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Live Comfortably at Wilmot Vista Apartments
Welcome home to Wilmot Vista Apartment Homes located in East Tucson, Arizona. You will find us close to DMAFB, Borman Elementary School and the I-10 for a smooth commute anywhere you want to be.
Our beautiful community offers one and two bedroom homes featuring an all electric gourmet kitchen, ceiling fans and plush carpeting. Optional choices include spacious closets, vaulted ceilings, a breakfast bar and a private patio or balcony.
Relax in one of our two sparkling swimming pools, or watch a movie from our video library. We offer a basketball court, barbeque areas throughout community and a soothing spa. For your convenience we also include easy access to public transportation, on-call maintenance and an onsite laundry facility. Tour our photo gallery or call us to schedule your personal tour and let us welcome you home to Wilmot Vista Apartments today!
Let me know when this property is back on the market


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The union for bus drivers and maintenance workers of Tri-County Transit will go to court in its contract feud with the regional bus system, the union's president said Wednesday.
Robert Doane, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1596, accused bus system officials of unfair labor practices, including:
-- Forcing workers to accept a contract administered by a private company, rather than the bus system.
-- Arbitrarily changing work rules without consulting the union. Among other changes, workers are prohibited from wearing union labels.

subset: commoncrawl


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Indies Challenge Themselves to Find Innovation in the Tired Old FPS Genre
July 4, 2012 1:00 AM | Staff
"FPSes are a horribly oversaturated genre, indies can easily do amazing new stuff. Who's up for it?" tweeted Jan Willem Nijman, co-founder of indie studio Vlambeer, back in April. What started out as a random thought quickly snowballed into one of the most interesting indie development jams of recent times.
The 7 Day First Person Shooter Challenge (7DFPS) ran early in June, and aimed to create weird and wonderful first-person shooter concepts in the space of just a week, a genre that independent developers tend to avoid.
"It seemed like indies were avoiding shooters because they view those as the pinnacle of all that is wrong with triple-A," Nijman tells us. "I figured it was time to change that."
After fumbling around with how to get the jam organized, Nijman recruited the help of McPixel developer Sos Sosowski and dev and musician Sven Bergstrom. 7DFPS went on to see hundreds of entries, with the likes of Wolfire and Cryptic Sea taking part.
The issue with the FPS space, says Nijman, is that gamers have no idea of the potential innovation that can occur, and instead choose to throw money at publishers who churn out the same dreary titles over and over again.
"Most players don't know what they want, so we have to give it to them!" he says. "I wish people would look at shooters from the start, where it all started, and work from there instead of iterating on the stuff from two years ago."
"There is so much to do with shooting without going into gimmick territory. That's also what we did with Gun Godz. It's a super straightforward game, reminiscent of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom."
He argues, "If you put it next to those games and look closely you'll note that the gameplay is completely different though. I'd love seeing a triple-A game do that."
For the most part, however, FPS developers don't bother exploring potential innovation in the genre because of the big money involved, believes Nijman.
As Epic's Tim Sweeney pointed out earlier this month, Activision invests nearly $100 million each year in its Call of Duty franchise. And where there's big money involved, the number of risks involved needs to be minimal, says the Vlambeer dev.
Industry stagnationThis stagnation is not simply limited to FPS games, argues Wolfire's David Rosen.
"Every genre is converging on its own universal design," he says. "For example, almost every FPS game is a near-future squad shooter with regenerating health, two-gun-swap, offhand grenades, XP-grinding multiplayer, and an on-rails cinematic story about the greyness of morality."
He adds, "Instead of competing efficiently by experimenting with design, FPS games compete in an expensive graphical arms race. I have never worked in triple-A games, so I'm not sure why exactly this happens."
That's not to say that modern-day shooters aren't pushing the envelope at all, however. "One thing I do find exciting about these shooters is how they push technological boundaries," he notes. "For example, the audio of Battlefield 3, the texturing of Rage, the animation of Max Payne 3, and the destruction in Red Faction, to name just a few."
"It can also be inspiring to see the creative uses that the artists find for the technology -- like how the rendering of Gears of War 3 looks much better than most games through exceptional placement of textured lights, emissive billboards, screen-space god rays, and other similar techniques. Those features are used in many UE3 games, but rarely as well. I also still enjoy many multiplayer shooters -- the rules haven't changed much in 20 years, but the network performance and audiovisual presentation have improved greatly."
It's the single-play experience that really grates Rosen, as developers appear to be more interested in putting together a cinematic masterpiece than providing the player with actual entertainment.
"I try to have fun, and the game just makes me feel patronized, bored, and restricted," he adds. "It's like the project leaders never asked themselves 'What does the player do in this game? Is that something that humans enjoy doing? Do humans actually enjoy being bossed around by uncharismatic authority figures in their free time?'"
"For new players, I'm sure there is a certain novelty to tilting a thumb-stick and effortlessly moving through the attractive levels, and to pressing the trigger and hearing a loud noise in response. Unfortunately, this wears off quickly without any layered mechanics to provide some interesting context to these actions, or consequences for their results."
The only way for the industry to push past this same old, same old within the FPS space is to create rapid prototypes and then expand on those which appear to work. Valve, for example, uses this tried-and-tested formula constantly, building on successful mods or prototypes for each of its games.
"The 7DFPS challenge seems like a great event for creating this kind of experimental game prototype," notes Rosen. "If any large company divided into teams and participated in it, they would end up with more design ideas than they know what to do with, along with immediate evidence of which ones work and which ones don't."
Wolfire itself knows this first-hand, as it released its 7DFPS game, Receiver, as a paid game after the jam had ended. Receiver explores gun handling mechanics, randomized levels, and unordered storytelling as the player attempts to uncover a variety of secrets in a dangerous building complex.
"We decided to try a new development technique this time where we split the development very cleanly to minimize bottlenecks," says Rosen of Receiver. "I worked on the coding and gameplay design, Aubrey [Serr] focused on the thematic content of the game (such as voice recording, art direction and execution), Anton [Riehl] composed layered music tracks, and Tapio [Liukkonen] recorded sound effects. In this case this technique worked pretty well -- it minimized bottlenecks and conflicts, so we achieved nearly 100 percent parallelization of development time, allowing us to complete the 7DFPS challenge fairly close to the deadline."
When it came to Receiver's design, Rosen asked himself what the very first principles of first-person shooters should be. Why are we so interested in guns and shooting? How is guplay interesting for a first-person perspective?
"I've always found guns to be fascinating in their simplicity, in contrast to their world-changing power, so a key design motif of Receiver is a focus on machines that are simple but deadly," he continues. "We expressed this by exposing every single component of each machine to the player. For example, there's a key for every possible function of the gun, from the safety to the slide lock, and players can independently disable every component of the enemy robots."
The first-person perspective, he says, is the only viewpoint that provides an unobstructed, close-up view of the player's surroundings, hence he built Receiver such that players needed careful consideration of surroundings.
"Turrets and taser-bots tend hide in corners and blind spots, so players are encouraged to carefully clear each room using 'pie slicing' tactics, and search every hiding place for loose bullets and audio-tapes," he notes.
Multiplayer advancementsCryptic Sea's Alex Austin took a different approach to him 7DFPS entry. In Sub Rosa, two online teams look to swap cash for important documents, while a third team, armed with guns and cars, wants to roll in and cause a stir, taking both the documents and cash in the process.
After watching lots of Arma II and Day Z videos on YouTube, Austin realized that the most entertaining experiences were those which didn't involve as much shooting, and instead were all about negotiations and chatter -- from this, the concept for Sub Rosa was born.
Austin agrees with Nijman that first-person shooters have fallen into stagnant times because of the money involved. "To make a triple-A FPS is going to cost hundreds of millions, and for indies the technical challenge and art asset requirements are usually too high," he notes. "There's not very many developers in that middle-ground anymore, where they have the resources to make an FPS but can still experiment."
However, he also stands by Rosen's points that there are still some interesting approaches to the genre happening here and there. "I think Arma II and Day Z both create some really interesting scenarios. What's bad about most FPS games is the same thing that's bad about most games in general: single-player is a linear story the player doesn't affect except for unpausing, and multiplayer is standard team deathmatch where you get upgrades by grinding."
He continues, "What needs to happen is gamers need to support games that try something new. Day Z's popularity and increase in Arma II sales show that players are looking for new experiences -- even though it's a mod for a fairly obtuse game, it's been the best selling game on Steam."
His own Sub Rosa has proved popular too, with a constantly near-full server. This, believes Austin, is down to the fact that the game lets players choose and tell their own story. "There's definitely potential for FPS games to tap into that desire of players to make choices," he adds.
So where does 7DFPS go from here? Will the success of the game jam show indie developers that there is room for innovation in the FPS space?
"I hope so!" answers organiser Nijman. "I must say shooters are damned hard to make, and I guess a lot of people didn't get where they wanted to be in a week.
"Hopefully it got them thinking... I hope indies will make more shooters."
[Mike Rose is the author of this piece, originally appearing on Gamasutra.]


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Single Mothers - T-Shirt £13.99
Item unavailable? Receive an email notification if it comes back in stock.
If you're after a new exclusive Single Mothers t-shirt you've come to the right place. Why buy the t-shirt on its own though? Get it with the new record and save yourself some £££!


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Sunday, February 17, 2013
HG Byarlant Custom
Paint Guide:
I went a bit off of the beaten track with this kit and did custom color scheme. Although it took a few attempts to find a color group I liked.
The main body is a 50/50 mix of azure and sky blue. The frame is gun metal, I also mixed an enamel gunmetal from silver and black for the vent and body detailing. The camo colors are both a mix of white, blue, green and a hint of grey. The remaining detail parts are either 100% yellow or a green mixed from yellow and skyblue.
Most of the vent details were hand painted instead of being airbrushed.
Mod Guide:
I performed some very slight modification to this kit fixing seams and separating parts. You can see some of the process photos here.
The decal job on this kit is pretty light compared to what I normally do. The decals on this kit are from a Samuel Decal set for the MG ReZel Commander and a Bandai MG Wing set.
Onto the photos!
Mobile Suit:
Hit the bump for the full photo shoot!
Camo Close-ups
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Researcher Profile
Allen Blackman
Senior email@example.com
Topics of Interest
Allen Blackman is on leave from Resources for the Future until March 2018.
An expert on environmental and natural resource policy in developing countries, Allen Blackman focuses principally on industrial pollution control and tropical deforestation in Latin America and Asia. Much of his research evaluates environmental management strategies that aim to overcome barriers to conventional regulation in developing countries, including weak institutions and missing infrastructure. He coordinates RFF's participation in the Environment for Development (EfD) initiative and is a research fellow at the EfD Center for Central America.
Blackman's work on industrial pollution control analyzes public disclosure programs, economic incentive instruments, and voluntary regulation. He has also studied the adoption and diffusion of clean and climate-friendly technologies. His research on tropical deforestation assesses agroforestry systems and conservation policies such as protected areas and payments for environmental services initiatives. He also has worked extensively on U.S. environmental regulatory reform, including voluntary programs and mortgage innovations designed to affect land use.
Past work has examined conservation policies in Mexico and Costa Rica, air pollution issues along the U.S.–Mexico border, voluntary regulation in Mexico and Colombia, and voluntary efforts to clean up brownfield properties in the United States.
Blackman is in RFF's Land, Water, and Nature Program.
Recent Work
Journal Article
Titling Indigenous Communities Protects Forests in the Peruvian Amazon
Resources Article
How Costly Are Driving Restrictions Programs? Evidence from Mexico City
Working Paper
Environment for Development
Does Eco-certification Stem Tropical Deforestation? Forest Stewardship Council Certification in Mexico
Working Paper
Does Eco-certification Stem Tropical Deforestation? Forest Stewardship Council Certification in Mexico
Working Paper
A Contingent Valuation Approach to Estimating Regulatory Costs: Mexico's Day Without Driving Program


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Revenue for the group climbed to £612.9m, marking a 14 per cent increase on 2008 when income came in at £536.1m. Likewise, profits before tax reached £102m rising 10 per cent from 2008 when it made £92.8m.
Chief executive Dominic Burke said that after stripping out currency and costs of acquisitions, JLT saw organic revenue growth of five per cent with the company "outperforming its US competitors".
Despite continued growth, JLT ruled out the possibility of undergoing a major acquisition but said that it would look at making strategic bolt-on acquisitions where necessary.
"We will only look at an acquisition where there is an added value and where it drives the business forward. We are not interested in doing a transformational acquisition because JLT does not need to do one," said Burke.
In 2009, JLT acquired a number of companies, including employee benefits business HSBC Actuaries and Consultants, which it bought in December for £27.2m.


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ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING and ARCHITECT magazines invite you to submit new products for editorial consideration. Selected products will appear on archlighting.com, on architectmagazine.com, and in ARCHITECT's April 2018 issue, which will be distributed at Lightfair and other industry trade shows. Luminaires, light sources, and lighting products that have been released after June 2017 will be considered for publication. All submissions will also be considered for potential product coverage by all of Hanley Wood's brands.
Entering the AL + AR Product Call is a two-step process. We recommend using Google Chrome or Firefox as your internet browser. Submissions via email will not be accepted.
- Step 1: Registration and Payment. Click here to create an account and begin your entry. Complete the short online registration form and pay for your entries. This form cannot be revised once submitted. You will receive an emailed payment receipt and email confirmation, which will direct you to log back into the site to begin Step 2.
- Step 2: Submission Materials. After you have registered your product and paid the applicable fee, you will be asked to log back into the site and submit product information and marketing assets. Product information may include detailed press releases and technical and performance specifications. Do not send full catalogs. You can save, edit, log out, and log into your submissions until you save and finalize your submission.
Product submissions must include the following, which the online entry process will request step-by-step:
- Completed registration form with entrant's contact information.
- Product description and technical or performance specs.
- Supplementary information, such as press releases.
- Digital image files. Photographs showing the product in silhouette, an installation, or in application are acceptable. Artwork must be 300 dpi with a minimum dimension of 4 inches. Appropriate file types are JPEG, TIFF, EPS, and PSD. No text or manufacturer name should appear on the images. Label the digital image files using the following format: Manufacturer_ProductName_ ##, with ## representing the sequential number of the image uploaded.
Luminaires, light sources, and lighting products that have been released after June 2017 qualify for editorial consideration. We welcome submissions from lighting companies worldwide though your product should be commercially available in the United States. Note: ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING and ARCHITECT will not publish products that they have already covered.
Entrants are welcomed to submit lighting products in a range of categories. During the submission process, entrants will be asked to pick from the list below. Though some products may encompass multiple categories, please limit your selection to one category.
- Daylighting/Solar Control/Shading Devices
- Decorative Lighting
- Downlights
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- Landscape Lighting
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- Lighting Software Programs
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- Optics, Films, Lens, and Reflectors
- Outdoor Lighting
- Research and Lighting Reference Publications
- Specialty Items and Accessories
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- Wallwashers
Friday, Feb. 16, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. EST
All products must be submitted by this date. The deadline will not be extended.
For $50, entrants can submit up to five individual products by one manufacturer. Entrants must register and pay for one product submission before registering the remaining four products including in the flat $50 fee. An additional processing fee of $10 per additional entry will be applied. Submission fees are non-refundable. No refunds will be issued under any circumstances.
All materials submitted to the 2018 AL + AR Product Call become the property of Hanley Wood Media, ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING, and ARCHITECT, which will not be responsible or liable for them.
QUESTIONS? Please address all inquiries to:
Ayda Ayoubi, Assistant Editor
ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING and ARCHITECT
Email: email@example.com


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A Luke hemmings fanfiction.
5sos imagines and prefrences
- by Whtvrkatey
- Rating:
- Published: 15 Aug 2014
- Updated: 15 Aug 2014
- Status: In Progress
i like 5sos, enjoy:)
Join MovellasFind out what all the buzz is about. Join now to start sharing your creativity and passion
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Junior School
The focus of the curriculum for the younger children (ages eight to ten) is on nurturing the senses and sharpening language and numerical skills. The children are exposed to a wealth of experiences, a great many of them being linked with the natural world.
Students learn the fundamentals of language and arithmetic. Where possible, these skills are integrated into activities such as cooking, drama, music, dance, pottery, art, craft, gardening, looking after pets, nature walks, making and playing with toys, bird watching, astronomy, travelling together, reciting and listening to poems, cleaning and caring for things, building simple structures, and many more.
These are what may be called "subjects" for this age group, and all demand keen observation and total involvement.
Middle School
From the age of ten years, students learn subjects separately as disciplines, although we do not limit ourselves to narrow subject boundaries. Learning takes place through projects and activities. The projects are interdisciplinary and emphasise an exploration of the world around in various ways. Children are trained in academic and critical thinking skills, alongside the nurturing of their artistic inclinations and physical abilities.
By age thirteen, the students are introduced to abstract concepts in various disciplines, and are encouraged to examine, clarify and test ideas. They learn subjects with more rigour. The teachers keep two factors in mind: that each child reaches his or her levels of excellence, and that a basic grounding in all subjects is given to each child regardless of talent or aptitude.
Senior School
The senior school programme lasts three years. Students of this age (16 to 19) can be challenged to grow psychologically, intellectually and physically. They are encouraged to take initiative and ownership for their educational programme. The programme emphasises intellectual and academic rigour, social and environmental awareness and sensitivity, and physical activities. It provides the possibility for young people to discover their interests and perhaps their future vocation.
A crucial aspect of our curriculum is the dialogue class. This is a time when teachers and students focus together on the movement of enquiry and looking inward. We explore together the possibility of watching our fear, joy, anger, greed and hurt, with a sense of open curiosity rather than of judgement. In dialogues with the older students, we explore themes such as sexuality, motivation and resistance, the nature of human relationship and the self. We also have discussions regarding norms on campus and the daily issues of living together.


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Let me just preface this post by saying that I have the greatest husband -- most of the time. But even a really wonderful man can drive his woman nuts every once in awhile. For example, why do they always ask questions they should darn well know the answer to. I know I'm not alone here, ladies. So I took a quick and very informal poll of women in relationships and they revealed all of the really annoying things their guys continually ask. So take a look at the 15 questions women wish men would just stop asking!
- Where do we keep the toilet paper? -- Same place it's been stored since we moved into this house five years ago!
- Do we have any snacks? -- I don't know. Why don't you open the cupboard and look!
- Do I have any deodorant? -- Hmm. How will we solve this mystery? I know, try checking your bathroom cabinet.
- Do we have any milk? -- Open. The. Fridge. And. Look!!!!
- Where's the mail? -- In that mailbox you walked by right before you stepped inside.
- Do you need help with the dishes? -- Next time ask before you see me put the last plate away.
- Are you watching that? -- Of course not. I am just sitting here staring at the screen for no apparent reason.
- Where is my hat? -- Wherever you left it when you took it off.
- Do you mind if I watch the games? -- Hmmm. Is that plural, meaning more than one? Ugh.
- You gonna wear that? -- Why go there?
- Is it that time of the month? -- If you mean the time of the month that you are annoying, then yes.
- Can you change his diaper? I did the last one! -- Oh yeah, and I did the last 50 before that.
- Do we really have to go? -- Yes.
- If you died, you'd want me to remarry, wouldn't you? -- Sure, as long as she's older and fatter than me.
- Why are you so annoyed? -- See any of the above!
More from The Stir: The 9 Most Aggravating Husband Household Fails (PHOTOS)
What other questions do you wish your man would stop asking?
Image via CarbonNYC/Flickr


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A doctor may perform a cystoscopy to diagnose problems affecting a woman's bladder or urethra, such as frequent urinary tract infections, according to Mayo Clinic. The procedure is useful for examining the cause of symptoms such as painful urination, incontinence, overactive bladder and bloody urine.
A cystoscopy is also used for diagnosing or treating diseases, such as inflammation, cancer and bladder stones, Mayo Clinic states. The cystoscope is a thin, hollow tube with a lens attached at one end, allowing physicians to gain a clearer image of a woman's urethra and the lining of her bladder. When necessary, a doctor may use other tools with a cystoscope to perform medical procedures, such as removal of bladder tumors.


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Hotels & Accommodation in De Meern
Search for accommodation in De Meern
Save more with Secret Prices
Get instant savings with Secret Prices
Book hotel rooms & other accommodation in De Meern
De Meern overviewWhatever your interests are, De Meern has something for you. Though there might not be many well-known attractions to visit in De Meern, you don't need to go far to find places to visit like Holland Casino Utrecht and Jaarbeurs. You can take some time to discover the surrounding area and sights like Beatrix Theater and Julianapark.
Where to stay in De MeernWhether traveling for business or pleasure, De Meern can comfortably accommodate you. You can shop as many as 765 deals for De Meern accommodations on Hotels.com, some with discounts of up to 50%. We have room prices as low as 14 USD per night and here you'll find a breakdown of hotels by star rating in De Meern as well as in the surrounding area:
- • 32 5-star hotels from 166 USD per night
- • 356 4-star hotels from 73 USD per night
- • 294 3-star hotels from 66 USD per night
- • 100 2-star hotels from 21 USD per night
How to get to De MeernFly into Amsterdam (AMS-Schiphol), 19.8 mi (31.8 km) from the heart of De Meern. Rotterdam (RTM-Rotterdam The Hague) is the next closest major airport, 26.9 mi (43.2 km) away.
What to see around De MeernHere are some recommended places to see in the surrounding area:
- • Holland Casino Utrecht (2.9 mi/4.7 km from the city center)
- • Jaarbeurs (3.2 mi/5.2 km from the city center)
- • Beatrix Theater (3.3 mi/5.3 km from the city center)
- • Julianapark (3.3 mi/5.4 km from the city center)
- • Meeting Plaza Utrecht (3.6 mi/5.8 km from the city center)
When to visit De MeernWondering what time of year to travel or what you should pack? Here are some seasonal norms so you'll know what to expect for your trip:
Seasonal temperature averages
- • January-March: 52°F day, 32°F night
- • April-June: 70°F day, 39°F night
- • July-September: 73°F day, 48°F night
- • October-December: 62°F day, 36°F night
- • January-March: 6.97 inches
- • April-June: 6.38 inches
- • July-September: 9.25 inches
- • October-December: 7.99 inches


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Night Cable | Zebra
No fumbling for dropped charger cables any longer!
The 3 metre NIGHT cable has a weighted knot
that can be anchored to any flat surface, so it's
there when you need it next.
Simply position the knot by sliding along the
durable, nylon cable.
Lightning cables are suitable for iPhone, iPad & iPod
All products are Apple approved
*Cable only, wall charger not included


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*President Barack Obama will head to the Vatican in March to break bread with Pope Francis.
The White House says Obama "looks forward to discussing with Pope Francis their shared commitment to fighting poverty and growing inequality" during their March 27 meeting, reports the AP.
Obama also plans to meet in Rome with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
The Vatican visit is part of the president's overall European trip to begin March 24-25 in The Hague, Netherlands, where he will participate in a nuclear security summit hosted by the Dutch government and meet with Dutch leaders.
On March 26, Obama will travel to Brussels for an U.S.-European Union summit with the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, as well as meetings with Belgian leaders and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.


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Continuing in my slow pace the ship is all built up and ready for primer and paint. As I've said previously I was really not expecting so much work, but this kit has a lot of gaps to fill and a ton of parts with mould lines in inappropriate places that need to be cleaned up. All in all not the best Bandai kit, actually from those I've built this is the worst. Still it builds up to a very good looking Yamato on 1000th scale so it's hardly a bad kit just a bit inferior to what I'm used from Bandai.
Note that the front piece of the tower is not completely in place since I will need to remove it for painting and it would be impossible to do so if it was firmly in place.
Anyway here are a couple of pics. Enjoy and leave a comment 🙂


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This second Ladies Night I tried to change things up a bit and we had a few new
vendors that were a great addition to our event.
jams, jellies, granola and MUCH MORE! Her products are always a hit!
no two bracelets or rings turned out the same!
also getting to know our vendors better.


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By Joseph Santoliquito
LONDON, ENGLAND (CBS) — She would sneak through one of the back doors, a shadowy figure trying to meld into the brittle concrete walls, drawn by curiosity to the bare-bones gym down the street and its makeshift blood-stained ring squatted diagonally across the cracked basement floor of the Berston Field House.
Young children interspersed with teenagers would be shadowboxing in front of the large mirror that consumes a far wall, and others would be hitting the various heavybags hanging from the creaky wooden rafters. Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! The tiny place would rattle each time a gloved fist struck a swinging bag — and Claressa Shields' eyes would flare open in wide wonder at everything surrounding her.
It was too magnetic. Too enthralling. Too engrossing to turn away. Shields had to do it. She had to find out more. She'd nag her father, Clarence, a former amateur fighter known as "Cannonball" who was vehemently against his 11-year-old daughter stepping into a gym filled with boys who had no qualms about punching his little girl in the nose.
So Shields would keep sneaking down Saginaw Street in Flint and find her way into Berston. She would go down the steps and slip through one of the side doors. She did it, until one day, her father had enough and took her down there himself — introducing her to Jason Crutchfield.
If there was an epiphany in Shields' young life, that was it. She always could look back on that day, the time she was formally introduced to boxing. The day that changed everything for a girl once filled with rage and anger over her domestic plight, to now a 17-year-old senior at Northwestern (Flint, Mich.) making history as the first of three American women to represent her country on the U.S. Olympic boxing team.
Now Shields is an Olympic gold medalist, easily defeating Russian Nadezda Torlopova, the tournament's No. 2 seed, 19-12, in the gold medal match to become the first U.S. fighter since world super middleweight Andre Ward captured gold in 2004 in Athens as a light heavyweight.
At 17, Shields also became the second-youngest boxer to ever win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. She also made U.S. history by becoming the first female to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing.
Shields was already the youngest Olympic boxer since 16-year-old Davey Armstrong made the 1972 team that competed at the Munich Olympics. A 165-pound middleweight, she will join flyweight Marlen Esparza and lightweight Queen Underwood in London for the 2012 Olympiad, which begin Friday.
Her path there wasn't an easy one. In her first international competition in April at the Continental Championships in Canada, Shields crushed reigning world champion Roseli Feitosa of Brazil, and handily defeated Canadian Mary Spencer, a three-time world champion, by 27-14 decision. Her amateur record is a daunting 26-1, with her lone loss a 14-8 setback to Great Britain's Savannah Marshall in the second round of May's World Amateur Championships in China.
The 5-foot-11 Shields is fearless, gregarious, radiant, charismatic, relentless and above all aware of the history she is making. She'll be the youngest female boxer in the field. Marshall is 21. Spencer is 27. Feitosa is 23.
Before they step into the ring, they'll primp and braid their hair as if readying for a commercial shoot. Shields could care less. Her hair, so what? Makeup, what's makeup? Just point her in a direction and she's good.
Shields shocked everyone, with the exception of possibly herself and Crutchfield, when she devoured Spencer. At the time, Spencer was the No. 1 female amateur middleweight in the world. A three-time world champion, Spencer was the fighter who most felt would be a gold-medal favorite in London.
Shields changed all of that, while announcing herself as a world player.
"I remember everyone cheering for her, and Spencer being announced as this three-time world champion and all of that other stuff, and here I am," Shields said with a laugh. "I remember someone who saw the fight on TV, and underneath my name on the screen, it said, 'Relative unknown.' I was like 'What?' That was funny. That told me I was a good fighter when I beat Spencer. I know that shocked a lot of people, and sometimes, I shock myself."
Shields isn't an international unknown anymore. But can she do it? Can she win a gold medal?
"Claressa is very capable of doing it," said Crutchfield, who has been Shields' coach since she first walked into Berston. "I'll accept a silver or bronze, but we want the gold. It depends on the draw and who we're going to open with. Age and experience doesn't matter to Claressa. She's faced all of the best in the world already, she's been there, so she won't see anything she hasn't seen before. She'll get in there against someone and it's like she's the one teaching. She's a fast starter."
Shields has avid fans among her Olympic teammates, especially Rau'shee Warren, the first three-time U.S. Olympic boxer and adjunct U.S. team leader. He's literally watched Shields grow up in the close-knit, insular world of amateur boxing.
"Claressa's work ethic, with her just being 17, is amazing," Warren said. "When I see her in the gym, she throws combinations and shots like men. I tell her if I ever got in the ring with her, I'd have to hit her for real, because she has skills that can be great and hurt you. Training is the hard part, and she's very committed to that. By the time she gets in the ring, everything will be easy for her in London. She drives herself. She has a chance to shock the world. I really believe that."
Shields fights with a controlled fury. Her target is Marshall, and it gnaws at her that though it appears on a tape of their fight that Shields outhit her, it was Marshall's connects that caught the eye of the five judges.
"I know what I'm up against," Shields admitted. "I'm going to Marshall's home country, and I'd really like to smash her. But all of those girls are on my hit list, too. Losing to Savannah Marshall, that hurt. I know I beat her. She doesn't know what's coming at her again. I gave her a hard time, and I still don't know how she got the decision.
"But believe me, the loss helped me and made me work way harder in the gym. When I get tired, I push harder. I'm going to the Olympics and if I even have a chance to run into her again, it's over. I'm telling you it's over. I'm not letting her breathe. They're all older than me, and more advanced, but I think I'm stronger than all of them. We'll see what happens. I'm going to London to win and take home a gold medal."
Crutchfield would watch her from the corner of his eye. He introduced her to the proper way to punch, how to hit the speedbag and heavybag, yet he wasn't exactly ready to commit to the lone girl in his small gym. Crutchfield, 48, an old-school trainer who had a solid amateur career and 7-1-1 record as a pro lightweight, wasn't too keen on girls in his place.
Here was this girl. A girl boxing?
"It's why I stayed away for a little while, until a few weeks in. Call me old-school that way, but then Claressa kept coming back, and coming back," Crutchfield said. "I gave her to somebody else that first time. It took me two weeks to notice her. She had a lot of fire and desire to learn and do well. That's what caught my attention. Once I saw she was serious about it, that she was committed, that's when I committed to her."
Boxing caught Shields' attention. It was a refuge, because prior to boxing, no one really noticed her. Her father was incarcerated for a time and a sporadic presence in her life, while her mother was a transient figure in her early years. Shields' grandmother took her in when she was 6. But the little girl was always being picked on, for what clothes she wore, for her hair, for her quiet demeanor, for the way she looked.
She was called ugly.
She was bullied.
Through time, those experiences filled Shields with an uncontrollable temper. There wasn't a street fight she could avoid. It didn't matter if it was boys or girls going at it: Shields was habitually in the eye of the street storm.
"I was always mad; I thought I was invisible and that I didn't matter," recalled Shields tranquilly, looking down. "I used to shut off the world. I was a troubled kid. I was. I was bullied a lot when I was younger. I don't like to remember those times. I used to get called ugly because of my hair, my clothes, everything. I was lost, and I didn't think there was anyone out there who could help me."
Shields then began lashing out. She developed an attitude. She was tired of being pushed around and began pushing back. In fifth grade, a girl lied to Shields and she threw a chair at her. Another time she stood up for her brother, which got her into more trouble. But the worst was when she wound up in the back of a police car in sixth grade. Shields had shown up to school to defend her sister over a dispute with another girl, but because she was suspended, Shields was not permitted on school property.
"I was so young and naive that I was laughing. I remember sitting in the back of the police car laughing. It wasn't cool, but I didn't care," Shields recalled. "I look back at those times and the only thing I worried about is what my granny thought. When I would get angry, she'd tell me to go outside and sit on the porch. But the time they took me in the police car, facing my granny in the police station, that's when it stopped. It kind of hit me."
It's also when boxing converged and became more important. Reluctant at first, Crutchfield took Shields in and began having her spar against boys her age. Most of the time, she held her own. Crutchfield was determined to treat her no different from any of his other fighters — and Shields didn't want any special treatment because of her gender.
Turns out, Crutchfield's job was just beginning. He recognized the fury boiling within Shields. It was up to him to channel it, steer it into a positive direction. There were many times he had to check her tantrums.
"Claressa had to get that under control. All of that crazy stuff wasn't going to work in the ring and work long-term if she was going to make it in boxing," Crutchfield said. "It took some time to shape that demeanor. She walked around with a little chip on her shoulder. Well, it was actually a big chip. I would say it took her three years to calm her down."
Her acting out took on the same theme every time.
"Something would bother her, sometimes something small," Crutchfield said. "But she would go crazy and holler and scream and raise her voice at me. I'd correct her and tell her she shouldn't talk to me or anyone else like that. Then she would go away, get herself together, calm down, come back and apologize. Oh yeah, you can say there was a lot of tough love going on and that's what she needed. She needed a little direction and a little tough love. I did a lot of both."
Around 15, changes began to surface. Shields went from the quiet, remote girl to someone who socialized with everyone in school. She no longer sits in the back of the class, but in the front. Her circle of friends has grown considerably at Northwestern — engaging everyone she crosses in the halls. She plans on playing for Northwestern's basketball and volleyball teams her senior year, of course, shaped around her boxing schedule.
She doesn't flip out over trivial things. Actually, she doesn't flip out at all. She's dealt with problems in a comfortable, mature manner.
She began believing in herself, because her adopted boxing family began believing in her. That injection of faith helped adopt more faith.
To see Shields today, and hear her sordid backstory, it's hard to imagine this affable, happy girl was once the same girl who sat giggling in a police car. She's a leader now. When she's running laps in the back of Berston, she's frequently followed by all the younger fighters in the gym — kind of like a momma hen.
Crutchfield doesn't have to remind her to run laps: She does them on her own. She has a tremendous, nonstop work ethic. Before leaving for London, she sparred with men in their early 20s at Berston, and was exceptional.
She has the kind of personality that draws people to her. Crutchfield relayed a story of when Shields and he met Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, a Flint native, at a local post office.
"Mark was standing there with his mother, and I knew Mark's mother and Mark through her, so I introduced Claressa to him," Crutchfield said. "Mark was great, he wished her luck and Claressa and Mark shook hands. But this really tells you about Claressa and how funny she is, because as we're walking away, Claressa says, 'Mark Ingram's almost as famous as me.' I just laughed and told her he might have her by a little bit right now."
Now, everyone in Flint, it seems, knows Shields. She's moved in with Crutchfield and his family. Crutchfield's daughters treat her like a sister. It's given Shields a firm, stable base. She has two documentary crews trailing her, and she accepts and greets everyone as if she's known them her entire life.
She's 17 and reached a comfort zone. She's no longer angry.
"That's why I keep saying Claressa's a special kid in so many ways to survive what she survived. She didn't choose that way," Crutchfield said. "I kept pointing her in the right direction. I kept telling her she has a lot of talent and she has to use it. She has a deep faith. She talks about God a lot. She has a lot of faith in God; she has a lot of faith in me; she has a lot of faith in herself."
Shields envisions a future where one wasn't. She wants to go to college, and continue traveling the world to see where boxing ultimately takes her. It's been a good journey, a road of self-discovery and redemption.
"I have a deep faith in God and that there is a plan for me. I got baptized and I've learned how to deal with things a whole lot better than I used to," said Shields, smiling. "I'm a lot different than I used to be. My attitude and the way I conduct myself is definitely different. Boxing saved my life. It definitely changed my life.
"The attitude that I had, I had trouble. I caused as much negative things as positive things. Without boxing, who knows, I might have wound up pregnant or something, and I wouldn't be doing all of the things that I'm doing now. Everything is good that's happened to me when boxing came into the picture. I'm able to live my dreams."
Those dreams will continue in London. There was a time when she never imagined she'd get out of Flint.
Instead, she's something of a celebrity at Northwestern High School, which won Class A back-to-back Michigan state basketball championships in 1984 and '85 and produced such stellar athletes as Glen Rice, Jeff Grayer, Andre Rison and 2004 Olympic boxing bronze medalist Andre Dirrell.
School officials wanted to throw Shields a special celebration when she made the 2012 U.S. Olympic team in May, but she said no.
Instead, she wanted to be treated to McDonald's.
"That's Claressa," said Northwestern principal Cheryl Adkins, who taught Shields in middle school. "We're extremely proud of Claressa. She's an example to all of our young ladies as to what you can accomplish. I had Claressa in middle school, and she was this quiet child who was withdrawn. You knew she was there, but if she faded into a wall, she wouldn't be missed. There's been a lot to growth with her boxing. She was so into boxing she once told me she'd rather sleep in the gym, because it was far better than living at home as far as she was concerned. She looks at boxing as her way out."
Shields is taking college courses and maintaining a high-profile social life as well.
"She does a great job of juggling it all, because she has a ton of class work," Adkins said. "We're going to do something for Claressa when she gets back from London. She's still a kid. She's not into the tutti-frutti things. That's not where Claressa's head is. She's very down to earth. She just wants to be treated like everyone else."
If she comes home from London with a medal, don't count on that.
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Bill de Blasio and the vanishing voter
As a lackluster mayoral campaign sputters to an end — with scant enthusiasm for de Blasio, Malliotakis or Dietl — fears abound that the city's incredible shrinking electoral turnout could hit new lows on November 7
Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray host Gracie Mansion Halloween dressed at Clark Kent and Wonder Woman on Friday, October 27. Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio rides the Westbound M23 Select Bus Service and delivers remarks about improving bus service on Friday October, 20. Photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photography Office
Once upon a time, most New Yorkers loved to vote. Exercising the franchise was a sacred rite of passage for immigrants and new arrivals. It was a civic, moral and even social obligation for citizens of long-standing, too. Not anymore.
Sadly, en masse voting is a relic of the past. And the evidence can be found in the campaigns of Bill de Blasio. Naturally, the diminution of the ballot box long pre-dates the incumbent mayor. But it hit record lows on his watch.
In the 2013 mayoral race, barely one million of the city's 4.2 million registered voters showed up as the then-public advocate battled the then-former MTA boss Joe Lhota. In his triumph, de Blasio achieved a dubious honor: a 24 percent turnout, the most abysmal in city history.
Flash forward four years. On September 12, the mayor clobbered Sal Albanese by a 74 percent-to-16 percent margin in the Democratic mayoral primary, hailing a "resounding victory," which indeed it was. What he didn't say: Only 14 percent of Democrats trekked to the polls.
Next up is the general election, which always draws more voters than a party primary. But don't expect long lines on November 7 either. De Blasio posts mediocre favorable and job-approval ratings. His likability is low. That hardly adds up to a stampede.
His two foes aren't exactly voter magnets either. In fact, Republican Nicole Malliotakis and independent Bo Dietl, running on the "Dump the Mayor" line, are so little known that a recent Quinnipiac poll found 75 percent of voters didn't know enough about them to form an opinion.
Still, the mayor's opponents got a big boost last week. Not from anything they did. But from tawdry new pay-to-play allegations that surfaced against de Blasio, who had dodged a near-death experience back in March when prosecutors announced he'd face no criminal charges in twin federal and state probes of his fundraising practices.
Those storm clouds never dissipated, and in testimony on October 26 in a corruption trial in U.S. District Court in Foley Square, ex-donor-cum-felon Jona Rechnitz testified he bought favors, government action and access from the mayor, whose personal cell phone he often called.
Will it make a difference in the race? Unlikely. Will it further depress turnout? Almost certainly.
As a lopsided favorite, de Blasio is still expected to romp to a reelection landslide. So his less enthusiastic backers will stay home, believing they're not needed. Faced with crushing odds and a looming blowout, so, too, will many never-de Blasioers.
The bottom line as an underwhelming, dispiriting race limps to the end: More voters will sit on their hands. Turnout could bottom out anew. A depressing new record below 24 percent could be set.
"Certainly, it's a good bet that the rate could go lower than it was four years ago," said Democratic political consultant George Arzt, who served as Mayor Ed Koch's third-term press secretary in the late 1980s. "People have lost confidence in politics."
He cited a concatenation of factors. A weak competitive field. A sitting mayor 40 points ahead in the polls. Name recognition for Malliotakis so poor that "only people on Staten Island and Bay Ridge know her." A GOP that's largely uncompetitive.
"No one knows there's an election, there's almost no advertising, it's not bitterly fought, and you just don't see posters or other evidence out there," Arzt added.
How things have changed. Consider the general election of 1953.
Then-Manhattan Borough President Robert F. Wagner Jr., son of a great senator with the same name, had unseated incumbent Mayor Vincent Impellitteri in the Democratic primary and now faced Republican Harold Riegelman, the city postmaster, and Liberal Rudolph Halley, the City Council president.
It was the closest the city ever came to European-style participatory suffrage. Roughly 2.2 million ballots were cast — a tally more than twice as great as in de Blasio's 2013 race. An astronomical 93 percent of the electorate turned out, a record that's never been surpassed.
Wagner, who won handily, went on to serve three terms.
Why did turnout go into a tailspin? Social disorder and political turmoil in the 1960s kept many voters at home, but the civil rights movement, minority empowerment and a white backlash brought others to the polls, so for a time, the vote count was high and stable.
But a steep fall-off began in the 1970s, fueled by a fiscal crisis and the city's near-bankruptcy, and accelerated in the 1980s, a decade that saw recession, white flight, economic dislocation and a stock market crash.
The 1993 election, in which law-and-order challenger Rudy Giuliani prevailed in a racially tinged rematch against incumbent David Dinkins, the city's first African-American mayor, brought 57 percent of voters to the polls. It was the last time in a quarter-century that electoral turnout in a mayoral race topped 50 percent.
In the past, the political machinery functioned well, says Democratic political strategist Hank Sheinkopf, who worked on Mark Green's 2001 mayoral bid and cut his teeth on Herman Badillo's 1969 race.
"Patronage oiled the political machines to turn out voters in a city where ethnic loyalty and getting your garbage picked up and your streets policed were part of the same equation," he said.
"Vote, you get the goodies. That's the old days. Don't vote, you still get the goodies. That is today's mantra. There is no sanction, and thus, no fear," Sheinkopf added.
Indeed, for decades, the captains of Tammany Hall, whose power began to fade in the 1960s, would knock on doors and adeptly bring out the vote, Arzt said.
Of course, there was a downside. "You also had repeat voters in the old days," he added.
It wasn't only the fall of the clubhouse that shriveled the vote. The decline of church and family and even local haunts that once displayed campaign posters — the corner bodega, the candy store — also played a role. So did longer work hours and the rise of e-distractions.
But there's one more factor: A lack of political courage. Back in the winter, when it seemed then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was poised to indict de Blasio, a handful of Democratic A-listers were readying campaigns to unseat him.
But Comptroller Scott Stringer, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries — who would have enlivened the race, dispatching more citizens to the polls — all retreated when the mayor evaded legal peril.
You can thank them for de Blasio's inevitable coronation. Thank them, too, for the popular vote drop-off sure to accompany it.
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Songs For Rainy Days
You guys ought to be good at this. *snigger*
Literally or figuratively. Top 5 Albums for Rainy Days!
Literally or figuratively. Top 5 Albums for Rainy Days!
Re: Songs For Rainy Days1. Sophia - fixed water
2. Lush - spooky
3. Cousteau - s/t
4. Low - i could live in hope
5. Turin Brakes - the optimist
Re: Songs For Rainy Dayssuede - dog man star
tom waits - small change
tom waits - rain dogs
the....rain man soundtrack?
Re: Songs For Rainy Daysall of () by Sigur Ros
Re: Songs For Rainy DaysBritish sea power - The Decline of...
REM - Automatic for the People
Interpol - Totbl
The new editors album, whatever its called...
Múm - Yesterday was dramatic.... (just to make a change from shmindie)
Re: Songs For Rainy DaysMercury Rev - Morning Rain
The Smiths - William, it was really nothing
there must be more, I'm looking out over rainy Bristol right now...


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Websites such as CycleTrader.com, Motorcycles.com, eBay.com and Craigslist.com frequently contain listings for different models of used Suzuki motorcycles. These sites contain listings from both dealers and private sellers, and the condition of motorcycles can vary significantly. Buyers should always inspect a motorcycle before making a purchase.
Buyers looking for a specific model of used Suzuki motorcycle should compare prices across different sites to find the most reasonable price. When a buyer finds a listing that she wants to buy, she should meet the seller to drive the motorcycle and inspect it for any damage or issues not mentioned in the description.


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Wandeful Media, which is helping newspapers make next-generation circulars, announced Tuesday morning that it's raised $9 million in a new round of financing from its existing newspaper publisher backers.
Its 12 backers include Advance Digital, A. H. Belo Corporation, Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., Cox Media Group, The E. W. Scripps Company, Gannett Co. Inc., GateHouse MediaInc., Hearst Corporation, Lee Enterprises, MediaNews Group, The McClatchy Company, and The Washington Post Co.
The new round of financing brings the total round to $36 million, which includes $22 million raised in November 2011, and $5 million earlier this year.
The new funds will be used to improve the platform's matching capabilities and to launch mobile apps, said Doug Kilponen, COO at Wanderful Media. Kilponen is part of the new executive team brought in to raise new funds and drive a new strategy for the Los Gatos, Calif-based company, which originally started as ShopCo/Travidia.
"They [ShopCo/Travidia] provided a bunch of backend, but lacked presentation that is meaningful to consumers," said Kilponen. "They had a version of a consumer-facing end. But Wanderful improved upon it."
Indeed, Wanderful was re-launched in Sept 2012 as a "Pinterest" for local advertisers." The idea, as explained by Ben Smith, Wanderful's CEO, was that Wanderful would help the newspaper industry turn their circulars into more engaging, social Web content - thereby helping them to retain the $4 billion spent on circulars by local to national retailers each year. But as we've seen in many businesses, particularly the newspaper business, advertising is moving online. And while the older generation may want to clip coupons from circulars, the younger generation is used to finding deals online.
At the time, there were 250 newspaper sites that were working with Wanderful. Today, that number is up to 400, said Kilponen. The company has also been busy revamping its old consumer-facing site, having re-launched Find&Save in April. Find&Save is where consumers can find good local deals; create their own deals list and follow other frugal shoppers who are good at spotting deals.
Kilponen wouldn't disclose how many consumers have become members, only to say there've been tens of thousands.
The newspapers, however, have an incentive to drive their readers to their Find&Save section to help their retailer clients (such as for instance, Macy's or Nordstrom, or other retailers that may put deals in circulars) find shoppers or keep existing ones coming back.
But in this cut-throat world of local advertising, newspapers have their work cut out for them, meaning they have to offer retail customers even more. To that end, to make the advertising even more enticing for retailers, Wanderful Media's goal is to drive users into stores. This is slated to be a reality sometime in 2014.


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As Aly predicted The Lighthouse in Deal has proven to be a first class party of live music. Last night The Indecision hurtled through some excellent ska and bluebeat before an audience as mixed as the cast of characters in the BBC's current soap, Dickensian(worth watching if for no other reason than the joy of seeing Stephen Rea performing the detective, Bucket, in the style of Bill Nighy).
I know there are no end of ska tribute bands out there but The Indecision played some good originals and winkled out some less well known stuff too.
I picked up a flyer there advertising The London Ska Festival which runs over Easter weekend 24 -27 March - more than enough ska for anyone I should think.


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Graham Street Market
If you think of big cities you might as well think of famous marketplaces where the hustle and bustle shows you the variety of its citizens. May be not the same as Convent Garden in London, Rue de Cler Market in Paris, Mercato di Campo dei Fiori in Rome or Convent Garden in London the scenes you can encounter where East meets West in searching pak choi, dried mushroom, mandarin, sausages or … you name it - that is like Graham Street in Central, Hong Kong.
You can find this market a few steps from Queens Road Central. It is one of the oldest markets in old Victoria City of Hong Kong, founded nearly 180 years ago, just before the British got their Colony here. The street starts from Queen's Road Central and runs uphill and south to Staunton Street, crossing Stanley Street, Wellington Street, Gage Street, Lyndhurst Terrace and Hollywood Road.
The street is narrow but allows two rows of stalls on its two sides. Fresh food like seafood, vegetables, meats and others can be found along the street. It did supply the numerous foreign ships that sheltered in Hong Kong harbour and was at this time known by the name Middle Bazaar.
All the streets which are crossed are named after British statesmen, generals or admirals. One of it is Peel Street after Sir Robert Peel, best known for creating the British police who were called Bobbies or Peelers after him.
Currently, the Urban Renewal Authority is redeveloping Graham Street and Peel Street. This will affect over 37 buildings in the process. Skyscrapers already conceal the market and streets. This ancient and picturesque Chinese market is a fascinating place for a lot of tourists. The hawker stalls in this narrow, pedestrian-only lane with high piles of delicious fresh fruit, fish and vegetables are crammed with people at certain times and has a lot of photographic possibilities.
The redevelopment site starts above Wellington Street and continues up to Gage Street. Nearby you can as well find a new refurbished Dai Pai Dong (cooked-food stall) Street. As I was told it is a Dai Pai Dong gourmet's paradise. The food is cheap and popular.
This is a unique chance for tourists to see a genuine, old-fashioned, flourishing Chinese wet market. As you stroll through the narrow lane the chatter of a mix of Cantonese, Mandarin, English and assorted European tongues are sometimes ear deafening. For many people, "yiu," or "I want," comes in handy and "ng goi," the Cantonese for "please" and "thanks" are sometimes enough to do business. It is now in the development zone, and many in the community think the authenticity and the life of the place will be lost.
If you look on old photographs you can see, that it was a crowded and a cacophonous place for spenders and vendors since early times. But going even more modern than in the 80's it's arguable if glass and concrete are really the way for a better tomorrow. When the project is completed - no date for this has been announced - the hawkers will be invited back to occupy the stalls the authority have designed in consultation with them. They will have proper water and electricity lines, storage space and all else those vendors now obtain in improvisational fashion.
If there is a constant thing in Graham Street district, it is the smell of a hundred odours of dried fruit, dried fish, assorted spices and seasonings, hundred-year-old eggs, half a dozen varieties of beans and as many of rice and much more ...


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A few weeks ago, 16-year-old Haley Bullwinkle caused a kerfuffle when she showed up at Canyon High School in Orange County wearing a National Rifle Association T-shirt. School officials made her change shirts or face disciplinary action, because the shirt violated the school's dress code against depicted acts of violence.
This of course outraged the interwebs, because duh, freedom, and until they stop serving mystery meat in the cafeteria, you can't ban an NRA shirt for showing a picture of a man holding a hunting rifle for being "too violent."
"I felt like they were violating my rights, my freedom of speech," the sophomore told the Los Angeles Times. "I want to be able to wear what I want to wear within reason."
On Thursday, the school did the right thing, in this writer's opinion, and decided to let Bullwinkle and her classmates to wear NRA shirts on campus. Wise decision guys, especially considering that that drill team twirls fake rifles and your mascot is a Comanche Indian Chief, which as Bullwinkle's dad pointed out, could be considered to be offensive to some.
He told KTLA-TV:
"I think that if you consider the hunter, the image of the hunter to be offensive, certainly there are groups that would consider the Comanche Indian chief to be offensive"
The school district superintendent issued a statement that "Campus staff will be trained so that an incident like this does not occur again."
If I were in charge of that training session, I'd call it Common Sense 101. Just saying.
Do teenagers in NRA T-shirts offend you?
Image via Chris Waldeck/Flickr


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LIVE MUSIC is always a main attraction at Artscape, which will make the Mount Royal Avenue corridor come alive Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Headliners this year include Jeffrey Osborne, Emmylou Harris, Sergio Mendes & Brasil 99 and the Ink Spots as well as groups from this region. Admission for all performances is free.
Festival hours are 6 to 10:30 p.m. Friday and noon to 10:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. More than 30 musical acts are scheduled; here are some highlights:


text: The newly coined New York Legal Week 2017 (formerly Legal Tech) came to a close just over a week ago. I have lost count, but I believe this marked my 10th consecutive year in attendance. As always, the week unfolded as a reunion of sorts, a meeting of the minds, and an opportunity to put your finger on the pulse of the eDiscovery market. It was not as busy as I remember from previous years, and the exhibit floor was far less congested, but there was a general feeling of stability and maturity for the industry.


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Gaining weight early with twins is so important. Here's a good article describing the reasons:
Too little weight gain risky in twin pregnancy
NEW YORK | Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:48pm EDT
(Reuters Health) – Women pregnant with twins should be sure to gain the recommended amount of weight, according to a new study, which shows that gaining less weight than recommended during a twin pregnancy ups the risk of early birth and low weight babies.
"A woman should gain about a pound a week; less than that, and we had smaller babies and more pre-term births," Dr. Nathan Fox of Maternal-Fetal Medicine Associates of New York City told Reuters Health.
Fox and his partners wanted to know if the twin pregnancy weight gain guidelines updated by the Institute of Medicine in 2009 made a difference in pregnancy outcomes.
These recommendations suggest a range of weight gain depending on a woman's weight at the start of her twin pregnancy. A normal weight woman should gain 37 to 54 pounds; an overweight woman, 31 to 50 pounds; and an obese woman, 25 to 42 pounds.
In looking at 281 mostly normal weight women pregnant with twins, Fox and colleagues found that women who gained the recommended amount of weight did much better in regards to the pregnancy outcomes.
Women who gained less than the recommended amount of weight were more likely to give birth early (before 32 weeks of pregnancy) than women who gained the correct amount of weight (14 percent versus 5 percent). They were also more likely to give birth to smaller babies.
Unlike in singleton pregnancies, gaining enough weight in twin pregnancies can be Herculean task. "It's often not easy," Fox said. "We send our patients to nutritionists and have them on high calorie diets a lot to have them gain the right amount of weight. It's not easy for many (women)."
About 3 in every 100 pregnancies is a twin pregnancy, the investigators note, and preterm births occur about 60 percent of the time, making the issue of correct weight gain even more important.
The strong link between inadequate weight gain in twin pregnancies and increased rates of pre-term birth "has not been conclusively demonstrated previously," the investigators point out in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Their findings, they say, shed light on the importance on what "could be a correctable cause of prematurity in twins," they conclude.
SOURCE: link.reuters.com/jyc73m Obstetrics & Gynecology, July 2010.
….. I also bought a book on twins and it confirms the range for the articles. That's a LOT of weight to gain. I figure if it makes the babies healthy then I need to get on it. I have no doubt I'll be able to shed the pounds after they're born. I'll be chasing TWO little ones around. Excited for the chaos.


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Supervision for freshers in the first semester
ContentsStudents in studying in the first semester will be supported in matters such as understanding the lectures contents and solving exercises. Support is given by students of later semester. They will give a guidance to self-help. The course shall help the students to master the high requirements of university compared to school.
Guidance for understanding the contents of the lectures and for solving exercises in the following subjects:
mathematics, electrical engineering, physics and information science.
mathematics, electrical engineering, physics and information science.


text: Another weekend coming to a close and difficult child is so so so unreasonable and disrespectful. She's tantruming, after I feed her and easy child I told them it would be time to clean up. difficult child has specific routine for cleaning so she goes to pick out her school clothes. She cannot find what she wants to wear and so says this to me YELLING: "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID NOT DO MY LAUNDRY! NOW I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO WEAR ALL WEEK! WHY DIDN'T YOU WASH CLOTHES??? STUPID! WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR NOW???" While she's doing this, she's pacing and yelling it and slamming drawers. ***Please keep in mind that difficult child has more clean clothes than myself and easy child put TOGETHER.*** i couldn't stand her speaking to me this way as if I was some dumb snotty little kid on the street and she's MY mother. I stormed in the room, lost it and started throwing all her clothes (which were CLEAN by the way) on the floor in front of her. and I said I'm tired of you acting like a little *i t c h to me! Pick out something to wear and put the rest back. Of course I felt HORRIBLE for doing this and plenty upset. I am so drained and feel so much guilt for saying this to her. WHY why why? Is guilt a mandatory feeling for all mothers and fathers of difficult child's?


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by Wayne Blank
"My fellowworkers unto the Kingdom of God"
For a time, Demas was among the steadfast believers with Paul, which included some of the "big names" of Christianity, Marcus (i.e. Mark) and Luke, who wrote two of the Gospel books of the New Testament. Demas is mentioned specifically with Luke.
"Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him; And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea and them in Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. And when this epistle [see Epistles] is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea" (Colossians 4:10-16 KJV)
Later however, Paul was left nearly alone. Not all were deserters; some had grown into apostles and evangelists in their own right and had left to do what God had given them to do. But in the end, on top of knowing that his martyrdom was at hand (see Martyrs to understand how "witness" became "martyr"), Paul reported "only Luke is with me" (hence also why Luke was uniquely qualified to be the author of the book of Acts). Historians differ on how Paul was martyred. Some say that he was beheaded in prison, while others say that he was ripped to shreds by wild animals in the arena before a cheering crowd of Roman "sports fans," but either way, Paul remained strong and true right to the end. Paul was a winner, as are all who finish the race, regardless of the order in which they cross the line.
"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge [see When Will You Be Judged?] the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."
Fact Finder: How and why is it that adversity can be a good thing?


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from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. Plural form of phonographer.
Sorry, no etymologies found.
In my teacher's opinion it was divided into phonographers and stenographers, and never did the schoolmen of old show more bitterness in maintaining their own shibboleths than did Lowes in asserting the superiority of his system to that of Mr. Pitman -- an opinion which I need scarcely say was not shared by the world.
I hope the phonographers will take that clapping to themselves.
A year ago there were but three female phonographers in America; and two of these did not get their bread by the work.
Sutton, who organized a corps of phonographers, which was the nucleus of the present able body of official reporters of the debates.
Perley's Reminiscences, v. 1-2 of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis
Nor is it merely probable that such a barbarizing process, such an adopting and sanctioning of a vulgarism, might take place, but among phonographers it already has taken place.
Now it is quite possible that numerically more persons in England may pronounce the word in this manner than in the right; and therefore the phonographers are only true to their principles when they spell it in the fashion which they do,
The first thing that the phonographers have perceived is the necessity for the creation of a vast number of new signs, the poverty of all existing alphabets, at any rate of our own, not yielding a several sign for all the several sounds in the language.
Our English phonographers have therefore had to invent ten of these new signs or letters, which are henceforth to take their place with our _a_, _b_, _c_, and to enjoy equal rights with them.
The following quotation from Swift will prove to you that I have been only employing here an argument, which he employed long ago against the phonographers of his time.
The phonographers simply propose to extend this disadvantage already cleaving to our spoken languages, to the written languages as well.


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Situated just outside the Old City in Jerusalem, the Ophel City Wall site sits between the City of David and the southern wall of the Temple Mount. Now open to the public, the Ophel Wall features ancient artifacts dated to the 10th century b.c., a period during which the ancient kingdom of Israel experienced extraordinary expansion under King David and his son and heir, Solomon. Among the Ophel discoveries is an impressive edifice—a 70-meter-long and 6-meter-high wall—constructed during King Solomon's reign.
The wall has been dated to the 10th century b.c., and all evidence indicates that it was built by King Solomon and is the one mentioned in 1 Kings 3:1. This scripture speaks of Solomon building his own palace, "and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about." It's pretty incredible, when you think about it—being able to reach out and touch a wall that King Solomon himself strolled by daily three millenniums ago!
Tragically, most people ignore or reject this inspiring reality. June's official inauguration of the Ophel City Wall, for example, came with a regrettable, shameful side story: the virtual blackout in the Western media. Outside of a few Israeli outlets, the inauguration of one of the most remarkable archeological discoveries in recent history was met with shocking silence!
The reason, in large part, is that the discovery of a significant Jewish presence in Jerusalem as early as the 10th century b.c. undermines the popular leftist narrative that the biblical account of a Davidic monarchy is exaggerated or a fallacy. The Ophel discoveries, as Jonathan Tobin accurately pointed out in Commentary, are a "standing rebuke to those who refer to parts of Israel's capital as 'traditional Palestinian' or 'Arab East Jerusalem'" (June 21).
With this in mind it was telling that, at least from the articles I read and the footage I viewed, there was no indication that Israeli officials at the inauguration brandished the Ophel finds as a political instrument. This was an ideal opportunity for the Jews to politicize the archeology, to unsheathe these stunning artifacts and wield them as a weapon to dismember the left's false narrative. They didn't. Instead, Dr. Mazar, Mayor Barkat and the other Israeli officials who attended looked beyond the politics and concentrated on the lesson that is truly the most important: They celebrated the fact that these ancient edifices and artifacts prove the veracity of the Bible!
While screaming "Sieg Heil" and "Hitler, Hitler" in 2009, a violent mob of Swedish Muslims launched bottles and stones at a pro-Israel demonstration attended by a small number of Jews in the central square of Malmö.
Media reports have documented widespread harassment of Jews and Jewish children have routinely been called "dirty
Jews should consider leaving the Netherlands and going to America or Israel because of anti Semitism, particularly among Dutch Moroccans, former VVD leader Frits Bolkestein told free newspaper De Pers.
Bolkestein said he sees no future in the Netherlands for Jews who stand out, such as orthodox Jews. Arabic tv senders are largely to blame for the anti-Jewish sentiment, the former EU commissioner said.
Just because radical ismalists have "vowed to make this a Sharia zone" doesn't mean that its happened.
Very misleading headline for this thread.
In two Latin American countries, similar laws were struck down over the past two decades: according to human rights lawyer Julie Mertus "in Brazil, until 1991 wife killings were considered to be non-criminal 'honor killings'; in just one year, nearly eight hundred husbands killed their wives. Similarly, in Colombia, until 1980, a husband legally could kill his wife for committing adultery
It is very much a cultural thing and is equally as common within Hindu, Sikh and other 'Eastern' religious communities.
Originally posted by Zamini
What you fail to understand is that he did not do those things because he was/is Muslim. He did it because he is insane.
Originally posted by Sherlock Holmes
Er... This is just a group of idiots putting up stickers.
Your thread title is misleading, to say the least.
A group of knuckle-draggers who put ''blacks out'' or ''no gays here'' stickers on lamp-posts would not lead to a headline stating: ''UK gets first anti-gay controlled zone'' or ''UK gets first anti-black controlled zone''.
Stop buying into this fear-ridden, anti-Muslim propaganda.
Behave yourselves.
edit on 10-7-2011 by Sherlock Holmes because: (no reason given)


text: Cartoon Network Video | Full online episodes of Ben 10 and your favorite TV shows! NOTE: I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure this is only avalable for those inside the US. I was browsing CN Video last night, and discovered that Animated had been put up. The ENTIRE first and second seasons and the Transwarped movie are up for viewing. No need to rush because they are all up there until March of 2010!


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Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class John R. DeWeese has graduated from the United States Navy's Nuclear Power School at Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Goose Creek, SC.
Nuclear Power School is a six-month course that trains officer and enlisted students in the science and engineering fundamental to the design, operation and maintenance of naval nuclear propulsion plants.
Graduates next undergo additional instruction at a prototype training unit before serving as a surface warfare officer aboard a nuclear-powered surface ship or as an electronics technician aboard a nuclear-powered submarine.
DeWeese is assigned to Naval Nuclear Power Training Command, Joint Base Charleston, in Goose Creek, SC.
He is a 2007 graduate of Southern Wells Junior/Senior High School, Poneto, and earned an associate degree in 2011 from Ivy Tech Community College, Fort Wayne.
DeWeese is the son of George and Cheryl DeWeese, of Warren.


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Western Kingbird nest in Western Oregon
On May 27 I joined two birding friends to do a "Big Day" expedition within Marion County, a 17-hr. effort to see how many species we could find in one day. South of the town of Turner we found a pair of Western Kingbirds out in the open fields, and since this species is not easy to find in northwestern Oregon, it was a very satisfying find. But it became even more satisfying when one of my teammates saw one of the birds enter the narrow opening under an insulator on the top of a utility pole, suggesting the even less likely possibility that they were nesting there. The photo of the tell-tale tail confirms the fact that it does occasionally happen here. (We identified at least 110 species for the day, but a few other brief sightings or "hearings" had to be left as unidentified.)


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Drops from allergies
Seasonal flowering of certain plants, pets, certain foods and household dust can often trigger the development of allergic rhinitis.The mainstay of treatment of allergies is to isolate the patient from the source of the allergen. However, in case of difficulty exceptions provoking factor or some difficulty in identifying the causes of allergy, strictly prescribed by the physician can be assigned to use nose drops against allergies.Usually, the action of these drugs is to eliminate the sensitivity to allergens and the elimination of immunological shifts.The drops in the nose from allergies usually combine hyposensitizing and vasoconstrictor properties.Below we will try to briefly describe the most commonly used sprays and drops
drops in the nose from allergies
• levocabastine.This antihistamine nasal breathing improves and eliminates the symptoms of allergic rhinitis as sneezing and itchy nose
• Allergodil.This anti-allergic nasal spray does not have pronounced side
• Vilozen.This anti-inflammatory immunomodulatory drug is quite effective in allergic sinusitis.Vilozen Ingredients: dehydrated extract of the thymus gland, oligopeptides, amino acids, nucleic acid compounds and inorganic salts
• Vibrocil, Galazolin, Naphthyzinum, Nazivin.These vasoconstrictor drugs help relieve the swelling of the nose as soon as possible, but for a long time, they are not recommended, because there comes a highly addictive and nasal breathing without these drugs will be severely hampered
• nose drops Sanorin-Analergin.This drug is a combination of antazoline - histamine receptor blocker and vasoconstrictor nafazolina that exhibits vasoconstrictor effect.The net effect of these components provides a very stable therapeutic effect.Indications: acute rhinitis, allergic rhinitis, chronic conjunctivitis, vernal conjunctivitis, disorders of accommodation.The drug-Sanorin Analergin apply for more than seven days is not recommended due to the fact that the action of vasoconstrictor nafazolina thereafter decreases markedly
• Spray from allergies Nasobek Heyfever.When moderate to severe severity of rhinitis are commonly used hormonal nasal sprays.These sprays and is Nasobek Heyfever having at minimal risk of systemic reactions of a therapeutic activity.Effect of local glucocorticoid usually takes place with a delay, so in the initial phase of treatment, they are usually combined with drugs that relieves acute symptoms of allergy.Indications: rhinitis with hay fever, prevention and treatment of seasonal and year-round rhinitis.In case of severe symptoms of rhinitis, prophylactic treatment is recommended to begin no later than one month before the anticipated start of the pollen season
• Vibrocil.These drops can be used even for infants, 1 cap.in each nostril 3-4 p.per day.Vibrotsilom recommended to use no more than two weeks, and during pregnancy, hypertension, glaucoma, thyroid disease, heart and blood vessels, the drug should be taken with extreme caution.Vibrocil allowed even during lactation.
drops in the nose from allergies is a drug belonging to the aims to eliminate the symptoms, relief of allergic process and neutralize the inflammatory processes common therapeutic complex
Eye drops against allergies
Drops for eyes from allergies are commonly used astreatment of allergic conjunctivitis.They reduce inflammation and inhibit the production of histamine, which reduces the copious tearing, itching, and swelling of eyes.All this symptoms relieve such antihistamine eye drops like Patanol (Olopatadin), ketotifen, azelastine and others.
Eye Drops Allergy Visine, Nafkon-A Opkon-A in its composition contain antihistamines (pheniramine, antazoline) and decongestants (tetrahydrozoline, phenylephrine, naphazoline), is very good for allergies and hay fever.
Eye drops Akular and Lotoprednol relieve swelling and irritation.These preparations are prohibited in case of use of an allergic reaction at any of their components, as well as in the case of infectious diseases of eyes.
Drops from allergies in children is virtually all of the above, however, mandatory pre-should consult a physician, pediatrician or allergist, as some drops of allergies can be applied in each case, it can be judged only after the inspection and the results obtainedassays.
Please be aware that the simultaneous use of allergy eye drops, eye drops and corticosteroids significantly increases the risk of infection.Also eye drops, there are side effects which are very detailed in the instructions for use and who should be treated with the utmost seriousness.


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NASA's MESSENGER crashes on Mercury
The MESSENGER probe — short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging — was the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, and issued a final farewell on Twitter shortly before its demise at 3:26 pm (1926 GMT).
"Well, I guess it's time to say goodbye to all my friends, family, support team. I will be making my final impact very soon."
Shortly after, the official @MESSENGER2011 Twitter account posted another image of Mercury's surface, with the caption: "MESSENGER's LAST ACT? THAT'S SMASHING!"
#thatsmessenger pic.twitter.com/NPK4zqtNPM
— MESSENGER (@MESSENGER2011) April 30, 2015
The image was not of Mercury's fall. NASA has said previously that there could be no real-time pictures of the impact, which would take place on the side of the planet facing away from the Earth.
But the US space agency confirmed that the probe had indeed crash-landed.
"A NASA planetary exploration mission came to a planned, but nonetheless dramatic, end Thursday when it slammed into Mercury's surface at about 8,750 miles per hour (3.91 kilometers per second) and created a new crater on the planet's surface," the agency said in a statement.
The spacecraft itself was just about three meters long.
The crater it would cause was expected to be 16 meters (52 feet) in diameter, NASA said.
The mission, which launched in 2004, had achieved "unprecedented success," with its top discovery being that Mercury had lots of frozen water and other volatile materials in its permanently shadowed polar craters on the planet closest to the Sun, the US space agency said.
"Going out with a bang as it impacts the surface of Mercury, we are celebrating MESSENGER as more than a successful mission," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
"The MESSENGER mission will continue to provide scientists with a bonanza of new results as we begin the next phase of this mission — analyzing the exciting data already in the archives, and unravelling the mysteries of Mercury."-AFP


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Inquiries: (866) 296-3716
The Village at Cedar Hill
The Village – Independent & Assisted Living (Senior Apartments)
The Village at Cedar Hill offers personalized independent and assisted living options along a continuum of care. Some of our independent residents came to Cedar Hill to enjoy an autonomous lifestyle, free of the responsibilities of home ownership. Others joined The Village neighborhood because they wanted or needed a little extra help with daily tasks from our friendly and trained nursing home staff. For those who may need some extra care, or help with arthritis or other chronic conditions, we offer massage, therapeutic services, and we have a dedicated exam room on-site for medical exams. When you choose The Village at Cedar Hill, you gain the security of having a skilled health care center and rehabilitation services right next door.
Life at The Village offer companionship when you want it, privacy when you need it, and an extra helping hand when you require it.
The Comforts of Home with the Benefits of Our Retirement Village Community
At The Village, you can choose from one- and two-bedroom apartments, with a variety of available floor plans. Many of our amenities are what enable our residents to feel truly at home, including home-style cooking, pet-friendly accommodations, an array of social activities in our common areas, live music entertainment several times a month, and on-site parking so that you can use your own car or travel comfortably in a community-owned van to appointments, errands, and local or regional events.
Updated Amenities Designed to Support an Active and Fulfilling Life
In 2015, we added onto The Village, tripling the space and capacity of the neighborhood and improving our amenities to suit a wide variety of interests and needs for senior care.
Exciting Activity Areas
Cedar Hill strives to give each resident options for an active lifestyle. And now we have built even more areas for activities and socializing. You'll enjoy our new Living Room with its warm fireplace, or visit our intimate Ship's Wheel Pub – the perfect spot for good conversation or a game of scrabble. Check out the Fitness Center, or work on crafts in our Activity Room. Our Computer Center and Library keep you connected, and our beautiful grounds offer walks and bird watching all year round.
One, Two-Bedroom & Studio Apartments
All the apartments have a complete kitchen with cabinets, a pantry closet, granite countertops and premium appliances, including a refrigerator and microwave. Two-bedroom units include a full electric range. The attractive living/dining area has large windows facing the lovely gardens and woodlands. The bedrooms can accommodate a queen bed or two twins, have a huge walk-in closet, and a handicap accessible bathroom with a vanity and shower-stalls with adjustable showerheads and fold-down bath seats. The cheery studios combine efficiency and comfort. They are roomy and easy to manage, offering a large sleeping and living space with a separate bath with shower and a large walk-in closet. Each has a kitchenette with ample prep space and cabinets, microwave and refrigerator. All face the beautiful landscaping and have plenty of sunlight.
Chef-Prepared Meals for a Well-Balanced Diet
Our dining room offers a home-like atmosphere, where you can enjoy fresh, local food. Our chefs create delicious, well-balanced, home-cooked meals made with fresh, local ingredients (with accommodations for special dietary needs). Breakfast may include poached eggs or fresh waffles with sliced strawberries and some of our favorite dinner menu items include chicken piccata, fresh-off-the-grill cod, and baked stuffed shrimp. Guests are always welcome in our dining room. Every Sunday, we offer a brunch that entices residents and family members to return week after week to enjoy our French toast, fresh fruit, and pancakes with Vermont maple syrup. No muss, no fuss! Our brunches are a time to share a meal and cherished time together with family and friends.
Cozy in Winter; Sunlit in Summer
In winter, you can warm up by the fireplace in our cozy living room and enjoy time alone or relaxing with friends. In summer you may want to sun yourself on the patio, where you can enjoy views of the Vermont landscape. "The Ship's Wheel Pub", featuring prints of beautiful old cruise ships, is the perfect setting for refreshments and good conversation. While there, you can play the piano, challenge a friend to a game of backgammon, or relax with a newspaper or book.
Tools for Strengthening the Body and Sharpening the Mind
Our retirement village offers a variety fitness amenities and classes to encourage senior residents to maintain and active lifestyle and. You may choose to participate in our exercise, stretching and yoga classes or test your strength in our fitness center. Aside from our in-house options, we often partner with area facilities for swimming, tennis and racquetball, and transportation is provided. We keep our library/computer center well-stocked with books, magazines, and newspapers, and computers are always available for surfing the web, checking Facebook or sending email. Our Greenhouse/Art Facility is a fun place for gardening and creativity, and we even have a full-service Salon.
A Personalized Fee Structure for ONLY the Services You Need
Unlike other Continuing Care Communities, the Village has no entrance fee. You pay a monthly rental fee at a rate comparable to the cost of staying in your own home. It is reassuring at Cedar Hill that if you need any of our other higher levels of senior care — residential care, short-term rehabilitation, or our health care center — you will receive priority entry in a setting with which you are familiar and with a staff you know and trust.
Village Medical Staff and Emergency Services at the Ready
The Village nursing staff is on duty in-house, 24-hours a day as well as an emergency call service. We offer medication management and other support services. For added security and peace of mind, all residents have an emergency response system they carry with them 24 hours a day. Our independent living attendants are available 24 hours per day to assist with personal and health care needs. We also have a full-time, dedicated director to coordinate and oversee any special requirements or needs you may have. Our nurse does regular health and wellness screenings and we have physical therapy, occupational therapy and other professional services available seven days per week at our health care center right next door.
Located Within Driving Distance of Local Attractions
Located in beautiful, historic Windsor, Vermont, The Village at Cedar Hill is a short drive from Hanover, Lebanon, Claremont, Woodstock, Springfield and Chester and just over half an hour from Montpelier and all of its attractions. When you are settled in, you will soon call The Village home. You will be thrilled to find that your new home here at Cedar Hill comes with a cook and no worries about plowing out your driveway!
Services and amenities our independent and assisted living community offer include:
- Three meals per day plus snacks
- Daily Social Hour
- Regular health & wellness screenings
- Weekly housekeeping
- 24-hour emergency call system
- Personal care attendants for assisted living
- Pet Friendly
- Water & Sewer
- Community multi-purpose rooms with large-screen tvs and video games
- Greenhouse & outdoor raised garden beds
- Washers, dryers, ironing board and iron
- Radiant floor heating
- Private mailboxes
- Landscaping & snow removal
- Parking for residents & guests
- Trash & recyclables service
- Grounds and building maintenance
- All utilities–except your telephone & cable service
- Transportation vans for trips to the doctor or for group outings
- Regularly scheduled outings, musical entertainment, exercise programs, crafts, gardening, movies
- A full monthly activities calendar from which you may choose
- On-site religious services
Learn More about Cedar Hill's Services and Amenities
Village Apartment Floor Plans
Click on a plan to enlarge