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Don't miss out on a lower price on this hotel
Get an overview of this hotelOceanfront beauty at quiet end of Cannery Row
Popular property highlights
Stroll to the aquarium
Anchoring the quiet end of Cannery Row, this waterfront boutique hotel is perched above Monterey Bay, with Fisherman's Wharf a quarter-mile away, A Taste of Monterey winery a half-mile away, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium within a half-mile.
Breakfast for two
The day begins with complimentary Continental breakfast for two, delivered to guestrooms on fine china. Cookies and fruits are served daily. A sun-splashed patio includes a spa tub and an outdoor fire pit.
Luxury beds
Down bedding and luxury linens encourage restful sleep. Binoculars provide close-up views of otters and sea lions frolicking in the waves.
Languages Spoken
- English
Monterey Bay Inn
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
This waterfront getaway is steps from the shops, galleries, and restaurants of Cannery Row. Guests can stroll to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Fisherman's Wharf, Lovers Point Beach, wineries, and other attractions via the Monterey Recreation Trail, a coastal walking and bicycling path right outside the hotel entrance. 17-Mile Drive begins just 2 miles away, and world-class golf is within 6 miles.
The hotel sells aquarium tickets that provide admission for 2 consecutive days for the cost of a 1-day ticket. Ticketholders are also able to bypass the long lines — a boon for guests traveling with children.
Guests enjoy complimentary continental breakfast for 2 delivered to their rooms each morning. Complimentary cookies and fruit are served in the lobby in the afternoon. The inn has 2 spa tubs, and offers complimentary wireless Internet access in both public areas and guestrooms. Business amenities include a 24-hour business center and 432 square feet of meeting facilities.
- Conference space size (meters) - 39
- Spa services on site
- Luggage storage
- Number of spa tubs - 2
- Elevator/lift
- Rooftop terrace
- 24-hour business center
- Conference space size (feet) - 420
- Concierge services
- 24-hour front desk
- Free breakfast
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Porter/bellhop
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Total number of rooms - 49
- One meeting room
- Number of floors - 4
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Self parking (surcharge)
- Free WiFi
- Computer station
- Smoke-free property
- Fireplace in lobby
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Languages Spoken
- English
- Spanish
Self parking (surcharge)
Room Amenities
- Satellite TV service
- Refrigerator
- Private bathroom
- Premium TV channels
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Furnished balcony
- Bathrobes
- Coffee/tea maker
- Free toiletries
- Desk
- DVD player
- Hair dryer
- Daily housekeeping
- Iron/ironing board
- In-room massage available
- Free WiFi
- In-room safe (laptop compatible)
- Number of bathrooms -
- Minibar
- Free newspaper
- Premium bedding
- Shower/tub combination
- Turndown service
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
- Down comforter
Where to Eat
Complimentary Continental breakfast for two is delivered to guestrooms each morning on a tray with fine china and linens. Guests select from a menu the night before. Choices include freshly baked pastries, muffins, orange juice, fruit, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, coffee, and tea.
Room service: Lunchtime to dinner.
The Monterey Bay Inn's proprietors also own the award-winning Sardine Factory restaurant, a celebrity favorite. The Sardine Factory is four blocks from the hotel.
Other nearby dining options include:
Chart House
Whaling Station
Nearby Things to Do
A spa tub, open from 8 AM to 11 PM, is situated on a sunny patio with comfortable seating.
Adjacent San Carlos Beach is popular with scuba divers. Less than a mile away, Del Monte Beach is ideal for long walks, sunbathing, tidepooling, and wading in the rather chilly waters. Whale-watching and kayaking tours depart from or near Fisherman's Wharf. Bike rentals and scuba outfitters are located throughout town.
The waterfront Recreation Trail, right outside the hotel, attracts runners, walkers, and bicyclists.
Pebble Beach Golf Links, Del Monte Golf Course, Links at Spanish Bay, and other world-class courses are within six miles.
Point Lobos State Reserve, seven miles away, offers hiking trails with spectacular views of the rugged coast. Sea lions, harbor seals, and more than 150 bird species—from hummingbirds to herons—are among the animals inhabiting the reserve.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or near the hotel; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Kayaking nearby
- Sailing nearby
- Scuba diving nearby
Spa Services
Serenity Spa offers aromatherapy, mud baths, and facial and body treatments. The spa includes a sauna.
- Body wraps
- Body treatments
- Body scrubs
- Facial treatments
- Aromatherapy treatments
Hotel Policies
Check-in time starts at 4 PM
Check-in time ends at midnight
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Rollaway/extra beds are not available.
- Cribs (infant beds) are not available.
- Pets not allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
- Please note that cultural norms and guest policies may differ by country and by property. The policies listed are provided by the property.
Optional extras
- Self parking fee: USD 23.00 per night (in/out privileges)
Hotel Name
- Monterey Bay Inn
- Monterey Bay Hotel Monterey
We should mention
Reservations are required for massage services and spa treatments. Reservations can be made by contacting the hotel prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation. Parking height restrictions apply.


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pro528 in pristine condition. Used very little inside in a nonsmoking environment. no scratches scuffs or anything looks like it came out of the box.
This scanner has 1000 channels, analog (nondigital), signal stalker 1, edited search ranges, skywarn. Comes with manual.
comes with Scanner, antenna it came with, belt clip.
I will ship priority for the end price
If not happy I will take returns.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Huntington Beach High field hockey team is no stranger to championship game appearances.
The Oilers have made trips to six consecutive Tournament of Champions finals, the final day of tournament play that annually caps the field hockey season. They won that first tournament championship and were runner-up the past four years.
On Nov. 1 at Westminster High, Huntington got the title back.
The Oilers finished the season No. 1 after surviving Harvard-Westlake, 1-0, in a 10-minute, sudden-death overtime period. Each team dropped four players for the overtime period, and a 7-on-7 matchup determined the winner. Huntington took the crown when Kayla Wigney scored the winning goal off an assist from Abbie Masters four minutes into overtime.
Huntington, champion of the Sunset League, defeated Harvard-Westlake for the second time this year. During regular-season play, the Oilers scored a 2-0 win against the Wolverines.
"It's been a long time coming," said Huntington Coach Cathy Van Doornum. "It's a big senior group on this team, and it was kind of disappointing for them, after losing last year's final. To win the title has been a goal of theirs since last year. They were determined to win it, and the girls weren't to be denied."
Huntington, which started nine seniors, completed a 22-1 season.
"It's a special group," Van Doornum. That senior unit included four players, Wigney, Masters, Marina Elmore, and goalie Brittney Cristini, who have been on the varsity team since their sophomore year.
In semifinal games played Oct. 30, Huntington eliminated Glendora and Harvard-Westlake knocked off Edison. Huntington broke away from a tie game at half, to score a 3-1 win. Allie Knobbe, Masters and Wigney scored for the Oilers.
Wigney was the Tournament of Champions MVP. Elmore, Masters and Amanda Matters, made the all-tournament team.
The Huntington Beach field hockey team: seniors Brittney Cristini, Marina Elmore, Allie Knobbe, Abbie Masters, Nicole Minnicucci, Hannah Rodriguez, Kirsti Stangeland, Kayla Wigney, Kayla Winsatt; juniors Simon Corkett, Kaitlen Cruz, Sabrina Desisto, Faith Hicks, Amanda Matters, Katelyn Mauger, Carly Sutton, Nicola Taglieri; sophomores Samantha Earthman, Emily Martinez, Mckenna Shaver; freshman Makenna Wigney. Head Coach: Cathy Van Doornum. Assistant Coach: Mindi Masters.
Girls' Volleyball
Huntington Beach, the No. 2 team from the Sunset League, advanced to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1-AA playoffs after coming back from two sets down, to edge visiting Peninsula, 21-25, 19-25, 25-12, 25-16, 18-16. The win sends the Oilers on to a Thursday game against Trinity League champ Mater Dei. The Monarchs, the No. 4 seed in the division, swept Trabuco Hills in another first-round game Tuesday.
Ocean View, which finished second in the Golden West League, also rallied to a first-round victory Tuesday. The Seahawks eliminated visiting St. Bernard (Camino Real League No. 3), 25-23, 21-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-12. The Seahawks next play Thursday at Orange League champ Century. The Centurions had a first-round bye.
All division quarterfinals are Saturday and the semifinals are next Tuesday .
Boys' Water Polo
Both Huntington Beach and Edison played CIF Southern Section Division 1 wild-card games Tuesday , and the teams had different results.
Huntington, the No. 3 team from the Sunset League, had its season end in an 11-8 loss at University, the third-place team from the Pacific Coast League. Jovan Jeremic, Dylan Morely, Scott Schultz, Elias Lule, James Vlachonassios and Ryan Sillasen scored for the Oilers who finished 15-14.
Edison, an at-large entry to the playoffs from the Sunset League, went on the road to face Moore League runner-up Long Beach Poly. In a game where neither team led by more than a single goal, and the lead changed hands 10 times, it was a goal on a skip shot with five seconds left by junior Alec Niederland, that lifted the Chargers (15-14) to a 10-9 victory and into a first-round date Wednesday against defending Division 1 and Trinity League champ, top-seed Mater Dei.
The score from the Edison-Mater Dei game wasn't available at press time. The winner advances to the division quarterfinals on Saturday .
Junior goalie Nick Halloran blocked a Poly penalty shot with 3:34 remaining in the fourth quarter that would have given the Jackrabbits (18-14) a two-goal lead. Center Justin Harrison scored consecutive goals to put Edison in front, 9-8, with 80 seconds left to play. Poly tied the score with 28 seconds left on a counter-attack goal after an errant pass, then the Chargers worked down the final seconds before Niederland netted the game-winner.
It was the third goal in the game for Niederland. Harrison led the scoring with four goals. Dane Estrella scored twice and Jacob Schwenk scored once.
"Our coaching staff had numerous conversations about going on the road and playing a team not in Orange County," Edison Coach Diggy Riley said. "Our theme was simple. We were going to encounter referees we don't know, an indoor pool that is so loud you can't hear the coaches or your players, [and] we would be shooting for the first time all season on wall cages, and accept the fact that we would not get any calls our way. So the solution was to not let any of these issues keep us from staying focused and playing our game.
"I was so proud of this team and their ability to not give up and to just find a way to win in the harshest of environments."
Edison finished in fourth place in the Sunset League. The Chargers scored five-straight goals in their league finale Oct. 31 to take a 9-7 lead on rival Fountain Valley, then Halloran stopped a perimeter shot with five seconds left, to preserve a 9-8 win for the Chargers. Halloran finished with eight saves and Niederland and Harrison both scored three goals.
Cross Country
The CIF Southern Section preliminaries are Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. The CIF Southern Section Championships are Nov. 17, also at Mt. SAC, and the CIF State Championships are Nov. 24 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Twitter: @MikeSciacca


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Find accommodations in White Stone with the hotel list provided below. Explore our guide for inexpensive and discount hotel/motel rates in or near White Stone, VA for your business or personal leisure travel. We provide the best White Stone Virginia hotel/motel rooms. Review the White Stone hotel list below to find the perfect lodging. We also have a map of the White Stone hotels. Planning a group? Lock in White Stone Group Hotel Deals
The White Stone center point is approximately 5 miles south of Kilmarnock Museum and 10 miles northeast of Thousand Trails Chesapeake Bay.
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Lorizimmerman necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 175 diseños de 23 diseñadores freelance.
Pups@Play ( and yes it is using the "@" symbol..very important!!
I have always dreamed of owning my own business doing something I am passionate about. Pups@Play is it! This business is all about the dogs and their well-being. Mostly we will be a doggie daycare, a place that people can leave their dogs while they are not home..either all day, 1/2 day or even on an hourly basis. The dogs will have the opportunity to socialize, play, excercise and be loved as well as be groomed, massaged or trained. We will also be offering some holistic therapies such as reiki, accupuncture and chiropratic
I am going to be located in an affluent area with people have high expectations and are very demanding. The demographic is for either couples or singles who own a dog, that are both out working all day, or dog owners that want to socialize their dogs, want to correct bad behaviors that can occur when dogs are left for long period of time, or just want the convenience to go about their day and give their dog some playtime as they run around doing their errands. The extra services just gives the owner the opportunity to also accomplish a multitude of needs for their dog all at once. Whether its for grooming needs, training, or services that offer wellness to help keep quality of life to their beloved pets..whether its for dog anxiety, rehab for dogs that had trauma or simply to feel good.
I am looking for a logo that represents both luxury as well as playful (after all it is a doggie daycare). I definitely DO NOT want anything cartoony or cheap looking. Possibly a symbol that eventually can standout on its own 1 day and be recognized as the symbol for Pups@Play. I need a logo that can be translated in many different medias..from business cards and letterheads to signange on a building. It needs to be able to work in black and white and in color
I don't have anything at this time as examples..but sleek, luxury and playful are the adjectives I would use to describe what I am looking for. (the only things that come to mind is like a lexus or infinity car logos..you see them and you know right away what they represent.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Jarret Stoll moves on from 'forgettable' season with overtime winner against Canucks
Darryl Sutter had been waiting four months for Jarret Stoll to score that big goal. The L.A. Kings head coach said as much in his post-game press conference following Sunday's 2-1 overtime win that eliminated the Vancouver Canucks from the playoffs.
Stoll scored his biggest goal of the season at 4:27 of the overtime period, rushing in down the left wing and letting go of a snap shot from his off-wing that beat Vancouver Canucks goalie Cory Schneider over the right shoulder. And just like, the Presidents' Trophy winners were done, in the first round.
"For sure, it helps your confidence any time you score a goal in overtime in the playoffs," said Stoll.
"It probably heightens it a little bit. Either way, you help your team win, or you try to help your team win. If it's not by scoring goals, it's by winning faceoffs, or playing well defensively, or killing penalties. I feel I do a lot of things and scoring a goal definitely adds to your confidence with the puck."
To say the 2011-12 regular season was a struggle for Stoll is an understatement. File it under downright forgettable. He scored just six times in the regular season – he played 78 of the 82 games – and had just 21 points.
Then the playoffs began, and all that was in the recent past was subsequently forgotten about. He played an important 17:12 of ice time in Game 5, including both power play and penalty kill situations. Faceoffs? He won 10 of 16 in that category.
He now has two goals in five playoff games, with more promised in the near future for L.A.
More importantly, who knows what would have transpired had he not scored the winner? Perhaps the Canucks win – they had chances in the extra frame, including an unsuccessful Mason Raymond wrap-around – and the series goes back to L.A. for Game 6, and potentially back to Vancouver for a seventh and deciding showdown at Rogers Arena.
The Kings, who went up 3-0 in the series, won all three games in Vancouver. All this after most hockey experts predicted the Canucks would eventually meet in the Stanley Cup finals against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both of those teams are now done.
The Kings, it was first believed, just didn't have the offence to compete with the Canucks, and eventually L.A. goalie Jonathan Quick would let just enough pucks past him to lose the series.
Quick outlasted both Schneider and Luongo, who started Games 1 and 2 but gave way his back-up for the remainder of the series. Quick was better than both Canucks keepers when he needed to be, allowing five goals in the first three games, which included a 41-save shutout in Game 3.
"We competed hard, no matter what the situation was," said Quick, who made 26 stops Sunday.
"Even in Game 4 there, I think we outplayed them and [Schneider] kept them in it for another game. I think our compete level was just what the difference was."
For the Kings, who underwent a coaching change in December when Sutter replaced Terry Murray, the fourth win was vindication. They're on to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.
"It's huge. I've been here for eight, nine years and this is a pretty good feeling for a lot of guys in here, especially the guys that have been here for extended amounts of time," said Kings captain Dustin Brown.
"I've said this for the last couple of years…we're definitely designed better for playoff hockey."


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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has issued a draft recommendation(www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org) against using beta-carotene or vitamin E supplements to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer.
The USPSTF also stated that evidence currently is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of using multivitamins or single- or paired-nutrient supplements (with the exception of beta-carotene and vitamin E) for the prevention of CVD or cancer.
Task Force Lists Research Gaps in Preventive Care
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) highlighted high-priority evidence gaps in research on preventive care for older adults in its annual report(www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org) to Congress. Research in the following areas is needed:
- screening for cognitive impairment and dementia,
- screening for physical and mental well-being,
- preventing falls and fractures,
- screening for vision and hearing problems, and
- avoiding the unintended harms of medical procedures and testing.
"In general, the task force found that there is not enough evidence to determine whether you can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer by taking single or paired nutrients or a multivitamin," USPSTF Co-vice Chair Michael LeFevre, M.D., M.S.P.H., said in a media statement provided by the task force. "However, there were two major exceptions: beta-carotene and vitamin E, both of which clearly do not help prevent these diseases."
Two large trials found a small, borderline-significant benefit from multivitamin supplements on cancer in men only and no effect on CVD, the task force noted in its evidence review(www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org). In addition, high-quality studies of single- and paired-nutrient supplements (e.g., vitamins A, C, or D; folic acid; selenium; or calcium) were scant and showed no clear evidence of benefit or harm.
The draft recommendations will be open for public comment(www.uspreventiveservicestaskforcecomments.org) until Dec. 9 at 5 p.m. EST.
The AAFP is reviewing the draft recommendations and will update its own 2003 vitamin supplementation recommendations after the USPSTF publishes its final conclusions in 2014.
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"Your performance was wonderful and fascinating."
- Molly Kelly - Admin. Manager - AT&T.
the magician does a wonderful job. At least a 100 laughs
during the show. I highly recommend him for any type of
Welcome to MagicNorm.com, the place for comic magic entertainment in the Twin Cities. I'm Norm Barnhart and I love to make people laugh. If you are planning a Company party or banquet in Minneapolis and want comedy magic, I'm your guy. If you have a corporate party or special event in St. Paul and need a magician that will dazzle and delight your group, then you're at the right place. For over 28 years I've presented comedy and magic full time across Minnesota, Wisconsin and in all fifty states.
For awards banquets and staff recognition at your company I present a comic magic show with a teamwork and service message. This is a great way to lift the spirits of your group. It's a motivational speech with a comical twist. Just click on the link to motivational speaker and you'll discover how other groups have enjoyed this magical motivational presentation.
If you are planning a special event, or banquet, my unique comedy magic will add Pizzazz to the Party. Please call and see how I can tailor the program to fit your special event.
Live entertainment is the LIVELIEST entertainment!
provided his 'walk-around' magic services for our
5th Anniversary Gala at the Graves 601 Hotel here in
Minneapolis. Having used his stage show services in
the past, we already knew him to be the best choice.
Norm is not only a master magician but doing his
'mingling magic' he's also a master of providing
magic and comedy in a respective and unobtrusive
manner. He knows how to work his way in and around
the crowd, so you hardly know he's there until
bursts of laughter or "WOWs" are heard from various
small groups around the event. Norm, you're simply
the BEST!"
"Drop Everything and Get Tickets to this Show... NOW! I recently had the pleasure of watching Norm's performance at this year's MagiCelebration. Here he was a headlining act. Thirty seconds into his show I was blown away not only by his magic, but by his performance and ability to engage the entire audience- adults and children alike. It is clear to me that this is a performer who truly loves what he does. Watch his show and you will agree. His energy is off the charts, his magic is astounding, and his love for performing is unmatched. Like I said, go get tickets... NOW! You will not be disappointed."
Tyler Nygren - Convention Attendee
"Magic Norm is HILARIOUS!!! His wit and style of magic are unexpected and funnier than any magician I've seen. I'll go back again and again to see him, guaranteed! Simply one of the best!"
Julie Varholdt
"Magic Norm did an awesome job of entertaining everyone who attended our community fun day at Salem in Greenfield, MN. Children from 4-74 years of age where thoroughly engaged throughout the performance. Highly recommended."
Jonathan Beilke
Norm's News
Miss you Harmon!
Click here to read Norm's blog!
Mall of America for KS95 & Gillette Children's Hospital!
Ryan the Morning Guy at KS95!
The weekend before I went to N.Y.C. I did another event with the great people at KS95 as they raise money for Gillette Children's Hospital and the Children's Cancer Research fund. Ryan the Morning guy was there and it was nice to hang with him a bit again.
Norm with the amazing K102 Wake Up Crew!
Amy James, Donna Valentine and Muss of the K102 Morning show. I was there on Monday morning for 40 minutes of comedy on the air with the K102 Wake-Up Crew.
"Thank YOU so much again for providing such fun. We had a great time!"
-Donna Valentine, Morning Host K102
Thank you Dave Ryan from 101.3 KDWB
The very popular morning host from 101.3 KDWB - Dave Ryan said some very nice things about my magic shows recently on the air. He is a great guy and we met a a family show I was presenting. The next morning on the air they discussed the magic and how I did some amazing tricks.
I also ran into Dave just before Halloween at a special KDWB night at the Haunted Halloween event at the Running Aces in Forest Lake. He said, "You are great and quite an entertainer."
Monica Wright and her MN Lynx team win the WNBA Championship!!!
Monica Wright and her Lynx basketball team did it! They won the WNBA Championship!!! We're proud of you!
I had the pleasure of entertaining with some magic for several of the MN Lynx team a few weeks back at the Target Center in Minneapolis before the game with the Washington Mystics. They are a wonderful team and have pulled together to win the championship. Yay Team!!
More about the magic entertainment that I present and how I can tailor it for your special event - please check MagicNorm.com
Norm is invited to perform for and teach other magicians. Here is a note from a recent workshops and show in Honolulu in January of 2016.
"Norm made us laugh until we cried with his unique style of comedy magic while lecturing for our magic club here on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. He is without a doubt one of the hardest working magicians out there and we would love for him to return for another lecture and show!"
Michael "Kekoa" Erickson - Society of American Magicians - Aloha Assembly #89 President - And Close-Up magic consultant for the Magic Of Polynesia Show in Hawaii
Humor vs. Stress in the WorkplaceBy magicnorm
Like Godzilla vs Megadon, humor battles stress and its related evil byproducts.
How serious is stress? Expert s say that stress is a factor in over 70% of illness. Stress can be involved in high blood pressure, anxiety and ulcers. Not fun stuff. But laughter and humor arrive to save the day and can combat stress as it starts.
We need to be aware of when we are under stress. We need to react to it with a deep breath and a calming reminder to ourselves that we can get through this. Finally a refreshing 5 or 10 minute comedy break can help us get back into a positive mood and help us to move forward to tackle that Goliath of a problem that is facing us. A healthy dose of humor will help us release the tension and allow us to move forward with clarity and a positive attitude.
We know that sooner later some sort of stress will come into our lives. Be prepared for that next difficult situation and have a humor button on your computer. This is a place in your bookmarks that takes to you to several comedy sites that you know have funny stuff.
You may also wish to have a folder in your e-mail that contains funny photos and videos that friends have sent. This file can bring relief when needed and help you brighten up your spirits and your day,. This positive attitude can help us push on and find solutions
Humor can alter our mood without any harmful side effects, unless you get a pain in your ribs from laughing.
Crazy DazeMy schedule is thankfully full and it has kept me cruising like crazy for past two weeks. The High School Lock-in graduation parties have keep me running at full speed and on little sleep.
Last night I entertained at the Dakota Fitness Center at the Mystic Lake Casino. This is my 4th year with this particular school and I had a blast. The students were so engaged and laughing like crazy at the entertainment. I especially enjoy doing a few mind reading type magic tricks as the reaction can be quit fascinating. it is fun to see the high school students jaws drop at the amazing magic illusions. They know it is a trick, but they have not a clue and that elicits a strong reaction.
The Dakota Fitness Center is a great place for this type of event. There is a huge basketball court and racket ball courts. the inflatable company was able to set up several huge games in the gym and the students had fun bouncing in the huge games.
I love to make people laugh and I look forward to bringing laughter to your event. I tailor the presentation to the age group.
Make Your Next Special Event Amazingly Fun & Unforgettable!


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By Sue Ann Rybak
A student in a wheelchair bowed his head during the opening prayer at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia's (LTSP) "Library Connector" groundbreaking ceremony held on Thursday afternoon. Another barrier to learning will soon be broken after the project is complete.
The library connector will not only connect The Brossman Center to the Krauth Memorial Library, it will provide handicapped access to the library.
State Rep. Cherelle L. Parker (D-200th district), who joined seminary officials in hardhats for the groundbreaking, was instrumental in helping to secure a $500,000 grant from Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program, said Rev. Phillip D.W. Krey.
"It is the last public building on campus that is not handicap accessible," Krey said. "The building will be named after Timothy Briedegam, the son of Helen and DeLight Briedegam and the interior hall of the building will be called Parker Hall in honor of State Rep. Cherelle Parker."
Phase I of the 'Library Connector' being built at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP), 7301 Germantown Ave., is estimated to a cost of $1.9 million, according to Eric Bultz from Roberson Butz Architects. Construction is scheduled to begin in a few months. The project should be completed by the end of summer.
"I believe that politics is simply a tool used to decide how scarce resources are allocated," Parker said. "Every vote that I cast had be something that was going to transmit into something that was going to benefit the community that I serve. All the major institutions in our area from different churches and ministries come here to study," she said.
Parker said the training students receive at Lutheran Theological Seminary help "to raise up the leaders who can connect with the community in a way that politicians can never connect."
Parker became emotional when she learned the interior hall of the building was going to be named after her. Parker thanked LTS and said she was overwhelmed.
"It [the project] does put meaning into what I do," Parker said.
The Rev. Dr. Katie Day said projects like the library connector don't just happen "from the good intentions of the community of faith. You have to have effective partners," Day said. "Dr. Parker has been an effective partner. She is a bridge person in the community of faith and government. We all benefiting from that."
Dr. Karl Krueger, director of Krauth Memorial Library summed up the impact of the project on the community.
"We need books, we need resources to provide and empower leaders so they may serve this community, this city and this world," Dr. Karl Krueger, director of Krauth Memorial Library said, after reading a quote from Henry Eyster Jacobs about the role of libraries.
"Libraries empower people to do ministry," or as Krueger pointed out- "books empower people to serve."


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By Andria Cheng
Staples Inc. on Thursday joined its smaller rival, newly combined Office Depot Inc. and OfficeMax, in reporting disappointing sales and bottom line earnings, adding to worries about the the future of the office supplies industry.
Despite hope that the company /quotes/zigman/78299/delayed /quotes/nls/spls SPLS may be able to pick up some market share from the merger disruption of its rivals, Staples' results showed that the headwinds thrown the industry are simply too big to offset any edge it may have over its direct rival. Except for a 10% increase in online sales, sales and operating profit declined and missed expectations across its North American retail unit, its business customer and its international segments.
Staples tumbled 15% to $11.39. Office Depot fell 4%.
While the company, like most other retailers, cited a shorter holiday season that led to an intensively promotional holiday and mentioned weather as factors that also hurt sales, Chief Executive Ron Sargent admitted there were bigger problems that faced the company: The changing work environment that has reduced the need for traditional office supplies amid online competition.
"We are holding ourselves accountable," he said on a conference call. "It's clear that we underestimated the headwinds that we're facing in our retail stores as well as demand for core office supplies. Our customers are using less office supplies, they're shopping less often in our stores and more online and their focus on value has made the marketplace even more competitive. The performance of our retail stores has consistently fallen short of our expectations over the past few years."
Staples has reported seven-straight quarters of same-store sales declines, while Office Depot has reported 13, according to Retail Metrics.
"Is there a place for office-supplies retailers?" Ken Perkins at the research firm said. "I think there's room for them but they have some heavy lifting to do in order to remake themselves."
To combat the headwinds, Sargent is reinventing the company as a "destination for every product businesses need." This year the company launched a new marketing campaign, Make More Happen, to tout its newly stocked items beyond office supplies, from stethoscopes for doctors' offices to dog biscuits for small convenience stores. The company also is accelerating both its store closings and cost-savings program, including a plan to close up to 225 stores the next two years after it closed 40 last year. Staples also will downsize its stores to a smaller 12,000 square foot format. However, Sargent is keen on the company remaining a retail business, and said it will try to increase its online sales, about half of its total.
"We're not getting out of the retail business," he said. "Our stores are an important differentiator versus the competition."
Staples has 1,500 stores in the U.S. and more than 2,200 worldwide, it said on its website. Office Depot /quotes/zigman/236952/delayed /quotes/nls/odp ODP , combined with OfficeMax, had 1,912 stores at the end of the 2013. Store closings also are a key strategy behind the newly merged company's cost-savings target.
Still, as retailers like RadioShack Corp. /quotes/zigman/260227/delayed /quotes/nls/rsh RSH also are having a tough time reinventing themselves, many doubt that Staples can reinvent itself fast enough. The company admitted it didn't have any Apple /quotes/zigman/68270/delayed /quotes/nls/aapl AAPL hardware products in its U.S. stores during the holiday season, and only just recently started to stock iPads. It still doesn't have iPhones. Like HHGregg Inc. /quotes/zigman/462162/delayed /quotes/nls/hgg HGG , it was also hurt by its decision not to "chase the competition" on traffic-driving categories like computers, tablets and mobile phones.
"We had wrongly maintained a positive bias on the company," said Janney analyst David Strasser, who cut the stock to neutral from buy. "The increased desire to close and shrink stores is the correct strategy, but even the aggressive store closures announced today are not going to be enough. This is too little too late. While (Staples) had attempted to rejuvenate the store through technology offerings, its limited technology/CE assortment and skill set as well as lacking the full line of top brands, like Apple, have made it tough to succeed in this category."
— Andria Cheng
— Follow her on Twitter @AndriaCheng.
More from Behind the Storefront:
Polar Vortex set to slow February sales
Why a top Target executive says she's leaving
Apple takes a bite out of RadioShack, Best Buy's market share
Why Uniqlo's parent Fast Retailing would want J. Crew


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CARE: Community and Recreation for Employees
Childcare at L&C? SIF grant funds feasibility study
August 01, 2013
Lewis & Clark Kids and Families (LCKF) received $12,500 from the President's Strategic Initiative Fund (SIF) to study the feasibility of developing and operating a high-quality on-site child development center to serve children of faculty, staff, and students.
On March 1, 2013, LCKF turned in a detailed memo to Vice President for Business and Finance Carl Vance demonstrating the need for opening a childcare center on campus. The memo recommended that consultant Margaret Browning be hired to begin planning efforts for an economically viable childcare center with strategic benefits for the institution. Browning has started three centers for children—and with all three she led and worked with teams to design and implement a childcare program, facility, and play yards. She was also hired to turn around the Helen Gordon Child Development Center at PSU, and successfully developed it as a premier program in the Northwest.
The SIF money was awarded in June and Browning began working with LCKF committee members in summer 2013.
The proposed Lewis & Clark program would provide an innovative care and education setting for infants through pre-kindergarten age, staffed by degreed and experienced early childhood educators. Operating budget would be based on parent fees. The program would operate year-round, M-F, with closures for holidays and in-service. In addition to offering full-time care, the program would offer part-time care dependent on two families splitting a full-time slot (typically Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - OR - Tuesday and Thursday slots).
During a two-week period in November 2013, an institution-wide survey collected more than 800 responses from faculty, staff, and students. Results are currently being analyzed and will be presented to the Executive Council before the end of the academic year.
LCKF childcare committee members include:
Jessica Charles, Director of the Office of Strategic Partnership and Clinical Placement
Janet Davidson, Associate Professor of Psychology
Vanessa Holmgren, Director of Internal Communications
Jennifer LaBounty, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Damian Miller, Coordinator of Instructional Technology and Program Assessment
Madeline Pruett, Director of Annual Giving
Billy Walker, Executive Assistant to the VP and Treasurer
Sarah Warren, Assistant Professor of Sociology


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Dubai, UAE, February 06, 2018: With rounded, open lugs and no hard edges, the delicate-looking Delancey watch echoes the softly shaped hardware used on Coach's key handbag styles.
Soft fluid leather straps complement the feminine look of this slender case design. The classic yet modern case and dial recall the heritage of the Coach brand with a decidedly New York edge. Delancey dials are a sunray accented with a heritage Coach horse and carriage emblem and delicate open hands.
Timepieces are available in Red and Blush leather straps with a two tone Heart lock charm and Hangtag charm
The collection is priced at AED 995 and is available at Hour Choice stores across UAE.


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Susan Granger's review of 'Transformers: Age of Extinction'
Masquerading as a movie, Michael Bay's latest sci-fi extravaganza is an almost three-hour-long video game, relentlessly promoting Has-
bro toys and what-turns-out-to-be disgruntled Chinese sponsors.
It begins with alien spaceships attacking dinosaurs. Eons later, an officious blonde scientist is in the Arctic, inspecting the metallic remains of a Dinobot, declaring that it will change our view of the history of the world. Then there's a perfectly coiffed, exquisitely made-up "schoolgirl," clad in short shorts, opening mail on a farm in the Midwest and a government agent declaring that all Transformers must be wiped out. These scenes are disjointed and disconnected, as are most that follow.
Thinking he's buying scrap metal, a Texas inventor, Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), acquires a battered, old truck which turns out to be the badly injured Autobot leader, intrepid Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen, who has been lending his stentorian tones to the cartoon series since 1984). Widower Yeager is raising a rebellious 17-year-old daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz), who, not surprisingly, has a race car-driving boyfriend, Shane (Jack Reynor). Meanwhile, there's this scientist (Stanley Tucci), working for a nasty Black Ops bully (Kelsey Grammer) and a subversive "seed" origin story about Dinobots being created as weapons by ancient Autobots. The newest mechanical villain is Galvetron, created from the remains of Megatron, the evil Decepticon destroyed in 2011's "Dark of the Moon."
Illogically scripted by Ehren Kruger and self-indulgently directed by Bay, this fourth installment in the "Transformers" series is completely incoherent and filled with massive explosions, which demolition experts who work on his movies refer to as "Bayhem."
If you opt for 3-D, you're lavishly showered with splintered metal debris, accompanied by deafening noise.
On the plus side, Industrial Light & Magic's CGI robotic shape-shifting is seamless, and Mark Walhberg is a far more appealing protagonist than Shia LaBeouf, who propelled previous films.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Transformers: Age of Extinction" is an abysmal 2. Unless you're really into techie toys, it's excruciating to watch -- a tortuous endurance test.


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Video: Tracing our timber
This short film provides valuable insight for the European timber industry into how FLEGT licenses will assist them in complying with the new European Union Timber Regulation. The first FLEGT licenses should be issued within the coming year, and are expected to deliver significant quantities of verified legal timber across a wide range of products. With the robust legality assurance system guaranteed by FLEGT, these licenses could save importers time and money.


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President Obama wants to use his prime-time address to a joint-session of Congress next Wednesday as a way to jump-start the health-care debate. He would be better off trying to restore civic order that has become dangerously frayed over the last few months.
The liberal interest group MoveOn organized a rally Wednesday evenings in Thousand Oaks, California, to show support for Obama's health care reform. Yet, demonstrating how snake-bitten the effort has become, a pro-reform participant bit off the finger of 65-year-old William Rice, a member of a counter-rally. Even though the incident began with Rice throwing the first punch, it's ending with him losing a finger -- and the biter running off -- makes the whole situation a disaster for supporters of Obama and health reform. After all, it's been Democrats portraying the anti-reform movement as the ones prone to intolerance, unrest and potential violence. Rice may have started the fight, but, as the cops at the scene said, his mutilation now makes him the victim.
Meanwhile, conservatives have decided that President Obama's start-of-the-school year message to students is nefarious enough that many are organizing to keep their kids out of class next Tuesday:
The uproar over the speech, in which Mr. Obama intends to urge students to work hard and stay in school, has been particularly acute in Texas, where several major school districts, under pressure from parents, have laid plans to let children opt out of lending the president an ear.
Some parents said they were concerned because the speech had not been screened for political content. Nor, they said, had it been reviewed by the State Board of Education and local school boards, which, under state law, must approve the curriculum.
"The thing that concerned me most about it was it seemed like a direct channel from the president of the United States into the classroom, to my child," said Brett Curtiss, an engineer from Pearland, Tex., who said he would keep his three children home.
"I don't want our schools turned over to some socialist movement."
The sheer violence of the finger-biting is more serious because it involves physical injury. Even so, it is ultimately an individual act that got out of hand at a political rally. But urging or threatening a boycott of a presidential address is truly disturbing.
If parents are afraid about what their children might be told or encouraged by the president, there is a simple solution: Ask that question that parents have been putting to their kids for decades: "What did you learn in school today, dear? What did the president talk about?"
If the answer is, simply: "He told us to study hard, do our homework and not watch as much TV or play as much video games," Great! If it's something like, "We need to buy a smaller, more gas-efficient car," well, then, that's an opportunity to explain to the child why either the president is wrong -- or why such things can't be right away.
But, keeping a child from school because the president will be speaking!?!? That is absurd.
Why not use the president's talk as a -- to use an Obama phrase -- "teachable moment?" That way parents could show how it is possible to disagree with someone politically without either being disagreeable or running away.
The president of the United States -- whomever the person is -- holds an office that should be respected. It's an office to which children should aspire. If a president wants to urge children to work hard, so they can have an opportunity to excel and place themselves on a track for the presidency, why should that be denied to the kids?
If the gentleman in Texas thinks his three children could be so easily corrupted by listening to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES for a few minutes, then he should just permanently yank his kids out of the school.
Barack Obama ran a presidential campaign hoping to quell the raging political passions of the last few years. Yet the last few weeks, with an increasingly contentious health care debate that has culminated in a lost finger, demonstrate that like an out-of-control forest fire the political wars rage as hot as ever. That the hostility many have for the president has reached such a level that parents don't want their kids to hear him speak is even greater evidence. The so-called sensible center risks being squeezed out by the consuming flames of the ideological extremes.
Rather than health-care "reform," it would seem that the mental, spiritual and emotional health of the nation might be a more appropriate topic for Obama's Wednesday's address.
And, yeah, the kids should stay up to hear that one too.
New York writer Robert A. George blogs at Ragged Thots. Follow him on Twitter.


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is the only state in the Union with only one syllable in it's name. So..there's your trivia for today.
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The World Factbook
The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.
And get this...it's developed by none other than the CIA - the Central Intelligence Agency. Good stuff.
Pretty much everything you would ever want to know about each of the 50 United States. State bird, state nickname, weather, population, highest point, government. You get the idea. It's got everything.


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by Len Lear
"My life was not ended by the Nazis, although they took much of it away by murdering most of my family. My life went on. I was and am a musician, a teacher, a performer and a concert artist who has had a long international career. And that life, too, is part of my story."
If Marian Filar's life story had been made into a movie — something he very much wanted to happen — most viewers would probably have believed it was fiction. The Wyncote resident, who miraculously survived seven Nazi death camps while enduring the most unspeakable atrocities imaginable (Filar learned how to disguise his own illnesses and injuries because weak prisoners were shot on the spot), died on July 10 in his home at the age of 94.
Filar, who could be feisty and demanding — not exactly unusual considering his own boot camp-like professional training and the Biblical Job-like personal tragedies he had to endure — was revered by many of his students, first at Settlement Music School, where he was head of the piano department from 1953 to 1966, and then at Temple University's College of Music, where he was a full professor from 1973 to 1989.
According to Rollin Wilber of Manayunk, "I knew Marian for more than 40 years, first as teacher and mentor in my musical and piano studies, then as a close friend, more like family … He was a remarkable teacher in that he could communicate brilliantly with words and ideas and often with wit and humor to get musical ideas across …
"He could be easily hurt and could not help having distrust at times, I am sure due to his background as a Jew in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. If you could ride those extremes, as many of us did, you were touched permanently with a unique kind of relationship in your own life."
In addition to his teaching, Filar distinguished himself as a world-renowned piano soloist with major orchestras (the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra and many others), although he never received the recognition from the general public that he deserved. The accolades by critics for Filar's virtuoso performances could easily fill up several articles the length of this one. Here is just a tiny sampling:
•The Aftenbladet, a newspaper in Copenhagen, Denmark: "Marian Filar must be counted as one of the greatest living Chopin interpreters, maybe THE greatest!"
•The New York Times: "Filar's incomparable technical facility is at the service of his utterly elegant musicianship. His performances are fleet, supple and beautifully nuanced … and just another indicator that exceptional talent does not guarantee wide public recognition in the often unjust world of classical music."
•Democracia, a newspaper in Buenos Aires: "A brilliant recital. Filar played and interpreted with astounding and faithful skill, impeccable technique and eloquent expressiveness."
•Arbeiterzeitung, a newspaper in Vienna: "A heavenly, rare, radiant piano hour … Filar belongs without doubt to the most fascinating pianists we have ever heard."
•New York Post: "Filar's playing recalls that of the late Josef Lhevinne, which I think is one of the highest compliments it is possible to pay any performer."
In 2002 the University Press of Mississippi published "From Buchenwald to Carnegie Hall," a poignant, compelling book about Filar's life before, during and after the Holocaust. Its genesis was a manuscript from a Philadelphia writer, Gwyneth Richards, who had interviewed Filar many times. Because of creative differences between the piano virtuoso and the writer, though, a literary agent passed the manuscript along to Charles Patterson, an acclaimed New York writer who told us last week that he was asked "to put the book in readable form." Patterson is listed as "co-author" on the book cover along with Filar, but he said last week that Richards is "a heroine … Without her there would have been no book …
"I called Filar last year to find out how he was doing and was glad to find out he was being looked after by a longtime beloved piano student (Charlie Birnbaum) and a caregiver who was living there with him …
"I'm very happy that he liked the book and got a lot of good feedback about it both here and in Poland. He was disappointed it wasn't made into a movie. That was when 'The Pianist' came out and was a big hit. Marian, who had a wonderful sense of humor, would go on about how the pianist in that film spent the war hiding out in the Aryan part of Warsaw and was a lousy pianist to boot."
The riveting book received unanimously laudatory reviews. A typical comment was this one from Booklist, a magazine from the American Library Association that has been publishing book reviews for more than 100 years: "Among the many astonishing accounts of Holocaust survival, this is one of the most remarkable."
According to Filar's book, before the Nazis sent members of his family to Treblinka concentration camp, these were the last words his mother said to him: "I bless you. You'll survive this horror. You'll become a great pianist, and I'll be very proud of you."
Born in 1917 into a musical Jewish family in Warsaw, Filar began playing the piano when he was four. Even before taking any lessons, Filar, who was always very short in stature, was able to hear a piece of music and come home and play it on the piano. He had perfect pitch.
He performed his first public concert at the age of six. At 12 he played with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and went on to study with the great Polish pianist and teacher Zbigniew Drzewiecki at the State Conservatory of Music.
In his book, Filar compares Drzewiecki to a Marine drill sergeant, insisting that he was constantly screaming at Filar at the top of his lungs but that he was a great teacher in spite of the abuse.
After the German invasion of Poland, Filar fled to another city in Poland, where he continued his music studies until 1941, when he returned to his family in the Warsaw Ghetto. The Nazis murdered his parents, a sister and a brother, but he and his brother Joel survived as workers on the German railroad.
After taking part in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Marian and Joel were captured and sent to Majdanek, Buchenwald and other concentration camps. Another brother, George, had gone to Palestine in 1935. After liberation Filar was able to resume his career by studying with the renowned German pianist Walter Gieseking. (Joel also survived the war and died in Baltimore at the age of 97.)
In 1950 Marian immigrated to the U.S., although he spoke no English, and soon afterwards was performing concerts with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He made his Carnegie Hall debut on New Year's Day, 1952.
Filar literally taught generations of piano students. One student for more than 30 years, Gregg Pressman, a cardiologist, described Filar's sound in an Inquirer article last July: "It was so gorgeous and so right. So original his interpretation, the time and touch and the emotional pauses, unbelievable. He could transport you in a few measures. I never heard anybody play Chopin like him."
In his last few years, Filar became very difficult to deal with and suffered from a form of dementia, but he received considerable help from Birnbaum, a piano tuner and former student of Filar's at the Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University. Birnbaum is himself the son of Holocaust survivors and was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany after World War II.
Filar, who never married and had no children, was buried on July 12 at Montefiore Cemetery in Abington. He is survived by a nephew, Dubi Filar; a niece, Eti Frankel; and a grandnephew, Shai Filar.


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The Gnostic Bible
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Gnosticism was a wide-ranging religious movement of the first millennium CE—with earlier antecedents and later flourishings—whose adherents sought salvation through knowledge and personal religious experience. Gnostic writings offer striking perspectives on both early Christian and non-Christian thought. For example, some gnostic texts suggest that god should be celebrated as both mother and father, and that self-knowledge is the supreme path to the divine. Only in the past fifty years has it become clear how far the gnostic influence spread in ancient and medieval religions—and what a marvelous body of scriptures it produced.
The selections gathered here, in poetic, readable translation, represent Jewish, Christian, Hermetic, Mandaean, Manichaean, Islamic, and Cathar expressions of gnostic spirituality. Their regions of origin include Egypt, the Greco-Roman world, the Middle East, Syria, Iraq, China, and France. Also included are introductions, notes, an extensive glossary, and a wealth of suggestions for further reading.
"This book may well be the most comprehensive collection of gnostic materials ever gathered in one volume. What is clear from the sourcebook is the tremendous diversity of thought that exists under the 'gnostic' umbrella including Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, Zoroastrian, and Greco-Roman themes. A valuable resource for students and scholars." —Publishers Weekly
"The selection of texts ranges across two millennia and various cultures. Each work, some translated into English for the first time, is accompanied by a clear introduction and synopsis. This is an important sampler of relatively unknown spiritual literature." —Library Journal
"To read The Gnostic Bible is to witness something astonishing. . . . I read it with dizzy excitement." —Ian Cant, Ascent Magazine
"A Godsend for anyone interested in alternative Christianity, the history of Christianity, or spirituality in general." —Turk's Head Review
"An enormously rich collection of sources—a wonderful achievement!" —Elaine Pagels, author of The Gnostic Gospels and Beyond Belief
"Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer's Gnostic Bible joins Bentley Layton's Gnostic Scriptures as one of the true critical sourcebooks for gnostic texts. Here, from China to Catalonia, from the first to the fourteenth centuries, gnosticism is seen as a global meditation." —Harold Bloom, author of Genius: A Mosaic, Hamlet: Poem Unlimited, and The Western Canon
"I feel as if I had been waiting for this book all my life." —Carolyn Kizer, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet
"Everyone interested in the tumultuous origins of Christianity and in a mysticism of direct, unmediated communion with God should fall on this brilliant and ground-breaking book. In it, for the first time, are assembled all the major texts of gnosticism, with illuminating notes and introductions, and in translations that radiate clarity." —Andrew Harvey, author of Sun at Midnight, Son of Man, and The Direct Path
"These ancient texts have not lost any of their power to awaken higher consciousness. Seekers of knowledge owe an enormous debt to Barnstone and Meyer for presenting these works to us in a fresh, clear, and accessible form." —Richard Smoley, author of Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition
"In this wonderfully readable anthology the authors have brought together a large number of interesting selections from a wide chronological, geographical, and cultural range of traditions that nevertheless illustrate fascinating overlapping patterns in religious symbolism and worldviews." —Michael Williams, author of Rethinking Gnosticism
"These two wise men have written an amazing book—the best of its kind, ever. They bear lit matches in our dark tunnel—sometimes they are the matches themselves." —Gerald Stern, author of American Sonnets and What I Can't Bear Losing


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Kia Soul
Challenging the conventions of small car design, the Soul packs in more room, more space and more comfort than you'd first expect. Never forgo creature comforts with high levels of standard safety and technology.
The Soul is undeniably distinct from all angles. Its design lines interplay with sharp body creases, creating a strong on-road presence. It's a car that gets noticed, for shattering expectations, and for offering a new take on urban vehicles.
Differentiating itself from the rest, the Soul is just as stylish as it is functional. Its spacious, roomy design allows for convenient, easy access in-and-out of the vehicle.
Once inside the Soul, you'll notice the vastness of its cabin. Its elevated seating position greatly assists in increasing visibility when looking inside and outside of the cabin. It also gives you a great view across the whole dashboard, where you'll notice the high-quality glossy finishes and soft touch materials.
Ergonomic design takes precedence inside the Soul. A logical layout for its features and technology results in ease of use. You'll find a 5" Colour touchscreen Audio system with RDS and USB + Bluetooth® connectivity2 and reverse camera display conveniently located at your fingertips.
You'll continue finding unique design elements once you're inside the Kia Soul. Circular dashboards speakers bring a new depth to your favourite tunes. There's even large storage located in both door and centre console areas.
Whether hard at work or hard at play, you'll take notice of Soul's impressive blend of performance, safety and vehicle dynamics that put the fun back into driving.
A powerful 2.0 Litre four cylinder engine provides 113 kW of power with 191 Nm of torque.
VSM helps ensure the car stays stable when accelerating or braking suddenly – especially on wet, slippery and rough roads.
Kia Soul Grades
Fuel TypePetrol
- 17" alloy wheels
- Remote central locking with keyless entry & boot release
- Reverse parking sensors
- Steering wheel mounted audio/Bluetooth® controls
All information and illustrations are based on data available at the time of publication and subject to change without notice. Contact us for current information.
1Kia's Unlimited KM 7 Year Warranty. Note: 7 year/150,000km warranty for vehicles used for the following: rental vehicles, hire cars, taxis, courier vehicles, driving school vehicles, security vehicles, bus and tour vehicles. Capped Price Servicing: Maximum payable for specified number of manufacturer's standard scheduled maintenance services up to 7 years or 105,000kms, whichever occurs first. Complimentary Roadside Assistance for the first year. Renewed yearly by completing scheduled maintenance services at Kia Dealerships (up to maximum 7 years).Terms and conditions for Warranty, Capped Price Servicing and Roadside Assistance can be found at www.kia.com/au
2® Bluetooth is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG Inc. 2Not all mobile phones will be compatible with vehicle's Bluetooth® system.


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Art of eating: Spring clean your body!
Supported by local yoga studios like Union Yoga Loft and Studio 206, Sara Avant Stover's starting a food-related revolution in Charlottesville. This 25-year-old yoga teacher, bodyworker, and health visionary, who moved here from Thailand in September, is on a mission to help people become more conscious, mindful, and artful eaters.
"I believe that a food revolution is beginning, and that it is time to forget about calories and fat grams and fad diets and to begin to look and listen to our individual bodies to see what they're asking for," says Stover, who'll be leading her first "Art of Eating" workshop on Sunday, March 23, just in time for the spring equinox.
In Stover's practice, food and yoga are intimately linked. They feed each other, both literally and spiritually. Inspired by this essential collaboration and by her experiences at a holistic fasting center in Thailand, this innovative workshop begins with a 90-minute Hatha class.
A little different from the traditional yoga class, this one will focus on those postures (asanas) and breathing techniques (pranayama) which prepare the body for digestion, nutrient assimilation, and elimination. Not topics usually talked about in a yoga studio– or anywhere else, for that matter. Yet in Stover's view, they should be, because to ignore the body is to hide from our Truth.
Post-yoga, the workshop moves (a few yards away) to the popular breakfast and lunch spot, the Bluegrass Grill. Here Stover will discuss her convincing philosophy of "spiritual nutrition," and go over the day's menu based on vegan, organic, and seasonal produce. Everyone will then prepare and, of course, eat the artful meal together as the workshop's delicious culmination. This is "slow food" at its best.
Besides good digestion, what happens when the workshop is over? What doggie-bag of wisdom will participants take home?
"Everyone will leave with information about how to make gradual changes in how they shop for food, stock their kitchens, and how they prepare, eat, and digest their meals. Just as one ideally leaves every yoga class with a deeper understanding of their souls, so too will they leave the kitchen with new insights and inspirations into how to live richer and more meaningful lives," Stover says.
Your closets can wait. Why not start this year's spring cleaning with your own body and the food you put in it?
Sara Avant Stover leads her "Art of Eating" workshop Sunday, March 23, 10:30am-2:30pm. Cost is $45 per person. Space is limited; call for reservations: 295-1143 or 409-1595. For more information on Stover's yoga, bodywork and artful eating classes, visit her website www.dhammabait.com.


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|System: X360, PS3, Wii, DS
|Review Rating Legend
|Dev: Griptonite Games
|1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
|4.0 - 4.4 = Great
|Pub: Warner Bros. Interactive
|2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
|4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
|Release: Oct. 13, 2009
|2.5 - 2.9 = Average
|5.0 = The Best
|Players: 1
|3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
|ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
|3.5 - 3.9 = Good
by Amanda L. Kondolojy
Where the Wild Things are is a classic children's book which has captured the imagination of children for decades. Although the recent movie has been praised by critics, some parents have said that the movie's themes feel too adult considering the intended audience. The movie might be the subject of this controversy, but this accusation can't be made of the game. When it comes to simplistic gameplay, 'Wild Things' hits every note perfectly. However, these notes are more than just a tinge sour.
The game doesn't really have much of a plot, which should come as no surprise as the book (and to some extent, the movie) don't really have much of a concrete plot either. The game opens with Max mindlessly following a Wild Thing around, while meteors fall from the sky and bugs threaten to sting. Max will also have to jump over canyons, slide across vines, and water plants in his pursuit of the Wild Thing. The action in the game is very tame, and even on the game's hardest setting, its doubtful that you'll ever feel immediate peril. Although this certainly makes the game yawn-worthy for battle-tested, hardcore gamers, it does make it much more approachable for younger kids.
The approachability factor of the game is certainly a positive aspect, but it comes with a negative side: repetition. After a few levels, I figured there would be more to the game than just running around collecting items, running and jumping, and beating up bugs, but that dream never materialized. There are some levels that branch away from the format slightly - the game has a pseudo-vehicle level that involves riding on a Wild Thing's back. But other than that small diversion, all the game's levels suffer from chronic sameness, which will likely bore even the most easily entertained children.
Controls are a good fit for the gameplay, however, using the left stick for moving around, one button for jumping, and another for attacking. Where the Wild Things Are doesn't have much in the way of a combat system, and attacking bugs involves either whacking them a few times with Max's stick or just holding the button for a higher powered attack. As you progress in the game, you'll be able to throw things and even use a pea-shooter, but the controls never really evolve past pressing the single attack button.
The only replay value that this game has (and the only real challenge for gamers old enough to read) lies in the extensive collection quests that are laid out across the different levels and the game's hub area. Before every level you'll be able to explore the base camp of the Wild Things, complete with helpful characters that can heal you and side missions that involve interacting with the environment. There is a surprising amount of things to discover in the hub, and talking to the Wild Things will net you additional collection quests throughout the levels of the story mode. However, if collecting a mass amount of items is not your idea of a good time, then there isn't much here.
Although the gameplay is a little on the dull side, I have to say that the most disappointing facet of the game has to be the portrayal of the Wild Things in the game. The game depicts these creatures as completely boring beings that hardly ever speak, or do anything meaningful beyond just shuffling around their forested home. The Wild Things' interactions with Max are minimal, and while most levels will have you following around a Wild Thing, the creatures will only say a few generic and repetitive lines to Max, and certainly don't treat him like a friend, king, or even acquaintance. While the movie version of Wild Things explores complex social relationships, the game is its antithesis. No one in the game has any relationships, and any hint of larger goals or a plot beyond killing bugs and watering plants is nowhere to be found.


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Daily log, May 24
Tiffin reports
Troy A. Witt, 23, of Tiffin, was charged with criminal trespass early Thursday morning.
A woman went to the station Thursday morning to report someone texted her daughter asking for naked pictures.
County reports
David W. Pesnell, 48, of Fremont, was charged with open container early Tuesday morning. He also was cited with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and violating an equipment regulation.
Julie A. Hammer, 47, of New Riegel, was charged with disorderly conduct Tuesday.
An 11000-block West SR 18 caller reported a break-in Wednesday night. Items were taken.
A first-block South TR 109 caller reported Thursday morning someone put a bag of feces on their deck and burned it overnight.
A 5000-block North SR 53 woman reported Thursday morning someone stole an ATV from her front yard.
Fostoria reports
Jessica L. Honesto, 27, of Fostoria, was charged with assault and menacing Tuesday.
A 200-block Watson Avenue person requested to speak to an officer Wednesday afternoon about vehicles that were vandalized.
A shoplifter was reported Wednesday afternoon at Family Dollar, 215 E. Lytle St.
An 800-block Woodward Avenue man reported Wednesday evening gas had been stolen from his truck.
A 200-block Elwood Avenue man reported Wednesday evening someone had broken into his vehicle and items, including an iPod, were taken. According to the report, two items were returned to the owner.
Tamara L. Tucker, age unavailable, of Fostoria, was charged with theft Wednesday.
Two female juveniles were arrested Wednesday evening after a fight was reported in the area of East Fremont and North Caples streets.
An officer was in the area of South Poplar and East South streets to speak to a woman about a stolen vehicle Wednesday night. The vehicle was located and returned to the owner.
A 300-block North Countyline Street woman reported Thursday afternoon her residence had been broken into Saturday.
A 500-block West Lytle Street person requested to speak to an officer Thursday afternoon about identity theft.
County accident
A caller reported Wednesday evening a car went into a ditch in the 4000 block of North CR 25 and the driver took off running. A person was cited with failure to control and driving under suspension.
Tiffin Firefighters were called to South Sandusky and Miami streets Wednesday evening for an accident.
Tiffin Firefighters were called to 135 N. Washington St. Wednesday evening for a false alarm.
Tiffin EMS had a squad run Wednesday night.
Bascom fire and EMS and the Echo unit had a squad run Wednesday afternoon.
Bloomville fire and EMS had a squad run early Thursday morning.
Green Springs fire and Republic EMS had a squad run Thursday morning.
Sycamore fire and EMS had a squad run Thursday morning.


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Node.js® Enterprise Support
New comprehensive plans availableLearn More
May 29, 2014ScaleArc teams with Joyent to help increase SQL availability & performance by Justin Barney, President & CEO, ScaleArc
We at ScaleArc are thrilled to team up with Joyent, a premier cloud provider of both public and hybrid cloud services.
March 18, 2014Clustrix Brings Real-Time Analytics and Scale-Out SQL to Cloud Applications by Rollie Schmidt, Clustrix
To address the traditional limits and problems of SQL at web-scale, we are thrilled to announce our integration of ClustrixDB with and availability on Joyent's cloud platform.
October 10, 2013What? More Women @ {Future} Stack 13? by Ben Wen
Joyent's Future Stack scholarship sponsorship of an under-represented developer population: women.
October 9, 2013Bring High-Performance to Retail eCommerce When it Matters Most by Jim Farrell
The holiday season is a magical time of the year for most. Unfortunately, for the teams of people that need to ensure that their ecommerce sites perform properly at peak loads, it can be the most stressful time of the year.
May 2, 2013LaunchKey Feels Secure, Confident With Joyent Cloud by Hannah Simon
LaunchKey is on a mission to eliminate passwords. Here's how this startup is using Joyent's cloud to help them accomplish their goal.
April 26, 2013Opscode Chef Heats Up With Joyent by Van Diamandakis
Joyent is now fully supporting Chef, Opscode's infrastructure automation software, on the Joyent Cloud.
April 23, 2013Nodejitsu Announces OpsMezzo by Charlie Robbins
After more than 18 months of work, Nodejitsu announced the release of OpsMezzo at TXJS this week.
April 9, 2013Get a Node Joyent SmartMachine running with MongoLab by Ben Wen
A basic how-to video on getting a Node.js Joyent SmartMachine running with MongoLab, a MongoDB-as-a-Service provider.
March 22, 2013Big Data App Development Just Got Better by rachelbalik
Continuuity products and related services will now be officially available on the Joyent Public Cloud.
March 21, 2013Cloudant and Joyent Pair up for Performance by rachelbalik
As of today, Cloudant's service is available on our high-performance cloud platform to deliver a finely tuned database technology stack.
March 14, 2013New Relic Goes Mobile with Native iOS & Android Apps by Bill Hodak
New Relic announces the availability of New Relic for Mobile Apps.
February 28, 2013Storify and Joyent: Taking News to New Heights by rachelbalik
Storify used Joyent to triple its users and bring original news content to people all over the world.
February 27, 2013New Relic Has a Very Special Gift for Their Customers by rachelbalik
Our partner New Relic is offering complete error analysis capabilities to all customers for free.
February 25, 2013Estonian Science, Cybersecurity and Joyent's Cloud by This is a guest post by Mike Gault, CEO of GuardTime.
Recent events have shown again and again the challenge of using cryptographic keys to prove the authenticity of electronic data. Whether it's McAfee revoking keys for signing apps on the Apple store, stolen keys from Bit9 being used to sign malware or RSA losing its master private key, key compromise is a potential headache every CSO wakes up to on a daily basis. But what if you could prove the authenticity of the world's data without relying on cryptographic keys at all?
February 14, 2013Geeklist: All the Cool Geeks Are On It by rachelbalik
"Technologists are an increasingly important force in our economy, but nobody is servicing them properly," explained Reuben Katz, co-founder and CEO of Geeklist.


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Sunday, January 6, 2013
Have We Killed Half of our Soldiers with Cigarettes?
Two long-term studies yield grim stats, and women are no exception.
We know that smoking kills. But until the results of 50 years' worth of observations on British male smokers was published by Richard Doll and coworkers in the British Journal of Medicine in 2004, we didn't know how many. Cigarettes will kill at least half of those who smoke them past the age of 30—possibly more. In older, specific populations, possibly as many as 2/3.
It took a prospective study of more than 34,000 British doctors, starting in 1951 and ending in 2001, to establish the grim parameters with some degree of precision. As the study authors of the 2004 summary paper put it: "A substantial progressive decrease in the mortality rates among non-smokers over the past half century… has been wholly outweighed, among cigarette smokers, by a progressive increase in the smoker v non-smoker death rate ratio due to earlier and more intensive use of cigarettes." In other words, the great reduction in disease mortality rates achieved in the 20th Century, courtesy of better prevention and treatment, effectively never happened for long-term male smokers. Smoking in Britain and America took off in a major way between the two world wars, and sufficient time has now passed to conclude that "men born in 1900-1930 who smoked only cigarettes and continued smoking died on average about 10 years younger than lifelong non-smokers."
As for women, it took a few decades longer to nail down the truth, because women did not begin smoking in peak numbers until the 1960s. While men born between 1900 and 1930 took to cigarettes in a big way, women born around 1940 were the first cohort of female smokers to consume a substantial number of cigarettes throughout their adult lives. This 20-year lag is crucial, because it means that solid numbers for female mortality rates require solid figures on mortality rates in the 21st Century. And now we have them, courtesy of the Million Women Study in the UK. The results were recently published in The Lancet by Kirstin Pirie and others. They are just as bad as you might have guessed, putting women on a firm equal footing with their male counterparts when it comes to smoking deaths.
The Million Women Study, a database originally used for the UK's National Health Service Breast Screening Program, recruited female volunteers between the ages of 50 and 69. The figures were eerily similar to those from the earlier study of male British doctors: "If combined with 2010 UK national death rates, tripled mortality rates among [female] smokers indicate 53% of smokers and 22% of never-smokers dying before age 80 years, and an 11-year lifespan difference…. Although the hazards of smoking until age 40 years and then stopping are substantial, the hazards of continuing are ten times greater." In this study, the researchers found little difference between female smokers and nonsmokers when it came to confounding variables like weight, blood pressure, or lipid profile. A four-year head start—beginning to smoke at the age of 15 rather than 19, say—can put women at a measurably greater risk for lung cancer deaths. And a little goes a long way: "Even those smoking fewer than ten cigarettes per day at baseline had double the overall mortality rate of never-smokers." Low-tar won't save them, either. "Low-tar cigarettes are not low-risk cigarettes," the investigators write, "and the Million Women Study shows that more than half of those who smoke them will eventually be killed by them, unless they stop smoking in time to avoid this."
There it is again: Half of all smokers are going to die from smoking. As the authors of the Lancet study wrote: "If women smoke like men, they die like men."
In summary, those who stop smoking at age 50 gain about six years of life expectancy. Quit at 40, and you get an extra nine years. A non-smoker's chances of living from 70 to 90 are three times higher than a smoker's. The researchers found that the doctors who stopped smoking by age 30 managed to avoid almost all of the lifespan penalties associated with smoking—primarily lung cancer, COPD, and heart disease. (Only about 3% of smoking deaths are due to fires, accidents, poisonings, etc.). And even lifelong smokers who do not quit until the age of 60 are still rewarded with an extra three years of life span, on average.
Perhaps the saddest thing about the findings is the ways in which they suggest that British and American military commanders may have been sentencing countless numbers of soldiers to death for decades, through the simple act of giving away cigarettes in K-rations, and selling them cheaply in other circumstances. As the report in the British Medical Journal states, "widespread military conscription of 18 year old men, which began again in 1939 and continued for decades, routinely involved provision of low cost cigarettes to the conscripts. This established in many 18 year olds a persistent habit of smoking substantial numbers of manufactured cigarettes, which could well cause the death of more than half of those who continued." In a perverse reminder of the Agent Orange scandal in Vietnam, American and British military command may have exposed their soldiers to a much greater threat, for a much longer period, with worse odds for survival.
One obvious confounding variable in such studies is alcohol. It requires a sensitive statistical analysis to work through correlations between drinking, smoking, and, say, liver disease. But "the large majority of the excess overall mortality among smokers is actually caused by smoking," the Lancet researchers maintain with confidence. The overall point seems clear: These long-term results show that the risks from continual cigarette smoking are even greater than we thought.
The dismal bottom line of the two smoking studies is that we appear to be right on schedule for meeting the UN's prediction of one billion tobacco deaths in this brave new century.
Pirie, K., Peto, R., Reeves, G., Green, J., & Beral, V. (2012). The 21st century hazards of smoking and benefits of stopping: a prospective study of one million women in the UK The Lancet DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61720-6
Photo Credit: Ianier67 via Creative Commons.
Posted by Dirk Hanson at 8:20 PM
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