text:
Our conversation dies off for a bit after that, and we sit and listen to the sounds of the police station gearing up for its day. Williams continues to cast baleful glares in my direction every few minutes, turning away when I look up to make sure I know he's still ignoring me. I figure I'll let him think about things in his own time. If it worked to convince the guys at the construction site that they were thinking about me all wrong, it should work here, too.
Peterson walks in the door at 6:30 precisely. His gaze alights on us instantly.
"I hope you're as eager to follow instructions today as you clearly are to get started," he says to me, but Regina responds before I can say anything.
"Please, I just want to get this done. I went to see Brian yesterday and he's — he's just a zombie. He moves so slowly, like he's drifting through water, and even with that you can still see the rage burning in him. He's just too slowed down for it to really activate. I just want him fixed."
I feel a stab of guilt. I didn't even think about going to see Brian yesterday. I mean, obviously I couldn't; the doc flat-out told me not to come anywhere near the hospital, and it wouldn't do anybody any good to rile him up. But I could have thought about it, considered the idea and dismissed it. I have bad ideas all the time, so I'm used to rejecting them. This one never even crossed my mind.
Peterson looks like he's feeling a bit guilty too. At least, his expression softens from the thin, cynical smile he had on to something that looks much more like real sympathy.
"Come on back with me," he says. "You'll have to give me a minute to get set up, but then I'll show you the proposed plan of attack for today. Morning, Williams."
Williams mutters something noncommittal as we walk by. If I hadn't been looking right at the back of Peterson's head, I would have missed the almost imperceptible shake he gave as we passed out of Williams's sight.
"Not getting along with that guy?" I ask. Peterson shoots me a glare.
"Yes, Mr. Everton, there is some tension in this department. I hope to end that with today's investigation, which is why I'm allowing this only-technically-legal operation to go forward in the first place. I would really like nothing better than for things to go back to the way they were before I ever met you."
Choosing to ignore that slight, I ask, "Only technically legal?"
"We're sending officers to go prowl around a civilian's businesses, in the hopes of finding something illegal enough that we can declare a hot pursuit and kick down the door. It's a complete fishing expedition. If it weren't for the fact that I believe this to be the best chance we have to catch Dr. Amun, I'd never go along with it. As it is, it doesn't sit entirely well."
Regina and I both start to say something at once, but Peterson holds up a hand, forestalling us. "I'm not looking for you to convince me or give me justifications. We're doing this. I am convinced of the necessity. I am just unconvinced that it's good police work."
We sit down in the chairs on the far side of Peterson's desk as he unlocks a filing cabinet and takes out a thin folder. He pulls out five sheets of paper and spreads them out facing us. Each has a picture of the front of a building, along with several paragraphs of text including the business name, its address, the general dimensions of the building and so on. I recognize one as the Rossum Medical Supply building.
"These are the five properties owned by Rossum," says Peterson. " I went out yesterday to see if anything stood out about them. Whether the location, neighborhood, ease of access, regularity of use, anything like that could give me a hint as to which one was most likely to yield results."
"What did you find?" Regina asks.
"Absolutely nothing to distinguish one building from another in terms of what we might be looking for. I had nothing but a building sense of disgust that I was on a wild goose chase for Dan here. I wanted to punch a wall."
Regina sits back in her chair, disappointed, but Peterson raises a finger without lifting his hand off of the desk and continues.
"And as I was heading back, disgusted that I'd wasted my time, I suddenly thought: why am I disgusted? I knew going in that this was a long shot. I was simply going in an effort to improve the odds from picking the right one in five randomly. I should have had, at most, a sense of resignation that I had not found a break.
"Mr. Everton, you told me at one point that Evan Tanger, Jr was meeting with Dr. Amun? That he had arranged a demonstration for him before giving him the nanomachinery?"
"He called him Amici, but yeah, it was the same guy. And the email said something about how he'd want to go on with it as soon as possible once he saw the demonstration, yeah. But where are you — oh."
Regina says, "You think you were picking up some of Tanger's cast-off disgust, still being carried by the nanos. Like at Tanger's building!"
Peterson nods. "Not Tanger's, necessarily, but the ones from the demonstration. We're not certain how long the suggestion nanomachines can lie dormant, but several of these businesses were in fairly low-traffic areas of town. It seemed possible that that's where this seemingly irrational emotion was coming from."
"So how did you figure out which one it was from?" I ask.
Peterson offers a small smile. "I went back to each in turn and walked closely around the building, touching the walls and kicking up any dirt or trash that had gathered in the gutters. Anything that looked like it had been undisturbed for some time. As soon as I started feeling disgusted and like I really just wanted to punch a wall, I knew I'd found the place I was looking for."
He slides one sheet of paper closer to us. It's a warehouse with a roll-top door, set in a row of similar warehouses. It looks like a giant garage, dingy and utterly unprepossessing.
"This is it?" I say, unimpressed.
"What did you expect, Mr. Everton? A villain's lair?"
"I mean, it would have been nice." I study the picture. "All right, so this is what we've got. So what's the plan?"
Peterson looks uncomfortable. "We're going to go ask to take a look around."
"That's it?" I scowl, and Peterson matches my scowl with one of his own.
"There's still no evidence of illegal activity. We can't just barge in waving guns and confiscating machinery."
"Oh, come on! You know it's the building!"
"Which is why we are going to investigate it, and hopefully something will turn up!"
Peterson puts an odd emphasis on the word "we," which interrupts my budding anger. I'm reminded of the way he answered my request for tips on a stakeout. He never acknowledged the question at all, but instead told a seemingly unrelated story about long drives. Coincidentally, his tips for staying awake on long drives were extremely useful for staking out someone's home, too.
It's taken me a minute to catch up, but I think this is the same thing. Peterson can't, in good conscience as an officer of the law, ask me to snoop around while I'm there. And if I offer, he can't accept. In fact, he'll have to tell me not to. But if I just happen to do something without his request or approval, and it reveals what we need to catch Dr. A, then that's just him being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes you've got to set up your own right place and right time, is all.
I take a deep breath. "Okay. We'll investigate. Got it."
Peterson fixes me with a gimlet stare, then nods. "Good."
"Wait here for a moment," he adds. "I'm going to make sure everything's in order, and then we'll be ready to go."
Peterson walks off, and Regina leans over to me. "So basically he's counting on you to do something stupid once we get there," she says quietly.
"Okay, I would not have put it like that," I say with indignation.
"But he is."
"Yeah, fine, basically."
Regina smirks. "It's your time to shine, Dan!"
I glare at her, and she says, "I shouldn't make fun of you. I'm zorry."
Then she cracks up as I continue to glare. And they call this friendship!
The police car pulls up in the alley outside of the warehouse, and Regina and Peterson step out of the front. Peterson opens the door to let me out of the back, and we walk over to knock on the normal-sized office door next to the large roll-top that covers the front of the building.
I'm tensed for action as the door starts to open, but the man opening it is not Ichabot. He's average height, short sandy blonde hair and blue eyes, in standard button-down shirt and khaki pants office wear.
"Can I help you?" he asks, looking the three of us over.
"I'm Officer Peterson," says Peterson, showing the man his badge. "If it's all right, we'd like to have a look around inside."
"Of course, Officer!" says the man, stepping back from the door and gesturing in. "Come on in. I'm Zane. Would you like some coffee or water or anything?"
That was significantly easier than I expected. I'd almost think Peterson had gotten the wrong place, if it weren't for one thing. There's a faint but nagging desire in the back of my mind. A feeling like I'd really like to punch a wall.


text:
Accessible Information Standard
The Accessible Information Standard is a law which aims to make sure people with a disability or sensory loss are given information they can understand, and the communication support they need.
It was introduced by the government in 2016 to make sure that people with a disability or sensory loss are given information in a way they can understand.
It is now the law for the NHS and adult social care services to comply with AIS
What is the Aim of AIS?
The standard aims to make sure that people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss are provided with information that they can easily read or understand, and with support, so they can communicate easily with health and social care services.
This should lead to improved outcomes and experiences, and safer, better services.
The Standard is there to help NHS and adult social care services to improve, so they can better meet the communication and support needs of disabled people.
How Does it Work?
If you have a learning disability it means that NHS or Adult Social Care services need to:
1. Find out your communication and information needs
2. Record these communication and information needs clearly and consistently on your record
3. Flag these needs, so when a member of staff opens your record it is really clear what your communication or information needs are
4. Share your information and communication needs when needed, for example if they are referring you to another service.
5. Take action to give you the right support. For example, offering you easy read information or making sure there is someone there to support you with communication.
How Can I Find Out More?
Click on the Link below to see our Easy Read Version
Ealing Mencap's Accessible Information Standard

subset: commoncrawl


text:
We're England!
We're gonna score one more than you
Fat Les - Vindaloo
Another summer, another crushing footballing disappointment. Ever since that fateful night in Turin 24 years ago, when I've never seen my Father - or anyone else for that matter - drink so much brandy, I've become used to it. So much so that the St George bunting wasn't even unfurled this year.
Not that I'm feeling too down about it, the World Cup is turning into a cracking competition despite our early exit; even the Ewing is clamouring to stay up late watching Honduras kick lumps out of Ecuador or Greece crash out against the Costa Rica And, no matter how bad we are at kick ball, we're still great at curry.
Originally introduced to the west coast of India by the Portuguese, carne de vinha d'alhos - a dish of meat, usually pork, marinaded in wine and garlic - was modified to local tastes with the substitution of palm vinegar for wine and the addition of lots of red Kashmiri chilies to evolve into what we now know as vindaloo.
Sadly it's now become somewhat of a joke dish; hijacked by sweaty men who like to posture post-pub, pints of lager in hand, whilst making jokes about frozen loo roll. Terry Pratchett memorably described it in his Disc World novels as 'mouth-scalding gristle for macho foreign idiots'. And while it is hot, the heat is far from the only point of what should be a fragrant, and even subtle, dish.
Following on from my last post - where we ended up eating karahi in deepest darkest Whitechapel - this curry was originally devised in preparedness for my spice loving Sister coming over to stay from Oz; a vindaloo being her usual choice when she goes out for a ruby.
As with all best laid plans, we didn't end up having time to make it for her visit, but I did get a chance to make it for my Mum, another fearless curry lover, when she last came to stay. And, even if I do say so myself, it was quite frankly top drawer stuff. Easily one of the best curries I have made at home, and something a bit different than the fare offered by our usual flock wallpapered local haunts.
Not only that, but it was hugely simple to make. Just take your meat, I used pig cheeks - the Ewing cleared the shelves at our local Waitrose - and cover in the marinade for a couple of hours to allow the vinegar to tenderise the meat. Then soften onions in a little oil, add the meat and a tin of tomatoes and cook for a in the oven until tender.
Cheeks are ideal for this as they have very little fat but lots of connective tissue that makes a wonderfully rich and gelatinous sauce that isn't too rich or greasy. Next time I plan to try some cubed pork or lamb shoulder, or even chicken thighs, but I reckon any tough cut - especially strong flavours like goat, game or mutton - would work a treat.
Pig Cheek Vindaloo
(Adapted from Simon Majumdar)
2kg pig cheeks or pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into inch pieces
1 cup palm/cider/white wine vinegar
10 cm fresh ginger, peeled
6 Fresh chilies, finely chopped (I grated mine with a Microplane)
10 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground Cumin seeds
2 tsp ground Coriander seeds
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
2 white onions, sliced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Vegetable Oil for frying
Put the salt ginger and garlic into a pestle and mortar and grind to fine paste
Place the pork into a non-reactive bowl, add the garlic ginger paste, the chopped chilies and the vinegar and massage into the meat.
Mix together al the spices pour over the pork and massage well into the meat. Cover with cling film and leave to marinade for at least two hours to allow the vinegar time to penetrate and tenderise the pork.
When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180c.
Heat a little oil in a large pot and fry the onions until golden.
Pour the entire contents of the bowl into the pan along with the tinned tomatoes. Add water, if needed, so the liquid just covers the meat, stir well, put on the lid and place pot in the oven.
Cook for about three hours, removing the lid a third of the way through the cooking time, or until the sauce has thickened and the meat is tender.
As with all curies, this is even better eaten a day or two after cooking. Piles of fluffy white rice or nan bread, cucumber raita to cool down burnt tongues and plenty of Cobra are obligatory.


text:
When in doubt, try it out. World skimboarding champion Austin Keen rode three boards in a single wave. Now, that's a triple transfer.
It was just another sunny day in San Diego. The small summer waves invited surfers to take their Malibus and longboards out the back. Nevertheless, one man thought different.
Skimboarding specialist Austin Keen decided to paddle out with three boards. He believed he could do better than the creative Hawaiian wave rider Jamie O'Brien. Instead of two, Keen wanted to ride three different boards.
"This was originally done as a challenge to win Tosh.0's Subaru. The idea was to post a video doing something Tosh.0 could not do. If you're unaware, Daniel Tosh often claims to be a surfer," explains Keen.
"I actually got the pleasure of confirming this one day in Malibu, and it turns out, he's got some talent on a longboard. Anyway, I didn't get the Subaru, but I may have broken a world record."
In the end, Austin Keen completes a three-board transfer with a stand up paddleboard, a surfboard and a skimboard. Great job, dude.


text:
School Calendar 2018/2019
Back to School
October Mid Term
Christmas Holidays
February Mid Term
St Patrick's Day Public Holiday
Easter Holidays
May Bank Holiday
June Bank Holiday
Summer Holidays
26.10.18 - 05.11.18
21.12.18 - 07.01.19
21.02.19 - 22.02.19 inclusive
15-03-19 - 18-03-19 inclusive
12.04.19 - 29.04.19
31-05-19 - 03-06-19 inclusive
School opening Wednesday August 29th 9:20. Junior Infants will finish at 12 until September 7th.
School closes Friday October 26th and reopens Monday November 5th
School closes Friday December 21st and reopens Monday January 7th.
School closed Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd of February.
School closed Friday March 15th and Monday March 18th
School closes Friday April 12th and reopens Monday April 29th.
School closed Monday May 6th
School closed Friday May 31st and Monday May 3rd
School closes on Tuesday June 25th


text:
Whenever you experience car problems, it is important that you take the necessary steps to fix them. Being stuck without a working vehicle makes getting around very difficult. You may think you have to spend a lot of money on auto repairs; however, this is not usually the case. You can handle many auto repairs by yourself.
Make sure that your mechanic is A.S.E certified before you let them work on your car. This shows that a mechanic has passed a special test for competence and also shows he or she has at least two years experience as a mechanic. This means you have the best mechanic performing maintenance on your automobile.
If you are considering working with a new auto repair shop, ask the mechanic if they are experienced in working with your specific vehicle. If the mechanic says they have, then they are likely aware of just what repairs need to performed in order to have your car operating well again.
A great way to get a good mechanic is by asking around. Talk to anyone you know and get recommendations from them. Ask about how much they paid, the quality of the repairs and the customer service. You can use their experiences to determine whether a mechanic is honest or not.
Use the Internet to search for local auto body shop reviews. This lets you know how other customers have felt. The information will help locate a local repair shop that you are comfortable with trusting with such an important job.
Prior to bringing your car to a shop for a repairs, try to find out what the issue is. Identifying the problem yourself can save you some money, and it can prevent you from being taken by a dishonest mechanic. Experience shows that mechanics sometimes falsely claim a problem exists and do an unnecessary repair, to increase their earnings.
Ask if your intended mechanic is experienced with the make and model of your car. Cars vary greatly by make and model so it is important that your mechanic is familiar with your make and model of car. If you don't think he has, go to the dealer.
If you have to have a big repair done, get multiple estimates. Although shops usually can be trusted, you could end up having to pay extra money that you don't have. Look around for reputable shops that specialize in your car's make. These shops are the best ones to use.
Make sure you become knowledgeable on standard car-part classifications before visiting a mechanic. There are three conditions: salvage, new, and rebuilt and re-manufactured. New parts are newly created to the specifications of the manufacturer. Re-manufactured, rebuilt and reconditioned happen to be parts that have been restored to a decent working condition. "Salvage" means that it came off a car and hasn't been fixed.
Be aware of shops that take out your tires and put in old ones. They profit from your oblivion. Prior to taking the car in, mark your tires with a bit of chalk. If the marks are gone when you get your vehicle back, you have probably been swindled.
Transmission Fluid
If someone claims the parts they sell last a lifetime, run away. This is a trick used to charge you more for parts. There are some cars that carry a "lifetime guarantee" for their transmission fluid: this is a perfect example. Though the change time on transmission fluid is very long, it should be swapped every 80,000 miles.
It is possible to put oil in your car and refill windshield wiper fluid yourself. Routine maintenance can be done by you. Learn how to do the job online, which has many resources to teach you, then jump right in.
Avoid repairs if a mechanic gives you a difficult time about a written estimate. If mistakes are made, you may not be able to recover the damages since you do not have a contract on the work he did.
Devote some time to learn all about your vehicle and how it runs. There are some repairs you can make yourself once you have the proper knowledge. You can cut costs considerably by changing oil or fixing a flat tire yourself.
You can protect the interior of your vehicle with some rubber, heavy-duty mats. The mats keep salt, slush and mud off of the carpeting. You need them in the wintertime and on rainy days.
Figure out if you want your car fixed by an actual dealership or an independent garage. Dealers are expensive, but they really know what they're doing. Garages will cost a little bit less, but they may not be as trustworthy and credible.
Don't fear asking questions when getting the car repaired. It's important to know what the auto shop is fixing and the price it's going to cost. Great companies will tell you all of this information upfront.
When looking for a mechanic, look for one who is familiar with working on your type of car. In particular, he or she should know something about the make and model of your car. If they have little or no experience with your type of car, keep looking.
In conclusion, you do not need to spend a fortune to have your car repaired if it breaks down. Sometimes, you can fix your car yourself. Use these tips to get your car up and running again.


text:
Ticket Information
Tickets: $55, $45, $35
Child/Student*: $45, $35, $25
*Student tickets must be purchased in person at the Box Office. Students must present a valid student ID. Limit one ticket per ID.
Son of the Wind is a kathak dance drama that follows the trials and adventures of Hanuman as he helps rescue the princess Sita from the clutches of Ravan, King of Lanka. Under the artistic direction of Seibi Lee, Rachna Nivas and Rina Mehta, this all-female production brings a contemporary spin to India's ancient epic the Ramayana.


text:
PVR ropes in Dharmesh Datta to drive its event cinema initiative
As Vice President, Alternate Content, Datta will focus on developing and executing a strategy to stimulate 'Event Cinema', that is, alternate content initiative
PVR Cinemas has announced the appointment of Dharmesh Datta as Vice President, Alternate Content. He commenced his new role from June 23, 2014 and will be based out of Mumbai. In this role Datta will focus on developing and executing a strategy to stimulate 'Event Cinema', that is, alternate content initiative.
Datta brings with him an experience of over 16 years, having worked in organisations such as Wizcraft International Entertainment, Lintas India, The Times of India Group, Network18 (TV18 Group) and Endemol India.
"We are pleased to welcome Dharmesh to the PVR family," said Kamal Gianchandani, President PVR Pictures Ltd. "His extensive experience in serving large businesses, building properties and consumer insights will be invaluable as we aim to take a step further and go beyond movies to showcase other forms of compelling content at our cinemas. Dharmesh adds the necessary leadership and depth, as we continue to explore new and more meaningful ways to engage our patrons."
Commenting on his new role, Datta said, "I am very excited to be a part of the largest multiplex chain in India. PVR is the most respected name in the film exhibition industry and is known for bringing world acclaimed cinematic content to its viewers in the country. Designing a strategy to monetize alternate revenue streams and building on differentiated properties for PVR will definitely be an exciting proposition for me."For more updates, be socially connected with us on
WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook & Youtube


text:
Raised-Panel Wainscoting for a Spiral Stairwell
Forum Responses
From contributor B:
This is a great challenge for architectural woodworkers. It involves helical, curve, angle, and springback. You need to build a curved wall clamping jig that duplicates the radius and rise and run of the helical stair wall that you are working on. The panels can be 3/4 MDF with kerfs in the back so it can be bent to the wall. You would need to make solid wood profiled edges for the panels. The top and bottom pieces of the panels need to be strips glued up at a curve before milling profile. Compensate for springback. You can measure the springback after gluing up the first one. The kerfed panels will have to be cut into parallelograms. The cut angle equals the hypotenuse line from the stair, rise and run triangle. I would glue the wood pieces on that go around the panels, while the panel is held to the wall curve. Then run the panels on the shaper for the profiles.
The wainscot top and bottom rails are going to be helical shaped, about 8 to 10 feet long I suppose. They need to be glued laminations, on your curved clamping jig that matches the stairwell. Your strips have to be cut at radius first, before twisting into the helical shape for glue up. Should make for an interesting setup on the shaper or router for the profile on the rails.
From the original questioner:
This is about the difficulty I figured. Plans call for four flights of this helical raised panel wainscot detail, and most likely two or three other wainscoted rooms that are either circular (in plan view) or elliptical. I'm in the Boston area.
No useful plans exist yet at this level, but the client provided photos from a house that has a similar stairwell. I have license to redesign to make things more practical, if that's even possible. Paul is also correct that it's not quite as simple as the wainscot matching the stairs. At the landings the wainscot must transition from level to the helix, and we at least want to investigate the extra work and cost involved in having panels that would do this transition within the panel - very challenging. Thanks for your responses.
From contributor C:
A simple solution which I have used in this situation on paint grade work, is to build the panel center in place by applying layers of thin plywood, and utilizing a high quality rubber flex molding in the shape of a raised panel edge
From contributor D:
Another alternative not mentioned would be to segment the rail sections. Not as graceful and clean as true laminated components, but adequate in limited circumstances.With regard to the transition between the stair and landing wainscots, the natural transition between the two paneling types is at the plumb cut on each end of the stringer. We rarely produce a panel that bridges both sections as the appearance can look awkward. If I can be of more assistance, feel free to email.
Click here for full size image
From contributor E:
To contributor D: Nice staircase. Are the raised panels flat faced or are they curved?
From contributor F:
This is historically one of the zeniths of the woodworker's skill. It can be done with ticky-tacky and cheap this and that (and will show accordingly), or be a true point of pride for owner, maker and designer. Be sure to either hire someone who has done this work before (preferably more than twice), or follow the clear advice of someone who is willing to share his expertise with you. I have done this work about once a year for the last 25, and know of only one other shop in the area that has ever done this successfully. I have seen some horrendous attempts made, to the detriment of the craft.
From contributor B:
Looking at the curved stair photo, I see faceted curve wainscot. The panels and rails are straight. This is not nearly as difficult as making curved rails and panels.
From contributor D:
To contributor E: The panels are flat, as are the top and bottom rails (short sections). The joints between the segments occurred at the junction of "1/2" stiles and the segmented rails. The cap was a radius pc. Thank you for the compliment.
To the original questioner: I agree with your assertion that this type of wainscot project demands the highest level of fine woodworking skills. I would add that a comprehensive knowledge of stair building would also be required. A close proximity to the job site would also be ideal. As with every project, we (the client, designer and tradesperson) tend to have a preconceived image in our head of the finished product. This image is typically idealized to the nth degree, representing only the finest in materials, crafted with only the highest of woodworking skills on the best equipment. The fruition of this ideal image would test the skills of the most experienced woodworker, be quite costly and require a large time investment to realize fine and lasting results. Your work appears to attest that it can be done, but I would argue that it's a rare occurrence for most tradespersons or shops.
I would also argue that attaining a "true point of pride for owner, maker and designer" can be realized on many different levels dependent upon the consensus formed by all parties involved at the beginning of the project. Using "ticky tack" materials and less than true manufacturing processes may be perfectly acceptable to achieve the desired effect. If the end result is a horrendous example of the craft, yet the client is satisfied, we've effectively completed our obligation to the project. Our obligation to the trade is personally formed. Some have none, others overflow with pride.
Limited skills, poor workmanship and lousy design abound in the end products of our industry. Examples are everywhere. These instances should be analyzed in context and compared to established norms to assess their validity as a standard practice. Most do not live up to our standards. Others however, provide innovative solutions to complex projects (radius stair work). While these different ways of doing things may fall far short of our preconceived and many times subjective standards, dismissing them as somehow not worthy stifles innovation and creativity.
To contributor B: Nope, not nearly as difficult as true radius work, but the project met the client's budget, their expectations and lastly, we did very well. Am I crazy about the look? No, not really, but the client was satisfied when complete. Would we or have we done it the same way again? No on both counts. The photo above simply illustrates an alternative process to those presented earlier in this thread. Its applicability would depend upon many factors
From the original questioner:
Thanks for all your input. And a special thanks to contributor E who gave me some great advice today about (vertical) stave-coopered construction for the panels using custom made concave stave stock.
First, I appreciate the segmented approach and think it definitely has its place. It's done very well. However, this particular client seems to have bottomless pockets and probably seeks a "true point of pride for owner, maker and designer" as contributor D puts it. So, flex molding and in-place lamination is out. (I can't figure out how the latter would even be possible.)
My current thinking is to follow contributor E's advice and have cupped staves milled from custom moulder knives that I'd draw in AutoCAD. Joining the cupped staves together in a form would make a smoothly curved trapezoidal blank for a panel. My sense (pending pricing approval) is that a 5-axis CNC would be the way to go to trim the panels to size and apply the panel raise. I have a math background and a fair knowledge of Autocad so I think I might be able to interface between the site and the CNC shop. Alternatively I could run it on a shaper, but I'm thinking the CNC is the way to go to get perfect geometry, and would be even more helpful for the transition portions at the landings. My next thought is choice of panel material. I think poplar or MDF, the latter being good for stability which is critical.
Another thought - since I have some license to determine the stile/rail profile, panel raise profile, and top rail cap, perhaps I have the CNC mill the stair skirt board, base cap, bottom rail, panel, top rail, stiles, and top rail cap (chair-rail) all in the same slab - disadvantage being that seams would run continuously top to bottom and if it shows through the paint it would be a give-away that it's not built in the traditional method. Assembly and continuity at "joints" would be as good as possible however, and if it's 100% MDF there's little chance of movement in this 100 year old building. (Oh yeah, forgot to mention that it's an existing stairwell. I will be checking radius consistency very carefully.) Panels could be made with staggered joints to mitigate this telegraphing joint issue, but unless they're staggered by a pretty large dimension it might not be worth it. Plus it would seem to limit the max size of a particular panel as imposed by the CNC bed size.
In case I didn't mention this, this detail runs over the five storey height of the 10' diameter spiral staircase and is also found in two or three elliptical rooms elsewhere in the house. I think it's time for a beer.
From contributor E:
Be careful with MDF. I've worked on (and owned) many historic buildings and can tell you first hand that original style materials is a key issue in many owners' minds. I'm not against MDF. I've worked with it a lot and have even used it on some architectural details in my own home. If I'm working on what I would consider a historic building though I would most likely not incorporate it into the project.
From the original questioner:
I agree - in any case I would always describe to the client all the possibilities and the pros and cons. The MDF vs. poplar question would be discussed. Sometimes I think the composite material is actually superior to solid wood, and paint grade panels are one such case.
From contributor G:
If you plan on using contributor E's stave method wouldn't that eliminate the MDF paneling anyway? I am very interested in this thread. My builder submitted bids for a rather intricate house that has a spherical staircase. We would have the opportunity to do the raised panel wainscoting. If we get this house, I will be flat out for the next 2 years. The crazy thing about the bid was the drawings. The plans were one of the best sets I've seen, except for the interiors.
The interiors were only concept sketches, virtually no details. I would describe them as quick sketches that were done on graph paper, photocopied 3 times, faxed once, and photocopied several more times. I love those cost/plus projects with an almost unlimited budget.
From contributor H:
"My current thinking is to follow contributor E's advice and have cupped staves milled from custom moulder knives that I'd draw in AutoCAD. Joining the cupped staves together in a form would make a smoothly curved trapezoidal blank for a panel."
I've never been involved in a project quite as ambitious as this, but I've been following this discussion with interest. The preceding line of thought confuses me. If you were to use solid material for the panels, why would you go to the trouble of milling cupped staves to glue up the blanks? On the outside of a 10' staircase, the concavity of a 4" wide stave would only be about 1/32" deep. What's the point, if you're just prepping a blank that will be machined again after glueup? Or do I misunderstand?
From contributor F:
To the original questioner: It sounds as if you have a nice one coming together. I agree that the radius may not warrant cut staves, since the deflection from flat is so little. Even though this is paint work, the wood grain can show in certain lights (and should, in my opinion), and the narrow verticals could show negatively - especially if this stuff moves any now or later, and the joints telegraph. A panel of plywood will also prevent panel movement and paint cracks.
We have laid up thin plies of plywood on a form and vacuumed to the radius (plus, for springback), then sized the panel, then added twisted panel raise to the top and bottom, mitering to the straight, flat verticals. Sounds intimidating, but works out well. We can make the twisted panel raise and retainer (panel) molds on the shaper in lots of pieces, jig them up for mitering, and it goes quickly. You can also do the transition from curved wall to flat, raked to level with the above.
I don't speak CNC, so can't advise you there. I do find that the old school works very well - very intuitive - especially with good communication drawings (CAD), and 21st century tools (shapers and feeders and vacuum bags) and techniques.
From contributor B:
To contributor G: Is that really a hemispherical stair? Imagine building a stair that goes up a dome. With the rise of the stair all being the same, the run of the steps and radius of rail would change with each step up. Is it a helical or freeform curve - no standard geometry shape?
From contributor G:
To contributor B: I made a mistake. I meant true helical. I hadn't gotten my fix of coffee this morning. The spherical would indeed be challenging at the least.
From the original questioner:
I've visited the job site and am attaching pictures of areas to be wainscoted. This first picture is of the front foyer. All walls including going up the stairs want to have the raised panel wainscot up to about 32" off the floor - matching a detail found in an adjacent room. The wainscot is supposed to flow in the gentle curve to follow the existing baseboard. I'm assuming the 32" height will be in the spiral staircase as well. Pictures of that will follow.
Click here for full size image
From the original questioner:
View from the 5th floor landing down to the bottom. A domed sky light above my head provides the natural light. Sorry about the soft focus. I've measured the stairwell diameter as varying between 97" and 99" - tighter than I expected. You can see the baseboard gradually changes pitch at each landing and the helical raised panels are supposed to follow this form.
Click here for full size image
From the original questioner:
One of three partially elliptical rooms also to be r.p. wainscoted. Taking all three together - the front stairs has the panels warping in the vertical dimension, this room has it warping in the level dimension, and the helix has it warping in both dimensions. It's like a full kindergarten through Ph.D. education in the craft!
Click here for full size image
From the original questioner:
To contributor G: I fired up AutoCAD and assuming 98" diameter stairwell and 5" staves, the max deviation from flat at the center of each stave is .066 - just over 1/16". This is small but seems easily large enough to appear faceted when painted. I could use narrower staves to smooth it further, but then I'm dealing with more parts in assembly and more joints to move and crack. My thought about MDF is that I can just as easily stave MDF instead of solid wood and so ensure zero movement in the panel. In my experience MDF glued edge to edge with a spline or a few biscuits is totally stable and I suspect even less likely to crack than poplar, which itself should be very good over the years. My thinking with MDF staves is that I could go even wider than 4"-5" -- as wide as a moulder and the thickness of the raw stock permits. Fewer joints still, and faster assembly. Using MDF is a departure from the true traditional method, but I'm not at all sure there's any REAL quality sacrifice. In any case, I would do as contributor E suggests and discuss all these questions with the client.
Getting back to contributor H's question of the necessity of milling cupped staves: Last we had custom knives made it wasn't very expensive - certainly a drop in the bucket on a project of this scale. My hunch is that the benefit of getting to the point of having perfectly smooth curved panel blanks ASAP is worth this cost of the custom moulder run (unless I really underestimate the cost of the custom run).
I'm not a CNC guy either, but have talked to a few who have underscored the importance of reducing the machining time for the ball mill to hog out material to define the large-area curve of the panel field. With the custom knives, this step is already done. All the CNC has to do is cut the profile and the panel raise. Or at least this is my thinking at the moment.
To contributor F: What you describe does sound intimidating but I'm sure like most things, it's pretty easy in hindsight. I'm still concerned about using a lamination for the panels because I would be afraid of the panel raise shallow angle cut through the thin layers. I guess I'm not so worried about delamination, but telegraphing seems inevitable and that sort of telegraphing would bother me a lot more than a telegraph that reveals stave construction, which is almost quaint. But again, maybe I'm making too much of that issue and it just wouldn't be a problem. Of course I have no idea what this CNC work would cost, so if the price is sky high all of what I've written might be moot.
My next concern is the helical rails and warped stiles. It sounds like I should talk more with contributor E about the details of making the rails. If anybody has a clue about what work like this goes for in a top-tier housing market I'd love to know. My boss has approached me about taking this on and at the moment I think it would take me days just to figure my costs, and another few days of meditation and soul searching to estimate my risk/reward and opportunity cost. I'd love to hear from anyone who has done this sort of work and could suggest some ball-park figures for a fair market value.
I forgot to explain that I have a complicated relationship with the person I refer to as boss. I work for him - though indirectly, through a foreman, on a part time basis and also have my own custom cabinetry side business and am independently insured. This sort of work I would only do on a contract basis, so I do have to generate one.
From contributor I:
Wish I could work on this project - these are the ones that are so much fun you find yourself thinking about it after you leave the shop. Just a thought but have you considered doing a bent lamination for the panels out of say three layers of 1/4" MDF? Could be vacuum pressed pretty easily to a form in 4' x 8' pieces of the right radius and yield 6 - 9 panel blanks per glue up depending on the width and height of the panels. Advantage would be no joints in the flush face of the panel to possibly telegraph. Plus the problem I see with using stave construction with MDF is that you are going to be cutting through the tempered face of the MDF in the center of each stave and exposing the core, so that the face of each panel will alternate between tempered and untempered vertical sections. In my experience, these flush transitions in MDF texture are very difficult to paint without some ghosting through the finish, even after double priming and sanding.
From the original questioner:
To contributor I: That's a good point about the tempered vs non-tempered in the MDF panel fields. I had just sort of dismissed that as a problem but hearing you say it makes me reconsider. Of course I've never done anything like this with MDF, but in my work as a finish carpenter I often expose MDF core which then gets painted, usually just an edge. I've used everything from joint compound to bondo to harden the core and it works but you have to be careful. In your scenario just the panel raise would be untempered, but that's the case with any mixed wood/MDF center-panel paint-grade cabinet door. Maybe I shy away from laminations because of (1) not having done it, (2) lack of equipment, (3) springback (4) fear of delamination in a way that would be horrendous looking and nearly impossible to fix. (5) the prospect of the worst kind of telegraphing in the panel raise which would be a dead give-away how the panel was made.
Your comments have me thinking more about making the panels out of solid poplar now. Maybe 4" staves and primed with a good oil base primer on all sides. I'm guessing this is the way it would have been done 100 years ago. Cross grain movement in a 24" wide panel is something I'll lose sleep over, but the house has central AC and enormous thermal inertia, and I suppose I could consider using polyurethane construction adhesive to bond the panels to the wall surface. Does anybody know of a company or individual who has done exactly what I'm describing with panels that transition from helix to flat with varying radii of curvature?
From contributor J:
If I had this job, I would mill that camber in the face of poplar, the mill a large 1" diameter nose on one side, and flute on the other. This is a common canoe edge aligning technique, and glue them up with thicken epoxy, by making a clamping frame with the desired arc. If you leave a tab sticking up on one end of the frame to stop the first plank, then clamping the last plank, forces all of them into the form for perfect alignment. If you do this for the full plank length, then there will only be waste on the two end parts. I would vacuum bag thick veneers run diagonally around a form to get the helical arc/ twist.
I am wondering though - are you going to break out the plaster, and try to get your work behind the base, or do you just plan to set your work on top of the base in front of the plaster? I think I would lean toward the later. You would have to totally disassemble the whole stair to get behind the base, which is captive by the treads, which I am sure you have noticed have the balusters on their other end. It looks like a big bucket of worms to me.
Do you have the face of the frames and panels on the same plane as the base? I suppose you could make another base that goes over the existing base. If you cut off the nosing of the treads, then you only have to cut the rise/run cuts to get a decent caulkable fit.
From contributor F:
I referred to the lamination of the panels, and the subsequent application of a separate panel raise mold to make the panel raises. This eliminates any exposure of face laminations or vertical stave laminations.
From contributor I:
I just had another idea that might be a sort of compromise. If your panel raise profile incorporates a step right at the face, you could do the stave core out of MDF, then laminate a 1/8" MDF skin over it, the seam of which would line up with the step in your panel raise profile. This would give you the one piece face without any springback and without a lamination joint occurring somewhere at a very shallow angle in the middle of the profile. I would really try to figure out a way to do this in MDF - yes, solid is the way it has always been done, but the wood that was used to build houses of this vintage came out of huge slow growth trees with growth rings so tight you could barely see one from another. A great deal of it was quartersawn. Today's lumber is nowhere near that quality and I believe it moves around a great deal more.
One more thing - for the rails take a look at Ultraflex brand flexible trim. They sell an s4s stock that I have used for this type of thing. It profiles and paints really well and it will easily bend to this radius - last time I used it was on a 57" radius.
From contributor E:
Contributor I makes a good point regarding old growth lumber. I'll add to this that pre-1900 there wasn't the issue of central heat (or air conditioning later on) to affect wood movement.
Here's another point I've been pondering in this discussion. As most everyone here knows that a hand rail or skirt board traveling up a cylinder needs to twist to remain in a vertical orientation. However, I am visualizing these raised panels and I don't see a twist.
From contributor J:
Yes, I agree with that, and have all along. However, any of the rails and parts that run around following the pitch will need to have that figured in rather than just a simple curve on a single axis. I don't understand why anyone is worried about glue-lines showing through paint on a solid stave glue-up. As long as the panels are kept to a reasonable width, with room to move, I don't think there is an issue. Just to clear up my suggestion to cut the nosing off of the treads to get a new base on top of the existing one, I was only talking about only 3/4" off of the end, or just enough so-as not to have to cope around the nose, and cove under it.
Judging from the number of people contributing to this thread, there seems to be plenty of people who would like to have the challenge that you are facing.
From the original questioner:
To contributor J: Your idea to bullnose/cove the staves is fantastic. This simultaneously increases the glue area by 30-40% (I'm guessing here), and, even more importantly, makes the quality of each glue joint higher on average because it becomes totally forgiving of misalignment during glue-up. Regarding the assembly form you describe, I had exactly that plan - without the tab though - that's a nice addition.
I will figure out the cross grain movement in a 24" wide poplar panel in Bruce Hoadley's book and will think more about the MDF/solid debate, and CL's idea about the 1/8" surface lamination. I too am not at all worried about stave telegraphing. As I said before, even if it happens (and I think it wouldn't happen generally), I think this is the nature of the medium, period. Embrace it!
I wonder if contributor J's stave idea would help with the transition areas at the landings. At these points the panel simultaneously changes pitch and curvature. (I realized in talking with contributor E that the geometry of this ribbon in space is defined by only two variables: "r" - the radius of the stairwell, and, "s" - the slope at any given point along the helix. There is no twist therefore, as suggested.) Having confirmed the walls are reasonably consistent in radius, I think I can assume r to be fixed at any point away from a landing. Hopefully s is constant in the mid-flight areas too (will check). This should make a mid-flight panel from the first story interchangeable with a mid-flight panel on the 3rd, etc. The landings are very special though and while I could parameterize them by finding the r and s for incremental points along the length of the transition panel and interpolate the curve, I'm wondering if contributor J's idea for the bullnose staves might make these problem areas much, much easier. What if I use the wall itself as the form for the transition areas and glue sufficiently narrow, flat bullnose/cove staves to one another while pressed to the wall. I would wax the wall first, so I can remove and machine the panel after it's cured. The panel would be slightly faceted, but a sanding with a disc sander would smooth it out just fine at typical radii. A little bondo could be applied if not. Back for more later. Thanks to all of you. I will definitely keep you all in mind if I actually get to build this thing. I certainly can't do it alone.
From the original questioner:
To respond about the plane of the paneling surface, at the moment I feel strongly that I need to remove the plaster and work against the framing due to the issue of the existing baseboard, which I do NOT want to reinvent. I would first remove the existing base cap, and set it aside, assuming to replace it afterward. I would then strip the plaster from the top edge of the baseboard up to slightly above the panel top edge. I would hope the plaster/lath total thickness is about the thickness of the panel - say 3/4", so that the baseboard and basecap never notice that the tablecloth was pulled out from beneath them. On the other hand, if the plaster/lath is thinner than the panels, I could back-plane the cap at an angle so that its fattest point (at the bottom) is skewed in towards the wall. Anyhow, a minor detail which I hope to someday have the privilege to ponder.
So if the plaster is coplaner or very nearly coplaner with the panel surface, a helical version of a typical flat chair rail profile would bridge the gap between the ragged plaster edge and panel's top rail - a typical trim design for wainscot.
From contributor E:
Three things:
1. I would think twice about pulling plaster. At least from my historic preservation perspective I see the removal of existing material to be a serious negative tactic. Once removed original material cannot be replaced. Once covered the covering can be removed and the original material has a chance of being restored. My attitude is that an architectural component has been there for 100 years or more. If left alone it has a chance to still be there in another 100.
2. I don't know that the transition from curved wall to flat wall at the landings is a big issue. Panel layout can be designed so that there is a stile between a curved wall panel and the following flat wall panel. As to the transition from downward travel to horizontal travel of the rail system that is a basic change not unlike any compound curve. See the attached photo of a set of 1/2-round casings in a curved wall. This would be a similar sort of construction project.
3. The bullnose self-centering stave scheme is a good one. I used a similar idea on a small production run family gift project this past holiday season. The eight sided box was able to be glued up with nothing but a couple rubber bands due to the self-aligning joints. While working on this it occurred to me that column makers must so something similar.
Click here for full size image
From contributor I:
I agree with contributor E regarding the plaster. In addition to the reason he mentioned, I would be willing to bet that the framing behind the plaster is not concentric to the stair at all. These old houses are almost always built with full size rough sawn lumber, and so the flatness of the wall where the trim elements meet it was dependent not on the framing, but on the plaster grounds that went around the doors, windows, and just behind the baseboards below the base cap. One way to deal with the wainscot/skirt plane issue would be to strip the base cap and discard it, and think of the skirt as your bottom rail instead of a baseboard. If there is enough room, you could jig up a router and profile the top edge of the skirt in place to match your other rails and stiles, and set your panels right into this groove. If that didn't work you could make up the stile/rail profile as a small moulding and nail it on as a replacement for the basecap you take off.
I also agree with contributor E that the panels should be laid out and divided equally from a sharply defined point where the radius begins to leave the flat plane of the landing walls. Thus there would only be two types of panels - flat ones and radius ones.
On the solid v mdf debate, the problem with solid isn't joint telegraphing, it's panel shrinkage. Even well dried stock is maybe 8-9% MC. Take a moisture meter and measure the MC of that skirtboard, which has reached equilibrium with the indoor space. I'll bet it's below 6%. When it's painted the joints between the panels and stiles/rails will be bridged by the finish, and when the panels shrink, that paintline will crack and pull paint on both sides of the joint. May take a year to do it, but it will happen and then you are faced with scraping all those joints and repainting. As an aside, this type of job to me demands an old school finish that fits the house, meaning every hairline crack caulked in and several coats of oil enamel, applied by some good painters who still remember how to use a brush and not just an airless.
Have fun with this one, it's a great project and you have the benefit of some great advice from all the other envious trim and shop guys like me who are watching this thread.
From the original questioner:
To contributor E: Your aversion to removing plaster hadn't occurred to me. In my job we're constantly modifying or demolishing 100 year old plaster and lath walls, joining them to modern blueboard/skim coat walls, shoring them up with large modern washer head screws, etc. etc. I guess we're not a very respectful bunch!
The problem is I just can't stomach the alternative which would seem to force reworking the baseboard. The recent wallpaper is getting stripped anyhow, which will probably pull off chunks of plaster which will then have to get skimmed again regardless. Besides, if in 100 years anyone seeing my wainscot laments the missing plaster and lath, I'll most definitely roll over in my grave.
About the transitions at landings - maybe I am overreacting. I was staring at my top view picture trying to discern how abrupt that cylinder-to-flat transition is, and where one might choose to place stiles which could eliminate the need for variable compound curved panels. The stiles might want to relate to the treads, perhaps one stile every other tread? What does everyone think?
To contributor E: If you were to make these helix rails, would you suggest milling them as you would standard five piece door rails? (with maybe an ogee edge and a groove for the tongue of the panel?) Is this too ambitious, particularly when taking into account the landings which would mean the rails would have to flair out to level along with the panel? I'm a little turned off by the idea of flex material for the rails, but that would make it far easier. What if the rails are milled square and a very small wood quarter round is applied at the frame/panel joint. This would get around the need to cope the profiles. A profile that small should easily bend to radii this large.
From the original questioner:
To contributor I: Okay, you're starting to bring me around. I agree about the likely framing situation and the plaster grounds which I was cursing not six hours ago working on another old house. And besides, stripping all that plaster would be miserable. I'll have to think about the look of omitting the basecap and forsaking the break in plane between baseboard and panel. It strikes me as a more simplified look and maybe not strictly in keeping with the rest of the house. I'll think about it though.
From the original questioner:
What is the consensus on the best way to do the panel raise on these curved blanks, keeping in mind that I don't have a shaper and have never used one. I could buy one and figure it out, but before taking that step would probably look more into the CNC method and some contraption/jig that might make it possible with a hand held router and a vertical panel raise bit. If the hand held method is even possible, it sounds a little scary with solid wood, but maybe not so bad with MDF, (or lightweight MDF, easier still). Does this warrant experiment or am I nuts?
From contributor I:
If it was me I would use a vertical panel raise bit in the shaper. You would make a convex wood fence to shroud most of the bit and run the top and bottom edges of the panels face in. Running face in means there is no chance of ruining the panel by coming away from the fence or the table - if you do, you just run it again. This is always preferable to face up or face away from the fence in these custom situations where it is difficult to use a feeder. For the vertical edges you would need to make up another fence, this time straight but curving away from you so that the panel is run face in and tilted to the right. The radius of the curve in the straight fence would match the concave face of your panels, but you would have to experiment with how much it is tilted in relation to vertical, until you find the position at which your tongue is the right thickness, and your profile miters properly with the top and bottom profiles. You know what I mean? The more you tilt the panel into the bit, the tongue stays the same thickness, but the step in the profile at the face gets deeper. You would just have to play with it until it matched the top and bottom edges, which I think you would want to do first.
Sounds to me like you would really benefit from teaming up with a good shop, and splitting some of the project up between shopwork, sitework, measuring, installation and coordination. Preferably a small shop that does primarily custom work and not one of the larger shops that cranks out edgebanded particleboard all day.
From contributor K:
A couple of ideas occurred to me while reading these posts. Because there is very little cove to these panels, there are a couple of things that I would try. Glue them up flat and carve them on the CNC machine; the back side first while the face lays flat on the table, then cradle the panel in an MDF fixture (coved to match), and cut the face on the machine. The coving/carving on the back side can be quick and dirty because it doesn't show- the face side would be slower for a better cut. I think you could get a good enough finish without excess machine time that would clean up with a random orbit sander very nicely.
The trapezoidal shape of the panels could be cut on the machine at the same time- there is no need for 5-axis cutting because the curve is so shallow that the slight difference in angle at the edges will not matter. The raised part of the panel can be cut on the machine with ballmills or a raised panel cutter; the panel cutter may require an additional curved jig to allow the machine to approach at the correct angle - the top and bottom are done first as an arcing move, then the panel is held at the correct angle for a straight cut with the same cutter.
Alternatively, it seems to me that you could lay out a thin (1/4") template in a CAD program (or just mark it on the wall) and "unroll" it for CNC cutting- this template could be screwed/clamped to the panel blank to use a bearing/bushing/offset to guide a hand-held router for the panel raising.
The stiles and rails are straight-forward vacuum formed strips. I think you will find that a router with stile/rail bits will probably make these cuts in the blanks. Think about how the old guys did this before; planes with shaped soles. You may need to make a very slightly curved plate for your router for some of these operations. Of course, all the curved plates, cradles and jigs are made easily on the CNC machine, but you can do it all by hand if need be. I think that once you get grooved-in to this job, things will start to become clear to you, and it will be fun.
It is a little hard to explain some of these things in writing, but I can visualize how this would start to come together, and I think that a good CNC guy is going to be an ally here. I would lean towards poplar for this job, since it is traditional and machines and paints well. The concern about glue-lines is moot- there will be a lot of joint and glue lines just like elsewhere in the house, and they will blend in to the overall look; the old guys had to glue up panels too, once in a while. The panels should be floating in the frame to allow for movement, you can glue the center portion to the wall, but let the sides move to avoid problems with the panel glue joints.
From the original questioner:
To contributor I: Thanks, I finally "got it" regarding the shaper setup and completely understand the issues you describe. (I know what I'm doing as a finish carpenter but have never worked in a full cabinet shop so my shaper experience is limited to my router table.) Anyhow, I see this now as very straightforward once I have the setup tweaked just right. A 3hp router in my router table should be adequate for starters to test the process, and if needed I could make two passes, just shaving a little on the second pass for a cleaner cut. You're right - I could also talk to a shop I know nearby about running the raises for me on their shaper.
I got a call from Jess Coleman from James River Millwork today (who has done this type of work) and he advised against MDF for the panels due to durability concerns, particularly of those corners on the panel raise. We also talked about the panel movement in a stave panel and he felt that provided it's reasonably dry from milling to priming and installation, that some paint cracking is likely but that it shouldn't be terrible. Someone also suggested an epoxy sealer in place of or in addition to alkyd primer on all sides of the panel before install. I can't remember the numbers on moisture exclusion but I think epoxy is in the range of 90% with 100% solids, and alkyd enamel is more like 50-70% after a couple coats.
I also appreciate an email from contributor F whose methods I initially dismissed way too quickly. I thought about his hybrid lamination/solid raise construction on my drive home tonight and reasoned my way through how he might do it with the jigs and fixtures which I can now sort of visualize. As he said at the time, it sounds complicated, but does seem to provide the best of both worlds, with a stable panel and solid edge. I'm curious how he attaches the mitered edges to the laminated panel and how easy it is to get the miter joint line to agree with the spring point of the panel raise. Also, how important he thinks this is assuming the miter joint might crack seasonally.
I'm see now the CNC might not be necessary at all for the sprial, though for the 2D curves in the front stairwell it might speed things up if only for templating. It would take me maybe an hour to draw that S-curve of the baseboard accurately in AutoCAD and all my frame and panel components could easily be derived from that curve.
From contributor L:
Great depth of knowledge posted here. I am tickled to see how the quality and correctness was developed and realized for all involved especially the readers. My first reaction was to do it first class or not at all. The difference in materials is minimal when compared to the entire job. Depending on the complexity of this project it could be low to middle six figures.
From contributor M:
I completed a double stacked freestanding freeform/helical curved stairway about a year and a half ago in Vail, Colorado. The homeowner desperately wanted the bottom of the staircases to be full paneled with bolection mould to match the extensive raised panel work throughout the home. Unfortunately, there was not enough time left to embark on such a project. And quite frankly, I had reservations about attempting such a complicated task without any seasoned help. Has anyone here ever tried this?
By the way, I'd steer you away from CNC unless you plan on rebuilding the house around the perfect parts generated by the CNC machine. I must add that I envy you! Projects like this are "Masterpiece" material by the most literal definition of the term. Will you be making the balustrades for this stairway also?
From the original questioner:
To contributor M: No balusters as far as I know. I've only been approached about the two partly-elliptical parlors and the hourglass shaped hallway that separates them (nice to have some convex curves too), the entire front foyer and hallway with straight-run stairway - and, it appears - only two flights of the spiral. These details were clarified for me today following a meeting between the GC and client. Apparently they might replace the treads on the spiral, which might mean work on the balustrade. Not sure. I can't imagine having time, though I've done balustrade work before and joined many custom shaped rail segments, etc.
I'm confused on recommending against the CNC. If I can confirm that a single panel shape is acceptable for everywhere except landings (and I hope I'm not too optimistic to think that), then uniformity is a good thing isn't it? I'll know more after I get my radius templates up against those walls to see what it does. I'll also measure average slope over many treads and compare that number to smaller scale slope measurements, like over various intervals of several risers. It seems to me this will tell me that the exposure on my bottom rail should remain consistent as you ascend. Should be close enough, and I suppose there's not much I can do if it's off, but I like to go overkill on the layout and templating stage to be aware of issues so I'm not surprised later.
Thanks to contributor E for the long talk this evening. He and I are currently leaning towards an MDF vacuum-pressed lamination sized and raised on the CNC (pending the pricing, due tomorrow). I hear that there are strong opinions among you, and most of them based on much more experience and broader knowledge than I have. The lack of consensus on stave vs. lamination vs. plywood/solid hybrid vs. MDF, etc. tells me there's more than one way. Maybe it comes down to contributor D's point about presenting the options to the client and design/build team with as much objectivity as possible. With your help I can now do this, and also present an informed opinion for how I would do it given my resources and experience. All methods have downsides and are susceptible to failure in one way or another, so I'll choose what I feel is the least of evils while being realistic about what I can and cannot do in the given time frame at a given budget.
If this 29 year old client is fickle and backs out on the whole thing I'll be sure to belt him a few times for each of you, and a good kick while he's down, for me.
From contributor N:
One of the things you may need to look at with running your panels over a shaper is that the cutter, based on how tight the radius is, may rub on your panels at the outside of the cut. It's hard to explain but the cutter edges hit the wood too soon and also too late. We have built a few different curved projects, some for very wealthy clients. My experience is that at some level it really is about the money. The kind of project you are getting involved in will be very expensive. Do yourself and your client a favor by really pounding that point home. Let them know that it will be more then they expect. Get a real good contract and a real good commitment from your clients. All of your great skills and effort will not be enough if the clients are not fully committed to this project. Additionally our experience with our in house CNC leads me to believe that utilizing that technology appropriately is really happening. Good luck with what looks like a great project.
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SciTech Days are a particular type of subject trip that features the expansion areas of Pittsburgh: biotech & health, nanotechnology & advanced supplies/processes, data know-how & robotics, and eco tech (think environment & power). Instructional classes inside math, advertising and sales communications, in addition to pc know-how may additionally be very important that you just make an university scholar regarding day-to-day actions being a the sector of biology specialist. Because of his expertise as a science communicator, he was named by The News & Observer as Tar Heel of the Week" in November 2004 and was awarded the 2011 Outstanding Informal Educator Award in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education by the N.C. Science, Mathematics, Technology (SMT) Center. The City of Aurora recruited the small museum to take over the historical 1931 Post Office building in 1990.
There are, once once more, plans for use of laptops within the Technology Lab (one per student) that permit each scholar to have access to the same laptop in every subsequent class for ease of use. If dad and mom would favor that non-public computers and laptops not be introduced to high school, the present policy and availability of college-owned technology supports that call.
Learn how astrobiologists use our information about life on Earth to make predictions about what life is perhaps like elsewhere within the universe. If you ever have any questions or considerations about the personal know-how policy, I would welcome alternatives to talk with you. High Touch High Tech shall be bringing a few of their hands-on science experiments for teenagers to learn from and luxuriate in.
Please come and meet Jerry and find out about him and the other superb species that call the Conservators Center their home, like lions, tigers, caracals, lemurs and lots of others. But other tech corporations are working and making an attempt to build an reasonably priced variant for industrial sales. School e-mail addresses are being established to allow for digital hand-ins of student assignments on to the instructor. Come learn how NOAA uses science, engineering and expertise to find, explore and doc shipwrecks off North Carolina's coast.
This situating permitted a bunch drove by Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland to look at Jupiter utilizing Hubble's Wide Field Camera three. Hubble shot gorgeous points of curiosity in Jupiter's setting, as little as around 80 miles (129 kilometers) over. Researchers have proposed one other speculation that consolidates a few of these strange wonder within the Universe. Enthusiasm for STEM studying is barely rising as technology continues to dominate our lives. Jerry" the Binturong and his mates from the Conservators Center can be onsite to coach you a couple of keystone species you may not know about.


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Somewhat curious. Regarding sometimes no edit button on new questions. Is Jeff correct here ** or am I missing something?
I found this duplicate but I am not sure I really understand. questions/81681/why-dont-i-see-an-edit-button-under-questions.
I have noticed that sometimes I find new questions (1 - 3 minutes old) that has no edit button. According to above it seems that. The answer to this could be that **
"3 There is an edit to a particular post that was not approved yet. ". But then again. I have tried to edit questions where. When I have edited the qw it says something like
your edit could not be accepted because someone else has already edited the qw. Your edit will only be accepted if it is a more substantial edit.


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Staff and students at the James Herriot Library now have the opportunity to consult one of the gems of the Special Collections Department, as an additional set of the nine-volume work 'The Horse : its treatment in health and disease' has just been added to the library's Reference section.
Published in London in 1908 by the Gresham Publishing Company, this work is particularly notable for its beautiful binding, created by Talwin Morris in the Glasgow Style, which features gold lettering and an ornate cover design in green and black. As an historical text, these volumes offer a detailed and fascinating insight into equine veterinary practices at the beginning of the last century.
If you'd like to read more about the background to this resource, 'The Horse : its treatment in health and disease' was previously featured by Special Collections as their book of the month in November 2008, and the accompanying article is a fantastic introduction to the history and content of this set of books, including a range of illustrations from the work itself.
For staff and students at the Vet School, these volumes can be consulted within the James Herriot Library during opening hours. If, however, you would like to access these volumes in the University Library, Gilmorehill Campus, please refer to the Access & Opening Hours information for Special Collections.
Categories: Library, Special Collections


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Andy Razaf was the son of a Madagascar prince who married the daughter of the American consul to Madagascar. With her
father, purportedly the first black man in the diplomatic corps, Jennie fled to Washington, D.C. after the French invaded,
killed her husband, and annexed the country as a colony. Andy was born in the states with an almost 40-character name which
he shortened to Razaf. He sold one song in 1913 and left for Cleveland where he pitched in a black semipro baseball league.
He came to New York in 1921 where his reputation as a protest poet (reflected in the lyrics of "Black and Blue") landed him jobs as a lyricist with Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, and Paul Denniker.
In 1929 alone he had several hits with Waller--"Honeysuckle Rose," "Black and Blue (What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue)," and "Ain't Misbehavin'." The team also created "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now" (1932) and "The Joint is Jumpin'" (1940). Razaf's "S'posin'" with Denniker and "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You" with Don Redman were also big successes. He scored Blackbirds of 1932 with Eubie Blake which produced "Memories of You" and "Lindy Hop." Other collaborations produced "Stompin' at the Savoy" (1936) and "In the Mood" (1939), and he wrote the words and music for "That's What I Like About the South" (1942) which became Phil Harris' signature song. He also came up with the lyrics for Blake's
"My Handy Man," a song filled with sexual double entendres, and the equally bawdy "If I Can't Sell
It, I'll Keep On Sitting On It" with music by Alexander Hill.
-- Sandra Burlingame
Courtesy of JazzStandards.com


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How To Force Subtitles In An Embedded YouTube Video
It's been about three years since YouTube introduced improved automatic captions for some of the videos; in a year they became more common and last year they were enabled for all English-language videos.
YouTube captioning is the way to help hearing impaired people to understand the videos and, coupled with automatic translation, it can also help non-English people around the world to access the video content. The feature uses Google speech recognition technology to transcript any uploaded video.
The captions are mostly decent-quality (especially in cases when the speaker in a video talks slowly and clearly). Even in cases when the machine fails to fully understand what is being spoken, you will still be able to understand the content of the video.
By default, captions are disabled in an embedded video, however you may want to force the subtitles for one (or both) of the following reasons:
- You want to make your video more accessible (especially to hearing-impaired people who are unaware of the option).
- You are sharing an English video with non-English-speaking community.
- Even if anyone can enable automatic subtitles manually, few people are actually aware of the option, so showing the captions by default would help a lot.
1. Add Subtitles in an Embedded Video (by Default)
Normally, if a user turned on captions once, YouTube will remember it and play subtitles by default until the user turns them off.
What you can do is to change the default settings (show subtitles to users who don't have the subtitles disabled or are logged out of Google / Youtube).
To enable subtitles by default, you will need to use &cc_load_policy=1 parameter as shown below:
Old-style code:
<object width="550″ height="343″><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/kTvHIDKLFqc?version=3&hl=en_US&&cc_load_policy=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/kTvHIDKLFqc?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0&cc_load_policy=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="550″ height="343″ allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
Iframe (mobile-friendly) code:
<iframe width="550″ height="343″ src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kTvHIDKLFqc?rel=0&cc_load_policy=1" frameborder="0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
2. Translate Subtitles in an Embedded Code
Despite the fact that this parameter is not "officially" described, YouTube has supported it for ages: "hl=" parameter in an embed code pre-selects the subtitle language. Most of these language code should work when used after the &hl= parameter: Language Codes
This means that the following code should work to play the video automatically with translated subtitles:
<object width="550″ height="343″>
<param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/kTvHIDKLFqc?version=3&fs=1&hl=ru&cc_load_policy=1&rel=0&hd=1″>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true">
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always">
<embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/kTvHIDKLFqc?version=3&fs=1&hl=ru&cc_load_policy=1&rel=0&hd=1″ type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="550″ height="343″ allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>
However, due to reported bugs, this code won't work in many cases (maybe because of the numerous tweaks to the YouTube player). If you start experimenting with automatically translated captions, check out this particular post offering a few workarounds to the bug (one possible workaround is to use version=3 parameter in an embedded code).
Also, there is no way to translate captions in an iframe-based (newer) version of the embed player (sadly).
3. Linking to Videos with Captions
If you want to share a link to the video for viewers to see captions by default, you need to add this code at the end of the URL string:
More tricks to know about YouTube video URLs and embed player:
- 10 Youtube URL Tricks You Should Know About 10 YouTube URL Tricks You Should Know About Love YouTube? You can make it even better with these cool YouTube URL tricks that let you download videos, make GIFs, and more. Read More
- 10 More Cool Things You Can Do With YouTube Videos 10 More Cool Things You Can Do With YouTube Videos While YouTube remains a staple for viewing video clips, there are a number of other things you can do with it. Here are 10 YouTube hacks that will make your viewing experience even more enjoyable... Read More
- 4 Ways To Easily Embed Part Of A YouTube Video 4 Ways to Easily Embed Part of a YouTube Video We have shared quite a few useful YouTube-related tips so far. Here are 10 YouTube URL tricks to play with as well as some YouTube annoyances and ways to get rid of them. You may... Read More
What are your experience with YouTube subtitles? Have you ever found them useful? Please share your thoughts!
Related topics: Online Video, Video Editor, YouTube.
Affiliate Disclosure: By buying the products we recommend, you help keep the site alive. Read more.


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I recently wrote about numerous ways through which Windows 10 affects testers. With Build 2015 over with, we now know more specifically how the new OS will affect testers.
Microsoft has made a strong attempt to woo android and iOS developers with Build 2015. With windows 10, Microsoft has included an android and IOS runtime layer that makes it possible for developers to launch existing Mac and iOS Apps unmodified on Windows 10.
The friction for developing Windows apps is drastically reduced, but this poses just additional challenges for testing. Recently I wrote about how mobile testing is still done manually. With another operating system (Windows 10) now added to the mix, reusability of automated scripts across different platforms becomes even more critical.
Additionally, having ability to record multi-touch gestures such as pinch and swipe across one phone and then replaying these gestures across iOS, Windows, and Android devices could come in handy.
With Office Graph API, Microsoft has provided developers numerous add-in frameworks to build integrations with their existing products office products, i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook. Take the example of Evernote that allows you take notes for any upcoming appointments. Now developers would be able to sync those notes to Outlook easily and quickly given the add-in framework.
The same business case would work the other way around. Any changes made to outlook need to get reflected in Evernote as well. A key challenge for testers here would be to not only be test the Office API works fine for the right request and response, but also ensure that the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of an application provides appropriate response when the API changes or when it doesn't work. For instance, in case of Evernote, one of the critical things to test could be what happens to the GUI when API passes the wrong information or when it's not available.
Great news for testers who use Mac and Linux to build automated scripts. Microsoft released Visual Studio Code, a lightweight cross-platform code editor with support for modern languages such as JavaScript, TypeScript, and Node.js. Another reason to try the free code editor would be availability of features such as syntax highlighting and customizable keyboard bindings.
Microsoft Edge: Project Spartan now finally has a name. It's called as Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is getting replaced by Microsoft Edge, a leaner and a much faster version. Microsoft Edge is powered by a new rendering engine. Unlike Internet Explorer that was driven by Trident (MSHTML.dll), Microsoft Edge has EdgeHTML.dll as the rendering engine.
Additionally, with Microsoft Edge, Microsoft has dropped support for VBScript. Microsoft's unwillingness to invest in VBScript essentially means that VBScript is becoming less relevant and it is absolutely essential for testers and automation engineers to invest time in learning modern scripting languages. On the flip side, automation testing vendors too need to move away from VBScript and provide support for other modern scripting languages.
Also, with Microsoft Edge, Microsoft recently spoke about its commitment to Selenium WebDriver. John Jansen, who is Principal Software Engineering Lead at Microsoft, mentioned that Microsoft is invested in Selenium WebDriver and is currently in the process of figuring out the details. With other major browser vendors already putting their weight behind WebDriver, Microsoft's commitment signifies that we can expect automated testing using Selenium WebDriver to continue growing.
Windows 10 users will have a new way to buy stuff on internet. It's called carrier billing. Across all windows devices, instead of punching their credit and debit card details, consumers can just submit their phone number to confirm any transactions. The purchase is then added to the phone bill. Boku is an example of a firm that provides such services. When making a purchase on mobile, this form of payment can come in really handy as it eliminates friction associated with traditional forms of payment. Thus, in addition to ensuring payments for credit and debit cards work as expected, testers have to write test cases for this new form of payment.
Unlike previously, Microsoft is definitely showing a lot of openness to other platforms and developing an ecosystem through numerous integrations. Right from opening up opening its office software to allowing developers use existing Android and iOS Apps on Windows 10, Microsoft has indeed come a long way. Testers however need to be better prepared to reduce the effort that might be incurred while testing these new integrations.
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If you're about to have your first Christmas in the UK, it is well worth being aware of the various traditions surrounding celebrations in this country. Below is a summary of those you are likely to experience throughout the Christmas season:
Christmas cards
- The first-ever Christmas card was posted in England in the 1840's, and the practice soon became an established part of the build-up to Christmas. Over a billion are now sent every year in the United Kingdom, many of them sold in aid of charities.
- With escalating postage costs, an excellent option for sending Christmas cards locally is by way of local Scouting Christmas Post services. Post boxes are set up in convenient locations (such as churches, newsagents and schools) and for a nominal fee the local Beaver Scouts, Cub Scouts and Scouts will deliver your cards for you.
- Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe are sometimes used to decorate homes or other buildings. They are associated with rituals going back beyond the Dark Ages.
- Shop-bought decorations are becoming increasingly popular, both inside and outside properties. Indeed, some families cover their entire houses with Christmas decorations to raise money for charity.
- The custom of kissing beneath a sprig of mistletoe is derived from an ancient pagan tradition.
Christmas trees
- Most families have at least one Christmas tree in their house during the Christmas period (either an evergreen conifer such as pine or fir, or an artificial version).
- Traditionally people do not put up the Christmas tree and begin to decorate their homes until about 12 days before Christmas (though many do now decorate in the first and second weeks of December). It is also traditionally unlucky to have any sign of Christmas, by way of trees, Christmas cards or decorations, showing after the 6th January, which is 12 days after Christmas.
- The decorating of the tree is usually a family occasion, with everyone helping. The tree was traditionally decorated with edibles such as apples, nuts or dates. In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by candles, which with electrification could be replaced by Christmas lights. Today, there are a wide variety of traditional ornaments, such as garland, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel or star is usually placed at the top of the tree, to represent the host of angels or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity.
- Presents for the family are placed beneath the Christmas tree.
- Every year since 1947, the City of Oslo in Norway has presented the City of Westminster with a large Christmas tree which stands in London's Trafalgar Square in commemoration of Anglo-Norwegian cooperation during the Second World War.
- Another Christmas tree, presented by the British Christmas Tree Growers Association, stands outside the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street.
Traditional Christmas entertainment
- Like a lot of countries, Nativity Plays and Carol Services are very popular at Christmas time. Many churches have Carols by Candlelight and Christingle services. Carols are often sung on Christmas Eve by groups of singers to their neighbours. There is also a program of Christmas carols in Trafalgar Square each year.
- Pantomimes are popular among British children at Christmas time. These are song and dance dramatizations of well-known fairy tales that encourage audience participation.
Father Christmas/Santa
- Children write letters to Father Christmas listing their requests, but sometimes instead of putting them in the post, the letters are tossed into the fireplace. The draught carries the letters up the chimney and Father Christmas reads the smoke. If they would like to post their letters, they can be sent to Santa/Father Christmas, Santa's Grotto, Reindeerland, SAN TA1 (if they put their name and address on the letter, they may even get a reply).
- To keep the magic alive, video messages from Father Christmas are becoming more popular – these can be arranged by parents at http://www.portablenorthpole.com/home.
- On Christmas Eve, many children in the UK now track Father Christmas online via http://www.noradsanta.org/en/.
- Children believe that Father Christmas leaves presents in stockings or pillow-cases. These are normally hung up by the fire or by the children's beds on Christmas Eve. Children sometimes leave out mince pies and brandy for Father Christmas to eat and drink when he visits them. Now, some people say that a non-alcoholic drink should be left for Father Christmas as he has to drive!
- In the UK, families often celebrate Christmas Day together, so they can watch each other open their presents and enjoy a hearty meal together.
- The morning sees the opening of presents and many families attend Christmas services at church.
- The main Christmas Meal is usually eaten at lunchtime or early afternoon on Christmas Day. It was traditionally roast beef or goose, although it's common to have turkey now, with 'all the trimmings' (which means roast potatoes, stuffing, a range of vegetables, and bacon wrapped around sausages).
- Usually the best tablecloth, cutlery and glasses are used on the dinner table, and it is further decorated with a Christmas cracker for each person and sometimes flowers and candles.
- This is followed by mince pies and Christmas pudding flaming with brandy (which might contain coins or lucky charms for children, though this is becoming less common). The pudding is usually prepared weeks beforehand and is customarily stirred by each member of the family as a wish is made.
- Later in the day, a Christmas cake may be served – a rich baked fruit cake with marzipan, icing and sugar frosting.
- Another traditional feature of Christmas afternoon is the Queen's Christmas Message to the nation, broadcast on radio, television and the internet (usually at 3pm).
Saying 'Happy/Merry Christmas'
- In Scots (a Scottish dialect): 'Blithe Yule'
- In Gaelic: 'Nollaig Chridheil'
- In Welsh: 'Nadolig Llawen'
The Relocation Consultancy are experts in destination services and provide a range of options to support families moving to the UK. For a FREE consultation on the services that may be suitable for you, call +44 (0)118 947 0029 or email email@example.com.


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In the market for finger food? (Who isn't?) Need a party-friendly starter course? There's an app for that, and every Tuesday we'll bring you one from the BA recipe archive.
Marcona almonds. You know these Spanish nuts are supposed to be different from their Californian cousins, but how? For one, they're rounder and plumper with a softer, "wetter" texture, which makes for a more satisfying crunch. These babies also have a sweeter flavor that begs for smoky, savory paprika and a sprinkling of sea salt. We'll probably keep a batch of this easy, somewhat healthy snack on hand at all times during the summer months, to munch on while sitting on the porch with a glass of Albarino. But for now, they'll do just fine in front of the last fires of winter with a glass of Rioja.


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Thursday, December 29, 2016
VICIOUS by LJ Shen
Holy mother of Hotness.
Baron Vicious Spencer.. say Barrrrron. Its a clit-throbber of a name. And is he steaming hot...
And an Asshole . Like not the redeemable kinds. No sirreee.. he's a Bona-fide," take your heart and crush it under his foot " "Ruin your life" badass. He puts all the other Bad Boys to shame. His gang of Hot Holes jesse, Trent and Dean are cohorts too. .and their target --- sweet , peacock eyed Wispy blonde girl , Emilia LeBlanc. She's the daughter of a couple who work as housekeeper and Groundsman, so technically she's the Help. And that's how Vicious treats her. He demeans her, bullies her and tortures her in every way possible, making her life miserable. The ultimate wound- he tears her away from her family and throws her into the Big Bad world to survive with no tether or anchor.
"I'm just not sure how you can be both nice and compassionate and a terrible asshole all at the same time," I muttered. He smiled. "It's a hard job, but someone's gotta do it."
What a remarkable story.
What a vengeful character Vicious is. Poisoned to his toenails, spreading Hate, venom and misery .
The hunter was always more calculated and in charge. And then there was me, flailing around like the helpless prey.
Is he justified.....I'll let you decide.
But I loved the fact that he didn't change overnight or spout long ass essays of love.
No ma'am. He's the kinds who can't muzzle his filthy, cruel mouth or stop choking the life out of people who've wronged him.
Loved the book to its last word and full stop !!
Very very smart writing, I hated going to sleep last night and stop reading. I thought about it the moment I stepped away from it
Unputdownable read and 5 gigantic stars !!
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{Release Blitz & Book Review}: SPEAK FROM THE HEART by L.B. Dunbar
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