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Estradiol (On the skin)
Estradiol (es-tra-DYE-ole)
Treats hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause or lack of estrogen.
Brand Name(s):There may be other brand names for this medicine.
When This Medicine Should Not Be Used:You should not use this medicine if you have had an allergic reaction to estradiol, or if you have liver disease, breast cancer or certain other types of cancer, a history of blood clotting problems, or if you have had a heart attack or stroke in the past 12 months. Do not use this medicine if you may be pregnant, or if you have unusual vaginal bleeding that has not been checked by your doctor. This medicine should not be used to prevent heart disease, heart attack, or stroke.
How to Use This Medicine:
Liquid Mixture, Gel/Jelly
- Your doctor will tell you how much of this medicine to use and how often. Do not use more medicine or use it more often than your doctor tells you to.
- This medicine is for use on the skin only. Do not get it in your eyes, nose, or mouth. Do not use it on skin areas that have cuts or scrapes. If it does get on these areas, rinse it off right away.
- This medicine comes with patient instructions. Read and follow these instructions carefully. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you have any questions.
- Wash your hands with soap and water before and after using this medicine.
- Apply the emulsion to your legs and it will be absorbed through your skin. The usual daily dose is two foil pouches, one for each leg. Cut or tear open the first pouch at the notches near the top. Squeeze out all of the medicine from the pouch onto the top of your left thigh. Rub the medicine thoroughly into your thigh and calf, for about three minutes. Repeat these steps to apply the medicine in the second pouch to the right thigh and calf.
- The gel form of this medicine comes in a pump that delivers the correct dose of estradiol each time you press the pump. When using the pump for the first time, you may need to prime it by pumping two or three times. Follow the patient instructions for the container you use. After priming the pump, do not press the pump more than one time every time you use it or you may be getting too much.
- Apply the gel to clean, dry, and unbroken skin. Spread the gel as thinly as possible over the entire area on the inside and outside of your arm from the wrist up to the shoulder area. Do not apply the medicine directly to your breasts or in or around your vagina. Do not allow others to come in contact with the area of skin where you applied the gel for at least two hours after you use the medicine. Do not allow others to apply the gel for you.
- Do not apply sunscreen to the area where you applied the gel for 7 or more consecutive days. For each application, wait at least 25 minutes before you put on a sunscreen.
- This medicine is usually applied once daily, at the same time each day.
- Allow the medicine to dry completely before you put clothing on.
- Estradiol gel is flammable. Avoid using the medicine near open flame or while smoking.
If a dose is missed:
- If you miss a dose or forget to use your medicine, apply it as soon as you can. If it is almost time for your next dose, wait until then to apply the medicine and skip the missed dose. Do not apply extra medicine to make up for a missed dose.
How to Store and Dispose of This Medicine:
- Store the medicine in a closed container at room temperature, away from heat, moisture, and direct light.
- Ask your pharmacist, doctor, or health caregiver about the best way to dispose of the used medicine container and any leftover medicine after you have finished your treatment. You will also need to throw away old medicine after the expiration date has passed.
- Keep all medicine away from children and never share your medicine with anyone.
Drugs and Foods to Avoid:
Ask your doctor or pharmacist before using any other medicine, including over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal products.
- Make sure your doctor knows if you are also using a blood thinner such as warfarin (Coumadin®), St. John's wort, phenobarbital (Luminal®), carbamazepine (Tegretol®), rifampin (Rifadin®, Rifater®), erythromycin (E.E.S.®, Ery-tab®), clarithromycin (Biaxin®), itraconazole (Sporanox®), ketoconazole (Nizoral®), ritonavir (Norvir®), or thyroid medicine (levothyroxine, Synthroid®).
- Do not use cosmetics or other skin care products on the treated skin areas.
- Do not eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice while you are using this medicine.
Warnings While Using This Medicine:
- It is unlikely that a postmenopausal woman may become pregnant. But, you should know that using this medicine while you are pregnant could harm your unborn baby. If you think you have become pregnant while using the medicine, tell your doctor right away.
- Make sure your doctor knows if you are breastfeeding, or if you have endometriosis, a history of cancer, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, gallbladder disease, kidney disease, lupus, migraine headaches, porphyria, thyroid problems, high or low calcium in your blood (hypercalcemia or hypocalcemia), heart disease, blood clotting problems, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, or a family history of high cholesterol. Tell your doctor if you have ever had liver problems caused by pregnancy or estrogen.
- Your doctor will need to check your progress at regular visits while you are using this medicine. Be sure to keep all appointments.
- This medicine should not be used to treat or prevent heart disease or stroke. In fact, using large doses of this medicine over a long period of time may increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, dementia, breast cancer, or uterine cancer. Talk with your doctor about this risk. If you still have your uterus (womb), ask your doctor if you should also use a progestin medicine.
- Your risk of heart disease or stroke from this medicine is higher if you smoke. Your risk is also increased if you have diabetes or high cholesterol, or if you are overweight. Talk with your doctor about ways to stop smoking. Keep your diabetes under control. Ask your doctor about diet and exercise to control your weight and blood cholesterol level.
- This medicine may also increase your risk of certain types of cancer. Talk to your doctor if you have concerns about this risk.
- Make sure any doctor or dentist who treats you knows that you are using this medicine. You may need to stop using this medicine several days before having surgery or medical tests.
- Make sure any doctor or dentist who treats you knows that you are using this medicine. This medicine may affect the results of certain medical tests.
- Check with your eye doctor if you wear contact lenses and you have vision problems or eye discomfort.
Possible Side Effects While Using This Medicine:
Call your doctor right away if you notice any of these side effects:
- Allergic reaction: Itching or hives, swelling in your face or hands, swelling or tingling in your mouth or throat, chest tightness, trouble breathing.
- Chest pain, shortness of breath, or coughing up blood.
- Fever, chills, cough, sore throat, and body aches.
- Lumps in your breast, or nipple discharge.
- Numbness or weakness in your arm or leg, or on one side of your body.
- Pain in your lower leg (calf).
- Rapid weight gain.
- Sudden or severe headache, problems with vision, speech, or walking.
- Swelling in your hands, ankles, or feet.
- Unusual vaginal bleeding, discharge, or itching.
- Yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes.
If you notice these less serious side effects, talk with your doctor:
- Back or joint pain.
- Changes in weight or hair growth.
- Mild headache.
- Mild skin rash or itching.
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, upset stomach, or stomach pain or cramps.
- Nervousness or anxiety.
- Runny or stuffy nose.
- Skin discoloration.
- Skin redness or itching where the medicine is applied.
- Swollen or tender breasts.
Last Updated: 6/12/2013


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So does Seth Emerson. So does MaconDawg. So does Jason Butt. And Marc Weiszer. And… well, you get the picture.
Me? Well, I'm kicking back and chillaxing. I know they've got this one in the bag. After all, Greg McGarity finally came through on the indoor practice facility (thanks, Jeremy!), which is what was holding back the program from its destined greatness. All those pain in the ass bus rides and weather concerns are a thing of the past. It's onwards and upwards from now on, peeps.
Thus endeth the morning's snark.

subset: commoncrawl


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Lessons learned from a Neighbour: The long and honourable heritage of Daryl Currie, U.E.
Posted in Daily Life, Daily Life, Neighbourhoods, Social Capital, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Crime & Difference: What I want to say to our new local Toronto Police superintendent
"Toronto crime" is the the top search term that lands people on my blog, a blog about neighbourhoods and how we live together in community. However, as Mazlow's hierarchy of need describes and, as our new local police superintendent must know, safety is the basis of all else.
Crime, and the threat of it, is why we pack high school auditoriums and why we write worried letters-to-the-editor. Whether our reaction is to lock ourselves behind double-deadbolted doors or to set up Neighbourhood Watches, these are the ways we seek to protect ourselves and that which we love.
Last summer I attended a nearby community meeting with the local crime prevention officer. The attendees, many of my better-off neighbours, fretted about activity in the back alleyways, apparent drug activity at some homes, and people with substance abuse problems wandering by on neighbourhood sidewalks. None of these made the neighbourhood very family-friendly, so this focus wasn't unfounded.
This is a neighbourhood where a substantial number of its residents have had some involvement with the criminal justice system, and the local police station has shown that targeting the few "bad apples" can drive down crime. Combing through a map of incarcerated individuals from a 2009 Toronto Star investigation, I found this part of the east end ranked on par with a few of the city's better-known priority neighbourhood areas (see More below).
My own son, like many of my friends' sons, had been mugged. It's almost a neighbourhood rite of passage, disrupted once when a group of young men broke with orthodoxy and confronted a local mother demanding she turn over cash. For my son, though, it ended well. Older boys intervened and one of them, recognizing the aggressors, talked them into returning the stolen money. (Honour among thieves, indeed! I loved this story, when I finally heard it, because of the two degrees of separation and the power of social networks and social norms.)
I sat listening for a while, sympathetic to these women, protective too of their broods.
But now my son, the teenager I love, has grown. He is taller than me with a bristly haircut, a loping walk, and arms he'll flex at the merest provocation. He looks, admittedly, a bit scary to some. And, as a mixed-race kid, he doesn't carry the skin privilege I do.
Were they talking about him? A few assured me afterwards they didn't mean him, of course, that they knew he was a good kid. But that's small comfort. He has already been stopped by the Police, and I know the police won't be asking my neighbours to vouch for him.
So our crime prevention meeting abruptly became nerve-wracking. Suddenly we weren't talking about criminal activity. We were talking about how people looked, or dressed, or ambled around the neighbourhood. We were ready to call the police when someone, muttering to themselves or holding "too much" cash, walked by our porch. This, in a former working class neighbourhood, still with a group home, a rooming house, public housing, and scattered supportive units for people with mental health challenges?
Were we talking about enforcement over community-building? To sanction over supports?
Perhaps if we are scared enough, I heard.
This is the nub of the challenge our new superintendent will face: the tensions that arise among those who are different from each other, among those who do not have an easy understanding of each other and a code of behaviour to smooth things over.
It will take a sharp mind and a good heart to negotiate these waters, but I'm sure she's up for the job of catching criminals, of resolving local disputes, and, as they say, of knowing the difference between the two.
Posted in Daily Life, Diversity, Gentrification, Gentrification, Inequality, Neighbourhoods, Social Capital, Youth | Leave a Comment »


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|Notice: This Web site is no longer being updated.
On May 13, 2010, King County Executive Dow Constantine proposed providing cities with 150 beds in the King County Jail until 2020. This move, coupled with current and potential contracts that north/east King County cities have with other jurisdictions for jail beds, enabled Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn to recommend ending the process of siting a new regional municipal jail to house misdemeanor offenders. For more information, please visit the King County Web site: www.kingcounty.gov


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Schizophrenia has long been known to be hereditary. However, as a melting pot of disorders with different genetic causes is concealed behind manifestations of schizophrenia, research has still not been able to identify the main gene responsible to this day.
In order to study the genetic background of schizophrenia, the frequency of particular risk genes between healthy and ill people has mostly been compared until now. Pharmacopyschologist Professor Boris Quednow from University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zurich, and Professor Georg Winterer's workgroup at the University of Cologne have now adopted a novel approach. Using electroencephalography (EEG), the scientists studied the processing of simple acoustic stimuli (a sequence of similar clicks). When processing a particular stimulus, healthy people suppress the processing of other stimuli that are irrelevant to the task at hand. Patients with schizophrenia exhibit deficits in this kind of stimulus filtering and thus their brains are probably inundated with too much information. As psychiatrically healthy people also filter stimuli with varying degrees of efficiency, individual stimulus processing can be associated with particular genes.
Smokers process stimuli less effectively
In a large-scale study involving over 1,800 healthy participants from the general population, Boris Quednow and Georg Winterer examined how far acoustic stimulus filtering is connected with a known risk gene for schizophrenia: the so-called "transcription factor 4" gene (TCF4). TCF4 is a protein that plays a key role in early brain development. As patients with schizophrenia often smoke, the scientists also studied the smoking habits of the test subjects.
The data collected shows that psychiatrically healthy carriers of the TCF4 gene also filter stimuli less effectively – like people who suffer from schizophrenia. It turned out that primarily smokers who carry the risk gene display a less effective filtering of acoustic impressions. This effect was all the more pronounced the more the people smoked. Non-smoking carriers of the risk gene, however, did not process stimuli much worse. "Smoking alters the impact of the TCF4 gene on acoustic stimulus filtering," says Boris Quednow, explaining this kind of gene-environment interaction. "Therefore, smoking might also increase the impact of particular genes on the risk of schizophrenia." The results could also be significant for predicting schizophrenic disorders and for new treatment approaches, says Quednow and concludes: "Smoking should also be considered as an important cofactor for the risk of schizophrenia in future studies." A combination of genetic (e.g. TCF4), electrophysiological (stimulus filtering) and demographic (smoking) factors could help diagnose the disorder more rapidly or also define new, genetically more uniform patient subgroups.
Boris B. Quednow et al. Schizophrenia risk polymorphisms in the TCF4 gene interact with smoking in the modulation of auditory sensory gating. In: PNAS, March 26, 2012. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1118051109
About the study
The university psychiatric hospitals of Aachen, Charité Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Erlangen, Mainz and Mannheim participated in the multi-centric study. The study was funded by the Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) as part of the priority program Nicotine: Molecular and Physiological Effects in Central Nervous System (CNS) (SPP1226, WI1316/9-1).
Prof. Dr. Boris B. Quednow
Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology
University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zurich
Tel.: +41 44 384 27 77
Email: email@example.com


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PaRappa the Rapper designer Masaya Matsuura has been called the father of music games. Thing is, he doesn't believe there are music games.
"Strictly speaking I do not believe that 'Music Games' as a genre really exists yet," Matsuura recently told Kotaku. "We just have 'Rhythm Games.'"
This isn't the first time Matsuura has said this, but it's worth bringing up again, due to the broad brush strokes that rhythm games are painted with. Matsuura, a musician himself, is acutely aware of the difference between music and rhythm.
Before Matsuura made classic titles like PaRappa and Vib-Ribbon, he was a recording artist with Sony, releasing numerous albums and playing stadiums.
Matsuura's music, such as "Angel Night", was used for anime and TV dramas.
Currently, Matsuura and his studio NanaOn-Sha are finishing up Kinect title Haunt for Xbox Live. It's set in a haunted house, and, while not a straight up rhythm game, it does have rhythm elements.
"We can't really grow the genre until we have some games that explore areas of music other than just rhythm," Matsuura added. "I really want us to help overcome this deficiency."
When asked hypothetically what type of game he'd like to make, Matsuura replied that he be keen to do "something that features extremely accurate musical performance animation."
"As an example, if we could zoom in and see lifelike fingerwork in an animated pianist, the opportunities afforded to uncover and develop new methods of playing beyond the capabilities of humans would be a crucial step in musical evolution," said Matsuura. "The ability of 'games' to allow us to take part in such advances is crucial."
And it's crucial to have creators like Matsuura make those advances happen.
(Top photo: Brian Ashcraft | Kotaku)
You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at email@example.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.


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Subaru's now famous Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive is 40 years old. Contrary to what you might expect, the first couple of Subarus using it were not turbocharged racecars fighting against the mud and snow but rather affordable coupes and family cars in need of some extra grip. The Japanese company has been commited to the idea since introducing the first (optionally) AWD Leone estate in 1972.
Here's a look at some of the highlights from more than four decades of putting power down through all four tires.
Subaru BRAT, 1978
From the estate came the BRAT (an acronym for Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter), which was basicly a Leone El Camino with first a 1.6-liter, then a 1.8 liter petrol engine. The US version had extra seats in the cargo area to save on taxes. This resulted in some fatalites, but that didn't bother Ronald Reagan, who had one from 1978 until 2008.
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Subaru Leone Group A, 1980
The founder of Subaru Tecnica International (STI), Noriyuki Koseki decided to enter the World Rally Championship with three versions of the Leone. The coupe, sedan DL and RX Turbo racecars ran only a few rallies per season, but in 1986, they were the only ones using all-wheel drive with turbocharged power from the 1.8-liter boxer engine.
Subaru Rex, 1983
In the eighties, Subaru rocked the kei car market with the 4WD Rex, which in Europe ran with the names Mini Jumbo, 600 and 700. Three month after its launch, the performance was upped by an optional turbocharger on the 544cc engine. If you reached 78 mph with it, you were probably using everything it had to offer.
Subaru Legacy, 1989
After giving the Rex optional full-time All-Wheel Drive and a rear-axle limited-slip differential for greater traction, Subaru started a new success story with the Legacy family car. All-Wheel Drive was an option across the whole model range, while the top of the line Legacy RS had a turbocharged 2.0-litre flat four with 217 bhp. People called it Lunacy.
Subaru Vehicle X, 1991
The SVX was the lovechild of Subaru's bravery and the genious of Giorgetto Giugiaro. As a first attempt to enter the luxury car market from the brand, it was pretty impressive from the outside, and very advanced under the metal. With a 3.3-liter six-cylinder producing 231 hp and 228 lb ft of torque, there was plenty of performance for the AWD system to handle, while some domestic market versions even had four-wheel steering. If that sounds complicated, your feelings are right.
Subaru wins with Colin McRae, 1993
While the Leone was replaced by the brand new Impreza in 1992, Subaru was still using the aging Legacy as the base for their racecars. Colin McRae won the Rally of New Zealand with it scoring the brand's first World Rally Championship victory, but in the next year, the Prodrive-developed Impreza become the new star of the field.
Subaru STI goes public, 1994
Subaru introduces the 'STI' brand to its passenger cars in 1994, meaning that the WRX models are upgraded, often featuring blueprinted performance-tuned engines, transmissions and suspension set-ups. A legend is born, with the pink emblem showing that these Japanese cars are serious performance machines. Early STIs were built in limited numbers putting out "247 bhp."
Subaru wins WRC, 1995
With the help of the Prodrive team, Colin McRae wins himself and the brand the World Rally Championship. The blue car with the golden wheels and the number 555 (tobacco ads were still allowed at the time) is remembered as one of the best rally racers ever produced, as Subaru went on winning three championships in a row with it. Colin McRae left after 1998 to continue with Ford.
Subaru Forester, 1997
The Forester was one of the first crossover SUVs on the market. It rides well on tarmac, but thanks to it's raised height and all-wheel drive system (sending up to 50% of the engine's torque to the rear wheels), outperforms the rivals in the countryside. It was an instant success, securing Subaru's image as the most advanced manufacturer coming from Japan.
Second-generation Impreza, 2000
The all new Impreza is launched. It looks a bit like a frog, and the Japanese domestic versions can be ordered with a 1.5-liter engine and front-wheel drive, but nobody cares, because proper turbocharged boxers are also available, with permanent All-Wheel Drive, WRX and STI tune, and even a very practical hatchback body style. Richard Burns wins the championship with the WRC car in 2001.
The WRX STI is still very fast, 2011
British rally champions seem to be working really well with punchy Subarus, so nobody is too suprised when Mark Higgins sets a new lap record on the mighty Isle of Man TT course with an STI. 19 minutes and 37 seconds of concentration, and lots of turbocharged horsepower are needed for such achievements, and the biggest save in human history helps as well...
(Photo credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty images, Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
The 2012 Subaru Impreza XV Crosstrek, 2012
With the exception of the BRZ, Subaru's lineup continues to offer AWD across all of its non sports car models. One of the most interesting examples is the Subaru XV Crosstrek, which offers a more off-road-focus take on the AWD setup without the additional power of a WRX.


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Check out Walking Dead for children! Many moons ago, Jason Chan crafted a beautiful piece of artwork, so great it even inspired an io9 writing prompt contest.
Now that lovely piece of artwork has become a full-fledged video game project. Chan and the folks at Massive Black Productions are now creating an adorable children versus zombies video game (via Kickstarter). Here's a collection of amazing concept art along with a video of it all coming together.
For more information, check out their official website Zombie Playground. Fingers crossed this game inspires a cartoon, because we'd let our kids watch that, for zombie survival purposes alone.
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Flower Cropped Top | Don't Worry- Consider How the Wild Flowers Grow | Floral Women's Christian Crop Top Tee | Bible Verse Luke 12 | Mother's Gift
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Time to face up. Time for flora. This post has been… er… post-poned several times. When I first started this blog, it was an adventure into the unknown. Basic computer skills. Zero blog experience. Scant knowledge about much (any?) of the subject matter. Looking back at early posts there is evidence – plenty – of floundering and general incompetence while I gradually learnt more. The birds and other wildlife came quite easily; the flora not so. Apparently I even carry a bunch of flowers in an odd way (opines Mrs RH), under one arm like a rugby ball. Don't all men? Oh! Just me, then. Anyway, it's time to try again and brave the land of petal, stamen and pistils at dawn. Here are 20 plants that you will come across on Abaco. Many were photographed at Delphi or in the nearby coppice and pine forest. A couple were in Marsh Harbour, 2 more were at Sawmill Sink Blue Hole. The beautiful Cannas are from Hope Town, with thanks to Abaco Island Artist Brigitte Carey. Some will be known locally by different names – I'd be interested to hear them via the 'comment' box.
ANGEL'S TRUMPET (Datura Candida) CANNASCOCONUT WHITE FRANGIPANI (Plumeria)YELLOW FRANGIPANI (Plumeria)YELLOW FRANGIPANI (Plumeria)MARSH PINK (Stellatia Maris)MORNING GLORY (Convolvulus)MOSS ROSES (Portulaca)OYSTER PLANTRED HIBISCUSPINK CORAL (FRINGED) HIBISCUSPINK PENTAS (Pentas lanceolata)RED PENTAS (Pentas lanceolata)PLUMBAGO / CAPE LEADWORT (Plumbago auriculata)ROYAL POINCIANA / FLAME TREE (Dolonix regia)SPIDER LILY (Hymenocallis littoralis)THATCH PALMWILD ALLAMANDA (Urechites lutea)BIRD OF PARADISE FLOWER (Strelizia)BANANAS at the Delphi Club


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Smart Football has moved!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Texas Tech run game cutups
This topic deserves a fuller discussion later, but I was sparked when I saw these clips of Texas Tech's spring football. Video below (hat tip Tortilla Report via Double-T Nation):
Okay, you might be saying, I see some guys running around, but what does it mean? Again, this topic deserves a fuller treatment, but here's some diagrams and quick explanations of Leach and Texas Tech's main run plays.
Base is essentially a "man" blocking run play that has each lineman block the man over them, and if uncovered, they head up to the linebackers. (The "fold" technique comes into play where there is a sort of "shaded" nose -- a defensive tackle who would be too difficult to "reach" for the guard -- so they can make a "fold" call at the line.) The play is easy to teach because it uses largely the same scheme as their main pass protection (big on big; back on backer) but uses drive blocking. Finally, this play is often mistaken for a "draw" -- it just looks like one when run from the shotgun.
"Lead" is your basic "isolation" play: all the linemen block "man on" or "down" and the lead blocker bursts into the hole and blocks the first man that shows; the ball carrier then cuts off the lead back's block. Tech uses this a lot when they get into any two-back set (whether from gun or those rare times under center). From shotgun this too looks a lot like a "lead draw," but it is really just one of the oldest plays in football run from Tech's funky wide line splits and shotgun.
The "stretch" has increasingly been a weapon for Leach over the past few years. A big reason is that Leach is now fully committed to the wide line splits, so at some point in the game the defensive ends tend to stop lining up so far outside the offensive tackles and instead line up heads up or inside them, thus giving the offensive guy an easy "reach" block to hook the defender inside. As a result the runningback has an easy spring to the outside.
Leach's run game is not complicated and no one will confuse Tech with Paul Johnson's flexbone option teams, but they have had decentbalance (depending how you define it) over the years and the run plays are some of the most tried and true schemes around. He just uses them from his spread sets, and only when the defense is completely stretched out.
5 comments:
- dacoachmo said...
The video is now gone..those darn sneaky Air Raid guys!!
Chris, how hard is it to get the double teams or to down block out of wide splits?
Also when TT (or Kentucky before them) goes under center they are often in an offset I backfield seldom a straight I. What does TT run to the backside to keep the backers from flying to the side of the FB/HB.
Obvioulsly reverse and bootleg help. But in short yardage you would think you would want to be able to attack the bubbles on both sides of the center.
These are two things I have always wordered about with the Air Raid run game.
- Chris said...
Hmm, I guess the video is gone. That's unfortunate: it was great overhead and background of a bunch of run plays. I will see if I can track anything else down.
Brad: It's very hard to get double teams out of the wide splits. Down blocks? It depends, mostly on where the defensive linemen line up. It's a judgment call, and they can also bring their splits in some too to help out. But the wide splits also takes some defensive linemen completely out of the play also.
And as far as the offset-I stuff, one thing I know they did was just run away from the offset fullback. (He usually would seal the backside DE.) That helps break tendencies. That said, their offset-I formation running game was not exactly robust, so they only used it in spots anyway.
Thanks for your answers Chris.
This post inspired me to go back and watch two tapes I have from Tech games. One from the Kingbury years vs NC State and the other from the bowl game vs UVA two years ago. There was a lot of running by Tech in the NC State game.
One thing I noticed them doing a lot is running the "Lead" play out of one back more like inside zone. The H back still blocks the LB but just from a wide position. And they still double the tackles up to the backers.
The one thing I really like about the Tech running game is that they really hit the hole and don't go sideways much. A lot of passing teams run zone plays that lose yardage too much. Thus those teams bog down in the red zone/short yardage sometimes. Tech's running game seems to be built around short yardage and keeping the defense honest.
Also quick question. Those diagrams look like they are from the Leach OU playbook but they are a little different. Did you change them or is there another playbook out there.
- Mr.Murder said...
Leach does all runs from checkdowns.


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Trump: Melania, Barron will move to White House after school year
By Catherine Lucey
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — President-elect Donald Trump says he's moving to the White House soon, but his wife and young son will follow him at the end of the school year.
Trump spoke Sunday to reporters gathered at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, during a day of private meetings with potential administration officials. He said he will live in the White House and wife Melania Trump and 10-year-old son Barron will move "right after he finishes school."
Trump lives with his wife and son in the penthouse apartment at Trump Tower in New York City. Barron attends a private school in the city.
The New York Post reported Sunday that Trump's wife and son would not immediately be moving with him to Washington.
Trump is not the first recent president to move to the White House with school age children. When President Barack Obama took office, daughters Sasha and Malia were 10 and 7. When Bill Clinton came to Washington, Chelsea Clinton was 12. All three White House kids moved during the school year and attended the Sidwell Friends, a private school in northwest Washington.
Trump has continued to spend most of his time in Trump Tower since winning the presidential election, which has prompted a massive security effort around the luxury building with bomb-sniffing dogs, security checkpoints and police barricades.
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The History of Robots in the Victorian Era
Robots have been making significant inroads into our culture over the last few years. They're roaming on and around distant planets, building cars, vacuuming the rug and even serving as surrogate pets. But it may surprise you to learn that sophisticated androids have been walking the earth since at least the late 1800s - achieving feats that still haven't been equalled in the 21st century. (One prototype actually took part in World War One.) The History of Robots in the Victorian Era follows the careers of these early automatons, and at the same time, tests the limits of human credibility.
Launched in July 2000 to tell the amazing story of "Boilerplate" (history's first mechanical soldier created in 1893), the website has since expanded to include three other milestones of robotic engineering - The Electric Man (1885), The Steam Man (1865), and the Automatic Man (exact date unknown). And while these Victorian marvels might have benefited from some more imaginative names, their exploits (from Antarctic exploration and circumnavigation to foiling train robberies) would put Honda's new robot ASIMO to shame. One can only imagine why so few of us know about these extraordinary machines today.
Unless, of course, it's because they never existed.
Truth be told, The History of Robots in the Victorian Era is an unintentional hoax - originally created as an online pitch for a graphic novel about the tin soldier, Boilerplate. (Samples from the book are posted onsite.) Things got interesting, though, when webmaster and commercial artist, Paul Guinan, realized that some visitors to the site were taking the fiction as fact, and, as would any self-respecting artist when faced with such an opportunity, Guinan decided to see just how real he could make his character seem. Still, this isn't a 'hoax' in the sense of a serious intent to deceive - there are clues throughout the site (not to mention articles about the true nature of Boilerplate's status), and at least one outright disclaimer - the latter included to appease the good folks at the San Diego Maritime Museum.
Unfortunately, there was no way that I could properly review the site without first spilling the beans - since it's the execution of the fiction that makes The History remarkable. But even for those who are in on the joke, the story of Boilerplate is so thoroughly and convincingly done as to almost demand the willing suspension of disbelief.
Guinan closes the credibility gap by interweaving fact with fiction - a strategy which is itself enhanced by numerous examples of Photoshop sleight-of-hand used in creating the site's 'archival' images. (The full chronicle of Boilerplate includes more than 100 images, ranging from his first appearance at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, to posing with Pancho Villa and Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders.) Guinan fills in Boilerplate's background with a biography of the tin man's inventor, and such ephemera as movie, vaudeville, and even Soviet propaganda posters featuring the robot. The story is further reinforced with such touches as 'then and now' photographs of the factory where the robot was constructed, and a tour of the renamed ship on which Boilerplate sailed to the Antarctic (currently on display at the aforementioned San Diego Maritime Museum). In combination, Guinan's various strategies could even leave even a skeptic still skeptical, but no longer rock solid in their lack of belief.
If you feel a bit cheated since you'll be viewing the site with knowledge of the 'real' story of Boilerplate, take heart - Guinan's intricate weaving of fiction with legitimate history serves to maintain an air of uncertainty about all of the 'archival' content on his site. For example, are the other robots depicted in the History more examples of the webmaster's artistic talents, harvested illustrations from real 19th and 20th century publications which were 'repurposed' to add credibility to the Boilerplate saga, or simply appreciations of previous artists' fictional robotic creations?
As an example, Victorian Robots makes frequent reference to the inventor, Frank Reade Jr., and displays many of his inventions. A Google search of the name reveals, among other things, an Arizona State University lecture and a US Centennial of Flight essay that make reference to 19th century dime novels featuring the fictional Reade's adventures - so Reade would appear to be a previously created fictional character, akin to Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger.
And yet both of these scholarly references list Guinan's pages as their only Reade source. Did these sites fall for Guinan's fictional creation of a fictional creation? Was Reade a real (fictional) character recruited to lend credibility to Guinan's stories? Is Reade actually the mastermind behind all these creations, trying to divert attention away from himself due to a debilitating introversion stemming from a traumatic third grade show-and-tell experience? The truth is out there - if it doesn't drive you crazy first.
On the design front, The History has a basic construction (read; fast loader) with only two idiosyncrasies - both, I expect, due to the site's age. First is a left-justified layout that may seem off balance to most, but will be a welcome sight for those still using 640x480 pixel monitors. Second is the navigation which, not surprisingly for a site which has been expanding piecemeal for more than three years, offers no simple linear routes for exploring the site. Fortunately, the History's online host has a site mapin case you're worried about missing any content. Or clues.
In a November 2000 interview, Guinan estimated that roughly a third of his visitors were accepting The History as fact. Of course, after reading this, you know better - but that's not to say you have to warn anybody else, if you suggest that they take a tour.
The History of Robots in the Victorian Era can be found at http://www.bigredhair.com/robots/.


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These photos were taken just a couple of weeks ago. I'd got home from work and the light was lovely so I headed out on my bike for an hour before making tea.
Glad I took advantage of the opportunity whilst I could. The the clocks have now changed and the nights are drawing in and I'm arriving home in the dark in the evenings.


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90s Night
It's 90s night tonight and I just got my hands on a partial playlist for the game…what's your favorite 90s song? Can't make any promises, but among the tunes we'll hear tonight are:
No Scrubs – TLC
Motownphilly – Boyz II Men
Give it Away Now – Red Hot Chili Peppers
My Prerogative – Bobby Brown
One Week – Barenaked Ladies
Enter Sandman – Metallica
All I Wanna Do – Sheryl Crows
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
Tennessee – Arrested Development
Ironic – Alanis Morrisette
Plush – Stone Temple Pilots
Regulate – Warren G
Jump Around – House of Pain
Jump – Kris Kross
Humpty Dance – Digital Underground
Losing My Religion – R.E.M.
Good Vibrations – Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch
And lots more…personally I'm bummed not to see Dave Matthews Band on there, but three of the band members were down on the field yesterday for BP (Carter Beauford, Rashawn Ross and Jeff Coffin).
I hope those of you here tonight will celebrate a great decade that rarely gets its due when stacked up against the 60s, 70s and 80s!
And please forgive the delay in posting…have had some computer issues and just been jammed up with other projects.


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24 hour air conditioners repair in Flossmoor, Il
24heatingcooling is proud of the fact that it has remained a community-based business where the customer is always the first priority. We are proud of the fact that our entire staff provides quality customer care and exemplary service that is always reliable, efficient and affordable. If you are searching for the best Flossmoor HVAC service company, you have come to the right place. We provide a variety of Flossmoor heating and cooling services including furnace repair, installation of new HVAC units and general HVAC maintenance. Our precision tune-ups are designed to keep your heating and cooling system operating efficiently for the life of the equipment. We are an Authorized American Standard Dealer with 24-hour service and repair availability. You can count on the fast, reliable service of 24heatingcooling whenever you experience a Flossmoor heating or cooling emergency. We offer a complete range of heating and cooling services for both residential and commercial customers. We work hard to ensure that you are comfortable in your home and office year round. Contact our office today for more information about purchasing a new heating and cooling unit, to arrange a service call or to get more information about our Flossmoor HVAC service.


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Lucas Jordan's Online Resume
I have 13 years of Java experience working on every aspect of modern applications, from the persistence layer to the UI. Recent work has exposed me to iOS. I have experience working in a freelance environment as well as working with and managing a development team. I look forward to finding another challenging project working with those who value a life long computer enthusiast.
My Apps
I have developed a number of iOS applications, my personal apps are:
TightBeam: An application for sending secure text messages. This application uses the camera of one device to read QR codes displayed on another device to exchange security keys.
CWG's Video Loop Presenter (vloop) - This application is a simple utility app for looping video on an iOS device. It is popular among professionals running booths at trade shows.
Space Attack!! - My first iOS application. A simple game of shooting down asteroids. All the fun of your favorite old games.
Numbers and Counting + Colors and Shapes - Two simple games exploring what educational games might look like on iOS.
Apps Built for Others
Virtual Vehicles - Create a mobile version of Virtual Vehicles, utilizing their existing web content.
Get App Here - An application that recommended an app based on your location. This app is no longer available.
Product - Pad Bracket
I designed and created a wall mount for the Apple iPad, called the Pad Bracket. Creating this product gave me experience starting my own company and insight into the role of advertising in the success of a company.
I have published the following books through Apress:JavaFX Special Effects - Taking Java™ RIA to the Extreme with Animation, Multimedia, and Game
Practical Android Projects (co-authored with Pieter Greyling)
Beginning iOS 6 Games Development (Pending)
PresentationsA Music Visualizer with the Java Media Framework API and JavaFX Technology at JavaONE 2009
JavaFX Introduction at Rochester Java Users Group (RJUG)
GWT Introduction at Rochester Java Users Group (RJUG)
Primary Technologies
Java SE, EE(6), Flex, Swing, C#, iOS, Microsoft Compact Framework, ANT, Maven, JUnit, JNLP, Zero Config, XML, XSD, XPath, JDOM, w3c DOM, SOAP, JAX-WS, RMI, Servlets, DHTML, CSS, Java Script (AJAX), Tomcat, RT3D, MODFLOW, C/C++, Piccolo, Linux, OS X, Solaris 10, Hibernate, JPA, SQL, log4j, Quartz, Netbeans, Eclipse, Xcode, AWS.
Current Employment
Currently working at EffectiveUI as a lead developer. Responsibilities include technology planning and thought leadership as well as development work.
Professional Projects
EffectiveUI - Lead Developer
Lead team developing check deposit application on Android for a large bank. Improved existing iOS application and CMS application for a leading insurance company. Provided technical leadership in the selection of mobile technologies, especially in the native/embedded web space.
Cartera Commerce - Lead Developer
One Cranberry Hill, Lexington, Massachusetts 02421
Lead development team to build new internal content management system. Required a deep understanding of the business process and work directly with the product team. Used GWT to implement UI, backend was JBoss on Linux with a MySQL Database.
EffectiveUI - Lead Developer
Responsible for application architecture eDesign yearbook publishing involving a Flex front end, Java services, and an Oracle DB. This work involved defining data types, orchestrating client-server communication, and implementation of server side business logic. Worked in a support role after product launch.
Additionally worked on the following projects as tech-lead:
DigitalXtractions, Inc
125 Tech Park Drive, Rochester, N.Y., 14623-2438, 2006-2007
Lead Technologist
Responsible for selecting technologies in the development of a Self Contained Internet Remote Camera (SCIRC). These included selecting an embedded platform, selecting an architecture, language, and libraries to implement the server and client components. Implemented a 3 phase development cycle (alpha,beta,release) leading a small team. The three part application is the core business asset of DigitalXtractions and is composed of the embedded software running on the SCIRCs, the web services and database, and the web and Java UI elements. The system is designed to scale to hundreds of thousands of users. More information can be found here.
Children's Hospital Informatics Program
Children's Hospital Boston, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, (CHIP), 2004-2006
AEGIS Bio-Surveillance Suite
Designed and led the implementation of a bio-surveillance application suite, which acquires emergency department visit data from participating hospitals. Analysis are performed, with any aberrations being automatically reported to the Massachusetts Health Alert Network. Responsibilities included creating application specifications including the build architecture, persistence framework, security policies and communication protocols. I was also responsible for coordinating other team members.
AEGIS Viewer
Designed and implemented an application for viewing the data stored in the AEGIS system with both a Swing version and a web version. This application provides the Massachusetts Department of Public Health with a surveillance oriented view of the data. Responsibilities included creating use cases, defining the architecture, creating visual elements and application programming. Actually, I wrote this application twice, once as a Swing application and again as an AJAX application.
PING Personal Health Record Display
Implemented a Swing based application for viewing and controlling a personally controlled health record. The application displays medical documents in several formats and provides views for high level interaction. This application is highly modular and is used in several specific projects including an influenza study in coordination with a Fortune 500 company. Responsibilities included integrating an in-house survey engine, implementing an email like messaging system, iterative user testing and communicating with the developers who provided additional web and server components.
HydroMath, LLC
Ithaca NY, 14850, 2000-2003
Dechlor Bioremediation Simulation Application
Dechlor is a software tool for the assessment and design of enhanced bioremediation for dechlorination of PCE, TCE, DCE(s) and Vinyl Chloride. The tool can be used by engineers to estimate the effects of many variables, all controlled by a single, easy to use GUI.
Cayuga Millwork, LLC
Freeville, NY, 13053, 1999-2000, 2003
Panel Optimizer
Cayuga Millwork, LLC, Freeville, NY, 13053 1999-2000, 2003
An application for describing the parts list of panel goods and providing efficient cut list from those descriptions.
Please send inquires to firstname.lastname@example.com


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1. A visitor must download and save your source code on their computer in order to view your web page. If they don't have the source code, they don't see the site. Same goes for images. It's as simple as that.
2. There are scripts, etc. that "hide" the source code from the visitor (encoding, no-right-clicking, transparent image overlays, file save redirects, etc.), but all rely on client-side scripting (e.g., javascript) to do it, so any visitor that realizes this can simply turn it off. Again, once someone can see your webpage, they already have your webpage.
3. There is some webservice called copyguard (or something like that) that takes your source code and compares it to the rest of the web on a regular basis, and alerts you if it finds a copy on someone else's site. That still doesn't solve anything unless you're willing to take legal action, however. And I don't know how much it costs. On top of it all, what's to stop someone from copying your source code, buying this service, and then accusing you of stealing from them?
4. Speaking of going to court (and no offense intended), your (or anyone's) source code is probably not worth protecting anyway. I'm not getting into the whole "philosophy of open sharing of information that the internet is based on" issue; html is just html. You may have some awesome server-side crap developed that's worth holding on to, but it outputs normal html and can't easily be "stolen" anyway (if your server is set up properly, that is).
Edit: for the benefit of the readers, I'm pulling some of the good responses from below into this post.
Originally Posted by djr33Originally Posted by jscheuer1Originally Posted by forum_amnesiac


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Talk about digging a hole for myself! I've always prided myself on my prognostication skills, winning many contests and pools over the years. Going into this week I am an embarrassingly 7 games out as Bob Green has taken a significant lead on the pack. This weeks guest picker is John Roth who is the man behind the scenes for the Duke Radio and Coach Cutcliffe shows. Roth is also the author of the Encyclopedia of Duke Basketball, a fabulous book that is a must for reference, so check it out sometime! John will try and close the 4 game deficit for the guest pickers and as always we pick the nation's ten toughest or closest match ups each week.
|1. Bob Green
|2. Andrew Slater (-3)
|3. Guest (-4)
|4. Patrick Cacchio (-5)
|5. Mark Watson (-7)
Mark Watson - The key to the game for Duke on Saturday is to simply be opportunistic. Duke needs to win the battle of turnovers and succeed in the red zone. I don't think you will see the Devils attempt many field goals unless it's a chip shot, so look for Duke to try and control field position throughout the day. This is a good opportunity for the Blue Devils to gain another win on Homecoming. Look for the defense to make a big play. If Duke can keep their collective focus they'll come out with a much needed win for the program. The real question is can they close on a team if they get the lead. Duke 34, Tulane 20.
Bob Green - Sean Renfree will pick up right where he left off last weekend by connecting on short passes and throwing the ball down the field. With Duke still shorthanded at running back, the Blue Devils offense will utilize the short pass in lieu of a traditional running game to move the chains and sustain drives. I'll be looking for Renfree to complete passes to six different Blue Devils with two receivers recording eight or more catches against the Green Wave. Duke 35, Tulane 21.
Patrick Cacchio - The Blue Devils are 10 points favorites for Homecoming this year, but this game is likely to be closer than that. The Green Wave are a balanced and talented football team that will challenge Duke in all phases of the game. Duke will have to put together another dominant offensive effort to emerge victorious Saturday, and Sean Renfree seems up to the task. Tulane will put up some points on the Duke defense, but will be unable to keep up with the potent Blue Devil passing game. Duke 35, Tulane 31.
Andrew Slater -Both programs come in after enervating road wins, the Blue Devils will look to sustain that winning momentum on Homecoming weekend. Both programs feature pass happy offenses, with quarterbacks that have been successful at spreading the wealth amongst their receiving corps. For Duke, they need to keep the ball away from their former linebacker Trent Mackey, who led the Green Wave with 124 tackles last season, and DB/PR Derrick Strozier, who already has two interceptions on the young season. The Duke defense stood strong last week on the road against Boston College, pitching a shutout in the second half. They'll need to shut down an offense averaging 33 points per game this season. Tulane appears to have an edge in special teams. Cairo Santos has made 15 of 20 career field goals and 45 of 46 PATs, while their punter, Jonathan Ginsburgh, is sixteenth in the country in punting average, including three kicks of more than fifty yards and three punts that landed within their opponents' twenty yard line. Duke 28, Tulane 24.
John Roth- Duke's defense has been better than expected so far and got a confidence boost from pitching a second-half shutout last week, forcing BC to punt on every possession before the final drive. The defense needs to continue its improvement this week against a Tulane team that has averaged 48 points per game in its two wins. With its physical line and big QB, Tulane has scored on 10 of 12 trips to the red zone, 8 TDs vs. 2 FGs. The guess here is that Duke's D buckles down in the red zone, with Tulane getting its 16 points on 3 FGs and one TD. Offensively Duke has piled up some passing yardage and last week controlled the ball for 20 minutes in the second half, but it still has not been effective enough in finishing possessions with points. The absence of a field goal game obviously hasn't helped. Look for the Blue Devils to take another incremental step forward offensively with four TDs this week in evening their record at 2-2. Duke 28, Tulane 16.


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Tonight I had the opportunity to attend an advance showing of the new movie "Gordon B. Hinckley; A Giant Among Men" which will release to theaters and video on November 25th. Produced and distributed through Living Scriptures, this new movie was filmed and directed by renown cinematographer T.C. Christensen who also filmed The Work and the Glory, Praise To The Man, The Testaments, and Lewis & Clark (IMAX) among many others. Here is my review.
This movie does not attempt to retell the entire story of Gordon B. Hinckley's 97 years of life. Rather, it focuses upon those persons and events which had a profound impact upon the boy, and later the man, who would become the 15th President and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The film highlights key events and human moments in his life.
Director Christensen carefully and tenderly dramatizes stories of Hinckley's youth and missionary experience. Many of these scenes are beloved stories which President Hinckley often told from the pulpit. And from time to time, audio clips of President Hinckley's voice are allowed to narrate his own story as it is re-enacted on screen. This adds great poignancy and realism. The film also includes a few nice archive video clips of Hinckley's later years.
One of the greatest strengths of this film is the cast. Not only are the scenes portrayed believably, but all of the seven actors chosen to depict Hinckley (spanning from age 5 to 95) stunningly look the part! It certainly helped that each of the "young Gordon's" were conveniently cast from the same talented family (most of whom were attending the movie preview to the delight of the audience). A few of the young stars graciously posed for MoSop, after the show.
Actress Lauren Brady gives a masterful performance of Hinckley's mother, Ada Bitner Hinckley, who was Gordon's first, and arguably most powerful, teacher and guide. Depicted are the hours Ada spent reading to Gordon, and the many teaching moments she employed which gave her young son Gordon a solid foundation for the rest of his life. The movie highlights several instances of her loving but firm discipline, which also includes many humorous moments. Ada's pleading prayer of faith offered over her feverish children during a flu epidemic is an especially moving scene, which underscores the power of motherhood.
Particularly charming is Tamilisa Wood, portraying Gordon's future wife Marjorie Pay Hinckley. She perfectly captures Marjorie's intelligence, wry sense of humor, and gentle strength which encouraged and supported Gordon's success. Wood's smile and sparkling eyes beautifully light up the screen each time she appears, and it is regrettable that we don't get to see more of her.
Levi Larsen admirably portrays the adult Gordon, taking us through his high school, missionary service, and early years working for the church and railroad. Larsen has an engaging stage presence and was very believable in look and mannerism as Hinckley. He handles the role with great dignity. Portraying famous persons is always a daunting task for any actor, and yet Larsen balanced both Gordon's serious side and humorous nature with grace and ease. He allows us to see the growth and maturing of Hinckley over the years. Larsen and Wood have a delightful chemistry on-screen, which adds a welcome depth and charm to the important relationship between Gordon and Marjorie.
Christensen effectively employs the family library as the focal point of the film, returning the viewer at the beginning and end of each 'chapter' being portrayed in Hinckley'slife, while projecting famous quotes that foreshadow the upcoming events, or epitomize the lessons learned from the past. This gives an epic documentary feel, and reminds the audience that we are watching a retelling of a true story. Those familiar with the stories which President Hinckley liked to share, will be especially delighted to see so many recreated on the big screen.
Christensen's cinematography creates beautiful lasting images. My 'stage eyes' appreciated the extra care which was taken with costuming, hair, makeup, and the intricate set dressing in order to realistically transport viewers back in time. Of particular enjoyment was when the camera focuses tightly on the workings of an old manual typewriter as Hinckley composes one of his many articles. Scenes of Gordon and his little brother Sherman working and playing on the family farm are absolute treasures, and beautifully captured. Precisely because of the high level of authenticity Christensen achieves with this work, there is a much greater risk that anything slightly off will be jarring. There was only one brief scene which I personally thought fell short. When Gordon's bishop calls him into his office for 'a chat' (to serve a mission) the words and mannerisms used by the bishop's character are much too casual and seem out of context with the carefully constructed time period. This is a minor hiccup as the film flows majestically onward.
The music chosen is tasteful, and adds beauty and depth to the scenes. In tribute to Hinckley's many years serving as priesthood adviser to The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, there is a special musical highlight in the film. Movie-goers will also want to remain in their seats during the final credits, which includes a touching epilogue.
I am delighted with this new film, not only with the quality artistically and inspirationally, but also with the perspective it offers. It helps us realize that the great man we knew as a global leader and prophet, was also once a little boy who loved to play in the mud, tease his younger brother, and needed to learn and overcome weaknesses. He was a young man who experienced fear and frustration when embarking overseas into missionary service. And later, he was a man desperately in love with the girl of his dreams, who felt awkward and inadequate. He experienced times of great joy and crushing sorrow, which all viewers can personally relate to.
"A Giant Among Men" reminds us that God creates each of us as human beings with weaknesses, yet capable of accomplishing great things. This film does a masterful job showing how a boy named Gordon Bitner Hinckley was prepared from his youth to become a special witness of Jesus Christ, and prophet of God. I came away refreshed and inspired to reach a little higher, and to try a little harder each day to serve others, as Hinckley did.
Each one of us will face choices in our life which will either send us down the right road, or derail our progress. The movie Gordon B. Hinckley: A Giant Among Men gives a beautiful illustration of how one man successfully stayed on the right track drawing nearer to God, and then humbly invited all to follow. You don't want to miss it!
UPDATE 11/10/2008: A Family Home Evening Lesson and short video which includes scenes from this movie can be found at LDSFamilyFun.com. The video is extremely small. If anyone can locate a larger version, please let me know and I will post here.
UPDATE 11/18/2008: The full movie website is up and running! Click here to watch the trailer, and get more details about the film. Under REVIEWS, you will also see MoSop quoted and a link back to this page (Thanks Living Scriptures!).
Just for the record, I gave full permission for L.S., Inc. to use my review as an unpaid endorsement. Let's support quality family entertainment. Spread the word!


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Spider-Man's probably the most anxiety-prone superhero out there, so it's no surprise he's embarked on some endeavors that left readers questioning his emotional well-being. Here are ten times the hero's adventures (and mental health) flew off the rails in wonderfully weird ways.
10. Spider-Man records an album of Elton Johnesque pop music
If you thought Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark was Spider-Man's musical pinnacle, then you've never heard this Marvel-sanctioned, 1975 rock opera dedicated to the hero.
The album artwork was also a thing of great beauty. Who knew Thor loved jazz? You can listen to most of this album here.
Of course, I still prefer the 1979 German disco track "Spiderman" sung by a fellow who had the retroactive misfortune of being named Peter Griffin.
9. Spider-Man gets a Spider-Buggy
For an extremely brief period in his history, Spider-Man experimented with his own car that was gifted to him by an auto company. To the superhero's credit, he was incredibly dubious of this "Spider-Mobile" in the first place. On the other hand, he did have the poor taste to ride it around town.
8. Spider-Man gets caught up in some metaphysical pablum, evolves gross webshooters
Several years ago, Marvel Comics attempted to give Spider-Man organic web-shooters like the ones he wielded in Sam Raimi's cinematic trilogy. To do so, the publisher forced him into hippity-dippity, mystical circumstances — too complex to elaborate here — in which he evolved these new, synergistic features. And here you thought this superhero was grounded in that staple of hard science fiction, the radioactive spider bite.
7. Spider-Man murders people in Turkey
In the bootleg Turkish crime drama 3 Dev Adam, Spider-Man is a eyebrow-sporting crime lord who executes his enemies with hungry rats and boat propellers who dukes it out with his arch-nemesis Captain America. You may think it's not canon, but Marvel hasn't issued any statements recently noting otherwise. For another time Spider-Man went bonkers overseas, see the time he killed a WWF wrestler with Superman and Batman in India.
6. Spider-Man yells about his radioactive sperm
In 2007's dystopian, Dark Knight Returns-style miniseries Spider-Man: Reign, we learn that Mary Jane has died because Peter's radioactive Spider-sperm gave her cancer. During a certain jaw-dropping juncture of this alternate reality tale, Peter screams at Mary Jane's corpse (which has been disinterred by Doctor Octopus) about how is love gun shot to kill. Why he's never used this superpower against his foes since then is beyond me.
5. Spider-Man gets rid of an all-powerful magical artifact by tossing it in the ocean
During the 1980s, Marvel Comics superheroes crossed over with characters from Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age. This resulted in such edifying storylines as Conan the Barbarian moonlighting as a pimp and Spider-Man teaming up with Red Sonja to defeat the warlock Kulan Gath. After trapping the wizard in an amulet, Spidey tosses him off the coast of Staten Island and promptly forgets about him...
Until a fisherman discovers the necklace and frees Kulan Gath. The wizard transforms almost everyone in Manhattan into barbarians. Except for Spider-Man, of course. Kulan Gath tortures the living crap out of him.
4. Spider-Man meets his god, Stan Lee
In the final episode of the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon, a trans-dimensional militia of Spider-Men must prevent Carnage from ending all reality. After defeating the villain, Spidey is whisked away to our reality, where he learns that he's actually the mental fabrication of an excelsior universal clockmaker, Stan "The Man" Lee. (I'm assuming Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko hung up the phone on this.) Upon communing with his mustachioed godhead, Spider-Man is not distraught over the realization that he's fictional, a corporate icon, or that he could've been named "Greg Gunderson, the Arachnid Ace" if Stan was feeling a twinge more alliterative in 1962. No, his self-esteem is through the roof! Poor guy's in shock.
3. Spider-Man becomes possessed by an evil alien, learns to jazz dance
Many readers consider this sequence the nadir of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man film trilogy. I sort of love the implications of this moment when you spell it out in plain language. That is, "An alien symbiote crash-lands on Earth and uses its malevolent power to cloud Peter Parker's mind. It also imparts a penchant for swing dancing." Did aliens teach humans to swing dance, like some Lindy-Hopping Engineers from Prometheus? That would explain the late 1990s rather easily.
2. Spider-Man Mad Libs
As if having professional comic book writers foist indignity upon indignity upon Peter Parker was bad enough, these fantastic 1981 Spider-Man Mad Libs (courtesy of Mark Anderson) allowed laymen like you and me to blindly dictate the terms of Peter Parker's mopey existence. Look what I just did to Spider-Man's laundry. How deliciously absurd!
1. Spidey Super Stories
This series of comic books was written as a spin-off of the webslinger's appearances on The Electric Company in the 1970s. Because these tales were written for a younger audience, Spider-Man's adventures were told at an elementary-school reading level, which grammatically streamlined reality in myriad, hilarious ways. For example, see Doctor Doom's plot to take over the world with a magic trumpet, Spider-Man's misadventures with cycling...
...his calculated abuse of seafood merchants...
...the wall-crawler's musings on paleontology...
...or this incredible sequence, in which Spider-Man, Marvel Boy, and Moon Dragon concoct a plan to destroy Doctor Doom's personal Death Star.
For more Spider-Strangeness, see these erotic moments in his storied history, the time the Green Goblin knocked up Peter's girlfriend (among many things), and the following ten public service announcements, the most notable of which revealed that Spider-Man was inappropriately touched by an older boy. And for Spider-Man at his coolest, see the soundtrack to the 1960s cartoon show.
BONUS: Spider-Man's tighty-whitey nightmares about Kraven The Hunter. [via]


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High-fiber diet helps heart too, expert says
(HealthDay)—Eating a high-fiber diet does more than promote digestive well-being; it's also good for your heart, an expert says.
Dietary fiber from fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans "has been shown in research to help lower cholesterol," Jody Gilchrist, a nurse practitioner at the Heart and Vascular Clinic at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, said in a university news release.
"Most nutrition experts say that a person needs at least 25 grams of fiber a day as part of a balanced diet," Gilchrist said. "The American Heart Association recommends that a good rule of thumb is 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories consumed, and at least 10 grams should come from soluble fiber."
Soluble fiber makes you feel full quickly, which helps control how much you eat. Research has shown that soluble fiber also helps lower "bad" LDL cholesterol by interfering with how the body absorbs cholesterol from foods.
Foods high in soluble fiber include oat bran, oatmeal, beans, peas, rice, bran, barley, citrus fruits, strawberries and apple pulp, Gilchrist said.
Insoluble fiber adds bulk to the diet, helps prevent constipation and is the fiber that does the most to keep your digestive tract healthy. Foods high in insoluble fiber include whole-wheat breads, most whole grains, cabbage, beets, carrots, turnips, cauliflower and apple skin.
When buying groceries, read nutrition labels carefully, Gilchrist said. Many items that list oat or wheat bran as ingredients, such as muffins and waffles, actually contain very little bran and can have high amounts of sugar, sodium or fat.
"If you are buying something packaged and not a raw food, such as fruits or vegetables, look for the American Heart Association Whole Grain heart check mark on labels," Gilchrist said. "It's a good way to make sure what you are getting is good for your heart."
Another way to boost your fiber intake is to add fiber supplements to coffee, yogurt, cereal, soups and other foods. Just be sure to increase your fiber intake slowly and drink plenty of water, Gilchrist said.
More information: The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about fiber.
Health News Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved.


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A summer program housed at SUNY Cortland invites talented local teachers who double as leaders.
The Seven Valleys Writing Project Summer Institute is accepting applications from teachers at all grade levels in all content areas. The three-week program, which takes place from Monday, July 7, to Friday, July 25, offers up to six graduate credits, more than 80 professional development credit hours and a limited number of $1,000 stipends to offset graduate school expenses.
The application deadline is Saturday, May 31, and space is limited to 20 teachers. The program is open to mid-career teachers as well as graduate students who are entering the teaching profession and retired teachers.
"This is not an English program; it's a leadership program," said David Franke, a SUNY Cortland professor who leads the Summer Institute. "Writing is a way to learn and explore, and we make a supportive space for teachers to take risks."
The big picture goal of the program is to provide teachers of all subjects the tools they need to innovate and reflect.
"We might have a kindergarten teacher, an 11th grade social studies teacher, a physical education teacher, an English teacher and a seventh grade math teacher, all working on their own writing as well as writing lessons that will have their students understanding the subject matter more deeply," Franke said.
Summer Institute days typically span a normal workday and allow time for lesson plan development, research, personal writing and discussion. A math teacher, for instance, might lead a sample lesson where students — played by other Summer Institute participants — are asked to describe their thought process in words. The teacher is able to understand the most effective or ineffective parts of a lesson and the student is trained to articulate an idea.
"It's not about being a published writer," Franke said. "Summer Institute is an opportunity for teachers to return to what got them in this business in the first place."
"The folks we invite to join us tend to be highly motivated, creative and practical. They work very closely together for a period of three weeks."
In addition to refined lesson plans and polished pieces of personal writing, one of the Summer Institute's key takeaways is a group of close colleagues to consult with in the future, Franke said.
"One of the side effects of this is that it creates a community of teacher-learners," he said. "And that's what people report back as one of the most powerful effects."
Creativity and confidence are common words that appear in participant feedback evaluations.
"I have come to realize how little I have used writing," a former Summer Institute graduate wrote. "I knew it was missing, but after being here, I have so many ways to sneak it back into my classroom."
"I'm reminded to take risks and that if I don't think writing is interesting, no one in my class will," another past participant reported.
The Seven Valleys Writing Project offers a limited number of $1,000 stipends to those who desire graduate credit. Accepted applicants can use the Summer Institute to obtain three or six graduate credits.
Participants who wish to earn professional development credit can apply for tuition payment through their local school district by registering through My Learning Plan at Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES.
Complete registration information for the 2014 Summer Institute can be found on the Seven Valleys Writing Project website. For more information about tuition, payment or credit, contact Franke.


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New Site for My Creative Writing
Contrary to appearances, I'm not missing or dead. :) I've been battling some things and have been busy as well.
One of the things that kept me busy was creating a site just for my creative writings. I enjoy writing stories and poems, and I liked the ones I had posted here, but I felt like they got lost amid all the other posts. So I decided it was time to create another site just for creative writing.
I've transferred my writings from this blog and have added a few more since. Check it out - Revka Writes, revkawrites.com.


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Michael Winship: Maybe give up your bank for Lent — and beyond
This year, as part of the season of leading to Easter, some churches are delivering one of the most powerful Lenten messages ever. According to the progressive website ThinkProgress, "As congregations across the country observe the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter by sacrificing and repenting, religious leaders are asking big banks that have wrongfully foreclosed on homeowners and exacerbated the pain of the housing crisis to do the same."
On Ash Wednesday, churches in San Francisco announced they were removing $10 million from Wells Fargo and called on the bank, as per the advocacy group Faith in Public Life, "to put an immediate freeze on its foreclosures and repent for its misconduct." The March 9 New York Times reported that, "The Rev. Richard Smith of St. John the Evangelist, an Episcopal church in San Francisco, likened the divestment campaign and public protests to early Christianity's ritual of 'reconciliation of the penitents.' Far from taking place in the private sanctity of the confessional, that rite occurred in public, with the penitent overseen by a priest and required to present himself before a bishop.
"'It seemed like a parallel to us,' said Mr. Smith, 62. 'Our banks have done a great deal of damage in a very public way. So it seems appropriate as we enter into a season of penitence that we invite those who separated themselves from the community to repent with us. It's basically Ethics 101.'"
The effort is part of several national campaigns to get consumers and community groups to remove their money from the big banks and transfer accounts to credit unions and smaller financial institutions. Travis Waldron at ThinkProgress wrote, "Religious organizations have been at the forefront of movements to get consumers to move their money. The New Bottom Line, a coalition of faith groups, pledged to move $1 billion this year, and before Thanksgiving, churches moved $55 million away from Wall Street banks with pledges to remove as much as $100 million more."
The March 2 Los Angeles Times noted, "Consumers fed up with the rising tide of bank fees helped the nation's credit unions more than double their number of new customers last year … More than 1.3 million Americans opened new credit union accounts last year, up from less than 600,000 in 2010, the National Credit Union Administration reported. That brings the number of credit union members to a record 91.8 million."
There's still a lot to be angry about, still good reason to contemplate transferring your money or at least filing with the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if you have a complaint about your mortgage, deposit accounts or credit cards (consumerfinance.gov). As former Goldman Sachs executive director Greg Smith said in last week's bombshell Times op-ed announcing his resignation, "It astounds me how little senior management gets a basic truth: If clients don't trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you. It doesn't matter how smart you are."
Jeff Horwitz at the financial daily American Banker last week exposed J.P. Morgan Chase's credit card services division, reporting that it "took procedural shortcuts and used faulty account records in suing tens of thousands of delinquent credit card borrowers for at least two years," sparking an investigation by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. "The bank's errors could call into question the legitimacy of billions of dollars in outstanding claims against debtors and of legal judgments Chase has already won, current and former Chase employees say." As Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi observed, "Countless credit card borrowers would now have collection agents chasing them for money they did not owe," and in some cases, according to a key witness, Chase actually owed the customer money.
Allegedly one of Chase's more pernicious practices was "robosigning," the mass production and signing of credit-related affidavits without any semblance of verification, an illegal shortcut similar to the one that plagued the mortgage market and one of the targets of a new report from the inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"Managers at major banks ignored widespread errors in the foreclosure process," the Times reports, "in some cases instructing employees to adopt make-believe titles and speed documents through the system despite internal objections… the report concludes that managers were aware of the problems and did nothing to correct them. The shortcuts were directed by managers in some cases. …"
Inspector General David Montoya said, "I believe the reports we just released will leave the reader asking one question — how could so many people have participated in this misconduct? The answer -- simple greed."
Simple greed – hey banks, how about giving that up for Lent?
Michael Winship is senior fellow at the think tank Demos and senior writer of the weekly public television series, "Moyers & Company."
Messenger Post


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I have a 2001 Toyota Camry and the O2 sensor near the front of the car is bad (this is confirmed by the code that the computer has returned).
Though I'm not particularly knowledgable about cars (though I'm learning as I go), I'm comfortable working on them given enough information on what exactly I need to do . In this case, I'd like to know the proper hardware and procedures for replacing the O2 sensor.
- What O2 sensor do you recommend for replacing the bad unit?
- It's my understanding that some sensors can be easily replaced; others may require a bit of soldering. I'd prefer the former, but I'm also open to the best suggestions you guys have.
- I also understand that, after replacing the sensor, I should disconnect the battery to clear the computer, correct?
I'm looking to do this as cost effectively as possible.


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Audi Q3 Sportback40 TDI 200 Quattro Black Ed 5 Doors S Tronic [C+S]
Vehicle Highlights
- Diesel Particulate FilterSports Suspension
- 2 Usb-C Ports With Charge And Data FunctionsDab Digital Radio ModuleSonos Premium Sound System
- Acoustic WindscreenAuto Dimming Frameless Rear View MirrorDiffuser Grille In Grained Matt BlackDiffuser Trim In Selenite SilverElectrically Folding, Adjustable And Heated Door Mirrors With Integrated Led Side Indicators And Kerb View Function For Passenger SideFront And Rear Electric WindowsFront Fog LightsFront Underbody Protection In Manhattan Grey Paint FinishHigh Gloss Black Finish B And C PillarsLed Dynamic Rear IndicatorsLed Headlights With Led Daytime Running LightsLed Rear LightsLed Third Brake LightPrivacy Glass Dark Tinted Rear And Rear-Side Windows (From B-Pillar Backwards)Rain And Light SensorsRear Side Wing DoorsRear Underbody Protection In Matt BlackRear WiperVariable Front Intermittent Wipers
- 12V Socket In Rear Centre Console3 Seat Bench In 2Nd Row40:20:40 Folding With Manual Adjustment For 60:40 Forwards/Backwards Position And Backrest AngleAdjustable Rear Seat Bench/Backrest With Centre Armrest And CupholderBlack Cloth HeadliningDual Zone Electronic Climate ControlFront And Rear Black Floor Mats With Contrast StitchingFront And Rear HeadrestsFront And Rear Roof Module Including Reading LightsFront Centre ArmrestGlove Compartment LightingHeated Front SeatsHeight And Reach Adjustable Steering WheelIlluminated Door Sill Trims With S LogoIsofix Child Seat Mounting For Front Passenger With Airbag Deactivation And Outer Rear Seat Including Top Tether Attachment Point For Outer Rear SeatsLuggage Compartment Light In RightLuggage Compartment Sill Protection In Stainless SteelManual Front Seats With Height AdjustmentPerforated Leather GearknobSingle Front Passenger SeatStainless Steel Pedals
- Voice Control System With Natural Language InteractionStart Stop System With RecuperationService Interval IndicatorReversing CameraProgressive SteeringPower Operated TailgateMmi Navigation Plus With High Resolution 10.1 Inch Touchscreen Colour DisplayLegal Emergency CallCamera Based Traffic Sign RecognitionBluetooth InterfaceAudi Virtual Cockpit - 10.25" DisplayAudi Smartphone Interface Includes Wireless Apple Carplay/Android AutoAudi Lane Departure WarningAudi Drive Select
- Ambient Lighting Pack - Q3Black Styling Pack - Q3Non Smoking Pack - Q3
- 3X3 Point Rear Seatbelts6 Airbags - Driver, Front Passenger, Curtain And Side WindowsElectrically Operated Child Locks On Rear DoorsElectromechanical Parking BrakeElectronic Stabilisation Control Including Abs, Asr And EdlFront Seatbelt ReminderHill Descent ControlHill Hold AssistPre Sense BasicSeatbelt MonitoringTyre Pressure WarningWarning Triangle And First Aid Kit
- Anti Theft AlarmAnti Theft Wheel BoltsAudi Pre-Sense Front With Pedestrain And Cyclist RecognitionImmobiliserRemote Central Locking
- Aluminium Look Interior ElementsBlack DashboardLeatherette Door ArmrestMmi Touch Colour Display In Glass Look, Black With Surround In Aluminium LookPiano Black Inlay
- 19" 5 Twin Arm Design Diamond Cut Audi Sport Alloy Wheels In Matt Grey Look
- HcNot AvailableStandard Euro EmissionsEuro 6Wltp - Co2 (G/Km) - Comb172Wltp - Co2 (G/Km) - Comb - Teh174Wltp - Co2 (G/Km) - Comb - Tel172
- CamshaftDohcCatalytic ConvertorYesCc1968 ccCylinder LayoutIn-LineCylinders4Engine CodeF3nclywb5Engine LayoutFront TransverseFuel DeliveryCommon RailGears7 SpeedTransmissionSemi-Auto
- Ec Directive 1999/100/Ec AppliesNoWltp - Fc (L/100Km) - Comb6.6Wltp - Fc (L/100Km) - Comb - Teh6.6Wltp - Fc (L/100Km) - Comb - Tel6.6Wltp - Mpg - Comb42.8Wltp - Mpg - Comb - Teh42.8Wltp - Mpg - Comb - Tel42.8
- AdblueYesAlternative Fuel QualifyingNoBadge Engine Cc2.0 ccBadge Power200Based On IdNot AvailableCoin DescriptionTdi 200 QuattroCoin SeriesBlack Edition[C+S]Generation Mark2Insurance Group 1 - 50 Effective January 0734ENcap Adult Occupant Protection %95Ncap Child Occupant Protection %86Ncap Overall Rating - Effective February 095Ncap Pedestrian Protection %76Ncap Safety Assist %85Did At Least One Aspect Of This Vehicle's Safety Give Cause For Concern?NoSpecial EditionNoSpecial OrderNoStandard Manufacturers Warranty - Mileage60000 milesStandard Manufacturers Warranty - Years3 yearsVehicle Homologation ClassM1
- 0 To 62 Mph (Secs)7.3 secEngine Power - Bhp200 bhpEngine Power - Kw147 kwEngine Power - Rpm3600 rpmEngine Torque - Lbs.Ft295 lbs.ftEngine Torque - Mkg40.8 mkgEngine Torque - Nm400 nmEngine Torque - Rpm1750 rpmTop Speed139 mph
- Emissions Test CycleWltpRde Certification LevelRde 2
- Alloys?YesSpace Saver?NoTyre Size Front255/45 R19Tyre Size Rear255/45 R19Tyre Size SpareTyre Repair KitWheel Style5 Twin ArmWheel Type19" Alloy
- Height1567 mmLength4500 mmWheelbase2680 mmWidth (Including Mirrors)2022 mm
- Fuel Tank Capacity (Litres)58 litresGross Vehicle Weight2250 kgLuggage Capacity (Seats Down)1400 litresLuggage Capacity (Seats Up)530 litresMax. Loading Weight590 kgMax. Towing Weight - Braked2200 kgMax. Towing Weight - Unbraked750 kgMinimum Kerbweight1660 kgNo. Of Seats5Turning Circle - Kerb To Kerb11.8
Why Choose Vanarama?
Our unique Price Promise means we'll find you the very best deal on your chosen vehicle. And if you do find a competitors' quote we can't beat, we'll give you £100.Full terms and conditions can be found here.
If something changes unexpectedly with your personal circumstances, the last thing you want to be worrying about is your vehicle. That's why with Vanarama, if the worst happens, you can return it, hassle-free. Full terms and conditions can be found here.
If you change your mind up to 30 days after your vehicle has been delivered, you don't have to worry! As long as haven't exceeded your mileage by 50 miles, we'll collect it from wherever you are, free of charge.Full terms and conditions can be found here.
Unlike many of our competitors, we won't charge you anything to arrange your lease. You simply pay your initial payment and monthly rentals and we'll cover the rest.
Delivering a 5-star service to you is at the heart of everything we do. That's why we're rated excellent on Trust Pilot for our customer service.
There's no need to worry about the hassle of collecting your vehicle. Once it's ready, we'll get it delivered straight to your door, drama-free.
Why Choose Leasing?
Customer Reviews
Frequently Asked Questions
- How Long Will My Vehicle Delivery Take?Delivery time really depends on several factors, including the vehicle you choose, whether it's in stock & if you're having accessories fitted. If your vehicle is in stock, available & already kitted out the way you want it, it could take as little as 2-3 weeks to be delivered.Can I Lease A Vehicle With Bad Credit?Leasing is a form of vehicle finance or credit, which means funders will look into your credit history when you apply to lease. If you've missed payments or cancelled finance in the past, these can negatively impact your credit score. Vanarama works with more than 10 potential funders & we'll always try to match you with a funder to suit your needs.Can I Cancel A Lease Part Way Through?A lease contract can be cancelled by requesting an early termination. If you request this, the vehicle must be returned to the funder & you'll pay a penalty fee - the amount varies depending on the funder & the type of lease agreement you have, but it could be more than 50% of all remaining payments. If you lease a car with us, you will be covered by Redundancy Protection. This means if due to an unexpected life event you are suddenly unable to afford your payments, we may be able to help. See more about this here.Which Businesses Can Lease Vehicles?In general, any business can lease a vehicle & benefit from the cost savings leasing offers - even new businesses.Can I Change My Annual Mileage Limit Mid-Contract?Yes, although the process will depend on which funder your lease is with & if you are eligible to do so. If you think your mileage limit needs changing, call us straight away so we can discuss your options.What Is The Shortest Lease Contract I Can Take?The shortest lease term available from Vanarama is 2 years, up to a maximum term of 5 years.How Does Fair Wear & Tear Work?If your lease contract requires you to hand your vehicle back at the end, it will be inspected by the finance company for any damage that isn't considered 'fair wear & tear'. The odd bump, scratch or scuff is fine - after all, you could have been driving this vehicle for up to 5 years - excessive damage is not & penalties are often charged to repair it.
- Is the Audi Q3 Front Wheel or Rear Wheel Drive?Front wheel drive is standard across all Audi Q3 cars.How many miles per gallon can the Audi Q3 achieve?The Audi Q3 offers drivers around 42.8mpg.How many passengers can you fit in the Audi Q3?All Audi Q3 cars come with 5 seats meaning you can comfortably fit 4 passengers in the car.How long is the warranty on the Audi Q3?All new Audi cars come with a 3-year or 60,000-mile manufacturer's warranty.What driver assistance technology does the Audi Q3 have as standard?Audi offers drivers a generous amount of driver assistance technology as standard in the Audi Q3. This includes hill hold assist, cruise control system and speed limiter, traffic sign recognition, lane departure warning, hill descent control and rear parking sensors. Depending on the trim level of the Audi Q3 you choose, the driver assistance technology is likely to vary. That's why we always recommend checking the standard features on your desired specific vehicle specification.Does the Audi Q3 have parking sensors?All Audi Q3 cars will come with rear parking sensors as standard.What Audi Q3 trim levels are available?Audi keeps things quite simple with 4 available trim levels of the Q3: Technik, Sport, S Line and top-trim Black Edition.How much boot space does the Audi Q3 have?The Audi Q3 has a 530-litre boot.


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ziggurat zĭg´o͝orăt [key], form of temple common to the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. The earliest examples date from the end of the 3d millenium BC, the latest from the 6th cent. BC The ziggurat was a pyramidal structure, built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, with a shrine at the summit. The core of the ziggurat was of sun-baked bricks, and the facings were of fired bricks, often glazed in different colors, which are thought to have had cosmological significance. Access to the summit shrine was provided by a series of ramps on one side or by a continuous spiral ramp from base to summit. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven. Notable examples are the ruins at Ur and Khorsabad in Mesopotamia. Similar structures were built by the Mayan people of Central America.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Architecture


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VERBAL - Interview with Tokyo Dandy
With an undeniable reputation within Japan's entertainment industry and popular culture, VERBAL
With an undeniable reputation within Japan's entertainment industry and popular culture, VERBAL has been a steady creative force in Asia for the past five years. The influential tastemaker sat down with TOKYODANDY to converse about his musical ambitions, creative freedom, the energy of Tokyo and much more. Choice excerpts from TOKYODANDY's chat with VERBAL can be seen below.
It's been 5 years since m-flo's last studio album, can you give us a run down of what you've done in that time?
Well 5 years ago, with music and fashion, there was a point of conversion where people from different fields and genres kind of got bored with what they were doing and were looking for something new. I'm not from the fashion field but I think at that time it got exciting and there was a merging of worlds. Like how you've documented with Tokyo Dandy. There were lots of parties and lots of great energy in Tokyo. Around that time I started a brand called AMBUSH® which got me busy in that realm, and I started DJing which was another outlet for my creativity musically. So the past few years asides from m-flo have been a personal expression of my creativity within music and within fashion. It's kept me busy.
I've listened to the new album, it's a big change from m-flo's more melodic hip-hop / J-pop roots isn't it?
Taku produced the tracks, and when we wrote the songs together this time, the biggest difference between this album and the previous ones is the fact that the whole of the music industry and the economical climate has changed. Now CDs don't sell. I don't care what people say, you can be the best musician there is, you can spend loads on promotion with trucks rolling round Shibuya. But CDs just don't sell as they used too. I kind of look at this as an advantage. Before, when CDs sold, Japan had the second biggest market for CD sales. Because of that an island mentality developed where the Japanese industry saw no need to go global as there was so much money to be made here in Japan. J-pop evolved separately from the rest of the world and was different both in it's mentality and musicality. As m-flo we were always inspired by both Japanese and foreign artists but our output had to be somewhat adapted to the Japanese way of things. The industry is totally different now. We don't have to worry about things like 'Do we need more English lyrics?' 'Do we need more Japanese lyrics?'. For the new album we just did what we wanted to do without thinking about it, which is how we debuted. We weren't really thinking about anything we just put out a couple of tracks and it caught fire. So the title, 'SQUARE ONE', it's how we've gone back to how we used to do things, we've evolved over the years but this is honest. This is what Taku would do for himself as remix tracks to play on the club floor. It's not necessarily to sell it's just something he's made for fun. When I rap I'm not taking about seishun or sakura kind of thing I'm just talking about whatever the hell I would talk about with friends. The whole station has been a catalyst for us to be able to do what we really want to do on a big level.
The piece in its entirety can be read here.