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Extracts from the The Marine Quarterly - Summer 2016
Summer 2016 – passage to Haiti, helicopter salvage, Jutland, Severn trows, and the world's most incompetent smuggler
John Maclean and crew sail the 1979 Fastnet race:
The steady westerly swell of the sea had been temporarily flattened by the wind coming in from the south, and Fluter was training along superbly, her lee rail occasionally dipping under, the phosphorescence flying to leeward. This was exhilarating, but we all knew it was just part of the blow beginning to work itself up. By midnight we were down to the No. 1 jib and 7 rolls in the mainsail. At the change of watch we decided it was a good moment to put the storm jib. Shortly after this there was a gust with more than a hint of a Force 7 and the strop on the head of the storm jib broke, the halyard disappearing up the mast. We reset it using the spinnaker halyard, saying that in the morning someone would have to go up the mast to retrieve the other halyard, which was flying out horizontally in the near gale. Little did we know there would be no hope of this. When Simon took the weather at 0015, the forecaster announced a severe gale SW Force 9 was on its way.
Captain Edmund Eglinton begins a long career carrying cargo under sail:
Came the day when the Jane was loaded and ready to leave the River Axe for her first cargo to the Kingston walls. It was a very low spring tide, however, and the Jane, to save time, actually had to be sailed into the mud berth and 'dumpted' as Capt Smart termed it, and her anchors carried off after the tide had ebbed. Of course, my father took me with him, for I already had quite a lot of experience in mooring the various trows, and the heavy 'anchor drill' that went with it. I was conversant also with the hoisting and furling of the sails. But this was my first trip! The first time ever in a vessel under sail from one place to another! It was only a few miles but I was thrilled beyond measure.
Kenneth Michell fights Bolsheviks on the Dvina in 1919:
b hgnbbThe Medical Department now recommended me to the Admiralty to receive an appointment to a ship in a warm climate and in order to have their little joke they appointed me in command of HM Monitor M33, which was fitting out at Chatham to relieve the garrison at Archangel and endeavour to make contact with, and rescue, Admiral Kolchak, which meant passing up through the Norwegian fjords, round the North Cape and through the ice to the White Sea and the River Dwina.
I found the M33 in a state of chaos, having returned after the war from bombarding the Belgian coast. I was warned that as they were such shallow draught ships they were very unmanageable in a seaway and to get ready for a passage of more than a thousand miles through the North Sea and Arctic Ocean, I prepared for the worst.
Nat Benjamin sails his schooner 'Charlotte' to Haiti:
A moderate night wind slid down the high volcanic slopes and across the water, wafting us through the Passage with sheets eased. Shortly after midnight we rounded Cap Dame Marie and set our course for Île-à-Vache, some 20 nautical miles to the ENE. Cooperatively, the breeze backed a few points to the north, allowing us to make our heading in one tack. At about 0300 we rounded up in the lee of an uninhabited cove and set our anchor in white sand under 20 feet of clear, moonlit water. When the sails were stowed and Charlotte finally at rest, all hands walked about the deck in quiet conversation. This was the natural world, unchanged by man, and for all of us a landfall like no other.
Graeme Stones hunts a ditched helicopter in the North Sea:
The helicopter we were looking for had gone down in the dark a week earlier, in a rising gale. We had been working on a Dive Support Vessel in the same field until the wind got up and late in the afternoon we had to let go the platform and steam into it. By 2200 it was blowing 7 gusting 8. The last flight of the day took off from the rig we'd been diving on with the two pilots and a solitary passenger. Soon afterwards there was one transmission, with only these words: 'Mayday, we're ditching.'
Nicholas Jellicoe remembers his grandfather's part in the battle of Jutland:
In 1911, commanding the 2nd Battle Squadron from HMS Hercules, Jellicoe was able to successfully attack Sir George Callaghan's rear by breaking with the rules and moving his squadron as an independent force. In the summer of 1913, Jellicoe again outmanoeuvred his commander-in-chief in a battle exercise where Jellicoe's Red Fleet simulated a possible German invasion. Having lured his opponent south towards Flamborough Head, Jellicoe managed to land his 2,500-strong force either side of the Tyne. The exercise had been too successful. It was cut short lest it give the Germans ideas. It was this action that some say identified Jellicoe as the future war commander of the Grand Fleet.
David Higham sees the end of an era:
My time in submarines in the late Sixties and early Seventies coincided with the last hurrah of the art of the Gun Action Surface. I first served in Auriga in 1967, when she was part of the 7th Submarine Squadron based in Singapore during the Indonesian Confrontation of 1962-1966. The Royal Navy had refitted the boats in the squadron with the QF(Quick Firing) Mark viii 4in gun. While I was on board, first for training and then as Fifth Hand (the most junior officer), we practised Gun Action Surfaces as a welcome diversion from prolonged exercises playing loyal opposition to the surface ships of the Far East Fleet.
Francis Morland provides an object lesson in how not to smuggle hashish:
It was textbook, really. We drifted rather aimlessly for a day, then found the famous trade winds. For the rest of our journey an 8 to 10-knot wind blew steadily from astern. We poled out the main and foresail. A marvellous peace settled over the boat. Two dolphins joined us, skipping around us sometimes, sometimes just cruising astern, sometimes disappearing for an hour or so. We played them music to see what they liked best. Peaceful day after peaceful day went by. Then one dawn, when I was on watch, a blip appeared. During the day it turned slowly into Antigua: a perfect landfall, beginner's luck. More ominously, our first radio contact included a speech from President Nixon, declaring war on drugs.
Suzy Annett-Brown goes fishing off Sardinia:
Head out for a mile and a half, he told us, line up the port light with the water tower to the west and the church tower of Calenzana with the beginning of the big cluster of maritime pines to the south, drop your anchor and go in reverse until it holds. Then pay out your palangrotte. The palangrotte was a length of thick nylon fishing line on to which several hooks had been bent at regular intervals, baited with pieces of squid. At the end of this line was a weighted sinker to hold it in place once it had reached the bottom. And what miraculous catch was this elaborate setup supposed to bring to the surface? 'Ah!' he said, rolling his eyes in ecstatic memory of a time gone by. 'Le pageot royal!'
Matthew Engel takes the last ship to St Helena:
30 December (afternoon) Neither me nor the taxi-driver is clever enough to find either e Berth or Duncan Dock where boarding for the RMS St Helena takes place. This is because there are no signs. By a process of elimination, I eventually guess correctly, rush in breathlessly, terrified of being late for check-in, then discover I am the first to arrive. In a sense I am already in St Helena, where everyone knows the ropes. So I sit in this grim hall, watching a video screen which regularly flashes up an advert for Titanic artefacts, which seems rather tactless. Not merely have I never been to St Helena, I have never been to sea. Not properly. Cross-Channel ferries, yes, but never on an ocean. In my journalistic career I have reported from all seven continents, but I flew even to the South Pole.
Tristan Gooley reads glitter paths:
When light strikes water and then reaches the eye it must have followed one of three paths. It will either have been reflected off the bottom, or off particles in the water, or off the surface. The bottom, obviously, shows as a change of colour, and particles as a milkiness or opacity. The effect that interests us here is reflection from the surface, which produces the long line of shimmering reflections known as the 'glitter path'. This is caused when the eye picks up thousands of tiny sun reflections on the sides of waves stretching into the distance. Its shape is a measure of the height of the sun and the roughness of the waves; the glitter path will get narrower as the sun gets lower, and broader as the waves get steeper.
Jonathon Green discovers a new sea author:
The primary myth of Simenon is the myth of Paris, with its weather, its omnipresent Seine, its cafés, its haute bourgeoisie, petits gens and criminalunderworld. Maigret is an assemblage of illustrative tics — the eternal pipe stuffed with army-strength tobacco, the rides on buses with open platforms, domestic life with Madame Maigret.
Like most myths, these hide the truth. Simenon, so quintessentially 'French' was, like Agatha Christie's 'typical French detective' Hercule Poirot, in fact Belgian. Maigret pursued as many cases beyond Paris's city limits as ever he did within its twenty arrondissements. And while Simenon is at first glance culturally landlocked, the sea, and on a smaller scale France's network of canals, plays a central role in his work.
And of course there are North Sea News, Flotsam and Jetsam, book reviews, seamanship, eccentricity and extracts from the classics, and the thoughts of tugmaster and tobacco smuggler Ray Doggett – all decorated with the fine drawings of Claudia Myatt. Welcome aboard once more.


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What is the Calvary Global Network?
An episode of The CGN Mission & Methods Podcast
By Calvary Global Network
The CGN Mission & Methods Podcast is the official podcast of the Calvary Global Network (CGN). Hosted by CGN Director, Kellen Criswell, the podcast features discussions on theology and ministry practice related to three foundational aspects of Great Commission work: gospel proclamation, disciple making, and church planting. Guests include church and mission leaders, missiologists, and theologians from Calvary Global Network, and friends of CGN of diverse evangelical traditions from around the world.
Mission Theology and Church Planting Methods with Dr. Ed Stetzer
In this episode, Kellen Criswell, Director of CGN, discusses topics in Mission Theology and Church Planting Methods with Dr. Ed Stetzer.
January 22, 2019
European Missions & the Need for New Churches & Leaders
Pastors Brian Brodersen and Richard Cimino discuss the current state of missions in Europe, their experiences planting churches, and the exciting opportunities and needs for new church planters, pastors, and leaders.
October 10, 2018
Women in Church Leadership
What does the Bible say about women in church leadership? In this episode, listen to Dr. Gerry Breshears on pursuing biblical faithfulness and humility in developing your understanding and ministry practice on this timely issue.
July 12, 2018
Dr. Gerry Breshears on applying the gospel practically and learning when to divide from differing Christian ministries
In this episode, Kellen Criswell sits down with Dr. Gerry Breshears from Western Seminary to discuss practical applications of the Gospel message, and processing when to partner with, and when to divide from other Christian ministries.
June 14, 2018
Digging deeper into the Vision & Mission of Calvary Global Network
In this episode, Kellen Criswell, Director of CGN, breaks down the Vision, Mission, and Initiatives of Calvary Global Network.
June 1, 2018
What is the Calvary Global Network?
In this episode, Kellen Criswell, Director of CGN, sits down with President and Founder of CGN, Pastor Brian Brodersen, to discuss Pastor Brian's vision and heart behind starting the Calvary Global Network.
May 16, 2018
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subset: commoncrawl


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Secret NGO Budgets: Publish what you spend
The following post was written by Till Bruckner, PhD candidate at the University of Bristol and former Transparency International Georgia aid monitoring coordinator. Are you ashamed of your organization's budgets? Do you think your supporters would be shocked if they could see exactly how you are spending their money? Do you feel the need to keep your finances hidden from your local partners and clients? If you answered all three questions with "yes," you might be working for an international NGO.
After the August 2008 war between Georgia and Russia, Transparency International (TI) Georgia, a local organization working on transparency and accountability issues, tried to track and monitor 4.5 billion dollars in humanitarian and reconstruction aid that donors had pledged. It was in for a shock.
Out of twelve NGOs that it asked to publicize the budgets of their ongoing projects, only one (Oxfam GB) complied. In an unusual display of interagency coordination, ten NGOs convened a meeting and wrote a joint letter to TI Georgia, arguing that they were unable to share their budgets at short notice as "there are a number of legal and contractual implications involved with donors, head office and other stakeholders which will take time to resolve."
Nine of the signatories to the letter were members of InterAction, whose standards state that "organizations shall substantiate, upon request, that their application of funds is in accordance with donor intent or request" and that "the member organization shall be committed to full, honest and accurate disclosure of relevant information concerning its goals, programs, finances and governance." In theory, the NGOs had committed themselves to transparency.
In Georgia, international development organizations have been advocating for greater transparency for years, teaching citizens that they have the right to know how their money is spent, ordering community-based organizations to publicly display the budgets of their micro-projects and telling local governments that they have the duty to provide financial information to those they serve. Years ago, I asked an NGO manager what he considered the greatest success of the project that he was running. "We finally got the district government to post its budget in the mayor's office, where everybody can see it," he proudly told me. When I suggested that he post his own project's budget in his office, he recoiled. "This is an experimental project, so the overheads are very high," he replied. "So it would be very difficult to explain."
While there appears to be little hope of gaining access to project budgets through NGOs themselves, institutional donors are subject to legislation in their home countries. I filed a Freedom of Information request with USAID in May 2009 to request copies of the budgets of all NGO projects in Georgia funded by American taxpayers' money. Six months later USAID informed me that it needed the consent of the NGOs to release this data as it might contain "confidential commercial information," thereby closing the opacity loop: first NGOs had blamed donors for not being able to release budgets, and now the biggest donor was passing the buck back to NGOs.
After a series of follow-up emails to USAID's Information and Records Division had gone unanswered, I lodged a formal complaint with USAID's Inspector General in March 2010. Two months later, the Inspector General's office finally replied, saying "this matter does not fall within the investigative purview of our office" and passing the buck to the Director of Administrative Services. Meanwhile, one year after my original request for information, the budgets of US-funded NGOs in Georgia remain as elusive as ever.
Secrecy and charity make for strange bedfellows. Those who spend the public's money in the name of the poor have a duty to make themselves accountable to rich and poor alike by publicly explaining how this money is being spent. Congress should step in and require USAID to publish what US-funded NGOs spend by posting full narrative and financial project proposals online as soon as a funding decision is taken.
Till Bruckner worked for NGOs in Georgia and Afghanistan before managing TI Georgia's aid monitoring programme in 2008-2009. He is currently writing a PhD thesis on accountability and corruption in NGO projects in Georgia. The views in this article are those of the author alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of TI Georgia. The author can be contacted at email@example.com.


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Today's Free Lunch strip will be delayed due to our fabulous weekend at the SPX convention. Joe's blaming the hold up on the 7 hour drive home, but we all know it's because he just got drunk and forgot.
The good news is that it was a great weekend and there is much to show you and talk about. Expect a recap later on in the week as well as a bunch of sketches Joe did at the show. Here is one of our favorites. Someone asked for sketch of the pimp. Joe said "Full body?" "No. Just the head will be fine."
No problem at all. But you fans should know that this could never actually happen to the Pimp. He CAN'T die. He's a Highlander. Well... I guess he could get his head cut off and would die. In fact because he IS a Highlander it would actually be more likely to happen. Forget what I just said. He's a vampire! ...Wait.
And as Joe's official apology for the hold up on the strip, take a look at the ink drawing from this weeks strip, in this preview.
2019 ScheduleNew York Comic Con
October 03 - October 06
New York, NY
Booth 942


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How a Book is Born
I've heard rumors that this is so:
If We Believe All the Same Things, Why Do Our Churches Seem So Different?
Kevin DeYoung:
Have you ever been talking to a pastor or someone from another church and it seems like you should be kindred spirits. The person you meet is obviously a warm-hearted, sincere Christian. They don't have a problem with any of the doctrines you mention as precious to you and your church. They don't affirm liberal positions on major theological questions. They nod vigorously when you talk about the Bible and prayer and church planting and the gospel. And yet, you can't help but wonder if you are really on the same page. You try to check your heart and make sure it's not pride or judgmentalism getting the best of you. That's always possible. But no, the more you reflect on the conversation and think about your two churches (or two pastors or two ministries) you conclude there really is a difference.
The Unskeptical Questioner
Barnabas Piper:
I even consider myself a borderline skeptic. Not the rabid, virulent sort, but rather one who is prone to questions and teeters on the brink of that slippery slope into "prove it." I am insatiably curious and very rarely is the first answer I receive satisfying. There must be more. So I keep questioning things, especially relationship, belief, and aspects of faith.
For many Christians, someone who questions everything is already a skeptic. Questioning is seen as a mark of unbelief. There's a fine line, though, between being someone who questions and being someone who refuses to believe any answers—a true skeptic.
We May Look Alike and Talk Alike But We are not Alike
J.D. Payne:
The Anglo majority in the United States (especially within the Church) is oftentimes quick to assume that if a group of people speak Spanish and have a dark complexion, then they are all culturally alike. Of course, this is not true, and the Church misses the missiological boat whenever we begin to think in such ways.


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Posted by Smokey Stover on October 31, 2007
In Reply to: A bit previous posted by George Henry Dumble on October 31, 2007
: What is the meaning, and is there an origin of the phrase... "being a bit previous"? I understood this to mean something like "being a bit cheeky presumptuous" and for some unknown reason thought it was of Yorkshire origin. Can anyone elucidate?
If we eliminate the British words, like cheeky and Yorkshire, the Oxford English Dictionary says you are right.
"3. colloq. (orig. U.S.). In predicative use. Done, occurring, acting, etc., before the proper time; premature, hasty. Hence (U.S.): presumptuous, rude.
"Usu. with modifier, as too previous, a bit previous, etc. [citations:]
"1869 Massillon (Ohio) Independent 18 Aug. 3/1 Two or three weeks ago..it was intimated that Russell & Co. would take a brief recess. It was a little previous to make this last announcement. The last named establishment is, if possible, more busy than ever. 1882 T. H. SAYRE Our Minister (MS.) III. 72 S. So it was you who dare to kiss me? Joe. Yes. S. Do it again. Mrs. B. Susie, you are too previous. . . ."


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Yesterday was a rainy, gloomy day. And so is today. Again. If my memory serves me correctly, every day in 2018, save for two, has been grey – with or without snow and/or rain. I'm pretty sick of it. But here I am planted in the Midwest, which means it's to be expected that the weather will be rather dismal this time of year. At least we don't have a foot of snow right now, so there's that.
Anyway, yesterday while walking down the street coming back to my office from lunch, I happened to gaze across the street and noticed a man at the crosswalk. I did a quick double take because for a second I thought it was someone I knew.
Turns out it wasn't, but that didn't stop him from smiling at me. A real smile – teeth and all. Not one of those half-assed smirky smiles that says "Oh, awkward. We've made eye contact and now I'm gonna look like a jerk if I don't acknowledge in some way that we've visually connected, so now I feel like I have to smile at you, even though I have no idea who you are and why you're looking at me. Why do I now have to smile at you?" kind of smile. It was a genuinely friendly smile that said "Hi! Have a nice day!" from across the street, standing in the rain.
I smiled back. A real smile back. One that said "Hi back! Have a nice day yourself! Thank you for taking the most minuscule extra effort to smile at a complete stranger on this ugly-ass day!!"
I'll probably never see that person again or, if I do, I may not remember him or realize we exchanged a smile on a rainy day.
The point is that two total strangers smiled at one another. And I loved that. That it cost him nothing, cost me nothing, harmed no one, and in fact, lifted me on an otherwise
sort of ugly day.
Smile! Smile because you can! Smile because it's free! (I'm trying to see how many exclamation marks I can insert in this post. Mostly because now that I've noticed that I've used so many, it's making me… yes, you guessed it, smile!) Smile because it will make you feel good and because it could brighten up the day for someone who is having an otherwise gloomy day. Smile as much as you can because some day you may be on the receiving end when you're the one having an otherwise gloomy day. And won't that be nice?!
By smiling often, when you're feeling good and your valve is open, and even when you're feeling grumpy or sad – or even apathetic, you are raising your vibration such that you are creating more smiling days than gloomy days, and you are pre-paving a journey of smiles.
Go on. Smile, dammit!


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Managing multiple Instagram accounts can be a bit of a headache. luckily, Instagram's latest app update gave users the ability to add and manage up to five accounts. However, if you're looking for a little more functionality, Latergram.me may be worth considering.
Hootsuite just added Instagram capabilities last year, and offers both free and paid versions. The free version allows you to connect up to five accounts from Facebook, Twitter, #Google+, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn e.t.c so you can not only schedule future posts, but also monitor your feeds, follow conversations that are happening, track which posts resonate with your audience.
Facebook Power Editor
Since Instagram is owned by Facebook, if you'd like to give your posts a little extra boost you can use Facebook Power Editor to do so. The targeting options here allow you to really zero-in on your desired audience.
This free app suggests the best times to schedule and post your photos, as well as hashtags to use to get more engagement. Crowdfire is also fabulous for growing and managing your following. It gives you a list of new followers, allows you to see who has unfollowed you, and much more.
Since hashtags are such an important part of connecting with the Instagram audience, Inselly is a tool that allows you to use its hashtag (inselly) to tell users your product is for sale. Sales are processed through PayPal and you can have unlimited listings. There is a free and a paid version.


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If you've got a little monkey jumping on beds and climbing on chairs, it's time to start planning regular trips to the playground. Climbing is an important skill that helps children develop balance. You can create small, safe play areas indoors for really young toddlers, but preschoolers will thrive in an outdoor area with bigger equipment on which to test their blooming balance skills — while eagle-eyed Mama supervises, of course. From tot-size stairs and slides to lattices and ladders, playground climbing equipment will challenge and thrill your preschooler.
Slides are an important climbing tool. They build confidence in beginners who can clamber up the bulky steps at breakneck little-kid speeds. The quick gratification of the downward pull helps to keep them going again and again. Many slides have alternate routes to get to them. Your child will be faced with choices. The steps or the simple three-rung ladder? Soon he'll try the ladder. When you're alone on the playground and your kids have a good sense of their own balance, you can allow them to climb up the slide. The slippery surface with force them to use their hands and change their center of gravity and speed to make it up. Don't attempt this when others are trying to use the slide, though. You'll be on the wrong end of a child collision.
Ladders come in many forms on a child's playground. The simplest leads straight up to a ledge, possibly on a slight angle to make it even easier. As your child gains a better sense of her physical self, she'll be able to move on to the curved ladders, where they start out as pull-and-climb equipment and bend in a fluid movement so that by the time your child reaches the top, she will be standing vertically, with the ladder rungs perpendicular to her feet. Clambering up lattices help your kid find her best option while on the move. She'll have to think and push forward at the same time — something she's been forcing you to do since she was born. She must choose rungs at various heights and distances from her, and as she pulls up, she has to find comfortable footing. Sometimes a bar is in the way, as lattices are not straight vertical climbing tools. This builds confidence and quickness, both in movement and decision-making.
Rock Walls
Rock walls are a level up from ladders. The hand and foot holds are smaller and unevenly patterned. The child must have good dexterity in her limbs and hands and be confident that she will not fall. Stay with your child as she tries this, even if the wall is short and slanted. If she falls, she may end up with a fear of heights, but if you're right there the first time, she won't be as scared. Instead of climbing hand over hand and foot over foot, your child has to reach out and grab at knobs to keep from slipping down the wall. She has to calculate her next move before mindlessly pushing ahead. As she improves, she can pretend she's a real mountain-climber, out on missions in the wild!
Monkey Bars
Not all climbing has to be from the ground up. The monkey bars are a great way for preschoolers to test their strength, agility and bravery. (Be warned — your child will probably fall a few times.) The monkey bars can be used from a very young age so long as parents are right there to hold and catch their kids as they try to swing from rung to rung. As your child gets older, allow her to try them herself. Maybe make a primate noise or two of encouragement. Most bars are not really high off the ground, so falling will not result in injury. Unlike the other equipment, using the monkey bars teaches children about motion, momentum and strength. As your kid progresses, she can experiment on the equipment by swinging her legs up and pretending to be a gymnast. The bars improve movement, confidence and decision-making. They indicate a comfort with her own body.


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If you're following the underground for quite a while already, you should be familiar with Texas based Thrashers RIGOR MORTIS (not to be mixed up with the pre - IMMOLATION outfit of the same name of course!). They released three records in the late 80's / early 90's ("Rigor Mortis", "Freaks" and "Vs. The Earth") and then disappeared from the face of the earth again. Bassplayer Casey Orr recently informed us about the return of RIGOR MORTIS with three original members: Casey on bass, as well as Mike Scaccia on guitars and Harden Harrison on drums. According to him, they already started rehearsing and plan on recording and touring next year at some point. So, reasons enough for us to finally come up with a bigger feature on the guys. The following interview is already a bit older and was originally published in the classic debut issue of Snakepit Magazine, but as nothing's really changed ever since, you can still enjoy it in the same way... Read on to find out what Casey used to tell us when we hooked up with him in my hometown Bremen, where he was having a show with GWAR at the time...
As I never got to read anything about RIGOR MORTIS overhere, I was wondering if you could help us with the most important facts about the origin of the band?!
"Ok, basically RIGOR MORTIS started around '81/ '82. Myself and Harden Harrison, the drummer, were in school together and decided to start playing together. And we had a friend that played guitar, but we didn't wanna play with him, he wasn't very good. He called us one day and said "I found this guitar player and he's so good! I won't even play, you guys just come over and meet this guy and play with him." And we went and met him and it was Mike Scaccia. And RIGOR MORTIS actually became RIGOR MORTIS, I guess in 1983... we really formed as RIGOR MORTIS and got Bruce Corbitt to sing for us, he was our first singer. We put out a demotape in '86, only put out 500 copies of it, but a friend of ours got in contact with people from Capitol Records... Rachel Matthews, who was at Capitol Records at the time, and she liked it a lot and came down and saw us and they signed us. We thought it was a really great deal and that it was the biggest deal in the world."
Which songs had been on that demotape?
"A lot of them were on the first album. There was one called 'The Troll', that never appeared on any record. 'Six Feet Under', from our second record, was on that demotape as well. It was okay. I wouldn't now say that it was all great, but apparently the girl at Capitol liked it a lot. Unfortunately when she left Capitol Records, the people that took over our project weren't interested in it at all, so..."
What have you all musically done previously? Did you play in any other bands already or was RIGOR MORTIS your first band?
"Well, we'd all been in smaller bands as kids, but RIGOR MORTIS was really our first band that ever made any tapes or did anything."
Did you promote your demo in the underground or was it mainly for record companies?
"Yeah, we sold it at our shows and sent it to people and tried to promote it as much as we could. But actually, we didn't have that much time. We got signed fairly soon after we put out the tape, so once we got signed, we decided to start working on the songs for the record and everything and we didn't put out another, second demotape or anyhing."
Could you tell us what Capitol exactly did for you during the time you've been with them? I mean, have you gotten lots of advertisements and Interviews or were you able to go on tour at the time?!
"Well, they did some at first... We did one tour in the States with DEATH ANGEL and they gave us a lot of money! Basically for a band that comes out of nowhere, that did one demotape, 500 copies... we had no idea what the music business was all about as far as the reality of it, you know. We just played. They gave us a deal for $100.000 for our first record and we thought we were unstoppable now! But unfortunately we really didn't know much about the business and we didn't have a manager at the time and so they kinda helped us spending it. It was ok. They hired Dave Ogilvie, who now works with Trent Reznor (NINE INCH NAILS). They got him to produce our record and we did the record in a really expensive studio and spent a lot of money there. I wished we would've known more and we would've spent less... They bought us all new equipment and took pretty good care of us as long as Rachel was there. But Rachel left about a year after we got the deal. Right around the time we were almost ready to do a second record, but they basically just dropped our project. To do the second record, we literally had to get our lawyer to call Capitol and say "Either we record the record or you release the band; so they can go on and record." And they were like, "Well... okay... I'll tell you what we'll do, you'll record it, but we'll release it on Metal Blade Records..." So, that's what happened. We recorded the second record in California with Bill Metoyer and it came out pretty good, but they really didn't promote that at all and that's actually the hardest one to find, because they really didn't do much promotion."
How did you get together with Metal Blade Records?
"It was through Capitol. They gave us the money to record and at the time they were doing a sort of project with Metal Blade, Capitol was financing some Metal Blade releases at the time, so they hooked that up. When the time came for the third record, we didn't even call anybody, we just asked some guys at Triple X Records to give us some money to record."
When It comes to your second release, why did you go for a mini album instead of a full length then?
"Well, we got a different singer."
So, it's really a different singer on "Freaks"?
It's weird, cause they sound totally alike to me...
"Do they? Well, we got this guy Doyle Bright, who played rhythm guitar when we played live, but not on the record. And the people at Capitol weren't really sure about doing the record at all, cause they didn't care about Metal that much at the time. They kinda stalled for a while and like I said, we finally got a lawyer and he called and they said, "Well, you have this new singer and we're not sure what your future is gonna be, so let's do an EP and put it out on Metal Blade... " It was basically Capitol's idea to do it that way. We had tons of songs, we were ready to record a full record."
What happened to your original singer?
"He's kind of a flakey guy, pretty weird. And we just didn't get along with him very well at all through the whole time and finally just couldn't work with him anymore, just didn't like him, you know, personally me."
So, he got fired?
"Yeah, basically none of us wanted to play with him anymore."
Where did you draw your main musical inspiration from back then?
"Back then it was a lot of BLACK SABBATH, MOTÖRHEAD, IRON MAIDEN, PRIEST and at a time I got into any British or European Heavy Metal I could get my hands on. I bought it in import stores and stuff. Everything from RAVEN to VENOM and everything... I listened to all that kind of stuff at the time."
Has anyone of you maybe also been into WHIPLASH from New York?
"Oh yeah!"
Cause to me the instrumental opener on your debut album, 'Welcome To Your Funeral', sounds pretty WHIPLASH inspired, especially the guitarvvork...
"Yeah, we used to listen to WHIPLASH..."
Taking a look at your songtitles, I guess you've lyrically mostly been inspired by horror and gore movies, haven't you? Why didn't you print the lyrics in the first two releases?
"Well, we printed them in the first record and the second record they didn't wanna spend the money."
But they're not included in the CD version...
"It was all up to the label. The label didn't put them in there because it was too expensive, which is bullshit! But like I said, we didn't know much about the music business. It took us basically until RIGOR MORTIS broke up and we all went on to do other things, that we learned how it all really works, you know. We were kids at the time and we didn't have a manager or really power to say "Bullshit!" Looking back at it now, we should've just said "Fuck you, print the fuckin' lyrics!" But ever since I had to make copies for people and mail 'em to them all the time, cause people still contact me and want copies of the lyrics and I have to find them, cause man, it's been a long time... It's been several years since we played with RIGOR MORTIS, so..."
Which movies have your lyrics been inspired by at the time?
"Tons of stuff. All the old Italian Zombie movies, like the Argento stuff or "Dawn Of The Dead", the really cheesy low budget splatter stuff, like "Wizard Of Gore"... Basically we were sitting around, watch horror movies and smoke pot all night and then write songs."
Have you written your lyrics exclusively about those movies or have you also written about any other topics as well?
"Uhm as RIGOR MORTIS it wasn't just movies and stuff, but the theme behind every song was pretty much blood and guts, horror, killing, freaks, perversion and stuff, you know (laughs). At the time we were just so into horror movies and stuff. It just was the easiest thing to write about. All the time we could constantly come up with lyrics, cause at the time we would sit down and watch five horror movies in a row! Just sit there all night and watch horror movies, so it was easy for us to write about that stuff."
Did you also get the chance to appear on any of those movie soundtracks because of that maybe?
"Actually the first thing that Capitol released us on was the soundtrack to "The Decline Of The Westem Civilisation Part II", the "Metal Years" movie, which we weren't in, but they put a song on the soundtrack record, 'Foaming At the Mouth'. It's not on any of our albums, so it's exclusively on there. It was actually on the demotape as well, but it's a new recorded version. We weren't with Capitol all that long, about a year, a year and a half and then they kinda dropped us, so a friend of mine, that I went to school with, now works in Hollywood, doing horror movies and stuff and he worked on "Lord Of lIIusions", he was the second unit director and he worked on "Bride Of Re-Animator" and a lot of movies like that. And at the time he had been working in Hollywood for a year or two and proposed a video for the song 'Re-Animator' and proposed it to the people at Capitol and they seemed really interested. He had guys that played in "Re-Animator" and "Chainsaw Massacre" and he had them all lined up to be in this video and get paid nothing as a favour to him. And the people at Capitol were like "Oh yeah, we're really interested." And they flew a girl down to Texas and she took us out. They were really good about coming to Texas and taking us out to dinner and buying us booze and then they wouldn't do anything. But she took us out and he proposed the video idea to her. I mean it would've been great, it would've been the coolest video up to that time, it would've been insane, but..."
It never happend...
"It never happened. She went back and called and was like "Ehh, I don't know, it's too much money." And it was something like pretty low, like $25.000, which at the time for Capitol Records was nothing, especially with four or five recognizable people from horror movies in it, you know. And guts and blood, you know (laughs)! Creature effects and stuff."
And what about ordinary compilation albums? Have you ever appeared on any of those maybe?
"Yeah, Capitol put out a couple of stupid ones like "Metal Madness", just cheesy shit... Literally I was in a store one time, flipping through CDs and I found this one called "Metal Madness" that had a RIGOR MORTIS song on..."
But I guess the material on there was just taken from your album, wasn't it?
"Yeah. So, they dropped us and didn't do anything with us and then later on they put our songs on stupid compilation records, hoping that somebody would buy it"
I noticed that you also have been responsible for the RIGOR MORTIS logo design on the debut album... So, have you been doing artwork of any kind yourself maybe?
"Not really. Not a lot, I just kinda sketch, just draw a little bit, but I was never a professional artist or anything..."
So, you have never done anything for RIGOR MORTIS or any other bands?!
"Actually, I've done a couple of things. I drew a T-shirt design for X-COPS and I drew a T-shirt design for GWAR, but that's about it. I don't draw a lot, but every now and then I draw something that somebody likes and we use it for something. But actually the logo itself, the head I drew, but the name RIGOR MORTIS was drawn by my older brother, Grady. On the demotape is my version of it and on the album cover they got a guy called Cort Johnson, who did a lot of skateboard artwork, to do that."
There's been quite a few bands around calling themselves RIGOR MORTIS at the time, but you've been the only one to survive with that moniker... So, did you copyright that or something?
"Yeah, actually what happened was, we had the name for years and years and then I found a record in a record store of a LA Punk band called RIGOR MORTIS and so we told the people at Capitol and they tracked the guys down and they had broken up years before, but they actually had the copyright to the name. So, Capitol was like "You probably gotta change your name." And this was after the album was recorded and about to be released. So, we were like "God, we gotta think of a new name!" and when you've had a bandname for years it's hard to just pull another one outta your ass. Luckily the guys of Triple X Records, who we were friends with at the time, went to the guys in the band who own the copyright and offered them to buy the rights to the name. Capitol said that they would pay up to $10.000 if we could buy the copyright and I think we ended up paying them like $1.000 and they were like "Great sure here, take it!"
Who came up with the cover for the "Freaks" release and did it cause you any problems maybe?
"No, actually it was weird. Triple X Records knew this artist Mark Ryden and he had a sketch of that and we were gonna call the record "Freaks" before we hooked up with him. And they told him, "Well, we have this band and we wanna know if you're interested in doing the artwork on the cover. The album's called "Freaks"." And he was like "Oh wow, I already have this thing begun..." So, he brought it to us and we were like, "Wow great!", so he took it back, changed it a little bit and added a few more characters into the drawing. And it's funny because he did a MICHAEL JACKSON album cover, he did a STEPHEN KING cover for a hardback book and he did the WARRANT cover, with the fat guy's face. He's done a lot of stuff. But he was really cool, he did it for very little money."
Was it a problem for you that your management Triple X was located In California, while RIGOR MORTIS was from Texas?
"It wasn't that much of a problem. The only problem was that they didn't really do much for us. We wanted to tour all the time or get our songs into a movie or whatever. And we gave them all these ideas and they were just like waiting and waiting and waiting! They wouldn't really do anything happening. We just sat around at home, writing songs and songs, saying "When are we gonna go on the road?!" It was really difficult, because we wanted to do all these things and didn't have enough music business sense to make it all happen ourselves. So, we were relying on people, who told us they would do all these things for us and very rarely came through. But at the same time, some of the people from Triple X we still see every now and then. We never had like huge differences with these people. Like I said, we thought, we would do really well with Capitol Records and then they dropped us and moved us over to Metal Blade. And then Metal Blade didn't do any promotion for it at all and then finally, we did the third record, just out of frustration. We just called another label and said "Look, fuck them, they did nothing for us, we just wanno do a record. We don't give a shit about any politics involved, we just wanna make music!" So, we did that and right after that record was released, Mike got an offer from MINISTRY to join fulltime. And at the time we really weren't doing a whole lot, you know, we didn't have any tour lined up or anything like that. It was just like "Go for it!" We are all in the business forced to succeed and if you get a good offer... And actually it was good, because Mike went on to do MINISTRY for a while and I got to tour with MINISTRY on Lollapalooza. The bassplayer's wife had a baby on that tour, so he left and I got to play seven shows as the bassplayer for MINISTRY. That was pretty cool. And our drummer went on to do another bandproject called PERVERSE and they did a couple of CDs in Texas. And me and Mike Scaccia and Mike, the drummer for X COPS... After the third RIGOR MORTIS album in '91 or '92, we did a project called BLOWHORE, some more of a Punkrock kinda thing, it was just us three and I sing everything. And we started a second BLOWHORE record, we did all the basic tracks and then the guy, at the studio we were working at, totally fucked us over and we couldn't get ahold of him for months and months and then Mike had to go back to MINISTRY, so we still have the rough mix of an album full of songs. But because of him being in MINISTRY and me later on being in GWAR we just haven't had time to do anything. But when we played Dallas, I hung out with Mike and Harden and all we did was just look at each other and go "Man, we gotta do something again!" It's like RIGOR MORTIS never got a proper burial, you know. It's like it never ended right. I'm sure one day we will do another RIGOR MORTIS record, because we talk about that all the time!"
Are there any unreleased RIGOR MORTIS songs?
"There's like five or six songs that we didn't record and there's tons of other stuff that we've written since then, which could easily be RIGOR MORTIS stuff."
To get back to your management one more time... was Charley Brown really your manager's name or was it just a nickname or something?
"No, it was his real name."
And was Triple X Records your management's label?
"At the time we were doing the Capitol record, it was combined, it was Triple X Records and management and then they split off later on. Triple X Records is still around, but Triple X management is no more."
Weren't you satisfied with Bill Metoyer's production work on "Freaks" or why did you retum to Kerry Crafton, who already did your debut album?
"Well no, I thought it sounded really good, that was something the label set up for us to do. But when we did the third record, we did it in Texas and Kerry, the engineer on the first record, he recorded our demotape as well, so we'd known him. And he had a studio that he worked at all the time, so we could get a good deal and we knew him and we knew he was familiar with us. So, it was just an easy and inexpensive way for us to record, cause Triple X didn't have a lot of money to give us. Basically we went down from Capitol to Metal Blade to Triple X, but I think at least the records got better in a lot of ways."
You also started to take over some of the lead vocals then, what was the reason for that?
"Well, it was really by accident. We were writing songs that we didn't want Bruce to sing, because we thought they were too cool (laughs). So, it was between me and Mike and the first one I ever sang was 'Die In Pain'. I sang that one because we were practicing one time and he wasn't there and for some reason I came up with 'Die In Pain' as the chorus part and we more or less finished that song that night. I then ended up singing more and more. Because I wrote things and I wanted to sing them or I wrote something and Bruce just couldn't get it right, you know. Same thing with Doyle. Doyle was a better musician, the problem with Bruce really was, he was not a musician at all, he couldn't play a guitar, he didn't even wanna learn and I think, even if you don't play guitar in a band, if you're gonna be a singer, you should have some musical knowledge. Because it's really hard to explain to someone how to interprete these lyrics and sing 'em along with the music when they had no concept of music. All he listens to is AEROSMITH, he's like almost gay for AEROSMITH, he's such a big AEROSMITH fan. And we tried to explain shit to him, what we were doing and what we want him to do, and he couldn't comprehend it, you know. So, sometimes when I wrote something, I didn't even want him to try, I just sang it myself."
Have you been singing before that already?
"No, never! The first song ever sang in my life was 'Die In Pain'!"
Who are David Haake and Dave Fargason vvho contributed backing vocals and string bass to the "Rigor Mortis vs. The Earth" album?
"They were friends of ours from a Texas band called DER GESTANK. A really cool band Dave Forgason played the string bass in College and he came in and played on the first song and Dave just sang back-ups."
Did you split up after that album straight avvay?
"Pretty much after. As soon as it was released, Mike got the offer to be in MINISTRY fulltime and he had played with MINISTRY a little bit before. He had toured with them, when we weren't doing anything. When he got the offer to join them fulltime, it was hard for him to call me and tell me this. If I would've raised hell about it and got really mad, I think he might have stayed and would not have done it. But I couldn't. I was like "Man, that's awesome! Fuckin' go for it!" If something that good comes along you can't stand in someone's way! And it ended up being good for all of us. We're still really good friends. We talk all the time on the phone. I'm sure we'll do something again, I'm positive, I just don't know when."
When did you get together vvith GWAR then?
"They contacted MINISTRY to see if they knew anybody to play guitar and Mike turned them on to Pete. Pete was in a band that used to play with us all the time in Dallas, called SEDITION and they had broken up and so they got Pete to join GWAR (he transformed into "Balsac The Jaws Of Death", in case you are a GWAR maniac - Frank). And then when their bassplayer quit, Pete called me. And that's basically how I got the GWAR gig. So, indirectly, through Mike Scaccia from RIGOR MORTIS, I became a member of GWAR." (better known as "Beefcake The Mighty" then... - Frank)
Frank Stöver
Pics: Stu Taylor, Mike Insuaste, James Bland, Steve Scott, Frank Stöver (last 2)
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text: Once upon a time, I was an ambitious young foreign correspondent for the New York Times. Disillusioned by the paper's support for starting wars, I resigned to start a Balkan Summer of Love. Needless to say, this didn't go as planned. A tragi-comic caper ensued, as this memoir records. It probably didn't help making business deals with gangsters, but it seemed to make sense at the time. The experience taught me how not to change the world, and why getting high was not the same as being enlightened.


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Travel Photography: Charleston South Carolina
I am 90% sure that I have not posted any photos from my travels to Charleston South Carolina last year. In May of 2013, my then girlfriend, now fiance, took me to Charleston for my birthday. It was my 30th and she wanted to do something special for me. Had never been in an airplane before that trip. So it had a lot of meaning.
Charleston is very historic. There is a vibrant, visible history that some cities can not even claim. Among the historic images one can come across on their walks through, there is a culture that makes Charleston a very lavish place to vacation and visit.
Without providing a narrative for every day we were there, like I would like to do, rather I chose 5 images to show what I saw. These are 5 randomly chosen, spur of the moment choice that I think one could say, Charleston is interesting. I will give a one sentence blurb for each photo.
While my photographs are mere snapshots of what can really be seen in Charleston, they still capture an essence of the city. Charleston is one of those places were you could spend weeks documenting the life, culture, and ambiance of the city. In the last 18 or so months I have taken mental trips back to Charleston. On a good day, I can remember the taste of Alligator.


text: Whether you're headed to the woods or national archery tournament, we want to make sure you have all the right equipment to make the most out of your archery experience. One of our experienced staff members is waiting to help assemble your perfect setup for any application. These are some of our more popular items, with many more in stock. Our inventory is ever changing and just about anything can be ordered.


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It is good that ice floats on water because plants and fish can survive in water that is covered by the floating ice sheet. Water in its solid state becomes less dense than in its liquid state, unlike other matter types, due to its hydrogen bonding.
In the winter, the air gets cooler initially, then the lake water gradually cools from top to bottom. When the lake water reaches 4 degrees Celsius, it attains maximum density. When the temperature of the top of the lake starts falling below 4 C, it turns into ice that floats and serves as an insulator for the water underneath. As the water underneath remains at 4 C at maximum density, it becomes congenial for the survival of the organisms.


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Today a blogger, Tomorrow a TV Host
Sometimes the internet acts in the most peculiar ways. Last week we saw the internet raise over half a million dollars for a woman they didn't know who got bullied by the most monstrous children I have ever seen. My twitter friend Alana found herself in the midst of a social media frenzy after a review she posted about a fitness studio was eviscerated by the fitness studio owner on Twitter. The internet is a powerful tool sometimes and it seems that now I know first hand. Back in May I posted this on my Facebook page:
A local morning host had resigned and I just happened to be watching it go down on the telly. Without thinking I quickly posted to my facebook and my twitter. I was half joking but had always thought there needed to be more of a highlight on food on the local morning shows. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing chefs cook in the 'set kitchen' but there is SO much more in Cleveland related to food than 1 man or woman cooking. I went on with my day and completely forgot about what I had posted on the internet earlier that morning.
Fast forward a couple days later and I start receiving emails from people at WKYC who had seen my tweet. They were interested in having me co-host the morning show, would I be interested? Nervously I accepted.
Tomorrow morning I will be co-hosting Good Company at 10am on WKYC. I am nervous as all hell but am kinda excited. On Friday I got an email of the segments and questions pertaining to them that I will spend all night reading and rereading. I am also cooking on the show some fun & healthy summer treats for the kids made with three ingredients. I would love it if you all would tune in and tweet and facebook and shout from the mountain tops about me co-hosting Good Company on WKYC. I need all the backup I can get.
For serious though, I am truly excited about this opportunity. Who knows what doors it will open or what will come of the experience? Maybe next year I'll be co-hosting on The Chew (watch out Michael, I'm coming for ya!). Heh heh.


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I posted this on the G+ Powered by the Apocalypse group, and it seems to have met with general approval (or at least no negative feedback) so I thought it would be worth doing a blog post on!
Last night I was preparing for tonight's Apocalypse World game, and going over the events and decisions I'd made while running tremulus the night before.
I wasn't really happy with some of my choices of Keeper moves (the MC in tremulus). I find that during play, I have trouble holding all of the MC moves in my head at once, which interferes with my ability to make a decision at the table without always picking the most obvious thing or spending ages going down the list.
So I sorted them into categories. With only seven broad things to remember, I'm hoping I can juggle them more efficiently during play.
Positioning - separate them, capture someone.
Portents - announce future or off-screen badness.
Harm - trade or inflict harm (as established).
Stuff - take away, make them buy, activate downsides.
Choices - spell out consequences, offer an opportunity, put someone in a spot.
Reversal - turn their move back on them.
Fronts - make a threat move.
Now I have a shorter list to look over, and I should be able to winnow the choices down more quickly by considering which categories are suited (or totally unsuited) to the current situation.
What do you think? Would you organise them differently? How do you remember the MC Moves and make your choices at the table?


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If any potential customers want to see how great a Higham kitchen still looks 3 years down the line, they're welcome to come and see ours! – Photos
We are so happy with our kitchen, it looks so amazing in the newly converted barn! Photos
I just wanted to say thank you for all your help and send you a pic of the final results!!
As part of a complete refurbishment/extension project we had a new kitchen space created in our house. Tim and his team managed to turn the vision we had for our kitchen into perfect reality. Everyone at Higham was very professional and easy to deal with. The inevitable changes in our project timescales were accommodated without fuss. The whole team, from workshop and installation crews to carpenter and painter clearly take pride in their work which resulted in a solidly built, well crafted, and stunningly beautiful kitchen. We couldn't be happier and would recommend Higham Furniture without hesitation.
Our kitchen is fabulous – Photos
We were very pleased with the level of craftsmanship and professionalism shown by you and the rest of the team at Higham. Photos
Thanks for the quick response to my request for a follow up visit.
Like 'Superman' no sooner called than he was here.
Great after sales service. Photos
…thank you for the most awesome kitchen ever. I hope to be able to put some work your way.. but i suspect you could put your prices up dramatically seeing the quality of your work and knowing what others are charging for similar stuff – so I'm just glad I got in there in time! Photos
I feel I made a very good choice with my kitchen. Photos
I absolutely love the finished kitchen, not just how it looks (although I love how it looks), but the quality of the workmanship and materials is the best I have ever seen – the thickness of the wood, and the quality of the drawers and fittings is just fabulous. Photos
You have done an outstanding job and we just love your kitchen. Photos
I am so pleased with it, even though it is not in place yet. I have never had anything made for me before (except my wedding dress!) and I am so chuffed with it. I have just been sitting inside the larder with a glass of wine (it seemed sturdy enough to take my weight!). Photos
I have no doubt that the overall look of the kitchen/family room area was a key factor in selling the house so quickly.
Good points:
1) Value for money – all wood, at a good price
2) Build quality generally very good
3) The oiled ply interior is excellent – compared to melamine
4) Lighting transformer void worked well
5) Good service/ pleasant to deal with
Love it so far thank you! – Photos
I love it – thank you. And I have been really impressed with the after care your chaps have shown us, so thank you all round for that. Photos
We worked with Tim for a number of months to come up with the right design for our new kitchen. Throughout, he was helpful, flexible and always on hand. It was an absolute pleasure dealing with him and his team.
We can happily say that he was our most reliable contractor on a long and protracted build and would thoroughly recommend him. Tim also provided two bathroom cabinets which have worked beautifully as the finishing pieces in both rooms.
Our new kitchen is pride of place in our home and this is down to the quality of work and craftsmanship of Higham Furniture – Photos
We are really pleased with the end result. Its definitely the showpiece of the house – Photos
… my kitchen which you know that i am over the moon about – Photos
Really chuffed. Feel free to put together a testimonial of your choosing – I'd be happy to put my name to it. [We do not make up testimonials but thanks anyway Andy!] – Photos
We looked at other kitchen unit providers and were very disappointed with the general standard of craftsmanship and materials used within our budget range. We were feeling quite despondent and then came across Higham Furniture on the web. We went to visit the factory in Hampshire and were very impressed with the standard of work. Tim Higham took great lengths to ensure we got what we wanted and we now have a lovely and unique hand painted kitchen. What is more it looks built to last. – Photos
We are very pleased with it. It looks fantastic – Photos
The kitchen is a great success and has been much admired. Many thanks – Photos
Your kitchen units are excellent and thank you for meeting the timescales and all your advice. No doubt we will knock on your "web" door again if we move home and need a new kitchen – Photos


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You can purchase the ultimate gift for the Regiment alum or phan on your list! There are a few helmet bay plaques remaining, so grab yours now before they're gone!
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text:
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Baodian portable water chiller
Baodian laser small water chiller is mainly used in laser marking machine, laser engraving machine, laser welding machine, laser ink jet machine, laser cutting machine and other laser processing equipment.It can accurately control the temperature required by the laser equipment, thus ensuring the normal operation of the laser equipment.
Baodian laser industrial water chiller is a kind of water cooling equipment. The laser chiller is a kind of small chiller equipment which can provide constant temperature, constant flow and constant pressure.


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ITEMS FOR THE BULLETIN SHOULD BE EMAILED (email@example.com) OR CALLED IN (785-735-2777) TO CONNIE BY 11:00 A.M. ON WEDNESDAYS.
(If the Parish Office is closed for holidays and Holy Days, articles may be due earlier.)
Click the date below to view the most current weekly Sunday bulletin in a PDF format.
September 15, 2019


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Green Chutney is a must for all chaats, this green chutney can be made in advance and refrigerated upto a week and can be used for making sandwiches, chaats and as a sidedish for samosas,kebabs and tikkis.I have another version of green chutney that I posted long back, I saw this version in a TV show so when I made grilled sandwich last week, I tried this version of green chutney and clicked it to post here.
Green Chutney Recipe – Ingredients
Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 5 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Sidedish | Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Recipe Category: Sidedish | Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Coriander Leaves – 3/4 cup
Mint Leaves – 1/2 cup
Green Chilli – 1
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Ginger – 1/4 inch piece
Cumin Seeds – 1/4 tsp
Garam masala
Chat masala powder
Salt – to taste
Water – as required
- Clean mint leaves and coriander leaves.Rinse it well to remove dirt.In a mixer add mint leaves,coriander leaves,chat masala powder,garam masala powder,green chilli,ginger,jeera and required salt.
- Add lemon juice.Sprinkle little water and grind to a fine paste.Don't make the chutney too watery.
Serve kebabs, chaats and sandwiches.
My Notes:
- Adding lemon juice retains the nice fresh green color of the chutney.
- Use a clean spoon everytime.
- You can even add lemon juice after grinding the chutney.
- Replace cumin seeds with jeera powder.


text: I really enjoy programming with Basic4ppc (even more now with v5 :sign0060: ). One thing I am missing however is the ability to copy and paste on the device. However, if Basic4ppc is combined with Mortscript (a very capable script program, freeware, from http://www.sto-helit.de/) this is actually possible! In this sample program you can copy the text from the textbox, alternatively paste new text into the box (as it stands you copy all the text). You need to install Mortscript from the link above for the program to work. Enjoy


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(this is an on-demand video)
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© 2019 Master Your Life & Dr. Pierre and Amanda Dalcourt.


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As a kid, I grew up eating Circus Animal Cookies. My grandma never paid attention to the food I had during the day, so I could shovel handfuls of these cookies into my mouth-hole while watching marathons of Scooby Doo on Cartoon Network. I am partial to the white ones as I believe they taste slightly better than the pink, but science has yet to back me up on this one.
I decided to make them into truffles since truffles are cute and portable and are yet another vessel for more chocolate and sprinkles (sprinkles are practically mandatory in life). The result is a super sweet, adorable truffle that is reminiscent of my favorite childhood cookie.
Circus Animal Cookie Truffles
- About 3 cups Circus Animal cookies
- 1/2 can cream cheese frosting
- 1 pkg white chocolate almond bark
- Rainbow nonpareils
- Pink food coloring
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set aside. Meanwhile, in a food processor, grind the cookies (about a cup at a time–work in batches) until finely ground, coarse crumbs. Pour all the ground cookies into a large bowl.
- Once cookies are ground, spoon in the half can of cream cheese icing. Using your clean hands or a spoon, mix together the crumbs and frosting until thoroughly combined.
- Begin portioning the crumb mixture into inch-sized balls (I used a small cookie dough scoop) and place the balls onto the foil-lined baking sheet. Repeat until all the mixture is used up.
- Freeze the truffles for about 3 hours or until completely frozen and solid. While they're freezing, prepare your white chocolate according to package directions until smooth and melted. Pour half that mixture into a separate bowl, and using your pink coloring, tint one of the bowls a pretty pink shade.
- Dip half the batch of truffles into the white chocolate, and the other half into the pink chocolate. I used a fork to coat all sides of the truffles, then allowed the excess to drip off the bottom before gently placing each dipped truffle back onto the foil-lined sheet. While still wet, sprinkle the truffle tops with the rainbow nonpareils.
- Allow all the truffles to harden and set, about 20 minutes in the fridge. Store leftover truffles airtight for about 2-3 days at room temperature, or a week in the freezer–just allow them to come to room temperature before eating them that way.
About the author: Hayley is The Domestic Rebel. She believes in cake mix, overdosing on sparkles & eating that extra cookie. And she really, really loves cupcakes.


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I find Bishop Spong's ideas very interesting and much in line with the kind thinking that led me to atheism. I am surprised to see he is still a believer with these views of scripture and the church.
I might pick up one of his books to read this summer.
The following is an excerpt from Spong's wiki page:
Spong's writings rely on Biblical and non-Biblical sources and are influenced by modern critical analysis of these sources (see especially Spong, 1991). He is representative of a stream of thought with roots in the medieval universalism of Peter Abelard and the existentialism of Paul Tillich, whom he has called his favorite theologian.[5]
A prominent theme in Spong's writing is that the popular and literal interpretations of Christian scripture are not sustainable and do not speak honestly to the situation of modern Christian communities. He believes in a more nuanced approach to scripture, informed by scholarship and compassion, which can be consistent with both Christian tradition and contemporary understandings of the universe. He believes that theism has lost credibility as a valid conception of God's nature.
Read carefully, think, then write thoughtfully……………………………..
I don't have any quotes……you can pick one for yourself
I later abandoned believing in God altogether when I concluded that if Christian scripture is nothing more than mythology the presence of any supernatural deity is also likely a just myth.
It seems that Bishop Spong stopped a little short of becoming an atheist and is more what I would call a deist.
Nice video....
"I say, imagine in your private life, if you decided that I'm not going to pay my mortgage for a month or two—first of all you're not saving money by not paying your mortgage. You're just a dead beat. "
--Barak Obama
You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not
--John Lennon
Lord of the Pings


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One of the things I am always on the lookout for are vintage hot rods. Not just any hot rod, but ones that just beg to be photographed and happen to be surrounded by the right setting. While out driving one day I came upon the scene below. Enjoy!
Click image to view larger or purchase a print.
Have a great day!
Photography of Interest on


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A move to London could be on the cards for unsettled Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge, while Chelsea are preparing a huge bid to lure o...
A move to London could be on the cards for unsettled Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge, while Chelsea are preparing a huge bid to lure one of the hottest talents in world football, according to Wednesday's papers.
Spurs Plan Huge Sturridge Bid
Tottenham are considering a move for Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge, 27, in the January transfer window.
According to Bleacher Report, Tottenham saw a move for the striker blocked in the summer after the Reds refused to budge from their £40million valuation. But his lack of playing time at Anfield this season means Liverpool could now sell for around £28million – and they claim Spurs are ready to reignite their interest.
The striker – who is still tipped to have a big impact at Liverpool this season by our writers– was on Tuesday linked with moves to both Stoke and West Ham.
However, it is claimed the England striker would be open to a move to London, where he has previously played for Chelsea.
Sturridge still has two-and-a-half years left to run on his contract at Anfield.
He has made 102 appearances for the club since his arrival from Chelsea in 2013, scoring 57 goals in the process.
Chelsea Chase Milan Starlet
Chelsea are set to offer AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma a huge salary increase to move to the Premier League.
The 17-year-old is regarded as one of the hottest prospects in world football and has already become a regular between the sticks for Milan, having made 43 appearances for the club.
He's also already earned a senior Italy cap.
Milan reportedly value the youngster at €60million – but that is not expected to put off the likes of Chelsea, according to reports in Italy.
SportMediaset claim Milan, however, are struggling to tie him down to a new long-term deal and reportedly want him to sign before his 18th birthday in February.
The report says the Blues will offer the teenager a £65,000-a-week contract, which is said to be double what he currently earns at Milan.
Donnarumma and his agent Mino Raiola are reportedly locked in talks with the Italian club and have refused all recent offers.
Milan's new Chinese owners Sino-Europe have made Donnarumma's new deal a priority, but Raiola is well aware of the interest in his client and is holding out for the best possible deal.
Should Donnarumma move to Chelsea, it is likely he will become first-choice goalkeeper, replacing current No 1 Thibaut Courtois.
SportMediaset also claim Courtois is keen on a return to Spain where he spent three successful years on loan with Atletico Madrid.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail claims Donnarumma is the natural heir to Gianluigi Buffon and have made signing him their 'next objective', while other reports suggest Borussia Dortmund are also planning a move.
Arsene Wenger is weighing up a January swoop for Argentine midfielder Leandro Paredes from Roma (The Sun)
Manchester United and RB Leipzig are chasing Chelsea whiz-kid Reece James (The Sun)
Wales manager Chris Coleman is wanted by two clubs in the Chinese Super League (The Sun)
Chelsea are ready to sell out-of-favour Oscar – and that will put Inter Milan on red alert (Daily Mirror)
John Terry is wanted by Andre Villas-Boas for a reunion in China (Daily Mirror)
Raphael Varane hopes to stay at Real Madrid for the rest of his career, halting talk of a reunion with Jose Mourinho at Manchester United (The Sun)
Barcelona star Ivan Rakitic has snubbed a move to Manchester United (Daily Star)
Manchester City outcast Yaya Toure has been urged to leave the club and consider joining French side Marseille by his brother and ex-Blues defender Kolo (Daily Mirror)
Jan Vertonghen will be the next player to sign a new contract at Tottenham – but will not be in the £100,000-a-week club (Daily Mirror)
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has entered the race for Charlton starlet Ezri Konsa, joining both Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Arsenal (Daily Mirror)
Simon Mignolet has admitted he's not happy on the Liverpool bench but has ruled out a January exit (Daily Express)
Aleksandar Mitrovic will turn down Napoli to help fire Newcastle back into the Premier League (Daily Express)
Manchester United are in talks to sign 19-year-old Corinthians defender Guilherme Arana (Daily Star)
Thiago Silva is desperate to sign a contract extension at Paris Saint-Germain (Daily Mail)
Hull are lining up a January move for Lazio midfielder Ravel Morrison. The 23-year-old has made just eight appearances since joining on a free transfer in the summer of 2015 (Daily Mail)
Sunderland manager David Moyes says he will not leave the club to coach Scotland if Gordon Strachan leaves the national job (Daily Star)
Sunderland midfielder Didier Ndong has explained why he was declared absent from international duty and subsequently sent home from Gabon. The 22-year-old says he was caught up in the "euphoria" of his wife giving birth (Newcastle Chronicle)
Chelsea could recall defender Nathan Ake, 21, from his loan spell at Bournemouth because of a lack of playing time (Daily Star)


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Team Chichester welcomed UWE Bristol to Chichester Racquets and Fitness Club for its first home match of Premier Squash League this year. Both teams were fielding below top strength squads but a competitive fixture, however, looked on the cards.
Lauren Briggs opened the proceedings. She has proved to be a very reliable player for Team Chichester this season and once again she did not disappoint. Briggs stormed through to a straight sets victory; dropping only a few points on the way.
On the adjoining glass-back Chichester's Pete Genever, making a welcome return to the squad, had his hands full against Bristol's, Dan West. Genever stormed to a 10/5 lead in the first game but after a fightback from his opponent he only just closed out the game 12/10. In the second game he once again took a commanding 10/5 lead, only to lose concentration, find the tin regularly and then lose the game 10/12. From then on both players battled evenly with Genever just coming through to win the next 2 games and edge out a 3.1. winner.
2.0 to Chichester
Next on the hard back court Brandon Hanley made his debut for Chichester. On the night he was in full flow and, aided by some outrageous nicks, convincingly closed out a 3.0 win to give Chichester an unassailable 3.0 lead.
On the glass-back court Chichester's Nic Birt built up a 10/0 lead against Theo Anderson before being hauled back to eventually take the game 11/7. Anderson, thereafter, grew in confidence and ground out a scrappy, hard fought 1.3 victory to put Bristol on the score sheet.
Finally, the dead rubber match between Chichester's Tim Vail and Bristol's proved to be the match of the night, and the longest at 68 minutes. A close 1st game went to Bristol as Serme's speed around the court enabled him to claw back an early deficit and win it 8/11. He carried on in the same vein in the second to comfortably win 2/11. In the 3rd Vail started hitting more strong and straight shots to give Serme little to attack. The game swung to and fro; Vail struggled to keep his straight game in check before he finally got it back on track to win through 13/11. A similar pattern in the 4th but an exhausted Vail started and finished strongly with a lapse of concentration during the middle period. Nonetheless he battled well to take it 12/10 to take the match to the deciding 5th game. By now Serme sensed that Vail was increasingly tiring and took advantage by making him work harder for every point. He closed out the match 5/11.
Chichester won 3.2.
The next match is at home on Tuesday 15 February against Surrey Health and Racquets Club. Team Chichester will field its strongest men's squad and Hannah Wright-Davies (a Member of Chichester Racquets & Fitness Club) makes her debut.
Mike Phillips - Team Chichester Team Manager


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Welcome to Douglas Martin Services
Douglas Martin Services, along with its sister company Douglas Martin Associates, offers a range of services that can be tailored to meet the particular needs of your business to ensure that all regulatory standards are met in a manner which enhances, rather than hinders, the way in which you work. Our bespoke services include Compliance Consultancy, Compliance Outsourcing, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Application, Training & Development.
Your business may benefit from our services if any of the following is giving you a headache:
How are you implementing a TCF strategy? Do all your adverts comply? How robust is your T & C scheme? How effective is your record keeping and audit trail? Are you handling complaints correctly? What is your disaster recovery plan?
Please contact us for a free information guide or for advice on how Douglas Martin Consulting can help you make sense of compliance within your organisation.


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7 Marks of a Good Pastor
I have always loved Psalm 23. It is the favorite passage of many Christians for comfort in times of distress and trouble. The other day, however, I looked at it differently: "The Lord is my pastor" (same word as shepherd). How does the Lord pastor us and how could a pastor be improved in his pastoring by following that example? The primary job of a pastor is to feed and lead. I found seven different aspects of pastoring referred to in this psalm. The first four relate to how you feed and the last three about how you lead:
he first four relate to how you feed and the last three about how you lead:
- He makes me lie down in green pastures. A pastor's teaching must be engaging, relatable, applicable. The messages are "Bible based" not "Bible laced." Each message has simplicity for new believers and depth for "Jedi warrior" believers.
- He leads me beside the still waters. The pastor leads the sheep in experiencing the presence of God in worship. Dry, hurried times of worship leave the sheep anxious and frustrated. Let them saturate undisturbed in communion between them and God.
- He restores my soul. The pastor leads his flock through "soul therapy," dealing with dysfunction in families, relationships, past hurts, forgiveness issues, and emotional immaturity. Weekend retreat formats are ideal for this as people experience great breakthroughs in their past failures.
- He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. The pastor must lead his sheep through separation from the world. They must apply the Scripture to their money, their work, and their words. They must break off immoral relationships , habits, and bondages. This is best accomplished in helping them to find small group relationships.
- Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death you are with me. In addition to feeding his people, the pastor must lead his people through the dark times and crises of their lives. "You are with me" means that a pastor is present at the hospital, the funeral home, the family crisis. Only a true pastor finds great fulfillment in walking with a member or family through their darkest hour. They feel his "rod and staff" continually guiding them through the pain.
- You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. The pastor must equip his people in how to relate and respond to a godless, secular world that surrounds them every day. His job is to MATURE them so that they live with an "anointed head" (boldness and authority) and an "overflowing cup" (unquenchable joy) even in the midst of filthy, perverted people in the workplace.
- I will dwell in the house of The Lord forever. Good pastoring results in long-term, mature sheep. We have members who have been in our church over 40 years. They would not think of "jumping the fence" to another flock. They have been following the "goodness" and "mercy" of that flock for decades.
As a leader, I encourage you to view your life through the lens of these 7 points. Are there areas that are lacking and need work? Begin to think through how you will be proactive about growing in those areas and develop a balanced approach.


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Praying into Encounter
Day One: Exodus 2:1-10
"I have come down to rescue them" God takes the initiative first always. Often, we think the pressure is on us to initiate an encounter with God, yet God is always making the first move and our response is always to his promptings. Notice how God hears Israel's need and comes to their aid. How might this give us hope in our need?
Day Two: Isaiah 7:10-16
"Ask for a sign" Man's response to an encounter with God can often be filled with doubt and skepticism. Is this really God or just my imagination? God wants us to believe in him. He is not bashful in reinforcing his desire to be known. Notice how he speaks to Ahaz encouraging him to ask for a sign to encourage his faith. How might God's prompting to Ahaz encourage us to ask the Lord for a sign that he is real and with us?
Day Three: Luke 5:1-11
"Depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man." Often we can push the approaching God away because we are so busy building an argument from our past sins and behaviors as to why God shouldn't approach us. "But I have done a lot of things in my life that I'm not proud of." Notice how Peter responds to Jesus when he realizes who he is in the presence of. How might you respond the same way and how might we learn from Jesus' response to Peter?
Day Four: Matthew:9:9-13
"I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." We can often block off God because we have built an argument from our past sins and behaviors as to why God shouldn't approach us. Notice how Jesus approaches Matthew at his customs posts.
Day Five: Jeremiah 29:10-15
"I know well the plans I have for you..." God's plans for our life is a future full of hope. He wants to share these plans with us. He wants to be a part of the plan with us. How might these words encourage us to seek and ask the Lord to come to us and reveal the plans he has for us?
Day Six: Matthew 1:18-25
"...do not be afraid..." was the words of the angel as God came to Joseph in his confusion and fear of what might be happening. God came to Him and came to him in his deepest need. What fears or deep confusions about our life might you need God to come and speak into?
Day Seven: Genesis 32: 23-31
"I feel like I would only be wrestling with God if he came." We may have a lot to hash out with God. Maybe our life is not what we thought it would be or hoped it would be. Perhaps it is filled with hurt and confusion. Maybe the only thing we would want to do is wrestle with God. That's okay. Can we invite God into a wrestling match?


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Well, we have been getting a lot of emails about 2017 Magoo Calendars and when they will go on sale. We are starting to gather our favourite Magoo pictures and will be putting the Calendar together ASAP. We will have a pre-sale for them as well! Super exciting! We will keep you all posted. Thanks for all of the love.
Love always,
Mr. Magoo the Cat


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A witness in Ogden, in Weber County, Utah, recently reported sighting and filming several mysterious orb UFOs moving across the sky together like a "school of fish or birds."
According to the testimony filed as Case 56393 in the archives of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), the witness saw the strange sight at about 9 p.m. on May 15, 2014, as he watched the Moon in his garden.
According to Open Minds-TV's Roger Marsh, the witness filed a report with MUFON on May 18, 2014, after he was unable to identify the mysterious "school of fish UFOs" he filmed in the sky over his home.
MUFON is an organization that documents and investigates reports of UFO sightings.
The video below, uploaded by MUFON to YouTube on December 22, 2015, shows the "school of fish UFOs" hovering in the sky over Ogden for several minutes on May 15, 2014.
Although some viewers attempted to explain away the UFOs as "helium balloons tied on string," the witness denied the suggestion, saying that the objects streaked in a tight formation across the sky with speed that could not be explained away in "conventional terms."
"Night birds, insects mostly. The School Of Fish UFOs are only helium balloons tied on a string. Hoax or Tease."
According to MUFON's Utah State Director Erica Lukes, who investigated the case, the witness, "an incredibly bright young man," was a skilled photographer and experienced videographer with a BS in film.
He was in the company of his girlfriend outside his home observing the Moon when they both noticed the strange objects flying across the sky in a complex formation. The UFOs flew below the cloud cover with great speed, according to the witness.
"The witness is an incredibly bright young man. He is a skilled photographer and videographer and obtained a BS in film," Lukes reported. "He and his girlfriend started noticing these strange objects when they were outside observing the moon. The objects in question were below the cloud cover and moved with such speed that he could not explain what the objects were in conventional terms."
The witness was so shocked by the sighting that immediately after the UFOs disappeared from sight, he began calling nearby military bases to inquire whether there had been test flights of drones or other unfamiliar aircraft, but he obtained no information that could explain the strange sighting.
But the military authorities would have refused to give information if there had been secret tests of military drones or aircraft.
However, the witness was convinced that the UFOs were not military drones or other types of familiar man-made aircraft. He noted that the UFOs moved across the sky faster than any man-made flying machine he had ever seen.
"His initial reaction was that these were military drones, but he now feels the movements were too quick. I will classify this unknown."
This is not the first time that orb UFOs flying in a complex formation have been sighted. The Inquisitr reported in April, 2015, that UFO enthusiasts sighted a formation of white UFOs flying through plumes of smoke into the Calbuco volcano, one of the most active in Chile.
The sighting occurred as the volcano erupted for the first time in four decades forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents.
A sighting of orb UFOS flying in formation also occurred in January, 2015, over western Massachusetts (see video below).
The sighting sparked excitement in the UFO community after the video was uploaded to YouTube. But skeptics dismissed it as an elaborate hoax.
[Image via George Stock/Wikimedia/Public Domain]