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Welcome to the Maquis Ship the USS Rioja
Welcome to the USS Rioja
The Rioja has been taken over by the Maquis who are even at the end of the war still doing all they can. The Rioja is one of the few remaining ships left after the Captains former ship got destroyed and he happened upon the Rioja.
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» Christmas Story of the Year 2013 USS Sunfire
Posted on Tue Dec 24th, 2013 @ 2:42pm by Fleet Admiral AJ Wheeler in General News
It'd been a rough few months... years really for the Sunfire crew, and no-one felt this more keenly than the ship's Captain. There'd been wins, losses, deaths and transfers, the Sunfire family a dynamic and ever changing one. Whilst studying at Starfleet Command, the Bajoran CO had learnt of the tradition known as Christmas, where friends and family gather and feast to celebrate. The giving of gifts was common, as was the overconsumption of food and alcohol. For this occasion, Rhenora had chosen the cargo bay and had replicated a number of festive decorations that she'd placed in the appropriate locations. Metallic tinsel, strange glass baubles, angels, stars and other significant figures she recalled from her time on Earth. A long table ran the length of the room, spread with as many delicacies from as many words as Malone could come up with on 24 hours notice. It was an impressive selection of food, and there was more than a few bottles of various goodies that he'd revealed from his stash. Never one to come empty handed Rhenora had brought a bottle of Spring Wine from her own collection, happy to share the rare vintage with those she cared so much for.
Sassy flitted around the room, giving a nip here, a tuck there and readjusting yet again the large floral center piece on the gift table. Her own contribution, it had taken five hours of her precious down time to create, as she'd had to go with substitutes because the Sunfire replicators were not well-versed in Christmas florals. Still the effect was lovely and the time well-spent. Happily, she took her much thinner and toned self over to stand by the door, acting as hostess until Rhenora arrived.
"Come on, Janet, it will be fun!" Dave told the less than enthused science officer as moved to face her and try and get in front of her work. She had been throwing herself in her work since she got the news that Lieutenant Lexington had jumped ship.
"No. I have too much work to do. Go enjoy yourself....I might catch up with you later," she told him and moved to another part of the science lab.
With a heavy defeated sigh Dave left the science lab, leaving the mopey scientist to her brooding. He wasn't going to let her spoil his fun.
While there was no Christmas on Andoria, there was the Frostheart- the day of the year when Andoria was furthest from her sun, and usually the coldest day of the year. The tradition was to gather with family and huddle for body warmth, but in the technologically advanced age, the tradition was slowly dying off. Getting together with your family when you had to stay close to stay alive was often like being in a bag with a number of grelnic badgers.
The invitation had said 'Christmas Fun'- those were the Captain-Admiral's own words. In point of fact Talla had seen a number of the human celebrations of Christmas from her time near the north pole in Barrow Alaska. And she remembered an old trick that seemed appropriate.
It took a while, chatting at the computer and having it try to narrow down what she was after, and it was somewhat laborious. But the security sprite was nothing if not determined, and eventually she had about what she wanted from the replicator. She slipped it on over her coldsuit, then paused before turning the temperature control down low. It would feel more like a Frostheart, she reasoned, and it would put her in a festive mood. She would consider the drain on the batteries a holiday gift to herself.
She had to remove her oversized boots to get the curly-toed shoes on. Once on, she took a few steps and realized how irritating the jingle bells would be and recycled the shoes to just have the curly toes and pointed backs of proper elf shoes. The long tunic that fit her like a miniskirt was divided in the middle by a wide black belt, while the long sleeves hid her bracers. Cartoonishly large white gloves covered her hands, and she perched on her head a pointy elf's hat that only jingled when she moved her head suddenly. The lime green velour costume with the white faux fur accents complemented her bright blue skin nicely.
Gifts... Christmas was supposed to have gifts. In a mild panic Talla looked around her room. She owned next to nothing save for her photos and souvenirs on the wall of her bunk. Then she remembered the replicator.
Five minutes later, the ridiculously-attired Lieutenant Talla P'Trell marched into the party dressed as a department store elf, bearing a box of Bajoran bourbon wrapped in festive paper.
I mean, that's just not something you see every day.
Rhenora couldn't help but chuckle as she saw Talla enter dressed as some festive creature from Earths' mythology. She'd opted for a simple summer dress herself, despite the tradition of the majority of Earths climes around that time of year being winter.
" Well you seem to have dressed to the occasion," She smiled, handing Talla a glass of spring wine. How the Andorian would react to alcohol was anyone's guess..... Taking a sip from her own glass she waited for the reaction.
"It is like a costume that I used to wear, when Sheriff John Littlebear would dress up as 'Santa' for the holiday back in Barrow Alaska," the cheery sprite explained. "It always made children very happy, and it made the adults laugh a lot. So I thought I would see if it would be... Christmas fun?" As ever, even when she didn't say it, the tone was there as Talla sought approval. Sipping the wine, her gaze flickered down to it.
"That is very tasty I think!" she observed with a smile and drank the rest in a few more gulps. As evidenced by her mess hall activities, Talla was not much of a nibbler nor a sipper- she inhaled her meals then ran to get back to work, and it seemed she'd likely do the same here unless told otherwise.
" Well it is a good vintage," Rhenora giggled, taking a sip of her own wine. She poured Talla a glass of water with a slice of lemon in it- not wanting the pocket rocket to end up plastered before the events of the evening even got underway. She sipped her wine and guided Talla to the long table full of tasty yet wholesome treats.
"I did not realize that we would be celebrating the Earth holiday, Captain-Admiral, so I did not know what to get you for a gift. But I hope this will be all right? Talla handed over the wrapped box as she eyed the delicacies laid out by the Sunfire's master chef, then she let out a slight inadvertent squeal of delight as she spied Andorian spice cake amongst the treats. She only allowed herself very few indulgences, but occasionally this was one, and she particularly enjoyed Chef Abraham Malone's interpretation.
" Oh Talla, that's very thoughtful of you!" Rhenora smiled and accepted the brightly wrapped box, peeling off the wrapping and revealing the contents within.
" Oh my... thank you!"
"You are welcome, Captain-Admiral. I... um, I always brought Sheriff John Littlebear a bottle of bourbon as well, so... it is a gift I know how to give," the sprite beamed happily, then returned her attention to the table of food. She tended to watch what she ate with a military regimen- despite her odd metabolism, she tended to fat easily and thus she watched every calorie. But tonight was a celebration, after all...
Laria dithered about an outfit. It had been months since they'd had the time to gather as a crew for a celebration and because she spent most of her time in a uniform and lab coat, she felt like she wanted to dress more festively. Christmas was not a Cappellan holiday, but her family's ancestors had originated on Earth and so most of her family had continued the tradition when they had fled for their lives and their talent to Cappella. Her family's tradition of "dressing to the nines" stuck with her.
So after careful examination and long conferencing with Ramiren, she pulled the royal purple chiffon from the back of her small closet. The color was vivid and had a high-low hemline, which showed off her slim yet firmly muscled calves. The matching scarf complimented the strapless style of the dress and she wrapped it fashionably around her bare shoulders. She hung large concentric circle earrings from her earlobes. The updo that she usually wore now glistened with sparkling jewels that glittered in the light each time she moved her head. Silver glitter pumps completed the outfit. She stood looking in the mirror.
The invitation had promised fun. She was mostly a stranger to fun these days, so a certain amount of anxiety now spread through her middle. Fun was what you had when you were a kid. With no responsibilities. Fun was what you had when you had someone to have fun with. Her anxiety rose a bit more. She was good in crisis'. Parties were not her forte. Before she could talk herself out of going to the party, she tweaked her left earring for good Christmas cheer and hurried out of her quarters.
She stood at the doors of the Cargo Bay. Music spilled out when the open doors and the sound of happy voices along with it. Placing a smile on her face, Laria stepped into the room.
Rhenora noticed the doors open again, allowing the ship's CMO into the light filled room.
" Laria! I'm so glad you could join us!" She smiled, giving her best friend a hug that spoke volumes.
"It's nice to let down a little. It will be good for morale after the stress of the last few missions." Laria surveyed the room. " I see I'm not too early or late. And you've already started. What's your drink of choice tonight?" Laria smiled. This was not a coffee party.
Rhenora beat her to it, producing a bottle of springwine from the table.
"From my collection" she smiled broadly and poured the doctor a glass.
Laria snagged a glass and smiled. "Why, Admiral, you've sprung for the good stuff!" She held the glass out for Rhenora to fill and then brought the sweet smelling beverage to her nose. "Mmmmmm, that is a must welcome fragrance." She caught Rhenora's gaze. And held the glass up. "To good friends."
Latoya Bonaparte wobbled into the cargo bay. She could barely walk straight, her vision was blurred, and her breath smelled of springwine mixed with various other alcoholic beverages. She wore a tight red cutoff dress, cleavage and legs exposed, a cute little red Santa hat adorned with small Christmas like ornaments. She had on red Santa gloves, a giant sized candy cane bigger than her in her left hand and a cup of who knew what in her right.
The young unknown Sunfire crew member shouted, "Whaddup ya'll!!! What, what!!! Raise the roof!!!" She made a raised roof gesture with her candy cane and her cup, spilling its contents on the floor. A few people at the party glanced at her, but ignored her. She didn't care, she was there to have fun. It was quite possible she didn't realize how loud and obnoxious she really was.
"Boooooring," she said to herself. "Let's get this parteh started." She went for the nearby replicator, "Gimme a mic comps, and blast the joint with some music. Hmmm, gimme 'Santa Baby' by Eartha Kitt, Earth circa 1953. A little Catwoman, meow!!!!!!" She threw the cup on the floor, splashing the contents everywhere. She picked up the mic and turned.
The music started pumping in the cargo bay "Ba boomp, Ba boomp, Ba boomp" as Latoya started walking hips swaying towards a group of three men. "Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree, for me, been awful good girl." She started to use her candy cane to wrap one of the handsome guys' neck towards her. Bodies touched they were so close. "Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight." She gave the handsome guy a wink.
While the trumpets of the song blared loudly she gave the handsome guy a kiss on the cheek, and put the mic to the side so no one could hear. "Hey handsome, watch where your giblets are touching," she whispered. The young crew member started to blush uncontrollably and was clearly stricken with her. "Ya know how to stuff a turkey handsome?" She laughed out loud before pushing him away and wobbled towards the long table that housed a vast assortment of goodies for the party.
She continued singing, "Santa baby, a '54 convertible too, light blue, I wait up for you dear, Santa burrpppp", she belched out loud. The music continued playing in the background. "I guess that means I need another drink," she shouted. At this point everyone was staring at her, the women in disgust, the men all hit by cupid's arrow. Some drooling, some gawping at her, one or two seemed to have a candy cane in their pocket.
She leaned over, making sure she showed off her cleavage to the boys while supping whatever drink was on the table. She continued with the song, out of tune, "Think of all the fellas I haven't kissed---" She twirled once, twice, wobbled as she couldn't handle the balance because of the alcohol and fell face first on the food table breaking the table in half. Giant candy cane flying and bonking a guy on the head, knocking him out. Everyone was shocked and a few guys went to go see if they were okay.
She was okay, just sleeping it off. "She's okay folks, she's okay!" One of the guys said. "Get back to your party, one of the nurses will come for her and bring her back to her quarters."
"The guy is okay as well, just unconscious." With that, everyone went back to the party.
The assembled crowd mixed and mingled amongst themselves, eating, drinking and generally being merry. Whilst the aging Admiral wished she had gifts for them all, she could only give them this evening of festivities. The Springwine was rapidly diminishing, and out of no-where someone topped up her glass. Feeling a little lightheaded, she decided she better get a speech out whilst she was still capable of doing so. Reaching over to the table she grabbed a spoon and gently tapped the rim of her wine glass, the traditional call for quiet.
" Excuse me everyone, I would like just a moment of your time to say a few words" She started, pausing for a moment to remember exactly what she had planned to say. There was a chair nearby and she clambered on top of it to gain some height.
" It's been a tough year, in more than one way. We've had some good missions, and some not so good ones, some good times, and some not so good times. We've met some new races and brought new members into family, and lost others. But what doesn't change, is the fact we strive for what we believe in, and it's the journey that's important, not the destination" Okay.. so that didn't sound too bad. She raised her glass high in the air.
" To the journey!"
"To the journey!" Dave the science officer said with a raised glass.
"HA!" Janet said loudly when she came up beside her friend and bumped into him. "What a crock of shit."
The words took Dave by surprise. He never heard Janet talk like this and when he inspected his friend he saw her disheveled look and knew the young science officer was obviously drunk not to mention mad it seemed.
"Janet..."Dave started to say and put a hand to her arm which she shrugged off.
"Gedoffamee..." the blond officer moved her arm quickly which made her drink slosh and spill on the floor. "Look! You" she pointed a finger hard into his chest "...made me sppppilll my drink."
"I think you've had enough to drink," Dave said and tried to take her drink but the drunken science officer still seemed to have quick reflexes and dodged his hand.
The cerulean-skinned alien in the elf costume raised her glass in toast, then added quietly, "To the Sunfire, and all who sail upon her, I think."
Kaylen heard the words and smiled broadly, " Indeed Talla, indeed" She added before addressing the rest of the crew again.
" Now enough with the formalities - enjoy yourselves!" The Admiral finished by topping up her glass and stepping off the chair she had climbed on to make her short stature noticed by everyone. No more balancing involved was a GOOD thing!
"Sunfire pffft....Sunfire be damned....no chief science officer....a first officer who hates her job....that, " she whirled a finger a finger around as she tried to think of another crewman's name but came out with instead "....weird guy."
" Hey!" Irksnot piped up, having the nouse to look indignant. " I'm not weird!"
Wrapping her arm through the gangly human's, the cerulean-colored chief of security offered a plaintive look. "You are a little weird, Irky I think. Compared to most. But I like you this way," she offered him a smile to make her possibly harsh words seem good-natured, from the heart.
"By the way, I have a christmas present for you. But you have to wait til we get back to my quarters to get it..." While to anyone overhearing the statement might have assumed that it sounded suggestive, in fact she had replicated a Captain Proton uniform for him as thermal pajamas complete with a soft padded helmet that would help keep him warm and a cushioned holster for his Captain Proton Official Ray Gun.
"Really?" Irky replied, his eyes lighting up as though it were Christmas- which, in fact, it was.
"Really really," the blue-skinned smurf smiled, hoping that her awkward human paramour would like what she had chosen as a gift for him.
"It's her fault," Janet pointed at Talla with an accusing finger, "she's gone with that red hea--headed big boobed cu-"
"OH-kay then," Dave cut her off loudly and grabbed her arm "I think I'll take you back to your quarters. We can bad mouth the red head from a..."
Janet yanked her arm away from him which in turn sent her backwards knocking into a few people. "Watch it!" the drunken officer shouted and pushed the hands away from her who were trying to keep her upright on her feet.
Patting the arm of the eccentric engineering worker, the security sprite stepped over to offer a hand to Janet. "Ensign Donnelly, it seems that you are upset and that the holiday season is bringing about bad feelings, I think. I will help you to your quarters if you wish, but I think it is time for you to go be not amongst senior officers right now, yes?"
"Damn right I'm upset. YOU sent the love of my life running," she shouted and downed her drink and pushed passed the blue smurf as she stumbled towards the open bar. "She'd...wo.."she hiccuped and grabbed the bottle out of the bar tenders hand. "...still be 'ere if it weren't for you meddlin' kids!" she grumbled.
"I do not think you wish to do this, Lieutenant. You should let Crewman Arneson escort you back to your quarters, and we can speak of this when you are sober, I think?" Though the lilliputian lieutenant phrased it as a question, it was no such thing. It was a gentle warning, and a chance for Janet to salvage the remainder of her dignity for the night.
"You should shut your blue cake hole. I think" Janet mocked and poured herself another drink, half of which landed on the bar and the other couple of fingers in the glass.
The small blue fingers really did not look like much. If anything, they looked like the digits of a child attached to a hand scaled the same. But that was deceptive, because Talla P'Trell was not only from a high gravity planet, and not only did she overwork her muscles regularly to maintain her strength, but she was an expert in a dozen forms of unarmed combat. In short, while the little blue alien looked quite harmless, she could tear your arm off.
And so when those small blue fingers reached up to grasp the ear of the inebriated science officer and twist it, there was considerable pain and pressure involved. Were she to squirm she could lose the ear, and her grip was in no danger of slipping. Twisting it down to her level, the security chief began frog-marching the scientist toward the door.
"ah...ouch...hey!" Janet unwillingly walked with the security chief. She was no fighter but the liquid courage she was drinking was making her think otherwise. The taller blond tried to pry the blue fingers off her ear, but soon found that wasn't working and made a swing at her midsection that didn't particularly have much power behind it- nor did it have any appreciable effect as she was frog-marched out of the party.
Dave sighed and shook his head "Never saw this coming"
"I sure did," Mark laughed " it was just all a matter of time before she cracked." He slapped a hand on his friend's shoulder " She'll be okay. Come on, lets get back to the party."
Laria sat at a table, alone, at the perimeter of the goings on. She watched the people who had become her surrogate family.
The next few hours wore on, with much music, dancing, eating and drinking. Several of the crew had retired back to their quarters already, leaving around half left to party the night away. Rhenora had long since run out of spring wine and had moved onto Saurian Brandy, a secret stash that someone had decided was worth the occasion. Months of hard missions had taken its toll on the good Captain, who was more than enjoying letting her hair down in this instance. In a distant memory she recalled ending up dancing on tabletops last time she was this inebriated, and made a slippery mental note not to try that again.
" Umm perhaps you should retire to your quarters now" A well mannered crewman attempted to sway the swaying Admiral into heading home whilst she was still able to.
" I's not goin nowhere.. .I'm da Captain!" Kaylen retorted, taking another swig of brandy from a glass that never seemed to get empty - why was that?
" Yes I know you're the Captain and you're well entitled to do whatever you want but I really thing you need to leave now" The crewman replied sternly, hoping that no-one had called the security team from DS9 to their Sunfire crew only shindig. That really wouldn't go down well.
" Yesh, I'm da Captain and I'sh Shtaying here until I'sh finished!" The sloshed Bajoran retorted, patting away the hands that were trying to lead her quietly away from her own party. The words were becoming more slurred by the second.
" If you don't move you're ass I'll have to call security!" The self appointed party-cleaner-upper-er announced, planting hands on hips as if to prove a point.
" I hash my own shecurity.. Talllaaaaaaaaaa!!!!"
While Irky had wanted to leave, his blue-skinned babe would not depart the party, instead sitting at a table nearby once she realized that the Captain-Admiral was getting drunker and drunker. Lieutenant Talla P'Trell had hoped that Doctor Laria Jorel or Counselor Remal Kajun might stay to keep the Bajoran brawler company. But it appeared they had all drifted away, while the commanding officer kept drinking.
And now it might come to trouble- but then, trouble was Talla's talent.
"Yes, Captain-Admiral?" the diminutive dutiful doll asked, popping up on the starboard elbow of her commanding officer, the same spot she would occupy were they on the bridge and she were called.
" Make dish annoying pershion go awaysh" The Captain slurred, pointing and squinting at the offending but well meaning crewman who was about to tap her combadge to call for security.
Interposing between the crewman and the Vice Admiral, the pugnacious pixie beamed up at the nondescript person. "The Captain-Admiral wishes to have some more time, I think. I am Lieutenant Talla P'Trell, chief of security and tactical of the USS Sunfire. I will insure that no harm comes to her, and that she causes no harm to anyone or thing. That will be fine, I think?"
" You think? Listen there Pixie, this parties too loud, and too long, and people are too drunk, we need to shut it down before it goes south. Acceptable times are long gone, the requisition was for 4 hours, it's been 5, and the acceptable decibel level was exceeded a number of times already" The crewman retorted, waving a padd under Talla's nose.
"I know. And it has been very generous of you to overlook all of those things. And now I am asking for just a little more patience is all. It was... it has been a hard time for the Captain-Admiral. Please... just let her be? I will make sure there is no trouble, I promise." Those big polar blue eyes blinked up at the maintenance crewman with a pleading expression that was hard to refuse.
The crewman glared at Talla - who outranked her but 2 pips at least but still, she was pissed at the noise, and the lateness. Being on cleanup duty sucked, specially when parties ran overtime.
" Listen Lady, I was due to start the cleanup in here an hour ago, by HER orders no less" She pointed at the drunk Captain who was clambering onto the tables to start dancing.. again.
" Excuse me?" The cleanup crewman retorted, indignant.
"I said, Lieutenant. Not lady. I am small, I know, but I am a lieutenant, not a crewman nor chief nor civilian. I am asking for you to be lenient. Ordering you to go start clearing out the waste reclamation system would be within my ability as a ranking officer, correct?" It was going out on a limb a bit- but then, Talla had been ordered to study the Starfleet command manual, and study it she had.
" You can order me to bend over and kiss my own ass but it doesn't mean I'll do it" The Crewman threw back, " Now are you gonna take care of Captain Crazy over there or am I gonna have to call Base Security?"
"Your insubordination is duly noted. You may contact base security, and do not be surprised by the charges filed against you tomorrow morning. I suggest you find a new line of work once you are no longer in Starfleet- Vice Admirals are dangerous to refer to by such words." The grey eyebrows came down and the demeanor changed. Insulting Talla did not usually have much effect- she was too good a fighter to rise to such things. But insulting her commanding officer was another matter entirely.
There was a moment of indecision, followed by several moments where the risk of both parties was analyzed.
"You got an hour...an hour to get these people home and this place empty so I can do the job SHE ordered me to do" The crewman turned away in a huff with her cleaning crew and exited the cargo bay.
"Your order is duly noted," the lilliputian lieutenant replied, making a note of just whom she would be filing detailed reports about later. Insubordination was one thing, insulting her commanding officer and following it up with more insubordination just meant that Talla would make the time to file detailed reports and charges to insure that the surly crewman had plenty of time to regret her words.
Pivoting on her heel to take in the sight of her commanding officer dancing on a table- none too steady and not at all well- the security smurf moved in, prepared to catch the damsel of distress if necessary. On the one hand, she probably should start hinting to her commander that the party was over and that it was time to leave. But Kayen Rhenora actually looked happy- and there were precious few moments when that happened, and the little chief just didn't have it in her to interrupt the moment.
She would let the Admiral dance, and carry on for as long as she wished... after all, it was Christmas.
Dusk entered the room, late as usual. He had told the officer on board DS9 that he was a part of the crew, but he was refused entry until he his clearance was cleared, re-cleared and then questioned for another 30 minutes about why he was transferring, was it a valid request.
When the officer tried to get him to fill a pair of forms out (in triplicate no less) he picked the man up, set him down behind him and simply walked on board.
The room appeared to be clearing out. The Admiral he had met a few days back on a sub-space channel was dancing on the tables. More than one, as she danced about. Can coffee really do this to humans? Maybe she was drinking some of that Irish coffee he had heard about.
Next to her was the small Andorian chief arguing with another officer about when they could clean.
He didn't know any of the crew, so all he brought was a bowl of an old Earth delicacy, something he had found in the replicators. The brown 'tootsie-rolls' were individually wrapped (he had heard that it was customary to bring a wrapped gift, and decided this fit the bill).
He walked up to a rather brutish looking officer trying to hide under one of the tables with a rather large dog. "Got room for another under there?" The man just grunted.
"Well, I like your dog's party hat."
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing on my ship?" The man growled. Apparently Christmas punch didn't make everyone jolly.
"I'm Dusk. New ship counselor. And you are?"
"Wayne. Bruck Wayne."
"Nice to meet you. Who's the pooch?"
"His name's Ace. And he outranks you, so you better damn well salute!"
Deciding not to piss off the man, he saluted the canine and then crawled back out from under the table. Maybe now was the not the best time for introductions. He left the bowl of tootsie rolls on the counter and went to find his new quarters.
" Oooo Dushk! Nice to meet you.. you really should dance, its Chrishmas after all!" Rhenora slurred, the alcohol warring with the need for her body to rest. Currently alcohol was winning.
" Talla.. dish is Dushk... he's a nice man...." She continued, wobbling a little more...
"Hello," the Andorian offered, not making eye contact but watching the Bajoran partygoer warily, shuffling around the edge of the table with a mixture of apprehension and alert. " I am Lieutenant Talla P'Trell, chief of security and tactical of the USS Sunfire. We have met I think, Dushk?"
"Uhh. It's Dusk actually." He self-consciously ran his hand over his bald head.
As she spoke her eyes remained focused on the weaving and wobbling form above her, though the suction-tipped antennas that protruded from the top of her head scanned about the room, one 'eyeing' the Lurian.
" Hey I can flyyyyy!" Rhenora went to leap off the table - arms outstretched...
Stepping to the side, the diminutive dynamo held out her arms and braced herself, catching the Bajoran with a grunt as she fell. Easing the Admiral to the floor, she winced a bit- gravity was a harsh mistress, and she'd insured the Admiral wouldn't re-injure herself by taking the brunt of the landing on herself- and of course hurting herself in the process, though she would not breathe a word of it.
"Is the party over now, Captain-Admiral?" she squeaked, voice a bit higher and more strained than normal.
"Is she always like this after coffee?" Dusk helped Talla ease the captain back to the ground. He picked up a napkin and wiped his hands free.
The answer to the party being over was a resounding snore. It appeared that for Vice Admiral Kaylen Rhenora - the party was finally over.
Dusk looked over at Talla very unsure of the protocol in this situation.
"Oh no... coffee is good for her. This is... relaxation? Unwinding? It is... she wanted to celebrate. And so she celebrated." The small sprite smiled gently at the snoring senior officer. "I do not know where Counselor Remal Kajun is, so it falls to me to put her to bed, I think."
As if noticing the Lurian for the first time, the Andorian blinked at him. "Hello."
"Greetings." He looked down on the Andorian out of necessity, towering over her by a few feet.
"Hello," she repeated, blinking a few times. "I have to go now. Excuse me." With a grunt she hoisted the lightweight yet larger form of the Admiral up to cradle her in her arms then began marching out of the party.
"Irkyyy!" she called over her shoulder.
" Smurfins.. you called?" Irksnot bumbled over, the gangly and awkward human wearing a party hat over his left ear and some tinsel around his neck.
Left alone once more, Dusk looked around. "I wonder where my room is..."
» Fleet Newsletter
Posted on Thu Nov 28th, 2013 @ 7:54pm by Fleet Admiral AJ Wheeler in General News
Posted on Fri Aug 9th, 2013 @ 10:39pm by Commander Matt Elphaba in General News
Everyone to their writing stations the ship is in red alert. RED ALERT I SAID START WRITING
» Awesome IDF news item thing.
Posted on Thu Jul 4th, 2013 @ 11:23pm by Captain John Buderger in General News
the link above is a fleet news item about the IDF hall of fame and other interesting tid bits.
the ship awards will be up this week and now that the 4th is past me i will have time to work on the ship and not spend every waking hour between class and work.
thank you all for your patients. ~rogers
Posted on Thu Jul 4th, 2013 @ 3:02pm by Fleet Admiral AJ Wheeler in General News
From the office of the Fleet Admiral
Happy 4th!


text:
Will al Qaeda respond to the death of Osama bin Laden with serious cyberattacks? The short answer is no. Despite an active interest in cyberattacks, al Qaeda has not managed any successful assaults other than some posting of propaganda, ATM milking and credit-card fraud. This is mainly because its key computer experts have been captured or killed. Here we reconstruct the group's efforts to tamper with Western technology:
July 1999: The first cyberconflict between Hamas and Israel inspires al Qaeda's leaders, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
June 2002: American officials warn that hackers associated with al Qaeda have been accessing hacker tools and probing emergency phone systems, nuclear power facilities, water systems and gas pipelines.
November 2002: Imam Samudra, an advocate of cyberattacks who organized the Bali nightclub bombing, is arrested in Indonesia (and eventually executed).
March 2003: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is captured in Pakistan. He is currently being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
April 2004: Younis Tsouli begins hacking into Web sites to post al Qaeda propaganda. He later distributes a written "Seminar on Hacking Websites" and goes on to perpetrate the most successful al Qaeda–linked cyberattacks to date.
October 2005: Tsouli is arrested in London.
August 2008: One of the last al Qaeda leaders expert in computers, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, is reported at large in Kenya, but all al Qaeda efforts to mount cyberattacks have died down.
May 2011: U.S. forces find and kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottobad, Pakistan.
Editor's note: This story was printed with the title, "Al Qaeda and the Internet."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Mplus Home
Last Day
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Measurement Invariance testing
Mplus Discussion
Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Linda Bode
posted on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 4:20 am
For my Master thesis I have to test my data for measurememt invariance since I am comparing four countries with about 50 respondents each. Unfortunately, I never learned another program than SPSS and therefore I am trying to figure out how MPLUS works by myself. I read the User guide and the handouts, but I am still not sure how to do it. I wanted to start with a simple CFA for each country, but the program shows me the following Error warning:
One or more variables have a variance of zero. check your data and format statement.
I dont have any missing values in my data set, I checked it twice with SPSS.
This is my syntax in short (I have five more factors):
DATA: FILE IS "... CFA.dat";
VARIABLE: NAMES ARE a1 a2 a3 b1 b2 b3 c1 c2 c3 d1 d2 d3 e1 e2 e3 f1 f2 f3
g1 g2 h1 h2 h3;
MODEL: A BY a1 a2 a3;
B BY b1 b2 b3;
C BY c1 c2 c3;
D BY d1 d2 d3;
E BY e1 e2 e3;
F BY f1 f2 f3;
G BY g1 g2;
H BY h1 h2 h3;
OUTPUT: standardized;
I am not sure if i did it correct, I tried to work with examples i found on the internet.
I hope someone can help me.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 6:45 am
It sounds like you are setting up the reading of your data incorrectly. Please send the input, data, output, and your license number to
Linda Bode
posted on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 11:54 am
I am so sorry, I found the mistake. I actually had one missing value, not sure why SPSS could not find it.
I would like to make sure that I test for measurement invariance the right way:
(1) I am running a CFA in each country separately, hoping that the model fit is sufficient in each country.
What is the easiest was to test for configural, metric and scalar invariance? Do I have to write a syntax for each country separately again or do I have one syntax including all countries?
Sorry for these very basic questions and thanks a lot for your help.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 4:18 pm
See the Topic 1 course handout under multiple group analysis.
Linda Bode
posted on Wednesday, August 04, 2010 - 2:04 am
One last question: Is there a rule of thumb about the required sample size to test for measurement invariance? And do you know a reference where I can read more about it?
Thanx a lot!
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, August 04, 2010 - 6:35 am
I know of no rule of thumb for sample size. It depends on the model and the quality of the variables. You would need to do a Monte Carlo simulation study to understand the sample size needed for your particular study.
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Over the past 18 months, Meredith Whitney's warning about the municipal bond market has stood as probably the worst high-profile call on Wall Street.
So with the shock that has come over some recent well-publicized financial troubles in California, Pennsylvania and elsewhere has come the question of whether the famed banking analyst's prediction might be starting to come true.
Whether it's San Bernardino, Stockton or Scranton, there are clear signs that things are getting worse in municipal finance — though not quite so bad as Whitney supposed.
"There is risk and there are likely to be more bankruptcies and defaults," says Peter Coffin, president of Breckenridge Capital, a Boston-based firm that manages $13 billion in assets and has a dozen analysts devoted solely to the municipal space. "I don't think it's systemic, but it's a greater risk than most municipal investors have been accustomed to in their lifetimes."
Whitney rocked the fixed income world when, during a December 2010 appearance on "60 Minutes" she forecast 50 to 100 muni defaults in 2011 that would cause damage in excess of $100 billion.
Though munis saw only 28 muni defaults in 2011 and about two dozen this year, most of which were comparatively small in dollar value, Whitney told CNBC as recently as March that a "tidal wave" of defaults looms.
"Ultimately, her numbers...are not out of the realm of possibility over the long term," Coffin says.
San Bernardino, Calif., officials this week filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy after saying the city would be unable to pay its bills otherwise. That follows news out of Stockton, Calif., that it also would need relief from its creditors.
Scranton's mayor, meanwhile, ordered the cash-strapped northeastern Pennsylvania city to pay all its municipal employees minimum wage until it found a way to climb out of a $17 million budget gap.
Down Interstate 81 a ways, the Keystone State's capital of Harrisburg has been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy for more than a year.
So is Whitney finally on to something?
"I don't really think it's the making of a bigger problem," says Alexandra Lebenthal, president and CEO of New York investment firm Lebenthal & Co. "A lot of these issues were already going on prior. They're sort of one-off issues."
Lebenthal has been a vocal Whitney critic, saying the head of the Meredith Whitney Advisory Group was "entirely" wrong in the muni call. In an interview Wednesday, she had softened her tone only marginally.
"Where I'll give Meredith one teeny-weeny ounce of credit is I did yesterday read about debt restructuring for the first time, where an issuer (in Mammoth County, Calif.) did lower the rate and extend the maturity on a debt deal," Lebenthal says.
But she has been especially virulent about Whitney's prediction of "social contract defaults" in which governments would change services or contracts in moves that would amount to defaults even though they might not appear so on paper.
Whitney did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
"We're still seeing relatively positive data in terms of sales tax receipts," Lebenthal says. "So I still look at the local economies as getting stronger and don't think we're heading into what was predicted to be a huge period of massive defaults."
Still, where there's smoke...
"There's never one cockroach," says Marilyn Cohen, president of Envision Capital Management in Los Angeles. "Scranton tells you it wasn't just a California-specific problem. There's probably other Scrantons out there and more Harrisburgs out there. Individual investors need to be very careful and very selective of what municipal bonds they want to own."
Overall, investors in the $3.7 trillion muni bond market seemed not to have cared much about the individual gloomy headlines.
Despite the San Bernardino news, munis actually were trading higher Wednesday as measured through a popular exchange-traded fund, the iShares National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Fund.
The Barclays Municipal Index rose 3.66 percent through the first half of the year, and municipal bond funds saw $317 million in inflows for the most recent reporting week, according to Lipper data.
"In terms of the latest news with the city of San Bernardino, there's really been no impact in the market," says Susan Courtney, municipal desk analyst and lead portfolio manager for Prudential Fixed Income's municipal bond fund. "That's largely due to the fact that technicals are really strong in terms of the amount of investment money coming in, and San Bernardino is a relatively small issuer in the overall market."
So until more systemic problems start to show up, the view in muniland is that the Whitney projection remains largely unfulfilled — for now.
"San Bernardino, Stockton, Harrisburg, Jefferson County (Ala.) — all of them are long, protracted credit events, not events that came out of the blue," Breckenridge's Coffin says. "With good research and careful oversight, investors can navigate through this market and invest reliably and with very little risk when compared to other markets."


text:
Karen's Spot
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text:
Actress Shenae Grimes is married after exchanging vows with her model fiance Josh Beech.
The "90210″ star wed the British hunk in a countryside Tudor estate just outside of London on Friday, reports UsMagazine.com.
Grimes announced the news to fans in a post on Twitter.com, which read, "I now pronounce us Mr. and Mrs. Beech! Ahhh! Xx".
The 23 year old also uploaded a photo of the newlyweds, in which Grimes is featured wearing a black gown and holding a bouquet of red flowers as she shares a kiss with the groom.
The couple began dating last year and became engaged in December.
I now pronounce us Mr. and Mrs. Beech! Ahhh! Xx @iamjoshbeech twitter.com/shenaegrimes/s…
— shenae grimes (@shenaegrimes) May 10, 2013


text:
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Most people feel angina symptoms in the chest.
The most common symptom is chest pain or pressure, or a strange feeling in the chest.
But you might feel symptoms in other parts of your body. Some people feel pain, pressure,
or a strange feeling in the back, neck, jaw, or upper belly, or in one or both shoulders
or arms.
Other symptoms of angina include shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting,
lightheadedness or sudden weakness, or a fast or irregular heartbeat.
are somewhat more likely than men to have other symptoms like shortness of breath,
nausea, and back or jaw pain.
ByHealthwise StaffPrimary
Medical ReviewerRakesh K. Pai, MD, FACC - Cardiology,
ElectrophysiologySpecialist Medical ReviewerRobert A. Kloner, MD, PhD - Cardiology
Current as ofOctober 5, 2017
as of:
October 5, 2017
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
Rakesh K. Pai, MD, FACC - Cardiology, Electrophysiology
& Robert A. Kloner, MD, PhD - Cardiology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor.
Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this
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text:
HUTCHINSON, Kan. - We descended into the belly of the Earth.
"It's going to take us just a couple of minutes to go underground. Does anybody have a problem going down in the dark?" our cheerful guide asked.
"Yes!" I screamed in my head. But I said nothing because none of my fellow tourists did - six senior citizens, including a woman pushing a walker.
"No? OK," the guide said. "We do that because it gives you the first experience of going into the mine. Miners go down … in the dark, so we try to do the same as well, kind of get you prepared for being in the mine.
"It will be completely dark," she continued,...


text:
Jason Ghidella, MathWorks
Saurabh Mahapatra, MathWorks
In this webinar, we'll use live demos to introduce key new features and capabilities for Simulink and Stateflow in MathWorks software releases 2009a and 2009b.
With more than 100 new features to choose from, the top 10 list focuses on the new capabilities that best enable development organizations to efficiently adopt and implement Model-Based Design.
Topics include new support for:
This webinar is for people using or considering Model-Based Design with Simulink.


text:
Tenryūbi - celestial dragon
Posts by Boa
At the moment, the consumer advice centre is warning of an increased volume of phishing e-mails.
Unfortunately, we have recently received more and more information that there are also e-mails in circulation that advertise an Aeria competition.
Such a competition does not exist. This is an unauthorized promotion.
In the email you will be asked to follow a link and on a deceptively real copy of our website you will be asked to enter your account information.
If you have received such a message, please delete it immediately. Please do not click on the link and never enter your account information on other websites.
If you have already followed a link from such a message, immediately change your password using the "Forgot your password?" function on the website of your game.
Before you enter your account name and password, you should always check the URL of the website you are currently on.


text:
Staff writer
Ava Case knew it was over when she stepped into the ring.
"That pig was crazy," the 6-year-old Durham resident said. "He wouldn't go anywhere I want him to."
Case was just one of the exhibitors Saturday at the Centre FFA prospect show in Herington. While others had a chance to work with their pig before the show, Case said she didn't have a chance to do too much with her animal because it wasn't really hers.
"My cousin let me show her pig," she said. "It was just showmanship."
Case said that the best part of participating in the showmanship contest was the end.
"We got flashlights," Case said as she shined the faint light into her mother's eyes. "It lights up what's dark. You can see down deep holes – or in the trash."
Carly Drehr, 8, of Iola she had surveyed her competition and believed that she was a more serious showman than many of the other 4-H and FFA exhibitors.
"I worked with him every day," she said of her Hampshire-Bluebutt cross. "I'd just practice by walking him around a bit and letting him get used to me poking him with the whip."
Sure enough, as soon as she entered the ring, Drehr was all business. She never took her eyes off the judge or let her pig wander off — and it earned her reserve intermediate showman. The judge only had one criticism: she was too serious.
"It wouldn't hurt for you to smile a little bit more," judge Jarrod Gaines of Peabody told her. "I know you can do it. Let's see you smile."
Instantly, Drehr switched on her charm — and gave the judge an all-teeth smile.
"That's it," Gaines said. "I want to see that you're having fun."
Gaines said he was impressed with the overall quality of both the animals and the showmen.
"You have some pretty good animals here today, and some exceptional showmen," he said. "They're going to do well in their swine projects in the future."
The two-day show also included meat goats, sheep, and beef cattle.
Case's parents are Jessica Vannocker and Alan Accardi. Her grandparents from Hillsboro are Brad and Becky Vannocker.


text:
In my last column, I wrote about the zero-day Java exploit that was making headlines at the time. In my search for countermeasures, I discovered that my company runs many different version of Java -- and for various reasons, those different versions may be necessary for the functionality of the applications that rely on Java.
This came as some surprise, because I figured (perhaps naively) that upgrading to the latest version would be a reasonable first step in protecting against the exploit by closing the underlying vulnerability, along with all the others that have accumulated over time in older versions of the Java platform. I assumed that older applications would still work on the newest Java version. Don't they make it backward-compatible?
I don't know enough about Java to judge the answer, but the developers tell me it's not true. We have to keep our older versions around, because the newer versions will break our applications. Great. That means I have half a dozen different vulnerable platforms instead of just one.
The search for a solution to this dilemma led me to vulnerability scanners. In order to find out which of my company's servers are vulnerable to the Java exploit, I needed to discover which systems are running Java, and which versions, so I could consistently deploy the right patches. A vulnerability-scanning tool would tell me this.
I've never been a fan of vulnerability scanners before now. It always seemed to me that a scoring system based on the raw number of vulnerabilities, whether confirmed or not, wasn't really all that useful. And I never thought the resulting reports were very good at defining what needs to be done to correct the vulnerabilities. In the end, all you really get from vulnerability scanning is a lot of unactionable raw data that doesn't have much value. But I admit it's been a few years since I've looked at the state of the technology.
So I decided to take another look at vulnerability-scanning products and services. I evaluated several options, and it looks like they've improved since I last checked. The reports are still full of false positives -- about half of the results didn't apply to the operating system I tested -- but the reports are pretty decent, with some amount of actionable remediation suggestions. And they were able to identify the vulnerabilities in Java, which was the driving factor for me.
The server team members now have their hands full closing Java vulnerabilities (and others), and the desktop team is equally busy. So overall, this was a good outcome. Once those holes are closed, I'm thinking of taking another step: basing a server-hardening standard off vulnerability scans. Until now, server hardening has been done based on a checklist I wrote, which was built from a list of best practices and recommendations found on the Web. With a vulnerability scanner to find weaknesses in my company's servers, coupled with a set of configuration and system changes, I'm thinking I should be able to reduce the overall attack surface of my servers. This is basically a feedback process, iterated through scanning and remediation, and that seems to me like a better process than the blind, one-way approach in use today. And that seems like a pretty good outcome from what was originally a search for a quick fix to a high-risk vulnerability.
This week's journal is written by a real security manager, "J.F. Rice," whose name and employer have been disguised for obvious reasons. Contact him at email@example.com.
Join in
To join in the discussions about security, go to blogs.computerworld.com/security.
Read more about security in Computerworld's Security Topic Center.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.


text:
Smith & Warren produces the finest quality Police, Fire, EMS, Sheriff, Security, and Military Badges. All Smith & Warren badges are backed by an industry-leading Full Lifetime Warranty. No other badge is covered by such an extensive guarantee.
Badge Size: 2.50" x 3.375"
- Custom orders take between 4 and 6 weeks for production dependent on factory volume. Status updates will be available online throughout the crafting of your custom badge order.
- Any order that identifies the bearer as a member of federal, state, or local law enforcement (or other restricted language) will be verified for proper authorization prior to its production and delivery.
- Reviews
- Badge Finish Guide
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|Nickel Electroplate
The most economical silver tone finish, a hard layer of nickel electroplate provides a high degree of durability without a high price, but may lose some luster with age.
A bright and brilliant silver tone finish that will not tarnish; a great combination of shine and durability.
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A pure 24K gold electroplated finish applied over a nickel base provide a gold finish that is tarnish-resistant, but may show some wear over time.
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A metallic black finish that is durable and distinctive. This unique finish is popular when looking for a subdued appearance.
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The best of both worlds, Gol-Ray™ and Sil-Ray™ combine to form a two tone finish that is bright, durable and consistent.
|Cote D'or
The ultimate fine gold finish, our thickest layer of 24K gold plate and our ultra durable clear coat, provides a presentation quality finish; an excellent choice for awards, gifts and display badges.


text:
Jacksonville Credit Repair
Joe's Credit Repair provide credit restoration services to fix bad credit scores in Jacksonville, Florida, we also offer credit counseling and advice for score improvement for our clients. As a professional credit repair company, we will help you to increase & improve your bad credit score from all three credit bureaus Experian, TransUnion and Equifax.
Our knowledge and experience over the years, has removed collection accounts, late payments, charge off, bankruptcies, foreclosures, repossessions, judgments, medical bills, credit cards debts, inquiries, student loans and tax liens as well for Jacksonville clients. As you know; in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit bureau's are not permitted to report false or unverifiable information on your credit report.
You have the right to dispute erroneous and inaccurate information on your credit report, by contacting the credit bureaus directly; however, it's recommended to contact a professional credit repair company, to fix your bad credit history and avoid common mistakes that can hurt your credit file even more. Increase your score rating and get low interest rates on credit cards, mortgages and auto loans in Jacksonville area, by boosting your credit score.
Find out today your credit rating and boost your scores with professional advice and tips from Joe's Credit Repair in Jacksonville, FL. Credit rating is based on credit scores and it's important raising your score equal or more than 720 to be considered with good credit rating. If you have any question about our credit repair services, please navigate to our FAQ page for more information or feel free to contact us. Thank you for visiting Joe's Credit Repair company website.
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text:
Beretta PX4 Storm Polymer Holsters
- Bestsellers
- Low price
- High price
About Polymer Holsters for Beretta PX4 Storm
Choosing the right Polymer holster for Beretta PX4 Storm is not a simple task, so you should better bet on craftsmanship and quality that is proven by years. With quality holster, you can rely on your self-defense setup in every situation and your gun will have a safe shelter for a lifetime. Our offer includes 12 Beretta PX4 Storm Polymer concealed carry and duty holsters from traditional European holster producers, known for their quality materials and hand crafted manufacture. Holsters above are made of high quality injection formed polymer material. They are resistant to dirt, scratches, weather conditions and rough use, while holding its shape for safe everyday carry forever. Beretta PX4 Storm Polymer holsters are custom made for this gun model for perfect fit and smooth draw and allows you to wear your gun in comfortable and safety way. You can choose between IWB, OWB, Ankle, Cross Draw, Drop Leg, Duty, Light & Laser, Magazine & Ammo, Molle, Paddle, Shoulder and Small of Back holster designs for Beretta PX4 Storm. See all holster designs for Beretta PX4 Storm.
About Beretta PX4 Storm
Beretta is probably the largest company producing firearms in the world. It's output is approximately 1,500 produced weapons a day. One of the biggest achievements of Beretta is definitely the fact that the American Armed Forces and State Police Forces started using Beretta 92 series in 1985. The company added to its classical sporting guns production a completely new line of hunting apparel and accessories, clay target shooting and outdoor sports items in the early 1990s.
Today is this unique company owned by Ugo Gussalli Beretta and his sons, Franco and Pietro. What makes Beretta Beretta if not the traditional father-to-son dynasty? However their dynasty was a little interrupted because Ugo married into the Beretta family and he adopted the last name Beretta. Beretta Holding that is the parent company also owns Beretta USA, Stoeger, Benelli, Franchi, SAKO, Uberti, Tikka and the Burris Optics company. Besides numerous high-quality firearms, the Beretta family produces a plenty of renowned Italian wines. Around 1950, Giuseppe Beretta, Luigi Castelbarco and motorcycle designer Giuseppe Benelli started designing and manufacturing automobiles.
In 2015 the company celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the production of Beretta's first semi-automatic pistol. Although the company's trademark sidearm is 92FS, its semi-automatic roots rest with the Model 1915, that was adopted by Italian forces during the World War I.
This model is a semi-automatic pistol that is manufactured by the Beretta of Italy. It's intended for self-defense or law enforcement use. Px4 Storm uses the same short-recoil and rotating barrel action as the Beretta 8000 models. The pistol uses also the same trigger and safety system as the M9/92/96 series, although being completely different in design from either.
PX4 is designed to meet the most stringent military standards of durability, has been reported to fire well over 150,000 rounds with zero part breakages. Simple design, proprietary steel that has high toughness, reliable safety system with an automatic firing pin block and a flip-up ambidextrous manual safety. All this is why a growing number of demanding government agencies and organizations are choosing the model and using it in every environment imaginable--the PX4 just keeps delivering. The PX4 Storm is being carried by law-enforcement and military around the world. This is because it is engineered to be durable, and it is capable of shooting over 100,000 rounds without any breakage.It's dimensions are between the full-size PX4 Storm and its sub-compact counterpart and make it perfect for everyday holster carry (concealed or open), offering light weight and smaller proportions while still
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text:
James Ferraro's last 'proper' album n- that is to say the last one not presented as a mixtape - was a wildly divisive work. In fact, 2011's Far Side Virtual even divided many of those who wrote about it on their own terms, never mind amongst each other. Variations on 'this might drive you bananas, but it's pretty unique' or 'it sounds like the shallowest reflection of 2K10s consumer culture... even if that's the point' proved commonplace. Including in my own review, truth be told – for what it's worth, I'd be a bit more forward and less cautious with my praise now; Far Side Virtual is an actively enjoyable listen, and not just in an arch or 'have fun convincing people you really like this' way.
Since its release, Ferraro has released two free-to-download mixtapes: a radio rap-influenced one as Bebetunes and a new age-meets-trance sorta thing as Bodyguard. Sushi, 11 new tracks under his own name, finds the LA-based producer moving even further towards music you could imagine hearing in a club, which isn't to say that you will. In interviews, Ferraro is endearingly eager to talk about how much new music he listens to – the stereotype of the inveterate downloader, frantically gobbling up MP3s and streams but never actually spending quality time with them, rather resonates with him, you suspect. This 36 minutes feels like a tour through the last couple of years' most voguish electronic microgenres, all smeared with the Ferraro jus but only sporadically impressive.
Chicago footwork seems to be the chief influence on 'Powder' and 'Playin Ya Self', but they don't threaten to stand tall against the scene's actual producers, or even unabashed interlopers like Machinedrum – too simplistic in the former case, fiddlesome complexity for its own sake in the latter. 'Flamboyant' is a syrup-paced, Night Slugs-esque remodelling of hip-hop and one of Sushi's definite keepers, thanks mainly to the twinkling synth riff that takes hold around 90 seconds in. Fan of outré drugs references, samples of breaking glass and the sort of grimy, medicated spin on house you could imagine being released on the Apple Pips label? 'Baby Mitsubishi' is a pretty earwormy, if not especially classic, example of all that.
For the work of someone who was, only a few years ago, releasing multiple cassettes of legitimately lo-fi Casiotoned grubbing, Sushi is judiciously and skilfully produced. 'E 7', which starts as a cluster of chiming funk keyboards and synth sweeps, mutates into FlyLo-worthy cut-up raps, then tunes it all out to let a wistful string section breathe, is the album's prime example of this. I strongly doubt even the most attentive James Ferraro fan would guess this is by him. Other conceivable attempts to mine that hyper-eclectic, shuffly Brainfeeder crew sound don't come off as well, and just seem a little... clumsy ('Jump Shot Earth', 'Jet Skis And Sushi').
Unusually for this kind of music, where one can normally expect tracks to surpass the five-minute mark, all but one cut on Sushi is under four. 'Condom', the slightly weirdly-titled exception, is probably the album's least developed moment, too: grainy, repetitive synth textures providing the only clear bridge between Ferraro's pre-Far Side Virtual work and his current jumble of inspirations. There may be something to infer from 'Bootycall', which follows it and finishes Sushi off, being a throwback to FSV itself: a wipeclean slab of crypto-New Age chords and ringtone-springy beats. This none-more-Now club stuff is well worth throwing yourself into, the message might go, but in two years' time I could be on a whole other trip.
Or maybe he isn't saying that at all. James Ferraro's public persona is pretty inscrutable, so it's probably best to just rate his tunes on their own merit. In the case of Sushi, about half the album is worth hearing. Which might not be a bad thing, if you're one of those proverbial Pac-Man-esque gobblers of hot new sounds.
6Noel Gardner's Score


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There are many ways that you can help Scouting in your area. Whether you are volunteering directly with Scouts or helping out behind the scenes, you can make an impact on the lives of Scouts by volunteering your time.
How can you help? Here are a few ideas:
Assisting directly with the Scouts on an ongoing basis
Helping directly with the Scouts in specific events or activities
Support: Administrative Role
Support: Other


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The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Wednesday that it would present
with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award and give honorary
to British film historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, French "New Wave" director
, who made his feature directorial debut 50 years ago with the seminal "Breathless," and veteran actor
, who has appeared in such films as "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."
The four awards will be handed out at the academy's second annual Governors Awards dinner Nov. 13 at the Grand Ballroom at the Hollywood & Highland Center.
Until last year, these awards were presented during the Oscar ceremony. But in 2009 the board decided to give the honorees their own nontelevised celebratory dinner.
"Each of these honorees has touched movie audiences worldwide and influenced the motion picture industry through their work," academy president Tom Sherak said in a statement. "It will be an honor to celebrate their extraordinary achievements."
The Thalberg Award is named after the famed MGM producer who died in 1936 at the age of 37. It is given to "a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production." Previous winners include
Walter Mirisch and John Calley.
Coppola, 71, began his film career four decades ago working for 2009 honoree
and has won five Academy Awards: as producer, writer and director of "The Godfather Part II," and as the writer on "Patton" and "The Godfather." His other directing credits include
and "The Conversation." In 1969, Coppola established the independent film studio American Zoetrope and has produced some 30 films, including "Lost in Translation" and "The Black Stallion."
The honorary Oscar is given to an individual for "extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, and for outstanding service to the academy."
Godard, 79, along with directors such as François Truffaut and
, turned French cinema on its ear 50 years ago with their "New Wave" filmmaking, which rejected the rules of classic studio-bound cinema while experimenting with editing, visual style and narrative. He has directed about 70 films, including "Contempt," "Weekend" and "Alphaville," and numerous directors have credited his influence on their work, including
Wallach, 94, carved a career for himself on Broadway before making his film debut in
's 1956
"Baby Doll." He has starred in about 50 motion pictures — several with his wife, Anne Jackson — including "The Misfits," "The Godfather Part III" and "The Holiday." He continues to work and will be seen in September in
's "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps."
Brownlow, 72, has restored numerous silent classic films, including Abel Gance's 1927 masterwork, "Napoleon,"
's 1921 epic "The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse," which made
a star, and
' 1924 fantasy "The Thief of Bagdad." He also is the author of such acclaimed books as "The Parade's Gone By," "Hollywood: The Pioneers" and "
Rediscovered." His numerous
include "Unknown Chaplin," "Hollywood" and "
: A Hard Act to Follow."


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Candy Driven Development
Candy Driven Development
Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.Join For Free
Ever walk into the kitchen of a technology company? Chances are you'll find a mind boggling supply of candy, snacks, treats and a variety of caffeinated drinks. One could just pass this off as the bad eating habits of pale geeks who go home after work and live in their parent's basements, but I'm beginning to believe something deeper is at work here.
New research leads me to believe that we may be collectively suffering from ego depletion.
Ego depletion is the idea that self-control or willpower is an exhaustible resource that can be used up. Interestingly enough, sugar (or glucose) intake helps us prolong our ability to make decision after decision throughout the day.
Initially it sounds far fetched, until you think about all of the decisions you make throughout a work day and how they correlate with your sugar intake.
Consider the number of decisions you had to make in order to get to work this morning. Now once you've sat down and booted up your machine, imagine how many decisions you make before you start to even code. After you've started coding (or writing your tests if practicing TDD) imagine how many decisions you continue make in the span of just 1 minute.
If you do the math you begin to realize that you make a staggering amount of decisions throughout the course of just one work day. Many of these decisions are under pressure with serious implications.
In addition to ego depletion, research has found that these decisions can be broken down into pre-decision and post-decision processes.
A prolonged period of pre-decision is not ideal for a team that thrives on quick feedback loops.
I believe we can use this new found research to help our teams be in situations where they can make the best decision possible.
Daily Standups - Urge teams to have the daily standup in the morning if possible. It is our daily plan and we need our team focused as we make decisions on what we are about to do.
Retrospectives - Bring candy or snacks into the retrospective. Team members are more likely to forget their manners when suffering from ego depletion. It isn't just people, it even happens with man's best friend too.
Iteration Demos - Schedule these early and bring muffins, donuts or pastries along with some form of juice. If the Product Owner is accepting the work, he or she needs to have the mental fuel to make the tough decisions.
Feedback Loops - How long does it take to compile and run tests locally? How long does it take to deploy a build to test or production? How long does it take to get an answer from the business on feature question? All of these affect pre-decision time spans and deplete willpower.
Some of these suggestions may sound like common sense, but I believe if we can align our techniques with these findings that the result will be a team that is in an environment where they can repeatedly make good decisions.
Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.


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Hostess Brands adds natural buns and rolls for grilling season
Just in time for summer grilling season, Irving, Texas-based Hostess Brands adds Nature's Pride Premium Harvest Hamburger Buns and Deli Rolls to its line up of natural bread products.
Like all Nature's Pride's products, Premium Harvest buns and rolls are made with 100 percent natural ingredients and contain no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, trans fats or high-fructose corn syrup.
Varieties include: 100 percent Whole Wheat Bakery Buns (21 oz.), providing a good source of fiber, 34g of whole grains in each bun and 25 percent less sodium than regular 100 percent whole wheat buns; Country White Bakery Buns (21 oz.) providing 7g of protein in each bun and 25 percent less sodium than regular white buns; and Country White Deli Rolls (16 oz.) providing 7g grams of protein in each roll and 25 percent less sodium than regular white rolls.
"Nature's Pride Premium Harvest buns and rolls are the newest tasty additions to our growing brand of 100 percent natural breads," said Laura Pitlik, director of marketing. "As grilling season heads into high gear, Nature's Pride Premium Harvest buns and rolls are perfect for cookouts all summer -- and beyond."
Nature's Pride OvenClassics, another new natural variety from the brand, offers flavors packed with whole grains and fiber, and is currently available regionally. OvenClassics are shaped like a loaf baked in your own oven and deliver a delicious taste and smooth texture the entire family will enjoy with flavors that include 100 percent Whole Wheat, Oatmeal, Honey Wheat with Fiber and Potato.


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For years, researchers in genome stability have observed that several neurodegenerative diseases - including Huntington's disease - are associated with cell-killing proteins that are created during expansion of a CAG/CTG trinucleotide repeat.
In research published in the March 17 online edition of the journal PLoS Genetics, Tufts University biologist Catherine Freudenreich, and then-graduate student Rangapriya Sundararajan show that cell death in yeast can also result from the process by which the cell repairs damage that occurs within a repeated CAG/CTG sequence.
The findings provide additional insight into the causes of some neurodegenerative diseases. "This represents a new way in which the expanded repeats may be causing cell death that leads to the disease," says Freudenreich. , associate professor of biology at the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University "The expanded DNA in and of itself can be toxic to cells."
Scientists have observed that Huntington's disease, myotonic dystrophy and multiple subtypes of spinal cerebella ataxia are caused when the number of repeats at the disease locus exceeds a stability threshold.
For Huntington's disease, the threshold is 38 to 40 repeats. Myotonic dystrophy results when there are close to 200 repeats.
When these expanded repeats occur, the abnormal DNA is copied faithfully into ribonucleic acid, the chemical cousin of DNA. In myotonic dystrophy the errant RNA has a toxic effect because it grabs onto and holds hostage certain proteins, preventing them from carrying out the myriad functions that are vital to the cell.
In Huntington's disease and the ataxias, the RNA serves as a blueprint for an abnormal protein that contains an excessive amount of an amino acid called glutamine.
In her experiment, Freudenreich found a cause of cell death that arises from a DNA checkpoint response.
She started with a piece of human DNA that was cloned from a myotonic dystrophy patient. It contained CAG/CTG repeats of 70 and 155. She then placed the tract within a yeast chromosome.
Multiple types of DNA damage can occur at an expanded trinucleotide repeat. Damage of this magnitude triggers checkpoint proteins that respond like genomic firefighters to the emergency.
In normal circumstances these proteins halt the cell growth cycle until the damage is repaired.
In Freudenreich's study, the cell damage activated the Rad53 checkpoint kinase. But here, the protein arrested cell growth for an abnormally long period of time without repairing the damage. This often resulted in cell death.
In cases where the cell did manage to recover and keep dividing, the researchers observed an increased frequency of repeat expansions. "The cells that were having trouble growing and dividing due to the expanded repeat accumulated additional expansions. It became a vicious loop," says Freudenreich. She adds, "It will be important in the future to determine if this phenomenon is contributing to the cell death that causes the human diseases."
Myotonic dystrophy is an inherited condition that affects muscles and other body systems. It is the most common form of adult onset muscular dystrophy, with progressive muscle wasting as well as a variety of other symptoms.
Huntington's disease is a genetic disease involving degeneration of the central nervous system, leading to uncontrolled muscle movements, emotional instability and dementia. Folk musician and songwriter Woody Guthrie died from complications of the disease in 1967.
Freudenreich and Sundararajan's work was funded by a National Institutes of Health grant.
Sundararajan R, Freudenreich CH (2011) Expanded CAG/CTG Repeat DNA Induces a Checkpoint Response That Impacts Cell Proliferation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PLoS Genet 7(3): e1001339. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1001339
Alex Reid
Tufts University
Another Clue To The Origins Of Degenerative Diseases Discovered By Tufts Biologists
For years, researchers in genome stability have observed that several neurodegenerative diseases - including Huntington's disease - are associated with cell-killing proteins that are created during expansion of a CAG/CTG trinucleotide repeat.


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Israeli born pianist Ohad Ben-Ari performed at age 12 with the Israeli
Philharmonic Orchestra. The following year he was already enrolled as a student
at the Tel-Aviv University, where he studied piano with Pnina Salzman and
composition with Joseph Dorfman. Ohad has won numerous top prizes at
international competitions, among them the ARD Competition (Munich) and the
coveted Arthur Rubinstein Master Competition. As a result, he received many
invitations to appear as soloist with orchestras around the world.
In 1996 Ohad headed for the USA and set to work as a music producer
specializing in pop and in urban music. In the following years he would work
with top American pop artists, appear in major TV shows and record a vast array
of styles and repertoire, ranging from Classical to Jazz and Pop. Big success
followed his joint venture with his sister, violinist Miri Ben-Ari, who won a
GrammyTM Award while working with Ohad on her solo album for Universal
A decade later, upon his return to Israel, Ohad joined the faculty of the
School of Music of the Tel-Aviv University, alongside his work in the studio as
a music producer. He also founded the critically acclaimed ōTrio Mondrianö, with
whom he now tours regularly in Europe. The Trio has recently released a debut
album for ōChallenge Recordsö and received excellent reviews.
Since 2010 Ohad Ben-Ari resides in Berlin, where he continues his extensive
work as a pianist and composer. His partnership of many years with Berlin based
violinist Guy Braunstein has been reinstated and the two now often record and
perform together. This year Guy has appointed Ohad to be his co-artistic
director at the Bahnhof Rolandseck chamber music festival.
Many of Ohad Ben-AriÆs chamber music arrangements are being performed
worldwide. On the commission of Elena Bashkirova and the 2012 Jerusalem Chamber
Music Festival, Ohad wrote 12 different arrangements of the 12 Seasons by
Tchaikowsky which will be split among all festivalÆs performances.
In the upcoming concert season 2012/13 Ohad will tour Europe and Asia and
perform as soloist with orchestras as well as a chamber musician in many
European cities. He will visit Hamburg twice next season to play with the
Hamburger Symphoniker, first to perform Bartok 3rd piano concerto with Maestro
Jeffrey Tate, and at the beginning of 2013 to debut his original work for piano
and orchestra ¢ ōTipsö ¢ a classical composition that fuses elements drawn from
the world of popular music.


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How to Sew a Men's Shirt - Reading the Pattern
Your Patterns are Ready...Time to Cut!
Now that your pattern pieces are cut out and pressed flat, you are ready to arrange them on your fabric in preparation for cutting your fabric. I find this process to be pretty fun (I think because I like doing jigsaw puzzles) but some people really hate this part. I hope that, after this lesson, you too will enjoy laying out your patterns. This installment will focus on general aspects of pattern arranging. In the next installment, I will discuss customizing your pattern layout to take advantage of the fabric design features and allow for pattern matching.
Cutting Zone
The first issue is where to do this. It works best if you have a long, flat surface that you can arrange your pieces on without having to move them around. For years I used to do all of my pattern cutting on the floor which worked fine until my back and knees decided to stage a rebellion. Two big dogs walking around sniffing everything doesn't help either. So, a few years back, we purchased a six-foot long folding banquet table because we were hosting Thanksgiving dinner. That was the best $80 we ever spent. It makes a wonderful cutting table and it is easy to put up and take down. My favorite part is that I can walk completely around the banquet table while cutting, which I can't do with my regular sewing table. The items that you will need are: sharp fabric shears, pins (or weights), and chalk or some other marking tool. If you have a rotary mat and cutter, bring those out as well.
Prepare the Fabric
To prepare your fabric for cutting, you will need to first wash it and then press it flat. Fold it in half lengthwise with the right side facing out so that the selvages match up. Do not press this fold. Regarding pre-washing fabric, there are different opinions on this issue because some people swear by washing it first and others think that fabric is easier to cut before it has been washed. I worry about the fabric shrinking, so I always pre-wash my fabric (unless it is a dry-clean only fabric). Fabric shrinks across both its length and its width, with the length shrinking more than the width, usually. If you cut your garment patterns without pre-washing the fabric, you run the risk of your garment becoming distorted and out of proportion after it is washed.
How to Read a Pattern Layout
Now that your fabric is washed and pressed, you are ready to start working with the pattern pieces. The secret of laying out patterns is understanding how each piece functions and how they go together. Some patterns are placed on the fold or on doubled fabric and others are cut from a single layer of fabric. Some are cut in multiples, others are cut singly. This information drives how the pattern pieces are placed on the fabric. To help sewers with this process, most pattern companies include suggested layout diagrams on their pattern instruction sheet. As you become more familiar with the process, you will be able to arrange the pattern pieces to your own preferences. At this point, I rarely even refer to the suggested layouts because I find them to be somewhat wasteful. They usually call for the fabric to be folded in half, but there are others ways of folding the fabric that can result in fabric savings, which we will go into in more detail in a later installment.
Click for more information on how to cut patterns
How to Sew a Men's Shirt Lesson IndexHow to Sew a Men's Shirt - First Steps
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - Preparing the Pattern
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - Reading the Pattern
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - Cutting the Fabric
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - Matching the Fabric
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - Pocket
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - Sewing the Yoke
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - Sewing Shoulder Seams
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - Sewing the Collar
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - the Collar Stand
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - Sewing the Sleeves
You Should Also Read:
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - First Steps
How to Sew a Men's Shirt - Preparing the Pattern
Essential Sewing Tools and Notions
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Content copyright © 2018 by Tamara Bostwick. All rights reserved.
This content was written by Tamara Bostwick. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Cheryl Ellex for details.


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Canucks and Beyond
Tribute to the 2011 Canucks Playoff Ride
by Alanah McGinley on 06/25/11 at 08:45 PM ET
Comments (0)
I haven't written much about the Canucks since the end of the playoffs, mostly because it was so BRUTAL to reflect on. But I've never wavered on my opinion that it was a great season and a great run. And as a fan (after a week or so of highly intensive therapy) I've been hugely grateful for how far we went. Better to suffer in mid-June than mid-April, right?
I owe a large and belated swath of 'thank yous' to the thoughtful people who sent condolences by email and tweets (god, it's like a funeral in so many ways!), empathizing for our team's loss (or maybe just feeling sorry for me, their token "Canucks fan" friend).
Whatever it was, it made for a lovely epilogue on the season, and I'm grateful to everyone who had a few nice words to say about my favourite team.
Going to the Stanley Cup Finals was an epic experience as a hockey blogger, and I loved it. Full props to the Bruins and their fans for their amazing accomplishment—but to all the Canucks fans out there, we had a few minutes of fun, didn't we?
Filed in: playoff hockey, vancouver canucks, | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Who Owns the History of the Winnipeg Jets?
by Alanah McGinley on 06/24/11 at 03:51 PM ET
Comments (15)
While it was clear that a huge number of Winnipeg fans wanted their team's original name back, I really didn't think it was going to happen. But it seems it just might. As Elliotte Friedman said earlier today, "the power of public pressure" apparently rules the day.
But how logical is this decision? For instance, you have to wonder: Do the "new" Winnipeg Jets (Jets 2.0?) now re-hang their old retired jerseys—Bobby Hull and Thomas Steen—from the rafters? Whatever people might think of it, Phoenix claims those players as their own, and the jerseys are hanging in Arizona these days.
Do both teams get to claim this history, even though neither player was ever part of this new Jets team?
Filed in: | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: winnipeg+jets
Canucks RFAs, UFAs & Contracts
by Alanah McGinley on 06/23/11 at 07:03 PM ET
Comments (0)
Given that Philly seems to be blowing themselves up today—dropping Richards, Carter, and a few million in salary (and hey, with a sad 106 point season, who can blame them? clearly a pile of under-performing deadbeats…) while picking up an extra $51 million investment (holy goalie, batman!)— it seemed like a good time to post the Canucks roster situation. With a new salary cap blowing over $64 million, plenty of dealing will be done in the coming days and weeks.
Canucks.com recently put up a handy, comprehensive list to everyone on their roster, and their current contract terms. All the info is below, but in short: the good/bad news (depending on your favorite flavor) is that you have Roberto Luongo till 2022, and Kevin Bieksa until around.. well, next Friday.
Depending on how big a share of that $64 million he's looking for, anyway.
Here's the list:
Filed in: vancouver canucks, | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Much Ado About Hats
by Alanah McGinley on 06/21/11 at 04:08 PM ET
Comments (0)
From Rick Bozich at the Courier-Journal:
Maybe John Wall should stay away from baseball.
First there was his misguided opening pitch. Now, according to this blog in the Washington Post, Wall was seen wearing the baseball cap of a rival team. [...]
Wall plays for the Washington Wizards. His owners, the Leonsis Family, also owns the NHL Washington Capitals. Wall is pictured wearing a Philadelphia Flyers' hat.
Dan Steinberg at the DC Sports Blog suggests: "If I'm Ted Leonsis, anyhow, I think I send a box full of Caps gear to Wall's home."
You may remember, the subject of hats had the NHL's head office a bit miffed during the Stanley Cup Finals, when some Boston Bruins players were appearing in the media wearing the Red Sox hats instead of NHL gear.
The modern world of sports branding… a hat ain't just a hat anymore.
Filed in: dumb stuff, | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Random Monday Musings
by Alanah McGinley on 06/20/11 at 05:16 PM ET
Comments (6)
Still haven't quite recovered from Vancouver's whole playoff implosion (and explosions) thing, but getting there. (Starting to be able to read the hockey news without getting a twitch and randomly hyperventilating, though, so that's something.) Here's a few odds and ends for the day…
—This is Our Vancouver is a PR campaign looking to fix Vancouver's badly tarnished image after last week's riots. (Of course, when it comes to mob-attack behavior in the aftermath, those families are on their own…). Incidentally, someone thought it would be fun to light up a car on a busy street where I live on Vancouver Island this past weekend, too. One very big and dangerous fireball was the result. So the ripple-effect of last-week's stupidity has legs. Lucky us.
—When Nicklas Lidstrom's new 1 year contract extension was announced this morning, KK's website hits bounced up about 6,000% over the previous hour. (Maybe a slight exaggeration, but still, On The First Day, There Was Much Joy in The Land.) That guy's eventual retirement is going to kill these poor people.
Filed in: dumb stuff, | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Canada: How Much Are You Paying Per Point?
by Alanah McGinley on 06/17/11 at 05:30 PM ET
Comments (3)
Seat Geek did an interesting chart, looking at the results—based on average ticket prices and points in the regular season—that hockey fans in Canada are paying for:
Filed in: business of hockey, vancouver canucks, | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
About that Kiss…
by Alanah McGinley on 06/17/11 at 04:25 PM ET
Comments (8)
The couple whose passionate kiss was captured in a now-iconic photograph of the Vancouver hockey riots are an Australian and Canadian who have been dating for several months.
The photo shows Scott Jones and Alex Thomas in a fervent embrace on the street between a police line and another officer in full riot gear. Taken by Rich Lam for Getty Images, the picture has been splashed all over the Internet and in media outlets around the world.
Photo: Richard Lam
The circumstances are explained below (from ABC News):
Filed in: | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: alex+thomas, richard+lam, scott+jones, vancouver+riots
After the Smoke Clears, Good People Always Rise to the Top
by Alanah McGinley on 06/16/11 at 05:31 PM ET
Comments (15)
In the aftermath of last night's rioting, the Vancouver Police Department estimates that some 150 people were injured, some severely, including a man who tried to jump 12 meters from an outside concourse of Roger's Arena to the sidewalk below. A terrible night.
But a better morning. From the CP via TSN:
While police said it was mostly young thugs responsible for the mayhem overnight, an equally young crew turned up in jeans and rubber gloves, some with Canucks jerseys, all carrying plastic garbage bags.
Dozens of remorseful and dismayed commuters crowded around the smashed and plywood covered display windows at the flagship Bay store, a historical building that was the first focus of rampaging looters Wednesday night.
Someone had tacked a rough, hand-painted sign that read: "On behalf of my team and my city, I am sorry." People waited in line to sign it.
Mayor Gregor Robertson said there has been an outpouring of support from citizens.
"People coming downtown to try and help cleanup, trying to get our city back," he said as he toured the damage.
Many hundreds of people deserve enormous credit and thanks for contributing to this clean up. Organizing and documenting the hard work have been Twitterers @VancouverClean and over on Facebook, numerous pages (most prominently, Post-Riot Cleanup - Let's Help Vancouver).
NOTE: Updated at bottom, with video.
Filed in: | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: cleanup, vancouver+riots
Post-Series: Luongo, Sedin, Sedin, Kesler
by Alanah McGinley on 06/16/11 at 02:46 AM ET
Comments (1)
Update: More video—Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin.
Filed in: vancouver canucks, | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: daniel+sedin, henrik+sedin, roberto+luongo, ryan+kesler
Post-Series: Canucks Coach Vigneault
by Alanah McGinley on 06/16/11 at 01:38 AM ET
Comments (4)
Q. Alain, did you feel good about tonight the way the game started?
COACH VIGNEAULT: Yeah, I thought, you know, our guys were ready to play. But you know what, at the end of the day, I'm not going to analyze this game right now. Everybody is disappointed. Our players gave it their best shot. At the end of the day, you've got to give credit to where credit is due. Boston played a real strong game.
They have great goaltending and they were able to score a couple of tough goals around our net and they deserved to win.
Filed in: playoff hockey, vancouver canucks, | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: alain+vigneault
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About Canucks and Beyond
Alanah McGinley has been blogging hockey since 2003 (with a notable gap in time through 2010, kicking it with new baby Lucy while living knee-deep in chaos while reading "parenting for complete idiots" during every spare minute) sharing opinions, rants and not-so-deep thoughts with anyone who will listen.
In addition to writing Canucks & Beyond and helping manage Kukla's Korner, Alanah was one of the founders and co-hosts of The Crazy Canucks Podcast. She has contributed pieces to FoxSports.com and the New York Times Slapshot blog, as well as other stray destinations in cyberspace.
So that's me. Who the hell are you?
Email: email@example.com
Alanah's Twitter: [@alanah1]


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Description of 115 Waters Edge Lane, Moncks Corner, SC 29461
Home is Complete and ready to move in! A Lowcountry lake dweller's paradise! Welcome to Waters Edge, a hidden gem nestled at the base of the Pinopolis Peninsula. Why buy a brand new track built home when you could own a new semi-custom built home? With 9ft ceilings, an open floor plan, and high end finishes throughout, this 2580sf 4BD 3BA beauty is sure to impress. Only a 5 minute drive to Downtown Moncks Corner, and a 30 minute commute to the new Volvo Facility. This gated community boasts a 400ft coved dock perfect for fishing lovers, and a 2 story observation deck for viewing wildlife and enjoying breathtaking sunsets. There are also nature trails for jogging or dog walking, all within the gates of this small 58 lot community! Just outside the gates and around the corner is the boat landing, giving you access to the 65,000 acre playground of Lake Moultrie. Come see what lowcounty living is all about today!
Property Features of 115 Waters Edge Lane, Moncks Corner, SC 29461
Single Family Detached
Waters Edge
Moncks Corner Above Oakley Rd
|Elementary school: Berkeley
|Middle school: Berkeley
|High school: Berkeley
|Electric heat
|Two car garage
|Attached parking
|Covered patio
|Cement plank exterior
|Lot acreage is: 0.36
|Subdivision: Waters Edge
|Ceramic tile flooring
|Eat-in kitchen
|Wood floors
|Wall to wall carpeting
|Kitchen island
|Separate dining room
|Walk-in closet(s)
|Slab Foundation
|Currently under construction
|Gated community
Rooms & Dimensions
|Family Room
|Game room
|In-law quarters
|Laundry room