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My name is Josh Reynolds and I'm a professional freelance writer. In addition to my own work--a full list of which can be found here--I have written for several tie-in franchises, including Gold Eagle's Executioner line and Black Library's Warhammer Fantasy line. I have also written numerous non-fiction articles and reviews.
The sun was setting over the Square of Brass Stones in the city of Posqu and bells jangled discordantly as street preachers and self-proclaimed high priests shouted for the souls of the faithful. Braying sages, clad in hair-shirts and bearing placards, accosted penitents, and seers sold ten-a-penny prophecies to the desperate. Wooden gods were carried on sticks through the cramped square by howling phlegmatics and the crystal-masked servants of the Passion Mothers watched the crowd from the sidelines, making note of which temples the palanquins of the city's aristocracy moved towards. The unwashed masses flowed in and out of the lesser temples beneath the unseeing gazes of idols and eidolons, seeking either solace or satisfaction.
The great bronze bell atop the domed temple of the Vociferous Kai joined the cacophony, summoning the faithful to worship at the feathered seer's altar. The domed temple, like the others which clustered about the Square, crammed together like rats in a sack, was a tangle of stone and wood. It had grown out of the guts of the City of Rainbow Towers like a tumor in the wake of the Great Drought. When the dusty rituals of the Passion Mothers had failed to provide water from the dusty canals and cisterns of the city, many streets had sprouted sudden buboes of wild religion, centered on unlikely gods.
Kai the Voluble was among the unlikeliest and most popular of these. Men wept when Kai spoke, it was said. The walls shook, and time became as clear as water. Every dusk saw new adherents flock to the domed temple with its great bell.
This dusk, however, was different.
Inside the temple, shouts of alarm echoed through the curved corridors as bird-masked, feather-robed temple guards raced to apprehend a pair of intruders who had only moments before entered the oracle's inner sanctum through the main doors without so much as a cursory donation. Even worse, the intruders had summarily breached the holy circle and toppled several of the great smouldering brass braziers which had filled the chamber with scent of sacred incense, and briskly dispatched the priests set to ensuring that the braziers were always burning.
The two men—one big, one little—had made it to the dais before the first guards reached them. At the top of the dais sat the thin brass and silver perch of the Puissant and Eternal Kai, who flapped his oddly hued wings in dismay, and squawked loudly as his caretakers rushed to his defense and died, one after the next. Feathered robes, beaked masks and ceremonial talon-gauntlets that had shed the blood of a thousand sacrifices were little match for long blades and deadly intent. Both of which the two bravos had in abundance.
Vash, the big man, and Vetch, the little man, were a study in contrasts. The former was as tall as any southern grandee and clad in the long mail coat and heavy helm of a Khwarzmite lancer, while the latter was short and stocky and dressed in a rattle-trap of armour skived from corpses of various nationalities. As sell-swords, they weren't worth much, but they earned every penny through a daring combination of audacity and a distinct lack of moral fibre. Both qualities were much on display as they sent Kai's followers to their eternal reward, one after another. It was easy work, and both men enjoyed it.
"This is going well," Vash said. The bejewelled sabre in his hand carved a red arc through the neck of another temple guard, dropping the unfortunate warrior in his tracks. The body rolled down the steps of the ornately decorated dais to join the others the big man had similarly served. The sabre was a thing of deadly beauty and it suited Vash, with his manicured nails, oiled and curled beard, and delicate, carefully inked tattoos, right down to the tips of the curly-toed boots of tarasque-skin he wore. "Easy, even as I said—the simplest plan is always the best," Vash said. "Why over-complicate matters with unnecessary scheming, after all? Efficiency, thy name is me. Our client will be pleased, and we'll have added another successful job to our tally."
"Less talking, more hewing," Vetch grunted. As he fought, the profusion of charms and amulets he wore about his thick neck rattled and bounced. The broad, serrated blade he carried bit into the top of another guard's skull. The sword was a brutal thing, built for sawing and hacking, like all the tools of the people of the Northern Floes. Vetch yanked the dying guard forward and booted him in the chest, ripping him free of the sword's bite and sending the corpse pirouetting down the dais. Another guard stumbled away from the descending body, lost his footing in the blood that now coated the steps, and fell backwards onto Vash's blade.
"Now that's just embarrassing," the latter said. He patted the dying guard apologetically on the shoulder. "Don't worry neighbor, I won't tell a soul." He ripped his sabre free and kicked the twitching body aside. He looked around. Blood and brain matter dripped from the high-peaked, gilded helmet he wore and his crimson mailed coat had grown several shades darker. "Is that it?"
"It's shameful is what it is," his companion grunted. He looked around and ran a scarred hand through his plaited hair, his fingers scraping at the gore that was already drying there. "There were barely more than a dozen of them." He wiped his blade clean on the leg of his trousers and slid it into its walrus-hide sheath.
"That was plenty, if you ask me."
"In my land, the temples of the greatest gods are guarded by the beasts of ice and snow, and hundreds of warriors," Vetch said, clicking his filed teeth together in a disapproving manner. He looked around. The main chamber of the temple was empty of decoration, save for the ring of braziers that had surrounded the dais and filled the air with confrontational incense, and the strange chalk ring marked upon the stones around the base of the dais. The ring had been smudged and breached in a dozen places by falling bodies and spreading blood.
"Truly yours are a pious folk. Quit complaining and get the bird," Vash said. "We need to get out of here before that bell finishes ringing." He pointed his blade at Vociferous Kai. The bird flapped its wings. Eyes like yellow stones eyed the two men without rancour. For a god, it was remarkably unprepossessing. It looked like any other bird one might find in the southern jungles, all fluffed, pale chromatic plumage and unpleasant noises; except most birds weren't venerated as deities by idiots.
Too, most birds weren't targeted for assassination by the servants of a rival god—in this case, the Abominable Voq, a marmoset who could predict the weather and whose congregation had shrunk drastically when Kai had appeared. The Abominable One's servants had promised a fine sum to the duo for the immediate wringing of the feathered upstart's neck. While Vash was normally leery of taking on clients with either political or religious motivations, it had seemed like an easy enough task.
"You get the bird," Vetch said, eyeing the animal warily.
"Don't tell me you're frightened of a glorified chicken," Vash said. "Just go break its neck so that we can go get our money from that marmoset." The dull echo of the bell rolled down into the chamber. It pealed one hundred times to summon the faithful to witness the day's sacrifice. By Vash's count, they had thirty-two strikes to complete the job and get out. The bird fluffed itself up, and twisted its head around at an odd angle, as if listening to the bell. It clicked its beak.
Vetch licked his lips. "I'm not frightened. But if it's a god..."
"It's not a god, it's a bird. Just like Yams the Serendipitous isn't a god no matter how many times his followers set people on fire and claim it was his doing," Vash said, in growing exasperation. Vetch was as superstitious as any northerner—put a mortal enemy in front of him, and he'd happily butcher his way to victory; but anything that smacked of the unnatural or eldritch took the wind right out of his murderous little sails.
And the Vociferous Kai was, by all accounts, an unnatural and eldritch being. Found in a long-deserted jungle ruin by explorers who witnessed its wondrous divinity for themselves and duly brought it back so that others might bask in the rapture of Kai, who had purportedly seen civilizations rise and fall, though how anybody knew that to be the case, no one had said. Such trivialities seemingly made no difference to the faithful. Vash, however, had been to university, and knew that there were only one hundred and six gods, and none of them were a small white bird with funny plumage.
"You're sure it's not a god?" Vetch said dubiously. "They say it reads the future in the entrails of men." He peered at the bird, which eyed him back. It didn't look particularly interested in entrails. If it had been some form of hawk or buzzard, perhaps, Vash thought he might've been able to give credence to the stories.
"Would a god have shit itself the way that bird just did?" Vash said, gesturing towards the white mess that now ran down the engraved perch. He wondered if the incense that permeated the chamber was for hiding the stink of bird droppings, rather than to obscure the stench of spilled blood.
"Otor the Foetid—' Vetch began. He fingered his amulets nervously.
"Otor the Foetid is, in fact, a lump of dung someone has drawn a face on. Just like that is a bird that people pretend can foretell the future. Besides, if it could gut us, it would have by now, don't you think? It's no more a god than our client is. Now be a helpful savage and go throttle it."
"Why don't you do it then, if it's just a bird?" Vetch said.
Vash waggled his long, delicate fingers in Vetch's face. "Do these look like the hands of bird-throttler?" Vetch snapped at Vash's fingers irritably.
"You're scared," he said.
"No, I simply have my dignity. Besides, you owe me."
Vetch looked at him suspiciously. "What?"
"Last week? The urchin with the limp and the apple-peeler—did I not brain the little beast while he was trying to carve out your kidney?" Vash said. "You owe me one. Now go pluck that chicken. We've only got a few peals left, and I'd rather not have to fight my way out of this glorified nest through a horde of bird-worshipping fanatics."
Vetch grimaced, but nodded and stepped towards the Vociferous Kai. He raised his blade. The bells fell silent. Vetch froze. "I thought you said we had ten more," he said accusingly.
Vash winced. "I must have miscounted."
On its perch, the bird fluffed itself up and blinked. Then, with a little hop that put it out of Vetch's reach, it opened its beak and spoke. The chamber seemed to quiver with anticipation as a voice as vast and as deep as the toll of the bell above spoke words which hung on the air like dollops of molten lead before fading, leaving behind only pain in their wake. Vetch staggered back, clutching at his ears.
Vash lunged past his partner, raising his blade. Kai squawked and something pale and ropy and foul rose from beneath its ruffled feathers like agitated maggots. Polyps of glistening matter shot from the bird's twitching form, and struck at Vash like a nest of adders.
He fell back with a cry of disgust, hacking at the tendrils. He lost his footing on the dais and rolled down to sprawl on the floor. He'd lost his sword in the fall and he could only gape in horror as the bird spread its wings and rose into the air. More tendrils had burst from within its concealing plumage and horrible, leech-like mouths formed at the bulbous end of each pseudopod. The mouths spoke as they descended towards him, and his head pounded with the agonizing pressure of their words.
One of the tendrils curled about his boot, almost lovingly, even as it continued to speak. In his head, shattered images surfaced from the red haze of pain like the fins of circling sharks, and he heard the voice of Kai, who spoke to him, even as it had spoken to those who had found it and brought it to a new land, and to the inhabitants of the ruin where it had been found and a hundred-thousand similar such ruins before that. The Vociferous Kai, the voice said, came and spoke and took its due until there were none left to hear and none left to take. Vash groped for his sword, trying to ignore its voice.
He caught the hilt even as a brazier, trailing embers, struck the Vociferous Kai like a javelin. The babble of hideous voices spiralled up into a wail as feathers caught fire and the bird tumbled to the dais, knocking over its perch. It screamed and writhed as the flames spread. In moments, the abomination was enveloped in crackling flames. Burning polyps flailed blindly, smashing at the dais and scooping up the corpses of its guards to be flung across the room.
Vetch tugged Vash to his feet and half-carried him towards the doors. Behind them, the Vociferous Kai screamed and screamed as it flopped down the dais, dying, but determined to catch them. Vetch dragged Vash through the doors and froze as he saw the crowd of worshippers heading for them. The crowd came to a milling halt as those in the front saw the two sell-swords.
"This looks bad," Vash said. Vetch grunted. A savage murmur ran through the crowd as they took note of the blood that covered both men, and the bodies that lay in the doorway. A few took hesitant steps forward, groping for knives or balling their fists. Vetch gave a sharp-toothed grin, and raised his blade. Vash followed suit, though his head still ached with the echoes of Kai's voice. Both sides hesitated, waiting to see what the other would do. But before the stand-off could be broken, Kai, burning and screaming, lurched on polyp paws through the arch of the door. There wasn't much of the bird-husk left, save a few pathetic pinfeathers. But the snapping beak was still in place.
"That looks worse," Vetch said.
The crowd, as one, gave way before the fiery horror. People were trampled as panic set in. Vetch and Vash seized the opportunity and thrust themselves into the crowd, as the Vociferous Kai, in its death-throes, fell upon those of its would-be congregants who were too slow to escape.
Smoke was boiling out of the main entrance of the domed temple and filling the Square of Brass Stones when Vetch and Vash stumbled out, coughing amidst the tide of panicked humanity. Wheezing, Vash looked back over his shoulder at the inferno now raging within and said, "Well, I'd say that's another job well done, wouldn't you?" He looked at Vetch, who was glaring at him and said, "What?"
The little man spat. "I told you it was a god."
Recent Work by Josh
- GOTREK & FELIX: ROAD OF SKULLS (Black Library)
- NEFERATA: BLOOD OF NAGASH (Black Library)
- THE EXECUTIONER: BORDER OFFENSIVE (Gold Eagle)


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willbreathes wrote:I think Trey is supposed to be on an episode shortly.
willbreathes wrote:I just listrened to the yossarian pod.
Funny hearing an ex-OKP member, and the guy who swan dived off the Phil & Friends balcony.
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From Legal Insurrection:
Archive for the 'Liberty' Category
The Greatest License Plate You'll See This WeekPosted: October 17, 2013 by ShortTimer in First Amendment, Liberty
Tags: NSA
12 Year Old Explains Egyptian RevolutionPosted: July 16, 2013 by ShortTimer in islam, Liberty, Middle East, Tyranny
My arabic has deteriorated badly since I last used it, but the words he uses that I still recognize fit perfectly with the subtitles.
I've read those who speak it well say it's all pretty much a correct translation.
"Libertarianism's Achilles' Heel" and Leftism's Worldview FailurePosted: June 10, 2013 by ShortTimer in Culture, Economic freedom, Government, History, Leftists, Liberty, Tyranny
The preface to this is an article in Salon:
Why are there no libertarian countries? If libertarians are correct in claiming that they understand how best to organize a modern society, how is it that not a single country in the world in the early twenty-first century is organized along libertarian lines?
Short short answer is tyrants, and enabling of tyrants.
It's the reason why there are still monarchies ruled by hereditary kings, dictatorships, and countries ruled by warlords in the 21st Century. If we were to look at other countries as examples, then one rapidly finds there are plenty of regimes across the world that, by their existence, then must be "better" by this standard.
It's not as though there were a shortage of countries to experiment with libertarianism. There are 193 sovereign state members of the United Nations—195, if you count the Vatican and Palestine, which have been granted observer status by the world organization. If libertarianism was a good idea, wouldn't at least one country have tried it? Wouldn't there be at least one country, out of nearly two hundred, with minimal government, free trade, open borders, decriminalized drugs, no welfare state and no public education system?
Here's the problem – a peaceful libertarian state would have to overthrow its old government or have it dissolve. Or it would have to be left alone. Or throw off its old government and be left alone on the other side of an ocean.
The United States for roughly the first hundred or so years of the nation was a libertarian nation. It was a Constitutional republic formed on classic liberal ideas from the enlightenment – the value of the individual and the rights of the individual. One country did try it, and it succeeded wildly.
Kowloon is one more modern, (if bizarre) example, and it worked, despite being in an area not known for libertarian ideas. Until China destroyed it.
The welfare state and public education are both schemes cooked up by those who wish to be masters of men – types like Bismarck in Germany who decided that he would bring people closer to the state. The state that he ruled.
Criminalization of drugs is a decision by rulers to tell people how to live, and impositions on trade are attempts by government to steer economies.
As far as open borders go, no libertarian nation can survive truly open borders, and few libertarians actually want open borders. A nation without borders is not a nation. A nation without borders is subject to the political whims of migration as new arrivals bring old ideas and change the political landscape. You can't invite in tyrants as full partners into a libertarian world any more than a monarchist could invite a follower of Robespierre.
When you ask libertarians if they can point to a libertarian country, you are likely to get a baffled look, followed, in a few moments, by something like this reply: While there is no purely libertarian country, there are countries which have pursued policies of which libertarians would approve…
He didn't ask someone who understands what they believe and why. (As a fun contrast, if you ask someone why they voted for Obama, you'll get some much more interesting answers.)
And from here the pro-collectivist anti-liberty hit piece descends mostly into drivel. Why? Because leftists don't understand other points of view. Those who wish to conserve American liberty (Constitutional conservatives, classic liberals/libertarians, and more open-minded traditionalists, even) understand the left, the left does not understand the right.
Lacking any really-existing libertarian countries to which they can point, the free-market right is reduced to ranking countries according to "economic freedom."
Wholly, totally, completely wrong. The US up until the advent of socialism's import around the 1900-1910s is the libertarian country.
And to the "Achilles' Heel" by EJ Dionne at WaPo:
The ideas of the center-left — based on welfare states conjoined with market economies — have been deployed all over the democratic world, most extensively in the social democratic Scandinavian countries. We also have had deadly experiments with communism, a.k.a Marxism-Leninism.
The Scandinavian countries have been having some major problems with their welfare state as of late. They also prospered, like all of Europe's socialist paradises, under the protection of the US's guidance of NATO. Otherwise, they'd have all been Soviet satellites, or starved from defense spending to prevent the Soviets from invading.
Libertarians can keep holding up their dream of perfection because, as a practical matter, it will never be tried in full. Even many who say they are libertarians reject the idea when it gets too close to home.
Wrong. It already has been tried, and it succeeded wildly.
The problem is that a truly libertarian state has to acknowledge that it is a libertarian state, and it does have to make sure its people understand that the benefits of their society come from their freedom. Politicians who serve decades in power are not eager to tell people that they need to live without the politician.
There used to be politicians who were leaders and who would stand up for the fact that the nation is one created in liberty. For example – Democrat Grover Cleveland, discussing giving federal disaster aid:
Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character. . . .
– President Grover Cleveland
Such men existed, and such do exist, but it requires breaking the collectivist nonsense that has been spouted for decades and decades by both tyrants who spout it as a means to power, and individuals who bleat it as a means to security at the expense of their own liberty and dignity.
Those who desire to encourage paternal care, or even coercive paternalism and government force against the citizen, actively desire to weaken the sturdiness of national character, because it makes it easier for them to put themselves in power.
But Dionne lines up another swing that misses the point.
…tea party members, as the polls show, are older than the country as a whole. They say they want to shrink government in a big way but are uneasy about embracing this concept when reducing Social Security and Medicare comes up.
They payed in to a system they were forced to pay into. Government took from them for decades "on their behalf". There's a reason they aren't keen on shedding programs they paid into. But younger Tea Partiers would be willing to forgo so-called "Social Security" and live free with the extra money they have – investing it as they wish.
But this inconsistency (or hypocrisy) contains a truth: We had something close to a small-government libertarian utopia in the late 19th century and we decided it didn't work. We realized that many Americans would never be able to save enough for retirement and, later, that most of them would be unable to afford health insurance when they were old.
Wrong. "We" didn't decide that. Politicians decided that. Politicians acting outside the scope of the Constitution – in violation of the Constitution – went out and created a program out of whole cloth. Politicians who promised security told people to trade their liberty, and it worked because the politicians created crises they knew they could exploit. Politicians worked to weaken the national character for their own ends.
And when the Great Depression engulfed us, government was helpless, largely handcuffed by this anti-government ideology until Franklin D. Roosevelt came along.
And here is the great fiction again. The Great Depression was caused by the New Deal and FDR. FDR exacerbated what would have been a jarring market correction, but a market correction nonetheless. He and his retreads from the Woodrow Wilson administration decided to "mold the world nearer to their heart's desire" by exploiting a crisis they helped to manufacture.
The weakness with libertarianism and the end of the libertarian United States was through the expansion of politicians willing to give people things "for free". It was a cultural weakening of national character. Things like the Curley Effect may be effective, but it's also destructive.
It just means that a formerly successful nation can be destroyed through manipulation and political dealing. Just like an athlete can be laid low by a disease, it's not necessarily the athlete's fault.
The reason the United States succeeded was because people understood why it succeeded in large part. The yeoman farmer took pride in his nation, and did his best for that nation, and understood the makeup of that nation. The welfare recipient who's been told for generations that their nation is the worst in the world and that it owes them doesn't care to defend it.
Individual character matters, and individual character creates an free nation. Individual character that succumbs to collectivism and the misery it produces will create a collectivist nation.
Much of this nation is still libertarian, and succeeding wildly. Part of this nation is collectivist, and seeking to destroy the rest and control it.
Defense Distributed's Plastic LiberatorPosted: May 7, 2013 by ShortTimer in Democrats, Government, Guns, History, Liberty, Regulation, Second Amendment, Senate, Tyranny
A friend of the blog sent this news story a few days back – from the UK Register:
Plans for fully 3D-printed gun go online next week
The Liberator pistol causes political panic
Defense Distributed, the pending non-profit that plans to make 3D-printed weaponry available for anyone with such a printer, will release the blueprints for a fully-working plastic firearm next week.
The UK Register is pretty open about their bias in the story, which they at least try to make funny, but it's on the level of McNugget jokes. But they do point out that Democrats have never seen anything they don't wish to control.
"Security checkpoints, background checks, and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print plastic firearms at home and bring those firearms through metal detectors with no one the wiser," said Congressman Steve Israel (D-NY) in a statement.
"When I started talking about the issue of plastic firearms months ago," Israel said, "I was told the idea of a plastic gun is science-fiction. Now that this technology appears to be upon us, we need to act now to extend the ban on plastic firearms."
HotAir today has a story citing that ol' Chuck Schumer, who's never met a ban he didn't like, and demands total control over you groveling peasants who need to kneel before his Ruling Class dictatorial power – because it's what's good for you – also wants to ban it.
Bloomberg's own pet news agency even criticizes Schumer and thinks they need to forget about plastic guns and ban the rest first.
Should we light our hair on fire about plastic guns made with 3D printers?
Too late for Senator Charles Schumer. The combustible New York Democrat is encouraging hysteria over the prospect of criminals using 3D printers to manufacture firearms, possibly to assassinate the president. "We're facing a situation where anyone—a felon, a terrorist—can open a gun factory in their garage ,and the weapons they make will be undetectable," Schumer said. "It's stomach-churning."
Bloomberg's own people don't care about actual criminals, though:
…If you've got the skills, you can already make a gun in your basement, and there are less complicated ways to do it than using a $10,000 3D printer and computer set-up. Why would bad guys bother making comic book firearms when they can go online and order anything from a Glock 9 mm pistol to a Bushmaster military-style semiautomatic rifle with 30-round ammunition magazines?
Perhaps the evil doer wouldn't want to leave a credit-card trail. Then he pays cash at a Main Street gun shop, a weekend gun show, or to the criminal down the block who sells black market firepower from the trunk of his car. Or the crook steals or borrows his gun.
Point being, ban real guns first. Get the "dangerous ones", then ban all the rest.
The plastic Liberator pistol is a very interesting thing, and not just in its mechanics.
Perhaps the most interesting is what's in the name. A Russian professor of mine that taught Chekhov explained that Chekhov's names always were indicative of the character; and names are often very, very important. Going a very long way back in history, true names were a method to power over someone – either due to knowing someone and being able to identify them in a time before pictures, or out of a very early belief in names as a form of magic. Here, too, in a very fascinating way, the name was chosen for a reason, and is very indicative of what this pistol really represents.
Here with the plastic Liberator, we have all that liberty and liberation connotates, that this will free the information and free the people to have the tools to arm themselves against tyranny. We also have its historical antecedent, the FP-45 Liberator pistol:
It was made on the cheap, and made to be distributed to resistance fighters.
It had abysmal accuracy, but the purpose of the pistol was very specific.
It was made to shoot occupying forces up close and personal. It was made to shoot Nazi dictator thugs at extreme close range.
Some computer geeks at The Verge yammer on about the convergence between "crypto-anarchists" and guns, but for them, history doesn't exist before the Palo Alto labs, apparently.
Cyberculture icon Stewart Brand's famous notion that "information wants to be free" has been an almost ubiquitous refrain ever since utopian-minded hackers began populating computer networks in the 1980s. Today, 3D printing has given the phrase a whole new meaning, allowing raw data to become real world weapons with the click of a button. Cody R. Wilson, the antagonistic founder of Defense Distributed, is taking that idea to its logical — and hugely controversial — extreme.
Except it's not an extreme at all…
(DefCad's) his reasoning, he claims, isn't really about the Second Amendment at all — it's about technological progress rendering the very concept of gun control meaningless.
"It's more radical for us," he told Motherboard in "Click Print Gun," a recent mini-doc about the dark side of the 3D printing revolution. "There are people all over the world downloading our files and we say 'good.' We say you should have access to this. You simply should."
If this all sounds very similar to the good gospel spread by Brand and advanced by progressives and activists like the late Aaron Swartz, you're hearing it right. But even without the context of Wilson's operation, firearms and freedom of information share a strangely similar history, an oft-overlooked ideological confluence between hackers and gun advocates that seems to be gaining momentum.
Except it's not extreme at all, as guns existed well before computers…
If you go back before 1934, there were no restrictions on guns except if you were black or another wrong color/status. There were restrictions on people, and that's what was understood. Guns aren't dangerous, criminals are dangerous because they don't restrict themselves to any laws or social mores. Guns weren't dangerous to the people in power, freed black former slaves with guns were dangerous, because guns are tools of power. Today, as then, it's not the guns that are dangerous – Schumer and his ilk are surrounded by security with guns and send their kids to schools with guns and will come after you with guns – it's you being armed that's dangerous to his power. Guns are just a tool, as they always have been.
Guns used to be made by smiths, but anyone with access to some basic tools and a bit of skill can make them. Zip guns have been made out of virtually nothing for decades. Submachineguns are relatively easy to make, and some famous SMGs were even made in facilities as simple as bicycle shops.
The next leftist dictator-tyrant argument is then to control ammo and powder, which has a few major flaws. Namely, their enforcers use them, and their enforcers provide criminals with guns and ammo, so the criminal argument goes right out the window. Of course it isn't about criminals, it's about making you into a criminal so they can tell you how to live and make you live the right way. It's never about the guns, it's about the control. Components to make ammunition aren't impossible to come by, and conventional ammunition is only needed once – until an armed instrument of the state has his tools liberated.
The entire concept of homemade guns isn't extreme. Going back a few decades, not only could you buy a machinegun by mail, no matter who you were, but you could build whatever you liked. There was a great heyday of gun manufacturing in the early 20th century before regulations started becoming overwhelming. John Moses Browning was designing his greatest works in the early 20th Century – from pistols to machineguns, many of which are still in use today. Consider that the M2 heavy machine gun is something that's been in service for nearly 100 years. It's not that there aren't more designers for weapons with better ideas, it's that government regulations have limited the marketplace and made it more difficult to experiment. Government has stalled technological development – developments that used to be made in mechanic shops when designers and engineers and skilled craftsmen got together and designed new tools.
There were virtually no regulations or restrictions on firearms for a hundred years or more, with the exception of those laws meant to target blacks, American Indians, and other specific groups that the majority wanted to oppress; and a few local laws.
Defense Distributed to some degree is just bringing things back to how they were for generations. Before, the government trusted citizens and so it didn't restrict citizens, soon, the government simply won't be able to restrict citizens; and if they do restrict enough, there will be tools of liberation available.
29% Of Registered Voters Ready To Join The WolverinesPosted: May 6, 2013 by ShortTimer in Government, Guns, Liberty, Revolutionary War, Second Amendment, Tyranny
From CNS News:
Twenty-nine percent of registered voters think that an armed revolution might be necessary in the next few years in order to protect liberties, according to a Public Mind poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University.
That's somewhat substantial.
The survey asked whether respondents agreed, disagreed, neither agreed nor disagreed or did not know or refused to respond to the statement: "In the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties"
Pretty clear statement.
Results of the poll show that those who believe a revolution might be necessary differ greatly along party lines:
18 percent of Democrats
27 percent of Independents
44 percent of Republicans
That's very substantial. Consider that only about 3% was historically necessary.
Sarah Palin Freedom Speech at NRA-ILA Leadership ForumPosted: May 6, 2013 by ShortTimer in Conservatism, Culture, Government, Guns, hot chicks, Liberty, Sarah Palin, Second Amendment, United States Constitution
Worth watching.
Made a few waves in the media, too.
Ted Cruz at NRA-ILA Leadership ForumPosted: May 4, 2013 by ShortTimer in Barack Obama, Conservatism, Government, Guns, Liberty, Obama administration, Second Amendment, Senate, Texas, United States Constitution
Tags: Ted Cruz
Very much worth watching. He hits on the fact that Obama hasn't enforced gun laws, yet still wants more gun laws, and that Obama cut school safety funding.
HotAir has a good roundup of other quotes from the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum.


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Water Heaters for Today's Homes and Businesses
Just 100 years ago, the unpleasant scent of personal body odor was common. The stench of body odor was just a part of everyday life as it filled the nostrils of passers-by during their everyday travels. Hygiene was not as prevalent nor was it considered a top priority back then. Perhaps an immunity was built up to the smells of the body since no known means of bathing with hot water at home had yet been devised. Even the use of oils and perfumes could not mask what Mother Nature put into place. As history has shown, however, progress was made with the advent of indoor plumbing. The end result of that progress takes society where it is today with its many conveniences that were once considered a luxury.
Public baths were notable in history during the ancient world, and then were revived and thriving during the 1800s. Later, at the turn of the century, families were still boiling their water on the stove top for bathing purposes. It was a lengthy process started on Saturday but a necessary one especially in preparation for church on Sunday. This time-consuming task was multiplied by hours with each additional family member who resided in the home. When a pipe loop attached to the firebox of the stove was routed to a make-shift storage tank, the birth of the first water heater was achieved. The world became a more pleasant place for the olfactory senses from that point on.
Southernplumbinginc.com has been a part of the progress and trends of the modern Water Heaters of today. From today's modern tankless systems to the alternative of electric or gas units, their expertise will help guide the choices for your home's or business' current hot water needs.
The arrival of modern plumbing and hot water in the home brought with it the new-found knowledge that cleanliness worked hand-in-hand with keeping the body healthy. The Water Heaters of today continue the legacy of beneficial health for the modern-day sanitary needs of society. The added perk of pleasant smells now fills the churches and streets. Little did the people know, just a century ago, that their endurance of a stinky era would birth the bouquet of a more savory time for the world to enjoy. You can also connect them on Facebook for more updates.


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Sat, August 12, 2017
Pops Picnics available from The Corner Table Cafe
Don't panic! We've got your Pops Picnic plan covered. Simply fill out your choices and email, text or drop by your order form.
We'll have your picnic ready for you between 3 - 5 p.m. on the 1st floor of Nantucket Culinary.
email email@example.com for any suggestions or needs.


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"It's always better for Southern Baptists when we have several good candidates" for convention president "because it gives us an opportunity to exercise our congregational polity" and discern the Holy Spirit's leading "in a corporate context".
Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas (View from Reunion Tower)
Next month Southern Baptist messengers will gather in Dallas to conduct business at their annual gathering. The two-day event will begin bright and early on June 12th at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center (pictured above). No doubt the #MeToo #ChurchToo Movement will be discussed, and it will be interesting to see whether Paige Patterson delivers the keynote address, as planned months and months ago.
As emotionally charged as these topics are, they likely will not compare to what may happen when Southern Baptists elect their new president. You may recall that two years ago the presidential race was so close that ballots had to be cast twice and there was still no clear winner! The nominees were Steve Gaines and J.D. Greear.
An article in Christianity Today provides the details of what happened (see excerpt below).
In an unusually contested race, Southern Baptist messengers elected Tennessee pastor Steve Gaines as their next president this morning….
The SBC actually meant to elect a new president yesterday. But a rare tight race between the top two out of three candidates—North Carolina pastor J. D. Greear (45%) and Gaines (44%)—led to a runoff vote. (A candidate must receive just over 50 percent of the vote to win.)
Yesterday's runoff vote was also too close to call, with Gaines receiving 49.96 percent of the votes and Greear receiving 47.8 percent. (More than 100 ballots were disqualified, yet were included in the determination of the total number of votes needed for a victory.)
This morning, in a surprise move, Greear pulled out.
Steve Gaines, who succeeded Adrian Rogers at Bellevue Baptist Church, has served as SBC president an additional year, as seems to be the denomination's norm. His term is almost up, and another president will be elected.
In late January 2018, it was announced that J.D. Greear will run for SBC president once again. Here's how the Baptist Press reported the news:
Two years after withdrawing from a closely contested election for Southern Baptist Convention president, North Carolina pastor J.D. Greear once again will be nominated for SBC president, Florida pastor Ken Whitten announced today (Jan. 29).
Greear, 44, "is all about what Southern Baptists have been all about," Whitten, pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Fla., told Baptist Press in relaying his intention to nominate Greear during the SBC annual meeting June 12-13 in Dallas. "We bleed missions. We bleed evangelism, and we bleed the Gospel of Jesus Christ … J.D. Greear will give us the opportunity to impact another generation while continuing to honor the former generation of Southern Baptists."
At the 2016 SBC annual meeting in St. Louis, neither Greear nor current SBC president Steve Gaines received a majority of votes on the first or second ballot for president. So Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., withdrew his candidacy and moved that the convention elect Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., on the third ballot.
The day after the news broke about his nomination, Greear posted an explanation on his website — Why I'm Accepting the Nomination for SBC President.
Dee and I wondered whether J.D. would run uncontested, as Fred Luter had done six years ago.
A couple days later another name was placed into nomination for SBC president — Ken Hemphill. Here is how the Baptist Press broke the news:
Ken Hemphill, an administrator at North Greenville University and a former Southern Baptist Convention seminary president, will be nominated for SBC president, a coalition of Southern Baptists announced today (Feb. 1) via a Baptist state paper.
"We desire to elect a man who is a Southern Baptist through and through, values our understanding of the Gospel, and, has an established record of affirming the cooperative work of our local churches through the associations, state conventions and national entities," Louisiana Baptist Convention executive director David Hankins said according to the state's Baptist Message newsjournal.
"We sought Ken out because of his record in these areas as well as his impeccable character, remarkable breadth of experience in Southern Baptist life, passion for missions and evangelism, and an active ministry of revitalization to pastors and churches," Hankins said.
The Baptist Press article further stated:
Hemphill noted he is not "running against" any other candidate.
"It's always better for Southern Baptists when we have several good candidates" for convention president "because it gives us an opportunity to exercise our congregational polity" and discern the Holy Spirit's leading "in a corporate context," Hemphill said.
So what are the differences between these two Baptist men? A post at onenewsnow.com gives a little bit of insight. (See below)
Southern Baptist "messengers" will choose between Dr. J.D. Greear, a 45-year-old North Carolina pastor who ran a close race two years ago and eventually dropped out to avoid a convention fight; and Dr. Ken Hemphill, who currently is the interim pastor at a church in Missouri. Dr. Hemphill, 70, has been in Southern Baptist leadership for decades, as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a national strategist out of Nashville until 2011.
The post goes on to state the following:
And while many in Southern Baptist circles are working hard to get their preferred candidate elected, Hemphill and Greear both say they aren't in competition with each other. "J.D. and I are friends, and we both agreed that we would not in any way criticize the other person – and I think we've both been faithful to that," says Hemphill.
Another post just published over at onenewsnow.com stated:
Dr. J.D. Greear of The Summit Church in North Carolina may have the upper hand, according to Southern Baptist megachurch pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress.
"I think J.D. Greear may have a little bit of an edge … simply because during the last election, when it was a tie vote, he graciously stepped aside so as not to cause any controversy," Jeffress, the pastor of First Baptist Dallas, recalls.
Dr. Ken Hemphill has been in Southern Baptist leadership for years, including serving on the SBC Board and as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
"Both men who have been announced as candidates are friends of mine, JD Greear and also Ken Hemphill," Jeffress continues. "[They're] both respected within the Convention and either one would be a tremendous leader."
Whoever ends up filling the position is expected to address a slow but relatively long-term decline in membership. Both Greear and Hemphill have spoken out in favor of church planting and evangelism. The incoming SBC president will also continue addressing racial reconciliation issues – once a blemish on the denomination's record that has been the focus of leadership for years now.
As a Southern Baptist, I know that what makes the SBC presidency so important is that the one elected to the top post has important nominating privileges, and those put in charge will determine the course of the convention for years to come.
Two years ago SBC messengers were faced with the challenge of electing someone more traditional in his approach to soteriology (Gaines) or someone who was more Calvinistic/Reformed in his soteriology (Greear).
Over the next few weeks, I plan to put together some information that I believe will be helpful to Southern Baptist messengers who will be casting their votes for the next SBC president.


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Going back to the 1970s, guitarist / composer Roine Stolt has time and again come up with a range of musically inventive projects. 2016 found Roine releasing an album of all new material called Invention Of Knowledge with YES co-founder and prog visionary Jon Anderson. As the second half of 2016 unwinds Roine is back in the music news again with a new studio album from his band Kaipa, which is now called Kaipa DaCapo, to differentiate it from the Hans Lundin led Kaipa. Featuring several key members from the original 1970s Kaipa band, Dårskapens Monotoniwhich translates to sort of Perpetual Insanityis filled with the trademark Swedish progressive rock sound that has permeated Roines works in Kaipa, Flower Kings, Transatlantic and his solo debut from 1979. Even with the Swedish lyrics dominating the center stage, the prog-rock energy pours through making it one of the more dynamic-sounding prog-rock albums of 2016. Commenting on Dårskapens Monotoni, Roine tells mwe3.com, Kaipa Da Capo features the original Kaipa members - Ingemar Bergman (drums), Tomas Eriksson (bass), Roine Stolt (guitar, vocals) and new members Max Lorentz (keyboards, vocals) and Michael Stolt (vocal, guitars). We all wrote music for this new album. We had had a plan to make it less of a technical affair and to focus more on the songs and the feel of the music. There is a retro vibe going on, no doubt but we did try to be open and put the music in focus, not just to make the retro thing a gimmick. Between Invention Of Knowledge and Kaipa DaCapos Dårskapens Monotoni, 2016 has turned out quite well for Roine Stolt and his evolutionary prog-rock vision.
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A native of Oklahoma, Brittany attended the University of Mississippi on athletic scholarship where she received her bachelor's degree in Biological Science and continued to participate in sports at a collegiate level, pitching for the university's softball team during its inaugural season.
After completing her undergraduate degree, Brittany completed an ABA-certified
paralegal certification program and was given the opportunity to work in the
intellectual property department of a prominent law firm. She earned her Juris
Doctor from Stetson University College of Law, where she served as diversity
chairperson, a school ambassador and a member of student government.
A frequent guest speaker, presenter and lecturer, Brittany also appears on the radio program, "Ask an Attorney" during
which she responds to call-in legal questions about various intellectual
property topics. Whether it's before a group, on-air or with a client sitting
in her office, she enjoys the process of breaking down the complexities of
intellectual property law into real-world terms to help clients understand the
value and critical nature of protecting their business's brand or products.
Brittany has received the Leaders in the Law Award by the Florida
Association of Women Lawyers and was nominated in 2010 for the Tampa Bay
Business Journal's Rising Star Award and in 2011 for the Business Woman of the
Year. She also was named a finalist for the St. Petersburg Chamber of
Commerce's Leaders of Tomorrow Today Award.
Past Speaking Engagements & Presentations


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BLACK MOTHER Khalik Allah
The Frames Of Representation Film Festival is ready to raise its curtains featuring once again an unique selection of films which push aesthetic and political boundaries. In only three editions, FoR has consolidated itself as an unmissable forum for those who like cinema at its most ground-breaking, challenging in both form and content. The annual event celebrated at London's ICA is described by its curator, Nico Marzano, as "a laboratory conceived to engage with new visions of cinema through supporting the presentation, production and distribution of innovative and politically challenging cinematic languages".
Last year it was dedicated to ideas about "Working" and boasted the UK premieres of two of our favourite films of 2017, Jorge Thielen Armand's 'La Soledad' and Eduardo Williams' 'The Human Surge.' This year's main concept is "Landscape." and standout works from the programme such as Salomé Lamas' 'Extinction' or Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias' Cocote' are also likely to be among 2018's most thought-provoking and best.
Frames Of Representation will take place from April the 20th until the 28th and will showcase thirteen features and six short films from 16 countries linked together by a strong sense of place, instrumental in the depiction of the issues they reflect upon, blending the poetic with the factual; documentary with fiction and the personal essay with their wider social and political contexts. All of them are UK or European premieres for which the ICA will host Q&As with their respective directors, presented alongside a diverse series of workshops, symposiums and other related activities. Here's a small preview featuring our picks from this year's edition:
The festival opening film will be 'Black Mother,' the second feature by Khalik Allah, one of the directors of Beyoncé's ground-breaking video album 'Lemonade,' whose acclaimed 'Field Niggas' also opened the first edition of the festival. The North American filmmaker will conduct a workshop about black communities in urban environments and the ethics of depicting marginalisation on screen. In 'Black Mother' he explores contemporary Jamaica through the voices of multiple characters that range from priests to sex workers, providing a vibrant, colourful and fascinating collage of impressions that deals with an equally diverse range of subjects such as the effects of colonisation in the island; the combined influences of Christian and African heritage on its spiritual life and the role of women in its society.
EXTINCTION Salomé Lamas
The political landscape of the former USSR and its many contemporary partitions is well represented in the subjects of some of this year's films. Our favourite of which is perhaps Salomé Lamas' third feature 'Extinction.' The Portuguese filmmaker explores the conflict-ridden borders of the ex socialist republics following a young, civilian surveillance officer originally from Transnistria, a estate which the country's fragmentation has deemed anachronistic. Considered now as part of Moldova, its inhabitants are still feeling misplaced and facing extreme migration troubles in the frontiers with the surrounding provinces. Going back and forth from a very personal situation to the analysis of the historical circumstances that have left the Transnistrians in such an impossible position, 'Extinction' reflects on themes of geographic identity and sense of belonging as well as on the current political climate of the area, maintaining a poetic visual sense through its protagonist's road trips around the region. The stopovers in some of the imposing concrete architectural monuments of the former soviet era which add a phantasmagorical quality to the film, shot in striking black and white.
French filmmaker Clément Cogitore went to the vast lands of the Siberian taiga to portrait a self-sufficient life in the wild, isolated from the ways of the world, in 'Braguino.' He found the only two families living in opposite banks of the Ienissei river were involved in an ongoing feud that prevented the creation of any form of community between them; the invading visit of groups of hunters brought to the area by helicopter generating further disruption to their lives and great damage to their natural environment. Also shot in a former USSR province, in 'Delta' Ukrainian director Oleksandr Techynskyi went to another isolated area near the Danube river's mouth, to observe the everyday hardship endured by the local rural community against their surrounding harsh landscape.
COCOTE Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
Family feuds and rural hardship are also some of the themes in 'Cocote', this time against the backdrop of religious superstition and funeral rituals in a small town of the Dominican Republic. Blending documentary and fiction in the same way the protagonist family's spiritual traditions blend Christian and Pagan elements, the festival's closing film tells the story of a religious man living in the city, back to his humble village for the funeral of his murdered father. On his return he will be forced to take part on funerary practices that defy his beliefs, as well as increasingly finding himself dragged down by the consequences of his relative's violent past. The ritual of the Prayers (Los Rezos) involves a seven day mystical experience that the documentary shows with all its intoxicating intensity, in contrast with a storyline depicting matters of loss, family loyalties and the wide class differences within Dominican society.
The creative boom currently enjoyed by Latin American cinema can also be checked in 'Orione,' a multi textured film that mixes emotional testimonials of a mother, home videos and archive footage to portray the life of a young gang member in Buenos Aires, killed by the police while committing a crime. Assembling bits to the different facets of his life 'Orione' forms a complex look at the crashing forces that shape up contemporary life in Argentina.
IN PRAISE OF NOTHING Boris Mitić
Another of the festival standouts belongs to Serbian director Boris Mitić. On his fourth documentary, 'In Praise of Nothing,' the filmmaker attempts to create a cinematic equivalent to his favourite satirical book ever, Erasmus of Rotterdam's' 1513 Renaissance essay 'In Praise of Folly,' replacing folly for the concept of nothing half a century later, as a half-comic, half-serious tribute of sorts to its important role in shaping up the world as it is Today. A long-gestating project in which Mitić asked 62 cinematographers of 70 countries to shoot a minute film representing nothing; the resulting raw footage has generated an astonishingly beautiful installation for galleries as well as this equally impressive feature in which Iggy Pop lends his distinctive voice to the narration's verses, as Pascal Comelade and The Tiger Lillies provide a quirky, cabaret-like flavour from the soundtrack. Whether you engage with the film's philosophical musings or not, at the very least it serves as a well-deserved testament to Directors of photography's ability to capture the most eye-opening images out of…nothing?
DRAGONFLY EYES-Xu Bing
Another spectacular mosaic of images, on his debut feature well-established Chinese installation artist Xu Bing has crafted a film through a painstaking editorial process going through 10.000 hours of surveillance camera and live streaming footage in search of those random, special moments of visual meaning recorded with no human intervention.
The emerging narrative, which jumps from hyperrealism to melodrama, sits somewhere between a candid camera show and an almost impossible pulp fiction that goes beyond the criticism of our overmonitored society, where the boundaries of privacy are rapidly melting thanks to an Orwellian big brother's all-seeing eye surveilling our individual everyday actions, to focus on themes of personal identity in a digital era where a mediated reality is replacing reality itself.
METEORS Gürcan Keltek
And last but not least in our selection is the feature length debut by Turkish director Gürcan Ketlek, Meteors, awarded in Locarno and Porto for the extraordinary way in which he blends personal introspection, armed conflict footage and poetic metaphor. Showing rare footage of the little-known conflict in the Kurdish regions of Easter Anatolia, erased from official records by the Turkish government, while visually comparing the sounds and images of the bombings at night to those of a meteor shower that took place in the region. Keltek's haunting, grainy monochrome scenes, alongside the tapes of fellow filmmaker Ebru Ojen, provide strong sense of a place devastated by war; collects the historical memory of a punished and silenced community and provides ample room to reflect on the endless wonder found in the natural world as well as our endless capability for inflicting suffering upon ourselves.
The rest of Frames Of Representation 2018 programme looks equally interesting. You can explore it in full it here and if you feel particularly adventurous, as a last minute addition, the festival has just announced its first ever secret screening. On April the 21st it will premiere a film of which the only clue available is that its subject deals whit predatory relationships, set in a remote forest providing the backdrop for intricate rituals which are rapidly disappearing; certainly worth discovering.


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Delaware Department of Health and Human Services Covid-19 information.
24-Hour Helpline for Senior Services at Delaware's Aging and Disability Resource Center
Meals On Wheels Delaware (MOWD) provides financial resources to meal-delivery programs statewide that offer nutritious meals, independence and a personal connection to homebound seniors. We support these efforts through volunteer opportunities for individuals, groups and businesses, as well as fun, engaging and inspirational events intended to raise awareness and funds to provide the support and resources needed to alleviate hunger and loneliness for homebound seniors.
- In collaboration with meal-delivery programs throughout the state, MOWD strives to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of hot, nutritious meals.
- More than 1,000 individuals volunteered their time to hand-deliver a meal to a waiting senior in 2018. Another 150 individuals volunteered their time in support of fundraising for the programs.
- MOWD raises funds through generous contributions from large and small companies, public and private businesses, and both for-profit and nonprofit organizations, as well as directly from the general public.
- MOWD supports five meal-delivery programs/locations statewide: CHEER, City Fare, Meals On Wheels Lewes-Rehoboth, the Modern Maturity Center and the Newark Senior Center.
- In 2018, close to 700,000 meals were delivered statewide to over 4,600 seniors.


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Durston Construction is a small local team with the contracts, suppliers and skills to tackle any building or renovating project regardless of size. Specialising in high quality finishs weather a renovation project or new build.....
Take a look at some of our work as well as information on some of out latest projests.....
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Hello everyone! I've been bustling behind the scenes, and wanted to drop an update to keep everyone in the loop regarding What the Hell Has Dave Been Up To Is He In The Neighbor's Garden Again.
Of course, no. I want nothing to do with a garden devoid of cookies. Plus Liz won't let me in there.
Anthrocon was earlier this month- wow! Spectacular weekend, thank you to everyone we got to meet- and condolences to readers who couldn't make it this year, our thoughts were with you. A bit.
Thanks to a quick print run from http://ka-blam.com/main/ and permission from the Kickstarter backers, ( https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2083757038/dreamkeepers-volume-4-descent-to-the-archives/posts/1278987 ) we had a preliminary batch of Volume 4 at Anthrocon!
I was so busy selling books, I didn't have the time to sit down and finish my pencil commissions. It took a few days of nonstop drawing at home to get them done.
With Anthrocon officially completed, I have a pile of e-mails and customer service waiting for attention. I haven't addressed it yet, because the Kickstarter funds cleared- meaning the only thing holding up the offset printing of Kickstarted merchandise was me.
I decided to get everything printing first, and then tackle the inbox.
The past week I've been illustrating the new tidbits for the Volume 1 Backer's Edition- and now it's done! After wrangling files, assigning color profiles, and catching default image compression settings, everything was dolled up in CMYK for a big offset print run.
And now the ball is rolling.
Volume 4, Prelude Collection 1, and the Volume 1 Backer's Edition are with the printer, we're just waiting on proofs. I would guess two weeks for proofing, and perhaps another three or four to have the books manufactured and shipped to us, then our mailing campaign begins.
Between now and then- I have a few weeks of calm.
I have plans for those weeks.
First off, a Prelude update is coming this Friday- which needs to be drawn and colored. Then I want to sit down and restore a buffer, so Prelude can be removed from the 'causes deadlines' shelf.
Then, of course, I'll be getting on customer service e-mails, Kickstarter backer messages, regular e-mails unrelated to purchases, heck probably even trying to get caught up on art account and social media messages.
FYI- If I'm ever unresponsive online, it's not deliberate. There's just a lot to stay on top of, and if I spent all my time staying caught up, drawing would never happen.
After Prelude and customer service, I can finally jump into my longstanding commission que and get caught up to present- I'd like to nail ten or more in the next month. I also need to tackle Vivid accounting for the 2015 second quarter, pay our freelancers for that time period, put together the video update featuring the V4 freelancers and their work, post a new writing tutorial video on youtube, (finally!) get Volumes 1-3 back in stock on Amazon, create an illustration for the upcoming Uberquest book release, do some cover art for a novel featuring medieval vampires for funzies, upgrade the computer hard drive before Volume 4 kills it, write out feedback for some books and comics that were sent to us, update the VividPub.com website, update the Dreamkeepers website and refresh myself on PHP so I can finally fix the Prelude archives, finish the final edits on the QuickXyk novella I've been writing for Xyk to go with his commission series, finalize the next round of tweaks for the overall Dreamkeepers storyline, get rolling on the Volume 5 script, and if time, add to the Mace run cycle- need improved jump animation, I'd like to add a duck /roll / ledge pullup animation- what I really need to do is finish the spreadsheet and prioritize which animation sets are really critical for testing purposes.
So- plenty to play with.
Sorry for the rambling text-only post. Pictures will accompany the next update! We've been working on the resin figurines, casting up a storm, and painting 'em up- that will make for something fun to show, as well as the boxed merchandise coming in.
Thank you to everyone for making Dreamkeepers such a vibrant project!
More color on the way.


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Another Monday in October means another entry in Monday Magick's month-long tribute to the Donovan composition "Season of the Witch". This week's cover comes from 'Bang, Bang You're Terry Reid', the 1968 debut LP from British Rock vocalist and guitarist Terry Reid.
Reid's cover, featuring Keith Webb on drums and Eric Leese on organ, clocks in at over ten minutes and boasts a monster bassline courtesy of an unknown bassist who sadly goes uncredited in the liner noted. The majority of the tune is in a mellow, bluesy mode, with lots of lackadaisical vamping from the trio of musicians involved, recorded with a pretty hefty reverb. But there are sections where the guitar and drumming get heavier, the organ howls, and Reid's vocal enters a screamy register that really showcases why Jimmy Page offered him the vocalist job in the band that would become Led Zeppelin prior to linking up with Robert Plant.
After releasing 'Bang, Bang…' Reid turned down the invitation from Page, and later turned down the chance to front Deep Purple. He released a string of albums which culminated with a live record, 'Live in London', in 2013. The now 65 year old Reid still tours.
Music is magick!


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Given name: 勉Family name: 弐瓶
Birthday: Feb 26, 1971Website:
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Birth place: Kooriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
Nihei studied architecture and after that he went abroad to work one year in New York. After that year, he returned to Japan and decided to become a mangaka. He started at Kodansha's Afternoon, and has been Takahashi Tsutomu's assistant for a while (working on Jiraishin).
Twitter: @tsutomu_nihei
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Manga comes in all flavors and for all age groups. We're about to uncover some of the best mature manga which is just right for those in their late teens. Get ready to enter the world of seinen manga!
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Top 20 CGI Anime Which Are A Feast For Your Senses!
There's hate, and then there's the white hot, seething hatred anime fans have for CGI anime. Look, none's denying there have been some atrocious missteps in the past when it comes to CG in anime, but it can be done right!
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Due to an inundation of orders, sadly the factory cannot accept new orders for the coming 2019/20 summer season. We will fill current orders as quickly as possible.
Andrew Pridmore
Paddle Steam Marine is an on-line distributor for all Finn Watercraft products.
Due to an inundation of orders, sadly the factory cannot accept new orders for the coming 2019/20 summer season. We will fill current orders as quickly as possible.
Andrew Pridmore
Dinghies without motor wells have a much greater chance of flooding! Waves over the stern can result in flooding and is the cause of the loss of lives in Australia every year!
The 3m Spindrift Dinghy has a substantial motor well which maximizes safety and greatly minimizes the chance of flooding.
Even though we will do very our best, we will not be able to guarantee that any orders taken after the 15th of November will be delivered before the end of the year. Please order early!
The 2.4m Spindrift 2019 model is now designed to operate with a 7hp outboard motor and has a carrying capacity of 220kgs
The 3.0m Spindrift 2019 model is now designed to operate with a 10hp outboard motor and has a carrying capacity of 272kgs
All Spindrift Dinghies are now available as commercially rated tenders. This is an option for recreational purposes but is now mandatory for commercial operators.
Level Buoyancy information: Basic flotation means that the boat will float in some form if swamped. If the boat has capsized, it will remain afloat for you to possibly cling on to the upturned hull. All Spindrift dinghies are manufactured with basic flotation as a standard feature.
Level flotation (Commercial Rated) means that the boat will continue to float in a level position if swamped and will be prevented from capsizing in calm water at least. This will allow you to remain in the boat and bail the vessel to remove the water. This is now a legal requirement for all commercial operators and optional for recreational users.
N.B. THIS OPTION IS AVAILABLE ON ALL SPINDRIFT and SURVIVOR DINGHIES
For at least the winter period, the range of watercraft that we supply will be trimmed down to three. The boats now in production are the:-
The commercial option will still be available in the Spindrift and Survivor Dinghy range.
Our range of Dinghies can be supplied fitted out to fulfill any Commercial requirement for your business operation under AMSA NSCV – whether it be a Tender, Auxiliary, Dory, Dinghy as a Survival Craft, Non-SOLAS Rescue Craft or stand alone Surveyed Commercial Work boat or Fishing Craft.
Our craft are all fully compliant to AMSA "National Standard for Commercial Vessels" regulations (mandatory for all Commercial operators), with built in Level Flotation and Swamp Stability (as per NSCV Part C Section 6B) providing additional safety and peace of mind – FINN dinghies stay upright with you still inside if swamped… you will never be left clinging to an upturned capsized hull, which can easily happen in an non compliant aluminium, fibreglass or inflatable Dinghy or work boat.
FINN use revolutionary Foamtec Polyethylene construction, resulting in plastic moulded boats that are inherently buoyant and unsinkable, meaning that all of the disadvantages and safety issues of aluminium, fibreglass, and wooden boats are now a thing of the past.
Step into the future of maintenance free craft with no rotting or electrolysis, no welds or joints to fail, total impact resistance (no fenders required), the hull will never fade in sunlight, there is no paint to chip or crack. The plastic hull resists marine growth which can be easily rubbed off, revealing the original smooth plastic surface again!
Furthermore – not all plastic is the same – Australia has the harshest UV in the world, capable of destroying most imported plastics. FINN plastics have been formulated to withstand these conditions.
Comfort is also paramount – plastic doesn't get as hot in the sun, nor will it feel icy cold when the temperature drops.
What's more – all our FINN craft are environmentally friendly – no toxic paint or anti foul (saving you time and money) – and the material is fully recyclable.
Made right here in Western Australia, all FINN products are handcrafted to the highest safety standards. Using only quality components, we guarantee all our craft to endure the rigors of commercial use – that's why we stand by our lifetime warranty and 10 year UV rating.
FINN Kayaks and Dinghies have been making the toughest, safest, most durable, maintenance free specialist Aussie watercraft available, designed for Aussie conditions, since 1994.
We specialize in the design, manufacture and supply of plastic dinghies and kayaks to commercial operators, schools, clubs, hotels and tour companies all over Australia and overseas.
Don't hesitate to enqire about our commercially rated dinghies, for commercial or recreational use!
Great news!
The 2.4m Spindrift dinghy is now back in production. Orders will be filled as quickly as possible before stock is then replenished.
Sadly the mould for the 2.4m Spindrift Dinghy has been damaged. We are working hard to repair the mould but as yet don't have a date for resuming production.
Sorry for the inconvenience but we hope to be back on line with 2.4m Spindrift manufacturing very soon.
Thanks for your patience.


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This week we're talking about Mark Hamill's comments on Twitter regarding the Force "killing" Luke Skywalker, meanwhile The Last Jedi is holding the lead in U.S. Blu-Ray sales. Also, Kotaku's recent article on Rockstar Games and 'Crunch' in the Video Games industry, and how it may explain why DICE seems slower with updates than other companies. Lastly, Jade Raymond recently left EA Motive, the studio she founded, and the coverage may provide some clue as to why. But this seems to be a problem at EA, with execs and directors leaving Star Wars titles with alarming regularity. It's almost like they don't know what they're doing with the Star Wars IP.
The Force "killed" Luke? Mark Hamill's comments on Twitter
THE FORCE KILLED LUKE. You have to acknowledge the irony in his fate.
Almost like an addict that kicked his habit cold-turkey, remained clean for decades, only to re-use just once & then, tragically, overdoses.#SadSkywalker #ForceFatality #JediJunkie pic.twitter.com/CmavbUUBJh
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) October 22, 2018
Rockstar Games, Crunch and DICE
This may not be a popular opinion, but with the recent article on @RockstarGames by @Kotaku, maybe #Battlefront2 isn't as fast with the content updates because @EA_DICE doesn't treat it's employees like garbage with unreasonable mandatory hours? @BenWalke @phatseejay
— Indiana Jim (@indianajim) October 24, 2018
The Last Jedi is still number 1 in Blu-Ray sales in the U.S.
Jade Raymond leaves EA Motive
Jade Raymond Leaves EA, Star Wars Video Games As Lost As Star Wars Movies
Boba Fett is only MOSTLY dead
Podcast: Play in new window | Download


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Landscape Lighting
- Cobble Lighting
- Paver Lighting
- Wall Lighting
Sealers & Cleaners
BP Pro produces the high quality products that are designed specifically for pavers. This quality ensures that our projects have great long term performance and reliable installation that improves your paver installation. Pavers are the finest hardscape system and we offer products that match the performance of this system. We have been field tested on many of the most demanding projects in the world so we know that we can offer the look that you want with the performance you demand.
PROSOCO is a national manufacturer of products that clean, protect and maintain concrete, brick and stone. PROSOCO's products and services are designed to improve the appearance and performance of architectural masonry. PROSOCO products provide superior performance over traditional methods of cleaning commonly used for construction and industrial applications.
Pillar Caps


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Gay marriage is legal in New Zealand.
The 77-44 vote in parliament on Wednesday night was greeted with cheers and applause from packed public galleries and kicked off celebrations around the country.
New Zealand is the 13th country to legalise gay marriage and the first in the Asia-Pacific.
More than 1000 Australian same-sex couples say they will cross the Tasman to tie the knot.
"Now that marriage equality is only three hours away there will be a flood of couples flying to New Zealand," said Australian Marriage Equality spokesman Rodney Croome.
NZ Labour's gay MP Louisa Wall promoted the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill and it was passed on conscience votes, with no instructions from parties.
Prime Minister John Key was one of those supporting it.
MPs have been under intense pressure from churches and moral conservative lobby groups during the past few weeks but the final vote was almost identical to those cast during the bill's previous three stages.
"Excluding a group in society from marriage is oppressive and unacceptable," Ms Wall said when she launched the third reading debate.
"This is not about church teachings or philosophy, it never was. The principles of justice and equality aren't served if the key institution of marriage is reserved for heterosexuals only."
The Green Party's gay MP Kevin Hague said he had been with his partner for nearly 29 years.
"Until this day a basic human right has been denied us," he said.
"The consequences of this bill will be that same sex couples will marry, transgender people will no longer have to divorce, prejudice and violence will be undermined, the world will be a better place and absolutely no one will be any worse off."
National's Maurice Williamson, a strong supporter, said he had been appalled by some of the lobbying.
"I had a letter saying I was going to burn in the fires of hell, some of the bullying tactics were really evil."
NZ First leader Winston Peters again called for a referendum.
"Some say there is a groundswell for change, but how do we know that?" he said.
"New Zealand is supposed to be a democracy and what we are about to do is circumvent any expression of public opinion."
Mr Peters and his MPs voted against the bill.
Nearly all the MPs who spoke in the debate supported the bill.
One who didn't was National's Jonathan Young.
"History has invested significant tradition in marriage and I believe we should maintain that tradition," he said.
"This issue isn't as clear as some people think, many are struggling with it and the community is more divided than this parliament."
Although Wednesday night's vote put the bill into law, gay couples who want to marry will have to wait a while.
The Department of Internal Affairs which handles births, deaths and marriages has been given four months to get its act together and prepare the procedures and licence forms.
Ms Wall expects there will be a rush.
"The first week of August could work for a lot of people," she told NZ Newswire.
Source: Yahoo!


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Last week I was up in Chicago visiting Mariann. We saw a few shows and ate tons of yummy food. Ginny and I took the megabus up Wednesday afternoon, we had tickets to The Dodos show that evening. Ginny and I scarfed down some Popeyes on the way because food was very necessary and we hadn't planned ahead to get anything else. But that was at 2:30 in the afternoon so we were pretty hungry by the time we got to Bottom Lounge around 9:00. And Mariann hadn't eaten since lunch either so she was starving!
We knew Bottom Lounge served food, and the menu actually looked pretty good, so the plan was to get there early and eat something before the show. Unfortunately we made the mistake of checking in for our will-call tickets too early. Because Ginny is under 21 we had to bypass the restaurant area and head straight into the concert. Which was fine, except that we were starving and the only "food" available was beer. So we had some (not Ginny though, of course).
As anticipated, the show was awesome. It's amazing what the band can do with a guitar, drum set, and a trash can. Apparently the lead singer, Meric Long, was sick (mono?!). But you would have never guessed from his intensity and enthusiasm. Sweat was flying everywhere. And his voice sounded perfect. Their Bloomington show was cancelled on Thursday, which is sad for all the Btown people. They played a few older songs, but most of the set was from Visiter. It was great to see them in a small venue after watching from a distance at the Pitchfork Music Festival in July.
The show ended after midnight and by then we were so so hungry. We weren't sure where to find food since it was so late and we still needed public transportation to get home. We hopped off the blue line at Damen and, luckily, we found what we were looking for just a few steps away. Hot Dogs!
Underdogg (yes, two g's) is kind of hidden beneath Flash Taco, we were a bit confused when we walked in and saw a menu of tacos, burritos, and quesadillas. You have to go out and down the stairs to find the counter. It certainly wasn't the best hot dog I've ever eaten, but after two beers on an empty stomach, crammed in a tiny room filled with hundreds of hot sweaty people it was kind of perfect. Mariann had the traditional Chicago style dog with all the fixins. I like mine plain, charred with yellow mustard. Ginny went with the corn dog, and said it was delicious. Everything was super cheap, fast, AND came with fries. It was like $3.50 for a hot dog and fries. The french fries were obviously frozen, but whatever, they were hot and good. The reviews at Yelp are pretty mediocre, but my hot dog definitely hit the spot.
1570 1/2 N. Damen Ave
Chicago, IL 60612
Chicago, IL 60612


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The economy of Moldova is essentially a credit-free one. It progressed substantially since the post-independence era, owing to a handful of economic reforms. In fact, liberalization of trade and commerce on government levels is responsible for taking the economy of Moldova towards gradual affluence.
The economy of Moldova mainly banks on the agricultural and industrial sectors as well as on the revenues generated from foreign trades. The favorable climatic conditions of Moldova facilitate extensive agricultural activities in the country.
Apart from the production of food crops, the large vineyards of the country are known to produce first-class, high-quality wines and other liqueurs. The diverse agricultural outputs encouraged food processing industry to prosper in the country. About 40% of the Moldova GDP comes from its diverse farming activities.
The industrial activities in Moldova are multifarious in nature, beginning with the processing of various food and drink items and metals to production of apparels, machinery, footwear, etc. The Moldova industrial sector accounts for 23.9% to the country's GDP growth. In fact, the growth rate of the industrial production in Moldova was 17% in 2003.
The Moldova economy receives substantial support from its international trading activities. Wine holds the national export market, accounting for 24% of all exports in Moldova. Other export commodities include textile, glassware, tobacco and metal goods. In fact, Moldova's exports in 2005 accounted for $1.04 billion f.o.b. The main export partners of the nation are Romania, Soviet Russia, Italy and Germany. The commodities imported by Moldova in 2000 included machinery, consumer goods, food, fuels, industrial products and transports. In 2004, the country imported goods worth $1.83 billion f.o.b., and the import partners were Ukraine and Russia.
Last Updated on : 25th June 2013


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MHA Today is provided as a service to members of the Missouri Hospital Association. Additional information is available online at MHAnet.
In This Issue
Governor Wants Settlement Funds To Reverse Budget Cuts
State Senate Approves PDMP Legislation
Senate Committee Approves Mandated Flu Shots
MLN Connects Provider eNews Available
AHA Releases New Workforce Report
St. Joseph Medical Center Names New Administrator
state and federal health policy developments
Staff Contact: Daniel Landon
Gov. Eric Greitens is calling for some of the proceeds of a legal decision to be used to reverse a Medicaid spending reduction included in his proposed budget. His proposed budget for the state fiscal year beginning Saturday, July 1, would require a higher threshold of impairment to qualify for Medicaid coverage of in-home or nursing home care. The projected effect was to eliminate state-funded coverage of those services for 20,000 Missourians. Greitens wants to fund those services using $41 million stemming from a recent Missouri Supreme Court decision regarding a 2003 settlement agreement between the state and tobacco companies.
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Staff Contacts: Daniel Landon or Rob Monsees
The Missouri State Senate has given first-round approval to Senate Bill 74. It is one of several bills pending in the Missouri Senate that would create a state prescription drug monitoring program. Its sponsor is Sen. Rob Schaaf, who has been a long-time opponent of PDMP legislation because of privacy concerns. The version put forward by Sen. Schaaf does not give prescribers or dispensers direct access to PDMP data.
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Staff Contacts: Daniel Landon or Rob Monsees
A Senate committee has approved a new version of Senate Bill 117, which would require hospitals and a variety of other facilities inspected by the state health agency to mandate and document that all employees and volunteers are vaccinated against influenza. MHA joined others in expressing concerns about the bill, noting that it would impose additional regulatory burdens on all hospitals without significantly improving hospital vaccination rates. The bill was amended to remove the possibility of regulatory citation or other penalty for failure to comply.
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Regulatory News
the latest actions of agencies monitoring health care
Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issues updates to MLN Connects Provider eNews. eNews includes information about national provider calls, meetings, events, announcements and other MLN educational product updates. The latest issue provides updates and summaries of the following.
Workforce News
Staff Contacts: Meredith Kenyon or Jill Williams
The American Hospital Association's 2016 Committee on Performance Improvement issued a report to help hospital and health system leaders align the skills and abilities of their organization's workforce as health care continues to change. The report includes a tool to help initiate strategic workforce conversations, and specific recommendations and examples from hospital leaders and experts in the field.
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Staff Contact: Carol Boessen
St. Joseph Medical Center in Kansas City named Jodi Fincher as Administrator, effective Jan. 9. Fincher previously served as Regional Director of Nursing of the Midwest Division for Prime Healthcare. Randall G. Nyp, CEO of Providence Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., and Saint John Hospital in Leavenworth, Kan., has been named Regional CEO of all KC Metro Prime Healthcare Services Hospitals. A list of CEO changes is available online.
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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disorder that causes the loss of motor neurons, typically resulting in paralysis, respiratory failure and death within 3 to 5 years of symptoms. An estimated 5 to 10 percent of cases are attributed to heredity, while the remaining 90 to 95 percent are of unknown etiology.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


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Here's a ring that's fit for a special occasion …whatever the occasion in question may be!
This ring features a beautiful natural pink sapphire, surrounded by sparkling white diamonds: wearing a custom designed ring setting like this, you stand out and get noticed in all the right ways!
Custom Made Pink Sapphire Ring
A ring like this is the perfect gift for that someone special in your life. Precious gemstone gifts like this pink sapphire and diamond ring make one feel appreciated.
For example, if you were to give this to that special someone as a graduation present? They would really feel like their accomplishments were being recognized!
If this intense pink sapphire isn't to your taste, here are a few other natural sapphire stones suggestion that would go beautifully with this ring design. A natural blue sapphire like B2900 would make the ring fit for a queen: on the other hand a light pink stone like P2133 would give this setting a delicate, feminine air.
Blue Sapphire and Pink Sapphire
And for those who like to be different, yellow sapphire Y2226 would make one look tres chic!


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Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
We're honored and excited that because of feedback from clients like you, J.D. Power ranked Quicken Loans highest in Customer Satisfaction for Mortgage Servicing for the second year in a row. It was our serviced clients' willingness to share their personal experiences of working with our team members, technology and processes that got us here.
We're excited about this ranking, but we're more proud of the role we play in helping our clients achieve their home financing goals. In the heart of Detroit, more than 750 team members are dedicated to servicing loans for more than one million clients. We get to hear amazing personal stories and have real connections like those in the video above.
We're taking to Zoom, Facetime and good old-fashioned phone calls to connect our team members with over 100 clients to give them an extra special gift. As you can see, we've already started the season of giving and will continue to do so until the end of the year. You might be next!
Helping our clients is our passion. Getting recognized for that passion is humbling, yet motivating, because we want to ensure that everyone has a mortgage experience that's engineered to amaze.
If so, subscribe now for tips on home, money, and life delivered straight to your inbox.
This Post Has 1,622 Comments
We can't say thank you to Quicken Loans® enough. Our previous landlord was also a member in the VFW post we were in and there was some serious issues going on so we needed a place to move quick. We found the cutest log cabin style home and in 2 months from the time we started our loan we were moving in. We are so happy with our cabin. Thanks Quicken Loans®
I had gone through a divorce which left me with a not so good credit score. I always had excellent credit until then. Quicken Loans® helped me get out of a 7% loan to a competitive rate offered to everyone. This has saved my finances tremendously. Now I can put money way for retirement, instead of retiring at 87 as predicted. I can retire at a normal age. I cannot thank them enough for trusting in me.
I have had a horrible mortgage refi experience. I started the mortgage process on October 18, locked rate for a December 3rd closing ,it never happened. The title company,TitleSource, owned by Quicken Loans® had not completed any of its work. No sense of Urgency in completing the task at hand. No answers to my questions, just excuses. The list of problems is far too long to explain in a blog post.
Consumers : BEWARE !!!
I have gotten a loan and a refinance and found that Quicken Loans® was the smartest move I ever made . I have recommended your company to everyone. I could not believe how fast and easy it was. The staff at Quicken was courteous and knowledgeable and handled all of my concerns expeditiously. If in the future I want to refinance or buy another home, Quicken would be the only company I would call. Thank you again for all of your help.
Quicken loans is the only company in the US to offer a 7 year product for home refinance. Thrilled to have them help us retire mtg free by our planned date.
I am grateful to quicken loans for refinancing my home, I am happy with my loan and highly recommend to everyone.
My husband and I have closed with Quicken Loans® 2 times. We are very pleased with our experience. Everyone with Quicken is so very nice, knowledgeable, professional and helpful. Daniel Rice answered our questions and provided exceptional service and information for our closings. I am a former realtor and have never had closings go so smoothly as our closings with Quicken Loans®. Quickens closing agents came to our home and closed our loan in about 30 minutes and provided us with copies and answered our questions. They were very friendly, knowledgeable, and professional. I cannot say enough about our experiences working with Daniel Rice and other Quicken representatives. Thank you so very much.
Refinancing my home to a 15 year loan a few years ago was the best move I could have made. Thanks to all of you for helping me get there. If I could just get my high interest credit card debt wrapped into one low payment, I would finally be in financial control. Thanks again!!
My husband and I want to thank you, not only for being such an easy and accommodating company to work with, but also for your kindness and caring about your clients. Our friends don't believe us when we tell them that our Quicken Loans® rep called us one day and asked if we would care to refinance to a lower interest rate at absolutely no cost. Well, there was the $11.00 to the title company. LOL
Our son, who is a veteran, applied to refinance his home with you (on my very strong recommendation). He had some problems from an earlier period in his life and the young lady that assisted him went way beyond anything necessary to assist him and actually found that he was eligible for far more than he thought. Unfortunately he was not able to do the refinance at that time but will in the future and I can assure you.that it will be with Quicken Loans®.
I do not have an account with Quicken Loans® and never had????? —EBK
No junk e-mail, please!
Thank you so much for helping us get our remortgage. It has been so much easier for us and the people at quick and loans were so wonderful and helpful.. If there is anyway we can change the date of our payment please contact me by phone on email ..
Again Thank you, Laura Vennettilli
Best thing I could have done, when I refinanced my home to a 15 year note.
Thanks for doing such a good job getting my loan done so easily and quickly.
I attended the Phoenix NASCAR race you sponsored and was proud that I was a part of your business.
Happy Holidays.
Thanks for helping me out I got over extended because I was helping out my son & his family. He is a veteran I feel for him so they are all living us. My son-and wife and 3 boys ranging from 19 months -8 and 6 and let's not forget a dog!! Just say a prayer they both find a job and their life gets changed around. Thanks again!
Quickin is fast, quick and worked we me through out the entire process. I would never go any where else to finace a home! I recommend them to everyone.
That is awesome what you guys are doing! You guys got me out of a horrible loan! That I was in with the bank. Now I am in a loan I can handle!! Love you guys! God bless
this has been by far the easiest loan app and closing that my wife and I have experienced, and this will be our third time through this, its never been smoother
Thank you for your help with purchasing my ideal retirement home after a short sale. Thank you so much!!!
we have very poor credit but do q qualify for the harp loan please help us thank you Laura Coolbaugh
Hi Guys : You guys save me from losing my home , Thank you so much : Dr.
Our experience wasn't always so pleasant. I started off handling things and when I kept getting different answers from the many different reps I dealt with, my husband stepped in. They were blaming the lawyers for delays and some of them seemed inexperienced and weren't sure of the answers they were giving us, to our questions. My husband had enough and went straight to management. That's when things finally got straightened around and finished so we could close. I felt we were just another number. There was no heart in it. This was our second home purchase and thought it would be easier.
Thank you for always understanding and with God's help I will be one of your best clients in the years to come. Everyone who contacts me is more than friendly and accommodating. This Holiday wish means a lot from a company like yours. Happy Thanksgiving to you all and a blessed Holiday Season no matter how you celebrate.


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I often write about fiction and fantasy, but I stumbled across this post and fell for the words and the style so I thought I would share it with all of you.
It's a beautiful piece, both technically and creatively. From the story arc to the word choice, it's worth following until the end.
Have a read and share your thoughts below.
Jane Demuth | Longreads | May 2016 | 11 minutes (2,632 words)
I don't panic on the afternoon in August 2012 that my sister calls and tells me that our mother has gone insane and her boyfriend has rushed her to the ER. For the full four-week duration of her hospital stay, I don't feel much of anything for her. Instead, driving to the hospital that first afternoon, I tell myself to keep my ears open in case she slips and says something important and true.
Three months before, she was diagnosed; two months before, she began treatment. Breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ, stage two, one sentinel lymph node affected, ER/PR/HER2 negative, BRCA gene double negative. I advised her on what to tell her doctor about her family history so Medicare would pay for the genetic test. She's prescribed a lumpectomy followed by six months of chemo followed by…
View original post 2,610 more words