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{{Appears in| 24, 25, 27 }}
{{Iwan Sarghress
| section = Moonless Age Character
| faction = Sarghress
| status = Highland Raiders
| race = Drowalath
| talents =
*Water Sorcery
| trivia =
* Common born, he was inspired by the legends of Quain'tana to quit his job to join the Sarghress.
[[Category:Can be featured]]

A Highland Raider who led Vaelia's first mission with the Raiders.

==Appearance and Personality==
Iwan is a slightly tall male drow, with dark auburn hair pulled back in a tail behind his ears and blue eyes. He wears the standard gold armor assigned to the Raiders, along with a the red cloak of command. While fairly new to commanding a squad, Iwan has been shown to be strict, knowledgeable, and fair, both good qualities in developing young talent and turning them into experienced Raiders.
Iwan initially shows dislike for Vaelia due to the fact that someone had pulled strings to get her into the Raiders, and not because of her race. He showed fairness, however, allowing her a chance to prove herselft to the Raiders in her own way.
==Biography - Arc II==
{{Main|Vaelia's Path}}
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Fallen Island
Iwan led a group of Highland Raider rookies to the topmost floating island in the Nuwa area, using his rare water affinity to help guide the boat while the others paddled. Once they located a solid place to tie their boat, the team of Raiders made their way toward the nearby island, with Iwan advising them to use the smaller floating rock pieces that littered the area. Iwan began to teach the inexperienced Raiders the trick to navigating the floating rocks, which Nom'ina commented was much like the floaters at the Othorbbae [source 1]. After complaining initially at the ill luck of getting stuck with the one goblin in the Raiders, he later retracted his comment after Vaelia showed herself able to maneuver a flying rock without assistance. (Source 2)
During their trek towards the old Jie'yen ruins, Iwan showed patience as Vaelia began to ask questions about the Raiders and what they were seeking. After Kaito picks up the odor of fish, he commented that they were near the ocean, so it wasn't that surprising. Shortly afterwards, the group stumbled across a basket of rotting fish, causing Iwan to comment that they weren't alone on the island. To the group's surprise, a small glowing dragon leapt out of the nearby shrubbery, making off with the basket. After Kaito spoke of disappointment that they couldn't capture the dragon, Iwan pointed out that they wouldn't have been able to bring a dragon back with them anyway and that they would notify Quill'yate of the find.[source 3]
The team continued to explore for hours, with Iwan patiently answering any and all questions from the rookies. As sunset rose, they completed their investigation of a ruined tower, which they found to be flooded and would require expert divers to further explore. The drow then caught the sound of someone speaking. Realizing that it was Vaelia's language, Iwan allowed the Emberi to lead the way, trusting her to investigate on her own - the source of the odd language turned out to be Emberi fishermen. (source 4)
A Little Effort In Communication
After Vaelia was able to negotiate with the fishermen for passage to Samoi, Iwan thanked them for their service and asked that they return in a week's time. While they waited for the sea-sick team members to settle themselves, he and Vaelia conversed regarding what the drow considered valuable. He explained that gold had little value, as it was a weak metal that didn't take mana well, and was only useful as a decorative material. After stating that they could live like Illhars if they wanted on the island, Nom'ina asked why they didn't do so; Iwan pointed out that it would mean dying early and alone, describing how good it felt to return home to Chel. After warning Nom Nom to not scare the locals, they continued towards the center of the island, with Iwan explaining their location as being a week's travel from Nuqrah'shareh, on the North-eastern tip of the Nuwa Isles with another small continent to the North-west. (source 5)
The next day, the Raiders arrived at what they thought would be a dark elf ruin. To their surprise, it appeared to be inhabited by Emberi. After Vaelia and Kaito quarreled over whether or not to kill the Emberi, Kaito kicked Vaelia's bag, revealing that she had smuggled a locust from the supply building they had cleared out before the mission. Iwan confronted her, telling her that she had better have a good reason for smuggling what they considered to be a pest. Vaelia quickly bowed on the ground in front of him, begging forgiveness for the deception, claiming that Chu was not a locust but a good earth spirit, and begged him to spare the small fae since without Chu, she was a burden to them. (source 6) Telling the drow again that there was no need to kill anyone, she begged for a chance to prove that she could get the Emberi to provide valuables to the Raiders without bloodshed.
Iwan stated his dislike for her, as he still suspected she was a liability and that if the commander hadn't pulled strings, she wouldn't even be there. He then told her that they were the Sarghress, and that they were all there to prove themselves. Telling her that this was her chance, he allowed her to make an attempt to negotiate with the village, with Nom'ina and Taro supporting the decision and saying that everyone needed a chance. (source 7)
Later that day, Vaelia returned, leading a bird that had been loaded with crates. To Iwan's surprise, she opened the crates, revealing one of them to be filled with mana-bearing sap. He expressed surprise, not knowing that plain sap could be made into a mana-bearing jewel, and admitted to Vaelia that he was impressed - perhaps he was wrong about her. (source
1. http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6927
2. http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6933
3. http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6940
4. http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6945
5. http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=7149
6. http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=7154
7. http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=7157
8. http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=7164
==Notable Quotes==
"I'll be honest with you. I don't like you, you are a liability in the squad. If the commander hadn't pulled strings, there'd be no way you'd have been accepted anywhere. But...we are Sarghress. We are all here to prove ourselves worthy in a form or another. This is your chance." - To Vaelia, giving her a chance to prove herself to the Raiders.
"Sharess' mammaries! I didn't know plain sap could be made into a jewel. Now that's going to sell well. And it's light, too! Vaelia. I am impressed. Perhaps I was wrong about you." - To Vaelia after her return from her negotiations with the Samoi fishing village.
==Character Concept==
Image:http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive/20100817c25VaeliaPath23.jpg|Official bio for Iwan Sarghress.
{{Last update|27}}


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Sunday, July 31, 2011
The Petite Sophisticate Gets Dressed
So a friend of mine just suggested I share a few of my work-clothes resources. While I am by no means an expert, I have worked out a system that -- so far! -- has served me well.
First things first: I identified a basic silhouette/aesthetic to which I'd adhere, and ruthlessly threw away everything in my closet that didn't. Well, I didn't throw it away -- I gave it to friends. Working with my age/figure/hair, it seemed pretty clear I'd want to go retro -- but more minimalist and less Mad Men, if that makes sense. I decided to stick to a limited palette and keep lines simple and unadorned. Here's where I've gotten most things:
I splurged on a few pair of good, basic pumps, but I still got them on sale -- I made Google alerts for the styles I wanted and the word "Sale" and struck when they became available (I'd already tried them on for size in person.) I have one rosy nude pair from Rupert Sanderson and a taupe pair from Barneys Co-Op. I have my eye on a gray set from Common Projects, but it needs to come way down. I don't care for black shoes in summer.
I am not a bag person -- I usually just carry my TPR tote nowadays -- but I invested in a neutral clutch I can slip into my briefcase or tote and take out when I run to lunch or am doing something after work. (Again: Google alerts are your friend!)
Dresses Etc.:
My uniform is a linen pencil dress -- or pencil skirt and blouse. I got lucky on Etsy with a few vintage scores (which I then had altered at either Nelson Tailors or Seoul Tailor) but as we all know that's a crap-shoot, and I'm much more inclined to go for vintage-style, without the retro seaming or fabrication.
ASOS.com has been a lifesaver: specifically their linen pencil dress. I got these in a few colors, reinforced the hems, and am good to go.
Heartmycloset.com is an amazing Etsy site on which the seller works from vintage patterns to make custom dresses. Reasonable, beautiful quality, and unique!
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(I am still on the lookout for the perfect belted jacket in my price range...)
Fall will of course be a whole 'nother ballgame, but I do have my eye on this:
13 comments:
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subset: commoncrawl


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New York Based Fashion Designer Wendy Nichol follows up her coveted bag and jewelry collection with a clothing line that's as much chic as it is minimalist. It's vintage-inspired modern that is versatile and comfortable, not to mention, handmade in-house in New York City, a rarity these days with the burgeoning mass production of designer-stamped merchandise. Nichol emphasizes simplicity and quality when a comes to style, quite refreshing if you ask us. Meet Wendy and her eponymous line.
Tell us about your new clothing collection--what prompted you to take this next step, a change from your bag and jewelry collections?
I started sewing black silk aprons for the artists in my studio to wear over their clothes while working. I loved how they looked so much it inspired me to make more pieces which turned into a full blown line of clothing. We also have a new handbag collection that is in store right now.
How are you pieces different from what is already out there now?
The clothing is all handmade by our in-house seamstress in New York City. The clothing is really about simplicity and quality--each piece has the idea of versatility and layering in mind. The fabrics are luxurious but easy to wear... silk, taffeta and linen for spring.
What are your biggest inspirations when designing your lines?
I'm inspired by my environment around me in New York. There is endless inspiration here. I always keep two things in mind when I am designing, creating pieces that are timeless and achieving the highest level of quality.
Who are some of your favorite artists and musicians?
John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Patti Smith.
Who is your ideal Wendy Nichol client?
Carrie Roitfeld
If I were not a fashion designer, I would be a ___________.
Making one of a kind art pieces, playing music, exercising more often.
What are your favorite late-night bites?
Mint tea with milk and honey
What are your favorite things between two buns?
Beef and cheese
What are your favorite unique desserts?
Stewed prunes with mascarpone cheese from Frankies Spuntino
What is your favorite ethnic cuisine?
Persian food
What is your most favorite hotel in the world?
Well, my favorite place to stay is my mother-in-law's house in Toronto. The house and decoration are stunning, her food is the best I've ever tasted, and of course, the company is the best.
What are you waiting for? Time to shop!
Wendy Nichol
147 Sullivan Street
New York, NY 10012


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The Health At Every Size® Approach
The Association for Size Diversity and
Health (ASDAH) affirms a holistic definition of health, which cannot be
characterized as simply the absence of physical or mental illness, limitation,
or disease. Rather, health exists on a continuum that varies with time and circumstance
for each individual. Health should be conceived as a resource or capacity
available to all regardless of health condition or ability level, and not as an
outcome or objective of living. Pursuing health is neither a moral imperative
nor an individual obligation, and health status should never be used to judge,
oppress, or determine the value of an individual.
The framing for a Health At Every Size (HAES®) approach comes out of
discussions among healthcare workers, consumers, and activists who reject both
the use of weight, size, or BMI as proxies for health, and the myth that weight
is a choice. The HAES model is an approach to both policy and individual
decision-making. It addresses broad forces that support health, such as safe
and affordable access. It also helps people find sustainable practices that
support individual and community well-being. The HAES approach honors the
healing power of social connections, evolves in response to the experiences and
needs of a diverse community, and grounds itself in a social justice framework.
The Health At Every Size® Principles
Download a copy of ASDAH's HAES Principles here.
Q: Where did the ASDAH HAES® Principles originate?
When ASDAH first formed in 2003, the original steering committee (Claudia Clark, Miriam
Berg, Roki Abakoui, Donna Pitman, Paul Ernsberger, Catherine Shufelt, Veronica Cook-Euell,
Judy Miller, Lisa Breisch, Francie Astrom, Renee Schultz, Darshana Pandya, Judy
Borcherdt, Joanne Ikeda, Ellen Shuman, Dana Schuster) agreed that the work of the
organization would be based on a set of Health At Every Size® Principles. Most of
the versions of the HAES Principles in use at the time incorporated aspects of tenets
previously put forth by Joanne Ikeda, Karen Kratina, Francie Berg, and/or Deb Burgard.
Some listed both the basic beliefs that were consistent with a HAES model and those
that were not acceptable under a HAES model, while all included reference to: acknowledging
size acceptance and diversity; pursuing an aware/intuitive approach to eating; engaging
in individualized and enjoyable physical activity; and recognizing/appreciating
health as being multi-faceted. Based on these shared understandings, the steering
committee crafted and adopted the five original Health At Every Size Principles
that have appeared on ASDAH materials and the website from 2003 through 2013.
Q: Why did ASDAH determine it was a good time to revise and update its HAES Principles?
Over the years since the principles were adopted in 2003, ASDAH has received a great
deal of thoughtful input from members and other groups regarding such issues as
healthism, ableism, cultural imperialism, and the health implications of socioeconomic
status and weight stigma. It gradually became clear that ASDAH's original HAES principles,
while sound in and of themselves, did not fully reflect the evolving political and
sociocultural milieu or the growing consensus regarding the social determinants
of health.
ASDAH's ten-year anniversary has been a natural time for reflection, strategic planning
and contemplation about our role as a leading voice in the international HAES community.
The HAES approach has gained traction and developed roots in the public discourse
about weight, size, and health. In this revised set of principles, we seek to acknowledge
social justice and access concerns while remaining true to the underlying lived
wisdom of the HAES approach as it has been practiced for many years.
Q: What was the process used to arrive at
the current HAES Principles?
When the ASDAH Leadership Team decided in early 2013 to move forward with a review
and possible revision of the principles, the decision was made to create a HAES
Principles Task Force that would meet at our educational conference in June 2013.
This intention was announced to the membership, and, since only a sub-set of ASDAH
members would be able to attend this event, an invitation was sent to all members
after conference, encouraging them to consider joining the project teams that began
their work at the conference. Dana Schuster, in her role as ASDAH's Internal Policy
Committee (IPC) chair, facilitated the initial discussion held at conference, in
which Shelley Bond, Kathy Kater, Judith Matz, Christine Ohlinger, and Amy Herskowitz
participated. Kathy agreed to head up the project team after conference, and Judith,
Chris and Amy continued to work with her to draft an initial proposal. The Weight
Stigma and Intersectionality task force teams formed at the conference also provided
language they felt would be important to incorporate in updated principles.
Once the input of these project teams was gathered, the IPC attempted to coherently
"merge" the critical components into one document. This proposal was then reviewed
and approved by the ASDAH Leadership Team, which is comprised of the 2013-14 elected
Board of Directors as well as the current committee chairs. The newly updated Health
At Every Size Principles, now available on the ASDAH website, are the final result
of this process.
Q: Principle #1 states that "no weight should be pathologized," but aren't there
pathological weights, such as an adult at 68 lbs with an eating disorder or a 600-lb
bedridden individual?
When a weight-specific lens is applied to health, the
myriad contributing factors affecting an individual's well-being are usually lost.
The Health At Every Size® approach shifts the focus to acknowledging and respecting
an individual's circumstances, and works to investigate and support options that
are available to him or her to help make choices that benefit his/her health and
well-being. For either the 68-lb. or 600-lb. person, using a HAES approach puts
the focus on his/her behaviors, unique set of abilities, and available resources,
and places them in the context of their life as the primary areas of concern and
consideration. Each individual will have his/her own strengths and vulnerabilities,
and will likely respond to stimuli in their unique way. Improving a person's health
is a process that begins by contemplating what it would take to make certain determinants
of health available and accessible to different individuals, and not by pathologizing
any specific weight.
Q: Doesn't supporting "personal health practices
that improve well-being" suggest a healthist agenda?
Healthism is the idea
that following a particular set of health behaviors is "good" and not doing so is
"bad." Unfortunately, "health" is one of a long list of categories that our culture
tends to use to value an individual's worth, along with appearance, size, weight,
age, ability, gender, race, and others. Healthist judgments have also crept into
our discourse around public health, with spiraling health care costs being implicitly
or explicitly blamed on the so-called "choices" of various groups, including fat
ASDAH's HAES Principles reject judgments about health and any discourse of individual
responsibility around health, in favor
of a discourse of individualized health needs.
None of us are alike, and each of us is entitled to make up our own minds about
what "health" means. The preamble to the HAES Principles defines health as a resource
or a capacity, rather than as a "state" that can be good or bad, in order to refocus
health professionals and policy makers on what can be done to empower individuals
and communities toward wellbeing.
ASDAH also recognizes that many of the factors that determine our health are not
individual in nature. Social, political, and cultural factors - including but not
limited to poverty, access, and all forms of stigma - may have an even greater impact
on health outcomes than individual choices. On a collective level, we support creating
health-promoting environments and removing barriers to access. On an individual
level, we seek to empower people to engage in those personal practices that best
support health and wellbeing for the individual. There should be no judgment about
what people choose to do (or not do) to enhance their well-being.
Q: What does it mean when Principle #3 mentions
that individuals' differing identities may affect how they experience weight stigma
and should be addressed when providing HAES information/services?
Our social and cultural identities are multi-dimensional and complex. No one is
"only" an ethnicity or a gender or a religion or a size. We are all these things, and more. This is sometimes
referred to as the concept of intersectionality,
which recognizes that various social and cultural categories are not independent,
but rather intersecting. These multi-dimensional, intersecting identities mean that
we may also be subject to intersecting systems of privilege and oppression. Likewise,
an individual may be subject to multiple, intersecting forms of stigma, including
weight stigma.
The public health community has long recognized the importance of social determinants
of health in contributing to health status. Stigma, including weight stigma, is
an important determinant of health and contributes to the health inequities that
pose one of our most intractable health problems worldwide. Intersectionality needs
to inform how we think about the complex problem of health inequities. This informed
perspective will lead to a better understanding of how the social determinants of
health affect health status and to more effective solutions.
Q: Economic access and environmental safety
directly impact an individual's ability to be "eating for wellbeing" and engaging
in "life-enhancing movement." Did ASDAH consider these issues in revising Principles
4 and 5?
Yes, ASDAH views the issues of access, economics, and safety as critical components
of wellness, not only as they pertain to food and physical activity, but also as
they impact all of healthcare. Hence, these concerns are referenced in the framing
paragraphs so they apply to all of the
principles. This can be seen in the statement that the HAES model "is an approach
to both policy and individual decision-making, addressing broad forces, such as
safe and affordable access, that affect health" and with the assertion that it is
an approach that "grounds itself in a social justice framework."


text:
Daily entertainment news with what to watch tonight on TV, new movies out this weekend and more.
What to watch: 'Undercover Christmas' on Lifetime at 8 p.m. EST/ 7 p.m. CST
Jami Gertz stars in this holiday Cinderella tale about a free-spirited cocktail waitress who is forced to spend Christmas hiding under the protection of an uptight yet handsome FBI agent.
New movies: 'We Bought a Zoo'
Have a movie night, either at home or at the theater. At home, there will be plenty of holiday movies playing on TV, and you can't go wrong with any of the classics. The big movies opening at the theaters this week are "Girl With a Dragon Tatoo," an R-rated suspense thriller, "We Bought a Zoo," a family-friendly flick starring Matt Damon, and "War Horse," rated PG-13 directed by Steven Spielberg.
Video: Hollywood stars dish holiday plans
GateHouse News Service


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You have your medals,Now, give one to Them.Spouse MedalChild MedalParent MedalLet them know you care.
Save Our Benefit DoD Podcasts In The FightASM Job Advantage
15 provisions enhance benefits for Veterans
WASHINGTON — Effective Aug. 1, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) implemented 15 more provisions of the Harry W. Colmery Educational Assistance Act of 2017, also referred to as the Forever GI Bill.
These provisions, in addition to the 13 implemented since the law was signed less than a year ago, will have an immediate and positive impact on Veterans and their families using VA benefits to pursue their educational goals.
By Claudette RouloDoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2018 The Defense Department will establish a sixth branch of the armed forces, the U.S. Department of the Space Force, by 2020, Vice President Mike Pence announced today.
In a speech at the Pentagon, the vice president also announced plans to establish a new combatant command -- U.S. Space Command -- as well as a Space Operations Force and a new joint organization called the Space Development Agency.
By Abigail KellyAugust 9, 2018
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Social media plays a significant role in everyday life, especially for military families. It helps them learn information about their next duty station and stay connected to the family and friends they leave. At the same time, the tool is also used by terrorists to seek out individuals and information.
Therefore, it is essential to follow Army regulations on social media use and protect operational security because if members of the military community put too much information online, and violate operational security, the safety of service members and their families can be at risk.
By Joe Versen on July 31, 2017
The Department of Labor Veterans' Employment and Training Service works daily to make sure that those who serve have the employment support they need when they transition back into civilian life. Here are three ways we're getting veterans back to work:
1. Transition Training
As a component of the Transition Assistance Program, or TAP, the Labor Department provides a mandatory three-day employment workshop, as well as an optional two-day Career Technical Training Track curriculum focused on licensing, credentialing and apprenticeship programs that lead to well-paying civilian jobs and meaningful careers. During the 2016 fiscal year, the department hosted over 6,300 employment workshops worldwide for over 184,000 participants.
By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON August 28, 2015 -
America sends its sons and daughters to war, and a new play titled "I Will Wait" looks at the effect of these deployments across the generations.
The brainchild of Amy Uptgraft, the play connects the experiences of spouses from World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan and Iraq. Uptgraft wrote the play with Gregory Stieber, who also directed the play. It premiered July 31 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
From a Department of Defense Education Activity News Release
ALEXANDRIA, Va. August 26, 2015 —
Nearly 75,000 students are beginning the 2015-2016 School Year in Department of Defense Education Activity schools around the world.
DoDEA schools educate children of service members and the civilians who support them in 12 nations, seven states and two territories. Through its Educational Partnership Branch, DoDEA provides support to more than a million military-connected students who attend public schools throughout the United States.
By Amaani LyleDoD News Features, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON August 26, 2015 -
Today, Women's Equality Day not only commemorates the ratification of the 95th anniversary of the 19th Amendment -- which solidified women's voting rights -- but it also coincides with current milestones for women in service, a Pentagon official said in an Aug. 24 DoD News interview.
Officer and Enlisted Personnel Management Director Juliet Beyler, who oversees department-wide policies that include promotions, assignments, separations, force management, and awards and decorations, said casting a wider net for talent and diversity across the force is critical.
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), all Americans including all military members (active duty, retired, Selected Reserve, or Retired Reserve) and their eligible family members must have health care coverage that meets a minimum standard called minimum essential coverage or pay a fee. Your TRICARE coverage meets the minimum essential coverage requirement under the ACA.
"The term "active duty" means full-time duty in the active service of a uniformed service for more than 30 consecutive days".
By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON August 21, 2015
TRICARE beneficiaries who take certain brand-name medications on a regular basis will be required to fill prescriptions at a military treatment facility or through a mail-in program beginning Oct. 1, a Defense Health Agency official said yesterday.
George Jones, DHA's pharmacy operations division chief, said the new policy does not apply to active-duty troops, overseas beneficiaries, nursing-home residents and those with other health insurance that has a prescription-drug program. In certain circumstances, he added, some beneficiaries might be waived from the program on an individual basis.
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. NR--August 21, 2015
The Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be buried with full military honors.
Army Maj. Dale W. Richardson of Mount Sterling, Illinois, will be buried Aug. 29, in Mountain View, Ark. Richardson was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, and was the passenger aboard an UH-1H Iroquois (Huey) helicopter that was en route to Fire Support Base Katum, South Vietnam, when it was diverted due to bad weather. After flying into Cambodian airspace, the aircraft came under heavy enemy ground fire, causing the pilot to make an emergency landing in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. The Huey's four crewmen and its four passengers survived the landing. One crewman was able to evade being captured by enemy forces and later returned to friendly lines. The other three crewmen and one passenger were captured. Two of the captured crewmen were released by the Vietnamese in 1973, and the remains of the other two captured men were returned to U.S. control in the 1980s and identified. Richardson died at the site of the crash during a fire fight with enemy forces. His remains were not recovered after the fire fight.
Page 1 of 31


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I saw it twice in 3D for six dollars a time. It was well worth it.
Of course, I'm also an incorrigible Straczynski fan, so that has a lot to do with it.
The story arc feels a lot like a very rushed Straczynski arc. I agree that the big names on screen did little more than fill seats, but I feel like Straczynski and Branagh did a great job of compressing what really could have been a miniseries into a summer blockbuster.
I thought it was pretty good and I agree with you that the "star power" of a few of the roles was completely unnecessary. They also had the same methodology to show the elongated close ups as "Fast Five" did (watch for how many Paul walker 'wohs' in that movie) which I found rather annoying. I mean I came to see Thor hit stuff with his lol hammer and what a chunk of the movie is was Portman and Stellan Skarsgård were just OH MY GRAWD close ups. Show us the action not the wohs! Bottom line is I would recommend seeing this movie.


text:
Expedition explores climate history of remote Arctic islands
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- Guillemots add knowledge about the ecosystem puzzle Henrik Österblom, Associate Professor in Environmental Sciences at Stockholm Resilience Centre.
- How does the composition of the atmosphere affect cloud formation? Ilona Riipinen, Professor in Atmospheric Science.
- Effects on peatland permafrost by climate change Britta Sannel, Associate Professor in Physical Geography.
- The challenges that lie ahead after leg 1, SWERUS-C3 Örjan Gustafsson, professor in Biogeochemistry Stockholm University.
- From permafrost thawing to the venting of greenhouse gases Martin Jakobsson, Professor at the Department for Geological Sciences.
- Rotation in Barrow, Swerus-C3 Leg 2 The second leg, which starts from Barrow, is led by Martin Jakobsson, Professor at the Department for Geological Sciences (IGV), Stockholm University.
- Collapsing Ice Martin Jakobsson, Professor at the Department for Geological Sciences.
- Storglaciären- the end-of-year account At Tarfala Research Station, we carry out the the world's most detailed study of how a glacier changes. In this film we follow the work in September, just before the first snow falls.
- Sweden and International Polar Research Stockholm University Researchers have played leading roles in a number of Polar expeditions that have taken place as part of the International Polar Year (IPY - spans 2007-2009).
- Arctic foxes Tomas Meijer


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Parametric Cartesian equation:
x = (a + b) cos(t) - c cos((a/b + 1)t), y = (a + b) sin(t) - c sin((a/b + 1)t)
Click below to see one of the Associated curves.
|Definitions of the Associated curves
|Involute 1
|Involute 2
|Inverse curve wrt origin
|Inverse wrt another circle
|Pedal curve wrt origin
|Pedal wrt another point
|Negative pedal curve wrt origin
|Negative pedal wrt another point
|Caustic wrt horizontal rays
|Caustic curve wrt another point
For the epitrochoid, an example of which is shown above, the circle of radius b rolls on the outside of the circle of radius a. The point P is at distance c from the centre of the circle of radius b. For the example a = 5, b = 3 and c = 5 (so P goes inside the circle of radius a).
An example of an epitrochoid appears in Dürer's work Instruction in measurement with compasses and straight edge(1525). He called them spider lines because the lines he used to construct the curves looked like a spider.
These curves were studied by la Hire, Desargues, Leibniz, Newton and many others.
Other Web site:
Xah Lee
|Main index
|Famous curves index
|Previous curve
|Next curve
The URL of this page is:


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High performance, low-power, rich I/O and miniature design make Utilite an attractive solution for wide range of applications. Learn more »
Utilite2 is offered in a range of models featuring different CPU grades, memory and storage configurations and interfaces. Learn more »
Utilite supports fully featured Linux and Android operating systems delivering rich multimedia capabilities and PC-like user experience. Learn more »


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The Leiden University in the Netherlands asked 63 senior female employees at police departments in three Dutch cities to take an online questionnaire designed to gauge how important their gender identity was at work and whether or not they felt they identified with other women in the police force:
Half of the participants were then asked to write about a situation in which they either believed that being a woman was detrimental to them at work, were discriminated against or heard other people talking negatively about women. The remaining participants wrote about a time when their gender was no issue at all and they were valued for their personal abilities.
All of the women were then asked about their leadership style, whether they thought they were different from other female employees, and whether they felt that gender bias was an issue.
The researchers noted that the women's answers to these questions depended on the strength of their gender identity at work. The participants who wrote about their gender bias experiences answered the final survey like queen bees — but only if they had started out by saying that they identified weakly with other women at work. These queen bees indicated that they had a masculine leadership style, were very different from other women and that gender bias wasn't a problem.
So it would seem that one of the final scenes in Mean Girls may hold true for senior professional women as well as teen girls in that everyone seems to silently agree that there is a problem with gender bias, yet many of them are under the impression that it's a jungle out there and fear it may be a case of "every woman for herself."
The less-bad news is that there is also a flip side to the results of the study:
The women who said they strongly identified with other women at work showed the opposite response; after writing about gender bias, they said they were motivated to mentor other women.
Finding that only certain women engage in this queen bee behavior and only after they've been primed to think about gender bias suggests that organizations can't simply place women in top positions and expect them to assist other women as they rise through the ranks, according to the researchers.
"If you simply put women at higher positions without doing anything about gender bias in the organization, these women will be forced to distance themselves from the group," study author Belle Derks said in a statement.
"If you set women up this way, so they have to choose between their opportunities and the opportunities of the group, some women will choose themselves," Derks said.
This raises an excellent point.
Female employees may actually feel quite motivated to work together for the greater good, but if they also feel that they're competing to become one of the few powerful women in their office, the Team Ladies mentality may prove to be quite difficult. Even if the workplace in question has allowed a few women to "rise through the ranks," it's not enough. If gender bias is still present, it's to the detriment of the larger staff. A queen bee is, by definition, not a team player.
That said, it's hard to believe the idea that women in these gender-biased workplaces are putting their own success above that of their female co-workers. Just because an office is gender-biased doesn't mean a woman's ambition is as well.
Could the "queen bee" effect be less about other women, and more about the ruthless "every man/woman for him/herself" mentality that pervades so many workplaces?
Allow me to be painfully optimistic for a moment: I suspect (hope?) that many women find it difficult to achieve their own personal goals within a gender-biased environment, and perhaps some of those women believe that maybe, just maybe, they have a better chance of success if they climb the ladder alone.
And then maybe, just maybe, they'll have the opportunity to help a few others up once they reach the top.
'Queen Bee' Bosses Often Victims of Sexist Workplace [LiveScience]


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Nutfield Genealogy has another (the fourth!) spin off! My guest blogger John Tew has started his own blog called Filiopietism Prism. You can read his first few posts, and his story about his interesting title, at this link: http://filiopietismprism.blogspot.com/ I think you'll enjoy it!
Another "new to me" distant cousin contacted me just before Christmas, and also had a group of several Salem historians all contact me, too. They are all descendants of the GARDNERS of Salem, who read my post about Benjamin Gardner. He is mysterious brickwall ancestor who was a ropemaker in Salem just after the American Revolutionary War. John Goff, who I knew before as a WYMAN cousin, wrote up a story mentioning Benjamin Gardner for the website "Wicked Local- Salem" http://www.wickedlocal.com/salem , which will appear later in January. John Goff has a regular column at this website, called "Preservation Perspective".
Another one of these GARDNER cousins is John Switlik who writes the blog "Thomas Gardner of Salem, MA" at http://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/ and he also manages the Thomas Gardner Society website at http://thomasgardnersociety.org/ If you are a GARDNER, or if you have Salem ancestry, you might want to check out these links.
|This cairn marked the first sermon by Rev. MacGregor
Where was it located? It has disappeared since 1919
A geographer named Donald Kirkland is working with Richard Holmes, the Derry town historian, to determine the location of a cairn that marked the site where Rev. MacGregor gave the first sermon in Nutfield (now Derry, somewhere near Beaver Lake). He read my blog posts on Beaver Lake and sent me this photo which dates from 1919. Mr. Kirkland was hoping I knew the location of the cairn, or if I had a relative who knew the location. The cairn was somewhere near the northeast side of Beaver Lake. He has queried seniors and members at the First Parish Church, but no one seems to know the spot. If you know the location of this former cairn, please contact me (email email@example.com or leave a comment here) and I'll pass it on to Mr. Kirkland.
A second cousin once removed, who I never knew before, related to my ALLEN lineage has found me via the website www.Genealogywise.com I hadn't been on the Genealogywise website in months and almost missed her posting. Have you tried Genealogywise? I don't find it as interesting or useful as Facebook for connecting with other genealogists, but I'm glad I checked back in. This is a lesson in checking back onto bulletin boards or websites where you may have left messages, because there just might be a return message, or a new post from someone who has potential information for you!
Last week I wrote a post on a Sunday. I usually never post on Sunday. However, at Christmas I had receive a very unique gift from my daughter and it was so perfect for family historians that I just had to share. She had a cutting board made with my mother's favorite recipe in her OWN HANDWRITING woodburned into the board. It was made by a crafter at Etsy.com who took a scan of the original recipe card and burned the handwriting. Think of all the recipes, letters or signatures you have collected that you can share this way. It was picked up by someone and posted to Pinterest, where it went absolutely viral. I have had almost 1500 hits to this one post this week, and over 1,000 of the hits came directly from the Pinterest website. I'm so glad I decided to post that whimsical story and photograph. Isn't that what social media is all about?
Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone, and it's now 2013. I'll be attending RootsTech 2013 in Salt Lake City in March and also NERGC in April in Manchester, New Hampshire. Let's see what the New Year brings for genealogy mysteries and interesting local history stories…
Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo


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Investing in Infrastructure in Africa: Conundrum and Opportunity
Last week, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released its semi-annual report on FDI flows, which reflected generally dismal results: global FDI declined by 8 percent, with a 5 percent decrease for the developing world in particular. I found it interesting that South Africa's significant decline in FDI seemed to catch a good deal of media interest. Yes, the continent's darling and the usually one of the highest recipients of FDI saw a drastic drop (by 43%); admittedly this deserves more than a glance. But I wonder why Finland and Ireland's numbers, at 96.2 and 42.8 percent respectively, didn't make much news. South Asia's inflows also fell by 40 percent as a result of declines across nearly all countries in the subcontinent. In India, inward FDI fell from US$18 billion to US$10 billion. Why South Africa? In my opinion, the flow of investment to sub-Saharan Africa is often reported as a sign that the doors of the last frontiers are being approached.
There is a much-accepted school of thought that the developing world needs foreign investment to become economically sustainable. Partnership with the private sector is encouraged to provide access to new technology, expertise, and—most imperatively—capital needed for vital infrastructure expansion. African countries reportedly lag behind other countries in the developing world when it comes to infrastructure provision especially in the availability of paved roads, telephone lines, and power generation. The effects of this lag are compounded by the region's strong population growth and the increasing rate of urban migration without a corresponding expansion of basic infrastructure.
A fundamental cause of the lack of infrastructure and services is a funding mismatch. The key sources of funding for the provision of water, sanitation and electricity services include government tax revenues, usage fee revenues, and aid—but the funding allocated to these services is not adequate. Public spending for water and sanitation services in sub-Saharan Africa typically equals less than 0.5% of GDP and is as low as 0.1% in some countries. In addition, the dominance of public enterprises has led to a monopolistic market environment and the ensuing dearth of competition has been blamed for inefficiency and the dreadful state of these services. Moreover, these enterprises often price services below cost, contributing to the lack of willing capital and investment in infrastructure.
Unfortunately, many challenges stand in the way of attracting investments in the infrastructure sector from global investors. In comparison to other continents, Africa has a low overall population density, low rates of urbanization, numerous small economies, and an absence of basic services. This makes capital outlay very high in comparison to other regions. Better roads, for example, could make it cheaper to build and maintain water and sanitation facilities in rural areas.
Thus, the sub-Saharan Africa infrastructure quandary begets itself, as—without good infrastructure—it is much more difficult to lure investors. In order for the continent to achieve its economic potential, increase growth, and progress from being an exporter of raw materials to a producer of finished goods, service delivery must improve. Perhaps an idea could be the participation in local capital markets with a two-pronged objective: to stimulate the markets and to increase access to finance for infrastructure projects. This could be done by issuing themed bonds where the proceeds could be aligned to specific infrastructure projects. There are surely other innovative means to offer investors comfort and opportunity while at the same time providing access to capital for crucial projects.
Here, a good example is MIGA's recent support of a U.S.-dollar cross-currency swap arrangement between Standard Bank Plc and the government of Senegal. MIGA has insured against a failure by the government of Senegal to honor its obligation to make requisite payments under the swap—a hedge against currency risk exposure related to the 10-year tenor, $500 million Senegal Eurobond issued in May 2011. The proceeds of the Eurobond will be used to finance new infrastructure projects such as a 19-kilometer extension of the Diamniadio Toll Road to the new Blaise Diagne International Airport project and critical energy sector investments.
Indeed, acknowledging the importance of service and infrastructure provision, 58% of MIGA's new business volume this year was in the infrastructure sector. Among our new projects, an important example is the agency's support to the Henri Konan Bedie toll bridge in Côte d'Ivoire, the country's first public-private partnership since the civil conflict began.
Sure, not too long ago markets were merry and risk appetites began to grow. Then, as is often said in financial street parlance, the music stopped but everyone kept on dancing. Initially, those who sought higher returns considered South Africa their only stop, perhaps for logical reasons. Elsewhere on the continent, the valuation conundrum thickened: the ability to value potential assets given the lack of known variables, historical performance, ratings—together with murky investment climates—hindered the ability to determine an appropriate discount rate. Once the global markets turned sour, investors took to their heels and fled the much-untapped African markets.
But times have moved on and the continent's investment climate is continually improving. For those pioneering investors in the African frontier markets, creative structures could very well fill a gap.


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Friday, September 18, 2009
Map Layer From Local Shapefile
You can download the zip file from here, and you can see the application in action here. And like usual, the source code is here.
10/10/09 - I've updated the source to be a bit more robust - BTW, this only handles polygon shapes.
28 comments:
- Yann said...
"ESRI Daily Build" : Some info on what's new ? :)
- September 18, 2009 at 5:23 AM
- ThunderHead said...
Ha - u say that :-( we are working on version 2 for AGS 9.4 - this will be based on flex 4 and has a feature layer, editing, native clustering, more geometry functions, bug fixes and performance enhancements; these are the things that I can think of now :-)
- September 18, 2009 at 5:33 AM
- Yann said...
Maybe a release date ? can't wait :)
- September 18, 2009 at 5:36 AM
- ThunderHead said...
Not sure yet - we might release a 1.3 version before 2.
- September 18, 2009 at 5:38 AM
- Yann said...
Great, thanks ! Can't wait to see demos of the new API features :)
- September 18, 2009 at 5:42 AM
- guirreri said...
Is there any way to load shapefiles without ever contacting the remote rest service?
- September 23, 2009 at 4:08 PM
- ThunderHead said...
This _is_ not connecting to the remote rest service.
- September 23, 2009 at 6:40 PM
- Cato Paus said...
[flexcoders] NFC (Near Field Communication) API in FlashPlayer 10.1
Vote for this !!
- October 8, 2009 at 2:48 PM
- mike said...
Could this be tweaked a bit to allow zip and / or layer packages (lpk)? This would prevent the user from needing to create zip packages since a layer package is a zip format. Thanks- Mike
- October 15, 2009 at 4:22 PM
- Casey Bentz said...
Do you have any idea if it is possible to load a dwg file in a simalar fashion?
- October 15, 2009 at 4:45 PM
- ThunderHead said...
Sure could be adjusted - have to find out the file format :-)
- October 16, 2009 at 7:46 AM
- Ole said...
This has tons of value for us!
Thank you for posting the idea, description and source code!
- October 25, 2009 at 3:47 AM
- ThunderHead said...
I've updated the source so it is a bit more robust - check it out and tell me - BTW - this works only on Polygon shapes
- November 10, 2009 at 3:24 AM
- Mike V said...
Thanks - we'll deploy it on a site and give it a test.
- November 10, 2009 at 1:49 PM
- Jason said...
Thanks for the source code. I loaded it in Flash Builder 4 and I got an error message about missing the agslib-SNAPSHOT.swc file in the Referenced Libraries.
Description Resource Path Location Type
unable to open '\Users\mraad\ArcGIS\ArcGIS\RIA\FlexAPI\api\dist\agslib-SNAPSHOT.swc' ShpOverlay Unknown Flex Problem
- April 22, 2010 at 8:39 PM
- ThunderHead said...
Please use the swc off the www.esri.com/flex - sorry about that :-(
- April 22, 2010 at 8:47 PM
- Nathan said...
How can we label based on an attribute within the dbf?
- July 30, 2010 at 12:07 PM
- csri said...
Hi Mansoor, Thanks for the awesome application. If I need to write the app so that it allows users to add shapefile of any spatial refrence. Do I need to first project the polygons to match the SR of the base map viewer and then add the projected graphics? Thanks in advance for your help.
- August 25, 2010 at 4:55 PM
- ThunderHead said...
U r welcome - what projection do u wanna go to ?
- August 25, 2010 at 5:59 PM
- csri said...
Hi Mansoor, Our app needs to let the user overlay shapefile on top of base maps (arcgis online street-wgs84). So am thinking since I don't have control on the SR of the shapefile that the user overlays using this tool, should I first reproject it to wgs 84 in my app using geometry service and then add the projected graphic? Could you suggest some way please ? Thank you in advance..
- August 27, 2010 at 11:16 AM
- ThunderHead said...
Well if the shp file is in WGS84 - then there is no issue - u can use GS - but, u will have to send all the data to the server and back - however - u can project all the data _client_ side - but will will need to know the original SR - have library that can share if u r interested for a small $$ into my swiss bank account (Just kidding :-)
- August 27, 2010 at 11:39 AM
- Jenn & Joel said...
Is there an easier way to add a local shapefile in 10. I get an error at the line
- September 14, 2011 at 5:47 PM
- Jenn & Joel said...
at this line
shp:ShpSymbol id="shpSymbol"
- September 14, 2011 at 5:48 PM
- Ram Prasad said...
hai Mansour Raad this is RAMPRASAD from india tamilnadu very recently i saw your video FLEX API session in ESRI video library,it was really amazing.
i want know how to overlay the shape file and mdb file contains point,line&polygons features.using flash builder flex api did you have any special MXML source code & step by step procedure for this
Please Help me thank you
- January 11, 2013 at 12:38 PM
- Mansour Raad said...
Glad that u like the app - all the source code (a bit old) all available for you to download at the bottom of the page - in addition, check out http://resources.arcgis.com/en/communities/flex-api/ for in depth information.
Hope this helps.
- January 16, 2013 at 12:22 PM
- ♥..eLi...♥ said...
I'm implementing a load shape file as a tool on my flex app, but I'd like to know in which API is possible to take the attributes from *.lyr file. I'm using API 1.3 and know it works fine... just the chiefs asked me about it.
Regards, thanks in advance
- March 26, 2013 at 1:04 PM
- Adriana C said...
I'm implementing a load shape file as a tool on my flex app, but I'd like to know in which API is possible to take the attributes from *.lyr file. I'm using API 1.3 and know it works fine... just the chiefs asked me about it.
Regards, thanks in advance
- March 26, 2013 at 1:10 PM
- Mansour Raad said...
Have not done such an implementation - sorry.
- March 28, 2013 at 10:25 PM


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Hello all. I was having the "cant find main class" error so I read around that it could be the system variables. I changed them several times and reinstalled Java SDK many times to try to solve this but nothing happened, so I went on and erased all the system variables related to Java because I thought they'd be restored when I reinstalled the SDK.
Well they didnt and now I cant even use a website with Java because I get some "Java not detected" message.
I dont remember which system variables I erased, can you give me a hand? Thank you a lot and sorry if it's the wrong forum


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How Florida State's SEC blueprint could end SEC's run
It all seemed strangely familiar to former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer, who spent an afternoon at Florida State in September observing the Seminoles' early-season preparation for perhaps the most successful regular season in the Bowl Championship Series era.
Fulmer, who went 152-52 during 17 seasons with the Volunteers and entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012, had seen this show before, up close and personal – first when his team knocked off the Seminoles to win the 1998 national championship, and again during the Southeastern Conference's dynastic run as the nation's premier conference.
PICKS:Experts call every game
What Fulmer saw in September was a team built in the SEC's image: big, strong, physical, deep and focused.
"They've got the cornerbacks, they've got an aggressive style on defense, they've got the tailbacks that have come through for them, and then the receiver-quarterback combination," Fulmer said. "They're a really dynamic football team."
This blend of depth, talent and athleticism draws parallels between Florida State's title-game blueprint and the national perception of the SEC, which sends Auburn to Pasadena, Calif., in quest of the league's eighth consecutive national championship.
In general, the SEC's long-held position atop the Football Bowl Subdivision has been a byproduct of prospect evaluation – a task made easier by the Southeast's recruiting bedrock – and player development. In specific, however, SEC teams like Alabama, Florida and LSU have excelled due to an ability to throw waves of top-level talent at opponents with a decidedly physical and aggressive approach.
In appearance, style, talent and depth, FSU is a team cut from the SEC's cloth.
"They physically look like an SEC football team," said Nevada coach Brian Polian, who faced FSU in a September loss and spent the 2012 season at Texas A&M. "The one thing that struck me was that in today's world of spread-out, basketball-on-grass, they were physical in all three phases of the football game. They were physical in the kicking game, they were physical on offense and they were physical on defense."
A physical formula has become part of the SEC's mystique, one hammered home by the old-school, between-the-tackles play from recent champions like Alabama, Florida and LSU.
"They play SEC-type football, for what it's worth, whatever people think that means," Polian said. "They can line up with a fullback and come downhill and knock you backwards. In the ACC, where you see so much spread and people want to turn it into a space game, this team has the ability to line up and be physical with you on both sides of the ball."
In Monday's BCS National Championship Game, FSU will put its SEC-like credentials – and perfect record – on the line against Auburn, which has the offensive potency to complete the league's dominance of the BCS era. But Florida State, winners of all 13 games by two or more touchdowns, has matched the league's tried-and-true formula for supremacy better than any SEC outsider in BCS history.
That fourth-year coach Jimbo Fisher has built Florida State in the likeness of an SEC power is unsurprising: Fisher spent 13 seasons as an SEC assistant, including seven years at LSU, from 2000-6, under current Alabama coach Nick Saban and Les Miles.
After three seasons as former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden's offensive coordinator and the Seminoles' coach in waiting, Fisher inherited Bowden's position in 2010 and quickly and forcefully began remaking FSU's roster – bringing in high-profile talent, particularly along the defensive line.
BOWLS:How life will change in playoff era
"In a lot of ways, I think Jimbo being at LSU and Auburn, he knows about recruiting in the Southeastern Conference," Fulmer said. "It looks like that's what he's done. They're athletic. He's got speed all over the field."
It's Saban's touch that seems particularly evident in Fisher's approach to rejuvenating Florida State after the program's extended period of drowsiness. Saban used a similar plan – a "process," in his words – to bring the Crimson Tide back to the forefront of college football after a generation of unacceptable mediocrity.
"I don't know if he's publicly said this, but it's been pretty clear that (Fisher's) blueprint for Florida State football was to build a team that looks like an SEC team," said Danny Kanell, an ESPN college football analyst and former FSU quarterback.
"You look at some the dominant defensive linemen that he's got, the bigger linebackers and the exceptional guys in the secondary, and it's clear to me that's where it was derived from. And it shows in the success. I mean, that's why they plowed their way through the ACC."
Like Saban and Alabama, which won three of the past four national championships, FSU has succeeded at identifying, recruiting and developing key skill players – like a Jameis Winston, or wide receivers Kelvin Benjamin, Rashad Greene and Kenny Shaw – but excelled in developing talent along the line of scrimmage.
Of the nine Florida State defensive linemen listed on its depth chart for the championship game, eight received at least a four-star ranking from the recruiting Web site Rivals.com; of those eight, all but two ranked among the nation's top 70 recruits as high school seniors, and three earned five stars.
Though slightly less star-studded, each of Florida State's starting five offensive linemen earned All-ACC honors in 2013, with left tackle Cam Erving named the league's offensive linemen of the year.
Boiled down, this is the SEC approach – one utilized to great effect by Saban's Crimson Tide, Les Miles' LSU and Urban Meyer's Florida: win with skill players, but dominate by controlling the point of attack.
"They're big across the board," Polian said. "The wide receivers, the cornerbacks, the offensive line looked like an SEC offensive line. It looked like some of the teams we had seen the year before. They were as well-coached a team in all three phases as any group I've seen over the last couple years."
But college football is nothing if not cyclical: Florida State might be built in the SEC mold, but the SEC's unprecedented run – the conveyor belt of NFL picks, the physicality, the dominance – was built in the image of Florida State's heyday, a decade-plus streak of supremacy starting in the 1980s that was defined by the same traits the Seminoles exhibit today.
FSU finished with at least 10 wins and among the top five each season from 1987-2000, a run of national contention unmatched in the poll era of college football.
Rather than being defined by one positive trait, like a prolific offense, the Seminoles' run came about via superb balance, a team-wide evenness between offense, defense and special teams.
This dominance was built on the practice field, where the Seminoles' first-team offense and defense would engage in "bloody wars," said Georgia coach Mark Richt, an FSU assistant from 1990-2000.
"Not that we weren't on the same team – we loved each other on Saturday, but still," Richt said. "Those Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when we would do competitive drills, the eleven on elevens, the one on ones, the team run, whatever it was, I mean, everybody was trying to win the drill. So I think that was huge part of the success at Florida State during that time."
Competition stemmed from a simple yet crucial concept now seen among the SEC's premier programs: Florida State bred intra-squad rivalry by reeling in five-star recruits by the dozens, at every position, and promoting an environment where backups pushed starters – even established starters – for snaps.
By stressing on-field competition – between Richt's offense and the defense run by then-coordinator Mickey Andrews, whom Richt called "the most competitive human being I've ever been around" – the Seminoles developed a belief that no opponent, whether during the regular season or bowl play, could replicate the intensity and challenge the team experienced within its own walls.
"The thing I remember most is just the confidence on both sides of the football," Kanell said. "When you played under Coach Bowden and you played at Florida State, we really had in our minds every season that we were going to contend for the national championship. It wasn't even a thought that we would possibly only win a conference championship, it was always, year in and year out, contend for national titles. And that mindset, it ran deep throughout the whole program from the top to bottom."
One character trait ties together FSU's glory teams and its current title contender, which stands one win away from completing one of the most impressive seasons of the last two decades of college football, and it's one that's not actually physical.
"There's the confidence, they absolutely have a confidence," Kanell said. "And really, more so than Seminole teams in the recent past, they have this laser focus and this expectation of competing for the national championship. They've had it all season long. They have not let anything get in their way. They've had their eyes set on something special."


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WASHINGTON — IT'S weird to be jealous of your car.
But I am.
Men look at my car with such naked lust, their eyes devouring the curves and chrome, that I often feel as though I'm intruding on an intimate moment. Women like it, too. They sometimes grin and give it a thumbs up as it growls by, and one girlfriend fondly refers to it as "the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Goddess car."
But the icon evokes a special feeling in men. It's the Proustian madeleine of cars, stirring old dreams and new. Guys sometimes follow in the American beauty's dreamy wake, by car or by bike, and leave mash notes on the windshield with their numbers, pleading for me to sell it.
I won't. Even though it's hard on the ego to chauffeur such an object of universal desire, and even though I can rarely put down the top because I'm prone to sunburn, I love my '65 Mustang convertible. Still sexy at 50, it is midnight blue with a white top and white bucket seats. Bob Marley, '60s French girl groups and, of course, Wilson Pickett wail from the CD player.
The pony car was launched at the New York World's Fair in 1964 with a $2,368 sticker price, and some collectors look for "1964 1/2s," as the first Mustangs off the Ford assembly line are called. But the debut cars were all designated 1965, and mine was produced in that first batch.
It quickly became the fastest-selling new car in history, landing on the cover of Time and Newsweek with Lee Iacocca and showing up in the James Bond movie "Goldfinger." It sold even faster when Ford executives pulled a King Kong of a stunt in October 1965 and parked a pony on the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building.
Once Ford engineers determined that lowering a car by helicopter onto the world's tallest building would be too dangerous, they spent an hour cutting a white Mustang convertible into sections that would fit into elevators and then reassembled the car on high.
Bill Ford Jr., the company's executive chairman, great-grandson of Henry Ford and No. 1 Mustang fan, replicated the icon-on-icon caper Wednesday for the first day of the New York Auto Show — this time disassembling a bright yellow 2015 Mustang convertible into five parts and reassembling it 1,000 feet above Fifth Avenue.
Later, after driving through the car show in one of Ford's 1,964 50th anniversary, retro Mustangs that come in the car's original Wimbledon white or Kona blue, the chairman reminisced about his first car, a 1975 electric green Mustang. "Mustang is my all-time favorite car," he said, noting that it signified fun and freedom in an affordable package.
The car was conceived as "a working man's Thunderbird" by the late Don Frey and muscled up by Carroll Shelby. Frey, an engineer, had been teased by his kids about how boring the Ford models were.
As USA Today recounted, Frey's favorite story was getting a letter from a Texas janitor who bought one of the first Mustangs. He wrote Frey: "I've been courting this 5,000-acre widow for years. I finally got her in my red pony. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Bill Clinton said leaving his bright blue '67 Mustang behind in Arkansas was the hardest part of moving to the White House.
The brand almost became extinct after it devolved to a smaller version on top of the Ford Pinto chassis in the mid-'70s — losing its cool image. I had a red one in those days, and it broke down so much, I started calling it the Mustake.
The lame pony, USA Today recalled, was rescued in the early '90s by engineer John Coletti and other Mustang aficionados at Ford, a group called the Gang of Eight. They slaved away in their spare time in an old Montgomery Ward warehouse in Michigan, coming up with a niftier design.
I always think of my Mustang as the Steve McQueen of cars, given the star's stunning, sometimes airborne 10-minute chase scene in "Bullitt" through the vertiginous streets of San Francisco, driving a green 1968 Mustang GT 390 in pursuit of a black Dodge Charger.
With his Mustang, Jacqueline Bisset and existential angst, McQueen defined hip in the 1968 classic — despite the atrocious paisley print pj's he wore in the film.
In 2011, Marc Myers wrote a piece for The Wall Street Journal retracing the chase route gingerly in a new Mustang with McQueen's stunt double, Loren Janes. Janes, then 79, said he did about 90 percent of the driving in the movie and McQueen, though a good driver, did only the close-ups.
Janes told Myers that at the end of filming "Bullitt," McQueen offered him one of the three tricked-out Mustangs used in the movie, but he passed, afraid he would always want to drive it too fast.
"Besides, I already had this," Janes said, showing Myers a 1964 Rolex Submariner with the inscription: "To the best damn stuntman in the world. Steve."
Now that's cool.


text:
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Yacolt Burn 4x4 Trails are on the Way ! ! !
YACOLT BURN 4x4 TRAILS ARE ON THE WAY ! ! !
How The Idea Got Started...
In the beginning, this project started with 3 friends hanging out together working on their Jeeps. Three friends who were frustrated with having to drive such long distances (and pay ridiculous high fuel prices) to go 4-wheeling when there was a beautiful, massive forest right in our back yard - the spectacular Yacolt Burn.
So -- we set a goal, formed a club, created strategies, rallied the troops and never, never, ever looked back...
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
The most difficult part of this journey by far was staying the course even when everyone who was supposedly "in the know" actually laughed out loud at us and told us that there was absolutely NO WAY we would ever get legal 4x4 trails in the Yacolt Burn. It had been tried time and time again and failed repeatedly. This project has been a long and stressful journey for the charter members of our club who engaged with this project over 2 ½ years ago. During the past 2 ½ years, our club members have invested well over 5,000 hours into meetings, clean-ups, forest watch patrols and educational efforts on the ground and via the internet.
We have made some wonderful new friends and partners (that was the best part), stepped deeply into more than one political pile of poo (that was the scariest part) and unfortunately made a few enemies along the way (that was the worst part). The craziest thing of all - the battles that we had to really armour up for were not with the environmentalists, not with the government agencies and not with the other user groups -- it was in our own sandbox - with other 4x4 enthusiasts (that is the sad part) . . .
Thankfully, due to the publicity of last year's Cruise-In as well as the 2007 & 2008 clean up events we have recruited some new, very energetic members. We know that these new members care as much about this project as the founding members do and have been able to provide some much needed relief to the original members who have continually turned their lives upside down to make this project a reality. We even found some time to actually go 4-wheelin' this year...
Get to the Good Stuff
It's been a very long road, but we are happy to announce that we have officially received the approval from the Commissioner of Public Lands to move forward with building 4x4 trails in the Yacolt Burn.
We will still need to maintain some patience as we await the completion of the proposed trail design from the consultants (due early September) and following that we will need to wait for the SEPA (environmental impact) to run it's course (October). We do not expect any problems from SEPA as the planning committee followed the environmental requirements to the last little detail.
The Challenges Still Ahead
The DNR has a very limited amount of funding to put towards this project – so almost every mile of trail that we want to build will have to be supported by fund raising efforts and we will then have to increase our level of volunteerism to maintain those trails.
Ready, Set, Go !
We expect to begin preparing existing trails that are already on the ground as early as November 2009. Our goal is to have at least 20 miles of 4x4 trails ready and open to the general public before the 2010 recreation season (opening May 1). We will work on construction of additional "challenging" features as weather, funding and volunteer hours allow. That should bring us up to a total of 25 miles of dedicated 4x4 trails.
Not Just for 4x4's . . .
Also included in this planning process is the addition of another 20+ miles of ATV and dirt bike trails being added to the existing 14 miles at Jones Creek.
Relax - It's a 10 Year Plan
Another hurdle we are experiencing is the loss of the NOVA funds (grant dollars) that would have provided funding for the campground facilities and trailhead at 4-corners. The estimated cost of this project is well over $2 million dollars. All of the fund-raisers in the world are not going to raise that kind of money. So – we will be focusing on building trails and small trailheads while we await the return of the NOVA funds. No worries here either though - this planning process has been based on a 10 year plan - that means we have 10 years to find the grant dollars to fund this facility.
In addition to the $1209.38 that was raised at last year's Cruise-In, the members of Piston's Wild Motorsports have raised an additional $319.63 bringing the fund total to $1,529.01. The additional funds were raised by club members who recovered hulk vehicles from the Yacolt Burn and recycled them for cash. The owners of those vehicles donated the titles to Piston's Wild Motorsports.
At last night's "Hot August Night" event - we received an additional $54 in cash donations bringing our grand total to $1,583.01. ALL of those funds will go direcly to building motorized trails in the Yacolt Burn.
We Still Need Your Help . . .
Although $1583 is a great start we still need everyone's help to bring this dream of 4x4 trails in the Yacolt Burn to fruition. Please be sure to register for the forum so that you will receive up the the minute information about trail building activities - we will do our best to advertise and plan work parties in advance.
In addition, please join us for two very important upcoming events in September and October.
September 26, 2009 (Saturday)
7th Annual "Pick Up the Burn"
See additional information under the Club Events section
This is an opportunity for the 4x4 commuity to come together with the other user groups of the Yacolt Burn Forest and continue to build strong relationships that will maintain the high level of cooperation that has made this project possible.
October 4, 2009 (Sunday)
Piston's Wild Motorsports 4x4 Cruise-In
@ Woody's 4x4 in Vancouver, WA
This event is our primary fund raising activity that will provide the dollars needed to get a jump start on building 4x4 trails later this Fall. Bring your 4x4, bring your donations, bring your friends and bring your family - this is guaranteed to be a great time for everyone and an opportunity to celebrate the anticipation of LEGAL 4x4 trails in the Yacolt Burn...
For additional information about the activities of Piston's Wild Motorsports Club please go to: www.pistonswild.com
Thank you again to all of the 4x4 enthusiasts who have supported our tiny little club in this monstrous effort - your contributions have been greatly appreciated by us all. We look forward to continuing to work closely with all of you on the building and maintenance of the Yacolt Burn 4x4 Trail System for many, many years to come.
We would also like to especially thank the staff from the Department of Natural Resources who have worked so tirelessly on this planning process to ensure that ALL of the interested user groups of the Yacolt Burn were integrated into the plan. Specifically: Brian Poehlein, Julie Sackett, Mary Coacher, Jessica Kimmick and our planning facilitator Walt Pulliam.
Of course the reason the planning process was such a success was because of the excellent representation in the room from all of the various user groups:
Joe McLoughlin (Jones Creek Trail Riders) - Dirtbikes / ATV's
Barbara Vertz (Cougar Area Trail Seekers) - ATV's
Bill Manbeck (Pacific NW 4-Wheel Drive Association) - 4x4's
Gary Collins (Back Country Horsemen) - Equestrian
Jon Brobst (Yacolt Burn Neighbor) - Dougan Falls Area
Phil Delaney (Lives in the Yacolt Burn) - Naturalist
Pat Campbell (WA Trails Assoc & Sierra Club) - Environmentalist
Jason Ding (Cold Creek Mountain Bikers) - Mountain Biking
Crystal Crowder (Piston's Wild Motorsports) - Multi-Motorized
Chris King - Non-Affiliated Multi-Sport Recreationalist
Darren Huddleston - Non-Affiliated Multi-Sport Recreationalist
In the spirit of cooperation, the individuals listed above continually searched for recreation solutions for the Yacolt Burn that would include the needs of ALL of the user groups while still maintaining the identity and integrity of each the individual recreation opportunities in the forest.
Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns regarding the Yacolt Burn 4x4 Trail Project. I can be reached at (360) 606-1648.
Happy (really,really happy) trails,
Crystal Crowder
Club President
Piston's Wild Motorsports
(360) 606-1648
The View of Mt. Hood from the proposed location of the
Four-Corners Motorized Trailhead and Campground Facility
Crystal Crowder
aka "Pistons Chick"
Club President 2007 - 2014
Piston's Wild Motorsports
WOHVA - Vice President
PNW4WDA Member for 28 Years
(360) 606-1648
"SARCASM - because beating the crap out of people is illegal."
Last edited by PistonsChick; 08-20-2009 at 04:03 AM.
Wow! Glad I finally read this. You are an amazing bunch, and more of the PNW membership should read this and take inspiration from your efforts!To all the naysayers out there, pay attention!! It can be done
Dave Walters
Tri-Cities Peak Putters
Land Use Coordinator
WOHVA Board member
It's a Scout thing
Very well done and a great report. I am very happy for you all. I agree that all should take inspiration from all your hard work. You should also be encouraged that your kids will have another place to ride. Again, great job.
Jon Pyland
Deschutes County 4-Wheelers
Bend, Oregon
WOW, great job guys!!
In this day and age of what seems like never ending trail closures Im glad to hear of some being opened.
In Hawaii we dont really have any legal 4wheeling locations, we have the hunting area that posses obvious risks, there is the motor cross track, thats good for the bikes but not so well with a truck, then there is the couple area's that its not legal but sometimes the authorities look the other way, sometimes you get you vehicle impounded
We are working very hard to have a couple places opened and I want them to see this thread to give inspiration. Thank you so much for your hard work.
Awsome story.
Alan Paulson
Umpqua Valley Timber Cruisers 4 Wheel Drive Club
tiny little club with big hearts and giant dreams, great job
I was in the process of writing a feasibility paper on this because last i herd this was just an idea. GREAT WORK.
On that note if there is any way i can help let me know. i would probably be able to rally quite a few guys that would be frequent users of the park. We are a bunch of toyota kids that you guys may not be to fond of but point us in the right direction and we can be productive.
I would love to help out and be involved any way i can. just let me know if there is anything at all you need help with.
Are you guys letting clubs sponsor and build trails?
Last edited by ec2469; 02-17-2010 at 11:58 AM.
Well done and great job on all the hard work.
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text: Course Registration for Students Here you will find more information about our free conversation courses for students of the University of St.Gallen. Start of the courses in autumn semester 2019: 3rd week of the semester (from September 30th, 2019 on) Start of the course registration: September 16th, 2019 The conversation courses are part of the many optional course offered by the University of St. Gallen and are managed by the Language Center. The courses are open to all matriculated students and are free of charge. Use this unique opportunity to improve your intercultural communication skills by increasing your knowledge of a foreign language together with your fellow students and under the guidance of a native speaker, free from grades or academic pressure. Because there is a maximum number of students allowed per course, we ask you to only register for a course if you plan to attend it on a regular basis. Remember: for every registered student in a course who does not attend regularly, there are other more motivated students who did not receive the spot and are deprived of the opportunity to attend that course. (German Conversation Course, Julia B., 2018) Registration: The registration for the Conversation Courses will open in the first week of the semester (see green box above). Please follow the link to the course registration forms on the right hand-side of this page. With your registration, you are obliged to attend at least 80% of the lessons. If you cannot attend the courses anymore, you have to send us a notification. The Conversation Courses start in the third week of the semester (see green box in the top area of this page). Course schedule and rooms Language Course Instructor Schedule and Classroom Registration / Status Arabic Yousef Abujarad Please find further information about this course and the registration on this website. Chinese A1 Quanzhi Guo Wed, 4-5pm, 36-106 Registration Chinese A2+ Yixin Sun Tue, 1-2pm, 36-106 Registration German A1-A2 Conny Steenblock Thur, 6-7pm, 36-106 Registration German B1 Conny Steenblock Wed, 6-7pm, 36-008 Registration English C1-C2 (Business) Suchana Sarkar Wed, 6-7pm, 01-206 (main building) Registration French A1 Akemi Narindal Tue, 6-7pm, 36-106 Registration French B1 Audrey Schibler Mon, 1-2pm, 36-008 Registration French C1 Audrey Schibler Wed, 2-3pm, 36-106 Registration Italian, offered in cooperation with the Italian Club Alessandro Anwander Wed, 1-2pm, 36-106 Registration Japanese A1 Rikka Kondo Mon, 5-6pm, 36-106 Registration Portuguese Daniel Khouri Mon, 6-7pm, 36-106 Registration Russian A1, course 1 Valentin Nikolaev Mon, 2-3pm, 36-106 Registration Russian A1, course 2 Valentin Nikolaev Wed, 12-1pm, 36-008 Registration Russian A2 Mariia Kolisnyk Wed, 3-4pm, 36-106 Registration Swiss German A1 Lisa Ledergerber Thur, 1-2pm, 36-106 Registration Swiss German A2+ Sascha Duric Wed, 6-7pm, 36-106 Registration Spanish A1 Ashraf Montoya Wed, 1-2pm, 36-008 Registration Spanish A2 Arnau Monteagudo Tue, 6-7pm, 36-008 Registration Spanish B1 Daniel Duarte Thur, 5-6pm, 36-106 Registration Spanish B2 Santiago Barco Thur, 6-7pm, 36-008 Registration Thai Warisara Wonlopsiri (Pam) Mon, 6-7pm, 36-008 Registration