text:
New Avengers: The Reunion #3/
New Avengers: The Reunion #3 Jim McCann David Lopez
The newly returned Mockingbird continues her reintroduction to the Marvel Universe and her estranged husband Clint (Hawkeye/Ronin) Barton by leading us all on an international spy-chase to uproot the latest AIM game. What worked. This book is so deeply rooted in twists and layers of Marvel continuity the it is practically un-sumarizable. Just explaining who Barton is or is not at the moment is more than enough to turn away most non-readers. And then you factor in his past with Mockingbird, the Secret Invasion, Dark Reign....it is just too much to handle. But I do not mean that as criticism. Not every book should be written as a "jumping on point". This book is fully immersed in continuity and it acts like it. This is clearly not a re-purposed Catwoman/Batman pitch. Not only doe sit only work with these two characters, it only works at this specific moment of continuity. And, if you aware of that continuity, it is wonderful to see stories like this which weave exciting action and rich character drama in and around it. The actual plot moves deftly through points A, B, and C. A fairly straightforward espionage story with the usual exciting twists. What makes this story pop, however, is the character interaction. Mockingbird is actually pretty cool. Oh yeah, we recall, she is kind of bad-ass and really knows her stuff. Suddenly we don't quite recall what we may or may not have read in West Coast Avengers. She's tough and she certainly has it in for someone. Who, exactly, is hard to tell, just because her current position is so complex and convoluted. She is out to settle SOME score and Clint is out to figure out just where he stands with his wife/ex/friend(?)/or whatever she might end up being. These last few, confusing, sentences are exactly what is so compelling about this series. It is impossible to knw what is coming next for these two because it is impossible to get your head around their current situation(s). Clint, especially, comes off as pleasingly complex. He is obviously falling back into an adventure posture to try to cozy back in with Mockingbird. He acts the dumb himbo to charm her, but it is obviously an act and he can't help letting his competency and experience shine through when the situation calls for it.
What did not work. This story has had several flashbacks illuminating various key moments in the checkered past of the two leads. These moments have been wonderful in their fragmentedness. They leave us, the reader, desperate for the missing piece or firm footing from which to view this new again relationship. One particular sequence in this issue goes as far as to introduce the voice of a new narrator. And that is what pushes it too far. It can't possibly be the memories of either of our leads, because it is being told from a new, green, point of view. Though the story in this section is cool, and delivers needed info, the style of it is quite jarring.


text: The Division of Student Affairs awards several leadership scholarship to members of those students starting their first year in Fall 2019. The deadline for Fall 2019 new students has been extended to February 15, 2019 at 5:00 PM. Criteria for awards are based on applicants demonstrating a strong commitment to leadership in their high schools or pre-college experiences as evidenced by their co-curricular activities as well as excellent potential for engaging in leadership positions at Penn State Behrend. Leadership Scholarship awards average $1,000 to $1,500. For further information about Leadership Scholarships, please contact Dr. Ken Miller, Senior Director of Campus Planning and Student Affairs, at 814-898-6111.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I honestly loved this book from page 1.I just had to work and train this newbie at work since I'll be changing patients in a few days. And thus, the lack of time to actually read while on duty. haha.The concept of the story is just like any other dystopian novels where tyrant leaders are involved. But somehow, the author made it into something unique. The faction concept somehow confused me in the beginning.Seriously, I had to look up the meanings of each name. haha.But still, I liked that. It helped broaden my vocabulary.
I liked Beatrice "Tris" Prior as a character. She's different and she knows it. And again, since I don't want to spoil anyone I won't mention the reason why she's different. haha. Just read it.Somehow, deep inside of her she always knew that she was different from everyone from her faction which is Abnegation. And when the time came for her to decide whether to stay or leave I think she was at least able to choose the right faction for her. I am no longer biased when it comes to judging female characters. I seriously liked Tris. She's not annoying. Not the typical damsel in distress. I actually liked the brute side of her. Not a weakling per se. I liked the fact that she's not your average girl-in-love or stupid-whiny-girl character. I seriously loved the tough chic there.
Then of course, there's Mr. Hottie himself, Four. I am seriously, in love with Four right now.Haha.I love his I-am-so-tough-and-yet-I-am-sensitive persona. I just can't help but love him. I seriously understand why Tris likes him. I seriously have no idea why I like men who can treat a woman with brute force and gentleness at the same time. I just don't know. I think Four is one of those characters that I just can't help but fall in love with.
Overall, I enjoyed reading Divergent as I got deeper into the story. The fact that there are no lame characters in the book makes it oh so awesomefor me. Plus, the fact that Tris can actually hit Four without being such a girly girl. haha. Love that part. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. I'd give this a 5/5 star rating. And I can't wait to get my hands on the next one.


text:
GS loves SBSF!
The past five years, the three of us have embarked on a remarkable life changing experience that is Steel Bridge Songfest. We are unable to attend this year being the 10th Anniversary of the song writing collaborative gathering of beautiful souls and talented artists. We have grown to love and respect our Wisconsin families and friends, and we just want to say we send our love to Sturgeon Bay with wet hugs and kisses to all of you! Our thoughts and prayers go to all the artists for a successful week, lots of music and laughter, and safe travels everywhere you go!!! We're thinking of Billy and Chris with every note the 333 of us will play... Blessings and Happy Anniversary! We hope to see everyone next time we're in Door County, which may be sooner than later.
Holiday MusicMotel.
Sincerley, The Groove Boys
Manny, Ronnie, and Sarven


text:
Monthly Archives: March 2013
Independence Day Sequels
This information is from Nuke the Fridge.com…
Director Roland Emmerich is gearing up for two more rounds with the aliens that wreaked havoc on Earth in 1996′s "Independence Day." After his action film "White House Down" is released on June 28th, Emmerich will focus his attention on making "ID Forever Part 1," and "ID Forever Part 2."
The films will take place 20 years after the events in "Independence Day." Apparently, the original alien invasion force was able to send a distress signal to reinforcements before they were defeated by Earth's military. Here is what Emmerich had to say about the sequels.
"The humans knew that one day the aliens would come back," explains the director, who completed two scripts with "Independence Day" co-writer Dean Devlin and has given them to "White House Down" writer-producer James Vanderbilt for a rewrite. "And they know that the only way you can really travel in space is through wormholes. So for the aliens, it could take two or three weeks, but for us that's 20 or 25 years."
Emmerich has been working with art department staff to see how the world will look in the aftermath of "Independence Day." This is what he explained.
"It's a changed world. It's like parallel history. [Humans] have harnessed all this alien technology. We don't know how to duplicate it because it's organically-grown technology, but we know how to take an antigravity device and put it in a human airplane."
As far as the characters are concerned, actor Bill Pullman, who played President Thomas J. Whitmore, will return; Will Smith (Captain Steven Hiller) has not. The scripts will focus on a new generation of characters, including Hiller's stepson Dylan.
"It's still some of the same characters, but also new younger characters; it's a little bit like the sons take over," says Emmerich, who promises that the first sequel will have a cliffhanger ending to keep audiences coming back for more. "The first one ends on a little success, but only enough to give the humans hope. And then in the second one they free themselves again [from the aliens]."
After the mass destruction of the original "Independence Day," what's left for new aliens to destroy?
"We've rebuilt," Emmerich answers, with a smile. "But [the aliens] also do different things."
Here are my thoughts: I love alien invasion movies! I also love the movie Independence Day! When it came out in 1996 I saw it in the theater 4 times! That was how much I enjoyed the movie. Yes, on Independence Day each year I take out the DVD and watch this film. It is fun, action packed and it doesn't take itself too seriously. I have been waiting for a sequel ever since the movie came out. I think today film makers are more eager to cash in on a succesful franchise so it amazes me we have had to wait this long for a sequel. We are getting two more movies to make it a trilogy. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all of this happens!
Adventures of Superman: Part II
Now for the conclusion of my review:
The other changed that occurred when the series switched to color was the episodes become more child friendly. The first two seasons were dark and serious and even more violent. This was toned down and we began to see more fun and lighthearted episodes. For example, in "Through the Time Barrier" a A nutty professor uses his time machine to send Clark, Lois, Jimmy, Perry and himself back to 50,000 B.C., along with a notorious gangster who decides he likes prehistoric times. Although the series did get a reputation for child friendly episodes that doesn't mean they abandoned the more serious themed episodes. The season six episode 'The Perils of Superman" where criminals wearing lead masks are trying to kill Perry white, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Clark Kent is as dark as any of the episodes from the first two seasons.
One of the issues that was played down and almost non-existent in the series was the romance between Superman and Lois Lane. It was hinted at and one dream episode examined the topic, but for the most part it is generally ignored. In the first two seasons Lane and Kent actually have a more argumentative relationship. This is gone by the later seasons. In the early seasons Lois often suspects Clark as being Superman but this theme too is dropped in later episodes.
One of the last things I want to talk about is George Reeves portrayal of Superman/Clark Kent. It is one of my favorite portrayals of both Characters. As I have said on other occasions as I have grown older the Superman/Clark Kent secret identity is hard to swallow. Most actors portray each character differently giving some plausibility to the situation. The interesting thing about Reeve's portrayal of both characters is that he doesn't play Kent as a weak, baffoon type of character that some have played him. Reeves played Kent as a tough, smart and crafty individual. Superman/kent knows the audience is in on his secret and he plays wonderfully off that. There are times Kent is in peril but we the audience knows that he really isn't in any trouble and that does add to the excitement of the drama. We wonder what will he do to get out of trouble and keep his identity. George Reeves really did embody Superman and while others have also played the character well, he is the yard stick I use to measure others by.
I also love the world of the 1950s. The Superman comic had him fighting exotic and equally strong and alien villains. The show has him fighting the average and everyday crooks at a time when organized crime was at its zenith. I like the more realistic criminal he faced. It grounds the show more in reality for me. The clothes, the cars and the primitive technology of the 50s and it is all part of the tone of the show that give it its charm. I know many younger people do not like older shows..even ones from the 60s let alone the 1950s…so it may be harder to convince a younger person to give the show a try. I do highly recommend it though. It is a well done show and even the special effects, though not as good as today's standards, do fit the tone of the show and does not detract from the enjoyment whatsoever. So give Adventures of Superman a try!
Adventures of Superman: Part I.
The Adventures of Superman. Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! ("Look! Up in the sky!" "It's a bird!" "It's a plane!" "It's Superman!")… Yes, it's Superman … strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men! Superman … who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way! And now, another exciting episode, in The Adventures of Superman!
Superman is by far my favorite Superhero and Adventures of Superman is still a favorite of mine. I have been working my way through the entire series on DVD and it amazes me how enjoyable it is. I will never forget the first time I saw the series. I was in a Catholic school and I was about 10 years old. One afternoon my entire class was taken to the Church basement and no reason was given. When we got there we saw a movie projector set up and chairs waiting for us. There was also popcorn! I still had no clue what we were about to see. I sat with anticipation and curiosity as the room grew dark and the projector tuned on and started to hum. Suddenly on the screen with all fanfare was the title screen for Adventures of Superman!! My head was about to pop with excitement! I was in heaven!! We saw one color episode, "The Seven Souvenirs" and one in black and white, "The Deserted Village." I was hooked on that show and within a few years when cable TV came to town I was able to view more episodes. Ah, those were some of my most fondest memories.
Produced between 1952 to 1958. The series starred George Reeves as Clark Kent/Superman with Jack Larson as Jimmy Olsen, John Hamilton as Perry White, and Robert Shayne as Inspector Henderson. Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane in the first season with Noel Neill taking over role in the second season (1953). I must admit the show is pretty formulaic, with an assorted gangsters and criminals trying to commit some crime which will drag Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen into trouble that will require Superman to rescue them. Even though it is a predictable formula it never grows old or tiresome. The scripts were creative in bringing new colorful characters to keep it interesting. The shows first two seasons were reminiscent of 40s film noir style and absent from the series was Superman's number 1 arch nemesis, Lex Luthor.
To say that it stuck to a formula does not mean the show didn't change. It did change over the seasons. One of the changes showed great foresight. The first two seasons were in black and white as all shows and the overwhelming vast majority of TV sets were in the 1950s. After the second season an executive got the bright idea of filming the episodes in color realizing that color TV was going to be the wave of the future and that the color episodes would be more valuable in syndication. He was right. Starting in season three until the end of its run, Adventures of Superman were in full color…even though it would be 10 years or more until the majority of Americans could view it in color. By then color TVs were growing in popularity and availability and the majority of TV shows changed to color.
To keep this review to a digestible level I will bring you part II on Wednesday. Come on back!
Comic Book Men
I love the show Pawn Stars on the History Channel. It has become a very popular show and has inspired other similar shows. Today I want to reccomend one of the shows which Pawn Stars has inspired: Comic Book Men. The show is from director Kevin Smith and it takes place at his comic book store Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash. The show opens and closes with Smith surrounded by the employees of his store (Walt Flanagan, Bryan Johnson,Mike Zapcic and Ming Chen) talking about what happened at the store that week, which we then see in the episode. Sadly, the show is bookended with Smith talking to his crew but he is not seen in the episode at the shop too often.
Like Pawn Stars what we see are people coming in to sell or buy rare comic books or toys and props related to comic book characters or superhero.science-fiction movies. Many of the items brough in are things that are of interst but the real interest of the show is also the colorful charcters of the show. I stole this from Wikipedia and it is the back ground information on all the people on the show.
Kevin Smith – The owner of the store, and a filmmaker and author whose films include Clerks, Chasing Amy and Red State, and whose books include My Boring-Ass Life. Smith has been a comic book fan since he was a child, and has gone on to write such comic book series as Daredevil, Green Arrow, and Batman: Cacophony.
Walt Flanagan – Smith's friend since high school, and the manager of Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash since 1997. Flanagan has also appeared in small roles in Smith's films, and is a comic book artist himself, having illustrated Smith's miniseries Batman: Cacophony and Batman: The Widening Gyre. He co-hosts the podcast Tell 'Em Steve-Dave! with Bryan Johnson and Brian Quinn.
Mike Zapcic – Zapcic is described as having an "encyclopedic knowledge of every issue of every comic known to man", which he utilizes at Secret Stash, where he began working in 2000. He co-hosts the podcast I Sell Comics! with Ming Chen, and lives in Long Branch, New Jersey with his wife, Julia and their sons, Mitch and Daniel.
Bryan Johnson – A longtime friend of Smith's, who, while not officially an employee at Secret Stash, can often be found behind the front counter. Like Flanagan, he has appeared in a number of Smith's films. In 2000, he wrote, directed, and starred in the movie Vulgar, which was based on the clown cartoon featured in the intro of Smith's film, Clerks, and which premiered at the Toronto Interntational Film Festival. He has also written comic books, including Karney and War of the Undead, both of which were illustrated by Walt Flanagan. He co-hosts the podcast Tell 'Em Steve-Dave! with Walt Flanagan and Brian Quinn.
Ming Chen – Chen first met Smith through the fansite he created in dedication to Smith in 1995, which led to Chen being hired to create the View Askew Productions website. Today he continues to work on all of Smith's online properties, and is the technical expert at the Stash. He co-hosts the podcast I Sell Comics! with Mike Zapcic, and in his free time, he does pro bono website work for two non-profit organizations, Street Poets Inc. and The Kenny Gordon Foundation. He has a wife, Debbie, and two children, Lillian and Harrison.
This show is a celebration of all things nerdy and geeky. Yes this truly is a version of Pawn Stars for the nerd set. It is broadcast on AMC Thursday nights. Tonight it starts at its new time, 10:00pm. If you have not seen it I recommend giving it a view it is very enjoyable.
Do Not Feed the Trolls!
Ah, the wonders of the internet! Prior to the internet I enjoyed certain movies in relative peace not knowing that I wasn't supposed to like them. Until I got on the internet I never knew that some movies were so hated by the fandom of certain franchises. For example in 1989 I went to the theater to see the new Star Trek movie, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The theater was full and people were laughing (the movie had raised the level of comedy since Star Trek IV), I enjoyed the story and had a very good time. It wasn't until somewhere in the early 2000s did I learn how hated that movie is among the rest of the fans of the franchise. I never knew until then that I was not supposed to like it. I never got the memo.
All who follow my blog know that I am a huge fan of the Godzilla franchise. Well, last June I joined a message board devoted to the franchise and that hatred for the 1998 American Godzilla movie and the 2004 Godzilla: Final Wars by the majority of the fans on this site is palpable! Again, I never got the memo I was not supposed to like these films!
Then there are other places on the net which feature trailers for upcoming movies and message boards to discuss upcoming movies. On these sites you have members crying foul and saying this movie will suck even before they see the film. It fits the very definition of prejudice. On one of these sites there was a member, who hates the movies of Christopher Nolan, who is 100% convinced that the new Superman movie, Man of Steel, will suck and be the worse Superman movie ever made. This person said they will wait to borrow the movie from the library just to confirm how awful it really is. Talk about confirmation bias!
Then there is Ain't It Cool News…This web site run by Harry Knowles is a great place to learn about up coming movies and reviews for the movies as they come out and a lot of other behind the scenes information. Just don't read the talk back section. No wonder it was successfully parodied in Kevin Smith's movie "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back." It is filled with trolls just trash talking everyone and everything.
Maybe it is my age. I am not sure of the demographics of the people on these sites but I suspect they're young. It can be a challenge for someone who enjoys science fiction movies, and who enjoys following the making of these movies before they come out, to find intelligent and meaningful discussion in these places. I will continue to look for news and find these rare discussions that make this hobby enjoyable. I just need to ignore the trolls.
Godzilla filming locations
Comingsoon.net is reporting the following…
Canada.com has revealed that the production for the remake of Godzilla has found a home and it's in the city of Nanaimo in British Columbia. Here are the details they've revealed:
Gareth Edward's sci-fi reboot of the city-destroying Godzilla is being filmed across Vancouver Island this March, from Nanaimo's Old Victoria Road to Ladysmith and Shawnigan Lake. More than 300 crew members are expected to land in the Harbour City for the eight-day central Island shoot and have pledged to use local extras, staff and equipment.
The film, whose working title is Nautilus, did a casting call in February for extras and recently notified residents along Old Victoria Road that filming is about to begin. Joan Miller, the North Island film commissioner, says Vancouver Island will make up the first shots for the new take on the legendary radioactive monster, which is set to hit theatres next year. Crews will stay in Nanaimo hotels for three days while they shoot the scenes downtown and Ladysmith area before they move onto Shawnigan Lake.
Read more at http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=101682#k90Ipq4HfhlsW6li.99
More info…
Hot off the presses
BURBANK, CA, March 18, 2013 – Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures announced today the final principal cast for the upcoming tent pole "Godzilla." Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, and Juliette Binoche are starring in the film, with David Strathairn and Bryan Cranston.
The companies also announced that principal photogr…aphy began today on location in Vancouver.
Gareth Edwards is directing the film from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, Frank Darabont and Dave Callaham. Legendary's Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing with Mary Parent and Brian Rogers. Alex Garcia and Patricia Whitcher are serving as executive producers alongside Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira.
A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, "Godzilla" will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. Legendary Pictures is a division of Legendary Entertainment.
Slated to open on May 16, 2014, the film is expected to be presented in 3D.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
In my review of Star Trek: The Motion Picture I will be reviewing the director's cut. The first of along line of Star Trek films came out in 1979, ten years after the cancellation of the original series. I won't go into the history of the making of this movie,or how it came into being, that really isn't the focus of this post.
This movie has been dubbed Star Trek: The Motionless Picture. Robert Wise was the director who had numerous great films under his belt. He won an Academy award for Best Director for the 1961 movie, West Side Story. He also directed science-fiction classics The Day the Earth Stood Still and the Andromeda Strain. Although the movie did make $139 million on a $46 million budget it was basically panned by critics and fans alike for being dull, boring and plodding despite state of the art special effects. I will give a short synopsis of the movie and then review both the pros and cons.
Synopsis: A large cloud has invaded the galaxy destroying Klingon war ships and space stations. On Vulcan Spock is under going the Kolinahr discipline to purge himself from his remaining emotions. When he sense an intelligence somewhere in the galaxy he stops the process. Meanwhile a newly designed USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Will Decker is in space dock. Admiral Kirk convinces Starfleet to take command of the Enterprise to intercept the cloud.
Enroute to the cloud Spock meets up with the Enterprise and joins as science officer. Ilia, the Deltan navigator of the Enterprise is abducted when the crew first encounters the alien cloud. She is sent back to the ship as a robotic artificial life form to learn about the crew. As tensions mount between Admiral Kirk and Commander Decker (temporarily demoted to that rank) the crew encounters what is at the center of the cloud. It calls itself V'Ger but it turns out to be an old earth probe, Voyager VI, that had been repaired by a machine planet and returned to earth to complete its mission. In order to evolve and learn more V'Ger unites with Ilia and Commander Decker.
I will first state the CONs:This movie can be slow and prodding at times. Todays movies are paced faster but even in 1979 it was a slow movie. Production was delayed and the release date was not changed so at the time of release the theatrical version could not be changed much to Robert Wise's chagrin. The color scheme, looking to pay homage to 2001: A Space Oddesy, was bland and uninspiring.
PROs: I must admit, even in 1979 the nostalgia factor influenced me. It was 10 years after the series had been canceled (back then when I was in my mid teens that was an eternity. I love the almost 5 minutes of seeing the new updated Enterprise. The old series used to show the Enterprise from very limited perspectives so the showing off of the new ship was, and still is, a wonderful sight to behold. I also enjoyed how all the crew are reunited. The redesigned bridge is wonderful too. When Spock returns to the Enterprise and walk on the bridge unexpectedly it is like the king has returned. A very dramatic moment and my favorite scene in the movie.
I enjoy the story too. Some fans complain about the story being nothing more than a retread of the series episode The Changeling where Kirk and the Enterprise encounter a machine that is returning to earth join with its creator. While I do admit there are similar elements it doesn't bother me. Finding out that at the heart of the cloud was V'Ger an old Voyager VI was an unexpected and creative twist that I enjoyed in 1979 and still enjoy in 2013.
I may be in the minority enjoying this movie, but I am used to that. There are other franchises where I may like a movie that others do not. I think my enjoyment of the series is due to nostalgia. The movie does play into that. If you did not grow up in the 60s and 70s watching the series on cable waiting for the movie to be made then you might not understand the nostalgia. Many fans that grew up on Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Deep Space 9 do not often understand the nostalgic attachment to the first movie.
Jurassic Park IV has found its Director!!
Aint it Cool News is reporting that independent film director Colin Trevorrow will be directing Jurassic Park IV which is due in theaters June 14 2014. Like Gareth Edwards, who is directing Godzilla (which started filming TODAY), these independent directors can be very good at character development and getting emotions out of their actors. Although he is an unknown Spielberg seems to have faith in him so I wish him well and look forward to the next instalment of the franchise!
Random Meanderings…
Here are just some thoughts running through my brain today…Godzilla starts shooting in two days. Yesterday actor David Strathairn signed on. He will join Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Olsen in the cast. Academy Award Winning actress Julitte Binoche is rumored to have joined the cast but has not been confirmed yet. This is a movie I will really struggle to stay spoiler free. I am such a huge fan of the genre that I have a desire to know almost everything! I hope that the design of the monster gets either officially released of leaked somehow. But I am not holding my breath waiting for it. Sometimes scripts get leaked but if Godzilla's script gets leaked I won't read it. I don't mind certain spoilers but I wouldn't want the entire movie spoiled for me! I am sure at some point soon photos from the set will leak out. Those I am eager to see. I am following some of the stars and crew on Twitter and Facebook so I am sure some news will break.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson played the lead actor in Kick-Ass and its coming sequel.
Bryan Cranston was in Argo and is also in the show Breaking Bad. Elizabeth Olsen
is the younger sister of the famous Olsen twins and recieved rave reviews for
the movie Martha Marcy May Marlene. Juliette Binoche won an Academy Award
for best supporting acrtress for the 1996 movie The English Patient.
In a few day, March 19th to be exact, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray. I have heard so many mixed reviews on this film. I think I have read an equal amount from people who loved the film, hated it and were ambivalent. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was certainly darker in theme than the Hobbit and from my readings this movie was more whimsical that the Rings Trilogy. I am alright with that I know at the heart of the story it is a children's book, a magical adventure. The Rings trilogy is a darker story so I am not expecting the Hobbit to be dark. Darkness had not crept into Middle Earth at this time. I have faith that the time all three movies are done the Hobbit trilogy will weave nicely into the Lord of the Rings. I will give my review as soon as I see it!
The Blog/Message board and internet world is still full of rumors for the 2015 Justice League movie. Several sites have stated that Christopher Nolan will be producing all the future DC related Superhero movies for WB and that the Justice league movie is being tailored for Christian Bale's return as Batman. You know what? I am not buying any of that. I do think the Justice League movie is struggling but I do not think these rumors about Christopher Nolan & Christian Bale are true. My understanding is that they want to move on to other projects. If the rumors turn out to be true, I will be the first to admit it!
May will be here before you know it and next month will be my one year anniversary of this Blog. So right now I am gathering up a list of the big summer movies due out this year. So stay tuned to this channel!


text:
Growing up on the east end of Long Island, New York, Kerrin Laz was raised by parents that loved to cook and bake, using only fresh, local ingredients. Kerrin was first introduced to wine and viticulture during her childhood when she witnessed the evolution of surrounding sod fields and potato farms evolve into vineyards of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay.
In 2003, Kerrin joined the DEAN & DELUCA team as Wine Buyer for the Washington, DC store — launching her successful career into the wine industry. After three years on the east coast, Kerrin made the cross-country move to Napa Valley to manage and create the wine selection for the DEAN & DELUCA in St. Helena and ultimately becoming the wine director for DEAN & DELUCA, both domestically and internationally. After an incredible twelve years with DEAN & DELUCA, in the Spring of 2015, Kerrin left DEAN & DELUCA to launch K. LAZ WINE COLLECTION, an online wine shop and beautifully appointed tasting room and retail shop in Yountville, the heart of Napa Valley.
In Fall of 2016, Kerrin added vintner to her title when she released the inaugural vintage of her own wine label, LAZ Wine. Seeing many in the business beginning their own wine projects Kerrin knew that if she were to ever start her own brand, she would only partner with one of the best winemakers and source from only the best vineyards. If that wasn't a possibility, then she simply wouldn't launch her own wine. Luckily, thanks to her great working relationship and friendship with renowned winemaker Celia Welch, Kerrin was able to bring Celia on board as the winemaker for LAZ WINE and in October 2016, the debut vintage of 2014 LAZ Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was released.
Celia Welch's first interaction with grapes was under the huge oak tree in her backyard in Southern Oregon, where her siblings and she plucked grape berries from stems for their father, an avid wine collector and home winemaker. Her parents also included the family on trips through Napa and Sonoma in the early sixties, and, like most visitors, she was entranced with the beauty of the rolling vineyards. Celia had reached a fork in her career path in the early nineties, and she chose to focus on independent wine consulting. The wines she has made create a microcosm of Napa Valley. She has made wine from vineyards on Mt. Veeder, Atlas Peak, and Howell Mountain to those in Carneros, and from benchland vineyards from St. Helena to Napa.


text:
By: Mir M.Hosseini
The royal palace in Qazvin became scene of heinous conspiracies of a Safavi princess named Parikhan. She was the daughter of Shah Tahmasp and allegedly killed her own father by poisoning. Then her other brother Ismail Mirza became king. The other brother Heydar Mirza was decapitated.
But their uncle Ibrahim Mirza was against Ismail's reign because of the fact that the king lacked mental balance and had been kept in prison until his father, Shah Tahmasp's death. Ibrahim Mirza was an influential man of culture who was the governor of Khorasan and Herat for some time. His objection of Ismail 2's kingdom cost him his life after Parikhan and his brother plotted to assassinate him. This angered citizens of Khorasan and caused a revolt. Ismail then started eliminating rival princes that could claim the throne one by one.
Parikhan also killed Shah Ismail 2 by poisoning, putting an end to her brother's reign after less than two years. When Mohammad Khodabandeh ascended the throne, his wife Kheyrolnesa saw Parikhan as a threat and killed her on Feb, 27, 1578.


text:
It's fall, the time for running! Looking forward to finding some local races in Tuscaloosa.
I ran three 5k's this past summer. The New Balance Uptown Run, Mudbug Madness, and the Firecracker 5k. All three were Sportspectrum races, all three were great races. Sportspectrum never fails at putting on quality races, whether it be a local 5k, or the famous River Cities Triathlon!
I had a pretty bad upper respiratory infection in late spring and it took a long time to get over it. I raced the New Balance Uptown Run mostly for fun. Ran it in my Hoka One One shoes instead of the Saucony Kinvaras just to keep the speed more reasonable. Decent race, won my age group even running at a controlled somewhat easy pace. It was hilly. Finished in 23:54 / 7:43 pace. Here is a link for the Sky Pixel LA drone video! Very cool, take a few minutes to watch it!!!
Next up was the Mudbug Madness 5k. Now this one was fun! One of my swimmers was running it and I decided to run with Harrisen. He rode over from the pool with me to the race. His little sister Evangeline, and their mom were coming to the race a little later. What a fun experience, I will never forget how hard this little guy ran, and how much heart he put into the race. Let me tell you, he is 9 years old. Ran 25:55, an 8:22 pace! Yeah... lets see, when I was 9 I never would have dreamed of running 3 miles! H won his age group! I was 2nd in mine. Here is the link for the Sky Pixel LA video of this race! At one point you can see Evangeline holding up a sign that says Go Harrisen and Coach Ginger! Will never forget this one!
Next blog post will be on the triathlons that I did this past summer. Slowly but surely I'll get caught up!
Want to close this post with this photo of Evangeline running her first 5k. Harrisen had already finished and went back out to run her in to the finish. Great kiddos! Is this not one of the best pictures?


text:
Abstract—Abstract—The Internet application has grown at a very impressive rate. Indonesia as developing country has also experiencing in the impressive growth rate of internet adoption.The objective of this study is to analyze the relationships between service quality, trust, and loyalty as perceived by customers in the mobile internet context. In particular, service quality is conceptualized as a multi dimension concept consisting of seven dimensions. Partial Least Squares (PLS)analysis was used to test the proposed hypotheses. By examining the empirical data from 186 respondents in Yogyakarta,Indonesia, results reveal that there was an indirect relationship between service quality and loyalty through trust. Among the seven dimensions of service quality, contextual quality was found to be the strongest contributors of service quality while device quality was the least.
Index Terms—Mobile internet, service quality, trust, and loyalty.
Ratna Roostika is with Dept. of Management, University of Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Yogyakarta (UPNVY), JL. SWK 104, Ring road Utara,Condong Catur, Yogyakarta Indonesia 55283 (Tel: +62817272048, email:email@example.com).
Cite: Ratna Roostika , "The Effect of Perceived Service Quality and Trust on Loyalty: Customer's Perspectives on Mobile Internet Adoption," International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 286-291, 2011.


text:
5 Predominant Digital Health Trends in 2015/
5 digital health trends that will be predominant in 2015:
1. Wearables for the Ear:
- Founder and CTO of Sensogram Technologies, Dr. Vahram Mouridian, believes that devices worn on the ear can conduct passive monitoring and offer more precise measurements due to the proximity of the temporal artery.
- Wearables on the ear can also deliver information regarding blood pressure, respiration rate, oxygen saturation, heart rate, and steps taken.
- Products to keep an eye out for include SensoTRACK and BitBite.
2. Sweat Sensor Strips
- Will be able to track your internal biochemistry with a biosensor strip
- Electrozyme is a printed, flexible strip sensor that inserts into the back of a wearable devices and measures the metabolic substances secreted in sweat, which allows one to track his or her electrolyte. balance, hydration level, muscle exertion, and physical performance.
- Offers more insight into one's metabolism than heart rate and steps.
3. Smartphone Case Devices
- AliveCor heart monitor is an FDA approved iPhone case that allows one to record ECGs and heart rate. It can rest on one's fingers or chest to record an ECG in 30 seconds, and tell you if an atrial fibrillation is detected, which is an early indicator of a stroke.
- Azoi is producing a mobile health-tracking device called Wello, which is in the process of getting FDA approval. It can measure vitals, such as ECG, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation levels, respiration and temperature.
4. Prescription- Only Apps
- WellDoc is launching BlueStar, the first "mobile prescription therapy" for people living with type 2 diabetes. It allows people to input data about their glucose levels, diet, exercise, and well-being, which BlueStar analyzes and gives feedback. It also analyzes the data for the patient's physician.
5. Healthier Lighting
- Blue light can cause changes to one's internal circadian rhythm, consequently, disrupting one's sleep and impacting one's health.
- GoodLux Technology has launched SunSprite, a wearable device to track daily bright light intake through UV light sensors. Bright light is linked to health benefits like better energy, mood and sleep.
Summary by MedicalGroups.com
To read more from Mashable.com click here


text:
Funny Lady! Victoria leaves Streisand concert wearing cut out silk trousers with a dapper David Beckham
15:43 GMT, 10 November 2012
Known for power ballads and moving love songs a Barbra Streisand concert is definitely the place to go for a romantic date.
And Victoria and David Beckham certainly looked very much in love as they left the Hollywood Bowl concert with their hands clasped tightly together.
It was a shame the pair were not so co-ordinated with their outfits as Victoria, 38, kept it classy in a silk black and white trouser suit with a bleached white blouse and her hair pulled back.
Holding on tight: Victoria and David Beckham leave Barbra Streisand concert, Victoria has David's jacket draped over her shoulder
Ice cool: Victoria Beckham looks effortlessly gorgeous in black sky-high heels and satin white striped trousers
Open leg: Victoria's trousers are open legged and loosely sewn on to hems
Whereas her husband, 37, went for the dapper English gent look in a tweed jumper and flat cap.
open air concert may have been a little cold for the pair as Victoria
wore open trousers with her white side stripe seemingly openly sewn to
allow her toned legs to be on show, while David played the perfect
gentleman by offering her his black jacket, which matched her look
The couple left
their four children at home for the date night and looked closer than
ever as they quickly left the Hollywood Bowl, shuddering from the night
Backed by a 60-piece orchestra conducted by Bill Ross, Streisand sung songs 'Don't Rain on My Parade,' 'My Funny Valentine,' 'Somewhere,' 'On a Clear Day You Can See Forever,' 'Evergreen' and 'People' as well as 'Lost Inside of You,' one of the lesser known songs from 'A Star Is Born,' and Jimmy Webb's 'Didn't We' from her new album of career outtakes, 'Release Me.'
Barbra rarely performs after an embarrassing incident in 1967 where she forgot some of the lyrics to her set and was so mortified she didn't perform live again until 25 years later.
Romance: Perhaps David's favourite Barbra Streistand song is Funny Lady, as he has often referred to his wife as a very witty woman
Streisand guarded against forgetting song lyrics with the use of a Teleprompter. Times have changed, and so have the ticket prices – big time.
The couple appeared to be making the most of California following reports they are set to move to New York.
A source told the Mail On Sunday: 'Talks have begun about the next step for the family and New York is one of the options being talked about seriously.
In concert: Barbra Streisand wows a celebrity crowd at Hollywood Bowl concert
'LA has given the family the outdoors lifestyle that they've loved for five years. But now the children are getting older and the couple both look to the future in their careers.'
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for David, 37, told MailOnline there is 'no truth' to recent rumours he has been offered the chance to front his very own sports-based talk show in the US.


text:
New Zealand has an abundance of natural beauty - pristine beaches, crystal-clear lakes, untouched wilderness and everything in between. It's no wonder why people come here from all over the world to enjoy what this stunning country has to offer! Holiday makers from New Zealand and abroad spend lots of time and money visiting our best spots.
Owning a bach is often thought of as the Kiwi dream - an investment in lifestyle and a place for family and friends to make lasting memories; a happy place to escape the bustle of everyday life. However, due to the popularity of short term rental sites such as AirBnB, and the availability of quality holiday home management options such as Bachcare, investing in a holiday home can be more than an investment in lifestyle - it also presents a significant financial opportunity if done correctly.
Here we explore the ins and outs of investing in a holiday home rental: why holiday homes in NZ? Things to consider when investing in holiday homes, where to invest, how to attract guests, and some common issues that holiday home investors face.
So why should you invest in a holiday home in New Zealand?
Tourism is booming, New Zealand is a desirable place to visit, and people need a place to stay. Last year, total tourism spend increased 12.2% from that of 2015. The largest growth area was from international visitors. Tourism is our largest export industry, employing 7.5% of the NZ workforce, and directly contributing almost $13 billion to our economy (2016). By owning a holiday home in the right place, you can benefit from the tourism boom and have a nice bach in a desirable area. Many of our most beautiful spots aren't suitable for hotels and commercial accommodation, which naturally leads to increased demand for short term rentals in the form of holiday homes.
What to consider when investing in holiday homes in New Zealand:
Where Should You Invest When Considering the Short Term Market?
The first rule of real estate - Location, Location, Location - also applies to short-term holiday home rentals. You need to invest in a location that people already want to visit. More popular locations have higher occupancy rates and the ability to charge higher prices.
There are two types of holiday homes: seasonal and year-round. Some locations are booked heavily during a specific time of the year, whilst quiet during the rest of the year. You may see 90% of the bookings come over just a few months like in Ohakune. You will need to make sure that you are making enough money during the "high season" to pay for your expenses during the rest of the year and to align with your goals.
Rentals that produce regular bookings year round provide a more stable cash flow, however the cost of entry (so to speak) will be much higher (e.g compare real estate prices in Queenstown with the one season market of Ohakune). Additionally, even with so-called year-round properties, some months are likely to be more popular with guests than others. If you are just starting out as a holiday home investor, it may take a few years before you know what a typical cash flow from one of these properties should look like. A reputable holiday home management company should be able to give a good steer and indicator on this though. At Bachcare for example, we have 14 years worth of stats on financial returns and occupancy across many areas of New Zealand.
When you are researching where to invest, some important factors to keep in mind include:
Why do people visit this area? For example, Whangamata is well known for the beach hop, stunning summer weather and fishing.
Which natural attractions are guests most likely to be interested in? Whilst beachside towns like Whangamata boom during summer, other areas such as Queenstown/Wanaka and Rotorua have a range of natural attractions that bring in different types of guests year round.
Are there annual events that bring a predictable influx of visitors? For example, Gisborne hosts the Rhythm and Vines festival, and Rotorua hosts Crankworx for mountain bikers - this tends to result in high occupancy during these times.
How far away are the main cities/towns? This will be a good gauge of domestic visitors - you can reasonably expect people from Auckland and Whangarei to visit Paihia, but visitors from Wellington are far less likely to travel so far.
How much land is available? Are there geographical barriers to further development? In areas such as Rotorua and Queenstown, there is a very limited supply of developable land due to the nature of the terrain. In theory, this should lead to larger capital gains if the place remains desirable to visit in years to come.
If you are planning on doing maintenance and upgrades on the property yourself, it might be worth considering how far away the house is from where you live.
Personal use? Is it somewhere you would enjoy having the option of staying at? One of the major benefits of short term vs long term rental is not just a higher potential yield, but also flexibility for personal use!
How Will You Attract Guests?
A holiday home, no matter how beautiful the surroundings, will not book guests simply by its presence. You will need a strategy for attracting paying guests in an increasingly competitive market. Here's a few ideas...
Create a website and marketing campaign for your property.
List your property yourself on websites like Airbnb, Holiday Houses and Booking.com
Use a Holiday Home Property Management Company to do it all for you.
The problem with doing your own marketing is that it can be a very inefficient use of your time. You wanted an investment, not a job. Additionally, if you handle all of the marketing yourself, you will also need to manage the booking process, check-in, check-out, cleaning, and dozens of other tasks once you finally manage to attract some guests. This may be easier if you live locally, however, it can put a handbrake on your ability to move around, and do what you want with your time.
Listing your holiday home on sites like Airbnb, booking.com and Holiday Houses can be useful to expose your property to a wider audience of interested viewers, and generally leads to more bookings. However, there is more to it than "set and forget". You cannot just create a profile and wait for the money to come pouring in. The homes that get the most bookings have actively managed profiles. Plus, you will still need to facilitate much of the upkeep and logistics of your holiday home - welcoming guests, tending to their requirements, cleaning, maintenance, reviews etc. Add to this that in the above example, you'll be managing 3 separate calendars which can cause many scheduling headaches, cause cancellations if double bookings are made and that may negatively impact your review scores on sites like Airbnb, which in turns can impact your future booking success and occupancy. It can be done, but at Bachcare we have worked out it is typically 5 hours work per booking across the year.
If you want your holiday home to be more of a passive investment, your best bet is to hire a property management company that specializes in short term holiday home rentals. The best companies will market your investment property on their own website and on sites like Airbnb. Importantly make sure to ask if they have direct feeds to these sites to avoid the juggling multiple calendars issue. They will also handle the check in and check out process, manage cleaning and maintenance, and make sure guests are properly greeted. This is their full time job, and they know all the tricks of the trade to ensure that you get the best return, highest occupancy rate, and happy visitors.
Great property managers will welcome guests on arrival, explain the features of the home, and make them feel cared for. Not only does this lead to customers having a more positive and consistent experience, but it also tends to result in the property being better looked after. Bottom line: it allows you to make sure you are getting bookings whilst keeping your involvement (and stress levels) to a minimum.
Using a property management company that specializes in holiday home rentals will allow you to maximize your ROI and free up your time to scout for other investment opportunities.
Whats your management strategy?
There are a number of ways to go about managing a holiday home:
Self manage, greet guests, clean etc. - you keep 100% of revenue, but do all the work.
Self manage, and employ a cleaner - you keep approximately 90% of revenue, and don't have to do everything yourself.
Employ a property management company to cover most aspects of the investment - you keep approximately 80% of revenue, and have a relatively hands-off investment.
To be clear when making your decision on the above, it's much better to steer the conversation to occupancy rate rather than the % revenue you maintain. Obviously one of the benefits of a professional management company is they are experts at gaining higher than average occupancy rates - so 80% of revenue from 150 nights accommodation is far greater than 100% of revenue from 30 nights accommodation when self managing for example.
What type of guest are you looking at attracting?
Holidaymakers come in all shapes and sizes - from high daily-spend visitors that desire opulent surroundings, to young backpackers and students that want a cheap place to have a great time in. When considering which home to purchase, and how you are going to fit it out, it's important to consider what your typical guest expects. If you spend too much on making the place nice, visitors might not value your efforts. Keep fit-out to a bare minimum, and your guests might be disappointed.
Are you wanting to attract families? It could be worth providing board games for a rainy day, and safely fencing the perimeter for young ones. What if you want to attract large groups (e.g: for the ski season)? Bunk beds would be highly valued, and durable fixtures are less likely to get damaged. Bedding and room configuration is very important, and guests are becoming more and more discerning.
What Issues do Holiday Home Investors Face?
As a first time investor, owning a short-term holiday investment home is not without its challenges. However, as long as you are aware of potential issues you can mitigate or manage the risks.
Some of the most common challenges facing holiday home investors are:
Lack of bookings
Problems vetting guests
Setting the optimal daily rate
Wear and tear on the furniture and property
Disputes with guests (over damage)
Guests are the key to earning a regular return on your holiday home investment. However, by the nature of the business, guests are also the cause of many of the issues:
Lack of bookings
If nobody is renting your home, then it is costing you money to hold. It's important to troubleshoot what the cause is. Photo quality? The listing description? The rates? Is your cancellation policy too strict? Even the title of your listing - we have seen huge benefits just in a few tweaks to the above time and time again with Bachcare managed holiday homes.
Problems vetting guests
The last thing you want are guests who don't respect your house. While your property is always at risk when you rent it to strangers, you have two options to manage this risk. You can vet guests yourself or you can outsource this task. The issue with doing it yourself is that unless you have experience vetting guests, you may either screen out too many people and lose revenue or you may be too lenient and allow high-risk guests to rent from you. Property management companies with experience in the short-term rental market already have the skills, systems, and infrastructure to vet your guests.
Setting the optimal daily rate
Pricing your holiday home to get the best return, and the highest occupancy rate is an ever-changing task. Charge too much and your home stays empty; charge too little, and you miss out on extra income. You can look to similar homes in the market for pricing guidance, but unless you have inside information you don't know if their prices are working.
Wear and tear on furniture and property
Renters will never be as careful as homeowners. There is nothing you can do to prevent your property and the furnishings from getting used and experiencing wear and tear. However, you can make sure the guests are paying for it by setting aside some of each rental fee or cleaning deposit to cover future maintenance and repairs. We recommend setting aside 10% of revenue for maintenance and upgrades.
Severe damage caused by guests
Sometimes with even the best guest vetting, bad things happen. Careless guests may put holes in the wall or flood the bathroom. You can mitigate this risk by ensuring that good vetting systems are in place, making sure you have the correct levels of insurance, and holding reckless tenants accountable for heavy damage through withholding deposits and litigation if required.
Gaining Momentum
Usually, it takes some time to build up momentum, to get enough reviews for guests to feel comfortable booking your property en-masse, and to work out what works and what doesn't. Often, it isn't until the 2nd or 3rd year of owning a bach that things really start to ramp up, and returns begin to become apparent. Many families will visit the same bach a number of years in a row, and talk with their friends and family about it. This is hard to quantify, but can lead to higher occupancy rates over time.
Achieve maximum ROI
Investing in a short term rental is a great way to build an additional income stream, accumulate potentially tax-free capital gains, and to have a "happy place" for your family and friends to enjoy on holiday. The best way to ensure you achieve the maximum ROI is to buy the right property and partner with the right property management company, such as Bachcare.
Our New Owner Advisors have years of experience in helping 1000s of Kiwi investors buy holiday homes, or select the best section to build on ready for holiday home success. For a free chat and guidance on what to work on next, arrange a time to speak with one of our advisors today.
Denym Bird is a former digital marketing manager at Tradify, an Auckland Software As A Service Business. He now runs his own Cryptocurrency brokerage, Paint and wine party and Digital Marketing Consultancy.


text:
NIO U.S.' Autonomous Vehicle Embraces A Welcoming Aesthetic and In-Car Digital Experience
AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwired - Mar 13, 2017) - Art and communication company SpecialGuest today announced a collaboration with NIO U.S., a next-generation, electric and autonomous car company. Unveiled during this year's South by Southwest festival, the collaboration is a part of a larger effort for NIO to produce vehicles for U.S. consumers in 2020.
NIO tapped SpecialGuest as a key creative partner to support the design of its in-car digital experience for the U.S. market. SpecialGuest collaborated with NIO to help design and prototype NIO's user interface, user experience and soundscape, resulting in a sophisticated user experience at the intersection of utility and visual art.
"It's been a dream job, not just because we got to develop an autonomous car interface from scratch, but because the NIO team are baller designers themselves," said Aaron Duffy, Co-Founder/Creative Lead of SpecialGuest. "We became one team. We love when tech development, communication, and production experimentation all blend together. The autonomous driving experience has the potential to scare people if the design is cold or the story isn't told correctly. With NIO, we got to transcend the sci-fi concept car world and create something warm, inviting, human and even classic." SpecialGuest partnered with Midnight Commercial on tech innovation and human-computer interaction.
NIO also tapped SpecialGuest to help manifest the in-car user experience in a way SXSW attendees could experience and be moved by. The resulting creative concepts feature an immersive, simulated driving experience within an interactive car pod, which in turn is featured alongside a living room style gallery installation with the UI displayed as visual art on the walls. Together, the installation illustrates a fluidity (or commute) between home, vehicle, work, and play.
Inside the car pod, attendees interact with a novel car user interface and video driving experience, starting in manual drive before proceeding to autonomous drive. When in autonomous drive, attendees have the option to toggle between several different experiences, including Map Mode, Calls Mode, Timeline Mode, Music Mode, Movies Mode and Zen Mode.
"NIO is showcasing what digital experiences will be in a vehicle designed from the ground up for autonomy," said Alex Castellarnau, Vice President UX/UI, NIO U.S. "Our mission is to give people time back and the freedom to be everything they want to be. SpecialGuest helped us bring this core notion to an in-car experience that places people at the center."
SpecialGuest also collaborated to create an experience film expressing NIO's vision for autonomy as a way to bring your favorite spot with you wherever you go, debuted during NIO CEO Padmasree Warrior's keynote.
About NIO
NIO, formerly NextEV in the U.S., is a global start-up, designing and developing smart, high-performance, premium autonomous vehicles. NIO has teams of world-class R&D and design experts from around the world with significant technology and management background from leading automobile and high tech companies. NIO has more than 2,000 employees in San Jose/San Francisco, Shanghai, Munich, London and eight other locations. In October, NIO USA announced that it was issued an Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit by the California DMV and it would begin testing on public roads under the Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program guidelines as it progresses on its path to bring autonomy to market. Investors include Tencent, Temasek, Sequoia Capital, Lenovo, TPG and other world-renowned investment institutions. For more information, visit http://www.nio.io/
About SpecialGuest
SpecialGuest is an art and communication company that gets people thinking. We partner with thought leader clientele who are aiming to change the world, re-think things, or disrupt a category. Qualities of our work are experimentation, thoughtfulness, cleverness, and sophistication, resulting in inventive work that has built in discovery and makes the work satisfying and memorable. We practice a tightly-knit collaboration between our clientele and community of artists, directors, writers, inventors, engineers, scientists, designers, technologists, coders, and academics plus a range of other specialists, all who bring smart strategic thinking to everything we do. We partner with clientele from the ground up, including strategic planning, concepting, and bringing new products into the world. We create/produce across experiential, technology development, virtual reality, design, interactive, content, digital channels, films, social media, and IP. We have operations in NY, LA, and London as well as partners in Paris and Buenos Aires. http://specialguest.co/


text:
property Conveyor
Weiss, Louis J
Wittenberg, Gordon
Master of Architecture
The innovative and entrepreneurial drive are constructs that inform the collective American psyche, and a balance between exclusive, limited rights to knowledge and the free conveyance of knowledge within the public realm constitutes the balance which the patent system should strive to achieve. However, the over-privileging of some with exclusive rights to ideas often works to the detriment of the American public, accentuates our individual subjective desires, and suppresses our collective conscience. Property Conveyor re-imagines the United States Patent Office. It houses all office programs related to patent review and introduces three new, distinctly public programs: an education forum, courtrooms for patent infringement cases, and a café, all providing the opportunity for discourse on patented information and technology. By refashioning the patent office with a mix of private office programs and related public programs, it becomes a new kind of institution in which the machines of bureaucracy and its effects on public life are brought into a productive relationship. Spiral forms suggest nested relations between interior and exterior, public and private. The spiral begins and ends at distinct points, but along its route, every part is related to all others. In this project, a spiral datum provides the primary horizontal circulation space for all users of the building. In so doing, the spiral coheres a thicket of public and private functions into a single form which produces relations not only between adjacent programs, but across the spectrum of programs within the building. The spiral is an orienting device, coordinating and opening up the functions of a bureaucracy to the city. It is a form through which the public is invited, leading them to express their affirmations and doubts about the patent process and the nature of intellectual property at large.
Patent Office


text: Share: Comments Print December 6, 2013 at 9:29 AM Small quakes under Hood Canal called 'routine' Posted by John de Leon The Associated Press SEABECK, Kitsap County — The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network director says small quakes recorded overnight under the Hood Canal near Seabeck are routine. Director John Vidale says they follow a trend of small quakes in the area and are "nothing to get alarmed about." He says it was a bit unusual for a 3.4 magnitude quake at 11:55 p.m. Thursday to be followed by several aftershocks. There was a 1.3 magnitude quake at 12:33 a.m. Friday in the same area about 10 miles west of Pousbo. And there was a 2.8 magnitude quake in the same general location at 4:57 a.m. Friday. The quakes were at a depth of 11 miles. Dispatchers with the Kitsap and Jefferson county sheriff's offices say they received no reports the quakes were even felt. Comments | More in General news | Topics: earthquake, Pacific Northwest Seismic Network


text:
#1350 – Diameteron August 22, 2011 at 12:00 am
I wonder how long ago someone realized cookies and milk were such a great combination. I mostly associate it with fresh baked chocolate chip or Oreo cookies. Milk tastes fine with many different types of cookies but for those two it is almost essential.
Today's Maximumble has a vision


text:
Architect: J Visser Design
Interior Design: Rock Kauffmann Design
A family doesn't always have to go far to get away - case in point, this cozy cottage on Burgess Lake in Greenville. Our Grand Rapids-based clients wanted a retreat that could be reached within a short drive and yet still exude more of a northern, classic 'cottage' feel versus a primary residence. Several thoughtful details helped accomplish the goal. An open main floor plan, combined with a bunk room and a loft containing a children's play area, are designed to enhance togetherness and a sense of shared space. Screened porches on the main and second floors offer lovely views of the lake. A fieldstone chimney adds charm.


text:
CARACAS, Venezuela, January 11, 2004 - Two great performances from Marcos Milinkovic and Jorge Elgueta helped Argentina book their Athens 2004 Olympic Games spot after beating Venezuela in straight sets 25-18, 25-19, 25-23 in the final match of the South American Men's Olympic Qualification tournament on Sunday in Caracas.
In front of 12,000 Venezuelan fans in the Poliedro Stadium Milinkovic and Elgueta were in sublime form recording 17 and 15 points respectively to lead the few Argentinean fans and players into scenes of joy after 70 minutes as the blue and whites joined Brazil as the two South American representatives at Athens. Fabian Armoa's team never lost focus and were particularly effective in blocking Ernardo Gómez, keeping the Venezuelan star to only six points.
Argentina finished the tournament unbeaten in what was a magnificent feat, especially after beating Venezuela who are current Pan American champions and 2003 World Cup representatives.
Venezuela will now have to play the World Qualification Olympic tournament in Europe.
In the other match on the final day, Peru beat Chile 25-15, 27-29, 22-25, 18-25 in 92 minutes.
VENEZUELA: Andy Rojas, Rodman Valera, Carlos Luna, Ronald Méndez, Ernardo Gómez, Iván Márquez, -starting team-, Gustavo Valderrama (libero), Thomás Ereú, Carlos Tejada, Juan Carlos Blanco, Luis Díaz, Fredy Cedeño. Coach: Miguel Cambero.
ARGENTINA: Marcos Milinkovic, Jorge Elgueta, Gustavo Porporato, Hernán Ferraro, Alejandro Spajic, Gastón Giani,-starting team-, Pablo Meana (libero), Jerónimo Bidegain. Coach: Fabián Armoa.


text:
Joining in with Mich's blog hop over on the Mummy from the Heart blog at http://mdplife.blogspot.com
Here are my reasons for smiling this week.
1. It is official. I will be speaking at Britmums Live next June which means that I have to actually turn up and is a great motivation for getting my groove back generally. It is a bit daunting to see the calibre of the other speakers but I guess they would not have asked me to get involved if they did not think I have something to offer to the mix.
2. Him Indoors went away on a business trip this week. The children behaved really well and I enjoyed some me-time including being in charge of the remote control for the telly.
3. My daughter got a cerficate for good behaviour in school. On an more worrying note, my son tells me that the boys in Year 6 have voted her the cutest girl in the school. This stresses me out on two counts, one that she must be protected from demon boys at all costs and two that I was never ever seen like that when I was at school. Yes, mums can be petulant too!
4. My son has really taken to netball and his team came second in an inter-schools event.
5. My other son is doing so well with his reading and spellings. He is so enthusiastic about his work and I love to see that.
6. I have tackled some highly personal stuff on here recently and I so appreciate the warm-hearted comments and support received. Even when I could have been judged harshly, wonderful women and even the odd bloke have reached out and said lovely things.
It is one of those weeks where finding reasons to be cheerful is easy. I feel like I could go on and on but will hold some stuff back for #mumentum and #groovingmums posts next week.
Now go forth and read some other lovelies blogging about their happy stuff.


text:
Pre-Picked Blueberries
During the picking season (July through early-August), we offer 5 pound boxes of pre-picked blueberries for $45.00 and 2 pound boxes for $18.00. Please contact us to place an order. We prefer you place orders by email at email@example.com, but we do also take orders by phone or text at 507-301-7183. (For texts please include your name in the text.)
Once we receive your order we will arrange a time with you to pick-up the berries at the farm. Our normal pickup days are Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday mornings. Pre-picked berries are often available on days we are open for u-pick (usually Fridays and Saturdays) without an advance order. Please check our website or phone message (507-301-7183) to confirm we are open before coming to the farm.


text:
Announcements & Celebrations
Joshua Visser and Kristin De Haan
Brad and Sheryl De Haan of Lynden announce the engagement of their daughter, Kristin De Haan to Joshua Visser, son of Arlyn and Sheila Visser of Sumas.Kristin graduated from Lynden Christian High School and Whatcom Community College, and is employed by New York Life Insurance Company. Joshua graduated from Lynden Christian High School and is employed by Exxel Pacific.An August 7, 2010 wedding is planned in Lynden, WA. The proposal took place this past January in Sun Valley, ID.


text:
Go, forcibly feed
The unwilling mouth and, go
Judge people by size
Go, forcibly feed
The unwilling mouth and, go
Judge people by size
Walking past each other.
Noticing the other.
Quick glances.
Shy looks.
Small smile.
Exchanging numbers.
Texting: getting to know each other.
Date one: having a real conversation.
Share laughs.
Hands intertwined.
Warm hugs.
First kisses.
Tongue tasting.
Skin and skin and more skin.
Speaking mouth to mouth, and heart to heart.
Building a home.
Walking together; the conversation never stops.
So, where are we?
I am at a loss for what I have lost.
Speechless – no longer able to find the right words to speak, to connect.
Is it even worth speaking about when Loss is as familiar to me, as to you?
I have lost many things, just like others have. Ideas. Hopes. Pride. Skin. Teeth. People. Life.
But I am just hoping that I do not lose heart.
(Inspired post by ebriosity from Tumblr.)
One small black token
To unlock a new journey
To walk on the sea
The slow ebb and flow
Of the salty blue green waves
Mimicking my heart
Or is it the other way round?
The car is speeding
Through black forests and dark rough
Roads of timelessness
While I was traveling in December, I found a sense of belonging inside me. A space where I can shut out the noise around me and crawl back into this quiet place to think, to be inspired and re-inspired.
Looking at people, streets, whitewashed walls and cups of hot tea, I realised that questions pop up into my head faster than usual.
It is always good to question everything, even though it makes my head prone to explosions.
Curiosity and Wonder found its way back into my life. I am happy for the company and I hope I keep them around for longer.
(Need to remind myself of what I have, and treasure the little parts of myself more.)
Anyway, with that being said, I wrote a couple of haikus (or I tried to write haikus, since I am not that qualified) over the course of my trips.
I will be posting them every now and then. So please be patient and bear with me as I use this space to keep exploring what I can do.
Do things leave after buried under the skin for too long
Or do they weigh the heart down until you drown
Or do they write tales in wrinkles and sorrows in scars until you are long gone


text:
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Eid -- Déjà Vu
Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Yemen and others continued fasting today, and they were correct about it
Is it really that difficult to unify such occasion?
I am really disappointed that Muslim countries still cannot accept the declaration of new lunar month astronomically! I cannot understand the rational behind it
Regardless, it was a very very beautiful days weather wise today
Monday, September 29, 2008
bailout rejected احلوت اللعبة
The financial system in the US seems to be collapsing in a shocking manner. Something I could not have believed if I were not living the moments.
Is this a proof that capitalism is bound to fail, and that we are just witnessing the start of the its decline?
What about Free Economy? The US government proposed to bailout the financial institutions for a staggering amount of 700 Billion USD. Such intervention, I believe, is really a step in the opposite direction of what Free Economy is all about!
An Immediate reaction for the rejection of the bailout plan was record drop in the Dow and Nasdaq in addition to a drastic drop in Oil prices.
What is the future going to bring us, how are the current crises going to affect us in the Middle East? Allay yostor and this is yet to be seen
What is puzzling me the most is how have this all happened? It is not easy to believe that western economists graduating from Harvard and Yale and supposedly the brightest among the economists of the world, those behind building companies that invented INTEL, AMD CPU, those behind building MAC O/S and Windows, those behind Oracle Database and IBM websphere, those behind conquering the outside space, those behind VMWARE software. those behind building FORD and Boeing , the federal bank, the world bank, Financial regulatory bodies all the CPAs the CFAs , CMAs. It is giants like Morgan Stanley, Leeman Brothers that we are talking about!!!!
Being a software veteran, I was and still is involved in complex data mining software based on neural networks, fuzzy logic, experts systems that made possible the creation of software system like Risk Managements, Credit scoring, Anti Money laundering and others that is capable of raising so many alerts before the financial situation of a bank comes even close to exposure posing risk to banks operations. Let alone, software solution that we created here locally that monitors local bank Credit facilities classification and impairment provisions based on tough instruction put forward by the Central Bank of Jordan. Such software monitors and audits the banks credit facilities to ensure that banks have enough reserves against bad debts. Don't tell me that such software systems do not exist in the States. And where did Basel II regulations taking us!
What am I trying to imply?
Conspiracy theory?
Is this a way to suck in the extra Oil money that oil producing countries made?
How much did governments and investors of Kuwait, KSA, UAE etc.. Lose?
Is this an epidemic that is going to sweep the entire world?
Well, after reading this, I am sure many people will tell me
الاسلام هو الحل
Monday, September 22, 2008
يا فرحة ما تمت
I Guess Newton's third law rules supreme; "For every action there is a reaction, equal in magnitude but opposite in direction". Well currently, the same immense feelings still overwhelm me, however, and in accordance with Newton third law (opposite in direction), it is a feeling of disappointment. It has recently come to my knowledge that the smasher has gone out of commission due to a faulty electrical connection, and as such it will need at least 2 more months to be fixed.
The $10 billion LHC particle collider, in the design and construction stages for more than two decades, is the world's largest atom smasher. It fires beams of protons from the nuclei of atoms around the tunnels at nearly the speed of light.It then causes the protons to collide, revealing how the tiniest particles were first created after the "big bang," which many theorize was the massive explosion that formed the stars, planets and everything.
There is a reason why it going to take long to fix the fault. To increase the efficiency, the smasher operates at near absolute zero (for those who are scientifically inclined, it is Zero Kelvin or -273). Warming up the environment and cooling it down again simply takes time!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
End of World
-Confirm theories that physicists have been studying including the existence of an extra dimension.
-The detection of a particle called Higgs Boson which is assumed to exist but never detected. Such particle is also known God particle. If LHC experiments prove the existence of Higgs Boson, the reason why matter has mass is revealed.
-Experiments will recreate the conditions of less than a millionth of a second after the Big Bang and therefore, try to confirm or reestablish how the world evolved.
-Explain why is the universe is ever expanding at an accelerating rate?
-Explain How gravity works?
I am sure there is more, but this is enough for an inquisitive mind to get keyed up for a new era of knowledge discovery. Despite its vast and complex appearance, Our universe is actually ORDERED , RATIONAL and ELEGENT. It is this fact finding experiments that show that the cosmos conforms to mathematical equations so symmetrical and satisfying, they can only be described as beautiful. No wonder Einstein said God does not play dice with the universe.
Can you people imagine that never anybody during the course of history of humanity endeavored for an experimental project that big before
I cannot wait
Amman Sept 10th , 2008
Ramadan 10, 1429
Ammar Sajdi
Saturday, September 06, 2008
My first website - a primitive one
When I first felt like having a presence on the Web, Life was simple for me then. I did not know about HTML, Front page or any of the known Web authoring tools. Therefore, I decided to use an intuitive approach with ubiquitous methods.
The apparatus:
The first web site consisted of only one page with the following components (of course the layout of the original website - which never saw the light- had a phenomenal asthetic dimesnion to it, for its time, and the components you see are just isolated individual component laid out randomly ) :-
Tahanee Corner
Home Button
technology corner
Friday, September 05, 2008
Head to Head
Is CHROME yet another browser? Is the world really in need for another browser? In fact, Google claims that that CHROME is not another simple browser, it is a platform to run web applications!Is this the start of a "head to head" competition with Microsoft? Not to forget, that Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo (45 Billion USD offer) that Yahoo turned down last may. Yahoo then signed an agreement with Google to share advertisement space. Microsoft seems to be seriously interested in invading the Web space through the acquisition of yahoo! and google does not just want to watch.
As a matter of fact, if CHROME succeeds in becoming the hub of a web based cloud computing model that necessarily obviates the need for Windows, MAC etc..
81 Years old letter
Back in 1927 an earthquake hit the eastern Mediterranean region. It affected many areas in Palestine and Jordan. But one of the most hardly hit was the city of Nablus. Obviously, I was there at that time, but my grandfather (Who passed away a long time ago) told me about it on several occasion because he was working for the public works at that time. Anyway, the letter on the left is an interesting historical peace that is worth publishing. Until today, a customer answer for certain question that asks about things in the deep past, would be "Sanet il hazzeh" The year of the quake.
Histroy has special taste to it
Getting Ref of the View Object referenced by the current Iterator binding for One iterator page without knowing the name of the iterator
Getting Ref of the View Object referenced by the current Iterator binding for One iterator page without knowing the name of the iterator ...
Gel3ad is an area to the north west of Amman close to Maeen. Two days ago, we were contracted by HP to Arabize their new iPAQ PDA (Personal...
Today, while i was helping Dubai Police to go live with their new Oracle Forms10g application, we came across a problem when displaying Arab...


text:
We contacted Nash Painting about painting, mainly, our kitchen cabinets. We were impressed and very satisfied from the initial contact through completion of the job. Their workmanship is top notch and their people are customer-service oriented. We recommend Nash Painting to others and would engage them again for future painting projects.
- K. Campbell


text:
Pre-Wired S110 Panels
- Product Resources
- Part Numbers
- Download/Request Catalog
- Need Help? Ask Siemon
S110 pre-wired panels mount directly to a 19 inch EIA rack. The panels are available in either 100-, 200-, or 300-pair configurations pre-wired to female 25-pair connectors with black universal connector hold-downs. For optimum transmission performance, pre-wired blocks may be ordered with the pair twisting maintained between the wiring block and the connector. Each panel comes complete with mounting hardware, label holders, and white designation labels.
Part Numbers
- S110D(X)(Y)-100RCT (Picture) 100-pair pre-wired S110 panel, 1 RMS, with 25-pair connectors
- S110D(X)(Y)-200RCT (Picture) 200-pair pre-wired S110 panel, 2 RMS, with 25-pair connectors
- S110D(X)(Y)-300RCT (Picture) 300-pair pre-wired S110 panel, 3 RMS, with 25-pair connectors
Use (X) to specify the connecting blocks: A = 5-pair, B = 4-pair
Use (Y) to specify twisted-pair option: 1 = without twisted-pairs, T = twisted-pairs
Use (Y) to specify twisted-pair option: 1 = without twisted-pairs, T = twisted-pairs
- Note:
- 1 RMS = 44.5mm (1.75 in.)
Because we continuously improve our products, Siemon reserves the right to change specifications and availability without prior notice


text:
The Outpost Season 1`
Talon, the lone survivor of a race called the Blackbloods, sets off to the edge of civilisation to track her family's killers. On her journey she discovers she has supernatural powers which she must learn to harness in order to achieve her goals.
TV Status: Returning Series
Release Year: 2018
First air date: 2018-07-10
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Actors: Jason Faller, Kynan Griffin
Episode runtime: 43 min
Starring: Anand Desai-Barochia, Andrew Howard, Charan Prabhakar, Imogen Waterhouse, Jake Stormoen, Jessica Green, Robyn Malcolm
Created by Jason Faller, Kynan Griffin
Production Electric Entertainment


text:
The Mary Price Ratrie Legacy Society
It takes nearly 80 musicians to make up the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. It takes countless notes to create a symphony. Like each musician on stage, or each note on the page, every donor plays a vital role in bringing the music to life.
You can play a part in our future by joining The Legacy Society, a group of individuals who provide for the WVSO through their estate planning. Your gift can make a difference and help assure that the West Virginia Symphony will continue to make beautiful music for generations to come.
While providing for your family's future financial needs, you can also include a gift provision "to the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra" in your will. There are many other ways to remember the WVSO with a planned gift, including naming the WVSOas a beneficiary for a life insurance policy, a retirement plan, or an IRA; as the remainder beneficiary of a charitable remainder trust or charitable gift annuity; or as the income beneficiary of a charitable lead trust.
Your planned gift will enable you to make a significant contribution towards the great music programs of our Orchestra and may also have income and tax benefits for you and your family. Contact your attorney or financial advisor for advice on establishing your own legacy. If you have already included the WVSO in your estate plans, please let us know and we will include you in The Legacy Society. If you prefer to remain anonymous, we will gladly honor your request; however, by stepping forward, others will be encouraged to do the same.
As charter members of the Society, the following individuals helped establish the Symphony's gift planning program and share with coming generations the opportunity to enjoy live symphonic music:
Catherine S. & Andrew L. Blair Fund
The Harry & Betty Casto Chair
John Casto and Lisa Fischer Casto
John A. & Betsy Chapman
William Maxwell Davis
Jamie Dickenson
The Honorable Jim Douglas
The John & Fonda Elliot Chair
Shirley Furry
Dan and Kathy Foster
The Dorothy Taylor Hamilton Chair
The Hubert S. "Rabbit" Jones Chair
**Laurance Jones, III
Steven and Sharon Jubelirer
**John and Elizabeth Lambros
Melanie G. Larch
Roberta Lee Levine
**Helen Lodge
Sallie F. McClaugherty
Timothy A. and Cindy S. McGhee
**Eloise Howell Newlon
The Mary Price Ratrie Chair
The John V. Ray Chair
The Blanchette H. Rockefeller Chair
Betty Schoenbaum
The Emil Schoenbaum Chair
Pat and John Strickland
The Katharine B. Tierney Chair
Dr. James H. Walker Symphony Fund
Henry Louis Wehrle, Jr. Memorial Fund
The Martha Gaines Wehrle Chair
The West Virginia Symphony League Chair
** In Memoriam – The WVSO remembers, with gratitude, their generosity and support.
If you have already included the WVSO in your estate plans, we respectfully request that you notify us of your intentions. You will then be eligible to become a member of the Mary Price Ratrie Legacy Society.
To learn more about becoming a member, please contact Pamela Murchison, Vice President of Development at 304.957.9879 or at firstname.lastname@example.com.
*Please consult your attorney or financial advisor concerning tax-related and/or legal matters.


text:
Bright Ideas In Black Boxes
'Lincoln Binns were the only company who could provide us with a one-stop-shop for our casing requirements, their range of custom services has been very useful when developing new products.'
Lincoln Binns have been working with Esper Design for a little over a year now. They produce power supply units and accessories for the photography market. They also have extensive experience with lighting, audio, still and moving images, we can develop systems to assist in the capture, processing and reproduction of data from any of these fields.
Their current product line up includes the POWER CELL; providing 6 power outlets for cameras. These are individually protected from voltage overloads and excessive currents.
Also included is the SHUTTER CELL which acts as a camera trigger distribution hub. Multiple units can be linked to provide dependable triggering for large multi-camera systems.
Esper Design adhere to a very professional nature and their products reflect that. Using our E-Case aluminum extruded enclosure in anodized black with matching black bezels make their products look very appealing. The SHUTTER CELL and POWER CELL both have custom front and rear punched plates with specified dimensions for the various connectors both products use.
Take a look around their website via the details below.
More information about Esper Design:
Website – www.esperdesign.co.uk
Email Address – firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Humor is mankind's greatest blessing.
Mark Twain
Big Girl and Middle Girl. One Saturday morning, I take them for tea. Well, not really. Really, I take them for banana bread and berries and chocolate milk served in an exquisite and consummately breakable "kitty" tea pot. The place - Alice's Tea Cup - is one of our favorites. Because of Little Girl's arrival, we haven't been there in a while and the girls are excited. Upon arrival, a kind waiter hands them each a pair of fairy wings. With my help, they slide their little arms through the rubber bands, all smiles.
We settle at a small table in the middle of the restaurant. Middle Girl refuses her high chair. Yet another sign that she is growing up. The girls sit together in the booth. Behind them, their wings dance as they bounce and bellow silly, made-up songs. A waitress comes. I order in a hurry knowing that our time in this quaint haven is limited. The waitress places three tea cups down in front of us. My instinct is to pull the girls' cups away and ask for plastic, but this time I leave them there. And watch.
Once upon a time, they might have grabbed these cups and knocked them on the table. But this time, they sit back. Middle Girl studies her cup. Her eyes twinkle. She says something.
Mama, she says.
Yes, sweets?
This, she says, blues eyes big, fingers tracing the curved handle of her cup. This is not a trophy!
For some reason - maybe it's her delivery, or her tiny size, or the inflection in her still-baby voice - this strikes us as absolutely hilarious. The three of us Rowley girls erupt into messy, too-loud-for-a-restaurant laughter. I had no idea she knew the word trophy. I had no idea she was so funny.
I am flooded with questions: When is humor born? Is it inherited or acquired? What makes someone funny?
And I have no answers. But I am thankful for another good moment and another good laugh, for little girls wearing wings, for that little cup. For the trophy that is family.
Are you funny? Do you think humor is hard-wired or learned? Are your children funny? Is there anything objective about humor or is it entirely relative?


text:
Keystone Law, the UK's leading dispersed law firm, today announces its first international expansion with a new Guernsey office. The office will be led by John Stephens, who joins from Spicer and Partners Guernsey LLP, and will focus on providing Guernsey based clients with inward investment advice across all of Keystone Law's practice areas.
International expansion is the next stage of Keystone's growth strategy, following on from a successful campaign to recruit 50 new lawyers from top tier law firms as part of its 'Join the Future' campaign. Keystone now boasts over 130 highly experienced consultant solicitors working in teams across 11 practice areas. The Keystone model uses state-of-the-art technology to allow lawyers to work seamlessly across the UK, and now, internationally.
Managing partner, James Knight, says:
"Our new Guernsey office marks the start of our move towards international expansion and our sights are set further afield for the launch of the next international office. It is an exciting step to open up an office in Guernsey and to be able to offer offshore clients the expertise of our lawyers across all areas of law.
John's expertise in commercial property and investment mean he is perfectly placed to head up our Guernsey office. Now, more than ever, Keystone is able to meet the needs of offshore clients looking to invest in, develop or lend against UK property."
Prior to joining Keystone John Stephens was a Partner at Spicer and Partners Guernsey LLP, having previously worked in the property departments of major City firms such as Simmons & Simmons. John has particular expertise in inward investment to the UK, secured lending on UK assets and offshore commercial lending in deals ranging from £1m to £240m. John also advises on sustainability and renewable energy issues for the regulatory and due diligence aspects of energy efficiency and carbon reduction obligations. His expertise is particularly relevant to the Guernsey market, which has a strong appetite for inward investment in the UK and energy issues related to commercial property.
Guernsey Office Location:
28 Cornet Street, St Peter Port,Guernsey GY1 1LFt: 0148 124 0734f: 0845 458 9398


text:
Welcome to the Guidance and Counseling Department
of Edward "Babe" Gomez Heritage Elementary School.
My name is Mrs. Jeannine Ascherl and I am one of two school counselors here at Gomez Heritage.
Vision: School counselors are advocates, collaborating with students, school staff, families and community resources to empower all students to reach their highest potential.
The mission of the Omaha Public Schools strengths-based school counseling program is to support academic success and preparation for post-secondary opportunities for all students.
1. Every student will be provided the nurturing relationships and personal support needed to achieve social competence and academic success.
2. Every student will be empowered to gain the attitudes, knowledge and skills necessary for lifelong academic, career, and personal success.
The counseling program has four components:
*A Guidance Curriculum that is delivered to all students and emphasizes personal, occupational and academic skill-building through classroom presentations.
*Individual Student Planning that helps students plan for their future, set goals, manage conflict, prepare for learning beyond high school, strengthen academic skills and more.
*Response Services that provide support for issues of immedidate concern to the students and their families.
*System Support that recognizes the school counselor as part of the school team and supports the other three components.
As a School Counselor, I work with the students in three ways:
Classroom Group Guidance lessons are taught in all grades. The curriculum is centered around three domains: academic/educational, career/occupational and social/emotional.
Small groups are available for students in all grades. Small group topics may include anger, coping skills, developmental assets, family changes, friendship, grief and loss, self-esteem, and study skills.
Individual counseling is available for students. Students can self-request to visit with me. Parents and teachers can also request that I visit with their student.
Please let me know if you have questions or concerns regarding your child. I am here to help.
My contact information is:
402-898-2801 Ext. 1011 (with voice mail available)
I look forward to working with you.


text:
September heats up at the Blue Potato with double dining deals. [Read more…]
Yum Cha Express Delivery
Yum Cha Delivery Hotline Number: 6222 1717
Minimum Order: $70
Waiting Time: 1 day
Please call 93388450 if your order is less than 1 day in advance. However it is subject to availability.
Delivery Time: 9am to 9pm
Delivery Charge: $12 surcharge applies for every delivery order, FREE delivery for orders above $120.
Tiong Bahru Roasted Pig
Tiong Bahru Roasted Pig Delivery Number: 1800-3-68-68-68
Golden Piglet | 金猪
Large pig $500, Medium pig $388, Small pig $108
California Pizza Kitchen
Telephone: 6339 9883
Delivery Time: 11am~2:30pm, 6:30pm~10pm
Minimum Order: $25 (excluding GST and 10% service charge)
Waiting Time: 50~90mins
Payments by: Cash, Amex, Visa & MasterCard
Delivery Charge: $5 charge for all orders under $40, additional $5 for public holidays


text:
+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 1 of 1
Engadget: BlackBerry Storm comes to Vodafone today -- take cover immediately
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Storm? Badly enough to pull up your long-established roots, fly for half a day, and take residence in a foreign land thousands of miles from home? For Americans who absolutely cannot wait another week for RIM's first touchscreen device to launch on domestic soil, that's the only option; for Brits on Vodafone, though, heaven is but a single shop trip away. The BlackBerry Storm has now officially launched in the Old Country and can be had for as little as zilch on a Voda plan, so do let us know how your experiences go, yeah? Your yankee friends thank you in advance.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]BlackBerry Storm comes to Vodafone today -- take cover immediately originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments