text:
'Daddy throwback': Bruce Jenner's children Kylie and Brandon show support for their dad on Instagram ahead of his tell-all interview
Just before Bruce Jenner's tell-all interview with Diane Sawyer aired on Friday, his family members finally began to speak out to show their support.
His daughter, 17-year-old Kylie Jenner took to Instagram to share a throwback photo of the 65-year-old, promoting the special as well as making her love of the former athlete known.
Meanwhile his 33-year-old son Brandon posted a picture of himself as a young boy sitting atop Bruce's shoulders, with the simple caption: Proud son.
Scroll down for video
Proud son: Brandon Jenner shared this picture of him as a boy sitting atop his father's shoulders just before Bruce's tell all interview
Kim Kardashian also shared that the family would be watching together, while Bruce's second wife - Linda Thompson - shared a sweet Instagram post praising him for sharing his personal journey.
Kylie shared a black and white photo of her father to her Instagram account on Friday, in which the former Olympian put his athletic build on display in short shorts and a cut-off shirt.
The supportive daughter sweetly captioned the photo: 'daddy throwback. #Tonight #DianeSawyer #ABC #love'
'Daddy throwback' Bruce Jenner's daughter Kylie Jenner showed her support for her father on Friday - ahead of his the interview - with this photo, hashtagging it: '#Tonight #DianeSawyer #ABC #love'
By his side: Previously the family had kept mum on the former Olympian's interview, but Kylie shared her support on Friday
Feeling grateful for this day.— Leah Jenner (@Leah_Jenner) April 24, 2015
The photo was a shot from Bruce's appearance in the 1980 film Can't Stop the Music - which also starred Steve Guttenberg and told the story of disco group The Village People.
Meanwhile Brandon's wife Leah Jenner tweeted for the first time in six months, posting a message which may have been one of support for her father-in-law: 'Feeling grateful for this day'.
Previously the family had not commented on Bruce's upcoming special, but Kim also spoke out on the topic at Variety's Power of Women event on Friday.
Family dinner: Kylie Jenner stepped out the night before her father's big interview to grab dinner with sister Kourtney Kardashian and her partner Scott Disick at Craig's Restaurant in West Hollywood
Set the bar high in Kris' Balmain mini dress
It isn't hard to see that where the Kardashian and Jenner girls got their sense of style from.
We know that momgaer Kris Jenner can keep step with her stylish daughters, but at last night's family outing in LA she could almost have passed for one of the sisters. Not many fifty-somethings could pull off a pair of thigh high boots! Incidentally the very same Givenchy boots that Kim Kardashian owns as well. Been raiding her wardrobe while she's away in New York, have we Kris?
But enough about the boots! We love the black and nude Aztec-inspired print on her mini dress, which is very similar to the blazer Kylie wore that evening. Both pieces are by Balmain, the family's favourite designer label and if you want to get a bit of the brand in your wardrobe then click (right) to copy Kris. The stretchy knit of this number means there's no need to shy away from the bodycon fit but be prepared to spend $2680!
Back to reality, if your budget isn't quite as big as Kris' then check out our edit below. House of Fraser and Asos have got some really good lookalikes, or get a bargain at Boohoo.
'The family is watching all together with Bruce, so I'm literally rushing out right after this to catch a flight home so they can wait and watch it with me,' the 34-year-old revealed to Extra.
She insisted the entire clan is fully supportive of Jenner, adding: 'As a family we always support each other 100 per cent and I know that I see things online that there is this divide and this one doesn't support this and this one doesn't support this and you know it's all ridiculous and it's all rumors and we love everyone in the family and we support everyone equally so we're excited to watch tonight and I'm excited for Bruce to tell his story on Diane Sawyer.'
She added to Entertainment Tonight: 'I hate so badly when I see things [like] my mom doesn't support him, or this sister doesn't support him. It's all just a story that people want to put out there. None of us have spoken and we're letting Bruce speak first.'
They'll be watching: At Variety's Power of Women event in New York City Kim Kardashian shared that the entire family would be watching Bruce's special together
Bruce's second wife Linda also shared her support, posting a collage of the star on her Instagram account.
It's the first public comment the former beauty queen, who was married to the Olympic gold medalist from 1981 to 1986, has made about his rumored transition from male to female.
Linda shared two pictures of the former decathlete, one of him celebrating his victory at the Montreal Olympics in 1976 and one of his sporting image on a billboard.
Reaching out: Bruce's second wife - Linda Thompson - also shared her support, posting a collage of photos of the former athlete on her Instagram account along with a heartfelt message
She compared his expected revelations about his personal journey to the magnitude of what he accomplished as an athlete.
Linda had two sons with Bruce - Brandon and Brody - and both have been seen in teaser videos released by the TV network suggesting they are also supportive of their father's transition.
'Once a champion of Olympian magnitude...now a champion for those who share the struggle to just be who they are. #compassion #acceptance #tolerance #education #evolution #kindness #inclusion #freedom #peace' she captioned the photos.
Champion: Linda called Bruce a 'champion for those who share the struggle to just be who they are'
She also retweeted one of 20/20's promotional tweets for the upcoming 2-hour interview, hashtagging it: '#openminds #openhearts #tolerance #acceptance #freedomtobewhoyouare #kindness'
TMZ claimed that Bruce, 65, would be watching the special twice, noting that a source said: 'He will be watching both an east coast and west coast feed.'
'The Kardashian family will be watching one feed with Bruce, and the rest of his family, including Brody, Brandon, Burt and Casey, will be watching the other feed.'
Supportive family: Linda had two sons with Bruce: Brody, 31, and Brandon, 33, who have been seen in teaser videos released by the TV network suggesting they are also supportive of their father's transition
The Jenners will gather at his Malibu mansion.
The site's source added, 'Bruce felt it was very important to be around his family when the show airs.'
The cameras for Keeping Up with the Kardashians will not be on when he watched the show, it was also claimed.
But there was no mention if some of Bruce's own cameras for one of his own projects would be there.
Keeping to herself: Bruce's ex Kris Jenner kept mum on the former athlete's upcoming tell-all when she stopped by Craig's in West Hollywood on Thursday evening
On Friday morning ABC released another clip from his upcoming sit down.
In the emotional video, Sawyer asked Jenner if there was anything that they hadn't covered over the course of the interview.
'What is the question—if I were you, what question would you ask me?' he clarified.
'Right..."Are you going to be OK? You know? Are you gonna be OK?"'
He then said, 'Yeah. I hope I'm gonna be OK. I feel like I'm gonna be OK...2015's gonna be quite a ride. Quite a ride.'
Mum's the word: Khloe Kardashian and Kendall Jenner had nothing to say about the former Olympian when they attended the Calvin Klein Jeans' celebration launch of the #mycalvins Denim Series at Chateau Marmont Thursday
Earlier Bruce said he was worried about his children. 'I can't let myself hurt them.'
Kim earlier showed support for her stepfather when talking to Entertainment Tonight.
'I will say that I think Bruce should tell his story his way...I think everyone goes through things in life,' she explained.
'I think Bruce is very happy, the happiest I've ever seen him...He's our dad so we support him no matter what… I guess I'll kind of let everyone be curious and I feel like that's his journey to talk about.'
One big family: TMZ reported it was important to Bruce to watch the special with his family - pictured here with the kids, looking happy when he and Kris tied the knot in 1991
- Muscle man who is out-flexed by woman at football game
- Pimple porn: Dermatologist becomes viral YouTube star
- Shocking moment police deputy shoots dead pet Rottweiler
- 'Not heroes, just tourists': Swedish cops stop subway...
- Sawyer Sweeten interviewed with siblings Madylin and...
- Kim Richards leaves hotel after explosive Dr Phil interview
- How does my story end?: Bruce Jenner ponders the future
- 15-year-old charged as mom identifies him in surveillance
- Sawyer and Sullivan Sweeten on Everybody Loves Raymond
- Once you pop! Girl tries Kylie Kenner challenge with Pringle...
- Angelina Jolie pleads with UN to help Syrian refugees
- Nurse yelps with joy as previously paralysed girl stands up
- 'He showed no sign of depression, no sign of anything':...
- 'I'm a woman': Tearful Bruce Jenner reveals he considered...
- Father pens candid obituary for drug-addict daughter, 24,...
- Special Envoy Angelina rips UN's 'paralysis' over Syria's...
- Images of transgender prisoner whose face was 'pulverized'...
- Jealous 'hillbilly' ex, 24, found guilty of murder after...
- Charles' and Di's 'secret daughter': Wills and Harry have an...
- William and Kate's pre-baby shopping spree: Duke and Duchess...
- Anger after white people and men are banned from...
- Revealed: Harrowing photo collection smuggled out of Armenia...
- Teen, 15, who sexually assaulted, robbed and beat woman in...
- Feeling glum? Move to Switzerland! Swiss nation is the...
The comments below have been moderated in advance.
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.


text:
Everything You Need from One Company
We provide everything you need for your successful online presence and website, from custom website design and development, to search engine optimization (SEO), web site hosting and more.
Custom Web Design
Custom website design ensures your business can make an important, lasting, professional impression. A clean and effective online web presence inspires confidence in your organization.
Learn More about our Custom Web Design
Premium Website Hosting
We create custom high speed web hosting packages tailored to to bring faster load times and a better user experience for your visitors.
Learn More about our Premium Website Hosting
Search Engine Optimization – SEO
Increase your website's search engine optimization through our custom tailored SEO services. Comprehensive SEO can lead to higher search engine rank in Google, Yahoo! and Bing, allowing for an increase of traffic and interest in your web site.
Learn More about our SEO Services
Website Development
A hand-coded website built on WordPress allows you to take the reigns and operate many aspects of your website. We can develop your new website with many of today's latest features that visitor's love.
Learn More about our Website Development
We provide everything you need for a spectacular online presence, from start to finish and beyond.
Sell Online with e-Commerce
Increase sales and revenue with the capability of selling your products or services right from your website. Your visitors will love and appreciate an easy-to-use online store front.
Learn More about our e-Commerce Solutions
Professional Website Maintenance
Keep your website running smoothly, hassle-free, with content management system, security and database updates and optimization, all part of our website maintenance plans. You can also receive e-mailed traffic and visitor reports which provide valuable insight and statistics.
Learn more about Professional Website Maintenance

subset: commoncrawl


text:
LOL she's trannyliscious!Originally Posted by Le Type Français
LOL she's trannyliscious!Originally Posted by Le Type Français
Soy contains a natural chemical that mimics estrogen. It is really not a suitable food to eat in large quantities, for anybody. It has a lot of hormonal impact, from libido to fertility to thyroid function.
Good linked source, Betheny, and it clears up why I've only recently been having good results from eating a soyfood.Originally Posted by betheny
Soy critics point to the fact that soybeans, as provided by nature, are not suitable for human consumption. Only after fermentation for some time, or extensive processing, including chemical extractions and high temperatures, are the beans, or the soy protein isolate, suitable for digestion when eaten.
Last edited by Juke_spin; 08-28-2008 at 12:49 PM.
"The world will not perish for want of wonders but for want of wonder."
That guy went 'all out'. Wow!Originally Posted by wtf
"The world will not perish for want of wonders but for want of wonder."
What kind?Originally Posted by Ashley
I use it too. Clear to avoid the white lines on my shirts.
Get involved in politics as if your life depended on it, because it does. -- Justin Dart
I shall not tolerate ignorance or hate speech on this site.
It's secret brand, can't remember the name but it has a yellow glittery label. The designs for deoderant always crack me upOriginally Posted by Liz321
Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow.
-Dorothy Thompson
My Philosophy:
If ya stinky...
bathe! (Preferably with soap...and advisedly before ya start fuming)
Pretty ingenious, huh.
That's good you haven't worn deodorant in 30 years from a health prospective. Otherwise you would have 30 years of aluminum toxins stored up in your system creating all kinds of diseases that would be noticeable in your elder years. You do need something fo the order tough, even if if you don't smell it others with more sensitive noses might. I'd suggest getting one of those mineral rocks. They're completely natural, they only forma barrier between your skin and the bacteria so you don;'t get the smell, and they can last years, my last one I paid about $ 5bucks for and it lasted almost 3 years. So you're staying healthy and saving a lot of money at the same time.


text:
World-class crisis management communications systems are ready for any facility, any situation
General purpose paging and notification system for audio/visual and mass notification messaging
A wide selection of power amplifiers including multi-channel and modular mainframes. Some models provide DSP and ambient noise analysis.
Assortment of input and communication panels with models featuring programmable touchscreen interface
Various network input devices, backup amplifier switching modules expansion modules etc.
General software interface for the IED Globalcom system which fits various solutions and designs depending on the specific facility
Please fill out the information below to have one of our representatives contact you.
Please fill out the information below to download Sound Masking Done Right.
Complete this form to continue to downloads.
Please fill out the information below to have one of our experts contact you.
Complete this form to download Fohhn Audio Soft software.
Please fill out the contact information below.
Please fill out the form below to request a live SHS demonstration.
Request Access to Use AtlasIED.com to Place Purchase Orders.
Please complete this form and we will have one of our audio experts get in touch with you.


text:
Scholastic and Simon & Schuster/CBS
Corporation present
J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and John Irving read in two benefit performances at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on August 1st and 2nd at 7:30pm.
Evenings will benefit Doctor's Without Borders and The Haven Foundation.
Press Release: PDF or About Scholastic News
Advance questions from the audience are no longer being accepted for the event.


text:
Emma Watson stars as Belle in Disney's "Beauty & The Beast" reboot, and you can watch the trailer right here.
We come bearing gifts. Disney has released today the official trailer for their live-action adaptation of "Beauty & The Beast" starring Emma Watson as Belle (The Beauty), and Dan Evans of "Downton Abbey" as The Beast.
The trailer does a phenomenal job evoking the iconic imagery of the 1991 cartoon version, which became the first animated feature film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Aside from Emma Watson in the lead role, there are other exciting castings to report. Kevin Kline will be playing the role of Belle's father Maurice, Ewan McGregor will be playing Lumière, Ian McKellen is Cogsworth, Emma Thompson is Mrs. Potts, and Josh Gad will be voicing Le Fou. Check out the trailer above.


text: Contents IT Service Management Previous Topic Next Topic Approve or reject a contract Subscribe Log in to subscribe to topics and get notified when content changes. ... SAVE AS PDF Selected Topic Topic & Subtopics All Topics in Contents Share Approve or reject a contract You can can approve or reject a contract if you are the contract manager. Before you beginRole required: contract_manager or admin Procedure Navigate to Contract Management > My Approvals. Select a contract in Requested state. Perform one of the following tasks. OptionDescription Approve the contract Click Approve. The contract Substate changes to Approved. Reject the contract Click Reject and enter a rejection reason in the Comments field. The contract Substate changes to Rejected Click Update. A contract with a State of Draft and a Start Date set in the future is kept in Draft until the start date is reached. If the contract has a Substate of Approved, the system changes the State to Active and removes the Substate value. When a contract with a State of Draft and a Start Date set to a date in the past is approved, the contract State is automatically set to Active and Substate is left blank. On this page Send Feedback Previous Topic Next Topic


text:
With a certain type of north American one is used to the frontiersman mentality — where almost any form of otherness is interpreted as savagery. Through this daft spyglass, most locals tend to manifest themselves as so many injuns circling the wagon train. But in truth, the problem in Jardines is not with the wild westerners, it's with what Donald Rumsfeld calls the old Europeans. There's the Frenchman who rushes out to beat his beagles whenever they bark at us from behind his gate (surely what he put them there to do?) Then there's the unbalanced couple who have forced us to change the route of our AM and PM chucho promenades simply in order to avoid them.
'Herr Bunker-mentality' has a German Shepherd like ours, though his appears to be more of a penis extension than a pet, because when his 'Fritz' attacked Jin and lost, he went beserk and started kicking and throwing rocks at our dog. It didn't matter how much we screamed at him to behave like a normal human being, it was as if we weren't even there.
In my experience two large male dogs will nearly always have a short scrap the first time they meet, and it will only make matters worse if owners rush in to separate them...or indeed to join the fight. This initial altercation establishes the status situation for all future encounters, and this is clearly what proved intolerable for our mitteleuropean 'gent'. Jin has been put in his place by small furry pooches, but I've never felt the urge to drop a boulder on them afterwards.
Anyway, some weeks later we ran into his wife walking the same dog in Jardines in the late evening and she ran off screaming before either canine had come within sniffing distance. And my Norwegian friend in London is always telling me how many new friends he makes whilst out walking his cocker spaniel.
Most worrying of all was the incident when V had a machete waved at her by a notorious Italian perve. As far as Jardines goes this guy is more transient than resident, riding through the development on a bicycle dragging his husky along behind him on a fairly short leash.
Of course when his dog and ours become aware of each other's presence he finds it hard to keep going in a straight line. Any 'normal' person would realise that all they have to do is stop and wait for the dogs to interact and then carry on as before, but no, this was his cue for a frenzy. He ran over to where a gardener was pruning a hedge, snatched his machete and started bearing down on V.
She hadn't brought a gun to this particular machete-fight, but she is very adept at using words as penetrating weapons, and found the right way to bring up having recently spotted this man openly enjoying gay porn in a cyber-cafe with two young Indian boys seated beside him. He tossed the machete aside and fled the scene. The gardener stood petrified nearby as this played out.
Jin is not an aggressive dog at all, though he barks at lone males with alcohol on their breath or anyone with a history of shooing him away with pebbles. He keeps his distance though and hardly ever intrudes within leaping range.
But once, when V was ambling down the rough earth road on the edge of Jardines that we have dubbed 'Gringits' (the residents generally being both gringos and gits) Jin wandered over to smell some flowers outside the impressive colonial-style residence which then belonged to a deceptively dignified-looking Yank that we'd come across a few times on the Antigua culture circuit. This man duly appeared, reached inside his pocket for a can of MACE and shouted at V: "Take your dog away or I'll spray him ...and then I'll spray you!!!"
In this instance V had only her disarming sang froid to defend herself with (Never, EVER, show fear, she constantly counsels me), but most gringo aggressors are ultimately unprepared for the firm little lecture she can quickly deliver in her well-enunciated English proclaiming their lack of education. (This man later came over and apologised, claiming that he had mistaken Jin for one of Arzu's ferocious K50-trained Alsatians, widely-rumoured to have torn apart several pedestrians who have strayed into this itchy trigger-finger neighbourhood.)
Most of the Guatemalan residents of Jardines are paid to live there, while the real owners spend their time in cramped, over-furnished apartments in Guatemala City. Few of these guachimen are hostile, though there's one kid who once tried to scare us by appearing with a shotgun (which he cocked ostentatiously) as we walked past his employer's house.
Last weekend we were out again with the dogs when Cherry (notably smaller than Jin) made the mistake of snarling at an old chapin with a walking stick...which he was soon flailing around like a cavalry sabre. I rushed over to apologise on behalf of Cherry and explained that she is harmless and that he should just say her name rather than try to club her with his bastón, but it soon became clear to me that I was dealing with the ex-military type, whose last intimate interaction with a dog may well have been when he had to slit the throat of the puppy that newly-recruited cadets are given here in Guatemala.
You don't realise who you are dealing with," he screeched, "the last time a dog came and barked at me I pulled out my gun and shot it dead."
Dogs, I have discovered, really can detect a dickhead a mile away.
In a land where the majority of people suffer from one or another kind of powerlessness, 'Usted no sabe quien soy' is a much overused form of intimidation. I didn't know who he was, but he certainly looked like a silly old fossil terrified of a small dog, and he was soon scuttling off back in the direction from whence he had originally appeared.
Pets are not the only way to make new enemies around here, especially in the open-air sanctuary for demented retirees that is Jardines de Antigua and adjoining neighbourhoods. There have already been a couple of incidents relating to my right-hand drive vehicle which have led me to recall the time it was set upon by another bastón-wielding berserker back in Salamanca.
V was at the wheel and when we entered a fine plaza with a very fetching plateresque church at the end of it, I asked her to pull up and let me out so I could take a picture. As soon as I got out the car I heard a torrent of Spanish invective behind me and watched as an ostensibly feeble old guy started bashing my car with his stick. What had him fuming was the notion that any driver should have dared to blithely disembark there without bothering to park properly. Thanks to the polarised windows he hadn't at first spotted V at the timón, but as soon as he did he vamoosed pretty sharpish.
The other day here in Antigua V was parked outside a local shop when an agent of the PMT appeared at the passenger side window and shouted in overbearingly"Where's the driver?!!". "Here?" my wife offered in return, pointing at the wheel in front of her.
On a kind of related note, here's a little clip of my mother cerca 1953 getting into a car which, by today's standards at least, features a measure of unconventionality in its door layout which might, in the words of Peter Cook, "confuse a stupid person ".
(The car and cine camera belonged to my grandfather.)


text:
Don't Miss: Experibass
Diego Stocco wondered what it would sound like if violin, viola and cello strings were amplified through the body of a double bass. He built an instrument to find out:
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 | 27 comments
Diego Stocco wondered what it would sound like if violin, viola and cello strings were amplified through the body of a double bass. He built an instrument to find out:
Monday, September 28, 2009 | 24 comments
Building facades come alive. A collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis:
Thursday, September 24, 2009 | 313 comments
Welcome to "How'd They Do That?" a new series where we ask accomplished video-makers to reveal the secrets, techniques, inspiration and fun facts behind their videos.
Our first subject is "Metal Heart," a monster truck romp that's still an undiscovered gem. We caught up with the video's creator, Keith Loutit, while he was on location in Italy shooting an ad campaign and asked him just how he created such cool effects.
Who are you?
I am a photographer and film-maker based in Sydney, Australia. I initially developed the tilt-shift / timelapse technique to present Sydney in a new way, and help people to see their surroundings as if for the first time, through the eyes of a child. In the short term, I am releasing these films in a music video format, but I plan to consolidate the highlights into a single short film to conclude the project.
What gave you the idea to make "Metal Heart"?
"Metal Heart" was a break from my Sydney project and was a proof of concept for me to see what was possible with the technique and shoot a subject that is perfectly suited to the style. "Metal Heart" was the first time I had attempted to shoot a live event in this style, and it was also the first time I'd attempted to capture fast moving subjects using timelapse.
How many hours did it take you?
The film was shot during a three-hour monster truck event in Brisbane, Australia, and comprised around 20,000 still images which were later converted to footage that could be edited.
What special techniques did you use?
The two techniques that are combined in this film are selective focus, which creates the illusion of miniaturization by simulating the shallow depth of field that is common when viewing / photographing small things, and timelapse, which allows me to speed up action to simulate the movement of toys animated via stop motion (claymation).
Tell us a fact about this video that no one would know by looking at it.
That it's real :D.
For more info about Keith, visit http://keithloutit.com/news.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 | 51 comments
Welcome to the Creator's Corner blog, where we'll showcase cutting-edge videos and trends, and invite some of YouTube's most accomplished and creative users to share their video-making tips, sources of inspiration, and tricks on getting discovered. It's part of the Creator's Corner site, a special page within YouTube designed to be an all-in-one resource for budding video artistes.
Put another way: if the Biz Blog is for finance majors, the developer blog is for engineers, Citizentube is for the poli-sci kids, and the main blog is for the entire student body, then this blog represents the voice and talents of anyone who a creative bone in his or her body. These people take risks, they explore, they make videos that dazzle the eye and rattle the mind.
Of course, not everything needs to be earth-shattering to be covered here. Often, some very powerful videos are quiet or simple. That is the amazing thing about YouTube: You don't need huge budgets or a massive staff to create works of art that find large, loving audiences. You just need a spark of inspiration and the will to see it through.
This blog's goal is to help ignite that spark by celebrating the incredible talents of the YouTube community.


text:
by shannon smith
For my friend Vanessa's wedding she and her groom Andrew made every table stand up and sing a song that had a chorus with the word love in it then the whole table had to stand up and sing that song and if they did sing it she and Andrew would have to kiss.
Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Wedding Games.


text:
Clément Ader
|2 April 1841
Muret, Haute-Garonne, France
|3 May 1925 (aged 84)
Toulouse, Haute Garonne, Occitanie, France
|Engineering career
|Significant design
|Significant advance
|First self-propelled flight (1890)
Clément Ader (2 April 1841 - 3 May 1925)[1][2] was a French inventor and engineer who was born in Muret, Haute-Garonne (a distant suburb of Toulouse), and died in Toulouse. He is remembered primarily for his pioneering work in aviation.
Ader was an innovator in both electrical and mechanical engineering. He originally studied electrical engineering, and in 1878 improved on the telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell. After this he established the telephone network in Paris in 1880. In 1881, he invented the théâtrophone, a system of telephonic transmission where listeners received a separate channel for each ear, enabling stereophonic perception of the actors on a set; it was this invention which gave the first stereo transmission of opera performances, over a distance of 2 miles (3 km) in 1881.[3] In 1903, he devised a V8 engine for the Paris-Madrid race, but although three or four were produced, none were sold.[4]
Following this, he turned to the problem of mechanical flight and until the end of his life gave much time and money to this. Using the studies of Louis Pierre Mouillard (1834-1897) on the flight of birds, he constructed his first flying machine in 1886, the Ader Éole. It was a bat-like design run by a lightweight steam engine of his own invention, with 4 cylinders with a power rating of 20 hp (15 kW), driving a four-blade propeller. The engine weighed 51 kg (112 lb).[5] The wings had a span of 14 m (46 ft). All-up weight was 300 kg (660 lb). On 9 October 1890 Ader attempted to fly the Éole. Aviation historians give credit to this effort as a powered take-off and uncontrolled flight in ground effect of approximately 50 m (160 ft) at a height of approximately 20 centimetres (8 in).[6][7][8][9] Ader also claimed credit for getting off the ground in the Éole.[10]
Ader began construction of a second aircraft he called the Avion II, also referred to as the Zephyr or Éole II. Most sources agree that work on this aircraft was never completed, and it was abandoned in favour of the Avion III. Ader's later claim that he flew the Avion II in August 1892 for a distance of 100 m (330 ft) in Satory near Paris,[11] was never widely accepted.[7]
Ader's progress attracted the interest of the minister of war, Charles de Freycinet. With the backing of the French War Office, Ader developed and constructed the Avion III. It resembled an enormous bat made of linen and wood, with a 15 m (48 ft) wingspan, equipped with two four bladed tractor propellers, each powered by a steam engine of 30 hp (22 kW). Using a circular track at Satory, Ader carried out taxiing trials on 12 October 1897 and two days later attempted a flight. After a short run the machine was caught by a gust of wind, slewed off the track, and came to a stop. After this the French army withdrew its funding, but kept the results secret. The commission released in November 1910 the official reports on Ader's attempted flights, stating that they were unsuccessful.[12]
Clément Ader remained an active proponent of the development of aviation. In 1909 he published L'Aviation Militaire, a very popular book which went through 10 editions in the five years before the First World War. It is notable for its vision of aerial warfare and for its foreseeing the form of the modern aircraft carrier, with a flat flight deck, an island superstructure, deck elevators and a hangar bay. His idea for an aircraft carrier was relayed by the US Naval Attaché in Paris[13] and was followed by the first trials in the United States in November 1910.
An airplane-carrying vessel is indispensable. These vessels will be constructed on a plan very different from what is currently used. First of all the deck will be cleared of all obstacles. It will be flat, as wide as possible without jeopardizing the nautical lines of the hull, and it will look like a landing field.-- Clément Ader, L'Aviation Militaire, 1909
Ader is still admired for his early powered flight efforts, and his aircraft gave the French language the word avion for a heavier-than-air aircraft. In 1938, France issued a postage stamp honoring him. Airbus named one of its aircraft assembly sites in Toulouse after him. Clément Ader has been referred to as "the father of aviation".[14][15]
Media related to Clément Ader at Wikimedia Commons


text:
DJ: Infinity Music
Photographer: Storybook Wedding Photography
Transportation: Old Urban Trolley
Margaret & Christopher had a sweet ceremony surrounded by loved ones. The Old Urban Trolley and a limo, provided transportation from the church to Harwelden Mansion, where guests ate yummies, visited and danced together. All our best wishes for these wonderful newlyweds!


text:
Oiva/Veljekset bowl 5dl white, black, red
This medium-sized bowl is decorated with a white, black and red Veljekset pattern. The bowl is made of dishwasher, oven, microwave and freezer proof white stoneware.
This product was designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence.Size infoCapacity: 5.00 dl Diameter: 12.50 cm Height: 7.00 cmMaterial and care
Main Material: white stoneware
Oven Safe. Microwave Safe. Freezer Safe. Dishwasher Safe.OtherPattern: Veljekset Pattern Designer: Maija Louekari Designer: Sami Ruotsalainen Color: white, black, red Made in: Thailand Product code: 068606 Color ID: 193


text:
NOTE: Bulk Email Merge Tags are available with the Professional, Enterprise, and Elite Plans.
The curly brackets icon at the bottom of the email window allows you to insert unique Merge Tags to personalize emails to your Leads and Contacts. Merge Tags give your bulk emails a personalized touch, for example, you can have the Lead's name or company name automatically included in your email blast.
Merge Tags auto-populate fields that are unique to each Lead, Contact, or Deal, such as a Custom Field or phone number. The options for Merge Tags include all default information fields, like email address, as well as any additional custom fields you create.
You can insert custom field Merge Tags to include tailored information in your bulk emails, whether it's the rate of commission you agreed on with that contact or the name and age of their pet. You can even insert the email sender's information.
You can configure your Custom Fields in your account's Contacts and Leads Settings.
Zendesk Sell instantly checks your list of email recipient's for any merge fields you select. In the case that one of them doesn't have data in the field you selected, you'll see an orange exclamation mark next to their name. Hover the cursor over them, and the missing field will highlight in orange, letting you quickly identify the people whose data you'll need to update.
But nothing to worry about – if you click Send regardless, the email will not be sent to them. Instead, you'll see a notification letting you know that a number of recipients were not included in the email – and letting you compose a new email, addressed just to that group, with one click.
Naturally, you can also add the recipients one by one, using the + icon on the left-hand side of the screen, as well as filter the list for particular names. If you need to remove someone from the list, hover the cursor over their name, and click the red Remove icon that shows up to the right.
And as with any email, you can add attachments, either from your computer or from your Documents in Sell.


text:
Miller home care provides Peace of Mind service that guarantees your loved one gets the best care one deserves to have. If your loved one is showing signs of slowing down, and need additional assistance, then call us right away. That way you can introduce the idea of having external help to make the transition better for your loved one, as well as the caregiver. Our Peace of Mind service will give company for your loved ones, talk with them and remind them to have medication and meals. Our assistance will help to bring peace of mind for your loved one.
The Miller Home Care offers Peace of Mind Service, through this family members of our clients will be able to know more about our team of home care experts, how they are giving assistance and what they have to offer. These visits may often take only an hour and will provide the family extra help in taking care of the loved one and assisting them to do daily activity. It is one way for the family to get peace of mind.
The Miller Home Peace of Mind Service provides the following:
- Conversation and companionship
- Reminders for medication
- Preparation of meals
- Housekeeping tasks
To learn more about the Miller Home Peace of Mind Service, Contact us today. We can schedule a visit to know more about you and also discuss about how we can help. We will see you as soon as possible.
Check out our more services :


text:
Everyone loves a PACKAGE DEAL!
When ordering multiples of an item be sure to select a "PACKAGE DEAL" if it is available. SAVE on the price AND shipping... Win, Win!!
Milano Republic Furniture's replica products are not manufactured by, approved by, or affiliated with, the original designers, manufacturers or distributors in any way.


text:
Five years of ISS crews
Just over five years ago the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft was launched into orbit. There had been 30 previous launches of the Soyuz-TM spacecraft, all of which went to the Mir Space Station. This flight however was a landmark in spaceflight history as it carried the first Expedition Crew to the International Space Station where it arrived and docked two days later.
On 2 November 2005 it is precisely five years ago that Bill Shephard, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev entered through the hatch between the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft and the International Space Station establishing a permanently occupied international outpost in space. This marked a new era in human spaceflight, which had officially started with the signing of the ISS Intergovernmental Agreement between the five international partners: USA, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan in January 1998.
For Krikalev being on the ISS was not, however, a new experience as he was a member of the first ISS assembly flight as part of the STS-88 Space Shuttle mission in December 1998. He would not be the only astronaut or cosmonaut to be in this situation either, as 16 of the astronauts that took part in the ISS assembly and outfitting missions prior to November 2000 would return on different missions to the ISS, eight of them as members of expedition crews, including the current members of Expedition 12.
Since 2 November 2000, the ISS has been visited by nearly 100 astronauts, 28 of which have been on mission to the ISS more than once, including ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori who took part in the European Marco Polo and Eneide missions to the ISS in 2002 and 2005 respectively. Of these nearly 100 astronauts, 29 were members of Expedition crews that have had long-term stays on the ISS from between 129 and 193 days.
Since the arrival of the first Expedition crew, there have been about 5800 crew days (almost 16 years) spent by astronauts working at the ISS, 84% of which by the 12 ISS Expedition Crews. In fact to be precise over 500 of the crew days are strictly speaking actually woman days. This includes the first European woman to visit the ISS, former ESA astronaut Claudie Haigneré on the Andromède mission in October 2001.
European astronauts
Of all the astronauts that have been on mission to the station, seven of these have been European, with six of these being ESA staff members: Roberto Vittori, André Kuipers, Pedro Duque, Frank De Winne, Claudie Haigneré and Umberto Guidoni.
The seventh was Philippe Perrin who at the time of the flight was a CNES staff member and later became a member of ESA's European Astronaut Corps in 2002 before joining Airbus Industries as a test pilot in 2004.
These astronauts have accounted for about 90 days of crew days work in space for Europe. This is set to triple when ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter arrives at the ISS next year as the first European member of an ISS Expedition Crew. Reiter is set to fly to the ISS on the following Shuttle mission STS-121 which is currently scheduled for launch after May 2006.
Soyuz and Space Shuttle
Since the Expedition 1 Crew arrived at the ISS there have been 11 Soyuz spacecraft to visit the ISS with crew: Four of these were Soyuz TM spacecraft (including the Soyuz TM-31 of the Expedition 1 Crew) and seven of these were Soyuz TMA spacecraft.
ESA astronauts were members of the crew on nine of 11 of these spacecraft either to the ISS or from the ISS or on both legs of the flight. This included the first flight of the Soyuz TMA spacecraft with ESA astronaut Frank De Winne on the Odissea Mission in 2002, André Kuipers on the DELTA mission in 2004, Pedro Duque on the Cervantes mission in 2003 and the missions of Haigneré and Vittori.
There have been twelve Shuttle flights to visit the Station since the Expedition 1 Crew arrived. This includes the STS-100 mission which included the first European and ESA astronaut to visit the ISS, Umberto Guidoni, and the flight of Philippe Perrin on the STS-111 mission.
Research on the ISS
Research is the central emphasis for the International Space Station and the first European-built internal research facility, which was launched on the STS-111 mission with Perrin was the Microgravity Science Glovebox.
The Microgravity Science Glovebox enables astronauts on board the ISS to perform a wide variety of materials, combustion, fluids and biotechnology experiments in weightlessness. One such experiment that utilises the facility is the ESA Promiss experiment, which has proved a versatile instrument for protein crystallisation investigations on the ISS since 2002.
The past five years of research on the ISS have produced many advancements in different areas and additional European experiments and hardware have played an important role in this. European hardware currently on the ISS includes the Pulmonary Function System, which arrived at the ISS in July 2005. This will be used to provide a wealth of information about astronauts' lung function, blood flow and entire cardiovascular system.
The Kubik Incubator has been on the ISS since April 2004 and is utilised for carrying out biological experiments. Cardiocog, Neurocog and Virtual Subjective Vertical hardware and the Eye Tracking Device, Hand Posture Analyser and Nitric Oxide Analyser are available for carrying out human physiology investigations.
The PK-3 plus hardware is used for complex plasma experimentation and the Alteino device on the ISS since 2002 for cosmic ray investigations. Additional European hardware is also in the making or awaiting launch, the major element being the Columbus Laboratory, which will greatly increase the European research capabilities on board the ISS.
Furthermore, while the ISS has seen many astronauts come and go in the last five years, the European-built Data Management System (DMS-R) has been functioning flawlessly. Launched on 12 July 2000 in the Zvezda Service Module, 3½ months before the Expedition 1 Crew, the DMS-R is the set of on-board computers, their avionics and software that provide for the overall control, mission and failure management of the entire Russian segment of the ISS.
There has also been a fake European crew member on the ISS since February 2004. This crew member is the European Matroshka experiment that has been on the ISS for 554 days. The European experiment that simulates the head and torso of a human being has been taking measurements of the radiation environment inside and outside the ISS since its arrival.


text:
Sign Up | Log In
Maya. Post-BDM. Mal and Freya and a log cabin. NC17.
Easy job. Just dropping off some supplies to a few outlying farms from where they'd parked Serenity, Mal had split the crew to make the job simpler. River and Jayne took the hover to the furthest homestead, while Zoe and Hank were delegated the closest, within walking distance.
"Aw, Mal, why don't we just take the shuttle?" Jayne complained. "Be a hell of a lot quicker."
"You don't want the opportunity to spend some quality time together away from the ship?" Mal asked, a twinkle in his eye.
River put her hand on the big man's arm and he quietened down as it occurred to him that maybe the captain was right. He grinned as his woman dropped a thought into his brain.
"Yeah, well, maybe could be fun," he said, and laughed throatily.
"What about the Conrad place?" Zoe asked, studiously ignoring him.
"Oh, Frey and me'll take that one. Use the old mule. It's a nice day for a ride."
And it was easy. The Conrads were pleased with the delivery, and insisted Mal and Freya stay for a meal, and it was getting on in the afternoon by the time they started back.
Freya looked into the sky and raised her eyebrows. "Looks like it's going to rain." Clouds were gathering on the horizon.
"We'll be fine," Mal said, smiling at her as he negotiated a pothole.
"Only they're coming along really quickly." She pulled her jacket closer around herself as a cool wind began to play with her hair.
"Don't worry." He patted her knee.
Five minutes later the mule stuttered to a halt.
Mal tried starting the engine again, adjusted the fuel mix, and tried once more. There was nothing, not even a whisper of noise.
"That's not exactly the word I'd use."
"We … uh, seem to have run out of gas."
"Not quite sure how that happened. Permaybehaps we've got a leak."
"More than likely."
The tone of her voice made him glare at her. "You suggesting I did this deliberate?"
"Would I do that?"
"Sure sounds like it."
"Well, you'd better call Serenity and get us some more."
He looked down as he patted his pockets, then back up at her under his eyebrows. "I appear to have … kinda forgot to bring a com unit with us."
"Slipped my mind."
"Of course."
"Must be old age creeping up on me."
"Must be." She paused a moment. "So how do we get back?"
"Wait until the others miss us and come looking. Shouldn't be much more than four, maybe five hours."
"Four or five …" She looked up into the sky as a drop of something fell on her wrist. "It's raining."
"No, it ain't." He felt a splash on his face. Ignoring it he looked around. "Well, looks like we're stuck for a while. Better make ourselves comfortable."
She raised her eyebrows. "Oh? And where were you going to suggest we try doing that?"
"How about that place over there?" He pointed to a small house, really not much more than a cabin some hundred yards off.
"They'll probably shoot us."
"Might be preferable to getting soaked to the skin."
"I thought you said it wasn't raining."
Mal glanced up into the sky, and more drops hit his skin. "Maybe I was a bit previous about that." He wiped his face. "Come on. Least let's go take a look. Better'n just sitting here."
She glared at him, but climbed down off the mule, following him at a slight jog. By the time they reached the cabin the rain was heavier, and the sky darkening even as they opened the door.
"Anyone home?" Mal called, stepping inside. "Apart from the ghosts."
"Ghosts?" Freya asked, her lips curving. "You think it's haunted?
"Way out here? Wouldn't be at all surprised."
"Must be very clean ghosts," Freya said, walking into the single large room and looking around. "Simple but dust free."
"Home away from home." Mal grinned and hurried to the fireplace, where logs and other fire-making bits and pieces were waiting.
Freya stopped in the act of removing her wet jacket. "You're not thinking of –"
"Sure. I'm chilly, I don't know about you." He shucked out of his own coat, and started to lay a fire.
"It's not our house. And what if the chimney's blocked?"
"Then we get smoked as well as soaked." He laughed. "Come on, this is fun."
She regarded him suspiciously, but let him carry on. In short order he had the fire burning, and a welcome warmth began to seep into the room.
Freya continued her investigations, turning up some tinned food in a cupboard and a bottle of wine beneath the sink.
"A feast," Mal said, suddenly close behind her.
"And still not ours."
"We can leave some money."
"And what if someone's relying on this?" She turned to look into his eyes.
"Who? No-one around here but us."
"No, that's true."
The note of suspicion in her voice made him put his 'little boy hurt' expression on his face. "You implying something?"
"We didn't really run out of gas, did we?"
Mal looked at her, his mouth open. "You think I have some kinda ulterior motive or something, don't you?"
"I think you want to have your wicked way with me."
"Hell, don't need to get us stuck out in the middle of nowhere to do that, darlin'." He grinned at her again and reached out, putting his hands on her waist and pulling her a little closer.
"No, I guess not. But I'm sure there's more to this than meets the eye."
"I forgot to fill her up, okay?"
"Nope." She moved away from him back towards the fireplace.
"What, you want I should go out and prove it? Develop superhuman strength so I can lift the mule up and shake it so you can hear the rattle?"
"Sounds like a plan."
"And how do you consider I should do that?"
She turned and gazed at him. "I thought you'd do anything for me."
"I would. I will. I do." He sounded like he was stuttering.
"That's okay then."
"What's okay how?"
"You don't have to prove anything."
"Good. 'Cause I'm feeling somewhat weak at the moment." He waggled his eyebrows at her.
She smiled at him and rubbed her hands together in front of the fire. He crossed the room, putting his arms around her. "Cold?" he asked.
"A little. Temperature's dropped."
"It's the rain."
They both listened, hearing the sound of heavy raindrops on the roof, beating an uneven tattoo.
"Perhaps you should get under the covers for a while," he added, nodding towards the bed. "You know, just 'til you warm up."
"Good idea." She sat down and swung her feet up, experimentally bouncing a couple of times.
"Not bad." Putting her head slightly on one side she regarded him. "You know, it's a pity you're feeling weak at the moment."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"Well, I've just realised I'm in the mood to be ravished."
"You are?"
"I am."
"Oh." He raised his eyebrows. "Even in your condition?"
"Mal, when did that ever stop me?"
His blue eyes twinkled. "Well, maybe I ain't feeling as weakly as all that." He advanced on her, undoing the buttons on his shirt.
"Help, help," she whispered, biting her lip.
"No-one is going to save you, wench," he said softly, climbing up the bed towards her, running one hand up her leg as he went.
"Wench?" she repeated.
"Shut up, I'm getting in the mood."
"Oh, sorry." She crossed her hands in front of her breasts. "So there's no-one to protect me?"
"Nary a soul for miles." He knelt over her.
"So I'm helpless?"
"Totally in my power."
She smiled and pulled his head down to her neck. "Oh, good," she said, feeling him suck on her skin. "Oh, very good," she sighed as his hand skilfully undid the buttons on her pants, sliding within the warmth.
He stopped, his fingers teasing her, and looked into her eyes. "Still want saving?"
"Only by you," she said huskily, wriggling a little to get his fingers in the right place. Her eyes widened as she managed it.
"You are wanton," he whispered, grabbing her bottom lip between his teeth and worrying it gently.
"Hope so. I figure it was one of the reasons you married me." She manoeuvred her mouth so that he had to kiss her. He slid his tongue inside and touched hers, tasting her. "And you said I'm wanton," she muttered indistinctly.
He pulled back, taking his hand from its place of heat and moisture.
"Mal?" She looked up at him, her lips swollen with desire.
"Just looking," he said, scanning her hungrily.
She ran her hands up her body, grazing the hard nipples inside her shirt, then massaging the soft mounds he could barely see above the fabric.
"I was gonna make you wait," he said, his voice at least a range lower than usual.
"Really?" One of her hands snaked down to his groin, her fingertips brushing the hard outline of his manhood inside the straining fabric. With an ease born of total familiarity, she rested her palm on the head, pressing ever so slightly.
He rewarded her with a groan. "Woman, you …"
"What?" She pressed harder. "Mal, I love you. I don't care why we came out here. Or how we very conveniently come to break down within sight of this cabin. Or even why it seems to be well-maintained but empty." She cupped him. "I want you. Inside me. Touching me. Your hands, Mal. Your body." Her fingers traced his swollen ji ba.
"I thought I was supposed to be ravishing you," he murmured, his body aching to do just that.
"I'm here. Just need to …" She stood up, undoing the buttons on her shirt. She slid the fabric off her arms and let it fall to the floor. Levering her boots off her feet, her pants came next, then she undid her bra, allowing her breasts freedom in the warm light from the fire.
His breath caught. She hadn't taken her eyes off his the whole time, yet he could see perfectly her full breasts, tipped with dark pink, then as she slid her damp panties down her thighs, he felt his cock twitch at the sight of that neatly trimmed area already wet and ready for him …
Stepping out of the constricting material, she laid back down again, her skin glowing, offering herself to him.
"Frey, I've seen you naked a thousand times," he managed to say through suddenly dry lips. "More than a thousand. Ten thousand, maybe. But every time I can't believe you're mine." He blinked hard.
She understood, raising her hands to cup his face. "Yours, ai ren. For always."
"You won't ever leave me?"
"'Cause I'd die if you did."
She gazed into his blue eyes. "I will never leave you, husband. You're stuck with me."
He smiled a little. "Good." The fingertips of just one hand traced a line up her right thigh, skirting through the soft hair at her apex, lingering for a moment at the tiny heart tattoo with an arrow through it that mirrored and matched the one on his own left hip, before cupping the small swell at her belly. He continued to her breast. "That's good." He filled his hand with her, his thumb moving across the tightly-puckered nipple.
She half closed her eyes in delight. He knew how to please her, to give her everything she wanted, everything she needed.
"Mal …" Her hips lifted.
"Wait." He swung his legs off the bed and removed his clothes, naked as she in a few moments. His cock was hard, bouncing on his belly as he crawled up the bed between her thighs and began to nuzzle the soft skin.
She opened her legs and the scent of her arousal bloomed.
"Frey …" he said softy, his breath caressing her. "All for you, xin gan."
He began to lick between her folds, pressing them open with his tongue, exploring her until he found the cluster of nerves. She sighed in anticipation, her body beginning to tense. So softly he lapped at it, alternating long slow laves with short quick stabs, that she groaned in sheer bliss, her breathing quickening.
One hand slid up her inner thigh, finding her entrance, and he slid a finger inside, feeling her already soaking. Using just the tip he pressed the soft flesh, eliciting more whimpers, and her hips lifted higher, her buttocks off the bed. He smiled. He knew what his beautiful wife liked, what she craved. He suckled on her, another finger joining the first, pushing much deeper now, enjoying the thick moisture sliding over his skin.
"Mal, please." She had her hands in his hair, pulling him up.
"What?" he asked, seeing her eyes heavy-lidded, sultry, as he licked her juices from his lips.
"Inside me. Please."
"I want to make you come first," he whispered, curving his fingers and pressing on that spot on her front wall that made her arch, her breasts thrusting into the sky.
"I need you," she ground out, shaking. "Please."
He gave in. He knew, no matter how often he made her come with his fingers or tongue, how much intense pleasure she got from it, she really felt most complete when they were together, their bodies joined in that most intimate embrace, when her mind and his were one.
He slid up the bed, gazing at her, her skin flushed, her breasts moving as she panted. Then taking hold of himself, he pressed against her, just gaining entrance. He glanced into her face, her eyes closed, her mouth working as she concentrated on that one feeling.
Despite the need to thrust into her, he held back, teasing, making the head of his cock just graze her. She shivered under him, her tongue darting out through her lips. He knew that meant she was ready, and he looked down, watching in fascination as his length slid into her, distending her, until he was surrounded by her hot, tight flesh. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and he gained that little bit more, filling her at her deepest.
Leaning forward he licked her nipples, biting them gently as his hips began to move, slowly at first, just a gentle rolling action, making her feel all of him. She moaned as she matched him, and her grinding drew his own pleasure ever higher. She was breathing fast now, every moment making her exhale, and each one of those a mew of pleasure. He began to snap his hips, thrusting as deep as he could, and her spine arched as she threw her head back, grasping at him.
"Come for me," he muttered, watching the sweat forming between her breasts, licking the saltiness from her skin.
"Mal, oh … Mal …" His name, over and over, fell from her lips, as she tightened on him.
"Come, ai ren. My beautiful ai ren. My strong, glorious, magnificent …" He couldn't finish. She bucked under him and shouted his name, her orgasm crashing through her body, so intense it made the very air about her shimmer. Her muscles clutching in ecstasy on him tipped him over his own precipice, and he soared, pulsing deeply into her, filling her with his love as he whispered her name, still holding as it seemed to last an eternity. Finally his body was spent and he lay on her chest, his face against one perfect damp breast.
He felt her fingers in his hair, stroking it from his wet forehead. Slowly easing himself out of her, he moved up, pulling her against him, feeling their hearts beginning to slow from their racing.
"I love you," she said, her lips against his chest.
"I love you too," he whispered, holding her tightly. "Happy Birthday, my darling Frey."
As the rain outside beat a soothing rhythm on the old roof, the two lovers within slipped into sleep, entangled in each other, together for always.
You must log in to post comments.
All FIREFLY graphics and photos on this page are copyright 2002-2012 Mutant Enemy, Inc., Universal Pictures, and 20th Century Fox.
All other graphics and texts are copyright of the contributors to this website.
This website IS NOT affiliated with the Official Firefly Site, Mutant Enemy, Inc., or 20th Century Fox.


text:
Photography Classes in Pemberton OH
Looking for photography classes in Pemberton OH? No matter if you are a hobbyist, professional, or beginner, the most effective way to improve your photography abilities is through hands-on training with knowledgeable instructors.
There are numerous accredited photography schools in Ohio. Subjects taught in photography classes include digital capture, lighting techniques, exposure, composition, outdoor photography, and many other basic and advanced camera techniques. Becoming an experienced photographer can pave the road to a lifelong hobby or a prosperous professional career.
There are many Photography Classes in Pemberton OH:
- Pemberton Studio Photography Classes
- Pemberton Photography 101
- Pemberton Digital Photography Classes
- Pemberton Nature Photography Classes
- Pemberton Editorial Photography Classes
Pemberton OH Photography Classes
Clark State Community College
570 E Leffel Ln
Springfield, Ohio 45501-0570
Phone: (937) 325-0691
30.36 miles away
Sinclair Community College
444 W. Third St.
Dayton, Ohio 45402-1460
Phone: (937) 512-3000
38.15 miles away
University of Dayton
300 College Park
Dayton, Ohio 45469
Phone: (937) 229-1000
39.12 miles away
Kaplan College-Dayton
2800 East River Road
Dayton, Ohio 45439
Phone: (937) 294-6155
41.51 miles away


text:
Please contact us by sending us a message using the form below. We look forward to hearing from you.
Contact Us
Or just Register as a Prospect
is developed and licensed by
Our programmer partner:
Global Team Services Ltd.
411 Wing On Plaza, 62 Mody Road,
Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2151 8181 Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Am sharing this image with Lisa Gordon's "The Creative Exchange". Do join us there! The Creative Exchange takes place every Monday.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Lisa's Creative Exchange
Am sharing this image with Lisa Gordon's "The Creative Exchange". Do join us there! The Creative Exchange takes place every Monday.
26 comments:
thanks for the texture!!ReplyDelete
Thank you so much. You have awards waiting for you on my blog. Hugs, Edna B.ReplyDelete
Your artography is beautiful! It certainly does have that painted look about it. Just the right combination of the paint daubs and poster edges. And a big thank you for the new texture.ReplyDelete
Ooooh, perfect photo for this! Love that pop of red!!ReplyDelete
Beautiful composition and colors.ReplyDelete
And of course, beautiful post-processing :)
Thank you for the texture.
Regard and best wishes
this image makes me want to be right there on that sidewalk and windowshop! just lovely!ReplyDelete
Berautiful sidewalk. Would love to walk thereReplyDelete
I have never been to Montreal, but it looks like I need to get there :) Gorgeous shot! And thank you for the texture too.ReplyDelete
Bonnie, [out of breath with excitement] you've got to come back for another look:ReplyDelete
I've just used 'Hope' on one of the images in today's post, and it doesn't half improve it!!!
Thank you for yet another winner.
Forgot to say that you used the painterly effect in that street just right. Do you happen to know the work of a continental [I believe Flemish or Dutch or German] graphic artist called Anton Pieck? The end of that street could have been drawn by him.ReplyDelete
Lovely shot - looks like a lovely street. Really like the splashes of red.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 20, 2012 at 12:05 PM
Such a beautiful composition with so much interesting detail. I love the processing you did.ReplyDelete
This is really beautiful Bonnie. It almost looks like a painting!ReplyDelete
Thank you for the gorgeous texture. You are truly so talented with these.
Thank you also for sharing with us today at The Creative Exchange.
Have a wonderful evening!
Very beautiful! I love the richness of the colors.ReplyDelete
And thank you for the texture, as always it looks so inspiring, can't wait to use it!! "Hope", just the word I'm after right now... :-)
- AnonymousFebruary 20, 2012 at 4:17 PM
This photo is wonderfulReplyDelete
What a charming and quaint restaurant - your photo is beautiful, as well as the effects! Thank you for the texture!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 20, 2012 at 4:36 PM
So beautiful.. I love this store front, the flowers, the awning! Will you consider entering it in my 'Weekly Top Shot' meme? We're on Week #18 and I'd love to see you share with me and my readers! Here's this weeks' link: http://www.theviewfromrighthere.com/blog/?p=6331ReplyDelete
Oh, it's glorious, Bonnie! I love the original...would love to be able to experience that scene. Your texture has turned your photo into a fabulous painting.ReplyDelete
Of course I love the subject matter of the photo, but also the bright colours and perspective. It's great how the effects you applied created a new art form that might be described as hyper-realism meets graphic design. Really nice!ReplyDelete
I love your work and thank you for the new texture.ReplyDelete
Love the new texture...thanksReplyDelete
Love what you did with the Old Montreal restaurant. Nice work! And the texture is gorgeous. Can't wait to try it. Thank you!ReplyDelete
Julie Magers Soulen Photography
I like the pop of colors in your photo! Thanks so much for your nice comment last week.ReplyDelete
I adore your photo.ReplyDelete
It makes me wish for spring or summer time, and ice creams and long walks around the oldest parts of the city!
Love the processing of the store fronts. VReplyDelete
This is just great Bonnie! I love all of the color up front, then it sort of fades out in the distance. Great processing!ReplyDelete
All comments are eagerly read and greatly appreciated.
While I do appreciate the honor, I do not accept awards or participate in assigned memes. Thanks for understanding. :)


text:
Shutter Island still No 1 in US
Leonardo DiCaprio's latest movie, Shutter Island, is still at the top of the US box office.
The creepy crime thriller, directed by Martin Scorsese, took 22.2 million dollars and hung on to the No 1 spot for the second straight weekend.
The weekend's takings raise its 10-day total to 75.1 million dollars, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
Debuting in second place at the US box office with 18.6 million dollars was the police romp Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan.
Opening in third place was horror tale The Crazies with 16.5 million dollars.
Meanwhile, James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar has surpassed 700 million dollars in the US.
With a 14 million dollar weekend, the film is now at 706.9 million in the States and 2.5 billion dollars worldwide.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday to Sunday at US and Canadian theatres are according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released on Monday.
PA Media


text:
Home > Used BMW Vehicles for Sale > Used BMW 528i for Sale
Used BMW 528i for Sale
Shopping for a used BMW 528i? Enterprise Car Sales has a selection of certified used BMW 528i for sale.
No-Haggle Prices
We offer no-haggle pricing on all of our used BMW 528i cars in stock. View our inventory and pricing online, or schedule a test drive at your local Enterprise Car Sales dealership.
Certified Used
All BMW 528i cars for sale at Enterprise Car Sales are checked by an ASE-certified technician and must pass a rigorous used car inspection to be sold at one of our dealerships.
Used Car Financing
We can help secure financing on a used BMW 528i or other used car purchase. Visit us at Enterprise Car Sales today, and we'll help you find a used BMW at a reasonable price.


text:
Explore how New Jersey's hospitals contribute to the state, county and local economies.
New Jersey hospitals serve more than 15 million people annually, but their contributions extend far beyond the healthcare services they provide to their patients and their communities. Hospitals also are economic strongholds that bring jobs, income taxes and spending that support local and state economies.
In 2017, N.J. hospitals delivered:


text:
I really dislike discussing politics.
I put this in the 'confessions' thread because people usually get upset about it.
It's not that I don't care about politics, it's just that all my experiences of discussing politics involves people slinging insults at me (or other people involved in the discussion). I'm not interested in that.


text:
Aqua Computer
D5 Pump Motor with USB and Aquabus Interface
- Aqua Computer Laing D5 pump with modified aquabus port and USB interface.
Stock Code: WC-209-AQ
Manufacturer: Aqua Computer
+44 (0)1782 44 44 55
D5 Pump Motor with USB and Aquabus InterfaceThe D5 pump mechanics are a very powerful pump motor, which only requires a suitable top to complete the pump.
The electronically commutated ball motor boasts extremely smooth operation and a long lifespan. As the USB version with the Aqua Computer D5 pump mechanics, this pump motor features an integrated controller and monitoring electronics with USB and aquabus interface, a configurable alarm channel as well as an external temperature sensor input.
For monitoring and configuration the software aquasuite is available for download. A 4-pin aquabus interface allows direct connection to an aquaero 5 (not included).
The alarm output can either be configured as an artificial rpm signal for connection to a fan channel with speed monitoring (e.g. Mainboard fan channels) or as a switching channel for e.g. activating a LED in case of an alarm.
For alarm monitoring besides the measured flow rate and water temperature, an external temperature sensor input is available. The external temperature sensor input is compatible with all temperature sensors offered by Aqua Computer.
More links for "D5 Pump Motor with USB and Aquabus Interface"
Customer review
No Review Yet
This is your chance!
Be the first to review this product


text:
Renters love living in Philadelphia in part because the city's got so much unique character, with historic landmarks from the Colonial Era sitting adjacent to hot new Jose Garces restaurants. From Old City to Rittenhouse Square and Northern Liberties, Philly offers renters an eclectic mix of old and new. Of course, no list of unique Philly events would be complete without the annual Bastille Day celebration at Eastern State Penitentiary in Fairmount.
Never visited Eastern State? It's one of Philly's most notable landmarks, a prison opened in 1829 that now functions as a museum in Fairmount. On July 14th, Eastern State will host a re-enactment of Bastille Day, a moment that helped precipitate the French Revolution. As part of the 2012 Bastille Day festivities, Eastern State will partner with The Bearded Ladies, a cabaret troupe, to offer what its website — possibly, maybe, just a little facetiously! — promises will be a "'completely historically accurate' re-enactment of the storming of the Bastille."
The whole thing culminates, of course, in a faux Marie Antoinette exclaiming "let them eat Tastykake!" as thousands of those Philadelphia favorites fly from Eastern State's towers. The sight of airborne Tastykakes is one of Philadelphia's most unique spectacles and if you're a renter living in Fairmount or, really, in any Philly neighborhood, it's an event you won't want to miss. Click here for Eastern State Penitentiary's 2012 Bastille Day Preview!


text:
Speaking from Paris after Bradley Wiggins claimed his historic victory in the Tour de France, Mr Benstead revealed how he had first spotted the future champion at the age of 12.
"Even at the age of 12 when I first met him he knew that he wanted to be a six day rider in those days, and he knew the history of cyling, not only the current champions but the previous champions."
"I had the opportunity to talk to the national coach, it was Doug Daley, he is still around, I said to Doug, 'I've got a champion for you, but you'll have to wait a bit because he's only 12'."
Mr Benstead continued: "He went on to win the junior pursuit championship and I had the opportunity at that time when he came back to Engalnd to say to Doug, 'I told you so'."


text:
Digital editing has made the field of photography an easier job. Now a person needs not to be very professional to take a perfect shot. Without caring for perfect light condition and perfect moment, you can take a snap then make it perfect later on with the help of photo editing software.
For example you took a snap and the light wasn't good enough and the picture has faded colors then you can increase the exposure of the image and you will get the result as it was taken in perfect light. Brightness, Contrast and Gamma setting is another option to make the colors and light perfect. In advance photo editing software like Photoshop, there's an option of Vibrance as well which allows you to enhance the colors and hence you can take a colorful snap even using a low quality camera.
Getting more advanced, you get the concept of layers. If you want to add many objects in a single image then you can add those using layers. For example there wasn't clouds in the image you taken but you want to add clouds, you can do it by pasting some matching colored clouds in a new layer and then can adjust according to the picture.
Definitely some touching will be required to do that. Layers blending mode allows you to apply amazing effects to a single layer. Take the example of clouds, you can set the transparency of clouds, add shadow of an object in layer, you can add bevel and other such effects to the text or objects, texture or gradient can be added and much more.
After getting free from layers, there are some preset filters in every photo editing software's which you can use. You can apply those filters to your entire image or the selected layer. Like; you can make your picture a classical black and white picture. You can make it like a painted picture or you may turn it into a sketch. There are tens of such filters available in every photo editing software. Start using and step into the world of Photo Editing.


text:
You are here
Maylon Gardner, Publishing Certificate
You write it, I right it. I am particularly interested in working with emerging writers who would like style guidance as well as a grammatical overview. If you are self-publishing or have completed your first writing project and aren't sure what your next step should be, message me. I'm happy to help buff your manuscript so it has a better chance of a successful publication run or submission to an agent.
I am a freelance editor with an HBA from Western in English and Comparative Literature and Culture as well as a Publishing Certificate from Ryerson (focused on editing and proofreading). School was useful in providing a variety of real manuscripts at different stages and in multiple genres for editing, but my work experience (in health and fitness, business, sales, and marketing) is what really gave me the edge in the editing world. I edit a lot of business and marketing content for Divestopedia, DIY Active, and Aroma360. The majority of books I have edited have been in the same vein (business, marketing, self-development, health and wellness), though I also edit fiction - particularly sci-fi and fantasy - through Hades Publishing.
My goal is to maintain your voice and intention throughout your manuscript while providing the best edits and guidance possible to help you succeed. I will give you an honest assessment of your manuscript, followed by an editing cycle that will see a completed revision in your hands within 10-14 days (unless you've written a leviathon of a book, in which case we can talk about it).
I look forward to seeing all your stories!
Editorial Skills
- Copy editing
- On-screen editing
- Online editing
- Proofreading
- Rewriting
- Structural and substantive editing
- Stylistic editing
- Writing
- Advertising and marketing materials
- Blogs
- Booklets
- Books, children's and young adult
- Books, general
- Books, self-help
- Books, self-published
- Briefs, précis, and executive summaries
- Brochures
- Business materials, general
- Catalogues
- E-books
- E-materials, general
- Fiction
- Magazines
- Newsletters
- Proposals and evaluations
- Public relations materials
- Reports, other
- Trade non-fiction
- Biography
- Business
- Canada
- Communications
- Construction and real estate
- Culture
- Economics
- Food and drink
- Health
- Health and medicine, general
- Humanities, general
- Industry and manufacturing
- Lifestyles
- Literature
- North America
- Outdoor recreation
- Psychology and mental health
- Social sciences
- Society, general
- Sports
- Travel and tourism
- United States


text:
That the house may be haunted is suggested by Anne's seeing and speaking to ghosts. She draws a picture of four of the spirits she's seen: that of a boy about her own age, named Victor; Victor's parents; and an "old woman." Next to each figure, she writes the number of times she has seen each of the ghosts: she has seen each parent twice, Victor five times, and the "old lady" fourteen times. The "old lady" has harsh features and wild hair, and she scares Anne, the girl confesses. Anne also talks to Victor, once in the presence of her younger brother, with whom she shares a bedroom. When Nicholas accuses her of "teasing" him, she asks Victor to touch her brother's face to let Nicholas know that he, Victor, is present. Later, Grace, who, at first, denies the existence of ghosts, refusing to believe that her house is haunted, hears a piano playing downstairs. When she goes to investigate, she learns that the music room is not only locked but that it is also unoccupied. However, when she leaves, an unseen force knocks her to the floor. Grace also experiences other ghostly phenomena. She hears disembodied voices talking about her when she visit's a "junk room"--a spare bedroom used for storage--and she hears heavy thumping sounds upstairs, which she attributes to Lydia--until she sees the servant conversing with Mrs. Mills outside the house as the thumping continues upstairs. A headstone on the premises indicates that a body has been buried on the estate. Is the ghost the spirit of this person? Later, Grace finds a "book of the dead," an album of family members' corpses, photographed as mementoes for the surviving loved ones. Perhaps one or more of their spirits haunt Grace's house. Not only do Anne and Grace see (and hear) ghosts, but Mrs. Mills tells Anne that she, like Anne, also sees them. Although both Anne and Nicholas have potentially fatal allergic reactions to sunlight, requiring that the curtains on the windows be closed whenever the children pass from one room to another, they have all been removed overnight, as the children's panic-stricken screams alert Grace. None of the servants admits to having taken down any of the curtains. Perhaps the ghosts did so. When Anne and Nicholas discover the graves of the servants and Grace herself sees their likenesses in a photograph of the dead, the viewer is apt to suppose that Mrs. Mills, Mr. Tuttle, and Lydia are themselves the ghosts who haunt Grace's house.
A case is also made for the supposition that Grace is losing her mind. She is fragile and high strung, as Nicole Kidman, who portrays her in the film, says in an interview featured on the DVD release of the movie says, and her husband has gone off to fight in World War II, leaving Grace alone to care for their children. She has poor coping skills, and caring for the two children by herself is more, perhaps, than she can handle. She takes great comfort in the Bible, as the Word of God, and in the rosary, which she says, banishes her fears. She has a simple, unquestioning faith. When her children question the credibility of the such Biblical claims as God's creation of the universe in only six days and that two of every animal could fit on Noah's ark, Grace is angered. She tells her children that their doubts may land them in limbo, which she distinguishes from both purgatory and hell. These concepts, like the rosary, suggest that she and her family are Roman Catholics, rather than Protestants. Her dependency upon the Bible, like her generally anxious manner, her quickness to anger, and her impatience toward her children and the servants suggest that she is tottering on the edge emotionally. It is not difficult to imagine that her seeing the "old woman" wearing the veil and dress that she made for her daughter's confirmation, instead of Anne wearing it, as if, having possessed the girl, the "old woman" is now impersonating Grace's daughter may be the result of Grace's hallucinating, rather than an instance of a perverse supernatural masquerade. Likewise, Grace may have only imagined that she'd heard the disembodied voices in the "junk room." She may have had other hallucinations as well, hearing thumping when there was none, for example, and imagining that she'd heard a piano playing in the locked, unoccupied music room. She herself may have done some of the things that seem simply to "happen," such as the taking down of the curtains in the house. Even the visit of her husband, who, until his sudden appearance, was presumed dead, a casualty of the war, could be attributed to her tendency to hallucinate, especially since, while he is home, he is eerily distant, lies motionless in bed for hours and days on end, refuses to eat anything, and is soon gone again, off, he says, to the battlefront. Indeed, after Grace attacks Anne, thinking that her daughter is the "old woman" in disguise, Anne tells Nicholas that their mother has "gone mad." All these incidents, individually, and collectively, suggest, rather strongly, that Grace may be going mad or may already have gone insane.
On the other hand, maybe Grace's house is not haunted, any more than she herself is insane; instead, the servants may be involved in a conspiracy against Grace and her family. They claim to have appeared at the house as the result of their "passing by," a mere coincidence, despite the fact that Grace's house is located on an island and, for that reason, would not be a place where anyone--especially experienced servants--would be apt to seek employment. At Mrs. Mills' direction, Mr. Tuttle dumps leaves on a headstone to prevent Grace from discovering the marker, despite Grace having given him a directive to find the headstones of all those who are allegedly buried on the estate. Mrs. Mills confides in Anne that, like the girl, the housekeeper has herself also seen the ghosts. Does Mrs. Miller do so to convince Anne that the ghosts are real in the hope that Anne will, in turn, influence Grace's belief that her house is haunted and that it is safest to leave the mansion? Did the servants pose for the picture of the dead in which their corpses were supposedly photographed as a memento for their surviving loved ones? Mrs. Mills more than once hints at secrets that she and the other servants are keeping from Grace, and the housekeeper tells Grace that the living and the dead sometimes get "mixed up" with one another. Grace herself supplies a possible motive on the part of her servants for their conspiracy: they want to "take over" her house, she charges. Grace's thoughts and behavior, at times, seem rational and appropriate, but, at other times, her ideas and actions are obviously groundless and even bizarre, suggesting that she is either insane or nearly so.
The Others is ambiguous on purpose, suggesting three possible explanations for the strange goings-on at the mansion in which she and her children and the servants live: the house is haunted, Grace is insane, and/or the servants want to drive Grace away so that they can lay claim to the mansion . However, the end of the movie, during which, at a séance, Grace finally learns that she has murdered Anne and Nicholas before committing suicide, upsets all three of these expectations concerning the movie's plot, for the medium reveals that the children are dead and it is their ghosts and the ghost of their murderous mother and the loyal household servants who are the actual ghosts. Those whom Grace suspected of being ghosts are actually the members of the family who have bought the house. Grace and her family are, it appears, in purgatory, reliving Grace's murder of her children and her murder of herself over and over again. It is only because of the careful planning of the film's feasible, but ambiguous and bizarre incidents, that the movie succeeds in leading the audience down one path of expectations so that, at the end, it can deliver a wholly different conclusion to the story that ties up these previous storylines: the house is haunted, but by Grace and her family and servants; Grace has gone insane, killing her own children and herself, because she proved incapable of coping with and handling the stresses of everyday life without her husband's assistance; and the servants, in fact, were conspiring, but not to steal Grace's home but to confront her with the truth about herself and her actual situation as a soul in purgatory. Like any story that hinges upon situational irony as the means by which to effect a surprise, or twist, ending, The Others performs a bait-and-switch routine, setting up and maintaining viewers' expectations along one line of development so that the grand finale can deliver an altogether different conclusion than the one that the previous action has painstakingly and deliberately suggested as the culmination of the whole. In doing so, The Others reveals itself to be masterful, indeed, and, therefore, a suspenseful and frightening thriller well worth watching again--and again.


text:
Limited Edition Gold Monogram Mugs - $10
Cold Picnic Foil Dot Watch - $128
Sleeping on Snow Hearth Hoodie - $168
Monogram Doorknocker - $30
Longhand Love Necklace - $28
Hunter Racing Stripe Rainboots - $150
KBBK Kombucha Home Brew Kit - $70
Copper-Plated Serving Set - $24
This is a pretty comprehensive list of gift ideas for anyone on your list! I am really holding myself back from ordering the gold monogram mug for myself... I'm loving the gold dot watch too! Anything with gold on it makes me happy these days...
More gift guides to come!
xoxo, L


text:
Lending a helping hand
The Kansas Association of Senior Corps Directors acknowledges and thanks Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., a strong supporter of Senior Corps programs. Moran understands the value of Senior Corps: Foster Grandparents, RSVP and Senior Companions, and he has seen firsthand the effect they make in his home communities.
Last year, 5,650 Kansas Senior Corps volunteers spent 1.2 million hours serving in their local communities.
Senior Corps programs are under threat from the administration's proposed budget for 2015. If passed, this proposal would result in dramatic cuts and significant restructuring, which greatly would reduce the valuable services provided by these important national service programs. Thankfully, Moran recognizes the worth of Kansas Senior Corps programs and strongly has opposed these changes under the administration's proposed budget.
Moran recently said, "These programs are a great combination of bringing senior citizens who have great potential of still caring and helping people and finding continued meaning in their life with those who desperately need some care and attention."
A strong investment in national service programs is imperative for the good of our communities and nation. We are reassured Moran will continue to stand for these cost-effective programs he describes as, "programs where the care comes from the heart, not from a faceless government program."
Kathy Shepard,
president of the Kansas Association of Senior Corps Directors


text:
Susan Meiselas: On the Frontline, recently published by Aperture, offers a personal insight into the work of the American artist. Beyond its comprehensive value—the book covers a majority of her stories in a roughly chronological order—it has the feel of a memoir, written by the photographer in the first person though the texts are excerpts of conversations between Susan Meiselas...
This article is reserved for subscribed members only. If you are already a member, you can log in here below.
Subscribe for full access to The Eye of Photography archives!
That's thousands of images and articles, documenting the history of the medium of photography and its evolution during the last decade, through a unique daily journal. Explore how photography, as an art and as a social phenomenon, continue to define our experience of the world. Two offers are available.
Subscribe either monthly for $5 or annually for $50 (2 months offered).


text:
I'm in space. I'm shooting a machine gun, in space.
I don't know what else is left to do at this point. I've seen every major landmark on Earth blown up from the Eiffel Tower to the Washington Monument. I've killed Russians, Arabs, South Americans and dirty US traitors. I've had my character die unexpectedly so many times, it's become expected. I've saved the world and watch it be destroyed through some variant of World War 3 over and over and over.
The campaign of Activision's Call of Duty: Ghosts is perhaps the pinnacle of all these events, and reinforces the belief that this nearly decade-old fad of modern military shooters is simply running out of interesting ways to tweak its concept for new stories.
Ghosts is a particularly relevant case to examine, as it's meant to be a completely separate new sub-series from Modern Warfare and Black Ops. In it, you're told of the legend of the "Ghosts" a famed military unit of 15 soldiers who stood against an army of hundreds and won. This is supposed to be impressive, but since in every Call of Duty game in history (and any shooter, for that matter), I've been a one-man army gunning down thousands, pardon me if I'm not particularly wowed by the concept.
The Ghosts go in and get jobs done that other units can't, and are a bunch of supreme badasses. How this differentiates them from Navy SEALs or Army Rangers I have no idea, other than the fact that they all have cool skull balaclavas.
The US has been more or less destroyed again, much like it was in Modern Warfares 2 and 3. But it's not the Russians invading this time, it's a South American cabal who hijacked our space weapons program and used it to make craters out of our cities.
Like Black Ops 2 before it, Ghosts realizes that the definition of "modern" has to be stretched to an unreasonable degree for the series to look like its evolving. Black Ops 2 teleported us from'Vietnam to a fair distance in the future. Ghosts is content to advance us only a few years, and bask in a vaguely post-apocalyptic setting.
This isn't a review of the campaign, it's a diagnosis of the symptoms that plague the campaigns of nearly all "modern military shooters" these days, and make me think it might almost be time to retire the concept entirely. It feels like less and less thought is being put into these campaigns, but that also combines with the fact that we've "seen it all before" at this point, having played through nearly a dozen such stories across a multitude of different series.
It wasn't always like this. When the first few Modern Warfares burst on the scene, there had never been a shooter campaign like it. In MW1, the Chernobyl level stands as one of the greatest in history. In MW2, "No Russian" was permanently burned into our minds. But now? By the time we reach Ghosts, it seems that ideas are either going to extremely wacky places, or are being recycled altogether.
In both Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts, released within a week of each other, I fought aboard a sinking aircraft carrier as planes slid across the deck. Past that, Ghosts takes some scripted scenes literally moment for moment from past games, as seen in the video below:
Elsewhere, when they do try to be different? Things are just getting ridiculous. Underwater and space levels, both using the same kind of physics, feel like something out of a James Bond game made while taking LSD. The addition of a new "dog" mechanic does nothing but make you click a button to insta-kill an enemy periodically.
Ghosts also represents the complete abandonment of characters in games like this. As in, there aren't any.
Well, there are, technically (minor spoilers ahead). You play as Logan, and you and your brother Hesh(?) serve as Ghosts under your father. There's bad guy named Rourke who was a Ghost, but was broken by the enemy and now he hunts his old team instead.
And that's it. The protagonists' primary defining trait is that they're related to each other. The antagonist is trying to kill you. The end. The voice actors (actual actors like Stephen Lang and Brandon Routh) recognize the depth of their respective roles, and apparently all agreed to voice every line in the exact same tone with few inflections. The dog has the best voicework of the bunch, honestly.
Shooter campaigns need two things if they want to justify their existence: Meaningful gameplay and a compelling story. Or at least a solid attempt at either. Call of Duty: Ghosts lacks both, and subsequently has one of the weakest campaigns in recent memory.
Call of Duty has an increasingly problematic "shooting gallery" issue as the years have gone on. As in, there isn't any real strategy to fights. You go into a room, and various enemies are scattered around behind cover. They run in and out, pop up and down, and you shoot them with a generous assist from auto-aim that's leagues stickier than its multi-player counter. It's incredibly easy, but turning up the difficulty doesn't change the fundamental strategy of gameplay, it just makes you die faster.
The best shooter campaigns are ones that make combat a puzzle. There's a room full of enemies, and you have to figure out the best way to kill them all, or sometimes, actually avoid them. Battlefield 4 may have been full of the sort of overused set pieces like prison breaks and building toppling as rival games, but it was somewhat enjoyable because there was some strategy to how you approached a room. In a hangar full of Chinese soldiers, I found I kept dying trying to take them all head on. Eventually, I learned to creep around the side of the room, so when I engaged I wasn't surrounded, and I could ultimately sprint to my final destination. In Call of Duty, you probably would be forced to kill every enemy in the hangar before your NPC partner was physically even allowed to open the exit door you needed to go to.
Third person shooters have proven to do "strategic" combat reasonably well. More so than FPSs for the most part. Naughty Dog in particular has done great work with this between Uncharted and The Last of Us, where each encounter feels like a riddle. How do I kill three snipers, two RPG-wielders and three shotgunners with only twelve pistol shots and a hand grenade? But in Ghosts, the answer would just be to hide behind the same bit of cover, and hope the auto-aim of your 300 round machine gun snaps to each of their faces quickly enough.
Then there's story. Sure, you can just view these campaigns as the equivalent of Michael Bay movies where explosions substitute for dialogue, but they don't have to be. There's a way to tell compelling stories in this genre, but they're few and far between lately. Spec Ops: The Line drew praise not for its gameplay, which was honestly pretty generic, but of its fantastic rendition of Heart of Darkness, remade with a modern military unit in a ruined Dubai. But normally all we get are landmarks being exploded, and there are few actual characters being developed.
A bond between a military family is a fantastic seed for a compelling story to grow out of, but Ghosts is so concerned with assaulting the player with action at all times, that there's no time for any character to develop in the least bit, and certainly not the mute, never-seen protagonist we control. It's all of ninety seconds between when we meet these characters and when a city is demolished, and there's never any flashback or discussion about anything that happened to them before they became ghostly killing machines.
Games can often struggle with actual gameplay, but are salvaged with compelling stories. The problem now is that Call of Duty campaigns have gameplay lacking in any amount of strategy and barely even attempt to write an effective story at this point. You need one or the other, if you can't manage both.
It's just not enough to blow stuff up in graphically impressive ways anymore. Shooter campaigns need more than that to prove that they should even exist. If the amount of effort put forth in making them is just going to keep decreasing, perhaps these series would be better off just devoting those resources into expanding multiplayer content further. But I miss good campaigns, and Call of Duty: Ghosts' failures only serve to remind me of that fact.
And really, a lot of what I'm saying applies to multiplayer too. That's a post for another day, but without playing it yet, if I guessed and said that Ghosts added some new maps, new guns, and tweaked classes and customization a bit, would I be on the right track? We're stuck in a box in that mode too, and I'm not sure how long this genre is sustainable.
Follow me on Twitter, subscribe to my Forbes blog, and pick up a copy of my sci-fi novel, The Last Exodus, and its sequel, The Exiled Earthborn.