text:
Sweet Home Quilt Co.
Clever events and programs keep quilters coming back to Sweet Home Quilt Co. in Conyers, Georgia.
A Historical Neighborhood
In historical Olde Town Conyers, Georgia, you'll find specialty shops and eateries filled with goodies. One of the shops, Sweet Home Quilt Co., offers fabric goodies in a 1900 home.
Antique Touches
Antique furniture pieces, such as a Hoosier cabinet, fit in with the woodwork and other historical decor at Sweet Home Quilt Co.
Meet the Staff
Sitting: Melisa Morrison (owner); back row, from left: Gwen Maggit, Mellie Watts, and Pam Stapley.
Bright Lights
Samples aplenty fill the shop, including quilts, table runners, and dresses composed of pastels and brights.
Back in Time
Samples showcasing reproduction fabrics are plentiful throughout Sweet Home Quilt Co.
An Eclectic Mix
The shop's eclectic fabric offerings satisfy varied tastes. In addition to a large selection of Civil War reproductions and black-and-white prints, brights, batiks, flannels, 1930s reproductions, wool, and baby prints round out the mix.
A Fun Twist
Shop owner Melisa Morrison and her staff work to make fun the focus of Sweet Home Quilt Co. They even fold fat quarters into interesting shapes.
Eye Candy
Melisa Morrison, owner of Sweet Home Quilt Co,, designed Eye Candy for Quilt Sampler® Fall/Winter 2012 magazine.
Machine-Quilting Details
Ardis Young machine-quilted a flower in the center of each block, interlocking circles in the setting and corner triangles, and a piano-key design of parallel lines in the border.
Get the Magazine!
Contact Sweet Home Quilt Co. to purchase a copy of the Fall/Winter 2012 issue of Quilt Sampler magazine, pick up the magazine at your local quilt shop or newsstand, or get the digital issue online.
Peek inside The Quilted Forest, another quilt shop featured in Quilt Sampler Fall/Winter 2012.


text:
Department of Revenue News Release
July 19, 2013Marshall License Office contract awarded to Moberly company
JEFFERSON CITY - The Office of Administration, in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Revenue, has awarded the management contract for the Marshall License Office to Doug & Cheri LLC of Moberly. All license office contracts in Missouri are awarded through a competitive bid process. The winning bid for this license office was one of three submitted.
Doug & Cheri LLC has been the agent of the Keytesville License Office since November 2009, and the agent of the Moberly License Office since March 2009.
The Marshall License Office will remain at its current location at 120 N. Lafayette Ave.
In Fiscal Year 2012, there were 38,666 transactions conducted at the Marshall office, generating $129,242 in agent processing fees. Doug & Cheri LLC's contract includes an annual commitment to return 2 percent (approximately $2,584) of future processing fees to the state.
All local license offices are overseen by the Missouri Department of Revenue, but each is operated by an independent agent.
Follow the Missouri Department of Revenue on Twitter @MoRevenue

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Send Contact Message
Please complete the information below to send a contact message.
We like to be completely transparent with how we use your data. Please review our Privacy & Cookies Policy prior to contacting us so you know how we use your data.
Please remember, you can always contact us via telephone or postal mail as well using the following information:
The Little Sweet Co.
Unit 5, The Old Corn Mill, 64 South Road, Bretherton,
Preston, Lancashire PR26 9AH
UK - England & Wales
Telephone: 01772 601750


text:
Are you looking for a gas safety certificate in Hemlington?
Welcome to Effective Heating
We are an established Gas Safe registered company covering Hemlington & the surrounding areas.
As a landlord, you can count on Effective Heating to keep your properties up-to date with the all necessary gas safety certificates & gas appliance inspections.
We offer a fully comprehensive gas safety certification service to the people of Hemlington & the surrounding areas.
Our committed & extremely skilled Gas Safe engineers have satisfied thousands of home & business owners with our honest, friendly & professional approach to gas safety certificate authorisations.
Our team of Gas Safe registered engineers are waiting to assist you with both commercial & domestic gas safety certifications.
The Effective Heating team have executed countless landlord gas safety inspections & home owner inspections in Hemlington. We issue each of our customers with a comprehensive report upon completion of each inspection.
Combi boilers are the most common type of boiler in the UK, we offer a rapid, cheap, emergency gas safety certification service to the people of Hemlington.
Our team of Gas Safe engineers also carry out a great deal of estate agent customer care, as we believe in delivering a first-rate service to all of our customers.


text:
Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Right? Wrong! I have come to believe that we must do onto others and they would have done unto them. But who are they? This week, with the publication of our article in the journal, PLoS One, my colleagues and I have taking a step toward understanding ourselves—and our future. I'm over the moon about it.
As you may know, I designed a personality questionnaire on Chemistry.com to measure the personality traits linked with four basic biological systems. Those highly expressive of the traits linked with dopamine tend to seek novelty; they are also curious, creative, spontaneous, energetic, mentally flexible and enthusiastic, what I call the Explorer. Those more expressive of the traits linked with the serotonin system tend to observe social norms instead, as well as follow rules, respect authority, stick to plans and habits, and be good with numbers: the Builder. Meanwhile, those predominantly expressive of the traits linked with testosterone tend to be analytical, direct, decisive, tough-minded, and good at engineering, mechanics or other spatial/mathematical tasks: the Director. Last, those particularly expressive of the estrogen system tend to see the big picture, as well as be imaginative, intuitive, good with people, linguistically skilled, empathetic and emotionally expressive: the Negotiator.
But even though I meticulously studied the scientific literature to collect the suite of traits linked with each of these four biological systems, then carefully assembled these traits into a questionnaire, and have now collected questionnaire data on some 13 million members of Match.com and Chemistry.com, I needed to prove to other scientists that my questionnaire actually measured these four biological systems. So with my brain-scanning partner, Dr. Lucy Brown and other colleagues, I gave my questionnaire to 17 newlyweds and 17 long-married people; then we put them in the brain scanner.
When the results came in, I felt like jumping in the sky. Those who scored high on my proposed dopamine scale showed more activity in a major dopamine pathway. Those who scored high on my proposed serotonin scale showed more activity in a little factory linked with "social norm conformity." Those scoring high on my proposed testosterone scale showed more activity in brain regions linked with mathematical talent and visual acuity, brain areas primarily built by testosterone. Last, those who scored high on my proposed estrogen scale showed more activity in brain regions linked with empathy. Almost perfect! And we got the same results in both studies.
Rarely in a scientist's life does one stumble onto one of nature's blueprints—in this case, some of the fundamental structure of human personality. And the more we learn about these four biologically-based styles of thinking and behaving, the more we will come to understand how to make compatible, rewarding, long-term partnerships, build better work teams and sports teams, and create better relationships between teachers and students, parents and children, doctors and patients, even political leaders. As the blueprint of the mind unfolds, we can (naturally) reach those we love.
Want to take Dr. Helen Fisher's personality test? Find out your personality on Chemistry.com now!


text:
* Private detective finds niche market in infidelity
* Divorces more frequent
* More women confront cheating husbands
By Aisha Chowdhry
LAHORE, Pakistan, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Twenty-three years of military service come in handy when Masood Haider gets a call from a suspicious spouse.
He quickly dispatches a surveillance team to keep tabs on the partner believed to be heading off for an illicit rendezvous.
In deeply conservative Muslim Pakistan where arranged marriages are common and adultery can be punished by death, it is an illustration of how much the society is changing that Haider's private detective agency exists at all.
"What was taken as taboo 20 to 25 years ago is no more taken that way," said Haider, 53, a former army pilot who founded FactFinders, Pakistan's first licensed private detective agency.
The business of exposing cheating spouses, he says, is growing.
"People simply understand that if two people cannot live under one roof and they cannot co-exist peacefully it is better to disengage and carry on with their lives instead of dragging it on."
Pakistan portrays itself as a progressive Islamic nation. But since the 1980s, it has been drifting towards a more conservative interpretation of Islam that has reshaped the political landscape, fuelled militancy and cowed champions of tolerance into silence.
Adultery is a capital crime under Islamic Sharia law. Death sentences are rarely carried out by the state but people sometimes do take matters into their own hands, especially in rural areas.
Yet women are becoming increasingly assertive about confronting unfaithful spouses. So are men.
"When I opened this company I was not sure whether Pakistani men would confide in me regarding their wives," said Haider, in his spacious office in the city of Lahore where he began his venture on Valentine's Day two years ago.
"But to my surprise the first case I received was of a cheating wife."
His services do not come cheap. The downpayment for FactFinders to check on an unfaithful partner is $5,500, out of reach of most people who on average bring home just $60 a month.
Clients are mostly wealthy Pakistanis who live here, or in Britain, the United States or United Arab Emirates and want to keep a close eye on spouses or fiancées from afar.
His investigations are not restricted to cases of infidelity.
One man, for example, desperately wanted him to retrieve a stolen computer with compromising pictures of his naked wife.
But it is mostly husbands or wives tormented by suspicion of cheating who turn to Haider.
His website promises to "Off load your burden with full confidentiality" with the suggestive image of a turned-over high heeled-shoe beside a wine glass. To reinforce the point, another photograph shows a luxury car splashed with graffiti from an angry wife or girlfriend.
EMERGENCY HOTLINE For the really desperate, there is an emergency hotline.
"I think if women could afford it, 80 percent of Pakistani women would be here," said one woman client.
"In our culture women are discouraged. They are expected to suck it up and be quiet about it. I am done with the being scared part."
His staff of 30, scattered across Pakistan with a few in Britain for clients there, are recruited from retired military and police officers and the financial industry.
Fatima, 32, worked for Britain's Scotland Yard before joining Haidar's outfit, where she does research and manages surveillance teams and other operations.
"In a country like Pakistan, we should promote such things (businesses). There is nothing bad about it."
Some philanderers go to creative extremes to avoid being caught.
A wealthy Karachi man posed as a rent-a-car driver when meeting his lover. To keep a closer watch, Haider deployed a female detective agent disguised as a maid in the woman's house .
"So, under one roof, the driver was not the driver and the maid was not the maid. It was 'The Bold and the Beautiful' going on in real life," said Haider, referring to the U.S. television soap opera.
Most infidelity takes place in the first five years of marriage or 20 years into married life, he pointed out.
The indiscretions may be one reason why divorce rates are rising. The Islamabad Arbitration Council, where divorces are officially registered, says the number of broken marriages, have doubled in the last ten years.
In 2011, there were 557 divorces filed in the capital Islamabad alone, compared to 208 in 2002.
Even after 150 cases, some still shock Haider.
"A client caught his wife red-handed in the bedroom with her lover," said Haider, who has grey hair and a light mustache and retired from the army in 2000. "Instead of being ashamed, she blamed the lover for being caught."
"'It is because of this idiot that I was caught. Otherwise I was doing it for three years'," Haider laughingly quoted her as telling her husband. "I thought 'look at the guts of this lady'."
(Writing by Michael Georgy, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)
00-8560-215)(Reuters Messaging: Reuters Messaging: email@example.com))
Keywords: PAKISTAN PRIVATEDETECTIVE/


text: Larry Jones is Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Jazz at the University of Central Arkansas. He is a member of the Arkansas and Conway Symphony Orchestras. Equally at home in both classical and jazz worlds, Larry has become a highly sought after freelance artist, soloist, and clinician. He is a founding member of Pinnacle Brass Quintet (Quintet in residence at The University of Central Arkansas). In addition to local performances, Pinnacle Brass has toured France, Austria, and China. In May of 2009, Larry was a soloist at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Harrisburg, PA. His credits include major symphony orchestras, touring Broadway productions, professional chamber ensembles, and national television commercials. A few of the individual stars he has performed with include Kenny Rogers, Olivia Newton-John, Kenny Loggins, Doc Severinson, Johnny Mathis, Jerry Lewis, Robert Goulet, Wayne Newton, Leann Rimes, the Temptations and the Four Tops. Mr. Jones holds degrees in Trumpet performance from the University of Memphis and the University of North Texas. Currently, Larry can be heard on numerous commercial CD's including the world-renowned North Texas Wind Symphony. Music on these CD's highlight the music of Michael Daugherty, Evelyn Glenny, Paul Hindemith, and Pulitzer Prize winner George Walker.


text:
Taffy Town, Population: YOU.
Or at least it could be. Because friends, this place actually exists. It is a candy factory, located in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Now, this company is magical in more ways than one. First of all, it opened my eyes to the fact that Saltwater Taffy, which I knew from growing up by the Jersey Shore, exists outside of the tri-state area. True, many accounts point to it being invented there (NJ pride!), but there are pockets of Taffy Territory elsewhere in the US: notably by the Oregon Coast, and also--news to me--in Salt Lake City.
I learned of this company in a roundabout way--while visiting a Bavarian Village in Central Washington. It's true. While visiting a Das Sweet Shoppe, a candy shop in Leavenworth, WA, I was impressed with the vast array of taffies in flavors from Buttered Popcorn to caramel to Cinnamon Bun (!) to Apple Pie to Huckleberry, and asked "are these made on premises?".
No, the kind employee informed me, almost apologetically, the candies came from a company in Salt Lake City.
Say what?
It's true, she said: these taffies were made by a company called Taffy Town, which had the best taffy she'd ever tasted--worth shipping, undoubtedly--made using salt from THE Salt Lake.
Well, that was interesting enough to get me to buy a half pound of the sweet stuff (one of which had a heart--no, really! I checked the site, and they don't usually), and to (with mouth full of taffy, which was, as hoped, salty-sweet-smooth and delicious) check out their website.
It's true, this company is like...Taffy City. Or at least Taffy Town, which makes their company name apropos. Apparently, after many years in the candy biz, they decided Taffy was their...ah, sweet spot:
For over 79 years we were known as Glade Candy Company offering individuals the finest in Gourmet Taffy. In 1995, our name was changed to "Taffy Town" to reflect our total dedication to taffy excellence. We then expanded to serve a World Wide market. Using a whipped process that produces a soft texture taffy that simply melts in your mouth, we then add the finest in domestic and imported flavors to obtain perfection in confection.
In case you didn't catch it, my favorite bit: "total dedication to taffy excellence."
While they make it VERY CLEAR IN ALL CAPS THAT THEY DO NOT GIVE TOURS OF THEIR PRODUCTION FACILITY, you can get the following from a visit:
Come in today and see over 60 different flavors of our rich tasting taffy to delight every palate. In addition to our taffy, we offer you our NEW fresh creamy smooth fudge, and other gourmet candy creations. We have all sorts of GIFT IDEAS: including a Taffy Town Gift Certificate! Also, we have a video playing on our big screen showing how we make the taffy.
Of course, if this alone doesn't seem worth a visit to Utah, here's a link to their retailers. Check out the Taffy Town website here.


text:
Also see the Private Research section (restricted access)
Zosimas Studies
With the help and study of Rohan Meyer, we tracked down Claromontanus (or its sister manuscript) as one source for Sinaiticus.
Now let us look for the Zosima (Zosimas) Moscow Bible:
Dionysius, the professed calligrapher of the monastery, was afraid to undertake the task, Simonides commenced it at the request of his uncle, who provided him with that edition of the Greek Bible which the brothers Zosimas, wealthy Bussian merchants, had defrayed the cost of publishing at Moscow. This Moscow Bible, after having been collated with three ancient manuscripts and the printed edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, so as to be cleared from many errors (the old spelling however remaining unaltered), was given to Simonides to transcribe.
A Full Collation of the Codex Sinaiticus with the Received Text of the New Testament (1864)
https://books.google.com/books?id=CNmOa7HaS6EC&pg=PR64Darby, who uses Tischendorf and Scrivener as main sources, misses the point that the Moscow Bible would be used as a major source for the OT, but not necessarily the NT. The simple textual facts, and the discovery of the Claromontanus homoeoteleutons, shows that the NT likely received special, and different, attention.Simonides ... His statement is that the Moscow Greek Bible, published at the cost of the brothers Zosimas, in 1821, and collated with three ancient manuscripts and the printed edition of Cod. Alex., was what he had to transcribe ... Certainly it could not be the Cod. Sin. that he wrote for his uncle. The Moscow Bible is simply a copy of the Textus Receptus.
The Sinaiticus Manuscript: Brief Account of Its Discovery and of Its Character
Bible Treasury: Volume 8 - (likely John Nelson Darby - Dec 1, 1870)
Here is the main primary source, from Simonides:
This is mentioned a few more times in that JSL publication.Having then examined the principal copies of the Holy Scriptures preserved at Mount Athos, I began to practice the principles of calligraphy; and the learned Benedict, taking a copy of the Moscow edition of both Testaments (published and presented to the Greeks by the illustrious brothers Zosimas), collated it with the ancient ones, and by this means cleared it of many errors, after which he gave it into my hands to transcribe. - Simonides, published in the Guardian, Sept 3 1862, p. 211
Journal of Sacred Literature (1863)
... Simonides speaks of
'a copy of the Moscow edition of both Testaments, published and presented to the Greeks by the illustrious brothers Zosimas.'
Upon which you asked —
'Is it impossible to ascertain so simple a point as whether the Moscow booksellers, Zosimas, sent a copy of the Moscow Bible to the Greeks for their use ?'
This is a misunderstanding of Simonides' words. The brothers Zosimas were not booksellers, but wealthy Russian merchants, who, having obtained leave from the Holy Synod, at their own cost published an edition of the Greek Bible at Moscow, thus presenting it to the Greek Church. p. 221Frederick Field - December 23, 1862Bible Treasury
John Nelson Darby
Enough has been said to expose the falseness of Dr. C. Simonides' claim to have written the Sinai MS. thirty years ago, and this not with a view to impose on any one, but simply as an honest present from his uncle Benedict to the late Emperor Nicholas! It is true that he was already notorious for his efforts to palm off certain MSS. as of the highest antiquity, which can scarcely be imputed to any other source than his own admirable skill in calligraphy. His statement is that the Moscow Greek Bible, published at the cost of the brothers Zosimas, in 1821, and collated with three ancient manuscripts and the printed edition of God. Alex., was what he had to transcribe; and that, his uncle being meanwhile dead, he gave the work, in 1841, to Constantius, that very Archbishop of Sinai whose death early in 1859 or before it caused a delay, when Tischendorf saw the MS. as a whole and sought to have it presented to the Emperor of Russia.


text:
Harrison Ford is "looking forward" to returning to 'Star Wars'.
The 70-year-old actor insisted he hasn't signed a contract to reprise his role as Han Solo - who he played in the original trilogy from 1977 to 1983 - in the forthcoming new films in the series, but he is keen to take part and can't wait to get started.
He told WGN 9: "I think it's almost true, I'm looking forward to it. It's not in the bag yet, but I think it's happening."
Harrison's comments came soon after George Lucas - who sold the franchise to Disney last year, but will take on a consultancy role for 'Episode VII' - let slip he has asked original 'Star Wars' trilogy cast members Harrison, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher to reprise their iconic roles.
He revealed: "We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison - or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation. So I called them to say, 'Look, this is what's going on'.
"Maybe I'm not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them."
However, George appeared to realise he had said too much about his work with producer Kathleen Kennedy to bring new director J.J. Abrams' follow-up film to life for its 2015 release date, and was quick to backtrack.
He teased: "I won't say whether the negotiations were successful or not."
Carrie recently joked she would be back as heroine Princess Leia, the twin sister of main character Luke Skywalker (Hamill), but her representatives subsequently downplayed the claims.
Mark also said he wants to get the "whole gang" of original actors back together for in the new movie.


text:
Stanford Law Review Online: The Drone as Privacy Catalyst
The Stanford Law Review Online has just published a piece by M. Ryan Calo discussing the privacy implications of drone use within the United States. In The Drone as Privacy Catalyst, Calo argues that domestic use of drones for surveillance will go forward largely unimpeded by current privacy law, but that the "visceral jolt" caused by witnessing these drones hovering above our cities might serve as a catalyst and finally "drag privacy law into the twenty-first century." Calo writes: In short, drones like those in widespread military use today will tomorrow be used by police, scientists, newspapers, hobbyists, and others here at home. And privacy law will not have much to say about it. Privacy advocates will. As with previous emerging technologies, advocates will argue that drones threaten our dwindling individual and collective privacy. But unlike the debates of recent decades, I think these arguments will gain serious traction among courts, regulators, and the general public. Read the full article, The Drone as Privacy Catalyst by M. Ryan Calo, at the Stanford Law Review Online.


text:
Zeuter wrote:Turkey_Slayer wrote:And they said robots wouldn't be able to write literature. This one has already mastered the stream of consciousness technique.
In scientific circles this process is described as the Markov technique. Oddly enough, it requires no alcohol.
Seriously, I was just thinking I like reading that more than what 99% of real people write when trying to make sense. There should be a fucking rpg made with that shit.
Oh and barret, stay with us, son. You make me feel useless in a good way.


text:
Welcome to our firm! Parker & DuFresne, P.A. focuses our practice in the areas of foreclosure defense, bankruptcy law, consumer protection and family law. Although we represent hundreds of clients in Jacksonville and surrounding counties, our most important client is you. Our Jacksonville bankruptcy attorneys strive to treat every client with dignity, compassion and at the same time, instill in each client the confidence of knowing their case will be handled competently and professionally.
Bankruptcy - Parker & DuFresne handles bankruptcy matters, including personal and business Chapter 7, known as "liquidation" bankruptcy. Our Jacksonville bankrupcy attorneys also represent individuals filing Chapter 13, known as "reorganization" bankruptcy. We can help you eliminate debt, stop foreclosures, repossessions and wage garnishments. We represent bankruptcy clients residing in the 16 following counties: Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Flagler, Hamilton, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Union, Volusia.
Foreclosure Defense - Have you been served with a foreclosure complaint by your mortgage company? Parker & DuFresne is currently defending more than 500 homeowners in foreclosure, and we want to help you! Our Jacksonville bankruptcy lawyers will fight your mortgage company in ANY COUNTY IN FLORIDA, but you must act quickly to preserve your legal rights.
Chip Parker, a prolific writer and founding contributor to Bankruptcy Law Network and Mortgage Law Network, has practiced in the area of consumer bankruptcy in Jacksonville, Florida since 1992. Since 1994, he has been managing shareholder of Parker & DuFresne, P.A. In 2007, Mr. Parker shifted his primary focus to mortgage foreclosure litigation in bankruptcy court as well as state court and is recognized as a leader in Florida foreclosure litigation. He serves as a seminar panelist on the subject of foreclosure litigation for bankruptcy attorneys and is routinely interviewed by national and local media on the subject of foreclosures.
Don DuFresne is recognized by his peers as a formidable litigator who routinely faces Jacksonville's best attorneys. He has expanded his considerable litigation experience into the areas of bankruptcy and consumer litigation. Mr. DuFresne is the only attorney in Jacksonville currently holding membership in the prestigious Family Law Inns of Court and Jacksonville Bankruptcy Bar Association.


text:
Giant symbols: Belmont manor plays its part
When Rock Hudson came to Charlottesville to shoot the opening scenes of George Steven's classic 1955 movie, Giant, he landed at a luxurious Keswick mansion that was supposed to speak volumes about horse country. Now that the mansion is for sale, some architectural critics note that the mixed architectural message speaks volumes about human vanity.
Hudson was impressed by the shooting location even though in the movie the Virginia scenes are described as being in Maryland.
"He telephoned me with glowing reports," writes Phyllis Gates in her book, My Husband, Rock Hudson, "...of lush pastures, the white rail fences, the beautiful thoroughbred horses, the stately houses. 'Even the motel where I'm staying looks like a colonial mansion,' he said."
Rock wasn't quite as taken with Texas, where the majority of Giant was filmed, or with co-star James Dean. According to Gates, her husband "hated" James Dean and thought he was a "poseur and a malingerer" who was going to steal the picture from him.
Hudson's jealousy (or was it attraction, given what we know now?) of Dean was so intense that he often wished him dead during the making of Giant, Gates says. When Dean crashed his Porsche Spyder and died seemingly on cue after the picture was finished, Hudson was so racked with guilt and shame that he fell into a dark depression. But that's another story.
Stevens most likely chose Charlottesville as his stand-in for Maryland because of its "stately houses" and "lush pastures." As those who've seen the movie know, Hudson's character comes to "Maryland" to visit a wealthy family at their mansion, "Ardmore." Hudson is there to buy a thoroughbred horse, but also winds up wooing their daughter, played by Elizabeth Taylor, and brings both back to Texas.
According to architectural historian Calder Loth, the house Stevens shot, Belmont in Keswick, was his first choice. Today, the historic manor home, along with 23 acres, is listed for sale for a mere $2,950,000.
"The house was probably chosen because it looked good from a distance," says Loth, "and was in a bucolic landscape setting." Indeed, with its grand four-column portico, Belmont does look like one of those stately houses that so impressed Hudson. But on closer inspection, Belmont appears to be more like a movie set than a stately manor.
Loth says that historical records indicate the original mid-18th century dwelling– a farmhouse of just a story and a half– was chopped up in the 1850s and used to create a series of outbuildings when a new mansion took the site.
Designed in Classic Revival-style, Belmont came complete with a grand hall for dancing, a 1,500-gallon water tank in the roof for hot and cold running water, and a furnace in the basement that heated the whole house.
"Certainly no country house equaled it in that day," writes Edward C. Mead in his book, Historic Homes of the South-West Mountains, Virginia. Unfortunately, the mansion burned in an 1883 fire, so the old house was– believe it or not– reassembled on its original site, more or less, but with two stories and a two-level portico.
Classic Revival invoked the simplicity and grandeur of Rome, but in the 20th century, America witnessed an unfortunate outbreak of Anglophilia and a revival of Georgian architecture.
Loth believes the Georgian pediment was added over the entryway in the 1950s. "The house looks good from a distance," he says, "but the 1950s' detailing is not sophisticated."
Noted architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson concurs. "The combination of a four-column portico and a broken pediment door is unorthodox," he says, " but there is lots of that around. It's a sort of showing off."
Which, of course, made it a perfect setting for a Hollywood movie; and more specifically, for Liz Taylor's highbrow character in Giant.
To a young and casual observer like Hudson, and to many casual observers after him, Charlottesville has always been characterized– dare we say, type-cast?– by these stately, columned manor houses with their lush, rolling pastures. There's a perceived status associated with such images, a status that director Stevens hoped to capture in Giant, and that Hudson picked up on during his brief stay.
But status symbols can be deceptive. In Giant, James Dean's rags-to-riches character acquires all the many status symbols of wealth– he even has an airport named after him– but none of it is enough to break the class barriers that would make him a candidate for Liz Taylor's affection.
In Charlottesville, estates like Belmont would seem to characterize the upper-class world that Taylor's character inhabits (and they once did), but in reality it may be nothing more than an expensiveand some might say low-brow façade.
Belmont manor in Keswick was a stand-in for a Maryland manor house in the 1955 movie, Giant
Giant stars: Local legendary photographer Ed Roseberry catches Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson on a break between scenes. The old train depot in Keswick was also used as a location.


text:
Ack! I can't stop editing stuff! This wiki is worse than a bag of potato chips!
"Yes, you see, a thousand years earthly time, being exactly a day of heavenly time, then of course a year of earthly time is only just a shade over a minute of heavenly time; and if you don't keep these facts in mind you are naturally bound to think Providence is procrasturating when it's just the other way. It's on accounts of this ignorance that many and many a person has got the idea that prayer ain't ever answered, and stuck to it to his dying day; whereas, prayer is always answered. Take praying for rain, f'rinstance. The prayer comes up; Providence reflects a minute, judges it's all right, and says to the Secatry of State, "Turn it on." Down she comes, in a flood. But don't do any good of course, becuz it's a year late. Providence reflecting a minute has made all the trouble, you see. If people would only take the Bible at its word, and reconnize the difference betwixt heavenly time and earthly time, they'd pray for rain a year before they want it, and then they'd be all right. Prayer is always answered, but not inside of ayear, becuz Providence has got to have a minute to reflect. Otherwise, there'd be mistakes, on account of too much hurry."
- — Mark Twain, Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven
"And you bring those kinds of things up to a Christian, and it's funny: they'll just kind of wave their hands and they'll whip out their "Get out of the Old Testament Free" cards and they'll say "Well, that's just the Old Testament. It's not like that anymore.""
- — Martin Wagner, The Atheist Experience, Oct. 21, 2007 @ 45:23
Since I've been mentioned twice on The Non-Prophets, and that my username has been mispronounced as "aren-ess-bee" both times, I thought I'd mention that the preferred pronunciation is with two syllables: "air-inz-b" (not "-bee").


text:
Please click anywhere to continue browsing our site.
Back to Search Results
Drivers in Austin, TX, Pflugerville, TX, Round Rock, TX and the surrounding areas turn to Tireworks when they need tires, wheels, or auto repairs for their vehicles, and it's no surprise why. We offer the highest level of service at best price to our customers. Our tire selection is second to none. We also offer wheels from a variety of top brands. We offer a variety of tire services and auto repairs for our customers. Our mechanics are heads above the rest, adhering to strict quality standards. No matter what service you need for your vehicle, contact us to make an appointment today.


text:
You are here : : Home > Templates > Types > Zen-cart 1.2
Highly Recommended Template
Monstroid2 - Multipurpose WordPress Theme
Client Testimonials
"Working with Entheosweb has been a pleasurable experience. They were very friendly, professional, efficient and attend to all my inquiries in an expeditious manner. The customization of my website was completed in record time. Clement, did an amazing job. I am very pleased with the work and time they have put into my template and the professional outcome of their work. I highly recommend their services to anyone who is interested in obtaining customization for their website."
Handel - Tripleheaven.com
Template #30172
|Zen-cart 1.2 Website Templates
Buy and download this ready-made Zen Cart skin. Zen Cart is an open source e-commerce system that aims to be the most simple solution for on-line commerce. Zen Cart provides you with many features available with this system: Improved Template System, New Merchandise Pricing Options, New Attributes, New Layout Settings, Demonstration Mode - these are only a few of them. Zen Cart Template is a specially designed template completely compatible with Zen Cart - open source solution for e-commerce. Our Zen Cart Templates are actually Zen Cart skins created so that you could change them within a couple of minutes. The Zen Cart Template package includes all the files necessary to install and edit the skin.


text:
Briton with dungeon who plotted to kidnap and eat child jailed in US
James Meikle
Tuesday 7 May 2013
Geoffrey Portway, 40, built torture chamber in basement and chatted online about abducting and raping minors
A British man who plotted to kidnap, rape, murder and eat a child — and had prepared a dungeon apparently for use in the grisly ritual — faces up to 27 months in a US jail before deportation to the UK under a plea agreement.
Geoffrey Portway, 40, who had been living in Worcester, Massachussetts, has admitted "solicitation to commit a crime of violence" and distributing and possessing child pornography.
The details were revealed under a statement released by the US attorney's office in Boston. It said that Portway had engaged in "numerous online chats with many individuals" about a mutual interest in abducting and murdering children and exchanged child pornography.
Federal agents, state and local police seized computers, digital equipment and child pornography while executing a search warrant at Portway's home last summer, and also found a dungeon in the basement behind two locked doors.
The room, was lined with sound-muffling equipment as well as a chair, television, and what appeared to be cable access to the internet. It also contained a child-sized homemade coffin with large speakers covered in wire mesh at one end and exterior locking devices, a steel cage with multiple locking devices, and a steel table top with steel rings at six points, presumably for restraints, said the statement.
They also found freezers, disposable scalpels, butchering kits, and castration tools at the property.
"The dungeon was described in detail by Portway in recovered chats as a place he intended to use to keep kidnapped children while he sexually abused them and as a place to eventually murder and cannibalise the children", said the statement.
Since at least 2010, Portway had used Skype and other programmes to communicate with a man called Michael Arnett, from Kansas, trading images of injured, mutilated and dead children and chatting about sexual abuse, rape, abduction, murder and cannibalisation of children.
Portway had "repeatedly solicited Arnett to kidnap a child for him, with the intent that Portway would ultimately rape, kill and eat that child".
The attorney's office said: "These solicitations for help abducting a child included discussing real children, by name and photo, that Arnett claimed to know and have access. In the chats, Portway and Arnett discuss different ways to kidnap children and the age range that Portway prefers.
"During the time that Portway was soliciting Arnett, Portway had been told that Arnett had helped others with such requests before and that Arnett had experience with the abduction and sexual abuse of children."
Arnett had since pleaded guilty in Kansas to the sexual exploitation of a child for the purposes of producing child pornography. Examination of computers also revealed over 4,500 trades of child pornography between Portway and others.
US attorney Carmen Ortiz said: "I hope that this case sends a clear message that we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those who participate in these types of activities.
Even though criminals attempt to hide in the anonymity provided by the internet, the department of justice is committed to aggressively pursuing them to ensure that there is no place to hide."
Portway is said by authorities to be part of a worldwide network of offenders. Agents from homeland security investigations said they have been able to rescue 160 children and arrest 51 perpetrators since a man called Robert Diduca was arrested on child pornography charges in Milford, Massachusetts, in 2010. He was sentenced to 18 years in June last year.
Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge of HSI Boston, said Portway's guilty plea should serve as a warning to those inclined to abuse children or share images of child pornography. "There isn't a place in the United States, on the internet, or the planet in which you are truly safe. We will investigate you, we will prosecute you and we will bring you to justice."
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Portway faces between 216 – 327 months in prison and a lifetime supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender. He will deported after serving his sentence.


text:
Responders prepare for worst with academy drill
New London — For the first time, the Coast Guard and local law enforcement agencies practiced on Tuesday how they would respond to a shooting on the Coast Guard Academy grounds.
Many who took part said it was important to hold this type of drill at the academy because of the recent shootings at military installations and schools.
The mass notification system that was used to notify everyone at the academy about the lockdown during the drill was installed after the shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. It was tested just days before 20 children and six adults were killed in December inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
Last month, a gunman killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard, and last week, two people were shot and wounded at an armory outside a Navy facility in Tennessee.
"Certainly, as secure as this base is, these events could unfold here," said Coast Guard Cmdr. Rob Oatman, who directed the exercise and who serves as the academy's chief of information services.
At sea, Coast Guardsmen often practice for fires and collisions, Oatman said. "I think we've become complacent shoreside," he said. "We think, 'What could really happen here that would be that bad or challenging?' So it's good to remind ourselves events can happen, you can have a fire, you can have an act of violence incident. And the more you prepare for it, the less it becomes a source of anxiety."
New London Fire Chief Henry E. Kydd Jr. said these drills should be done more often, "with the way things are going on in our world."
"This is going to be more commonplace," he said, referring to the potential for future incidents.
The drill began shortly after 9 a.m. with a "report" of a possible active shooter at the academy. Many of the first responders knew the scenario would start with a shooter in an auditorium in Dimick Hall, where a faculty member was conducting a lecture with 16 cadets present.
But because so many agencies agreed to participate, Oatman said, a second shooter scenario was added inside Smith Hall, an academic building that connects to Dimick, to make the drill more complex. The first responders were not briefed about that change.
About 80 people from 30 agencies converged on the campus, including police and fire personnel from New London, police officers from Norwich, Stonington, Enfield and Vernon, and members of the FBI, Connecticut State Police, Office of the Chief State's Attorney, Connecticut Air National Guard and several Coast Guard units.
An announcement was broadcast over the mass notification system that "an emergency condition has been reported" and lockdown procedures should be followed. Everyone on campus was instructed to find a secure location, turn off the lights and avoid windows and doors.
Cadets ran out of the buildings as teams of law enforcement officers carrying replica guns ran in. They pursued both of the shooters — volunteers from the Law Enforcement Council of Connecticut — through Smith Hall.
The participants spoke to each other over handheld radios and tried to keep track of the teams, the shooters, the number of people injured or killed and the progress in clearing the rooms. Medical personnel set up a triage area outside to treat the victims.
Oatman said there were a lot of successes and failures throughout the drill, which ended at about 10:30 a.m. He said he had expected some communications issues since the agencies do not all use the same radio system. The academy also will have to figure out the best way to manage effectively the different mutual aid groups when they rush in to help, Oatman said.
He said he already has received useful tactical feedback about entering buildings, clearing rooms and treating victims.
"We've got people thinking on base about an act of violence incident," he said. "... Even if they spend 10 minutes and they say, 'Here's where I would go, this is what I would do,' then this drill was a success."
State police Master Sgt. Jim Gilman, who entered the buildings, said the biggest setback was communications but that overall, the exercise was a good training experience and the agencies worked well together.
Rear Adm. Sandra L. Stosz, superintendent of the academy, said drills like this have not been done in the past largely because they are so disruptive of the academic day and the activities on campus.
When the mass notification system was tested last year, some faculty and staff complained the warnings were frightening and said they did not want to hear them, Stosz said. The complaints stopped after the shooting in Newtown occurred a couple of days later.
"A lot of times, people just want to pretend it is not going to happen," Stosz said. "I'm an operator, I come from a ship, we do drills all the time. And I want to do drills on this so we develop a resilient mentality here at our academy. We should be leading the way on resilience. We should be leading the way on response to threats and active shooters."
Stosz said she also thinks it's important that the local agencies are familiar with the campus. To further tighten security on campus, the academy is installing a swipe card access system in the Chase Hall barracks, she added.
The drill cost the academy about $4,500, which includes safety gear, props, flags and signs, according to the academy. That figure does not include the cost to the agencies, who responded voluntarily.
"It's a sad development that people who are in national security facilities have to add this to their portfolio of training," U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said. "But clearly it's necessary based on what has happened. I think the folks at the academy are being very smart and proactive."
Stories that may interest you
Courtney among lawmakers who will negotiate final version of funding bill for Pentagon
The bill would authorize billions of dollars for Connecticut, home to several big defense contractors including submarine builder Electric Boat, which is in Courtney's district.
Lewandowski, House Democrats spar at 1st impeachment hearing
EPA to revoke California's power to set stricter auto emissions standards
GOP leaders want special session to correct 'badly written' meal tax law


text:
State and city authorities are treating Boston as a city under attack.
After two explosions that killed two and injured dozens more near the Boston Marathon finish line, the city shifted in a heartbeat Monday from a festive day of sport to a lockdown environment. Police were seeking to protect marathon spectators and residents against the potential that additional bombs might go off.
"We are stabilizing the situation," Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said during a press conference about two hours after the blasts, which occurred at 2:50 p.m.
"We are asking that people stay out of crowds and calmly make their way home," Gov. Deval Patrick said at the news conference.
Commissioner Davis described the situation as "an ongoing event," implying the risk of further bomb attacks after the two that rocked the finish line in quick succession.
In the initial confusion of the day, it appeared as Davis spoke that another explosion may have already happened. The commissioner said officials were treating an incident at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, in the Dorchester neighborhood several miles from the marathon finish line in the Back Bay, as potentially related to the other explosions.
According to subsequent news reports, what occurred at JFK Library was a fire in a mechanical room. The cause remains unknown.
Authorities around the city are active Monday evening on multiple fronts: checking the marathon course and other areas for explosives, tending to the injured, helping people who are trying to locate loved ones, and launching an urgent hunt for whomever set the explosives.
Mayor Thomas Menino gave out a hot line for people trying to find the whereabouts of loved ones: 617-635-4500. And a Google people-finder site has been set up for the same purpose.
Separately, law enforcement officials said people should call 800-494-TIPS with any tips related to the crime.
With the two explosions in close proximity to each other, and the possibility that the JFK library incident may be linked to the bombings, the possibility rises that the perpetrators planted other explosives across a much wider area, say homeland security experts. Indeed, another device was discovered and exploded by authorities Monday.
Against that possibility, Boston authorities shut down cellphone tower service in the city to guard against bombs that could be triggered by cellphone, a common terrorist tactic.
Federal and state authorities have kicked into high gear, with federal agencies deploying investigative teams. The FBI has a big field office in Boston, and because this was an attack of some scale, a variety of key agencies are nearby.
While there is little to go on at this point, the fact that the Back Bay explosions did not destroy buildings nearby indicated that they were relatively small-charge bombs.
"What we saw today was a relatively small-scale set of explosions," says Stephen Flynn, co-director of the George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security at Northeastern University, in Boston.
"The challenge with these smaller-scale attacks is that they are much harder to detect in the early stages – precisely because they don't require much sophistication, planning, or leadership, funding, or financing," he adds.
The more sophisticated an attack, the more ambitious, and the more requirement for movement of money and safe houses for operatives and communications, all of which can hit FBI and other tripwires, says Dr. Flynn.
"The smaller-scale attacks like this require much less coordination, resources, and people – so it's more difficult to ensnare them in their preparation stages," he notes. "Still, this is clearly more than a 'lone wolf' attack. We may be dealing with a small group of people, perhaps three or four people, but not the type of thing we saw after 9/11 – discovering [Al Qaeda leader Osama] bin Laden and a large group of operatives coming in from far away."
President Obama was cautious about describing the attack, not using the word terrorism but implying that it could have been perpetrated by a group rather than a lone individual.
"We still do not know who did this or why," Mr. Obama said in televised remarks just after 6 p.m. "But make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this." He said that "any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice."
Similarly, Davis of the Boston Police said, "we're not being definitive" about the word terrorism. "You can reach your own conclusions," he added in his initial press briefing of the afternoon.
Obama noted that the attacks took place on a day when runners from around the world put Boston in the global spotlight, and on a state holiday – Patriots Day – that celebrates the idea of liberty.
According to news reports, the number of people injured in the two finish-line blasts approached 100.
"On days like this, there are no Republicans or Democrats. We are Americans united in concern for our fellow citizens," Mr. Obama said. He said all Americans would "say a prayer for Boston."
The attack in Boston prompted heightened security in other cities.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a statement confirming the "stepped up security" at what he termed "strategic locations and critical infrastructure, including our subways." Mr. Bloomberg said some of the deployments would be noticeable, such as bomb-hardened vehicles, and other steps might be less noticeable. All 1,000 counterterrorism police as well as the entire NYPD "are being fully mobilized to protect our city," he said.
The Associated Press reported that in Britain, police are reviewing security plans for Sunday's London Marathon. And some major airports as far away as California ramped up their vigilance against possible threats.
Staff writer Ron Scherer in New York contributed to this report.


text:
There are multiple ways to learn, and one of the most effective is with examples. You have multiple options with Windows Azure, including the Software Development Kit, the Windows Azure Training Kit and now another one…. the Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework,, a free, centralized code sample library driven by developers' real-world pains and needs. The goal is to provide customer-driven code samples for all Microsoft development technologies, and Windows Azure is included.
Once you hit the site, you download an EXE that will create a web-app based installer for a Code Browser.
Once inside, you can configure where the samples store data and other settings, and then search for what you want.
You can also request a sample – if enough people ask, we do it. OneCode also partnered with gallery and Visual Studio team to develop this Sample Browser Visual Studio extension. It's an easy way for developers to find and download samples from within Visual Studio.


text:
Private School AffidavitThe online form required annually of private schools; links to related statutes, to the Private School Directory, and to Frequently Asked Questions about private schools.
Filing the Private School Affidavit
Information regarding who should file and why, links to the online affidavit form, alternatives to filing the online form (paper form or statement in lieu of the form).
Selected California Education Codes
Selected sections of the California Education Code pertaining to private schools.
Private Schools Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions regarding private schools.
Private School Data
Downloadable excel list of private schools 1999-present and related data.
Changes to a Private School Affidavit
Private schools that filed a Private School Affidavit for the current year may submit changes to their filing. To request a change, send an e-mail to email@example.com. Please include the affidavit confirmation number, the school name and address, along with the name and telephone number of the requestor. Those without Internet access may contact our office using the phone number indicated at the bottom of this page. Please note: changes may only be requested October 1 - July 31.


text: BlackHairMedia was in attendance at the February 2013 Bronner Brothers Hair Show! The show features over 300 hair care companies and over 100 classes and seminars. The event was hosted at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. There were hair battles with stylists showing off their skills on stage, various competitions, all sorts of entertainment such as dancers and a comedy show, and fabulous after parties. BHM got some great interviews at the hair show with none other than Derek J from the Real Housewives of Atlanta, Celebrity stylist Kim Kimble, actress and reality star Lisa Raye, Cynthia Bailey from Real Housewives of Atlanta, and so many other interviews that we will be sharing with you. And for those who like to participate in "hair gazing," we have some great pictures of all of the fabulous hair styles that we spotted at the show. Overall, it was a great event and if you were unable to attend, don't worry, BHM's got you covered because you can see pictures and videos of all the events and people right here on our site!


text:
Welcome to TheOmegaProject.org, Free Erotic Galleries and Videos. Enjoy wonderful world of Art & Erotica!
Don't forget to Bookmark Us
© 2005-2013 The Omega Project.org. All rights reserved. We are not responsible for the content of any of the pages to which it links and holds no responsibility for their content. If there is any link who have some illegal content please contact us and they will be reported to the authorities.2257 InformationLabelled with ICRAWebmasters click here


text:
Places that are somewhat out of the norm, not quite fitting the surroundings, places that don't have to be strange at the first look, but not extremely strange either. They don't have to be very dangerous, though may look so.
Strange places could serve for/as plot-hooks, landmarks, encounters, or simply to spice things up ("Day 51. The plains still look all the same."). These should be mostly wilderness or natural locations, if you have strange urban places post them as Neighbourhoods.
And please, no simple "sky is green here" or "no magic zone". ;)
Additional Ideas (19)
...the wind is everywhere, air doesn't seem to stand still for a second. Once it is a slight breeze that caresses you, then a sudden gust of wind throws off your hat, or blows dust into your eyes. Despite it the place seems silent, as all sounds are muffled here. Clouds seem to hang above it, they often change and sometimes let the sun through, but stay there. The weather-worn trees and shrubs still resist, but it is hard to find a true shelter. Sensitive people might feel some presence, certainly most creatures find it here a bit weird.
Although it does not look friendly, the Windy Corner is actually holy ground. Visited by a deity, it changed deeply. The place tolerates no violence, and it is often found by the lost or pursued. Some edible fruits and roots can be found, as well as water, enough for several days. While not comfortable, it is good shelter from unnatural beings like Undead, that won't come here. Some sages and travellers may know of this place, and choose it as a meeting place, or for important negotiations.
Not lost as lost. The City can be found (in a suitable inaccessible place...). Mighty city walls guard the area, the gate is but open. The walls are in fact the only thing remaining of the city: everything inside has vanished. No houses, only bare land where they stood. There is stamped earth where the streets used to be, grass has grown where the gardens were, but no trees grow on this open plain. Animals seem to avoid it, too.
So where the hell is it gone? Well, nobody knows. And nobody has settled here so far, despite the still standing walls. Probably, no one ever will...
This is a place in my Mojena world.
For a patch approximately ten square miles, absolutely nothing grows. Of course, this may not seem to be TOO out of the norm, but in a world where land is a huge jungle, this is a very strange phenomena.
The trees cut off at the edge of this area, and not even a single blade of grass breaks through the blackened soil. Many reasons have been thought of for this - the land is cursed, the gods have reserved that area. It couldnt be the pH of the soil, as things grow on ALL pH's on this planet. Even the animals are reluctant to walk over this dread land. People would have made a small town there at one stage, but as soon as they stepped on the lands, they were instilled with a great sense of dread, as though a final warning to get off the land before something horrific occured. This anomaly remains unexplained to this day.
On Arth, blue mist often accompanies any mysterious transportation. People of Arth sometimes get lost in the mist and find themselves other places. The WarpSwamp of SecondLand is filled with this dark skyblue mist. Some say Demonti (or Ge-Em) uses it to transport (or copy) things from other places and times. (The Demonti or Master of BlueMist is called Itag. The mist is said to be his body) No matter what the cause, things disappear into it and Strangers and other things appear out of it.
Recently and most notably was MaskLand.
The Point is along the Imperial road between Antioch and Avalon. Blue mist is often found in this tiny biome.
The Point is actually a good sized rock embedded in the soil, approximately square- three by two and a half imperial strides (meters) in size. It is raised from the soil level by a handspan or so. Long ago, three concentric circles (small, medium, and large) were inscribed. It is upon The Point that many strangers find themselves on Arth, slightly off the center.
In the center of the plains of Riverland Prefecture, on a knoll along the banks of the Serpent River, there is a stone marker in the ancient style, carved to resemble a vague human figure, with the face carved to exacting detail, representing the buried invidividual. A mask of gold is bolted upon the face; it has not been stolen because of the Grave's supernatural reputation.
The Butterfly Grave is thought to be haunted by a hungry ghost. Every night at the hour when the Not-Star is darkest, glowing butterflies begin to emerge from the feet of the stone marker. These butterflies spawn by the hundreds, until there is a great glowing cloud of butterflies that flutter about the area, settling upon the golden mask, upon the hill and the grass, upon the river's surface, and the nearby tree.
Nobody is sure why. Most speak of ancient magic, or of a ghost in the shape of the butterflies, or Demons waiting to snatch up passers-by. Most of the stories take a gruesome character.
...a vast abyss it is, but certainly not bottomless, for the bottom can be clearly seen, with many bones in plain sight.
But legends say, that the Pit leads right down to the Other Side of the world, and that animals and people wishing to end their plight sometimes jumped inside, to get directly into the Paradise. But after years uncounted, the trees have spread their roots so deep and so wide, helping one another, and holding together, forming a bottom where it was not. Nobody can simply jump now, and choose their fate. But among the roots the deadly chill from Beyond still seeps through, so anyone getting down there will die a quick death. Nobody that ventured down has returned.
If someone gets down, an unpleasant smell assaults the nose, but the poisonous gas reveals its effect only after a few minutes, so it is possible to return, if done immediately. Besides the few plants, like mosses and lichens, there is mostly only bacterial life.
(Inspired by a terrain feature from the url=http://www.strolen.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=26355#26355Captain/url)
As the troupe walks one of them does a double take at the rocky outcroppings. Staring for a minute there is something incredibly odd about them. He stops, looks some more and backs up.
There, he immediately sees it. Through a blending and trick of the eye a series of rock formations from 35ft to about 75ft all line up perfectly to form a rather detailed face. They eyes, eyebrows, nose, hair, ears are unmistakeable. Moving more than 5ft in any direction from that spot destroys the illusion and it is just another wall of rock.
A sharp eye and incredible luck will reveal many other such purposeful art. In a village nearby they will find that the village knows of this. There are only a few that know where all of the viewing spots are.....or are there more?
This is an odd, flat ribbon of stone that winds through a 100+ mile stretch of Formour. The 'River' is mostly flat & of uniform width. It is a continuous vein of a stone that has not been found anywhere else. The 'Grey River' is about 30 feet wide and would be quite suited for caravans. However, people avoid it do to its oddness. Animals will not willingly go within sight or smell of it. There are no towns along its banks, and no major destinations anywhere near the 'river.'
Tidewall Bay is guarded on either side by large, sheer walls of granite that extend into the ocean about a mile created a 2 mile wide corridor of gently sloping bay. This gentle slope adds to the extreme tide that, when it comes in, starts to rise very quickly as it grows up the slope. Before it is done the tide has risen over 15 meters and has covered over 2 miles of previously visible land.
When it departs it does so in the same dramatic manner causing a rather intense tidal pull.
-Rich veins of valuable metals are under the cliffs on either side of the corridor. There are only a handful of hours a day that the mine can be safely worked.
-The corridor is used as a boat launch of sorts. The outgoing tide and the intense tidal pull effectively create a slingshot for boats that know how to navigate it and they can ride the departing tide for quite a distance and higher than average speeds.
-Tide pools leave behind many and strand many odd animals and fish. Holding areas could be made to try and trap fish that the inhabitants can then just go out and collect.
The spiders prevent the vicious Forest fangfly from infesting the city (one only has to look at the diseased, bitten peasants who live in the outlying villages to see what fangflies can do) and the people provide the spiders with extra nutrition in the form of convicts. The words which strike fear into a condemned heart: "Take him to the webs".
This is a fairly flat grassland bracketed by a bog and a cliff. According to legend this is the site of a great battle of Howlar's Stand. It was here that a mere 500 men stopped the invading army of 5000. In testament to the somewhat historical legend, several large wounds of Bloodflowers bloom in this area. It has been this way in all of living memory began. The Wounds, or vast flower patches, makes the land useless for everyone.
See Scarlett Call/ Bloodflowers to learn the importance of these flowers.
It seems perfect. This narrow and deep pass is the fastest way through the mountains. It has beautiful scenery and seems so benign. Why isn't it well traveled: The fog.
Like many tall passes, it is often fog enshrouded. It is because of the fog that the land is blighted. In times of Fog, The Madness visits those who travel the pass. The Fog can come up from nowhere and fill a man (woman, elf) with madness. So for those that risk it, the pass can cut weeks on their travel. But if The Fog catches them, they may never be the same.
There are geothermal vents here. Chemicals in some of these low level geisers are psychomorphic chemicals that can be absorbed through the skin or if inhaled (eyes as well). The chemicals can bring powerful hallucinations, changes in mental status (hyper, depressed, bad trips usually), and generally change a person for a time. Most people can not handle these haunted times, so the madness continues....
The valley is ringed by mountains, creating a deep basin valley. There is a large, flat placid lake in this valley, near to the center point.
The mountain line creates it own peaks and hollows. The largest and most dramamtic of these hollows frames the moon as it rises for half the year (equinox). This is called Moon Pass, because it lets the moon come from the sky to the world. Other hollows in the mountain line occur at astrologically useful times.
The valley is clear most of the time, so moonrise is fairly spectacular. A full Moon, shines brightly in the dark lake. The Moon and its "Bright Shadow" all in one place.
Because of all the associations with the moon and spirit, the valley is magical in many ways. This valley touches many worlds and fey realms. If you walk in the wrong places at the wrong time, you will find yourself elsewhere.
The only natives to this valley are theriothropes. They live in a style similar to the Tribal Native Americans. Each clan in these tribes are a different animal archetype. Having been driven out of other lands, they are quite protective of the Moon Valley. These tribes can call upon the moon's energy at any time here, so morphing occurs at will.
As the characters are travelling one spring they will come across a number of monarch butterflies resting in the trees along the road (insert butterfly of choice). As they crest over the hill to enter a small valley, they notice the normal green of the tree tops has been replaced by the orange of the butterflies. There are bits of green every now and again, but the characters are amazed by this change.
The butterflies stop here every year on their migrations. It is not one huge flock, but some are always entering and exiting the valley every day during the spring.
From afar, this looks like a small hill covered by trees and bushes. Coming closer, the place may start to look strange, or be ignored completely. These are all trees; the terrain may be actually flat, but the closer to the middle, the taller and mightier are the trees, becoming unnaturally large. Further, the thick branches and undergrowth, knotted together with vines make the lower parts impossible to see through.
In a forest, this group of trees may not be remarkable at all, but outside, it makes a great landmark. On the other hand, it makes also a great place for wild animals, daily and nightly, with birds nesting and lairs hidden between the massive roots, insects and bats complementing them. The shadow they produce, and the wetness they hold for a long time makes them little loved, but given the strong wood (and maybe something more), locals wishing to cut it down swear it resists their axes and eventually abandon their attempts to destroy it. It can be removed with much toil, the trouble being little worth as nothing seems to grow there willingly.
There must be dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of such places all over the world, but they are mostly never noticed. To the skilled eye and a sharp mind, it presents an interesting puzzle - what is their meaning, if there is any, and how come they into existence? Some assume it is a place strong with natural magic, but such claims are yet to be verified. For the more practical, finally, a Knot of Trees is quite often found on treasure maps, as both mark on the road to, and final resting place of untold riches. Of course most such maps are fakes.
Mountains, mountains everywhere. Between three of them, in a valley where little grows, a small area of solid built exists, unknown to the world at large. There are tall walls, without towers or any military use. There are camps for thousands prepared around, but the vaguest of traces speak of small groups of visitors, that come very rarely. The dark place misses an obvious purpose, and the constructions make no sense at all.
In the middle of the main square is a spot, where sunlight didn't fall for almost a thousand years. A cult interested in matters of shadow has adapted this area, and kept it in existence (and secrecy) through all their good times, and bad times. Sometimes they will come, to employ their rituals, or to delay the destructive effects of time, hoping that when the time comes, this will be worth it. But for the chance visitor, it will be an empty place, far away from any marks of civilization.
They say now, that there used to be a castle on that hill, but evidence is quite unclear in this regard. If one comes here in summer, nothing is found, not even digging reveals anything from the past. Most of the year is the place empty, a little grass survives, but no animal would stay around to feed on it.
Then comes the winter.
As the snow falls, it will fall into the right form. Walls will arise, and hallways and rooms between them, growing in height, closing to create a roof, and then another floor, and another, freezing into towers and courtyards, places and furnishings, even people. If there is enough snow, a truly large palace will be born.
It is a memory, an echo of a place that was here probably long ago. The people do not move, and it melts in the spring. It is even possible to destroy it. But with the next snowing - or the next winter, it will arise again.
(If desired, the place could attract fitting creatures, or be used as part of instructions, that can be followed only in winter.)
This lake is large, but not overly so. You can see the other side (on a clear day). It is surrounded by somewhat normal forest and bounded by a rocky gravelly shore. It is also salt water, akin to a sea. The fish inside are all salmon and trout, as streams seem to feed the lake.
It also has more "waves" than any lake has a right to have.
Suggested Submissions
- Mountain Gate Locations By: manfred
- The Black Stump NPCs By: manfred
- The Sea of Snot Locations By: Dossta
- The Spirit Glade Locations By: Shadoweagle
- Tombstone Brook Locations By: Stephie


text:
Find content that relates to you
Save 20% on your next online purchase with Cambridge Alerts
Receive email alerts on new books, offers and news...Subscribe
On the Brink
Jackson JacksonHardback
Latest News
See all
Sign In
Please sign in to access your account
Not already registered? Create an account now. ×


text:
Youth Time Ambassadors meeting. Bordeaux,France - October 2014
17 – 19 October 2014 the most diligent Youth Time (YT) activists nominated by the YT President to be an exclusive representative of the movement in their region gathered together in Bordeaux (France) to take part in the first Youth Time Ambassador Meeting. The main goal of the event was to discuss how YT changed since the moment it was founded and elaborate the plans of the further development of the movement.
RYF 2014: Special (Löscher) Family Prize: Renu Shakya
Happy Grandma
Happy Granma project inspired by Renu Shakya (Nepal) and supported by Loescher Family has got off to a good start.
RYF 2014: Prakhar Bhartiya
ONUS — A Leadership Program
A Leadership Program "ONUS" is aimed to transform universities into a breeding ground for empathetic leaders who apply their Head, Heart and Hands to effectively drive change.
RYF 2014: Urban Jaksa
Train of Friendship
The aim of the project is to improve relations between the EU and Russia on the level of people (civil society) by engaging in intercultural dialogue, breaking stereotypes about our respective cultures and learning about each other's way of life in order to promote peace, dialogue and friendship between our respective nations.
RYF 2014: Nada Berrada
Studen'Trip is a social venture that organizes trips for Moroccan University Students aged between 18 – 25 years old who want to help the community in Moroccan rural areas. The industry of tourism in Morocco is growing and becoming more and more attractive. "Studen'Trip" service will allow students to do community work and connect them with people in need who live in the Moroccan rural areas. Studen'Trip is a social venture but it is also a business that aims to gain profit in order to keep the business and the social impact sustainable.
The words of gratitude
Dear friends!
Organizing a multidisciplinary youth forum is a great challenge which requires many efforts and we are lucky that we have an international group of young and bright moderators who have helped us to hold the workshops and joint sessions. We would like to thank each of them in person. They invested their time and personal involvement into the development of diverse workshops and sessions from scratch to their final stage.


text:
Trading was quite mixed in the grains this holiday-shortened week with corn and wheat making its highs for the week on Tuesday and facing a selloff into the week's end. Soybeans, on the other hand, put in their lows for the week on Tuesday and staged an impressive rally into Friday morning before a sharp selloff took place late Friday following March soybeans' inability to hold above the $15 level.
The trading range in March soybeans was nearly $.60 on Friday as technical selling picked up on the reversal action. Fundamentally, soybeans were supported most of the week by ideas of strong demand as shipping delays in South America, including talk of a dock workers strike, grabbed the market's attention.
Rumors of up to nine cargoes of soybeans being sold to China helped the market stage over a $1 rally to March soybeans from its mid-February low before collapsing late on Friday. There was indeed fresh business announced to China on Friday morning in the amount of 15 million bushels, but the trade was disappointed to see that only 2 million bushels of that sale was for the current marketing year.
With a lot of recent longs in the market and the first notice day less than a week away, the exodus from old-crop soybean contracts began in earnest at mid-morning on Friday. The soybean market will need a dose of fresh bullish news to start the week or a further technical correction may continue into next Thursday's first notice day.
The corn market struggled this week closing $.08-.10 lower for the week. A year ago, December corn made a temporary low on this date at $5.49 before staging a $.25 rally into the first week of March. This Friday's low in December corn was posted at $5.52. Producers should be looking at any similar rally into the $5.75 level to advance new-crop sales to a comfortable level this winter.
(Click to view larger chart.)


text:
Apple to Begin iPhone Production This Quarter
Apple Inc. plans to begin production of a refreshed iPhone similar in size and shape to its current one in the second quarter of the year, according to people familiar with the device's production, teeing up a possible summer launch for the next version of its flagship device.
At the same time, Apple continues to work with its manufacturing partners in Asia on a less expensive iPhone that could be launched as soon as the second half of this year, these people said. The four-inch device will likely use a different casing from the higher-end iPhone. Apple has been working on different color shells for the phone but its plans remain unclear.


text:
Celiac disease is one of a group of conditions classified as autoimmune disorders because the body's immune system turns on itself. But instead of having a certain set of symptoms, it can manifest itself in a dizzying number of ways.
The problems start because the villi, tiny, finger-like projections in the small intestine that act as guardians into the digestive system's inner sanctum, do not distinguish between gluten and other nutrients crucial to your health.
The damage is exacerbated because it often takes years for celiac disease to be definitely diagnosed. Happily, in some of the cases, symptoms can be reversed or at least relieved. Some of the more common conditions associated with celiac disease include:
Dermatitis Herpertiformis
Do you have a red, itchy, burning rash on your elbows, knees or buttocks? Or maybe it is on the nape of your neck, your upper back or in your scalp? Dermatitis Herpertiformis, or DH, is often misdiagnosed as herpes, eczema, hives, psoriasis or contact dermatitis.
DH affects about 10 per cent of people with celiac disease, or about one in every 1,000 and tends to occur between the ages of 20 to 45. But it is hard to catch because many sufferers have few or none of the bowel problems normally associated with celiac disease.
In fact, the only way to diagnose DH is through a biopsy from clear skin near the blisters or lesions. If that test proves positive, it is not necessary to confirm the finding though a biopsy on the small intestine, usually the final step before celiac disease is diagnosed. Although an antibiotic is used to relieve the symptoms, the only treatment to stem and reverse the damage being done inside your body is to go on a gluten-free diet.
You're trying to get pregnant but nothing works. Your doctor says everything seems normal and to be patient, or that maybe it is time for you to consider in vitro fertilization and other options.
Stop; before you go there, have you been screened for celiac disease? Although the link between infertility and celiac disease is still under study, a growing body of research supports the view that celiac disease can actually cause infertility.
Next page: Elisabeth Hasselbeck; osteoporosis; neurological symptoms


text:
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The U.S. stock market finished the volatile week with modest gains, helped by a bounce on the main benchmarks Friday.
Broad-based gains on the S&P 500 were led by technology and healthcare sector stocks, particularly biotechnology companies.
Investors focused on earnings reports from companies such as Google, Inc and Huntington Bancshares and brushed aside implications of a Malaysia Airlines jet crash in Ukraine and Israel's invasion of Gaza, which triggered a selloff on Thursday.
The S&P 500 SPX, -0.01% rose 20.1 points, or 1%, to 1,978.22. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.08% added 123.37 points, or 0.7%, to 17,100.18.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.07% jumped 68.70 points, or 1.6%, to 4,432.15, as biotech and Internet stocks rallied sharply, after steep drops the day before. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF rose 3%, while the Global X Social Media Index ETF rose 1.8%.
Equities on Thursday were rattled by news that 298 passengers were killed in a Malaysia Airlines MY:MAS crash in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian troops has been going on for months.
U.S. intelligence officials said the jet was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. Follow developments on Flight MH17 here.
Meanwhile, Israel launched an open-ended ground invasion of Gaza aimed at crushing Hamas militants after 10 days of aerial bombardment.
"Geo-political headlines dampen consumer sentiment, but this market has been remarkably resilient," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. "Ultimately, this is an earnings-driven market and earnings so far have been encouraging, especially among large banks."
Investors had a muted reaction to a weaker-than-expected consumer sentiment report. Separately, the Conference Board's June leading-economic index rose in June, a sign that the economy could strengthen in the second half of the year.
Google rallies after earnings; AMD tumbles
Shares of General Electric GE, -0.16% closed 0.6% lower after the industrial conglomerate's second-quarter earnings met Wall Street's projection. GE also said it's targeting the IPO of its Synchrony Financial business for the end of July.
Huntington Bancshares Inc. HBAN, -0.38% climbed 4.8% after the regional bank's second-quarter profit rose 9%.
Google GOOG, -0.50% shares rallied 3.7%, after the Internet company late Thursday posted second-quarter revenue that beat Wall Street's expectation.
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD, +0.10% tumbled 16% after the chip maker's second-quarter adjusted earnings missed analysts' projections. For more on today's notable movers, read our regular Movers and Shakers column.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Average NIK, +0.06% fell 1% as investors sought the perceived safety of the Japanese yen. But the U.S. dollar USDJPY, +0.00% eventually pared its losses against the yen. European stocks SXXP, -0.05% slid on the geopolitical tensions, and Russia's MICEX XX:MCX dropped 1.3%.
In the commodities market, the safe-haven benefits for gold US:GCQ4 faded on Friday, with the precious metal dropping in electronic trading, as a lack of physical follow-through made that upward move unsustainable, according to analysts.
Crude-oil futures CLQ24, -50.14% settled marginally lower Friday.
More must-reads from MarketWatch:
A glimpse of lives lost on Flight MH17
We're in the third biggest stock bubble in U.S. history


text:
HEED (AES vol 6.14)
Mild flavor, steady energy, tooth-friendly, no upset stomach . . . guaranteed!
HEED is a unique, healthy alternative in the cluttered world of sports drinks, so if you're sick and tired of putting "garbage in the gas tank," you're ready for HEED! As with all Hammer Nutrition fuels, we guarantee that you'll love HEED, or we will return your money.
Although sports drinks have been around for decades, most of them haven't evolved very much, if at all, including the newer incarnations to come on the market. They still consist primarily of sugar, salt, and citric acid - mixing these three ingredients in water for use during exercise may have been innovative in the 1960s, but today it's just archaic. However, with the introduction of HEED in 2004, all of that changed. A full decade later, HEED is still the only sports drink mix that is void of sugar and citric acid, and has a decidedly alkaline pH.
Why HEED is superior
1.) Mild flavor. Unlike the many syrupy sweet (yuck!) sports drinks on the market, HEED is noticeably subtle and pleasant tasting. Courtesy of its maltodextrin, natural sweeteners, and lack of citric acid, HEED easily delivers the calories you need without overwhelming your taste buds, damaging your teeth, or upsetting your stomach.
2.) No refined sugars (glucose, dextrose, sucrose, fructose, etc.). There are two primary problems with fuels comprised of simple sugars, including a so-called "healthy sugar" like cane sugar, which is simply sucrose (table sugar) -
- Simple sugars have severe limitations when it comes to providing calories that can be efficiently digested and utilized for energy.
- Simple sugars typically cause wild and unpleasant "peaks and valleys" in energy levels.
3.) No citric acid. Many sports drinks include citric acid to stimulate saliva production and provide a tart flavor. But whether used alone or chelated to a mineral (e.g., calcium citrate), citric acid can cause permanent damage to teeth if they are regularly bathed in it. Sports drinks with citric acid also frequently cause significant stomach distress because they increase acidity in the stomach and body.
4.) No artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners. There are ZERO general health benefits to be derived from artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners - and you can be sure there aren't any performance-enhancing athletic benefits to be garnered from them either. It's simply not necessary or beneficial to include these artificial ingredients, despite the fact that so many companies still do it.
5.) Appropriate amounts of sodium and a full-spectrum electrolyte profile. We ALL take in far too much sodium from our daily diet, and the consequences can be quite serious. High-sodium diets are responsible for health disorders that include congestive heart failure, hypertension, stroke, gastric ulcers, cataracts, stomach cancer, osteoporosis, and migraine headaches. Considering these potentially dangerous effects, it's a mystery why some companies still jack up the sodium in their sports drinks. Their rationale that the excess sodium replenishes lost electrolytes is just plain wrong! What they're not telling you is that:
- Sodium alone, or sodium and potassium (the usual electrolytic mineral content of many sports drinks), are incomplete and cannot fully satisfy electrolytic mineral requirements.
- By and large, the amount of sodium in a sports drink reflects the amount of simple sugars in it - the higher the sugar content, the more sodium must be present, not so much to replenish sodium losses, but simply to get that sugar-laden mixture through the GI tract with any efficiency.
HEED contains sufficient, not excess, amounts of sodium. Equally important, HEED contains a full-spectrum electrolyte profile that more adequately and completely replenishes electrolytes.
6.) No inconsequential amounts of vitamins, minerals, and auxiliary nutrients. It's misleading to put nutrients in a product, and then tout their benefits when the amounts aren't enough to produce any real effect. Example: Having 2% of the Daily Value (DV) of vitamin C, a miniscule 9 mg, doesn't do much beyond increasing the cost of the product.
7.) Healthy sweeteners. HEED contains only healthy sweeteners - stevia and xylitol - and natural flavors. That's it. Xylitol and stevia are unique, tooth-friendly sweeteners. Check out the FAQ "How are xylitol and stevia used in your products?" in the KNOWLEDGE section on the Hammer Nutrition website for more information about them.
Sports drinks are a convenient way to stay optimally hydrated and fulfill energy requirements during shorter-duration periods of exercise. They're also really handy for quenching thirst and maintaining energy if you expend a lot of energy for your job (e.g., construction, landscaping, etc.), or if you do chores in and out of the house.
Remember, however, that what you put into your body determines the quality of energy you'll receive. Don't be deceived by the bogus hype of the "latest and greatest" sports drinks sprouting up on a seemingly daily basis. There's nothing new or great about them; they're just recycled "old school" drinks (and we mean REAL "old school") that contain the same junk ingredients their predecessors had. The well-known saying "garbage in, garbage out" definitely applies to the fuels you consume.
HEED contains none of the refined simple sugars or artificial junk found in most sports drinks. The nutrients that HEED does contain will positively influence the quality of your workouts and races. Two other nutrients in HEED - chromium polynicotinate and l-carnosine - will benefit your general health. And HEED delivers all of those benefits without the overt sweetness that's the norm for most other sports drinks. All flavors of HEED - Lemon- Lime, Mandarin Orange, Strawberry, and Melon - are subtle and easy on the palate, even when mixed in more calorie-dense concentrations. If you prefer no flavor at all, give Unflavored HEED a try; it's virtually flavor-free! HN


text:
Actor Michael Douglas was the toast of the GQ Awards in London on Tuesday night as he was crowned Legend of the Year.
A week after his separation from wife Catherine Zeta-Jones was announced, a solo Douglas was beaming as he picked up the accolade at the publication's annual Men of the Year ceremony, held at the Royal Opera House in the British capital.
Douglas, who flew in from the Venice Film Festival in Italy, was handed the prize by Samuel L. Jackson, while Sir Elton John was given the Genius award by terminally-ill rocker Wilko Johnson, and Doctor Who actor Matt Smith handed Noel Gallagher the Icon trophy.
Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens picked up Most Stylish Man, Pharrell Williams got lucky landing Performer of the Year, rockers Arctic Monkeys nabbed Band of the Year and Lou Reed was hailed the Inspiration of the Year.
Accepting her trophy for Woman of the Year, former Harry Potter actress Emma Watson joked, "Given the perilousness in the journey from child star to adult, any award with woman in the title is frankly a relief!"
Watson's My Week with Marilyn co-star Eddie Redmayne was also feted, taking home the Breakthrough Award, while Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were crowned the Comedians of the Year, and newsman Piers Morgan nabbed TV Personality of the Year.
Actor Michael Douglas was the toast of the GQ Awards in London on Tuesday night as he was crowned Legend of the Year.


text:
Caught CP Range:688 -739
Welcome to the Pokebattler raid counters guide for Geodude - Alola. You can find the best counters based on the moveset of each boss. This guide is customizable in several different ways. You can choose the attack level and attack strategy that you like to use as well as various sort options.
Looking forTeam Rocket Counters?
Pokebattler Raid Guide can be customized to only include Pokemon you actually own using your own personal Pokebox. Log in, add your best Pokemon to your personal Pokebox, and then you can toggle between the best Pokemon that you have in your Pokebox, and the best Pokemon counters overall to plan your raid fights.
No bonus to any Pokemon
©2019 Pokebattler.com. All rights reserved by their respective owners.
This site is not officially affiliated with Pokémon Go and is intended to fall under Fair Use doctrine, similar to any other informational site such as a wiki.
All Pokémon Go trademarks, copyrights etc are held by Niantic, Inc.; Pokémon; and Nintendo / Creatures Inc. / GAME FREAK inc. Pokémon and Pokémon character names are trademarks of Nintendo.


text:
IBM services help complicate cloud's horizon
Prey you got some systems nerds
Cloud computing is supposed to make IT easy. But if it was easy, no one would be able to make any money on the idea.
As it is, companies like IBM are trying to make money twice with clouds: first by selling preconfigured clouds for inside the corporate firewall and then - you guessed it - selling services to help setup and monitor the cloudy infrastructure and train people on how to use it properly.
IBM launched its CloudBurst preconfigured cloudy server infrastructure back in June 2009, but it is just now getting around to selling the companion QuickStart services to speed up the deployment of the blade servers and systems software it consists of.
The base CloudBurst setup is a 42U standard server rack which has a System x3650 M2 two-socket Xeon 5500 server with 48GB of memory installed as a management server for the cloud. Multiple BladeCenter-H chassis can be slid into the rack, but the base box comes with one chassis configured with four HS22 Xeon-based blades. One of the blades is designated as a management blade and the three others are for running virtualized server instances.
The BladeCenter-H can house 14 blades (13 usable by CloudBurst workloads) and three of them can be crammed into the rack, for a total of 39 usable blades. IBM also tosses in DS4300 midrange storage arrays that link to the HS22 blades by Fibre Channel links, which eats up some space in the rack.
The management servers inside the blade boxes are configured with Tivoli Provisioning Manager V7.1 and Tivoli Monitoring V6.2.1, and the blade chassis and its servers are managed with the Systems Director tool. This includes a feature called Active Energy Manager that can shut servers down and power them up as workloads dictate.
The disk array uses IBM's ToolCenter 1.0, DS Storage Manager V10.36, and LSI SMI-S provider, and the master orchestration program for the entire cloud is called the CloudBurst V1.1 service management pack. All of this stuff is used to provision and manage the iron and VMware ESX Server hypervisors that provide the virtualization layer in the blades.
Luckily, you already know all about these tools. So you don't need to buy the QuickStart services from IBM. But for customers who may be new to IBM's blades and its various systems management programs, more than a few will probably be willing to shell out some cash to get Big Blue to do some of the setup work - what, you think you just plug this in like it implies in the press releases? - and to teach you how not to do something foolish.
The CloudBurst QuickStart services available starting from Tuesday include deployment of the BladeCenter iron and integrating that into your environment. All of which, I think, means simply rolling in the racks, plugging in the power and network cables.
IBM will also configure user and security profiles on the CloudBurst iron, and get ESX Server so it can see all of the virtualized servers, storage, and networks. IBM will then verify the platform ("yup, that's your CloudBurst platform"), set up the self-service portal for reserving compute, storage, and networking capacity.
This portal is what masks all of the complexity of the various systems management and provisioning tools that are baked into the CloudBurst iron. IBM will also toss in some prepackaged automation templates and workflows for managing ESX Server virtual machines, and give system administrators some hands-on trading on how to use all this.
What IBM did not announce - as it almost never does with stuff that comes out of Global Services - is a price. If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it. In that case, you probably have three nerds somewhere in the organization that are monkeying around with Ubuntu and Eucalyptus and who already know how to use Amazon EC2. ®
Sponsored: Beyond the Data Frontier