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No. 90,878
JOELYN SQUIRES, STEVE WHITE, and
KANSAS, and KANSAS DEPARTMENT
1. Under K.S.A. 2005 Supp. 75-6104(m) of the Kansas Tort Claims Act, a governmental entity or an employee acting within the scope of the employee's employment shall not be liable for damages resulting from the plan or design for the construction of or an improvement to public property, either in its original construction or any improvement thereto, if the plan or design is approved in advance of the construction or improvement by the governing body of the governmental entity or some other body or employee exercising discretionary authority to give such approval and if the plan or design was prepared in conformity with the generally recognized and prevailing standards in existence at the time such plan or design was prepared.
2. A party may not defeat summary judgment through a subsequent affidavit of a party or witness which is contrary to or otherwise attempts to impeach that party's or witness' previous deposition testimony.
3. In the control and disposition of surface waters, municipal corporations ordinarily have the same rights and are subject to the same liabilities as private persons. In the absence of statute or charter providing otherwise, municipal corporations are under no obligation to prevent the natural flow of surface waters or to protect private property from damage therefrom, and they are not liable for any damage caused thereby.
4. As a general rule, a municipal corporation is not liable for damage caused by the increased or accelerated flow of surface waters which have not been diverted from their natural course, or by the incidental change or interruption in, the discharge of, or the increased or accelerated flow of surface waters caused by the lawful improvement of its streets or the making of other public improvements.
5. If the act of a governmental entity in work on a flood control project did not result in a greater amount of damage to landowners from overflow than would have been caused if there had been no change, the governmental entity will not be liable to the landowners.
6. In the absence of evidence that any acts or omissions of the defendants caused flood damage in excess of that which would have been sustained in any event, there was no proximate cause established under the facts of this case.
Appeal from Cowley District Court; ROBERT L. BISHOP, judge. Opinion filed February 17, 2006. Affirmed.
Randall K. Rathbun, Dennis L. Gillen, and Tony L. Atterbury, of Depew, Gillen, Rathbun & McInteer, LC, of Wichita, for appellants/cross-appellees.
Otis W. Morrow, city special council, and Alvin D. Herrington and Edward L. Keeley, of McDonald, Tinker, Skaer, Quinn & Herrington P.A., of Wichita, and Sally A. Howard, chief counsel, and Gelene Savage, of Kansas Department of Transportation, of Topeka, for appellees/cross-appellants.
Before HILL, P.J., GREENE, J., and BUKATY, S.J.
GREENE, J.: Landowners in Cowley County whose properties were purportedly damaged by a 1998 flood due to the actions or inactions of governmental entities involved in a highway/levee project appeal the district court's summary judgment against them in favor of the City of Arkansas City (City) and the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT), arguing that the district court misapplied Kansas law governing liability of governmental entities. City and KDOT cross-appeal the district court's refusal to make certain corrections to its memorandum decision. We affirm the district court's summary judgment, rendering moot the cross-appeal.
Factual and Procedural Background
After suffering severe flood damages to their homes and businesses after the 1998 "Halloween Flood," plaintiff landowners brought suit against City and KDOT alleging that in work on a flood control project, the purported removal from design or the delay in construction of a secondary levee (the Tieback Levee) that was intended to protect plaintiffs' properties were acts of negligence and nuisance. Plaintiffs specifically alleged that "water which would never have flowed into the plaintiffs' neighborhood was diverted there" as a result of defendants' conduct. City and KDOT disclaimed any duty to plaintiffs and asserted various defenses and immunities under the Kansas Tort Claims Act (KTCA), K.S.A. 75-6101 et seq.
After extensive discovery including the depositions of respective experts, City and KDOT moved for summary judgment. Uncontroverted facts of interest to this appeal include the following:
In 1996, a joint levee/highway project was approved to construct two levees to the east of Arkansas City. One north/south levee would create a bypass for Highway 77 (the Bypass levee) and a second small east/west levee would stretch between the Bypass Levee and the existing north/south elevated embankment on which the railroad ran (the Tieback Levee). Together, the Bypass Levee and the Tieback Levee constituted the total Flood Control Project for the Walnut River (the Flood Control Project). Persons living outside the existing old Walnut River levee had no protection from the Walnut River prior to the construction of the Bypass Levee and the completion of the Tieback Levee.
The Flood Control Project was identified as KDOT Project No. 77-18 K-4431-01 and was submitted to the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Water Resources Division chief engineer for his required approval on November 27, 1995. The application was approved as Approval No. LCL-0045 on June 3, 1996, by the chief engineer, stating that "[a]ll work authorized by this approval shall be performed in accordance with the maps, plans, profiles and specifications filed with the application, and . . . the attached approval conditions."
The Bypass Levee and KDOT Highway Bypass took a number of months to build. The operating parameter throughout the entire levee project was that until the new protection (the Bypass Levee and the Tieback Levee) was in place, the old protection (the existing Old Walnut River levee) was relied on.
Plaintiffs do not contend that the Flood Control Project was not constructed according to the design and plan submitted and approved by the chief engineer. Rather, plaintiffs claim that the plan as approved was defective for failing to incorporate a "contingency plan" which would provide plaintiffs, before the construction of the Flood Control Project was completed, with the level of protection intended to be achieved at its completion.
The Flood Control Project design and plan as submitted and approved were prepared in conformity with all applicable laws, regulations, and the generally recognized and prevailing engineering standards in existence at the time such it was prepared. No regulations, requirements, or standards applicable to the Flood Control Project, including the regulations promulgated by the Department of Agriculture, Division of Water Resources, contain any requirement for a contingency plan during the construction of a levee.
The Bypass Levee portion of the Flood Control Project had been completed by the time of the 1998 flood. The KDOT Highway Bypass project was also completed by that time. The Tieback Levee portion of the Flood Control Project had not yet been completed at the time of the 1998 Flood due to delays by the Kansas Historical Society over a concern that American Indian artifacts might be buried in the area. Approval from the Historical Society was required before the Tieback Levee construction could begin.
The flood crest of the Walnut River during the 1998 flood reached an all-time historic high in Arkansas City, according to the National Weather Service records, and both the Old Walnut River Levee and the Old Arkansas River Levee were overtopped and breached.
Plaintiffs' expert M.S. Mitchell admitted in his deposition that he knew of no requirements of any State of Kansas agency for there to be any type of contingency plan during construction of a flood control project. He also admitted that he knew of no regulations or requirements applicable to the Flood Control Project design or plan which would require a contingency plan to be included in the Flood Control Project design or plan.
Plaintiffs produced no evidence whatsoever that the volume or elevation of water on their properties during the 1998 flood was increased from the flooding they would have been subject to had the Bypass Levee not been constructed by that time. Furthermore, the calculations by defendants' expert hydrologist, Jonathan Jones, based on available flood data, demonstrated that all plaintiffs would have experienced essentially the same amount of flooding on their property in 1998 if the Bypass Levee had not been constructed as they did in fact experience, taking into account all relevant factors.
The following facts were presented by the City and KDOT as uncontroverted, but plaintiff landowners then attempted to controvert them with an affidavit from their expert. The purported uncontroverted facts stated:
"[Plaintiff's expert] M.S. Mitchell admitted in his deposition that he knows of no project that had a contingency plan in place during construction of a flood control project.
"Plaintiffs' expert M.S. Mitchell, admitted during his deposition that it is not necessary to have a contingency plan during construction of a flood control project because there may be many situations during the construction where someone could be adversely affected because of the stage construction was in."
The controverting affidavit stated:
"I [M.S. Mitchell] have reviewed the Statement of Uncontroverted Facts put forth by the defendants in this case. It would appear the defendants have misunderstood my conclusions in this matter. It is not my position that a written contingency plan is required for every possible contingency that can arise during the construction of a flood control project. It is, however, clear to me that it is custom and practice in the industry–an industry I have been involved in for the last 50 years–that when changes are made that could expose parts of a project to flooding there is an obligation on the part of parties responsible for the construction to develop a contingency plan to minimize the effects of that change on the total project. This is certainly custom and practice in the industry and in my view certainly not a matter of discretion. I have worked on and around flood control and drainage projects for the last half century and have never seen a situation like this in which the sponsor of the project made changes to the project and failed to make provisions to protect its citizens. Again, this to me is not a matter of discretion. Custom and practice in the industry require this."
Ultimately, the district court sustained City and KDOT motions for summary judgment and dismissed the claims of negligence and nuisance in a comprehensive memorandum opinion, concluding:
"The opinions of defendants' expert are based on data accumulated and analyzed by the witness and are within the scope of his expertise. The data analyzed proportions the significance of the opinion, in the absence of a countervailing opinion, to the level of compelling under the maxim quoted in Mid-State Fertilizer v. Exchange Nat. Bank, 877 F.2d at 1339, cited in City of Chanute v. Williams Natural Gas Co., 743 F.Supp. 1437 at 1444. The opinion of defendants' expert is that construction of the bypass levee was not the proximate cause of the flooding of plaintiffs' properties: the flooding would have occurred if the bypass levee had never been built and the flooding experienced by plaintiffs was not the result of construction of the bypass levee to the stage accomplished at the time of the 1998 flood. Plaintiffs offer no testimony to challenge the opinions of defendants' expert, which are admissible as facts within the requirements of K.S.A. 60-256(e). Under the rule of Celotex [Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 91 L. Ed. 2d 265, 106 S. Ct. 2548 (1986)], adopted in Kansas, plaintiffs have failed to establish a genuine dispute to a material fact - proximate cause of their injuries by the negligent acts of defendants - on which they would have the burden of proof on trial. Based on the summary judgment record herein, defendants, and each of them, are entitled to judgment against each of the named plaintiffs dismissing the plaintiffs' individual causes of action."
Defendants later filed a motion for an order nunc pro tunc to correct purported misstatements in the memorandum decision, specifically requesting correction of "two inadvertent errors in three sentences of Judge Bishop's 18-page Memorandum Decision." District Court Judge Robert L. Bishop filed a journal entry taking under advisement the requested amendments. Judge Bishop then retired, which left the issues to be decided by Senior Judge Jack L. Lively, who decided the "suggested changes [were] substantive and inconsistent with Judge Bishop[']s filed memorandum" and could not be corrected. Plaintiffs filed a timely appeal; defendants filed a timely cross-appeal.
Standard of Review
Summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The trial court is required to resolve all facts and inferences which may reasonably be drawn from the evidence in favor of the party against whom the ruling is sought. When opposing a motion for summary judgment, an adverse party must come forward with evidence to establish a dispute as to a material fact. In order to preclude summary judgment, the facts subject to the dispute must be material to the conclusive issues in the case. On appeal, an appellate court must apply the same rules and where reasonable minds could differ as to the conclusions drawn from the evidence, summary judgment must be denied. State ex rel. Stovall v. Reliance Ins. Co., 278 Kan. 777, 788, 107 P.3d 1219 (2005).
Did the District Court Err in Granting Summary Judgment for the City and KDOT?
Plaintiff landowners essentially complain on appeal that the district court erred in applying Kansas law to the uncontroverted facts, which they contend demonstrated that City and KDOT undertook a discretionary act and thereafter performed that act in a manner that constituted negligence or nuisance. They articulate this argument as follows:
"The decision of the defendants to remove the protection of the tie-back levee protecting the plaintiffs was a discretionary judgment by these defendants. The plaintiffs do not attack this decision. The defendants are liable because once they exercised their discretion and decided to remove the tie-back levee from the project, they were under an obligation to do so in a non-negligent manner. They likewise were not free to create a nuisance in the process."
We begin by examining the applicable statute establishing immunity from liability of governmental entities for performance of discretionary acts. K.S.A. 2005 Supp. 75-6104 provides:
"A governmental entity or an employee acting within the scope of the employee's employment shall not be liable for damages resulting from:
. . . .
"(e) any claim based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a governmental entity or employee, whether or not the discretion is abused and regardless of the level of discretion involved;
. . . .
"(m) the plan or design for the construction of or an improvement to public property, either in its original construction or any improvement thereto, if the plan or design is approved in advance of the construction or improvement by the governing body of the governmental entity or some other body or employee exercising discretionary authority to give such approval and if the plan or design was prepared in conformity with the generally recognized and prevailing standards in existence at the time such plan or design was prepared."
The uncontroverted facts clearly established that the entirety of the highway/levee project was authorized and approved by the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Water Resources Division. Although plaintiffs apparently now contend that the design--as modified for delay in completion of the Tieback Levee--was not in conformity with generally recognized and prevailing standards, we note that plaintiffs made no attempt to controvert the fact statement suggesting the design was formally approved. Instead, plaintiffs submitted a belated affidavit of their expert suggesting that it is custom and practice in the industry to create a contingency plan to address changes made during construction of a flood control project.
Contrary to Mitchell's deposition testimony that he knew of no project that had a contingency plan in place during construction and that it was not necessary to have such a plan, the belated affidavit suggested that such contingency plans were the custom and practice in the industry. Given the expert's deposition testimony, this affidavit was ineffective to create a genuine issue of material fact. See Mays v. Ciba-Geigy, 233 Kan. 38, Syl. ¶ 1, 661 P.2d 348 (1983) (party may not defeat summary judgment by filing a subsequent affidavit impeaching previous deposition testimony). Accordingly, in the absence of facts demonstrating that K.S.A. 2005 Supp. 75-6104 is not applicable, City and KDOT were immune from liability by reason of this statute. Although this plan/design immunity was not the express basis for the district court's decision, it serves as an alternate basis for our conclusion to affirm the district court's dismissal of plaintiffs' action.
Second, and perhaps more fundamental, established Kansas law generally recognizes no action against governmental entities for failure to control surface waters or for any increased or accelerated flow caused by lawful improvement, especially where it is demonstrated that the public improvement caused no greater amount of damage to adjoining landowners than would have been caused without the improvement. A city has no duty to provide drainage to take care of surface waters, and ordinarily its failure to protect citizens from surface water is not actionable. Baldwin v. City of Overland Park, 205 Kan. 1, Syl. ¶ 3, 468 P.2d 168 (1970).
"'In the control and disposition of surface waters, municipal corporations ordinarily have the same rights and are subject to the same liabilities as private persons. In the absence of statute or charter providing otherwise, they are under no obligation to prevent the natural flow of surface waters or to protect private property from damage therefrom, and they are not liable for any damage caused thereby.' [Citation omitted.]" 205 Kan. at 7.
"As a general rule, a municipal corporation is not liable for damage caused by the increased or accelerated flow of surface waters which have not been diverted from their natural course, or by the incidental change or interruption in, the discharge of, or the increased or accelerated flow of surface waters caused by the lawful improvement of its streets or the making of other public improvements." Williamson v. City of Hays, 275 Kan. 300, Syl. ¶ 5, 64 P.3d 364 (2003).
"In any event, if the act of the district in its work on a flood control project did not result in a greater amount of damage to landowners from overflow than would have been caused if there had been no change, the district will not [be] liable to the landowners." 52B C.J.S., Levees & Flood Control § 19, p. 551.
The district court viewed the last of these principles as the mere application of a proximate cause requirement and cited Cole v. Shell Petroleum Corp, 149 Kan. 25, 36-37, 86 P.2d 740 (1939), where the court stated:
"The record fails to disclose plaintiff's crops would not have been damaged or that they would not have been damaged to the same extent except for the [defendant's] structures themselves or the structures as maintained. In fact, we think the damage occurred independent of the structures as maintained. That being true, there could be no recovery even though it were conceded, which it is not, that defendant had been negligent in the erection or maintenance of the structures. [Citations omitted.] . . .
. . . .
"'The principle involved is simply that of causation. Except when there are joint tort-feasors "a defendant's tort cannot be considered the legal cause of plaintiff's damage, if that damage would have occurred just the same even though defendant's tort had never been committed."' [Citations omitted.]"
We agree with the district court. In the absence of evidence that any acts or omissions of the defendants--including the delay in completion of the Tieback Levee--caused flood damage in excess of that which would have been sustained in any event, there was simply no proximate cause established. Whether plaintiffs' claims are characterized as negligence or nuisance, defendants were entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Williamson, 275 Kan. at 311; Baldwin, 205 Kan. 1, Syl. ¶ 2; Culwell v. Abbott Construction Co., 211 Kan. 359, 364, 506 P.2d 1191 (1973).
The cross-appeal merely challenges the district court's failure to make corrections to the memorandum of decision and is moot by reason of our conclusions above.


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Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Pardew challenges Magpies to find form
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew has challenged his players to find their best form for a tough double-header against Bordeaux and Manchester United.
The Magpies have struggled to replicate last season's performances this campaign and have ground out results in recent weeks. However, the arrival of Bordeaux on Tyneside for Thursday night's Europa League Group D clash and Manchester United's impending visit on Sunday present Pardew's men with the perfect opportunity to finally slip into gear.
The manager said: "We have been disrupted this year by injury more than anything, and that has hurt us again tomorrow with losing Steven Taylor.
"Nevertheless, we hope in the next two games we show our true colours."
Pardew added: "The beauty of us this season is that we have been able to get results without playing our best football.
"Ideally, you want both together and the more games you play, hopefully the more rhythm you gain."
Injuries have eaten into Pardew's squad once again, with Taylor limping out of Saturday's 2-2 Barclays Premier League draw at Reading with a calf problem which is likely to keep him out of the United game too.
With goalkeeper Tim Krul and Taylor's central defensive partner Fabricio Coloccini also on the casualty list, Danny Simpson's return from a hamstring problem which has seen him miss the last five games could hardly be more timely.
Pardew said: "We have missed him, if I am honest. There are times when the wide player of the opposition has been non-existent when Danny plays.
"He goes underestimated for his defensive qualities. I will be looking forward to seeing him back, hopefully tomorrow if he gets the nod when I pick the team."

subset: commoncrawl


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Here is an easy picture study you can do focusing on the painting The Mulberry Tree by Van Gogh and discussing warm colors. First you can start with a discussion with your children about warm colors using the facts below. Encourage them to look for warm colors around them (there are lots of places we can find warm colors during the fall season). Then you can help them find the warm colors in the art print in the post. I have also included a few follow up activities that you can complete if you wish.
Here are some facts and questions about warm colors:
- Warm colors usually remind us of fire or the sun.
- What colors are fire and the sun?
- Red, orange and yellow are warm colors.
- Can you find any warm colors around your house?
- Where do we see warm colors in nature?
What warm colors can we see in Van Gogh's painting Mulberry Tree?
Some other questions you could ask about this painting:
- What sort of brushstrokes did Van Gogh use?
- Does this painting look like a real tree to you? Why or why not?
- What time of year do you think it is in this painting?
- Do you like this painting? Why or why not?
- What would you do if you were in this painting?
- Draw a fall picture using only warm colors on a separate sheet of paper.
- Find all of the warm color crayons in your box.
- Go on a warm color nature walk- look for warm colors wherever you go.
***If you are interested in adding more art, nature study and handicrafts to your homeschool, be sure to check out the Hearts and Trees Fall 2008 Kit- in all there are 7 notebooking pages, an art print with corresponding drawing project, 2 handicraft projects and 1 crafty art project included in this kit!


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Distilled can help your business to thrive in the online world. From conversion rate wins that increase revenue to media coverage, our clients enjoy some great results.


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Mary Alice Marsh Jones
Mary Alice Marsh Jones 1956-2012 Mary Alice Marsh Jones, 56, passed away October 3rd at her home after a brave battle with cancer.
Mary Alice Marsh Jones 1956-2012 Mary Alice Marsh Jones, 56, passed away October 3rd at her home after a brave battle with cancer. A "Celebration of Life" gathering will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, October 6, at Falcon Lakes Golf Club; 4605 Clubhouse Dr. in Basehor, Kan.
Mary was born January 13,1956, in St Luke's Hospital, Kansas City, Mo. to Eula and George Marsh. She was raised in Leavenworth, Kan. She graduated from Leavenworth High School in 1974 and attended Kansas State and the University of Idaho majoring in Forestry and Wildland Recreation. She graduated from St Mary's College with an Associate degree in Early Childhood Education and later with a Bachelor's degree in Sociology. While attending Leavenworth High, she worked as a veterinarian assistant. After graduating from high school she moved to Idaho and worked for the Bureau of Land Management fighting range fires. This is also where she met her husband, Richard. They were married in Leavenworth, Kan. on January 7th, 1978. Mary's love of education and children led her to invest her artistic and educational talents working with children at Ancilla Center at St Mary's University and Jack and Jill preschool. After completing her bachelor's degree she joined Parents As Teachers. In 2009 Mary was awarded National Parent Educator of the Year by the National Center for Parents as Teachers. Mary was a gifted artistic photographer and was passionate about protecting the environment. Everyone who knew her saw her compassion for helpless people in need. She used her gifts and her love to help others. Mary was preceded in death by her father George Marsh. She is survived by her husband, Richard Jones, her sons Joshua and Jordan (Joey), her mother Eula Kerr, her brother David Marsh and family with a host of nieces and nephews. The family would like to extend their gratitude to St John Hospital and Crossroads Hospice for your compassionate care. Memorial donations can be directed to The Sierra Club, American Cancer Society and Crossroads Hospice.
Kathy Turner (Rizzo)
Mary was one of the sweetest and kindest people I have ever known. I am so blessed to have known her and will cherish the time we spent together with our Special Needs group!
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Musical 'Piece of My Heart' Examines Bert Berns' Songwriting Career
The man who wrote the songs "Twist and Shout," "Piece of My Heart," and "I Want Candy" isn't in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, or in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he does have a new musical, a new book, and an upcoming documentary all coming out within the next year.
Bert Berns, the songwriter who penned hits out of the Brill Building has gone largely ignored since climbing the charts in the 60s. He had 51 pop chart singles in seven years, produced "Brown Eyed Girl" with Van Morrison, watched "Twist and Shout" get recorded by the Beatles and "Piece of My Heart" and "Cry Baby" would later be recorded by Janis Joplin.


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Near InfraRed
Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy measures the absorption of near infrared light by a sample to facilitate identification of analytes. A common type of near infrared spectroscopy is Fourier transform (FT-NIR), which uses an interferometer as well as a light source, detector and processing software. Features of spectrometer systems include sensitivity, infrared range, speed and resolution.


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Castile-La Mancha, an adventure for your children.
Travel ideas
…(Castilla-La Mancha) Are you looking for a holiday where you can enjoy your children? What's more, what if it were the type of holiday they dream of? It would be an unforgettable trip for the whole family. Would you like…
Castile-La Mancha: a journey into the past.
Travel ideas
…(Castilla-La Mancha) Imagine an original cultural visit. Imagine a place where you can see archaeological remains from the beginning of the Middle Ages, the Roman Empire and the Bronze Age. Sound interesting? Then don't …
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…The Plaza Mayor is the "living room" for Spain's towns and cities. They are majestic, welcoming places, overflowing with life. When you discover them you will see that their special architecture sets them apart from othe…
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…(Castilla-La Mancha) There is one place in Spain which is famous all over the world, thanks to literature: La Mancha. And it's all because of Miguel de Cervantes and his immortal knight Don Quixote. But this is not the o…
Craft trips in Castile-La Mancha.
Travel ideas
…(Castilla-La Mancha) Discover the work of artisans in Castile-La Mancha. You will be able to visit many workshops where you will see at first hand, for example, how clay is moulded, how fabric is embroidered or how wicke…
Outdoor tourism at Spain's mines.
Travel ideas
…Here we suggest an original way to visit Spain. Discover the inside of the earth by exploring our mining valleys. You can see the inside of the mines, visit the extraction tunnels in mine carts, and you will be amazed by…
An incredible trip to Almodóvar's Spain.
Travel ideas
…A world-famous filmmaker. Winner of two Oscars and the creator of a brazen universe that has revolutionised Spain's image. We are talking about film director Pedro Almodóvar. Here we suggest a great idea: to discover the…
Travel back to the Middle Ages with the Castles of La Mancha.
Travel ideas
…(Castilla-La Mancha) Here we suggest a journey into the Middle Ages in the land of famous knight Don Quixote. Castile-La Mancha is in inland Spain, and is the ideal place to travel back in time and discover castles that …


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It may be too soon to tell whether this holiday season will be a blockbuster for certain toys, but it's never too soon for retailers to place their bets. Several major toy retailers —Toys 'R Us, Wal-Mart Stores, Sears Holdings' Kmart, and Kohl's— have weighed in with their picks for this year's hottest toys.
There are already some strong contenders. Several toys have earned a place on more than one list, but others turned up in fewer places.
The lists also offer clues regarding popular trends in the toy industry. Most notably, it looks as though retailers are expecting parents to spend a little more this year. Some of the items on this year's hot toy lists are quite a bit pricier than those that were on last year's lists.
There's also a sense of deja vu. Furby is back, and so are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Classic toy brands such as Lego, Barbie, and Twister have snagged some spots. There's a new version of three toys that were popular last year. There is a sequel to the Skylanders videogame, and the LeapPad and VTech tablets have returned with faster processing speeds and new features.
So what will be the must-have this holiday season? Click ahead and decide for yourself.
By Christina Cheddar BerkPosted 24 September 2012


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I don't talk about this much, but I'm a member of the Cocktail and Spirits Online Writers Group, Guild, Gang, Gigolos, or… well, I forget, really. We're a non-profit organization that offers educational and cocktail-appreciation events for the general public, via online publishing and live events. It's through this writers' gang that I'm going to New York in a couple of months to attend BarSmarts Live (I'll have more to say about this soon), and it's also through this group that I receive many of the product samples that I do, as brands attempt to reach out to the public through our group.
The Mixoloseum is our online presence. The Mixo front page currently includes a rudimentary cocktail database; you're free to try it, but the web monkeys are still populating the database with drinks recipes and hammering out the programming of the search engine and the design of the page. The two main areas of the Mixo are the blog and the chat room, and it's in this latter area where you'll find us yammering at each other at pretty much any hour of the day or night.
One of these events that CSOWG hosts in the chat room is Thursday Drink Night, which happens one night a week at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The guild's boffins choose a theme, and anyone who attends can create a new drink based on that theme, or can simply sit back and watch the hilarity. You can adapt a classic, or you can go all crazy and build something new. If you're like me, folks will make your drink, make polite noises, toss it in the sink, and never speak of it again. If you're actually talented, though, your drink goes up for a vote. If you're voted Mixolomancer of the Week or whatever, you win a real prize!
Sometimes, TDN, as we affectionately call it as we cradle it in our arms and caress its chin, is sponsored by a liquor brand. Past sponsors have included Beefeater 24 gin, Fernet Branca herbal liqueur, Absinthe Mata Hari, and Oval vodka. And sometimes, TDN includes a live component, wherein a bunch of nerds invade a hosting bar, set up laptops in a corner, gank the bar's wi-fi, and chat with the other geeks in the far-flung reaches of wherever. Back in April, I was in Brooklyn for the Beefeater 24 TDN.
Upcoming, we have, well… just stick around. We have some exciting sponsors coming up, including a few well-known brands.
This week is an unsponsored night; it's the first anniversary of TDN and the theme is Tiki. Our extra-special guest star this Thursday will be Tiki author, sartorialist, and raconteur Jeff "Beachbum" Berry. This week's prizes include a beautiful 50 cm gold Japanese bar spoon (that's nearly 20 inches, folks, one of the longest spoons you'll see), six of the newest books from Cocktail Kingdom, a signed bottle each of Obsello and Port of Barcelona gin, and a bottle of Old New Orleans Cajun spiced rum.


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SAN FRANCISCO, April 10 (UPI) -- A petition is demanding users ask Dropbox to remove Condoleeza Rice from its board; she was appointed Wednesday to help with privacy and expansion plans.
The former secretary of state under George W. Bush was appointed to the board of Dropbox, a cloud storage and file sharing service. Her appointment has generated controversy in the last 24 hours, as she was central to the Bush administration's assertion that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which led to the the U.S. deciding to go to war with Iraq.
But the petition does go on to praise Condoleeza Rice as an "extremely brilliant and accomplished individual," and "well-connected," suggesting that is why Dropbox appointed her, calling the appointment "ethically short-sighted."
The petition highlights several other offenses, like her approval for warrant-less wiretapping and her time spent on Chevron's board. It also credits her with the creation of "the Bush administration's torture program."
Users have been asked to post to Twitter and Facebook, using the hashtag #DropDropbox, their opposition to the appointment. The petition also lists other alternatives to use such as Box, Microsoft's OneDrive, SpiderOak, Google Drive, and more.
The petition is hosted on a secret domain name and is shielded by Domains By Proxy. Some of the tweets associated with the petition have come from an anonymous Twitter account called @TheAnonNation, which may be loosely tied to organized internet activists group Anonymous, though it isn't one of their official accounts.
The development comes a week after an online campaign led to the removal of Brendan Eich as Mozilla CEO, after it was revealed that Eich had contributed to California's Proposition 8 that would have repealed same-sex marriage in the state.
[Drop-Dropbox.com] [TechCrunch]


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March 12, 2007
Wabash students are settling back into the usual routine after spring break. Many went home for a week of rest and mom's cooking and a few probably found their way to warmer climates. But one of Wabash's newest and greatest traditions is spring break immersion learning.
Wabash men traveled the Hoosier state, the country and Europe to learn more in specific spring semester classes.
Most of those trips were documented daily with student-written blogs. Click on the links below to go to each trip's blog account of their learning experience.
Professors Stephen Dyson and Peter Mikek took a group to Brussels and Frankfurt to study the European Union.
German students had a full week to use their German language skills and learn more about Deutchland's culture. They were headquartered in Cologne.
A new trip this year took students to New York City, Washington D.C., and Atlanta to study African-American rhetoric and expressive cultural English. Professors Tim Lake and David Timmerman led that group.
J.D. Phillips made his annual pilgrimage to Prague with his senior math majors. The students spend the day in math research while enjoying the lively city at night.
Another group of students stayed much closer to home learning about marketing. The Marketing Immersion group headquartered in Indianapolis but made trips to Muncie and South Bend to study marketing and learn from Wabash alums. That trip is funded by Lilly Endowment.
Wabash art majors accompanied professors Doug Calisch and Greg Huebener to see some of the great art of New York City.
Eric Wetzel's BIO 22 to class went to Belize over spring break while the career services center again sponsored a New York externship program for the week.
This year's immersion learning is not over. Classics professor Jeremy Harnett will take a group of students to Italy in May to study Roman urbanism.


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Strider Trailer: Hiryu Has His Hands Full
Move over Ryu Hayabusa, because there's another ninja from the 8-bit glory days poised to blend in a more modern setting. That's right, Strider has returned, and this time he's not starring in another Capcom crossover.
In this newest video released by Capcom UK, we get to see Strider for the first time in 2014. Strider encounters the Pooh sisters (we know, we know), whose tag team attacks require Strider to stay at far range until he can exploit an opening. The heavy trooper mecha is more in-tune with Strider's roots, which consisted of giant robots fighting an acrobatic ninja. The aerial boss, Solo, fights just like Boba Fett, with a jetpack, laser blasters and an array of futuristic, bounty hunter weaponry.
Strider is due to come out sometime this year for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.


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Ed Sullivan Presents- Rock n' Roll Revolution
In the 60's, there was a new wave of music coming from England, an invasion unlike anything else America had ever experienced. Then, in February, 1964, The Beatles landed on Ed Sullivan's stage and our world changed forever. The so-called "British Invasion" started a flow of groups that took America by storm, groups such as The Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, The Animals and the Hollies. They were cutting edge, far different from what we'd come to expect from rock 'n' roll in the States. They had long hair, dressed in narrow lapel suits, looked scruffy, and they had a unique charm.
How did we respond? We met the British head on, with groups like The Beach Boys, The Mamas and Papas, The Byrds and groundbreaking artists like James Brown and Bob Dylan, all of whom appear in this amazing program. Timeless live musical performances coupled with insightful interviews from the musicians themselves tell the story of the music that changed our lives.
Timeless live musical performances! The music that changed our lives!
Interviews with Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson and many more great artists
Originally aired on CBS
- $14.95
- $39.95


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UMKC Ranks Number One for Innovation Management Research
The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) announced Dec. 5, 2011, that it has been ranked as the world's No. 1 university in innovation management research by the Journal of Product Innovation Management.
A total of 625 universities were ranked - including MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Michigan State and Texas A&M - on research topics and current trends in the field of innovation management. The ranking will be published in the March 2012 issue of the journal.
"We are extremely proud to hold the No. 1 spot in the world for innovation management research," said UMKC Chancellor Leo E. Morton. "UMKC aligns with the Kansas City community's commitment to becoming the most entrepreneurial city in the nation through our focus on entrepreneurship across all campus disciplines."
The results were driven by the research of three UMKC faculty - Michael Song, Ph.D., Mark Parry, Ph.D., and Lisa Zhao, Ph.D. - in the Henry W. Bloch School of Management's (Bloch School) Department for Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The three faculty also were listed among the top 50 innovation management scholars, with Michael Song ranking No. 1 in the world.


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Christmas Memories
By Katherine and Mary Weisgerber, Las Vegas, Nevada, Natives of Weybum, Saskatchewan, December, 2009.
Kay and I would like to send a story about Christmas. Christmas was always very special to us even though there were hard times. We didn't know anything about good times. Whatever happened was normal to us. When you were a big family like ours was, there were more people to share with.
Our parents still managed a lovely Christmas for us. There was always "a gift" for everyone, whereas now a day one would feel slighted with one gift.
We remember a lot of good baked goods: Boska, Marrvis, Kaeskuchen, and Suker Kuchen. Our mother was very artistic so she could create beautiful things such as a Christmas tree. She would shape an object from mud with wheat kernels mixed into it. The object was the shape of a cone upside down. This was done long enough before Christmas so that after spraying the mud with water periodically, the wheat would grow enough to make the object remind us of a tree.
Another tree my mother made was a Christmas tree made from sticks, an old broom handle and green crepe paper. My father drilled holes up and down the broom stick and anchored the stick some way to a stand. Mother took small sticks from trees, about the size of a pencil to insert into these holes that were drilled into the broom stick. Before inserting these sticks mother cut green crepe paper into strips, then cutting three – quarters of the way sideways into these crepe paper strips, a quarter inch apart. Then the paper was wrapped around the small sticks to create the look of a small tree branch.
After the tree was completed and ornaments were hung on it, we were very happy to have a Christmas tree. Where we lived, in southern Saskatchewan, there were no wild trees to cut down for a Christmas tree. Trees were planted around the farm home for wind breakers and landscaping.


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Parent Directory | Revision Log
|Links to HEAD:
|(view) (download) (as text) (annotate)
Update GDP policy to be more in line with recent developments, resources etc. See gentoo-doc mailinglist for more information
Introduce support for version 3.0 in our documents From the GDP point-of-view, the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license also fully matches the projects' principles. The original choice for 2.5 was because it was, at that time, the latest version. With the Gentoo wiki now using CC-BY-SA 3.0, we now also support this version, allowing for documents to be replicated between the two sources.
Clarifying leader roles.
Update on GDP policy - Improve wording to work with current development process, drop references to old names, update recruitment process, update on translation management (reflecting as-is situation more)
Xavier (neysx) has been retired. I'm taking over as GDP lead. Documentation updated accordingly.
Spring refresh
We already miss swift
#116388 /doc/en/management-structure.xml is a dodo
jkt left a "2.0"
Sorry for broken ChangeLog of last commit - tt should have been "bumping CC-BY-SA to 2.5", *not* "adding CVS $Header$". Bumping <version> once again to make sure everyone will catch it :-(.
Added missing CVS $Header$
Update on language, no content change, part of #94519
Rewrite sentences in policy to make it more clear. Part of #94519
Use capitalised naming for positions, part of #94519
Some spelling fixes, no content change. Part of #94519
#91830 s/abovementioned/aforementioned/ and s/1 months/1 month/
Update on GDP policy
#78562 s/seperate/separate/
Content change: date/version bumping of master handbook file is not required anymore whenever a part is updated. Cosmetic changes: links/coding style
Add metadoc.xml file usage
Dont refer to old, unmaintained and probably incorrect documents
Change reference to policy
Fix link attribute
the gender neutral pronoun in English is he, get over it
Move GDP policy in new location
moved to doc/en
new GDP pages
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I rarely shop in public, and certainly not in groups or crowds. I'm a huge fan of online shopping and have no fear of ordering jeans, shoes, or even underwear online. Anything that can protect me from milling around with the barbarian hordes at retail environments is what I refer to as salvation.
That brings us to the heart of this post, which is announcing that my long labored over redesigned website is finally up and open for business. I love it and I hope you go check it out and love on it too. It's all set up for free domestic shipping through November 30, and you can pretty much order whatever you want in whatever color or style you want. And no one will try to snatch a cupcake stand out of your little paws, and then push you to the floor and trample you. Click on over and let me know what you think!


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Description:10 x Seagate Constellation ES.2 2TB Hot-Plug SATA 6Gb/s Single Port 7200RPM 3.5-inch form factor 64MB Hard DrivePart Number(s)
Seagate Part# ST32000645NS
Overview:Information technology professionals rely on our variety of new tested Seagate capable SATA Hard Drives offering data integrity and availability in hot-pluggable models. All Seagate Hard Drives pass a rigorous qualification process which ensures that every drive is proven to perform in your server. Before final certification all Seagate Serial-ATA Hard Drives are optimized for compatibility and functionality.


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Woman banned for slapping Papis
NASCAR has indefinitely banned a driver's girlfriend from all events for slapping a rival racer after the Truck Series race Sunday in Bowmanville, Ontario.
Article continues below ...
NASCAR said Wednesday that Kelly Heaphy, driver Mike Skeen's girlfriend, also was fined $2,500 for slapping Max Papis in the face.
Papis and Skeen had been battling for third in the closing laps of the race until contact between the two on the last lap ruined Papis' finish. The two hit again during the cool-down lap, and Papis voiced his displeasure about Skeen during his post-race interview. Heaphy then approached Papis and slapped him.
Papis finished sixth in the road race, and Skeen was 13th.


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OoolalaShop needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 141 designs submitted by 48 freelance designers.
We are a brand new Internet Female Clothing company that is focused on classy, sexy and tasteful clothing for women. This will include sexy costumes, lingerie, women's under garments as well as other women's clothing. We will expand to other products such as skin care as well but currently to start it is women's lingerie and sexy costumes.
The target audience will primarily be female, however there will be males who will shop on this site as well.
We are looking for a logo that will describe our company as a classy, sexy online place to shop for female clothing. The logo should be catchy, playful but also tasteful.
The colors should be pinkish purple, basically the best colors that express feminine attributes.
This site will be high class and sexy and we want to draw people into this website and in order to do that we need a great logo.
Be playful with the 3 ooo's in Ooolala, we are looking for something where the 2 o's can be used as eyeballs, or the woman's breasts, and we would like to incorporate some lips some where on the logo.
Also the font we are interested in using will be the font from the logo at our other internet site UShopfast.com
We will require PSD, Illustrator, JPEG's
We have also attached our UShopfast.com files from our business cards so you can use that as a start.
The Logo font must be Gill Sans ultra Bold.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.