
"The money that we have to appropriate each year is to put the budget in line," Crouch said. "If we could find another way to fund the police cars, then the city would have the money they need to operate on."
Crouch said he encouraged anyone who had any input on the matter to e-mail him at firstname.lastname@example.com. He also welcomed letters addressed to him at City Hall, P.O. Box 428, 209 West Second St., Russellville, AR 72811.