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And this was also on my bus route the other morning, on the other end at the terminus for the route.
The little spiky things are pigeon deterrents.
Remember, no post tomorrow for Sunday; we resume on Monday with the Letter O!
My theme here at my Knoontime Knitting craft blog is Letterforms In Nature and the Built Environment.
Thank you for joining me for the A-Z Blog Challenge. If you're blogging in the challenge, please leave me a link so I can come visit you too. If you have a moment, please check out these other fine blogs:
The theme on my main blog, Explore the Worlds of A. Catherine Noon, is The A To Z of the Zoo. Join me as I explore Brookfield Zoo and finds animals, birds, and insects from A to Z.
The theme at Noon & Wilder is The A To Z of Chicago. Since I live here in the city and we have our Chicagoland Shifters based here, I figured I'd share a window into the city, Noon & Wilder style.
The Nice Girls Writing Naughty have a new home, and we're blogging in the challenge again this year. Throughout the month you'll be hearing from each of the Nice Girls, and during the RT Booklovers Convention from April 12th to the 17th, you'll be getting live convention reports. Join the conversation!
The Writer Zen Garden's brand new website is up and running, and we're bringing you posts from me, Noony; my partner in crime, Rachel Wilder (the Wilder half of Noon & Wilder); the talented Darla M. Sands – a blogger in her own right, see below; as well as Grace Kahlo, Evey Brown, and author Tina Holland. Check it out!
My friends who are participating in the challenge (and if you're not on this list, tell me and I'll add you!):
- Darla M. Sands, Awakening Dreams and Conquering Nightmares with a Pen
- Kari Trenten, The Cauldron of Eternal Inspiration
Write on, and Happy Blogging!


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It came as no surprise that Constitutional Amendment 1, the Forever Wild Land Trust extension amendment, passed by a wide margin on Nov. 6. It was a bit of a surprise that it garnered the most votes of any issue or candidate on the ballot.
It came as no surprise that Constitutional Amendment 1, the Forever Wild Land Trust extension amendment, passed by a wide margin on Nov. 6. It was a bit of a surprise that it garnered the most votes of any issue or candidate on the ballot.
Reauthorization of the funding for the program was approved by 1,323,819 voters, according to state officials who certified election results this week.
The second and third most popular vote getters were unopposed judicial candidates and they were much higher on the ballot than Forever Wild. Ballot placement often is cited as a factor in how many voters a particular issue attracts, but measures further down the ballot got roughly the same amount of total voters as did Amendment 1, which drew just 437,560 no votes for a total of 1,761,379.
Legislators put the issue of Forever Wild funding in the hands of voters rather than renewing the funding themselves. Support among voters wasn't quite as high as it was when the program was created, but the amendment passed by a 3-1 margin.
Critics argued that Forever Wild acquisitions take land off local tax rolls, but that argument just doesn't hold water, given that the returns the land brings through tourism alone outdistance any lost tax revenue. Calhoun County's Coldwater Mountain, for example, opened this year and already is drawing mountain bikers from around the Southeast. It's not fully developed yet, with only about 12 of the planned 60 miles of trails open. When it's finished, it will bring many visitors and their money to the area.
Forever Wild complements Alabama's state parks and provides public lands for hunting, bird-watching, canoeing, kayaking, hiking and many other outdoor activities. We've argued against raiding the state's oil and gas trust fund, but Forever Wild's funding comes only from interest the fund earns and is capped at a maximum of $15 million a year. During its 20-year existence, it has averaged receiving $10 million a year. That's a drop in the bucket when you consider the state's financial picture.
Time may prove us wrong, but when another vote is needed on Forever Wild funding 20 years from now, we'll be surprised if voters don't continue to see the value of the program. It's a bargain, and voters know it.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Japanese economy is showing an uptick after almost two decades of recession. The retail industry has also experienced growth, benefiting from the policies of current Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's aggressive economic approach (referred to as 'Abenomics'). Sustainable success is unclear but Japanese customers are motivated to spend and retailers are looking for competitive differentiation.
In Japan, it is clear that the in-store experience is an important part of the customer journey. Digital provides the connection between online and offline points of shopper behavior and the omni-channel approach is key to creating the seamless experience that customers are asking for.
Accenture conducted a survey in 2014 to better understand consumer expectations and retailer capabilities in Japan. Stores are still the easiest way to make a purchase in Japan. More respondents expect to purchase more in store (14 percent vs. 10 percent last year) and fewer expect to purchase more online (39 percent vs. 49 percent last year).
In-store purchasing is even more prominent for "fresh" products such as groceries. Japanese shoppers have high expectations around quality and freshness. They tend to visit stores to check products before making purchases. Frozen products are less popular in Japan than other mature markets and customers tend to shop for groceries every other day rather than making volume purchases.
As competition intensifies, retailers will continue to look for innovative ways to engage customers with a variety of products through diverse channels. Retailers are transforming their operations and understand that digital has to play an important role to win the 24/7 customer.
Japanese shoppers want free delivery and the ability to schedule deliveries: 70 percent want to schedule delivery time and 19 percent want to schedule during "peak hours". Delivery companies in Japan are currently offering flexible scheduling and many stores are running free-delivery promotions.
Return rates of goods in Japan are relatively low compared to other countries where e-commerce has become a way of life. Japanese customers tend to feel responsible for their purchases and typically avoid going through the trouble required to arrange a refund.
While coupons are not as popular in Japan as in other markets, loyalty programs are becoming a key driver to build a customer base. Signing up to a program and collecting points in exchange for products or discounts is becoming an increasingly attractive value for shoppers. Lawson's Ponta card, for example, has one of the largest membership contingents with attractive point and cash discount options available for everything from concert tickets to groceries.
Japan was one of the first countries to start using mobile for a variety of purposes. While it is still largely a device to collect information before shopping in-store, some areas like ticketing, scan-and-go and pay-by-phone have been popular for some time now. With the smart phone quickly penetrating the market, mobile behavior is changing. There is potential for mobile to become a popular channel for online shopping and retailers are quickly adjusting their platforms to become mobile-friendly.


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Yeah, I know, I said Unit.
I'm looking to make some more now that the Norse one is finished. While content is easy enough to find, activities take awhile to develop from scratch. Have any of you ever taken courses about a particular mythology and completed any activities that you think would be fun for students to do?
I'll worry about making them pedagogically sound, but any ideas would help save me some time in the development phase.
If you haven't seen it here's the one I finished on Norse Myth that is getting some pretty good use:
Back to the word Unit...
I was at an educational technology conference last month and someone giving a presentation was mentioning the aforementioned course and in a room full of 600+ mentioned "Norsemen Unit" which got some laughs in a room full of teachers and some funny Twitter posts.


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A well renowned figure in the gaming industry has kindly taken the time to talk with us about equality and diversity in games and the gaming industry. Mr. Ernest Adams, though not a household name, is known to games developers not only as a founder of the first and largest international body for games developers, but also as a developer behind EA's Madden NFL series, and as a previous lead designer at Bullfrog Productions. Mr. Adams now works as a consultant working with such clients as THQ, Ubisoft, BioWare, the University of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while also being a fellow/visiting professor at a number of universities across Europe and the author of several books on game design.
We're quite honoured that such a person has chosen to speak with us about the industry and his perceptions of it (we can think of very few who'd have their finger closer to it's pulse!)…
Mr. Adams, You're very well known in the industry, and a quick google search shows you to have quite an impressive résumé, but for the benefit of readers, could you please tell us a little about your industry experience in your own words?
I'm a 22-year veteran of the game industry. I got started back in 1989 as a programmer (after having spent 7 years programming in another industry first), and then became a game designer and A/V producer. Along the way I helped to put on the Game Developers' Conference and founded the International Game Developers' Association. I'm now a game design consultant, part-time university professor, and writer.
What are your thoughts about Mr. Gaider's response to the "Straight Male Gamer" in the whole Dragon Age 2 affair recently?
I think David Gaider's response is one of the most eloquent defenses of equal treatment for all that I've ever read. I was particularly impressed by his points that privileged classes of people get so used to being catered for that they see any change as negative, and that they often want to deny the privileges they enjoy to others. This goes right to the heart of the gay marriage issue, in which socially conservative heterosexuals insist that they alone should have the right to get married.
We've heared of some statistics suggesting that straight male gamers may actually not be as dominant a demographic as people may first imagine, with one claim from a 2006 study that 70% of online gamers are female, and a claim from a 2008 study that 70% of female gamers typically play as male in order to be taken seriously. Do these numbers match up to your impressions of industry demographics?
It's nowhere near as dominant as people think it is. According to the Entertainment Software Association's own fact sheet, 40% of all (not just online) players are women, and more adult women play video games (33%) than teenage boys (20%). This directly contradicts the stereotype that the teenage boy is the typical gamer.
I'm less certain about the gender-bending numbers ("Gender-bending" is standard game-industry speak for playing as a member of the opposite sex, with no disapprobation implied for the most part). I'm surprised to hear that "70% of female gamers typically play as male" — I wonder if that means all the time, or just online, and in what sort of game. I would guess that a very large number of female gamers play Solitaire or Bejeweled as themselves without any effort to gender-bend. In offline games I think men are much more likely to choose a female avatar than a woman is to choose a male avatar. This has in part to do with players' different attitudes about their relationship to their avatar. For men (speaking generally here) the avatar is really just a means of influencing the game world, whereas for women the avatar is more of a means of self-expression. Women spend much more time customizing their avatars into realistic or fantasy versions of themselves; men are more likely to just grab the default and go.
The gaming industry seems to have taken a few steps forward in recent times, but responses to the BioWare story seem to indicate that the demographics of gamers have diversified faster than the industry itself has. There's a charge that the industry caters especially to a heterosexual male demographic when in fact it doesn't really need to do much to be more inclusive of many other demographics as well. Do you feel that the industry needs to diversify in such a way?
The industry absolutely needs to diversify its work force and also to learn to reach other kinds of players beyond "straight male gamers." Straight male gamers are a solved problem, done and dusted. The question is, can straight male game developers learn to make games for gay, or female, or older, or non-Western gamers? I believe they can and damn well should; but in addition, I feel that the industry would benefit enormously from a more diverse work force. Even with the best will in the world, a man isn't necessarily going to know what appeals to women — and more importantly, what turns them off. We need fresh perspectives.
One of the ways in which people have felt a little left out on occasions, is that in-game options tend to be limited along traditional lines. In setting up and playing RPG game characters, for example, things often seem to be clearly and unnecessarily delineated between male and female options, which excludes both self-identification for transgender people, and the fantasy for straight people. Do you think that this is something the industry could, and perhaps should, easily rectify?
I think it's asking a lot to demand that game developers include a third androgynous sex, or even FTM and MTF transgender sexes in addition to traditional male/female in their games. It's a lot of work to do character animations for two sexes, much less four. In the real world we only construct two kinds of rest rooms (the Swedes often construct only one) and all just have to make a choice; and I think the virtual world is the same and for some of the same reasons: it's expensive. On the other hand, I think it's perfectly reasonable to let male characters wear female clothing and vice versa if the player wants to.
In many games there's no particular need for the player to have an in-game sex; Gordon Freeman in Half-Life is never seen and never speaks, so in fact he need not be named Gordon or have the picture that he does on the box. "He" could have been named "Chris Freeman" and been of indeterminate sex if Valve had wanted to. However, in role-playing games with a story, I understand why it's necessary for players to either choose a sex or accept a given sex. I have some experience with transgendered people and I know that for many of them it's a situation that dominates daily life, but in a story of adventure and derring-do, the challenges of being a transgendered person really don't mesh well with the challenges of destroying evil dragons.
Love, lust and romance are powerful human emotions that feature regularly in video games in a variety of guises, not least because by nature they're a fundamental part of the human psyche. What are your thoughts on any possible need to see options for this in a homosexual context as well as a heterosexual context, and so including options for others while not taking them away from heterosexual players – an equalising of the playing field, as it were?
I'm all for including a variety of romantic opportunities in a game to cater for players of varying sexualities. David Gaider was right on that point: he was serving everyone, not just one group, and I think that's fair and right. That said, I know that many straight people are uncomfortable or offended being the target of same-sex romantic proposals (and sadly, a great many gay men have been beaten or worse for doing so by accident). This was really the essence of Straight Male Gamer's complaint; he didn't like being propositioned by a gay character. Facebook specifically enables people to say they are interested in men or women to try to reduce unwanted proposals, and I think this is a good idea. "Gaydar" isn't entirely effective even in the real world; it's much less so when an artificially-intelligent computer character is trying to decide!
Bottom line: yes to same-sex romantic opportunities, but give people the chance to opt out of undesired propositions from either sex.
I'd be remiss not to ask about the old and continuing charge that female non-player characters are often designed to cater more to the stereotypical fantasies of some males, sometimes to the exclusion of female sensibilities. Could you tell us a little about why this may be and whether it's something that the industry could easily address?
Its roots lie in the fact that the game industry, from the developers up to marketing and to the CEOs who ultimately decide what to spend the money on, are predominantly male and have for many years thought, wrongly, of gamers as teenage boys. It's something the industry could address without too much difficulty, but it requires some retraining. We don't need to make pink games or games specifically for women, so much as simply to avoid design decisions that turn women off. Unfortunately, comparatively few men know what those are. Most are entirely unaware, for example, of how female-hostile the average retail game store is. For much, much more on this subject by an expert, read Sheri Graner Ray's book Gender Inclusive Game Design.
On the subject of inclusivity, do you believe that there's a significant demographic of people that currently feel excluded from gaming? If the industry were to diversify, though people such as the "Straight Male Gamer" claim that studio's may lose their custom, is it likely that other people who currently feel excluded will take their place – perhaps even more than take their place. Is it in the commercial interests of game development houses to be more inclusive in this way, in your opinion?
The group most needlessly excluded from gaming is not actually women or gay people — despite the lack of options for those folks. The people most needlessly excluded, and about whom game developers are even more ignorant than they are about women or gay people, are those with disabilities. Game accessibility is in a terrible state. Most developers never give it the slightest thought. In fact, however, it's quite easy to make games accessible to people with a wide range of problems. Closed captions are technically trivial to implement and make games available to people with hearing impairments, for example.
Something like 23% of the population suffers from some form of impairment; I myself need glasses and am developing arthritis. I don't think that making games available to these folks will be especially lucrative, any more than installing curb cuts and ramps in sidewalks is lucrative. We do it because it's the right thing to do. And so should game developers.
You've mentioned that increased diversity in the industry would be a good thing. For one final question, would you say that the games development industry would welcome more female and LGBT game developers, and would you give any specific advice to any such person wishing to enter the game development industry?
The industry certainly thinks it would welcome them, but it's something of an open question whether they will actually feel welcome. So much depends on the corporate culture of the place where you work. I'm on the advisory board of Women in Games International, which is the professional society in the games development industry for women, and know a multitude of women in the business. At a grown-up company that is serious about enforcing anti-discrimination and anti-harassment rules, there should be no problem, but after I moved from California to England, I was shocked to learn how behind the times the UK industry is (and UK culture generally) — "laddish," and much more dominated by unenlightened young men.
I've written a book called Break Into the Game Industry that addresses issues for women and LGBT folks. My main advice is to keep your eyes open when visiting for an interview — if you're seeing pinups on the walls and no women in positions of power or creative input, watch out. If you hear some young punk using "gay" as a synonym for "stupid," ditto.
Apart from that, it's really about showing us what you can do. Job-seeking in this industry is mostly a matter of compiling an awesome portfolio, one that makes the hiring manager say, "Wow… I have got to talk to this person!"
Mr. Adams, thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us; it's sincerely appreciated and has been a real pleasure.
Everybody knows that the games industry has it's good points and it's bad points, and Mr. Adams' responses add weight to such a view. Even so, the responses are important in another way: They show that not only is there change in the gaming world, but there is a willingness to change. There is a recognition of where the industry falls short of the mark sometimes, and in the context of these responses, the recent BioWare story can be seen as a step towards a better future both for the industry and for gamers.
These things take time, but the BioWare story changed the world just that little bit. It might not have had a huge impact, but someone, somewhere will have taken notice. It has shown not only that there's support for the response of David Gaider, but there's support for such changes of perspective, attitude and understanding in the games industry in general. Ernest Adams's responses in this interview are no less important. The answers to these questions come not only from a 22 year veteran of the industry, but one of the leading figures within it. Those who wish to see this greater diversity, inclusivity and equality in the industry may wish to share what he has to say, encouraging that change by doing so.
If you'd like to know more about Mr. Ernest Adams and his work, his website is found at www.designersnotebook.com.


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PATH Act Makes Several Key Tax Provisions Permanent
There is nothing like waiting until the last minute to complete a task. We've all been there and we all promise we'll never do it again. Unfortunately (especially when it comes to determining the future of several valuable tax provisions) our government has fallen victim to the same bad habit.
Year after year, Congress promises to address the future of many expired tax provisions, and year after year they fail to make a definitive decision – opting only to pass legislation that extends the provisions for another year. In the meantime, taxpayers are expected to take on the impossible task of navigating the terrain amidst legislative uncertainty. Happily, things are about to change.
Listen To Our Podcast Taxes Are Like Fishing To Learn More About Tax Strategy
Congress finally made good on its promise to make take a more definitive stance on the future of many popular tax provisions last week when members voted in favor of making many of them permanent. Other tax provisions received a temporary extension. The legislation, Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act), is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2015, and provides taxpayers a level of certainty that they have been without for quite some time.
This legislation offers a lot of relief to individuals and businesses, alike. Here's an overview of what you can expect moving forward.
Key Tax Provisions Made Permanent By The PATH Act:
- 15-year recovery period for qualified leasehold improvements, qualified restaurant buildings and improvements, and qualified retail improvements
- Extension and modification of the research & development credit, including allowing certain small businesses to claim the credit against AMT liability and employer's payroll (ie: FICA) liability
- 179 expensing limitations and phase out increased to $500,000 and $2 million respectively
- Exclusion of 100 percent of gain on certain small business stock
- Extension of tax-free distributions from IRAs for charitable purposes
- Earned income tax credit
- Child tax credit
Key Provisions Extended Through 2019
- Extension of the new markets tax credit in which Congress authorized $3.5 billion allocation of credits each year from 2015 until 2019
- Extension and expansion of the work opportunity tax credit
- Bonus depreciation is extended at 50 percent for 2015 through 2017, 40 percent for 2018, and 30 percent for 2019
Key Provisions Extended Through 2016
- Extension and expansion of empowerment zone tax incentives
- Two-year moratorium on the 2.3 percent medical excise tax imposed on the sale of medical devices
- Extension of energy efficient commercial buildings deduction
In addition to the extension of key tax provisions, the PATH act also puts more scrutiny on the operations of the IRS. IRS agents will be held accountable for knowing and acting in accordance with the taxpayer bill of rights and prohibits the use of IRS business for political gain.
The passage of the PATH act is a huge victory for American taxpayers, and will allow them to partner more efficiently and effectively with their tax advisors on key issues in years to come without the uncertainty that has plagued them for many years.
Be sure to set up an appointment to speak with your tax advisor or financial planner to talk about how the PATH act will impact your ability to take advantage of tax planning strategies. Do you have questions about specific aspects of the PATH act? Fill out the form on the top, right side of this page to submit your question to Dear Drebit.
By Christopher Axene, CPA (Dublin office)
Are you looking for more ways to save on your tax bill? These articles can help:
Year-End Tax Tips For Business Owners
Dos & Don'ts of Gifting Donations


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"Major Crimes" (TNT, Mondays). The sequel to the beloved "The Closer" begins its second season this week, with Mary McDonnell back as Capt. Sharon Raydor, the head of a fictional Los Angeles Police Department unit devoted to ... major crimes. The transfer of power last year from Kyra Sedgwick's semi-comical, deadly serious Brenda Johnson — half scatterbrain, half heat-seeking missile — to McDonnell's cooler, more contained character had something of the controversial quality of a "Doctor Who" regeneration. (Change is bad! No, change is good!) But McDonnell's music is very affecting — I am fine with anything that keeps this great actress on view — and her Sharon deceptively deep and deep-feeling. The sequel's focus on the police working with the district attorney's office to close cases without having to go to trial does feel a little bit strained (Nadine Velazquez joins the show this year as a deputy D.A. and designated irritant), but all in all this remains one of TV's best procedurals and, with the loss of "Southland," the one that makes the best use of Los Angeles, its neighborhoods, cultures and varities of light. (Jon Tenney, meanwhile, who played Brenda's FBI agent husband in "The Closer" and was a recurring character on last year's "Major Crimes," has taken up residence alongside Rebecca Romijn in TNT's new bantering detectives series "King & Maxwell," which also premieres Monday; about that, more anon.)
The Tony Awards (CBS, Sunday). The Tonys are the best of all awards shows, because (1) I have no opinions whatsoever about the nominees, having not seen a Broadway show since that time we had a night off on tour and Kevin the drummer suggested going to see "The Music Man," though, sadly, Craig Bierko was out of the show by that time (but Rebecca Luker happily was not); (2) Neil Patrick Harris (fourth time hosting); (3) there is much well-practiced singing and dancing, one battle-tested showstopper after another; (4) Neil Patrick Harris; (5) as the old-fashioned cousin of the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys, it's all the more lovable, and loving, for its perceived relative lack of pop-cultural cool-kid status; (6) Neil Patrick Harris, ladies and gentlemen; (7) ordinary citizens attend (the audience defines the theater community) and vocalize their enthusiasm; and (8) that guy.
"Wizards vs. Aliens" (The Hub, Saturdays), "The Aquabats! Super Show!" (The Hub, Saturdays). With "Wizards vs. Aliens," "Doctor Who" re-creator Russell T Davies fills the hole left in BBC children's programming by the loss of "The Sarah Jane Adventures" after the death of star Elisabeth Sladen. Here, working again with "Sarah Jane" co-creator Phil Ford, Davies jumps clear out of the Whoniverse for a genre mix-and-match in which an extraterrestrial race known as the Nekross has come to Earth in order to "eat magic." (They find it delicious.) Bad news for the wizards of the world, including 16-year-old Tom (Scott Hargan), our hero. (The Harry Potter likeness, down to the house hobgoblin, is inescapable and surely not accidental.) Sci-fi and fantasy, though to some extent antithetical (the possibly possible versus the impossibly possible), mate well, being in dramatic terms nearly equivalent: spells, technobabble, what's the difference, really? (And what is a sonic screwdriver but a wand with a little "science" glued on?) A straight-ahead kids' show, it represents the cheap side of modern TV sci-fi and/or fantasy (which is to say, it still looks better than any 20th century episode of "Doctor Who") but does its job without winking or irony. The cast includes the wonderful Annette Badland as Tom's grandmother; some will recall her as the troublesome Blon Slitheen from the ninth Doctor's year — turned back into an egg, perchance to grow up good the second time. Which, in a sense, she has here.
BUZZMETER: Pundit's Emmy 2013 Picks
"The Aquabats! Super Show!" is, by contrast, full of ironical winking, yet there is nothing superior or dismissive in its re-creation of '70s/'80s/early-90s-style live-action Saturday morning TV. It is both a parody of the thing and the thing itself — an actual Saturday morning kids' show. (I write about the series, and speak with some of the Bats in and behind it, in this Sunday's Calendar section.) In its translation of a rock band that dresses like superheroes into superheroes who are also a rock band, it is something like Pinocchio becoming a real boy, if by "real" we mean something totally made up. Comes with its own integrated cartoons and commercials for fake toys and adolescent lifestyle aids (from a company called Gloopy).
"Falling Skies" (TNT, Sundays). I've never been able to summon much enthusiasm for America's favorite basic-cable post-apocalyptic road-picture of a TV series — that one with all the zombies. But I have been well disposed to this one, whose third season commences this week, wherein plucky humans roam the digital matte paintings of a ruined near-future to repel a race of spidery aliens and their giant robot thugs. Constructed, some say, as an echo of the American Revolution — and I can see that, sure — it stars Noah Wyle as George Washington, more or less. There are many big noisy battle scenes in which you root without reservation for the home team, but this is no interstellar "Red Dawn." If anything, in its complicated mix of gung-ho soldiering, troubled leadership, military-civilian dialectic, uneasy alliances and compromised minds, it resembles the admirable reboot of "Battlestar Galactica." (There is a zombiefication element as well, "Walking Dead" fans.) The insectoid enemy aliens are unusually convincing, and not just by TV standards; and unlike many beastly extraterrestrial invaders, who seem incapable of changing a light bulb let alone managing to cross the dark, forbidding reaches of space, they come off as smart and even relatable; you feel their pain, a little. It is also tense and terrifying. The new season takes up the action seven months after the end of the last, and there have been some changes around Charleston, is all I'm going to say.
PHOTOS: TV shows and their spinoffs
Overrated/Underrated 2014
PHOTOS: 101 best-written TV shows of all time


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Over the next month, NOVA is going to confirm what most sci-fi enthusiasts already suspect-that everything we've been taught about space and time just might be total B.S. The past is not just a series of faded events, the future isn't yet defined, and despite what science prudes say, we probably aren't alone.
The Fabric of The Cosmos, the four-part follow up to acclaimed physicist Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe, takes an intensely in-depth look at all we think we know—and then turns it upside down. So in the weeks leading to the November 2 series premiere on PBS, we'll be giving you a brief primer on what to expect from each brilliant episode.
Part one asks the seemingly innocuous question "What is Space?" Is it the stuff that all New Yorkers pay too much for? Is it that terrifyingly empty place that exists in excess above our heads? Using mind-bending logic and jaw-dropping visuals, Brian Greene takes viewers across a stellar landscape as he explains all the dynamic folds of the universe. Follow along as he explains the strange science behind black holes, delves into the mysterious ever-expanding stuff known as dark energy, and talks about all the seemingly crazy theories that physicists are finally starting to validate.
Check out the trailer to the left, then head here to get up to speed on the very real science behind the series. And don't forget to tune in to NOVA's presentation of "What Is Space," the first episode in The Fabric of The Cosmos series on Wednesday, November 2 at 9/8c. Only on PBS.


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Mitsubishi Japanese Import L200 Pickup
Mitsubishi L200 Parts, Accessories and Spares - Import Version
Milner Off Road are the UK's largest independent supplier of mail order Import Model Mitsubishi L200 Parts and accessories.
We stock Mitsubishi L200 Parts for a range of models including Mtisubishi L200 Pickup parts and Mitsubishi L200 Animal parts. Please select your imported vehicle model from the options below and do not hesitate to contact us should you have any queries regarding any of our offroad parts. Looking for UK/EUROPE L200 Parts? Click here.


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Team USA members Joseph Gray and Brandy Erholtz each captured the men's and women's individual titles, respectively, as Team USA won the women's team title over host Canada at the North America Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Mountain Running Championships at Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver Saturday.
The ninth edition of the NACAC Mountain Running Championships, it was the fourth consecutive individual championship for Gray and the eighth team title for Team USA's women, which also won the 2011 competition. Canada took home top honors in the men's competition after also winning last year in Mexico.
Team USA women used help from Amber Moran, who was the second overall finisher, defending NACAC champion Maria Dalzot finishing closely behind in third and Michele Suszek was fourth for Team USA. Canada's top scoring woman, Laura Estey, finished fourth overall.
Showing their depth, the Canadian men placed each member of its scoring team in front of the second Team USA finisher Ryan Woods, who crossed the line in fifth. Woods was followed by Jared Scott in seventh and Tommy Manning in eighth. Team Canada scored nine points to Team USA's 13.
Mexico was expected to compete, but a delay with Visas which prevented them from traveling to Cypress Mountain.
Next year's competition will be held in late June at Mount Cranmore in New Hampshire.


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Hallo lisp community,
I want to share a link to my website http://remote-lisp.spdns.de. It is LISP command line interpreter in an early development stage. I put it here, so people can take look from time to time, an watch its development. Maybe someone find it usefull. I like to implement a standard conform common lisp interpreter. It's a long way to go, but maybe some day...
I had my first contact with lisp while working with AutoCAD at work. While the so called AutoLISP is not a very impressive variant of LISP, but it cought my interest. Most of our code is written in C++. But there is still a lot of legacy lisp code, which is really badly written. But I have to unserstand and fix it. I decided to improve both, my C++ and LISP skills, while writing a LISP interpreter. I hope you have fun with it! It would be interesting to know, which functions you are considder the most important. Please don't say defun or setq/setf. I will implement them as soon as possible. What do you think about the client. Which features are you interestet in. Which use cases can you imagine?
The used technologies are C++, g++, Boost, Poco, Dojo and CMake. Great tools an libraries.
best regards,
Martin Kalbfuß


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West Coast Wilderness Trail
The Western Wilderness Trail is one of the 23 Great Rides under Nga Haerenga, The New Zealand Cycle Trail.
Status: Sections Open
Grade: Easy (2) - Intermediate (3)
Duration: 4 days
Total Length: 120km
In the midst of the West Coast of the Southern Alps, along the Great Alpine Fault, lie a series of tracks carved by pioneering gold rush miners. Today these old tracks, together with extensive water races, logging tramways and later short length railway lines, form the Westland Wilderness Trail.
This four day cycle adventure will offer an outstanding landscape ride through dense rainforest, past glacial rivers and lakes, through wetlands, all the way from the snow-capped mountains of the Southern Alps to the ocean.
The trail will start at Greymouth, the major commercial centre on the West Coast. You'll pass through Hokitika which along with Greymouth provides a full range of accommodation, services and adventure tours. The historic villages of Kumara, Milltown, Kaniere, Ruatapu and Ross provide opportunities to meet the locals on a personal level with a good range of existing accommodation at the end of each day.
The main route will be an easy grade one ride, catering for all levels of riding ability including families. It will offer multiple access points for 'location based" cyclists, with day rides from four urban centres. The trail is initially beside the ocean and a wetland reserve before using a disused railway line complete with several impressive wooden bridges.
Attractions and experiences along the trail will include gold panning, paddle boat cruising, rafting, dolphin watching, jade, gold, wood and bone carving studios, as well as the chance to view unique sculpture, ruby rock, glass blowing and the work of local potters.
Best time to ride
The trail's easy gradient and great local climate make it a good ride all-year-round.
Getting there
State Highway 6 connects the West Coast from Nelson, through Westport, Greymouth, and Hokitika onto the glaciers and through the Haast Pass to Otago. State Highway 7 through the Lewis Pass and State Highway 73 through the Arthur's Pass provide the east/west routes through the Southern Alps. By road it is just 3 hours to Christchurch Airport. Toll Holdings operate the Midland line with the world famous TranzAlpine Express train to Lyttleton. Air, bus and rental car transport are also widely available.
Click here for more information, photos and maps.


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Video + artikkeli http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktx ... 1075.story
"19-vuotias Mary Hendricks sai autismi diagnoosin 2-vuotiaana. Hän ei kykene puhumaan eikä luomaan katsekontaktia. Taustalla oli kuitenkin jotakin diagnosoimatonta. Asia selvisi vasta Maryn ollessa 17-vuotias.
Marylla oli ruuansulatusongelmia, ihoinfektioita, sisäelinongelmia. Hänellä oli kipuja lähes koko ajan. Äiti vei tytön vuosien aikana lääkäriltä toiselle. Lääkärit etsivät kuitenkin aina nopeaa ratkaisua tytön oireisiin. Mary itki kivusta, löi päätään ja puri itseään.
Tätä jatkui 17v kunnes perhe tapasi lääkärin joka selvitti ongelmia laajemmin. Ensin lääkäri selvitti äidin, Tinan, terveydentilaa. Tina kertoi että hän oli taistellut vuosien ajan erilaisten oireiden kanssa; suolistotulehduksia, fibromyalgia kipuja, jatkuvia nuhaoireita jne. Lääkäri kertoi ratkaisun Maryn terveydentilaan löytyvän äidistä.
Tinalle ja Marylle tehtiin ensin borreliatestit. Ne olivat positiiviset. Tina kertoi että hänellä oli ollut 2 punkinpuremaa ennen raskaaksi tuloa. Hän poisti ne eikä ajatellut asiaa sen kummemmin.
"Mikäli lapsella on autismi syntymästä saakka, on sen syynä yleensä äidiltä saatu infektio. Erityisesti borrelia-bakteeri aiheuttaa vastasyntyneiden autismia, sanoo autismiin erikoistunut lääkäri Lynn Miekle. Marylle aloitettiin Borrelioosihoidot ja muutamassa viikossa alkoi näkyä tuloksi jotka ylittivät ennakkodotukset. "On uskomatonta kun Mary herää nauraen eikä valita kipuja. Emme ole kuulleet naurua vuosiin."
Lääkäri Miekle sanoo Maryn saaneen tartunnan äidiltään raskauden aikana ja uskoo bakteerin olevan ensisijaisena syynä Maryn autismiin. Maryn oireiden vaikeuden vuoksi ei ole odotettavissa täydellistä paranemista mutta pienetkin positiiviset muutokset ovat merkittäviä.
Tri Miekle kertoo että autismiin sairastuneista osa on parantunut kokonaan kun he ovat saaneet borrelioosihoidot."
Doctors Find Link Between Mother's Illness & Child's Autism
Eric Harryman FOX40 News
9:48 p.m. PDT, September 26, 2011
The mystery of autism may never be solved, but research is giving doctors new hope in trying to put the puzzle pieces together. Doctors are starting to find links between children with autism and other diseases that may play a role. One of those links now has a name, it?s called ?Lyme Induced Autism?.
19-year-old Mary Hendricks was diagnosed with severe autism and developmental delay before she was 2 years old.
"She had a little bit of language and lost it. A little bit of eye contact and lost it," said Mary?s mom, Tina Hendricks.
But there was something more going on with Mary that was going undiagnosed, and it stayed that way for 17 years.
"She was having these developmental issues, but she was also sick," continued Tina.
Mary was sick with digestive problems, skin infections and internal problems that caused Mary to be in pain for a large majority of every day. The Hendricks took Mary to doctor after doctor in hopes of finding one that could pinpoint the problem, but each doctors visit seemed to be only a quick fix for the immediate issue.
"If she was awake she was moaning, crying out in pain, biting herself, chewing on herself, banging herself in the head," said Mary?s dad, Danny Hendricks.
That cycle continued for 17 years, until the Hendricks were sent to an Autism Specialist who had a whole new take on Mary and the issues that had taken over her life. That specialist asked Tina about her own health history.
Tina told the doctor that for years she had battled her own health issues; including colitis, fibromyalgia and symptoms that seemed like a never ending bout with the flu.
"He said the key to diagnosing Mary, is diagnosing you," Tina told FOX40.
The specialist ordered a Lyme Disease test for Tina and it came back positive and a few days later, Mary also tested positive for Lyme. Tina says before she got pregnant with Mary, she found two ticks on her skin. She removed them and never really thought much about the possibility of Lyme.
"If a child has autism from birth, many times it's because the child inherited an infection from the mother. I do think that Lyme disease, especially congenital Lyme is a cause of autism ," said Autism Specialist Dr. Lynn Mielke.
Dr. Miekle says Mary contracted Lyme disease from Tina through pregnancy and she believes the Lyme played a big role in the development of Mary?s autism. Immediately, Mielke started a full assault on Mary?s Lyme symptoms and in a matter of weeks the success was beyond their expectations.
"As we treat Mary for her Lyme, some of her check list autism symptoms are disappearing," said Tina.
"For her to wake up, smile and giggle and laugh .. we haven't heard that for years," added Danny.
Miekle told FOX40 the severity of Mary?s autism may prevent her from having improvement beyond minimal, but for the Hendricks even small improvements translate to be huge miracles.
"I have had patients in my practice with autism who when we treated their Lyme disease, their autism improved so much that they were no longer autistic,? said Mielke.
Copyright © 2011, KTXL-TV


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One of the main objections to the Calvinist or Augustinian doctrine of election is that it is inconsistent with a robust doctrine of missions. Why evangelize if God is sovereign, has already chosen from eternity who will be saved and who will not, and will most certainly accomplish what He has ordained? These are important questions and more than just straw-man arguments, for some who bear the name Calvinist have followed these questions to their seemingly logical conclusion and rejected the Scriptural injections to proclaim the gospel to all without distinction.
If we allow Scripture to be our guide, we'll find that election—rather than being the enemy of missions—is actually the very source of evangelistic zeal. Paul, the great missionary, labored "for the faith of those chosen of God" (Tit 1:1) and endured "all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory" (2 Tim 2:10). It was confidence in the electing and saving God that motivating Paul to evangelize—even if it meant risking his own physical safety. The Lord Himself encouraged Paul not to be afraid, but to continue to proclaim the gospel, "For," He said, "I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city" (Acts 18:9-10). These words echo what Jesus said in John's Gospel: "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd" (Jn 10:16). Notice the juxtaposition of missions (i.e., "I must bring them also") and the certainty of the salvation of the elect (i.e., "they will hear My voice"). The fact that God had given many to the Son, meant that those many would certainly come, but this does not eliminate the need to bring them in; rather, it creates it. The simple resolution to the apparent tension is that God ordains both the end (i.e., election to salvation) and the means to the end (i.e., evangelism). So according to the Bible, election does not undercut missions. Instead, it provides the very basis for confident evangelism.
One of the best little books on this subject is J. I. Packer's Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Downers Grove: IVP, 1961). Also worth consulting is John Murray's The Free Offer of the Gospel (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2001).
There's also a great article on Calvinism and missions in the latest issue of Themelios: Kenneth J. Stewart, "Calvinism and Missions: The Contested Relationship Revisited," Themelios 34:1 (2009): 63–78. It's worth a read.
Update: Here are a couple of other resources on the subject that look helpful:
- Keith Coleman, "Calvin and Missions," WRS Journal 16:1 (February 2009): 28–33.
- Ray Van Neste, "John Calvin on Evangelism and Missions," Founders Journal.


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Something fun from the archives, in keeping with Easter. Incidentally, I haven't been able to make any bentos, let alone update Just Bento this week, due to a sudden change of plans, but I'll be back next week with frugal bento recipes and more. So until then…enjoy your weekend!
Egg molds are a fairly easy way to add some cuteness to a bento box. They are meant for kids' bentos, but there's nothing to stop you from using them for yourself of course. I usually can't be bothered to make molded eggs for everyday bentos, but for picnics and parties they are quite a lot of fun.
Egg molds are offered by various online sources such as J-List and eBay merchants (see the left sidebar for some listings), as well as at 100 yen stores. There are two types of egg molds: one has a simple clamshell shape with a fastener, and the other has a inner half-shell. You can use the latter kind without the inner half-shell too. Either way, be sure you get one that has the clamshell shape and the closing fastener - these features are what make an egg mold work properly.
The three types of egg molds I have all say to use an "L" size egg. In practice, I've found that either an "S" or "M" size works the best for most molds, though some require an "L". In EU terms you want to get eggs that are either in the 50g or 53g + categories. You may want to experiment with the eggs you can get locally to see what size fits best. Extra-Large and Jumbo eggs, in U.S. terms, are definitely too big though.
Boil the eggs by putting them in cold water and bringing slowly up to a boil. Once the water is boiling, take off the heat, put on a lid and leave for 8 to 10 minutes.
It is pretty important to ensure that the egg yolk ends up in the middle of the egg, rather than leaning to one side. In order to achieve this you should roll the eggs around while the water is coming to a boil. (Note that this hands-on requirement is one reason why I rarely do this in practice for everyday bentos!)
To peel the eggs cleanly, dunk them in cold water, crack the shell over, and peel carefully. Very fresh eggs are hard to peel cleanly, but you rarely get very fresh eggs at regular supermarkets.
The egg mold instrutions call for a hot egg, which is more elastic than a cold egg, but by the time you've peeled the egg or several eggs, your egg is probably cold. To get around this problem, I dunk the peeled eggs in a pot of hot water to warm up, before proceeding with the molding. This method also works well if you start out with storebought hardboiled 'picnic eggs'.
Make ready a bowl of cold water. Open up the mold and wet the surface just in case your egg decides to stick (though it shouldn't).
Put in a hot egg. The shape of the mold will guide you as to how to place the egg. Here the bunny face is wider in the bottom, so the fat end of the egg goes that way.
Close the mold firmly - don't hesitate or get nervous if some egg white squishes out at the sides.
Close the fastener until it clicks. Put the whole mold in the bowl of cold water, and leave there for at least 10 minutes.
If you have the type of mold with an inner half-shell, first put in the egg as with the simple clamshell type mold.
Put the half-shell over the egg and press firmly. Close the clamshell over it and squeeze. Fasten with a click.
This is an egg that came out perfectly. This is the ideal.
This one has some egg white bits that got squished out at the sides. You can clean the ragged bits up with a sharp knife.
This one is a failure. It failed because the yolk was to the side of the egg. I would just chop this up as egg salad.
If you want colored eggs that are also molded, you need to add the coloring or dye before molding them. Presuming you are using a liquid type of coloring method (such as dunking the eggs in water with dye in it), if you put the eggs in a water bath after molding, the moisture will cause the eggs to swell back up, losing the molding detail. Here's a bowl of eggs that I tried dyeing after molding - see how they've gone back to their egg shape. (And yes, blue hardboiled eggs are a bad idea, aesthetically.)
So, once you have peeled your eggs, instead of dunking them in plain hot water, put them in colored hot water until they have achieved the color you want. Then mold them as per above. The seam will show white, but the form and overall color are there.
Here's a plate of colored eggs. The three back ones were 'dyed' by rolling them around in soy sauce. The pink ones were dyed in water with 'natural' food coloring added. (You can also try red cabbage juice with a little lemon juice added, for an all-natural dye.)
Personally I prefer the plain white molded eggs - if I am dyeing eggs, I'd keep them egg-shaped. It's up to you though!
You can use them to make small onigiri, as I did for the bunny and cat shaped onigiri here. You could also use them to make chocolate molds, or form any kind of plastic or moldable material. Let your imagination run wild.
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I prefer to cook eggs for an hour at a low temperature (around 158 degrees F, and definitely below 184 degrees F). The eggs are so much smoother and moister this way! See this article for an explanation: http://discovermagazine.com/2006/feb/cooking-for-eggheads/articleview?bstart:int=1&-C=
The only problem with using this method for molded eggs is that the yolk might sink to the side, and you don't want to rotate the pot for an hour! Maybe there is a way to automatically agitate the eggs.
Thank you for this great article. Very informative. I will have to keep my eyes peeled for egg molds. There is an Asian mall not far from me that I remember sold lots of Japanese toys and food. I should look for molds there. Great way to make a party a little more fun, and of course, liven up lunch. I wonder if you could do marbled molded eggs. I just did a tea and spice marbled egg recipe, and it would be fun to then mold it. Thanks again for the inspiration!
Maki: WTF!?!? These are eggmazing! Eggtastic! I've read something somewhere about Japanese mothers going to extremes to make insane bento boxes for their kids. This must be just one tool in their arsenal, eh? I'm going to see if I can order some off J-List. Thanks for bringing this to light!
I usually "paint" my molded eggs after taking them out of the mold using a little pastry brush and watered down food coloring. just a couple of swipes across the design. I like the "messy" drip effect it leaves. rather artistic! I only have the fish and car molds now, although I have used the tovolo ice cream molds as egg molds (you just need to hold em together with rubber bands, since there's no clasps). I want to get more cute ones, some of the ones you have there I've never seen!
I'm on the hunt!
i have an egg mold (heart & star shaped) and have yet to use it….i would have probably tried to make it using XL eggs and ended up crying. thank you for the tips. i couldn't read the instructions on the package anyway. just reading this post made me feel as though i made them myself! i'm exhausted.
That has to be the cutest food ever. I may just have to pick up a couple of these.
Thanks for all the great tips
Are there any other keywords I can use to search for egg molds on Yahoo!Japan besides ゆで卵? I'm planning to buy the non-Sanrio kind with a shopping service.
Hi Maki,
Before I saw your tutorial on egg molds, I had found pics of the finished egg products online and was really intrigued on how it was done. Finally got my hands on some egg molds (3 of them, one is like a moon cake/flower shape, another is the ice cream cone and the third one looks like an onigiri). I tried making them today (2 of them only) and they came out perfect. I did the trick about turning the eggs while cooking. I didn't twirl them that often but the yolk stayed in the middle. Those eggs looked so CUTE. I was really happy and gushing like a little kid. Thanks.
1) after i mold it everything is perfect but when i take it out of the refrigerator the lines are not as deep as before it looks like i never molded the egg. why is that.
2) should i use a smaller egg becuase i used jumbo?
3) or does it change becuase i put it in the refrigerator again. should I just leave it out?
… perhaps a good solution to your problem would be to leave the egg in the egg mold and store it in the refrigerator until you're reading to pack/eat it. I don't know if it'll stick -it's just an idea. Of course the idea is problematic if you want more eggs than you have molds, but if it's just yourself or a few kids that you're making them for, it doesn't seem like there'd be a problem, especially if your arsenal consists of 4-6 molds.
I don't much care for plain hardboiled eggs so I'm thinking star-shaped deviled eggs would be tasty.
tell me if i did something wrong. its not defined really.
1) after the eggs come up to a boil turn it off
2) run the eggs through water to keep from burning fingers keep them warm while you peel them
3) put peeled eggs in the molds and put the molds in cold water for 30 minutes?
By the way… a good source for demos is http://bentotv.com . Some stuff is kind of like "well, duh!" (decorating a mayonnaise container with stickers, for example) but if you're interested in exploring bento accessories, tools and how-to's, it's pretty good.
The girl has her own eBay store so that you can buy most of what's demonstrated. But as with any shopping you do, you should consider more than one source and be critical: Some of those "Nori punches" look an awful lot like paper punches, don't ya think?
I just ordered a bunch of the egg molds from ichibankanusa.com—it is the cheapest place I have found to buy them (only $1.50 per pair!). In the past they have been out of stock for a bunch of their egg molds but they seem to be well stocked right now (mid Dec 2008). I can't wait to get them!
This is a followup to my last comment.... I did get the egg molds and I love them! I ordered 6 shapes, and 4 of them turned out great (the fish, car, rabbit, and pig). However, the star and heart shaped ones didn't do very well--they are so non egg-shaped to start that I found those molds to not do as well as the other ones. Just a tip for people thinking of buying some!
USA readers may find that new eggs are frequently too fresh to peel well. I make the shoyu tamago you talked about a while back nearly daily since that post, and the eggs I can get don't peel well until they're less than a week from their "best by" date. They're nice for about a week after the "best by" date, then they start getting the "old egg" sulphuring around the edges of the yolk. Must be mutant chickens...
enjoyed this post on egg moulds. find the tip about rolling eggs in water interesting! tks for sharing this.
I used your Shoyu-Tomago recipe with the car and fish egg molds. It was a huge hit in my son's bento!
Arigatou gozaimasu!
hey maki where did you get the onigiri shaped egg mold?
I know this is an old post, but I just wanted to say that the once or twice I colored the egg(s), I molded them, colored them, and then put them back in the molds in the fridge or just on the counter while I did the rest of the bento - My hubby said the egg shape held up perfectly until he ate lunch the next day :) I also store any extra eggs I do (usually just one extra specifically for the next day) in the mold - after soaking in ice water. I find that still soaking them in ice water leaves them moist around the egg so they don't stick to the mold after a day in the fridge :) Also , I found that the heart and star set needs a bigger egg to fill the mold - unfortunately, it seems like somewhere between a L and XL egg works best...
can you see more of the detailes like eyes and smile if you used food coloring? or will it look the same plain?
Just wondering where you got the Ice Cream shape egg mold. I have other 4, the bear, car, rabbit and fish from Ichibancan.
I dont eat eggs but am really getting into bento. Do you know if its possible to mold tofu in the same way? I need to come up with high protein solutions for my bento boxes! what do you think??
Tofu is awfully soft. You might do better to use a cookie cutter on firm tofu slices.
Hello! I've only discovered this site today, and I really adore it. ^_^ I feel like I can make really cute lunches now! I was also wondering... I'm about to buy those egg molds (the bunny, bear, car, and a fishy one) on amazon primarily because I thought I could use them to shape my onigiri. Is using an egg mold to shape onigiri an okay thing to do? I don't see why not, but since you're much of an expert than I, I'd like to get your advice on it before I buy the molds. :)
Whew, that's good. Thanks again for this wonderful site! I hope you don't mind me asking questions here and there if ever I need advice for my bento lunches... >.<
thank you so much for this article! I couldn't read the Japanese instructions on the back of the package of the molds and this post showed me how to do it!Yey! :)
Thanks for the cool article on the eggs. I've been looking for a way to make star shaped eggs for my Super Mario Party. My idea is I want to have some of the food shaped like things in the video game. I searched for molding eggs and found out tons from here.... looks like I can order egg shaped molds and I'll have my 'star' food!
Thank you for posting this! Very helpful, and thanks for the red cabbage dye tip, will definitely keep that in mind
of those are for bentos how is it hardboiled eggs keep?i wouldent want it going bad. but its so adorable
will the eggs go bad in a bento? that would be depresing at lunchtime
This is so much fun! We are super new to this bento thing but I am super excited, we make a lot of eggs since we have chickens, my daughter is starting pre-school and will love these!
So THAT'S how you make those eggs! :D I saw the picture at this new Japanese store and thought "wow, that's sooo cute!". But when I tried it for myself, I made the mistake of using a raw egg and trying to boil it inside..... failed miserably. Thanks to your instructions, there's new hope for my egg molds! (I have a fish and car one)
I have followed your instructions twice and both times my eggs peeled horribly. Literally chunks of the egg come off with the shell. I have made a total of 9 eggs and only 1 peeled cleanly. What am I doing wrong? I know that really fresh eggs are said to not peel well, but mine aren't super fresh. I bought them at a normal grocery store and they have been in my own refrigerator for about a week.
I've found that running the egg under warm or hot water while you peel it tends to work nicely.
They also sell pre-boiled eggs at some supermarkets, if you want to skip the boiling-and-peeling step altogether. It's more expensive than doing it yourself, though.
@justbento - strictly site updates
@makiwi - Maki tweets at random


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I am privileged and honoured to welcome you to the official website of the Embassy of the Republic of Kenya in Berlin, Germany. The site is a treasure trove for news aficionados and those seeking specific assistance from the Mission.
The site capsulizes key sectoral information inter alia, tourism, investment, trade, agriculture and further invites the reader to sector-specific government websites.
Geostrategically, Kenya is the regional anchor state, a communication hub and is the gateway to Africa's hinterland, including Regional Economic Communities (RECs) namely EAC, COMESA and SADC.
Kenya is imbued with a rich and diverse landscape. It is a magical mosaic and a tapestry of arresting natural sights, culture, game and is home to the BIG FIVE and the finest long-distance athletics in the world.
This platform now enables Kenyan citizens - visiting or residing in Germany, Romania and Bulgaria to register online and access our services.
Guided by the need to reach out and enhance swift service delivery, the Mission has engaged two Honorary Consulates in Hamburg (Germany) and Sofia (Bulgaria). The Embassy is further considering expanding its foot print of Honorary Consulates in strategic cities in the countries of accreditation.
For more information, kindly contact the Embassy.
Joseph Magutt


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VERGENNES — On Tuesday, Vergennes residents will choose in a two-person race for mayor between an incumbent one-term alderman and a former multi-term alderwoman and one-term mayor who has thrown her hat back in the ring after several years away from city politics.
Each, Alderman Bill Benton and former mayor April Jin, has been active in the community and is a long-time resident of Vergennes. Both are married with three grown children who have attended city schools.


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Meet your fellow owners in our Owners Clubs
Mercedes-Benz G-class (Geländewagen)
" Maybe the G-Wagon can't keep up with a Trooper offroad? :-)"
That is a challange I will take any day ;-)
If you had ever been on a 45 DEGREE incline, you would realize the folly of the statement made in the add. That is so steep you would have trouble climbing it on foot without steps of some kind.
See if they will back that claim up. You could use a new truck, right? I will be in Moab Utah this weekend. There are a couple well know 45 degree climbs. If Isuzu will back up the claim, I would gladly point you to where we could watch it tumble sideways down a 45 degree incline. LOL0
Well, if we did test and it rolled, I could still afford at least 2 more before I cover the cost of a G. You are probably right though, 45 degrees is pretty steep, however it isn't the only place I have read the same rating? Isuzu has not spent a lot of money of advertising and they may never have gotten back to correcting it.
I am in the east coast, hoping to someday get a trip out west for some moab terrain. Until then all the G owners will just have to sit back and wish they had a Trooper.
Seriously though, How is percent slope and degrees calculated? You said 45 degrees is 100%, so then 22.5 degrees is 50%?0
The Rover Discovery is rated at 45 degrees too, so I don't think it's a misprint.
Slope percentages are done as a fraction, by "rise" over "run". Looking at a slope in cross section, if it climbs 100' as you go "into the hill" 100' then it's 100'/100' or a 100% slope. If it rises 50' in 100' of distance then it's a 50% slope. Looking at a protractor, a 45 degree angle has the same rise and run, so it's a 45 degree angle, but a 100% slope.
|...\ if this "rise" is 100'
and this "run" is 100'
then it's a 100% slope and a 45 degree incline.
Hope this helps, -Bob0
Ahhh...y=mx+b. "m" being termed in percent rather than a whole number. Got it.
Or in more arcane terms, It's the arctangent of the rise over the run.
Rise = 50' Run = 100' angle = 26.6 degrees
Note a little mathematical weirdness here: with half the rise of a 100% grade you'd expect half the angle, or half of 45 degrees. Nope. It's a trigonometric function, not linear.0
Interesting...so slope as a percentage is a function.
I have done some web research today and I did find references to the 45 degree angle, even for the older generation troopers? It does seem steep...though I think the best thing to remember is that when I am pushing it to my limits, which are well short of 45 degrees, I am probably OK, even when it feels like it I won't make it.0
They will all roll on a 45 degree, 100% slope sidehill, I don't care what the advertising departments say.
The trooper is a nice truck, I had one once, it blew a headgasket :-O Besides you need to buy two just to come close to lasting as long as a G :-O I wasn't slammin on your truck of choice, please spare me the pickin at the G.
I just think it is great that people get out there and use the dang things, regardless of make. It is a great time. I know that there are some pretty sweet places out east to wheel as well. I can't think of the names right now, but somewhere in Penn.0
Or in more arcane terms, It's the arctangent of the rise over the run.
To clarify, it (the slope or grade) is not the arctangent of the rise over the run. The rise over the run is the tangent of the angle! (Said differently, the arctangent of the rise over run IS the angle!)
Thought you'd like to know! :-)
SUVs; Aftermarket & Accessories0
AHEM. Listen up, ya ding dong... I said the angle is 26.something, and that's the arctangent.
Now don't make me come down here off'n my icy mountain and whack you one. I'm having too much fun.
Interesting how we use the term "slope" and it's expressed as a ratio. But then the term sidehill angle comes into play and it's no longer a ratio; it's a pure angle. I bet most people don't realize they're doing it.
Likewise, when people hear that the Tour de France had an 11% grade during a mountain climb they think that's not much... till they realize that's the same as climbing one story in 100' of forward travel. OUCH!
About rolling on sidehills, not all trucks will roll at a 45 degree angle. If their center of mass is inline with the axles, their roll center is so low that the tires would slide sidehill before they rolled. The CG of my Rover is on a plane one inch above the top of the alloy wheels. That makes it very stable on an offhill. But then you add tall tires (Bob raises his hand) giving the roll center more leverage, and then you put a couple people in it, and the CG moves up... and pretty soon you have a dangerous condition.
Q: On a 45 degree sidehill, a 200# passenger will feel how much sideways force pulling him toward the downhill door?
A: Enough to make him want the heck outta there.0
Now don't make me come down here off'n my icy mountain and whack you one.
Seriously, I only made the clarification because you used the pronoun "it" in your comment "Or in more arcane terms, It's the arctangent of the rise over the run." which makes it ambiguous.
We wouldn't want to lead any budding mathematicians astray who might be dropping into these forums.
Is it true that nanuq is Inuit for "number guy from the north?" ;-)
SUVs; Aftermarket & Accessories0
"Nanuq" means "Polar Bear" in Yupi'q. But the real term of endearment I've been stuck with is "Nulaqmi". Argh. It has something to do with a bloated white walrus stomache.0
No, you weren't slamming my truck of choice...however, my use of information here is not careless either.
Anyway, I read the G board because I think they are cool, and only meant to share a common experience of driving on steep slope. Please update us with pictures from Moab, I would like to see them.0
People seem to frequently toss off "steepness" figures (not in here, but "around"). The steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street, comes in at 38 degrees. Grab your bike, Nanuq....
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Sorry, I may have been a little over sensetive, maybe the touchy feely generation is digging its claws into me a little :-O
I am really psyched about this trip! hard to imagine when I am facing a good 20 hour drive, beginning tonight. I have a stop over planned in Denver to break the monoteny. Then I will have three full days in Moab, should be a blast.
They rate the trails from 1-4+ out there. Last year we did a 3.5, followed by a 4.0 and finished with Moab Rim trail a 4+. I am sure that there are a couple tougher than that one too. I am meeting up with a couple other G owners, both with G500s. I am not sure how much I can talk them into but, I plan on doing Golden Spike with or without them.
I have a few shots from last Sept. and I will definately add to the collection this year.
Moab Trails http://www.4x4now.com/mu4wd.htm0
Nice pictures...I noticed you have a G320, did you go through a 3rd party vendor to import one before they became mainstream? How long did it take to get brought in, and then did they have to add an engine stateside or is the 3.2 what was sold in Europe? Any difference in performance offroad between the 500 and 320/280? I would imagine the additional weight from the 5.0 makes some difference?0
The 320 is my second one. I had a 1990 300GE prior to this one. I bought it from the main importer, Europa, loacated in Santa Fe NM. The second one, the 320, came in through Europa again but I bought it from an outfit called Kieser Motors in San Jose, it was on consignment from Europa.
In 2000, Europa sold its legal importation rights back to MBUSA. I know that seems strange but, Europa was the only legal importer for a period of time. They did crash testing and emissions compliance to reach this status.
Now MBUSA imports the G500s and Europa has become a Saab dealer that still handles parts and service for the G's it brought in.
The chronology goes a little like this. Introduced in 1979 as the 460 series chassis with a 2.3L four, the 460 continued untill 1989 when it was replaced by the 463 chassis. The 460s are quite basic machines, they remind me very much of the original Troopers, the dash is even similar in layout. The 460s are part time 4wd with optional front and rear diff locks, though most have them. Next a 2.8L inline six was added which is the 280GE. There are also a couple diesels but they are under 100hp and not very practical for everyday use.
The 463 started out with the M103 3L six from the 300E sedan. It also introduced full time 4wd with standard lockers. In mid 1994 the G320 was introduced, M104 3.2L 210hp six. The inline 3.2L was replaced with the new 3.2 V6 in '98 or '99. There are very many of these in the states because the V8 G500 was introduced in '99. The 463s also brought fancy interiors to rival the sedans of the time. So the 460s are workhorses, the 463s do a good job of combining the rugged off-road ability of the 460 and the luxury of a MB sedan.
I also have an '02 G500. I would bet that the all aluminum V8 is lighter than the iron block inline six. It also takes up less space under the hood (the V8).
The frame, suspension and body remains largely unchanged as does its capability. They pretty much just added more luxury and power as time went on.
The 280s are acceptable for power, I would prefer a five speed, same with the 300. The 320s on up were all automatics but, by then it was was enough power. Both my 300 5-speed and 320 would roll across Nebraska all day at 90 mph with the AC on. The G500 is in a completely different league. With 300hp it goes 0-60 in 7.5 seconds. To me, the most desirable model is the pre MBUSA G500 from '99-00. They have the more basic interior similar to my 320. The '02s got a nav system and a bunch of other useless, to me, electronic gadgets. My wife drives that one mostly.
After Moab this weekend I am dropping my 320 off at a fabricator in Colorado Springs for custom bumpers and rock sliders to protect the door sills. I already have the lift in. Then the final few mods will include bigger tires, a winch, and likely a roof rack. It should be one heck of a unique truck by the time I am done.0
that street is nothing. Whoever said that street is the steepest in the world is dumb. I have been on streets in san francisco that dont have sidewalks...they have stairs.0
Go tell Guinness World Records :-)
"San Francisco's steepest roads - Filbert Street and 22nd Street both have a maximum gradient of 1 in 1.853 (28.35º or 31%)." My point is that people tend to way overestimate grades around the boards.
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I saw an older model in Nantucket this summer, much more truck like. It didn't look more than 10 years old though. I agree that the older basic style is more appealing (at least to me). It also appeared that the body was somewhat different from the current G500's?0
I prefer grading on the curve.
Last summer I came down off one grade that was so steep (HOW STEEP WAS IT??) I had it in 1st, low range, feet on the brakes, and I was still sliding downhill. When I reached the transition to level ground at the bottom I drug the FRONT of my license plate on the ground. Which adds to the charm of a truck that sees some offroad use.
Unless you have seriously short overhangs you'll get yourself in one big pickle doing this stuff. Going up, you'll lift your rear wheels as you drag the underside of the aft end... and coming back down you'll end up with most of your weight suspended by the front bumper, and no steerage.
This is why God made locking differentials.0
vin_weasel Posts: 237I find myself in situations now where people are asking me why I have mud and swamp grass hanging from my front bumper and trailer hitch. Time to put the lift on and buy some bigger tires.
I was watching a special on TLC about 4x4s and they had a section on a Rover driving school where they would take the vehicles over a 40 deg side slope. Apparently most people begin to feel uneasy at around 15 deg because the angles feel so much worse than they really are.0
steve, maybe this street doesnt qualify as an actual street(more of an alley), but I am not kidding when I say this street had an angle of at least 40 degrees, no overestimation or exageration.0
Hey, Im sorry that I have to ask this stuff in here, but it seems like the Gwagon folks are the only people that are serious about Off-Roading in Town Hall.
But I am curious, what do you guys think of the new Toyota 4 runner? It sounds like a great new SUV with a continued emphasis on offroading and affordability. Kinda like a less luxurious baby Land Cruiser.
Read about it in the first drive section on edmunds.
BTW, saw my first G500 the other day, driving a trail to the top of one of our mild local peaks in the San Luis Obispo area. It had no visual difficulty whatsoever. I also saw it traverse a side slope of about 12-15 degrees, without any wobble or sway. Impressive. Just make it cheaper!!!0
Wishnhigh1, you bring the clinometer, I'll pick up a loaf of the extra sour. Shouldn't take us more than an afternoon to put this to rest, and then we can head across the bay to Spengers for a shrimp scatter plate. :-)
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Yep I've seen that one. The guy speaks with aplomb into the camera as his "tyres" chew the gnarly slop crossing the sidehill. He calmly discusses rolling your truck, at which point he aims downhill and punches it. Great footage!
Although it happens only at extreme angles, it IS possible to roll a Rover. This one went over backward.0
Hey does anybody think that engineers rate these vehicles for ratings that they are not capable of in real life?
Hypothetical example, SUV1 is rated to withstand a 40 degree sideslope...however with the driver in the cockpit it is only capable of 36 because of the new center of gravity?0
That's an interesting observation!
I just did a quick back of the envelope calculation and a 200 pound passenger in a 4000 pound vehicle could cause the center of gravity to be raised by 5% which translates to about 1.5° shift in the "critial angle." It's in the ballpark.
Of course it depends on vehicle details (I'm just making a very crude estimate here) and whether the driver is on the upslope or downslope side of he vehicle.
Obviously, the engineers do the calculations more precisely and I am certain they take it into account - if for no other reason than liability concerns.
SUVs; Aftermarket & Accessories0
There is certainly more to it than even that. Trail conditions of course make a big difference too. Many times as you approach the limit there may be a little bump that goes along with it. That bump may provide enough acceleration momentum to go over at under the rating.
sbcooke, There is no actual differance in body panels. The front fascia is different from old to new. In addition fender flares are standard now and were optional on the old ones. The look is different, the body is actually the same.
On the G's cost. There are many of us writing MBUSA to send us a less expensive stripped version at reduced cost. I think the thing would sell like crazy at say $40k new. They have a great engine coming here already in the Sprinter Van. It is a 2.7 inline six turbo diesel. That engine in a stripped G would make an awesome off road and general utility vehicle. While I doubt it will happen, I sure hope it does :-)
I am back from Moab! I come bearing many pics! If you want to see a nice picture of lean angle, I have it. I think it is the third or fourth one in. 2000 G500 on a nice sidehill with one front wheel in the air. He scared the heck out of me, and I was just watching! There are about 70 pics that take a couple minutes to load on a slow connection. I think it is worth it but, they are my pics ;-) http://homepage.mac.com/brentholm0
I think the difference on the one I saw was that the spare was more centererd and on a different style carrier, rather than on the door and the interior was very sparse.
Nice pictures. Some of those climbs look pretty hairy. Nice Job!0
Yeah, even a momentary turn uphill will cause enough momentum to tip at the limit. I am just wondering how the engineers come up with that rating. Is it a non-moving, zero payload test, or is it real world conditions.0


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Texas man's obit blasts him as possessing 'no redeeming qualities'
It seems that viral obituaries are all the rage these days, with writers making sure the deceased are remembered on their way out the door.
There have been obituaries mentioning Hilary Clinton, Donald Trump and even ones that read more like a treatment for the next Matthew McConaughey movie.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, enter the obituary of one Leslie Ray "Popeye" Charping of Galveston, Texas. Charping was a veteran and Naval boxing champion, but that about was the only positive thing said about him.
Charping, aged 74, died on Jan. 30, 2017 after a fight with cancer. This was, according to the obit, "29 years longer than expected and much longer than he deserved."
"He leaves behind 2 relieved children; a son Leslie Roy Charping and daughter, Shiela Smith along with six grandchildren and countless other victims including an ex-wife, relatives, friends, neighbors, doctors, nurses and random strangers," the obit continues.
And it goes downhill from there:
"At a young age, Leslie quickly became a model example of bad parenting combined with mental illness and a complete commitment to drinking, drugs, womanizing and being generally offensive," the obit says.
Charping also had a handful of run-ins with the law, according to Harris County court records. His first conviction dates back to 1979, when he pleaded guilty to assault.
He also pleaded guilty in 2008 to assaulting a family member by pouring hot liquid on his then-wife of 40 years. The next year he pleaded guilty to violating the resulting restraining order by calling another family member and threatening to kill her.
According to the obituary, despite being intelligent, Charping lacked ambition, squandered the savings and chased "get rich quick schemes.
"Leslie's hobbies included being abusive to his family, expediting trips to heaven for the beloved family pets and fishing, which he was less skilled with than the previously mentioned," the obituary read. "Leslie's life served no other obvious purpose, he did not contribute to society or serve his community and he possessed no redeeming qualities besides quick whited [sic] sarcasm which was amusing during his sober days."
The closing line of the obit cuts rather deep:
"With Leslie's passing he will be missed only for what he never did; being a loving husband, father and good friend. No services will be held, there will be no prayers for eternal peace and no apologizes to the family he tortured. Leslie's remains will be cremated and kept in the barn until "Ray", the family donkey's wood shavings run out. Leslie's passing proves that evil does in fact die and hopefully marks a time of healing and safety for all."
Leslie, wherever you are, your obit is crashing the funeral home's website for all the wrong reasons.


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Russia increases the demand for gold by supplying its gold reserve
Russia's gold reserve occupies the 6th position in the world rank, giving way to the US, Germany, IMF, Italy and France. It is known that Russia has been increasing its gold reserves for a long period. Thus, according to Bloomberg agency which based its evaluation on the data provided by IMF and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, in November 2014 the amount was 1187 tons, and already by the 1st of April it raised to 1238 tons.
Bloomberg states that Russia hit the record of gold purchase since September 2014 until March 2015. In March gold reserve increased in 1 million ounces which is equivalent to 31,1 tons. Hence, the conclusion is that March appeared to show the maximum growth starting from September 2014, when it was 37,3 tons.
It is officially stated that Russia did not buy gold to supply its reserves since the beginning of 2015. Moreover, it was forced to sell about 500 kilos of this precious metal in January, while February was not marked with any changes in the gold reserve.
Taking into account the data about the gold reserve of the country by the end of 2014 the reserve increased by 173 tons. The main part of the reserve has been from national gold deposits. Experts believe gold resources which lie underground comprise about 5000 tons of gold. In its turn, the amount of extracted gold was 245 tons last year, which puts Russia in the 3rd place in this rank, giving way only to Australia and China.
Following the example of the biggest country of the world we can see how the demand for gold grows. The interest for this metal always remains high, and it has become especially topical now, in times of economic tension. Likewise countries of the world aim at increasing their gold reserves individuals can also buy gold in order to protect their capital.
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Category: Gold news Publication date: 2015-04-27 08:54
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General fashion discussion. Designers, handbags, clothing, accessories, trends - if it has to do with fashion, let's discuss it!
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Another Democrat, Another Tax November 27, 2007Posted by awatcher in Uncategorized.
Tags: , , Bill Ritter, Boulder, Boulder Daily Camera, Claire Levy, land grab, Morgan Liddick, Summit Daily News
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Rep. Claire Levy has a problem. She got involved with what people in Boulder are calling a legalized land grab by her campaign's treasurer. If she had kept quiet, the scandal might have passed her by. She didn't keep quiet, and now she is in damage control mode.
Now, in what appears (to the commenters on the link we provide) to be a diversionary tactic, she has announced the intention to create a new tax for a pet project.
The problem for Levy is that the transportation blue ribbon panel has already laid claim to this particular tax, but it is nice to see that she is always thinking of new (to her) ways to separate taxpayers from their money.
Of course, the biggest taxer in the state is our friend Bill Ritter. One of the best in depth analysis of Ritter's spending plans on transportation that we have seen is by Morgan Liddick at Summit Daily News:
Pretty soon we're going to be talking about real money here. By the way, this new tax is intended to replace the revenue stream currently provided by Senate Bill 1 of 1997 and House Bill 1310 of 2002, which provided CDOT with $272 million this year.
Apparently, this funding mechanism had the fatal flaw of being sensitive to the state's economic condition; during the last recession, funds tapered off as growth slowed. Rest assured, the new tax won't let that happen again.
And the $272 million which will probably be raised by the old mechanism next year? If you believe that will be counted as part of the billion buck boost, well … that's just cute. Credulous, but cute. Instead, it will reportedly be transferred to the higher education segment of the budget, together with the $59 million of "new money" — remember the code — that Governor Ritter has already requested.


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