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5 pointsHi guys, I'm developer of Skyduck - the new mobile app for skydivers. I'm trying to make the best app for skydivers, so I need your help. First of all I need your feedback. Now it is in open beta test and available for iOS devices (iPhone 6 and higher except iPhone SE) DOWNLOAD FROM APPSTORE What it is now? • Easy-to-use automated skydiving logbook • Jumps digital signatures • 3D visualization of jump • Detailed statistics on a graph • Vertical/horizontal speeds Blue skies, Igor
5 pointsKind of like saying "Bless her heart" in the South... Wendy P.
5 pointsI went home today. Hop and pop from 6k with my awesome hubby. Almost got blown off the plane because I forgot about the prop blast. Perfect exit, perfect deployment, almost perfect landing. If only the winds hadn't gotten all weird, I'd have done at least one from full altitude. But that's okay. There's always next weekend. Life is good again.
4 pointsI'm becoming a slacker,I'm down to 2 jobs Medic/Rescue and Teaching in the fall. So, I finally made it official and put in my notice with the Department that I'm officially done. I know the timing looks pretty bad to outsiders with all the fires going on in our state,but I have been on/off training for the last few months and nothings more dangerous then not being current. I've really been focusing my attention on EMS,and haven't felt that strong pull to be out with the Fire Dept. so I knew it was time. Hubby finishing his Fire science degree and accepting a job at another department also made it easier.
4 pointsIt's Not What You Do (Or the Size of Your Dropzone): It's How You Do It Jen Sharp -- since 2017, the Director of IT for the USPA -- is a woman of note for a long list of reasons. Jen's a font of wisdom, a truly badass skydiving instructor and a businesswoman of uncommon strength and clarity (proof: she spent 21 years owning a successful small drop zone in Kansas). When she speaks, one should do themselves the favor of listening. If you don't already know her story: Jen has been jumping since she was 18 years old. She opened Skydive Kansas directly after her college graduation, when she had a full-time teaching job and only 300 jumps. (Even then, she'd already been working as a static line jumpmaster, instructor, packer, rigger and radio-wrangler. Supergirl, basically.) Since then, she has traveled extensively as a jumper, an instructor and a public speaker. It was 1995 when Jen opened her dropzone: the days of saving up your vacation days for the World Freefall Convention; of spending Friday night to Sunday dinnertime on the dropzone; of single-plane 182 dropzones all over the place and, like, eight places you could go to fulfill a turbine craving. The close knit of those intimate little club-format dropzones has, of course, steadily unwound since then in most places. Adding skydiving to the schedule has become much more of a surgical strike: you get to the DZ at 10am and manifest immediately so you can make it to Crossfit by 4. You sift through regional skydiving events on Facebook, few of which require more than a handful of minutes' worth of planning. You drive hours for a turbine. Jen takes on her alter ego, "Stu," as a student (get it?!) on an AFF eval jump. It would be easy to mourn the loss of the small dropzone as an entity -- there are precious few of them left, proportionally to their previous numbers -- but Jen refuses to. For her, the "small dropzone feel" is the culture we should all be striving for, even if there happen to be seven Skyvans in the hangar archipelago. "The best vibes are at the places that keep the actual perspective, not just the party line, that we are all just people and all just want to have fun," she begins. "The ones that embody safety in the active choices to care for each other. The places that assume the best in people. Luckily, that's really simple to do." Simple? Yes. Easy? Not necessarily, but according to Jen, that's what we are really going for here: an inviting culture. Example after example proves that business success will follow that beacon significantly more reliably than it will follow volume. "What that culture is not," Jen clarifies, "is the culture of the burned-out tandem instructor, hauling meat; a culture where an instructor never connects with their student; where they don't even call them students, but passengers. If you call them a passenger, they are one-and-done. They know their place with you. But if you call them a student -- and you truly think of them that way -- the whole dynamic is going to be different." How do you change the dynamic? By changing the way you see the person in the harness. "The public we meet is awesome," she continues. "And we forget that! We totally forget this as instructors -- especially, tandem instructors. We forget that the person we're taking is amazing. Why? Because they are not on the couch. A normal person is just sitting there on the couch on the weekend or maybe vacuuming or making snacks, drinking beer and watching TV. But this person is okay with being uncomfortable; with putting their life in your hands. They are excited about it, and they are trusting you. That already makes them a really cool person." Doing an interview at PIA 2015. "If you want to see the average person, go to Walmart," she laughs. "That's the 'average person.' The person walking on a dropzone for the first time is not the average person. They are already living on a level that we should resonate with, especially since they're new and they need our guidance." For Jen, in fact, the "passenger" moniker is no less than a dishonor. "Homogenizing everyone who walks in the door into a 'passenger' has a couple of outcomes," Jen explains. "It burns tandem instructors out. It burns the public out against skydiving when we make the assumption that they don't know anything. Where did we even get that idea in the first place? Sure, they don't know anything about skydiving, but they probably know a lot about something else." "When I would take tandem students, I didn't know who they were, necessarily," she muses. "I would always ask 'why are you here today,' but they weren't always going to tell their life story. I would find out later that we had just taken a brain surgeon, or the senator from some western county in Kansas. You never know who that person is. They're just walking around in their sweats because you told them to dress comfortably. So -- if you're starting to feel the burnout, try allowing yourself to be curious about them. And, if you're a dropzone owner, strive to instill that curiosity in your instructor staff." Who knows: That curiosity, manifesting as totally authentic friendliness, could end up defining a regional dropzone's niche. "If drop zones realize how many kinds of niches there are to occupy," Jen says, "I don't think we'd ever talk in terms of 'small,' 'medium' and 'large' dropzone. You can occupy a really strong, functional cultural niche without being the biggest DZ around, or having the most airplanes, or doing the most tandems. As a dropzone, your niche really comes from whatever it is that you want to bring to the table -- and your resources and your passions -- and you succeed when you fulfill that to the max. I think a lot of places are figuring that out, and that's contributing to the fact that we now have more of a variety of dropzones than we ever have before." Y'know that bit about a cultural "niche"? Jen insists that it's not just about feels. It's about returns, too. A strong niche can turn into a marketing advantage. "Not every dropzone should compete on price," Jen notes. "It's conceivable for a smaller DZ to actually make more profit by doing less jumps. Profit is not the same as gross." "It's as straightforward as reaching the fullest manifestation of what you're capable of doing," she adds, smiling, "and, of course, always trying to get better."
4 pointsFunny video! But in the future maybe stick to smaller formations until everyone can control their fallrates and approach speeds, and can refrain from mixing sitflying and belly until they have that control.
4 pointsI am one of those hands that Dave trained...Was working on a rig- and i got stuck... I pulled out my phone and started to call Dave. Than it hit me again... I hope that am half the rigger he was. Don't have the heart to remove number. Until the next life Dave...
4 pointsWorld Meet Z-Hills 1981..... the boogie between competition jumps I got grounded for a low pull (gee seemed normal to me) and Dave noticed that scene. Grinning and on the sly, he pulled off his boogie wristband and gave it to me. "Keep jumping, I'll get another." One of a kind, ol' Dave. Miss him. R.I.P to a good man. In pic, he's on far right in younger days.
4 pointsDave had many "saves" himself and when you multiply that by all the riggers he trained the numbers would be in the thousands. A life well lived.
4 pointsI am 69 years old and in my 51st year of skydiving. I had two cutaways, one over Pope Valley CA in 1972 using military surplus gear and one over Rantoul Illinois using modern gear in 2005. I see skydiving as a very risky sport and see myself as a lucky cautious participant. Perry Stevens D-51 taught me how to jump in 1968. One bit of advice he gave me was: "when something looks marginal to you, take a pass on it, ALWAYS." Marginal planes, marginal gear, marginal jump plans, marginal weather etc. I've done nearly everything I can to mitigate risk. I jump with an RSL and a Cypres AAD. I don't swoop, wingsuit or BASE jump. I practice emergency procedures. I get gear checks before I board. I was a very early AAD user, buying an SSE Sentinal 2000 as soon as they hit the market. Back then experienced jumpers who wore AADs were ridiculed, but I didn't care. When I could finally afford a square canopy, I bought a conservative one (Triathlon) that would put me at 1.2 to 1 wing loading and never downsized even on subsequent buys. My reserve is almost as big as my main. If steady winds exceed 18 mph I wait for better conditions. I passed on manifesting for Twin Beech jumps on really hot days with loads that clearly exceeded max gross limits. I passed on really green Cessna piston jumpship pilots. I passed on having beer with lunch at a DZ where it was SOP. I could go on but you get the picture. I am not gloating or saying I am better than people who take more risk than I do. My point is that there are many things you can do (or more accurately NOT do) that will substantially reduce risk and still allow you to participate in the best sport on the planet. You won't be sharing granite skimming wingsuit videos with your friends but you can still have a great time.
4 pointsSo funny clicking this link all these years later to see that Squirrel completely and utterly dominate the PPC charts... Hahahaha
4 pointsI know I sound like an old man yelling at kids on his lawn, but is this the picture that should be on the cover of the official publication of the USPA? Should the USPA really be promoting lighting your canopy on fire? It gives it a sense of legitimacy and may even make some people think they can go to the SIM to find out how to do it.
4 pointsYou need a real rigger. A rigger that puts a 20 year life span on a reserve is a rigger to run away from.
3 pointsRemove the word fail from your vocabulary. Did you learn something? Then you didn't fail. Were there things you did right? Then you didn't fail. Are you alive? Then you didn't fail. Student jumps can be way overwhelming. There are lots of people who have to repeat a category or three and yet go on to be excellent skydivers. Just keep at it. You can only fall if you don't try.
3 pointsA few comments: 1) Yes, it can be hard to get an advanced license with a small aircraft. I started skydiving at a small DZ with one, then two, then one C182's. We were lucky to get in one "fun" jump (i.e. an actual 4-way) a weekend, and that's only if we showed up at 7am and made sure a pilot was there, too. This is not a bad thing - it means that if you don't get experience you can't get an advanced license. Because you don't have enough experience. Which is how licenses work. Licenses aren't "you've been in the sport for two years and you deserve some recognition" - they are both indications that you've reached a level of experience (based on jump numbers and types of jumps you've done) and that you are ready to learn something new (like getting an AFF rating or learning to do demos.) 2) It sounds like you are saying that it's hard to get experience/freefall time from a C206 that only goes to 10K. Keep in mind that many DZ's only have C182's that go to 8500 - so you have some benefits there. 3) There have been hundreds of thousands of 4-ways launched from 182's and 206's without much increase in risk. If your pilot is uncomfortable with them, then by all means don't do them - but learning to do 4-way is a pretty basic skill. Once you get a new pilot and/or go to different DZ's you'll have that opportunity. 4) There has been no time, ever, when DZ's haven't "been experiencing tough times." And right now we are in the middle of a booming economy. DZ's make money on students, not upjumpers - so losing a few upjumpers to other DZ's doesn't hurt DZ's financially very much. It does hurt them in the long run because those jumpers tend not to stick around. But that's because they have one C206 and a conservative pilot, rather than "USPA makes them leave." As another data point, when I started at that aforementioned one-182 DZ, we'd often go to the Ranch on Mondays (when our DZ was closed) to take advantage of their "$13 to 13,500" deals during the week. We had to, to get enough jumps to get licenses and ratings. And going to a different DZ taught me a whole lot more than just getting some extra high altitude jumps did. It meant I met new people, had new coaches, saw new gear, learned about new aircraft, had to learn new outs - and all of that is critical to someone who wants to be considered an "expert" skydiver (which I believe is what the C license used to be called.) Finally: 5) "Turning even one successful point in a four-way from a Cessna at 10K is a beer-worthy feat!" - Nonsense! Why, one year at Lost Prairie we turned 7 points from 4K! They even wrote a song about it. Although come to think of it that might not be a good feat to try to duplicate . . .
3 pointsFirst fifty or so jumps on my new canopy, I psycho packed it. Seemed to offer more control. Here's a video that may help, but always discuss with a rigger, never take advice off of the internet, go to the PIA conference before you do anything new, yadda yadda yadda
3 pointsDave was one of the greats in skydiving and parachute rigging. Always cheerful. Always helpful. I'm going to miss him.
3 pointsActually, you get more honeys being fly. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
3 pointsDon't get too hung up on a major or specialization. My experience is that if you are an engineer you are an engineer. What you study in school is just a starting point. You will grow into what ever industry you wind up in. Example, I'm working for a rocket company. We're rocket scientist. The head guy is an electrical engineer. My boss who does the engine development and got put in charge of recovery systems came out of the petroleum industry. I'm not sure about his degree if he has an engineering degree it's probable in mechanical? Another is just a blue collar guy out of the air gas industry. He does all of our cryogenics and most of the construction on the rocket. There is a contractor that is a dynamacist that I'm sure has aerospace degrees. But I think I might be the only person here at the shop that was an AE, aerospace engineering major and I'm the seamstress. Maybe that should tell you some thing about the viability of that degree path... If I was to actually give you advice, I'd tell you to study your math. Maybe even get a minor in it. Regardless of what your paper says, some thing general like mechanical engineering or EE or some thing more specialized like AE, there will be a place for you in what ever industry you presue. But just as an example. I'm working for this company as their parachute rigger. Thinking back on what I've used from school. Alot of my work with pattern sets and design uses a lot of protective geometry and differential geometry. Unrolling sections of surfaces out of 3d space in to 2d to form pattern sets. Reentry models goes back to my AE courses. I cracked an old Thermo text a couple of weeks ago looking at a problem we were having with our pressurization system. Analyzing INU data from drop test. People say that you will never use what you learned in school, I've found the exact opposite. Particularly the math. But more than that I find the things I studied in school just generally inform me of how things will behave. And I never actually finished my degree. Some time I wonder what else I would have learned. It was invaluable but it was also just a starting point and nothing more then a foundation upon which to start building your experience. What you learn afterwards is what your career is built from. Lee
3 pointsWolf is right about staying Hydrated an well fed. Stay healthy and stretch often. You will be suprised at how sore you can get after a few jumps. Bring a lunch an bunch of snacks. Lots of water. If im not picking some jumpers brain for advise im either eating,stretching, or sleeping. Above all else once you get over the I could die doing this thought you will start to have so much fun either during freefall or under canopy. They are 2 totally different experiences..Enjoy them both. Listen to your coaches and don't over think anything. Stay loose an hold your arch.
3 pointsShort summary: A software kludge to hide a hardware defect.
3 pointsHi Ken, Last year Derek Thomas ( formerly of Sunpath ) told me about the work that Kyle Collins did for them. He said it was a fair amount of very small changes to the rig; i.e., things like a change in the radius of a portion of the yoke pattern, etc, etc. It was about '03, at the Symposium, that I was talking with Derek ( he & his then wife Pat, bought Sunpath about '94 ) and he said that, from the original, it had over 135 changes to it. Now, some of those would be to the TSO'd portion of the H & C and some would be to the non-TSO'd portions. Just some trivia for those who like this stuff, Jerry Baumchen PS) The Javelin was originally TSO'd under C23c where you select what Category ( weight - speed, make a selection ) you want to certify it under. Later, they did the three Strength Tests per C23d, where you select what weight - speed you want to certify it under; then the FAA granted them certification under C23d, or so I was told. ETA: My error, I was talking with Derek at the '07 Symposium.
3 pointsI realize Americans don't see Canada as any more than a State they need paperwork to visit, but we actually are a separate country that is not AAD mandatory.
3 pointshttps://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/nail-salon-defends-risque-name-claims-customers-like
3 pointsThe site is basically unnavigateable (Is that a word?) on a mobile browser. The forum is clunky as fuck now. Speaking as a guy who has run several websites like this with forums, I get "user resistance to change." This isn't that.


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Recap: Reach The Beach Relay.
This was my first relay, and before we get into the nitty gritty, I will preface my lengthy recap with the following notes and advice for anyone thinking of running a relay:
1. This is an entirely different breed of race—relays take careful thought and planning, and a tremendous amount of teamwork.
2. Get rid of any fear of public bathrooms. The bathroom is your friend, especially the sinks.
3. You will listen to your body for nutrition. After all, you're entering survival mode zone.
4. You will sleep for a maximum of one hour and a minimum of 20 minutes. Or you will not sleep at all.
If any of that interests you, read on, and sign up for a relay race near you.
As I stated in a previous post, I didn't know what to expect of relay weekend—I signed up many moons ago, I had a busy spring with traveling and training, and honestly didn't know what to make of the consistency of a relay.
I departed work on Thursday afternoon with feelings of anxiety and tension. My running had depleted over the weeks after the marathon, and I didn't know how well I would perform. Also, I wasn't just racing for myself—I was racing for a TEAM—I knew I would be doing the best I could do no matter what the circumstance. And I didn't want to let anyone down.
We drove up through New Haven, and stopped at a glorious pizza joint, where we filled up on carbs (beer is carbs, you know), before making our way outside the start at Wachusett. Our pre-race hotel was baller, complete with tube water slide and goggle-wearing parrot mascot. I expressed my concerns to our team captain, Elyssa, and she assured me that this was about fun and camaraderie. I took that into consideration, and had
the worst a terrible night's sleep.
Race Day(s)
Elyssa, Robin, His Lordship, and I promptly awoke at 6:30 with a task of grocery shopping for our nine-person team. We drove to Hannaford's, bought our essentials consisting of water, Gatorade, bread, peanut butter, trail mix, potato chips (clutch after legs), almonds, fruit, and crackers, and spent a grand total of $151.00. THAT'S ALL, FOLKS. This made the four of us immediately sullen and downtrodden, for we will never experience this glory in Manhattan.
Le sigh.
We stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts for "real breakfast" (bagels and coffee), and returned to the rest of our team to eat and assemble our vans to get to the start at the Wachusett Ski Resort. The parking lot was filled with vans decorated with team names and silly sundries, and everyone was in great spirits.
My stomach continued erupting throughout the morning, and I remained nervous as we sat through orientation. I had no idea what I was doing, or what to expect. I just knew I was running 20(ish) miles over the course of 24 hours.
Team Honey Badger assembled at the starting line to watch our first member, Allen, go straight up a mountain for his first of four legs. Van 1 (Allen, His Lordship, Patricio, Robin, and I) was to meet him at the end of his leg where he would hand off the RTB baton (really, it was a slap bracelet) to myself, and thus continue the journey of completing 36 legs.
Waiting in my first Transition, I wondered if I was going to vomit. Where was I? On top of a black diamond slope? Massachusetts? I just knew we were "north of Boston." Other teams were waiting as well, and were incredibly kind and relaxed. It was almost as if I was attending some kind of music festival for the weekend, but instead of getting wasted and listening to several bands, I was running.
I saw Allen coming around the bend, stuck my hand out, and grabbed the slap bracelet. That sealed the deal—my first leg of the relay had started. Also, I'd like to take this time to give major kudos to RTB for making the course easy to follow. I followed arrows over hills, and told myself not to look at my watch, for sometimes, that's my downfall. Van 2 (Neal, Maura, Elyssa, and Alamar) cheered as they passed me, and I waved in a painful motion, as I didn't want to make the same mistake that I did in Kentucky with talking to people while maintaining a race pace.
A runner from another team passed me and said, "Nice pace, good luck," and blasted forward. I furrowed my eyebrows. What pace was I doing? And how the hell were his legs moving so quickly? That's when my Garmin ticked off at 7:01.
I immediately freaked out. Although this was my shortest leg (essentially a 5K), I didn't want to run balls out and make my legs trashed for the remaining three. I was then greeted by a hill—a hill that blew Harlem Hill out of the water—and felt my feet shuffling. I so wanted to pull over and vomit. What a fabulous way to start a relay. Instead of tossing my bagel/coffee, I slowed down, and controlled my breathing to maintain a decent pace for a first leg. It was quite hot out, and realized that this was the first "summer" run that I had done for the year. I saw Robin in the distance, and smiled. 'So cool,' I thought. Yes, we are competing with ourselves, but we are also in this together. Time to make it happen.
Leg 1 Splits 7:01; 7:57; 8:22; ? (I forgot to turn my Garmin off until we were in the van. Oops.)
Robin was off. I walked around to take care of myself (don't barf, keep breathing), and got in the van. Earlier in the day, the five of us decided that we needed to refuel soon after we finished our legs. I was going back and forth between Gatorade and water, and slowly consuming a banana. This refuel process became key in a speedy recovery.
We drove to the middle of Robin's leg to meet her with water, acting as an aid station. While driving there, I watched the racers on the road. This was such a different kind of race. Runners were staggered, and everything became a game of passing.
Flashback: When we met for our RTB meeting (and also, drink fest), Neal said it would be fun to have a "kill" poster. I was all over it as I love arts and crafts—His Lordship and I made a poster resembling a tally sheet of how many people we passed. We never showed it to other teams (although, most teams did display their kills on the outside of their vans), and after every leg, we would update it.
Throughout everyone's first leg, we got in a groove of acting as aid stations, refueling, and working together to help out whoever was running.
And what seemed like a blink of an eye, the first five of Team Honey Badger was closing up Leg 1, giving Van 2 their go time. His Lordship plowed through transition to meet Alamar, we passed off the Kill Board, and found ourselves at an early dinner hour. We drove into the town of Worcester (home of Worcestershire sauce), and stopped at a coffee house. And then a burrito joint.
Yes, that's what we did. Why? We desperately needed caffeine and carbs. These two places happened to be situated next to each other, so we killed (ha) two birds with one stone. Also, the burritos were $1.95 a pop and substantial. For real. As I was running close to dinner time, I opted to save my burritos for later. And in another blink of an eye, it was time for us to meet Van 2 for Leg 2. Time flies in a relay.
It was now getting darker, and the hour grew near to dusk. Before we left on Thursday, Madame Walsh lent me her reflective vest and headlamp (many thanks, my dear). I have never run with either of these things, and both were comfortable and effective in my dusk leg. Although the sun hadn't quite set, the rules clearly stated that all runners must wear reflective vests, headlamps, and a minimum of two flashing lights (go-go blinky lights) between the hours of 6:30 pm and 6:30 am. So I did all of those things.
I wanted to have a better Leg than my first, so I told myself to take it easy while finding my stride. I set off in the parking lot behind Transition (all of our transitions were either in a school or church parking lot), and saw a girl about 400 yards in front of me. I decided my game of cat and mouse would start now. I made my way past her, and continued on Cedar Hill Road, which was not too dissimilar from a one-laned highway. 'I made my first kill,' I thought. This is where I felt the competitiveness that my other teammates had felt earlier. We all kept saying we weren't going to race it, but that all changed when you saw someone in front of you. I kept my splits going at a decent pace without going into overdrive, for I didn't know how I would feel by Leg 3.
Leg 2 was really enjoyable. The sun was setting, the air was crisp, and I loved seeing all of the vans cheering on their respective runners. I saw the girls from the Off Balance team, one of which was dressed in a banana costume. I waved and smiled, and carried on. By the time I reached my team at the halfway point, I knew I didn't need any water or Gatorade, and I was too focused on the hunt. I smiled, gave the ok sign, and was so excited that I was enjoying the race. I went through more back roads and quaint neighborhoods all the way to the next transition and passed the baton to Robin. This marked the halfway point for me. Two legs down, two to go.
Leg 2 splits: 7:46; 7:45; 7:54; 7:52; 8:07 (.5)
After our van finished up the leg, we were faced with late night hours, and a 2.5 hour gap until our third leg. This meant one thing: Coffee.
And, apparently, french fries. As we made our way to the transition where we would be meeting Van 2, I pulled into a Burger King to get coffee for us to sip on during our midnight legs.
"May I take your order?"
"Hi, thank you. May I have three large cof—"
"Psstt. I want some French fries."
"Me too!"
"…I'm sorry. May I have three large coffees and two large french fries?"
"Um… I'll have to make a fresh pot of coffee…."
"Ok. Do that."
The hour was now 11:00, and Van 1 was demanding coffee for the night. Kind sir, make that fresh pot of coffee. His Lordship and Patricio decided this would be a good time to carb load with nature's potato sticks best served fried. The coffee was for the later morning hours, for we were all hopped up on adrenaline after our second leg. No time for rest—Van 2 had shorter legs, and we knew they would be done in two shakes of a lamb's tail.
11:45 p.m. and it was starting to get colder. Allen and I were banking on it being in the mid 40's during 12-1:00 am—still warm enough to wear shorts and compression sleeves. Now we didn't know what to do. It was 39 degrees and falling, and we were on deck. Allen left at nearly the stroke of midnight. As we waited for him at his halfway point, I decided that I needed to change into something warmer for my leg. Capris, arm sleeves, and compression socks would do. I know it seems like overkill, but when the hour is creeping up on 1:00 am, you don't really think about being overdressed. This is a non-lit course in the middle of the night in bum-fu*k, Massachusetts. Let's play it smart, people.
After I grabbed the baton from Allen, I made my way into the misty back roads of my 8.2-mile leg. It was a surreal experience—nothing but you, nature, and darkness ahead. Essentially, I was offering myself up as a tasty midnight snack for a bear. Or mongoose. Are mongooses native to Massachusetts? Maybe?
I heard footsteps creeping up behind me. A speedy male runner came up next to me and said, "Lovely evening for a stroll, huh?" I laughed, and said, "This is crazy." He wished me well and sped up ahead, and I decided I would treat him as a rabbit. I heard my Garmin beep, and turned on my light. My first mile clocked in at 8:22, I and felt as if I was running at a 7:45 pace. Running in the dark is weird.
For the first 3 miles, I kept a decent pace behind my rabbit, and managed to pass one other female runner. Three miles, three runners. And darkness. We were now on a busier two-lane back highway, and cars were coming every now and again, half of them being vans for runners. I was running on the sidewalk next to the highway in fear of getting hit by a drunk driver (come on now, it was 1:30 a.m. on prom evening), and was carefully watching my footing. It slowed me down a bit, but better to be safe than faceplant in someone's front yard.
I started hearing footsteps again, and this time, a lot of them. A pack of 6 runners (including one female) started speeding by me at what looked to be a 6:15-6:30 pace. I realized that the Ultras who started at 2:00 p.m. were now catching up. I saw the Ultras speed by my rabbit, and once again, it was just us two.
The rest of Van 1 was waiting at the 4-mile marker with aid. I ran by them, and signaled that I was okay; I was on a mission and didn't want to lose sight of who was in front of me. Around mile 6, we ran through a quaint shopping strip of a local town. This was well lit, and it was nice to see something other than darkness and a small chunk of road that was only visible by headlamp. I passed another female runner, and commented on her effort, as it's not easy running in the middle of the night. Especially after already running once, if not twice already before. At the end of the street I was faced with a building featuring a large clock reading a time of 1:54 a.m. I laughed at myself and shook my head. What in God's name were we doing? I guess this makes up for my lack of effort in sneaking out of the house when I was a teenager. You're welcome, Mom and Dad.
Once again, there was darkness. And this time, it was on rolling hills. I saw the blinking light of my rabbit, and then lost it as I was on the uphill and he was on the downhill. I started to get nervous, for it was just me on this road, and no one else. I had a thought: what would Abbe Lew do if a person jumped out of the bushes and attacked? Speed up, of course. So I did (or at least attempted to, at that point). Oddly enough, I wasn't tired. Out of it, for sure, but not physically exhausted. I was on a weird running high that I had not ever experienced. I saw lights in the distance and realized I was coming into Transition. As I passed the baton to Robin, I told her to be careful.
Leg 3 Splits: 8:23; 7:39; 7:54; 8:15; 7:50; 8:04; 8:06; 8:14
I jumped in the van with my teammates and Allen and I discussed our experiences with nighttime running. His Lordship commented on the "Back to the Future clock tower," and I told them about the creepy car that stopped in front of me for several minutes when it was actually a cop car checking on my well-being. Also, I did overdress. The humidity was blazing, and Leg 3 ended up being my second sweatiest leg.
Our van finished their third leg, passed off our blinky lights to Van 2, and made our way to the transition where Leg 4 would begin. We pulled in around 4:00 am, and decided that if there was going to be any shut-eye, this was to be that time. And so we napped.
But not for long. I woke up somewhere shy of 25 minutes due to a
dream nightmare involving a missed text message from Alamar, leading Allen to miss Neal in Transition. I decided it best I stay awake, and good thing, for Alamar's text message came through shortly thereafter.
Rise and shine, Van 1, our 4th and final leg is about to begin.
We bid Allen adieu in the crisp, cool morning temps, and set off to meet him at his halfway point. Throughout the journey, I was in charge of our music selection, and I queued up my Queen Pandora station in search of something that would pump us up. Then there was glory: Europe's "The Final Countdown" started to play, and we all screamed with glee. It was now 6:39, meaning the Quiet Zones had come to a close. Patricio promptly stated, "I'm going to blast this as we drive by Allen."
And we did. He smiled and laughed. Robin and I started quoting Arrested Development, and we found ourselves much more awake than just ten minutes prior. Allen, however, announced his exhaustion as he met His Lordship for aid.
As I started getting nervous about my upcoming performance, I thought about marathons, and how this would play out. This would be similar to mile 22 of a marathon, and although it was going to hurt, I needed to get it done.
Allen gave me a huge smile as he came into Transition. "Last leg, Abbe! Go!" This was it. Just 4.5 miles to go. Allen's words resonated through my head for the first mile. I felt as if I were dragging tree trunks for legs. Everything in me hurt—my feet, my stomach, my quads. I even had a headache from wearing my contacts for too long. The feeling was similar to a nasty hangover. I needed to keep moving, and distracted myself from the pain by taking in the beautiful scenery. Leg 4 was, by far, my most beautiful. I ran over a single-laned bridge, through farmland with cows, and charming neighborhoods with dogs playing outside.
Around mile 4, a speedy woman came up next to me.
"How ya doin?"
"Me too. This sucks. Just gotta get it done."
For the time being, it did suck. My feet were shuffling along up and down the hills, and I was desperately looking for a school or a church that resembled a transition area. I ran up one last hill and saw it, and tried to push myself a little bit harder. I came into the school drive and saw Robin making a beeline toward me for the hand-off.
And just like that, my legs for Reach the Beach were over.
Leg 4 splits: 8:28; 8:30; 9:05; 9:12; 9:15 (.5)
Completely exhausted, I laid down in the van. It was as if my my body knew I wasn't going to have to run anymore legs, and everything shut down. Also, I decided to brush my hair for the first time since Friday morning, and it was a challenge. I just painted you a nice picture. You're welcome.
After Van 1 was finished with our legs, we traveled to the Old Country Buffet for refueling, and traveled to the finish area to wait for our fellow teammates. Whilst en route, we saw Maura on her last leg, looking strong and making a kill. We rolled down the windows and cheered her on. Just a few moments earlier, Maura was giving us her concerns on her final leg. And here she was nailing it.
When we got to the beach, we sat and finally rested our eyelids in complete silence. I thought about what we had accomplished over the past 24 hours. Nine friends from Manhattan (and Texas) were working together, stride by stride, over 200 miles with one goal in mind. And that is an incredible and beautiful thing.
I got the tip from Captain E that Neal was on his final stretch, and Van 2 was on the move to the beach! After much anticipation, we corralled together, met Neal at the final 200-meter stretch, and ran through the finish line together. We high-fived and cheered, got our medals, and proceeded to the beer tent.
I then got severely intoxicated after consuming one beer. Thanks, sleep deprivation.
Team Honey Badger finished in 26:09, 20th overall, and 5th in our division. I could not be more proud to be a part of this team. We worked incredibly well together, cheered each other on, cooperated and used amazing communication. All necessary things to compete in a relay. Many thanks to Captain E and my fabulous teammates. What a stellar performance and a wonderful weekend.
As I stated earlier, this was my first relay. It is most definitely not my last.
11 Comments
SO FUN! Seriously, you made me want to do one of these just reading your recap, even though I turn into a sort of monster with sleep deprivation. Maybe next year? hmmm. Also, your splits are amazing and consistent! Nice work 🙂
Awesome recap! I can't even believe how much fun it was sitting in a stinky van, not sleeping, eating crap, and running for so many hours. Van 1 is the shit. This is seriously an experience I will remember for a very long time!! We'll just have to do it again next year 😉
amazing recap!!! I can't believe you guys ran 200 miles! CRAZY! Congrats on an awesome relay. Y'all must all be badass athletes to accomplish something like this – huge congrats!
Christopher Baker
Great recap! What an amazing race that was. Something about it I just cant put my finger on that makes it so terrific.
Allen G.
So true! Been trying to figure that out myself.
Bridges Runner
Reliving the experience again through this entry:) It makes me so happy:) What an amazing team – so much fun, dare I say a go again at it next year???
Allen G.
Dare I say…OKAY!
Sitting here in the english garden with ur mama, seeing the lions, tirgers & bears oh 'my!!! It was almost like we were there with you, especially when u went 2 the beer tent. What an exciting time. Good comentary.
Allen G.
Great recap! Enjoyed reliving (yet again) the race through your experience. These recaps always have me grinning ear to ear 😀
I don't think I've ever run in the dark (aside from in Manhattan where it doesn't count b/c there are so many lights it might as well be daytime). You provided a great description and now I really want to try it! Congrats 🙂

subset: commoncrawl


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- Jennifer Winget aces the All Black look in Beyhadh 2, Must See Photos
- Kundali Bhagya 10 December 2019 Written Update
- Kahaan Hum Kahaan Tum 10 December 2019 update: Pari makes confessions, Rohit tensed with Pooja's real identity
- Kasauti Zindagi Ki update: Prerna accident and miscarriage twist
- Beyhadh 2 update: Maya tests Rudra and Rishi
Kundali Bhagya latest news: Prithvi revealed to be Sherlyn's ex-husband
Kundali Bhagya serial gossips – Preeta to accept Prithvi's proposal, Karan gets insecure
Fans of Zee TV serial Kundali Bhagya (Balaji Telefims) will have to gear up for a major twist in the upcoming episodes.
Soon, it will be seen that Preeta's (Shraddha Arya) marriage would be fixed with Prithvi. Karan will be seen getting jealous seeing Prithvi's marriage proposal for Preeta. However, Karan (Dheeraj Dhoopar) is trying to control his anger but will soon burst out as he realize his love for Preeta.
At the same time, Prithvi and Preeta will like each other and thus their alliance will get fixed. Pritvi asks Preeta out for their first date. Karan will burst out seeing Preeta agreeing to go on a date with Prithvi. But the interesting twist in tale is that Prithvi is none other than Sherlyn's ex-husband. Karan will come to know about this and hence he will explain this to Preeta. Unfortunately Preeta will not agree with Karan. Hence, all because of this Karan will replace Prithvi's place in mandap to save her.
What will happen next? Stay tuned to this space for latest gossips, updates and upcoming twists of Kundali Bhagya.
Also Read
Ishq Mein Marjawan Gossips – Tara to plan another murder to trap Arohi
Bigg Boss 11 Gossips : Priyank Sharma, Dhinchak Pooja to enter as wild card contestants
Star Plus new show Dil Sambhal Jaa Zara starts from 23 October, Ishqbaaz to run for half and hour
Laado 2: See New promo featuring Avika Gor, Shaleen Malhotra to join the star cast?


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• 1950s style Slash Neck Top
• Slashed neckline
• Fabric: Polyester, Rayon, Elastane
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• Made in London, UK
We would like to introduce our continental style Slash Neck Top. The neckline on this gorgeous little number is slashed from shoulder to shoulder showing just the right amount of flesh. It hugs your curves for a flattering form and is made of the most gorgeous of thick jersey fabric. Pair with one of our 1950s Pencil Skirts and a cute Brooch for a gorgeous daytime chic outfit.
Check out our Size Guide to find your perfect fit.
UK Standard Delivery
We aim to dispatch all mainland UK orders within 5 working days. However, sometimes during sale periods or other busy periods, deliveries may take longer. If you have not received your delivery within 10 working days, please contact our Customer Services department.
If you're not in when our couriers first try to deliver and they cannot find a safe place to leave your parcel, they will leave a card. Please follow the instructions on the card left by the courier to arrange redelivery of your order.
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The Jonathan Edwards Center Japan (JEC Japan) invites scholars and students to submit paper proposals to be presented at the International Conference on the campus of International Christian University, Tokyo, to be held on March 26-27, 2016.
The theme of the Conference will be "The Transcultural Impact of Jonathan Edwards," though a broad range of topics not limited to the overall theme are welcome. The abstract should be around 200 words and sent with a short C.V. to JEC Japan by November 30, 2015. A 40-minute slot will be assigned to each presenter at the Conference.
A selection of Conference papers will be included for publication in a special edition of the Journal Humanities: Christianity and Culture.
Participants are expected to arrive by 6:00 pm. of March 25th for registration and reception. 15 twin rooms in the on-campus accommodation facility are reserved for those coming from overseas, free of charge, for 3 nights from March 25th to 27th.
There will be a registration fee of 5,000 JPY to be paid at registration. Meals at the University Cafeteria will cost 500 JPY for breakfast, 1,000 for lunch, and 2,000 for dinner.
At present, the keynote speakers include Harry Stout, Adrian Neele, Doug Sweeney, Gerald McDermott, and Michael McClymond. Participants will attend from Korea, Singapore, Pakistan, Netherland, Poland, and within Japan.
For proposal submission and further information, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com.
Anri Morimoto
Director, Jonathan Edwards Center Japan


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Thank you sooo much!!
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Thank you to everyone who voted for me in the BFTE Bridal contest on MakeupBee!! I finished 3rd! Top ten all get a prize and BFTE will choose 3 out of the 10 as grand prize winners! I really appreciate all the votes . I am glad the contest is over, I hate posting and asking for votes. It is so not my thing but I truly love BFTE so I had to enter the contest. So once again, Thank you, Thank you and Thank you!! You are all awesome!!!
You can check out my winning entry and other photos on MakeupBee here. Be sure to follow me on there too! While you are there browse though some of the FABULOUS looks other users have uploaded. When I need some inspiration I browse MakeupBee. There is so much talent on this site!!!
Thank you sooo much!!
Thank you sooo much!!
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|Ferret Songs
Somewhere between the Rainbow Bridge stories and the "Due South" fanfic, I somehow stumbled into "filking" ferret-related songs. Now I find myself with seven songs completed (more will appear later), and somebody asked about putting the latest up on my website, so I decided to create a new page for them. So, here they be. If you're not familiar with the original songs, look at this as poetry of a sort. I'm sorry, but I can't point you to mp3 files of the originals; that's not my bag.
At any rate, enjoy.


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As we age, our lighting needs change
While lighting standards have improved lighting in our homes and working environments, current guidelines are written for the eyesight of a 20 year old person, with full visual acuity.
An older person's lens is thicker, reducing the admission of light
When we reach our 40′s, we need more light to see and perform the same visual tasks as a twenty-year-old. The lens of a young person is thin and clear whereas an older person's lens becomes thicker and has less clarity because of a build-up of yellow crystalline deposits. This reduces the admission of light, especially blue light, which is vital for regulating the biological clock.
According to Figueiro (2001): "The light levels in the living environments of older adults should be increased to at least 50% above the levels that is comfortable for younger adults." Figueiro also argues: "A least three times more light will be required in task areas to see fine detail or low contrast objects".


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Why you should do business in Hyderabad?
Hyderabad, the land of unlimited business opportunities has evolved as one of the most preferred business destinations. Corporations from around the world know it's a premier business opportunity from India and are already here making phenomenal strides in key industries. Hyderabad offers highly conducive industrial environment, abundant skilled and trained manpower, world-class infrastructure, business-friendly government policies with simplified procedures and good global connectivity. The strength of Hyderabad lies in its fully diversified industrial base. Key Business Sectors include Poultry, Mines and Minerals, Construction, Information Technology / ITES, Pharmaceuticals and Bulk Drugs, Biotechnology, Gems & Jewellery, Food & Agro Processing, Textile / Leather, Automobiles and Auto Components, Tourism and Healthcare. The City houses several techno-townships, Hardware Parks, Software Parks, Apparel Export Parks, Special Economic Zones, and Industrial Promotion Parks. Hyderabad is also a seat of learning with several universities, professional colleges and institutes of excellence. Today, Hyderabad is emerged as a leader in many spheres, it is ranked as the No 1 in IT/ITES destination in the India, its the country's bulk drug capital, and emerging as the financial capital of India.
Hyderabad is at the forefront of the revival of India's economic engine and highlights the new Indian growth driven by knowledge and education. It is a perfect example of the harmony of old and new India. The city has also been identified as one among the top
20 cities of sustainable future according to a world study initiated by the influential New York-based Ethisphere Institute evaluating cities on their efforts to improve sustainability including public transport, local economy, environment, health, education, recreation and living standards.
According to the report titled Doing Business in South Asia by the World Bank, Hyderabad has the most business-friendly regulations in India. India, the region's top reformer, has implemented reforms to simplify business registration, cross-border trade and payment of taxes, as well as to ease access to credit and strengthen investor protection. India has made significant improvements in reducing the amount of red tape entrepreneurs face daily. According to this report, Hyderabad is a world leader of IT and Financial Services because of:
- The relative ease with which land can be acquired by business
- The large number of technical institutions that produce adequate skilled manpower
- The average entrepreneur's ability to tackle risks
- The flow of money into high-quality technical services such as information technology, research and pharmaceuticals.
The City of Hyderabad and the State of Andhra Pradesh are committed to the rapid development of their region. To that end they have created myriad public/private partnerships to support investors.
Again, how to do a business depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it.
Are you an expat getting ready to move to Hyderabad? The Hyderbad Expat guide is a comprehensive reference document for expats planning to visit or relocate to Hyderabad.If you are a native Indian, you can contact the local DIC office for details na dprocedures of starting a business in Hyderabad.
Wishing you all the best in your endeavour!


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As October came to a close
we spent its last days enjoying the sunshine.
My mom came out for a night,
we made cute little bum cookies with Angela
for a friends staguette,
dressed up and went trick or treating.
Relaxing in the morning with her smoothie and orange.
Really fun Halloween mail from grandparents!
Our pink butterfly!
One of the things I love about autumn is the flavours.
I have been cooking with squash lots the past couple of months.
I think this recipe may be the winner so far!
We loved the weather this past month,
didn't you?
Even that week of super creepy fog was pretty cool.
It seemed as soon as October turned into November,
the weather changed too.
It became quite a bit colder,
and darker,
and almost all the leaves have fallen.
The skies are grey,
the water is a bit rougher in the harbour,
we have to wear hats and mittens.
Claire and I are happy, we got our red cups!
If you know me, you won't be surprised to hear
the Christmas music has been playing for a while.
You MAY be surprised to hear I managed to wait until September this year.
Christmas has arrived,
whether you like it or not.
So why not jump on board?
Even our niece-dog Logan is sporting a Christmas sweater!
At our family dinner we each got a present,
the girls' were Christmas themed.
I was given a red apron that says
"baby its cold outside".
Claire's Nana made her a very special Christmas blanket.
She knows how much Claire loves to cuddle and be cozy.
We've already logged in some hours under that blanket!
My precious ballerina.
She always finds me to tell me "I did it Mommy!"
I love it.
A chilly beach walk.
I love that picture of Spencer and Jamie.
Mutual admiration.
The other day Claire joined Uncle Trav and Daddy for a game of football.
She even had her own remote control.
She talked/babbled the whole time.
Highly entertaining.
November is a jam-packed month,
but we plan to keep December low-key.
Lots of family time and establishing our own Christmas traditions.


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Burger King / iPhone app
During the first 24 hours of it's launch, this app was downloaded 66,000+ downloads and reached 4th in the iTunes App store download chart.
Downloads have now eclipsed the 100,000 mark!
Designed to use geo-location to guide UK followers of the King to their nearest restaurant and serving up exclusive mobile vouchers and content.
Customers on the move can browse through the entire product range from the palm of their hand then compile their choices into a 'My Meal' page.
The design reflected the new instore interior design and branding.
1 - Take over promo banner
2 - Final screen designs
3 - Initial concept wireframes


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Iran's loathsome "mullahocracy" at 40
The theo-fascists who have ruled Iran for 40 years have failed to accomplish anything positive politically, socially or economically for their hapless subjects. Azar Nafisi, author of the wonderful Reading Lolita in Tehran, described life in the Islamic Republic of Iran as comparable to "sex with someone you loathe". Speaking of sex, the mullahs have created a "society" where women can be stoned to death for extra-marital sex and girls married off at the age of nine. No wonder the people hate them. They have turned faith into something so puritanical and dour that it needs to be policed by religious commissars to ensure compliance.
Those of us who love writing, reading and the unfettered exchange of ideas should never, ever forget that Iran remains unique among modern nations for having put out a contract on a writer. On 14 April 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against the novelist Salman Rushdie because of his novel The Satanic Verses. As the late Bernhard Lewis wrote in The Crisis of Islam: "To supplement and anticipate the rewards of paradise, an Islamic charitable trust in Tehran offered a bounty to anyone who killed Salman Rushdie consisting of 20 million tumans (at the time around $3 million at the official rate, about $170,000 at the open-market rate) for an Iranian, or $1 million for a foreigner. Some years later the bounty, still unclaimed, was increased by the trust."
In his awful edict, Khomeini informed "all the zealous Muslims of the world that the blood of the author of this book, which has been compiled, printed, and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Qur'an, as also of those involved in its publication who were aware of its contents, is hereby declared forfeit. I call on all zealous Muslims to dispatch them quickly, wherever they may be found, so that no one will dare insult Islamic sanctities again. Anyone who is himself killed in this path will be deemed a martyr."
Putting a bounty on a writer's head and shutting down a country's free press are the legacies of the evil Khomeini and his successors. Their fundamentalism is the wretched price the masses in Iran most pay, day in, day out.
Peter Hall, 13 August 1979: "Returned to London, and was diverted to read on the plane, in the New York Herald Tribune, that Miss Piggy [of the Muppets] has been banned from Iranian television during Ramadan because 'Moslems do not eat pork and consider pigs unclean.'"
Woman of the Year 2018
No, the Rainy Day award is not going to Camille Paglia, the essayist, author, and professor of humanities at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where she has taught since 1984. She would be a worthy winner, however. "I am an equity feminist," says Paglia. "I demand equal opportunity for women through the removal of all barriers to their advance in the professional and political realms. However, I oppose special protections for women as inherently paternalistic and regressive."
It was Paglia who said that a society that respects neither religion nor art cannot be called a civilization, and a prime example of a society that cannot be called a civilization is Iran. The 1979 revolution that led to the establishment of an Islamic republic suffocated artistic expression in Iran, and the mullahs have used Islam to spread terror abroad and enforce totalitarianism at home. As a result, the hijab has become compulsory and Iranian women are required to wear loose-fitting clothing and a headscarf in public.
Yasaman Aryani opposes this perversion but she's paid a high price for her defiance. Still, she's unbowed and that's why she's our Woman of the Year.
Sad news, yesterday #YasamanAryani was sentenced to 1 year prison.
She's only 23. She's always had the same sunny smile. She has fought against compulsory hijab.
She got arrested on #Iranprotest. She is not a criminal. pic.twitter.com/gHTc3YC2ke
— Ashraf Sherjan (@ASJBaloch) October 17, 2018
The known unknown Plantagenet House of Saud
What Do We Really Know about Saudi Arabia? That's the question posed by Kevin D. Williamson over at National Review. Good line: "It's one of the few extant monarchies that seem serious about keeping the mon in their archy."
Good point: "Khashoggi wasn't just a troublesome journalist; he was, as the New York Times puts it, a man who had had 'a successful career as an adviser to and unofficial spokesman for the royal family of Saudi Arabia.' A businessman who has spent many years working in the Middle East says: 'I don't think the Saudis would send 15 assassins to chop up a 'mere' journalist, but they would send 15 assassins to settle some internecine family feud.' He also cautions that the Middle Eastern tendency to resort to conspiracy theories to explain complicated relationships is likely to muddy the water."
Williams says this GUBU (Grotesque, Unbelievable, Bizarre, Unprecedented) Saudi spectacle is "a platinum-plated Shakespearean succession drama in the desert, with schisms within the royal family and between the royal family proper and other centers of power." Sadly, the Saudi's don't have a Shakespeare, but neither does the rest of the world right now. Still, the template is there because the 14 Plantagenet monarchs who ruled England from 1154 to 1485 inspired Shakespeare to write eight "Plantagenet plays," from Richard II to Richard III via the two parts of Henry IV, Henry V, and the three parts of Henry VI. In Plantagenet England, murder was the order of the day, and it's no different today in the land ruled by the House of Saud.Tweet
Saudi Barbaria
"The fate of Khashoggi has at least provoked global outrage, but it's for all the wrong reasons. We are told he was a liberal, Saudi progressive voice fighting for freedom and democracy, and a martyr who paid the ultimate price for telling the truth to power. This is not just wrong, but distracts us from understanding what the incident tells us about the internal power dynamics of a kingdom going through an unprecedented period of upheaval."
So writes John R. Bradley in The Spectator. His article is titled What the media aren't telling you about Jamal Khashoggi. Among the things we don't hear in the reportage about the disappearance in Istanbul of the Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi is his view of democracy. "In truth, Khashoggi never had much time for western-style pluralistic democracy," writes Bradley. "In the 1970s he joined the Muslim Brotherhood, which exists to rid the Islamic world of western influence. He was a political Islamist until the end, recently praising the Muslim Brotherhood in the Washington Post. He championed the 'moderate' Islamist opposition in Syria, whose crimes against humanity are a matter of record."
Bradley portrays the struggle for the soul of Saudi Arabia is one between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wahhabi movement. Both hate each other and they're united only in their hatred of the West:
"The Wahhabis loathe democracy as a western invention. Instead, they choose to live life as it supposedly existed during the time of the Muslim prophet. In the final analysis, though, they are different means to achieving the same goal: Islamist theocracy. This matters because, although bin Salman has rejected Wahhabism — to the delight of the West —he continues to view the Muslim Brotherhood as the main threat most likely to derail his vision for a new Saudi Arabia. Most of the Islamic clerics in Saudi Arabia who have been imprisoned over the past two years —Khashoggi's friends — have historic ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Khashoggi had therefore emerged as a de facto leader of the Saudi branch."
And, says Bradley, there's another issue: "Khashoggi had dirt on Saudi links to al Qaeda before the 9/11 attacks."
Bringing Saudi Arabia into the 21st Century — or even the 19th — was never going to be easy, but the feeling in the West up to now has been that if Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could pull it off, the results would be worth it. The brutal reality is that it's always one step forward, two steps back in the barbaric monarchical autocracy.Tweet
Ayaan Hirsi Ali and the "No Platform" thugs
"I am among those who have been 'de-platformed' for speaking critically about the political and ideological aspects of Islam that are not compatible with American values and human rights. The usual justification for disinviting us is that speaking critically of Islam is 'hate speech' that is 'hurtful' to Muslims."
So writes Ayaan Hirsi Ali in "The 'No Platform' Brigade," which is published in the Hoover Institution Journal. "The practice of de-platforming must end not just for the sake of politeness but for critical thinking," she notes, and adds: "Free thought, free speech, and a free press were at the core of Western Civilization's success."
Despite the increasing intolerance of the Left and its fundamentalist Islamist allies, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is not for turning: "However uncomfortable free speech about Islam may be for some people, enforcing silence on the subject will do nothing to help those who are genuinely oppressed — above all the growing number of Muslim dissidents around the world whose courageous questioning of their own faith risks death at the hands of the very Islamists whose feelings progressives are so desperate not to hurt."
Background: Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu in 1969 and she was subjected to female genital mutilation as a child. Initially, she was a devout Muslim, but she began to question her faith and, as she tells it, one day, while listening to a sermon on the many ways women should be obedient to their husbands, she asked, "Must our husbands obey us too?" In 1992, she fled to the Netherlands to escape a forced marriage was given asylum and, later citizenship. From 2003 to 2006, she served as an elected member of the Dutch parliament and her name gained international attention in 2004 following the murder of Theo van Gogh by Mohammed Bouyeri. Van Gogh had directed her short film Submission, about the oppression of women under Islam. The assassin left a death threat for her pinned to Van Gogh's chest and, increasingly disillusioned with the Netherlands, she moved to the United States. She lives now with round-the-clock security because her determination to speak out against fundamentalism has made her a target for Islamic extremists.
Egypt: atrocity terrorism
The carnage in the Sinai yesterday elevated atrocity terrorism to a new plane. So far, the death toll from the mosque attack is 305 and it could go even higher.
We've become accustomed to Islamist terrorism since the begging of this century but we're not anesthetized to it, yet. The savage spectacle of murder and maiming inflicted upon the innocent since 9/11 by these jackals continues to shock and it's important for the leaders of civilized nations to grasp that Islamism is different to previous forms of terror. It is morphing into something that's nihilistic and sadistic and totalitarian. Yesterday's slaughter, on the eve of Advent, brings to mind those fearful lines of Yeats from The Second Coming: "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"
Atrocity terrorism out of Egypt heralds the arrival of a very modern monster with very ancient features, red in tooth and claw and a dragging in its wake a cruel dogma that's drenched with the blood of innocents.Tweet
Behind the veil in Saudi Arabia
"On every vacant lot in time appears the jumble of brownish brick, the metal spines of scaffolding, the sheets of plate glass; then last of all the marble, the most popular facing material, held on to the plain walls behind it with some sort of adhesive. From a distance it lends a spurious air of antiquity to the scene." Hilary Mantel's Saudi Arabia, as depicted in Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, is a place of impersonal ugliness and stifling heat, a kingdom of sexual repression, corruption and violence.
Andrew Shore, a civil engineer, accepts a lucrative package from a British firm that has been commissioned to erect an opulent office building for the Saudi government. When his contrary, independent wife, Frances — a cartographer by trade — arrives in Jeddah to join Andrew, she's instantly disquieted by the city and soon finds herself despising this masked society peopled by expats, who are mostly alcohol-sodden mercenaries, evasive Muslim neighbours and cruel, capricious officialdom. Confined in her apartment for most of the day, she begins to hear sounds of suffering from the supposedly empty flat above. Shopping provides some relief, but not much:
In the supermarket, Francis bought mangos. She put them in a plastic bag and handed them to a Filipino. He weighed them, twisted the bag closed, gave it back to her, but he did not even glance her way. Around her, women plucked tins from shelves. Women with layers of thick black cloth were their faces should be; only their hands reached out, heavy with gold.
She caught up with Andrew, laying her hand on the handle of the trolley beside his, careful not to touch.
"I didn't know the veil was like this," she whispered. "I thought you would see their eyes. How do they breathe? Don't they feel stifled? Can they see where they're going?
Andrew said, "These are the liberated ones. They get to go shopping."
Thirty years after its original publication, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street is still as disturbing as ever. Frances Shore is not a radical feminist but Hilary Mantel's character is a dedicated opponent of fabricated separatism: "I would like to stride up to the next veiled woman I see and tear the black cloth from her face and rip it up before her eyes. I know that would be wrong, but I would like to do it."Tweet
The evil inside Omar Mateen
"Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains … an unuprooted small corner of evil.
Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person." — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
From left to right: Houellebecq reviewed
As we approach the penultimate day of our Submission series, it's time to take a look at how the book has been received on the left and on the right. First up, Mark Lilla in The New York Review of Books. With a nod to the Bethlehem of Yeats in The Second Coming, his review is titled Slouching Toward Mecca. Lilla is at pains to emphasizes that none of the characters in Houellebecq's novel expresses "hatred or even contempt of Muslims." Instead, "It is about a man and a country who through indifference and exhaustion find themselves slouching toward Mecca. There is not even drama here — no clash of spiritual armies, no martyrdom, no final conflagration. Stuff just happens, as in all Houellebecq's fiction. All one hears at the end is a bone-chilling sigh of collective relief. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Whatever."
Douglas Murray takes a more robust approach in Quadrant with A Society Ripe for Submission. Like Lilla, however, he stresses that the novel is not the cartoon that its detractors have claimed it to be: "Of course it is worth stating from the outset — since in these times we seem to have to do such things — that even if Submission were the most anti-Islamic, 'blasphemous' and offensive novel ever written Houellebecq would have the right to publish it and do so without being judged by politicians or gunmen who in their different ways fire off over books they don't read. As it happens, Submission is not a simple provocation. It is a deep, gripping and haunting novel which proves a culmination point of Houellebecq's work so far and, in my view, a recent high-point for European fiction."
In his conclusion, Mark Lilla interprets Submission as Houellebecq's reckoning with a country and a continent that have run out of road in the modern world:
"He appears genuinely to believe that France has, regrettably and irretrievably, lost its sense of self, but not because of immigration or the European Union or globalization. Those are just symptoms of a crisis that was set off two centuries ago when Europeans made a wager on history: that the more they extended human freedom, the happier they would be. For him, that wager has been lost. And so the continent is adrift and susceptible to a much older temptation, to submit to those claiming to speak for God. Who remains as remote and as silent as ever."
The "Who" there is echoed in the "whose" at the close of Douglas Murray's assessment of the novel:
"Houellebecq's career has included several fateful coincidences of timing. But perhaps the most propitious is that his work has come to artistic maturity at just the moment to capture a society tipping from over-ripeness into something else. What precisely? More decadence, barbarism, or salvation? And if salvation, then what kind, and whose?"
Tomorrow, here, we conclude our week of Submission.Tweet
Knausgaard reads Houellebecq
It was a brave decision on the part of the New York Times to ask Karl Ove Knausgård to review Submission by Michel Houellebecq. Brave because the Norwegian author is not known for his brevity. Knausgård is the author of Min Kamp (My Struggle), six controversial autobiographical novels that stretch across 3,600 pages.
"Before I begin this review, I have to make a small confession. I have never read Michel Houellebecq's books," writes Knausgård, warming up to his task. Eventually, he picks up the novel and opens it: "I leaned back in my chair under the bright light of the lamp, lit a cigarette, poured myself a coffee and began to read."
Submission is controversial, he finds, because "anything that has to do with immigration, the nation state, multiculturalism, ethnicity and religion is explosive stuff in Europe these days. Many of its elements are recognizable, like the newspapers omitting to mention, or mentioning only with caution, conflicts arising out of ethnic differences, or the political left's anti-racism overriding its feminism, making it wary of criticizing patriarchal structures within immigrant communities."
Houellebecq's savaging of political correctness prepares the ground for "a scenario of the future that realistically is less than likely, and yet entirely possible," notes Knausgård. In this scenario, the French general election of 2022 is won by the Muslim Brotherhood with which the left collaborates to keep the National Front from power, and France as a result becomes a Muslim state. Snippet:
"What's crucial for the novel is that the political events it portrays are psychologically as persuasive as they are credible, for this is what the novel is about, an entire culture's enormous loss of meaning, its lack of, or highly depleted, faith, a culture in which the ties of community are dissolving and which, for want of resilience more than anything else, gives up on its most important values and submits to religious government.
But maybe that isn't so bad? Maybe it doesn't matter that much? Aren't people just people, regardless of what they believe in, and of how they choose to organize their societies? It is these questions that the novel leads up to, since this entire seamless revolution is seen through the eyes of François, a man who believes in nothing and who consequently is bound by nothing other than himself and his own needs… This lack of attachment, this indifference, is as I see it the novel's fundamental theme and issue, much more so than the Islamization of France, which in the logic of the book is merely a consequence."
What does it mean to be a human being without faith? For Knausgård, that's the key question posed by a novel that closes with the faithless protagonist looking forward in time to his own submission, "to the comedy, eventually converting to Islam in order to continue teaching at the Sorbonne, now a Muslim seat of learning."
In the end, Knausgård is full of praise for what Houellebecq has written and declares Submission to be a great book: "The disillusioned gaze sees through everything, sees all the lies and the pretenses we concoct to give life meaning, the only thing it doesn't see is its own origin, its own driving force. But what does that matter as long as it creates great literature, quivering with ambivalence, full of longing for meaning, which, if none is found, it creates itself?"Tweet


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We've seen photo frame speakers before, but this Brookstone version looks much, much classier. Gone is the birch-colored 1970s-style wood, and in is a dark, black finish. The principal is the same: two photo frames that hold a 6" x 4" photo each, that also plug into your computer's USB port and act like speakers. Audiophiles won't enjoy the sound quality at all, but it's a neat integration of two things that are already on your desk. [Brookstone via Everything USB]
USB Photo Frame Speakers Are Classier Than The Original


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Dec 31, 2016
The Late Home-coming Prodigal Son – Chapter 17
A translation from '遊子遲遲歸'
Chapter Seventeen Down to Leshan
We went downhill after reaching the top of Mount Suo-Yi. There were no trails, merely rocky slopes, with some occasional piled up stony steps for reposition. The steps were made even more difficult in drizzling rain. I discovered for the first time that going downhill was more strenuous than climbing up hill. The stony steps were not even in height, and sometimes we had to slide down along the streams for a shorter route. Every step on this rugged terrain was a shearing shock to my knees. I could hardly move and was extremely exhausted by evening. A Chinese poet said 'To climb the mountain of Xichuan is as hard as climbing up to heaven', but I would say now, 'Going downhill from a mountain, is as painful as going down to hell'.
We walked through mountain trails, sometimes through main road. We had to pass through two places, that is, the bridge of Tie Suo Qiao (铁索桥) to cross over Da Du River (大渡河), and the Death Valley (死亡谷). Big Brother Liu told us no traveller would dared to pass through these two places at night. These two places were popular for bandits. Once you were on the bridge, there was no way to escape. As for the Death Valley, it was a U-shape edge on the main road with a cliff down to a deep valley. The area was always misty and cloudy, and throwing the body of murdered victim down the Death Valley was an excellent and easy way of destroying evidence.
We continued downhill for two to three days before entering the urban highway. Many times I fell behind. I knew I must follow closely; otherwise I would die in the mountain. So I made sure that I still could see the last person ahead. I was the youngest in the group and was lagging behind. No one would stop to wait for me. Big Brother Liu would not stop at all, and everyone had to follow him closely because none of us knew the route. Mr. Liu was small and agile, very familiar with this route. He often received energizers (opium puffs) from every opium station along the route, rested and had a cup of tea. When the rest of us got near, he started walking again. This was my first experience traveling long distance on foot. Early in the morning with only a light breakfast, we would start our journey. Other than a short lunch break, I practically walked all day. I often missed the little breaks in between because I was already lagging behind with very sore knees. In retrospect, I could not believe how I was able to stay with the group and continued the journey till I arrived at Leshan. I believed it was my heavenly Father who strengthened me along the way so I would not be left in the mountain.
As soon as we arrived at Leshan, we went our separate ways. My knees were inflamed and so swollen that I could not move. I had to stay at Leshan. I stayed in a hostel to save money. There was a big room where each person had his own space with a mat on the floor as bed. The money that I got from the sales of my belongings sustained me for a few days, but I could not stay there too long, otherwise I would have no money to travel to Chongqing (重庆).
Two weeks later, I took the river route to Chongqing (重庆) by myself. The ferry was a special tugboat. In the upstream of Yangtze River (长江), the water was shallow and swift. It was too shallow for swim, and too dangerous to wade through. There were many sharp edges, swamps, slippery rocks on the river beds, and many whirling currents. To cross the river, the helmsman usually had about ten strong men towed the boat upstream, and then release the rope to let the boat sweep downstream to the destination. The diagonal distance was always accurately calculated. When the vessel slid near the destination spot on the other side of the river, the helmsman would use a long bamboo stick to guide the vessel and dock. Those helmsmen were all very experienced, but it was extremely petrifying for the onboard passengers. I went through three of such passes and finally arrived at Chongqing (重庆).
When I reached Chongqing, I had only a few garments, some books, and money for one day of food and lodging. I came to a similar situation in Kunming, I was completely broke again. Before I went to Xichang, I prayed fervently to God; but when I left Xichang, I did not seek God's help. I was fully aware of my impoverishment, I was too ashamed and too stubborn to pray and ask God for help, still confident that I could survive with a no-turning-back mindset, and hope for the best at Chongqing.


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offered through Guardian
mounted-odds making a bet terminals FOBTs were dubbed the crack cocaine of having a bet, having destroyed thousands of lives during the last few years and develop into the subject matter of heated public debate. On Thursday, the branch for Digital, tradition, Media and game eventually ruled that the stakes on the enormously addictive machines should be cut from a magnificent £a hundred each 20 seconds to £2. The B2 machines exist in making a bet retail outlets around the country and are a staple product for the business; a large percentage of its earnings depend upon the salary from these machines.
My father, David, sixty one, had a playing addiction, which he concealed from his family unit, that ultimately landed him in penal complex
The ruling has been reached following bitter divides inside executive, and it is still susceptible in some key areas. For years, myself and others have campaigned for gambling reforms during this country. My father, David, 61, had a playing addiction, which he concealed from his family, that at last landed him in jail. He stole £53."000 from his employers after making his approach via a succession of payday loans, financial institution loans, credit score cards and borrowing. He even remortgaged the household domestic in secret to keep his addiction from us. I don't blame the trade for his behaviour, however understand that the addictive nature of its items lured him in, and he regrettably grew to become hooked.
Even whereas he turned into at the back of bars, his inbox was flooded with thousands of emails from establishments engaging him to bet; some even sent top class-fee textual content messages to him in a bid to deliver him lower back to gamble with them. This harassment of gamblers via non-stop advertising on television, radio and online is insidious and wishes to cease.
What are FOBTs? situs judi bola
fixed-odds having a bet terminals FOBTs are machines, discovered mostly in bookmakers and betting retail outlets, that allow customers to stake as much as £one hundred every 20 seconds on digital versions of video games such as roulette.
what number of are there?
the uk has 33."611 FOBTs, every of which consume more than £fifty three."000 from gamblers per 12 months.
Why are they regarded an issue? agen piala dunia
Critics of FOBTs say they are peculiarly addictive, permit gamblers to rack up big losses within a couple of hours, and are concentrated in disadvantaged areas. they have got additionally been linked to money laundering.


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The pending merger of AT&T and Time Warner has attracted a significant amount of attention, for precisely the wrong reasons. Politics have apparently intruded on a transaction that until recently was considered relatively uncontroversial.
Combining AT&T, which distributes digital content over its wireless networks, with a news and entertainment provider like Time Warner is what economists and antitrust experts consider a classic vertical merger. Because the companies don't compete, their combining would not alter the competitive landscape in either the telecommunications or entertainment industries.
For more than 40 years, through Republican and Democratic administrations, the courts have not blocked a vertical integration like this one.
Typically more problematic for the Justice Department's Antitrust Division are horizontal mergers, where two competitors in the same industry seek to combine. But this past summer the Trump administration waved through the horizontal merger of the giant retailer Amazon, already active in food sales, with a leading upscale grocer, Whole Foods. To now block a vertical integration of AT&T and Time Warner would indicate an inexcusably scattershot approach to antitrust decisions that would create enormous uncertainties for the broader business community and shake public confidence in the rule of law that underpins our democracy.
Businesses seek to integrate vertically because such mergers tend to create efficiencies and synergies — benefiting both companies without posing major risks to their competitors or, more crucially, to consumers. With all the options available to consumers for receiving video programming these days — including cable, satellite, internet broadband and smartphones — the market is vibrantly, almost chaotically, competitive and innovative. When viewed in light of this creative turmoil, the AT&T-Time Warner transaction does not pose a competitive threat. If anything, it would create an attractive set of new options for the viewing public.
To appreciate the dynamism of the video and television space, consider that Apple, a relatively new entrant, recently ordered two full seasons of Reese Witherspoon's latest television show without so much as seeing a pilot. It underscored the competitive new dynamics of the marketplace: Companies are throwing around cash like never before to attract viewers already happily distracted by an array of programming and viewing alternatives in this new golden age of television.
Rather than Time Warner holding anything resembling a dominant position in the entertainment industry, it finds itself competing with emerging video powerhouses like Netflix and Amazon. And consumers are increasingly cutting the cable because they have numerous, often cheaper streaming options for getting content they want.
This is the proper context for assessing AT&T's merger with Time Warner. The newly created entity would have no incentive to erect walls around its content. To the contrary, the fundamental goal of content distribution — maximizing the number of people who watch any given program — hasn't changed. Fears that AT&T might act to undermine competition by, for example, withholding prime content from competing distribution companies would make no business sense.
How do we know? One need only look at perhaps the closest comparison to the AT&T-Time Warner merger — the marriage of the nation's largest cable and internet broadband provider, Comcast, to NBC Universal, which the Justice Department blessed in 2011. Despite the arguments of opponents at the time, there has been no negative impact to consumers or competitors. Quite the opposite — the competitive and creative forces that continue to change the industry have only accelerated since the Comcast-NBC merger.
If the Justice Department cannot cite persuasive antitrust grounds for blocking the AT&T-Time Warner merger, the public will be left wondering whether political motives were involved or that the department's thinking was muddied by vague opposition to media consolidation. Neither of those reasons would likely stand up in federal court.
By any objective analysis, the real power in the information industry these days is not in the wireless or entertainment industries. It is in companies like Google and Facebook, which possess the power to influence our national elections and redefine basic human interactions. In this brave new digital world, blocking the merger of AT&T and Time Warner would only undermine public confidence in the ability of antitrust enforcers to recognize reality.
Instead, the Justice Department should approve the merger and get to work policing the real threats to competition and consumer welfare.


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9:30: Doors Open
10- 10:15: Intro + Welcome
With Kelly Lewis, founder of the Women's Travel Fest
10:15-11 a.m. Women are the Future of Travel
Though women have always been the target demographic of magazines, those magazines have almost exclusively been run by men. Not anymore. With a new women's travel publication on the market, and more tours being created by and for women, new opportunities abound. Join us for this exciting panel that explores the ways in which the travel industry is pivoting to be more inclusive of women–and which brands you should be following, asap.
11:15- 12 p.m. How to Travel with a Full-Time Job
Working 9-5 but dreaming about a life full of adventure? It doesn't have to be one or the other. There are a ton of ways to travel while still working a full-time job, and this segment will discuss your options.
12:15 to 1:15 p.m. My Path to Photographer of the Year
Award-winning author and photographer Lola Akinmade Åkerström explores culture through food, tradition, and lifestyle for high profile publications and partnerships such as National Geographic Traveler, BBC, The Guardian, Lonely Planet, Mercedes-Benz, amongst others. She is the author of two books – the award-winning Due North & bestselling LAGOM: Swedish Secret of Living Well. LAGOM is available in 17 foreign language editions around the world.
She is the 2018 Travel Photographer of the Year Bill Muster Award recipient and her photography is represented by National Geographic Image Collection. She was recently honored with a MIPAD 100 (Most Influential People of African Descent) Award within media and culture.
1:15-2:30: Lunch
2:30-3:15: Mickela Mallozzi: From Online to TV: How I Became a Host
Mickela Mallozzi is the host of PBS Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi, which has won several NY- Emmy awards in its three seasons. But before she ever made it on TV, Mickela was a girl with a dream and a hand-held camera. Hear her inspirational story of mistakes, successes, and never giving up.
3:30- 4:15 p.m. What We Learned On the Border
Claire and Tenny are two women who decided to do something other people thought was "crazy"–walk the length of the US/ Mexico border. In doing so, they became the first people to ever complete this task. And what they learned along the way, about humanity, stereotypes and misperceptions, had led to life-changing lessons.
4:30 – 5:15 p.m. We Travel Too: Navigating the Intersections of Travel as Fat, LGBT+ and People of Color
Travel is for everyone. So why is it only some of us are represented? Here, we'll talk about how we view "who" travel is for, and meet three inspirational women who are making change in the industry.
— Dinner (on your own) —
8 p.m. – 10 p.m. Party at Gia Speakeasy at Hotel on Rivington
Continue networking after an inspirational and informative day! Grab some dinner after the conference on your own (the party won't have food), and then meet us at Gia, a chic Lower East Side speakeasy with a Shanghai theme, for a cocktail or two on us.
8:30 a.m. Doors open
8:45 a.m. Intro + Welcome to Day 2
with Kelly Lewis
9:00-9:45 a.m. Perfecting Your Pitch: How to Win Money For Your Big Idea
With Deidre Mathis
You've got a huge idea–awesome! Now how do you find the money to bring it to life? In this informational talk, Deidre Mathis will share her story of how she successfully raised $28k in pitch competitions to help launch her dream of opening Wanderstay Hostel, in Houston, Texas. Deidre is now the first black woman in the United States to own a hostel.
10:00-10:45 a.m Financial Independence: How to Maximize Your Savings to Travel Further + Longer
With Uyen Luong
It's a subject women get funny around: money. But making sure you're financially independent and secure is paramount to living a life of travel. In this informative talk, learn the things smart women do to prepare for rainy days, save up to travel more, and ensure their safety abroad.
10:00- 10:45 a.m How to Travel Carry-On Only
The airline industry is constantly changing the rules when it comes to luggage. Learn how to maximize luggage restrictions in your favor in this fun and informational segment on which pieces to take, how to pack efficiently and never pay to check a bag again.
11:00 a.m. -11:45 a.m. Find a fresh angle (travel writing)
11:00-11:45 a.m. How to Start Leading Tours
With Jessie Festa
Want to turn your passion for travel into a business? The truth is, you don't have to go far to create the business of your dreams while serving a global audience. In this session, Jessie shares how she built a tour company from scratch, including important pre-launch considerations, mistakes to avoid and how to scale.
12-1 pm – Lunch
You came to New York for a travel event–so travel! Take your chance to check out the neighborhood and grab a bite on our hour-long lunch break.
1:15-2:00 p.m. Building a 6-Figure Travel Business
with Alyssa Ramos
What does it take to succeed in the travel industry? Knowing she didn't want to work in an office, Alyssa Ramos set out to live a life of travel. With a dream and unwavering determination, she's turned seeing the world into a full-time business, with several streams of income. Here's how she did it.
1:15-2:00 pm Food Writing Isn't About Food
With Kae Lani
Food travel has become a hot topic in the past few years, and as readers explore what to eat when they travel, publications have become hungry for more culinary focused stories. But the meatier story isn't about what's on the plate — it's how what's on the plate got there. Make your food story stand out by learning what kinds of questions to ask and angles to explore along with tips and tricks that will give your article more depth.
2:15-3pm How to Get Upgrades
Upgrade your travels, upgrade your life. Learn how to land upgrades on flights and hotels, maximize benefits for free and reward travel, and upgrade your travels. Because ain't nobody got time for economy class.
2:15- 3 p.m. TBA
3:15 p.m. Closing Keynote: TBA


text: pan.mentolka 1 Posted June 28 Hello guys! Can I ask U question, Im very new in houdini. Can u help me please? Im trying to render short video of volume (smoke) in matra, but I really do not know how to set the mantra settings, because one frame is mantra creating for 43 minutes, which is rediculously long time for 250 frames. can U help me, with settings? I already increased the Volume step size, but thats all what I did, (I read somewhere its helpfull) is there any other way, how to make render time (per frame) shorter? Thanks a lot for any advices! Im looking forward to your re´s! By! advice.hip Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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1 male and 1 female connector four to one connection. Best for BOAT and Rv as well -Easily adapts to different roof layouts -Withstands hail storms and other harsh weather -Semi flexible: bending angle up to 30 degrees -6 holes are predrilled for fast mounting and securing, perfect for non-permanent installations durable/flexible -Power: 400 watts -Completely water proof -The thickness only 3mm, easy joint to your boat or rv roof -Hard treatment on the surface to prevent from hand being scratched. Maximum power current on each panel: 5.6 amperes. Maximum power voltage: 17.6 volts.
Maximum power current: 22.4 amperes Open circuit voltage: 21.1 volts Short circuit current: 6.25 amperes each Weight: 4.5 pounds each panel for a total of 18 pounds Dimensions: 41 1/2" x 21 1/2" X 1/8 1060mm x 540mm x 3mm Type of solar cell: monocrystalline silicon Quantity of cells: 128 cells Maximum power at stc PMAX: 400 watts Operating module temperature: -40 °C to +85 °C Maximum System Voltage DC 1000V. Peak conversion efficiency of 97%. High Tracking efficiency of 99%. 4-Stage charge with PWM output. Full power output in ambient temperature up to 45.
Sealed, Gel and Flooded battery option. Widely used, automatically recognize day/night. This item is brand new item.We will answer any questions regarding item(s)& service within 24 hrs. The item "FLEXIBLE SOLAR PANELS KIT 400 Watts, - PANNEAU SOLAIRE, for RV, BOAT" is in sale since Sunday, March 5, 2017. This item is in the category "Home & Garden\Home Improvement\Electrical & Solar\Alternative & Solar Energy\Solar Panels".
The seller is "vrsolarpanel-com" and is located in Saint-Etienne-de-Beauharnois, Quebec. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada.